The Athletic Hockey Show - Torts’ Philadelphia Flyers off to a surprising start, Darryl Sutter on Jonathan Huberdeau’s whereabouts, are the New Jersey Devils for real?, Jack Adams Winner of the Week, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

First, Ian and Julian discuss Darryl Sutter’s blunt explanation of Jonathan Huberdeau’s absence from the first period against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, if it’s too early to start believing in the New Jersey Devils, and Ian coins a new phrase for poor defensive zone play. Plus, The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor joins the show to talk about Torts’ surprising Philadelphia Flyers, Carter Hart, Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, Gritty costumes, the vibes in Philly, and more, the guys hand out the Jack Adams Winner of the Week award, and close things out with Multiple Choice Madness.Get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3BKz27u Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

is the athletic hockey show. We're back. It's a Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Ian Mendez, Julian McKenzie with you, chatting all things in the NHL here. To close out the month of October, Charlie O'Connor is going to drop by. We'll talk about arguably the most surprising team in the NHL

here in the first month, that would be in the Philadelphia Flyers, will bounce around the league. I want to keep this positive, though. You know what, Julian? I feel like sometimes, as the month of October closes out, we like to focus on those negative stories

and I can't believe what's happening in Toronto or what's going to happen in Vancouver and yada, yada, yada. So listen, we're going to keep the good vibes going here. But we want to tell the listeners that we did debate, even though this is an audio podcast, we do have a little bit of a video component. We did debate whether or not we were going to wear costumes. Right?

Yes, we did. For the show. But you know what? I don't know. So it seems like you're not in it. I'm half in it. So for people who are listening, I recorded another podcast before we got on here, the Chris Johnson show, you can listen to through the athletic app.

And we both wore costumes. So I'm technically still in my costume, which is a Homer Simpson onesie. But because you're not in a costume, I brought the hood down and I wore a hat instead. but I don't know. I'm trying to show you what I'm working with you. And what was Chris Johnson? What was Chris Johnson today? He was,

he wore a really, really campy Batman costume. Like he dressed up like, like if you picture like Adam West is Batman like running with a green screen in front of him, CJ would be like a dead ringer for that Batman. You know, CJ gives me more Robin vibes than Batman.

Now that I think about it. Oh, no. The whole time I was looking at him, I was like, who is the Robin who's going to, like, run beside him while he's trying to fight crime? Like, that's what CJ looked like the entire time. Like, if you watch the YouTube episode, like, at some points, like, you see, like, the eyeslits are, like,

slipping and the, like, the covering his eyes. Like, it's, it was hilarious. Man, okay, but not as hilarious. I got to ask you about this Daryl Sutter. Oh, my God. So, actually, we have the audience. right we can we can we can drop this audio in so before we uh you know play this audio here we want to remind people that darrell sutter is blunt with a capital b okay so in case you missed it

here's the calgary head coach after the game on saturday because jonathan huberto left for a brief period in the first in the first 20 minutes and we'll have a listen here's darrell sutter being about Huberto's absence. Huberdo left the bench for a little bit in the first period. Are you able to say what it was? Thank you. Go take a shut. All right.

Here's what I'm disappointed in Julian. Yes. In the entire Calgary media core, how does somebody not follow up with a coach? When that happens, does that mean that Jonathan Huberto is your number two center? Because he's not a center. If he was the center, that would work so much better.

I know. But, but, but like, what was that answer? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Dude, so, like, it was like, it was only a handful of people because I think a few others, because it was the Battle of Alberta, so Flames Oilers. So a few of us, normally that room would be, would be, would have like a few more people,

especially with the Edmonton contingent coming in. But I think with the Oilers room opening up first and, and Jay Woodcroft, eventually doing a media availability, there weren't as many people in the room to hear Daryl Sutter said, what do you have to say? And like, the question, obviously,

just about Jonathan Huberto and why he left for a portion of the first period, he was gone for not that long. And we were wondering, like, okay, like what happened? And to be honest, we still don't really know

because I don't think anyone got to follow up with him after the fact and ask what happened. But like Ryan Pike of Flames Nation asks, you know, what happened with Jonathan Uberto. And then Daryl Sutter. Like Daryl Sutter doesn't take a moment to think about it. He doesn't like, say like, oh, I'm kidding.

Like he just straight up says it and doesn't laugh. And he's like, just acts as if it's very matter of fact. There's a guy from Sportsnet, Maddie Rose, who's like standing to my right as he says that. He is just snickering and he can't, he's trying his absolute best to keep himself composed as that's happening. You might hear some like faint laughter noises. I'm sure a good checker they were coming from him.

I know for me, I tried my best to hold it together too, but like, that was one of the wilder press conference quotes I've heard. Like that was just like, it's the fact that he delivered it the way that he did. It's kind of just like, it's like, yeah, you just had to stick shit. Okay. You just got to set it. Oh, man. Now I'm thinking about the fact that the next time Sutter talks about the importance of soft dumps. That's going to be problematic.

Yeah, we got a dump buck. It's all about the soft dumps. No, but if you're humor, though, here's what I want. Like, first of all, if you had just said, there was an equipment issue, nobody would have thought twice. If you just, you know what, had an equipment issue. Okay, no problem. Skates off, whatever.

Nobody would think twice. What I want to know, and I'm assuming at some point, you're going to talk to Jonathan Hubert though. That'd be nice. this is what I want to know. When that happened, and I'm sure this happens to a lot of athletes during sporting events.

Like not just Jonathan Hubert. It happened famously to Roberto Luongo in a playoff game. Remember? You have to take off. Do you tell your teammates? You're like, I got to go. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, I would just say that I had an equipment issue and I would run back and come back ASAP. I mean, no? Sure. I mean, I don't, look, is your business? Like, I don't think people need. to know that you're dropping deuses in the toilet in between periods. But like that's just me.

That's in the game. I think you just, I think you just, you need the run back. But that would be awkward too with all your equipment on it. It's like, you know, it's like when you have a little kid and they're in their snowsuit and they're like, I need to go into the bathroom. You're like, come on. Do you remember when, uh, five minutes ago? Do you remember when Lamar Jackson, I think had that game against the Browns and he had to,

like, I think he, I think he had to go do number two. and there's like the camera shot of him running at the hallway to go to I guess to the bathroom. Like I just picture like you're right for a hockey player. It must be so different just because like you're on skates. And like how are you getting rid of all that stuff to do? I mean it's probably not that. I think if anything like someone made a really good point that like considering how that game went. I mean, it's not that the flames played badly, but they did lose.

But like instead of people focusing on the flames and the fact that they lost like anyone, I mean, people talked about the clip. from Daryl Sutter. It was a good way to take attention away from the flames losing round two of the Battle of Alberta in season. But still a really ridiculous quote. And I'm sure it was something else. I have a hard time thinking Jonathan Huberto genuinely had to take a dump in the game. But hey, it's not impossible, I guess.

I don't know. Maybe. No, what do you mean? Like, 100% he did because, like, if you're Sutter, you're not going to, make that up as a fake story. Yeah, but if you're Daryl Sutter, you're also, just in my experience with Daryl Sutter, you are not going to tell everyone what the hell is going on with your team. This is a guy legit.

Like, if you, like, I learned the hard way asking, hey, is Jacob Barks from going to play? He straight up told me like, hey, you're, you're new here, but you don't, don't ask me that question. We don't, we don't do all that stuff here. We don't, we don't do that. Like, he tries to keep it like Fort Knox in Calgary. So it's totally possible in my eyes.

that Jonathan Humboldo had some other issue. And Daryl Sender was like, I'm not going to tell you the truth. I'm just going to make up some story. I have every reason to believe he's not telling the truth. My guy, if I don't see a 1,500 word piece on this this week, I'm going to be super sour. You can dig into this. I don't know with the last more at the fact that you want me to do that piece

or the fact that you call me my guy. That's how you know our friendship has got to this point. There you go. There you go. Also, let's agree, the easiest sport to run off and use the, use the facilities would be baseball, right? Especially if you're like, if you're like, you're like, oh man, I'm batting eighth. I'm good.

You know what? Do you remember when, do you remember a pitcher? I think it's a pitcher, Chanho Park. Do you remember, I think in 2010, he got asked why he was not having a strong start to like a game. And he straight up just told the media, I had diarrhea. And the whole, yeah, and the whole clip is just everyone losing their minds. And like, Chanho doesn't understand why everyone's all. I had diarrhea.

That's what happened. It's funny. And if we just lost it. We're so immature. But if I'm not mistaken, was there not a thing where, like, people were like, if you rearrange the letters of Chanho Park's name,

it's spelled like, oh, crap or something like that? No. Do you remember this? No. People did that? There was something. Oh, that's wild.

There was something about, anyway. You just unlocked the memory for me. That's wild. That's wild. That's bad. That's bad. It was weird. If I'm Channel Park,

I'm swinging out people who would do that. Not to venture you play with my name. That's wild. Why would people do that? There was something like that. I don't know. There was some vague memory I have of that. Anyway, look, we're going to get to Charlie O'Connor in his second.

And the Flyers are a great story, but I got to ask you about another Metro team. Yes. New Jersey puts up seven against Columbus. Maybe that's a, hey, Johnny Goodrow, you should have signed with us. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. Are you a believer, Julian McKenzie, in the New Jersey Devils? Man, in the Metro Division?

I mean, the Rangers are doing okay. I mean, you know, I still expect them to do okay. I still expect them to be a good team. Of Carolina Hurricanes, probably the best team in that division. Yeah, I mean, we're going to get to the Flyers. I mean, I want to believe in them. I believe in Yesper Brat. I believe in what he's doing for my fantasy team.

Thank you very much to everyone else who didn't pick him because he was my sleeper pick for this year and he is killing it. Love it. It's too early, man. I'm not sure. But like, I got to say it's good for the devils that they're at least seeing some kind of success. This is a team that remember the beginning of the year, they were booing Lindy rough.

by the bench and people were wondering if he was going to be the first guy on the firing line. This is a team that a couple of years ago, when they get in Ducky Hamilton on the team, I mean, maybe it was a move that probably didn't match where they were supposed to be at that time. People were wondering like, what the hell's going on? I mean, if Tom Fitzgerald's future should be in jeopardy, it's good for them to have the start that they have. I don't know if I'm going to say I believe in the devils, but there's definitely some talent there to keep an eye on.

And again, Jasper Brat, I think he hasn't called it, one year. deal, right? He signed that like short little bridge deal. Yeah, one year five million and he bet on himself, right? And it's working out so far. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, here's what gives me a little bit of pause for concern or whatever. And I love this story with New Jersey.

Look, that fan base has been through some pretty lean years here last few years. They're always the kind of the little sibling right in that marketplace. But here's what concerns me. Okay. their top five in goals against average right now. And you're probably thinking like, oh, that's great. The devil's,

there were so many questions about their goaltending, their top five and goals against. They have an 880 save percentage. That's not good. They have one of the worst five, think about this for a second. They have one of the worst five safe percentages, and yet they're top five in goals against.

So what does that tell you? They're dominating the possession time, right? Exactly. Is it sustainable? That's the part. I don't think you can win with your goaltenders giving you consistently an 880 save percentage. I just, look, and it's early in the season, they're a great start. Look, Jack Hughes and Nico Heeshire and, as you mentioned, yesterday were brought dynamite to start the season.

I just don't think, and they split the duties, I'm pretty sure, pretty much right down the middle with Vanekekek and Blackwood. You can't win with that, you can't with that goaltender. They got to get a little bit of better goaltending because I don't think you can sustain an 880 team save percentage of people playoff team. That's so bad, yeah. Yeah. The goaltending has always been,

it seems seemingly over the last little while, goaltending has just been an issue. McKenzie Blackwood was supposed to be a young talent for them that was supposed to rise up and kind of take the reins. But the fact that they have him splitting with Vitech vanecheck. It's, it just goes to show how Blackwood has kind of fallen in terms of pedigree.

But yeah, 880 definitely not good enough. All right, Julian. You know what? I think, you know, as we wrap up the month of October, I like looking at the positive. I think sometimes we focus on the tire fires and the teams that are just dysfunctional. And it's fun to kind of look at the other side of the ledger, the teams that have outperformed expectations.

I got to tell you, Julian, you look at, as we close out October, is there a team that has surprised you more in a good way than the Philadelphia Flyers? Dude, the Flyers, like, I'm either on this show or on other shows. I fully expected them. to be a tirefire, considering the characters they assembled together with John Tortorella, Tony DeAngel being there. I mean, gritty. I expected like a John Tortorella gritty, like angry moment.

I still think we'll get it. But like I expected them to be bad. They have not been bad. They have been one of the best teams in the NHL to start the year. Yeah, one of the best stories. And to help us maybe explain why that is. Let's bring in our pal, Charlie O'Connor, does such a great job covering the flyers for us with the athletic. I got to ask you, Charlie, Julian just evokes the name of Gritty.

Are people still, as we do this show on Halloween, is like gritty Halloween costume, is that Pass A now? Or are people still doing it? I would say it's not, you know, the coolest thing to do. Right now, it's kind of like Phillies everywhere, but in Philadelphia. But yeah, you could get away with a gritty costume in Philly, I think. I think it's longstanding. It's now it's about as ubiquitous as like the fanatic. If you show up to a Halloween party with a fanatic costume, nobody's going to bat an eye. I love it. Life must be so good in Philly, man.

The Phillies are in the World Series. The Eagles are undefeated. The Flyers find a way to start off the season on a really good note. What's the vibe like in the city right now? The vibes in Philadelphia right now are excellent. They're as good as they've been in a long time. The 76ers are extremely lucky that no one cares about them right now because they're kind of entire fire. But everybody else is doing so well that they're,

They could sort of just fly under the radar for now, at least while the Phillies are still going. But, you know, Philadelphia right now is having just like a week-long party. And obviously tonight, the Phillies are playing a home game in the World Series. They got that for the next three nights. So it's good times of Philadelphia right now. I'll tell you that. Good things do happen in Philadelphia. Yeah.

And look, we didn't expect that the Flyers, or you were talking about the good vibes. You know, I think a lot of people thought when October started, yeah, maybe the Phillies could have a run. And certainly the Eagles look like the class in the kids. the NFC East, but nobody in their right mind thought the Flyers would be holding down the best winning percentage in the Metro at the end of the month. So for our listeners who maybe haven't been paying attention to the Flyers, Charlie, or maybe they're looking at the standings like, like Julian and I'm being like, damn, I can't believe the Flyers are doing so well. Break this down for us. Like how have the Flyers been able to get off to such a quick start?

Well, you know, yes, they're off to a good start. And they deserve all the credit in the world for for winning these games and kind of exceeding expectations, confounding expectations, whatever way you want to put it. That said, it's not like they are outplaying their opponents. They're winning games in large part because Carter Hart has gotten off to an incredible start. He's got a 938, say percentage. He's been their best player by far. They're not driving play. They're only collecting so far about like 40% of the shot attempts, 40% of the expect of goals of 515. So this is under the hood, things aren't great. But give them credit.

Number one, Carter Hart's been awesome. Number two, they're making plays at key times. Really, Saturday night was the first time where, you know, they blew a lead. But they've been coming back from deficits. They've been resilient so far. And, you know, is it sustainable to keep winning with only 40% of the attempts, 40% of these pentacles? No, but they could get better at that. You know, they are learning a new system.

they are trying to, you know, get a handle on everything that John Tortorella wants them to do. And they've racked up these wins to start the year. So you've banked these wins. Now you have to try to improve the underlying process. But in the short term, they're winning games. They have one of the hottest goalies in hockey. And you can win a lot of games if your goalie is stopping 94% of the shots. It must be a long time coming for Carter Hart, right?

He's a guy who once upon a time for, at least especially in Canada, when we're looking at Olympic rosters and potential players who could be there, people looked at Carter Hart as a guy who could succeed Kerry Price as a starting goalie for Team Canada for some time. Can you go to more detail about how good Carter Hart has been to start off this season? Yeah, he's been fantastic. And it's funny because he didn't even really get a preseason. He was battling a minor injury, so he practiced but didn't play in any of the games. So I think expectations were pretty low for him, at least to start the year.

Plus, he hadn't been great the last two years. You know, he had that great, really great playoff run in the bubble. And that was coming off of a pretty strong regular season that honestly was even stronger when you looked at advanced metrics than just his general save percentage. But coming out of the bubble, you're thinking, man, he's about to take this leap. He really struggled mentally with the challenges to the pandemic, which I think a lot of people can empathize with. That was the 2020-21 season where everything kind of fell apart for him.

He finished with an awful save percentage. Last year, honestly, he was pretty good. Essentially what happened was the team in front of him was awful. And then his safe percentage kind of tanked at the end of his season because he was playing through an injury. And then finally they shut him down. So he was okay last year. But if you just took a glance at his numbers, you'd think, well, he had two straight

awful years. Maybe he's falling off. I always thought that he was probably poised to have a better season this year, especially if John Torterrell would be able to implement some structure and have the team not looking like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, which is kind of the way they looked in the defensive zone a lot of last season. And so far, you know, yeah, they're getting out shot, they're getting out chance, but they're not giving up as many, you know, A plus chances that the goalie just can't stop.

And Hart's playing well enough where he's stopping all the B plus and A minus chances. So that's basically what's happening. You know what? I want to throw something out to both of you guys because you guys are both, you're younger than me. I feel like if I throw out something, the two of you are cooler than me. And maybe we can make this thing happen. I don't know about cooler than you. Oh, definitely.

Okay. So Charlie just said the flyers last year were running around like chickens with their heads cut off in their own zone. And there's a lot of teams that have that. I'd like to coin a phrase and you guys tell me if we can get some traction on this. You ready? I think when teams look bad in their own zone, we should call it a cluster puck. They're a cluster puck in their own zone. Yes?

No. It's a little. It's a little cring. It's cringe. Okay. Okay. You can make it work. You just have to fully commit. I'm going to sneak it into a column at some point this week. There you go.

A complete cluster puck. I'm going to sneak it in. I'm going to find a way to credit you for it. There we go. Cluster puck. You know, one thing I want to say, look, it's all been good vibes, but there is a yeah, bud, and that's Sean Couturier. And this guy is such a great two-way center,

one of the best 200-foot players in the game. some some tough news for him again now in the past few days. Could you just maybe update the listeners? Like what are the odds, Charlie, that we see Sean Couturier play this season for the Flyers? Well, they gave him. So essentially what happened with Cotteria. Couturee's season last year was ended due to back surgery. It had been bothering him for months.

He finally decided to get the surgery. He was rehabbing all summer, never really fully felt right. Then, like right before the start of training camp, they dubbed him week to week now, finally. he's going to undergo what they're calling back revision surgery, which essentially means the first surgery didn't work. We're going to go back in and try again. They gave him a three to four month timetable, which would put him back in the lineup sometime in like March. Now, is it possible he comes back in three to four months? Sure. And I'm sure that's what the flyers were hoping. That's surely what Chongoturi is hoping. That said, back injuries are tricky. And now he's going in for a second

surgery on the same problem. This is scary stuff. And the flyers, you know, outwardly are expressing confidence that this will fix the problem. But you're talking about a guy who's turning 30. You know, he's, he has a lot of miles on his tires. He's played since he was 18 years old in the NHL. And it's very reasonable to be concerned, not just about his status for this season, but his status for the rest of his career.

Because back surgery, back injuries are tough. And back surgeries, there's no. No guarantee that even if he comes back, that he's going to be the same guy he was before these surgeries. So there's a lot of concern, I think, around this situation. And it's disappointing because Michelle Guterre is a really fun player to watch. He is a talented player. He's obviously a former Selkie trophy winner. And he's the best skater on this team.

And not only that, they just signed him to an eight-year contract. This is the first year of an eight-year contract that is worth almost $8 million a year against the cap. And I mean, I guess if it turns out that he just can't play anymore, you can just stash him on long-term I-R. But worst-case scenario for the Flyers truthfully is that he can come back, but he's a shell of himself. And then suddenly, you've got a guy who's worth $3 million a year. You're paying eight through the end of the decade. So, yes, the Flyers are playing well. Yes, the vibes are good.

But the Sean Gatorre situation, it does loom large over everything because he's such an important piece. I have a question about John Torrella and a quote that he said, I think last one, or at least earlier during training camp, I have major concerns about the room. You can't get squat done on the ice until you get your room straight. I think we have a little bit of work to do there. You've mentioned that, you know, it's not necessarily like Earth-shattering news that he brought up the fact that the room is what it is. But through this start to the season, have you noticed any particular changes on that front with, at least with what John Tortoella may be trying to do to help change the dynamics of that lock?

locker room? Yeah, it's early. And to be fair, it's easier to have a good room when your goalie stopping 94% of the shots because you just have more confidence knowing that the guy back there is literally standing on his head. That said, I think the big problem with the room from what I've gathered, it was never that like these guys all hated each other. This was not a situation where people were at each other's throats. If anything, it was kind of the opposite in that they're really tight and they all like each other. And because of that, like, there was just kind of a lack of accountability. Like, I believe Cam Agonson referred to it as something of like a country club atmosphere there. And guys just, I think, needed to be a little bit harder on each other, you know,

to kind of say, you need to get your head in the game. You need to really, you know, stick it out. And if somebody, you know, blows a shift, that's not just okay because we're going to hang out this weekend, you know. And I think that one thing that Tourderella has done, which has been interesting to me, is he's going without a captain. Obviously, Claudeau was the longtime captain in Philadelphia. He got traded. I think the expectation was they were going to give somebody to sea. Turdarella has not given anyone to see. He only gave one player even an A. And that's Scott Lawton, who is not like your traditional best player on the team gets the C type of thing. So Tourderella, I think, is kind of throwing down the gauntlet a little bit to the veterans on the team to say like, hey, if you want to be viewed

as a leader in my eyes, go lead. I'm not going to give it to you. And I do think that that is probably shaking up the room a bit, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when they deal with some adversity. Because as I said, it's easy for everybody to feel good when your goalie's playing this well. If they lose two, three in a row, what happens? That I think is when we'll see. That'll be the stress test to see if the room really has gotten better. You know, you mentioned, Charlie, that Carter Hart kind of had a tough go of it mentally during the pandemic and was certainly probably, you know, trying to overcome some mental hurdles. And I think that would probably also be true for Kevin Hayes, who I think, you know, hockey fans are very familiar with the story of the

tragic loss of his brother. And I'm wondering how he's doing right now. Statistically, you look at the sheet, like, wow, 10 points in nine games and it looks like he's, you know, maybe Kevin Hayes is back. But maybe more importantly, like, how is Kevin Hayes doing when you're kind of around him and in that locker room? I think Kevin Hayes is just ecstatic that he's finally healthy. You know, that was really, I mean, obviously it was, I can't even imagine how tough it was for him to go through what he went through with the loss of his brother. That's an entirely separate thing. But Kevin Hayes all last year was injured. You know, he had surgery at the end of the 2020, 2021 season to deal with essentially a core muscle

issue. Then had another surgery after the first one really didn't take. That was at the start of last season. Came back, looked awful. He was very clearly not healthy. Then finally, after a while, they were able to determine that actually there was an infection in there. He had another surgery essentially to resolve that. Then finally, by the end of the year, he looked like maybe 80% of himself. And I think this year, the big difference is that he had a full offseason of train, and he finally feels good. You know, he finally doesn't have to worry that every turn he makes that his whole lower body

isn't going to fall apart, which I think was lingering on his mind all of last season. There was definitely a fear from his part that he was never going to feel good again. and now he feels good again. Now, that's not to say that, you know, Kevin Hayes is miraculously the speed demon. It's just that he's now what he should be. And in fairness, you know, he's a guy who John Tortorell is been open that he's going to push. You know, Kevin Hayes has at times, I think, frustrated coaching steps. And John Turtorell is open that he's going to ask for a lot from Kevin Hayes. They have to now because Shul Gatorre is out for the foreseeable future. So Kevin Hayes is by default, the number of one setter in Philadelphia because who else do they have? So he's pushing Hayes. Like, I believe it was

the two Sundays ago against the Sharks. Tordorello benched Kevin Hayes for the third period. He benched Kevin Hayes and he bench Travis Kineckney. And do I think that that was in part more of like an overarching message sent to the team rather than like him being specifically ticked off at Hayes and Kine? Yeah, but I think he was ticked off at Hayes and Kineckney because he saw the team kind of falling into old habits. And his expectation is, hey, you guys are the leaders. You guys are the ones that have to lead the way. And you were, you were just kind of coasting.

So I'm going to bench both of you guys to send a message. Now, the very next game, Travis Keneckney had an amazing first period and had two great assists. And Kevin Hayes had a strong game as well. So they both responded well in the short term. But I could see Kevin Hayes and Tortorella clashing a little bit this season. Because again, Torterale is going to ask for a lot from Hayes. and he's healthy now. There really aren't any excuses.

But yeah, last year was very tough for him. You have the combination of, you know, awful stuff with regards to your family and then the injuries that he was battling. I'm sure he's just thrilled to be going out, to be able to go out there and just play hockey the way he wants to. Two quick things. I realize in mentioning some of the other Philly teams that are doing really well, I completely forgot about the Philadelphia Union.

We're in the MLS Cup final. Literally like, like the city of Philly right now, like you're talking. about the vibes being excellent. Like everyone seems to be winning. I just have to mention them. But I just wanted to know, is there anyone else on this team that we seem to be kind of overlooking in the hockey world? You mentioned Kevin Hayes with the start that he's having, Carter Hart playing well to. Is there anyone in this flyers team that we should be paying more attention to considering how well they might be playing? It's an interesting question. You know, I think they have really, really high hopes for Joel Farabee. He actually had the same

neck surgery that Jack Eichael had. So there was, I think, a fear that he wasn't going to be ready for the start of the season because he had that in the summer. He made it back for game one. There was maybe a little rust the first couple games, but I think he's been playing quite well. And he's going to be at the top of their lineup because, again, who else do they really have? So he's a guy, I think, definitely keep an eye on.

Then they just have a lot of young guys. You know, they are really like, this is kind of a youth movement. Maybe the guys aren't like 19 years old. but a lot of rookies. You know, they're real high on this kid Noah Cates, who went to Minnesota Duluth. They're trying to figure out what they have in guys like, you know, Owen Tippett, who was in the Clodgeroo trade, Morgan Frost, who was a first round pick of 2017. That's finally really getting his shot.

You know, Wade Allison, who went to Western Michigan. They have a lot of these guys that they're trying to figure out kind of what they have in them. So those are, you know, for lack of a better term, the flyers to, you know, to an outsider, probably have a lot of Mark donks, but I love that reference. Exactly. But, you know, maybe over the next couple years if some of these guys establish themselves,

they won't be Mark Donks for long because they will become legitimately good NHL players. Mark donks and Buzz Flipits. Like, I always thought those like a good like, but I was associated those with Pittsburgh players. So I wonder how people are going to genuinely feel about that. But

yeah, dude, thank you so much for hanging out with us over this last little while, man. We really appreciate this. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me, guys. All right. Hey, listen, I appreciate you wrapping up that interview. Julian, with Charlie, because my computer all of a sudden froze. Hey, you know, anything to help you out, friend.

There we go. There we go. By the way, it's interesting, right? When you hear what a great time to be a Philly sports fan, here's a random fact for our listeners. Okay. Philadelphia is the only sports city in North America that in one calendar year had all four of their big four sports teams reached the finals in the same year. Did you know that? What year would that have been?

Is that 75 or like 2009? 1980. Oh, okay. 1980, the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup final. They lost to the Islanders. that was the Bob Nystrom overtime goal that started the Islanders dynasty but that was Philly got to the

Stanley Cup final that year. That same year, the 76ers got to the NBA final and they lost to the Lakers. That's the year that Magic Johnson was a rookie and actually played as a center I think in game six of the finals when Kareem was hurt. Magic steps in, right? Okay?

Yeah, it goes against Dr. Jay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so that's 1980. Also in 1980, the Eagles make it to Super Bowl. I believe Dick Vermil was their head coach. They lose to the Raiders. Couldn't tell you if they were the Oakland Raiders or the L.A. Raiders. I think they were the Oakland Raiders, but I don't know.

But anyway, they lose to the Raiders. The only team to win for Philadelphia in 1980 was the Phillies. They won the World Series. But all four of their teams got to the, the finals in the same calendar year. That's crazy. I didn't realize that they did that in the same calendar year.

I know in the bubble, I look to pay attention to teams from the state of Florida that were doing really well because, I mean, the Lightning had won a Stanley Cup. I think in the... Well, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. Bucketeers won the Super Bowl. In the MLS playoffs, I think either...

I'm trying to remember. remember if it was Orlando City that won or at least they got to the final. They did really well that time too. The Tampa Bay Rays were in the World Series, I want to say. Yeah, they also dodgers. Yep. Yeah. Like the Miami Heat were in an NBA finals too.

They lost to the Lakers in the bubble. So yeah, I mean, that's the only closest thing I can think of in terms of dominance, but that's an entire state. Yeah. City. One city. That's incredible. Calendar year.

There you go. All right. Let's wrap up this show with a couple of segments we've tried to make a little bit regular on the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Now, in the first two weeks of the regular season, we have handed out something we call the Jack Adams winner of the week, the Monday Athletic Hockey Show.

That is, we look at the coach that were like, man, that guy did a great job. And we gave the first one, the aforementioned John Totorella. Don Granato got the nod last week. Who do you think since we last recorded an episode, the Athletic Hockey Show on Monday? Who's done the best job coaching the past week?

There's some pretty good options there, right? Like Bruce Cassidy's had himself a good week. I mean, it's kind of crazy that the Bruids and the Vegas Golden Knights are both doing really well. It's kind of like that rare situation where it's like you have a breakup and then like both parties seem to be doing pretty well without each other. I think those two teams are doing well. Jay Woodcroft's getting the Oilers

doing to play really well too. Lane Lambert, I have to admit, I have not focused as much on the island as much as I'd like, but Lane Lambert seems to be doing a decent job on the island as well. I mean, might be a tie between Cassie and Woodcroft

and I really might just be going off record in the fact that they're both like 4-0 and O over the last little while. What about, okay, what about Jim Montgomery. As the month of October closes out, that's true. Nobody, look, nobody would have thought the Bruins would be at the top of the standing. Right? Like, a lot of us thought, man, the Bruins, they're going to be a playoff bubble team and they got no Marshan comes back and he was obviously remarkable in his return. But, you know, no Charlie McAvoy and no Marchand to start the year.

I kind of feel like it's time they maybe give some love to Montgomery. You're absolutely right. because like I really thought with the injuries that they were that they had to deal with, that they were going to start off on the wrong foot. We had an episode where we saw the fact that Taylor Hall was going to be out for a couple of weeks, but he ends up coming back a lot sooner than anticipated. Brad Marshall was supposed to be up for a few more months. He's back already on the team. Yeah.

And the fact that they were able to get those results without those, without, with all those injuries. Like, yeah, that is incredible. You've made a really good point. Jim Montgomery is probably going to be my pick. Okay, look at this. I just convinced, I think, let's go ahead. Lock it in. Jim Montgomery wins our Jack Adams of the week.

Or three straight wins. And yeah, he gets Marshan back, but, man, it's unbelievable. What he's doing? I do want to give a shout-out, though, to Cassidy. You know what's amazing? Yeah. As I talked about earlier in the podcast that the Devils had the worst, like, you know, one of the worst save percentages in the league.

The Vegas Golden Knights have the best goals against average, I believe the best save percentage. And we thought goal-tending was going to be a huge concern. Relying on Logan Thompson to hold down the fort. Yeah. Look at Logan Thompson's numbers. It's crazy, right? It just goes to show, you know, you think you know teams.

You think you know the NHL. And then the NHL finds a way to throw you for a loop. And we're only in the first month of the season. Yeah. No, so anyway, we'll give it to Montgomery. And the last thing we're going to do, get a little multiple choice question. for you and the listeners, you answer this question, okay? Sure.

As a fan, and look, it's Halloween. Look, Halloween parties have become like the thing for NHL teams in the last few years, right? It is like the, it's almost like a signature event on the calendar for the teams. Fans love seeing what their favorite players dressed up as and all this stuff. Here's my question for you to close out the show. As a fan, would you rather, A, attend your team's, your favorite team's Halloween party, show up, but you get to be a guest hangout or B, would you rather ride on a Stanley Cup parade float with your favorite team?

What would be your choice? It's not even close. You take the Stanley Cup parade. Not even close. Yeah, easily. Because you get to, especially with how they look now where you see all the viral stuff, or one guy is getting a little bit more lit than everybody else,

people throwing like gifts from the ground and all that and trying to just show you love. And you get to be a fan and experience that easily. easily. Not to mention if I'm a fan and like nobody knows who I have, it's just like some random dude that's there. Yes, there's like mean potential, but you can also just try to be a little low key while everyone focuses on the players. You just do your thing. You're like a fly on the wall. That's easy, Stanley Cup. Really? I mean, I feel like, but like I feel like where you're going to get more great stories to tell your friends would be the Halloween party. I don't know about

that. I don't know about that. Like a Halloween party with all of your players, yes. there's going to be some stories. It's going to be like, wow, that's cool. You got to party with X team here. A Stanley Cup parade, especially depending on which team that ends up being. Like, I mean, for Halloween party, people are going to be like,

yeah, how did you get in at that like Halloween party? A parade float? I think it's going to be way more of like a cluster pop. There we go. Look at that. Bringing it in. It's a cluster puck. I think we can make that.

Turn that in. You know what we need to do. do we need to just start trademarking words. This is the Monday athletic hockey show. We've trademarked the word cluster puck. Cluster puck. It should be a segment.

It should be a segment. Yeah. And then we're going to, we're going to make cluster puck merch. We're going to get, you know, we're going to get it going. I like the idea that as someone

who is on another podcast that has merch, you should, I would wear like cluster puck the athletic hockey show merch. Oh, man. All right. Well, we'll look into that.

We'll get the marketing department and the trademark lawyers to look at that. All right, man. Listen, you've got some homework to do this week. 1,500 words. The real story behind Jonathan Hubertel on the appletal. Why did he leave in the first period? Why did he leave? Oh, man.

I guess I got to start tapping into my sources on that one. You know what? In all seriousness, I would kind of read a story talking to NHL players. Like, what do you do? when you have to go to the bathroom. Like, how often have you left the bench to go use the bathroom? Like, because these guys are often,

they're hydrated too, right? Drinking during the game and whatever. Like, how often? Like, I don't think it happens very often. Like, I always notice when players leave the bench. Roberto, absolutely. I can't think of another time in which this is a famous one. Yeah.

That was a play. That was overtime of a playoff game. Oh my God. Like, right? It's overtime of a playoff game. Your season was on the line. Roberto said like, nah, man, got to shit.

I think we've all been there. We're like, yeah, I get it. Oh, my God, don't way. Listen, let's leave it there. All right, love to hear from you. As always, hit us up on Twitter with your thoughts. Leave us a comment in the Athletic Hockey Show comment section. I know, I don't Gentile likes to root.

dominate that space. We need to start warming our way in on the Monday pod. Like having people comment on their stuff? He gets those comments and he and he's like he makes sure that the Tuesday boys, which is spelled with four Zs.

He makes sure that the Tuesday boys dominate the comment section. Let's get going here. Okay. That's actually any competition against the Tuesday boys, I am all four because we are already want to know against those guys. So we can't We can't have them beat us again.

But it's not at all. No, exactly. All right. So that does it for the Monday episode of the pod. Drop us a comment there. We love that. And leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform.

We certainly appreciate that. You can subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast. You'll get all of our bonus content from the entire network. Start with a 30-day free trial. It's just 99 cents a month after that. And right now, great deal. You can subscribe to the Athletic for $1. $1 a month for six months,

visit the athletic.com slash hockey show.