The Athletic Hockey Show - Quarter Season Report: Surprises, good and bad in the NHL

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

Hailey, Max and Sean share their good and bad surprises, team and player performance, division by division, as the NHL reaches the quarter mark of the season with in-depth discussion on the Bruins, Devils, Canucks, Oilers, Ducks, Kings, Sabres, Wild and Panthers.Plus, the trio wonders how effective Patrick Kane will be for the Detroit Red Wings once he makes his season debut after recovering from hip surgery, and will he make his Wings debut next week in his hometown of Buffalo? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is The Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of The Athletic Hockey Show. On a Thursday, we're back. It's Haley. It's Max. It's Sean. It's been three weeks, guys.

We left everyone hanging for a bit. Max got married. There was Thanksgiving. Sean and I crashed Max's wedding. It's been a while. What's up, guys? I was an invited guest. I was.

It's been three, you got married three weeks ago. That's crazy. Yeah. It doesn't feel like that long. And I feel like we did, I did the cut in from Stockholm, but that, I think that's it. Yes. Yes. But then we ditched you for Corey Chevry.

Yeah. Which is fair. We talked to you about Swedish treats. Yeah. That's right. You made you William Nylander. You know what? That didn't get as popular as I thought it would.

Allison loved it. That's all the matters. That's true. I just aim to please her as a friend. Welcome back, everybody. Come on. I realized how weird that sounded that instead of I said it. Come on. Very red all of a sudden.

Max, what's going on in Detroit? Patrick Kane. Yeah, some stuff. It has been busy. Obviously, the news on Tuesday they were going to sign Patrick Kane. has come to fruition. He is, he was skating with the team yesterday in New York. He's had his intro press conference and now it's just a matter of kind of the countdown to when he gets into games. Sounds like the earliest that could be is next Tuesday in Buffalo, which obviously be very

fun. It's his hometown, but could also be later in the week. It's just going to kind of be a feeling out process. But, you know, after the press conference, both his and Steve Eiserman's, my biggest takeaway was it, you know, we've all been pretty cautious, I think, talking about what is this guy going to look like? And, you know, there's this unprecedented, you know, kind of path back for an NHL player that's really only happened in tennis, really. He's 35 and all that. Man, they sound pretty optimistic. He sounds pretty happy with how he feels right now and the things that he can do now that he couldn't do last year. He talked about how last year he felt straight-legged and couldn't really do the left-over, right crossover. You know, Steve Eisenman.

mentioned, like he said, if Kane can even be the guy he was last year, it's pretty good, but they expect him to be closer to the guy he was two years ago. I don't think he's going to put up a 92 point pace. But the fact that they're talking like that had really had my attention yesterday. And Kane certainly sounds like he feels a whole heck of a lot better. I think it's a really compelling story just because, as you said, Max, how few players have come back from this kind of surgery. It was hip resurfacing.

It's different than a hip replacement. We've seen some players try that surgery, come back for a little bit, then not hit the same level. They haven't even come back. Andy Murray is kind of the most famous example. But I wanted to ask you, Sean, without saying too much because I know you're working on something. But like this is a surgery that if it works in the way that people in Kane's inner circle think would be, you know, this is going to be the highest profile player to return at the expected level in this sport, right? Mm-hmm.

For sure. And, boy, I'm glad Kane and Eiserman spoke at that presser before I made a couple of the calls that I made last night because it kind of set the tone. I was, Max, you alluded to this. I was maybe not shocked, but I was surprised by the level. of bullishness we saw from both those guys like it was wild kane was cane you know said that he passed on some things that his surgeon said to him and um even eiserman had a level of opt i had a level of optimism that yeah i max you know this better than me that you're barely see from him he was like he was like he was like he was like let's the subtext

to all of that yesterday was like let's go this dude can do it like we we believe in him the surgeon believes in him. The Red Wings medical team believes in him. He believes in himself. Eisenman's on board. And that's shocking because this is a serious procedure. It's a common enough procedure among

normies basically, but it's not something that we've seen pro athletes or an NHL player come from and play several years after. Ed Jauvinoski was the first guy to have it. It all went well. He played about 40 games on it. In his

last season, but he was also 38, different kind of player at the end of the road. He ended up not playing again. And that's probably the best example, like the most positive outcome we've seen. Ryan Kessler had it after having a gazillion other surgeries on his hip. That's a major factor. And again, I don't want to totally spell the beans on what I'm writing here, but that's a major factor for Kessler. People want to compare Kane to Kessler. You know, Ryan Kessler had multiple operations on his hip. He missed multiple years and a ton of time over the years. And they're also just not the same player. Not the same thing. Not the same kind of player. Nicholas Baxter, you know, doesn't seem like it worked out all that well for him, but, you know,

remains to be seen. The sample size is tiny. We don't have enough players to draw any conclusions in one direction of the other to say that this is something that a NHL player can't do or can do. But everybody who's involved, everybody, all the stakeholders here, all the employees, all the important people when it comes to, you know, figuring out what's going on with Kane's future. Everybody involved is like, this dude can do it. He can come back and still play at a high level and be that kind of Andy Murray, you know, figure where Andy Murray is doing it in tennis. Everybody thinks that Patrick Kane can be that guy for hockey. The people involved believe that that's on the table. And Sean, you know, if you don't want to talk about this before the story comes up,

but shattering the expected benchmarks for when he can do some of this return stuff, right? Yeah, and this is, I mean, you and I were sharing, sharing some of that, though, Sean. Yeah, we were, we were sharing some work over the last, over the last couple of days, but absolutely. Like, without, you know, hopefully this story of mine runs, the plan is run at either Friday or Monday. But the prognosis is really good. And some stuff happened during the procedure and after the procedure in terms of his rehab that make all this optimism that we saw yesterday that was shocking to me when I when I heard the tape that the Macs pass along a lot of stuff that I taught that I talked about talked to people about yesterday

it made it stand up that may be like okay this doesn't sound as crazy as it is is as it does before we don't necessarily have to apply the Ryan Kessler or Nicholas Baxter logic to this particular player we at least if nothing else we need to see how it how it turns out because these people are optimistic for a good reason. Yeah, Patrick Kane didn't hobble back to hockey after eight months of rehab. Nope. But there'll be more details on that because Sean's working on something pretty cool. But I think the last question on Kane, the last of Max, because we're talking about

what's a realistic expectation for Kane, we have to consider the hip surgery and how he feels better. He feels more like shifty, the lateral movement. Like, you know, your hips are so critically important to this sport specifically that we're talking about, the mobility, the movement. movement, everything like that. I don't think anyone's saying that Patrick Kane at 35 is washed. But if a healthy, like, let's just say he comes back and the surgery was great and his hip is not a problem. What is 35-year-old Patrick Kane going to be realistically for the Detroit Red Wings?

So, Irvings have 61 games left. Let's say Kane's going to play 55 of those. I think he's going to score. I think the expectation is you think he's going to score in the 40s. And if you get more, you are over the moon. 40 goals and 60 games? 40 points. Oh.

Sorry. I guess I should have been more clear on that. But like, like, I'm on fire today. Let's go. Thursday's back. Like a three quarters of a point per game situation here, right? Like you're, you know, point seven to point eight. You know, and I think you're really happy with that.

That's a top six scoring pace. And the game is not all points. And I think the biggest questions are going to come here. and what can you get out of a 35-year-old Patrick Kane defensively, and how does that fit into a team that needs to be good defensively to succeed. But they also needed a playmaker. They needed a guy on their power play flank, especially that power play flank.

And they need a guy who they can play with Alex to Brinkett and continue to get the most out of him. He's played well so far. He's got, I think, 12 goals and 21 games. Now you're going to put him with the best, you know, playmaker he's ever had. And I think if he's scoring, you know, 40 to 45 points in 55 to 60 games, you're over the moon, right, Sean? Like, as recently as two seasons ago,

for as bad as can, he had 100 goals in 2021. No, for as bad as he was defensively, even in the tail end of his prime, if, I don't know, that might be unfair to frame it that way. Two years ago, he stunk defensively. He was terrible,

but he was also productive enough at five on five in the power play to make it stand up. He was a guy. who two seasons ago, you're like, yes, there are defensive shortcomings, but he does, there's enough production there, you know, to offset it. And if that's, if that's who he can be, I keep coming back to the fact that this hip thing, even though it was an issue for him and it, and it bothered him, it was not something that was a three, four, five season ongoing issue

that affected his productivity. It just wasn't. And that's a huge deal. Last year and part the reason why he didn't look great with the Rangers and towards the end of the year and made the decision to have that offseason surgery, right? Something was right. He addressed it. Now he's reunited with Alex. He couldn't cross over. He couldn't do left to right crossovers. Like what's going to impact your mom skating, probably a shot, defense, etc. So there's probably something I obviously this has been talked about in Detroit, I would assume, but like you've got to think that there's some excitement at the idea of putting Alex to Brinket and Patrick Kane back together because De Brinkett was a 40 goal scorer, actually 40 goals scorer with

Patrick Kane. Yes. And even Iserman, who usually is, it's pulling teeth to get him to make any declaration said he thinks it's safe to assume that you're going to see those two guys together at some point, whether it's immediately, whether it takes some time, plans can change all that. But that's the vision, right? It's the prototypical play. one of the greatest, maybe the greatest playmaker of his generation, alongside a 40-goal finisher, who he's got a lot of familiarity with. I loved hearing Kane talk about the relationship because you think about kind of like a guy of Patrick Kane's stature in the game, and what he came to really respect about

Alex De Brinkett was that De Brinkett would go at it with him, and they could yell at each other, and they could be mad at each other and not take it personal. And that's the stuff that you hear from these big-time competitors. and that is, I think, a part of their relationship that they want it so bad that they like, they can yell at each other and come back from it and let it fuel them. And so obviously, DeBringen was a reason that Kane wanted to be in Detroit. And so you have to think that you're going to see him together fairly quickly. Dylan Larkin's going to be caught in the middle.

I feel uncomfortable. Mom and dad are fighting again. Dylan's got some fire to him. Don't worry. Hey, what before Max just, what, what, what, date, do you think he's like, whatever? I'm putting you on the spot. I put the hotel in Buffalo just in case. That sounds like the earliest. And I, if it's me, you can, you can argue it two ways. Do you want them to debut at home? Their next home game after that is against San Jose. That's

kind of a natural easing game. But do you want to debut him at home where he's got the, the nerves of playing at home and it's his first game back? Or do you want to try to work him in against Buffalo on the road? There's nice, that's his hometown. And then he's got a game under his bell before he comes home. I booked a hotel in Buffalo. I'll be at that one. So that's my guess. What day is that the Tuesday? Yeah. But that'd be, it's also the earliest. So it's being ambitious. Yeah. Well, because they play, they played yesterday. They played today. They play Saturday. Then Tuesday. Yeah. So that's really only one, maybe two practices in between. Yeah. So that, that's the question. I think they

talked about a few practices. But Kane was also talking about yesterday. He got out there for morning skate with the Red Vings and was like, I feel like I could kind of go tonight. So. I'm feeling pretty good actually. That's right. Seems like next week would be a realistic target, though. Yep. Fun, very exciting. Well, other than Patrick Kane, we are at the quarter season mark of the NHL calendar.

For most teams, some teams like the Ottawa Senators have still only played 17 games. I love looking at the differences in how many games these teams have played. But for the most part, we're at the quarter mark of the 20, 23, 24 season. So we're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to give you some thoughts. I hope they give me some thoughts. Why am I the host? Sean's just sitting there with his head and his hands.

Like, you do it then. You do it. No, thanks. Am I the Alex de Brinket or the Patrick? I'm the de Brinket because Sean's old. I'm the de Brinket who will yell at Sean. He respects you for it. The old grump and he respects the hell of him.

I don't know about that. That's right. Okay, when we come back, we're going to do a quarter season report. All right, welcome back, everybody. We're going to do a little quarter season report. Not a report card. I don't feel like going through all 32 teams and, you know, handing out grades. I think that would take too long, especially with the three of us who can't stay on track.

Sounds like a power rankings team to me, actually. There you go. That's your power rankings clue for Friday morning, everybody. But let's just go through some of our biggest surprises. We can go through the divisions here. Surprise can be good surprise, bad surprise. Let's do it. Neutral surprise.

Neutral surprise. It wouldn't really be a surprise if you're feeling neutral about it. It'd just be like, yeah. I'm whelmed. I'm either over nor underwhelmed. I'm just overwhelmed. The Canadians power play was great the start of the season. they were winning games.

Another seventh at the Atlantic. And it's fine. They're just there. And that's okay. Let's start with the Atlantic. Max, what's your biggest surprise of the Atlantic division? Maybe this is cheap,

but I'm going to go with the Bruins. Obviously, I don't think, yeah. A year after we watched them do what they did, maybe I'm just the fool for thinking that they were going to have a little bit of a comeback down to earth losing the greatest two-way center of all time. But they haven't, and that's on me for not realizing that they are indestructible. And they have, you know, I think the best blue line in the league.

I think the best goaltending tandem in the league. But I just thought you lose the centers of the caliber that they lost, and you're supposed to feel it. And they just haven't felt it one bit. I think that was the conversation that we had about the Bruins on this show before the season, which was we don't think they're going to be terrible because of the blue line, because of the goalie tandem that they have, there are a lot of pieces,

like David Pasternak, there's so many pieces on that team that are still there. But yeah, you subtract, you know, two centers from that conversation. You look at who was getting put in those places. We didn't think that they were going to be bad,

but we also didn't think that they were going to have only four losses. They were supposed to have to fight for it. And they have not had to do that one bit. Every time I check in, I'm like, I think it was last week. Like the Bruins have only lost three games this season. What the hell happened?

happened here. So they're just, they're just chugging along. Patrice Bergeron, by the way, keeps getting spotted at the facility where PWHL Boston works.

And I'm just wondering, you know, protect your peace. You're retired. It's fine. But like, work for the team. Like,

when is Patrice Bergeron going to coach, Hillary and I, like, I just think that would be so cool. Be the assistant. Be in player development. I don't care.

Do they have one of the good team names? Or one of the bad team names. Boston Wicked. Name them the Boston Burgess. The Boston Burgess. Boston Burgies. That would probably be, like, rude to name a women's hockey team after a man. No, I'm sure no, I'm sure that's not problematic at all and nobody would have,

what nobody would have. Sounds better than the comment. Let us know what you think. Good, bad. Let's see. All right. So, yeah. So they've lost three in a row.

They're 14, 4 and 1, I believe. 14, 4 and 3 now. So that brings them closer. It normalizes their record a little bit, right? Yeah, they're only third in the league now. I mean, if they go on a little, if they, if that water finds its level over the next couple weeks, then, you know, they'll be a little bit closer, I think, to where maybe some of us had them at the start. I felt like, I felt like there was a little bit too much doom saying going on with them at the start of the season.

Because, yeah, like, of course, it's, it's devastating to lose Bergeron and create. like whatever, but two really good goaltenders, really strong defensive teams, some decent pieces. David Posernock is a, you know, hard candidate. I'm not completely shocked by what they're doing, even though they've lost, whether they've lost three games in a row or not. But good God, was not, it was also not expecting them to win 14 in their first 15 games either.

Nope, it's wild. Sean, do you have a big surprise from the Atlantic Division? if I if somebody told me at the start of the season that the Buffalo Sabres would be middle of the pack in goals against and expected goals against per 60 you're five on five I would have said that is a team that's going to be in playoff position and that is not where they find themselves they're not terrible um they're 10 10 and 2 which is you know 22 points they're A couple steps behind the Leafs, the wings, the lightning, and the Atlantic. But something's missing there, right? The defense, they, they were a horrific defensive team last year that, you know, still thrilled everybody with the way they played with the puck. The issue for them moving forward or so everybody thought was going to be defensive play.

Like, were they going to be able to solidify it? Were they going to be able to get it together? You know, was Devon Levi going to be the guy? first off Levi is in Levi is in the HL at the moment that is concerning and even though they've been pretty good defensively

their production's taking a step back too so the end result what we have here is a team that is significantly less fun than what we saw last year significantly less fun than what we anticipated coming into this season Tage Thompson's hurt

they've had other injury issues kind of up and down the lineup it's just not working out for them in the way that a lot of people hope. And while it's not that much of a surprise, I think it is a major disappointment because the fun factor has gone from that roster at the moment too. And that's why everybody loved them so much coming in the season.

So they're my pick. Yeah, they were high on the watchability rankings last year. And it just hasn't been that way this year. I do wonder if part of the disappointment comes from the almost expedited, and I hate to say expedited because Sabers fans are probably listening being like we've been rebuilding in bad for years. It wasn't expedited. But I do think the expectations jumped really quickly.

They got a little out of hand. Yeah. And it was just like, oh, well, they could have made, they were like, what, one point out last year. Let's do it again. They're going to do it this year. Hasn't worked out that way. Sabers fans were just like all in on them too. And this is, this is anecdotal.

And I don't blame them for, you know, all that. team being bad for so long, they finally get some fun last year. It's like, this is it. Here we go. The 22-year-old goalie looked like a 22-year-old goalie. And, you know, there was some aggression. And honestly, like, I- Disappointing.

I think about this, because the coming of the year, the comparison was always between the Red Wings of Sabres, the Senators, who's closest, and we were always, I think. And everyone was down on the Red Wings. Yeah. And I think I was, too. I think I was putting the Sabers in a different tier than those other two teams. What I probably failed to credit is, as Sean said, the goaltending. And, too, what I was looking at, I was hypnotized by how talented the Sabres Blue Line is.

Absolutely. But they are so young, too. And it is hard in the NHL to win with that many young 20s defensemen. It may be better off for them long term. I'm not saying it's not the right course long term. But that's the biggest difference I see between those two teams. And maybe that's part of the reason it's played out the way it has. Just seems like a two step forward, one step back situation over the last couple of years.

Just the way it goes. Progress isn't linear for young teams, but it's still a bummer to see. Yeah. People have questioned over the last few years, like, you know, I think one per, I think I heard somebody on the radio. I was on the radio with them and they said, like, I think Steve Eiserman's plan is to just like keep signing like veteran dudes forever and not actually get any better. But then you watch them play. And it's like, yeah, of course you'd rather have Owen power over Justin Hall five years from now. But like you also, and maybe Justin Hall is not the perfect example, but he's been fine. I think Leaves fans probably missed that dude. They got a week of John Klingberg and went, oh no. Justin,

please forgive us. You could have seen that coming. Who would have thought? Anyone who was surprised at John Klingberg being terrible was one of those stereotypical East Coast fans that didn't stay up until, you know, tend to watch the ducks. I don't blame them. The ducks were terrible last year, but not good. But yeah, it's been interesting to see what everyone thought between those three teams and what's, actually happened. Okay, let's wrap up with the Atlantic with my biggest surprise, and that's the

Florida Panthers. So it's two years in a row now where I've wondered if teams with injuries are going to be able to weather the storm, and the Bruins made me look stupid last year, very, very stupid last year. And I think the Panthers are doing the same thing. They were one of those teams at the beginning of the year that I think a lot of people had questions about saying, you know, what is this team going to be? What are they going to look like without Eckblad and Brayna a mentor throughout the start of the season, well, at the quarter mark. It's a 636 point percentage right in the mix with the top contenders in the league. They did not dig themselves in the whole. Ekman Larson looks good. He's been a big part of, you know, that team being able to kind of bridge

the gap defensively. I think they were in on Kane. Pierre LeBron said that they were in on Kane, obviously didn't get him because he signed with the Detroit Red Wings, but I think the Panthers have been a big one for me. And one of the... surprises, something that I don't think anyone expected from them, especially when we talk about the Eckblood-Montor injuries. And this is from Dom's 16 stats. The Panthers rank third and expected goals against and actual goals against in the NHL so far the season. They have sacrificed a bit of their offense to do it. But they are a better defensive team right now than they were last year when people were healthy or healthier.

So that's kind of been a surprise. And even Dom, who was originally a bit of a Palm Maurice hater, had to say massive kudos to Paul Marys for pulling that off, considering his top two defensemen were out for the first two months. Which is crazy. To me, that was always the question of, you know, the Panthers, I think, show they found something late in the season last year. Obviously, they make the run of the Stanley Cup.

But the question was, are they going to find themselves just out of it by the time that they're at full health? And much like Bono behind you, they have woken up and are ready to bask in their moment. He's the cutest boy in the world. Wow. I'm obsessed. I think Sam Reinhardt is the cutest boy in the world. He is among the goal score in his boys in the world. There is no doubt about that.

He's making some money, baby. Who's that one in your girl? girl could she be any cuter what is that from i know the sound it's from a canadian tv show wow 20 years ago it's this little puppet and her nana called nannelan it's blowing up that's the name of the show nanaland yeah nanalan banana land banana that tracks nana land anyways let's move on to the next division what is it it's the metro i feel like we should just talk about it both the penguins. I'm going to go rogue here.

I'm trying to expedite things. Sydney Crosby, here's some stats. Again, I've stolen these from our friend Dom. He's not in the show anymore. He's been kicked off. He's not a bestie anymore. But we're going to steal his stats. Sidney Crosby's on pace for 51 goals and 94 points.

Jake Gensel also on pace for 94 points. Gennie Malkin, pretty much a point per game player. Brian Rust, very good. Eric Carlson, as good as advertised. Chris Littang looks like himself. Tristan Jari 915, say percentage. Pittsburgh goes plus 10 goal differential, the 10th best mark in the league.

All that, and the Penguins are still 10, 10, and 1. All of that, and they are still a 500 hockey team, 7th in the Metro. Who can, I wonder why. What could it be? What could their big problem be? That was my question for you.

The power play is as bad as it, realistically could have been. At the start of the season, the narrative was like, all right, this team is at least generating expected goals on the power play. That was something like Dom and I talked about and whatever. Like the process seemed like it was there.

Maybe the finishing wasn't. They were saying they're getting lucky, whatever. They were literally leading the league and expected goals per 60 at fairly, you know, a few weeks ago on the power play. no longer the case.

It's, you know, down creeping towards 10% conversion rate, which is out of control. And the process has cratered as well. Like you watch it, you can see it when you watch them play. There's not a lot of chances being generated. There's, you know, they look, they look lost. I was trying to think of some like less cliched way to put it because you always say, oh, that team looks lost out there. the player power play they do look lost and given the talent they have it's just it's unacceptable it's

it's hard to feel optimistic about a team that has sidney crosbie who is still doing what he does of guinea malkin like we just listed all those stats and yet it's hard to feel any sense of like true optimism about the pittsburgh penguins because tristan jari was the issue earlier in the season and he's like been fine he's rounded into shape over the last couple months in that time for frame, though. The power play is completely cratered. You know, like there was a, last week, I know, I know it's old news at this point, but they, they lost the Rangers one-nothing. They had five chances on the power play. They generated five total shots. It's a 1-0 loss to a division rival who, you know, who they're potentially, I mean, at this point, you can't put them in competition, but it's, but it's, it's, those points matter more than most. And as again, that they lost solely because of incompetence on the power play. I don't think anybody anticipated that they'd be like, you know, that they would be pulling, you know, that they'd be like whatever, Oilers 2.0, but they've also been just miles, miles, miles worse than anybody could have anticipated.

And at this point, it looks like they're going to miss the playoffs because of it. Anybody have a guess what the Washington Capitals power play is clicking at? 22%. Nope. Higher? Nope. Oh, worse? It's terrible.

5.7%. and they are somehow in third in the metropolitan division. It is the weirdest thing ever. The capitals have a gold differential total of minus five, and the penguins are, as you said, plus 10. We left the capitals for dead, like a week into the season. I stand by it because that can't continue. But it's just like there's some weird, you know,

cursed lamp thing happening here where we're talking about, well, the penguins is just the power. Yeah, some cursed duck lamp happening here. And the capitals are just defying all logic and doing it with an under 6% powerplay. It's the weirdest thing. Yeah. Is there another big surprise in the Metro? Obviously, I think the Keynes would have been the big one, not playing great hockey, but they've pulled themselves up a little bit more.

They're second in the Metro right now. Obviously, the Rangers are the top team in that division. the devils are down in the bottom with the penguins. But I think we can, a ton of injuries, you lose Jack Hughes, who is having MVP caliber start to the season. I think I still put him in that conversation. Is there anything else in the metro, you guys? Any big surprises in that division? Max?

The only thing I'd say about the devils is the thing that's holding him back, I don't think we can say we're surprised about much to Sean's same point about the Sabres. It's the goal tend thing. We knew this was a question. and it has bit them. And so even though the Heesh are still being out and Hughes having missed some time before coming back, like even though those are real things, I think the reason that they're failing, not failing, the reason they're struggling is the goaltending. And I don't think we're that surprised at that.

Yeah, and Hughes is back yet a three point night against the Islander's goal and two assists. He sure came back. But I think it's going to take the time. That's my fault. I didn't realize he was back yet. Shout out to the Flyers. They're scraping points together. I caught them live in Carolina a couple weeks ago.

You know, they're making it work. You got a lot of hot sticks on that team, which is always fun to watch. I don't think it's all that sustainable, but they play hard and they're right there, at least in the division, in the middle, in the middle, solidly in the middle portion of that division so far. Platonic ideal, John Tortorella team. That's right. And also shout out John Tortorella. I don't know if you guys saw, but they had that young guy on the bench during

Hockey Fight's Cancer Night. It was really cute, very sweet. And it was one of those things where that's the difference between John Tortorella who has this like, yeah, he's the grumpy, mean guy coach, old school coach, but I think he genuinely does care about people. and I think that's the difference between a torterella and some of the other old school coaches. Fully is good at the warm and fuzzies, for sure.

Yeah, but I think it's like genuine normal and fuzzies. It's not just doing it to make himself look like a better person. Anyways, let's take a quick break and go over the Western Conference. We're back. It's time to talk about the Western Conference. Okay. The dog is still sitting behind me. Fana was still here.

It's very distracting. Let's start with the Central, guys. Do you have any big surprises? The thing with me, I guess, I'm not surprised by how the top of the Central has shaken out. I think we all expected the Avs and the Stars to be the top two teams. I didn't think the Jets were going to be bad this year,

their third. And then you've got the, and then you've got the surprises. kind of sandwich in the middle. The Chicago Blackhawks, their last, that's not a surprise. Then you've got the blues, the preds, the coyotes, and then the wild, second last in the central. And I think that's where

some of the surprises come, right? Nashville Predators, as of Thursday afternoon, they have won six in a row. I don't think I saw that coming. The blues have been competitive, wild, very bad to the point where they fired their coach.

What's the biggest surprise in that division for you, Max. I think it has to be the wild, although kind of in the same way we talked about in New Jersey, like there is a little bit of a color me shocked, a team playing with $15 million less against the cap to work with is struggling, right? Like you just imagine what you can do with that space and, you know, but we've seen them do it before and we saw him do it last year and I think it has to be them.

but I really feel for Deanavison who ate it because basically because they didn't have any other lever to pull. And I don't know if you guys read the interview he did with Mike Russo. It was really good. So good. I was shocked by how candid, how, you know, open rib cage basically he was for that, really good. The quotes, they were, he was like going to yoga. They were having breakfast.

He had a vanilla latte with Russo. He's like, is he living the Toronto girly dream? Corpower yovats. Right down the Nilla Latte. With Rousseau. With my coffee with Rousseau. I think the Wilder my pick too. I, that's a, I, and no shade to all these teams that are, you know, out kicking their maybe

preseason predictions because Haley said it, there's a lot of them, right? The Preds, the Blues, even the Jets to some extent. Like, these are teams that a lot of people thought were going to. stink and to varying degrees don't seem like it. So shout out to them. But man, the Wilder I was not expecting their goal

time to be this bad. And I say this as someone who drafted Philip Gustafson way high in our staff fantasy league. You have, and that's the single biggest reason, like, that things shook out the way they did for

Everson because, you know, he's got the five, his two goals Tunders, Gus of Sinamarca, Andre Florey, are fifth and sixth from the bottom and goals saved the above expected. Like, those guys are just letting, they're letting them down to some extent. And it's, you know, you have Matt Boldy who hit a major scoring slump. The PK has been terrible. It hasn't just been the goalies, but it's been close enough.

And even still, I'm surprised by the degree to which that's just totally submarine. And Max, I think it kind of comes back to what you said, you know, they're $15 million in the hole when it comes to payroll. So, you know, stuff like center depth and all these things that we've seen come back and bite them over the last couple of the years of the last couple of years. That is magnified even more than the average team when you're getting some crummy play from your goaltenders. So I'm surprised they're they're done. And I'm and I'm surprised that that's the case. Is $15 million enough to get a good center, Sean, in the National Hockey League?

Some say you could get two. Yeah. And that's the thing where how much of this does Bill Guerrne need to? wear because he's played the coach card now. And sure he was like making up, like he was trying to correct some of the errors of the past, but it was his decision. Like he created a lot of that dead cap, right? So at what point, and has, maybe it's already happened and maybe it's happening now,

but, you know, now the seat's getting warm on Bill Garron, no? I think so. I mean, I mean, maybe not, maybe not getting warm, but, you know. because we all know his relationship with the other seems really strong. He's done a good job and whatever. Yeah. But you can only hit that button so many, so many times. That's just the nature.

That's the nature of the thing. I don't know. Ask Yarr-Mokekeleinen how many times you can hit the coach button. Maybe that's redefining what I thought the limit was. Yeah. It's an uncommon situation. I think Bill Guerin has done a pretty good job overall. I mean, we talk about the cap thing, and that is the mystifying one, right?

But yet we know why it happened, right? And I think he has brought in a lot of guys. The biggest question... Like he kind of had to do that as much as it sucks, and it's like easy for us to say... It was going to happen. It's like he kind of had to do that. And I joke about the setter. It's not like they had that $15 million and he punted it.

They was tied up in two guys, basically. But the bigger question with Garan is kind of these like around the fringe contracts that he's given out, right? To make these extensions. And that's where the criticism comes. But I don't think that's like fireable. I don't think, to me, Bill Guerin wouldn't be on the hot seat, but it's a, it's a, you know, high eyeball market and they're used to, you know, being a lot better than they are right now. And what I think, you know, I saw a couple wild fans say this and, you know, the best thing for them isn't to turn it around right now. As much as that that might be what they want, the best thing for them is to have just that one odd year where you, you know, and get a top five pick and you hope.

that you get one of the good ones and it's not, you know, a waste one. But, you know, didn't Tampa have that like one year in the middle of all their stuff where they got the number three pick? And it turned out to be Jonathan Duran. Yeah, okay, that's tough. But they flip them from Mikhail Surgachev, and that's very good. And you have that and you pull it off and you're fine. And I think if you're a wild fan, at least they're not, like, maybe the team's not good right now,

but like at least they're not stuck in the middle. And I think that's where that, what you just said, Max comes in and say like just, Because if they, you know, Bill Garen has said, you know, he thinks that this group of players can do it. He thinks they can turn it around. Bring in John Hines. Let's like put some wins together over the next, you know, 60 games of the year and see where we go. But like, I don't know if that group of players with a new coach turning it around gets higher than like a wild card spot. And wouldn't you rather them just be bad and get that pick?

If you're a fan after years of being in the mush, maybe. Just be bad. Get a good draft pick. But if the goal tending normalizes, that's good enough to take them out of the basement or whatever or close to it. But do you want to have the 13th overall pick and lose in the first round? Is that good enough to get them, you know, a round or two or three deep in the playoffs?

I don't think so either. And that's just where, you know, you just got to wear it for a couple years. It's the way it goes. You know, you can't top two centers are Ryan Hartman and Marco Rossi in some combination. That's just not, it's not playoff stuff. And they don't have, they don't have the money available to improve on it. It's a tough spot. I dropped Ryan Hartman on my fantasy team.

Right. Isn't the problem, you know, how do you handle the Caprisoff situation if it's that? You only have this guy under contract for two more years after this one. You punt this and we talk about a couple years. Do you punt next? And all of a sudden, is this guy going to want out? And they did not, you know. It's why they haven't.

it's probably why they haven't done, it's probably why they didn't make a decision like this organically, right? And just didn't make it on their own. Like, it's happening by accident. Yeah. And it's why it's always easier said than done for people like me and fans to say, like,

just suck this year. It's not always that simple. Yeah. Okay. Let's, let's hit the Pacific, right? We're good on the Central. I don't know how we can top Minnesota there, right?

Yeah. Go pride, six-game win streak. That's fun and exciting. GM, Barry Trots. Are the Kings the best team in the league? It might be. Some are asking. Are the Los Angeles Kings the best team in the league?

I took them in that thing we did. That cursed thing. That thing. What did we call that? The team draft. Yeah. Really creative. We should revisit.

We still haven't heard from Omaha Steaks, so we haven't been talking about on air because we're trying to get some sponsor money here. Or sponsor meat, I should say. Yeah. I love sponsored meat. L.A. Kings. Sean, do you think the best team in the league?

If Kim Talbot keeps playing like this, they might be. Is he the MVP right now? We talked about this before the show, I think. It doesn't point in terms of what he's provided relative to what we thought, you know, they'd get from their goaltending. ahead of the season. And that, that was it,

right? It was, can some combination of Kim Talbot in Phoenix Copley step up and take that team from like a legit

playoff team, but no one who you'd, uh, no one who you'd picked a, whatever, go to the conference final or whatever, to a legit favorite. And the dude's been great.

He's been unsustainably great, some would say. Yeah. But, you know, great all the same. He's been an easily top top five, at worst, top seven or eight goaltender in the league this year, right? And that's crazy. Nobody thought that was coming. But I think the fact that you look at the Kings and you look at their record and you look how good they've been overall, it just shows that there was so much good stuff, good underlying stuff going on there that they just needed some level of consistency and production from the goaltender.

I think the best thing you can say about the Kings is that they're good enough to the point where they don't need Cam Talb to finish the season fifth and goal saved above expected and third and save percentage or whatever. They don't need that. They need him to be good. They don't need him to be great. But that doesn't change the fact that he has been great thus far. The team in front of them has been excellent. And I think the Gavikov-Mat-Roy pairing has been excellent. 469 minutes together at 5 on 5

and the Kings have outscored opponents 27 to 12 that's kind of like an unsustainable rate but like they're driving like their offense is coming from their defensive play right they're really good at getting the puck out of the zone they can lock it down and they transition the puck into the offensive zone that's been a really good pairing that team just has a lot of depth too

again, I'm pulling from Dom's 16 stats. Just two of their 18 regular skaters, Trevor Lewis and Mikey Anderson, have a below average net rating this season. So that means 16 of their skaters, 89% of their skaters, have performed better than the league average skater, by far the best mark in the league.

Is that a sustainable thing to think that everyone on that team is going to click along at that rate. I don't know, but everyone in front of Camp Talbot has been solid, too, by most metrics. And they're doing this without, like, really high-level production from Pierre Lutea bought, too, who is sort of, that was an outstanding question for them at the start of the season. Like, can this guy be a true one or two center in terms of production? And he hasn't been, right?

They're doing it because Adrian Kempi's been great. And Kevin Fiala has been great. And Quentin Byfield's leveled up and Kopatar. It's like all these, there's a really, and I think that is a testament to their strength as a team, is that you, is that those guys can support 15 or 16 or 18 so-so games from a really important player in the lineup. They're, they're fascinating. I don't know if I'm shocked. I'm shocked by Cam Talbot.

I'm not shocked by the, by the guys around them necessarily, even though they've been, you know, great by any way you want to slice it. Can I give you the other Southern California, too? I'm sure we're going to talk about, you know, the Oilers and the Canucks and those are, have been two huge stories this season. I don't know that Anaheim's, like, stationed in the league right now surprises people, really. But a couple of their young guys have really, like, Pavel Mityukov coming in as a, you know, 20-year-old defenseman. He's 20-22 draft class and he's playing 19 minutes a night.

He's been extremely productive, like almost on the Luke Hughes level. Mason McTavish is a stud. Like, he's got 10 goals already. Point per game player at 21 years old. Like, I don't know that Anaheim's going to make any huge noise, but of like the rebuilding teams, I'm the most impressed by Anaheim this year. They seem to have leveled up into this territory where we just talked about, you know, how with Buffalo, everyone stepped on the gas too quickly.

But it's that kind of build coming here where you're like, oh, they are going to look like a wagon really soon. And that's even with Trevor Zegris being, you know, a non-factor so far. But he's become a bit of a non-factor because I think he's making improvements to. the defensive slash 200. Yeah. And he's been hurt and he's been hurt. So it's just, you know. He might not be popping off this year, but I do feel like him working on those other

things to round out his game is going to be better for him slash that team in the long one, right? They needed a couple of these guys to pop whoever. And you can even like kind of remove Zegress from the conversation, right? Like he's kind of, he's set, set him apart to some degree. They needed someone like McTavish or someone. like Minyakov or Jamie Driesdale or one of these guys, this whole,

this like raft of high-end prospects that they have coming into this season. Like, sometimes prospects fail. We all know this. And at least a few of those guys, like you needed to start seeing actual returns on them to feel good about, about it moving forward. And being able to make that pivot from good prospects,

actual good players. And McTavis and Minchikov are the two guys who it seems like who. And Leo. Right? Like Leo Carlson. Yeah, totally. Totally. And so it's like now you have the dream in Anaheim.

Now you have the, you know, do it all, but still is like roughly a point per game center in McTavish. You have the like elite brain can be this dazzling offensive center in Carlson. Those are your one, two centers of the future. And you have a guy in Minchikov who I'm not saying he is a number one D, but he might be. And he definitely looks like a top parody and they have enough depth in that system that it's like, You know, it's the old LA Kings thing. You build down the middle, centers in D and in goal, and they're well on the way.

Yep, I think the ducks are a great one, Max. So I was just going through our team draft and looking at who is in the quarter season lead. And I noticed, and this is where the surprise comes in, I think we were all so tentative about the Vancouver Canucks that none of us. drafted them. I thought Sean picked him. It's not true. I picked them. No, you did not.

No, you did not. Yes, I did. No, you did not. Who do you have a Sean's team? Sean, you took Toronto, Edmonton, Boston, Minnesota, Calgary, and Ottawa. There's no way he took Calgary. Nobody took the Canucks.

I just had that reaction. I have the sheet. We're going to go back in this. I remember. Seriously, going to go listen to this. Nobody took the Vancouver Canucks. According to your sheet, nobody took the Vancouver Canucks. I agree.

Nobody took the Canucks. I think you might have written down Calgary thinking Canucks. I remember Sean took the Canucks. There's no way. We'll see. Sean wouldn't do that. I hate the flames. Everyone hates the Flames.

The flames hate the Flames. There's four flames players at the top of the trip. I know. I laughed so hard at that. That's so funny. I kept scrolling. them actually be traded, we'll see. It actually would have been an all-timer to just have that trade board just be the 23-man Flames roster.

Yeah. I read that. I read that on my phone. I read Chris Johnson's big trade board, which published on Wednesday on my phone. And was scrolling down and reading. I'm like, all right. There's Hannah Finn. There's Lindel.

By the way, the same guys who were on the board in the summer who weren't traded in the summer. Four reasons I probably think were like. NHLGM saying like let's try to pull one over on rookie Craig Conroy. I genuinely believe we've had Conroy on the show. I've talked to, I honestly feel like moves weren't made because the moves were terrible. Like if there was a good move on the board, I think he would have done it.

Like he's been very open about like where they're at. And you just have to believe that there wasn't a good deal on the table for Noah Hanifin. Otherwise, Hanifin wouldn't be on the flames. There is not a more likable GM than Craig Conroy. He's a really nice guy. And I really hope that his first chance doesn't turn into just a complete, you know, not, you know. Bad news, brother. Yeah, crap sandwich, I guess we'll say.

Well, we're at a point where we're talking about the Flames are at a major, we've been talking about this major inflection point. Are they going to pivot? They're going to take a radical new approach. And I feel like Flames fans have had to listen to that conversation so many times. over the years, just for them to not take that pivot, just for them to say, let's try to minimize the damage as best we can. I've said it a bunch of times. People are probably sick of it.

Sean's sick of it. The pivot point they should have taken was after a good Jerome Kachuk. It was the most natural and obvious. And now they're stuck with a team that is too good to blow up and not good enough to do anything of consequence. Other than that, things are going great there. That's our conversation about the flames. Let's go back to the Vancouver Canucks, who, sure, you guys can go back and listen.

But according to my scribble paper, nobody took the Vancouver Canucks. And they have the most regulation wins. They are tied for the most regulation wins in the NHL right now. 14, the Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche. We've been having these conversations, I feel like, for the whole first few months of the season of, when are they going to regress? This is unsustainable. And I think there are things that will regress for the Vancouver Canucks,

but not to the point where this isn't going to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference. Am I crazy? Am I being very bullish on this team? Because if the season ended today, again, top in the league and regulation wins, they've got the best goal differential plus 34. And they have J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, Alias Pedersen in the top seven in league scoring. Brock Bessor's winning the rocket.

I love that so much. And I love that for him as a human. I don't know Brock Besser. But my parisocial relationship with Brock Besser tells me that I love that for him. There's a lot clicking while Rick Tockets got them playing, you know. We've had this conversation before. Pedersen gets a hat trick and he still gets bench for three minutes because he coughed the puck up in the D zone. And, you know, it's six to win.

like that brick talk is trying to drill that into those guys j t miller's playing better brock besters rounding out his game quin hughes has been unbelievable i'm kind of bullish on the canucks yeah will i regret this i had uh cori and i did our trade value rankings list last week and had some wars with connors fans not happy with with quin hues's placement on that list they never are oh but yeah we only had him as like the number six defenseman on that but i understand why the frustration because he has been the number one defenseman in the NHL to see. He is my Norris vote today. And that's with Cal McCar having also been outstanding.

That's not, wasn't the point of that list. But I believe that Quinn Hughes would be on my Norris ballot today. And I don't know if that's outlandish, by the way. He's third in the league in scoring. And so much of that team is that absolutely ridiculous power play that I think Quinn Hughes is the centerpiece of. And so when I look at J.T. Miller's production, J.T. Miller is a great player. Obviously, I think the power play is a huge component of why he has had this season that he has had.

He's been at five on five this year, too. Yes. No, he's having a great year. The Miller-Besser line, I was, you know, looking into this yesterday because I was on Sports at Radio and we were talking about the Canucks. And I was kind of like pleasantly surprised by how well that line, like Besser and Miller have been at five-on-five this year. No, it's been really good. But I just think that power play is driving. team and I think Quinn Hughes is driving that power play. Yeah. Yeah, they're they're kind of a mid five on five team by a lot of metrics. That's fine. They're also five and five in their last 10. So like, sorry to come back to earth a little bit, but guess what? All the points count. And in that in that division and in that conference, 20 great games or 25 great games, that's like more than

enough to make you a threat for sure. Absolutely. Quinn Hughes is at the top of my, on my Norris ballot. Does that mean that I want him for the rest of his career over Kiel McCar or Adam Fox? Like, maybe not, but the dude's closed the gap and he's been the guy this year. And that should be enough for now, right? Like, it doesn't need to be more than that. Sean, you made the point earlier this season. I think it was like 10 to 12 games ago. Like, has Vancouver already banked enough points that they are like a playoff lock? And I think we're at the point where it's like, if they get one point out of every game for the rest of the season, which like is on an average, right. Like if they're a 500 points percentage team, they're going to finish at 90 points.

I mean, do we think that they're going to get passed up? Do we think they're going to get passed up in that division by the flames or the cracking at this point? No. Who were both eight points behind them and significantly worse? No way. No way. So to me, they're locked for one of the divisional spots, not a wildcard spot. Like this is like, they're in fine, fine, fine shape. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think if we were to say today who's making the playoffs in the Western Conference. It's the like there's when you look at the I think the locks in the West, it's there's, I think there's a tier that we would all feel comfortable in saying it's the abs, the stars, the Golden Knights. And then there's that second,

yes, and then there's that second tier. And maybe even the Kings are in that second tier. Then there's that tier of saying like, I believe that they're going to be in, but I'm not going to put them in the same tier with, you know, two teams that won the Stanley Cup and the stars who were a wagon. And then you have, that's where you have the Canucks and the Kings and then maybe the Jets. And then it's kind of just the rest. And then it's just like, I don't know what else is going to happen here in the bottom with the wildcard spots. Tom Durrance made me do this on his radio show a couple days ago.

As I go on with him a lot. It's like, it's once a week. He makes me every week, him and Jamie Dodd his co-host make me put the Pacific Division into tears. And the big question for me, and this applies to the division, it applies to the conference. Same, same question.

Is whether you rate the Kings and the Canucks on the same level. Not me. I don't think I do. And Drance doesn't either. He thinks the Kings are better than the Canucks,

which is which I was like, you know, not surprised here because we love, we loved your answer. But he just set me up on Vancouver radio to be like, yeah, I think they're worse than the king. He's kind of like toss it off.

And that was the tweet, that was the clip, Sean Chintilly, Canucks. It honestly might have been. Yeah. Well, do you think that the kings are better than the Canucks? Like, do you think they're in that top tier or in the same tier? We put them with,

with Vegas, honestly. It was, it was Vegas in L.A. together and then the Canoxa step below them. I'm pretty sure where we landed. Yeah. I think the West is compelling because you have a lot of those elite teams, the teams that are high on the watchability rankings, teams we know we're going to make the playoffs,

and then you have a ton of question marks. And that's again, we talk about the blues, the prets, the coyotes having better seasons than expected. They're in the mix, right? By the way, Jeremy Rutherford had a really cool story that came out today.

Like he did a day in the life with Craig Brubay. Very cool story. If you want to see what happens for a coach. Arizona heater, baby. He's writing all sorts of stuff. Sweet. Sweet J.R. We love him dearly read his story.

He is a king. And then you've got the question marks of the flames, the Krakken, and the Oilers. So I feel like we've almost buried the lead a little bit. But it's fine. There's been lots of interesting teams to talk about. But let's hit the Oilers quickly

before we wrap up the show. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Oilers have won three straight while Connor McDavid is riding three straight games with multiple points. He's also scored 15 points in his last four games. Like he is on, the last five games, excuse me. He is on a heater.

He is back. And this is the, I guess, the typical radio question. Connor McDavid's back are the Oilers. It's still not a perfect roster. That is a typical radio question. Here's my throw to bring on our Oilers Beat reporter, Sean Gentilly. I think I'd say that.

It's still an imperfect roster. But all of a sudden, they've won three straight. They're 6-4-0. They beat the Vegas Golden Knights. McDavid is back up. You don't watch the, or you don't look at the stat leaderboard for a few days. And McDavid's not on it. And you just know, like, I'm going to see this in a few days.

And he's going to be back at the top eventually. And he's on his way. He's doing his thing. Like do we all, I guess the question, do we all think the oilers are going to make the playoffs at the end of the day? I still kind of do. I've forced myself to say from the jump that they're still going to make it. They're going to figure it out. It was, it was starting to get dark.

But yeah. Sean, have you seen the underlying numbers? I was shocked. For the oilers. For the oilers. The expected bullshare. Yeah. Second best in the NHL.

They're good. What? Yeah. I expected it to be better than their record, but. Yeah. You have to believe they're going to figure it out. Jack Campbell, Stuart Skinner, Jack Campbell, Stuart Skinner, Jack Campbell, Stewart's, I guess Calvin Picard.

We can't blame him. He's still new in town. He was the answer. Let's put Jack Campbell, the American League, and let's start Calvin Picard. It was, it was goaltending. I know everybody was, everybody was crushing Woodcroft-Renfant. selling a new defensive system and all that stuff. That dude got fired.

I think he should get crushed for that. I think something went wrong if the coach decided to implement a new defensive system and then the whole team sucked within that defensive system. Maybe you shouldn't have touched it or maybe you should have, you know, implemented it better. I don't know. I think what Haley's saying is, would you rather win these games 4-1 or 7-5? Oh.

I was trying to do like a, I should just like, stare dead-eyed into the camera and do like the full McDavid grumpy dry sidel. Pissy dry-saintil. We love it. Yeah, I still. I would act that way too. I do act that way.

You mean would. It's a good hockey team. And I think, you know, they needed to go in a run like this where they won three straight and had McDavid look like McDavid. Guess what? It happened. So everybody can still say like, oh, yeah, I feel good about them making the playoffs. Because the Pacific stinks.

stinks. Right. Like at the end of the day, who would you, who do you think, who would you rather put money on, Anaheim, Calgary,

Seattle, or Connemic David's Edmond and Snoilers. And they get to play all those teams a whole lot, right? But yes, we do know that a bad goalie

can torpedo the whole thing because we've seen it. So they do need to figure that out. Even for a wild card, right, there are only five points out. Like, I think they can do that.

That's wild. That's wild. The way that we've been talking about that team and they're not even that far back. Because that's what it takes. That's what it takes. there's just, you win six out of six points, then all of a sudden you're back in the loop.

The issue is that there's not that many teams that can do it. The teams at the bottom of the league, it's easier said than done. You're like, sure, just rattle off, you know, nine to ten points and you're right back in it.

The Oilers can do that. The Columbus Blue Jackets cannot do that. Like, for some teams, it's impossible. For them, it is not. And let's consider the fact that,

like, who are all the players on the trade board? It's players on the flames, it's players on the ducks. like those teams are probably like if they end up selling off in the way that trade boards might suggest like the flames aren't going to be in the thick of it if they're selling off chris tanev and knowing like their top defenders uh for futures uh prospects picks etc so that's another thing to to keep in mind when we're talking about the oilers so that's our quarter season report the quarter season team draft report Have you compiled it? So to refresh from my scribble Yeah, that's what I was doing

While you guys were talking Well, Sean was talking So I drafted the devils, the stars, The Rangers, The Kings, the Penguins, and the Jets. I'm feeling pretty good about this. I think I did a good job. 74 wins at the quarter season mark for me.

Snaps. Great. Great job. Max had the canes, the abs, the golden nights, the lightning, the sabers, and the Panthers.

So pretty good for Max. Max has 75 wins. So Max is in the lead. And Sean drafted the Leafs, the Oilers, the Bruins, the wild, the flames,

slash maybe the Canucks, according to him. That's a six-win difference for what it's worth. Yeah, yeah. Either way, it's not going to matter. Sean's in last place.

And he got the Sends. Sean took some swings. Sends have only played 17 games. How many wins do I have? 55. Oh, that's tough. I mean, the wild are an absolute anchor. They're killing me.

Yeah, yeah. The wilds have six wins. Edmonton and Ottawa have eight. So those are your... But they're coming. Edmonton's coming. Ottawa's coming. That'll turn around a little bit.

And Vancouver, when we get that fixed, so when we get six. The Canucks. That's 14 wins instead of nine. I pick them to make the playoffs in our preseason. I remember the next year. You did? You did.

The Canucks? Canucks? I did not. No, Sean picked the flames to win the Cubs. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. There's, it's an, it's an old saying. And it came from somebody, it came from somebody famous, but it's like, pick some goofy shit

and stuff like that. You make some goofball predictions. Everyone remembers it. And if you're wrong, whatever, you're wrong like most other people. Anthony Stewart picking Jack Campbell to win the Vesna will forever be the funniest thing ever. It's iconic. It's great. I love him for it.

Sean drafted Phil Gustafson and the fantasy draft very high. Sure did. I drafted Thatcher Demko very low. And I'm looking like the smartest person in the league. You know who my other goal he is? Who my other draft of goal he is? Who? Definitely.

Oh, Sean. And you dropped Merzleekins. I picked up Merzleekins, which helped me beat Max the other day. You both have beaten me by, for the record, less than two points in that fantasy league. It's the difference to me having a losing record and a winning record. Sean, did I screw you by talking up Philip Gustafson so much on this show right before that draft? I don't think so. I think it's probably Russo's fault, honestly.

Yeah. I blame Mike personally. And if you're going to make sure you get a latte. I went for coffee with Mike Rousseau and drafted Ryan Hartman. We didn't go for coffee. That's your fault. I dropped him quickly. Anyways.

My team started 0 and 4, but I'm making my way back up. Let's go. That's the end of the show. Thanks everyone for listening. Do I have to say something, Jeff? Is there an outro in here? Yeah, there is. this is stellar A1C for me.

I stopped hosting a daily radio show and forgot how to act. Everyone who listened to the show last year and this year is probably like, what happened to her? Let me know if you like it in the comments. Sound off. Sound off in the comments. Give us a rating and review. And don't forget to subscribe to the athletic NHL's YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show.

If we post clips from this, if you're lucky, you'll see my dog in the background. He is the cutest boy in the world. And the athletic hockey show returns Friday with the prospect series with Max Boltman again, Corey Promin and a special guest, Chris Peters. And just want to let you know as we're heading into December. A new subscription to the athletic makes a great Christmas present. You can get a one-year subscription for $19.99 a year or a two-year subscription for $39.99.

The offer is available until January 1st, 2024. You can get that at theathletic.com slash gift sale. Thanks, everyone for listening. We'll be back next week.