The Athletic Hockey Show - Ryan Reaves doesn't like Corey Perry, NHL considering decentralizing the draft, Marc-Andre Fleury with a night to remember in Montreal

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Ian and Julian look back on the LA Kings win over the Jets with over 4000 empty seats in Pierre-Luc Dubois' return to Winnipeg. The guys discuss the NHL considering to decentralize the NHL draft, Rick Tocchet calling out the Canucks and Ryan Reaves criticism of Corey Perry.Down Goes Brown discusses his latest column, The Contrarian: Arguing NHL related statements that his readers believe to be true, and Jesse Granger talks about the red hot Golden Knights, the night to remember for Marc-Andre Fleury in what could be his final game in Montreal and Igor Shesterkin's magic handling of the puck so far this season for the Rangers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. We welcome you to the Wednesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Cian Mendez is Julian McKenzie. And no, we're not wearing matching outfits like we did on Tuesday. I've dressed it up a little bit for the viewers. They can see. I've gotten into a dress shirt. We got a jam-packed hour, though.

Coming up here, Julian, a couple of guests going to drop by. Sean McIndoo, down goes brown. we're going to talk about his contrarian segment or series that he's launched. Jesse Granger going to pop by. We're going to recap some of the games last night that happened on Tuesday. We'll set up Wednesday, some of the other games this week that we're looking forward to,

some interesting draft stuff being floated out there. We got a lot. The midweek, I always think, like, I think that myself, Julian, Monday is the day where we're going to have the most stuff to sink our teeth into, but here we are middle of the week. and it feels like we got a packed show. Yeah.

I love the fact that now that we get to do more days, there are so many other storylines that we can talk to. The tough part about doing the Monday show, even though we get so much, is that whatever stuff happens after we record, it's like, oh, we can't touch on that anymore. Like, we, like, I remember what we're doing, like the Cardiff or Hagee stuff.

We have to wait a whole week before we had to bring shade a cold bit on to kind of ignite that again. But to have, like, the Pierre Lutubour return as a topic, for today's show as an example of the NHL draft stuff, which we'll get to later. Like I really like that. I really enjoy it. I hope people who are watching us live or listening to us after the fact as a podcast,

they appreciate that too. Pierre Luke Dubois, I mean, he couldn't have scripted a better return, right? Team wins, he scores and some empty seats too at the arena in Winnipeg. Anyway, but that was Pierre Luke Dubois.

that was a perfectly scripted return for him on Tuesday. I think so. I caught the goal. I was watching some of the highlights before we got going here. And, you know, good goal for him right in front of the net. Just an opportunity for him to kind of let it, you know, let him gloat in front of the fans a little bit. And he knew that booze were coming. Such a really interesting situation with Piavli-Jubois and how he leaves Columbus and he goes to Winnipeg for a bit.

And he still gets his wish at the end going to Los Angeles. I recommend everyone read Murat-Tesha's column on Pierre Ler Dubois where he caught up with him and he spoke to him about why he ultimately did the decision that he did. Yeah, I couldn't have gone any better for Zubois, but I'm still surprised

about those empty seats, about 4,000, not at the arena in Winnipeg. And it seems like it's been an issue from the start of the year. And I remember talking about it on the Chris Johnston show with C.J. our new teammate here at the Aphotic

about the new contracts with Mark Sheifley and Connor Alibuck. And CJ made a really good point in that not only are like when you consider the fact that the Jets are trying to compete, there is a part of this that has to acknowledge the fact that they want fans in the seats. And if they do rebuild

that has to be a concern. But the fact that the team has essentially said that they're in on trying to be competitive but they're still like a lack of fans at these games. that's a bit of a worry for me. This is a market that with so many passionate fans that have wanted this team in that market

and they get it back after all these years away. And in the present day, some fans are not showing up. I mean, we're not looking at, you know, 8,000 fans or 9,000 fans are still in the tens. But I, that's a yellow, that's a flag for me. I don't know if that's a straight up red flag, but I definitely have questions about why fans aren't responding. Is it because is it ticket prices?

Is it because they don't feel the team is as competitive as they should be? Is this something else? Like I have questions. And I wish we would have been able to ask that to Kevin Shevoldeoff earlier this week. No, no, no. Let me ask you this.

Are we worried that we have a athletic hockey show podcast jinx? People have heard of the sports illustrated jinx, the covered jinks. Maybe you don't want to appear with Mendez and McKenzie. Oh, no. Kevin Shevoldeoff shows up with us on Monday.

And then the next team loses at home with thousands of empty seats. So let's, I guess the Panthers, Bill, what happens here with the, do we take ownership with Bill Zito? Because that was a, that was a Michael Rousseau conversation. No, let's not do this. Let's let, let's not start this. Let's not get to that point where we're starting to create for ourselves, right? We got to be mindful of these things, all I'm saying. also if you want to that being said this is not going to help our case at all not only does kevin chivaldaiof uh lose to

to the la kings but gave valardi is out four to six weeks with a sprained he's up for a month right yeah he's out for a month maybe even a little more please let's not let's not get this going here because all of a sudden if we start realizing it's just us two talking to each other for that for the remainder of the season it's going to get really lonely on the podcast but maybe that's the curse that we have to endure is that we have to spend time with each other. And we're both Oh no. I have to spend time with you. Mendez. That's the curse. That's the curse. That's the curse. I do want to bring up something that we chatted about at the end of Tuesday's pod. And I brought up to you the idea. And we're going to talk to Down Goes Brown, Sean McIndoo about this when he joins us in a

couple of minutes because he has a kid. He's a diehard Leafs fan. And I threw this out. I said, what would you do, Julian, if you were a Habs fan, your child got drafted by the Boston Bruins and play for the Bruins. Who do you cheer for? The Bruins are the Habs. We do have some listener feedback here. I'll read a couple. One comes in.

Ian is 100% correct. Your allegiance is to your kid, and that supersedes any team allegiance. And then I like this one. Speaking of 100%, this comment comes in, 100% absolute nonsense take from JM there. Okay, that's fine. I had to double check that they didn't say I am.

Says JM. That's fair. I assume that that's what you're talking. Okay. I have a few people who reached out to me personally. I'll read out some of the feedback here. One friend of mine said, I'd root for both.

And when they'd play each other, I just hope everyone has a good time, Marge Simpson vibes. Let me see. if I could find another really good one from another good friend of mine. My child would be smashing that trade request button so

fast. I think it's a split. By the way, I hope people realize never did I say I wouldn't root for my kid. I would still root for my kid. I just wouldn't root for my kid's team. I have no problem rooting for my kid. I think you'd

change you too and once you got to know his teammates. Once you got to know them all. What was wrong with that? If I get to know his teammates, I get to know his players. Like, I don't have to root for the team. I can root for players.

It's independent of me rooting for the damn team. I could meet his teammates and be like, you know what? You're a good player. You're a good dude. I wish you nothing but the best in life. Do I need to wear a jersey of the Bruins or the Oilers or any other rival franchise?

Hell no. Why do I need to full on root for the team when I just need to root for my kid? I don't understand that. And for people saying it's a, for the dude who says it's 100% nonsense take, well, I think your response is a 100% nonsense take.

You know what I'm saying? It's nonsense. Why do I, why do I have to bend for my allegiances here? I want to root for my kid. I can root for my kid. I don't need to go all in and root for their team. Let me root for my kid.

You can tell me how to root for my kid. If I had a kid. If I, excuse me. Don't you tell me how to parent. Don't you tell I was a parent. Don't you do that. So we'll talk to Sean McAdoe about that.

That goes Brown. Elliot Friedman with an interesting tweet. We don't call them tweets anymore. What do we call them? Posts. Whatever. I still call them tweets. Whatever.

Maybe they're posts, but like Twitter, tweet, like, I mean, depending on what happens if they actually get us to start paying to use it, we might not even use Twitter anymore. Depending on. You'll see me on, I'm already on blue sky. You're on blue sky. Yeah, me too.

Elliot Friedman, though, reporting earlier today, the NFL has officially notified teams. It would like to hear opinions on decentralization of the draft. That would mean having clubs stay at home while the prospects attend the actual draft a la NFL NBA. If there is a desire for change, most likely that would happen in 2025. outside chance for 2024. I'll tell you why it's not going to happen in 2024.

And it's not due to logistics and it's not due to not enough time. The draft is in Vegas. Thank you. What team is going to say, you know, I kind of feel like we could do this from home and it would be, no, get out of here. You're going to Vegas. You know it and I know it.

But what do you think of the idea that Elliot Friedman said, look, the league is now going to start canvassing opinions, which, wow, by the way, is this the first time the NFL has canvassed for outside opinions this year, because it sure feels like it. But they're asking for opinions. That's good. That's a really good one. They're asking for opinions.

There we go. Yes. Yeah, you haven't been awake long enough if that's the funniest thing you've heard. What do we think? The draft would be essentially the players are there, the athletes are there, but the teams are not. I think it's, I would need to see exactly what the NHL has in mind. Just the fact that the teams wouldn't be there is a big question mark for me.

And as a media member, I wonder if outlets start looking at that and saying, well, if the, the GMs and people you'd want to talk to you for sources are not going to go there, what's the point? That's like an immediate fear to think of. but I'm also wondering about the television aspect of this. Do they want it to look like the NBA draft where you have the players with their families on the floor and then they get up on stage and they get their jerseys and their hats and whatnot? Or do you want to be like the NFL where you have the players in the back room in the green room and then you have all these fans on the floor, presumably in the NHL where the GMs would have been? I'm just curious about why they would want to go that way. I can't imagine it's like any cost-saving measure or anything like that.

It's just maybe to have a similar presentation to what we see from some of the other big four leagues on TV. That would be my guess. But I don't know if I like that idea. I like the idea of them still being around. I also love an idea that Arpin Basu posted on Twitter today in which you expand it and have the NHL draft. that's its own thing.

And then you keep the setup for free agency in a couple days. So all the GMs get to still hang around the arena in their designated stations. And you see them working the phones, calling free agents. And if you're already there, you might as well just kind of hang around. I mean, you might have a little less to do. Well, that again, that might depend on how the signings fly. But like, that could also be a fun television event if you expand it that way. I really liked Arpin's idea.

You know what? And I like Arpin's idea because it's outside the box. But I think if you're trying to lure free agents, you don't want to be on the phone in like 10 feet. Let's say, you know, you're Don Swinney in Boston and you're trying to lure a free agent. And you look over, there's Caldubis just listening to you. You're like, hey, man, little space. That'd be nice.

You know where I would like to see the GMs altogether, though, Julian? Trade deadline. Here's, I've always thought this is what they should do. hold a GM meeting. Let's say the trade deadline is March the 8th or whatever. GM meetings on the 6th or 7th. Then made for TV extravaganza. All the team's situation rooms are all kind of in proximity.

And you want to talk about great theater? There goes Caldubus. He's getting up off his table. He's going to speak to Lou Lamarillo. What are they talking about? Right? Well, they're talking about how it all fell apart in Toronto. but maybe they're talking about a trade, right?

I like that idea a lot. I think I'd rather see the GMs under one roof for the trade deadline than free agency day. Does that make sense? I think that makes a lot of sense. We already make a big deal about seeing GMs talk to each other, talk to each other on the draft floor. Imagine on trade deadline day when instead of, and that's no shade to sports set in TSN,

instead of having your check-ins every so often with your, which I guess you could still do your check-ins with your correspondence in the city, you're just having a live look at situation rooms and you're seeing like one GM leave his room and go down the hallway to another room and you're like, whoa, that's, that's Don Waddell's music. What's going on here? Like, what trade is going to happen? Like, I think that'd be pretty cool. Yeah, I like the trade deadline idea.

That's really cool. Let's bring in our pal Sean McIndoo. Down goes Brown. Bring them into the conversation. But actually what we're going to, we're going to throw something at you here, Sean. Oh, boy. We got a lot of stuff to throw out you, man.

Okay? We all know you're very transparent about this. You have been a diehard Toronto Maple Leafs fan your entire life. For better or for worse, that's your team. Now, you also have a son who's a teenager now, right? He is. Yeah. So here is the, I'm going to throw a scenario.

at you and you're going to tell me how this is going to play out. Let's go. Let's fast forward four or five years from now. Your son is 18. He's an elite NHL prospect. Wow. John, that can do. Yeah, I don't know what's happened in these five years. That's pretty cool considering he doesn't play at all right now. I know. It's a remarkable story. Yeah. And your son is drafted by the Montreal Canadians in the first round. What happens to your allegiances? and how do you cheer? Nothing. I mean, because I've still got a daughter that I would love and respect.

So it's fine. It's no wish. But you root for your kid, right? I would root for my kid. Thank you. To demand a trade. Yeah, absolutely. Make sure that that was.

That's the second time we got that. That's the second time we got that response. Yes. You see that? No, no. Bend backwards. Okay. But your allegiance is.

You thought Carl and Bonnie Lindros were tough. Wait until you see Papa DGB in there. Walking around that Montreal dressing room and just, you know, yeah, it would be, it would be. What's his signing bonus? I should probably start there because you know what? Yeah. Everything is negotiable. Why do I feel like there's going to be a line of Papa DGB gear coming out soon?

Yeah. Hodies, Mugs, Papa DGB. trademark it right now before someone else does. Yeah. It all. Okay, but let's say it's game 82 and the winner goes to the playoffs. The Maple Leafs are playing and Doug, your son, he's playing for the haps. So it sounds to me like I've got a chance to make my son happy and save myself a lot of misery.

What's the problem here? This is going to be great. Yeah. So there you go. My son is happy. She's like DGV and I get along just fine. Miserable for two straight weeks like I normally would be. Yeah.

Yeah, should be fine. There we go. I love it. This did not go exactly the way Ian wanted it to go. I thought he thought he thought he'd be on his own. What do you mean? He just said he would cheer for the habs. He just said he would cheer for the habs and gave him too.

I don't know, man. I don't know, man. Look, look, look, DGB, I don't know. Just, you could still root for your kid. You could still root for your kid. Ian, I still got the 49ers. So, I mean, I got, you know, I got somebody to be happy about. But he's not going all lit.

He doesn't have to switch his allegiance fully. He doesn't have to do that. And that's my point. And there's your point. Okay. Some would argue that that's a contrarian viewpoint. And that takes us to the new column. Launch today.

Right. Down goes brown. You're always known as the guy that is not the contrarian. So this is really weird for you to, this is off brand for you to be. be going down this path of going against the grain. Where'd you come up with this idea? Because it's a super fun idea. I think the readers seem to like it.

I loved it. Where'd you come up with this idea? You know, I don't remember exactly where it popped in my head, but it was probably, I mean, you guys are the radio guys. So you know the drill, right? Where if you want to make it anywhere, and certainly if I ever want to get on TV, especially down in the States, I got to know how to argue things that I don't actually believe, but they're controversial.

So I've kind of figured this would be a great chance for me to kind of exercise those contrarian muscles. And so I put a call out to the readers. And I said, give me a statement that you believe to be true about the NHL, about hockey, that you not only think is true, but that you think is uncontroversial and maybe even inarguable. And I will argue. I will, you know, I'll work out by contrarian, you know, muscles and try to put an argument out there in the world that makes sense. against whatever obvious thing that you've given me. And needless to say, my readers responded, I would say most of them, the majority,

by just trying to wage psychological warfare on me and pick things that they knew I would absolutely hate to either hate to argue against or that, you know, I couldn't possibly form a coherent argument. And I picked a few of them and I took my best swing. And, you know, we'll see. I'm guessing some maybe more convincing than others, but I did my best. I have to say when I read that article and the first thing I see is Mark Messier, we're in the Vancouver Caducs jersey and you having to argue about why it was a good thing

that he was in Vancouver and he ultimately brought them all those great players. I love joking about the fact that Mark Messier was not ideal for the Vancouver Cadux. There was a good five minutes. I sat with myself and I thought, how did DGP do this? Like he convinced me that he was brilliant. The conduct should be thanking it.

Two things here. First of all, no word of a lie. I put the call out to the readers over the weekend. That was the very first one that I got. Very first thing that pops in my mailbox is make the case that Mark Messier was actually good for the Vancouver Canucks. And I really consider just going like, you know what, there's still time.

I can delete the tweet. I can just, you know, bad idea, walk away from it right now. And I got to be honest, though, as I was making the argument, I got about halfway through it. And I started going like, I'm making some sense here. Like, this is actually, you know, there are a few in there. You know, I won't give it away. But I think I've already had somebody tell me today that there are a couple in there where you can tell my heart's not really. You can tell that I maybe, you know, it's not too hard to peek behind the curtain and realize Sean doesn't really seem to mean what he's saying here.

But when it came to this one, started off having some fun with it. And I got about halfway in and I started like working through the trade trees and that kind of thing. And I was like, I think I'm making a good point here. I think actually I might be on to something. And then, you know, Kinnock fans have read it. And I'm assuming they think I'm on to something too because there's like a few hundred of them outside of my house. right now and they're all inviting me to come outside and hang out with them. It's kept up outside. Yeah.

We want to do. Are any of those torches out there? You know, to keep you more? Yeah, they do. I don't know why. We haven't had any power failures or anything, but this, it's probably, maybe we're doing a barbecue. It would be my guess.

Yeah. I wonder like, like, how tough would it be if somebody submits to you something like, you know, Gary Bettman, his tenure as commissioner was, you know, I know where you come down on this. How tough would it be for you to have to argue, I guess, that Betman's tenure was like overwhelmingly positive. Like if somebody writes in it to say, Gary Batman, terrible commissioner, now you have to do the opposite. Yeah. And see, I mean, that one would be especially tough because I've I've written the exact opposite.

So, I mean, that was one of those a couple years ago when it was what is 30, it was his 30 year. This was earlier this year, actually. And there were a lot of. of people out there who were writing the, you know what, maybe Gary Bedman gets a bad rap. Maybe we should give it more credit. And I was like, no, no, I'm going to write the piece that that puts that to bed and says, like, hey, everybody, you know, let's, let's pump the brakes a little bit on that. Could I flip it around and argue the exact opposite, like a total hypocrite? Yeah, absolutely. I'm a sports right. Of course I could do that. You know, people would, people would, I'm sure, find the old

piece and be like, hey, wait a second. But I guess my argument, if I had to make a pro-betman argument, the slight a hand that you have to do is you have to compare Gary Betman to what came before. So you're comparing him to Gilstein and John Ziegler primarily. By those comparisons comes across pretty well. I mean, the NHL back in those days was, I mean, it was, you think it's a poorly run league now. The stuff that went on back then, and especially if you're younger and you're a newer fan, I tell you, somebody should write a book about this stuff, because it's wild, the kind of stories it went on.

So I think you can make a good case that, hey, compared to those guys, Gary Bentman's done a fantastic job. And then you just kind of leave it there. And you hope that nobody asks the question that I asked in my piece earlier this year, which is, okay, but what about compared to what could have been and what every other league has been doing for the last 30 years and all of the missed opportunities, I would just skip by that part, skip by the weak part of the argument. And I'd just say, hey, he was better than Gil Stein.

So what do you want? Could I put you on the spot and suggest another topic you could be. You've already had me renounce my children. How much tougher can this be? Okay, so I saw the prompt to send an email in. So I sent it in as an email. So you can write it in for another column if you want. Okay.

Great. But I would love for you to argue against the age limit for the Calder Trophy. It's a great idea, I think, to have it at the age of 26. You know, you don't have any of these random. Anyway, you argue it. I think that's a good idea. What do you, what say you, what say you contrarian? Yeah.

So you're looking at you, you want me to like to be on the side of like the Sergei Makarov, like the 30 year old who comes in and gets the, the rookie. Hey, I might just say, look, it's it's about being a rookie. If you're, if you're one of the, I mean, Julian. And here I go, you can see, you can feel the engine starting to rev up in the contrarian here. I see it. I see the light bulb went off.

Better story in sports. then when some kid who gets drafted late or maybe doesn't even get drafted at all and has to sweat and bleed and claw their way up the ranks from the low minors to even get a shot at the minor leagues, maybe in the HL, they're in the HL for years and years and years and then they finally get to make their NHL debut. I mean, it happens every few years where you'll see somebody, you know, they're 30 and they're making their NHL debut. They're 33 and they're finally there and the family's all there. You're telling me if that guy puts together a miracle season, scores 76 goals and ties Timuselani and all of that, you're going to deprive them of their Calder trophy that they have earned as the best. After all that work,

you're going to deprive them based on an age limit. I mean, that's ageist, Julian. I mean, this is, this is just, I thought you were, I thought you were better than this, to be honest with you, that you would deny somebody that has worked so hard just because of a, number. I mean, it's, it's disappointing to me. So, so if Matt Tompkins, uh, who just made his NHL debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning over the weekend, 29 years old, spent four years at Ohio State, bounced around the ECHL, the HL, played in Sweden for two years and then gets to

make the debut for the lightning. So you're telling me, if he finds a way at the age of 29 to have a stellar season, he should get the call to trophy at 29 years old. You want, you know, Conner Badard, who has been a superstar since he was six years old, who's never played against anybody who was better than him in his entire life, you're going to give him that award over somebody who had to fight and claw at the age of 29 to get up there? I mean, I don't know, man. I really don't know what to tell you. I think absolutely we should be giving these awards to these hardworking young-ish men who are winning them. And yeah, maybe the next Tim Thomas comes around at 36 or whatever he was,

breaks into the league finally and you're all set. And, you know, maybe it's Matt v. Michkov comes over 10 years from now when he's 32 and is already the best player in the world. I mean, that could happen to. But I like my version a little better. Again, key to being a contrarian, you got to hit the points that help you and you just got to skip over the ones that maybe don't. Okay, Flyers fans are now freaking out about that scenario, by the way, just so you know.

I said he was the best player in the world. I mean, the rebuild will still be going on, guys. It's going to be fine. It's going to be okay. 32-year-old Mitchcock. Last week when we chatted, we kind of teed up your predictions or your season predictions piece, and you told us, you said there's one team that didn't fit in anywhere, didn't finish with a lot of, you know, know the top, whatever it was, top 10 or finishing in the top,

yeah, finishing in the middle, finish at the bottom. Julian and I made guesses, we were both wrong. It's the Boston Bruins, right? That was the team. Boston Bruins. Nobody picked them, I mean, nobody picked them to finish in the bottom and miss the playoffs. Nobody was willing to say that.

But virtually nobody was willing to pick them to make the playoffs. And virtually nobody was willing to pick them to be in the middle, which means that's the equivalent of the big shrug emoji, where the entire 2,000 plus people entering the contest, I think it was only 100-something mentioned Boston in any of those three categories, which cover the whole league with overlap. So you'd expect all the teams to show up,

but nobody wants any part of the Boston Bruins. That's the one team. And it makes sense, right? Because 135 points, I mean, they're not missing the play. This is a great team. They could be 30 points worse and still easily finish in the top 10. But, man, they look at all the guys they lost and they didn't really get anyone back.

Hey, man, it was, it's, they confused me. They were on my list of teams. I can't figure out. And I got some backup from the Raiders because they had no idea. Okay. As we let you bounce here, what do you got? The, the contrarian stuff, of course, is the new column. Great idea.

But do you have anything else coming up for the weekend that you want to plug? Yeah, I'm going to have something on Friday. I'm not sure. We might be playing one of those roster games or, you'll see. we might kick that down the road. But I'll also plug the weekend rankings are back. That's the Monday morning power rankings that I do. And they're come at it from a little bit of a different angle than the Friday one.

So it's kind of start your weekend with the Friday rankings that Sean and Dom do. And then end your weekend, start your work week by coming in, get a cup of coffee. Don't do any work. Don't do that. Instead, you know, read my piece and then go into the comment section and tell me that your team is actually better because they beat some team six days ago. Can't wait. Can't wait for it.

All right. We can't wait to see that and get you again on the pod next week. Thanks as always for dropping by. Brian. Thanks, guys. There goes our guy. Down goes Brown. And I guess you were right, Julian.

He did see in the discussion between where you're cheer for you, your team or your kid, it did feel like he sided a little bit more with you. Although with his level of kind of snark, it's hard to tell. I don't know that he really gave us an answer. It was just everything was coded in humor. He just tried to find a way to bounce around out of that and just try. It seemed like he's going to be even cool guy,

no matter what happens with his kid. But I loved his answer about smashing the about getting the trade requests. I love that answer. And I know he's not the only one who feels that way. Don't you wish every in the NHL that if you wanted to, that there was actually like a button you had to press in the locker room like physical button, like a trade request. Oh man.

And it alerts the whole building. Oh my God. Could you imagine like, imagine if Pierre Lutupu. Just that day he knew he wanted to leave Wodepeg, just smashing that button. A button, that thing would just go on. As soon as he walked into a room, it didn't matter if he, it would just go off on its own.

They're like, oh, woo, woo, we'll be. What sound is close by. He's looking to get out. Let's bring in, boy, this guy, this guy, the team that he covers, nothing ever goes wrong. Except everyone will be like, oh, they've missed the playoffs that one year. That's Jesse Granger. And the defending Stanley Cup champions are off to a four and oh start.

Tell the listeners, Jesse Granger, when's the last time a defending Stanley Cup champion have a start like this? Yeah, I mean, like, we all know the Stanley Cup hangover is a thing. But I was shocked at how, like, so the Golden Knights won their first. first three games. So they're going into the Dallas game. And I'm like, you know what? Before this game, I should, I should look and see when the last time a Stanley Cup champion went four and O to start a season. And it was surprisingly, like, I had to go way back. I had to dig all the way back to 1998, the Detroit Red Wings after they won their first

of two cups. They then won their first four of the next season and went on to win the Stanley Cup. So I guess if you're rooting for the Golden Knights, that's a good omen. Now they're trying to win their fifth straight, they go to Winnipeg tomorrow. They play the Jets in Winnipeg. They're going to be facing Laurent Broussaugh, who obviously helped carry them through the first round and a half of the playoffs. So that's going to be fun. And if they're able to win that one, they'll be the first team to go five and oh after winning the Stanley Cup since the 1986, 87, or 85, 86, one of those two, Wayne Gretzky's Oilers. It's been a while. And like, not only has it been this long since the team's one four in a row. I was shocked at how many teams lost out of the gate, like had no wins in a row

or or multiple games. The Stanley Cup hangover is real. I didn't realize that it was as drastic as it was until I started digging into those stats. And yeah, the teams struggled. I mean, Colorado, you saw them last year. Obviously, they were banged up, but they went, they lost five of their first nine games to start last season. So yeah, this start for the Golden Knights. I think you can look at it and say, well, they beat the Cracken, who are 03 and 1 to start the season. Anaheim and San Jose, who aren't projected to be any good. But last night's game against Dallas felt better. That felt like a real game.

Bruce Cassidy even said it felt like the playoffs. It felt like some of the animosity from the Western Conference Finals had carried over into that series. So there was a lot of hitting in that game. I thought that last night's game really was a good test of where this team is. And they struggled at times. They trailed for the first time this season, but they ended up coming back and winning in a shootout.

Vegas is just, they're doing what they did all in the playoffs. And that's just play really structured defense. Don't let teams into the slot and make it really hard to play against them. So Vegas has the four and no start. Let me just list off their next four games here. Yeah. So they have the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow.

They play Chicago on Saturday, which I believe will be Connor Bardard's first game at home on October 21st. then the Tuesday after that they have the flyers, then they host Chicago. Maybe I'm putting this jinx to the test here, Ian. I don't think we have a show jinks. I'm just going to call it here. I think the Golden Knights can go 8 and 0 to start the season

with these next few games they have on their plate. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I think over the next few games with the opponents that they have and the way that they've been playing, there's a very good chance they could improve on that great start. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, they have a very soft schedule to open the season. and they're playing well.

They have been banged up, and that's like the surprising thing is they've been without their top defensive pair for most of these games. Alex Martinez has not played. He got injured in preseason and he hasn't played. And his partner, Alex Petrangelo, who's their number one defenseman, he's the anchor back there. He got injured, a shot hit him up high in the head,

so he's missed the last couple games. Zach White Cloud got injured in the preseason and hasn't played. So they're missing half of their blue line. But the guys that have stepped in have filled in really well, Braden Pahal, Ben Hutton, and Caden Corsax, some young kids that are getting their first taste. Pahal and Corsac have both scored their first goals of their NHL career in these first few games. So they've got a lot of depth there.

But, yeah, I mean, this team's stacked. They have a softer schedule to open the season and they're taking care of business. You are the athletics. What do we call you, the resident goalie guru? I like goalie. Golly guru, a lot of jeez. Let's ask our listeners. Got our listeners come up.

Maybe, yeah, our listeners, we need something better than goalie guru, though. Like, ask our listeners, come up with a title for Jesse Granger as like, you know, something with like net or crease, you know, net detective would be good. I'm hoping there's more creative than I am. Yeah, they're telling us. Listeners are amazing. Let's bounce around the old and talk about some goaltining around the league. Guy that you covered for a long time, Mark Andre Fleury, what a great story. And Julian has seen the love in person.

between the Habs fans and Mark Andre Fleury on display again at the Bell Center. That windmill save was something else from flower, but boy, this guy just keeps going, doesn't he, Jesse? He does, and it's amazing because with his style being as athletic and acrobatic as he is, like he's not the most positionally sound goalie. He skates incredibly well, so that makes up for, like, you can get yourself out of position if you skate well enough, you can get back into position. But the point being, you would think a guy that plays like that,

that's so wild and so aggressive and plays on the top of his paint and uses that athleticism to make saves, you'd think he would not age gracefully, right? Like, that's the type of goalie that you say, well, man, once he hits the mid-30s, he's going to be in trouble. But he's in incredible shape. You ask any teammate that's ever played with him, they rave about how good a shape this guy's in.

And he is unbelievable for the age he's at to not just be playing well, but to be playing well with the same style he used in his early 20s and his mid-20s like this guy, he hasn't changed one bit and he's still out there flopping around. He likes to put a little extra flare on those windmill saves. No goalie in, I don't know NHL history, but since I've been old enough to watch hockey, no goalie likes to put a little bit of extra sauce on that windmill glove save more than Mark Andre Fleury does.

It's a lot of fun to watch. So when you see him at the level that he's at, and people have been wondering if this really is going to be the end for Mark Andre Fleury, do you think this year might actually be the last year? Like, I know the fans in Montreal were trying to at least show the respect because we don't know. But how surprised would you be if Mark Andre Fleury said, no, I'm coming back next year. I'll be with some other team, but I'm going to make it work. What do you stand on how long his career will last? Yeah, that's such a tough thing to answer because I think if it just came down to the high, I think Flurry would play hockey for as long as he can, right?

Like the guy loves being in the room. He, that dude just genuinely loves hockey. I think he'd play as long as an NHL team would have him, which who knows how long that would take. It'd certainly be passed this year. I mean, he's better than a lot of backups in the league this year. Like, he still has enough to be an NHL goalie. Where I wonder is the family aspect of it, the off-ice stuff.

His family did not want to move from Pittsburgh. They loved it in Pittsburgh. That was their home. outside of Quebec and he had to move to Vegas. That was a nervous thing. And then they fell in love with Vegas. And his wife never wanted to leave Vegas and they wanted to be there forever. And then he has to uproot them and go to Chicago.

And then you go straight from Chicago to went to Minnesota. And now is he going to have to move him again? And I know he's kind of voiced the concerns of having to move them again if that were to happen. So I think, I think if anything, it's more the life balance, the work life balance for Mark Andre Fleury that would end up being the decision? Because I feel like if it just comes down to the hockey, is he good enough to be a goalie in league now? You can argue is he good enough to be a starter?

Maybe that day, maybe we're reaching that day. But in terms of being a guy that can be great for the room, he can be a good mentor to a young goalie like he's been for Gustafson, he checks a lot of boxes for a team looking for a backup goalie. So I don't know the answer to that. It's going to be interesting to see. For our sake, for entertainment's sake, I hope he plays as long as he can.

A way too early in the season goalie question for you here. And most goalings have only played two games, maybe the odd one, three, whatever. It's early. But I'm going to read off the list of these are the, these are goleys that right now, after a couple of starts, all have sub-900 save percentages. And I'm going to read off the list. You tell me which is the one goalie you're like, oh, okay, I'm worried. that this guy might be sub-900 for a while,

and this is a situation to monitor, all right? So following goalies, all sub-900, Jonas Johansson in Tampa. And that's, I mean, that's a huge story, but Yonosuhancing, Devin Levi in Buffalo is at 893, VTEC VATVANESAC in New Jersey, 892, Sergei Bob Rovsky, 888, U.C. Saros, 887. A couple of interesting ones here.

Connor Hellebuck is 843, Freddie Anderson's 855, Ilya Samsonov is 839, and Stuart Skinner is 750. Yeah, we wait below 800 on that one. Yeah. I'm very concerned. Whenever the save percentage starts with the seven, my concern level is high at all times. You're never going to not going to be concerned with the 700 save percentage. Yeah. Skinner, I'm very concerned with.

I am concerned with Edmonton's goaltending, big time. As far as the studs go, Hellebuck, Soros, Samsonov, for me, no concern. It's early in the season. Sometimes the timing is right. You have Samsonov in that heavyweight class? Well, okay, in terms of save percentage, I don't think Samsonov is an elite goalie, but I think he plays behind a really good team, and I think he's a very good goalie. I'm not concerned with him.

Gotcha. You're right. I probably shouldn't have lumped him. with Hellebuck and U.C. Saros because they're elite. Samsonov is not elite, but I think he's in a great situation. I compare Samsonoff to Aiden Hill in Vegas. I think they both play in great situations that allow them to be statistically very good goalies.

Whereas if you were to put Aiden Hill or Samsonov in U.C. Saros' spot, I don't know if they're going to carry the predators the way he is. So I think more about his surroundings with Samsonoff, but I'm not overly concerned with him early on. I think Bobrovsky, you're already seeing on Twitter. Oh, he turned into a pumpkin. You're already seeing that. I'm willing, because of his track record, because he was so good in the playoffs, I'm going to give him a little, a little more leeway. Can you read those off again? There was one guy that really caught my. Devon Levi, Van Nitzek. Was it one of those guys? So Levi is an interesting one because I, talking with goalie coaches, this offseason I talked with a

million guys that work in the goaltending, whether it's for teams or whether it's just personal goalie coaches. And there is some concern that they are rushing Levi quickly. I mean, like they have accelerated the timeline for him because he was so impressive at the end of last season. Like when they threw him into those games last season, it was kind of a, well, let's see what we got. This guy's never played pro. Let's like, let's see what we have. And then he's so good that you skip the aid, the year of AHL development. Most goalies get a year in the HAL. And I think that there is a little bit of concern that they're putting a lot on his plate very quickly and just kind of saying he's the guy and he's given them reasons to. He's been very good. And I'm not

here saying Devin Levi shouldn't be the starter. I think he should be. And I still am very optimistic for him. But I'm just saying there is reason to be a little bit concerned and it's something to watch. Is a guy that young ready to be the guy on a team that has high expectations, right? The Buffalo Sabres, if they miss the playoffs this year, that's a disappointment. This team has higher expectations than they've had in a while. So it's a little bit concerned for me. And then the other one, Johansen in Tampa Bay, so far we're what, a week and a half into the season. My vote for Hart Trophy, I think, right now, the most valuable player in the NHL is Andre Vasselowski. Because the Tampa Bay Lightning have gone from a powerhouse

to just completely falling apart. The moment this guy is, isn't on the ice. And yes, it's early. And we'll see. I think Tampa's going to be fine. But they have been shockingly shaky to start this season without that guy that has been anchoring them, all these all these playoffs runs in that. I'll say this. If you if you're comparing Buffalo and Tampa Bay here, Tampa Bay, I know they have the players in front, but it's not great that they're looking shaky. The salary cap picture for them not looking great. So it's not like they could put themselves in a situation where they could get a higher quality player. to kind of hold down the fort until

Vassaleschi comes back. If you're Buffalo, you made me think about something here. Buffalo, according to Cap Friendly, they've got almost 8.9 mil in cap space. A lot of room. So if Devin Levi is not the guy, and maybe they need a stop gap, what's stopping the Buffalo Sabres

who want to make the playoffs from making a trade with somebody that has maybe three goalies or someone that's looking offload of goaltending, peace and can accommodate that salary. That's actually a really interesting point. And I think a lot of teams, and I can hear whatever Calgary Flames fans are watching right now being like, hey, hey, we want Dustin Wolf to play. What about you hear what I'm, you get what I'm saying here.

Like, I think that's a really interesting situation you pointed out. Yeah. And the thing is they, the Sabres, they have two guys that they like in Eric Comory and Uco Pekyllukonin. And they have guys that can maybe that's the plan is let's see if those guys can be, one of those guys can be the stopgap because there aren't many teams holding three goalies. If a team's holding three goalies, it usually tells you they're really high on those goalies because they think that they're going to get claimed if they were to waive them.

So the fact that Buffalo is still holding UPL and Comory tells me that they like those guys and maybe they're giving them the first shot. Like that could be the plan behind the scenes, right? Let's see if one of these guys that we already have can roll with Levi and be that guy. And if not, we've got the cap space to fix that problem. One other thing I'll follow up on here. One goal that we have not had to worry about to start the season is Igor Shusjerkin with the New York Rangers. We're looking at save percentages here.

He's at a 904 to start the year with a 238 goals against average. He's looked pretty good to start. What have been your impressions of Igor? Yeah, I've watched a lot of him this season. He had the one bad game, and that's why it's at nine, whatever. It would be at like 970 if it wasn't for that game where he gave up five goals on like 26 shots. He's been really good. But what's really impressed me about him, and I don't know if this is just the situation, like coincidence,

the situation has asked for it, or maybe it's Peter La Violette's system, is asking him to use his puck handling skills a little more. But watching the Rangers play, I have been blown away by how good Igor Shisterkin is with the puck on his stick. And I'm talking about the routine place where you're going back behind the net, you're stopping the puck and you're getting it into a good spot. And those are the simple plays that aren't going to make the highlight real. But if you do that consistently all game, you spend a lot less time defending and a lot less time with the puck in your zone. He's been good at that. And then he's had the flashy plays where he's hitting guys with stretch passes. I'm telling you, Igor Shasturkin may have a better stretch pass than half the defenseman in the

NHL. It's unreal. The vision he's got, he's finding guys. The other night, he set up three odd man rushes. From his stick to the odd man rush going the other way, I've noticed a couple times that the Rangers will be on the power play, and the puck will get sent the length of the ice, and you'll see Adam Fox or Panarin, whoever the zone entry guy is, will be coming back to get it. Shisterkin just skates over, grabs the puck, and fires it to the offensive blue line to hit a guy in stride and suddenly they're back attacking on the power play. It's something I'm going to keep an eye on. I don't know if it's, like I said, it could be Laviolet is asking him to do it more.

Maybe the circumstances have just fallen right. You always hear like the puck is following a guy. Maybe it's just been a unique run of games where he's had room to use that stick. But man, it's a weapon. When he is passing the puck the way he is back there, it is a weapon and it's catching teams off guard. Teams dump the puck and they go to make a change thinking we have plenty of time. and the defenseman has to go all the way back to get that. And suddenly the goalie's firing it up the ice

and the other team's attacking you before you can get your guys on the ice. To me, he's like Marty Turco, Marty Broder, old school handles it as well as those guys. Okay. Before we let you go, I put out the call to the listeners and the viewers, because we also were streaming this live. Let's get some suggestions here. So Michael says, crease correspondent. I like it.

I like it. We're going to go with the again, the CCNM. is coming up here. Again, the alliteration from Ready Edgemont is the crease connoisseur. What do you like better? Creece correspondent, crease connoisseur. Connoisseur sounds just European. I like it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, but oh, Ready Edgemont is coming in with more. The net knower. That one might be a little too cocky for me. I feel like it's, there's a lot of assumption there. The net knower. Net knower. Okay.

So those are some of the early, early suggestions here. We're asking our listeners to hit us up. The Athletic Rucky Show at gmail.com. Give us a nickname for our resident goalie expert slash goalie guru slash crease correspondent slash crease connoisseur slash net noor. That's it. We're making it as difficult as possible on you. for when you introduce me to the show.

Yeah, I love it. Hey, listen, have a great week, and we'll get you again at some point next week on the athletic hockey show. Always fun. Thanks for having you guys. There it goes.

Jesse Granger, never a bad day for that guy. Imagine you live in Vegas. Temperatures, it's always warm. Your team's always winning. Like, you get all, like, that guy's never had a bad day covering the NHL.

No, I definitely never really a bull. boring time. Like I remember, I remember when I was still in Montreal, there was a Vegas Montreal game and Granger was covering the team when they were playing short. They were playing with like five defensemen and like their power play wasn't doing all that well. So of course, they found a way to play well and their power play woke up that night. I think they won that game. And I remember last season being in Vegas, Vegas and the flames playing a game. And I remember talking to Jesse being like, hmm, what do you think of this Vegas team? And Jesse, you know, pretty cautious about it. He thought there was some slip-ups in the game and he wasn't sure about that team. But I believe he's brought it up at a previous instance where once you see Mark Stone being reinserted into that lineup

and being 100% healthy, it's a different team. They are a different beast. And the fact that they're still playing relatively healthy, at least at forward, even though on, and now at least on defense, even if they're not 100% there, some of those younger players have been able to make up the difference.

That's a really strong team. And I felt that way from when the confetti was falling and everyone was celebrating the Stanley Cup win. And I know I'm part of the problem because I was one of those people who thought Emmett's would go to the Cup final. We've been sleeping on the Vegas Golden Knights to repeat as a Cup champion. And I think they have what it takes. If everyone stays healthy, they could do this again. We mentioned earlier this week that a combination of coaches, it was Lindy Ruff, bench, Tim O'Mire. Sheldon Keith called out his star players.

Welcome to the party Rick Tockeet. Rick Tockeet not happy with his team after a shutout lost to Carter Hart and the Flyers basically says, I love this quote. Who are we to think were anybody? You got to love that, right? Who are we to think were anybody?

I can't even pick one guy that played well except for Demco. He was unreal. but who are we to think where anybody gives me real remember Dennis Green vibes? Yeah. The bears are who we thought they were.

Who are we to think were anybody? Yeah. That's all the greatest rants of all time. You want to crown the crown their ass. Yeah. But we let them off the hook. But they are who we thought they were. That's one of the greatest.

It's one of the greatest, like you know what's funny actually? So Dennis Green has one of the greatest post coach. like post game coach rants of all time. And we've listed off Lindy Ruff, who he's given off good quotes too. You might remember the no goal walk off after the Sabers.

Sheldon Keith, you know, he's done this before. Rick Tockeet, for sure. You know, one guy who is not in that list yet. And his team, basically, his team put on a performance that led to Rick Tocke,

say what he's saying. But it's really funny that John Tortorella is not on this list. John Torell. We have not heard John Torella. go scorched earth on his team yet. All these other coaches have started to do that, but we are yet to see John, I mean, unless I've missed something,

but John Tortorella has not gone scorched earth on the Philadelphia Flyers yet. It's early, right? It's very early, but it's funny that three other coaches have gone down that road and Torch still hasn't had to use that button yet. But isn't it funny?

Like, with Tuckett, I mean, Vancouver came out of the gates and won their first two games in, well, the first game for sure, in convincing fashion, but they beat the epithet of Oilers in two games, and a lot of people were like, hey, hey, hey, look at the Canucks. And was this an overreaction by talking?

Like, it's one game. Like, they're off to a pretty good start, no? I get that. I guess I'd have to look at the game a little bit more closely. But if you feel your player's effort isn't there, then you kind of have to set that tone, right? That probably makes it even more disappointing, considering the fact that they had that start

against a cup contending team in the Emmington Oilers, and then they wet the bed against, the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that's supposed to be tanking for the foreseeable future. They're not supposed to be good. Vancouver's in that mushy middle where they want to compete for a playoff spot. So if you have the high and then you can't beat the teams below you, like, that's not, that's not great either. Like I know the other day we were talking about it, I still feel that we're not at a point

where we should really be up in arms and losing our minds over coaches calling out their players, but I could at least admit that for Rick in this situation, I can understand where he's coming from with how he's talking about his players here. And I don't think he did it in a necessarily disparaging malicious way either. Like some players were like they want their coaches tough and fair. And I think Rick was being tough and fair in that situation. That's their first loss of the year, right? Like to me, I know they gave up what, 42 shots, right? They got out shot by a healthy margin. They gave up an early goal and then they never scored. So I get it. But I just wonder if like, If you're the conachsh, you're like, wow, like, guy, we're two and one.

Like, I mean, it's early, right? Those guys know it too. Those guys definitely know that it's early as well, right? So, I don't know. I think he could have got a lot worse. At least he, at least, at least he gave praise to Thatcher Demko, who literally how many days ago could even finish a game because he was, had to flu and he was dehydrated. And he threw up in his helmet. It's so mass.

Oh, man. Sorry to everyone watching eating lunch while watching us. Oh, man. Yeah. This Ryan Reeves, Corey Perry stuff is interesting. Ryan Reeves, and I want to make sure I get the quote here.

Yeah, I got the quote here. So again, these guys played each other the other day, Toronto, Chicago. And now they're with different teams, right? Reeves and Perry on new teams this year. Ryan Reeves and Corey Perry, quote,

I never really liked him to be honest. We always seem to run into each other. We play against each other, but not a lot of love. for that guy. Just the way he runs his mouth. I don't know. He kind of acts tough, but he's not tough. Any opportunity where Revo can be the heel that he is and just, you know, be this personality and give us these good quotes, I am all for it. The league needs it. We need something like that. So I don't have a problem with him saying what he said about Cory Perry.

It was really entertaining to kind of see those two go at it in that Toronto Chicago game. They really chirp it. They really do not like each other. You know, a reporter asked, I don't know, I don't know who it was that asked the follow-up to Reeves after he did that rant. They're like, when did this animosity

start between the two of you? You know, Ryan Reeves' answer was, quote, the first day I met him on the ice. I mean, Corey Perry, is the worm for reason. And if you are a player like Ryan Reeves who get into it with guys and you'll inevitably come across players who are going to try to diffuse you. And Cory Perry is a very annoying, annoying player to deal with. So I'm not surprised

that Ryan Reeves from day one felt that way. How many guys have played against Cory Perry and have liked the guy? I mean, it's one thing if you've ever had him as a teammate, like later on in your career. It's like, oh, you know what? He was good in that room or whatever. How many guys have played against Corey Perry and have said, you know, I actually like play against Corey. He's a great guy. We have nice little chats in the middle of, during intermissions, not intermissions, but during breaks and play and he's actually, you know, he's, he plays hard, but he's a nice guy. Like, how many times do you hear that? That's not something you hear about Corey Perry. Zero percent. Okay. Corey Perry, what does your gut tell you? If I,

if I utter the phrase Corey Perry Hall of Famer. What do you say? Isn't he a triple gold club member? He's a triple gold club member. He's a heart trophy winner. He's in. Okay, he got it. Because I know he's a Stanley Cup.

I know he has an Olympic gold medal. I'm pretty sure he's probably won a world championship somewhere. Heart trophy, that definitely helps his case. The Stanley Cup final appearances, the fact that he's been able to play as long as he has, I'm willing to add that as a point to does he have over 1,000 points? I'm sure he does. To me, he has, his resume doesn't,

for me, my first thinking is yes. And I, I'm listing off stuff that I think would be in his favor. And I don't have questions about whether or not he should be in the hall of faith. Like, and his season, right?

Yeah. And Stanley Cup, a heart trophy and, and Olympic gold where he was a key member. And like, like, he checks a lot of the boss of boxes, right? there was a time when Cory Perry was among the 50 best players in the world.

I think that's, I think that's efficient. I think that's more than fine. Yeah, look, I had the whole list in front of me here. Two-time Olympic gold medalist, world championship,

the World Cup, you remember he was on that 2016 team. And of course, we all remember the 2005 World Junior team. Like, okay, it's actually not a thousand points yet. I wasn't sure if he was at a,

thousand points yet. He's not there yet. That's interesting. But yeah, his resume at least from an accolade standpoint, his play, I have a hard time not thinking of him as a, as a as a as a as a as a as a Hall of Famer, right? Four time all-star, Rocket Richard Trophy winner, first team all-star twice. Yeah, why wouldn't he be in? I think if you look at the history of the hard trophy, everybody who's ever won the hard trophy is essentially in the Hall of Fame, with the exception of Jose Theodore.

I'm talking about guys that are like they've retired and that window. I think Jose Theodore might be the only one of the modern era, and he's not getting in. The other one that's going to be interesting outside of Corey Perry will be Taylor Hall. That's exactly most going to bring up. with the Devils. And boy, he would Taylor Hall would probably need

you know, five more productive, really productive seasons and a Stanley Cup. And then maybe we could have that conversation, maybe, but he's not there. But I think Perry's ahead of those guys, you know? Yeah, I think just Perry's just done more, even if he hasn't reached that 1,000 point mark, which some people consider as a,

that's obviously a check mark in terms of reaching the hockey All of Fame. still surprised that Perry has not reached that mark. I'm generally surprised at that. But what's he at though? He's at like 800 and I literally just had the number in front of me here. So he won't get to him. He may not get to a thousand.

So 883 points, but that's not accounting for however many points he has to this point right now. I just listed out of all week ago. I could find you a more accurate number. 8, 7. But he has over 400 NHL goals, which is still really good. Yeah, 400 goals is good.

And he wasn't really, it was Getsloff, who was the guy. Yeah, he was the point. I did that. Hey, real quick, let's just want to wrap up the show. Let's read this email from Bradley and Cincinnati. A reminder you can always hit us up on email at the athletic hockey show at gmail.com.

You can leave us a voicemail too. We love to hear your voice. 845445-8459. Bradley and Cincinnati writes in via email. Everybody talks a big game about not changing their favorite team if their kid made it to the NHL. I'll tell you what, once they get introduced, locker room, meet Brad Marchand or Leon Drysidal or whoever, they would become a fan

immediately. I'd be a fan of the player. I'd be a fan of the player. I have no problem being a fan of the player. If I got to meet Brad Marchand and he ended up being a good dude, I would have no problem saying he's a good dude and I root from around the ice. Leon Drysiddle, I've sung his praises before. And if he's a good dude and he's playing with my kid, there's nothing wrong with that.

I don't have to be a fan of your team. What's the point? what like what was like talking a big game i don't see what the issue is i i'm allowed to like people i'm allowed to look at competitors from other outlets and not necessarily be all like oh hey i like this outlet what's up with that or maybe that's a bit of a weird one there i don't know that is weird maybe it is i don't know maybe you know what that's fair i guess i don't know that's a bit of a dangerous slippery slope that that's fine i i can cede i can see that point fine Okay. That's what I'm just going to, my big takeaway is you trying to, you're looking into the camera, speaking into the microphone. I'm allowed to like people. Yeah. That's my takeaway. I like people. I like my co-hosts. I like my producer. I like all the shows I get to work on. I like my editors. I like, I like all the, I like a lot of people, man. Why did you, why'd you go Johnny High Voice there? I like everyone I work with. Yeah. That's just, that's just how my voice is. Sometimes.

Love it. All right, that's it for us. You know, we did get a comment into the show from Jason who says, whoa, guys, three days in a row, y'all do get a day off the podcast, right? Yeah, Jason, we do. We get Thursdays and Fridays off. We hand it over.

We're going to hand the baton. Is it a baton? What are we handing off here? I guess it's a baton. Maybe the podcast mic in this case, right? Yeah, podcast mic. Mike. Yeah, that's better than a baton. Haley, Salveon, Max Bolman,

Sean Gentilly. We'll drop by the Thursday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Roundtable format. That's coming your way on Thursday. They'll recap everything that went down on a pretty quiet night. Only a couple of games in the NHL on Wednesday, but lots of things to talk about Salvean, Boltman, Gentilly.

They'll have your show cut up on Thursday. We want to thank everybody for listening to this Wednesday edition, the Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us to your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. We would appreciate that that does it for the Wednesday show boy I hope when we get back at it on Monday there's going to be so much more to talk about but hey man

have a great four or five days and and we'll see you next Monday sounds good peace