Shaun Newman Podcast - #838 - Brother's Roundtable

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

The brothers are on talking all things NHL Playoffs. Cornerstone Forum ‘25https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone25/Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcastSilver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionWebsite: www.BowValleycu.comEmail: [e-mail] Use the code “SNP” on all ordersProphet River Links:Website: store.prophetriver.com/Email: [e-mail]

All right, welcome to another Brothers Roundtable. We are short Dust in this week. It's just as good because he won the silver coin for last week. We're going to listen to him. Yeah, so we don't have to listen to Dust. So throw all your texts in about Dust. Just a caveat on that. I mean, he went six for eight.

As two other of us went six for eight, he won where who scored more goals in the Tampa Bay, Florida game. So, yeah, wow. He picked seven, I pick six, or Jay Play picked four. obviously getting... Obviously, the goaltenders didn't show up that game. Obviously not. No, well, you know what? I went 5 for 8.

I pick... You know what? I picked New Jersey to have an upset too. And I've watched the first two games, and I've been like, oh, man. Like, they're going to need... Oh, they're upset. Yeah, that's right. Okay, before we get into anything sports, I thought this was cool.

So Jay has it... Jay just walked in. Okay, so T-bar, right? So to the listener who doesn't know, Harley and Jay and Daddy O'Numan run T-Barr 1 trucking here in Lloyd Minster, and they have sponsored the T-ball jerseys for this year, and they just came in. Look great. They do. Yeah.

Wish I could go back and play a little T-ball, hey? Yeah, I know. I was showing Casey them last night. He's playing soccer, not T-ball. He's like, well, do I get one of those? I'm like, well, yeah, no, not really. So shout out to Donna Baby, too. She turned those things around in like, it was a crazy amount of time.

Less than a week. You know, like you think about that. The lady is pretty cool. And then here, here's one other thing. So anybody who goes into Rectech or Profit River makes a purchase. I don't know how Profit River is doing it just yet. I literally got this given to me this morning. So I got to iron out some details on getting the messaging right.

But Rectec, when you make purchases at Rectec, you're getting one of these little pocket knives. I mean, it's a little, you know, it's a little bigger than a pocket knife. It's not the tiny one. I always think of a pocket one being like super tiny. It's a nice, uh, it's more of an actual knife. Yeah, Kirschild, take a look at that, Jay. Well, and the reason he likes it, it's got a little SMP on it too. So he says Prof.

River and Rec Tech, and then it's got SMP. That's right. So does that mean you've made it to the big time now? Well, that's what I, I was saying to Al this morning, I'm like, I, you know, when you start the podcast, you never think your, your logos, I don't know. I don't even know. I remember the first time I put it on a shirt. and I felt kind of awkward with it.

And now to see it on a knife, I'm like, that's, that's, that's pretty, pretty sweet. That's actually a really nice knife, actually. Yeah, he's sliding in. I should also mention folks that Cornerstone Forum is coming up real fast. We got a brief extension on tickets for, with meals. So that goes into that week. Who's your big three? Like, who's the guys you're excited about everybody?

I know you want to plug everybody. But is there a couple names you're really excited about? Okay, Martin Armstrong is in person. Martin Armstrong. Remember when you, it was you two Yahoo's. Yeah. I'm going to introduce it. I'm working through my lines right now, but I'm going to introduce it something to the fact of we're sitting in Harley's townhouse.

I was invited over for the first Michael Campbell, who I get to sit with next week for the first time. And this Armstrong character comes on, and I'm like, who is this guy? This guy is something. And, you know, you fast forward, it was probably about a year. And I got to have him on for the first time. And him saying, hey, Sean, how's it going? I was like, this is surreal. Now he's been on almost once a month, you know?

And I guess the shocking thing for me with the forum is last year I wanted him in person. He told me no. He wouldn't come to Canada. And this year, I was a dog on a bone. I'm like, you know, I really like Martin Armstrong to be there in person. And so people ask me all the time. Is Martin actually coming? I'm like, yeah, Martin is actually coming.

And he's going to be live leading off the show. first person on stage right now as it sits which can always be changed if a couple things happen in the background but right now that's the schedule so that's super cool um and then tom and alex coming back is super cool right like those guys coming in from afar is really cool and the the wild card that i wanted last year because he changed my mind on evs is chase barber he's edison motors right and um like all the speakers i'm excited for you you know all the speaker everybody knows all the speakers, but you're narrowing it in. Chase Barber was a guy invited last year and couldn't make it.

So he's driving up. I've been trying to, you know, you should bring up one of your rigs, which might be a long shot, but you never know. I think it'd be cool to have an Edison Motor semi there. So people can actually see it. That would be actually really cool.

Yeah. But their demand right now is insane. Like, you know, the solutions in a world full of problems, roundtable with him and Kaelin Ford, like Kailin Ford, I went to give her class, charter school right here in Alberta.

Tried to give her a free booth. Hey, how about you have a booth and set somebody there? So if people are interested in want to go talk, she's like, honestly, we had to decline. I forget what the number is. I think like 1,700 students because they just can keep up with demand and they're only expanding it at a certain pace. She's like, we're over, we literally can't take any more kids right now. And I'm like, what a, what a problem to have, right?

Edison Motors seems to their weight is like insane. And that's, and that's semi, electric semi-trucks? but it's other it's dual are they driverless or do they need a driver still no no no no it's still driver they it's a hybrid

it's a hybrid yeah they take old trucks because you can't do with the new one because the too much electronics so funny so they they retrofit old trucks from like the 70s and 80s into a dual diesel

electric hybrid so like do we get something here for giving them a plug that also You're welcome, Madison. So anyways, tickets are on sale for that. Oh, and by the way, just as a final plug of Martin Armstrong, one of the reasons he's, one of the reasons,

is because he's called different things that have happened in the past, like the 87 market crash and Russia, Ukraine War and different things like that. And one of the things he said is that Canada will break apart by 2032. So just throwing it out. Sooner than that, I believe. That was the original call, though. was by 32. Yeah, and when I asked him about that,

I'm like, well, what's going to make you something like that? He's like, I don't know. It could be something just like tiny. And I'm like, you know, the longer it goes, the more I'm like, it could be just something like that you cannot even possibly for sea coming and boom, it all goes. I mean, we all start. We all look at Carney getting in and we all think, well, I mean,

because what are we, how many days are we away from that now, folks? Four days from a 12-hour live stream. I should probably plug that too. We're going to be on air 12 hours. So now all of your core listeners, for the round table are absolutely disgusted right now. Because they're waiting for something to do with hockey

so they can scream at the radio. If they watched the other game last night, they're like, we know why they're delayed. We know why they're delaying. Am I right in saying, okay, take that all aside, April 28th, noon, Mountain Standard Time, 12-hour live stream,

Me Too's and a whole whack-a-guess. Coming to the other game, like, you watch it last night, and the talent is there, right? You look at their lineup. You're like, the talent's all there. And we all look at Atcom not being there. And you go, yeah, get it.

You look at Skinner and, you know, right? Like everything. And you go, Skinner hasn't been playing. Kane's first game. Well, I actually thought actually played quite well for being his first game and not playing in over a year. I thought he was effective in what he is good at. But just all I get at is chemistry.

When you haven't been on the ice, you can go stick cattle around a pylon as much as you want. It doesn't mean you're not in shape. It's just the chemistry. We watch their power play, which they were talking about last night, hasn't been on a, you know, doesn't look right. Well, yeah, they look awful. And meanwhile, you watch L.A. L.A. looks like world beaters. and the thing that DeBraske and them keep commenting on is how many, like, few games L.A.'s actually missed with their guys. Their team has been a team, and they look like it. They just looked like they got a chip on their shoulder. I mean, you give Kempay two shows. Two looks.

The second one on Pickard, you're like, that was a nice shot. But the first one, I'm like, that guy, you want to give no time in the slot. He gets to have a cup of coffee and just put her home. Like, it just looks like the oil is out of sync. And when I look at how many man games they've lost, the fact that Keynes in his first game, the fact that Leon and Connor didn't play that much towards the end of the season, all these things just, it's like they're all really good. At times you can see it.

But most of the time, they just look discombobulated. Am I wrong? When I think of playing Nunar, right, and you and I are both defensemen. Jay's played enough defense here now over the last. But if you're coming down on a two-on-one, you've got to know who you're up against as that defenseman. Correct? Correct. So you see Kempe coming down the side with the puck.

There is no way I am letting him shoot that puck. He is too good of a shooter. I am forcing the pass every time when Kempe gets. gets the puck. It's the same as Byfield. Byfield is a good shooter. Both them guys, I will not let shoot. And so if they get the puck, you got to be on them. Like, those guys should not be getting any easy shots. And to allow them to go walk in and just rip the puck home, especially from the slot, like, those guys are going to pick any goalie apart. You know what I just realized? I noticed in the last few years at Noonar, every time I get a two-on-one, I've got the puck, nobody ever

comes to me. So does that mean that they'd rather have me shoot the puck? Is that where you're telling me right now? Well, when you watch, when you watch Leon and Connor, they look for each other all the time. So if I was the defenders on LA, you go, are we going to stop Connor McDavid every time? No, but we're going to keep them to the outside because Connor wants to do his circles and everything else. What do they keep talking about? Look at how great the LA defense has five guys on top of the goalie. As a defenseman, I think, the goalie can't see shit. So let's just start skating to the middle and throwing the puck on net and crashing it. Now there's just traffic and chaos. but that's not the oilers.

The oilers are that backdoor tap-in type hockey. They're one goal they scored last night, shot from the point, looking for the tip, and then it goes. I look at LA's first or second goal, whichever, where they took the shot from the point, missed the net, bounces out. Like, that's what the oilers should be doing, is getting the puck to the net, looking, all the goals they've scored right now are all like puck on the net, rebound, they bang it home. There hasn't been one like, well, I guess maybe dry settles there last night, right? And to answer Jay's question, yes, you're a passer. And you've gotten better at shooting the puck. So now you have to, right?

But you should, all these guys are professionals. You should know those tendencies, though, right? All these guys know, they played this is the fourth year. Kempay, all four years has been the guy that if you're an oilist fan, you're like, I'd take that guy in a heartbeat. Because every time he gets a chance, it's in the back of the net. He's cold his ice out there. And you're like, that's the one guy you don't.

want to let alone. On the entire LA case. I agree with both you. I agree with everything you're saying, but I got a different take on it. Okay. So you go to game seven last year in the finals. And so there's certain guys that are known as playoff performers, right? There's certain guys that score 100 points in regular season.

And Jeff Skinner hasn't made a playoffs in 15 years. But you replace Warren Fogel with Jeff Skinner. Right? You replace Dylan Holloway with Victor Arvinson. you replace you're replacing these guys and then you're wondering why we the intangibles are gone well warren fulgo was a guy and when it comes to playoffs he's a big strong fast guy right and now a 22 two two times two goals actually actually what i was going on jays point here one of the reasons why la's penalty kill is so good is partly to do with warren fogle who you just got rid of and

why does emminton also suck you got rid of warren forgo well well I'm just saying you were game seven of the finals. It should have been a minor tweak, and instead you ship out like two of the guys on Ford, forgetting about the defense for a sec, is Warren Fogle and Dylan Holloway, who maybe aren't 100-point guys, but they are physical, fast, big, strong, younger guys. Both having career years this year. And they are. So if you bring them in and you don't bring in Skinner and Arvetson,

where do you think you are right now against the Kings? And I, you know, so then you, like, I can't believe that after last year you go to game seven, was there not just one or two tweaks they needed? A, they didn't even need to do anything over the offseason. Bring everybody back. You can make a change at the trade deadline if you have to, maybe one in the summer. But I don't understand. And I think they're paying for that because now they've got guys in the lineup. I went and watched Jeff Skinner live there at the end of the year.

And he had a couple chances in close, put one off the crossbar, put one through the crease. You get them in tight. He is wicked with the puck. He's a very nice skater. He won zero battles. The one thing I think of when you're talking about some of these guys, right, is penalty kill-wise. Eminton looks slow out there. They're not getting after the puck.

To me, in the same fashion, they look like they're standing around too much and allowing the time and space for five forwards. Keep in mind, why doesn't every other team in the NHL run five forwards? Toronto runs five forward. Okay. But why doesn't every other team? Because you usually like to have one defenseman back there. And why is that? For two reasons, I think.

One, which is the point you're trying to make that in case there's a breakdown, you still got an actual defenseman out there. Two, I also think defensemen are used to breaking the puck out of your own zone a little more. Now, they've decided to go with five forwards because in their mind, their whole breakout is skate it up and drop it to their best stick counter fastest guy. And so they went, wow, we really don't need a defenseman. So if you're Edmonton right now, if I had the speed, I would be immediately like, it's got to be pre-thought out obviously. But as soon as one of the defensemen goes and turns

over the puck, it's almost like get a set play and they're flicking and that top guy is immediately skating because forwards are you got to you know what I mean like there's got to be a way you know what harles I understand what you mean the problem with with what you're saying a little bit is most of the guys that penalty kill have been trained and structured to penalty kill and that jumping at the right moment is not something that's easy to teach no most guys don't feel that like you can't just walk and dress from say this is what we're going to do like so you take you take it a noon hour I find an interest if you ever watch dave play right small dave when there's a breakdown in the defense in his own zone where it looks like not a breakdown wrong way but a breakdown where it looks like his guys are

going to get the puck he's gone and if you watch very very few guys do that but he's already anticipating the play and that's why he gets so many pucks up at the red line it's not that he's playing at the red line but he's anticipating that but you could walk in a dress room and you could tell all the guys there this is what we're going to do and other guys would stand at the red line you'd be like no, no, you got to come back. They don't anticipate that. And so the problem is, you could do that with what you're saying with McDavid. Probably Nugent Hopkins would understand that

a little bit. But some of them guys like Yannmark and Connor Brown and them guys, they're there. They get paid to penalty kill and prevent goals. The only thing is Yanmark is a fast cater. So he wouldn't have to... Yeah, fair enough. But Nuge does play a lot, awful lot in the penalty kill

too, right? So... A couple things. Okay. So you go the body's in, the body's out. Okay. Right? But I think it's bigger than that. It's bodies and it's also just your culture of your room. It's your... To me, it looks like L.A. right now is playing playoff hockey and the Oilers, like you say, from numerous reasons.

One, they threw in a whole bunch of new guys and got rid of a whole bunch of guys. They've had injuries, so they're trying to get cohesiveness there. But they don't look like they're playing three, two games right now. No. Okay. So anytime this used to be the opposite way, this used to be a year. this used to be a year ago. Or there's got a power play, you're like, we're scoring.

Like, we're that good, right? We're 40%. We're closing in on 50. We're one out of two, we're scoring. So you're winning games for two, and you're getting two power play goals, right? That's kind of what it is. Last night, okay, and a 6-2 loss, Kings, 60%. They were three for five on the power play.

And they look at, this isn't like, you know, their power play so-so. Their power play has looked dangerous for the last three years. And right now, it is running at a crazy pace. The first night, 40%. They were two for five. So a little, yeah, 40%. And Oilers, 0 for 2 on the first game. And last night, 0 for 3.

And at no point, yeah, have they had a couple chances? Okay, a couple. But normally, they step in and they keep the puck in the zone for two minutes. And you're yelling at them to shoot, but then they go backdoor to dry selling goes top shelf. You're like, all right, I get it. I get it. I get it. You're the number one power play in the world. They don't look like that anymore. They don't. It's, it's, it's, they're just, that's a huge chunk of it. And then, and then, and I have all the time for Stuart Skinner because I'm like, he took us to the Stanley Cup finals. I get it. It's in there. But we've been talking about this for four years now, that the LA Kings do the wraparound and Stuart Skinner looks just slow. He just, it's like he can't move. For four years we've been talking about this. And what did the LA Kings start doing again? That lateral movement and he sucks. He beyond sucks at lateral movement.

I do not get it. This superstar NHL goalie and his, like, I mean, it's abysmal, right? Like, I mean, he was laughing last night when he made the catch and all the fans cheered and he kind of gave it a wave and he's laughing. He's like, buddy, they're laughing at you right now because you're getting lit up. Like, I mean, am I wrong? Goaltending power play. Take all the other stuff because we can't do anything about the bodies.

They're going to bring in cane. They're going to pull a cane. They're going to do this. We're going to do that. McDavid's going to be unreal. They're giving up six. game. Ain't winning jacks crash. So if they traded just for everyone's sake, they trade for John Gibson, who we know was available, and he was in their net right now, are the, are the, are

the Oilers split? Did they split in LA? Does it make a difference? Well, I mean that first game, I mean they tied it up. Now granted, would they have come as hard as what they did if they were down by only a couple goals instead of four, right? It's hard to say. Does L.A. relax a little bit Stuart Skinner in the first game, 800, say a percentage. Stuart Skinner in the second game, 821. So we're saying it would make a difference. It would make a difference. I would make a difference at this.

Okay, I wouldn't make a difference. I get lit up for more folks. Let's be clear. Let's be honest. Not in the net, but you would be out there hacking legs. Well, that's the other thing. I'm like, at some point, you either got a man up, and you've got to start doing something about the campaign

and the what's the other guy you mentioned? Byfield. Right, Byfield. They're giving them a little hacks. I'm like, and taking penalties for it. You're putting them on the back of the pot. That's what they want. When Byfield picks up the puck, you run him over. And if you're going to take a penalty, take a penalty. Yeah. Don't, don't, like, what's the podcoles him gets it for like, you know, like, that is a, that rate there is what they want. Henrique. They're in your head. Henrique. Cross-checked, a little hat flip. It's like, What are we doing here?

Like, get Jones out there. Get Cain out there. You want to go? I thought Frederick was supposed to, and I don't know if it's hurt. Frederick's been garbage. I mean, he, to me, he still looks hurt. Like, he doesn't look like he's skating. Then why is he in the lap?

I agree with you. Because his whole thing of bringing him in was this guy was going to drag everybody into the fight. He's going to run some people over and score the odd goal. I was what he was expecting more of a cane-like player, which he hasn't been. But once again, he's playing two games. LA, LA, 5 for 9 on the power play. So either you've got to stop taking penalties, or you've got to change something on the penalty kill that you're doing

because it's obviously not working. And more to where Jay's going with this, right, I don't know right now. To me, we always talk about this in Noon, right? Gole and defense winning games. And right now, Eminton's defense is terrible. They miss Ackholm because everybody else needs to be pushed down a level. Right now, your top defenseman, as far as time on ice goes, is Evan Bouchard, playing an average of 25 minutes a game. He played 27 minutes that first game.

There is no way Evan Bouchard should be playing in 27. John would hardly say it is, are you going to win the first round series with L.A. has Bouchard's your number one defenseman. I don't think you are at this point. Well, shut her down. And the other thing, too, is, so the one backdoor tapping goal in that first game came cross seam from the point, down to the post,

and that was against Josh Brown. Josh Brown was the defenseman standing there that should have had that puck. You know how much Josh Brown played that game? Four minutes? Four minutes, 54 seconds. That was close. So out of, like, one of his four shifts that he had,

that's what he gets burnt on, right? Like, I mean, to have a guy like that in the lineup, and now he's costing goals, like, you can't have him in the lineup. If that's what he's going to play four shifts and he's going to give up a goal on one of those four shifts, that's terrible. Well, everybody's got to really sit back here and go, okay, what are we doing?

Well, so what would you do for game three? Right? We've ragged on them now for the first 20, well, you know, 15. I get it. Guys are saying, oh, well, teams are putting McKinnon and Nakesh together, and they put, you know, Matthews and Martin play together. Well, that's because they got Nealander and Tvers.

I think you run back where you put McDavid and Drys-Cidel separately. I like it when they're running separate and then you pick and choose. So, for example, oh, there's a minute left in the period. Throw them together. Right? There's a four-and-four, throw them together. You know, I'd like to see McDavid and Drystylidal penalty kill the last 30 seconds of the penalty. I'd like to see if you got five forwards out there, or maybe, depending on what L.A. was doing,

if they're running five-forage just for the first minute, minute, 10, how about you get a whistle after 30 seconds are gone and you put McDavid and Drysaddle out there to penalty kill the last 30 seconds when the five forwards are out there. I'd like more of that. And then you try and get more guys involved. So you've got guys that are scores. Like Jeff Skinner's a shooter. So throw him with McDavid and then throw somebody that works hard to help them guys get the puck. You know, give them Hyman, right?

Set up your lines. Throw Nuggen Hopkins on the wing with Drysidal and throw him with another score, whether it's Arvetson or Van or Kane. But maybe you put Kane then on the third line and you got Henrique Centering. it and let's build our best three lines and run them and run and then we'll use the fourth sparingly maybe this is a guy in the fourth line that can help penalty kill a little bit or something but then let's run um has jones played the first two games no no did when you were watching jones play this this reminds me of like two years ago what was the guy that went to detroit after he lit it up for some playoffs against l a actually and then now he's not in detroit anymore um

he played a season there you know who i'm talking about there was a guy two years ago Clem Coston Coston and you watched him in the playoffs and you're like man why doesn't he play more shifts yeah he's in San Jose now and then you know he's bounced around

so maybe there's something you don't know sure but you watch Jones when Jones played he was hitting everything I'm like he why isn't that guy needs to be injected like immediately I just throw him on the fourth line and now you got at least you got an energy line

like all that fourth line needs to do but he hits he hits and what I'll add to it is and he doesn't take penalties the problem with Kane, as good as he played last night, first period, what does he do? Yeah.

Takes a penalty. Yeah. What can't we do, folks? Take a penalty. Why? Because LA's power play is ungodly hot right now. Yeah. As a fan, you just watch it, you're like, they're going to score.

Like, I'm, like, that's, you're watching, they're going to score. Yeah. And bang, they score. Well, and I think with five forwards, the other thing I think about with five forwards is what do I like the most, time and space? Yeah. And so with the Oilers playing a pass of penalty kill, you put five forwards out there. Absolutely.

Copatar and Kempai and Kuzmanko, because Manco is looking unbelievable because he got time of space. If he didn't have any time or space, then all that's when things start to go wrong. Yeah, we're all saying the same thing here. Whereas you've got to change something. And if you have, like, on a power play where you don't have as much time of space, then you like the defenseman that shoot the puck

because then you're just trying to get to the point, get it on net because there's less time of space. Are you starting Skinner in game three? Yes. I don't think that they will, but I think I would. Yes. Interesting. Why do they put Pickard in for the last 10?

If they were going to play Pickard in game three, I don't think they would have brought him in at the end of the game. I think giving Skinner a bit of a rest, and that's the only logical way I can come to it in my own brain, is they're bringing him in because at this point the game is, and so they're trying to get him, allow him the rest, so that he's ready to go. I don't understand it after three.

3-0 after the first? 3-0-0 after the... Yeah, I think it was 3-0-0 after the first. Right, 3-0-0 after the first. Why didn't they just put Pickard in the start of the second? Because here's how I look at that. Let's say Pickard's garbage, and you lose 8-2. And you get to go back to Skinner.

You start Skinner in game 3, and you're coming home. What happened if Pickard was really good, and you win the game 4-3? Or 5-4. Then you start pickered? But now you're like, now why don't we do? because if we start Pickard in game three and he's not that good, now we're down three rip and you're pretty much done. See, and I wonder.

Now if you go back, like, again, sometimes things frustrate me because it's like we were talking about, remember two, three, no, it was like four years ago with Skinner, we're saying, bring him up, playing him a few games so you know what you got, right? And then you wouldn't have to sign the guy you signed. And it's the same thing here. Put Pickard in after the first. Then we see.

He's got two periods. The oilers start coming back. As my wife, if she was sitting here, would say, oh, you Newman's, you know everything to do. It's like, well, I don't think it's that hard. I mean, obviously you're getting paid big bucks, and there's money on the line, and there's contracts, and there's egos. But, like, Skinner is dog.

There's money on the line and everything else, but he let in three in the first. It's okay to go to Picard, and then if Picard's unbelievable, Skinner understands, and if Picard's not an unbelievable, Skinner goes back in game three. So what a coaches always say when you get into a point like this, and nothing seems to be working, go back to playing simple hockey, right? Get the puck's out, go bang some bodies, put the puck's on the net. And, I mean, it all sounds cliche, but I mean, there's a reason why, even at the NHL level, it still works, right? Get the puck to the net.

All of a sudden, they start getting the puck to the net. Then L.A. starts scrambling. Next thing, you get a couple of goals. Now they're reeling back a little bit. You score another couple. All of a sudden, it's a tie game. And I know that first game, like. How about we score the first goal?

Yeah, well, there's that too. Yeah. Hey, Sean, we've beaten this to death. Um, well, let's walk through, uh, let's walk, wait, I'd start Pickard. I think the reason why they put them in for the last 10 minutes, maybe I'm wrong, because I agree with everything you just said. And I can't remember, I was just trying to find if it was two nothing after first. I don't know why that's bugging me. It might have been two nothing after first. Doesn't matter. Two nothing up three nothing. At some point it's three nothing.

And, um, I wonder if they put Pickard in because it's five nothing and they're going to start Pickard in game three. And, um, they wanted to get a shot. or two on them to make them feel the puck and get in the series. I could be completely wrong on that. At this point, I go, Skinner's got probably the worst save percentage. Oh, it was 3-0 at one point, but it wasn't 3-0 until 10 minutes into the second. There you go. So we got guys yelling at us right now.

I know. You probably do. I just look at it. I go, I think I'd start Picker. I'm like, I mean, you have to try something. You have to try something to. To me, I think I think I've played for you while Skinner was out and played well. And at times, yeah, you can tell he's a backup goalie.

But this always goes back to my thought on the one goalie they had four years ago where he came in. And he was unorthodox. It was almost like at times you're like he's not going to save the puck. And yet he did. And what do we do? We want. And we always go back to Skinner. Skinner this.

Skinner that. I don't think that there would be another defenseman I would bring in. But I like the idea, actually, for the Oilers of going 11 forward, 4, 7D. And so maybe you're not doing the 7D. maybe you're still doing the exact same thing. Well, the L.A. teams did 70 last night. You're pulling one guy till the last two minutes of the game. This is only shift.

And maybe this is a Jeff Skinner, right? But he is literally on the bench, and you pretty much are running 11 forwards. But what does that do? That allows you McDavid and Drysadle to start touching the ice more than what they are? No, they're going to do the same amount. What it does is your 12th forward isn't there anymore,

so you don't have to worry about trying to get him ice stuff. No, but now you've got, which goes to. to Harley's point, then the guy replacing the 12th Ford is McDavid and Drysiddle. So they are seeing a little more ice. The other thing it does is it allows you to manage somebody like Jeff Skinner's minutes, which is also what Harley's saying, so that he's not out there as much. But when he is out there, he's out there with a guy like McDavid or Drysaddle.

That's right. Yes. I don't disagree with that. And then you've got seven defense because the bottom three can all take turns. Ah, crying out a lot. I'm hitting things and making noise. It's all right. All right.

All right. All right. And it's a little commercial in the back. Okay. Let's roll through the West. Winnipeg, St. Louis, start. Exactly what we thought. Close series.

Winnipeg's up to rip. Yeah. That's a good series. You know, no fault of St. Louis's. I think they've been in every game. They look good. But is Hellebuck the difference there? Like, Bennington's good.

But Hella Bucke's played really good. I've felt like St. Louis has deserved a better fate in the first two days. If Hellebuck was on the owners right now, would we be talking differently? Yeah, absolutely. He's the, whether you want to argue it or not, he's number one goaling in the NFL right now, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you put the number, if at Combs in the lineup, are we down two-all?

So, so if we put, if we put Skinner on the one-way. Are we one-one, one-peg Jets and Hellebuck on the Oilers? Are the Winnipeg Jets one-on-one right now? Probably. Maybe one, too? I mean, just, just look at his side-to-side on the wraparounds. It's just like, you know exactly what they're doing. I can see it from a mile line.

This guy's about to use a sweep and blow wine. In the first game, because Zamanko just both got it. I mean, it was a wide open wrap there. And then funny because it comes. I bet you a few times stamped over the four years they've played the LA Kings. How many times they've tried the wraparound on Skinner? You're just like, it's an insane amount. You never see it in the regular season and all something they wrap around.

You know what's funny? You know what's funny though? Is the announcers on that Kazmanko wraparound went because what happened was when he wrapped it didn't quite tuck it around the corner, right? So it came across the crease and it hit Skinner's pad and went out. And they're like, oh, what a great save by Skinner. Meanwhile, he had a foot there if he just tucked it. at home.

Skinner hadn't even barely moved. He just turned his pad and was coming the other way and it hit his pad. But anyways. Yeah. Anyways. If you have a bona fide number one goaling, and Skinner, listen, I think he can get it done.

It's just right now he's doing what he does every first round. So you look at it and go, you give us, you give us Hullabuck, we're better. Shesirkin, we're better. Ottinger, we're better. What are we talking about here? I just hate the hammer on this point, but it just feels like you're built. top heavy, meaning forwards. And so what do you do? You put all your money into

Arvetson and Skinner and forwards when you needed goaltender in defense. Dustin's been saying that for a while. And you know, you look at Washington last night. How good did Logan Thompson play in the third? Like, he was outstanding. Probably could have traded

for Logan Thompson a couple years ago. Probably could have. But they seem to miss it. Anyways, this is where I'm like, what did we pay? Are we ranting right now, Sean? Yes, we are. Dallas, Colorado. Dallas goes down 1-0 and now was rattled off two in overtime against Colorado.

A cool moment for Landisog last night. I thought that was, you know, like that was the last time he played was when they cup in 22, when they won the cup in 22. Yeah.

That's incredible. Yeah. And his first shift, he looked really good. I didn't watch that entire game, obviously, because I just find it incredible. Does not Dallas look like a team

that just can, like they're just in playoff mode. They're the exact opposite of the Oilers right now. It's a grind. you have some of the best scores on both sides of them teams like mckenon and mccarr on the one side and we're talking two one yeah four three games like if if if it if it was different if for some reason Colorado if they were split up in in the playoff bracket I mean I that series could be the conference final that's how good it's been yeah like Colorado is flat out flying out there but you got to score against Ottinger and Ottinger's phenomenal and then you go the other way with ranton and that cast a character Jamie Ben literally laying out everybody last night. They got Mason Marchman. Oh, my goodness.

Right? And they're missing their top defensemen. They're a miserable team to play against. They're a miserable team to play against. They're missing their top defensemen, but they still got Harley. Yeah. Who was, you know, when he got picked up by Canada, when McCar went out, he's going to be at the Olympics.

Like, Harley's going to be on the Olympic team. Well, imagine, so if Dallas can persevere and get through this first round and Heiskenen comes back, you have two legit number one defensemen where some team don't have one. Right. Right. Would the Oilers be different if they had Harley on them right now? Yeah. Sorry, Harrells. Not you, but... Well, they probably look a little different with me out there too. Well, they definitely would. Vegas, Minnesota. Minnesota is better than I think we thought. Yeah, and Vegas looks good.

I mean, there's times where I felt for them the last game because Vegas would carry the play for four or five minutes and then Minnesota will go down and score. But Minnesota with Boldie and Caprosoff have that quick strike ability, almost like the Oilers do with McDavid and Drysite. And I was, I was mentioning this to Jay the other day is what people forget about is Minnesota was top of the league and then Caprisov or whatever got injured and then one of their other top players got injured. And they were like they weren't out for a few games. They missed a pie. Presoff was 41 games. 41 games.

And then was a big. Boldie that got injured. I don't remember. There was two guys, two of their top guys, though, they got injured, and they were out for, like, close to half the season. And so for them to get themselves into the playoffs, like, they were one of the top teams in the league at the start of the year. And they showed a stat there that when Caprizov and Erick and X were out together during the regular season, they were 500 hockey club. They were 10, 10, and 3 or something. So that's 23 games, which is over a quarter of the season. And when them guys are together in the lineup, they are plugging away over 75%.

Right. Well, it just shows you all over again. You know, when we talked to the first one, is there anyone you know that you just watch and you're like, there's no way. Yeah. The better question is after the first two games of each series, is there any team?

And right now, the only team, to me, is New Jersey. And Emerton. Wow. And honestly, and Amington. Yeah, we'll think about that. Yeah. I'm thinking about all the teams, even if they're down to, oh, St. Louis, I think, has deserved a better fate.

I could see how you should have been one. And I agree with you. And if they're playing, like, I don't think Helibuck's going to give up on this. So I think Winnipeg wins that series like we called. But I agree with you. Like, St. Louis, if they're playing somebody else right now, right? They look solid. They're a good hockey club.

Yep. Well, we've already hammered away. And they were one of the actual, I think, since four nations, I think they were top team in the league going back to when Middington first came in. Well, they rattled off like 11 in a row. 1200 plus. 12 in a row. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Anything else on Vegas, Minnesota? I agree with. The Minnesota team has surprised. I think for me with Vegas, what's interesting is how well they're playing. And they also, so, you know, the Oilers, it's the excuse thing. Oh, well, and everybody was injured. And we haven't played together and everything else. Vegas has got guys, Shea Theodore, Mark Stone, guys that were injured,

hurdle at different points in the season. And they are out there. and I still don't think Vegas is firing on all cylinders and they still look good and if they But once again you go Theodore won the cup with them Stone won the cup with them They've kept the core together Yeah, Hurdle didn't win the cup with them I don't think

No hurdle's been their addition Yeah, it's been their addition But Petra Angelou Right but even some of their depth defensemen You know, they've been there for a while now Right and so they got a pretty good core there Well once again you look at their team You got tons of skill up from

But they're back end big, talented, and Aiden Hill in that, who, you know, like the year the Oilers lost them and Vegas went on to win the cup, it was, um, oh, the goal he used to play for the Oilers was playing for, I mean, got hurt and Aiden Hill came in. Breswaugh. Breswa. And Brousa, I'm like, we're going to win the series because the Oilers can beat that goal. Aiden Hill went in and took away all, like he's just a massive man.

Yeah. Right? Like, it's hard to score on that guy. As we saw last year, you know, like, it's not the easy. easiest thing to do. Jim Caprizov push Minnesota past them guys. He's a special player that guy. Yeah, he's fun to watch.

Yeah, he's fun to watch. On the east, Toronto, Ottawa. Hey, I love it. I call Toronto to sweep. So far, so good, two rip. Shea is extremely excited about it. My oldest, we drafted, and he got to, that was a fun night. We did the Don's Cups.

19th year we've done her family draft. That's correct. And had all the kids out, or the oldest. boys out, I should say. And Shea has not stopped talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs since. So he's watched every game of the Leafs, so just the first two, and checks that bloody thing all the time. And, of course, the Leafs scoring that much.

We're sitting close to the top. They just look, I just, you see Toronto and, you know, I mean, it's going to be a different animal once they get past Ottawa when they face, let's say Florida, but could be Tampa Bay, because that's going to be a step up. Yeah. But right now against Ottawa, they're just, Ottawa looks like they were happy to make the playoffs, they look young and they go, and they're going to learn from this. Yep, I agree.

100%. Tampa, Florida. For all the guys that have won the cup and been around on Tampa, wow, that was a beat down. I mean, they just, Florida came to play. Is age starting to catch up a little bit with Tampa there? Like, I know you're keeping your core and you're keeping your best players and, you know, you get an Ovi who's like turning 40 and can still play, you know. difference between, I understand what you're saying in Harle's, but what is the difference between

Tampa and Florida? Why is Florida winning six to two in that game? Why are they, what makes them a step up from Tampa Bay when you look at both clubs? Is it youth? Because I don't know if it's youth. No, no, but you lose a step and that's the difference. Is Vaseliski the same goaltener as he used to be? I have a Bobrovsky's no. I could be wrong, but I want to say Vaselisky has played the most games. in the last 10 years than any other goalie. Like you look at how far they ran in playoffs and whatnot. And so is some of that starting to finally...

You know what I think the difference is? And I think we just touched on it with the Oilers with Fogel and Holloway. Is Florida has gamers. So Sam Bennett's not a guy you're necessarily excited to get during the regular season for your draft. You know, Brad Marchand's a nice player. You know, even Matthew Kichuk, who is a superstar, right? But they've got guys that hit the playoffs and it's go time. And they are in your face and they want to win and they work hard.

And I just feel like I go back to the Oilers. The Oilers got rid of their guys for the playoffs to bring in regular season guys in Arvinson and Skinner. And Florida has slowly accumulated this. Yeah, they still have Barkoff. They're big star. But they've accumulated these guys that are gamers in the playoffs and that battle and stick up for each other and run over guys

and drag people in the fight. And they got a number one goalie. And then they're built right too. Number one goalie, once Eckblad's back here in game three, they got two number one D, right? Because they picked up Seth Jones. They're built for the playoffs, but they have them guys.

The best guy that the Oilers have, I mean, maybe Van der K.2, is Corey Perry, who's 40 for dragging guys in the fight. They had Warren Fogel and they let him go. So let's see if Victor Arvinson drags him into the fight. Washington, Montreal. Washington, Montreal. I'm sorry I haven't been paying as close of attention to some of these games because I've been busy.

Well, Montreal is played very well in that series. They have. And it's been tight. And like that, I believe that second game was Logan Thompson's game that he won. Montreal looks tiny. They look like a bunch of little kids playing a big man team, right? Tom Wilson going around. Protos.

Going around banging. Well, Protas is hurt still, though. They've been leaning on Montreal. And I keep waiting for Montreal to kind of like, oh, man. But they just beat around. Like, they're fun. I tell you what, they're fun to watch. Like, I've actually enjoyed watching the Montreal Canadians.

I thought it was interesting, too. They were talking about so line A there in the third period didn't see much ice. When they were down to one, St. Louis stapled them on the bench because of some of the misplays he had in the second. And they were talking that St. Louis, you know, I mean, you think of how he played when he was a player. He was a smart player, scored a lot of points. And he's got certain lines you don't cross on getting the puck out, how you move the puck to safe areas, how you back check. He's got his systems in place and you either play for them. And so all the guys there have bought into him with enough creativity to make them dangerous, they are a tough out.

And doesn't that surprise us? You know, as much as Minnesota surprised, that one surprised me. I thought Washington was going to... Well, again, I'll go back. So now let's do the... Because they got Montabo and Net, and he's played well. Why don't we do the comparison of the Montreal Canadiens of the Eminton Oilers? So if Marty St. Louis is coaching the Oilers, and he's holding everybody accountable and still

giving the freedom to make plays, I mean, are you trying to tell me that the Canadians' defense? I guess Lane Hudson is his next world as a rookie? But, I mean, are you saying their defense is that much bad? than the winners? Watching Lane Hudson, I don't go, wow, look at that guy. I don't. He's a good defenseman. Don't get me wrong, but I don't watch him.

I was watching the game last. I didn't go, oh, man, look at this kid. I didn't think that. I thought he was a solid defenseman. What I noticed about Montreal is how small they were last night. They beetle around the ice, but they work freaking hard. They work hard. And they get run over and they pop back up and they just keep going.

It's pretty cool to watch. They talk about that with St. Louis being at the helm. that everybody has kind of bought into what he's trying to do. And you see it with the entire team, obviously. That was the other point. I never did make, but the others also remind me of a team that went to the game seven last year, and they're waiting for it to be old to them. Like they just should win because we have McDavid and Dry Settle,

and we went to game seven, and we're a good team, and they're waiting for a team to just say, yes, here's your wins. And that's not how it worked. That's what the Leafs did for the last five years. Matthews and Marner and all them guys that show up to the playoffs and wait for the wins to come on because we're Matthews and Marner. And that does not work like that in the playoffs. And that's what the Oilers look like this year.

They don't look like they're going out there and grabbing the way. The boys on the bus, they talk about it, right? We all expected them to... Except they were making the Stanley Cup finals, right? No, I understand that. But the point I'm getting at is you expect the team that just wanted to be drinking champagne and partying and the whole bit and everybody's sitting on the bench with ice bags on them because everybody is banged up because that's what it takes as far as the effort goes.

How far are you willing to go and how far are you willing to push yourself? It's not because I'm the greatest player in the world and it's owed to me like Jay San, right? It's not that. They look like the lines, the oilers do right now, from past. The Leafs look like, and we're going to see once they hit a, but I mean, they're still playing Ottawa. Brady Kachuk's still out there banging. And the Leafs, Austin Matthews is hitting this year. The Leafs look right now

like they are starting to come around to where we actually just want to win. We don't care about who scores the goals. We don't care about leading the playoffs and scoring. We care about winning. And it'll be interesting to see. And that's what Florida has is a bunch of guys like that. And that's what L.A. looks like right now.

Carolina, New Jersey. Like you say, Jersey's missing their top player. And it shows. And Carolina, I think what happened is is Carolina lost like Pesci and they lost you know, they traded knee cash and then lost Rantin and there's just been

just a slight turnover there so everybody went, oh, it's Carolina and they're not quite as good and you go, and then you watch them play as a Red Redmondmore team and they're a pretty solid team. Is Carolina that good or is this New Jersey

just like, out of all the teams listed, New Jersey to me looks like the worst team in the playoffs right now. But to me, I look, No, I understand that, but other teams are missing other top players too.

And to me, like, there is no fight in much of anything, New Jersey. Like, they're out there and they're going through the motions, but I don't see really anybody banging bodies and the extra effort or nothing like that. To me, they very look, whole hum. Some of the games that I've watched with them in it, Anderson's actually played better than I think people thought he was going to play. And so I'm interested to see if they get through Jersey and

Anderson's healthy and the next series I've got to go to Washington, what that looks like. That'll be an interesting series. I think New Jersey's put up, like, I think they've been trying. I just think Carolina looks like a well-oiled machine and Brindamore has

everybody back, like them in L.A. would be something because they almost play a similar style, bang bodies, back checking, like making life extremely uncomfortable. And New Jersey is speed, skill, and, you know, missing the number one guy hurts, but there's speed and skill, right? And so, like, you know, that one shift in game one, it was like, one guy blocked a shot.

He was getting walked off. Another guy gets hacked by Markstrom. He's going off. Another guy falls on. He's going off. Like, they're just dropping like that. Jersey is missing some defensemen. Like, they're missing.

They listed three defensemen. They're missing other lineup. So they are short there. A couple other headlines in Crack and Fire, Dan Basma. Any thoughts, quick? I like the, I read the article on it and they said, does anybody think that Francis gave him the team that was expected to do really well? You know, like, it wasn't, it was a question of like he was given one year,

Dan Blasma had one year with the team. So what did he underperform? Like, did everybody have this idea that the Cracken were going to finish top three in the West? I still don't know, like, And Francis has stepped down from the GM role, and he's doing something else with the team now. And so I just don't know if maybe Ron Francis isn't the right guy at the helm as far as like you're saying, right? But correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Carolina hurricanes after Francis left then start to get better? Yes.

Under a new GM. Actually, you're Rick. And then he goes to Seattle and he builds that team. And it's okay. It's not that he does a terrible job. But you look at the team, you go, okay. Yeah. Well, that's about it.

Yeah. Right? There's nothing there that wows you. No. And so it's going to be interested to see. Now, the big question there is the first ever female assistant coach was brought up with Dan. So what happens, you know, does she stay around? What happens with her too?

Okay. This is probably the one I'm curious. Lou Lamarolo out of the Islanders. You know who they just replaced them with? Who? Um, the old older guy, Ken Holland. Ken Holland. No way.

I thought Ken Holland was stepping away. I, Ken Holland. How much does that irritate you, Sean? It does. You remember the argument on Dustin's 40th birthday? So that's what, seven years ago now? No, no, no, come on.

Dust isn't that old. Dust is only turning 46 this year. So he's actually 45 right now. Dust, a big shout out there, working hard. Six years ago, me and Dust got in a yelling match in the van in Vancouver over Ken Holland. thought it was brilliant. And what did it take us to? One game away from games away from winning game seven. And within a year of him being gone, the new management is absolutely started to dismantle this team. Well, I don't know. I just looked at Ken Holland's track record and sure you can look at

things in Detroit and go well. So if Ken Holland was in charge of the whole bit, does he have Holland and Broberg re-signed? Holloway? Yeah. Holloway and Broberg? Sorry. One or two for sure, if not both. Yeah, I think so too. I think he would have both in resigned. I'm not sure about Fogel because at the time it was a money thing. It's a money thing. But Holloway and Broberg, I think he would have had re-signed. I don't know if he would have signed Skinner.

Maybe if Arvison's out there, maybe he takes a flyer on him, but I'm, I, yeah. Skinner was a funny one for me because Skinner's a power play guy. And, you know, so maybe if you were, Arvotson's a funny one for me. I agree. Arvotson.

Both of them guys are. Arvotson, like, he's a nice player, right? He scores last night. But like, you, you, you picked, if you were watching the LA Kings, which we've done more than any team in the last four years, we'd all agree, Kempay.

And I would argue that Winnipeg got Aiafalo, I was like, ooh, that was a nice pickup. He was a hard, I was quite happy to see him disappear. Nobody was going Arvetson, right? There's a reason why L.A. lets him walk and picks up Fogel. Right? Like, and as an Oeders fan, we just know this.

You just watch the series, and you're like, you know, Arvinson's a nice player. Yeah. But he doesn't stir the drink, so to speak. Well, and you think Skinner is at times been a healthy scratch or a fourth line guy on the Buffalo Sabres who have not made the playoffs for 13 straight years. Like, that's the guy we're going to go replace Holloway with?

So now you got Ken Holland going into New York. I think he's stepping into another great situation there because I don't think New York's in a terrible spot. They're built from the net out. They've got a great goaltender to lock down. They've got a solid defense. It'll be interested to see how he gets along with Paddy Waugh. That will be interesting.

Yeah, that's... But in saying that, Paddy Wa has also taken his licks and didn't think that he would get a chance back in the NHL after he didn't get a call for how many years after his first coaching job. I was reading an article about him probably a year ago now, right? And he was saying he expected to be right back in after his first coaching job. And then when he didn't get it, like it kept being a knock on him. Like, why aren't I back?

Because he was hard to deal with us. I think his reputation was. And so maybe, hopefully he's learned from that and we'll see what happens, I guess, right? One final thing before they get to here. Old Poole party, old Yassie Pooley-RV is signed with the Florida Panthers. Yeah. And he can be eligible for game three. Really?

Isn't that interesting? Old pool party. Old pool party. What a terrible nickname. Gentlemen, so I am sitting here. I'm just going to let you guys know right now. So I picked Toronto to sweep, and I pick Carolina to beat Jersey. I did pick Tampa Beat Fort.

I'm feeling a little nauseous about that one right now. Like I'm going, hmm, that one might have got away from me. And I picked Washington over Montreal. And on the flip side, I picked Winnipeg. I picked Dallas over Colorado. I did pick Eminton and 5, which is not going to happen. and I'm feeling nauseous about that one too. Yeah.

And the Vegas, Minnesota, I think, is the most one up in the air that I go, hmm, that's interesting. Because in a seventh, like if CapriSov brings it, Vegas better figure it out here. You know, like, there's certain goalies that just look big, act big. To me, the one thing with Dallas, and the reason why I'm a little actually surprised with that, Ottinger is a good goalie. But to me, he's a very skinny goalie. He doesn't cover his corners. He's small and athletic. Yeah.

He's like seros. Yeah. Yeah. And so to me, I'm actually surprised at this point that Colorado hasn't done a better job with that. I think of when Dallas played Eminton. But you're acting like Ottinger is Pickard, Picard, Pickard, whatever. Yeah, I know. I'm thinking of potato.

He's a good goalie. He's a good goalie. He's a good goal. He's a good goalie. It's just surprising to me that... But Andger isn't a good goalie. Onder is top five, top ten for sure. Yeah, he'd be top ten for sure.

Right? He's elite. So he's a small goalie, but he is elite. Yeah, just like Serriles. Yeah. We're not talking old Picard there. We're talking... I got to make saves.

No, I know, but you also got rent or... I understand. You know, my biggest question before we shut this down is... How much more airtime did Harley get with Dustin out here? A lot. A lot. I could see the problem now. Yeah.

Well, Dust, we'll... We'll maybe see you next to you. We might have to have a little button that if Dustin gets going too much, we just press it and you can't hear him and Harley can talk. Somebody needs to go flip a switch at one of his wells there.

See you later, Dust. Nice. Thanks for hopping in, gentlemen, and we'll see you next week. See you next week.