Shaun Newman Podcast - #860 - Brother's Roundtable

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

I'm joined by Dustin Newman and Chris King for another addition of the Brother's Roundtable discussing all things NHL playoffs.To watch the Full Cornerstone Forum: https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcastGet your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionWebsite: www.BowValleycu.comEmail: [e-mail] Prophet River Links:Use the code “SNP” on all ordersWebsite: store.prophetriver.com/Email: [e-mail]

Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast into the Brothers Roundtable, although this is a weird one because Harley and Jay couldn't make it. We couldn't find a fourth unless he rolls in partway through. We got Chris King and we got Dustin Newman in here today this week. Gentlemen, Florida, moving on to their third straight cup finals. Your thoughts? Well, I took them in all three of my drafts last year and this year. Still breaking about the draft. They're a really good hockey team.

Like they're just a really good team top to bottom. In fact, I think they're better this year than last year because I think Seth Jones is a better player. They got Seth Jones. They got Brad Marchand. Yes. Like. when he said, like, they're the standard. They're what everyone's trying to be.

So they're kind of talking to him about, like, is he disappointed with the loss? And that's the team that everyone compares themselves to how they're built and how they play. Everyone wants to play like that, but hardly any teams can play that style. I felt, um,

Carolina at times plays chaotic hockey when their passes is on. Like they're, they're so fast, fast, fast, fast. But they're, they're playing against a team that is like common all, times, right? They bully you up, but they're just calm. And so that final goal to make it, or make it four three, the defenseman, if you watch him, jumps to the pass early on Barkoff.

I'm sitting there by Shea last night. We're watching it. I'm like, why on earth would he try and stop the puck going behind the net? I get it. You don't want him to have it. But the, danger zone is in front of your net. So just stand on your post to make Barkoff pass it across, and then you just shift over, and you just, you just calm. And instead, he, jumps out thinking he's going to pass and he's going to pick it off. Barkoff walks around him, throws a back door, and Verhege hits that top shelf shot. And if you go back and watch a defenseman, I'm just like,

I could see Brindemore sitting and watch that being. Because, like, you know, that's just the, I assume a young defenseman, but it's kind of the way Carolina plays. They force, they force, they force, they force, they force. And lots of times it works, but on Florida big, you know, they just wear off guys and then, ooh, bang, back door, and it's in that. So I remember you talking about playing in, Finland and the ice surface being bigger. And I remember you saying that over there, like if the

ford was in the corner of the puck, the defenseman didn't necessarily go in there and like for some hard or anything. What they did was you want to skate in the corner? Skate in the corner all day. Now the NHL game is different because ice surface is smaller and you're like, oh, we got to put pressure and contact. And you can do that for the most part. But at the same time, they should learn from the bigger ice surfaces where it's like protect first things first, which is the front of the net. And then if you get an opportunity or an opening to put pressure on and strip the puck, you do that second, not first and leave the front of the net. That's that swarm defense, right?

Like swarming, just like attacking the puck right away. And the structure and physicality can combat that sometimes because you're sending so much pressure all the time. There's always pressure releases, right? And that's one of those things in your mind as a defenseman. That's a no-go. You stay at home, protect the net. But in swarm, you're attacking wherever the puck is.

you're just trying to jump it and create loose pucks. It's true, but he's literally jumping it before he passes it, and it's Barkoff. It's not like some fourth liner. You just watch Barkoff hold off the guy turns around, and you jump, leaving him to cut middle, throw back. Anyways, I watch it, I'm like, oh. We use the term, who am I, who are you all the time,

like when we're talking about when you're playing defense on someone. Who am I, who are you? And if you see that captain over there, you probably don't want to give him a good option to make a pass. Well, you've got to recognize who's on the ice. And you just tied it up. It's 3-3. The crowd's going nuts, so I can just imagine the, you know, like I'm, I got a ton of time for the D-Met.

It's just a one little tiny mistake. It ends up in the back of your net. That's the NHL now. Those little mistakes. We were talking about dry-sadle yesterday and how he, like, he turns his back and he just waits. He just waits for the, because, oh, it's an enticing thing. He's got his back to me. I'm going to go.

And then dry-sadil, he just moves his body off. And he's a big guy so he can do it. And so you've got to realize he won. he wants you to come do that. He wants you to come push on his back so that he can turn, pass, he can do a bunch of different things. He could throw you off, and Barkoff is one of those players. I like, look at him, I'm like, that's one guy you don't go charging in on.

It doesn't mean if you're right beside him, you don't. But when you're steps away, the thing about Europe on that big ice surface, the rules are still the same, but the exposure is way different. Ten steps instead of five, just for argument's sake. So the time, it's a little extra time. So if you're not out in the corner, there's no. point in running out to the corner because by the time you get there they've already passed around you plus your momentum's going that way he hops around you comes back it's just bang bang chase game

game yeah you know i don't know well one thing i've noticed with the oilers this year especially is uh protecting in front of the net like i remember for years there'd be guys wide open in front of their net in the playoffs this year that hasn't happened all that much like they protect the net first and then like they're still going to put in pressure on the on the offensive guys but they make sure that front of the that's protected first. And I think that's what you're talking about as well with Carolina. Is there a little bit scrambling? Probably because they're, you know.

They're pushing. They're pushing. And that's the problem is when you start pushing, you leave guys open to score the goals. The thing that sets, I think, you know, you've got to have good goal tending by this time. But like, obviously Skinner's playing exceptionally well right now. And if you go back to the first brother's round table of this playoffs, it's like, oh my God, L.A.'s doing it again, right? And he's found his game and he's playing exceptional.

But like Florida and Emmington, they just seem calm on the ice. They just d-to-dee, boom. Oh, it doesn't go their way. They just regroup. Oh, they get a chance to hit. They throw the hit, but they're not racing around. And at times, racing around is a ton of fun to watch. But smart players find a way to just chip it by.

Then they get a chance. Then now it's stuck in your zone for a minute and a half. And oh, yeah, your goalie makes a save, but they can just cede the push. And Carolina, very good hockey team. Let's not take any slight on them. They're very good hockey team to make it there. finally win a game in the conference finals so that's a monkey off their back but like they at times were just racing around which is great but as as florida comes they just kind of keep them to the

outside and in fairness ahio had a shot from the slot that goes off the side of the net with what like two minutes to go they had their chances and they didn't they didn't beat bobrowski but i don't know florida panthers are they a dynasty boys that was i woke up this morning i flipped open uh the news and first thing it asks is, you know, are they a dynasty making the cup finals three years in a row? We can go any sport here because there's different versions of it in basketball and football.

When do you start to go? Holy crap, this is something else. I don't look at a dynasty until you win multiple championships. Like making like three finals, that's great and all. You're a really good team. But if you're talking dynasty, I'm like, you've got to win multiple championships. So I look at if they win again this year,

then you can start having that conversation. That's the way I look at it. Yeah. So for me, this is a hot topic in my sports group chat, dynasty conversation. You got to win two out of three and you have to be crate for three or more years. I think that's like the dynasty window. You can't go to the NHL finals twice or three times and lose twice and only win one. I think you got to win two.

So if they win this year, I'm open to have the conversation of this being like a mini dynasty. If you look at like the spurs, right, making all those runs and championships, then they do it 10 years later and then make two or three runs. So I think you got to win two out of three. That's the standard for the dynasty, I think. You have to win the ships. What was the last dynasty? In the NHL.

Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Chicago, L.A. Those three teams had multiple years where they made the run, won multiple championships. Pittsburgh won three cups over the course of Crosby's career. They made the finals, I think, four times, right? They went back to back against Detroit. The only problem was there was gaps in between there, and so it's a little bit, like I think you've got to,

to have them close together as opposed to because you're right chicago and l.A and Pittsburgh went pittsburgh Tampa Tampa Bay went 2021 back to back Pittsburgh 1617 so is back to back nobody does anybody think Tampa Bay is a dynasty no I think it's pro dynasty is more prolonged greatness right Tampa is still pretty good though I guess yeah yeah that way if you look at it Florida's in the same I would say like the Detroit late 90s early 2000s they win two in a row and then they win won a couple of years later like they're in the mix yeah L.A yeah win one lose one win one like when I think of the last real dynasty if I you know where the team was just unbelievable for a long

period of time I think the Oilers when they won four and five years oilers and islanders and the islanders because of how many they won that's right and so you look at Florida and Tampa Bay you're like they're really good teams and yeah they're bordering on dynasty but like when you're winning four and five years or four in a row like that's that's ridiculous I do think, and we talked about this before, hockey is probably the toughest sport, the way it's set up with the salary and everyone being actually even,

unlike other sports, it's the toughest sport to maintain your dynasty status or top of the league status. Like, it's really tough to do in hockey. Well, no only that. If you look at basketball, you have five guys on the court and they play most of the game.

Whereas in hockey, you need three lines deep. You need three sets of D. You need a goaltender. Like, it's not like you pick up a superstar and all of a sudden you're a contender. Like it takes a lot to become a championship team. And then you go and then expand that over three, four, five years. Like that's incredibly difficult.

And the injury rates high. There's like that luck thing is just like a huge thing in hockey. You look at any given year you have to get right with the injuries. You have to get right with who you played if they're injured. Like all those little things. And that's what makes them winning so hard, which is why a dynasty, it's not like you're a really good team. You're a dominant team because you're going to have injuries. You're going to have things go wrong.

And yet you're still good. enough to beat the other teams in the league. Oh, and you look at Florida right now, they look pretty darn healthy, don't they? Yes. Yes. Now, speaking of injuries, you flip over the Oilers. Oilers up three games to one, game five tonight.

You got Hyman, who's out indefinitely, surgery, an upper body. Separate your shoulder, right? As a wrist, I think. Is what you got a surgery. Here's the thing we don't know. It's an upper body injury. No, no, I'm pretty sure they said wrist surgery.

Did they say wrist surgery? Yeah, I think he put up in the release it set upper. Someone probably, they probably leaked it out. I think they released it after he had surgery and he's done. Yeah, now they can release it, right? Yeah, before they would have said upper body. And that was that, was it you that brought up that stat or was it Harley that brought up that stat that he has more hits in the playoffs than he did in the regular season?

Yes. Which is wild. Yes. And like, he's a huge loss for them. Um, yeah, they're talking, they're talking wrist fracture out four to six weeks.

Yeah. I'll say probably got a pin maybe here. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but he's a huge loss because obviously like point wise, hitting wise, the type of player he is, you know,

he's a top, you know, he plays first or second line, but he's a top, top player on pretty much any team. So, uh, that's a massive one.

Connor Brown, hopefully they'll get back here soon around later. Well, he's in, he's in concussion. protocol and when I was listening to Stauffer yesterday, they said he could be ready for Zerle's game seven. So like you get through this round, you know, if they take care of business, you get through the round and he'll be ready for Stanley Cup finals, would be my guess.

Yeah, so if you get Connor Brown back and you get at home back, which looks likely, and Picard was on. Well, I think all of us would agree. At home isn't coming back because they're up three games to one. You only bring. No way, yeah. You only bring Ech home back when you need them. And right now they're D. You know, like, I got to be the first. to eat crow on Evan Bouchard. That guy at the start of playoffs, all through the regular season.

He goes in the corner, he just coughs the puck up over and over again. He was driving me nuts. Now he looks like a $10 million defenseman. Like he's just everywhere. He's scoring goals. He's not this big hitter. I'm like, when did he get fast?

Like, he's skating. I'm like, am I wrong here? He's playing better. For the record, he was going to get $10 million anyways, just for his offensive capability. Capability. even with the defensive flaws. But he's better than he was because early on,

especially that King's series, there was some really bad shifts. Him and Nurse had a few, like, real bad terms. He's only putting up 1.1 points per game as well. But he's dangerous with the puck right now. I mean, you look at some of the chances he creates out of almost nothing. This is the best he's ever played for sure. 100%.

Like I just, I guess when you say he's going to get $10 million anyways, I was just meaning I don't think the oiler should pay him $10 million. Oh. And now I'm like, like, holy crap, if you were going to pay Darnel Nurse 9 or Evan Bouchard 10 or whatever, let's just put apples to apples, nine or nine, who would you trade out? I would have said Evan Bouchard a while back. Now I'm like, Evan Bouchard is your top defenseman right now. Him and, and

like, Klingberg is, I'm a big fan of using the net, getting guys to chase, and you watch Klingberg all game long, and so does Walman. They get guys to chase them. They pop out, way they go, relieves all the pressure in the world. It's just like, it's fun to watch. Well, so you talk about a dynasty, let's say the Oilers actually win this series, win the Cup this year. In the offseason, like, you can't keep everybody because they're worth too much money. So that makes it even harder to become a dynasty. Well, and that's what's King's point. He's talking about how you just can't keep everybody around.

The plus side, though, that the Oilers have. And Florida's got a different plus, I think it's a different recruitment tactic. But for the Oilers, come play with two of the three or two of the four best players in the world, right? Yes. You would probably take a million dollars less to go have a shot at a cup. If you're Connor Brown, you'd sign a deal for a million bucks to play with them. Now, the Florida guys take less because they get to take their wives. They're on the beach.

They got a great culture. No tax in Florida, right? No tax. Not a lot of pressure. You go to Emerton. You're getting the second most pressure besides Toronto, I would argue. Right? It's cold as shit.

Like, you know, you were going to play with McDavid and Drysettle and win a cup. That's why you're going. Florida, there's a lot of like left. Up sucks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. life like perks um skinner uh like when when they are winning right now he's got a 980 save percentage like when you have a goalie playing like that you ain't losing anything right because dallas could easily one game for they peppered the crap out of the oilers as good as they

played like at times skinner had to be sharp very sharp he made some fantastic saves does it surprise anybody in this room that skinner found his way back or is this become kind of the ebb and flow of the eminent to others over the last 10 years or whatever it's been, where we have our starting goalie, he plays like crap, in-walk somebody else named Picard, and they play out of their mind for a little stretch, and they have a little stumble or an injury, and back comes Skinner, and it's like all of a sudden he finds a way, and then he goes lights out. But if you watch that first game Skinner came back, he looked shaky. Well, they lost the first game he came back.

Right, but he looked shaky. He didn't look right back there. and like so much any sport is confidence. And it's like, you know, make a couple saves, got lucky a couple times. And all of a sudden you start to feel better. And then you start playing like you should and that, you know, the defensemen are bought in in front of you and the forwards to make your life a little bit easier and keep stuff to the outside. And all of a sudden now he's got his confidence back and away he goes. Am I surprised?

I think that's, you know, the best goal is in the NHL and stuff goes wrong. They don't lose their confidence. And I think when you're, you know, Skinner's a middle of the pack goalie, I think, in the league and probably affects his confidence a little more. He isn't as confident as your top goalies. Now, having said that, when we're talking about a hell of buck freaking getting shelled, you know, lit up a couple games in a row. So, you know, he had some issues too. So it's not like it just happens to Skinner, like happens to everyone. So I don't know.

Yeah. Well, and as I said to you guys, I don't, when you go in and you know you're not getting pulled because there's no real backup there that also helps. It didn't matter what happened. He wasn't getting pulled, right? It might be a little different when Picard is now back knowing that, hey, one bad game, I might get yanked again. I hope somebody makes sure it's with Picard on it. Right? Captain Picard.

Yeah, you're not wrong. I actually wonder if Knoblock or somebody in the coaching staff didn't go after the game he lost first one. He said, listen, just whatever he said, but you're our guy. We've got nobody else. Look around. There's nobody else. It's you.

And all of a sudden he starts playing better. And now he's got a bit of a swagger back. If you're the Dallas stars or heck, even the Florida Panthers, you're looking at it and gone, crap, right? When the Oilers were running Picard, Pickard, for all the people screaming at the radio, I know. We know on this show. You were thinking, like, we're going to find a way to score on that guy. As good as he was playing, he is an elite goalie. There's a reason he's bounced around all these different plays.

Wonderful story. And he played well, and the Oilers played well in front of him. But Skinner, when he's playing like that, 980 save percentage, like, that's ridiculous. That is a ridiculous save percentage. And you were talking earlier about guys running around. And like, that's when you're, when you got a really good hockey team, you start to develop confidence and you don't run around because you're like, no, we got this. But if you're chasing or you're, you know, you're not, you know, not as good or the other

team's playing so well, you start to run around because you're like, oh, we got to, I got to get that puck because we've got to score now because. because they're really good and, you know, it's a snowball effect, I think. Well, you get a goalie behind you that starts stopping the puck. You have a little more confidence to let him handle the shot, whereas if you don't think you have confidence as your goal, you start putting yourself into odd positions to try and block everything, right? Because we can't let a puck through.

We just can't let a puck through because he ain't stopping anything right now. It's kind of like when Bill goes electric versus when Bill goes Buffalo, you know? Buffalo, you're like, okay, we can't give up any shots. when he's electric, you're like, okay, Bill's on it today. We can carry on. Shroth it to Bill. But it also gives you the confidence to try to make plays because you know you can actually make a mistake then,

and it's going to get covered up. And as a D-Man or a Ford, knowing that that mistake might get covered up, instead of I can't make a single mistake. It's tough. If you're the Oilers, what do you do with Echo? Let's say he's ready right now. Hold them out. Hold them.

Okay. So then you make it to, he comes back in whenever he comes. Game one of the Stanley Cup finals, we'll say. No, let's say they lose game five. I think you bring them back for game six. But the question isn't when you bring them back. The question is, what do you do when your defense is playing that good? All six of them.

It isn't like you got a weakling and you're like, that guy, I mean, don't get me wrong. At home is your number one D-man all year long. If he's healthy and he can take hits and he's back and he's 100 percent, at what point do you enter him in the lineup and who do you take out? Like, what do you do? I bring him back game six or game one. So if they win game five, leave them out until game one. next series you're not playing him in game five if you lose game five I think you

bring him back to game six because you want them in for a game just in case you lose game six and you got to go game seven you want them you know have a game under his belt and then it's like well what are you doing the first game well you probably don't roll them out for 25 minutes in the first game you're probably you know shelter them a little bit or you know see how it goes don't force too much on them because the rest of your dmen are playing well anyhow like you look at the other five you're going to pull stetcher out but the other five are playing extremely well so you don't need to plug them in for 25 minutes. You limit his minutes a little bit.

He's playing third pair. And he's well, yeah. I mean, like, he's so good defensively, and he's such a stabilizer for them. I would bet even if he plays, he's probably like 18, 19 minutes. I bet she plays more than he, you would think, for the first game. How do you let him sit there the entire game?

He's a stud. He's a stud. But I mean, you got Walman and Klingberg just playing. They're playing good. And I mean, Bouchard and Kulak are playing good. And then you got a nurse. So you're partnering with the nurse? Is that what you're doing? Is that your shutdown? pair, I don't know. You got options.

One of them is. There'll be a lot of stick getting ate by the other team. I'll tell you that. Corey Perry. You know, Hyman going down, I said to you in our group text, said, well, this has been if there was ever a year for Hyman to go down, this is it. Because Hyman's been a fixture on their number one power play for as long as he's been an oiler until this year.

And now he almost splits time with Corey Perry. And Corey Perry's been getting put on lines with McDiardie. David, dry-siddle, et cetera, and he's been scoring. The thing, I hate stats at times because they make stats at everything. But for players who played in the NHL playoffs, 39 or older, he's up to six goals this playoff run, that ties him with four others, Salonnie, Recky, Ron Francis, John Belival. There's the only guys that age to do it. And when you watch Corey Perry, like, he is an older version, more skilled version maybe

of Zach Eman, isn't he? and he's just, he slots in there. So now you know, well, there's no, Perry's our guy on the number one power play, and I don't think I'm hurt by that. He works the front of the net so well. It's just going to say it dirty or two. Like, he causes more shit than Hyman

in terms of, like, falling into goalies, cross-checking, like, just, he's mucking it up. Not just the power play. Like, I think he causes more dirt than Hyman does. You're right. I don't think they lose a, you lose a key player,

but you still have a guy that plays like that. What's crazy about the Oilers, too, is the first round, and this is coaching, obviously, is they had Dry Saddle, McDavid, and Perry playing a lot together. And the second, like, and all of a sudden they broke that up, and Perry moved down the lineup, and they split up McDavid and Dry Salad, and I'm sure they were looking at matchups against, let's say, Dallas, who's a little deeper.

Well, Vegas at the time. Vegas. But all of a sudden they break it all up, and Perry's not playing with those guys, but he's still contributing, still in the first line power play. And so it makes me wonder what they'll do with Florida. I'm guessing they'll probably run separate lines with McDavid and Drysidal because Florida is deep and, you need to be able to match up with all of them.

But anyhow, Perry went from first line down to third, fourth line, and he still does his thing. It's a wild thing to have a guy on the third, fourth line, and then go stand in front of the end on the power play, score a big goal in game four. Yeah, game four. Well, you look at Florida, though, too. Marchand's playing on the third line right now,

or third line, I don't even know. It's like a first line guy. I know. His whole career. Well, and they're scoring, the third line's putting up points. Are they really a third line? Not really. You're playing three lines all the time anyhow.

Florida's like, man, they're deep. Man, did they bully the Carolina Hurricanes? Like, they just, they just bullied them all series long. So if it does go Edmonton, Florida in the final, which it looks like it probably will, like that's a phenomenal series. Again, like last year, it reminds me when- Down 3-0, came back in 70s by 1. It reminds me when Detroit, Pittsburgh met two years in a row.

Crosby first year, everybody's going to, Crosby's going to win, Detroit wins. And then the second year, it was back and forth and Pittsburgh wins. and like those were two great series. Crosby at his height, you had Zetterberg and Datsuk. Oh, my God. You know, like Marion Hose had played with, I think it was Pittsburgh and lost and went over to Detroit and lost, right? Like you had a ton of talent in those finals,

and this is the next version of it. Well, we got to get there, right? Like at the same token, the hardest game to win is the fourth, right? Like Dallas, you're going in Dallas tonight? That ain't going to be an easy. You're going to need Skinner to play well. Yeah, the odds are good for Dallas tonight. I'll tell you that.

If you're betting Oilers, you're making money tonight. It's heavy Dallas. Well, that's what we're going to bet on for the bet today. So who's coming in for the Oilers, anyhow? With Hyman and Connor Brown both out, are they bringing in? Skinner and Arvison are in, aren't they? Arvotson's in? Yeah.

And then the guy you probably put in is Skinner. I liked Arvinson's game. Like, as a small guy, you want to play, you got to work, man. Either that or you've got to start scoring. So it's either Skinner or Derek Ryan? Are those the two options? Yeah. That would probably be it.

Derek Ryan, honestly, wouldn't be a... You know what you're getting with Derek Ryan. Yeah. He's a complete opposite. Like, Skinner obviously, he has a little more skill. But with Derek Ryan, he's just going to work his bag off. That's... That's your two options.

Arverson, people forget, like, how skilled he was. Like, he was a high skill guy. Now it's not there, so he's got to make it up in other ways, like you said. And I thought he came in as he should with a burr under his saddle. Like, he was giving her. And, like, as a small guy, if you can't, And, you know, if you're going to have the touch around the net, so be it, let you off on a couple things.

When that ain't happening, you want to stay in the lineup, you've got to earn it. And we've seen that with a couple different cap, and it was the first Oiler to come in and do that. And I thought Ervinson's game resembled that. So that's the only concern with Skinner is that if he doesn't have it going offensively, which it's harder to do that in the playoffs. Is he going to work his bag off? Eh, history says not so much.

You never know. It is game five of the Western Conference. finals, right? Like, I mean, if he's been sitting there for a long time. If I was Skinner, I'd be like, just put me in, tell me what I need to do. Because if we win, I get to play in the Stanley Cup finals. I've been waiting all my life for this. If that doesn't motivate him, then don't even, like literally he doesn't touch.

I would take a guy from the H.L. over that if that doesn't motivate him. Wouldn't you? Like, I mean, you just need somebody. He's not going to get 20 minutes. No, no. I realize that. But the type of player he's been his whole career is not the guy who goes in and crashes.

and battles for the puck. That's not who he was. And didn't really go the way it was supposed to go, right? That being said to Sean's point, you would way rather win a ship and have your jersey on when you get that Stanley Cup then come down from the press box in a shirt and tie because you got your one shot and you didn't play well.

Oh, I wasn't willing to change my game just a little bit, right? Like, I'm only a score. Well, good. You're not like the 40-year-old Perry's doing everything they ask. Well, and that's the thing is he's been that way, his whole career and he just sat for the last what three weeks out of the playoffs or four weeks whatever it's been since he last played one of his last shots he's going to get to play in the playoffs he hadn't like yeah did he had even played in the but arvison so no no no no but arvetson

had a hit a good run nashville right no no no no i just mean that arvinson sat for the same can you imagine being arvotson watching the team winning and sitting there going just give me a chance give me a chance connor brown goes in he has a choice right everybody is going to play that much, you know, how much we lose? Because Brown playing really good, playing a style of game that was beneficial, got him on the ice a lot. I thought Ervinson mirrored, maybe not the physicality of Brown's game, the hitting, but the work ethic, I thought was very evident. He was moving his feet. He was going to the danger zones. This is the night for Skinner, if he's going to do it. If they put it out. Yeah, this is your shot. And he's got to know his windows tight because if

Brown's coming back in one of the playoffs, like if you want to stay in the lineup, you've got to give it all. And it might quite possibly be just this is his game to play. Like the decision might already be made that next game he's not playing. He might not know that yet, right? But it could be the matchup's sake. So it could be your chance to shine or the fact that like you're playing tonight and in two days you're not dressed. Yeah. Well, you can always change your coaches mind. You go with their score two. Well, look at Kasperi Kappan. Right. He got it in the lineup and he hasn't left. Everything is done until it's right in front of your eyes. You're like, holy crap. Look at Skinner go. He does that again for us. Like,

you got to leave him in. What's the player's job? Make the coach have to play you. Right? That's that's it. Basketball. Before we go to the bet, let's talk a little. You got 25 minutes of basketball right now. You got OKC moves on to the finals. Any surprise there? No. Very deep team, very young

team with a ton of draft assets in the future. So they could be around for a few years. So they've been kind of on the ups, right? Last year they had a shot failed a little bit in playoffs, but I'm happy to see that happen. And we have a Canadian MVP of the league, Sheigel de Selle, Alexander, so second MVP for Canada since Steve Nash. Nash had two.

He's got one now, so that's pretty exciting. East Coast, what do you got on the East? Well, you got the Pacers and the mix. Yes, two teams I despise. Despise. Pacers are same thing. It's like basketball's version of hockey. Super deep team.

everyone's underpaid slightly. You got guys coming off the bench that can score 15, 20 points a game. No super, superstar, but a bunch of guys that are really good. And there's nothing I like better than seeing, especially Indiana, with the Reggie Miller, Spike Lee history, beat the Knicks and seeing Knicks fans in tears. Crushed again? Yes, yes. It is pretty sweet. I got the soft spot.

Because how long has it been since the Knicks have won anything? I don't think they've won. But it was the 90s when they had Ewing. that they were good, but they never won. They never won. Yeah. So to me, I'm... The Bulls were kind of a thing back then, right?

A guy named Michael Jordan was playing. Well, I look at the Knicks and I'm like, I kind of feel for their fan base. I'm like, it'd be cool to see New York make a finals and everything else, but you're like, screw them. India and put it down. You know, New York's fan base is like they're very similar to Toronto. They love their team to death,

but they're the first ones to say, oh, we suck, we're not going to do it. Like, they talk the most smack about their team because they've lost for so long and it's just, they're just used to the losing. Yeah, I don't feel bad for the Knicks. I just, the whole Knicks. I think it was back in like the Ewing

and who was the big enforcer they had with them within Ewing's age, but I just hated watching them because they pounded the crap out of Jordan all the time. And Jordan still won, but they were just Sue Oakley, Charles Oakley played for the Raptors a little bit. Super physical, just beat the Tarlet people. Are the Raptors going to be good anytime soon? Are they just a dumpster fire for?

the next 10 years. No, they're dumpster fire. They got pretty screwed on the draft. So they were supposed to get the second pick. And they wound up with, I believe, the seventh pick with the draft lottery. So they get that's rigged? Well, the fact that Dallas trades the best player in the league and had a 1.8% chance at first and then magically gets the first overall pick seems a little suspicious to me.

This always happens in basketball. So there is a raptor playing, an old raptor playing for Indiana who, what? was pretty good. Yeah, he's killing it right now. Yeah, Seacum was one of the top Raptors for a while, and now he's on Indiana, and he's, he's not your top, you know, upper echelon guys, but he's a great glue guy that makes stuff happen. He's like, yeah, he's like 20 points a game.

He's player of the game for half of the games. And once again, he's not the guy. Yeah. But on his nights that he's on, he's unstoppable. Yeah. It's, it's, he hate seeing this because there's Raptors guys all over. Yeah. You know, O.G. Annanobie's playing for the Knicks playing pretty well.

Like, there's two of the core Raptors guys playing in the Eastern Finals. It's like, you just held on to those guys. When they have been good? Yeah, but we saw this with the Toronto Blue Jays, the catcher. I'm spacing on them. Or, no. Frigg, what's his name, Dust? Oh, this is terrible.

This is where we need Jay. Jay's like stump the Schwab. Yeah, he knows all this stuff in the back of. Trade away their, they traded away their, their, their, their, and comings. Yeah, Marino. Right. They're star catcher.

Yeah. Or they're up and coming. Yeah, but Marino's different than like Seacum was a really good raptor. And then instead of like, it could have been one of your main guys long term, essentially. And they let him go and now he's one of the best players on Indiana. Well, and the other knock on Toronto, because everyone wants the Raptors to be good. And they did get their championship. So great.

Guys don't want to play there. One, because of the cold, but it's the only Canadian franchise. So you're always custom. travel. Always customs and you're getting taxed at a high rate. Whereas in hockey, you're traveling in Canada half the time on PJs. So, like, it doesn't matter. You're just up and down.

You're not doing customs, right? Whereas every trip for them, guys, like, openly complain that they have to go through, show their passports. Well, basketball players in general are prima donnas, aren't they? Yes, 100%. That's why I'm here right now. We're betting on tonight's game. I'm thinking,

winner and total goals is my thought. Sure. We better like Carriot first because I feel bad. Because I always go last and try to contradict you guys. I don't think I've got anything right on all these. Okay, let's go Dallas 4-3. I'm going to go Eminton to close it out. A 3-2 game.

And I am also, I guess I got talking to the mic, I am also taking Emmington. so you didn't even have to go last to still got the contrarian pick, yes. I'm going to say 3-1 Oilers, they're going to score an empty netter to win at 3-1.

I think Skinner's going to have to be good. And if he isn't, then you're probably correct, King,er. That's my thought. Either way, it's a short one today. I don't know if I've probably missed like 17 headlines from the sports world,

but in here we always stick to the NHL and then when obviously King comes in, We got to sprinkle in a little back. This is for Colby out there. He's working the rigs. He's waiting for the basketball talk. We sprinkle it in for you. I love it.

Love it. He's a giant, who's a guy who's got trade to the Lakers? Oh, um, oh my God, Luca, Luca, Luca fan. He's a big Luca fan? Yeah, yeah. Huge Luca. They got the same body of those two guys. A little squishy?

Well, he, Kobe's just so good with his frame. He uses his shoulders so well. He's sneaky good. Sneaky good. That'll earn dust a punch in the shoulder. All right, gentlemen. Get out of here. Thanks for doing this today.