The Athletic Hockey Show - John Klingberg signs with the Anaheim Ducks, Nazem Kadri and Patrice Bergeron remain unsigned, how the Hockey Canada investigations should impact coverage of upcoming junior tournaments, listener questions, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

First, Ian and guest cohost Julian McKenzie discuss the surprise signing of John Klingberg with the Anaheim Ducks on a 1-year, $7 million contract, how often 1-year deals actually work out, why guys like Nazem Kadri and Patrice Bergeron remain unsigned into August, potential landing spots for PK Subban, and more.Then, the guys talk about TSN broadcaster Gord Miller’s Twitter thread over the weekend explaining why he’s decided to cover upcoming junior tournaments despite the ongoing Hockey Canada sexual assault investigations looming over the proceedings and give their thoughts on how the media should handle situations like this going forward.Plus, listener questions about whether the Anaheim Ducks can compete for a playoff spot next season or not, if there’s a correlation between preseason records and regular season success, and a couple of nice Multiple Choice Madness questions asking if Patrick Marleau is a Hall of Famer or not and what would the guys choose to eat out of the Stanley Cup if given the opportunity.Now, you can get a 6 month 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.

Welcome to it, everybody. It is your Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And, yeah, it's the month of August. That's right, it's August. Kind of a quiet time in the hockey calendar. But we're looking forward to having some fun on this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show. Ian Mendes is with you, as always. On a Monday, we've got Julian McKenzie sitting in for Haley-Salvean for the next hour.

We're going to hit on John Klingberg, Nazim Kadri, you know, P.K. Sub-Band, some World Junior stuff. Patrick Marlow. We got a lot to get to some, some, some, Mailbag questions, too. I got to ask you this, Julian, right off the top. And first of all, thanks for jumping in for Haley. It's always great to have you in the co-host seat. And we're in August, like I said, off the top here.

And this is the worst month for hockey fans. Like, August is the absolute worst month. Is it not for a hockey fan? Well, I mean, there's nothing really going on. I mean, typically in every other year, the bulk of the free agent news will have downed. down. Maybe there's some surprise trade that pops up. Or worse, you choose August as the month you take off as a hockey fan. And then that just, what it just so happens, whatever, some random

piece of dues just kind of happens. It's like, ah, I wasn't around. I missed all of it. Yeah. So I'm willing to to agree with you, August is a pretty bad month. Yeah, usually. But like you said, though, this year we got some legitimate storylines brewing like Nazim Cadry and Patrice Bergeron and Listen, we'll get to, P.K. Suban's an interesting case. So a lot of unsigned guys. We'll get to that in a second, but Friday, John Klingberg's sign. Now, if I had told you, you could pick 25 places where John Klingberg could land. Would Anaheim have been on your list of, like, this one shocked me,

one year seven million for John Klingberg. Yeah, I don't think I would have put Anaheim there. That's no disrespect to the Ducks who, they had the hot stock they had last year. and they're trying to still figure themselves out. But my initial thinking was John Klingberg was going to sign long term with a team that was much closer to its contention window as opposed to a team that's still either rebuilding or getting out of a rebuild. So no, the Anaheim thing kind of surprised me, but also a one-year deal. I mean, this comes after he lets go of his agent. Like, this saga at John Klingberg for the longest while, it looked as if he wanted out of Dallas and he wanted the big money contract and all that.

The fact that's at this point, just maybe just the options just weren't there for John Klingberg. And he had to take what he could get. And going to Anaheim at this point on a one-year deal, that's just the best idea that was left available to him at this point. I'm getting strong Taylor Hall to Buffalo vibes. Remember when Taylor Hall signed the one-year deal? And the feeling when Taylor Hall signed that contract was, ah, listen, he's going to do a one-year deal. It's going to be like a prove-it deal. And it's great for Buffalo because they're not going to be.

a playoff contender, they'll flip him at the deadline, they'll get all sorts of things. Didn't quite pan out great for Hall or the Sabres, right? Like, do you feel the same thing here with Klingberg? Like Anaheim, and we got a mailback question, we'll get to a little later in the show. I don't think Anaheim's a playoff team. That's just me. Like, John Klingberg is going to a place where he knows I'm going to get 20, I could get 24 minutes a night.

I'm going to anchor the power play. Like, he's just going, like he's doing this to try and parlay himself into a a better spot. But do you agree with me? This feels very Taylor Hall like with Buffalo. Taylor Hall is a good comparable just because of the similar situations that they were in. The one thing I wonder is that Klingberg, I think, is slightly older now than Taylor Hall was when that trade happened. Well, at least not trade, but when he signed that one-year deal, even though he is a right-handed shot, I wonder how that will influence things. I also wonder, you know, I like the idea of him being in Anaheim and at least mentoring some of the younger players

like a J.V. Drystale, it could work out. And depending on how Anaheim does, and depending on what the market also looks like to in terms of a trade, what if, just weird idea here, what if John Clayburn stays in Anaheim? What if he has a good year, likes the fit, maybe Anaheim has themselves a surprise year where they do a lot better? Kind of like what the L.A. Kings had last year, where they were moving along, they made the playoffs, and now everyone thinks, oh, okay, you know what? They're a little bit more ahead in their evolution than we anticipated. What if John Klingberg says, you know what?

Chilling, California, this team's going to be a team on the rise for the next little while. Let me just write it out for the next three, four years. Or maybe he doesn't. Maybe it's a wild idea. But I think if you're Anaheim, you're in a decent position here. You could offload him at the deadline. You get assets for him. Or he stays and he's still playing at a high enough level and you have yourself a good right-shoeing defenseman.

Anaheim, I think, between John Klingberg working out for him or Anaheim, I'm working out. Like, they're the kind of the biggest beneficiaries of this situation. That's how I kind of see it. But you know it's funny? I went back to look at this without looking. Okay. Don't look this up.

Okay, how many goals did Taylor Hall score in Buffalo? Like, what's your guess? Like, Taylor Hall in Buffalo, like, what's your guess? How many goals did Taylor Hall score with the Sabres? Off the top of my head. And he played like, just give a, you know, a rough guess or whatever. Like, is during the bubble year, right? It was.

Yeah, let me double check. Yeah, I think, yeah, I think it was a bubble year. 2020, 2020. Yeah, that was a bubble year. So that ended up being a 56 game season or whatever. But yeah, so. 15? 15, okay?

And that's what my guess would have been somewhere in that ever. Taylor Hall scored two goals in Buffalo. Right. Yes. That was a huge. Oh, my God. I totally forgot about that. And as a result, remember, when they flipped them out at the deadline,

they didn't get a first round pick. They got a second round pick and Andres Bjork from... Yes, that's the deal where Andrews Burke got in that. Yes. And they gave up Curtis Lazar, who is a very capable kind of bottom six player in this league. So they gave up Taylor Hall and Curtis Lizarre and got back Anders Bjork and a second round pick. But partially that, I think that sort of watered down return was a result of this guy scored two goals in Buffalo. So there is a little bit of the risk fact.

Like, I totally forgot about that. Like, and then Taylor Hall went to Boston was great. Had eight goals and, yeah, eight goals and 16 games to round out that season. But this is a gamble, I think, for the Klingberg camp, you're hoping that you can do something. You know, listen, Anaheim, like you said, they got tons of cap space. They're kind of playing with house money. Like, I understand. I thought Eric Stevens wrote a great piece on the weekend, breaking it down.

Here's why Pat Verbeek did what he did. man, I just, I don't know. I wonder if we went back and looked too, and this, again, this is, this is what happens. I love a podcast because you just think off the top of your head. You just say whatever you want. How many times have one-year deals actually worked out for players in the NHL, like where they're like, man, they got the, to a play? Because I always think about Korea and Solani back in the day in Colorado.

Like that didn't work out. Marion Hosa tried it in. Detroit. Haas went to Detroit for one year. Now, granted, it kind of did work out in that team went to the cup final, but they didn't win. Like, I, like, I get, okay, here's the question for our listeners. Okay. What's the best one year deal signed by like an established star player? Like, you know, I, I would say, like, John Clickberg is, like, a really good player, on a one year deal. What do you got for us? Like, help us out here because, like, I think it's Marion Hosa in Detroit? One year gets to the cup, but they lose. Help us out here. Like,

because at the top of my head, I'm like, man, that's, that's going to be interesting. I wonder what precedent we have here for this. To my point, uh, well, you bring up the fact that, uh, with the way the Taylor Hall deal kind of went down and ultimately he ends up going to Boston. And if memory serves, he's on like a, like a contract with like $24 million. Like he signed for less money, uh, I think what he was getting in Buffalo. Like, he ended up getting like a, pretty decent deal. It worked out for Boston in the end because they got Taylor Hall on a pretty

efficient deal. And this is for a guy who won, you know what I also forgot about Taylor Hall? Heart trophy? He was a heart trophy winner. I know. They got a heart trophy winner. And he's bounced around to all these different teams. So I wonder if, like I said, with what I brought up with John Kleenberg earlier, playing in Anaheim, like, if he has a decent year and he thinks the fit is fine, and maybe teams for whatever reason,

just they look at his stats, you're like, you know what, it's not worth shelling out for a player like him at his age. He's like in early 30. He's like he's in 30, right? Like you have to be careful about that peak, right?

And how much you commit to those types of players. I understand that. Maybe he stays in Anaheim on a relatively decent deal and it could benefit a team like the ducks. And maybe it just, you have a nice three-year deal, decent amount of money. It can work out that way, but maybe I'm projecting a little bit too far in the future.

The last thing I'll just say, too, mention the name Curtis Lazar. I feel bad because the only thing I remember about Curtis Lazzar is when the Andrew Hammond thing, is when the Andrew Hammond thing happened and he was just like eating burgers off the ice, or at least he ate one. That is, I feel Curtis Lazzar, play in the NHL, decent amount of years, journeyman guy. I could say he carved out a career for himself to this point still playing, but I feel bad that the only thing I really remember about Curtis Lazar is it eating the damn burgers off the ice.

What are you doing? If you wanted to truly paint the picture of what the pre-COVID world look like, show them a clip of an NHL player picking up a hamburger off of the ice. It was thrown from a rando in the stands. In the stands. And picking, opening up and eating it. You wouldn't see that in the post-COVID world, I don't think. But that just shows you that was a different time.

That wasn't even that long ago. It was like seven years ago maybe, 20, yeah, 2015. Last decade. Crazy. But that's it. Like, that's your only, like, unless you're a fan of, you know, Curtis played in Buffalo and Boston and I was in Vancouver. But unless you, like, if you're an average NHL fan,

that is probably your only memory of Curtis Lazar. like first round pick too. Oh man. He's on a world junior team, I think. He was a world junior guy, yeah. Yeah. I think he played the year with, with McDavid in the world juniors.

Ah, MacDiv was going, yeah, going gangbusters in the tournament in Toronto there. You know, Curtis was part of that, but yeah, you're right. That's it, the hamburger. But it's great.

Like, Lizar signed a three-year deal in Vancouver, right? Like, we're living, like, he got a three-year deal and John Klingberg got a one-year deal. And Nazim Kodry still hasn't been signed. Yeah, so, okay, so what's your read into that? Like, again, calendar slipped to August.

I don't think, like, I thought Nazim Katry would have been one of those guys that was signed, like the day free agency open, I think was July 13th, if I'm not mistaken, July 13th. Around that, yes. Whatever the date was. At 12 noon, I thought Nazim Kadri would have been signed by 1 p.m. Like, I thought it was one of those. Some teams got a deal in the drawer for Nazim, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, like, like, Khloe Giroux signed at 1204.

or whatever it was. You're like, oh, wow, how do you get that? You know, I'm shocked. It's August. What's your read into that? So I was kind of, I mean, considering all the deals that were flying in the first few hours of agency, I thought, okay, wherever an Alpsom Conti's going, he's going to get paid. He's going to get the bag. And then I see, I forget the order of who signed first, but Andrew Cop going to Detroit.

I was like, hmm, okay, I thought Detroit was going to be a place where Nazan might go. That's off the tip. Vincent Trocheck signs with the New York Rangers. That's another place where Nazan Khadry could have easily gone to. That's off the table. Those are two places I think that I think would have thrown out a lot of money for Nazan Khadry. And they end up signing these other players. So I'm thinking, okay, where are some other markets he could go to?

And maybe it was a little bit hard for me to come up with them. But then as the days went by and nothing was happening, my thinking was okay because of some of those offers that he might have wanted from other teams that closes some of those doors and maybe you think you know what let me just go back to Colorado and maybe Colorado right now they're just in a position where it's a bit difficult for them to move some salary around for them to kind of keep now some country back because remember they they have a guy on their team named Nathan McKinnon who has to get paid a decent amount of time so it's a bit complicated with that salary structure in Colorado that would be

am I thinking of it, but now I'm just like, you're seeing like the Islanders potentially being linked. Yeah. Boston. Like, Nazan Kodra is a Boston Bruin. If Leaf fans were annoyed of him enough already seeing him hold the cup as a Boston Bruin, like,

people would lose their minds. At this point, like, maybe he signs a one year deal of his own. Maybe it's a two year deal. Maybe he just gets, get some, like, but you're right. Like, it's a bit of a letdown. This guy who had arguably the best year of his career, caps it off with the Stanley Cup

and he doesn't have the big money coming at him. But you know why? Not why, but if not some cadre was 25 entering free agency, everyone's backing up the brink struck, the brink struck. It's a much different situation when you are north of 30 years old.

And I think, look, Cadrey happened to have a career year going into unrestricted free agency, but I think if we're all being realistic, he is not a point-per-game guy. He is a 55 to 60 points. Like, I will concede he could be a 30-goal guy again. He's done it in the past.

I'll concede that. I do not believe, though, that, like, I think he's the perfect number two centerment. Like, he is a great guy to have behind a Nate McKinnon, behind, you know, whoever you're going to put in that number one C roll. I would think, if you're going to pay him that money, though, Like, do you think some team is looking at him as the one C, potentially? I mean, that's a big commitment to do, I think.

I mean, I'm trying to think of places where he's been a one. I mean, Toronto was he mainly a one C? No, he was basically the third, like towards the end there. Yeah. Right? He was a two and three C. You know, certainly, you know, behind Austin Matthews. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. They were so far, so far gone. Like, but all that to say, like, yeah. And again, like the age, if you're going to commit to all of that, you're going to say he is our number one guy for the next how many years. Look, and pay staff experience. But again, we're seeing, like, there's, there is a hesitancy to give money in turn to guys above a certain age. Like, I don't know if, and I can't, I would be very surprised if a team at this point saw what Nassam Khadri did and look at his age and they think, you know what? Maybe not an outlier, but thinking, I don't know if he's able to do that again, especially with the quality of players that.

we have. I'd be surprised if a team through, especially now in August, like, you could almost make the argument that if a team was going to throw the bag at him to be their number one center, I don't want to, I want to be careful when I use this, because I don't want to dump on Goddry here. It could be a move

of desperation at this point, because why would you sign him to this like now in August? Now our, our intrepid producer Chris Flannery has done a great job here. She's looked this up and slid this over to us on Messenger. and said, here's a list of kind of prominent, bigger names that have signed, you know, as free agents in the month of August.

And it's not a, it's not a list of stars, but of superstars. So since the year 2000, the only kind of prominent names that Chris found that have signed in August, Pat Furbique to Dallas at the end of August 2001, Owen Nolan to the coyotes in 2006. in August, mid-August, and then Pat Maroon, August of 2019, signs a free agent deal. I'm going to be straight up on this. I'm a huge, people who know me. No, I'm a huge hockey fan.

I'm really good with stats and history, all that stuff. I have no recollection of Owen Nolan in Arizona. Or with, sorry, with Phoenix, I guess, at the time. None. Like, none. Like, absolutely no recollection of Owen Nolan there. 2006, August 2006. What were you doing in August 2006?

Don't tell me, because you're going to be like, I was eight years old, however old you were. Don't tell me that. Okay, no. But I'm with you. I don't remember him as a coyote either. But I'm also imagining that considering the year that he signed and Pat Verbeek in 2001,

those two guys definitely near the end of their careers. And then Patrick Barron in 2019, that's interesting that he signed as late as he did, but maybe it's just, I don't know. You don't want to, I don't know. It's just, it's kind of an interesting situation that those guys would be signed as late as they were in August. Yeah, you know, the weird thing on Owen Nolan is,

as they looked this up, so he played the 0304 season in Toronto. 0405, of course, was wiped out due to a lockout labor dispute. Then he didn't play in 2005. 2006. So Owen Nolan basically took three years off or, you know, I missed a couple of, two, sorry, two seasons off and came back and played in 2006, 2007 with the coyotes. Like I said, a season that I have no recollection of Owen Nolan, no recollection of him with the coyotes. Now here's a quick question for you. Did Owen Nolan score more goals with the coyotes than Taylor

Hall scored for the Sabres? What's your guess? What's your guess? I want to say yes. I want to say Yes. Yeah, like three or four. That's pretty good. What? It's 16 goals? I know. So my guess for Taylor Hall, the year he scored two goals was actually just under Oudolin.

Oudolin. I should have guessed that. I had no. O'Nolan with the coyotes. What did he retire? Like 2000. A couple of years after. He then went to Calgary for a season after that, which I vaguely remember.

And then he wrapped up with two seasons with drum roll, please, the Minnesota. to Wild. Again, I'm a little hazy on that. What? I don't. I didn't, wow, because you know what it is? I only really remember Owen Nolan as like the San Jose Shark. Right.

Cover of the NHL 2001. There was an All-Star game where he was going on a breakaway and he points at the point. Exactly. Like, I don't remember, like, post-lockout 2005, I have no recollection of Owen Nolan either. I don't. I don't know why I just don't. Right. This is like one of those down, you know,

when Down Goes Brown does his super tricky trivia, and he's like, which of these teams did Owen Nolan not play for? And he would put like, you put Calgary, Coyotes, Minnesota, and then, you know, you throw some other team in there. And he'd be like, you know, Florida. And he'd be like, oh, man, I don't remember Owen Nolan with any of these teams. I don't remember him at all of them. That's what this feels like.

And that's no disrespect to Minnesota. It's just, I wasn't really paying attention to the Minnesota wild like that in 2008 or whatever he was there. Yeah. No, it's, it's kind of, it's kind of nutty. So anyway, that's our, that's our short trip down memory lane of guys who signed in August. So it's not really something that you see very often. We're elite players are signing in August. We'll see what happens with Cadry.

Another one that's a little bit, and it's a little different than Cadry is Patrice Bergeron. Remember when about a month ago, there was. rumors that, hey, hey, Bergeron's about to sign. And remember, they got rid of Cassidy and everyone thought that those two things were linked, that as soon as Cassidy was out, Burgeon's coming back. Here we are. Julian, it's August. Tris Burgeon hasn't officially resigned.

Do we think he's still coming back or where are we on on that? I have no idea. I honestly thought that it's weird because I can't picture Patrice Burzran playing anywhere else. And this is a guy who was, it seemed as if was flirting with retirement. And I wonder if retirement and thinking about that and being with his family is playing any role in his indecision right now. I know some people have a joke we're thinking, oh, maybe he joins some other team. Maybe he joins the Montreal Canadiens his former agents, the GM there. Oh, Patrice Bergeron playing for another market.

That doesn't make sense. It just seems very weird in my brain. Also, we're talking about guys signing late in August and how that doesn't happen. all that often. Imagine having a top quality free agent and Nassum Kadri available and the best defensive forward as a free agent also available as a free agent. That is unlike anything I've ever seen with regards to an NHL off season. I mean, I guess no one will know, but I thought Patrice Bergeron would have made his decision a couple of weeks back. Yeah, absolutely. He was linked to coming back too. I don't remember if he's actually officially, I'll think he's

officially signed his deal back with Boston. I don't know if it's just everyone's on vacation and they're just enjoying themselves and they're saying, you know what, we'll get to this in like August or September or whatever. I don't know. But I just think it is a bit weird that Patrice Bergeron hasn't signed at this point. Yeah. Another name that's out there here in August that is really interesting to me is P.K. Suban.

And, you know, P.K. at the end of his eight-year deal with New Jersey, I think all of us could agree the $9 million cap had far exceeded where his game was at. But some interesting comments that P.K. Subban's agent Don me and gave to Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. I'll read the quote out here so the listeners are just, you know, kind of up to date on where, you know, P.K.'s mindset is at this stage of the game.

This is the agent on me and quote, he wants to play, I can tell you that. I think at this stage of his career, he would want to play somewhere that would provide a good opportunity for him. Without sounding too aggressive, I think he's earned a privilege to be somewhat selective in terms of where he would play so that it works for the team and it works for him. In other words,

he doesn't just want to play anywhere, end quote. So it sounds to me like P.K. Suban has an appetite to come back. Again, he screams maybe a one-year deal. I don't know what to make of this, but it's clear that he wants to come back. Because I think with P.K., he's such a larger-than-life figure, a lot of his figure, oh, this guy,

wants to get into broadcasting, where this guy has so many interests outside of the game, he's probably exploring other options. But when you listen to Don Mee and it sounds like, nope, he wants to play. He's just waiting for the right opportunity. He just doesn't want to play for some scrub team and not make the playoffs. I would imagine for a guy like P.K. at the stage of his career, he would want to play on a contending team. And maybe the idea of either putting him on a second pairing or third pairing, he's more of a third-paring guy now, I think, at the stage of his career, depending on what team he plays on. But I don't know.

That gives you the sense that he, yeah, you're right. He's being a little choosy and, yeah, he's trying to exercise that right. But we're not talking about a guy who's going to make tens of millions of dollars like he almost like he did on the last contract. But I don't know. I always thought that at this point in his career, if the offers just didn't work out, I don't think there's anything wrong with P.K. Suban, just kicking it and broadcasting. He's a good broadcaster.

I've seen him the few times on ESPN. He's actually like, he knows about the game. He has the personality. He's not so far removed from the game. Like, he just played. Like, he could speak to what guys are like now and the relationships that he has are different guys around the league. Like, he could provide that analysis.

And then on the flip side, I think if he signs with an NHL team, at least just off of what I've seen off social media, it seems as if like some of the younger guys in the league are gravitating to P.K. Suban a lot because I don't know, it's just, I think some of the younger guys are slowly starting to get that, you know, you got to be a bit more of a brand. You got to be a little bit more flashy and all that. And I think P.K. Subad was was very much about that life when he was in his best years in the NHL. So I think that's why a lot of younger guys are kind of gravitating to him, just seeing guys like Jack Hughes, just like hanging out with him on social media and whatnot. But like,

I get the sense that P. K. Suban doesn't want to play on a scrub team. I'm not sure how much money is a big, I guess, motivator, I guess, but he just wants to be on, I would imagine he would want to be on a good team. But I guess if the deals just don't come, man, like, I can't see him losing that bad. There's another frog with saying, you know what, man, ESPN, let me just be a full-time guy, put him on first take and have him do a weekly appearance with Stephen A. Smith. It seems like those two get along really well. So I think P.K. Sub-Band is in a pretty good situation. And I can understand why you can afford to be selective. If I was a team, though, that, and look, there's a handful of teams of the NHL that could probably use a dose of marketing.

Splash of marketing, personality to come in and not only play, but also to help sell tickets. And, but I wonder, like, is that, look, he doesn't have a Stanley Cup on his resume. He's never been to the Stanley Cup final. Like, I don't know if that's the thing that's- He's been to a Stanley Cup final. Oh, yeah, sorry, with Nashville. Sorry, yeah, with Nashville, of course, in, in, in, in, in, he's in. 2017. I apologize for that. But yeah, like, he hasn't won the cop. But, like, I'm looking around

the league. And I look at certain markets. And I think, boy, he'd be a great fit there. Like, even Seattle, to be honest with you. Like, that team is somewhat, they're very pedestrian. Like, the roster, there's not a lot of guys that jump out. Like, you're looking to sell the game. Bekees-Souban can sell the game. You know, like you said, he's not the guy that was putting up, you know, he was a consistent 55 point guy in this league for the meat of his career. Like the five or six best years, I'm sure of P.K. Suban were like, hey, this guy's a 55 point defenseman, run your power play. You think about that one timer at the top. Like, he was, he was great. He doesn't have that anymore. The escapeability or that ability to do the, it's not there.

It's not there. But I wonder, would there be a team like a Seattle? Like a San Jose, even, that might be looking at somebody who needs a little bit of something on that roster. Is that the fit for him? Seattle, let's hold on to Seattle for a second. They're about to enter their second full season in the National Hockey League. They are looking to continue to establish themselves in the new market that they're in the market that they're in. And look, we know they're not going anywhere. If P.K. Suban doesn't care as much about playing on a playoff team, I totally get why Seattle would fit.

And like, look at all the people he could connect with. Like, imagine like a little promo video with him and like Marshaun Lynch hanging out. Right? Or like McHawbore or whatever, or whoever you want to have hang out in Seattle. Definitely, I think, just in terms of a recognizable personality, I would see the value in him selling tickets. But again, I think my guess at this point is that P.K. would probably want to play for a playoff team. Because if not, you could just do his own thing at home or broadcasting for somebody and bring a lot of attention to himself that way. And he doesn't have to do that for playing on a lesser team. Yeah. It's going to be one of, again, one of those interesting names to

watch here in the month of August. Hey, listen, we got some, we got some mailbag questions to tackle here. Some, I threw this out on Twitter and asked for, you know, if you got some questions here in the month of August, a little bit of a quiet time, in the sports world. And I got one here from Jonathan, and this kind of goes back to us talking about Anaheim and John Klingberg. Where do you guys see the Anaheim ducks this year?

I think they've added enough. I think they've added enough, with Verbeek still saying they're looking to add one more forward, that maybe they can challenge for a playoff spot. I feel like the Pacific is wide open for them to do so. That's from Jonathan. So what do you think? Anaheim, so the Pacific Division,

I think has gone through a little bit of a re you know of retooling or a different look Calgary the composition of the team that won the division last year it's changed Edmonton has a brand new goalie you know Vegas is a team that's in flux I feel like L.A. is on an upward trajectory but you know there's a lot of unknown I feel like it's the most unknown division can Anaheim challenge for a playoff spot that's what Jonathan wants to know. I think I understand. I think they might. I don't know if they do it, but I could understand why. Like, I think of how they played last year before fading. They have that experience. How do you

a guy like John Klingberg could help out? John Gibson's still around. They could be competitive. There's really only two teams in that division. I'm willing to write off before the season even begins. And that's San Jose in Seattle. Like, I don't see those two teams competing anytime soon. don't think either of those teams really want to compete anytime soon. But like Vancouver, I don't know what to make of them at this point. Edmonton, they might be the best team in the division. Vegas should be a playoff team again, but I have no idea what it's going to be. Like, I mean, last year they kind of went through a calamity of errors and injuries and salary

gap issues. Everything just kind of went wrong. And they found a way to get Jack Eichol last year. And they still found a way to miss the playoffs. But yeah, I don't know what they're going to look like next year, if they're going to be good enough to be like. to be like a really good cup contending team. Maybe they do, but I don't know.

I can understand the logic of seeing them, seeing the division as a wide open team. Calgary, I don't think, I think they're a playoff team. I don't think they're as good as they were last year, but they're still a playoff team. I mean,

they did lose Johnny Goddrow and Matthew Goodchuk, but getting Jonathan Nuevaldo and McKenzie Weger, those some good pieces, they could still be a good playoff team. So Calgary, I'll say for sure, I'll throw in Vegas, fine. Eminton, so that really leaves L.A., and I see them as a playoff team. It's kind of weird. I see them as a playoff team. I see them as the most sure thing, but I don't see them as like the top seed in that

division. I see them as like a playoff team, but I don't like a wall card. Yeah, but like I'm confident about where they're going to be placed compared to like everyone else in the division. So if we're going to have those four teams there, unless, unless things don't work out in the central division, I guess. I don't know. I think Anaheim at least five, five, six. That's a decent range. That's not bad.

Like, they're still trying to be competitive. And I would see it as like a, you know, a progression, I would think. So what I'd love to do, though, from Anaheim fans, and maybe this is a good question for fans of teams like Anaheim that are, they're kind of in a weird spot where you're not a playoff contest. but you're not sure where you're going to end up. In a year where Connor Bedard is going to be the prize of the draft, would you rather your team just bottom, look, Chicago's clearly doing that.

Like, clearly. They're not even, there's no hiding the fact that this is what they're doing. As a fan of Anaheim, and Eric Stevens, I thought, pointed this out in his column on the weekend of getting John Klingberg. Does John Klingberg make Anaheim just good enough that it takes them out of of the Connor Bader's sweepstakes. And if it does, how do fans feel about that? It's a real tricky conversation to have

because you look at the Chicago situation and you're like, why the hell would I watch that team this year if it goes the way we think it's going to go, right? Like, you've ripped the heart out of that fan base other than Taves and Kane and you feel like the clock is sticking on their time. You went back to the Stone Age essentially. Yeah, exactly.

So what do you do? Like if you're one of these kind of Anaheim type of teams you kind of wish that they didn't get a Klingberg and you're like, ah, you know what? One more year, tank it. It's going to be a really strong draft. Maybe we end up with Bidar, and then it's go time. That's a great question, I think.

I think of John Gibson's situation then, and all of the back and forth with him and his situation. Because Eric Cee, he keeps mentioning him. He's been great. But like it seemed as if people were thinking that maybe he wanted out and maybe there needed to be some clarification. on his actual situation, I think John Gibson is still a decent enough goaltender, where if you have him on your team, I don't know if you could properly tank. So I think if Anaheim,

like if Anaheim offloaded John Gibson this offseason, and we're still in the offseason, so it could still happen. If they did it, that would be my sign that, okay, the Anaheim Ducks are really punting on this year and they're really putting themselves in a position for Krona Baird. but and I know maybe John Gibson's numbers still aren't like maybe the best, but I still think he's still a decent enough goalie that, and he especially wants to win. I think Anah would have to offload him before. I would really take them seriously as a team that would want,

that would want Connor Bedard. I think once they offload him, then you could really put them in that conversation. I think there are just so many other teams like a Chicago and in Arizona. I mean, even the Canadians with the roster that they look that they have right now, They could put themselves in the bottom three position. Yeah, I don't know if I put Anaheim in that same tier of teams that are really going to be in that top,

in that top kind of chase for, for Conrad. Maybe they get Adam Fantilli, though. Who knows? But maybe, again, maybe if they didn't get Klingberg, maybe they're in that conversation. Who knows? It's an interesting, it's an interesting debate. Let's tackle one more question here from the mailbag here.

We got a tweet here from mine. who says, is there a correlation between preseason records and regular season success? So I've looked this up. Okay. Last year, I don't think there is because you know who had the best record in the preseason last year in the entire Western conference was the Arizona Coyotes. Oh boy. They went five and one. Okay.

and we know that that didn't translate into regular season success. Seattle, four and two. They were also one of the better teams in the preseason. You know, look, like Toronto and Florida were the two best teams in Atlantic in the preseason. And, you know, maybe there's something to be said for that. But I don't put a lot of stock into the preseason. Like, if it were up to me, I think last year some teams played up to eight preseason games. For me, if I'm being brutally honest, I think the,

number should be two. It should be two preseason games for every team. Like, I mean, your practices should be enough. I don't need to watch like eight, 10 preseason games. I know in the NFL, like they have like four, like I don't care. I don't need, you could just watch two, three. Like, I mean, here's the one thing I'll say about preseason though. It's good for the guys on the bubble who want every opportunity to show to a team that they could play well and stick in the lineup. But I mean, sometimes some of those guys still end up getting sent down anyway, and partway through the year you call up a guy and he ends up being a really good player. Like, it happens. There's just this symbolism that's attached to starting with the team.

And, you know, maybe a player is able to hold onto that spot and they never let go. So I guess I can understand why there is as many games, but like I could lift with like three, four. I'm sure for players for the sake of injuries and stuff like that, they could probably lift with that too maybe and maybe you offset with more practices or or you find some other way to make it work. It'd be cool if we had like like a preseason tournament that sort of counted for something too to make it more exciting, but that probably doesn't really help that much. I don't know. Yeah. And then looking individually at the players who had the best preseason last year. And a lot of people will be doing their hockey pools and they base it off of, wow, this guy's

having a great preseason. Last year, there was two players who scored five goals in the preseason. Oliver Bjork Strand was one. He scored five for Columbus. And Brandon Perlini from Edmonton scored five. Now, Bjork Strand had a really good season last year. I just double-checked this year. A career high 28 goals. So you know what?

Maybe his preseason performance was a little bit of an indicator of what was to come. Perlini scored five in the preseason and four in the regular season. He had more goals in preseason? Yeah. Now, that was a function. I think he only played 30-some-odd. games last year. But again, that shows you take everything with a grain of salt.

Like, just because a guy goes off and goes bonkers in the preseason or a team is great in preseason. I don't think there's a much correlation there. Like in preseason numbers. I know it probably influences people's occupants. Like James Neal last year. The real deal, James Neal. The real deal, James Neal.

Now, was he on a, was he on a? was he on a PTO with somebody last year? St. Louis, I want to say. Yeah, so NHL.com doesn't have him listed with any... Yeah, you're right. It was St. Louis. And he had four goals and four preseason games and then scored two in the regular season with St. Louis.

So who knows? This is the quality of competition you play in preseason. Maybe some of the line meets you have as well. maybe the lineups where he's positioned as well. Also, James Neal later in his career, that's a guy who, you know, you put him in the right position to score. That's the best thing he's going to provide for you. I mean, James Neal ended his year on a playoff run

with the Springfield Thunderbirds in the American Oculeg. Like, that kind of gives you a sense of where he's at in his career right now. But yeah, just goes to show. Preseason shows you one thing. It doesn't always reflect in the regular season. But hey, hey, good on Brandon Perl. needy, five goals. Yeah, five goals.

And you know what? One other guy that had a really good preseason that I think ended up becoming a little bit of an indicator of what was to come was Michael Bunting. Toronto had four goals and four preseason games. And Michael Bunting, obviously, ended up being a pretty effective forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.

And yeah, there you go. I'll tell you what. I want to get to a couple of multiple choice questions to wrap up. Yes, love the show. But before I get to that, I do want to hear that. hit on something. And I got to say that, you know, we've tried our best. This Hockey Canada

story has had a lot of moving parts. You know what? And I would encourage our readers, you did a really nice job. I know Katie Strang retweeted your piece from just before the hearings last week. You did a really nice job of kind of summarizing kind of how we got to this place with Hockey Canada. And I thought that was a really nice, you know, kind of, hey, here's what happened. here's why we're where we're at. And I know that this is a topic that is very, this is important to you. It's important to me.

It's important to a lot of our listeners. So we don't want to go through an entire podcast without bringing this up. We've got the World Juniors coming up. But I do want to just read a thread from Gord Miller of TSN. Because Gord is one of the faces of junior hockey coverage in North America. The World Juniors starts next week. there's going to be a lot of people wondering, how should the media cover this?

I think this is a great question. How do people like you and I who watch the sport, cover the sport, how do we write about it? How does Gordon Miller do the play by play? I just real quick, before we delve into that, I just want to read Gord's Twitter thread here because I think it's important. So on the weekend, Gord Miller tweeted out

a handful of tweets about the World Junior Tournament. So I'll just read that out real quick. He said, look, a thread here on international hockey tournaments in August and the issues surrounding hockey Canada. There are three events scheduled for August, the Helinka Gretzky men's U-18 tournament in Red Deer, the rescheduled World Juniors in Edmonton and the women's world championships in Denmark. I was scheduled to broadcast both the U-18 and the world junior tournaments. I've been asked a lot about what the approach would be to broadcasting these events, given all that has gone on with Hockey Canada

in what is a rapidly evolving story with much we still don't know. DSN is the host broadcaster for all three tournaments, which means that we are contractually obliged to provide pictures and audio to networks from the other nations, including English language commentary for the double IHF and NHL network, so we would be broadcasting these tournaments either way.

Like many Canadians, I have been disturbed by not only the allegations, but also the lack of transparency on the part of hockey Canada. These alleged incidents need to be investigated thoroughly and there must be changes to the way they are addressed now and in the future. I'm proud of the role TSN has played in reporting this story, especially the exceptional work of Rick Westhead, his colleagues in our newsroom. This is important work, I believe it will lead to fundamental change,

not just in hockey, but in the way Canadian sport is run. That said, I do not believe that the players, coaches, and staff taking part in the 3 August tournaments should be punished for events that did not involve them. They have worked hard to get where they are. They deserve to have their stories told to a national audience. He has a handful of tweets, but he basically says, I'm going to do it. I'm going to continue trying to shine a spotlight on this stuff. Tips his hat to Rick Westhead.

How do we handle this, Julian? This tournament comes up next week. How do we handle this as members of the media? It's a great question. And you know what's, I'll be honest. up until that thread up until Gordon Miller brought up the fact that we're going to have to look at this tournament

in a really interesting way I honestly had no interest in watching this year's real junior tournament it's in smack in the middle of August for one and two with everything going on with hockey Canada yeah I don't like I watch the tournament just to watch the tournament and see what's going on

that the prospects coming up I personally just don't have the appetite to just watch this tournament And Gord also makes the point that the players on this year's tournament don't have anything to do with anything that we've learned so far of the teams who have been implicated in scandals. But also, it's just, it's, it's, it's not just the players. It's, it's hockey Canada itself that were very, like, like, that's what, that's what I'm more angry about than anything else that would make me want to not watch compared to these specific players on that team for this year. But now I want to know, like, how is TSN going to cover this? I'm intrigued about what more we'll do about this.

And thank you for the compliment on the timeline. I have to also shout out the NHL news staff for constantly updating that story and also need to praise you and Katie and Dan Robson for the work that they've done on this. And Rick Westhead, of course. But I'm curious about it because there's no way you can watch this tournament and not think of everything we've learned over the last two, three months. There's no way. So I want to know how TSN, who is going to primarily broadcast this tournament, is going to go across those stories. Like, what are they going to do? How much is Rick Westhead going to be a part of their broadcast?

How is Gordon Miller going to discuss this? Who else is going to discuss this? It's a bit of a weird situation, but now I'm intrigued to know how we will, as media people, discuss this tournament and for years to come. and what will come of all the other scandals we've heard in the last of the while. It's a bit of an intriguing situation. Yeah, and I'd love to hear from fans too. Like, how are you planning? Are you planning on watching this tournament the same way that you have in the past?

Will there be, are you going to hold it at arm's length? A, maybe it's because it's in August, like you said, or maybe it's because of everything going on. Just curious to hear. I don't, I think everybody should have the right to, you know, enjoy or not enjoy the tournament as they see fit. We're certainly not here to tell you how to enjoy sports. You know, what we're trying to do is give you the most amount of information so you can make the choice for yourself.

And I'm with you. I'm not sure how engaged I will be. I do agree with Gordon Miller. The players and the coaches from this year's team aren't linked to that, but the management and the board of directors of hockey Canada are. Yes. And that's the issue that we have. Yes, yes, yes.

That's the issue that people like you and I have and that a lot of people have. if it was, if they came to those parliamentary hearings last week that I attended in person, if they stood up there and said, you know what, as an organization, we have failed. And the only way forward is for us to tender our resignations and dissolve the board of governors. I think that would have been far more effective than we believe we are the right people to lead the change. And I hope they understand. I asked Scott Smith when he came out of that meeting. I asked him, do you understand the skepticism from the Canadian public here, that you are the right person?

And this is the right staff to lead. And I'll give him credit. He didn't duck my question. He gave a very thorough 45, 60 second answer. But he doubled down on what he said a number of times in his testimony, that I am the right person. And if he's given the chance, he can, he can affect the change. I think my issue is, but you had the chance. And you were part of, maybe you weren't the top of the food chain,

but you were part of the decision-making process. You were probably privy to information in 2018, 19, 20, 21, and into 2022. And the feeling from a lot of people is, are you sorry or are you sorry that this got public or went public? And I think at the end of this, the only reason why a lot of this became public is the work of request head. It's the work of, you know, and listen,

Katie Strang, Dan Robinson and myself have done some reporting on this. There's certainly more to be done. The Globe and Mail has done a terrific job in shining a light on some stuff. The Canadian press, Josh Clipperton, I think, has done some great work that sometimes because he works for Canadian press, it flies under the radar. Josh has been good on this. I think collectively as a media group, we do all need to say, it took media pressure to create this. We need to keep that pressure going.

And the question is, though, can we simultaneously enjoy an event while asking these tough questions and doing the work? This is the tricky tightrope that we're all going to have to walk. Yep. And I don't know how we're going to do that. I also just in listening to you here about with Scott Smith and seeing that no one's resigned from it. This is not wreak of arrogance? I'm sorry. Like, the idea that Hockey Canada, after everything that has transpired from 2018 on down,

and now we're hearing the reopen investigation on the 2003 team, the fact that the people still in charge feel that they are the ones who could fix this and make this right. And don't at least see the issue in this. this is not wreak of arrogance. This is not reek of an issue. Like, you're closer to this than me. So maybe I have it wrong, but this reeks of arrogance. This is a problem. The fact that, like, we're seeing people like Shelton Kennedy call for these people to. Right. As far as I'm concerned, if we go through all of this and, you know, due process plays out the way that it's supposed to play out, you know, and it looks, it just looks bad for hockey Canada. It just looks bad. It goes that way.

and it doesn't end with people being accountable. What was this all for? Maybe this is a bit of a brutal way to put it, but what was this for? What was this really for? We had people who were looking to put hockey Canada to the fire, a victim felt compelled to stand up and say, hey, this happened to me and is willing to cooperate in investigation.

And if frankly, again, if this goes, if this ends up where hockey Canada really does look, they already look bad, but it looks as if they, you know, they prove everything in court against them. And nothing bad. Nothing comes in terms of resignations. Yeah.

Potential disbandment. What was this for? That's how I see it. And maybe I'm not explaining it the right way. I'm not as eloquent as I would like to be. But that's how I really feel about it. This is just something that it boggles my mind. And I'm really happy that we're able to.

to have coverage on this. But there's no way people could emerge from this and still have some kind of trust that the people at the top of the food chain for Hockey Canada can make this right. They had their chance that they blew it. Yeah, exactly. And that's just that.

And again, we're not, I hope this conversation with Julian and myself is not coming off as, you know, we never want to act like we're, you know, on some sort of pedestal and we're talking down to the audience and preaching because I don't think that type of approach and delivery works.

We're just trying to understand the situation and wrap our heads around the fact how a group of people could have been in charge of such a potentially horrific act and how they have kept their job. Now, this could all change in a matter of day. As Gordon Miller pointed out, as you and I have said, there's a very fluid situation that by the time this weekend's,

there could be changes. But I think the most fair way to wrap up this portion of the conversation is to say, I think there's a lot of people in our country, in Canada. who are deeply dissatisfied with the resolution to date. That's not to say that it can change, but there's a lot of dissatisfaction that the people who are in charge of this in 2018, 19, 20,

possibly still have those roles. 100%. I think you nailed it. It's a moving situation, and we can promise that we'll be all over it with the athletic. All right. As I said, we're going to wrap up the show. as we always do with a Monday,

with a little multiple choice stuff here. And I got to ask you this one first because the San Jose Sharks, quit the week, hey, in California, Julian, last week. Dustin Brown's getting a statue. Patrick Marlowe's getting his number retarded. I can see your face when I say Dustin Brown.

What I find fascinating is that, think about the statues outside. Like, Staple Center would have, what, a Magic Johnson statue? Doesn't Shaq have one? Shaq and Dustin Brown. Now, what? Listen, man, the guy captained his team to two Stanley Cups.

So if they're okay with it in L.A., I'm okay. I've come around with that on Jersey retirement statutes. If you in that market, if L.A. fans are like, yeah, I love it, then who am I to say you shouldn't have that honor? So I'm very respectful of that. But I want to ask you about crypto.com arena. There you go. That's right, the crypt.

I got to ask you about Patrick Marlowe. The Sharks announced he will be the first player in franchise history to have his number retired, number 12 for Patrick Marlowe, a franchise leader in so many categories. I'm not here to debate whether or not Patrick Marlowe should have his number retired because I think he should. Question is, is Patrick Marlowe a slam dunk hall of favor for you? Yes or no. No, he's not. He's not a slam dunk hall of famer for me.

here's my reasoning for it. And you can tell me if I'm wrong. I don't think Patrick Marlowe had a lengthy period of time where he was the best at his position or in the top five best at his position. And I also think in terms of individual accolades, let's not think about the gold medals for a second or the international success. if you're thinking about purely, just individual accolades, like, sixth in Calder trophy voting, was a finalist for a Lady Bing in like 2005, 2006. Heart trophy. Has he ever been a nominee for a heart trophy? He's ever been a nominee for, I mean, he ever won in, okay, he, I don't think he's ever won in Art Ross.

Like, in terms of the individual, like, the individual trophy cabinet is, is lacking. And look, he benefited from team success. Again, the two gold medals. He has to at least one or two gold medals from the Olympics. Great. But I don't know if that's enough to put you in the Hall of Fame. I don't know. Someone also, I remember debating this and being on the record saying that Patrick Burrell

shouldn't make it. And someone tried to make the point to be that if, and they didn't explain it, but I saw the tweet, that if Jerome McGillow could make the hockey all of fame, then Patrick Marlowe should make the hockey all of fame. That has no basis. Because at least in the case of Jerome McGillan, you could say he was the best at his position, he was still in the top five in the years after that before, whatever,

has won individual accolades, has won Art Ross trophies, the trophy formerly known as the Lesterby Pearson Award. He, been to a Stanley Cup final, almost won, and I know Marlowe almost won the Stanley Cup final too, but Jerome McGillah is a hockey, Hall of Famer.

That I don't think you can doubt. And he has the Olympic success as well. Patrick Marl played the most games in the

NHL, which is a great accomplishment, good for him, great for him, deserves to have his number retired by the Sharks. It means a lot

to that franchise. I do not think that he is a slam dunk Hall of Famer. That's just my view. All right, I'll tell you

let me go with the counter argument here. And I'm not going to say that I'm super passionate like I'm going to be writing

columns about Patrick Marlow to the Hall of Fame. But I do think he deserves to be there. Because I think to me there's two ways to get into the Hall of Fame. I think either you are for a period of time, for a five or seven year period of time, you're an absolutely one of the best players at your position

or a Hall of Fame type of player. So even if your career is shortened because of injuries or other factors, you're in there. So for me, that's Peter Foisburg, Eric Lindross, Pavel Burrey. Like you are, your light shined very bright, but it didn't shine as bright as, you know, as some, or as long as

as some other people. The other way I think you can get in is if for a sustained period of time, you are a very good player. And I think Patrick Marlowe is in more of the, you know, I guess Dave Anderchuk would be a guy that comes to mind or somebody who, uh, over a prolonged period of time was like pretty darn consistent. And look, Patrick Marlowe played on some best on best Canadian teams. And that includes winning a gold medal in 2010, which a lot of people tell you that might have been as good of a team as we've ever iced at a tournament. Patrick Marlowe made that team.

He was, I think, on a World Cup of hockey team in 2004 when, you know, a little bit different with World Cup. But look, on best-on-best tournaments, Patrick Marlowe was there for Canada at the top of his career. He got to 500 goals, which I think should be a benchmark to at least a game. acknowledge longevity and success. Like 500 goals. Like this isn't,

I'm not, I'm not trying to sell you on a guy with 380, 500 goals. And then the piece that I think, I felt like you were a little dismissive of this and you tell me if I'm wrong. The guy, he broke Gordyhouse record for games played.

Like, that's pretty, that's a pretty good accomplishment. It wasn't like they were rolling them out there just a, you know, like Cal Ripkin at the end of his streak? You were like kind of a little suspicious. You're like,

I think they're just keeping them out there to break the record. I didn't feel that way about Patrick Marlowe. Like, maybe at the very end he wasn't great. But he broke Gordy Howe's record. So to me, yeah, 500 goals. You play the most games ever to break a Gordy Howe record. You were on some best on best Canadian teams. You were a face of a franchise for a long time in San Jose.

I'll be at a face of playoff disappointment. But you were the face of a franchise. That's enough for me. Like, that's enough for me. Would Patrick Marlowe make my best 50 players since the year 2000? Probably not. But at the overall point of his career, if I look at the totality of his career.

And if I, if I, like, I think if you remove a lot of things, like you didn't look at his name, you just thought, wow, 500 goals. Most games played, you'd be like, yeah, that's a Hall of Famer. Right? No, I'd say, I'd say, no. wonder he scored as many goals as he did. He played as many games as he did. Also, the fact that you have to think about if he would be a top 50 player since the year 2000 and he's played

as many games as he's played, I don't know. That doesn't make his argument. And also, you're just a question, a slam dunk hall of famer. I don't, if you're questioning that, that's definitely not a slam dunk hall of famer. No disrespect. I don't know about that. Dave Andrewchuk, Dave Andrewsuch, fine, does not have a lot of individual success. in his time, he was regarded as like the best power play forward. He was the best at that. What is the best thing that Patrick Marlowe was at during his playing career? What was the best thing?

I'm not saying the bad play. It's a good thing. It's a good thing that he was. No, I know. I know. Like, you know what? I think we've both made a really good, compelling case here. And, and one other thing I'll mention.

Patrick Marlowe being the face of the San Jose Sharps. Joe Thornton was also there. Joe Thornton's a bigger face. You could even make the argument that Patrick Marlowe was. isn't even the biggest face of San Jose Sharks' playoff disappointment when he was there. You could make a total argument at that. Patrick Brown was on a Hall of Famer.

He's a very good player, an excellent player, not a Hall of Famer. Oh, man. Listen, it's a great debate. One, we'd love to hear from our listeners on. Hey, they're retiring number 12 in San Jose and the teal. Is he a Hall of Famer? Yes or no?

Let us know. Tweet at us, drop it in the comments. Okay, let's wrap it up with a little less. Hopefully this will be a little less contentious, this question. Had a lot of fun watching various members of Colorado Avalanche enjoy their day with the Stanley Cup. I love it when I see players are like,

hey, their dogs are eating out of the Stanley Cup, their kids are eating out of the Stanley Cup. My question to you, Julian McKenzie, to wrap up the show. Yes, sir. You win the Stanley Cup. What are you eating out of the Stanley Cup, if you get a day with it? Are you going with a breakfast cereal?

B, Putin, which is fries and gravy and cheese curds for our American listeners who may not be familiar with that. C, are you going with some pasta, maybe, you know, spaghetti and meatballs? Maybe you want a lady in the tramp it with somebody, I don't know. Maybe you want to go with, maybe you go with ice cream, okay? Maybe ice cream or eat or you go with something else. You get your day with the cup, what's Julian eating out of the cup? I need to know.

Those are all enticing options. The lady in the tramp would, whoa, sir. I'm going to just leave it at that. You know what's funny? I was thinking about it this morning. I could see my mom making some good rice and peas and like curry chicken and just like dumping it in the bowl. And like I would just do it. But I also thought of this.

I have a very unpopular opinion with cereal. Raisin brand is my all-time favorite cereal. It is not like a popular cereal at all. And I've loved this since I was a child. Like, why should I care about fiber as much as I do? I don't need to do that. Maybe I should eat something like Captain Crunch. Maybe I should eat something like fruit loops.

I don't know. But for whatever reason, I have always been a big fan of Raisin Brand. And whenever I tell that to people, they look at me weird and they're like, what the hell is wrong with you? Why would you eat this old man cereal? Could you imagine my satisfaction of winning the Stanley Cup and eating raisin brand cereal out of it. Do you imagine how the haters would respond

to be doing that? All I need to do is post one photo on IG of me eating out of that one photo. I got to tell you, this is a worst take than your Marlowe take. Who would eat you? I'm not going to lie. I think you might be one of the only

five people on the planet that would get a chance to eat out of the Stanley Cup and would select Raisin Brand. I don't think there's more than four. There's not four more of you. There's a reason for it. There's a reason for it, though. I know I would piss people off if I did it.

My official answer is probably whatever my mom would make that day. But I know I'm getting that photo, that great photo of me eating Raisin Brand out the Stanley Cup. I will do it. I absolutely will do it. That's awful. Like the only other cereal that ranks below Raisin Brand, on the power rankings would be like grape nuts.

What's great nuts? Oh, that's an old person. That's awful. In fact, I hope they stop making it. I have a more recent one. I have a more recent one that would, or more recent, playing Cheerios.

Like when you get Cheerios and you say Cheerios, everyone knows the default is Honeynut Cheerios. If you buy Cheerios that are just plain, look, you care about your cholesterol, you care about your heart. Nothing wrong with being healthy, but you don't give a damn about taste. That is the cereal that is the absolute worst.

At least raisin brand. There's raisins and there's sugar. Like, there's something in it. Cheerios are only designed for people who have like little toddlers and they need to fill up a little thing and get them to eat. That's why Cheerios are there. I'm telling you what I'm going. I don't need that.

Listen, I'm going with cereal myself. I'm going cinnamon toast crunch. Okay? Right out of the cup. Overrated cereal. No, it's not overrated. It is amazing. Overrated.

Nope. Here's why it's better than raisin brand, because when you're done the cereal, you have this cinnamon-y milk left or leftover. What do you have when you have raisin brand? What's left in the bowl? You might have some soggy brand bits that are at the bottom. You're not getting that sweet.

Like, I would buy this by the jug. If the people at cinnamon to, what is it, General Mills, whoever makes cinnamon toast crunch. This is a, this is me pleading to the makers of General

Mills, please start selling cinnamon toast crunch milk. That would simply be milk that has been soaked in cinnamon toast crunch. You bottle this thing and you sell it, I promise you. That will be a top seller. People would buy that. I'm not even looking for any kind of copyright. I'm not looking for any trademark, anything. I'm just looking for this to be put into the marketplace so people can enjoy it.

And I would enjoy it out of the Stanley Cup. be amazing. Could you do ads for that milk, just like everyone thinks you do ads for Boston pizza? Oh, I know. People used to think I was the Boston pizza. Is that you doing the Boston pizza? It's not me doing the Boston pizza.

No. Oh, man. Okay. Hey, listen, this was, Hey, we'd love to hear from our listeners, too, on a couple of things here today. Like, we've, we've asked you some questions here, best one year contract and, you know, all that stuff.

We'd love to hear from you, too. What would you eat out of this Stanley Cup? What would you eat? And why wouldn't it be raisin brand? That's what I want to know. Look, officially I'm just going to say, whatever my mom was making that day, I would probably do that.

But you know damn well. I just want that glamour shot of me eating out of the Stanley Cup with a raisin bread. And I don't think anything wrong with that. If I put a Twitter poll out and I didn't have any, I didn't try to color it with any of my cinnamon toast crunch bias. And I simply asked, the people of the universe.

What's the better cereal? Raisin brand or cinnamon toast crunch? What do you think? Cinnamon toast crunch would win. Would win. But, okay. It's objectively a better cereal bite. Some people think it is.

Some people think objectively. But what would the number be? Would it be like 7030 for cinnamon toast crunch? 8515, 8020. Maybe I'll throw that out there. I'm willing to, look, shout out to my friend, Avery Lewis McDougal,

who has terrible food. takes online. I'm willing to put that out there as my Avery food take. That is a terrible food. Everyone's got a one bad. Everyone's got one bad food take. That's my one bad food take. And I'm willing to, I'm willing to eat it every day because I guess I just care about fiber and I like raisins. I like adding craisans to it to make it taste even better. That I think makes me. Caesons. You're adding crazons. Yes. I get raisins. Which are cranberry style kind of candied cranberries, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. I add crazins to my raisin brand cereal.

Don't judge me in Mendez. We're going to leave it there. You know what? Maybe out of this episode of the pod, there's going to be two new items in the marketplace. One will be cinnamon toast crunch infused milk. The other will be raisin brand with now. I'm waiting to go to the grocery store

and see that little burst on the star burst on the side of the box. Now with crazins. Cresence. Yo, man, shout out to people who make cereal listen. to our ideas. Please send us royalties. We would really appreciate it. We love it.

Hey, listen, this was a lot of fun. Thanks, everybody, for listening to this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating review. You know we would appreciate that. You can subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcasts. Get all of our bonus content from our entire network. You'll start with a 30-day free trial.

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