The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL Free Agency recap (recorded LIVE!)

Episode Date: July 28, 2021

Ian and Hailey are joined by The Athletic’s Peter Baugh, Daniel Nugent-Bowman, Charlie O’Connor, Saad Yousuf, and Joe Smith to help break down all the big signings from the first few hours of the NHL free agency period.Please note: this episode was recorded from 3:00-4:00pm ET on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.And, don’t forget, you can sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to it. It is a live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show on this, the opening of Free Agency in the National Hockey League. I mean, Mendes, Haley, Salvean with you. Usually we are your Monday host of the Athletic Hockey Show. But, hey, everything is up in the air. Everything is fluid. We're, you know, moving around. And so we are with you for the next hour or so to break down, Haley, what has been,

it feels like we're back to free agency and the frenzied approach to it. Remember last year there was a lot of reservation. It was a pandemic and a COVID type of environment. We didn't know what was going to happen. Well, this year, the wallets have been opened up, and we've seen a lot of spending here in the first three hours. Yeah, definitely. It's the return of the power hour.

I guess it always kind of has been. But I think historically, we see some of the biggest deals and biggest contracts coming in through that first hour of free agency once the bell rings at noon Eastern. And certainly we've seen that today. a big contract here in Calgary for Blake Coleman. I mean, it hasn't actually officially come through yet, but multiple sources have confirmed to Pierre LeBron, to Joe Smith, to myself that he has indeed signed with Calgary Flames.

We're still waiting on the official announcement from the team. So that's a big one. We saw Philip Dino sign a big contract. There's been a ton of big money defense contracts coming through today as well. So definitely, you know, we're in the flat cap. seems like Cap Space is still the most valuable asset, especially after what happened yesterday with Mark Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights. But it's kind of nice, selfishly from a media and it's just a fan of hockey and pre-agency

day to see that the money's flowing a little bit here. Yeah. And in the next hour or so, we're going to have a cavalcade of guests that to drop by this live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, including Peter Baugh, does a terrific job of covering the Colorado Avalanche Force. The aves have been front and center in the last 24 hours to get Gabriel. Landis Cog done, but then they watch their starting goalie Philip Grubauer go up to Seattle. So Peter Ball will be the first one to drop by in about six or seven minutes from now.

Daniel Nugent Boman covers the Everton Oilers for the Athletic. And boy, Edmonton has been really, really busy, Haley, as we, why do we chat about them just for a second year? Because you're talking about the get Zach Hyman, that had been rumored for a while. They get Cody C.C. in for a contract. And then Ethan Bear for Warren Fogle earlier today. and it's been a pretty active day for those two teams in Alberta, including the Calgary Flames, as we mentioned, you know, Blake Coleman gets something done. But boy, the Edmonton Oilers have been active here in the last couple of days.

Yeah, and the Zach Heiman contract has been something that has been all but official for for some time. Now, James Myrtle's been reporting for the last couple of days that, you know, this is expected to happen a seven-year deal for Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers, you know, resigning their gold tender, bringing back Tyson Barry trading for Duncan Keith, like even just going back to last week, Ken Holland has been pretty busy in Edmonton and they've been doing a lot. Is it enough to get them over the hump? You know, obviously we won't know that until we actually see this team on the ice, but clearly these are win now moves. We've got Connor McDavid in our prime and obviously some years that have been quite frankly

wasted of Connor McDavid in his prime. You've got Leon Dreisdell. So Edmonton is doing a lot. We'll see if it ends up working out for them. But it's been really busy in Alberta. It's been really busy in Carolina. It's been pretty busy for a lot of these teams. It's been a little bit quiet.

At least the morning was quiet for you in Ottawa, Ian, but maybe things are picking up right when we log on to the podcast for you, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. I'm sure that is what. Look, Ottawa made a significant move today. They got to, I would have, Evgeny Daddnov's contract.

And he had two more years left at a cap had a five million, including six and a half million in real dollars for his second year. So I think a pretty good trade there. And I was kind of texting back and forth with Jesse Granger who covers the gold nights for us and just trying to get a sense of what that deal was all about. And so Nick Holden coming back, a third round pick coming back to Ottawa. Ottawa also extends their head coach, DJ Smith. And in fact, DJ Smith is speaking to the media right now in light of signing a two-year contract,

attention. So a pretty good day, I think, for the Ottawa senators, they lock up their coach and they get out of a significant contract. So we'll certainly touch on some of those elements. A little bit later in the show, Charlie O'Connor, who covers the Philadelphia Flyers, will drop by. And boy, Philadelphia has been really active here. They got involved in one of those rare one-for-one trades, Jake Voracek and Cam Atkinson. He saw Shane Gostas bear going, Ryan Ellis going. So you've seen a lot of things there. He will, Charlie's going to drop by. And then Sad Yusuf, who covers the Dallas stars as they get everything finalized. Ryan Suter picks the Dallas stars,

and it looks like Braden Holteby is also headed to the Lone Star State. Were you surprised that Ryan Suter went there? I kind of thought, Haley, that maybe we would have seen Souter and Pireze as a package. Like they went to Minnesota as a package. They got bought out together, and I thought they were going to go to Long Island, or they were going to go somewhere together and try and win a Stanley Cup. But it looks like obviously that's not going to be the case,

as Ryan Suter heads to the Dallas Stars. Well, I think that would have been the nice narrative that we could have stuck with, you know, seeing them together still. I think obviously that's a nice story and it's a nice way to package things. But I wasn't totally surprised just given the way that both were bought out and the kind of different places that both of them are at in their careers right now. Ryan Suter is 36 years old. Forgive me if that's a year or so off. but he does still have quite a bit of game left in him. He projects to be still a top pair,

top four defensemen by our Domloos Chishin's projections. So there's a ton of value there. So if you're a team like Dallas, who's looking to shore up some of your defensive depth, especially in your top four, Souter is a guy that you can go and look for. You know, Porese isn't have, he doesn't have the same kind of projection.

It's not the same kind of high trajectory. So I'm not overly shocked. that they're not still a package deal, just again based on where they're both at in their careers right now. But we'll see how it all goes. Maybe, I don't know, we'll see. But I think it's a fine signing for the Dallas Stars. Well, and as the time, at the time of this live recording here, we're just after 3 o'clock Eastern time on Wednesday, two of the biggest storylines of yet to resolve themselves, Haley. That one would be Dougie Hamilton, who I think on most people's boards was the most sought-after free agent.

Like when you looked at all the mock boards ahead of time, Dougie Hamilton's name was front and center. And a lot of people thought that Dougie Hamilton would get his seven times seven or eight or whatever that contract was going to be. Dougie Hamilton was going to end up being the prize catch here. It hasn't happened yet, but we'll see how that transpires. And then the other thing would be Jack Eichael, a story that I'm sure John Vogel is ready to move on from.

We had them on the Monday podcast, and, you know, this has been a story that has dragged out in Buffalo for weeks, if not months. And it feels like we thought maybe Vegas was getting ready to clear up some cap space when they trained to Mark Andre Floyd to take a run at Jack Eichael. But then they went ahead and used that cap space on a Genneded Donov and Laurent Brasua, the goaltender from Winnipeg. So it doesn't seem like they're a player. Do you think that in either of those cases, Dougie Hamilton or Jack Eichael, we're going to see something. at some point on Wednesday? Is this going to be something that kind of just moves on in the next couple of days before it resolves itself?

Yeah, well, it's interesting because we saw on the TSN broadcast, which I've been just watching since 11 a.m. Eastern, which is what you typically do on Free Agency Day. But then you also put on our podcast for sure. You know, they were talking about how Eichel is kind of like the forgotten superstar. You know, I think, flying my head. they think that the, you know, it seems like his camp is starting to get frustrated because here you have an elite superstar number one center who teams are taking a sniff at and saying,

nah, I'm not going to pay that much. And, you know, we've already heard that they're looking for the equivalent to four first round draft picks. You know, correct me if I'm wrong, but Seth Jones went for the equivalent of three first round draft picks. And Seth Jones is, you know, he had some good seasons. He's a good player, but he's not Jack Eichol. And so the fact that the fact that There's some teams taking a sniff and saying, no, he's a, he's a great player, but we're not going to go that far. It is really interesting to see such a big talent have a pretty soft-ish market. You know, we saw that the Minnesota wild are out. The LA Kings were reportedly interested.

They've been signing, they signed Philip Deno. They've signed a couple of players here today. Do they have the cap space for Eichl anymore? So are they out? So it's going to be interesting, I think. the Buffalo Sabres are seemed to be standing pretty pat on if the deal's not right,

they're not going to make it right now. So I don't think they're working on a Wednesday deadline by any means. But teams are going to start to run out a cap space if they're all just going crazy and free agency. With Dougie Hamilton, again, I don't think there's a hard deadline for Dougie signing somewhere.

Today is the big fun day and it's the power hour and we've had all the 60 signings or something in the first two hours today, which is pretty crazy, like millions of dollars being thrown around. But again, this is a free agency opening, not a deadline. So there's still some time, obviously, for both of these pieces. But you obviously don't want to wait too long for the market to dry up completely and your value to go down. All right. As I mentioned, Haley, we were going to get a cavalcade of guests to join us in this hour or so of this live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show.

Let's bring in our first guest. I'm going to assume, again, he's got speed because we put him in the lead, off spot. It's Peter Baud. It's a great job covering the Colorado Avalanche Forest. Peter, welcome to this live edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. How are you doing on this free agency day? I am well. Thank you for having me. Hey, listen, first thing, Haley usually brings out the Elmo on Fire Giff. Okay, she drops that when chaos happens. Peter, what are the odds that the Colorado Avalanche go aggressively and get Mark Andre Flurry and Haley can crack out the Elmo on fire?

a gift here? Well, it would certainly be, that's certainly the most fun scenario of how the Colorado goalie situation gets resolved. I, there are some significant roadblocks, mainly that he clearly seems hesitant to play anywhere besides Vegas and maybe Pittsburgh. We don't know. So first, he would have to want to come to Colorado. So we'd have to see if that's the case. And then secondly, they would have to put together a trade package to Chicago that would, I guess beat any other team's trade package. But if somehow that happens, I mean, the avalanche need a goaltender. And if Chicago is willing to hold on to like maybe one or two million of Flurrie's cap hit,

then that could very easily be a fun situation and could lead to some very intense and exciting abs, Golden Knights games. Well, outside of the Mark Andre Fleury option or the, you know, the Almo Fire Giff factor that I'm always going for, There's been a huge goalie carousel today. Lots of goalies flying off the board here, including Philip Rubar. What can the avalanche be looking for to fill that space? It's not the fun and exciting mark on Flurry option. Yeah, I think you could look at someone like Darcy Kemper in Arizona as a trade option.

He has a cap hit of a little over $4 million, which is within the app's price range. And also, he's on the last year of his contract. Arizona clearly isn't going anywhere this year. So it would make sense for them to move him and the abs have some young players, some contracts, some draft picks that they could potentially send Arizona's way and maybe pick up Kemper, who I think has had some really good seasons. He was hurt last year, but he was playing on a not very good Arizona team. And if he's behind Colorado's defense, which is really, really, really good,

then maybe he's starting to put up numbers that he was a few years ago. So he's an option. Maybe someone like Linus Olmark from Buffalo. He's an interesting case in that he's really good when he's on the ice, but he's struggled to stay healthy. And that's kind of tough to, if you're Colorado, you know you can count on if you're going to try and win a Stanley Cup. So they're going to have some tough decisions.

They're going to have to scour the trade market. But I think Darcy Kemper makes a lot of sense, and we'll see where they end up going. You know, what I think is interesting, Peter, is, look, Philip Gruberauer was a Vesna Trophy finalist last year. Obviously gave them some terrific goaltending. Ends up going to the Seattle Cracken. Can you tell our listeners and our viewers here,

like how close were they to retaining Gruber and was the biggest issue, the cap hit or was it the term? I haven't gotten super specifics on what the issue was, but I do know that they were talking all the way up until when free agency started and I believe after. So they had a lot of conversation and they can. kept plugging away, kept plugging away. And it just didn't work out.

I think that from the AFS perspective, they have, I think, around $9 million of cap space left. They've got two restricted free agents that they need to figure out what to do with. And Tyson Joseph and Connor Timmons, both of whom will get small increases, but enough to make a dent on a $9 million cap hit. And then they've also got to fill out the rest of the roster. So I think that maybe they couldn't go as high salary-wise as Grubauer was looking. for. And, you know, we haven't even really gotten to fully touch on Gabriel Landiscag. It happened, I guess, late last night early this morning, depending on what time zone you're in, but he re-signs eight years at $56 million contract. Just how significant is this for the Colorado

avalancheon? Were you always under the impression that they were going to just figure this out, Peter? I went back and forth a lot, honestly. It was not a smooth. negotiating process. They had, there were periods where they were pretty far apart. Gabe told us at the athletic that he was disappointed in the way negotiations were going. So it always felt like it would have been wrong for him not to come back, not wrong on him, but it just like would have felt off if Gabriel Lannis guy was wearing a Los Angeles Kings jersey or something next year. So I think the fact that both teams definitely wanted to get it done made it feel more likely than not, but But there were some tense moments there.

And I think that the contract is one that maybe the avalanche will pay for in the back end. Maybe an aging power forward doesn't look great in year four of an eight-year deal. But the fact of the matter is, is they have a Stanley Cup window right now. And Gabriel Anascag is worth well more than $7 million if he plays the way he has the last two years. And then, and again, I've been refreshing Twitter, so I apologize. Maybe something has happened. but Brandon Saude would be apparently the, okay, I'm going to go ahead and say it, sod man out in Colorado.

So I just wanted to see Haley's eyes roll. But Brandon Saad, is there any scenario in which he can come back or is that ship sailed once they got land is caught down? Well, not to make Avalanche fans too sod, but I do think that it would be, I think it would be difficult to retain Brandon Sodd. I reported today that he was going to hit the open market. and that it was going to be difficult. But I think the one way to do it potentially is if you move a contract and get a cheap

goalie, someone like Kemper who is within your price range, and then maybe you can create enough cap space. But then you're probably trading more to Arizona to create cap space for them to hang on to some Kemper's cap hit. So it'll be tricky. He's a really, really good player. He was really important for the avalanche this year. And if they find a way to keep him and can keep their top six together, that'll keep them pretty dangerous.

But he might be, as you said, the sod man out. All right. See, at least, Peter, you appreciate the bad puns. Haley didn't like it. Appreciate you dropping by, giving us a little perspective on what's going on in Denver as the Avalanche has certainly been front and center. Thanks so much for dropping by. Peter, we look forward to your coverage on the print side of things with the athletic here in the next day or two. Thanks so much for having me.

All right. there goes, do we say bye bye to Peter Bauer? Oh my God. Look at Haley's face. She's like, what are you doing with these puns? They're terrible. See, I just trying to get you to eye roll.

That's all. Yeah. Well, we're going to, I'm going to get a bunch of complaints now that I'm killing the chemistry. And, you know, I'm killing the banter. And it's like, no, Ian's killing the banter because he knows I don't appreciate that. And he does it on purpose. So you're sabotaging me. That's how I'm going with for it.

You cover the Calgary Flames. They've been pretty active today. In fact, it looks like Trevor Lewis, according to some reports. Trevor Lewis has signed a one-year deal with the avalanche, sorry, with the flames. But, you know, the other team in Alberta has been very, very busy. And let's bring in Daniel Nugent-Bowman.

Boy, I always want to say Daniel Nugent Hopkins, and I know he gets that all the time, but Daniel Nugent Boman joins us here on a very busy day for the Edmonton-Oilers. Daniel, first of all, thanks for dropping by this live edition of the athletic hockey. Oh, you're very welcome. I'm surprised you guys wanted to talk to me today. I mean, it doesn't seem to be too much going on here in Edmonton. It's all happening. You're not busy. Yeah. So look, there's a lot to unpack here, but let's start with the obvious one,

the one that people have been talking about for several days. The Zach Heiman deal is done. You know, take us through the term and the dollar amount. And like, what's the market reaction there? Because look, Zach Heiman is a guy who is viewed as a very complimentary player, but he's certainly getting paid like a top six forward. What's the view in Edmonton on the signing of Zach Hyman to this long-term deal? Yeah, it was perhaps a worst kept secret around the NHL. I mean, if this wasn't the most obvious, a sign that was going to come down today, was certainly top, you know, two or three. I think here in Edmonton, you know, I think it's mostly positive. You know, you're looking at a player who, as you said, you know, a complimentary player, but he's the perfect

compliment to a guy like Connor McDavid in the sense that he can hang with him. He can go get the puck, he can create space for Connor McDavid. And they haven't had that type of winger for a long time. I mean, theoretically, that was supposed to be Malian Luchich. We all know how that turned out. But Hyman is a much better skater. I think, you know, in the way he's been able to hang with Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner in the last year to, you know, I think he's a perfect compliment to Connor McDavid. And, you know, seven-year deal, the end of it might not be great, but we're in a five-year window really now where, you know, there's five years on Connor McDavid's contract,

only four on Leon Drys-Ciddle's contract. The time to win in Edmonton is now. And Hyman could be a really key, you know, part of that, even though, as I said, the last couple years on a, you know, $5.5 million A-AV contract could be a little onerous. But it is good short-term move for the Oilers, I would say. Just moving to the blue line a little bit here, Edmonton has made some changes

and you did just have a story go out 10 minutes ago so I say kudos to you for being so quick. I don't think Ian and I have written anything yet today. Just a shot at the end of myself but you know they've lost you know losing Adam Larson Ethan Bears out

Cody Cici in Tyson Barry stays the blue lines kind of getting shaken up here so what can you tell us about what the Edmonton blue line's going to look like next season. Yeah this is certainly was not the plan for the Edmonton Oilers heading into free agency. They thought they could resign Adam Larson. That seemed to be where everything was heading before the Duncan Keith trade was

made. And I don't think there's a specific line that you can draw between the Duncan trade, Keith trade and not being able to resign Adam Larson. But obviously, cap dollars were reallocated there. And really, when Adam Larson left, it just completely changed the whole thinking and the whole structure behind the defense. You know, he's the type of player that takes on the, the, the thankless jobs of, you know, the defensive rules, penalty killing, you know, those types of things that, you know, especially on the right side, they didn't really have anyone like that. And so as a result, you know, you're seeing Cody Cici come in to be that type of replacement.

I don't know if anyone would consider Cody Cici the perfect replacement to Adam Larson, but that's kind of the way that they've gone. And with Larson expected to come back in the past, Tyson and Barry was not really anyone on their radar. Obviously, he's emerged since then and has since resigned. And that left Ethan Bear on the outs. And I can tell you that, you know, the plan, the organizational plan was to put Ethan Bear with Darnel Nurse

to reignite that pair from 2019, 2020, that did so well. And obviously that is no long. longer the case. So there's been a massive shakeup here on the defense. I would say right now, probably not for the better, but, you know, we'll obviously, we'll see if I'm wrong on that or if anything does change. But, you know, there's certainly, it's a shakeup and one that I don't think too many Oilers fans are in favor of. Yeah. And I think when you think of Oilers fans, I'm sure that there's still that regret about Jeff Petrie, right? Like, Jeff Petrie was there. You had a legitimate top four guy. Is that the feeling on Ethan Bear, too, that?

like, man, like we have this guy. He's a young defenseman with the upside. Why'd we let him go? And where do you think Warren Fogel, Daniel? Where do you think Warren Fogel fits in here? Yes, I mean, certainly different circumstances with the Petri trade compared to bear. The others are in much more of a win-now mode than they were with Jeff Petri. But yeah, I think you hit it spot on Ian.

This is a player that did pretty well two years ago. Last year's numbers weren't great, but the underlying numbers weren't half bad. And I don't think they fully, you know, Ethan Bear is 24 years old and on a team-friendly contract under control, team control for three more years. It's a big risk to get rid of them now. And not only that, they got rid of Caleb Jones who's in a very similar situation, but on a better contract as he was and as established as Ethan Bear. But they got rid of him too in the Duncan Keith trade. I mean, I'm of the belief that that isn't too much of a, you know, blunder or whatnot on their part. because he really did not seem to fit in here in terms of the role the coaching staff gave him and whatnot.

But Ethan Bear certainly had an established role and you're getting rid of them. Now, the trade in a vacuum, I'm not, you know, I don't mind per se. I mean, I think Warren Vogel could be a really key part of what the others are trying to do here. You know, he's certainly a bottom, or sorry, like a third line guy that can penalty kill, has a lot of speed. Maybe even could play his way up the lineup. But losing Ethan Bear in the manner that they did has created kind of an issue, I think, especially on the right side of the defense. And I'm not sure if Cody Cici and Tyson Berry, especially lost Adam Larson is necessarily the right answer.

And, you know, last one from me, Daniel, you know, there's been so many things that have happened in Edmonton the last little bit, Duncan Keith trade, Mike Smith was given an extension, but James Neal was bought out, put on waivers for the purpose of a buyout. How much does that relieve for the Oilers in terms of cap space? And you had a really smart piece to just showing it's kind of helping this team turn the page on their past mistakes and move forward with this kind of reconstructed roster. Sure. And I think you know really well there, Haley,

because of the trade that went down between the Oilers and Flames with Milan Luch. going to Calgary, that those two players are forever tied. And basically we're going back to the 2016, June of 2016, when Dengiam, Peter Shirelli acquired Milan Luch in that trade. And so, I mean, this was certainly a situation where you're, you know, James, but you're kind of writing a pass wrong of a luchage contract in the first place. So Ken Hong's rationale for making that trade was that, He could, in theory, one day buyout James Neal.

And that day was clearly come this season. I put some speculation about trying to make a trade for him. But really, I mean, the buyout was always something that they had in their back pockets. So clearly, $3.8 million for this year and next on the books for just over $1.9 million for the next four years. So that is a hefty ticket to pay for years. But, you know, considering what James Neal was bringing to this team, he was essentially a fourth liner. got to the point where squad was on waivers.

It was on the taxi squad for parts of the year last year. He did play net front on the power plate, but really for 5.7 million wasn't, you know, upholding that type of value with that contract. I think he could probably get somewhere around that in dollar range and be an effective player in the type of role that he had in Edmonton, but at that contract,

the Oilers really needed to cut bait and clear some room. Well, listen, unfortunately, we got to cut bait with you. Listen, appreciate the time. Daniel Liu, Jim Bowman. Listen, and again, looking forward because it's been a jam-pack day for the Oilers here last 24 hours or so. Looking forward to your analysis and coverage here on the athletic coming up here in the next few hours. So thanks for joining us. You're very welcome.

Take care. There he goes. Daniel Nugent Bowman, and it's great to connect with him. And boy, the teams of the Pacific Division are certainly making some noise here. Calgary's been active. Edmonton's been active. Vancouver, Vegas. It's Seattle.

It's been interesting that way. But why do we shift over to the eastern side? of things, Haley, and bring in Charlie O'Connor, because in the week leading up to the draft and kind of into this, boy, Philadelphia was as busy as anybody. Ryan Ellis in, Shane Gostis, Bear out, Jake Forrecheck out, Cam Atkinson in, and why don't we make a trade here? Daniel Nugent Bowman out, Charlie O'Connor in, and we got to start with this. Charlie O'Connor, it's the obligatory question we ask anybody from Philadelphia, how are people feeling about the Flyers goalies right now?

Well, I think they were feeling better until today when Martin Jones ended up being the backup that was signed. Not to say that Martin Jones can't rebound, but the fact of the matter is that for the last three years, Martin Jones has not been a good goaltender. He has not played well for San Jose, and he's turned himself into from being one of, I guess, maybe not like a top tier goaltender, but definitely a solid starting goaltender into a guy that's now getting a one-year deal for $2 million because he struggled so much. much, the Flyers clearly believe that he could be a reclamation project, you know, and they, they very much wanted to get someone who could take some of the stress, some of the strain off of Carter Hart, especially after having, you know, after Carter Hart had such a poor season. He was

arguably the worst starting goalie in hockey. The schedule of the season is still going to be pretty compressed because the, you know, the likely Olympic break and whatnot. So they wanted to have something of a timeshare, especially with Hart coming off of such a down year. Well, the timeshare goalie they got ended up being one of the poorest performing starting goalies in hockey over the last three years. So there's definitely some concern. The Flyers obviously believe they can turn Jones around. They do have, you know, Kim Dillabal as their goalie coach who worked with Jones in Los Angeles, you know, when before Jones went to San Jose.

So there's a preexisting relationship there, and that plays into why they believe that they can fix Martin Jones. But it's a risk. And in a way, it's somewhat similar to the risk they're taking on another guy they treat. for over the last week, Rassas Ristelainen, who his results have not been great either, but they feel like in a change of scenery and a new environment that he could be better. And I think kind of the same concept plays into why they wanted to get Martin Jones. I mean, I'm just going to go with a pretty broad one here, Charlie. I mean, the Flyers have been really active over the last couple days to you.

What move is going to have the greatest potential impact or positive impact I should specify on the Flyers next season? I would definitely say the trade for Ryan Ellis. You know, they, they desperately needed a replacement for Matt Niskin. And Matt Niskin and worked wonders, you know, not just with Ivan Proveroff on that top pair, but also just in the locker room in general, providing real steadying presence for the blue line as a whole. He retired at the end of the 2020 playoffs. The Flyers chose not to replace him.

I think they tried, but they couldn't find a player, you know, who necessarily fit that mold at the price they were willing to pay. So they went into the last season, basically just trying to fill that void internally. And it didn't work. You know, Philip Myers, it turned out not to be ready for that kind of role. They ended up having to use Justin Braun as a top pair defenseman. And Justin Braun is a solid defenseman. He's not a top pair of defenseman. And really the trickle-down effect of not having that clear-cut partner on the top pair of

Ryven Prove-Rov, it really hurt the entire defense as a whole because everyone was forced to kind of play out of position. Well, now you get Ryan Ellis, who, you know, top-tier, right-hand. a defenseman, you know, he's a top pair guy very clearly. He's been a very good player for Nashville for years. He's a little older. He's 30, but in a way that almost is kind of what the Flyers I think we're looking for. They were looking for an experience presence to put next to Ivan Proverroft to turn that first pair back into a strength as compared to where it was last year when it was a weakness. And again, you have, you know, a first pair that works. You have a Proverroff partner in Ryan Ellis. The trickle down effect should in turn help the rest of the blue line because it should

help everyone else slot in much more comfortably. So the Ryan Ellis trade to me, that was a slam dunk. They gave up Myers in the deal because obviously Nashville wanted a young defenseman back and they gave up Nolan Patrick as well. So it's not like, you know, Ryan Ellis necessarily came cheap, but Ryan Ellis is objectively a better defenseman than Phil Myers. So on defense, they're taking a big step forward in terms of town and in terms of how all the pieces fit together, I think, because of that trade. You know, Charlie, what I loved is when Philadelphia engineered a rare one-for-one trade that was like a hockey trade. Voracek for Atkinson.

It wasn't all this retained money and draft picks and shuffling. It was like an old-school one-for-one deal. So walk us through Philadelphia's rationale for flipping out, Voracek, and bringing in Cam Atkinson. Yeah, I think from Philadelphia's perspective, they came into the season, knowing they were going to have to clear some space if they wanted to make some cap space, if they wanted to make, if they wanted to make the additions they wanted to make. And obviously the turn to the big name, big money forwards.

You know, you're not going to trade Claude Drew. He's got a new movement clause. He's your captain. Jake Vorichick was the guy who they eventually turned to as the best option, both in terms of clearing out half space. And also, I think just in terms of shaking things up, you know, Jake Vorichick had been on the team since the 2011 offseason. He's become a core member of the team.

And I think there was a feeling among people in the front office that the flyers were a bit stagnant, especially in terms of the core, the leadership core. So Jake Vorichick, they, you know, Chuck Fletcher had conversations with Vorichek. It ended up getting to the point where both sides kind of agreed that it's probably time for us to part ways to give you a new start somewhere else, us, you know, sort of remake our leadership core in a sense. So they went into the offseason, I think, with the plan of moving Jake Vorichick. And then it just kind of came down to what sort of deal you could get for.

They left him unprotected in expansion. Seattle did not take him. I think there were probably talks, you know, between Seattle and the flyers as to, you know, would Seattle be interested? Might there be a sweetener involved? Obviously, Seattle ended up pretty much doing none of those moves. So it wasn't really an option. But I think the flyers had talks with other teams about Voracek.

They found Columbus, who is Jake Vorichick's old team. He has ties there, you know, from back from when he was drafted. And getting Camackett's back for Jake Vorichick, you know, Jake Vorichick is probably a more naturally talented player than Cam Ackinson. But I think Cam Ackinson fits the needs of the Flyers at this moment in time better than Jake Vorichek does. You know, Cam Agasson is a shoot first winger. He's a little bit more two-way oriented. You know, he plays maybe a more high-energy game. And then he also is that kind of leadership guy who, you know, he's going to be a different type of leadership guy, but he's still going to want to be part of the leadership core because that's just the

type of guy that he is. So what you do is you swap out a playmaker for a shoot first guy. You swap out, you know, a guy who, you know, maybe played a little bit more on the perimeter to a guy who's going to attack the, you know, the net front a little bit more. And you swapped out, you know, one leadership style for a different leadership style. And I think that was part of the plan. You know, let's get different. What we've been doing hasn't been working. Let's get different. And Camackinson is definitely different while also being a real high character guy, which is something they definitely wanted. Are the flyers done here, Charlie, or are there some holes that they have still left to fill?

You know, they very well might be done. They're pretty much capped out now. You know, today they obviously signed Martin Jones. We talked about him. They signed Nate Thompson as a depth forward. Considering the fact they still have to re-sign Carter Hart, he's an RFA, and they have to re-sign Travis Annam. I have another RFA. They're pretty close to capped out.

Now, are they done? They could still make trades. There are still hockey trades they could make. I do think, though, that if this is the roster that they finish the offseason with, I think they're generally speaking okay with that. But, you know, if they decide that they want to do another hockey trade, swap out a forward for a different type of forward that maybe if it's the mold, more of the mold they're going for.

That could be something. I think they're pretty much set on defense. I think they're pretty much set in goal. The forward core is the one place where the only real shakeup they did was the Voracek for Atkins and trade. Maybe there's another move to be made there, but I think they look at their forward court. I think they like what they see in general. They like the depth. You know, they maybe don't. I was a proponent for the flyers that, you know, one thing they've lacked, really since Drew has sort of lost a step is they've lacked that dynamic offensive weapon. I think that's

why they looked at a Vladimir Tarasenko. You know, there's other guys out there. They've looked into Patrick Liney in the past. I think that ship has sailed, but that was something I think they did last off season. So I think they know that there's a void there. And if they could potentially get that guy who could supercharge their power play, add that dynamic element in some type of hockey trade, I think they'd look into it. But I do think they like the makeup of their forward core right now, especially in terms of the depth that it has. Before we let you go, Charlie, quick question, I think it's like nine years in a row where the flyers have alternated in the playoffs out, the playoffs, in the playoffs out, something like that. Based on everything they've done so far,

looking at the Eastern Conference and knowing it like you do, and we're going back the old format, are the Philadelphia Flyers the playoff team next year? Well, I mean, if we go by the trend, then yes, they are because they weren't a playoff team last year. I think they've got a decent chance. You know, they definitely did a lot of restructuring. You know, whether they got more talented, I'm not sure.

I think the pieces fit better together. But in truth, the big thing for the Flyers is just that if they don't get the worst goaltending in hockey again, they will probably be at least in the mix for a playoff spot. And that just kind of comes down to does Carter Hart bounce back? I'm a believer in Carter Hart. I believe that last year was a one-off down year. I believe he's going to bounce back next year.

So if I believe that Carter Hart is going to bounce back next year, the logical next step is that therefore I must believe the Flyers are a playoff team because that's the biggest question mark they have in terms of whether they're a playoff team or not. So yeah, I would say they're a playoff team. I don't think they are a, you know, as currently kind of, constituted. I don't think they are a cup contender. But yeah, I think they can be a playoff team as long as Carter Hart returns to some semblance of his past form.

All right. Well, yeah, once again, it's all hinged on goaltending in Philadelphia. Where have we heard that before? Charlie O'Connor, thanks for this. And we look forward to your coverage in the athletic here and kind of recapping what Philadelphia has done here in the opening of free agency. You got it. Thanks for having me. All right, there goes Charlie O'Connor. And before we bring in Sad Yusuf, Haley, we've got a little bit of news trickling in here on the free agency front. Yeah, it sounds like Ryan Getslap has re-signed with the Anaheim Ducks one year times 4.5 million.

I know he was on some board saying could he play somewhere else? Will he come back to Canada? Is he going to stay in Anaheim? It's been like a kind of a low-key storyline, actually. You would think it would be a little bit more significant if he was actually mulling over leaving the Anaheim ducks. But looks like that would have been a non-story anyways as he resigns in Anaheim for one more year 4.5 million. So I wonder if we're going to see something with Ryan Getslath where he just takes

oh my goodness another deal coming in here from our producer, Chris, who's keeping us up to date. But Braden Point, eight years, 9.5 million with the Tampa Bay Lightning. So the money keeps rolling in. It's not even just power hour anymore. It's just power money day. That was terrible. See, I'm not a pun person. I don't know what I'm talking. Ian, you figure. something out to say. But yeah, that's our two pieces of news before we had to sod. Ryan gets left one year, 4.5 million in Braden Point resigning in Tampa, eight years, 9.5. Yeah, you know, the lightning have been pretty good in getting those guys Kuturov locked up like kind of a year out. And this is the time where you can start to lock up

guys who are going to be free agents next year. So a tiny bit of business they're done by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Good news for our next guest. All of the Saad puns were used when we were talking about Brandon's sod. Let's bring in Saad. Youssef, who covers the Dallas stars for us at the Athletic. And the Dallas stars have been busy. Saad, thanks for joining us. Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's always nice to, when I'm able to wake up and see my name trending on Twitter.

And, you know, that only happens when Brandon Saad is doing something. Yeah, exactly. So, hey, listen, let's just jump into it. We kind of heard some low-level talks that Ryan Souter might be thinking about going to Dallas. When did this sort of all come together? and how does Ryan Suter fit into the Dallas Stars picture? Yeah, this was a long time coming. I reported it about a week ago, and really I wrote about it the day he got bought out from Minnesota.

This was a pretty natural fit in terms of what the stars were looking for. They had a budget set for this position, number four, defensemen coming into the off season. It was in that three and a half to four million range. Jamie Alexiak was the preferred candidate to land that, but obviously he got $4.6 million. from the Seattle Cracken. So Dallas had this open spot, and Ryan Souter, the surprising thing was really just the term. He got four years. He's 36 years old. So that's the part of hesitation for a lot of people. But really, in terms of Souter himself, he fits in. He's a lefty. Mero Haskin is a lefty, but Jamie Alexiak was a lefty as well. And Miro can play on his right side

pretty effectively. So that's not really a concern. But I had star sources tell me as well that it's not necessarily locked in that Miro is going to play with Ryan Suter no matter what. John Klingberg's a righty. Suter prefers to play on his left side. So you could go forward and see something where Ryan Suter and Klingberger paired together and Miro Hayskin and S.L. But regardless of what the combination is, that top four is in good standing right now. And the Dallas stars, I believe they had, you know, at least on Monday, they had about $5.5.8 million in caps space left after some of these today in the last couple of days. Where does that stand and how will that impact any future holes that they have left to fill?

They have zero, zero dollars of cap space left. Yeah, but not so much, but not really. So it's always been, it's interesting because, you say 5.8 million, but that 5.8 million was with three goaltenders on the payroll, and that was obviously never going to be the case. So they always had, even if Jake Ottinger, their rookie goaltender, or last season's rookie goaltender, was to play in the H.L, that still adds another million to their pool. So they had around at least 6.8 million. But now when you look at where they are right now, with zero, but like they have four goaltenders on the payroll. And it's really looking unlikely that Ben Bishop is going to be able to play.

season. And if he's on LTIR, that's going to add about $5 million for them to work with. Anton Hudobin still, he might play in Dallas. He could get traded. Obviously, Colorado has an opening for a goaltender. Buffalo doesn't have goaltender. So there's going to be a market for Dallas to work with where Anton Hudobin goes. At the end of the day, though, Jake Audra could end up in the HL and developed there for a year. Braden Holpe, who they just signed, could pair with Anton Houdobin. I did ask Braden Holby, we talked to him about 30 minutes ago, and I asked him what Dallas's pitch was to him. And he said their pitch to him was to be a big part of this team. So he's probably there. Ben Bishop's probably not, I would say. And then it just goes from there

if Jake is in the H.L or if Anton H.Odman gets traded. I need to know from that Braden-Holtby press conference today, did anybody ask him about the paperwork or getting those turtles back across the border back to the United States? No, we didn't quite get to that point. But I, but yeah, we had a lot of, I'm a big fan of the office. So my, once I, once I said that Brayden Holby signed, I just saw a bunch of Michael Scott gifts of where are the turtles. Yes. Amazing. And so. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I'm wondering here. Look, the Dallas stars are a team that went to the Stanley Cup final. People forget they were in the Stanley Cup final basically, you know, less than 12 months ago. And so I'm curious what you think, Saad, like where, like where is this team fit in next year back in the Western Conference,

back in their regular slotting in that division? Are they a playoff team? Are they a Stanley Cup contender? Are they a bubble team? Where do you do the Dallas starts? I think they're definitely a playoff team. They believe they're a Stanley Cup contender. I still think they need a couple of pieces. They really didn't address their middle six forward position at all. They added a couple of really AHL defensemen, and then they added Ryan Suter and Brain Holby, but they didn't add anything on the forward position. I think they're relying on some internal candidates. They have their reigning HL rookie of the year, Riley Damiani. They're probably counting on him to do something. But this is going to be a monster year for the stars.

When you talk about what the expectations are, their expectations have. to be Stanley Cup final or bust because after this year, Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov, John Klingberg, Rick Bonas, they all come off the payroll after this year. So, and that's not to say that Dallas is going to be, you know, completely empty after next year. They have a lot of young talent in place. But when you talk about the current championship window with the veterans that are in place right now, Jamie Ben, by the way, not getting any younger by the year, Tyler Sagan as well. So when you look at all these guys, this year is going to be huge.

And I would say they're a playoff team right now, but they need to get to a point where they can be Stanley Cup contenders. And there are some patience involved with this as well because if Bishop does go to LTIR, whether that's before the season or after, if it's after the season starts, Dallas will have $5 million to work with at the trade deadline. So there's more involved here. But I would say for them internally, they believe they're Stanley Cup contenders. And, you know, I guess last one for me, Saad, and you already talked about the defense core and, you know, any potential holes with this group. How big of a loss was Jamie Alexiac to the Seattle Cracken? It's hard to contextualize that because of who his partner is. And it's, and that's the kind of a conversation that's been in Dallas fan bases and in Dallas circles for a while.

Just like, you know, for Mero Haskinen's rookie year, he played with Roman Polack and Roman. Polack looked like a pretty decent top four NHL defensemen and then Roman Polack was back for another year. So Jamie Alexiak, it's not anything to take away from what Alexiac has done. He's improved in his own right quite a bit. He earned every bit of that Seattle contract that he got. But, you know, when you have someone like Miro Heskinin, I think Ryan Suter is going to fit in just fine and I don't think there's going to be huge drop off from that number four defenseman spot because the number three defenseman is an elite talent. Well, terrific stuff.

Sad, appreciate you dropping by, giving us a little bit more insight on the signing of Ryan Suter and bringing in Braden Holpey. And listen, appreciate this. Looking forward to the coverage in the athletic here coming up. And at some point, we know you're going to ask that turtle question to Braden Holby. We know. Absolutely. Absolutely. Keep up the great word, guys.

Awesome. Thanks so much. There goes, Sad Yusuf. Great to have them on the live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Ian Medes, Haley, Salvean, again with you for about another 10 or 12 minutes. And we do have another couple of signings here. It looks like Ryan De Zingle, who played last season with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Ottawa with Senators, has agreed to a one year, $1.1 million contract with the Arizona

Coyotes. So that's an interesting signing there. Arizona is a curious team. We also have some, we want to encourage our listeners here, just a live show. We want to be interactive with you. We got some questions and some things in the comment section here. In fact, look at this. This is my favorite one.

This one comes in from Nadraj. Anyway, he says, Ian, I'm scared for Brandstrom. And that is probably in regards to Ottawa picking up a couple of defensemen and Nick Holden and Michael Delzato, who play the left side. So when you look at Ottawa's left side and you see Thomas Shabbat and Victor Mette and Eric Brantstrom and Mike Delzato and Nick Holden, you're like, well, hold on. There's three spots and five guys should I be worried for Brantstrom. You know what? The guy I'd be worried about is maybe Victor Mete. Victor Mete needs a new contract.

He's a restricted free agent. It felt like that was a slam dunk, like a thing that was going to happen to foregone conclusion. And here we are in late July. That hasn't been done. So that's the domino that I'm starting to wonder about. I believe, okay, I believe that if they trade Eric Brandstrom Haley, it has to be part of some sort of splashy, aggressive move. you can't trade Eric Brantzstrom in a soft trade because he's the main piece of the return for Mark Stone.

And I know you don't necessarily want to make trades based on reputation, but there is something to that in this market. So to me, I would be confident that Eric Branson will start the season here. And if they do move him, I think it'll be Haley. And you're very familiar with the Ottawa senators in this market. I think it would be in a significant package, right? I think the thing with that, and I've had conversations. when I was on the sentence beat and obviously you don't want to rush your prospect.

Eric Branstrom is still fairly young, but I do think that you haven't quite seen what was expected or hoped from from Eric Brantstrom, especially when you consider the fact that he was the key piece of that Mark Stone trade. And we obviously see what Mark Stone has become and his importance to the Vegas Golden Knights. And you just haven't seen the same value for the Ottawa senators. And so I think the Sends have to strike a balance between being patient. But it's that dumb, I think it was Dom who brought this up once. He was like, it's like a sunk cost fallacy, right?

Like at what point are you just adding value because of that trade instead of just analyzing it from the way that it is? Obviously, I didn't get to see them as much as you would have this year, Ian, and you would probably have your finger on the pulse of his development and what he's projecting more than me at this point now. but, you know, it's going to be a balance for the Sends to, you know that he was the Mark Stone return, but at some point you either have to take your spot on the NHL lineup and be what you were supposed to be, or you have to move on and fill your roster with players who can actually be that.

Projections are great, but you can only project somebody for so long without them actually grabbing hold of that spot. But again, Eric Branson is still quite young. He still has some time. The Sands aren't, you know, about to be thrown right into contending. So there's still a bit of time there. But again, I do think that there's got to be a bit of that balance between those. There's been lots of questions in here that we're seeing. There's been a couple on.

Oh, here we go. This is a fun one. I was reading the comments on it. The Limey Grindr. The Limey Grindr. British fan of the NHL here. Trying to decide what team to follow. I've narrowed it down to four, one in each division, and he goes flames, jets, sabers, blue jackets.

And it looks like this was on our live YouTube channel, and he's getting a little bit of flack for the options that he's narrowed it down to. A couple of fans have said, oh, no, I'm worried about you. You picked some four tough ones there. Well, look, I think if you're going to jump it, if you're an NHL fan, but you need a new team, you got to start at the ground level, right? Like, you can't just jump it and be like, you know, I'm going to cheer for Tampa. Like, get out of here. We don't want you. So we want you to pick a team that's like kind of on the up and up. So look, I'm going to take Winnipeg out of the equation. Winnipeg's a really likable team, but they're a pretty kind of a top 10, 12 team. I take them out of the mix.

Columbus, and I see the Limey Grindr says he likes a work ethic and kind of blue collar mentality. you know the Columbus Blue Jackets might be a team that are headed down that path and it's going to be a couple of tough rebuilding years but my question would be why wouldn't you just start with the Seattle Cracken no like if you're starting with a brand new you're a fandom there's no history there's nothing there's nothing there you're getting in on the ground floor no wouldn't that be the obvious choice yeah and like it's it's going to be one of those things where if you try to talk about the crack and no one's going to be like oh yeah well how long have you been a fan of the Seattle Crack?

And it's like, well, they've only been a lot like a thing for a day. So it's been a whole day. So you have a nice little out there for why'd you get in with the Cracken. Like, well, I'm new to the game. They're new to the NHL. It's a perfect little marriage there. But for us, Ian, I think we can both agree that if you want to hop on a fun bandwagon, it's the Florida Panthers.

I blew up my entire bracket for that team. Yeah. So the Panthers are fun, except when they're losing in the first round of playoffs. but they were against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which brings us a nice little segue to our Tampa Bay Lightning writer. Usually this is you, Ian, but you're very good at segwaying things, and I finally did it for once. But no, we have Joe Smith backstage here. We're going to bring him on. Look at this. Not busy at all for you, Joe, right? No, not at all.

Nothing's happening in Tampa. Hop on a phone call. How are you today? Doing well. I've passed on the Blake Holman B.T.U. Over there. so you have that. But yeah, it's obviously a busy day in Tampa. It's the biggest news with Braden Point signing his eight-year extension, 9.5 million annual value, which matches the highest in the team with Vaselowski and Kutrov, one year away from a shift of free agency. But obviously, it's a huge deal for one of the best players in the National Hockey League, in my opinion. Yeah, and the importance of getting this done now and not going through. We went through it, right? Stamcoast is the great example of how it can drag on and kind of, kind of,

create a cloud. How important is it to get it done proactively, Joe? So next season, you go to training camp, and no one's asking Braden Point about, you know, your next contract and are you going to get moved at the deadline? It's all out the window. No, and that's just for Braden point. That's for the organization. The salary cap crunch is going to be there forever for them, it seems like, and to have that cost certainty of knowing his raise will be $3 million next year, as opposed to knowing it could be $5 million or whatever. It gives both the player and the team conscious of mind of what they can do. And the lady did this before, they signed Victor Hibon a year ahead of free agency in 16. They did on Nikita Kuturov's deal a year ahead of

RFA and Vasilowski did. And the team really approached the players in these cases to say, hey, we want to sign you long term. You're a big part of our future. We'll give you a fair long-term deal security. And the both deals, I think, turned out really well. I mean, Kuturov and Vasselovs at 9.5, I think in this market's going to look really good in a couple of years, especially when the cap goes up. And Joe, you already mentioned that you've passed on the Blake Coleman beat over to me. You confirmed from your sources that what Pierre LeBron had reported already, too, that he signs in Calgary as an unrestricted free agent, six years, $4.9 million. What do you think of that deal?

And what are the flames getting in Blake Coleman who just won two Stanley Cups there in Tampa? It's a great deal for Blake. I talked to him yesterday. He was just kind of anxious and excited. This is like a life-changing contract for him and his family. He's two young daughters and been playing for $1.8 million the last couple of years, which is really good money by all of our standards. But this is his first really big contract.

And he's a very passionate player, a very great two-way player, one of their best penalty killers that line with him in Gordon, Gujarra. I don't know if they win the cup without those guys the last couple of years. And so you'll be able to tell in Calgary when he's playing in the last minute of games, closing out leads and important moments of how key a role he can play. You can score goals too, a two-time-twenty goal score, a guy you can play in the top six if you need to,

probably on second power play if you need to. But one of the best all-round people I've met in this business, and hockey is a lot of great people. I know that, but him and his family are a treat to be around. And so to have him long-term security for him and his family, and, you know, he's going to bring kind of that winning attitude and experience from Lightning to Calgary. You know, Joe, I don't know if you've heard this narrative and story

that the Tampa Lightning kind of went over the cap last year, but I'm wondering now, after the offseason, they lose Yanni Goyd in the expansion draft. Tyler Johnson gets traded to Chicago. Like, are they out of cap jail kind of like right at the point? Like, what's the Tampa Bay Lightning's cap situation as we sit here right now? To call Kuchera, what number one BS, right? I guess. No, it's, they're actually in an okay spot cap wise now.

I mean, moving Tyler Johnson last night was a big part of that, $5 million, AAB the next three years. And so they're up against it this year. You know, they've, they got some kind of bargain signings, Zach Bogosian at 850. You know, you got Brian and Elliot, their backup goaltender at nine. So like they're working around the edges here where they really are against it. But the guys that they're going to try to bring in, the RFA state we need to resign are going to cost them a whole lot. Ross Colton, Calfoot, Taylor Radish and such. So they still have some maneuvering to do, but it's not quite, it's not Capel as you say it again. And it's something they may have to deal with next year, too, when point contract kicks in.

But that's when, you know, Andrea Plot comes off the books, you know, too. So they've been a really good job of navigating it to the point where they've shed 11.5 million, I think, so far, with Yanni Gord being taken and Johnson being taken. And those are two key players in their team, too. So you have to replace them with somebody. But for right now, they're not going to be up against that or $18 million over the cap, as you said, to start this year. And, you know, because of a lot of those cap issues, I think we all assumed that, and I mean, even Stephen Stamcoast and many of the players even mentioned it, but we all kind of knew that that iteration of the Tampa Bay Lightning, you know, we wouldn't see them next season. And then we've already seen a couple of changes as we've mentioned here. What else could be next for the Tampa Bay Lightning?

What other changes could be coming and maybe what holes do they have left to fill? Well, they filled a lot of their holes today, Haley. you know, they've gotten, you know, their defensive depth now with Begosian. He can help there with Calfoot in the sixth spot, you know, Bellarmar and then you have, you know, some two mock got picked up to a couple of their depth signings that'll help either in Syracuse or under their bottom six. The backup goalie's been picked up. So not really a lot of, you know, big splashes to be made today other than the

brain point signing, of course, for them. So they don't really have a lot of roster building to do. As far as for cutting, I think the whole idea was to avoid having to trade a guy like Andre Pallaud or Alex Palorn. They might not have to do that now with the way they're cap situated. There still might be some maneuvering to be, but then we need to make any big widespread changes. So the team does going to look different no matter what. The whole Yanni Gord line's gone.

You know, they lost Luke Shen, you know, the back of going Mechalheny, but a lot of the familiar faces that you saw the last two cup runs, the points, the Kutrovs, the Vasselovsky's, Sirelli's, Sirelli's, Sirelli, Sertch, all those guys will still be here for potentially another run. So these are still well positioned. And they'll need the depth, which always gets hurt in these cup runs when you lose your depth after salary cap in each years, why it makes so hard to repeat. But so that'll be the key fact that I'm going in next year in the penalty kill. But they have a good team. Let's give a chance to do again. Yeah. And if they do it, it's a three-peat.

And I guess maybe we'll end on this question. And look, in the history of hockey we've had, the Montreal Canadiensy, dynasty won five in the 1950s. They won four in the 70s. The Islanders won four. The Oilers won five and seven. And here's my question for you, Joe, in the cap era, if the Tampa Bay Lightning can achieve a three, Pete, and as you mentioned, they got all those core guys, I think they would be a terrific bet to do so. Is there an argument to be made that the Tampa Bay Lightning become the greatest dynasty in hockey history because winning three Stanley Cups in the salary cap era is probably the equivalent of winning four or five in the non-cap era? It's a fascinating question, and it'd be hard to say that right now before they won the third one.

I know they're, I mean, the third dynasty by this cap standards, right? I don't know. I've talked to Brian Inblon before about them playing against the least 70s Canadians at how it would work out. Will Flore against Kuthorov and Larry Robinson and Hedman. I would be loved to see those games in different styles and different equipment. But yeah, I think in the modern day, just two cups like the Pittsburgh Pendman said, is going close to a dynasty. And with the fact, the lightning event of conference finals in five the last seven years and I really have this run of success. If they do a third one, then you're talking about some of the best of all time. So, but they have long work, a lot of work to do before that happens. It's only on, what, July 25th guys.

So we have some long time to go before that happens. Well, hey, Joe, we really reached out to you right after that, Braden Point News. So for you to jump out of this show, very much appreciated. Listen, thanks for doing this. And nobody who works under the athletic umbrella on the hockey side deserves more time off than Joe Smith after covering back-to-back Stanley Cup championship. So hopefully we don't see or hear from you in the month of August, but thanks for doing this. Is there another cottage somebody has I can go to?

the Pierlaubon has extra cottage I can go to, like, for six weeks. I can announce on Twitter tomorrow. I'm going to my cottage up in Lake Michigan. So, yeah. Yeah. And no jury duty this time, Joe. You came right off that and went right into jury duty. So you need a break.

Well, parade to jury duty. I wouldn't rather have it any other way, I guess, right? Yeah. Thanks so much, guys. Take care. All right, you too. There goes Joe Smith. And yeah, nobody deserves more time off than him.

Hey, he mentioned Luke Shen. We should point out as we wrap up this live edition, the athletic hockey show. Luke Shen, two years to Vancouver at about 8, 50,000 reportedly. And then our Mike Russo, who has been all over this because he did talk about the idea of the Falino brothers reuniting in Minnesota with Marcus already there, but all signs seem to be pointing to Nick going to Boston. So Nick Falino, who ended up last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after going to Columbus is going to go to another original six team.

Looks like Nick Falino in Boston, Haley. Yep. And last one that kind of came rolling through here while we were with Joe is Matthias Janmark is going to stay in Vegas one year at $2 million. So just a couple of little new newsworthy pieces that came through what we were talking to Joe. And, you know, there's still a ton of UFAs on the board, still potential trades. Jack Eichel still sitting out there in Buffalo or he's probably not actually sitting in Buffalo.

He's probably wherever. And then Dougie Hamilton is still an unrestricted free agent. So we're going to see a couple more things come through either today or the coming days, but it should continue to be exciting times. Yeah, listen, and this was great. Always great to connect with you in the live format, Haley. And we should point out, I got this extra session with you because we're going to have to find a pinch hitter for you for the athletic hockey show on Monday because, well, you're going to take some well-deserved time off here from the podcasting side of things. And I know you got a little bit of travel here.

So listen, this was great to do this. The hour flew by and looking forward to, hey, it was a busy day for the Calgary Flames. I know both of us as soon as we turn off this live stream, we're going to end up going right to the keyboard here. So this is going to be a pretty intense afternoon for you, I'm sure. Yeah, right. Talking about what the flames have done here, I'm always scared on these days to start writing too soon because something could happen and everything will change.

I started to do a little bit on Zedorov, and then they signed Blake Coleman, and it's been a little bit quiet since then. And I mean, it's still not official. There hasn't been a release from the team yet, so we'll see. But I don't know, I'm just kind of waiting for another shoot-ed-drop potentially here. but I probably shouldn't leave. All right.

Well, hey, listen, Haley, we'll leave it there. Enjoy, hopefully, like I said, a little bit of downtime. And we'll find a co-host that can jump into the Athletic Hockey Show on Monday. I want to thank all of our listeners who are listening, either on the podcast side of things, but certainly anybody who tuned into this live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show here on our live stream. Thanks for everybody for putting this together. Chris Flannery does a terrific job as our producer.

That does it for this live edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And we want to remind you, if you're not a subscriber to the Athletic on the print side of things, go to theathletic.com slash hockey show. And you can get a discounted subscription to us. So thanks for tuning in. And we'll catch you on the next edition of The Athletic High Show.