The Athletic Hockey Show - Are the Florida Panthers a dynasty?

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

The Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup Champions with a convincing 6 game series win over the Edmonton Oilers. Sean, Frank and Sean wonder, are the Panthers a dynasty? The guys discuss pending free agent Sam Bennett winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP, the work the Panthers have to do to re-sign Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand, and what the future holds for Connor McDavid, Corey Perry and the goalie tandem in Edmonton with the Oilers.Hosts: Sean Gentille and Sean McIndoeWith: Frankie CorradoExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. It's going to continue. What up, what up? It's the athletic hockey show. Thank you, Chris Cuthbert, for bringing us in much more expertly than I ever have, or ever will. That was the call from the closing moments of the Florida Panthers, Stanley Cup victory last night, fellas. I don't know if you, I don't know if you were aware that that was going down last night, but we saw it.

We did see a trophy presentation. I'm Sean Gentile. I'm here with Frank Crato and Sean McIndoo. fellas, I don't know. We're not going to waste time. We're not going to beat around the bush today. The discussion, as it tends to be on days like this, when teams win one or two or three and nine years or whatever,

whatever it ends up being is whether we're watching a dynasty, let's start with that. What do they have? How much of a claim do they have? on that on that label because it's a tough one. Is it not like the the power bar is loading for the Florida Panthers and it's getting there? I don't know if it's considered a dynasty yet. Although in the modern era, the salary cap era where there's so much turnover year after year,

I think the goalposts for what is considered a dynasty has certainly changed. And this would be the most qualified, I think. you can have a team. But if the power bar is loading, I think the power bar is at like 80 to 85% dynasty. Where would you be at with the power bar? Yeah, I think that's close. I think we're looking at an era adjusted dynasty.

But as low as I am to agree with Laz on anything, just because my Twitter mentions can't handle it. I do. I feel like a. team like Florida, when they get to three, I'm willing to talk dynasty. Now, Laz's whole thing, because he's Islander-pilled from when he was little, is you've got to win three in a row. And I'm not sure I buy that because if you go three in a row, then the Oilers were never a dynasty, even though they won five out of seven.

And that to me, so I don't know where specifically it is. I'll say this. I think the Florida Panthers should be aiming for the New York Island. They should be aiming for four straight. And so here's what I want to see. If these guys are really serious, if these guys really want to be a dynasty, I need them to win the Stanley Cup next year.

And then how about this? Don't touch the trophy. Because it's only your third. That's not what you're here for. I want to see them. Let's go. If we're going to do this stupid, we don't touch trophies thing,

let's bring it all the way. Don't touch the trophy next time. That's the most outrageous thing I've ever heard. Just leave it. Just skate away. And then go go be like the Islanders and sit in your dressing room and tend to your wounds while the Oilers walk by and, you know, that whole fake thing that never happened. Dude, since you brought it up, since you brought it up and we're talking about touching the trophy,

I don't know if we were going to get to this after Gentilly, but I'm just going to go straight to it. That's fun. The fact that they let all the first timers hoist the Stanley Cup before that second go around is so amazing. And I don't think, like unless you've lived in this higher. hierarchy world as a hockey player on a team. I don't think you can really grasp the significance of this. This is not just like, oh, this would be a cute little thing to do. Let's do it for the guys.

No, no, no. I've been on teams where at the buffet line, guys don't let guys get a piece of chicken before them. It's like, dude, 10th year in the league, back of the line, I get the first chicken breast. And then they let all the other guys, the guys that never play. played a game, hoist the Stanley Cup. I was, I was, buddy, they're all, they're all, they're all the same. All that, all the chicken breasts are the same. They're all, they're all dry.

Like, we all know who you're talking about. The chicken's all dry. It's all unseasoned. Yeah, we're going to slather it in tomato sauce just to make it edible. And no, but like, it was, that's crazy. And teams always talk about we're a special group. Do we do everything together? We hang out together.

Everyone kind of says it. I believe it. when I see something like that. That was so amazing. And then to hear all those guys in their interviews talk about how they were more excited to see the first timers hoist the cup instead of hoisting it for the second time themselves, I was like, this is a special group. And if you want to talk about dynasties, that is the makings of a group that can be

a dynasty. Like they can get back there again. They can win again. There's going to be potentially some different faces, some guys in and out. We'll see how that all shakes out. But that was putting your money where your mouth is as far as that team being a special group. It's not surprised to see Nate Schmidt take the hand off in any case, honestly. I call me, call me crazy.

I don't know if it's because I was around them a little bit, but like, it just seemed like it seemed like it was going to happen. What surprised me was after that whenever it, whenever it was, it was Gajovic or somebody, like, who's, whoever, oh, Seth Jones was next. Yeah, whoever, whoever took it next. And then all of a sudden, you're like, wait a second, is that, is that Magda? Is that? Yeah. Who is that?

This isn't, this isn't just the old guys who, who were in the lineup or the guys without a cup that they acquired midseason. Like, they, they committed to the bits. They took it, they took it down to the, I was expecting the black daces to, to get it. It's some, to get it first, right? Like, I, I thought they were really going to go all the way. to DGB's point, like the next Stanley Cup, it's not even, it's not that they're going to touch it.

Barcobs going to hand it off to all the wives first. All the wives, all the parents, and then everyone else. The first team that hands it off to all the dads is going to break the sports writing hive collective. Like, it's just, that'll be it. He's going to try to hand it off to the assistant coaches first. And then Paul Maris is going to inexplicably stop. stuff and confuse everybody by some weird conversation he has where he yells it he yells at Alexander Barkoff for forgiving the cup to people who don't matter it was out there so whatever

Rod Brindamore said to him got him uh apparently got him back in the back in the line yeah because Rod probably convinced him that it was kind of a weird confusing thing to do that it it wasn't the right time to have a conversation anyways yeah um shy like you you said it as loathe as I am to agree to to agree with Las just always hesitant for a variety of reasons we're not we're not there yet it's got to be it's got to be free it's some with the same core how about this three with the same we'll just arbitrarily pick a number here three with the same top three players well I mean it's it's interesting that Laz is is gaykeeping this because obviously he's he's our black hawks writer and this would

remove the Blackhawks because they never even did two in a row, which I think would would feel like news to a lot of Chicago fans. Does the fact that Florida also went to the final two years ago, like, is two and a half a dynasty? Like are we, how much are we going to lower the bar here? I think Florida going to the finals three years in a row and the first year losing, I think that does have to factor into the dynasty talk. And like we said, like it's probably not complete just yet.

But if we go back over the years, doesn't it feel like we were so desperate to anoint teams dynasties? And I'm not saying that it wasn't deserved at the time in the moment. But we saw what the Blackhawks did. If you wanted to at the time coin the Los Angeles Kings like a mini dynasty, I'm probably not there with that. But Tampa Bay, I think people would have been having that conversation prior to that, Pittsburgh would have been having that conversation, but it never really, it never really fully

sprouted to the point where you could definitively say that is the old school dynasty. That's not moving the goalposts for the modern day dynasty and the Florida Panthers have a chance to do that. They have a chance to say, we are the legit dynasty that always was and always will be. we are not the, we try to make it fit a dynasty because it's so hard and so rare to do in this era. And like the context here is when the Blackhawks won their second cup, they were the first repeat winner in what, nine seasons of the cap era. And at the time, we were like, wow, this is this parody era is so crazy.

It's a different team every year. Teams are coming and going. you never know what's going to happen. Winning twice is such a huge accomplishment. And the fact that since then we've seen, you know, now this is the third time in a decade that we've seen repeat winners and we seem to see the same teams ending up towards the top of the standings and the playoffs every year.

Maybe we're getting back to not what it was in the 80s in the 70s because, I mean, thankfully for that, but something closer. Let me ask you guys this. Like there's going to be some change in Florida. They're going to try and keep whoever they can. But if you looked at the Eastern Conference, is there any team if you're the Florida Panthers that scares you as far as that team can get in our way next year? You're just back to the final.

You arguably just played the three best teams in the East and you didn't just beat them. You sent all three of them into existential crisis. Yeah. So no, I don't think you're, you know, which is not to say that. they can't run into a hot goalie in round one next year and go out in five games. But I don't think there's anyone that you're looking at going, boy, next year, they might have us. I think last night for me, too, it reinforced like one of the things I was thinking about, you know, as we're sitting there watching AJ Greer take his cup lap or whoever is that the route.

And Sean, you went into this little. The route they took is legitimately incredible to go Tampa. the wagon Toronto Maple Leafs who gave him a tougher time than anybody else did of Corson should be rewarded for that Carolina fire is that is he trying to be sarcastic you never know that's the mark that that's the mark of great satire is you never you can never quite actually tell and then Edmonton that's that's four that's four square dude that's that's four that's four in a row I I think you could easily easily argue even in the division playoff era

and you know in the whatever the however long that's been up now 12 years I think you could argue that that was the most impressive run that any team's ever been on for sure. Yeah. In terms of just in terms of the caliber of the average level of the four teams that you beat like I I put that up against basically anybody.

And you know what? You know what else sticks out to me about this and you know the Oilers it's significant that they didn't have Zach Hyman but ultimately that's not the only reason why they lost. Like, it's part of it. If you look at the Panthers, they have been somewhat, like they've been healthy, not injured to the point where those guys weren't on the ice. And I think that's significant because Hyman was too injured to be on the ice.

A guy like Sam Reinhart was hurt, but he could play through a grade two MCL. You know, Matthew Kachuk could play and at least be out there and then contribute in a big way with an adductor that's basically torn off the bone and some kind of hernia thing going on. You know what I mean? Like that's direct. Direct quote is some hernia thing. Some some hernia thing. Like brother, I got I know what you're talking about. But that's like that's that's that's significant. Having having your star players not injured but hurt and still being available to be out there. Because if you don't have them, you don't have them. The Oilers didn't have Zach Hyman and it didn't help, but at least, like, Sam Reinhardt has a four-goal night.

I mean, it's available to him because he's out there. And that's, they have had health with, with an asterisk, for sure, on their side over the past three years. And that's, that helps for sure. Definitely. That's the difference between Matthew Kachuk getting hurt in February and Sam Ryanhart getting hurt in the Eastern Conference finals, you know, and having, having the timelines line up and not having a broken bone and haven't you know that's it that's it for Zach I mean for sure there's there's

there's some level of a fortune there but man I still it's they're so close they're they're so close to getting a label and I and I kind of want to give it to them because I think there is some level of projection because like you like like we've said a couple times I don't know who their closest competition certainly in the Eastern conferences but I just can't I can't get in there. If they win another one in the next five years or whatever, I'm fully, fully ready to slap the label on them. But you got to get to three at some point. Here's the other thing that's coming for Florida. We talk about Bennett being up, Marshan being up, Ekblad being up. And Bill Zito, after the game, I guess was talking to my colleague James Duthy and said,

we're going to try and keep all three. Like we're, we think we can do it. So let's just say, for argument's sake, they could keep two of those guys and the two guys that they were able to keep were Bennett and Eklad. Marshan goes, no doubt, like it will be a loss. The other guys that you have to replace are like no shick, Stern, you know, maybe Nate Schmidt. Like, we're talking about the Lundells, the Luster rhinons, the Verhegis, the Rodriguez, like even a guy like Bochrist. they're all back and they're all under contract. Like you keep you keep two out of three and the band, you can consider the band back together.

Yeah. All the guys that they would have to replace are the kind of guys they've already replaced. No shook and in and Stern and those are those are guys who came in as replacements for the fourth liners that they lost last year. Like we know that they can do it. They all, they already have. You know, Nate Schmidt was,

was the dude they brought in to help along. the third pair. Like they, I, that's part of, I think, what makes me, you know,

so bullish on the future for them. And that's something that Zito is so, so good at some, his, him and his group is just identifying those cheap, you know, value bottom of the lineup guys who can come in and do the job,

right? And especially with those guys, like forget tax rates. Who is not going to want to go play for the Florida Panthers right now? I mean, yeah, if you're, if you're somebody looking to make 10 million, maybe they don't have the cap space, you got to take a haircut. If you're, if you're a third line guy, a third pairing guy, you're telling your agent, look, man, the Panthers call. I'm there. Yeah. Forget it. I don't care if they, you know, they're $200,000 below what Utah is. Yeah. Yeah, because I just watch a third pairing guy take the cup handoff from Alexander Barkov first thing. So yeah, let's try to find a way to make this work.

Yeah, like one of the guys is like crying about I'm so glad I signed here. Like, I mean, that's why people are going to be signing with the Panthers and not your team. Yeah, you know what? Just looking at their Pockedia page right now, you know what a sneaky signing is? Getting a four-year deal from Dmitri Kulikoff at like 1.15. Dude, that dude could play. Like Kulikov's 34 years old and he was playing like significant minutes for them, getting Mekola on term at a small cap hit.

that guy was a beast. They've nailed those kinds of things. And guess what? They don't have to worry about those right now. Like those are set. It's they, they have done, they've blended the best of both worlds in Florida.

They've, they've blended getting the big fish and these small, you know, around the fringes of the lineup type situations. And they've, they've nailed them on, on all accounts. All right.

So we talked about the champs. We're going to take a break and then talk about the, runners up for a second straight time. Let's do a laugh on maybe what comes next for the Edmonton Oilers, maybe do some other off-season stuff and let you get on with your day. So everything's grozy for the Florida Panthers.

Congratulations to them. Future five-time consecutive Stanley Cup champions. Glad we decided that their wagon can't be stopped. Blah, blah, blah. Every other team should rebuild right now. 31 teams doing a three-year rebuild

until the Panthers are done. Everyone's got to blow it up. Blow it up. Everybody sell, baby. You can have the exact conversation that they're having about the Memphis Grizzlies right now in the NBA. Oh, yeah, just every playoff team just blow it up.

Yeah. Edmonton guys, there was a quote, it was an ominous quote from Matthew Kachuk about their off-season. Chris Johnston had it on the ice. This is Matthew Kachuk and Connor McDavid. When you have a player that good and that talented,

he's going to win it one day wherever it is. Oh, damn. Troll game does not take a day off. There is no off season. When you are a rat and you rep, when you're the king rat on a team full of rats, you, I mean, rats are going to rat. Is he the king rat?

Is he the king rat? You crowning him the king rat? I feel like he's the, I mean, Marchand, Bennett are better rats at being rats, but I feel like Kachuk was the guy who came in and ratified the entire thing. I feel like Kachuk, there's certain guys that you play with and they're just so in tune with what the narratives are. And some guys want nothing to do with it. I think he wants everything to do with it. He knows exactly what the narratives are. That is the, that is the computational brain of a rat. Like, he's on the ice celebrating the Stanley Cup and he finds.

time to throw that. It's amazing. He's remarkable. When it comes to that stuff, he's beyond generational. This is rush more behavior from him. Here's my question. Who felt,

who did Matthew Kachuk make feel worse last night? Oiler fans who heard him through the little Connor McDavid dig or senators fans who had to once again watch Brady sit there cheering, soaking in the atmosphere of self going, wow. Oh, my brother who forced his way out of a small Canadian market to come down to the States is just won his second championship. Isn't that interesting?

You know what? I think Ottawa and their fans are happy that they made the playoffs. And I think there's a lot of good mojo there. I don't know if they're concerned with it as much, but I do feel like Matthew Kachuk, not victimizing McDavid with that quote, maybe victimizing the oil. fans. I'll say it. Yeah, I'll say it. Definitely victimized McDavid during the game on his, on Cichick's goal where McDavid over back checked and kind of left Cichuck wide open. That's a, that's a double doink if I've ever seen one. Like I'll get you in the game and then I'll just

throw a little extra afterwards. Name a better rivalry than Matthew Cuchuch versus the entire nation of Canada. I feel like maybe, maybe four nations, maybe we won the battle, but lost the war on that one. Yeah, yeah, maybe. I wonder, I wonder what could be coming up for Mr. Corey Perry here. 40 years old. He's been to, you know, he's lost five out of the last six Stanley Cup finals. And we just talked about the Panthers and how they got to restock things with like a couple cheap guys. You think there's a world where Cory Perry would have a conversation with his agent and say, maybe let's try the Panthers this year. Literally if you can't. beat them join them it took me way too long to track where you were going with that because i'm

like what's what's frank gonna say here that edmonton should dump cori perry like no he was fine no let's say he gets you're walking up you're walking them down there or or he gets 800 grand from the panthers and the oilers want to give him like 1.7 does he does like how does he make that decision is he like i'm dug in and i'm sticking with the oilers and i'm doing this with connor or does he say, I got to get one. And I think it's the Panthers that can get me one. But the only downside to that if you're Corey Perry is if you go to the Panthers and you make the final and you lose, now it's you.

Now it's officially you. Like this is, it's already a thing with Cory Perry losing in the final. But if you manage it, he might be the only one who can take down. You know what? I've just, Cori Perry, good Canadian boy, sleeper agent. We need you, Corey. This is the only way we can stop the Florida Panthers zero tax juggernaut from rolling over the league. We need him to take one for the team, get down there.

We thought Brad Marchand was going to do it, but I don't know, man. You're just saying that because you're a Leaf fan, and you want to see the Panthers lose at some point on their way to the final. That's the only reason. That's absolutely preferably before they reach the Leafs, but I don't know. There's not around zero, so I don't know how we're going to work that. how seriously are we going to have to take well here's probably a better way to put it

when does Connor McDavid sign his extension and when do we start to panic if it isn't signed it July 3rd the over under like is it the morning of is it the morning of July 2 is it is it lunchtime like no when does that when does that start to roll Frank are you doing the free agent frenzy like at at what point is the kid is the kid do

doing the board again. Please. I got the board going and it's, I'll, I'll get to some stuff on the board for you guys before we, we sign off for the day because I got to run a couple things past you. But I am doing the board. And I don't think it's like it has to be done July 1st because you know what's going

to happen. And this happens, I think, all the time with these situations. It'll get leaked to the insiders. You know what? No need to worry about Connor McDavid and the Oilers. They've had meaningful conversations and there's a willingness from both sides to get

this thing done. There you go. Your fire's put out. I don't, and I think, this is what I think about Connor McDavid and his potential extension with the Oilers. He doesn't have to sign an eight year extension. He's the best player in the world. He's been labeled as much, even though he didn't have a series that the best player in the world should have, and we can get into that. But there's nothing to say that Connor McDavid can't go with a four year deal. The cap is going to go up so much over those four years. and he's going to take a page out of the Austin Matthews playbook and sign for a gajillion dollars after that.

And guess what? You'll give it four more cracks with the Oilers or five more cracks with the Oilers. And in your early 30s, you could be on your way somewhere else to try and get that cup. And there will be a boatload of money waiting for you. Maybe that doesn't have to be an eight-year deal. It doesn't and it shouldn't be an eight-year deal. Like, this is, like I get why most players. would say, I want as many years as possible.

It's a tough sport that I want the security and all that stuff. McDavid, maximizing the money is very obviously you take a short-term deal and the flexibility and everything that goes with it. But I'll tell you this, you're right. I think we get that insider quote pretty soon to settle it down. It just takes one quote from Connor McDavid going, you know what, I haven't really thought about it. And then everybody goes, uh-oh, that's not good because he's definitely thought about it. These players who lie to us and pretend like they're, oh, is my contract up? I didn't know.

Yeah, you do. Yeah, there's too much time on the road, too much time on the plane and on the bus to not be thinking about these kinds of things. Of course you do. He had a pretty long flight back yesterday or last night or this morning or whenever, whenever it's taken place. He had some time to think. So are we even going to dip a toe into the idea that maybe Connor McDavid in the big moment? Like I can't even put the sentence out because it's so he you look at his playoff stats. You look at what he did in four nations.

You look at everything to sit here and be like, oh, you know, that's two years in a row. He's kind of had a disappointing final. Is there something here? I don't think there's anything there other than the Florida Panthers. have two Selky candidates in their top six and are really, really, really good at shutting down whatever. Corrections. Two Selky candidates and one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL and Foresling and a guy in Aaron Eckblad who's very good away from the puck himself. He's a number one.

They've got two number one. And a Hall of Fame goal. Okay. But if you're labeled the best in the world and some people will say, the best, most skilled player to ever play the game. Not the most accomplished, not the most decorated, but the most, as the Quizmaster likes to say, evolved in how they play the game.

And rightfully so, then you do expect, you do expect kind of like the Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant moment. It has to be somewhat on the table. And whether it wasn't available to him because of the Panthers, that is true.

But you expect those types of players to play, to push through that. And that's two years in a row where the biggest game where everything's on the line, it doesn't happen for him. That shouldn't take away from how great he is. It just didn't happen. The thing I'm going to remember about this series from an Edmonton perspective is Leandro Seidel sitting there going,

we haven't played our best game yet after game five. And then they come out and have one of their worst games of the series. So, I mean, that's, to play a six games. game should have been seven games Stanley Cup final and look back and go, we didn't, we didn't hit our best level is got to be frustrating. And then the other thing, and I'll just throw it out there. I know Euler fans are probably already sick of it. We've got to talk about the goaltending.

We've got to talk specifically about the decision to ride with the goaltending because Stan Bowman coming in and last off season and to a somewhat lesser extent because it's harder to do in the season, but he had, he had all year up to the deadline. He made the decision, I am going to entrust this playoff run in the prime of arguably the two very best players in the league to Stuart Skinner and Calvin McCart. And it worked until it didn't and then it really didn't. It was going well, but then you ran into the Florida Panthers. And if I were to like list things that went wrong that I think are of the most significance

for the Oilers in this final. It's like McDavid wasn't the hero, has to be at the top. Goaltending didn't necessarily lose you the series, but it wasn't helping you win, and it didn't make that big save when you needed it as often as you needed it. And then I would say like, you know,

it kind of, the depth that was so good for them, that really dried up as well when the going got tough. And of course, you know, above all of that is you played against the Florida Panthers, which is a tall task and amazing how they get better and better as the series goes on. And it's like they always, they just always have an answer. Need a hit, we got it. Need a save? We'll get it.

Need a goal. Most likely we have it. And Evan Rodriguez has even admitted in his interview after the game is like, we had lapses. For sure we did. But we bounce right back up. And we know we have it in this room. And sure enough, anytime they needed an answer for something, they had it. And that was an issue for the Oilers, as much as McDavid not being hero,

goaltending, not being overly great. And the depth and speed just not being what it needed to be. I think I woke up this morning much more forgiving of Connor McDavid than I was when I went to sleep. I like, because I was fully ready for this to be knives out on McDavid. like actually, you know, maybe maybe, maybe saying some stuff. I don't, I don't quite feel that way anymore. I think, I think there's a level of attrition that creeps in when you play against the Florida Panthers in general when anybody plays against them.

And whenever, I, hold on. And whenever, whenever, whenever you're a team that has inferior depth too, and you, those guys can just, those guys, because they do. We all, like the early, the early, the early play. off narrative about like, oh, all these guys are scoring goals. That was that was fool's gold. It felt like it at the time. We just watched 82 games of them not being able to do it.

So to just assume that that problem solved, like, let's go was, was foolish. And you're not going to get away with it against them. So it makes it easier to load up to load up on the guy, right? So I don't know. I'm not quite ready to crush him the way that maybe I felt like it was last night. And here's the thing. You guys have both made this point. I've made it too.

that any criticism you're going to put out of this team has to go through the lens of they were just playing an absolute monster. I don't want it to. I truly don't want it to. Here's the thing because this is, you know, we're hearing the same thing in Toronto, right? A lot of, and even now, a lot of, a lot of bands in media in Toronto are going, do we need to reevaluate this colossal failure of a playoff run? We took the floor of Panthers to seven games.

Maybe we need to look at it differently. You're hearing it, you know, I'm sure in in Carolina, even Tampa, where you're sitting there going, man, these guys were a wagon, maybe we need to not be so hard on ourselves for not looking great against them because nobody did. We've seen them do it to everybody. And I get that to a certain extent. But I got to tell you, if you're trying to win a Stanley Cup in this league, and we constantly are told, that's the only goal. That's all that matters. Win the Cup.

The Florida Panthers are the team you have to beat. they're not going anywhere. I have a Google alert set up for Florida Panthers dispersal draft. It is not producing any results. They're going to be there next year. So if your answer is, you know what, maybe we're the second best team in the league and it's just that we can't match the Florida Panthers, that's not good enough because you're not winning a cup that way.

You can win, you can come in second, enjoy that O'Brien trophy to the Edmonton Oilers. You know, throw that in the trophy case for coming in second. But that's as good as you're going to get. So, yeah, the Panthers are a wagon. You've got to figure out a way to stop them or concede or hope somebody else does it. Someone else gets the hot goalie and clears the path for you. And if you look at the way teams perform against the Panthers, they expose you. They expose all your flaws.

And we'll look at the Oilers and say, they're a bit of a flawed team, but they weren't flawed against L.A., Vegas or Dallas. But you play against Florida. And all of a sudden, it's like, we see where you're asking guys to do too much. and it exposes you. And the one thing I'll say, you know, on the McDavid and the goat conversation, because I feel like that's going to heat up. He's, you know, who's the goat of the sport?

And you look, you maybe do the comparisons to other sports. Hockey is so different, you know, if this was basketball, and let's just call it Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, and you just get hot. And all of a sudden, ball comes to you, ball always goes through, you're hitting shots, you put up 50 points. if you're a quarterback in a Super Bowl and you and you're Tom Brady and you and Gronk got something going or you're Mahomes and Kelsey and it's like you guys got a little something cooking that night,

guess what, the ball's always going through you. It's there for you every play. If you're a pitcher in baseball, you can just be on a massive heater and you're striking everyone out and you put together an unbelievable performance. Guess what? You have the ball every pitch. The puck? It's not readily available for you.

the way those other sports are. So there's a more, there's a randomness to this hockey thing where Connor McDavid can't be the goat the way MJ or pick your Tom Brady or whatever pitcher from the past was. It's just too different. It's too different of a sport to compare it apples to apples. All the other guys that he's in the conversation with found a way to get it done.

That's that's the dividing line. And it's brutal and it's harsh. And I completely agree. with you like hockey is a fundamentally different sport than hoops and baseball and in and whatever else so there is a level of randomness to it there is not a level of randomness to players who are in the go conversation winning cups that is you can you can set your watch by it so i that's like where i'm left on this is like we can't like he's exempt from that conversation until he until he does it that sounds harsh it's probably unfair so i'm willing to like give him a

pass on this series, right? Because I think Florida is that much better. And I think Edmonton's build is that is that inferior, right? When you're talking about the roster, or maybe some coaching decisions and maybe goal, there's tons of problems with the Edmonton Oilers that I'm still willing to give Connor McDavid grace because of. But table the goat discussion until it until he wins, he's not in it. I'm sorry. Like I, that sounds, that sounds annoying. And it's like rings culture nonsense. But it's also kind of true. Yeah.

It's, you know what? It's, it's valid and it's fair. And the Connor McDavid's story is not over yet. Hell no. Like teams, teams get back.

Teams seem to find a way to get back to the final. Like Pittsburgh did it back to back years. Tampa did it three years in a row. Florida's done it three years in a row. Edmonton's all the sudden done it two years in a row. You got the group. You got the nucleus. You can get back there.

And I think his moment is still, it's still out there and it's still waiting. No doubt. Get a goalie. Get a goalie and Frankie Crato. Get the hell out of here and go, go practice. Go practice on your magic wall. Yeah.

Okay. Let's do next week. Let's do a little, we'll do a little preview of what's cooking on the magic board for this year's Preachian. Frank Cornacki. That's a reference for only our American listeners. That's what he's doing. All right, boys. Take easy, bud.

All right, there goes Frankie. Sean. We're back. I learned something last night. What have we learned, Sean? give Scott Wheeler a sticktap for it because I watched him talk himself into it on Twitter. Here's the tweet from Wheels.

Is Sergei Babrovsky a Hall of Famer? Two Cup, two Vezna's career, 914, save percentage, men's world gold and goalie award. 55 to 65 starts a year in an era where there's fewer of those guys. Top 10 all-time wins. Going to break that 800 games played. Maybe I answered it myself.

Yes. You did, Scott. Yes, Scott, you did. last night was man i don't want to say that that sergey bobrowski necessarily needed that to make it into the hall of fame because i think what we've seen especially over the last few years is that the threshold for goalies appropriately and wisely and for the benefit of the hall of fame moving forward has lowered we've decided that there's not that you know guys who played more than one guy a decade should yeah guys

Guys who played against more than five other teams are actually also good. So Bobrovsky almost certainly should have been in. But last night, man, that was nail in the coffin question answered stuff for me. It feels the same way, I feel the same way about it as I felt whenever Mark Andre Fleury won that last Vezina with Vegas, where it's like, we were 99% of the way there already. but this takes it to 150. So congratulations, Sergei Bobrovsky, Future Hockey Hall of Fame. They're working on the speech. I saw a stat where there were, I think, 17 goalies who have won multiple cups and multiple

Vesnas and 15 of the 17 are in the Hall of Fame, which sounds impressive. But then you go, wait a second, who are the two that aren't? And that's when you remember that the Vezina switched up on us. It started as the award for best goalie. It is currently the award for best goalie, but in the middle it was basically the Masterton. So it's like Bunny LaRock and Charlie Hodge or the other two guys who were backup goalies

who still won the Vezina because that's how it worked back then. So essentially he is in territory where it's like the 15 all-time greats. Yep. He's in. What the win last night did was, it made the question almost irrelevant. Like it put it put him in the category where if you're Wheeler and you bring it up last night as like, you know, a quasi thought exercise like, hey, is he in for sure?

Then people are going to make fun of you. Like that's kind of what happened. There's people in Wheeler's in Wheeler's replies being like, is this is this a rhetorical question? Like, are you serious? Like that's where Babrovsky is now is if you raise the question you, you sound like like you may be word pain. attention. Two years ago, he was borderline. A year ago, he was, okay, now he probably is a Hall of Famer and now he's in the No Question. And you know who else? I think maybe move themselves into the No Questions Ask Hall of Fame section with this win is Paul Maurice. Oh yeah. And you say

the Hall is weird about goalies. They're especially worried about coaches. There is no coaching wing of the Hall of Fame. You have to go in as a builder. But Paul Maurice has gone from a who had been doing it forever and was way up high on the wins list, but maybe was not, you know, was considered, you know, more of a compiler than, than an all-timer. Now with two, not just two cup wins, but we just spent the whole show talking about how Florida just,

they go up against teams and they just take away whatever that team does well and leave these teams frustrated and devastated and questioning everything. That's a huge part of that is coaching. This is, he's done one of the all-time great coaching jobs since going on. I wonder, I wonder if he was closer to a 100% lock before this series than Bobrovsky. I wonder, I wonder who was closer to no doubt or status. It feels like they're, feels like they're pretty close. Yeah.

But anyways, congratulations to both guys, because they're, because they're locks now. Yep. And speaking of congratulations and first ballot hall of famers in my mind, at least, I learned the news that I've been dreading for a few years now, but Joe Bowen. The beloved Toronto Maple Leafs play-by-play voice announced that he is hanging up the mic after this year. So I just wanted to shout him out and basically say thank you to Joe Bowen for being the voice of the Maple Leafs for a generation. You know, obviously I owe quite a bit to Joe and his turns of phrase. so it'll be a shame to see him go,

but all the best to him after one more year. So you still got 82 games, plus it round, let's be honest. 82, 88 games. And I'll tell you what, they better send him on the road for that final game. I'm telling you right now, do you make them call it from a truck? Why not?

Yeah, why not? save a few pennies. It's such a small, hard scrabble business that Rogers is in. You got to squeeze those nickels and dimes wherever you can. Can't have a legend, spending three extra nights and some,

in some, you know, how do you get from Toronto to Ottawa? I mean, that's crazy. Simply. You brought us a pay for a trade ticket? What's wrong with you? Oof. All right, bud.

What's up with you this week? Anything? a million things. Yeah, I don't even know. It's fun. Yeah. A lot of stuff coming in. And yeah, now we get to, we all shift off season mode, which is where we all want to be anyways.

Totally. I'm like, I'm honestly kind of treading it. Like, I got a little bit of a break during the cup final. I wasn't writing all that much. And now it's about to change in a hurry, my friend. So we got 13 days of cram. Let's go. Yeah, we've got the classic NHL 10 day off season.

and where absolutely everything happens in a week and a half. Time to come up with some hard and fast opinions on Jack Roslovick is a UFA. Let's go. Yeah. All right, buddy. Thank you. Thank Frankie. Thank you fun, folks, for listening to our show.

Haley and I have the next one tomorrow. Talk to you then.