The Athletic Hockey Show - Is the Montreal Canadiens hot streak sustainable?

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

The playoff picture continues to be fascinating in the Eastern Conference, Sean, Frank and Sean discuss the red hot Habs and why they might be the real deal. The guys talk about the Senators, Rangers and Bruins who have picked up their game to stay in the race, nachos on the ice in Edmonton and the surprising resurgence of Pierre-Luc Dubois and they look at possible destinations for JT Miller, who continues to be on the trade block in Vancouver. Hosts: Sean Gentille and Sean McIndoeWith Frank CorradoExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What up, what up? It's the Athletic Hockey Show Wednesday edition. I am Sean Gentilly. I am joined by Sean McIndoo and Frankie Carrado. Today, we're talking more J.T. Miller Trade drama. J.T. Miller Trade stuff four days after, it seemed like we were at critical mass, but it's still a talking point. We're going to talk about other players who've fallen out of favor a bit might pop up on the trade deadline radar.

We're certainly going to talk about nachos on the ice in Edmonton and Alda went with that. But first, the game I chose to watch last night more than all the other ones. Montreal versus Tampa Bay Lightning. I turn it on ESPN Plus. I hear our boy Frankie Carrado on the call. I'm never aware of his schedule because it seems like it seems like it's completely chaotic and changes every week. It was fun to hear a familiar voice on the other end of the television screen. What's up, brother?

What's going on, boys? And something I couldn't do in last night's broadcast, I have to address very early in this show. I did Eric Engels wrong. I did him dirty, and I will tell you the story because, listen, you just talked about my schedule. It's crazy. We also have two, you know, 10-month-old twins at home, so there's a little bit of sleep deprivation happening. But here's what happened. when the habs got into their playoff spot initially about a week ago,

I sent him a DM on Twitter. And I just said, Money Puck has the Habs, 36% chance of making the playoffs. And then I was kind of cute with it. I said, Frankie Puck has him at 42. I said, what does Engels Puck have them at? Dot, dot, dot. And we had like a six-part conversation.

You know, we've sent like six messages back and forth, right? And for some reason, I completely erased that from my memory and completely forgot that it happened. And yesterday, I had a day off, or two days ago, I had a day off here in Montreal. And I went on Arpin and Mark Antoine's podcast. And I completely threw Engels under the bus and say that I texted Engels and I sent him this message and he big-legged me and we didn't have the conversation. Like it completely ceased to exist in my brain. And so I got to say, Engels, you're better than that. I'm better than that.

Sorry, buddy, you would never big league me. And of course, I can't say it on the broadcast last night because we work for different shops here in Canada. But I just had to get that out in the open, our pal Eric Engels. What happens if you mention a Sportsnet personality or property or report on TSN? I think, is it like a buzzer? Is it like Gino Redda and Vic Router come down? down there and just beat the wheels off you. Habs are seven, two, and one in their last 10, man.

So I don't know, I don't know what that does for, because they won last night, late goal by Jake Evans to break a tie. I don't know what that does for the Frankie Puck numbers. Are we up to, are we up to 45? What is that two? What is that two? 48.5%.

And I'm going to try and make a believer out of DGB. That is my goal. And listen, if you, believer now, they're 13, 3 and 1 over their last 17. I mean, since the middle of December, no one's scoring more per game than these Montreal Canadians. It is crazy the turnaround that they've had. And I go back to one quote. Marty St. Louis got a lot of quotes. He's really good that way. He loves talking hockey. But I go back to one earlier in the season where things were

really bad defensively. They were struggling. And someone asked him something. I can't remember the specific question, but the answer was, we are not looking for a Band-Aid solution. We want to go through this process the right way so that we can be sustainably successful coming out of it. And I can honestly say that that was the right thing to say, but they've actually implemented it because they're good and they're playing good and there wasn't a Band-Aid solution at the time, but they've been through the, it feels like they've been through the downside, they've been through the muck and they've come out of it on the other side better than ever. That's impressive. Frankie, would you say you're pointing to the scoreboard right now when it comes to

the Canadians? That is inspiration for an article for you. I think I deserve some credit for that because I texted you that. Things hockey players do that undoubtedly will bite them in the ass

and that is one of them. It's going to be like things that backfired most dramatically on players after they did them and it's going to be going back the whatever, the maroons. It's going to be going back

120 years. It's going to be a list of 14 things, 11 of them are going to be about the Leafs. And yeah. Yeah. So the Jack Guy, when was that? That was three days ago, I guess. That was Saturday.

Okay, here's, here's an interesting thing about that. That was on Saturday. Okay, so it's three nothing Canadians. Reeves wants to fight Jackai. Jackai doesn't want to give him the fight, which I can understand. Like, that's a battle that Marty St. Louis has been kind of working on with Jackai. Find the right time. Pick your spots.

You know, like be more calcul. in how you do these types of things. And so for me, like, I'm a big fan of Arbor Jack guy. I appreciate what he brings. But that's one where you're not obligated to give Reeves the fight. Because I think Reeves will understand it's a 3-0 game. If the shoe was on the other foot, I'm probably not giving you that fight either, right? But the shoe away, the scoreboard stuff, you got to do without that because

carmically, it came back around, right? Like it did. whether or not Reeves got the fight, he got the desired outcome, which was the momentum swing. And that's the biggest thing that you have to stay away from. It's just a, it's another one of those things where you just, you kind of live and learn as a young player in the league. Toronto ends up one of that game seven three. I don't think, I don't even think I realize that's what the final was. That was, that was more than a swing.

Yeah. Put up the seven unanswered goals. And as I said to you guys, I was, uh, I, I, I, I thought that that was an awful disrespectful thing that he did right up until I saw what he did to Matt Rampey in the next game. And then I thought maybe Ryan Reeves got off a little bit lucky because, yeah. But you know what? You can't go after Matt Rampi. He's a goal scorer now.

He's just, you can't go after the skill guys. Guys, that's where he's soft skill. He's losing, losing fights and scoring goals. This is that that was, this is new Matt, you know what that was? He loses the fight to Jack guy, but the Remedy. The Empire strikes back because he gets the silky backhand. Boo! Bo!

The Empire strikes back. I want to get back to the Habs for a little bit, though, for a second here. Like, we have, so in their last 17 games, that seems like that's when they've really started to heat up. Hudson, 17 and 19. Cofield, 17 and 17 goals among them. You have, Suzuki is also a point per game player. You have Patrick Lina who's been a above point for game player. This is like, this is how it's supposed to look.

Like their best players have been their best players. They've been their most productive, or at least their most productive players, certainly. And I think that's something we haven't always seen from them over the last couple years. And that feels like that's something that's changed where you were for the last 17, 20 games, you can rely on the dudes who are supposed to produce points to produce points. And it's not, it's not just Suzuki carrying or whatever. It's not just one. It's like the four or five big dogs are kind of.

are kind of getting it done. And I think that's the biggest reason that this feels sustainable to me. Because if it's a thing where the best players are the best players, you know, they got to be taken seriously. We're reaching a point where they're legitimately going to make the playoffs. Like there's a very good chance. Like look at all the teams they're in the mix with. They all have issues.

I mean, what's the issues right now with Montreal that you can point to? It's hard to find one. Here's my question. You say it's sustainable. Is Jakub Dhab is sustainable? Well, I mean, not at, what is he, 950 or 930? The 23-year-old third-string goalie who shows up and suddenly turns into Kendra. When is that ever, when is that ever falling apart after 12 games?

Well, last night, Levy Merrilline, and there's a good example of the guy. Like, you couldn't beat him, right? And then last night, he lets in, what is it, four goals he lets him. he lets in, but two got taken back. And this was interesting because he got pulled after a goal that got disallowed. Yeah. Which is interesting. You rarely see that.

In fact, I've seen games where a goal, he gives up a bad goal, but it's being reviewed. And you can tell, like, if the goal counts, he's getting yanked. But if the goal comes back, because, I mean, in theory, it's like, well, he only gave up two goals. You look at the box score. You're like, did he get hurt? Why would they yank him after two goals? but you're making the, if you're Travis Green,

you're making the decision based on what you're seeing in front of you and you've seen them give up four goals. The fact that it got off on a technical out, like an offside reviews, which are all garbage and shouldn't be in the game. I mean, that's, you still,

he still gave up the goal. So I actually like that from Travis King, even though I saw some people kind of going, like, how do you pull a guy after a goal that doesn't even count? No, I completely agree. And as much as it's pulling the goaltender, think about this. If it's four goals that goes in, you pull your goaltender, hard for your team to make a comeback at that point, right? Like, you're still going to send the message to the group, not good enough. But it's almost like, it's almost like a bit of a freebie for Travis Green in the sense that you got the effect of letting in four, but you only let in two. And now you're going to pull the goalie, hopefully wake up your team a little bit. And it's not as insurmountable of a hill to climb. But that wasn't like they just, they couldn't get it going after that. And it was one thing after the other. and they were passing up shots and Brady Kachuk is cold right now.

Like he was frustrated trying to go at it with Shasturkin a little bit. Like he pushes him into the net. I mean, it's just, it's one, it's been an emotionally charged time for Ottawa. Like they had that really bad stretch where, um, they were on the road. They came home. They got waxed by Buffalo for nothing. And then they bounced back. So like good, you know, emotional comeback for them.

This is your letdown game. Now they have a massive game against Boston. coming up tomorrow. And they got to have that same kind of emotion, passion, energy that they had Saturday because that was like a playoff game. Like that was the Ottawa senators kind of saying, like we are ready to go toe to toe to stay in the playoff mix and be a playoff team.

And this is what playoff hockey is all about. It had that feel clear. That was them saying, we're ready for the playoff mix. And it was the Bruins going, eh, we're maybe not. Yeah. I just say one thing.

One last thing quick on the Schisturkin. the Brady Kachuk thing. I'm usually not like a huge fan of goalies going after players where you know, like, you know, you're sitting, you've got a mask and a sumo suit on and you know your teammates aren't going to let anyone touch you and all this. So it's, it's easy to go after someone. But I got to say, you know, Brady Kachuk can be a bit of an agitator sometimes. I think we would all agree. If you're going to go after a guy, putting your entire gigantic glove trapper over his head is an is an a plus troll move. That is one that other goalies, forget the blocker punch or whatever else. Just putting your giant, ridiculous size of the whole net trapper over somebody's head is, uh, that, that was

like a classic big brother's settle down move. And I appreciate. Yeah. You want to hear something disgusting. So that brings up like a disgusting minor hockey memory where like, you know, when you're like 10 years old, you're a shit, right? Like we all were. Yeah, yeah, when you're 10. When you're 10s, definitely. When you were like you're and guys would like guys would be talking in the dressing room and some little head would come up from behind you with your his jock in his hand and go joxygen and just smash it right up against your face and give you joxygen and that that kind of reminds me of that. I, I have nothing to basis on but I'm just going to say I feel like Frankie here is like protecting his sources. I don't think that's a 10 year old thing. I feel like that was the Leafs room.

back in the day. And I'm trying to figure out was it Kessel? Like, was it... Could you imagine doing that in an NHL room? Like, imagine, imagine J.T. Miller and Elias Pedersen right now. Maybe that's the problem. I was just about to say, maybe

we have our hot lead on what the hell happened one time six years ago and they've never been able to get past it. Man, they can hold a grudge with the best of them. But... Oh, my God. So think... We're going to talk. We're going to talk about that the knucks more

for sure. That's that's common. We'll get into that. But lost in that, you know, we talked about the Ottawa point of view. The Rangers are playing much better hockey now. Like after a three and ten December, things have calmed down a little bit. And with Truba out and Borgon and Vakoninan in, it's like you have two guys, like it gives you an extra NHL body. Right. So like Ruiz down, Mancini, who's pretty good actually. He's down. And those two Borgon and Vacaninan play together, they're pretty steady, they're pretty solid. Like, it's a little bit of a stabilizing pair for them. And they've made some lineup adjustments that have kind of helped things, right?

Like, they've moved, they've moved Crider away from Zabanajad, which was always, like, they always played together and it was tough to find a third guy that could play with them, right? Like Vitrano had some success playing there, but he's long gone. And so they've had to find solutions, as well as playing better defensively, like making life easier for Shisterner. and it's still a work in progress, but they're not completely out of the mix now,

which makes things interesting because there's still that thought that, hey, the Rangers could still pop off and turn into the team they were last year. They're right there. They have 50 points, and you mentioned Shasturkin doing the sumo act earlier. I mean, part of that's because he's feeling himself.

He's playing well. Our guy is undefeated in regulation in 2025, six starts, It's 5-0-1-9-43 save percentage. He's got shutouts in consecutive games. Like that, to me, you know, of course, it's important to have another legit defenseman in the mix. And at some points the Bannajad or Crider or some combination thereof is going to have to get their act together. But, man, life's a lot easier when your Vezna caliber goalie is looking like a Vesner caliber goalie.

And all of a sudden, man, they're 50 points. They've jumped ahead of some teams in the wild card race. you know, they're obviously not where we thought they were going to be, but they're at least looking a little bit more like themselves. Yeah. Yeah. And like Schisturkin is always going to be the most important player on that team. He's always going to be the most valuable. But like you can't put it all on on him. It can't all be on his shoulders. They've done a better job. And like that was like I called their game Sunday in Montreal. And they gave up four separate leads in that game. So they're still a work in progress. Like they're not perfect yet. But that was an. nice bounce back for them going back on home ice and, um, you know, they, they've been a victim of the schedule a little bit too. They were, they were out west. Montreal was out west. Like, they're, it's kind of tough to, to handle, you know, the energy levels right now. And it's pretty interesting, actually, what's going on here. Um, yesterday. They didn't have a team morning skate

coming off of a day off, which is becoming a little more popular now, but like, it's not that long ago that that was sacrilege. You just never happen. If it, if it was a day. off. Everyone's on the ice in the morning. And it ended up being a slow first period for them. But they found a way like the, I think more teams are going to go to this where it's like just whatever you need to get yourself ready for the game, by all means, go ahead and do it. Like we're, we're going to empower you.

And it's just not something that would typically happen previously. And we should say six teams within two points for those two wild card spots. And the schedule is starting to balance out. one game difference, you know, this isn't, we don't have to get too far down the points percentage rabbit hole. But just worth mentioning, even though it's early, Rangers pretty decent lead in the regulation wins. So if it comes down to tiebreakers, looks like the Rangers are going to be the team. So, I don't know. Doesn't it feel like we could, we're going to spend the entire middle portion of the season talking about, oh my gosh, look at Ottawa.

Okay, Detroit's unbeatable now. And we're going to get to the end and it's going to be the Rangers and the Bruins stay in the two spots. I'm trying. I'm trying not to do that. I also just generally, I don't want our show to turn into like 25 minutes of like, here's the Eastern Conference wild card standings. Because we could do that conceivably every week. It changes that much. Like even now.

Also, all those teams are playing like, okay. Like if you start at the top from Ottawa and go all the way down to even Philly, who's six in the wild card standings. These teams are all above 500, basically, in their last 10 games and, you know, banking more points than they're losing. So when that's going on, we could talk about this for 25 minutes every week, and, you know, it'd be easy, but it's also, it seems pointless. I'm with you completely. What's the point? There's not enough Leafs talk in the wild card. I'm with you, man.

This is, that's not what the people want. I think it'd be really easy to just talk about the bottom of the Eastern Conference so I can lean back and talk about the. about the penguins since that. Well, how about this? Do we need to bring it up that Gentilly was always a believer in PLD? I can't believe we're 18 minutes into the show and no one's brought this up, that Gentilly always believed in PLD and it was everyone else's fault. It was all the other coaches.

It was all the other teams. And now, how about your guy PLD getting it done for the Washington Capitals who have won five in a row and beat the Edmonton Oilers last night? Oh man. Let's save that for after the break because I think we're going to talk about Edmonton a lot. There's been there's been some stuff that's happened there over the last four days culminating last night with the PLD breakout and some stuff getting thrown on the ice. Let's save that for after the break. We'll be back with more. It's Mac and do. It's Crowado, it's and Tilly. All right, fellas, we had plenty of reasons to watch Oilers Caps last night. This is in Edmonton. We knew that a certain superstar player was going to be out of the lineup.

We knew that these are two, I think, if not a leap, then certainly close to it, teams over the last few months. We got a little extra, though. It wasn't just great teams. It wasn't just what do the Oilers do without 97. We saw some nachos thrown on the ice during a breakaway. Corey Perry skates past them, maybe is assisted by the nachos, beats Logan Thompson.

Washington comes back and gets this stuff together. They end up winning 3-2. How offhand, what are the other food items you can remember getting tossed onto the ice during an NHL game? I think I have a few. I mean, the waffles are the classic. Sure. I don't know if it counts as a food item, but they threw a live chicken on the ice in L.A. once. A live chicken?

A live chicken wearing a cape. Come on. I mean, how somebody got that into the arena. And the crazy thing is, you can find the clip on YouTube, they didn't stop the play for like a long time. Like an awkwardly long, I don't know how much it was, but when you see a live chicken hit the ice, you know, time starts to slow down. And they went like back and forth up the ice a couple of times. Yeah, he was wearing a purple cape, like L.A. King's Purple. So.

Holy smokes. If they got a hold of him, he was going to be pregame meal for the next game. Exactly. Yeah. Jesus. Do you guys remember when the Bakersfield condors in the A brought a condor onto the eyes for some kind of pregame? How could you forget that? That's when,

that's back when they were in the East Coast Hockey League and they brought the condor out and it got loose. It got away. This is 2013. Okay. So it was, it was, it was, it was in the ECHL. Yeah. I mean, whatever. Condors are condors, you, you can't eat a condor.

I feel like you would end up in federal prison. I mean, you're hungry enough. It has to be. Yeah. It would be the best NHL team for that to happen to to bring the, like, would it be the penguins? Like, you know, have some penguins sprinting up. Oh, it would be the red wings.

It would be a nice, a nice grilled octopus. Little, little appetizer. Nice Italian restaurant. You get the grilled octopus with some nice live oil. Those things are smart, man. That thing, that thing gets loose. You're going to be, man, maybe that's my new movie. That'll be my, uh, my sudden.

death sequel is an octopus gets loose in Detroit. Definitely. I've definitely developed. I've developed issues eating cephalopods like like squid and whatever else because they are smart. They have like executive function in their brain. Anytime that happens, if it's like, I'm not going to stop eating pork. But if I, if I were a softer person, I would stop eating pork because pigs are because

pigs are smart. Is that your rule? Like if it can open a jar, you're out on. Pigs. If pigs didn't have clove and hooves, they could certainly open a jar. That is, that is, that is a fact. I'm sure, I'm sure the octopus survived the deep friar and is just, just waiting to make a comeback. The same way, it's waiting to make a comeback the same way that PLD is making a comeback this year.

Hell yes, brother. Wow, look at this guy. This is, this is an instance where us getting forced to do goofy stuff in the preseason actually helps. It's very rare, very rare. Like I feel like I've never been correct on a preseason pick for an award or the Stanley Cup or what have you. Preseason, we had to pick out, we had to do one bold prediction for each team. I got saddled with the caps and the Panthers, which was, you know, Panthers was rough. I'm not, I'm not going to bring up what I said for them.

It was a whiff on my part. Washington, PLD, 70 plus points, and he establishes himself or reestablishes himself as, you know, a top six player on a good team. I'm not sure if I believed it, but the point is it was published. It was, it made it to eyeballs. And I have been vindicated thus far. He's been good. Point per game player since December 6th. He's got 38 on the season.

So we're right there in the 70 point range, as I said. Underlying numbers are good. Actual goals percentage and expected goals percentage at 5 on 5 or right around 60, which is killer. He's been a big part of what they've done. And he had a goal and an assist last night. So that's why we're talking about him specifically. But yeah, I mean. He finishes with exactly 70 points.

That will be one of the all-time great preseason prediction. I'm ready for it. I'm going to eat out on that for the next five years. You can't, you can't be mad at me. Dude. You can't. doubt me because I'm the dude who said that PLD was going to have 70 points or whatever ahead of ahead of the 24 25s. Dude, you got to get like years ago. I predicted Joel Hanley would score his first

career goal in his 100th game and he did. And like I had like Dallas fans were flipping out. Like, you know, it happened at like one in the morning. So I didn't even see it in my time. But they were, they were losing it. I still bring that up constantly, including right now. Don't ask me about any other prediction I've made in the last few years. Don't ask me how the Connor Bredardt, P. Chase is going, don't ask me any of that. You get one right. You just plant the flag and you're all set for life.

Man, I got to just say something. Like, you have some obscure references and, you know, the history of the game, you have that locked in. But the fact that you had a Joel Hanley goal prediction is just wild to me. Like, there's so many

players in the NHL that you would think of before Joel Hanley. Like, I don't even know how you, you know It was because at the time I looked it up and he was the, he led the NHL among active players in most games played without a goal. So that was, I said, we got to get this guy off, you know, off the goose egg. And I picked literally picked the exact game that he was going to do it. That is, that is unbelievable. Because he's also one of those guys that shut up about it would never play.

Like he's, oh, and it was a lineup guy. It was a terrible goal too. It was like he just threw it at the net. She goes. I guess that was the 2020. I predicted one scoring play. I mean, Sean,

your prediction is literally 70 times better if you, if you nail this one. I'm a genius. Let's, okay, let's, let's talk about PLD a little bit. What were all the reasons coming into this where,

coming into this season, to think that that wasn't going to work? And whatever, it's January 22nd. So I don't need to, I don't need to do. I don't mean to do the Arbor's rec guy, you know, scoreboard point here because there's, it feels like there's plenty of miles, there's plenty of miles to go.

But I, you know, the, what, what he's brought is also, it, those points aren't going to uncount. Those are in the bank. I'm closer to being right than wrong. Well, I think that's fair. The way replay review works, don't hold your breath. They could, they could expand it and go back and. Or when the NHL decides to do their next stats audit, right? Remember the stats audit last year?

I still can't believe that happened. I think we're coming up on the one year anniversary of that. That's still just one of the wildest things. Yeah, out of nowhere, just boom, stats audit. The thing with PLD, it's interesting because you got to remember, this is a guy that was a third overall pick. So he never should have been going through what he's been through. And I will say, like, a lot of that, he's brought it on himself,

like didn't want to play in Columbus. Everyone remembers hashtag the shift where he got isocammed and didn't take a hard stride. Like, you know, this kind of stuff has followed him everywhere to the point where last year in L.A., was it Rob Blake had to go on the ice with this guy and show him stuff? And like, that is completely unheard of. So, like, he's obviously been through it, but a lot of it was his own doing. And this was, when you go through all that, you kind of get to the point where, it's like it's last chance university, man. Like you got to make something happen because there's going to be less and less teams willing

to pay the appropriate currency to acquire you and bring you in and trust you with their group and all that kind of stuff. And he's held up his end of the bargain. I think Spencer Carberry deserves a lot of credit for what he's done with that group as a whole. But obviously how he's been able to communicate with PLD and get the most out of him, he's done something right. The fact that he's been playing with Tom Wilson all year long seemingly has to have made a difference. The one word, if you had to say there's one word to describe PLD this year, it's engaged.

He is completely engaged where in the past you felt like he would float in and out of that word. And that hasn't been the case. He has been engaged start to finish. Which has got to be frustrating as hell for all the other teams that tried to light a fire under this guy. But you know what I noticed? Because he normally when we're, if you're talking about a guy gets traded, I mean, barely even got traded. He got salary dumped. And then he goes on and has a great year.

And he looks engaged and he looks like all the things you're supposed to be. We'd all be pointing fingers at his old team, except the Kings are also having a great season. You know who else is having a surprisingly good season? Like if you were going to rank the teams that are having the best seasons based on expectations, obviously Washington is at the top. LA's right there. Columbus has been a great story we've talked about. And the Winnipeg Jets still,

you know, still burning it up in the Central. That's all his old teams. What's going on? And probably fifth would be Montreal, which is the team we've all been linking him to forever. This is the Pierre-Luc de Blas season. Everything he touches turns to gold.

He is the guy. He is like the everything, when I've got like my big, you know, bolden board with the entire league all mapped out and all like red strings going from the, it all goes back. to PLD. He is the center

point of this entire season. It's pretty wild. It just felt like the right match. It just felt like the right match a player in team to some extent too because the caps are desperate for another top six center who is in the right age range and whatever. And Dubois was desperate

for a team that was willing to be like, yes, fine, you are a top six center because that's not an easy match. Not a lot of people were going to add Pierre-Luc Dubois's contract and be, you know, give him the minutes that he needed to produce. And that's what, that's what's happened here. He's been a, he's been a good NHL player. Let me ask you something. Yeah, go ahead.

Off the top of your head, right? Like, if you think back at all the moves that were made this off season, where does the PLD one rank? Like, I can think of, PLD has to be up there. Jacob Markstrom has to be up there. Line A should be up there. Logan Thompson, you know, even Chickren. Like, there's three moves. by the Washington capitals that... Manji Apolli. Monji Apolli has been relevant too. Right.

Like, for sure. Like, helps the team for sure, but to a lesser extent than the grand scope of the other moves that were made around the NHL. But, like, if you're ranking, like, the top five best moves that were made in the offseason, it's like, in no order,

PLD, Thompson, Markstrom, line eight, and I would say Chris Tanev with the Leafs, like the impact that he's had is, it's undeniable. I mean, that's pretty good work for an offseason. But here's the other thing. If you just, if you step back from a lead perspective,

that PLD trade, hey, he's been great in Washington. He's been fantastic. Go back to L.A. and say, do you want to do over? Nope.

No, thank you. We are completely, they're totally happy with how that trade worked out. Washington's, I mean, LA got a goaltender.

Darcy Kappar's been very good this year. Washington lost a goaltender, so they had to go out and get Logan Thompson. That's worked out. Like, This is one of those rare moves where you look back and both, it's a 10 out of 10 for both teams, which almost never happens.

Yeah, because when Dubois goes in the tank next season and is back to looking like the guy we saw in L.A. or whatever, then we can say, hey, both teams, both teams won.

But the important thing, is that he's, is that a prediction in the next preseason? The important thing is that he's been good this year. And that's all the matters. It wasn't bold predictions for the next two seasons. That, that bold.

prediction article next year you better be doubling down on that yeah i'm the leading source for d ld predictions he's going to win the art ross next year clearly that's that's my next move we want to talk about j t md real quick because because we have been teasing it um we know what happened over the weekend bunch of drama it seemed like a trade between the rangers and the kinnucks was at the finish line saturday he ends up playing you know kind of interestingly and then the deal the deal doesn't get done hasn't gotten done um it certainly seems like it is going to get done or it's it's it's still tracking that way right so there's a piece on the site it's up right now it was harmon and harman and shana put it together just trying to find uh trying to find trade partners

for for j t miller if it if it's not um if it's not new york who might it be uh let's let's let's land him somewhere. And let's not think about viability of it all that much. We don't, we don't know who exactly is in and what the packages are. Let's just find a team where we want him to land. Let's all, and let's all pick one. This is a, this is a fun game. Okay. All right. Let me just start by saying the package that the Rangers were rumored to have offered to the Canucks, I can totally understand why the Canucks don't make that deal. Like, Philippe-Heedal, good player, but a lot of red flags with the concussion history. And what is Ryan Lindgren going to do for the Canucks?

that they don't already have. Like, they need, they need someone who can move the puck with a little more upside, ideally on the right side. So I completely understand why that deal doesn't happen. If I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, what is a good situation for J.T. Miller? Where can he add the most value to a group? The Rangers would be up there. But boy, imagine going Ajo, Miller, stall down the middle of the ice. I mean, that's got to be the most enticing one.

And very interesting because everyone kind of has bought into what Carolina's doing. And Rod runs a ship where it feels like, you know, everyone just kind of puts the team ahead of themselves. That would be an interesting one. I think that's my pick for ideal landing spot. And you know what? Just as you said that, when you mentioned Rod Branden-Bor, my first thought was that's the coach who's going to, whatever is going on with Jay. T. Miller in the rooms or whatever behind the scenes, that that's the guy who will stamp it out. But then my second thought was, if Rick Tocket couldn't do it.

Rick Tock, it sounds like he's tired of all this now. Maybe not. Because, yeah, Brindamore is the most intense guy, but Talkett would be right there as, as number two. So I don't know. I'm still going Rangers. I think it's just, you know, sometimes the obvious pick is obvious for a reason. I think that given the Rangers level of maybe desperation, although, now, like, are we getting close to the part where the Rangers go, we don't want to break up a group that's doing well?

I don't know. But if we're saying the Rangers is too obvious, give me a backup of another team that should be desperate, which is Boston. And I don't think it would be a good move for them. I think it would be a desperation trying to, you know, if not save jobs, safe seasons, sort of moved by Don Sweeney and Cam Neely in that group. But they need a center. Yeah. They thought they got one in the offseason and they didn't. So let me ask you this, just to follow up on that,

what the hell do the Bruins have to give up to get J.T. Miller? They, like, I've been saying all along, pending UFA, Brad Marchand to Vancouver. They would love that, wouldn't they? He just walks in the door. Hey, guys. What's up? You guys remember me?

Remember me? The cupboards are bare. I don't know the pick situation off the top of my head. I can't imagine there, there's a ton there. that would even entice. And if you're a Vancouver, why do you want to pick anyways? You need players that are going to help you now.

It has to be somewhat indicative of a hockey trade. I just, yeah, it makes sense. Every Bruins fan wants to know if you want Elizland home back right about now. Yeah. That's something we can do. What about Poitris and Brandon Carlo to Vancouver? Does that get it done? Is that too much if you're Boston?

Like, do you want to give up Poitres? Because that seems like that's what they have to offer, basically, unless you assume that picks are kind of in play. They're almost like Boston's on this teetering point. I know it's not a Bruins chat, but it's like they're on this teetering point where if they kind of double down one more time and it doesn't go well,

they're kind of staring down the barrel of what Pittsburgh's going through. Yep. You know? Yeah, what do you do with? And you have a whatever, you have a, you have an old Grand Prix with with with with with really really nice hubcaps right like with with David with David with David Posternak you have suit you have really sweet rims on an on an old hoopty it's or like the Ferrari parked out in front of the out that out in front of the out in front of

dude it's like I'll take it one step further it's the guy with the Honda's the old like 2004 Honda Civic but he's got the Ferrari bumper sticker on it yeah like a really really sick sound system. Like, okay. All right. What's your team, Gentilly? Dallas, baby.

Let's make it happen. They got the money to spend because they have Sagan on LTIR. They have enough youngish guys to make it work. You know, Maverick work maybe, someone like that. I'm certain, I'm certain Miller would accept the trade to Dallas.

That seems like a place he'd be happy to play. Here's my question on that one. Because you're right. They have the cap space with Tyler Sagan. And we all know there's a lot of years left on that contract. But you got Jamie Ben coming off the books. True. So you can you can accept that contract for future years.

But does that signal, you make that trait, does that signal that Jamie Ben's not coming back? And what the hell does that do to your room when, you know, your captain, the guy who's been there forever, even if it's just a perception that this guy's coming in and taking his spot. it's a good point. It's actually a really good point because he's he's been like the the heartbeat there for a long time. And think about what, you know, a couple years ago when Wyatt Johnston comes into the league, you know, what that does to inject life into Jamie Ben's game, right? And it feels like he's found an extra gear like a little bit of the fountain of youth. But if it does happen with Dallas, you know, Dallas is a deep team for sure. Does this put, you? you over the top where you're like, okay, now Dallas is not only a deep team, but they have the superstar power to beat the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs. Yeah, Dallas, you trade for J.T. Miller, go win a Stanley Cup and then trade him again. Why does that never happen? Why is that never part of the conversation? That might be. I mean, we, not to go crazy on one game, but, you know, we saw J.T.

Miller go up against the Oilers heavyweights on Saturday. And I know he's been, Vancouver for a long time now. That's the other part of this that I always forget how long J.T. Miller has been of Vancouver Canuck. It's been years and years and years. And I think part of that is in play when we talk about what the hell has gone on, you know, with the overall vibe there is, you know, it takes a while to create a situation that seems like it's this far beyond repair. Right. So there's a lot of history with whatever's gone on with those guys with with those guys there. But I'll take J.T. Miller for. for four months. Absolutely. That's the thing right there. For a playoff, Jake's. That's exactly it. Okay.

So like a lot, dressing room drama. We know it's there. We know it's real. But when you get traded and now you're in a new room, you don't start, like, you don't get involved in the drama. You don't start barking at guys, you know, your first week or two weeks or even month there. You're the new guy.

You got to feel things out. You got to get like, you know, accustomed to the room. So. In a short spurt, I'm actually not so worried about where J.T. Miller goes, whether it's the Rangers or Carolina or Dallas, because at that point, you're the new guy. Like, everything's been established there. You're taken out of what you were doing in Vancouver, and now you're blending in. But over the long haul, you know, you sink your teeth into what's happening and, you know, who knows where it goes from there. You know, like so it's always that delicate balance, but over the short period of time, there's just no one walks into a dressing room in the NHL like a bull in a China shop causing problems. It just doesn't. Like, you can't happen.

Not even, not even J.T. Miller, which is, it can't happen. It can't, you can't walk in there and look at Meryl Hayskin and say, what the hell was that on the back check? You just can't do it. And you could he do it in a place like New York where they might want him to do that? Perhaps. Perhaps. You know, if the coach kind of gives him the nut. But I'll just say this, Sean, you said four months of J.T. Miller and then move on in the summer if you need to.

The problem with that is if he goes somewhere and it doesn't work, there might not be moving on because there's no market anymore. And now you're stuck with him for, what has he got, four or five more years. I was thinking that when I looked at this post that's up where, again, this is on the athletic. It's a little bit of a deeper look at, you know, what a trade to these various teams would look like that involve JT. Miller. That was my exact thought, man. I, I thought he was a year further into his contract, frankly, than he is, right? He's not. Like, yeah, it was one of those extensions that took a year to kick in. I don't know if this is the worst possible thing for Vancouver to have to trade this guy during, during, during, uh, January of, or whatever, January, February 2025. Yeah, like he's, his value is

still high enough. And I've said that if I was, if I was Rutherford or all, I would be playing this up of, God, we really don't want to move this guy. Gosh, you guys really have us over a barrel. It'd be a shame if we had to move. And then hope that some GM comes along thinking he's taking advantage of you. And you let him take that contract. I know, I know it. He's, he's Miller for the first couple years of that since he signed that deal has been full value plus plus.

Absolutely. And this year even, you know, for eight million. Maybe in the cap goes up and, you know, second line centers making eight plus is, fine, but it has, there is an underrated potential for this to go very bad. And I think getting out from under that risk for Vancouver is not the worst thing in the world. I think he signed through to just for people who, you know, we haven't gotten the specifics of this. He's signed through 2030 for $8 million a year. Like we're in easy and he's already into his 30s. So we're a year and half away from not just like how much can they get for J.T. Miller. Let let the J.T. Miller sweepstakes

begin. This is like how much do they have to, how much do they have to eat to send him out? There's like door number two where that where this contract ages like milk. And in 2026, we're talking about them having to retain and send him out for nothing. It's almost like with him on the market now, you're selling him as the guy last year, like the 103 point guy last year. Now, we all, we all mentioned teams there. Okay. So we know the deal that was rumored with the Rangers where it was like Heidel Lindgren. We're not going to get into the picks because, you know, everyone will come to the table with the picks, but, you know, if you just talk about the specific players that could be involved, the comparable packages, right, between all three of those teams.

So if it's Heedle and Lindgren from the Rangers, you know, and then you mentioned Maverick Bork, let's say it's Maverick Bork and like Nils Lundqvist for Dallas, or it's Kotkenymi and could it be Jalen Chapfield? Like, are those all three comparable deals? which one is the one that you would say that's the one is more likely to entice the Vancouver Canucks I think if on Vancouver I'm taking the Rangers deal on that one. Really? Out of those three?

Because Heedles is the better set like Heedle's the best centerman. I mean, Bork's a winger, but... I'm not a I'm not a Cockneyami guy. I see those. The cats out of the bag on Kotkenyemi. At least if Heedle, like if Heedle's healthy, he's a pretty, like he's a good player. For me, it's just the health. The other thing is, you know, Frankie, you said, don't worry about the draft picks. But if there's a first round pick coming, I still want the Rangers pick here.

And apparently, you know, according to Drance, that may have been the holdup or that may have been what. Protection. What ended up is, you know, how high can they go on the protection? And, you know, if I'm Vancouver and I can get probably not an unprotected first, but if I can get a first, it's not, you know, top 15 or top 10 protected. Like, let's just get this done. For God's sake. If Vancouver can get a defenseman that they think can play, boy, like, if you

watch the Canucks, man, they have a hard time moving that puck when Hughes is not on the ice. So much so now that they have to have Heronic on a different pair. And that was one of the best D pairs in the NHL last year. And it's actually a shame that they have to break it up because if they just, they need, they need more of an ability to move the puck. It's been a slog. That was the biggest reason to love that contract.

Aside from him playing well, just overall, you're like, this guy can play with Hughes for the next eight years, like, set. We're good. And now situations have dictated that they shuffled it back up hard times. All right. I think that's it for the three of us, at least. Me and Mackin, we'll be back in a second. Frankie, where are you this week? I know you were in a hotel room in Montreal right now, but is there?

another game in your future here. Yeah, boys. Flying to Detroit today, we got the wings and the Habs on Thursday at Little Caesar's Arena. And I am going to tell you right now, I will be indulging in that medium meal once again. Let's go, baby. Count the slices. Yeah, a couple slices of- We love cheap, mediocre pizza. Let's go. Stay away from the octopus, man. I won't be having the grilled octopus, but Little Caesar's pizza, as far as like those chain fast food pizza places, right up there. I love Little Caesar's pizza. So good. Oh, man. We can table this discussion for a 25 minute segment in the future. Maybe we got to

have that at some point. Slow day, we'll get into the Little Caesar's. That's the week after the trade deadline. Just let me know if they have the crazy puffs on the press level. Text me. Let me know how that's going. So they haven't had those yet. They look sick. take a look. I want the review.

Take it easy, bud. We'll talk you next week. See you, boys. Sean McIndoo, we are back. What have you learned this week? What have we learned, Sean? I learned something really interesting. I learned that when an Edmonton Oiler gets suspended,

the Edmonton Oilers don't like that. And I wouldn't have known that if they hadn't been thoughtful enough to put out a statement after Conner-McDavid's suspension saying that they, were disappointed that their 150 point megastar wasn't going to be available. I had no idea. I remember, you know, I'm sure we were all the same. When we saw that, we're like, I wonder how the Oilers feel about this. I wonder if they're happy, excited, melancholy.

No, they're disappointed, turns out. So. I sat on Twitter a statement from the Edmonton Oilers. They're going to be psyched. Yeah. Thank you to the Oilers for putting that statement out there. I did like, you know, reading between the lines. I like how the statement says we share our fans frustration,

which is just kind of like stop calling our head office and, you know, complaining about this. Like we, we hear you. All right. I mean, it's four. It's three games.

It's three games. It's three games. Everybody thought it should be two games. And guess what? The third game is against like Buffalo. So settle down. Two and a half. You're,

you're going to be okay. And I mean, we've seen, who is the last team to get themselves in trouble really complaining? about this. And by the way, I will say I'm a Leafs fan, so I'm not going to, I can't throw any stones about complaining about the Department of Player Safety, but was it the Rangers that like put out the like got themselves fined after the Tom Wilson stuff? That's a good, that's a good quite. That's a good quote. That has to be it. Because like my brain,

of course, immediately went to the, the Penguins Islanders brawl in 2011 where, you know, Trevor Gillies, you know, concussed, poor Eric Tangradian and stood over him like a, like a psychopath and on and on. And Lemieux released a statement after that that people got all. I just got, like, I will admit,

I got excited when I saw, spoiler statement. I was like, here we go. And it was just nothing. Like, I mean, it's like,

if you're going to drop the gloves, throw some punches. You know what I'm saying? Like, don't just hold on and wait for the line's going to jump in. Like this, this was, let's go.

That was my reaction too. I saw people making fun of them for this, which is deserved, by the way, that's corny and the oilers deserve to be ripped for it. But even still, like it wasn't even, it was not, like you said,

man, if you're gonna, if you're gonna drop the gloves, throw some punches. Like, if you're gonna, if you're gonna release that, you know you're gonna get dragged for being corny,

just by virtue of releasing in the first place. You might as well make it count. And I feel like they didn't even do that. Like, it was they were trying to not get fine like I don't know if you're going to in for a penny in for a pound without one that's right

um we've joked about this on the show I think several times or we just refer to the Utah hockey hockey team as the future yeties um because it seemed like a foregone conclusion

that that was going to be the nickname uh I learned that that is not the case we saw a report coming out of Salt Lake City from Ryan Miller, who works for KSL.com. It's a TV station in Salt Lake City all over this, this story he is.

Utah Hockey Club having issues getting the trademark for the Yetis or the Yeti and you can blame, of course, the water bottle company or whatever Yeti is, they make stupid bags that you can take to the beach

and I don't even really know. It's going to cause confusion. just me, me sitting there holding my overpriced water bottle while looking at a Utah Yeti's hockey jersey going, are these the same thing? Can I drink this hockey jersey? I'm so confused. One of the strangest things, because I feel like we're a couple years past the peak of the Yeti brand. I feel like that was something that happened maybe five years ago. One of the strangest things that pop up back then was people putting Yeti bumper stickers on their car. And I remember thinking it was just, weird weird weird weird behavior because again

water bottle company I don't know why you would want it's like you know they're trying to turn into a lifestyle brand and all this stuff

and it like kind of worked you'd see you'd see low end you know land rovers with with with

with it with yet you didn't have to say low end that was that was that's like the kind of that's like the kind of person that's going to put a Yeti bumper sticker on their car

is someone who's ostentatious and, you know, bougy enough to buy a, to buy a land rover, but can't buy one of the really expensive ones. Like, they got to buy whatever the cheapest land rover is

and slap some stupid, overpriced water bottle brand sticker on the back of it. I need, like, a intellectual property lawyer to explain to me why. Apparently, we cannot have, we cannot have the Utah Yetis because it would cause confusion,

because you can't have a water bottle company and a hot, hockey thing having the same name. Meanwhile, I've spent the last year hearing about these damn water bottles called the Stanley Cup, and that's okay. It's because Stanley is such an old-ass company that they've been around for long enough to get Korean father. Probably around the same time.

They might predate intellectual property law because Stanley for a zillionaires has made like hammers. stuff like that. Are they really? Yes. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I have a, I have a, I have a, I have a, I have a, I have a Stanley Hammer in fact, and it is very old. So now, so now you know, I'm actually going to maybe talk to an intellectual property lawyer about this. I have, I have one, I have one, ask him. I have one, ask him her why the Stanley Cup can't turn around and I have one. Let's go. Let's have a trade war between hockey and the water carrying industry. There's going to be some other, like is there is there a mammoth? It's like a, it's like a, mammoth garden hose brand or some other some other bogus thing like that this can throw wrenches and it works for all these for all these names there probably is and like two out of three new NHL nicknames are going to be waylaid by by that's it right hilarious we just have to put a color modifier on everything I don't know I don't understand how yeah I don't understand how it works I'm just mad at myself because I just I use the phrase water carrying industry and I'm going to get a hundred bad media jokes made it uh at my expense and and it's my fault. I cross the blue line with my head down and it's, this is on me. We're already in the water carrying industry.

Maybe they should call the team the Utah athletic and then they can get dumped on. I don't see what the problem would be. That would be fun. Dumped on by the non-alcoholic beer brand. Okay. That's right. That's it for us this week, man. You guys, you're working on anything?

I know you had a post go up today. Yeah, I had to be post. Holy goals, right? Every goal goal goal. Ever scored in. way too much detail. Like this is, I know, like I say,

I ranked every goalie goal and you're like, oh, that's probably a quick 500 words. No. No. It's too much. And I'm already, uh, it's, people seem to be enjoying it. I'm learning something. Did you know that, uh, according to one random person in the comment section, so I'm, you know, I'm assuming it's true.

That Jose Tador's goalie goal was scored on the day Cole Cofield was born. Oh, that's great. Who's that reaction? I almost like I almost threw up. Yeah. That made me, that makes me feel older than I actually am. Oh yeah.

Well, there's that. Yeah. Don't care for it. So I got that and probably bringing the quiz back on Friday. Let's go. And the week on a on a fun note. And by fun, I mean,

I put out a quiz. You get 34% on it and feel bad about yourself. And then I laugh. I get something look forward to. It's on Friday. I have a high school reunion on Friday. Did you go to your 20-year high school reunion? I have not been, I don't think my high school is head reunions.

I certainly haven't been invited to them, so which would be, that would, that would nail my high school experience pretty well if that's what was going on. Specifically asking that you do not attend. Have you been to one of these before? Like, is this like an every five-year thing or is this your first time back? I think, no, I don't know if I went to the 10 one. There was something for the 15th. I don't know if I'm going to go or not. We'll see.

You got to go. I'll be a game 10 decision. Dude, go and bring the Pulitzer and just like walk around. I don't have it. You talk about it. So bring anything. Go to a trophy store and get a bowling trophy and just tell people.

Nobody's seen one of those things. They don't know. Yeah. They're holding an old school typewriter actually. The little figure on top. They used to be round whenever the Pulitzer started. And that's why it looks this way. Yeah, I got an award for my work in the water carrying industry.

Have a good week, folks. Four games a night. Columbus, Toronto, Boston, New Jersey, Winnipeg, Colorado, Florida, L.A. Me and Haley are back tomorrow with a Thursday edition. Frankie, Sean, and I, of course, are back on Wednesday. As always, enjoy the games. Enjoy the next seven days. And we'll talk to you real soon.