The Athletic Hockey Show - Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames win the summer, recapping the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championships

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

On the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, Ian Mendes and Hailey Salvian welcome Cassie Campbell Pascall from Hockey Night in Canada and ESPN to discuss Brad Treliving's red hot summer of deals including landing Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau after losing Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, We talk with Cass about participating in the Canada Pacific Pan-Am in Ottawa and watching a hockey game with Queen Elisabeth. Max Bultman and Corey Pronman provide their analysis on the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championships, the overtime win for Canada in the gold medal game, the players who stood out and those who disappointed.Plus Ian and Hailey rate press box foods, helmet nachos and ask who had the better summer, Brad Treliving or Pierre Dorion? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back. It is a Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey show. Ian met his Haley Salvean with you for the next hour or so. Coming up on this episode of the podcast, Cassie Campbell, Pascal is going to drop by. We'll talk Calgary Flames as a Nazim Cadry signs and certainly some big news out of Calgary. The Flames are back to being Stanley Cup contenders. I think Max and Corey and Corey. Cora, Mark and Max Bolton, that is, of the World Junior Hockey Championship this weekend. so we're going to give a significant portion of our show over to them today. So I'll tell you what, Haley. We got a lot to get to. But now, this is an audio podcast here. So our listeners can't see this. But you're coming to us from your brand new apartment in downtown Toronto. And before we started this podcast, you told us that you actually had to write a cover letter to secure this particular place.

And I'm fascinated by that. I've never heard of somebody getting into a podcast. bidding war like i've heard of bidding wars for apartments and rental properties i get that but it didn't come down to a cover letter that you wrote is that how you swayed them i think so because i didn't i don't think i offered the most money um i don't know have you ever tried to rent an apartment in downtown Toronto in 2022 it's uh it's not great it's not so what like what do you put in your cover letter that swayed them like if you didn't offer the most money Like, what did you write in there that said, you know, I am the right tenant for you?

I just sway them. Yeah, I mean, I feel like landlords want to know that you're clean and quiet and you're living in the area not because it's like, this is the most beautiful place. I'm going to host the best parties. All my friends are going to want to come hang here. It's like, I'm a young professional. I work a lot. I'm quiet. I'm very clean.

I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Did you mention that you kick ice cube? under the fridge because I feel like if I was a landlord, I wouldn't want to know that the tenant that's running my place is kicking ice cubes under my fridge. You know what I actually said, diligent picker up of ice cubes.

Yeah. That specifically sprays that way, great English. Yeah. Yeah, wow, she's very smart. Yeah, me, writer. I'm a writer. I write and I pick up ice cubes. I would never kick an ice cube.

Never. On these hardwood. I'm just kidding. I would. I don't see the difference. Is your kitchen hardwood too? Yeah. Your kitchen's hardwood or is it linoleum?

What's linoleum, Ian? I don't know. What's linoleum? I don't do hardware stuff. Oh, neither do I. I actually sounded like I actually. I was handy. Jesus.

Yeah, I don't know. No. No, the difference with this one is what leads to the ice on the floor is the ice maker. There's no ice maker here. It's ice cube trays. So I have not dropped any ice cubes yet. You know, when you, like, crack it open, like, they're not popping on the floor. You just.

It's a good wrist workout when you have to snap the ice cube tray. Yeah. Anyways. So, now, you're, I think this is the first. show we've done together since you announced your new role with the athletic. And I feel like I'd like to just give you an opportunity here because the reason why you're doing this show from Toronto, we are going to talk about the team that you used to cover the Calgary Flames. They're going to take up a significant portion of the show where we bring Cassie on here. But you've got a brand

new role. Like this is really exciting for you to kind of dive headfirst into a new position with the athletic. And so I just want to give you an opportunity to kind of explain to our listeners what you're going to be doing here. Yeah. I mean, and I'm still. I'm still. covering the flames right now and I'm going to be doing that until we have announced who's going to be taking over on that beat. So I'm still around. We had a flame story up on the site where I kind of went through and gave the team the report card on all of the kind of transitional, transformative moves they made this off season. And again, we'll talk about some of those. But yeah, in terms of this new role, it's really exciting. I've been at this company, you know,

I think this new role, it's a national position with a focus on women's hockey, but then also the ability to stay in the NHL group and write NHL stories, whether it's doing something with you on the Ottawa centers or doing something with, you know, on the flames or doing something in a different market, doing something on the Leafs, whatever, it gives me the ability to really start digging into more stuff, more teams. but it also really gives me the flexibility and the space to do lots of women's hockey stuff, which is a really great commitment from the company to say, like, we're going to free you up that, you know,

if something happens with the PWHPA or the international game, you don't have a beat that you have to be on today. You don't have to go to a morning skate. You don't have to go to practice. You can go and focus on that women's hockey stuff, which is really great. Well, listen, that's going to be the perfect segue, actually, for us to bring in our guests here on the athletic hockey show.

Cassie Campbell, Pascall is joining us. And from my city, actually, if I'm not mistaken, right? Cassie, you're here in Ottawa right now, right? I am. I'm trying to find a good spot that's kind of quiet, so I hope this is good. Yeah, I'm actually at the C. Women's Open and playing in the pro-em today.

Not going to lie, I'm sweating buckets. It's hot here in Ottawa, as you may or may not No, I don't know if you've left your house today, but it's a hot one here. Oh, that's amazing. It is sticky. Have you played yet? Cass, or are you still just? We're just about to play at noon, which is, it's about an hour away.

Okay. Are you the celebrity? I'm the celebrity pro M person who's actually going to be playing with an LPGA member and some other people. And like, it's embarrassing. I just came off the tea, like the practice range. and, you know, I just hit a few and I got off quickly because these women are just fantastic at golf. And I think I'm pretty good as an amateur, but it's just a whole other level watching them hit the ball. So I left the practice range pretty quickly.

Didn't want to waste any good ones. It's where I found that I was humbled, and I never played in a pro-am, but I actually covered a CP Women's Open. I was like, I'm pretty good at golf. My dad is pro-card. My dad taught me I've got a good swing. Watching Brooke Henderson just work on her church. chips and like her short game. I was like, oh my God. I mean, obviously, I'm not as good as Brooke Henderson. She's pro, but I was watching just like how consistently perfect her chip shots and

everything she can hit with like a wedge. I was like, yeah. Yeah, I could never. And they're flexible. Like I recently did a clinic with Michelle Wee and she goes, you know, for a hockey player, you actually have a pretty good back swing. She goes, most hockey players stop like halfway through their back swing and then power through. So I felt good that Michelle We told me that, but basically she was nice and saying, you know, like most hockey players, you're not very flexible. So it's just the full swing, just the power.

It's been pretty incredible just to be out here so far. Yeah. And I know, if I'm not mistaken now, is it tomorrow? You're part of a pretty cool event, like a women's leadership event, right here in Ottawa tomorrow? Yeah. It's, there's, I'm going to be a part of a panel tomorrow. Arlene Dickinson's going to be here speaking,

Steph Lab A from this woman soccer team, the goalie, obviously. Yeah, so she's part of the panel with me. And yeah, it's just a fun woman's leadership initiative and just fun to be asked and be part of it. And I kind of shut myself down this summer, which was really nice and needed. So this is just my second event all summer. But both of them were golf related. So I feel like it was, you know, meant to be this summer for sure. So Haley and I were just, we just kind of started to,

to tee this up a little bit that, boy, the Calgary flames have had quite the, the offseason. I think six weeks ago, we thought, uh-oh, the flames are in trouble. This is all going to fall apart with,

you know, Goudreau's gone and looks like a chuck has one foot out the door and he's got to, all of a sudden, boy, Bradtree living is really salvaged the summer here. And I'm just curious to get your big picture to take away of what, what happened in Calgary this summer. Well,

Ian, I live it, right? My husband takes it home. So I know all the behind us. stuff, which obviously, you know, I have to be careful how much I say, but I think, you know, at first, I can tell you the organization was just, you know, disappointed about not being able to sign Johnny Goddrault. But then you've got to move on. Like, you can't just sit and wallow and what has happened. You've got to continue to push forward and to make your team better. And I think

what Bradshaw living was able to do, you know, pulling off the whole Matthew Chuck thing and then signing Hubertow and, you know, it was just incredible. And then, then to use that same pick really to flip Sean Monaghan and clear some cab space for Cadre. I mean, that deal in itself was just really remarkable for what it was able to rebound the organization. But I can tell you internally, you know, obviously there was disappointment and frustration about not being able to sign Johnny Goodro, but then you got to flip a switch and move forward. As an organization, you face adversity. And that's when you really tell a lot about yourself is what you do when you're facing adversity. And you guys know that. But what he's been able to do

and his staff. They've had a really good summer, I've turned it around. And, you know, it's easy for me to say. And of course, people say I'm biased, but I think personally they're a better team. I think they're ready for,

you know, they're a little bit bigger, a little bit meaner. I think they're defense. You look at four deep, like Oliver Schillington, who had a career year last year, has really now been pushed down to five,

six, potentially seventh role. And, you know, he was outstanding last year. So, you know, I think they're the deepest they've ever been on defense. And I still think they're not done. You know, I think trying to tweak something here

and maybe at a, another, you know, scoring person up front or a winger, some depth up front, I think is something that they're definitely trying to do. I think this was something that we put in the story when the Nazim Kodri signing first came out. And, you know, I think one of the biggest things when you saw this was, like, they're finally, and I don't want to say finally in the sense that they've never had, you know, good centered up, because Michael Backlin is a very good center. But now you can go Linhom, Cadre, Backlin, one, two, three, up the middle. Is that the kind of center depth where you have, you know, obviously Lynn Holmes is a Selkie finalist. You've got a really good

1B, kind of 2C, and then a really good defensively gifted center in Backlin. Is that kind of a center depth that can really rival anybody in the West except Edmonton because they've got McDavid and Drysidal 1-2? But, you know, that's why you have to have that. depth. You know, you look at the Connor McDavid beyond dry saddle factor. You have to have two pairings on the back end that can shut down, be shut down pairings to have that capability.

And, you know, I really think, and I've said this for a long time, that Michael Backlin is a perfect third line center. You know, he's never really had the offensive numbers. And part of it is the role he's been given, but, you know, he's never had those, you know, Lindholm type numbers. And, but he can

play and skate with Connor McDavid in the sense of he knows his role. against him. And you're never going to shut down a guy like that, but he knows his role against him. And I think he's pegged to be a perfect third-line center. And I've always said that. But that's the Connor McDavid Leon Drysettled factor.

You have now three potential centermen that you can play, you know, especially when you're in Eminton and you don't get the last change that you can put out there. You don't have to worry so much if you're Daryl Sutter about, you know, your matchups and your lineups. And, you know, you have that depth at center now. And then you add weaker to that, you know,

probably going to play beside TANF on that. second pairing if you want to call it or first pairing. And, you know, that's the kind of depth you need at those positions to be able to have an opportunity to win against the Edmonton Oilers, knowing just how powerful and how great those two players are up there. Well, I think even just to, I'm sorry, Ian, just to follow up. And it's really just a comment, not even a question for you, Cassie. I just, I agree with what you said about Backland.

I mean, he was arguably the Flames best player in the second round against Edmonton. And I think if that guy who showed he could match up really well against McDavid is your quote-unquote third line center, I think you're in a really good spot heading into the season, at least on paper. Yeah, no, for sure. And you guys know everything's fun right now. Everyone thinks they can win right now. And knock on wood, you know, you've got to play and you've got to go through the season. There's probably going to be some adversity.

But they've set themselves up to be successful. and they've given themselves the best case scenario after what they went through there for two weeks. So, you know, it's going to be a lot of fun to be in Calgary and to watch it. And I know when I do my job, I'm very professional, but, you know, it's nice to also live in the city and just see how excited the fans are. You know, I'm curious to ask both of you this question because I think there's a lot of Habs fans curious about what they should expect out of Sean Monaghan. And in both of you have watched Sean Monaghan over the last few years.

You know, Cassie, I'll start with you on this. Like, like, what are, what's a realistic expectation for Sean Monaghan this season? You know, from my understanding, he's the healthiest he's ever been in a long time. You know, Sean Monaghan's never going to be quick. That's just not in his DNA, but he can score. And so given the opportunity, which I think he'll get in Montreal to be back on the power play, which, you know, he saw less time on the power play, you know, this will pass season. And obviously injuries had something.

to do with it and some depth as well up front that Calgary had. But I got to tell you, he's a good person. He's a team-orientated, team first person. He wants to win. And, you know, he can still score and put, given the right opportunity, I think, in Montreal, you know, giving some power play time, you know, getting back that rule that he once had as a Calgary flame. I put 20 goals, you know, easily for Sean Monaghan.

And again, it's health related and he has to stay healthy. But this guy's a shooter. He can finish. He's not overly fast, but he gets himself into good positions to get open. And, you know, I just think this is someone that is finally healthy for the first time in the last, you know, three, four, even five years. And so let's just hope that he can get his game back. And, you know, he's a Brampton boy, which is where I'm from, and I've known him for a long time. And he's just a real good teammate.

And I think that's what Montreal should be excited about. Yeah, I think the Canadians are getting, like, a really intriguing version. of Sean Monaghan not to like dehumanize him and call him, you know, that kind of thing. But I think I'm really curious to see what happens with Monaghan in Montreal because like Cassie said, you know, it sounds like he is, you know, actually healthy this time around. It was my understanding of what happened with Monaghan was he had the first hip surgery, came back, rehab from that. And once he came back from that, was like, oh, that's what a hip's supposed to feel like. Oh, no, like the other one. is not good. So he never really came back at full health. He came back with one surgically

repaired hip. So then he went back and had the other surgery and now both are in a good spot. He's in a good space. So I think like Cassie said, you know, he was he was on the fourth line last year again because of injuries and whatnot. But also he wasn't, you know, at the level that maybe Daryl needed him to be to be in a top six position or be in a middle six position. Or be in a middle six positions. So we took that fourth line role. He didn't have the power play time. I don't think the Canadians are going to be in that kind of spot. So you're going to have a healthy Sean Monahan playing higher up the lineup. And I think he's going to, you know, obviously he's going to be motivated. This is a player who's going to be playing for a contract next season. He's the last year of that

deal that he signed, what was it, six, five, six years ago. So I'm going to be really curious to watch what happens with Monaghan. And I think, you know, as a human, like you're just kind of rooting for him to kind of bounce back and get his game back because you don't hear anything but good things about the kind of person that he is. So you're always rooting for people like that to get their footing back in the league for sure. And you think about it, Ian,

you know, you look at when Brad Trilliving first started and his group first started, it's really Michael Backland is the only core player left from when they started. And, you know, they gave that group an opportunity, a huge opportunity to become the core in Calgary. And for a variety of reasons and not to point fingers at any of them,

just didn't work out in the playoffs. They couldn't find that playoff success. So this has been a real true rebuild over Brad Tre Living's tenure, in particular in the last year and a half. And, you know, you're starting to see his footprint really being put on this organization. And it's taken some time. You know, he really believed in his core. And I think a lot of people did.

And just for whatever reason, they just couldn't, you know, get that playoff success. And so you wish all of them the best. You know, Johnny Jardrow had the right to do exactly what he did. He earned that right. he earned that right to choose where he and his family wanted to go and, you know, it was unfortunate for the city and for the, for the flames, but, you know, here they go and just try to, he's put his stamp on it and a huge stamp this summer and we'll see where this court can take them.

I do find, you know, bouncing on that too, Cassie is this was kind of the year where the most natural thing was like, let's run it back, look at the improvements we made, you know, this is the year where people weren't saying like blow it up, change the core, change the core. But this was also the year where the flames didn't have as much control over that situation. It was Johnny and Matthew and the players had had more control. But, you know, they obviously the, they kind of rebounded and had this, all these great other moves. I guess the other question I had for you, though, Cassie, is you're, you're talking about maybe trying to upgrade on some wings and, and obviously not asking you to do any trade secrets here. But I've been banging.

the Evan Rodriguez or Sunny Milano, Zach Asden-Reece kind of train. Do you see players like that, like those kind of middle six, versatile kind of guys as natural fits for the flames? Or is there maybe something different that would be a fit on the wings? Well, I think as an organization,

you're always looking for versatility, knowing that anything can happen within the course of an 82-game season. But you're also looking for some scoring. I think as an organization, that's something that they can still build on. It'll allow them to maybe keep Pelchay in the HL and allow him to develop a little bit more.

And, you know, so I think you're always just looking for the best option. A winger to me is ideal, just knowing their center depth, but at the same time, you always want to have depth in that position as well. So I can tell you from personal experience and family experience, this summer is the busiest time for these general managers and their staff. It's never ending. There isn't time off in the summer like people think, and they're all golfing.

You know, they're in the office. They're, you know, maybe at their cottage or whatever, but the phones are constant and they're constantly planning, constantly tweaking things, thinking of different scenarios of how to make their team better. So, you know, I feel comfortable saying that I think they're still looking for something and to add some scoring up front in particular, a winger if they can, add some versatility up front as well.

But again, I think they're pretty happy with what they've been able to do so far and probably be happy to start the season as is. A final question for you before we let you go. We don't want to be blamed for you having a poor start to your golf match here at 12 o'clock. Okay. And this is going to be completely, it's going to seem like it's a completely out of left field question. But I've always wanted to ask you this. Because I believe many years ago, you had a chance to sit at an NHL game with the queen.

Am I right on that? Yeah. What? I did. Yeah. I actually have the entire pitcher signed in my house. Okay. We just need the backstory of like, like, what did she eat during?

the game because I want to know that she ate nachos or like can you just tell us what it was like to sit and watch an NHL game with the queen? Yeah, there was a ton of protocol, you know, like a ton of protocol. And basically there, there was a few of us that dropped the puck alongside her. She actually dropped the puck. Wayne Gretzky was there. Howie Meeker was there at Jovenoski. He played for the Canucks actually was part of the red carpet ceremony and then left to get changed and actually play the game. But it was a really, really cool experience. And I actually got to sit with her late husband. He sat side by side. And he was basically like, why is the goalie catching the top like that? And what is the whistle blowing for? Tell me what is going on here. And he's got his little

accent. And he really just wanted to know about the hockey. And she was lovely. And ironically, she was 77 years old at the time when I met her, which is the number I wore in hockey. And she one of the things that stood out to me you guys was she looked like she was 47 I mean she had the gray hair and everything but her face and her skin was just like I'm like I need to find the skin cream that this woman uses but are you wearing it was really neat just the way the protocol was you had to do a criminal check ahead of time you don't shake you don't reach to shake her hand unless she reaches to shake yours and you were sort of nervous going into it and then she just seemed so relaxed right and it wasn't as big of a deal But I remember her looking at me standing there in my jersey with my gold medal on. It's like, is she at Jovenoski's wife or does she actually play hockey? Like you could see this confused look on her face as if she wasn't sure that women played hockey at the time. But it was a really cool experience. And I actually have the picture signed by everyone who was part of the face up with the exception of the queen.

So I have it up in my home office and it was a pretty big deal in my family, especially for my grandmother. She was pretty pumped that I got to meet the queen. That is wild. I've done some crazy things. I've got to tell you, before the life of social media, I'm pretty fortunate. And it's been a blast to be a female hockey player in this country and to watch the game be where it once was to where it is today. And just to have been a really small part of it.

So it's fun to watch it grow. But good question, you know, that was good. I haven't been asked with the queen in a while. Yeah. Yeah, I've always been meaning to ask you that because I remember seeing an anecdote about that years ago. So I thought I'd ask you. So we really appreciate you dropping by. I know you're really busy.

You've got to get back to the course. But thanks for dropping by the athletic hockey show. Yeah, well, you two are two of my favorite people. And also your producer, Jeff DeMette, is one of my favorite of all time. So all the best to you guys. And thanks for having me. Thanks, Cass. All right.

Terrific conversation with Cassie there. I tell you, Haley, do you know she dodged the question about whether or not the Queen ate nachos at that game? Oh, I know. I loved her British accent, too. Like that came out pretty good. I think like I think maybe she had this she talked about protocol. I think she had to sign like a waiver or release saying I will not discuss what the queen ate. It's like chicken fingers and nachos and like maybe right like an ice cream Sunday out of a helmet, a putteen. Like she's not allowed to discuss it. Something happened there. I would love to know what the queen ate.

So I have a very important question. So, you know, when you go to a baseball game and you can get nachos in like the helmet. Or like a soft serve ice cream, right? Right, but I don't care about, I don't care about helmet ice cream because it's too small. Why don't we have hockey helmet nachos, right? Exactly. Yes. Why don't we have that?

I would pay the extra $20 for that shit. But do they have them at NFL? I don't, I've been a bunch of NFL games. I've never seen like a food item served in a little novelty. NFL helmet. Why? But you're right. The Major League Baseball helmets, it's like a thing.

The little hard shell. Yeah. And so I was in Cincinnati at one point this summer. I went to Red's game. They're playing the Braves. And I spent so much money on these al-a-notchos. Like the regular nachos were like $8, which is really, fair for ballpark nachos.

I got the like $18 helmet nachos. And I didn't even take the helmet home, which is like the whole point. I just was like, this is covered in cheese. I don't want it. Yeah. I think threw it out. But wait. No. This is my question.

What is your nacho etiquette? Because there was this, I'm going to, he's going to remain nameless, because I'm still pissed about this. So you get your nachos and you've got the salsa in the corner. You've got the little pickled jalapinos, you've got the cheese.

Yeah. And then there's the, you know, piece of the helmet that's just nacho. And you dip everything in it. And then you get to the bottom and it's whatever. This person mixed up the nachos. He like took a little thing and mixed them up. So all the cheese and everything got mixed in the whole thing. Instead of dipping.

And he ruined my helmet nachos because they all got soggy. And I was like, this is. a helmet nacho fowl and there was cheese everywhere. They were all soggy and I was really upset because they were pretty good. Like that is not, who does that? Who mixes nachos? You got a dip. Exactly. He's like, but there was, everything was underneath. I'm like, but you get to that after you eat the other piece of the nachos. And he also rendered your helmet like kind of like, too cheesy to take home. Like, If you were just dipping, then the helmet is clean.

It's a quick rinse. You eat all the cheese out of the helmet. So I'm still clearly upset about it. Okay. But you know what? I love your idea. We're going to pitch this. Any NHL front office marketing people who are listening to this,

be the first team to offer mini helmet. And you can go nachos. You can do fries. You can do soft serve ice cream. Right? You're right. Why isn't this a thing? I don't get it because I would absolutely, I would leave the press box.

To get helmet nachos. Does it cut your credibility though? Like, do you ever feel like, no, you're hungry? But do you ever feel like it cuts your credibility when you leave the press box and come back with like a novelty item from the concession stand or you're like come back with like a polo? Yeah, I guess if you're coming back with like a corn dog. Well, like if it's just food, it's fine. but if you're coming back with like an Ottawa senator's logo like slice of pizza or whatever, it's like Ian, you can't cheer on the press box.

This is my favorite place to go. And this is like a tip for anyone listening. If you ever go to a game in Anaheim, there are food trucks outside of the building. And they are cheap and they are delicious. And you have in and out privileges. And so the three times, two times I've been to a game in Anaheim. I have left the press box and gone down to this one food truck. Are we talking tacos?

So I got like a kind of like a burrito bowl. Yeah, yeah. The one time and then I got fries the other time. So good. It's just the one problem is like I sit on the away side. So the players are sitting behind me and you're kind of like, you're like awkwardly walking in with like. a giant plate of fries or whatever in front of like Michael Stone.

It's like, do you want some? I didn't offer many French fries, but they're, I don't know. There's always just something weird about eating like a vat of French fries in front of professional athletes. It's like, don't look at me. Yeah. It's fine. I don't have to play tomorrow.

I just got to sit here and talk about it. Anyways, this has been Haley's Food Corner. I like it. It should be a regular segment, Haley's Food Corner. I get really passionate. You can tell the energy's up. I'm talking about French fries. But I'm with you on this helmet thing.

I feel like I had another food-related item I wanted to discuss about a press box. But now I don't remember. Well, there's certain press boxes in the league that they'll stock candy in the press box. Like Philadelphia and Boston are the two that I think of that have. Boston is the best. Yeah. Like Skittles and M&Ms and Twizzlers. and yeah

Edmonton used to have really good snacks you know they still kind of do Toronto was good for the ice cream bars they would have

yeah they still have those like like Hagenas too I think right like it was a pretty pretty high end and pizza yeah yeah everything that I can't eat

because I'm gluten intolerant Ottawa has to be near the bottom of the list Just those hot dogs. No, they've stopped the hot. Well, probably in the COVID era, they stopped the hot dogs. And even they stopped the popcorn, there was nothing. Oh, man, that was the worst for me.

I would go to games in and not be thinking about like, what's going to happen in the second period. It would be like, I am not going to the popcorn until intermission. I am not getting popcorn until the anthem's done. It was just like, don't do it the second you sit down. You need to wait. That was what I went to the rink being like, don't go to the popcorn for yet. Salty as popcorn. Too early.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, listen. Again, that's Haley's food rant. Let's just put a bow on the Nazim Cadry thing because I think that's a huge story. You know, and you wrote about this. Like, you know, a few years ago, Nazim Cadry kind of turned down a deal to Calgary,

when the Leafs would have traded him there, and they ended up moving them to Colorado. Like, what do you think, what do you think changed Nazim Cadry's mind? Like, why was he open to Calgary this time around versus in the past, he seemed a little bit reluctant to join the flames? Yeah, well, I think the important thing, and people can choose whether they believe this or not. But Nazam Kodry kind of said, like, I want to make this very clear. Like, it wasn't anything about Calgary. It was, you know, I did not want to waive my, you know, trade protection because I thought

it was going to give me the best chance to stay in Toronto. Ultimately, so he turned that, you know, trade down. He says, nope, I'm not going to, nope, not going to do it. And then the Leafs come back and they've got the trade with Colorado and he ultimately gets traded anyways. So for him, he was saying like it wasn't a Calgary thing. It was just, I thought if I shot it down, I would be able to stay. Not really kind of expecting the lease to have another trade in the hopper or kind of in

the drawer. Obviously, you could kind of debate like, well, was Calgary on your no trade list? But Colorado wasn't. But look, that was three years ago. he's in a different place in his life now. Obviously, he knows that there's other places outside of Toronto. That's, you know, the hometown team. He's, he's been gone from there for a while.

He's an unrestrict free agent. They're offering him a lot of money. Things change. You know, his, where he wanted to be changed. He's, he's older now. He's played outside of Toronto. And again, I think, you know, the flames obviously offered him war term. That, you know, I don't know what offers were out there for Nazam Kroli.

but, you know, you can kind of expect that the flames were offering to give them a little bit more than other teams were. You know, it comes down to where you want to be, but it also comes down to the dollars and term, and he got seven times seven. Like, you know, and Calgary's a great city. Honestly, I think, you know, Cadreys been around the league long enough to have been in Calgary on road trips and see it. it's a great place I think I don't know I think the city sometimes gets a bad rep I even before I went to Calgary for the first time

because I think it got I don't know I remember saying I was going on the West Coast trip and it was like Edmonton Calgary Vancouver and people were like oh have fun in Alberta and I remember saying something on Twitter like Calgary is way better than I thought it was going to be like it is not as like boring and cold and people were so mad at me

and like I don't know I'm from on Ontario and all anyone says is like, have fun in Alberta. It's like, this place is great. Like the city is beautiful. You're so close to the mountains. So, Codry's been around. He's been there enough times. You know, even for me, it took one walk around to be like, this is great.

I really like it here. And then obviously I moved there two years later. So, you know, Codry said that it was just a wanting to stay in Toronto thing. And he talked about, you know, being a Canadian guy, being back playing in a Canadian market. He really likes the city. He likes where the team's going. So I think it's just, you know, a lot has changed in the last couple of years for Codry.

But again, I think the undercurrent, we've got to understand is the flames offered him $7 million for the next seven years. Yeah, that's a great. It's a great deal for him to get that type of security and term and dollar. Yeah. And I'll say to Ian, like, and you can talk about this as well. Like there's just been so much about, you know, oh, that's not going to. to age well with Cadry and Huberto. It's like, ooh, those deals aren't going to age well. It's like, well, if you look at it, and this is something I've written about in the last couple

days, and even with the Hubertow stuff, is if you look at who the flames have under contract right now and you look at the state of the team, they are older, which is a problem for sure. But they have a very clearly defined window. Yes, their window of contention is smaller now then it would have been if Johnny Goodrow and Matthew Cichuk stayed, but they didn't, and they did not want to. And the flames could have either been a complete non-factor, basement, basement. Like, you know, they were always going to be okay because of Jacob Markstrom, but they were not going to be good if they just stood Pat and said, well, let's just try to bring Mongey and Chillington back and dip our toe here and there. They're going to be a non-factor.

And now they're older, yes, but they have a window of contention for the next three, four years, three years, I would say. That is not something I thought we would say once we saw Johnny leave and once we heard that Matthew wanted out before we knew what the return for Matthew Kachukh was going to be, right? So I think you look at it as, yeah, Nazam Kodry is going to be 37, Jonathan Hubertos can be 36. I mean, Jacob Markstrom's going to be like 36 years old in the next five years or whatever. You revisited that, and that is a problem for five years down the road. because you look at the contracts and you can clearly see the window where the flames need to do something. Tyler Tofoli and Elias Linholm, you know, they're unrestricted free agents in two years.

They've got two more seasons left. Andrew Mangyipani has three more seasons left. Noah Hanfen has two more years left. The only players signed through, you know, on opening night in 2026, the only player signed through to that period is Blake Coleman, Jacob Markstrom. Jonathan Huberto and Nazim Codry, you know, everyone else is gone or on new contracts and older. So it's like you can see where the flames are like, we're going to have to revisit here. But for now, they have a, like Cassie said, and in my opinion, a more balanced team. Like the flames are the best line in hockey last year, in my opinion.

They were one of the most productive. They were very good at five on five. They were very good defensively because of Elias Lynn home, who was a self-finalist. But there was way too many nights with a Calgary flame. were a one-line hockey team. And I think part of that was because you had players like Michael Backlin in a second-line center position and he couldn't really drive the same amount of offense as somebody like Nazam-Codry who led to.

I think adding quadry is going to give them a second line who can score, and it's going to put Backlin in the perfect spot to be as effective in a two-way shutdown role as he can. And they've got a better blue line, and you have Jacob Markstrom, who was terrible in the second around who's going to be very motivated to not do that again. So I think when you look at it, I think the flames are surprisingly, given how badly they took it on the teeth a month ago, are a really good spot. This is all on paper. The best laid plans can fall flat sometimes, and the worst signings can end up working out.

Like, we know that. We haven't seen them play yet. But, you know, I just think they've kind of had this remarkable rebound and, you know, given themselves a real shot that I don't think anybody thought they were going to have. And that's kind of the success of the offseason, right? There's some failures in there. Like I, in my grades, the first one is an F. It's Johnny Godreau leaves. I don't care that it was his choice. And I don't care that Bradtree Living did everything he could. That's a failure. Johnny Goddra left the organization. That's an F. And like any grade book, it should be. But everything they kind of did

to rebound from that has been really good. And that's kind of, I gave the Flames a B plus on the off season. Your last report card as a Flames beat report, you should just torch them all. D, D, D, F, let's see you later. I did give, I gave signing Kevin Rooney a D because I was like, I don't get it. They signed a guy who's only, he's 29 years old.

He's played 210 games in the NHL. He's a fourth line center slash winger. And they signed for two years, 1.3 million. It's like, why was this a day one you just lost Johnny? Here comes Kevin Rooney. There's still deaf guys out there. I was like, I don't get it.

This is a D. I don't get it. But then Trevor Lewis, I'm like, C plus. I wanted to give him an A because I like Trevor Lewis. You know what? Trevor Lewis, absolutely. This makes a ton of sense. Kevin Rooney, I don't understand.

I'm reading here. Anyways. It's been a wild time to cover the Calgary. Yeah, absolutely. it's been quite the summer. And look, the cadry signing on Friday leading in the weekend was a huge story. But probably for a lot of hockey people, Haley, the biggest story of last week was the World Junior Hockey Championships. And in a moment here, we're going to toss it over to Corey Promin and Max Bolton.

They are going to give our listeners a full recap of kind of storylines and, you know, players that kind of stepped up and elevated during the tournament. we're going to hand it over to them for a few minutes, and we'll come back and wrap it up. But the reason why we're going to hand it over to them is, they're the experts on this, but B, we're going to be completely transparent with our audience here and say, look, I think you and I were in the same boat here.

I was not engaged in the World Junior Hockey Championship this year for a couple of reasons. And I think it's a little bit of the distaste in my mouth over the World Junior program, Hockey Canada, the allegations around pervasive sexual assault with that program hasn't sat well with me. I think the fact that this tournament is in August and the timing for some of these games. I was on Twitter.

I was like, it's like two in the afternoon. Why is there a Team Canada game? I didn't know. I didn't. But I checked out. But I think we wanted to make sure that our listeners were served with proper analysis of a big tournament. So that's what we're going to hand it over to Corey and Max. But I think you were like me in that you didn't.

really engage in this year's tournament in the way that you probably have in the past? No, not really. And again, I'm with you, Ian. Like, was it, I think it was a bunch of reasons. It was, you know, everyone's, you're on vacation. It's August. You know, this is really the time for people like us to be like, I don't want to watch a hockey game right now. Like, I love the sport. I love the game. Like, I love watching hockey. I think you have to be able to do this job because it's a lot of hockey. And I think this is kind of the space where you're like, nope, I'm good. Don't need to see that. But then you have the added element of it's, you know, look at what's happening with hockey candidate right now. And are we really going to sit here? And it's hard

because it's like Mason, you know, you want to watch these kids do something. You know, it's their dream and they're winning gold. And it's, I don't know. It's just felt weird and gross. It's like I don't really want to watch this right now with everything that's going on. Like there's a really gross backdrop that this is happening in front of right now. And you almost get the sense that it was like, if they win, that's the focal point on hockey Canada now instead of like all this bad, horrible shit that's going on. And it's like, yeah, great. Like Mason McTavish, that was amazing.

It was, what he did was amazing. Like, good for you, Mason McTavish. Like, that save was incredible. I saw the highlight. I saw Ken Johnson's winner. It's awesome. It's awesome. But, like, I don't want this to be the thing that now becomes a focal point when you're talking about hockey candidates.

How great those players were for hockey Canada. Like, they're just, I'll talk about Mason McTavish as an individual and how good he was and Ken Johnson, how good he was. But there was a, I don't know. I just feel. Like, is this going to be the, yeah, it's uncomfortable. It's, it's like, are we, is this going to now be the thing where, like, they go back to the board? And it's like, look, we won. Like, you can't get rid of us.

That's my fear. It's just like, well, they won. They're more successful. Like, we know how important success is in this sport to people, especially, like, they care. We know that there are people who have cared more about success than people in these situations. we saw that with what happened with Kyle Beach. There was the focus on winning a Stanley Cup. Somebody else deal with this.

I got to coach Stanley Cup. You know, that's kind of what happened there. And I guess that's the fear with this is like, you know, here's the people who are at the top who are involved in a really gross thing. And it's like, but look, we just won and we can do it again. Let's not do that. Yeah, I'm with you. And I understand people are.

saying, well, Mason McTavish and Kent Johnson and Ridley Greg, they had nothing to do with it. And I get that. I understand that. But there are still people in power that did have something to do with it. And until those people, you know, face consequences, I don't know that I feel overly comfortable in, you know, quote unquote, enjoying the tournament or watching the tournament. But I'm very mindful of the fact that I don't want to sit here. Like, if you watched, if you're listening to this and you watch the World Junior Championship the way that you've always watched it,

I'm not here to judge you. I'm not. I'm happy that you and you were able to enjoy it. I'm curious to see when the television numbers come out, how much of a decline there is and how much, you know, usually TSN trumpets the, you know, record number of world junior viewers,

yada, yada, yada. I didn't see anything last week talking about television numbers, ratings. So that'll, you know, the engagement level will be very intriguing to me when it comes out. How many people watch that tournament?

And I don't know if it's just like a my timeline thing, but I saw more people talking about, like, TFC game. Like soccer. Like soccer matches, yeah. Yeah, like Toronto FC than some of the World Junior games. And again, like, you know, I didn't sit down and say, like, I'm going to watch a game. And, you know, maybe part of that is because, you know, part of the World Junior's been so ingrained, like a boxing day. You're going to sit down with your family.

You're going to watch the game. And it's going to be done by this state. And, like, that's part of the routine. and that's been messed up. But it's August, so it's a little bit weird. It's just like a, I don't know, kind of a perfect storm of like, eh, I'm good. Good. And again, like, you don't want to punish these, you know, players who weren't involved.

And that's why I say, like, I watched what Mason McTavish did and Kent Johnson and, you know, all these guys. It's like, great. Congratulations. You had a great showing. And you're probably going to have a very good NHL career. Congratulations. I just didn't watch. Yeah, well, listen, but to that end, we do understand that there's an appetite for analysis and coverage of the World Junior.

So right now we're going to toss things over to Corey Promen and Max Bolton. They obviously watched the tournament very closely. They've got a lot of analysis. So we'll be, Haley and I'll be back on the other side. But again, we'll toss it over here is Corey Promin and Max Bolman with a full rundown of the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship. Thank you very much, Ian and Haley. Corey, Prondman, you were at this tournament. Most of it, I think he came home for the end part.

Yeah, I was there for the round, Robin. You know, I was at the Hulinkogreski for a week. I figured two weeks was plenty. So, yeah, I missed the medal round of life. Can you rate your regret on a scale of 1 to 10 for coming home when you realized that you missed one of the better plays I can recall in a world junior at the end of this game in overtime? Um, a one.

I would have liked to have at least a part of my summer at home. Fair. But obviously, I prefer to go to the medal round for the world juniors. If I ever do just do a half and half of it, I usually do pick the metal round half, but it just so happened that it was already in Alberta. So no regrets, although it was, that play by McTavish was, Mason McTavish was incredible. The play Max is alluding to was right during the three-on-three overtime.

between Canada and Finland in the gold medal game, Mason McTavish. After turning the puck over, mind you, and a three-on-one leaning the other way, and I believe it was Topin Nimamilal almost knocking it in and winning it for Finland, McTavish knocks down a loose puck on the goal line, which the play goes back the other way and Canada ends up winning. Really nice play all around. I mean, the swat out of the air, I think, is what really did it for me is, you know, the hand eye.

And the fact of the puck, it's still very easily could have ended up at the net there. It kind of sits on the goal line. Ken Johnson takes it down. Doesn't get his first attempt at what would have been a gorgeous game winner, but a follow and a game winner nonetheless. Wire to Wire, Canada does not lose a game in this tournament.

I think fair to say it was pretty clear the whole way. They were the best team at this tournament. Oh, yeah, by considerable margin. but that gold medal game was a little bit of scare. The shots were pretty much even. Finland outshot them considerably in the third period. I never felt like this Canadian team was a perfect team or an unbeatable team. I just, you know, this was just the nature of this year's world juniors

where you look around the field and everyone else's rosters like Canada's were depleted in some significant manner. Finland actually wasn't, so it wasn't really that big a surprise that, that they were the gold medal opponent. They probably were the only team whose team was better than the team that they brought in December among all the participants in this year's tournament.

But I mean, the Canadian team still compared to this field was clearly dominant and had... There were teams that could stick with them in some regard. You're like, when you play against the checks, whatever, they had one deep pair or two lines that can skate with them,

but there were, was another team in the tournament that had the four lines and the three to D pairs that the Canada had. To your point, it was impressive the way Finland kind of pushed back. Because early in that game, it looked like Canada could run them. It looked like it could end up, you know, a four to one kind of game there with the pressure Canada was putting on. But Finland, I know you wrote this in your observations column on Sunday, their top line really, Yilkum Kemmel scores, I think the game tying goal to make it two-two. they did bring, like you said, a better team to this tournament, and they're just so good an international tournament.

They just didn't go away. No, they did not. And I think the performance of Yol Kim Kamel, the recent first round pick by the National Predators, was rather notable. I mean, you know, this is a guy who at the December tournament was fine. He got the couple of shots and scoring chances. He definitely wasn't a standout by any means. Brad Lambert, the other draft. eligible there was clearly better than him.

And then Brad Lambert ends this tournament at Healthy Scratch. And Yolkin Kamel ends this tournament second overall in tournament scoring just after being drafted. He wasn't on that top line with Ronnie Hervonan and not too much who wasn't there because of COVID protocols. But he starts and ends the tournament on the top line and it's a big reason why that line was so successful to go with the return of Rattu and the strong play of the captain Ronnie Hervon.

Prospect-wise, the big takeaway is probably, I don't know that we're going to see Mason McTavish at this tournament again, even though he is eligible again. He's the tournament MVP. He sure looks like an Anaheim duck to me. Oh, yeah. I would be somewhat surprised if he's at this tournament next year. Never say never. He's still a 19-year-old.

So, I mean, we'll see. The HL's a hard league. We'll see what happens. But he seems on the fast track to being in the league next year. I imagine, I can't say Kent Johnson's a lot to make the blue jackets, but I've got to imagine they're going to give them a good long look at their roster. The Islanders, after pretty much not adding anything significant in this off season, you wonder whether Out 2, Ratu, or William Dufourg, get long looks at camp.

I don't know. I think because both of their skating, they might want them to year in the American League for both of them. But those are guys that I could see in the mix for those clubs. and before he got injured, I thought Luke Hughes looked like a guy who, yeah, you know, was a,

was a real standout. I didn't listen to me in the standouts because ultimately he didn't play well in the medal round game, not due to any fault of his own, because he got injured, but he looked like a guy who's continued to be on the fast track to be a devil by the spring of 2020. Olin Zellwigger is a guy who's not right on the fast track

to being in the NHL here, but he does finish as one of the best defensemen at this tournament. Was he on the, did he end up making the all tournament team? He did. He was, yeah, he had 11 points in seven games,

third in tournament scoring. For me, he wasn't named best defensemen by the directorate, but to me he was the best defenseman at the tournament. I thought he was, he wasn't, obviously on that team of Canada, on the team of Canada power plate

where they have Kent Johnson on one flying, Logan Stan, over the other flank, Mason McTavish at the net front and Connor Baudard in the bumper. It's easy to rack up points, but I thought Zellweger was making a lot of plays. He always had the puck on his stick. His skating stood out and allowed him to accomplish a lot of things at both ends of the ice. I thought he was good enough defensively, despite his size. I thought his tournament was very impressive.

And he showed, you know, we talked about, I think, in previous episode, why they didn't bring Brian Clark. Olin Zellweger is why they didn't bring Brian Clark because this guy is a hell of a defenseman, not just a really good junior defenseman. I think he's going to be a good pro defenseman too. On the other side of the coin, if Canada kind of more or less lives up to expectations, they win the gold, certainly. The United States, a team that I think we knew coming in had some questions in net.

Sure. They get knocked out by Czechia in the knockout round and do not. make the medal round, medal round being semifinals where you can actually meddle. I don't know that I would say, you know, there's a couple goals here and there. I actually thought it was kind of the lack of offense

that did in the U.S. once they got into knockout play. The lack of offense hurt then the lack of basically depth among the lines. I think their top two lines were just being rolled consistently there by the end. That third goal in the quarterfinals between the U.S. and they had checks. Yes. On Caden and Barrico where it kind of tips in and off his blocker, than off his thigh and in.

You have to wonder if the Chicago draft pick and BU goalie, Drew Commesso was in net and not in Barraco, what would have happened? There's no guarantees, you know, chaotic things can happen with other goalies in net, but Drew Comeso, who opted not to come to the tournament this season, would have clearly been in goal for that game. and it's something that leads in the back of my mind when I saw that one go in.

It's fair. I mean, the U.S. ultimately doesn't score three goals anyway, but, you know, if it goes to overtime, you never know what happened. Certainly, in an even game, you've probably liked the Americans to come out on top in O.T. as well. The U.S. is, you know, top lines, Cooley, Nize Coronado. I think, you know, they looked like a top six line. And Bordolo, Slaggart, and Mazur probably became probably the top line for the U.S.,

the best line in terms of performance. Mazur and Borderlo were both near the tournament leaderboard for scoring. But just beyond that, it was hard to really find much offense. Yeah, I really like the Coronado Cooley-Nyes line in the round Robin. But they, in terms of just the possession and scoring chances they were creating, but they weren't very good at the quarterfinals. Nise in particular didn't score a goal in this tournament, which was somewhat disappointing for him. Yeah, I mean, Slaggart and Mazur and.

And Bordolo played well. I wouldn't call that line dynamic, but they got the points. Mazar scored quite a few big goals for the U.S. in the tournament. But yeah, that bottom six just didn't get it done. Mackie Samiskevich, the first round pick, I thought he was just okay. The tournament, Brett Barard, who was a returning player from the gold medal team, I thought he was just okay. Their down the lineup guys really didn't do much.

And they weren't really missing that many players. pretty much just missing Matt Maddie Baneers and Chas Lucius from the December team. Obviously, important players, particularly Baneers, but it wasn't when they were missing six players like Canada was from their forward group. So I would say their effort frequently in the quarterfinal in terms of the offense was disappointing. Chequette, I don't want to take anything away from them. They played a really good game. And two forwards probably are the headliners here, Yuri Kulich and Jan Meshak. They are.

I also would highlight the Vegas pick, Matias, who just after being drafted and merges as the first line center on this team and plays a big role for the club. But I do think it was Meshach and Kulich who drove the bus. Kulich also just recently drafted and he was one of the tournament leaders in several major statistical categories. I thought he was really impressive. And when I was there, he had some scouts buzzing in terms of how he looked as a guy who has good speed, good skill, scoring ability. He looked like his body's already built to play a pro game. I could see him playing pro next season in North America.

And Meshach, in his third world junior, no surprisingly, he plays a big role and plays effectively. He plays hard. He's a really good skater. The question of how much offense he has as a pro. I think there's probably enough to be, you know, bottom six-four to the national hockey league. But those three guys definitely did drive the bus for them offensively. the defenseman there, David Eirchecked the sixth overall picked by Columbus Blue Jackets. I thought he was good.

I wouldn't say he had it was an incredible tournament, but I thought in the game versus the United States in particular, he was very good. He frustrated a lot of their top forwards. Sweden was another team kind of like the U.S. where even in pool play, though, really, if the U.S. is just kind of flopped in the quarterfinals, start to back, I think Sweden's probably pretty disappointed in the way this whole thing went, and yet they come out of it with bronze. Right, and that's just the way, you know, one and done tournaments go.

It depends when you have your bad game. But Sweden had quite a few bad games, I thought, and there just was no offense on this team. And you knew that coming in a little bit, that they were going to be a little offensively challenged, but just watching that the tournament, even their first round pick forwards, of which they had several,

really didn't get it done on it, insistent basis. And now they had literally no center talent in terms of they had centers that are draft picks or good junior centers, but they didn't have high-end center talent. William Eklund would have been their

first line center at this tournament, even though he played wing for a considerable portion of the season at some center in Sweden this year. But even the centers they did have played wing for most of the year back in Sweden too. So there was a lot struggle to generate offense all around their lineup.

A lot of it ended up coming from the blue line. Emil Andre, one of the better players in the tournament and he scores a couple goals for them, a few goals for them. Four goals, eight points, yeah. Yeah. So it was a good tournament for him. I mean, probably not the bronze game that maybe he would have envisioned, but I think, you know, they win the game, so that's all that really matters.

But it is probably Lisell and Rosen that you're looking for a little more from. I thought Liselle was still. I don't know that I would say he was as good as you probably need, as they certainly needed him to be. He was buzzing, and all his bronze medal goal was fantastic, where he beat the defense into the puck and then beats the goalie to the far post. You know, he was very good. You saw, not very good, but he was good, though, because you saw the excellent skating and the skill. I'm not sure he generated offense on a consistent basis versus the good teams at, you know, again,

at the rate that you would like to see. Same thing with Isaac Rosen. Same thing with Oscar Ola, Olson, too. an extent. Again, they were all good players. They all got their points. They just wouldn't say they'd generate offense consistently. In those hard games, I would think all three of them kind of stuck to the perimeter

a little too much. And you don't want to criticize the younger players too much, the 04s in an 02 tournament. But, you know, you look at the other first round picks, Liam Ogreta and John Alec and Lekronomaki, I didn't really think they really got a whole lot done on a consistent basis, too. And if you really want to, you know, turn your eyes away from the, the forwards. Their go-to player in December, their star player in December tournament and probably on the roster, Simon Edinson, just had an okay tournament, I would say. And now there were some confounding factors there where he got injured in the pre-tournament and he developed food poisoning

midway through the tournament. But at the end of the day, I can't say that he is a guy who excelled in any notable manner. Yeah, I think you still saw, you know, it's the length and the skating, but oftentimes, you know, he'd transition to puck and it just wouldn't lead to much, or he's throwing a puck away from behind the net. And, you know, late in the bronze, I think you saw probably more what you were hoping to see. I agree. I like this bronze medal game. Yep. But I think, and is that coming out of the food poisoning? We don't know. But I agree with you. Just okay. And that's a guy who I think a lot of people are looking at as, you know, at least 50-50 to make the NHL, if not better, to start this season. I don't know that this is the runway launch.

that you wanted for that. Right. I was probably more lean 50-50 to him being on the roster. Now it's more 50-50. Lean him to maybe a year in Grand Rapids, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. That's what they did with Moritz cider. In the...

Backwards. Yeah, right. Yeah, they did. Grand Rapids in Sweden. This would be Sweden than Grand Rapids. But yes, I mean, waiting until a defenseman is 20 years old, it's not the end of the world.

No, it's not. Any other final thoughts. I mean, there were some teams here. Latvia, probably outperformed almost everybody's expectations, any other closing thoughts here on this tournament? Watching that Slovakia team was kind of depressing just because...

Without Slovkovsky and Nemitz, yeah. Well, I mean, because they were so fun to watch in December, and I remember I went to go watch their first game of the tournament. It was a pre-terming game against Germany, and they could barely keep up. And you were just like, oh, my God, this is... What a tragedy this is. after seeing how good they were in the in the December tournament

with again with Slav Urii Slavkowski Simon Nemich Philip Meshar you know Martin Cromack was on that team too and I'm sure I'm missing one or two other guys who didn't end up coming it was that was a hell of a team and the remains that were left of this club were just okay they don't even make it to the medal round that was tough to watch

and unfortunate to watch It was. And Dvorsky, Delbor Dvorsov, I know he made the wrong side of your observations list here. A guy who I think we had hoped, if he's going to launch and become a top 10 pick, you want to see it a little bit here. I do wonder how the team context affects that, though, right? Like if the whole team's kind of, you know, drag in a little bit, it's pretty hard for an individual to stand out at this level. Right. No, again, he's an 05 and an 02 tournament. I'm not going to hurt the guy's draft stock too much. based on this tournament, but if you came into this tournament thinking, oh, well, his skating's an issue.

Can he keep up at the higher levels? This was a tournament that kind of accentuated those issues for you, even though he had a tremendous skill and scoring ability. One of the other thing I thought from this tournament that was interesting is there was really a lack of goaltending, I thought, at this tournament, like really good goaltending for the pro level, other than the Minnesota pick, yes, for Wallstead. Yeah, Wallstead.

surprise there. He, and he was maybe even better at the winter tournament, though. He still ends this one, I think, with right around like a 940 save percentage. So really good. Yeah, I mean, you had the Detroit pick for Chequille, Yon Bednash, pretty much from the third goal. By the end of it, the Ottawa pick left Levy, Maryland, by the end of it. We mentioned how to USA, you know, they had three undrafted goalies in their net, Dylan Garan for Canada. You know, I would say he was good. I wouldn't say he He was often challenged, by the end of the day, his numbers were really strong. But it was really yes for Walsh that it stood above the rest in terms of goal-tending in this event. I'll say, you know, for as bad as the third goal was, Embarico still ends this tournament at around a 920 safe percentage.

I think he pretty much gave you what you needed to right up until that moment. Right. He did very well up until the game you needed him to play well. Yes. I wouldn't even say it was the whole game. I think you're allowed one really, really. rough goal, right? I mean, there's a couple leakers in pool play, I guess. He was not the reason they lost that game. He was part of the reason they lost that game, but he was not the

reason they lost that game. The USA, who came into the game with the second most goals of the tournament and leaves the only two goals, that's the main reason why they lost that game. Yeah, and maybe the U.S. has kind of become accustomed to being able to have these goalies that can bail them out. I'd certainly put the U.S. among the best goaltending producing countries out there. I thought Finland's goal, when they made the switch from Miralina to Yakula, I thought he, if Finland had pulled off that win in the gold medal game, I personally thought he would at least have deserved some consideration for goaltender the tournament, even in just three games, because of how he lifted them. Oh, yeah, for sure. And in terms of the USA, the other variable was also Luke Hughes getting injured in the first couple shifts of that quarterfinal. And, you know, you subtract that abeneers.

you subtract Jake Sanderson and you practically subtract Luke Hughes from that team and all of a sudden, that that team looks slightly less interesting. Yes, yes, certainly. The Austrian goalie, too, I remember he was kind of a becoming a storyline at the winter tournament, Sebastian Ranishits. He doesn't kind of get the Hollywood moment this time around. But I agree. Whilst that's the story, I wonder how long you think his, what's his runway here? How long is it until he could be threatening for the NHL?

I would guess one year in the American League. It would be quite a rush job to push somebody up that quickly. I mean, even Spencer Knight took two years after his draft. I'll be at two years in college. This guy, a little bit more pro experience, but I'm guessing he will do a full year in Iowa. And then the 2020, 23, 24 season is when you start to see him break through in Minnesota. All right.

That is going to do it for us, Ian and Haley. I think that's all our thoughts, right, Corey? I'm sure we have some more thoughts, but we don't want to take away from their time. I have no more thoughts. So we'll throw it right back to you guys. All right, there you go. Terrific analysis from Promin and Boltman there. Haley, to wrap it, I got one multiple choice madness question for you.

Okay. One question, one question only. Haley Salveen, who had the better summer of 2022? Was it A, Pierre Dorian or B, Brad Trilliving? Who had the better summer? The general manager of the Ottawa senators or the general manager of the Calgary Flames? Dorian or Tree Living? Who had the better summer?

I feel like if he were to obviously ask this question, like a month ago, it was Pierre Dorian. Like, it was the, I was tweeting, like, Summer of Sends, hot Pierre Summer. Like, look at the stuff he's doing. It was great. But I think the moves that Tree Living made, like, after, again, like, taking it on the teeth, I think it was Brad Tree Living. He got Jonathan Huberto McKenzie Weaker a prospect and a first round pick for Matthew Chuck.

Hands tied. No leverage. Let me just have this massive blockbuster. I mean, Dorian had some good moves, but he didn't pull up a blockbuster of that kind of proportion. And, you know, he signed Claude Drew, which is great. Local guy, Roger Glewing signed Nazam Kodry, who was one of the, if we throw it back to five weeks ago, who was like number two on UFA boards. It was Nazam Kandri. Yeah.

You know, Broadtree Living got the guy. He waited for five weeks and he made the, it's like you're fishing, you've got the, you've got the fish on the hook and then he leaves, then you get him again, and then you finally pull it. You know, he played the long game with Codry and won. You know, did he, can you say he won if you signed him to a big contract that might be an overpayment in a couple years? I guess it depends what the flames do in the next three years in this kind of window of contention. But I think the way that he rebounded, um, Personally, I think it's Brad Tree Living who had the better off season just because of what he dug himself out of and made the team on paper better. I think Dorian made the sense better and he had some savvy moves, but he didn't get like the best UFA, one of the best UFAs and he didn't have a blockbuster. He also didn't lose to like franchise players either. So that's where I get stuck. It's like Dorian didn't have the subtractions.

So I don't know. It's a great question. I'd love to hear from our listeners, too. Who had a better summer? Pierre Dorian or Brad for Living, because you just laid out a great argument for why it would be for living. Ottawa fans would say, look, Doreon, and you saw this in Dom's off-season confidence rankings for front offices.

Pierre Dorian, completely, the faith in him has been restored in this fan base. And then that's because of his moves and landing Alex to Brinkett, signing Claude Jeroo, trading for Camp Talbot, getting out of Matt Marie's contract these these were all things that people thought weren't possible leased for to brinket too they didn't have to give up the prospect yeah i think they did really well in in getting to brinket and i think they did really well in in only having to retain 25% of matt murray's deal so there's a lot to be said here for each of these guys but i i to me it's a it's a great question and maybe there's another general manager who's in the mix but

i think both true living and doria did a lot to regain the confidence of their fan cases, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think the flames lost, obviously lost more in terms of quality than the Sends did. But I think if you were to line up who they acquired in terms of the quantity and quality to the Sends, I think the flames added more. Like, because Wigger and Huberto, Cadry, you line that up against, you know,

de Brinket-Juru, Cam Talbot. I think the talent level is a little higher on the flame side, but obviously if you subtract losing Goodro and Chuck, then Dorian's offseason looks better. So I don't know. It's a good question. Yeah. It's a great topic to debate.

It's a great place for us to end it. So listen, this was a lot of fun. I would like you to email me a copy of the letter that you wrote to secure you. I'm just very curious. Very curious about this. letter that you wrote to secure your apartment, you know? Absolutely. Wouldn't you also love to read what the other people wrote that, like,

it's probably riddled with grammatical mistakes. Or maybe they didn't write one. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Maybe they just, like, didn't. Like, that was the one thing that realtor I worked with was great. She was like, you should do this because it's going to help. So I don't know.

Maybe the other people didn't do that. And it just made me look like a really great tenant. There you go. And at some point, you need to secure the rights to helmet nachos in the NHL. And then you're going to be buying places. I'm going to do that. Yeah. You're going to be secure the rights to it, helmet nachos.

And they're not going to be like team helmets. It's going to be my helmet. Yeah, Haley's helmets. H.H. Here we go. He'll be going. He's helmet nachos. Yeah.

Can someone tell me where to find helmets for nachos? You have to make them. You have to make them. All right. Listen, yeah, somebody reach out to Haley where she can make helmet nachos. We'll leave it there. You know, Corey Prondman was part of that little recap of the World Juniors with Max Bolton. We want to remind our listeners this week, Monday through Thursday,

Corey's going to have his 22 NHL pipeline rankings. Those episodes are going to drop every morning. So in addition to our regular slate of shows, Promond's pipeline rankings every morning, Monday through Thursday. Wednesday, by the way, Rob Pizzo, Sarah Sivian, and Jesse Granger are going to have Dalley Starr's head coach Peter DeBore dropping by the show as well as the guy who wears those little white gloves. The keeper of the cup, Phil Pritchard, is going to also be on the roundtable.

That's on the Wednesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. We want to thank everybody for listening to this Monday edition of the show with Haley and myself. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating review. We certainly appreciate that. You can subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast. We'll get all of our bonus content from the entire network. We'll start with a 30-day free trial. It's just 99 cents a month after that.

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