The Athletic Hockey Show - Discussing NHL Playoff matchups in round 1, Anaheim Ducks secure last place and best draft lottery odds

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

With most of the matchups finalized as of Friday morning, Hailey and Sean go through the round one slate of the playoffs and discuss which ones they are most excited about... and then the other ones. Also, the Anaheim Ducks clinch last place and the best lottery odds for the #1 pick, but a couple spins on the Tankathon simulator plays out differently. To wrap up, Erik Karlsson has essentially locked the Norris Trophy, but there are some other defensemen that also deserve recognition this season.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowThis episode is brought to you by Better Help, visit http://betterhelp.com/nhlshow today to get 10% off your first month Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back, everybody. It's another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show coming out on a Friday, because again, there was lots of stuff going on on Thursday. So this is a Friday edition. Haley Salvi and Sean Gentilly here. We've got a lot to get into today. Playoff matchups.

Jonathan Taves won't return to Chicago. Anaheim clinch last place. Eric Carlson hit 100. Sabres missed the playoffs for the 12th straight time. There's a lot of things going on in the league. Today's the last day of the NHL season. A lot of these matchups are set. But before we get into all that, Sean, what's up?

How are you? A lot of stuff happened last night. I feel like, but still not, would you have rather had everything settled after last night? Because we're not. And now we just get that one little Colorado. The dead. The dead.

game today. That matters. Yeah, I mean, theoretically, we could have had all, everything squared up last night, right? We could have had all eight playoff matches decided. Now we have to wait and see what happens with, with abs, preds to really lock everything in. We have six of eight that are finalized. I don't think I have a problem. I mean, sure, it would have been more like, for like an OCD thing, be like, yeah, I can write everything out instead of just leaving these two.

But we do have the If you had like seven playoff previews to write Just hypothetically, it would have maybe been nice to have everything But now you can paste them out Honestly like who am I kidding I wasn't going to get all these done last night In this morning anyways like that What are you talking about?

That never would happen. So I think what we have here is like It is It's like it's the it's the Goldilocks situation Where you know enough got decided But there's but there's still a lot of it still enough left on the bone. Like it's like it's like just the right amount.

Like we have we have this game. What? Goldilocks. Yeah. Enough on the bone. The porridge. I mixed metaphors there. That was giving cannibalism.

This is just you have yellow jackets. I've been watching yeah too much yellow jackets. But it's a nice little. Don't talk to me about bones. I won't. No spoilers. It's a nice little appetizer to have for the for the rest of. of it.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah. That's horrifying. I think the good thing, at least, is if you're somebody who is trying to buy playoff tickets or you're trying to plan when these games are going to be, the schedule is out for all eight playoff series, all the match-ups. So it's just like, Dallas will play Minnesota slash Seattle on these dates. Colorado will play Minnesota slash Seattle.

on these dates. So obviously we just have to wait for that one game to figure out how the seating works for those two playoff matchups. But as for the rest of the West, I mean, Vegas, Winnipeg and Edmonton, L.A. are the two matchups that we know for sure in the Western Conference. And in the east, it's New Jersey versus New York. So the Rangers versus the Devils, the Keynes versus the Islanders, Bruins, Panthers. and of course we've known this for months.

It's the Leafs versus the lightning. What? I know. I'm shocked. Vegas Golden Knights are the number one seed in the Western Conference. They beat the Crack in three to one last night to clinch top in the West and the Pacific. Cains clinched the Metro yesterday. Devils obviously finishes the second seed.

So they technically have the home ice advantage and the Rangers of these. underdog. We've talked about this. I don't know how much I agree with that because the Rangers have kind of been there. But that was a really fun game last night. Maybe let's start with that playoff matchup, Sean. Because again, we're going to go through all these matchups. We're going to preview them a little bit. And then we'll take a little break and then we'll start looking at some of the teams that missed. There's a lot to dig into here. That devil's game last night was very fun. And Luke Hughes with the OT winner, assisted

by Jack Hughes. Quinn Hughes is at home, like FOMO, sad boy. I was told that, you know what, wait a who started that rumor that Luke Hughes was bad at hockey? Who did that?

I think this is like, this is a case. Did he just cough the puck up at World Juniors and everyone was like, blah? You were going on about this yesterday. I feel like you're... Why wasn't? Yeah, yeah, huh? Or the day before. I didn't talk about Luke Hughes yesterday. The day before when you were tweeting about it because the list... No, I tweeted about Quinn Hughes. Oh, you said Luke Hughes. Um, what do you talk? No, no. I, I, you're, you're saying that someone started a rumor that Luke Hughes wasn't good at hockey. I, I understand. I

understand. I'm getting my, getting my Hughes brothers mixed up. So sue me. they all kind of look the same. They're all like, they're all like. The fan cam girlies on TikTok would disagree. They're like on a spectrum. It's like you have Luke on one and then Quinn's in the middle and Jacks on the other. It's like a, it's like a progression.

Quinn looks confused all the time and I really love it. I don't want to run a foul. I don't want to run a foul of the fan cam girlies. So I'm just, I'm going to, I'm going to shut up. When I was prepping to do. devil's story this season. My TikTok algorithm started showing me

like Devils like fan cams. And it was the, I was like, I need to get off New Jersey Devil's TikTok. The algorithm is very strong. We love it. Shout out, shout out to the fan cam crew. Shout out to the. They're growing the game.

It's great. They're growing the game. You never hear me say a, never hear me say a bad word about them because A, I appreciate what they do. And B, I'm terrified. of them. I don't want to run a foul of them. Really any stand culture at all. So I just, that's why I keep my opinions.

Yeah. Very, very bland. But that was a fun game. Luke Hughes scores in his debut. It's awesome. Nice moment for the family. But it's going to be Devils Rangers in the first round. Three versus, a two versus three seed. First game's on the 18th in New Jersey and then 20th in New Jersey and then they'll head to New York. We don't have that schedule yet. We just have games one and two. What do you think

about the Luke Hughes edition and like this playoff matchup? I think you nailed it when you brought it up, even though I didn't initially know what you were talking about. I think I think some of the stuff he did at World Juniors when he was the dude on that team, right? And he was, you know, understandably, rightfully, smartly taking chances for that team to try to, you know, make, try to make, trying to make shit happen. That's what, that's what you do when you're the best player in the captain in, you know, the do everything defenseman on a team. It happens the way it goes. And when you, when you have that level of skill, in that level of responsibility, not much ice time, you're going to make mistakes.

That's it. Those are things, especially with young defensemen in particular, that you got to learn to live with, right? And that's why 99% of every truly gifted defenseman or defender in this game, this cuts across both. Yeah. It always turns into like, well, they take a lot of chances. We heard about it. We heard it about P.K. Suban.

We've heard it about Eric Carlson. We've heard about any Mike Green, Chris LaTang, any prime time offensively gifted D-Man or defender, it turns into part of the narrative, especially early in their career. And that's something you've got to live with. And that's something that you can't let detract from a player's overall talent in what a guy brings to the, what a player brings to the table. Because Luke Hughes is fantastic. If you make a mistake every now and then you live with it, just the way.

Yeah. And this is so interesting, and I'm actually really glad that we're discussing this right now because I'm covering the women's world championships. That is also something that we can talk about. Again, there's a lot's going on in hockey right now. And I'm working on a story that's going to be posted tomorrow about Caroline Harvey. She is the next, not even like the next big defender in women's hockey, just like the next big thing. She's incredibly skilled, very, very talented. She's one of those smooth skating, offensive-minded defender. She's, like watched she's one of those like young players to only 20 that has kind of been learning from the Quinn Hughes of the world and the kale McCars of the world the guys who can just walk the blue line get pucks on net and I spoke with John Robleski yesterday he's the head coached the US women's team he also used to coach the NTDP he coached Luke Hughes jack Hughes Quinn Hughes and I asked him about Caroline Harvey yesterday and he said well you know I got to coach the Hughes brothers and he described them as they just play a different game out there when they have the puck on their stick. And it's like they set the terms and everybody else has to kind of figure out how to play around them.

And like he was saying that Caroline plays the same way. It's like it's a very high event game. A lot of the events go through those guys. So there's something happening on the ice. It's probably Luke Hughes with the puck or Jack Hughes with the puck in this case with this OT goal. And by the way, it was his second game. I think I said it was his NHL debut. It was a second game. Yeah. Oh, but in that particular, yeah, but in that particular case, it's like both of them who are set in the terms, setting the pace, setting the play. And there can be a lot of, you know, mistakes or miscues that can come from that. But in like Quinn or Luke's case, these guys are so quick that they can double back and get back and get into place. So that was super fun. The play that he said. scored on itself was great. Like, that's a lot of confidence. I know it's the final game of the season.

There's not a lot of stakes. I mean, there are stakes because you're trying to, you know, keep a good spot in the metro. But you're against the caps. It's OT. And the confidence of a young player to make a play like that, like for a guy to jump down into the zone, like stick handle through, like, veteran guys in a second NHL game, it was very impressive.

So how much of an impact is he going to make in the process? postseason, I don't know, because that's a thing. Playing Game 82 against the Caps is very different than playing at Madison Square Garden and game for the postseason in the first round. But I think that's going to be a really fun series. Totally. And also I'm just like totally hung up on the fact that Caroline Harvey is like taking cues in her development from Kale McCarr and Quinn Hughes and whatever.

Like that's like that's what happens. Like that's she's 20. Right? Yeah. So, of course, for the last three or four years, she's going to have been watching those guys, which is just like, it's horrifying to me.

Yeah. But, yeah, I, uh, devil's, I'm like eight years older than her. I was talking over the other day and I was like, this is really messed up. Yeah, doesn't, doesn't get any better. I hate to break it to you.

Somebody asked me, they're like, how many players on Team USA are older than you? I was like, don't. Don't even talk to me. You're at the point now where you need to stop thinking in those terms. You know what? There's enough of them,

so it's fine. Hillary Knight Hell, it's only going downhill from here. Devils Rangers is going to be fun. Is that the first round series that you're most excited about? I think of the ones that are decided, I think that's it.

Because at least in the East, I'm excited about Oilers Kings because that series was like shockingly very fun last year. No, I love that. Was that the best series last year? you were you were kind of in the middle of of a flame stuff that was I was flame stars but flame stars wasn't that fun no I mean until game seven you also you were focused you were locked in on on that Kings Oilers last year rocked and that was typically the between days so like any series that was going on at the same time as

flames wasn't really locked into but I think it would go like a flame so the flames would play on the 18th And then the Kings and Oilers would play on the 19th. So they were kind of opposite days. And I watched that series like every day. And it was so fun that Philip Dunnell, like Philip Dunow matching up against Connor McDavid rules. And McDavid obviously was unbelievable. So I'm very excited to get a repeat of that.

But in terms of these, I think, I think it's Devils Rangers. I don't care about Golden Knights Jets. I'm sorry. Unless something crazy. happens. I don't care. That's a major, like, come and talk to me after game two. And we'll see, and we'll see where we are, right?

Absolutely. That's not, that's not one that I have, you know, a gold sticker next to for the, for, for, for buck drop, I don't think. I will actually say that all the East matchups are pretty good. Totally. They're all, they're all compelling in their own way. Absolutely. Are the hurricanes without their big scoring guys in Svechnikov and Patredi?

I know we keep talking about Patradi as a big scoring guy, even though he only played a handful of games, but he was supposed to be the guy. They don't have them, and now they're up against who I believe is the best goalie in the league, aaliyosuroken, with respect to, you know, respectfully to the Bruins' goalie tandem. We always, to a fault, we talk about, you know, the oomph per 60 guys, right? where you just, you want dude to, who have a little bit,

who have a little bit more juice than the average. And, uh, but they were still able to clinch the metro without those guys. I mean, totally, totally. But the, the fun part of this series, if you would have said a month ago or whatever, first round series,

Carolina versus Islanders, it would have been like, okay, whatever. Let's, uh, yeah, see you later. Let's, let's play them on through and, and start, and start thinking about the second round.

It's no longer the case. And it's not just because of the big, you know, the injury issues with Carolina, which we've beaten to death just, but because they're a big deal. But we can move past that. The Islanders are going to get Matt Barzell back at some point here, right? Like, it's going to happen.

And that is the sort of thing. And you also have Bo Horvatt, who's dialed up, you know, his point production. on that Dom feels like a dumb dumb right now. Nothing.

That's the fun thing about Dom is that nothing can make him feel like a dumb dumb. He is immune to self-reflection. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Never been wrong a day in his life. Just kidding.

So no, I mean, that one's gonna be fun too because it feels like there's a chance that they could meet a little bit more closely in the middle than we thought they would have before. And I'm not like, do I think the Carolina? a better all-round team than the islanders like 100% absolutely but you throw in the goalie and you throw in the juice that you get back with Matt Barzell like I don't know yeah it makes

it more interesting than I would have otherwise yeah exactly yeah I don't think the panthers are going to be good enough to play the spoiler against the Bruins but I think they're going to be a lot of fun to watch them try oh I know the bruin's yeah we have six one six six six six six games a season out of 82. Out of 82. Wow. I thought they played a hundred. It's 65. That's a lot. They won 65 games. Don't be an ass. I'm just spelling it out for people. They won 65 games a season. That is wild. That's an NHL record. They're the best team in the league. They're the team to beat. They don't have a lot of obvious flaws. Are they primed to get upset?

Yeah. They're a problem. perfect, they're perfection, there's zero holes. Does that make them prime to win the cup or get upset in the first round by the Florida Panthers? I want to see who Florida is starting in net. And we don't, we don't know that. We don't know if it's going to be Sergey Bobrovsky, who has, you know, has been there in some capacity for however many years now, or Alex Lyon, who is the reason they're still playing meaningful, meaningful hockey games, the Florida Panthers. It's because Sergey Bobrovsky got sick and Alex Lyon came in and, you know, tore it up for a little bit. He looked pretty whatever last night.

Is that the opening that Florida needs to justify putting Bobrovsky back in there? I don't know. But at this point, from a storyline standpoint, I think I would rather see him. If you're asking me, like, what needs to happen to make this a competitive series? I think it takes like a hot hand goalie like that. And I'll do respect to Sergey Barowski, who's, you know, whatever, he's made a lot of money and had some great stretches to his career. I'm more interested in seeing what Alex Lyon does in this series than anything else.

Because, like, let's get real, you know. Congrats to Florida for getting it together. They were really good five-on-five team offensively for most of the season. Maddie Kuch, heart caliber stuff from him in most other seasons. when you're not going against a career year by Connor McDavid, right? So, salute. Like, good, good for them. But it's tough to imagine them avoiding the buzzsaw without something crazy from one of the

goaltenders. And I just think that line is, you know, a little bit more apt to do that at this point. So we'll see. Yeah. Let's look at the Bruins a little bit here, though, because their depth is ridiculous. Like, this isn't, like, this is a team that realistically can roll. out four lines that are going to just be a pain pain in the ass their top four is great i mean their third pair is very good too their goaltenders are playing unreal like i'm i'm mostly joking

when i say are they primed to be upset like i think it'll be fun as i said i think it's be fun to see the panthers try and i will eat my words if they end up playing the spoiler there's just i don't see how the panthers who barely made the postseason and relied on their goalie and Matthew Gucuch to get them there after being horribly disappointing all season is going to be enough to match up against, you know, let's just read a couple of these guys. Tyler Bertuzzi, David Pasternak,

Taylor Hall, Jake Debrusk, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Varshan, oh, who else? Hmm, who am I forgetting? David Craichy, Jake Debrusk, I already said him. Charlie McAvoy, Hamphus Linholm.

Yep. It's ridiculous. It's, if you look at it where Florida's, Florida's hope, I think here in this series involves getting timely saves

and also turning some of their theoretical expected goals into actual ones, right? Yeah. Because they, 3.09 expected goals a game for Florida. That's like top caliber stuff. Yeah.

They're not a particularly great shooting team, not a particular great finishing team, but the process is there with them, right? Or it's close enough. And in the playoffs, you know, what does it take? It takes a couple bounces, a couple misplays by Omark, whatever. Yeah. It's also hard to turn that switch at this point in time. Like, I'm a bit more on the fence on that because it's like you hear this all the time

from coaches and it's pretty cliche, but the hardest thing to do in the NHL score goals. Totally. And they haven't been able to do that over 82 games a season. 100%. So I'm a little bit more, like, I think it's fine to be cautiously optimistic about the way that they generate a lot of offense, but like, are they really just going to start actually scoring in the first round against the Bruins? No, teams don't magically turn in.

No. You don't magically alter your, you're finishing capability like once April rolls around. But what can happen in a small sample size, over the course of a short series is you get lucky. And it is, it's so boring and it's so cliche, but you hear it constantly for a reason

is like, hockey's a weird sport. And the Panthers aren't going to change their stripes. Like over the course of an 82 game season, they are what they are, right? They generate chances, but they don't finish them at the rate that you'd expect.

But, but, but, but, but when it comes to, you know, trying to win four games, like what's the difference there? Two goals, three goals potentially. Like, it's not impossible for them to go on a little bit of a heater. The issue is just that the Bruins are so well-structured and so capable of making, like, none of that stuff matter. Yeah.

You can get lucky. Like, teams can get lucky, but if you want to get lucky against a team that rolls four capable lines and two Norris candidates on separate pairs and, you know, know, a Vezna winner, which Linus Olmark certainly seems like he's going to be like, I don't know, I don't know if luck can extend that far. Right. It's trying to give people a reason to watch these games, honestly. I think it's going to be fun regardless, though.

Like, the reason is watch the goddamn Boston Bruins. Right. I watched them in per. I had one game. I saw them in person. And it is a totally, I've watched them on TV. And I know this isn't always an option. I'm not saying, like, go and buy yourself some tickets to go see the Bruins.

because that's going to be expensive, I'm sure. But I did see them in person this year up in. Yeah, and you might have to fly to Boston. I watched them in person once this season, and it was against the Islanders, and they just destroyed them. And it was like a, it was like a, I knew they were good, but holy crap.

Like, they do everything well. They move the puck so easily. They keep guys out of the zone. Like, if there's, if you think they're going to beat the pants off the panthers, like that's a reason to watch, like go and watch this team. They're very, very, very. good. But I agree. As I said, Panthers are going to make it fun, I think. I think if Matthew

Kuchukuch can produce in the postseason, because we know that's been an issue before in Calgary, he has not historically been a big game guy in the playoffs. That was a big issue in Calgary. If he can carry over what he did in the regular season into the postseason, I think that's another reason to watch. Because is there a, is there a Playoff rat, Matthew Kachukh would be fun. Is there a reason you think that was a problem for him with Calgary? Is it just he didn't play that many games? I mean, I guess that's really not true because everybody, that team across the board

that series against Edmondson, they were, that was a dog. Everyone was terrible. Everyone played terribly. Yeah, it's a good question. I don't know, like, what the actual reason was. I think, obviously in the first round, nobody was scoring because Jake So it's a little bit tough to say, hey, why aren't you doing more when nobody was? Because there was the best goalie performance we've ever seen in the playoffs, probably ever

that I've witnessed. So, and then it was Johnny Godreau that got the OT winner. And there was lots of stuff about, you know, Johnny Godro is not a big playoff guy. And he gets that OT winner. So I think they quieted people in the first round, but the second round was just, I don't think you can blame Kach for the second round. Everyone was terrible. Everybody was terrible.

Except for Chris Tanna, who tried to play with, like, a dislocated shoulder. And he was still the best player on the ice. Did you have anything else that you wanted to say about Rangers Devil, Sean? I apologize. We kind of skirt it over and said this was, like, super fun series. I'm just psyched for it. I'm, you know, I think also throw the Islanders in there. Like, East Coast biased by me, maybe.

Metro Division biased by me, maybe. But I think it's really cool to have all three New York area teams in there. So I'm like, I'm like, I'm psyched for it. Let's see if the Rangers can put it together. How about that? That can be the other takeaway from that. The Rangers have all the tools.

It's just a matter of trying to find the fit. We'll see if it can happen. Because if they don't, they're going to lose in the first round. Because the Devils, even though they're young and inexperienced and whatever, if the Rangers don't start finding a playoff caliber mix, it's going to be over for them in the next 10 days. So Arthur Staple, he's our call. I get the athletic. He covers the Rangers. He has a podcast as well, The Garden Faithful. And he and Stephen Valaket did kind of like a preview type show, which was really good.

And Valicette is the, you know, he's from ClearSight Analytics. It's a private, you know, goalie data firm, but they also track a lot of like other metrics, play driving, etc. And I think, I think what's so interesting about this playoff series is almost the juxtaposition of the two organizations, right? It's going to be the young up and coming stars on the devils against the Rangers more established ones. It's Jack Hughes playing against his idol and Patrick Kane. It's Tim O'Meier against Teresanko. You know, it's the deadline additions matching up against each other. It's, and this is basically word for word from freaking Arthur, so I apologize. Thanks, Arthur. I'm not apologizing. I'm saying thank you. It's the untested goalie who surprised

everybody this year in Vannecac against the Vesna winner in Ilya Sorokin. Geez, E. Gorses-Durkin. I'm so sorry. Oh, God. Everyone in New York hates me now. And it's, and it's like the thing that makes the devil so fun is like they're so good in transition. Their rush offense is wild. They have so much speed and skill. And they lead the league in like transition rush plays. They have one of the best expected goal rates in the NHL this season. they have a very high octane offense. And then you have a Rangers team who like could keep up a little bit, but they probably shouldn't, you know,

like the Rangers need to not get into a track meet with the devils. I think if that's what happens and the devils are going to win, right? If these are high scoring games, I think the devils are going to win this series. Right? Like, don't, don't trade chances with New Jersey. If you turn this into a transition game, you're toast.

Yeah, it's probably, because the devils are way better, way better. off the rush. So this stat was from Valik had on ClearSight. The Devils lead the league with 43 goals and transition rush plays. The Rangers have 25. One is the very best in the league. The other one is very middle of the pack. So if they're going to go toe to toe to toe with the devils and they really can't help themselves and they're going to say like, well, we can keep up with the young guns. They're probably going to lose. It's going to be interesting to see what because I mean, they've had Tim O'Meier playing on a line with Theracalla, right? Like he's been on their third line,

New Jersey. It'll be interesting to see what that group does against, oh, I'm really tired of calling him the kid line. But if that's, but if that's the matchup, that's going to be, it's going to be interesting because he's, because he's the star out of that, out of the six guys that are, that would be on the ice if that's what it turns out to be. Yeah. Potential mismatch thing. Uh-huh. Um, okay. So we already kind of said like Golden Knights Jets, you know, talk to us in game too. Let's get the vibe check in a week. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Jets fans. I apologize. You know what?

What are you going to do? I just, I'm sorry. Can't all be winners. It's going to be fine. Jack Eichael, you know, healthy. Mark's tone is shockingly going to be okay. I'm glad, glad for Mark Stone. I'm very glad that he is healthy and okay.

Back injuries are now. Back injuries suck. Yeah, yeah. But it's just. it's just annoying. I'm not even like an LTIR cap circumvention person. Like I hate that narrative.

It's past the point of caring about that. Like I don't care anymore. But at the same time when it happens with like the Golden Knights in the playoffs specifically, it's just like again, it's just a little, it's just a little annoying. It should be like a luxury tax situation. Yeah.

Like you did it again. In other sports where you can only do it for like one for like one or two years in a row. And then after that you got to. you got to rain it in. Yeah. The shine just like is worn off a little bit there for me. But I, the Golden Knights have had a very good season.

Bruce Cassidy's done a great job turning that team around. They play a much better, more like effective style than they did last year. And obviously they've been able to weather the storm without Mark Stone this time around, which is something that they couldn't say last year or even really the, so this is good. Yeah, like this is... Once he got hurt, I stopped, I stopped considering them.

Like, I was like, okay, we can just, we can put them on the shelf there in that, like, certainly not going to win, certainly not going to win the Western Conference, right? It's certainly not going to be the top, the top seat coming out of the West, but here they are. No, it's a good team. It'll be interesting. They're so, they're so balanced, too. This is like a classic, it really is like a classic Jets, or classic Golden Knights team. Yes.

maybe like a first season I know but there's echoes of there's echoes of that right where you look at it and you're like these are all these they have three you know three offensively capable lines and then the bluger line can can uh eat some tuffs and do what they got to do there it's interesting I like more than the Boston Florida series this is the one where I'm just like the Golden Knights are you know this is good it's I don't see the Jets making it it a fun challenging series for for Vegas.

They need like November Connor Hillebuck to have it to have a real shot. Yeah. And maybe maybe he'll lock in, maybe he'll dial in and say, okay, you know what? Like we skirt it in here. Let me, let me try to go to work. So maybe it'll get interesting. But that I think that's the one series that I'm looking at. And I'm like, eh, I'll see Vegas in the second round and then I'll get a bit more excited

about what they what they provide. We already talked a bit about Edmonton. LA. So do you have a thought on Toronto, Tampa? Nope. Sean. Nope. Braden Point. He's 51 goals.

I know. Isn't that crazy? Was anyone who was going to tell me? It's, that's like the double, that's like the dub, the, the, the, the, um, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the other side of the coin on people not paying attention to Tampa during the regular season. Everyone's like, ah, whatever, they'll just,

they'll show up in April and they'll do, they'll do what they do. Sometimes you miss out an unbelievable regular seasons by dudes on that roster. And that's what we've seen

for Braden Point. He's been unreal. And I think at the start of the season, if there were questions about, like, is this guy actually true top shelf, like, elite?

You know, you want to put stuff in categories, and tears and all that stuff. Of course, that's what we do around here. Is Braden Point like a 1B or 1C? Like at the very top of the top? And I think it was fair to expect more from him this year.

Like he needed something impressive to stay in that ultra-elite group. And he did it. We got it. Career year. We're watching it from him. He's been phenomenal. 51 goals, 95 points in...

82 games. I keep saying 82 games. I don't know why. Did you know that's how many games they play? That's a career. Those are both career highs for Braden Point. Also, only the second time he's played a full season, which feels significant also.

Well, he played all 56 in that short in season. I keep forgetting about that. I know people like to pretend nothing that happened in that season counted. I am not among them. I hope he doesn't get hurt this year. Don't even put that into the universe. Cleanse.

Cleanse. Cleanse this space. Burn some sage. Yeah. Yeah, that series is going to be good. Can the Leafs finally get over the hump? It's the same things that we talked about last year. But, you know, some of the guys on Tampa are a little bit older, but some of them are also better.

Same with the Leafs. What's going on with Victor Headman? that's that that that that is turning into a a valid question you think so these numbers were bad they were bad and it's kind of tough to figure out to figure out why I wrote about this in the in the first preview which is live on the site now um people had some some more success carrying in on them you know carrying the puck in on them based on based on Corey Snyder's data um but other than that like the tracking stats seem fine. And I know that group of defensemen's changed pretty drastically since last

postseason, but the switch, the flipped switch is going to be a little bit more drastic this season for him than it has been in the past. Because his results this year were pretty, pretty average. And that's the thing I've talked to, you know, some NHL scouts, you know, execs, whatever it may be. like I've spoken with people who work in the league and front offices for teams outside of Toronto and Tampa before. And I've just kind of asked them like, why can't the Leafs get over the hump?

Like what do they lack? And, you know, the one thing people have said, as you mentioned, the switch flip, it's like a whole team thing with Tampa. Like the lightning have the ability when it matters most to just flip the switch and they can go and win that game. It sounds really lame. It's hard to almost quantify. but the way that it's quantifiable is their postseason success over the last sure for years right like and when push comes to shove it's game seven Toronto Tampa like what team is coming up with the big goal what team is coming up

with the win it's Tampa because they have the players who can say like no we're not losing this game and I know last year was a little bit tough there's a weird call with the Leafs and obviously like Marner and Matthews did show like you know stop worrying about what we can do in the playoffs we can do it but obviously they lose so So can the Leafs, will the Leafs have the ability to flip the switch? They are the favorites in this series. Again, they were the favorites on paper last year. Their offensive rating is better than Tampa's by quite a lot.

Their defensive rating is much better. Their net rating is better. This team is favored to win this series by 63%. We know it's probably going to be closer than that. And I think when I look at the series, what I think is going to make it different is that this is a different Leafs team. Like they're not, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for

a different result. And I know there were some people who were like, did Kyle Dubus do too much? Well, he probably needed to do something because you can't just run back the exact same roster against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight season because you're probably going to lose. And now the Leafs have a bunch of guys on this roster who might not score the game

winning goal, but they're going to bring something a little different to this team in this playoff series that they have. haven't had. I know I sound like big hockey man loves big hockey man. But like Luke Shen goes in and drops the gloves against Pat Maroon and like a meaningless regular season game. And there's a clip of them like hanging out before the game like, hey, how's your wife? How are your kids? How are you doing? And then they're in the game and Luke Shen scores, scores a big goal. He drops the gloves with Pat Maroon. That game felt important to me. Oh, yes. I say meaningless.

I don't mean, it had meaning. It didn't have an effect on the standings. But like, who set the tone in that game? It's freaking Luke Shen who everyone's like, oh, but he can't move the puck. The Leafs have enough puck moving smooth skating defensemen. They don't need another one of those. They need something a little different. Like not, and this is the thing that drives me crazy sometimes.

Not every player needs to be the slick, smooth skating, eye puck. hopping skill guy. Sure. Like you can have other things on your roster here. And like they've got Sam Lafferty now. They've got Jake McCabe who is a better defender. He's a bit, he's an upgrade in that top four. They've got Luke Shen who leads the NHL and hits.

Noel O'Chari. Like they've got in Ryan O'Reilly obviously is a big one. Like they've got different pieces that add different things to this roster. And I think if the Leafs win in round one, it's going to be like those guys setting the tone and bringing a different element to the game. Obviously, Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner and William Neelander need to play well and produce offensively, but I think some of those like new pieces that they added are going to be what potentially is the difference maker, right?

Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe I just love, maybe I'm just a 28 year old who really liked Luke Shen when I was nine. You're Luke Shen, you're Luke Shen pulled. No, but it's... I grew up in Southern Ontario when he was draft. He was dropped by the least in 05. I was like, oh. I was just talking, I was just talking to him about this.

And it, without getting too far into it, like, it's the points per 60 versus points per game argument. Yeah. Some guys are just not, like, per 60 metrics can be deceiving sometimes because some guys are just not, their games aren't going to translate to more ice time. Like, some guys play the right amount. And some guys, some guys, some guys. some guys, for some players, a limited role is the, is the correct one.

And I think that kind of, I think that kind of comes into play when you're analyzing what a guy like Chen brings in the lineup. It's like, you know, if you want a dude to go on there and play those minutes and some limited ice time, like, go for it. Like those.

Playing nine minutes. Make a couple hits. Maybe make a pass or two. Don't do anything disastrous. Yeah. Don't make any, don't make any huge mistakes. totally.

All right. We've been talking for a while. I think we've gone through most of them. We can't really preview the Dallas-Colorado series. You know, just pick your own adventure. Yeah. Are they going to play Minnesota? They're going to play Seattle?

We don't know yet. We apologize, but we will have another show next week where we can talk about that a bit more. The only note, I guess, for Colorado before we go to a little break is Gabriel Landiscag won't return. That's unfortunate for the aves and for Landis to Skog as a human being. Not the news.

I think anybody in Colorado wanted, but... Really figured they were just stashing them until the start. Whoops, wrong about that one. We have to apologize with the L-CAR comment. Yep. All right, let's head to break. We'll be right back. Okay, welcome back. This is the part of the show where we talk about the teams that did not make the playoffs.

We've previewed the matchups. Now it's time to talk about Danielle's Anaheim Ducks. Congratulations. We're a 30 second. We're a 30 second. We're a 30 second. That's right. The Ducks clinch last place.

They lost the last 13 games this season. 13 straight L's. That is how you tank, ladies and gentlemen. Hell yes. Not the Chicago Blackhawks beating the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like, what are you even doing? No. Why?

Stop. thinking about tomorrow Don't stop It'll soon be here The vibes are good at the I never really knew What that line was What the second line was

Don't stop It'll soon be here It was just like Don't stop Musu And I only know it Because it's at Simpsons Where Bart has the tank

And he's driving down The street with it Yeah That's it That's it 25.5% chance It's going to top Overall pick

For your honor baby Yeah How about it? Franchise worst season. 23, 47, and 12, only 58 points. The lottery is on May 8. They've got those best odds, as Sean just said, 25 and a half.

And they're guaranteed a top three pick. They can only drop, they can't drop more than two spots. The lottery, I already said this, the lottery is on May 8th. I'm very tired today. Dallas Eakins isn't going to get a new deal. Is he? Is that the worst?

It's one of the worst defensive teams I can remember watching in recent history. Someone brought it up yesterday when we were trying to, we were just, it was, you know, we're soliciting user, you know, reader input for the power rankings because we're being very lazy. And someone just brought up the amount of high slot shots, the ducks gave up. Just like, it was like, it was a fan who was like, they, it's, it's, the amount of. of high shots, high slot shots they give up. I feel like, I feel like I'm going insane. Like it's, it's making me, it's making me crazy. It is. Like you just, any way you want to cut it, that is just, that is a putrid defensive team. Like pick a metric, pick, you know, really any metric at all. Watch them play and you're like, what, what the hell is happening here? So yeah,

mission accomplice for Dallas Aiken, you can, you know, if the, if the ping pong ball bounces the right way, he'll be a hero in Southern California forever. but yeah, I don't think I don't think I want him coaching my NHL team at this point. Eric Stevens had a one-on-one with him post on the athletic recently, and it seems like a lot of the players really have like spoken favorably. Like he's a good guy. We like him. Put him in player development or something if you want to keep him around.

Absolutely. He doesn't need to be an NHL head coach. There's obviously things. Maybe he's, I'm not going to say I'm sure he's a nice guy because I don't know him. we know right we've uh yeah it's it's when we've tried to strike from the strike strike from the vocabulary stop saying that about people in the n hl that you don't know just stop um because you wouldn't say that about a random person on the street either like hey he looks nice i'm sure there's value he put him in player development i'm sure there's value that that he brings to an organization

but you know tactically as a coach like you i don't know how the last two seasons have been terrible disaster terrible last year was bad and this year was even worse franchise worse in points and the record. So yeah, congratulations to the Ducks. You've got the best odds at drafting Connor Bedard, which brings us to the second edition of Tankathon. Let's rip a couple rounds. Oh, really?

Yes. You love the lottery simulator. Bebo, boop, boop. The Chicago Blackhawks have won the lottery. Oh, man. First try. No joke. Ducks number two.

Columbus number three. Did you get Anaheim third? So we're going by you, is your simulation the official one here? Yeah, it's Tankathon. Okay. Well, guess who's number one for me? Columbus? The Philadelphia Flyers, 6.5% chance of winning the first pick.

jumped up six spots. Philly climbs. That's messed up. Oh, brother. Okay, one more round. Two more rounds. The Blackhawks of four would be really funny. Yeah.

Bebo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo. Oh, okay, so this one went Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim. That's really sad. Okay, let's try one more time. Beboop bo, beep bo, bo, bo, bo, bo. Arizona, Philadelphia, Anaheim, Chicago, 4, Columbus 5, San Jose 6, Montreal 7. I think that's the worst one that I've seen. That's horrific.

I would just like to say also in an unrelated lottery percentage news, just so people know, because I've seen people joking about it. The Pittsburgh Penguins cannot win the first overall. all pick. They can win the lottery, but they cannot pick first. No, you can't jump that high. Okay, I did one more while you were talking, and this one is kind of great. Detroit won the lottery on Tankathon.

That, I would be okay with that. Conrad on the Red Wings. Totally. You know who else is not getting enough credit for, for driving a very, a very, a very large, very effective thing. Washington, two, six, and two in their last 10. I know they're one of the few worst teams in the league

since the calendar flipped. They have a 6% chance than Mr. Bedard. Wow. I mean, and it'd be fun. This is crazy. I haven't, I keep clicking and I have not hit the ducks

first yet. So that's just, 25 and a half is great, but, you know, the vibes still aren't great. We got to check to see who, We got to actually check to see who the domain is registered to. Is it, is it, is it, is it, is it, is it, is it, is it, they don't want, they, they, they don't, they don't.

What's going on? Philadelphia. Oh, they won. Okay, they just won. Hey. Sorry, I love tankathon so much. This was my last one. We can, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me just, they just won.

They just won. They just won. It went Anaheim, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh. So Pittsburgh won the lottery, but they could only jump up the four. And jumped up the fourth. Yeah. Because that's what's going to happen. Put it in the universe.

Let's go. What team do you want to see Connor Bardard go to? That's the whole point of this conversation. I don't, I don't like, I have an embarrassing, I don't care. Like, it really, it really doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter to me. But Detroit would be fun. I think I like Detroit.

I like the idea of him landing on Detroit because, yes, they're not like, I'm happy to reward teams that for some amount of the season and heading into the season actually tried to win games. I think that's generally a more healthier route to take. And they've dropped so many times, like the amount of, like, the amount of, like, Like lottery, times they've basically lost the lottery and dropped more than fans would have liked was it's been a lot. So I wouldn't hate it if the Red Wings hopped over everybody. And he would just, he would make them.

Instant game change. Like he'd be a game changer anywhere. But like, yeah, that impact would be. And it's fun. Like you throw him on a roster with, you know, then all of a sudden Detroit's won two. It's center is, is him and Larkin. You already have a really solid core of young players beyond Cider and Raymond. Yeah.

Edvinson seems like a player. Like they have guys in the pipeline on their way up and they're already pretty good. And the thing that they need, regardless of whether it's Connor Bedard, is another competent, you know, top six capable NHL Center. So they'll take it. They'll take it if it's him. Yeah. So yeah, I'll pick them 5% chance for the Red Wings, by the way. Let's go.

Yeah, I like that. Okay, in other news, so one of the teams... Wait a second, wait a second. Who do you want him then? What's your... I like Detroit. Unfortunately, I feel like he would... I think the league would love him in a place like Chicago.

Mm-hmm. Correct. So the Blackhawks are probably going to win the lottery. I feel bad saying this, but I just... feel like him going to like San Jose. It could be sure it could be fun. I just don't think that would be. No fan base doesn't, like no fan base doesn't deserve this.

No, and that's the thing like sharks fans, I would love that for you. But put them on the, put them on the ducks. Put them on the blue jackets. Like whatever, wherever he ends up. I wouldn't hate Columbus. No. No. Like, that would be fun.

They're another one. We're talking about teams. that like weren't trying to. I just think for like the benefit of the NHL, I don't, I think the way that the league and like this is a league problem. I'm not saying it's the sharks and the ducks fault, but like the league,

like those, those teams never get good national games. They don't get attention in marketing. I'm not rooting for them to lose the lottery. I'm just saying like, the league would just like, he would just drift off into nothing because they don't freaking, like the league just,

I never, never do anything with these teams. Yeah. And that's annoying. The outcome I root for is not always necessarily what's best for the league or what's best for the NHL. You're right. Like do I want the NHL to profit off of Conradar going to Chicago?

Like, yeah, you're right. I don't really care about that. Sharks fans, Ducks fans, y'all deserve it. Anyone, you don't deserve it. Whoever ends up, whoever ends up with us. Daniel's not allowed in the building I was aggressive that's me you know what

send him to Anaheim and I'll go to a ducks game in my little ducks bucket hat that I took while I was there working there was a bucket hat giveaway and I was just like you're coming home with me wow call the cops you know what send him to Anaheim

but yeah I don't I'm with you I don't care I'm not rooting against a team not to win the lottery. It's a corny thing to do. I'm not rooting for the NHL's marketing department here. Yeah, you're right. You got me. You right.

You called me out. That was a dumb thing for me to think. Okay, speaking of Chicago, Jonathan Taves played his last game as a Chicago Blackhawk. Looks like the Blackhawks just straight up said, like, we're not resigning you. Yeah. Which after like that whole saga this year of like do they want to stay, do they not want to stay?

I wonder if they should have just, you know, maybe they're saying this because of his health problems now. But like, don't you think Kyle Davidson should have just told Jonathan Taves that months ago? And then maybe he could have been traded at the deadline somewhere. I know he didn't, maybe it's a moot point because he didn't end up playing at all because he was having health issues. He was unable to play. It's just like for all of that, all of that. drama this year just for them to say we're not resigning you just tough tough situation they clearly you trade him at the beginning of the season and he makes a lot of

money and and it was it was getting a tail teams taking on you know they were going to need a third third team to you know absorb some more of the cap hit in addition to the original 50% tough situation and then he got then he got you got sick and sick and run down and banged up at a pretty an opportune time for him. So, you know, here we are. Like, I don't really know how else they could have done it.

Like, because you do, you do want to give him his flowers and you want to, you want fans, you know, to be able to have. I guess I just would have expected it to, I just, I think I would, I expected, and maybe it was silly, but I think I expected Jonathan Taves

to go out on his own terms. So I think it was just a little bit surprising to see that. I mean, he's back, it was the GM. Yeah, I know. Well, the alternative is what? Are you, so you're, you're feeling a little itchy about this, about the statement that they released? No, I don't think so.

I just think, like, I don't know. I don't know what I was expecting. I think every, I think the writing was on the wall that this was going to be Taves and Cain's last season in Chicago. I just, I don't know if I expected this to be the way that it all went down. You can either. I don't know what I was thinking. It was just a little bit weird. The choice is you do it the way that they did it

or you have like another kind of different awkward situation where it's this unacknowledged thing that takes place in the United Center. Yeah. God, when was that two nights? Last night. Yeah. Yeah, I'm glad they made the statement so people could like come

and celebrate the fact that it was his last game. Like for sure. No, totally. That's not what I'm feeling weird about. I just, this isn't how I expected it to end, I guess. This is what happens when players get old. Yeah. That's part of this.

Maybe it's because I'm, this is like the first, this is kind of the first one. 100%. Like, oh my God, I just wheezed. Did you hear that? Yeah, that was very. Because of, I think, like, my age and the way that, like, I came up watching the NHL, like this is kind of the first one. That's, totally.

Yeah, he's old. It's weird. He's old now. And he's, and he's gotten old before his time. because of injuries and because the way he played and just because of bad luck and because of being on an irrelevant team for the last few years. Like this is how it ends. Like not everybody gets to get to make their own call. Like not everybody can be John Elway or Phil Bork.

Phil Bork, oh my God. We're tired. My God. Not everybody can be John Elway or Raymond Bork or go out, you know, in the, or, or, or, you know, in the, uh, or, or. whatever. Tom Brady passed on it. It's not, you know, it doesn't happen that often. And that's why when it does happen that way, and when we do have these moments where legends can kind of go out on their own terms, that's why it's a big deal. And that's why, and that's why people lose their

mind over it. Because as you get older, and as you watch people that you grew up watching, or maybe some of your own favorite players or whatever, as you watch them kind of cycle out, you're disabused of the notion that it ends, you know, in storybook ways for everybody. So yeah, on some level, does this, does this suck for Taves? Like, yeah, do we know what comes next for him? Like, I don't know. Does he play one more season, two more seasons?

Whatever. We don't know. We don't know. But this chapter's over, and it doesn't seem like it's necessarily by his choice. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's life. For sure.

Okay, let's talk about one final thing here. because we've been chatting for an hour and you've got seven playoff previews to do parts of parts of seven not seven full ones Eric Carlson hits 100 love it that's what everyone's been waiting for we've been on the Carlson wagon

for months on the athletic hockey show Friday edition so nobody come at me do you think he should win the Norris yeah yeah just just give it to them it's a great narrative shit about is plus minus. I don't care. This, this award hasn't been for the best defensive

defenseman in years. So why do we need to start doing it that way now? It's the same thing with the hockey hall of fame. Oh, what's not the hockey hall of very good? It already is. It already is. Don't just start changing the rules now because there's some dude that you don't like. Where'd you hear that one? Why did I laugh like that? Because kids, because you know that you, that. Was that from you? Yeah, put who gives a shit who ends up in the Hall of Fame. Like, whatever.

It's over. Like, what, like, that was like, it's, it's came with Daniel Alpherson where it was like, yeah, who cares, fine. It doesn't. But yeah, just give it, give it to, you know, we had Brian Boyle on the, on the Tuesday show a couple, a couple days ago. And he's, you know, obviously, NHL player for a really long time for a bunch of, for a bunch of really good teams. He's a cup champ. he's, you know, would rather, by the way, still be playing very clearly. But he's doing media work for NHL Network.

And we just, you know, just ran through some stuff with him. And the thing that he was on Tuesday, he was most, like, adamant about. And this is why I like talking to Boyle, too, because I've been around him on and off over the years. Is like, because he's a big dude and he's a defensive center. Big hockey man. Yeah. And he's like, he's, you know, got the Boston thing going. He's just like, you know,

I thought you're gonna say the body. Barely, barely too. I mean, sure, man. He's six, seven and pretty jacked. Totally. That too. You would think that he would have like, meatball tendencies.

Right. Right. Where he's gonna, like, be bitching about skill or whatever else. Never, not ever. That dude is always like, he's like pro, pro-skill, pro-fun, pro-offence. And doesn't think about.

What a king. Wow. Doesn't think, I mean, the dude. went through the legs last year on purpose. You know? Like, this is, this is a guy that's,

it's not afraid to say like, no, no, no, no. Like this is, people are thinking about this wrong. And he said that about Carlson. He was like, he was like, this is like a,

this is a no brainer, basically, is what he said. Um, and I'm with him. Just give it, give it to him. And then like,

like, like, narratively, it rules too. Because like, I know Carlson's 32 or however old he is. And people act like he's, you know,

whatever heading down the river on our like like it's over for him or something a couple years ago this isn't this isn't you know a nicholas lidsstrom 40-year-old norris season either like he's still but i i think people just wrote them off in some capacity over the last couple years at least as like a truly elite player and it's been it's been a blast to see give it to him that dude at his peak 2015 eric carlson i think was the best hockey player it one of the three best hockey players I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. So to see him do this again, I'm like,

it's amazing. Does he deserve it? I don't know, whatever. I, like, vote for him anyways. Like, everyone's going to go and say, like, the Norris is, you know, not supposed to be for just offensive numbers. But again, like, it has, people have voted on this trophy because of a guy's offensive numbers before.

Like, you don't just change the way you view it because the sharks were bad and you don't like Eric Carlson. Like, the fact remains is he's only the six NHL defenseman ever to tally 100 points in single season. And he's the first to do it since 92. Dude, had a Brian Leach season in, in 2023. Like, don't, don't overthink it. Like, yeah, like, it's fine.

Like, Adam Fox is going to be fine if he doesn't win the Norris Trophy this year. Kail McCar has already won one. Like, it's okay. The only thing that kind of bothers me about the, it's like the way that the rest of the conversations shaken out is it's like, nobody's really talked about there's just a lot of guys that nobody's really discussing

in the Norris conversation which is where it gets a little hairy for me Yeah I think there's a nobody's talked about campus Linholm I yeah Boyle you know Which is really weird brought him up too

Like why is Josh like in the NHL I'm sorry to the NHL dot com writers I do apologize what the shit were you voting on Josh Morrissey Are you kidding me? have you watched the Winnipeg Jets in the last couple months? I think there's just, really, really? He's a finalist for the Norris.

It's silly. And the campus Linholm isn't, Quinn Hughes isn't. People just decide on this shit like early in the season. No, Dougie Hamilton. I'm sorry, the Norris bothers me. Josh Morrissey had a ton of points early on and people got it in their heads that, you know, he was going to be a candidate by the time it was all said and done. And when you have, you know, the way, the,

the way things are shaking out this year is like, yeah, you got two dudes at the top that have, like, separated themselves, I think, in Carlson and Fox. Yeah. But then below that, there's, it's an eye of the beholder thing where people value different things and they're going to gas up different dudes and there's probably seven people in the middle that are just, you know, that have their admirers for, for one reason or another. So the end result is when you do stuff like this, like straw poles and, you know, all that sort of stuff, the middle of those things, it's going to, it's going to be a mess.

because there aren't there are two candidates to me. There aren't five. Yeah. There aren't nine. There's a bunch of guys in the middle that sort of occupy the rest of those ballots necessarily, right? Yep. And this is where I think, and we do need to wrap up the show in a second here, but this is where I think that having a defensive defenseman award would be beneficial.

Because then, because like, Hampus Linholm, he doesn't have. the production that others do. But he's probably the best defensive defender in the league this season. Same with Brent Burns. Brent Burns is posting very good defensive numbers this season. He's having a great year in Carolina. And nobody's talking about that guy because his point totals don't match up with everybody else.

And so it's that where I understand people get frustrated with the Carlson things. It's like, well, his defensive number suck. He just has a bunch of points. And it's like, eh, don't care. It's historic. But with guys like Lynn Holman Burns, it's like, we really should have something that that reflects and like gives the flowers to guys who can just lock it down. Myrtle has been talking about this.

Myrtle is the inventor of the Rod Langway Award. Like that's what he used to call it back when back when he was writing blogs like everybody else. But it's true. That award should exist. That is the solution to the Eric Carlson versus Adam Fox conundrum, not just kind of, you know. Not just saying Eric Carlson should. Trarily punishing Eric Carlson. And by the way, we do know that the NGL can add award categories because they did it in 2010 when they invented the GM of the year award.

So it's not some unheard of thing. If people act like this act like the award list is some intractable, you know, sacred thing where you can't add or subtracting things. And that's not that's not the way it goes. So add this shit so we can so we don't have to have the same discussion with different players, other year because it's aggravating. Yeah. All right. Let's get out of here.

Next time you hear from us, we will be one or two games in to the NHL playoffs. Stanley Cup playoffs. First game is on the 18th. Nope, that was wrong. 17th. The first games are on the 17th. So series are going to go 17, 19, 18, 20. So we're going to have lots of playoff hockey coming up.

and then the draft lottery in a couple weeks. So stick with us on the Friday show. And just a reminder, if you're not an athletic subscriber, you can join us at theathletic.com slash hockey show to get an annual subscription for $2 a month or 12 months. Thanks, everybody. We will see you next week, and maybe we'll talk more about Vegas, Winnipeg,

if something interesting happens there. I'll see.