The Athletic Hockey Show - Aaron Ekblad gruesome leg injury, Taylor Hall trade value, Rick Carpiniello talks New York Rangers ups and downs, Multiple Choice Madness, Hailbag, and more

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

First up, Ian and Hailey discuss Aaron Ekblad’s terrible, likely season-ending leg injury, and how it’ll impact the Panthers’ playoff aspirations, how relaxed Canadian quarantine rules could change trade deadline decision-making in the North, market value for Taylor Hall as a rental, the Capitals defying certain expectations to remain an elite team in the league, and more.Then, The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello joins the show to talk New York Rangers and discuss the chances of the team making the playoffs this season, Brendan Lemieux getting shipped to Los Angeles for a fourth round pick, the play of Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko, Kris Knoblauch’s work as acting head coach while David Quinn was on the COVID list, the likelihood of Tony DeAngelo getting traded before the deadline, and Rick’s article on Brian Leetch comparing his game to that of Adam Fox.Plus, to close things out, Ian and Hailey run through a series of Multiple Choice Madness questions and Hailey answers listener questions in another installment of the Hailbag.And, right now, you can join The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow or for just 1 CAD a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowcanada Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back, everybody, for another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm Ian Mendez co-hosting this episode alongside Haley Salve. And I had on this podcast a gruesome injury to Aaron Ekblad over the weekend. What does it mean for the Florida Panthers ahead of the trade deadline? Rick Carpinello drops by chat about the New York Rangers, whether or not there's legitimate heat on David Quinn, the latest on Alexis LaFranier, and more. In multiple choice madness, we tackle some controversial quotes from the N8.

all world over the past few days, including Daryl Sutter on Johnny Goudreau, Eric Stahl on the Buffalo Sabres, and a piping fresh hot one from Alan Vino on Carter Hart. We'll also debate who's going to end up with more career points, Sidney Crosby or

Alexander Ovechkin. We'll take some of your listener questions as well, including some great hockey-related pranks that were sent our way with April Fool's Day right around the corner. Haley, that's where I want to start because I feel like it's a public service announcement that needs to be hammered home in the final few days of March every year.

Prepare for it, people. It's coming. April Fool's Day is this week. Don't fall victim to anything. Don't for any Twitter, you know, pranks, anything like that. I just need to know, has Haley Salvean ever engineered a prank or been the victim of a prank at some point? Honestly, not that I can remember. I don't, I mean, not like an April Fool's Day prank.

I feel like I've had friends, like, try to scare me or something. Like, I, I had a, yeah, I've had, like, people scare me, like, on a staircase randomly. And, like, I saw my life flash of my eyes, like, you know, walking through a house and the stairs. I don't know, like, super scary movie, like, someone's hiding behind, like, something on the stairs. like grabs you and I like start crying basically. But I don't think that's April Fool's. I think that's just cruelty.

So I've had that happen to me. But I don't think there's been like an April Fool's prank. Like not that I can remember anything. And I've never pranked anyone. Like I've probably done like stupid things being like, I hate you. Elwell, April Fool. I was like stupid. Like texting back and forth.

Like delete my number. Ha-ha, April Fools, but no, nothing actually real. Like, that's just like strange, embarrassing childish April Fools. Yeah. See, you know what? I got to share the one prank that I played on longtime TSN broadcaster Brent Wallace. Who is here, okay? So this was during, I think listeners will appreciate this story.

This was the Stanley Cup playoffs 2006. Ottawa is playing Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs. as we're waiting for Martin Havlad, then a member of the Ottawa Senators in the hallway of the arena, Brent Wallace thought it would be a good idea to take his microphone, swing it around, and hit me in the nether regions. So I go down, I'm kind of, I'm a little bit, I'm hurt. And I think to myself, you know what, I got to prank this guy back. And I'm staying when the series goes to Tampa Haley, we're staying at the Weston Hotel in Tampa Bay.

And I got my plan. It's perfect. I'm staying across on the same floor as Brent Wallace. I know his room number. And there used to be back in the time when people, Haley, people used to stay in hotels. It's this weird thing probably before your time. Yeah. People used to stay in hotels.

And but on the, on the, on the door knob, they used to leave like a thing. You could order breakfast on and just leave it on your doorknob if you wanted breakfast delivered at 6 a.m. So I decided I knew what room Brent was in. I waited for him to go into his room. It was a game day the next day. But I was going to order a breakfast to his room for the crack of dawn at 6 a.m. But as I took the sheet, I thought, that's, you know what, that's kind of not cool to like have a big omelet. And, you know, I didn't want the hotel to be out a ton of money, right?

Like, this is not a prank. So you know what I did, Haley? I ordered, on the checklist, I just ticked off a single glass of milk. Please deliver at 6 a.m. Okay. So they came to a.m. door at 6 a.m. banging on the door, a rumpled Brent Wallace opens his door, and they're like, here's your milk, sir. Anyway, that was my... As you're telling the story, I'm shaking my head,

like, this is so stupid, but it's funny. Like, it's good because... Just the glass of milk, like, and knowing Wally, like, if you know Wally, it's funnier, because when I first met Wally, too, I was like, he's so cranky, but then I was like, oh, so am I? Oh, that's really funny. He came to the rink in Tampa that morning. He was complaining. He's like, I can't believe that somebody ordered this. And I'm like, yeah, I was me.

So. Was he legitimately angry with you? Like, did he find it funny? No, no, I don't think so. Now he does, but not that. Not during the heated playoffs of 2006. Here's your milk. Yeah, here's your milk.

Single glass of milk. So just keep that in the back of your mind. If you ever want to play a prank on someone in a hotel and you don't want the hotel to pay for it, just go like single glass of milk. and nobody's out. In a way, it's funnier than full breakfast because it's not like he now,

it's not like he has breakfast now, you know? Like he's not just going to be like, okay, I'm awake. Oh, here's my photo. Yeah. No, it's like, okay, I'll have my glass of 2%. Yeah. That's good. Yeah.

All right. And look, later in this podcast, we got some great submissions. I threw this out on Twitter. I asked some people about, do you have some April Fool's rated hockey pranks that you've been a part of? So we'll get to some of those a little later in the show.

But Haley, actually, we'll stay in the state of Florida to start this off, not from Tampa, but in Florida where, boy, this was a gruesome injury to Aaron at Kblatt. So gruesome, Haley, that I readily admit. I'm a, I'm a squeamish guy. I know that might surprise a lot of people. They're like, wow, you're so, you seem so tough otherwise. But, no, I could not watch the Ackblad injury,

knowing that people were sharing it saying, this is gross. So my first question is, did you actually? watch the video of the knee buckling and all that? Like you can handle that? I mean, so I tweeted, like, if you are at all squeamish, do not watch the ECBlad injury. I watched it a few times. And like, just the angle of the knee, the leg, all of it just made me, like, what a terrible injury, terrible timing for a great player on a team that's been having a great season.

Like, there's never a good time to watch someone look like they just broke their leg. But man, it was just, yeah, it was disgusting and just really awful for Eckblad and Panthers. But yeah, I watched it and I don't recommend. Like, I'll see that, I'll see that knee for the rest of my days. Oh, yeah. No, like I said, I couldn't even click on it to actually watch it because I knew it was bad. So obviously, you mentioned this.

Like the Florida Panthers, Haley, one of the great stories in the league. They're hanging with Carolina. They're hanging with Tampa. And now they lose their number one defenseman. A guy who, quite frankly, was in the conversation to be a Norris Trophy candidate this year, Haley. He's logging 25 minutes in night, 11 goals off the back end. And Eric Blitz, it's kind of a weird career trajectory for him. a guy that was taken first overall, was really good his first year, kind of went away after that,

got a big contract. But this year, people will tell you he was full value. So my question is, if you're Bill Zito and you're the Florida Panthers, you'll probably go ahead and assume you're not going to see Aaron Akpad again this season, you've got a legitimate chance, maybe your best team that you've had in years. What do you do? I assume they go out and have to go get a big time defenseman now. watching the video, we can all assume that we're not going to be seeing him, as you said, Ian.

So, yeah, I think that if the, I almost said the flames, my goodness, if the Panthers, you know, want to, you know, stay competitive, you know, it's not like they don't have anyone, like they have Keith Yandel, they have McKenzie Weeger, they have some guys on the blue line. But again, as you mentioned, like Aaron Eckblad was having a great season. he was their best defenseman. So I think, yeah, you're going to have to go and find somebody who's going to be able to fill that role. And to get, you know, a top pair right shot defenseman any time is really difficult, let alone at the trade deadline. You know, I'm sure we could take a little scroll through the big trade board and see, you know, who's the best, you know, right shot defenseman who's there.

But I think that could make things interesting for teams who are potentially. going to be sellers at the deadline and say, okay, we can leverage this to the Florida Panthers. You just lost Eckblad. Here's a defenseman. I wonder if there's anyone on the Sends. Like, obviously, they're not going to be that same level. But I do wonder if there's players on the Sends, on the flames, you know, what teams have a pending UFA, even a guy with a little bit more term right shot defensemen that they can go and say, okay, you know, Florida needs this. Let's go and see what we can get for them to give them a piece that they need. Um, you know, obviously we, I am not a Florida Panthers expert. Um, so I mean, it would be

interesting to ask Corey Promin or Scott Wheeler, hey, are there any prospects in that system who could come in? You can move, um, you can move a guy like, I don't know, Radcoe goodas up or somebody. You could just shuffle the lines and then add a guy onto the third pair from your prospect pool. Maybe that's something, but I, I genuinely don't know if that's an option for Florida. So I think the trade route could be interesting considering I don't think their their cap situation is, is all that dire. I mean, I think they currently have, you know, just looking at cat friendly here, their current cap space, like they have $9 million in cap space, which is around $14, just under $15 million a cap space at the deadline. So the Panthers aren't going to be pinching pennies to try to get a league minimum guy. They have the money to go and make a deal if they feel like they need to.

Yeah. I mean, if you look at right shot defensemen that are, you know, reportedly available, David Savard in Columbus is probably number one on the list. You know, Brandon Montour is another name that when you think about right shot defensemen that are potential UFAs, like they've got that ability. Like a deal that I would see make it says because everyone says the Panthers are probably going to end up, or they could trade Chris Drieger. Right? He's an unrestricted free agent as a goalie. They've got Bob Brovsky. They've got Spencer Knight.

Here's one of those kind of who says no deals as I think about this. If you're the Panthers, you get Brandon Montour and you give up Chris Driger to Buffalo. The Sabres, I mean, they need a goalie, I think. At least I feel like they do. You know, maybe that's a starting point for a discussion. But certainly I think if you're Bill Zito, you look at this and you got to figure something out. because your fan base has gone a long, long time between playoff wins and being relevant and being a, you know, kind of a good team. This is your chance. They are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this season, the way that they've played. So I think it's going to be interesting. And now we've started to see.

We'll talk to Rick Carpinello here in a second about some of the trades that have started to happen, Brendan Lemieux, being one of them. And then, Haley, we also saw Eric Stahl getting moved from Buffalo to Montreal. Do you think that now that these quarantine rules have been a little bit more relaxed, going from 14 days to seven days, that's going to open the door that maybe in the past Canadian general managers were reluctant to make a trade for a player base in the U.S., but now they're like, okay, if we only have to wait a week, maybe it's not such a big deal. Yeah, I think that obviously helps. I would say that that probably helps teams who know that they're going to be buyers.

Because I still think when you look at the standings, there's still a lot of teams who are kind of in that holding pattern of, okay, we don't really know. And, you know, if you don't know that you're going to be in a position to make a run for the playoffs, you don't want to be giving up assets. It's, you know, I just think that, you know, just looking at the Calgary Flames, they're two points out of a playoff spot, but they have, you know, five less games than Montreal does because the Habs have been, you know, all their games have been postponed until I believe their first game back is tomorrow on Tuesday against the senators, or maybe that's the game against Eminton. but there's basically been this huge break between HABs games due to COVID protocols and in those postponements. So the flames are in this pattern of like, you know, it's mathematically not in our favor to make the playoffs, but do we do something to try to help us make the playoffs? Do we become sellers?

I don't know. So I, but I think that the fact that it's now seven days means the whole idea of having to beat the deadline by a couple of weeks is going to be a bit more relaxed. Like the flames don't feel like they have to go make a deal right now to get a guy for the last week of the season. Because I think before, and we spoke about this before, but if you made a deal on deadline day with the 14 day quarantine, with most team's schedules, you'd only get that player for like four games. So now the seven days you're obviously going to get them for a little bit longer. But, you know, how many, it's still only like maybe three or four more games extra. Maybe they don't have to practice as much because they're going to.

they're in the hotel for seven days instead of 14. So it's not a huge improvement. Like, obviously not having the quarantine would be way better. I still think there's enough, there are enough considerations around this trade deadline other than the quarantine that will continue to make things a little bit tricky. I think it will help. But we still have, you know, a flat salary cap. We still have an expansion draft coming. And then there is still

a seven day quarantine. So I think that it helps, but this is still going to be a very unique trade deadline, in my opinion. You know, the fire sale has started in Buffalo. We know that, you know, Eric Stahl is on to Montreal.

The question, I've seen this floated, I saw James Myrtle put this out as a poll. The Leafs fans, a lot of people wondering, is it worth it to give up a first-round pick to acquire Taylor Hall as a rental? It's clear that Taylor Hall's time in Buffalo will come to an end, Haley, at some point in the next two weeks. Do you think Kevin Adams, General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres, Haley, will be able to extract a first-round pick for Taylor Hall before the deadline?

Yeah, I think it's a good question. I know that Pierre LeBron reported as well over the weekend, or I believe on Friday, that the asking price right now is a first round pick. I think that's going to be tough in this market, especially when you look that the stall trade was for a third and a fifth. You know, Eric Stahl has three goals, 10 points, and 32 games, much lower cap hit. and he got a third and a fifth back for Buffalo. So I don't know if, like, they just set the market on themselves with that deal. Obviously, Eric Stahl and Taylor Hall are very different players. But when that's the first kind of big trade off the board is setting the market.

And our trades get a follow under that. And then is Taylor Hall's, you know, that value is that going to drop as everyone kind of trades around in that valuation? So I think it'll be interesting to see. The big thing is I wonder what Taylor Hall's cap hit kind of does to this. Because I feel like there's not many teams you can just straight take $8 million on to the books right now. If memory serves, that is this cap hit. It's, you know, it's not insignificant.

So I wonder if there's something where the Sabres say, like, we'll give you Taylor Hall and 50% return to. if you give us a first round pick. And if, like, I wonder if the idea of salary retention will boost, you know, the return, if that makes sense. Like, you know, maybe it, maybe the Leafs only want to give up a second round pick and a prospect, but they can't afford it. They can't afford $8 million unless they're giving up, you know, significant players as well.

Like, they give up Alex Kerfoot in another piece. But I wonder if Buffalo is like, we'll retain X amount of salary. if you give us first. I think that could maybe make it interesting because, again, most teams can't afford it. So, I mean, I think salary retention is going to have to be involved. But again, I wonder if that's an element that, you know, lets the sabers get a little bit more because they have,

they're going to be able to say, yeah, we'll take some of the salary if you give us a better return. As we wrap up this conversation just before we let Rick Carp, Carpinello join us to talk about the Rangers. I want to talk about that division that the Rangers are in because we all thought, Haley, that that East Division was going to maybe be the toughest one in the NHL. Certainly top to bottom, it looked like there were some legitimate heavyweights in that division. Are you surprised?

Because I'm going to admit something here. I thought the Washington Capitals were ready to take that step towards being the San Jose Sharks, meaning they've had their run, their core of players are north of 30. Like I think if you look at the caps right now, Haley, Nick Baxter, Alex Ovejkin, John Carlson, and T.J. Oshie are all over the age of 30. They add a 43-year-old in Zadano Chara. Like, they're old. And as we sit here today, I mean, they're in the race for the president's trophy.

And I think I got to eat some big-time crow on this one. I didn't see the capitals being like elite, elite. I thought, okay, maybe they'll be good, but they are as good as anybody right now in the NHL. Yeah, and I think I don't, you know, I just, I don't know why, but I'm not surprised. I know that they're, I know everything that you said. And those are legitimate reasons to believe that this team would take a step back. But I don't know why I'm not shocked that they haven't. And I don't know if that's just like Alex Ovechkin, like willing them forward with like dad power.

the sheer dad energy of that team. But I mean, they're 9, 1 and 0 in their last 10. So like, but then their record is good. Like, it's not like they're just on some hot streak. Like, they're, they've only lost seven games in regulation. I believe that's among the lowest league wide for regulation losses. So, yeah, like, they're in the fight for the president's trophy. They're top in that division.

I just, I'm not shocked that that it's happening and I can't, I can't, it's not a good podcast. It's not good. It's not good analysis. I just don't know why. Like, Tarek, I'm sure we could get Tarek on maybe next week to talk about that because it is an interesting case study. Like, look at all the reasons why it's fair to assume that they would have taken a step back, but they just haven't. Yeah. I, I, I, talk about that.

Yeah, no, there you go. You're setting up guests already for next week. Yeah. We haven't even gotten to our guest for this week. Mark it in the book. Yeah. Yeah, which is what we're going to do right about now. I would say last week, Haley, even the last couple of weeks,

don't you feel like the New York Rangers and Mika Zabanajad in particular have just become like one of the most interesting stories and teams in the NHL in the last couple of weeks? Yeah, it's been really interesting to watch. I mean, we're not experts on the New York Rangers, so it's nice to have our next. guest in to be able to talk about this stuff. Exactly. That's exactly what Rick Carpinello is for us. He is the person covering the New York Rangers for us. And as we sit here, Rick, kicking off this weekend, we're kind of starting a new month in April. The Rangers are five points out of a playoff spot and granted the teams

ahead of them have games in hand. Is there any chance, Rick, the New York Rangers can make a late run for the playoffs as that that ship has sailed here? I don't think it's impossible. I certainly that Boston is going to have a run at some point and, you know, go back to elite status. And then it'll be tough for them to catch Boston. I think they can be competitive with Philly. You know, what I like to write is that they played Boston in Boston the last two games in season. And what they would love is for those to have any meaning whatsoever.

If they can get to that, I think that would be a great accomplishment. To be within four points of Boston going into that final weekend of the season would be a great accomplishment. Rick, one of the things that Ian and I have talked about on this show since the beginning of the season is we thought that the Rangers were going to be without a doubt a contender. We thought, look at all the pieces they already have. They're adding Lafranier. They haven't. They're making it interesting now. And as you said, hopefully those last two games can have meaning. But what was your expectation of this team heading into the season and what are you seeing from them now? Yeah, I tried to put warning labels every time I wrote before the season. Whoopsies. But, you know, it's the youngest team in the league. And, you know, it's a team that has three sophomore or rookie defensemen on it, a team that didn't defend at all last year.

And a team that just got rid of Henrik Lundquist. So, you know, I think that, you know, there needed to be some expectations that were lowered a little bit. I did think they had a chance to be in the playoff picture, but making the playoffs this year had to be, you know, kind of a long shot for them. And I think management saw it that way. I think management didn't have those high expectations. They saw, you know, this season's going to be judged as,

did they make progress? Did some of the kids develop? Did they come along? Did they fill a couple of holes? And, you know, I think they've done most of those things. I still believe that they probably expect. directed more from Capo-Ocaco and Alexa Lefren there. But again, they're kids, their children.

And some kids really bloom at a young age, and some don't. And some take a little longer. And these guys obviously are going to take a little bit longer. But I think given all they've been through, and they've had some real adversity on this team, given all that and given the division that they play in, being a little bit around NHL 500, and being in the picture,

I think that's a pretty good accomplishment so far. I love that you use the term NHL 500, because it's a unique to this league. It's not NBA 500 or MLB 500. So the Rangers, Rick, engineered one of the first kind of significant deals ahead of the deadline. We're two weeks out to the NHL trade deadline. What's the read into sending Brendan Lemieux to Los Angeles

and getting a fourth round pick in return? Yeah, I mean, that was kind of, I think, it was kind of a good riddance thing. You know, Brendan, I don't think Brendan was real happy here. And, you know, he was never going to be more than a fourth liner here. And in fact, when some of the other kids start arriving,

he might have been in a regular scratch. So I think they did him a favor in a way, you know, get him to another team where he might play a little bit more. Certainly he did a lot of good things and certainly he crossed the line pretty frequently too. I think they were

probably really upset or the number of too many men on the ice penalties he took or a couple of bad change. You know, he had a real bad change in his last game that cost him the winning goal in Philadelphia, the losing goal, I should say. And so I think they did him a favor there, but mostly I think it was to clear a log jam. You know, with Kroftsov here and he's going to be activated relatively soon, Morgan Barron's in the minors, and he's going to be coming up hopefully around the deadline. And so they needed space and they needed a little cap of them.

and Brendan has a 1.55 cap hit. So I think, you know, it made a lot of sense to make that move. Now, you know, the people who say they don't have that edge now, they don't have that tough guy now. That's all fair. But I think, you know, it was a calculated move on their part to create some space for some more young kids to get into the lineup. And Brendan's only 25, but, you know, the guys that are coming are 21 and 22.

So, you know, I think it made some sense to make that deal. I guess speaking of the young players, and you mentioned Alexei Lafranier and Capocaco, what have you seen from those two players specifically this season? And when you say that you hope that the Rangers, or that the Rangers probably hope that they could see more, what do you think they're hoping to see from those two? You know, I think that, you know, with Coco, after seeing his freshman year, he was, he was, he really had a hard time. And it was partially the language and being away from home for the first time, being in North America, a new game, a totally new league, obviously.

And his confidence really got low last year a number of times. And I think that they worried about that happening to Lafranier, and it has to some degree. So I think they tried to go with kid gloves with Laferanier this time around. But I think Kako has definitely made strides. His offensive numbers haven't shown that. but he's a much better player, a much more confident player. Lafranier is, he's having a confidence crisis right now. And I think that, you know, they're probably thrilled that he got a goal yesterday,

you know, a late goal and that maybe that'll help him along the way. You can see that he's going to be a good player. You can see that once he figures out some things, he's going to contribute. But, you know, he shouldn't be expected to be Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews jumping into this league. And they don't expect that and they didn't expect that. I think they did expect more than five goals at this point. And I think that's fair too. You know, Rick, the heat, it felt like externally from where we were sitting,

that the heat was starting to get turned up on David Quinn as head coach in New York. My question from being in that market, how does the fact that Chris Knoblock came in? And while David Quinn and his staff were kind of sideline on COVID protocol, the Rangers, not only did they not miss a beat, they at times looked better. And, you know, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago with Sean McAdoe on our podcast where I said, you know, if you're out sick with your job or you're away, the one thing you don't want is the new person to come in and be better than you at your job. Is there any way that the Rangers, Jeff Gordon and ownership looks at this situation says,

you know, Chris Knoblock was pretty good. Maybe we make a change at head coach. No, zero chance. that they you know they're first of all let's be honest Chris Knoblock I once said Chuck Knobloch former second base Chris Knoblock was handed two gifts by Philadelphia the 9-0-0 game and the 8-3 game you could have coached I could have coached Haley could have coached

you know there's no there's no reasoning for that game second of all Quinn coached every one of those games he just wasn't on the bench he did the lineups he did the strategy did the game plan he figured out the special teams from home. He was in constant contact with Chris Knoblock. So he coached those games pretty much. So that all said, the fan hatred of David Quinn, I've been through that probably 20 times,

20 different coaches over the years, maybe 30, I don't know. And the fans always hate the coach. Not all the fans, but there's always a popular, part of the population that hates the coach no matter what. And they do. There's a portion that hates David Quinn. The Rangers dress is all in on him in terms of the development of this team. That's what he was brought in to do, to teach and to coach.

And he does it so well behind the scenes that the fans don't understand on an individual basis, on a one-to-one basis, on the phone with these guys, and he takes him to lunch. He's always teaching the young players. and whether he's the coach when they turn the corner, we don't know. We don't know how he'll handle a team that's ready to win. We don't know what kind of a strategic coach he will be with a really good team. We don't know that. And maybe he won't be here when they turn the corner because that'll be his fifth year.

And coaches don't generally last five years in this league. So, you know, at that time, they'll probably have to make a decision. But as far as where they are now, what the mission statement was, what he's done so far. He's not going anywhere right this year. There's no chance. I love how Rick just shut Ian down. Yeah.

Sorry. No. No. No, no. You don't apologize. This is why we have the experts from the market on, right? Because externally, we're thinking, oh, yeah, the heats on David Quinn. And you're right, Haley.

I couldn't even get the question out. And Rick's like, yeah, no. No. And it's, I love that we're talking about playoff. office and stuff and Rick's like, I've been saying all of these things, like warnings. Like, you know, we just completely ignored all the warning signs. It's easy to do, though, when you're... When you're outside the market, it's easy to do.

Like, I see teams in the Rangers Division, and I think totally different of them sometimes. And I don't know what's going on. And I, you know, I think, geez, how's that coach still employed? You know, but when you see it every day, and the thing that most people don't see, and especially, you know, I've been doing this for 40-something years, and this is the first rebuild I've ever seen. And it's certainly been a top-to-bottom rebuild. And when you're there, you know, like this year has been unfortunate with the shutdown in terms of the pandemic.

But when you're there, last year and the year before, and you're there at practice, and you're watching this guy teach, and you're watching him coach, and you're watching take players aside, and they're nodding their heads, and they're listening to him, and they're trying to understand what he's getting to. through to them. When you see that, those are the things that fans can't see, and those are the things that outside media can't see, then you kind of understand it a little bit more. And like I said, I haven't never seen a coach do this before because I've never seen the Rangers, you know, oh, you can't build and you can't rebuild in New York. They've said that forever, right? But they did it,

and they did it top to bottom. They said, we're doing this and they stuck to it. They put the shovels in the ground and they started from the bottom. And, you know, they're making progress. but you can't expect that, you know, the third floor is going up this year. You can't expect, you know, they're still kind of in the basement in terms of building. You know, they still have Laferenier and Kako and Hedel and those guys to become NHL players. And then they've got another wave of them coming, you know, in the miners in their prospects pipeline. So it's going to be a while. And they're getting closer.

I think you see progress, but they're not there, and they're not contending this year, and they're probably not contending next year, to be honest. Can I ask you both, since you're both covering rebuilders, like, if you could have one of those two rosters, which one, between Ottawa and New York, which would you rather rebuild with? That's interesting. I'm going to plead ignorance because I don't see, I mean, I haven't seen Ottawa, you know, very much at all this year. Yeah.

And I really didn't see them a lot last year, to be honest. So to know their, I don't know their roster as well. I do know that, you know, our own guys like, you know, Corey and the guys who do the prospect stories for us at the athletic, they think very highly of the Rangers' prospect system. You know, I think they were top one or two for the last couple of years. And, you know, again, they're only prospects until they turn into NHL players and there's no potion that says, well, this guy was taken to this spot. So he's going to be

a third liner. He's going to be a first liner. You know, you don't know. You never know until they get here and they start playing what kind of players are going to be. But I think, you know, on the outside, Rangers prospect, you've seen as a very good starting point. You know, it's funny ass on Haley because, Rick, I'm stunned that a big market like Ottawa wouldn't bleed down to New York. little small market like yours. Like you wouldn't be inundated with Ottawa coverage. Yeah, well, I haven't seen anybody. Really, you know, you don't see anybody.

You know, I haven't seen Montreal like more than once on TV. I haven't watched the Rangers. You don't, right? That's a lie. I have, but, yeah. But, I mean, you don't see it that much. So I haven't even seen, you know, except for when the Rangers play, they might haven't had a chance to see the Islanders and Devils play.

So, and they're right here. So it's just, it's a weird year, man. hopefully we get back to some normalcy next year. I was just trying to create chaos. Congratulations. You know, Rick, this has been in a classic New York year. There has been some kind of soap operas and tabloid-worthy stuff that have gone on. We think of Artemi Panarin.

But the one that I want to ask you about for an update because as we get closer to the deadline is Tony DiAngelo. That story has seemingly gone quiet. Could you give our listeners a little bit of? of an update on Tony DeAncel. Do you see any scenario, Rick, in which the young defenseman could be moved in and around the trade deadline?

The feeling I'm getting is that he's just a little too toxic right now and that teams don't want that PR hit, you know, that potential guy with the Twitter account and the podcast and all the baggage to be brought in from a PR standpoint. And, you know, even like Seattle's not, you know, Seattle's not going to be interested in him, I think, at the expansion draft because it's too much to take on in addition to the player. Now, he's a good player. I thought he turned into a really good player. And I thought until this most recent stuff, that he was figuring out the issues he had personally. But right now, I think he's too toxic to deal. I don't think they'll be. be able to deal them. In fact, I think it does the Rangers a favor in that regard in that they don't have to protect them. They can they can leave him for Seattle to have. Seattle won't take him,

but they can leave him unprotected and protect another defenseman. So, you know, all along we were thinking they're going to have a tough decision with this kid. Well, now they don't. Now they just leave him unprotected. And if he doesn't get taken and they probably can't trade him, then they buy him out. And the buyout is pretty small. It's very affordable. And, they wash their hands of it, and then maybe some other team gives them a tryout next training camp. I mean, that's the way I see it playing out. I really don't see them playing in the NHO this year. Before we let you go, we're all about the shameless plugs on this podcast. So we, yeah, we want to give you a plug for your column that dropped today where you connected with, you know,

arguably the greatest defenseman in the history of the New York Rangers in Brian Leach and had him kind of talk about Adam Fox in his game. So why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about that conversation and that story as we wrap up? That was really fun because, you know, I have a great relationship with Brian. And when I called him, he said, what took you so long? Because he was expecting, you know, somebody to call him about this kid. And this kid is really special.

Adam Fox is a really special player. And again, I am not comparing him or anybody to Brian Leach. There's no chance that I'm doing that at this point. Brian was 23 as Adam is. He had a Norris trophy and a Calder trophy and a couple of MVP votes. And, you know, he was a different player. He was in his fifth year at 23. So I'm not comparing them.

But the way they play, if you watch Adam play and you watch Brian play, is just so similar, the way they think the game, the way they slow the game down. And this is, and Brian said that. Brian said he just loves watching him play. And this to me was really cool because Brian is such. a great player, was such a great player. For him to watch them from, he watches from up above because he's part of the organization. And he says from the 10th floor, you look down and you see plays happening, you can anticipate

the next play really easily from up there. The game is so much slower up there. And he says, and as I'm thinking what the next play is, Fox is making it. He said, that's so cool to him that the game slows down like that for that kid. He said, Panarin does it to a jury too, but Fox really does it. And what he said was he hopes that the way Fox thinks the game is the way he thought the game. He said, that would be pretty cool, right? That would be good enough if I did it the way this kid does it.

And of course, Brian did it better than pretty much anybody who ever put the skates on. But it was a really cool story. They've got a pretty good relationship. Leach texts them all time. And they're very, very similar. in the way they play the game. Whether Fox will ever be a Hall of Famer or a Norse trophy winner, we don't know.

But he's certainly trending that direction, way too early to tell. Awesome. Well, let's appreciate the visit again. We would encourage all of our listeners to check out that column that you have up there on Adam Fox and Brian Leach. Appreciate the visit. And we'll talk to you again down the road.

Thanks for having me. I really enjoyed it. All right, that was a fun conversation, Haley, with Rick. I've got to say, imagine covering a team, Rick just dropped in there. He's like, I've been covering this team, I've been around this team, 40 years is the first rebuild. Like, what? Isn't that crazy?

Yeah. You say sitting in the Ottawa suburbs. Yeah, I think this is the second rebuild I've covered in the last 10 years in Ottawa. So this guy's on one every 40 years. Yeah. And I mean, for me, just hearing that he's covered the same team for 40 years is awesome. Like I'm still in my second year. the NHL. And I was thinking the other day, and I'll try not to ramble here, I was talking to my parents

and they were like, oh, how are things going? I'm like, this is my second straight season that hasn't been normal. Like, will I ever get to cover the National Hockey League and like a normal season? Like, will that ever happen for me? Because it's been too back to back, like weird pandemic years. I was thinking about, you know, the next NHL draft we actually get to go to will technically be my like third NHL draft, but it would be my first real one. So am I just going to be a rookie every year until the NHL's normal again? 100%. I mean, there's, there's worse things. Like I've obviously loved my job and you make it work.

But what's a normal season like? I wonder. I don't know. I'm glad that you brought that up because now that reminds me next time we all get. on the road and go cover a draft or something. We got to prank you and we're going to be sending milk to your room at 6 o'clock in the morning. I just won't answer.

You know that right? Yeah, exactly. And I'm lactose intolerant. So that makes it even better. I'll just, yeah. It'd be wasteful. Wasting milk. See, you just gave me a key piece of information for a future prank now that I know

that you're lactose intolerant. Yeah. You're going to bring me a latte and it's going to be with whole milk. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. All right. So here we go.

Okay. Moving on to multiple choice madness. We do it every Monday. We tackle some questions. And you know what? You were kind of front and center for this one. So maybe you'll end up going this route. But I'm going to ask the question here.

And our listeners are always great at jumping in on these at sending us messages afterwards. I want to know. Haley, last few days, what was the most interesting, controversial, compelling, however you want to characterize it? What was the most interesting sound bite from the. NHL in the past few days. Was it, A, Darryl Sutter on Johnny Gudrow, playing his 500th game, was it B, Eric Stahl on his time in Buffalo, where he was asked about his time in Buffalo, he's like, hey, good part for me is I don't have to try and explain it. I can leave that behind,

or is it C, fresh out of the oven on a Monday, it's Al-Annevinio head coach of the Flyers Haley, announcing that Carter Hart is not going to be with the team, basically scratch, for the next two days, putting him aside, working on practice habits, Alan Vino telling reporters on Monday on Carter Hart, quote, he needs to work harder, he needs to work better. I've had a good conversation with him about my expectations about practice habits and him stopping the puck. Haley, what's the most interesting, compelling, maybe juicy soundbite for the past few days

in the NFL? I mean, the Eric Stahl one is kind of hilarious. Love that. And the part that gets me with the vigno quote is like my expectations of him stopping the puck. Like that's, you have to have a conversation with your starting goaltender about his, that he needs to start stopping pucks. I mean, that's a juicy one. But yeah, I can't not go with Daryl Sutter.

I just think the entire situation. It was like a nice little softball. Like Johnny's about to play 500. What do you think of his career? And just, no, well, hopefully it's better than his 499th game. And the awkward silence on the Zoom call after, like, it was just everyone kind of, like, I don't know if, you know, West Gilbertson had a follow-up question. If he did, I think he was like, well, going to lower my hand.

There was just this kind of, it felt like a very long pause after, well, everyone just kind of digested what just happened. Look, I think that it was, it was a very fiery quote. And I think it was kind of one of the first times that we've seen, like, the Daryl Sutter that, you know, you see the YouTube compilations of. Like I remember watching one video of someone being like, you know, Daryl, this team hasn't played in a Stanley Cup final since. And he was like, oh, really? Oh, really? Guys, listen to what I just learned. We haven't played in a Stanley Cup final since like this game. That's amazing. Thanks. I don't know what you want me to say about that. And it's those sound bites that have the 15 minutes on YouTube of people being like, look at Daryl Sutter just like obliterating people and being Daryl Sutter. So I think that was like the first time that we've kind of seen it come back. So yeah, I think you have to go with that one. I will say like 500 games.

I think that that was a very special day for Johnny Guadro and his family. So look, I do think that there is a side of this where I was like, man, like, this is a really nice milestone for a guy in his family and he just destroyed him. But look, if that's what Daryl, look, if Daryl's saying that to the media, like there's obviously. been, the thing about Daryl is there's obviously been a one-on-one conversation with Daryl and Johnny Goudreau to say, like, you need to be better. Obviously, if he's saying that to us, that he said that to Johnny, that's the thing with Daryl. It's always going to be black and white. Johnny Goudro is not sitting at home wondering, what does that mean?

What does he think of me? What do I need to do better? That's all been laid out. But there is an element to it where I'm sure that, you know, Johnny's family probably heard that and was like, this is a really big day for our family. and it would have been nice not to see our son or nephew, whatever, just get annihilated on television. You know what?

And I appreciate it because you were there kind of covering it, I figured you were going to take that one. That's an inflammatory quote. But for me, Haley, Alianvino on Carter Hart is intriguing because, you know, we've all watched Carter Hart struggle and we're like, man, Carter Hart, is he, what's he going through? This is the first time that we've kind of had smoking gun evidence from at least the head coach questioning the work ethic.

And that's huge. Like a Philadelphia Flyers goalie being questioned by the head coach, it's almost, I know it's a low hanging fruit type of situation, but that's unbelievable to me. For Alian Vino to say he needs to work harder, he needs to work better, and I've had a conversation with him about practice habits and stopping the puck. Yikes. Like I think that that, and Alian Vino is usually a pretty, you know, respectful guy of his players. He's kind of, I think, usually seen for the most part as a pretty player-friendly guy as needed.

Boy, this to be on your goalie, that's an eye-opening quote. So that's the one for me. Okay. Question number two, Haley, multiple choice matters. We talked a little bit earlier about the Washington Capitals. I want to ask you this. Let's say we get to June, July, and the Washington Capitals are hoisting the Stanley Cup. My question is, which member of the Capitals enhances their legacy the most, Haley, with another Stanley Cup?

win on their resume. Is it A. Alexander Ovechkin, B, Sedano Chara, or C, the head coach, Peter Laviolet. I'll go first on this one, Haley, and I'm saying it's C. I think it's Peter Laviolet. And I think it's because I think if Ovechkin wins another one, they'll be like, yeah, but Sid has three. If Chara wins it, it's like, yeah, you weren't really, you know, you weren't really like the driving force. But if Laviolet wins it here, Haley, I think you can make a legitimate argument. he's in the upper tier of coaches all time. It's such a short list of coaches who have won at Stanley Cup with two teams.

And for Lavellette, remember, he got to the finals with Carolina in 06, got to the finals with Philly in 2010, got to the finals with Nashville in 2017. If he gets to the Stanley Cup finals with a fourth different team and gets his second ring, like we're talking about some rarefied air.

So I'm saying, I'm saying Peter Lavvi, that does the most to boost his legacy with a cup win. What about you? Yeah, I think that's fair. I guess I think I would say Alex Ovechkin, I think that, you know, for the longest time, it was, yeah, he's a better goal score, but he hasn't been able to win a Stanley Cup. And, you know, he's never going to be one of the greatest of all time if he can't win a championship.

And, you know, I think a lot of times that was kind of the bar that was set, especially when you compare him to Sid. I think that if he can win another one, then it's going to be like, okay, maybe like he, you know, he, I understand saying like, yeah, but SIDS won three. But I think if Alex Ovechkin wins another one and he continues to climb the charts, you know, he's not just an individual, you know, he's not just excelling in individual statistical categories. You know, he's adding to his team trophy case. And to say that he won two Stanley Cups with the Washington Capitals, like, with the same team while being one of the greatest goal scores this league's ever seen, I think that's just going to continue to enhance and cement his legacy because you can't

just say, oh, yeah, it was a one-off, right? Because there's still probably people out there who was like, yeah, but he only won one. It's, you know, whatever. And look at how long it took. But if he can win two, especially under the circumstances that we mentioned earlier, like, this is a team we thought would be on the decline. I think that would just enhance, you know, the already impressive legacy that Alex Ovechkin has. Okay, on the question three, and we do have another Ovechkin-Crosby question here. In fact, we'll get to that right now. Haley, we're going to get to this because they're within five points of each other with their

career points. So here's my question. Who ends up with more career points when it's all said and done? Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby. Right now, Haley, Ovechkin, 1307, Crosby, 1302. I'm going to say Sidney Crosby just because I think that we could maybe see him playing longer. Oh, man, this is a tough one, actually. I don't know.

I don't know. I just change my mind like mid-answer because I think Ovi has shown that he has, you know, just when he gets hot and when he's scoring, I mean, it's just so impressive. Like, you just, I legitimately don't know how long Alexander Ovechkin is going to play. National Hockey League and how long he's going to continue to score at the rate that he's been scoring. And so I think that makes him, you know, a really impressive, but I just, he's two years older. I think Sid might end up playing a little bit longer. And, you know, Crosby's always had, you know, I don't think it's inflammatory to say that Crosby's had, you know, more of an all-around game in terms of, you know, goals, assist. He's a playmaker, whatever, on both sides.

the puck. So I wonder if Crosby will play a little bit longer and end up beating him just based on the amount of games and the length of their career. You know, so, okay, so let me make a case for why I think it might be Ovechkin. And you're right, because I think Crosby's played fewer games, got better points per game. But I think that there's a statistical, like, Ovechkin has a motivating factor statistically to hang around. And that's to try and catch Wayne Gretzky, right? Like, Like from a stat standpoint, Crosby can't get into the 2000 point club. He can't get into that.

But Ovechkin can do that. He can get into the rarefied, 850, 900 goal range. And I think that might keep them going. So you know what? I'm going to say, Haley, that you're going to see Alex Ovechkin end up with more career points just because I think he might end up hanging around more.

But wouldn't it be amazing? What do you think the odds would be if they could somehow end up with the same number of points? That would be perfect, right? I feel like that would be the motivating factor for the two of them to continue playing specifically not to stay tied. Like those two have been tied to each other since their first, like, run in the National Hockey League. The rivalry, all the stuff, they had the, you know, the rookie phenoms. Look at Ovi's goal. Who's better?

Who's better? The dueling hat tricks. Like, I cannot imagine Sidney Crosby retiring and being like, oh, shit. like I am tied with Ovechkin like no got to go back like there's no chance competitors like that who've been pinned against each other their entire career can be like let's let's finish with a tie no chance no way no way okay next next question Haley we're seeing two extremes here with power plays and let's tackle this question which team's power play statistic is more mind-blowing to you right now is it A the Carolina Hurricanes they're operating at 30

success rate on the power play. That would be the highest rate of any team in the post-lockout era. Or is it be the Minnesota Wilde who have a 9.7% success rate, Haley, and are somehow in a playoff spot, that represents the lowest power play success rate of any team since the lockout. No one has had a season in which they've been at less than 10%. So I'll go first. I think it's Minnesota.

And I think it's because you almost think to yourself, well, you can't win with a power play that's like around 13% or 14. These guys are at fewer than 10% less than a 10% success rate. This is mind-blowing to me that Haley, not only are they in a playoff spot, they're fairly comfortably in a playoff spot with a 9.7% success rate. Don't get me wrong. Carolina, at 30%, we have not seen a team north of 30% ever in his. season since the lockout. So this is remarkable what they're doing, but what, what Minnesota is doing is almost more remarkable on the reverse end.

Well, especially, I'm going to agree with you. Like, that's great for the Carolina hurricanes. And I don't want to feed into the like, why does everyone disrespect the canes? Why is no one talking about the canes? They've got a good power play unit. They've got, you know, obviously they have, you know, the personnel. They've got the firepower. the guys who can score, they've got the coaching staff who are strong systematically,

who can give them a good power play. That's awesome. But to operate at a 9% clip, like, and it's part of it that's kind of wild to me is like they have a positive goal differential. Like, and they're third in, in that Honda West. And they're at a plus 16 goal differential. So like they're outscoring their opponents as a whole, but they can't score on the power play with the man advantage. And that's just, is it a systems problem? Like, are they just, can they not hold the zone? Is there a really good penalty kills in that division? I don't know. But that is just wild to me. Oh, no. You know, you accuse me of being the bad pun guy. And then you drop that. You drop that and you drop the fact that they play in a sponsored division and you use the name. What is wrong with you?

What is wrong? What is wrong? Good. There's some wacky weather stuff happening in Calgary. It's messing with me. The winds. It's cold. I've been in my house. The weather is not affecting me. No, that's not an excuse.

Not an excuse. I don't know. Let's just move on to the next time. Last question, multiple choice madness. What would be more impressive to you? Because Haley, both of these players are on the verge of potentially doing it this season. Would it be, A, if Connor McDavid could lead the league in goals, assists and points, or B, Andre Vazelowski leads the league in wins, goals against, and save percentage.

What's more impressive? I'm going to go with Andre Vasselowski. I think if you look at some of the talent in that division and look at the teams that he's going up against the shots that he's facing, I think that's really impressive. Like we said, you've got the best power play in the league in that division. He's facing the Carolina Hurricanes. he's facing, you know, a really strong Florida Panthers team. And, you know, I know that Nashville, Chicago, they're not in that same upper echelon of the league right now.

But, you know, there's still some decent players, especially, you know, on the Blackhawk. So I think, you know, it's not the same firepower as the North Division. They're not facing Austin Matthews and Conno McDavid every single day. But I think for Vasilesky to. If he were to do that across all categories for a goaltender, that would be extremely impressive. Not just individually, but, you know, for that team, I just, Connor McDavid's going to, Connor McDavid, he's going to get his goals in his points. And I think there's obviously the argument people are making about the lack of defense or the

lack of goaltending. Maybe the North Division is just bad. I don't think that makes what Connor McDavid's doing any less impressive. We talked about that last episode, but, you know, I just, I have a really huge respect for goaltenders and what they do. So if Vasilesky was able to do all of that, that would just be so impressive. See, I'm going to go the opposite. I'm only going to use a little bit of historical context here for why I think it's more

impressive. So if Vaselowski does it, the last goalie to lead the league and wins, goals against and same percentage in the same year. Kerry Price did it in 2015. That's the year when Price won the Vezna and the Hart Chofy. Last time a player led the league in goals assistant points, Mario Lemieux,

95-96. So I think just based on that, I'm inching towards it, but I think it's remarkable. And both of them are on the verge. They're both top three in all those categories. So that is going to be something to watch. Hey, Haley, as we wrap up the program,

we open up the hell. hail bag with some great questions. And, you know, you kind of alluded to this in answering that question about McDavid. Rick has written into the show. Hey, guys, appreciate your show. Here's my question. Many journalists have been speculating all season whether the North Division is bad or if it's just exceptionally offensive.

In a similar way, do you guys think it's possible that maybe the Buffalo Sabres are not that bad? But they are just the worst team in an exceptionally competitive. division. What do you think about that? That comes in from Rick. Well, first, um, the only, like, journalists that I really see talking about the North division being bad is our colleague Sarah Sivian. Um, she's been on that horse for a while. Like, she just, she hates the North Division and she hates Toronto Media. I just see her tweeting about like, if Toronto Media wouldn't do this all the time, maybe blah. So we should have brought

that up with her when she was on. We should have said, listen. answer you can't we can't be dropping all this to on us Canadians and then come on our show and not respond to it we should have done that um i don't look at it like the north division is is terrible um you know i think it's really difficult to to compare because we don't see these teams against each other like what would some of the teams in the north division look like when they're playing against the the central or the east or or the Honda west um I just think it's too difficult to compare when they're when they're in these silos personally. It's not like apples to oranges, but in a way it almost is.

I don't know what your take is on that, Ian. I just, I find it. And maybe you agree with me because you've said we should have individual words for every division. Like it feels very much like when you're covering the North Division like we are. And we spoke with Rick about this too. Like he hasn't seen the Sends or the flames play at all this season. He's, he barely sees like the Islanders play because more so than ever this season, you're just so siloed and watching your team and your division that it's really hard to,

to watch with a keen eye of everything else. It almost feels like they're their own little leagues. So I don't, I don't think I can compare these divisions with each other. I do think that the Buffalo Sabres are just bad. Like, I don't think being in the. North division would make them, make them good. But again, I just, it's tough. To Rick's point, if the divisions were what they usually are, and Buffalo was in a

division with Ottawa, with Detroit, now I'm thinking there's not a 14-point gap between Buffalo and the next team. I think, I think that's fair to say. Like, I don't think if Buffalo was in their usual division with the Red Wings and the senators, I do not believe that they would be on an island like they are now. I don't. I don't think they're that much worse than certainly Detroit and even to some extent at times, Ottawa. Like those are those are. But does that make them a good team?

It doesn't make them good, but I do think that they are a little bit of a victim of that's the best division in hockey, I think. Yeah. Although you could make an argument that that West Division is pretty good. The central at the top is very good. But I do think that one to six or so seven even if you want it, depending on how you see New Jersey, that East Division, it's like a murderous row. Yeah. So, you know, I do have a little bit of, like,

I do look at some of the other bottom teams and, and think if Buffalo was in that West Division, you know, maybe they'd get San Jose and Anaheim a little bit. If they were in the north, they would get Ottawa, Vancouver, right? Like, it's, anyway, I feel like they are on an island by themselves in that, in that collision. Yeah, I don't, I don't so much buy into the North Division's bad, but definitely to your point and to Rick's point about the sabres in the east, which I guess was the whole point in the question.

I just rambled for no reason for a little bit. But I definitely agree from that standpoint. Like the sabers are punching up every single game no matter who they're playing. And sometimes it's a little bit up to New Jersey. And other times it's to, you know, arguably the best team in the league. And that's really difficult. But I will say, like I think that the Ottawa senators were. are in that position as well,

and they're still finding ways to steal games. They're not playing against Washington, Pittsburgh. It's obviously the competition's different. But, you know, I think that there's a lot of teams who are punching up throughout their division and still finding ways to win hockey games. Okay, wrapping up the show, got a couple of listener, April Fool's Pranks, Haley,

that they're going to, that they shared with us on social media. Allison has written in, you tell me, is this hilarious or is this cruel? This is a classic hockey prank. Allison says one of my first games that I was a referee, they put the clear piece of tape on the bottom of my skate blade. So as soon as I stepped out on the ice, I wiped right out. hilarious prank or dangerous activity, Haley. Both.

Can it be both? Yeah. I think it can. Jeez. You've never done that. You've never had that happen to you. I do actually sometimes check my skate blade for that, thinking that I'm going to be the victim of that prank.

No, I, no, that's never happened to me. Like I said, like I don't prank people. I haven't been pranked. For anyone listening to this, though, who wants to, like, see some funny pranks, I think it, Mark Andre Fleury is probably, like, one of the best pranksters in the NHL. I remember, I think it was Flurry.

and I think it was during the 24-7 HBO that they were doing before the Winter Classic. I'm pretty sure he took all of the furniture out of one of the Penguins' Rookies Hotel rooms and put it in the lobby. So that when they like came in, they saw all the furniture and were like, oh, look at this couch. And then they check into their room and it's just empty. I think he also put like bubble gum way into the fingers of someone's gloves too, like the double bubble gum. and they just couldn't get it out of his gloves. So if anyone wants some legit, good pranks, like I would YouTube Mark Andre Fleury or something.

Those are just two that I remember. And the last one here, this is from SportsNet. Sportsnet reporter Jean Princepe, friend of the show, has written and said, this is what we did in 2019. To open up a broadcast of an Euler's game,

Ovechkin and Drysiddle were neck-in-neck to win the scoring race and goals. So we did a story in which we announced that Alex Ovechkin had been using illegal tape. The NHL had deemed it to be too thick. And so they were thus eliminating some of his goals, putting Leon Drysidal in the lead. And that's what they opened.

So that's a pretty good tape-related prank. Yeah, and I mean to do that on a broadcast is, that's pretty good. You're not just doing that to one person. That's a pretty good one from Gene. Yeah. Gene is the king of pranks, and he's the king of puns, which clearly you were not today, Haley.

But hey, listen, that's where we're going to leave it. This was a lot of fun, as always. And listen, hope you have a great week. Hopefully things warm up for you there out west. I mean, I think it's going to be 15 degrees on Thursday, so we're going from feeling like minus 22 to 15 within a couple days. There you go. It's going to feel tropical to you.

All right, thanks, everybody, for listening to this edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. You know we would love that. Scott Burnside, Pierre Lebrun. They'll be joined by King's Superstar Defenseman Drew Dowdy, the two-man advantage edition of the Athletic Hockey Show that comes to with Wednesday.

I'll be back in this chair. Sean McIndoo, down goes brown on Thursday.