The Athletic Hockey Show - Joe Biden chirps the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pens-Caps: have we seen the last great moment in this rivalry?, Brooks Koepka heckles Aaron Ekblad, and more

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

On this week’s Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Ian and Julian are back to discuss Joe Biden chirping the Toronto Maple Leafs on Parliament Hill, if we’ve seen the last great moment between the Caps and Pens with Ovechkin and Crosby as the headlining stars, unique best-on-best tournament concepts, Brooks Koepka heckling Aaron Ekblad, the Buffalo Sabres’ statement on their Pride Night tonight, and an ideal cookie lineup.Plus, the guys close things out with a bet about the final playoff matchups, some listener questions, the Jack Adams Winner of the Week, and Multiple Choice Madness.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. We are back. It is the Monday crew with the athletic hockey show, Ian Mendez and Julian McKenzie with you for the next hour. We're going to wrap up what happened on the weekend in the NHL. We're going to a couple of hot stories around the league like we always do on a Monday, kind of just get you set for the week that was and the week that will be in the NHL. You know, Julian, one of the themes that we always hear with people is, you know, you got to keep. sports and politics separate.

Stop mixing sports and politics. Stick to sports. Stick to sports. You know? Stick to sports. You know, would you ever, I'd love to go to one day to like, I'm trying to think, what would be something that,

I'm trying to think, what would, like, Big City Hall? I'm trying to think of something that rhymes, okay, here we go. I'd love to go to, I'd like to go on social media and, like, go attack a shipping company or like a sailor and say, you know what? Stick to.

ports. That's what I want to do. That's why I want to stick to ports. How long did it take you to come up with that yet? It just, no, they just literally just came up to me right now. And that's why I thought you were going to be like, I would love to go to some municipal meeting. And then whenever like some politician decides to veer off track with like discussing, you know, important matters as it pertains to city life or anything like that. And maybe they want to be like, oh, let's talk about the baseball game that happened today. And then you're like, you're like, you know, stick to politics. That's right.

I was thinking like stick to ports. Stick to ports. That might be one of the, that is a dad joke. You really are a father, Ian. Yeah. That confirms it right there. No, reason why I want to bring this stuff up,

stuff up though, sports and politics is Joe Biden dropped the Maple Leafs joke that I feel like we need to dissect the joke. Okay? This is where we're at, And this is not a... And the NFL season people, Joe Biden is driving the conversation of the National Hockey League.

So for people who don't, our listeners don't realize, Joe Biden was in my town last week, right here in Ottawa. And he addressed Parliament Hill, like, you know, which is basically like Congress in the United States and had an opportunity to address the politicians of Canada. And during it, decided to diss the Toronto Maple Leaf. So have a listen. Here's Joe Biden just randomly. taking a shot at the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Our labor unions cross borders. So do our sports leagues. Baseball, basketball, hockey. Listen to this, hockey. I have to say, I like your teams except the Leafs. I'll tell you why. They beat the Flyers back in January. That's why.

And if I didn't see that, I married a Philly girl. If I didn't say that I'd be sleeping alone, fellas. like you, but not that much. All right. So after I got raked over the coals for my dad joke, and rightfully so, uh, I still feel like I have the right, though, to kind of dissect this Biden comment because, look, I get it. I know.

This was all written for you by a speech writer. I get it. You didn't actually come up with this on your, but of all the things to kind of mock the Maple Leafs for be angry at the Maple Leafs. Yeah, they beat the Flyers. in January is lame. Like, come on. Julian, come up with something better

for why you want to rip on the maple leaves. I'm with, I can side with you there because there are so many other things, only are the reasons why you could rip on them. But, like, to be clear, the leaves are not the only Canadian team who beat the Flyers at any point this year.

I believe the Flames did as well. I'm trying to remember who put out a tweet listing out all the Canadian team who did beat the Flyers this year. But the Flyers are not a good team. They're very easy to beat up on, at least this year. But because the Toronto Maple Leafs are the team that they are, and they are very easy to make fun of,

it's a lot easier to put them in such a joke compared to, like, the Emmington Oilers. Like if Joe Biden was all like, oh, no, I can't stand Connor McDavid because he beat the Emmetton Oilers. Sorry, because he beat my Flyers. It'd be like, oh, like, okay, that's kind of weird. Like, why would you sing like the Oilers? Like, there are so many other teams.

Like, we'd focus on that more. But because it's the Leafs, it's like, huh, is this another thing to add on to the heap that has been piled up on the Leafs with everything that they've endured in their history? Oh, you haven't won a first round series since 2004. Oh, you lost to a Zamboone driver. Oh, the President of the United States doesn't like you. Like, it's just, it is what it is as far as I'm concerned with the Traum Police. By the way, Joe Biden, Syracuse alum, by the way, I should mention. Yeah.

I just, you know what, I just think I get it. I know what you're trying to do. That just felt so forced and fake, like most politicians when they talk about sports, right? Like when there's those stupid mayoral bets between two cities and a playoff series, like, if you win, we're going to send you some Maryland crab cakes. And if we win, we're going to send you, uh, you know, whatever. It's in. Chicago deep dish pizza.

Like, you know, so you guys don't know what you're talking about. I always thought those were cool. That was like a nice fun thing. between like the mayors of two cities, they get at each other. You know, it's, it's all and good fun. It's good mayoral back and forth. You know, like in the playoffs,

I'm sure that'll happen. I'm sure the mayor of Edmonton will probably have something going on with, I don't know, the mayor of Los Angeles or something, about a potential Oilers King series if we get that. Like, those are kind of fun little stories to,

to track. I like those. Why'd you go high voice on me there? You went high voice because you don't even believe what you're saying. You're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's great when the mayor's bet with each other.

I think it's awesome. You went Johnny High Voice on me. I don't, wow, Johnny High Voice. It means you don't believe what you're saying. That's not true. That's not true. Sometimes my voice has those weird inflections. I don't make fun of you every time you do the intro of the show and you're like,

it's time for the Monday edition of the athletic hockey show. I don't point that out. How come? Yeah, like, whoa, your voice went up there. Do you not like doing the Monday show? Ian? Huh? Well, I don't know if I like it. See, see, I went out with me. It's not making fun of me, Ian. Here's what I think, okay? Here's the Biden joke. Here's the Biden. There was an easy opportunity for him to make a joke of some that would have landed better. Like, so did you see? So part

of his announcement was he said that U.S. and Canada were going to jointly return to the moon. Right? Did you see this? I don't know if you saw this. Biden addresses Parliament Hill and says, you know, we're going to go to the moon together. Easy joke for him would have been something along the lines of, and by the way, the Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since we put a man on the moon. That's good. That's good. That's good. Timely quality humor.

Like, that was better than this long story about how the Flyers beat the leaves in January. Ian, who are your favorite comedians of? all time. I want to know what your humor's like. You're not going to like this because this is like the, you know, it's like, it's the Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, family friendly, they're cool stuff for me. That's okay. They're fine. Like Jim Gaffigan, whenever I hear jokes from him, he always seems to be funny. Jerry Seinfeld, like the show itself was great. Like, it's pretty good. I feel like all the comedians I like. I don't know if they, I feel like they haven't really aged all

that well. Like, they're not. It's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've been canceled? Something like that. Or just like the jokes just don't age well. Like, I don't know. Like, I mean, remember people like Chris Rock? I don't think people like Chris Rock as much anymore. Dave Chappelle, yeah, that's kind of gone down a little bit over his last few stand-up

routines as well. I wonder how people feel about Eddie Murphy's early work. Like, I I think Eddie Murphy's hilarious. Oh, like, like, raw and delirious. Raw and delirious and stuff. Yeah. I wonder how people feel about that. But like, yeah, like, I think that's just, like, I think what I was a little younger, like, those are like people like I really like like like like.

And now it's like, okay, like who, like I still kind of like stuff in that vein when they're not being controversial. We don't have to divert the podcast to talk about controversial comedians. But like, that's, I think, where I'm kind of at. We don't have to divert. We don't have to divert there. We don't have to do a podcast all that. Let's go back.

Dad jokes. Let's go back to bad bad dad jokes. Look, I just, I don't know. I'm done with politicians who don't know anything about sports trying to weigh in on sports. That's all. I guess that's my only point. So did you like when Barack Obama would weigh in on sports? He seemed like he knew what he was talking about.

He did. Like even when he used to do like the final four brackets and stuff. Yeah. He still kind of does, I think. Yeah. And it looked like he kind of knew what he was talking about, right? Yeah. He looked like it.

He looked like, I mean, plus he played ball too. We've seen videos of him shooting hoops and whatever. But he, he's, he, he knew, he looked like he knew what he was talking about. The all-time worst, though, is the Bill Clinton when he has Detroit come to the White House. The Red Wings have won. I think their first, either their first or their second Stanley Cup there in the late 90s. And Bill Clinton does the, and, you know, Detroit wins this, of course, thanks to the courageous play of their captain, Steve Azerman. Oh, Steve Azerman.

Oh, that's so cringy. Steve Azirman. I would have thought you had Justin Trudeau had that celebrity boxing match a couple years ago. Like, well before he was prime minister. That was also kind of like, what are you doing? Yeah, but at that point, you're not the person in charge, right?

That's true. Right? You were just, he was just the son of a person who used to be in charge. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. I don't know. Those awkward, okay, here's a legitimate question.

I actually don't know the answer to this because it's been 30 years since the Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. So we've seen professional sports teams for the most part. I know that the practice has been halted for a variety of reasons last few years, but they would go visit the White House, right? When you win a championship, if somebody wins the Stanley Cup, do they go to Parliament Hill? Do they visit?

That was my thinking. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't do that. But has it happened? Especially when the Oilers were winning, were they coming in visiting, Like Brian Mulroney? I've never seen footage of this. Here's my thinking. I think because we're in a time where it has been so long since we've seen a Canadian team make it and win the Stanley Cup,

that's all the more reason for whoever's prime minister, whenever that happens, to be like, hey, y'all are coming here and we're going to celebrate this. And I guess the only other reason why they would visit like a U.S. I mean, the Raptors, when they won an NBA finals, they did. didn't go to the White House, did they? No. No. They didn't go to White House, but I don't think they came to Parliament Hill, did they? No. I don't remember. Well, my thinking is, yeah, like, why? I don't know if they did. Did they? I think we're going to have to, Big Chris is going to have to look this up for us, but like, I don't remember if they did. And I wonder, because if they, when they won

in 2019, I wonder if the day they would have gone to Parliament Hill would have been when all of COVID went down, right? Because the very next year is COVID. and that wrecked everything. And in fact, I'm wondering if you're the Raptors and you didn't have that time, do you like, at any point did you like retroactively like want that day in Parliament?

Yeah, that's interesting. That's a really interesting question. They had like what one Chris Boucher? Like they wouldn't have had, it wouldn't have meant a lot to the core of that team to visit Parliament Hill. I guess, but at the same time, they are Canada's only team in the league.

So they, and all those players, Especially through that run, like they have to, they've definitely understood that like they were playing for a country. I know a lot of people like, you know, Canada's team and all that. But with the way that Canadians went around the Toronto Raptors that year, like it really became Canada's team. Like that was a whole thing in itself. So like if they didn't realize they were playing for a country before then, they would have understood that. So the idea of them going to Parliament Hill, like some of those players I would assume would realize like, oh yeah, right. this is a big deal for us to be here.

If that opportunity was afforded to them. But again, my guess is just that COVID might have washed away any potential opportunity for that. But I don't know. Our producer Chris Flannery has said his very first search, the Montreal Canadiens did not visit Parliament Hill when they won the Stanley Cup 30 years ago. So why is that not a thing? I don't know. Why is that not a thing? Is it just because like the logistics of it aren't good?

Like it's just it just wasn't to like how long has it been a thing for teams to visit the White House? Well, they were doing it in the like the NFL teams would always go in the 80s for sure. You know, there's a great, there's great footage of George Bush senior throwing a football pass to Jerry Rice. of San Francisco. And there's a clip of George Bush. And again, these are classic poorly written jokes by politicians. But he makes a joke about, well, there's a new hit TV show coming out this fall. It's called Miami Rice.

And it's like, wah-w-w-w-bigh. That's so bad. That's as bad as stick to ports, me telling a sailor to stick to ports. I'd rather stick to ports than Miami Rice. Do we call up our Flyers reporter Charlie O'Connor and tell him to stick to torts? Anytime you... You know, I'm just trying to think outside the box here. That was so good.

Charlie, but also so bad. But also stick to toys. Okay. Stick to torts. This is going to get off the rails. Okay. Yes, it is. On the weekend, I want to ask you because it was a great,

It was a nationally televised game in the United States on ABC. It's Pittsburgh. It's Washington. And it was a wild one. The penguins are up 3-0. Julian, and the caps come back. They make it 3-3.

And then Evgeny Malkin, the stage is set for him. Intercepts the puck in the neutral zone comes in, scores the game winner. And you could see his celebration. It almost felt like that maybe save their playoff chances or enhance their playoff chances. whatever. I ask you this because that was a really, really big blow to Washington's postseason

chances. Is there any way that that moment was the last great moment we'll ever see in the rivalry between Washington and Pittsburgh in this sort of iteration of the Gino, Sid, Baxter, was that the last great moment, you think? That's a great question. In terms, if you mean great in terms of games like actually mattering. There is a chance that it could be, but also like, I think as long as you have the two figureheads on each side in terms of Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, there's always going to be that potential for some kind of epic game.

The crazy thing is seeing these guys in their mid, veering towards late 30s, still playing at a high level, like the opportunity for like another like multi-goal game performance. from either of those guys going against each other, like that there's always going to be that, I think. And I still think, and I made this point during the All-Star game, and I still think the NHL should do this.

I still think when it comes time, they should have Crosby and Ovechkin be captains for the All-Star game and have guy, like, let them pick in a draft and make that a competition throughout that weekend. That I think would be, like, I mean, maybe even if it is for fun, that could also be added to the legacy. I think there are still different, Things that could happen because it doesn't seem as if either of those players are going to retire anytime soon.

And I get I get it. Gino exists. I mean, Nicholas Baxter, I mean, Nicholas Baxter's health is one thing. But there are other players in the Washington Capitals as well. Like that rivalry could still be a thing. But it really starts with those two players. And I think as long as those two players are still playing at a high level, there's no way you can, you can, you can think like, okay, that's the, like, I think you're still potential for another great moment in that rivalry. And I realize I'm hijacking that conversation to make the point about how the NHL should really do a Crosby versus Ovechkin thing at the at the NHL All-Star game at some point in the future.

But they really should. If they really want that product to, you know, improve and not have people just whine at home be like, oh, this is just for sponsors. And, you know, I'm hot and tired of the TV presentation. They want people to get in, even if it's just the hardcore fans. Like, I really think getting to players who have been the, who have been the, who have been the, the best players for the better part of like 15 years, that's a way to get them in. That's a way to extend that rivalry for another year or so.

I just think because Washington, it looks like they're going to miss the playoffs, the penguins, it feels like they're hanging on by their fingernails. Yeah. I think the next time we might see Crosby and Ovechkin and Malkin and kind of play a game that matters, and this is really fingers crossed,

is some sort of best on best. tournament. And you hope that it happens while they are still in this window. And I don't know, I see a shake in your head because I don't think they'll get that. You don't think so. I don't think so. I just feel like with the way that for one, doesn't seem like the players are going to the Olympics anytime soon. Two, the World Cup. Like, when is that happening? Like, it feels like it's getting pushed back almost every time I hear about it. And even then, like, of course, you have both those players like there. I mean, that might be that last time. But like, even then, like what's stopping, you know, some other issue to come in and push the tournament back?

Like, it just, it just doesn't seem so set in stone for me. It does not seem like a guarantee. Like, we're wondering if Crosby and McDavid are going to be able to play with each other, right? Like, if we're worried about that, like, I don't know if we're going to get Crosby versus Ovechkin again. And we haven't even gotten into issues with Russia right now. We don't even know if a best on best competition were to happen. We do not know right now if Russia would be included, which would obliterate any opportunity of us seeing Crosby versus O'Bach.

Yeah, no, it's a great point. At that stage. It's just, yeah, it's maddening. I know the discourse that's out there after the World Baseball Classic really had some traction. Man. You want to see your best push. You know, it's wild to me too, though. Like, you're talking about you want to see one best on best tournament with McDavid and Crosby as teammates.

Think about this for a second, Julian. We only got one best-on-best tournament with Gretzky and Lemieux, where they were teammates. That's it. And that was the 1987 Canada Cup. You know how old those two guys were when they played that tournament? Wayne Gretzky was 26. Wow. Wayne Gretzky was 26.

Mario Lemieux was 21. And if you would have told me at that moment, that's it. They will never play as teammates again in the best-on-best. I wouldn't have believed it. Come on. These guys are in their prime. 26 and 21, they got Canada Cups. They got, never played again because Mario had the back issues for the Canada Cup in the early 90s.

You know, they would just alternate between, you know, Mario briefly retired there when the league went to Nagano. And, you know, so it's just the star is never aligned. Isn't that crazy? One time. And they were both in their prime. Okay, now I have another question for you. Because the show A Otani, Mike Trout, at bat, like, that's probably the coolest thing that's happened in baseball probably since. And this might be controversial to say, probably since the Barry Bond's home run chase.

That's probably the coolest thing that's happened in the sport since then. I wonder, what is the NHL equivalent of that? Like, if we're watching a best on best tournament and we're seeing two guys at the top of their powers. And you know what? I will even like exclude the fact that like Shohei and Trout are on the same team. What is the NHL equivalent of that, whether at a best, it probably at a best on best tournament. Like what's the equivalent of that moment?

Well, I think, you know, it would be pretty cool if you want to do the teammate thing. How about we get to a shootout and it's Canada and it's Russia and it's Stephen Stamcoast against Vasilevsky. That's really cool. Is that the same thing? Like those are two really great players, but like, like, man, I mean, I don't know. I mean, look, McDavid, McDavid is one. That's for sure.

Absolutely. I mean, dry sidal McDavid, head to head in a can't, but Matthew's McDavid? Like Matthews going at McDavid in a three on three overtime situation? Yeah, Canada, USA, I think, like of all the rivalries right now that feel like they would have the most bite in a best on best, it feels like it would be Canada and the United States, right? Absolutely, because if you look at that U.S. roster, the potential of what it could have, Johnny Goddrow, Jack Eichol, Matthew Kachuk, Brady Kuchuk, you could probably fit him in on a line somewhere to, Charlie McAvoy at the back end as well.

Adam Fox, who's arguably like the best defense within the world. Connor, I mean, your goaltending, Connor Hellupuk could be back there too. Jake Otenger might get a chance as well. Like, it's juicy not just because of the talent. that the U.S. is able to assemble, the U.S.A. could be Canada. If we were having to have a tournament right now, right now, you could make an argument the U.S. could be can. I'm not saying it would happen. I'm saying you could make the argument. When I did an episode of The CJ Show with CJ a couple days ago, CJ mentioned the idea, you know, what if we had a Canada versus U.S. like series, like a summit series.

like that would be a really cool way to get people, especially North America anyway, to watch some kind of best on best. Like if you're not going to get Sweden, you're not going to get Russia, you're not going to get all these other countries, fine. But you get Canada and U.S.

where there is already a natural rivalry, border rivalry. Like, and Canada has the talent that they have and the U.S. has the talent that it has. Like, that could work. You know, you pitch it to ESPN, you pitch it to TNT. Like, that could be a cool seven game.

Here's what I think you do. Now here, tell me if you think this is a great idea, bad idea somewhere in between. I like what you're doing. I like what you're thinking. Now we alternate the best of seven with the men's and the women's program. Game one, Canada men versus USA men, game two, Canadian women against US. And you alternate. No way.

It's pretty evenly matched. Who says no? No? Oh, that you grow. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, hold on, hold on. So you make it like a, oh. You know what I mean? So the one thing I have a question with is,

how do you go about alternating which program gets what? Because I'm into the idea of like both men and women's senior programs. If you want to get real crazy, put in the juniors as well. Like have both sides come up with like a U-20 team as well for the men side. If you want to include the women. Or maybe it gets a little crazy if you add those in. but if you have both senior programs go in and like they're both kind of working with each other to like get like a win in the series like and maybe like it comes down to like the women's team

for like one nation to secure it all for everybody like that would be pretty interesting that'd be pretty cool or you could do like when Canada played Russia in the original summit series it was a best of eight and then they were going to determine I think gold differential you could do that if you wanted to make sure you had four games from the men, four from the women. And you, like, I don't know. That's true. It's just off the top of my head.

Much like that port joke, just off the top of my head. So, this is way better than the port joke. This is much better. Anyway, like, I think there's some merit to it where certainly you could attract a lot of eyeballs on both sides of the border. And I think you would help, you know, elevate the women's game. And you would be really invested emotionally in how these games.

games went, right? Canada, you'd want to win. Yeah, anyway, there's a thought. Yeah, any opportunity for either side to beat the other, they relish at that opportunity in hockey. And like, I get a lot of people like Canada or Russia, but like Canada, USA, just in almost any sport where there's some kind of competition, I know it's really hockey, but like, you relish that opportunity if you're in Canada to beat the states. And in hockey, especially if you're the states, like, because Canada wins so much, you relish that opportunity to beat Canada when you have that chance.

I did not consider the idea that you could find a way to fuse both the senior men and women's program in a series that could work. But I'm very curious if like the players would be up for it. Like that is a pretty unique idea. And if that is the way we can see the collection of talent that the U.S. has right now play at a high level and see Team Canada have Connor McDavid and and Sydney Crosby play together. You mentioned Stephen Stamco's. Stephen Stapco's, as far as I'm concerned, has never played for Canada at the Olympic level because of either youth or injuries. And at this point, age might also be a reason why he might not be able to play for team. Like, we thought maybe in, in 2022, that might have been it.

But COVID kind of derailed that, right? Like, Stephen, they didn't put him on the Vancouver team because they thought he was too young in 2010. Too young. Yes. He broke his leg in 2014. He did. They didn't send NHLers in 2018. 2018.

And COVID in 2022. Yeah. So it's, uh, it's been a tough goal for sure for. I can't think of any other NHLer in the history of the league who has been more hard done by that process of picking for the Olympic team than Stephen Stamco's. Can you think of any other age, any other. And it's weird to call him a snub. Like you could really only say like the first year was when he was truly snubbed. Every other year was just bad luck.

injuries, just not planning, but like just the league and the federations are coming together on something. And then the biggest like global pandemic we've seen this century. I mean, it's the only one we've seen in the century, but it's the biggest one we've seen. Well, I think back in the day, like I said, Mario Lemieux only got in the Canada Cup the one time and then he obviously came back in 2002. but like Steve Eisenman, Julian, was a guy that inexplicably in the early years, he was always left off of Team Canada. Like, man.

Like, I think he didn't, didn't play in 1987 when they had a cup and he was already one of the best young players. I don't believe he played in 1991. I don't, like, like, he was kind of a guy who was left off of some best on best teams in the early part of his career. But obviously then he made up for it later on down the road. But yeah, you're right. Stamcoast would be the guy that I'm not sure it's ever lined up like that for somebody, right? Where you're just missing out. Yeah.

Just because there's no denying his talent. There's no denying the accolades he's won. There's no denying his play with the Tampa Bay Lightning, a lightning for life, essentially. He should have, he should have been on at least like two of those, three of those teams. Yeah, absolutely. Like if you would have, if you would have looked at Stephen Stamcoast's career and like, say like 20 years from now, you know, we're still doing this podcast. Or I don't know, like some other person comes in who's like my age is all like, wow,

like Stephen Stamcoast was great. Why was he never on an Olympic team or anything? And just trying to explain to them like four different reasons why he can be on an Olympic team, potentially five if he still plays. Like, that's insane. I like how you said in 20 years from now, somebody who's your age comes out of the podcast. It could never be somebody my age. I had to be somebody your age.

Well, I don't know. I mean, I guess it's, I mean, you know, we all learn different things. But let me put it this way. Let me blow your mind here. Tell me. In 20 years from now, you will roughly be the age I am now. Kind of ballparkish. Ballpark.

Ballpark. I think there's a 17 year difference, right, between us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So ballparkish. You know what? In 20 years from now, in the 2043 edition of the athletic hockey, show, you're going to be the guy on here making terrible jokes about ports and moon and whatever. And then you're, you're going to accuse your co-host, a young whippersnapper in their 20s of

being a high voice, skeptical. And it's all going to be a full circle moment for you. So you'll have retired by then. You'll be, uh, you know, we'll still be friends by then. 20 years for now, I'll be 66. Yeah, I think that's it. That should be it for me, shouldn't it? Yeah.

Should be. Yeah. I like to live in this optimistic, idealistic world. We're painting right now, considering, you know, life is fine. Okay. I want to talk about something else that we saw from the weekend. This is weird. Okay?

Tell me. This is a story from the Florida Panthers game on the weekend where professional golfer Brooks Kepka was caught on video. heckling Aaron Ekblad at the game. In fact, I think we've got the, can we, can we play the audio here of, you're going to hear Brooks Kepka, this is during a game,

is heckling Aaron Kblad of the Lord of Panthers while holding a large orange traffic cone pile on. Have a listen. This is Brooks Kepka. All right. So, you know what, Julia, this is one of those great little,

maybe nuances between the Americans and the Canadians. Now, in Canada, we would yell, hey, Echblad, you're a pylon. We would. We would never yell, hey, Echblad, you're a traffic cone. Would we? That's a very fair point. So I'm wondering, is that a difference? I don't remember, like, is track, like, do Americans know what a pylon is?

You know what? Actually, let's bring in. our producer Chris Flannery. Who else from me. Is that time. Jersey area. Let's bring them in. And let's ask them straight up, producer Chris Flannery.

Do you know, if I said to you, Aaronack Blatt is a pylon, would you know what that is? Yeah. So thank you for having me. This is very exciting. I would know, yes, I would know what a pylon is just because of the hockey lingo. I can't visualize a pylon.

Is it the same as a traffic code? Okay, yeah. It's the same shape. All right. So, yeah, it's a traffic code. Yes, I know what it is. But honestly, I wouldn't have visualized it that way. But yes.

There's also a small community of people who would have been like, oh, that's the logo of a VLC media player. Oh, there you go. See that? I know. That I got. That's perfect. See?

See? For the audio files out there. So let's unpack this, though. Why is professional golfer Brooks Kepka? Taking a run at Aaron Kepkla. What's your, what's your theory on this? Julian? So Brooks, obviously, he's up in his box.

He's got his people around him. Maybe he got a little liquored up with him boys, you know, just hanging out doing his thing and he just wanted to be a fan. And he felt that Aaron Ekblatt's play was not up to snuff. And actually, there's an even. bigger question. Where did he get that pylon? Or traffic. How did he get it? Or traffic cone? Sorry. Where did he get that? How did he end up? Why does he have that? Why is he have that? Like, was there, like, I've never heard of a team

give away pylons or traffic cones as a promotional type of tool. I feel like it would be the worst thing you could do considering its connotation in the sport. So how does Brooks have that? Like what, like he's holding it. He's having it near his torso area as well. And then he yells like what he says about Ayridac blood, like we're right near the end. How does he get that cone? That I think is a very important question.

And we might end up unearthing a very interesting night for Brooke, a very interesting day, night whenever that game was for Brooks Capta. Okay. Here's my theory. And I'm calling my shot right now. I want people to understand. I'm saying this on the 27th of March.

Yes. This will inevitably turn into an orchestrated PR stunt. This was a plant. And I believe at some point, Aernakblad and Brooks Kepka will have some sort of friendly bet on the golf course, on the ice. There's going to be a couple of, and there's going to be some sponsorship

and there's going to be some maybe a charitable element. There is a way. Brooks Kepka was in the stands and just purposely yelling at Aaronk Black, without some greater cause to it. There's a mark my words, this is a PR stunt. What relationship do those two have?

Like what does the connection between those two? A bunch of Panthers games this year. So. I guess. But like even then, like, that's like the most, I mean, it's no Kodak Black at a Florida Panthers game,

mind view, in a luxury box. I forgot about that. With a, with a significant other. But is this the weird celebrity moment of the season for us. Is this it? Like, or I guess if you want to count the possibility of Ryan Reynolds owning an

HL team. But like, yeah, like, this is just really weird to me. Like, I want more context. I want to know why he did this. I want to know, I really want to know where he got that cone from. I'm telling you. I really want to know why he was able to get into the building with that, with that cone. Because it's a PR stunt. That's why. But like for, but like for what? And like for all people to do it to like Aaron Eklad? Right, this is my point. No respect to Erenecblah, like he's not like the biggest name.

It's too random. Anyway. Like, like I don't know why. Like, like why? Well, like producer Chris is now telling us that the, uh, traffic cone slash pylon isn't a traditional plastic one. It's actually looks like it's a plush, like almost like a stuffed toy of a pipe. So why do you have that?

Like what, like I have so many questions. Just seeing the clip and I. does not tell me enough about what I need to know. It's a plant. This is what they've done. But that's such a weird thing. They've piqued your interest. Now you're like,

what's the story behind this? And now they've got you. Hookline and sinker. Mark my words. Is this like a promo for that like golf Netflix show? It's good. Exactly. There's going to be some Michaelobe ultra sponsorship here.

Something's going to happen. And you're going to be like, I should have seen it coming. That's all. That's all. I guess. But like, of all people.

Like if he took a run at like Matthew Kachuk, Matthew Kachuk's having a great year, by the way. But like that's a bigger name. That's like a like I'd love to see. I mean, look, Aaron Kachlan's a big boy. He can handle himself. And if you were to get in the scrap with anybody, like, you know, I don't know if I'm going against Aaron Kach blad.

But I think it would be a lot more entertaining if like Brooks Kepka went at Matthew Kach. And then Matthew Kachuk churped back at Brooks Kepka. Like that would be like a fun back and forth. Has anyone spoken to Aaron Klan about this? No. And you know what? I, the Panthers are in Ottawa today and I, because of the scheduling and I had to run out of the, I would have loved to have chatted with them on this. I think you should, like, I'm sure we'll find something about it.

Okay. We're on the case. Monday night, the Buffalo Sabres Julian are going to host the Montreal Canadians in what will be for the Buffalo Sabres, Julian, their third annual Pride Night game. The Sabres announcing, uh, earlier on Monday that, uh, They said, and I'll just read from their statement, they said, consistent with previous years, our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing pride jerseys and using pride tape and warm-up.

That said, we are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk. We continue to advocate for underrepresented groups in hockey and hope that our Pride night, like many across the league, sparks, meaningful conversation and encourages support for the LGBTQIA plus community within the sport of hockey and our city. So this has come down to Ilya Lubbushkin of the Buffalo Sabres will not wear the Pride jersey on Monday. The rest of his teammates will. And we're starting to see some of the teams around the league.

This is exactly. So the Sabres have opted to do what San Jose did, which is to say, okay, we get it. One or two guys may not want to wear it. We're going to leave that in their hands. The rest of us are doing it. Florida Panthers, same thing. Chicago did something different, which is they completely, I guess,

you know, just forego. They just got rid of the plan to use the jerseys on Pride Night. And so I wonder if this now, what we've seen out of Buffalo in San Jose and Florida, is what we should expect to see moving forward. forward, that teams are going to do it, and if anybody doesn't want to do it, they're going to just respectfully let them sit out the warm up. But here's the thing that really intrigues me the most with all of this, at least at this

point, because there's so many other elements to it. It's the fact that teams like San Jose, the Florida Panthers are in this too, and now Buffalo, they're willing to let their players who say that they don't want to wear the jersey, like put out some kind of statement or have some kind of explanation as to why they're not going to wear it. Like, I'm a bit surprised that, or at least to my knowledge, and I'm not trying to say, like, this is what teams should do, but I'm a bit surprised that, like, teams wouldn't say, you know what, we don't want the controversy at all.

We want to show that we're a unified front and everyone's wearing it. like what does it take to scratch a guy for whatever reason and say like, oh, like, the, the quote-unquote reason is because they have an injury, which, again, it's ridiculous. And I wouldn't do this. It's just, I'm just trying to think from the side, from the viewpoint of an NHL team that would want to seem as together on this issue as they can and not have any kind of division or any kind of blowback, like what we've seen with some of those players. like has there no NHL team that has thought, and again, I'm not endorsing this, I'm just wondering a lot. Has there no NHL team that has thought, okay, let's scratch the guy and have it for a different reason,

like illness or whatever? No, but. Like, it's, like, why? Like, I'm not saying they should do that. I'm just wondering why that has not happened as far as we know. Well, maybe it has. Let's go back to Proverov, right? And that's a great example.

Some people said, well, why wouldn't the flyers just say, you know what, he tweaks something, he's a no-go. Well, yeah. Here's what I think, and you tell me if you agree or disagree, and people can agree or disagree, I think if you do that, and then six weeks, six months, six years later, it comes out that, well, it turns out this is why you scratched them. Don't you think everybody kind of looks bad at that point?

Or no? Absolutely. Yeah, so. Absolutely, they do. That's my guess on it. That's my guess on it. I guess. I wonder if the player would be so forthcoming at that point whenever they would decide to do that or the team or whatever.

And I guess, you know, you don't want to, it probably creates a, either you try to hide it. They say, they say what's done. The darkness eventually comes in the light, right? So if you do that and then people figure that out, maybe that causes more of a firestorm. So if you get ahead of it and you deal with it in the moment, maybe that's better, I guess. That's what I'm thinking. But yeah, at this point, it's just, I just find it's just wild now. We're at a point where these knights have taken on a whole other element where we are now looking to see like, okay, is someone going to sit out of these games?

And I've made the point on the show before, like because of the culture of the sport, like it's hard for us to envision, like, not envision, but it's hard for us to say, hey, let's focus on all the good things when one guy wants to be the black sheep and not partake in something like this. Like in Calgary, the last few days, like at almost any opportunity we've had, we've asked players straight up like, hey, like, have you guys discussed wearing the jersey? Have you guys, are you guys going to do it? Like, Nass and Khadry had to field questions about that. And the James Reimer comments. Like, I know a couple people were not like, like, we're not like crazy about me asking, uh, nah's like, hey, like, if you had to wear, if your teammates were like a Muslim jersey. Uh, and, and James Reimer was like, you know what? I'm not going to do it. Like, how would you feel about it? I know, people like, Why are we at this point? Like, where are we asking those questions? James Romer put that in there. And the fact that we have to discuss it, I'm with you. I'm with you. Like, it's ridiculous that we have to discuss it.

But this is, you know, we've, we've asked for years for NHL players to show off their individuality, to, to, you know, show more of their personality, to do all this stuff. And for this to be the thing, they want to use that as a way to show off their individuality? Like, I can understand why so many people are disappointed. And also, we got, we got to mention. Eric Stahl too. We got to mention Eric Stahl. Have you seen the... The Stahl brothers and the fact that not only did they say, okay, you know what, we're not

going to wear the jersey, but Eric Stahl gets confronted with media after the fact. And he's like, there's video evidence of you wearing a Pride Night jersey. I was with the Canadians. He's like, I never wore a jersey. We're at a point now where people are taking that video and they're adding the curb your enthusiasm theme like afterward. Oh, that's when you know it's over. that's when you know it's over. Like this has just become this absolutely ridiculous thing, this weird hill for people to die on for religious reasons,

for Russian law reasons, which I'm not even convinced that's solely because of that. I mean, even Bill Daly saying like, okay, it's not the biggest threat out there for those players. Like, I don't know. It's a, it's a, I don't know. I guess there are people who will say like, hey, you know, opinion, we have to respect people's opinions and all that.

And I get all that. It doesn't mean we can't criticize those opinions or ask questions why or or feel the way we want to feel about them, I guess. So yeah, it's a bit disappointing to see that people, players in the H.L. have decided this is the thing that they're going to show their individuality or their beliefs on. And even if their beliefs should be respected and people, all people deserve to be treated respectfully and treat them the way you want to be treated, it's a bit disappointing to see that players, that some players would want to do that. considering that there are people out there who see those symbols as like genuine symbols that matter in terms of inclusivity and welcoming them into a sport that has been labeled conservative, very much a white sport. Like there are so many labels attached to it that seeing them even endorse something like this is a huge step in that direction. you know, one thing I want to shout out is hockey night in Canada,

Saturday night second intermission gave Brian Burke the platform. And, you know, Brian is somebody who on this topic speaks from the heart. He speaks passionately, eloquently. And, you know, they gave him the forum on a national broadcast to talk about why it matters to wear the jerseys. And I thought, okay, I thought he explained himself really well. I'm glad that on a national broadcast, they didn't put their head in the sand and act like that story isn't going on.

So I thought that was good. And what you want, though, is meaningful conversations to come out of this, right? That's what the end game should be meaningful conversations. And those conversations don't happen on social media. They don't happen when all everyone's trying to do is dunk on each other and get the most retweets because for whatever. They happen when you sit down with the Brock McGillis of the world

or the Brian Burks of the world. And, you know, that's what I'm hoping. I really love, I saw the Calgary Flames are putting out their Pride Night sweaters designed by Megan Parker, who's from Calgary. Those look awesome. Those look great. And I'm very proud that the Calgary Flames

have decided as a group that we're going to wear these. Not an easy decision, apparently. But I'm proud. I'm proud there's been a number of teams that have done this. Shout out the Oilers, too. I mean, even though they didn't have a jersey, all those guys were, they had the Pride tape and stuff. I don't know if you saw over the weekend as well.

Someone tried to impersonate a TSN reporter and put out a false statement about Jack Campbell, about wearing it. That was, that was like, give your head of shake, dude. Like that, I think that's such a, excuse my friends, that's such a bullshit thing to do, you know, like just trying to create cliques for no reason. And I get it. fine, maybe I'm leading into it by talking about it on such a platform that we're talking about it. Like, if you feel you're at a point where that's where you want to do and you want to just be this like shit poster online and do stuff like that, you're a loser.

Whatever. You're an absolute loser and a joke. You're probably at home. Cookie crumbs on your stomach. Like, you're a loser. Cookie crumbs. Yeah, no, that's what it is. That's what it is.

You probably at home in your basement somewhere. you're just in your underwear, cookie crumbs on your stomach, you know, no, watching the life pass you by. And you're just doing crap like that. You have no life. You're a loser. And if people want to get mad about that, well, you know, sue me. Because I think that's loser behavior to get to a point where you're trying to

impersonate people and create some false statement like that, whether it's for trades or anything, but even that, like a legit false statement saying that like Jack Campbell is going to wear the jersey. Like, that's, I think that's such a loser thing to do. You know, and I like fun, I like, I like chaos. I like fun stuff too. But I think in that situation, like, I think you're just being a loser. You got to get specific about the type of cookie, though.

You got to say, like, you know what? You're sitting there with your fig Newton crumbs all over you because you're a loser. Because that's a loser's cookie. Fig Newton would be a loser's cookie. Who the hell are you eating fig Newton's? That's what I'm saying. Only losers would eat fig Newton, right? Yeah, I don't, I don't, I've never had a fig Newton in all fairness.

This is my point. I don't see that as a thing I would try to have, you know, like you're not having, you're not having chocolate chips. Or maybe you are having chocolate chip cookies, but you have a, you have an oatmeal raisin. Because you're a loser. That's what a loser. Oatmeal raisin. I have a take. I don't think oatmeal raisin cookies are that bad.

Considering you've never eaten. It just completely changes everything. I don't think of that. Well, considering you've never eaten a fig Newton. and I don't know how much of a cookie connoisseur I can, I would much rather want a chocolate chip cookie, a white macadamia nut, the dark chocolate ones with the white,

like chocolate chips, like, which are probably macadamia nuts, like anything with a chocolate chip. Like those are in that high grade, high tier cookie, you know, like,

like old bill raising cookie. Like I'm going to be like, okay, I'll eat it. But it's not like I got to reach for those. Oh. So if you were putting together a line, like chocolate chip cookies are first line cookie, right? That's like, to me.

That is like high standard. Like, dude, you could put them as your, that's the center of that line. Because like they can, they play a two-way game. Like they're very stable. You can put them on for a ton of minutes. Like a lot of people like them. They get along with, you could plug them with almost anybody. Like a lot of people like chocolate chip cookies.

Oreos are a first line left winger. Ooh. Wait, wait, wait, regular Oreos or like the white Oreos? Like, because you got to think about some of the variations as well. No, no, regular standard Oreos are first liner. And then like oatmeal raisin is like a fourth line, 13th forward. Yeah, I think that's more than fair. And like, and look, you need fourth line players to get you going.

You need a 13th forward for depth. I think at the end of the day, like, you might need that oatmeal cookie for depth. But I think I have no problem with, uh, chocolate. chocolate chip cookie at the center, Oreo on the left wing, and then on the right wing. See, I would go with Girl Scout mint thin cookies.

For me, but I know that could be a little polarized. I think that's a middle six. That's a good middle six. That's a good middle six. By the way, Figg Newton. Figg Newton's are in the East Coast League.

Yeah. Yeah. Like they're scrapping with like Tutsi rolls or something. Like I don't see them. We need like a definitive cookie ranking. What's a really good right winger? Oh, man.

I don't want, we need to stick on this for a second because who's a good right winger to play on that top line in terms of like top tier cookies? Because like this is, oh man. I tell you, Girl Scout cookies. I guess, but like, surely there are other ones that we could put.

Like, what about those like maple cookies? Those maple ones you get like in the shape of a tree. See, our American listeners have no idea. Now you're talking pylons. That's not a thing. I don't know if they know those. Man, that might be a third line. That might be a third line winger.

That might be a third line. Oh, what about the, oh God, those Christmas cookies. Gingerbread cookies? I mean, I guess that, gingerbread cookies could easily be a second line winger. But I mean, those like soft like Pillsbury ones that like you get in the roll, you cut them up, they have the little like Christmas tree logo. go on them or some kind of Christmas thing on them. It's the same one for Halloween and it's a pumpkin.

Yeah. Yeah. That's versatile. Yeah. Sugar cookies. Yeah. Sugar. Yeah. Sugar cookies. Yeah. Those are left and right wingers you could put on your second or your third line. There we go. See? We got some agreement here. We got some agreement. Oh, man. Oh, what about those cookies you get in those blue tins? You know those blue tins with all the different assortment of cookies? Like, it's that blue tin where like if you open it and you're like, oh, you could get cookies or could open it. It's like, oh, it's just like, uh, yarn and, and needles and like, people sometimes use those tins for like, of their stuff, like stations. This is going to sound weird. Are those cookies from, like, Denmark? I think they are, like Danish cookies. Yeah. In the blue tin. Yeah,

in the blue tin. They're from like Denmark. Yeah. Like butter cookies. Yes, butterc cookies. Yep. There you go. I realize. there are people listening now, realizing, hey, this podcast has gone completely off the rails. We were talking about cookies as left and right wiggers and centers for a fictional hockey team. But you have to understand, not that much has happened in the last few days. No. Give us a break, okay? Other than everything we just talked about.

That too. Busy. Busy. Hey, by the way, do you feel like all the playoff races are settled? No. Like, like the wild card, I mean. I mean, in each side, I kind of feel like the islanders and the penguins now, and, man, I don't know, I think they've got that lockdown. And I feel like the Cracket and the Jets have the lockdown.

And now it's just about positioning. And look, I think it's a great race with the avalanche, you know, for first place. There's some other fun races. But I kind of, do you do not feel like we know the 16 playoff teams right now? No, because Florida in the East is still kind of, I mean, they've lost three in a row. that's really bad for them. But that's what I mean. hanging around a little bit.

Like, I don't know. There's still a bunch of games left and maybe something happens. And every time I really want to write off the Calgary Flames in the West, like the Winnipeg Jets lose enough to kind of keep them around. Like both Winnipeg and Calgary right now are at 74 games played. And Calgary's like four points behind Winnipeg. Yes, Nashville has like two games in hand. They lost to the Leafs the other day. Like, I don't know.

You know what it is for me? I don't want to be that guy that says it's over and then with like two games left. It's like, oh my God, like there's a chance that this could happen. I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be on freezing cold takes, essentially. I don't want to be that guy that writes the article that says, okay, the old takes exposed. Yeah. I don't want to be that guy that says like, dude, like this is over.

Like this team's done. And then like you, you see like a team ends up making it. And then you learn that like, yeah, we hear a lot of people. say that we weren't going to make it, and then you, like, walk around the locker room and then you see, like, your article, like, printed out on, like, a stall somewhere being like, oh, yeah, you doubted us. Like, I don't want that.

I'm, I said, I wrote the, the flames have a near impossible hill to climb, which is very true. Until they get eliminated, I'm going to hold off on the, you know, they're dead kind of thing. But they're still technically alive, mathematically speaking, but they're technically still alive. But that's the beauty of saying something on a podcast.

It's not bulletin board material. They're not going to play this audio clip in front of the locker. Darrell Sutter's not going to get the whole team together. It's like, guys, listen to Julian what he said at the 4733 mark of the pod. Like, bulletin board material has to be in print. Yeah, but like, I mean, audio material is a thing too. The clips go around. What if Chris, like, takes a clip of me saying like, oh,

man, the Calgary Williams are done. You could stick a fork in him. And then it goes out there. And then like Flames fans take it. And then like Milan Luchis, he's like, I bet. You say we're done? And then I have to confront him in the locker. You ever had that before where you said like, hey, man, like the senators were done or something was going to happen to the Seds? And then you have to like confront like Danny Heatley or like Daniel Alpherson about it. And he's like, oh, crap. Like I got that wrong. I'm sure you had that. I guess. But. But, like, I cover Ottawa when they had the hamburger run and I wrote them off. I would go on talk radio every day and say, these guys are cook. But they thought they were cooked too. That's the thing.

That's true. So, you know what? Okay. Here's what I'm saying. Friendly bet. Okay. I say, as of today, the 16 playoff teams that we see today will be the 16 playoff teams in three weeks.

I say no. We are disagree. I think that there's still that potential for one of maybe the Islanders or Pittsburgh. I think Florida could find a way in. I will go, I will say that Florida will find a way in as a playoff team. And I will, yeah, why not? Friendly bet. I'll say at least that.

I will say that the 16 teams in the east and the west are not going to be the same when it comes time for the playoffs. I will say that. Loser has to send a tin of blue Danish cookies. to the other guy. Oh, yes. Done. Done.

Done. Done. Done. Let's do it. Easy parameters of a bet. I say these 16 teams make it. You say there's not. Hey, let's open up the mailback here real quick.

Because you and I, a couple of weeks ago, you were talking about, I think it was two episodes ago, Julian, where you were saying, hey, should there be like a minimum games played for the Hart trophy? Yes. And Darcy wrote into the show. The Athletic Hockey Show at gmail.com. Darcy emailed us and said, listen to the March 13th episode of the podcast. You guys were talking about the minimum amount of games

to win the Hart Trophy. You guys at one point were speculating that probably nobody played fewer than 70 games, but I'm sure in the meantime, you've been reminded, Mario Lemieux, missed 24 games in 1992-93 due to cancer, but still came back, won the scoring title with 160 points and won the Heart Trophy.

despite only appearing in 60 games. So there you go. There's our answer of fewest games for a skater to win the heart trophy. That 60 games is fine for me because at that time it was still 82 or 84 or something like that. Like that's still playing three quarters of a season. You missed a quarter of a year. And the fact he was able to do that despite what was going on. Like that makes even more impressive.

I'm talking about like if a guy plays like 41 games in a season, like do we see? still consider him in consideration for an award. Like, I don't think that should be. I don't think so. If he plays 55, 60 games, like that's, like 60 games, I think is more that is, is, is well enough for to be, for him, for a player to be considered in that. If you, if you played exactly half, I don't know. Yeah, I'm with you.

But anyway, there's the answer to our question. Fewest games ever was 60. So I appreciate that, uh, that note from Darcy. All right. Time for Jack Adams winner of the week on the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And guess what? You're going to be really shocked by this, Julian. Jim Montgomery is up again with a four and all week.

Again, every week. How about Montgomery, by the way, going into Carolina Sunday in a, let's call it what it was, clash of the Titans. And, you know, no Bergeron, no Marchand. Like he sits out a couple of key guys. still win. It's crazy. Four and O.

It's a really good team. But you know what? L.A. went three and O last week. Vegas went three and O last week. John Tortoella had the Flyers go three and O last week. Who do, who do we looking at? Who did the best job coaching last week? I mean, the fact that you're able to go into a team like Carolina and beat them

without some of your best players and still go perfect and keeping your perfect streak intact for that week, kind of hard to argue against Jim Montgomery, no? I think he probably deserves it. Yeah, I think, I don't really think there's a debate here. Not really. Not really. Four and oh. Yeah.

And beating arguably your biggest, I don't know, maybe Carolina not so much with the injuries. Could be an Eastern Conference final preview, to be honest. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's a very realistic chance. Those two teams can meet. But, yeah, the Bruins are on a what is, a seven game, seven game winning streak. and they win that game without some of their best players. And it's unbelievable.

And even on Saturday, they beat Tampa Bay two to one in a pretty, at times a feisty affair. Well, you know, kind of low checking, hard score. Like, it just seems like they're on this little run right now, and it's hard not to give Montgomery some credit. So yeah, I think, you know what? Hands down. No debate here, Jim Montgomery. Put him in.

He gets it. Put him in. He takes it. And then let's wrap up with a little multiple choice madness. Speaking of the Bruins are part of this here, Julian. I want to know, down the stretch, what is the most compelling race for you to personally watch in the final couple weeks of the season?

Is it A, Connor McDavid trying to get to 70 goals? Is it B, Eric Carlson trying to get to 100 points? Or C, is it the aforementioned Boston Bruins? trying to set an NHL record, which is within their reach for wins and points in a single season. What is it for you? I don't know if location has to do with it or the excitement of the player. I want to see Connerick David get to 70. I think for him, the fact that he got to 60 in the amount of games he was able to get to is impressive enough as it is.

But I think if Connerick David puts himself in a position where he can get to 70 goals, like how do you not get excited for that? okay, he has like a couple handful of games left before the end of the year. And I know for him, obviously him winning a cup matters more than anything else. But it is not out of the realm of possibility that like Connor McDavid can get himself to 70 goals. Like trying to think of some teams he's up against. We're recording this on the Monday. And he plays against the Arizona Coyotes in Arizona tonight.

Gets the Golden Knights, then the Kings, then the Ducks, then the Kings again, then the Ducks again. than the sharks, then the abs, then the sharks again. There are some teams in that stretch. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. That's nine games left for him. There are some teams in that stretch where, I mean, almost every game in that lineup, he could score a goal, you know? And I feel as if, I don't know, I feel like if that's something that Connor really, like,

cares about or, like, he's at least thinking about it in some way. I can't see his teammates not trying to dish from the puck. They know when they put the puck on a stick. Like he does all these great things. It helps them win games, you know? Like, this is one of those things where it's like, you know, we're not just doing this because, you know, just because we want to see him just break this record and just will be fun.

But like, Carmen David's your best player. If he scores goals, it's going to help you win games. He can dominate games the way you can dominate them. Seeing him go to 70 would actually be advantageous for this team, especially as in the playoffs right now, like five points back of Los Angeles. There's probably not a chance to go to the Pacific Division. But, you know, they could probably. probably use a bit more separation and avoid any opportunity of them falling somehow in the wildcard standing.

So, yeah, I would like to see Connerick David hit 70. Okay, but here's a question. And we saw it. I just talked about it with Boston. The Bruins sat some players. If you're Edmonton and you, like you said, you don't really think you move up. Maybe you've secured your spot. And McDavid, what, like, I guess at that point it might be the players call.

But what, like, how, what do you do there in that? that situation. Do you let him play to try to get the 70 goals or do you just let him, hey, no, no, no. Hey, man, shut it down at 66. It's fine. We're going to rest you for the last two games in regular season. Away you go. That's a fair point, you know, but like, I don't know. I mean, we're not at a point where, I mean, it's not all the wrong possibility for that. I think at that point, like, it's a conversation between Jay Woodcroft and Carter, David at that point, just to see, like, you know, how close, if he's at a point where it's like two games to go and you're like 63 goals, like fine, like you're not going to get, you might not get to 70. If you're at 66, two games to go, you think about it.

I don't see why not. Especially if your final two games of the year are, I mean, Colorado is a tough one. Sharks, you play the sharks in two of your final three games. Ample opportunity to get some goals. That's if you really want to do it. But like I live in a world where I want to see him do it. So yeah. All right.

Well, I'll tell you what. For me on this one, I might, man, I might, I might think about Carlson and the 100 points. And, and I know that Roman Yossi kind of flirted with it, you know, last season. So it's not like we haven't kind of seen somebody get close to it. But, you know, I was shocked when I saw that the other day, like this hasn't been done by a defenseman since Brian Leach in 19. 1992. And that's kind of crazy. Like, we've had a 70 goal score more recently than we've had a hundred point defenseman. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. It's, it's, it's insane. And it is. It's truly insane. That's he's, in terms of offense, like, he's having himself like an incredible season.

And it's wild to see that like we're getting year after year of dynamic defensive players who, or defensemen who are able to put up points at that rate. I still think, I don't know if I mentioned on the show before, but I really would like to see a Paul Coffey Award for the best offensive defenseman in the league. Because we've seen it before. We're like, Roman Yose, he had almost 100 points. That was not enough for him to win the Norris trophy.

There was a year where John Carlson had a high scoring year as well. He did not win the Norris trophy. Roman Yosey won it that year. I wonder now, with the conversation, station with the Norris Trophy with Eric Carlson as good as he's been. You know, the plus minus says he's a minus 17, but I've heard people make the point that like he was on the ice a lot for for like empty net goals and stuff like that. And how much does that like affect things with him?

Like I wonder like if people are saying like, well, he's maybe he has the offense up, but maybe the defense isn't where it should be. Like maybe he should go to Adam Fox instead. Maybe someone else should get it. Like I wonder like where are we at? with the Eric Carlson Norris Trophy Discourse? Is it unanimous for him? And I think one way to solve that problem in future years

is for the NHL to come up with an award where the defenseman with the highest scoring points wins that award. And at the very least, even if they don't win the Norris for all around, like they should still be acknowledged for their year. Look, only five defensemen in the history of the game have had a 100-point season. and they are Bobby Orr, Denny Potvan, Al McKinneth's, Paul Coffey, and Brian Leach.

That's it. The history of the game. Five guys. So that's the one I'm, I just want to see it. I want to see a hundred point defenseman. And there's been a generation plus that's gone through without seeing a defenseman get 100 points. So I'd like to see that. But I think all of these, truth be told, all of these races are pretty fun and compelling.

Like I said, I feel like a lot of the playoff races have essentially been decided, but there's a lot to watch for, right? Like, final couple weeks of the season. I think this stuff is fun. Like, it's, uh, absolutely. Also, I say, oh my God, because I just realized that, uh, Eric Carlson is third among all skaters in even strength assists. Yeah.

There are only two players in the NHL right now, uh, who have more assists at even strength than Eric Carlson. It's Connor McDavid. and Nikita Kuturav, who is having the quietest 100-point season in recent memory. Yeah. Man, it's great. Look, it's going to be fun to watch whether it's the Bruins trying to go for 63 wins or 133 points or McDavid to 70 or Carlson to 100. Man, there's, yeah, there's a lot to kind of be excited for down the stretch here in the final couple weeks of the season.

Look, that is it. And a reminder, we've got the Danish cookie bet. Okay? Yes. Danish cookie bet. on the line. 16 teams that are in today. I say there are 16 that are in

in a couple of weeks. So we want the listeners to remind us. Remind us of that. And we also want your cookie lineup, don't we? Don't we want people's cookie lineups? So hit us up. Hit us up on Twitter or

send us a comment in the comment section or tweet at us. Give us your cookie line up. Julian and I were remarkable. I think we were pretty similar on that, which was great. Yeah. I don't think we had any issues on cookies.

I think we're pretty... We had Figg Newton just buried it, like I said, in the East Coast League. Yeah, I don't see Fing Newton's getting into my lineup anytime soon. You're going to have to show me something. That's right. All right. We'll leave it there. Thanks everybody for listening to the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show.

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