The Athletic Hockey Show - Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs?, Seattle Kraken: Pacific Division disruptors, remembering Gino Odjick, Jack Adams Winner of the Week, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: January 16, 2023

On a brand new Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Ian let’s Julian know he has high anxiety about the Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game tonight, the guys discuss if the Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL equivalent to the Cowboys, Pierre LeBrun’s perfect trade fits article, the possibility of Auston Matthews leaving Toronto in free agency, the Seattle Kraken disrupting the Pacific Division, the Philadelphia Flyers playing themselves out of the Connor Bedard sweepstakes again, remembering former Vancouver Canucks player Gino Odjick, Julian’s Syracuse Crunch internship, and the guys close things out with the Jack Adams Winner of the Week and Multiple Choice Madness.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/hockeyshowCancel unwanted subscriptions – and manage your expenses the easy way – by going to http://rocketmoney.com/hockeyshowGo to http://grammarly.com/tone to download and learn more about Grammarly Premium’s advanced tone suggestions.Visit our sponsor Better Help at http://betterhelp.com/NHLSHOW today to get 10% off your first month Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back, everybody, to kick off the week in hockey. It is the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. T.M.M. It's Julian McKenzie with you for the next hour or so. We'll recap the weekend, The Clash of the Titans, Toronto, Boston. We'll hit on that. Real busy schedule on this Monday holiday in the United States, Martin Luther King Day, which means a bunch of matinee games.

I'm talking about the Flyers, too. Are they just doing this all wrong, winning some games? games that they shouldn't be winning. We'll talk about that. Some sad news, too, that we want to touch on with the passing of Gino Wogic at the age of 50. 52. So we've got a lot to get to here on this Monday edition of the pod. But Julian, I've got to ask you first, though, this is podcast number two for you,

co-hosting with a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan. Yes. On a playoff game day, no less. Yes. How's my man Chris Johnson doing? A dude is anxious. He told a story, which you'll be able to hear on the Chris Johnston show, that he got a text from a friend of his yesterday, being Sunday,

say that the friend left aside, well, not left aside, but he had a spare ticket for the Buccaneers Cowboys game. And CJ said no. Yes, there's the fact that, you know, yes, you've got to fly down to Tampa and ticket prices and you got to work and all that stuff. But CJ, I think, is also genuinely, like, like, he understands that, like, he could be in for, like, wasting his money, essentially. Like, that's how down bad he is as a Cowboys fan with how the expectations are. Like, he, he anticipates a situation where, like, he could have easily just gone down there and, like, just watched a debacle.

Boy, you know what? The closest thing, I think, to being a Dallas Cowboys fan is being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. And I say that with the utmost respect here. Look, I'm a diehard, diehard Dallas Cowboys fan. Like I got pictures of me as a five-year-old in Dallas Cowboys gear. Like, it goes back for me. Okay. So I'm a legit, lifelong die-hard fan.

There's no worse feeling, and I'm sure Maple Leafs fans can appreciate this or relate to this, you go into big games and you're just expecting the worst to happen. So you almost kind of, and I think CJ is doing the same thing, you build up these fences and walls around you like you can't hurt me anymore but they still find a way to get in and they still hurt you even though i know tom brady's going to dial it back tonight like it's 2007 and he's going to have 15 straight completions at some point Dallas will lose i will have seen it coming from from a mile away and yet i'll still be wounded at the end of the night explain that to me that's what i don't understand being a sports fan because that's what

it is, man. And like you willingly put up with the hope and expectations. It's Ted Lassau who said, it's the hope that kills you, brother. Like, that's what happens, man. That's why you have to, that's why, you know what, I'm a New York Jets fan. So I've been conditioned for the last decade or so, even beyond that. I know they've had a bit of success, like with the back-to-back AFC championship runs and all that. But I've been conditioned to not expect greatness. I've been conditioned to not expect them to be amounting to anything. So that way, like, when they fail, I know they're going to fail. I'm good with it. It's built in. It's fine. So when they succeed, I'm happy. That's bonus. That's a grave. That's a gravy for me. That's how I cope. Basically for me, and maybe it's

off the greatest feeling. But when my teams do well, I'm very happy, but I always keep the expectations a little low because I know at the end of the day, all it takes is one chop at the knees and you are back down and humbled. Like that's how I feel about the Jets. That's how I feel about Manchester United, which a club that has seen better days. They're trying to get better

now. But like, all it takes is like one loss to some random second division team and like the Carrow Battle Cup, which is not going to happen this year. But like you see what I mean. Like, all it takes is one loss and all of the memes come back. Like, I've been good. to just lower my expectations.

And that's what Cowboys fans should do too. Here's, you know what, I'm actually glad not to hijack this, but I'm very glad that you made the comparison of Cowboys and Leaps fans. Because I don't think that the comparison just stops at the fact that like when big games come, you know, they expect the worse. There are fans of those two teams who do think that way. There are also fans of both of those things who are delusional, who think they're just going to win everything.

and they think they're the greatest things in slice spread. That's also very liable. And that's why people get a kick out of seeing both of those franchises lose because of the people who put those teams on the pedestal and they get knocked down. And I think that's what it is. If there were more people who were humble in both of those franchises, then I think people would like them more.

Okay. And I agree with you. And I think a lot of hockey fans enjoy watching the Maple Leafs implode in April. Right? Like they enjoy it. They relish it. Or February, depending on whoever's in net that night. Right. It's always happens in February. But look, the Dallas Cowboys are the same way. But I think there's a lot of NFL fans that also want to see Tom Brady fall flat right now. That is also true, too. Yes.

So here's my question to bring this back because we want to make sure people know. This is the athletic hockey show. This is not the athletic football show, athletic hockey show. So here's my question. Okay. Yes. Cowboys are facing. Tom Brady in the wild card game Monday. What's the NHL equivalent of this? Where fans are watching and kind of secretly saying,

you know, if there was a way that both of them could lose, I would love to select that option. So here's what I've come down on. Do you think it would be the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the role of the Dallas Cowboys and Sidney Crosby playing the role of Tom Brady? Like, and I love Sid. I actually, I have nothing but. But do you feel like that?

like fans are tired, like, hey, you've got your three cups, like, get out of here. Like, who's the guy? Who's, who's the most, who's the Tom, is there a Tom, is there a guy, a player that we singularly look at and be like, okay, enough. We've had enough of you. Man, here's the thing, like, Sidney Crosby. I don't think there is because, like, like, Sidney Crosby, like, I don't, he's not, like, he's not say Tom Brady's obnoxious about him winning, but like, the fans of Tom Brady, are overly obnoxious about how great he is and how amazing he is.

And like, we don't need people like reminding us every day. Like we get it. We've seen him win the Super Bowl's the way that he has. Sidney Crosby doesn't have that same effect. Like, he gets that universal respect for his talent, his ability and just his ability and clutch moments, notably at the 2010 Olympics, of course. So like, no, he doesn't get that. I didn't even think about it from the standpoint of like an individual.

I honestly really just thought about it from the standpoint of like two teams that like I know people just don't really like. And you could make an argument. We saw that matchup over the weekend with Bruins and Leafs, considering how people feel about both franchises. Also, if you're trying to make that direct parallel, I mean, Tom Brady spent the bulk of his career playing for a team in Massachusetts, right? Maybe that's close enough.

But there's no one in the NHL can think of who like has the winning. No, there's no one in the NHL that, I mean, there's no one in sports. Beyond like Michael Jordan. It's LeBron. Like that's true. I think there's some LeBron fatigue. I think there's some Brady fatigue.

I don't, has it reached that point with Sid? No. Or, I don't think so. I don't think so. Because like, because like, like, Sydney Crosby, I don't, I think, I don't, you know what it is. Because when Tom Brady wins, you know, fine, like the Patriots win the Super Bowl, but it has evolved into a thing where it's about Brady's legacy, and he's the front-facing figure and all of that. When LeBron wins or LeBron goes to an NBA finals, it becomes less of, oh, the Cleveland Cavaliers were

able to do it. Oh, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to do it. LeBron James has added to his legacy. When Sidney Crosby wins, like we acknowledge it, but I don't think we hype it in the same way. And like, Sidney Crosby has a personality, does not, he is not front-facing in the same way that Brady is with his with his with his now ex supermodel wife and and and all he does with his family and and and and all the the the celebrity appearances he does and the way he goes about his life LeBron James another front facing celebrity who does all this other extracurricular activity beyond the court with it whether it's being in movies working on his school and all this other stuff can you tell me anything you know about Sidney

Crosby off the ice yes I can and I can tell you something very definitive and And that is recently a group of Ramoski fans got together with him to buy him a cup of coffee. Yeah, but we saw that in a commercial on Tim Hortons. I know, I'm joking. I'm joking. That's the Tim Hortons. That's the point. In Canada, they're running this, I swear, if you're watching a hockey game in Canada, there's like three commercials.

That's it. One of them will be for betting. One of them will be for a bank. And the other one will be Tim Horton's Sidney Crosby. That's it. Take it to the bank. if you're watching a game in Canada, this Crosby commercial has come on every commercial island, commercial break of every game I've seen lately. Very true.

I appreciate the fact that it's bilingual. Also, I will give an honorable mention to Katie Perry's Skip the Dishes commercial. Oh my gosh, yeah. That is fourth place. That has to be fourth because I see that all the time now. Man, I remember McIndoo and Gentilly, they do every year, right? Don't they do a commercial breakdown, Canada, U.S.? Wow.

Oh, were they going to be a fun. Yeah, I think, I don't remember if it's tied into the Super Bowl, but they have a lot of fun with that. But you know what? You brought up a good point, though, that Toronto Boston might be a matchup where you'd, if you're an outsider, you're like, man, if there's a way they could both lose, I'd be in. So they play on Saturday.

Now, Boston wins late on a Matt Grizzlic goal. It's funny, I was kind of watching Ottawa and Colorado, which we're not going to talk about because Ottawa lost by a touchdown. and flip it over to the Bruins game and Grizzlick has scored like with 90 seconds left, whatever. But here's my legitimate and I'm not trying,

people will always think I'm being facetious when I'm talking about the Leafs. I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Me neither. Does it matter? Like if they had gone into Boston and they would have won,

wouldn't we have all just come out of that game saying, well, until they do it in April, who cares? And then if they lose, we're like, well, they still can't get over the hump. It feels like there's nothing they can do between now and April to convince us of anything. That includes going into Boston and beating the Bruins. I don't think it would have mattered.

I'm with you because the trauma of Maple Leafs unfortunately have done this to themselves. Over the last decade with the way that, and I mean, I get it like it has gone since 2004 where they have not won a first round series. But just a specific streak of failure between 23rd. in May at the hands of the Boston Bruins to now where it has been so notable and so noticeable the fact that they can't get over that hump has been like completely put into focus. And because of that streak, like, you know, it's very hard to, whether you're impartial or if you're a release fan, to get very hyped up about the fact that they're having a great regular season. Like, you see like individual accolades like Austin Matthews scoring 60 last year

or Mitch Marner going on the point streak that he's on. Like, you allow yourself to enjoy those moments from time to time, but you know once it gets to April, it's like, well, geez, if we can't get over the hump against insert team here, it's not going to matter. And it's not as if, like, the Toronto, look, the Toronto Maple Leafs, they've done as well as they've done in the regular season. It's not as if, like, they keep going up against Bangor,

like, top-level teams every single time. They have had their opportunities to beat lesser teams in opening rounds of faux seasons. Right. And they've blown those opportunities too. So like it's not even like they deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes. Like it's a bit of a weird thing to honest. It's one thing as a fan for one thing.

But can you imagine what it's like for me as someone who's just trying to watch games and try being partial? And I know I cover the team I cover. But like I have no problem going into when it comes time for us to do predictions for the playoffs, saying that the least are going to lose and just be like, hey, you know what? Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong this year. Because it's like Linus and Lucy from Snoopy, the Peanuts. Like after a while, you get fed up.

How are you dropping a, you and your 20s should not be dropping a Linus and Lucy? It feels like you should be dropping like an Arthur reference. What? Or something like that. Something that you grew up. You didn't grow up with Lucy and Linus. I've watched a few cards. I mean, they re-air those.

sometimes. I have seen enough of the football beam, you know, like, that's impressive. That's impressive. But that's basically what that is. And I have made that reference before. Like, at some point, you get fed up of, you have to get fed up of thinking you're going to be able to kick the football. And I'm sorry, but that's, that's just what it is. And like, it's, I feel, and I feel for least fans. I know sometimes people think like, oh, bad, like, you know, you're just a hater or whatever, but like, no, like, I feel bad for y'all. Like, you can't keep going through this every damn year with everything going on with this team. Like they have to get over the hump at some point.

The one silver lining for them this year with the way the standings are looking, if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs, you might as well get your scouting in on the Tampa Bay Lightning like right now because it is locked in. It's locked in, essentially, unless something crazy happens with them or the Leafs or something else in the division because you pretty much know who you're going to be playing in that first round. So now you also have, you almost have no excuse.

Like you know you're going to play the first round. Like you got to figure out a way to beat those guys. And you took him to a seventh game last year that was essentially decided by, decided by one goal. And Nick Paul of all people. Nick Paul with a couple of goals in a game seven. And, you know, if I'm the Leafs, I'm sending a pro scout to every Tampa game from here on in.

I'm looking for detailed reports on every single player. I'm looking like, it's essentially locked. in. Like it feels like the Bruins have run away and hidden with a 14 point lead or whatever it is in that division. It's going to be awfully tough for Toronto to catch them. Tampa and Toronto, maybe they'll flip-flop for home ice, but there's enough of a buffer between those teams and then that next group of Buffalo, Detroit, Florida. They're not likely going to catch. Like, it's very rare to say this, that it's the eighth, whatever we are, 16th of January. I think you can lock this in.

I think you can go ahead, lock it in, and that's what makes Pierre LeBron's column that dropped on Monday, Julian, really interesting. Pierre, for the listeners that haven't had a chance to check this out, fellow Dallas Cowboys fan, Pierre LeBron. I think Pierre, I have,

I might have intel on the fact that he might be at that game tonight, that Buck Stars, that Buck Cowboys game tonight. He might be there. See, I don't want to even text him. I've got bad luck with him. So I'm not even going to go near him. But LeBron's column today is really interesting.

And it's like, hey, here's a handful of trades. I think it's six of them in total. That he's like, these trades make a lot of sense. We're six weeks away from the deadline. Here are basically six players that I think are just dream fits. And, you know, this one's really interesting to me. It's Ryan O'Reilly, the Toronto. and LeBron's argument on this, Julian,

his argument is basically this. The last line he writes on this topic is, there is no tomorrow for this Leaf's front office if this isn't the year where the team finally gets over the playoff hump. Go and get Ryan O'Reilly. Man, like you read this and you're like, that's exactly the kind of guy they need,

like a Stanley Cup winner, guy who can play that kind of up and down middle six guy, kind of what Nassim Cadbury was for the abs. Ryan O'Reilly could come in and, you know, do something like that. Man, I look at this, I'm like that. That makes a lot of sense. If you know that you're going to get Tampa, Ryan O'Reilly might be the guy that you want down the middle.

Yeah, I can understand that. I mean, I've heard people say that like maybe their needs are more at the scoring wing position in that middle six for the top six. but like I feel like for for the Leafs if you're able to get any type of playoff contributor who knows what it takes to go down go deep in a run and a guy like Ryan O'Reilly who's won and can produce like you make that move the one thing you have to worry about is how he comes back from from injury right like that's that's the big thing with with him we know he's been on IR for quite some time and he's also

in a contract year I mean it's a very interesting time to be Ryan O'Reilly but like if you're able to make that happen and and add them to your team, I get why you make that move, but also that last line that you're referencing about there's no tomorrow for that front office. Like, you know, it's funny. We think of the all or nothing year off of that Amazon documentary,

which was in like 2021. It's been two years since that doc, right? Or like a little less than that may be, but like this is the real all or nothing year. If Kyle Dubas is out of a contract after this year is over, if Kyle Dubas can't get it done, like, something has to happen enough front office. But, but Julie, would you agree with me on this? And again, we're,

we're, we're, we're, we're not trying to be facetious. Because I think sometimes when, when non-Mapeliefs, people talk about the Maple Leafs, there's this idea that we're, we're mocking the, we're not. I'm really not. We're not. But the bar for this team based on their salary cap and where the, the, the core is, the bar cannot be just win a playoff round, can it? Like, the bar has to be for the group to kind of come back moving forward. Don't they have to get to at least the final four in your estimation? Like, let's say they beat Tampa in six games. Okay, great.

But then you play Boston in all likelihood in round two. If you lose that series in any shape or form, are you not kind of just be like, it ain't happening with this group? Or am I wrong on that? The bar is one playoff win. This sounds kind of weird to make this, to make the point like this,

it sort of depends on what Austin Matthews thinks. Because at the end of the day, I would think that if they win that opening around, that's at least a progression. And if Austin Matthews sees it that way when it comes time for him to negotiate a contract extension, then that's enough. That should be enough. Because at the end of the day, like, we can go off about whatever it's going to happen to Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs, whether they make it to the second round or not. After that is done, whenever they get eliminated or if they win the cup or whatever, the very next thing they need to focus on, is Austin Matthews getting re-signed. And if the Leafs can't get out of that first round,

if they can't get out of that first round, that puts the front office at risk, and frankly, it puts Austin Matthews at risk. I think if they win a round, and depending on how they win that round too, like, that means everything for a lot of people's job security. And I think it definitely, this is just more of a gut feeling more than Intel.

I mean, I think that, you know, Austin Matthews, I still would be very surprised to see him leave. That being said, if he were to leave and say, hey, I'm going to be a free agent. I'm going to try to pick my team. This could be like the equivalent of the NHL's attempt at doing the decision, like what LeBron did a couple of years back when he was going to Miami. Like on it, like on it. Actually, let me do this. And I'm not doing this to scare people. But if Austin Matthews decides that he wants to leave Toronto, he wants out of the city and he wants to be test the waters as a free agent.

If I'm like whether someone at the NHL could do this, someone close to Austin, and I know people didn't like the decision when LeBron did it. I would love to see something close like that. I would love to see Austin Matthews own that moment and be like, I'm thinking of like, I'm taking my talents to L.A. I'm taking my talents to New York. That's a side tangent, but all that to say, the bar being where it's at for the Leafs in terms of them winning around, like, I can understand that because it shows some kind of progression. And if they lose to a team like Boston, I mean, Boston's really good this year. Like, there's not that much fault you could take from that. Like, like, but at the same time, like, it really depends on what Austin Matthews thinks. If Austin Matthews thinks winning around is enough to believe in the core, like, and that comes and that helps him for him to resign there, like, that should be enough. as far as I'm concerned, because they need to keep it. But I think if you're Toronto and you get to that,

like you talk about ESPN or TNT doing a, you know, Austin Matthews decision type of thing or like, whatever. Like that would be so sick. Or TSA. No, but I think you've, let's be honest here, Julia, there's no scenario where he should get to unrestricted free agency and just walk out the door. I think if you're the Maple Leafs and you have to set some sort of arbitrage,

it's almost like what the flames did with Matthew Kachuk. Like you need to set some sort of arbitrary deadline and say if he doesn't want to be here, that's, it's his choice. We cannot let this guy walk out for nothing. We can't. We can't. Right? I understand that. Yeah.

I get that. Also, you put yourself in that. But also, I feel like if you lose out on the best player who has ever played for your franchise, even if you have to put up an exorbitant return, like that's a failure on the front office. That's a failure on that team. You fail to be successful. in a throughout like the early parts of Austin Matthew's career arguably some of the best years he might get out of his career are you not just going to get him.

You're just describing Connor McDavid though, right? In some ways. Yeah, fine. Like, yeah, you know what I mean? Like, absolutely. It's, it's. But they've locked him up for at least a considerable amount of years too, at least. It's interesting though, because I think the funny thing is like there's less pressure

it feels like for the McDavid dry side. Even though their window is just as small, it feels like there's less pressure on them. Maybe it's because they got to the conference final last year that we're like, okay, well, we can. 100%. That team, 100%. But Julian, I just don't think Toronto can win one playoff round, then bow out to Boston in round two, and all of us look at each other and be like, well, that's progression, because I don't think that's progression. I think progression is final four. It's it's final four. It's not progression for them. It's not progression for them. I'm not saying it's

necessarily, it is for them. They haven't won around it like 2004 since it's like 2004. I'm not saying that that's sufficient for a team like that, they should be doing so much better. And if they do, and if they do win that round, then the expectations have to. But honestly, if they win a round and they get out in the second round,

the expectations are cup or bust from here on out. Like they're fully in that. It should be that now, but they haven't been able to get there. This quarter has shown that for whatever reason, up there mentally, they have not been able to get over that hump. And they need to get,

and they need to get over that hump. Okay. But if you were to look at, at the teams going to the playoffs this year in the NHL. Yes. And you would say, okay, here's the list of teams that, you know, the goal should be just winning one playoff round. I think you would put Seattle on that list.

100%. Okay? Seattle would be on that list. How can we put Toronto on the same list as Seattle and say that the, that, yeah, well, that's, you know what I mean? Like who, okay, so who else would go to the playoffs, losing round one and, sorry, win round one, lose round two, and people walk away and be like, ah,

you know what, that's a success. Because it's not Tampa, it's not Boston, it's not Carolina, it's not Pittsburgh, it's not Washington, right?

Like, like, who is it? It's, you tell me it's Seattle and Toronto? That can't be. Do you throw, New Jersey would be in that?

Yes, I think New Jersey would be. 100% you're correct. Yes. I would put New Jersey there. No, but to your point, you're absolutely right.

Like Toronto has played. L.A. L.A.? I think I, I may be, you could talk me into L. I think about L. lot. Yeah, I think that that would make sense to me. Absolutely. Which of these is not like the other.

I get it. I get it. It's weird too, because Toronto has played as well as they've played over the last how many years and they should be a cup contending team. They just have not done it. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe one, maybe you're right. Maybe one round just isn't enough. But like, I just think like with, like, I mean, plus the Eastern Conference is not, it's not easy. It's not an easy time for them. And like, you're telling me if they go up against Boston, a team that is like the best, they might go down as one of the best president trophy winning teams. Like, we're calling it now. They're going to be the best team in the league.

If they can't beat them in that second round series, like, that's a really good Boston Bruins team they're going to be running up against. Like, I don't know. Like, I get it. Maybe I'm making an excuse for them by saying that, but also just like, I don't, then again, too. I mean, you only have so many years. But again, to my ultimate point, it really depends on what Austin Matthews thinks. I think at this point for the trauma, Maple Leaf, you have to do everything you can to keep a generational player like that for the long term. And if Austin Matthews thinks that, you know what, winning that one round is enough to show enough faith that they could win two, three, four for the remainder of his career as a leaf.

Like that, that, that could, that could be it. That's my ultimate point. My ultimate point about that is not so much to say that, like, winning one round is enough necessarily. absolutely right in the fact that like considering how well they've played like that should not be the standard but considering the fact that they have not won that round in a long time considering the fact that their best player is up for a contract very soon and they i think they need to do whatever they can to to to keep him like i i think if he feels that's enough in terms of contract negotiations you go with that man it should know what we at this point beyond winning

around it should be all about keeping rostom matthews or if you're not going to going to keep Austin Matthews, you get yourself like four first round picks. You get yourself a really good roster player or two. You, you do everything you can to recoup off the fact that you could lose out. If that happens on the greatest player your franchise has ever had. Listen, we better move off of this before we get accused of having a Maple Leafs podcast. And I don't think either of us wants that. Been there, been there, done that.

I rule. Oh, man. Okay, look, so the other deals in the LeBron column, in which he's like, here's perfect matches, obviously Ryan O'Reilly to Toronto. The one other one that I think would be really cool to see, John Klingberg to the Krakken. And Pierre puts...

Unless he wrote Krakken in there too, because I noticed Jacob Chikrin to the Kings. Yeah, Jacob Chikrin to the Kings. No, you're right. You're right. Both of them are mentioned. I'm sorry about that. But John Klingberg to the Kraken, I mean, who wouldn't love this, right? Because I think you look at this situation.

Look, John Klingberg, he rolled. the dice. He's like, I'm going to take a one-year deal in Anaheim. I'm going to try to, you know, parlay that into a big year. Hasn't had a great year. But, you know, this is the type of trade where I think as hockey fans, like, we should be excited about the Cracken. Like, they're actually a really fun team to watch. They've won whatever it is eight in the row. They're scoring at a ridiculous rate. They're fun. Like, I'd love to see a team in the second year of existence, you know, spend a little bit of that draft capital. As Pierre points out, they have by virtue of the expansion draft and whatnot,

three second round picks. I don't think the way John Klingberg's playing, it doesn't feel like he's going to warrant a first round pick and a super deep draft. So why not say, hey, Anaheim, here's a couple of second rounders for John Klingberg and the Seattle crack. And we're almost getting to the point, Julian, after they beat Boston in regulation time in Boston,

and what, I think we're getting. to the point where we need to say that's a playoff team, not a bubble team, that's a playoff team in Seattle. They're not that far off from first place in the Pacific. Yeah. Like, not just playoff team. If Vegas falls off a little bit and Seattle keeps this up, we could be calling the

Seattle Cracken Pacific Division winners. Like that is beyond all of our expectations, especially how we looked at the Cracken last year. They went about the expansion draft. We were thinking, okay, they're going about it in the traditional sense. And you could still argue that like maybe they'll go at it. year thinking, you know what, if they make the playoffs, I guess it's part of the plan, or maybe not necessarily part of the plan, or at least they want to at least keep those

draft picks so they can continue to build through the draft and try to maintain a long-term winner. But I would like to see them go for it. And also, I don't know why I got Jacob Chikrin and John Klingberg's names kind of mixed up in my head. Those names seem very similar to me. My brain is wired that way, so sorry about that. But John Klingberg to the Krakken, like, I like the idea of the Krakken realizing that a window is slowly opening and they're trying to say like, hey, you know what, let's reward our players for overperforming by giving them a player who could, you know, help out for a length for a run, whether it's lengthy or they get out in the first round or whatever, like something that just kind of helps the players in

that locker room, realize like, hey, you know what, we have something here. So, so yeah, if that were to happen, like, that would be really cool to see. But you're right, like the Seattle Cracken in terms of their play on the ice, the teams that they're beating, Maddie Baneers being a leading candidate for the call to trophy, the speed and pace that they play at too. And they have some other veterans as well who help form out that lineup. Also, Martin Jones is just doing really well for the Benet. Like, I think the Seattle Crackett have turned into a really cool story in the fact that they're exceeding expectations and they look, they're looking like a playoff team.

I'm ready to call it. If they end up falling off, well, sorry, hopefully it sucks that we would jinx them. But I hope we don't jinx them. I think, I hope that, like, they're the disruptors. I was saying on another podcast, they're a disruptor. Like, it's kind of funny. Like, if they make it, it's probably going to come at the expense of like an Emmington or a Calgary.

Let's be real. Or if L.A. falls, like, them too. Like, Seattle's messing up a lot of people's projections in that division. And if they go out and they get themselves with John Klingberg, that could help solidify their position in that top three in that division. Absolutely. You know, it's going to be really hard for Seattle to make it and L.A. to make it. And then you, you know, at that point, then probably one of the Alberta teams misses.

or Colorado misses or St. Louis misses. And these are the heavyweights going into the season. We thought those were, you know, close to locks. At least certainly Colorado, I think was a lock for a lot of people. I think Edmonton was close to a lock for a lot of people. Calgary, I know there's some unknown with the change, but we thought, okay, talent-wise, they should be close to it. The athletic had them second in their projections.

Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, you want to talk about a disruptor, just to steal your phrase. Yeah. we got to talk about the Philadelphia Flyers, man. Like, they're disrupting their own plans. Philly has now won seven of eight. Okay?

Seven of eight. And in the, they just swept out home and home with Washington. They've beaten some decent teams in there, right? Washington, they beat L.A. I think they beat, you know, Buffalo in there. Like, they've been beaten some teams that have been playing pretty well. now as we're recording this podcast, we're getting set for a matinee game.

It's the Flyers at the Bruins. If Philadelphia goes into Boston and beats the Bruins, I mean, is it official that we just take them right out of the Connor Bernard sweepstakes? They've played themselves out of it. Like they're pretty much out, they've played themselves out of a bottom five right now.

And that must be driving Philly fans. nuts because there was a point there around Christmas time where it all, it was all falling apart. You're like, ah, there's the flyers we expected. And now they've won seven of eight. The hell is going on here. I know exactly what's going on here. John Tortarella took away the iPads and now they're seeing success. Oh, my God. No more iPads. No more iPads behind the bench. None of that. Absolutely not. Yeah, look, if I'm a Flyers fan, I'm like, I'm probably pretty pissed because you already go through it offseason where you don't get Johnny Goodrow. He doesn't come home. And you're like, all right, well, we're just going to have to find a way to make this work with John Tortarella and Tony DiAngelo, of all people. And now they're in a position where they probably won't even get Connor Bedard. They might not even get it Adam Fantilli when it's all said and done. The other only saving grace is if, uh, Flames, sorry, not Fliers Management decides like, hey, we need to start getting our tank awareness up. It's time to start offloading some of these pieces.

And like what pieces could they really, like Travis Keneckney might be their best piece to offload in a trade. Yes, I saw that. In a collab piece I did with Charlie O'Connor last week where I was evaluating, yeah, thank you. Where I was evaluating whether or not the flame should get him. I know Flames fans, they really like Travis Kineckney. just look at the style of play that he has too and the fact he's able to score goals he looks like a player that the flames would like

but like in talking to Charlie about it Charlie gets the sense that like John Torterrella does not want would not want a guy like Travis Connected be gone especially if they're going to play like this and if they're going to play like this then and they're going to keep Chuck Fletcher around then the next step is then probably thinking like okay we're going to do everything we can to

make the playoffs next year and get some players who can fit with us so you'd want to keep a guy like Travis connecting you around unless you're able to get some kind of solid return. So if they're going to do this, they're making their bed here. Good luck because this is not the year. If you are in that mushy middle, as other people might like to call it, that random little middle spot where you're just kind of no man's land and you're not good enough to make the playoffs, but you're not good enough to tank.

Get the hell out of that middle. Make a decision what you're trying to do because this is not the year to fool around with that. If you want to be in the badard sweepstakes, fall down. that tank awareness up and put yourself in that position. Connectney, by the way, is scoring at about a 50 goal pace this season. Like, Travis Connectney has 24, I know he missed a handful of games. He's got 24 goals in 37 games.

Like, that's, again, that's obviously a 50 goal pace. He missed a handful of games. Like, he's projected out, I think, to score about 48 goals this year, like, if he plays the whole year because he, like, that's an unbelievable year. But he's only 25. You got to ask you, like, if I'm, if I'm Philly, I'm hanging on to that guy all day. Like he's,

he's a guy you can still, I think, build around. But yeah, you got to ask yourself, like, what on earth are you doing? Winning?

It's very rare that a professional sports franchise would win seven of eight games and it might exasperate the fan base. But I think this is what's exactly happening there.

I think, I think, look, there's a few teams that, like, I think if Vancouver went on a similar run, I think their hands, the fans would throw their hands up,

like, what are you doing here, right? that mushy middle, once you get to the middle of the season, I think because most hockey fans, we're all cynical by nature, right? Like, we're all like, ah, screw it, we're never going to win. You start to almost talk yourself into the tank.

You talk yourself into, you know what, let's just flush the season, we'll just get a high draft pick, we'll regroup again. What do you say, we all get together again in August? And then when your team starts winning games, you feel so conflicted, so conflicted. Yeah, I just look. looking from afar, seeing what the Montreal Canadians went through at the beginning of their season,

where they were overachieving a little bit. Chicago went through this too, where they're playing a little bit better. I'm not sure how the fans might have been thinking there, but like, yeah, like fans like feels of like, oh, hey, wait a minute, maybe we don't have to take. Maybe we could, maybe we could actually play above ourselves. And then when that fall inevitably comes, it's like, well, what the hell is going on? But I think people would rather that as opposed to like them sucking at the beginning and then they find their stride. And then, then they play themselves out of it. Also, you mentioned Vancouver.

Bruce Brugro might be the only head coach I could think of right now whose team could win like seven of eight and go on a really good run and still have themselves fired or lose their job by the end of the year. Have their contract not renewed in this case, I guess, but like, yeah, I just wanted to comment out there about Bruce Boudreel. Yeah, I think you're right. Like, it's, you know, Vancouver fans and Philly fans, you know, we talked earlier about how as a Dallas Cowboys fan,

you kind of always expect the worst to happen in the Leafs. Boy, I take Vancouver, Philly and Buffalo fans, Sabers, Canucks, and Flyers fans probably feel the same way. It's like you haven't seen your team win a championship in the case of Vancouver and Buffalo ever. Ever. In your 50 years. And if you're Philadelphia, unless you're over the age of 50,

you probably don't remember those cups from the 70s. So, hey, you know, sometimes I think in sports, we like to think that there's only a couple of tortured franchises. I don't know. I kind of feel like 80% of fan bases feel like they're cheering for a tortured franchise. Right? Yeah. Yeah, every, almost every franchise in sports has their own level of torture except for,

I mean, yeah, no, every franchise has it. It's just that some teams, they have their little era where they look really good, and maybe they win out of it and they take advantage. They're little windows, but then they eventually. fall down to the level like everyone is. I mentioned Vancouver in the in the conversation. I want to talk about, and listen, this was a tough story to kind of see unfold on the weekend, especially if you're like me, I grew up in Vancouver in the 90s, early 90s with that,

you know, kind of watching that Trevor Lyndon, Cliff Ronning, Pavel Burray group go and do some amazing things. And a big part of that, Julian, was Gino Ogic. and, you know, Gino was a guy that, you know, and unfortunately he passed away this weekend at the age of 52. And, you know, I'm going to send you something now because I don't think, I don't know if you saw this, okay? I shared this on Twitter earlier. I want you to take a minute. I just sent it to you on our messaging app there, Slack.

Cool. Genoogic, to give people a sense of how popular Ginoogic was in Vancouver, you need to watch this video. You don't even have to have the sound on to hear what is a very young Chris Cuthbert. It's a young Chris Cuthbert on the call. Oh, wait, really? Oh, I almost have to put the sound up for that. It is Chris Cuthbert fan here. Oh, who doesn't love Cuthbert?

Okay. But listen. Oh, just watch the reaction. Gino Wogic scores a penalty shot goal against Mike Vernon. Okay. I want you to just watch the reaction of Gino Wogic. Look at the crowd. It's just, there's very few things in sports.

where you can just kind of show one clip to try to explain to people how there was a connectivity between an athlete and its fan base. Geno Ogic and Vancouver had this wonderful relationship. It's so hard to put into words. But this video here, it really does the job and just watch his celebration. You know, Gino's a tough guy. He's not known for scoring. And he comes in and he scores his goal.

Just watch the celebration. You would never see a player celebrate a random peasant. penalty shot goal in October. Okay, here's the penalty shot. Like this, okay. So watch it, he goes, I think he goes stick side on Mike Vernon. He goes stick side.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. He's just, it's like you want a Stanley Cup or something. Yeah, exactly. This is an October game. Okay. And his fist pup big,

he's still celebrating. Yeah. He's high-fiving everybody. I can't explain to you. So, so, Julia, like, you know when you're a teenager,

so I think when Gino Wogic broke into the NH I think I was about 13 years old, 13 or 14 years old. Okay? Yeah. I'm telling you, like, there's the first game this guy ever played in the NHL happened to be broadcast on TV. So remember we said on the athletic hockey show Mondays, I'm going to try to teach you things about early 90s hockey, okay?

Yes. So back of the day, not every game that you, of your favorite team was actually broadcast. on television. In fact, it was tough to see your favorite team in the middle of the week. Oftentimes you would have to wait for Saturday. If you were lucky, maybe the odd Wednesday game was on whatever,

but not every game was televised. But I remember watching, and this would have been October of, I think the year before, so maybe, or November of the year before. So 1990, I'm whatever, like I said, 13 years old. Yeah. And it's Vancouver against Chicago on like a Thursday night. And I turn on the TV and there's this, guy for Vancouver wearing number 66.

That was my first, like, what the hell? Who is this? Who wears, because Mario Lemieux was like at the height of his powers at that point, right? Yeah. Like, who is this guy? He's wearing 66. He drops the gloves and he fights Dave Manson, who is one of the toughest guys in Chicago. Crowd goes crazy.

Comes back later, he fights Stu Grimson. Jeez. Who is this guy? It was like the greatest entry a player in the 90s could have had. You come rolling in wearing 66, fighting the toughest guy. I'm telling you from that moment, it was like we all fell in love with Gino Logic. And I almost can't think of too many other times in which I've seen a player come in and in their debut, you just fall in love with them for whatever reason.

And Gino was just a way for the people just don't understand. what this guy was. It was so fascinating to watch him. It was so sad. I'm telling you, when I saw that news, it was awful on the weekend. It just felt like a part of my childhood was crushed because that guy was somebody

I used to watch all the time. I used to go to the old Pacific Coliseum, watch the game. I wasn't even a Connucks fan per se, but I just loved watching those early 90s Kinex teams because that was my team in my market. And, and,

you know, you don't see those types of players anymore, right? You don't see that sort of the fighter or the larger than life person. personality and it's weird right because I think in today's day and age you it would be very hard for like a bottom six player to come in in their NHL debut and everyone just kind of falls in love with them and you're like that guy's awesome right like the game has changed so much but I just I felt like that that video and I'll I shared it on Twitter I think it really gives a window and you know as I went back and rewatched it Chris cuthbert who sounds totally different but that guy is the best play by play guy going right now. And Cuthbert says as Gino Wogic is celebrating in the back, he says something along the lines of Gino Wogic could run for the premier of BC right now. That's how popular he was. It's, it was wild. Just wild. I have a Chris Cuthbert story that I'll tell you off air because I can't tell that on

here. But I will say that's most Enoch. That sounds like a nefarious Chris Cuthbert story. No, no, no, no. Chris Cuthbert is not the deferral. There's no defar. No, he's the best. Fairness here, but like it's a story I'd rather tell off air. But I will say this about Ginojic. Geno Ogic ended his career with the Montreal Canadiens. And as a very young, very young person in the early 2000s, just starting to watch hockey, like in elementary school and going to school with your friends and talking about the teams he saw the night before, you talk about how hard it is to watch NHL games in the 90s.

If you're an Anglo-Montrioler in like the early, part of the century in 90s, I'm sure years before, talking about watching your team in English. Like, that's something that, like, CPC might only do every so often. Like, you had to watch it in French, which over time, you realize, is probably a bit more superior

compared to watching the games on in English on the CBC at the time. I mean, no disrespect to all those guys, but, like, it was cool to watch on Rancho Canada and then eventually L-D-S when they got the rights and stuff and all that, but that's a side tangent. But, like, for Gino-Hodzic, like, he was on those, like,

early 2000s Canadians teams when they were in the dark ages where like those teams were just bad. Like the drafting was bad.

The quality on the ice was bad. If they were going to make the playoffs and we're going to go that far anyway. So like, Gino Ojic for me as a young person, I unfortunately tied them to a time in that team's history

where they were just not significant or relevant. And like, I've only realized, unfortunately, in his passing, and a little bit here and there over the last few years, that he, maybe it's weird to say that he's this larger than life figure, but he had had this reputation from playing in Vancouver all these years as this lovable person, as this lovable player on the ice. And I wish that I was

able to see that in real time and not just have him as an afterthought on some random Canadians' teams that I watched in the early 2000s. So it's been really cool to see people, you know, just, just send their, well, just speak about Gino online, even if it does comment at an unfortunate time, but it just goes to show, you know, when people are around, you give them their, give them your flowers when you can because you never know what could happen to them.

Man, those early 2000s habs teams, like that was my favorite team kind of growing up, and that's kind of when I got into this industry, so I stopped the fandom right around that time. I think I got out at a good time. Like I was still cheering for them when Jeff Hackett was their goalie. Yeah, that's, that's, that's right around the entry point.

That's the edge. You know what's funny? That's the entry point. Maybe I got out. And maybe I inadvertently like handed you some sort of imaginary ticket onto the Habs bandwagon where I'm like, okay, I'm leaving now to cover this sport. I need another young guy to come in and you just grab the ticket. You're like, all right, I'm, I'm in.

And then you look at the lineup and you're like, oh, Oleg Petrov is here. Okay. Ian, do you want to know when my exit point was for Chari for the Montreal Canadians? Take a wild guess when it was. Think about how old I am. Think about, take a wild guess. Like, were you stopped cheering for them, but you weren't, was it when you started working in the industry or no? Like, yes and no.

Yes and no. Like, was this around the time of the Shea Weber? Like, Shea Weber for P.K. Suban? trade. Let me tell you a story, man. Okay. In light of the P.K. Sue ban festivities. Yeah, just last week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've mentioned before, I did a year at Syracuse University, doing a grad degree over there. My parents helped me move into my apartment and all that. We moved, what, June 30th. June 29th is the day P.K. Sue ban was traded. Yes. And the whole, you know, the world. Hockey world melted down.

Delta down off of that in the Stephen Stamcoe siding in the Taylor Hall trade. I was packing my things in my parents' basement, like, as all of that was going on. And then I saw the trade happen. And I was like, well, I'm going to go live in America for a year. And I honestly thought at that point, considering, like, all the stuff I had been doing to that point, my hopes out of that, thinking, like, hey, maybe I can get a job in the States. And I honestly thought to myself, like, you know what? This is probably going to be the start of my life where, like, I'm not going to

going to care about hockey nearly as much. So I just said, you know what, considering the fact that, like, P.K. Suban is not going to be a much of a Canadian player anymore. Like, maybe this is the ideal time to get off. Like, my dad and I would talk about, my dad and I, we still do, talk about hockey, like, all the time and talk about PK and how we both just felt that, like, the organization didn't really rate him like that, you know, just with all the tension and the negotiations, contracts and stuff. So it was just like, all right, now is going to be the time to get off the bandwagon. And I figured like, all right, I'm going to be in the America for you.

They're not going to care about hockey all that much. Then I ended up interning for an HLT. all I was there. And then when I got back to Montreal, I ended up writing for an SB Nation site, habsized on the prize. But I said, you know what? I'm not going to be a Canadian fan. This is just my way into the industry.

And look where I am now. So yeah, maybe some other kid took it after June 29th and then moved on, right? There you go. That's how it. Passing the torch. Passing the torch, just like they do with the inside that Habs dressing room. So very quickly, though, we need to hear a little bit more about your internship with the, was it Syracuse Crunch? Yes, the Syracuse Crunch.

Okay. So, like, what were you doing as an intern? Like, media stuff? Yeah, like, I was a broadcast intern. So basically my job, so the play-by-play guy for The Crunch at the Times, a guy named Dan Duva, who has since moved on to call Vegas Golden Knights games on radio out there. with like three other interns at the time, we would compile all these different like notes on the crunch and also on opposing teams.

And we basically just like feed them to, to the play by play guy during the broadcast. Okay, hang on. No surprise Dan Dova made it to the NHL. Guy had four interns working for it. I could get to the NHL that way. So that's part of it. But also, but also.

If you weren't feeding stats to him during a game, we would have like a camera set up that would be filming the game and you would have someone cutting up highlight packs. So I'd spend a lot of time actually cutting up highlight packs of those crunch games. And like you're cutting up all the major highlights doing it period by period. And like maybe not as soon as the game is over, but like as fast as you can do it, you get those clips uploaded online. and then they get shipped out

and then fans who ought to watch highlights of Crunch games could go do that. And then I got some opportunities to like write some articles for the HL website too and stuff. Like it was cool. Also, what was cool is that Julian Breezebaugh would be down in Syracuse.

And like one of my first days there, like everyone was excited to be like, oh my God, we got an intern from Montreal whose name is Julian. We're going to have him meet Julian Breezeblaw. And like, I got to meet him in his office. And it was like, oh my God. Like, this is Julia Breesbaw.

Like, that was a, that was a really fun year. All right. I got, I got to ask you. Yes. Whatever year that was with the Syracuse crunch were some of the big lightning, like was that like a Yanny Gourd, Yanni Gord team? So just thinking of,

so Yanni Gorp was on that team. You know what player I really wanted? I was really looking forward to. So I got interviewed for it and I was with like Deiduva at like the War Memorial Arena in Syracuse. And I remember going to him be like, Yeah, I'm really excited about the opportunity to intern with you and get to see some lightning prospects in the system, like Braden Point. I was really looking forward to watching Braden Point that year.

The lightning got hit by this, like, massive injury bug. So like Braden Point started the year with that team, and he never got set down to Syracuse, so I never got to watch Braden Point. But Yanni Gord was on that team with a crunch. Erychondra, you might remember him. You might remember Corey Conacher as well. I think Christopher.

Good Lefskys was the goalie. Adam Ernie, who's not playing in Detroit, was also there. Gabrielle Dumont was on that team too. Those are names. They went all the way to the Calder Cup final, actually, that year. They lost, but it was a really fun time. Amazing. I love, I love good intern story, especially now that I know that you were part of Dan Duva's

harem of interns. I sure was. Yeah. All right. Hey, listen, every Monday we end up wrapping up the show with a couple of segments. There is no point in doing a Jack Adams of the week kind of a breakdown here. Just stop the fight, Julian, is Dave Haxstall. Seattle went 4-0, 4-0, outscored their opponents 19 to 8.

They went into Boston, became the first team to beat the Bruins in regulation time at TD Garden. Stop the fight. Dave Haxstall is your Jack Adams winner of the week. And I don't think there's anybody else in the running here. You beat the best team in the league. And now people are looking at you as like a playoff team and potential division winner. What else do we need to say?

Nothing. That's all yours, Dave Haxstall. You've done it. So Dave Haxill wins it. But let us wrap up. Actually, I'm really interested to hear your answer on this one. Okay? A little multiple choice badness Monday.

I'm going to give out a list of four players. I love it when the listeners play along with this. too. I'm going to give out a list of four players here who are currently inside the top 10 in league scoring. And I think for a lot of fans, you may not realize these players are in the top 10 in league scoring because you know about McDavid and you know about dry sidle and you probably heard that Eric Carlson's having a great year. But I'm not sure about these other guys. So here's my question to wrap up the Monday pod. Which player do you think deserves some more credit, more attention, more love for the fact that he's a top 10

member of league scoring right now. Is it A, Nikita Kuturov, B, Miko Ranton, C, Matthew Kuchukuk or D. Kyle Conner? Julian, who deserves some more love and hockey fans need to know, hey, just as FYI, that guy's top 10 in league scoring?

Is it weird that I'm deciding between Miko Rantanin and Kyle Connor? Because Kyle Connor is just like, it seems like he's perennally underrated. And I know, but I know the Jets are really good. good. But like when we think of the best goal scores in the league, like, Kyle Connor, it's like we sometimes forget that he could just like score like 40 goals. He could just score 40 goals in his

sleep. Like we just forget about the fact that like he is a thing. If the, if the Olympics happened in like 2022 with, sorry, if the NHL players were allowed to go to the Olympics in 2022, Cal Cal Conner would be a lock on that team USA team. At the same time, Miko Ransett is playing on a Colorado team that has been banged up with so many injuries throughout the year, and you can make the argument he has single-handedly kept them relevant and kept them within a fighting chance of making a playoff spot because of his play. So it really depends on, hmm, you know what, maybe because of the fact that, like, Miko has to put in more work on his back,

you probably give it to him. But I really hope people are put into respect on Kyle Conner's name. here because this is a dude who I think is still like disrespected in terms of goal scores in this league. But Miko Rancid and deserves a way more credit because of the challenges that are fitting for for the afflanch this year considering the short summer that they had. And now they're they're outside of the playoff spot, but not because they're not good enough, but because of the injuries they've suffered.

You know what? Can I? And this might sound weird too. Am I the only one who didn't know Nikita Kutrov was third in scoring? Like, I feel like I haven't heard much about him this year. the guy's on pace, Julian, to get 125 points, which would be about the same number he had when he won, the heart and the, and the, Art Ross and all that stuff a couple of years ago.

Like, guys on pace for a 90 assist 125 point season, I don't feel like we were talking about him at all. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm totally wrong. Maybe everyone else is talking about Nikita Kutchev. But I feel like he's having a sneaky good year that's got. under the radar, no? To your point, 41 games played this year, 17 goals, 62 points.

Last year in 47 games, 25 goals, 69 points. He's almost about to match his pace in as many games from last year. I think the reason why is because we know Tampa is supposed to be great. But also, it's kind of funny because they might be on the other side of that hill of greatness. Like, at this point, I feel like if they make the cup final again, like, that's sort of gravy for them. You're not supposed to be going to the Cup final in consecutive years the way that the Tampa Bay Lightning have. They've already established themselves as the dynasty of, actually, that might be a whole debate in itself if they truly are the dynasty of the century so far. But they're definitely, I think, the team of the salary cap era.

I think that shouldn't be a dispute. And that's no disrespect to Pittsburgh. I think Tampa Bay is. But like, maybe that's it. Maybe it's the fact that because we just expect the lightning to be good, Nikita Kutrov has been a top level player. is a top level player, and he's not someone like a Kyle Conner who, like, people will be like,

oh, yeah, right, like he exists. So maybe that's why he's up there. Matthew Kachuk, too, also coming off a 40-goal season, and he's doing some great things on a Florida team that is looking like they're in that weird middle we were talking about earlier. But for Matthew Kichuk to be playing at a high level,

even top 10 in scoring, I'm not completely surprised because of the level of play we've seen him start to play at from when he was with the flames to now. That's not a complete surprise. So we still got to decide between Ranted and Connor, but maybe Rantins, I think it's going to be my pick. And if Kutrov is your pick, then we could all just go off with those two guys.

Yeah, there you go. That'd love to hear from listeners. By the way, me picking Nikita Kuturov, that's the last complimentary thing I'm going to say about a Tampa player today. Please think of me and Pierre LeBron and Chris Johnston as we get set for Tampa, Dallas. Think of your favorite reporters, Julian. Chris Johnson, myself, LeBron. Some of your favorite people in the industry

are going to be on pins and needles tonight for our Dallas Cowboys. So think about us. When that game melts down, they inevitably turn the ball over in the fourth quarter and lose. Just think of us. Okay?

Think of us. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And then if you guys win, what are you guys going to do? You guys got to jump in a circle and just like hug each other and laugh. We're going to lament the fact that we've got to go to San Francisco.

Our team has to go to San Francisco. Oh. The right to get your ass whooped. Yeah, exactly. All right. Hey, listen, we'll leave it there. This was a ton of fun. I want to thank everybody for listening to this Monday edition of The Appleby.

Show. Follow us in your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. We appreciate that. Follow us on YouTube as well at YouTube.com slash at the Athletic Hockey Show right now. You can get a one-year subscription to the athletic with $2 a month when you visit athletic.com slash hockey show.