The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Playoffs weekend roundup: Rangers sweep Caps, who advances next?

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

On today’s brand new Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Ian and Laz break down all the playoff action from this past weekend and discuss Ian’s NHL realignment plan, Evander Kane’s “drama” comment, a classic Jake Voracek press conference moment, playoff series comeback odds, and special shoutouts to journalist Mike Zeisberger and CBJ communications specialist Lindy Noel for donating a kidney to The Athletic’s own Aaron Portzline!Plus, The Athletic’s NHL insider Pierre LeBrun joins the show to talk about the state of the Toronto Maple Leafs, potential names on this offseason’s coaching carousel, the Kings-Oilers series, and more.Subscribe to The Athletic: http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back, everybody. It is your Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Ian Mendez, Mark Lazarus, with you for the next hour and change as we wrap up the first week in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Look ahead to the next few days, which has some compelling storylines.

Looking forward to having Pierre LeBron drop by. But I need to know here last. Like, what has happened to the month of April? It's over. I feel like, don't you feel like, April flew by. I feel like that tends to happen. It's like, you know, you finally get some weather that's like, okay.

Then it starts just raining for like three straight weeks. Then all of a sudden, oh, look out. It's spring. And here we are in the playoffs. I don't know about you. I am tired, man. Like this late night hockey stuff, you're in Eastern time. I'm in central time.

So I have a little better than you. But I had to get up to get the kids to school this morning. And I'm like a zombie already just because I can't not watch the late night games. And the late night games are just brutal to watch. I didn't stay up for Edmonton, L.A. I watched everything else on Sunday. And Edmonton, L.A. was like halfway through the game and it was zero, zero.

I'm like, I'm out. I think I might be out. I had a rough night on Saturday night for the Vegas, Dallas game, which I really wanted to see. And I was up. I was staying on. I said, screw it. I'm going to stay up through overtime.

It's a Saturday night. I can do this. And it's like 12, 45 in the morning. And I'm still up. And there's like five minutes to go in the overtime. And I'm up. and I'm up and all of a sudden it's the intermission panel. Like, oh, I fell asleep and I woke up and it's too late.

Like, there's no way I'm watching second overtime. So screw this. Turn off the TV. Wake up in the morning. Check my phone. Wait a minute. That wasn't intermission panel. That was the end of game panel.

They scored like 30 seconds after I fell asleep. I made it like 12 hours of hockey that day. I couldn't stay up for like 30 seconds more, man. I blew it. Oh, man. Man. You know what though? Like I said, like April has gone by in the snap of a finger.

And life comes at. you fast because it was exactly one week ago. Last Monday's edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, where we sat here and were like, well, Colorado's not going to win with Georgiev. Like, they're done. They're, they got to, they got to go away from him. And, um, it's, it's remarkable that Connor Hellebuth, last for the first time in his career, has yielded 19 goals in a,

four games spent. It's never happened. Which is an amazing stat into in and of itself, because during how long he's been in the league now. And he's rocking an 870 save percentage in this series, which is significantly worth. Like, Georgiev is pretty much playing the way he's played all season, right? Now.

Like he's like an 890, whatever. Hellebuck's nose-dive. I want to put you in Rick Bonas's shoes. No, I'm not putting Broussuan. I am not putting Brousswa. Okay. So you wouldn't. You wouldn't? Look, and And hear me out on this. If you look at the numbers,

Laurent Brassoa, I know, fewer games, but he had a better save percentage than Hellebuck. No, no, no. So non-starter. Under no circumstance. Yeah, Brousa is a literal non-starter. I have Connor Hellebuck. Really?

I have arguably the MVP of the league this year. I am not writing him off after three games. Absolutely not. And watching those games, I mean, yeah, he's not making the save that you wanted to make, but this is not on him. You know, the Winnipeg has a discipline problem. They're taking too many penalties.

They're playing sloppy in their own end. Winnipeg is just, they're, they're soiling themselves right now. Like, Hellebuck is part of that, but he is not the reason right now that they're down 3-1 in that series. But doesn't it at all give you some, a little bit of the vibes last year? Remember Boston in Florida? Boston stuck with the guy that was going to end up winning the Vezna Trophy and Leanus Elmark a little too long, right? And they finally, they didn't go away from him until the seventh game and it was too late.

Like, you don't think that at any, you don't think it should even be a consideration. I mean, I mean, you consider everything, especially when you're doubt, but I am not benching Connor Hellebuck in an elimination game. And that's just insanity to me. The, the old Mark Swainman thing, they were one in one A all season. Yeah. Hunter Hellebuck is the guy. And you dance with the one who brought you.

Like, this is not like a game two, game three situation. We're talking about elimination games now, and there's no way I'm benching arguably the best player in all of hockey. And I'd like to remind everybody out there when they see our ballots are heart ballots. We're for regular season only, do not yell at me. This feels like somebody may have put Connor Hellabug on his heart trope. He was high up on my ballot. We don't know. We don't know that for sure.

That's why you can be. Look, the thing about Helibuck is he didn't really have a great march. Like he was through the end of February was utterly spectacular. some of the best goaltending we've ever seen in the modern kind of cap era of the league. He kind of came back down to Earth and it wasn't that great in March. And Braswell was playing really well. Every time he went in there, it seemed like he pitched a shutout. But Helibuck got his feet back under him in a couple of weeks before the playoffs,

just like Ottinger did in Dallas. And just like you expect, you know, Bobrovsky, like these guys round into form when you need them the most. There is, unless there's an injury involved and there's no reason to believe there is, there's just no way I'm sitting Connor Helibuck in an elimination game. are you going Hellebuck and there's no, like, Hellebuck with a short leash? I mean, if it gives up three goals in the first period, sure. Like, then it's just like, you know, all bets are off.

But like, there's just, there's absolutely no consideration of my mind to making a goalie switch at this point. Boy, it's, it's going to be a talking point. If they lose this series, regardless of how it happens, the goaltending will become a factor. He has been good, though. He and along with many other people on that team have not been good enough. So I want to ask you from the weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

And we'll get Pierre LeBron on and we'll really dive into the Toronto stuff with LeBron. But I want to ask you this last two, what's the more sort of lasting image of the weekend? Is it Colton Sizzins of Nashville? Oh. On the empty net attempt. Now, in his defense, it was a backhand shot. And he was under pressure from Quinn Hughes. Like, it's not, it's not a gimmy.

It's not Patrick, uh, Patrick Stephan. It's not that. Okay. But he misses an empty net that would have sealed the game, tied the series. Is that the last thing of the weekend? Or is it the scene from Toronto on Saturday night where Mitchell, Marner, uh, William Neelander and Austin Matthews are kind of bickering on the bench? And then Matt, um, Marner takes his gloves and throws them down.

Look, Nashville loses, they go down 3-1. Toronto loses, they go down 3-1. Which is the lasting image for you that will, like maybe years from now, people will replay. It's Toronto just because it's Toronto. I mean, the Sisson's play was actually more important. Like that's, he buries that and it's a 2-2 series. Vancouver's on its third-string goalie. It's Panic City up there.

And it should be. Instead, it's 3-1-1. Like, that is the bigger actual impact play. The argument on the bench, though in Toronto. That happens a lot. Jonathan Taves used to just scream at Patrick Kane about misplays. They would be going at it

like, you know, like kid brothers just screaming at each other on the bench. That happens every game. But when it happens in Toronto, and it happens in a game that poor, and we can all read lips, and it wasn't hard to figure out what Willie Neelander was saying there, and Marner with the demonstrative glove throw, like,

that's not like an important thing, really. It's just kind of a symptom of a larger issue, but that's the image we're all going to remember. because that's, we don't see that on camera very often. And everything in Toronto is just so magnified this time of year that we're going to remember that for a long time. Brock Bessor deserves a shout out here. I mean, I mean, I thought that, I actually put that game on mute in the final five minutes.

I was like, okay, I'm going to start doing something. Vancouver, they just weren't generating shots. I'm like, these guys, they're not going to score two goals. they might not even get two shots is what I was thinking. And then, you know, they make it three, two. And I was like, okay, they've made it interesting. And then when Sizzins hit the post, I was like, man, they've, it reminded me of that USA Canada.

Oh, I knew you're going to bring that up. The Olympic goal was that, that was in Sochi, right? I was there. I was seated like 30 feet from that post to win that ball. And the American women hit the post and Canada come back and Mary Philippe Poulin does her thing. Anyway, so Besser scores. to tie it, Lindholm scores to win it.

And in my mind, I'm thinking like, okay, well Nashville's done. Like you, like you just, you can't give a two-goal lead away like that and lose. But now here's what I'm thinking last. This is crazy. And this is how the mind, and I grew up in Vancouver.

I know exactly how the mind of a Vancouver sports fan works. They're like, my God, we better finish this off in game five. We better for it. Because if we did a game six, we've got to travel all the way back to Nashville. and what if sorrow steals a game six,

and then they force a game, and it's a game, like, I just know, but who do you think has a better chance of forcing the game six, given the sort of, not necessarily catastrophic, but emotional ways that they lost game four on the weekend at home? Is it Nashville or is it Toronto? Who's got a better chance to force a game six? Can I say Tampa? No, I will say, I will say Nashville.

I do think it's Nashville. I think Toronto is cooked. I think they are just mentally gone. Nashville is going to be kicking themselves forever because of what happened yesterday. But they have the goalie, like you said. They're going against a third string goalie. I'm assuming they're going to stick with him or even if they put into Smith. This is not Thatcher Demko they're going up against.

And there is, there's just this innate pressure in Vancouver that's different, it feels like, than almost everywhere else in the league. And it's going to be hard to close out a series net. I mean, we saw that, you know, back in the, the, the, the, you know, Alex Burroughs, Ryan Kessler era, it's hard to close out a series. And Nashville's a good team. Like, this is not like the capitals sneaking in backing into the playoffs. The Predators earned their spot.

They are a good team and they can control the style of play as they did yesterday. And it's tougher to do that on the road, but they can pull that off. And Saros is the kind of goalie that can steal it. And, you know, look, there's a reason that this series should be 2-2. It's 3 to 1. It should be 2-2. and it's because Nashville is on equal footing as this Vancouver team,

they absolutely can force a game six and a game seven. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. It's fine, you brought up who's most likely to force a game six and somewhat facetiously, I think you said, can I say Tampa? Here's what the 2004 Red Sox ruined it for me, Las. And then obviously, you know, L.A. Kings came back from, from 3-0. Remember we had the Bruins and Flyers in 2010?

Like, we've seen a lot of, of these 3-0 series suddenly become not such an insurmountable lead as maybe they were 20, 30 years ago. Is there any way? Like Tampa can scare the hell out of Florida by winning game five? Of course. I remember I talked to Duncan Keith about this years ago.

Like I asked him, like, is momentum a real thing? Like, does it actually exist? And he said, it's a real thing. thing because people believe in it. If you believe in it, that makes it real. But then he went on. He said, but that's only within a game. Momentum does not exist game to game.

These are professional athletes. These are some of the most mentally tough people on the planet. They know how to reset their brains. They don't worry about what happened two days ago. Nashville is going to show up and they are going to play a brand new game. They're not going to be thinking, I can't believe this should be two to right now. Toronto is different because it's just year after year after year of just kind of like, There's like a generational trauma in Toronto right now.

But for most of these teams, Tampa Bay knows it can win four hockey games in a row. They just know they can do that. And if they win game five, they know that the pressures all of a sudden, that game six, when you've given up games four and five, is terrifying. Because then it's like, oh, God, we might be the team that blows this. So the momentum doesn't exist, but the pressure builds. And the later you get into a series, that's when you find out, which team is mentally tougher.

And Florida and Tampa Bay, these are two, Florida's made it. They've gone to the final. Nobody's tougher than Tampa though. And until they're cooked, they're not cooked. Yeah.

And so Carolina had a chance to close out the Islanders. The Islanders survived to play another day. It doesn't feel like that one, like, I don't know. Am I wrong on this?

No, I mean, it's such a mismatch, right? I mean, it's the gap between those two, teams is so severe. But, I mean, if the Islanders didn't blow a three-nothing lead in, what was it, game two, two, two. I think it was game two. This series would be two-two. So it's been more competitive than we thought. The problem is, you know, find something to love the way the islanders love

blowing leads. Like, this is a team that's more competitive than it looks, but it's almost impossible to envision Carolina losing four straight to this Islanders team. So I want to talk a little bit about the one team that did punch their ticket into round two, and that's the Rangers. Not a big surprise. Like, Capitals with their minus 37 goal differential, Rangers won the President's trophy. I think if anybody was picking, like, you had to pick one series that would end in a sweep, I think 99% of hockey fans would have picked this one. So no big surprise.

What was surprising is that you got name checked by Stan Fishler. And we got to talk about this because you're a Long Island guy. And you would have grown up reading, listening, watching Stan Fishler. I watch Stan Fishler on Sports Channel every day. And so maybe every week we do a segment called Little Las, where we go back and we find out Little Las, Little Las would have loved to be named back. My older brother's friends, that's what they called me.

I was Little Las, even though I was bigger than my brother. I was four years younger, so I was Little Las. Little Las. So Stan Fishler, name checks you. And it's all about Matt Renpe, right? Like it's about, you know, Rempay doing Rempe things and Fisler writes about it. So what's that like for you? This is a guy that you grew up idolizing, watching, listening, and he kind of came at you

a little bit there. A little bit. Yeah, he was disagreeing with me. I mean, he was pro Rampi. I am not pro Rampi. I'm literally getting death threats from Rangers fans because I questioned their fourth liner being a little bit too rough for my taste. I don't think that's, I think that's a little severe.

but it's it's just incredible that Rampé is this much of a hot topic. He plays five minutes a night. I went and I looked and I think it's Curtis McDermott. Someone, only one player in the league averaged fewer minutes per game than Matt Rampay. And he gets like 98% of the oxygen. And I didn't want to feed it when I wrote that column, but I'm just tired of this guy considering how few, he's played 20 games, 20 games. And he plays five minutes a night.

and he has injured four people. This is not okay. This is not good for the league. And nobody outside of New York seems to realize that. Is it almost like a... Exactly. Now, I wasn't, like, I know you,

again, you got the New York ties, the New York connections. Is this almost like Jeremy Lynn, like Lynn sanity? It's how he came out of... No, because Jeremy Lynn was awesome. Like, he was producing. But it was a tight window, right,

for Jeremy. win. Yeah, but he was getting like 35 points a game doing that. Matt Rempe ain't getting 35 goals a game. So this is Tommy. Tommy DeVito, the quarterback for the Giants this year. He came in like two games. And his family was like a big yeah, yeah. His agent looks like a mafioso

from like the 30s. Like, this is what the Met Rempe is to me. This is not a guy who's going to be in the league for 20 years. Man. The Rangers though. What are your thoughts on Rempe? Are you, do you think this is, I have no problem with

physical guys being the league, but this guy, just being six foot nine on skates does not give you an excuse to hit people in the head every day. And that's, you know what, to me, that's the one you worry about is the amount of damage that's being inflicted and also inflicted upon him when he's dropped the gloves. Like, he's fought a bunch of times. That's the only thing you care about is the human beings in the game, right? And so if he's playing in a dangerous or, you know, reckless. You know what the problem is? I feel like every time he lays a hit, Las, it becomes a referendum. Every time. Yeah. And nobody's changing their mind. There's either a pro rep, repate camp or an anti-repay camp. And there's no real in between. Or it's hard to try to

live in the middle, isn't it? Like Zedano Chara to me is a guy who is six foot nine. other than the Patcheretti hit, which obviously caused a huge uproar in Montreal, you put them into the stanchion. And that's the only, that's the first time we ever heard the word stanchion, by the way, in the NHL was when Chara hit patcheretti.

Zadano played the game at 6'9, but did it with a measure of control, right? Like, I don't think you can count too many times where Zadano Chara hit someone and you're like, well, that's just a height difference. It's like, like there wasn't there, right? Like, Repi plays a more reckless friend. And that's where I don't agree when people say, well, don't blame the guy.

It's his height. Zedalda Chara was six and a height. And he was playing 30 minutes a night and he wasn't out there hurting people. I just, I can't believe that we, that there are still people in the league playing five minutes night. I thought we had left that part of hockey behind where, you know, you need to be able to play 12, 13 minutes night as a fourth liner. You're not a guy. Like, Rempe didn't play a six. single shift in the third period last, yes, last night.

He's not the guy you went out there to protect the lead. So what is his role here? Like I keep seeing interviews with Lobby, he's like, oh, he's doing a great job for us. What job is he doing? He doesn't even play. But, but look, last, they swept the first round series, right? Yeah, the Rangers are really good. Yeah.

And, and the reason why they're good is Shasturkin and the breadman and Adam Fox, right? And so sometimes we do get confused. Like the reason why the rangers swept the caps isn't Matt Rampay. It's, you know, there's probably 15 reasons ahead of him, right? But, but in saying that, a lot of people are getting the 94 vibes going again, last, because it's a first round sweep. It's a president's trophy, all of that. The Knicks are good again.

It's all happening. The Knicks are good. I saw somebody, maybe you retweeted it. They're like, as Peter Body. Yeah. Is back in the news. It's 94 all over again. Um, does your view of the race?

Rangers change at all because they executed a first round sweep? Or is that more of a, ah, it's the Capitals and they were at minus 37 team. I'm not convinced any more about the Rangers than I was 10 days ago. Well, it didn't change my mind, but the Rangers are legitimate contenders. I mean, all it did is reinforce that, if anything. I mean, they beat a fringe playoff team the way you're supposed to beat a fringe playoff team. It was, it was dominant. And they are, like, they are the, they won the President's trophy for a reason.

talk about, you know, Colorado and Dallas, and we talk about Vegas and Winnipeg, and we talk about Vancouver and Toronto and Boston. The Rangers have oddly flown under the radar this year, considering they won the president's trophy. And I don't know why they got the, they got one of the best goalies in the world. They've got one of the best defensemen in the world. They've got one of the best forwards in the world. They have all the things you need. They, they check every box. Their power plays, I mean, they're not the best five on five team, which is my, which is, which is, which is concerning, but they're so good on special teams that, you know, it makes up for that in a lot of ways.

They are legitimate content. The East is not a scary lead, like the conference. All the scary teams to me are in the West. And, you know, whether it's the Rangers or the Panthers or the Bruins, I don't see a clear-cut favorite here. Absolutely the Rangers can come out of the East. That is a legitimate. And the guy that's the Carolina in there, of course, too.

But that's going to be a really tough second round series. They're going to take a serious step up in competition, assuming Carolina knocks off the islanders. that's going to be the test. If they can handle the Carolina, which is a great five-on-five team, then all bets are off and they could go, it could be 94 all over.

All right, last, tell you what, let's bring in our NHL insider here on the Monday pod. It is our friend Pierre LeBron, who's going to, actually, last, we didn't tell you this. We're just going to talk about Ezekiel Elliott coming back to Dallas. Oh, what that. Let's not talk, let's not talk cowboys, for the love of God,

for the love of all of our listeners. I've gone from disappointment of the offseason with the Cowboys to every team in the league says the running back no longer matters. I'm now invested in the Cowboys testing it to the extreme. I'm now invested in if every team thinks this, let's be the first team to actually do it and enter the season without an actual true number one. Although it's nice to see Zieg back. He's an awesome dude by all accounts. Well, I'll tell you what. Why don't we do, the easy segue is let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys of the

NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I'll pay it, Pierre, because they're polarizing. You should get, I hope they have Emmys for a podcast, but you deserve one right now just for that. Oh, yeah. So, Pierre, you were at, you were inside Scotia Bank Arena. Am I right on that Saturday night for the Toronto Boston game? I was. I came home from Edmonton and dipped into Bruins,

lease for one night and what a night it was to be to be dipping into a series. Oh my goodness. By the way, you know, aside from all the obvious parallels between our Cowboys and the Toronto Maple Leafs is the fact that both those franchises make so much money. I mean, I know that seems obvious, but it's the one part that doesn't get like, it's not just that they've been playoff disappointments forever, but they're also, that's the team you want to own in both sports. So that's why the parallels are so rich and the memes are out there. It's because, yeah, the joke's on them, unless you own them, there's no joke. They're making lots of money.

It's just that they'd like to win again one day. So, Pierre, I like to envision you and CJ and Siegel and cloak in the press box just yelling at each other about angles like Mealander and Marner and Matthews. Were you guys up there just at each other's throats too? It was an interesting night. I actually, I was in the TSN seats, not the athletic seats, but I had Chris Johnson to my right, and I had Brian Hayes of Overdrive to my left. And it was very intense commentary all night for sure.

I mean, two really sharp guys, two really sharp guys. And just the same movie too often, right, you know, with this team. And listen, the series isn't over yet. Game five, obviously entries night in Boston. The Bruins, we know we're up three. went on Florida last year. And those demons were brought up post-game Saturday night. But it just, you know, I said this on Sports Center on TSN Saturday night in my hip

with Mark Masters. When you look at, you know, Marner, Nielander, Matthews, and sort of drawing each other, which, by the way, happens on every team. Oh, sure. It's not the end of the world. But it does to me, if you're going to take a 10,000 feet approach on it, feel like eight years of playoff frustration boiling over in a moment and a night where, you know, the Leifes needed that game. They really needed to make their path more plausible. And they play probably

the worst 40 minutes of a playoff game that I've seen them play in a long time, probably up there with the way they came out for game seven in the bubble against Montreal when they lost to the abs. It's just no show for 40 minutes. Listless. they had a good comeback in a third. It fell short and let's see how they respond. But yeah, I'm surrounded by Lee fans in this city and the last 24 hours have been pretty gloomy. So what was the mood like it?

Like you've been inside that arena for a lot of big games over the years. On television, it sure looked like it was as toxic as I think I've ever seen, Scotia Bank Arena. Like, how bad was it? End of second period, end of the game? Was the energy just terrible inside that building? It wasn't at first. I mean, they really, the crowd really tried to rally their team early on.

And I remember making that comment to the guys in the press row that you know, and I always get that, that rank because a lot of real leaf fans don't get to go to Leaf games. I mean, I think mid-range seats were going for 750 a piece on Saturday night. You know, it's just, it's not accessible to a lot of Leaf fans at that price. So you get, you know, a lot of, you know, Bay Street types that obviously bring their clients. And so you often don't get the kind of atmosphere that you want for a playoff game in that building. But it was pretty good on Saturday. But then you gave the crowd nothing to cheer for for 40 minutes.

So they got boot off the ice at the end of the second period. It was pretty loud. And so, you know, again, I don't want to start doing the post because stranger things have. happen and we'll see how they play Tuesday night, but that was pretty bleak. Well, like you keep saying, you're right, the series is not over and we've seen the Leafs for force of game seven in the situation against Boston a couple times now. But, you know, everyone, the whole city is looking to the offseason now already. How is Toronto, like you mentioned, they're a team that makes a lot of money.

They are like the Cowboys, when they're never, they're never prepared to take a step back. They always have to be in win now mode because that's just the way it works there. Can you envision a situation where Toronto dials up back and says, all right, we're blowing this up to some extent and we're kind of starting from scratch. Is that even feasible in a city like Toronto? It's not feasible for no other reason than the fact they extended Austin Matthews the best whole score on the planet. So, you know, he's not, he didn't sign on for a rebuild. So I don't see that happening. No.

But there will be change. If they lose and go out meekly in five games. there will be changes. There's no question in my mind. I mean, you know, I always hate bringing up whether a coach you get fired or not. I mean, these guys are humans with families and so on. But the reality is the Leafs right now are on a six-game losing streak at home in the playoffs. You can't lose six home games in the playoffs in a row and think you're an actual cup contender.

And some of that has to go to coaching. And, you know, Sheldon Keefe was inherited by GM Brad Trillarding. He wasn't hired by him. Now, he was extended by him. But a two-year extension in a market like Toronto is more like, we're going to give you this just so this isn't a topic all year. Otherwise, he would have been a lame duck coach. But a two-year extension when your MLSC is like a bag of peanuts.

It's not an impediment to making any kind of decision either way. And, you know, who knows? Maybe Brad True Living disagrees with me and doesn't see coaching an issue. But to me, you know, unless this turns around and it might. But if it doesn't, I think Sheldon Keeves had lots of opportunity with this core

and with this talent to get this team to where it needs to go and it hasn't happened. So that would be the first place I would look at. Beyond that, obviously a lot of Mitch Marner talk, a lot of fans that are frustrated. If you really want to peel back the onion,

this is why the leaves are in such a jam. Mitch Marner's no move kicked in last July 1st. And one of the real damaging byproducts of the Kyle Dubus, Brandon Chanahan, divorce in my mind is the timing of it. Because last summer was actually the time to either double down with his core or say maybe it's finally time to either listen on Marner or Nielander. Brad Trilling wasn't going to come in after being hired and trade one of the core four when he didn't even get, he has to get the dough of them.

So to me, Trulibing gets a pass there. But the problem is, Marner with the full no move, Nielander with the full no move. And obviously, you're never even going to have the Matthews conversation. So there's not an easy path here. Like for all the Leaf fans that say, well, let's trade Marner this summer. Let's say Mitch Marner for some reason. I have no evidence that this is remotely in his mind.

But let's say for some reason him and his agent say, you know what? You know, maybe it's time for a change of scenery. You don't get to actually put Mitch Marner on the market this summer for the highest bidder. It doesn't work that way with the full no move. As you guys know, what would happen in that scenario, kind of like the way Matthew Kachuk orchestrated his exit out of Calgary is here's three or four teams. That's it. So you're not getting the real value for Mitch Marr-

It's like trading in-Rue or Patrick Kane. Yeah, you get boxed in and you get way under-market-market. value for, sure. You know, who knows? I mean, there could be a couple of teams that he wants to go to in this hypothetical scenario. And again, Mitch Marner, they come out and say, you nuts, I'm a Toronto boy. I don't want to go anywhere.

But I'm just saying hypothetically, the only way you lock out is the two of the teams on his list actually start out bidding each other because they want him so bad. And that is possible. He's a pretty good player. So, Pierre, maybe let's talk a little bit about the coaching carousel around the league and where it stands now. And maybe, just maybe Sheldon Keith joins the list of coaches looking for a new spot, but we don't know that yet.

But there are interim spots. You know, New Jersey's got an interim coach. St. Louis has an interim coach. Ottawa is looking for a coach. Do you think any of these teams start to look at and say, uh-oh, you know, Toronto might be in the market here for head coach. Maybe we need to move here. And if so, what are you hearing about anything coaching related in and around the league?

Yeah, that's always an interesting thing at this. time of year because that cuts two ways, by the way. It's not just up to the teams about when to decide to finally hire. Sometimes you get coaches who have to decide, am I taking this opportunity here or do I wait to see whether or not there's an opening in Toronto, which is a pretty appealing job. So there's a lot of interesting decisions that are made that affect the cycle. Obviously, you're in Ottawa. Ian, as you know, the senators had decided more than a month ago that they did probably want to wait until the end of the first round just to see if

a few other candidates joined the fray. So that was part of Steve Stahos' plan. I don't have any evidence to suggest that he's deviated from that. You know, the Jersey is interesting. You know, when I spoke with Tom Fitzgerald a few weeks ago, he was pretty happy with the work that Travis Green had done in an interim basis, but he is going to speak to other candidates.

and Green being part of that list. So there could be a different coach there in New Jersey for sure. And I think the pressure is on there in terms of where that team needs to bounce back next year. So that could be a pretty big decision, I think, for Tom Fitzgerald. And, you know, there's some pretty good candidates out there. You know, Craig Baroubae and Tom McClellan and Gerard Gallant. I mean, obviously those are the veteran coaches that are available among others. but there's also people on staffs as assistants that are awaiting their first shot.

There's a H.L. guys. So it really comes down to the fit. I mean, I think if you're the San Jose Sharks, and I know Mike Greer last week, you know, I texted with him. He really had not set out yet the exact parameters. I mean, I think it was very emotional for him in his decision to let, you know, David Quinn go. it was first coach you ever hired, obviously, as a GM. But that one could go a lot of different ways. I mean, on the one hand, yeah, experience maybe in San Jose. But on the other hand, they're so far away from turning that thing around that I think you're probably more wise to go young

and have someone grow with a young roster, I think. You were out in Edmonton for the King's Oilers Series, which has been an interesting series, like track meets some nights and then just absolute slog last night. How confident must the Oilers be knowing that they're being able to win in multiple fashions like this? That's what cup contenders do, right? Yeah, that's, I mean, DMB wrote that coming out of the game last night in LA,

and I thought he was bang on because I was thinking the same thing while watching the game last night. The L.A. Kings played a near flawless 5-0-5 game. I mean, if you're the L.A. Kings, you were so deflated right now because you played, you know, when teams have contrasting styles, they try to, you know, have their style overtake the other style in a playoff game. And that was really the first time all series, even though the Kings won game two in a shootout.

That was the first time all series where the Kings were able to impose their style on Edmonton. And they still lose. And so I just, you know, they're going to say the opposite heading into Wednesday nights game five, obviously, and I'm headed to Edmonton tomorrow. But the reality is internally that would be incredibly depleting for L.A. Because it's like, well, what are we supposed to do? you know, the Oilers get on the long goal in the game is the Oilers get on that power play, which is above 50% of playoffs.

And who, like, you know, I tweeted, you know, you need your goalie to turn into Dominic Hasak for two minutes when the Oilers get on the fireplay because you can't stop all the lanes, you know, having seen it again live in person last week, that power play. Everyone knows that they love to get the dry sidle on the one-timer from his office. But if you cheat that way, then you got the bush bomb at the time. stop. And by the way, maybe Connor McDavid will shoot. It's just

and Zach Hyman hangs around the net and scores every time he touches. It's just almost impossible to stop that power play. And the problem with this series is that the Kings obviously want to slow down the Oilers. They want to impose themselves physically.

I thought, again, I thought the Kings played a great game last night. But once you take a penalty, oh my goodness, you know, swallow hard. And I just don't see a path for L.A. to get over this, but back to the D&B's column, he was so bang on, you need to find different ways to win games when we win a cup.

Colorado in 2022, you guys remember, you know, them finding that step finally as an organization was that Nathan McKinnon and that team could be comfortable in the low-scoring game. That's what changed everything for Colorado. They were able to be multifaceted in their ability to win at springtime

and it got them that cup. the orlers are emerging right now with that ability. It's pretty scary for the rest of the West. Before we cut you loose here, Pierre, and I know, like you said, you're headed off to Edmonton for Game 5. You stuck your toe in the water of Toronto, Boston on the weekend. Outside of those two series,

what's the one series or storyline that kind of has you captivated here first week in the Stanley Cup playoffs? It can't even be close. It's got to be Vegas, Dallas. I mean, I've watched every minute of that series, you know, and if not live, because I was at an Orler's game, then I watched it back on tape. It's crazy stuff to me. First of all, a series worthy of a Western Conference final happening in the first round, but also the script so far, Dallas losing both at home.

But then the overtime win the other night when they had to win, Wyatt Johnston, unbelievable that night. And I can't tell you how the rest of that series is going to play out. I think that smells like seven and smells like probably the best series of the opening round of the playoffs, in my mind. Yeah, it's been fantastic. We're looking forward to hopefully connect with Jesse Granger about that. Pierre, safe travels to Edmonton. We look forward to your coverage of that and the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Thanks for this and we'll hit you up again next Monday.

All right, Salt Lake City, boy. We'll chat again at some point, Ian and Lodge, hang in there. there, buddy. Okay. You know what? LeBron just gave us an easy segue there, Las. Talking about segues with LeBron.

He just called me Salt Lake City Boy. And so this is perfect. Because I got to call him out on Monday in the athletic where I say, okay, Gary Bettman said this Utah thing happened so quickly, Las.

He and the league officials, they didn't have time to really think about realignment. And as Betman, told Sportsnet, he said a whole host of issues related to geography, which got me thinking realignment is on their radar. Like he basically said realignments on our radar. And there are issues related to geography.

So I've thrown out a proposal and I've made some alterations and I figured, look, Utah's in the league. Let's try and see if we could do something. And that is, let's go NFL style. let's go eight divisions of four teams apiece. You play within your own division, and I add the whole schedule laid out. Anyway, I know, and I put a,

I put a huge disclaimer in the story. I know this is not perfect. There's always going to be teams that feel like they're getting the short end of the stick, fan bases that are angry, whatever. And I know, like I'm still taking it, and it's fine. It's just a leaping off point. It's not a final plan.

It's just a, hey, here's a proposal that I think can work. And it's putting all the teams as mostly based on geography into divisions of four teams each. But you don't like the idea. I hate your idea. I despise your idea. I doesn't like the idea. He actively hates it. You presented it well, as you always do.

You're a gifted writer and a good storyteller. I hate your idea. I hate it on so many different reasons. But the biggest thing to me, and first of all, you'll never get Detroit back in a central time zone. Like they scurried off to the Easter conference because they hated all those 8 o'clock starts so much. So there's little things like that.

But the big problem I have here is how unbalanced the schedule is going to become. You've got teams playing in their division six games. And then outside of the division, home and home, maybe an extra game thrown in there. You have one division where you have Utah in a division with Vegas, Dallas, and Colorado. That is just an absolute meat grinder. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will have 150 points because they're in a league with Ottawa, Montreal, and Buffalo. Like the difference in that caliber of, and it's going to be cyclical, I understand that.

But you're going to have every year where two or three divisions are just so ridiculously difficult. and two or three divisions are so ridiculously pathetic that you are not going to get a proper representation of the best teams in the postseason. Oh, weird. You know who called for you? The 1980s smite division. And guess what?

And you know who also called for you? The 1980s Norris division. It happens. It happens. Yeah, and we changed it because it was bad. The same team won every year in the 80s. Yeah, but I think the idea that the best, teams won't rise up.

I don't think that's, oh, man. Look, and the other thing I heard from people is, this is pointless because the league is going to expand again. Well, there's that too. Well, I don't, I don't know. It's going to be, they're going to do what? They're going to have, it's going to, we're eventually getting to 36 teams. Like, it's inevitable.

They're going to have 18 and 18. Okay. And I didn't, I didn't do the, which is way too many teams, by the way. I didn't do the math on this. If they go to 36 teams. would you be on board with a six division setup of six teams apiece? It'd be better three in each. I mean, we've done that before in the NHL.

We used to have that with the old Southeast division and all that. Yeah, that would be better. I don't understand why this is even really coming up. Utah isn't any farther away from Chicago, say, in St. Louis than Arizona was. Like, if it worked for Arizona, is it just nobody cares about Arizona so we can make them, we can punish them, but we're, We're not going to punish our beloved Ryan Smith, the most important person on the planet to Gary Betman.

Is that what this is? I thought what they should have done when they did the realignment last time was move the two Alberta teams, move Calgary and Edmonton into the Central Division and move Colorado into the Pacific. I didn't like it personally because I love going to Denver. I don't love the idea of breaking up Alberta from Vancouver, but it gives Winnipeg some in-country division rivals.

It makes more sense geographically. There's no way to do it. The middle of the country is just too sparse in terms of hockey. There's too many teams contrary to the Northeast, and there's not enough of them in the Midwest and the Great Plains. You're going to have some trouble with this. These guys are flying on charter planes. I don't feel bad for them.

Feel bad for the reporters flying United in Delta. Feel bad for us. Yeah. Or the worst is if you somehow get on a Southwest Airlines. Oh, God. But to be Dallas, there's a few places. Dallas, Winnipeg are going to be geographic outliers regardless. Yeah.

Right? Like it's going to be hard. Even to some extent, Nashville is kind of in a weird spot a little bit. Yeah. So I get it. I laid it out. I said, you know, in a perfect world, you would have like a central division that's Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, Nashville, Detroit. Those are all within four hour drives of each other for the most part. Minnesota is a little high up there. But then what do you do with Winnipeg? What do you do with Dallas? Dallas used to be in the Pacific Division. And it was a nightmare for them. absolute nightmare. Every flight was like three hours or more. Like there's no great way to do this. I understand what you're doing.

You're trying to eliminate that. Like if you're playing in the New York division there, which I can't believe you put Boston in instead of Philadelphia, are you insane? Are you crazy? Why would you separate the flyers from the devils, Rangers, and Islanders? Are you nuts?

You split up Montreal and Boston and you split up Philadelphia in New York. You're a crazy person, man. Look, Philadelphia. Has to stay with Pittsburgh. No. Philadelphia's rivals are the New York teams. Have you ever driven from Philly to Pittsburgh?

I have. It's like six hours. Yeah, it's five and a half hours. Yeah, and it sucks. It's so many tolls. Oh my God, the amount of tolls you have to pay to make that drive. New York and Philadelphia,

I was raised in New York, and I was raised from birth to hate the city of Philadelphia in every aspect of my life, not just sports. You cannot split up Philadelphia in New York. And that's why I said, I'm open. It's a starting point, Les. It's a starting point. Hey, can I throw out one thing? And I just would love to know the backstory on this. So in the early 80s, okay, early 1980s, this was the Norris Division.

Okay? This is so weird. It's almost like, like, did they take a bunch of team names and just start pulling them out of a half? The 1981 Norris Division featured the, Montreal Canadians, the Los Angeles Kings, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Hartford Whalers, and the Detroit Red Wings. And they were flying commercial back then. Montreal, L.A., Pittsburgh, Hartford, Detroit. Not only were they flying commercial, like half the team was probably smoking on that plane. And you had the Wales conference and the Campbell Commerce, it didn't make any sense.

You could have a Stanley Cup final that was like Islanders Flyers. they're two hours drive apart. Like nothing made sense about the geography of the NHL back then. No. Anyway, it's an idea to throw it out. And I just don't like the unbalanced schedule. I don't think it's, I don't like it when you have, and this happens in the NFL every year when you have like a seven to nine team gets in

because they're just in some dog shit division as opposed to having like a larger division, you have a much better chance of the best teams making the playoffs. And that's what I want. I don't want seven and nine style hockey teams. I don't want the Washington Capitals as a division champion. Sounds to me, Laz, like you want some drama. Drama. You want some drama.

Sounds to me like maybe you are a little bit like a Vander Cain who thrives on drama. People say that about me all the time. Yeah. And so I want to have a little fun here because on the weekend, look, Mark Specter, who covers Edmonton for Sportsnet and has written about the Oilers, for decades. Speck was on a podcast last week in which he said,

hey, too much drama around Evander Cain. There's just too much drama around Evander Cain. So after game three, after the Oilers win game three on the weekend, it's a press conference set up. Speck has a chance to ask a question to Evander Cain. Have a listen to Evander Cain and this exchange with Mark Specter. What is it, Evander?

Is it the physical part of the game? Is it the pressure? Is it that it means more? What makes you play your best hockey's time of year? Just the drama of it all. Just brings the best son of me. I love the long pause. Like he was mulling.

Do I do it? Do I not do it? Do I say it? Do I do it? Clearly he thought about this. Like he thought about if that guy asked me a question, I'm going to go down. But do we like this approach from Evander Kane?

I do. I like the subtlety of it. Like, like you got to be in. You got to be in the news. No, like not everybody's going to understand what that is. Zach Hyman was in the Mo. He was desperately trying to stifle his laughter sitting next to him up on the dais. Look, look, I love Spex.

Speck's one of my favorite people in hockey. Everyone does. He's, you know, super highly respected. But this is life as a columnist, right? You know, if you go out there and you put an opinion out there and then kudos to speck for he's there every day, right? He says something, he writes something, and he's there the next day to look these guys in the eye. And sometimes this is going to happen.

I've seen shouting matches in locker rooms between players and and columnists. Like, let's, and there's plenty of columnists that just write stuff and then just never show up the next day. I don't have any respect to the players or respect the ones that are there every day. But sometimes you're going to get mad at somebody. And, you know, kudos to Kaine for kind of doing it like in a snarky way instead of being just a flat out dick about it. Like, like, it was just, it was, it was funny, man. I'm sure spec got a laugh out of it too. A subtle way.

That's exactly how Evander Kane handled it. when he got a question from spec and clearly there's a disconnect, just for the listeners to understand, okay, well, what's the not so subtle way of doing this? We take you back to 2021. And again, this was during the pandemic. So there was a lot of sessions over Zoom.

Here's Jacob Voracek, then of the Philadelphia Flyers, on a podium and answering a question from a reporter that he didn't really respect. For Jake, two games in, Jake. How different does the seasons feel, if at all, given the circumstances of the offseason and the condensed schedule and everything? Doesn't matter what I say, Mike. You're going to write fucking shit every time. It doesn't matter what you say.

Yeah, it feels different. I mean, we got four points after the first two games. I wasn't even going to answer your question because you are such a weasel. It's not even funny. Next question. Oh, man. I love how he like, he takes his shot. And then he like, for a second,

he's like, I'm going to answer the question. Then he's like, no, screw it. I'm not answering the question. If you're the writer and you ask that question, are you just taking the middle part of his answer and leaving out that he called you a weasel? I don't know. I think he just, I think you write it.

I think you have to write about him calling you a weasel to some of us. You start becoming the story. I mean, we've all been in that uncomfortable situation where we've become the story to some extent. Who do you think had more, like, obviously that was cathartic for Voracek. And probably for Kay, who do you think walked away from the podium feeling more sort of empowered and happy that they did what they did? Van der Kaine or Jacob Voracek? Certainly not their PR staffs who were probably like, oh, no, no, no, don't do that.

I got to think Vorichek felt really good about that. Like when you really unload and get something off your chest, you feel like, like, Kane is like, yeah, that was pretty clever of me. But I got to think Vorichick was like that. That was so freeing to be able to do that. Have you ever had a player that mad at you before? It's different on the Zoom thing because it's like, it's like, it's different when it's in a press conference

and it's in front of everybody. Like, do you have, have you ever had a player like, like, let's dispatch with the notion that players don't read us? they definitely read. They definitely know what's going on. Or they're, you know what I find? Their families read everything

and then tell them stuff. And oftentimes it's a game of broken telephone. Oh, it's out of context. It's like a screenshot of like one paragraph and a text. Yeah, that's, that's even worse. But the PR staff still, like, they still print out the clips every day and leave a pack in everyone's locker.

It's available to them. Yeah. Yeah, and that's a big part of the PR staff's job is to have game notes, availability, you know, summations, all that stuff. You know what's not part of the PR staff's job description last is a kidney donation. And we got to give a shout out here to Lindy Noal, who is a communication staffer with the Columbus Blue Jackets because she did something that is so remarkable.

And that is she donated a kidney to our friend, our colleague Aaron Portsline. and Aaron has been very public with his need for a kidney transplant. And it came from somebody he works directly with. It is one of the most selfless things I've ever seen in the hockey world. And it shocked me. I had no idea because we got the note internally last week that, you know, Aaron has undergone his procedure. He's doing well.

And that's fantastic. I had no idea until I read this story on the weekend that his kidney was donated by by Lindy Noel who works for the Blue Jackets in the PR department. It really is amazing. And we're all, we're all eternally grateful to Lindy for doing that. Porty is one of the all-time greats in this business, you know,

as a reporter, as a writer, and just as a human being, I, the fact that like, apparently like a whole bunch of staffers at the Blue Jackets, like went through the testing process to see, you know,

uh, if they would be a match. I mean, it says everything, it says everything about that organization, but it also says everything, everything about Porty, right? That people are willing to do that for him. And just like, we're all so happy that that Porty's doing well and he's recovering and

Lindy's doing well and recovering. And let's just, I mean, we have to give Columbus like the Dillman. We have to rename the Dillman almost. Don't we? I mean, we, like, like, of all that, that that's the greatest PR move in the history of PR moves. That is some superhuman stuff from Lindy. If the Columbus Blue Jackets don't win that Dillman award for the best PR department, in the league. I don't, what are we doing here? Like what would, like, what would even be the next best thing a PR department did this year

that could even challenge a staff member donating a kidney to a beat writer? I've had PR staffs like refuse to tell me like, whether the team was practicing the next day in the city or flying in the next one so I could avoid a fee, a fee with United. The thought that they would, somebody would go to the lengths that Lindy went to,

It's just, it's the testament to how great we, just how great humans can be to each other when we treat each other the right way. And, you know, Aaron Portsland, not the only writer, you know, recovering from a serious medical ailment. We do want to take a moment to shout out another one of the greats in our industry. He worked for a long time for the Toronto Sun and now works for NHL.com. And that's Mike Zyzeberger. And Zyze is one of the most. colorful, entertaining, outgoing personalities in this sport.

He's a bon to be a long. Yeah. The last three months, unfortunately, have been a tough go for him medically. It was awesome to see on the weekend his name on the media list in Toronto and then he was back covering a playoff game. So we love Mike Zeyzberger. We are huge Zeyz fans. I saw him in Sweden in November.

I guess this would have been just before things unfortunately plummeted for him health-wise. And he was just the usual Mike's Iceberger last just outgone friendly, pulled me aside, told me a couple of funny stories. Just a great guy, just a fantastic guy. So great to see him back covering the National Hockey League this weekend too. Yep. And I tweeted this yesterday, but look at the way people are talking about Portie and Zice and treat people the way they treat people. and people will talk about you that way. I mean, when you, when you,

everyone who's ever come across his eyes loves him. Everyone who's ever come across porty loves him. They're just two of the best people. When you treat people that way, it comes back to you in the end. And we're really happy that both of them are on the mend here. All right. Well said, Las.

And let's, let's wrap up the show. As we always do on a Monday, usually we have Jesse Granger joining us as a presentation of BetMGM, the exclusive betting partner with the athletes, but Mr. Granger is preoccupied. Lasz, he's covering his series. He's covering the series.

He is covering the by far like the series that we all wish we were at right now. Yeah, the only series that feels like it's not 3-1. I mean, it might be 3-1. It might be 3-1, yeah. But is it, it's funny because at the start of the playoffs, I kind of felt like, man, Toronto, Boston, that could go 7. Colorado and Winnipeg, that could go seven. Florida, Tampa, that could go seven.

You know, all the, and all of a sudden you start looking down, like, three one, three one, three. It's like every series is either three one or it's the Rangers that finished at four oh. So with Jesse not here, let's wrap up with a little BetMGM segment. And I mean, is there one team, is there one place where you would look at and say, you know what, down 3-1, I don't mind their odds to come back and maybe force a game 7 and win his series.

Well, let's look at those odds. I'm on bed at MGM right now, and here are the odds for the teams that are down 3-1 to win the series. Islanders are at plus 1,400, so they're not believing in them. The Lightning are at plus 900, so that's a little more in the realm of feasibility.

Maple Leafs plus 750. So somebody out there still believes in the Maple Leafs. That's a pretty bold bet. And Winnipeg is also at plus $750, which the way Colorado is going, I would not make that bet at all. And Predators, maybe because of the way they've actually played pretty well are plus $600. Those are the, that's the lowest odds in terms of making that comeback. And I think, I mean, I think I have to default to Tampa.

I just feel like that's the most tested team that can do that. Yeah. But I would not count out Nashville. I know we talked about this. And I know that they are reeling right now from, losing a game like, but this is a team that's been galvanized before. They didn't get to go to you too. And they went off and became the best team that's ever happened.

So maybe, maybe throwing a game away like this is something that can galvanize them. And I just think given Vancouver's gold-tending situation, as well as those backups have played, I still think Nashville can come back and win that series. That's the one I would take. Yeah, I don't disagree with you. We talked about this earlier. You could see a scenario where they win game five, then they come back home, and they got the home crowd going for them.

Maybe connect start to feel a little tight. They win game six. They got to travel all the way back to Vancouver for his seventh game where you could just feel the anxiety will be palpable inside the arena. I could see it. And I understand why the odds for Nashville are significantly better than, say, the odds for the islanders. Because I don't see a path for the islanders.

Or the kings. The kings are plus 1,200. They're in the same boat as the islanders essentially. Nobody believes that the kings are the islanders. are coming back against two legitimate cup contenders like Edmonton and Carolina. Yeah, I'm with you there. Hey, real quick before we bounce out of here, the Vezna Trophy finalists have been revealed.

What he got for us? Who are the three guys, chosen by the general managers, by the way, we should point out. Yeah, we don't vote on this one. We don't not, don't yell at us. It's Connor Hellebuck, Thatcher Demko, and Sergei Birovsky. I thought maybe Jacob Markstrom might get in there, but this is going to be a walk. it's going to be Connor Hellebuck probably unanimously.

Even the GMs who are like still think that wins is the most important stat for a goalie. Even they can't screw this one up. I mean, this is Hellebuck in a walk, right? Yep. Like Alexander, I think so. Led the League in wins with one more than Connor Hellebuck did. And he's not in a finalist.

So kudos to the GMs. You're getting better at this. Way to go, boys. But Georgiev might be up four one in wins on Hellebuck in the postseason. Hey, oh, you might get a cons in his future. Can you imagine if someone like, Georgia wins the Khan Smyth after the way we started talking about them a game or two into this series. Like that's what you got to love about playoff hockey is.

You just never know who's going to be that guy. Aidan Hill is the defending state. He's not even the goalie right now for the Knights. It's like it's just the randomness of who steps up and who becomes the hero. It's just one of those things that make the playoffs so great. And Logan Thompson was money. I know why Johnston. That was an unbelievable shot in overtime.

That game doesn't get to overtime, if not for Logan Thompson. It should have been like six to two. Two Dallas. Five one of the best, gold, like one of the best, like single-handedly keeping your team in a game goal-tony performances I've ever seen in the playoffs. And I know he lost, but that's, wow. I mean, that's some hero stuff he was doing.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And the next edition of the Athletic Hockey Show comes your way Wednesday. And I'm sure the two Shons will have a game five between Toronto and Boston to sink their teeth into on Wednesday. McIndo is, I'm sure Sean is, I'm sure McIndo is going to have a very level head and be emotionally centered for it. And, uh,

I just, I would like to hear Sean just become unhinged. I'd like him to, it's in him, right? It's in there. Somewhere deep in his soul is a screaming lunatic fan waiting to come out.

And I just, one of these years is going to actually happen. And I'm going to be, well, he wrote, he wrote this week, he's like, you know,

maybe the Bruins are just better than the Leaves, which they are. I feel like, which they are. That was his level of rate. Like, I feel like maybe maybe that was a sign that he's been hurt too many times. And he's just kind of like, he feels nothing anymore.

He's just numb now that he's looking at it that rationally. Yeah. He's very clinical. That's rationality is not the Leaf fan brand. No. No. So those two will be back on Wednesday. That's your next edition of the athletic hockey show. Laz, you and I will be together again next Monday. who knows who you might be somewhere, right?

You might be dispatched somewhere fun. Yes, I will not be doing this from my bedroom. I will be hopefully at some hotel and some city covering some fantastic series. I can't wait. Well, we're going to have to make sure, yeah. Then we have to be mindful of, uh-oh, Laz has to get to morning skate and Laz,

Las has things to do. We got to chewhorn the podcast in. So we'll make sure we do that. But we're looking forward to it. Enjoy the week. Enjoy the games. And, yeah, Laz and I will hit everybody up again on Monday. Thanks for listening to this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show.

As I said, on Wednesday, McHadu and Gentilly come your way. Wednesday pod. If you enjoyed this, please, please, please leave us a five-star rating and review. We certainly appreciate that. Have a great week and we'll hit you up again on Monday.