The Athletic Hockey Show - Bruce Boudreau out, Rick Tocchet in as Vancouver Canucks coach, Johnny Gaudreau returns to Calgary

Episode Date: January 24, 2023

To kick off a packed Monday, Ian and Julian discuss Johnny Gaudreau's return to Calgary on Monday night. Then, Harman Dayal joins the show to discuss Rick Tocchet's first practice as coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the decision to make this change when the team did, and how fans gave Bruce Boudreau a classy farewell. To wrap up, they award their Jack Adams winner of the week, and a Pacific division-themed Multiple Choice Madness.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowGo to https://www.chime.com/nhlshow to sign up for a Chime Credit Builder Visa Credit Card today! Thanks to Chime for supporting the show.Sign up today at stitchfix.com/hockey to get $20 off your first purchase! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back. It is a Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. That means it's Ian Metis, Julian McKenzie with you. For the next hour, we're going to hit on a wild weekend in Vancouver for the Canucks. Our own Harmon Dial is going to join us. A little bit later, Harmon, we'll hit on Rick Tockett's first practice with the Canucks. we're going to talk about the handling of Bruce Boudreau, all of that. Just some nutty stuff.

But I'll tell you, Julian, you and I, usually we record the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. We try and get this done before 12 noon Eastern time. Sometimes we even do it Sunday night. But you and I are in the center of some, you know, obviously Harmon and Thomas Drans in Vancouver. They've got a major story brewing over there. But you and I were pretty busy ourselves on Monday. I found out, I roll into the rink, I found out Josh Norris is out for the season for Ottawa and you're in Calgary for the return of Johnny Hockey, which I can only imagine

is one of the games that everybody had circled on the calendar, right? Got to say, they had, the Flaves had practice on Sunday and we already saw in the hallway leading to the locker room NHL on ESPN, like they had their little like banners for interviews or whatever, like they were already set up there. Like, and then for the press conferences we were in for on Monday, you're seeing like John Butchergrass and Ray Ferraro and Leah Hextall and the

Columbus traveling media there. Like, it was, it was pretty packed. And then Johnny Goddrow steps out for practice, his teammates boo him and jeer him in anticipation for what he's probably going to get later on this evening from fans. It's a genuine debate topic from

people. And it's been a debate topic for months. Like, even when, like, were asking about Matthew Kachuk and what reception he was going to get. Like the very next question you're thinking of is, well, what is Johnny Goddrow going to get when he returns? And I think this is just how I, just in terms of talking to different people about it, it seems as if Matthew Kachuk leaving the way that he did was a little bit more palatable because he let the flames know and they traded and they got pieces back in return as opposed to Johnny Goddrow, who some people feel kind of. kind of left the flames high and dry, literally waiting until like the final hours until a free agency before making his decision and they get nothing for him. So people have made that debate that because his decision went the way that it did, his reception might be worse than

what Matthew Kachuk got, which was he got some booze, he got an ovation, and then got immediately booed after. But I also thought there were some instances where he has the puck and then people just kind of like kind of spaced out for a second. And then they're like, oh yeah, right, we have to boo him. I feel, I mean, I don't know. It's going to be very interesting to see how fans react to Yeah, and I mean, I think you're right. I think there's a difference. I think what the fans did for Matthew Kuchuk was awesome. Like, it's very, that to me showed a really savvy and smart hockey fan base and market where they're like, okay, man, we're going to, we're going to give you your flowers before the game because, you know, Matthew Kuchuk played his heart out for the Calgary Flames.

Like nobody at the end of the Matthew Kuch era was like, man, I feel like that guy, that guy didn't give it as all. He was a premier power forward, played the game in a certain way, was very productive, but wanted to leave. So the minute that game started, hey, it's boo time, you don't play for us. But you're right. On Johnny Goodrow, there is something about, you know, maybe his style was a little bit different. I'll tell you what. You know, the one thing I always think of with Johnny Goodrow and Daryl Sutter. Okay?

So if you remember when Johnny Goodro was set to play his five, and fans will remember this, because I feel like this was in the pandemic, that pandemic shortened season or whatever it was. But, you know, Johnny Goodroo is getting set to play his 500th game, which I think we can all agree, is a pretty significant milestone for a young player in the NHL. Hey, you're getting to 500 games, you're halfway to 1,000, that's a big milestone.

And Darrell Sutter just completely extinguishes any excitement or enthusiasm around the milestone. And remember his quote, I'm going to paraphrase, I don't have it in front of me, his quote was basically, you know, hey, Daryl, what do you think about Johnny Goodroe playing his 500th game? And his answer is, well, I hope he plays, he brings more enthusiasm than he did in game 499. And it's like, wow, you just went right at your guy. So that's, to me, it's an interesting angle to all of this is the coach that had him is still

there in Calgary, right? And that's, that's part of it all. It's going to be, it's going to be an interesting scene, I think, at the Saddle Dome on Monday. I'm glad you mentioned the coach. I'm glad you mentioned the coach. Because that same coach, when we asked him about Johnny Gujarreau today, I only have part of the quote that sticks out in my head because he did explain a little bit more. He straight up said he was disappointed to lose Johnny Goodro. And he only had him for a short amount of time, I get it.

But he acknowledged the fact that, you know, he was as productive as he was throughout his career. But, like, it just, it's just an example. the quote you brought up and how he feels about him after the fact, it's just this example of Daryl Sutter and the way that he seems to talk about players publicly just being very weird and very, I don't want to say mind games, but like it's just, it can be a little off-putting to some people. Like it's kind of funny that we bring this up because we're a couple days out from how Daryl Sutter reacted to Jacques-Upelte, making his NHL debut, which I wrote about for the end. athletic. And I mean, I kind of focused on the family angle and how their track from coming from Quebec City to see him play. But all anyone really wanted to talk about out of that game was how Daryl Sutter spoke

about Jacob after that game in which he was asked a question by good friend Solomphaljev at TSN. And he's all like, who is that? What's his number? And then he just reads out his stat line. And so many people kind of took that as disrespect. back. I don't think anyone was expecting him to throw any roses at at a player like that. I mean, he only played like a little over six minutes.

But I think for for Daryl Sutter, at least openly, to just be like, yeah, whatever, like he's just he has a long way to go and just read off a stat line. I think it left a lot of, a lot of bad taste, a lot of people's mouths with how that was perceived and how that was taken

how that was taken. And I know Jacques-up has since apparently gone to, he spoke to a Jean-Denade of Quebec, and said that Daryl told him that he played a good game. And then also acknowledged the fact that he didn't get to play all that much because of how the game went. But we don't know everything that's being said behind closed doors. And if you're going to go out there and you're going to say that about a player, like, yeah, people, I think have every right to kind of take that the way that they're going to take it. So when you think about that and look, Jacques comes out the first player to get stuff like that.

And I'm sure veterans have different moments like that were like Daryl speaks about them that way. And maybe it's a bit of a weird theory or not theory, but there's a way to think with like, in my brain, I just think like, I wonder how much more Johnny Goodrow would have been enticed to stay in Calgary. If the head coach that was there in place, I don't know, maybe didn't have that tough love style. Maybe Johnny Goddra would have wanted to play in the States. Like Michael Backland even acknowledged as much like, yo, like he at some point wanted to play in the States in his career. But if like, if Johnny Goddrow was so indecisive about leaving Calgary to the point I want to go to the States, and I'm sure there were family decisions. I mean, obviously there were family implications and all of that. He mentioned his, he wanted to be close to his father.

And I'm sure with whatever his wife might be doing in terms of work, that could also play into it too. But if he was as indecisive about this as he says he. he was, like down to like the final hours. How much would coaching have mattered in all of that? Like how much, how much does that matter for, for, for flames players? Because now, like, we're at a point where, like, people are wondering, like, oh, what's that, what, like, the environment that's there now, like, what does that do for young players who could get brought up in that system? And if we're going to think about young players, then we're obviously going to think about, you know, older players too. And look, I think Darrell Sutter, I think there are a lot of guys who will, can comment.

on how he is with players and I think you'll probably get some people who speak positively of him. Tyler To Foley's done that at different points considering he's won a Stanley Cup with him. But I think it is fair to debate and open the door and ask if Daryl Sutter

didn't at least publicly speak about some of his players the way that he does, whether it's for the purpose of not hyping them up and just an old school way or not. I think it's worth asking if that style was a bit different, how would that affect players

and their futures in the city? I think it's worth having that debate. Yeah, hey, listen, Julian, I think it's a good point, but I wonder if Daryl Sutter is not unlike, you know, to some extent, John Tortorella, or if you go to another sport,

you know, think of Bill Bealecheck in the NFL. Like, the way you are with the media, yes, you're a curmudgeon and yes, you know, you're abrasive and short with the media. But behind closed doors, you're very protective of your players. And I think Daryl Sutter in particular, I think guys love him.

Like I think he cares about the players as human beings. And I think you go back and some of the players in the league, Tofoli would be a great example. Anybody that, remember that 70s line? It was, what was it, Tofoli and Jeff Carter? And was it Tanner Pearson or whatever? Like all of some of these guys had the best years of their lives with Darryl Sutter as their coach.

And I think at the end of it, there'll be a lot of guys that'll go back. I bet you at the end of their career, they'd go back. And I bet you Johnny Goodrow would be one of them. Matthew Kuchak, they'd go back at the end, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. They go back and they say, you know what, Daryl, I didn't like it at the time. And I appreciate it now. You made me a better player. But I think Daryl's a little bit different.

I think it's more of an act. I think it's more of an act for the means. for the media. I think he's a good guy. I think he's a really funny guy. I just think he doesn't have time for the media. I don't think he just, I think he just doesn't like doing the media.

Yeah. My thing with Daryl Sutter, like I mean, I don't know him personally like that. I've only had a few interactions with him. The interactions I've had with him, I think have been good. I don't have any really big issue to say anything about Daryl Sutter,

to be clear, you know? Um, but yeah, definitely in terms of him dealing with media, I don't think he likes dealing with media all that much because I guess probably from his perspective, he'll say something and we're going to twist it the way that we're going to want to twist it. Maybe he could argue that if he were to somehow listen to this discussion, he might feel that we're doing that right now. But like, yeah, I can understand he might not necessarily like us, but also at the same time, I sometimes feel that he might make it a little bit more tense than it needs to be.

I don't know. And to your point about with the media too, like, going back to that Peltier thing with the way that he answered that, like, he was all like, yeah, like, what number does he wear or whatever? Like, as he's saying that, he's already, like, reaching for his glasses and, like, going to pick up the paper. Like, there's an element of theater to this, too. I don't think it's just somebody who is like, you know what, I don't like dealing with the media. I think this is somebody who also realizes the platform that he's on and the people who watch him do what he's doing. and he's like, okay, well, you know, I don't like you guys that much. So here's how I'm going to, you know, maybe not show you up, but like, it's calculated.

Like, I think definitely that particular, that particular thing you do with Peltier, I don't want to say it was a bit, but like, I think he thought about that a little bit. And the way he might have spoken about, Johnny Goudreau about that one time, like, yeah, that's stuff that you'll think about. Like, it's, I think there's an element, there's a theatrical element to that too. That's, that's my feel. You know, my only interaction with Daryl Sutter outside of a press conference or a formal setting. So L.A. is in Ottawa years ago. I don't know what year this would have been, 2015, if I'm ballparking it, 2016. And I'm standing in the hallway of Canadian Tire Center.

And Darrell comes out to do his media availability in Ottawa. And he says to me, so the night before I had been moonlighting, I did a little bit of anchoring work with the local C-T. station in Ottawa for years. So I would go on there. The local news, I would do sports. Who haven't you worked for in this business? I know.

Jeez. Anyway. That's a compliment, by the way, not a shot. It's your way of saying I'm old. I get it. You're like, who haven't you worked for? No. Anyway, whatever.

Go off. Anyway, so Satterj says to me, just before he's like, hey, he's a good job on the news last night. Oh, thank you very much. So anyway, I'm kind of thrown off by this a little bit. I'm like, what? Like, that's odd. So the scrum ends and I say, like, what do you? You watch the local news? And he says, and I don't know, you know, maybe this is

a feature story you can do. And maybe he doesn't do it anymore. Maybe he was pulling my leg. I have another Daryl story after this. He says, he says to me, I make it a habit of watching the local news in every city I'm in. So I know what's going on. Yes. I didn't know that. I don't know if that was just him pulling my leg and he just watched it that night or he legit goes into every city and he's like, okay, six o'clock, I'm going to watch the local news, buddy, that's what he said to me. Oh my God. Yeah, it's kind of funny. Like, Darrell Sutter, like, that's what makes this, that's what makes him so fascinating character. Because in front of everybody with the lights on, with the cameras on, like he'll, he'll act the way he does with media. Some days, it's more pleasant than others. And,

you'll have like a like a Jacob Peltier ask incident like what we saw over the weekend. But then like if you're like talking to like one on one, it could be like a little bit like jarring because you don't see it coming. Like on Sunday. So like the day after all that Peltier stuff happens. Like you know, we're all buying our own business in the locker room or whatever.

I'm just kind of hanging around the room. And like Darryl Sutter like is walking through the locker room. That doesn't always happen. And at one point like I'm just standing in the middle of the room and Daryl's like walking out. and like our eyes kind of like sort of me. And like if I see that's happening, like I'll just,

I'll just give you the nod respectfully, you know, just to, you know, do whatever. And like, Darrell like sort of does the nod, but then he kind of stops in his tracks.

And he's like looking at me. And like, I kind of take that as if like, oh, like I don't know if I like he wanted me to say something or, or whatever. So I was just saying like, yeah,

like I was just saying, hey. And then he's like, well, I was actually trying to reach her hat. And I don't know if I've worn this hat on, on the show before when we do our little like, zooms or whatever, but I have this, like, one hat that says, like, take care of yours.

It's like this, like, one of my, like, favorite hats I just, like, wear. And he's, like, trying to read my hat. And I'm, like, I lower the brim and he's, like, trying to read it. He's like, yeah, all right. And then he just, like, walks off. And, like, one of the reporters in the room is all like, when's Darrell taking you to dinner? Like, it's one of those, like, weird interactions. Like, you don't expect to happen.

That's like me and the news. Yeah. I'm just like, you just don't expect that coming. Like, it's like, one day. he might rip you for asking some question some way and not, you know, paying attention. I have not, I mean, let me knock on what now because I'm pretty sure in about a month and a half or maybe even sooner. I'll probably ask some dumb question and be ridiculed on the internet for it because it seems

like a right of passage for everybody in this market. But like, you might go through that and then like you'll ask you like what your, how your vacation was. Like it's so weird dealing with Daryl Sunder. And I know I'm coming from the perspective of someone who has only been in here for four months. but like, I, it's so weird. It's so weird.

God, man, I wish you were wearing a more, I wish you were wearing a more embarrassing hat. You rolled in with like one of the, what would be an embarrassing hat that like, Daryl started just trying to, he's like, what's that, does that say who farted? What?

Or like baby fat or some, some ridiculous brand or something. Yeah, like, I don't know. And he's all like, he has no clue about what the hell this is or whatever. Like that would wear, like, but like take care of yours is like a nice slogan. Yes.

Oh man, I wish you had an embarrassing hat. Like a novelty hat. I don't know if I have any. I have a lot of hats, but I don't know if I have any embarrassing hats. I'll let you know. All right, man, Julian, we're talking about embarrassing things. That's the old natural segue into what unfolded in Vancouver on the weekend.

And look, I think it's been probably beaten to death on our other shows on the athletic hockey show, columns, etc. the way Bruce Boudreau was treated. So we don't necessarily have to dive into that again. But, I mean, look, there's a brand new head coach in town in Rick Tocket. There's a new, you know, probably direction here. Harmon Dale does a great job along with Thomas Drans of covering the Vancouver Connects for us out on the West Coast. So Harmon is with us.

If I'm not mistaken from the, are we getting you from the arena fresh off of Rick Tocket's first practice? Yeah, yep. Look at this. Fresh and ready to go. So if you were to describe to us the biggest difference in a Rick Tocket versus Bruce Boudreau practice, what's your answer going to be to that? It's a really good question. I think right off the bat, you're seeing that the practices are longer, definitely more intense,

which when you look back to Bruce Boutre's time leading a lot of practices, it was very brief. It was actually pretty jarring. it's like you ended up 10 to 15 minutes late to practice as a media member. It's like they might already be off the ice or they're just working on skills work after. So I think he's going to work them really hard in that sense. And there were a lot of battle related drills where it was, okay, guys going at it, in the corner. And I think that's the mentality that talks wants to bring in.

And I think from management's perspective, that's where they felt that with this club's habits, and the intensity with what they trained with. It wasn't high enough. And we saw even in one of the drills, I think Quinn Hughes of the pocketing was, you know, out of the corner battle drill, whipping into the slot and Lee's Pedersen laid him out to the whoops and haulers of his teammates.

So I think there was definitely a big notable difference in that area. And from this point on, when they actually start the games, how much of a difference there is in the philosophy of how they try and play. Because under Boudreau, it was a lot of run and gun, offensive style. You're open to make plays. You're open to do whatever you want.

And under Tocet, I think he's definitely going to have, he's mentioned non-negotiables in terms of how you play the game, game management, cutting down turnovers, playing with a lot more structure. So I'm more interested to see when the games actually start, how much of a difference are you going to see in the tempo at which this team plays with? Because even think back to the teams that Tocket coached in Arizona, they were, there essentially trying to be the Barry Trots, New York Islanders, right? Where it was a lot of just shot blocking,

keep teams to the outside, very little offensive creativity. And of course, it's different here because Vancouver has a lot more offensive talent to work with as opposed to Arizona where Tocke's, I remember one year, his highest goal score was Brad Richardson with 19, right?

So it's a big difference. So I might see a bit of a philosophy shift there, but I think we're going to, he's going to try and instill a mindset where they defend Grittyyer, they try, and manage the game a lot more. And I'm more interested to see just how much of a buying are you going to get at a team level?

Because to be honest, guys, there aren't a lot of players on the roster, whether it's with the forwards or the back end that have a lot of 2A intelligence that make good reads. So I'm interested to see how successful they're going to be at implementing this stuff. I'm intrigued about why Rick Tockeet has to be the guy right now. It's one thing to ask the question, like, why does Rick Tockeet have to be the guy? and it seems in the way that you're describing the practices. So the practice so far, at least with what we've seen from him off the one, like he's trying to instill some better work happens.

And the fact that I've talked to other people about this, too, they say that he is good with relating to players. But I'm intrigued about the decision to do it right now this minute, considering where the Vancouver Canucks are in the standings, right? Like they're how many points out of a playoff spot? But, and they're closer to the bottom of the bottom of, the Connor Bedard sweepstakes, but if Rick Tocket, I mean, if you're in the business of the NHL, you're trying to get wins. So like, if you're Rick Tocket and you, and you see how new coaches

come in, teams might respond well and get this new coach bump. But in the case of the Caducs, where a generational player is potentially attainable if you put yourself in the right spot, like, is that not a weird situation to put yourself in? So that's why I'm asking, like, Why, like, it's one thing if you want Rick talking to be your guy, like, did the Vancouver conducts have to make them their guy like right now considering what could be at stake at the end of the year? I think they missed time to personally. Either they should have done it early in the season when you still had an opportunity to

kind of salvage the year when I think management already had it made up in their mind that Boudreau wasn't their guy anyway. It was more a formality of playing this out, especially when you had Rutherford so publicly criticizing Gujarro's structure, their preparedness even in preseason and training camp. So it would have made sense either to do it then or the last maybe 10 to 15 games as a season. I think that's usually more than enough to have a coach come in, familiarize himself with the players, get a chance to build relationships, help instill some of the mindsets and beliefs

so that the players understand what the team is looking for going into the next season. Now, from the team's perspective, I think their logic was, okay, part of the next step for us as a management group is figuring out, okay, who's part of our future, who's not. And having Talkit be a part of understanding, okay, like, who's going to buy in, who's going to be successful under this more defensively oriented style, who's going to buy in, who's committed to actually playing this, to actually playing the way we envision a winning team in Vancouver to look like and talk it being able to then, you know, have that input. So I think that was a big part of it, especially because for as bad as the connects have been this season

and for as much as we have been arguing that they should rebuild, I don't think that's what they're intending to do here. They're going to be looking to retool. And if you're looking to retool, then you're looking to hit the ground running next season. And I think from that perspective, you can understand why they're thinking, okay, let's leave a really long runway for Tocke to be able to get this going and have it be as seamless of a transition as possible. You know, one of the things I love when a coach takes over is the first thing I do is

I'm like, who else? Who is he already coached? And the obvious name that comes out to me is Oliver Ekman-Larson, who has become a a real lightning rod for criticism, right, in Vancouver, based on his contract and the performance. I know Drance wrote recently about kind of that pairing getting caved in and relative to their ice time and salary and all that stuff.

Is there a feeling like, okay, Rick Tockeet had Oliver Ekman-Larsen for four seasons in Arizona? Does that help or hurt, do you think Ekman Larson's chances here of making it. Because now the coach already obviously has a good understanding. Sometimes it would be like, okay, brand new coach comes in, fresh late, let's start from scratch. That's not the case here.

Rick Tawken has a very good understanding of what Ekman Larson is as a player, right? Yeah, it's interesting because it's long been speculated and rumored that the two of them didn't have the greatest relationship back in Arizona. Now, Tawken and OEL both addressed over the last couple days and said, that, and both downplayed it. But you kind of expect that, obviously, in a red-hawk Canadian market, they're not going to, but at the start of a relationship go, yeah, we didn't get along the best way. And having said that, though, OEL did mention that Rick's a very honest guy.

And there were moments that he didn't love hearing that in Arizona. It's tough to say what it's going to mean for OEL's play. Because I think more than anything, I'm more to see Can't Talk and put. him in a position to succeed in terms of who he plays them. Because with OEL this season, there were moments where he got, where he had a chance to play with Ethan Bear. And the biggest issue with OEL right now is that he doesn't have the agility, the speed to pivot quickly and retrieve those dumpins and then get going the other way to lead defensive zone

exits. And when he played with Ethan Bear, there's an example of a defender who he may not, he may have flaws in a lot of other areas of his game, but one thing he does really well is turn around, get the puck back, retrieve it quickly. And so that partnership seemed to work in terms of the underlying numbers, but Woodrow went away from it for whatever reason. And it's been a lot of OEL and OEL and Myers to this point, where both guys are pretty slow and it didn't seem to help OEL's game. The reason I bring that up is I'm curious to see how Tockett perceives Ethan Bear's game, because Tockeett strikes me as more of an old school type of, type of coach really preaches

big, tough physical play, those sorts of things. And when you look at what Ethan Bear is, he skates well, he can move the puck, but he doesn't defend well in his own age. He's not big. He's not physical. And Tocke already kind of has a similar player like that in Quinn Hughes. So I'm kind of looking at Baron going, is, is Bear going to get the opportunity to play alongside OEL?

And if he doesn't, then I don't know how realistic. it is to expect OEL to significantly turn it around, even in practice today, Bear was absent. He's missing. He missed the last game as well for personal reasons. And so we saw OEL and Chen play together. And Chen is a fleet of foot, right? So I'm more curious to, rather than the relationship, which I don't think it's really going to move the needle in a significant way in either direction, I'm more curious to see

does talk and have an understanding of what skill set OEL needs in terms of his partner to then get the most out of his individual. I'm also into how fans have kind of gracefully saluted Bruce Boudreau on his way out of the Canucks job. From your perspective, what do you make of how Canucks fans have treated Bruce Boudreau, even though he'd look like a lame duck coach for the better part of the last two months? Yeah, they've given him the class he could buy that he didn't get from the organization itself. And I think there's obviously a lot of negativity in terms of how the organization has handled this. And I think that's had a ripple effect on players, staffers, the hockey world outside of Vancouver

where people are noticing this and going yikes, what's going on, right? And that's having a negative impact. But having said that, Vancouver for a long time has been discussed as this toxic, negative market. And yet you have a scenario where head coach is about to be fired. And the support over the weekend was unbelievable, the signs, the chance. The team is losing and they went, Bruce, there it is, for 30, 45 seconds. Like, you never see that, right? And so that's going to resonate for people in the hockey world as well to where, yeah, the organization has gotten a bad rep, rightfully so, not going to help them,

but the fan base itself and what it means to play in this market, it's also showing you that if you connect with this market, if you perform, if you resonate, that Vancouver can be a hell of a place to plan. we look, okay, the Brudrow situation has now been rectified, and weeks of speculation around that. And now it feels like the attention is going to slide over to Bo Horvatt, the captain who's set to be unrestricted free agent. Kind of a double-barreled question for you, Harmon. A, what's a realistic return? Like, or what should Vancouver fans anticipate could be a return for Horvatt? And secondary, what teams do you think might legitimately be a fit? I always hear

Carolina, Carolina, that's the one team you hear. And Patcheretti's out and maybe that's going to help. But if you were to kind of try to look at this from, you know, let's find a dance partner for Bo Horvad. Who's coming up on your list? And what could the offer be? Yeah, right off the bat, I think, I mean, it's tough to know what Kinex fans should even expect in a return because typically when you have a situation where you have a UFA and you're going to sell them off and you're a losing team, you'd expect pure futures. And yet in the Kinex's case, they've made a very very, very, very. clear that they're, you know, obviously they'd like to add draft picks it, but they'd more

prefer to add young players that they feel can make an impact sooner rather than later in their NHL lineup. So from that perspective, Vancouver's ask isn't really, you know, at least their first preference, isn't the type of typical first round pick, young prospect, roster player that you might expect. Now look, if they get to a point where the young NHL players that they want to get, that they want to acquire if they aren't high end enough look they may have to resort to that more typical type of package but at this point i'm kind of curious to see like what exactly are their priorities going to be so in that sense i'd imagine that they're that they'll you know as the

primary sort of piece they'll be looking for the top prospect is probably like closer to really being able to make again an NHL impact a guy who's maybe 1920 21 um an example of that type of archetype would be you look at Colorado, for example. Now, I don't know if poor horvettes will make sense for them given their injury situation and whether this is a year for them to go all in and whether it even makes sense for them to give up so much for a rental, but you look at a player like Alex Newhook, right, who he's young, high draft pick, but you look at him and you go, he's ready to step into a lineup right away and go into a bigger role.

Like that's a sort of archetype of a player that I expect to be one of the main pieces that the Canucks would sort of target, where it's like, this guy can help us right away. If he hits, he can be a core piece. The trouble obviously is contenders, they may look at a guy like Alex Nehook and be like, well, we're crunched against the cap. We've got all these top players to pay. We sort of need these young YLC guys to help our roster right now. We'd rather give you the 18-year-old who is years away from making an impact.

And that's where you may have a bit of distance, a bit of division in terms of what the Canucks are looking for and what contenders are looking for. And how is that dynamic going to play out? I'll be honest, I don't really know. In terms of potential fits, outside of the obvious Carolina one you mentioned, you know, one outside of the box team that hasn't been discussed as much is Winnipeg. And for me, I look at how wide open the Western conferences where Edmonton and Calgary haven't been the elite cup contenders that we thought they may be so far. Colorado's been hampered by injuries.

Vegas has faded recently. and there's uncertainty around Mark Stone. So it's like the West is wide open. It's not like the Eastern Conference. And you look at the type of year that Winnipeg has had near the top of the Western Conference, I look at Horvatt and I go, he's a sort of piece that can help give you a significant boost this season and potentially being able to go deep into playoffs. But it also gives you insurance for the Pier Luke DuPois situation where DuPua made a clear

last offseason. And look, maybe something's changed given the year that they've had. But he made it clear that he intended to test free. unrestrictive agency in 2024. And the path for him to get there is so simple. All he has to do is take his qualifying offer or take things to arbitration this summer. So if I'm the Winnipeg Jets and I'm looking at Beau Horvatt. If I'm confident that Horvatt was willing to extend here, that's the sort of proposition

that makes sense to me to kick the tires on because he gives you a huge boost now. And you can go for a cup run when you have now Dubois, Sheifley and Horvarez. Horvatt down the middle. And then it also gives you insurance to where now you have Horvatt and Shifley down the middle long term, even if Dubois doesn't want to be part of long term future in Winpack. So that's an example of one team that hasn't really been talked about in the Horvett sweepstakes. And I'm like, you know, that could be intriguing. One final one for you, Harmon.

One thing I like seeing on Friday is when you retweet from this account on Twitter called a congrats sailor, you made it to Friday. It's a stupid Twitter. Yeah, exactly. It's basically this random like Twitter account that has Mr. Crabs, the notable boss of SpongeBob from the Krusty Krabb. And there's this little like song and dance that get, well, a little more of song from that video game gets played. You retweet that every Friday. Considering the fact that you've had a very busy year covering every fire that has been burst out of Vancouver, whether it's JT Miller, whether it's what's gone on over this past weekend with Rick Tocket and Bruce Boudreau and everything else that has gone on throughout this year, how grateful.

is it to be able to make it to Fridays, considering how busy you've been? Yeah, honestly, that's my highlight of every Friday is being able to retweet that account just because it's Friday, right? And SpongeBob was my favorite show growing up as a kid. So it means something special. I think Kodakstand's appreciated a lot these days.

I get messages from people. I literally, I had it in the mentions. I hadn't, it was like 12 o'clock and I hadn't retweeted it yet. And someone mentioned me to like, where's the retreat? They're like, we need the retreat. I'm like, all right, I get it.

So, I mean, look, Connect fans are suffering these days. They don't, you know, they're having a tough time. So whatever I can do to not only give myself laugh, but I help those fans out, I'm willing to do. Love it. Love it. Hey, listen, you've done a great job. You and Drans have done a great job in navigating what has been a tumultuous season in Vancouver,

trying to keep the fans as informed and as level-headed as possible. in a market that is it's very passionate about their team. And we've seen that passion put to the test at times this season. So listen, I know you've got a busy day ahead of you to kind of break down to Rick Tockets

first practice with the Kanaxo. Listen, Harmon, thanks so much for popping by the pod and I'm sure we'll get you getting down the road real soon. Absolutely, thanks, guys. All right, that was a great conversation with Harmon. Terrific job. Like I said, him and Drans have done a great job in handling a really difficult situation

in a great, I can't say this enough. It's a great, and I grew up there, so I'm a little biased. It's a great hockey market. I know that they get a lot of grief for people like, oh, Knox fans or this and that. It's a good market. They deserve better than that. But, okay, so in this show, we've talked a little bit about Bruce Boudreau, and we've talked a little bit about the local news, right?

We need to marry these two things. Did you see this? Did you, or I guess we're doing a podcast. So for the podcast audience, have you heard this? I'm going to play something for you right now, Julian. And this is the Fox News, local Fox News affiliate in Washington, D.C. Okay? They are giving an update to their audience about the Vancouver Canucks

and the fact that the Canucks have made a coaching change. Your job as a listener, and you as well, Julian, is to count how much. many mispronunciations you hear in the following 22 seconds. Okay, so you're going to hear 22 seconds of audio from a Fox broadcast, a local newscast, how many mispronunciations do you hear? Here we go. Okay, so I'm, okay, Daniel's going to drop it in here for the audience. I'm going to play this for you right now over my speaker, okay, Julian? Yes, yes, yes, yes. I want to count them now. Here we go. Ready? Former Washington Capitals coach, Bruce Boudreau, has been fired by the Vancouver Canucks.

The team announced the change Sunday, less than a week after president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford said major surgery was needed to fix the canoaks. Rick Tukid was hired as Bodro's replace. Oh, my God. The canoos and Bodroo and Tocchio. and Toge, what did they say for Rick Tocket? It was like Rick, Rick, Tukit. Tukit.

Rick Tuket. Look, look, I have mispronounced names on the show. I famously, I famously mispronounced Dom's name on this show. No, I'm not going to try his last name again. But, you know, I understand that it is very bad to mispronounce names. But damn it, there's a reason why in the. prompt you find a way to write out the pronunciations. And also, also, also, like, they're from D.C.

Bruce Boudreau coached in D.C. There wasn't someone in that newsroom who could say like, yo, this is how you say his name? What? Bruce Boudreau. Oh, come on. Boudreau or whatever they said his name. Yeah, Baudro, Bruce Boudro, and the Canoos. Yo, I remember when I was in CTV, when I worked at CTV Montreal and our news anchor,

the legendary Mitsumi Takahashi, legend, whatever, there would be a situation where she'd have to read out some kind of sports news and whatever. And I happen to be around. I take this as a source of pride. She would ask me, you know,

am I saying this person's name right? It costs you nothing as a reporter to just like, you know, go to someone in the newsroom, look it up and just be like, yo, am I saying the name right? How do I say the name right? And then you write it in your script,

how it sounds like and then when you read it in the prompter you could at least read it like how it's supposed to be said like talk it like you could you could easily say like talk like TikTok and then like it talk it like yeah

that would have worked but whatever Tuket is there's no double O in the name where do you get Tuket from but are you surprised she she didn't say Rick Toshay that would have made more sense

Rick Toshay Yeah, not Tuket. Because if it was like a double O name in the last name, I get the two, but there ain't no two in there. Boudreau I don't get, but also we got to mention Canooks. The Canooks. What the hell is that? What the hell is Canoos?

Yeah. I felt like I needed to play that for you and the listener for a little bit of levity, because we're just talking about local news. Seriously. And now I have to think about how I say his name, Bruce Boudreau, because now I've been messed up by that. segment. Seriously. And you know what? Maybe we're going a little harsh on this person. Maybe, you know, it's a situation where we could ease up a little bit. We've been in situations before

we've mispronounced names. I'm sure that has happened. But also we get told, you know, hey, do it right. So I'm sure they got to get up to that same standard too. And it's also just really painful on the years to hear Canukes. Canoes, yeah. So look, look, I think we could, and I didn't want to get into it too much with Harmon about the treatment of Bruce Boudreau, because I think we're kind of exhausted as hockey fans about that particular. Look, Bruce was not treated well. I think it's been written to death. It's been said to death.

All of that stuff. It's, okay, we get it. Poorly handled. But I got to ask you, is that the poorest handling of an NHL coach ever? Well, I'm going to give you two other examples. And I need you to help me out. And, you know, we're going to create like a ranking of poor handling. So obviously you got the way that Bruce Boudreau was left dangling in the wind for at least six weeks, if not longer, by administration of Vancouver.

And then finally, worst kept secret, he's out. We got to remember Gerard Gallant and the taxi, right? Oh, the damn taxi. There's photos of that. Gerard Gallant kids let go by the Florida Panthers in a game in Carolina. And they basically are like, hey, by the way, man, you're on your own. and you got to take a cab. And, you know, so there's an argument to be made

that that was very poorly handled, right? But now I'm going to tell you real quickly, this is going to be kind of an abridged version. And this is what we try and do on the Monday show, try and teach young Julian about the way hockey used to be. So have you ever heard, this is a really funny, weird, quirky story? Have you ever heard of this story of how Roger Nielsen got fake fired by the Maple Leafs?

Maybe a long time ago, but I don't remember. Okay? And by the way, this is a good opportunity for us to kind of plug once again. I think Jason Priestley was on, was he on the Wednesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show last week? He was on one of the shows last week promoting the Harold Ballard documentary that aired. It was the Wednesday show. It was, yeah, it was the Roundtable. And Jason Priestley, obviously, 90210,0 fame, spearheaded this documentary, chronicling Harold Ballard's

tumultuous time as owner of the Maple Leafs. I did not see it because it aired on Sunday night in Canada at the same time as the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. So we're not going to talk about that. We're just going to talk about this, okay? But here's the story. We're not going to talk about the fact that you have a San Francisco

49ers profile. You know what, sorry. I'm sorry. No, we're not. I have to have a, because it down goes brown. Okay. So in the late 1970s, Roger Nielsen is the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And they're a pretty good young upstart team. They got Darrell Sittler, they got Lanny MacDonald. And in one of the years, they actually beat the Islanders who were one of the best teams in the league and knocked them out of the playoffs on a Lanny McDonald's. So, you know, Roger Nielsen is the coach of this upstart team. And the next season, though, they're off to kind of,

they're having a flat time. And they're not doing well. And Roger Nielsen essentially gets fired on TV. It's a, and I think the name of the, it's an old broadcaster. His name was Dick Beddows. And Dick Betoes was like the rinkside reporter for this Leafs game on a midweek game. And after the game, the Leafs have lost. He sees Harold Ballard in the hallway of whatever.

And I don't think it was Maple Leaf Garden. It might have been Maple Leaf Gardens. I don't think it was Maple Leaf Gardens. Anyway, he says to him, hey, what's going on? This is not on TV, but he has a conversation with Harold Ballard, and Ballard tells him, I'm firing Roger Nielsen. So, Baddow's comes back on and tells the audience, I can tell you Roger Nielsen has been let go of his job in Toronto.

Only one problem. They never tell Roger Nielsen. Oh, my God. The team flies back to Toronto. And I might get a couple of details wrong, but the core of this story will be accurate. They come back to Toronto. They have a Saturday night game on hockey night in Canada.

Jesus. And I believe that at this point, though, Roger Nielsen hasn't been told he's fired. Two days later, he hasn't been told he's fired. And meanwhile, the Leafs have a practice that morning. The players run the practice. But Nielsen was at his office in Maple Leaf Gardens because Ballard didn't want to go to him face to face and say you're fired. It was this whole big deal. And they didn't have a replacement for him.

So now they're scrambling. They're like, what do we do? So Ballard comes up with the idea, listen, we're going to hang on to Roger Nielsen. He's going to stay our coach. But here's what I want Roger to do. It's Hockey Night in Canada. I want Harold Ballard to walk out onto the bench

wearing a paper bag over his head so nobody knows who the coach is. And when the TV cameras pan to him, the bag will be removed to reveal it's Roger Nielsen coaching the team. That to me is the worst handling. And Roger coached them, I believe, for the rest of that season and then was gone. I could be wrong. He coached the rest of the year.

I think so. I'll double check. But he came back. They fake fired him. And then they were like, hey man, what if you wore a paper bag over your head and we like kind of played it up? I think that's even worse than what happened to Boudreau. Believe it or not. I think that's worse than Boudreau.

I don't say this lightly at all. But Harold Ballard, I hope he. freezes in hell. Yeah. I don't say that lightly. And I think there are a ton of people who listen to this podcast who would agree with me.

And notice I said freeze and not burn. Freeze. And then you could do what you want. Harold Ballard is just a... Yeah. Not a good dude, shall be said. I'm looking forward to watching that documentary, but yeah, the treatment of Bruce Boudreau is really poor.

but in hockey history, we've seen this type of thing. We've seen some poor treatment. Like I said, Gerard Gallant, hey man, get a taxi. But Roger Nielsen, what if you put a paper bag on your head is the all-time topper for me? Oh my God. For me, it's among the three that we're discussing. So Nielsen, for sure, undisputed number one. I still have Boudreau above Gerard Gallant because, I don't know, I just think the way that Boudreau was kind of spoken about.

I mean, it's one thing for us as media members to speculate about us firing for weeks, but it got to a point where it was being discussed openly by Koddark's management about Rick Tocke being his replacement and considered all the turmoil that has been going on in lockstep with their performance. Like, we all kind of thought Bruce Bidre would be gone. And then he wasn't. Like, it's just like we all kind of just kind of got to a point we're just starting to feel bad. for him, you know?

Like, it wasn't really an easy situation for him to deal with. And I'll give him this, though, as opposed to Gerard Golan and probably read Roger Nielsen. I'm not sure if that happened to him at the end of that year. But the fact that fans were able to come together and celebrate and, you know, do the Bruce there at his chance for Boudreau. Like, that's a really nice moment. There are not many coaches who would get anything like that. And the fact of the Vancouver Canucks, even if.

there were a bunch of them who thought he was probably a bad coach and not and probably deserved to be fired. The fact that a whole faction of them came together to acknowledge them the way that they did, like that's a pretty, I mean, it's a bittersweet, but pretty classy way to exit on the parts of Kinnock's fans. And good on Bruce for, for, you know, just trying to be classy until the very end because a different type of person would have been petty as hell in their exit from the Kudox. Petty as hell. Absolutely. And yeah, double-tach. Roger Nielsen, Finit, he coached that entire season with the Leaf. So he stayed to the end. They got knocked out in the playoffs by Montreal, but he stayed the whole year. So that's insane. Wild. Yeah, yeah, wild. You got me to go to a paper bag. What? And I have to coach the rest of the damn year because you can't get your ish together. What? No, man. Right. Harold Ballard, bad man. Just just, no, no. Like, like, like, no. Like, no. Like, no. No, no. Evil man.

And I know there are so many other reasons why that dude is an evil man. And I don't feel bad. He's calling him an evil man. He was an evil dude. He did a whole bunch of players wrong, did them dirty, and then doing this crap. Nah. Yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg with him and his treatment of people. I changed my mind.

You shouldn't freeze in hell. You should have been burning in hell. Just there we go. Boy, you just quick switch there. Just change the thermostat. my wife, you just fiddled with a thermostat. Don't put me in this. Don't put me in this. That's you and your wife.

That's right. That's right. All right. So listen, every week on the Monday show, look, we're talking about coaches. We do the Jack Adams of the Week Award. Now, if we look back to last week, we see that the Avalanche Jared Bednar, they went 4-0. Surprise, surprise, Ho-Hum, Jim Montgomery, 4-0 in Boston. But a little love, I think, maybe for Paul, the beleaguered Paul Maurice. The Panthers have a pulse, Julian. The 3-0-1, the Panthers have a pulse. They're kind of right back on the peripher of the playoff picture, thanks to a great week. They get seven of a possible eight points. But

given everything that happened and the way that the week really shook down. Yeah. Is it, is, are we giving this award to Bruce Boudreau? And under the guise of nobody did a better job coaching an NHL team than Bruce Boudro did last week when he knew he was done. And I know his team didn't win the games and these two games of the weekend. But boy, the way he handled himself, maybe he gets our Jack Adams vote. Yeah, I think he should get it. I think everyone else who was up for this award this week, I think would very much understand. That being said, if Bruce Bidro was not considered, I would have actually given my vote to Jim Montgomery

because of the fact that these wins now, I mean, maybe we're being a little bit ho-hum on it, but, like, I was just looking this up this morning. Like, the Bruins are on pace to, like, break the single season record for wins at a season by an HL team. Like, that should not go unnoticed. But Bruce Boudreau,

and how he handled everything, I think he's deserving of the Jack Adams of the Week award. Like, give it to him. Give it to him. I'll tell you what, though. If I'm the, okay, if you're the Bruins, would you want to say, the NHL record for most wins in a season?

Yes or no? I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you some strange context here. Okay. Okay. Yeah, hear me out on this. Yes. So the two teams that share the NHL record for most wins in a regular season are the Detroit Red Wings of 1996 and the Tampa Bay Lightning of 2019.

62 wins, I believe. 2019 Lightning swept out in the first round. Yes. 1996 Red Wings, they lose in a memorable conference final to the avalanche. They went deep, but they didn't get the job done. So you might be saying, okay, yeah, that's one thing. Now hear me out on this. Now go to every other sport in the big four.

I'm going to walk you through this real quick. This is off top of my head. NBA, the Golden State Warriors have the record, 73 wins. Guess what? LeBron did them in, they lose, they don't win. New England Patriots, right? Who could forget? 16 and 0. Nobody had ever gone 16 and 0.

Ran the table. Guess what? They didn't win the Super Bowl. Eli Manning. What a shame. What a shame. Baseball. The Seattle Mariners of 2001.

116 wins of memory serves me. And they got taken down by a allegedly roided up Roger Clemens and the Yankees. Allegedly. Allegedly. And the Mariners, it took them like 21 more years for them to win a playoff series after that. So if you know all of this information that I've given you, would you still want to set your league single season, regular season mark for wins?

Because I'm thinking I don't want it. It's a kiss of death. I'm the opposite. I'm the opposite because I say yes. I say yes because if my team gets the job done in the playoffs, we could be that team that breaks whatever curse is applied to that team. No, there is a curse. I know.

Look, look, yes, yes, you listed off some facts, But if I'm on that team, I'm going in it to win. I don't want to take games off and then get to a point where you're just like, well, I don't want this single season record. I don't want this president's trophy. I don't want this stench to follow me. So that way, when we get into a first or a second round series against somebody, then we end up losing.

That being said, you know what's funny? It's funny we discussed this today because I thought about this morning. It would not surprise me if, like, the Eastern Conference final was like Boston, Tampa Bay. and Tampa Bay won. It would not surprise me in the slightest if that is how this season ends up. Not to scare Bruins fans,

but I feel like we kind of just went through this whole year and we're all just kind of like, I mean, Tampa, like, all right, they're there. They're just kind of there. Okay, well, it's really happening above. Can I make my bold proclamation that? If the Bruins win more than 60 games

in the regular season, they're not going to the Stanley Cup final. If they win more than 60 games in a season, they're not going to the stalemical final. Yeah. Book it. Book it.

And I don't want, I'm not saying, I'm not trying to intentionally wish, I have no, you know, skin in the game on the Bruins. I don't, whether,

I just, there's something I, I remember, so I was on the radio in Ottawa. When Tampa Bay, I had a daily talk show back in the day, when Tampa was,

and I was telling, folks, I'm telling you, they're done. I don't know when they're done. They're done. They're not. getting to the cup final, just pay attention to history. And everyone's like, oh, no, you're just

blah, blah, blah. And they got swept. Now, I never predicted in my wildest dreams that would get swept. Never ever. Man, that's swept. I'm telling you, there's something weird about these teams that set the record. Golden State, the Patriots, the Mariners, the lightning. Don't do it, man. Don't join the club. Don't join the club. I mean, but what do you do? Like, do you, if you're, player, you see that's out there like, you don't slow down and like, who's going to slow down the Boston Bruins? It's so good. No, no, no, no. You can't. There's nothing you can do.

I'm not telling you to lose games. I'm just saying some weird curse kicks in. I mean, yeah. Makes no sense. Makes no sense. That's what you got to do. If that's what has to happen, I mean, but I don't know. I'm still on that side that says,

hey, you win all those games and you handle your business in the playoffs. And the Boston Bruins, with the players that they have and the urgency that's there should have the wherewithal to handle their business. Let's revisit this in like three months when they get bounced in the third round by Tampa Bay. Yeah, exactly, exactly. All right, let's wrap up our show.

Hey, let's talk about the Western Conference for a second because, you know, when you look at the standings and we're going to do a little multiple choice madness here, this is really cool. I don't think we've paid enough attention. Look, Boston is running away and hiding with that Atlantic division. and no one's catching them. The Western Division is going to be a lot of fun.

I think Dallas and Winnipeg are basically neck and neck. The race I want to talk about here for a second, though, is the Pacific Division. Because as we record this on Monday afternoon, there are four teams separated by three points. That's Vegas at 60, Seattle, 59, Los Angeles 58, Edmonton, 57. Calgary's in the mix too.

They're at 53, so they're not out of the equation. And they do have games in hand on a couple of these teams. So it's very conceivable that Calgary can push themselves right back into this and get within striking distance in a week or two. Here's my question to wrap up the pod and to do a little multiple choice. You've got to put your pick in right now. Who's winning the Pacific Division? Is it Vegas, Seattle, L.A., Edmonton, or Calgary?

Who's taking that division? I think Vegas is going to hold on and win it. I just feel as if they've been the dominant team throughout the year, and I kind of expect them to kind of propel themselves to keep themselves going. But I also love Seattle's story, a team that we kind of looked at weird last year for the way they went about things. And man, right now they're a point behind Vegas, and they have a better points percentage than Vegas right now. Like, this is a T, they're seven, two, and one in their last 10 games. Like, yep, they have a better goal differential than the Vegas Golden Knights.

Like, it's, it's very, very interesting to see how this team that we all kind of thought was built a bit weird, or at least not what we thought they would do considering what the Vegas Golden Knights did. But they've turned themselves into a playoff team. And now you have to wonder if your management, like, how are you going to go about the trade deadline and how are you going to go about your plan in order to become a sustainable contending team? because it seems like you're ahead of schedule, but I still foresee some kind of drop off, but hey, maybe it never comes, it never happens. And if that happens, and I think L.A. might drop off a bit too.

I still see Vegas near the top of that division, but it's so, so close with those teams in that Pacific division, especially if you're putting Calgary in it, who's technically off a points percentage out of the playoff spot, but they're tied with Colorado for the wild card and there's seven points out of Vegas. but like I think we're in for a very big grind over the next like five weeks just with how that Pacific's going to go.

But my vote goes to Vegas. You know what? Give me Seattle. And you kind of laid out the gold differential and all that stuff. And if I'm not mistaken, are they not the best road team in the NHL? If they're not, they're pretty darn close. That wouldn't surprise. I mean, they have a 16, 5, and 2 record on the road.

And I think that's better than anybody. Oh, well, New Jersey is 18, 2 and 2 on the road. So they're at least the best road team in the Western Conference. Yeah. And, you know, you lose five times in 23 games in regulation on the road where you don't have the matchups and all that stuff. And you don't have, here's what I'm holding out, why I'm holding out on Seattle. I think they're going to address their goaltending at some point.

I think they're going to get an upgrading goal. And then it's going to be like, wow, they're really going to take off. And I don't know, Julian. I want to see them do well. I like this story. I think weird. It's weird to say that I would have fatigue on Vegas because they're still a relatively young franchise,

but I feel like I've seen them so often, right? They're in the playoffs. They're, I don't know they missed last year, but they've been a perennial contender every year since they've joined the league. I like Seattle. I like what Dave Haxhill is built there. I like that they're doing it at even strength.

They're not riding a hot power play and crazy goaltending. They're just playing really smart, effective, fun hockey. And you know what? Give me the Cracken. Give me Seattle to win that division. What a day for you, sir. You picked the Cracken to win the division. The Bruins are not making it to the Stanley Cup final.

And you told a while Roger Nielsen's story. You are on fire, sir. There we go. Okay. Well, it's a great way to end. I got to leave on a high. I don't have any more stories to tell. And we never talked about the Cowboys.

So that was the best part of this show. I thought today was going to be such a weird day with, between this show, the Chris Johnston show, just dealing with a bunch of cowboys tears. But both of you gentlemen held up very well. Yeah. You know what? I even, I actually saw Pierre LeBron in Ottawa this weekend. Oh, no way. Pierre LeBron, yes, was in Ottawa on the weekend and he was here for a hockey tournament.

And I very briefly crossed paths with him. It was great to see him. And at the time, he was, you know, he was pretty, he was pretty optimistic about the Cowboys' chances. And, you know, obviously then Sunday happened. So, you know, LeBron is probably, though, out of C.J. myself, I think he's the craziest fan. I think he went to Tampa to watch that playoff game. Yeah. He was in Tampa for the playoff game. Yeah. Yeah, I believe he is. Definitely. I feel like if they had gone to the Super Bowl, LeBron would have been there.

Lebrun would have found a way to convince him. the athletic to let him, like, write about the Cowboys at the Super Bowl or something. How come we're not doing our pod off of, like, we should pitch to do our pod off Radio Row. Yeah. Like, why can't we do it? Like, at the Stanley Cup final, like, why can't we do that? Like, we should be able to do that. I don't think they have Radio Row at the Stanley Cup, do they?

What? The All-Star, why aren't we going to the All-Star game? Yeah, I should be in Florida hanging out. That's right. See what's going on. Take the sucker on the road. See, yo, I would do it. I got the setup ready, man.

Like, I got the mic. I got the mic at the ready. I'm getting myself an extra light, an extra camera. I got the setup. Let's do it. I'll go out. Let's do it. Let's do it.

There we go. Set us up. Athletic hockey show. Set us up. Send us somewhere. Anywhere. You know, we're going to get some assignment where it's like, you know, Julian, you can go to Ottawa and do one show with Ian. You're like, oh.

You have to do it for the Canadian Tire Center? From the, from whatever room. You and Ian can do one show from Canada. It's like, ah. We have to do it from the room that has that nasty little, like, splot on the carpet. Is that still there? You're going to need to be more specific. Which room with the stain on the carpeting?

Now, we're ready for a new rink. We're ready for a new rink in Ottawa. And we're ready to pass the torch to the Tuesday show, which, by the way, I got to promote this. We're talking about coaches. That was a big theme on the show. Barry Trots is going to join the Tuesday show. I'm going to be with Gentile and Custom. Barry Trots on the Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show.

So look forward to hearing what Barry Trots has to say about all things coaching and the NHL. That's the Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. That's it for the Monday, guys. So everybody, if you hopefully enjoyed this episode, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review there. We certainly appreciate that.

You can also subscribe to us and get a great deal with a one-year subscription to the Athletic. It is $2 a month when you've, visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.