The Athletic Hockey Show - Marc-Andre Fleury second in all time goalie wins, Merzlikins and Markstrom trade rumors & Steven Stamkos won't be traded from Lightning this season

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Ian and Julian welcome Michael Russo to praise Marc-Andre Fleury's record 552 career goalie wins and the goal scoring prowess of the ageless Sidney Crosby. They discuss Steven Stamkos next contract and if it will be with the Lightning, Sam Reinhart's career year with the Panthers and Bruce Boudreau's comments on someone in the Canucks organization wanting to move Quinn Hughes to center last season.Plus, Ian and Julian talk about the NHL missing an opportunity to have the Maple Leafs and the Oilers featured as a national game tonight and take the listeners' questions in another edition of the mail bag. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hockey fans, it is a Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Ian Mendez, Julian McKenzie, with you on this Tuesday. And, you know, we got a goalie theme a little bit here, my friend. Do we now? Yeah, yeah. In fact, we got a goalie theme in Minnesota. We got a goalie theme in Columbus.

I wouldn't mind picking your brain on the guy who, plays goalie in Calgary because his name is starting to leak out there. There are lots of things going on with goalies around the league. But listen, and we'll get Mike Rousseau on in a bit to give us a little bit more on this. But Mark Andre Fleury Flower passes Patrick Waugh. And becomes number two all time on the goalie wins list, 552 for the flower. And it does it with a shutout too, which is amazing. But what an evening for Mark Andre Fleury.

Absolutely. Just one of the better goaltending personalities we've been able to see in the NHO over the last how many years. And to see him just reach these heights, they'll be able to play. Like, that is such a fun, awesome story I find with MAF. Like, I love the fact that he's been able to win as many games and continue to rise up the ranks with all these other great Quebecois goaltenders.

I think that's awesome. And the cool thing is, like, I've mentioned the story before about being in Montreal for when you reach 500 wins with Chicago and how all the Canadian fans stood up and cheered. Like, I can't think of too many people around the NHL who don't really like this guy. And this feels like a story that so many people around the league,

like they just appreciate flower and love him and to see him kind of climb these ranks. Like, it's just, that just feels fun to me. that just feels like a really good, feel-good story. And, yeah, I'll haul hats to him for passing, for passing Patty Waugh. Like, that's awesome. Yeah. And I mean, he's probably not going to get to Martin Brodour.

Broder is at 691 wins. So probably not going to happen. But yeah, passing Patrick Waugh. You say that. But like every time, like, we've been, we've been thinking about Caldrey Flerleri's supposed to end, like, for the last three, four years and he's still playing. He'll probably not get to that record. But you know, like it, it's fun to see him still pick up

these wins. Maybe he gets to 600. You know, there's a fun little story that I don't know that the listeners would actually know. Maybe you don't even know this. But Mark Andre Fleury actually owes a great deal of credit for his success, Julian, to an eye

doctor in Ottawa. Okay? So, here's the story. This is early on. So Flurry, when he broke in with the Penguins, his first playoff series was against Ottawa in 2007, and they got taken out pretty quickly. games. Ottawa beats them. And there's an eye doctor in Ottawa. If you, maybe you remember this,

maybe you don't. But Flurry when he broke into the NHL wore yellow pads. Yes, I remember pads. And this eye doctor in Ottawa basically told him, you know, because you wear yellow pads, the shooters, their eyes, have an easier time finding holes in the net, so to speak, because the Yellow, he explained it all. Anyway, Flurry took this guy's advice, switched to white pads, they get to the cup final the next year, they win the Stanley Cup two years after that,

and he's off and running. But his eye doctor was like, hey man, just so you know, it's actually easy to pick spots on you because of your yellow pads. Have you written about this guy? Oh, it got written about years ago in, in Ottawa,

you know, yeah that's such a cool story that's that's awesome i mean i i i did mark ever get to like like how did those two ever get to like connect like how do you know what and i don't even remember doctor like connect with those like because it's because it's what they to just have anybody could you imagine just anybody going up to an hl player and being like you know you should change your pads like what do you know about that i would love to know how those two came together and how mark andre florrie was willing to take this person's advice so i'm looking at a story written in 2008 by

by a writer. It was Joe Starkey. Oh, guy, in Ottawa in 2008. This is in the Pittsburgh paper. And the story is all about she sent a letter, the eye doctor sent a letter to the penguins during the season

and said, flourish had switched to white pads. That like you realize how funny that is? Like some random fan said, hey, Janet It was an eye doctor in Ottawa. Yeah, but they're like a fan, right? I mean, like it wasn't Mark Andre Fleury's eye doctor, as far as we know.

No. You know. But that's still pretty cool. Sorry. I'm not sure if I cut you out. The funny thing about that, too, is that the whole time you were saying, like, eye doctor, I was ready for the story to be about how Mark Andre Fleury had all these troubles with vision, and then he went to visit this Ottawa eye doctor and everything changed.

I did not expect it to be like, oh, hey, dude, your pads are too bright and everyone's able to score on. Totally. Anyway. So here's the quote from the eye doctor from the 2007-8 season. The doctor says, quote, this is what the doctor told the triv in Pittsburgh. Quote, for three or four years, every time I walked past and saw those yellow pads, I'd say to myself, what is that boy thinking?

I'd wonder, why? I'd wonder to myself, why doesn't somebody tell him? Because it's not really a secret. the doctor went on to explain that yellow is the most sensitive color to the human eye. In this case, the shooter's eyes in a hockey game. The doctor said,

quote, when they're moving that fast and they can see the goalie pad so easily the goalie in the net, it makes it easier to find the net. She should be a goalie coach. There you go. And then Flurry said, I thought about it and I said maybe it's time.

I love the Ottawa connection to this. But again, congratulations. to Mark Andre Fleury on continuing to achieve history. And who knows how many wins he would have gotten if it wasn't for that eye doctor. He started his whole career maybe with white pads. Maybe he'd be chasing that Elbrador.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I said this is a goalie-heavy show. Let's go to Elvis in Columbus, Elvis Merslikins. All of a sudden, look, he's requested a trade out of Columbus. And this is what you got to love this about hockey.

Vancouver is just rolling. They go into Columbus and jackets beat them in a shootout. Elvis Burlickens is solid. You know, Elvis is solid in that game. But the story is all about this guy wants out. He's quoted as basically, I love the quote that he gave in Aaron Portsline's story about, are you going to play with a chip on your shoulder now that you've basically it's come out that you want to trade. His quote, yes, because I'm really mad and I'm pulling the

monster out of me. So Merslikens is, he's mad. He wins. And, and here we go. Get your popcorn. This guy's not going to, he's probably not going to finish the year in Columbus would be my guess, but you never know. This is, so if you account for Elvis Mersleekins and Ilya Samsonov, uh, in Toronto. So that's like, back-to-back nights we've seen goaltenders who haven't played since December. And we're essentially just sitting there, essentially having not so bad performances. In the case of Samsonov, he brings the Leafs to an overtime. They lose to Detroit.

And then you have Elvis Brzeeacons who wins over arguably the hottest, one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now in the Vancouver Canucks. Like, I like Elvis Burlesleekins betting on himself. I'm very curious what that means for his trade value. I don't have the cap hit in front of me, but a guy who, who essentially was relegated to third string, it was a healthy scratch for a handful of games over the last few weeks as guys like Daniel Tarasoff and Spencer Martin were in net.

But if he's able to pull off wins like this against Vancouver, that obviously helps. And if you're Columbus, yeah, like you take that into consideration. But like, all right, I'm able to pull up the cap number here. He has a cap hit of 5.4 million. Yeah. I want to know what, like, I see that he's out there. We've heard John Gibson's name as a,

a possibility. Jacob Markstrom in Calgary all of a sudden. Like, I see the goalies are materializing Jake Allen in Montreal. I'm just trying to think of where the places are and how many of these teams can actually afford them. We know Carolina

needs a goalie. We know if New Jersey they move some stuff around with the cap, they could be in a position where they could afford a goalie and they have they're a team that still wants to make the playoffs and their goaltending hasn't necessarily been amazing. I'm just trying to think of other teams who desperately will want one and actually can't afford one.

Because what if it becomes a situation where you have all these goalies that are waiting for all these different spots if they want it, but not enough suitors? That's what I'm looking forward to with this goalie market. Don't you always the first team you think of is New Jersey? And maybe Carolina, Carolina, New Jersey are the two teams I'm thinking of the most. Little bit Edmonton, but certainly the devils are the team that you're like,

okay, that if somebody's talking about trading a goalie, the devil's become the team. But look, man, Merslikins has, as you mentioned, Julian, a 5.4 million cap hit for three seasons beyond this one. Like,

it's not three seasons including this one. It's three seasons beyond this one. So you, you got to be pretty darn sure that this guy is the guy. I mean, maybe Columbus is going to have to eat some money, but that's a, that's a lot of term and a decent cap hit.

to absorb. But the same would go for Jacob Markstrom because here's a guy, he's got a $6 million cap hit. And he's got what, this year and two more for Markstrom? And he has a no movement clause. What's happening?

With Jacob Markstrom, I mean, I think a lot of that talk around Jacob Barckham, at least from my end, I mean, it doesn't, I haven't heard that he'd be willing to move his no move clause. And that's the biggest hurdle

in all of the things. This is a goaltender who has this has this in his contract and he's earned it as far as I'm concerned. And, you know, it's on him to move it if that's what he wants to do. I would still be surprised if it happens. And on top of that, he's apparently he's not healthy right now. He's actually day to day with the lower body injury that was announced today in Gallagery. So right now, Dan Fledard and Dustin Wolfer are up. But I can also see that as the team giving him rest and giving an opportunity for Dustin Wolf to play.

But for teams that are willing to accommodate a guy like Jacob Barter, I would have to think that Calgary would have to get some kind of crazy trade package. And then again, they still have to go to their goalie and explain, you know, hey, this is what we're able to get in order to make our team better. Like that is an interesting discussion that I would imagine the flames would have to have. But I, as far as I know, I don't know if that's, if that is, I don't want to say realistic. I just want to like I, I, I'm not saying it's happening. I'm not saying it's not happening.

I would be very interested and intrigued if it does happen. but I haven't heard anything of that sort. And you've got to be, but it's not going to stop the speculation. But you've got to be sensitive. The guys with the full no move. Absolutely. It's got to be handled very sensitively by,

and in this case by Craig Conroy. Like, it's a tricky tightrope to walk. And you can do it. Don't get me wrong. You can do it. But there's got to be direct open, an honest dialogue with the player and his agent. You know,

if you, if you've executed a trade and then you come to him at the last minute and say, will you wave it? We have a parameters of a deal. You're kind of making the athlete feel like, well, now if I don't do it, I'm the bad guy, versus go to him now and say, listen, are there six or seven places you'd be willing to go? Do you want to go? Let's talk about this.

Let's work it out together. But if you just go out and you're starting to, you go to New Jersey and they're willing to give you a first plus something else and then you go to him and you're like, hey, I got this deal on the table. you know, you got to present it, you got to present it in the right way, right? I agree with that. And just having a no movement clause as any athlete,

you know, you want that in your deal for some sense of security. And I can't imagine being on the athlete side where your boss comes up to you and says, hey, do you want this piece of security moved because we think you're older and we can't really afford your contract anymore and we want to get younger? Like I can't imagine what a person would feel in that situation.

And I'm certainly not speaking for Jacob Berkshom when I say that, but I can't imagine what that would be like. But all that to say, if it happens with Jacob Markstrom, I would be very surprised. I'm not saying it's impossible, whether it's now or in the off season,

but I would still be very surprised. And I also wonder, even with those guys available, we're just coming off a playoff run where Aiden Hill came out of nowhere and led the Vigel Gold Knights to a Stanley Cup championship. I say this all the time.

You don't need the goalie to win you a cup. You need a goalie. So while I think trading for a guy like Markstrom or training for a guy like John Gibson or even a Merzleekins makes some sense, does it in the fact that like, you know, a winner could come from everywhere. It's from anywhere.

It's something that a lot of GMs have to consider. And I don't know if they necessarily need to break the bank anymore to get themselves an angel goaltender to bring them far. One other goalie note that I want to pass along, and this one's interesting. So Ottawa on Monday, Julian, they basically changed out the goalie coach. It's been a disaster in the crease for Ottawa with Fuzberg and Corpus Sallow. So they bring up the AHL goalie coach and Justin Peters. They reassigned Zach Burke, who's the goalie coach.

But here's the interesting thing. Tuesday night, they got the high-powered, high-octane Colorado Avalanche in town. They are going with 23-year-old goalie prospect, Mad So-Gard. in this game over a fully healthy, a healthy Corpuselho, Jacques Martin told us on Tuesday morning, I think we have a better chance of winning with the kid in the net.

So stop and think about that. Corpuselho, we are three months into a five-year deal. And the new head coach says, I think we got a better chance to win with the kid in net. So that's another situation to monitor as we bounce around. I saw that really quickly. I saw that quote floating around and I couldn't, like, wow.

I get that Jacques Rattez, the interim guy there. I really wonder how Eunice feels hearing that. I know stats have not been great this year, but a bit of a difficult situation developing in Ottawa. That is not sound. No, not at all. As I mentioned, that we would have Mike Russo standing by, and we're to kick things off by talking about Mark Andre Fleury.

And this, you know, courtesy of Ballet Sports North, it is a little audio here's Mark Andre Fleury in the historic shutout win on Monday night. A shutout for Flurry for 552. You make an argument that it could be the other 19 guys that have wanted this win for Mark Andre Fleury more than Mark Andre Fleury has. But nonetheless, tip of the cap to him, 552 looks good on you, Mark Andre. Congratulations. Second all time.

Passes Patrick Waugh. Celebration ensues in the corner. Pretty emphatic blocker. fist pump from him as well. Soul possession, second place, most wins all time. And let's bring him in. Let's bring in Mike Russo because that was, that looked like a really cool moment. The way that the 18 skaters went to the crease, it felt like they just want a playoff series, Mike. Well, it kind of felt like that since they never win. But, uh, what's got this been a wild shade. Jeez. It's been a rough go here in the last 10 games. So,

it probably felt like that. As Brian Rolten once said after a losing streak that he was amazed that the wild players didn't throw their sticks and gloves on the ice and things like that. No, to be totally honest, I mean, that that was so pure. I mean, you know, we were talking to Brodean and Filino and Zuccarello in the locker room. I mean, this really has meant a lot to this team to be just part of this journey. You know, obviously the majority of his victories came in Pittsburgh and Vegas and teams like that. But he's been on this, for three years. And you, you know, I'll challenge anybody to go find a teammate that didn't like playing with Mark Andre Fleury. They love the guy. I've never covered a guy that every single night,

somebody is like, he's just the greatest guy I've ever played with, the greatest teammate I've ever had. And I think that's where it comes from. Plus, I mean, this is the Minnesota Wild. You know, they have not had a long, they've, first of all, they've only been around 23 years, so their history doesn't have somebody that is a future Hall of Famer. And for him to, I mean, This is the second most victories in NHL history. It's quite the accomplishment, especially for somebody that, you know, in every stop, has also had some trials and tribulations. And, you know, for him to do this in a wilder uniform, I know it was not only special

for the teammates, but also for the fans there. In terms of NHL personalities and players you've been around, whether you've interviewed them or just chatted with or had some kind of relationship, where does Mark Andre Fleury rank? You mentioned it. Like so many guys have. raised him throughout his career for just being this great teammate. Every now and again, you hear about some prank that he pulls on his old Pittsburgh

Penguins teammates. For you, a journalist who's been around the game for so long, where does he rank in terms of personalities you've dealt with? Well, definitely, he's near the tippy top. I mean, he's just so, there's just something that's so, that attracts you to him, because he is such a nice, affable guy with incredible etiquette and polite and all this type of stuff. You know, I have. I've covered a lot of Hall of Famers in my career. I covered Borei. I covered, you know, Igor Larianoff. I've covered a lot of these guys, Mike Vernon.

But, you know, there's just something special about him, the way that he treats everybody, the staff, parking attendants, the beat riders. It's just a constant, you know, guy that gets it. And he's, I mean, he is the type of reason why I cover this sport, because these players in this sport especially are just so incredible to deal with. And he is right there again at the tippy top. You know, just seeing him in the locker room yesterday and when his kids came over, two of his three kids were at the game. His middle child, unfortunately, had her tonsful taken out and couldn't make it. But yeah, but, you know, his wife was there and two of the kids and they came over and they were so polite. There's, you know, Joe, Eric Seneck and Pat Maroon were occupying them

and give him candy and all that as they patiently waited for their dad to get done with his media obligations. And then they came running over and jumped on them and posed for pictures and talked to him in French. And it just, it reminds me of what it's all about. I asked Mark Andre Fleury recently, you know, how he stays so humble because he is unbelievably humble. And he said, I come home to my wife and she goes, clean up that puke, go change that diaper. He walks in the house. He's no longer, he's no longer Mark Andre Fleury. flurry and I've gotten to know, you know, I've interviewed his mom, I've interviewed his sister,

I've heard so much about his dad, and he just comes from humble upbringings. I mean, this is somebody who's married his childhood sweetheart that was so shy to talk to her when he was a kid that he had his younger sister go up and ask her out to a school dance, and here they are married many, many eons later. He's just such a great guy, and I think that a lot of us here in Minnesota, especially those of us around them, but especially the fans, when he is giving that Hall of Fame speech down the road. I think we're all going to be feeling very, very fortunate that we got to be a small part of his career. As you mentioned, Mike, it hasn't been a fun ride from Minnesota outside of the

flurry win on Monday. They are hanging on by their fingernails in the Western Conference playoff race. So what's Bill Guerrins, what's his mindset, what's the MO here as they get closer and closer to the trade deadline? Well, I mean, you know, last night was obviously a big win. the Islanders were not very good at all, and it kind of like lowered the temperature a bit. But they've got a tough, tough three-game trip coming up here to Tampa, Florida, and Carolina, and then a three-game homestand before the buy week. And they have a lot of work to do. They were 11 and 3 under John Hines, and then all at once they got completely injured where they

lost their top two defensemen, their number one goalie, their superstar, their best shutdown winger in Marcus Felino. And it really just came at the worst time with home and homes against both Winnipeg and Dallas, a divisional game against Arizona. He claims that he still totally believes in this roster. In a lot of ways, Bill Guerin has no choice he in. He married himself to this roster in training camp, giving three extensions to Matt Zugrello, Ryan Hartman,

and Marcus Flino on a roster that probably warranted a reset here. But now he has locked himself into these guys, into an aging roster, and he's got to make sure that this team continues on the right path. He also took a lot of his flexibility away come trade deadline by giving those guys not only extensions, but extensions with no move clauses, which kick in on this contract, so they can't be moved without their permission. So really, he's taken away a lot of valuable capital that he would have a chance to trade if,

or acquire at the trade deadline if this team continues to go south. Yes, they still have Pat Maroon. They could trade, Zach Bogosian, Brandon Duham, but those guys aren't going to get you huge, huge assets in return. So he really needs this roster to continue to play or to start playing back to the way that we saw them during that 14-game stretch under John Hines. Moving from players on the Minnesota Wild roster to a guy still looking to the side of his future in Zach Borese. Is there any update on him? Is it a return to Long Island in New York a possibility? You know what? I am not positive on that anymore. I thought that would be his only

option. But the way that the islanders are playing right now and not looking at all like a true contender, especially in his backyard last night, I just genuinely, they've lost six of eight on the road, just not playing well. I mean, Clutterbuck basically lamb based on them after the game. I just wonder if he's going to go there, especially because I do think he has other options, Julian. I think that Boston Bruins have come calling. They've wanted to sign him before. And the two Western conference teams that I keep on hearing are Colorado and Vegas. So if he looks at the those teams as being true, true contenders over the Islanders and who wouldn't. I could see him actually signing for the rest of the year with them. He continues to skate very, very hard here in

Minnesota, working out and giving all impressions that his objective here is to sign at some point probably, you know, either right before or right after the all-star break. Obviously, he has to sign by March 8th to trade deadline, but I would think that he'd want to get going well before that, so he gets in a rhythm. You know, it's not going to be easy for somebody his age to just step right into the nitty-gritty of a midway point of a national hockey league season. So he's going to want to give himself a little traction. But I definitely see him signing somewhere, Julian. And the other thing I do wonder is if a lot of those teams that were interested in

Zach Breesie also have interest now in Corey Perry. There's a lot of teams doing due diligence on him. You know, Jim Matheson reported many, many. I remember we were in in Edmonton in early December, and Jim Matheson had just reported the Edmonton Journal that if Corey Perry became available that the Edmonton Oilers be interested in him. And I do think that there's a lot of playoff contenders. They'll be looking at him.

And to me, you know, Zach Preezy would be in that same ilk. As we bounce around the league, like, Pierre Lebrun looked at some potential UFA type of guys. And I'm wondering, like, where do you see a guy like Sam Ryan? Like Sam Reinhart, to me, is really interesting, Mike. I mean, Gensel is really interesting. As you look at the landscape right now of potential summer UFAs, obviously Willie Nealander's off the table. Is there one guy, like, and maybe it's Reinhardt, or maybe it's Patrick Kane, or maybe it's Gensel?

Is there one guy that you're like, ooh, and Stamcoast is now into the new cycle? So one guy that you're like, I'm really interested to see how this plays out. Yeah, I really am. Well, I will say Stamcoast, because it sure seems like this is going to be it for him in Tampa Bay. I mean, obviously we thought that when he was going to go to Toronto many years ago, and he wound up resigning in Tampa Bay, but doesn't it sure feel like they're heading for separation here sometime this summer, obviously. Julian Breeisbaugh came out today in his midseason meetings with the media

and saying that Stamp Coast is going nowhere at the trade deadline. Gensel is the interesting one because of Pittsburgh doesn't make the playoffs or they fall out of it. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of teams interested in him. Vancouver seems to be salivating for him, and Vancouver seems to be salivating for a lot of people. Obviously, Ben Hankinson, his agent, has an incredible relationship. with Patrick Alvin and Jim Rutherford in Vancouver and had to deal with the Brock Bester saga the last couple years as well. So that would make a lot of sense to me.

And the one thing about when you have an agent like Ben Hankinson is that he is usually part of that process, not unlike Pac-Rissan, who sometimes when he's got players that he has in his stable that are looking for or potential change of addresses, he kind of helps the process along and gets permission to do that. I can see that happening with Ben Hankinson. Reinhart is somebody that, man, you know, I'd, did not know that he had this in him after he left Buffalo and he's gone to Florida

and he's become a very impactful player. Obviously salary cap issues is a big issue in Florida. I think that Florida would love anything to keep him. I can't imagine that Florida would be trading them at the deadline, you know, knowing where they are right now. And so those are the kind of the intriguing ones

as well. I would like to ask you about Sidney Crosby, Michael, considering the season he's been on right now, he's at 26 goals. He's scored against the Seattle Crack in the other night and that snapped their massive winning streak that they had. We're talking about a lot of teams that have been hot. The Seattle Cracken were hot.

They won nine in a row. And that is done because of Sidney Crosby. It's funny. Ian and I yesterday were talking about him. And I think there are people who are looking to put them on their MVP ballots. What do you think of Crosby's season? And is he on yours? Yeah.

I mean, I think, you know, we talked about this a couple weeks ago, Julian, too. It's like, you know, to me, it's like, you know, to answer your second question first, there's a lot of guys that are right now buying for the heart. I mean, if, you know, McKinnon, if McDavid, if this Euler's team catches far, it continues, it's fire, it goes and so oriented to the playoffs, obviously he'd be there. You know, clearly Austin Matthews as well. But what Sidney Crosby is doing, when you especially kind of correlate that to how tough of the year Alex Ovechkin is having, it just shows you what type of player Sidney Crosby is

in, the type of fitness level that he keeps himself in, the fact that he is still a guy that plays at such a high, high, high, high level. I'll be interested to see what happens in Pittsburgh right now because, again, I just wonder how this Jake Gensel thing, you know, really plays out because I think that Sidney Crosby is somebody that would absolutely give anything for Jake Gensel to stay there. And I think Jake Gensel would love to stay there. But I think Jake Hensel is going to also need to know the future of the penguins to determine on whether or not he's going to want to resign there if they are going to be in as sort of as some reporters have reported to quote mini rebuild. So but what he is doing, at his age just says to me everything about the type of player that Sidney Crosby has has been and continues to be. You know, Crosby, as Julian mentioned, on pace for 50 goals this season. His only other 50 goals season was in 2009, 2010. So that would be a 14-year gap between 50 goals seasons.

And just for a little bit of perspective, of the guys in NHL history that have had only two 50-goal seasons, the biggest gap that I could find was five seasons. That was Joe Sackick. That was Joe Sackick. That was Dino Cicerelli. That's it. Imagine those guys went five years between 50 goal seasons. Sid would go 14.

So that just kind of paints the picture of how nuts that is. To wrap it up, let's talk about a guy who, well, he coached maybe the greatest 50 goal score of all time. And Alex Ovechkin, that's Bruce Boutreau. And you know him well, Mike from his time, obviously in Minnesota. They don't call him Gabby for nothing. and we're going to play a little clip from NHL Network on the weekend. Here's Bruce Boudreau talking about a little story involving the Vancouver Canucks and Quinn Hughes. I got to say this for the first time on TV.

And I mean, I'm going, I'm not going to say who, but somebody in that Vancouver organization tried to make me make Quinn Hughes a center last year. What? And I refused to do it. And I said, I'm not making them a center. I'm not making them a center. And they kept trying to put me to put Quinn at center. And I am so happy I didn't. First of all, he would probably not take it very well.

And secondly, the year he's having a Norris trophy kind of year, boy, it's quite a difference from him playing center on that team. What do we make of that comment, Mike? I don't know. I find it funny because it's Gabby. He's told me that before, by the way, and I think I know who it is. He kind of, I think his reaction to that was the same reaction that I had once when I asked him if you would move Matt Dumbot to wing. It was kind of like, you know, are you freaking crazy?

So, I mean, I just never thought that you would go on TV and say it. And sometimes, I mean, that's the one thing, you know, the one thing about Bruce Boudreau and our illustrious producer here, Jeff Domette knows it well. Because Bruce and I used to do a number of podcasts together. And sometimes you just, you never know what's going to come out of his mouth. and Bruce says it. Sometimes he starts speaking. He doesn't know what's going to come out. And I bet you probably deep down,

he rather he kind of prefers that he probably didn't say that on TV because Gabby is not into the social media thing. And he doesn't understand how things just could go like that. And I think that he probably never thought that it would go as viral as he did. And it probably took away from his larger message, which was if you watch the entire clip guys, I mean, he is absolutely praising the job that Rick Tocke and the Vancouver Canucks have done this year. And so he's not trying to, you know, I don't really think that he was, you know, intending to

throw as much shade as it seems like he does. And sometimes when you see things in such a small context, you look at it and like, there's a bitter coach that's pissed off that he was fired and they're doing great. Now he's trying to create a controversy. I could tell you that, that, you know, is never his intention. Sometimes he just talks to you. He's, that's why he's in every man. You see him at the end of the bar. You want to sit next to that guy because he's going to sit there and just tell you everything in life. and he's such a cartoon character, and that's the way I interpreted it.

Okay, who did it? I can't. I knew you'd say that. I knew you'd say that I had to try. I will say I don't think it's hard to figure out, but when he told me that it was just us shooting the breeze, that's the way I took it. It's an off-the-record thing.

It was something I'd never write. So now that he's said it publicly, yeah, that's now public record, but he didn't say who. So I'm going to continue to respect that. there you go. That's how you protect your sources. That's professionalism 101 right there from my crew. So all right, Mike, as always, great to have you dropped by the pot. I do want to just, before we let you out, take our listeners through how you and Joe Smith determine road trips, because you kind of aired a little bit of frustration today because it's ice cold in the Twin Cities.

It looks like Mr. Smith is headed to a warmer location. So how do you guys figure out who gets what road trips, where there's two writers covering one team. I don't know. It should be a draft. It's going to have to be next year. We try to make it even. Like last year I got New York. This year he got New York.

Last year, you know, I got a couple of Vegas this year. He's going Super Bowl Sunday day after. But, you know, it's like minus a thousand degrees out guys. Like, you know, like I think that I should be at least, maybe we should go together down to Florida, not just him down there. But, you know, I just wanted to make it extremely clear and put it on the record for all wild fans to remember that next year that Joe needs to know that, yes, we made a little deal that if he moved to Minnesota and helped me cover the wild, that he would get the Florida trip because he's from Tampa. But that's not like indefinitely. That's not in perpetuity.

Like, I'm from South Florida. Like at some point, I deserve a trip back to South Florida and to Tampa to cover those games. And last year I didn't really mind because I covered the All-Star game down in Florida. But now I'm not getting to go to Florida this season. So we're just going to have to let Joe know and remind him next year. I'm going to need both of your help to do that. That when that schedule comes out at the draft, that wherever that Florida trip is, I get to go. Rousseau at least needs to see that photo of him at FLA Live Arena at least once.

Oh, no. I don't know if it's called that. No, it's a nice photo, Michael. It's a very nice photo. I was so much younger. Very nice to honor you. Hey, look. I love it.

You haven't aged a day. Yeah. Yeah. As I, as I wait to you see me get up from this chair and how long it takes me. You'll know how long I've aged. I love it. Hey, listen, thanks as always for dropping by the Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show and enjoy the rest of the week. Yep.

See you guys. There goes Mike Russo. Always great to have him. We should have said in order to not to sort of still protect his source, we should have said, does the person's name rhyme with Francisco Laquilini? Whoa! Blink twice.

Like blink twice. I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know that that's the case. But anyway, I'm just doing it out there for fun, for fun. Throwing some heat on that story, my man. Woof. I want to, and by the way, I want to throw this out to the listeners because Mike Rousseau and Joe Smith,

I threw out the idea that they should have a draft. to see who goes on what road trips. I want to ask hockey fans, if you share season tickets with somebody, how do you do it? How do you, how do you, how do you, how do you, um, how do you divvy up the tickets?

Is it a draft? I love the idea of a draft for season tickets. Like you got 41 home dates and you're like, oh man, I want McDavid. I want Badaard, but maybe the other guy or the other person in there. Anyway, it is so much fun.

Hit us up the athletic hockey show at gmail.com. Leave us a voicemail at 845-4-458, 8459. If you share season tickets with someone, how do you divvy it up? And Julie, if you were sharing season tickets with somebody, how would you do it? Draft and would it be a snake draft? Like the person who drafts one, then the other person drafts two, three, and then back to you? Like, what's the fair way to do it?

that's a good question I am not a season ticket holder for any of the teams that I support I would love to have enough money to be able to do that one day I guess the draft would be pretty fun I would imagine depending on the amount of people who are partaking in this draft

you could do like a fun like in person thing you ever done like an in person fancy football draft? Yeah like I would I would find a way to do it like that where you have the list of games everyone's able to look at the schedule and then you divvy it up

through all that. I think for me, if I was in a situation where I would be picking to see which teams I'd want to see, I mean, right now, and I guess I'm accounting

for all the games I have seen the players I have gotten to see live. I guess Connor Bedard would have to be top of mind, right? But I have not yet. It's a risk. When you pick a singular player,

it's a risk. Imagine you've got tickets to see Bred this month. And you're not going to see him, but you took him first overall. all in the ticket draft, right? That's the, that's the risk. You run, right?

Like, if you, if you picked like, like the Pittsburgh penguins, God forbid something happens to Crosby, that's something you have to worry about for every team. But wouldn't you weigh, like I'd want, if I had a season ticket draft with somebody,

I shared tickets, I would want the, I would put a heavy emphasis on the weekend games. I'm like, give me the weekend. I don't want the Tuesday night. I don't want the Monday night. I want the Friday, Saturday, Sunday games. I mean, I understand that logic,

but what if, like, Colorado is in town on the Tuesday and you're an Eastern conference you have an example, and that's your one chance at seeing Nathan McKinnon for the whole year. Like, you can't,

I don't think you can't think you can't from players and people you want to see. And depending on when Bardard is coming, depending on when McKinnon is coming, Crosby, depending on what conference you're in, that makes a world of difference. Well, we have a viewer here

who's paying attention, who's a season ticket holder, a presh who says it's a lot less exciting than a draft. What we do is we just have a chat before every game and say who's going to the game on day number X. Maybe a draft next season is the way to go.

Thanks for the idea. Yeah, I'd love to know how people divvy enough. What if people, like the basic chat idea, I guess could work, but what if you have two people like fighting over a day? Like, how does that go? Well, like that was, yeah, exactly.

that's why the draft eliminates the tension. I agree with that. But like, you know, there are some people who haven't thought that far ahead, right? Like, are you rock paper, scissors type of people? Or you pick a number between one and five. Could you coin flip? Like, you have to think of some funny, interesting ideas if you haven't gone through a draft. No, absolutely.

Again, the athletic hockey show at gmail.com, speaking of which we do have one email we're going to read out here from Jack. we talked about how the Dallas Cowboys or the NFL's version of the Toronto Maple Leafs. You mentioned David Ayers, what he did to Toronto in February of 2020. Jack says you mentioned on Monday show the correlation with the Leafs and the Dallas Cowboys, how Dallas could lose in a similar way

to the eBug loss that Toronto famously had. Back when in Domican Sue played for Detroit, he had to kick a field goal, failing miserably for the Lions. I think that would be a similar loss if Dallas lost the game because

their opponent had an injured kicker and they had a defensive player kicked the game winner. Yeah, that would be it. That would absolutely be it. If that's as close as we can get, maybe, but like, remember, David Ayers was a nobody

who was a Zamboanie driver. I don't know if he still is a Zamboney driver, but he was a Zambollah driver. Domicu at least is still like an NFL player. That would be like, that, like, if Adomacin Su, like, because that, that's happened. Chadoch of Sinko's kicked field goals or extra points before.

That would be like if the, if the Leafs had nobody else, or whoever the Leafs were playing had nobody else on their roster, uh, in terms of goalies. And they asked like Mitch Marner to go in net. Or they asked some player who's maybe played goalie before in a previous life. Like I don't think that's necessarily the same thing.

I know. That would be wild. That would be wild though. That would probably like, would that be wilder than an ebug, like winning a game? game where an NHL team goes to its roster of players. They look at them and they say, hey, has anyone ever here played goalie before?

And then you put them in. Let me tell you about a story from just during the COVID season. Ottawa had a game in which both their goalies got hurt. And Artemisimov put on goalie gear and was ready to go. I forgot about this. And then I think it was Marcus Hogueberg that was able to finish off. the game. But if he couldn't, if he couldn't,

Arameminov had the pads on and was ready to go. It's possible that I forgot about that story existing. Yeah. Like that, I think, would be, that would be insane. Even if they played like five, ten minutes and they had

to hold down a lead or something, that would be one of the most insane stories we've heard. Right? Like, like, oh man, it's is Artemisima? Where's Ardomenisimo? think he might he's not in the NHL anymore. He might,

is he in the HL? Maybe. No. Is Artiminov the guy who, do you know if you remember you? I think it was with the Rangers. And he had a goal celebration. The Stelli where he took a sticke and he made it like a gun.

Yeah. Oh, God. Artemisimov is in the H.L right now or at least last play in the NHL, the HAL, the HAL. Play five games with the Hartford. With Hartford. Okay.

So he's, he's still playing. Is he playing as a skater or a goalie? They have his skater stats here, so I don't, I presume it's that. That would be, that would be the NHL's version of Shohei Otani. If they was legitimately a guy who could, you know, from time to time, he could sneak in there, he could play goal for you. Then the other games when he wasn't goalie, he was,

think of the incredible flexibility that would give you. If you had a guy that, just to be your third guy that you don't have to rely on the ebug and then you could just have that guy if the second goal got hurt, just give me five minutes. I'm going to throw my pads on and I'll get in there. Might be a good way to, pretty sure that's probably a good like measure for the salary cap too. Like you have a player on your roster is already forward and you don't even have to do any crazy stuff if you want him as a goal. Well, Michael, would a position player be better than the average ebug from Michael Gribbon?

Uh, okay, wait, hold on. Now is Michael, is Michael, are you asking a position? player putting on goalie gear or like just position player being the sixth skater on the ice and kind of like I'm assuming you mean goalie gear I presume it was the former yeah and I would say that the e bug would be better really I mean because they're they're goalies they're goalies yeah but you'd be like like I'm sure there are players out there who at some point played goalie and then switched, right? Lots of stuff.

Like, do you mean, yeah. So, like, the idea of an NHL player having to tap it, I'm not saying they'd be good. But then again, I mean, depends on this. I mean, I don't know, like the skill level of those points. They're all like college goalies, aren't they? Like, they're not just random off the street. They're actually guys who play goalie at some level and then they just kind of hang around.

Not all of, I mean, fair. There's some guys are college goalies. some guys played in like the TELUS Cup how many years ago. I just think with the edge work and skates and all the good. You do have a point. You're right. I think that they would be better than if you just rolled in a skater. Yeah, that's fair.

That's actually a good point. Yeah, I think a lot more people in the comments are starting to agree with you. E-Bugs play goalie at some level. Yeah, exactly. Later, they just happen to play. So that's probably a better answer to that. You're right. Okay.

Game of the night on Tuesday. Okay, actually, can we have this conversation real, like, about Toronto. You could have any conversation you want. Yeah. You know, that's why we, that's what we're doing the show. It's that we could have any conversation we want. Can we ask the question why

a game featuring Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews is not available nationally? Like, should that not be a nationally televised broadcast? Or is that just me? Like, I live in Ottawa

so I cannot watch, unless I have the package, I can't watch two of the best four players on the planet. And it's mind-boggling to me that McDavid v. Matthews is a regional broadcast on a Tuesday night. Come on. So the funny thing about this is,

this is not the first time all season. And if you go back, obviously, previous years as well. But for whatever reason, this year more than ever, I've just been so much more cognizant of these complaints about these matchups not being nationally televised. Like remember earlier in the year, there was like a Connor McDavid, Connor Bardard game.

That was not nationally televised. None of the global series games out in Sweden. I can't think of any that were nationally televised. And then you have McDavid and Matthews go up against each other and it's not going to be nationally televised. like why? Like I don't understand it. Like I wish the NHL was a little bit more proactive looking at a schedule and saying, well, you know what?

Like even if it is a Tuesday night, like let everyone see this. You know? And I think it just makes sense. And I get it. You know what? Getting NHL personalities to sell some of these games is a bit of a difficulty. But at the very least, people would want to watch it. I mean, I think because I'm in Alberta, I would be able to watch it.

I'll be watching the Flames game against the coyotes. But I think I'd be able to watch it in Alberta, presumably. Yes. Like, yeah, I think it's ridiculous that people across the country in Canada can't watch it. If people in the States want to watch it, I'm sure they'd have to go through like ESPN Plus or whatever. But yeah, no, I agree with you. I don't think it's just you at all. And I can't wait until we reach a day where some of these games on the schedule,

we don't even have to think about them not being naturally televised. Yeah. I yeah that's okay but I wonder if you are a network executive for TNT or ESPN and you have the chance to put McDavid against Matthews on but you know that they're two Canadian markets how much hesitancy do you have probably a lot because those two Canadian there's something about Canadian markets that just Americans tune out of but I also think that with Austin Matthews being there, there's so much for T&T and ESPN to do to try to build them up

and be as much of a household name as they could make it. So that way, they don't think about the fact that they're playing for a Canadian market. Because look, I mean, Connor McDavid is one thing where he's a big deal here in Canada, but he might not be more recognizable than like the number three, number four pitcher for the Chicago Cubs for Americans. But for Austin Matthews, who is trying to become the best American-born player since Patrick Kane, if he's not already, there's an opportunity there.

And as long as those two networks have that package are able to broadcast the game, like, they play a role in this. So, unfortunately, I think right now there is some hesitancy on that, but maybe there comes a day where Boston Matthews, just his profile just grows more with Americans. And then there isn't that hesitancy. but right now there is. Before we bounce, Edmonton, Toronto is the game of the night, the marquee matchup, as we mentioned, McDavid and Matthews,

Edvinson's got a 10-game streak. Toronto feels like they've hit another speed wobble, and they're never not fun to watch. So that's going to be the game of the night. What would it take for me to get you to settle in? I know you're working and you're paying attention to Calgary and I'm the avalancheer in town in Ottawa. But if you had a free night,

what would it, feel like a car salesman. What would it take for me to put you in this seat today to watch Chicago, San Jose in its entirety? What would I need to offer you? Like free pizza? Like I'm going to cater your night. Like what would I have to do to stay?

Julian, my man, I need you to watch from the opening puck drop to the final buzzer. What do I got to do for you? Pizza or something more? Pizza plus? Oh my, oh my God. I would need a pepperoni pizza from the finest establishment you could get me. And naming rights. Done and done.

Little C, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Fine. They're always hot. Let me rephrase that. A, no, a pizza place from my spot of choice. and naming rights to your next child. I said pizza plus.

That's a little bit more than plus plus. You said plus. That's plus. Naming your child. You know what, you know what I like about your name? I have the option to use your first and your last name

as a first name. I could name my child McKenzie. I could name my child Julian, you know, McKenzie can work in any direction. Okay, you know what? At least I got options. I got options.

Yeah, I want naming rights. So, like, I want, I want, like, the next child. It's like a stadium naming rights. Yeah, I think so. And look, I think that's more than fair. If you're going to get me to watch Chicago versus San Jose willingly, like, the only way I would do that, like, Michael Russo was complaining about how cold it is in Minnesota. It's probably a good chance because of that cold air mask that we had in Alberta,

where it was minus 50 with the wind show, probably making its way down into the United States. I sound like a weatherman all of a sudden. But that's probably why. It would have to be that. Like, we had this cold. Yesterday was like the first time I left my house in like a week.

And if it wasn't for my TV being out, like maybe I'd watch it just so like, just because I'd give myself something to do. But of course I wouldn't want the power grid in Alberta to go out. So maybe I'd refrain from that. But yeah, I'd need naming rights and pizza. All right. And by the way, Julia says, the sharks may suck, but boy, are we enjoying 55 degree Fahrenheit weather in the Bay Area?

Oh, I bet you, I bet you love the 55 plus degree Fahrenheit. I'm sure you would not, I'm sure you would prefer not to have the alternative, which is the negative. Yeah, that's, yeah, that sounds, 55 degrees Fahrenheit in January sounds just about perfect to me. Perfect. I'd live with that. They got an outdoor football game later this week at the Bay Area, too. Oh, boy, yes. That sounds like good weather for that.

All right, that does it for this Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. A reminder, hit us up the Athletic Hockey Show at gmail.com. Let us know if you're a season ticket holder and you share season tickets. Do you do a draft? You got any funny draft stories? We love to hear from you on those types of things. Wednesday will be coming away noon Eastern time, 10

Mountain Time. See what I did there? Mountain time. Mountain time gets the short end of the stick every time. Right? Every time. Everyone's like it's 12 Eastern, 9 Pacific. No one gives Mountain Time any love. I think we get more time than Central. Actually, no, maybe Central Time gets more time than us.

You know what I used to remember as a kid? I'd be watching the NFL on CBS and Pat Summerall would say 60 minutes coming up next for everybody except on the West Coast. And then I moved to the West Coast again, I'm like, damn 60 minutes is not coming on after the end of this football game.

Wow, what a world. You really, you really wanted, was it Bill Bradley? What's the name of the long time, 60 Minutes guy? There's a lot of them anyway. Bill Bradley was a bit. Yeah, you really wanted those stories. Ed Bradley.

Excuse me, Ed Bradley. You really wanted those Ed Bradley stories, right? Yeah. All right. So Wednesday, Sean McAdoo, Down Goes Bravo. Join us. Noon Eastern time, 10 Mountain Time. Thanks, everybody, for listening to this Tuesday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show.

Leave us a five-star rating and review. You know we would certainly appreciate that. You can follow our hijinks on YouTube. YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. And right now, you get one-year subscription to the Athletic for $2 a month when you visit athletic.com. Flash hockey show.