The Athletic Hockey Show - Connor Bedard returns… with trepidation?

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

Ian and Laz are back on this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show to discuss Laz’s viral moment with Connor Bedard following No. 98’s return to the lineup, Auston Matthews forcing his way into the Hart conversation with back-to-back hat tricks, this week’s Game of the Week, and much more.Before that, The Athletic’s NHL insiders Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun join the show to give insights on the Canes’ deadline plans, how Jake Guentzel’s injury complicates the trade market, potential replacements for Jarmo Kekäläinen in Columbus, and more.Plus, the great Down Goes Brown, Sean McIndoe, talks with the guys about the Islanders wearing suits and ties as they arrived to their Stadium Series game Sunday afternoon, Andrew Brunette cancelling the Preds’ trip to see U2 at the Sphere, his “5 teams that should be in the Top 5 but somehow aren’t” article, and a little This Week in Hockey History to close things out. Get a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. All right, everybody. Welcome to your Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. As always, we're excited to kick off your week and see you at Medicine. Mark Lazarus with you for the next hour and change. And I'd love to tell you that I'm super excited, that I'm fired up for this show. But I'm going to be honest with you, Las. I'm feeling a little hesitant, a little scared, a little cautious.

Is there another word I could use to sort of, you know, that, that's a little bit of, you know, that falls in that realm. You know, I used the word trepidation when I was asking Connor Bedard, if he was a little worried about getting a hit coming back into the, you know, first time from a broken jaw. I don't think that's that big a word.

I didn't really think too much about it. I forget these are, he's 18 years old. You know, he's been playing junior hockey since he was 14. I, you know, I thought it was pretty funny how he immediately shut me down. Like, he was like, I got no clue what that word means.

Like, that's a confident kid to be able to not be worried about, like, embarrassing himself. He just went out and said, I have no clue. Old guy, I'd have no idea what you're talking about. Well, I'll tell you what. Why don't we play the clip? Because it kind of went viral there on the weekend. Again, this is Bedard's first game back.

He's got the busted jaw. He's playing with the full face shield. And you ask him, well, let's have a listen postgame. As Mark Lazarus asked a question to Connor Bedard. Did you have any trepidation out there about taking a hit? I have no clue with that word. This interview between Mark Lazarus and Connor Bernard is filmed before a live studio audience. Yeah, everyone else seemed to really get a kick out of it.

I felt bad. I was like, oh, no. Why are people laughing at the guy? Okay. I'm going to ask you a legitimate question here. Connor Bernard is not your average 18-year-old, obviously. But if you took the average 18-year-old in North America and said to them, do you have any trepidation about the future?

how many of them do you think would know what that means? I don't know. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and I asked her afterward. I'm like, do you know what this word means? I thought she would because she's a real smart kid. 11? And she said, I have no idea what you're talking about. You should see her vocabulary words.

Some of these words are just like the most, like I've never heard of some of these words that she has to learn, these like old English words that she, for some reason, needs to know. So I asked her, and she had no idea. So I felt like, okay, maybe I'm the asshole here. And you worry about that sometimes. you worry about, you know, the way you come off. Like, I don't mean to be condescending to anybody.

Like, I, it's just a word that I use in conversation and, uh, not a word that hockey players is in conversation apparently. Yeah. So I guess now is it, now the next time you interview Badaard or, I guess here's my question, is the word trepidation removed from Mark Lazar's vocabulary when ends asking questions to NHELors? No, it's all about context. You know, you got to know who you're talking to.

I feel like. If you're talking to a 35-year-old man, I feel like a 35-year-old man should know what the word trepidation means. And here's the thing. It's the right word to use because, like, fear is too strong. Concern is too mild. Trepidation means something specific. And it's the word you would use.

Like, when you're going out there and you have your, just feel free. Would you be, yeah, cautious would be, I guess, okay. But trepidation feels like the right word for it. Like, this is what I do for a living is I use words. That was the right word. It was the wrong context, but the right word. I'll tell you, he. And the goal got called back on Sunday or Saturday, sorry, due to an offside.

But boy, he was electric on that play. He scored another goal, which wasn't great. So can you explain to the listeners the difference between Chicago with Conrad and Chicago without Conrad? He's really good at hockey. And with him, they have a prayer and without him they don't. It's really that simple. Like he is the entire offense. They just cannot score without him.

They had 20 goals in 14 games without him. That is almost unfathomable to go that long with that kind of a scoring drop. Wait, wait, wait. What does unfathomable mean? Come on now. Come on now. Let me use my words. The English language is a beautiful thing and I want to use good words.

Yeah. You have no clue with that word. Yeah. It means without fathom. It's interesting. I wrote about this off the game on Sunday. on Saturday. It's not just the fans and the ticket sellers and the jersey sales that get a lift from this kid. It's the Blackhawks themselves. And it's, it's a strange phenomenon when you have,

you know, 30-something year old men, guys who've won the Stanley Cup, guys who've been an NHL captain, and they're looking to this child. He's a child. He's 18 years old. And they're looking to him because they know how much better he is and how much life he gives the team and how much hope he gives the team. Like he's not the captain. Like Nick Falino is the default, the de facto captain here. Like he is clearly the guy running the room and Jason Dickinson and Tyler Johnson and Connor Murphy. They've got guys like that. But Connor Bedard is the heart of this team. And they all know it. He's 18 years old, but they go. I think it was a, um, Felino said, we go as he goes. And it's, it's amazing to me that these, you know, very proud professional athletes can recognize that and don't

feel weird about that. Like this kid, he's just another team. and he's our guy and he's the guy who's going to lead us into this whole next chapter of the franchise history it's really remarkable is there a different feel in the building too like i know i saw powers had the tweet about more tickets are being sold or like actual palpable buzz in the building when he's playing versus those few weeks when he wasn't oh no question his first game back he stepped on the ice for warmups and there was a cheer like it's just a different like you look at this lineup it used to be you know you when you had seven hall of on the team with Kane and Taves and Seabrook and Keith and Sharp and John Brinson and all these great

players that when one guy was out, there was still a reason to come to the ballpark, as they say. There were still guys that were worth seeing. No offense to anyone on the Blackhawks right now. These are proud, accomplished athletes, but without Bacard, there is no draw. There is no selling point. You know, Alex Vlasic has turned into a terrific player. He's going to be a Jacob Slavin type for the next 10, 15 years. but he's not the draw. He doesn't have the buzz that Connor Bedard does. It's a completely different environment at the United Center when he's in the lineup. I'll tell you what, Laz, yeah, it was a lot of fun watching Conner Bedard on the weekend.

He torched Ottawa a little bit there. It's just good for the game to have Connor Bardard back. It's good for our show to have the insiders as we do every Monday. It's Pierre LeBron and Chris Johnston. And I got to ask you guys, what was it like just real quick off the top? Outdoor game, two outdoor games at MetLife. where it's the home of the Giants, right? So we can, we're Cowboys fans.

We can make fun of the Giants. But what are you guys thinking of the whole spectacle of the weekend where we're back-to-back outdoor games? Hang on, hang on. None of this weird Cowboys fans here. As a Giants fan, I will not be lumped into that horrible group. Let's get that out of the way right away. Well, I'm sure it was nice for Giants fans to see scoring in their stadium yesterday.

I'll admit I'm a bit outdoored out. You know, Chris and I back in the day covered all of the, a lot of the original Winter Classic games. And they're fantastic. I'm glad the league is still doing it in now the stadium series. But it's not appointment intelligent for me, but I did absolutely watch Rangers and Islanders because the game had so much to get into the same, especially for the Islanders. So I was tuned in. I thought the atmosphere was fabulous, 79,000 fans.

and the Rangers pulling their goalie with five and a half minutes left down to men is the highlight of my weekend. Because I'm so bold. I talk about this with my kids coaches a ton that when you're down a couple of goals, I love the idea of going with the math. I remember the Wall Street Journal did that study years ago about when you should pull the goalie. And it's just stuck with me. And I love that Pierre Labulette did that. They get the goal on the five on three and then they pull the goal again and get the goal in the six on four. To me, the more time left, you know, I love the early pull.

So that's my takeaway. Well, it's funny because Patrick Waugh kind of brought that into the NHL, right? Who's the island on the bench? He had the one who started pulling the goal. He was six minutes left when he first came to Colorado. Yeah. And it's no surprise to your period that you are that hockey dad that's in the coaches here, second guessing everything and trying to manage the fans.

But I'll say this from from having been to a number, games, I think it's not meant to be a TV product. It's so much better in the stadium. Obviously, there's a whole, you know, aspect of tailgating and, you know, being outside in the wintertime. You know, I think that it looked like a great scene there. And it's nice to see the rare, both outdoor games actually, Saturday and Sunday, there's some goal scoring in them because so often, I think you get in there. And when we're just talking with the hockey itself, you know, you end up with two one or three one games. I know there was a shoutout at the Winter Classic this year by Joey DeCourt in Seattle, but sometimes the offense doesn't come in those games,

but to see the Rangers make it compelling and have a comeback, and then kind of a weird one that went in an overtime, a pretty entertaining weekend, I think. Yeah, listen, I guess, Pierre, let's start with, as you go around the league, let's start with your column that you dropped on Monday, a conversation with Don Waddell. I mean, everyone looks at Carolina is like, you need a goalie and you need a sniper, you need a finisher.

What's the general manager's thinking in Carolina? Yeah, chatted with him yesterday. They are not looking at trading for a goalie now. And he did admit in our interview that they were for a while because of all these in gold cheer and frankly some inconsistency. Remember anti-Rantic going on waivers, but of course anti-Rantic coming back and having a great streak of his own. But right now, Kachkov's playing well. Freddie Anderson's on the men. Dabed else they're not. They're fine in gold. He uses words, quote unquote. And obviously, they feel. bullish about their depth and their talent on the blue line. He's not looking there, which leaves one area. Don Vodell said he's looking, they're looking for a top-line ford and potentially also fourth-line depth. So not one but two fords for the hurricanes. And as always, when we got into this, the hurricanes are a bit of a unicorn among the

cup contenders every year because they don't like paying high prices for rentals. They'll pay medium prices for rentals. They went out and got Jane Goss's bearer last year and Justin Pully Arby. But they will not get into the arms race for pending UFAs if it means first round picks and top prospects. So they're looking more if they can for that top nine Ford to use Donne with Ells words, someone with term left, someone that they can have for a couple of years and not just this year, which, as you guys know, makes it more difficult. It's harder to make hockey deals before the deadline compared to rental deals, but that's what they're looking at. Do we, I mean, I look at that and I look at that as a huge mistake.

Like Carolina is in their championship window here, and every year it comes down to the same thing. Their goalies aren't quite good enough and they don't have enough, you know, high-end scores to get past that second, third round. What is the general thought around the league on what Carolina is? Are they viewed as legitimate threats with, you know, Kachetkov as their number one goaltender with, you know, Svetnikov as their number one scorer? Like, what is the view of them around the league right now? They put them in the second tier, you know, if we're sort of doing an unofficial in terms of threats. I mean, this year is so strange.

I feel like the field is wide open in Carolina. If you share that view, what would be among the teams, I think has a chance to get it done. Obviously, they've been in the playoffs a lot. They've won series, but they haven't strung it together

and got to, you know, for it's been a few years since they were in a conference final. And obviously haven't got to the Stanley Cup final with the current core players they have. But, you know, they operate in their own way, right? They have an owner who isn't outside the box thinker,

and I think has a lot of influence on the front office. He's not the kind of owner that, that, you know, lets the hockey ops staff to make all the decisions and just report to him. I mean, he's involved. And so, you know, I think that the view is there a good team, maybe not quite a great team. And, you know, but this is such a strange year in the East. I don't know, I don't even know who I'd be picking right now. If you say gun to your head, you have to pick one team out of the East to get to the

cup final, it'd be a difficult decision at this point in time for me. Yeah, it is wide open. And I will say that, you know, Waddell and the Hurricanes front office were pretty, universally criticized where a lot of people after the trade deadline 12 months over because they ended up not really doing anything that big other than Gosses Fair. Not for lack of trying.

As you know, they're hearking on Tief and Meyer, but ended up losing out on them to the Jersey. But that was your typical Carolina deal. They were trying to make a hockey deal with someone that would play for them for many years. They'd been able to sign him. Having said that, you know, Mark, I know you mentioned

you know, the drawbacks in their lineup they did make the Eastern Conference final last year, despite now being a winner at the trade deadline, right? I mean, they made it to the final four. Now, you can see that two ways. Does that show you how we overrate the trade deadline? Which, by the way, it's okay, trade center. TSN, March 8 all day long.

But, you know, do we overrate the trade deadline? Or on the flip side, had they made a move at the deadline last year, kind of like Vegas did with Barbershove, this Carolina beat Florida. You could go crazy with the, with the what ifs. But I just want to point out that they were on everyone's losers list a year ago after the trade deadline and they end up final four. It just feels to me that that's their ceiling when they're not really being as aggressive as some of the other contenders are.

Let me ask you this. This is something I've always wondered. The NHL's trade deadline is so much later in the season than other sports. Would it look a lot different if teams were forced to make a decision whether their contenders or not in early February instead of an early March? Would that make much of a dent, do you think? Would that increase, decrease? What would that do to the overall landscape in the trade? It would mean we wouldn't have any trades, I think.

I don't know, TJ, what do you think? That's where I'm inclined to go. It's funny. I'm actually working on a story with Rob Rossi on this very topic right now. And so I have spoken to some people specific to that around the league in the last couple weeks. And the feeling is that there's already so many teams, like even we're two and a half weeks out from this deadline.

And there's a lot of teams that kind of feel like they're on the bubble. They're not committed sellers or buyers at this point in time. I think if you rewind back, say, a month or three weeks, you know, even prior to that, you just have so many teams in the middle that wouldn't know what to do. You know, I think from, there are certainly people there to believe that the deals that get made would be more impactful. I know that was part of Vancouver sticking and getting Elias Lindholm and Winnipeg and going and trading for Sean Monaghan when they did, just getting another 10 to 15 games, say, that had they waited until March 8th to make those moves. And so it cuts both ways.

actually Nathan McKinnon, unprompted at the All-Star game, went out and said he'd like to see the trade deadline moved earlier. So, I mean, I think there is a division of opinion there, but I would guess by having it as late in the season as possible, you are going to maximize the number of deals you get. But, you know, you might not get the impact you want because it takes time to get comfortable. It takes time maybe to figure out where players fit in a team. And, you know, basically our deadline comes six weeks from the end of the regular season, which really isn't much time to do all those things. But the one thing we should point out too, and it doesn't necessarily mean that it's been a dramatic impact, but it's been an impact. This is the final year of the peck impacted deadline in the sense that the salary cap has barely gone up now for a number of years.

And it's just making hard for teams to maneuver still. You know, does that make the deadline different in the year when the cap finally goes up in a tangible way? We'll see, I mean, my guess is most contenders will spend that money. So probably not. But you do hear that from GMs. that this era that we've been in since 2020 has added yet another layer to the deadline in the sense that it's dollar in dollar out

for a lot of contenders. You know, CJ, you mentioned, you know, some of those teams that are in the middle that don't know what they're going to do. Boy, he feels like Pittsburgh is the epitome of that team, right? They don't know where they're going. Are they a contender? Are they, is it time to strip it down?

Cheers to pick both of your brains. And C.J., I'll start with you on this one, on the Jake Gensel situation. He's going to be out until after the, the trade deadline. So how does that alter Pittsburgh's thinking and how has it alter other teams maybe in whether or not they want to acquire a guy that's a pending UFA who's hurt right now? Well, you know, I think it makes it a top situation. I mean, ideally you're not trading a player that the last game he played was in early to mid-February. You know, I think the good news

on the Gensel situation is that the thought is he'll be ready to play pretty much right after the trade deadline. I think it's a broken bone in his hand. which I'm not saying it's good, but it's not the sort of injury that's necessarily likely to linger. It's just a matter of letting it heal, letting him get his strength back up and being able to play. And so I think on that front, it's not as bad as it maybe was feared initially

when Gensel went out of the game last week. But for Kyle Dubas, he's wanted to give his team as much time as possible before, when you take over teams, you got a first, you know, a new GM in place in that organization. You've got Siddy Crosby, you've got any Malkin, Chris LaTang,

knowing that, They don't have, you know, a massive amount of runway on their respective careers and obviously are trying to find a way to get one more Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh. I mean, those guys, I can imagine, don't necessarily want to see their GM, you know, trading way useful parts of the team. But, you know, I think that's kind of the line that Dubus has to walk. I do believe when push comes to shove, you know, as we get home to March 8th, if they don't make a push, if they're still fairways back in the wildcard spot, I really do believe they're going to try to move them because this is a pretty valuable deadline piece to, to trade. You know, he was on pace again for over 30 goals, over 80 points when he went out with the injury this week. And, you know, this is just a team that hasn't drafted in the first round very much in the last 12 years because they've been going forward at every deadline.

And so I think that the opportunity to add at least another first round pick, plus perhaps some other absets is going to be too good to pass up. You know, as questions, it just looks to me like the penguins don't quite have it. I mean, they've had this amazing year from Indy Crosby at age 36. You know, he's performed well. And they're still in this situation, five or six points back here with a couple weeks to the deadline. So, you know, I do think Encel,

certainly I know from other contending teams looking for forwards is at top of their list or in their top two as they sort of survey what they think will be available. And I think Pittsburgh will ultimately end up moving him prior to that deadline, you know, barring a five-game winning streak or something starting this week. There was an injured player traded the deadline last year, I remember you and I were working on that file.

Now his name is casings me. Kind of amusing. But anyway, it does not happen. And guys get dealt because teams get the medical info and understand that he's going to come back and help them eventually. But I think the impact is twofold. And CJ covered a lot of it. But number one, if you're an acquiring team, you want to have as much time your size as possible before trading for Gensel because you want as much health and health medical update as possible closer to the deadline. So potentially what it does is delay.

against old deal, which might be fine for Pittsburgh because CJ says they want as much time as possible to work themselves back in the race. But the second impact, and it's kind of the most obvious one, is, are you ready to pay the same price that you were before the injury if you're a contender? I mean, okay, I still want to trade for him and I think he's going to get back to help, but do you know that for sure that he's still the same impact player? I know if I'm a contender, I'm going to try and discount that price a little. And finally, on the overall forward market, if all these teams have Gensel number one on their rental list for Fords, does this delay the entire market closer to March 8?

Because if you're going down to Tarasenko or Eberley or whomever else after Gensel, but you got to wait until Gensel to figure itself out, does that delay everything? Maybe not, but that's something to think about. In Calgary, I feel like we've been talking about them since like 2014 now, about what they're going to do with Tannenvin and with Aniffin. It's just never ending. You know, this is a team that's five points that your black cocks have no one that no one to move.

Come on, Laz. You're just jealous of nothing going on in Chicago. I'm incredibly jealous. There's nothing to talk about here. Last year I was milking cane and tape since November. But with Calgary here, you know, they're five points out of a playoff spot. There's no way they delude themselves into thinking their playoff contenders, do they?

And would getting it up of a one round of the playoffs be enough to warrant holding on to some of these guys or are they going to make these moves eventually? They're going to make the moves. You know, I think that Craig Conroy has kind of telemarked this, you know, in saying right from the start of the year, he doesn't want to see a prime UFA walk out the door for nothing the way, you know, that organization went through Johnny Goodrow a couple summers ago. You know, ultimately if, you know, when it's looking this way more and more, that if Noah Hannafin isn't signing an extension in Calgary, exact him to be moved, I think Chris Tannav will be in the same position. And, you know, what you might see Calgary do is they did in the Lyos Linholm deal. In addition to getting the futures back, they also took back Andre Kuzmanko, who they put right into their lineup and can score goals. I mean, maybe you won't see them make the traditional rental deals where it's all just for futures.

Maybe they'll prioritize also getting some warm bodies back to try to stay in the race as much as they can. But, you know, I think that this is very much a situation. They can't afford to not sign these guys and or not trade them. And, you know, I think that they'd still like to in a perfect world sign Noah Hannafin, but, you know, time is clearly ticking here and really, really appears that he's going to go and test for agency. And so, you know, now it's two and a half weeks to make two more big trades at least for Craig Conroy.

And, you know, he's already made a couple already this season. And the flames have made the termination internally and have shared this with other front offices. They're not building retool. And I know we get into these, you know, these words and what they mean. What they mean is, you know, they don't want to go into a tenure of this. They're not tearing it down, but they are flipping over, as CJ says, the obvious assets. And that's what's going on. And, you know, one of the things they've done smartly, in my opinion, is they spread it out a bit.

The door off was an early season trade. Linholm was the biggest chip of all. He's already been taken care of. So you're not getting to March 8 and having 19 files in front of you and being overwhelmed by it. So they've spread it out, which is smart. They will trade TANF. For sure, Hannan, as CJ says, it's been an interesting weekend as we've dug it on that one of us. to exactly what's happening, but like I think the things would still sign him if he told him today he would sign, but it doesn't look like they're getting an answer, so

they have to talk to teams about trading him. And of course, Jacob Markstrom, whom the doubles have tried and the Bulls remain interested, but we'll see what happens with him. He doesn't have to move now. He can be a June trade, an off-season trade, but the flames are absolutely still

willing to move part. That's their priority right now. They don't think they're making the playoffs no matter what they say publicly. Hey guys, as we wrap up, kind of weird timing with Yarmal Kekalainen, at least just timing in terms of we're so close to train the deadline general manager, relief of his duties at this time of year. What names are you hearing right now as potential replacements for Yarmal Keck Alinen in

Columbus? Go ahead, CJ. I was hoping you were going to jump on that. Okay, they haven't really started the process, right? I think we can start to look at where they're going to go. They have Rick Nash in their front office. Obviously, a franchise legend. I know he's taken on more and more responsibility.

You know, it wouldn't be surprising. And I don't know where the titles will end up, you know, because front offices are doing things a little differently these days. But I could see him in some kind of elevated role. You know, I've heard some whispers, maybe Mark Hunter, or someone that might be on the radar. Obviously, Darren Dregor, our TSN teammate, as reported that Jeff Gorton, you know, may be of interest to Columbus.

He's currently the president of Montreal. all, no clarity if the Canadians would ever let them go or what his level of interest in that. But, you know, it does seem as though they're prioritizing, you know, probably a steady hand, I think would be fair to say. And look, this is, I think it's an appealing job for a potential general manager coming to Columbus. They have a lot of prospects in that system. I know it feels like they're two years away from being two years away perpetually. But, you know, it's also been a place where, you know, Yarmal Kekelan was there for 11 years. They've had three general managers in their entire history.

I mean, there's a real sort of pattern that ownership is very patient and that you have a chance to put your stamp on things. So I think a lot of people will be interested in. These jobs just don't come up anywhere too often. But I can't give you hard and fast. These are the five guys that are the top of their list at this point. Yeah, and I thought our Aaron Portsline, who obviously covers the Blue Jackets, been magnificently. We had a really deep list of candidates there a couple of days ago. One of the names, one of the first names that he mentioned was Matthew Darsh.

who is the first player ever signed in Blue Jackets history. But the reason that name would have been mentioned is because he's been in heart on some of these GM jobs runner up in Pittsburgh. If Calduba says no to the opportunity in Pittsburgh, Matthew Marsh, is running to Pittsburgh Benglands right now. He interviewed well in Vancouver and Chicago and Montreal, so it just feels like he's always hovering around these opportunities.

So he'd be handed at two, but, But as, you know, CJ says, I mean, I think there's lots of different ways this could go. But we know Mr. Portsline will be all over it. That's for sure. Yeah. Hey, listen, as always, guys, great to kick off our week with the two of you giving us the latest from around the league. So, Pierre LeBron, Chris Johnson. Guys, have a great week and we'll hit you up again next Monday.

Right. I'll ride. See, guys. All right, Lance, great conversation with LeBron and CJ. And let's bring in our pal, Sean McAdoo. Down Goes Brown. Ashah, we asked our insiders about the outdoor game. I want to have a little conversation about the teams rolling into the outdoor game.

I love the Flyers all dressing up in the old rocky sweatsuit stuff. That stuff is great. What do we think of the Islanders just playing it straight, suit and tie with Lou Lamarillo? Because they weren't allowed to have any fun. Everyone else had fun, Islanders, no fun. We love Lou, don't we? I mean, look, every team is supposed to do something that, captures who they are, where they're from.

That's the Islanders, man. They're the no fun team under Lou La Marello. It's great. And look, I mean, this has become a part of the outdoor game experience, whether you love it or whether you just kind of tolerate it. I mean, I can't imagine anyone out there is so old school that they, that they don't like seeing a little bit of the personality. You know, sometimes I couldn't help but see the flyers coming in,

the Rocky outfit and think about the Bill Burr rant. Rocky is your hero. The whole pride of your city is built around a guy who doesn't even exist. But I'll be okay with it. But yeah, it was pretty funny seeing the

I got to be honest. Five years from now, I'm going to remember that more than the police cars and the Rocky and everything. I'll be like, yeah, remember the time Lou wouldn't let anyone have fun? Well, do we think Lou's in on the joke here? Do we give him enough credit that he thinks

it's funny, that he did it to be funny? or is it's just Lou being Lou? You know what? As far as I would go is, I think it's possible that he knew it would be funny. He definitely didn't do it to be funny. That would just be a little bonus, a little icing on the cake for him.

Like, no, I mean, there's no way that, like, Lou Lamarillo came into a meeting and they were like pitching stuff around. Like, what if we did this? And he was like, guys, you know, it would be hilarious. You know, it would be a million laughs. And, I mean, and everyone turned to him like, all right, yeah, I mean, Lou,

if, hey, anytime Lou, was going to tell us what's funny. We got to listen, man. This guy lives for this stuff. What if we didn't wear anything? No, he's, I think he probably said, no, we're not allowed to have fun. And somebody went, oh, you mean, like, ironically in a funny way? And Lou just kind of stared at them.

And then they went off in shape. Was it the Bruins that started this with the Piki Blinders thing a bunch of years back? That's the first one that sticks out in my mind was the first team to come out and do this when they came out in, like, the 1920s gangster look. That may have been it. I mean, it feels like the Genesis was kind of the coaches when they started like, you know, dressing up in the oldest, like old school. The little hats and stuff. And hats and the jackets and that.

And then that sort of opened the door. And now, you know, look, this will probably be like outdoor games itself. It's going to be cool for a while. And eventually like, you know, I don't know what the blue jackets are going to do next year. Like, I don't know what the local Columbus scene would have them do. But like, there's going to be some point where we're going to be like, okay, that's like when the senators are walking out dressed as Mounties, we're going to be like, that's about it.

I think we're good. Everything jumps to short eventually. It does, absolutely. Speaking of, you know, we're talking about Lou kind of clamping down on fun, I want to chat with you guys about Andrew Brunette for a second because Nashville loses 9-2 against Dallas at home on the weekend. Elliot Friedman reporting on Hockeynett in Canada on Saturday that Andrew Brunette was so upset with his team, who, by the way, they bounced back.

They did win on the weekend. But he was so upset with his team. He canceled their planned trip to see a U-2 concert at the sphere. They're playing in Vegas tomorrow. He said, guys, you can't do this. Now, do we think he went too far? And I also, is there the irony of a guy? Imagine a bunch of players in Nashville like,

damn, our one chance to see live music. You took it away from us. Yeah, but do we think he went too far? Are we okay with this? How do we feel about? an NHL coach cancelling a team activity because they lost by seven. Yeah. So, and I thought the Hockey Night in Canada debate about this was kind of interesting.

Because, you know, just to set the scene a little more, it was, I think the idea was normally they had the games where they didn't play well. And they would have come home and practice for a couple of days and then gone to Vegas. And that the players basically said, hey, can we just go straight to Vegas and do this thing? which was going to be a team event, not just for the players, but also for staff, and, you know, they were going to bring everybody. So it was really an organizational thing. And then they played terrible for a couple of games,

and he didn't like how they practiced and all this. So he took it away. And on Hockey and Canada, Kelly Rudy, who, of course, played for a very long time in the NHL, said that, you know, what bothered him was that he's fine with saying you can't do something, but don't give it to the players. and then take it away.

You know, it's one thing to say no, you know, or to say, hey, you guys can't do this unless we win the game. And then if we win, you know, you go off. But he said plans were made. Everybody was looking forward to it. I'm not quite sure I buy that. There is that old school part of me that's like, yeah, this is what coaches do. They shut things down when the effort isn't there, when the results aren't there.

And, you know, at the end of the day, especially when you're a team that's fighting to stay in the playoff race, I'm not sure you're going to get to the end of the season and go, well, you know, we made the playoffs by a point, but we missed out on that U-2 concert. You know, I didn't feel like it went overboard. I do feel for the staffers and the people like that who are probably like, this is going to be awesome, this is going to be the highlight of my whole season, and then it gets taken away. But, I mean, I'm not sure this is really all that out of bounds relative to what we've seen

from coaches in the past. I feel like it's treating the players a little bit like children. I don't love it. Like, I remember, my memory's a little fuzzy, but it was either the 2011 or the 2012 season. The Blackhawks used to have their big circus trip every year. They'd go out west. They'd do Western Canada, California. They'd be gone for two weeks.

And when the schedule allowed, Joel Quenbo would schedule a trip for the team to go to Vegas. This was before Vegas had a team. So it was a big deal for the players to get to go get a, you know, blow off some steam in Vegas for a night. And they went to Edmonton the night before the Vegas trip. And they lost like nine. I think it was like nine two. I think it was the same. It was the game Sam.

Gagne had eight points, which, you know, lives in Blackhawks fan lore when Sam Gagne had eight points. And there was real discussion about whether he was going to cancel the trip. The players thought he was going to cancel it. Quenvo was weighing whether to cancel it. But he said, no, screw it. You know, it's a long season. These guys, it's one game. I'm not going to completely torch them over that.

They went to Vegas. They went fine. They went up, you know, working their way into the playoffs. It wasn't one of their cup years. But, you know, I'm with you, Sean. Like, if you promise something, don't take it away from them. That feels like you're taking a child's phone away. from them because they got a bad grade on their social studies test.

It just, it feels, and to punish staffers for the players' lack of effort, I don't like, I don't like it at all. I think it's a bad move. And I don't think it makes your team better. I don't think it sends the right message. If you're a staffer, like, you know, support staff, do any way you still go to that concert, like just quietly even? That would have been kind of a nice thing.

If they could have figured out a way, I don't, and when we say staff, I don't know, like, obviously if it was just the trainers and that, you need them around if you're running a practice. But if there was a way to say, you know what? No, like we're, you know, it's kind of like you talk about the kid with the bad report card. It's like, yeah, no, you don't get to go up for ice cream. The rest of us are still going out the way that we planned. It's you're the one who's not going to, you know, you can sit in the car and watch the rest of us enjoy our cone.

I kind of do the same thing for them. That would have been nice, but I guess I guess it's not to be. Oh, well. maybe we'll see them at the draft in in Vegas and you know they can won't be you too but it'll be you too at the sphere oh hey oh hey

I don't know if that was a pun it kind of sort of yeah yeah uh yeah Sean every week on Mondays you drop your power rankings where you kind of look at the top five teams in league bottom five teams in league

team that doesn't make either list and this week you kind of and you're full fully transparent of, hey, listen, people get angry about lists and this is what happens. But you list five teams whose fan bases might be a little hot that they're not in the top five. And it's Carolina, it's Vegas, Winnipeg Rangers, Vancouver. Now, looking at this as straight as you can here, as objectively as you can, which fan base legitimately should be mad at you that you didn't include them in the top five?

I mean, Vancouver's got a great case. I didn't have them in the top five. They're the number one team in the standings. We know by now we're all waiting on the big regression, the big, you know, all of this stuff. But it hasn't happened yet. They're playing great. They've just added somebody at the deadline. Presumably other teams will too, but they haven't made their moves yet.

So I could absolutely see, you know, if you're Vancouver, especially the fact that I've got Edmonton in my top five. Now, I don't think that's a crazy case to make. I think you look at the odds makers, you look at Dom's model, you look at all sorts of things. A lot of sources would say, yeah, Edmonton's got a better chance at the Stanley Cup, especially given how they've played the last couple months. But if I'm a Vancouver fan, I'm sitting there going like, dude, how high in the standings do we need to go to be considered one of the five most likely Stanley Cup teams? Because we're at number one, I'm not really sure we can go all that much higher.

You know, we were talking about this with Pierre and CJ. This does seem like an unusually wide open year at the top. Is this one of the more difficult years? I know it's a very scientific process that you use to put that together. But is this one of the more difficult ones? Yeah, absolutely. This is probably maybe the toughest because there are at least 10 teams that you could absolutely, I did my five and I think the fifth team on my outside list was Carolina.

You could absolutely make a case Carolina is one of the five most likely teams to win the cup. I didn't even have the Maple Leafs in the second five. You know, and that's team. You look at the record. You look at the talent. You know, that's the team that should be there. You look at the Kings. They be sitting there saying, hey, what about us?

We've sort of straightened it out again. And the thing that really strikes me is most years at the very least, it's almost always tough to come up with year five. There's always going to be the difference between five and six is going to be slim. But there's always a couple of locks. You know, last year we had. Boston running away with the president's trophy. You could have Boston all year long.

I don't even know who to put it number one. I had Dallas at number one. Well, they just lost to Edmonton. You could make a case that Dallas shouldn't even be in the top five. You could absolutely make that case. It wouldn't be completely unreasonable. And that's the part. It's not just that that pivot from five to six is tough.

It's every spot one through 10 and maybe beyond is just, who knows? It feels like the margins are so tiny. Hey, Sean, before we let you go, one thing I want to try to bring back here on the Monday show is you and I always used to do a fun little segment called This Week in Hockey History. We take a trip down memory lane, maybe educate the listeners on something that they didn't know about or just have some fun with something. So I got a couple things this week in hockey history I want to wrap up with. We'll start with this, guys. February 20th, 1971, Phil Esposito, scores his 50th goal of the season, and it just has a lot. happens to be on his 29th birthday, which is really cool, right?

You score your 50th goal on your birthday, okay? The next year, he does the exact same thing, scores his 50th goal on his 30th birthday, but he's not done there. A couple of years later, on his 32nd birthday, he scores his 50th goal again. Guys, three times this guy scored his 50th goal on his birthday. That has to be on the short list of craziest hockey facts of all. time. Nope. That is pretty wild. I mean, all I can take away from that is Phil Esposito was selfish. This guy obviously could have scored any time he wanted, and he just decided to save his 50th goal for

his birthday. I mean, come on. It's too bad he, too bad he wasn't born in November. I mean, it could have chased after Gretzky's records, but I want to know what happened in that one, the one year in between, was that the year that he got to 72 or something like that? Or was he, was he too far ahead? Or did he just? I don't know. What's the matter, Phil? Come on, have a sense of moment. Unreal. Unreal. Three times scoring 50th on your birthday. Okay, the other one I want to get to, and it's kind of topical because Yerr and Yager was celebrated in Pittsburgh on the weekend. This week in 1996, Mario Lemieux and Yerimur got their 50th goal in the exact same game. In fact, it was in the exact same period. They both got their 50th goal against Hartford, February 23rd,

1996 and Mario Lemieux told the story that when they were sitting at 49 each he turned to he turned to Yager and said first guy to get 50 buys the other guy a bottle of champagne

like the other guy has to buy a bottle of champagne for the guy who gets 50 first Mario scores 50 first and Yager does it later but do you think we would ever see like two guys getting 50 again in the same teammates in the same game? Is that ever possible?

I mean, it's, it, it's, it feels impossible just because the odds of getting, two teammates getting 50 seems so slim. But I mean, you could, the, you immediately think of McDavid and Dreisidel, right? Like that, those are the two that it feels like could, could, could, could both hit 50 in the same season. And then yeah, maybe, maybe roughly in the same game. It'd be pretty, uh, it'd be pretty phenomenal to, to see it happen. Uh, everything has to line up just right. But I think those are the only two right now, as I'm sort of thinking around the league, that I could really imagine doing it and getting in at the same time. And other than that, boy, hard to imagine.

All right. Sean, as always, thanks for popping by the pot. And we made sure we didn't ask you about three Maple Leafs hat tricks in the past week. We made sure we just steered clear of that entire conversation with you. Thank you. I appreciate that. because if we had mentioned it, it would have jinxed it. And I'm glad that we didn't do that.

Awesome stuff. We'll see again down the road. Right on. Thanks, guys. Now, Ian, I got one more this week in hockey history I wanted to share that I don't know if people remember, but 10 years ago, today, actually, on February 19th, was the greatest press conference in the history of hockey. This was in Sochi. Forgive me, I don't remember the Russian coach's name, but I just want to read a snippet

of the transcript. This was the translated official transcript from the Olympics. This was after Russian was eliminated out of the out of contention for metal contention. The question, what future, if any, do you see for your own work and your own coaching staff because you know your predecessor was eaten alive after the Olympics? The coach, well, then eat me alive right now. Question, no, I mean, answer, eat me and I won't be here anymore. Question, but we have the world championship coming up.

Answer, well, then there will be a different coach because I won't exist anymore since you will have eaten me. Question, but you're staying, aren't you? Answer, yes, I will remain living. That was the greatest press conference I've ever seen. Like I was watching it in Russian. I didn't understand what they were saying, but they were like just screaming at each other. And when the transcript finally came in the translation,

I will not be here anymore because you will have eaten me might be the greatest turn of phrase I've ever heard in a press conference in my life. Oh my God. That, that wasn't after T.J. Oshy did them in. No, it wasn't that game. That game actually was. wound up not meaning a whole lot. That was a few days ago.

It was the anniversary of that. What did you think that game didn't matter? I thought that was everything. But neither team advanced, you know, neither team got anything. It's not like anyone want to meddle out of it or played for the gold medal after that because Canada just suffocated everybody to death that tournament. Okay. Refresh my memory here because my memory is hazy on Sochi.

I thought that that was like a knockout game that the loser of the- No. USA and Russia was out. It was a preliminary round, and it basically, I mean, it's not like the United States did anything after winning that game. That game was the coolest game I've ever attended. Like, it was the atmosphere was insane. Vladimir Putin was 10 rows behind me. The drama of it, it was amazing. But neither team even got a bronze out of it anything.

So it didn't really carry a whole lot of weight. And Russia was eliminated, I believe two games later was when they had one more chance to get in and didn't. And that's when this press conference happened. I covered the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. And Canada played Russia. And it ended up being a, now my memory is a little bit better because I was there in Vancouver. And they played in a quarter final game. And Canada just stomped all over the Russians.

And in that game, though, I remember last there were Russian journalists. And I'll use the term journalist in air quotes. They were cheering in the press box. Like, did that happen? happened in Sochi as well? Oh, man. I was sitting next. There was just cheering in the press box.

There was one game. I was covering like four games a day that I was just living at the rinks. There was this Latvian journalist who was like a preeminent journalist in Latvia, I was told. And he had, he was decked out head to toe in the Latvian flag basically. Every article in clothing he had was the Latvian flag. He had Latvian earrings in both ears. And he had a hat and he had a flag sticking out of his ear like like, like, you know,

someone like a contractor puts a pencil behind his ear. It was a lot of the flag. And he spent the entire game. I can see him writing his story with this flag just dangling off of his right ear. I'll never forget it. Wow. Yeah. It's a little different.

And speaking of great press conferences after games with the, you know, at the Olympics or whatever. And it was the one in Vancouver where Canada, and I think it was like seven to two. They beat Russia like six or seven to two, knocked them out. And they came out. and it was 4-0 Canada before you could even blink. Like, it wasn't really even a game. And afterwards, Ilya Brees Gallowav came out, and he spoke to reporters, and he said,

and I think the quote was, they said, like, how would you characterize the start for Canada? And Breeze said they were like, it was like gorillas coming out of cages. They were like gorillas coming out of cages. And I thought, unbelievable. What a great summation of what, what that was all about. Humongous

gorillas. So humongous big. We could just do a top five Breez Gallov quotes. My Alt-time are, it's only game. Why you have to be mad? That's an all-timer to be. He's the best. I've been thinking.

Why you have to be so bad? Why you have to be so mad? You know, we specifically left out Maple Leaf Chatter with Sean McIndoo, because we don't want to talk about multiple hat tricks with the leaf guy, but let's be honest here. Austin Matthews

with another hat trick against Anaheim. I mean, is he in the heart conversation now? Like, is he forced? Is that weird? It's been McKinnon, McDavid,

and Hellebuck for so long that we were sure. I mean, if he scores 70 goals, does he just win it by sheer force of will? Isn't it funny how a guy could score 70 playing for the team in like sort of the biggest media market for hockey in North America.

And we're like, I don't know, is you really on the Hart Trophy radar? It's so true though, right? He's not. Like if I were voting today, I don't think he'd be on my top three. He'd be in my ballot. He'd be in the top five probably. But I'm a Hella Buck guy first and foremost. I think Hella Buck should be running away with it right now, quite frankly.

But McDavid is just a house of fire right now. And McKinnon's been the best player in the league all year. It's just an incredible time for star. I mean, God, Jamie Ben won the scoring title less than 10 years ago with 89 points. We are just in this star-laden era of just megastars everywhere you look, and it's fantastic. But it makes, you know, these kind of voting makes it a lot harder to do. Yeah, but here's what Austin Matthews has done. I think he's been so good and he's on pace for 75 now.

God. But, last, if he scores 68 goals, we're going to be kind of disappointed. Like, it almost feels like 70 is the floor for this guy, which is, I'm not, I'm just saying that's how good he's been. It's almost like, I kind of expect him to get to 70 now, don't you? Did you ever expect to see a 70 or a 75 goal score in the NHL ever again, ever again? I'll say no, but I mean, Ovecgan got close at 65, but this comes right off the, heels of McDavid getting one,

150 last year. So is that the same to you? Like, if Matthews, these are like the magic numbers, right? These are like the, these are the Gretzky, Lemieux, you know, untouchable numbers, Pavel Bore, I guess. Like, these are the numbers that we just kind of like, you think of as like, this is what they used to do in the 80s when goalies were five foot two and wearing these skinny

little pads and didn't know how the butterfly worked. And we'd never see that again. But we're seeing it for Matthews to be doing that in the modern day NHL. And I know offense has opened up quite a bit. they've cracked down on destruction in some way. We're not seeing like the Yarmir Yager type goals against the Blackhawks where he's getting hacked and cross-checked along the way. But with goalies, just the simple size of goalies and the equipment they wear and the science behind goaltending to be threatening 75 goals is truly one of the more amazing things I've seen in sports in a long, long time. I'm not saying Austin Matthews is the MVP, but what he's doing, he's having a singular season that should not be ignored. So I'm wondering how you feel about the conversation with Austin Matthews and could he potentially

threatened down the road the all-time goals record. I'm going to give you some context here because at some point we started thinking about this with Ovechkin, right? Like, you know, five, six, seven years into his career, we were like, man, this guy keeps it up. So here are the numbers head to head at the same. same point essentially in their career. Okay?

At this point in his career, Ovechkin had 371 goals. But that's by the end of the season. So by the end of his eighth season in the league, Ovechkin had 371. Matthews is 347, Lazz, which means he is roughly, you know, 25 goals behind Ovechkin, which he could get between now and the end of the season, which is like, okay. That means after eight seasons, he'll be right on target with Ovechkin.

At what point did we start to have that thought about Austin Matthews that this guy could get to 850, 900 goals? Well, he's only getting better, right? I mean, he's just entering his prime in a lot of ways. And you look at Wayne Gretzky, and his goals are so bunched towards the front end of his career when he had the 92 goals and he was scoring at that ridiculous rate. And then the second half of his career, it's like he's a 30 goal scorer. He wasn't like the dom.

Like Austin Matthews is built to succeed long term. Athletes are better now than they've ever been. They're better trained than they've ever been. They're nutrition and their sleep. And they do everything, everything, you know, is more scientific-based and more serious. It's taken more seriously now than there was. So in theory, Austin Matthews should be able to keep up this pace longer than even Ovechkin could, than Gretzky could. There's no reason to think that if he stays healthy, he can't threaten those numbers.

If he's scoring 70-something goals in the modern-day NHL at his age, yeah, he's going to be threatening that number maybe even earlier than we think. You know, last week, Las, we had a huge conversation about the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators and Ridley Gregg and Morgan Riley and Unwritten Rules. I've got to ask you one question here. And I'm not doing this in a way that I think Leifz fans would be like, oh, you classic Ottawa guy. I'm asking a question, okay?

So Toronto is up 8-1 on Anaheim on Saturday night. They're up 8 to 1. Anaheim scores a goal and Toronto challenges it for goalie interference. Is this against the unwritten rules of hockey? You're up by 7 and it's a third period, right? And you challenge a goal. You just let it go. And I'm asking this not.

Just because they're unwritten rules, I don't know what they are. So I'd like to know. Is that poor form? I probably, it's probably perceived that way. I don't think so. If anything, you've got to coach, I didn't see this play. So this is news to me. I mustn't miss this somehow over the weekend.

But this to me is, this is a coach sticking up for his goaltender, right? This is, you know, this is stats. You know, a lot of, you know, arbitration comes down to stats and awards come down to stats and bonuses come down to stats. And this is a goal against that if you felt shouldn't have been a goal against, you're sticking up and you're defending your goaltender in that. I got no problem with that. You know what? I'm going to agree with you where I would throw a little bit of a, I guess a challenge flag, pun intended, is if you challenge for an offside and you're up eight one and it's a really close call, that one, I'm like, I'll let it go. Right? I don't know, man.

I don't believe in like, I don't believe in, you know, you know, running up the score being listen anyway and doing like look if you don't like getting beaten nine to one don't give up nine goals right if you don't like a guy slapping the puck into the net for an empty net or don't be down a goal so that you're giving you have to pull your goalie like i cry me a river these are professional athletes who should be able to handle a little humiliation every now and then and you know hey you're playing the win this is a cutthroat business and you're playing the win i got no problem with any that all almost every single unwritten rule i find stupid yeah no i agree and i what i love more then the only thing I love more than unwritten rules is watching people comport themselves

to defend their favorite team. Oh, yeah. Based on the unwritten rule. Every unwritten rule is stupid until it happens to your team. Yes, exactly. Exactly. All right, Las, let's wrap up the show as we usually do on a Monday with a segment presented by BetMGM, the exclusive betting partner with the Athletic.

And, Laz, I know that you took the under. in the NBA All-Star game. Can we just take a moment? I thought it would be a defensive struggle. He's using a step ladder. Oh, man. Like, they basically, it's like a 400-point game, basically, right? But can we just take a moment here, talk about how it feels really good to watch another sport

and their fans and their media melt down about the All-Star game? Like, doesn't that feel good? It does. It's like affirming somehow, right? Like, oh, it's not just us, right? Because, like, the Pro Bowl, the NFL, like, nobody has ever cared about the Pro Bowl. So it's never even in the conversation. But the NBA All-Star game, it's like the NHL All-Star game, right? Where people are excited for the three-point contest and the dunk contest. And, you know, the whole Skills Night is overshadows the game, usually. Everyone has a good time at that. And then the game happens where, we're like, this is an abomination. These guys should be ashamed of themselves. And I feel like in the NHL All-Star game, game this year. That third game, there was a little bit of effort. I mean, guys weren't throwing hits or anything, but there was a little bit of effort with that million dollars in the line. And for once, for once, hockey fans can feel a little superiority over NBA fans because our game was a little bit less awful than theirs was. Yes, 397 points. Even 211 points. Yeah. Two hundred and eleven points. Oh, my gosh. Anyways, I thought that was quite the story for

the weekend. Well, let me ask this. You know how the NBA keeps bringing this MacClunk kid from the from the G League for the dunk contest? You won it for the second straight time because that's his specialty. Do we want to see more of that in the NHL? Like this year with the skills competition, we had the best of the best competing and it was the best skills competition we've had in a long time. But do we want to see more kind of specialists in some ways? Do we want to highlight some guys that aren't all stars that we can put them in some kind of, you know, I don't know if we have anything that's quite as dramatic as the dunk contest. But, like, Ally Afraidy, if I remember wasn't an All-Star every year,

they just trotted them out for the hardest shot, right? Like, do we want to see a little bit more of that? Yeah. Did they not used to do it where, like, every team would have their own competition? And then whoever had, like, the hardest shot within, then they would send those guys to the All-Star game. Like, oh, that would be cool. I don't remember that at all.

I think that, well, anyway, I think that's how they used to do it. But that's, like, because what if you're third-liner? has the hardest shot in the game. Maybe I'd like to see that. Maybe your second pair defenseman is the fastest skater in the league. If every team did like a midnight madness kind of event, like the start of a college basketball season, where they just have like all their players do a skills competition before a game,

and then you take like the five hardest shots that are registered in that, in the individual events and you send them to the All-Star game and they get to compete. That could be kind of fun. I'd be up for that. Yeah. I think, you know what? I think I like that idea. But all I can think about this year is the Kuturov

from the All-Star game. That's all I can think about. Well, that's a, you take a guy out of it, you know, will a guy be excited to get his only chance to ever participate in an All-Star format? Or will he be like, dude, this is my vacation. I don't want to be out here trotted out like a sideshow pony here. What is this?

Oh, man. Hey, I want to ask you a question. You're wrapping it up here about Game of the Week. We're going to look ahead. I'm going to give you four games that are on the NHL scheduled this week, Laz, you're going to tell me which one deserves the billing NHL game of the week, okay?

So we've got Tuesday night, Vancouver and Colorado, a couple of powerhouses in the Western Conference that I think Vancouver now has Stanley Cup aspirations. Colorado obviously wants to get back there. So that's Tuesday. Wednesday, it's Boston and Edmonton. And that should be a lot of fun given where both those teams are.

Saturday night, Boston, Vancouver, and we saw them play each other a couple of weeks ago in Boston, is the return engagement in Vancouver, Bruins Connects, or Sunday. And I know that the stakes aren't as high from a Stanley Cup perspective, but maybe this is a big game in terms of, hey, are we or aren't we a playoff team? It's Philly at Pittsburgh. Last, what deserves NHL label, Game of the Week? I'm a Western conference guy. give me Vancouver, Colorado all day.

Like I understand that game doesn't have a huge bearing understandings. Those are in. Both those teams are in the playoffs comfortably. But that might be the two kind of like you throw Edmonton in there, I suppose. But like the closest thing we have to like Globetrotter teams that are just high skill, high octane, high speed. They play the game the way everybody wants to see it played. That's, you know, Dallas, I still have Dallas coming out of the West. I think that's the best overall team.

But Vancouver is so much fun to watch. Colorado is always fun to watch McKinn and just go ham on everybody. Like that's the game I want to watch is Colorado Vancouver. And I'm going to use some, by the way, I'm going to use some creative editing to go back to our original segment with Chris Johnson and Pierre LeBron. And we're just going to have you say Dallas is the team to beat. And we're not going to tell you that it's an NHL comment. We're just going to be like, yeah, see?

We're all cap boys fan. Don't you dare because I will have eaten. you and you will have ceased to exist. Okay. I'm going Boston, Vancouver, man. Like, you can't tell me that that, like, that's one of the most fun Stanley Cup finals of the cap era in terms of, like, real true animosity and hatred, right? Like, 2011. So wouldn't you love Saturday?

Like, they're still scarred in Vancouver from that. Like, if you mentioned the city, I might have told this story on the podcast and forgive me if I have, but I once saw the movie Molly's game in Vancouver. It was like opening weekend, and it was a packed house. It was Jessica Chastain. She's running a poker game and all that. And I'm in a completely sold-out movie theater in Vancouver. And the opening montage of that movie is a series of just like horrible things happening in sports.

You know, the agony of defeat skier crashing, things like that. And one of the clips they used was the Vancouver riots and Boston beating Vancouver. And you could feel the collective air gets sucked out of the room as every single sphincter in that room titan. They're like, and it was one of the funniest things I've ever been a part of. So that was like years after the actual Stanley Cup final. So like, yeah, there's always going to be a little juice behind Vancouver, Boston, just because of the history there. But frankly, I just, I'm sick of watching Boston and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

I want to see Western Conference teams on the biggest stage more often because I feel like, you know, the TV stations are so skewed towards the east because of the timing of the games. like let's give the West a little love, man. You know what? You're the only one who can actually weigh in on this because you're not in the Eastern time zone and you're not in the Pacific time zone. You're the only guy who could look at this neutrally.

Fly over country, baby. Yeah. Yeah. We're the ones that get stuck with the 8.52 p.m. buck drops during the playoffs. The poor Central Times. Oh, yeah. They think we're on the West Coast. Yeah.

That's no good. That's no good. But I'm taking Boston, Vancouver. Because I want to see, I feel like, if Brad Marchand had a chance to score to empty that goal in Vancouver, he might go full Ridley Gray. He would lick the puck before pushing it. He would lick the puck into the net.

Oh, man. Hey, before we let you go, you're doing this pod from Raleigh, North Carolina getting set for hurricanes and Chicago. What do you got coming up this week? Are you back home after this? What's Laz's week like? Back home after this, figuring out as many different ways to put Connor Bedard into a headline as possible.

That's just it. Yeah. Believe it or not, people do not want to read the Philip Kerr's story I'm going to have tomorrow in The Athletic. I almost said tomorrow's paper. That's how old. Yeah, seriously. Tomorrow's print edition of the athletic.

We should do that. We should come up with a magazine, the athletic magazine, like the best every week and try to be the new than national. Oh, man, that would be something. All right. We'll leave it there safe travels. This is always a blast doing the show with you on a Monday. I want to thank everybody for listening to the Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show.

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