The Athletic Hockey Show - Johnny Hockey and the Columbus Blue Jackets, Sharks-Preds set to open NHL regular season in Czechia, Taylor Hall week-to-week with injury, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: October 3, 2022

Ian and Julian discuss the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators kicking off the regular season schedule with a “home and home” from the Czech Republic on Friday and Saturday, if the ship has sailed on NHL expansion into Europe, more injury trouble for the Boston Bruins with Taylor Hall set to miss the start of the regular season, and a little Multiple Choice Madness to close things out. Plus, The Athletic’s own Aaron Portzline joins the show from the media room at Nationwide Arena to talk about one of the biggest storylines heading into the regular season: Johnny Hockey and the Columbus Blue Jackets.Get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit: http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3BKz27u Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Back to kickoff the week in the NHL. It is the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show with Ian Madison, Julian McKenzie with you for the next hour or so. Coming up, we're pretty excited. The regular season actually starts this week. Aaron Portsline's going to drop by as we continue to go around the league, looking at the biggest stories on the athletic hockey show. We're going to connect with Portsline, talk a little bit about the jackets and the expectations.

but I got to tell you, Julian, feels good to say this. Regular season hockey this week. It's coming up Friday. And actually, wait, before we get to that, I love the fact. So for you, it's, you know, it's Monday morning. It's early in the morning. And you have the distinct advantage of you've got early morning voice,

which is great for a podcast. You've got the deep morning voice going. Man, what's funny is, I mean, you could tell that it's sort of, I mean, maybe you can't, but you could tell it's already been kind of going through its paces because on Mondays I also do the CJ show. So like when I first wake up at the boarding, basically like I'll shower bit and then I turn on the laptop. And then I'm just like, hey, everyone, welcome to the CJ show. But like now the athletic hockey show, like, it's like you could tell it's already gone through the pace. So it's like a very good vocal exercise for me on Monday.

So, okay, we're going to tell Chris Johnson that his show is. is the warm up for the athletic hockey show. Oh, no, that's that what is. He treats your show as a vocal exercise to get ready for our pod. Are y'all trying to get me in trouble, man? That's what we're doing. That's what we're doing.

But hey, how about this? We have regular season high. I feel like not enough fans know this, because if your favorite team is, you know, Detroit or New Jersey or Toronto or whatever, your regular season starts next week. You're like, damn, we got another week of preseason games. But coming up on,

Friday regular season game. It's the storied rivalry between the sharks and predators. Except this time, they're playing in the Czech Republic. I love it. Oh, man. I mean, I have a question. I don't know how many hours it is from Eastern time to Czechia time. I think six hours, I think. So that's at least eight hours for me as someone who currently lives in mountain time. Like, that would probably mean we're going to have to wake up in the morning to watch some regular season hockey. Am I right?

No, 2 o'clock Eastern time on Friday is the time. So noon, noon mountain time, 11 a.m. Pacific. Okay, that's not so bad. So, like, you know, if you're not doing anything on the day, maybe you decided to take that Friday as just a Friday off for a long weekend. You could just wake up out of bed and then just turn on the TV. and just be like, all right, cool, it's the afternoon. And a Shark's Predators game out in Europe is going to gone.

Like, I don't know. Like, I don't know about you, but I see that, you know, obviously Roman Yosey being in Switzerland and getting enjoying time, being with his family and all that. Like, that's nice. But I don't feel the, the buzz, the electricity, the marketing around, like, that particular game, or at least just the series itself. Like I should feel more excited, but I don't feel as excited as I should.

I don't know if it's just because of the teams. I don't know if they should have just had like other teams there, like a more hyped matchup, but like there's something kind of missing with that. Next week it's going to be, everyone else is going to get themselves going. So I think maybe we're going to have more of that excitement. But like, Sharks Preds, isn't there another matchup too in Europe as well?

Like it's like, okay, all right, we have that bear. That's okay. It's just like how many hours ahead of our natural time. I imagine if you're there for the event, that's going to be very exciting. But I think just the fact that just kind of out there as just this kind of random game on a Friday that most people in North America are only really going to get to in the early odds, in the early afternoon, maybe that kind of hurts the excitement a little bit. Well, I think part of it, you know, part of it to me is it's almost like, do you think that they pick, they pick these two teams like Bill Daly, like there was a drum, big bucket, and they had all the 32 teams in a bucket. He reached in and he pulled out, all right, team one is San Jose, reaches in, rattles it around. Team two, it's Nashville. Like, it's very random.

Like I said, like, can you even think, like, and some listener will help us out. what's the greatest moment in Sharks v. Preds history? Like, have they played in a playoff series? I don't even know that off the top of my head. I don't think so, but they were both kind of perennial playoff teams there, you know, in around 2012, 13, 14, 15. Like, did they meet in the playoffs? Is there some residual hatred between San Jose and Nashville?

Now we're going to be missing some big story. and people will be all over us. But I literally can't remember. Mike Fisher scored an O.T. winner for the Preds. Was it against San Jose? Yeah, it was. It was. 2017?

2016? 2016. Triple overtime goal. I remember Chris Cuthbert called that. Yeah, I think it was that. I think that's like the biggest Nashville San Jose moment I could think of. That's the biggest thing.

Until Friday. Until Friday when they hook up in the Czech Republic. And, you know, it does kind of give, you know, in the NFL, they're like, we're going to send the Jaguars to London, like repeatedly. That's how this one feels. And this is, with all due respect to Nashville and San Jose fans, I'd be saying the same thing if it was Ottawa. I'd be saying the same thing if it was like New Jersey or this isn't us hating on you. it's just there are certain franchises that haven't quite reached the iconic level yet, right? And even like, so newer, like you can, like Tampa Bay is a great example of they're a quote

unquote newish team, but they have a little bit of cachet, right? A little bit of, yeah, National and San Jose don't. Ottawa doesn't. Florida doesn't. Anaheim doesn't. And, you know, I don't know. I just, I'm curious how this one is played out, but we do want to remind our listeners, If you're in a hockey pool, regular season starts Friday.

Start, if you see Soros is on your roster, start them. Yes. One other thing I was thinking of, for matchups like these, depending on where you put them, think of the composition of the lineups and where those players are from. Thomas Hurdle is from Prague. So this would be like a home game for him. I don't remember all of the other players from Czechia who are on national. Nashville in San Jose. We also have to think about, I believe, the Appalachian, the Blue Jackets are the other matchup playing out in Europe to start the season two. Yeah, like, it just like, I think it's also fun to think about which players on the teams that are going out there have players who are from that market. Because they, that's easy, that's an easy way for the NHL to say, okay, well, we're playing in this guy's hometown or we're playing in this guy's home country. Well, that's why they do it. Like, I really want, and I would love to see Ottawa,

and Detroit start next season in Germany. You get Timmy Stutzler from, you know, from Mannheim. Moritz cider is from Germany. Great way to grow the game. Great way. Like that to me would be fantastic. So yeah, you're right. Avalanche and Blue Jackets.

Do you think Adam, who's Adam foot cheering for in that game? It's just two franchises. That's true. By the way, I think the jackets and the abs are playing in November. So I should mention that. I just think like those dates, I just- Damn it, Julian.

I got me all excited for Aves' jackets in the next week. Into Pint and Perry, Finland. Ah. That's right. Patrick Line, right, is the obvious tie in there. Yeah, Yarmou Kekalainen gets to go home. He's also finished. The GM for the Blue Jackets.

Is there any way, like, so the NHL schedules this game in the summer, right? Like you guys go into Finland. At that point, if you're the jackets, you can't trade Patrick Linaig, can you? Yeah, if you do that, that's a big, is there like some unwritten rule? Yeah, you can't. Like, does Gary Pepman call you? Say like, hey, we kind of need him for marketing for these tickets.

You better hold off of whatever plans you have. Yeah. That maybe. You know, I think it's interesting, too. It's a with San Jose and Nashville, opening the season in Europe. I think it's a great time for us to revisit Julian an idea that seemed to have a lot of traction about 10 years ago, like 10, 15 years ago, coming out of the lockout.

So out of the 0506 lockout, one of the big stories was the NHL and the NHLPA were very much exploring the idea of expanding the Europe. And I'm going to read a quote for our listeners and for you here. This is from 2008. this is from the head of the NHLPA at the time. Paul Kelly was his name. He was the head of the NHLPA. In a Q&A with now the head of our editorial vertical,

or one of our heads, a young Craig Custins did this interview. Oh, damn. All right. Cub reporter, Craig Custin's. C.C. Yeah. Craig Custins did this interview with Paul Kelly in 2008 and asked him about European expansion.

Kelly says, quote, I don't know that we've missed the boat, but we need to get on that boat now. I do think what we're doing with the Victoria Cup, some of the exhibition games planned, is a serious step in the right direction. I think the NHL has to begin seriously exploring, actually having an NHL club in Europe,

perhaps identifying two to five of the big cities that could support an NHL team and work towards having an entire division of NHL clubs based in Europe. When asked if this was feasible, Kelly said in a quote five to 10 year range, our sport has to take a serious hard look at that. We would be short-sighted not to seriously explore if that can work. So that was, now we're into a little past that 10-year, their range. And even though they're going back and they're playing games, like you said, in Finland and this week in Chechia, doesn't feel like, it feels like the ship has sailed

on this, hasn't it? Has it sailed or it's just, that's a good question. Like, I think if the NHL were to actually expand into Europe, I feel like this is just for any league that doesn't. It doesn't make sense to me that you just have one team in Europe. I feel, I like the idea of, you know, if you expand into a new continent, you have two or three teams at the very least, so you can have some kind of mini-division and other fan bases that get in. It just seems like maybe the logistics of it might be a bit difficult. I wonder what it's like for adjustment to time. A lot of people complain about jet lag whenever they go out to Europe.

That's something that players are going to have to keep in mind if they're going to have to make those tracks from North America to Europe. I wonder if that has played into any of that. I don't know if the boat has necessarily sailed on Europe. I don't know if that's fair to stay. It's just that maybe other interests have just kind of come up in the last little while. Remember, like, five, six, seven years ago, it was who's going to get to Vegas first between all the different professional leagues and the NHL was able to put its flag into Vegas? I'm not sure what the next big area probably is, but it might be Europe at this point.

But we've seen the NHL get games there. Major League Baseball get games there. The NFL has been doing it for quite some time. I mean, I don't think that ship has sailed about having teams in Europe. It's just a matter of which league is going to do it first. It just doesn't seem like it's on the horizon just yet. I don't know when, but the teams keep hovering around. There's still money to be made with having games in Europe.

It's just that no one has emerged as a frontrunner as a city to have a team just yet. Yeah, I agree with you. And if you look at the big four sports, even though, like you said, Major League Baseball, they went over, right? Yankees and Red Sox played overseas. But it doesn't feel like Major League Baseball would expand to Europe.

There's just not a European feel to the sport. There's not a pipeline of players, you know, coming over there. The NFL, though, is interesting, right? Because they've continually staged games. And if you're going to talk from a logistical standpoint, the one league that could absolutely do a one-off team would be the NFL. By the nature of its schedule,

you don't have to go and play three or four games. Like NBA and NHL, you would almost have to have a whole division there because you wouldn't be like, well, we're going to Berlin and then we're back tomorrow. It wouldn't work, I don't think.

But the NFL could probably say, and they're doing it now, yeah, you know what, one week you've got to go to London. And then maybe the next week is your bye week to, you know, rest up for it, whatever. But there are ways, in which it could work. I agree with you that there was such a race to get to Vegas.

And, yeah, the NHL did a great job. We don't often say this, that the NHL was at the forefront of something in the big four sports, but they absolutely were. And I don't know if the NHL in Europe is ever going to have any more traction than these little showcase games and the odd exhibition games. But, boy, it would be fun to think about an entire division over there, right? because it wouldn't be a one off team, I don't think, right? You'd almost have to have a full division.

Yeah, and just trying to think of different places. I mean, somewhere in Switzerland, for example, you could have a team in Germany if you want, Finland. I didn't even mention the fact that the Avalent, that matched by the way, guys like Miko Ransitvin and Nartori Lekon are also finished. I don't, here's the thing, if you're trying to get into Europe right now, Those cities I mentioned seem like they make logistical sense. I don't think you're putting a team in Russia.

I don't know if the H.O would even want that. That is probably the last country you want to be dealing with right now. Does that hurt any potential revenue stuff that the NHL might want to get into? But at the very least, it's not as if there are any shortage of potential teams. It's just are they actually viable, viable cities, I should say. But yeah, are they actually like, is it worth getting a team and burn? Is it worth getting a team in Berlin? Is it worth getting a team in Temperi?

Like, it's, I don't have the answers to that. Yeah, I'd love to hear from listeners, too, if you think it would work. The other part of this, too, is how would the players feel? Yep. Like, imagine your, your, your, your, NHL player, right? You're playing for Philadelphia or so. Hey, Travis Kinecta, you've been traded to Berlin or Travis Kemp, like, that's a big difference. Like that, you know, that's something to think about that.

From an NHLPA perspective, would the players be willing to go over there and deal with that? And have their, uproot their families to a completely different culture. That would be like, I would love to see the no trade clauses, right? It'd be like Ottawa, Edmonton and Stockholm. Yep. Like every Canadian city and every European-based city all of a sudden pops up on a number of no trade clause. That's a very good point. maybe for players who are from those areas, it's not so bad, but I don't know.

There are some guys maybe more established who they say, well, no, I don't want to uproot my family and go live in Switzerland, for example. I don't know. There might be guys who might feel that way. What would be really interesting is like the guys who get plucked on waivers that way. Like, I don't know why the name Michael Delzado comes to divide, but like you've spent all this time bouncing from team to team to team. and the team that wants you in the waiver packing order.

They're in Dublin or something. Or Jagarden Sweden. It's a congratulations, buddy. That's the next team you're playing for. You continue your career or the Jagarden Lions of the European division of the NHL. But ask yourself, though, like, let's say there's a team in Stockholm or London or Paris or wherever you want to pick your city. How would it work for them to come over to play games over here?

because let's say one team is over here to play games. Well, you almost have to have all of them over playing at the same time because you couldn't have an NHL team like the Calgary Flames, for example, they go out to Europe, but one of the European teams is out in North America. Anyway, the more you think about it, the more logistically it becomes more difficult. And the more you think, yeah, no, I think the NFL is going to be the one. I think the NFL is going to be the one to have it just from a logistical standpoint. Also, think about it.

Like, on the Friday, this Friday, you could wake up in the Eastern Seaboard and watch San Jose Nashville at 2 o'clock PM on a Friday. Imagine a full season of that. Just random, all year, 2 p.m. games on like a Thursday or a Tuesday that people in Europe will go to and they'll get. revenue off that, but then on TV, maybe people aren't watching nearly as much because it's the middle of a work day. Like all, I mean, those teams of Europe are going to be playing all the time, so it's going to happen. I don't know how much that plays into whether or not that should be a good idea or not. And also for scheduling as well, you know, yeah, are you those teams that come from Europe, are you just going to have to say, okay, well, this is a, what, five-game road trip.

then you've got to take a little bit, a couple days in between off and then you're playing games back in your own home arena. Like I don't have the answers. I would love to talk to someone who would have an answer for that, but like it would take a lot. It would take a lot for it to work, at least right now, I think. You know, and I also think about it from the players' perspective,

let's say you play for Columbus and you get traded to London, England. Imagine your cost of living expenses going from a place like Columbus to, oh, by the way, you've got to get a flat. in London and, you know, it costs you this, you know, 4,000 pounds a month or whatever it, like, yeah, just logistically, I feel like it's going to be hard, but maybe these little games in Europe is the way to do it. But I'd love to see a league, like a Champions League type of thing.

That would be more fun, right? Where you get some of these club teams like the burn in Switzerland or Yoker it in Finland or some of these Gergards. And again, there's a little bit of a tricky road to navigate with the KHL, but they would be great down the road to see some sort of, you know, Champions League. That would be to be the way to solve this a little bit.

Yeah, I'm all for any type of in-season slash Champions League like tournament. As long as it doesn't turn to some Super League thing where all the, I mean, it would be kind of productive. You already have the NHL. But all that to say, like, yeah, I think that'd be cool to watch just to see all the different teams,

but I also imagine the level of those teams I might have to get up a little, might have to get up a little bit too. But hey, look, we live in a world where the Phoenix Suns lost to a team from Australia yesterday in preseason of the Adelaide 36ers. It is not out of the realm of possibility. We watch an NHL game one day and the Arizona Coyotes lose to the Xerox Lions. You know, anybody can be beat on any given day. Maybe a potential NHL Champions League,

if we ever get to that point, would provide us with that. That would be fun. Now I'm looking for a best of seven, Arizona and Zurich. Yeah. Best of seven. Like an in-season tournament, you put random NHL teams in there. They used to do that. Like a club spengler cup, like a club spangler cup.

Yeah. Well, they used to. Like back in the 70s and early 80s, like those traveling teams from Russia, the Red Army and Moscow Dynamo, they would come over and just randomly on a Tuesday. day, it's like, oh, they, Red Army's playing the Washington Capitals. Like, the Capitals would be full, full steam ahead. Like, they're A-Lineup.

I don't know that you would get that today. You wouldn't get that same, you know, you wouldn't get that same compete level and any of that, right? And then nor would the owners probably want to put their players in a position of vulnerability for essentially what turns out to be an exhibition game, right? Yeah, you'd have to be very careful, essentially. with that, I would think. But yeah, you have to be very careful with that. All right, tell you what, Julian,

we've dropped a couple of Columbus Blue Jackets references in here and the fact that they are going to be going over to Finland to play later this year. Let's connect with our Blue Jackets beat writer, Aaron Portsline, here on the Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. Let me ask you this, Aaron. Is there some excitement and buzz about the fact that the jackets are headed overseas

later this season to play a couple of games against the abs? Yeah, for sure there is. I know I hear from a ton of Blue Jackets fans. Just like when they went to Stockholm a decade ago to play sharks, I've heard from a ton of Blue Jackets fans that are going to make the trip with them, which always amazes me that people have that sort of time and resources to just pick up in November and go. But they do and they will.

They'll be there and it'll be awesome. You know, the overwhelming story to everything is Johnny Goddrow. and I'm fighting myself every day to write a lead to a story that doesn't involve Godreau in the lead somehow, because everything seems to be building off of that, his arrival, what it means to this and this and this. So that's the dominating thing. People just want to see Johnny Godro play for the Blue Jackets on opening night. But there is certainly excitement that they'll be in Finland yet. A lot of people will make the trip.

I was about to ask you, with regards to the fact that Johnny Goddrault and the summer that he had, and he's like, you know what? No, I want to play for the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the team I'm going to play for. And you're really good in the game, obviously, in the writing game and what you've been able to do with us. What's it been like covering Johnny Goddrow through, I guess, his first preseason training camp as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets and trying to navigate the expectations for him and the team coming into this season? Yeah, well, I mean, you don't want to write the same story every day. you'd like people to make it to paragraph two without thinking, geez, I just read this, didn't I?

Yeah. But like, you know, just any story. We wrote about Jake Voracek, who was this team's top line left winger before Goddreau got here. And now Jake Forichek, this proud, accomplished veteran, his role has changed. How is he handling now being a second line guy, now maybe being on the second line of a power play, maybe not a second power play unit, maybe in a different role than he's ever been on the power play net front.

So that story's not about Johnny, but it kind of is. I had a story Sunday about the Blue Jackets rumored interest in Jacob Chickren of the Arizona Coyotes. That turns out to be a Johnny story too. He didn't want to come to Columbus pre-Gadro. And then Johnny hockey happens in Columbus. And you know what?

That might not be so bad after all. So it's sort of like everything is, he's sort of the planet that everything is sort of gravitationally drawn to. He's been great. He's been available every day when you need him. He's been away from the ring for a couple of days now. They're expecting little Johnny or a little Jane. And at some point here may have already happened. So that'll be a day, a big moment for him.

to his parents. His parents are excited to only have a seven-hour drive to Columbus and working on another story about his relationship with Eric Robinson. They grew up together in Jersey. And now here they are playing together with the NHL. They're two years apart. They played one year of high school hockey, but they sort of grew up with each other. They were friends with each other's brother more than they were with them because they're the age difference. But it's kind of all Johnny all the time. And, you know, you see a ton of Godreau sweaters around Columbus already. So everything that is that is supposed to happen in a situation like this is happening. So Goodrow was part of a dynamic line in Calgary last year that was a fantasy hockey person's dream.

Question is, if you're in a fantasy hockey pool right now and you want to ride Johnny Goodro's coattails here, Aaron, who? Who? looks like there's going to be his centerman and his right winger. Like has, has that been determined? I know there was line A talk, but has it all been determined and written in stone here what we're going to see to start the season? Yeah,

so the safest bet there is Line. Linae is going to be his off winger, unless it just bombs when the season starts. And they've looked pretty good during the preseason. So hard to judge in the preseason. But they've got the same wavelengths. You can see that it can work. And Line A, I used to think it was, it was, Liney needed someone to get him the puck.

I think they all do, the shooters do. More than anything, I think Linae needs someone to draw attention away from him. And no one does that, not since he's been in Columbus. And to hear Linae say it, not ever in his NHL career, not even in Winnipeg, quite like Goddreau can do. So he's thinking, and Linae came to camp in incredible shape. I've heard his body fat is under 8% for the first time in his career. He looks leaner. He looks meaner.

He really feels a part of the operation here where he didn't after his first year. That really started to take shape last season. I think it's really built where he feels comfortable now. He's got the contract, a long-term contract. At center, the odds on favorite, I feel a little strange saying this because they have not played together yet. but there's a reason for that is Boone Jenner. Boone Jenner, I think, had 23 goals last year in 59 games, was on pace for a career season, his second 30-goal season.

He is not an offensive superstar by any stretch, but he may be what those two need. A face-off, really good face-off guy, the best guy in the team, can win Poxel on the wall, goes to the net, scores greasy goals, all of those things. He seems to be the odds. on favorite there. But we all know, these lines very rarely do they always stay together. Now, they did in Calgary last year. But until you find that magic fit, I don't think it's out of the

question that Cole Cillinger finds a spot there at some point. And I don't think it's out of the question that Jack Roslavik finds a spot there. Rossovic played very well in Jenner's absence last year. So for sure the pick there is line A. I think, center's a little murky, but the odds on favor would be Boone Jenner. I'd like to know, continue to the topic of expectations. How does Johnny Goddrow, being with the Columbus Blue Jackets, influence people's expectations of how good of a hockey team the Columbus Blue Jackets should be this coming year?

Yeah. Well, they're a playoff team and maybe a Stanley Cup contender, don't you know? This is sports, right? Yeah. So I think the expectation, last year the expectation was bottom five. Rebuild, bottom out, go get, go get Shane Wright. We all know how that played out. This team cannot do that, has never done that well. They have not been a great team historically. They have never been bad enough historically to truly get where they need to go. They just don't do that. And that is not a topic right. now because they're up back on the upswing. But I think it's fair to wonder if they got, if they did it, if they were bad enough this time to really get difference makers in the draft. And so we'll see. But I think the expectations last year were that they were just going to be putrid. And they were

much more competitive than people expected. I think this year the expectation is that this is a team that can challenge for a playoff spot. I don't know that I bet that they are a playoff team. but I don't think it's out of the question. Can they hang around in the Metro top four? I think most people see Carolina and the Rangers as the top two in this league. I think people are afraid, myself included, to pick against Washington and Pittsburgh for all of those veterans and all that they've accomplished. At some point, it's going to go through the floor there. It has to.

I'm not sure if that's this year or not. But can Columbus get above one of those two teams? into the top four. And then I think there are other teams he just don't know about. I don't know what the Islanders are going to be. I think they're better than they were last year. But I don't know. I think the doubles at some point are going to take off.

I thought they were going to last year and they didn't. So I think there's a lot of questions, but I think they're in that. I think it's reasonable to put them in that sort of four to seven space in the metro as a reasonable finish. but I think there's a lot of people here who are thinking playoffs and we'll be disappointed if they don't make it. Yeah, I thought it was interesting and down goes brown kind of trying to predict this season. I kind of had Columbus and then, man, your guess is as good as mine. Like I could see them being really good.

I could see them, you know, not being good. And there's some great intrigue there as a beat writer. I feel the same thing with Ottawa this year. I don't know what they're going to be. I think they're going to be better, but I don't know that for sure. So yeah, it's great. And speaking of Ottawa, I think the perception here, Aaron, has changed in this market about stars. You know, it was a revolving door.

Everybody left all the time. That was kind of what, you know, Jackets fans dealt with it. And you touched on this a little bit earlier when you talk about, you know, maybe Jacob Chikrin is open the idea of going to a place like Columbus because, hey, Johnny Gudrow says it's good to go. Is that narrative now dead that Columbus can't hang on to big name talent, stars? I don't know that it's dead because I think it's a market like this that hasn't done anything on the ice. These are the things that people will always hold against them. Those things are hard to shake. But I think actually the trend going the other direction started a little before Godrow.

But of course, we wouldn't see it. You don't see those trends until you see a few things in that direction. Zach Werensky's signing long term here for these guys was absolutely huge. Because if you think Seth Jones tells them, I'm probably not going to sign long term with you. And they say, okay, we're going to move you. Well, Werenski's coming into the final deal of his, final year of his deal at that point, too. If he, too, wants to move along, then God knows what you've got here. And who knows what moves they would have made.

Werensky says he wants to stay long term. They get him done long term. That's a big, big moment. That's a first sort of traction. And you've had other contracts in a similar vein. They're not as impressive as Werenski's. Then Godreau happens. And then Linae signs long term.

There's a lot of people who didn't think Linae would stay here long term. Maybe he doesn't if Godro is not here, although he did want to be here, he said. I think it's heading in the right direction. I think in a market like this, you guys know how it is. It can go back the other direction very quickly if things turn. I don't think you're ever fully behind something like this, but they are in the right direction. And their defense, too, I think they've done a lot of things around here. I think they've changed some attitudes.

They've changed some organizational approaches, if you will, that are designed to make it more attractive for players. The dressing room now is it's ridiculous. It's incredible. I think they have to kick guys out of here at the end of the day because it's such a fun place to hang out. It's the man cave everybody wants. That's a huge upgrade for them. Just the facilities, the way they handle things

and the way the players are treated, I think, has gone steadily upward with input from the players. And I think they're starting to change the reputation around the league. But nothing does it. does it quicker than a guy like Goddreau wanting to come here. As someone who has never visited Columbus, can you sell me on the city? Can you tell me why Columbus is this great destination all of a sudden for a guy like Johnny Goddrow?

And I'm not, I mean, it does kind of come out as sort of facetious, but like I generally would like to know more about the city. And you know, and you know. Yeah. So am I selling it to a guy like Goddrow? So married, young family, getting a young family started, wants to play hockey. What about single dude? Yeah.

Okay, single dude. So Ohio State is the largest university in the United States, and it's about six miles up high street. So you have 65 or 70,000 undergrad students. If even 50%, though I think the number is larger, are female, you've got a great club scene if you're a single guy in Columbus. You have a whole street, high street up from nationwide arena that is, art shows, bars, restaurants, clubs. There's a really cool places to be. Every year the university cranks out of, what, five, I don't know, 5,000, 6,000 grads, most of them stay here. The economy is state government. It is Ohio State. It is the limited brands, fashion.

So you've got a lot of young fashionistas, if you will. it is a growing city. It's a bigger city than most people realize. I always tell people this. Everyone's heard of Cleveland and Cincinnati, maybe more prominently than Columbus. Columbus City is bigger than those two cities combined by 250,000 people. It is the biggest city in Columbus, and it's the only major city that continues to grow. So if you're extremely wealthy, I have trouble with these things, guys, because I don't fit that tax bracket. But there's like four of the top 50 golf courses in the U.S. are in Columbus, birthplace of Jack Nicholas only makes sense. The owner of the Blue Jackets owns Double Eagle, which is a super private, incredible golf course in suburban Columbus. The players get on at Double Eagle.

I don't think many rounds of golf or play there a year at all. It's pristine. So it is, and there's several suburbs like Upper Arlington, Grandview, Bexley, Dublin, there's all these really nice suburbs. You can live in Upper Arlington, Ohio. I think that's the most expensive zip code in this area and be at the rink probably in 10 minutes with virtually no traffic. The airport is, you would know this. Ian, the airport is like seven minutes from downtown. It's a lot of major cities don't have. The convenience of being here.

The other thing the players love is the practice rink is attached to the main rank. So everything is here. This is their focal point every day. They're not going to the suburbs for one and into the city for a game. It's all here. So a lot of these guys can live downtown if they wish. A lot of these guys live over in Upper Arlington again, a short minute drive. it's it's kind of got everything you want except a reputation and frankly that's how some people

like it too they like it to be a well-kept secret so yeah man so if you're a young dude looking to make some new friends looking to golf you got somebody to bird that sounds pretty cool it's not bad it's not bad listen there's going to be a check in the mail from tourism Columbus for you for that love you linda logan there you go uh aaron thanks for dropping by Always great because we talk about this. We're bouncing around on the podcast here, bouncing around the 10 most interesting, compelling stories of the season. And Columbus is certainly on the list.

So it's cool to see a city and a market like Columbus that's been so thirsty for some success get something in the off season. And it should be a fun year. We're looking forward to your coverage all season long. Well, thanks guys for having me. That Eastern Conference final Ottawa and Columbus is going to be amazing. it's going to be amazing. Oh, can you imagine?

Just imagine the travel headache trying to get between those two cities. Right. Right. Thanks guys. All right. Great stuff with Ports. By the way,

Julian, love the fact that you went full Calgary guy there. You're like, so just explain to me why anyone in their right mind would want to that. You're just playing to the Calgary audience. No.

I generally wanted to be sold on. Columbus. It seems like a lot of people have been very defensive about the fact that, hey, it's actually a really nice city. I want to know what's what. As someone who very likely will be going to Columbus this year, I would like to know what's what. And look, it's cool. As a young single person, he mentioned some pretty intriguing things. Just the fact there's a lot of young people there. If I had a lot of disposable income and was able to go to some of those golf clubs like that pretty pristine one, he kept describing. Double Eagle, did he say?

Double Eagle, yeah. Why not? You can afford, you and I can afford to go to like double bogey. We're not going to double eagle. We're going to double bogey. You don't even if we pulled our resources together? Yeah, no, I don't think so. Damn.

I don't think so. Hey, before we dip out of here, a couple things. Boston Bruins have another significant injury to report Taylor Hall is going to miss the start of the regular season. And right now they're saying he's week to week, upper body injury. But now I'm asking you here, Julian, you know, Matt Grizzlick is out until November. Brad Marchand is out until end of November. Charlie McAvoy, maybe late November, certainly early December.

Now you had Taylor Hall to the mix. It's getting awfully thin in Boston. They've got a new coach too in Jim Montgomery. We talk about Columbus being an intriguing team. I'm putting Boston on my list of I'm watching you because I don't know what's going to happen. I think they're missing playoffs. I think the injuries that they've been hit with, at least to start the year, they can prove me wrong.

They could play above that. And then when all those guys come back, they can really do some damage. With all the changes and the injuries to start, I think that really puts them in a very interesting position. I don't think it's necessarily a good one. That's also another reason why I'm pretty high in the Ottawa Senators making it. of the fact that a team like Boston could fall off in the Atlantic division. So the fact that Taylor Hall is week to week, that does not look good for the Boston Bruins. That just puts even more pressure on a Patrice Bergeron who is playing in another final year of his contract and David Pasternak, who seems like he wants to stay in Boston.

Final year of his deal. Final year of his deal. A lot of, a lot of questions about David Pasternak coming into his final year of that deal with the Boston Bruins. But I don't know, that's a lot of pressure on those two guys. Yeah. No, again. So Taylor Hall is going to certainly have a lot of pressure on him. Before we wrap up, always on a Monday, we leave the listeners with a little question to ponder, a multiple choice style. We talk an expansion a little bit earlier

about Europe or whatever. Here's my question for the week. Where would you like to see the NHL expand to next? Okay. Your options are A, Houston, B, Quebec City, C, a European city, or D, you know what, no more expansion. 32 teams is enough relocation. That's the best option. What about E the moon? No, I'm kidding. As a native Quebec.

You can't play. The games would be terrible there. There'll be no atmosphere. That might be one of the best dad jokes I've ever heard. And I'm out. And you're out. I was just going to say Quebec cities might easily the choice I would make here. Maybe just as the native Quebec on the podcast,

I'd like to see the Nogzik come back in some fashion. The one that probably makes the most fiscal sense, though, is Houston. Yeah, it's the fourth largest market, right, in the United States? Actually, I was sure. Were you not shocked when ports? Do we need the fact check porch line when he's like, Columbus is the biggest city in Ohio? And it's bigger.

Did he say it was bigger than since he and Cleveland? combined? Something like that that was like what? I didn't know that. Can somebody from tourism Cincinnati fact check that? Linda Logan. I think that's the Navy Dave dropped. Yes.

Whoever that was. You know what though? I'm with you. I think as much as you'd love to see, you know, people in Canada love the Quebec City idea, Houston idea. I'll say this. I don't want to see more expansion. And I don't want to even start thinking about who might be a candidate for relocation.

because that's not cool for those fans. They don't want to hear that. But I think 32 teams is perfect. I don't want, I think when you get to, the problem is you'd have to go at least two more, right? Like you can't have a 33 team league. So now you're at 34 and then it then becomes a balance issue between East and West.

And I think it's perfect right now. I don't want to see any more expansion. So you definitely don't want any into Europe. So that's, you know, you don't want like a whole 16 division to pop up in Europe then. I guess not. You know what? To go back to that original point.

Yeah, I guess not. Put me down for no for the European division. Must to be. I don't know. Oh, it looks as if, yo, a big shout out to Chris Flannery for getting these numbers. I think it's population numbers. Yeah. So, since he over 300,000 people, 302,687. Cleveland, 383,33,331. Columbus, 889,07. He was right. He was right. Why did I ever do it? him. Oh, man. I didn't expect it to be that much. No.

Damn. That's shocking. I didn't realize Cleveland and Sitsy were that small. No. I didn't realize that. I learned something today. Exactly. That's the goal of this podcast.

We just want people to learn something. We certainly did. All right. We got to duck out of here. We want to thank everybody for listening to this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating review.

We'd appreciate that. Fun show on deck Tuesday. Customs and Gentilly are going to have Chuckie. Actually, no. What's Keith Kachuk's nickname here? It was Walt. Keith Kachow. He's going to be a...

Walt? Yeah, Walt. I didn't know his name. Big Walt, actually, to be honest. I think it's Big Walt. Hey, they'll get into that. He's coming up. And Friday Prospect Series,

it looks like the guy that we think is going to go number one overall. I'm going to drop by the podcast on Friday. So that's pretty fun. Keith Kachuk, Tuesday, Connor Bedard Friday. That's it for us. And if you're not a subscriber with The Athletic, you can join us for a dollar a month for six months when you visit Theathletic.com

slash hockey show.