The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Playoffs opening weekend takeaways

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are officially underway and Max and Laz give their thoughts on all the action from opening weekend. Plus, the guys discuss the big mess in the Big Apple with Peter Laviolette out as Rangers head coach and they respond to some Playoff Crisis Line messages throughout the show. Hosts: Max Bultman and Mark LazerusExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hey, everybody. Max Boltman here alongside Mark Lazarus for another episode of the athletic hockey show. And we've got playoffs to discuss, Laz. It feels like we've been limping toward the playoffs for just weeks here, just waiting for something juicy. And here we go. We're recording this just not long after the end of Game 1 of Leaf Senators. And I think that was a pretty juicy game one. So let's start there. Yeah, we're like the Dallas Stars, man. We're limping, crawling, just desperately trying to get to the playoffs without really putting much effort into our last several shows, I think. So,

uh, it's how about the end of that least? Like, are you a believer? Let me, let me just get right off the bat. Are you a believer in message sending? Do you think it accomplishes anything for the Ottawa senators to like throw a couple of shoves and get into a couple of fights in the last minute of game when they're getting their ass kicked? I've always found it so silly. It's one of those hockey things that's so silly to me. I don't believe in message sending like that to another team, like what message are you sending that you're, you're mad that you lost. But I do think there's maybe something to be said,

maybe not a huge deal, but something to be said for just trying to do that going into your own locker room. Hey, we're not rolling over. Like, yeah, we lost this game six, too, but we're not going down without a fight. That message is not going to be received by the Leafs. The Leafs don't care. But maybe in their own room, I could see that.

But the irony of it is, I think that's probably what cost Ottawa the game anyway, because I didn't think they had played a horrible hockey game, but they looked like a team that was really juiced up to play their first playoff game. They'd heard all about what these rough tumble playoffs were like, what this playoff whistle was like. Here they come and, oh, that's a regular whistle. They do call penalties here. That actually still is a cross check.

And it burned them. They were three for six on the penalty kill. I don't know if you're going to say that decides the game. Obviously, Toronto did score enough five on five goals to just win the game. But to me, that was the story of the game for me. Yeah, no, it was referee. like it should have been refereed. It was like a regular season game and Ottawa was kind of over its skis, right?

And when you combine that with, you know, Linus O'Mark was just flailing in net. Very human. He never looked comfortable at all. Anthony Stolars is, he's too large. He should not be allowed to play hockey. It doesn't seem fair how much of the net he covers. And then when you have just about every single major leaf scores a goal and has an assist. I mean, Matthews scores and, or no, Matthews didn't score, but he had the assist.

Marner scores and Morgan Riley's scores and Matthew Nyes scores. Neelander. Nealander scores and Tavaris scores. You couldn't script this game any better if you're a Leafs fan. Like all the bugaboo's kind of got addressed very quickly. The goaltending was good. The stars were good. The power play was good.

And, you know, you're up one. Nothing. You got to feel pretty good about yourself. You certainly do. And everyone in Toronto is going to say, well, the actual demon is how do we close it out and how do we do it in games five through seven. So I want to be respectful to that. But the encouraging thing here was Toronto should in this series look like the team that's been here before,

done that, not rattled by the moment. That is exactly how it looked. The question is, can Ottawa get there? Because I do think they have a lot of players on their team who play play playoff style hockey. Obviously, David Perron has been there, done that guy. I thought Nick Jensen, actually, there were moments where I was like, yeah, that looks good. I don't know that the box score is going to be particularly kind to Nick Jensen tonight. Let's see where he finished with.

Nick Jensen finished minus two. But I do think he's the style of player who wins in the playoffs. Jake Sanderson, the style of player who wins in the playoffs. And oh, by the way, yeah, of course, Brady Kachuk. So in theory, they should be able to write this ship and play this kind of hockey. But they definitely looked like a team that was new to this kind of moment. And it bit him. And I think the biggest reason probably is the discipline.

But you said it, Allmark, I saw him in the regular season be amazing. Every time I watched him, I felt like he was outstanding. And I thought, this guy's going to be a difference maker. I don't know that I realize he's got a rocky playoff track record here. This is not a totally out of nowhere thing for him. Well, yeah, I mean, he lost the job to Swainman in Boston last time around. You know, this is kind of, he's got a lot to prove going into this series too. And, you know, who else does is Brady Kachuk?

We've been hyping Brady Kachuk in the playoffs forever. We've wanted to see Brady Kach in the playoffs, see what he could do, what his agitating style, his physicality. He didn't look like Brady Kichuk. I don't know if he's what, you know, how out close to a hundred people. 100% he is. But that's a major concern if you're an Ottawa fan right now. Just seeing the way he just, he wasn't in the mix. He wasn't really a huge factor. And if, you know, the, the sense go as far as Brady Kachukh takes them kind of emotionally, but also in terms of actual hockey. And if he's not at 100%, this is a really tough, tough matchup for them. I just don't have that big of a concern about it.

I think he's the guy who I have the least concern about finding his game. My concern is just do they have if Toronto is going to play this composed, I don't know that they can overcome that, right? This might just be their learning year, but it's game one and they got a lot of time left in this series. I thought there were some signs that that were good for them, right? I thought that they certainly came with a playoff ready forecheck, right? That was very clear from the very beginning. I think it was Tim Stutzler finishing a big hit very early on the four check. Drake Bathersons finds one of those gritty kind of playoff goals. You like to see that. I don't have that big of a concern that Brady's going to find this. But you are right.

Right, he is the single most important player in this series for the Ottawa senators if they're going to make some noise. Yeah, and for Toronto, I mean, we can get all, like you said, it's, the start of the series is never really the issue. It's what do they do at the end? When Ridley Greg scored that goal to make it four to two, you know everybody in Toronto was like, oh God, here we go. It was four to one. And, you know, but Toronto answered immediately. And that was huge for them, I think. Just there were, there's so many good vibes that come out of this game.

But again, until it's, you know, if they're up three one in the series, They're up 3-0 in the series. It's that last couple of games that has been the real, that's where the ghosts come out, right? So it's, if you're a least fan, you got to be excited, but you have to be wary. Like, I think that's our least fans are trained to be. They're trained to just be waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, you know, they have the passion and it was fun, but I don't think anyone's going to get too, too ahead of themselves here.

Well, and the other piece of that is with Stolars, right? Like, this is a guy who's never played 30 NHL. games in a season before. He's at 34 this year. How's he going to do when he is playing seven games in 14 days, right? That kind of thing. The longer the series goes, the longer the playoff run goes. The more that question centers on Solars. And I thought he responded really well to the first goal, which I did not particularly like. I think his thing is going to have to be freeze the puck. And that's something Allmark struggled with. I thought it led to that five on three, the penalty that Goddette took on Matthews. That should have been a freeze by

Allmark, in my opinion. If he freezes it, you don't have that five on three. And who knows what happens in the game. Solaris was great in that regard after that rebound goal, the very first one. Yeah, the only concern I have about Stolars is the workload, because like you said, he's always been either a backup or a timeshare, but he's outstanding. I remember when the lease, you know, picked him up, Jesse Granger was so excited. He's like, this is the right guy. And Jesse's always right. He said the same thing about McKenzie Blackwood. When we're all like McKenzie Blackwood, that's what's Colorado's answer. Jesse's always right when it comes to goaltenders, and he was so excited about stories. He's like, you have no idea. He's huge. He's composed.

He's poised. He's awesome. And he's the one thing that the Maple Leafs really haven't had is a goalie that you can count on. And here they've got it. They've got a guy they believe in. They've got a guy who can just just calm the game down, right? Come up with a big save in a big moment. And honestly, again, he's so big. If he falls asleep in net, he's still probably going to make the save. Like that's such a feeling, such a great feeling to have that confidence in your goalie. And that's not something Toronto's really ever had. No. Leif's plus 1,000 to win the cup from our friends at Bet, MGM.

I don't imagine that line's moving too much one way or another after tonight, but just to keep it in mind. Also, as a reminder, we're probably not getting any Leafs calls on this line tonight. But through the playoffs, we are going to be running our athletic hockey show Crisis line. So if you are a fan in crisis, perhaps a Sends fan tonight, 3-2-1, 2-1, 2-1. 2-22-7-9-7-2. Leave us a voicemail about what you're thinking, what you're feeling, questions you might have, and we'll read out some of our favorites on the air. We don't have any of those tonight.

Obviously, the game just wrapped up. But I think we do on the next series we're going to get to. So it's Winnipeg St. Louis, Jets Up 100. And producer Chris, let's hear that call on Jets Blues. Hey, I'm a Jets fan, and I know I'm supposed to be worried about Euler's playoff performance or how Connor Hellebock falls apart in the playoffs. But what I'm really concerned about is if the Jets still win a couple rounds, this might be hit for them. That we'll get a vague Kevin Week's tweet with the skyline of Houston because there's a set of billionaire owners ready to move the team out of Winnipeg to the state.

This crisis is 100% valid. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know if I'm going to be reassuring here. Look, look, I grew up an Islanders fan in the 90s. I know this feeling well, this like constant sword of Damocles hanging over your head that you could lose your franchise at any moment. It was Kansas City. It was Portland. It was Quebec City. It doesn't matter how good Winnipeg is. It doesn't even matter how many tickets they sell. Just because of the size of the market, the size of the arena, this will always be a concern. They could win the next six Stanley Cups. And if I'm a Jets fan, I'm worried about losing my team. Like, I can't help you here, buddy. Like, this is your life. Get used to it. You're never.

ever going to feel like a Rangers fan, like a Red Wings fan, like a Blackhawks fan. This is just the reality of hockey at Winnipeg. Canadian dollar, not in a great place right now, right? So that adds to it. But here's what I'll say. That atmosphere looked awesome. And Winnipeg, I thought was very impressive in responding to that game. Because like everybody else, I'm sure, was having the same thoughts.

St. Louis gets that early lead. And then they go back up again, three, two. And you're like, oh, my gosh, are these playoff demons coming back again? I thought it was an outstanding slamming. the door third period by the Jets. And if they keep doing that, I think I really like their odds to get into this first series. And I think they'll give themselves a chance in a next series as well if they're able to play like that.

That's the thing. I feel like we all want Winnipeg to succeed because it looks awesome. I have been like, you know, every time, you know, this time of year where all my writer friends throughout the country were like, oh, where are you going to go for the playoffs? Where are you going to both? Oh, I got Winnipeg. I'm always jealous. I want to go to Winnipeg.

I want to witness, I want to experience a playoff game in Winnipeg because it looks amazing. because it looks amazing. And yeah, I mean, the way that game started, Hello Buck, like, oh, God, here we go again. This is going to be the third straight year where Helibuck, everyone's picked for MVP, just falls flat in the playoffs. But that was a big win. St. Louis is not like your typical eight seed here.

This is one of the hottest teams in the second half of the year. They close strong. It's a good team that has all the pieces. They have a goalie who's won, you know, a Stanley Cup. He's won a four nations tournament, whatever that's worth. That was, that third period was, very calming, I think, for Winnipeg. It needed that.

It was a statement. And have we ever talked less about a number one seat, about a president's trophy winning team than the Winnipeg Jets? This is a good ball club, man. Like, they could, nobody talks about them as a Stanley Cup contender. But they've got the best goalie on the planet and a lot more besides that. Absolutely. And the fact that it was Shifley and Conner's line doing it,

I thought that was really encouraging. Those are two players you want to see, be your best players in the big moments. were that. But it was just, it was dominant. I mean, shot attempts in the third period in the Jets favor, 19 to 6. Like, that is a thorough, like, sunning, basically, for lack of a better word, uh, by Winnipeg to St. Louis. So, uh, I know that was good. And that should be encouraging, right? I mean, we make light of like not going to reassure you, you know, up in, up in the middle of the night kind of thing. But I do think the premise of your call is like win a couple of rounds and you won't have to worry about it. I do feel that. Is that fair, Las? I, I, I, if they win a couple

rounds, I'm still worried about it. I can't help him. Like, I just, the reality of that market is it's always going to be on the brink. It just is. Yeah. And it sucks. Because like, we need, you know, I think most of us in hockey want more teams in Canada, but the NHL wants more teams in the United States.

It's, it's, it's, there's more money involved, unless we're talking about a second team in Toronto, there's just more money involved for the TV markets, the TV deal, I mean, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, in just the American dollar versus the Canadian dollar. Like, the NHL is basically looking for reasons and to have fewer teams in Canada, probably.

So you're going to have to live with that. And you've lost the team already. It's already happened to you. That is true. For sure. But you don't get an expansion fee when a team just moves. And I think that is the real, you know, the Houston appeal is you get this another big fat expansion fee to split across everybody.

That should be a little bit reassuring, right? If Houston's getting a team, if I'm certainly 31 of the NHL owners, probably all 32, I want the expansion. Tell that to the Arizona. Arizona Coyotes, though. I mean, if it happens, it happens. Very different, very different situation. But, you know, those Kevin Weeks tweets, those are always about expansion.

He's not talking about moving teams. Yes. I'm done about the Kevin Weeks tweets. Bet MGM line here, Jets plus 800 to win the cup. Connor Hallibuck plus 1,500 for the Khan-Smith. I feel like those two things should be identical. Whatever the Jets' odds to win the cup are, Connor Hellebuck will be the Khan-Smith if they win it, I feel like, right?

Is that fair? It feels a lot of, I think there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of, the voters who like shy away from giving the goalie the cons fight like it's almost too easy. But with the Winnipeg Jets, if they win the Stanley Cup, it's going to be on the back of Connor Hellibuck. Like there's no way around that. Yeah, I think so too. All right, Laz.

Let's go to the series you were at Colorado, Dallas. I thought it was a pretty, pretty tough situation, obviously, for Dallas coming into this. Not their worst, like, visually game, but Colorado pretty overwhelming with the star power. Yeah, I mean, it was five to one, but that's not a five to one game. I mean, Dallas was like a quarter of an inch away from tying it late in the third period at 2-2 and then, you know, empty netters and all that. It's tough. Things are bleak right here in Dallas. Like, Dallas fans are, I'm getting a taste of what Dallas fans are like and they are, they are, I don't want to say checked out on this team.

That's not the right word, but they have lost all hope. It's amazing. This is a team that has been a perennial cup contender for years now. You know, even with the Jason Robertson injury, you get Tyler Sagan coming back, kind of a wash given Robertson sketchy playoff history. history, but they, you know, they lost their last seven games in the regular season, meaningless games when they were locked into the two seed. And everyone just feels this team is dead. But they come out, they played pretty darn well.

I was, who was it? It was not Wyatt Johnson. Thomas Harley said that's probably the best game we played in a month or two, which wasn't hyperbole. And Pete DeBoer basically said the same thing, but Colorado still won. So I don't know how you look at that. If you're Dallas, are you encouraged that you played so well after playing so poorly for a few weeks or are you devastated that you played so well and still kind of got your butts handed to you

by the end of the game? I don't know how you approach that if you're Dallas. I don't know how you feel about that. So I was at a bar last night watching the St. Louis Winnipeg game and the Pistons playoff game with a buddy who is not a huge hockey fan, but he is actually from Texas. And so as the Jets Blues game ended and I had explained to him all the storylines around the Jets Blues game. And as it ended, it went into Star's abs. And he was like, all right, so what's set the scene for me for this one? And I talked about ranting in and I talked about, you know, the Star's injuries. But one of the things I said is like as the series, the longer Dallas can keep this a series,

the more chance they give themselves of getting healthy and getting their guys back. And so basically their plan to keep it alive, right? It's kind of like a tennis point where if you're the inferior player, you're not going for the kill, right? you're just trying to return, serve, and keep yourself alive. And that's how I feel Dallas has to be kind of approaching this. Maybe not the best way to kind of try to play a playoff hockey game. But is that a fair? I mean, you're on the ground there.

Is that a fair read? Yeah, I mean, I felt that Dallas was the more kind of cohesive team in the first couple of periods last night or on Saturday night. But Colorado is just so much more danger. They have this feel of danger to them. Like, you're talking about Dallas, like there's some inferior team. This is arguably the deepest team in the, league. But while they're unhealthy, while they don't have high-skinned, they are at a

disadvantage, certainly in star power. I don't think they can just ram it down Colorado's throat. Well, that's the thing about the stars. The stars never have the star power, right? They have the depth. They were always like, they could run out three, four lines, two or three pairings. The difference is Colorado has that depth now. For years, Colorado was really top-heavy. And you can kind of, you scratch past that Nathan McKinnon's surface and there wasn't a whole lot underneath it. Same with Cal McCar and Devon Taves. There wasn't a whole lot behind. it, but what Chris McFarland has done with this Colorado team is, it's kind of extraordinary. I've never seen it.

I don't know if anyone's ever seen, like, a legitimate contender completely remake their team mid-season like this. Their goaltending was terrible. They got rid of both goalies. They go out and they get McKenzie Blackwood and they get Wedgwood, and all of a sudden things are better. They have no depth down the middle. They get Brock Nelson.

They get Jack Drury for the fourth line. They get Charlie Coyle for the third line. They traded away Miko Ranton in. and got Marty Naches who is, you know, producing at the same rate as Amico Ranton. Up and down the lineup, you get Ryan Lindgren on the back end. This is a completely different avalanche team than what we saw in like December. And now they kind of match up with the stars where they can trot out three or four really good lines. And they got a couple of really good pairings.

And they've got a really good goalie. Mackenzie Blackwood, in his first ever playoff game, was sensational Saturday night. So now that's what's impressive. is Colorado is the third place team in the central. This wasn't like some mega power this year. But when you start looking at them and what they're capable of and how deep they are now, you can certainly see them making a run. Oh, they have every chance to get to the cup final.

I'm not even talking hockey-wise when I talk about like that, you know, kind of wait around. I'm just saying they need the series to go as long as possible to give themselves a chance. They need Mero Heiskin and back. Yeah, I mean, Jason Robertson's not coming back. I saw him walking out of the rink on Saturday night, and he was limping badly with the biggest knee brace I've ever seen on him. Like, that guy's not playing for a while.

Listed his week to week, he's not playing. But Heyskinen, he's skated. He's going to skate Saturday morning. He's going to skate Monday morning. He theoretically could return for game two, but I think game three or four is more likely. There's two days off between games three and four. Heiskening coming backs is an absolute series changer.

If he's there, Thomas Harley has done great job. Thomas Harley's on my Norris ballot this year. I think he's kind of underrated what he's done in Heiskenen's absence. But if you bring Heiskenen back, it changes a lot of things. I think it changes the star's confidence level. He's so important to them that when you put him back there, it's going to give them the same kind of look, because Gabe Landisog's probably coming back too.

And that's going to give an emotional lift to Colorado that I don't think you can measure. Yes, true. But I think with Hayeskin, and it's two things. A, he is this stopper, right? He's this star-level defensive defenseman that is the ultimate counter to a McKinnon, and one of the few counters you can possibly have to a McKinnon. And two, he's this rare breed of guys who actually finds more offense than he has in the regular season in the playoffs. Like Sam Bennett's another guy of this ilk where you wonder like, how do you score it like 0.8 points per game in the playoff when you're like this half point per game guy all year against in theory, more open ice and easier competition.

It's just been the arc of Miro's career. So man, I would love to see Miro Hayes going to get into this series. I just am, I am nervous for Dallas that McKinnon and McCar are such game breakers. it's going to be really hard to get this to even like a game six or so. I'm biased because I'm covering the series, but I so badly want this series to live up to what we all thought it could be just a few weeks ago, right? Like, oh my God, Starves as in the first round,

that's a conference final. Oh, it's this one and the Florida, Florida Tampa series. Those are both like, oh, these might be the two best teams in the conference. Right. And I wanted to live up to that. I know that stars are banged up, losing Robertson in game 82. I mean, that's just excruciating. but I want them to be at their strongest because Colorado is at their strongest.

And I want, you know, two teams at the height of their powers going at it. That's what we want out of this series. I don't care who wins. I just wanted to go for a while. You talked about the apps having the potential to make a run. Bet MGM has them as the favorite to win the cup at plus 500. They were the third place team in the central division. Start on the road.

It's the same thing. Like, you know, when we did our staff picks, like everybody picked Tampa all of a sudden to make the cup final. win the cup. And now, and everybody's picking Colorado. It's like we're all over, you know, thinking that we're the clever ones, but everyone's picking the same clever pick. Yeah, I was stunned when we, we submitted these picks for these like graphics and whatever. And they all start rolling in. I'm like, all of us are picking Tampa? I thought I was being a little cheeky here, right? I, I picked Tampa over Vegas and I, maybe I should have just gone Vegas over Tampa being a little

more unique. But I just, you know, very complete team. And then to your point, same deal with the avalanche. You start looking at the roster and you go, where are the holes? And they're just not there. So I do get why. McKinnon is the favorite to win the Khan-Smith, by the way. Not surprising with the Aves as the Cup favorite, plus 900 for McKinnon to win the Khan-Smith.

That feels like it's going to be him or McCar if they do it. So I don't have too much of a problem with that. Two goals in the first game. That's off to a good start. Yes, very. All right. We got another crisis line here for Carolina and New Jersey. So let's go to that.

Because I'm a New Jersey Devils fan. Jack Hughes is out for the rest of the year. Dougie Hamilton might come back at the beginning of the playoffs. And as other Sean said, the Devils are very Jekyll and I this season. They have not been consistently good. This whole thing about how they haven't been good since Christmas, that means the majority of the season they haven't been good.

So it doesn't really look good matched up against the Carolina Hurricanes who normally own the Devils, especially minus Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton. Let's go Devils, Bucane, but it's not probably happening. Bye. Oh, boy, did that one play out? today. Dougie Hamilton did play, but man, Carolina looked good. And it was tough for the devils in a lot of ways. I mean, Jacob Markstrom goes to slash a Hurricanes player and accidentally cuts down Cody Glass. All this happens while Luke Hughes is like holding his shoulder after crashing into the net. Hughes returned to the game.

I don't believe Glass did. Brendan Dillon had a scary play. It looked like maybe a head injury for him. man was this a really ugly game one for Carolina or for New Jersey, excuse me. Yeah, I mean, the devils were in single-digit shot total, like late in the second period. And Carolina was just peppering Marksroom. Marksroom played really well. Like, if you're looking for one thing to hang your hat on as a devil's man, it's Markstrom's play, but it's just not enough. And I think we all, once Jack Hughes was hurt, we all kind of rode off New Jersey. I mean, he is, he is the straw that stirs the drink, as they say.

and I just don't see that. They don't have the firepower. Like, how can you, you know, Nico Heeshire's great, but he can't, he can't completely carry this team offensively. Hamilton, he's probably not at 100%. The canes are firing on all cylinders. They're tested. It's really hard, you know, look on, Logan Stankhoven goes out there and scores two goals while Miko Ranton is kind of wallowing here in Dallas. Things are looking great for Carolina and they're looking pretty bleak for New Jersey. I think if you're looking at any series to be a sweep right, now, it's this one.

Do you agree with the caller, though, that even with a healthy Hughes and a fully healthy Hamilton, that this would be futile? Because he seems really resigned to do it there. Yeah, no, that guy is despondent. I feel bad for him. I hope he's okay and someone gives him a hug. But I don't know. New Jersey was, again, a trendy pick going into this year as a team that was going to

really be able to be a contender this year. And they never really got to that level even when they had Hughes healthy and Hamilton healthy. I don't know what it is exactly about this team. Marks from, you know, we talked about their goaltending for a couple of years, and they went out and they got a good goalie, and they're still kind of just like in that middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. They're a pretty good team, whereas we know what Carolina is. Carolina is a great team. They haven't had the ultimate success yet, but year after year, they win a couple of playoff rounds. They make some, you know, they threaten. They do what they do, which is just pile up the shots on goal, garner some goals and just keep you off the scoreboard. And it's, it's just, I don't know. know what New Jersey really is. They've never really reached that, you know, a couple of years ago,

they spiked that big season. We're like, oh, it's the error of the Devils and it just hasn't happened. Yeah, and obviously they had the loss to the Carolina in the second round a couple years ago that I'm sure is informing this. I would have, if with a healthy Hughes and a healthy Siegenthallor as well, in addition to Hamilton. Seganthalor is incredibly underrated. It's a big piece. Yeah. And I think midseason, before Hughes got hurt, I was looking at the Devils as like kind of a surprise team because I liked how good their defensive depth was, and they have the, you know,

both flavors of number one pick centers, right? You have your do it all guy in Heeshur and your, you know, all world offense guy in Hughes. I think if they were healthy, this would be a real series because one of Carolina's faults, and they obviously scored plenty on Sunday, one of their faults is, you know, they get a lot of volume,

but they can sometimes dry up at important times a year, and they don't really have the goal tending to necessarily always beat your two to one, especially with a healthy Hughes and all that. So I think it would be a very different story, with All Healthy. I think I would expect this to go six or seven games and be a very competitive series, but it looks really bleak. It looks really bleak right now for New Jersey. Yeah, I mean, Carolina, they're always looking for finishers and they always looking for goalies, right? So they

went out and they got Gensel last year, and it sort of worked, but the goaltending wasn't quite there. And this year, they went out and they got Randonin, and we all know how that went. But usually that really doesn't catch up to the hurricanes until like the second or the third round. They're playing a team right now that is incredibly vulnerable, and they're just not going to have any issue at all. Yeah, I agree. All right, Minnesota Vegas, we are recording during this game. So I apologize for people who want to hear more about that series. We're probably going to let you down. It's one oh at the time that we're recording this in the first period. I guess we could just take a guess here, but I think that's more likely to get us in trouble than anything. Although,

if Zeeb William gets a hat-tricked, you heard it here first, I guess. This feels like the most lobsided series in the Western Conference, right? It's not the 8-1 series because of what St. Louis is able. to do. You know, Vegas feels like such a complete team. So many of those guys have been through so many, you know, postseason battles. And Minnesota, they're injured, they're banged up. They got guys, it's just, like, Z. B. Boeum is going to be a great player, but it feels like they're like counting on him to save the season. It's asking a bit much of a 20-year-old defenseman. It's hard to feel good about Minnesota's chances. Yeah, I think a lot of this, too, is going to come down to how impactful

can Carillo Capri Sov be, right? He missed so much time to be. to be right back in playoff hockey this fast is a big ask. Can he rise to that level? They're going to need him to be. I mean, he had a chance to be the league MVP when he went down this year. They're going to need to be that. They were the number one team in the league for a little while. They're like, it was so exciting.

I was so happy for Minnesota because they've just been so boringly mediocre for so long. And they finally had a star player. And he was playing at an MVP level and they were beaten up on everybody. They were looking like a real contender. And, you know, that Minnesota fan base, It's a lot like Winnipeg. They're just this amazing fan base where I love going to games there and not just because their arena smells like Bouter Donuts.

It's just like a great environment. And those fans have been through so much. Minnesota sports fans just in general have been through so much. And I was all excited for them and it just kind of all fell apart. And I just, you know, Caprizo's back and that's great. And Eric's an ex back. That's great. But, you know, the chances of them being what they were in November and December just feel slim to none.

Yeah. No, I agree. How about Vegas? I mean, I picked them to go to the Cup final. Do you feel, I mean, I know you talked about Colorado and maybe they're kind of emerging as the team in the West. But what do you think of Vegas's chances? And obviously, if they get to the next round, they got a really tough series on their hands with either of Edmonton or L.A. Yeah, no, I mean, Vegas is absolutely, like there's, it's like a four or five headed beast in the Western Conference, right? And I include Dallas among that.

Like, I have Dallas winning the Cup. I pick them every year. and one of these years I'm going to be right. If Dallas can get past Colorado, they'll have Miro back by then. I don't know when Robertson, if and when he'll be back, but they'll be a mostly complete team,

and I still believe in Jake Ottinger in the Dallas stars. So, like, you throw in Colorado and Vegas, in L.A., which everyone sleeps on, you know, I think we've all kind of moved past Edmonton a little bit as a contender this year. But there's, and then there's the Winnipeg Jets, who again, I almost forgot to mention, even though they're the President's trophy winner.

Vegas is a complete team, right? They've got an MVP candidate and Jack Eichael. They've got the goaltending. They've got just the experience. They don't have like, you know, other than Eichel, they don't really have a lot of mega power, not megastar power like a Colorado does or an Emmington does for that matter or even like a Winnipeg does.

But they're a complete team. And, you know, you know, it's just every year. They just seem to be hyper competitive in the postseason. They're built for the playoffs. This was kind of the year of Jack Eichel. I mean, it was really hard for me to decide like where we just submit our words about. I don't think I'm allowed to talk about where I put him on various things.

But I felt like almost every category, I was like, should I go Eichl here? Should I put Eichl in this mix? He was in my top five without question. I mean, I'll just say it. I don't care. Someone yelled at me. I have, I have Hellobuck as the MVP. But the next four guys, you know, you could talk about McKinnon and you could talk about Kuturov.

You could talk about Eichel. You can even talk about Alex Ovechkin. You can convince me that he belongs in that conversation with what Washington did this year. Eichel belongs in that discussion. I think that it's going to be dry sidel in Hellebuck and a mystery person as the third MVP candidate. And you absolutely

can convince me Jack Ikebel deserves it. It's kind of like the Taylor Hall year, where he's so far ahead of anyone else on his team in points that he's, you can't overestimate his value to that team. He is carrying that offense in a lot of ways. and he's so far ahead of his teammates that he's everything that Buffalo wanted him to be.

Minnesota has tied the game. It's 1-1 now Matt Boldie. So when Minnesota wins the Stanley Cup, where do you think Marco Rossi will take the cup? I don't know, but Carilla Caprizov, MVP, there you go. Give him the consmine. For Matt Boldie's goal, you're going to give Caprizo off the consmite. We should have just stayed up until 2 a.m.

Do it after that. Whatever. I'm in central time. I could have gotten away with it. Producer Chris says Caprisoff made an unbelievable pass on Bowley's goal. There you go. You knew. See, I just assume.

When the wild do something good is usually Carol Carrizo's fault. Can we talk about these late games? Like, I, you know, I'm covering games too with Dallas tomorrow. There's an 11 o'clock one coming up. Do you see that on the schedule? There's an 11 p.m. start coming up one of these nights. But yeah, but this is like, I'm in the central time zone, and tomorrow's game starts at 8.55 p.m.

I've been covering central time zone playoff games for 13 years, and it's so ridiculous. Every single time we have an 8.5. The NHL either hates the central time zone or thinks we are on the Pacific Ocean. Either way, it's unacceptable. This sucks, and I hate it. Tuesday night, Vegas, Minnesota is an 11 p.m. Eastern start. On ESPN, I'm fascinated to see. That's in Vegas, though, right?

It is in Vegas, yes. That is true. That's a good point. That's an 8 p.m. local time start. That's still an hour earlier than these central time zone games are. Well, you're always talking about how central time zones is the perfect sports watching time zone. Just not in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's the absolute worst every year. Important caveat. All right. Let's take a quick break right there. Obviously, as these

series continue to unfold, stick with us on the athletic hockey show. We'll have a lot of great coverage almost every day of the week here for you. So I will take a quick break right there. All right, we are back. And Laz, there was a lot of news on the New York Rangers this week. None of it was good. First, Katie Strang reported that Artemmy Paneran and Madison Square Garden Sports, the company that owns the Rangers. paid financial settlements to a ranger's employee last year after she alleged that Pernarin had sexually assaulted her in December 2023 during a Rangers road trip. That woman left the organization in August 24 upon reaching the agreements, which included non-disclosure. It would no admission

of wrongdoing clauses. Obviously, that's a, that's a heavy story here coming into the Rangers this week. Yeah, I mean, it's it's a lot more serious than a coaching decision we're talking about, obviously. And I don't think we're ever going to get any a lot more clarity on this. It's a settled issue. It's been, you know, settled financially and there's NDAs. And, you know, if you go back and you read Katie Strength story, there's this disturbing stuff in there. And we'll see if this dog's Panarin going forward, is you ever going to answer more questions about it? Or is this just one of those things where the hockey world moves on a little more quickly than it probably should? Yeah, and it certainly casts a shadow, right? Like,

there's been so much in New York this year and in a very different variety. This is a totally different nature than we talk about some of the other stuff. But going forward, I think it does factor in maybe a little bit to kind of the overall disarray. I don't know how you want to put it that that has gone on there. And now you have, like you said, Peter LaVille that's fired. You have James Dolan reportedly going to sit in on exit interviews. You know, Chris Jury, I think is not in a great spot here.

And we talked about that with CJ last week. But I don't know. All the news this week to me only kind of. adds to that. Yeah, I know. This is a franchise that's just an absolute mess right now. And I don't know how quickly it's going to get much better because, like you said, Chris Drury is in a desperate situation as the GM. I don't know who you bring in after this to fix it. And I don't think any coach can come in and fix this. This is a roster, you know, you're talking, let's go back to just the on-ice stuff here. This is a, there's really good pieces.

You've got Igor Shesterok and one of the best goalies in the world. He's locked up long term. You've got Adam Fox, one of the best. defenseman around. You've got some good young players, you know, Will Cooney and stuff. Does the compliment, you know, Alexia Lefrenier, though he's probably overpaid and signed too long, but you got Chris Kreider locked up long term. And you've got Miga Zabanajad locked up long term, and their best hockey is behind them. There's no quick path out of this for the New York Rangers right now. And I'm not sure a coach is going to be able to come in and do much. No, and you start to wonder, like, if you're firing La Vila, I mean, I think this is three and

years now for the Rangers. Is that right? That sounds about right because LaViolette only lasted two years, which is kind of his his shelf life. And where do you kind of go from here, right? I mean, John Tortorella is the one that we kind of threw out last week. And we certainly already did the highlight reel of his interactions with Larry Brooks. Maybe that's a possibility, right? I mean, I think that he's the type of coach that you probably go to in this situation. Let me ask you this. To me, like, you know, I have made my feelings on Joel Quendal's return to the NHL pretty clear by now in print and on this podcast. But this seems like the kind of job that would be appealing to him, right? You've got a veteran team. He's a kind of coach who works well with

veteran players, but there is some talent to work with. He's got the goalie. It's a major market. It's a, it's a marquee franchise. I don't mean this callously. And Arthur Staple brought this up in his story. Does the Artem E. Panarin sexual assault news make you think twice about bringing on Joel Quenville, given the reason he was ousted from the league, was because of a sexual assault case in Chicago in 2010 that was basically swept under the rug. The Rangers always feel like they're kind of above this. The Rangers and the Oilers kind of operate in this space where they just don't care about, you know, the court of public opinion, it seems like.

And if any team could do it, it would be the Rangers. But I wonder if this gives them just a little bit of pause in whether they would pursue Joel Quenville or not. I think it has to give you pause, right? I mean, if you're a team that's considering hiring Joel Quenville, this is the exact kind of situation that pops into your head and go, well, the only way that it could become a real problem is if we were to have this exact type of situation, right? And knowing confidently how he's going to handle it.

So I think it has to at least be a factor. Now, if you're in the pro-hire Joel Quenville camp, you're going to say, well, he's been through this and you hope that he kind of learned from that situation and how to do it better next time. But the reality is if you're making that higher, you don't know the answer to that until he's done it. So yes, I think it absolutely has to give pause. I think another name we need to talk about is David Carl, like with any job opening in this league, I think he's the name that comes to mind first. So let me ask you this. If you're David Carl, you're the University of Denver coach, no to the Rangers. Yeah, no. And that's what I wanted to ask you. What would be a more

appealing job. A team like the Rangers, a veteran, you know, high-octane team that's expected to win right now, or a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, which has a load of young players, those college-age guys that Carl has proven he can reach, but that is still years away from contending. Which job is more appealing to you? Well, something that would put me off about both of those two jobs, actually, if I'm David Carl, is that they've both had a ton of coaching turnover. And if I'm David Carl, in order to leave this highly secure place where I've been highly successful, my family has had a good, you know, by all accounts experience in, I need to know that I'm getting significant rope, significant stability. I'm going to have, you know, the chance to really build

there. And I don't think either of those franchises right now, as historic as they are, and as much selling points as they have, to your point, like, there's probably not many better win now openings as of today. We'll see what happens as the playoffs progress than New York, even with all the drama. And there's probably not many better, you know, places to build. Anaheim would be one, actually, than Chicago, right? And so if I'm David Carl Anaheim of the openings right now, or maybe Boston, would be the ones that kind of really stick out to me, Boston, because they have historically been such a sustained winner that you think they can probably

get it back. Boston's kind of where Chicago was three or four years ago. I feel like it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better there. I think if you're David Carl, you basically have to demand. And I do think he's in a situation where he can demand because he doesn't need to leave for the NHL. He's not looking for a job. He's got a job, right?

He's got a job he likes. You have to demand, like, a five-year, absolutely ironclad guaranteed contract. Like, if you're Kyle Davidson and Rocky Words in Chicago, you have to say, look, we understand the situation here, and we're going to give you such a long leash, and we're going to guarantee it. It can't be like the two or three-year deal with a team option or whatever that a first-year coach typically gets. Like, you've got to demand a lot if you're David Carl. I agree. And I think that is the number one thing I'd be looking for is that stability. And maybe Anaheim is a place kind of out of the spotlight. I don't know that you're going to have too hard of a ride if things don't go right immediately. Although that is a team that needs to get going. Pat Verbeek did just kind of say, you know, we expect to make the playoffs next year. Maybe that colors the opinion. I don't know. Maybe there's not that perfect job for them out there at this moment. But there's questions on all of them. And New York is the one that I would be the most out of hand. No, I don't think I don't think Dolan is the owner. for him based on where he's at right now and both in his career and kind of in his life.

Just from my perspective, I haven't talked to David Carl about this. I don't want to speak for him, but you get what I mean. If I'm him, that's how I would look at it. I think that is absolutely how he's looking at it, just talking to people around that do know him. I think that stability and like getting time to build something is going to matter to him. What about Philly? Like, if you got Matt Vey-Mitchcock, but man, I don't know if that's any better than

Boston or New York right now in terms of the long-term prognosis. there's a there's a there's a there's a lot of work to do in philly philly reminds me of the spot detroit is in right where you you got you you've been bad you've got a couple of players i think mitchcoff's a great player he's a tremendous building block and i think they're going to get another really good player in this draft and then you're going to start very quickly running into this question of are you already done picking in the top eight or so right like the red bings are pretty much picking an eight to 15 now the last three four years and you you start to question them they got mark a mark

Casper at 8 and that looks now like a really good pick of players going to really help them. But there's still all these questions about the rest of these prospects they got in, how high is the ceiling? The potential is there for them to have enough pieces to be a really good team. But there's a lot of questions and they don't have those slam dunk guys anymore. Whereas if you're Chicago, you're still loading up, right? You're going to get a, I think it's at least the top four is the lowest they can go this year. Top four.

That's a good spot to be in this class. I know I'm sure there's going to be a lot of urgency to get better in a hurry there, but I think there's a very real chance they're in the top six or seven again a year from now. So there's more talent coming in. It's going to get urgent. That's a reality. But there's more so than in Philly,

I think, that pathway to it not getting stuck in the middle, in the end of it. And I do think there's something to be said for like, you know, David Carl's never worked with, he's what, he's in his mid-30s.

He's a young guy. He hasn't really worked with veteran superstars, like an Artemi-Penar. A player who's older than him. Right, exactly. A reality in some of these teams. Where is if you go to Chicago, almost every important person on that team is under the age of 23.

It is the exact people that David Carl has proven he can reach and he can work with and he can make better and he can, you know, make a cohesive unit into a championship team. So I do think, you know, I, I know I cover the Black Hawk. So, like, I'm probably blinded a little bit by, you know, my, my beat. But it just feels like just such a natural fit for a guy coming from college, a young guy coming from college. a young guy coming from college for his first NHL gig. Yeah, I think as long as you feel good about the stability, right? Because it can be really hard to break out of the people. Guarantee me that contract.

I want the best contract in the league. All these openings we're talking about mega markets last. Like New York, Chicago, Boston, Philly, and it's not L.A., but Anaheim is a pretty great place to be, to live at least, you know, certainly. So that's very attractive for any free agent head coach, I would think. Yeah, we're not. I mean, no offense to some of the other markets out there, but that does matter to a lot of these coaches. Like, you don't want to be toiling in obscurity for a cheap owner.

You know, you want to work in a big market with a big time, deep pocketed owner that, you know, you want to live that NHL life, man. And those are the markets in which you do. One other name that I'm very curious about this year, and you talked about your Chicago lens. I'm going to look at this with my Detroit lens. I wonder if this is the year Jeff Blashell gets his next shot for a couple of reasons. Obviously, Pat Verbeek's got familiarity with him in Anaheim. And in New York, both Chris Drury and Ryan Martin have been GMs of Team USA World Championship teams that Blaschel coached.

And frankly, you know, he's just being on this Tampa staff. If this Tampa team makes a run, they're going to have a lot of eyeballs on them again. So I do wonder if this could be a year that he starts to get kind of his next look potentially. Yeah, I feel like everybody gets two cracks at it before they get a reputation, right? Like, you know, nobody wants, it's the Bill Belichick thing where he was terrible at his first job. And then he became the greatest coach of all. time next time around. Like you want to be the team that knows that gives the guy his second chance.

And Blaschell's a guy who, he's well respected throughout the league. Like you said, his track record is pretty good. I do think, you know, he's probably like a second tier candidate if you're a team right now, but he might be a nice fit in one of those markets. Yeah. And for him, he has to be just as cautious, right? As we talk about with Carl, you know, making sure he gets the right fit. You talk about getting potentially only two cracks.

Like, well, if this is the second crack, make really sure that you like what you're walking into there. It's really tough, right? Because you're in a position where you can't turn down when there's only 32 jobs in the world out there for you. You can't really say no, but you also like, oh, God, is this going to screw me forever if I take the wrong job? That's a really dicey position to be in as a head coach. Like, you know, it's like when Luke Richardson was one of the hottest, you know, coaching candidates out there when the Blackhawks signed him, he went to a team that was tanking. And he has one of the worst records in the history of the NHL now. And it's going to be a lot more for him to get that next job because he took the first job he could get because you can't say no

to an NHL head coaching job. It's being a GMs the same way. It's really hard to say no if that offer comes. Absolutely. All right. I think we have two more crisis line calls. You want to think we had time to hit those before we sign off today? Yes.

Cry to me, people. Cry. What do we got, Chris? Hi, I'm a capital fan. My early childhood memories were essentially me crying over having a a 40-something save shut out by Yaroslav Holmock. I know the Canadians don't quite have that level of goal tending available to them right now, but I'm very scared.

This is a fast team, and the capitals, especially in the Ovescan hangover for the goals record, seems like they're a little slow for them. So I honestly think the communities should be favored. We'll see how it ends up going. Favor seems a bit. That feels like a bit of a bit of a bit.

You and I have talked all year about, like, We don't quite understand how the Washington capitals are what they are. And speed, yeah, when Dylan Strom and Alex Ovechkin are on your top line, speeds are concerned, sure. I don't think these, like, I'm so glad that Montreal's in the playoffs, but this is not like a really good Montreal team. Well, he talked about the capitals limping in. I mean, I don't know if, you know, did you watch, you saw Montreal live,

because Chicago played them, right? Mm-hmm, yeah. Yeah, Montreal was not that good to close. They could have lost that spot in their last game. They won that second wildcard spot almost by default because everyone else was falling on themselves even more than Montreal was. Like this is not a red hot. This is not St. Louis in the West. This is not a red hot eight seed right now.

They looked clammy to me. I mean, they were playing basically the Charlotte Checkers lineup as the Keynes rested everybody to get to get in. And they score first and you're going, okay, that's probably all they need. And then Carolina ties it up. And I think they looked clammy. for a little bit there. So I expect as much as the Cain, or sorry, like the Habs run to get in here was about kind of youthful exuberance and all these blossoming young stars.

Lane Hudson was awesome. Nick Suzuki was one of the best players in the NHL on the second half. And I think Nick Suzuki will be really good. If you're going to be scared of someone on this team, be scared of Nick Suzuki, I think, because he's out for blood right now. I do think the youthful exuberance of the Habs is going to be a problem for them as they get into these playoffs. They're going to still have to calibrate risk. They're going to try to play. If they try to play their fast game, Washington does have a lot of players who have been there,

who have done that, who I think will be better able to kind of control a game. And that's not a knock on Montreal. Like getting in is it already makes this year a massive success. But I wouldn't be too scared as the Capitals. I'm more concerned that this guy is a grown up who said he grew up in Yoroslav Olaq was in goal. Like my, my crying. There are dozens of us. There are dozens of us. My childhood trauma from the capitals is Dale Hunter, breaking Pierre Terjean's shoulder while he was celebrating a goal in 1993. That's like, I'm still not over that. I once ran into Dale Hunter in London, Ontario.

I was there to do a story on Patrick Kane. They were like retiring his jersey or something. And I just saw Dale Hunter. And I just got, I got so angry. Like I was like 13 years old all over again, man. That's how old I am. Dale Hunter, the London Knights Executive? Dale Hunter, the dirtiest.

cheapest yes-O-B in the history of hockey according to 13-year-old Mark Lazarus. You know that meme last where the guy like said I'll send it to you later. I guess that one.

All right, we got one more. Hey guys. Ian from Michigan here. Just worried about my Red Wings in the first round. Oh wait. Don't have to worry about that. I'll just be sitting here.

A great day. Max, how many playoff games have you covered in your career? Zero. It's incredible. That's just ridiculous. How do the, how do, I feel like it's, I'm, what's his name, Aaron Paul and in Breaking Bad. How does he keep getting away with it? Yeah.

It's real. It's, and a lot of people feel just how Ian does, right? I mean, it has been nine years now. I know people in Buffalo were rolling their eyes at that, but, you know, nine is tied for the fourth. longest drought in an HL history. The people of Detroit did not grow up braced for that, right? You know, this guy talked about growing up being scared of Yaroslav Halak. I hit my 20-somethingth birthday before I saw the Red Wings not make the playoffs, right?

Like it was a foreign concept to me when it happened for the first time in 2017 and seeing that, right? And that was right as I was joining the athletic. So I joined it right after all this run. I never knew a world where there could be playoffs without the Red Rings. But Red Rings weren't afraid of anybody back then, man. And now this is their lot. And they're going to have a hard time. This is not like automatically going to happen next year.

This is a really important offseason for Steve Eiserman. Yeah, it really feels like they've at best plateaued at worst regressed, right? Like they were on that trajectory like Ottawa was, right? They were kind of in that same group. And Ottawa kept going up and Detroit didn't. So tell me, what has to happen? this off season, given that Ottawa is better now and Montreal is better now and those other teams aren't going anywhere and the Rangers are going to do what they have to do to try to get

back in the mix. What has to happen for the Detroit Red Wings to be in the playoffs in 2026? Might need a whole other podcast to get to everything. But for starters, I mean, there's the personnel side of things, right? I think they really need a top line winger, probably a left wing. I mean, they had Marco Casper playing there when they were going really well this year. And then Andrew Kopp went down. They flexed Casper. into the second line center spot and he was just as good, if not better there. I thought he really maximized to Brinket and Kane. I got to think going into next year, Casper's a 2C, but you don't have an answer next to Larkin

and Raymond. I think they really need someone with pace to the game. You could try to cop there for kind of the down low ability to dig pucks out and use his hockey sense, but ideally I really think there's a pace factor that you would have on that line that I think they might have to go out and find. And I don't know if this is the perfect free agent class for that. But they're going to have to at least look there. And if not, they're going to have to explore trades.

They need one more top 4D, in my opinion. I think they asked a little too much of their blue line this year. I think in a perfect world, you're slotting Ben Chirot on the third pair and not asking him to play the level of minutes that he had to play with Moritz cider at this point in his career. Or you could play Simon Edvinson with Mort Sider. Then you're going to need another kind of veteran stabilizer on the second pair. So the top six wing, top line wing, and a top four D starts things for me. That's the personnel side of things. You got to fix the penalty kill.

And the unquantifiable is they've collapsed basically, depending on how you want to frame it, either two or three years in a row in March. You can say that the three years ago wasn't really a collapse. It was more of an aberration in February to put themselves in the mix and then it reverted. That's a reasonable take. But one way or another three years in a row, they've been in a playoff spot in late February and just had it crumble. There's a very real resilience, mental toughness factor that they have to figure out.

And that's going to be the hardest part about it because it's similar to some of these teams that have these first round playoff struggles. You can't really know if you've addressed it until it's the next year and you're in that spot again. So everything's great is what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. I think this guy who called is a very valid crisis. I'm sure Steve Eiserman has a seven-year plan that will address this. Well, and I think it is going into year seven for him. And he's always kind of the last couple of years, he said his expectation is for them to compete for a wildcard spot, compete for a playoff spot.

I think next year the bar's got to be higher. I think the bar has to be get in the playoffs. And it's not, you know, Montreal has arrived now. Montreal did their whole rebuild basically and half the time Detroit did and is right there with Detroit. And obviously this year ahead of Detroit, Ottawa has arrived now. but I don't think the ribbons need to resign themselves to that. I think they need to push as hard as they can to undo that. Catch those teams again and put themselves at or ahead of where Ottawa and Montreal are next year.

So I think our crisis results are Detroit guy, completely justified. Winnipeg guy. Completely justified. Winnipeg guy completely justified. Caps fan, probably okay. You're fine. You're fine. All right.

That's going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Athletic Hockey Show. if you want to be included in future Christline segments, that number again is 321-22-7-9-72. A special edition of the Athletic Hockey Show will be out tomorrow. Laz is going to be joined by Katie Strang and Dan Robson to discuss the start of the Hockey Canada trial and what to expect there. We'll talk to you soon.