The Athletic Hockey Show - McDavid and Draisaitl 'take over' in Game 1 win for Oilers

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

The Oilers come from behind to win game one of the Stanley Cup Final in overtime against the Florida Panthers. Hailey and Sean break down the complete game by the Oilers, they welcome Thomas Drance to discuss the Florida Panthers turning into a hockey hotbed and Hailey and Sean take a look at PWHL expansion with star players Hilary Knight joining Seattle and Sarah Nurse lacing up for Vancouver. Hosts: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleWith: Thomas DranceExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. That's right. The Edmonton Oilers win game one of the Stanley Cup final. Welcome to another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Thursday. It's Haley Salvean and Sean Gentilly here with you. We're going to dive into game one of the Cup final in that Oilers win on this episode today. In a past life, Thomas Drance was a comms VP for the Florida Panthers.

So he's going to join us in the second segment to talk about. his former team, maybe a little bit about the Vancouver Canucks, but more on the Florida Panthers. And then we're going to chat a bit about PWHL expansion later in the show because the signing window is open. It has been crazy. But first, let's bring in my co-host and friend, Sean Jintilly. What's up? How are we feeling after that Oilers win? Friends, huh? Glad we've, glad we progressed. Colleagues. Thank you. Colleagues. Co-workers. Friend of the show.

He's just a friend of the show, not a co-host. All right. Yeah, I'm like a frequent guest. Watching that, I think my first reaction to game one is that Corado got me again. Frankie Corrado set me up to be snuckered. What you do now? To be suckered. Yeah, there was a video clip that was released about this.

He's like, Frankie's like, no way Edmonton goes down 3-0 again. And of course, just trying to like facilitate discussion and do, wait, in the series. Yeah. I said, are you sure? Because of Stuart Skinner and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Frankie's like, no, no, no, no, no way it's happening. And of course, like, because I'm an egomaniac, the first thing I thought of when we saw the result of this game is that I've been proven wrong.

Edmonton indeed avoided going down, going down three nothing and then immediately avoided, yes. Immediately. In dramatic and exciting fashion, in fact. Some would say that they went up 1-0 in the series, you know? Some would say. Turns out, turns out the NHL defenseman maybe a little bit more than I did. So it goes.

You could just agree with people on podcasts. You don't have to always. It's not like this isn't, we're not doing, yeah. I agree. We're not doing ESPN morning debate shows. This isn't, this isn't first take. Like, that's part of what makes- And I say this knowing that we yell at each other on this podcast. But like not, but like not really, though. Like, like it's- I definitely yelled at you over Barkov last year. It's not the same. Like podcasts are generally agreeable hangs. You know, I just got to, got to force some stuff, especially now that we're doing video clips. All right. So now that we know, sources say the Oilers are up when nothing, Sean was proven wrong again. Game one, it happens.

The Oilers complete the comeback. It was actually a very chaotic first 12 minutes of the hockey game. Leon Drysidal opens the scoring 66 seconds into the game. An unsuccessful goalie interference challenge on Sam Bennett leads to a Bradmarshan power play goal. Bradmarshang power play goal to give Florida a 2-1 lead 12 minutes into the first period. They go up 3-1. And the second, Edmonton starts the comeback. they end up winning four, three, and overtime.

So my question for you, Sean, is not so much just that the Oilers won this game, but the way that they did it, did that make you feel any differently about your overall outlook on this series, the fact that the Oilers were able to complete a comeback against a team like Florida? Throughout that third period, I was waiting for the kill switch to engage. I was waiting for Florida to show that finishing kick that we've seen from them. so often, so, so recently, we saw it in the, in the clincher against Carolina, right?

Where the third period is like, okay, this is, this is done. Like, we're, we're handling business now. And it didn't happen. Edmonton outshot Florida drastically in the second, in the third period. I think it was 16 for something, something like that. Like, this is, that was Edmonton doing to Florida what we watch Florida do to Carolina. and it's so many points over the last two or three seasons, right? We expect them to have that,

have that finishing kick. And man, it was on the other side of the puck last night. And that was a surprise. That, absolutely, like, that, to me was one of the differentiation points for Florida, right? Is that they can turn on the jets, especially for 10-minute stretches when the game starts to get tight. We didn't see that from them last night, not in the third period, not in overtime.

Edmonton was the better team down the start. stretch. And I don't think I was expecting that and I certainly wasn't expecting it in game one. Yeah, that's pretty rare. The Panthers are, they were 29 and 0 after leading after two periods under Paul Maurice as head coach, 31 and 0 after leading in the first and second periods. Mike Russo had a story just about how this is, the Panthers have been the best closers in the playoffs over the last couple years. So this was, you know, a pretty big shock that the Edmonton Oilers ended up being the team with that kill switch. The Oilers out shot the Panthers 14 to 2 in the third period, 10 to 6 in overtime. It's, um, again, this was great from Russo and it's just like the perfect image.

There's no lonelier place to be than a penalty box in overtime, but that is especially true when you are rolling out the welcome mat for a power. play that includes Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal. That includes 20, 25 playoffs Leon Drysidal, specifically. His OT winner was his third OT winner of the playoffs that ties a record that had been set by Corey Perry and Matthew Kachuk. They're both tied for the most OT goals. He's just been automatic when it matters most this season. Connor McDavid himself is being like he's invaluable to this hockey team. That was a huge Leon Drysidal game. Didn't score in the Cup final last year. Now he has two goals in the first game of the Stanley Cup final in 2025.

You never want to look too far ahead on this stuff. You know, there's just got to go out and do this three more times. And I think we all, no, no, nobody's predicting sweep in this, right? So whatever. Well, maybe, maybe talk about eventually, maybe not. But that setup from McDavid to dry sidel, on the overtime goal. That's one of those things, you know, that it encapsulates a lot, right? Because that's a,

what a play by McDavid. He was in playmaking mode for most of that game. I think what we saw from him is like, the dude, I mean, something we know the dude doesn't need to be scoring goals to positively impact games, right?

And I, I think we saw that throughout, throughout that one. But the set up to dry side, all the one timer from the circle, man, that's like imagine the McDavid dry sidal connection and that's and that's what pops into your head. So if you want to like string this out and maybe project a little bit down the road,

like that feels like a highlight that we could we could see for a while because those two guys, man, they're they're linked in a way that very few players are. And to see them connect like that on the power play in overtime, man, like that's if you're atman, and that's as good as it gets. Yeah, I mean, McDavid, or Drysheader, rather, just beast-mode game from him and certainly felt like he's making up for a lost time based on last year.

The release and the finish on the first goal that he scored again, 66 seconds into the game was great. And it's Kasperi Kappan, who's battling on the doorstep right next to him. He gets the primary assist. I think that's a big thing, perhaps more than McDavid and Drysidal are playing.

great together when it matters most. Like, that's kind of automatic at this point. I think it's fair to say these guys have shown up. Dry Seidel didn't score in the finals last year, but these guys have shown like, yeah, they can take over and win games for the Oilers. But I think the fact that they are able to be split up on two different lines, and they're both able to have wingers who can play up and down the lineup

but have, like, found homes beside them in the postseason. Like, we're talking about Dry Seidel on the second line with Caputin beside him. And Capinen, like, he didn't just look like a dude who ended up on dry sidle's line because they needed someone desperately. Like, he hit the post. Like, he almost scored. I think it was a game winner. It was an O.T. He sets up the primary assist. He had two assists last night. Like, that is, that is more than Drysidal and McDavid are connecting and playing well together. I think the fact that they've got more than just like a warm body beside Drysidal on the second line is is pretty huge for the oilers. Yeah. My man's splitting defenders and using the speed

and doing all that stuff that we've heard about Casperi Cappaninan in one way or another over, you know, at different points in his career. It just so happens. It's in 2025. And in the Stanley Cup, like, if you would have told me two years ago or whenever he bottomed out with Pittsburgh, vanda, you know, kind of lands in St. Louis. He was playing some uninspired hockey, let's say by the tail end of his time in Pittsburgh. You're like, where's that dude going to be in two years? I'm saying Swedish elite league or whatever. Like he's not like he's, he didn't look like he had it.

He didn't look like a long-term NHL player, let alone someone who's taking crucial shifts in overtime of the Stanley Cup final with Leandro Seidel. Maybe the MVP of this regular season. And maybe like, like, well, that remains to be seen. and not remotely looking at at all out of place. Yeah, man, he was, he was great. And I think Haley, like he said, he, you know, the contributions that they're getting from him,

the stuff that he's bringing to the table, it embodies a lot of what's changed for Edmonton, especially over the last six weeks or so. That's a team that has a, has a lot of guys that are, that are rowing the boat. They have a lot of, a lot of guys that are pulling the rope. You can pick, you can pick your stupid analogy to sum up, you know, the idea that everybody there is kind of doing their thing. And I think a lot of it, yeah, like last night, it started with cap and then, but we've seen it, we've seen it from a lot of guys, yeah, over the last little bit.

Well, I think the fact that Matias Ekholm comes in in just his second playoff game of the year, because he didn't get back into the lineup until game five of the Western Conference final due to an injury. And he steps in and his second game back and he scores. And he's somebody who, even if he's healthy, he is more renowned for. his defensive efforts, right? Like, yeah, he's on the top pair, but he's not the guy who's firing all the shots from the point. That's Evan Bouchard. But in this game on Wednesday night, it's Matthias Ekholm, who finds the back of the net

at a crucial moment that ties the game to send it to OT in the third period. But even before that, it's Victor Arvinson scoring just his second goal of the postseason. He's on the fourth line. Like the Oilers had depth guys who showed up in the cup final. So it's this really great mix for. the Oilers, I know it's one game, so we don't want to say, like, in the finals, but through one game of the cup final, the Oilers had the mix of depth and superstar power. And Stuart Skinner was fine. Like, that was, that's, and they, they outplayed the Florida Panthers in the third

period. Like, that's probably what it's going to take. Yeah. Now they just have to do it three more times. And you mentioned, and you mentioned that call them too. I just want to say, I got like one more like. Yeah, of course. What a huge, what a huge addition. Because all three of their pairs make sense now. He's back with Bouchard, right? You can, you can have a lot of the zone exit stuff.

You know, you put on, you put on Bushard's plate, which is, that's one of the things he's good at. You know, echo him back there, who's clearly, we saw it at points last night. He's a four check breaker, I think, for Florida in a lot of, in a lot of ways. He's the guy because he's he's a fridge out there. He's 6.5 is 2.30 or however heavy he is. He's the guy you can do dirty work on plaque retrievals and start and start that process, right? So, and then, of course, you got everybody slots in based on that. It's just funny too on the goal, like how far he jumped into the play too.

It's like in the dots. Taking a low to high play from McDavid. It's just like a smart jump in. This is like, this is like a recurring injury that he's dealing with too. Like he had issues with it during the regular season, aggravated at the start of the playoffs to the point where we were like, is that all we see? Like are we, is it good by Mattias Ecclm until, until October for him to come back and step in midstream and help that blue line just slot in. Like everything makes sense now because you got, you got Walman and Klingberg who are like the, the puck moving third pair. you can play nurse and Kulak together, you know, consistently.

Like, like everything about that lineup makes sense now. Yeah, it's a more well-rounded decor with at home healthy and back in the lineup. We should say to- I'm changing my pick. That's what I'm, that's what this is all I'm built towards. I no longer, I no longer believe in the Florida Panthers. So you pick the Panthers to win the cup, but now you're switching to the Oilers after one game. I'm going to change my pick.

I'm going to change my pick. I'm going to change my pick after each game based on who wins the previous game. That's great. Nobody will knows. I think that's great. I think that's great. Podcasting. That's great.

Analysis. Good takes never last. Bad takes never die. That's a guiding light for all of us in this business. I think the most humbling thing is sometimes I'll see people like respond to a really old tweet. of mine from like when I covered the Ottawa senators and I'll just go and like delete the tweet. And like, we're not letting this get retweeted. No, never mind.

Oh, you want to see what I said about, I don't even know. I'm trying to think of like a player who's not even in the league anymore. I can think of a couple. Some young prospect that Pierre Dorian said was going to be a world beater. Like, oh, yeah. Who is the who is the kid that they got from Mark Stone? on. Well, that was Josh Norris.

The defenseman. Oh, Eric Brandstrom? Yeah. No. Was he in the Stone deal? Anyways, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Don't look at my old takes.

We wanted to focus mostly on the Oilers because they win the game and we're going to have Tom Drans come on to talk about the Panthers in the next segment. But I think one part that might be, oh, Josh Norris was the Eric Carlson deal. Brantstrom was Mark Stone. Sorry. You do want to talk about your ear old things. Sorry, sorry, sorry. That was going to bother me.

In terms of the Panthers, the one thing that stood out the most to me, other than Sam Bennett, and we don't need to get into like the big Sam Bennett, like how much would you pay him if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs conversation? Because lots of people don't care about what the Toronto Maple Leafs doing free agency. We don't have to do that.

I actually thought it's the Brad Marshan, Marchon, I'm never going to be able to say that correctly. on the first time. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's Marshand, but I always say Marcia,

it's a problem. Him scoring on the power play and knowing he's on their second power play unit is just the one thing for me that is when I look at the Panthers. I'm like, how do you deal with that? Carter Hage is on Power Play too as well. Like it's just,

you look at that lineup and the Oilers win, and it almost makes the Oilers winning even more impressive because when you look at the Panthers lineup, up. And I think Sean McIndo said it. Like, it's just the perfect playoff team. They're annoying as hell. They're physical. They are deep. They are talented. They've got a Selke winner, by the way. I don't even think we've mentioned that Alexander Barkov exists in this 17-minute conversation. I'd imagine Drans will be very interested in talking about him. Right. But it's just, of all the things, I'm just like, Bradmarshands on your side. I know. I had that reaction when Verhege scored a power play goal.

And I can't even remember now. It was it was either at the end of the series against Washington or early against Carolina. And he did it in, you know, second power play minutes, right? Yeah. He took, he had like, they put him on for 16 seconds at the end of the power play. And Rehege, of course, scores. And that crystallized something for me, too, when I was watching it. I'm like, this is incredible.

This is like one of the best clutch, goal, playoff goal scores of the last decade or two. and you're rolling them out there with Brad Marchand and what it's it's crazy it's crazy yeah they're stacked and I mean and he's on the third line as well like we're talking about bottom six power play two marchion and he's somebody who's now is part of that is part of that because they played two defensemen on on their top on their top unit like it's 1986 like yeah sure maybe maybe maybe that should change but the result is the result and you have like two you have high end pieces just all over it Yeah, pretty impressive. They're good.

They're good, the Florida Panthers. Yeah, something tells me this is a good hockey team. All right, we can take a quick break here. When we come back, we're going to welcome Thomas Drance from Vancouver to the show, but we're probably going to ignore the Canucks and talk to him about the Florida Panthers. So if you're a Canucks fan, you don't have to stay. You can if you want, but we'll be right back. All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show.

our friend Thomas Drance is here with us now covers the Vancouver Canucks for the athletic. Also just like knows and watches all of the hockey things has a show on Sportsnet in Vancouver. But also in a past life worked for, was it Com's VP? Like didn't just work for. It was very important suit for the Florida Panthers.

Big boss baby in the mid odds. Drancer was an operator. Thomas Grants walked. So Ian Mendez could run. I don't know that I was this big wheel at the cheese factory is Ian Mendez. I don't remember like calling out reporters on Twitter the way he has done in his first year. But that was something you had to stop doing. Yeah, I was.

Mendez has started doing it now that he has it. Very interesting. I think the difference is that Mendez is such a like clearly good person. You know, I'm not. So when I did it, it seems. mean. When Mendez does it, it feels fresh and innovative. Yeah, and like, oh, I should really listen to like what he has to say. This is a teachable moment for me. You're right. I deserve this. Yeah. So, Sean and I spent the first segment mostly recapping the first game of the Stanley

Cup finals. So just want to start with you, Drans. What did you think? How do we feel about the repeat matchup? Are you all in again after game one? What's the vibe for you? I could not be more all in. I'm curious to get your thoughts on this, the two of you, because I feel like the NHL now, you know, it's like this two Titans playing in the finals for a second consecutive year.

Like that's such an NBA ass finals. And then the NBA has got... I made that, I went on NPR yesterday. Yeah. And made that comparison. Yeah. Absolutely.

That's, of course, the framework through which I view everything about it. It's true. Me too. And then Indiana, right, versus the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA final. That's an NHLS fine.

Yeah. And I swear it's that, you know, you've got shooters converting on a higher clip of their shots in the NHL, which creates an environment where, you know, finishing results are less volatile. And so the best players have a greater impact on outcomes. And in the NBA, because, you know, you're seeing fewer shots from inside. You're seeing fewer, you know, big man who shoots 55% is a team's highest volume shooter instead everything's from three right you're getting a greater degree of volatility

of results there and and so it's creating this sense of parity and you know from my perspective anyway I want to see the stars make the biggest impact like I think those are better storylines I think it's a better game I think it's more interesting when it's less random to be totally honest with you where where teams are you know more likely to be rewarded for actually being the best and so I think the NHL game's in a really great spot right now and I felt like last night was just another showcase of it. You know, you go in with high expectations and they weren't just met. They were exceeded in an overtime thriller.

Like, let's go. Let's really savor this because, you know, we're not going to get any more high-level NHL hockey till what, October. But also because this is as good as it gets and these teams are head and shoulders above everyone else. And this is going to be a blast. This is the Drane's full cell. I'm glad I'm glad we're getting a taste of the cons, of the cons experience here.

Yeah, yeah. Florida Panthers hockey. Let me tell you. Yeah. So if like, if McDavid is like the Steph Curry for the Warriors trying to win the championship is Barkov, the LeBron on the Cavs, is that your star matchup for you? I like to do the EA thing, right? Yeah, yeah. I like there was a, there was a tweet.

I wish I could credit it appropriately. I might actually pull it up so that I can because I, because it appealed to me so much as a, as a fan of cross sports comparison. Nick? Yeah. Did I do the basketball thing right there? Yeah, well, Nick Zararis on Twitter last night posted a really good image where it was Barcov versus McDavid, and it was Kauai Leonard during his time with the Spurs, defending LeBron James during his time with the Miami Heat, right? And I thought that was exactly right.

This is just the highest level defensive player possible against the highest level offensive player possible. And, you know, both guys, I mean, Barkov's a remarkably skilled, you know, defense, offensive, offensive player too. I compared him earlier this week on appearance on the PDO cast to like I said, he was the David Bacchus of Pavl Datsukes. And, you know, and McDavid obviously is no slouch defensively even, as he will tell you, by the way, don't, don't tell him he's not good at defense. He is good at defense. And he's right, by the way. I'm not making fun of him, just gently sort of laughing at how insistent the Oilers are at the completeness of their team game. But yeah, I mean, I do think that there's something iconic about two guys as specialized and as dominant in their fields. I mean,

Barkov, they're going to rename the Selke after him at this point at this clip. And then, you know, likewise with McDavid where it's like every season we go into the year and McDavid's like minus odds to win the art Ross. And it's like, of course he is. He should be. Right. Um, you know, I mean, these guys are both going to be minus odds to win the defensive and most productive player the year award for the next season. and you're going to feel like an idiot if you bet anyone else. So that's the level that these two guys have hit, which is so cool and so cool to see them get a rematch

Stanley Cup final given the level that they're at. I just want to say because Sean kind of gave me the stink guy when I made that comparison. I just moment like one's the super team, the other is the best player in the league. That's like calves, careers. I compared it to Jordan versus the Pistons in the late. in the late 80s.

I was born in the 90s. I don't, hey man, I don't, I don't, I don't remember those series either. I'm just, I'm going,

I'm going based on, on a well-trod narratives here is you have like the generational superstar versus the more. The bad boys. The bad boys, true. The team oriented nasty boys, right?

That's, that's what, that's what they got in Florida. Sam Bennett is Bill Lambier. Sign me up. I love this. Yeah, Carter,

Rahey is Joe Dumars. Yeah. Yeah, and for Hagee, I thought, was an interesting player actually in game one because it felt like there were a lot of chances, like the one where the referee tripped John Klingberg and he didn't even end up getting a shot off. There were a lot of chances where Verhege should have done better. And I'm not saying that to criticize him so much as I'm saying that's something that if you're the Oilers, you also have to look at and think, okay, well, he will do better. He's not going to have that, you know, two out of the next three games or whatever. Exactly. He's not going to flub some of the quality looks that he had in two of the three games. So, yeah, I mean, I kind of look at that game and think, man, both those teams really played well defensively, really played physically.

I felt like ice was at a premium scoring chances were hard to come by. I don't think either Skinner or Brovowski were like not every goal was perfect, but I thought every goal was understandable. Like even the Arbenson goal from distance, that's a brilliant flash screen from Podgolzin who's a giant human being. So it's like, that's not, there were no softies. And yet I come away from that game thinking, man, but for the grace of God, that's a seven, six game. And I mean, what, what higher compliment can you pay these teams? Yeah. So we wanted to ask you a bit about the Panthers specifically, um, because of the, the history there with you, Duran.

When you watch what's gone on there over the last few years and the success that this team has had, this is their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup final. What goes through your mind? How does this compare as you're watching it from the outside with the version of the Panthers that you would have experienced? Yeah. I mean, and, you know, I would have been awesome to work for a team that was having this much success when I was there.

So there's an element of that. You know, people sometimes ask me or say like, oh, would you have wanted to? And it's like, no, I wasn't a PR guy. I didn't love the job. I will far prefer my life now. The thing, though, that, you know, I do think is, like, I never got to work a playoff game. A lot of our seasons were decided in the final six weeks of the year, and it was really just about managing, like, fans flying banners over the arena, calling for the head coach's job, right? Like fire, I guess it was Tom Rowe, he was the GMN coach at the time.

We had, you know, it was more about man. managing decline. And in Florida, you know, one of the things that I always noted and note as a stark difference with Vancouver is when the Canucks struggle, right? The attention remains. It's just that it becomes like evil attention. It becomes, it becomes angry. I was going to say negative, man.

Very nasty. I'm thinking of it almost like from the perspective of like those like nice flying keys in Harry Potter, but once you grab them, they attack you, right? Like, that's the Vancouver market. Sean's ever seen Harry Potter, so he doesn't understand what you're talking about, but I do. I appreciate that. Or the, or, okay,

the, the, the shades in inception, where they're totally friendly until they realize that you're penetrating a dream and then they start to attack you. That's the Vancouver market from a media attention perspective. But in Florida, when you lose, it's like you can hear a

pin drop. Like, when you lose, you disappear. and when you win, it's like magic, right? Like when you win, it's like magic and all of a sudden, you know, people know who you are and the building gets full. And the energy level around the marketplace is significant. And I actually think that's even more pointed in South Florida. I don't know if you guys saw the photos from the Marlins Rockies game this week. Oh, yeah.

But did that not feel positively like Winnipeg versus Florida on a Tuesday night and Canadian reporters are tweeting? 100. We're getting the, we're getting the shots of the red seats like during, like, during the anthem and everybody's acting like they're the first person ever think to do that. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Right. And, and, and, and often during the anthem and also a photograph, this is, this is, this is, this is me actually putting on my old PR guy hat. And of the side of the arena where there's the club seats and they're all drinking the free beer in the concourse, man. Like, what are you talking about? Of course they're not in their seats yet. I had that thought. Dude, I had

that thought during, during the last round, during, I mean, I was, I was only down there for two games, but like, like, it sounds like a cliche, a cliche later I'm in crowd, man, that, that,

that building was was full, full, full and like ready to roll by, by puck drop. Five minutes, five minutes before, like, I,

I can, I can see why, I can see why this was a trope for as long as it is. Because, because it, they showed up when they needed to show up, but people aren't sitting there 15 minutes beforehand, watching,

watching warmups or anything. No, absolutely. not. And so, and it's hard to get to, right? I mean, the, the location of the arena is a big part of that story, too. Um, you know, it was, uh, it was, it was Wayne Hisinga moved the team out of, uh, Miami and up to Fort Lauderdale, or sorry, not even Fort Lauderdale up to, up to the, you know, sunrise, Florida on the, on the absolute fringes of the Everglades. Like, if you go and have a meeting in, uh, Panther CEO, Matt Caldwell's office, like, if, if you want to spend the meeting looking for our alligators in the

swamp you can. Like that that is absolutely doable. Rousseau, I cover that series with Rousseau. He obviously was, you know, the beat writer for the, for the, then the Michael Russo Memorial Press Box. They, they have a port they have a portrait of him hung up, hung up there like he's like, like he's, like he's no longer with us. I might have been responsible for that. I hope so. No, I'm not kidding. But no, so that's a, that's a, that's a Drance. That's a Drans, that's a Dran's jab if I've ever seen one. Um, like we leave, we leave, we leave through the, through the loading grass or through the, through the, through the, through the loading dock right on the edge of the sawgrass, right? Like, like, that's, there's production trucks park there. That's like, that's where Russo got his Johnny Diamond spot like literally rolled right up to the road, rolled right up to the loading docks. So we leave, we leave like, we leave like royalty, but like there's a hedge probably 40 feet away from, from the loading dock. And, and we're, walking to the car at the end of the night and he's like he was like that head used to not be here and when we would come out here after games you would see gator eyes like shining back at you like

you were literally that close where it was like your face to face with alec i don't think people know that that that arena is basically almost very literally in the everglades like it's right it's right there you you are you are basically at the exit where if you go right you go to the hockey arena and if you go to the left you you're on alligator alley and you know driving on it for two hours uh over to naples so yeah i mean and and here that's the other part of this right so when you build a suburban barn and the last what 25 years of hockey business history are basically a big shining neon light that say do not leave a city don't do um because as much as the florida Panthers used to get a ton of guff over that, right?

Like, we saw what it looks like in Canada. You know, we've seen what it looks like in Ontario. Like, we've seen what it looks like in Ontario and it, it doesn't look the same, but it doesn't look dissimilar, right? Obviously, Glendale, Arizona would be the other big example of this. And I think as modern life and the taste of modern hockey fans has evolved and adapted, you know, a hockey game is part of your entertainment office. It's part of your night out.

It's probably also going to include dinner. It's probably also going to include going to the bar thereafter. Being able to do all those things in walking distance, not having to drive so that you can put a few away at the game. All of that is essential to like a really healthy business environment for a hockey team. And so part of the story is the suburbs. And then part of the story is, you know, when I was there, we were on the tail end of a, well, I guess at the time it was a 20 year stretch. and it would continue for another five years, or another few, well, I guess I was there past 20.

For years 21, 22, 23 of a 25-year stretch in which the Panthers did not win a playoff race, right? And I mean, I know that's odd to say, given that they've won what, seven in the last two years and 10 in the last three, but it had been a long, long time. Like the memories of 1996 and then the rats on the ice at the old Miami Arena,

those were long fading. And let's be real, the system, the NHL system with how parity is rewarded is not set up for generational failure. And it's definitely not set up for generational failure in a non-traditional hockey market. Like that's a death now, a death sentence in terms of fan interest. And then you combine it with this, right? You combine it with what you saw that Marlins Rockies game. And by the way, what you saw during the big three era of Miami Heat, basketball even.

Later I'm in crowd, right? Eccentric sports market. Not a lot of generational fans because a lot of people who live in Florida and families that live in Florida have only been there for a generation. You know, some of them, some people, a lot of people have only been there five years. Relatively transient community, right? So it's so hard, harder to put down those sorts of like generational hooks into fans as as a sports business enterprise.

And, you know, aside from the dolphins, like the dolphins sort of, of exist in a different world, like an NHL team in a Canadian market. But aside from the Dolphins, I mean, there is a fair weather element in terms of fan interest. That's true. That's true in Pittsburgh, by the way, also. That's that's that that's that's that's that's that's an American. Yeah.

Like dude, there's there's so many more markets are on the, or hockey markets are on the verge of not collapse, but like you, you go through five, five lean years, let alone 25. you're going to be asking some some difficult questions. Yeah. And so, and then you mix in all the other baked in differences of the South Florida market, man. That's it's,

yeah, you're going to have problems. It's going to be tough. It was uphill sledding. And so it's also funny to me because now that the conversation is about the Florida Panthers is unassailable, insurmountable advantages, right, as a result of state tax levels and such.

and you know every market has its own burden to bear every market has its own advantages and its own negatives that have to be managed i think thoughtfully by any successful management team and addressed to a to a some extent you know one one disadvantage that we were at um that management was aware of and and thought about was there there was not a lot of accountability you could go and lolly gag through 10 games and no one's going to notice right you you could you could you could forecheck gently and no one's going to call you out for it. There is, you know, an element to which like how do you develop,

how do you develop the urgency you need as a competitive group when no one's cheering for a shop lock, when the energy in the building is limited? You know, that was something that was talked about, that we thought about a lot. And that, by the way, cost us players,

right? Like, cost us players in free agency. There were players we couldn't get meetings with. There were players that wanted to, that were willing to leave money on the table to play in bigger markets and be part of the show in a different way than was on offer down in South Florida. So, you know,

all these things that are now these huge advantages, while you get to win, you get to live in the sun, you get to play in a low tax rate, state on and on. Like a lot of that, I mean, those all existed to some extent.

The sunshine hasn't changed. The tax rate hasn't changed. But you have to meet a baseline of winning for any of that to click in for that to turn into like a real advantage. Yeah. That's only an advantage. It's only an advantage when it becomes an advantage. A hundred percent.

So yeah, that's the combination of factors that sort of brought us there. And I think what the lesson is of sort of from, from a sports business perspective, what's the lesson of how different it feels around the Panthers and to be at a Panthers game today? The lesson is winning is magic. Like winning is magic.

It completely flips the paradigm. And I mean, we can have a larger conversation about how the Panthers got here. We can have a lot of conversation. I mean, they've done a lot of smart business stuff, I think, as well. But I also think they were doing a lot of smart business stuff when the building was relatively empty. I also think they were doing a lot of smart promotional stuff. And I was working with some enormously committed and talented people down there, you know, when the returns weren't so great, when the sledding was very much uphill. And so, you know, I have credit to, you know, the folks.

especially the folks that have stuck it out and been part of this roller coaster, the way down and the way up. You know, it's, it's cool to see and it's been a lot of fun. But yeah, the South Florida market is a challenging one. But if you win, man, it is magic down there. So I think that's what you're sort of really seeing come to the four with sort of the level of fan support and engagement from hockey fans in South Florida. It's well said. seems like you know what you're talking about. I spent a lot of time thinking about it.

Yeah, the other part, I guess, that's worth getting into is, you know, they do index really well in some of those more suburban areas up north. Like in sunrise, in Parkland, you know, all the way up to West Palm, Boca, like there's a lot of Panthers fans in those pockets. And so the idea of like, well, they should just go back to Miami. You know, I actually think that would be leaving the fans that have been sort of the most likely to show up. Then those people don't go to games. 100%.

And so I do think there's, you know, if they do eventually end up back in a city, Fort Lauderdale or honestly even West Palm, right? I mean, there's so much population in that tri-county area down there. I don't think you need to be in Miami to satisfy the like metropolitan requirement that I still do think is necessary for that franchise to like sustain. this vibe with a mid team, I still think is going to require them going back to the city, going back to the coast as opposed to remaining in the swamp. But for now, I mean, you are seeing the potential of that hockey market and how engaged people can be when the team is, you know, baseline successful. And they've been a lot more than baseline successful.

Do you have a final thought, Drans, on Alexander Barkov? Like, Sean and I didn't get a chance to talk about him too, too much in the first segment. he wins another Selke. We already talked about, like, they're going to change the name of that trophy to him. But do you have any, like, Barkov stories that people should know? I mean, the main thing to know about Barkov,

and it's not a huge surprise, it's just that he's the best guy. Like, you can tell it. He's cool as hell, yeah. Yeah, he's cool. He's extremely courteous. He's extremely friendly. He's thoughtful.

Like, unusually thoughtful for an NHL superstar. Zito said during the Eastern Conference finals that if you had no idea who, who was who on the team and you walked into the meal room, you would be like, that's the guy. Like, like, you can, like, he just kind of, he kind of gives off that vibe where you're like, okay, this guy's important. I don't know who he is, but like, right. I should know him. Yeah. And it's little stuff. Like, you don't tip your PR guy, you tip your equipment guys. But like, every time Barkov got a new sponsorship deal, like, there'd always be swag for staff. You know what I mean? Like, he, like, he, like,

just like went the extra mile to be like thoughtful and it wasn't work it's it was just like that's who he is he was just like oh yeah like i have this thing i'm helping everyone who helps us you know it's just like okay you're the man um the amount of respect that he demands uh and and how quietly he does it because he is a quiet guy right he's not raw raw um in terms of his sort of outlook but just the just the weight that he carries naturally by his quality as a player as a person uh because of the work ethic because of how often, you know, he's like lifting preposterous amounts and that's after a game in which he's played 22 minutes checking the best offensive player on the planet. Some of that in Raleigh. Yeah. He's just like he's a beast in the in the in the most non derogatory way possible. The like pretty much the perfect player, pretty much the perfect dude.

Just like there's very little that there's very little about how he carries himself or plays that you can pick at and look at negatively. he rocks. Like he just is so cool. Sasha Markov, so cool. Sasha Markov, so cool. Clip that. That is why we're doing clips for social now. Let's go.

You heard it here first. One final thing before we go to break and we let Tom go. Just wanted to share this bit of news. Sean Monaghan has won the Masterton Memorial Trophy. and the league is doing like little surprise announcements this year for the major awards it looks like. And this one was very cool. Meredith Goddrow, Johnny Goddrow's wife surprised Monaghan with the trophy. Like she brought it up on the front doorstep, rings the doorbell.

The NHL put out like a big video with a conversation between Meredith and Monaghan. It's very emotional. It's very beautiful. I recommend everybody check that out. and obviously just really well-deserved for Sean Monaghan who went into this season, hoping to play in a way that honored the memory of his best friend, Johnny, who died in the summer. So a really cool video by the NHL that was posted.

You guys should check that out if you have a second. And thanks, Drans, for coming on and doing this. We will call you again, Drans, because that was easy for. me to do my job. You ask like one question and sit here on mute for like two minutes, four minutes. Perfect. I love it. Anytime. It's a host stream. We're going to take one more break. When we come back, we're going to jump into some PWHL expansion talk. Stars are on the move. The Vancouver team is looking pretty great. That's exciting for Tom. We'll break it all. I will break it all down next

on the athletic hockey show. All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show. PWHL expansion is Upon us with two new teams coming to Vancouver and Seattle. The signing window is currently open, and it's been pretty chaotic. This five-day exclusive signing window before the expansion draft opened on Wednesday, and there were a ton of signings on day one. Some have been announced, some not. But the one big one that was announced was Hillary Knight in Seattle. We're hearing that Sarah Nurse is going to be signing in Vancouver.

Vancouver announced that they signed Claire Thompson and Sophie Jake. who were two of the top four defenders for Minnesota who won the championship, two finalists for defender of the year this year. Stars are on the move, Sean, and it's been pretty wild. Yeah, I'm still just taking aback to some degree over Hillary Knight changing teams. It's a no-brainer for her to sign with Seattle, obviously. That's what Megan Turner, the GM called it in the release, right? It was the release went out, oh, 1027 as I look, as I look at my inbox here.

But I thought, I thought the quote from Turner kind of nailed it. You know, no brainer. She's a game changer. She's a culture setter. That's a big thing. That's why you want Hillary Knight on your on your team, like for any, for any team, let alone one that's trying to gain a foothold in a new market, right? So we can table that.

I I it's still you and then you look at what Boston had to do because of the rules of of the draft right where they had tough decisions it's like do you protect alina alina muller or Hillary night like there's no right or wrong answer to that but I still I just look at this I'm I'm still I'm still surprised by it right like it's still it's still shocking to me like even though you intellectually understand it the fact that the fact that she's you know, it's two years and out for her in Boston's wild. It is a completely shocking decision to unprotect Hillary Knight, but also totally defensible and understandable. And like in some ways a smart decision, if you're a general manager trying to balance winning now with the future of your organization, right? Obviously someone who knows much more about this league has explained

the situation to me very aptly and very and very professionally. Yes, I do. I understand that part of it for sure. Night's going to turn 36 this summer. She's already announced that the 2026 Milan Olympics is going to be her fifth and final trip to to the games. She's also said she plans to continue playing in the PWHL after that. It wasn't a retirement announcement. It was just kind of like, this is going to be my last time going to Milan. In terms of the decision to leave her unprotected, it was shocking. to me just because I looked at this and thought, like, it's Hillary Knight. Like, if Hillary Knight wants to be in Boston, she should be in Boston. And that was how I looked at it because she's still an elite player. Like, yes, she is going to be 36 years old next season.

And she does carry one of the larger cap hits in the PWHL. So that is where, like, for most people, you look at that on paper, be like, yeah, you're going to protect the younger player who's probably cheaper and you're going to keep them in house. To me, I was like, it's, Hillary Knight, if she wants to be in Boston, let her stay in Boston. But the way I look at it is if Danielle Marmer, the GM of the Boston fleet, were to protect Hillary Knight, she would run the risk of losing all three of her top three forwards in short order, right? Mueller and Hannah Bilka, their first round pick from last year's draft, they would go in expansion immediately. Like, Canna Bilka could sign with Seattle tomorrow, and I wouldn't be surprised.

She is a young stud forward. And you would lose Hillary Knight to retirement eventually. If it's not after the Olympics, it'll be one or two years later because, again, she's turning 36 in July. So protecting Mueller, even if it means losing Hillary Knight, if nothing else just ensures that the team keeps at least one of its core forwards for more than two, three years. So that's the way to kind of break it down. It's still surprising, even if it makes a lot of sense. So we saw Hillary hit or refined her game, I think it's fair to say. In the second PWHL season, she leveled back up.

She was the Hillary night that we've seen, you know, for so many years now. What changed for her? What was wrong? What went wrong for her in season one that was clearly fixed by season two? she was hurt it was a it was a nagging injury yeah all season and it was really interesting to see how quickly everyone just like threw out the benefit of the doubt for one of the greatest players of all time it was just like old old and washed that stuff that sucks bye bye and meanwhile she was dealing with she called it a foot thing when i talked to her oh god a foot thing um that popped up really

right before the start of the inaugural season. Like she's healthy, she's training. League starts, foot thing pops up. And she deals with it all season. It was something that would have required, like some surgery and potential, like rehab,

but she pushed it back because she's like, I'm not going to miss the first year, the league that we've been fighting for for years. So she played through an injury all season long. Didn't look great. Like, offensive production wise, only six goals and 11 points and 24 games.

I guess it was 32 in terms of the postseason. And I think it was a really frustrating season for Hillary night. And yeah, we really quickly, we saw how quickly people turned it into like an age debate. Like, oh, Pastor Prime, that sucks. And I think mentally that was difficult for her to deal with because she saw that. And she kind of battled like, oh, am I old?

Is this it for me? So there was struggles mentally, struggles with injury. I do think there was maybe some difficulty in like relaxing some of the, not control, but like it's a mindset switch when you go from being like an advocate and a league builder. Yeah. Like fighting for this to then just playing hockey. I think there was maybe like a mindset change that took a bit of time to be like, okay, I can just go and play hockey now.

But for the most part, we got what we were fighting for. Like, this is like, I could just go focus on stuff. That's a tough switch to make. Yeah. So I think there was just some like mental stuff there, but also like it was mostly just an injury. And then this season, Hillary comes in. She's healthy. She scores 29 points and 30 games.

Only Poulin has more goals than her in the league. She's a finalist for four of the year. Finalist for MVP was one of the top scores at Women's World Championships, wins her record 10th gold medal at that tournament, by the way. So it's all of that to me that made leaving her unprotected a little surprising because this isn't like some all-time great who is like old as dust and plays like crap. Like this is an all-time great who's still one of the best players in the PWHL. So she signs with Seattle, no-brainer.

like she's going to go and be surrounded by elite talent. Like if I'm if I'm Megan Turner, the general manager, I'm signing Hannah Bilka. I'm signing Alex Carpenter and I'm rolling out like an unreal top six of like American star. No, literally. That's it.

Yeah. Go for it. And that'll work like Carpenter and Knight together on Team USA. Like they have great chemistry. I'd like to see that in a pro league. Hannah Bilk is the young fun stud who can, like she's just like so silky great with the puck from the offensive blue line down.

So that would be my core forward group and like with some younger like dynamic talent, Hillary Knight's just going to get in the slot it open and score a ton of goals for Seattle. So that's going to, and she's going to be motivated too. Like we saw the press release in her quote, like she thanked Megan Turner for believing in her.

So that is a player who I don't think wanted to leave Boston. Probably not. And now she's going to go and play lights out in Seattle because it's like, you wanted me. I'm going to, I'm going to go do the damn thing. I'm sure those are carefully chosen words. Not an accident. It was phrased that way. I think Vancouver had another similar kind of no-brainer decision in front of them.

They signed Sarah Nurse. That's a bit of news that you broke last night, not to pump your tires, all that much. And, you know, as again, more of a casual, as you dig into it, that decision on the Toronto end of things is even more baffling to me than Boston leaving night unprotected. Because the caliber of players that Boston had to protect, like you can, you can see the logic. The flip side is Sarah Nurse heads from Toronto to Vancouver. Sarah, like, Sarah, one of the faces of the league, you know, another, another culture setter, another, you know, just high-end player who does everything on the, on the community, PR, and the things that you could expect.

And she lands in Vancouver, like, that's just the fit there is, is, is great, too, isn't it? Probably the only player you could argue, uh, has more, like, cachet in women's hockey than Hillary Knight does. Yeah. Like in terms of the off-ice impact, at least in Canada, like Hillary Knight's the big star in the US. So yeah, it's a bit of a baffling choice to leave Sarah Nurse unprotected. I know Blair Turnbull is your captain.

She gets one of the protected slots. Darrell Watts was the prized free agent signing. She led the team in scoring. She was third league-wide. So, like, there's no argument. Like, Darrell Watts should have been protected. Renata Fast. MVP caliber defender is a finalist for MVP.

this season. She should have been protected. So I think the debate really came down to Turnbull versus Nurse. But there was nothing shocking about the Toronto Scepters protecting Blair Turnbull over Sarah. That is their captain. She is, you know, an identity player. She sets the tone. She's important to the mix for Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury, who are also the coach and GM of Team Canada. Like there was no way they were going to leave Blair Turnbull and protected. did. So yeah, it's a little bit baffling to see them unprotect Sarah Nurse, but not surprising in the slightest because of who runs the team and what Blair means to the organization, both for club and country with the same people at the top. But for Sarah Nurse, like,

she gets butts and seats and she's personable and marketable and all those things, but she's also still a top line player. Like she was for all the love, that Natalie Spooner deserved last season. Sarah Nurse only had a few points less than her. Sarah Nurse was second in league scoring last year. And she missed time. This last year, last year. Right.

Okay. She was second in league scoring last season, second in goals last season. Like, I think people forget that she was number two in both of those offensive metrics in the PWHL. And this year she was well on her way to another point per game season, 12 points in her first 15 games.

Then she gets hurt. and struggles when she comes back from the lower body injury. She definitely looked like she had lost that step post injury, but she had a serious injury that required long-term injured reserve. So I think the injury and the way it impacted her production kind of bit Sereners. But signing in Vancouver makes a ton of sense. Like go be, go potentially be the captain of that franchise.

Go be a superstar in a cool, big Canadian market. with Claire Thompson and Sophie Jakes and whatever other star players, this organization signs. It could be a little bit of a fresh start and a really exciting new chapter for one of the biggest faces, not just in the PWHL, but just women's hockey in general. Like this is the player who set an Olympic record for points at a tournament

at the last Olympics and became the face, like the first woman on the cover of an EA sports video game. She's got a Barbie. She's on billboards. She was already on like an Adidas billboard in Vancouver. So now she can just go be there in a PWHL Vancouver jersey. I think it's kind of cool. And that is this is why the league made the rules the way that they did.

I don't think they could have predicted that it'd be nurse and night specifically going to these franchises. But if you're in the advisory board, like if you're stand cast in your, you're rubbing your hands together knowing that. I mean, the face of Canadian hockey outside of Poulin is in your new Canadian market and the face of American hockey is in your new American market. Like that couldn't have been a better start for these teams. Yeah.

I mean, the way the rules were set up, like maybe it wasn't going to be night and nurse, but, you know, there was going to be an elite pool of players that these teams were, we're going to be able to draw from. And yeah.

I don't think it's done yet. But like, I heard that Daniel Sardakeney is signing with Seattle. That's incredible. Like I know and I know Sardakny, you know, a rookie season wasn't great. But like this is a player who a year ago is getting taken second over. And also in some in some regards bumping up against like there were people out there who were like, hey, maybe maybe New York takes her over Philly. And she's on the move again already. It's just wild.

the golden goal at 2024 World Championships. Yeah, she's on the move. It's pretty crazy. I didn't know what, like, if you would have asked me a week ago, I would have maybe thought the signing window would be chill. If I'm a GM, maybe I don't sign a bunch of players because I want to just go to town on teams, unprotected lists in the draft. But then you start to think of the human element of it. And you think, if you're Hillary Knight and you're Sarah Nurse and you just got left unprotected by your franchises, do you want to sit there and hope that you don't get taken? Or do you want to go and sign with one of these cool new teams and be like, you didn't want me, I'm going to go somewhere else. Sorry, bye. And I think we are seeing that. You get to renegotiate your contracts,

and you get a little more money out of it or whatever. More term, yeah, exactly. Sophie Jakes. Sophie Jakes is locked in until 2028 with the Vancouver franchise. And that is a really smart move by by Vancouver. Yeah, the GM is Kara Gardner-Mory, who was the longtime coach at Princeton. And it makes a ton of sense that she's going to cook as a general manager because as a college coach,

you're recruiting players, right? Like, this is the coach who recruited Claire Thompson and saw her and said, you know what, maybe it'd be a better defender because she was a forward early on, make the switch to D and now she's in the Olympic

record holder, one of the best offensive defenders in the world. So Kara Gardner-Mori's been cooking, but I think Megan Turner's going to be too. Okay, so the signing slots are filling up. We anticipate, you know, more of those coming over the next, however long. As the expansion draft approaches, that's next week, like, what, who are the players who you anticipate being available and kind of at the top of the pool for that phase of the expansion process, the draft itself. Yeah. So if we project the rest of the signings here, because only a couple of them have been

announced, but if we think of what we're hearing, what the rumblings are, and just like what I would do if I was GM, because that has worked out pretty well. Our mock draft was not something that was done with like, this is what I believe is going to happen. This is more just like, here's what I would have done if I was the general manager. And it's working out pretty well for me. You could have, you could have fooled me on that one. You're like four for five on Vancouver or wherever you're checking there.

Yeah. And like if Aaron Ambrose wants to sign with Vancouver, happy for her, but I'm hoping it's Jen Gardner. So I can have the bragging rights of being five for five. 100%. Let's go. But if, yeah, if I'm Vancouver in my fifth slot, so right now what we know is Sarah Nurse, Claire Thompson, Sophie Jakes, and Emmerence, Mashbire has been reported. I believe that'll come out today. And then in that fifth slot, you either grab Aaron Ambrose,

another top D to shore up a blue line. Elite defenders are hard to find in the PWHL, and it's no surprise that these GMs are being like, I need to hoard as many of them as I can. Because once you get out of the elite, then there's a little bit of a drop. So Ambrose would be smart, but Jen Gardner's like the local player.

She's a complementary piece, but could also be a good middle six player on her own. You can't go wrong either way. And whoever doesn't get taken ends up at the top of the draft list in the first round, like hands down. Seattle, we know they've signed Hillary Knight. Like if I'm Megan Turner,

my top five would be Hillary Knight, Hillary Knight, Alex Carpenter, probably the biggest shock of all that. Like, and I don't know what happened there. Like, we can't even go into it because I don't know what happened there. One of the best boards in the league did not get protected for,

you know, a second pair of D. It's crazy. Anyways. So if I'm Seattle, I'm signing Carpenter. I'm signing Corinne Schroeder to get a number one goalie. I'm signing Caleb Barnes. And then maybe Hannah Bilka.

That would be my five. So then that would mean in the draft, like the best players available, we're looking at either Jen Gardner and Aaron Ambrose. Oh, wait, they signed Sir Dachny, so it wouldn't be Bilka. Okay. So if they signed Schroeder, then Bilka's on the out. So if you go in the draft, then Hannah Bilka is going early, first round pick and last year's draft,

really silky, elite offensive talent. Bilka goes quick and Ambrose goes quick. I think we see a lot of D go early. Like Anna Wilgren is a good, strong defender. I think once we get to the draft and once the top, top players are gone, then we're going to see these GMs try to find, like, more value in-depth pieces because they still need to be cap-compliant, right? And the Players Association has voted to disclose salaries.

We don't know all of them yet because they're prioritizing, giving those salary numbers to the players during this window versus media. I've put in my request, but we don't know all those figures. But these teams have to be cap-compliant. So I think once you load up your team with elite talent, then you're going to be looking for the Dominique Petries of the world, like the later round like depth players that went in the draft last year, who probably don't make as much money,

but you know they can be good, middle of the lineup players at good contracts. Like what these GMs are going to be able to do now in this draft is not just take the best players, but the best players at the best dollar figure. Like, I don't think we'll see. see Breanne Jenner get drafted or even like an Abbey Rock because while they're effective players,

I believe that they are among the highest earners in the PWHL. And you get to hand select the best players at the best contracts. So instead of like an Abbey Rock, I'm going to take Brooke McQuig, like a deaf player from the Minnesota Frost who does not make six figures but scored nine goals this season and is nasty and has an edge and people hate playing against her. So I think, yeah, once the top, top players are gone, I think we're going to see some, like, really shrewd GMing of like, here's a really good third pair, D, who could be in our second pair or a really good middle six winger who make, who can bring value both in terms of their production and their cap hit.

drafts on June 9. I forgot what day it was when we were talking earlier. June 9th, 8.30 p.m. I don't know. It's going to be crazy. We'll see how the signing window ends. I'm curious what these teams are going to finish doing. Like maybe if I'm Seattle, do you go with Schroeder or do you go with Bilka? Either way, they're both getting the one you don't take is going to be available

in the draft. Like, there's just so much skill and talent that these teams can grab. It's, it's, it's really something. And I understand why fans are, are upset.

Like, the second I tweeted the Sarah Nurse thing yesterday, it was just like hundreds of people falling to their knees at a Walmart. You know, it's, it's devastating. Like, these are not just star players,

but fan favorites. But the worst thing in the world for the PWHL would be to have two expansion teams that. stink. Like, you just can't. You can't have it. I think they probably could have found more of a middle ground than having Hillary Knight and Sarah Nurse left unprotected. But I don't know if you live in Vancouver or Seattle, man, like you're going to have fun next season. Yeah, gives us something to talk about too. This is fun. Player movement is fun, even if it's chaotic and wild. Yeah. All right, that's the end of the athletic hockey show. Thanks to Sean. Thanks to Drans for joining us. And thank you for

listening to this episode. The Prospect series has a new show tomorrow. We'll be back next Thursday. We can recap the PWHL expansion draft a little bit more. Maybe the Oilers will have swept the Stanley Cup final like Sean predicted. So smartly,

we'll talk about all that. Who knows how many times I'll have changed my pick between now and then. Sean will be back on the Panthers Banwagon for the third time next Thursday. We'll see you guys then.