The Athletic Hockey Show - Bobby Ryan calls in, Pierre-Luc Dubois-Patrick Laine blockbuster trade, Multiple Choice Madness, the Hailbag returns, and more

Episode Date: January 25, 2021

First, Ian and Hailey break down the blockbuster trade between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Winnipeg Jets that sent disgruntled center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Jets, returning Finnish sniper Patrick Laine and Jack Roslovic to the Jackets, Alexis Lafrenière’s slow start in the Big Apple, the Flames having a strange, five day break after playing just three games, and more.Then, Detroit Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan joins the show to discuss his record-setting start with the team, how having a couple hundred fans in the building makes a huge difference for the vibe on the ice as opposed to playing in an empty arena, semi-bubble life on the road as the Wings prepare for four straight games at the Dallas Stars, his golf game, getting breakfast at the Boot & Blade during his time with Owen Sound Attack, and more.Plus, to close things out, Ian and Hailey run through a series of Multiple Choice Madness questions and Hailey answers listener questions in another installment of the Hailbag.And, don’t forget, you sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back for another episode of the athletic hockey show. I'm Ian Mendez alongside Haley Salveon on this edition of the podcast. Bobby Ryan will drop by to chat about his red hot start with the Red Wings. We'll break down the first major trade of this young NHL season as Columbus and Winnipeg Exchange disgruntled superstars. We'll do a little multiple choice madness as we always do on a Monday, ask you if you could get the real story behind a trade in the NHL history, what would you pick?

Gretzky or Pronger from Edmonton, Danny Heatley from Ottawa. maybe Pavel Burray from Vancouver will open up the hill bag as well and ask Haley if she sees any differences between the Kachuk brothers so far. And actually that's a great place to start because Haley, Matthew Kachuk and the Calgary Flames who you cover on a regular basis had a five day break early in the season. What was that like for you? Basically going almost a week between Calgary Flames games. Yeah, it wasn't something that I was expecting to happen. And hello, Ian. I guess I should.

Hey. You know, it wasn't something that I was expecting to have in this season where we knew that it was going to be so crazy, you know, 56 games and I believe 116 days. And to have this kind of five days off after only three games, it was definitely weird. I think for the Calgary Flames, it was, you know, they probably would have preferred to have it a little bit later. You know, once you're a little bit banged up, you know, you want to have that. five days off, mid-season, end of season, that would be really nice. But at the same time, I think it was probably a good thing for a team like the flames who have so many new faces injected into their lineup. They're still kind of playing with their line combinations.

So they kind of got this five days as maybe like another mini training camp per se. So it, you know, it had his, you know, pros and its cons for the Calgary Flames. For me, it was just really weird because you're, you know, trying to get your feet under you in a new market and a new beat. And then they just kind of stop playing after only three games. And, you know, after training camp and then five days of practice, there's really only so much that you can learn in this new kind of COVID world, no locker rooms. You can't just go in and have a chat with someone and like start kind of picking out these like little golden nuggets for feature stories down the road because everything's on Zoom. So it was definitely weird for me and I guess just kind of weird on all sides. But so it's to get really busy because the flames have 20 games in 37 days now.

So it's kind of a very stark contrast between these last week and then heading into the next two months or so. You know, the flames were one of those teams. I guess we could put 20 teams on that list that were rumored to be maybe kicking the tires on Pierre-Luc Dubois in Columbus. And maybe I'll start there. Like, was there, in your estimation, some serious chatter there? Like, did you see that as a potential fit Pierre Luc Dubois in Calgary at any point? Yeah. Well, I saw that, you know, our colleague Pierre LeBron, Elliot Friedman, a lot of the insiders,

they were reporting that the Calgary Flames were among one of the teams who were interested in Pierre Luc Dubois. I do think that it was in the offseason. They were also interested in Josh Anderson. And so there was already kind of that familiarity at the table between Bradtree Living and Yarmou Keckleinen. So, you know, I do think that there were conversations. But I do think that the asking price from Columbus was not low. I think it would have taken a Sean Monaghan plus another player plus a prospect, probably.

And I just, I think that there was talks, but I don't know if things ever going to. got to a point where in Calgary they were like, all right, we're ready. Like, it's close. It's going to happen. And I think we would have seen that through the insiders as well. Like, we saw things really pick up, you know, once, I didn't even, I'm on mountain time, right? So I think when the trade happened, it was like 8 a.m. Mountain. And I woke up and I'm doing my thing. It's like 8 in the morning. I'm doing my thing. And I had no idea because I guess in the middle of the night, there was a tweet about, you know, something's going to happen soon. And it just, it happened very, very quickly and Winnipeg seemed to be on it for a while, but I just don't know how serious things were

for the Calgary Flames. But the Sends were the Sends kicking tires too, Ian? Yeah, I think they were one of those teams, but I think really, Haley, and you hit the nail on the head when you said Sean Mwanahan would have been the asking price. I think this is what it was very clear. And Aaron Portsline, I thought our Columbus reporter was really clear on this from the get-go. Yarmou Kekyllainen was never going to make a trade in which he got. futures back. He needed something immediate because that franchise lost, if you think about it, they lost,

or Temi Panarin for nothing. They lost Sergey Bobrovsky for nothing. Like, they watched a lot of stars, even if you want to throw Matt Duchenne into the mix. Like, they've seen a lot of stars leave town and not get much in return. I don't think they could sell it to the fan base if they traded

Pierre Luc Dubois and essentially got some futures in return. I think in Columbus, it's kind of a let's try and win right now mentality. And so, in Ottawa, to me, the only pieces that would have made sense from a straight up trade for Pierre Luke Dubois would have been Brady Kachuk, maybe Timmy Stutzla, maybe Thomas Shabbat. And I just think that that would have been a non-starter maybe from Ottawa's perspective. So I don't think that they really were ever truly in the mix, like maybe even like a team like

Calgary. But what I want to know is, were you surprised? Because when Winnipeg, the rumors started to come out that Patrick Lainey wants out and then Jack Roslovick was also in that mix of guys who wanted to go. I wanted to leave. And then Columbus, we saw the problems with Pierre Luc Dubois. Everybody was like, well, why don't they just trade a problem for a problem? And I thought, that's never going to happen.

That just makes too much sense. And then here it is, they were able to do it. And I love this trade, Haley, because it kind of gave me some NBA trade vibes. You know, in the NBA, it's like superstar for superstar and you see it all the time. We don't get it in hockey, but were you surprised that we actually saw this trade come to fruition, something that was floated out by a lot of people a few weeks ago? Yeah, you know, it's interesting you make the NBA kind of connection because this was, this was a blockbuster deal. And I truly believe that it was a huge, a huge trade. And I'm not surprised that it happened. I think that Pierre Luc Dubois left the blue jackets with no choice to make this move. I think there was maybe some people who probably thought like, okay, he wants out, but like let's play out the rest of this deal. Let's kind of, you know, keep on playing. But, you know, that highly dissected ship, like the most dissected 45 second shift from the other day

that ended up being the last time he played for the Columbus Blue Jackets. I think that was kind of the, okay, something needs to get done now because this cannot continue. And I think that put Keckleinen in a really difficult position because usually when you're trading from that position, you're trading at a loss, right? Like you're just trying to get rid of the asset, get something back. so your team's not in that situation anymore. So I guess I am a little bit surprised at how quickly things happened. Because from that, just everything about this Pierre-Luc Dubois situation happened really fast.

Like even if we go back to the return to play, like, I don't know if you remember this, Ian, but he got, there was that one clip of him just getting ripped on the bench by John Tortorella, had a pretty bad game, just gets torn apart on the bench. Then the very next game, he comes back and torches the Toronto Maple. beliefs like truly number one center and he showed that and then he comes back this year and says he's not happy he wants out and then you have this this shift you have the line A rumors and then all of a sudden this huge trade happens and I think it's not surprising but it is at the same time like I don't even know if that makes sense but like I'm not shocked that this happened but it just

it happened so quickly um and I guess maybe I am a little bit surprised that it did work out so well for the Clemys Blue Jackets because you're, you're trading away an asset who didn't want to be there and you're under the gun to do it, but you get Patrick Linae back. And I think it's because maybe the Jets were in a similar situation of, okay, we need to move this asset and get what we can. The difference is that Linae, I mean, he didn't play the last few games because he's been out, but he wasn't, you know, mailing it in in the same way.

So I'm a little bit, you know, I'm a bit mixed on that. you know, about the surprise level. I think it was expected, but it is a little bit surprising that it worked out so well too. Yeah, you're right. You go back to that return to play and Torrella eviscerates Pierre-Luc Dubois

on the bench, and everybody was reading into things at that point. What I find interesting is on hockey night in Canada on Saturday, Pierre-Luc Dubois was a guest in the second intermission with Ron McLean, and Ron straight up asked him about John Totorella.

And I thought it was, you know what? It was actually, I thought that was a good interview. I thought Ron asked all the right questions, the ones that we would have asked. And I thought his answer was interesting. He did not at any point make it seem like John Tortoella was the reason that he wanted out. In fact, at one point Haley in his answer, he said, I talked to guys who have played for torts. They told me, don't worry. At the end of your time, you look back and realize this guy made you a better player.

And he talked about that. He said, my dad told me, his dad, of course, is a coach in the Jets organization. and my dad always told me when a coach gets on you, don't take it personally. Like if we hooked up Pierre Luke Dubois to a polygraph, do we think he was lying? Or do we think he was telling the truth that John Tororella was not the reason why he wanted out of Columbus? It's such a difficult one because I saw the interview too and I agree. I think, you know, that question had to be asked.

You know, if Pierre Luke Dubois went on hockey night in Canada and they didn't ask him, why'd you want out? Or was it about Tortorella after everything that we've seen? You know, you have to ask that question. But yeah, you know what? I think that it's tough. Like, I think that, like, I think maybe part of him was being honest. But then I also just wonder, okay, then what was the reason? Because that Blue Jackets team isn't bad. Like, that's a, that's a, it's a good hockey team. I think Columbus is a low-key, pretty cool hockey city. I went there last year when the Sends were at the trade deadline. I really enjoyed Columbus. So I don't know what it is, because you mentioned Panera and you mentioned Bobrovsky. I just don't know what it is about

Columbus that would have been the problem. And I think John Tortorella is the very easy and obvious scapegoat because of those clips that we see. You see him ripping him on the bench. You see him benching him this season. But I just, I do agree that, you know, you can say what you want about John Tortorella, but he gets results. He's taken that team to the playoffs when a lot of people kind of doubt that they'll get there. I do think that he knows how to push the right buttons with players. And I think maybe in this day and age, there are some players who probably are not okay with that. Players don't respond well to that kind of coaching. But I just, I think maybe I'm naive and maybe I'm too trusting.

But I do think I believe Pierre-Luc Dubois, when he says that it wasn't John Tortorella, I just would also like to follow that up with knowing what the real reason is. Yeah. And you know, we'll get into that in multiple choice madness because there's so many hockey trades in history where you're like, I wish I could hook somebody up to a polygraph or inject some truth serum into them and get the real answer. But what I, you know, I think I'll agree with you a little bit too in that I feel like if Torz was really the reason.

The answer would have been shorter. The answer from Pierre-Luc Dubois on the question from Ron McLean would have just been, you know what? I'd prefer not to get into it. And it wasn't like that, right? Like, it seemed like he went out of his way. He was calling him torts in the interview.

Like, and as Ron pointed out, it was almost like a term of endearment or affection. So I'm with you. And boy, Columbus is a great city. You know, they got, there's a great kind of college vibe to it. That area right around nationwide. arena when things are back to quote unquote normal.

It's a great place to go before a game. I almost feel like Canadian markets should have this kindred spirit with Columbus because I feel like you could pick up Columbus, drop it into Canada and we'd be like that feels like Canada, especially because people seem to want to out with the NHL team, right? Like we know about that all too well in Canada. It feels like every time you talk about a superstar wants out, it's north of the border. So welcome Columbus.

We feel like you're an honorary Canadian NHL city. Yeah, but also like imagine picking up that area nationwide and dropping that downtown in Ottawa and replacing that with Canada. Imagine how fun that would be to just be able to walk, take a cab, take an Uber. You have five different restaurants. It's kind of like it reminds me of lands down for people who are listening who maybe aren't familiar. Like the Ottawa 67s have a better like pregame vibe area than the Sends do because they're right downtown. They're in that Lansdown neighborhood. There's a pedestrian only area. You can walk

around. There's a bunch of restaurants. It's super fun. Like I, I think of Montreal is a really fun area. You know, it's not the same pedestrian only, but you're right downtown. There's restaurants everywhere. Some of the best bars are like a 10 minute walk from the rink. Columbus has that. Like, it's super fun. And maybe that's just something that fans value over players, though. Like, we're talking about it from a fan media perspective. Like, it's so fun to go to Columbus.

But I wonder if there's something there for the players that they're like, this is just not what I want. Because I guess, yeah, the perspective on the city is completely different based on what you're doing, right? We can go to those bars and restaurants. And I guess players can too, but it's not the same. So I wonder if it's just something about the city that players aren't loving. Yeah, it's a weird one, right? Because I think at some point, virtually every star, I mean, Rick Nash too, like everybody ended up leaving Columbus at some point.

And yet, I don't feel like it's, like I've talked to Nick Falino a lot. Like Nick loves it there. Nick and his wife love Columbus. A lot of players love it. But yeah, it's a weird, it's a weird thing. Just one follow up there on the arena stuff. I always say this, Haley, like if you look around the NHL, the cities that have attendance issues, in the NHL.

Okay, there's, there's a couple. And Ottawa would be at the top of the list. Florida would be one. Arizona would be one. Carolina would be one. I feel like there's one common theme with all of those venues. They're not downtown. It's location, location, location.

And there's nothing like you go watch a game, like you said, in Columbus, and there's a great kind of buzz around it. Washington's another one I love. You get off the train and you're right in Chinatown and it's right. There's an electric atmosphere in every, in every venue except for Ottawa, Arizona, Sunrise, Florida. I mean, unless you're at the outlet mall shopping, which is great, by the way. Have you taken a game in yet at Madison Square Garden?

Yes. Okay. So to me, there's nothing like it, like getting out at Penn Station and feeling like, it just feels like you're on stage, doesn't it? Like, just everything feels brighter. Everything just feels a little bit different, doesn't it? In New York City? Yeah, I thought MSG is probably the coolest rink I've been to.

And I remember when we were leaving, like everyone, I don't know if you've ever done the walk or if you've talked to anyone about it. But that ramp at MSG sucks. Like it's just it keeps going when you're wearing like heels because you're trying to look professional at the rink and stuff. And you're like walking down this ramp super awkwardly. There's like players and you're like, just making my way down. Just raking my way down the ramp, nothing to see here. It hurts the calves when you're walking up. And so I totally, I don't remember where it was, but somebody was doing kind of like a quiz of like, what's the worst walk?

It was probably on overdrive or something because they do fun stuff like that. But it was like, what's the worst walk? Like to the GM's office or like up the ramp at Madison Square Garden. It's like after a bad game, you're walking to the coach's room of the GM's office or you're walking up that horrible ramp at MSG. It's hard. But yes, I've been there. It's really cool. I'm not the biggest Manhattan fan.

I think New York City is cool, but I'm, New York's just never been a place where I'm like, I'm dying to go back to New York City. I think it's awesome. MSG rocks, but there's other cities that I love. You give off Brooklyn hipster vibes. That's what I feel like with you. I stay in Brooklyn every time I go to New York. See?

I told you. Hey, but let's stay in Manhattan and Madison Square Garden and talk a little bit about the number one overall pick, Haley. And that would be Alexis Lafranier. Five games into his NHL career, still looking for his first goal, his first point, played about 18 minutes and change against Pittsburgh on Sunday. Again, it's tough, right? You've got to remember, these are teenagers coming in to the National Hockey League. But I think with all of the sizzle and the hype around Alexis Lafranier, I think we would have figured this guy would have been off and running, I think, Caprizov has probably been the most impressive rookie out of Minnesota so far this year when he's

been playing. Timisthozo has been pretty good in Ottawa. Do you think the Rangers get a little bit worried? Again, everything is couched with. It's early. Settle down. Small sample size. But five games, no points. Is there a little reason for concern around Alexis LaFranier? I don't think so, Ian, just because, like you said, all those kind of caveats, like he's young. it's very, very early. Just think of the pressure that's on Alexi Lafaneer, and this isn't to say that he's not rising to the pressure because we've seen him do that multiple times

in his kind of junior career of world juniors. Like, he's a big gamer, and I think he's a really highly skilled player. I do think that, you know, it's a short training camp that probably doesn't help him. And I did kind of, I don't know if you feel this, but since we're in this Canadian division, I feel like I've been inside this North Division bubble. Like I haven't been able to, I've watched everything,

but just there's so much heavy North Division games because you feel like you're scouting every team. So it's like, okay, you know, the flames are about to play this team 10 times. So I'm going to make sure I'm watching like the Jets, the Oilers, the Knucks. And you kind of start losing track of watching the other divisions, which I don't love because I love watching all the games.

but I have watched a few of the Rangers games, and specifically the other night yesterday against the Penguins. And that was one of the first games that Alexi Lafranier was actually playing his natural position. He finally got put into his left wing spot. He was playing on his off wing, I believe, for the first couple of games with the Rangers. He's been moved across a couple of different lines. You know, the Rangers have kind of been shuffling things quite a bit, trying to figure out chemistry for the entire group.

and Alexi. He started on the third line, then he got moved to the second line with Panarin, but he was still playing on his off wing, and then the other game was kind of his first time getting switched back to his natural position with Mika Zabanajet and Chris Kreider. So I wonder how much that's going to help him, just being on that left wing, maybe being on the top line. He's not going to have the easiest matchups, but he's going to be playing with really highly skilled line mates, not saying that Panarin's not highly skilled. We know that's not true. But I just, you know, I think I look at this quote that I saw from me because Zabandigad and, you know, Zabanajad, their coach, like nobody is saying that Alexi's wrong and not that they

would come out and say like this rookie is not doing great, but I just kind of read what people are saying about him. And a lot of it's like, you know, he's really talented. He's really mature for his age. He's doing all the right things. It's just a matter of getting that first goal, getting an ugly one. Like it's so cliche, but just banging an ugly one in front of the net or something and then the floodgates will open

because, you know, Mika Zabanajad's saying, you know, it's not easy with all the expectations, but he's been handling it really well. Like he's a real pro. You know, I really like what I've seen from him. So I think he's going to be okay. I think it's too early to panic for sure.

All right, Haley. Last week we were bouncing around ideas for a guest on the show and you said, Bobby Ryan in all caps. And guess what? Asking you shall receive. And I got to ask, in fact, I'm going to ask both of you this. You have left me here in Ottawa by myself. So my question is Bobby Ryan, Haley Salvin. Bobby, first of all, we'll thank you for coming on. What's one thing you miss about Ottawa? Oh, man. Appertivo, the restaurant, probably, or Pocopazo. Those are my two go-toes. And yeah, miss those. Haley, what's something you missed from, from, from

Ottawa here. I'm always the worst with this question because when I first moved to Ottawa, everyone's like, what's your favorite thing about Ottawa? And I was such a little homebody. Like, I moved there by myself, so I didn't do anything. So my answer's always super lame. Like, I honestly, I genuinely miss the farm boy in the train yards. They opened that giant new one. There was like the hot table. It was huge. It's my favorite grocery store. And there's no farm boys in Alberta. So I'm super lame. So I miss farm boy a lot. That's a good answer. It is. Neither of you mentioned me, but anyway, we'll move along of things that you miss.

Hey, Bobby, let's start with this off to a terrific start with the Detroit Red Wings. And I'm sure you've seen the stat that nobody in their first three games with Detroit did what you did, which was score four goals in your first three games with the Red Wings. How unbelievable was it to hear that stat? And can you talk a little bit about your hot start with Detroit? I honestly, I was like, all right, like at what point do we draw the last? lines on stats here because I felt like we were reaching to give me something, but I'll take it. It's hard to believe there isn't something that nobody's done in, or there is something that

nobody's done in that franchise, right, like with with the history and everything. So I guess pretty cool little feather in my cap, you know, it's been a good start. I missed a little bit of camp there. Like you and I were chatting last week and, I mean, to go from where I was a week and a half before that to play and I'll take that. So, you know, it's all great very now. I'm healthy and I'm happy. How are you, how are you adjusting to Detroit, Bobby? I know in the off season, we heard from you about, you know, Steve Eiserman just really impressed you with that, you kind of interview or that chat that you guys had during free agency and it just felt like a natural decision. I mean, it's very early.

That's kind of a caveat with everything right now, but how are you feeling about the choice to come to Detroit. I think we made a great decision in that regard. You know, the hockey aside, you always wonder, right, it was six years in Ottawa, or excuse me, seven years in Ottawa, six years in Animes. So we were familiar with everywhere that we had been. This was a different ask for my wife and kids. And we've settled in great. My wife is just happy to come back to the U.S. It's what she knows. And that's what she's comfortable with. And, you know, there's a lot of things for her to access that feel like home. So we've adjusted in that, in that sense, outside of hockey very, very well. And the hockey's been great, too. I've been here now since

I think it was October 1st. I came up and got to know the area a little bit and just, yeah, we're in love with everything about it. It's a great city once you get outside the city. Once you get into the suburbs and things like that, it's beautiful. Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, and we're just, we're ecstatic about it. Can you talk a little bit about that aspect of, of being in the suburbs and in a, like, look, I know that you had a hard time in Ottawa. If you went out, people would recognize you.

There's Bobby Ryan. There's Bobby. Like, it was, I mean, first of all, have you been recognized at all in Detroit at a restaurant, a grocery store, anything like that? No, not once. And part of that's probably having to wear a mask everywhere you go. So there, you know, that adds to it, right?

but no, it's different. It's, you know, Ottawa, I think you were just, you learn to be on at all times in Ottawa. And, you know, for me, it was, it was wearing, I guess, in a sense. So, you know, being able to let your guard down and just go do about your, you know, your normal everyday life and do the things that you kind of take for granted in Ottawa. You kind of had to plan around the grocery store and things like that. Not the people were, you know, overwhelming, but it was just always there. don't get that sense in Detroit. And I don't know, if I keep scoring goals, it might change a little bit.

But I think there's probably somewhere between, you know, Anaheim and Ottawa, which are the two extremes of anonymity and non-animity, somewhere in the middle is Detroit. And it's a perfect fit right now. I think in the summer I saw something. Maybe it was after one of your first media availability with Detroit. I think our colleague Max Boltman talked about it. You went golfing and you were asking for maybe a recommendation.

and then all of a sudden, you know, I think Larkin and a couple other guys were like, oh, yeah, we'll meet you. We'll meet you at the tea. Like, how did that happen? Yeah, I hadn't had many conversations with the guys. I was, it's about three hours from Detroit where I was going to play. And I was going to go up, you know, after dinner one night, check in, stay in the night and tea off first thing in the morning.

It was just like a bucket list course. I think it's a top 100 in the country or whatever. but I had to play it and being a golf nut and I called Lark and just said, is there anything up there? Like, should I go up there for dinner and then whatever? And he's like, you know what? If you got nothing going on, I'll join you. And I said, okay. And then it turned into two and then all of a sudden it was four.

And it ended up, yeah, somehow I ended up being the D.D. for the weekend, which is okay by me. But it turned into a quick getaway to, you know, I think we played 36 full of golf in 24 hours. and yeah, I drove the boys around, but it was a heck of a time. And just something, you know, he didn't have to do, but it was really cool that he made an experience for me. How is your golf game? That's my kind of hitting follow-up question here.

How are you? I get around. I think I'm playing to a six handicap right now, but there's pre-golf or pre-kids golf and post-kids golf. So it's changed dramatically. Nowadays, I'll go out and play three, four holes and just kind of practice. And, you know, our course is luckily enough, you can just pop out with a golf card on any hole you want most of the time.

That's nice. My dad's a big golfer. So that's his thing, like now that I'm in this industry and he's a big hockey guy too. So his thing is always like, oh, who's the best golfer on the team? Like that's the most important thing, piece of information that I can get is like, who is good at golf? Will they golf with me? I'm like, dad, you know, I'm not going to go and ask people to start golfing with you because he always golfs by himself or with his buddies. So yeah, I'll get around them with them if we ever cross past absolutely.

And to answer your question, Mark Stone is the best golfer that I played with in Ottawa by far. And it's not even close. Wow. Was he better than Eric Carlson? Carl's terrible. I don't know. Yeah, Carl's got a good golfer. He gets a six and writes down a four.

But Stoner showed up to what's the one in Dunrobin there? Eagle Creek? Eagle Creek, yeah? Yeah. He showed up there and then realized he forgot his clubs. Rented club and shot like the most casual 75 I've ever seen. It was pretty impressive. Wow.

Now, speaking of golf, I know that in the summer, you guys, you kind of packed up from Idaho and did the drive across the country. Did you get, while you were driving, did you stop and get some golf in? And what was that trip like in the summertime doing all that driving across the United States? I did this year.

Actually, this year I went by myself down to Nashville because we're building a house there. So we went down there for the month of October or September 1. I don't even know at this point. It's all COVID months. But we went down there for a month. And I stopped in Branson, Missouri. I stopped in South Dakota and played golf there. And just, you know, I actually met a family in South Dakota.

And I golfed with the 14-year-old kid. He took my money. And then I kept driving. But yeah, I try to, I got my 50 states. I want to kind of do the bucket list golf and golf in all 50 states. So I knocked a couple off this summer. And it was easy to do by myself, right? So I got three more states this summer and, you know, making plans to knock off a few more next summer.

But I love driving. I enjoy that. I love being on the road by myself. And if I can stop for 18 quick holes, I always will. And does that include, like you're going to play around to golf in Alaska? or have you already knocked that off? Yeah, I was looking at flights the other day to Alaska. I'm in Spokane, Washington, so it's easy for me.

I can get up there in four and a half hours and talk to Nate Thompson a couple weeks back about it. And he's like, yeah, I got buddies. I'll pick up at the airport. They'll drop you right back off of the airport. So, yeah, I'm going to go up there next summer and, you know, take 24 hours play and come back. That's pretty fun. That's really cool. So you are in Dallas right now, Bobby.

Is this your first road trip with the Red Wings? Forgive me. I could have looked at the schedule here. but is this your first kind of COVID road swing? Yeah, we were in Chicago the last couple days and then, yeah, Dallas for four here. So my first trip, yeah. What's that been like just with the kind of, it's not a full bubble, but there's certainly lots of regulations in terms of what you can do.

You kind of have to stay in your own hotel room, it seems. So what's that been like? Yeah, it's pretty lonely, to be honest with you. We got in at a time where last night we would have been a great night to go for dinner with the guys quickly and whatever and just, you know, that it's not an option right now. So a lot of meals and ballrooms or whatever, and you go down and kind of get your free packaged food or whatever it is. And Dallas is a little more open.

Like in Chicago, the hotel was just us and the Lakers. So there was nobody else around nothing to do. So or conversations to be had. So this, you know, this one's a little more open. There's some stuff to do. But yeah, a lot of room service and a lot of books to read. Did you see LeBron James at all when you were in the same hotel? No, I got to be honest with you.

I wasn't looking for him either. Wasn't going to change my day one bit. I was like, all right. I'll go back to the hotel room and hang out there. Now, Dallas is one of the few cities that's allowing fans. And like you said, you got a four-game set here against the stars. How weird is that going to be? And I guess maybe welcome, Bobby, that you'll have a few thousand fans in the venue

you in Dallas this week? Yeah, I think any chance. I mean, it's weird what you take for granted, right? But just that we talked about it just before we got on, that crowd noise, some kind of excitement in the building is going to make it, I guess, easier to play. And you would think normally you go on the road, that crowd noise is daunting in certain buildings.

But at this point, you're just taking anything you can get. And yeah, looking forward to it. It's been, you know, we had 215,000 in Detroit and then zero in Chicago. So I think it's 5,000. that is allowed in the building. So it'll be fun. How much difference does just the 250 make? I know we did speak about this before we went on,

but I think that's kind of the big question, at least from a media standpoint, is how much do fans make an impact? How much does just 250? Yeah, way more than you think. You know, you're probably looking at 250 going, what is that going to do? But it creates something, creates a buzz, I guess,

and you can hear it, and you can feel it on the ice. And going from 250 to zero in Chicago was quite the eye opener. So tomorrow 5,000 is going to be very, very welcome. But we talked about your great start and four goals and five points in your first five games. Do you think that you just need, like from an on-ice perspective, it was best to get the fresh start? Or could you have had this type of offensive success if you stuck around in,

in Ottawa for another year? You know, I was thinking about it the other day. Personally, I think the fresh start was welcome. You know, aside from the outside things, I, it's funny, I went from one team that's rebuilding to another team that's, you know, in the same process, I guess. But there's just an excitement that feels different than Ottawa. And partly that's a new team and a new system and all that kind of stuff.

But, you know, it was going to be a purpose. year no matter where I played. But I just, I don't think I would have the same buzz that I have now about playing the game going back to Ottawa. There was just too much there in the past. And I don't think it would have translated this way for me there. But they, you know, they went their way. I genuinely couldn't, I don't think I could have gotten the excitement back to go back

there. It just wasn't going to work. You know, one of the most exciting. exciting moments and both Haley and I were in the building for it last year. Your hat trick game against Vancouver, it's almost like that was a, in a weird way, it's a, it's a great send off, right? For your time in Ottawa, that that would be your last kind of big moment. When you look back, you think to yourself, you know what, that is a great way to kind of,

you know, tip the cap and say goodbye in Ottawa. Yeah, I guess so. I wish I could have, there's part of me that wanted to go back. and do it the right way like I am now and finish off not only sober but correctly as a professional. You kind of want to, you want a different ending, but it's hard to argue with that ending and that be my last game in the building. I'm nothing but good memories for that. So, you know, yes and no, I guess is the answer to the question. I don't know if you're a memorabilia guy at all. Like, did you keep the puck, like the hat trick, the third goal?

Like, is that something that you've hung on to? Or did that just get lost in the mix that night? Yeah, I didn't make it home to Idaho. I don't know where it went. I know they gave me the puck, and I think it went in my toiletry kit that goes on the road. And now that I'm in Detroit, I don't even know what happened in my son's bag. They might have signed it back. I got a Detroit back now.

So I think when you go into a new building, they just give you all new stuff and you forget about things. But I've never been a memorabilia guy. Just kind of hang on to the memories of my mind, and that's enough for me. And your first goal with Detroit, did you keep that puck? Or no, again, you're just... I didn't. You know what? No, I grabbed that puck.

And then I got... The boys gave me the game puck that night. So there's possibility that that's in my toilet trick. I'll have to check today. They gave me the game puck, and it was one of those new tracking pucks that with the lights in it or whatever, and I remember holding it. I was like, this is way off in terms of weight and feel. So they pulled those pucks pretty quick because guys were complaining.

But yeah, I guess if that makes it through, I'll have my first goal puck and a different kind of and a technology puck all in one. I feel like such a hoarder in comparison. Like I think if I went through some of my just really useless things that I have no business keeping, that's me compared to your way, way more cool things for you, Bobby. You know, the last thing that I did want to ask you, and we've had this conversation in Ottawa, but I thought it could be fun to bring up here on the podcast, is just going back to your time with Owen Sound way back in Junior.

One of my close friends grew up in Owen Sound. Her grandfather was a season ticket holder, the Owen Sound attack, and he used to frequent the boot and blade. And it's one of my favorite, yeah, it's one of my favorite stories. and my friend told me Jessica Corbett, she told me that her grandpa used to go and he just would buy the Owen Sound player's breakfast. Like if he was having his coffee, he would see Bobby Ryan, Mark Giordano having breakfast.

He'd pay for their breakfast. Do you remember that? Like, did you ever know that it was someone buying you breakfast? Did you think the waitress was just like, ooh, big fan, like not charging you? Like, do you remember that? It was always hit or miss. The amount of, like the boot and blade is sacred.

in Owen Sound. So if you got a breakfast there, a lot of times we'd go in as a team because you would just give us the morning off and we'd all end up there. There was no other place to go. So it was like a right of passage to go in there. And then yeah, every now and again,

you'd ask for the bill and the bill just wouldn't come. And sometimes they would tell you it was a fan. Sometimes they would tell you whatever. But I always tried to make it a point to thank the person that bought, but they never, yeah, nobody ever told us who it was. everything just kind of was like you don't get a bill today leave a couple bucks leave a tony for a tip whatever it might be but yeah no i probably never even got to thank your friend's grandfather in person but uh i'll blanket thank you now because i got a lot of free meals at the

boon blade it's so funny every time i talked to her and before we did this i was like can you remind me the name of this this breakfast place and she's like is the boot and blade i'm like that's very owen sound. It just fits. Yeah, I remember when I went up there to, I was already committed to the UNTDP, the U.S. national program and they came up and they, you know, an attempt to woo me up to the city, they took me there.

And I walked in and like the place just oozes hockey. And I was like, this place is phenomenal. So it was a major selling point on why I went to Owen Sound and I'd never had a bad meal there. That's amazing. I'll tell you what, Bobby. I know it's a busy time for you. You got to practice today.

And then as you mentioned, a four-game set against Dallas. So listen, we really appreciate you taking the time for Haley and I. We've just kind of launched this podcast. So to have you jump in as our first big guest means a lot to us. Thanks for doing this, Bobby. And listen, best of luck, not only this week against Dallas, but in the upcoming NHL season with the Red Wings.

I didn't realize I was the first big guest. I like that. Thank you. So thanks for thinking of me. And I'll hop on anytime you guys need me, just let me know, I'll be around. Thanks, Bobby. Good pleasure.

Thank you, guys. All right, Haley. Hey, that was great for us to be able to reconnect with Bobby Ryan, because for you and I, and you only had one season of covering the Ottawa Senate, is Bobby was always one of our favorite players to talk to in a scrum, in a situation. And I hope that that came through on the podcast for the listeners.

You understand this sort of engaging personality that Bobby has. I think he just showed it off here in the last, in the last 20 minutes of our show. I think so. And I mean, like you said, I only had the one year in Ottawa, but, you know, he was one of the right away most welcoming players.

And I think, you know, it wasn't lost on me, the little things. And I always kind of said, Mark Borvetsky and Bobby Ryan, like I credit them so much. And I don't even think they realized it.

Like, they weren't doing it for me. Like, it's just little things that I took away from my first year on the beat was people, like Mark Borvetsky, I introduced myself one week. And then a couple days later, they're like, hey, Haley, how are you? How's Ottawa treating you?

That's huge for a rookie reporter in the National Hockey League stepping into their first room. You introduce yourself to someone, and I love Mark Boravetsky. I think he's great. His family's awesome. But then you have someone like Bobby Ryan who, you know, you look at his history in the game, like his team USA appearances, like have Bobby Ryan do the same. thing. See you down the hallway. Hey, Haley, how's it going? How are you? Just chat. Like, that was so meaningful to me as a rookie reporter and specifically, um, you know, I say this is aging

me, but it's aging you more because when, because when I was growing up, like, I grew up in junior hockey rinks, right? Like, I grew up in Fergus, Ontario. There's nothing to do in Fergus Ontario, but go to Guelph or Kitchener. Um, or if you want to go a little bit farther, you go to London. So I just kind of grew up watching the OHL and there was some great hockey players in the O back then. So this is like 2005, 2003, like that stretch of time. Like the first time I really remember like caring about hockey was junior hockey. And we would see Bobby Ryan when the Owen sound attack would come to the Guelph Storm. We'd see John Tavares. We'd see Drew Doughty all the time because he played for the storm. You know, Mark Giodano. There was just a

just so many good players in the Ontario Hockey League. So it was always really cool. You know, and I mentioned my friend from Owen Sound like she grew up as a season ticket holder watching those games all the time. So, you know, I kind of grew up from junior seeing Bobby Ryan.

So that was always kind of cool for me. And my dad's a big hockey nut too. So it's just so meaningful when you have people who are just good people. And they know that media is doing their job. And then we know that they have a job to do. but then you can just chat. It was just, it's just, he's a really, he's one of the good ones. And I think that came through for sure.

Yeah, and I like how you low-key set up a golf date with your dad and Bobby Ryan as part of it. You're like, well, my dad sure likes to golf. Yeah, that was, that was a veteran. You might be a young reporter. That was a veteran move. Well, because my dad, if my dad listened to the podcast and he heard me talking about golf with Bobby Ryan, I'd get a text right away being like, does he want to play 18? like, dad, like, you have to stop asking me these things.

Like, he, uh, he's always secretly wanted me to get into sports so he could get all the benefits of it, not realizing that it's not how it works. But I throw him a bone where I can. So. Yeah. And I like the fact, Bobby said, hey, you know, he would love to join us any time. What he doesn't realize is every week, we're just getting, it's going to be the athletic hockey show with Ian Mendez's hanging and Bobby Ryan.

Change the name of the show. Exactly. We could even give them top billing. It could be the athletic hockey show with Bobby Ryan. featuring Haley Salvean and Ian Mendez. That's fine. He can be the big name on the marquee. We've kicked Dom Luce Chishin off the show.

And now Bobby Ryan is coming in. He can bring an analytics background, I'm sure. For sure. Well, I just find Bobby Ryan is a lot easier to pronounce than Dom Lus Chichen. That's, you know, that's the reason why we're doing this. Hey, we got to get into something that we do every Monday, Haley. And that is multiple choice madness on this Monday. And, you know, we talked about this earlier in the podcast.

The story of the week, I think, of the National Hockey League, the blockbuster trade between the Winnipeg Jets and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here's question number one, Haley, in this edition of Multiple Choice Madness. Who do you think, one, the Jets jackets blockbuster trade? Is it A, the Winnipeg Jets, B, the Columbus Blue Jackets or C, everyone's a winner? It's a win-win deal. Haley, what do you think would be your answer right now? I'm going to say C just because I think it's way too early to, to, without a doubt, say,

A or B. So because of everything we talked about before, I think, you know, Patrick Linae obviously wanted out. So did Jack Roslovich? And then Pierre-Luc de Bois obviously wanted out. So I think it's a win-win deal for the both of them. They both, you know, kind of moved assets that weren't happy there. They kind of did that, that swap. You know, I think on paper, you can maybe say that Columbus won this trade just because they're getting what they've never truly had, which is, you know, a superstar in Patrick Linae. You know, obviously, Artemi Pannera, and I think he's a star, but he's no longer with the Columbus Blue Jackets. So I'm going to say both of them, it's a win-win deal. But, you know, at the end of the season, if we revisit this, I think that Linae could maybe inject exactly. what the blue jackets have needed.

Yeah. You know what? I'm going to say Columbus won this deal. And I only say that because all of a sudden last week, there was an immediate, like an urgency to the Dubois situation. Like all of a sudden it was like that guy has to get out of that situation. It just felt like there was an immediacy to it. And Yarmou Keckleini didn't settle. He didn't settle for four quarters for a dollar and get, you know, three or four pieces. He got back a legitimate young star in Patrick Lainey, who's got a 40-goal season on his resume, has a couple of 30-goal seasons, and is a legit proven goal score, and he got it for a guy who clearly wanted out. So to me, I agree with you.

Probably we'll have to see, like, does Line A sign an extension in Columbus, does Dubois sign an extension in Winnipeg? Maybe. But I think in the here and the now, I think Columbus comes out as a winner, because as we talked about as well before, they've watched some pretty big stars walk out the door and not get a ton in return. I think Yarmou Kekyllainen hit this one out of the park. On to question number two, who is your pick to win the all-Canadian North Division

as it stands now into the second week of the regular season? Is it A, the Toronto Maple Leafs, be the Montreal Canadiens, see the Calgary Flames or D, somebody else. I'll go first on this one, Haley, and I know a lot of people are probably all of a sudden bullish on the Montreal Canadiens points in six consecutive games doing it on the road. All of a sudden, they look deep.

All of a sudden, Nick Suzuki looks like a legit number one centerman, and they've got the goaltending. Look, I get it. I still think Toronto is the most talented team in that division. I still think talent in the regular season trumps everything. So I'm going to stick with my original thought, which was the Maple Leafs are the most talented team in this division, and the Maple Leafs are going to be the regular season divisional champs.

I should point that out. I mean, regular season. If you want to go down the road of the playoffs, maybe. I think it's a little early to start making playoff projections, but I'm saying Toronto still wins the division. What about you? You're going to have to keep your head down in Ottawa after that one, Ian. I don't just put yourself in a sticky situation. So this is where you pick Edmonton to win the division and then you have to take your head down in Calgary. Can you imagine? Yeah, no chance. You at least have a couple of years in Ottawa on me

here in Calgary. I'm not making that move right off the bat. But you know what? I think that if it was going to be someone else, I really like the Winnipeg Jets center depth all of a sudden with that Pierre Luc Dubois. They already had, you know, great, great talent up the middle. They have, you know, arguably the best goaltender in the division in Connor Hellebuck, 27-year-old's former Vesna winner.

He's an excellent, excellent goaltender. You have recently seen what he did against the Ottawa senators, even when the Jets are maybe playing iffy, you've got a guy like Hellebuck backstopping you. So I think, you know, there's been some questions about their defense, but I do think that their defense is low-key quite good. So if it's going to be anyone else, it's going to be the Winnipeg Jets. But for everything that you said about the Montreal Canadians, I honestly, I'm kind of buying into it.

I genuinely could see the Montreal Canadians winning this division. I think the leaves have depth, but we saw how quickly that depth gets, you know, it starts to become questionable when Nick Robertson's out, Joe Thorntons out, Austin Matthews was out. He came back in the game against Calgary Flames, but, you know, a couple injuries and all of a sudden that depth is, oh, wait a second, maybe it's not as good as we thought. So, I mean, I certainly think it'll be come close, but I do think that the Calgary Flames, I was reading Calgary. Look at you.

At least I didn't say Edmonton. You're just playing to your own audience. I think the Calgary play, you're just dropping them in there. But you think the Montreal Canadiens can win this division? I'm going Montreal, yeah. Okay, on the question number three, Haley, and there's a couple of Canadian teams on this one.

And all these teams are having problems in the early season with goal-tining. In fact, these are the four worst teams in terms of save percentage as a team so far this season. Haley, which team should be the most worried do you think about their early season goal-tending situation. Is it A, the Vancouver Canucks, B, the Pittsburgh Penguin, C, the Ottawa Senators, or D, the Chicago Blackhawks? That's a tough one, especially because when you look at, you know, some of those teams,

like they were involved in kind of the goalie shuffle of the offseason, and they kind of played their hand and, you know, who are we going to stick with? Who are we going to get rid of? What are we going to do? And it seems like some of these teams, because the situation they're in, kind of maybe made the wrong choice. You know, the Pittsburgh Penguins certainly have had their issues

when deciding which goalie to roll with, first with Mark Andre Fleury, then Matt Murray, now Tristan Jari. It's a tough one. I would maybe just based on contract alone and the bet that they've made, I'd maybe say the Ottawa senators just because they did make that big bet on Matt Murray.

I do think it's too early to say that Matt Marie's not worth the contract. Like we've said, like a broken record, that's the caveat for everything. It is early. But, you know, I do think that, you know, the Sends or maybe, you know, having some worries about the back end. But I do think that it's more than that for the senators. It's not just Matt Marie. That's a problem. You know, he's not the big issue as to why the team is letting

goals in. So maybe that was the wrong answer, but I'm not going to walk it back. I'll just stick with Ottawa for now. You know, and I look at this and I look, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Chicago. They all have, like I said, the four worst save percentages in the league. I'm going to say Pittsburgh. And I'm not going to say it because if they had kept Matt Murray and he's kind of struggling, it's not like Matt Murray is left and is being great. I think that's the only team Haley on this list that probably internally had Stanley Cup expectations, right? Like the Pittsburgh Penguins still believe they're a cup contender. Vancouver probably still feels like they're a step away.

Ottawa is certainly a quantum leap away in Chicago's apparently in the midst of a rebuild here. Pittsburgh is the one team that legit, I think, feels like they could win a cup. I still think when the dust settles, Mark Andre Fleury, will be the Penguins goalie at some point this year. I think, like, it just makes too much sense, doesn't it? Like, he's going back, he's going to be smiling and happy, and I just think it makes too much sense.

But Tristan Jari, Casey DeSmith, off to a not-so-great start in the post-Matt-Murray era for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Okay, on to question number four. Our colleague, Pierre LeBron, had an exclusive with Mike Babcock last week. That just before Babcock made his debut on NBC.

Over the weekend, I ask you, Haley, we're going to put on, or kind of maybe look into our athletic crystal ball. And we're going to look to a year from now, January 2020. And I ask you, where will Mike Babcock be one year from now? Is it, A, a head coach in the National Hockey League, B, helping Team Canada in some capacity leading into the Olympics,

which again, hopefully will take place, but will he be part of Team Canada at the Olympic Games? C, he's going to be coaching somewhere. Maybe it's in college or maybe it's in Europe, but he's going to be coaching somewhere just not in the NHL or D. Mike Babcock will still be on your television screens. And maybe it's, well, again, we don't know if it's going to be. going to be NBC or what the deal is with the NHL next season, but he will still be an analyst.

I'll go first on this one, Haley. I say mark it down. This guy's coaching in the NHL next year. I think the clock is ticking on, this is the Mike Babcock redemption tour. That's why he's on NBC. That's why he spoke to Pierre LeBron. And it's going to take time to convince people that he's changed. But I think his resume is too good.

I don't know. Like I thought about it. Would he be a good fit in Seattle? I don't know. I don't know. But I just think some team somewhere is going to look at the Stanley Cup that he's won, the two Olympic goals that he's won, the fact that even though Toronto never got over the hump, he took them to the playoffs every year.

He's been a playoff coach every year. I think at some point, somebody between now in January 2020 rules the dice on Mike Babcock. I say he's back in the NHL as a coach. You. Yeah, you know, I think that like some of the things that, that former players have come out and said about Mike Babcock, I don't know how much weight that's going to carry a year from now. Like when, say, a team is doing the vetting process and they think, you know,

oh, well, look at what, you know, Cami said about Babcock and look at what Johan Franson said about Babcock. Look at the Mitch Marner situation. Like, those are difficult things for a team to get past. But like you said, I think the resume might make it easy for an organization. to make that decision to to bring him back. So I mean, I think I'm going to agree with you. And I think he was already kind of in the running for,

forgive me, I'm forgetting which one it was, but I do believe that there was, uh, Washington. His name. Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, what? We're already seeing teams say like, you know what, Abcock is, is one of the options here. So we've seen the head coaching carousel in the national hockey league. It's,

the guys get fired and it's the same ones getting hired in a different organization. And I don't think that's going to stop with Mike Babcock, despite everything that we've heard. And like you said, it's the redemption tour. He's explaining those things. He's talking about those things and saying he's improving himself. So I hate to agree with you, Ian, but I think I'm going to.

Okay. That's good to know that you hate to agree with me. I hate it. I hate it with all my mind. Okay. Last question in multiple choice madness. And this is in honor of Pierre-Luc Dubois, leaving Columbus, but also leaving some questions unanswered.

People want to know, like what's the real story behind Pierre Luke Dubois? And I thought, let's look back at hockey history. Haley, there's a bunch of trades that went kind of down and people don't quite know the circumstances. If you could get the true unfiltered story about why somebody left a team and you could inject them with truth serum and they have to tell the truth, which one are you taking? I'm going to give you a few. And listen, if you want to go off the board, go off the board. So here are your options. Would you like to get the full true story of why Wayne Gretzky really wants.

wanted, you know, got traded from Edmonton. Did he ask to be traded? Like, what really went down there? Would you pick B? We'll stick with Edmonton, Chris Pronger. One season with the Oilers, they got to the Cup in 06, and then a few weeks later, he was gone to Anaheim. Would you like to know the story behind that?

See, this is one in my market that people are always talking about. It's Danny Heatley wanting out of Ottawa in the summer of 2009. D, Pavel Buray left Vancouver under very odd circumstances after having multiple 50 goal seasons there. Or like I said, Haley, you can pick something else. Go right off the board. If I told you, Haley, you could inject anybody in the history of the NHL with truth serum so you could find out the true story behind a trade.

What do you pick it? I'm going Wayne Gretzky. I think that's the easy out. But I just give me an HBO 24-7, give me some kind of doc, give me the truth serum. I want to know everything that happened there. I just, that's one of the ones that I just, that I just, just think is, it's just always going to be marked as like, what happened here. Like, I want to know everything because you see the headlines. You see the, the, the outline of the story,

but you don't know everything that happened. And I just think that, just think of the effect that that trade has kind of had or like the, you know, we still talk about it now. Like we, with the Zedano Chara stuff, you, you kind of refer to that as like, oh, it's the, it's not really the same because it's not a trade, but you think of superstars in the NHL and I don't know if it's just me, but you go like, oh, maybe there's going to be a Gretzky here with this guy. Like, he's going to get traded from his team. You look at, you know, Sidney Crosby, like, is, is Crosby going to get the Gretzky? Like, maybe that's just me. Am I just making up this saying in my head? But I just think that that that was so, so huge and monumental that I would love, like, give me a 10-part series on

everything that happened. Well, you know what there is? Have you, I guess maybe you haven't seen, ESPN did a 30, one of their 30 for 30s was, I think it's called a King's Ransom. And it's kind of the behind the scenes of the grant. It is pretty well done. But again, you're left wondering. We still have questions, right? I think that's a great pick. Yeah.

I need like not just the ESPN. Like I need everything. Like I, 10 parts here is like I said. I don't want to leave with questions. No. You know what? I'm, I'm going to take Pavel Burray in Vancouver. Like, you got to remember.

in the early 90s, Pavel Buray was the most electrifying, dynamic player in Vancouver. He still remains the greatest player in terms of pure talent in that franchise's history. Before he turned 26, he had multiple 60-goal seasons

and a 50-goal season, and in his last year in Vancouver, he scored 51 goals, and then they traded him to Florida. And I still feel like I would love to know what happened there. Truly, what went down between Pavel Bore and the Vancouver Canucks,

because that guy should have been there for the rest of his career, and yet he got traded in his prime. So that's the one I would pick. And hey, listen, we would love to hear from people. You can tweet at us if you could pick any one of those potential trades. What would you pick? All right. Speaking of connecting with us,

we're going to wrap up this episode, Haley, with the hail bag. We got a couple of questions that we got via Twitter here. And this one comes in. In fact, they're going to be relying on a little bit of your experience, Haley, covering both the Ottawa Senators and the Calgary Flames. We got a tweet that came in from the username is Senzai, who wants to know, hey, Haley, now that you've gotten a firsthand look at both Matthew and Brady Kachuk, what are your first impressions of the two as players?

You see similarities. You see differences. So I would say that first, I now understand how Brady and Matthew feel every time. they play against each other, getting asked about playing against each other, because I think that's like the question without a doubt. I think I get from absolutely everyone is like, tell me about Matthew and Brady Kuchuk. So that's not a shot at Senzai. It is a good question, because I've asked those questions of Brady and Matthew too. So it is just, it's funny. I think that it's a little bit different as we spoke about because we're in this kind of Zoom COVID era.

So it's difficult to compare Matthew to Brady and, you know, off the ice because I haven't really had any interactions with Matthew because I think Brady, and you can attest to it too, Ian, I think Brady's just, you know, you can tell his passion for the game. I think that you can tell that Brady's a natural leader. I think he, there's just a lot of things to really like about Brady Kach if you're an Ottawa Senators fan, both on and off the ice. but I think Matthew, he has the, he really exudes leadership as well. And you can see that on the ice. I think that that series against Dallas last year when Matthew kind of he left with what we know now was a concussion. I think you could just kind of see that there was like this heartbeat or that spark

plug that was gone. And you can say the same thing for the Ottawa senators and Brady Kachuk. I think both guys act as the heartbeat and that, you know, they both. drag their team into battle. I would say that Matthew certainly makes more headlines for things that he does. You know, even yesterday, like all of Toronto, you know, hates him because they say that he, like, knee-dropped Jack Campbell in the back.

You know, there's just things that Matthew does that it doesn't matter who you're playing against. Like, the fans on the other team hate him. The team hates him. But I think Matthew Kachuk is a player that every team would say that I would say that I want him on my team because he's not just that kind of agitator. He's a highly, highly skilled player who's also going to get you on the board. So I think, but I think Brady's the same. We maybe haven't seen the same high level skill in terms of the between the legs goals.

He hasn't certainly racked up the same amount of points as his brother. But I do think that Brady has that level that he could get to. Obviously, it's completely different situations. You know, the flames want to contend for a Stanley Cup. Well, the Sends are still kind of rebuilding. But I think that they're both really similar and that they're unicorns and I think they're incredibly valuable to their organizations. So we have another question here. Haley, this one comes from,

I'm never sure about the user names here. I'm like, can I say this? Or should I be, should I be, should I be running to urban dictionary to make sure I'm not saying something that. But anyway, this one comes in from,

boy, I don't know, run rad run, run, okay, wants to know. Hey, Haley. And we'll stick with the

Chuck theme here. Matthew Kachukh and Johnny Goudreau have two years left on their current contracts. Do you see them staying in Calgary long term? By the way, this is a great chance for us to plug the piece that you did on Johnny Guadro this week, kind of just looking at zone entries for him and the way that he's, yeah, kind of

some possession metrics and, you know, why maybe Johnny Guadro struggled last year. But anyway, Kachuk, Guadro, two years left on the deal. Do you see them staying long term in Calgary? I think it's a good question and it's a difficult one. because you have to think about the reasons why Matthew Kachuk specifically signed a bridge deal over a long-term contract. Was it money?

Like, was it that, you know, was it financially? The Calgary Flames didn't want to foot the bill of a long-term deal. And so the bridge deal was that happy medium? Or was it a situation where Matthew was like, I don't want to lock myself in long-term yet until I can see what this organization can do over the next three years? So that's kind of a big unknown to me. Like, it depends on what happens over the next two seasons. I think more so for Matthew than Johnny. I think already coming into Calgary, you can see how much speculation there is about

Johnny Guadro and fans saying, you know, I think fans here are kind of scarred from, you know, losing a guy like Jerome McGinnla for nothing, that they're like, we can't have this happen again. So they're like, pull the trigger, trade Johnny, get whatever you can because we can't have another Jerome McGinnler situation where we lose him and we don't really get anything back. So that's been, that's been an interesting one because I don't. know if Johnny Goodrow is going to be a member of the Calgary Flames by the time that two years is up. But at the same time, I think that Johnny Guadro is still an elite winger, as I mentioned in my

story from last week, you know, I do think he's one of the elite wangers in the national hockey league. And I think that it was just a uniquely downseason. So it's a good question that I absolutely don't have the answer to. it's also notable like Mark Giudano only has two years left on his deal too. So when you look at this Calgary Flames team, I think it's really, really fair to say that this next two years is pretty crucial in terms of their window of contention. Our final question from the hail bag here comes in from Allen.

I know I can read that without worrying about does Alan have a double entendre or something. Haley, what do you think the asking price was from Columbus for Pierre-Luc Dubois? and do you think the jackets now have to target his centerman in the draft? I think we heard from Aaron Portsline that the asking price was an NHL player, a top prospect, and a very nice draft pick. So we did kind of see that asking price, you know, come to fruition a bit in terms of what they got back in Patrick Line. But, you know, I think obviously targeting a center is going to be important in terms of rebuilding the depth in the organization. but, you know, targeting a top line center and the draft isn't going to give you a number one center

next season or this season. So I am curious, you know, whether or not the Columbus Blue Jackets will go and try to find that around the trade deadline because the draft is still a ways away. And like I said, that player is not going to be available to play for you right away. So, you know, I think there's more of a short-term goal that they need to kind of,

or a box that they need to check if they want to recoup, you know, a number one center in Pierre-Lucre. But, again, they got a time. top, a top, top player in line A. So he makes it, you know, I think he makes it a little bit easier to swallow in not getting a top line C back.

Well, Haley, we'll have to leave it there because we're fresh out of time for this latest edition of the podcast. So listen, have a great week. I know it's going to be a busy one for you. Like you said, 20 games in 37 nights for the Calgary Flames coming up. So we look forward to catching all of your work with the athletic here coming up. So listen, enjoy the week and we'll reconnect with, maybe with Bobby Ryan?

Maybe, who knows? Again, regular co-host, Bobby Ryan. But have a great week, and we'll get you again next Monday, Haley. Thanks, Ian. All righty. And hey, everybody, thank you for listening to The Athletic Hockey Show. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating and review.

We would certainly appreciate that. A reminder, if you want to subscribe to The Athletic, you can get an annual subscription for just $3.99 a month when you visit Theathletic.com slash hockey show. Don't miss the next edition of the Athletic Hockey Show coming your way Wednesday with Scott Burnside, Pierre LeBron. I'll be back at it with Down Goes Brown, Sean McIntyre on Thursday.