The Athletic Hockey Show - Are the Arizona Coyotes taking the long winding road to relocation in Utah?

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Hailey, Max and Sean discuss the latest news out of the NHL and Arizona, involving the future of the Coyotes in the Grand Canyon State, if Billionaire Ryan Smith and the city of Salt Lake City are a good solution for the league, and if NHL hockey could one day return to Arizona.Plus they take a look at the evolving Eastern Conference playoff race where two spots remain for the Islanders, Capitals, Red Wings and Penguins, and Hailey provides an update from Utica New York, at the Women's World Hockey Championships.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? It's another Thursday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. We are all back together again. It's Haley, Max, and Sean. I am still in Utica, but I had some time. Yeah, I'm still here. That's the good news, I guess.

That's the bad news, but the good news is that I had some time before the quarterfinals start on Thursday to do the show. What's up, guys? Did you miss me last week? We did. Anyone want to cut? You're both in Pittsburgh and I'm in Utica. You guys should just come on down here for the next four days. Yeah, we think you're ducking us.

But we mostly want to know if you're ready to pledge allegiance to the United States of America and specifically to Kirsten Sims. Listen, I just wrote a big story about the American player who everyone on Canada hates. So I feel like I might have to pledge allegiance to America because the Canadians have shunned me out. I think I've been waiting for you to write that story on Abby Murphy since the 2022 Olympics. There were a couple shifts there where I was like, I can't wait until someone writes a very long story about what a pain in the ass she is. Here we are. It finally happened. Yeah.

So side of Chicago, like kind of the only real agitator in women's hockey. in the sense of like she will take runs at people and she'll hack at you. And when she's skating in the bench, she's going to throw a shot if the refs aren't looking. And there were some people who didn't appreciate the story. And I just think, I have to just think that this means growth for women's hockey, that like I can write a story about Matthew Kachuk and Abby Murphy

and people in both comment sections tell me that I'm an ass. asshole for it. And I think that's really great. I think that speaks to the growth of the women's game. A comment section is full of people saying that the kichucks have bad parents and it Abby Murphy's mom and dad should be ashamed of themselves and whatever.

This is growth. That's why I jumped into the comments to call Haley an asshole. Yeah, it was actually Max B, who was saying you should be ashamed of yourself, but go America. Backs Moultonman.

Yeah. Yeah. If, you know, Carson Sims is like unbelievable. I was at the Frozen Four. And for people who maybe didn't watch the game, Sims scored the OT winner in the Canada USA game to finish the preliminary rounds. So the Americans get the number one seat at the tournament heading into the metal rounds. That was the best zero zero game that I think I've ever been at. That was, I think, the fast. and most physical. I've ever seen these two teams play against each other, and I've watched a lot of

Canada USA games, which has been so cool to see, like, the way that the level of play has been raised. I was talking to some players about it. Like, the U.S. team has a bunch of college kids, like Kirsten Sims, who's just unbelievable. She scored 75 points in college this season in 39 games. Like, it's gross. But all the other players are, you know, at their peak performance because they've been playing in the PWHL all season. So, like, you know, Canada, U.S. rivalry has always been unbelievable, and it, like, somehow got even better because they're all more well-conditioned than they've ever been. So that was a sweet game.

I think it's funny to see people kind of overreact to that. There was a lot of – this is just my own little rant here. Sorry, everybody. I always see a lot of complaints that the U.S., like, went younger and brought in all these colleges. players and like Canada is old. But like if Kirsten Sims was Canadian, she'd be on Team Canada. It's not like Troy Ryan decided to not take Kirsten Sims on the roster. Like that's, there's just a lot of stud American kids in college right now.

And Robilesky kind of had to take them because they lost team Canada in three straight gold medal games and we're like, let's maybe do a reset here. So it's interesting, but we'll see what happens in a gold medal game. What channel will that game be on? Well, if you are in Canada, every single game is on TSN and you get to listen to like the wonderful Cheryl Pounder and Kenzie Leland. What about in the United States? What channel is this game on? I guess it just depends if you pay for NHL network. What if you'd like to stream the game and you don't have a cable package?

fire up a VPN and try to get on TSN. Like it's, yeah, it's, you know what, go to buttstreams. Bart and get a, get a virus and have your social security number stolen so you can watch,

so you can watch US Canada. It's the only way to do it. It's super honestly, like it's, I try not to be all like doom and gloom about stuff sometimes, and I'm trying not to just, because women's basketball, And just like basketball as a whole is like not a great comparable sport to hockey.

Like hockey is never going to hit basketball levels like in any sense, whether it's college pro women's men. So it's like a tough comparable. But it's like very hard to be sitting here at this tournament and seeing people who can't access games in this country to watch like the best rivalry in this sport and know that there was almost 19 million people. watching South Carolina, Iowa. And it's just like there's an appetite for elite women's sport, like if it's available to people. And like that has always been the problem. Like we're seeing it with the PWHL now that there's actual arenas to go to in YouTube streams and TV deals. Like people are watching. Almost two million people watched that first game that I was a broadcaster on, which is like crazy because it was there for people. And now like it's it just feels. It just

feels like such a come down from or such a disappointment after like all this growth in the PWHL and we're seeing the momentum in women's college basketball and like women's soccer. And then we go to like the biggest women's hockey tournament in the season internationally. And like people don't like people can't watch the games on TV. And I just don't think that's acceptable any longer. The NHL shouldn't show NHL games on NHL network. They shouldn't show regular season stars versus coyotes on that network because of the overall situation in terms of people not, A, not being able to access it, B, not having it in the first place. Then you think about, like they're blackout local games.

It's a joke. It's a total embarrassment. The fact that you're talking about elite, high level women's international games on that now is, is even more. It's even more ridiculous. It made sense at some point. There was a time where this tournament made sense to put on NHNHNHNNNNNNNNT network. We are past that point. Like the NFL was going to was going to shutter the network last year.

They were going to close it. And then they're like, yeah, fine, whatever. It's a situation that it's a circumstance that just, it works for, that works for nobody. Because people who have cable can't get it. and how many people don't have cable. And then you have women's, like the larger community of women's hockey fans is now accustomed to being able to watch stuff on YouTube

or whatever PWHL games are so widely available. And now it's like you can't, you can't watch Canada women or Canada, US, unless you have whatever. The seventh level cable tier. And that's it. It's insanity. Yeah.

Yeah, like I can't. TNT, one of the NHL broadcast partners would be willing to scratch one night of showing Rogue One this week of the three times they're going to show it for three years in Canada. Literally, literally, Max and I were eating dinner last night at a bar and watching Rogue One on a TV in front of us. How is this? Like Star Wars? Yes. Yes. I was like, is that like an F1 dokey series or something?

I do think some of the games are streamed on ESPN. plus I saw something about that, but like it's, yeah, it's just not, it's like kind of unclear and not super accessible. Like, while I'm sitting here in Utica, excuse me, I'm sitting here at this tournament and like, I can't just throw on a game before I go to the rink, right? Like, there's four quarterfinals today. The first one's at 11. We're recording the show at nine. So if I'm delayed, I can't just throw the game on and then head to the rink at intermission because it's like, I can't put on, TSN's broadcasting every single game, like with their A team, you know, like it's amazing the way that TSN is committed to international women's hockey.

But I don't, I don't have TSN right now because I'm sitting in Utica for the tournament. So that's my little gripe. I think these women deserve better. I think I always just go back to, I did that anonymous player poll before last year's women's world championships. and I asked them like, what's the biggest issue facing women's hockey? And almost everybody said visibility. And very specifically, a few players said the NHL network does not do us many favors.

So like this isn't just a me problem. Like the players know it too. So we'll see what happens as the women's pro game continues to grow. Maybe they'll start making some changes when it comes to world championships in the future. Sean, you mentioned an Arizona Coyotes game. Big news on Wednesday afternoon. The NHL and the Arizona Coyotes are preparing for the possibility of a move to Utah in time for the 2024-25 season. According to Elliott Friedman, an announcement could come as soon as April 15th.

Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnson had a story at The Athletic 2 that said the NHL updated its Board of Governors on the situation with a memo on Wednesday that said there have been moving. parts in the situation and a lot of sources have stressed to all of the insiders that no final decisions. Literally. Everyone, every single story has the same. Feeding frenzy basically. Hilarious. Every single story on this has the same sentence like sources stressed that there has been no final decision made. For some backstory for listeners who maybe haven't been all in on the coyote situation, the coyote's been playing at Millet Arena, 5,000 seat facilities. at the Arizona State campus. Alex Marulo, who owns the team,

has been trying to finalize plans for an NHL quality facility in Arizona. There was a big land auction coming up on June 27th to develop an arena space in entertainment district in Phoenix, which I think everybody agrees is like the best place for a hockey team

in the desert would be Phoenix. Meanwhile, Ryan Smith, he's the billionaire owner of the Utah Jazz in an MLS franchise too. He's been super, about his desire for a team in Salt Lake City, either as expansion or relocation. If this happens, I guess the NHL would essentially be the broker. So like they would buy the coyotes back and then sell the team to Smith Entertainment Corporation,

which would then move the team to Utah. So that's kind of what's going on. Nothing's final. Got to stress that. Our source is stressing that? Sources are stressing that not to me, I don't have those kind of sources. But like the NHL's gone so far, according to ESPN, to be mocking up two different schedules for next year, one with the coyotes and one with the Utah Lady Jazz. The Utah Lady Jazz.

I mean, you have to, right? because even if they win the land auction, we're talking three years, three more years in Mullet Arena. I think this is the year. This seems like if you look at what Marty Walsh has said, you just look at kind of the vibe coming out of the coyote's situation in Mallet Arena,

especially for visiting players. Like year two, the bloom is off the rose. Like there was maybe some, level of, you know, hitch or entertainment value or fun factor there in year one. And now it's like, this is real. We are playing in a 4,800 seat arena, A, still.

And B, even in best case scenario as it relates to the coyotes in Arizona, three more years. No thank you. Like, it's crazy that that's something that ever happened at all. And it's just like it's crazy that the Oakland athletics are kind of in a similar situation where they're playing in the AAA. I can't believe that these are circumstances and situations that a professional sports league has willingly allowed their players, like openly walked into for two years and been like, no, this is fine.

So the fact that the balloons just went off on slack. It's very funny. So the fact that, you know, there, there, that there's no end in sight. Best case scenario is, is they win the land auction, which is no slam dunk by, by everything I've read. And even then, 20, 27. What are, what are we talking about? Yeah. In the Sierra Valley report, it almost made it sound like the idea at this point with the land auction might even just be to try to lure Arizona back to the, or the NHL back to Arizona.

like almost Utah goes and then they win the land auction, they develop it and then they try to bring, whether it's an expansion team or whatever else. And I can buy it because the fact that they've gone through with this mullet experiment is the clearest proof you could ever need that the NHL desperately wants a franchise there. But it's looking, I mean, that that is a rather quick timeline, I guess we could say, right?

Like when Atlanta lost the thrashers, we were not talking about four or five years to get the thrashers back, although obviously it certainly sounds like there's momentum around Atlanta as well. I don't know how long it would be, but if they win that land auction after losing the coyotes, it seems like Arizona's right back at the front of the line for expansion. Does it not? Yeah, definitely.

That's what a lot of the reports have suggested. I think I read the Saravali report and the ESPN one, and they were both a little bit like stronger and like, harder on this idea. And I think Elliot had this too of just this idea that like if the threat, I almost said the thrashers, if this happens, like if Marulo sells, like there could even, like there could be something contractually that says like you will get to like bring back the Arizona coyotes like with all the same IP and like jerseys and logos and da da da da, within like you have like five years to bring the coyotes back basically.

It's like if you meet a certain set of requirements and you tick a certain set of boxes and hit a certain, you know, series of signposts, then yeah, you can have the Arizona coyotes can come back. And if if this goes down, if the team ends up in Salt Lake City, I would be very, very, very interested to see what those, what those circumstances are in terms of what it would. take for Alex Marullo to own a second team? I actually, I don't know about necessarily the same owner, but I like the concept of the trade barn on that staying in Arizona.

I don't need another situation like the hurricanes and the bailers or the who are the Houston Oilers now is that the Tennessee Titans? Like they can do the throwbacks with the Houston Texans have no Houston Oilers IP rights. Like that's weird to me. So I like the idea of the IP staying with Arizona. I think that's good for that fan base. Yeah, for sure.

But obviously. Those jerseys are great too. So like, as an owner is. Yeah. Um, what do you guys think about? And you know what?

We should say too. Like I know, like the coyotes are the butt end of a lot of jokes. But like this does suck. Like people are going to lose their jobs. Um, like people who cover that team. People who work in that facility.

Um, that it's just like a, shitty situation, especially to just find out on social media. All these players' lives are going to be uprooted. I know it sounds like a lot of them weren't happy with the situation, but this isn't just like one trade or one, like two trades here. Like the entire team's going to, like now they're just being like, where are we going going to live next year?

And it doesn't sound like, according to some of these reports that there's really been any conversations with the players to this point, just the board of governors. So a lot of them are just being like, okay, well, our last game at Mullet Arena's next Wednesday and then we don't really know where we're going to be. So let's see how that goes. And then the other thing that I did you see yesterday too, they sent Logan Cooley out there by himself after after that game. And we're like, that was the extent of their media availability. They didn't open up. They didn't open up the locker rooms. They send the 19 year old out there to answer a bunch of questions. And then said to- Come on. Seriously? Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't see that. Yeah. So pretty sweet there. That's the kind of stuff. Honestly, that's the kind of stuff that happens continually with that franchise where you're like, go.

Go away. Like, let's hit the restart button, bring it back, have a different vibe at the top. Yeah. At the top of things there. Because that's crazy. Yeah.

that's the kind of stuff that happens that like when players end up like not wanting to like be in that market long term or with that team like you can trace it back to stuff like that I'm not saying that's going to happen with Logan Cooley that it's not what I mean but those are always the things that like happen when I think players and people just start to be like okay this is this is bullshit um I saw that um oilers media were already told like when you guys are here like there's not going to be any questions about this. And I saw one of the media people who tweeted that being like, what else are we going to ask, though? He's not wrong, even if it's the delivery is a little bit mean. Farhan said that, by the way. Farhan Lollad you from TSN. The team closed the dressing post game.

The only player brought out was Logan Cooley. And the only person given an opportunity to ask him questions was from the team's TV crew. And that was after last night's game against. connects. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, that's brutal.

Way to throw your... The kinds of things you can do when you're not going to have a team for much longer. Yeah. They're in full-on Kistanza mode where it's like we're just playing out the string here. It's a joke. It sucks. It just makes me sad for a lot of people, though, too. I don't know.

That just sucks. I'm an empath. What can I say? What makes Salt Lake City the best? option here. Sean, I know you've done a lot of work on looking at like potential expansion, whether it was Atlanta or Houston. I think Salt Lake City was in one of your stories too. Why, why Utah, why Ryan Smith? I think some of the answers are pretty simple, but can you take us through why this is the best option for the NHL right now? Yeah, because Ryan Smith is

super rich on a level that the Marillo group is not. He wants the team. He has been a successful major sports franchise owner in the past. He's got that, you know, he's got that, that history baked in. And they have an arena plan. That's the biggest thing. That team can play in the Delta Center or whatever. It's like I keep, I think it's back to being called the Delta Center where the jazz play. Yeah.

They can play there tomorrow if they have to. And Utah is hosting the Olympics and we'll be getting a new arena. down the road, not too far. It's that simple. It's ownership and a viable arena situation. And both of those are better in Utah than they are in Arizona. Ryan Smith, a better sports owner than Alex Marillo. The arena situation significantly better. And it seems like they actually won a team.

In Salt Lake City is a growing, it's the population base is on the upswing. and people there have a history of caring about about sports teams you know the jazz are a success the mLS team that ryan smith owns is is successful and they're capable of committing to that team whether it's in the place that they play or financially or whatever in a way that the coyote in a way that you know the the marulo group and all the ownership groups before them haven't been able to them max have you ever been to salt lake city. He's been in the airport.

One time I went for a Michigan versus Utah college football game. And my report is that the mountains are beautiful. I was in that I've only been in the airport. I've had layovers in the airport. And it's really nice. The airport is, is beautiful. They have these huge, huge glass windows that are,

as opposed to, you know, wooden windows or steel windows. Yeah. Because the Pittsburgh airport is lacking. in many ways. Haley, you might appreciate this. When we were in Salt Lake City,

and you can tell how long ago this was by what I'm about to say, we were able to just walk right into the high school where they shot high school musical and just like took a bunch of pictures in the high school. It's like, you know, 22-year-olds or whatever, 21. Oh, my God. Yeah. Did you like all around on the ground

where Troy Bolton had his like meltdown song? my Facebook I think on my Facebook I still have like a header photo of us doing the like jump shot like the free shot in front of the yeah okay I'm gonna have to add max on Facebook now I'm gonna reactivate my Facebook account to add Max on Facebook you know who at the athletic is the best like Facebook friend it's Jeremy Rutherford he's great he's the best don't if you're listening to this don't start adding JR on Facebook yeah you might as well as be telling people people yeah you might as be telling people people to add to add jr on facebook i just docks jeremy rutherford uh yeah we're addresses there there comes there comes the robot yeah we're we're revealing jeremy rutherford as a as a very funny nice dude can you know what he honestly might be my favorite colleague at this company we've talked about i think i've talked about i talked about i randomly veer off and talk about jr all the time i've talked about him on facebook on the show before i think i think and Craig talked about it at one point.

Like him writing, him writing letters to his wife when he does funny, when he does fun things on the road, like when he's, when he's hanging out in Vegas, it makes me laugh out loud. Like, like every,

every, his wife is a stronger woman than I am. It's a great bit. Very quickly before we wrap up here, Max, do you have a thought, a final thought on the kind of coyotes situation and potential

relocation to Utah. I feel like the biggest thing is that it just like, I know they're saying, I know the sources are stressing that this is not final, but it really does seem like at the very least, this is the priority that they're going to try to get sorted out. Like this seems like option number one for everybody at this point. Max just,

Max actually just dropped out. I'm just glad it seems like this is almost over. Like, this is 38 years old. I've been working in sports media since, professionally, since 2008. And this is something, whether it was Glendale City Council meetings in 2009 or whatever, this is something that's been going on for literally the duration of my career. It's insane. And it finally seems like in one way or another, the resolution has arrived.

And I'm honestly relieved about it. It sucks for everyone in Arizona, but like this is insane that it's dragged on for this long and it and it, it's been allowed to get to this point. I am very curious what will be, what kind of the player fallout side of this will be. I mean, I don't know if Salt Lake maybe is a more attractive place for some, but in Arizona, obviously staying isn't really an option for anyone who wants to remain an NHL player. But I think with a team move, that's kind of the first place my head goes is what's the player fallout going to be on something like this. All right. Well said, Max. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll dive in. There's two playoff spots left in each conference. Who's going to win them? Does anyone want them? I don't know. That's coming up next on the athletic hockey show. We're not going to talk about the Hart Trophy race because I think everyone's done that every day this week. Is that true? Whoops. Yeah. So we're not going to do that today.

we started it last week. We were the first people that ever talked about the Heart Trophy on a podcast. I think our, us three also did it like way earlier in the season too. So it's just kind of been nonstop.

We had to ask Frankie about McKinney. And that was really, that was really just, just the excuse yesterday. I'm sorry, everybody. Yeah, that's fair.

It's okay. All I know is that the Monday show's title was like total eclipse of the heart, but it was like heart for the heart trophy. So, which is actually kind of clever. It's clever-ish as far as

like puns go, which I typically don't like at all. So it's fine. They're both pun guys too. Max. Lazz and Ian both. Yeah. I, that energy's not for me. Fun energy?

Yeah. I can't. I love, like Ian is truly like the best human. But if you, if you, dad joke around me. I'm going to freak out. That's how I got my own show. Anyways, that's the inside

school. How Ian and I broke up the Monday show. Anyways, six teams of clinched playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. It's the Rangers, Hurricanes, Bruins, Panthers, Maple Leafs, and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

There are two spots left. One in the wild card, one in the Metro. Realistically, we're looking at the islanders, caps, penguins, red wings, maybe the Flyers, even though they've kind of fallen off a cliff here

for the final two spots. It's pretty close. There is a huge game that is going to dictate I think a lot of what happens in this playoff race down the stretch. The penguins and the Red Wings,

they played a night in Pittsburgh. Max is in town. He's not just there to hang out with Sean. He's not? Oh, no. How, like, how important is this game going to be, Max, for who potentially gets one of those two spots? Like, I know the Islanders and Washington are in this race, too, and Washington has a big matchup against the Buffalo Sabres. I think that's tonight as well.

So the Sabers winning that game in regulation is going to be really important for the Penguins and the Red Wings playoff lives. but it kind of seems to me like whoever maybe wins this game between those two teams ends up having a pretty good shot at making one of those final spots, whether in the Metro or the wild card. Absolutely. I mean, this is kind of the story of the week for the Red Wings. They had a game head to head against the Capitals on Tuesday that they lost in regulation. That was a game where I believe the swing was if they had won it,

their playoff odds would have been 66%. With the loss, they dropped to like 27% on Moneypuck. I don't know if Dom doesn't really publish the like, you know, if this then is you just wait until the next morning. So I don't know what he would have had the swing. I think he had him at 35% after the loss, so a little better. But MoneyPuck for this Penguins game, it's like it's the same story again, right? If they win in regulation, their odds are 44%. If they lose, it's down to 7%.

Pittsburgh, same deal. If Pittsburgh wins in regulation, 60.5% to make the playoffs. if they lose it drops to 17. So these are like the definition of those four-point games that coaches love to talk about. First game, Capitals Red Vings lived up to the hype. It was a tremendous 2-1 game. It was really a 2-0 game.

Patrick Kane scored in the final second. And I have every expectation that Red Wings Penguins will be very similar kind of game tonight. Sean, what do you think of this matchup? You've been tracking it. You live in Pittsburgh, right? Yeah, were you aware of that? I still think just a huge story of so much this is just because of Alex Nadelcovich.

That's just, I think everybody rightfully is gassing up Crosby because he's Sydney Crosby. He deserves it. But Alex Nadelcovich playing it, whatever, 915, 9, 920 clip, you know, huge saves, goals saved above expected numbers are per grade as well. Like, this doesn't happen without him. And we've seen this from him at various points over his career. We saw it when he came up with the hurricanes for the first time. We saw it at points with Detroit. Is he consistent?

Absolutely not. And that's what stops him from being a legit 1A starter. But can he get hot as hell for 10 games or 12 games and make stuff really interesting on that end? Absolutely. And I think that's a big part of it. Is Sullivan just riding the hot? hand with Nadelcovich? Because when you were saying that, I was like, wait, did Jari get hurt again?

But he's just, he's just going with, with his backup right now. Yeah, man. This is, this is Ned's, it's Ned's net. It's very, very clear. He played both ends of a, well, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, there was, there was, there was, there was, there was, there was a time share situation. is like this is his this is his net uh for for for for for for worse and he's he's a big part of the reason you know that it was it was it was that it was it was a it was a he played both ends of a back to back that's what it was he played against the rangers and in and the devils on april first

and second and that that was the signal where it was you know this isn't a timeshare anymore this is ride or die with alex and belkovich hmm i just want to say that ever since i kind of jokingly said don't look now, but the penguins are nine points back for playoff spot. They're 6.0 and 3. Although, have you guys seen, I know that they've won a few, and Washington's currently holding a spot, but did you guys see Lauren Oshy, like, sending out that thing on Instagram being like, need help for playoff jackets?

And then they just went in the tank for like two weeks ever since after she's like, Hey, need recommendations for custom jackets. And then it went to hell. So maybe it was a little bit of Lauren Oshy's powers and not mine. But Crosby's been the huge part too, obviously, as Sean mentioned. I know we said we weren't going to do this whole heart conversation thing, but he's got to get some, he's got to get some votes if they make the playoffs, don't you think? Or am I just being a fan girl?

I guess he will. I mean, throw him at fifth. I can understand, but there's a steep drop off after the top three and everybody else. So, yeah, he'll get some points. I did. I had this conversation with a colleague a couple, a couple days ago. And I'm like, if you have him at number three or whatever, you're crazy. But put him at five.

And, you know, I don't have a problem with that. Max, what do you think about the Red Wings chances here? I know you just went through the money puck numbers, and tonight is going to be a huge thing. You know, Patrick Kane was doing showtime things, as you mentioned with the game-winning goal. But Alex DeBrinke, who we really gassed up at the start of this show, like once we started doing the show in the beginning of the season,

not today. You didn't miss it. one goal since March 1st. What's going on there and how big of an impact is that going to make on on Detroit's chances here? It's been, it's been really quiet. I think, you know,

they're trying to kind of maybe just kind of confidence wise will it as like, you know, that the chances are there is just not finishing. But if you look at the deployment, even the Redmings are not going to him in some of these go-to situations. He's not on the top power play right now. When they had a six on four late in the game against Washington, he was not one of their six even on the ice.

They went to Robbie Fabry over him with the goal he pulled. So clearly this is a serious slump. There's probably some people in Ottawa right now that are saying, everyone got really ahead of their skis about this. And his numbers look really similar now to what they were last season at Ottawa. I think Alex DeBringkitt is a legit every year, 30 goal guy generally. But this is going to be too straight that he's going to be below 30. and I think that that's notable.

In terms of what it means for the Red Wings, obviously they want the goal scoring, but I think the biggest thing they're going to miss in this game against Pittsburgh is they're without their two top kind of identity guys. Michael Rasmussen and Andrew Kopp, two of their top matchup guys. You don't get to pick the matchup on the road, but you don't have those two players there to slot in. So that to me is the biggest kind of story coming into this game is that the Penguins really shut the Red Wings down last time. I don't know that the Red Wings have the kind of pieces right now to match up playoff style with those two guys out. Maybe even with those two guys in, it's a flaw in their roster construction. Does it seem like it's just going to be a combo of the Islanders and then either the Penguins, Red Wings, or Caps?

Like we're, I'm sorry, Philadelphia, but we're kind of done with them. That was the whole, that was our entire show yesterday. It was me and me and DGB and Ranking throwing dirt on the flyers. Like it's over. Goodbye. Okay. But.

Yeah. We haven't talked about the Islanders enough, I don't think. Like they're like, because they're going to be the one that everyone likes talking about Pittsburgh because it's Crosby and the Red Wings have the kind of collapse angle and so do the caps. Just kind of right, moving right along under the surface has been. the aisle. It seems like they're over the last three days or four days,

like their situation has improved pretty drastically. I think they've won five in a row at this point, five in a row for the high numbers. And I think they're the best team out of that group. Like I don't think this is an accident. Like they've, it's no one should be all that surprised that there's been this attrition between Detroit and Washington and Pittsburgh.

And then when, when New Jersey was involved, and when in, you know, Philly up until a few days ago. And then it's just sort of like steady as steady as she goes playing it, you know, a 91 point pace is that is the is the, is the New York Islanders. So I'm not, I'm not surprised by that. It's been, it's been, it's been, it's been top end talent. And that'll get, that'll get you a lot. If your goalie's good and your best guys are good, then you're, you're, you're going to be in a decent spot.

Yeah, all of a sudden, some really New York Islander looking score lines, right? for them. They're giving up one, two, or zero in every single game. And we've seen the Islanders make quite a bit of hay in the last five years with that exact formula. Now they also have Bo Orvat in the mix to support Matt Barzel, defense corps. Maybe it's not as sterling as it was two or three years ago, but it's still really good. The only thing I'm curious about is what's the fallout going to be from this Zabana-Jad-Palick drama when those two teams see each other again this weekend. You have poked the bear and the Rangers. You are not getting an easy ride in that game whatsoever.

Yeah. What's the fallout going to be there? That's going to be such a, like a hugely important, but also like really fun game on Saturday. And it's a 12.30 start. I don't always love afternoon games, but that feels like a day where you could just park and sit and like have a nice little afternoon because that's going to be a huge one. And the 4-2 win, obviously, it was big for the Islanders.

They're sitting in Metro 3 right now. three points up on the penguins right now. Penguins are at 84. So yeah, that's three. Don't ask me to do math. I'm a journalist. But yeah, that Saturday game is going to be unbelievable. We need to try to...

Me and Sean were talking about this yesterday. We got to try to find a way to make that a first round playoff matchup. Like, we need the Rangers to drop two, and then the hurricanes win two and have them in the two-three slot in the first round. because what we saw in the last game, potentially what we're going to see this weekend. You have Patrick Waugh in the mix.

You have Vinny Trocheck doing hilarious stuff to refs and whatever else. Like we need that playoff series because they haven't played in the playoffs since 1994. Did you guys know that? It's been 30 years since the Rangers in the aisles have played in the first round. It needs to happen.

There might be a simpler path. If the Rangers beat the aisles on Saturday and then the aisles dropped that last game to the penguins. I think penguins, I think, I think this assumes that they're going to win out or whatever. It's true. Yeah, it's true. Like, I'm just assuming, foolishly, that the aisles are going to stay in third in the metro. And we've, we had the penguins funeral a month ago.

So what? Not me. I did. Not me. The Western playoff race isn't as interesting. And it hasn't been. but we should say there's still two spots left. Edmonton beat Vegas last night.

That was the Golden Knight shot to clinch if they won in regulation, I believe. So Dallas, Vancouver, Colorado, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Nashville have clinched two spots open, one in the wild card, one in the Pacific. But like it's not super, it's not like a super sexy debate. Like it seems just pretty safe that the Kings and Golden Knights are eventually going to clinch unless those two teams go in the tank and the blues go off. go off, but seems pretty safe that that playoff, those eight teams are going to be pretty set. I think Nashville is honestly the most fun team to discuss in terms of them clinching a playoff spot. They came back down from two goals against the Jets to force overtime, so that point got them, got them, punched them their ticket.

And the moves they made, I don't know, it seemed like that was a team that was going to maybe be a seller at the deadline and now they're in the playoffs after being sellers last year, buying out Duchenne, trading Ryan Johansson. I mean, the Johansson sell ended up being like good for that roster. It's not really like a selling off move. But I think the Prads are kind of the compelling team in that conversation. Because everyone else is just like really good, you know? It's like, okay, great. Yeah, the Oilers are in the playoffs. We do that already. Totally. And that's, I mean, I think we anticipated what we're seeing in the east maybe out of the west where you have a have like a handful of you know flawed teams going after going after the two wildcard spots right

whether you're you know i think people expect it on some level the the the preds to be you know maybe that it would be preds blues wild crack in or or whatever like fighting this out but the Preds have been able to have been elevated themselves, like, past them for sure over the last few weeks. And not for nothing in terms of the Golden Knights. Tomash Hurdles played his first two games for Vegas now. Yeah, definitely. It's, it's, Vegas is, you know, about to be fully operational in time for the playoffs. Yeah, it's, you know, the West is what it is.

I think the issue there is matchups like we, you know, we keep. we keep trying to figure out who's going to play who and we can't quite do that yet outside of abs jets that seems like that seems like one that we're pretty we're pretty locked into but you can't quite can't quite write anything in pen other than that I think max dropped out again so we're all a little bit um disheveled Sean had a big sandwich for dinner last night um I had a carbon monoxide alarm going off in my lovely Utica residents those are the two and The two leading causes of early morning groginess are carbon monoxide poisoning and big sandwich. That's typically what happens.

And Max doesn't have internet connection. Max is at a courtyard by Marriott with a very mediocre. The download speeds are just not great. I will say I didn't get carbon monoxide poisoning, but the alarm went off enough times to be very concerned. I ended up spending a bunch of my night, like, packing up all of my stuff and getting a maintenance man in here to tell me if it's safe to be here, which resulted in me being outside of the apartment, driving around Utica at midnight, and getting back in around one. So don't let anyone tell you that covering hockey is, is fond. It's not.

Let's go. Also, I don't know why I called the jazz, the lady jazz. I just think I need to, I think I just need to, like, take a nap or something like. I think it was just because I'm so used to like talking about if the penguins get a women's team. I just be like, whatever, the lady penguins. Like, obviously don't call them that. It was a joke. I don't think Max is coming back.

I'm just going to ask. Let's go. Time to go. Go bye. Take a nap. Okay. The outro is. not in here. Jeff deleted it.

Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show. I think there's a one, I think there's a deal somewhere. Oh, it's back. Oh, there is no disc, there is no deal right now. Never mind. Oh, Max is back.

Come on. Let's go. Nobody moved. We're ending, we were ending the show. Do you want to say thanks to everybody for listening? Everybody. Thank you so much for a poor for her little old podcast. It means the world. Thank you to Marya Fondboy.

Are you not a gold elite member? Don't you get premium Wi-Fi if you have like status? I would, I usually do. I don't know. There's only one Wi-Fi at this hotel. It's just, it's like a public. Sean's like, why are you? Let's go.

Come on. And the podcast. Max just got back. He's frozen. again. Okay, Mendez, Lazz, CJ and LeBren of the next athletic hockey show on Monday.

Max and his Wi-Fi are off tomorrow as well. We'll see everybody next week. I'll back on the Athletic Hockey Show.