The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Playoffs weekend recap, how is Leon Draisaitl still underrated?, revisiting which series is going to Game 7, inaugural Conn Smythe Winner of the Week, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: April 24, 2023

On this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Ian and Julian are joined by The Athletic’s own Mark Lazerus to recap a great weekend of playoff hockey and discuss how Leon Draisaitl is somehow still underrated, who should start in goal for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5, if people are sleeping on the Carolina Hurricanes, which series is going to Game 7 a week into the playoffs, whether a Toronto Maple Leafs first round win or loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning is the more compelling storyline, Dallas Stars-Minnesota Wild as the best series so far, the Seattle Kraken really competing with Colorado Avalanche, and more.Plus, to close out the show, the guys hand out their first Conn Smythe Winner of the Week award and play a round of Multiple Choice Madness.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/hockeyshowStart making your financial dreams a reality with Chime. Get started at http://chime.com/nhlshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, it's Robert Mays, host of the Athletic Football Show. This year, we're covering the NFL draft like we never have before. Live from a TV studio on site in Kansas City. Join me, Nate Tice, and our draft expert, Dane Bruegler, on our YouTube channel at 7.30 p.m. Eastern time this Thursday as we bring the Athletic Football Show's unique brand of analysis to the first round of the NFL draft. And when the draft gets going for the second and third rounds on Friday, we'll be right there too, kicking off our coverage at 6.30 p.m. Eastern. Search the Athletic Football Show.

show on YouTube to find our channel and subscribe now to make sure you don't miss a second of our 2023 NFL draft coverage. This is The Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back. It is the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show and it's a three-headed monster coming your way here. It's Ian Mendez. It's Julian McKenzie and Julian. Who got rounding out the line with us? Do we need a nickname for this line too? I don't know if, oh, you know what, that's actually a good point, man. Like, Mark Lazarus, first off, thanks for hanging out with us.

But, like, if we were, like, a line, actually, who plays where and what would our nickname be? Well, I can guarantee you Lazarus, based on his reputation, would not be a right winger. So I would suspect, why does he keep drifting to the left? Good Lord. Oh, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. Welcome to the show, buddy. Mark Lazarus.

That's right. That's right. Oh, my God. That was, that's brilliant. That was just. I just say we end the podcast now. We're not topping. Home run.

We don't need to do anything else. Congratulations. Our noted left wigger, Mark Lazarus. Well, all right, let's come up with the name. We got what? We got a Jay and I and that were the Jimbo line. I don't know.

That's terrible. Julian Ian, Mark. Yeah, Jim. That's all right. Jim could work. If people get really bad. at us. We could just be the woke line. I don't know. Oh, the three M's though, right? The soy boys.

With the Z of the Aaloy. The soy. Oh, the M's, the M's line could work. McKenzie, Mendez. Mark McKenzie and Mark. 3M. Yeah. Yeah. Brought you by 3M. There you go. Hey, but this is great, Lazz. We are so happy to have you with us because this was, like, let's just start here, guys. How great was this weekend in hockey? Like, Saturday night was amazing, three overtime games, and then we get the Edmonton, L.A. overtime game. I mean, Laz, I know your base kind of, you camped out in New York right now.

You got Devils Rangers and Hurricanes Islanders came through. Let's start with you, Lazz. Like, right now, pick the one series that you're the most kind of engaged and find compelling right now through the first week of the playoffs. I'll tell you, it's killing me. You know, I wanted this assignment to come out here on like Devils Rangers. what could be better than that. Throwing some Islanders canes on the side.

That'll be fun. And I'm looking around and all the good series are everywhere else. I've seen three, five to one games already. Even the Rangers game three, the overtime game where the Devils won and made a game of it, it wasn't that great a game even for like a playoff overtime. It didn't really seem to have that vibe. I'm looking at Minnesota, Dallas and Edmonton, L.A. That's where the drama is.

That's where the blood feuds are starting to pick up. That's where the officiating is coming into play. I love a good officiating controversy. that's where all the fun is right now it's out west. Yeah, I have to say like, you know, Edmonton, LA for me, might be the most interesting series. And I think we probably might have to show some love to Toronto,

Tampa, but that might depend on what game four ends up being. But the fact that the Edmonton Oilers have found themselves a situation where they're tied in that series. And you could make an argument they probably could have, if they really played well, probably to give themselves a 3-0 series lead.

Think about that first period in game four for L.A. That was like the best they had, looked all series long, and they still blew that lead. And this might be, like, you know, everyone's looking at Connor MacDavid and what points he's going to get five on five. And all the while, Leon Drysado was just chilling being on the ice for every single one of one of those goals scored by the Edmonton-Northy's in this series. People are going to put some respect on Leon Drysado's name this postseason. And I think this series goes a long way towards that.

How is there not already respect on Leon Drysell? You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised. He would be surprised. He looked like a flamingo out there. on one leg just skating around and he was still the best player on the ice. You'd be surprised.

Incredibly. For whatever reason. You'd be surprised. People like Connor McDavid, I get it. You know, Nathan McKinnon, I get it. We're best players in the world right now. Leon Drysidal, the point that you brought it up, the fact that he did what he did last year.

Like, we should not be, it's kind of weird to think of it as like second fiddle or like 1A even to Connor McDavid. But like he brings it in so many key moments. He's literally the best passer in the world. world. He's also a 50 goal score. I mean, what more do you need out of a guy? I think dry sidle suffers from the same thing that Fagney Malkin suffered through for years, that Sergei Federov did for years, that to some extent Peter Forsberg did for years, which is, and maybe even Yerber Yager back of the day, like, you're a dominant player, but you're

North American-born, you know, kind of a teammate. They get all the accolades. And because you're from overseas, you're not quite, you're not, I don't know. It's weird, like, Leon Drysidl might very well be the second best player in the game, right? Like, I mean, he's absolutely in that conversation. He's no lower than top five, that's for sure. No, and he's elevate each year, like last, like last year in the playoffs, one leg, one leg, this guy. He elevates his game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And it's, it is amazing if we somehow aren't giving enough respect to Drysidal, right?

And it's tough. He's playing on the same team as the greatest player who ever lived, the most talented and skilled player who ever lived. That's tough. And like you said, there is a xenophobic angle to this that you can't ignore where Leon Drysadle is not going to get marketed the way that Connor McDavid is going to get marketed. But, you know, it's also the Edmonton factor has to play into it too, right? I mean, Edmonton's kind of out of sight, out of mind to most of the continent.

It's so far away the games are on late. It's not an American city, which I know you guys don't want to hear, but it makes a difference for the fan base down here. It's just like, you know, you already got Austin Matthews in Toronto, and you've got McDavid and Dryside Love in Emmington. What if Bedard goes to, you know, Montreal or something like that? Like the league can't, the NHL would lose its mind. You can't have every great player in Canada.

That doesn't work for the league. Is this your way of saying the fix is in at the draft? Is this what when Connor Bedard ends up in Columbus or Anaheim, we're going to go back to this club? If it's rigged, he's going to wind up in either Chicago, Detroit, or Philadelphia, let's be honest. Oh, that's actually a much better point, yes. The league does not want him to Columbus or Anaheim either, although Columbus would be great

because that's a team that's got some talent guys. We're getting off topic here, but it does make a difference in terms of these guys' visibility to be in Canada. Now, Matthews being in Toronto, that's Toronto. That's different. But to be in Edmonton, like most Americans couldn't tell you where the hell Edmonton is on a map. And I like Edmonton.

I love going up there, but it's just not on the radar for American hockey fans. Most Americans couldn't tell you where Toronto is on the map either, but that's another... Couldn't tell you where Chicago is on the map. I mean, you've seen our education system lately. Oh, my God. But here's the deal. We'll take the star, we'll take the star players in Canada. We'll take the elite players. You guys get the Stanley Cups. It seems to work out okay, I guess, for everybody. That way, yeah. Yeah. Just not, just being enough of me. I have a question with, with the whole duo thing and how we did, you did kind of mention some players who, you know, the European counterparts, for whatever reason, playing second fiddle.

I don't know why, like, I think of, like, when Wing Gretzky and Mark Messier were playing. Is that not the same thing? I mean, does that not fall into that category? Like, I wasn't around in their heyday, but, like, how was Mark Messier marketed? Does that fall in that same category? Because I don't know. Messier didn't become Mark Messier until he went to New York. That's when he became Mark Messier, when he, you know, undid the curse in New York after 54 years.

And that's when he became the captain of all captains, a guy you could name a ward after himself and just randomly picked dudes to win it. In Edmonton, he still was, I mean, he was great, obviously, he's an all-time great player, but I don't think he became the legend that he is until he left Edmonton and got out of Gretzky's shadow. Then I wonder for a guy like Leon Dreisdell, if that has to do the same thing. Like, I think about it for Leon. One storyline that got propped up at the beginning of the series is how him and Leon Dreisdell, him and Alonzee Kopitar are like friends. And, you know, they just happen to be playing against each other in the series and they're putting whatever friendship aside.

Like, could you imagine if Leon Drysidal, who I forget how long until his contract expires, but dude just said, you know what, I want to be the guy in my own city and I'm going to be a free agent, I can either take over where Anzay left off or go to some other big market. Like, is that what it's going to take for us to properly give Leon his due? Go to an American market like in L.A. or New York, for example. Like, is that what it's going to take for us to properly, I don't know, just put Leon's Drysidal on the pedestal that you should belong to. A superstar from Edmonton going to L.A.

It'll never work. Yeah, I've never heard of that before. You've seen that story before. Yeah. I don't know. It's a good point. You know, it is. It's a great point.

But then, I don't know. Look, I think Drysidal, his best chance right now, if he wants to win a cup, I think we can agree that doing it with McDavid is the best chance for him now, right? Like, sure, maybe down the road, going somewhere else making his own thing.

But you know what? Like Mark Messier did, like when the Oilers won their first down the cup, Mark Messier was the Kahn-Smith trophy winner. Isn't that funny? Like, it's interesting. But you're right, Lass. Like, even though Messier won that first, he was the Kansmite trophy winner,

and I think it was 84, and then in 1990 he led the Oilers to a cup without Gretzky. Without Wayne Gretzky. He still, yes, at least two without Gretzky. Yeah, but he still didn't get to that stratosphere until he went to New York, and he vanquished the 54-year drought. You're 100% right on that.

You know, the dry-sidal things, it's fascinating to me because, like, if you ask your average hockey fan who the best players in the world are right now, they're going to say McDavid, they're going to say MacDaconan, they might say McLeod. Most of them aren't even going to bring up dry-sidal. And he's certainly in the top five.

Like he said, he very well could be the second best player in the world. And it is, he is in as big as shadow as you can have in the NHL right now. And it works. Like, hey, super teams in the NBA, work out just fine. That's how you win a championship is you have to have more than one star. Taves and Kane did just fine together. You know, and if poor like, you know, Patrick Sharp had to sit there as like a sixth fiddle. Like, you need a bunch of stars to win a championship in this league. But I don't know if Drysidal cares.

He doesn't strike me as a guy who's out there like, you know, hey, look at me. I deserve more credit. He knows how good he is. When you talk to him, he knows how good he is. And I think he's perfectly content up there. I don't think he's, I don't think he knew he's a guy who's thinking about chasing a legacy at any point. That's fair. That's a fair point. But I will, but you bring up a real,

like, you mentioned Tasing Kane. You know it better than any of us here. But I never felt for a second that like either of those players were in each other's shadow. Like they're so different, right? They're so different, like perfect compliments of,

of players. But for whatever reason with Connor and Leon, we do not think of them in the same stretch of, of Connor and Leon. It's like Connor and then, oh yeah, Leon is like maybe a T, maybe not a tier,

but like he's behind. him like he's one A. How often do you think one A? Like who would be one A between Tays and Kane after? There wasn't. That's the thing of it. There wasn't. Kane was the star, but Taves was the face. And it worked that way.

Like, Kane was showy. Taves was, you know, intangible and two-way play and leadership and all the stuff that everyone rolls their eyes at. Like they were, and Gretzky and Messier were kind of similar in that way, where Gretzky was the star, but Messier was still the heart and soul of those Oilers teams, too. With Drysidal and McDavid, it's not as. differentiated, right? Because McDavid isn't like a huge personality and neither is dry-sidle, whereas Taves and Kane and Gretzky and Messier, they kind of had these delineated personality

types where I don't think most people know. And again, this does probably play into the Edmonton of it all, is most people don't know what Leon Drysidal sounds like, looks like, acts like. He doesn't, it's not in front of most hockey fans' face the way Taves and Kane were on NBC Sports every single Wednesday for six years. How many American fans, know about Leon Drysidal's get-pissy comment to Jim Matheson last year. Yep. That might be the only audience. Like, if you think about memorable sound bites with Leon Drysadle, like, that's it.

There isn't a second one. That's true. Right? So it's a good point that Laz brings up that he, you know, he doesn't have this sort of, neither of them have this sort of big, large, bold personality. Okay, let me ask you guys this question. Jay Woodcroft is going to have a legitimate question on his hands. Put yourself in Jay Woodcroft's shoes.

head coach the Everton Oilers. Who do you tap as your starting goalie for game five? Is it Jack Campbell who came in relief and you were down and you came back and you won the game in overtime? Or is it Stuart Skinner who started every game so far in this year? If you guys, Jay Woodcroft, Laz I'll start with you. Who do you start in game five? Oh, man, it's hard. Do you dance with the one who brung you or do you go ride the hot hand, right?

I mean, I guess the question is, do we think that Jack Campbell has a hot hand right now? was he so good last night that we can qualify him as having a hot hand? Or do you go back to the, I think I go back to Skinner. He's the guy who got you there. He was the one down the stretch that was so important. But you have a quicker hook now because you know you got a guy back there that can play. You give your starter a second chance to prove that that was just one off period that he had, basically. But you're at the ready if you don't think like the way he looks.

Because I don't think, Skinner's a better goal than Jack Campbell this year. There's no question about it. So I think right now you go. back to Skinner, you give him a chance to keep the net, but you got a quick hook ready to go. I'm still surprised they pulled Stuart Skinner because I don't necessarily feel as if all of those goals he allowed in that first period were his fault. And I felt this way about this roster and even last year too, if there is a team that can just flip that switch and make a comeback from a three nothing deficit, it's the Emmington Oilers. And it almost doesn't really matter to me

who is the goaltender behind them. So I, I don't have a problem with going to Stuart Skinner, but I can also understand the advantage, or maybe not advantage, but I understand the reasoning with starting Jack Campbell because he did do what he need. He did what he need to do in limited time. He did get the win at the end of the day

for the Emmington Oilers in that game four. I might end up going with Stewart Skinner because he has been the overall better goalie and Jack Campbell, when he has looked bad, he's looked bad, and I don't think you want to risk that going into the postseason. But I don't know. I think if you're Jay Woodcroft and you opt to go for a

Jack Campbell and you're trying to go for the quote unquote hot hand, I guess I can understand the reasoning. But at the end of the day, this Evanton Oilers team, I still think is so good that Jack Campbell could easily could start game five and allow two, three quick goals to start. And you're thinking, okay, so Leon, Connor, Newt, everybody else. Like, what are you doing to get back? Van der Kaine? Like, what are you doing to get back in that game? Because they can do that. And they, they prove that in game four. A lot of times you have a coach will pull the goalie after a three nothing kind of deficit more as a message to his team than to the goal. It's like, I can't bench all of you.

So look, I have to bench this guy. Get your shit together, right? You see that a lot. 100%. Do you guys subscribe to the theory, too, that 3-0-legit is the most dangerous lead in hockey? It is. It is.

It depends on who you're playing against. It depends on who you're playing against. But to your point, like, the Jets found a way to tie it. The Oilers did their thing. It really depends on who you're playing here. I always heard that as a kid growing up watching Islanders games. It was Eddie Westfall. He was the color announcer for the Islanders with Jake.

McDonald. And every single time there was a three-goal lead. You go, ah, most dangerous lead in hockey. And, you know, you break it down and it makes sense because a two-goal lead, you're not laying off the gas pedal yet. But a three-goal lead, you're like, all right, we can kind of just sit back and protect this now. And that's when you get yourself into trouble, right? When you start feeling a little comfortable. So, you know, four-go-le lead, you're probably not losing that. A two-go-le lead, you're not sitting back. That three-goal lead, that's a mental block there where it's like, kind of have this in the bag if we just play the rest of this game like a big penalty kill. You know, as you mentioned, you know, the old Eddie Westfall, Jigs McDonald's,

broadcast of the Islanders back in the day. This must be a real thrill for you on the weekend to be able to go back. Cover a couple of Islanders games in the new arena in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And look, as we talk about L.A. and Edmonton, that's such a great compelling series. I think Minnesota, Dallas has been great. Talk about Tampa, Toronto. From the outside, it feels like Carolina and the Islanders has been dull. and a little bit boring.

You've been there for a couple of the games. Walk us through it. Like, has that lived up to the reputation of being dull and boring? Or how's that series played out for you? You think of the beautiful and exciting and fun way that teams like Edmonton and Toronto play. And then you watch the New York Islanders and the Carolina hurricanes where the islanders are just trying to hit you into oblivion. And the hurricanes are so structured, you know,

and they've lost three or four of their top forwards. And so they have to even play that structure more because they know they can't score in bunches. so they have to play even more defensive than usual. Yeah, it's ugly hockey. It is not the same. But I will say that for game three in particular, the game that the Islanders won, the new barn sounded a lot like the old barn. It sounded a lot like Nassau Coliseum. There's like, you know, Long Islanders are louder by nature just in general.

You can hear me talking right now, and I'm louder than most people. And so when you put like 18,000 of them into place and they're screaming in that thick accent of theirs, it's a beautiful thing to behold. So it was a fun atmosphere in game three. I will not say it's good hockey. I will not say it probably translates to television very well. But when you're in the building, that's what you want, right? You want the atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the playoffs is more important than the style of play, I feel like. So as long as the games are close and the crowds are hot, I don't care what style of play you're playing. It can be a lot of fun. Like I said, that Rangers Devils game three, which the Devils won in overtime, that came, you know, they tied it and it went to overtime. It didn't have the feel of a playoff game.

me. I've covered some tense overtime playoff games, and part of it is, and I don't want to get myself in trouble here, but like the New York crowd is a lot like the Toronto crowd is a lot like the Chicago crowd where it's so expensive to get in the building that it's kind of got a corporate feel to it, and it's not as, you know, blue collar is going to Newark or something like that or going to, you know, Detroit where the crowds are a little more, you know, lively. So that might be something to do with it. I wasn't a bad crowd, but it's just, it doesn't have that vibe. And the vibe is everything in the playoffs. It's so much more important than anything else is. close games and vibes, right?

That's what you're looking for. Yeah. I need more of that out here because I'm going to my fifth game in five nights tonight, and I need it. I'm jonesing for it. That's crazy. I want to say, though, at least from watching on TV, we've got to shout out the Carolina crowd too,

because they look really empt up through these first two games in the series. Like, I don't know. I see a lot of people say that the Carolina crowd is one of the loudest in the league, and I would like to see for myself, but at least watching. playoff games on TV when they score goal and you hear like P. Pablo's

raise up as the goal song. Like they seem pretty into it. They seem pretty into it. People always want to on a crap on that fan base. It's a great fan base. They are so into it. Look, are they as big a fan base as New York

or Toronto or Chicago? No way. Of course not. But the ones that show up, they show up and they are fantastic. Do you guys feel though that like we're all sleeping on the hurricanes, even though they won their division, they're up 3-1, but, like, you know, they're quite banged up, right?

They're missing some key guys. They've even suffered through injuries here in the playoffs. The goaltending seems suspect at best, and yet it looks like they're going to punch their ticket into round two. Like, why aren't we taking them or, like, is it because they didn't add that big splashy name at the deadline like everybody else did in the east? Is it the goaltending?

Is it because they have the reputation that they're very, they play a kind of a dull, boring. Like, they're like a better Seattle, right? Like, isn't that how we think of Carolina? They're just like an efficient, good team, not as good as Boston, not as bad as Seattle. But I don't know. I feel like I need to be taking them seriously and I'm not.

I think there's like an Edmonton thing to them too where they're kind of out of sight out of mind, right? They're not a prominent franchise. They're not on national TV all that time. They don't get the air time that some of these other big city teams get. I think the Svetnikov injury, like everyone wrote them off after that, right? They're already out with Patch, Petcheretti out for the season. Then you lose Fetchnikov for the season.

Now Tavotara Vinen's out for the rest of the postseason, probably with a broken hand. Like, that's half their top six. Like at some point, this wasn't a team that scored a lot of goals to begin with. And so they are so good and they're built so smart and they're so deep and they're so fast that they can still compete with anybody in the league. But can they score enough goals and can they get enough goaltending from Antiront or Freddie Anderson or Piotr? And I forget how to pronounce his last name.

Kachov. Thank you. Or you could have said, and I don't like saying it, but you could have said the Cucci Man. I would not have said that. Absolutely not. Can they get enough gold? They're going to have to win these games two to one, three to two. Like, can they do that for four rounds? Like, they're such a well-built organization and team, but they just don't have anybody who can finish. And at some point, somebody's got to score some goals. Yeah, they're not a sexy, they don't have a sexy playing style. Like even Eminton, you know, they might be out of mind for a lot of people. But as we were talking about before, they could, come back from a three-o deficit. They have two of the best players in the world. Carolina, in terms of names and faces, like, Sebastian Aho is not a household name. Talented player, not a household name. You mentioned deadline acquisitions. I think the hurricanes were probably

hoping that Max Patcheretti returning from injured because he got injured again. And he was, he was ahead of layoff before he joined the team. And I think they were trying to use him as some sort of quote unquote deadline acquisition before he got hurt as well, right? Like, yeah, It's a lot of unfortunate stuff with them, but, like, in terms of the names there, like, they're not names that jump off the page and the goal tend. And you're absolutely right, too. Like, Antiranta, good for him that he's getting starts in net and getting those looks. But, like, I think if other teams would probably look at a guy like Antiranta and think,

really, like, this is the guy you're going to bring to the dance. Like, even Ebenson with Stuart Skinner, like, he's at least, like, a really good, a really good goalie. He could be in consideration for the Calde Trophy at the end of the year. To be fair, Antiranta, I think he is the ninth highest save percentage in NHL history. that's pretty good for for like guys with like 250 appearances something like that i looked it up the other day he his numbers are always great he's a but he's always been a backup right he's never been the guy until last postseason when he got in there and he won around and you know then kind of turned

into a pumpkin a little bit in the second round it's tough i will i will say this another guy if we're talking about guys that we don't give enough credit to brent burns yeah look i had him number two on my norris ballad this year he has been an absolute beast and i know there's the jacoboslavin factor where he gets to play with Jacob Slavin, which makes anyone look better. But he has been such a great fit in Carolina. That system is beautiful for him. And he's completely rejuvenate. It's funny that him and Eric Carlson both had these kind of like rejuvenating seasons this year.

I feel like nobody talks about Brent Burns this year. And he has been freaking fantastic. Do you think Burns and Carlson had to get away from each other? Like, no, no, I mean that. Look, they both had Renaissance seasons. and when they were together, when they got put together, we thought, holy smokes, what a, Burns and Carlson, you know, same power play,

but same team, and they're going to eat up 40 minutes a night. And it didn't quite work out the way they envisioned, and now they're in separate places, and they both seem to be thriving. Maybe. Maybe that's just how it is. Sometimes you can't have two of the same type of player just playing alongside each other.

For Brent Burns, like, to see him do so well in Carolina, yeah, he is kind of getting slept up. And I think for a lot of people who especially were looking at their Norris Trophy votes, I think if you're going to make arguments for guys like Campus Linholm who have the great defensive rating that they have playing on arguably the best defensive team, not arguably the best defensive team in the league, you got to put Brent Byrds on your ballot too because he's also one of the best defensive teams of the league. And his defensive rating is also good. And he has the offense to match as well.

Like I mean, I'm sure once we see everyone's ballots, holy crap, all three of us, all of us voted as a first time voter. This is a pretty special. I spent so much time on that Norris. Oh my God. Oh my God. Norris is always difficult. But I just, I was like texting Peter Ball back and forth. We're like making arguments against each other trying to talk ourselves out of things.

And I just, it was just, it was so hard this year. Like there's six, seven guys that could not just be on the ballot, but could win the damn thing. Dude. I remember like a couple days before the deadline, like Eric Carlson and the sharks were in Calgary. And we're having a whole scrum with with Eric Carlson and David Quinn after and asking them, their thoughts on everything. And I have to admit, like, in terms of my thought process, just seeing Eric Carlson play and gay and hear him talk about being up for the Norris, I was very much, like that played a part in my process. I'm not going to say if I was sweet

or not, but that really had me going. I mean, Roman Yosi last year was challenging to evaluate his season because he put up so many points. But Carlson this year was even more difficult because his defensive numbers are so bad. His team is so bad. and his offensive numbers were so good. I did not. I had him three on my ballot. I don't want to get too much into the details. Adam Fox is the best overall defenseman in the league.

The numbers say it, the eye test say it. I can't argue against Adam Fox. It's the definition of the award all around defensive. But at the same time, the problem is that up until now, and David Quinn agrees, and I think other people should start drumming this up, because of the quality of offensive defensemen, we have today, we are going to need an award that rewards those type of players.

Yeah, it's called the Norris trophy. What we need is a defensive one. No, no, no, no, no, no, because Roman Yosi had a year we had the most place. Eric Carlson is going to win the Norris this year. He's going to win it handily. Do we, do we know that for sure? He's going to win it handily. We all know how this voting goes. He's going to win it handily. Ian, did you vote for Eric Carlson to win? This is, this is turned into a Norris trophy. Yeah, I did. But, but I did it after, like, probably, I felt like two or three sleepless nights and conversations with dozens of people around the game and players.

It's hard. Just trying to find out. But I'm with you. I think if you come up with a Paul coffee, Bobby, or whoever you want to name the offensive player, a defenseman award after, I'm okay with that. If you have an award for the best defensive forward, then theoretically, shouldn't you have an award for the best offensive defenseman, like using that logic? But then you really got to, like, press upon voters as a block that you are now,

the Norris is now, and Jacob Slavin becomes a reliable candidate for the Norris every year. Like, you have to make it, you have to completely alter the way the Norris trophy is presented then. Would Bobby Orr have won the Norris if there, all those years, if there was an award for best offensive defenseman? Like, I don't know. I never saw Bobby Orr played, but he sure looked like a forward to me. And that's Carlson, right?

Like that is. Anyway. Sorry, I keep sending us off on. Sorry. No, no. That too. We're jumping on a lot of different tangents. Like, sorry about that.

It's been too long as I've spoken to you guys. That's all. Yeah. We miss you. Well, listen, let's get back to the playoff chat. You know, last week, Laz, Julian and I discussed it was going into game one of the playoffs. And we looked at all the series and we tried to pick what series we thought would go to seven games. Which is the series that you were most confident?

Yeah, I think that one is going to seven. I said Vegas and Winnipeg. Julian, what did you end up picking? I think I said Minnesota, Dallas. Yeah, Minnesota Dallas, which is looking really good. Laz, and we can refresh this here because obviously things have changed in the course of a week. Las, you had to pick one series that you're like, yeah, I'm pretty sure that's going to seven. Dallas, Minnesota would have been my pick going in, certainly.

Yeah. It's playing out the way. But I also would have thought that about Devils Rangers. That seemed destined for seven. Not too. The Rangers, I hate to say it, because I picked the Devils to go to the devil's, the Stanley Cup final this year, but they don't have it yet. Like, they're not there.

Like, they pulled out game three, but the Rangers look like a vastly superior team so far. They look, and in that playoff run they went on last year, like, I hate almost every hockey cliche, and I roll my eyes up all the time, but the one I do believe in is experience counts in the playoffs. And what the Rangers went through last year and what the Devils didn't, I think is playing a significant, I mean, if you saw the first 10 minutes of game one of Rangers Devils, the Devils look like they were peeing their pants out there. I mean, it was so bad.

So they're starting to calm down now, but the Rangers just look so deep and so composed, and they've got the best goalie in the world, arguably, and they've got, you know, five, six superstars up front. Chris Kreider has scored five goals and three games. Yeah. So that would have been the one I think I would have picked at the beginning, but I don't believe it anymore.

So, yeah, I think Dallas, Minnesota seems the most evenly matched series. Yeah, I mean, both those two teams going into, I tried to make the point last week, just in terms of the different quality players that they have, the goal tend to the storylines. I didn't, it's funny. I kind of thought like,

okay, like who's going to start between Philip and, and Mark Audrey Flore? Then I ended up being a storyline in game two. But I just thought with just so many similarities between both teams,

even the goals against, uh, in the regular season for both teams is pretty close. Uh, so I, I figured that was just going to be a seven game series and I'm feeling pretty good about that now. You gotta give a shout out to,

to Jason Robertson and Sad Yusuf who's been writing about him a lot. The fact that it's kind of funny to be that, like we're looking at it, look at a guy like Jason Robertson, and he's been quiet, but he's got four points at four games. It's just a perspective thing because other people would be like, we should be taking over, but like, you know, it's a perspective thing. Let's not sleep on Leaf's bolts for seven games.

So we're about a half hour into this podcast, and we haven't talked about the Leafs yet. Is that legal in hockey podcast world? I know, I know. Are we breaking some kind of rule here? Considering some of the other podcasts that I do, like, this is actually kind of refreshing. It's actually kind of refreshing to not spend 20 minutes.

It's all the Leafs. What's a better story? Just objectively take all, you know, everything out of it. Just what's better story? Is it the Leafs finally going on a run or is it the Leafs losing in the first round again? Because I think it's the least losing in the first round again. It's objectively hilarious if it happens again. Man, I mean, here's the thing.

It'll be so fun if the Leafs go on a run. I remember what that Raptors run was like in Toronto. Toronto fans are awesome. They deserve this. But it would be so funny if they lost again. See, that's the thing. Because that Raptors run came after yeas. years and years of not getting it done in the playoffs, LeBron coming in and LeBronto happening and

basically being the barrier that kept the Raptors from seeing any kind of success. Or also, if it wasn't LeBron, it was the Raptors themselves. For the Leafs, in order for this to be a really good story, they would have to go on a run. And like, they win in the first round, but then they play Boston in the second round. And if Boston disposes of them, like 10 years after all of this misery began, is that a success? is that enough for Kyle Dupus to keep his job? There's all those whispers going around that he could go to Pittsburgh.

Does he want to keep his job? Does he want that? Does he want to stay there? And then all the anxiety turns to, oh, is Austin Matthews going to stay? I'm not, to your point, like, it's like, if they win around, like, they get a little bit of joy,

but that's only last for so long. If they lose in the first round, that is like, DefCon, 5. But you wonder, like, how the Leafs will respond to that. Like, do they just say, okay, screw it? Like, this has not worked. We're cleaning house.

Austin Matthews again. After all of that, what does he do? There's, there's like, it's like a doomsday path that if the Leafs embark on that, like all their fans are going to be super anxious and everyone else is just going to be watching super. Objectively speaking, it would be so fascinating if they lose in the first round again. Absolutely. Like how it would play. Because the team is so good.

It's such a good team. But this, but here's the thing. it up though, wouldn't they? You can't run it again. Because like, here's the thing. Like, last year, they ran up against a really good team. That ended up going to the final.

And it was really close, down to a game seven. This year, that same lightning team, look, I think through three games, I think we can all admit it, it is not the same lightning team. They are too banged up. They're too tired.

I think they lost a bit of blood with some of the guys like Ryan McDonough leaving. Like, it's not the same team. If this leaves team loses it to this lightning team this year, That is bad. I don't think you can come up with the same positives that you had last season when they lost in seven games. Like, it's, it's bad.

And this is a, this is a Leaf's team with a lot of those players who lost to Columbus in the qualifying round, lost to the Montreal Canadians in that bubble season. Those are two teams they should have beaten going away. All those other ones years ago, the early Boston years, the Washington year, you could always say like, okay, maybe that team just was not ready to do it. these last few years, this course should have at least like two, three series wins. Like this should be the year. Everyone's like, okay, it's Stanley Cup or bust.

The fact that we have to look at them and be like, oh, like there are people in Toronto who are like, it's a success if they win round one. It's a success if Austin Matthews thinks it's a success. Because if Austin Matthews doesn't think it's a success, forget it. But I think, look, they haven't won a playoff series in 19 years. So yeah, I think winning a round is a success. on some level, but they've had a two one series lead in virtually every series they've played in in the Matthews era and lost every, like Columbus.

And they should have lost team three, by the way. They were out of late. They should have lost eight three. If not for Ryan O'Reilly, who was dynamite to tie it, dynamite to win the face off. Anyway, but you know what I think is interesting too? And I was thinking about this in this entire Matthews-Marner era. And I think I got this right. I should have looked this up, but I think I got it right.

the Leafs have obviously lost in the first round every time. None of the teams that have beaten Toronto have gone on to ever win the Stanley Cup. So it's not like they can sit back and say, ah, damn, we lost to the Cup champ, right? Because in 2017, they lost to Washington. Washington lost to Pittsburgh. 2018 and 19, they lost to Boston. The Bruins got to the Cup in 2019, but they lost to St. Louis. 2020 was Columbus and the debacle in the bubble.

21 was Montreal. They got to the Cup, but they lost. And last year was Tampa. again, they get to the cup and lost. It's not like Toronto can say, boy, we lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion at any point. Wait, isn't it still something that three of the last four teams they've lost to in the first round have made the final?

Isn't that still something? If that's what you're reaching for, then you're a pathetic excuse for a franchise. I mean, that can't be what you hang your hat on. Not me, though. I'm just saying. If you're building a team with that, you have to have higher standards than that.

I think that. Absolutely. Absolutely. And especially for a team like the leaves where a lot of people like to prop up the fact that sports science is good, all these other other, all these other extracurricular stuff with the team is good

and the market is what it is. There are a lot of people who like to prop up the organization for what it is and how progressive it is and the standards that they are able to uphold, but the fact that they don't have anything to show for it in terms of playoff success and the fact that they do not get the benefit of the doubt

from a lot of people who watch games, that means something too. Yeah, well, I'll tell you, they've got a, their fan base, even if they win game four and they go up 3-1, there will not be a single, arrogant, cocky, overconfident Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Like, you won't see it until the final buzzer sounds of a potential clinching game.

They could be up for nothing in the third period of a clinching game with five minutes left and people be like, I ain't, this ain't done. Like Ian Mendez is half joking when he says that. He's half right. He's half wrong. But can you imagine how insufferable that be if they do win the cup at some point? Oh my God. We live in Canada.

We know what's going to happen. No disrespect to Leaf fans, but we know what's going to. going to happen. If they win that round, you might as well end the playoffs right there. That's going to be an entire celebration. It's the truth. It's the truth. It's dead out of the truth. The mean, also the memes are going to be out of control. We're going to get a bunch of those one of first round banner memes. Oh, we're going to get a bunch of those. But don't you think, just to wrap up the thought on the leaves, if they somehow beat Tampa and Boston advances past Florida. Would you guys agree with me on this, that Toronto would go into that series against Boston

as the overwhelming underdog and ironically, strangely, not have a ton of external pressure on them? Or am I wrong in that? I think once, if and when they get past the first round, that's going to relieve so much of the pressure in that balloon that is Toronto. And then, yes, you put it to the fact that going up against the, you know, the best regular season team arguably in history, uh, there won't be a lot of pressure on it. But that changes real quick. If they get swept, if they get just run out of the rink by the Bruins, we're going to have the same, you know,

rending of garments and gnashing of teeth and stuff that we would have lost in the first round. They have to be competitive in that second round for you even to look at this and go, all right, at least they finally made some progress. I want to say, though, like, there's a thought that just came to mind where like, if you're the Leafs and you've endured all

of that pain over the last how many years and you finally win around and you go up and you play against Boston, I get, like, there's a structure and playoff style you have to play, but is there not a liberating, freeing feeling that you would start to feel? It's kind of like, well, no one's picking us to win this series to begin with. And we already won around, playing the effort style that, you know, some people think that they're playing in that first round.

They did glean all the way into that. Like, hell yeah. Like, no one thought-steering the Bruins. This is the Stanley Cup. The Bruins aren't going to win the cup this year. That's not how hot you works, right? Yeah. They might not even make the final as Ian and I,

are saying they might not be fine. A free and easy leaves team would be terrifying. Yeah. Terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. That's what I'm saying.

Anyway, but they got a long way to go, obviously up to one. Yeah, those are probably those. Yeah. Exactly. The other shares I want to hit on real quick because you guys have talked about this, but Minnesota Dallas has been delicious from, you know,

Peter DeBoer and Dean Everson on the podiums to the goal tentating. stuff to the Dumbai hit to the Felino hits and like, this series has been, I think even though those aren't the two marquee franchises, I think if you strip everything away, you just said, what's been the best most energetic playoff series? I think it's Dallas, Minnesota. And right now, I love the fact that I have no clue who's going to win this series. And I love that.

And do you guys feel, though, that like Phil Gustafson has been really good? and Jay Cottinger just been okay. Jake Cottinger is going to steal a game, isn't he, at some point for Dallas? Yeah, I see that happening. I see that happening. This is the guy who made his name in the first round of the playoffs last year

stealing opportunities and games for the Dallas Stars and making it the seven game series that it was against Calgary. I totally see. In fact, he's kind of due, right? Like we focus so much on the Minnesota goaltending and Jake Cottanger, I don't feel

as if has gotten that same level of shine. I think he's due at some point in this series to steal a game himself. This is going seven, and if this doesn't go seven, I'll be disappointed. Dallas was my pick to win the cup just because I didn't believe a team from the East could come out of that meat grinder and then win another series. Like, I thought Dallas's path to the final was clearest. They've got everything you need. They've got the great goalie.

They've got a Norris caliber defenseman in Muriel Hayskin. And they've got all the stars up front with Robertson leading the way and Rupa Hintz and, you know, Pavelski, if he gets healthy. There's so much skill and talent on that team. and their path is pretty clear. But we don't talk enough about the Minnesota wild and the pressure of their face. That is a hockey rabid, basically Canadian fan base, right? And they've never won a cup since they've been back. They've never won a conference final game since they've been back.

They made it to the conference final once and got swept like 20 years ago. They haven't won a second round game in, I think, nine or ten years now. Like, they are, you know, they are perennially pretty good. They're never bad. they've never been great. And this is the best team they've probably ever had. When you look at the star power they have now with Caprizov and who they have leading the way, there's a lot of pressure on that franchise, I think, to finally get over the hump and make a run themselves. This is a really interesting, you know, compelling series between two teams that are trying to, you know, make some kind of headway here.

One other thing that needs to be mentioned to. I mean, we live in the salary cap world as we do. those buyouts on Ryan Suter and Zach Prys, they still not getting it easier for next year. I think they jump up from 6.3 to 7.3 on the cap next year. That is not going to be fun. It's pretty miraculous that they're as competitive as they are with all that dead weight. Yeah, we thought that they were going to be cooked this year,

didn't we? Yep. We think they were done this year. Absolutely. Credit to Bill Guerin for keeping the window open. But you're right, Las. It's such a great hockey market, and they've never gotten to the cup final.

in, you know, in two decades. Is there a Canadian equivalent to that where like Minnesota fans just love the team so much that they kind of, they get mad and then they just move on and they forgive them and they're just like, let's do it again next year. Is there, is, you know, because I feel like Vancouver and Toronto and Calgary, these markets aren't as forgiving Edmonton. Maybe Winnipeg, maybe. Is Winnipeg just happy to be there kind of after losing the team? Is there still some of that? When does that wear off? I mean, the, the, the, the Jets organization put out a notice to season ticket holders, basically. basically like people are thinking it's like a basic threat for them to start renewing those tickets. Calgary's I think is a little bit more jaded in terms of a fan base because they've endured the lack of playoff success of the last few years. So I don't feel as if they're happy. I don't know if they would be right to say they're happy to be there because some people would say they haven't been there enough. Toronto, I don't know if it's what's the phrase I want to use. They're just stuck with their team. Yeah, it's just kind of like, all right, let's just do this again. I'm ready to be heard again.

Vancouver, I guess, feels like the same thing, I guess. I feel like Vancouver has like a love and hate relationship with their team, like, where they just, like, they they love it so much. And when it's good, it's go good, but they just hate it at the same time. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where it's just like, even if like Elias Patterson and Quinn Hughes do so well, it's like those, those Aqualini's like, I can't stand them. Minnesota's really unique in that way where it's just like, they seem to have an endless leash because this fan base is so devoted and passionate,

admirably so that they, and it's that Minnesota Nice where they don't really kind of, they're never going to march on the Excel Energy Center with pitchforks and torches, you know? Could you imagine like someone throwing a jersey on that? I can't think about that. Like in almost every other Canadian market, I can imagine a scenario where someone gets fed up

and throws a jersey. Like if that happened in Minnesota, like how would we all react? It would be pretty shocking, I think. I could see it in Buffalo. Buffalo, absolutely. I could see it in Philadelphia. I could see it in a handful of places. Yeah, you're right.

They're very friendly. It's tough too because they've never been embarrassing. They've never been awful, not in recent years. They're always pretty good. They just never get anything more than that. Yeah. Hey, before we wrap up with a couple of, we got a cons might of the week award

and a multiple choice question, real quick, a thought on, are you guys surprised that the Crackett are pushing the abs like this? They won game one. Game two was a one goal game, game three, the aves were able to pull that out by two goals. First game ever, first Seattle playoff game ever,

which is pretty cool to see that atmosphere. I'm surprised that it's been this close. You guys surprised? Yeah, I am. I thought that even if Colorado was as banged up as they would, I didn't think this series would be as tough for them as it's been. By no such an imagination today, I think the Cracken would put themselves in the situation that they're in.

Absolutely not. But I think it's really great on the part of the crack. And this is a team that is, I don't know how many years ahead of schedule, but like, this is a team that I thought was going to miss the playoffs. And they found themselves in a wild card spot, the first of two wild card spots. And the fact that they're able to push the Colorado Avalanche. They're banged up as they are, but it's still the reigning champion Colorado Avalanche who could still do so many things well. And they still have Nathan McKinnon. They still have Kail McCar.

Miko Ranton is also still available to them. Like, that's not a slouch team by any stretch of the imagination. So if Seattle even pushes this to game seven, that is such a big deal for that franchise. I am genuinely shocked any time the Seattle Crack can win a game with that goaltending they have. It speaks volumes of how good they are up front and how well built and deep they are

that they can win with Philip Grubauer and Martin Jones as their goalies. Because it's the worst goaltending duo in the league probably. And here they are, like you said, hanging with the abs, making the playoffs, really good regular season team with like 880 save percentage as a team. It's unbelievable what they've been able to do.

Imagine if they had a goalie. Imagine if they had a Jake Ottinger or an Igor Schisturkin or Ilius Seroken. They'd be a monster. So if they can go and add, you know, whatever happens in this postseason, they can go find themselves a real goalie. I know that's difficult because they've committed to Grubao. That's a scary team for a long time. They are so well constructed everywhere else.

Yeah. They're just deep. There's just a deep team that kind of rolls four lines. Anyway, it's great to see the Cracken, see that city embrace It's cool. I love going to games there. It's a great, it's a great new fan base. They are so into it. The rink is so cool. It's great for the league to have them doing well. Yeah. No, it is. It is fantastic. All right. During the regular season on the Monday edition of the athletic hockey show, we used to do the Jack Adams of the Week Award. Well, we would look back the last seven days last and say, which coach did the best job in the past seven days? We're going to flip it a little bit in the playoffs and see if we can correctly get the Kansmite trophy winner. So I'm going to throw out some candidates.

We'll bat this around the very first consmite trophy winner of the week in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I'm going to give you guys a handful of candidates here. You tell me who should win the consmite trophy of the week for week one of the playoffs. Is it Leon Drysidal leading all playoff scores with nine points and on the ice, remarkably for all 13 Edmonton goals so far in the first four games against L.A. Is it Chris Kreider becomes the all-time Stanley Cup playoff goal leader for the Rangers has five goals through three games. It's just been a one-man wrecking crew for the Rangers against the Devils.

Rupa Hintz has been really good, eight points, four goals, both tied for second in the league. Rupé Hins from Dallas, Mitch Marner, also with eight points. And how about Igor Shisterkin? Raining Vezna Trophy winner, maybe a bit of a down year this year in the regular season. But boy, Laz, and you've watched them now in three straight games, 9.50, save percentage, buck 26 goals against average. Looks every bit like the Schisturken we saw last year. So, guys, Laz will let you do the honors first.

Who should win the Consumlighty Trophy of the week? Well, I'm going to basically undo all the good I did about Leon Drysidal by focusing on the New York guy, but it's Chris Kreider. I mean, it's been incredible to watch him. And I've been fortunate enough to be at the games. You know, we have four power play goals in the first two games, all of them on tips, which he's like one of the all-time greats at tipping in front of the net. And then in game three, he had a beautiful snip shot off the rush.

He is, I mean, when it comes down to what, you need goals, right? It's not just about points. It's about goals. Who's scoring your goals? He's score five goals in three playoff games to start the series. I don't, you know, all credit to all those other guys you mentioned, including Chesterkin, but what Kreider's doing, that stands out to me. Okay, fine.

So Leon Drysadle is five goals in four games. That's still impressive. Yeah, but five goals on Edmondon. It's like the Canadian exchange rate. There's so many goals that they score that it's kind of devalued a little bit, you know. Also, I think it's 14 goals. that the Oilers have scored where Leon Drysito has been on the ice for all of them. And I think that is an, it's a ridiculous, impressive statistic.

We've wondered for a little bit about, hey, like, is Connor McDavid going to wake up and get more points at five on five? I don't think at any point in this series, we'd have, we've had to look at Leon Drysidal and wonder if his play is up to snuff. And I think because of that and because of the fact he's leading playoffs and scoring, he gets my vote. You know what? I get to play tiebreaker here. and I hate to do this to you, Las, but I got to side with Julian here. Canadian bias. Imagine your team scores 14 goals to start the playoffs.

And you're on the ice for all of them. And you have nine points. Like, it's unbelievable what he's doing. You don't have to sell me on Leon Drysadle. I got no problem with it. I'll allow it. Okay, we'll allow it. So there you go.

We're going to give Leon Drysiddle the first Kansmite trophy of the week award for the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And then we're going to wrap up like we always do with a, multiple choice badness question for you guys. We had some really heated battles and fights, and maybe a couple of them were unexpected. In week one of the Stanley Cup playoffs, here's my question to wrap up the Monday pod.

What was the most unexpected fight or battle from week one of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Was it A? Easy. I don't need the multiple choice. This is too easy. Linus Almark against Matthew Kachuk. B. Peter DeBore against Dean Everson at the podium. those guys were kind of having a dueling dueling wars.

Is it C, Caldupus v. the random fan in the stands? Is it D. Stephen Stamcoast and Austin Matthews dropping the gloves in fighting? Or is it E something else? Look, we can tell Laz has an answer. So let's let Julian go first and see if he's got the same answer as Las. Julian, what was the most unexpected fight battle from week one of the Stanley Cup playoffs for you? I wanted to come up with something really funny for the E option. I can't think of it right now.

So I'm just going to go with Stamco's and Matthews. It's the first time we've ever seen two 60 goals scores go at it in any type of fight. And considering how testy that lightning leaf series is starting to get, wouldn't it be funny if that happened again? Like if Austin Matthews or Stamco's got into another fight, like that would be kind of entertaining and funny to see. Yeah, the Kyle Dubas thing I just want to mention, like I'm sure you guys have all seen him at his box in Scotia Bank Arena

to see him get out with those fans. Like that's just insane to see. Some people like go back to Canada and all that. Like come on, guys. Like this is a bit ridiculous. But I'm not as surprised. Like I think when you're doing all that yelling from your, from your booth, like someone is inevitably going to get under your skin.

So I'm not surprised this didn't happen sooner for Carl Dupus. But Matthews and Stamco's going out of each other, that's my pick. Okay. So, Laz, is that, is that it? It's Matthews Stamco's. It's not just because they fought. It's the ferocity with which they've. thought. That was

insane. They were throwing haymakers and rapid fire. This wasn't like two stars kind of dancing around. They were trying to beat the crap out of each other. And you just don't see that from superstars. In any area, even during like the peak fighting area, you wouldn't see

that kind of fight with that kind of ferocity behind it. Like that was like, I'm not a big fight guy, but I got excited. That was in the Rangers press box at the garden when that went down. And I'm like, oh my God, look at this. I'm showing everybody on press row. happened. I mean, that was, that was, that was intense, man. Is that the best superstar fight since, uh, La Cavalier and Andrew McGinla?

Yeah. Oh, good call. I think so. Like, I, like, I, like, I can't think of another fight involving players of this caliber. Jonathan Taves and Joe Thornton had a few over. Oh, yes. Yeah, in, in the playoffs, right? Jonathan Taves hates Joe Thornton. I don't know why he hates Joe Thornton. And they had a few over the years, but those aren't 60 goal scores either. Like Stamcoast Matthews, that's as big as it gets. Yeah, I love that stat. First time ever, the two 60 goals scores fought each other in a game.

But I'll tell you what, though. Like, for me, I was shocked. Kyle Dubish comes across as one of the most measured calm guys. Why I was surprised at this was, A, I've never seen him unhinged like that, but B, then upon further review, it turns out he was fighting with a Leafs fan. Like that's Really?

Yes, that's the funniest part. It appears to be an angry, it was apparently an angry Leafs fan Who was yelling at Kyle Dubas? That's the plot twist nobody saw. Well, you feel your own people. Florida is like half Ontario people in for most of the year. That's true, yes. But I'll tell you, if I'm Kyle Dubas, you got to be careful who you're arguing with in Florida

that are all armed every single one of them. It's Florida. It's, it's Florida. I'm going to go. bring my gator. I got bath salts. I got something else tucked in. Like, it's Florida. Be careful. That guy watches Tucker Carlson. I guarantee you. It's all I'm saying.

Not anymore. He doesn't. Look at that, guys. We came full circle. We started like this and we end. Hey, Les, this was great. This is phenomenal. Have you, Pop-by. I got to, before we go, though, we got to give you a chance to shout out the favorite restaurants,

Las has hit. It is stay back in New York City. Most people come to New York and they kind of blow up the expense account on all the great restaurants here. I just go to the same pizza and bagel place every time I go to Esa Bagel and I go to Pizza Supreme and I gain like 20 pounds in a week. But go to Hobbies Deli when you're in Newark. That's all I'll say. Yeah. Obbies deli is the place, right? Can't get bagels and pizza like this in Chicago.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah. Well, Julian knows a good bagel from his days in Montreal, right? It's a different kind of bagels. Let's not compare. Let's not do that. St. Vieter bagel.

you don't get any better than, like, Montreal. The hole in the middle is so giant. You can't even make a sandwich out of it. Okay, that's what you think. I've had a delicious sandwich with bagels back home, and they're great. I don't know what you're on about. I don't think you need to defend New York bagels here. I should mention, though, we did make a joke about Tucker Carlson.

I think it's only fair to the other side that we say, hey, they can't watch Don Lemon either. Bye, Don. That's right. I know. Just trying to get both sides. There we go. Both sides again. All right.

Hey, we're going to leave it there. And, Las, this was great. So safe travels to you, Las, as you continue to cover

the Southinga Plus, we love having you on here. So thanks for dropping by the Monday, the Monday show. Thanks, guys.

Always fun. All right. Peace. Yeah, listen. I want to thank everybody for listening to the Monday edition

of the Athletic Hockey show. Follow us in your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and a review. We appreciate that. And as always, Julian,

and we got a shout out our producer, Chris. Incredible work on this show. It's better every episode. We can just feel it. He doesn't write that in. Big Chris out here. Thank you for making us sound good on these podcasts, man. We appreciate you.

He's in a good move. Diehard Rangers, guys, teams up to one. And right now, subscription to the Athletic for one year for a dollar a month when you visit the athletic.com slash hockey show. Corsi.