Shaun Newman Podcast - #1040 - Brothers Roundtable

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

The brothers are back to discuss all things NHL playoffs. Watch the Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

Welcome to the podcast folks and other brothers roundtable. While the playoffs is started, we did her first a couple weeks ago, and now you've got the first round playoffs. So I guess welcome to the new studio. This is on your, I'm pointing at Jay, nobody can see me. I'm pointing at Jay because he wanted to do it in here. And so this is the first time we've done in the new studio. You guys' thoughts on the studio before we move any further.

Oh, the studio looks fantastic. Looks fantastic. Anybody gets an opportunity to come out here and take a look. It looks great. Looks really professional, really nice. I've got the pitcher view window here, so I'm doing really good. Before anybody goes any farther, I just want to send out our condolences to the Dervais family. We lost a never sweat Monday morning, and Roli Dervais passed away.

He had an ALS, and was a great teammate and a great guy, and I have a lot of great memories from him. We were two doors away at the lake for five years and went golfing every Fridays before the kids had come up, and he would invite me over to sit on the lawn and overlook the water on a Saturday afternoon and the boats and have a rum. And really, you know, big member of the hockey community in Lloyd Minster was on the first two championship junior B teams in the 70s and then played the Border Kings

and the never sweats and will be sorely missed. Man, and from where I said, I got to play with both of his boys, right? So, you know, I grew up playing every second year, ball winning championships with Derek, hockey winning championships with Derek, and then later in Hitman years playing with Colby. So, yeah, a hockey man lost here in Lloyd. Yes, for sure. Now, you fast forward to playoffs, or, you know, what we're going to talk about today.

I want to walk through each series and see what you guys are going on. We can start with the Oilers because we're going to go the longest. on the others or we can let's let's leave the orders because we're going to hammer on them the longest anyways sure okay well then you start with probably let's go with the east how about Ottawa and Carolina Ottawa down two oh I'm actually surprised I thought Ottawa had a shot in this series and Carolina has just dominated in my mind I really I really thought when I was picking the series on who was going to win it I actually thought auto had a good chance of winning it I like Ottawa's team. I think Cachuk is a great, is a great captain. If you were looking at a team that,

you know, a captain you'd like to have that's going to lead the charge, he's, you know, fighting three seconds. He's a bull moose. Absolutely. And he puts it out there every game, and that's what you want from a captain. But in the end, Carolina has just looked really, really good this year. You know, Carolina, how many years have they been close where they've gone to the second, third round and not quite made it? Like, maybe this is their year? I don't know. I still don't have them getting that far, but I don't disagree with you. Is Pittsburgh or Philly going to stop them? No, no, no.

I actually have them beating Philly after this next round, but losing to Tampa. So, I mean, I'm in the same boat, though. I was thinking the same thing. They look like a well-willed machine right now. Like they're from the previous years not being able to make it. And it's like, but part of it is coaching. too, right? I like how they're coached. So Brindmore has them playing hard, just fast and hard.

They play simple, hard hockey for the most part. Like they got no super, like, Aho's a really good player and Stan Kovin's a really good player, but they don't have, you know, one of the elite players. Well, that's how they built the team. Remember the trade last year with Rantan. The reason Rantin wouldn't stay is because nobody is singled out there. So they're really deep with a lot of really good hockey hockey. And everybody works their bag off.

That's right. And so it's, you know, this is, to me, this is the year that the East is wide open. It is. Yeah. If you're the Carolina GM and Rod Brenda Moore, this is the team you put together. This is the year you got to do it. If they lose in the first second or third round, you really got to take your hat off and sit back and go, okay, maybe we do need a little more offensive upside. Like you look at even that second game, you know, Stutzla is the most talented player on the ice.

And he missed about four glorious chances. And he was frustrated with himself. And if he scores on a couple of them, Ottawa is, and that's a tied series. So Carolina is not going to give you a free pass. Everything's tough to get with them. But they don't have that upper elite. What did Don Cherry teach us?

And everybody remember? He ain't in trouble. You ain't out of anything until you lose on home ice. Ottawa's been that close. I mean, they win game three. We could be talking about something different. Ottawa has been that in Stutzel is a perfect how many times have they been right there you're like holy man that goes in this is a completely different series well remember like Caroline has been doing this for how many years now they're battle tested Ottawa this is what year two of them making a playoffs yeah and so you know you can't be too hard on Ottawa they're playing the top team in the east in the regular season it's like it's not like they're playing bad I'm not saying that like well well the question mark good series question mark going in the series it was goaltending for Ottawa he's played well he's played well enough yeah and it's

Like, I don't look at this as being, I don't look at this series going, oh, Ottawa's not good. I look at it and go, man, Caroline looks really good this year. Yeah. And this is their, this is the year. Yeah. To me, it's wide open. Even when you say, like, Carl says Tampa Bay or you're picking on, who's the top teams,

Buffalo, like, this is the year he feels like you could, if you're going to, for anybody. Yeah. Even the flyers. All of a sudden, you sneak by Pittsburgh and then you. They haven't, you know. Well, let's talk about Pittsburgh, Philly. Pittsburgh, Philly. They have not snuck by Pittsburgh in the first three games.

Last night's game, like, if you're Pittsburgh, what do you not do? And you do not engage with Philly and all of them to sleep. Yes, after you let the bear sleep, right? And for them to get right in the muck with Philly, like, that's exactly what they want, right? I think that speaks to where Pittsburgh's at, though. Yeah, well, true enough, true enough. I had to call Owen, Owen to the TV. I'm like, look how many players are left on the players' benches.

Yeah, it's awesome. And if you go to game one, that's almost exactly what Pittsburgh needed in game one. They needed to get in the shit. Is Pittsburgh just old? Well, you know what they remind me of a little bit is, you know how we talk about a team first getting in the playoffs? And they work so hard. Montreal talks about it last year. It worked so hard to get in the playoffs.

should just, oh, we got in the playoffs and then you lose that first round. Pittsburgh looks the opposite way where they're so old now. It's like they did everything right and perfect to get in the playoffs. If a person remembers at the start of the year, they were ranked like one of the bottom two or three teams. Like they should just blow this thing up. And then they battle and everybody comes together and they make the playoffs and everybody feels good. And now they're in the playoffs and everybody goes, oh. Yeah.

Well, I talked to Sean about this. Like I remember playing senior and not that seniors than HL, but I remember playing. senior and I hit my mid-30s and all of a sudden you're like, were they wearing helmets back then? Yeah, it was quite a while ago. But you hit about 35 and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, crap, the young kids just have boundless energy and I don't have that. Like I can go and burst here and there, but I don't have that boundless energy to get the puck at all times. 33, we were playing Meadowlake in the playoffs. We ended up winning the series and going to the final and that was the COVID year where it got all shut down. We're in the finals against St. Walberg. And I forget who it was

off metal lake blew my doors off he was a guy who played pro yeah and he i was just like maybe div one college i'm like and my defense partner that game i believe was doug pauloteske and me and dug was what how many years older than me yeah and his year old on me and you know you got dug on one leg and myself you know slowly getting older three kids everything right and so you're not like you're not in peak physical condition he blew my doors off and i went Oh, the thing I remember is... And with Pittsburgh, their core... That series, we had no business winning that series.

We had no business beating Meadow that year. No, no. The thing I remember is 36 and going through playoffs, and literally the wife having to roll me out of bed in the morning because I literally couldn't turn over. Like, that's what you're talking about. Like, it is such a grind going, like, every second day for, like, a month, and a half. You just don't have that boundless energy anymore. I remember like being on a

breakway and someone caught me from behind, which never used to happen. It doesn't happen. And then I got caught and then I started getting caught more and more. And I'm like, oh, like, I'm in decent shape, but the young kids just got more energy and they're getting faster. And I think Pittsburgh's having, like, I'm sure they're having that moment. Their top four players are all over 35. And so you go, they look old like yeah they are old well and i think and there's no coming back from that i think of being as being a little bit as being the oldest brother i can play in the 35 plus division when we play in the tournament i can't be the number one driver on a line yeah but you you look and so you so if you if you're with a younger guy yes and so when i think of guys like malcolm and crosbie you know

and with with all respect to crosbie i mean crosbie is still a really top end player what would Crosby would be like if he was with McKinnett you know where where we see it in the guy that drives and he gets to be the number two guy you know Crosby can be a very nice number two guy and it's just it's a lot of pressure on it on an older guy when you still got to be the line driver that's a lot and you're still taking the cross checks in the back and you're still everybody's still focusing on you that's right because when you're did you can be the number two or three guy you get lost in the fold last night when the guy goes by Crosby I can't think of his name off top of my head and accidentally wax him in the face.

Did he do that bite his eye? You remember he's moving the stick around and it actually taps him in the face and Crosby goes down. Is that a little game of a chip? I was wondering after because I mean Crosby goes down like he's shot, ends up getting a penalty. The other guy gets for embellishment. The other guy gets a penalty for, you know, high sticking him. But I'm like, Crosby, when they're winning cups, does he react to that? Right.

Well, he's probably really frustrated because you can be older. You still have the inner fire to win. You just don't have the boundless energy. Here's a good current example of that would be Jamie Ben. Jamie Ben used to be First line, the guy, right? And now he's playing, what, third line?

Yeah, and as probably the third guy and the third line. But he can still score the odd goal. That's right. He can still contribute. And he knows the game. And what does he bring to the lineup? the physicality. So he's a big guy.

He knows what his role is. His role is to go out, banging some bodies, mix it up. Throw the puck on that. And don't, and don't forget he can think the game in an elite level.

So the other thing about that, the thing about that, too, is those, you know, if you're a little bit older guy, you don't have the speed anymore. If someone gets you the puck, you can control the puck and you dish it off to the fast guys.

But if you don't have those fast guys to do that with anymore and you have to go get the puck, you know, it's hard for Crosby to go in every ship as hard as he can, bang it, get the puck, lug it out, find someone. But if he was on the line... It's not only hard to do all of that what you said, Duss,

but it's the prior point and be the focal point on that line. So you're taking all the punishment. You're the guy that's getting covered. So now you've got to battle through checks to get to the net because you're the focal point. That's right. And that really sucks. But if you're the guy that doesn't have to do that

where someone dishes you the puck and you can control and look for someone, that's a much different role. I find it interesting because you play the different roles as you, so right now just between playing noon hour and then the 35 plus division and playing on the never sweats. And then actually being playing with the battle for team this year in the 50 plus division and in Wainwright, right? You get, you get all the different. You're the focal point on the 50 plus team, Jay? Well, but you do get the different.

He's the speedy. But you get the different thing. So on the 35 plus, I'm the number three guy. You know what? At the noon hour, I like to be the number two. you are number three guy. Sometimes depending on who shows up, you thrust in a little more of the number one,

and you feel that difference in that role. And then you go to 50 plus, and you're the focal point, the other team, I don't care if you're 20 or 40 or 60. The other team figures out within 10 or 15 minutes, who the focal points are. We do with Dave Dorsensky.

Absolutely. He gets the puck. It's like, you know what? Todd might beat us. Dave's not. And everybody just tool. They're doing it to McDavid. We're going to get to the Oilers in a second.

So sticking with Dallas. and it it seems like there's a little bit of a handing off of the guard there where Jamie Ben, Tyler, say again, they're not the guys anymore, Jason Robertson, Harley. Johnston. Yeah, like there's Y Johnson.

I had to put Harley in there. There's some guys. Yeah. Let's look at the east. Oh, yeah, Harley's a big deal in the back end. It seems like Dallas is jumping all over the place this morning. Well, we're going on to the next series. No, no, no, no.

We're doing the east. We're doing the east. We're doing the east. Let's go back to the east. Let's go back to the east. Okay, so then you flip to the other side. Montreal, Tampa Bay. I'm surprised by this series.

Why? Because I thought Tampa Bay was the more complete, better team, and I thought Montreal was a little bit small, and they would get, like, if you remember last year, what happened with Montreal and Washington was Washington was bigger and more physical and more experienced, and they dummied Montreal.

Montreal had no business. They didn't even put up a fight last year in that first round. And I thought something similar was going to happen this year. And what surprised me, now this is just me, but Montreal has been a lot better than what I thought. And it's, it's a very even series. And I think it's going to go a long ways. I just thought Tampa Bay was the more complete team and I've been surprised. I thought similar. I thought Montreal was a smaller team and that it would just through the grind mill again, right? Yeah, but they learn. A team learns. Yeah, but learning is one thing. When you don't have the

size, playoffs, They got Anderson. Don't talk to Sean about size. Like you got Anderson stirring the drink, okay? He is, he's literally got everybody losing their heart. Well, Sokowski's a big guy in the first line. The thing that Tampa Bay to me is missing's headman. You know, they went through the regular season,

and there's great stories with Darren Radish. I don't know. It's personal reasons, and now they don't think he's going to be back for the first round. And I have not seen an article or listened to anybody to know exact Nate. I don't know if there's something happening. in his family or if he's having a personal issue. I'm not 100% sure.

Because you're right. They're like, well, because the regular season, you know, Darren Radish and some of these guys disduce and stuff, really nice stories.

But you get in the playoffs and Victor Headman 6'6. Wow. And it's your power play and has been there in a cup winner and you're just missing them. You always talk about this Jay's. You add in headman at the top. That's right. It's slots everyone down a peg,

one notch. Into a notch where they should be. That's what Tampa Bay is missing right now. Right? They're just missing that guy. And so it's going to be a tough series. It's a lot tougher series for Tampa to win without them, I think. I think it's going to be tight.

Well, it's a very even series at this point. So it could go in the way. You know, I want to make one point here, too, about a lot of the series right now is it's so interesting to me how, you know, I understand. And, I mean, I coached the same way when I was coaching where you come out and you're physical and you finish your checks and you finish your checks at the line and you finish your checks in the dump and chases. and I get all that.

But how many of these games are teams losing because the amount of penalties are taken? Like I am surprised by the amount of, like if you look at the games at the end of the night, teams are winning 4-3 and 3 power play goals. And you're like, if you're the other team or you're not going, guys, we got, yeah, let's finish our checks, but we can't keep going to the box here.

Like this is, a lot of these teams can't score if they're not on the power play. Anaheim, and I apologize for jumping around on you, Sean. But like, you're flirting with disaster here with Eminton and 0 for six as far as their power plays go. We're going to get into that. And like that is flirting with disaster. But any team flirts with it when they put the power play. Well, you just see it all through all the series.

So even Pittsburgh, Philly and Montreal Tap and you're like, does anybody want to win the series? Like to me, if everybody gets a little more disciplined and I think of a Pittsburgh team, Pittsburgh back in the day when they were winning, we're very disciplined. And then if you took penalties on them, they're scoring on the power play. And they're the most penalized team in the league. But this is what I point out with the Pittsburgh power.

Like, it just, when you watch the oiler power play, you're flirting with disaster. It's the number one power play in the league for what, four years straight, roughly. I know there's some,

you know, they're top five. And even same with Colorado. Right. You're messing with the best players in the game. And when they click, it's going to be disaster. And you look,

how many power plays the Oilers had last thing. And they just couldn't get anything. We're not bouncing around here. But you go to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is an older group. And when, you know, you flirt with it and when they can't score on command, you're willing to flirt with it a little bit more. Yeah. So people always think of hockey and sacrifice and, you know, being tough and all this other stuff.

Part of sacrificing in hockey is not taking the stupid penalty and eating it. Right. Saving it from later. I wasn't good at that. I think that's what you're talking about right there is. When you're really clued in, when you're really dialed in, you don't take those stupid penalties because it hurts the team. And I haven't really seen anybody do that yet where they're really dialed in.

And maybe that'll come here as we progress through the first round. And that's what made guys like Mershon really good is because they knew when they could get away with it. And when they could just eat it and smile right in your face and he just wanted to just drill them. But Mershine was really good. Well, same with Sarah Bennett. With that line, right? That play, did you guys see the play by Perry the other night there? He got, he was getting pushed close to the opposition bench.

And he jumped up on top of the boards at the bench in front of the door so they couldn't line change. Guys are pushing him and he's like, oh, you know, like he's the big victim. But he actually jumped up on the boards right at the door so they couldn't line change. And then there's a big kerfuffle and he's acting like he's getting mauled. then total Perry. Well, it'll be interesting to watch Tampa if bringing in Perry was a perfect fit or if they're an aging team and he would have been better served on Montreal or something like that. Because Perry is a fantastic player, but he's fourth line.

He's playing eight minutes a game if he's lucky. So there's a worry that Tampa Bay about Perry is that he's playing like third line for Tampa Bay. And at this point in his career, it's like, you know, he shouldn't probably be there anymore. Like you're probably suffering a little bit of depth if you have Perry on your third line. He should be a fourth line that gets used very sparingly because how old's Perry? 39? No, yeah. He's 40.

I would say 40. Yeah. Like if he and this is the same problem with Pittsburgh. If your top players are 38, 39, you've got a problem. Perry playing on your third line at 30, 39, 40? 40 years old. It's probably an issue. May 16th, 85.

So he turns 41. Turns 41 this year. Yeah. During the playoffs, if they make it that far. Mason and not. are sitting there on our way into town the other day talking about the NHL being the hardest playoff series to go through, right, and everything's got to line up perfectly. We're talking about, you know, you're missing headman, so you're not slotting everybody perfectly, right? All

it takes is one injury in one of your key players, right? All of a sudden, McDavid, they're not sure if he's injured or not, right? Like, that could sink, you know, a lot of teams, and it might not sink you in the first round. It might not sink you in the second round. but you get later on in those rounds you need your top guys to be there victor headman uh who i'm glad to bring up headman headman i brought it up headman wallstead almost got injured there the other night right and like you miss one of these key guys in a key position and headman is your playoffs headman is not actively playing right now he took a temporary leave of absence for personal reasons in late march of 26 after leaving a game early due to illness and has missed the end of the regular season and

the start of the playoffs. The lightning have placed him on long-term injured reserve. He's back around the team skating and traveling with him for the first round series, but he's doubtful to opening round. The team respects his privacy and shared no further details. That's so weird. That's so weird. By the way, I just want to point out, like, once you're turning 41, you're over the hill. You're talking about Perry. I'm just talking in general. Okay. So I'm over the hill. The final series of the East is the Bruins and Sabres, which I think we're, you know, like there's a bunch of, well, I don't know.

I think that we're splitting this circle maybe. It's a fun series. It's a fun series. It was a pick-um for me, and I really thought with the talent the Buffalo's got right now that they would be able to overcome. And I understand first time making the playoffs. but like I think they're above that. Like they're like I could see Buffalo going on a bit of a run here, making it through a couple series.

I picked Boston to win. And the reason why I did was they haven't been. Buffalo has made the playoffs in 15 years. 14 years. 14 years. 14 years. 14 years. And they got a bunch of young guys.

They got a bunch of talent there. A bunch of players I like at the same time. Something like the first year old is made the playoffs. So David lost in the first round. The first year, Pittsburgh made the playoffs to Crosby, lost in the first round. When you're out of the playoffs for a long time, it sometimes takes a little bit to figure out what you need to do to succeed in the playoffs because it's a different season. I pick Boston because they have, you know, not that they're as good as they used to be. They're not at all.

But they've got a bunch of guys that have been there and done that a bunch of times and know what it takes. And last night it showed. Now, at the same time, Buffalo is really good. They could win this series. I'm still picking them Boston to win it because I think they have that experience to make it and I think Buffalo is going to be a real fun team to watch

in the next five years because they got a bunch of talent and it sounds like they had a bunch of problems behind the scenes which is why it took them so long to get back but I think Boston's going to win it I think it's a pickam series for sure it'll be how fast Buffalo can figure it out like you think about it Boston's eight minutes away from being up to rip right now

going back to Boston. Yeah, but as Oilers fans, how many times have we been almost down three rip? So is Buffalo getting better as we go along? Like, is game three? Like going back to almost what Dust said, like Buffalo has it,

so are they going to make the next step in game three or game four and tie the series up? Or are we going to sit there to see this get away from them? You look at game one that rush they had at the end of the game was that youthful exuberance of just like full out. Well, and as soon as you score, the building goes absolutely nuts. I do like that Boston's got swaying in the Nets. They've got a good goaltender who's calm and who, like, it's going to be tough to beat him in the series.

Can Buffalo find that rush or that pace that they had at the end of game one consistently? Or are they benefited by being out of their home city for a couple of games? I don't know. When that crowd gets lit up at the end of game one, you could just feel them feed off that energy. I think, I think, I think, I think. think it comes down on these next two games. Either way, like if, obviously, if Buffalo went in there and swept Boston in the next two games, I mean, writing's on the wall.

But if Buffalo can't get a win in the next two games, like that's the next two are... You're saying if they go down three one, they're in this series. And if they go up three one, they're in the driver's seat. That's right. So great analysis. I'll let you know in a couple games. Yeah. I just because how the teams are, though, I think it all depends on Buffalo.

I'm not sitting there saying, well, can Boston do this? It's like, no, Boston's doing what they do. Yeah. And this is who they are. And it's Cam Buffalo get enough experience fast enough to win this. Can they raise the level of their play consistently? Yeah. Because Boston is a no one, like they're going to play at this level.

Can the young guys get it? Yeah. Because they probably have more talent overall. Yes. And they can win a series if they fire on all cylinders. Especially on the blue line. But can they get there repeatedly like consistent? consistently enough to overcome Boston.

You even look back at Ottawa. Look at the blue line. Like Ottawa is throwing out Sanderson or Chabot every second, like almost every second shift. But that's, and Sanderson's considered one of the top 10 defensemen in the league, but he's young. Rasmus Dahlian, Owen Power, Byram, Byram, right? Like they're, they're throwing out defensemen every shift that are talented. Man, has Sanderson been a beast back there.

Yeah. He's look good. Yeah. Like they've got a real, I like teams to get back ends. thought Chabot was going to be their number one D-Man, but man, is Sanderson like, yeah, he's just taking over that role. Yeah. What makes what you're talking about even more impressive for guys like Martone or Anaheim's

fourth line that are all first years walking in going against McDavid. And I'm sorry for bouncing, but like, Philly. Harley's going to bounce all around table. Martone's got two goals. He doesn't look out of place. You're going into the playoffs where like this is another. step above regular season where you got to mix the physicality in with it and everybody is bringing it every single night their best you know there's i don't know about the three anaheim guys but

martone came from div one college and they talk about how that's why you're seeing a lot of the top dub guys now that they've opened it up and from major junior you can go play div one which you didn't use to be able to and so they're getting that experience against a little bit older guys right and so i think that's just help them especially the top end talented guys. Instead of Martone being in the O'HL getting 110 point season

but he's playing against 20 year olds to where he went and played a year div one college still average a point per game but he's playing against 25 year olds. Like there's a difference sir, you know? All right, switching to the west. All right, we're going to start with

the most lopsided series? Colorado L.A. No, that is not the most lopsided series. Pittsburgh, Philly's the most lopsided series. What are you watching? Colorado's absolutely dominant at L.A. L.A. is not even close.

L.A. L.A. was like seven minutes away. No, four minutes away from winning game two. What are you talking about? Pittsburgh Philly for me has been the lopsided series. The lopsided series. L.A. is down two rip, but they lost two games to one. L.A. L. can't call it lopsided.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I actually agree with Jay here. Dustin's, that's because Dustin has this, like, Colorado should, it should be lost-sided. You're right, does. It should be lost-sided. But remember, who's L.A. played the last three years? I thought Ottawa's going to be a close series, and Carolina is absolutely dominated.

Colorado might have won close games, but the only reason. Carolina hasn't absolutely dominated? What are you talking? No, no, I said, what are you talking about? I said, I thought Ottawa, Carolina was going to be a close series. And I thought, and I think Caroline has absolutely dominated that series. What I'm saying is Colorado, they might have won the games close, but like L.A. has not pushed back on, on scoring goals or anything.

All they're doing is doing what they always do, Sean. They lock it down and try and limit chances. But that's how Lays won. They won cups like that. They're built like that. They're used to playing the oil. They haven't made it past the first. New Jersey won a cup like that.

Buffalo made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Yeah. What I'm saying is they offensively, they don't push. anything at all. But that's their style. No. But back at the day. But we're not arguing that L.A. is more talented

than Colorado. No, that's not what we're saying. Colorado. Not saying that Colorado shouldn't win this series. What we're saying is you're saying this is the most lopsided series. What I'm saying is Pittsburgh, Philly's been the most lopsided series.

Pittsburgh has not looked like they've been in that series for like seven out of the nine periods. All I'm saying is L.A. is like hanging on for dear life at all times because they got no offense of push in that in that series at all. Man, they must be the best defensive team in the league because they, like, they shut Colorado down until four minutes left in the game and they had to win

it in overtime. I mean, this is, you know, I understand what you're saying, but this is L.A. King's hockey. We know this from the Emmetton Oilers Series running into them four years and out. Low chance hockey, because that's all they got. You can't be a bad team, though, if just because, okay, so I understand they're not as proficient in scoring goals,

but if they were a bad lopsided team, Colorado would be winning 5-1 every game. And that's not happening. because L.A. plays a very tight system. And if you watch them games, LA, like, it's not like Colorado's three poles. It's frustrating hockey to watch. It's frustrating hockey to watch.

Very frustrating. L.A. is really, like, this is going to help Colorado playing a team like L.A., just like it helped Eminton, because you come through a series like that, and then you go and face, you know, a Dallas or Minnesota, and Dallas and Minnesota won't be quite as tight as L.A.

They'll be more talented, but not quite as tight. And it'll help Colorado. I just thought, I don't think L.A. has any, push offensively in that series whatsoever. Well, they don't. They scored two goals, dust. That's a very good analysis. Mammoth.

No, no, no, no, no. We'll stick to Minnesota, Dallas. We'll stick to the division. That might be the funnest series in the first round. Yeah, but you know what? This is why we don't do, if we had done a pot, I was chuckling about it, if we'd done a podcast after game one, we're going, holy man, Minnesota is going to run them right out of the building.

It's a wagon. And then what happens? Dallas wins game two. Dallas goes into Minnesota, wins in game three. And now everyone's like, oh, Minnesota. But it's still a pick-em series. This could easily go seven. I understand.

But game one, Minnesota looked like world beaters. Like they were going to walk in and walk them out the door and four. Did they not? They did. And do you think that Minnesota felt like after game one they were world beaters? Maybe this is a little bit of a check for them too. That last game, though, That was something.

It was fun hockey. Dallas goes up to nothing and you're like, I wonder if Minnesota's got a pushback. And then Boldie gets hit and lands on his head and like, is he coming back in the game, right? All of a sudden, Boldie comes back. They score one.

Boldie runs around, gets the puck out of the front. They score number two and you're like, man, this is fun to watch. So it's a great, too. Going into Minnesota Dallas,

I thought it was going to be a fun series, which it has been and a really close series because they're two really good teams, but not in a close way. like some of the other series are that's boring hockey. This is really good, high-end hockey. That's a lot of fun. It's probably like with Montreal Tampa is probably the two best series to watch.

Well, Emmington and I'm too, but... Actually, wow, I like watching Utah, which we'll get to in a moment because they're flat out just skate the wheels off. Don't jump around here, Dust. I'm not going to jump around. All I'm saying, Minnesota, Dallas are two really good hockey clubs that are, that push the pace and are a lot of fun to watch.

I know, but if you go back to our... When they play Game 1, who Minnesota like boot him out of their own building right like it was just like wow

everybody's talking about Hughes oh man he's so good he's so amazing right I'm not saying Minnesota hasn't had pushback in game three I'm saying game one you looked at that

and went holy crap if Dallas doesn't pull up its bootstraps can they even pull up their bootstraps right Ottinger is he awful

right he's just oh we've only seen this tape before and then what does Dallas do they win game they do what a Playoff battle tested team has done. Has done.

Well, they've made it to the conference final, what, two times of the last three years or something like that? Dallas. Yeah, they're there. They're there. Yeah, they're there. They're really good. And they're not relying,

they're not like Pittsburgh where they're relying on Jamie Ben on their first line to be the guy. He's sitting there just playing. You make a very good point. It'd be like if right now, if Dallas was Pittsburgh, it'd be like relying on Jamie Ben and Matt Dushain to run the offense on Dallas. That's a different.

This is the difference between Carolina and Dallas. Dallas has been able to consistently be there while losing a guy like Ben, losing say again, and still being able to come up from the bottom, right? You mean Pittsburgh, not Carolina? Well, Carolina has been drawing this same group of guys adding to this mix to try and make this push where they don't have any of the top end talent. And like what happens after this year if they don't make it to the semifinals? Carolina has consistently been there and has never really, I guess you just run with it for as long as you can run with it, I guess. But like Dallas, Dallas to me, I thought the comparison is more like Dallas Pittsburgh. Dallas Pittsburgh. Because Pittsburgh's relied on Melkin, Crosby, and Latang.

Yeah, fair enough. And then they added in Carlson, who's 35, right? That's the core group of guys. I know there's more, but the four big stars are those guys. They're all over 35. Heck, three of them are almost 40, and they're still the top guys. Where with Dallas,

Jamie Ben, when they made their cup runs, was the guy. He was the beast. And now he's a fourth liner. I mean, maybe he's playing third line. He's not the guy pushing the play either. It's Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, you know, husking it on the back end,

like everything's turned over. Caprizov has turned into a complete player, hasn't he? Like he's not, he's seen one-dimensional when I used to watch him back a couple of years ago, it seems like he's starting to, you know, well-round, like become a full-fledged superstar, not just a one-dimensional score. From what I've seen, he actually looks like a complete player now.

I guess maturing. Minnesota's turned into a fun team to watch. Them getting Hughes on the back end and, like, they got a fun, quick team. Minnesota and Dallas getting each other in the first round sucks, but. This is, yeah, for both those teams. But it's fun for fans, you're going to lose one good team of the playoffs in the first round. Well, can you imagine you get, so you get to, you get to win that. series and face Colorado.

Yeah. That's awesome. It's a grind to get there. It's about the exact opposite as the East this year. All right. Mammoth, Golden Knights. So I thought the Golden Knights with their experience and their depth because they're a deep team was going to, you know.

And I don't know, sliding Carter Hart in the starting goal tender role. Sure. But Utah, and I knew Utah was going to be like this. I just didn't know if they could actually get it done against Vegas, but they've been really good in that first round. They're fun to watch because all they do is work their bag off. They don't have any superstars. They just work.

Don't they remind you a bit of Seattle when they knocked off Colorado a couple years ago? Was it a couple years ago? They just worked hard as a team. I mean, who's their guy? Well, they've got Clayton Keller. I realize it isn't. But I'm just, no, but I'm saying they do have, to me, the difference between them in Seattle is, like, Keller's a point per game guy.

Like, they do have, like, Coolly. Like, they got two or three guys that are gone through, like, that are actually legit scores. That's what Seattle misses right now. They just don't have any top line. Well, Sean, same from a couple years ago when Seattle knocked off Colorado in the first round.

Same kind of vibe. Well, you're going up against Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, right? What's going on with Vegas? Like, they got so much bloody depth there. Well, no, but the thing, I wanted to point out the back end, and I know they picked up Rasmus Anderson

and Noah Hanofen from back in the day, from my shout out to the Calgary Flames grabber that didn't make the playoffs again. So you're picking up defensemen from a team that hasn't made the playoffs. You're missing Peter Angelo. To me, there's a couple of things that I find interesting with that Vegas team. So when they win the cup and they're doing really well, Shea Theodore is running their power play.

Now they're running five forwards. Peter Angelo is their number one guy, going back to what Harley had pointed out from before, and he's missing. Rasmus Anderson's a nice defenseman. And Noah Hanofen's a nice defenseman. But they're missing. their number one guy and everybody has to slot one notch higher and rasmus anderson and noah anathan

have never been known as a number one shutdown defenseman and to me when you're facing and it could be other teams but you're facing utah with that top end really fast move the puck well talent and they don't have that guy to shut it down that's that's a problem for them and i i think their their forwards are fine, but a lot runs through the back end. The second thing that I find interesting is Carolina, Bussie had a 30 win season, right? Rookie season, great season. Who do they start game one, Anderson? And you know what, Aden Hill won you your cup.

And it's not like it was a, not like, AJ, who did you draft in the hockey draft? I drafted Aden Hill. Sounds like sour grapes over there. I drafted Bussie, so I mean, I'm not. But it's not like it's not. It's not like in that goal tending, it's not like it was like one and a B. It was a 1-1A.

And I'm surprised they just didn't go with the guy that had always got him there. And then if it didn't work in game one, you could switch. And now they're, so now you're bringing back, are you bringing back Hill? Or you just, now what are you doing? Are you running with heart? You're just forgetting about them? What are you doing here? This seems like a series where Utah could upset them very easily.

Very easily. And it's felt like that all year with Vegas. And if Amitin could get their shit together, it feels like a year where you could get to the semifinals. Semifinals. The conference finals. It's wide open. It feels wide open if they just lock it down a little bit here. We've danced around it now for 40 minutes.

The Amminton Oilers. Don't you love that they're one in one and McDavid doesn't have a point? Like, I mean to me? And the other thing, too, is you've got dry saddle who has been out for a month and a half. half and every game that keeps going by here and i shone tex out last night it's frustrating with the oilers power play and mason's going they haven't scored in six times but man did they have chances last night there was piles of chances every single play like they're that close to that game being turned on its head because they could have had two or three yeah close that's great right now we're

close well i mean come on mac david greatest player in the world cannot figure cannot figure out that three guys are coming to him at all times okay game one you give them okay game one it's play and then and then no and then and then the commentators are saying mac david's going to figure it out he's going to they're going to watch game tape well didn't he go after game one and look at the game tape and realize wow they're really circling the three guys which means i don't know i can do math two guys are wide open i mean you have to pick your spots They're coming to you at all times. And he gets frustrating and whatever, you go, well, if they just figure out, it's like,

just watch the game tape, McDavid, and realize you're drawing three guys to you at all times right now. If Quinnville's done anything with that group, it's that he's focused in on McDavid. He's not going to let him, we do this at noon hour. We're talking about Dave. It's like, yeah, we go to Dave. And if he gives it to Kirkpatrick, sorry, Todd. But if you get the puck and score on us, we're like, well, crap. Yeah, we'll go tap you on the bum and say good goal.

At the same time, too, though, think about this. Hyman's been out, dry saddle's been owed. Dry saddle misses a one-timer. Hyman, there's a pass straight across from Nuge to Hyman. Hyman deflex it wide. Sure, they score four. Like, are we expecting to win every game seven, six? Well, you won't against Colorado or Minnesota.

Right. No, I agree. I agree. Okay, so how many years in a row has been now where the oilers come out flat? Flat in the start. Like, how many years? Yeah. Because why are you guys worrying about it there?

No, no, no, no. No, no. No, no. The question is, why do they do it for? Like, is it taking them a while to get used to the pace or just, because they haven't been their best for sure. I think it's the type of players that Emmerton has. Emmettin is not L.A. Mm-hmm.

To throw that out. They're not going to win a lot of two-one games. As the playoffs go on, they do tend to get a little tighter, naturally. It takes a while to adjust to the pace. Emerton's got wagons and they want to run. And the only thing that really frustrates me sometimes with the Emerton coaching is how he can't just leave the lines alone. You know, oh, we got no. Let's, we got to, you know, Savoy and Hyman are playing great with McDavid and, you know, two periods in,

McDavid hasn't scored. Like, just give them some time. Yeah, I agree with you. Let these, Savoy's playing excellent. And now you dropped them to the third line again. Like, just leave a beat. You go to game one. Kappan and has two goals, right?

Like, why are you, why are you messing with it? I don't under. That's one thing that frustrates me about whether it's the coach, whether it's McDavid in his ear, whether it's, I don't know. I don't know why they do that. McDavid, you know, there's games where you feel it and everything just flows. And then there's other games where nothing seems to work. So I don't get really worried about McDavid and all that stuff.

Well, no, he's out. He's an elite, the best of the best. There's games. And they've shut them down two games in a row. Now, can they do that for seven? We all know they can't. But they've done it for two. My point that you're one in one in the series and McDavid doesn't have a point.

That's right. You're living on borrowed time. The only thing about McDavid is what actually happened last night. and is it going to be like it looked like uh you know it wasn't pain it was more of an injury for him to leave the bench like that and go get it checked out it wasn't like oh i got a bruise on my knee no you're not leaving the bench unless it's something a little bit and he skated all right after that but if you're worried about something structural let's say in your knee or your ankle he doesn't he doesn't throw that puck that game winning goal he doesn't throw that puck blindly like that if he's skating well right

if he's skating well, he turns that puck around. So what's actually like what actually happened to him there and how serious is it? Because losing the best player in the world or him, you know, if you're hurting, you can still do a lot. But if it's something, especially for a guy who relies on his legs to do a lot of the work, if it's more of an injury of some sort, knee or ankle, whatever it is. A leg injury for me doesn't affect me as much. No, I don't know if it's leg. I think it's more ankle. Go back to dry saddle a few years.

years ago when he had, what do you have, an ankle, ankle injury and he performed fine. Why? Because Dry Seltl doesn't rely, you know, he's a good skater. It relies on his big butt and a shot. That's right. And his sauce pass. And so he could get away with it. What does McDavid rely upon? Well, skating's a big part of it. And if he has, if he feels like he can't use an edge properly. Yeah, or go into a place because he's worried about, you know, injuring the knee further or ankle or whatever it is. Like, that's a, that's a huge issue. It does, it does, it does go into your mind. It's hard. It's to fight through where you're just the exact same player because you have this idea of like

maybe you're not going in the corner quite as hard or driving in the neck quite as hard that's right that's right because because you yeah you protect yourself subconsciously subconsciously you just do he's he looked fine i'm not worried about macdavit he when he came back out the rest of the game he made an oops he was buzzing the rest it's it's before he ever got hurt it's challenging three guys every single time. I'm not saying he should never do it for sure. I mean, he had a couple of great chances. But they are keying in on McDavid,

the way we key on on Dave when he's playing Noon out. You see him coming and you've realized when you play him the first time and he goes end to end and rips a tough show. Oh, we got to, and so what do we do? We cut off. So McDavid, look at how many times they have three guys around him

and he's trying to do what he's always done. And I'm waiting for him to adjust. I have no doubt in my mind he's going to adjust. I thought it would have happened after game one. I thought they were fortunate to get through game one the way they did with McDavid not doing what he normally does. And then in the game two, he doesn't adjust. And I go, what are you waiting for?

So they're doing the same thing to you, two games in a row adjust already. If you get frustrated, you start forcing. And I've seen this was Sean before, whereas if he gets frustrated, he'll take the puck and go outside and skate hard and he doesn't care who's with him. He's going hard. Well, sometimes he's just dumping it on the net from the blue light. That's right. But that's the problem.

when you get frustrated, you force. Now, the oil is a hole or not. And then you get so frustrating to hang out the far blue line as a defenseman. And then you get scared. And then your older brother says, why should you just go play for? And then you get rid of. Is that frustration or is that just being tired? I don't know.

A little bit of both, bro. But this happens with the Oilers every year. It seems like it takes them a game or two to, you know, because L.A., what are they down? Just but when, were they down to RIPP last year? Yeah. To L.A.? They almost went down three-rep.

That's right. The other thing that frustrates me with the Oilers is I understand you have the number on power play in the world. And I understand you are not pulling McDavid and Drysheadle out of the power pole. They're beasts. But, you know, there seems to be lack of recognition for me. Bouchard does not need to be on the power play for two minutes. Not that he's not effective at it.

He's also playing on the top pair. Like he's supposed to be playing against the other team's top line as well, top two lines at playing 25 minutes a game to throw on a second defenseman like a nurse or a walman to give them not throwing nurse on the power play i'm just i'm just throwing out different names does you're not going you're not going with that comb i'm just saying if you threw walman out there for this for for for for 40 seconds not even saying a full minute but 40 50 seconds you threw out a matt savoy and a roselvic and you and you brought newton hopkins is not 25 anymore So what you're saying is the top power play unit shouldn't spend 90 seconds on the power play every time.

No, I would just say, what I would say to the guys is McDavid and Drysaw is going to get a full minute 45, right? Minute 50. We're going to run two units with them. The other thing it does is when you're 0 for 6, guess what? After a minute, three of the guys are coming off and it switches it up. Because everybody plays a little different. And Anaheim can't just, Anaheim right now, goes into the meeting room at the end, before every game, Kedley killers and go, this is what Emmington does on their power play because it's the same

five guys. Somebody figure it out. You know, actually what's funny about that last night is the Oilers actually modified. They got a hymn and a slot shot one timer from the high slot because of what Anaheim was doing, pressuring them. And the problem with Oilers power plays, you go, oh, we can shut them down because it's the same five guys and they do same thing. The challenge you have with the Oilers power play is they're so dynamic in what they do.

The challenge you have is you have McDavid and Dreis. said it's not that I don't like hymen and eugen Hopkins and Bouchard on the power play. Bouchard was the highest scored in defensemen in the league. So you just went from talking about not switching up the lines on five on five because they're not listening to us. Because they'll get used to each other and now we need to change the power play. You're not listening.

The point for me is it's also the rest of the game. Yes. It's a different look on the power play. It's getting more guys involved in the power play which helps their confidence. It's also Bouchard's playing 25, 27 minutes a game. never mind if you go into overtime. And if you remember, on the fifth goal that Anaheim scored for the winner, it was Bouchard that flipped it off a dry sidel skate.

Now, I know he's just panicking and shooting the puck. But I'm just saying, you're playing him two minutes on the power play. That's 12 minutes he spent on the power play. Never mind he's playing the number one minutes. The other thing that it does is by changing the power play a little bit, is you're keeping everybody involved in the game. I agree. The problem they have is you've got the number one power play ever.

Yes. And they score. six last night. But you're also getting everybody used to everybody. You know what this goes? If we're going to go down this path, Sean, this reminds me of the Detroit Red Wings when Scottie Bowman came along and said to Eisenman, do you want to lead the league in scoring, which he couldn't because Grexie and Lemieux were playing at the time, so he's always

third sister getting the bronze? Or do you want to go win a cup? So I'm asking you, do you want the number one power play in the league or do you want to go win a cup? I want the cup. Okay. So this is how we're going to go get it. It's not about everybody getting their points.

And if the power play was four for six, great. And they're still going to get that first minute, 10, minute, 20. But I'm saying if the whistle blows after a minute and five seconds on the power play, switch them three guys out. It's going to help you long term through the four-ball series. The other thing to build on Jay's point a little bit, and I hate doing this, but is, okay, so what does the second power play unit do? Does anybody know? Nobody knows because they're never out there. So how do you know?

John doesn't know right now. How does Anaheim defend that? They have no idea what they're going to do, right? And so by throwing out there a different look, you're creating confusion on the ice, where things just actually happen. You get guys involved in the game. When Drysiddle was out, you know, you go, are they even going to win a game? Are they going to get in the playoffs?

And then what happens is, well, now you have to play everybody. Everybody gets involved. Geez, in the first game, who did all the scoring? It wasn't Drysiddle and Connor McDavid. but it was a team. And so by allowing them to get in the game, you don't have a stretch where guys have been sitting for six or seven minutes. So you're actually getting more guys involved in the game.

Great point. This is what we're talking about. Actually, it's funny. What? It's a great point. I agree with you. Jay's attacking everybody. No, I'm ready.

It's a great point. The new studios got Jay fired up. It's a great point. See, sometimes I like disagree with Jay because I just like disagreeing with Jay and I like getting them worked up. But I look at, you know, what I code. keeping everybody involved is a very important point without a doubt and for the record it wasn't the bouchard giveaway that was the biggest problem in that game was actually the macdavid giveaway that was a way worse giveaway because bouchard panicked you're right and tried to show the way from the

best player who's ever played the game and in fairness if you look through any of the grates they have giveaways as well but i mean it's going to happen but that was a bad one that was a bad one absolutely i feel bad for bouchard uh at the same time to did he rush that Yes, are we putting it exactly where he was trying to put it, which was damn near up the middle as well, right? If I'm a defenseman, but going to Jay's point, is he overplayed at this point? I'm just saying, does he need 12 minutes on the power play when you go 4-6? The other thing for me is sometimes when you're coaching, you know, you got to coach within games. And, you know, you're 0 for 4.

I don't know. How about the last minute of the fifth power play? Let's throw Colton Dock out there. you can go stand in front of the net. And let's just change the look. And let's just throw pucks on net. You got six foot four Colton Dock who just loves to be banged around

standing in front of the net. Let's just do something different. Murphy's goal was, you know, the Oilers get into a problem where they looked for the perfect play instead of just putting the puck on the net. And a guy like Murphy throws the puck on the net and it goes in.

Because the goal he literally couldn't see it. Can we also go back to the Oilers are scoring, what, averaging what, four or five goals a game in the playoffs? and they're one-on-one. Right. So it goes back to my point where this is about winning the Stanley Cup,

not being the best power play in the Stanley Cup. In saying that, I have like Bouchard's play up until this point if we're going to talk about Bouchard, right? He's been defending. Well, he looks more like Bouchard last year in the playoffs without Echholm there, where he's seeming like he's starting to figure it out

from a defensive side. Shout out to Paul Coffey. So I'm actually not worried about the Oilers for the most part. Well, in real, we'll go back to what we originally said. So they scored four goals last night. McDavid didn't get a point and they went 0 for six in the power play. Yeah. Can that continue for a whole series?

Right. Well, if it does, they'll lose. Yeah, 100%. That's great analysis. If their power play doesn't perform and McDavid doesn't get a point, yeah, they're going to have problems, without a doubt. Lessons went on on the limb, folks. It's kind of like Jay talking about the Buffalo Boston series.

wave. You win the next two games. You win the next two games. You're not a problem. Just pointing out the obvious guys. That's why you come here for it. You know what I'm saying? You know what I be funny right now?

You know what to be funny right now? Boston wins the next two games and Buffalo comes back three wins. All I'm saying about the Oilers is I'm actually saying that I'm not worried about them because I think they're the better team. They're deeper. They've got all the guys that always take them a couple games. I think they got a path right to the Western Conference finals. Even if it's Vegas that gets by, I think the Oilers, that my,

my biggest fear with the Oilers is, you know, Florida got injured and powered out here in the third year. The Oilers have been to the Cup finals two straight years. No, no, no, no. In the fourth year, you're correct. That's right. That's what worries me about the Oilers. Do they have another run in them? The only thing is, the only thing is, is dry settle has just had a month and a half off.

Hyman has had three weeks off, right? So those guys are going to be a little bit fresher. Ingram had a whole year off. You know what? Can Ingram take them to the cop? That's the real question. This is the first year we haven't talked about goal tending for the Oilers. Because it's almost useless.

Like, what are you going to talk about? It's either Ingram or bust. I don't know. Does anybody think Jari's going to come in and all of a sudden be this amazing? Ingram did give up five goals and 25 shots last night. You go like he, he, but it's funny, it wasn't his fault. No, I agree. Like, I don't look at our goaltending and go, wow, it just sucks.

How many times did Skinner in game won against L.A. for four straight bloody years? I was looking at that Picksburg game last night. And you're just like, what is he doing? Like, this is, I'm watching him in the Pittsburgh. You're not missing Skinner. I'm not missing Skinner. So Connor and then hang on, hang on a sec.

I'm looking at that Picksburg game last night. Look at Hartman. I wish people could see Harrell's right now. I'm maxing and relaxing in the new studio. He's like, are we not? He doesn't have a shirt off. Are we not supposed to be comfortable in here? He's the old barn catty.

Leg out. What is your point, Harles? I wish we had video of this. If he's wearing shorts, his balls out of doing that. But Philly walks down, beats Skinner Glob's side, short side, in one of the goals last night. I went, yeah, no, that's a Skinner goal. Right. Like, I don't see that in Ingram, right? Ingram's not giving up those goals where,

uh, I'm like, he should have had that. Last night, they scored five and credit to him, but like, those goals weren't like, so bad goals. Connor Ingram is not going to win you a hockey game by himself, without a doubt. That's, that's like he, he has to be just solid enough. It almost reminds me, remember Chris Osgood and the Red Wings? Yeah. Osgood wasn't rolling in that stealing games. So is that who's Conringer is?

More like an Osge? God, I hope so. Because I hope he's just, hopefully he's just good enough for the Oilers to score more goals. So what you're saying is if the owners had like Vasilesky or Hellebuck or something, they just win the cup.

At the last couple of years, they might have. Is that the difference? I don't even know if you have to go to Vasilesky. Like, you just go up kind of even mid tier. And I think you're winning the cup. You got Sroken. You got any of those guys? Like, well, what was my biggest complaint about the Oilers the last two years was

goal tenning, right? Was Stuart Skinner? Well, not just for his dust. Not just yours does. Is it Picker or is it Skinner? Well, exactly. How many Stanley Cup? Last year we bounced between the two.

But Connor, isn't this somehow, like he's a middling goal tenor that hopefully makes enough saves and has enough game. But it's the first, hopefully is a middling better than Skinner. And once again, you go to, hopefully one of these guys doesn't get injured. In two games, he's given up eight goals. And our first complaint is in goal tennis. right now. That's all I'm saying.

We're not going, man, are you going to Jerry? Is it because it's useless to complain about it? No, it isn't. Because we talked about it last year. Who were they going to replace them with? Oh, exactly.

I understand, but last year we switched to pick her. We actually went to an HL goalie to get us to the Stanley Cup finals. If he allows four goals in the next two games each, like what do they do?

At some point, well, at some point, at some point, you're going to give Jari a shot. No. That happens. Do you go back to Pickard? Well, who knows right now? Bring him up.

They brought them up. Their three goals are up. Here's the thing is they might like you cannot continue to give up four goals a game at some point. You go, Sean, while it wasn't his fault, it's like, yeah, but but at a certain point, if you keep giving up to four goals a game. Right. So is that the goal tending or is that how you're playing defensively?

I think what Sean's saying is defensively they haven't been real great and I kind of agree if you look at two of the goals last night off the top. So are you immediately going to the goaltending or are you going, boys, we need to tighten the fuck up on how we're playing in our zone. The first thing you do is you talk to the boys about tightening up, but long term, if you keep up giving four goals a game,

it doesn't matter about the players on the ice. You're going to switch the goaltender because you have to. It's kind of like if the players aren't performing, who's the first one to go? It's the coach because it's the easiest decision to make. I know, but if you lose game three, four three, let's just say. Unless there is a blatant, like, awful goal that Skinner used to do, the wrap around,

can move side to side, everybody knew it. I think you're starting him again. I actually don't have the similar feeling at all. I don't look at going, holy man, our goaltending right now. Hang on a second. Skinner for like three straight years, four straight years we played L.A. You're like, holy crap, just make a save, man. Just make a save.

a little bit scary that your only option at this point is Connor Ingram? Just a little bit. Yeah, it is for me. I always wondered, I wonder to a kids were going, oh, we got rid of Jari and now we got Skinner. But what are you going to do about it dust? There's not much you're going to do about it. No, I realize that. No, I realize that.

That's what I'm not complaining about it because there's nothing you can do. That's what I'm saying is it's a little bit scary that you're, your really only option is Connor Ingram at this point. Where was he planning at the start of the years? We're beating a dead. That horse has been beaten on. If you think one team that's down in this, final question, I guess, because we've been rolling here for a bit. And we've shamed Harley into not draping his leg.

You want the leg back over again? I don't, I want you to be comfortable, Harals. Apparently not, Sean. I'm getting shamed over here. I never know who's peeking in the window. If you got one team that you think is, I mean, half the series. or 1-1. But what's one team you think could surprise everybody and win it?

But win the cup or win the round? Win the round. Win the round. We're speaking of rounds. I mean, I picked Utah to win, so I'm going to stick with my, I don't know, everybody seems like, you know, it's a 50, I'm still going with Utah. I would say Utah is an upset, though, right? Is Boston an upset?

Yes, because Buffalo is. Okay. Well, I'll stick with my Boston pick then as the upset. And I'm just going to go out on the limb. I don't know if they'll, I don't see them getting it done. But I think a team that has that possibility is Ottawa. I think if, if they start to click a little more offensively, they were right there in game two. And game one.

Yeah. I don't see, I don't see Montreal, Montreal Tampa is a second versus third. So I don't see that as a dark. Minnesota Dallas is too, too bloody close. No, yeah, yeah. Minnesota coming back. If L.A. would have won game two, it, that's a. tight series. It's tighter than what Dust thinks of this.

The problem LA's got right now is how do you, how do you come back when you can't score? It's a hard. It's a hard grind. Hard grind. Yeah, I agree. They needed to win that. When you're LA playing Colorado, you can't afford.

You need to squeak out those wins. You have to. You have to, because the margin of, to get the win is. And what do we know about the LA Kings? As the season drags on, they're another Pittsburgh. You know, Doughties not a.

Copa Tar is retired. firing. Right. And he's not the same player he was five years ago, but it still don't replace that guy overnight. Well, and Panarin's a kind of player that if you bang him. He's there for the power play. That's right. But I don't know.

Ottawa, to me, it's almost the same way, though. You're playing Carolina. You can't, Stutzel can't miss four chances. You got to, at some point, you've got to get that win. You've got to dial it in it. Well, they're going home, right? They're going to get a boost from that. Yeah, Ottawa and L.A. are in the same position.

But I can see Ottawa. wins the games that are close. I can see Ottawa turning it around where all of a sudden you go back to Carolina. Well, you're going to Halloween too, right? So there should be an immediate boost. Well, there will be. They're going to come out of the gates flying, aren't they? Yeah, I think so.

I almost wonder if Kachuk should have done that on home ice instead of game one. Right? Done it on home ice. But building would have went nuts. He might do it on home ice again. He might do it. The only thing is, is if you're Carolina, are you taking them up on it? You know what?

If I'm Carolina and you think Kachachan wants to. to do that do you dress deloree yeah he won't he won't fight deloree though no no i'm saying you know what i'm carolina coach i'm gonna okay kachuk you want to be the guy you're gonna fight our guy this time not our captain a second time so our fourth line's gonna start

so you want to fight in your first shift here's your guy and if i'm carolina what do i got to lose because deloree's not going to get his butt beaten that bad or what happens if deloree takes kachuk down with the stage that stalls at in his career? Do you take that fight just to get Kachukh out of the game for five minutes? I don't think I need my third line shutdown guy who penalty kills my captain

of the team, fight Kachukuk a second time. I agree. I agree. The only thing I don't know if Kachuk actually wants to be with him. The only thing is, to counter your point, does not Carolina have to submit who their starting lineup is before Ottawa does? Sure. Yeah, so if you see. But Kachukuk isn't fighting.

For shift, he's doing it to set the tournament. He's either doing it first shift or he's not. So I'm just going to call his bullshit. That's all I'm saying to you guys. If I think he's going to do that on home ice, I'm starting my fourth line. If he doesn't or he doesn't start, then it changes the momentum of the game. So what's funny about that is Kachuk's done that twice in the last year, once at the Four Nations, and once at game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they lost both games. So do you care?

They didn't lose Four Nations they lost. That's when he did. Four Nations. That started the Olympics. Four nations. Both Kachukes fought, four nations. That was the first time Canada U.S. played, wasn't it?

Four nations, they played and... They didn't do it in the finals. They did it in that game. Yeah. And they won that round robin game. That's right. That was the round robin game. That was the round robin game.

They lost. Both Kachucks lost. And Canada lost that game. That wasn't the finals. They did it. Great point, Dust. Great point. This is the expert analysis.

No, no, no. No, no. He just did it in game one and they lost. So he's one of them lost. So he's 50-50. Yeah. I got to go back and look at four nations. I thought it was in a game they lost, but I guess I'm wrong.

No. So who you, so I'm saying Ottawa. You too? I don't say, I know. Harley saying. No, I said Boston. No, I said,

Hart's in Utah. So that leaves you, L.A. You get. Yeah. Well, you go through the series. Make a case for L.A. Well, what do we know? Okay, sure.

Make a case for L. What do we know about the L. Kings. They are a tough out. And, you know, you look at their goal differential walking in the playoffs, one of two teams with a negative goal differential. You think it's going to be a cakewalk for Colorado. I bet you Colorado thought it was going to be a cakewalk. And what do the LA Kings do that the Emmett-toiler fan knows all about? They make life frustrating. I don't think they, their whole goal is to win two-one games. They are going home. They're going home. They're going to get a boost from that. It's Copatar's final season. You don't think they're going to try and

find a way to knock off the Colorado avalanche. And I thought Colorado is probably the same way we thought about damage in longers for so many years. They're going to walk in. They're going to blow L.A. out. And L.A. is a disciplined, frustrating team to play against. And as long as they get decent goaltending, which they have, they could win game three. And if you win game three, you're never out of it until you're losing on home ice. Well, and you just got to make the playoffs. Anything that happened to the playoffs? And we've seen that before. And look at all the talent they got. How many times have we went, holy man, Kampi.

Kampi is, Oiler fans know this better than anyone else. We played against that guy. Four straight years and four straight years, he is the most dangerous player on the ice in any series that we've watched. He was more dangerous than the Amminton Oilers. Eminton Oilers had to score in the power play. Kempay was scoring at Will it felt like. Can he do that against Colorado?

Sure he can. So here's a question. You brought up Kopitar retiring. How many of the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to retire after this? this year. What's over under? Out of their four players, well, Crosby's not. And I don't think Carlson will for sure. Letang and Malkin, I don't know if they retire or if they start to blow them out the door and maybe have one more year left in them to try win a cup somewhere. I'm not sure.

So either think zero out of the four? I think zero. I think one. What's their call? Anybody not a contract? Malkin might be done. Just, you don't, speaking of goal tending. So Colorado right now is winning with a.

rear backup goaltender. I wasn't happy about that. They started the backup. Who's been the backup? Did you see the interview with Bednar when they just had a quick interview before game one? No. And somebody pointed out,

how do you feel about Wedgwood having his first ever playoff start? And Bednar was like, really? I didn't actually know that. Okay, so Crosby's got a year after this. So he's obviously coming back. If again, Malkin is up, Uh, so Malcolm could retire.

Melkin could retire. And then who are the other two we were talking about? Latang and Carlson. Latang's got two more years after this guy. He's not retiring. And Carlson? Carlson's got another year after this as well. I think you're more what you more see.

So Melkin's the guy in question. Does he resign somewhere or with Pittsburgh retired? He's not resigning somewhere else. But the rest of the guys, do you start to see? Like, you know, I understand Crosby wanting to be a career paying one. I could also understand Crosby saying, you know, If you could slide me to Colorado for a year or two, that would be a lot of fun. The other thing with the other thing with, sure.

And what about Latang going to a guy, you know, back to Montreal for a year? The other thing that I think about with Malkin is the same thing I think about with Ovechkin, right? Does some of these guys just want to go home and go play a little bit in Russia, go have a year or two where they're... Like Sean wanted to come back to Hillmont. So, so Yager actually, Yager actually. Yager actually did that. One a cup. On a cup.

Yager actually went back to the Czech Republic. And then he actually was good enough he actually came back to the NHL for a couple years. But they also played until he was 50. I know. Yeah.

Is he still playing? I think he might be. No, he ended up selling his team. Did he own the team he was playing for? Yeah, he owned the team. And he had a contract sign. He had to play at least third line minutes. And then.

Signed by himself. I think he sold, I think he sold the team six years ago. He ended up playing until two years. ago, but I think he is now officially done. I just look at someone like Malkin. Do I think he'll go play in Russia after he's done in the NHL? Yeah, the question is, is he done in the NHL or not?

And it's got to be close. It's got to be close. Malkin's close. I agree. Well, and if you're one of those players, right, if you think about it from a Russian's point of view, right, do I want to raise my family as American or do I want to go home and raise, get them to experience some of what the, so here's a Russian. Here's my big call for the day.

What I predict happens next year is a Vetchkin signs a one more year contract with Washington and Malkin signs a one year contract with Washington. They play together. I wondered about that actually. Is one more year the two of them and that's it? Where are they playing? Wow. In Washington.

Vetchin's not leaving Washington. That's my call. I can see. Malkin goes Washington. Malkin goes to Washington. And that means Crosby goes to Colorado. Well, I think Pittsburgh's, if Pittsburgh loses four straight to Philly here or loses in five, I think are Malkan and Novetschkin not close?

I don't know. Countrymen. I mean, you go back to the world. Countrymen. I think it would be a cool story. I don't have any inside information. It's kind of awesome. Yarmor Yager at 54 years old, suited up for six games this past season.

December 21st was his last game, 2025. So he actually played this last season. And his recent interview, it said he's likely over due to the physical grind, but he's not officially retired yet. So is that like when Jay came out of retirement for that one game with the hit? 54. His 30, his 30th career professional season. Just throwing that out.

That's crazy. Still got it. Still got it. I mean, yeah. The Pittsburgh penguin. Previous. previous predictions Jay loses

because he picked Calgary so we'll carry on what's the next prediction for this next coming week here what are you talking about I picked Calgary you didn't listen to the first brothers round table that you said you could make

and we scheduled around your schedule and then you didn't make we chose Calgary for you some of us some of us work two jobs guys I think the prediction was who was going to make the playoffs out of the teams that were on the

bubble and you pick Calgary. Yeah, that's tough. And they were on the bubble. Yeah, and they didn't make it. You know, I don't know, I probably would have picked one of the teams that, you know, my biggest surprise and got to be the biggest disappointments out there is got to be the Detroit Redwicks. No, I was going to say, yeah, Detroit is.

Like, if you're there, if your eyes are been sitting in that seat, you put together this team that after the Olympic break was up by like eight or nine points in the playoff spot. and to absolutely lay naked like that. Can I just say, maybe you should have came to the first one because we discussed this in the first one. Fair enough. So here's another question.

We're talking about retirements. How close are Kane and Taves to retiring? Taves is talking about it. Taves has got to be done. But Cain's got to be awfully close too. Yeah, I think he might have another year again. He might keep doing the Cory Perry thing until it's a... Well, Kane plays a game that isn't getting run into over and over and over again, right?

That's true. He plays a skilled game. The guy who's impressive that plays that kind of grinder role is Corey Perry, that he's still going, right? Because he plays a muck it up game. He's in. And Brent Burns. And Brent Burns, yeah.

On the back end. I thought we were going off our picks for the first round. Are we still just relying on that for? Yeah, but that could still be another like 10 days. Well, I mean, in a week's time. You could have possibly five more games. So what are we going off? At least 10 days, dust.

I don't know. That's a good question. What do you want to put predictions on, boys? Well, my biggest disappointment of my picks is Pittsburgh. Because I had them. Yeah, so did I. Harley's saying the next week, you dorks. So are we picking for most of the series game three?

Who's going to be up? Who's going to win game three? Sure. All right. Well, you got Sabres and Bruins then. Boston, baby. Boston. I'm taking Buffalo.

I'm taking Buffalo, too. I'm taking Buffalo. Ooh, dust already. I like it. Okay, then you got Ottawa at home against Carolina. Ottawa gets a big win in game three. I'm going to agree.

Carolina. I don't think Carolina's going to sweep, so I'll go Ottawa. I still think Carolina wins in five or six, but. Philly game four. Philly sweeps. Philly does the unthinkable and sweeps.

Philly. So disappointed with Pittsburgh. Philly. Philly. Well, then I'm going to find a way that they bring it home. Picksburg, prove me right. Give me one. Who am I missing from that side, boys?

Tampa Montreal. Tampa Montreal game three. In Montreal. I'm taking the Montreal Canadians at home. I'm going to take Montreal as well. Dust is weird. go to Tampa Bay. I picked him in the draft. I better support them. Tampa Bay.

Then we come to the West. You got game three of Vegas going into Utah. I'll go Utah. Utah as well. I'll go Vegas. Oh, man. I'm going to take Utah. At home, first time playout, that place is going to be buzzing. and they score one. Man, all the energy there. That'd be a fun place to go check out a game, wouldn't it?

Utah. With the Zameth? What's the Zamoth? You haven't seen the Zamath? Oh, my goodness. Come on. You've been living under a rock or what? This is who you come for your hockey inside, folks.

He doesn't even know what the Zameth is. They took their old Zamboony, deconstructed it, and built a mammoth on top of a Zamboony. That looks like a transformer. That you can actually carry people in. Yeah. It's not, yeah. Sounds great. We'll stick in the same division.

Emmington, Ementon, Anaheim game three. I'm taking Eminton. I'll go Anaheim. Edmonton. I'm going to say McDavid's got to come off the rocks here, so I'll go Emerton. I think Evanton needs one more scare to get them fully engaged. It's possible. You go to Colorado, L.A.

I guess, you know what? L.A. is going to find a way, aren't they? I think L.A. Colorado, I think, is sweeping. You know, my heart cheers for L.A., but I think I could see Colorado rip, speaking of which, all of a sudden being like a 5-1-6-1 game. I'm going to go. I'm going to go Colorado.

It's a lopsided series, Jay. No, it hasn't been dust, but I could see Colorado erupted. Which leads us to game for Minnesota, Dallas. There's Minnesota ties it up. I'm going to go Minnesota ties it up. Minnesota ties it up. Are you going Minnesota? Shawnee.

You're going Dallas? I think it's the tightest series there. I think I'm going to be in agreement with the brothers. Minnesota ties it up. There you go. Boys, thanks for doing this, hopping in. We're here once a week, folks, where we give you all the great insights of hockey

and some poor takes probably in there as well. Thanks for doing it, jents. We'll catch up to you next week.