The Athletic Hockey Show - Bruce Cassidy's revenge game on tap, Brock Boeser nearly scratched on Hockey Fights Cancer night, what’s wrong with the New York Rangers?, Jack Adams Winner of the Week, Multiple Choice Madness, trivia!, and more

Episode Date: December 5, 2022

Ian and Julian kick off the week with a brand new Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show and discuss what’s wrong with the New York Rangers, if Ovi is entering Hank Aaron territory chasing Wayne Gretzky’s goal record, Brock Boeser’s nearly being scratched by the Vancouver Canucks on Hockey Fights Cancer night, Bruce Cassidy’s revenge game going back to Boston with his Golden Knights against the Bruins tonight, what kind of reception Johnny Gaudreau should expect from Flames fans upon his return to Calgary in the New Year, Steven Stamkos hit 1,000 points last week, and more.Plus, the guys create a new segment, hand out this week’s Jack Adams Winner of the Week award, answer a Multiple Choice Madness question, and Julian gives Ian a last minute trivia quiz to close the show.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/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back, everybody. It is your Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. As always, we're seeing as Ed is Julian McKenzie with you for the next hour or so. We're going to recap an interesting weekend in the hockey world. I guess, man, Julian, what is it? Death, taxes and Vancouver Cucks controversies, right? There's only a few guarantees in life.

Got ourselves another one. Oh, I'm sorry for laughing, but it's so. True. Oh man, it just feels like they just can't get out from under it. So we'll get on that. A huge revenge game kind of coming up in Boston on Monday should be a Clash of the Titans with so many great storylines, Vegas and the Bruins. And, you know, look, there's a lot to get to here. But you know where I'm going to start, though, with this? Yeah, where? I'm going to start with the conversation we were just having off before we're recording.

our producer Chris Flannery is a diehard Rangers fan like and I mean just loves the Rangers he's one of those guys that if he misses the game he's PVRing it trying to shut off his phone trying to get the results of his game with or not get the results of his game watch it through like he's that much of a fan okay and what I thought was interesting was

you say you picked the Rangers to be your Stanley Cup team from the Eastern Conference get to the phone now do you pick them to win the cup or just get to the cup. I picked them to get to the cup. I picked them to go against Colorado. And I'm telling you, man, like, Julian, I watched the Rangers in the home and home series

against Ottawa last week. And then I saw that they lost to Chicago. I'm like, how is this the team that got to the conference final last year? Like, they don't even look, they don't even look the least bit intimidating to me, right? Man, I, like, I haven't, I'm not going to act as if I've watched games for them this year,

just focusing with Calgary. But, like, my big thing with them was that they, at least on paper, have pieces that a lot of championship teams require in order to make runs. I thought their forward core would be great with the pieces that they have in guys like Artemi Panarin up front. Chris Kreider, I didn't expect him to have a 50-goal season, but he established himself as a viable, like, top option. Mika Zabinajad had a really good postseason, another great player in our organization.

Those are guys up front. And then on defense, you have a franchise defenseman and Adam Fox, who should be up for Norris Trophy every year. He will likely end up in the Norris Trophy discussion at the end of this year when it's all sudden done if he continues to play with how he's playing. And then you have Igor Shisterkin, who is the reigning Vezna winner and is proved to be a really great goalie for them in the playoffs. And at least in talking to Chris, like it seems like Igor is not. not really playing all that well. You know what? Shusirke, in the way he's playing this,

like he was out of his mind last year. Like, you know what? He was like, and I don't know this might be sacrilegious to say this to some people. He was like Dominic Hachik good. Like the save percentage was like 9. Yeah, 935.

Like he was out of his mind. Like he was just out of his mind. Like if you go back, remember Tim Thomas had one of those years for Boston. Hachik was like that. You were just, This guy's straight up stealing games for you. And this year, it's like he's regressed to just be an average goalie.

Like, he's, like, I want to say something. He's not terrible. I want to make this clear. Igor Shisterkin is not terrible. He's average. He's got a 913 save percentage, which just feels very pedestrian, you know, 250, whatever, goals against average. Like, he's just, this is the answer to what would happen if the Rangers just got average goal hunting? And, man, I got to tell you, I saw this.

I think Sean Macon, like, Down Goes Brown and I talked about this a few weeks ago. When, you know, the Rangers were often okay start, we're like, man, can you imagine if all three teams in the Metro, New York area make the playoffs, Devils, Islanders, Rangers, they haven't done that in 15 years. All of them make the playoffs in the same year. That'd be pretty cool, right? Would you agree with me on this? if you're picking one of those three teams to miss right now, aren't you picking the Rangers out of the

amongst the Devils, Islanders and Rangers to miss the playoffs? Don't you kind of feel that way? It would look like the strongest candidate to do so. Yeah. I can't pick the Devils. I can't pick the Devils. They're too good. They're too far up ahead.

So it kind of has to be the Rangers. Not crazy. Think about that. The Islanders missed the playoffs last year. The Devils missed the playoffs last year. The Devils missed the playoffs last year. The Rangers got to the conference final, and here we are in December,

and you're like, if you have to pick amongst those three teams, who do you think misses? I think a lot of people are going Rangers. But like, I mean, things could change. There's a lot of time left. I'm just thinking because, you know, they're going to be Rangers fans who are going to be upset.

Because Rangers fans love it when shows talk about their team. Like, the Rangers deserve to be talked about. But like, there's a lot of time. Yeah, but you know what? I think, okay, so I think last year what Rangers fans got a little sour about was the underlying numbers people like the, like the nerd crowd was like, nah, this is unsustainable. You can't win with, you're just propped up by good goal tenning at a crazy power play. And I think Rangers fans were like, yeah, we have bad, oh, sorry, we have good goaltending

at a great power play. Like, why is that a bad thing? Like, you know, mostly. It should be a bad thing at all. It shouldn't be a bad thing. But teams beg for that all the time. We put so much. an emphasis on five-on-five play that, you know, and it is.

It's usually a good indicator, but they got so deep in the playoffs last year. So I can understand why Rangers fans might have had a little chip on their shoulder last year when everyone was like, no, no, no, they're not that good. Like, it'll catch up to them. But this year, I think that they're smart enough to know, like, this is frustrating to watch. Like, I think the criticism somewhat warranted, right? Like, the fans are starting Gerard Gallant. The, it just, something's off there.

That's all. And I can't believe that I would pick them. Like if you went back six weeks ago and told me one of these teams is going to miss the playoffs, I think we'd all be like, ah, it's the devils, right? Or not the Islanders, whatever. Nope. Yeah. I think it's the Rangers.

But the good thing for the Rangers is that they're only three points, as of this recording, they're only three points behind the Islanders. And they're only like two points out of a playoff spot. Like things are not, I think because of how good. they were last year. You would think of them as a team that should be kind of nestled in that top three or top two in that division and should be looked at as a team that should be, at least in the regular season, better than what they were last year, at least just a really good team. So the fact that they're kind of middle of the pack bordering, I mean, not bordering, they're kind of on the outside

looking in right now. There is some frustration there. But I don't know. Sometimes it's better to go through all that diversity stuff at the beginning and then you start going on a run after, right, as opposed to starting off hot and then you fold at the end. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And look, I think we came into this year saying at the, if you looked at the Eastern Conference, right, and we were like, oh, man, all eight teams had 100 points to make the playoffs last year. Like, maybe one team is going to fall off their perch.

And you know what? There's two, at least that look like they're vulnerable. one being the Rangers, the other being Washington. And, you know, caps are really sputtering right now. They're hit with injuries. You know, Rangers and Capitals. Like, I feel like there's, I don't see a scenario where they both make the playoffs this season. I think the Capitals are missing.

I want to watch the Capitals over the weekend. And like, I mean, I think the Flames did what they could to kind of, you know, look good in front of them and dominate play. It looked pretty good at five on five. The biggest thing about it for me was just like, you know, Alexander Ovechkin, we know he's chasing history. That game might have been the most disinterested I've seen from him, maybe ever. Like, even on power plays, like, he's, like, standing around, waiting for the park to come his way. Like, he's not really doing a lot of fight back for back checks and stuff.

And again, he's an offensive guy. We're not going to look at him as the greatest defensive player ever. Like, that's not where you get Alexander O'Evichkin for. You get him to snipe goals from the Ovechkin spot and win games. but I mean just the fact that the team is not playing well and the fact that he's like just you know not playing at a high level like that was a bit worrisome for me to watch

you know what though you know what it reminds me a little of and I covered this when I worked in TV like I covered Barry Bonds's home run chase in the summer of 2007 when he was chasing down Henry Aaron and yeah those were kind of meaning like the Giants were bad team at that point. But they had this guy that was kind of, you know, certainly a, making news in Barry Bonds.

And so that made the Giants kind of, you know, I'll tune in. I'll watch the Giants game, whatever. Yeah. I hate to say it, but I kind of feel like, I feel like this is how it might start to play out for Ovechkin, that if he's going to chase down, you know, within about 100 of Gretzky, that these games are, he's going to become the attraction now. And you might be in that spot where you're chasing down a record and that matters more than the team. Because it just, man, it feels like they've aged overnight in a hurry as a group.

Yeah. And like this team is not, it's not like they're, like even like once upon time, like you're looking at younger guys like in Evgetti Kuznetsov to kind of bring up the rear a little bit. Like those guys are not playing at that same level anymore. So yeah, like it's it's just kind of, it's really unfortunate for those guys. because of the way that they played from the late 2000s in the early 2010s to that cup win in 2018. This should be a team. Ovechkin should be a player, honestly, with so much more playoff success and maybe more cup final rings to his name. And like if this is it, like we're just in for OVWatch for the next little while where it's just him trying to chase this.

like, I imagine it might be a little bittersweet if you look back on his career. Like, yeah, he gets the record. But, like, he really only has, like, one rig, whereas Cindy Crosby has, like, so much more to his name. On top of the fact, on top of the fact, not to make it political, but I think it has to be part of the discussion here. There are some people who will look at Alexander Ovechkin's affiliations and feel that, like, it has been, like, any celebration for that is, like, subdued. Because like in any other circumstance, like, fine, if we're, if you're telling me, okay, the only time I really have to watch the Washington Capitals is to see Alexander Ovechkin, you know, try to score goals to get to this record. Like, we'd be like all over it. But, you know, it's a bit of an awkward.

It's, I think it's still a bit awkward. I know some people are going away from it. And it's very easy to go away from it. But I think that there's still, because it's still out there, it still makes things a little bit awkward. No, absolutely. It does. And I think that that is part of the narrative on Ovechkin, right? You can't separate the two. That's part of who he is. And that and, you know, absolutely. And even if you want to say like, hey, you know what, and look, he is. He could be in a, he could, look, it's like, it's a very difficult situation to have to speak out on that. I know we've probably discussed it on respect on our own respective platforms. But like even then, like, I think it still just makes it a little weird. Yeah. I'll tell you, you know what was a little weird?

Was Brock Bessor on the weekend? You want to talk about awkward and weird, Julian? Just to set this up for the listeners that maybe missed this on the weekend because, it was a Vancouver, Arizona game, not necessarily a game that had a lot of eyeballs on it. But Brock Bessor was slated to be a healthy scratch on the weekend. Was out with the extra players. I was kind of following along with Thomas Drans's tweets. And, you know, he was like, hey, Bester's out there taking extra shots.

He's not going to play tonight. And it looked like, wow, Brock Bester is going to be a healthy scratch, which guy that's got, you know, a couple more years left on a contract, Julian, at six and a half million per of the cap hit. That's a big story. Like that, you know, Brock Bester is going to be a healthy scratch, big story. But here's the funny thing. He ends up having to play at the last minute,

Dakota Joshua wakes up from a postgame nap, not feeling great, whatever. He's like, I can't go. So Besser goes all day thinking he wasn't going to play, then he plays. Now, here's what I want to ask you, because I want to be real clear on this. Sometimes I don't know what to think. And I don't know, like, I don't want to ever manufacture fake outrage and stuff like that. I want to have a real thoughtful, nuanced discussion on this. Sure.

It was supposed to be hockey fights. Well, not supposed to be. It was Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Vancouver on Saturday. and Brock Bessor's dad passed away. He had a long battle with, with among, amongst other ailments, you know, Parkinson's disease, but he also had a long battle with cancer. And Brock Besser, when he came out for the warm-up

in a game that he wasn't supposed to play but did play, his hockey fights cancer of Vancouver Connects jersey, had his dad's name on the back. Duky was his dad's nickname on the back of his jersey. After the game, Besser, who by the way, scored in the third period of that game, Bruce Boudreau said he was playing mad in that game. Boudro, sorry, Bester says, quote,

obviously it's a night that means a lot to me and my family. So I'm just happy I got in. And to be able to score was the cherry on top. Here's my question, Julian. Help me, like, help me navigate this. And maybe, I'm hoping actually, maybe you have an insightful answer that can help guide me because I'll be real honest.

I don't know what to think. But should a team consider something like that and say, you know what, it's poor form. The guy, it's hockey fights cancer night. It's a big thing in his family. This game would mean a lot to them. If we're going to scratch them, let's punt it for a night or two. Or you think, hey, this is professional sports, man.

This is the NHL. And feelings are secondary. This is a business. And if we think we're better off without you, then you're out. Where do you come down on this? Because I don't know what to think. I really don't. this feels like two different types of styles.

And I guess it really depends on how you want to manage your team. Because I feel like, like, I don't know why Lou Lamarillo pops into my head, but Lou Lamarillo strikes me as a guy who would be more column B of like, this is professional sports, dude, like you got to play as opposed to someone else who might be more column A who might think, no, you know what? Like, we could make that work where, you know, that guy could play. We could do what we want to do with this player for another night. I find myself in Colomé.

If I'm in a situation where I know Brock Besser, maybe he's not having the best year. He gives three goals to his name right now. He's not having a great offensive season. Like, this is a night that means a lot to him. He mentioned it to the media that like he circled that date. You know, I would understand. Look, the Vancouver conducts are not going anywhere.

You know, I could understand why you put him in the lineup. you keep the piece, you'll let it go. He's still a good player. So I actually scored. So that should be four goals. But like, yeah, exactly. Four goals and 15 points. 15 points in 19 games.

That's not that. Okay. Look, I would have just played him. I, and maybe it's not the best move, but he, and maybe I wouldn't have done this for a third line, fourth line player and all that. because I know a lot of people, look, it's a tough situation. But Brock Bass is still one of your more known players.

He's still one of the guy who's been in your organization for quite some time. I could understand why a game like that would mean something to him. So yeah, I'd probably keep the piece and put him in the lineup. And the fact that he scored, I mean, kind of, I know he ended up in the lineup because of injury circumstances, but it ended up sort of working out for the Vancouver Canucks in that game. I don't know. I just feel like with the way that they've been handling things as if like or as it seems like it looks like, like it's just another mess for this team that really cannot afford to have a mess any more messes right now. Yeah, it's, it's a weird, like part of me what, like, I don't know if they really, if Boudreau even really,

you think he even knew it's hockey fights cancer night and this is like I, I don't know. I feel like I think I tend to come down with you to say, that if I knew all the information, I would let the guy play this game and make it. But, you know, again, I don't want to, I don't believe in creating manufactured outrage or whatever. Like, you know, sometimes, look, sometimes people just make bad decisions.

And I think the Vancouver Connects here just made a bad decision. And maybe it wasn't out of malice. But maybe it was just, you know what, man, it's just indicative of what's going on under the hood there, which is lack of communication, lack of trust, lack of, you know, something's not right there, right? Something just hasn't felt. And you and I are looking at this from like the 10,000 foot view.

We're not in that market. We're not immersed in it. We're just kind of looking around and we're like, something doesn't feel right there. You know what I mean? And when you potentially scratch a guy under these circumstances doesn't feel right. And then that same night and the same night just so happens,

we hear that Brock Besser and his people, you know, if they want out of here, they could facilitate something, you know? Like, maybe those two things are not necessarily related, but I have a heart. I think they are. I think they are, Julian. That and also, it's hard to not, it's hard to look at that instance and just solely think of it as an isolated incident and just be like, well, hey, you know what? that's just a bad decision. Like, I get what you're coming from,

the fact that, like, hey, people just make bad decisions. But when you consider all the madness that has been surrounding the Vancouver Canucks on and off the ice, that compounds it. It's just, it's now just going to be seen as like, well, there is the latest thing to happen in Vancouver lately. Like, it's a mess.

Yeah. And listen, I'd love to hear from our listeners on this. You can hit us up on Twitter. You can hit Julian and I up on the comment section of the podcast. Yeah, do you have a problem with this? Do you have a problem with Vancouver about to scratch Brock Besser on hockey fights cancer night?

Or no, you're like, hey, again, I think I want to always, anytime I go into a debate or topic, I want to at the very least, understand multiple sides of the equation. So like, I can understand, I hope people understand that I know this is the national hockey league. This isn't my, you know, minor hockey, youth hockey. hockey, you know, equal ice time, all that stuff. No, this isn't that. This is the professional sports league.

And if you feel like you want to make a lineup decision to bench, like so many times we ask coaches, we demand like, man, I wish the coach had the stones to bench the $6 million guy. Then he does it. And then we're like, I can't believe he bench the $6 million guy. Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's $6 million. What are you going to do? This, I guess my point is, when you, when you bench a $6 million.

million. And Spencer's cap hit is six and a half, right? Yeah, about that. Maybe a little bit more. Yeah, but with a couple of years left on it. That's a nuclear option. That's a nuclear option. And like that that tells me that it's off the rails. You very rarely do you see a guy in that salary bracket is a healthy scratch in December. Right? And the first year of his contract. Yeah. First year of the three year deal. Exactly. it's one of those things where they signed J.T. Miller, they got to deal with Horvath. It just feels like they're in a weird spot as a franchise.

Like, what are you doing here? They're kind of stuck in that meaty middle. They're too good to bottom out and hang out with Arizona and Chicago and whoever else, Philly, Columbus, whoever you want to put down there. And they're not good enough to be a playoff team. And they look like they're going to just be destined to be in this murky middle because they've got some talented guys. They do.

And when the goalie's playing well, they're good. But, yeah, when he's healthy too. Goldies had the issues. I'm sorry to do this to Vancouver Cadux fans, but off of the stuff that's been going on this year, don't forget, there was crap going on last year too. And I'm sure if you talk to,

and the conducts fans know about all the crap that has gone on with their franchise for, you know, as long as they've been going on. So now at this point, we can't even just say, wow, like, I can't believe this mess is going on in Vancouver. Unfortunately, there's a label that's going to follow them where it's just like,

this is just Vancouver. Shit just hits the fan if you wait long enough. That was the story of the weekend. I think Brockmaster being Scratch was one of the big stories of the weekend. I want to look ahead of Monday night, okay? Because we're going to see, I think this might be the most.

And look, you cover the flames, so you're very well versed in, we'll call them revenge games this year, right? Because the flames, they've got... A bunch of them. Yeah, they've got the dates with, you know, Kachuk, they got, you know, Goddrow was going to. going to come back. Like, like, I feel like, you know, the flames might have some spicy games this

year. But tell me this, Bruce Cassidy back at his old stomping grounds, where the Bruins got rid of him, is there a spicier game on this schedule than Bruce Boudreau? Oh, sorry, Bruce Cassidy, going back to Boston, where the Bruins haven't lost at home this year, right? They're perfect on home ice. And Cassidy has a chance to really make a statement with the Vegas team that's also at the top of the standings in the Western Conference. To me, this might be the game of the week, and it's only Monday. This might be the game of the week. Not only that, if we get lucky, that might be a cup final preview.

Like, that's how good of a potential matchup this could actually be. I'm on Monday night, too. Like, that's not so bad. I mean, unfortunately for them, they have to go up against whatever Monday night football game, I guess is going up. But, like, for us, as hockey fans, like, who cares? Like, we should watch that game. I will be watching Calgary versus Arizona.

But I think that matchup could be really interesting to watch. Two teams that have put themselves in really good positions to start off this year. And as you've kind of mentioned, like, seems like the coaching change worked out for everybody. Vegas gets Bruce Cassidy and they are flying right now. Jim Montgomery is doing a pretty good job, a great job in Boston. I wonder if he'll generally get Jack Adams Award votes for the job he's been able to do there. Like, it's a really interesting scenario with those two teams and how good they are. Yeah, I think, I'm not saying, and I understand, I just said I, at the beginning of the year,

I wanted Colorado and the Rangers to make the Stanley Cup final, but I don't think it's wrong to say Boston, Vegas could be a potential Stanley Cup final. No, not at all. Not the way, like, if you were looking at it right now at the, you know, 25-ish game mark, absolutely. you would look at these two teams and say, this is good. I just love, again, like I said, and you really hit the nail on the head, though, when you said the coaching move has worked out for both teams

because they both rolled the dice, right? Vegas rolled the dice on Cassidy because obviously he had a less than amicable departure from Boston, and, you know, Boston rolled the dice. They got rid of him and brought in Jim Montgomery looking for a second chance. It gets worked out perfectly. Like, I'm having a hard time thinking of very many,

coaching situations, Julian, that have worked out better like this for all three parties. Bruins, Golden Knights, Bruce Cassidy. It just feels like everybody is where they're supposed to be. And you know what I loved? Cassidy got asked on Sunday about this being a revenge game. And, you know, he admitted, look, I want to win that game. I want to win the game. I want to beat my old team.

Who wouldn't want to? I want to stop their unbeaten streak at home. Who wouldn't want to do that? I love this quote from Bruce Cassidy, Julian. He says, they ask him about this being a revenge game. says, quote, I still have a house in Cape Cod that I want to go back to and not have people throw eggs at it, you know? Why would you tell people where your house is, man?

You're just opening the door for people. The Cape, yeah, the eggs, which I hope these are going to be, these aren't going to be like hard boiled eggs, right? Like, if you're going to egg somebody's house, you're going to just right out of the car. Like, what, like, no way. I don't want that at all. Hard boil eggs, whatever other type. That's going through the window is what I'm saying, hard boiled.

You know what? I'm not an egg connoisseur. I don't actually like eggs. So like I just, but I still think it's just really weird. So like what's the deal with you? You just don't eat eggs at all, like ever? I don't eat eggs. I had like, when's the last time you had an egg?

Since COVID has hit, have you had an egg? And like a sand and like a like a Tim Horton sandwich like on accident maybe. But like it's not something I eat regularly. Like not since I was like a child. Can you just explain to the listeners how you. would accidentally eat an egg sandwich from Tim Hortons or anywhere. Like, how would that accidentally happen? You order a breakfast sandwich that's supposed to have sausage and bacon in it.

And then they put it in your bag and then you leave without thinking to check. And then you open it and you realize they put eggs in it. Okay. And then you just say, you know, what the hell? I'm just going to have to live with the fact that there is egg in a breakfast sandwich I ordered. Mystery solved. There we go. Mystery solved.

I feel like you're judging me hard on that right now. And I don't like it. No, no. Good. And I, yeah, I can't think of a bigger revenge game. I know, maybe when Johnny Goddrault comes back to Calgary, because that was a guy leaving in free agency. Yeah.

That might be, but I tell you, Cassidy going back to Boston, that's a pretty big revenge game this year, right? I think it's definitely up there as someone who is maybe, I would like to think I'm starting to become a bit of an expert when it comes to these revenge games. Yeah, exactly. to Cichuk in the flames. That was a little bit more

like we heard some booze, but I think a lot of the fans there, I don't necessarily think they had that much hate in their heart for Kichuk. I think they just wanted to move on. Sean Monaghan, nobody booed him. No, how can you? That guy is pure class. Pure class, and look, it wasn't really his fault.

Like, he got banged up. And I think everyone knew that like him getting a change of scenery was going to be the best thing. Johnny Goodro, that is going to be interesting because just talking to players, like It seemed like he was he was liked and it was like a quiet guy. And then just, you know, he just made his decision to leave Calgary and go to Columbus. And I think people are wondering, maybe not wondering, but like, we know that Kachuk called Bradrow living and was like, you know what, man, I'm not going to sign long term.

They made something happen. You should do a story on that. If you ever get a chance, you should do a long form story on Kachuk leaving. Calgary. I hate to just spend what ideas. That would actually be like a really good, that'd be a really good idea. It'd be great to like reach out to like Alan Walsh and like all the other people who are involved in that trade. Yeah, that would be a great story. Yeah. And it should be an A1 story and it should be all over the site. So tell me, when is Goodrose return to Calgary? When does that happen? Off the top of my head. Is it in the new year like in 2020? Yeah. Yeah. It's January 23rd. I believe as the first time that he comes. that he comes back. But the flames are in Columbus on Friday, and I'll be in Columbus for that game. So they will see Johnny Goodrow for the first time on Friday.

So here's my question, because I thought what Calgary fans did for Matthew Kachuk last week was brilliant. Every time the guy touched the puck in game action, they were booing him. They're all over them. Video tribute time standing ovation. And I thought that's one of the most intelligent, classy things I've ever seen a fan base do. Like what a great sign of respect.

Hey, man, thank you so much for the years here. Like Matthew Kachuk wore his heart on his sleeve for that franchise, put his body at risk, played the game in a very physical and, you know, demanding manner. And the fans wanted to say thank you. They also, I think, said thank you because we knew you didn't want to stay long term. We don't take it personally. We got assets back and we're going to boo you when you touch the puck because, hey, in the here and the now, we don't like you. We appreciate what you did.

And Ian, just before I cut you off here, there are even some stretches where he's trying, where he's touching the puck and like a second will pass. And it's like, oh, nobody booed. And you mentioned that video tribute. They cheered him. Then they immediately booed him after. And you heard people in the stands laughing at how ridiculous it was that they went from cheering to booed. Like, it was a very weird situation. Not to cut you off, but I just had to add that context.

So is there any chance when Johnny Goodrow comes back in January that he gets the same treatment, which is we cheer you loudly in your video tribute and we boo the heck out of you the rest of the time or is it going to be straight booze? I'll tell you what. So I've covered a few of these kind of returns in the past. And I feel like when Danny Heatley left Ottawa years ago, Julian, okay? Julian, you would have been, how old would a young Julian McKenzie have been in December of 2009, which 2009 or 2010, I think.

So 2010. I would have, I would have bit. So, so going into 20, 15. I would have been 15 in December 2009. Okay. So 15 year old Julian McKenzie probably wasn't paying attention. to the same extent that you would be now. But I'm pretty sure when Danny Heatley came back to Ottawa,

if you want to know how acidic the kind of atmosphere was in Ottawa, I distinctly remember people sharing pictures of they had taken, you remember the starter lineup, little action guys. You could get, was it starter, starting lineup, a starter, little figurines of NHL players, right? Yeah, I remember those. Was it called starting lineup, whatever? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

These little four-inch tall little figurines. People put them in the urinals at the arena and they were pissing on them. Yo, that's disgusting. Yeah, that's next level. Yo, that's messed up. So I'm pretty sure. And I could be wrong on this. I don't remember if they even gave Danny Heatley a video tribute.

Wow. I don't know. Somebody would have to refresh my memory. Wow. Isn't that kind of nuts? people had literally put things in the urinal to pee on him that's how much they hated him so i i don't recall like if there was a video tribute there's no way they would have cheered him no even doing that no they get a lot of booze so i don't think that's what happened for johnny goddrae i remember i had a

conversation with milan lucre the other day and he was saying that like he was kind of like laughing at the fact that like the the chuk tribute kind of went the way that it did and he wouldn't be surprised if it went similarly for for Johnny Goddrault. I actually, funny enough, in talking to other people, I think they had the opinion that I think because of how the free agency thing went for him, you might hear more booze. You know, he leaves, the team doesn't get anything for him. He says he wants to go home. He goes to Columbus.

We all know he made, he told people that, you know, why he was going to Columbus, but also, like, you're going home. and Columbus is still how many hours away from home? Like, if I'm a Flames fan, I'm like, annoyed. I'm like, like, come on. Like, what's it like an eight hour drive? Eight hours? Yeah, that's not home. That's like if I said I wanted to go to Montreal,

I want to go home, and I had to live in Toronto, even. Yeah, that's literally it. Like, that's close. Six, six and a half hours. That's just six, seven hours of a drive. Yeah. You know, the flight might be a little bit better. And to Johnny Goodroff's point, he is of, he has enough money,

where if he wanted to take flights from Columbus to, I guess, south side Philadelphia or south side Jersey, whichever one works. Jersey, Philly, yeah. Yeah, like the flight itself is not going to be that long. Like, it's funny, we keep thinking of it as like, yeah, man, like it's sick. It's eight hours. It's an eight hour drive.

Like, you're still far. Johnny Goddrow doesn't have to drive home if he wants to. He could take a flight if he really wanted to, which would be like, he's not packing. He's not getting in a. minivan and packing snacks. No. He's not road tripping like the rest of us.

No. Someone could eat. I'm going to look this up like right now. Like how far is it from Columbus to New Jersey through a flight? I'm sorry for the people who are bored of this. Like I don't know. It's at least like like what 90 minutes? Yeah, probably like if it's a seven hour drive, eight hour drive, whatever it is.

Then yeah, you're probably looking at a 90 minute flight. Yeah. It's about a, it's about a, okay, it says here from Columbus. Columbus to New York, New Jersey, the total flight duration is one hour and 18 minutes. That's not bad. But we keep thinking of it as drive because, like, you know, not everybody has all that money to just throw out of flight. That being said, I know I've gone on a side tangent. There are, I'm sure there are fans who definitely are feeling like still a little, you know, hurt at the fact that Johnny Goddrow left them the way that they did.

And while they are still, you know, moving on and they see the guys that they have. now in the roster that they're trying to build, like, I get it. Fans have the right to feel the way they want to feel. I think it'll ultimately end up being around the same thing for Matthew Kachuk. Even if he's not the same personality, I think because of the circumstances, like, it'll result in him getting his own fair share of booze. And I think he'll get it like throughout the game as well. You know what?

I could see the crowd, you know, because Columbus is kind of stuck in the bottom of the standings. I could see fans doing, you know, in one of those, you know, enjoy the basement chance, you know, whatever like that. But yeah, I'm curious. I wonder if they're going to do Hubees better again. Because I don't know if you realize that. Yeah.

Yeah, because they did that during the Kachuk game. And I mean, that's a little bit, you know, direct one for one for each other, I guess. So maybe less likely we get Hubies better. But like, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, these revenge games are always fun. I wonder what it'll be like for Cassidy Monday night in Boston.

One other thing I want to touch on. So I forgot to tell you this. I think we talked about this a few weeks ago. I know I did on the Thursday edition of the pod with Sean McIndoo. But Stephen Stamcoast got to his thousandth point last week. And there was like a little window where I thought, Julian, this guy could get his 500th goal and his thousandth point on the same play. Right?

Like he ends up not getting it. He ends up with 494 goals at 1,000 points. He was close. I think I forgot to tell you this. When I was at the Hall of Fame, induction ceremony in Toronto. Lanny McDonald is walking by.

And I'm thinking it in my mind. I'm going to stop him and ask him about this. Because Lanny McDonald is the guy in NHL history that almost did this. He ended up, I think he got his 500th goal, Julian,

and his 1,000th point within a couple of weeks of each other. Like he was, like I think when he got his thousandth point, he had 498 with goals. So I stopped him. And I said, to him. I said, Stephen Stamcoast is like closing in a thousand points and 500 goals. I said,

Lanny, at any point when you were chasing down those two milestones at the same point, did you ever think about how cool it would be if you got them both on the same goal? He looks at me as like, never even thought of it until now. So, isn't that weird? Yeah, that's, I guess. But anyway, and Lanny's, you know this. Now with your time in Calgary a little bit, just a beloved figure and a guy that is just, yeah, he is what you think is. But he legitimately, when he answered my question, it looked like the thought had never, the thought had never crossed his mind. So I don't, I don't even know if Stephen knew about that.

Here's the thing. Hockey DV at hockey reference were not a thing when Lenny McDonald was chasing that. Like, there's a reason why Mitch Marner went off the way that he did when he accomplished that record for that point streak for the trauma maybe police over the weekend. I think in the information age that we're in now, like guys see that and they pick up on that and they could use that as like a source of of motivation to play well. I have a hard time thinking Stephen

Stapco's wouldn't have known. Can I I feel like every time when we do a pod, you and I, we, you know what we need to come up and I always spit, I'm like, we need to have new little segments. I love this. Here's what I think we need. Because we talked about it. We have a 17 year age gap. It's like the, it's like the Alfredson Carlson thing. We can make this work, but there's got to be a little, a little bit of teaching on both sides. Like, I almost think this would be fun. And I think our listeners would appreciate this because I bet you a lot of listeners are kind of in my age demographic, a lot of them in your age demographic. We need to do one of these

like, I'll teach you, you teach me. Oh, I like that. I like that. I like that. Cool. I need to learn some, you know, urban, fun, cool, hip terminology. Urban, like, what did you do? Urban? I'm a suburban guy. I live in. Wow. I live in.

You want to know how old he and Mendezze is. The fact that he said urban. Exactly. No, you know why he said urban is because I used to always, I mean, I don't go as much, but I would run to urban dictionary. I'd be like, word? Oh, what does that mean? Urban Dictionary.

Yeah, Urban Dictionary was like my go-to. Anyway, long story short, with the, I'll teach you, you teach me. Did you know that? So way back when? And I'm kind of like a kid of the early 90s is when I really loved hockey or whatever. The only time we would get stats would be the newspaper would print them once a week. The entire league stats would come up. on like a Tuesday.

And like you'd go to the, and if you were in a hockey pool of friends, like that's how you would tabulate it. By hand on the two, like the day, or you could get, I think the hockey news had it every, every issue would be the stats,

but it was like from like four days ago, you know? Oh, man. You know, if like Ray Ferraro had a hat trick for Hartford, it wouldn't show up for like a week on the stats page. That nuts? Wait, I have a question. How big were fantasy sports when you were like? No, so we had pool.

Like, I was in a hockey pool, but like, you know, before my time, so this is even, even before me. Did you know that they used to split? Like, if you were in a hockey pool when Wayne Gretzky was at his absolute peak of his career. Yeah. They would split up his goals and assists. Like, you could put your head up and say, I'll draft Wayne Gratz. Gretzky's goals. And then the next guy's, like, four picks up, you know, I'll take Wayne Gretke's

assist. So, I mean, you would do the assist first. You would split it up because people would say it was unfair if you had both. So they would split Gretzky into two. What? Did you, okay, Julian, did you know that in 1986, Wayne Gretzky, uh, I believe he had 215 points. 50, if I'm not mistaken, 52 goals, 163 assists.

he would have won the scoring title with zero goals. He had 163 assists, which was more than anybody else had points. So at this point in time, I'm telling you, people used to split this guy up in hockey polls. Can you imagine if today they're like, I'll take McDavid's assists or what, you know, that's how bananas it was. Man, this guy, and like that year was like the third consecutive year

in the fourth year and five years that he had over 200 points in the NHL. So, no. Like, if someone gets 100 points in the NHL now, that's like a big deal. Like, 200, like, imagine you had a, like a stretch where four out of five years,

you hit the 200 point plateau. That's on the hermit. And the fact that people would get to a point in fantasy sports where you're drafting a person's goal. Could you imagine? I know he used the football. analogy a lot because we both love football. But like, could you imagine if it was just like,

oh, I'm going to draft Justin Fields, but like his rushing stats. Exactly. Like I have it as like a running back or something. Or like Michael Vic would be an even better example. Mike Vic back in the day would have been the guy. Mike Vic, he would have been like, he's a running back. Yeah.

Yeah. You're only lot to take him for his running skills and you got to pick him separately for throwing. Okay. So let me ask you. Had you ever heard of this thing with Gretzky that they would split him the goal? Okay. So, okay, so we've done it.

We've accomplished, I'll teach you, you teach me. There we go. I like this idea, but now I have to think like what cool. You don't have to think. You could literally tell me anything and I'll be like, oh, okay. Like, okay, I told you, I have to sometimes go to, I've gone to urban. Have you ever gone to Urban Dictionary? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've gone to Urban Dictionary.

Okay, so I don't feel that bad. No, no, no, no, no. Like, I sometimes use the term urban. It was because of like Urban Dictionary. interpretation. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, no, that's fine. Because, like, no, like, I mean,

I'm a, I'm a millennial, and, like, I have, like, a, I have two younger sisters. One is, like, sort of on the cusp of millennial gen Z, and, and one is definitely a Gen Z. And, like, stuff will come up, and I'm just like, you know what? I actually don't know what this means. And then I'm like, oh, okay, that's what

that actually means. Actually, one thing I learned, one thing I learned, uh, actually, you know what? You know what? This is my opportunity to put the opportunity to do this too. So, I have a question. when you hear the phrase out of pocket, what does that mean to you? My first thought goes to insurance and you have to pay out of pocket.

Like, let's say you get a physiotherapy or a back. Again, now you can tell, this guy might be in his 40s if he's talking about physio and lower back pain. But, you know, you have to pay out of pocket.

If your insurance provider doesn't cover it, you pay out of pocket. Okay. So that makes sense. I mean, I would know that for that too. Because in talking to people here at work at the athletic, I have learned that a lot of people like to use the term out of pocket to say that they're going to be away for a certain amount of time.

How does that mean? That's what that's what I want to know. Like I see people who was, you know, out of pocket could also refer to Mike Vick. yes yes that's we're bringing it all back together bring it all back Justin Fields all those guys he's out of pocket I think of I think of out of pocket as someone who says outlandish things and like says maybe inappropriate stuff

it's like oh you're you're gonna say this thing man you're out of pocket like you need to stop being out of pocket like that's not right to say okay I've never heard out of pocket in that in that phrase okay oh yeah yeah yeah like there's uh there's even a song from from Kendrick Lamar called N95 where the hook uh like someone says like a pretty mean statement and then you hear Kendrick Lamar say you're out of pocket but i remember like being in a

conversation with like one of my colleagues here and he says oh you know what i'm going to be out of pocket today and i'm like why are you going to be out of pocket today you a nice guy like why would you do this why would you start being out of pocket for no reason like i had no idea wow yeah okay well see there you got up pockets for money like that i know that too but i also know out of pocket for something else, but it took me until joining the athletic to know that people use out of pocket as a way of saying that they are going to be away for a certain amount of time. Okay, I've never heard that. Never heard. By the way, I've also just thought of an idea. I'm going to launch something, I'm going to lock down the website for Suburban Dictionary. And it's going to be phrases like

cul-de-sac and things that you only hear like in the deepest part. Yacht Rock has to be there. Yacht Rock. you know, all these proximity to chain restaurants. This is what we have in the suburban dictionary. This is crazy. If you do that, I will buy it. On principle.

Let's lock it down. Log it down. Okay, real quick, before we wrap up this pod, the reason why I also brought up Stephen Stamcoast. Gets to a thousand points. Fun trivia question for you. Okay? On Steven Stamco's.

All right. Let me just pull it up. up to make sure I've got the right names here. Yeah, I believe, okay. Stamco's is now one of seven players, Julian, in NHL history, that were drafted first overall in an NHL draft, have a thousand points in their career, and have only played for one franchise.

How many, how many, how many, how many, so number one overall draft pick, first overall draft pick thousand career points thousand career points only played for one team and and only

seven players have done it only seven number one overall picks have met this criteria how many I'm just curious how many you could name Crosby and Ovechkin

off the bat yeah yeah yeah absolutely boom boom Crosby Ovechkin ooh okay I mean put on the spot so I know I'm going to think too hard about this a thousand points

McDavid hasn't reached a thousand points No he will soon He's like in the six hundreds though Like he'll get there soon enough for sure Okay This is where we tell Leafs fans Matthews will get there With Arizona

No Oh Don't do that No exactly No no no we're not I'm joking I'm joking I'm joking

Dude I know As someone who has poke that bear I do not want to get there Um My God and they've played their entire career with the same franchise. Exactly.

So they never left. So just for example, like, Mario Lemieux is there. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, Mario's on there. So it's three.

Because there's other guys, like think of like a Joe Thornton, for example, was taken first overall, but obviously bounced around or Matt Sundeen or, you know, so there's other guys

that have gotten to a thousand points, first overall pick, just haven't done it all with one team. So Stamcoast did it. Ovechkin did it. Crosby did it. Lameu did it. did it.

Did it. You're missing three. But you got three. That's actually good. That's very good. Because I did put you on the spot here. I put you on the spot. Okay.

I'll give you the other ones. Okay. Fine. One, okay, there's one other active player in the NHL right now. Okay, I want to get the active player. At the very least, let me get the active player. And I bet there are people who are listening to this episode who are just screaming. They're screaming.

My God. Oh, my God. I'm literally sifting through every single team. Okay. So. my head right now. Let me give you a hint here. These guys were all drafted in a tight window. So basically it went Crosby, Ovechkin,

Eric Johnson, who's not obviously on this list, the missing guy and Stamcoast. Oh my God. Oh my God. No. I'm blanking in my head right now. Oh my God. No, no, no, no, no, no. Where was the 07 draft held? Now you can't ask reverse trivia questions to me. Certainly not as, not as obscure as where was the 2007 NHL draft.

Would that actually help you if I gave you the city, the city that had happened? Are you like one of those spelling bee guys where I'm like, where you're like, can you give me the country of origin for the, like this would help you? Okay. Ovechkin, Crosby. It was in Columbus.

2007 draft was in Columbus. Oh my God. And then Stamcoast was 2008. Yeah. So we're missing the... O'Donzo. Was on the cover of NHL-O-7. Eric Stahl was on the cover of 08.

I love you. Reverse engineering this with EA SportsColns. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm going to flip... I'm going to flip a brick. I'm going to... Listen, he's a three-time Stanley Cup winner with this franchise. That should help it.

No. Oh, no. How many teams were... Patrick Kane? There you have, Patrick Kane. Patrick. Why did I... Why did I take so long with that?

I hate myself for thinking so long. People are yelling at their speakers right now on their smartphones. Oh, bad. It was funny, too, is that I was writing something earlier today, and I mentioned Patrick Kane. So Flames fans, be on the lookout for something that mentions Patrick King coming this week. I don't know. Okay, there you go.

Okay, so the other guys on the list. So you, you, it's crazy, right? They all four in a tight window. Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, and Stamco. Four guys within five years. Outside of that, you go to the previous basically 40 years. There's only three guys that have done it. One is Mario Label.

Is Marcel Dion one of them? Nope. Because he bounced around, right? He went to like, he dropped by Detroit, L.A. Rangers, I think were the teams for him. Okay, so the other two guys, and this, again, this is impossible. The other two guys, Gilbert Perrault of the Buffalo Sabres. No, never.

And Denny Potfan of the New York Islanders. And that's it. Yeah. That's the end. I wouldn't have thought about that. Yeah. Anyway, so when Stephen Stamcoe got to a thousand points this week, I thought, I'm going to look it up because I'm curious how many guys have gotten to a thousand points, first overall pick,

and never left. Like, that's pretty hard to do, right? It's pretty. Man. Pretty tough thing to do. And everybody on that list is at least a one-time Stanley Cup winner with that franchise, with the exception of Jilbert Perot. Because Potvin, of course, won four cups, Lemieux won multiple cups, Crosby multiple cups,

O'Veskin one cup, cane three cups, Stamco's, two cups, right? That's, lock it, I mean, if you didn't think Stephen Stamcoast was the first ballot slam dunk Hall of Famer before. I think this pretty much should be game set match, right? And he's 32 years old. Yeah. He's got four to five years left. Yeah.

Yeah. Like that blows my mind. Remember, I still think of like the Stanley Cup final where like he had been banged up. And he just like played like, was it eight minutes? Not that long and still scored against Dallas. I always say that that was like his Kirk Gibson moment where like, Chris Gibson like kind of limps up to the plate and hits a home run. And that's all he had in him was like one swing of the bat.

I felt like Stephen in 2020 had like one shift in him in that cup final against Dallas. He's like he scored. He's like, I'll see you later, guys. And it made all the difference. Yeah, absolutely. Now I have to make sure that next time we do this, I come up with like a trivia question for you. Someone gave me a really good Ovecgan trivia question that maybe I'll tell you off air.

But I heard it this weekend. That stuff, so I'll find that. Let's wrap up this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey show like we always do. We'll bounce around and see what the best week behind the bench in the NHL. We got some teams that were perfect last week. Last seven days, Minnesota Wild, 3 and 0, National Predators, 3 and O. Carolina Hurricanes, 3 and O. So, yeah, maybe a little love for Dean Evanson, John Hines, Rod Brindamor.

Julian, I got to really push hard for DJ Smith. because I can't tell you how the temperature was boiling over in Ottawa. They've won four of their last five games, including two games in a row back to back within 24 hours on the weekend at Madison Square Garden, back home against San Jose. This guy's been through it a ton. And you know what? I think to be able to come out of it on the other side

with a little bit of hope and optimism, me, I'm going DJ Smith here. This guy is taking a ton of heat in this market. Seeing him win a couple games, you know what? He, he deserves this and a little bit of, a little bit of positivity around him. So that's my vote for the week. I don't oppose going with DJ Smith.

I would also shout out John Hines. I mean, I think of the other teams that are mentioned, Minnesota being one of them, the other team being Carolina. Those two teams are in pretty good playoff positions. The National Predators, I mean, they're still knock on the door trying to get into the playoffs. A guy like John Hines in Nashville, I could use any point.

You could use the points. So I would imagine for me, maybe I'd give it to him, but DJ Smith needs those points more in Ottawa, considering the pressure that's there, considering all those expectations that have been thrust upon the Ottawa senators. Sorry, I'm one of those people who thrust expectations on you. Do you know what? I'm okay with being unanimous with you and picking DJ Smith.

That's the guy said, you know what, man, you're playing through pressure. and I don't think Dean Eveson and definitely not Rod Britta Moore and to a lesser extent John Hines, they're not feeling that pressure the same way as DJ Smith is right now. Well said. All right, we're going to go for it. We're going to give DJ Smith the Jack Adams of the Week Award for the past seven days.

They win two huge games. All right, wrapping it up, let me ask you this question to kind of sink our teeth into an interesting storyline. And that would be, we're at the 25 game mark for most teams, 20, 25 games. If I had to ask you, who's been the breakout star? Julian, who deserves the title of the breakout star of the NHL season to date? I'm going to give you four options.

Feel free to go off the board if you think one of these four guys, there's somebody beyond these four. Who deserves the title, breakout star of the year? I'm going to go, your options are Jason Robertson, Paige Thompson, Jack Hughes, or Rupé Hintz. Who's like, you know what? that guy is the breakout star for me. So Jason Robertson has been a good player for a bit,

but we've never seen him be this good. And I say this because I feel as if I say Jason Robertson, people are going to be like, oh, well, he's a bit. I don't want to say established, but like, you know, we know him to be a good player, but like, yep, we're talking about him as a potential heart trophy candidate right now. Rupa Hintz has always been underrated. He had a hat trick on side.

Sunday, which do by fantasy hockey team. I'm not happy about that. Tatech Thompson, who looked as if he was just going to be a guy in St. Louis and then Buffalo gets him and he turns and we all look at the shooting percentage. We're like, is that sustainable? And Tage Thompson has established himself as a really good player. But I think Jason Robertson, for what he's able to do in Dallas and helping them, not just by scoring all those goals and just being a good player, Dallas has looked at as a

playoff team, like as a solid team with the pieces that they have. And Jason Robertson's a really big reason why. And if he's able to hold on to this, I think he is certainly deserving of the breakout guy because now we're looking at a player who will elevate themselves into a completely different tier of player because of a season like this. You know what, who it is for me? I think it's Tage Thompson. And I know we had the, you know, the 38 goals wherever last year.

Julian, I've watched, I think probably in, person two Sabres games this year. Like so been in the building with my own eyes to watch. And then, you know, watch maybe two or three other games where they're on TV. I'm blown away by this guy. Like the games I watch him in person with my own eyes, I'm like, this guy's dominant. And he leaps off the page for me. And I got to tell you, like when they traded Ryan O'Reilly years ago, I thought, man, they got fleeced.

They got a fleeced on this trade with a capital F. Well, Tage Thompson, to me, has been, he's elevated himself from a guy who scored 38 goals wherever last year. He's a legitimate star in this league. I'm going to Tage Thompson here. I think Buffalo came through Calgary. Did you watch him there? Yeah, I watched him and I watched all those guys in Buffalo. Those guys are, even if they don't make the playoffs this year, like they have a bright future, man.

Yeah, they do. They're quick. They're fun to watch. Like, yeah. Yeah. Also, I think our reasonings are more less similar. I think Tage Thompson is taking that step to become a star in the league. I kind of see Jason Robertson, who, yes, he had 40 goals last year.

He may very well be knocking on the door of Superstar. Yeah, yeah. And I think that we both have similar, like, I think that's fine. Man, anyway, it's fun. And if you're a fan of the Dallas stars or Buffalo, there's not, and obviously we put Jack Hughes on there too. Like, there's nothing more exciting when your team has a young star. and you start to think about in your mind, you're like,

wow, what will the next five years be like? Or the most fun is when that player hasn't hit his ceiling yet, right? And that's just like you said on Robertson, he hasn't hit the ceiling yet. And that's crazy. Like, he has become arguably the best goal score in the game this season, right? Like, he's the best goal score at five on five. Yeah. Yeah.

He's averaging like two goals at five on five a game. Yeah. Like he's, like, there's genuine, like, I know that like, people are going to look at, like, oh, it's the heater that he's on that's going to propel him. But like, yeah, his numbers look really good. There's a legitimate case to be made right now that goes beyond the heater, the point streak that he's on that says he should be a viable heart trophy candidate. Yeah. No, anyway, hey, this is, this has been a lot of fun. And we've also come up with a brand new segment idea for future shows of I teach you, you, you,

teach me. And also occasional trivia. By the way, if you want the trivia question, the trivia question was this. Oh, you're going right on the air here. Okay. Let's do this. You don't do it. Alexander Ovecichkin this week has 403 goals scored on the road.

403 goals scored purely on the road. There are one, two, three, four, five, six, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven active players right now who have more goals than Alexander Ovechkin does on the road. There are only 11 players in the NHL right now who have more career goals than Alexander Ovechkin does on the road. Oh, I see what you mean. Like, so, um, like if you took away all of Ovechkin's home goals and you only gave them his road goals, there's only a handful

of guys that have more than him. Gotcha. Correct. Correct. All time. So, I mean, Crosby. Sorry, not all time. Active players.

So Crosby. Yes. And the aforementioned Stamco's, for sure. Yes. And Patrick Cain. Look at this. Just rehashing names that we had earlier in the show. Yes.

Phil Kessel? Phil Castle, yes. By one goal. Oh, safely. It fell safely in that. Very, very close. Joe, um, uh, oh my gosh, Joe Pavelsky. Yes.

Joe Pavelsky's there. And now I'm out. Now I'm struggling here. Uh, because I, boy, like the copatars and the taves of the world and the Bergeron's of the world. Like, I'm just thinking of these like kind of great two-way centers. I'm like, do they have enough goals? Bergeron, Taves. I think of Bergeron, Taves and Copatar.

and see if I got any of them right? One of those three are there. Okay, it's not Kopitar. No, it's not Kovatar. Bergeron. Bergeron scored a lot of goals. I'll say Bergeron. Patrice Bergeron is on that, yes.

There we go. Wow. You're going to have to help me out on the other guys. Okay, unless there's like an obvi. Oh, oh, Malkin. If there's ever a Crosby question, there's B. Malkin was. So, So Balkans there. So you've mentioned the top three guys.

You're missing a guy who was on the cover of NHL-O-8. Wait, you said this earlier. Wait, wait. You said Ovechkin was 07. You said Eric Stahl. Eric Stahl was there, yes. Isn't that what you said? Yes, that's what I said.

Eric Stahl is on the current of NHL-O-8. I just need you to know. I need you to know that I'm listening to you. I appreciate that, my friend. When somebody says Eric Stahl was the cover of the cover. athlete of NHL 08. I put that in a little piece of my brain, and I'm like, I wonder if I will ever need to use this information ever again.

Okay. Do you remember, do you remember, I think it was during like the 2005 world juniors, that really dominant line? Bergen-Hen had city cross? Yeah. Crosby? Yeah. Do you remember who was the third person on that line?

And it wasn't Mike Richards. It was the other, I feel like it's the, uh, the other guy. Jeff Carter. So he, Jeff Carter is part of that, so that is a right answer, but that's not the name I'm looking for. Jeff Carter wasn't on that line? Wasn't Carter and Richard? Carter and Richards on that team? Yeah, they were, wasn't it?

So Carter, they were on that team, but there was like a line with like three really good players, like Crosby, Bergeron, and there's a third guy. You probably didn't like him. No one really does. Marchand was there, right? No. Not on the five team. No, no, I'm thinking of the Olympics. You're thinking of the Olympics.

So, two thousand calls. I'm thinking of, no, I was thinking of the World Cup. Getslath and Perry, oh, Corey Perry. Corey Perry. It was Jeff Carter not on that line? All of a sudden I thought, and Jeff Carter is right? Jeff Carter's on that list, but yeah, it was, I remember it was, it was, it was, it was, it was Crosby-Bers-R-R-R-R-R-Rey. Listen, the next time we have to do the Apple bonus segment on the show, why aren't we just doing this?

Instead of, we should just do that. By the way, at the end of our podcast, when we're about to, uh, say goodbye. Here's 11 guys that have scored more goals. So, Alex O. So Crosby, Stamco, Malkin, Stahl. You said Pavelsky. You said Carter. You said Bergeron. You said Perry. You said Castle. Did you say the...

So there's two guys you're missing. Two guys. But I don't remember if you mentioned one of them already. But I also want to be careful. they're both American players. You might have mentioned one of those guys already. Pacharetti. Max Pacharetti.

No, he's not there. Oh, that was my initial thought. Ah, boy, now you're American guys. So the two guys that are missing are American guys. And I don't remember if you mention, and I feel bad, I don't remember if you mentioned what. You know what? I'm going to say this name because I don't want to do what you did.

I'm going to say Patrick Cain. Okay, so we get Patrick Kane out the way. There is one, so Crosby, Stamcoz, Malkin, Eric Stahl, Patrick King, Joe Pavelski, Jeff Carter, Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Phil Castle. All of those players have had more goals than Ovechkin's road totals, and you're missing one player. And he's American?

He is an American player. He was born in America. I think his dad was born elsewhere. That hell. Now you're just confusing me. I mean, I don't know. I thought I'd give you a pretty. good hint.

Well, his dad must have been a player then. His dad was a player, yes. Once upon a time. Yes, he was. I don't know. I'm going to have to top out. I have literally no clue. Damn, okay. All right. Zach Peresey. You know what? I never would have got. Well, I mean,

if you started giving me some hints, maybe, but man, I don't know. I figured you know the game. I thought you would have been up on JP Peveze. Yeah? No, no. Yeah. Terrible by me. You know, it's one of those things that were, like his dad played before I watched hockey.

That's fair, yeah, that's fair. You know? I think his dad was like in the 70s. Was he on that team Canada, whatever that 72 Summit Series team? Wasn't he on that team? Was he on that team? I think so.

No, if he was. I think so. Yes, he was, he was. He was. Yeah. He was. So that's before, that's before both.

of our times. That's fair. But hey, you did really well. That was awesome. Okay. Yeah, there we go. Surprise trivia. You never know when you're going to,

I don't know if it's going to pop up at the Monday show. All right. Hey, man. This was great. I hope you have a great week. I'm sure, listen, we're going to have a lot of fun storylines to pay attention to to, like Boston, Vegas Monday night,

and you mentioned Calgary and, you know, Ottawa has become suddenly a fun team. So we're going to have a lot of fun storylines to sink our teeth into the next seven days. So listen, have a great week. And we'll get you next Monday on the pot. And just come to the table with something you can teach me in my 40s, okay? That's your job.

Like how I blew your mind with the Gretzky's goals, as this is being split up. I need something like that. That's crazy. All right. I'll think of something. There we go. We want to thank everybody for listening to this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show.

I'll follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. We certainly appreciate that. us the comments. We love to hear the feedback. You can follow us on YouTube as well at YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. Right now you can get a subscription to the athletic for $2 a month when you visit the athletic.com slash hockey show.