The Athletic Hockey Show - Avalanche bring Nazem Kadri back in last-minute blockbuster: NHL trade deadline recap

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

The Colorado Avalanche, already favorites to win the Stanley Cup, made by far the biggest deal on an underwhelming NHL trade deadline day, acquiring Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames, reuniting with the 35-year-old center who helped them win it all four years ago. The crew recaps all the other trades of note from Friday’s deadline, as well as some of the deals that went unmade, and discusses what it means down the stretch and into the playoffs.This episode was recorded live at 4:00p ET on Friday, March 6.Hosts: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleWith: Max Bultman, Dom Luszczyszyn, Vince Mercogliano, and Shayna GoldmanExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris FlanneryWatch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowJoin our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/VTm9VjkFSubscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a special NHL trade deadline edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm Haley Salvean, joined by Sean Gentile and Max Boltman. We're going to have Vince Mercagliano join us a little bit later in the show to talk about the New York Rangers not moving. Vincent Trocheck. Our friend Dom Luce Chishin is going to jump in at some point during this podcast as well as we look around the league at all the trades that came through. before the three o'clock buzzer.

But first, guys, we finally have some good news to chew on. This just came in from Elliot Friedman. Nazim Khadri is heading back to the Colorado Avalanche. We do not have a return yet. We don't have any details of this trade. It looks like it's still pending a trade call. But Nazim Khadry to the abs, the biggest trade of the day. By far, let's start here.

Sean, what do you think? Chris McFarland in the Kelly McCriman role. This is what we saw from Vegas a couple years ago when they added Tom Oshirtle, which is, you know, it felt like it was hours after the deadline had passed, right? And kind of a sea change move in the Western Conference from a team that was already contender. I think we're seeing something similar from Colorado in a big, big way. We thought they were done when they sent a first round pick back to Toronto for Nick Wa. We're like, okay, there's their middle six center.

that definitely takes them out of the running for Nazim Kadri, right? Right? And it seemed like everybody agreed on it. And yet here we are. He's back in Denver. And I think this is easily, easily, easily the most interesting move of the day. Yeah,

I think part of the story for why it was a fairly quiet deadline is that there are so few bona fide can win the Stanley Cup teams in the league this year that they want to justify the asset cost that it takes to go big. The Colorado Avalanche, absolutely one of those bona fide Stanley Cup contenders. So probably shouldn't be a surprise that they end up going the biggest year. They get Nazim Khadri. In addition to what they did for Nik Hua, which I thought was a huge price,

they've doubled down. I think they're the prohibitive favorite to win the Stanley Cup after both of these moves. And he has three years left on his contract being traded from the Calgary Flames. Colorado always made sense. I feel like we've been talking about a Nazim Kadri back to Colorado trade since he signed in Calgary, especially as the flames haven't been particularly good the last couple of years. This was my trade deadline bucket list item and we're still waiting for a full package, still waiting for a return. We will continue to refresh our feeds as we wait for that from Elliott Friedman, Darren Dregers on this as well. But that immediately moves to the top. That was the biggest piece that's been moved today.

Nazim Kodry, the only top five player moved today from CJ's big board. It was looking bleak, guys. Yeah. And I don't know if you guys agree with this, but of course I'm interested to figure out what the return is. Oh, sure. Let's see what they say. Part of me doesn't care. Yeah. I'm like, this is the cost of doing business.

This is your responsibility. And I love falling back on this because it takes me back to, you know, the 2016, 2017, Pittsburgh Penguins in the way Jim Rutherford ran those teams. When you have players like Sidney Crosby or Nathan McKinnon or Havgeny Malkin or Kail McCarr, you owe it to the. fan base, you owe it to your players, you owe it to the sport to maximize your opportunities with them. And if that means not making a first round selection for 17 consecutive years, like Pittsburgh did under Jim Rutherford and Ray Shiro, but before him, so be it. Those are the

breaks of the game. You take your biggest and best swing when you have talents of that caliber in your possession because it's not going to happen again. Like this is a once in a lifetime collection of talent for the Colorado Avalanche. You have two of the three best players in the league on the same roster right now. You need to act as if that's the case. And I think what we've seen here, just as we saw from Pittsburgh, a generation of NHL players ago, is a general manager who's up to the task. And I just have all the respect in the world for it.

I don't care what the return was. I don't care how many first round picks or what the contract retention looks like or whatever. It doesn't matter. the fact, the relevant fact is that Nazim Kodry is back in an Aves uniform for, you know, another cup push. That's the only thing that counts. Max, how many times have you heard Sean tell that story? Dozens? I could use one more, but we'll save that for next year, I think.

Trying not to roll my eyes on the live feed here. But he's right. That's how you have to operate when you have players like Nathan McKinnon, when you have players like Kel McCarr. To Sean's point, the only way you could not like whatever the return ends up being on this is if it's a player from the time. top half of their lineup, which it just won't be. And so for that reason, like, there's almost nothing that they could have given up that would make me win. Like, that's where they are as a

franchise. If it's a 2028 first round pick, fine. Your 2020 doesn't exist to them. Yeah. If it's Leckin and Marty Natchis, like, whatever, I'll, I'll eat my words, but something tells me that's not the case. I think you're right. Okay, guys, so let me just throw out this center depth chart for you for the Colorado avalanche. Nathan McKinnon, let's make Cadry the two C, Brock Nelson, the three C, Nicholas Roy the four. Zach Drury can kick out to the wing or be the extra forward. Is there anyone that beats that center depth top to bottom? Brock Nelson's playing like a two C right now too.

I'm not sure. You move him down to three. Like if you, Nazim Codry has always been like, let's give him the two C role. Like your middle six centers are basically second line centers. So whatever about who slots in where, one to four is there better center depth than the league?

We liked this move when we thought that it was Nick Walker. playing 3C for them. And now he drops even further down. Like he was an effective third line center for the Vegas Golden Knights. That's not, wasn't the case in Toronto, but I think we all give him a pass, given the way things have gone there,

you know, in the larger ecosystem, right? The fact that that guy, for all his defensive gifts and in all that he brings to a lineup, slides even further down the lineup is, is really, really interesting here. Yeah, I mean, frankly,

their 3C is now going to be better than whoever it is, whether it's Codry or Nelson, is going to be better than the Minnesota Wilds 2C, and that's a divisional team. That's a matchup we could be seeing for a birth of the Western Conference final. It's as deep as it gets, yeah. All right, let's bring in our pal Dom Lus Trishin.

He joins the athletic hockey show now. Dom, we're just chatting about the Colorado Avalanche. They're bringing Nazim Kadri back. Happy days for us all. We were about to talk about Scott Lotton for an hour, so this is great. I'm so happy for us. Dom, is there a team in the league

that can contend with Colorado? Colorado center depth if we go McKinnon, Cadre, Nelson, Roy, one through four. Hold on. We're not talking about Scott Lotton. Later, later. In like 10 minutes. I came here expecting to discuss Scott Lotton. I did. I did say to Dom, I was like, we need you to come on here and talk about. We need to revisit the Scott Lotton

trade one year later. It's bleak here. I can't do it. Dom, what do you think about? that center depth? I don't think there's better center depth in the league just because there's a four C is nuts. Cadrey as a 3C is going to be the best 3C in the league without question. As Sean was saying, Nelson has been playing, I don't even think it's a 2C rate. Like he's been like playing low end 1C hockey.

He has been unbelievable the last three months. He was great at the Olympics as well. The abs were already stacked. They were already the best team in the league. they got Catrie and Roe added to that forward group. It's going to be nuts. And someone tweeted at me just before I came on saying, I wonder how Cadry helps Colorado's anemic power play.

And I think that's an interesting wrinkle as well because he can maybe add some net front presence there, maybe in the bumper or something along those lines. So why am I the bad guy for saying Cadry could be the two C? I'm feeling attacked by all of you guys right now. It's Brock Nelson Erasure. That's what it is. This is anti-American bias from you.

That's clearly the only thing that's at play. Dom's a little bit more unbiased than I am. Everyone always says that. Yes. Let's transition to the Red Wings quickly here, because we probably only have about 10 more minutes with Max. He is, I probably at the facility, going to be waiting to chat with Steve Eiserman.

Is that right, Max? I didn't even ask you what you were doing. I just saw your jacket, and I assume that you're doing something important. Yeah, I'm not for Stevie-W. of course. I'm in my basement apartment at Little Caesar's Arena, aka the dressing room where they let real people get ready for concerts and stuff. Yeah, I'm going to walk over there in 10 minutes to Eisenman's press conference. But yeah, right before the buzzer, their deadline was setting up to be a huge disappointment here in the truck. Up until 257 p.m. looked like that it was just going to be basically going from Elmer Soderblon to David Perron and the bottom six. At the buzzer, they get the player who I felt like was their best fit on the market here. When you factor in, a role, the cost on the market, the extra year on the contract, Falk was the guy I kept coming back to because he gives them a boost at five-on-five.

They had a huge hole next to Ben Chrodot on the second defense pair. He answers that. He can step in. He can play some power play some power play for him on the second pair. He can play a little bit of penalty kill for him and just be a, they were asking too much of access to Sending Pellick. His minutes had gone down to 11, 12, the last few games. They needed someone here and they got one. Is, did they do enough?

I mean, like, we like Falk. and I agree with you in terms of what he means of that lineup, right? But it still seems underwhelming to me, given some of the issues that they have with that forward group. I think when you look at what the price is at forward, where I understand that. Like, I didn't think they could go through this deadline and do nothing at either of these two positions, but I kind of felt like they were going to be able to go big either right shot D or a forward. And so when you saw that, you know, Nick Waugh's getting a first round pick, I don't know how it's got a third. By the way, I'm sure you guys are going to hammer that to death.

That's why Dom's here. He would have been excellent to plug into the Red Wings lineup for sure. But most of the forwards, the prizes. I mean, Braden Shen got a first round pick. I can understand why it seemed like it was just jammed up there. But for Falk, I think the first round picks worth it. You get the extra year to term. Is it enough to make them a Stanley Cup contender?

No, of course not. But it's enough to give them a chance to win a round. I think that's what they needed to do. Fair. And is that enough? Like, they just want to win one round? They haven't been in nine years. So I think winning around would be a big success.

I'm just asking the questions. I'm just the host. I have no thoughts. Is there any player that moved that you can look at the price and port it over to something that would make sense for them to do? Like is Bobby McMahon getting a second and a fourth from Seattle? Is that something that would make sense for them? I'm just trying to see if there's, I'm really trying to second guess the Red Wings deadline day as much as I can. because I have this, like, sinking, feeling that they should have done more,

but also at the same time when you look at the prices, I do agree with you. It's tough to see exactly what the fit would have been. Yep, McMahon would have been very good. Warren Fogle, I thought, was a great budget ad for the sense. I think he cost him a third round pick. He was a guy I had highlighted for them. I would score 20 plus goals in each of the last two seasons.

Great skater. I think for a team that needs more five-on-five offense, his brand, I think, would have fit really well. He's having a rough year in L.A. And I don't know. Maybe at 29, he's gone. But I have a hard time believing that player is not still in there. So that was the guy, that being Fogel.

McMahon, though, you can make a very similar case, and I think not too different of a price. Either of those guys, I think, would have been better ads. But I think when you get Peron, and they have familiarity with him. He wore an A here for a couple of years and scored one of their bigger goals of my time on the beat, the saddest that is to say, because it wasn't in a playoff game or anything like that, but kept them alive late in the season in a big game against Montreal. They know what they're getting. He's a good presence.

And he would be their sixth leading score, which is shocking to say. but with 10 goals, that you can be the Red Wing's sixth leading goal score. All right. We can let Max go here. I know you've got to go jump to a press conference, get out of that dressing room. Thank you so much, Max. Justin Fulke traded to the Detroit Red Wings from the St. Louis Blues. He parts that package.

First round pick, third round pick. Justin Hall goes the other way as well. Even before the cadre deal, like that was one of the bigger deals of the day, Justin Falk, to the Detroit Red Wings checks a big box for that team. Okay, one bit of business that I want to. go through here with you guys. This was a big one for me. Not the most eventful trade deadline day before the cadre deal. Not a ton going on before 3 p.m. Important question for you, Sean. Do we count John Carlson being moved to Anaheim as an early Friday morning trade or late Thursday night?

It wasn't Pacific? It wasn't like Midnight Pacific. So if we're thinking about the Ducks, that was Thursday. But maybe John Carlson thinks it's Friday. That's very important for the calculus. of how I'm grading out the day. Did John Carlson get traded Thursday or Friday? If you asked John Carlson, you got traded on Friday. Yeah, he wakes up at 630 or whatever and says, hey, I got, I got traded. Alex Ovechkin counts the John Carlson trade as a Friday deal.

So that's good enough for me. We've established this. I think me and Sean and Frankie talked about it. Eastern time zone, all the counts, doesn't matter what happens. Three hours, three hours in the past. You know, yes, we're counting. We're counting Carlson as a deadline day deal for sure.

All right. So one of the big moves of the day, John Carlson, to the Anaheim Ducks, also one of the biggest sound bites of the day two. We'll go through this as we await a Nazim Kodry return for people just joining the show. Sounds like he's been traded back to the Colorado Avalanche, according to Elliott Friedman, still awaiting the return. But John Carlson, we know that deal is done.

Alex Ovechkin today called it one of the toughest days personally of his career in Washington. and the Capitals are a team that made it to the second round of the playoffs last year. They're just four points out of the playoff spot right now. All the other teams have games in hand on them, so keep that in mind. But, Sean, what does this move tell us about the Caps right now and moving forward? Because OVey seemed a little shook by it. Yeah, I was, I'm trying to decide whether I'm surprised at how much this seemed to affect Alex

Hoveetchkin, which was clear. It was clear when he spoke to reporters in our, Arlington today that he was, you know, he used the word shocked several times, said it was the toughest day he's had, you know, in the league, like personally. And to see that kind of laid bare, I think, it does make you wonder, at, no, the most important part of that press conference, by the way, is that he was as non-committal as he's ever been about potentially coming back next season. So I think the fact, in totality, when you look at the last couple of days that they've had. They send out Nick Dow, they send out John Carlson back fill with David

Camp and Timothy Lilligrins. So, you know, whatever, be that as it may. I think it's raising tough questions for Alex Ovechkin. And it's more fair than ever to ask, you know, what exactly is the plan for him moving forward? Now, the caps have said at every turn that they'll do whatever he wants to do, they'll accept his decision. If that means he's coming back next year, great. And if he decides that he's done, great. That's what Spencer Carverie's told me. It's what Brian McClellan's told directly, right?

Like, they're not going to rush his decision and they're going to accept whatever it might be. But also, I think, and this is the important part, is it at various points in Alex Ovesant's career with the Capitals, 2018, after they lose to Pittsburgh, you know, at certain other points. A couple years ago when they started the rebuild on the fly thing. he had tough conversations with Brian McClellan, and they had to hash out their differences, and they had to figure out exactly what the big picture was in where Alex Ovechkin fit in it. And I think what we've seen today,

based on the way he spoke at practice, is that there is clearly a need to have another very serious conversation. Because what Ovechkin's goal always has been and apparently always will be, is that he wants to move forward, he does want to take backward steps. It's another direct quote from Brian McClellan,

recounting these conversations. And it's impossible to look at what happened over the last couple of days as anything other than a backward step. Is it temporary? Are they going to be in the market to add whoever, whichever top six piece hits the market in the summer

at the draft? Absolutely. I would see what happens, you know, by midsummer before making any decisions here. But there's clearly some, some concern on Ovechkin's part, and it's tough to blame them for it. All right, Dom, John Carlson, to the Anaheim Ducks, what do you think that move means for Anaheim? I love it. I think it's one of my favorite moves of the day.

When you look at Anaheim's roster, they have a lot of budding young offensive talents, especially up front, but what they lack, I think, is defensemen, especially guys who are responsible, can move the puck up to those forwards. They have Lecombe. Zellweger and Minchkhov have not, I think, blossomed as many expected. So Carlson gives them a legit top four, even top pair defensemen to lean on on this playoff drive and also learn from because he's been around for so long. And I think it's the biggest needle moving trade of the day and immediately slots some players

a little better. Someone like Jacob Truba, some like Radgo Gudis, are a little down the depth chart because of this. And yeah, I'm really excited about it just because I think a lot of people would be tempted to say the ducks need a defensive guy, a stop or a shutdown type. And that's definitely a fair play. But it's a trade that I think leans into their strengths a lot where they are going to try to win playoff games 7-5 and hope Dostle fails them out. And I think it's not a terrible strategy to run and gun if they're especially going to play the Oilers in the first round. which is what's shaping up to be.

Don, we talked yesterday when we were doing power rankings, our original framing of the best possible deadline. Deadline setup for the Ducks pre-Carlson trade, and you kind of alluded to this, is we're trying to crowbar Erasmus Risteline in or players like that onto that roster. We're saying, okay, they need someone who can defend on the right side, you know, is our trouba and,

Um, or Truba in, uh, Gudis like ideal, you know, top four guys not, you know, no, but they surely can't go out and get someone like John Carlson, right? They're going to have to drop down onto that next tier and find someone with a more specialized skill set like a, like a rest of line and who you can plug and play there. And that's clearly not what ended up coming to pass. I, it was, I think the fact that that's where he ended up is just is really, really fascinating. Yeah.

That's fun too. I, again, seven, five hockey. They're already playing that a lot of nights. Why not add a guy who generates chances, I think better than a lot of other defensemen still in the league. And I think he'll look at his point, toes, and think this is just a power play guy. They already have Jackson Lacombe. And he might be the guy now on that top unit. But what he brings to table at five on five still offensively is, I think the big thing here where you look at the top line, they get to play with Lecombe. Some of the middle six guys don't get to play with guys who move the puck as well. I think Carlson can change.

that if they split them up. All right, let's get to the New York Islanders because they've been an interesting story today. They acquire Braden Shen from the St. Louis Blues for a first round pick and a third round pick. And on TSN, Braden Shen said that playing with Matthew Schaefer is what excites you the most about going to the Islanders.

Braden, correct me if I'm wrong, guys, it's not on my notes. I believe he had trade protection. So he would have had to waive to go to Long Island and it seems like Matthew Schaefer is changing the equation there already. that's a place that players want to go play because of this kid. Dom, do you have a thought on Braden Shen to the New York Islanders?

It's, it feels like a weird trade just because the Islanders aren't exactly contenders and they aren't exactly locks for the playoffs either. I think they add my like 55% going into this. Like Shen helps. He's way better than a lot of their depth pieces. He's the kind of playoff warrior that I think a lot of them can learn from as well. runs in the playoffs. But the timing just seems odd for a team that's been stuck in the mushy middle for so long

and has the kind of potentially generational player to build into a legitimate annual contender. But I don't know if trading a first for Braden Shen is the kind of thing they should be doing just yet. And Braden Chen, he did waive his no trade clause for this deal. Just wanted to confirm that here. a 2026 first round pick, third rounder and veteran winger Jonathan Drew and a goalie prospect in this deal. Shen is 34 years old. Now his contract goes until 2028 with a $6.5 million cap hit.

He has 12 goals, 28 points this season. Sean, do you have a thought on this too? And then they also re-sign JG Pajot, not sure if that like changes the calculus for anybody. But just to look at this trade wasn't just in a vacuum. The aisle is doing some interesting things today. that's a serious prize to pay for Braden Chen in 26. Like I do appreciate what's going on on the island, and I'm glad that they're playing interesting.

I mean, I'm just over the moon for the Matthew Schaefer era in general, so I should preface what I'm about to say with that. I like this deal a little bit more than I initially thought because I remembered last year whenever they traded Noah Dobbson, to the Montreal Canadiens for a whole bunch of picks, right? That's, that to me is a nice bethedge for having to give up what they gave up for Braden Chin. Like I think the fact that they did have those extra picks in the first round last year helps, you know, stuck up, stuck up the cupboard in the prospect pool and allows you,

and gives you the flexibility in the bumper necessary to kind of go out and make a luxury ad like this. Do I think that Braden Shen moves the needle at this particular moment for this particular team? Like, not really, but I appreciate the effort. And I am, I understand, I think, the rationale behind it a little bit more than I did in the five minutes after they initially made the trade. I mean, I think it's fair to assume that the Islanders feel like his production's going to tick up once he leaves St. Louis, a team that struggled this season. Ideally, he plays a little bit better on Long Island. He'll bolster the middle six. That's an upgrade on Drew Nguyen, if nothing else. And they had, as you said, Sean, first round

picks to burn. They got an extra first in that Brock Nelson trade. Second line center. There we go. There we go. Just to defend myself for one second. Yeah, I'm learning. Everyone always said they want to trade for Nazim Kodry is the perfect two. See, I'm sorry. Brock Nelson has taken that mantle. You're right. Right. It's good. We still don't have a return. According to Elliot Friedman nine minutes ago, the trade was in the queue last check. Still awaiting full details. It really doesn't. I would just like to be able to tell everybody like what actually happened here. I feel like there's no way we're going to not like it.

Okay, let's finally for Dom's sake, let's get to the Scott Lott and sweepstakes here. Okay, so a couple things. Leifes make a couple trades. They trade Bobby McMahon to the Seattle Cracken for a 2027 second round pick and a 2026 fourth rounder. And then they move Scott Lawton as well for a third round pick. And let's just revisit a year ago, the Leafs acquire Scott Lotton at the trade deadline for a first round pick in 27. 63 games, 10 goals and 16 points later, the Leafs get a third rounder for Scott Lotton. And Dom, what do you think of this trade in the moment and also with the context of what they gave up for

Scott Lotton, were the Scott Lotton experience over the last year? It's been somewhat of a roller coaster because at the time, I wanted to believe that it made some sense because centers are always expensive. And I thought he'd be used a lot more in the middle six. I remember at the time floating a Tyler Bozac-like experience, putting him between Marner and Nielander that they never did. they just sat him on the fourth line, which I thought was an incredibly poor use of Scott Lahn,

who I think a lot of people agreed had a lot more to give. And that sort of tanked his value. And it's fair to say the Leafs got a fourth and a six back in that original deal. Let's not forget that. Oh, sure, sure. Cool. But even with that, the Leafs, I looked into this, they gave up three wins of draft value.

for Lawton. They got back 1.4 if the Kings make the playoffs, 0.9, if they do not, because it is a conditional third. I think the Kings could make the playoffs, but it's just such a terrible example of asset management and a disconnected franchise where it doesn't seem like the coach and GM have been on the same page for a long while. And I've come to appreciate Lawton a lot this season because he seemed to have that fire inside that can bring the team out of a funk and try a little hard. The passion, some would say? The passion.

He was a passion haver and it was useless on a team that sucks. And that's the unfortunate truth is, Lon would have made a lot of sense if this team was any good. And unfortunately, they were not. And here we are. I look forward to whenever Scott Lotton leaves the L.A. Kings, because the last two teams that he's left, Maple Leaf Flyers,

the media core and the guys that he played with on the way out made him sound like someone who should be up for sainthood. He sounds like the world's nicest man in the world's greatest teammate, which I think has become part of the Scott Lottin experience. Right? like this guy you know

to some extent you can see why why teams continue to go out and add him or why he's in some degree of demand whether it's this year

or last because he does he does bring something to the table and I think there is something to be said for that you've I saw I saw Born

Justin Bourne compared him you know the way teammates talk about him to Crosby in Bergeron like that's that's serious

company so yeah we'll see what happens after after after the king's face plant here down the stretch, and we get to see what, you know, what they think of them as well. It's a great guy.

Yeah, just a rough, rough asset management. Not my problem. No, my problem. Oh, sure. It's Dom's problem now. All right, let's quickly, we can hit on this. Vince is going to join us soon because, yes, Nazim Kodry is off the trade board still waiting for the return.

but not much else from the top five Vincent Trocheck, one of the big name players that was not traded today, the New York Rangers. They had a hefty price. They weren't willing to move off of it. So Vincent Trochecks stays with the New York Rangers. One of the deals that did go through today, though, the Minnesota Wild acquired Nick Falino from the Chicago Blackhawks

for future considerations. This isn't a world-beater trade. It's just kind of nice, guys. Nick Falino said on the ESPN broadcast, when he was interviewed, that he has never played on the same team with his brother, Marcus, not once, never been teammates.

So it's just kind of cute. It's just nice. There's five years separating them, I think. I'm pretty sure Nick's five years older than Marcus. Like, that makes sense that, you know, they're too far apart to play together growing up. So, yeah, this is nice. This is one for the narrative lovers.

Like, we can watch brothers compete for a Stanley Cup since the New Jersey Devils have let us down so dramatically over the last. over the last few months. I felt like Felino, you know, he is what he is at this point in his career.

He had some defensive value. He's probably still capable of scoring, you know, 15 goals on a bad team. And the vibes are immaculate with him. He seems like a legitimately great dude. So if you're Minnesota, those are the kind of things.

It seems like, you know, theoretically that they value their size, grit, you know, some degree of competence on a bottom six. And then you augment that with just being a, being a high-end locker room guy. Like, I get that.

I'll throw some future considerations at that. I don't know that I necessarily want to pay Nick Felino $4.5 million against the cap or whatever it is. But, you know, if they weren't going to do anything else and that money was just going to disappear, there's, like, worse ways that you could spend it, especially given the, given the totally negligible cost that they paid to acquire him.

There's a 40-chess move here as well. You have Quinn Hughes watching the joy. Oh, my God. Two brothers' faces. and thinking, I wish Jack was here in Minnesota. Boom. Great call. Great call.

That's a four-year difference, too, not that it really matters. Valuable Veteran Grit, Brotherly Love, that's on the athletic trade grades. That's really what you're getting out of the Nick Felino trade. Tampa Bay Lightning, they acquire Corey Perry from the Los Angeles Kings for a second round pick. We already mentioned Bobby McMahon. Those are kind of the main ones here, guys, from today on the trade deadline. We're waiting for Vince. Well, he'll be here in a few minutes.

So save the Vincent Trocheck talk for that. But Dom, let's start with you. Was there one big trade that you were hoping to see today that didn't materialize? There's one player that wasn't on the move that you're disappointed to not see them with a new team, excuse me. Yeah, I'm going to be biased here and say Oliver Ekman Larson. Slack. I really thought that if you sit a guy out, he's getting moved and he's not getting moved now. And I guess Trochik has the same issue as well with the Rangers.

But I would have loved to see them make that Ekman-Larsen deal with Detroit that they made for Falk. But I can see why they would go in Falk's direction. It's a bit stronger defensively. but it would have been nice to see the Leafs grab a first plus at the top of Ekman-Larsen's value and then have a bit of a treasure chest to do something in the summer with all that. And the fact they missed on that is obviously disappointing on my end specifically. I'm sure there's another trade that happened. I remember looking at the trade board and thinking, wow, this trade deadline is not going to be that exciting to begin with,

especially because all the blues guys had term. It felt hard to imagine they would all get moved, like Thomas, Kairu, Raco. And I wish that Buffalo trade happened, but what can you do? I think they got our hopes up with the way Thomas to Buffalo was talked a couple of years ago. Well, and Tushan, sorry to cut you off,

but the insiders were saying that Thursday was going to be the big Robert Thomas Day. Robert Thomas. Not moving. The price would have been probably very high, good center. He's only 26 years old, et cetera, et cetera. But Robert Thomas was the one for me. And I think you have a thought on the blues too, Sean.

Yeah, I kind of agree with Dom. Those seem like summer trades. But, you know, the movement that we saw earlier in the week made me think that there was some possibility, whether it was Thomas, whether it was Cairo, whether it was both of them, that one of those guys could end up changing addresses. And those are needle movers, right?

Like I know they're not perfect players, particularly Kairu. But man, when you're talking about pieces like that, signed a contract like that, with histories of production like they have, those are the kind of names that we could use more of on the move versus less of. And I think the fact that we didn't get that is like some degree of a disappointment. Yes, this is stuff that's going to be revisited in the summer unquestionably. But I think the way the winds were blown there for a couple days, it made me think. think that it was a real possibility to see it go down today. And, you know, here we are. Do we actually think that values are going to go up in the summer? And this is something we can

talk to Vince about when he joins us as it relates to Vincent Trocheck. But do we actually think that GMs are going to meaningfully get more in summer trades than the deadline? That seems to be the thought process for GMs that held the bag. I think the UFA class is so putured that it's very possible. Yeah, I don't have what we're looking at. But that's true right now. That is true. That is true right now. And it's, and it's, especially after all the extensions that we said, that, the Adrian Kempi and players like that who signed their deals, you know, at the start of the season, it was just, you're just taking one name off the top of the list. Check, check, check, okay, that's, he's off the market. He's off the market. He's off the market. And I think,

I think that's a factor to consider here, you know, when, when you look at potential stuff in the, in the summer is that the free agent class is pretty brutal. No goalies traded today either. At least none of the big ones, Sergey Bobrovsky. There was a bit of chatter there. Pierre LeBron had a big rumbling story about that. Edmonton Oilers don't try to sign or trade for another starting goal tender.

Really, really great debate. Credit to the TSN crew when they were in the dog days of Friday debate between is it the defenders of the goalies and. And I believe Jamie McLennan called one of the Oilers forwards at Forrest Gump out there. So really great stuff from the Trade Center guys. I really was hoping there was some point in the day where someone seriously floated Stuart Skinner to back to that. That was that was all I wanted was for that to be raised as a possibility on TSN and I didn't get it. So yeah, this is a wash.

Marty Burrough wouldn't go quite that far, huh? Yep. Dom, any final thoughts on the day? Are you disappointed? Nazim Kodry maybe saves us a little bit still waiting on the return. But any thoughts on what we saw and didn't see today before we bring on Vince? That's a good bit saying that we're still waiting on turn every five minutes. Every time.

But listen, this is live on YouTube. If someone's just joining us, maybe they're wondering, hey, was there a Kodry return? No. That's definitely where I go when I'm looking for news is I check to see what the athletic hockey show is doing on YouTube. Marriage this production or you will be removed. You're supposed to be promoting the athletic hockey show on YouTube. That was a backdoor promotion for the athletic hockey show. I see, I said it again.

The athletic hockey show on YouTube there three times. Anyways, Dom? I would have liked to see Vegas literally do anything. I feel like they're the kings of surprising us on deadline day and adding someone we don't expect. And they've been kind of shockingly mid this year where they lose some. many games in overtime. The games are close. A lot of that is because their goalies have sucked all year. And I would have, my, my biggest request was Stuart Skinner to the Golden Knights. I thought that would have been really funny. Revenge tour? It could have gone in either direction

where he gets completely lit up by Nick Taven and Drysidal. It's their revenge or Skinner's revenge. It would have been great theater. I said earlier, that's a loss for the narrative merchants. Yeah. Shame. All right. Do we have Vince? If not, we can just keep rambling here. Not yet. Okay, not yet, Vince. Not yet, Nazim Kodry.

I think one of the things that stood out to me today as well. Finish that thought, please. No, I am. Not to go back to the TSN thing, but it was the Daniel Dale fact check on Jeff O'Neill. A plus. That's the good stuff. All right.

You can get out of here. TSN Trades tonight this year was about the Daniel Dale segment and about Frankie going into the golf simulator. It various points early in the morning. He was juggling the golf ball on a pitching wedge for like 15 minutes, I think, at one point. The golf simulator was a great bit. I am really happy for them that they got to do that while it was really boring. I built some Lego. I think everyone had a little hobby from about 9 a.m. to 235 when four trades

came through and you're like, oh, that's nice. That's the only golf Corado is going to be able to sneak in. Dude's got twins. Enjoy it while you can, bud. Yeah. I downloaded the, like, the OG Pokemon game on Nintendo Switch. They relaunched it today. It was very cool to do that as a 30-year-old.

That's good. You know what I did? I worked. But nothing happened. You're just a liar. Congrats. You're not better than us. I was lining up this podcast.

Those Nick Folino trades aren't going to grade themselves, baby. Someone's got to do it. All right. Okay, Vince is going to join us now. Dom, thank you so much. Thank you for revisiting the Scott Lawton Trade one year later. It's not been great. It was a great year.

Yeah. We'll remember those 63 games forever. Yes. Thank you, buddy. All right, our New York Rangers beat writer, Vince McCogliano is going to join us now. One of the big news items of the day is, someone who did not move, Vincent Trocheck, he sticks around with the New York Rangers. Everyone's been saying it.

We said it here on the show. They set a high price. Nobody met it. Trochecks sticks with the Rangers. Vince, thanks so much for doing this. What can you tell us about what did not happen at Madison Square Garden today? What did not happen? Well, listen, they've been, it's, it's, I'm still sort of processing it all, but they have been

obviously shopping him for a long time. That's no secret. Everybody in the entire league knew that. He is the biggest trade ship that they have outside of guys with no movement clauses and things of that nature. He's got the 12 team no trade list, but that left 19 teams the Rangers could do business with. And so they definitely had the approach and the mindset that this was a guy who they needed to maximize. We saw what's happened with not only Artemi Panarin last month, where because he had the full no movement clause. They had to settle for what I think a lot of people considered a lackluster return, especially getting the third round pick.

Liam Green Tree, the prospect they got in that deal, they feel good about him. He was the best that the Kings had to offer as far as prospects. He's been tearing it up in the OHL since that trade happened. So I know they feel pretty good about him, but only getting the third round pick in exchange for a guy like Panarin, who's one of the top scoring players in the league. That's disappointing. But even further back than that, you look at all the guys the Rangers have traded in the last year plus, Chris Kreider, Jacob Truba, Capo, Kako. You can run down the list at Kiannoy

Miller. There's a lot of guys. They didn't get a whole lot back in those deals as far as players that are impacting the roster right now. Their prospect pool is barren. They are severely lacking young talent, scoring talent, a lot of things that they're lacking right now. The roster and the organization as a whole are not in a good place. So my understanding is that Chris Drury looked at Trocheck and said, I can't settle on this one. I need to get as much as I possibly can. Now, the question is, I've heard this for multiple people around the league that talk to him during this process.

He set a really high asking price. And I think when it came down to it, he had to look in the mirror and say, nobody's meeting what I want. Am I going to accept the best that I can now? Or am I going to roll the dice and hope that I can do better over the summer? I've talked to people that do believe the field will open up a bit. this summer, which is to say there are teams that might not be in a position to buy right now, but closer to the draft with the rising cap in particular, they'll have a little more room to

consider that. But a lot of people also feel like the level of desperation from general manager, and there wasn't a ton of activity at this trade deadline. It certainly wasn't the most active deadline we've seen. So maybe things have shifted a little in that regard for some of the reasons that I know like colleague Pierre LeBron has laid out with the new playoff salary cap, no longer having a third-party broker. There are these factors that may be contributed to less activity at this trade deadline. But I do think it's a big risk because, in my opinion, Trocheck right now, certainly one of the best players available. I think he's been number one on Chris Johnson's trade board for a number of weeks.

I think he moved to number two recently. Robert Thomas was in the mix. I think a lot of people would prefer Robert Thomas among the center market, but he didn't get moved either. And so Trocheque was a really valuable commodity. coming off of an Olympic run with the U.S. team where they win gold. And you have to think that a lot of people were watching and appreciated what he was able to do for the Americans in that tournament. And he's going to be 33 this summer. So he's only getting older.

And he's playing on a team where they're struggling to score. His numbers are down this season. You have to think next season, the likelihood of them improving are probably not great. So I just wonder, is his value really going to go up from here? You know, the pressure is on, Chris. jury now to really get something good for him this summer because I don't think they can go into next season with him on their roster and he's basically rolling the dice that he can do better in June or July than he can right now and I think that's a really big risk.

Vince, we live in a world where Nick Waugh brought back a first round pick. So my question is if you have a sense of what the package, the type of package looks like that jury was seeking because, you know, you look at some of the prices, and then you just wonder if how much higher the ass could have been because, you know, Nick Waugh, really good fourth-line center, that's a hell of a price tag to pay. And Vince Trocheque's certainly a better player than that. So I'm just fascinated by the idea that he was looking for,

the jury was looking for so much more that, you know, that we couldn't see a deal materialize here. Yeah, I think above all else, what he wanted back, in not just the Trocheque deal. He was talking to other teams about this with other players as well. Draft picks were probably going to be part of it, but more important to the Rangers right now, remember, they've framed this as a retool, not a rebuild. They want young players who, whether their prospects or have already reached the NHL, are very close to contributing. Like, they don't want picks that they're going to have to wait four or five years to develop necessarily.

Again, that would probably be part of the package. I think what they were talking to teams about were a first round pick plus players, but the players part of it was really, really important to them. Like, I can give you an example. The Minnesota Wild are the team that I had my eye on the entire time. And our colleagues, Michael Russo and Joe Smith were all over this. Like they've, I think, had their finger on the pulse of exactly what was going on from the wild side of things throughout this whole thing. And the wild, I mean, Bill Garron, I was watching him on ESPN a little while ago. He was basically like, I was hoping for a discount after we were. won gold together and Chris Jury wasn't in the mood to do it.

And he was like laughing. He said in Jess, but I absolutely think that that was true based on what I'm saying earlier about jury felt the pressure to maximize this return. And again, for the return, I think he really wanted young players preferably who could impact this roster sooner than later. With Minnesota, I believe that Charlie Strammel was on the table along with probably a first round pick and probably a third piece as well. And jury said that's not enough.

Urov is the number one prospect for the wild, and it sounds like Minnesota was not willing to go there. Strammel, by most accounts, including our own Corey Pranman, is the number two prospect in their system. And it sounds like jury said that's not enough. So that's really interesting. It shows you that he basically wanted for most teams the number one prospect in their system or a young roster player who he feels like has legitimate upside on top of a first round pick, on top of probably more than that. and I feel pretty confident that Carolina was in on it, and they felt like the asking price was too high. It's not as firm on Detroit.

It's hard to get a read on them, but I heard along the way that they were a team to keep an eye on. They have a great prospect pool. So I kind of thought they were a team that we should be watching in these final hours. Nothing happened there. I did hear that Utah was a team that called and was willing to offer something substantial, but I believe they were on Trochecks no trade list. So that kind of ruled them out.

He made it clear he didn't want to go too far west. I know Pierre reported that Boston he felt like might have been in it, but it just sounds like all of these teams heard the level of package that Chris Drury wanted to get. And they were like, no, we're not going there. So essentially that's what it came down to. And again, now this begs the question this summer, is he going to be able to get more? And what does the market look like this summer? Because whether it's Robert Thomas or others, could there be more premium centers on the market? Like Trochex is a good number two center, but he's not a number one.

Are there going to be number one type guys that come available and make him more of a second choice or a third choice for certain teams? And is that going to reduce the package? I just, you know, this is one of the things where it's like, I don't want to definitively say they mess this up until I see what they ultimately end up doing. I think the jury is still out. But I also feel like, man, you are really, really rolling the dice here. Back themselves into a corner.

I think this is probably a fair way to put it. Yes. Yeah. And I understand the Rangers fans. like we have some in the comments who were like, well, you don't want to rush this situation because maybe there is going to be more in the summer because we've, we heard it from CJ. He came on the show on Thursday. The UFA pool is not great this summer. So maybe GMs will be putting more on the table to get a center. But to your point, Vince, like there's Robert Thomas is out there who are 26 years old.

There's younger assets. There's maybe better assets. There's GMs who might be more willing to make different trades who are willing to meet in the middle in a way that Chris Jury clearly wasn't. He set his price and he was like, if you don't match it, we're not talking about this. And I just wonder how Rangers fans who like read that letter, what was it a month ago where he said, we're not going to stand pat, where there's going to be a shift, send this big letter to Rangers fans. And then here we are. We're walking out a trade deadline day. And all they really did was trade Brendan Othman. We did get a commenter who asked Vince if you can tell us a little bit about the player they got in return there. So sorry to

throw a bunch at you here. And yeah, they traded Panera, but like that, that was like a year ago in hockey schedule time. Yeah, well, I will tell you, I'm, uh, Jacob Pataglia is the name of the prospect the Rangers got for Brennan Offman from the Calgary flames. That's why I was a little late getting to you guys. I was trying to get all that stuff confirmed. So sorry about that, but. Don't apologize. I basically just sat here and said, still no return on cadre. We have one now, by the way. We'll get to that in a minute with Shana, but Vince, please go ahead. Yeah. So I, I'm just learning about this guy. I know that he was a second round pick for the flames at 2024, significantly younger than Offman. Offman's 23, and he's really kind of floundered with the Rangers.

It was five years ago that he was drafted out. He was actually the first pick Chris Jury ever made as team president and general manager. And that was a pick at the time where a lot of people thought they were going to take a center in that draft. Wyatt Johnston went a few picks after him. And I know that's one that I'm sure Rangers among other teams regret. They end up taking Offman a winger who they felt like had some grit, but they also liked the combination of the scoring upside. I believe it was a 50 goal scorer in the OHL and scored over 20 goals in his first season in the AHL, but it is just not translated to the NHL level. The details of his game, the defensive conscious, which is something that Mike Sullivan has been pretty critical about

with him in the past. It just felt like it never really clicked. He went like 34 games without scoring his first NHL goal. It's just been up and down for him. So he was very much in need of a change of scenery. But as for Pataglia, the prospect that the Rangers get, I luckily messaged our buddy Scott Wheeler to ask him what he thinks about that. I got a couple quick thoughts. I'm just going to read what Scott wrote because it'll be better. Perfect. I've done that. Godness, I've done that. Tell me what to think, Scott, please. Yeah, he spent a lot more time watching him than I have. He wrote good size, strong, NHL shot is his biggest weapon, good hands, but he's slow. Skating could go. I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. Yeah, but what about his

skating. And you know what? That's a knock on the Rangers. Like the Rangers are certainly not one of the fastest teams in the league. And even Green Tree, the prospect they got in the Panarin deal, he certainly, I think, has more upside, a lot more upside than Bataglia. But the thing I've heard about him is, is there's a lot to like in that package, a scoring player, a goal score, a guy who plays with an edge and is a team captain. Bataglia was a team captain for his previous OHL team as well. So there's some leadership and character traits there that I think the Rangers like, but they don't have a lot of really strong skaters in their system right now or on their NHL roster. And this guy seems to kind of fit into that category. Vince, last question for you. It comes from a commenter. Is this

just Othman traded for younger Othman? I think honestly, at the time when Othin was the same age, there was more prospect shine on him than there is on Vataglia. So in some ways, you could say this is kind of selling low, but also Bataglia is still only 19 years old. So I think the Rangers feel like there's more to mold there. And I do think, we talked about this earlier, their preference was to get young players rather than draft picks. They shopped Offman around quite a bit this season, is my understanding. Try to include him in some bigger packages, got offered some mid-late round picks from certain teams. They didn't want to do that. So I think they preferred to get a prospect like Bataglia versus a draft pick. But I don't know how high the upside is.

I'm going to roll up my sleeves and dig into that probably like next week once we get through all this other trade stuff. No kidding. All right. Vince, thank you so much. Sorry to put you on the spot there with the prospect stuff. It's nice to have Scott. I'm glad I asked Scott. That's the lesson. It's nice to have Wheeler and Pranman on the Rolodex.

Just like, hey, I need one sentence on this guy. What do you got? He told me I could quote him too. So that was not an off-the-record. It was on the record. Yeah. It's implied. It's fine.

Great journalist. Vince McCodley-No. Thanks so much. New York Rangers beat writer for the athletic. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, guys. Thanks for having me. All right, Sean, we finally have a Nazim Kodry return. It's permeated its way into the comments.

Everyone knows it already. I'm sorry, everyone. All right, it'll be a big reveal for you. Don't look it up. This was my moment. We've been waiting 53 minutes for this. This is from Elliot Freeman. Pierre LeBron is tweeted this as well.

Give credit to our insider, Pierre, to Colorado, Nazim Kodry, and a fourth round pick to Calgary, a 2028. first rounder. There's a second round pick in there as well. Victor Oliveson, Max Curran, and they've retained 20%. The flames have retained 20% of Nazim Kodry's salary.

So nothing in there that would make me feel any differently than what we already talked about in regards to Nazim Kodry. You get Kaudry, salary retained, you gave up a first round pick, a second round pick, and a couple players.

I don't know. I feel fine. I'm fine with this. 20% retention too moving forward. I think that's a nice bit of business. Yeah. Like I said, I was trying to figure out what the return would have been to make me upset about this trade on behalf of Colorado. It's like, we waited all this time, just to be like, okay.

Okay. First and second round pick and then various, various other bits and Bob's. No problem. Do it again. It could have been double. I wouldn't have cared. Yeah. Shana Goldman's here.

She can join us now. See if Shana has a different thought. Maybe she's enraged by this return. Shana, yeah, joining us. Noted Nassam-Cadry hater, Shana Goldman, Loxania. Can't stand it. Awful deal.

No, it felt like we all knew this was going to happen, right? Like the second the Sam-Dirard contract was gone, I was like, okay, Nazim-Cadry is going back to the abs. And sorry, the dogs have a lot of feelings on this one. No, it's okay. Bono's just, like, staring at me. And, like, my dog is in a cone right now still,

and he is just staring at me from, like, right behind the camera. us. So the dogs are, dogs really love Dazim Kodry. They actually want to talk Victor Oliveson, excuse you to. That's the element that they're really interested in. Kona was losing her mind. She's like, we're not giving respect to Victor Oliveson right now. And like, it's unfortunate for him, too.

Like, you're in one of the best positions you could be. You're on the abs. And now you're going to the Calgary Flames. Totally different situation. It's like, yes, it's a chance for you to show like there's still some offense in the tank. And what made him special all those years ago in Buffalo, he can score goals. It's like, all right, sure. But he also needs so much help to be at his best that it's a tough shake for him.

Yeah, they had to open up a space in the lineup in one way or another, too. Like, you got to have some flexibility. Like, they have to figure out a way to integrate, you know, how exactly they want integrate WHA and cadre and what happens with Jack Drury, which is something we said earlier. Like, you know, you got to free up the space somewhere. This is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. We love it. Is it crazy to say this is a steal for the abs?

I think the 20% of my disrespecting Oliveson. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you are. Okay. This is a commenter, so we can blame them. It's a home run. I don't know if I'm going to jump as far as saying it's a steel, but I would say it's a home run for the abs.

And it's the salary retention I think makes it all click because it's like on the surface, you're like great fit because last year we saw the abs ed a ton. And it felt like kind of bit them. They didn't have enough time to like adjust. and get everyone in the lineup and figure it all out because so many of their moves happened at the deadline or the week of, right? This one, there's a familiarity factor.

Like, yes, there are players that cadre played us in 2022 are still not there, but there's a lot who were there. And the coach is still the same. The system is still similar. So they just have to make up for some of his age-related declines, which are just going to be inevitable for a 35-year-old. But it feels like if any team has the ability to do that, it's Colorado, especially because they know his game.

And then when you factor in how good he's been in Calgary all this time with no help around him, You're like, okay, that potential's there. Then you add in the fact that there's 20% salary retention. That's $5.6 million on the books, not seven. So say after this year he's not a $7 million guy, which you probably won't be. It's still fine. That's three C money on a good team.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a thought I had too. Obviously, we need to consider the fact that this is 35-year-old Nazim Khadri versus 32-year-old Nazim Khadri. That's something that can't get lost in the shuffle. but I think

also his usage is going to change he's going to be playing against different competition and certainly a little bit of a different system than we saw from him in Calgary I'm willing to just discount the fact that he's 35 now like two years from now I reserve the right to change my mind but I'm not I'm not all that concerned

about the fact that this is you know, Cadre three years in the future from when he won a cup I think he's still close enough you know in a lot of respects to make completely worth the effort. Yeah. I saw, we had this chat before you came on with Dom Shana,

just talking about like one through four. Do the Avs center depth? Like, not only do the Avs have two of the best players on the planet and Nathan McKinnon and Kail Makar, but they probably have the best center depth one through four with McKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazim Kodry, and Nicholas Roy. Like, just that bottom six,

if we consider Kaudry, the three, see. That was controversial earlier in the show. I said he was the two. See, I apologize. Brock Nelson's been great. I'm not disrespecting him any longer. But if Nazim Kodry and Nick Royer, bottom six centers, like I don't know how many teams are competing with that.

Not many, right? Like if center depth wins championships, and I think the big thing here is like they have so many options because they could be like, you know what, flip Nelson and flip Kadry or throw someone on the wing for a couple of ships. Like you can load up without being like, you could only. only load up one line and now you have no centers to play here or there. Like it just opens a lot of doors for them.

I think it's definitely one of the strongest centered ups in the league. And, you know, if he's playing the third line, the thing is going to be like, okay, so who's he going to play with ours wingers going to be enough to kind of help any gaps that have formed in his game. Which is why I put him at two, which is why I put him at two. Nope. Brock Nelson can cook with anyone. That was me actually being a Brock Nelson fan.

You guys don't understand. Okay. It'll be fine. I just look at that lineup and I'm like, I trust you. I trust the coaches. You'll figure it out. With some teams you go like, I don't know how you're going to work that player in. I don't know how that one's going to look in a couple weeks.

This one you're like, yeah, whatever. Go ahead. That was us with like the return. We were like, I don't, unless they're giving up Ross Colton and Martin Nachis. It's crazy not to give up that return. Yeah. Right? Like if you're not going to do it this year, when you're having the best regular season,

you are dominant. You have not made it past the first round since they've made it past the first round once since 2022, if I remember correctly, right? Because they took out the Jets that year. Otherwise, they haven't done it. Like, if you're not going to go for it now, what are you doing? You're waiting for your next window. You're already thrown away a million draft picks. Just commit. Tampa's done it. Yeah. We say it's good when they do it. Yeah. And Sean had that. He had, he said the same thing earlier in the show. We're not going to let him do it again. I just wanted to. Monologue again. I don't care. I'll do it. No way. Did I listen earlier just to make you feel

better about yourself or were the saying that creatively, who's to say? I think we can say. I give Shana a ton of. When Shana does it, she's a visionary. She's iconic. She's so smart. I wanted to flag that comment that was just up. Somebody said, and I totally agree.

Like, it's just nice to see the abs. Or just like any team, the abs just did it this year. It's nice to see teams go out and add somebody relevant and good at the trade deadline. Like, we get to sit here and talk about Nazim Khadri instead of talking about like whatever fourth line grinder PKE specialist. Like it's just fun to see a trade deadline move for a player who can play at the top of the lineup and discuss it. That is like a bit more of the old-fashioned trade deadline way of things.

Miller, Nader, I agree with you. Rescue by a Western Conference team once again. Like it happened with Vegas a couple years ago. It happened with Colorado now. Thank you. Thank you, fellas. All right.

Let's get to a little bit more. of like a big picture chat before we wrap up the show here, Shana. Maybe we know your answer already. But like what do you think was the best move of the day? This one's up there. This one's definitely up there.

Hold on. I'm like scrolling through my notes now. It's okay. Sorry to put you on the spot. No, it's fine. I can rip through some Nick Filino to the Black Hawk. Oh, John Carlson.

John Carlson is the one. She's like shut up. No. One glance at my notes and I'm like, oh yeah, that happened. That was okay, yep. The trade, the trade grade you wrote up at 2 o'clock in the morning while everybody else was asleep.

Yeah. I was thinking of reading my book. I saw it. I'm like, I'm not going to answer. I was watching the traders and was like, oh, okay. That's someone else's problem. So thank you, I did. I thought someone else would be like, I've got this.

This is a big one. Then I was like, all right, whatever. Because I like it. I'm excited about this one. I like it for the, I feel like the ducks have like some of their additions. I'm like, you don't need to get older on the back end. you have Goudis, you have Truba, but I'm also like, you could use one offensive guy, one, one offensive defenseman on the right side of the lineup.

And I think it's exciting. I think it's interesting. And like, yeah, the defense is bad. Yes, he looked his age last spring. I think we all were worried about him in the playoffs last year, especially once Farivari got hurt. And it's like, okay, if you're worrying about a depth defenseman not being there to prop you up, you probably have bigger problems. But like the offense is still so good.

And it just feels like the capitals are stuck in the middle. They have to do something. I think they've done a great job. problem solving when they get in this position. And they could have just bought them in like, well, we have Carlson and Ovechkin, or they could have punted this to the summer. And I like, they're like, no, this is how you're going to get actively better. You have to take this proactive approach.

And for the ducks to go a little bit bolder and add some offense, like, listen, they're chaotic. They've a really good goalie. If they don't care about defense, then don't care about defense. Just care about outscoring your opponent then. Like, give me Edmonton, Anaheim in the playoffs where defense is just not played at all. and I'm going to have a good time. Sean, do you have a worst trade of the day? And it can be a non-trade.

One word about the ducks, honestly. Go out and win the Pacific Division. They're one point behind Vegas right now, and they have a game in hand. Like, get in the first seed, avoid Vegas, avoid Edmonton, play the Cracken, or whatever ends up happening here, right?

Like, just, like, that is reason enough to make this deal. What is the worst trade of the day? That's a really good question. Could be a non-trade also. Could it be the savers? Could it be the savers? Could it be like Colton Pereco saying no to them? And them going, you know what?

It's the combo of that, I think. It's the combo of missing out on Pareco and then having to settle for Logan Stanley and Luke Shen, who were just the same player at different phases of their career, I think. The same players that somehow Winnipeg said, let's play them together in the playoffs last year and Shen got outscored 12 to 3 at 5 and 5. That guy? Yeah.

Yeah, that guy. If they were to add those two without context and without going through the dog and pony show of the Colton Pereko situation, I think we say just like, okay, this is something, you know, that a, this is a move a team makes

you know, as their windows opening. You're not going all in. You're not doing anything crazy. You're adding, you know, whatever, big body air quotes for the playoffs. I think we accept that and move on. But the fact that that's what they ended up with, you know, given where they started and also given the Robert Thomas conversation that we all had, I think that's a pretty serious disappointment. So yeah, I'll go with, I'll go with the combo of the stuff that the Sabres did and did not do. I would almost like to, I know we were

talking about worst, but I wouldn't say that they did the best, but I do give the Blues a bit of credit. I feel like that was like a good day in some ways. for Doug Armstrong. The Paraco mess, maybe notwithstanding. But coming away with like a couple first round picks, they get a first rounder for Brayden Chen. I don't know how many people would have predicted that. A first and a third round pick for Brayden Shen in 2026.

They get a first and a third for Justin Falk as well. Like you come away with some stuff. You can hold on to Robert Thomas because I do think that's probably a tougher trade to make. This is like a very good top of the lineup center. He's 26 years old. The Pareco thing's not great. This Jeff, our producer Jeff, sent this in the chat too.

I want to flag it. This is from Andy Strickland on Twitter. Doug Armstrong is adamant that the leaks were guarding trade, specifically the Colton Pereco trade, did not come from the blues. Okay. He went so far as to say they checked phone records internally to confirm. There was not a leak. Good for them.

This feels like hot dog. We're all trying to find the guy who did this. I believe you, Doug Armstrong, but like, did the player leak it? The agent? If you know, if you know on the player leaked it despite not knowing that the deal had actually been complaining. Yeah, no, like the agent leaking it, though, it's like, are you trying to force your way somewhere else?

I feel like the team, like, that's a pure, like, here's pressure on the situation. Everyone knows it. The city of Buffalo is going to hate you. Don't say no. Don't screw this up. And like, if you're, Graco, you're like, I don't care. I think it's very funny that dramatic of my response.

Not my problem. Just very funny. But I, you know what? Like someone tall, it's no problem for the million lefties. Just let them be. I'm going to stay in St.

Louis and just hang out here. Listen, as a girl who grew up in Toronto, I love Luke Shen. So I think they could have done way worse. I am the president of Luke's troops. So I actually think the Sabres did great. Also, Colton Pereko's wife,

her family owns a bunch of emails, Pizza franchises, according to Jamie Rutherford, which is just the most St. Louis thing imaginable. Emo's pizza is disgusting. I was going to say, I feel like, oh, good pizza. I'm sorry. Like, I'm a snob about this, I guess, but like. It's not. It's like, it's like matza in canned cheese, basically.

It's the weird, the weirdest stuff. The weird, not even an exaggeration. It's the weirdest stuff you'll ever have. Why is it called Emo's pizza? Like EMO? It's the, IMO. It's the, it's the, it's the name of the, of, of, I thought it was like a goss pizza.

I was like, yeah, like, okay, we're going emo and, like, you have to have, like, sushi hair to go in there, like, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In terms of St. Louis. Anyways, blues get a hall of picks. Good work. Any thoughts? Good work, right?

Like, to not retain any salary on Shen go off when we're all like, oh, maybe they'll get a first for Robert Thomas. Maybe they'll get a first for Jordan Kier. It's like, here's a first for Justin. And here's a first for Braden Chen. Yeah. Okay. And for teams that maybe, like, no offense Islanders, no offense Red Wings, but it's not like the same as saying the abs who the year like, that could be 30 second overall.

Like that could be a little bit lower because those are teams that could go around or two, but don't have that same ceiling. But just in general, like I feel like the longer they waited, they can wait on Thomas and Cairo technically. They're going to lose their leverage eventually, right? But if you keep Alk in St. Louis, especially as the team around them gets worse. And same with Chen as he gets older, you're not getting value back. Like that team is bad and it's driving everyone down. Yeah. I think it's just tidy work by the St.

Louis Blues today. Thomas and Cairo can retain their value through the rest of this regular season. I don't think you could have said the same about Fulker Shinn. Yeah. All right. Tidy work by the St. Louis Blues today. One final rapid fire answer, guys. And I don't know if it changes much here based on what happened.

Who is the favorite to win the Stanley Cup after today? And did your answer change? based on anything that happened. Well, the favorite to go to the Stanley Cup final and lose is now Tampa Bay officially. They've solidified that for me. Thank you, Corey Perry. But no, I mean, the abs. Wait, he moves the needle enough.

Oh, just because he always loses in the cup final. Well, they were already here. Wait a second. Wait a second. No, no, no. They were already like the best in the east by a mile. I don't think anyone from the Metro is doing it. You look at the Atlantic.

You're like, okay, Tampa fully healthy. But now you have Corey Perry and it's like, yeah, you're definitely losing in the cup final. And I saw something like, well, he didn't do it for Tampa. Yeah, he lost to Tampa. twice. And then he went to Tampa and lost in the cup final to who? Colorado Avalanche. It's all sealed. Corey. Corey, Danhaus and Perry.

Corey Hosa? It's the Aves. It's the Aves. It's still the Aves. It's still the Aves. I think they opened up the space between them and the rest of the field today. There's no other way to look at it. Yeah. They were the favorite heading into the day and they're still the favorite. Boring. But you know what? Nassum Khadri.

Other teams could have gotten Nazim Khadry, and they didn't. Other teams in the West that know that they have to go up against the abs eventually could have done more. And it's not just Dallas and Minnesota. Like, Edmonton, if you're doing this, you're going to have to go through the Central 2. Shana, they got Connor Murphy. What else do you want from them? I want first round picks sent out to fix Stan Bowman's mistakes. Just so sad.

Poor Connor McDavid. it'll be fine he can leave you can leave very soon sooner than anyone else yeah all right thanks everyone for doing this shana thank you so much

for jumping on we're going to wrap up this trade deadline show just a reminder to everyone if you have like mailbag questions you can always send them into the athletic hockey show

at gmail.com this was my first live show on the pod Sean thanks for doing this with me shana thanks for jumping on I was muted for the first five seconds But we got through it. You would think after COVID, I would know how to use like a Zoom call.

We're all veterans of technology now. Laz and Jesse are back with the next episode of the Athletic Cocky Show on Monday. Thank you, Nazim Kodry. Thank you to the Colorado Avalanche. You made this show so much easier to do for us. Thanks everyone for listening. Enjoy the weekend. That's all for us.