The Athletic Hockey Show - Colorado Avalanche advance to 2nd round, Barry Trotz possible landing spots, NY Rangers on the brink of elimination and the NHL Draft Lottery is tonight

Episode Date: May 10, 2022

Craig and Sean discuss the New York Islanders surprising decision to fire Barry Trotz after four seasons behind the bench for Lou Lamoriello's team. The guys take a look at possible landing spots for Trotz, with all signs pointing to Winnipeg and who Lamoriello might have in mind to guide the Islanders next season.Peter Baugh joins from Nashville with his new cowboy hat, on the heels of the Colorado Avalanche sweeping the Predators and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Plus the guys ask, why hasn't Mike Sullivan won a Jack Adams Award yet, with the Penguins led by third stringer Louis Domingue on the brink of eliminating Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers, they praise the TNT intermissions and we look ahead to what franchise desperately needs to win the draft lottery tonight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, everybody. Happy Tuesday morning or afternoon or evening whenever you're listening to this. I am Craig Custin's, the lead host of the Elincaque Show American Edition, joined ironically enough by Sean Gentile from Canada, wherever you need. Hey, Sean, how are you? How are you feeling, buddy, most important, man? Feeling good. We're on day eight over here.

Hopefully I just keep testing positive and imbarred from entering the country for, who knows, any amount of time. Let's go. You know, so we've gone through this here in my household. I think you can test positive for a really long time after, not to scare you, but I don't think you're getting back in the country anytime soon. We're about to find out. I might be making a particularly long drive back to Pittsburgh at some point in the next few weeks. Oh yeah, anybody can drive in, right? Is that how it works?

Yeah, you can't fly if you're positive. You can drive if you are, which I am and may have to do it. So if you end up seeing a rental car for a significant rental car fee coming through, maybe give a heads up to Myrtle or whoever's in charge of that these days. Just for the, except that we're on the hook for this? Why would we be? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

We can talk about it later. All right. We have a great show, as always, of course. We have Peter Baugh joining us to talk Colorado Avalanche, just cruised on through, as Daryl Sutter said they would. No more prophetic words have been spoken in the hockey universe. We've got a lot of, I mean, it was a fun slate of games last night. The Florida game was great. Pittsburgh just dominates, but there's so much off-ice, off-season talk that I want to, I think we should

start there before we get to Peter, Sean, starting with Barry Trots, getting fired. And I know maybe Monday touchdown up, but it's an American coach. Well, he's not American. It's American team. Lou Lamarillo, definitely American. Look, I don't think we should ever be surprised by Lou, but holy cow. I found that out while I was doing a radio hit. I was going on with Halford and Brough and in Vancouver, like when the news, when the news dropped. And I think, like, I almost, I almost swore, like, because I was just like, what, what the hell's going, what the hell's going on here, right? Yeah, I mean, after, it's one of those things where after the initial shock and you think about it a little bit, and it might just be, you know, confirmation bias when you hear people explain their reasoning and whatever else. But I think like, I don't know about you.

After an hour or two, I was like, okay, this maybe makes a little bit more sense than I thought initially. Okay. What got you there? Because, um, I think the fact that it's, I think the fact that it's Lou gets you a long way. Yeah, sure, sure. Right? Because you're just like, you're like, he's going to, he's going to do what he wants to do. Um, and that's just kind of that.

But I don't know. You look at the, that's, that's been such, it's been such a strange. year or two for them from a roster building standpoint, whether you look at the chart of stuff, whether you look at six years to Casey Sizekis, like all these bizarre contracts that are getting signed. And I don't, it was a, it was a bizarre season for them. It started out horribly. They had that crazy, the crazy COVID run, the crazy schedule because of the, because of the, the arena opening, like on and on and on.

I don't know, it felt like something needed to change and it's Lou. Like, how many times do you change coaches in New Jersey, you know? All the time. That's a, that's a big part of it too. He's a tough guy to work for. And whenever you're a guy that has peltz like Barry Trots does, I mean, how certain are we that this was all one-sided, right? Like, there could have been a discussion where the end result was Barry Trots getting

relieved of his job, but we're hearing from guys like Pierre LeBron. and whoever else, then maybe he wants maybe a management role is potentially what's next for him or he wants a bigger say in roster makeup, you know, moving forward. I don't know. I don't think it's that tough to read between the lines there, honestly. Yeah, when Pierre kind of casually mentions, like, you know, he's deciding between management and coaching. And, I mean, we know Lou is not going to share the duties.

Yeah, you think, yeah, exactly. You think he has any management. duties and in like with with the aisles no no if that's something he wants whether it's added input as a coach or whether it's a dual title or whether it's whether it's just straight up being a general manager instead of a coach whatever that is whatever that looks like barry trots adding management stuff to his plate it is not coming with the aisles so you know yeah he would is relieved of his duties, but there's a lot that can come before someone is relieved of their duties. So let's pull on that string a second.

If it's, let's say he does want either a say in management, which I mean, very trots, I don't know, one of the three best coaches in the game right now. So, I mean, you immediately, you put together a list of every single team and whether or not they'd be interested because everybody has to take a look at their coach. and say, hey, well, how do we feel here? So I think he's certainly on the short list of coaches you can say deserves, or at least I would consider as an owner giving some say in roster construction too. But I also think that eliminates teams on your list.

You know what I mean? Definitely. Well, but that's also kind of the, and look, the guy lost his job yesterday. So maybe he doesn't even know exactly what he wants to do. And I think that's certainly implied in like, say, Pierre's report, right? Where you're like, you know, maybe he wants to do this. Who knows? Who knows what the ratio looks like?

We're going to find that out soon. But, yeah, a lot of a lot of the road forward depends on how serious he is about the management thing and how, and what, you know, what the breakdown is between that and coaching stuff. Right. But, like, I'm in Detroit and immediately everybody in Detroit. It was, you know, saying, oh, obviously this is a fit. But like Steve Eiserman is not going to say, yeah, you get, you get, you get, you get to weigh in. You might be able to be in the room, but Steve's not a guy that's giving up a ton of control. Yeah.

Like, do you think, or not, I mean, a more direct way to put it is like, do you think that Barry Trott's wants to work with another control freak like general manager or hockey head? Seriously. So, like, where does that? I'm trying to, I'm thinking through the availability. the job openings. Like Chuck Fletcher to me in Philly, like if you're saying, okay, Chuck's,

Chuck, uh, maybe would be a more willing to, to get some input, but, um, you know, Winnipeg is,

is Chevy going to say, yeah, let's, I don't know, Chevy's, I don't think about this. Winnipeg had to say that Kevin Shevoldeoff is coming back next season.

Vegas had to say that Kelly McCrimmon is coming back next season. Like those guys, guys as general managers, as department heads, aren't, you know, their jobs aren't the jobs aren't the safest either. So maybe that's, you know, maybe we're out. So Barry Trots is a Winnipeg native. I still think that's what makes. I know that's a, that's a really gutsy call. Marat wrote something great about that yesterday, by the way. He broke it down really quickly. Why trots to Winnipeg makes sense. He's from there. They need a coach. Shevel day off is, I don't struggle to see him maybe allowing Barry Trots in the room in a more

meaningful way. We know Paul Maris had a lot of, had a lot of say in what went on there from a roster standpoint, larger than the average coach. Is that it? Is it that simple? Maybe that, so if you're suggesting that this was maybe not all Lou, and we don't know, Lou's, it's the iron curtain over there in terms of information, but maybe it's Barry and Lou saying, hey, all right, this works for everybody because that Winnipeg job, we know Kevin Shevoldeoff and that ownership group, they're not making drastic changes year over year. No. They're going to hire a coach and give that coach like five years or whatever.

Like, that's just how it goes in Winnipeg. You get time to work things out. And so if you're trots, you're saying this may not open again the rest of my career. This is a place I've always won as a coach. So if you're going to fire me, Lou, yeah, okay. Let's do it now. No, I mean, from a roster standpoint, they make a ton of sense too, right? Because what's been their structure?

That's not a particularly structured, well-coached team, especially down the stretch there. They were lost. Their whole issue for years has been that Mark Shrevely doesn't play defense. That's it. That was their fundamental issue as an on-ice product is that Mark Shreifley is not a good five-on-five player. He's not. If there's anybody on earth that could swing that in the positive direction or get him to adhere to some set of defensive concepts, it's Barry Trots. And aside from that, aside from the Shifley thing, just when you look at that roster more holistically, and I know this is, I would rather not do this because they play in Winnipeg, you know, for obvious reasons.

I'll give you 30 seconds. That is not a team. There's no rebuild coming there. It's not happening for a variety of reasons. They got what they got, whether that's Mark Shifley, whether it's Neil Pionk, whether it's Connor Hella Buck. You look up and down that roster. That is what they've got.

That's what they're getting. and a half for a few more years. So what else can you do other than hire the guy who turned the New York Islanders around in a matter of one season, turned them at least into a competitive team with an identity and a defensive structure quickly? He took what was on Long Island and made it better in a hurry. And that is what the Winnipeg Jets need because there is nothing changing there meaningfully over the next little bit.

So I unfortunately think that Barry Trots to Winnipeg makes a ton of sense. And if you want to get crazy... Why unfortunately? I think it's just... I think this is... No, because I don't want to talk about them because they play in Winnipeg.

I got you. Okay. And if you want to Galaxy brain it and maybe, you know, maybe Bill Foley throws $9 million a year at them because that's how it works there. Or maybe, you know, the Leafs lose the next two games and they blow stuff up.

or maybe more traditional fits, like the devils or the flyers. I mean, there's a lot of teams out there that would love to hire Barry Trots, but I still think that in terms of roster, in terms of management structure, in terms of where he is in his career and what seems like his motivations are,

I think what if that makes the most sense. Who are you putting in behind the bench for the New York Islanders? I know Mike Babcock and Lou got along, pretty well. From what I could tell in Toronto, a lot of mutual respect there. You can't do that, can you? I don't know. Lou can.

Lou can. If anybody's bringing Mike back who doesn't care about backlash or public opinion and it's just like doing something they feel convicted by, it's Lou Lamarillo. I'm sure Lou Lamarillo's got some thoughts on cancel culture. shot across the bow. Oh, you think you'd just do it to send a message. He said, Mike, he said a message or two in this time. I'm not, like, I don't think Mike Babcock did anything to deserve a lifetime ban from coaching.

I don't want him coach my hockey team anymore. It's 22. Like, I don't. Whatever. Go find someone else. I'm not paying Mike Babcock $6 million. I know Sean Gentile's not. But is Lou Lamarillo?

Is Lou LaMerello going to foot the bill for Mike Babcock so we can come back and, you know. I don't think Mike costs nearly as much as he did. You're getting him at a, you're getting him on, you're buying low. That's true. When you're in competition with the University of Saskatchewan or whatever. Who did Kerr's? I haven't read that yet. Who did Kerr's say?

So Mike was number one. Mike, I don't know if these are in order. Lane Lambert, which, you know, that's, I think he's, again, he's a guy that has connections to Detroit and Steve Eiserman. So there's, he's going to be somebody who gets. Doesn't he legally have to just go coach with Trots wherever he ends up? Oh, yeah, that's right. He's, he, look, maybe that's a Mike Sullivan, Sean Tortorella situation. Anybody ever consider that?

Like, Lane Lambert's been connected to Barry Trots for years. He's always been a guy that people are like, oh, yeah, he'd be a good head coach. And then, I mean, Mike Sullivan, not to get into segment two, but because he might be the best coach in the game right now. You see what they're doing. You see what the penguins and their structure are doing to just running over Ted Lassau and the Rangers right now. I'm biased to an extent for obvious reasons. But I think that I think it's absurd that that guy hasn't wanted to.

He hasn't won a Jack Adams. How? He should have won one in his first. year. He hasn't? That's a terrible award. Yeah. Yeah, you know why?

Because the broadcasters vote on it. That's why it's bad. Is that way? He should have won one in his first year. And he hasn't. And then he won another cup and he didn't win it again. So I swear those guys are like, well, he's like old news now. I hate the Jack Adams.

I hate him. The Jack Adams is. It's just like who did better than we thought they were going to. That's the Jack Adams. Who is the coach of a shit team that had a good run by a, that had a good six-week run by a goalie? That's what it is. I think that's the actual,

that's, it grades out of the Jack Adams. That's on the plaque. Curzee also mentions Pete DeBore, obviously making the connection to the days. They know each other well, Lou and, is this true?

Lou fired Pete DeBore on Christmas? I mean, that's just, that's amazing. You never heard that. You never heard that. Yeah, pizza bar was dressed up as Santa for the company Christmas party. And Lou called him in. And Lou called him in. He had to pack up his things in a little Santa suit. I remember Claude Julian telling me the story about getting fired by Lou. He said, he calls him in for a meeting right before the playoffs, as we know. And Claude was like, I thought we were talking playoff logistics. Like, what time is the plane leaving. Like, you literally thought it was like, let's, you know, put a bow on how our, our playoff

travel, whatever. He just thought it was going to be the most mundane. And Lou was like, sorry. Sorry, Claude. Was that one of the times you were placing him with himself? Oh, gosh. I lost track. Maybe.

Robbie Fittoric. Who came in? Jeff, Jeff is saying yes. That was, producer Jeff says, yes. That was when Lou fired a coach and replaced him with Lou. Rick Tocket is also mentioned by Cursey. Rick Tocket, who Charles Barkley last night was stumping for, saying he deserves to be a coach. Charles Barkley is here.

Wow, it's really crazy to me that those guys get along. By the way, the Turner. The Turner in a mission is pretty good. It's good. I actively was seeking it out to watch. When was the last time you're like, I want to watch? a hockey intermission. That's all they're,

that's all they're trying to do. Like, as someone who watches a lot of the NBA and a lot of the NBA and T&T, like, they have come as close as they possibly can to, you know,

I don't ripping off the format, right? They're just, that's just, close of a recreation is, as we've had. It's, it's, it's,

like, biz was really good. Biz isn't afraid to say, like he was talking about the OSHA hit. Like, Like, Biz is having a good time out there. He was doing the, he was doing the Kuznetsoff bird flapping. Like, they're having a, Charles Barclay's talk, like, they're having fun.

They like talking to each other and players like talking to them. That's it. It makes it really, it really is that simple. Like, it's, it's wild. We have half of that occasion on this podcast. I'll tell you what. I'm not sure which half. Oh, I am.

It's really good. And then to contrast it, like, FDN, like, Chelyos is, like, I don't, does Chely even want to be there? Like, I was getting those. P.K. was good, by the way. Oh, PK's, PK's not the problem there. Those guys did not get enough reps during the regular season.

Yeah, yeah. It just doesn't have a same kind of thing. If that was going to work, if that was going to work, they needed to be on TV more often. Not once in the first six weeks of the season. So you have Messia and Chalios who have, honestly God, how many games have they worked? Yeah.

Single digits. And they're throwing them out there every night in the playoffs, and it does not work. We're getting so sidetracked. I don't even know. So we're even to move on from Islanders because I want to talk really quick. We may have to talk to Pierre McGuire a bit in the last segment because we're out of time before we get to Peter.

Do you have any, like, this team needs to win the lottery tonight? Because I do want to talk draft lottery. And while you're doing that, I'm going to do a tankathon. And I'm going to tell you who's going to win, on this is it. We're going to roll it. Oh, man. Okay.

Who needs it worse? That's a good question. Also, there's, the prospect guys have been great over the last little bit. Corian. Read Corey stuff. Corian wheels. And Max is dropping his big board. I love the local, like just through the local lens.

Just to give the odds right now while you're considering Montreal is at 8.5%. Arizona's at 13.5%. Seattle's at 11.5. Oh, wait, hold a second. Before you read it, before you read it. Yeah. The Flyers. Yes. I think they're the team.

I think that's my answer. Okay. Here's what I'll say about Chuck Fletcher in his career. He's always been managing teams that are like in the middle. Like the wild for years never had a top pick. Caprizov was his best pick, right? And he did not get to benefit from it. Same thing with like the fly like it would be interesting now you know it would be interesting to give them.

Now they've had the number one overall picked and go great. It's we can talk about Cal McCar. That's what they passed on right essentially. I heard that it was Hayeskinen that they pass on. Oh, okay. That was the, but either way. Either way. So you're saying the flyers have to win.

All right. I think I think they're the most interesting team that real that has, you know, realistic odds on it for sure. I don't, you don't, I don't want Arizona to win. I feel, although I feel, Arizona has gotten screwed so many times on the lottery through the years that I do feel like maybe they're due. But, oh my gosh, you're like, you're like rubbing your eyes because you're just, all right,

I'm going to simulate it once. This will be the athletic hockey shows one time. This is what's going to happen tonight's simulate. Here we go. I'm mashing the button as they say, you're winner. the Montreal Canadiens Seattle moves up Two

Arizona down to three and Barry Trots is Winnipeg Jets 10 slots to the fourth slot Wait so that means that That means that the Jets actually won the lottery Right? Oh yeah I guess in that scenario they win Move up 10 They're the lottery winner

They're the lottery winner oh I love that So your jets that's a sign All right Also if you're a lot of By the way. A lot of Jets talk today on the American edition of the... Max and Corey are hosting a live room during the lottery Tuesday night. If anybody is listening to this on Tuesday afternoon, yeah.

Yeah. Get ready for it. Because live rooms are fun. Live rooms are interactive. We need to do one. I've enjoyed myself in them. We volunteered and they don't seem interested in having us do one. They've asked every other podcast.

You know why? You know why? Why? Because we're not any good. I do it. Also going to be posted as a podcast, too. So if you folks are interested in listening to that, you'll be able to get it in the feed tomorrow. I give the guys, blue jackets to have that Blackhawks pick.

I'm pumped for the draft. Drafts is fun. We should just talk to draft talk from here out. We should actually just plan our draft itinerary off the ice, you and I. Hey, get ready for the athletic hockey show meetup in Montreal. Sean and I will let you all know, like, we're. we end up that night if you want to join us. Yeah, it's going to be late.

It's going to be, no, it's not going to be late. You know, I'm in bed by 10 now. You know me. You'll stay, let's go out and I'll say, nah. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We're going to be there for a long time.

All right. Peter Bach coming up next to talk about the Colorado Avalanche. We're going to dive into the playoff series, fun night last night in the playoffs. We'll be right back. Ladies and gentlemen, you are in for a treat in segment two. I wish you, I wish you could see Peter Ball right now. It is Indiana Jones hat.

I bet you nobody enjoyed Nashville. That had to be a Nashville purchase, right, Peter? Oh, yes. I did not own this hat before I went here. I thought it was a cowboy. Apparently cowboy hats. I was, my friends, when I sent him a picture, they were like, that's not a cowboy hat, Peter.

But I did some research. apparently this is a Nevada style cowboy hat with the flatter brim so is it a cowboy head or not a cowboy hat I think it counts I'm personally counting it for my own crowd it's probably it's probably Westman wearing

dude dude I got to say when you tweeted the photo of you wearing it I laughed out loud it was really funny and if I know anything about hockey players they will not let you change

the avalanche that is the team Peter covers, if you're not familiar with his fine work at the athletic, just steamrolled their way through round one. And Peter, wearing this hat, will now have to wear that hat until they lose. I'm assuming that's probably the memo you'll get from somebody in the front office or something shorter. I mean, especially in close-out games, I guess, because I looked, I mean, if I do say some,

myself, I looked great last night. I had a nice, like, little blazer and a nice shirt, and I had the hat. First question, I asked Nathan McKinnon in his post-game. asked him what shifted when Nashville took their first lead of the series in game three, or in the third period of game four. And he goes, well, you're just thinking about your hat, Peter. Oh, that's amazing. They're looking up towards the press box.

Yeah, that's like my journalistic peak. That's probably as good. Yeah. They're pointing from the bench. We're like a month away to that being like when they win a game. with they they started warring the MVP of the game you know they're like hey they're in the dressing room you get to wear the peter ball hat uh yeah like a like a it's gonna be instead of a viking a viking helmet yeah the broadway hat like the range he's best yeah well it's like sam pal i know

ate that like monstrosity of a sandwich that they're selling at the capitals arena it's like a cinnamon roll chicken sandwich she ate it before game three and then someone left her I had a, they caps one game three. So before yesterday's game, someone left her one of the sandwiches, um, at her, like seat in the press box.

Did she eat it? I'm not sure. That stuff's, that's a no go for me. I can't. I'll eat whatever for the most part, but. Eh,

I'd try it. Cinnamon, no, too much. The sweet, the sweet and savory stuff is what, is what gets me. Like the,

the, um, the KFC donut sandwich that came out. A couple years ago. I thought I was going to die. Was that the Krisby? I don't know if I'd like it, but I'd eat it. Yeah.

I feel like Peter's up for anything. Yeah, I like a bunch of Peter. Yeah, look at the hat. We know that. So we all, like Darrell Sutter called it, Avalanche, it's a waste of everybody's time in round one. And I like that he was sneaky putting pressure on him. It doesn't seem to phase them at all.

You know what I mean? Like, he's doing all the Jedi. Oh, it's all mine games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was like they did not care. Great draw for them. But you have to take care of business, which they did. Did you, in the process, Peter, was there anything besides maybe Cal Macarra being the best player in the game, which we can openly maybe talk about now?

Was there anything that stood out to you that you're like, hey, this feels different about this year's team? Yeah. Well, I mean, one big thing is that they made it through the series mostly healthy. So Darcy Kemper obviously didn't play game four because he got hit in the face with a series. stick, but I would assume he would have played if the swelling in his eye was down. It just wasn't down for game four, but that it does not see it with a week of rest. There's no damage to his eye, no concussion on that. That swelling should go down.

He should be ready for the start of the next series. Then other than that, Andrew Cagliano and he's a little banged up. Ryan Murray's a little banged up, but a week off should help with both of them. you look at where the avalanche were last year going into the second round. You had Nazim Caddry suspended. You had Eric Johnson out. You had Bowen Byron out. And that's, I mean, that's only three players, but those are three players who are all contributing this year and they're fully healthy.

So, I mean, I think that's the biggest difference I see is health. And I do think that this is somehow, despite the fact that Joe Sackick said at last trade deadline, And like we know this is the deepest this team is going to get. They found a way to get deeper this season a year later. So it's deeper than they were last year. And now it's also healthy, which is beneficial. I want to go back to Kemper for a little bit because I'm still just, I don't know if shaking up is the right word for it.

But like, I can't remember a scarier situation on ice that was so quickly resolved, right? Because you saw that door, you saw that door and run a play and you're just like, this is a disaster. We just watch something horrific happen. And then pretty quickly he was over, you know, on the bench. Like you could see him, you could see that he didn't have his eyes scooped out by Ryan, Ryan Johansson's stick, right? Yeah.

So, I mean, that's whatever. But that's, that's really not why I bring him up. I mean, he's, he looked, and you take with a grain of salt because it's the Preds and whatever. But I think. He did make the playoffs. It's not like the three of us out there. Close enough. Um, what have you see?

I don't know if people are aware of how good he was down the stretch. I think because of how, you know, people just, what, whether the abs were on cruise control or you just kind of look at him as a regular season joggernaut or whatever, I think Kemper kind of slid under the radar because he was, he was, he was really good. He was. And this team, this avalanche team was at points this year, pretty leaky defensively, which was a difference from last year's team. And he held firm.

He had a bit of a up and down start to the same. season, but he came back from an upper body injury, I think on December 6th, December 8th, maybe, played in New York that night. Since then, I believe he has the second highest goal saved above expected only to Shurtschirken. So he was remarkable, though. He was one of, he was a top three goal in the league from December on, which is pretty impressive when you have the team that Avalanche have on the eyes. I think the one thing about him against Nashville is that I agree that it was like a completely mismatched series, but Kemper looked really good in game two when Nashville, that game went to overtime. Connor Ingram was like being Patrick Waugh mixed with

Dominic Cacheck and stopping everything. And Kemper made a lot of big saves and say what you will about the Preds, if one of those shots in overtime goes in, suddenly it's a 1-1 series with the Preds having home mice advantage and the whole complexion of the series is going to change. So it's, I think he was, that was a sneaky, like, big moment for the apps where some of the saves he made that's led to McCar's game two overtime winner. All right, let's talk about Cal McCar. Yeah. And I like that you called Paul Coffey.

That was good. Good stuff out of Peter. Thank you. Like, what, what? For those who didn't read the piece, here's, you know, Paul Coffey, one of the greatest defensemen, certainly of his generation. What did he see in Kail? And, like, what do you continue to see in Kail right now?

He's going to be like, I mean, his star is just off the charts right now. Yeah. Well, it's so funny. I wrote about it last night that it's like, it's kind of hilarious that he's so polite and so mild-mannered. And then on the ice, he's like just borderline cruel. to the people who are defending. Also, also, by the way, congrats on getting to write about that dude every night.

Like, you're hooked to a, you're hooked to a gravy train right now. I'm very, very, very jealous. And I'm also covering Nathan McKinnon, who's pretty darn good himself. But, so, uh, but Carr, I mean, I think I've talked to, yeah, Paul Coffey and I think like,

they talk about his skating. Like, they, like, they just are like, I've done a couple stories where I've talked to old defensemen about what they see. And his skating is the thing that jumped down immediately. But then also just the fact that he's willing to shoot and that's gone up this year. He's taking more shots, which is why you saw him score 28 goals in the regular season. He's taking more shots. He's skating at such an elite level.

And then I think you saw last night, he also is just really smart and reads the game well and has elite vision. So last night on the go-head goal, he passes to Val Nechuschen because he knew that As soon as he got past Trennan on the boards, he was going to, one of the predators would have to come over to help, and that would leave someone open because the pred structure is mostly man to man. And that's like a split second decision that he knows that. It's darting to the net looks, he's a nutrition goal game over. So it's a really, he's a very smart player with elite vision, elite skating, a great shot, and doesn't really make many mistakes. And defensively now, he's a very good player. I don't know if he's an elite, like, defensive defenseman,

but he's good and above average at the very least, one of that's top penalty killers. So he doesn't have to be. He's playing with Devon Taves. Yeah. You know, two second round picks to DeVon Taves. Yeah, that was quite a trade for Joe Sacki. But he, but he doesn't have to be great defensively, but he is.

He's really good in that aspect of the game. game. And I think that's one thing that sometimes gets overlooked because he's so dynamic offensively. People don't necessarily realize just how he's, he's an above average defensive player, too. So 21 shot attempts in game two, by the way. And I think the, I can pull up the numbers, but the shot, the five on five shot attempts when he was on the ice and it was insane. We were, we have a Slack channel for, it's me and Laz and Shane and Max, because we're, we're doing in the daily the daily file. And we just had like a running tally of whatever for, for,

for, for, for, for, it was, I don't, I don't, I don't,

I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was completely out of control. I want to acknowledge that I misspoke earlier in the podcast. For some reason I had it at my head that Philly won the lottery that year, the Cal McCar draft and they were, they picked second. It was New Jersey and Nico Hesha. Yeah.

Yeah. And then it's Nolan Patrick. Then Miro Hastan, then Kail McCarr and Petterson after that. And if you're Dallas, you can't be mad with. No, you're not mad if you're Dallas. But boy. Yeah.

If you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, yeah. Dallas that year, I think in that draft. Sorry, now I'm getting on a tangent. But I think they got. Hey, skin, in roberson and ottinger in that draft. Yeah, that was, uh, that's not that that's a good. And that was like, like, I remember that once you got like out of the whatever that.

Yeah, nobody liked that draft. I just remember that year, people were like, Like Owen Tippett might end up being the best player from this draft and he's ironically ends up in Philly. So this is my long-witted way of saying, it doesn't matter who wins the lottery tonight, folks. Because you might get Cal McCar at four. It sometimes matter. It sometimes matter if you win Nathan McKinnon sitting at the top.

When Nathan McKinnon is in the number one pick. Yeah. I mean, like this is, we talk about how championship teams are built. Superstar centers and a superstar defenseman. That's it. That's it. That's a good way to get it done. And maybe the deepest team, Peter, that Avalanche have had with this group and also healthy.

Yeah. Pete, you mentioned the depth, you know, that maybe this is actually the deepest. Who is, who from the trade deadline acquisitions has come up biggest for them? Because I feel like people might have checked out on the aves down the stretch. well it's kind of it's kind of funny like if you look at joe sacky's trade deadline last year they added a lot of pieces that just didn't hit it was like Patrick nemeth and karl sotaberg and and those guys were either like non-impact players in the playoffs or negative impact players in the playoffs so this year I think sackick

maybe learned from learned from that and the guys he got he gave up some stuff he gave up a former first round pick and justin baron he gave up drew Halison is a good young prospect. And they got a lot of solid players. And I think if you looked at in this playoff series, Arturi Lackinant scored a few big goals and looked great. He is relentless forechecking. And when he's not currently playing on a line with Valen-Chushkin,

but when they are together, it is hilarious to watch. Because they just, like, are harassing whoever has the puck. Josh Manson has fit into a second pairing role with Samuel Girard, which has allowed him to get more space. and that's been a really productive pairing. Nico Sturm assisted Kail McCar's overtime winner in game two. Andrew Cagliano got hurt, but he scored a shorthanded goal in game one. So every trade deadline acquisition, Sackick made, has looked good.

So it was a productive deadline. And I think Lacken is the guy that you're like, wow, this guy is a legitimate top six maybe player. I mean, they have them in the top six right now. They have them playing with Cadrean Landis Sky on the second line. Who could have imagined Arturi Lekinan coming in and making an impact in a postseason? That's really, really shocking stuff. That definitely didn't seem like a huge win. And look, you mentioned Barron.

I know they gave up. You gave up a lot, right? But, I mean, I don't know. You can lock him in. He's a classic, he's a classic, you know, whatever, game type, personality type of a dude who is just on good hockey teams. Every championship caliber hockey team has a guy or two, like Arturi Lackner. He's a blast.

An underrated aspect of the GMing by Joe Sacki because they give up a lot of the deadline, but then they go out and sign Ben Myers, who some teams viewed as a first round level, like that level asset. They just replenish it by signing the top college. Patrick Nemeth, who you mentioned, Sean's a big fan of, by the way. Oh, my God. is he's been he has been oh he is he is having a series against against pittsburgh boy he has been very very bad such a nice guy nice guy like one of the best but yes he he struggled mightily

against bagas last year not to like in you know rush past the first round sweet but this whole avalanche has always been about the second round this whole year um do you like is there a vibe to this that's not going to get in their heads at all if they lose a game or too early. Because here's what's going to happen. They're going to have a bunch of time off, right? And they're going to lose game one. That's how this goes. They're going to lose game one in that series.

And then everybody's going to pile on about round two. And that's when I think the true test of this team is going to be. Yeah. Well, I will say last year they had a week off and Vegas had a seven game series of Minnesota and was just exhausted come game one in Colorado, steamroll. Yeah, all right. I'm not sure. I think it can go either way.

You disagree with my premise? I might. A lot of good that did them. I mean, seriously, yeah. Like, that's, I mean, I think the true test, though, is like, last year the first time they got punched in the mouth, they kind of like. Yes. Shut down for a couple games rather than the end. By the time they got back rolling, it was too late.

I think that the second round is an interesting thing. because I think a lot of people see like three straight second round losses. I think this team views it a little differently, internally just because it was like, the way they see it is like, just from talking to Bednar and people around the team, like 2019, they were the young upstart team that was overmatched against San Jose,

getting to game seven of the second round, was probably about as good as could have been expected. The next year was the bubble. The next year was the bubble. They were down to their third string goal. in the second round. Landis Skag was hurt. Eric Johnson was hurt. They were down like seven records. So bad luck series in a weird environment with the bubble. Last year is the series that really stings that. That's what Jared Bedner talks about. He's like that was the one that was

our fault and like that hurts. And so I think it's a little different view internally than like it's been three years and they haven't gotten over the hump. I think they know it's there. They're going to get asked a lot about the second round. But like I don't know. These are confident guys. like Nathan McKinnon, I think it's like, I don't think he's like worrying about like, oh, are we, is the second rounder enemy. He's more worried about like the blues or the wild or whoever they play. I think that it helps that weirdly there's been a lot of turnover on this team. Like a lot of those guys, I mean, if you just look at, I mean, I'm not good.

I won't bore you by going through the whole roster. But like the McKinnon lines go in there. Go through it person by person. But like you look at guys like I mean they have three to four deadline editions that will be playing that were not have not been there for any of the four or any of the three second round series before this. Darcy Kemper wasn't there for the second round series before this. Bowen Byram didn't, hasn't played in any of those series. Eric Johnson was hurt for two of them. Like so a lot of these guys are either new or fresh or just haven't been around the team in these environments, which I think is a unique mix of like you have the.

guys who have gone through the heartbreak with the avalanche, but you also have guys who are just like, they don't, I mean, like, I don't know if Josh Manson is thinking about like, oh, Colorado hasn't gotten through the second round the last three years. He's just thinking, oh, I got traded to this team that's pretty good. That's fun. So I, so it's, it's an interest, that's a long-winded some of the thought, I've thought a lot about the whole like second round question, like a long-winded way of saying, I don't know how much it matters. I think it matters in that like the second round is when you're down to the eight best teams and you're going to be playing a really good team and it's really hard to win.

Which team between Minnesota and St. Louis do you think avalanche players are secretly hoping come out of that series? I have not, this is a pure speculation. I'm going to preface that. I have not. You're not speaking for Gabriel Landis Scott. I'm not trying to give like, I'm not trying to give. From the desk of Jared Bednar.

This is the team that they want to play. Note to all fan bases, I'm not giving bulletin board material from the mouths of the avalanche. I would guess that the avalanche probably look at it similarly that I do and that they want to go to St. Louis, home of a great city park and Forest Park, home of great barbecue, home of my dog Dante.

Oh, there you go. I think they probably want it for, different reasons. But I think St. Louis, it's like, you look at like, if their defense is as anywhere close to as banged up as it is against the wild, like, that's the answer. Is like Billy Huso or Jordan Bittington going to like steal a series when Cal Rosen is playing the third most minutes of any blues defenseman? Like, no offense to Cal Rosen. He played really well. I'm just surprised that you're so hard in Cal Rosen. That sounded mean. I'm just saying that like the Aves third best defenseman is like Samuel Girard.

The Blue's third best defenseman is healthy right now is Calroa. It's just like it's brutal. So I would guess the Blues would have some of those guys back. But I think the Aves this year, they lost to the Blues the second game of the season when like McKinnon and COVID and Landiskegg was serving a suspension. But like the two games they've played where they've been relatively healthy, like, they looked like a significantly better team. And I think there's just like,

the Blues have an amazing forward group. I do wonder about their goal tending and their defense. So I think if you're that, I think if you're the ads, you want this series to go seven. You want these teams to just beat the shit out of each other. Am I a lot of cursing this? Yeah, you can.

Okay. So only if you apologize like Cal McCar does. Yeah, yeah. Excuse my language. He was kind of, I think he was kind of mad last night about the, getting skittles thrown at it, which is fair. Oh, yeah, we need to talk about that.

You should not, you should not have to worry about getting skittles. Don't throw shit on my eyes. Don't throw, hey, listen, listen, America, don't throw things at Kalamakar. Don't throw, don't throw skittles. Don't throw any candy. Don't throw M&Ms. Don't throw gumballs. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, that could be, I know these guys are good skaters,

but what if one had landed like right in front of his skating and he tripped? And he tripped him, like, someone got hurt. Yeah. If you make Kalmikar, even the even, the mild-mannered, Cal McCar, who's an assassin, though, we know. Don't make him upset. He was very polite about it, but he was like, it was a great atmosphere up until that point. They have a great fan base here, but it is what it is.

But you can tell he was a little annoyed. Did you ask him how he knew that they were Skittles? Like, did he see a purple one hit the ice? And was like, those aren't M&Ms? Someone else did. And then he said that he saw him in the face off circle before play began. And then he said like, and they don't have smarties in the States. So I knew they were Skittles, which I didn't know there's like, apparently there's, I said, I told him.

I was like, well, there are smarties in the States. He's like, really haven't seen it. Yeah, there's. But apparently, Canadian smarties are different than American smarties. They're unfortunately much better. There's chocolate involved with Canadian smarties. And you can also get ketchup, uh, smarties. Weird in Canada.

All dressed, all dressed smarties. All dressed smarties. Andrew Hammond would have eaten the Skittles. that's yeah i think kale did that's like that's a hamburger poll oh my god hey speaking of 2015 you guys remember 2015 you guys remember i'm sorry i'm just going off the rails no you're fine go ahead we're just speaking of andrew hammond that matt that math to Shane trade for uh for joe sacic

where you get obviously the hamburger but last night Last night in the Aves game, the Predators are playing Matt D'S Shane. The Aves are playing Samuel Gerard, who they acquired in the trade. Bowen Byron, who they acquired that pick in the trade. And their backup goalie with temper out was Eustace Anunin, who's their top goalie prospect, who was acquired with a pick used from the Matt Duchyne trade. I guess technically it was a pick. Bab's got a pick in the deal and traded it, traded down for two more picks.

one of which was an unit. So it was like, all right. I think that's, I hate trade trees, but I think that's close enough to count. Yeah. Like that's the pick that people for,

because most people know, right, Bowen, Byron, Sam, Sam Gerard, that's the hall for Duchenne. But I, I didn't know that.

Yeah. And the hamburger and, uh, Kamenev and we love, and you know what? And we love Matt Dushan in these parts. He was, he was,

there'll be no Matt Duchin, uh, slammed on this podcast. I, I have, no, I have, I have,

I have like, This isn't like Matthew Shane Slander. I mean, he's obviously, it's had an amazing year. But I think that objectively, that was a pretty, pretty good trade for Joe Sackick. And a lot of people didn't know this. Joe Sackick was not a good GM until that trade. Nope. Do you remember that?

Like, people were like running him out of time. Yeah. He was, he was, he needed to hit on that or else he was going to be gone. And now look at him. And now he's getting Devon Taves for two second round picks. Yeah. Thanks for joining us. You look great.

Yeah. Thank you for having me. great look good feel good here's my here's my uh proposal to you is is that for every round you buy some different hat okay mm-hmm is there's a louis hat you just had get it like a cardinals like baseball hat well i have that that has i have a hat that has like i think like a it was a college graduation president it was like a it's like a st louis hat with like the st louis flag on it and i wear it a good bet it's a good hat doesn't count need need a new one sorry but I mean, I can make that happen.

I'll just, I'll just get a, like, St. Louis Forest Park hat. It's like my favorite spot. It's a great. If anyone's in St. Louis, Forest Park, biggest city, bigger city park than Central Park. Some say better than Central Park, including, I believe, USA Today. Some say. Nobody says that. No, no, no.

Craig. More and more people are saying. Yeah, that's. I will send you the USA Today. USA Today, City Park rankings. Forest Park, I believe, is number one. Yeah, next up, next up, Pete's going to drag up some weird trip advisor list

that calls, you know, the best pizza in America. USA. Today is not a reliable. All right. Goodbye, Pete. Goodbye. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me.

St. Louis, Ambassador in Forest Park, Ranger, Peter Baugh. At ease. You just tipped his hat. At ease. Oh, man. This is the only good segment on the show. It's when we go into the comments in the athletic app.

We go through it every week. You tap, you tap, you tap again. Then tap. Maybe tap three more times. And you'll leave a comment. I just love every week that you guys jump through these hoops for us. We had 21 comments last week. Most of them, well, I shouldn't say most of them.

one specifically was about how horrendous I sounded. Oh, really? On last week's episode. Alex R. Damn, listen to Sean makes me want to flush out my sinuses. Frost for toughing out that upper body injury. Yeah, dude. I think, so my COVID experience has been mainly that it was, I would say,

one of the top five gnarliest head colds of my life. Like I was just so Bricked up with With snot that I That it was it was tough to function Last week and there was there was nothing to do about it I sounded like absolute hell We recorded one of the segments on Monday and I sounded semi-normal and then by Tuesday it was just like

It was a wreck I I tested positive the first time immediately after the record On Monday because Craig and Jeff are like oh you should probably should probably get that looked at. We record via Zoom and I felt compelled to get tested. I got tested after recording with you because I'm like, look, I don't know how any of this works. We're always getting new information.

It's felt, I felt sick. I tested, so just took one of the normal antigen tests. It came back positive in like no joke 30 seconds. Yeah. Like I was super positive. and now we're, you know, seven days out. And I feel fine. Still sounds sort of funky, but yeah, thanks to people for noticing and or complaining about the way I sounded because, again, I did.

I sounded horrible. Non-playoff question from Ryan H. If you were in charge of making a new version of the Pro Stars cartoon, who do you get from hockey in other sports to be on it? And the Pro Star, the Pro Stars cartoon was like a little bit ahead of my time. I know that it was Gretzky and, Bo Jackson and Jordan I think were the three

were the three stars so if they remake that I never this is not on my radar when so this Oh really? This came out in 1991 so I don't Was I post cartoon watching? Yeah okay so I should have It's Michael Jordan Bo Jackson

It's 1991 that was like that's like right before I'm like I phase in I was five like I like I start remembering stuff like that very well shortly thereafter. It should be in my wheelhouse. Gretzky looks great. He's got...

Oh, beautiful feathered hair. Like this is... I don't know who... All right, so to answer the question, who represents, I think probably Connor represents hockey, right? It's got to be Connor McDavid. That sucks so hard that it's going to be him.

And... Tom Brady? I don't know. No. It'd be... Too old. Oh, yeah. Gosh, Bo Jackson's just ripped. Running backs aren't good anymore. So we have to, they don't matter in the NFL anymore.

So we need to go to QBs. It would probably be. It would probably be Mahomes. All right. Man, Bo Jackson was such a phenomenon. I know, man. I was like right on the tail end of, I don't really remember him playing football all that well. Oh my gosh. So that's when I was like peak. And I was like buying his cards. There was that one card where he had the, football shoulder pads on and baseball bat. Like he was a classic baseball card. I love that card, that Bo Jackson card. He was unbelievable.

They got to double dip on the cartoon too because you have Jordan his hoops and Griskews hockey and Bo is baseball and football. So they only need to cut. That's great. They only need to cut one check for an athlete. That's smart work by NBC. Which playoff teams? is from Brody could be interested in Mark Shreifley

if they don't win a cup. I don't think anybody, I think Mark Shrevely's staying put at this point. He kind of walked back whatever weirdness, whatever weirdness was going on last week. He said he wasn't requesting a trade and whatever. But that is, that's an interesting question. A playoff team that could be interested in Mark Shifley.

If they don't win the cup. If they don't win the cup. This was the rough year for Mark Shifley, wouldn't be? Yes, it was. Everyone kind of figured out he maybe isn't as good as we thought he was, right? Cap hit over $6 million. He, I mean, he's maybe a little young to say that he's in decline, but I don't know. Who playoff team that could use him?

Who would want him? Who would want a $6 million on Mark Shifley if you're already a good team? Slotaman is your on your second line Boston? I have to think on this Snap judgment is Boston because they are still looking

for a second line center they're still looking for the crate replacement they're in for an interesting off season I think Boston is because you have Bergeron's up for a contract who knows what that's going to end up looking like I think

I would keep an eye on them in general Shifley would be interesting there because Lacey provides some secondary scoring, which, you know, is always going to be an issue for them. Like, when they're good, it's because they get dragged by Posternak and Marchand and in Bergeron. So I don't know, maybe that's someone who rolls a dice on them just because they're, you know, a core that's either in their prime or past it and need some kind of offensive punch from a second line center. But, man, six and a quarter. for him. It's pretty steep. That's a lot. We had a few people just saying how much they love Shana.

She was really good. We were so tempted just to tell producer Jeff, like, hey, during the playoffs, let's just run Shana back every week because it... Yeah. She needs time to sleep. I think that's my main issue with her. I would feel guilty asking her to because she's like... She's like, I was thinking about that last night.

As I'm watching games, how much I just depend on her, her Twitter feed for replays and stuff to track. And I'm like, it's embarrassing. She's just doing that for fun. It's embarrassing. She is top three hires the athletics ever made. I'm, I'm number one. Little known facts.

Little known fact from Andrew Age. This is really funny. I didn't get to finish the, that's fine. She adds brain cells. I would agree that she adds brain cells to the podcast. Oh, that was Jardana who said that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's, she is smart and we're stupid.

I mean, it's not, it's not hard to, it's not hard to figure it up. Very fun, Jardena says, I hope Sean feels better. We don't know, Craig can barely show up every week as it is. Barely. I can't believe I even made it this week. Hey, I worked it around a flight last week. Like, that was dedication. You had COVID.

Like, that should never have happened to Shane episode. Probably would have been better if she just ran it by herself. Great line from Andrew Age. Little known fact, Shana Goldman, Shade McGuhrton. Shana Goldman. Shana Goldman was a member

of the 2014-15 USN TDP team, which is true. She played on a line with Christian Fisher. We kept the streak alive. We have to run that. We have to run that back.

We got to get that going again. Rod T. says, hi guys. Costco CEO here. Hey. Welcome back. Hey. Hey.

I love you. Big fans, big fans of Costco. What say we replace our asai bowls with spicy pork and broccoli. Yes, I like that. We will, of course, leave the hot dogs on the menu at the same $1.50. We know that, Rod T, because you will get, would you stay threatened with your life by the former CEO? I will kill you. Yeah, you will lose your life if you mark that up a penny.

I'm just glad. I'm glad the spicy pork and broccoli meme had a 24-hour shelf life, I feel like. I went to sleep, thinking that that was funny regarding Louis Deming's overtime meal in game one of that series. And I woke up in the morning, I was like, okay, I'm over it. But the wildest part of all this is that Louis DeMing is somehow a goalie for a team with a 3-1 lead in the playoffs. I don't know how that happened. We need it. We should spend 30 seconds talking about Rangers penguins because we haven't,

and those are two premier American teams. Yep. And, you know, we were pretty, I will say, if you go back and listen to the tape, I predicted the penguins to win the series, and I thought they would old man it. They'll go to the series through structure and team play. And boy, they are old manning it. Like Sidney Crosby is just saying, hop on my back. I mean, the taunting of, you know, the Igor, all of that, I just,

It was, like, I was watching it, and I'm like, is this what's happening right now? Like, we're openly taunting the best goalie in hockey who's going to win a Vesna. That just can't be, the finalist just came out on the Vesna. It's what in the world is happening there, Sean? I mean, I think it's a mix of the Rangers regressing into the five-on-five team that they were before the deadline. That was the change. I thought they fixed that. I mean, problem solved, that even strange.

Andrew, Andrew Cobb. I mean, Tyler Mott's hurt. Maybe that's part of it. But man, they are getting... Do you know what high danger chances were in that last game? They were 20 to 1. 20 to 1. It's not just...

Like, it's not... That last game, bad as Shasturkin was and lost as he looked by the end of that second period. It was not just that. They're getting the breaks beat off him. Crosby's the best player in the series by a mile. He looks... It is vintage, vintage stuff from him.

I got to say I'm enjoying it. Yeah, dude. Sorry, Rangers fans. I mean, but like, yeah, I love seeing an old guy just say,

hey, this is, in my thought, in the preview show, we were talking about it. I was like, look, the Rangers are,

I think this, the second youngest roster in the playoffs right now. You know, they, they think they have all the time in the world to figure this out.

So like, meanwhile, the penguins just, they know how to win. Jeff Carter, like a guy like Jeff Carter plays making a difference last night.

Yeah. You're seeing it now and you're like, oh, I mean, besides, we were like the huge gap in goal, like it was hard to ignore that. You're like, well, it's impossible. It's impossible to just like write that off. But as you're watching it, and you're like, oh, yeah, like this is what happens in the playoffs. It's just a nice reminder that the last few weeks of the regular season, depending on the team, we'll say really don't matter.

Like the penguins look dead on their feet. The Rangers look like world beaters. And then something, something happened. And that first, the first game, once Pittsburgh's, once Pittsburgh started getting something from, from players other than Crosby and Gensel, I think that's when the dam broke,

you know, at the start of game three pretty much. Game one was a coin flip, game two, you know, whatever. Game three is, is when I was watching was like, oh,

I think they're just, I think one team is better than the other in the series. and it is not the one that I thought. Where's Brian Russ going to play it next year? That's what I'd like to know. I know he's not going to play. Yeah. I want to read a comment from Jen F

because I just wanted to say thank you. I haven't listened to the episode yet. That's not why we're thinking Jen. Hopefully she never did unless you want to listen to Shana. Way behind you to family reasons, but I wanted to let Craig know I got his behind the bench book for Mother's Day. Can't wait to read it.

Also, finding out Sidney Crosby wrote the foreword was an amazing surprise. Sid, great writer. Probably the best three pages in the book. That's such a conflict of interest. You should have to say that every time you mentioned Sydney and Crosby. Just mention it. That he wrote the foreword to my book?

We're governed by these New York Times Company ethics laws now, bro. I think you need to start saying that stuff. Statute of limitations. That book's been out five years. Are you serious? Oh, my God. To whoever bought Jen that for Mother's Day. First of all, happy Mother's Day to Jen,

believed in all of them everybody everybody all the mothers out there um great take like great taste in mother's day purchases i wouldn't even give my own mom that book she would be like can i get flowers so thank you to the jana f's family lots of comments about the stars timby at the time of this writing dallas is up two one and winter lose monday night i cannot wait to hear the commentary and the stars being the stars tim my boy you have come the right place i have watched every rotten game of that series. I'm joking. Last night was,

last night was fun. Part of that was because, you know, bad news for Tim is that the flames finally, the flames finally figured it out. They had a hundred shot attempts throughout the course that came,

by the way. Yeah, I don't, I don't think this is going to work out for Dallas. I think the Reaper came maybe a little bit, a little bit later than we thought. Yeah, but if you walk out of this and you're like,

Jake O'Dinger's really, really good. Oh, he's so good. He's so good. Like sometimes you can lose, but really you win. And you have a franchise goalie. Like Peter mentioned, that 2017 draft was his franchise changing for the stars potentially. I don't know what you do with that roster because other people are aging out. It's so bizarre.

I know. I don't have a good. I don't know. Well, I mean, I don't know. If you have a franchise goalie, you have, we'll say a top. 10 defensemen in the league and Hayskinen. Top 10 are close to it. Yeah. And you have

two young guys on your top line and Hinson and Paveltsky who, I mean, he's signed for five and a half next year. I know he's about to be 38, but I don't know that there's any... I know the end can come for guys quickly, right? But I don't think I'm... I think we're going to see Joe Pavelsky for more than one... He's not getting any slower, as someone said in the game last

night. You know what I mean? Like he's, he is what he is. So he can, again, old man it through I don't know. So if you have, if you have Ottinger and Hayeskin in in a legitimate top line and you can find some way to add more around those guys, the issue for them, and it was always going to be the issue for them, is that Sagan is untradable. And he makes so much money for a few more years. And God bless him, because like the injury that he had was horrific. in the surgery was brutal, but they are in a tough spot with him. So from a cap standpoint, I'm not sure what they're going to do, but the fact that they have those pieces in place, you know, in really important parts of the lineup, like, you

could do a lot worse than that. And they're going to try. We know that. We know that about Jim Nell. We know that about that ownership group is like there's no rebuild coming. Like they're going to try to get better because that's just the way they have to do things. Well, if they just keep adding three pivotal pieces.

every draft they'll be able to surround those guys. We'll see. And Joe Pavelis could be 43 and he'll so be scoring 24 goals a year or whatever. They said someone in the broadcast called Jake Odinger a top six goal in the league right now. I don't know if I would go. I don't know if I would go with that. I forgot who said it. It just was, I'm like, wow, we're there.

Thanks everybody for the questions. Yeah. Great as always. I love the callbacks like the Costco one. They're really funny. also Sean mentioned this earlier, but our good buddy Max Baltman and Corey Pranman, who's not our good buddy,

host a live room during the NHL draft lottery. That's tonight, and it will be posted as a podcast. Hop on the live room. You've got to have the athletic app. Much easier to do than leave a comment on this podcast. I think it'll even give you, like, if you log on during the live room,

it gives you a thing to click right away. And they're fun. And you get to ask questions. I'm looking for it. We will do, we are slated to do one for the podcast, Sean and I. And we get to hear from you all by voice. And I'm looking forward to being able to break that barrier and interact. So listen to Max and Corey tonight.

Also, Shana Goldman, we all know your fans of Shana. We all are. She's joining Piso Sivian. Oh my God. Tomorrow. Shana, Shana, take a day off, please. Take a day off, please.

So make sure you listen to that because she's great. And a couple more things. Subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast to get all the bonus content from our entire network. You start with a 30-day free trial, then it's 99 cents after that. Please go leave a review wherever you listen to this. That would be helpful to Sean and I.

We want to continue to grow this audience so we can continue to talk to each other once a week. Because that's the only time we talk is this hour-long window. I can check out on how he's feeling. Bad? No, I'm okay. I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for asking.

A little late, but that's okay. And if you're not subscribed and you know, you could have just text it and ask how I was doing. You didn't have to do this on the dog and pony show act here. I only communicate with you if I'm, making content. How can we turn this into content, he says? What's the point?

Even when we're texting, I'm like, hey, could I screen grab this and use this? What's the point in having friendships and relationships if you can't mind it for content? That's why I was saying. Absolutely. If you're not subscribing to the Atlantic, you should be. I think they went to Pulitzer yesterday. Hey, could you believe? You know what?

Welcome to the club, Atlantic. We're happy to have you. I'm so jealous. So congratulations, of course, to the Atlantic. And also, if you'd like to subscribe to The Athletic, you can go to Theathletic.com slash hockey show and get in for $1 for six months. Wow.

What a deal. Thanks to Indiana Jones, Peter Baugh. Indiana, Bo. And thank you, my dear listener. Listen, thank you, Sean. showing up. Yeah, I'm going to be wearing a cool hat next time too. Jeff can pick out some interesting music for me as well.

All right. Thank you.