The Athletic Hockey Show - Carolina Hurricanes surge into first place, Corey Pronman joins the show, Multiple Choice Madness, Hailbag, and more

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

First, Ian and Hailey break down headlines from the last week around the league, including the Carolina Hurricanes becoming the first team to win twenty games this season, Erik Karlsson saying he “didn’t sign up for a rebuild” with the underperforming San Jose Sharks, and the continuing John Tortorella-Patrik Laine benching saga in Columbus.Then, The Athletic’s senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman joins the show to discuss whether in hindsight Alexis Lafrenière, Tim Stützle, or Quinton Byfield should’ve gone first overall in the 2020 draft, the challenges in evaluating the 2021 draft class because of COVID-19, prospects that could be on the move at this year’s trade deadline, Calder trophy possibilities, and more.Plus, to close things out, Ian and Hailey run through a series of Multiple Choice Madness questions and Hailey answers listener questions in another installment of the Hailbag.And, don’t forget, you sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back, everybody, to another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm Ian Mendez, alongside Haley Salveen. Coming up this episode, we'll talk about who should be getting more love from the hockey world. The Carolina Hurricanes, maybe it's the New York Islanders, Eric Carlson with some interesting comments over the weekend in San Jose about the direction of the sharks. Our draft and prospects expert, Corey Pranman drops by to chat about some young players who could be on the move before the deadline, as well as maybe a little sneak peek ahead to the 2021 NHL draft. As always, we'll wrap up the podcast with Multiple Choice Madness and we'll open up the hail bag.

But before we get to this podcast, we do want to remind you, this feels good. Because it's back. March Madness is back and starting Tuesday, March the 16th, the athletics college basketball crew will bring you the Ding You, presented by BetMGM. They'll cover all of the action both on the court and at the sports book, grabbing insight from all of our athletic college basketball writers, picking the brains of BETMGM's top bookmakers.

And a reminder, too, don't miss our tournament preview show streaming live on the Daily Ding YouTube page. That comes up on Tuesday, March the 16th at one Eastern time. You can also hit them up on the Daily Ding's feed wherever you get your podcast shortly after they're streaming. So that brings us to the obvious question. Does Haley Salvean, because remember last year there was no March Madness, Haley? Does Haley Salvean have a bracket picked out for March Madness? I don't yet. I have to get on that.

Every year it takes me like a week to do my bracket. I don't know. I'm just that or like I don't know. I think there's two kinds of people. There's the people who research. They do all the stuff. They've got the crazy big whiteboard to have the most elite bracket. ever. And then there's the people who wing it. And then I guess there's also the people who do

like seven brackets to just like throw as many things at the wall. I think I'm the, you know, I want to be the first one, but I'm just the second. I say I'm going to prep and I'm going to have this awesome bracket. And then I'm like, no, I'm just going to scribble some stuff in here. And it's going get, because it's going to get busted regardless. I'm sorry. Like, don't waste a week doing prep when someone's going to screw up your entire thing within a week. So I do love March Madness, though. So I'm very excited that we get to watch it. And obviously, we just hope that everyone's able to stay safe and healthy. But, you know, it'll be nice to have that back. Yeah, it kind of feels like life is sort of returning, returning to normal. Touchwood, didn't have it last year. And okay, I also going to ask

you one other thing before we get into the show today. Okay. I'm going to list off a bunch of things here, Haley. You tell me what they have in common. Okay? These are going to be titles for you, okay? Okay. Sound of metal. No manned land. The trial of the Chicago 7. Judas and the Black Messiah.

The father, Mank, promising young woman, and Minari. Any idea what those things are? Are they all on Netflix? They were all nominated yesterday for Best Picture for the Oscars for 2021. And it got me thinking,

I don't think I saw a movie in the theater. Did you, do you know any of these movies that are up for an Oscar? The only reason I said Netflix is because I've seen the trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix. And I think I've heard of metal. Yeah. At first, when you were saying metal, I thought it was like, ooh, the periodic table. Something stupid.

But no, it's like the Golden Globes and stuff. If it wasn't for the TV shows that were nominated at the Golden Globes, I wouldn't have known what anything was. Yeah. Yeah, I had no idea of, I have not seen any of these movies that got me thinking, I don't think I really saw any movies in the theater in 2020. Now, I need to know as well,

because there's a little bit of an age gap between the two of us. I need to know. What is Haley Salvean's all-time favorite hockey movie? Ooh, that's a good question. I mean, slap shots, obviously, a classic. But if I'm talking like, good, sit down, like, watch this. It's actually kind of a good movie. Like, I'm super into mystery Alaska.

I think that's a great hockey movie. My dad loves that movie. So, why are you laughing? That's a good movie. Yeah, yeah. I feel like the obligatory. answer for a guy like people my age is slap shot and I never watched slap shot until about 18 months ago I went my entire life without watching slap shot and now I'm going to say something very unpopular

you didn't like it was overrated I think if you waited like 30 years to watch it I know I waited until I was too long and then but you know what I rewatched the mighty ducks uh with my daughter like about a year ago, that might be like the original mighty ducks might be my favorite hockey movie of all time. Yeah, I had the, I had the movies when I was a kid and the Anaheim or the mighty ducks of Anaheim was my first favorite hockey team growing up because I loved the movie and I thought the duck was, you know, ducks are cute. I was also a penguins fan. The sharks were cool. Like all the animals, that's typical kid. You see like an animal mascot and you're like, that's my favorite. hockey team. They end up being pretty decent teams. But no, Mighty Ducks is a, that's a classic,

that's a classic film. So hold up. As a kid, you cheered for like 10% of the league. Like you just mentioned the ducks, the penguins, the sharks. It was mostly ducks and penguins, but the sharks were also involved. Okay, wait. Were you a Chris Koonitz fan then? Growing up, he played for the ducks and the penguins. I mean, yeah, like, and I was, but I wasn't like a super young kid, but I was obviously a big fan of Chris Koonitz when he played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah. Especially like the Stanley Cup, Chris Koonitz.

Yeah, he's got four Stanley Cup rings, I think, doesn't he? Anyway, whatever he's got three or four rings. He's been a big, that guy wins wherever he, wherever he goes. All right, on to. Gold medal. And a gold medal too. Yeah, people forget about that. He's a great chemistry with Sid Crosby.

So let's look at some of the stories. kind of brewing this week, Haley. And the first team, I think if you had said this at the start of the season, you get to pick the first team that's going to get to 20 wins. Who would you take? I think a lot of people would take Tampa or maybe Boston or, you know, Vegas, St. Louis, whatever, Colorado. I don't know how many people would have taken the Carolina hurricanes.

Haley, as we roll into the middle of March, is it time to elevate the Carolina hurricanes into that upper tier? and yes, let's all admit, they're a legit Stanley Cup contender who deserve a lot more love from the hockey world. Yeah, I mean, the one thing I'll say with this is I'm not sure

like where the Carolina Hurricanes like non-lovin is coming from because, like, Ian, we do our power rankings with the company. I'm pretty sure the canes have usually been up at the top. They've been so on mine when I'm doing the power ranking. So it is weird to me because I see the discourse all the time of people saying, like, when are the Carolina hurricanes going to get some love and attention?

And I don't know if that's just because people are comparing, you know, when the Leafs are number one in the league to when the Canes are number one in the league. In that case, I can understand it because, you know, there's probably still going to be more about the Toronto Maple Leafs on all of the shows here in Canada. There's going to be, even though they lost, I mean, especially because. because they lost, that it's going to be all what's wrong with the Leafs, what's going on, how they lose to the Sends. But it is interesting to see the difference in coverage for, you know, a team like Toronto,

who was first in the league for quite a while and now the Keynes are there. I think they are a great hockey team. I think they got a lot of great pieces. You know, I saw Dougie Hamilton had a multi-point game the other night. You know, I think there was questions about their goal tending. You know, every offseason when I'm reading like Sarah Sivian stuff, you know, she, you know, she's talked about their goaltending picture. I think they have a great coach in Rod Brindamore, obviously. And, you know, they just have a good mix of forwards, their defense. I just, I don't know

if there's something that I would look at the canes and say, like, they absolutely need to fix this or they're not going to be successful. I just think they're a good hockey team. And I think me personally, I've always thought that. I think the general public maybe if we're talking about how they need to get more love, obviously they should because they are a good hockey team. And they're pretty fun too. Like Sebastian Ajo, Andres Svetchenkov,

those are really fun players to watch play hockey. So I think, yeah, I think the canes are definitely, obviously one of the top teams in leagues. They're now sitting at first overall and their first of 20 wins, like you said. Yeah.

And, you know, Vincent Trocheck, I think is at a wonderful, I know he's a little bit banged up right now, but wonderful Renaissance season. Jordan Stahl, like, he's, you know how, you want to, how I feel old? Penguins. Yeah, Jordan Stahl is 32 years old. Like, that makes me feel old. I remember when he broke in as a teenager and he was so good for those penguins teams in

those kind of early Sydney Crosby years, he was this wonderful, complimentary third line center, and he's been great. The one thing I look at, though, Haley, maybe I'll disagree with you a little bit on this. I'm not sold on the goal-tending. And I know Marazic has been out for a while. And I think James Reimer is one of the best human beings in the game. And his record, I think he's 12 and 3. So if you look at it from that perspective, he's been winning.

But you look at the underlying numbers, the quality starts, and more importantly, he's just giving you league average safe percentage. I wonder if you were the Carolina Hurricanes, would you look at this and say, do we feel comfortable that Marazic will be healthy? at the end of the regular season in the playoffs. Do we feel comfortable enough? Like we have built a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Are we comfortable enough with Reimer and Marazick being our guys?

I don't know. Yeah. And like when I say I don't know if there's like one single thing that I can point to. Like obviously like the only one would be goaltending. Yeah. As you said, because it's, you know, I think the Carolina Hurricanes like that's an example of. of, you know, I don't know if they're kind of going for like a 1A, 1B tandem. I don't think it's really like that.

It's a little bit more like their starter and their backup. But with Marazick out, but again, they're still winning. But let me ask you this, Ian, would you rather have an elite goaltender who is putting the bandaid over the issues on your team, on the ice on a nightly basis? Or would you rather have a league average goaltender who's getting it done for your elite team in front of you? What would you rather have? It's such a good question because I think I tend to say I'd rather have the elite team

with a goalie that can hopefully get it done. And I think you look at like St. Louis when they won the cup with Jordan Bennington. It wasn't like they had this. Like if you play the right way and you play properly, I think it's not like it used to be 20 years ago where you're only winning the cup if you've got like this Patrick Waugh, Ed Bellford, Dominic Hachachic. I think you can win with really good goal-tending. So if you're asking me, would I rather have a team with an all-world goalie but like just a so-so team or a so-so goalie in the all-world team?

Give me the all-world team. But when you're Carolina and you're sitting here in this spot, I think this is going to be really fascinating because the other thing is I don't even know what goalies we would, like I've seen Devin Dubnick's name thrown out there, but like I don't even know what you could do at the deadline that you would say that, yeah, that's a significant upgrade. Unless you can, I don't think Mark Andre Fleury, he's not going anywhere now, right? Like, I don't know what you could potentially do to improve your team at the deadline in goal. Yeah, I know that, you know, our colleague Pierre LeBron did a story, you know, just looking at some of the pieces that six contenders could add to the team to help them try to win.

And one of the ones that was interesting, obviously, because I do cover the Calgary. flames was that he was suggesting that David Riddick would be a good fit in Washington because the capitals, they're in this really tight window. They still think that their goaltender right now, Ilya Sampsonov. They still think that he is their goalie of the future. But he has struggled a bit as late. So Pierre LeBrun was saying that if the Calgary Flames cannot make it back into the playoffs under Darrell Sutter, David Riddick would be a great fit for the capitals. I don't know if many would call

Riddick an upgrade over Marzic or Rimer. I'm sure you could make the argument for maybe Riddick over James Rimer, maybe not the way that Rhymer is playing right now. But, you know, that's always an interesting one because Dave Riddick is a UFA next season or this offseason, excuse me. So, you know, if he's a good fit in Washington, maybe there's something there. But I feel like if you're giving up assets to swap goalies or, you know, trade for one goalie, whatever it may be. I think it needs to be a clear, you know, upgrade to make that move. So I just don't know if the fit is as there in Carolina as it would be maybe in Washington. Yeah.

And, you know, one of the names that's been tossed out is Devin Dubnick in San Jose. And the reason why Devin DuPnick name is out there, Haley, is because the sharks are underachieving once again. Remember, this was a team that has, this will be the first time if they missed the playoffs, which it looks like they're going to, Haley. This will be the first time since the mid-90s. San Jose has missed the playoffs in consecutive years.

Like this has been an unbelievable run. Like fans in Northern California have been super spoiled. And I think they realize that. This has been an unbelievable run of 20, basically 20 years where you were a playoff team. But it looks like it's coming to an end. Eric Carlson on the weekend had some interesting comments where I'll read the quote here. Carlson spoke to the media Saturday, Haley.

And this is the comment that is certainly generating a lot of discussion around the hockey world. Carlson says, quote, obviously I did not sign here to go through a rebuild or go through what I did for 10 years in Ottawa. But it is what it is. I think we need to find a way to build with a core group that we have here. year and figure out a way to be competitive here in the upcoming years. So Eric Carlson says, I didn't sign up here to go through a rebuild. Remember, he gets the eight-year, $92 million contract a couple of summers ago. So he's getting an $11.5 million cap hit.

There's some people who are looking at this, Haley, saying Carlson is deflected. Like, Carlson should be accepting responsibility for where they're at rather than saying I didn't sign up for this. there's probably a little bit of truth on both sides. But I mean, what did you make of Eric Carlson saying what he did on the weekend? Yeah, I mean, the one thing when I first read those quotes is I would love to know, you know, exactly the context of a conversation like that, you know, like what was the question that was posed to Eric Carlson to elicit that kind of response?

I'm always kind of curious about that side of things. But I mean, I don't. I think my initial reaction, this is a really tough one because, like, this is a guy who was clearly an elite, elite defenseman in the National Hockey League for many years with the Ottawa senators. You covered him. You can probably speak to that more than I can. But then, you know, he gets traded to San Jose. He signs that massive contract extension. he, I mean, the last two seasons, he only played half the year.

Now he has two goals, nine points, and 21 games. Like, if you're the San Jose Sharks and you're reading that quote, you're saying, like, okay, well, what are you doing to help us not be a rebuilder? Because we just shelled out millions of dollars for an elite defenseman that we believed would help us content and you're not. So I think if you're the sharks, you're looking at that and saying, okay, well, you're a cornerstone piece here and we're not winning. So maybe there's something you can do to help us win. Yeah. And you talk to people in San Jose, they, like, they're saying

he's played a little bit better here in the month of March. But I mean, probably not to the level of 11.5. Here's what I, I look at San Jose, Haley, and I think, oh, no. Like they are, they are potentially in for some painful years. Because when you look at their cap situation, the following guys who are all over the age of 30 are locked into multi-year deals. Okay. Carlson's 30. He's got, you know, basically six more years at 11.5 million. Brent Burns is 36. You got four more years after this at 8 million. Mark Edward Vlasic. He's 33. You got four more years of Vlasic at seven million. So if you think about it, that's 26 million tied up amongst those.

three defensemen for the next four or five years. Martin Jones is 31. He's been underperforming three more years at a hair under six million. Logan Kuture, he's 31. He's probably the one who's playing up to his contract. But you got him an $8 million for another five years. So this is the issue.

I don't know what you can do. Like Eric Carlson said, look, we got to figure this out. And remember, his first year in San Jose, they got to the conference final. So it's not like they've been a mess the whole time. I don't see how they get this done and they turn this around. I feel like they're going to be the most handcuffed team in a flat cap world is going to be San Jose.

Yeah, well, because how are you going to offload those contracts, especially with, you know, it's not just the cap hit. It's the cap hit. It's the age. It's the on ice performance. It's not a great combination. The one thing I will say on, you know, Eric Carlson's kind of side of things and maybe you can touch on this too, Ian, but the one thing I will say is like when you, your UFA years are obviously a

really big thing. Like we've seen so many times in free agency guys are saying, I'm going to test the waters. You only get to be, you know, some guys only get to be a UFA once. And that's the kind of opportunity for players to pick and choose the situation that they want to be. And they play through all those years under team control to get to their UFA years. That's why we see an arbitration. things like, oh, you know, I think last year, you know, Connor Brown, it was one year away from a UFA. So the conversation was like, you have to buy his UFA years from him because those are incredibly valuable.

So when, if you're Eric Carlson and you're an unrestricted free agent and you're saying, like, where do I want to lock in? Like he has, you know, he paid his dues. He had some amazing seasons in the National Hockey League. I think a guy like Eric Carlson, like I say be better. but at the same time from what he put in in his first 10 years in Ottawa, like I think he's allowed to choose. This is the situation I want to be in now.

I'm however age I've put in all this time. I did all of this in the National Hockey League. Now I want to go and do this. And he's a UFA. So he has the right to do that. So I say be better, but I kind of get it at the same time. Like it's a tricky one for me.

Yeah. And it's one of those situations where I just don't know how they're going to be better. Like there's a team that could use some above average goal tening, right, to maybe bail them out. But I don't know. San Jose fans, I think, have been, and I feel bad for them because they were kind of like the Washington Capitals for a long time on the precipice of winning a Stanley Cup. And for them, it never came to fruition. And now, at least if you're a Capitals fan, you got your cup, right, in that window. You never got that in San Jose.

So this is going to be a painful stretch coming up for them. And I think, like, so the Carlson comments were kind of inflammatory on the weekend. Late last week, we had John Tororella, Patrick Line A, 2.0. This is the second time now in Line A's short time in Columbus that there's been a benching or a kind of a diminishing or his ice time getting diminished. They're playing Florida. Line A gets staple to the bench, back half of the game. After the game, Line A says, I thought I was playing good.

I guess I thought wrong. Tororella the next day said, is it a benching? No, I didn't bench anybody last night. I just decided to play other people in situations late in the third period that I felt more comfortable with at the time. Now, that's a fancy way of saying I bench Patrick Lainey. But again, I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, this doesn't feel like a marriage or relationship John Tororella and Patrick Liney that is headed for a, a successful conclusion here, right? Yeah, I think, you know, it's not abnormal for a coach to shorten the bench.

And I just, I don't, I don't always have a keen eye on what's happening in Columbus. I'll obviously admit that because it is so busy when, when you're on your beat full time. But I mean, I think a lot of people think it's easy to just point the finger at John Tortorella. about what is Patrick Linae doing? Like, if a coach is shortening, because that's, I'm sorry, like, the coach is shortening the bench. It happens all the time.

It happens here in Calgary. Like there's been games where Dylan Dube, who's a 22-year-old, who's supposed to be one of the next core pieces, he was benched before. Sam Bennett's been benched. And it's, you know,

sometimes you can look at the coach and say, what are you doing? But at the same time, you have to look at the player and say, what are you doing to be benched, not once, but twice, there's two common denominators here because it's not like Patrick Linae didn't have a weird situation in Winnipeg either. Like this isn't just a John Tortorella's pulling his

crap again. Like I think there's, I think there's two sides to this. And, you know, I would love to see somebody, you know, kind of dig in. Maybe we could have someone like Aaron Portsline. I know Eric DeHashik had a had a calm about it last week. Like I think it would be nice to hear from somebody with their boots on the ground in Columbus to say like what's actually going on here. And because it has to be a two-sided thing for me. I just I can't look at John Tortorella and say this is all his fault. I just thought it was amazing. Like benching Line A in overtime was really a message, right?

Like to me, Patrick Linae is a the type of guy you'd want to. the ice in an overtime, right? In a three on three, like, he's got a lethal shot. So to not put him in there, it's a, it's a statement. I think from, from John Totorella, I just, I think this is going to be a really interesting situation. Line is a pending, right? He's got to figure out his contract and where he's going to be down the road. This is going to be an interesting, interesting situation. I feel like Columbus has become like a lot, Buffalo probably takes the cake this season as the most interesting team or soap opera. But boy, I feel like Columbus is right there this season with some of these juicy

storylines. Yeah, definitely. I think it's always interesting, you know, to kind of compare what you were thinking about certain teams before the season started to now. The one thing, you know, I was just scrolling through Eric's piece that I think is really interesting that he brought up when we're talking about this Linae and Tortorella situation is that, you know, as we know, Patrick Linae can be, you know, a pretty streaky scorer. And what Eric said is the one thing that his former coach in Winnipeg, Paul Maurice, did, was that he would let Linae play through his slumps, assuming at some point he would emerge from them, regain his confidence, and then go on a big goal scoring search.

That's how Paul Maurice treated Linae, whereas Tortarella has more of like an old-fashioned merit system where it's, if you're in a slump and you can't play through it right now, you're on the bench because there's guys who are playing better than you. It's a, you know, a player in a bad patch instead of saying like, yeah, let's just keep throwing you out there. He's going to say, no, you can, you know, I'm going to play the guy who's actually going to score on this shift. So it's two very different ways of handling, you know, a star player. And it will be very interesting to see how this plays out because, yeah, that's just, you know, letting them play through it and parking them on the bench are two very different ways of handling a streaky elite goal score. All right, Haley. This is great for us and great for our listeners in the podcast today. We've got our senior writer at the Athletic in charge of NHL prospects.

He's kind of our, you know, NHL draft and prospects guru. He's Corey Pronman. Corey, welcome to the Athletic Hockey Show, my friend. How are you on this Monday? Hi, Ian. Hi, Haley. Good to see you again. Although I do hate the word guru.

I would never call myself that. but I appreciate you guys having me on. Way to start on a good note. Yeah, you don't want guru. What do you want? Just senior writer is fine. Expert. Prospects expert.

Prospects expert. Prospects expert. Yeah. Well, I know that your article last week, it certainly resonated north of the border in my market, but I know that on both coasts in Los Angeles and New York, there was a lot of traction, Corey, on your piece, looking back at the 2020.

H.L. Draft and kind of looking at Timmy Stutzler versus Quentin Byfield versus Alexis Lafranier. So why don't you walk through for our listeners, if you had the opportunity to redraft now, how would it look here in 2021? I still think Lefrenier would go first, but I think where it would change is. And Ian and Haley would be very familiar with this because when Haley was covering Ottawa for the most part of the draft season, which actually was through the draft season, if I recall. The debate was around who should go to.

Should it be Quentin Byfield? Should it be Tim Stutzler? And now, I think, given how well Stutzler has played this season and how Lefrenier and Byfield have not really had great seasons, both in the NHL and the American League, respectively, for the two of them, and not just not only that Stutz was performing well, but he really looks the part, like you watch Ottawa's kids. games. This is not a guy just getting a lot of secondary assist and not really looking like a

factor. He looks like a real factor in their offense with his skating and his skill. I think there would be a real debate at whether you take Lefrenier or Stutzler first overall. I would still lean towards Lefrenier because I still think there's just so much skill there and his track record is so elite for such a long period of time that I think you have to at least respect that. and think that there is a really strong probability that he's going to turn around once he adjust to the pace of the game, given that his skating is not the best, and that's usually a big adjustment for guys going to the NHL from junior

if they're not elite skaters, like a guy like Stootsler would be. But, yeah, I think there would be a real debate between those two at the first pick, and then I would have Byfield still as the third best player in the draft. Interesting. I mean, what is it about Tim, And you did just touch on it, but what is it about Tim Stutzler that is translating so well?

Is it his skating and his vision that we're at an elite level that's allowing him to, you know, have such a smooth transition into the league with the senators? I just think he has just like so many real good NHL qualities. I look at a guy who is, you know, a real high-end NHL skater. I also see a guy with NHL caliber skill, NHL-L-Calibre playmaking. I think he works hard. He's not just a power. play guy. He generates it even strength because he's able to, you know, even for a guy that age,

not winning every battle, but he can win battles. He can create turnovers with his speed and his hustle. And he's able to make these really highly skilled plays while playing fast and on the move, which are the kind of things scouts look for when trying to guess if a guy's going to translate to the NHL being able to play fastest is really up there in terms of the priority list. And I think you look at all those attributes combined, and it's translated into a guy who looks like right now a top six four to the NHL and a guy you think going forward as he continues to develop can become a true NHL star. You know, last year, Corey, heading into the 2020 draft, I think there was quite a book on Lafranier, Stutzla, Beifield, et cetera. People kind of knew them. And it feels like the draft class of 2021 has a little more anonymity to it.

I think part of that is because we haven't seen a lot of, you know, there was a delayed start for whether it's juniors or the NCAA. And I'm wondering from your perspective how hard it has been to try and figure out who are going to be the top three or four or five picks in this year's draft, given the weird circumstances that we've seen in those levels of hockey this year. Yep, that's a completely fair question. I would say even coming into this season, because I can't say I focus too much on the underagers in a typical draft year, but you have an eye on them and you at least are following the top top guys for next year, or at least in the corner of your eye,

or usually they sometimes will just pop out to you because they're playing up age levels and you can't avoid them. You kind of knew coming into this year, it was going to be a little unclear. There wasn't a top top guy like a jay. Jack Hughes or a left for any going into the year, that there was going to be a little, it was going to be a little noisier. The circumstances of the seasons across the world have made that harder without question.

But, you know, most of the guys have still had, most of the top guys anyways, have had some semblance of a season. The United States national team program has played an entire season. College hockey's played an entire season. Europe has played most in an entire season. The Q's had about a half season. And it's obviously just the dove and the O that haven't had traditional seasons. I think one reason why it's an unfamiliar crop to probably a lot of just typical hockey fans is there weren't.

A lot of the top guys were not at the World Juniors. The only one who was there was Matthew Baneers, who plays in Michigan. Owen Power wasn't there. Who also plays at Michigan. Kent Johnson wasn't there. William Eklund was supposed to be there, but he had a positive COVID test, so he wasn't able to go. Luke Hughes wasn't there. Dylan Genther,

Brian Clark weren't there. So a lot of Simon Evanson, a lot of the top, top prospects for this year were not the World Junior. So I think that it leads a little bit to the, you know, the average fans may not be familiar

with what these players look like, how they play. Because, you know, Lefrenier, Stutzel byfield, for example, all we're at last year's tournament as was Jamie Drysdale and Lucas Raymond and Alex Holtz.

So I think that plays into it. In terms of, for my job, it hasn't really changed that much other than I haven't done as much live viewings as I would in a typical year. I've tried to see the USA guys a little bit because I live in the United States and I'm allowed to travel. You know, obviously I haven't done that that much. Just, you know, being precautious. But I've seen those guys, you know, a little bit.

And for the other guys, just a lot of video work and I've seen them before in previous years. So my job hasn't really changed that much. but there's definitely less information. And trying to put the picture together is less clear. I can talk to a couple of teams, and they'll have different guys in the top three and different names in their top three, different names in their top five,

which isn't abnormal, but there's definitely a little bit more variance. Like I said, it was going to be a noisy year regardless, but you typically don't enter a draft where I can call it five or six different NHL scouts, and they'll all have a different, from Guy of first overall, that's typically abnormal. You mentioned a couple of players there, Corey and Alex Holtz and Lucas Raymond,

just going back to the last draft class. And your viewings of, you know, these players who were in that top 10 or the first round, whatever it may be of the 2020 draft, would you still call that, you know, a really deep draft class? I know there was a lot of storylines about how it was a really deep top top. 10 really great first round. Would you still say that in hindsight? I wouldn't and I never really actually said that. I kind of maintained going into the year that it was an average draft class and I haven't seen anything since then to change my opinion.

I think most draft classes are average. To be quite honest, there's usually isn't that big of discrepancy every now and then you have a 2012 or 2015 that looks abnormal. But I think you're safe to assume it's going to be average. And I think that one does look that way. I mean, You look at the guys in the top 10 that year. Obviously, Rossi's had health issues, so he hasn't really had a chance to have a real season. You know, I can't say, you know, I think Perfetti is a great player.

I think Jack Quinn's a great player. So it's Holts and Sanderson and Raymond, but I can't say any of those guys are having unbelievable, like this guy looks like a no-doubt star. You know, J.B. Drysdale season has been really, really impressive. So he's, how he's done in San Diego has been intriguing, how Seth Jarvis and Dylan Holloway have done. I mean, there's going to be really good players in it top of the draft.

Just that's usually how it works. I can't say that this looks like, you know, this was another 2003 or 2015. I can't say at least the early indicators show that, but all these guys are going to be likely going to be good, if not very good players for their NHL clubs. You know, Corey, we're kind of getting into that window, closing in on the trade deadline. And so much of the way that we view the National Hockey League in the next few weeks

is through that lens of the trade deadline. there's also the added complication of a expansion draft on the horizon. So I just want to, we want to pick your brain a little bit about maybe some organizations that you think maybe they might be active in and around the trade deadline. Maybe they've got a surplus of prospects that they might be an intriguing team to knock on their door. Is there any organizations that you look at that you think, you know what, I could see them being pretty active in and around the trade deadline in making some moves involving some of

their younger players? I think Carolina is one that stands out to definitely a few clubs I've talked to just because they have a deep NHL roster. They've had, you know, for the last couple of years, their American League team has actually been quite good, not just on the backs of veterans, but on young players. And they're going to be forced into some decisions on guys who have helped their team this year. And guys like a Jake Bean or Morgan Geeky, not guys I would say you can't miss top NHL players, but they look like good prospects, particularly Jake Bean. And so I think they're going to be one that'll be interesting to see kind of how they navigate

the trade deadline and how that set them up for the expansion draft because a lot of NHL clubs understand that I've talked to. You approach the trade deadline with the expansion drafts in mind because they're going to go hand in hand for you in terms of how your roster is going to be set up. So there are one that you're going to be looking at. Buffalo is one people are watching right now in a different situation than Carolina where they have too many good players. Buffalo doesn't have enough good players, but Buffalo seems to be one who are trying to change some things up. So you look at that and you wonder, you know,

is Casey Middlestaff part of their future? Is Tage Thompson part of their future there? Those are some questions that I think will be interesting in their direction. And Florida is also one that I think people have their eye on either one of their, you know, their first round picture A couple of years ago, Henrik Borstrom is not even in the organization anymore. He's playing in Finland. So that's what I think people expect could be moved sometime in the next couple of weeks. May not as like a major, major asset, but as somebody who seems like is like the classic change of scenery type. And at some point here, Florida is going to need to have to, you know, set a direction how they're going to address the goaltending in their farm system with top prospect Spencer Knight coming up in them,

having signed a very expensive goalie for a very long time in Sergi Babrovsky. So, Corey, looking at, you know, some of the players right now, rookies in the National Hockey League, who has been most impressive to you, either from just a straight skill standpoint or a pleasant surprise kind of view? From what I saw of them in the American League, I did not, and this position could be a little chaotic, so I say this with the caveats. I did not think that both Kavokakinen with Minnesota and Kevin

Lankan with Chicago would be this good in the NHL this quickly where they have both been among the top goalies in the league this season. And I said that caveat before because it's important, but goalies go through those chaotic

10, 20 games swings. They were, you know, and maybe both of them are legitimate great players you know or you know you saw you know sometimes guys come in the league and they have a little bit of a hot spot sometimes they'll feel cool off all all all go always can kind of go through those swings um I like both of those players I can't say when I've watched them um even when I've watched me in the NHL this season that I've been like yeah I know like this guy's like an elite athlete uh has all

the attributes you know I completely missed on something here um probably could have rate both with them a little bit higher in the respective farm systems given to what they've shown. It's not easy to do what they've been doing, where they've been almost winning games for their team single-handedly some nights. You know, then that's valuable. I see, I think they're both really intelligent goaltenders and they seem like they could have some NHL futures here. I didn't, when I saw them in both in the league, I didn't think either them were in the American League, that is, I didn't think I had them were like elite athletes in terms like this, the size quickness profile. So, you know, maybe they're for

real. Maybe, you know, I look at a guy like, George, in Biddington, who I thought had a similar athletic profile coming up, and obviously he was amazing and, you know, led for the, helped the Blues win a championship and got a big money contract recently, but it probably, Arkbla has been quite as good recently, too. Goalies can be very hard to evaluate. I mean, you look at, you know, a guy like Hart in Philadelphia and, you know, those are, you know, you really ride the wave with goalie sometimes. And I know it's why it makes talent evaluators I talk too nervous when it comes to signing them, drafting them, you know, trying to acquire them by trade a free agency. I mentioned just Bobrovsky before. You know, he's probably caused a little bit of anxiety there in Florida. Since that signing, goalies can be really, really difficult to evaluate. The only time I have evaluated a goaltender on my own, and I am going to wear this, like a badge of honor, was joking.

Joey DeCord. I watched him play against the Marley's on Boxing Day, I guess almost, I guess that was two years ago now because the way that the seasons have kind of gone. But I remember writing a story after that and saying Joey DeCord is going to climb the goalie ranks for the Ottawa senators and he got his first NHL one yesterday. So that's my like, look at me. I was right once. You got to bump that story.

And he's a guy who I watched an American League. I thought the same thing as I thought with the other two. Like, not that big, not that quick, just nice little stable, smart goalie, not an NHL goalie. That's what I thought. When I watched him in the American League, I still kind of think that from what I've seen this season. Like, you know, Ottawa. Just, and I've all expected what he did yesterday. But I've not convinced that he's a legitimate NHL goaltender quite yet.

But again, it's a difficult position to assess, you know, it seems like a nice kid, so hope the best for him. Listen, before we let you go, Corey, we have a, I'm going to open up our mailbag a little later in the show, but we do have a question here that I actually, I think I might appreciate your perspective on this more than what Haley and I would offer. And that is, we got a tweet in here from Al. And Al says, do you think that Kareil Kaprizov's age, and he's going to be turning 24 next month?

Should that affect the number of votes he gets for the Calder Trophy, even though he's technically eligible for it? I guess you look at a guy like Tim Stutzley, he's a teenager, Caprizov is going to turn 24. Should that have any impact, Corey, as you look at the call to race? No, I mean, if you look at the definition of the award, it says, you know, I think the exact wording of the award is the player who was considered the most, I think the award is proficient in his first, it is first season. It doesn't say the best age-adjusted season. It doesn't say the best prospect. That's always the word I've used for this award.

It's not the best prospect award. it's the best rookie award. And if you don't like the definition, you can lobby the NHL to change it. You can annoy your favorite media members to write about or say how the award definition should be changed. But as the award is written right now, it is not a best prospect award. So I would take, you know, I think Capriza is a great player, you know, which you probably can argue he's equivalent. prospect to Stozel, but quite honestly.

Although I probably would lean Stoetzel still at this moment. But, yeah, no, it shouldn't affect the votes. It's just not what the NHL has directed the voters to consider. Well said. I knew you would have a terrific perspective on that. Hey, Corey, thanks for taking a few minutes here to join Haley and I in the podcast. We really truly appreciated your time and your insight. Enjoy the week.

and listen, we'd love to get you again down the road. Yep, sure thing. Thanks, guys. All right, that was terrific stuff, Haley, with Corey Promin. All I can think about, too, is when Corey said at the end of that interview, Haley, he's like, if you have a problem with it, take it up with the NHL, would you not love to do a story on if the NHL allowed us, we could get all of the, we could access the voicemails and the letters and the emails that are sent to the league from random fans complaining,

about things. Wouldn't you love to do that story? Yes and no, because I'm like afraid of what we would see there. Like, I don't know, because I mean, here in Calgary on Sportsnet 960, the fan, they do a post game show called Overtime, I think. I've tuned in a few times and it's like, when the flames were bad, like it was like really angry people calling in and just like unloading and like the poor radio host is just like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like just taking live calls from angry fans. So if they're getting angry about like just the flames, I can only imagine what some fans have sent into the like national hockey league.

Yeah, like conspiracy theories and like this is how you can fix the league. Like I'd be all in. And also the other story I've always wanted to do is if some team, let us have access to the resumes that are sent in whenever there's a coaching or a GM job. Because don't you think some random people end up applying? But those aren't like publicly posted. It's not like you can find it on Indeed or something. Oh, I know.

But wouldn't you love to like, for sure, random people are sending their resume saying I should be the general manager or I should be the head coach. Wouldn't you love to know who they are? I, 100% that's happening. I'm just curious to know. I'd love to know. Like do do people apply for GM and coaches. jobs by sending in their resume to NHL teams.

I think the answer is yes. Well, like, do you think Kyle Dubus had to, like, bring his resume? No, no, I don't think so. Can you see him, like, setting up his, like, picking the font. Here's my CV. Yeah. No, I don't. See, but these are, these are great stories to tackle in the off season when there's a little bit of

downtime. I would love to know. Yeah. I would love to know. Like, how does. Because I think on overdrive, I heard them ask once. It was so funny. They asked Kyle Dubus, like it was Jeff O'Neill who did it.

And it was so funny because he just goes, Kyle, like, when you're hired and take your first day as the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, like, how do you get everyone's number? Like, do you have to, like, call up the other GMs in league be like, hi, it's Kyle Dubas, like GM from the Toronto Maple Leafs? Like, how do you get people's number? Do people just have your number? to people know you. And it was so funny. And Kyle's reaction was like, what? No, I don't say like, hi, it's Kyle Dubas, MGM of the Maple Leafs.

Like, but those are the little things. It's like, how do you get everyone's phone number? How do you get the job? How do you apply with a resume? Do they just look you up on elite prospects? Like, it's, that's a good one, Ian. Yeah. Okay.

That's one to dig into it. So that'd be fun. Put that into your holster and you could, maybe we'll do a joint story on that in the off season. All right. But more pressing questions for the here and Now, Haley, that is what Multiple Choice Madness Monday is all about. So here we go.

We got some questions to wrap up the show with, and then we'll open up the hail bag for some questions. Let's start with this one, Haley. And we talked about the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this episode. I want to know what team deserves more respect from NHL fans this season. Like who's like just criminally underrated or under respected as we sit here in the middle of March? Is it A, the New York Islanders, B, the Carolina Hurricanes,

C, the Florida Panthers, or D, the somewhat surprising Minnesota Wild. Haley, who deserves more respect? Yeah, I think it's a good question. Obviously, we talked about how the Carolina hurricanes, you know, need a bit more love as the first overall team in the league. But I think there was expectation that Carolina was going to be good. I feel like, you know,

I think it could be Florida. I think it could be Minnesota, but I'm going to go with the Islanders just because they never seem to get respect, like even when they're good, when they're expected to be good. There's just always something that people are saying, like, oh, but they're boring. Oh, but they play this style. Oh, but they, like even Matt Barzell, like that goal, I think it was last week. That was disgusting. Like, I watched it so many times, slow-mo, like, just like elite, elite. hands. It takes a lot of skill to pull something like that off. And, you know, I think, you know,

they have J.G. Pajot who I think he just got put on the COVID protocol list. Obviously, we're both big fans of what he brings to the table. There's just a ton of good players on the Islanders, in my opinion. And I think that's a team that never gets the respect they deserve because people have it in their heads that they play boring hockey. You know, they play that trap. But that's how you win hockey games and I'm sure that Islanders fans aren't bored watching them play and that Barzell goal wasn't boring. So I'm going to go with Islanders. Yeah, I tend to agree with you on a lot of levels. And I think part of it too is like Barry Trotch and Lou Lamarillo, it's the equivalent of warm milk, right? Like it's just it's

something, it's going to put you to sleep, but they're so good. They're so successful. And I think part of it too is it doesn't matter what the Islanders do. They will always be the little sibling to the Rangers. Like legit, it doesn't matter. They won four cups. It feels like the four cups that they won in the 80s are trumped by the 94 cup from the Rangers. So I feel like there's always going to be that. But I will say the Florida Panthers. Haley, they're in the mix to win the president's trophy. And this is a great story because you look at them. Chris Drieger has been fantastic in gold. Barbrowski's better than he was last year. And that's a good story. But you look at them. And Jonathan Huberto and Sasha

Parkoff are having wonderful seasons that could elevate them into the conversation for the Hart Trophy at some point this year. That's how good they've been. They've just been a really good team. And I think there's always a feeling in the back of your mind, the Florida Panthers. And I think Carolina goes through this too. When you're a non-traditional hockey market, we get a little bit like snooty, right? As like hockey fans in Canada and hockey fans and traditional markets where we're like, we yeah,

but all these teams. Yeah, but, yeah, but I'm telling you. The Florida Panthers are, I won a Florida Tampa playoff series so badly because I think it would be great for hockey in the state of Florida. But I think the Florida Panthers are the team that deserves a little bit more respect league-wide. Okay. On the question number two, Haley, in multiple choice madness, we're going to go to the position of goaltending. And as we look at the goaltending position right now, if I had to ask you, which goalie is having the most disappointing season to date? Is it A, Matt Murray, B, Braden Holby, C, Carter Hart, or D, Carrie Price with the Montreal

Canadian. So I'm going to go first on this one, Haley, and I don't think Philadelphia fans are going to like this. I think I'm going to go Carter Hart. And I think the reason why is when Carter Hart came onto the scene last year, I think the feeling was, we've done it. We have finally solved the goaltending problems that have plagued this franchise since Ron Hextall. It's been like 25 years, it feels like 30 years since there was stability and goal

in Philly. Guess what? Carter Hart this season, sub-900 save percentage Haley, like all of his numbers are worse than Brian Elliott. And they've almost split the time. And I say, look at the, metric that I always like to look at with goalies ahead of save percentage is that quality start percentage. And if you can get your quality starts north of 60 percent, you're having a golden season, anything north of 70, it's like you're in the Vezna conversation. Carter, uh, conversation, Carter Hart, 46.7%. That means less than half the time, he's giving them a quote unquote quality start. And I just because I think everybody thought the goalie issues in Philly were going to be

solved, I feel like that that conversation's opened up again. So I'm going to say Carter Hart. Yeah, I think this is a good one. And that's, that's a great, you know, answer. And I think the difficult one is, you know, Carrie Price is the highest paid goaltender in the league. He's one of the higher paid players in the league. Obviously, you know, he's, his say percentage is at 9-07.

He has like a 2.6 to save percentage. So he's not at that, you know, elite, elite level. He's not playing at the level we saw him where he took the Canadians, like, you know, past the Pittsburgh Penguins. and they had a great playoff run. I mean, I would, and Braden Holpey hasn't really panned out in Vancouver, but I think, you know, just talking about expectations and pay, etc. Like, I'm going to go with Matt Murray.

I, I just think that, you know, he's, he's the seventh highest paid goaltender in the league. He's making, I mean, seven, seven, six million, Ian, six point two five million, signed into this huge contract. Like it wasn't a bridge deal. Like it was like a, we believe that you can be a number one goal tender for us. We believe you can regain your form.

So here's a massive, whopping contract to do that. And he's at an 880, save percentage. It's, it hasn't been great. You know, you're talking about Joey DeCord coming in

and winning his first NHL game last night. Would Matt Murray have won that game? I don't know. Like it's the Sends, and this goes back to that conversation of do you want an elite group in front of you? Do you want an elite goaltender? Like, what are the Sends going to do if they put all this investment in a rebuild, but they can't get saves? And so I think Matt Murray, I would say Matt Murray right now for the short and hopefully not the long term for Sends fans' sake, but I mean, certainly, you know, you just think of the expectation and what everyone was

saying when he first signed, right? Like, everyone was so excited. I think a lot of people were cautiously optimistic. I think there was, you know, some, there was some excitement in the fan base when that trade happened, and it just, and it just hasn't worked out. Okay. On to question number three, Haley, on the weekend, Bo Horvatt at Vancouver Connect scored one of the ugliest goals you're ever going to see in the NHL where it was like five or six guys were in the crease all. all around Oilers goalie Miko Koskiden. And a lot of people thought even Dave Tippett, head coach of the Oilers, thought that play should have been blown dead? Here's the question, Haley.

Should the Canucks, we'll call it the rugby scrum style goal where everyone was in around the blue paint? Should that have been allowed to count on Saturday? A, yes, it was a good goal or B, no, the referee should have blown that thing dead. Yeah, I think it's always funny when we kind of get into these kind of things. Because remember last year in Ottawa when Colin White like headed. head butted the puck in and then the other day Johnny Gujarow kind of there was two actually kick-ins with the flames and Montreal games and then obviously this Vancouver goal. I'm curious your opinion on that, Ian, because for me, like I don't really, I'm like a bad

podcast host because I don't feel like a very certain way on either of it. I've seen some takes when it comes to like kicking motions and stuff, it's like if you can, you know, physically be on top of the goalie, like move their stick and it still counts as a goal. Like if you can make a goalie not be able to make the save because goaltender interference, nobody knows how that's called half the time. Why can't you kick a puck in or why can't you have this kind of scrum or why can't you have that? So I don't know if I, I just, I know this isn't specific to your question, but I just want to see some consistency. That's all I. care about. I just want consistency across the board, honestly. That's, that's all I want. Yeah. I, yeah. And by the way, we're going to tag this headline, this episode is going to be Salvean. I am a bad podcast host. That's how we're going to promo the episode. So I don't know, Haley, because I think that that in that situation, I wish they had blown it dead. And it's not that, like, I think the referee saw the puck the whole time. But you got to ask yourself, if there are four or five players in the blue paint, at one time, then what's the point of having a crease, right? Like, at what, like, I don't think that you should have what we used to have back in the day where if a guy's skate lace was in the blue paint, they would blow it dead and call goalie

interference. Like, that's going to the extreme. But this is also going to the extreme. I don't think you should be allowed to be, like, if you're an opposing player, you really shouldn't be in the crease at any point, right? Like, I just, I guess I don't understand the point of the crease. That should be a no-go zone. Like maybe you should blow it down.

I don't know. But I just felt like that was too messy of a goal to be scored. So I would have felt like that should have been blown dead. That would be my answer. Yeah, no. And I would agree with that. Yeah. And I mean, and again, it goes to what I said about, you know,

if you can physically stop a goalie for making a save. How's a goaltender supposed to be mobile in his crease when there's five people in it? Where is he supposed to go? What's he supposed to do other than just try his best to get a, body in front. That's not what the goal-tending position is supposed to be. So again, I just want some consistency. It's very frustrating. All right. Next question, Haley, multiple choice madness. I want to know which individual player in the National Hockey League is having the best

season that people are just not talking about league-wide. Like on a national level, who deserves a little bit more love? And I pick one player per position. So there's going to be one defenseman, one forward, one goalie here. Is it A, Neil Pionk in Winnipeg? B, David Perron with the St. Louis Blues or C. Corey Prondman mentioned him earlier. Capo Caccanon, a terrific goaltender with the Minnesota Wilde.

Who deserves a little bit more love? I'll go first on this one, Haley. I'm thinking it's David Perron. Like, David Peron is quietly having a huge season. Leads the Blues in scoring. He's over a point of game, 29 points and 28 games. And what I think is really important to note is the blues have been ravaged by injuries this year. In fact, I would argue

the Blues have had more injuries and issues than any team in the league, right? Like they had Jaden Schwarz has been banged up. Robert Thomas has been banged up. They missed, you know, a whole bunch of guys. Bozac has been out, I think, for the whole

year they just got Teresenko back last week. And David Perron has been producing at an elite level at the age of 32. So for me, I think David Perron deserves a little bit more love league-wide. You know, I would like to say Capo Cochinin, but Corey already did give him some love. You know, but I have been really impressed.

He's only 24 years old. He's 11. He's 114. Oh, I mean, and I don't, like Corey said, I don't think there were that many people who would have predicted that this would happen. So he's been really impressive. but I'm going to say I've been impressed with Neil Pionk I mean I'm I'm always you know I'm always a fan of a of a good defender and I think he's he's been playing really well for for Winnipeg and I think the one thing that we see so much about the North Division is you know oh is it or are all the North Division teams just bad or you know there's only so much offense because the defense is terrible and I think that you know I'm in a I'm going to I'm going to say no and I'm going to say Neil Pionk. has been, you know, he's not, no one's really talking about him and people are talking about how the defense and the North Division is so terrible. So I'm going to go with Neil Pionk. He's,

you know, he's already halfway to his career high numbers through 27 games here where he's at the halfway mark, I believe, for the Winnipeg season, or just almost at it. Three goals, 23 points. It's just been a good season for him and again, with everything that people are saying about the North Division's defense. I think let's give Neil Pionk a little bit of respect because it's not all bad. All right. Last question, Haley, last week, the NHL announcing a mega deal with ESPN, 400 million a year. And as part of it, they said they're still going to have a secondary broadcaster. So ESPN gets the main deal. Someone's going to be the number two. Here's my question. Who should the NHL secondary broadcasting deal be with in the United States? Haley, should it be a,

a traditional broadcaster. So maybe they stick with NBC and that umbrella. Maybe they go to Fox, CBS, etc. Or B, should they go to a streaming service only? Think YouTube. Think Amazon. Think Netflix. Something like that.

What do you think, Haley? Oh, that's a really good question. The thing that comes to mind for me when you're talking about the Fox or the CBS, like they have so many sports properties already that I feel like, I mean, it would be second. secondary deal anyways, but you just have to think that the NHL, and obviously I love hockey, I work in hockey, but when you look at some of the, you know, rights deals that Fox and CBS have, like the NHL is going to fall really low on that priority list, I can imagine.

Or on the other hand, maybe they could get some of their like really elite broadcasters on the NHL programming, which would be great as well. But it could be really cool to see the NHL on a streaming service because that is new. And you talk about how can the NHL tap into, you know, a newer fan base, a younger fan base. Streaming service is where it's at. So that could be really interesting. But I think the fear with that is that you're alienating the people like my dad who don't understand how to use Amazon Prime and stuff. So I don't know.

I think I don't want to be the person. I don't want to sound like a dinosaur. This is a tough one. You go first. Yeah. What do you mean first? You just went. So I, you know what?

answer anything. I just said like, I can't decide. You go. Yeah, but I think it's interesting because I think as part of the ESPN deal, there is a Disney plus component, right? Like there's going to be a streaming component. I know when you're watching the Mandalorian, now you're going to see some

hockey rolling in there. I think it's time to go to the streaming service. I really do. Like, go in. And the NFL has done a pretty effective job, right? They have certain Thursday night games that are available on Amazon. Like, let's do this. Like, let's go ahead and make the deal, cut the deal with an Amazon or a Netflix or a YouTube.

Like that is absolutely the way it's going. And if you want, just sign a two-year deal. If you're not sure where it's going to go. I just, I would be, I think they would be just making a big mistake if they only did deals with traditional broadcasting companies. Yeah. And I mean, respect to my dad. He uses Netflix.

He watches Disney Plus for the Mandalorian. And so, yeah, like, I think people can figure it out. But again, my only fear is that we've seen in the past when the NHL tries to do things differently. They try to go younger. They try to do something different. It hasn't always worked. So that's my only fear. But streaming services are so big now.

Like, even, like, everyone's on Netflix. I watch a lot of my football and my UEFA, like my American and my football football. I watch it all into Zone or I watch it on the streaming service for UEFA, you know, UEFA or UAFA TV. So I watch a lot of sports on streaming services. I mean, I don't even watch things on T. I mean, I do. I watch the TSA or the Sportsnut feed, but I watch it through my NHL.

com app. So I think we're already almost there. So may as well dive right in. People are already watching on apps. Yeah, absolutely. I think so. Okay, Haley, we're going to wrap up the show by opening up the hail bag. That is where we take some listener questions.

And look, we'll take one here because we already kind of answered one with Corey Promo. Got one on Twitter here. And this one comes in from HatchSoss. Haley HatchSoss writes into us and says, hey, since people are mad about the Tampa Bay Lightning using Nikita Kuturov and the Patrick Kaine loophole, what do you think about this rule change? No salary cap starting on deadline day. So essentially just to get people up to speed, if you're not familiar with the story,

a few years ago, the Chicago Blackhawks did this with Patrick Kane. They put them on long-term injured reserve, and it was kind of a loophole for them to add some salary and then when the playoffs started, boom, Patrick Kane was ready to go. Looks like that's going to happen here with Kutrov. Again, I don't know if there's something if it's truly nefarious or it just happens to work out this way. But this person on Twitter is saying to us,

maybe they should get rid of the salary cap starting on deadline day. for the next season you've got to reset and go back. What do you think of that idea? I think that would be absolute chaos. And then it's just what's the point of the south? I mean, that would just be madness. Can you imagine teams would probably just like, and is the salary cap just gone for the rest of the season after the deadline?

So teams are just going to coast under the cab. And then they get to the deadline and then they can make whatever moves that they try to want to make. bring in all of the players and then just make a huge run. I mean, I just know. What's the point in having a salary cap at the beginning of the year then? Like, just get rid of the salary cap then. So, no, I think it's, you know, I think it's a good question and it's like fun to discuss. But no, no.

No, and you don't, you know what you might be able to talk me into down the road? And think of like the teams with the most cap space now. So like, I think Detroit is there, Ottawa is there. and New Jersey is there. Trade some cap space. Yes. I think those teams should be allowed to trade not all of their caps space. I think New Jersey's got $18 million in cap space.

I feel like if you just let them trade $18 million in cap space, then we're getting, and they traded that to Vegas or Toronto. I feel like we're going back to the big spenders. But wouldn't it be great if you're New Jersey and at the trade deadline, you could move $4 million of your cap space to a contender for a pick? Like that might be so worth it. So anyway, that's something I would be open to. I just, I don't know.

The salary cap is crucial. I think you can play around with it a little bit. And I certainly wouldn't, you know, do what that listener suggested. But Haley, we'll have to leave it there. This has been a jam-packed edition of the athletic hockey show. Hope you have a fantastic week, Haley, and we'll get you again next Monday. Yeah, thanks, Ian. All right.

And a reminder, everybody, thank you so much for listening to us here on this Monday edition of the show. please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Leave a rating and review. We would love that. And if you're not a subscriber with us at The Athletic, you can get us for $3.99 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. Scott Burnside, Pierre LeBron.

They're back in these seats with Steve Levy on Wednesday's two-man edition of the Athletic, Two-Man Advantage edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And maybe Steve Levy will be talking all about the ESPN deal with the NHL, and I'll be back. Sean McAdoo, down goes brown on Thursday.