The Athletic Hockey Show - Lightning-Panthers steal the show with Joe Smith, NHL playoffs opening weekend thoughts, Stanley Cup picks, Canucks-Flames weirdness, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: May 17, 2021

To kick things off, The Athletic’s Joe Smith joins the show to discuss the Lightning’s 5-4 win over the Panthers in Game 1 of their opening round series, Nikita Kucherov’s incredible performance in his return to the ice, and the cap circumvention accusations surrounding his debut, Sam Bennett’s hit on Blake Coleman, the health of Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, and much more.Plus, Ian and Hailey give their thoughts on opening weekend of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, go over their brackets and picks to win it all, the weirdness of Vancouver and Calgary still playing out their regular season after the postseason has already begun, Multiple Choice Madness, and much more.And, don’t forget, you can sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back. It's another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, playoff edition this time. He had met his Haley Salvean with you on this Monday to kick off the week, wrapping up a crazy weekend in the National Hockey League, overtime games, thrilling finishes, and an overtime game that Haley Salvean was forced to cover, kind of. We'll talk about Vancouver and Calgary. We'll do some multiple-choice madness. We've got a fun fill-in-the-blank question, too, from our listeners, Haley. But before we get to all of that, we're going to change up the flow of the show this week.

We're not getting the headlines because let's be honest, Haley. I think there's only one headline. And it's Florida versus Tampa, right? Definitely. It was really the only thing that I was talking about yesterday. And like you said, I had a hockey game to cover. Yeah. Hockey game is air quotes is what, again, we'll get to that later.

Let's bring in our pal Joe Smith does a terrific job covering the defending Stanley Cup champion, Tampa Bay Lightning for us with the athletic as we get you about. 12 hours after game one. Were you able to sleep last night? Because you were in the arena. I think a lot of fans across North America, Joe, were buzzing after that game. What was it like trying to get to sleep

after watching that game and writing a story? Yeah, I'm still recovering, I think, quite frankly, of that one. I mean, I think there's a lot of hype anticipation for this game and talk about the manufactured rivalry, not manufactured rivalry, these two in-state teams. And you can tell watching the game's last end of the year how nasty it got and it was even up another level last night. That was as good a hockey game as I've seen in a long time.

And the fact they had fans in the building. It made it feel like it was a full house too. And just, you know, the saves, the controversial, like goal being disallowed. And then obviously Nikita Kuturoff in the storybook, come back and return to the score two goals and the lightnings, big stars, fairly outplaying the top stars from the Panthers who were terrific too. So he had everything you'd want in a hockey game last night. night and I was privileged to have like a front row or press box seat for it.

I don't think that the push on the pads was enough to disallow the goal, but we don't have to get into that because maybe that's controversial. But I definitely agree yesterday was, you know, I think we can maybe all agree that yesterday was the game between Tampa and Florida was probably the best one on the slate of games. We agree with that? There are overtime games though. I mean, the wild game and the,

Vegas and then obviously the Penguins game too, but I think overall how four lead changes, only four times in history there have been four lead changes in a playoff game. And that was one of them last night. And, you know, it wasn't overtime, but the win with one minute left on a breakway by Braden point, you know, I don't know. It definitely set the stage for, I don't know, any of these teams are going to survive after seven games of the series. I don't know how they're in Georgia Carolina and Nashville are like, okay, if we get

through the series, like these guys are beat the hell out of each other for seven games and see who's left. You know what? What I think is interesting, Joe, is obviously the first time we've got a playoff matchup between the Lightning and the Panthers. And, you know, Lightning came in in 93. The Panthers came in in 94. So, you know, we've been waiting like three decades for this. When you get a game one like that, is there a feeling like, hey, we can really grow the game. We can really grow the sport in the state of Florida with this playoff matchup? I think that's the hope or the thought. I mean, I think there's already been such a tremendous growth.

in hockey in the state the last 10 years or so. I mean, obviously helps with the lightning winning the cup in 2004. And then it went from there. And then they've done this a lot of community outreach and putting over 150,000 tree hockey sticks into kids' hands and like they're trying to get that grassroots level and grow the fan base of different generations. So you've seen better high school hockey. You've seen better, you know, kids coming out of Florida and trying to make their way into the pro rank.

So, but I think having, you know, this being everybody in Florida watching the same series, You know, everybody in Florida watching the same game or if they get sports bars or open and go to sports bars and watch it, I think it'll do a lot. Because I think, as Stamco said last night, this won't be the last time these two teams play each other in the playoffs. And that's just part of growing a rivalry and a brand of hockey. And, you know, I don't want to bury the lead here because I know you mentioned before we started, just how often people have been asking you about Nikita Kutrov. You had a great piece that went up at the athletic, I guess, last night during the early hours of this morning. You know, just how he delivered an instant classic in this game one win over the Panthers. But how much of that discussion has been taken away from his performance and as, you know,

people are calling for cap circumvention or questioning the timing and the legitimacy of his injury and his surgery? Yeah, it's definitely been a huge topic. And I wrote another story like a month ago explaining how, you know, precedent was in his huge office in lighting's favor for the timelines, talking to players who had that surgery in the same time. line, whether it's, you know, Sagan or it's Pasternak or Ryan Callahan or Patrick Sharp, and they've all kind of had that same timeline for the injury and how guys on ice, you know, a couple months in, it's natural and it takes a long time to get back into it.

I get where people are coming from. I get where it looks where he comes back in game one, all of a sudden he's playing really well, and they're like, boy, he could even back two weeks ago. And I understand where people are coming from with that, but I know, I took with the league and Bill Dele told me there's no issues. The league's checked into it, but no issues from their end. and you wonder if everybody, the people who are complaining are the fans,

or the markets, you wonder if the only people are, I mean, our team is complaining about this. I haven't heard any of the teams complaining about it. So, you know, I get where people are coming from and it's,

it's obviously a hot button issue and something that I think the system with the league in the salary cap has put teams in tough positions where you're going to have to try to be creative and try to find ways to find an edge. And I think it's kind of ironic that the last time this kind of happened was 2015 with the Blackhawks, Patrick Kaine missed the whole season with collarbone injury, played game one of the playoffs and let the league in scoring, beat the lightning in the Stanley Cup final. Joel Kuddle was his coach, right?

And now Joe Kuanbill is seeing it kind of the opposite under the spectrum here. So, you know, obviously, I think maybe more to be talked about this topic, but I think it does take away from the fact that was a brilliant performance by a world-class player. And, you know, hip surgery is not an easy thing to go through. And see no one wants to go through that voluntarily. it's the last resort to go through a laborum surgery if people ever been through it before. And so I think that's why there was a delay in the off season of him thinking it was a groin injury and then thinking they could rehab through it and seeing specialists and saying, okay, well, now, if anybody who knows the key to Kutchev knows he would never want to miss one game,

much less 56 games. And I think he wanted to play the serrate and say, I'm going to set out the whole season and watch and just practice with the guys and then come back with the playoffs. If we make the playoffs, you know, I just think there's a lot of things that go into the story that unfortunately kind of the lighting rod issue is, you know, Tampa, the Cheater, the Cheater Cup champions, you know, and what they can do to do it again. And the one part that, you know, I made a joke to somebody in Tampa who, you know, is, you know, they're on your side here. Like, they would, they would agree with everything that you

just said. And they said to me, like, what part is cheating? The hip injury, the surgery, or the six months of rehab, which part of that. It's like all of the above. Sounds like a great idea. Sign me up for that one, right? You know, put me under the knife. Like, maybe go through all that, stuff like that and then go through there. Yeah.

I mean, it's, I think I talk about the whole show on this entire topic, but it's just pretty incredible to see that, and you hope that the playoffs, the playoffs go on, people start appreciating the game on the ice of what happened last night, which was a terrific hockey game by both ends. And Barkoff's one of the best players in the league. don't talk about him enough. And Gerbertoe was fantastic. And, you know, I think this is going to go to six or seven games. And so I think that'll be, it was one heck of a hockey game. I'm glad that people will have to see that last night on prime time and see, you know, two really good teams and two

rivals that'll be playing each other for a while. Put an exclamation point on the first night. You know, Joe, what I find amazing on Kucherov is, like, he sets up at that right face off circle and he's a machine. What I can't figure out, you've watched this guy for years. Like, why how is he able to get open in the same spot? Like I can't tell you how, and you know how many times he scored from there, but like how is it that other teams are like, hey, when you see Kuturov, just what if we covered him in and around the face off Dodd?

I'm just throwing that out there. How is he able to be that successful with this, with like this patented move? But you can say the same thing about Alex Lavecstein, I guess, right? Or like Stephen Stamco's. And I think Kuthorov, there's a couple of different things. One, you have Victor Hibben up top, but you have Stamco's on their side.

So you can't cover all of them the same time. So if you go over to Kucharoff, then almost Samkos is open for the one-timer. So part of it's the collection of stars there. Another part is he's such a smart and deceptive player that he didn't just stand in the right circle. He kind of darts around. He kind of goes back and kind of lulls defender one way

and then kind of slides the other one. So I think both of those go into play. And I think that having both of those Samkos and Kuthorov on the same kind of opposite flanks, really makes it difficult for any penalty killer to go there. But I've seen it every practice, working from that right circle, darting around imaginary defenders and sick handling and shooting a spot. And he has a synthetic ice surface in his garage.

They used to take hundreds of shots every day from that same spot in an actual size goal in his garage and the same kind of slingshots like he did last night. So it's not by accident that it happens. But yeah, I think you're going to go into game two thinking if you're Florida Panthers. Let's not take a penalty, first of all, put them in the power play and then two knowing where that guy is. And is that kind of what he was doing, you know, during his rehab process? Do you have any insight into, you know, just to how he was so good in game one?

Like, because, and you said it in your story, his hip, you know, he had the hip injury, but his hands were completely fine. Do you have any insight into how he was able to step in and be that good? Yeah, well, I think if anybody else, that point, or Sam, because they all mentioned he, no one works harder at their game at their craft than Kuthorov, and it's a daily thing. And then like he, when he was off crutches, he was out in his garage shooting a couple hundred shots every day. That's including when he's on the ice or in the rehab facility. And so at practice and he was working on his own. He was watching games, not just the lightning games. He was watching other teams. And he was watching from the press box lightning games, seeing the different vantage point of what guys looked on the ice, how much time and space you could have in different parts of the game. learning a lot. He was meeting with the penalty power play group and helping them out. He was talking to Cooper about different things. So he was always involved in the whole time. And he's been on the ice since middle of March, right, and kind of half skating with the group, half not,

you know, for the last month and a half. And then practicing the last couple weeks, cleared for contact last week. So he's been a gradual process. But he's consistently working on things, whether it's, you know, in the right circle and darting around defenders or his skating or his edge work. And so I think, I think a lot of it's a product of all the small little things he's done the last four or five months to where, you know, it wasn't just like he woke up in game one and said I haven't played in a while. Let's see if I can check it off the rust. Like there was no rust last night. It might be conditioning. It might have been stamina. Might have been on everything else. Everything else was kind of locked in last night.

You know, what's interesting on the lightning is Cooch isn't the only guy that's banged up, right? Like Stephen Stamco's Victor Hedman. Can you give our listeners a sense of what's the health factor or percentage of health that Stephen Stamcoaston and Victor Headman are playing at right now in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yeah, I mean, you look at Victor Headman and right, and, you know, he had that injury in March 30th. He stood it in the boards in Columbus and apparently he's still been dealing with some stuff. He missed a couple of games at the end of the season. We don't know. It knows a lower body.

He don't know what it is and could potentially need surgery at the end of this after the season. He didn't want to talk about it or confirm that or say whether that's had happened. Like he wouldn't, but he's probably not 100%. Sam goes came back. He just missed the last month and a half with his lower body injury. So he played his first game since April 8th. You know, Braden Point, the practice before game one, you saw him tosses stick into the stands and frustration, leave the ice right after practice. And then coach always said he got nicked up. But he'll be fine. Last night he scores two goals, including the game winner of one minute left.

You know, I think every cup champion that goes through, it has to, you know, no one's playing 100% healthy and there'll be guys that are banged up along the way. all the time. GMs after seasons like, oh, this guy's and have this surgery. These guys have this surgery. This guys was playing through with this. We'll see that probably at the end of this regular season or season with the lightning. And I'm sure the Panthers are banked up too, but there's definitely guys that aren't playing at 100%.

But, you know, at this point, they're just playing for something that's, they're playing for something special here. I mean, only one team of the captores won back-to-back titles, and that's the Penguins in 16 and 17. So they'll have to do it no matter how. Do you think they have the recipe? to repeat? I do.

I mean, I'm not saying that they will. I think a lot of teams that have been in their shoes, Blackhawks won three cups, and they thought they had the rest of each one of those years, the Kings. But I think it starts with having, I think they've arguably the best goal in the world. Definitely makes a big difference for mistakes or things like that.

And when you have the star power that they have, and they play at the level they did last year's playoffs and they play every game of the playoffs they did last year, they have all that and the kind of experience of knowing in a game like last night where they lose the lead, their four lead changes, they get pushed around, the guys are where they can run's at them,

that they can go and find a way to win the game. Which I think Quendville's quote last day was pretty telling. It's like, that's the difference between a team that knows how to win a game, you know, and we're trying to get educated as a young team trying to figure that out. And so I think that's something you only learn through experience

and obviously, having reached the prominent slam there, they've kind of been through everything. So nothing really kind of rattles them. You know, speaking of post-game quotes from coaches, what about post game on Sunday night, John Cooper calling the hit that Sam Bennett put on Blake Coleman predatory.

Look, I think what happens in the Stanley Cup playoffs is these hits happen. You get one fan base saying one thing. You get the other fan base saying the other thing. And we just get into this big argument. If you can try and observe this situation, and I know it's tough because often we're looking through the lens of the team, that we cover. But as you, as you look at this situation, how would, I mean, how would you describe that hit from Bennett on Coleman? Yeah, like, I mean, if you look at it, like, where he started

the kind of dissent on Coleman, like he started like a long way across the zones. If you watch it just in real time, you can see where John Cooper is coming from, you know, Cooper, Coleman's kind of defenseless, his backs to him, and he gets kind of smash into the boards. Now, there are a lot of number of hits last night that were on the edge there. I mean, you know, Flores take and runs that guys. the lightning were retaliating. So he's getting a hearing, obviously, today to see what happens. I'm not sure how to transpire.

But if you watch the replay in live time, it did look like a dangerous hit. I didn't know if the predatory is a very strong word to use. And I was curious what Haley thinks about Bennett and his kind of play since he got traded. And he's obviously been great for the Panthers. But he's a very important part of that team, as the Panthers know. And so to lose him for a game or two would definitely be a blow. Yeah, well, I mean, I've been watching a lot of the Panthers games, you know, with a keen eye because of the San Bennett trade. I mean, I also think that Anthony Duclair is an excellent player.

And I've been so pleasantly surprised. And that sounds so ignorant. And I don't mean it that way. But like, people don't talk about it. And it sounds like the, it's the underrated player that everyone loves to say. But like, Barkov is, I still think he is under. rated. Like, not enough people really talk about Barkov and not enough people talk about Hubertow. He is, his vision, his passing, that pass that he made to Owen Tippett was,

was just incredible yesterday. So that was great to see. I've really enjoyed watching the Panthers. So I am sorry, Joe, I'm on the Panthers bandwagon slash team chaos also. It's always chaotic to have the ranking champion kicked out in the first round. But, you know, I think Sam Bennett has had some real instant chemistry with Huberto. I know that Huberto had, you know, a bit of a lull before Bennett got put on that line. And then initially it was Bennett, Hubertow and Duclair. And they were one, two, three in scoring for the Panthers. And they were also all in the top 10 in league scoring since the trade deadline. So, you know, they had some instant chemistry. They all got really hot. And then they moved Duclair up to the first line with Barkov. And they put Owen Tippett

on that line with Bennett. And I think Bennett hasn't changed his game at all. I think that's one of the big things that people have been talking about when they just look at the stat line from Sam Bennett. They're like, wow, like elite playoff Sam Bennett is here. But, you know, he doesn't really changed anything. He's just playing like straight line hockey. If you look at some of his goals, he's going right to the net. He's banging in the craze.

He's cleaning up. You know, he's getting the rebound. He's tipping in pucks. You know, he's digging along the half wall. he's retrieving the puck and getting it to Huberto. But that's a really effective player and it's worked really well and he brings a lot of that energy. He brings that physicality that, you know, Huberto and when Duke Claire was on that line don't

exactly have. But I think yesterday, Sunday, you're kind of experiencing the whole Sam Bennett experience and that he, you know, he had two to three points, but he also took two penalties and Tampa scored on both of those power plays. And now I believe that hit on Coleman's being, he's going to have a hearing for that. So that's kind of the Sam Bennett experiences. He's going to be really effective and he's going to be very physical. But you might also end up on the PK and down a goal, you know, if it's an undisciplined penalty.

And I think there's some people who would, you know, definitely say that, you know, I think, yeah, it was his second penalty. That was like, you know, that's not necessary. And then they just scored and the game swings in their face. favor. Yeah, I think the keep of the Panthers is disciplined in the series because I think five on five, it's a pretty even game. And I think like Clarkov is going to be a beast to deal with. That's why you see Eric Chernak and McDonough every time he's on the ice, you're going to see those guys matching up with him because he's just been a difference maker. So I think if they play five on five, it could be a really even serious. If it goes to special teams, you've seen why the letting power play

is so potent last night and why they can be changed the game in second period and give them a lift and the momentum changed. And so I think overall, if that, if they can find a way to play on the edge without going over it and not taking some of those penalties, like, I think they can, you know, get to Lightning a little bit. They can make this a long series. They can be effective. But I think just think their penalty kill isn't quite as good as other teams are.

And the Lightning will be happy to say, I'll send Samko, Scuturov, Hedman, and why not there for two minutes? We'll have fun with this one, guys. Like, they would love to do that. So if you give them a five-on-five game, I think this series could really go down to the end of year. It's like that Simpson's clip of Ralphie on the bus. I'm in danger. That's Tampa Power Play. Don't do that. You're going to be in danger. Sitting on the bus chuckling, but you're terrified. Oh, yeah. No, it's like nothing to see here, folks. Just like a tire fire behind

you. Nothing to see here, guys. Everything's going okay. Everything's fine. It's all going to be okay. Was there anybody on the lightning you guys got that out to you guys last night other than, you know, the top guys like the Kutrov and endpoint at the end. Is there anything like for, you know what? For me, it's always Braiden Point. Honestly. Like I have a bone to pick with that guy. I just all, oh, maybe we need to get into that. No.

There we go. It's a new segment called Point Taken with Haley Savin where she airs her grievances on Brayden Point. But I just think that this guy is so good. And I think maybe he gets, it just feels nationally, he gets lost a little bit with Kuturov, Stamcoast, Fazolevsky, Hedman. Like, he's so good. And to see him score that goal in that spot with the breakaway,

it was just, you know what, to me, it was money. So I, anyway, I think this Tampa team, it's going to be, it's going to be fun. I think the series is terrific. Okay, here's a question for you, Joe. Is there a fun, like, is there like a nickname to this series? Or is it just Battle of Florida or like, Is there some sort of fun punny name to this series at all? Gosh, we need to figure a one out, though, right?

I mean, the Sunshine State rivalry, like the, I mean, Alligator Alley, or I don't know what the, you know, I don't know there's anything that you can do. Alligator Alley? Did you just come up with that or someone says that? No, it's alligator alley is the road that goes down across the state that you take to get here. Why am I not shot? It's like 75. You're in the middle of Everglades. I lived in Florida when I was a kid.

And like there's Gatorland and like Gator World. Just go look at alligators. It's a very niche Florida thing. But we need to come up with a better rivalry name. Totally. Gators and lizards and everything. So what's your bone pick of Biddon Point? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. What is the issue with Braden Point, Haley? I just wanted overtime. That's all. Oh, that's your issue with him. Yeah. Oh, I thought you had some, I thought you had some story where, like, he, he spurned you in a press conference or something happened. Oh, this is nothing.

No, no, it just. He's a Calgary guy, too. Yeah. And I'm, you know, I'm pissed. I wanted an overtime game. He had to go and score. Yeah. It was fine, you know, I settled for 60 minutes.

You got your overtime game last night, which we'll get to a little bit later. Hey, Joe, before we let you go, I think in every. rivalry, like kind of geographic rivalry, there's always like a big sibling, little sibling thing, right? Like if the islanders, Rangers, no matter what the islanders do, the Rangers are the big dog. Ottawa, Toronto, it doesn't matter what the senators do. It's Toronto.

What's the dynamic between the Panthers and the lightning? Because they're essentially the same age. Lightning are only one year older. But Tampa's got two Stanley Cup championships. are the lightning seen in the state of Florida, Joe, as like the big sibling and the Panthers are the little sibling, or is there a little bit more of an even footing there? It's funny you mention that because I was asking Bruce Boudreau

about the series before, and he goes, it's kind of like the, like, the Tampa's been the big winners and the Panthers have been like the little sister the whole time. And, like, I don't know if the Lightning would ever say it that way, but the Lightning do have Stanley Cops. They do have sold-out buildings for the last 250 straight games. you know, the Panthers, you know, haven't had quite that playoff success in 6th, from 96, of course. So I don't know if, I think, I think the Lightning has more precedent for success and more history there as far as that playoff success.

So you can sense that they've been to where the Panthers want to go to. So I think there's a sense that, yeah, they have the edge on the hierarchy or the pedestal, both in the fan base and both in the stability and the ownership and the, and the stars they have on their team. So it was funny. they did a hype video of the lighting yesterday, and they did like, Alex Warren, read the script, you know, and it's like, it's like, talking about who's going to win this series?

The team has two Stanley Cup champions or the other rivals. Like, he's, he just, you know, they do the humble brag. Like, oh, who's going to win this, you know, the battle of the state? Like, you know, has two seven of the cup victories

or the cross-state rivals. And then they had Couchroff flash up. Oh, yeah, and this guy, too. They Cushrov highlights flash, so it's, uh, it's definitely a little different hierarchy there. But, you know, Florida Panthers are making it more interesting. now, I think, this year and in coming years.

Well, listen, we appreciate the time, Joe. This has been a great visit. It's been a great to start to this series. We hope that it's going to be tough for the rest of the series to live up to the hype of the entertainment from Game One, but we certainly hope that it does. And when we wrap up this call, Joe, do you mind if Haley and I text you with some orders for some stuff you can pick up for us from Sawgrass from the outlet? Because we're locked down in Canada.

We can't go shopping, so we need you to shop for us at Sawgrass. I love to, yeah. let me know. I'll go to the mall this afternoon and there's an off day. So I'm happy to do that. So just send me your addresses and we'll hook you guys up. Is there still that huge golf warehouse store nearby? I forget what it's called. I have to check it out. I haven't been here in a little bit. So I'll have to go check it out today. But yeah, I think it probably is. I kept those things never close. You know, and golf never stopped here. So not like that could be out of business. Yeah, sorry. I'm in Alberta, so I'm fine. Like, but.

Poor Ian in Ontario. My dad is just livid. Like, he calls me every day to be like, still no golf. Like, I know, dad. I watch the news. You guys know that golf season will open in Ontario the day the maple leaves are eliminated from the playoffs, right? Like, that joke is just waiting.

It's sitting there waiting for it. Oh, my God. That's so funny. Just keep that in mind. I can even go golfing. Joe, hey, listen, thanks for this. And we'll get you again maybe later in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Sounds great, guys.

Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. and send me the shopping list. I'll get right on it. Thanks, Joe. Thank you. All right. So,

Haley, what's the one thing? If you did legitimately connect with Joe and ask for something from the mall, from the outlet mall, what's Haley going for? I feel like I haven't bought in, I feel like I haven't bought clothes in like a year.

Like, I haven't really gone out, right? So I would probably go, and I'm at that age, I'd probably ask for cargo shorts. Just to, no, I'm just joking. I'm joking. No, you're not.

Lean into the dad thing. Are you a jorts guy? I'm not a jorts guy. No, I saw a tweet yesterday and it was like the humble jort is making a comeback. No, I have not. I think I wore jorts as a kid like in the early 90s. That's probably the last time. What's one thing?

What are you asking for? Um, uh, I don't know. Like, I would make him go to Disneyland and get me something from the Disney store. Like, a really nice, oh, like a, like a mug or something. That was always my favorite thing. Like, my favorite mug that I have in my house right now is a giant, it's just a giant green mug with an eyeball. It's Mike Wuzowski from Monsters Incorporated. No, you got to say like, Mike Wazowski.

I'm not doing that. You got to say it. You just embarrassed yourself. That's fine. You got to say it like the woman behind the glass. No. No. But that's like my favorite mug.

I've had it since I was a child and I mentioned it in the interview, but I actually lived in Florida when I was younger. My dad's from Florida. I have family who live there. So we went to Disney and Universal all the time. And so my collection of like Disney and Universal Studios mugs are the best. So I would probably ask for some. I would make them.

go to Disneyland. So you'd ask Joe to get me stuff. To pay gate admission at Disney just to go in and get you an updated Monsters Inc. mug. Or like a freaking baby Yoda mug. I don't know. Like just a cool mug. Go to Disney.

Go to the store and get me some cool stuff. Okay. Joe's busy guy. Okay. You're asking him to go to the mall. He would probably rather go to Disney. That's true. Look, he's thick into a playoff series.

You know what? I thought was interesting and that was a great conversation with Joe and you and I were kind of texting each other during that conversation saying, boy, we could have kept them on for even longer because it's a great series. That's the only game, playoff game of the weekend that didn't go to overtime, which is ironic. So as you start to look around, like you couldn't have scripted a better opening weekend. I, you know, I look back at the weekend. I thought, boy, Craig Anderson, Haley, getting inserted back into the starters net or relief net. I guess for Washington.

What a storyline there. And I feel like all the series all kind of lived up to their hype on opening weekend. Yeah, it was a, you know, it was such a great start to the playoffs. And I think yesterday was probably the best day of hockey that we've had since the world kind of changed. If you think of the last, it's been over a calendar year now that we've been, you know, experiencing not just life in this pandemic, but hot. in this pandemic. It's been well over a year because those last games before the shutdown was like March 11th, I think, when the Sons were in L.A. But that yesterday, Sunday was the best day of hockey that I've personally experienced since we started this whole new way of life that we've

been living in. It was just incredible. I sent a tweet like it's stay on my couch all day season. and by the time the Flames game started, I was like, oh my God, I haven't moved in 12 hours. Like, I maybe moved between, there was a couple times like intermission. I would go and sit on my porch. So, you know, if there's someone watching my house, like someone's watching me, they would just see, like, couch to the porch, then back to the couch, then back outside. And that was my day. I didn't do anything else. And it was great.

I loved it. The games were incredible. I mean, even the day before, there was, I guess, two games, but it was just a really great weekend of playoff hockey and Sunday was just awesome. Like, there was just so many different storylines, great games. I thought the Penguins Islanders game was great. You know, I didn't catch the entire Vegas, Minnesota game, but Mark Andre Fleury was just on his head. Like the one save he made where he was kicking right. Yeah.

Yeah. He was like already kind of kicking right. And then he, I don't even think he pushed off the post. Like he just went right and then he went left. I was like, I would have broke my back. That was the one with about five minutes left, right? In regulation time. It was unreal.

Like that you're right. It was an electric feeling. Here's what I thought was interesting. Is that the road building in Vegas? It looked like it was full in Vegas. It looked like it was capacity. And even Joe Smith telling us that half the building in Florida felt like it was full capacity. Do you think that crowds are going to make a difference as we go further in the playoffs?

Because what I do think is interesting is the road team did pretty well on opening weekend. It wasn't like, you know, Vegas had the home crowd. They lost. Florida had the home crowd. They lost. Like it wasn't like the home team got jacked up. Do you think crowds will be a factor in the Stanley Cup? playoffs. I don't know. And I think that there's enough for these guys to get up for that with or

without a crowd, like they're going to be up for this game because it's the playoffs. But I also know that seeing, like I saw the clip Jesse Granger posted before puck drop in Vegas. And it was incredible atmosphere. I, you know, I saw the building in Florida watching that game. And there was a lot of fans in that building. I think they were probably all pushed down into the lower bowl, because it looked, it looked quite full. But, you know, it's a good question. And I think, I don't know if that's something that the players, like if it impacts the players or not, because I know some of the guys at the beginning of the season talking about not having fans were saying, you know, when we're in the game, we don't really notice too much anyways. Like,

it is weird after your score a goal because it's just silent. So I don't know, I think that there's enough to get up for. But certainly it's hard to say that it's not going to be impactful when you see just the change in the environment, going from sitting in a rink by yourself with like 20 media members to then seeing like a 9,000 or full barn. You know, it's a completely different environment and atmosphere. So, you know, I think it probably does play a role. but I don't know if it plays enough of a role that it could swing your results. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how the home teams are the buildings that allow more fans if there's an impact on wins and losses. If I was a player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, I would love the crowd.

I'd love the home crowd cheering me on. The only time I would ask people to be quiet is when we're on the power play. Like that's just home crowds just ruin power plays, don't they? Why? Shoot! Shoot! And like, oh, like, it just, it ratchets up the pressure needlessly. Yeah.

You know? Well, I guess the one thing, I remember we had Bobby Ryan on and he said the difference in having no fans to like a thousand fans to five thousand fans. It was such a huge difference. So. Yeah. No, exactly. Maybe you're on to something.

Yeah. We know the shoot on the power play. Yeah. Shoot. Yeah. No one misses that. So last week, we didn't quite have. West Division settled when we did our brackets, Haley.

And we just want to let our listeners know exactly what our brackets. That we did pick these before the series officially started. And so here's my final four, okay? I got the Islanders going to the final four. I got the Winnipeg Jets going to the final four. I got the Florida Panthers going to the final four. And I got the Vegas Golden Knights not only going to the final four, Haley. I got the winning the cup.

Now, the problem for me is my two cup finalists, they lost on opening night, Vegas and Florida. So that always makes you feel a little iffy about the pick. But that's my look at it right now. So we're decently similar. My final four, actually, you know what, we're not that similar. We only have one team in common, I think. So, you know, I have, I'm a big fan of Down Goes Brown, Sean McIndoo. and I read all of his, you know, playoff preview pieces.

And I decided that with my bracket this year, I was going to go for a strategic combination of team chaos and team bandwagon. Yes. Team bandwagon, that's the Panthers. But also a little bit of team chaos too, because there is nothing more chaotic than the Stanley Cup champion getting knocked out in the first round. So that's a little bit of the chaos. But then we also have the bandwagon,

I ride Florida into the final. And then we also have the bandwagon of me putting Pittsburgh in my final four. I also have Colorado in my final four. And I have the Toronto Maple Leafs Final Four. I just think that it's the easiest path for them than ever before. And they have a great team. Austin Matthews is rolling. Everyone's rolling.

But my bracket was just kind of a, I'll just put all these guys in and see how it goes. because I'm sick of putting in the effort to do a good bracket and thinking critically about it and then just being completely wrong. So I thought maybe I'll just wing it and, you know, pick teams that I like for no reason other than either chaos or I'm just going to hop on the wagon. And I'm I'm on the Panthers wagon. Yeah, that's my team.

That sounds a lot like me when I pick, if I do like a March Madness pool or something, and it's a combination of, you know, you look a little bit at the rankings, but then you just go with like, you know, the, would this mascot beat that mascot? I think, I don't even know what a blue devil is, but they're going down. Oh my God, with Duke. I don't know if you're like this at all. And it's kind of like when you're taking a test, like you know, when you were in school or you're doing something and you're taking a multiple choice and you feel like you've been picking C too often. So even though you think C's the answer, you're like, but I can. can't. It's just weird. It can't be this many. So when I'm looking at the bracket, it's like, I can't keep picking the better seated team. Like, you've got to have an upset in here somewhere. It just seems like a cop out if you're going like, okay, Pittsburgh's one, New York's four. So I'm going to go Pittsburgh. So yeah, I picked, I picked the Bruins over the capitals because I was like, that's a bit of an upset. I can't keep. picking the top seat all the time.

Right. I don't know. It was, there was no, there's no real method to this, really. It's just not good. But it'll probably be my best bracket ever. So go Panthers, even though I have Colorado winning. Yeah, and I think a lot of people have the avalanche winning. I think even the kind of statistical models like Dom and other people have said like,

boy, the avalanche are heavy favorites, not just slight favorites. They're heavy favorites. So I don't think you're that far off. in picking the abs. But again, who knows how this is all going to shake out? You know, as you mentioned, those tests, the multiple choice thing, like I have started teaching journalism to students, and I've done a couple of quizzes,

and there's part of me that's like, one day I think I'm going to do a quiz. Every answer is C. And every answer is B. And just to see, like, after a while, they're going to be like, this can't be right. There's no way. I wonder. Like, you got to play some mind tricks on these kids.

I am like not that far removed from school. I graduated in 2017. And you would be like my least favorite prof if you did that. You don't play mind games with students' grades. I'm not playing mind games with your grades. I'm playing mind games with the question. If you're so sure of the answer. If they get all messed up in their head and then they flunk the test, that's someone's future, Ian.

But Haley, the test is knowing yourself. Can you tell I was like a big, I need to get. Get an A. Yes. No, Haley, but the test is not the question and answer. The test is believing in yourself. No. And if you just believed in yourself, then you would be fine.

Once you start questioning everything is when it all unravels. That's like that one stupid thing. And I say it all the time. I think Sarah Sivion says it all the time too. Like in the most like random things, it was like, you know, maybe the, I don't even know. It's like maybe the Vancouver Calgary game is about the friends we made along the way. Right, exactly.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't think there's very many friends in that Vancouver Calgary thing, Haley. So look, you got to walk. Yeah, there was a fight. You got to walk us through because it is Vancouver Calgary has become the kind of running joke in the hockey world right now. So as these amazing, compelling, dramatic Stanley Cup playoff, games are going, that's juxtaposed with these meaningless play out the string,

Vancouver Calgary games. So from your perspective, because you're kind of in it as the Flames beat reporter, I mean, how do you even, what's your interest level in this? And I'm not, I'm being honest here. I don't, I don't blame anybody players, coaches, media, fans. If you don't have interest in this, I get it. But what's this been like for you? It's, it's been different. And I think, you know, even just from a trying to do my job standpoint, you know, most of the beat writers at the company now are transitioning to their offseason stories or their playoff stories. And Drance and I are kind of just sitting here like, well, because we don't typically do game stories at the athletic anyways, right? So it's not like I'm going to be writing like 10 takeaways from this electric Vancouver, Calgary overtime. game. So it's a little difficult for, you know, a story planning purpose. You know, what we're just

kind of in this strange holding pattern of do we start to look ahead? Do we focus on what is important on these games? So it's definitely a unique situation. I know Ryan Leslie was Sportsnet, you know, his big opening kind of, not monologue, but his intro to the game was like, welcome if you're still watching for a historic night. This is the first time regular season games being played during the playoffs. So, you know, I think everyone's kind of poking a little bit of fun at it. You know, I understand there's contractual obligations with sponsors, with media partners. Some players have signing bonuses that they could play to.

There's players who, if they play a certain amount of games, they would meet, you know, different Seattle expansion. eligibility requirements. So there's little things here and there that make it make sense. But at the end of the day, going through all of those games yesterday and then having an 830 puck drop for a regular season game between two teams who are not in the playoffs, it's tough. It's difficult. I know I said that I called it the main event. Like the day was the fight card, all those who were just leading up to the main card. This was the title fight.

And it had everything. There was a fight between two rookies. There was, you know, a huge comeback by the Canucks. We had overtime. It had everything. Yeah. It was really electric. One of the things that we threw out on Twitter yesterday,

we asked our listeners here at the Athletic Hockey Show podcast, we said, hey, fill in the blank, finish this sentence for it. So this is the question we threw out. The NHL making Calgary and Vancouver finished this season with meaningless games is like blank. Fill in the blank. Okay, so let me read a couple of submissions we got in from our listeners and from people on social media. We got this one that came in and said, the NHL making Calgary, Vancouver finished this. it's like the waiter finally bringing you bread sticks when your bill arrives,

when your bill has arrived, and they're stale. So that's pretty good. That's a good one. You know? Because that's the worst, especially if you specifically go to a restaurant because you know you get like free bread or something and then you don't. And you don't get it. You know what?

I like this one too. This is one near and dear to me. This is like NBC producing more saved by the bell. episodes after the original class graduated 100% that's up my alley here's what i liken it to haley the nchel making calgary and vancura play these games it's like if you go out to eat nachos and you've eaten all the good nachos with the cheese on them but oh and it's just the ones underneath that just have like a few onions yeah and you're like i guess i got to eat these but you don't really want to and you're just there but they're there yeah she's the Vancouver and calgary are the

Cheeseless nachos. That's what I say. That's tough. This one was funny. Eating yogurt past its expiration date because you don't want to waste the money. Yeah, exactly. This is pretty good too. Mike tweeted Edison said,

Vancouver and Calgary finishing the season, this is like eating an Oreo cookie after you brushed your teeth. You know what's worse than that? Have you ever taken a sip of orange juice after brushing your teeth? Oh, disgusting. Oh, that's what I liken it to. I've brushed my teeth and now someone tells me I got to drink that orange juice. That's what Calgary Vancouver's like.

Some of them got a little bit dark. Yeah, some of them did get dark. What about you? If we asked Haley Salvean to fill in the blank, what is it for you? I mean, I love your nacho reference. That was a perfect one. I'm not, this is why I said that we should do a fill in the blanks because I was like, I don't think I'm funny enough to come up with this on my own.

My humor is more situational and sarcastic, kind of like a curbier enthusiasm, like cranky Larry David humor. You just said my humor, you just threw shade at me. Like, my humor is really funny and it's a little bit more involved than you and your cheese and your cheeseless nachos. No. Go put on your cargo shorts, old man. And no, that's my choice. Put on your humble shorts. No, I said my humor is like the sarcastic and rude varietal.

Like I'm a situational humor type. Like I'm not punny. I'm not a fill in the blank's funny. Like if you had me fill in the blank right now, there would be dead air on this podcast for a while. And what I come up with wouldn't be funny. But then I'd go to bed later and I'd be laying awake being like, I've got it.

It's like when you get that great comeback, if someone's been rude to you and like four hours later, you're like, oh, yeah? And then you even practice out the line, maybe driving in your car. Yeah. Oh yeah. I should have said this to that guy. And it's way too late. Like way too late. Yeah.

So no, I'm just going to, I'm going to cop out and I'm just going to say all of these tweets were so great. The one that made me laugh too was I wanted all these gifts. Oh, there was, you know, there was one from Jersey Shore. I'm confused now more than ever before. There was a useless box gift. There was also some good Schitts Creek ones. Yeah. I'm a big fan of Schitt's Creek.

So, no, it was good. But like I said, I understand it. I understand where the NHL is coming from. but it is fun to kind of make fun of it. But that's what I said. Like I said, I think it was the main card. That was the title fight of the evening and it was perfect. Okay.

Well, listen, I know you had two other games. Does it help at least that the last two games are matinee games? Like afternoon games. Does that help a little bit? Yeah, especially the one that's at home because luckily the 8.30 puck drop was in Vancouver, so I didn't have to go to the rank from, you know, 8 p.m. to 11.30 p.m., which is just so late to be doing a Sunday night game that has no real meaning for the playoffs. So, yeah, the early game that's here in Calgary is nice because you'll get out

to the rink and it's still broad daylight. And I think it's probably going to rain or snow that day. Nope, never mind. The weather here is so wacky. It's going to be 26 degrees and then nine with a chance of snow. But no, it's going to be good. I'd help. that it's during the day for sure. So what you need to do at some point, you need to fire out a poll question. What's more inconsistent in Calgary, the weather or the flames? What's your answer? Probably the weather.

There was two times now where people had sunburns, like they're nursing a sunburn in a snowstorm because of the wild swings in the weather. Like it'd be like 25 degrees one day and everyone's outside. and then the next day it's snow. I still all my winter tires on. I don't know when it's safe. I don't know when it's safe to take them off. Every time we have you with the podcast,

we learn a new thing about Haley. Last week it was the ice cubes, which, by the way, that pole went exactly the way I said it was, which was 65% of people were normal and would pick up the ice cube. Yep, I know. You were right. I just think everyone was lying.

You don't, if it's like a little shard of an ice cube, you're not picking it up. Okay. Let's wrap up the show, Haley, with a little multiple choice madness. Okay? A little multiple choice madness. Five questions as we kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs. And we mentioned that there were overtime games galore to open up the weekend. What team should be the most worried?

I know they only lost one game. They lost in overtime. But Haley, which team that lost the opening game in overtime should maybe be the most worried or concerned? Is it A, the Boston Bruins, be the Pittsburgh Penguins, or see the Vegas Golden Knights? Who should it be? That's a good one. And I don't know if I would say that anyone needs to be, like,

legitimately fearful for their playoff hopes after one game. But you know what? I will say Pittsburgh just because of the way that the islanders match up against penguins. I think, you know, the islanders are a typically frustrating team. They really clog you up in the neutral zone. and the penguins get a ton of their offense off the rush. So that matchup is really interesting. And obviously they've had problems against the islanders in the past.

I don't think that the penguins are legitimately, you know, fearful for their odds. Although I think that the kind of juxtaposition of seeing Mark Andre Fleury play on his head and then, you know, some of the goals that Tristan Jari led in was just kind of like, Oof. So I think the goaltending could be legitimately questionable for the penguins. So I'll go with Pittsburgh. Yeah, you know what? I didn't like that overtime winner on Jari.

I didn't think it was a great goal. I think he left too much room kind of up top. So I agree with you. I could see that. For me, I'll say Vegas. And I'll say Vegas only because the Minnesota Wilde seemed to have their number this season. And if you listen to a lot of people, they're telling you, we're not going to get that Vegas in Colorado is not going to happen

because the wild they're going to come in and spoil it. And that's a classic wild game. Like I even, you know, watch the post game presser and you see Cam Talbot. He's like, yeah, you know what? We love these types of games for what we want. And boy, oh boy, like you're Vegas. You're probably having some flashbacks to last year in the bubble when you were out playing themes and couldn't buy a goal.

And I'll tell you, I don't, I'm not saying, like you said, there's probably no reason to legitimately panic. but if you're Vegas and you know that Minnesota has had your number, it's probably a little bit disconcerting that they took the opener. Okay, out of question number two. It'll start on Thursday of this week, Haley. I want to know, will Toronto Montreal be the highest rated playoff series in Canadian broadcasting history?

So I'll go first on this one because in the kind of explosion of media and high-deaf television, we haven't had this matchup, right? I think I was two years old. When these two teams met in the playoffs, I was one or two. So I don't even remember. That's how when people who regularly wear cargo shorts can't remember this, that's how you know it's an old series. So I think it's interesting.

You're going to get the two biggest fan bases in the country engaged. Plus, I think there's a big part of the country that's going to tune in for the curiosity factor. Plus the, I kind of hate both these teams factor. I'm going to go ahead and say yes. to the highest rated game ever in kind of recent history 2011 Game 7 Vancouver

Boston in the Stanley Cup that drew about 9 million people on the CBC I wouldn't be shocked Haley if at some point we end up with a game in this series that goes north of that only because of the rabid fan bases

and the playoffs. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm going to go ahead and say I think we're going to see it. What about you? You know, I think it's, yeah, like I would probably agree that there's going to be just so many eyeballs on this, not just because it's the first time in so long that it's happened.

But I think there's genuine interest from Leaves fans who want to see the team finally be successful in the playoffs, from Habs fans who are obviously very passionate about their hockey team. I know that the Toronto Raptors broke a ton of Canadian TV records when they were going through their big playoff run. Sportsnet was always announcing it. Like, I think game six had over seven million viewers or something. And, you know, I think basketball has a bit more of a universal fan base. But you can't deny the passion that hockey fans and specifically Leaps and Haps fans have. So I would probably agree with you here. Ian, I think it has, I don't know if it'll be game one or if there's a game seven, but like somewhere along the way, there'll be a game that everyone tuned into,

for sure. Yeah. Okay. On the question number three, Haley, speaking of television networks, there are a lot of angry fans this weekend. Pittsburgh and New York, all the broadcast promos were penguins, islanders, 12 noon, Sunday, be there, right? So people tune in at 12 noon on Sunday.

What happens? The drop of the puck comes at about 1230. Here's my question, Haley. Should TV networks be forced to announce? the actual puck drop time when promoting games. Your answers, your options are A, yes, it's misleading and annoying when they say coverage begins at 12 noon, but the game doesn't start till 1230 or B, no, settle down everyone.

It's fine as is. I don't have a problem with it. What do you think? Oh, settle down. It's not new. Like, this has been happening for years. I will say, I was really mad. Was it?

No, it wasn't the Super Bowl. It was the first game of the NFL season last year. It was Kansas City Chiefs. I forget who they were playing against. But I was really jazzed because I love the NFL. And I also had a couple of Kansas City players in my fantasy pool. And I was really excited. I sat there for two and a half hours while the pregame happened.

So 30 minutes, calm down. When they say coverage starts at 12, you know it's the pregame. puck drop is going to happen shortly. Two and a half hours, no, I won't stand for that. It was like, coverage starts at seven and the game didn't start till 930, 945. So that was like, okay, I was getting angry. But I also think that was a little bit different because there was, you know, different ceremonies and they were honoring a lot of stuff. There was a lot of coverage about Black Lives Matter, which was very, it was important coverage. But, you know, if it's two and a half hours, then you can say, okay, maybe we need better disclaimer here saying what time kickoff is actually at.

But if it's a half an hour, I think you can probably calm down. You know what? I'm torn on this one. But I just think for the sake of transparency, just say penguins, islanders coverage at 12. Drop of the puck at 1230. But how hard is it to just Google like Penguins game and it'll say 730? True. But you know what?

I could have been me on NFL. kick off too. No, I don't know, but I think that, I think yesterday, I remember looking at one of the apps and it said 12 noon. So that's the one where it was a little bit off, but I'm with you. Like if, if there's like a two and a half hour pregame, don't tell me coverage starts at three, but the game's at six. Yeah. That, but yeah, I think that I think you can, you can get this done in an easy way. Okay. Question number four. We got compelling goalie angles and storylines left, right, And center. Here's my question, Haley.

Which team's goalie situation are you the most intrigued by in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Is it A, the Washington Capitals, B, the Vegas Golden Knights, C, the New York Islanders, D, the Carolina Hurricanes, or E the Montreal, Canadians. Look, I'll go first on this one. I'm going E, the Habs, because Kerry Price is going to play an HL game for the LaValle Rocket on Monday. Think about the absurdity of this. like Kerry Price, a former heart trophy and Vezina trophy and Olympic gold medal winning goalie, is playing a minor league game 72 hours before these Stanley Cup playoffs.

That shows me that they're not sure where his game is at. And if he's got, this is the biggest wild card of the ball, Haley. He could steal that series for them or he could be super pedestrian and it's game set match. You get Kerry Price playing like Kerry Price, all of a sudden that playing level is equaled out. I am really interested, though, in Carolina and Washington, too,

because I think they're both really interesting situations, kind of young goalies, older goalies too. Vegas has the two-headed monster as well, but I'll tell you what, the fact that Kerry Price is playing a minor league game this week makes the Habs' goalie situation the most interesting for me. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see, especially after Freddie Anderson had an HL game and he lost.

So I wonder what's going to happen with Carrie Price. I'm sorry, are you making fun of the game? Freddie Anderson played against Ottawa? Is that what you're saying was his AHL game? Because it sure felt like it. No, we had an American League game with the Marleys, and he lost 5-4 in a shootout. But I think there is probably a fair argument about it's a little bit more difficult

as a goalie sometimes in the American League because you don't have the same defensive structure in front of you, et cetera, et cetera. But that's, that doesn't have, that doesn't lend towards the chaos angle. But I do agree with you. But I'm going to say, I mean, I'm intrigued by the Golden Knights just because of how great Mark Andre Fleury is. I think he's an incredible goaltender.

His athleticism is so impressive. And obviously you have Robin Lennar waiting in the wings too, who is, who is a great goaltender as well. We already spoke about Craig Anderson and how great that is. I mean, it's, he's, he's turned. turning 40 this week. He only played four games this season, and then he went in and won that playoff game, which is great.

But I'm going to go with the Carolina Hurricanes. I think, you know, Sarah Sivian just posted on our athletic briefs, which is our, you know, one of the new updates, if you don't have it yet. It is a different way for us to be doing, you know, short form, you know, breaking stuff for our subscribers. And she just posted that Alex Nadelcovic was the first goalie off the ice, which is raising, you know, the potential question, is he going to start in game one against the Nashville Predators? And Rod Brindamore said he might be. He might be. So we don't really know,

but it's looking like Nadelcovic is going to start. And he just had such an incredible path, you know, throughout his whole career, but this year specifically, like this was a player who was put on waivers. He went unclaimed. He cleared waivers. He was, you know, a top goalie prospect, put on waivers. And now he's having this rookie breakout season. And, and it's looking like he's going to start game one of the playoffs. So I'm going to say the hurricanes because obviously they also have some NHL caliber goaltenders waiting in the wings there too. But I'm really interested to see how this plays out with the canes.

All right. Last question, Haley. We talked about Vancouver Calgary. And here's a question for you. What if the NHL said, look, these games don't mean anything? So why don't we have some, not necessarily even fun with these games, but why don't we try it some new rules and see how it plays out? in game action.

So, Ailey, what's one wrinkle to the rules that, hey, you know what? Maybe I would have watched these Vancouver Calgary games with a little more interest if the league decided to implement one of the following rules. So is it A, what if you played a whole game without offside? Like there's no offside, have at it, guys, go wherever you want, no problem. Option B would be, hey, listen, if the puck bounces off the netting, game doesn't stop. It's game on. So you could bank it off the netting and keep playing.

What about option C? Let's get rid of the trapezoids. We brought them in about 15 years ago. What if we let the goalies play the puck again to see that? Another option I'm going to throw at you. What if we didn't allow players to change on the fly? Meaning the only time you could get a line change is when there was a whistle or a stoppage in play. So that's something.

Or you can go option E. Maybe you want to see these games played four on four the whole time. Maybe you want to see something else. So if you could implement one wrinkle to the rule, just to see what it would be like. What would you pick, Haley? I don't know if I would pick any. Like, I don't know. I guess I'm that like cranky millennial again who doesn't like change.

I guess we could, you know, no line changes allowed on the fly would kind of be interesting just because I'd be curious to see how like time on ice changes because you look at like certain players zone starts and like you're looking at the guys who. they're not exactly trusted for Ozone start, but they're not trusted for a D zone start. So like what happens to everyone's ice time? That'd be kind of interesting. Yeah, no, I think it's it.

I'd go with no offside. I just want to see. Like, what would happen? Like, truly, what would happen if you allowed the player to go into the attacking zone ahead of the puck? Like, would it be mass chaos? Would it lead to more goals? Like, I'm a big believer.

I just want to see more goals. And I just want to know what would happen. So I would be in favor. of that. All right, Haley, we'll have to leave this edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Leave it here. But did you know, Haley? That's starting tomorrow, we got a brand new Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Craig Custin, Sean Gentilly. They're doing an all-American version, Haley. They said that we've been too Canadian and that they want to, they're going to come in. They said legit, Custin's told us last week, they're going, they're going

an American eagle and a flag, and they're going to be over the top American. Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It starts tomorrow. It starts on Tuesday, May the 18th. It's going to be great. I'm a big fan of Custin. It's a big fan of Sean. So it's going to be awesome.

And I think we try to do a good job of not being too Canadian, but it's fine. The more the merrier. I thought you were going to throw an A in there, you know, just that. Nothing like that. Or a boot. It's a boot. I am. No, no, no.

All right. This is great. Haley, I'm not going to lie to you. I ended up, I'm fishing for a jorts sponsorship. So maybe next week when we do the show again, maybe I'll have a great jorts live liner to read for the show. The humble jort. The humble jort.

You'll know when it's coming. Hey, folks, you ever have a hard time deciding whether to wear jeans or shorts? No. No. Okay, well, we'll have to wait for that. Listen, this has been a ton of fun. As always, a playoff edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Please send all your thoughts to Haley as she covers these final two games,

the Flames and the Canucks this week. Thanks for listening to this edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Subscribe using your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. We would certainly appreciate it. You can get annual subscriptions to the Athletic. $3.99 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. Like I said, we got a jam-pack lineup this week,

Start in Tuesday. Brand new edition of the show. Craig Custin, Sean Gentilly. It's the usual Wednesday edition of the two-man advantage. We're inside and LeBron. I'll be back at it on Thursday with Down Goes Brown, Sean McHick.