The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Playoffs opening night, Brad Treliving out as Calgary Flames GM, who should win the Norris Trophy?, Jack Adams Winner of the Week, and more

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

It’s opening night of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Ian and Julian have you covered on this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show as the guys pick which one playoff series will definitely go to 7 games, which series will end in a sweep, and which teams would shock the world if they won the Cup.Plus, the guys discuss the breaking news that Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames have agreed to part ways, Jack Eichel making his long-awaited playoff debut tomorrow night in Vegas, if any of the recent firings around the league were surprising or not, final thoughts on who should win the Norris Trophy, and the NHL awards balloting process in general, and, to close things out, the guys hand out their final Jack Adams Winner of the Week award of the season.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowUpgrade your closet with Rhone and use code NHLSHOW to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/nhlshowLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at http://linkedin.com/nhlshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Well, this feels good to say this. It's a playoff edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, the Monday crew with you here. It's Ian Meddis, Julian McKenzie, on day one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I got to tell you, Julian, this isn't better day.

I don't know, the teams that we cover aren't in the playoffs. This is more exciting to me than opening day of the season. I don't know if you feel the same. way. I'm more excited for hockey on day one of the playoffs than I am day one of the regular season. Yeah, because like the playoffs are like this is what everyone plays for. This is what everyone wants. And the first round especially, I think it compares it to so many other sports, especially North America, like it's the, it's the best you can get as far as I'm concerned. So like opening day, even opening day now, like the idea of an opening day in the NHL is weird

because you'll have games that start in Europe. So, like, technically there is one, but then there's a couple days after where everyone else plays. But, like, I mean, that's if they do that in certain years. But, like, in the playoffs, you don't have to worry about, you know, one random game starting on a random Friday

and you forgot about it. Like, the teams begin today. I love it. Yeah. No, this is going to be great. And we're going to kind of tee up some of the playoff series here, a little playoff preview action. Talk about, yeah, I think it's cool.

you know, guys like Jack Eichel never played in the playoffs before. We'll chat about that. We'll talk about some of the teams, too, that made some changes over the course of the weekend, the penguins, jackets, ducks, teams that we cover, maybe they're going to make some changes. I want to hit on some awards ballots before we have to submit them in. But before we get to all of that, okay? Before we get to all of that, we have two, count them two, food-related things to get to. Yes, we do.

Yes, we do. Number one, I owe my man, Julian. a tin of blue Danish cookies because I said about three weeks ago that the 16 teams that were sitting in playoff spots would be the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs. Well, I went 15 for 16, but Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh did me in. They dropped out, Florida went in. So my man, you need to text me your shipping or mailing address or whatever,

and I need to send you a tin of cookies. Okay, for those, oh, everyone's listening really. So I am texting Ian my address right now. I legit just took up my phone. I am writing up the address right here. I just want to say, merci beaucoup monsieur. It was an absolute pleasure doing this bet with you.

And I look forward. I look forward to my blue tin of Danish cookies. Absolutely well worth it. Okay. I will give you one last chance to upgrade or change those cookies. Like, you can go something else. If you want something else, Oh, I can, I'm willing,

I'm willing a one-time deal. Oh. Like, if you're listening to this and somebody told you some sort of cookie fairy appeared and said, hey, you could have any box of cookies that you would like in the world. What are you taking? You know what I might go? And this is an overly creative or fun? I'm a big mint Oreo guy.

Like if somebody said to be... I've never had mint Oreos. Oh, yeah. Except it got It got a little bit ruined for me one time Somebody told me they're like I don't know It kind of just feels like Oreo with toothpaste

In the middle of it I'm like I wish you didn't say that Oh That's kind of gross If you're giving me the option To Up the ante Oh God

Um Ottawa doesn't have Felix and Norton Do they? Yeah we do Well you can get them in some of the grocery stores But the problem is if I had to try to ship you Felix and Norris. If you are listening to this podcast

and you're outside of Quebec, uh, Felix and Norton cookies are like, Mrs. Fields times 100. Like, Mrs. Fields, forget about it. You're like an amateur compared to Felix and Norton.

Right? Yeah. Like, what's funny is, is that like, uh, these, uh,

radio hosts, uh, I used to, uh, on TSN 690, Montreal, Connor McCannon and Sean Starr, they would bring up Felix and Norton cookies all the time.

And I had never had Felix and Norton cookies. That's not something that was just in my purview. So if this is the opportunity for me to see what all the fuss is about. Oh, wait, you've never had them? No. Just it wasn't something like I had. Yeah. Okay, let me see if there's possible.

The only problem is I know that they ship them, like they do little frozen ones that you just pop in your oven as needed. I don't know how well they ship. So, okay, let me look into that. I'll look into that. We'll figure something out. We'll figure something out. Okay. The other food related thing we're going to get to before, like I said, we got, we got some playoff series to TEP and we're

really excited about, trying to chat about awards ballots too, but you need to clarify something about what appeared to be an online fight. Yes. Dispute, we'll call it, an online dispute. In fact, I even texted into our little Slack channel, you, myself, and our producer, Chris Flannery, I'm like, Julian, are you like straight up real beefing with this guy or fake beefing? Okay. And it's kind of a little bit of both.

So, for backstory here, a couple of days ago, I was sitting in on the first. final Calgary Flames game of the regular season against the San Jose Sharks. And I have to admit, the game was starting to appear a little bit dull. And I thought it had the vibes of the last day of school where, you know, kids aren't really learning. They're not really doing anything. They're going through all these little parties. They're just kind of waiting for the day to end.

It's kind of like, you go through one of those days. It's like, all right, like, you know, let's get to the third period or whatever period in your day and you get yourself that pizza party because one of those teachers said, all right, cool, I'm not going to teach today. We're just going to have a pizza party. Danny Austin, a colleague of mine who works at Post Media, sits a couple seats away from me to my left in the press box. He overhears pizza party, and he just assumes there's going to be a pizza party in the third period. And then he's all like, what?

Like, you said there's a pizza party, and now you're ducking down on that? I never said I was going to have a pizza party. I said the game had a feel of last day of school where at some point you get a pizza party. But of course he decided to tweet it out there and besmirch my own name because Danny Austin can't live with the fact that, you know what?

I'm actually not that bad of a person. He needed validation. He is someone who craves validation so much that he was willing to put my name out there and speak bad on me for clicks. He overheard something, didn't bother to go to me to verify it. But he was like, no, man, I heard it. I'm just going to tweet it.

I'm just going to make you look bad. Small side note, though. Small side note. Someone saw that tweet from Danny Austin. And let me make sure I find it. But someone saw that tweet about him saying like, hey, you know, you're going to have a pizza party. And I think at the time, Nikita Zedorov, I think had a. like one or two goals in that game.

That's the hatrick game, right? Yes. And someone tweeted at Danny and said, hey, I will get you pizza if Nikita Sodorov scores a hat trick. Lo and behold, he does. I believe the, the tweeter and Danny figured out something on their own. But if he wanted to, he would have gotten pizza for himself. Anyway, I know we spent too long on this topic,

but I just wanted to clear my name. Clear it up. I like your one sentence, you're like, you know, I'm not that bad of a person. That's, I like that. Because I feel like if I say I'm a good person, then everyone's going to be like, that's cap. Like you're, you're clearly a bad person. Yeah, exactly.

I'm not that bad. I'm not that bad of a person. I'm not made a stone. Okay, so here we go, man. Day one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We got four games on Monday, eight series obviously kicking off in the next couple of days.

So let's start with this, okay? We're each going to pick one playoff series. Let's start with this. The one playoff series, if I told you, Julian, you have to guarantee this series is going seven. What's your answer? What's the one series you're like, I think this is going seven games? First series that comes to mind is Minnesota Dallas.

I just find those two teams are, I think of all of the series, that has the potential to be the closest one. I think they're pretty similar in terms of the offensive talent that they bring in terms of their defensive abilities as well. I think, I mean, obviously Dallas has a guy like Murom Heyskin, and who's done really well on both ends. but I feel as if the goaltending too could be a really interesting story. We don't know as of this recording if Philip Gustafson or Mark Andre Florey will start in game one, but we know Jig Ottinger will be in between the pipes. Like there's a lot of fun storylines in this series and a lot of talent on both sides. And I think it's a bit difficult for me to pick a winner between that.

I could have easily said Tampa, Toronto. I could have easily said, the devil's and the Rangers. but there's something about Minnesota and Dallas that appeals to me, and I think that's the series that's going to go seven. Okay, I'm going the series that I think is going to go seven, Winnipeg Vegas. And it's partly because I just don't know what to expect out of Winnipeg. And Helibuck is the type of guy that can, you know, I think Connor Hellebuck is good for stealing you at least one game in that series, maybe more.

And Vegas is goaltending. I don't know. There's something about that series that makes me feel like it's going to go seven games. So if I had to pick and look, I'm hoping that we get four series or five series that go seven games. Because the one good thing, like if you're a listener to this podcast and your favorite team is out of the playoffs. So maybe you're, you know, a Calgary fan, Ottawa fan, Philadelphia, you know, whatever, Columbus, your team's out of the playoffs. there's nothing better than watching playoff game sevens and then over times when you have no kind of you have no horse in the race so to speak

absolutely you're watching guilt-free absolutely yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes I saw I guess maybe if your teams in the playoffs if your team's in the playoffs it's probably a better feeling yeah and that team wins like you're that's like the greatest feeling of all like I saw one of my friends tweet out You know, it's the beginning of a stressful time in the playoffs. So you do with the playoffs coming up. And I saw that tweet and I'm like, I don't have to worry about that like at all. It's been years since I like got like my fandom so riled up where I was like so just hoping that a team would do well in the playoffs.

And now like I could just chill and just enjoy the games as they are. And like it doesn't take much for me to get like excited about certain things. So like seeing like even if it's not team I root for I mean I don't root for any team But like seek a team like score goal and O T like I get riled up anyways like oh they did it like that's awesome Like it's like I get all the fun of of living playoff drama and feeling all the chills And I could leave that experience and know that like okay my team is not down to nothing in a series like I'm I'm good I'm good it's great I like being on the no fan side I like this side I know it's weird like I don't think but part of it is because we cover the sport so we don't have the fandom, so to speak, of regular fans.

But, I mean, look, it is more fun when the team that you cover makes the playoffs. But there's something to be said for, like you said, just guilt-free. Hey, you know what, I'm just going to settle down. I'm going to watch games. And whoever wins, it doesn't matter to me. Like, I don't particularly care. So you and I gave our, we each picked the series, ironically, both in the Western Conference, that we think will go seven games.

Now, let's go to the opposite end of the spectrum. This might be a little bit harder. Yes. Give me this series that you think, if you had to pick, will end in a sweep. What's it going to be? And if we get one, I think it'll be one. What's it going to be?

The one series I thought would have ended in a sweep. I'm not convinced anymore that it'll end in a sweep. I probably would have been Florida, Boston. But even then, like, just, I have a hard time thinking that, like, Florida can't win at least one game. Now you're seeing reports that, like, a sickness has, an illness has spread through the Boston Bruins.

Playoff fever. Playoff fever, clearly. I'm not saying Boston's going to lose. I mean, we have stakes with Boston for something else. We're not saying that Boston's going to lose. We're just not, we're just saying Boston's not going to win. That's what we're saying. Could you imagine if the Boston Bruins lost in the first round?

Could you imagine they said help? Yes, I could because that's the stupidity of the NHL. Like, like, dominant. If they lost to Florida. I, you're telling me, okay. it's not out of the realm of possibility. That's all. No, it's not.

It's absolutely not. Like, like, people forget, like, the Tampa Bay Lightning were, like, the best team in the NHL in 2019. And they lost in the, they were swept in the first round by a team that had never won a playoff series in their history. And, and remember, in game one of that series in 2019, Tampa had a three-nothing lead early in the game. And everyone, and remember everyone was like, why are we even bothering with this series?

This series is going to be so. We were thought like, man, this is a waste of waste of days. Somebody had a monkey's paw that they're like, you know, the old wish, like, why are we even playing this series? It's going to end up in a sweep. And like somewhere, some genie was like,

your wish has been granted. You're like, well, I guess it was. It's just not the way that we saw it. So pick your series. What's the series that you think? You know what? It's going to end up in a sweep. So I don't think it's Florida Boston.

Islanders, Carolina. I don't think it will be. Tampa Toronto it can't be Although that would be hilarious New Jersey Rangers no Colorado Seattle No

You don't think so Or do you feel like there's not going to be a sweep I don't think so Like at worst It's like a five game series Somewhere Colorado remember they're banged up too I mean they're not going to have game

Landisog Seattle just It's surprised a lot of teams and, you know, I don't see them going down in a sweep. I just, it's really hard for me to pick one series that's going to end in a sweep, but I don't see that happening. You know what I could see. Now, you're going to laugh at this and you're going to tell me that I'm,

this is a stupid take. But I could see, hear me out on this, okay, just hear me out. I could see Dallas, Minnesota ending in a sweep, but I can't even sit here and tell you which of the teams will sweep the other team. Isn't that crazy? That's very interesting. I think that's going to be close, but you think that's going to be a sweep. That could be more opposite.

I could see it being a four-game sweep or like a sweep where like Jake Ottinger just stands on his head. They win three-two and overtime, two-one, four-three, three-two. And you're like, well, they were evenly matched, but all the breaks went to Dallas. Like, I could, it wouldn't shock me as, as weird as that is, that it's a four-game sweep. And the team that sweeps wins by like a total of five goals. Isn't this more proof that like the unpredictability of the Stanley Cup playoffs makes picking these games so hard, makes picking these series so hard? Like we're going to spend all day making these series picks if we haven't done so already. And then in about two weeks time, we're going to talk about how I don't know, the Carolina Hurricanes don't look like the playoff team we thought they were going to be or how the Tampa Bay Lightning's dynasty.

may have come to an end at the head of the Toronto Maple Leafs or, or alternatively, how the hell did the Toronto Maple Leafs find a way to bungle this up again? Like, like, like, we don't know. We don't know. I know. Like, okay, I think another way to put it,

and I'm with you, like, like this is, like, it feels very, like if you were filling out one of those brackets on NHL.com or whatever, like you're right. In two weeks from now, you might look like an idiot, but we're all going to look like idiots. Let me, let me rephrase it. Let me put it this way.

Tell me if you agree with this. Okay. I think Julian there's only like three teams, maybe four, but three teams, like if they won the cup, I'd be truly shock. Everybody else? Three teams. Like, okay, so Seattle would shock me. Yes, absolutely.

I would generally be surprised. 100%. Just because of the way that the year has gone for them this year, Florida would shock me. Yeah. And maybe the islanders. But I feel like if anybody else won the country. You?

No. No, they wouldn't. Wow. Like, because they just took such a quantum leap forward and they were a, you know, 108 point whatever team and they got a legit star and Hughes and like, it wouldn't stun me. Like, I don't know. I feel like there's only like three teams that if they won the cup, I'd be like, man, I didn't see that coming.

That's interesting. I mean. Like, who would it be for you? Like, who would, okay, you agree with me, Seattle would shock you? Yeah. Seattle would shock me for sure. Florida would shock you. Florida would shock me for sure.

And, um, and I'm not sure they get out that first round. So like that would, I would think they would need like goal tending to get themselves there, but they also know what to do. So at least from a defensive standpoint, so maybe it wouldn't completely shock.

Toronto would shock me. Toronto would shock me. Toronto would shock me. It would shock me because like this is a team because of history. That's it. Like the Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and then like, you know,

if they find a way to do it, they would, mean that they would have exercised. Think about it. Think about Toronto's path. If Toronto gets to the cup final period, that means they'll have dismantled Tampa Bay. If Boston wins, they'll have beaten Boston, and they're probably going to get like Carolina in the conference final. That's going to be impressive. And if they win, that's them beating what, Colorado, Edmonton? And I understand that like, fine, you know, Dallas, maybe Los Angeles even. They're still beating a really good team in the Western conference.

I understand that some people look at the West and like, okay, it's really Colorado, maybe Edmonton, that's it, but like, there's some really good teams of that Western conference. And if the, if the Leaves do that, like, that's a team that has been, look, they have the fan base that they have. They have the, you know, they've centered themselves as the team in the hockey universe. They make all the money and all that. I get all that.

But they still have that choker label that's associated to them. Like, they have all the, you can tell me all about how they have all. this advancement beyond the their their organization and sports science and all that like they haven't done it in almost 20 years just getting out of the first round so like if they do it and they go all the way the final and they win that would completely shock me i understand for some people would be a pleasant surprise and maybe be like no this is the team that was built to be as talented as they were they should be in this position it's still a damn shot so i'll be going to throw toronto in there not because of talent but because of purely off of story yeah historically

Yeah. No, no, I mean, listen, like, they are in what kind of the Chicago Cubs were in, the Boston Red Sox, that until you do it, you're going to, unfortunately, you carry the burden and the weight of the generations before you. It's right or wrong, it's there, right? And until you vanquish those, you know, demons, they're with you for the ride. So, yeah, I could see that. I could see that for sure.

But really, I think where I come down on this, you can count. on one hand, the number of teams that if they won the cup, it would shock you. And I, like, like, like, I said, I feel like there's 12, 10, 11, 12 teams that if they win the cup, I'm like, yeah, I could see it. Is that good or bad? It's fun. I think it's good. You know what?

I think it's good. Because, like, because there are a lot of talented teams. Like, if Winnipeg, like, because they're at one point, we're like the best team in Canada at one point. If they find a way to, like, figure it all out and they go to the final and they win, does that not shock you a little bit considering they did have that dip near the end of the year? year? Yeah, like I guess from a dip perspective, yes, but not from an on-ice

talent perspective where they have arguably one of the best three goalies on the planet in Hellebuck. You know, Sheifley had a great year. Kyle Connor, I think, is one of the best snipers in the game. Like, they've got talent, they've got a pretty decent defense court. Like I, you know, Josh Morrissey, his season probably

mirrored the Jets in so many ways, right? Like, where he was a Norris trophy front runner and then kind of dipped. But like, from a talent perspective, I think they've got it all there. But it's, it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm excited for this. And I think sometimes we, we curse the NHL and we're like, damn, this league, whatever.

But you know what? Sometimes it's fun too. Winnipeg is playing Vegas. Jack Eichael is going to make his playoff debut. You know, came into this league. Yeah, 2016. 2015, 2016 came in this league. Hasn't made the playoffs.

Now, let me ask you, I found out the answer to this from a buddy in a group text today. And I didn't know the answer to this until this topic came up. Okay. So Jack Uncle's suiting up for his first playoff game of his career. Okay. Which active NHL player right now has played in the most career games, regular season, without ever appearing in a Stanley Cup playoff game? I was shocked by this.

Yeah. Most games without playing in a playoff game. Yeah. Without playing in a playoff game. I don't know why this name comes to mind, even though it's probably the wrong answer, because I assume they were at least part of some playoff runs in Carolina, but Jeff Skinner. Yeah, you're right. It is.

It's Jeff Skinner. Oh, I know that right. Yes. But also, what? Right? I thought one of those years in Carolina, but I mean, he didn't come in, I guess, a little bit later. But Jeff Skinner is closing in, Julian. No way.

on a thousand games in the NFL, 932 to be exact. And he's never made the playoffs. For some reason, I thought he'd made it. Because I thought when Eichel didn't make it, I thought, well, Jack Eichel must be the guy. You know, maybe Rasmus Ristelian in or somebody else. I figured it was a saber.

And I was right, because, you know, Skinner's been there, whatever, five years. But he never made it in Carolina. So, like, if we ask the question, who's the best player who's never played in a playoff game, I feel like before today the answer was Jack Eichael. Like I think Eichols, in terms of talent or whatever, but I don't know, maybe it's Skinner.

Brady Kachuk has never played in the playoff game. He's starting to put himself into that conversation. Now, I got tricked here. I thought Clayton Keller would have been right. But Arizona in that play-in year, they won a play-in round and then actually played real playoff games. So Clayton Keller's played playoff games. Yeah, he did.

He played like, he actually did pretty well in those games too. He had four goals and seven points in those nine games. Yeah. So I think the answer is Jeff Skinner. Jeff Skinner, yeah. He's never played a playoff game. Yeah.

What's more surprising to me, and I don't know if I should beat this surprised, Jeff Skinner's 30 years old. He's going to be 31 next month. And he, and he is going to, he's closing it on a thousand games. Like that to me is like, whoa, like already?

Jeff was one of those guys. And remember the whole story on him, he was just an unbelievable skater for his age. But like he came in as an 18 year old, right? Like he broke in, he was a teenager and had a 30-goal year as an 18-year-old. Like he... He did. He was just a different guy, just skated differently, all that stuff.

And, yeah, I'd love to see the guy in the playoffs at some point. Wait, wait, wait. Now since we're talking about Jeff Skinner, what do you think of those buffers? Sabres in between two, I forgot the name of the second. The two, four. Oh, the two stalls. The two stalls.

Yeah, the two stalls. Yeah, the two stalls. Yeah, the in between two firms parody that he does. I love it. I think it's great. Like, I think that's the type of humor that fans appreciate and love and I love it. That's awesome. I like that.

That's cool. But also, I think, I'm going to put it out there. I think, I think he sees some playoff games next year. I think the Buffalo Sabres are close. I think Buffalo's close. I think Ottawa's close. I think Detroit may be with a tweak here or there. They're maybe a little bit further.

Not that much further along. Let me put it this way. Imagine this is a nightmare scenario for the teams in the east and the ball. Sorry. Sorry. Big breaking news. Big breaking news. Brad Trilliving out in Calgary as GM.

Don Maloney promoted to interim GM. Well, well, well, look who's day. just got a little more interesting. Crap. It's Julian McKenzie. My God. Flames Beat reporter finding out in the middle of the show that the general manager...

So this is a mutual parting of ways, or how are they phrasing this? What's going on here? Yeah, it's a mutual parting of the ways. As contract expires on June 30th, you will not return, Don Maloney promoted to president of hockey operations and will also hold the position

of interim general manager, the process to secure services of the next GM will begin immediately. Yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, it's a, that's a, that's, it's gonna be the day where we're, um, but, um, but, uh, I, I had a weird feeling, like, okay, today's gonna be the day where we hear, you have to hear something about what's going on. Um, but, uh, I, the funny thing is that we had not heard an availability. for tree or for Daryl Sutter as well. We have not, there's nothing immediately that says, okay, when are we going to talk about this or go to a meeting or anything like that? But that is very, very interesting.

Bradshaw Living and the Calgary Flames decide to mutually part ways. There was word that, you know, hey, they were going to probably continue some discussions. And, well, it's Monday. And already Brad Trill Living is deciding to, leave Calgary. So yeah, that's a, like, legit, like I just saw that update on my phone. I'm like, oh, well, I know what I'm going to be doing in the next couple of minutes. Do you believe in this and whether it's general managers and teams or coaches and teams or even

a couple that you know in a relationship? Is a mutual parting of ways possible? Does it really work where both people sit down and say, you know what? I just don't think this is working. person was like, those were going to be the next words out of my mouth. I'm glad we're on the same page. Or is there always one party that's got a little bit more power here? Um, I think it's possible to do a mutual parting of the ways. I think it's also possible. Conscious uncoupling, right? Yeah, but I also, but I also think it's possible that like one of the two might take it a lot harder than the other in certain ways. Um, but, um, yeah, wow. Uh, I have to say, I'm not surprised that this happened.

It would have maybe surprised me a little bit more if Brad stayed. I just think that it was there like almost a decade. And he did as much as he could with this team. You had the big off season last year. And it was not as if he's someone who has to do this, right? He could just decide to do something else. I mean, Jim Tre Living's his dad. He has the Boston Pizza Fortune and all that.

You didn't have to do this if he doesn't want to. But also, I don't know, just there's something about that dynamic with him and Daryl Sutter that just never, I don't know. For me on the outside looking in, I just always wondered about that, that dynamic. And I wonder if that played a role. I don't know if we'll know, but I think it's very interesting that it has gotten to this point where the team so quickly too. Like I thought it would be maybe like another week before we really knew. Like maybe we'd hear from Brad Trilliving one last time. But yeah, I'm a bit, I'm surprised at how soon it was.

I thought we'd hear something about when we'd hear availability. After a minute, it didn't occur to me that they would make a decision so soon. That's really, really interesting. And on Trill Living, when you look back, is the summer of 2022 kind of his definitive hallmark where, look, he was backed into a bit of a corner on Cuchuk and Goodrow. and, you know, he let Goodrow go, didn't get anything back, watch him walk out the door as an unrestricted free agent.

Kachuk was a gamble. He pushed a lot of chips in the middle of the table for Hubert O and McKenzie Weeger. Are we having a different conversation? If Calgary snuck into the playoffs, we having a different conversation? Maybe, but I'm not sure if that's a guarantee because this is something that has been a talk.

point since the beginning of the season. Since I mean, Darrell Sutter was getting extensions. All those new players were getting extensions. But curiously enough, like Bradshaw Living was the only one not getting anything in that right. So I'm not inclined to believe

that if they make the playoffs, that that is a total guarantee that they they keep Bradshaw living around or Bradshaw living wants to stay. That's what's important in all this too. I'm not convinced that this is something, thing where the Calgary Flames said, okay, look, we need to, we need to necessarily move on, or at least just all in their thinking. Like, I, I think that, you know, maybe Brad, or you know what,

I'll wait until maybe there's more to come from this, but I'm inclined to believe, too, that Brad, with his contract expiring, might have also had a say in his future and maybe thought about the future and maybe thought about potential other opportunities down the road. Like, I mean, it is, it does say mutually parting of the ways. And I don't know. I'm trying to think of any other situation like that where it's been said. I'm trying to remember if when Mark Bergervan was in the final year of his contract and he was let go before the end of the year, he would let go partway through the year.

I don't think that was a mutual parting of the ways. But, I mean, that ended up going the way that it did. But I'm inclined to think that this is very mutual. And by the way, I'm just reading some of your colleagues in Calgary since they're on social media. I mean, it looks like there is a press conference today in Calgary, one o'clock here at time. Okay, perfect. And it doesn't look like True Living will speak,

but Maloney and Flames team president, John Bean, will. Okay. Well, thank you for that because so now I know what I'm doing this afternoon. There you go. We'll get you on your way. Hey, speaking of which, I just came out of a Pierre Dorian press conference. Oh, yeah. How's your GM doing?

This is what I'd like to ask you. I think sometimes we get so inwardly focused in the market and the team that we cover that we sometimes don't understand the outside perception. So I'm going to ask you this. Based on everything you know about Ottawa and where the team is and where they've been and where they could go, do you think Pierre Dorian should be back as general manager? What's your gut tell you?

I'll tell you what. Now that this Bradshaw Living News is out there, I'm not so sure. There are options out there. There are potential options out there. for the Ottawa senators to pursue. I think they should at least think about it. Pure Dorian, I mean, for the last how many years,

he's tried to build up this team, tried to put them in a position where they can make the playoffs. It's very clear they need someone to take them to that next level. And I think you have to wonder if Pierre Dorian is that guy. And if he does return next year, how much of a lease should he get? You know, he did bring the team to this point. Is he the guy who's going to be able to bring them to that next level?

I'm not sure. I don't know. So it's something to think about. And I wonder with people like Bradshaw living out there, I don't know if Ron Hextall is as appealing of a candidate. I mean, depending on what else. Let's ask Josh, Joey and Rob Rossi. Yeah, yeah, I get it.

Yeah, probably not. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think if you're the Ottawa senators, though, and you know there's going to be new ownership coming in, depending on how that sale goes. You more or less will have carte blanche and what you want your team to look like.

I think you're allowed to wonder aloud if bringing Pierre Dorian is the right idea. I'm not so sure I would be quick to make that decision to bring him back. It's going to be interesting. Now, we did see, speaking of, um, speaking of Ron Hextall,

you know, Ron Hextall, Brian Brooke, let go by Fenway Sports Management with the Penguin Columbus letting go of Brad Larson, Anaheim parting ways with Dallas Aiken. Like you said, Calgary. Like this is the window, right, where teams do these types of things. Lots of changes in the weekend. Was there one out of those?

Anaheim, Columbus, Pittsburgh, obviously Calgary now. But is there one of those changes that did anything surprise you? I don't think anything was overly surprising for me with some of these changes. Not really. Columbus is an interesting one because I just, so much of this for Columbus and Anaheim is going to be predicated on if you win the Bedard sweepstakes, I think you almost put yourself into the next phase of your rebuild.

Like you might be ready to, with a tweak or two, especially with Columbus, they got Goddrae and line A and some other guys. They might be closer to go time, right? And maybe they get a coach that's like ready to win now, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Nothing really surprised me. I mean, the tree living news, obviously, that we just decided to talk about now, more of the timing than anything else. But there wasn't anything that really kind of stood out. I know a couple of days earlier with the Peter Lavillette decision as well, seemed like that was a natural time to see change happen. But it would surprise me if he doesn't get an opportunity. Maybe it's because of how the carousel runs in the National Hockey League of Opportunity. But I would expect that he would get some kind of opportunity. opportunity somewhere down the line. I'm not sure where. But yeah, I think, I mean, Anaheim, Columbus doing their thing, but Brad Larson, I mean, look, I feel, I'll say this about Brad Larson.

I wasn't sure if he was going to be the guy for the long term. But I also think that, you know, he did get a little bit hard done by with all the injuries that were going down in Columbus this year. Like they were, they were basically, I think like Lake Erie Monsters rosters for a good chunk of their season. And I'm not sure how much. Brad Larson can do with that. But, yeah, even if I think it's not a complete surprise to see him go, I will say that I do feel a bit for him, considering the composition of the roster throughout the season. You only really got one year out of Johnny Goddrault.

But that sucks. Yeah. No, no, it's a fair point. And, yeah, we'll see if there's some other coaching, you know, musical chairs, general manager, musical chairs. The one, just to circle back to Ottawa for one second. And I know that this has been put out in the public sphere by a lot of people. Frank Sarah Valley being one of them,

that if the Toronto Maple Leafs don't advance deep enough into the playoffs this year to satisfy ownership, that Caldubis is in the same spot as Brad Trilliving, meaning he's into the last year of his contract. It might make sense for all parties to just say, let's move along. Kyle Dubus, if you didn't know this, Julian, did you know who Kyle Dubus' favorite team was as a kid?

So it's not the Sioux, St. Marie Greyhounds? No. Caldubis grew up a diehard, legit Ottawa Senators fan. Like, huge. Like, huge, huge, huge. Like, I think I'd love to go head to head with him on some early 2000s trivia. Like the teams that I covered were the teams that he loved kind of growing up.

And boy, oh boy, that would be an intriguing. If he's available, that would be intriguing. And I'm not even saying, I want to make this very clear. I'm not saying replace Pierre Dorian with Caldubis. I'm saying, what if you brought in Caldubis as president of hockey ops? Yeah, because that's entirely possible too. He might not necessarily want to just take a GM job. He might want something larger than that.

I think that they're like, let me put it this way. I think for the first time in a long time, if there are executive openings in Ottawa, be it for the general manager or president of hockey ops or some executive job, it will be a highly sought after role versus what we've seen in the past where nobody wanted to touch this place with a 100 foot pole. Nobody wanted anything to do with this franchise for a long time. And we're past that now.

Absolutely. You could potentially, like I guess if you're an evil genius Ottawa fan, your ideal scenario is Toronto doesn't go far enough in the playoffs to earn Kyle Dubas in extension. And if you think that Caldubis has done a pretty good job over the years in putting this Toronto team at least together and make them a perennial playoff team and a cup contender, and you feel like he can help you in Ottawa, that's probably option one, I think, I think it would be for him to have a significant voice

here. Here's my question. What do you think is not far enough for the Toronto Police? I think Toronto has to get to the conference final. I don't think when you've put a team together that deep, that talented, and that up against the cap for so many years, your goal can't be we need to win a playoff round. It can't be.

Like, it's got to be, we got to go deep. Like, if they beat Tampa, and let's be honest, this Tampa team is held together with duct tape. This isn't Tampa from three years ago. This is a duct tape version of the lightning. Let's say Toronto beats them in six, Julian. And then they play Boston and they lose in six. Are we all sitting around looking at each other, being like,

wow, that was a successful year in Toronto. They answered all the questions. I don't think so. No. I think they need to win multiple rounds. Here's my, here's my answer to that question. Here's my answer to that question. Whatever Austin Matthew says is enough.

Whatever Austin Matthew says is enough. And I'm dead serious. Because I thought you were joking. No, no. I'm dead serious. whatever Austin Matthews deems to be enough. Because once July 1st hits, that's when he's eligible for that contract extension.

You know what? Now I'm picking up what you're putting down. Seriously. I think more than anything else, Kyle Dubus, regardless of if this year ends in a Stanley Cup or ends in the first round exit, the very first thing you're doing

is figuring out how you are keeping Austin Matthews. If you, if you, even the idea of Austin Matthews saying, you know what, I'm just going to test free agency, I'm going to think about next year. Like, nah, nah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because it's one thing to lose out on all these playoff series and, and not get past the first round. That's tough. Losing out on likely the greatest leaf to ever play, I'm not sure that's, I mean, that's almost a fireable offense.

I wonder, though, if you're Matthews and you do some out, let's say Toronto wins the cup this year. Okay? Let's say they win this day on the cup. at some point in the back of your mind, in some little corner of your mind, are you thinking, you know what? Mission accomplished here. Like, there's nothing I can do in this market that will ever match busting that drought, winning a title, delivering it to a championship-starved fan base that is so rabid and passionate.

Nothing I could do here will top that. Like, I could equal it, but I can't top it. But if I went home to play in Arizona, or if I went to L.A., I could do it. I wonder what makes it, what's the thing that keeps Austin Matthews in Toronto? Is it getting to the third round at least and kind of making him feel like they're close? Is it winning a cup and saying let's try and win multiple? I don't know. I think one of those two.

Because if he loses in the first round, I'd be stunned. It feels like, okay, like, I'm going to do it, like, sign me up for another seven years. Not to say they wouldn't be able to win a round in those seven years, but like, Like there's going to be a ton of changes that come likely if they don't get to that point. And if you're Austin Matthews, you have to think long and hard about what life is going to be like under a new regime. You know, that's likely going to complicate wanting to stay in Toronto from that vantage point. That's at least how I would see it. Boy, oh boy.

It's, yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be really interesting. And hey, maybe if you're an Ottawa fan and you're really hoping for Caldubus, the other option is maybe you want Toronto to win the Stanley Cup. because then Kyle Dubas is saying, I'm a free agent. I can write my own check. I can go wherever I want. And I'm going to go to office.

It's interesting. But I have to admit, man, my brain is just scrambled with the tree living stuff. So I know. I just kind of like just like half like paying attention. Half, I'll obviously pay attention, but just kind of like looking around.

Like one quote that's like going around from that statement, uh, from from the release here, uh, from Flames president John Bean. It's a difficult day when you must part ways with a quality colleague and friend. We are grateful of Brad's contributions over the past nine years and wish him ever success in his future, both personally and professionally. Before our fans and our business, we need to move forward and we are confident with Don Maloney's experience that we will find the right general manager to build on Brad's work and lead our team to the Stanley Cup.

That to me says that whoever is going to replace Brad for living, I don't think they would want them to tear this team. down. They want to take this team and, okay, just turn them around and find a way to take what happened this year and turn it into a positive. Like, that's not a team. That doesn't sound like a team maybe that's going to rebuild anytime soon. Boy, but they're caught in that perpetual murky middle, right? Where you're too talented. You've got too many pieces in Jonathan Huberto and Tyler Tifoli and when he's playing well, Jacob Markstrom to be terrible and hang out with the Columbuses and Anaheim's. But you're not quite good. enough in other spots to hang with L.A.

and Edmonton. Anyway, it's going to be an interesting, like, if you, okay, here's a question for you. Let's say you are a very qualified general manager candidate, okay? And you pick a guy or a girl, whoever you think could potentially be a candidate as a general manager. And you look down on your phone and you have three missed calls. One is from Pittsburgh, one is from Ottawa, one is from Calgary. which which call are you returning first?

Good Lord. This is actually a lot tougher than you think. Because you could get Pittsburgh. Find the core is aging. But like it's Sidney Crosby and if getting Alkin. If you get like a few younger pieces around them, the goaltending has to be up there too. You could get a run.

Even if it's just one good run, it's a run. Ottawa, new ownership, a core that is on the. precipice of making the playoffs, like that's also appealing too. Calgary, like, they just missed the playoffs. But you have Hubert,

oh, you have Cadry, Jacob Bartcham didn't have that great of a year, but Jacob Bartcham could easily, easily, I mean, maybe not easily rebound, but like, there's,

you're hoping that maybe there's something that could happen. Like, there's some good bones on that team. I don't think they have to completely restructure everything, but if you take over that team, you make a tweak here and there,

you turn them into a playoff. off team. Man. My bias would say Calgary, but that's because I'm more familiar with those teams than Pittsburgh and Ottawa. But I also like the idea of taking over an Ottawa team where everything is going to be new. New ownership.

The players are going to be good. I mean, you're going to have to figure out that Alex DeBringkitt story. But I think you're in a really good position with the Ottawa senators. I might, I might take the Ottawa Senate. Just because of that new money coming. Real quick, now, not every writer that is part of the professional hockey writers association has an awards ballot. Some, not all. I do have, now, do you have a ballot this year?

I do. I submitted it last night. And is this your first year voting? Very first year voting. Okay. So I want you to, you know, kind of walk our listeners through. the ballot and what was the, like, and I think the Norris Trophies,

the one we're all struggling with. And it's not necessarily who's at one or what, but it's at the end of it, and I haven't hit submit yet, I have until 7 o'clock, but there's a four or five good defensemen that are going to be loft off of everyone's ballot. Yep.

And I want people to understand that there's no inherent bias here. There's no hatred. It's, this is a really weird year. I don't remember a year where I could say like, man, you can make a case for eight guys to be a candidate's finalist. So was that the award you had the hardest time with? Yes. That and the Selke for whatever reason. Well, I mean, for the second to fifth place, well, was for the Selke.

But for the Norris, like last week, Eric Carlson was in town. And we asked him some of the Calgary media just about, you know, going through the year that he was going through. and people wondering, hey, maybe you don't deserve the Norse because your defensive ratings aren't so good. And to the best of his ability, tried to speak about it as he could, just saying like, hey, you know, like the award as it is, it's supposed to be for all around ability. And we're seeing more offensive defense. Like, it's not my fault that, like, I have the stats that I have. And David Quinn, I think also just, you know, went to his defense as well. And, I mean, this is a guy who five on five and even strength points.

Like, he has more points than anybody than like anybody. as a guy who plays at five on five more than anybody, if not more than anybody, at least like among the most. This is a player who has done something that has not been done since like the 90s, with Brian Leach did, reaching 100 points in the season. And in a world that we're now where offensive defensemen are relied upon more than ever, like there's a genuine debate to be had about his candidacy for Norse Trophy, even if his defense is not that strong.

Yeah, at the same time, though, the nature of the award is for all around ability, and you have to consider Adam Fox. You have to consider Brent Burns. You have to consider Quinn Hughes. You have to consider Dougie Hamilton. You have to consider Miro Heiskenon. There are so many good. Hamphus Linholm. There are people who are putting up the flag for Hamas Linholm, who does not have the same level of production as some of the guys I mentioned before, but at least

according to our metrics here at the athletic, has the best defensive rating of any of the defensemen this year, this year, and plays on the team with the best defense. Like, you can't not consider him in all of this, right? Like, it's, this was just extremely difficult.

I didn't even mention Josh Norrissey. I didn't even mention Kail McCar. Like, people guaranteed are going to be upset. McCar missed 20 games. And for me, that, that was a bit of a factor. Like, if he had played 70 games, maybe, but, you know, he missed 20 games.

I think this year, more than never because of the quality of defensemen that 20 games matters. I don't think him playing 60 games in any other year matters that much. If he played 41, if he played 50, I'd be a little bit hesitant. 60 for me is like a decent cutoff. But because of the year that a defense would are having this year, it's a lot easier to take him off your ballot. And last thing I'll say on the awards is, and I say this with the utmost respect. And I love, it's a privilege and an honor to to vote on these. awards, if you ask me how these awards should be handed out, there should be a weighted system and give 25% of the weight to the media, give 25% of the weight to the players, give 25% of the

weight to coaches and 25% of the weight to general managers, and say, this is every, you can all vote, but we're going to tabulate it and wait it accordingly. It's not right. In my opinion, it's not right to have media members solely being responsible for handing out major individual awards in a league. I don't believe, and I say that with the utmost respect, and I appreciate the honor, it should be spread out and more evenly distributed so that the players and the coaches and the general managers have a voice in this too. Okay.

I'm just going to be real in this too, okay? I think the reason why we have so many people who are having worries with this is because of the fact that ballots get put up out there. And we now have to deal with the fact that once people see, you know, who voted for who, then some fan base is going to get upset. Yep. And our mentions are going to get flooded. But it's good. It's good. It's good to have that discussion.

But some people do like to take it a little too far with some of their criticism. And I think that's a genuine, I think that's a genuine piece of anxiety for some people. I know for me personally, thinking, that's something I thought about a lot. I tried to vote it as honestly as I could and tried to make the, like, I didn't try to admit like other people's like opinions dictate my takes pretty much at all. I tried to be like, okay, like, yeah, from what I see, this is good. But definitely it has crossed my mind the fact that like, okay, if I vote for this player, maybe people are going to get like, you know, upset.

And like, maybe other years would be a lot worse. But I, I can't imagine I'm the only person who thinks about that. No, but here's why I come down on that. First of all, I'm very glad they'd go with transparent ballots. Prior to, what, three years ago, people could vote without anyone knowing how they voted. And I don't think that's right because at that point, now, who knows? Maybe you make a trade with an agent and say, hey, man, I'll give your client a top three vote for Norris. if you promise to give me this scoop or that scoop,

I don't like that. I think that's wrong. That's wild. But I, no, no, no, people did that?

How do you know that they didn't? How do you know that they didn't? So, release the votes and attach it to everybody. You put your name on it and you be accountable. And if you're worried about the anxiety or the blowback, then recuse yourself from the voting. That's how I think that's fair.

That's a very fair point. That's a very fair point. I wouldn't, I don't feel like, that's something I thought about. But like, I didn't, I didn't feel so so up there about that that I would want to recuse myself from that. Like, having the privilege to vote on NHL awards, it's a privilege. Like, this is first time doing it, I hope I'm able to do this for a very long time. So I don't want to lose that opportunity. One of a word we don't vote on, that goes to the broadcasters, play by play and color analysts.

they vote on the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Week. However, we've been doing Coach of the Week all year. Oh, yeah. And it's time for our final one because the last week of the regular season concluded on Friday. So we don't have as big of a sample size,

but here are your candidates for the final Jack Adams of the Week Award and our producer Chris Flannery has tabulated the votes, I believe, from all season. So after we pick our winner today, I think Chris Flannery will be able to tell us who is the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, Jack Adams,

winner based on how we voted all season. Okay? So here's what we got. Last week, Buffalo Sabers win three games under Donnie Granado. They go three and one. Pete DeBoers, Dallas Stars, they go three and O. Jared Bednar, Colorado.

They eke out of division title, thanks to getting five of six points. Shell and Keith in Toronto. They end the regular season on a high, 3-0 and O. Where are we going? Granado, DeBoer, Bednar, Keith, Coach of the week.

Final one. Make it. Jared Bednar getting that division title. I mean, no disrespect to some of the other guys. Not as much to gain in those wins. Bednar came out with something at the end of it. So my vote would go to him. Yeah, I don't think there's any debate.

They snuck in last day of the season and Nate McKinnon doing Nate McKinnon things. They get the first round matchup with Seattle as a result of winning the division, which I think is huge. It's a little bit, I think it's a little bit easier to go through Seattle than maybe Dallas. or Minnesota, or it would have been Minnesota,

but that's a easier route, I think. So I'm with you. Those games mattered more for Bednar than they did for Granado, DeBoer, and Keith. So we're going to tally that one up. Jared Bednar, the final Jack Adams. Now let's bring in the producer Chris Flannery. And maybe...

Chris, maybe Chris, when we actually put this out, he can have a dramatic, you know, when the host says, drum roll, please. Chris Flannery with a drum roll. when you tabulate the votes over the course of the season, who is the Athletic Hockey Show Monday, Jack Adams Award winner of the season? The winners.

The winners of the Jack Adams Award. Yeah. Jim Montgomery, obviously, makes sense. And Dave Haxdahl both won the honor three times over the course of the season. That's it? Yeah. Three, we gave a guy who won 65 games.

We gave him three times. of the year, we're like, you did a good job this week. Yeah. 65 wins. So we had the top five. It was Montgomery, Haxdall, Gerard Gallant won twice. DJ Smith won twice. Don Granado twice.

And now Garrett Bednar is in there too. He won twice. D.J. Smith and Don Granado being in the top five has just submarined our credibility. Two teams that aren't going to the playoffs were top five. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the thing is, though, it's who had the best week. You know, it's like they had up and down seasons and they happen to win those weeks.

Good point. Good point. Yeah. Okay. Well, I think, let me put it this way. I feel very comfortable saying when the finalists come out for the Jack Adams, that Jim Montgomery and Dave Haxel will be two of the three finalists. Oh, 100%. I think Lindy Ruff has a great case to be three.

I think there's a couple of us. other guys that might, you know, be able to get, get their way in there. But to me, Montgomery has to win this award, right? I mean, so Haxstall is probably going to actually get legit consideration. He's able to bring the crack into the playoffs. Lindy Ruff, you're right with New Jersey. I mean, I mean, come on. I mean, Jim Montgomery, the fact that he was able to take his team to the heights that

they're at, most wins. NHL season. Like, it's, it's, it's pretty hard to argue against that. And it's his first year

coaching, right? Like, I think, that's what makes it easier. Yeah, exactly. If he had been there for a while and then got him to that point, like that could be debatable.

But like, his first year there and he takes that team to that level, that's outstanding. Oh, man. Yeah. Okay, well,

there you go. Our Monday athletic hockey show, Jack Adams, full winners, Dave Haxel Jim Montgomery. So we thank everybody for playing a lot next year we've decided for next season we're going to be doing a Monday edition of the

athletic hockey show Selke trophy award of the week oh boy that's good you imagine so much oh my god you imagine how terrible that would be yeah especially Patrice Bergerardt stays another year yeah Selke winner in the week we do that it's all like oh we're just going to vote for all these other guys at the end of the year it's like yeah Apprachisbury's not only won the award twice from us. Oh, man. The DJ Smith of the Selke Award. DJ Smith and Don Granato winning two of them says everything you need to know.

But, okay, we're going to wrap. Listen, let's wrap it up because, look, we kind of already did a multiple choice question. I asked you, you're a GM candidate and you get three phone calls from Calgary, Ottawa, Pittsburgh. So you know what? That'll suffice as our multiple choice because I'll tell you what. You've got to run, man. you've got a press conference to cover. I've got a press conference to kind of go through and transcribe.

And the teams that we cover are in a tumultuous spot. And there's a lot of things going on. But I say this, and I'll end off the show by saying what I said at the top. I am so excited for the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I'm excited to connect with you next Monday because by next Monday, there could be a couple of teams in trouble, right? A couple of teams that thought they were going deep are going to be in trouble. And it's a lot of fun.

I'm excited for this time of you. This is going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to reading whatever you write about Maloney and the presser today. Me too. Let's see how that goes. Let's see how that goes. All right. Well, leave it there.

I want to thank everybody for listening to the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. As always, leave us a rating and review on whatever podcast platform, that you use, I certainly appreciate it. And we always know this too, Julian. Best producer in the game, it's Chris Flannery. No question, sir. Chris, thank you for being you.

We can't say that. Thank you for being you. No problem. Thank you, guys. We got a one-year subscription to the Athletic 2. It's a dollar a month. You visit the athletic.com slash hot-vision. Gorsi.