The Athletic Hockey Show - Jay Woodcroft out as Oilers head coach, Nikita Zadorov trade request, Connor Bedard’s big weekend, Alexis Lafrenière starting to thrive, and more

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

On today’s Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Julian is joined by guest cohost Mark Lazerus to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the “Lisa on Ice” episode of The Simpsons and discuss the Edmonton Oilers dismissing head coach Jay Woodcroft and replacing him with Kris Knoblach, Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov requesting a trade out of Calgary, Connor Bedard’s big goal-scoring weekend, The Athletic’s revised Stanley Cup picks, and more.Plus, The Athletic’s own Arthur Staple joins the show to talk about the great start to the season for the New York Rangers, Alexis Lafrenière starting to live up to his potential as a former No. 1 pick, injuries to Ryan Lindgren, Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Filip Chytil, a potential encore on Broadway for Patrick Kane, Henrik Lundqvist’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and more.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Welcome everyone to the athletic hockey show, the Monday edition. I'm Julian McKenzie. Ian Mendez is not here because he is lazing on his couch watching The Simpsons. And every good reason for him to do so, because on this day, 29 years ago, the Lisa on Ice episode premiered the hockey one. If you don't remember the titles and all that, it's the hockey episode of The Simpsons. and there might not be a better person to have on today's show in light of today's anniversary than Mark Lazarus.

I always love doing these shows with you, Mark. But on such a historic day in Simpsonsdom, it is perfect that you are here. Oh, Mr. Honey Bunny! I love the fact that you were able to do all these quotes from The Simpsons. I love the Simpsons. It's a great show. It's a brilliant show. The best episode of the – I know you've got to get to the rundown everything, but this is more important.

The best episode of the Simpsons is – his last exit to Springfield, the union episode, the strike episode. It might be the best 22 minutes in TV history. It's that tight. It's that funny. The funniest episode of the Simpsons by far is Lisa on ice. If you've ever been around youth sports parents, if you've ever been around youth sports at all, it is perfect. It's just, it's just historic line after historic line.

People don't realize how almost all of their favorite lines come from that episode. It's not because it's about hockey. It's just that good. Exactly. Also the memes, too. Look, let me get to the rundown first. I'll give you another movie. No, more sense. Screw the rundown. Nobody cares about the run. Here's the thing. Here's a thing. We got stuff we got to get to. I know you got to get. We got to get a moment in on the Simpsons, but it's going to be a pack show today. The Emmington orders are going to come up with Jay Woodcroft out of a job. Chris Knoblock taking his place.

The Nikita's a door off trade story. Trade request, I should say. As far as we know, there's no trade that's been done yet. Connor Bedard, obviously Mark covers him in Chicago. I'd like to see if we can go through the updated Stanley Cup prediction picks that we made and how they've been updated to this point. And Arthur Staples, our New York columnist, does a lot of work on the Rangers. He'll join us at around 315. We'll even tap into our mailbag. By the way, if you ever want to send us anything,

the athletic hockey show at gmail.com. We also take voice messages 845-445-8459. We'll get to, I think there's at least one piece of mail we have in our mail bag here. But Mark, I got to mention here with The Simpsons. Brilliant show, watching the first 10 seasons of that show, some of the grace television never made, the fact that they're

allowed to coast for the next 20 years after that. I mean, I can't even be mad at that. But the fact that Lisa Nice, the fact that the anniversary is today, I, like, I just since I saw that was done, or at least that was out there, I tried to watch some of the episode before I made it home after practice today.

It's just for playing in a perpetual loop in my head. I don't even need to watch. Because I you were going to quote from it and I just felt like damn like I wish I could just like find a way to like catch up to you in quotes like you're your Simpsons fandom I have to say I have to admit it it's it's unmatched for me right now well well you're you got to think you're the same age as that episode you're 29 years old so you're you were you were like seven months old when that show when that episode came out I was 14 I just turned 14 oh my god the golden years of the Simpsons were I was the perfect age for them right I was like 12 13 14 15 16 during those gloriers were just

every episode was just banger after banger after banger and they all still hold up. And it's like, it's like everyone my age, we don't speak English. We just speak in Simpson's references. Like that's all we do. Like, like,

Twitter has become that where it's just like memes. You did gifts. We were doing that before Twitter existed. Like since I was 15 years old, I have only spoken in meme. It's just been all Simpsons and Futurama quotes. So like do you, do when your friends fail at attempts,

do you bake them a cake that says at least you tried? At least I say it at the very least. Every single time my wife, she loves this, by the way, every single time my wife like screw something up or like, you know, burns a piece of toes, I go, way to breathe, no breath. My favorite line ever is Jimbo Jones in the Sell Your Soul episode, Barcells his soul. It's such a stupid line. It's the greatest line I've ever heard. Way to breathe, no breath. I must say that 30 times a day.

Oh, man. Last thing I'll say about the Simpsons, what are the greatest Christmas gifts I ever received? received was a Homer Simpson onesie. I think I wore that at an outdoor, like, festival, like two months before the pandemic. I had finished like my TV job. I finished the shift. Wait, this was as an adult, you had a onesie? Yeah, I still have the onesie. Uh, I still have it. Absolutely. And like three years ago, I had finished a shift at like a TV station I was working at.

And I, for whatever reason, I was still in my like attire. And I didn't have time to change. So to, this was in the middle of February, too. I just put the onesie. suit over my suit. And I was just out there like this like outdoor festival, just like having the time of my life. I love you. You don't understand. Everybody my age went through that thing around like 1990 where all we wore was Bart Simpson T-shirts. Yes. Bart was the start at the start until Homer took over. That's when Conan came on as a writer. He sort of shifted the focus to Homer and that's when the show really took off. But Bart phenomenon early. We all had these like bootleg Bart Simpson T-shirts like, you know, my name is Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you? Eat my shorts. Don't have a cow, man.

and like the schools were like debating whether we'd be allowed to wear them to school and stuff. It was like a whole thing for like a whole year. Okay, let me hit you up with this idea as we transitioned over to actual hockey talk. What if the NHL found a way, you know how they did like the Big City Green game or I think it was on ESPN where you had? That was great actually. That was fun. My kids loved that. Yeah, they animate the characters. What would it take for them to do a Simpsons version of an NHL game?

Kids said they don't watch the Simpsons. It wouldn't land. It would land with people my age, which they don't really need to target 43-year-olds. My kids are just starting to get into the Simpsons. My kids are 11 and 8, and they're starting to like the Simpsons, but some of it's not quite, you know, it's, we watch it occasionally when it's on. But it's like a whole general. It's like people who don't watch like Cheers or Seinfeld anymore. Like, it's too late.

I guess that's fair. I mean, well, I mean, people still watch friends at least. Like, it's. Do you think Jay Woodcroft is basically like the, the, I didn't. do it boy right now. It's going, I didn't do it. I'll tell you what. That is a guy who has all the time in the world to binge Simpson shows now because he is out of a job, which a great job on the segue there. I was trying to do an Ian Mendez

transition there. I don't know if my voice isn't nearly as malifluous as his, but I tried. Malifluous? What is that? Oh, man. He is like, he is like the poster child for a malefluous voice. That guy's voice. I would pay so much money to have that guy's voice. What does Malifluis mean? Like, beautiful, elegant. sounds just soothing to the set to hear so that man was born to do radio so you feel he has that voice but i my voice doesn't have that at all you're fine i'm just fine you're fine to you dude i'm

like abrasive and horrible so fine's not bad okay i can't wait till he comes back let's talk about j woodcrow let's talk about j woodcroft and the fact that he is out of a job but let go over the weekend i mean we all kind of saw this coming after the sanos a loss some people were looking at the video of him and Dave Manson leaving the bench and we're interpreting it as him looking at Dave saying, oh, well, that's probably it after that loss. That's not what he said at all. Like the people are really bad at Librily. I don't think that's what he said, but he still gets one more game.

He coaches against the Seattle Cracken. They win that game. And some people even think that, hey, maybe that's the turning point. Maybe that's what changes the fortunes around for this team. But he's still gone as head coach as we enter Monday. Chris Knoblock who coached in Hartford and once upon a time coached Connor McDavid in the Ontario

Hockey League is his replacement. What did you think of the firing? What did you think of this news? I mean, it felt inevitable. It also felt kind of silly. Like, this is the winningest coach that Edmonton's ever had. Grant, a small sample size,

but all he's done is win there. He's done a good job. He is generally well respected. And if this losing streak happens in January of a season, and they're already in decent standing. Does anybody freak out if they have a rough couple of weeks in January? It's just because it's at the start of the season. This is what hockey does, though, right? You can't fire all the players, so you fire the coach. I don't think most of this is on Jay Woodcroft.

I mean, you have Connor McDavid under a point a game, probably returned too fast from an injury. He's going three straight games without a point. Like, he's clearly not all the way back. There's injuries. There's just horrifically bad goaltending, which is not Jay Woodcroft's fault. No. Look, the Oilers are probably going to be fine. They probably would have bounced back even with Jay Woodcroft, but this is what you do in hockey. Coaches are disposable.

Unless you're like one of those handful of guys like a Barry Trots who can single-handedly transform a team overnight like you did to the Islanders years ago, when they went from the worst defensive team in the league to the best in the span of one season. Most of these guys, I think GMs at the very least, see them as a dime a dozen. They're just kind of like, let's get a new voice in there,

whatever. It's such an improvised sport. The players are just going to go do it. with themselves anyway. I don't know if that's true or not, but I feel that's the way coaches are viewed in the NHL aside from a handful of special ones. Well, I'm sure I'm glad that the Emmington Oilers decided to consult players on this before they made the coaching change. Or did they? Or did they? Can we pull up the clip from the press conference this past weekend where Ken Holland, the GM is talking about it and CEO of Hockey Operations, Jeff Jackson, also

discussed this? I want to know if you pick up on the same vibe that I got from this. The player leadership group come into the conversation where they brought in to discuss potential options for this team moving forward is that something that you guys bring into consideration or have done before I'll let you know because I did talk I have talked over this past week with with some of the veterans on our team I'm not going to tell you what they said I take the information ultimately I have to make I have to make decisions obviously Jeff's got a long long Long relationship with Connor, you can probably talk about that. Yeah, no, I mean, we didn't consult with the players on this decision.

Never spoke with Connor or Leon or Nuge or Nursi or any of the other leadership group. These guys are here to play hockey. They know that. That's what they want to do. They don't like being involved in these types of decisions. That's my experience. So the fact that, you know, Chris was Conner's coach in Erie in 2014, 15, it only has something to do with this because I think Chris Knoblock's a very good coach. Connor didn't have anything to do with this decision and neither did the other leadership group.

Mark, can I also read out a tweet after this? So Connor and David got to speak on this today. And I know I'm only reading one tweet. This is only part of what's been said out there today. he was asked if he was given a heads up about the coaching change. Here's this quote. I'm reading from Daniel Nugent Bowman's Twitter, by the way. I woke up to a text like probably

you guys did as well. I know the narrative out there, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Ah, that doesn't sound all that uniform to me. This sounds kind of a weird kind of mess. Am I wrong in thinking that?

I mean, you asked what my view of that, my read of that is, my read of that is Ken Holland is not in charge of this team. Jeff Jackson is. Like, clearly, you know, Holland's in the last year of his contract, he's on the way out. Like, it's pretty clear that this is Jeff Jackson's team and he's going to be taking over all the personnel decisions now. And so, you know, I don't think Ken Holland was lying that he spoke to players on the team. But I think the players probably know who's in charge too. So they didn't feel like they were having input. They thought they were just talking to, you know, just shooting the shit, basically. So that's the vibe I get is that Ken Holland is, just kind of taking up space there. Wow. Okay. Well, we're going to have to see how it is with him. But just to me, at least from an outsider's perspective, this just looks kind of weird. But also the fact that Chris Knoblock, who has a history with Connor McDavid, and Connor McDavid seemingly blindsided by all of this, this feels like the exact opposite

of like those teams LeBron has been on where he gets to pick who he wants his coach or he gets to pick these players, right? That's what I wanted to ask you. Yeah. Do you think that Connor McDavid and Leon Dry Seiddle should have a saying this. Because I went through this just last two years ago with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves, whether they should have input on whether Derek King should stay, whether they should go higher and outside. Are they going to have any kind of say on the direction of the franchise following the firing of Jeremy Colleton

and all the misery they went through off the ice and everything? And Kane kind of said, yeah, I'd like a say in that. And, you know, Stan Bowman was always adamant. No, that's not how this works. Kyle Davis kind of hemmed and hawed and didn't really give a straight answer on that. But that's the way it's done now in basketball. Do you want to see that in hockey? Do you want to see players taking a more assertive approach to team building?

Or should they shut up and dribble? I mean, Edmonton has arguably the best player we have ever seen. And Leon Drysidal is a top three player. And he might not be three. He might not, I mean, he might not. He's probably, he's not one. He might be two, depending on how he's. stack it up there. And while I understand that teams are not made by just two players, those two

are integral parts to that team. So why shouldn't they have some kind of say as to how the team should be run? I can understand you don't want them to be in a position where we're calling McDavid Mick GM or Le GM for Leon. I can like the GM and the president of hockey operations, the people in the front office, they still have jobs to do. They still have to do what's right for a team. But you're making all that money. You have all that power in the NHL and you can't have a say in your own front office. Like, I don't even think it's like to say it's just, oh, it should just be like basketball. Like that should just be a thing that high level athletes who have some kind of sway and influence on a team should have.

Like, if it works, it works. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I think Connor McDavid should have every right to know. Look, it's one thing for Connor Brown or or Zach Hyman or darnelner to be blindsided by this news. for kind of a David to be blindsided about the zoo, especially for a guy who he knows, to me, I'm a bit surprised about. Like, he should have some kind of say. And maybe, and also, too, it seems as if, like, you know, he went to the defense of Jay Woodcroft as well, saying he didn't lose the room. Like, maybe if they consulted him on this, maybe Jay Woodcroft still has a job.

I don't know how you don't consult these players on this. Well, I'm with you. I think that, especially with, you know, McDavid's got two years left on his contract, dry sidels in the last year of his contract, you want these guys to be. Enter the last year of his contract next time. Right, right, sorry, sorry, yeah, yeah. So you want these guys to be happy. You want them. So look, you don't go into them and say, hey, should I fire the coach?

Who do you want to be the coach? But you seek their input. You go up to them and you say, what's the vibe right now in that room? Be honest with me. What's the read on one Woodcroft now? Is he the guy? You know, are their concerns? You get their input and it helps you inform a decision.

That's how it's supposed to work. You know, those guys have earned the right to have a say in this. Also, they, they, they, they, hold the fate of your franchise in their hands, whether they want to stay long-term or not. So you want them to at least feel like they're respected and appreciated and involved to blindside Connor McDavid if he really was blindsided and why would he lie about that? That doesn't, that's not a good way to start. That's not a good step in the process to take in the relationship between team and player.

And frankly, you know, Connor McDavid is a hell of a lot more important than Jeff Jackson is or Ken Holland is. A thousand guys can do their job. nobody can do Connor McDavid's job. So you have to at least solicit his input, even if you don't want to give him, obviously, the GM job. You've got to get his input. You've got to get a feel for what's going on in that room

because it's a GM, you don't know it. You're not in there every day. Only the players can tell you that. And McDavid has reached a point in his career where he could probably be honest and speak his truth, and he should be heard. I think it's cap that Jeff Jackson says that players don't like being in those types of decisions.

They definitely want to be. to be in those decisions. Like, come on. Doesn't it also make this worse that, you know, this is just some random, I mean, not that front office people are just random. But Jeff Jackson and Connor McDavid have a history together. That was his agent. Doesn't this make this worse that he's the one who's ultimately making that decision

or at least part of that decision and blindsides his own former client? Doesn't that make this worse? It doesn't help. But I think, you know, I do. I always think about the, it was, this was a few years earlier when the Blackhawks first tried to do a rebuild. They kind of, they let Corey Crawford walk. Jonathan Taze was furious about it.

And I asked Patrick Kane, he said, I'd like to be involved in these discussions. A guy had been here for 13, 14 years. He's the biggest star in the history of the franchise. He wanted to have a say in the direction of the team, at least be heard, express his concerns and his, his thoughts, and be heard. And Stan Bowman, he basically said shut up and dribble to him. He said, players play, managers manage. And that's a very archaic way of thinking.

That's some like 1960s shit. Like, that's not how it works. anymore. When these guys are making eight figures, they are more important than you are. They are more valuable than you are. They sell tickets, not you. They understand the room. You don't. You have to solicit. You are, you are just derelict in your duty. If you are not regularly speaking to your leadership group about the vibe in the room, the sense of what things are going on, just because you'll never know it otherwise. The only ones who can tell you that are the ones in the room. And the leadership group are supposed to be the conduit between the players and

They're the ones I can say these are the concerns the other players have. I can say it because, you know, I'm entrenched here. But this rookie guy can't say it because, you know, he's still on an entry-level contract trying to keep his career going. That's what they're supposed to do. Your leadership group lead. And that involves speaking to management. Well said. One other thing before we move on here.

Chris Knoblock, I've mentioned before, has the history with Connor McDavid coaching him in Erie of the OHL. Question for you, Mark Lazarus. Trivia question for you, actually. In the three years, Connor McDavid was under Chris Knoblock. How many times did Connor McDavid lead the team in scoring? Ooh, there was some good players in that team. That was Dylan Strome and Alex DeBringit were on that line.

Some other guys came through there. Because you're asking me, it's obviously not three. I'm just going to try to quiz the quizer here, and I'm going to say one. So you think that of all three years he was there, 2012 through to 2015, Connor McDavid was the leading scorer on the Erie Otters one time. I feel you wouldn't have asked me if it was two or three.

I guess that's fair. The answer is zero. Oh, there you go. All right. But to your point. I didn't go too hard. To your point, the year one he was there, 63 points. Sorry, 66 points and 63 games.

Connor Brown outscored him by three. That was like, he was like 14, right? He was exceptional status and all that. Year two, Dane Fox and Connor Brown, again, outscoring Connor McDavid. and you mentioned Dylan Strome, yes, he had more points than Connor McDavid that year. Alex De Brinket not that far off on that year. So does Connor McDavid suck? Is that what you're telling me? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, headline.

Get the ticker going on the bottom of the screen on YouTube. Julian McHenzy, Connor Bidardt. No, no, too many Connors. There's too many Connors. I can't keep track of one of those. There's too many of them. And you cover one of them. There is.

Before we, oh my God. No. I'm never going to beat the allegations now, but also people in Calgary may love me even more. I'm going to screenshot this. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. There's going to be mixed opinion on this. Let me change the narrative.

Actually, to quote, to quote Connor McDavid out there, I know the narrative out there, but it couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to McDavid sucks. So tell me, Julian, was this start Jay Woodcroft's fault or was it the goalie's fault? Is it PDO? It's the goalie's fault. Of course it's the goalie's fault. And you fired the goalie. So you did what you could do.

You fired the goalie. Mark, Mark. This team could put Lisa Sipson in net, and they still would have sucked. No. I tried to do like a... She was really, really good. She was really good.

I was really good. I was a tiger, mouth of a teamster. I think all the time we wasted on Jack Campbell. Oh, no. He had a bad time of the H.O. That first start back, too. Let's get to Nikita Zedoroff. That's another story that broke out

from this past weekend. Plays a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. blows up Tyler Pertuzi with this big hit. His agent Daniel Milstein uses that hit as the opportunity to say, hey, get your tickets to the Nikita Zedorov show and basically makes a complaint about his ice time on his behalf. And then it leads to a trade request. Chris Johnston and I came together on a co-by line about that.

It looks like Toronto, he would be totally cool with a trade to Toronto. New Jersey and Vancouver have also been mentioned as possible destinations for the 28th. year old. If you have not done so already, Shana Goldman and I wrote a trade destination's piece, which mentions a few other teams, including the one that Mark Lazarus is very familiar with. What do you think of, I mean, you only got to see, you only got to see you in the COVID bubble year, right? Like, what are your impressions of- I wish I had gotten to know him? Because he seems like a really interesting. Oh, yeah. But even before all this, you know, he would talk about the war in Ukraine and all this.

Like, he's a thoughtful, interesting, very direct and straightforward guy. I would have liked to have gotten to know him. You know, it's interesting that that original tweet by his agent by Milstein, he hashtagged, get your tickets to see the Zadora show, and then he hashtagged it Leifes forever. I read that as trade him to the Leafs now. Wasn't that what he was going for there? Yeah, that's what it seemed like in that moment. It's one thing to ask for a trade.

It's another thing to direct where he's supposed to go. Like that's unusual even by like, you know, crazy agent standards. Also, just really interesting that Vancouver seems to be also in this as well. the very next team Toronto plays is Vancouver. It just felt like, like, hey, these teams that are going to be in Vancouver, like, Toronto has to be in there. Screw it. We're putting Vancouver in this too. Like, this just feels kind of a, I mean, I just thought the way that was kind of done was just fascinating to see.

And then Ted Nikitas Adorov talk about it on Saturday night. And he didn't deny it. He said it's something that's being discussed. He couldn't tell us the whole picture. But, I mean, look, Nikitas Adorov pending UFA, 28 years old, still has some of his better years ahead of him, left shop defenseman, could probably, work out on a bottom pairing for a contending team for another type of yeah he could he has some he has some decent skating too like when he's at his best like he could skate like I'm always surprised whenever he takes that chance up the ice with the

pocket he makes those moves like it's he could skate for a big man yeah he was he was underwhelming his year in chicago when i got to see him day and day out he did not have a good season i mean very few defensemen had good seasons under under jeremy colaton there the whole system was kind of a mess. But every time I see him in Calgary, I'm like, God, this guy's really good. Like, he can bring a lot to it. If he's not like a top pairing defensive, if he's a depth defenseman with his size, his puck moving ability, he brings something that not a lot of defensemen in the game

really bring today where he can do, you have your guys who can hit and you have your guys who can skate. He can kind of do both. Exactly. The one by one thing with Nikita is that it seems, at least just in the little bit of time, I've been able to just watch him. Yes, he does mistake. I mean, everyone makes mistakes.

Oh, he was a turnover machine in Chicago. Yeah. My whole thing with him is that when he makes a mistake, it's not like a small thing where it's like, oh, wow, it's just kind of there. But like it's like a big mistake. Like even the other night against the Ottawa Senators, he's right behind his own net and he loses the puck. And that directly gets led to a third goal for the Ottawa senators.

That's the one thing I kind of take a, I hesitate a little bit with his game. Yeah, that's why he's not a top guy, right? because he's a little sloppy with the puck sometimes. And he can get caught flat-footed. Happened a lot in Chicago where he have a horrible turnover in his own end, and it goes right into the back of the net. Because he does make, he sometimes attempts to plays that maybe he's not skilled enough to make.

And sometimes he just makes bad decisions out there. That's why he's not a top guy, but he brings something. He could add something to a lot of teams that are looking to get a little harder to play against. He has a presence out there that, you know, in this age of smaller puck-moving defense, a lot of teams crave. If you're a GM, if you're Craig Conner in the situation, what do you do?

Do you sit back and just wait for the deadline to move him? Or do you feel that pressure and think, hey, this might be that start to the retool that this team probably needs. Let's see if we can make some kind of deal relatively soon. Who knows if it becomes a situation that gets more unsettling or whatnot? How do you see this? Well, that's just it. I mean, if it becomes a real problem, you just got to sell a.

for what you can get. But he's a relatively valuable asset. You don't see a ton of trades this time either, but there's usually one or two. You might be able to get like an actual hockey trade or get a decent prospect instead of just futures, just draft capital. You're not going to get like a first round draft pick for Nikita Zedorov. So I take my time. I wait and see and if it becomes a problem, if he becomes a problem in the room, which from all accounts, I don't think he's going to be. He doesn't strike me as a type that's going to be like pouting and kicking and screaming, even if he's unhappy. He's going to go out and do his job and you wait until someone has a need until there's an injury somewhere and then

you say hey what can i interest you and an akita zadora of and you know you try to maximize your capital because flames they're not going anywhere right now so it's not that urgent i mean yeah you want to kickstart that future but you don't want to just trade a tradable asset just because he's unhappy you have the power as the gm there and as long as the player is not disrupting things and so far he's not it's just like a it's it's a story but it's i don't think it's something that the other guys in the room are worrying about, I bide my time and see if A, maybe you turn it around and he gets happy again or if he gets his minutes and B, you know, wait till wait till there's a need, wait till there's a demand before you start thrown in the supply. Not to mention with the Calgary

Flames, he's not the only pending UFA, right? Chris Tanov is going to be, it could be available, Noah Hanifin. It looked as if he was going to be close to signing an extension and then all of a sudden this losing streak happens and contract talks are on hold with him. Julian, I'm going to welcome you to rebuildville next year. Let me tell you how fun it is to cover a team that's doing that. Well, you know what's funny, the last year I was in Montreal, that was the beginning, those were the beginnings of a rebuild there. I feel I've known nothing. Since the Canadians went to a Stanley Cup final in 2021, I have known nothing but rebuild and hope and rebuild. Oh, for two whole years. Aw, Julian. I don't want to hear that from you. You got to see a whole

bunch of Stanley Cups in your time. Yeah, the last one was, what, eight years ago, so I don't hear about two years ago. Oh, eight years ago. It's been eight years. Imagine being like Eric Stevens and Anaheim these last, like, you know, since 2015. That team hasn't won a Cups in 2007, hasn't been relevant since 2015, 2016. Trust me, there's people who've had it worse than you. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Oh, yeah. Well, yes, and worse than you, too. Oh, yeah, I don't really complain. Hey. Yeah. Even when they're bad, the Blackhawks are eventful, let's say. Yeah, you don't have to tell us twice. Anyway, as we continue to talk about some of the great players

that Mark Lazarus has gotten to cover in his time, let's talk about Connor Bedard, who had himself a great weekend in Florida. Four-point game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, scores two goals against the Four of Panthers yesterday, including a short-side goal, top shelf or top bins, as some people might say. In any case, it's where Mama hides the cookies. a sweet goal, and then he goes to the boards, he looks, he stares down the Florida crowd and just gives this mean stare and that glance, that look, that is what's going to

save the National Hockey League. That's the personality that we need. Mark, what did you think of Carter-Burdard's big weekend in Florida? It was, it was awfully impressive. I mean, he's been really good since jump. He had like maybe one bad game in Denver where everyone just crap the bed on the Blackhawks, but he has been creating all these chances. But this weekend was different because not only did he get four goals and two assists in two games, but he did against two very good teams, obviously, in Tampa Bay and Florida on the road. What he really did was the way he was, he was doing it by himself almost. Like his first handful of goals this year were all, you know, I'm open and in space,

feed me the puck, I'm going to use my phenomenal shot to just beat a goalie straight up, which we know he could do. He came into the NHL with maybe the second best shot in the league after Austin Matthews. He was ready made in that. But all four of these goals were him attacking this weekend. You know, he, he muscled aside Victor Headman,

who is, I think it was nine inches and 61 pounds heavier than him to get a goal on the inside. After on the forecheck and then creates a play, and then he boxes out Victor Headman. The second one, he made, he stripped Nikita Kuturov at Center Ice to spring a two-on-one with this ridiculous little backhand

and then finish it off up close with a nice little forehand backhand move. And then, God, yesterday in Florida, the first goal where he stripped, I think it was Stenland. He didn't even stick handle. He lifted Stenland stick. He was another big dude, six four dude,

lifted his stick, kicked the puck to get control of it, and then one-timed it off his foot into a ridiculous angle from along the goal line over Bobrovsky's head, ridiculous goal. And then his last goal was another one where he just like, he just pounced on the puck and then just dives in on net. Like these were not, you know, puck movement. goals. These were not, I'm wide open in space.

Here's, I'm going to beat you goals. These were creation goals. He was attacking. He was aggressive. He was assertive. He was just completely taking over. And that look he gave the fans in Florida. That's his attitude, man. Like he's, it's not, I mean, I guess it's cocky, if you want to call a cocky, but what's wrong with that? He knows how good he is. Like when you, you know, I've been covering him for what, six, seven weeks now. And whenever you

ask him something and you even hint at the fact that he might be struggling at something, he comes at you. Like, he's like, no, that's not true. Early on in the season, we were in, we were in Denver. And before that game, I said, are you shooting from too far out? You're shooting from twice as far as far. I was looking at the numbers. You're shooting from twice as far out as Austin Matthews is.

And that's why he's got all these goals. And he looks at me, he goes, I've got a pretty good shot. Like, this kid knows how good he is. I think it's great. Like, the NHL could use it. Like, he's not being a dick about it. He's just confident. He believes in himself.

He's an 18-year-old who knows. knows he's already one of the best players in the world. How cool is that? But Mark, I mean, he's making it all about himself with that celebration. He's being, he's being cocked. He's being too over the top. What is this? We can't have our future superstar do that.

Look, stop reading the comment section from my column. I mean, listen to me. He scored a goal the last week, and he did the Patrick Kane celebration. Went down on one knee and it was like shaking his fist. Like, this kid's having a blast out there. bad about that. Like he, he,

he kind of like, this was the weekend where he became fully formed as an NHL player and he knows it and it probably feels awesome. Good for him. You know,

it's not like he was flipping off the fans. He was staring him down. Like, what are you going to do about it? That must be so cool to have the ability of an incredible, just athlete in any sport

and to score and to look at a crowd. And especially if it's a visiting crowd, be like, what now? You stretch out your arms and you look up at everyone, you're like, what now? What are you going to do? You can't do anything about it. Like, I would kill to have that moment. Even if you're playing pickup basketball, it's always more fun to not celebrate than celebrate. When you hit like a badass shot and you just walk away and

just stare at them, that's always more satisfying than like pumping your fist and high fiving and chest bumping. No, no, you just like, nothing, nothing. I just sank an 80 foot putt, drop the putter and leave, you know? That's the way to do it. I did that this summer. I scored a goal and then like I just like walked off and just like other people coming at me trying celebrate I'm just I'm just walking I was just like this is the most badass I've ever felt in my life it's crazy when Matthew could chuck in the playoffs last year

he kept scoring walkoffs and just ran off the ice he went straight down the tunnel that's the best who doesn't love that I don't know man look we need to change the way that we view celebrations in this league and I think that goes down to players that goes down to fans like let these guys celebrate

let them do their thing and for a guy like Hunter or dark yeah go ahead No, what cricket, a commenter just said on the YouTube feed, love seeing the cockiness. He's humble off ice all the time, so let him be that way on the ice. Exactly. Exactly. When we interview him, he's calm, he's humble, he's playing it down, not that big a deal.

But when he's on the ice, that's when he's got to be superhuman. That's when you have to believe, you have to be cocky, you have to be arrogant, you have to be defiant. You know, he's humble and calm and polite and nice all the time off the ice, saying all the right things. But when he's out there in the heat of battle, let him be an ass. It's more fun that way. I also like your point about how about this past stretch of games.

This is where he truly gets to realize being this fully, well, not fully formed. He still has years ahead of him. But in terms of being a hockey player, in terms of being this top level player, like, dare, I don't even think it's a dare to say it. He's elite. Connor Bedard is an elite player, and it's only taken him a matter of weeks for him to get his footing in and be the face of this team. Like, that is super special to watch.

Well, it's funny because, you know, a bunch of, you know, Blackhawks, Tyler Johnson said this, and Luke Richardson said this. Like, he's starting to figure out the league. It's been less, it's been a month. You're not supposed to figure out. You know, we're going to, Arthur Staples coming on in a little bit. We're going to talk about Alexei Lefrenier. He did not figure out the league in a month. He's like in year four and he's just starting to figure out the league. That's how it's supposed to work. Jack Hughes is one of the greatest players in the world right now. He didn't figure it out in a month. Connor McDavid kind of figured it out in a month. Sidney Crosby, he figured it out in a month. Very few of these. guys do this though where a month in they can just take over a game like that oh my god yeah i i'm looking for i mean every time we have you on the show it i mean obviously because you cover the team it feels like conover carna carna red carter dods do something cool so i'm looking forward that next well i mean you know i'm looking for it's how we get to talk about something even more amazing that's my dilemma though is like

i wrote a column off yesterday's game kind of kind of already joking about this that what the hell else am i supposed to write about like i can't write about lucas wrichael right now i can't i can't i can't write about, you know, the power play sucking or the penalty. It's Connor Bardard. It's only Connor Bedard. He's the, he is the dominant story, and he's going to be for so long now. Like, I used to joke about how many times he got to write at Patrick Kane or a Jonathan Day's feature.

At least I wasn't in on the ground floor on them. They were already superstars by the time I started covering this season, this team in 2013. I mean, with Bedard, I'm already running out of things to say. Like, he's just, there's just only so many superlatives you can throw out there. From, I can't believe this is the YouTube

username here. When the Edibles kick it. What was Bidar doing off the ice? He is still a kid. He is. He's 18. He's a young 18, too. He just turned 18, like, late in the summer. He's doing fine.

He seems he's got a lot of, you know, support around him. And there's veterans on the team, Cory Perry and Nick Felino really taking him under their wing. He's just kind of going about his business. He says he's starting to cook a little bit. Like, he's starting to learn how to cook. And he's having a little more fun with that. He just had the mom's trip.

So he got to have his mom back for a little while there. He lives in the same building as Luke Richardson. so I'm sure when he needs help, he can get it. He's doing fine. He's easy, you know, he just lives. Kyle Davidson used the term he's obsessed with greatness when they drafted him. And you can see that. He doesn't do anything other than hockey.

He doesn't, Nick Velino says he doesn't play video games. How many 18-year-olds do you know that don't play video games that can afford them? And trust me, he can afford them. He just, he's on the ice for an hour after every practice, just working on his shot, just screwing around. This is all he wants to do. Like the grind of the NHL, I wrote about this, couple weeks ago and I finally got a chance to talk to him one-on-one for a little bit,

it's not going to bother him. He lives this. He wants this. This is all he wants to do. He is singularly minded the way that all the great players are. And it doesn't matter what happens off the ice because all he's thinking about is on the ice. And then I wonder what it would be like trying to go up to Connor Bardard and be like, hey,

what TV shows do you watch? I mean, already he's young enough. He's not going to get any like Simpsons reference. But like, especially in his case, because he's so focused on being this super dominant hockey player. There's no way in hell he knows anything about the Lisa on ice episode. It's just all hockey. I picture him on the ice going, okay, goalie,

I'm just going to hold the puck like this. And if that puck happens to go past you, it's your own fault. There's something you could do to stop him when he's got a shot like that. It's just happening. We're getting all the Simpsons references we could make. There's one other thing I want to get to Arthur Stapell who will be on in a couple of minutes

with us to discuss the New York Rangers. We at the Athletic put together a NHL season predictions post And already we have a 2.0 version of it revised picks for Stanley Cup Playoff field awards and more There's a few changes I'd like to go through some of them if you don't mind One of them is hilarious See if we can find that hilarious one I have a pretty good guess as to what it is

In terms of who could win who should who will win the Stanley Cup That has seen some noticeable changes The Dallas stars, 33% of us in the preseason said that they would be the winner of the Stanley Cup. That's kind of gone down to 30. I'm stunned about this next thing. You don't know what? Vegas? Nobody, nobody among us.

I don't know how. Nobody among us in preseason picked them to win the Stanley Cup. They are now tied in terms of percentages among us here at the athletic best likely to win the Stanley Cup. 30% of us think that they could win it tied to the Dallas Stars, Carolina, Colorado, Colorado, coming up after that. The Edmonton Oilers, 24% of us here at the Athletic thought that they would win the Stanley Cup.

That number has now dwindled down to zero. I had Dallas at the start. I have Dallas now. Unlike most of my colleagues, I have the courage of my convictions. Also, I was right. Fine, fine. You can go with that.

I will say that. That's crazy. Defending Stanley Cup champions who brought the entire team back with almost no changeover whatsoever. Not a single one of them. the single one of us, the legend experts, picked them to win the cup this year.

Which I think is amazing. And I've made this point, and I'm going to say it again, like literally from when the confetti was still falling on them, we were already seeing predictions for next year, and at least from the betting lines perspective, we were already picking them as like six best odds. Like Colorado is supposed to be the betting favorite. Colorado, Dallas, Carolina, maybe the Rangers.

Man. Nobody was talking about Vegas. We were sleeping on the Vegas Golden Knights, man. Who will be the runners-on? up. The New York Rangers, again, we'll get to them in a few minutes. Only 3% of us said that they would be the runner up. That number has now shot up to 40%. Something about this Rangers team, man. They look good. And again, we'll talk about it more with Arthur Staples. But just a pleasant, well, not pleasant, but who knows, depending on how you view the New York Rangers. I don't want to

start picking sides on this one with pleasant. But the Rangers, the fact that they're in that position, wow, that's just a wild change. That hurricanes 33%, 33.3% of us said that they'd be the The runners-up, they were the leading favorite for that. That number has dropped down to 20. The Colorado Avalage, sort of the same. 18.2% of us said that they would be the runners-up. That's kind of falling down to 16.7. The Devils are on this list as well.

The Bruins, none of us. No one thought that they would be a runner-up in the Stanley Cup final in the preseason. Number just slightly going up to 6.7. The Boston Brewls were just so hard to predict for any of us. I like how Vegas went from 0% to 3.3%. So it's all or nothing. Vegas can possibly, like if they come out of the West, they're guaranteed to win according to our poll, basically.

I had Dallas over Carolina. Carolina is making me a little concerned. Like every year, we're always waiting for Carolina to take that next step. Yeah. The concern, the goaltending, Freddie Anderson. There's concerns there. The Devils, if Jack Hughes comes back soon, I like the Devils a lot.

I can see that as a team that can make it to the final. But I really, it's interesting because the East is so much deeper than the West in terms of just like playoff, caliber teams. But to me, all the best teams are out west. It's, it's Vegas, it's Colorado, and it's Dallas. Those are the three best teams in the NHL in my mind. And I seem nothing to change my mind so far this year. I think I had Edmonton, Carolina as my preseason Stanley Cup final matchup. I'm probably leaning. I don't remember if I picked New Jersey or stuck with Carolina. I might have picked New Jersey as the new East runner up. But Vegas definitely in the second go-round,

and I picked them to win the Stanley Cup. One thing for sure, I picked San Jose to finish last place at the start of the year, and I definitely did so again. And everyone, 100% of us now, believe the San Jose Sharks will finish in the last place. And for everyone who said Edmonton is just a victim of PDO, the sharks have about the same PDO as the Oilers do right now. It's bad. It's low. They're like the second and third, second and worst PDOs in the league.

So if you think the Oilers are coming back, then you probably have to think the sharks are coming back, or maybe they're just bad. Here's this one. Who will be the first coach fired? 0% of us in preseason thought Jay Woodcroft would be fired, and then it shot up to 46.7%. Should point out that this post came out November 11th.

We are November 13th now, so it feels like a good chunk of us knew something was afoot. Yeah, I think we would all see what was happening at Edmonton. I don't think any of us were truly. shocked when the news came down. Poor DJ Smith, man. We've been getting those, you get those emails from like the Bovada people all the time saying, here's the latest odds. And for like the first coach to be fired, it's been DJ Smith for like however long

he's been in Ottawa, like years now. He's always number one on the next coach to be fired list. Poor guy. One last one. We'll try to get as much time in before we get art in here. I want to get your thoughts on the Norris Shofi because Keel McCarr seemed like the overwhelming favorite among all of us in preseason, nobody voted for Quinn Hughes as a possibility for the Norris Trophy. And now it's much closer between those two. In fact, in our second go-round,

the only two defensemen who got votes for the Norris Trophy among all of us at the athletic R. Kail McCarr and Quinn Hughes. Right now, really early on, who do you think between those two should win? It's Quinn Hughes right now. Right now, he's the best player on one of the surprisingly best teams in the league. He's been absolutely phenomenal all just because he's mad at Dom Lus Jensen. Oh, come on. Tier three, Quinn Hughes with chip on his shoulder. It's funny, going into this year, like, look, Kail McCar is the best defenseman in the world. We all know this. Like, he could win it every year the way Lidstrom did and nobody would bat an eyelash. But the Norris is always kind of like a storyline award, right? And I really thought that Charlie

McAvoy or Miro Heiskenin, it was kind of their quote unquote turn. And if they had big years, they could win it because that's just kind of how the voting usually goes. But man, right now it is a two horse race. And right now it's Quinn Hughes. Can you keep this up? I don't know. Sure looks phenomenal every time I'm watching the Canucks game. So keep him in those retro skate jerseys and he'll win the thing going away.

Yes, those skate jerseys need to be a thing. It's time for us to bring in our New York columnist Arthur Staples. Does a lot of work covering the New York Rangers for us here at the athletic. And I love your hat, sir. the Montreal Expos, Nos Amour, Rest in Peace. I know that Washington Nationals now, I just have to shout you out

before we get going on the Rangers here. So thank you for dressing it appropriate attire. We're just for you, J. Mack. I appreciate that. You are a good man, sir. Let's talk about the New York Rangers. I couldn't help but notice, Alexei Lafranier. He's off to a really good start.

I tried to count for myself on the hockey reference page, on his hockey reference page. I think it took him about 46 games last year to get to the goal total that he's at now. He scored twice yesterday against the Columbus Blue Jackets gets this sweet finish against them in the shootout as well. What have you made of his play to start off the season? Does it seem like he's finally playing to his potential

at the tender age of 22 years old? Well, I caught Laz saying that Quinn Hughes is going to win the Norris out of spite for Dom. I think Lafranier might just be doing this out of spite for the rest of us. kind of question whether the B word for a number one overall pick, whether he was a bust and entering his fourth year. And, you know, his numbers the last couple of years have been okay. You know, I think he had some battles to find legitimacy and ice time under Gerard Gallant. New coaching staff, Peter Lavillette comes in.

He obviously wants to see this guy succeed. He's on a very modest two-year bridge deal. So, you know, even in training camp, we kind of, I didn't seem to find a spot, so we were all wondering, is this going to be it for him this year? And Chris Drury might finally look to find a taker for him and just see if he can thrive somewhere else. But playing on the opposite side of Artemmy Panarin, when Panarin is going as well as he is, usually does wonders for anybody's game. And he seems to have mesh well with Panarin.

First with Philip Heedle, when the season started, Heidle's been out with a concussion for the last four games. Vincent Trochev slides in. They haven't missed a beat. You know, I think a lot of it has to do with Panarin, but you still have to be the guy that puts the puck in the net in Lafranier's been in the right spot. He's got a smile in his face, maybe not so much when he's talking to us in the media, but he seems very satisfied with what's going on. And as he said, it's still early, but he's on a great pace,

and he's really been a big part of what they've been doing so far. How much of it is really just opportunity? Because he kind of came into a team, usually when you're the number one overall pick, you're on a team that's got nobody, and you just automatically get, like, like Badaad is right now. You just get thrown into the top line, 22 minutes in night. He really hasn't had that kind of opportunity. opportunity in his first few years, has he?

No, I mean, you know, you get drafted first overall by a team that's not been good the previous couple of years, but also that team that's not been good, just signed Artemmy Panarin. There's a left wing that's in front of you. Chris Kreider's a longtime ranger. He was going nowhere. So all of a sudden, you come in and you're the third line left wing at best. And, you know, when Galant was here the couple of years, there was always seemingly some debate about can he play the right?

Is he comfortable there? I'm sure he would have done it if asked, but he was asked his preference and his preference is to be on the left. So he was stuck on the third line when they had the kid line with Heidel and Capo-Caco. They really thrived in the 2022 playoffs and the Rangers made it to the conference final. But it's a five-on-five line and it's the third line. They really were not getting a lot of preferential treatment. And when Lafranier would move up after a couple games, if nothing happened, you'd see him get bumped down. You'd see more of a, you know, a veteran guy like say at Barclay Goodrow get.

bumped into his spot. So I think this year, he's matured, he's grown into his game a little bit, and you've got a guy in Peter LaVuette, who also doesn't have the greatest track record with nurturing young guys, but I think in this case, he's responded well to what the coaching staff has been putting out there. He's responded well to playing with Panarin, who can be a little bit difficult to play with sometimes. And I think he's gotten a little bit more of a leash there since the season started that if they

have a bad game, Lobelette's not going to pull the trigger quickly, so that's definitely helped them too. Do you get that sense that Lafganese confidence has changed in just talking to him post-game after games and in those media availability? Well, whoever trained him to be as bland and cliched as possible in the post-game really should get a bonus because that's his style. There's nothing wrong with that. I think we all can accept as long as you're there to talk. Nobody can make you be interesting. You talk to teammates and they say he's the funniest guy.

the team. I think he's got a lot of personality behind the scenes. But I think you can definitely see it. He doesn't love sitting and talking in the media post game, but now I think he understands when you are putting up numbers, you've got to do it. So maybe there'll be a change there. Like you said, he's 22.

I shudder to thank Laz and I, the old guys of this trio here, to think about when we were 22, if we had to talk to anybody, strangers, whoever, on a daily basis, it probably wouldn't have gone. So maybe for you, Las, but definitely not for me. I would have been fired so fast.

My God. So I think, you know, we paint with a pretty broad brush sometimes, and I certainly hadn't heard a lot of good stuff about what was going on with him behind the scenes in the last couple years. But none of it matters. If he plays well, you can turn it to a complete 180 at that age and become a show more of who you really are. And maybe we'll get to see it if he continues to be successful. Yeah, I think you bring up a great point. I think we underestimate just how difficult it is to be a teenage.

on that kind of spotlight in the city like New York or in professional sports, you're trained, you know, from day one to put up those walls and not let anybody in because there's so much pressure I need to begin with, you don't want to add to it by saying the wrong thing at any point. So you just learn to say nothing. And then people think, then all of a sudden you get a reputation. Oh, he's aloof. He doesn't care. He doesn't have any joie de vivre. And it's like, you know, this guy's just a problem all around. And it just kind of snowballs from there. I think sometimes we need, I'm trying to do this with Bard because he can be very difficult too. He's he's he's letting it down a little bit and he's having some personality,

but he's very, you know, even keel. He doesn't want to say anything, you know, too exciting or anything like that. And I just kind of keep reminding myself, the kid's 18. It's 18. And he's got he's got every single day. He's talking every single day, cameras in his face, every city he goes to, it's asking a lot of these guys. And I think we have to kind of like allow them to put those walls up to some degree and then slowly try to knock them down over the years. Yeah. And you throw and He came in during COVID. New York maybe wasn't as fun a place as you might have wanted it to be as a kid. So there's a lot.

You know, the last few years have been a lot for everybody, especially young people all around, young people in his position. So I think a lot of little things have changed. And maybe it would have happened without a coaching change. But it seems to have coincided with Lobby Lep being here. Do we have any update on Ryan Lingren?

It seems like he got injured last night against Columbus or anything else on that entry front? You know, Peter Lobelet said today, he didn't skate today. Not a lot of guys skated because when Lindgren went out and they were down in that game, you know, Lafranierre, I think, played over 24 minutes, maybe the second time in his career. He's played over 20 minutes in the game. Panarin was 28 minutes, which was, I think, also an NHL high for him. So a lot of guys got the day off today. They don't have the game until Saturday. So they're not practicing tomorrow. Lobelet seemed hopeful that Lindgren would be able to practice on Wednesday. The guy is, you know, he's had a couple of bad injuries, but the way that he plays and he's such a little guy,

he's fairly indestructible. And if you see Ryan Lindgren by about, you know, mid-November and he doesn't have a welt or several cuts on his face from errant high sticks or a punch or something, then you know something's wrong. But so, you know, I think they're hopeful on him. You know, you've got Adam Fox, who's out for at least six more games once they get back, being on LTIR, Philippeal still hasn't skated. He's got, I believe, his fifth concussion since he got in the league.

And Igor Shisterkins just working his way back. So when you think about where they are, whatever, 9-0-1 on their last 10 and just finding ways to get two points without some pretty important guys in every position that makes this start they've had to the season even more impressive. This feels like a dumb question to ask about a guy who had 92 points last year. But what is different about Panarin this year? He just seems to be just like at the absolute top of his game. Bald.

He's more aerodynamic, right? That's all it is. That's right. He said, yeah, he was joking with me when I say, it's like, yeah, it'll grow back. And I just kind of took my hat off. And I was like, I don't know, buddy. I think you're young. But yeah, he's, he just, you know, I think coaching changes helped him a lot in subtle ways.

He and Galant didn't always see eye to eye. You know, I think Galant obviously appreciates the skill that Artemi Panarin brings. but I think wanted a little bit more of an edge in the playoffs. And it got in Panarin's head. You know, he didn't have a great run when the Rangers went to, you know, game six of the conference final two years ago. He was good in that postseason, but not electric like he can be. And then last season, he was one of a few guys who was just awful against the devils. And I think it really got in his head.

I think the coaching change kind of let him take a breath and reset. And I think he would have done it anyway. He felt like he needs to be as dominant as he can be. And I think so far, you know, he's being a little bit more north-south. He's shooting a lot more pucks, which I think is as kind of back teams off on him and giving him a little more space to make those, you know, 50-foot backhand saucer passes that Las has seen all too well over the years. But yeah, he's on fire and he's getting incredible support from Lobelet,

who's been double-shifting him a lot. Obviously, like I said, 28 minutes last night when they needed a goal. And lo and behold, they get it for him was his shot. and Lafranier was the one who ended up tucking it in at the far post. So this is a guy when he's on is ridiculous. Even when he's not on, he's ridiculous. And now I feel like he's on another level. You know, maybe he gets, you know, seeing what happens with McDavid and Edmonton,

maybe he's a guy who gets to one of those finalist spots for the hard trophy if he keeps this up. He's never gotten 100 points in his career, which is surprising to see because he's been a 90-point guy pretty much every year with the Rangers. So that would be a milestone to see that if you can keep this going and keep it going with a variety of linemates. You know, I think last year playing with Trochec when Trochec came in as a free agent, it just didn't work very well. They were kind of dissimilar. And now, I think everybody can understand when Panarin is focused and doing a little bit of everything in his game, he's going to drag guys along and make them better. So it's been good for everyone. Here's another name that both you gentlemen are familiar with, Patrick Kane.

Do you think the Rangers should take a flyer on him again after his seizure with them last season? Probably not, if you're asking me my opinion. I don't know what's really going to happen. But it seems like this team is okay depth-wise without him. You know, he really, he's Patrick Kane. At full health, obviously anybody can find room for him. But you saw what happened when he was not at full health and not even really close to it last year. Rangers kind of moved heaven and earth. They altered their roster. Ryan Lindgren got hurt.

They were playing with 16, sometimes 15 guys for a stretch just to be cap compliant when they could make that trade. They didn't give up a whole lot, but he didn't really add a whole lot. They kind of wedged him in on the, tried to play him with Panarin. It didn't really work. Tried to play him with Mika Zabanajad. That worked a little bit better. But I think the place that really was kind of the most disruptive was on the power play. The Rangers have had a top 10. power play pretty much the last three years with guys like fox sabanajad criter you know craters one of the more prolific powerplay scores in the league the last couple years and you put cane in there which means panarin goes you know goes to his opposite sides the bandad's there where does panering

it just it didn't fit and it was it was definitely vexing for gerard galant who relied a lot on that power play they're still relying on i you know i think they're over 35 percent so far this year so So if it's about need, I don't think they need them. If it's about Patrick Kane deserves to be on the biggest stage possible, you know, maybe that's the case. But it feels like last year's experiment probably scared Chris Drury off a little bit. And even though it only cost them some cap space and maybe waving one of their fourth line guys to make it work, I think what you're seeing here, especially what they're doing without some of their big guys,

these last three, four games is probably telling them, I think I'd rather, have a good team than another superstar on it. One last one for you with the Hockey All of Fame induction weekend, Henrik Lunkwist, going to his rightful place in the Hockey All of Fame. Some would argue is the best goaltender of his era. Maybe some people would fight off and say, hey, Kerry Price, but Hendrik Lunkwist is the king for a reason. We'd love to know your thoughts on seeing King Henrik or Hank or whatever you nicknamed him

make his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I mean, it certainly deserved, you know, I threw that story back up that I did a couple of years ago when he, when his number was retired by the Rangers where I talked to all of his backups from his 15 years in New York and just kind of, you know, talking to guys from the progression of Kevin Weeks, who was the presumptive Rangers number one out of the 0405 lockout who was just like, yeah, a week in camp with this guy is like, I'm not going to have the number one job for very long. And then on up to Alexander Giorgiov, who was talking more about at the end of Lundquist's tenure, where he's saying, I came to the Rangers and I'd never owned a suit before. And I'm hanging out with this guy for 10 minutes. I'm like, I got to go shopping now. I've got to keep up. So you see the progression of this guy who comes in as, you know, a seventh round pick, a guy who was very under the radar and comes in. And within a year is the number one of the biggest stages in the league and performing well, helping them get to the play.

playoffs when they had missed for whatever was seven years before the lockout, becoming a star on a team that had no stars on it, the Tororella era Rangers, basically, you know, helped get them to the finals and losing, you know, a few heartbreakers in overtime or double overtime of the Kings. And then on into his mentor phase with guys like Cam Talbot and Ante Ranta, and guys who were still in the league, still good number one, number two goalies who credit him with kind of showing them in the way with the work ethic and practice and just how hard he competed on every puck, whether it was a shoot-around, morning skate, anything, that this guy, you know, always had the eye of the tiger and, you know, then the fashion sense and the good looks to go with

it. It always, he always made things seem so easy, kind of the way he does on TV now where he just seems so smooth, but it kind of masks how much work this guy has put in. And certainly, you know, I think a lot of people look at the championships and say if he'd won a Stanley Cup, this, that. But I think it's good to see that the Hall can recognize greatness, especially in an era of some of the greatest goalies to ever play the game. And this guy, not just as someone who won a bunch of games and was a star on Broadway in New York, but also an innovator. You know, the Lundquist loop. He's a, you know, tying his pad skates, pad under the skates, shaving down the goal stick to, We could have three fingers on the grip instead of one.

Like a lot of kids out there who are playing net who are emulating Henrik Lundquist. And I would imagine that's probably the highest honor he can be paid that there is goalies out there, not just saying I watched number 30 in red, white and blue play. And that was awesome. But copying his style. And I'm sure we're going to get very soon some goalies either from Europe or here who are saying they're going to be drafted soon or get in the league soon. It's like, my idol is Henrik Lundquist, make us all feel old.

And most of all. But that's probably the most impressive thing that you can say. about him that he changed a lot of the ways that goalies prepare and equipment and things like that and a huge influence and obviously, you know, the greatest goal he'd ever play around here, that's for sure. That's well said. So I guess you're going to get his cologne too. Saw that on TNT. It looks pretty good. I'm not a big cologne guy, but I'll see what I can do for you. I don't want to smell like the man. I want to look like the man. Why not both?

Get you a man who could do both. Arthur Staple, our New York columnist does a lot of work covering the Rangers. Thank you so much for hanging out with us, man. All right, guys. Any time. Thanks a lot. There he goes. Arthur Stapel for the athletic. We don't have that much time. I'll just quickly get to Mike from U.S. Sweden,

a.k. Minnesota in our athletic mailbag. I just wanted to, I guess, kind of vent to us real quick here. I was looking at the NHL Global Series because it was hoping to catch part of it on TV. It'd be so cool to see the crowd and hear how things might be a little different in Sweden. And then to see Swedish players playing in Sweden, super special. But at least for us in the States, I see it's only on an HL network.

Okay, I can complain, but that doesn't get me anywhere. So let me ask, why does the NHL keep hosting a few games a year, including the rivalry series on a channel that so few people have access to? This is an America thing. I don't know the answer to that. I don't even get any. It's the only channel I'm ever on it. I don't get it because I have YouTube TV and it's like the one channel I don't get as

an HL network. That's insane. I mean, I get these events. are for the people in Sweden. They're for the European. The timing doesn't usually work out. They're not meant for American audiences because like watching a game in, it's indoors, not like it's at Lake Tahoe.

So it's not like it's some TV spectacle. But it is, the NHL needs to do a better job of making sure games are, at least all of them should be on ESPN Plus, right? If we're all paying for that, let us watch the games. Like, it's infuriating when there are hockey games that I can't watch. Put it that way. I agree with that. And with that, that's going to do it for the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show.

Mark, much for tapping in for Ian while he, you know, slacks off today, I guess. Competitive violence. That's why you're here. That's why he should be. In all seriousness, I believe he's going to Sweden for the global series. I believe the senators are a part of that. That being said, tomorrow we'll be back, Bark and myself, plus Daniel Nugent Bowman in Edmonton will join us. Mike Rousseau in Sweden. I think he's already in Sweden. He'll talk to us as well. And he'll have his conversation with Bill Garen from the Minnesota Wild on our show.

Wednesday, I won't be in. No mark. It'll actually be Sean Gentilly and Jesse Granger with Ian Mendez in Sweden. Thursday, Haley and Sean from North America. Love how that's written up. Max Bolton will be in Sweden. And then your prospect series on Friday with Max and Corey Promet. That's the rundown for this week in terms of podcast stuff.

And that's going to do it for us again here. on The Athletic Hoc Show. One last question for you tomorrow. Oh, please, please, go ahead. Do you have my teeth? No. Peace, guys. We'll be back tomorrow.