The Athletic Hockey Show - Patrick Kane “not like the happiest” after Vladimir Tarasenko trade, Erik Karlsson headed to the Edmonton Oilers?, the Western Conference playoff race is wide open, and more

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

On a brand new Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Julian takes Ian’s seat and Mark Lazerus takes Julian’s seat as the guys set your week off right and discuss Patrick Kane’s reaction to Vladimir Tarasenko being traded to the New York Rangers last week, and the latest on his Chicago Blackhawks future, a potential Erik Karlsson trade to the Edmonton Oilers, if Jakob Chychrun will be on the move soon, lots of imperfect teams in the Western Conference playoff race, Joshua Kloke’s “Imaginary NHL trade deadline deals if it was more like the NBA trade deadline” article, Laz’s A1 “NHL masochism: Why assistants dream of the hard, (mostly) joyless move to head coach” piece, and the guys hand out this week’s Jack Adams Winner of the Week award to close things out. Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowGo to http://grammarly.com/tone to download and learn more about Grammarly Premium’s advanced tone suggestionsThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit http://BetterHelp.com/nhlshow today to get 10% off your first monthTry Peloton risk-free with a 30-Day Home Trial, New Members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at http://onepeloton.ca/home-trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome to the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. My name is Julian McKenzie. I am not Ian Mendez. I am actually sitting in his chair today. So we needed someone to sit in my chair today. So Mark Lazarus, not only is he doing that, filling in for me technically, is doing it from a hotel room in Montreal, which is very wild,

you know, considering if you know me enough and you know where I'm from, I'm pretty sure I plug that a hundred times that I'm from Montreal, not California. Hi, Mark. Hi, Julia. So you're in Ian's chair. You flew to Ottawa just to host this show. You know that we have the internet now, right? That's not necessary.

You know what's funny? The flames are playing in Ottawa tonight. So there is a world where, you know, maybe I could have been on that trip. I'm not on that one. I will be on one later this month. But it is kind of funny that you say, I flew to be an Ian's seat. I might as well have, considering the flames are in Ottawa tonight. Nice one.

I'm on this Eastern Canada road trip, and we're going Montreal to Toronto to Ottawa, which is really stupid. It's not the stupidest trip I remember, but we once went Rangers, Bruins, Islanders, which might have been the stupidest trip I've ever been on. That's when the Islanders were in Brooklyn still. So we had to leave New York City just to come right back to New York City. Sometimes you go to Western Canada, and it's like Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary. That's really annoying. That's kind of like what this one is, where it's like an extra hour flight for no reason whatsoever. Yeah.

But the scheduling matrix of the NHL is curious sometimes. I can imagine. There's a lot of hockey talk we've got to get to, obviously. Patrick Kane was in the news in the last few days, and there's probably no better person to talk about Patrick Kane than with Mark Lazarus, who has written about him for so long. The Eric Carlson News, Chris Johnston, who some of you may know I do a podcast with, saying that some talks may have reignited between the sharks and the oilers on that,

and then Daniel Nugent Bowman decided to put cold water on that and say it might be unlikely but who cares. We're going to talk about that anyway. Jacob Chikrin, yes, he bully R, Tim O'Meyer. Just want to kind of throw those names out in the fact that, like, you know, trade talks are in the air. And I want to go back on the article from Josh Cloak about if NHL trade deadline deals were more like the NBA trade deadline. I want to go through that article and just kind of discuss that as well.

But before I get to all of that, the Super Bowl was yesterday. And again, we're a hockey podcast. And, you know, people might be fed up of the end of it. FFL talk here, but I want to know where you were watching the Super Bowl and watching Rihanna with the halftime performance. I just got to get that out the way. I was sitting in this hotel room in Montreal watching the game and not being impressed by the commercials that I got up here in Canada. I'm not going to do that. I'm not a big commercials guy.

I'm not one of those people that gets super excited about the commercials during the Super Bowl. Most of them were just awful. It's just like appealing to boomers about it. Remember in the 80s when this guy was on TV? Here he is. in the same costume, wow. But if I had to see that bell fiber internet commercial one more time,

I was going to about a ripple through my TV. Oh, man. One tweet of yours that went sort of viral during the Super Bowl festivities, your comment about how the owner always gets the championship trophy first. Literally, I saw that, literally, before I saw that tweet,

me and the media friends I was watching the game with, we were all just like yelling about that. Just be like, well, why don't they give the Super Bowl to the guys who actually played on the damn field for four quarters instead of Clark Hunt to, yes, fine, owner of the chiefs and, you know, it's paid a lot of money for that. Well, I mean, look, I mean, the family thing, right with Lamar Hunt and all that. But like, come on.

Let Patrick Mahomes have it first. Yeah, I mean, my tweet was like, brace yourselves because all these tweets are coming and sure enough they came. And people were mad at me, like, as if I was some like pro billionaire bootlicker. Like, yeah, that's my brand is the pro billionaire type. If you ever followed me, you know that's me, sure. Look, we all believe that the players should get it first.

Obviously, the players should get it first. Nobody cares about the billionaire, or even the head coach. The players should get it. Obviously, it's better in hockey. But every single year, for every single league's championship, every single hockey person has to get all smug about it and be like, oh, they're going to give it to the owner.

Only hockey gives it to the players. I'm just saying you don't have to be such a jackass about it. Like, it's true. We know it. Let's just let it be there that we know it and know that it's superior and not have to, like, rub it in everyone's faces three times a year. It's a little bit much. It's all I'm saying.

Well, I just look at it from the other side because considering the amount of stuff that we point out in the NHL that's wrong, whether it's hockey culture or the salary cap. The one thing we do right. It's the one thing. Like, if you put together a list of, like, the top five things the NHL does right, like better than any other league. Like that has, like the fact that the Stanley Cup goes to the team captain and then team captain could do whatever they want.

They give it to a player who's wanted it for so long, an older veteran or whatever. Like that's in the top five list of things the NHL does right compared to so many other leagues. Not to say they're the only league that does this. But like, I can understand why some people would want to get on their high horse and be like, well, at least we in the NHL do this right. Please like my sport.

That's exactly what it is. It's a hashtag please like my sport. There's nothing worse than any kind of hash. It's so desperate and needy. And look at me. I know everyone's talking about the Super Bowl, but look at me. I like hockey.

Just like hockey. Just like it. Just like it. Don't have to like flaunt it. Just like it. I'm glad that we have this podcast where we can get two of the least smug people ever to talk about. That was like 90% of the tweets I got in response was like,

I was calling someone smug, that's rich. Which, you know, fair. Oh, man. Okay, before we get into any more trouble, let's talk about Patrick Kane, because you've had to write about him a lot of this future in Chicago, of course, we have to mention Jonathan Tays too,

but Patrick Kane has worn the news because one potential destination that we thought he would go to last week would be the New York Rangers. They end up making a deal where they get Vladimir Terrace. And it's one thing for us to kind of think about it and think, hey, well, you know what? Like Patrick Kane probably would have wanted to be a New York Ranger. It's a completely different thing when the player himself more or less says that to the media.

Were you around for that? Professor, what can you what can you discern from what he said from those comments and kind of break it down for us with regards to Patrick Kane? Yeah, we would just gather around his locker after the morning skate as usual. And obviously that was the first question. I think when you ask a question like that, I didn't ask you. But when you ask a question like that, you're just assuming you're going to get the, oh, you know, good for them and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then Kane just basically goes, yeah, wasn't the happiest about it. And it was like, oh, crap, he's going to go into this.

And sure enough, he did. And, you know, it's, I know some people were mad about that. Like, oh, it's like Bush League somehow to talk about it. I thought it was great. I mean, you know, this was, he was being open and honest about the situation. I mean, he's not pretending that all the things happening around him aren't happening around him. And he's being open and honest about it. And you can clearly tell that it's.

It's hard on him. He's conflicted about this. I mean, he's in the press every day. He talks to us. He never hides. And he talks every day. And, you know, he thought the Rangers were a real option. Like, here's a guy who could go to another big city.

He could play with Artembe Panarin again. He could contend for a cup again. That was the most appealing option to him, I think. We all assumed it, and it looks like we were all right. And it bothered him. I mean, I don't think he expected anything to go down a full month before the deadline like this. He's still trying to weigh his options, everything, because this is the NFL. nothing happens until the week before the deadline.

Well, something happened, and it really messed with him, and it affected his plans. And, like, you know, I thought it was great that he just openly admitted it. I don't know if there's, like, there's no tampering involved there talking about, yeah, I was thinking about going to that team. He's a player. He can say what he wants. And I have no problem with that at all. We see that all the time in other sports. And I've, it's not a very hockey thing to say, but I thought it was great.

I mean, he was just being honest. Don't we want that? Don't we want these guys to be honest and, and, you know, emotionally open about these things? I thought it was a very human moment from him. And I had no problem with him saying that all. And I don't think the Blackhawks do either because they're the ones that have put him in this position by tanking. So it's not like you can say, how dare you? My God.

My stars and garters. You know, he just, they put him in this position. They're basically begging him to leave. And, you know, you can't complain when, and then they aren't complaining about him talking about it openly. But what I'm the next point, the next question that we have to ask now is, if Patrick Kane does want to leave Chicago, what are his options? Like what other team can comfortably, okay, they have to check off these boxes, right?

They have to be a contending team. They have to be able to at least accommodate some of his salary. I assume Chicago would be willing to retain at least some of the salary on his cap for whatever's left for this year. They would retain 99% if they were allowed. They've got the space.

Yeah, they could do that, for sure. I would love to think, like, and also just Patrick Kane at this point, would he want to move? Because was he that dead set on New York and that's it? Like, it's just New York or bust? Is there another team that he might, like maybe he's shown maybe favorability to something like that? Like, what about that point of all this? Well, that's the big question, right? Because there's lots of teams that can, like, you know, one of the reasons we thought that this wouldn't happen so early is because teams need to bank

that cap space, right? Like, I'm not a capologist. But the later you make that trade, the easier it is to accommodate the player. even at, you know, 5.25 million if the Hawks retain half. But there are other teams that can do it. You know, the Vegas Golden Knights have Mark Stone on LTIR. The Carolina Hurricanes have Max Patcheretti on LTIR. Those are teams that want Patrick Kane. Like Carolina is interested in Patrick Kane.

Vegas is interested in Patrick Kane. Dallas is interested in Patrick Kane. Edmonton is interested in Patrick Kane. None of that matters. What matters is what is Patrick Kane. interested in, right? Is he interested in Vegas? Hey, Showtime in Vegas, that could work. That's a good team. Does he want to go to Canada? That's always a big ask of someone, especially he's got young, he's got a young son at home. You know, this is the first time he's got to deal with the

family aspect of all this. Dallas is probably the best team in the West, but does he want to go to Dallas? That's not, you know, he's a guy coming from a hockey mad, original six market, New York appealed to him for that regard. That respect, does Dallas, does he ask Patrick Sharp, Hey, what was it like in Dallas? Should I go there? I mean, he's got options there. He can call Tavo Terra Vinen. Hey, how is it like in Carolina?

Like, those are very, very different markets. Great fans, great teams. Great chance to win a Stanley Cup in Carolina, Vegas, and Dallas. Even Edmonton, maybe. But does he want to go there? Does you want to go to Edmonton and be on the second power play unit? Is that, and get like no power play time? Because we know what that first power play unit,

it just scores every time they touch the puck. There's a lot of factors that go into this, and it's completely up to Kane. He has full no movement. He can just say, screw it, I'm staying the rest of the year, and I'll figure this out in the summer as a UFA. He can come back for a year. He could go get hip surgery. If that's what he needs, he doesn't seem to think he does.

He has a million options here. He does not have to move by March 3rd. He certainly can if he wants to. The Blackhawks would prefer to because they can get probably a first round picking a prospect out of him. But he has all the cards, and he doesn't have to do anything. And with the Rangers off the board, I think it increases the chances of him doing nothing and staying in Chicago. Doesn't mean he's going to, but the odds of him staying are greater now that New York is off the board than it was before. And the Islanders were another team I thought that could have been a dark horse here because Patrick Kane loves Matt Barzell.

You see little hearts in his eyes every time he talks about Matt Barzell. That's like his dream center. The Islanders just went out and got Bo Horvett very early too. So that's off the board too. So, you know, he's in a tough spot here where he's got to make up his mind, but he hasn't made up his mind and he could just stay. So the ball's in his court, and the Hawks would love to get an answer. That's, it's kind of funny you bring up the Islander's perspective. That means that Patrick Cain, who has been jilted by two New York teams in a span of,

like a couple weeks. Jeez. That's tough for him. I want to add this, too. Like, in almost any other, like, league, a player of, like, Patrick Cain's caliber, I feel like we would kind of hype up a little bit more in terms of the fact that they would want to be traded. Like I understand that he's not the same player that he was before.

But like I still like there's something in my head that still tells me that like he could still at least sort of help like a team in the playoffs should they get him. Right. Like yeah, 92 points last year. I mean, he's a good player. He's a good player. And I understand that like people are looking at like, man, his stats are trash. Like he's on a really crappy Chicago team that is like closer to trying to get Connor Bittard than anything else. Like there's a weird part of me that thinks like, you know, it's great that we're.

we're trying to figure out where Timo Meyer is going. But Boer Horvatt, we focused on that for how many weeks? Like, why are we underrating the magnitude of Patrick Kane wanting to play somewhere else? Maybe it's the fact that he is indecisive about whether or not he wants to go or not. Maybe that's it. But, like, if this was any other league, like, I don't know, we make a big deal about the fact that, like, oh, wow, like a three-time Stanley Cup champion who is in the final years of his prime. It's like the closer to the exit of his prime than not may want out of an original six franchise. I think the fact that it's been so obvious for so long that like it's not like he

wants out and the team is desperate to keep him, right? Like this is a situation where Kane is trying to do right by the Blackhawks while also doing right by himself. He doesn't want to screw over the team. I think that's why he thought being traded was better because if he gets traded, the team seems like Kyle Davidson kind of wants the tabula rasa here. He wants to just clean the slate and get rid Kane and Taze, you know, they can keep them. They have the money and there's nothing wrong with having veteran leaders to usher in your next generation and sell jerseys and sell tickets. They could very well keep both of them. You know, Jonathan Taves is not going to cost a whole lot next year. And even Kane can be had. And the Blackhawks need contracts to get to the salary floor.

Let's not forget, Kane and Taves are $21 million combined. And Duncan Keith's $5 million recapture penalty comes off the books next year. They've got to give money to somebody. I mean, they're like the new coyotes where they're going to be taking on bad contracts just to get the floor here. But Kane wants to do right by the teams. I think the fact that it's not acrimonious at all, like the team wants to do right by Kane, you know, Jamie Faulkner, the team president and the CEO, Danny Wirtz, have said, whatever happens here, we're going to do right by Patrick. Whatever Patrick Kane wants, we're going to do. And if he wants to leave, we're going to try to give him the big send-off. We're going to do everything we can because this is arguably one of the two or

three most important players in the history of our franchise. So the fact that it's not acrimonious, I think, plays into everybody, everybody knows the situation and it's been going on for so long. But I do think people are underrating Patrick Kane, which is a really weird thing to say here. But I think they see that he's 34 years old and they're like, well, he's trash now. No, he's not a trash team. He's not playing with the caliber of player that he normally has helped. His whole career he's been getting, he made Michael Hansus a great center. He made Arnda Mnizumov a great center.

He made Brad Richards in his last year of his career a great center. Like, he has not had the linemates that John, he wasn't playing with Marion Hosa and Brandon Sadden, Patrick Sharp, like Jonathan Taze always has been. Kane has always been the second line right winger, right? And he's always been carrying lesser talents. But it's a lot to ask when the centers are, when he's playing with Phil Kuroshev and, you know, Tyler Johnson and Max Domi and Andreas Athanasia, these guys aren't at his level. Jason Dickinson is his center right now.

And it's the best center he's had all year. Like, they're working really well together. Jason Dickinson, who couldn't even make the lineup in Vancouver this year. So I think that people are underrated. Because, look, the aging curve will be kinder to Patrick Kane than it will be to most players. I've seen Patrick Kane get hit like six times in his entire career. The guy doesn't get hit. His game isn't predicated on speed.

It isn't predicated on strength. He just is just brilliant with the puck. And he has vision unlike very few players that we've seen. And his game will last. Like this hip thing, if he gets over it, like there's no reason Patrick Kane couldn't be a great player in his late 30s the way of Joe Pavelsky. is. You know, he could score. He's, you put him on a good team, and he's a proven playoff performer. He's a Kahn-Smith winner. He won the Stanley Cup with an overtime goal. I mean, who wouldn't want Patrick Kaine in their lineup in the playoffs? So I got to think a lot of teams want him. Again, the

question is, what does Patrick Kaine want? And I really genuinely, honestly, don't think he knows yet. The one thing I remember, because we've talked about Patrick Kaine a lot on this specific podcast, and you've been on with myself and Ian, and I remember you earlier in the year saying, I mean, making the point that, like, he might not even want to know. And I think you even made the point, too, that, like, he might be even closer to staying. And that wasn't, like, the first, like, half of the season, in the second half of the season now. Like, where do you think, like, I don't know what you're saying that he might not know where he's at. What do you think? Like, like, try to tell us as best as you can. Get in the mind of Patrick Kane. What do you think he might end up doing? Yeah,

I've been saying this a lot this year. Like, at the beginning of the year, I was convinced that Patrick Kane, I was in the minority here, but I was convinced that Patrick Kane was desperately seeking a reason to stay. He wanted something to, he did not want to leave. He wants to be the greatest black hawk of all time. He wants to own all the records. And he already is the greatest blackhawk. No offense to Stan McKee to Bobby Hull, Jonathan Taves, Duncan Keith. He's probably already the greatest black hawk of all time.

His resume speaks for itself. But he doesn't have the numbers yet, right? Because he hasn't been playing long enough. He wants that. He's a numbers guy. He's a legacy guy. Nobody I've ever met in the NHL knows more about hockey history than Patrick Kane.

I remember when he was on his point streak six years ago, whatever it was. He broke the American record for a point streak. And we were in San Jose and he scored an empty netter or got an assist on an empty netter. And we're like, man, you really cheaped your way in keeping the streak here.

He's like, hey, when Wayne Gretzky in his 43rd consecutive game scored an empty netter with 1.2 seconds left. Like, he knows everything about hockey. And he wants to be that guy. He knows, he understands what it means to play your whole career for one team. I think he wanted that. And I was convinced that Jonathan Taves had one foot out the door that he wanted nothing to do with this rebuild.

Now it's changed. Like about two months into the season, I started seeing the losing really weighing on King. When they had back-to-back eight-game losing streaks with one win in the middle there, when they were like hardcore tanking, Patrick Kane was miserable. Just like, I think it was so much worse than he thought it was going to be to lose like that because he's never lost like that before. So, and then Taves, Taves was kind of embracing everything. Like, he was enjoying, you know, working with the young guys.

And Cain's always been good about that too. But I think Taves is in a different stage of his career where he knows the end is pretty close. And Cain thinks he can have a lot of big years left. And so now it's like, I think Taves is thinking, you know what? I'm the cap into the Chicago Blackhawks. That's better than being the third line center of the Colorado Avalanche. And I think Cain is thinking, man, I'm just dying alive here. to use Yarmai Yager's famous turn.

And I think he wants to stay, but I think he knows it's not smart for him to stay. It's bad for everybody in his mind if he stays. So I've flip-flopped. I think that Taves is going to stay, and I think that Kane's going to go. Okay. By the way, two eight-game losing streaks.

Someone who has seen the Canadians go through two eight-game winless streaks, if the players take it bad, I mean, I think the writers, too. Like, that's not fun in some respect, too. Not that we have any rooting interest for any of the teams that we cover. It gets a little boring after a while, but it's like, yeah, this team is not doing enough to win. I just want that set with regards to the- It's weird, though, because like, like, I, like,

I remember when, like, Jeremy Colleton first took over from Joel Quenville, after Quenville was fired mid-season, and the Blackhawks had, like, I think they had two eight-game losing streets, and it was miserable, because this was a team that was full of veterans and thought they were going to contend. This Blackhawks team is interesting. You know, not in terms of, like, readership. They certainly, I'd get more readers if people were,

if they were winning, don't get me wrong. But the team itself, like, and Kyle Davidson, the GM used the same expression. They came into the season with eyes wide open. Everybody knows what this is. Everybody knows why they're here. You know, everybody knows, like, they're either here to get flipped at the trade deadline or they're a young guy trying to break in. Nobody came into this season with any delusions that this was going to be a good team. So I think other than maybe Seth Jones, who is like not enjoying losing all the time when he just signed an eight-year contract,

I think it's hurting him more than it's hurting other guys. these Blackhawks are kind of having a fun time. Like it's a pretty upbeat, positive room. When they win, it's great. When they lose, it's whatever. We're supposed to lose. Like, it's a very unusual dynamic in that this team is god awful, but they're kind of having a good time.

It's interesting. And it's one thing to have like a relatively young roster go through all that. But then back to Tays and Kane, they're at the top of that. Like when the locker room acts that way, how are those guys, like, what's their role in the locker room mood for those games? Well, that's just it, right? I mean, Taves is out there being the captain. He's working with the young guys on face-offs.

He's, you know, he's very upbeat and positive and trying to keep things light. And Kane is always, even during the cup years, he would gravitate towards the young guys. He would hang out with, you know, Brandon Sod and Andrew Shaw when they were coming up. He's always, in every phase of his career, is hung out with the young guys and likes to take them under the wing and do skill games and play two puck after practices. and he's still doing that. I'm not trying to suggest that Patrick Kane is just sulking around the locker room. But the losing, like after a game during a game even, you see him on the bench, this sucks for him to be just so hopeless and helpless out there. And the fact that he's not producing, I think that for Kane, again, the numbers matter to him.

So when he's not producing at a high level, it's that much worse for him. So I think he's struggling with the games right now. And nobody's having fun when you're losing six nothing or whatever it is. As a whole, they're handling it surprisingly well. I thought this would have been a much more, more abundant season than it's turned out to be. Okay, I think I've squeezed enough out of you with regards to Chicago and Patrick King. I think every single listener has turned off by now because we've talked 20 minutes about the Blackhawks. Well, why don't we talk about Eric Carlson and the fact that a report went around this weekend from Chris Jodston that the Sharks and Orlers have reignited potential trade talks?

and Daniel Nugent Bowman, who covers the Oilers for us here, talk to a source. Seems like that could be unlikely. Is that going to stop people from fantasizing about the idea of Eric Carlson, who's probably playing the best year of his career, already with two Norris trophies to his name, doing everything he can to get a third, potentially playing on an Edmonton orler's team

where we say all the time, you know, you need defense to get you through the playoffs. There's one team that could outscore their problems. It's the Edmonton-Northers. We have Connor McDavid, Leon Dreisdell, and Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and then imagine the idea. Let's just play Fantasyland for a second.

You plug in Eric Carlson as this offensive defenseman, again, in the best year of his career, at least he's trending towards that on this team. Let's just imagine that for a second, Mark. Like, is that not crazy? That power play, speaking of that power play, like, good Lord, can you imagine Eric Carlson, Connor McDavid, and Leon Drysiddle on the same power play unit?

That's an all-star game roster. That should be illegal. Like, that's like, that's absurd. Like, I love, like Eric Carlson's one of my favorite players ever to watch. Like he, in his prime, when he was killing it in Ottawa, like, just a joy to watch. And it's so cool to see him great again because I don't think anybody else, any of us expected him to be great again at any point. I don't understand, though, how he can be traded. He has four years left on an $11.5 million a year contract after this season.

That is an absolutely immovable contract. And even if San Jose retains half of that, that might be a lot. dead money for the next four years, which seems like a really bad idea. Who can take on that, it's baffling to me that in this flat cap world where everyone's up against, every contender is up against the cap, like I know I don't, I said earlier, the cat baffles me. Like, yeah, nobody is actually under the cap. Everyone is over the cap, yet it's a hard cap, quote unquote. I don't know how you can add Eric Carlson at his age with that contract of four more years, the risk of adding that. Like the, the the expectation that he's not going to revert to like the last couple of years, Eric Carlson.

And he's going to be this Eric Carlson well into his 30s now. Boy, that's a risky trade for anybody. It's risky for the sharks to take on that much dead money. It's risky for any team that takes him, that to take on potentially that much basically dead money. Like, it is a huge risk. I love seeing Carlson kill it. I'd love to see him in the playoffs. I don't understand the mechanics of an Eric Carlson trade right now.

And I'm, you know, you talk about fantasy GMing like, you know, the NBA. there's no mid-level exception, bird exception, all these confusing soft cab rules. You got to squeeze that $11.5 million into the cap for the next four years. If you could do it, God bless you. I don't know how you do it. It's funny, like, even if Eric Carlson doesn't revert back to some of those, like, numbers when he was still battling through that ankle injury, and he still plays at, like, a decent level, Like that's still likely going to be a falloff from what he's projected to do this year

in which he's supposed to get like, what, like over 100 points that's what he's trending towards. Yeah. Like, it's a big risk. And he's going to be 33 next season. You don't get better as a defenseman at 33. You're not, unless you're Chris Chelios. Unless you're Chris Chelios, who plays till he's like 47.

It was 47, right? 40s, I believe so, at the Thrashers, yeah. Yeah, geez, the Atlanta Thrashers. I was thinking about that franchise the other day. It's like the Atlanta Thrasherst. were a thing. But anyway, that we could save that for the Thursday episode, it down goes brown if we have to. Completely off topic, but for the team you cover,

the alternate Captain A on the Flames jersey being the old Atlanta Flames A is a single favorite thing on a hockey jersey in the NFL. Yes, RIP to those Atlanta Flames. But yeah, like I'll say this with Eric Carlson, man. Like, if he is able to go on a team like Edmonton, we talk about the lack of creativity with trades in the NHL, and how it's not like the NBA at all. By the way, shout out producer Chris saying Chellis was 48, not 47, when he retired.

He was 48. That's the coolest thing about doing the show is that we'll come up with like random like, like, hey, I'm trying to remember if this stat happened. And then Chris is just always on the ball and then just like kind of adds that right away. It's kind of peeling behind the curtain for everybody listening. But like Eric Carlson, if you find a way to make that deal work, whether you get them to retain 50%, and the sharks, I mean, retained 50% of a salary. Maybe they get some prospects coming the other way. Like, that would be as close as what we get to a quote unquote NBA style trade in which you're like,

whoa, this big piece moved and all these picks got moved. What? Like, that would be, that would be groundshaking. Maybe not reverberating all across like the big four sports, but like the NHL in terms of the chaos, in terms of the drama, in terms of the excitement around the. the league. It's kind of weird to say they need a trade like this, but they need a trade like this. They need a story like this. Well, in the NBA,

it would involve five first rounders, 16 second rounders, a 2052 draft pick, six G League guys, you know, a partridge and a pear tree. Like, those trades are just asinine. I understand that like in the NBA, one player can completely transform

a team. Like, there's only five guys on the floor at once. I get that. Hockey, you know, the best players on the ice for a third of the time. But some of the traits. It's like, yeah, we don't have to care about the next 10 years. We got this one guy. Yeah. F them picks, as some people. F them picks. And I said F and not the full F word. I never know if I'm supposed to curse on this show or not, because me and Scott, when we're with Las and Powers, we're pretty bad about it. I don't know. Like, I'm trying to be better

with that. Like, I don't want, like, my mom to listen to one of these shows. And she's all like, Julian, you have to stop swearing. I don't like that. I don't want my mom. There's a wider audience. You know, you've got to have more general, a more rated G tone. Yes, exactly. There's a double entendre with wider audience, too, but I won't make that joke. Let's go to Jacob Chichron. Let's go to Jacob Chichron, a topic I'm scared to talk about today because it's entirely possible. Man, I can't believe I made that joke.

A topic. A wider audience. It was right there. Okay. Jacob Chikrin, I'm scared to talk about him because it's possible by the time this podcast comes out. he may have already been traded, whether it's to the Los Angeles Kings. That's the worst part about being a beat writer this time of year, isn't it? Yes.

Like, literally everything you do could be obsolete by the time you hit publish. It's the worst feeling as a writer. Oh, my God. Like, shout out to Eric Stevens, who covers the ducks and the Kings. I bet he's waiting by his phone. And, well, we don't think we have anyone in Arizona, but still, like Jacob Chikrin, the idea that he could go there. Maybe there's some other team that's involved.

Geez, finally for this guy, because it seems like he's been in the, in the trade circles for what, like, it feels like years, but at least it's been a year since he's been kind of under that. Plus the fact that yes, he pulled Harvey's future is also up in the air. Timo Meyer, we keep talking about him too. We have the deadline, obviously, where a lot of those deals are supposed to flood through. But what if we got deals like now and, like, for the next few weeks and just kind of this like, this kind of like occasional waves.

the deals before we get to the deadline. Do you think we're getting towards that point? As a beat writer, I'd love it. Let's rip off the band-aid and be done with us. I hate this time of year. There are some writers that love this time of year and chasing all these, every little bit of speculation. I hate it.

I hate when people on Twitter ask me about rumors, as in we don't deal with rumors. We're journalists. That's not what we deal with. And I hate annoying agents. I hate annoying players. I hate annoying executives. I hate everything about.

this. I can't wait until it's like March 6th and it's like we've written all of our dirges and all of our wrapups and we can get back to covering hockey again. Man, I hate this time of year. So let's get it done. Let's get it done early. I don't have to be on that TSN panel for 74 hours in a row on deadline day. Just just rip it all off and be done with it now. It makes sense, right? I think one of the reasons that it always waits so long and we get to the last second is everyone's worried about like making sure they're contenders, right, before they make a move. This year the standings are interesting in that you kind of know who's in it and who's not and which teams are battling. And like if you look at that like the last spot in the east and the last spot in the west, you better start.

If you're if you're, if you're Lou Lamarillo and you believe you have a playoff team now, you got to do it now because you got some ground to make up. If you're in the Pacific Division and you see that the Kings were in first place, now they're in the wild card like four days later, why would you wait? Why would you give up all these games of potentially having a star player on your team that can help? Like make the move now. You are in it. You know, you are a playoff contender in a wide open Western conference. Why would you wait four weeks, three weeks, two weeks, and risk not gaining points and losing ground?

I think it's smart to do this. And again, there's the accrual of cap space aspect of it that plays into this. But if you can make the move now, why the hell would you wait? Like the delineation between playoff teams and non-playoff teams is pretty clear right now. If you think you're in the former, go get a guy. You make a good point. I look at the Calgary Flames a lot and obviously because I cover them

and you look at the way the team is composed and the players and the moves that they made. I feel like we make a big deal about players who get you through the playoffs being more valued than guys who get you to the playoffs. I feel this year more than ever with the Flames and I think because of how the Pacific specifically looks and other teams of the Western Conference,

this is as good of a year as any to make the argument that like, hey, you need guys who need to get you to the playoffs. Like, I know a lot of people in Calgary think, man,

you should just stay put and whatever. But if you really look at how the contract you're kind of struck with some of those guys who could be leaving and like,

I feel like that window is not as large as people think. And like, you kind of have to do something. Minnesota, they're tied, the flames are tied with Minnesota on points for that second wild card spot.

Like, I wonder if they're going to do anything. If Los Angeles makes this move for Jacob Chikrin, they also, that's kind of weird they have a negative goal differential amongst all these other playoff teams.

It's really interesting. But like, Like they're in a wild card spot right now. That's a move you make to ensure that you are in the playoffs. And not just as like, okay, you know you're going to be contending team. Like you're literally like being leapfrogged every so often. They're in a three-way tie, Los Angeles. I mentioned they're occupying the top wildcard spot.

They're in a three-way tie as we speak for second in the Pacific Division because Seattle and Emmington also have the same number of points. Like that's a move you make if you get Jacob Chikrin to ensure that you are in the playoffs. And I feel more than ever this year at some of those Western Conference teams. Maybe we see guys who are trying to make moves to make sure they are in as opposed to just like, all right, like we're in, like we're going to go for it. Like, this is the year to do it. Yeah, 100%. Especially in the Western Conference, like if you're in the East, you might think, all right, we can get into the playoffs, but we're not Boston or Carolina. Like, we have no

chance of actually winning. Even Toronto and Tampa are ahead of us. But if you're in the West, who's scaring you? Do the Dallas Star, they're a really good team? Do they scare you? Do the Edmonton Oilers scare you? Do the Seattle Cracken scare you? Wait, wait, wait. Time out. Time out. Time out. Time out. Dallas and Emmetton don't scare you? Edmonton in the playoffs? No, Edmonton in the playoffs doesn't scare me. Edmonton in the regular season. What? That's interesting, considering the run they went on last year and the fact that they could score goals. That's interesting. The run they went on.

They got swept in the conference final. What run did they go on? Okay, they still went on a run, and Connor McDavid had like the most points of anyone last year. Like, I can understand playoffs get a little bit different, but like, the Oilers showed everyone last year that like, hey, you know what? Like, we can still score and get points. Like, the only reason they got swept is because they ran up against a team that is able to do everything right in the Colorado Avalanche. They could score, they could defend, they could place with speed. They just did everything better than the Oilers. But like, if it wasn't for the Avalanche getting in their way, like, who knows what the Oilers could do? And if you're the Oilers now, you need to get in the playoffs and show that you

could do that again. Like, I don't know. Like, I mean, it's interesting you don't think they scare you. Plus, like Dallas, Jason Robertson playing at an MVP Talper level, Jake Odinger. They don't scare you? You can't tell me there's anybody in the West that scares you the way Boston would scare you, the way Carolina would scare you. There are no perfect teams in the West. There are good teams in the West. Colorado might not even make the playoffs at this rate. But if they're in the playoffs, like, I don't want to play against that team. Oh, yes. Colorado would scare me. I'll give you that. I'll give you that much. But Colorado is also a borderline

playoff team right now because of all the injuries and everything they're dealing with their goal tending is not superb. That is a beatable team right now. Every team in the West is theoretically beatable. I'm not sure you could be like

the islanders and look at Boston and go, yeah, we could take him in seven games, maybe because Sorokin stands on his head, but it's going to take something spectacular to beat Boston or Carolina. Whereas in the West, yeah, Jake Audinger is awesome.

Connor McDavid and Leon Drysiddle are proven playoff gods now at this point. But there are not. no teams in the West I look at and think I can't beat that team. So I think that this year more than ever, if you're a Western Conference team on that bubble, you think we get the right guy, we get into the playoffs. And NHL players will always tell you this. We just got to get in, right? This year, in the West in particular, it's true.

You just got to get in because ain't nobody in the West terrifying anybody. Okay. All right. You heard it here from a man who covers the Chicago Black Ox. Nobody in the West scares him. The Blackhawks certainly don't terrify you. Maybe with all the losing and all the dread you get. Maybe. That's what's scary enough. It's terrifying in that if you lose to them, it's not a good thing.

It's like standing over a two-foot punt. It's like terrifying in that. What if I miss this? Everyone's going to laugh at me. Oh, man. Literally, the Flames fans were listening to this. I'm sorry. Yes, we get it.

You're probably thinking that exactly. I wanted to plug an article from Josh Cloke, which is called Imaginary NHL Traverse. deadline deals if it was more like the NBA trade deadline. And like basically what Joshua tried to do is he took real life NBA deals and tried to make NHL comparables. It dropped over the weekend. I think it's pretty interesting.

Like one example of a trade he put up. Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren, the big move between Phoenix and Brooklyn, which he's KD go to Brooklyn. And Brooklyn gets four unprotected first round picks, Michael Bridges, Camp Johnson, J. Crowder. 2028 draft pick exchange. And the comparable I thought was really interesting where he said Vegas and Tampa make a move in which Victor Headman and Pierre Eduardo Ben Marr, go to Vegas exchange for four first round picks, not lottery

protected, Nicola Roa, a Chandler Stevenson, Zach Whitecloud, and a 2028 draft pick exchange. Like, I think that article is a really cool concept and you're trying to find a way to like make some comparables. do you wish personally as someone who has been in the game as long as you have, I'm not going to say your age because we've exhausted that joke already. Would you want trades to be more like the NBA and have that same type of excitement? I have to make that joke about your age. I'm sorry. I'm 42 and Julian thought I was 50 and it pissed me.

It's only an eight-year difference. It's a big eight years though. It's a big eight years. I don't know. Part of the reason the NBA is so popular. right is because of all the movement. Because the NBA offseason is so much fun. It's hard because like I like, you know, as a fan, like when I was a kid, it killed me when

my favorite players got traded. But fandom has changed a lot now. Like because of the internet, because of all the packages, like you can spend six bucks a month and watch every single game. You're not stuck watching only your hometown team. That everyone's a fan. Like, if you look at the people that follow you on Twitter, they all have like four NHL teams in their Twitter bio.

Like everyone's a fan of multiple teams. People are fans of players as much as they are of teams now. Like, fandom has changed a lot since I was a fan in the 1920s. Now, it's a different, it's like, I can never imagine rooting for anyone other than Islanders as a kid. But now it's like, you know what is? It's like when Ziggy Palfi got traded in the 90s, when Mike Milbury stupidly traded Zieggy Palfi, among his many stupid trades as Islanders GM, it just gutted me. but I wasn't going to go and root for

to get traded to the Kings. I wasn't going to become a Kings fan. What the hell are you talking about being? I'm stuck. I'm stuck with this god-awful shitty Islanders team. Like that's how fandom was. It's not like that anymore. So in the NBA, that's part of what makes the NBA so fun is the players of all the power, right? And as the bleeding heart, liberal,

non-billionaire bootlicker that I am, I love the idea of the players, the labor having all the power here, right? Like, the owners have so little control in the NBA of what actually happens. It's the players say like, you know what, I'm done here. I'm going over there. And it's just, okay, I'm over there now.

And the fact that a guy of Kevin Durant, like Kevin Durant, one of the greatest players in NBA history, honestly now, is on like his third team in how many years, fourth team in how many years? Like, that's unthinkable in the NHL. That doesn't happen until the end of your career when you become like a Yarmah, Yager, Jerome McGillah type bouncing around at the end of your career.

For guys in their primes to be able to just engineer these deals, like on the surface, I love it. It's fun. It's great. But as a fan, I don't know how I would feel about that. I feel like the connection you have, like what Blackhawks fans are going through right now, wrestling with the idea that Jonathan Taves and Patrick Kane might put on a different uniform later this year. It's gutting.

And the gutting is what makes it great, right? So I'm torn on it. It would be more fun. It would be better for the players. They'd make more money in the league would probably be more popular. But the old school part of me was like, man, you know, I don't want to be just rooting for laundry. I get it. You don't want to, you buy that Ziggy Pauphy jersey in the 90s.

I still have it. Oh, my God. It's got the big wave. It does not have the fish stick logo. It's got the right crest, but it's got that hideous teal wave on it. Oh, it's so bad. So, wait, is that the trade as a fan? Because, look, let's be real here.

There was a time when reporters were once upon time fans. I don't think they carry that on into their actual work jobs now, I'd like to think. But, like, is that the trade that, like, that's the trade that broke you as a fan? I have my, I think people know my story, but, like, I'd like to know yours. It didn't break me. It didn't break me. As an Islander's fan, I was born in 1980. So the Islanders won the Cup when I was two months old, and then one, two, and three.

So I don't remember any. Infantile amnesia robbed me of all the glory. All I knew was the single worst franchise in professional sports for 30 years. Like, it's hard for, if you've only been a fan of the NHL the last handful of years, it's hard to describe how pathetic the Islanders were as a franchise. They were sold for $80 million to a guy with no money. I mean, only the islanders could do that. Like, got completely defrauded.

Like, they were just pathetic. So, like, I saw time and time again just my favorite players getting traded. And it never, it never affected my fandom. Like, it never waned. But it's just, it numbs you almost as a fan. Like, I, I, I can tell you. Like, I remember when the moment my fandom was, I knew my fandom was dead. I've told this story on our podcast before.

When John Tavaris scored the series winning goal against Florida, I think it was in 15 maybe. And it was the first time the Islanders had won a playoff series since I was 13 years old since Dave Volick beat the Penguins, which was still the best moment of my childhood.

Like, I was 13 years old when it happened. It was the biggest thing that ever happened. And when Tavares scored the goal, I felt nothing. I'm like, oh, my dad'll be happy at least. Like, that's when I knew that the job had killed my fandom. But the job is what took my fandom away.

Until 2012, you know, I could check my Facebook memories. Every now and then, I'm like, go Islanders! Like, you know, just 10 years ago. So it was still there. Like it never, it was just repeated gut punches, but I think it toughened you up as a fan almost. It kind of like gave you a, like I got thick skin, like a coat of armor around you that like, you know, you can't, you can't break me. Screw you.

Screw you, Mike Milbury. I'm still going to come back and give you all my money because I'm stupid. I'm a stupid idiot. I'm a sucker. Take my money. That's what being an I understand was like for 30 years. Oh, God. Yes, you're better than me because like for me. For me, for me, And I've talked about this on podcast too, but like when P.K. Sue ban got traded. I was like, all right, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. And in my case, like, I, you know, young people today, you have no souls.

I get it. No loyalties at all. I get it. I was legit like, I was like the day that happened, the day after that, I was moving to the states to go to a grad degree. And I just anticipated living in America for a year, I would not care about hockey that much. And that turned out to be a lie because I ended up interning for an HLT. But like what was funny was just like, you know, this is a player who was not, at least in my eyes as like a black like hockey fan at the time and seeing like other like family members obviously embrace this player and other people who looked like me in the city who are like, yeah, it's cool to see a guy like P.K. Suban. You never got that feeling that like the organization embraced him in that way. So when he eventually gets moved, it's like, oh, well, that's a big gut punch. And I don't know if I feel comfortable like supporting the team in that way. And then obviously, you know, school happened.

Life happens. You end up at the athletic and then the Canadians end up in the Stanley Cup final. Like sort of like for you, like when you saw that the Islanders did well and you were like, oh, I don't feel anything. I felt more selfishly thinking, oh, I'm the new guy. I get to go to a Stanley Cup final. This is awesome. And I'm not thinking like, oh, the Canadians get to go to a stadium. Oh, sure. Yeah. I thought of me. Like I think of it that way. So, yeah, like it's just, it's interesting. That's what the job does to you. I like, I always say like I've lost my individual fan of, but I'm a bigger fan of the game than I've ever been. Like, when I was a kid, I would never watch some random Sharks Kings game.

No, it's like, give it to me, you know? Like, I love the sport more than I ever did. And, you know, for me, my first year on the beat was the lockout season 2013 when the Hawks went 21-0-3 and then went on to win the cup. So my first three years was cup over time of game seven of the conference final cup. So I'm not a Blackhawks fan. I feel nothing when the Blackhawks win or lose. But there's no denying. It was freaking awesome.

Like, it was great to be, like for me, just as a hockey fan, never mind as a whatever, just to be at the Stanley Cup final, to be on the ice after the Stanley Cup. Like, that's, like, if I ever lose that part of the job where it's still cool to do these things, then it's time to put me out to pasture. Because, like, to do this job and to not enjoy it, like, then go get a real job

and, like, actually, like, have a normal life. Why would you do this job if you can't still find the excitement in the job, right? Seriously, right? Like, that being said, though, in that situation, if you're put out to greener pastures, you don't have to do things like, oh, I don't know, harass sources for trade deadline information.

Some people love it. It's funny. Some people love this part. This is like their favorite month of the year. I freaking hate it, man. This is such a nuisance to everyone I talk to. Can you like give me some tips? Because like I've gone through so many years like, like as a fan just like watching like Trade Center on TV or like working in like a studio like trying to like sift through Twitter and help out whoever I was working with at a radio station at a time to figure out.

okay, who's getting moved here, who's going to move there. And at the athletic, like, you know, you're working the news desk, you're working the editing shifts, and you're like, okay, like, what am I going to do? This is going to be my very first trade deadline where all I have to do is be like a beat reporter and, like, you know, try to report on stuff. And if I, whatever sources I can get, like, you know, work the phones and do what I need to do, keep the ear to the streets. Like, give me something, man.

Like, give me a tip. Give me something I can hold on to, man, because I need the, I need all the advice I can get. What you do. Here's what you do. Yes. If you go to the movies, you have to sit in the very last row in the back right corner so you can keep checking your phone throughout the movie without interrupting everyone else's movie. That's what I do. That's my best piece of advice. You can't unplug, right? That's the worst part.

You literally go to sleep and I going, oh, I hope this might be a bad idea to go to bed right now. It's the worst feeling just like looking over your shoulder all the time. And thank God for the Pierre LeBronz of the world. That's like our ace in the hole, right? We got Pierre just all over this stuff. Shut up here. I'm totally fine to Pierre breaks it over me. We're working for the same company.

I'm trying to break it, but I also know that Pierre's probably going to beat me to it anyway. Before I bring up our Jack Adams Award winner of the week, NHL masochism, why assistants dream of the hard, mostly joyless move to head coach. Mark, you wrote that piece that is today's A1 for the athletic. Can you at least just kind of talk about the story, talk about what it took to put that together? This is an opportunity to plug your stuff. I appreciate that. I always got to plug the stuff, right?

This is, you know, back in September, you know, when I was first getting to, you know, work with Luke Richardson, who was a long-time assistant coach getting his first head coaching job. And I was just kind of curious, like, what's that like to make that leap? Because, you know, just being around the sport a lot, you can tell that assistant coaches have this pretty laid-back lifestyle. Like, they're around the rink all the time. Their hours are long. But they get to be the good cop. They get to be the shoulder to cry on. They're in the room just hanging with the guys and doing one-on.

on one stuff, focusing on like the power play. And the head coach is just, they're the ones that got to tell you you've been scratched, that you've been demoted, that you've been traded. They're the ones that have to talk to the press. They're the ones that have to like meet with the sponsors and do all the gladhanding. They're the ones that got to meet with the GM after every game to talk about who's coming up, who's going down. And it just seemed like being a head coach doesn't seem that fun to me.

It seems like it's a huge bureaucracy that you're the face of a literally a billion dollar corporation. That's what these teams are now. They're billion dollar corporations. So every time a coach came through Chicago or I was on the road, like a Jay Woodcroft or a Mike Sullivan, a Don Granado, I would, former assistant coaches who became head coaches, I asked them, what was that first year like for them? And some of these guys did it 20 years ago. Some of them just did it a couple of years ago. And I wanted to get all their perspectives.

And it was interesting. Everyone kind of talked about a different aspect of it. Like, oh, Mike Sullivan misses being more hands-on as a coach where you could really coach, you know, be on the ice with a guy and work with them. And, you know, everyone had a different aspect. And then finally, I sat down with Luke Richardson just a couple weeks ago in Edmonton. And he walked me through literally minute by minute of what his day is like. And I kind of put those together into a story about what it's like to become a head coach after being an assistant coach. And it doesn't sound like that fun of job.

Like, it's great because you get all the glory or whatever, but you also get all the pressure and all the headaches and all the bureaucracy, all the red tape. You got to really, really want that job to do that job well because it is a 20 hour a day commitment. And that's what I tried to convey in the story. One of my favorite parts of that story is the fact that you have like the day-to-day for Luke Richardson. Because it feels like you were literally with him in bed, like going through his entire day. I was not. For the record, I was not.

Just what that clarified. But yeah, it did feel as if like you were with him every step of the way. So I really appreciate those details. Well, it's great. Richardson's very unusual as a coach. Like, you know, the coaches I've covered were Joel Quenville, who wouldn't tell you anything. And Jeremy Colleton, who would kind of like not give you much.

Like most coaches will never get into the X and O's. Luke Richards would be like, oh, yeah, on that PK, oh, well, our F2 did this and he knows against the wall. Like, he will break down every single play for you if you ask him to. Hell, he was sick one day. He missed a morning skate because he had the flu, and he coached that game. And he basically gave the Xs and O's of when

how he got sick and what was happening to him. Like, this is a man who shares. So when I asked him, I'm like, can you get me through the day of day? He's like, oh, yeah, sure, 5 a.m. He just started. Like, he is an open book, and I appreciate that as a writer where I've never had that where a coach will just tell you literally everything. So it's been, it's been good to work with him.

That's interesting. Yeah, good for Luke Richardson, who was in Montreal for a while. Like, if you asked Daryl Sutter, if you asked Daryl Sutter, what, like, for his day, what would he tell you? Probably wake up. Check the cows. Check the farm. Then drive to practice.

Something like that. I imagine it'd be something like that. I don't know. That's if he cares to share. Daryl Sutter is still a really interesting person to maneuver through because some days he might not give you anything. Some days he might spin a yarn about some really old like Chicago Stadium or some like old like story of his playing days. With Daryl Sutter. like that.

Having covered two playoffs series, the two conference finals with him when those Kings Hawks once in 13 and 14 is on a practice day, he's like the greatest quote you will ever have. He will tell you anything and everything. It'll just go on and on and on. On a game day,

don't ask him anything. It's not worth trying. Did I ever tell you that story about one of the first times I asked him a question? I asked him, for those who don't know, Darryl Sutter is not the coach you ask who's going to start in that.

Like you go to practice, you see the starters net, you go with that. You do not ask him that. I made that mistake early on in the year. And Darrell Sutter was like, well, just, I know you're new here, but don't ask me that question. Like, I'm not forced to have to tell you who's going to start in Ned. And, you know, unless the league says something and all that. Like that happened. Like, everybody was coming to me after.

It was all like, man, everybody gets stuff like that. It's okay, man. Like, it's a right of passage. It's like, stop bringing that up. Like, I feel worse. Oh, man. Let's keep it going with coaches. We do a thing on the Monday show called the Jack Adams winner of the week.

We normally go through a list of coaches. And Ian and myself will pick through some of these coaches who had a pretty good week. And we tried to discern, you know, who should be the best. I tried to do the legwork and look through so many coaches who went about the last week or so to try to see, okay. How many games did they play? What's their record? There was a lot of guys who were like 201. no. There were a lot of guys who were like 2-0 and 1. There's some guys who probably didn't really fit.

Gerard Gallant was 4 and 0, and the Rangers have won 5 in 0. Those ranges have won the last 5 in a row. There's nobody else better to pick for Jack Adams Award winner of the week than Gerard Galant of the New York Rangers. Tell me, I'm wrong. 100%. And they were, you know, just a couple weeks ago, we're in that mix of those, you know, the capitals, penguins, islanders. It was the Rangers were in there, too, of those teams that might miss the playoffs. And now all of a sudden they look like they're pretty comfortably in.

And when you got Chesterkin and Nett, and you got Tarasenko on your top line with Zabanajad and Panarin, holy crap, like all of a sudden, they're looking like they might not be quite in that God tier that Boston and Carolina are in, but they're in that next tier with the devils and the Leafs and the Lightning. And that's, that is, we talked about scary teams. I don't want to face the Rangers in the playoffs. That's a scary team. I don't.

Me neither. I don't, I picked at the beginning of the year, they'd go back to the Eastern Conference finals and even go to the final. I might stick with that prediction. Or I don't know. Maybe I'll change. But I was pretty big on the New York Rangers coming into this year. I want that to be known on the record.

Just want that note. Went and down, going with the best goalie in the world. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. We made it through the Monday edition of the athletic hockey show. Nothing broke. Ian Mendez would be proud of us both of whatever he happens to be doing today. I'm sure he's a busy guy.

This is the second time in as many days as I've had to fill in for him for a podcast. He should be hosting. Hopefully, I get some kind of gift for my birthday, but you know what? A simple thank you will suffice. Is it your birthday? No, my birthday is April 11th. I'm just giving him two months to figure that out. It's the very least he can do for you.

Absolutely. Again, thank you all for listening to the podcast with the two non-smug individuals here at the athletic. We are not smug in any way, shape, or form. I'm just kidding, guys. We're not like that. We're just being jerks. Thank you for listening to the Athletic Hockey Show. please follow us on your favorite podcast platform,

leave a rating and a review. We really appreciate it. Follow us on YouTube, YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. And right now, get a one-year subscription to the athletic, $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.

Mark, thank you so much for tapping in, dude. Anytime. Always fun to be here.