The Athletic Hockey Show - Is Patrick Kane headed west? Underdog Charlie Lindgren happy where he is with the Washington Capitals, Meier & Chychrun await to be dealt by NHL trade deadline

Episode Date: February 21, 2023

With the NHL trade deadline less than two weeks out, Craig and Sean discuss the moves already made, including Horvat, Tarasenko and O'Reilly, and the deals yet to come with the likes of Timo Meier, Patrick Kane and Jacob Chychrun all scheduled to be dealt by March 3rd. Plus we stick tap Jonathan Toews who is still battling long covid symptoms, and we break up with the Calgary Flames, adopting Connor Hellebuyck's Winnipeg Jets as America's new team!Charlie Lindgren of the Washington Capitals joins Sean to discuss his journey to the NHL, his breakout season with the Caps which included a three year contract, his relationship with partner Darcy Kuemper, facing Alex Ovechkin in practice and the stadium series game from this past Saturday between Washington and Carolina at NC state stadium.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowTake advantage of MANSCAPED®’s best valued bundle and save 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code NHL23 at http://Manscaped.comTry Peloton risk-free with a 30-Day Home Trial, New Members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at http://onepeloton.ca/home-trialGo to https://www.chime.com/nhlshow to sign up for a Chime Credit Builder Visa Credit Card today! Thanks to Chime for supporting the show.Get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase at http://athleticgreens.com/NHL Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Hey, everybody. Happy Tuesday. Happy the best possible Tuesday, which is bad Tuesday. Punchki Day. Oh, but come on, dude. You got to say Poonchki Day as a resident Michigander. How far besides Poland or wherever it came from in Metro Detroit and Hamtramic, how far does

Poonchki Day travel? Does it impact Pittsburgh? How far into the U.S.? I think we might be the eastern. order. Here's what I'll say. So you're familiar with it then. Come on. I don't know. Treat boy,

treat boy number one doesn't know. Doesn't know. You know your pushkey is. The grocery store nearest to my house has like in the in the bakery has a chalkboard that says happy Poonchki season on it. And it's been up there for a few weeks. Or I don't, a week, a few weeks a month, whatever. And they have and they have like, they have. have, you know, grocery store Ponchkees in there. That's pretty good.

Why don't you explain poonskies to people who don't know what they are, Craig? I don't, they're like a big. This is a hockey podcast, by the way. Oh, yes. This is the, uh, we could actually do our job. Who cares?

The, yeah, this is the athletic hockey show. We have a good show for you today. As always. We have a, Charlie Lindgren. He doesn't, and always join us. Charlie Lingering joins us in the second segment, Washington Capitals goalie,

which I'm sure was a great interview. I'm sure it was. If there's issues with the interview, they have nothing to do with Charlie. He's game. Great dude. Michigan guy, backup goalies who were always,

you were always just a blast to talk to. He was with the Canadians for a while and with the blues for a bit. And he's in Washington, just trying to establish himself as like a true blue, you know, top end backup in the NHL. And he's getting there. I, of course, set that one now because it's Family Day for those of us, Monday was Family Day when you recorded that and what quarter Canadian, as we all know.

So required to take a quarter of the day off, which was felt right in the interview. It was so unfortunate, Sean. Like that was the moment time. You got a quarter of the day off. But you know what? Didn't get a half day off. Tried to take a full day off, would have settled for less and got a quarter. You know what?

There you go. We'll take it. I mean, that's what the bloodlines dictate. So let's, if you want to describe Punchkees, I don't even know if I've ever had one, to be honest. If I'm going to be in, if we're in the trust tree. You're a fraud. I know.

You've never had one. I'm not. They're donuts without hole. They're really bad. You haven't for your whole life. As a kid. They're donuts without holes that have filling in them, whether it's like, you know. I'm sure.

It could be fruit. It could be, you know, more chocolate, cinnamon, whatever-based. Donuts without holes. Could it be wonderful pastries? Like, uh, those pastings? Yeah, like a, like a samosa or something. No, thank you. Beef and onion. Savory. Cabbage? What is it? What is this? So, yeah, so happy, happy Poochki day to all the to celebrate. There's a lot to talk about. We are 11. As we sit here and record, we are 11 days out from trade deadline.

Really active early session for the GMs, which I think you wrote somewhere, Sean, I think it was you. Like, hey, this is a good thing because it gives these GMs some time to sit here and marinate. Like, if everybody was in on Bo Horvatt and that was holding up the market, we might not, we might not have a ton of action. Now it's like, hey, what's Plan B look like? And we have lots of time to figure out Plan B.

it's time for GMs to convince themselves that they need players that they may not. That's right. You know, like, like, they're like, okay, we got to guys get itchy. They're like, we want, we want to do something. We have to do something. Especially when you see not just the caliber of players that have moved, but the teams specifically that they've ended up on, right? Like, the Metro Division race is crazy.

Yeah. The bottom of the, the Eastern wild card race is crazy. You have the Islanders. as of this morning, as of Tuesday morning after beating Pittsburgh on Monday night, they are in the wild card based on points, albeit not points percentage, because they played pretty significant amount more games than Pittsburgh and Washington and Detroit's in the conversation now, at least on the periphery of it. So you look at the players that changed hands,

and you look at where they ended up, and you look at the races specifically that those teams are involved in, and it seems like a situation where it's right, and not to take it back to what Don Waddell told us last week, but I think there was some impressions there where he's like, maybe a player moves who you weren't expecting. And I think that this particular situation in the way stuff is shaking out over the last few weeks,

it seems like the potential for an unexpected move is more present now than maybe it has been in the past. Well, you have time to lay the groundwork for that. Like it's like, okay, planning is gone. Now let's be creative. And I always, like, you know, both of us has done trade grades. for years. The, you know, when you grade those rentals for the first prospect and part deal, you always want to give the rental, the person who acquired the good player, the better grade. And that seems to be, oh, they're adding Ryan O'Reilly. That's great, veteran. And it never seems to

really work out. Like, rarely. You got to, you know, I don't know what justifies those deals, but eight times out of 10, it doesn't work. The ones that, I would argue, work out are the ones that are long-term moves made, you know, or at least with the long-term in mind. And so, if that truly, if we're reading in a Don's comments, if that truly is that, you know, what's happening behind the scenes, look, those are, like, those are the ones that people should be talking about right now. And it's going to be fun to see, like, and it's up to us, really, to figure out, or me, I guess. It's up to you, really.

Since my fingers work and yours don't, we got to figure out who those guys are, because there are, there are players out there who maybe have a little bit of term left that aren't just, because who are the, who are the players, understandably on big boards and, and, and our trade boards and whoever, you know, we're trying to figure out who are the most likely kids and move. Nine out of ten of them are guys who are pending UFAs, right? There aren't a ton of Jacob Chakrins or Timo Myers or, you know, whoever else who have years of team control that are left, but that doesn't mean that they're not out there in some other

capacity. But that being said, you know, the UFAs are still the funnest ones to, there's still the conversation pieces and there's still the target for a lot of for for whatever reason even though things have changed relative to where they were 10 years ago there's a reason that ufas are still the ones overall dominating the conversation here and it's because those are the ones that are talked about because the price tax are low like everybody people get sticker shock still when it comes to players with terms so that's why we're still talking about Patrick Keynes and you know gavracov and these guys who are pending UFAs.

There's a right on Twitter named Brett Lee, who is a fun follow. And he was breaking down who those young players, if you did like a lightning situation, who those young players might be. And he's brought up Owen Tippett as, you know, if you're the flyers and you can get a nice return for somebody who's cheap and productive,

maybe that makes sense. Like that's interesting. You just, you know, we don't know how much. of those conversations are going on. We do know Patrick Kane is probably moved to the spotlight now. And you think West at this point. You know, we've been, all these Eastern Conference opportunities are dwindling fast. One of those teams out West is going to make take a run here.

With the caveat that some Eastern Conference team is probably going to lose out, well, is going to lose out on Timo Meyer, whether that he's been connected strongly to the Devils for weeks now. Can't we just get that done? Let's go, Tom. I don't, why is it not done yet, I think, is a fair question. Yeah. You know, I mean, and I know it's we're got, what, 10 days out, 11 days out now.

So we'll see. But either whether they don't get him, whether Carolina doesn't get them, only one team can reel in Timo Meyer, right? So with that caveat, it'd say if Meyer does end up, in New Jersey and, you know, Carolina has to make decisions as to whether they're going to move, whether they're going to acquire a guy who's like not in line with the typical player profile or whatever, which is Kane.

Like, whatever. We'll see, I guess, where that lands. Yeah. But all the teams that make the most sense with Patrick Kane, even though everyone tried to mock him to the Maple is for the past three days.

I saw Murdo doing some salary cap gymnastics. Myrtle, Myrtle wore his hat or the Leaves call him this hat He put it back on baby He was he was trying to put him back in the in the Toronto top nine Which is fine because that's what that

We shouldn't take this This this season so seriously Like it's who cares of people I don't think anybody's accusing us to that John We the We the hockey landscape in general Or not the Tuesday It is

I think it's I think I mean not us I just, I think it's fine to just throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks as long as you, you know, portray it that way and you're honest about, about your, about, you know, the nature of the experiment. That's a whole other, that's a whole other question, whatever. The point is that all the teams that make the most sense for Patrick Kane are in the West. Yes. The most, the easiest, most direct lines to draw are to the West, whether it's Dallas,

who Saad Yusuf has done a great job over the last couple weeks of explaining A, how that deal could happen, be what it could look like and C, just kind of tracking it in context with the rest of the moves around the league. I think Saad has his finger on the pulse there. There's Edmonton, and then there's Vegas.

I think those are the three. If somebody were like, all right, bang out a quick little 400-word blurb on the three teams that are would make the most sense. Yeah, I can't. That's fine. Thanks. I'll throw that.

I'll throw that in the flock after we have here. To me, those are the three teams that make the most sense. I mean, they fit a lot of bills. For finance, based on cap space, the potential for clearing cap space and the willingness to move. Need and like eagerness. Need and willingness to move a first round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks because if if there were any doubt that that was going to be the headline piece headed back to Chicago, there probably shouldn't have been. But if there were doubt, this. last stretch where he's got five goals in his last two games or whatever, like this little,

you know, I'm sure very deliberate, very targeted run of production that he's had because Patrick is not happy with the way any of this, any of this is shaking out. Clearly, he's been open about that. Yeah. You don't think that there's a bit of him, you know, over the last week that's like, screw this, like, I'm going to show everybody that I'm still a prime offensive player in the league. So, and that, and that's all it takes. That's all, like, the last. last three days has rehabbed the entire any any issues that people may have had with his lack of production defensive issues whatever the crap season that he's had so far that is the benefit of the doubt that an elite player gets is he is he can he can turn it on for three games and everyone's

like oh that's right oh he's still you are yeah you just send that clip to jim nil and yep and we're going to give up a first round fit for him right i want to you i'm sure he's like okay anybody who's doubting me. I'm going into Toronto real quick. I'm just going to say, I'm just going to have a statement game and just remind everybody, I'm fine. I'm fine. Prime cane too, man. Doesn't every former Blackhawk end up in Dallas? Isn't that the pipeline? Like the Patrick Sharp Trail, I think they call it. I'm trying to think of like the exact. I was trying to guess it like interstates that go from Chicago to Chicago to Dallas. I feel like there's a bit of a pipeline. I know we got, I mean, we talked about Duncan Keith and Edmonton, but like where, where these former Blackhawks seem to, you know,

Dallas to me is interesting because you've got the resurgence of, you know, Jamie Ben, you've got everything kind of lining up. The West is wide open. We always feel like Dallas is, you know, has to do something, right? As part of the roster. They've dipped a bit in the past, you know, week or whatever. So there is that need, you know, and there is that time. There's that runway where like this, I feel like this trade deadline season in terms of speculation and in terms of, you know, or just deals, period, like not even speculative deals, actual concrete deals. It started early and I think part of that is because of we, this is the first truly normal one we've had since 2020.

Yeah. You know, that's a, that's a big part of it. But I think that's part of the runway, honestly, is that like you look at a team like Dallas, like three weeks ago would we have said like look out for the Dallas stars when it comes to Patrick Kane like not necessarily because the need didn't feel like it was there and the market wasn't really dictating it and you didn't have this other player movement throughout the league that kind of makes it more likely and now after a few weeks have seen that like here we are where it seems like if if you had to place odds on it they would be the odds on favorite at this point I'm convinced of that yeah I just like the idea of a Ryan suitor Patrick Kane Joe Pavelskiy That's, that's, Jamie Ben, Tyler Sagan, well,

that's like an old American Olympic team or something. It's like, let's get the boy, get Ryan Miller out of retirement. There's Brian Raffals. Yeah, who else,

who else, who else could be a call up? Where is, let's get, let's get, let's get, let's get, what he's doing.

He's fine, he's busy. Ryan's got, he's got, what's got a lot going on. I like that. I like that as a solution. It's just,

to me, Vegas seems chaotic. You know, you know, Cali McCrimman seems to be in and every big name. And it just seems like it's, I like Dallas as a fit.

Just all those, all those things considered. I'm tired. We're tired. We're both tired of Vegas. Kind of. Dude. Whatever.

And then they're going to end up doing it. And it's like, oh, that's cool. You got all these great players. Yeah. Yeah. Like,

congratulations on Mark Stone having a bad back and being able to, being able to use that money on some other brand name. You know, dude is in his 30s. Cool. I will say. In Dallas.

Let's make it happen. Yeah, I think I think we all can agree. And maybe things will thaw between us and the stars. I would also say, you know, Jonathan Taves news comes out. The long COVID stuff seems to be back. I think it was either Scott or Las did something that's like, hey, this is about this guy's health and legacy. And it's just, you know, you hate to see that at this point in time, which could have, this could have been like the Taves resurgence back onto a big stage playing in the playoffs,

like in some other timeline and it's not happening. I feel like it was an under, not undercovered, but people forgot pretty quickly, I think that he just missed an entire season. Yeah. Yeah. You know,

and he came out, especially at the start of the season and he was productive and he looked himself and he was clearly feeling better and all that. And everybody was really quick to just memory whole what he was coming back from. And I think this is, you know, a nice example that, you know, recovery from this is not always easy and it's not always linear. And, yeah, that that's, you know, that that's something that needs to take priority.

Because I guarantee you there are a lot of people when they saw, you know, the winds had been blowing that way, I think, for a little bit. Like, it seemed like he was pretty gassed and he was missing time and he wasn't feeling well or whatever. But I guarantee that there are people who saw that announcement about, about, about. about TAVs and his long COVID issues yesterday. And we're like, oh, shit, that's right. That's right. That's right. I forgot about that.

Yeah. And you shouldn't because this is real and it's going to be something that's affecting him and probably a pretty large portion of the American and Canadian population over the next however many years. Real quick, before we get to the next segment, I do want to give you the option, Sean. Conner Hellebuck has a big night. American Connor Hellebuck. Jets pretty interesting, sneaky, interesting team.

You know, as we know, the Calgary Flames are America's team, as we've adopted them as the one Canadian team we can enjoy. You're all in on the flames. I'm just going to throw that you have the option now on February 21st to switch to the Jets as America's team in Canada that we can talk about and appreciate. Are you exercising that option? All right. Something we should say about the Jets, too, is that they're interesting because of their salary structure, I think, for the next couple years. They have a lot of guys potentially coming off the books and heading elsewhere, whether that's Dubai, whether it's, you know, whoever, or you wonder if they're a team that could be in on a player that has some term left. Mm-hmm.

You know, like, like, that's, that's a fit there that I think is, you know, and that's, and this is speculative and just, you know, trying to connect dots. but like their their salary structure moving forward in a way that in a way similar frankly to the hurricanes don said last week there's a bunch of guys coming off coming off the books after after this year right yeah they have money to burn next season if it's if it's something and then and then answer questions about the long-term makeup i think of that roster uh you know kind of moving for us beyond you know beyond next season. So that's, that's interesting. As far as swapping out the flames

for them as the official Canadian team of the American edition of the athletic hockey show, hashtag Tuesday plus three seasons. I think we almost have to do it. Yeah, I think so. I think we've got to do it. Because the flames are cooked.

They can come back next season. They can, they can throw their hat back in the ring for this. It's a very real honor. It is. But I think it's, I think it's bye bye this year. Okay.

And the Jets would be, but with the Leafs. No. Come on. It'll be fun. They're led by an American Austin Matthews. See, this is, this is,

this is boss mode, Craig. He just wants to be able to put Maple Leafs in the, in the headline for this, for this podcast title. If we could just, you know, nobody talks about the Leafs.

Just got a juice, juice the search and an optimization for the athletic hockey show. We can adopt the Winnipeg Jets. It'd be fun if they did it like if they became a sneaky act of TV. Go go go get someone. On our behalf. For the second or third time in the history of that of that of that, you know, post-move organization.

Go go get someone relevant. All right. Coming up next, Sean sits down with Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals, Goley, definitely stick around for that. And of course, we have segment for the best segment. Only good segment you could argue on the show. We'll be right back.

More and more people are saying it. They are. We're psyched to be joined by Capitals goalie. Charlie Lindgren, he's a Minnesota guy, St. Cloud State guy. We'll get into all that stuff. But Charlie, thanks for being here, man. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Appreciate it. All right. So we're recording this on Monday. You're two days out. It was on Saturday, right? Outdoor game. Yep. Caps, Cains at NC State's football stadium. I know you haven't had that experience in your in your NHL career, but had you had, you know, experience playing in front of like a decent size crowd on ice or outside or was that a, was that your first, first go at it? Um, so just looking back at my career. You know, last year I was with St. Louis during the Winter Classic in Minnesota, which was cool for me.

Just obviously being from, you know, growing up 15 minutes away from Target Field. I got bad info on that. I wasn't sure. I wasn't. I didn't start her back up. So I was in the locker and watching. I think it was the next day I got sent down. But that was really cool.

Obviously, my family being able to come to the family skate. Actually, my wife had COVID, so she missed it. But my parents were able to come. So that was cool. But other than that, like biggest audience I played in front of, you know, probably nothing more than the standard NHL ring, I don't think. So certainly, you know, that was pretty cool, like looking out in the stands and seeing And I think they said 58,000, I believe it was the 10 and $55,000.

We talked to Don Waddell actually in the run up to it last week. And I think he was saying like 57 or 58 was maybe where they clocked in at. Yep, yep. So that was great. Like the, just the atmosphere was unbelievable. I'm a fan of country music too. And Jake Owen, you know, he was even playing during the TV stoppages in the first period, which was a little unique.

But, you know, so I got to enjoy that a little bit. And then in the locker, I could hear him playing a little bit. That's awesome. That's awesome. I saw they brought you guys in on the bus because you made your, you guys got the hero, the hero exit on a Twitter video coming out,

coming out of the bus. But did you get a vibe pregame of what was going on in the lots? I mean, we've heard a lot about the, you know, college football, tailgating environment and all that stuff there. I mean, it gets, I'm sure, I'm sure people in Carolina are tired of hearing about it,

honestly. But that is a big part of it. Did you guys get a vibe of what was going on in the lots when you rolled up there? Yeah. I mean, when we were on our way there, we had the police escort. And, you know, I remember getting on the highway and then getting off that exit to, like, head to the stadium. You know, it was, it was a parking lot. Like, it was packed.

And then once we got on that, the street leading up to the field, you know, it was, you know, people in Jersey, these people barbecue in. You know, I'm sure the, obviously the alcohol was flowing. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. Tailgate. So, but it was, yeah, it was, the whole lead-up was phenomenal. Like, it was just so cool, being out of that bus and just, just seeing everyone in the parking lot, just, you know, supporting their teams and, and coming out for the, for the game. That was, that was really cool.

That's great. Your season so far with the caps, obviously, and I know this seemed like it was a big, a big priority. for you in the off season was to get to a spot where you knew that you were going to be a full-time you know, NHL goaltender without having to play behind a third guy, you know, didn't have to ride the Springfield Express in St. Louis or anything like that. Has it, has it gone according to plan? Like, is this what you were, is this, is this how you were hoping, hoping it to go in terms of, terms, you know, the performance and ice time and all that stuff? Like, how's it, how has it worked out for you? Yeah. I mean, I've truly, I've loved everything about it here, honestly.

I have. You know, I was fortunate enough when I, when I signed, you know, I was good buddies with Nick Dowell just from my time at St. Cloud. And, you know, he was he was talking it up to, talking up the organization and just the living. And it certainly exceeded expectations. You know, I've loved living near Arlington here in Virginia. And, you know, we got a really, really good group of guys.

your great leadership. And we got a competitive hockey team. You know, obviously we're looking at the season. We're struggling a little bit right now. But, you know, every team kind of goes through those ups and downs and we'll obviously figure it out. But yeah, just from my point of view, it's been amazing. I really, really enjoyed my time. How important was that run that you went on in December?

Did you feel towards like establishing yourself just generally? but with the group also, like, that's a big kind of tear to go on that you deserve really got a lot of credit for. I mean, I know that we know the boys were playing well in front of you, but, you know, that's a serious, a serious run to go on pretty early on in your time with the caps. How did you feel like, did that set you up for success, I think moving forward? Was that important? Yeah, I mean, you know, you never liked to see someone go down. And me and Kemper, we've formed a pretty tight bond throughout the year. And, you know, he took that elbow on the penalty kill in Calgary and, you know, concussions. You never know how they're going to be.

But I knew that I had to step up. I mean, that's what you got to do. You know, the backup position can sometimes be tough because you're playing maybe once every 10 days, once every couple weeks. And once he went down, I knew I was in a situation where I was going to get a good amount of game. So, you know, that month of December, you know, it's kind of been back-to-back December for me,

even going back to previous year with St. Louis. You know, it's kind of the same deal. I got the, you know, I got to get rolling a little bit in that H.L. And, you know, I think I got into a pretty good rhythm last year in St. Louis. And then this year was the same thing where, you know, just I thought played some really good hockey, but I think certainly, you know, the team in front of me, I know it's cliche, but I mean, truly me truly made it. I mean, the team in front of me really that month of December, like we played our best hockey

of the year. You know, we just, I think, you know, we deserve to win. And I think every game that we played in that month, we were playing that good. So, but yeah, it was, I think that was big for me, just because. I don't know how many games I had leading up to that time, but certainly I got a chance to play eight or nine games in a row and just kind of, I was able to kind of establish myself a little bit and be able to show my teammates and the coaching staff and everyone in the organization,

you know, what I feel I'm capable of. And so that was, I think that was important for me. Yeah, I mean, you had those eight or nine starts in December. I did look it up. So you've played in 24 games so far in the season, right? that's other than that you've been in double digits once in your first seven years. So this is like a serious, you know, a jump, a jump and a workload maybe that you haven't seen before. Um, and it's, it's been, you know, it's, it's worked out. Um, what is the dynamic? You mentioned Kemper. What's the

dynamic like between the two of you guys? It's always a fascinating thing when you have, you know, a goalie tandem and, you know, some, some guys give different answers as is to how they approach it. But as, you know, in the role that you're in, how do you, uh, exist kind of in that on, on on a day-to-day basis, you know, interacting with him and in the roles, you know, both you kind of occupy. Yeah. I mean, I think it's important for the goal is to have a strong relationship. And I think that's something that Kemper and I, we established pretty much right from the get-co. You know, we share the same agents.

So Ben Hankinson, I was talking about, you know, he's like, you're going to love Kemper. He's, you know, he's your kind of guy, that sort of thing. And that's certainly been the case where, you know, once I showed up in D.C. see and he showed up. We really just hit it off. And so, you know, obviously the goal tending position, it can be difficult because it's, it's one spot. It's one crease.

But, you know, I know when I signed here and when Kemp signed here, like, you know, he's got quite the pedigree and he's a heck of a goalie. And so, you know, I feel like, you know, I find myself more so in the supporting role where I feel like, you know, I'm always trying to. trying to push him and support him. And, you know, whenever I get to crease, obviously, I'm trying to, you know, do everything in my power to help the team win.

But it's been a fabulous dynamic between Kemp's and I. And so it's been, it's been awesome. When you talk about supporting him, what does that, does that have, what does that look like? Is there, you know, do you guys go over technique stuff? Because that's always a question that, you know, you hear goalies talk about, you know, we push each other and we support each other and whatever. but functionally, like on a day-to-day basis, like, are you guys going over, you know,

opponent's tendencies or are you going over technique stuff? Like, what does the, what does the support process look like for both of you on your end? So I think, and the technique stuff is where Scottie Murray, the goalie coach comes in. I think he's a big sounding board on that side of things. You know, I'm more so just, you know, kind of the guy in the intermissions that's, you know, saying, you know, keep it going. when you're playing great, like, you know, even last game in Carolina, like, you know, we got down for nothing, but, you know, I still feel, I felt like he was, you know, doing his part.

I thought he was making some big saves. And, you know, in the secondary mission, I just said, you know, I can't worry about the score. Just keep on battling, keep on competing. And, yeah, I mean, that's really it. I think it's more just being a friend is really what it comes down to. and then obviously when it comes to practicing on the ice together, like I'm a guy that's, you know, loves to compete, loves to work hard.

And I think, and I think Kemp sees that and respects that. And I think, you know, I see him doing the same thing. So it's, it's been awesome. Is he as nice as he seems? Because we did the Vegas, you know, preseason tour with him. And the dude was just like, it was 15 minutes of just like ear to ear cheesing from him. He seems like, he seems like a real. really genuinely nice, happy dude.

Is that the kind of guy is? Yeah, he's super just a really nice guy, really down to earth. Yeah, I mean, humble. Like, he's awesome. Like, just, you know, I can't, I don't have one issue with the guy. That's, that's, you know, so that's, that's been doing it. Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to air your grievances with Darcy Kemper on. I was like I didn't feel like there'd be many of those.

Yeah. This is like the obligatory question that I feel like everybody asks anybody who spent any kind of time with the Caps. But what was the Ovecian introduction like that? Like did you have a welcome to Caps culture, you know, moment with him? Because I know everyone loves talking about that and they seem like they're, they can be pretty funny. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's a, he's a hilarious guy. But my, you know, my first, I'll never forget kind of the first time I met him, I was, you know, I was laying out of full roller in the gym and he came up and he came to camp a little bit later than a lot of guys um

so there was a good amount of us in the gym but just came up and uh said hi i'm alex and um just uh you know like you're like yeah yeah yeah yeah i think i know he he's uh he's unbelievable honestly he's just a really he's a hilarious guy like in the tunnel before the games like his his antics is you know, when guys are like dapping him up or, you know, because he's one of the first ones in the tunnel, like, it's either me or him. And so I can, when I'm starting, I can kind of hear him what he's saying to everyone behind me. And then it becomes like a every game sort of deal. But it's hilarious.

And then, you know, pretty early on, like, you know, obviously his shots all world. Yeah, how hard, how hard does he go on you in practice? Yeah, so in practice, like, he doesn't, um, You know, it's certainly not like games where he's pounded. I've seen him pound a couple of pucks in practice. But, you know, there was one time, too, where it was kind of funny where I'm trying to, it was either during training camp still or it was early on in the season. So it was just like one of the first drills, just one of the simple shooting drill. But he came in over the blue line and I saw the puck roll up on him.

And he just took a snapshot. And, like, my cage had a huge debt in it. So I actually, I took the cage home. So I got to sit. Yeah, you're like, you put that, put that in, like, plexiglass or something. I know. I know.

So I have that cage in my bedroom right now. And I'll have to get them to sign, like, a piece of paper or something. And just say, you know, this is from Ovechkin. That's great. So didn't hurt at all. It was pretty cool. It was hilarious to seeing how big that that was just from a snapshot. And, you know, he came up to me.

He's like, hey, the puck was rolling. The puck was rolling. I'm like, I saw it. Like, yeah, I don't know. Even if it wasn't rolling, you can do whatever you want. So I don't care. Yeah, you're like, it's fine. I'm good.

I'm here. That's what I'm here for. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So your family were wild season ticket holders starting in 2000. Is that true? I saw that bit of that bit of information that pop. up when I was just doing my research here.

Yep. So my dad shared season tickets with like a neighbor. So we had, we would get half the home games. Yep. Yep. So I was at the seven, probably, like six or seven or eight? I was seven or eight. And so my dad took me to the first ever wild game against, they play the Flyers.

So that was, you know, obviously a memory. I'll never forget. But yeah, we would go to, you know, throughout my childhood, I mean, he would take me and my brothers. There's two tickets. So like we would kind of each go maybe a couple times a year. Yeah. So that was really cool. I think it was just, you know, it's a fun way to grow up when you're going to see the hometown team play.

Totally. And it happened when you were young enough too. Like you probably don't remember, you know, all that well. Yeah. Yeah. Any time, any time when you guys didn't have a team up there, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't, like before 2000, I can't remember, you know, it's really weird to me.

Like, it's weird to think that Minnesota didn't have an NHL team. Like, it's, it closed my mind. But yeah, it's obviously the wild. They've been there now for 22 years and they're a staple in the culture and they have a lot of fan support. But, yeah, we were all wild fans growing up for sure. Is your dad still split in the season package or has you been done from that? No, no, he's done. He's done.

So kind of once, I think once I left for juniors, so that would have been in 20, what would that have been, like 2010, you know, so we had him for maybe 10, 15 years, but I think that was, that was it. That's a good, that's a good run. Takes you from whatever seven to seven to 16 or 17. I think that's, that's the important point. 100%. Yep.

All right. I wanted to ask you about the mustache. I know you'd ask about that all the time. time, but we had, we had, we had, we had, we had, we had, we had, we had, we had, we got you rocking the mustache now. Is there, is there, is there a next facial hair configuration that you're going to go to? Is there, is, is, is there something in the chamber for next year? Or are you just, uh, I think the mustache has kind of become the staple? So I think it's, it's, it's something that I'm just going to keep. So you're committed to it. That's a look, that's a, that's a,

that's a look you have to commit to. I'm committed to it fully. So, and it's funny, because like the, the, my wife's, you know, she's kind of getting tired of it, but it's, it's just like, I like the way I kind of look with it. And, you know, I had gone, you know, I've been probably a full, uh, 18, 19 months now with a mustache. Um, and so even prior to that, like throughout my career, I'd kind of go in spurts too where I'd have the mustache and, um, then I'd shave it off and, but do you guys, do you guys, so do you guys have kids yet? That's, that's a, that's a, That's an important question. No.

See, that's like once you, that's the big commitment. Because like, if you commit to having a mustache with kids and then you shave it when they're five or whatever, they're not going to, you're going to freak them out. They're going to wonder who the dude in dad's, in dad's room is. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, like, throughout my hockey career, like, at least I'm, I'm kind of putting my foot in the ground right now, like throughout the rest of my hockey career. Like, I don't see myself not having it.

So, that's great. however long that may be, you'll see me with a mustache. And I think, you know, it's funny to me, too, like, you look at, you know, there's pictures of the old Capitals teams, like, in a hallway at the game rank. And, like, you look at, obviously, the 70s and 80s, like 90% of a team has a mustache. And, you know, I was a big fan of, like, the Ralph Cox. And, you know, that whole, like, the miracle, like, I just, I just love the way it looks, the old school, kind of mustache, sideburns, you know,

that whole look is hilarious to me. So you got the mustache that you've committed to, you've got a three-year deal with the caps, you know, at the place in Arlington or whatever, you're set. You're putting down roots. You're making big boy decisions here, Charlie. Yes, sir. That's important. Yeah, 100%.

100%. I like where I'm at. Perfect. I appreciate the time, man. Good luck with the rest of the season and hopefully catch up with you down the road. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Awesome. Thank you.

Good stuff there from Charlie. Craig, I wanted to ask you specifically about your approach as a father to facial hair because that was a big part of what we talked about with Charlie Lake. At some point, you have to just lock yourself in to the choice once you have little kids. Oh, as a dad? Yeah. Yeah. Because you used to, I mean, the beards a relatively new addition for you, but that also came, you know,

your kids were old enough to have up. object permanence and realize that it wasn't some other person in the house instead of their dad. No, I think at this point it would be super weird if I shaved it off, like to the kids. It hides 10 pounds, I think, maybe not well, but certainly. I think we can both say with some with some certitude that it does, yeah. Yeah. Over here.

Yeah. So, so it's here to stay for many reasons. But yeah, I think, I think you have to commit. I mean, think about like, my dad would go hunting every year and would like throw out his beard. If my dad would have shaved his mustache. Yeah. It would have been, like, I was always scarred. I'm like, who's this guy who just came home from deer camp or whatever?

My dad would come back and not shave. So, and I did not like it one bit. Dad. If my dad, if my dad would have rolled up clean shaving at some point when I was seven or whatever, I would have probably called the police. Yeah. Who is this man? What's your dad's name? I need to just be able to reference them.

Mike. Mike. Michael. Mike G. Mike G. He's our own Mike G. as opposed to the HR superstar for the

Mike G. Mike G and Grosso. You have two Mike G's and you're like, all right. Wild. Let's throw a break and I'm excited to dip into the questions assuming they're good

and they always are. They're not? We'll see. This is the only good second on the show. Dive into the reader comments on the athletic app. It's really cool and really easy to find them. Definitely not convoluted. and shitty at all.

Thank you guys. As always for throwing these on there. We had 19 this week, which is a nice number. Let's keep it going. We want more than 20. Again, this is pure, unfiltered laziness. Jason K.

Can we anoint the devil's the official team of the Tuesday boys? Hashtag Tuesday Boys 3S. Yeah. They're 10 and 1 against Canada this year. That's pretty good. Their one loss, which ended that 13-game winning streak,

was against Toronto when they had three goals over, overturn, which I think, again, they should be able to retroactively declare that a win for NJD. And also since, I don't know if, you know what, Jason posted this on February 19th. I don't know if this is before or after the devil's last win. They beat Winnipeg, the official American Canadian team for two on the 19th of February. So I don't know if that number is included in Jason's number, in Jason's record for the Devils against Canada or not. it either way. That's a great thought. I think there's a lot to like about the devils.

Aside from the, yeah, right, aside from the, yeah, this is the official adoption hour for, for the show. Because we have, we have Winnipeg. Now you have New Jersey. I want them to do something. I think they're in that, in that class of team. We talked, we just talked about Dallas as a team that we wanted to act. I think New Jersey's kind of in that, in that group too, right? Of course it's Meyer, it's other teams in general. I would love to see them make a move. I would love to see them try to keep pace in the Metro division with New York, New York, like there aren't two New York teams with the Rangers who I think have a

Cap caliber Rosser, Cup caliber roster at this point. And the Islanders who like we said before are leading the wild card race right now. So yeah, man, let's make an arms race. Let's let's have like, throw Pittsburgh in there too. Let's see like every team in the top five of the Metro division. vision make like some meaningful move in the next like 11 days let's go I'm with it

so if we were to adopt the devil's as the official team of the show does that replace the sabers are we swapping out I mean everyone knows I don't think there's any official paperwork that's being filed here because as we know the savers the savers the savers are in that spot and have been for a while

devils need to just feed us some more players that's a big part of why we like like the sabers so much. We didn't get Jack Hughes. Pretty good player. That is true. We need quantity now. Yeah.

Quality. Yeah. With the sabres, we've had quantity and quality. Because we got, because we've had, we've had, we've had TAGE, we've had tuck, we've had Granado twice. I'm sure there's someone in there that were, they were missing. So, yeah, this is it. They're a strong number two.

Here's what I'll say. Yeah. We got a couple of comments about the pizza, former buildings that were turned into But we're pizza huts that were turned into new buildings. Mark P. says an old pizza hut in his city, Richmond, Virginia is now a Hollywood hustler sex shop. It's also across the street from a children's museum. So I don't know if that's true. Is that true?

I'm going to find this. If this is true, we're going to be able to figure it out. Max Z says, Max is going to stop by the House of Rubens, which was the one I was discussing. that was an old pizza hut. Oh, that's an old Taco Bell. Next time I go visit the legendary Big Beaver Road sign. That's correct. It's probably about the House of Rubens is probably about a 10-minute drive from that sign.

Big Beaver. God bless Big Beaver Road. What else you got? We got a couple of oral history requests in here. Yeah, this is what we're looking for. This is what we're looking for. 1996 Team USA World Cup of hockey from Slams McKenzie

If that hasn't been done That seems like a Seems like a slam dunk doesn't it? Did you do that? That seems like something you should have done already. I mean it does it does hit the profile I never did the 96

I mean I've written about them talked about that a lot There's gonna be some big podcast oral history Like if we read like Yeah. If we ever did a, and we've talked about this, you know, just finding the time, but like, you know, a limited series, six episodes about the World Cup of hockey or some narrative. That would be a pretty good one. Yeah.

Slams. Slams gets a co-producer credit on that one. If it happens? That comes a pass. Yeah, we should, we seriously should do that. The other one, the other oral history request is of the thrash, which is the other one. He's really funny. Ben W.

I have a guess. I have a guess of who this could be. Ben W. He knows a lot of details about this. Is your dick trade? The call is coming from inside the house. We'll just put it that way. For the record, Jinnick wasn't a rental.

He had two more years. This is Ben W talking. He had two more years in $7 million left on his contract when they traded Braden Coburn for him in 2007. He played 65 games in 0708, then it was a healthy scratch for the last month of the season. He got bought out with one year left on the deal. So not a rental, just a bad trade. So that's even funnier that you brought it up with Don.

You're like, yeah, what about the genetic trade? He's like, I don't want to talk about that. I'm like, you know, when you traded? Don't know, Braden Covert. Don't have to have a great. No, that doesn't. He just didn't remember that it was. He was right.

We got a little bit of business for Adam H here who's not complaining about ads in the, in the Spotify version of the podcast. That's understandable. no one likes ads. The work around there, if you guys are listening to this on Spotify, is to subscribe to the athletic because you can listen to it ad-free in the app.

So go do that. I don't know. If you really hate ads, it's probably worth a couple dollars a month to have that capability. Yeah. I mean, right. That's one of the benefits of being a subscriber.

Although, Sean, I listen just for the ads. So many people say that they're the best part of the show, especially since you don't bother doing them anymore and just leave me by myself to read about, to write about or talk about, uh, occasionally. What the hell was this last one I just had to do? I can't even remember. I love all these products like my, like my sons and daughters, though. I use every single one.

They all work one to fly. I get the SG seal of approval. I'll have to let you read these Pittsburgh ones because I'm not sure I even understand. fandom? Which ones are? I think I must have scrolled. Something about Century Mall or Century 3 Mall?

Century 3 Mall. Dead Mall. Once, like, I think it was like the one of the, there was some record it had. It was like the second whatever. First, the largest mall like east of the Mall of America or something. It was

gigantic and big in the 80s and whatever else. And it's just like, for anybody who is interested in like suburban wasteland like urban or like you know like the dead mall subreddit

that's a big that's a big thing people love exploring you know whatever. So like the spots like dead former Olympic city Reddit? Kind of yeah yeah honestly and I did a probably broke some laws

when Century 3 Mall was still open there was still a couple stores left in there I went and did like a little bit of a run through of this of this terrifying, you know, it's straight out of Don of the Dead or something where you expect, you know, zombies to jump out of you anytime. And it's completely closed now. This has happened in the last couple years. But yeah, I put that on YouTube. I think I might have been for the paper. That is when you told people to search me on YouTube and that is the first thing that came up.

Also, Timothy, I said, the first result is at the intersection of professional hockey and global politics to think Sean enjoys publicly discussing the most, which is really funny. That's your first YouTube. Love love, love, love both. I actually don't even really know what he's talking about. Well, I'm going to go on YouTube and search. The point stand. We'll give you the direct address later if you want to follow the athletic hockey show on

YouTube. That's coming up. Zanes S asked, Craig may have rated his own book, which I did, five stars. But has Sean ever rated one of his athletic stories awesome? Or even, me. have you Sean be honest this is a moment of truth I've never rated it me because that's the worst thing you people can do to me

you'd rather hate it hate it or love it that really is hurtful no Matt is Matt is the lowest there's no like there's no like middle finger emoji that you click on if you like it even less than that it's like Matt okay and I loved it I remember when those buttons used to matter

they kind of don't anymore. Hey, they do. I mean, I care what people think. Do you guys have access to that? I haven't seen that data. That's that anymore. We don't.

It's just a lot of noise. What else we got? A couple questions for Charlie. Glad people participated. Yeah, and I did mix those in there. I just, there weren't quite enough for me to be like, all right. like all right chuck we're going into like reader question corner and then I ratted off like five of them

there were some there were some good ones in there that I just kind of mixed in and stole and passed off as you guys as you guys already know because you certainly listen to the interview Zacharias L asks a this is kind of a CBA question is it within the rules of the NHL and the NHL to negotiate delayed subsequent trades could San Jose Edmonton and Ottawa in agreement with There Carlson make a trade where EK has moved at the deadline to Edmonton and in the summer moved again to Ottawa. All planned for an advance hypothetically.

I mean, they can agree on stuff, but obviously wouldn't be official. And you can't like, you can't like, it's not like post-dating a check or something where you like file the trade paperwork and it doesn't go into effect until, you know, July 3rd. Like that's not, that's not the way.

Yeah, you run the risk. You can agree. It's just, gentleman's agreement. You agree to something in principle. But if Ottawa, if Ottawa and San Jose agree to something in the summer, and they say,

all right, like, this is, this is what we're going to do. And then someone knocks off San Jose's socks for a Carlson offer in six days. Yeah. So because of that, there would be really no point in,

like, what would you, you wouldn't want to do that? There's no official mechanism to say that. You can't, like I said, post-dating a check, was the first analogy that came to mind, even though it's predating.

Whatever. Can't do it. Yeah. And I think that's it for the week. So thank you folks for humoring us as always and keep it coming because otherwise we're going to have to think of something serious to do in this for the last 15 minutes. And we don't want to do that. No, please.

I like to talk about pizza hats and taco bells. In old malls, shout out to Lakeside Mall, which is now a bit of a zombie zone. Ah, the malls of our youth. Oh, baby. You're all gone down. I worked. Got half off everything. Ben Hankinson, agent, player agent.

I like Ben a lot. He is joining Rapizo, Mike Russo, and Jesse Granger on the Wednesday roundtable. So be sure to listen to Hank in the roundtable. Also, these are particularly irrelevant guy at this trade deadline as well. That was. We didn't even talk about J.T. Miller, by the way, today. I meant to. we'll be able to just save that one for next week I would imagine

don't forget to subscribe to the athletic hockey show on YouTube that of course is YouTube.com forward slash at sign the athletic hockey show that way you don't have to sort through all of Sean's YouTube mall appearances make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast platform and if you're not a subscriber and you don't want to listen to ads subscribe to the athletic for just $2 a month when you visit The Athletic

com forward slash hockey show. We're back next week with Phoenix Copley. Goalie season, baby. Happy New Year. It's interesting to see if Phoenix Copley has the net all to himself, basically, 10 days from now. You'll find out. We shall see.

Great story, though. Seems like a good dude.