The Athletic Hockey Show - Are the Florida Panthers the NHL's most hated team?

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Sean Gentille and Down Goes Brown wonder if the Florida Panthers, led by the polarizing Nick Cousins are the NHL's most hated team, they discuss if it's time for New York Islanders ownership to move on from Lou Lamoriello, and if the New Jersey Devils should acquire a goaltender before considering a coaching change. Plus Sean and Sean present what they learned in the past week in the NHL, with the Nashville Predators rolling after their cancelled trip to the sphere in Vegas and the Detroit Red Wings development into a legitimate playoff team. Get a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the athletic hockey shans. That's not bad. I think no one's fine. We're still spitballing and people have sent us ideas, but... We have many of them. I have a special dedicated little word pad document. Yep.

We got your Between Two Shons suggestions. That one's definitely building, building momentum. That should be how. that should be the style in which we speak to Frankie. Yeah. On the Frankie day. Monotone insults and see how long it takes him to. Oh, I think he'd be pretty quick on the uptake there.

Frank is a smart fella. I think he would know what we were out to. He might catch on. He's off today, by the way, folks. Frank will be back next week for our post-debtor-no. Pre-deadline. That's pre-deadline. Two days before the deadline, 48 hours.

There might be trades breaking as we record. next week. Can you imagine? Maybe we'll be breaking my trades. Maybe. Me and you. Trade grids. Don't say those.

Don't say those two words together, buddy. How about listeners? How about you throw your suggestions for the name of the show in the comment section? That's the prompt that we'll do here. That's how we'll get people flocking back to the process. Oh, look at us. Securing engagement. Content geniuses.

That's why we're doing. You guys, you guys send us your. suggestions and we'll look at them and make a note to talk about them next show and then forget to do that and you'll just be mad. Do you know how many times I need to start actually having like some kind of note on my phone where I'm like, oh, we should talk about that on the show because I'm years into doing it. I do that every. I've never done it.

I'm always like, oh, I'm going to remember this when it's podcast time. And then I'm sitting there going, didn't something happen? Have I watched hockey this week? Yeah. I know that I have. It just passes through me. Well, I did watch hockey this week a little bit. So do we, do we, is it officially our first segment?

Yes, it is. What we learned. Yes. Okay. The boss is what I learned. And it was something that we threw together. It was something we threw together in 10 seconds before we had to record. We spent a lot of time on this.

It's very difficult. called. Here's what I learned. If your team is planning to go and see you too cancel it. Something great about a band who doesn't believe in look coming to Las Vegas. I think you make your own look is what I think. That's a season saver right there. A week ago, we were talking about Nashville Predators, not getting their U2 concert, mean old Barry Trots, I and Andrew Burnett, refused to let them go. And since then, they're the 79 Canadians. So good call by them.

Here's my question for you. Greatest mid-season impact by 80s musical act in Central Division history. Is it St. Louis Blues and Julia or is it you too? I think we're, I can't imagine. I never would have thought. Gloria. I said, Julia. What the hell is wrong?

Glory. geez, I only heard it 400 times that. Julia. You know, oh, man. I crush the pop culture stuff, man. I'm so good at it. Whatever, dude. I get worse by the day with that.

Gloria versus you two. Glory is tough. Gloria had the resurgence during the Blues Cup run. So I feel like it feels like that just sort of, it makes it a tough hill to climb. The bar has been set high, but yet, I don't know. this you two thing it's because they were so invigorated by the fact that they didn't have to look at bono for three hours that's what it was they were like they killed them with kindness that's what the players thought they were like

we appreciate so much that you're not going to force us to listen to whatever was going on in the sphere for the 45 days that they were trapped there and they're done now right like this isn't this option is not available to any other team. Can you imagine that? Like some, some team that's like, where the wheels are like really, like really starting to come off. And they're like, all right, what we need to do is schedule a trip to Vegas without any intention on taking it. Yeah. And then pull the plug. Like, do the devils still have time to make this happen? Does this schedule break in such a way? In between Islander and Ranger games, they're like, yeah, yeah, no, we're, we're definitely, we're definitely heading out there. Well, so, so I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm of two minds on this Nashville thing.

As somebody at this point, like most fans, I'm rooting for whatever's going to make the deadline better. So Nashville being good, it feels to me like this has taken UC Saros off the board. And he was always like the biggest, he was the biggest name that was even vaguely realistically possible with apologies to Jacob Markstrom and Jake Gonsol and guys like that. Saros would have been the big, big one.

And there was, there were some reports that, you know, even recently that the devils have been poking around. That can't happen now, right? Offseason, sure, but deadline, you're not going to do it when you're in a wind street. Yeah, he's got time left on his contract. He's got the one year after this year. And it's a cheap deal. So that's where the impetus for maybe trading and plus the fact that they've got the kid on the way in Nashville is, you know, apparently. the real deal. But it doesn't sound like that's going to happen. But the good news, as you pointed out to me, was by going on this wind streak, the, the predators may have saved the deadline because the flames have won four in a row, but not gained any ground. And if the flames get back in the wild card, then we're done. Because they've got all, like the entire tradeboard now is just the flames roster.

And the flames, too, their roster in general, I mean, it's built theoretically to be. contender adjacent, let's say. That's what they thought they were getting with Euberdow and Codry and Weger and all these dudes who, in theory, should be part of a team that can win a round or two of a playoff game. A good goaltender and all that stuff. A good goaltender and an ownership group that really, really, really wants playoff revenue.

That's the other thing. The flames are one of those teams. You know, everyone wonders why they've never. never done an all out tear down rebuild. I mean, this is going back whatever to the end of a GINLah, right? They've never bottomed out because they're not allowed to bottom out. Like that ownership group is generally content with being like, yeah, we're good enough. We're going to make up, we're going to make the playoffs, maybe win a round. That's going to get a seven or eight home games. Like, sweet. Great. We'll take it. In that decision was like it had been,

it was off the table. It's out of their hands when the team's playing as poorly as it was, you know, for the first 85% of this season and now things have changed. And now things. And the other element of this that's always made this fascinating is he had the Craig Conroy situation where he comes in as the new GM last offseason replacing Bradrow Living. And one of the things they ask him is about the Johnny Goddreau situation. And he says that wouldn't happen again.

under me. I'm not going to let star players walk for nothing. Now, we could get into the argument of, you know, where does Chris Tanna fall into that? Where does some other guys? You know,

are they actual star players that you can't possibly let them leave in free agency? But he kind of called his shot. And we've already seen it with Lindel, already gone. Markstrom wouldn't fit into that category because he has time left on his deal. But, you know,

Chris Tenev and Noah Hanifin, being the big one that you would, if you hold Craig Conrad or his word, he's got to move unless they're right in the mix. And he can say, well, you know, geez, we got to, maybe we got to rethink things. But I don't, at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to happen because Nashville is so hot, which is bad for the flames. Good for the rest of us. If you're worried about sitting around next Friday watching absolutely nothing happened. Because what do we have here? We have, the flames are still, five, they're five points behind the predators, right? Yeah.

Typically, in the wild, in the wild card world. A game in hand. Mm-hmm. And St. Louis and Minnesota, who've been very good lately lurking around too. So it's, it's, you know, even if Nashville falls, it's not like that just opens a door for Calgary to step through. They'd have to kick it in. That would just be a brutal choice for Craig Conroy to make in his first year as a GM where say like, you know, the predators aren't, the preds in some weird world actually went to. you know the sphere they went to the sphere they've lost five in a row in the in the flames are

tied for a wild card spot like you're you're really you're really you're really going to move you're like whatever i a top caliber a top paracaliber uh set of dudes in in hana fin and tanna you're going to do that and it it it still could happen because i mean there's enough time for it i should To point out with Nashville with this wind streak, it's great. It coincides with the U2 thing. Also, the last three games of it have been San Jose, Anaheim, Ottawa. So not exactly a murderer's row. They've got Minnesota next.

They've got Colorado after that. So that's a tough one. But then they go Montreal, Buffalo, Columbus to take them to the deadline. So that's five points. Pretty good chance that they're going to bang some points, you would think. And, you know, if they go and be Colorado, then you're almost, if you're Calgary, is that when you throw the talent? Just think about how much trade deadline stuff over the last week, an increasing amount as people realize, you know, that Hannafin is well and truly not going to sign long term there. And that, you know, Tenev continues to be one of the most coveted dudes on the market.

there is a disproportionate amount of chatter and interest and just stuff in general hinges on what the flames, on what the flames are doing. So I'm glad that this is happening. I'm glad for the Nashville Predators. The other thing is we look ahead at the schedule. I was talking about the natural schedule. Calgary, they're off for a little while.

They got Pittsburgh. They got Seattle. And then their game of their last game for the deadline is in Tampa. And then after the deadline passes, they go Florida, Carolina, Colorado, Vegas. Dude, is that not set up perfectly for the nightmare scenario where you're within three points at the deadline? Your GM goes, you know what? They've earned it. You're not selling.

We're not going. You know, they do the whole Leo. We're not going anywhere. And then lose four in a row immediately. And you're nine points out of the playoffs and you're going, I think we screwed up. We may have made a horrible mistake. I hope that doesn't happen to Calgary. That's the lose-lose for everybody, Flames fans and Deadline Watchers.

I think the offers, too, are going to come in, and they're, especially for Hanifin, they're going to be serious enough where Conner, he's not going to be able to, he's not, even if he wanted to, like, he's, he's not going to be able to hold here. Is he going to get a first for Tannet? I think probably. I think so, too. as the longer we wait and the more the field kind of shakes out and this kind of leads me I guess into into what I learned because it's very similar I don't know if the Detroit

Red Wings are good I'm not I don't know if I'm ready to say that you know they're they're a baseline good team they are certainly playing well right now they beat the breaks off who the hell did they beat yesterday was it was it was it it was the caps of course eight goals on the Washington Capitals. Six straight wins. Six straight wins. Three in overtime, but, you know, whatever.

You count them. Yeah, you count them. They've done a kindness to the rest of the Eastern Conference because they've been able to stack points and move truly up until they're, you know, they're ahead of the lightning at this point. And then there's a drop. And the fact that if the Red Wings would have hung around into the next week and been sitting there, you know, 65 points, 66.67 points,

a few ahead of the Pittsburghs and the New Jersey's and the Washington's. And even to some extent, after a little bit of a late kick, the senators of the world, those teams would have made poor decisions. There would have been one or two teams there that just said, screw it held when they shouldn't have and then run into the buzz saw like we just talked about with the calgary flames where the deadline passes and it's like yeah they go on the skid and then it's like we held on to we held onto this for what we didn't move jake gensel for what like to to what end was it was all this for the the the red wings streak i think has been able

has forced a lot of those teams particularly in the metro division just like cut the crap And say like, wait, but this isn't happening this year. The metro is the key because Detroit is not just jumped past Tampa in the mix for the two wild cards. They're ahead of Philadelphia now, which doesn't matter standings-wise because Philadelphia is third in the metro and that locks them into that spot. But if you're a playoff team, if you're New Jersey or Washington or Pittsburgh, I guess we have to include the islanders in there too. That's who you're now looking at. is we got to try to catch Tampa for the Wildcourt or we got to try to catch Philadelphia and Philadelphia does have a couple games in hands or does Tampa, that sort of thing.

But Detroit is, I mean, geez, Detroit's four points back Carolina now. Detroit is two points back of the Maple Leafs with a game, the Leafs have a game in hand. But I mean, and that's a Leafs team that just ran off a seven game win streak. They're right there. And you talk about are they good or not? I'm not sure either. But what I've been told. It doesn't matter.

And it doesn't matter. Well, it doesn't. Yeah, you're right. Right. But what I keep getting being told by Red Wings fans is the vibes are immaculate right now. This is just everything is clicking for this team. This is the Steve Eisenman vision is coming together. Now, some of us would look at that and say, yeah, that's called a hot street.

It happens to every team for a couple of weeks at some point, even enough time. But it's happening at the right time for Detroit. Still, I'm looking at Dom's playoff model. 76% for the Red Wings right now, which feels low based on where everything else has been at. It's low. Here's why it's low,

because they're not a good, they're not a great 5-on-5 team. That is a huge part of the model. Like it's weighted to complain about it. It's disproportional. You know, that's in the eye of the beholder, I guess. The Red Wings are 45th and expected bonus percentage at 5-on-5 on the same.

season. That's not great. In their 14th at actual. So credit to them for pot and the choices that they have, the power play has certainly been good points. But man. I'm looking at Dom's model here, and this is, I've never seen this from his model before. I almost wonder if this is, if there could be a mistake or something.

Because he's got the Red Wing 76% to make the playoffs, but only 15% to get out of round one, and then 3% to get out at round two. which basically means he's saying likely to make the playoffs, but they will be staggering underdogs. I think that is where their poor play at five on five over the course of the season really makes itself known. Like to me, after whatever, paying too much attention to Don's model over the last many years, 77% to make the playoffs for them like that sounds about right.

If anything, I'm like, okay, that's like actually not a bad showing for them, considering that they are bad at a lot of the things that that model values. Right. So you're like, okay. And this is what's happening. Right. It's just the model value certain things. And the model likes them enough because of the distance that they've created to make the playoffs.

But when they're in the playoffs and then they're playing like more than likely an actually good team, they're playing whatever, the Rangers or the Bruins or whoever it turns out to be. You know, that's where that's where we kind of see the switch flip. I mean, these numbers would have them at like 80-20 underdogs. I'm not sure any team in the Florida NHL is 80-20 in a playoff series. You know what? This happened because Dom's on vacation. All right.

He's been dicking around in Hawaii for the last. Get back, Dom. He broke the model. The Red Wings broke it. I think the Blues did that a couple years ago, actually. Broke, broke the model and broke Dominic Lus Chishin. efficient bloodless coup by them

I think we're good on this we can move on to the next segment we'll both learn things there you go we're going to force ourselves take a break we'll be right back Sean the good thing about not having Frank here on here is that segment two doesn't need to have any

like we can just we can just let it rip we don't actually have to pretend to have serious conversations we don't have to be on our best pay there's a real like substitute teacher vibe on the is that Frank's not here. So I dig it. You were mad about Nick Cousins. Everybody's mad about Nick Cousins.

That's the default, the default state. I mean, look, the Nick Cousin thing's been covered, I think, pretty substantially this year. On the ice, guys are punk. And there are a lot of players don't like them. Cousins healed quickly. He rolls from the dead on that one. I'm not sure. and connected with his face as he grabbed his face.

And we saw it again last night. It's been covered on the ice, like, or whatever. He says it's been covered at length. And then he goes out and does something. Had's a new chapter. He adds a new chapter to the book. And, of course, we're talking about his complete flop, dive, whatever you want to call it last night.

And then he recovered from the injuries. He sustained very, very quickly. He was able to jump on a scrum. It's the recovery. because if people didn't see it, so the Panthers are playing the sabers, Jordan Greenway, at one point, there's a scrum in front of the net, and he punches Nick Cousins right in the face. And, you know, it's, I'm not condoning that.

I mean, if he played for the Leafs, that'd be a five-game suspension. But luckily, he doesn't, so it's fine. Nobody's worried about it. But he punches, he punches Nick Cousins right in the face. And I'm not, you know, people are saying, oh, it's a flop or whatever. And, yeah, I get it. look, Jordan Greenway punched me in the face. My face wouldn't exist anymore.

Good. My face. I'd be walking around. I'd be shawnee no face for the rest of my very probably short existence. I've been called that at time or two, brother. So I get it. But what happens is he then drops down to the ice. He's covered up.

You know, he's waiting for the trainer. And then not surprisingly, scrum breaks out one of his teammates, Gras Greenway. And then suddenly he pops up and he's alive again and he's, he's jumping into the scrum and grabs somebody else. Pulls, I don't remember who it was, but a smaller saber off the pile. A little bit, yeah, not the greatest. It's solid situational awareness, I think.

It's to some extent by cousins because he knew that he knew that the hit was good. Like, if he wouldn't have gotten up, I would have been like, yeah, He got caught clocked by Jordan Greenway. Like, of course. I think he realized that on some level that people were going to, we're going to give them some, we're going to give him some leeway there. And I'm sure I didn't see if he got asked about it after the game or if he even spoke. I'm sure he'd say, no, man, I got, you know, I got punched in the face.

I was disoriented. I, you know, kind of, you know, loopy for say. And then I saw there was a scrum and I jumped in to help my team. And maybe with other players, you'd buy that. But this is now like Nick Cousins, in addition to a whole bunch of other nasty off the ice stuff that is sort of a separate category of why people don't like this guy. On the ice, this is a guy who has now got the reputation for, you know, he's writing a lot of checks that he doesn't seem to want to cash. In the last three days, we've seen, we've seen that, obviously the Greenway Affair. And if anybody is new to the Nick Cousins experience or whatever has probably a lot of players, too,

since he won our most punchable player category by a landslide. Jordan Greenway apparently read that and was like, yeah, sounds good. I got February 24th, this is Saturday. He got clocked by Anthony Amantha, like square fist and nose, like cartoon movie punch. Like, we're like right, like, right in his face. Yep. So have we seen how does, so we've clearly watched the birth of this generation's, you know, you don't want to say this generation's Brad Marchand, but like, he's a rat.

Everyone's aware of it. It's part of the stick. Part of the stick. But it's hit critical mass. I feel like over the last month where it's like this guy, this guy's been. he's been in the league in and out up and down for several years now he's not this isn't some dude who just came up from the a hl and you know with his with his pants on fire right like he's he's been around for a long time and i'm wondering like

the great pests of the last 25 years like do you remember like what like do you remember other rat origin stories because like i'm struggling to like Like where was the moment for the for other guys where I don't like go up and down the list of like where you're like, oh, okay. That's who he is. This is who we're dealing with. And this is going to be a narrative that surrounds this dude for the next however long. I guess a lot of it would be that and this isn't a defense of Nick Cousins at all. But maybe, you know, you view it as a part is for a lot of the other guys, the Matt Cooks and those sorts of guys that that moment was some.

terribly dirty play or somebody getting hurt and Nick Cousins has certainly had a share of dirty stuff but he hasn't had that that Matt Cook moment on on Mark Savard where you're going okay now this is this is too much this dude is a predator

it's like whatever yeah that having been said I think watching last night there was a very clear reminder here and it's one that I think is familiar to Sabres fans who maybe need to back off a little bit on the whole

year than now stuff here because that play was, that's the Matthew Barnaby move. Now, do you remember this play? You're, you know, you're quite a bit younger than me. Do you remember like in the, I want to say in the late 90s?

The Matthew Bart, right? They're up against the flyers. And similar sort of thing. Matthew Barnaby gets hit in front of the net. He drops down. He's down for an extended period. I mean, the trainer is out there, administering last rights, all of this.

There's a whole line brawl happening in the corner. And as it's happening, Garth Snow, who's the goaltender, comes over and just with his stick gives Barnaby like a little poke as he's on it. It's basically like you're not getting up. Like we all know you're not hurt. At which point Barnaby leaps up, throws his gloves off, and

pummels Garth Snow. Again, I will remind you was a goalie. And you can imagine how that goes over. In fact, it's Rod Brindamore is the first guy who like jumps on his back. Um, but that one at the time was like the all time like, oh, he's, he, he has been healed. What a, a miracle has happened on the ice. And, and the Nick Cousins was like the watered down, 2004 version of that.

That's great. This is why I asked you the question. Yeah. So it's like, hey, Sabres fans, man, I know you're ticked off. But this is how the rest of us felt when Barnaby pulled his, his act. And I feel like that was kind of the, the, the, the Barnaby origin story. And maybe that's what we're seeing here. because look, Matthew Barnaby wasn't some one-nogoon.

Like, the guy could play a little bit and cousins is the same way. When the penguins traded for him in 99, and that was a top 10 moment in my life as a hockey fan up until that point? Like, I was, I was psyched, stiked, because, like, you know, if you're a little brat 12-year-old, like, I was. He was your patriot saint, a little brat. He was your guy. Absolutely. But I think we have to kind of stumble on something here. It is like, like generally, whatever, even post-Barnaby, I think MacCook is a great example.

Rats would announce their entrance, their entrance music would be some kind of insane, dirty, blindside hit. The kind of stuff that we generally don't see anymore. We don't want to, we don't want to say, because like stuff happens and whatever. But the degree to which we were seeing stuff in 2004 or 2000, 2000. six 2009 it was significantly significantly more agro than than what we see now so these guys can work in silence to some extent it's stuff that we don't see watching games this stuff players probably don't get asked about all that often but when they say like who's a dude who you want to punch in the face and everybody is like it's nick cutts and yeah and and some of it for him it's it's it's the

lifetime achievement award because he's got a whole history here and so i i hope honestly i hope that's part of, I hope that's part of what, what plays and the guys think when they're like, yeah, I'd love it. And part of it is also stuff like last night and stuff like, who was it earlier? Was it the, who, who was it that he didn't fight earlier this year? And they ended up taking, that's a great question. I don't, I don't know if he, you can look it up as much. But yeah, like he, that's part of it too is he doesn't answer the bell.

And so that really drives players crazy to this day. You know, there's a lot of players who'll say. You know, hey, fighting's not a thing anymore. I'm going to go my whole career. I'm never going to fight. But also, I'm not going to do certain things because I don't want to fight. And if you do the thing, then you're still expected to fight. And look, if you're going to be a pest, if that's going to be part of your game, you're going to embrace, that's the way to do it.

If you're, you can't be a pest if you're fighting the other team's tough guy every night and letting him beat the tar out of you. And then, you know, everyone goes home happy. It's got to be, yeah, it was Eric Good Branson. Was Eric Good Branson. The producer, just let us know. It was, was. Because it was a dirty hit that he probably could have been suspended. I remember that he boarded him.

It was a dirty hit that he could have been suspended for. And he could have answered the bell? Good Branson, could Branson came up. Good Branson is a, he's a tough, he's a tough dude. I wouldn't want to fight a minor. I absolutely wouldn't. But it's that kind of, you know, the turtle, the Claude Lemieux being another guy who had that reputation for you, even in Montreal as a guy that, you know, famously he would get hurt in

Montreal and lay on the ice and Pat Burns would grab the train. trainer and say, don't go out there. We're like, we're just going to let just let them lay there because we're not going to, we've seen this act so many times. It drives guys crazy. And if you're Nick Cousins or I guess if you're a Panthers fan probably, you're like, yeah, that's, that's the plan. That's what we're going to do.

And I'm old school. I hate this stuff. But I will tell you, there's going to be a moment in a big Panthers game, probably in the playoffs where Nick Cousins is going to do his little act and someone's going to pop them in the mouth and get two minutes. and the Panthers are going to score a big goal on the power play and a whole bunch of us are going to sit there going, boy, what a smart play by Nick Cusby.

Boy, this guy really knows how to go out there and help his team and he got, he earned that power play. And it's, you know, they're going to pump his tires for it. It's part of the game, unfortunately. And I will tell you, I hate this stuff. I hate it. I hate it so much. I hate that it's part of the game.

I've always hated it. I can't stand it. But I thought Darcy, Tucker was fine. I didn't really have a problem with Darcy because I'm a news fan, right? You always, it's your guy is always not quite the same. Like with your guy, it's always no, you don't understand. And I'm sure some Panthers fan is firing off, you know, if you really watch the games, you know that Nick Cousins isn't that sort of guy. No one's ever that sort of guy when it's your team. And I acknowledge that fully. We had Michael Bunting for years.

We had Nazim Kat. We've had guys who at least at times fell into that category. And it never bothered me as much as it bothers everyone else, apparently. That's like always, like the line, you know, whatever, Marshaun, cousins, Darcy Tucker, whoever, take your pick. It's always like, yeah, well, you'd love him if he was on your team. It's like, you're right, he's not. So I don't. Yep.

That's always there was, because it's such a cliche thing to say, like, oh, you know, he's tough to play against, you know, blah, blah, blah. But you'd love him if he was on your team. Like, yeah, absolutely he's not, though. so nobody is under any kind of obligation to abide by Nick Cousins. And, you know, the last thing I'll say is that the reason the guys do this and have for you is because it does work until it doesn't. Mm-hmm. Because I will tell you, you know, as as as as a Leafs fan, there was a point with Nazim Cadry where they just stopped calling anything that happened on him.

And they were like, and if you do something that truly well and truly crossline, we are going to suspend you. Like the first you would get hammers. Michael Lunning too. There was like too much talk about how many penalties he was drawing and suddenly he wasn't drawing. And that happens with lots of guys around the league with you do reach a point where it's like this is now gone too far. And now you're suddenly not getting the calls. They're not getting much of them. Last night, Jordan Greenway, again, punched him right.

He's sucker puncher puncher. him right in the face. I don't know if anything happened leading up to that, but I mean, he just turns around and drills get rid of. Oh, I think you can assume. Yeah. Yes, I can. But he just drilled him right in the face. You could absolutely call that a match penalty. That could be five minutes. That could be, you know, they gave him a double minor and they gave Nick Cousins two minutes for getting up and jumping in. So two minute power play for a full-fledged punch of the face from a big boy. That's, that maybe is a sign that, Even the refs are starting to go like, hey, we've, we've had enough of this act.

He's over. And we're going to put a bit of a thumb on the scale to see if this evens out a little bit. Because the refs don't like getting shown up either. They don't like calling sitting there with their hand up on a penalty. And then the guy pops up and he's totally fine. What we need to do at some point before the playoffs. And this is sort of how you and I, we brought this up, I think, when we were talking about this. Like, are the Panthers, like, all of a sudden, are they there, are they, are

they the rats choice like are they is are they the number the number one you know is is that is that you're talking about rats and matthew kachuk's name doesn't even come up my god can you believe that i was i meant i meant to i meant to say that at some point when it's we're talking about cousins like he like matthew kachuk is not even the biggest pain in the ass on his own team anymore that's that that that is a feat unto itself by nick cousin sam bennett's like a distant third and i mean he'd he'd be a guy that a lot of teams would be that guy and it's funny because I every year going in the playoffs I do a rankings where I'm like if your team's not in here's the bandwagon right just on it and I think it was two years ago just two years ago I was like hey it's the Panthers number one of course everybody's got to love the Panthers right they're scoring all these goals they have got skill they're you know it's a market that's you know they never win they're not you're not front running this is finally their time the the Panther fans have been waiting for years for this like get on board man Panthers are our good team.

It's going to be fun to cheer for. And now two years later, it's like, no, we're all tired of those guys. Because they've had a president's trophy and a trip to the final. So it's sort of like you've had enough. They're established. Like we can go back to, you know, whatever. Like people can go back to being annoyed by Carter Higgies mouthpiece or whatever. The flip side of that is some people go like, yeah, but a year ago,

they made Boston and Toronto fans really sad. So maybe we're okay with those guys after. You know what? That's why they're still the top line list, baby. Thank you, Florida theaters. All right, we got to move on. We can't talk about Nick Cousins for the next 90 minutes, much as much as we may want to.

We kind of got into the Devils a bit in the first segment, but I think we need to revisit them here as well. We're getting Firelandy chance again. after that being a huge part of the storyline last year, it just started 22, 23, opening night. It was honestly painful to watch. Lindy Rudolph getting booed and the firing chance at the game one, right? And then they pull it together.

They have like some kind of breakout season, the sort of thing we'd been anticipating for them for a couple years. They make playoffs and everyone loves them and whatever. And they're in the middle of the seasons from hell here. and he's back here in the chance. So there's job security questions. They are in the tank now because of, partially because the Red Wings,

as we talked about in the first segment there. Sean, like how much, how do you parcel blame out here when you have a season like this? Like, how much of this falls on Lindy rough and how much of it falls on the devil,

front office for a second straight season thinking that VDEC VNACVANCHAC was good enough to be the starting goaltender for a legitimate NHL contender. What's the blame of portion here? How many times do we say when a coach gets fired or he's on the hot seat, just look at the team save percentage and it's going to be bad. And when a coach is getting Jack Adams love, look at the team save percentage, it's going to be good. I mean, that just really feels like so much of this is just window dressing that we all compile on on whether the team has goaltending or not.

And usually that comes down to whether an established guy is playing above or below his expectations, right? I mean, how many times do you see a team goes in a season with a guy who's a 915, 910 goalie, expected to be pretty good? He goes 895 for three months and the coach gets fired. And we all go, wow, yeah, this will be the change they need. well, it's just, you know, I guess he should have told the goalie to make more saves. In the case of Lindy Ruff, though, he just doesn't have a goalie. His front office has not given him one. And this is not for once in our line of work.

This isn't just 2020 hindsight sitting on the couch going, oh, okay, now we realize that they should have done this. Everybody all summer was screaming, like, when are they going to make the move? And, you know, when there were a handful of other teams, too, and nobody did. So now from what we've heard, they're trying. We heard them with UC Saros. We heard that Jacob Barksstrom may have got very close, maybe even up to the point where he was talked to about waving no trade clauses and that sort of thing. But that fell apart. You almost look at it now and go, I mean, is it almost too late?

Is it time to look ahead to the offseason? But, you know, I'll tell you, if I was Lindy Ruff, if I'm a coach in the NHL and you fire me, in a season where I've got no goal tending because you didn't get me a goalie. And also, by the way, my number one defenseman has been heard pretty much all year long. That doesn't sound fair to me. Now, that being said, who cares about fair? That's not a thing in the NHL. And the thing that complicates it a little bit with Lindy Ruff, he is an older coach.

You wonder how long he fits into the plans, even if things are going well, is this, was this maybe even going to be this last year? That sort of, you know, if this was a young coach that was part of the plan, I think you just, you just say, hey, one of those years, man, too many injuries, not enough goal-tending, we got to fix that in the off-season, and you just roll with it. You treat it like the lightning treat it the year that they missed the playoffs. They didn't fire John Cooper. They kept going and it worked great.

But when you've got a guy that maybe you were looking to move on from anyways, kick him upstairs, whatever that was going to look like, do you now rush that a little bit? Because it's still, even with the injuries, it feels like missing the playoffs for a team that's this good, this young needs this experience. Like, doesn't it feel like a disaster to have it all, have it all amounted nothing for the year?

Part of the reason the Fire Lindy stuff happened last year is because Andrew Brunette was standing next to him on the bench. Yeah. Yep. That option has been taken off the table, right? And I think that's the sort of thing. That's the kind of hire that's made, like, okay, devils are planning, there's a contingency plan here in place.

When you hire a guy like that who would, you know, who had just lost his job controversially with the, with the Florida Panthers, right? Like, like, we knew that that was the first inclination that maybe they were looking. And now it's, now it's only going to, only going to. You had a guy who didn't, what, Jack Adams runner up or whatever was. I, you know what, I, that's why part of the reason I stumbled there is because I was going to call him a Jack Adams wonder, but he did not win at that area. But I just keep coming back.

Like the Vanekek thing, like I was never, it's one of the few times that I was correct from the, from the outset. Like when they made that trade, I was like, this isn't going to work. Like I watched more than enough of that dude with the caps in the two years before that. Like, not the guy. He's not the dude who you are saying like, all right, he's going to be our goalie for the next two or three seasons. and he's going to be the guy that's in net when we go from being a team with potential to a team who can actually win a few playoff rounds. Not that dude.

Hasn't been that dude. Wasn't that dude last year. They were just good enough to outpace it. And this year's been a catastrophe. He's been one of the worst regular goal tenders in the league. As a team, their save percentages third from the bottom. And they're ahead of Tampa Bay, which was starting a backup for the first, however many months of the season in Ottawa, who's a mess onto them.

themselves, right? Like, this is, they're getting league worse goaltending. And it's not a surprise. That's, it's, it's not one of those, like, goaltending's voodoo and volatile and all this stuff that we, because it's true. It is. Corny and cliche, but it's absolutely true. But when a dude shows himself year after year to be, you know, a substandard starting goaltender, that's a theme. That's not the volatility of the position. That's just VTek Vanichek, being who, he is, right? And I know Schmidt hasn't been great and whatever. But the fact that we're having this conversation, you know, on February 28th about the New Jersey Devils, in a metropolitan division, again, we say, we've said it, this is our third show. We've said it in all

three weeks. The Metro division stinks. It's not good. There's two decent teams and then a bunch and a bunch of can and fodder. And then a Flyers team that feels like they can't give away that third spot. They don't even seem like they want to be from an. organization. Like you hear Danny Breyer, like any, any interview he does, whether he's talking to Kevin Kerr is with us or whoever, it's like he's talking about keeping perspective and keeping things, you know, like realizing what the long-term goals of the frown, all this stuff. That is code in barely so for saying like, I will sell whatever is not nailed down here.

Yeah. Like you want, you want Nick Seeler font. Sean Walker's not going to sign an extension. Come get them. We'll trade whoever is not going to be part of the next really, truly good Flyers team, like make an offer and we'll give them to you. And that is the third best team in that division. And behind them are the devils who were a trendy preseason cup pick

and they're on the outside looking in because of one position that hadn't been addressed. It's amazing. So let me ask you this. Yeah. Let me ask you this. So we said in the opening Nashville is playing really well. UcS. Sarros, presumably not an auction.

Markstrom, they got close on. For sake of argument, let's assume that that is not doing it for whatever reason. Do you go out and at this point and get someone else? Stop looking at dudes. You have multiple years. Of course you'd rather have U.C. Soros. You'd rather have Jacob Marshall.

Do you still go and give up assets that you could use in the summer to get for a Jake Allen or a. you know, somebody like, like, no, probably not now. Well, that's my question. Like, if they, like, you do it in January if you could, but. But they were, it's a wild course of action where it's like, again, would you, would you like to reel in Jacob Marksum? Absolutely.

These guys have, these guys would be long term answers, right, for, for their purposes. You can say we've saw this position for the next two, three, four years. Like, I get it. but you have to have some situational awareness there too and realize that you know as you're trying to hash out these deals you're you're dropping games because of goal tending and the other teams are stacking up points too so it's like they let the perfect answer which would have been jacob march from let's say be the enemy of like improving the team in any in any real meaningful way and that's and that's got to be frustrated i see more than enough devils fans on twitter man and they're losing it and i don't plan them it's just lady rough is now the avatar for that frustration when it's like probably not which is fair. That's what it's he's not the guy who's setting the roster.

We talked about Craig Conroy having a tough time, but don't you feel like his his price for Marks from Marks from whenever the devil's call has got to be itching up every single day, right? I mean, it's I mean like or yeah, or it's like they're at the point now. It's like, okay. Maybe maybe this is something we read. And it's tough because apparently the sticking point when they got close before was retained salary.

And that may be something, I mean, that is going to matter for years to come. So it's, it's not as simple as just saying, well, you know, okay, they wanted a third pick. We were offering a fourth. All right, we'll bump it up and we'll just deal with it. Like, this is something that two years from now when you're going to be more expensive and everything, you don't necessarily want to have thrown this away. But, man, it's, you know, it's like they've swung too far in the other direction. there with that thinking because they thought like,

okay, we're going to go cheap on gold tending actually, right? That's the work for some teams. But now it's like, and that was the model and the end result is they've been able to pay Tim Omeyer $8.8 million a year and Jack Hughes $8 million a year. And yes for Brad almost $8 million and on and on. They have all these big ticket items. So now they have to try to cheap out on Jacob Markstrom.

It's one thing to go cheap when the dude you're trying to go cheap. on his VDEC v. Dech Fana check. But when you're like, I don't know if we don't know if we have the space to make this work long term with Jacob Marchram, that's when you know that your salary structure is out of whack. And you have painted yourself into a coin. And it feels like, as much as we're criticizing them

for going into the season the way they did, I can see it in a sense in that, like you said, gold-tenny is so unpredictable. We see it every year where a team goes in and we go, oh, gold turning's going to stink there. And then some guy has the season of his life or emerges out of nowhere to as a reliable goalie and you go,

okay, they were fine. I don't hate the idea of saying, we're set everywhere else. Let's see what we got with these guys. We have younger guys, you know, maybe,

maybe one of them pops. Maybe we're the, the beneficiary of one of those stories this year. But then what's plan B if it doesn't happen? And when does plan B kick in? Is it November? Is it December? I'm pretty sure it's not March.

But apparently, we're going to get to March and maybe beyond. And again, easy, easy for me to sit here and say like, oh, yeah, just go and go and make a deal. Obviously, they've been trying. They've come very close reportedly on, on Markstrom, which would be the big, big ticket item. But it just, it hasn't happened yet. If you're, if you're, part of your overall strategy, if part of your overall strategy is, like, we have to stay cheap on gold tank. And that's completely understandable.

Like, we've seen, we've seen that work. Like, it's fine. but go get another cheap gold tender. Go get, like, it doesn't have to be Jacob Martyrn. Trade for Alex Nadelcovic. Trade for Jake Allen. Like, go get somebody who's a passable option, if not a long-term fix, you know,

for two years, three years, four years down the line. Like, that's not necessarily what it has to be, right? Because clearly they weren't, like, if that's the way they wanted to structure their team or on an expensive goal tender for several years, they wouldn't have signed Medek Vandahe in the first place. That's crazy. I'm with you, man.

I'm with you. So I guess at this point, is it you have to do it now or is it too late? Is the question? And I guess we find out the answer over the next little while. If they don't do it, do we agree that they absolutely have to do it this summer? Like there's no way we can do this again of going into another season.

with all this young talent and saying we're just we're going to roll the dice on goal. This is the third season that they're going to have two or three that have been completely derailed by goaltending. Because that's what happened before Vanichick. They're playing Nico Dodds and they played just like dozens of dudes that year. I can't wait until they give up a first and a good prospect for Markstrom and he he's bad next year. We're sitting here in November going, what dummies? Why would they do that? Why did they panic?

Jacob Marksum. Vanichick is off in like Calgary having a 930. season and oh man. Oh, brother. We got one more Metro Division topic we want to talk about here. What is going on in Long Island? Like, and is this collapse that we've seen, the total lack of post Patrick Wap bomb?

Like, how loud is the, is it time for Lou to go chatter going to get here? I, it's tough because a lot of that stuff tends to be. if not media driven, at least media supported. And there's a lot of people in the media that have a lot of time for Lou Lamarillo and have a lot of respect for them based on literal decades. As a guy did a lot of winning in the NHL. But past tense did. And it doesn't.

The situation in New York right now is bleak. Not just for this year, but beyond. The number of long-term, like long-term. long, long term contract. I don't mean two or three years. I'm talking red arrow on the cap-friendly page because it scrolls all the way off. The red arrow rankings, baby. The red arrow index had the Islanders at the very top,

and I don't think that's the team that you want to have up there. He played his card. He played his favorite card, right? Bring in a Montreal Canadiens legend as coach. It's worked for him a lot in the past, but it's not working. Even as a short-term bounce doesn't seem to be to be working here. I don't know you're doomed when it's like how could they create space? Like what is the path to improvement?

And it's like maybe they could clear some space by getting someone to take J.G. Pejo, who has three years and five million dollars left. Three years and five, I had five million dollars left on his contract. Like the route to victory there is really, really, really hard to see. Anders Lee, three more years. Pajel, three more years. Pierre Engval signed forever.

Sizekis has three more years. It's not, it's everybody. It's not like, okay, Matthew Barzell signed for, you know, long term. Okay, you get it. But it's, I mean, they got a fourth line that's got guys on there. So, I mean, what's the exit plan here? I don't know. Do you fire Lou Lamarillo?

Probably not. Do you say like, hey, Lou, maybe it's time to move upstairs. Um, maybe that, I mean, you know, the guy's in his 80s, I believe. He's 81. Yeah, okay. So he's it. I mean, to say, let's move upstairs. Yeah, it's a possibility.

Now, remember, we've seen that twice already. We saw it in New Jersey. They bounced him upstairs. He left. He went to Toronto. Toronto, they said, we're making Kyle Dubas. The GM will bounce you upstairs. He said, nope, I'm out of here.

And he left and went to the islanders. So, yeah, that was a few. years ago, maybe things have changed. He won GM of the year twice in that time. So, I mean, it's, it's not like he hasn't had success theoretically. The thing that worries me if I'm an Islander's fan is if Lou moves upstairs,

is it not probably Chris Lamarillo who comes in, the assistant GM? At which point are you even, is that a change? Is that fresh eyes and all the things that come in? Or is this just the Lamarillo family still being in charge. I don't know. I think it's unfair to assume that Chris Lamarillo,

with all his experience and everything in the NHL would just be picking off the phone and going, dad, what should I do? But there is an element there where if you're looking for a full break or a fresh, you know, that fresh set of eyes, is this, is this a scenario where it works for you? And whoever it is, whether it's a Lamarillo or Patrick Waugh or me or you, or whoever ends up taking this job. like it's saying one one season fix.

Those are the four main candidates by the way that you just name that's not necessarily in order either. No, no, not at all. Imagine that. Imagine being like a new GM coming in and like Pat you know Patrick was standing right there. I forgot about that. That's.

See Patrick Watt standing there and you're like how long there's um, how long is how long is Ryan Pulloch signed for? Yeah. That one's tough man. I don't I don't see a great path out other than to say, what were we five, six years ago now, John DeVaris leaves and everybody goes, the Islanders are done. Remember there was the famous Deadspin headline where it was like we've ranked every NHL team from the very best to the Islanders in that season preview.

And then they go and they make the conference final two years in a row. So I'm sure Islanders fans, there's a little bit of that like, yeah, go ahead and doubt us. you've done it before. And sure, but I just, I look at this, this path. Yeah. This has got to be, is this the least desirable GM job? Oh, that's a great. Not even of the ones available, but like if, if all of them.

And, and there is no undesirable job because there's only 32 of them and everybody wants one. And look, you know, there's going to be a lineup. But classic, he said it. He said it, folks. Only 32 jobs. Is, is, is there one that. is there a tougher job? Maybe it is a better way to put it

than what's in front of whoever takes over the islanders? If I'm a GM, I either want to take over a team that's really good or has a bunch of crappy players coming off the books in the next few months. Or at least a bunch of young players, right? Columbus is not a bad situation. No, no, no. There's some pieces in place.

The islanders don't even have that. I mean, they have prospects. It's a death by paper cuts thing. It's what we saw for years with Philips. beliefs where they overpaid everybody a little bit, right? You pay, you give every player a year or two more than you should and you give everybody 500 grand more than you should. And then before you know it, your cap situation is a total, is a total catastrophe. I'm not the one that's supposed to bring up the Maple Leafs here. This sucks. I feel like totally ashamed for that. Yeah. Yeah, it's not a good

feeling. I'm with you. Good though. All right. We're going to hit a break. We'll be back for seven three. All right, we're back. And as a hockey media entity or content or whatever you want to call it, I think we're legally obligated to bring up Matt Rempe, the Rangers, six foot eight. God. What do we even go? Do we call him an enforcer at this point?

He's a fighter. See, I don't think we do because I was looking at his numbers in the minors. He doesn't have huge penalty metatotals in the age. they're high. It does now. In this era, I mean, that's, but I mean, if there are enforcers any, any more, I guess maybe he's one of them. But it's a big boy. Whatever we're supposed to call a winger who's six foot eight, like that's, that's what, that's what we're going to call him.

Yeah. He fights every night and he can fight for sure. He knows what he's doing when it comes to that. And I tell you, I have. We are, what, 10 days into the Matt Rampi experience? And I'm already, I'm already exhausted by not him, but by the discourse around. Is he fighting too much? Is he, should he be more selective?

Is he the greatest player who's there? Is he the new Jeremy Lynn in New York where he's coming in and everybody loves the guy? Or is this like, what is happening here? I feel like we've already done like a year's worth of narratives around this kid. he got the first goal out of the way early the writers are packing too much into episode one of the Matt Rapace story like there's no way they're going to be able to

to keep this going what are we going to do when he goes three games without a fight or something because that's going to happen like that's the sort of that's the thing that's been lost I think and I get why people you know kids 21 years old you don't want him to, you know, feel like the bear on the bicycle out there where it's like,

okay, like do the thing, fight monkey, like whatever. He's not, so I get it. People are concerned. I don't mean to downplay the concern. This is not going to be every night for this dude. It's not sustainable for anybody. The NHL will not make it sustainable for a dude to come out and fight every, you know, in 80% of the games or whatever he's not. There's not enough dudes.

So that's the part of it. feels like truly much ado about nothing is that yes we've seen it you know the the discourse is what it is it's it's over he's out a runway here like we're like that i i would bet my life that that guy does not fight at the at the start of his next game well is that is that wrong is that foolish of me i i i don't know if i go that confident but my life yeah my life i bet i i might bet that he doesn't. If I can find odds on that at a sports book, I might put real life money on on him on him not fighting in this. And this is a thing that is, this is a coaching thing. This is a case of somebody on that coaching staff sitting down with him going, hey man, we appreciate

what you're doing, but don't feel like you, like you're not here to do this. It's not like every time you fight, you get another game in the NHL and after that you get sent back down. And we're not, we're not rewarding you for this like this you know he's we know what's happening here right i mean he's he's he's a big guy he knows how to fight that is still part of the n hl game it's a much much much much smaller part than it used to be but it is still there and he's like anybody else any other 21 year old kid in the nchel he's trying to do whatever he needs to do to stay in the league uh yes the legendarily great impulse control of 21 year old man if there's if there's if there's something i look back on when I was 21 years old.

It's like I definitely knew what was good for me. And career wise. They made me act rationally. Yeah. Well, it's a nice, this is a nice time where the, the two impulses of a 21 year old,

how can I keep my career on track? And also, I'm full of anger and I want to punch somebody. He's getting attention. Like, I don't, I don't blame him. The shit I did for attention when I was,

when I was in college, which was embarrassing too. He's just doing it at Mets and The ovations, he's doing what he's there for. But now is this case where somebody sits him down and says, hey, just so weird to clear. Because look, you and I are both, I mean, I'm definitely old enough that I have seen over and over again in the older days in the NHL, a team would bring a guy up. And in this case, it would be literally like he's come up from the HL. He has 400 penalty minutes.

He has two assists. Yeah, it's Ogilthorpe. Like that's like literally what would happen. And we've seen, like I remember the Leafs. called up a guy was Nathan Perrault, I think it was, came up, they put him in the lineup for one game against the senators, at one point he bumped into

Chris Neal, they didn't fight, and he was sent down after the game. And it was very clear, like, dude, we brought you up to do this. You don't want to do it, all right, we'll find somebody else who will. And every team had stories of guys like that. But that isn't the league that we're in anymore. So you don't want to see the guy get hurt, first and foremost, and we know now what we maybe didn't know even if we should have back then, which is, hey, just because you're not leaving on a stretcher after a fight, doesn't mean you didn't get hurt.

It doesn't mean that, you know, that that whole nobody gets hurt in a hockey fight nonsense that we used to say is, is gone now. So, you know, you hope he's okay, but also like this, I don't know, I don't want to accuse anyone of, like, fate concern, but it does feel a little overwrought to some extent, some of the stuff that we're seeing. Complaining about virtue signaling, Sean? Is that what is that's right? In my day, we didn't have snow fight. All the woke scolds out there that are worried about Mad Rampi getting punching the head every night. It's over with.

It's not going to go on in the way that it has. You know, the one thing I did look up as we were talking, I wanted to see if they played the Capitals. Because it doesn't feel like the Tom Wilson thing is still hanging over this Rangers team years later and they don't. They don't play the Capitals. I looked at it up this morning because I think it was Larry Brooks. It definitely was Larry Brooks, wrote, you know, the obligatory Matt Rampy takeout feature,

which everybody is working on their own version of. He talked to, God, he talked to a fighter for the Rangers, his name escapes me, and he brought up Wilson at the end. And, you know, Brooks, he didn't say who, like, whether they were on the schedule or whatever, but he brought up the looming specter of Tom Wilson. And so it motivated me to look at the schedule. And we are unfortunately not going to get that. Because I'm enough of a, I'm enough of a gorilla like, you know,

Tragodite where I'd love to see how that works out. But we're not going to, we're not getting it. Nick Fatu, it was the guy that he was talking to. Thank you. So, yeah, it's, look, man, I've talked about it. I've written about it a bunch of times. Like, I liked that era as a fan. We're never going back to it.

No. I used to love it. Oh, our team's brought up a tough guy. Look, he's lined up next to Probert, the face off. Here we go. But that is not the way. It's not the way it works. It's gone.

And maybe that's why this story has resonated so much, especially with, you know, some of us older timers. It feels like it kind of brings us back to that just a little bit. But it's, it's gone and it's gone for a reason. And this is, it's a combination of that. And then the Rangers, you know, coaching staff just feeling like, all right, this is good. We'll, we'll give you. We'll give you a few games. For three or four games, you can be the kid that sits at the cafeteria table.

And we'll eat aluminum foil if people, if people cheer while he does it. Because we had one of those in grade school. It was not me. But it always made me uncomfortable. And I think that Rempi has made me uncomfortable kind of. And, you know, to the point where eventually like it's like, look, man, if hockey is still hockey, somebody takes a run at someone out there or Tammy Panarin gets slammed face first in the boards. hey, maybe we do what we got to do.

But you don't need me making appointments in the pregame warm up anymore. With Matthew who by the way, they play the jackets again on Wednesday night. So we so we shall see. He's got to be already like what, top 25 in total fights this year? I was thinking that. He's got four. He can't be that far off the lead. Well, let's look this up real quick.

So talk so Ben for a second. Yeah. No, I mean, geez, four. Four, yeah, Jeff, producer Jeff is saying the fight leader for the year has 10. So, and this is, okay. Four fights. That used to be a good night's work in the Norris Division for Ken Baumgartner. And now it's, now in a week where we're flipping out.

And, I mean, there's, there's going to be, there's definitely going to be teams that do not have anyone on the roster with four fights all year long. I'm just glad. I'm just glad that we got to talk about them while it was still, well, it was still a hot topic. And I'm glad that everybody has been able to get their stories out in enough time where he's still, he's still doing this every night. It's the number one, number one superstar in the league, man. I tell you, it's Broadway. That's what it does. Hey, hey, man, before we wrap up.

Greatest arena on earth I've heard. Yeah, yeah, it gets mentioned once or twice. Can I mention, can I do one quick thing before we wrap up? I just want to personally wish you a happy anniversary. 14 years from the golden goal Sidney Crosby overtime Canada beats the United States

I'd be remiss if I didn't you know as a For all the joy For all the joy that Sydney Crosby brought to me And so many people close to me I mean I just He really really really let me down Wept one

It's the goal Iggy The Iggy heard around the world I didn't really get you to go That's miserable you know what? I saw somebody tweet like 14 years ago and it was like Canada Gold and I was like, has it really been 14 years since Salt Lake City, Joe Sackick and Mario and everything?

And I was like, wow, that's a lot. And then when it did hit me, I was like, I'm just going to go lie down. How are you celebrating this, this blessed day? You know what? I famously when it happened, I picked my daughter said she was so happy she wanted to walk on the ceiling. And I picked her up and I held her upside down and we walked her on the basement ceiling. I don't think that's going to fly. That's like the cutest.

That's the cutest thing. Yeah. It was, it was really adorable at the time because she was two. I don't feel like it's going to, I don't think it's going to fly. You should, just see. Just see what happens. I'll just pitch it.

I'll be like, look, you can say no, but what would you think? Walk on the ceiling. And then, uh, yeah, that'll be the longest conversation. Does she make eye contact with you when you ask the question? No. No. No. And when I say I'm going to ask you this, like I'll text it to her.

That's the only way I have a chance. And I'll just get the eye roll. emoji back and that'll be that'll be it but you know that'll be pretty good celebration whatever you can remember silver's not bad keep telling you you can report you can report you can report next week how that goes and you can also offer frankie some advice on the joy parenting a teenage girl because a teenage girl because 14 years for now he's going to have two of them so congratulations uh thank you guys for listening to this what the hell did we call it at the top. I can't even remember the athletic hockey shons. Thank you for listening.

Drop your show name suggestions in the comments. We will continue reading them because I think that's funny. And if you're into rating podcasts, leave us a five-star rating. Send your review. Tell us what you like, what you don't like and probably change how we do things, but never, we can pretend. Also, right now you can get a one-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. It is the athletic.com slash hockey show. And tomorrow is Haley, Max, and me. And Sean gets to hang out.

And then Frankie is back with us next week. So enjoy. And we'll talk to you later.