The Athletic Hockey Show - Jeremy Colliton out as Chicago Blackhawks head coach, San Jose Sharks off to a surprising start with Kevin Kurz, the 10 best lines in hockey, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: November 8, 2021

First, Ian and Hailey talk about Ian’s trip to Grand Forks, North Dakota to watch Ottawa Senators prospects play for the Fighting Hawks, and then they discuss the Chicago Blackhawks relieving Jeremy Colliton of his head coaching duties, if the playoffs are already over for the Hawks, Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes, and Ottawa Senators or not, Dom Luszczyszyn’s latest piece on the 10 best lines in hockey right now, the Florida Panthers as the best team in the NHL after beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 over the weekend, Troy Terry’s eleven-game point streak for the Anaheim Ducks, and more.Then, The Athletic’s own Kevin Kurz joins the show to discuss whether the San Jose Sharks can hang at the top of the Pacific division all season or not, what happens when embattled winger Evander Kane’s fake-vaccine-card suspension ends in the next few weeks, how COVID-19 protocol has wreaked havoc on the Sharks lineup recently, despite the team going 2-1-1 over its last 4 games, William Eklund being reassigned to the SHL, James Reimer’s role on and off the ice, if Tomas Hertl is the league’s best center trade target now that the Jack Eichel saga has ended, and more.Plus, to close things out, Ian and Hailey run through a series of Multiple Choice Madness questions including if you could turn back the clock on one decision your favorite NHL team made, what would it be, if the Jack Eichel welcoming party to Vegas was too over-the-top, and which under-the-radar team off to a great start deserves more credit a month into the season.And, don’t forget, you can sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back, everybody. It's another Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, Ian Mendez, Haley, Salve, and back together to kick off your week in the hockey world. Ahead on this podcast, Kevin Curse. It's going to pop by. Give us the latest in the San Jose Sharks. A whole bunch of storylines swirling around that team, as I think they've been off to a better start than a lot of people predicted in the preseason.

We'll dive into Jeremy Colleton being fired in Chicago. We'll maybe look at Dom's top lines in the NHL, that article that dropped on Monday. day. Florida Panthers now the undisputed top team in the league after taking down Carolina in that weekend clash of the Titans and we'll wrap up with a little multiple choice madness. We'll discuss whether or not we liked Vegas's cheesy welcoming committee for Jack Eichel. And with daylight savings ending, we asked hockey fans if you could turn back the clock and change one thing that your favorite team did, what would it be? So Haley, we're back together again.

jam-packed hour ahead of us. And I got to tell you, so last week I missed the pod because we'll just say travel issues and whatever. But I downloaded it and I listened to the full episode. I thought you were going to take some shots at me.

Never really happened. So the one thing I'll say, though, I feel like I stole like a story that you were dying to do. Because I went, I spent the weekend in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Haley. And I know that this was the story that you had kind of wanted to do pre-pandemic when you were covering Ottawa

because they have this pipeline of great players. So I got to spend three nights, Grand Forks, and I got to tell you, that's the best venue to watch a hockey game maybe in North America. Honestly, it might be the best place to watch a hockey game in North America. So when Aaron, my former editor now, your editor told me that you were in North Dakota, I was like, no. No, he's not doing the story.

Yeah. The fist. I was like, ah, let me add them. Yeah. I really wanted to do that story while I was covering the Sends. When I was covering the Sends, though, they had like three players there and still like two others in the pipeline still. And so it was going to be this big like behind the scenes inside look at North Dakota hockey

and Bradbury is so great to work with. And Shane Pinto was always great. And like the players that the sense have gotten from North Dakota are all great. And then COVID happened. And it was particularly bad there at one point. It got really bad in North Dakota at one point because they just like stayed open. And then it got really bad. And then obviously I came to Calgary.

So very unfortunate that I couldn't do it. But I'm glad you did because I've heard nothing but great things about, you know, their program. Like, like, they're the facilities and Bradbury's great. And it seems like it was a good time. The fan base seems pretty fun there too. Oh, my gosh. Like, I got to tell, honestly, like, for anybody listening, if you get the opportunity,

I understand the reservations with COVID and traveling and stuff. But at some point, you got to get down to a game at, Yeah. If you can go to, like, a rivalry game. Yeah. And I went, I saw them play Denver and it was pretty cool. Right. Yeah.

But I just can't believe. Like every, like this is what I didn't realize. And they kind of, they were nice enough. They gave me like a full tour and everything. But did you know? So it's like a just about a 12,000 seat venue. Okay. Every seat in that stadium, Haley, in that arena is a leather seat with like cherry wood armrests.

Like it almost, it almost looks like I wrote this in my piece today. Like it's almost like every seat has been plucked out as some millionaire or billionaires, private jet. Like it looks like one of those seats you would see on like a Gulfstream private jet. I can't believe it. Like the way that these players are treated, its first class, the way that the fans are treated. Like, it is unbelievable. So yes, get yourselves to North Dakota.

It's a bit of a trek though. I had to get in, I had to rent a car from Minnesota and it's a five-hour drive. So that was where I downloaded a whole bunch of podcasts, including the athletic hockey show. Because I think, you know what, it's important to, especially I wanted to hear. I thought you were going to take some runs at me. And you didn't. You were like super kind, which was weird. I mean, I was just like indifferent towards you not being there.

Which I took as a huge compliment. Yeah. You should get stuck in the airport somewhere more often. Yeah, exactly. Well, listen, you're going to be rolling into Ottawa. You should be careful about the, you know, the airport gods might be angered by that comment. You've got some travel coming up here. Yeah, well, I'm not.

I'm specifically skipping the Montreal games. They're doing Montreal, Toronto, back to back, and then Ottawa. And I've never had a good experience flying through Montreal ever. It's always either delayed or a mechanical problem. Just like there's always something wrong in Montreal. And so and back to backs are always different. And I mean, there's just so much, so many media members in Montreal that you don't even feel like you're getting better access. because you're the only person on the road.

So I'm skipping Montreal. I'm flying direct to Toronto, direct to Ottawa, direct back home. So we'll see. We'll cross our fingers that I can make it home. And next week's podcast, we'll find out if Haley gives me the Heisman or we actually can get a coffee in or I have a feeling you're just going to be like, no, I'm sorry, I'm too busy. I've got too many people to see.

And you don't drink coffee in. You're going to get a hot chocolate. A hot chocolate. 100%. No. We'll do what we used to do. We'll go and we'll get a hot chocolate and a coffee and we'll walk around major Hills Park, just like the old days before we were actually colleagues.

Yeah. Let's do it. Now we're friendemies. Now we're friends. Well, we've moved from colleagues to frenemies. I like it. I like it. No, no.

That's the sign of a good podcast duo. They're frenemies. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we don't like each other. Just kidding. A whole bunch of, storylines from the weekend.

And we do want to direct our listeners to the Lazan Powers podcast because I know that Mark Lazarus, Scott Powers, just dropped a new podcast after another newsworthy week this time on the ice for Chicago. But Jeremy Colleton is out, Haley. And this felt like an inevitable move

that was coming regardless of the other stuff swirling around the team. This felt like an on-ice issue. I was blown away when Las, Mark Lazarus tweeted this out. So Jeremy Colleton was in his fourth season as Chicago head coach. And at no point did he have a complete 82 game season because you go back to the 1819 season. He takes over for Quenville midway through the year.

The 1920 season is the year that is halted due to the pandemic. 2021 is the short year in the bubble. And then this year he doesn't even make it to American Thanksgiving. So it's remarkable. but he's got to be the only guy in the history of hockey to consecutively coach a team for four years and not see a full season in the entire time. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, I didn't look up that stat.

But I mean, there's just so much about his tenure with the Blackhawks. That's weird and went wrong. And I think Laz did a really great job of kind of capturing this in his column. Like, not only did he. not coach a full game, but like Jeremy Colleton didn't have an NHL resume before getting behind. I mean, he played 57 NHL games. He never spent time behind an NHL bench. He had a few years coaching in a second tier Swedish league and then barely a year coaching

in the American hockey league. And then he's brought in to take over for Joel Quinville, who, you know, before everything came out from Kyle Beach. I think Quenville was pretty beloved in that market, and they fire Quenville midseason, bring in this guy with zero NHL experience. And then they sit him down in this press conference and make him awkwardly sit there. Will they talk about how the Chicago Blackhawks are going to be a Stanley Cup contender with Jeremy Collin behind the bench?

Yeah. So they're just, they completely set this guy up for failure. And they made all these poor roster decisions. They did all these different things that Laz gets into. but, you know, they, they set him up on this pedestal, like, we're going to win with him as our coach now because Quenville couldn't solve our defensive issues that had more to do with the personnel on this team than his coaching systems. But this guy who's never coached the NHL is going to fix it for sure.

And, like, they make all these strange decisions. He never gets a full season, which doesn't help. But, like, you know, I think Laz got into this too. Like, we don't have to feel bad for Jeremy called in either because, He made poor coaching decisions. He had guys in his doghouse they could never get out of. And he had a weird defensive system that never worked. And he never had the success that, you know, not even half measure that was kind of promised to fans.

So I don't know, looking at it in hindsight and reading everything that Las maps out, like it's just that, yeah, this was never going to work. He never stood a chance. And because it's hockey and it's a hockey man, he's probably going to get another opportunity in the NHL at some point. I don't think this is the last we've seen of him, despite how much this kind of blew up. But yeah, I think Laz really, really hit it out of the park with this one. Like, he never stood a chance, and there's just so many reasons for that. But him not actually coaching a full season was interesting, like four years and he never coached 82 games. He did.

Did you see the clip or the pictures of him just handing the whiteboard to the players on the powerplay? Yeah. And then he coached like another two weeks. Yeah. It's just like, here you go. Like I don't know what you guys want. You do it. Like, oh, not good.

Not good. So. But I recommend everyone kind of read what what Laz said because I can't put it really any better. Yeah. I know, exactly. It was dynamite. And like, again, we'd love to direct you to the Lazen Powers podcast, too, because they certainly tackle that.

So, okay, I got to ask you this about Chicago. Like, look, as we check, the one thing you're going to hear from a lot of people is, with us changing the clocks is, I can't believe it's so dark this early, right? Like, that's the classic thing you're going to hear. But now I want to flip the switch here, script a little bit here, and talk about, like, who's it getting dark? for real early in the hockey season, Haley.

Like, who is it like, so let me start. I'm going to list off teams and we're going to declare whether or not the playoff, it's over. Like they're not making the playoffs and it's November the, whatever, the November the 8th. Okay? Yeah. Chicago.

Yeah, it's done. Okay? It's getting dark early in Chicago. Montreal. Oh. I don't know. I mean, Kerry Price is coming back today. He's reporting to the team for the first time.

I don't think so. I think they're done too. It's over. It's over. that a team that went to the Stanley Cup the year before has been ruled dead by multiple people in the media in their playoff chances. Like when else would this have happened? The team gets to the Stanley Cup and then like November the 8th of the next year, they're like, yeah, they're done. Like this is a weird one. Okay? Yeah. Let's move on Arizona. It's done. Oh, God. Yeah. They're done. They beat Seattle.

Yeah, I know. Like, look, that win was going to come at some point. Yeah. It was going to come at some point, okay? The last team I'm going to throw on the list, are we willing to say it's over for Ottawa? Is Ottawa dead already in the playoff race Haley? Is it getting dark early in Ottawa?

I don't know if they're dead, but it's going to take some kind of miracle for them to not be dead. Like, it's looking like they're still in the rebuild. you know, that's how I would put the sentence. The rebuild's not, not, this isn't the like first year of success or whatever. He said, they said the rebuild is over. It's, uh, we're actually not allowed to use the phrase. They stayed out to the bottom five for the first, like, two weeks of the season.

Yeah, I don't know. It's getting awfully dark here, uh, real early in Ottawa. So they, they're off to a slow start with just three wins. What are they at right now? They've lost four straight and given up five goals in each of those losses, right? Like, you can have Brady Kachuk wearing the sea and, Tim Stutzla has been had a slow start. I've seen some of the fan base are like, okay, now I'm getting frustrated.

I mean, Drake Batherson's great and Nick Paul's awesome. And I think Chris Tierney's had a good start. He's scoring at, you know, probably an above expected rate right now. You've got Chababot. But the blue line looks like patchwork right now. Probably one of the worst blue lines I've seen the sentence have in the last couple years. Matt Murray is either sick or. or injured or away from the team.

It's just like a big soup of not good for a team that's supposed to start having success this year. I don't know what you think, though. I've just been watching from afar. Yeah, that's about right. And who do they have on Tuesday night? It's the Boston Bruins. And according to our pal, Domloos Chichen,

that's the team with the best line in hockey. Because Dom's piece just dropped on Monday and it's the old perfection line in Boston. Pasternak, Marchand, and Bergeron still come out as his number one line. We're used to like, and I love the column. It's a great look and it's the usual suspects are in there and Florida's got their line and we'll talk about the Panthers in a second and, you know, Colorado's line is in there. Are you surprised that Boston's line is still able to stay at the top?

Like this is, this is an older line now, Ailey. This is not four or five years ago. Like these guys are a little bit older. Are you surprised Boston's perfection line of Marchand, Pasernac, and Bergen is still at the top of Dom's ranking? Yeah, I don't know if I'm surprised just because of the level that those three have been able to keep themselves at for so long. Like it's not, and I mean the Washington Capitals lines in there too.

And I think people have been waiting for them to drop off a cliff. I mean, Crosby's lines on there too. Like you've got enough lines in there of guys who are just veterans and they're good. and they've been good for a long time. And I think what's really interesting about the Bruins line is that there's really every year, like this really good, healthy debate over who specifically is driving that line. And I think that's kind of part of what makes them so impactful is that you've got three really good players that on any given year, one of them can kind of take over the game and be the

one who's driving the bus. I think we saw that it was Pasternak, you know, a year or so. It's all blending together for me. I think when I voted for the heart, I think I had him pretty high because he was really driving the bus on that line. But then this year, I think you can argue that it's Marshawn who's driving the bus there. He's tied for the league, lead, and even strength points with Johnny Gudrow. So, you know, he's really good at five on five. And, you know, obviously, I think that line's just been so good for so long that I don't know if there's been anything other than age that would suggest to us that they're going to take a step.

step back and they've been able to kind of beat that age curve and regression. So I'm not super shocked by that. But I do think the flames are on there. We've got the penguins. I thought it was interesting. And I loved the way that Dom contextualized this. Like the Eichol line's not just like automatically the best line in hockey, which I think a lot of people were saying like, oh God, they were going to have this superpower line. They're going to be unstoppable. And I thought it was pretty cool that Dom kind of contextualized it for everyone and said, actually, here's some of the really, really good ones. Obviously, it's hard, because it's probably underselling it because Eichols projected pretty low because of that really bad season and coming off injury, but it's

going to be interesting. I mean, some of these lines, the way they're all constructed, I really enjoyed the story. I thought it was great. But no, to answer your question, I'm not super surprised by the perfection line in Boston. And they were, we should point out, they were tied with Gabe Landiscag, Nate McKinnon, and Miko Ranton. Basically, in his formula, those two lines were at the top. The Edmonton line, in case you're wondering, like, you're wondering, hey, where's McDavid?

It was McDavid in between Jesse Pooley-R-V and Zach Hyman. They came in third. Here's my question for you, Haley. Let's say you've got a playoff series to win tonight. And you get to pick any one of these lines. And, you know, Palat, Braden Pointing Kuturov is at your disposal. We'll give you Patcher Eddie Eichl Stone, the Boston Perfection line. Crosby, Russ Gensel.

Like, who's Haley picking? You get one line to win a playoff game tonight. Who you got? That's a really good question. I want to say the McKinnon line, but they also couldn't get it. Like, that team couldn't get it done in the playoffs. but like that line when they're healthy and they're on and they're clicking, I mean, yeah, they're one of the best in hockey and McKinnon can be such a beast in the playoffs.

Based on just like pure skill level, obviously McDavid's interesting. This is a tough one. That's a really good question. Part of me wants to go the Crosby line because Crosby just shows up in big games. I don't know. I'm probably going to go the Nate McKinnon line. even though the Boston Bruins line is so reliable and they've been so good for so long. Yeah.

I just think it's hard to like look at Nate McKinnon and that line as a whole and say no. It's probably going with them. It's hard because I don't think there's any wrong answers. Like they're, these are the best 10 lines in the game. I just feel like the Bruins line is battle tested if that makes sense. Like I feel like they've been through some of the battles together. And Marchand and Bergenre, it's been 10 years, but you know, they've won a Stanley. Cup and they've gone deep in the playoffs.

They got to the finals a couple years ago against St. Louis. So I feel like they're battletes. I just don't think you can go wrong with any of them. But I give me the Boston line because I feel like they've been there and they've done that. The one line that got in there from the Florida Panthers was their trio of Alex Barkoff with Carter Verhege and Anthony Duclair. And I want to ask you real quick about the Panthers. We hyped this up on the Thursday podcast of, hey,

Flash of the Titans, Carolina, Florida, a couple of teams that really have risen to the top. Florida with a convincing five to win over Carolina on the weekend, are we willing to say that our Florida Panthers are now unequivocally the best team of the National Hockey League? Like in the here and the now, the Panthers are the best team in the NHL. I mean, they're ranked number one in the league. They still haven't lost in regulation. So I think, I think statistically speaking, we can say that for sure. I think the NHL website's down because I was just going to look and find their goal differential. And I think the website crashed.

NHL.com, you have not been able to get any stats like in the all day, all morning. We crashed the website. Yeah, all morning you couldn't get on Monday. You couldn't get anything from NHL.com. Well, I know they're ranked, number one. They haven't lost in regulation yet. But I was curious to see their goal differential. because I just think, you know, the Panthers are kind of getting it from everywhere.

I mean, Sam Bennett's been really good. They've got that great line. You've got Ekblad and Weeger and all those players that, you know, we talked about so many times now. I don't know. I think they're constructed well. It'll be interesting to see if their goaltending can kind of stay the way that it is, if they can continue to lock things down, the way that they've been. been. I think their special teams have been fine. Again, it's hard. We don't have this in front of

us. But, I mean, taking down the hurricanes, who everyone was so ready to say, this is the best team in hockey right now, and to take them down the way that they did. I mean, it's still early. You don't win the Stanley Cup in November, but the Florida Panthers have looked really good. And, you know, we're the biggest fans. So, of course, we're going to say that they're the best team in the league right now. Yeah. Our producer, Chris Flannery, is on it. Tells us it's a plus 22 goal differential already. Yeah, that's not good. That's really good a month into this season.

Hey, listen, before we bring Kevin Kurz on here to talk about the San Jose Sharks, we talk about great kind of surprise stories of the year, I feel like we'd be remiss if we didn't bring up the Anaheim Docton in particular, Troy Terry. Guys got an 11-game point streak here, Haley, to start the year. Here's what I find fascinating about Troy Terry, Haley. This guy's got eight goals already to start the year. He's already got a career high in goals.

Like he, like, this is, it's just this crazy streak. He's on 11 games in a row with a point. Eight goals. He was dynamite again in, in a win over St. Louis on the weekend. I just, I'm having a hard time finding a better story for an individual player. This guy's a fifth round pick from six years ago.

And I just, I love this story. I think everybody in hockey should be talking about Troy Terry because it's the great, example of just sometimes the stars align and a player just goes off. Right. And it looks like he's only one point away from a career high. He's got 14, 14 points, 8 goals and 12 games. I mean, he seems a little bit similar to Andrew Mangyupani in the sense that like these are two late round picks from a couple years ago who have like really had this come up and to have a breakout season. He's going to come back down to earth. He

shooting 32% right now. He has he has eight goals on 25 shots on goal. So that's going to level out to his like previous career high, which was like 16, between 16 and 10%. So that's going to level out. But, you know, that's still awesome. And when it levels out, it's going to be interesting to see what Anheim has and him when he's not shooting at above a 30% clip. And that's what's happening with Manjupani right now in Calgary is. He's, he was shooting. He was shooting. He was shooting. At right now, his power play shooting percentage is 100%. His all situations shooting percentage is 30%. He has seven goals on 20-something shots, kind of similar to Troy Terry.

So the guys are going to come back down to Earth. And the question then is going to be, what does Anaheim, what does Calgary have when they're shooting and their puck looks starts to come back down? I know what the flames have in Mangupani because he's shown that, you know, this real consistent growth year over year. But it'll be really interesting to see what Anaheim has and Troy Terry when he's not scoring on every like fifth shot. All right, Haley.

Trying to bring in our guests. And I got to tell you, I was listening. I did listen last week, even though I didn't host the podcast. I did eavesdrop on the entire episode you did last week with Sean Gentile, Max Boltman. And the one thing you said was, we got to get Kevin Curz on from San Jose. Right? Yeah.

I'm trying to actually turn this into the. American Monday edition, apparently, talking about San Jose. Yeah. I am American. There we go. Kevin's American. Now, is it, you grew up in Philly? Or where did you grow up?

Yeah, yeah, Philly suburbs. And I worked in the Flyers PR department, actually, for eight seasons before I moved out here. So now what years were you in the Philly PR department? I left. Yeah, I left. I started 2003-04. the year before the lockout.

And then the lockout came and I worked for the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2004-05, which was basically like the best AHA team of all time because they had all of these NHL guys that would have been on the NHL team. Otherwise, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Dennis Seidenberg, Antaranitamaki, Ben I mean, Patrick Sharp, you go down the list. It was all guys that ended up having very good NHL careers. And then I left in 2010 after they lost the Stanley Cup final. Okay. Yeah. Off to San Jose. So like, look, we're going to talk about the shark.

Okay, what's your favorite Flyers goalie story from back? Because you were there where there's always a Flyers goalie story, right? Yeah, I'll give you one, actually. So in the 2010 finals, Brian Boucher was heard in the second round, but Michael Leighton had been on this run and got them to the finals. And I was in charge of the Flyers social media. And Peter LaViolette was getting. getting hounded by the media, the beatwriters, you know, the Tim Panacios of the world,

asking who's going to start in goal? And it was before game six of the Stanley Cup final. And Peter LaViolette said something along the lines of, my goalie has the best numbers in the playoffs so far, so he's going to play. So I was in charge of the Flyers Twitter. So I assume that meant Michael Layton. So I assumed Peter LaViolette says Michael Layden is going to start. Well, he didn't actually say that. So then all the other guys, I think it was Pierre LeBron or Pierre McGuire went to my boss. And he said, well, you guys just tweeted Michael Leighton starting, but Lavillette didn't say that. So he quit called me and I got to delete the tweet.

And it was a whole big mess. And I remember our sales director coming to me later that day. He's like, are you in trouble? And I said, I don't think so. But we'll find out, I guess. And by the time the game rolled around, everybody had forgotten about it. Thank goodness that happened in 2010. That was like when Twitter was in the 10.

It was. Yeah, yeah, it was. And it was, yeah, I wouldn't want to run a Twitter account now. I just, I hate Twitter so much. I don't even, don't even get me started on Twitter now. I try to avoid it at all costs. Yeah, you're more like cranky old man on Twitter than I am. Am I? I tried to tone that down. So I actually resent that. Yeah. Oh, I saw your tweet last night. Literally just Seattle stinks. Well, they do. So far. Am I wrong?

No. They lost to the coyotes. No. Yeah, no, they're not good. It's, it's been vindicating for everyone who thought they were going to be bad. And then Dom's like, no, they're going to be good. And then now they're actually bad. I wasn't just dumb, though.

I remember seeing one of those guys who was more advanced stats focused, picking them to come in first place. And I looked at that roster and I said, no, I didn't think so. I mean, there's plenty of time left. I guess we'll see. But, yeah, I don't like that team. No. No.

But, I mean, they're in the Pacific, and maybe that's where we can start. Because the Pacific Division's been interesting this year. I mean, everyone probably projected Vegas to win, and then Edmonton, Calgary. The California teams were somewhere near the bottom. I think it was interesting to see the way it's been shaking out with injuries and COVID and just teams having better starts the year

than we thought. including the San Jose Sharks. I mean, what's your take on the team right now? Are they going to keep this up? Are they going to stay at the top of the division? Are they going to come back down to Earth? No, I mean, I don't expect them to challenge for the division title by any means. Can they hang around, though?

Absolutely. And I think for me, it just starts with there's been a different feeling around this team really since the start. And there's a couple reasons for that. I mean, last season, they were the only team that had to relocate their training camp. to Arizona. So right from day one, they're stuck in their hotels, they can't go out. They're basically following the COVID protocols that all the league had to follow, but they were on the road already. And then they started out with a 12-game road trip. And at the end of the day, they weren't a very good team to begin with. So the combination of factors, I think, really,

really got that team off on the wrong foot last season. And it was obviously, there was a talent, a talent gap too between them and the other teams. Their goal tending was still really bad. And that's turned around a little bit. That's one of the main factors that they've fixed in the offseason that's allowed them to win games now. But I do think they're a team that they're just a little bit more cohesive. And that's a word that's been thrown around really a lot in San Jose since Joe Pavelski

left. Their beloved captain, everybody loved this guy from the fan base to everyone in the dressing room to the coaching staff. I mean, you didn't get anybody in San Jose to say a bad thing. about Joe Pavelski, but they let him walk. And basically, the one player that they gave his money to was Evander Kane. And Kane, you know, was not a popular guy in the dressing room, culminating in everything that I reported over the summer. So, again, I think that that's really where it starts. They've established a foundation where they're playing for one another. They're playing for the coach.

And on the ice, obviously, it's better to starting a net with a different goaltending team. So Kevin, listen, this is probably the question that you get asked a lot. And since you brought his name up, I think it's a great way to go, is Evander Cain. Look, right now he's out of sight, out of mind. But that's going to change, right? A little bit later this month, he's going to be eligible to come back. Let's press the fast forward button here, Kev, to a month from now. So now it's early December.

Where do you see Evander Cain? Not in this dressing room, not on this team. Probably not in San Jose. I just don't see it happening. I don't envision any situation in which they would jeopardize what they've been building in terms of, again, their cohesiveness, their foundation of working hard on the ice for one another. The fact that they're integrating young players into the room that, you know, the guys that they want these young players following are guys like Logan Couture, are guys like Thomas Hurtle. And, you know, I think you really risk upsetting the apple cart because, as Evander Cain just became so unpopular in that room.

And, you know, it was just based on the fact that he just, he didn't have a respect for the team rules last season. And so, you know, it was a problem. Now, I don't think the coaching staff handled it well. I don't think the front office handled it well, probably because they were, and they were hoping to move him in the off season. They did try trading him in the off season. That didn't happen.

So, I, you know, to me, I think what they're going to do here is they'll probably pay him to stay home this summer and then then they'll revisit the whole the situation or they'll pay him to stay home this season and revisit the whole situation in the summertime but I really would be shocked if we see Evander Kane um on this team this year and you know he's halfway through his suspension he hasn't been at shark's ice training like a normal suspended player would do um so you know just just based on that alone I think I think that tells a big story but we're waiting to hear some clarification from the team. For some reason, they haven't been able to clarify the terms of the suspension to my annoyance a little bit, but they're going to have to handle it here

sooner than later because the suspension is, I think it's technically half over now. Yeah. And I mean, you touched on it a bit, but like, is there anything, like, can you see Evander Kane having a problem with being paid to sit at home? Or, like, do you think that's kind of the best solution for both sides is just him not showing up and they can deal with it in the summer, just kicking the can down the road. Yeah, I mean, it might not necessarily be the best situation for him. I mean, he wants to play hockey. He's got three years left after this one with $7 million average annual value.

So, you know, the sharks are signed that contract. I mean, the sharks are responsible for paying out that contract one way or another. So, you know, it's, a Vander Cain is within his right to be upset about. that because he signed a seven-year contract that the sharks agreed to. And it might go down being Doug Wilson's biggest error, but that's not a Vander Kain's fault. I mean, he's owed that money. He's, he has those three years left on his contract. So it's up to the sharks to figure out what they're going to do with it. You know, Kevin, right now I'm, I'm covering a team, the auto with senators who are starting to have a handful of players go into COVID protocol. On Monday,

Connor Brown among the three or four players that are kind of a ruled. out of the lineup for at least the next game against Boston. And I know that this is a situation you've navigated with the San Jose Sharks in the last couple of weeks. There was that game against Winnipeg that we couldn't believe that they had enough to ice a team and then they kind of gutted their way out to a win. Where are things out right now with the players and kind of who's in and out of COVID protocol?

Yeah, I mean, it's been the same seven guys for the last, well, actually not the same seven because Timom Meyer was played one game. and then Kevin LeBank played one game, and then they went into protocol, and Cogliano came back, and Jonathan Dalling came back. But other than that, it's been Bob Boogner,

redeemed Simic, Mark Edward Vlasic, Jacob Middleton, Eric Carlson. And like I said, Tim O'Mire and Kevin LeBank have been in it for a while too. And Matt Nietto is the other one. So,

you know, they played four games without these guys. They went two one and one on the homestand, which is pretty respectable. I think they've reached the end of the line of what they've been able to get out of that group. And, you know, they're going to go into Calgary on Tuesday night. And if they ice that same lineup, they've been icing for the last four games,

they're probably going to get smoked. So we'll see if some of those guys come back this for practice on Monday. But yeah, right now it's right now we're in the dark that the team's basically just been issuing a daily update and nothing's changed with that update for the last four or five days or so. And you're not coming on that trip, right, Kevin? No, no. I'm going to, that's a pain to do that PCR test to get into Canada.

And yeah, I'm skipping that one. I'm going to meet him in Denver. I don't like it. I'll be on the tail end of that trip. They'll do Calgary, Winnipeg. Yeah. So I won't be there for that. But yeah, I mean, they need, they need these guys, but especially Tim Omeyer and

they're at Carlson, really, because I thought Carlson got off to a pretty strong start. He's not going to win any more Norris trophies. but I thought he had an effective start. And Tim O'Myer had been their best player when he came out, leading score. He was just great so far. So they really need those two guys back in particular. You know, one of the other things that's kind of been newsworthy, and I believe you broke the story, Kevin,

was that the sharks reassigned William Eklund back to the Swedish Hockey League. What do you think of that? Is that the right move for the player for the organization? What do you think about the Sharks decision to do that with their first round pick from last year? I talked to Doug Wilson, Jr., who's their scouting director, and after talking to him, he did kind of convince me that it was the right move. I was on the fence originally just because, you know, this was a team that really lacks some skill in the top six. And William Ecclund is a skilled forward.

And we weren't really seeing it at even strength. He had four points in nine games. three of them were on the power play. And I think he was starting to wear it down a little bit. He's not a big guy, 19 years old. And, you know, you look at an Elias Pedersen and a Lucas Raymond guys that did go back to the Swedish League and now are thriving or did thrive. You know, Pedersen came back and won the Calder the year after. And then some other guys that maybe should have gone back, like a Katkini or Kako in New York.

So, you know, this sharks aren't going to win a Stanley Cup this year. And William Meckland, I think, certainly convinced them that he's going to be a huge part of their future moving forward. And Doug Wilson, Jr. told me that he thinks that he's already six to 12 months ahead of the schedule that they had him on when they first made him the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft. So, you know, he'll go back there. And I don't think that necessarily means we're going to see the last of him. I wouldn't be surprised because the NHL regular season runs through the end of April. but the Swedish, you know, this year because if it's all pushed back and the Olympic break, the Swedish legal end, I think it's the second week of April most likely.

So I do think if the sharks are hanging around the playoffs and Eklund goes back and has a strong season and is healthy, I wouldn't be surprised if they still burn the year of that contract anyway and bring them back in April. You know, Kevin, one of my favorite opposing players to cover over the years has been James Reimer. He is one of the most affable, easygoing, you know, polo. light players, particularly for the goalie position, right? Like, we've all three of us that probably dealt with like a prickly goalie or like a goalie who's a little bit weird. James Reimer seems like the most normal guy to play the position.

And I just want to know from your perspective, I feel like we need to give this guy a little bit of love because I don't think San Jose is sitting where they're sitting without James Reimer to start the year, right? Yeah, no question, especially the points they were able to get with this COVID-depleted lineup. They were because of James Reimer. He was a net for three or four of them. the two wins, and they lost in a shootout to New Jersey on Saturday. So he's kind of taken over the number one spot here.

They brought in Aden Hill from Phoenix. They signed James Reimer to a two-year deal. They're both on two-year contracts. And Hill got the call early on. And he was good early, but he's faltered a little bit. And Rimer hasn't. Rimer's been steady, really, since the season began. And I would be surprised if he's not in goal against the flames.

in what could be a big game for the sharks. And yeah, he's just been steady. The guys like him. And a lot of the sharks veterans knew them already, maybe not super well, but he was on the team in 2016 as Martin Jones's backup. They made a trade deadline deal bringing him in from Toronto in the year they made their playoff run to the finals.

And he is. He's a likable guy. And I think that's part of the reason that he was an attractive target for the sharks is because, again, they were trying to fix the culture a little bit in their dressing room. They already knew James Reimer's just a solid dude. You bring him in there. And it's worked out so far. And again, I think he's started taking the reins and he's the number one, at least right now. Kevin, I guess just to give listeners, I guess a bit of inside baseball,

so when Jack Eichael gets traded, the Eichael saga finally ends, he gets trade to Vegas, I texted Kevin right away and just said, so what's the asking price for hurdle? Hurtle did ask for trade last year. He's a pending unrestricted free agent. Do you think eyes are going to start turning to him as, you know, the next one up, the next, I guess the plan B for teams looking for a number one center here. And what might that cost? Yeah, it's interesting because I do think the sharks want to re-sign them. But yes, when you look at it from both sides, it really might make better sense for them both to move on. You know, do the sharks really want to give hurdle And hypothetically, an eight-year or even a seven-year contract extension when he's had some pretty extensive knee injuries in his career.

And they already have so much money locked up long-term and some other contracts that don't look good right now, whether that's Mark Ebert Blandlastic. You know, Carlson, I know is playing better, but he's still overpaid at this stage of his career and he's on a long-term deal. You know, Brent Burns has four years left. And Brent Burns has been fine, too. but, you know, there's a lot of expensive contracts here. Do you want to give Hurtle another one? So I don't know the answer to that. But, yeah, I do know Hurtle was one of the guys that was disgruntled last year.

Like just about everybody was in this team. I mean, he wasn't alone in that at all. But he's the guy that has an expiring contract. So I think to Hurtle, I really do think with this guy, winning is the most important factor. And I know that sounds cliche, but that's just who he is. again, he's just like Rimer. He's one of the most likable, happy, pleasant guys in the league. Everybody loves this guy.

It's impossible to just to dislike Thomas Hurtle at all. And, you know, I can see why the sharks want to keep him around. But, you know, is Hurtle think this team is in a position to win over the next three or four years? I don't know the answer to that. I think he's probably a little bit more hopeful like everybody should be. than compared to maybe this summer. But, you know, if the sharks do move them, they would have to get, I think,

at least a very good prospect that's going to play sooner than later in return. Sort of like what Vegas did when they traded for Max Patcheretti, giving Nick Suzuki up to Montreal. Well, Kevin, listen, we appreciate the visit. I know that whether it's a Vander Cain or as Haley mentioned, Thomas Hurtle, like there's going to be some really interesting storylines around the sharks here in the weeks and months ahead. So we look forward to your coverage there.

Listen, thanks for doing this. And thanks for doing this. And thanks as well. I hope this isn't lost on people that coming to Ottawa and visiting with me in person was worth the PCR test for you. Yeah. But doing the same for Haley and Calgary. Yeah, you know what?

It's not worth it. Not worth it for me. I mean, I'm not going to lie. And the first stop on that trip was Montreal. That was also a little bit appealing to me. Yeah. Oh. Yeah.

Ottawa is just the like, yeah, it's on the trip. I like downtown Ottawa. I have no bad things. I caught up with Jamie Baker, who's doing some radio for the senators, and we went out downtown. We went to the oldest bar in Ottawa. Do you know which one that is, Ian? Lafayette. Yeah, the Lafayette.

Yeah, the Lafayette. Yeah, that was a cool little spot. Ottawa's a good city. I think it, like, I don't think the downtown core gets enough credits because when you're there for hockey, are usually stuck out in Canada, I guess. I know. They got to put the, move that rink downtown. Like, like the same thing.

afternoon, Arizona. You're preaching to the choir. Yeah. But no, I don't blame you for the PCR test. I had to get one to get home from Pittsburgh and I was not happy about it. I don't, I didn't like it. I'm a big baby about stuff like that. And I just got back to like, when you guys did your PCR test to get over the

border to come to Canada, was it administered by somebody else or did you self-administer? Did you have to self-administer, Ian? I did. Oh, I wouldn't. I'd be like, I'm stuck here. not shoving that all the way up my nose. I wouldn't be able to do it. Oh, no, no.

They watched me do it. It was like a drive. I went to a drive-thru and they did it. But it was a self-administered one. Yeah. Oh, no. I did the one where they did it to me. We had to get it, we had to get a test done.

I don't know which one it was, but just to get into every single game, every single shark's home game last year, we had to get a test pregame. So I had that thing shoved up my nose. Like, we're going on like 40 or 50 times now. I don't like it. The antigen test is only like two centimeters up, so that one's not even that bad. But I didn't know that. So when I got the antigen test to go to the States, I'm at like Shopper's Drugmark

getting the easier one done. I was like, oh, that's terrible. I hated that. And she's like, oh, honey, like, that's the easy one. Like, when you're coming home, you've got the full Q-tip. And the lady who did it, who did the full PCR to me was so nice. I'm like, automatic tears when I did one. She's like, okay, honey.

like one more nostril to go. I was like, no. I'll come to Calgary next time. Once those tests are gone, just wait. Just wait a bit. It's not worth it. No, it's a great city. You should do it. But thanks a lot, Kevin. Sorry to everyone listening. You had to hear us talk about our nostrils. Yeah. This was great. Thanks for the visit. All right, guys. Take care. All right, Haley. It was good to connect with Kevin Kerr's talking a little bit about the San Jose Sharks. I want to wrap up the pod this week by, we'll do some multiple choice madness, but I also, I threw this out on Twitter because this is, of course, the weekend that wreaks havoc on

everyone's body clocks, go back and over. By the way, I noticed you tweeted in the wee hours of the, what time were you tweeting on Monday morning, Haley? Okay, so it was at 2.30, but the tweet was very funny. It's a picture of Baby Yoda, who everyone knows I like. in bed staring at his cell phone because of course he has one and the caption was just like me I really need to fix my sleeve schedule and then also me at three in the morning like scrolling through Twitter I don't know I need to get that back I don't know what's going on I filed a story

you know I didn't even stamp late working you know I was watching the late game finished up a story got it filed to the desk for the morning and then I just got this urge to clean my apartment. I did my dishes. I did laundry. I did some cleaning. I organized my desk. Look at you. Adolting. And then when I tried to go to bed, I was like not, I don't know, I was like wired. I don't know. I need to do a better like wind down thing. You know, I should start reading or something again. Well, I would stay off of Twitter for starters because that only just raises your blood. I know. Staring at the light is really going to help me. Oh yeah, my blood pressure too. And as part of your cleaning process, by the way, did you get on your hands and knees,

kind of get underneath the fridge and clean out any water, that standing water that might be there from some kicked ice cubes? No, remember, there's nothing under my fridge. So when I'm, like, kicking ice cubes, they like ricochet off the fridge and go elsewhere. I didn't even realize that. See, I thought it was, your whole point was you just kick it under the fridge. I didn't realize this was a pinball game where the ice cube was just going in like five or six different directions. But my specific fridge in this condo, nothing fits under it. I haven't dropped an ice cube in a while. Okay.

It's going to happen this week. So we're good. Yeah. I've got to turn my ice machine on because all the ice, you know, in your ice machine that just ends up being like all the like old ice chips at the bottom and you've got to like hit them to like get an ice cube out. No, I'm still doing. an old school with the ice cube trays like a little man, which nobody fills up except for me.

I feel like I'm the only. Okay. Okay, okay. But does nobody fill them up because they're afraid of you because you don't like when they don't fill them the way you like? No, I'm not a monster. You think I call a family meeting? I'm like, everyone gather around. Who has been filling these two thirds?

No, I don't care. Just fill it up. Oh, my God. My mom's not allowed to fill up ice cube. trays. Why? Because she doesn't fill them enough? She's just always really bad at it. Like something always goes wrong with the ice when my mom does it. But like what could happen? I don't know. You should ask my mother. Okay. We're going to bring her on the podcast. She just fills them like half up. And it's like, this isn't an ice cube mom. Okay. This was a really long way of getting to. This was the

weekend that we turned back the clock. And I know everyone's sleeping. patterns get thrown off, all that stuff. But I asked the question on social media, on Twitter on Monday. And I said, if you could turn back the clock and change one decision that your favorite NHL team made, what would it be? You know, so we're going to give our listeners and hockey fans the chance to turn back the clock and go back and change the decision that your favorite team made. Now, we got a ton of answers here.

A whole bunch of, you know, people write. in with different with different things. I like this one. This is from Steve. Actually, Steve Argentero is a TSN. Kind of works for SportsCenter TSN. He responded to my tweet and said, not leaving Patrick Waugh in for nine goals against Detroit back in the day.

Yeah, I think if you're a Habs fan, certainly if you're an Avalanche fan, you like that. But probably not leaving Patrick Waugh in for nine goals. If you could go back and turn, change one thing with turn back the clock, I think that would be at the top of the list, no? I mean, yeah, I think we got a ton of really good ones in here. A lot of them are censor-related ones of like all the, it's just like a greatest hits of poor roster decisions from the Ottawa Senators. Resigned stone to Max Term. Easy.

So many pieces fall into place. Keeping reddened instead of Charra. Oh, yeah. That's a sore point. I, but you know what, I like this one. But then we got like the other side too, though, by the way. Like people are saying like Charra better than Redden. So we've got like people are.

No, no, I think everyone says that they should have kept Charra not Redden, right? One guy said keeping Redden instead of Charra, but I think he's confused. No, no, I think he means if I could change one thing, it would be I wouldn't have kept. Oh, I'm confused. Yes. You're confused. You're running on short sleep. That's my own fault.

I feel like this one. Like, when you think of Brent Burns, I don't feel like we spent enough time, Haley, talking about the fact, like, he was in Minnesota and got traded. So this fan writes, Alex wrote to us and said, you know what,

is a Minnesota wild fan trading Brent Burns. I would go back and change that. It's true. Like, I feel like when we talk about lopsided trades, we don't talk about that one enough that Brent Burns was in Minnesota and ended up in San Jose.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we've got, uh, yeah, even just like Sons fans, so funny, probably would have just probably would have kept Demello to play with Shabbat. That's going to be a big one. He was really solid on that pair. Like, and that pair was really good.

And then they traded him at the deadline for, what was it, a third round pick? Third round pick. Yeah. Drafting Connor bleakly over David Pasternak. Building the arena and canada. But you're just reading all the same. Sauer Sends fans that are that are in there's a ton of them again i'm trying to just scroll through okay this is a pretty good one here raphael writes in uh if we're if we're doing one per team here

going back uh i wish my team never and he's a ducks fan i wish my team never just handed away shay theodore to Vegas so we could protect sammy vatman yeah how many times is that draft going to just give gifts to the Vegas Golden Knights. Yeah, it's still giving them gifts. Tuck was like Eichol. It's the most insane trade tree. Not just all the players they got an expansion, but like what they've used those assets to do.

And ooh, it's the gift that keeps on giving and it's really irritating. Especially like, what do you think if you're Ron Francis and you're watching this, aren't you like, what happened with my expansion draft? Why didn't I get all these things? Because he, I mean, he got left at the table holding his cards still. And I can understand wanting to play hardball and get what you believe is the value that you want. But like, you got left with your card still because you were trying to get the same returns at Vegas did. No GM was going to do that.

Like, we heard about the exorbitant prices to protect players or steer them away from certain guys. It was like multiple, multiple picks, like first and a third, first and a second, two firsts for stuff to protect Mark Giordano to do certain things. And well, look at the roster you have now. They are. At first I felt a little silly. And I know this is an aside. But like when I remember Dom did his preview, like he was pretty high on Seattle. Like look at all these good, you know, strong underlying numbers players.

they should actually come together and be quite good. I felt a little silly for saying, like, I don't think this team's going to be good. And now I feel fine about it. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, let me read a couple of other ones here.

We have some Leafs fans saying if you could turn back the clock, I wish we never signed Patrick Marlowe. Oh, yeah, I get that. I think part of that is, though, it's getting rid of them to Carolina and attaching a first round pick. That's the problem, right? Oh, yeah. It was the cost that it took to get out from our.

under that. And that was always going to kind of be a problem. And I mean, he was like great. He had that kind of dad vibe with Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews. He was good in the locker room. But what did he cost? Like six million. They signed him for like six million dollars or something, right? Yep. Six million bucks for three years. Yeah. And you're a cap constraint team. You're signing all these players, these big contracts. You're locking guys in and you've got Patrick Marlowe, who when Babcock was coaching, used him too much. but then also not enough at the same time. Sometimes, like, I remember I think it was, um, it was like the final minutes of like a playoff game and he had like Patrick Marlowe

out there, not Austin Matthews or something. And I remember people being like, uh, uh, maybe we shouldn't do that. Maybe we should put Austin Matthews out, not Patty Marlowe, who, no, God bless him is not old school vintage Patty Marlowe. So I get that one. It costs a lot to, to get out under that contract and probably could have used a first round paper. Okay, last one I'm going to read from a listener on Twitter. Taylor wrote in and said, if you can go back and change one thing that your favorite team did, what would it be?

Taylor says, I wish the Tampa Bay Lightning never changed the name of the arena that they played in. They used to play in the Ice Palace. They should have always kept that name. sponsors be damned. That is a good name, right? It's fun. The Ice Palace.

Yeah. Like, who wants to go to the Ice Palace for a game today? Like, that's cool. Yeah. You could do some, like, fun in-game activations and stuff with that, too. Like, imagine just, like, the game day promos and stuff. What are we thinking here? Okay, so what are your game day?

We're giving you the keys to the palace, Haley. What are you doing? What are you doing in game? You could do, like, Frozen in there. Get a partnership. with Disney. So simple. Yeah. You could do princess stuff. There we go. Your game day activations are basically hinging on a copyright infringement from Disney. Like you need to be frozen. It could be, what is it, Anna and Elsa? It could be Aaron. It could be Aaron and she has a really long blonde hair and a blue dress. And she sings song.

but it's not Elsa. It's not frozen. Her best friend, the snowman. Olaf. Looks a little bit different than Olaf. It could be discount frozen at the ice palace in Tampa. Okay. See, I like it.

I think did Olaf Colzig play? I'm not good at this. Did Olaf Colzig? I think he played in Tampa, didn't he briefly? You bring him back? Does he like warm hugs? Yeah. Okay.

Speaking of these kind of cheesy things, let's wrap up the podcast with a little multiple choice madness. Now, if you watched the way Jack Eichel was welcomed into Vegas, kind of gets out of a like a limo car service, and he comes out, Haley, into like a hotel area, and he's greeted by like this little marching band, some dancers, chance the mascot is there. Here's what I want to know.

Haley, what did you think of the Jack Eichael welcoming party to Vegas? A, I loved it. It just screams Vegas. It's perfect. B, you know what? I'm sorry, that's way too corny, even by Vegas standards. I'm going to give you another option. Hey, you know what?

I don't even care. I don't care one way or another. Where does Haley stand on the Jack Eichael welcoming party to Vegas? I feel like I should ask you, where do you think Haley stands? Because if you know me at all, this shouldn't be a multiple choice question. I want to. I think you hate it, but I don't know. Oh, I don't like it.

All I could think of, and just because I cover the flames, I was like, if he goes anywhere else, are they doing a freaking welcome wagon parade with like, like, you know, a weird out of his car with like, I don't even know what they were doing, like bells and whistles. Is any other team doing that? No.

Like, is Daryl Sutter going to ride out on a horse and say welcome to Calgary? No. Like, why? I get it. It's their whole brand. They do that stuff. Their game day entrances are awesome, but their social media is a bit over the top. And like everything they do is just a little bit too much. And I'm sure that was something that was cool for Jack Eichel. He's been wanting to get the surgeries, wanting to get out, whatever. But I saw it and I was like, nobody else would do this. And I guess that's good branding. Like you have a brand of being the team that does things extra. but I saw it and was like, that's weird.

But also we like lost our chance at seeing Daryl Sutter ride out on a horse. I don't think Daryl Sutter would have, I'm not thinking he's coming out on a horse. Brad Tree Living out on a horse. Welcome to Calgary. Can you imagine the social media engagement on that video? Oh my gosh. You would have been all over that. You'd have been all over there.

The inside story. Where the horse comes from? The inside story of where they got the horse. horse for Daryl Sutter. Oh my gosh. You know what? I liked it because you know what? It's perfect for Vegas.

They did this when they traded for Mark Stone. They did the same kind of cheesy welcoming committee with a band. Look, it doesn't work. It wouldn't work in Calgary. It wouldn't work in Philadelphia. It wouldn't work. It wouldn't work anywhere except for Vegas. And they really lean into it.

Listen, I have it. Knock yourselves out. It works for them because they do it. Like that is their brand that they've created for themselves, right? Is that they do these things. And so it works, but I don't like it. Okay, one more. Let's sneak one more in to wrap up the Monday podcast here, okay?

Haley, which team, we're about a month into the regular season here, okay? Which of these teams should be getting a little bit more credit, a little bit more love maybe on the national stage? Because they're off to a great start, but maybe nobody's really talking about them. Is it A, your Calgary Flames, B, the Philadelphia Flyers, C, the Minnesota Wild, or D, the Columbus Blue Jackets?

Haley, who should we be talking about a little bit more? I did think about throwing Detroit into the mix, by the way. They've been off to a really good start, in my opinion, but Calgary, Philly, Minnesota, Columbus, who deserves a little bit more love nationally? I think the flames are getting like a decent amount of attention they haven't lost a game in over three weeks in regulation yet. And, you know, obviously I think a lot of attention comes from Kachuk and Sutter and

Guadro. They were involved in the Eichel stuff. So I feel like Calgary is getting some attention. You know, we got into it with Dom Lus Chishin. I did because he called them boring and had them ranks like 15 in the power rankings. And I was like, hmm, I don't think you've been paying attention, my friend. And now they're like fifth on the power rankings. So I think the flames are getting, you know, a decent amount of attention.

I think the Flyers are an interesting team because they've been, they made so many changes this off season. They said they were going to do something to get out of the mushy middle and they did and they've been pretty good. The flames dismantled them last week. I'm going to go with Minnesota. Until I was looking at the standings the other day for my flame story, I had no idea that they were, I think they're fifth in the league right now, fifth or six in the league.

And I wasn't really paying enough attention to that. I'll be honest. I just thought they were going to be middling because the wild are typically in the mushy middle. They are usually right there with the flames and they're actually right up there with the Calgary flames at the top of the standings right now. It's still early. But I thought I would like to see more like national attention to the Minnesota Wild

because they're right up there with some good players too. Yeah, absolutely. I got to say it's Columbus for me. Like, there's seven and three. The Columbus Blue Jackets, who I think a lot of his thought would be in the running for Shane Wright and the top five. And I'm not saying that they might not be down the road. They're seven and three. And, you know, Bjork Strand has got 13 points in 10 games.

Line A's been a point per game guy. Mersleekins has just been dynamite, dynamite to start the year. And I feel like the Columbus Bluejack has deserved a little bit more love. Haley, I think Brad Larson, like you're asking me today, who's your potential coach of the year? I'm like, how do you not vote for that guy? Seven and three to start the year with a team that a lot of us thought would end up at the bottom of the barrel. So that, for me, would be, you know, that would be my vote. But I think there's a handful of teams that you can give some love to.

Columbus, Columbus would get my vote. Okay, listen, we're going to leave it there, Haley. This was a lot of fun. Hopefully, are you going to be taking a nap later today? Is your schedule just thrown right off with the extra hour? No, I have so much to do, and that's probably why I didn't sleep. Just again, let's getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame next week. I'm working on a big feature for that, a big feature on somebody else that I'm doing with our colleague, Dan Robson,

who's an incredible feature writer, and just the day-to-day beat stuff of a team who hasn't lost a game in regulation in almost a month. So it's a little bit hectic right now, lots of stuff going on, lots of moving parts. So I don't think I'll have time to nap. Just more work to do. But we've got French press. I have like five different options in terms of cold brew in my fridge. I don't know how that happened.

I don't know how it piled up the way that it did. But here we are. I'll be caffeinated. So no nap, just more coffee. Okay. Listen, power through it. Look forward to all your coverage this week. We'll do this again next Monday.

You're actually going to be in Ottawa. We'll see if we can actually meet face-to-face at some point. It should be a lot of fun. Listen. Oh, my gosh. Thanks, everybody, for listening to The Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and a review.

We'd certainly appreciate that. And we want to remind you that annual subscription to The Athletic. They're just $3.99 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.