The Athletic Hockey Show - Oops, all mailbag!- Predicting surprising teams to make or miss next year's playoffs, Tim Stützle and top centers in the league, Athletic Hockey Show Survivor

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Hailey and Sean touch on the Alex Galchenyuk news from Thursday before diving into an episode packed with listener-submitted questions, including surprising teams they predict to make/miss the playoffs next year, Tim Stützle and how he stacks up against the top centers in the NHL, who would win Athletic Hockey Show "Survivor", cities they would choose the new women's league to have teams in, favorite memories as a sports fan and more!Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/NHLSHOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? It is time for another Friday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Haley Salvi and it's Sean Gentilly. It's July 14th. Not much going on this week. Sean, what's up? It's not true.

There's two things I want to talk. One, the Sag Astro Strike. Hollywood, ground-do a halt over the grotesque business decisions of major studios appalling. We stand with the actors, we stand with the writers here at the athletic hockey show. Also, this is an hour-long review of Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, which I saw last night. I'm going to talk about it for 54 minutes now. You're on the rod pot. You're on the wrong podcast, my friend.

You're going to get me in trouble with Ryan Lambert. Got some thoughts about the grimace shake, too, and I want you all to hear them. Oh, God. We're in such a dead period. We really are. I'm sorry. And like this week specifically, too, in like the sports calendar. Also MLB All-Star Break.

So for you baseball fans, not going to hear much. baseball here unless you want to talk about the home run derby. It's just a dead week. And it's weird because there's still so much stuff to come. There's still some free agents. There's still teams with players who are realistically on the trade block. Like, where's Eric Carlson going to go? What about Vladimir Tarasenko?

What about the flames? What about the Winnipeg Jets? Like, there's still chips to fall, but nothing is happening. What about the flames? Well, they only traded Tyler DeFoli so far. Yes, that is true. They have a lot of trade requests. Like what happened to the whole,

probably going to have to trade Linholm and Backland and Hannafin if you don't re-sign them. Like, it's middle of July. What's happening? You think they just go back to those guys? You're like, hey, you guys remember when you asked for that? Those are pretty crazy, huh? I don't think it's ever been confirmed

that they are the ones that asked for trades. However. Allegedly. I think we can. I think we can connect some dots here. So yeah, it's a bit of a dead week. So we're going to do a mailbag for today's Friday show. If you're upset that there aren't enough serious hockey questions,

well, you should have sent in a question. There are some. Like there's a decent amount. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to, there's going to be a mix of fun, a mix of hockey questions. It'll be fun. We're having fun.

Okay. Forced fun. Everybody enjoy this. But before we get to the mailbag, we do have one bit of news. So Alex Gelchenyuk was placed on unconditional waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract on Thursday. Of course, that was only 12 days after. He had signed a contract with the Arizona Coyotes. Essentially for most of the day, there was speculation, people wondering, like, what happened here?

that was going to be Gal Chenyuk's third stint with the coyotes before getting put on waivers. And then our colleague at the athletic Katie Strang reported on Thursday evening that Galchernuk was arrested on July 9th on a number of charges, including private property, hit and run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest, and threatening or intimidating. That's from the Scottsdale Police Department confirmed to the athletic. And regarding the hit and run incident, police said that it was, quote, only property damage and no injuries. A jail official said Galchaniuk was booked into city jail on Sunday evening and released the following day. According to court records, he was arraigned on Monday. So that is what led to him being put on unconditional waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract.

Sean and I don't have much to say about this because this really isn't a time for like analysis or takes. We don't know Alex Galcenaic. We don't know the extent of like what he's been through in his life. We know that he is somebody who has had troubles off the ice over the years dating back to his time in Montreal. He's played for seven different organizations over his career. you have to think that this was his last shot playing hockey in North America or at least the NHL, but like really this is a time to be like gentle.

All the jokes and the memes, it's it's not it right now, guys. Like we don't, we don't know him. Let's let's let's not be the assholes who make a joke and find out that he's been going through something serious in his life. Yeah, definitely. He was in Pittsburgh for a little bit. he always seemed like a nice you know uh he was he was a very like low key uh humble guy to deal with like i think he was quite quiet i know josh very randomly i think josh yoey brought this up

like i'm almost like shy you know so uh that's yeah you just hope hope for the best and oh geez um there's not much there's not much else there's not much else there's not much else you can do about that, really. But no, it's, it's a sad, it's always, it's always sad to see someone who's clearly, you know, whether it's, you struggling with something today, that's for sure. And you just, you're, you're glad that nobody got hurt and you hope that it all works out for him in a positive way. I think, I think that's all I got there. Yep. Absolutely. As I said, we don't have much to say because there really shouldn't be. This isn't the time for, for takes and jokes and memes when we're talking about a person. So, um, let's get into the mailbag. We got a lot of questions.

after Sean's call out. And if there's any breaking news as we're talking, we can get into that. But it's 7 o'clock on a Thursday in the middle of July, and I doubt there's going to be anything that happens. Knock on wood. No, this is, this is when the Carl's. Yeah, Eric Carlson's about to get traded to.

You're tempting fate here. Yeah, he's actually been traded to the Ottawa senators. For, no. Fabian Zetterland or whatever. What? What? What are you talking about? You mean Eric Brantstrom? Yeah, I mixed up. I mixed up their bad trades. Sorry. Whoops.

All right. Let's get to the mailbag because we don't really want to talk about Eric Carlson for the 15th time this week. Respectfully. We think he's great. Congrats on the Norris King. I voted for you. I voted for you. Bad time to be a hockey writer based in Pittsburgh during the most boring time. of the calendar because all like I I'm constantly whatever I love going on the radio I'm not not complaining about that but so I was like hey what's what's going on it what's going on with Eric Carlson and the penguins like nothing probably nothing new it seems like we're pretty much in a holding pattern here and that's going to be the case really realistically until the sharks decide what they want to do

yeah I was guest hosting on Sportsnet 590 in Toronto this week week because it's MLB All-Star break, so everyone disappeared for the week, and I didn't even think twice when they were like, hey, you want it back? Fills, yeah! Bring in the subs! Woo-hoo!

And we had Sean on the radio to talk about Eric Carlson, so. That's right. We'll save Sean from that because really anything you need to know, Josh Yoey's got you covered. Rob Ross has got you covered. They've got great stuff. And we've talked about it

over the last couple weeks here. So to the mailbag, we'll start with this one from Julian McKenzie, our colleague. Start, bench, cut. Nathan McKinnon, Connor McDavid, Austin Matthews. Is this fantasy? This seems like a fantasy thing. No, just like real life.

Real life. Yeah, you have two. Well, this doesn't even make sense. Yeah, let's just say it's a fantasy thing. I don't know. Your roster building. You have to start one, bench one, cut one. You have to put one player over the boards

And you have to pick between those three Why are you making this so complicated? Because I deliberately left this one out I did not like this question from Julian Thanks a lot, man You start Connor McDavid Oh, you bench Nathan McKinnon And you cut Austin Matthews

How about that? The American cut the only American? Sign a contract, bro. he has one year left on his deal i'm keeping the guys if this is like roster building i'm keeping the guys that are caught that are cost controlled and locked up yeah the two highest paid players in the n hl hey at least they're cost controlled guess what they're about the not be two of the do you think austin matthews is going to be the richest player in the league yes i do how about that for a short direct answer you don't want to

to like guess what he's going to make. Why would I guess? I don't know. $13 million for five years. I think that's... Leaves fans just vomit. He's looking for $16 million for five years. For three.

For three. God. That would just be disgusting. For who? Not me. It's just so much money. Okay, this is actually an interesting one. This is from Reed Logan.

If you had to pick a surprising team to miss the playoffs, who would be your bet? So, like, if we had to make, like, way too early predictions, who's a team that you think is going to miss the playoffs this season? A team that I think is, like, kind of a spicy team to miss would be the Boston Bruins. I don't think that's spicy. to miss to miss the playoffs you wrote in those predictions

being like yeah because I planted the seed I'm the one who said it I'm the only one who has the courage to put this take out there in the universe I don't think there's a lot of people who are picking the Boston Bruins

to miss the playoffs I think maybe they're saying they'll take a step back okay I was going to go with the Florida Panthers I think we're thinking think in the same way there because like you look at the Atlantic division and there's always going to be a good team that misses that there's going to be a good team that misses out there

regardless of who it is. Tampa falls off. That would actually be spiced. That's something that I don't think anyone would pick because it's like I'll believe it when I see it and they've got Vasilevsky. If Pittsburgh gets its shit together to some degree and if the Sabres level up like so many people expect them to. Those are two teams that were out of the mix last year that it would be a little bit farther

in it this year. Someone's got to go. And I think the Atlantic Division is, you know, it's got a lot of heavy weights in it, but I feel like they're a little bit more primed to beat each other up over the course of the season maybe and then have someone, you know, on the outside looking in when it comes to the wild card race. Mm-hmm. Do the Islanders make the playoffs next year?

man I feel like that's a tough one I don't know where I land on them I think the reason a huge part of I don't want to discount Ilya Serochin when what he did last year and you know having a full year of bohorovat with Matt Barsall and like figuring that out like that's a huge variable then maybe it works out right because of course of course it's possible I think it's tough to bet on a goal like it's tough to bet on a goalie having another season like the one Eliy Seroquen just had and he would such a huge part about getting them in there in the first place that I don't think I love, you know, writing them in pen to be the first wildcard again, that's for sure. Think of how long it took Shisterkin to get back to his MVP Vesna caliber level this season after, you know, being the guy. The Rangers.

The islanders fans hate hearing the shit because I get, they yell at me constantly. But, you know, I'm sorry. It's a way it goes. Oops, Melvag. Because I'm just thinking if the penguins make the playoffs in the Metro, who's the team that they're knocking out? It's the Islanders. Sure, maybe it's, maybe they're in it because the wild card race. But in terms of like divisional team making the playoffs, I think they bump out the Islanders. I agree.

But going back to the question, it wasn't like, what does the Eastern Conference playoff field looks like? It's like, like, what? No, I was just going. was veering off the question to talk about early predictions for next season. By this time last year, I think I was picking the Calgary Flames to win the Stanley Cup. So what the hell do I know? I don't know if that came in July or before the season, but it happened.

So yeah, I don't know. But again, going back to the original question, I don't think anybody would be all that surprise if the Islanders fell off a bit because they made the playoffs by two points. You know, Pittsburgh and Buffalo both finished out of the playoffs with 91 points to two behind the Islanders. Yeah. And I think you're looking at both of those teams potentially, you know, should be better on, they're better on paper than they were last year. They've fixed some of the problems that they had during the regular season. So I don't know.

Yeah. Pick one of the Atlantic Division big boys, I feel like is my approach there. Yeah, my, my pick was the Florida Panthers. Brandon Montor's hurt, Aaron Eckblad, hurt. Like, he's going to miss the start of training camp after playing through a broken foot and oblique tear. And he was going through shoulder surgery, excuse me, Brandon Montour hurt as well. Matthew Guchuk,'s expected to be okay for the start of camp, but like he broke his sternum

and came three of the final. Lots of guys are hurt on the Panthers. And they lose Radco Goudis. They trade Anthony Duclair. So I feel like if there's a team who might unexpectedly or expectantly take a step back, it's going to be Florida. On the western end of things, I don't know if this would be necessarily a surprise. But are we sure the L.A. Kings are going to be a 104 point team again

because those boys have Phoenix Copply and Cam Talbot as their goalies right now. But they just out of Pierre-Luc Dubois. It's true. but full season of Phoenix Copley and or Cam Talbot who's 37 or 38 now don't like that if I'm a contender that's a major major major question mark and look but Quake wasn't exactly giving them great goal tending for the first half of the season no he was terrible and so is and obviously so is so is so is Calvin Peterson I mean yeah copply came in and he copply came in and he was fine and that was good enough to, you know, get them in the mix.

And then Corpusallo was better than Corpus Hollow was outstanding and was paid as such by the auto senators. I don't like that goaltending. But I think the variable for L.A. is that the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture, like the wild card race, I think it's thin. Like, like, even if you don't like Phoenix Copley or Cam Talbot, like, how much less you like them? What are you going to be?

Predators, Flames. Yeah. Canucks to do it over. I mean, the Jets aren't going to be a playoff team. If the Jets end up making as many trades as people were saying, like, if Mark Schifley and Hullabuck are going to be on the way out, Blake Wheeler on the way out, like, there's no way that the Jets are a playoff team. And like, I mean, pending what those trades end up being.

But this is what I mean, like, there was all this talk about all these huge trades. And it's like, well, what's going on? You know, you trade a Pierre-Luc Dubois, but you still have Schifley and Wheeler and Hellebuck. And those guys have said that, like, they're not going to be resigning in Winnipeg. So what are they just going to have one last hurrah and hope for the best and then lose them all for nothing? All you've done here is just make me realize how much more meat there is on the bone of the offseason. Like I thought we were, I thought I thought we were done.

I thought I could really slide into who gives a shit mode. I can't. I can't because of the flames and the jets and Eric Carlson. Damn you. And Tarasanko and Patrick Kane's on ice right now. I'm not skating. He had hip surgery, but okay. But yeah, I'm not on board.

I don't think LA is going to miss the playoffs, but I can appreciate you trying to go off the board with a Western conference team. The question is asking us to go off the board. Now, do I have the guts to sit here and pretend that I don't think the Oilers are going to make the playoffs next season? You don't have the guts to say that the Minnesota Wilde are going to miss the playoffs. You don't want to go up against the Russo army.

You know, it's funny. You can just sit here and like, Colorado Avalanche. That would be so surprising. Gabriel Landiscaug is not coming back. Do we think they've, like, do we really think that Jonathan Druan can, can, like, produce and this going, like, like, you consider it poke holes in every team? Because those Aves fans are so mean in the comments.

What did you do? You made them that. It was a McCar thing, wasn't it? Yeah, I said he was out indefinitely when Bedner said that there was no timetable. And they were like, you're a half. I was like, shit, sorry. And I, like, read that, like, from a reporter. I was like, dang.

Distinction without difference, I think, is the phrase there. And then he missed, like, three weeks. And I was like, seems like that was indefinite. Anyways, the other part of it, I don't want to upset them. As far as the wild are concerned, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, you brought out the wild. Here's the thing about the wild. And here's the thing about the roost army is if I were like, they're my pick to fall off, half of them would be like, of course they're going to fly.

fall off. That team sucks ass. They're terrible. And then the other one would be like, this is bullshit. You're biased. Like, you're the dumbest idiot I've ever met. This is an elite NHL team. Everybody thinks that team either, either, you know, sucks on ice or is one of the three best teams in the league. Yeah. The, uh, in the way too early season predictions, um, that you and Shane and Jesse did without me because I was under the weather, uh, migraine. I'm sure about that, by the way. Okay. I had a migraine and I couldn't look at the screen for a day and a half. So yeah, I'm sure that I was sick.

So you guys kind of did the blurbs and I noticed in the comments of it was a wild fan being like, Minnesota in the middle, ya, and then a wild fan responded being like, yeah, they'll probably fall off from there too. And so it's like absolutely right. Yeah, it's like, bye, make the second round. Just once. Go ahead. I want to really like them too.

I liked the team, like, heading into the playoffs and everything. So I was like, yeah, this is a, this is really good team. I like what Bill Cairns done. So I find myself getting into that trap with wild fans as well. Very volatile. The second half of that question was, who is your surprising team to make the playoffs? Oh, man. Realistically, who would shock anybody here?

How about this? I'll go, I'll go with a Vancouver. or conucks. Are you just saying that because it'd be shocking or you think it's going to happen? I think it's shocking. No, it needs to be like a surprising bet. Like you need to like bet that they're going to make the playoffs, not just be like this would be a surprise.

I don't think that the Western Conference is very good. I think that if Thatcher Demko comes back and he's the dude that he was the year before last, if Pedersen is a superstar, if they get anything resembling NHL caliber defense from, you know, from that group. I mean, look, look, do you, look, the Jets? Do I think the Canucks are that much worse on paper than the Jets are going to be? No. Calgary, a disaster, who might sell off a bunch of players.

Vancouver finished behind Nashville last season. Granted, it was by nine points, but like. And Buffalo is not a surprise, you know? Like to say that the Sabres, that wouldn't be like a surprise bet. That's just like, yeah, they're trending in the right direction. they could make the playoffs. There's a lot of bad teams. How about that?

A lot of bad teams. I think you need to go a little bit farther down than Buffalo or, you know, or Calgary to actually pick one that would be surprising. Detroit, I think Max, Boltonon did a good job of outlining after they traded for the Brinket, like seeing like how they could realistically be a 90-point team. And 90 points, like, that gets you in the discussion. Do you think that adding to Brinkett is enough to make the Red Wings a playoff team? Detroit finished with 80 points last year. I think adding a middle of the lineup center, another one in JT. Confer, and adding Alex

to Brinket, and if you bake in some improvement from or a bounceback or however you want to describe it for Stider and for Raymond, And if you get some other contributions from young guys, I don't think it's impossible to see them, to see them in the discussion. I think the Atlantic is a bear trap, though. So that's going to be a problem for that. Like, that's going to be tough. But I don't think, I don't think it's crazy.

Detroit stunk last year, but guess what? They also finish with 80 points. Like, you're talking about five extra wins over the course of a regular season and you're kind of within spitting distance. Like, given what they've done, I don't think it's crazy. I think it's likely.

I think I forgot about the JT. I, forgot about the JT. Com for signing. I've got to be honest. I mean, it's understandable. Like, there's stuff that I've, I forgot that Devin Levi was Canadian on the, on the Tuesday show a couple days ago. Oh. Things happen. We're expected to know so much, you know. He was so good for Team Canada like two years ago. I don't give a shit. You think I, I don't care about Canadian international hockey. Well, you cared enough about Devin Levi to give him some kind of a. award that you didn't know his nationality. He was a he was a he was a he was a nominee. I had a brain fart

because he went to because he went to Northeastern. I just I just ought to now was the irony to that was like a running joke throughout the show was like I was joking about not knowing until he was Canadian until the world juniors which what which was not true but then I also went and very sincerely forgot that Devon Levi didn't grow up in you know Vermont or something. Oops. Oopsies. Yeah, I feel like Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo are kind of the answers in the east. And I think Vancouver's a fun one in the West, definitely.

Okay. We had one kind of like, please just tell me about how amazing Tim Stutzler is question. But I'm going to. Two, in fact. Well, no. One of them was kind of a joke and the other was actually like a question. Like, what do you think about Tim Stutzla as a hockey player? And do you think he has what it takes to be one of the best centers in the league if he isn't already?

And this is kind of tough for me because, like, is Tim, can we say that Tim Stutzler is a top 10 center in the NHL right now? We had our kind of planning discussion about the NHL, about the player tiers yesterday or earlier this week. without giving too much away I think Stutzel is there I think like the question He needs to be in the top 100 this time He certainly But he didn't make it last year

And you and I had this debate While you guys were doing that And I was like Who was it that made it? It was Tara Vinen I think Tara Vinen made it At the end over Stutzelah And I was like that is a huge mistake

I Not to throw anybody on the bus all I'll say is that was not my mistake. Like, I, I was for putting, I was for putting studs on the list. I think he deserved to be on it last year. He certainly does, he's there.

It was Corey Prawnman's fault. I'm just kidding. I don't, you know what, honestly, I don't think it was, I don't think it was, I don't think it was Corey either. You know, wasn't Corey. But he's there. He's, he's top 15 at, at, at minimum.

That's going to be reflected. I think in his placement there. Obviously, we still have to talk to people and finalize the list and all that stuff. But he's there already, and he's capable of making a Jack Hughes level leap into like, is he top fives? Like, he's feasible.

You want to talk about him being 13th or 15th or whatever. That dude is there now. It's a matter of how far he can level up this coming season. I want to break this down a little bit because I do like Tim Stutzla. I obviously covered the center. when he was their draft pick, you know, I see a lot of potential. He's, you know, going to be better than Alexei Lafranier, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like, I think I have some cover here. I said that. Yeah, I think he is going to be better than Alexei Lafranier. Okay, when you're saying that in his draft year was like clutch clutching pearls. Like, what are you talking about, dumb, dumb, like even Quentin Byfield. Like, he's not better than Quentin Byfield, blah, blah, blah. Anyways. Significantly best.

That's odd track to be significantly better than both those guys. Absolutely. Like he's, doing laps around them. He's, he's so quick, like he skates well, like he can score,

he can make plays. Like he had 90 points last year. He's 21 years old. I love Tim Stutz. Let me just say, is that putting the blinders on because we like Tim Stutzel? Like,

there's a lot of really freaking good centers in the NHL right now. And this is my, this is my problem. Because who, like, let's just let's say we consider leon dry sidel a center right we consider Connor macdavid leon drysidal nathan mccannin elias peterson jack hughes sydney crosbie mecca zabana jed austin matthews

like evgeny malkin nico heeshire you met you've you're already mentioning guys that i have behind stut's a you have you have that so that's my question is like I'm thinking of like guys who outscored him or guys with like the pedigree. You have Tim Stutzla ahead of like a player right now. Do you have him ahead of Malkin? Yes. Do you have, is he better than Tage Thompson to you? Yes.

Interesting. Better than Zabana Jed. Yes. Not better than Jack Hughes. Not better than Jack Hughes. No. Not better than Pedersen. Here's what I'll say.

Not better than Pedersen. But when you're talking about Tage Thompson. Thompson. What was the other one you said? Tage Thompson? Mika. Zabanajad. Nico Hesher, Dylan Larkin. Barkov. Niko Barkov, maybe not. Rupa Hintz? No, he's not better than Rupa Hintz. So this is my problem where I don't think I put, I don't think I put Tim Stutzler top 10 yet.

I think he could be. No, he's like, he's in that like five tier. He's like rounding out the top 15. He's in the group of a bunch of guys. you would be completely fine saying or 13th through 17th. And he maybe more than anybody is in a position other than maybe Tage Thompson, because Thompson was a sneaky, sneaky, sneaky rough defensive year last year. And that hurts when you're picking hairs, absolutely, but this is what we're dealing with

when you're differentiating between players that are that good. outside of maybe Tage Thompson Stutzler has when you're talking about the group of 10 to 20 let's say he's got more upside than anybody

and part of that like leapfrog potential 100% he can have the Jack Hughes year which is something a lot of people predicted and guess what it happened came true

because that dude is such a talented offensive hockey player in so many different ways so fun to watch right Like, aside from his aesthetically, he's great. He's a blast to watch.

But there's so much substance to his game. And there's so much variance to the way that he gets the job done. Like, he's really good on the rush and he's really good on this cycle. And he's a great passer. And he's a great finisher. Like, it is tough to find a hole on that dude offensively. And even still, for as great as he was last year. And also, I don't want to say, I don't want to make it sound like he's like miles behind.

Hughes from a production standpoint because he's not. Like his, the season he had 90 points last season. The season he had last year was better than the season Jack had two ago. So I don't want to, it's not an apples to apples comparison, but that guy has another gear. And a lot of it has to do with PowerPlay production because Ottawa's

power play was messy last year, just generally. But that too can do it. Just say poo. Um, wary about the words I used to describe the Ottawa. because I've run afoul of them in the past with some, some, um, come on. We can laugh. Like, if you can't laugh at him in that Gallagher moment. Like, we, we, we, we love Tim Stutzel. He's a gift.

We just bumped his tires. But like that one dive specifically that you were making fun of that sense fans got mad at you for. Like, it was rough. In the past, all we're, all I'm here today is is to gas up Tim Stutzel and say that I think he's the seventh. best center in the league or whatever. Yeah, he's awesome. We love him. He's a blast to watch. That is important to me as anything else.

As someone who has to watch hockey professionally, that dude is turning into must-see TV. Uh-huh. And there is a lot of value in that. And that's what makes me really hopeful. Like, I do hope this next era of the Sends. I don't know what maybe might still be up the sleeve. It sounds like they might be in on Tarasanko. I really do hope that's a team that can

like really turn it around in a meaningful way. Like at the start of the season two, like don't be terrible for a couple months, then be okay and then be really good at the end and then miss the playoffs. Like I think the Sends being good and relevant again is going to be a good thing because there's so much like young, exciting talent on that team.

Like I love watching Brady Kuchuk play hockey. Josh Norris, I really hope him and Shane Pinto can stay healthy. I mean, Jake Sanderson is a, unbelievable talent on the blue line. He was on my Calder ballot, by the way. I don't think he got enough love

for the Calder for the amount of minutes and the role that he played on that team. Also, you know, what's really weird and annoying is that the the NHL doesn't list Stittsla as a center on their stats yet because he was on the wing at first. Typical.

But like he's going to be the number one center. He's going to be the Sends number one center next season. Yeah. So now I can't even track where he ranked in like center scoring last season. So that's annoying. If they get, if post-hip surgery, Eunice Corpusallo is, you know, if that holds up. Mm-hmm. Because that's the thing that I know everyone wanted to laugh at the Corpus'Allo deal.

And it is. It's a lot of money. He doesn't have it. It's a risk. It's a risk. Every goal is. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

But, you know, there's something to be said for, the fact that he had a hip injury that was bothering him for years, that he got fixed and then look fantastic after. And if that holds, if that's the guy he is, the guy he was with Columbus at the start of the season and then the king's down the stretch, like,

look out. They're going to be really, really, really interesting. Yeah. There are reasons to be optimistic about Corpusallo in that contract and reasons to be like, ooh,

that's risky. So we just got to wait. We just got to wait to see. Because look, the amount of time he played after the hip surgery, it's still pretty small. Like, that could have just been a standard goalie heater. Like, we don't know. But if that's who he is,

if he gives anything approaching what he gave the Kings down the stretch reliably over the next however many years, man, that is a group to fear, I think, if you're in the Eastern Conference. Is hints in your top 10 centers in the league? Is hints in my top 10 centers? centers in the league. Now I kind of just want to, I just kind of want to do this now. Top 10 centers in the NHL heading into next season. Um, the locks. That's a great question.

David, Drysidal, Crosby, McKinnon, Hughes, Matthews. Here's, here's, here's a preliminary list like, are those locks for you, those six? This is based on, I wasn't listening to what you were saying because I was trying to find my list. Okay. I was, I have an actual list here because this is what I spent a day doing like around the week. Right, but I was providing a list based on my thoughts on these players. This is my actual list. McDavid, Matthews,

McKinnon, dry sidel, Hughes, Patterson, Crosby, Point. Barkov, Ahho, Stutzlow. No.

Hints? Hintz is next. And then he's here. I think Robertson's the guy on that line. That is a decision that I've, that I made over the course of the end of the last season. Really? Really.

He's the guy. He was last year. The Rope Hince was so good in the playoffs. Doesn't mean, doesn't mean it. Look, man, we have, like, I turned in a list where I have Rupa Hints as a, as a tier as a 2B tier player. That's still pretty good. Yeah, there's just, as I said,

with the Stitzler conversation, like, there's just so many good centers in the league right now. I don't even know if in the six that I said, I don't even know if I said Hughes's lock in the first time I was doing the top 10. I don't think I mentioned to Austin Matthews. Like, there's so many good centers,

but I think the fact that we both agree that Tim Stitzla is in that, like, 15, like 12 to 15 range speaks to. I have them at 10, I think. Yeah. Now that I'm looking at it. A lot, is that a projection? Like, absolutely.

Was he the 10th best center in the league last year? I don't think so. No, but we're saying heading in the next season. Is it reasonable to expect him to be a top 10 center this year? Absolutely. Absolutely. Very interesting. I feel like I might, I feel like I'd push back a bit on Rope Hince because I think he's like

an all-situation center who was a point per game player last year. He's great. He almost scored 40 goals. He's great. Who do you put him ahead of? You like him above Ajo? You like him above Barkov? Yeah.

Do you think you like him more than Braden Point? I think Braden Point was like one of the best 90 point players that nobody talked about last season. And he was another one. He's another guy. We need, I've had this, I continually talk about this with Dom too, whenever we have, we have these conversations. We need to keep track of players who were dealing with injuries

and then got them fixed. And I think that was an issue for Braden Point coming into last season because he was just like in 21, 22, he just wasn't, he was himself. He was dealing with a bunch of stuff. Everyone saw how wrecked he was in the playoffs against the Leafs that season.

Like that should just be like common sense, quite frankly. Like don't just look at a stat line and be like, guy sucks now just maybe like think for two seconds be like oh he actually it's common sense but it's also it's also like a little bit of guesswork because of how dishonest teams are about who's hurt and who's not so sure whatever but fair if you have it on reasonable information if you have reasonable information that a guy was was dealing with something and is no longer and had a full off

season of training or a full off season of rest or some kind of procedure to fix it and it's not heavy duty Patrick Cain level hip resurfacing or whatever BS is going on there, you say like, all right. If the track record is there, you need to trust it. And I think in Braden Point is a great example of that. Yep. Okay, let's move on. I think we provided sense fans with a lot of nice things about Tim Stitzla.

I'm glad we could actually do that exercise. Except at first I was like, is he top 10? Yeah, it's conceivable. Absolutely. Okay, here's a bit more of a fun one, sandwiched in with all our hockey talk. If the athletic hockey show hosts and co-hosts were on a reality TV show like Survivor, who would be voted off first and who would be the last one standing? I love this question.

I think this stuff is super fun. Julian McKenzie did like a five-on-five Americans versus Canadians' ball hockey team that I made. I was very rightly not part of the course. Daniel was included, but as like a forward, even though she's like very clearly a goalie, because she's so strange. Also, it's a real Theo Flurry situation. So strange. Real Theo Flurry situation if Danielle's playing of. Maybe, well, maybe that's a bad example.

Say, uh, Nathan Gerby situation if she's playing up. Perfect. Danielle's just going to like be less ratty, Corey Perry. Yeah, I'm being run by the bench and steal Haley's. thick while she's still sitting there. It would be like scrappy do for Corey Perry. Yeah. There's some water in her club.

She's discount. Discount Cory Perry. Yeah. Five foot three, Corey Perry. How tall are you, Danielle? Let's say five three. I'm five two. Oh.

I'm tiny. It's so cute. I noticed too that Lazz, when he picked Jesse as the goalie, he's cited him having a size advantage, which I take offense to. Yeah, that's true. It's true. Jesse's tall.

Jesse is a, he's playing, he's, you know, played a lot of goal in his life. He's, he plays, I know he's still playing men's league and stuff. He's young enough to keep that going, yeah. It's okay. Yeah. I'm just, I'm, I'm the water, boys, so it's fine. So the real person, if we were going to do, like, all staff to win Survivor,

it would be Dan Robson, but he's not an athletic hockey show host. So Dan's, Dan can't win. But if he was, Robson is in good shape. Oh my God. I think he's like, he's like an outdoors guy. He's so sweet and so smart. He's so smart. I don't know, I don't know if Dan, I will say this,

I don't know if Dan has the, has the cutthroat vindictiveness that's necessary to truly succeed in Survivor. Dan's got two kids. I think he'd be fine. You know what? I think I think Robson, as we discovered in Nashville, he's got some sneaky, sneaky things up his sleeve. Let's just say that.

Robson's the best. He would beat all of us in like any game show ever, whatever. But in terms of athletic hockey show, first off the island is Cory Pranman. I'm really sorry. I just have to say it. I got to rip the bandaid off. Um, I don't know if he's ever been camping.

I have never seen him outside. I just, I don't, I'm letting you cook on this one. I don't think it would work out well for Corey. Okay. His only alliance is with Max. And I just don't think that would go well for him. I think, I think Max is biting the dust pretty early too. Yeah.

No, like they're, they're starting an alliance on day one and everyone's just being like, see you later. Nobody cares about prospects. Max would quit. Max would be like, he'd be like, I can't do, I can't do this anymore. That would be it. No, but I'm so sorry, but I do think Corey would be the first voted off the island. If it was like specifically like Survivor, I think that I would do pretty well.

Mm-hmm. I took outdoor ed when I was in high school. I went on canoe trips. I've portaged. I've carried a canoe over my head. I have made a shelter out of nothing but rope. A little bit too much, a little bit too much of this of your argument for your,

listen to me. Listen to me. I've made a fire. I have made a fire with sticks. Out of canoes? You keep bringing up this work you've done with canoes. This isn't, this isn't canoe class.

I could survive. And I think I have fooled enough people into thinking that I'm like nice and cool. that I could make it. But I wouldn't make like the finale. You know, I would, I would be the one that goes home like two weeks before the finale. I think you would do pretty well for a while. I think Ian Mendez would overplay his hand and get kicked off on week four.

I think Ian would like be the one who keeps getting caught on camera like double crossing. He'd have like too many alliances and everyone would trust him because he's so nice. and then everyone would find out. So I think Ian would go home mid-season, you know, fourth week. Who would win? Oh, God. I think McIndoo could do well. You know what?

It's probably Russo. Oh, wait, would Russo go home first? Because he'd be like, I don't even want to be here. I don't think Russo would make it to the island. Russo would do one day without coffee. And then he'd call Delta to fly him out of there specifically. If he would have the Like he would get cut out in post-production

Because like he didn't actually stick around for a while So Russo would never actually be there I think Mendes I think it's Mendes I disagree I don't think Mendes wins That's fine we can disagree on this I think it would be Macandoo I think he would just camouflage himself somewhere

Oh I guess you know it's not the Hunger Games What are you talking like what do you think happens on Survivor? Never one. watch Survivor. I think McIndoe would do well. It's Mendez. I'll tell you, you know who I vote off first? Craig. Custons.

Craig Custons. Hit the road. He wouldn't even be invited. He's not a host anymore. Just blow it off. Who even host these shows? Who are we missing? Craig would miss it because he had a meeting.

Yeah. He'd be like, I'm actually like a boss now. I can't go on this island. Next question. Um, top five or ten cities that should get a team in the new North American women's. This is all you. But I think you, okay, so my... Well, you actually maybe shouldn't answer this question.

No, I think about it. I think it's fine. It's fine. This is just my opinion. I don't know the original six. It's changed so many times. If I would have said the first original six that I heard, I would look like an idiot. Because it'd be wrong.

But if I had to pick and like money's name. not an issue. Like if I had to pick my original six and it could be anywhere in North America. Oh, okay. I would go Toronto, Montreal. I would only have two Canadian teams to start. I would go Toronto, Montreal, Boston, D.C., Minnesota. And it's like, do I want Pittsburgh? because I keep thinking Pittsburgh because I've been to two events in Pittsburgh and the penguins have been

like great allies and business partners to the PWHPA and to the PHF. So I do kind of lean towards Pittsburgh because they've put on such great events but I also feel like you kind of want a team in Chicago,

especially if you have a team in Minnesota. I kind of want to do eight teams, honestly. I'm going to do eight. I'm going Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Minnesota, D.C. Pittsburgh. And then like a New York.

Yeah. Or a Detroit. Or a Detroit. I think you have to have a New York team. And like a New York, yeah, like Metro team. That would be my eight right there. And then when you expand. And then when you expand, you go Seattle, Vancouver.

and then an LA team. I think eventually you can have 12 teams and have Chicago in Minnesota be part of the Western Conference. You'd have six Eastern Time Zone teams. You'd have Chicago and Minnesota as the central. And then you have Vancouver, Seattle, L.A. Yeah. And, you know. I think Nashville could be a good spot too.

Like eventually we're thinking like ways down if you want to. keep branching out. Don't you think? That'd be fun. I know the players would love it. So when I did the women's hockey player poll, the anonymous player poll, I asked the players themselves, where do you want, like, if you could pick an original six, where would it be? And there was one player, I won't name her because it was anonymous, but like they were one

of my, like, favorite players to talk to. And they were like, hmm, Palm Springs. Yeah. Florida, Dallas. I was going to rip that off for my own. Give me six. No, it was five warm spots. You know, I can't actually say the final one because it would totally, you know,

it's fine because I included it. It was like, give me five warm places and then Madison, Wisconsin. Oh, geez. Everyone's going to, everyone's going to know that it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, BWHPA player from Wisconsin. Yeah, like all 25 of them played at Wisconsin. Yeah. Who won that one?

Let me look this up quickly because I think that would give you a peek at And I do think Pittsburgh Pittsburgh was on the short list I remember for that one If I remember correctly They might not have made

But they were up there Because players really like playing in Pittsburgh A lot of players went with D.C. A lot of players said Seattle because they just like They feel that players want to play where they can feel like they're professional

And they loved the way that they were treated in Seattle and loved the way that they were treated in D.C. multiple times. They also loved Pittsburgh, too. So I found that to be a really good look. And when in doubt, too, I would love putting these teams in cities that have really connected with their WNBA teams.

I think that's important. Washington makes a city where there's been true support and affection for the WN, and been financial success. of these teams. And that's where Washington looks great. And that's where like Seattle looks great, like places like that. So the top six results from the players were Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Seattle, D.C. Boston.

The reason I don't have Seattle in my original six is it doesn't make sense to have one team in the Pacific Northwest. And then it doesn't make sense to just have a Chicago. So if you're going to have a Chicago or Minnesota, I think you need both. but let's say they don't let's say that a new league wants to just be like in the northeast that's where you introduce that's where like if you just wanted to be like northeast you go Toronto Montreal Pittsburgh DC Boston like a Detroit and then a New York yeah if you're gonna cut out Mark Walter Mark Walter is a West Coast guy he's a he's an LA guy I to me that's the only reason even you would even think that the first

move could have anything to do with the West Coast like it's it's really it's tough to imagine because you want you do want to keep travel costs down you want to have it in cities where you know that part of the culture is is established yeah but it's it's really interesting and I know just from talking to you and just how much the thinking has changed really over the last year like you said if you had reported the first six cities you heard nine months ago or whenever that was like you'd have been you'd have been proven wrong eventually that would you yeah those cities would not have would not have uh cross the finish line as far as that's concerned yeah it's it's it's really interesting though there is so much logistics

behind these kind of decisions as well like i almost feel like pittsburgh could be on the outside looking in because i don't think you're going to play at p p pg i don't think it's real yeah issue here is a problem. I don't think it's realistic to say that they're going to play at the Lemieux sportsplex full-time unless they don't care about gate revenue. And then where else are you going to play, like at a little community rink somewhere in the suburbs of Pennsylvania? Yeah,

you're not going to be playing at, you know, Harmerville Blade Runners or whatever it's called that nobody cares about. That's what he used to be called. Maybe they will. I don't know. So there's got to be a good venue. Here's where I'd like to see. Some of these venues are very small.

We've seen the potential for, you know, whatever. A thousand. They're not looking at gigantic places. I would sincerely love it so much if the armory here in Pittsburgh in the shady side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which is it's now owned by the penguins. And they have the rights to develop it after a whole back and forth with the city here. There's a Chatham University Hockey is involved with this, whatever. I would love it more than anything if they could find some way to to house the how's the how's the a PWHPA league team in Pittsburgh at the army that would rule.

Yeah, why couldn't they play at the Chatham Hockey arena? Because that is there's all there you know what we can I'm sorry I feel like this conversation later. This is like this is way this is way off the beaten path but but the armory development would rule. It's like three, it's very close to where I live selfishly. That would rule. I'll say that. But we'll see what happens.

The women's hockey program received a newly renovated locker room, complete with player stalls, a dry room, a training room, a player lounge, video room, two NHL size sheets. Maybe I'm writing off Pittsburgh for no reason. But the people that I have spoken to, they're like, there is just like so much that goes behind these decisions. And obviously they want to be in places where like women's hockey. Totally. Would work.

And not all 600-seat venues or whatever are created equal. Like there's a whole lot that goes into it just beyond, just beyond capacity. Totally. You do a couple more? Let's do a like quick hit fun one and then answer this other one. Like there's a couple pretty good ones here actually. Okay. This is a good one for you, Sean.

This is from Jake Pittsburgh. Do you think that the coming end of the Crosby area will hurt or stall the growth of hockey in the greater Pittsburgh area? Or do you think there's enough young talent in the mix now that it will continue to thrive? That's really great question. What we've seen in player development in Western PA, really, there's like three windows.

You have the Lemieux kids who are the ones who are coming of age and old enough to sign up for hockey whenever they were winning back-to-back cups in the early 90s. There's a wave of kids. RJ Umberger is one of them that came out of that group. Then there's like the Yager kids who were like in the mid-90s that, you know, kind of kept up the momentum. And then there's a little bit of a blip.

And then you have the Crosby kids. And those are the ones who going back to like, you know, do you want to go as far back as like Brandon Sod? Like I don't know, but it's it's dating back a while. There's really good talent. Guys like Logan Cooley, who was the third overall pick. a couple years ago. Those are the fruits of having Sidney Crosby, you know, be

the face of that organization and one of the, you know, the best player in the league for 20 years. I don't know what happens after this. I don't know if we have that blip that came after the Lemieux-Yager years ahead of the Crosby years. Like, do this stuff just carry, you know,

is there that lull? I think that's kind of the question. And I don't mean to give like a cop-out answer, but I think that's just generally, it's generally fascinating to me. Like if they don't, there has been a transcendent superstar, basically at the helm of this franchise

going back to 1985. We don't know what it looks like without one of the couple best players in the league playing for it. And they're staring down the barrel of that gun, you know, right now. So who knows it's going to be interesting. But I, and there's been some stuff in the past. to suggest that it might get funky

and there's been some stuff to suggest that it won't because all the bullshit that happened when like attendance here cratered that a lot of that was arena driven, ownership driven, whatever, that's apparently fixed. I don't know.

We'll see. I don't mean to give you a cop-out answer, Jake, because it's something I think about all the time. Instead of Sydney Crosby and the Penguins, you know, five years from now, you can watch Caroline Harvey and the Lady Penguins. The Lady Penguins?

Is that what we're calling them? The penguin, That's even worse. The penguinas. I would hate all of those. What's the deal with all those bridges? Okay, very quickly, because I do have an answer for this one. Back when you were fans of teams,

what moment gave you the most joy as a fan? I think it's like very clear to people that I grew up as a penguins fan. Went to a game at the old Mellon Arena before it, you know, blew up and became a parking lot. They blew it up on purpose. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they did.

They demolished it. Yeah. There was a gas leak. No. There it goes. No. Nobody was harmed. One of the biggest moments I look back on as a sports fan, like even not just being a

penguin's fan, but like a hockey fan was the playoffs between the caps and the penguins with the matching hat tricks between Sydney. Crosby and Alex Wetchkin, like, I will never forget what it was like watching that game as a sports fan, as a fan of the Penguins, as like a Penguins fan who hated the Caps because of the rivalry between those two teams who,

you know, had like a Sydney Crosby jersey on probably in the moment because he was just like larger than life to me. Just like the greatest player I'd ever seen. That moment will like always stick with me as like, wow, this is the like

greatest thing I've ever watched on TV. Mm-hmm. For me, it was probably the Lemieux comeback in 2000 because I was old enough to be extremely, I was old enough to be tapped into what was going. Like, it happened at a weird time in history because that was like right before everybody got cell phones. There was internet in schools, but kind of only in the library.

So there was like rumors that were circulating in my high, I was 14 at the time, like in my high school. And I remember taking a public bus home and getting off and calling my dad on a pay phone to tell them to tell them that it happened. And that for whatever reason, that one just like burned into my brain. The Crosby Lottery was a big one too because I was early in college at that point. Them winning the Crosby lottery in 2005 was huge. I think I've told the story.

There's a lot of good ones. Yeah. I think I've told the story before. obviously the golden goal in 2010 to as a Canadian. And again, as like a little Crosby fan girl growing up, I remember going into OT being like, Dad, wouldn't it be so cool if Sidney Crosby got the game winner at the Olympics? A little kid watching the Olympics.

I was a little girl in 2010. I'm not 30 yet. Not today's Satan. I also remember watching the Satan. I also remember watching the Crosby drafted in East Side Marios with my dad. It was great. Anyways.

East Side Marios. You know what? East Side Marios used to slap. All you can, you'd go for lunch and you'd get, you know, their lunch special. You'd get the garden salad

with the pepper and chinis in it. You get all you can eat breadsticks and you get a soup. You get the soup salad breadsticks for lunch. I just want to say, oddly enough, I don't have the same fond memories of the Crosby in the lottery.

I was talking about East Side Marios. Just saying. Yeah, I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm so sorry. Daniel made the exact same face as Brian Burke did whenever the whenever the ping pong ball dropped. Just a devastating hell for Daniel. Like gritting his teeth and shaking hands with Ken Sawyer up on stage.

Dark day. Don't give me started on Corey Perry's Black Hawk. That's a good. What a knife twist that is. It's okay. She's having a hard summer here, folks. Hey, but you know what? Kudos to him for getting $4 million.

You get that back, Corey Perry. Aren't you happy for him? I'm happy for him. He's going to play, look, he's going to plan a top power play with Connor Bedard, and he's going to score 28 goals or something. He'll be fine. He's going to be worth every penny. You know what?

And I actually kind of like that Chicago went out and signed a bunch of people to play with Connor Bardard. I enjoy that they made an effort to field a roster. 100%. I love that the bad team is actually trying to. some good players this year. Got to cut the shit on that one. It's great. You know what? And I also forgot to mention,

I think a pleasant surprise to make the playoffs next year would be Nashville. Low-key love GM-Berry. That would just be, like, I don't think, I don't really think it's going to happen, but that would be one of those surprise teams. Anyways, sorry, Danielle, to end on such a sad note for you in Southern California.

But that's all the time we have for today. We don't have any more time to talk about Corey Perry. The core, this isn't the Corey Perry cast. I thought that's what we were doing. That's next week, baby. Yeah. Sean and I are taking next week off and Danielle is going to talk about

Cory Perry for an hour. If you're interested in that, make sure you subscribe to the athletic hockey show. And if you're not an athletic subscriber, you can join us at theathletic.com slash hockey show to get an annual subscription for $2 a month for 12 months. Thanks, everybody. Sean and I will be around this summer. we don't have a plan. Actually, this was the last ever

Friday show. Sean and I are never going to speak again. I don't think you should joke about that. Given the events of the last few days. What, Craig? I don't know what you're talking about. All right. Thanks, everyone. We'll see if we're back. Darnell Nurse left it in the corner.

Gets off center. Great job by the ducks to get the puck deep and go to work. And Corey Perry with tremendous patience to wait out Camp Town. Tellman, Rob would make the first move, and then puts it into the open cage for the game winner to go up 3-2, and the bench of the Ducks is ecstatic. One of the most remarkable wins in Duck history.