The Athletic Hockey Show - Oilers aim to tie NHL winning streak record in Vegas, Kings coaching change and Bo Horvat is an Eagle

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Ian Mendes, Jesse Granger and Down Goes Brown discuss the game of the night in the NHL between the Golden Knights and the Oilers, as Edmonton looks to extend their winning streak to 17 games.The guys discuss the downward spiral for the LA Kings as they make a coaching change with Jim Hiller and DJ Smith stepping up, the NHL announcing their participation in the next two Winter Olympics, interest from Cincinnati, Kansas City, Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City and Omaha to join the league and Patrick Roy's comments on Bo Horvat leading the way for the New York Islanders.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is The Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome to it, everybody. It is your Tuesday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. It's Ian Mendez with you. And we got Jesse Granger sitting in with us for the hour. And to kick things off, we actually have Down Goes Brown, Sean McAdoo. So kind of a three-headed monster to kick it off. And, Sean, this is a big week for you.

Your favorite team is in the Super Bowl, San Francisco 49ers, and the Super Bowl is in the town. where Mr. Granger lives. And it's, but the game of the week, it's Oilers, it's Oilers in Vegas, right? Jesse,

that's the game of, all the buzz in Vegas right now is, yeah. Definitely the biggest deal in town is Golden Ice game tonight. So I'm looking forward to that. Everyone's like, how many times is CMAC going to score?

And they're like, you mean Connor McDavid, right? And they're like, yeah, of course, there aren't any others. Yeah.

There are lots of fun props between the sports. I don't have any in front of me right now, but I love the cross sport crops who like what will be more CMC's touchdowns or McDavid's goals tonight. Love it. Oh, I love it. Give us a sense. Give our listeners a sense when the Super Bowl comes, rolls into your town and your city.

And I know the Vegas Golden Knights, they don't play this weekend. And that's probably, I guess I assume that's intentional. But what's it like for you? I mean, are you getting out? Are you going to be getting out doing any Super Bowl related stuff this week? No, I am not. I think it's a little different for me because I live in a city where like the Super Bowl is like the like the third thing that's happened in the last like three weeks. That's like Formula One just ended and it's like it's Vegas.

So there's always something big happening here. So you kind of just become numb to it. Yeah, there's like extra. You see billboards and stuff all over town when you, if the rare time you drive down the strip, they've got everything all blocked off. And it's like the Belagio fountains. They've got the stages for all the football TV sets and all that. So you do see that it's happening. And the stadiums obviously colored in all the Super Bowl colors.

But it's, I think if you live in a town that doesn't get a bunch of events, you really notice like, oh, man, the Super Bowl's in town. It's in the town feels crazy right now. But in Vegas, it's like, it's just Tuesday. That's, yeah, that's what. Sean and I live in Ottawa. So, you know, when they have rib fest roll into town, we get fired up. Dude, I've told the story before, but the first time. that I went to Vegas.

I went for like four days. I came back to Ottawa. It took me like two weeks to readjust. I was like, why is everything so dark and gray? There's no color anywhere. Like I was, my brain chemistry had been warped.

Yeah, by being in that city for a few days. Man, I'm not sure if you could juxtapose or contrast two cities in North America. Is there a bigger difference than Ottawa and Vegas? Like,

I'd love to know. Like, give me another example of two. cities that could be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Yeah. Like it, that might be right up there. Winnipeg,

you know, would maybe try to plant a flag somewhere, but. With New York City maybe, Winnipeg and, the weather. I think Winnipeg in like, like Miami,

like South Beach. Yeah. Maybe. Yep. Right? Mm-hmm. Maybe that would be it. Um,

but we're talking about this Vegas game of the week and the Oilers roll in. And they come in on a 16 game winning streak that was only interrupted by their by week. So they're trying to get to 17, which would tie the record. So how the Golden Knights kind of approaching this game, Jesse, because I think you look at this and like you would say, okay, Edmonton's the team to beat in the NHL right now, 16 in a row, but the Vegas Golden Knights are like, hey, we got a banner here that says we're the team to beat. So who's got more to prove maybe in this one on Tuesday night? Yeah, I think they both have a lot to prove. And that's why it's going to be a really fun game.

talking to a couple players just sort of like just chatting with them in the locker room yesterday about like how excited are you guys for this game. And they basically said the streak, they could not care less about that part of it. It doesn't really motivate them. But I think this is the Golden Knights biggest rivalry right now. Like they had a little bit of a rivalry with the sharks a few years ago. And that obviously has dissipated because nobody's left from that shark's team. And the sharks are not any good anymore. But they, they had that playoff series with the Oilers last year. Of all the series, to that cup run, the Oilers pushed them the furthest. And it looked at one point like the Oilers were going to win that series. And then Vegas ends up winning a few in a row and knocks them out in Edmonton.

There was a lot of animosity. I can remember after that series talking to guys about the handshake line was not the friendliest handshake line they've ever been a part of in their careers. These teams do not like each other. And I think there's some genuine animosity between them. Plus, you've got the division race. Edmonton has climbed right back into that. They were a ways out early in the season, but now they're right there.

So Vegas does need to win to keep home ice. If those two, I mean, if Vancouver keeps it up, those two are headed for a first round matchup with the two and three seats. So this game could play a role in who has home ice in the playoffs. There's a lot at stake. And I think both teams have a lot to prove. Vegas obviously isn't healthy right now. But even getting William Carlson back, which looks like he's going to play tonight,

they're a little closer to being full strength. And I think this is going to be a good measuring. for both teams. And even though they said they don't care about the streak, when you don't like a team, if you can ruin their chance to make history, you absolutely want to do that. So it should be fun tonight. I can't wait to see what happens. You know, Sean, I'm curious because Jesse brings up Vancouver. If I had to ask you, Sean, who's the team the beat in the Pacific right now coming out of the All-Star break? Is it the defending Stanley Cup champion, Vegas Golden Knights? Is it the Red Hot winners of 16 a row Edmonton Oilers? Or is it?

the kind of surprising, hey, we might win the president's trophy, Vancouver Canucks. Right now, who's the team to beat? It's a tough one, right? Because, I mean, in theory, you should say it's the defending champs until somebody beats them. Then they're the team to beat. Canucks fans would point to the standings and say, guys, it's not last year. It's this year. And we've been the best team so far.

I do my weekly rankings where I'm trying to pick Stanley Cup odds, Stanley Cup favorites. I've had Edmonton ahead of both those teams for a few weeks. now. Had Vegas near the top for most of the first half until they, they cooled off, have not, I've had Vancouver on the list a couple of times, but not enough for those Vancouver fans. They're not very impressed with me because I'm just not fully buying in yet. I'm going to say Edmonton's the team to beat. Imagine thinking that back in October. Imagine thinking we would have this conversation and you would say in the midst of, whatever, they won two of 12, saying that coming out of the All-Star break,

and that Los Angeles doesn't even factor in? Oh, yeah. It's, there has been a switch flipped on, on that division, where it looked like it was all about Vegas versus L.A. And running away with it. And it just, it's been something else. It really has. Yeah.

I mean, Jesse, we're talking about Vancouver's been good. Edmonton's been great. Vegas is being pretty good this year, but L.A. I mean, Jimmy Hiller comes in to takeover for Todd McClellan. DJ Smith is now going to be going over there and being an assistant. I mean, how shocked are you that L.A. has really fallen off a cliff. I think it's two wins and 16 for them. I mean, I was saying it was going to happen, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

But to me, what happened was Cam Talbot had a great start to the season, better than anyone expected him to have. and they decided, oh, I guess we don't need a backup goalie. We're just going to play Cam Talbot 82 games, and that's going to work. And I feel like everyone else in the entire hockey world is looking at it like, Cam Talbot's going to run out of gas. And I thought it would take a little longer than this, but it didn't take very long. And now they're playing David Ridditch every other night.

That team does not have a good enough backup goalie to trust. I think Cam Talbot can be good if he plays 55 to 60%. of your games, not 90% of them. And I think that once that fell off, you stop trusting the goal tending and then the rest, the defensemen start trying to do the goalie's job and the system just falls apart and the whole team just hasn't looked good since. So I think if they can get a, there are so many legitimate backups on the, on the market, Marazic, guys like that, uh, Rimer, get one of those guys in that you trust to play behind

Camp Talbot and let Cam Talbot try to get back to that form early in the season because to me, that's been the difference for L.A. is the goaltending was phenomenal to start the year and it's been terrible lately. I was going to ask, Jesse, as a goalie, if you get overused and worn down, is that something you can get back as the season goes on or is this just like, hey, you guys burned out that resource and now the rest of the year, you're not necessarily going to have full power at Camp Talbot. Yeah, I mean, that's tough to answer. I've obviously never been in that situation.

I don't know what it's like trying to get it back, but I have to imagine, especially after an all-star break, like, you do get your batteries recharged a little bit. And I think also it's mental as much as it is, like the physical drain is like knowing you're the starter and the team knowing every time Cam Talbot's not out there, we're in trouble tonight. Like we're going to have to be perfect to win. I think puts a lot of pressure on a guy that hadn't, he like, he used to be a workhorse back in the day, but it had been a while since Camtalba had played more than, I don't know, 20, 30 games in a season. So I think the whole totality of just becoming a workhorse overnight just didn't work out.

And I think maybe he can get it back. I mean, I don't know for sure, but I would guess that if they can get somebody else in there that they believe in and give Talbot the rest he needs, I think he could get it back eventually. Do you think DJ Smith is having some deja vu? He's going to L.A. looks at the goaltending situation. He's like, this feels awfully familiar. Camp Talbot, unstable goaltending.

not going to vote. But it's nice to see DJ Smith back in there. Boy, Cam Talbot a couple of years ago was in Minnesota and he was a bit of a war course, right? That season of Minnesota. And then Flurry came in and took the job. Last year, he just never quite got on track in Ottawa.

And like you said, great start to the season. One of the nicest guys in the National Hockey League is Cam Talbot. Great guy to deal with. Great to talk about the crafts of goaltending, all that. As you know, Jesse. But we'll see what happens in L.A. So Edmonton going to try his set or tie, sorry, the record, 17 straight wins. That was done by the 93 penguins.

And if you check out the athletic, there's a collab piece. It's, I guess, DnB and DGB with, I don't know, do we know Gentile's middle name? Other Sean. Yeah, other Sean. Gentile, Daniel Lugent Bowman, Sean McIndoo have created a little debate. And the debate is this, with the Oilers on the precipice of tying the penguins for 17. consecutive wins in a row in the regular season, who is the better

dynasty or who can lay claim to being the better franchise? Is it the Oilers who were so dominant in the 80s? Or is it the penguins who have five Stanley cups of their own? So what was the consensus here? And let me just say, this is

head to head is because you've got this situation where I mean, the Oilers and penguins have always kind of seem sort of tied together ever since Gretzky passes the torch to Lemieux and then Crosby kind of passes it passes back to McDavid. But I'm, this is just these two teams.

So settle down old people who want me to do the Montreal Canadians or you know, you know, what about the Islanders or what about like? Settle down. It's these two teams. One v.1. And, uh, yeah, basically my, I, I kind of came up with this idea. I came up with 10 categories. And then I put them out there and I just sort of step back and let the boys fight it out.

And to their credit, they did. It got a little ugly in some parts, to be honest. It was great. It may have, may have, you know, we might have a fractured dressing room at the, at the athletic now, but hopefully it was worth it. But, but Gentil, like Daniel Lugenton Bowman, he is the gentleman of this argument. And Gentilly is the, he's the agitator. And Gentile pulled the veteran move, which is behind the scenes, he let, he let Daniel put

his answers in first. Yes. Classic veteran move, right? then you get to come in and respond. I mean, really it was, it was tough. Daniel, yeah, a little bit too young and trusting maybe for this sort of exercise,

but he held his own. He was, he was throwing some haymakers there too. Oh, man. And no one stirs the pot like you with your just, my favorite part of it was like, every time it started to the spice level started to drop just a little bit. Sean would jump in and just,

let me just, let me just rekindle this fire a little bit, give it a couple little pokes with fireplace poker. Little spear, a little face wash, and then you'd back out of the pile. And, you know, the linesman's holding me back, but maybe these two will square off. Yeah, sure. Yeah. You know, at the end of the day, like, I think the great debate is right off the top of

that piece where it's like, kind of like, would you rather win five Stanley Cups in a tight window of seven years and sort of lay claim to be one of the most dominant teams ever? Or would you rather sprinkle those five cups over 27 years? Me personally, I'm taking the latter one. I would want five cups over 27 years. Let's let Sean jump in with it. I'll take one cup. Oh, yeah.

I mean, just such an easy question for a guy like me to answer. You know, look, I'd sprinkle them, but also, you know, there's a case to be made that says like,

hey, that Oilers team was one of the all-time greats, maybe the best team ever, period. Like some people would, would make that case. So do you take that over, you know, as maybe like the Crosby era teams those are good teams I don't think anyone's considering them

among the best of the best the the the Mario era teams great but only only one or two of them so I mean there's something to be said that historically you get the you know to be the very best of the best is uh is is something else but um I would I would take the the sprinkledge but I again I mean I'll you could sprinkle one over 50 years for me at this point I'll be happy with that Granger's got his cup for the team he covers. So he's, yes,

I was lucky as a kid growing up to as an abse. I mean, yeah, yeah, the first hockey season I ever remember watching was the abs, eating the Panthers. That was, that was like my first introduction to hockey.

So I've been very spoiled, both as a fan and as a reporter. I'm lucky with that. Oh, man. This is shock you, Sean, just real quick.

Like, the Oilers right now have won 16 in a row, which is a franchise record. But that Oilers team of the 80s, They never won 10 in a row at any point, which is odd when you think about Gratsky and Curry and Messier and coffee and Anderson and Fuhr and whatever. Like they didn't win against like, you know, some bad teams like Hartford and the Norris division and like.

And there was no shootout back then and no three on three overtime. But also. How did they not win 10 in a row? I think they just got bored. I think somebody told me there was one year that they won eight in a row like three or four times in the same seat. Like, I mean, they just, they, they, they couldn't keep their attention focused for three weeks at a time, knowing that, you know, when they got to the playoffs, that's when,

when the real hockey was going to start. Okay. Hey, before we let you go, Sean, I want to play a little audio from Monday night where at Scotia Bank Arena, the New York Islanders came in. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was Pierre Engval's first game back in an opposing, in an opposing jersey. And have a listen as the PA announcer, Mike Ross, announced. is the return of Pierre Engball.

Okay. So the best way to describe that is the crowd goes mild. Yeah. Right? The crowd goes mild. Like, there's like no reaction. Now, Engval played what? Parts of four seasons in Toronto.

You say so, sure. If hockey DB says so. So I want to know. Like sometimes we get angry for no reason in hockey people, like stop with the video and tributes. But do we have a good test case here? Is this the test case to say like the Engval line? Like if you played fewer games in Pierre Engval,

maybe this should be our warning that maybe you shouldn't do a video. And this isn't a full-fledged. This is just a scoreboard, hey, welcome back video, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to be one of those old guys. Like I'm like, what are we doing here? Does everybody who ever played for a team need like a whole video and a while? welcome back and all that.

And I get part of it is, um, if they don't do it, somebody like us is out there going, oh, the Leafs, they're not, you know,

we got to break out that word that we all love so much. They're not classy. You've got to be classy. Man, I never heard that word when I was a kid growing up as a hockey fan. If I, if you heard the word classy in hockey, it was because someone was talking about Jean Bellavo.

That was the only time you heard it. Now suddenly everybody's so classy and doing all this. Man, I would be fine if somebody's not at least in consideration to retire their number when they're done, they don't need a video. You don't need like, you know, hey, welcome back after, you know, three years. Like, I don't know. Is Riley Smith getting one for? Oh, he got one, a big, he got one a big one here back in Vegas.

But the Golden Knights, the Golden Knights go extreme. They're like, yeah, but John Merrill got one when he came back to Vegas. The Golden Knights do it to. If you played one game in Vegas, you're getting one when you come back. Like that they, I don't know if there's a team in the league with you. You mentioned like, where's the bar? Where's the cutoff? Vegas is bars as low as it'll get.

And I think it's just because they don't want to have to make that decision or like explain why one guy got it. They're just like, everyone gets it. If you played one game for the Golden Knights, you're getting a video. Like there's got to be a middle ground behind. Something that I don't love, which is fans booing guys who come back where it was like the guy got traded. the guy left his free agent. You don't have to, like, not every departure is a betrayal. You don't have to boo and get, you know, get all worked up about that.

But then also this, you know, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back this guy that you forgot ever played here. I don't know. Do we need to do all that? I don't know. I'm not a big. The worst is when it's like two guys on a team and like one of them has been around for eight years and the other guy was there for like six weeks. And now it's awkward and it's like, well, we got to do both of them, I guess. and it's just, I don't know, man.

And then, of course, Angval scores a winning goal, probably because he was inspired. Yes. He was like, oh, right, I did play here. I kind of remember. I thought this place looked familiar. And then he goes out and scores a winning goal. The Riley Smith video in Vegas, it was hilarious because he's injured. Riley Smith's injured.

So he's not playing in the game. But they made him walk out onto the bench and just stand there so that when they showed the video, they could, like, pan down to him so that everyone could, like, clap for him. And what cracked me up is Riley is in like a normal hockey player, like a hoodie and sweatpants. But he went back and put a suit on just for that so that he could walk out on the bench and he has his tie and his suit and he looks all sharp. And they show him for five seconds and the crowd applause. And then not even 10 minutes later goes to intermission. And he's back out on the bench talking with Jonathan Marsha.

So in his hoodie and sweatpants. It's like he literally had that suit on for five minutes. Just so he could be on video for his tribute. video to get the applause. It was a great showmanship. And just on like the suit, like the Zoom call special. Just that that would have been even better. Oh, man.

All right. Hey, Sean, listen, thanks for hanging out with us for a few. Do you have anything coming up? Do you want to plug that, again, your favorite football team is,

are we going to get an NFL collab? Kind of a. You know what? I've been sitting around waiting for the invitation from the NFL folks and it just hasn't come. Although I will say this. I got a piece coming up later. week. It's got a little bit of an NFL tie-in.

And it's one that I've had a lot of people ask me about. And I haven't done before because I couldn't really figure out the hockey angle. And that is the NFL concept that any football fan I think is familiar with of the score of gammy, the unique score in NFL history. And I had people say, like, you should do the NHL version of that. And you can't really, it doesn't work the same way. But what I did when I had a reader requested? And they said, when was the last time each score in NHL history happened. And so I've gone down the list and I put that together.

There's a little bit of a research project. Obviously, some of them are more recent than others. Some of them, you've got to go back to the 90s to the 80s, even way back before that on some of these really unique scores. And I've just got just a line or two, but an explanation of what exactly happened in this game, what's it memorable for, and what sticks out about a score that hasn't happened in however many years in NHL. history. So, okay, so real quick, just for an explainer, what's the cutoff of the highest score?

Like, and nine? The most goals ever scored in the NHL by one team is 16. So the Rangers, right? Rangers. That was, no, the Rangers gave up 15 a couple times. 16 was a, it was like a Montreal Quebec game in the 20. So I, I started with the 16 by 16 grid. Obviously, most of those high numbers are, are empty. So, I mean, if you're looking for a score of gammy, I mean, nobody's, there hasn't been a 16 to 15 game in, right, in the NHL. But And I do answer some of that. Like, what's the highest scoring tie? What's the highest scoring one goal game?

What are the ones that haven't happened and all of that? But yeah, it's, it was a bit of a journey. And if you're a history buff, you might enjoy it. And the fun part is there were games popping up in there. Obviously, there were a lot of games that I've never heard of or, you know, some game between Buffalo and Minnesota in 1982. But there are some well-known games in there, including one that, you know, Both of you be familiar with,

but I got goalie fan and Habs fan. The Patrick Wagee, Montreal, Detroit. 9-2, right? He's on the list. Yeah, the 95. No,

he got pulled after 9-g, 11. 11, right? 11-1 or 11-2. Yeah, yeah. It's the last of those games that we've ever seen. Beauty.

Love it. All right. We'll look forward to that. Listen, thanks for hanging out, and we'll hit you up again next week. Right on. Sounds good. There he goes.

Sean McAdoe, better known as Down Goes Brown, joining us here on the Tuesday edition of the athletic hockey ship. Great to have Sean McAdo on as always, Jesse. Actually, I should have set up. I should have confirmed my Super Bowl plans with him. Sean and I have watched virtually every Super Bowl together since the mid-1990s. I think Green Bay and Denver back in the

day. Starting at that like whatever, in 97, I think it was the, actually it might even even have been Green Bay, New England the year before. I think that,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, would have been the first one. And I think that we've watched almost

every one of them together, but it's tricky, because now his team is in the Super Bowl, right? So I can't, as a Dallas fan, you can't go in there and kind of mock the guy. Like,

it's a Super Bowl, right? Like, to me, I'm not like, I'm very respectful of it. If your favorite teams in the Super Bowl, I'm not going to be a jerk and chirp you. Is that fair?

I was, yeah, I mean, my buddy is a big Eagles fan. And I was at his house for a Super Bowl party last year when the chiefs beat the Eagles. And so we all saw him just devastated. And you kind of revel in it in like the beginning,

but then you quickly feel bad for him. So yeah, I'm on the same page as you. I'd rather, it's more fun to watch them win their Super Bowl, watching them lose their Super Bowl. their team lose the Super Bowl is pretty devastating. Yeah, it kind of sucks, to be honest.

So, yeah, anyway, that's the plan. I'll go hang out with him on Sunday. Hey, you know, it's funny. You mentioned the Eagles. Patrick Waugh mentioned the Eagle in his post-game press conference. I want people to listen. We were just talking about this game with the Engval game winner and the Islanders beaten the leaves.

And after the game, Patrick Waugh was asked about Bo Horvatt, who in the middle of the game, drop the gloves, stuck up for a teammate. Have a listen. Here's Patrick Waugh talking about Horbat. The Horbat stepping up there after the Barzell hit. This is who he is. He's a leader on this team.

I mean, leader, you know, always take care of their teammates. I mean, in life you have a chance you could be an eagle or a duck. He was an eagle there. All right. So, Jesse, I didn't know this. I didn't know that in life you have two choices. You can be an eagle or you can be a duck. now are ducks that are ducks that low on the I was thinking the exact same thing I feel like he could have gone lower than ducks no my initial reaction was man ducks are getting

a bad rap here I like yeah I feel like a duck is a pretty good animal like I kind of like I'd rather be a duck than an eagle I feel like that would be more relaxing yeah I think I'd still pick to be an eagle if you gave me the choice but it's not like I said I it's this we we use like rats get that connotation a lot right like rat like that what's the worst animal a rat i would not think a duck would be down in that category but uh according to patrick why maybe maybe patrick why he just had some run-ins with the anaheim ducks he just doesn't like that animal j s jgare back of the day he had problems like i i think it like clearly he wanted to stay with a winged animal right like he was going eagle or a duck i think he said in life

you could be either an eagle or a pigeon yeah right especially in hockey right like I'm wearing could be a pigeon. Pigeon is a common like chirp in hockey. Yeah, exactly. Oh man, that guy's a pigeon. Yeah, exactly.

But I will say, even though I disagree with the duck being the worst animal, it was a great line. And I love the post game poetry from Patrick Wall. And I'm just, I'm loving Patrick Waugh being back behind the bench. And he's just so much entertainment. And poetry with Patrick should be a segment now after games.

if he can give us some one-liners like this. Yeah, and it's entertaining. It's colorful and it was fun. So Patrick Gaw, with the Eagle and the Duck stuff. Some news to get into on Tuesday, and we want to say a heartfelt congratulations to Chicago fans. You're finally getting an outdoor game. Winter Classic's going to be at Wrigley.

It's been a long time. It's been this 2019. This fan base has had to go without an outdoor game. Jesse, this is the sixth. time that Chicago will be playing an outdoor game. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times, the first to report it, our palmark Lazarus confirmed it,

but they're going to host St. Louis in an outdoor game. The Winter Classic is back at Wrigley, January 1st, 2025. Yeah, it's funny because I was at the Winter Classic this year, obviously with the Golden Knights playing in Seattle, and everyone, basically, it was covering that game. We were all in agreement that it was going to be the Blackhawks at Wrigley next year because of Biddard.

And yes, yes, yes, I get it. They've had too many outdoor games. And we love complaining that the NHL gives the Blackhawks too many outdoor games. But you know what else we also complain about the NHL is don't we all say the NHL doesn't do a good enough job of promoting its stars and and building up its superstars. And you know what? You can criticize them for giving the Blackhawks another game. But they're doing this the correct way.

Get Connor Bidard on Riggily Field. Get him on the big stage as early. as you possibly can. I think that this is, even though, yes, it's their sixth outdoor game, I think this is the right move. Get Connor Bedard on the big stage as soon as you can. And Wrigley Fields is a great venue to do it.

But couldn't you have made them the road team? Yeah, maybe. Our problem, Mark Lazarus tweeted out on Tuesday, talking about, look, this is the sixth time that they've done this. And Laz tweets out at this point, the only options left for yet another Blackhawks outdoor jersey will be using a picture of Wayne Campbell or Clark Griswold is the primary logo.

Now, I'll be honest with you. Clark Griswold, of course, I do Clark Griswold, Christmas vacation. I had to double check that Wayne from Wayne's world that Wayne, I didn't know that his last name was Campbell. I did not know who Wayne Campbell was until you just said Wayne's World just now. Okay, then I don't feel so bad because I actually looked it up. I'm like, Wayne Campbell, like I watch Wayne's World. I know the character. I knew that there's Chicago connection.

I don't remember his name was Wayne Campbell. I would not have guessed that. No. I play against a beer league team that is called the Swingers and they've got Wayne Campbell on his face on their jersey. So if the Blackhawks need a template, I know a team. You know a guy. Oh, man. I love it.

Hey, the NHL All-Star game happened on the weekend, and there was a lot of news that came out of it, Jesse, including the fact that the NHL finally going back to the Olympic Games in 2026. And I want to ask you right now, if you're looking at the rosters and you have to say, and if we said the Americans and the Canadians are the two deepest, strongest rosters, I'm not saying nobody else can win the tournament. I'm just saying, I think, on balance,

those are the two deepest rosters. do you think the Americans have the edge right now? Like, again, obviously a lot can happen between now and then. But if we were starting the tournament now in February of 2024, it's hard to argue that the Americans wouldn't be the favorite, right? Well, you know me. I'm going to go straight to goalies. I think forwards and defensemen, just the skaters,

I think it's very, very close. And I think you could argue Canada. I think you could argue U.S. And I think you could legitimately argue either side. But then once you take the goalies into account, I mean, the U.S. has got Hellebuck, who's the best goal in the league right now by every metric. Thatcher Demko, who's probably second behind him in the Vesina. And Jeremy Swamen, who I just said yesterday on a podcast, he's to me, Jeremy Swamon is top five goalie in the NHL. Linus Olmark is the defending Vesna champion. I think he's not even the best goalie on his own team. So the U.S. has three superstar goalies to choose from, and Canada doesn't. to me, even though, like, I think I might give the skaters a little bit of an edge to Canada, but to me, the goalies push it overwhelmingly to the U.S. as being a favorite. What do you think?

Yeah, like the Americas, look, the star power up front, like Austin Matthews, you would put up against any, almost anybody, right? But Canada would have McDavid and McKinnon and Crosby and Bader. Like, boy, that's generational talent, right? But the, but they have. Americans have unbelievable talent there, right? The Kachuk brothers and the Hughes brothers. And, you know, like, there's a lot of firepower and talent there. Robertson, like, like, elite, elite talent. I just don't know if I was to look at this.

Like, it's amazing to me that you're like, okay, yeah, Hellopuck would probably start. But if he faltered in game one, you can just go to Thatcher Demko or to Jeremy Swayman. I don't know who would start game one for Canada if we're doing it today. My guess, Jesse, is it's Jordan Bennington. If it was me, if I was the coach making the decision, it's Aiden Hill. I think Aiden Hill is phenomenal. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. And I think early on in Vegas, I was given a lot more credit to the defense in front of him and they deserved it. They make life easy on him. But the more I've watched Aden Hill in Vegas, the more impressed, the more my opinion has changed on him. I think he's one of the better goalies in the league. and obviously he doesn't have the track record of some other guys.

But, I mean, to me, he's got just as much of a track record as Jordan Bittington. Bittington had one miraculous playoff run just like Hill has. So if it were me right now and I was the coach for Canada, I'm putting Aden Hill in that. It's amazing to me, too, that like, I think a few years ago you would have figured John Gibson would have been in the running to maybe be the startup, but certainly in the conversation to be one of the three guys. And he's not even on the radar, right? Right.

U.S. goalies are taken over. It's been quite the run. Like what, like, what is it about the way that they've developed goalies in the last decade? Like, is there anything you can,

because I think in Canada, we're starting to really have this feeling of, uh-oh, that French Canadian goalie factory, it's like they shut the, you know, they shut the, uh,

the factory down. Hey, because for a while there was Marty Bordura, and Patrick Guay and Mark Andre Fleury and, and it was like boom boom boom loo. Bobby Lou. Yeah, exactly. Now you're like, hey,

that conveyor about this stop. What's happening in America? Well, I think it, so I've actually done a lot of reporting on this subject just the last couple of years because I wrote a story on the Russian development last year. I did a story because Russia has taken over with goalies too. I mean,

and this, if they did it on best on best and Russia's in it, I mean, they've got five guys at goal. Like Bobrovsky just carried his team to the cup final. and he's like the fifth best goalie for Russia. And then this year I did a story with Eric DeHatchek on kind of just big picture goalie as a position. And we talked a lot about Canada not producing.

And I think part of it is waves. And I even talking to Vasilevsky about it. And he was even saying like, okay, yeah, Russia, we're on top right now. But I wouldn't get too cocky about it because this is, it goes in waves. And it's our time right now. But eventually it'll be Canada's time again. So I do think there's something to that. But I think if you're trying to point out one specific thing that maybe Canada's doing wrong,

I think they're over technicalizing the position. I think they're teaching technique very, very young, and they're turning the goalies a little robotic and not using their instincts as much. They're thinking through the saves too much. They're trying to get into the perfect position every time rather than just staying square to the puck and reacting to it. So this is not there. There is no guaranteed answer because if it was that easy, they would have just fixed it.

So I think that there's a lot of factors, but I think more than anything, I think it's waves. I think 10 years from now, we're going to be looking at five stud Canadian goalies. They're going to be saying, remember when Canada had no goalies a few years ago? So it goes quickly. I mean, US, we see how quickly you can go with these US goalies taken over. So I think we're just in the middle of a wave of a lot of Canadian, great Canadian goalies kind of left the game. They retired.

They got old. And we just haven't got the new wave yet. you know, yeah, like to me, it's such a, such a shortcoming to Canada's roster. As you look ahead to 2026, like, I love, I love all the aspects of their roster, except, like, the Americans, the Russians, like, there's so many other countries that potentially, if they're playing at the Olympics, the Russians, but like where Canada would probably slot in, what, fourth or fifth maybe in goalpending, like somewhere in that neighborhood, like. Yeah, because Finland and Sweden both have excellent goalies. Yeah. Yeah, Canada would definitely be of all the teams that, like you say, like, U.S. and Canada are the favorites, but there are five countries that could win it if they, like,

play their best. If they have that run, they could win it. Of all the teams that could win gold, I think Canada probably has the worst goalies. But Aden Hill just won the cup and was almost the Kahn Smyth winner. So maybe we're not giving him enough credit. Maybe he'll come in and show us, prove us wrong. I want to talk about one other aspect of American hockey that was brought up by the commissioner, Gary Bettman, and that is expansion.

And Jesse, during his press conference, he kind of openly mused about some cities that have reached out to him. And Gary Bettman said, the following U.S. cities have sort of expressed an interest in potentially securing an NHL franchise. And some of them aren't surprising. Houston, Atlanta, Kansas City,

those three have always been talked about. He mentioned Cincinnati. That was interesting. And then he says, I got an email from all. Omaha. I mean, first of all, has Jesse Granger ever of these cities? Which ones have you been to? Houston, Atlanta, Sincy, Kansas City, Omaha. Zero. No, no, no, I have been. I've been to Cincinnati one time. That's it. So of those cities, the only, the only one I've been to is Cincinnati. I don't, like,

this is, again, I am not from Canada. I've only been in Canada for days at a time to cover hockey. Why is Quebec not in the conversation with these cities? Because to me, it seems like they it obviously should be. I don't understand how Quebec doesn't end up in this conversation. Yeah, I'm with you. And he didn't mention Quebec City, right? Like he mentioned Houston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha. Omaha, like, who said, he's like, what, do you think this is a real person,

like a real investor? Or is this like somebody with a Gmail account with a Gmail account who sent an email of expression? Right. It's crazy. I don't know how many hockey teams we need. The expansion has been pretty wild lately. And the talk of Arizona potentially moving with Salt Lake City as an option.

It's Wild West right now in the NHL in terms of expansion and new cities. We're going to headline this podcast episode, Vegas Beat Writer says, enough with expansion. Oh, no, I don't think it's too much. I like it. Seattle expansion was fun. Expansion drafts are fun, right? Very few things in the sport affect every team the way an expansion draft does. I love the expansion draft.

Expansion draft is fun for me. I love everything about it. Yeah. A couple of things I want to hit on before we wrap up the Tuesday pod. Sean Monaghan, I remember a few weeks ago people saying, well, the haves are hoping to extract the first round pick. Sean Monaghan, there's no way they're getting a first round pick. And they did.

And they got a first round pick. And now we started the window has. opened up to the trade deadline, we're seeing some guys move and they're moving first round picks. Were you surprised that somebody given the injury history of Sean Monaghan and it's not like he's producing like he was the 35 goal guy in his heyday? Are you surprised when a peg gave up my first round pick for him? I was very surprised along with you. And I think it sets a like the other teams that are trying to move pieces, potential rental options, are looking at this as, okay, this is set in the market.

this is going to be a very expensive trade deadline if Sean Monaghan's pulling first round pick. And we've seen all the deals so far to me have been pretty high payment. So it's going to make it interesting to see you already have all the contenders. They don't have cap space, right? So every single move that's made, you're doing cap gymnastics. They're going to have to be fed through a feeder team to retain some salary. And that costs more picks to pay a team to take some of the salary for you. So it's going to be an expensive, expensive deadline.

and it makes it maybe a little harder to push your chips all in. It's going to be interesting because there are a lot of big names that could be moved at the deadline. Like I keep looking at Chris Johnson's trade board on the athletic. And there's a lot of exciting moves that could happen if any of these guys go. But it's looking like it's going to be very expensive to do business. Well, think about the two main pieces who have moved already, Alias Lindholm and Sean Monaghan both required first round picks, right? Yeah. And Lindholm may be less of a surprise, right?

He's an elite, elite top six centermen who can kind of, you know, who was hoping he gives them that missing ingredient. If Monahan's getting a first jump pick, now if I'm Caldubis, and I got Jake Gensel, and I'm looking at the market, I'm like, hey, wait a minute, that guy's going for first, that guy's going for first. My guy's definitely going for him first. I mean, Jake Gensel, what's great about him, Jesse, is not only is he a great regular season performer, this guy's money in the playoffs.

Like, one of the best postseason performers of our era, of the last 10 years, you put Jake Gensel on a very short list of best playoff performers. So do you think that this is starting to nudge Kyle Dupis into, okay, I'm not saying that we're throwing up a white flag. Like, we still make the playoffs. But I got to do what's right for the team big picture. I got to go get a first round pick plus plus for Jake Gensel. Yeah, I think so.

And there's still some time between now and the deadline and how they play is going to play a bigger fact. Like, I don't think there's a team in the league who's trade deadline decision making is hanging in the balance like Pittsburgh. is over these next five to 10 hockey games. Like they have, if the players want their GM to get them help to, to bring them to buy,

they have really got to win some hockey games and look good right here. Because if they don't, I mean, they're, they're what, five points out of a playoff spot, but they're like four games in hand. So if they win their games in hand, they're actually in the playoffs right now.

It's not like they're way outside the playoff picture. I think they're, this little stretch of games is important. Not only could he trade Gensel, but I've got a story in the athletic today, um, mentioning that, I think it would make a whole lot of sense if a reunion between Riley Smith and the Vegas Golden Knights,

I know they just traded him to Pittsburgh, but it hasn't worked out as well as the Penguins had wanted. And the Golden Knights could use some winger help. I think if they make a trade, it is going to be for a winger. So there is one out there that they know a little bit about. He's the third all-time points leader in franchise history. I think Riley Smith back to Vegas makes a lot of sense if Pittsburgh's going to sell. Oh, man. Imagine the video tribute when he comes back.

Welcome back, Bradley Smith. Yeah, or the one in Pittsburgh. Amazing. All right. Hey, listen, this has been a lot of fun here hanging out with you for 45 minutes or so. Enjoy that game on Tuesday night. To me, this is like I love regular season games that have a little cashier. I remember we tried to hype up Colorado, Vegas back in, was that in November?

It ended up being 7-0. 7-0, yeah. So I'm hoping that that doesn't happen for you. Yeah, same here. I hope we get a close game to the third period. These teams, I think it's going to get chippy. I think this game is going to look like a playoff game. They're both coming off breaks, so they're both fresh.

This is going to be a good hockey game. Yeah. All right. That does it for the Tuesday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. Thanks for hanging out here, Jesse. Absolutely. This was a ton of fun. I want to thank everybody for listening to Tuesday edition of the pod.

Leave us a rating and review. If you're enjoying the show, we'd appreciate that. Right now, you can get a one-year subscription to the Athletic for $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. We're off on Wednesday. The athletic hockey show returns Thursday. Haley Salvean, Sean Gentile. And our revamped coverage of the athletic hockey show,

that will start on Monday, myself and Mark Lazarus, alongside Pierre LeBron, Chris John.