The Athletic Hockey Show - Trade dudline or best trade deadline ever?, the Calgary Flames could miss the playoffs, the Ottawa Senators could make the playoffs, Jon Cooper benches the Tampa Bay Lightning stars, and more

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Ian and Julian are here for a brand new Monday episode of The Athletic Hockey Show to discuss which current NHLer could host SNL, their favorite trades from the 2023 NHL trade deadline, the Calgary Flames looking like they’re going to miss the playoffs while the Ottawa Senators have arrived as a playoff contender, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper benching Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Braden Point for the third period of a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night, Toronto Maple Leafs fans invading Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, and more.Plus, the guys are willing to bet that the Boston Bruins will not make it to the Stanley Cup Final, and, to close things out, answer some listener questions, hand out the Jack Adams Winner of the Week award, and play a round of Multiple Choice Madness.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/NHLSHOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back. It is the Monday edition. The Athletic Hockey Show, it's Ian Mettis, Julian McKenzie, with you for the next hour, recapping the week that was, kind of looking ahead to the week ahead. And you know what, Julie, I just realized something as I'm starting the intro of this pod. No, I often say that the Thursday pod that I do with Sean McIndoo, I say, you know what, we should call that the M&M boys, Mendez and McIndo. And it's now just dawned on me.

me that Mendez and McKenzie can work just as well. We got to be fishing for that M&M sponsorship, man. Eminem and Eminem. Yeah. Let's do this. I like that. I like that. And like an Eminem sponsorship with the candy.

If the rapper Eminem is dropping an album, they want to promote, he wants to promote that on the podcast. Like, we find a way to make that work. I just realized, though, a huge missed opportunity when I was doing the show with Haley. I could have hit up 80. H&M. Could have had a clothing dealer. H.

H. H. Mendes. Yeah. I was wondering where you were going with that because S&M does not work. No, what does it?

No one does it. S&M would have not worked. It's way it is. Hey, you know what? I like this. We're right off, right off the bat,

we got the jokes. Okay? And I was thinking about this. Travis Kelsey, superstar tight end. He's on SNL this weekend, Saturday Night Live. And I thought he did a great job.

I saw a couple of the skits that he did. American doll, another skit where he's kind of mocking Patrick Mahomes. And I've seen people ask this on Twitter. Let me ask you, let me ask the listeners. If we could pick one player in the NHL that we think could pull off like SNL without being like cringy and weird and awkward, who's it going to be? Who's it going to be?

Who's our SNL guy? It has to be a current NHLer? Yeah, active player. It's got to be an active player. Because P.K. Suban would have been it, but he's not playing. Yeah, exactly. I'd like to see if Trevor's egress could do it. It seems like he's the only player I can think of who has some kind of personality that's not completely cringy.

Like he comes across as a guy who is a little bit more relatable. He's like a younger guy. Like just seems like a guy who's like kind of cool but also like kind of dorky looking. But like it's not in like a cringy, no personality way. He just seems like a, oh, he just seems like a, like a chill dude who just happens to play, like, at the best possible level of professional hockey you can get. And like, I'd like to see him try it. I don't know if it necessarily would be a, like a slam dunk. It might be, he might be a little too stilted.

I don't know if he perfectly has it for, like, the acting chops for, for SNL. But I feel as if compared to, like, if Connor McDavid was up there, I think he'd do a better job at handling that. That's the first name that comes to mind. Maybe Jack Hughes might have a little bit of something. I mean, he's in New Jersey. That's a lot closer to Midtown than what Trevor's egress would have to make the trek to do to be on SNL. Maybe there's somebody could talk to. Maybe he'll be Jack and PK are cool with each other.

Like maybe he can top into that. I don't know. But I don't know. In terms of a current NHL player, somewhere between those two guys, I think. let me throw one at you. Brent Burns. Brent Burns. Kind of larger than life personality.

He's got the animals. No, I see skepticism coming through. Yeah. No, he doesn't really do it. I mean, like, he seems like, like the Kit Kat commercials he's done are kind of cool, but I don't get like, I don't know.

He doesn't seem like a guy who could hold his own and host SNL. But I could be wrong. Like, if he was in like a skit or something. Or you remember when like, remember David Letterman,

like when he would have like the top 10 at the end of his show and he would get like a random like, like sometimes he's reading the top 10 or he gets some cool celebrity to do like the top 10 where he reads like a category and then they read off like all the different options for that. Like Brett Burns would be good for that. Like I think he'd be dry enough for that.

I don't know if he could carry a whole show. I don't know if I want to listen to a whole monologue from Brent Burns. Did you ever see back in the day, Wayne Gretzky had a couple of SNL cameos? Like, and I think he was straight up, he hosted one week. And like right when he went to L.A. And have you ever, it's a, it is capital C, cringy. And I think the skit is called Waikiki, Khi. And it's the premise of the skit.

Yeah, like the island there in Hawaii, Waikiki. Oh. And or out in Hawaii. Okay. And the premise of this was Wayne Gretzky is a hockey star who's like in Hawaii. It's just awful. Awful. And there's a shirt, a scene of Gretzky without his shirt on.

Like they're pretending to go water skiing. If you look at this, you will be sure. You're like, this is the greatest hockey player of all time. He looks like he has no muscle tone, no definition. It just looks like a random guy. And it's, I think it's called. Ikey, Key Hockey. Saturday Night Live, Wayne Gretzky.

He did a couple things with the Wayne's World guys, too, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, a couple of those things. But the Waikiki hockey, got to tell the listeners, got to find it, track it down. Look at it. So you'll feel uncomfortable watching it. I don't know, man. Like, we're not at a point yet where the NHLers who are in the league

from a personality standpoint are so exciting that like we just, what we're doing anytime they make some wild tweet. You know, I wonder if Brad Marchand would, how would Brad Barshon do it? Oh, there you go. Yeah. That might be, that might be some, I'm pretty sure there are people who were yelling at us while we were there listening to this being like, why did you say Brad Barsha? Well, maybe he could do it, but I don't know if he would just like polarize the audience

off the jump with some kind of joke. Like, what if he makes it crack about like Steve Dangle and the Mighty Roar thing and Leaves fans or whatever or, or just. like making some comment about being a macehole, like playing in Boston or whatever. Like, he might do it though. Like he's, he is like the number one villain in the league right now and the league. Every good sports league needs a villain. And Brad Marsha has no problem being the league's number one villain.

Yep. And maybe that works for like something like SNL. Maybe, but I don't, I also don't know if he has the natural acting chops to do it to. You need some kind of naturalness when you do those skits. Yeah, no, exactly. So anyway, hit us up. Let us know either in the comment section of the pod. You could tweet at us.

Let us know who, if you had to parachute an active player into that S&L role, who could pull it off without being cringy, without being weird, without being awkward. Okay, so hit us up with that. All right. So trade deadline came and went. Haley and I did a show on Friday. It was great. Had a whole bunch of guests there.

Fluto joined us and Laz joined us and Myrtle and Gentilly. And look, I know there's a lot of people calling it, oh, the trade deadline and it was awful. Worst trade deadline ever. I'm going to go the opposite. I think there's the best one ever. But you got to include the 10 days leading up to it or whatever was the two weeks. It was a lot of fun. Lots of moves.

Every day you felt like you would go to your phone, wherever you get your news and refresh, didn't know what was going to happen. I like this. I'm sorry. I see a lot of people saying, yeah, it still wasn't great or the trade deadline itself was a dud, a bust. I don't think so. We had tons of movement, big names moving. I got no problem with the way the two weeks played out.

Like, here's the thing. We always associate, like the deadline is a day. And we saw teams be active well before this year. So it's kind of a mixed bag. Like, I love the fact that we saw the activity we saw leading up to the deadline. Like it felt like when one, for me, it felt like if one move happened, it was like, okay, some other move is coming. And nine times out of 10, like something else like happened, it felt like.

And to see like all these different like people on hockey Twitter or just around cyberspace, just like freak out and be like, wow, Tanner Genoa got flipped for five picks. What the hell's going on? Why is Tampa doing this? Like it was fun to see people wild out or or the Patrick Kane saga, which we wondered for a second. Like, okay, is he going to move? maybe he's not going to the Rangers and all of a sudden he balls out and then he basically wills his way into becoming a New York Ranger.

Maybe there could have been a bit more excitement with the Timom Meyer thing. We knew he was the top dog essentially, but we kind of knew after a while I was going to somewhere in the metro and it didn't have that same drama that was being produced with Patrick Kane. The Leafs with the moves that they made like getting Ryan O'Reilly and Nolichari and then Sam Lafferty and Cape McCabe. Yeah, like Dave found themselves. Like Kyle Dubas said, I, this has to be the last dance for real.

And my back is completely against the wall. I have to do something. And he didn't. That also added to it. But like, but we think of deadline day. We think of GMs at their last possible moment making these moves. We didn't get that as much as we would have liked because all the good moves had been made well before. So my answer to that is just, yes, we.

You're right. You can say that deadline day was a dud, but it was because we got so much excitement leading up to that day. And honestly, I don't think you can, I'm not going to complain about it. I think even for the trade deadline shows, they still found a way to make it work without the constant activity. I don't know if you saw the Bruce Bruchro video with TSN where he's cussing out all the guys in the trade center room. He's saying, hey, LeBron, Johnston, makes him. effing trades. Like that was hilarious to me. And then the Connor Bredd fake draft lottery thing, maybe a bit overboard but like pretty funny. I would have, here's my one gripe with that.

I wish Connor Bredard played along with that. I get, he tried to be stoic when they said, hey, how does it feel to go to the Columbus Blue Jackets in our fake draft lottery? I would have loved it. Even if he knew he could answer it, if he just kind of laughed it off, he's like, come on, man. Like I can't answer that question.

But he just tried to be just like, you know, super stoic. And I guess like you're a teenager. You don't, you know, you don't have that like utmost confidence yet to do something like that. But like I would have liked it if he kind of just like played up to it just like a little bit. Like we all know it's not true. And we all know he's not, I mean, we'll wait until later this year before we, it's determined where he's going. But like it would have been fun if he played up to it just a little bit, you know? Like see, stuff like that would take him out of being on SNL as a host.

So now, Carter-Berdard has to, he's got, he's got worked that up a little bit. Okay, but he's just a kid. He is just a kid. We'll give him some slack. Absolutely. Favorite trade for me. Happen on trade deadline day. And that is Arizona and Calgary where Nick Ritchie got traded for Brett Ritchie.

And first time in league history that brothers were traded for each other. We've seen brothers, you know, different trades where maybe they're included with each other or whatever. or one brother gets traded to another team where his brother is. This did happen in the NBA. The Gasol brothers got traded for each other at one point, whatever it was. First time I read in the NFL. Was that what it was? 2008?

Yeah, 2008. That was for those who, I know I put the tweet up, but there's a very famous Stephen A. Smith rant where he rants about the Powell Gasol trade, but specifically the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers get rid of Kwame Brown. I don't know if you've ever seen that rent where he goes. in on that, that is the deal where Powell Gasol goes to the Lakers and the Grizzlies get the draft rights to Mark Gassall. Yeah, brothers for brothers.

So this happened in the NHL last week. Nick Ritchie for Brett Ritchie. Now, there had to have been a little bit, like, do you think that at any point? Now, have you spoken to either of them because of the trade happened and so I've spoken to, so I've spoken to Nick. I'm trying to get in touch with, with Brett as we speak. I was in the press conference room with Brad Trilliving and he made a little comment about it and there's audio and video out there of Bill Armstrong's reaction to it.

I caught up with, I should mention I am writing a story on it. So in the coming days, we'll get a little bit of inside story with that. But yeah, I spoke with Patrick Morris, who actually represents both brothers. And yeah, like, it's a pretty unique situation. I don't know if both brothers at this point are basically just going to like swap their lives and swap leases and whatever in their respective cities. I know Nick has a different number than what Brett had in Calgary. And I think he's I think he's kind of fed up of the whole storyline thing.

Like, hi, you got to swap for your brother. You're going to keep the same number. Like, all right, I'm a different guy. I'm going to do something different. But I think it's cool. I think it's the thing that surprised me the most about the trade is that I knew the flames wanted like a bottom pairing defenseman. and like Nick Ritchie's a guy, I think, for the flames who will go in and out of the lineup.

So when I saw the deal for Troy Stetcher, with what Troy Stetcher being involved, I know stats are down this year, my thinking was that, okay, like they wanted him and then like Nick kind of got involved and then Brett kind of got involved. But without revealing too much, it was the other way around. I think like Nick was a guy who was probably going to be out there. Brett, you know, was in a situation of his own. and I think they were looking at a couple different scenarios and then it got to a point where the defenseman involved Connor Mackey on the side of the flames go to Arizona that's what kind of happened. So that's kind of like something that kind of blew my mind.

I thought it was a situation where like, oh, they were just kind of throw-ins. No, I think there was a world where like both of those guys. Like we could have, maybe we could have seen a situation where it could have been one for one and salary was retained, but just didn't work. And then there were extra pieces at it. You know, what I love about this is I'd love if you,

track down the parents or family members on this one because there probably would have been a window. Can you imagine? You know how sometimes these trades come out? You only get half of the trade and as a parent you find out, my God, Nick's being traded to Calgary. This is amazing. The boys are going to be reunited. This is going to be awesome. Nick's going to Calgary. And then, yeah, but. And then guess what? For Brett. For Brett. You know, I'd love to know, like when they were kids, Did they have any, you know, was there any trades going on as kids? Hand me down clothes or like things that had to trading, trading up for things within the family? Maybe this is.

Would they ever wanted to play together? Have they ever thought about the idea of playing together? That's something I should try to, if I can get Brett, I would like to ask him that. Was there an opportunity for them? Did they ever want to play together? I'm sure they probably would have wanted to. Maybe they didn't. But like, have they thought about that?

Yeah. No, it's a fun. It's a fun story, obviously. but we say that. Like all these guys, their lives are being uprooted. So it's not, you know,

not necessarily ha ha, funny for them. I get it. But it's a really neat, unique story that brothers get traded for each other, uh, you know, at,

uh, at, at, at, at the deadline, right? Like, it's, it's funny.

Like, I mean, yes, people's, you're right. People's lives are being uprooted here. But like, it's kind of,

it's kind of, it's a, it's a bit of a weird, weird quirk. And like, it's a story that I think has like, you know, like I saw, I was reading about it in the Guardian, like a UK, like publication. It's like, that's, that's like a weird thing that people are starting to pick up on like, oh, okay, that doesn't happen. Like maybe like one other time

we know of that it's happening. I've been like ransacking my brain and the internet trying to figure out if this has happened like in some random like third tier league somewhere, at least in North American sports, it does not happen. Like it's, it's a bit of a, a weird one, right? And for, for Brad, and the funny thing for me, too, is that apparently, like, as all, like, as everyone's getting notified, like, everyone's just laughing about it. Like, it's not something we're just like, what the hell? Like, why am I getting trained for my brother? It's just, I think everyone in the moment sort of realized how ridiculous the situation was. And it just turned a situation where everyone, no, people could just, they just laughed about it.

So, yeah, it's a, it's a fun joke. So that now, what's not so funny is the team that you cover, the Calgary Flames, it feels like they're false. falling off a cliff. In fact, when you look at Dom's latest, you know, kind of point projection slash, you know, playoff odds, you know, you see those things. And sometimes people will show you like, this was October 1929. This is the stock market. And this is what happened, you know, the great, the stock market crash. Or when people show you like, this is the Blackberry stock.

This is where Blackberry stock went in like 2010. And this is the Calgary Flames. Like they have, it's right off of a cliff. And they basically have really, now it feels like no chance to make the plows. They don't have to almost go on some magical pull it out of the fire and pretty much not run the table, but play like $7.50, 800 hockey. Doesn't feel like it's going to happen. What happened here, Julian?

And give our listeners a sense of the mood in Calgary. because I think we got something even for people to listen to that kind of just set the tone, right? The confidence in this room is gone. And I'm basing that off of just my times being in the dressing room after games just from the road trip I was on where they were going through Arizona, Vegas and Colorado to us talking and people listening on a Monday morning. the confidence in the Calgary Flames room is, if it's not completely gone, it is not at 100%.

It's below 50%. Like when it's one thing to, you know, lose the games earlier in the year the way that they did when they had a bunch of time. And they were still picking up loser points. And they still kept themselves within a pretty decent distance. They were still in a playoff spot, or at least they were still. in some kind of distance. I think these last few games where they go to Vegas, and that's where the losing streak starts.

I basically are going to go through every game of the losing streak. When you go into Vegas, you have a lead, you enter the third, you blow it, and you go to overtime and you lose. You go to Colorado. You allow goals on the first two shots you see, and it ultimately takes you out of the game. And that is a game where one of your better players, one of your more notable acquisitions from the off season, it's his first game back in the city he wins a Stanley Cup. And everyone gives him the ovation and it's supposed to be an emotional night.

You don't win that game. You don't come out proper in that game. You go back home to Boston. You battle back from a deficit. And it looks like you might finally exercise a demon where you're trying to, you can't seem to come back from the. being in a deficit after two periods, then a bad play happens in the third, and then you lose it in overtime with 4.3 seconds left.

You play Toronto, and it's like pulling teeth to get chances on net and score goals. And then you play Minnesota, as they did on Saturday, a bit of the same thing, except you get no goals. And even if it is a one-nothing game throughout most of it, there's like no urgency, no fight, no pop, nothing. I just feel as if like over the last few days, over the last few games,

considering the quality of the opponent and the way that they've lost games, there's so much reason for guys on this team to lose confidence in themselves. And you feel it in the media availability. just with the way that, you know, the response, the body language, this is not a team at their most confident. This is a team that has realized, you know, they've lost all these one goal games. Their goal tending has not shown up for them when they needed it to. And when it has shown up for it for it as it has in at least the last two games, their offense doesn't show up. It feels like something goes wrong when they don't want it to.

It just happens all the time. Like Jonathan Huberto, a lot of people are going to look at him and how he's been playing. I think his confidence is completely shot. I think of that Boston game. He has a play in overtime he can make where there's a defenseman in front of them. He's trying and is another winger on his right. Linus Olmark, I forget the exact reason what happened. He does not have his stick.

He is in the net. He does not have his stick. Like, Huberto could just shoot and he has a chance at it. He tries to pass it off and the play is broken. And like after the game, he's like, I didn't know he didn't have his stick. And he just doesn't trust his shot. Like, there are so many people on that team who their confidence is maybe not a complete zero, but it is so much more down than what it should be.

And they need something to work out for them in these next few games to get out of it. but I don't know. I really, I really don't know. And you're right. Like, it's going to take a Herculean effort for this team to battle out of the Drek that they're in and make a run for the playoffs. But right now, I don't know if they can do it. And look, here's what I'll say to. And I'll let you get.

I'll let you have the floor. If the flames find a way to do this, they find some, like, winning street. or whatever in them. I don't want to hear anybody be like, you didn't believe in this team. Nobody believed in this team. Because we saw the Flames team as they are. They did not look like a team that believed in themselves.

So something will have happened internally, whether it's just, okay, we have to make an adjustment behind the bench. And I'm not so sure that I'm not necessarily saying it has to be Darryl Sutter. For people who are wondering, maybe it's maybe it has to be. but I don't think they're going to do it. And I also think there are some elements of the coaching where that's working where they're limiting shots, but I can understand the other side too where like this style just doesn't necessarily fit with these players. But maybe something over there has to happen.

Maybe all the players have to make like that one episode in Ted Lasso where they get rid of some curse and just like burn something in the locker room and then go on with their lives. I don't know. Something will have had to have happened internally for them to make it work. man it's yeah it's awful like and you know what it's probably not worth playing the clip because but i thought kelly rudy nailed it on saturday night where they show the flames bench coming back from the break and uh we're in you know kind of in the intermission they're down three nothing and the word i would use is despondent they it's just a shot of every player on the bench

quickly one by one and it looked like uh you know best i don't even know how i could describe this But these guys look like they were at some place. They didn't want to be. Not at a professional hockey game, not a game they were playing in. You know, if you ever get invited to watch somebody else's vacation pictures or a movie, that's what they look like.

But that's supposed to be sort of fun. That's supposed to at least be kind of cool where it's like, all right, cool, you got to hang out in Cabo. Listen, Julian, if you ever, if you ever invite me over to see. Pictures. Just hang out at your grandma's house. No.

It's a random part of town. It's like, hey, here's me washing my grandma in the bath. That explains why people would look like that. There you go. Yeah, that's exactly what that was. That's it. This team has no confidence in them right now. But they have a soft schedule, right?

They have a pretty soft schedule at the end of the year. But Ian, it's been that way for a good chunk of the year. Like, Shana Goldman and I did a whole piece, like, in the middle of December where we looked at, like, how easy the rest of their schedule is supposed to be. They had the easiest strength of schedule in the middle of December. And we've analyzed so many of these California opponents and what they needed to do in order to get the job done. They still have an easy, decent schedule that if they take advantage of it, maybe they go on that run. The problem is there's nothing in this team right now that shows that they can do it.

There's nothing in this team. It's been a running joke for like basically the last how many days where Daryl Sutter is like, man, I believe in this team. and we're going to go on a 22 game winning streak. He started that when we were in Colorado for the road trip. We're going to go on a 22 game winning streak. They lose that game. Whether it's going to Boston, 21 games. Oh, ahead of Trump, 20 games.

You can't keep saying you're going to go on this winning streak and take the division. Nobody believes that, bro. Like, come on, you know. And I made that point in my column two where Daryl Sutter made that comment about how, hey, look, I'm cheering for the flames. I'm not sure anybody else here is. It's a clear swipe at the media and whatever, just trying to create this me against the world type of deal. Nobody believes in you, and you have not given fans, you have not given people sufficient reason to believe in you.

When everyone, a lot of people did at the beginning of the season. You look at those projections. You look at where people slot at this team at the beginning of the year. There was so much with the way the roster was composed that people thought, all right, this team was going to do it. and they have not sufficiently delivered. So again, if the flames find a way to do this, good for them. I think there's going to take a lot for them to do it. But I don't want to hear people say at the end if they're like,

oh, man, you know, nobody believes in this team, and you should have been believing in this team. This team didn't even believe in itself. They need to figure out a way to make that work, and I would love to, I will find a way to get that story of what they did to turn that around for themselves. But right now, 19 games to go, I am not convinced.

No. And you know what? I got to admit I'm watching you. You're getting angry. And I'm like, that was me for the last five years. It's frustrating. It's frustrating. You know what, though?

I need to pivot. And we are going to talk about Tampa Bay here in a second because I think Tampa Bay is a fascinating story. But before we get to Tampa Bay, the Ottawa Senators, Julian, I think have arrived. And I'm not saying that they've arrived. I want to make this very clear. They've not arrived as a playoff team. But what they have done is they've arrived. as a playoff contender.

And the vibes in Ottawa are immaculate. And I can't stress this enough. And Saturday night, you want to talk about, Calgary's lost five in a row. Ottawa's won five in a row. And I want the listeners to hear, like I didn't pull my phone out fast enough.

A couple of other reporters did. And they got the audio. The audio you're going to hear is from TSN's Claire Hannah off of her phone. Inside the building, with about five minutes to go in the game, the Ottawa senators are up 5-2 on Columbus. Remember, Ottawa hasn't made the playoff since 2017.

There's been no reason to think that the playoffs have been a reality since 2017. Listen to the crowd inside Ottawa Saturday night. So there you go. We want playoffs from 18,000 plus inside that arena. I got to tell you, listen, I've covered this team for a long time, 20 years. And that's about as, you know, spine tingling of a moment that I've had a long time inside that. I've had a lot of them. That's the first time in a long time where I felt like there was magic in the air. And it's great to see this fan base for the people that

mock have mocked Ottawa for years with you guys can't fill your arena and your team has a terrible payroll and your ownership's awful and your players leave all that stuff. It felt like that was like a great exhale Saturday night. Like a goodbye to the negativity of the past and hello Jacob Chikrin, who in his first game at home, Julian, scores a goal, has an assist, his grandpa's there watching. His grandpa was at the morning skate.

And he just came in there. And, you know, DJ Smith, I'll give DJ a ton of credit. DJ says to all of us, he says, you know, I told Jake, tell your grandpa, if he wants to come to practice every day and have breakfast with us,

it's all right by me. And, you know, think about that. Like, they've created something, a culture in our, Ottawa. The Ottawa senators have a culture. It's one of the greatest 12-month pivots I've ever seen from a franchise. Again, I don't know that they're going to make the playoffs. If you look at the statistical probabilities, Dom's model, other people, they're like 15%, 1-5 or 20%. So they got an uphill battle. But Julian, since January 23rd, they are tied with the Boston Bruins for the best

record in the NHL. This is a six-week heater. Six-week heater. Are you serious? Three and one since January 23rd. Best team in the NHL is the Ottawa Senators. That's insane.

It's a six-reter. Good for them, man. I think they might run out of racetrack, which is crazy to say because they're only three points out. But they got it. They have the third toughest schedule in the entire NHL. And we'll see. This brings us to Tampa, my friend,

because two of Ottawa's games, are against Tampa. The lightning aren't a bit of a free fall. And I thought after what happened on the weekend where they lose to Buffalo and John Cooper, I'll read the quote from Cooper, he benches his three highest scoring players when they lose to Buffalo in Braden Point,

Stephen Stamcoast, Nikita Kutrov. John Cooper says after the game, quote, as coaches you've got to put your team in the best position to win 99.9% of the time, those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice. This team has been unbelievable for a decade, and you take the three finals,

there's a lot of reason why that's all happened. But we have a set of standards here that everybody adheres to. It's not a pick and choose thing. It's everybody. It's how it was for today. Like I said, those guys, extremely important part of our team,

but for 20 minutes tonight, I thought the other guys could get it done. Kucherov, Point, Stamco's. They don't play the third period. Tampa rolls back in. they play Sunday against Carolina. It's one of the biggest beatdowns we've seen this season. Six nothing.

The hurricanes out shoot them 38, 14. So I ask you this, Julian, was this a misstep from John Cooper to staple those three guys to the bench? Did it suck the life out of this team? Or maybe just a little bit too soon? Again, we all have a tendency to overreact. I didn't like, if this was, if he was looking for his team to respond, that's not the response he won. It's one of the worst beatdowns they've had all year. Maybe the worst.

Yisperi Kockenemy had five points in that game. That's the only thing you needed to say to kind of really accurately depict and illustrate the beat down. Like, look, it's tough because like John Cooper has had this, like he's been able to manage whatever egos are in that locker room and has turned that into success in Stanley Cup finals appearances

and Stanley Cup final championships. But like to bench those three, like my first thinking was, okay, well, if you're a guy on, on the team who's not those three players, you think, well, okay, well, at least John Cooper is trying to put everybody on equal footing. But as we all know, it stars, man, like, it just doesn't work that way. Like, if you're going to do that, like, you are bound to ruffle feathers. And like, those three guys, like, you need them ultimately to not only go on a run, but to win a Stanley Cup. And, you know, if. I'm sure they'll smoothen that out in some way, but them losing to Carolina the way that they did is not a good way to respond. Like that is a tough way for them to go off after that. And I wonder if just that way that John Cooper went about things, that ruffled everyone's feathers.

And that's something that's going to have to be managed for however many games they have left. But do you think it's like, okay, John Cooper even alluded to this in his quote. He's like, look, we've won championships with these guys, we've been there, all that, okay? We've been unbelievable for a decade.

Do you think it's easier to bench players when you've had that success, you've had that history with them, or do you think it's harder to do it? I feel like it's harder to do it. Like, like, where, let's say if in Toronto,

Sheldon Keefe was like, you know what, Nielander, Matthews, Marner, you're not playing the third period. I feel like that would be easier to do because, you know, you haven't won anything with them to date, right? So you're like, hey, hey, guys, snap out of it. This, the status quo is not good enough. But you've won two championships. You are the defending Eastern Conference champion three years in a row.

I feel like it would be harder to crack the whip on your elite guys when you've had that success, no? I think for both of those situations you mentioned, it's hard, but for two completely different reasons. If you're doing that in Toronto, where any little weird things, you know, that goes wrong, you worry about the mental fragility of the team. Like, if you bench Marner, Matthews and Nylander, for example, just as an example, not saying it's actually going to happen. Like, you ultimately create a firestorm, uh, regardless of whether you think it's the right move or not. And ultimately, even if you are trying to keep stuff, keep the noise out of the locker room, that is going to be a talking point for quite some time. And like, that's something I think will

ultimately affect your players and maybe affect whatever relationships are going on between those players in Keith. For the lightning, I think it's difficult off the fact that you know you've won with those guys, but also those guys are big players in that team. They help the team ultimately get to where they need to be. I mean, you have your leader in Sanamcoast and then Pointe Kutrov, some of the best playoff performers we've seen. Kutrov, I think we've mentioned on the show too, quietly having this amazing season that not many people are talking about, like compared to like Connor McDavid or Leon Drysidal or so many other players. Like, I think in a situation like that where you know you need those guys to get you

through, it's a bit of a difficult challenge. And while fine, again, if you're a player who's not those guys, you think, okay, maybe you're on equal footing. Like, that's not, it's a bit of a myth when it comes to your star players compared to everybody else. Like, you can't always treat them the same. And I guess it really depends on their relationship with coach, which I assume is good, but also nobody likes to be embarrassed like that and get bench when you know those players make a difference for you.

You know, it's interesting. Like I remember there's an old, great old NFL story. So Jimmy Johnson, when he was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys at their peak, Emmett Smith was the superstar, right, on that team and running back. And Jimmy Johnson chewed out Emmett Smith in front of everybody in front of everybody at a practice. Practice ends and Jimmy Johnson says, pulled Emmett Smith aside and said to him, and this is all paraphrasing, but roughly he said, I pulled him aside and said, you know why he did that to you, right? He said, I did that to you because everyone else knows they don't have a chance if that's how I'm going to treat you. So they all know they got to, they step out. He says, but I had to do it to you because nobody else,

like, you think the second string running back's going to take some breaks if, if that's how and Smith's being treated. So I think if you as long as you're pulling the guy aside though to tell them, you know, listen, man, you're so good. I got to do that because otherwise, man,

nobody else is going to, if I go easy on you, like where's the cutoff, right? Is it, is it the third best guy, the fifth guy, whatever,

like, but I'm with you. I do think, weirdly, I think you need to treat everybody equally, but different. Does that make sense? Like,

like, like a superstar deserves a little bit more leeway than a, fourth liner or whatever. But at the end of the day, I think it's a little bit of a sliding scale on how you treat your guys. Absolutely. Losing 6-0 was crazy.

Anyway, but Carolina, how did you see this? Carolina with the storm surge celebration. You see what they did on Sunday? I didn't get a chance to see what happened. They brought out all of the players' kids came out onto the ice for the storm surge. Can you imagine?

Imagine how the Tampa Bay, lightning must feel like you lose six nothing to your opponent you look out out on the ice and the other team has all their kids out there and you're like oh my god we just got clown we just got clown and anyway kudos the hurricanes uh for that because the hurricanes were the one team uh julian that i think out of the behemoths in the east jerse god mire boston you know went out and got all of the you know orlov and bertuzi and all you know all the things that they did and toronto we talked about what they like Everybody loaded up, really except for Carolina,

Carolina's looking pretty good. And, and, you know, they kind of, you know, they got Puli, they did some little things. Now, I'm going to throw something out at you. I'm going to see if you're willing to bite on this or not. Maybe the listeners will too. Here's a challenge to you. And I've said this before.

I'm going to say it again now that we've passed the trade deadline. All year I've thought the Boston Bruins are not going to make the Stanley Cup final. Okay. I'm not saying they're not going to win. I'm saying they're not even going to make it to the final. Are you willing to take that bet with me? And we, we can come up with something fun. That's the bet. They're not making it to the final. They're not making it to the final. Who's comfortable taking that bet? So, so I make the bet saying they won't make it to the, you're saying they are making it to the final. Because what if I don't, because what if I, what if I, what if I also agree with you? Okay. Well, okay.

So then here's what we're asking our listeners. Okay. Who's willing to take this friendly bet with us and let's put something fun on the line. Yeah, let's do it. Something for charity, something fun we have to do, whatever. Listeners, you can come up with the parameters. But Julian and I are saying on this, the 6th of March, the Boston Bruins will not represent the Eastern Conference in the-

the Stanley Cup final. Who wants to take that bet with us? Who wants to say, no, no, they're making it. I'm with you. I'm with you. I think you're with me. I feel like we've seen it time and time.

It's so rare for a team to be as good as Boston is to actually finish the job and win. And like, it would be amazing for them to do it. And it would be a good, like, not to use the term last dance again, but essentially that's what it would be with that core. And even for next year, I know they just re-up David Pastor knock, but like,

they might not repeat this again. They need this to work. I don't know if it's not entirely possible. Not entirely possible, but it's, if there is a reality where they fall in like round two or round three, well ahead of where they should, well before they should be out.

Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say they, I'm with you. I think they might miss. They could be the Seattle Mariners, the NHL for real. So hit us up.

If you're that confident, that the Bruins are going to go to the Stanley Cup and represent the East, tell us what you're, you know, for fun, willing to put on the line. We maybe do something for charity.

Maybe we have to do some sort of fun bet. I don't really feel like shaving my head or anything like that, but. Yeah. Like, it's got to be something cool. Like, don't make us,

like, do anything a little too cringy or too inappropriate. Like, no, we're not going streaking in our neighborhoods. So, like, like I'll wear

like a jersey or something like if somebody wants to buy like I'll buy like a Bruins jersey or something or I'll write a poem to like Brad Marsha expressing adoration or something like that's funny don't make us do anything

no you know what I think you've just determined that you're going to write some Brad Marchand Barthian bookie poetry I brought up his example damn it damn it no oh

fine Anyway, we'll have some fun with it. Hit us up either via Twitter or you can, the comment section, the athletic hockey show, and let us know if you think the Bruins are going to the final, tell us what you're willing to kind of put on the line for Julian and I. And we're going to go ahead. We're planting Earth.

Somebody else is going to represent the East. I understand we're being a little bit dodgy by taking the field. I get that. But I just... But Boston's really good. Yeah, exactly. And they should be goal to the Stanley Cup final. I think we're allowed to take the field.

We're talking about a team that could end up being the greatest, if not one of the greatest regular season teams of all time. I think we have every right to take the field. The Maple Leafs rolled through Calgary, right, this week? Yes, they did. And what was the kind of visiting fan percentage of Toronto fans versus Calgary fans inside the building? I think it was 55.

545 Toronto. I think like there were more Leaves fans than Flames fans. And I remember leaving the press box to head downstairs as the game was ending. And they're announcing the three stars. And like Jacob Barksstrom had a really good game and still comes out in a losing effort. And they announce most a second star. And like you hear kind of like faint cheers and whatever. And I think Mitch Marner was the first star.

And then like everyone's going like, wow. Like everyone is going off. Like the Leafs fans are going off. They're like it's like you, it's like it's like you, it's like you expect that reaction from the home fans in attendance. It's not just like a couple faint cheers. Like you like the reaction that Mitch Martin got from being the first star of the game is what you expect home fans to feel. In fact, I will go so far as to say, don't get mad to me leaves fans.

Leafs fans were louder at Scotia Bank Saddle Dome than when I saw Leafs fans in their own building. play against the Calgary Flames earlier this year. Leafs fans were louder in Calgary than they were in their own building when they played against the Calgary Flames. I will put that on everything. Did you see last week, Vlad Teresenko scored the overtime goal,

Rangers Flyers, I think it was Wednesday night in Philly. I tell you, Julian, it looked like a Rangers home game. Man. It would look like a Rangers home game. And so here's what I want to know from our listeners to. what's the fan base that invades your home arena that you're like,

this is too much. I can't handle this. Can I mention something to that? Yeah, more than like 20, 30%. Who's the fan base that you're like, oh my God, they're in town.

And I can't handle this. Because the Flyers fans the other night, they were beside themselves. They could not believe the Rangers took over to that. I've never seen a Rangers Flyers game like that, where it felt like, it was it was nuts sorry yeah where are you gonna so so so every so for the flames games i've been at uh you know where there's just a canadian team involved like i've seen the canadians in the building

and there are fans that show out like they're there they represent uh when the oilers are in town like it's a bit more it's a bit split for the leaps like there's a different type of rowdier energy from those guys i remember walking in to the dome and normally my like my i'll park my car in the parking lot and I'll make the walk basically kind of around this bend and then into the entrance. And I have to show my pass at this little security gate. And there's like a guy security guard who's like sitting in his truck

and like he'll like wave everybody off if they're in or whatever. And we're just having like a little conversation before I was going in. Apparently whenever Leifes fans go to the Saddam Dome, like they get an uptick in like complaints from other fans just for their behavior. Like like it's not the same, even it's not even that much of the same when the oilers come in or the Canadians come in. For whatever reason with Leaf fans, when they go into that building, the number of complaints

of like drunkenness and cutting people off from buying more alcohol to the way that fights or stuff like that, like it just goes up and they have to be more on their guard for Leap fans, apparently more than any other team that comes to invade the building. And I just felt it from the way Leafs fans were, just from my vantage point in the press box, they were just rowdier. They were trying to get dueling chance going with flames fans and they were overpowering them. And then again, at the end,

the fans going off for Mitch Bartner. I remember one thing I didn't mention, but as like the fans are going off, I hear some guy in the back just being like, this arena sucks. I think they were a flames fan. And I think they realized that like, oh, crap, like this is our whole arena.

And like, we, like, that's how down, not to bring it back to the flames again, but that's how down bad we are in our season. if you are a Flames fan, you're saying that. Because, like, you have the Leafs come in. Right. And we can't even get, we can't even get the spirit up to match the Toronto Maple Leafs fan base as it is. Like, it has, it feels pretty low for those guys right now.

But I also think just with the way that Leafs fans just are, just with the passion that they have, it just, I think that plays into the energy that they displayed the other night. Yeah, you know, I think the original six fan bases tend to travel pretty, well. Absolutely. And one other point on that, on that Rangers Flyers game, a great point brought up by our producer Chris in the Slack channel.

Chris points out a lot of people thought Patrick Kane was going to debut against the Flyers. So a lot of rain, look, that's not a long drive or train ride to go right from New York to Philly. So that's, you know, it's not prohibitive cost wise or whatever to make that track.

So, but anyway, want to hear from our listeners when you've got your favorite team, whoever your favorite team is. Maybe it's Nashville, maybe it's Carolina, Winnipeg, whatever. Who's the fan base that you're like, oh, God, they're coming to town? I'm going to bet, I'm going to bet that it's an original six team.

But you know what I'd love to hear? I'd love to hear if there's some non-original six team that like invades another building. Like maybe the flyers do it to the devils or, you know, something like that. I want to hear about that. So hit us up. I'd be down to hear those answers too.

Yeah. Hit us up on Twitter or again in the comment section of the athletic hockey show. Hey, speaking to Twitter, we got some questions here, Julian. I threw a question out on Twitter asking for some feedback. Anybody got questions? So Jason has a question. Hey, Ian, who is your favorite interview ever by Nardwar? Okay, we get it, Jason.

That's pretty good. That's pretty good. After I got clowned on the Nardwar stuff last week. Okay, Mark has, I think, what is a serious question. Hey, guys, how come the New York Islanders seem to get so much respect when they have fewer points per game than the other teams in the playoff hunt? I'm not even being a homer here. I actually think Buffalo, Florida, Pittsburgh, Ottawa all should make the playoffs over the islanders.

Why do the Islanders have a better chance to get in? That comes in from Mark. And, you know, I think part of it is, again, strength of schedule of all the teams, and I'm filing a story that is really, running on Monday and it kind of looks at the strength of schedule for all the teams in the hunt in the east. The islanders have the easiest schedule. Ottawa has the third hardest schedule. The islanders have the 20th hardest schedule. So that maybe I think that's part of it. I also think goal tendings a big factor, don't you? That's what I was about to say. Like,

Elias O'Rourcan has been good this year. And I think like if you look at him compared to what the Pence where penguins have, and the Sabres, and even the senators, like, if any of those teams make it, like, we're not valuing, we're not hyping up the goaltending compared to what the Islanders would have. Not saying the Islanders would win necessarily in their series, but like, Ilya Sororican, I don't know the numbers in front of me, but he's generally been, been a more than decent goalie for the Islanders for the better part of the year. Yeah, I think so.

Like, he is the guy that-926, 232 goals against average, like, he's, he's been good. Yeah. No. To me, out of all of those teams that are battling, that's the one goalie that I'm like, I feel like that guy can just straight up steal games for you. Anyway, let's take one other question from Twitter. Alex tweeted us and said, what do you guys think of the rumors that are spreading

regarding NHL expansion teams in Atlanta and Houston? Comes in from, okay. Here's my question. Okay. Atlanta had a team in the 1970s, they moved to Calgary. Atlanta had a team in the 2000s. They moved to Winnipeg. Could they have a third crack at this?

Is it a third time the charm for Atlanta? Or no, we've learned our lessons. They shouldn't be having an NHL team. I don't know the answer to that. I think there was actually a good fan base in Atlanta. Just got kind of weirded out by strange ownership stuff or whatever. But could you go back to a third for a third. third time to a city when a place like Houston has never had it or Quebec City is dying for a

second chance or Portland could use one or did you like could you go back to Atlanta a third time? What do you think? I think if you're the NHL, you look at some of the other franchises that want and more. And I really think Houston should be the next one to get it. I'm a Quebec qua, but like I think Houston deserves a team before Quebec City does. I think if the NHL is trying to, you know, tap into that American market and make more of their dollars, it just makes sense. Houston is one of the higher TV markets in the United States.

There's an opportunity there, especially if there is a fan base willing to get it that wants it. Yeah, I think you tap into that. I definitely want to see hockey back in Quebec City. I just want that clear. But from a business standpoint, like if they're able to make it work in Houston, of course you go to Houston and then down the line you go to Quebec City. I think we will still have hockey in Quebec City.

when it's all said and done. I just think that for the NHL, knowing how much they're trying to be about their dollars anyway, it just makes sense that they would try to make it work in Houston. And as a result, I think it might take them a minute before they go back to Atlanta, but also there seem to be rumors popping up. And, I mean, I guess if there's someone there who feels like,

hey, you know, I'm able to provide stable ownership of this team and put together a good team, I think that's another part of it too. I mean, winning Cures All-Ills, but like, how many of those Thrasher teams were genuinely all that competitive when they were in that Southeast division? Like, I think that plays into it too. Like, and they need something to work and help out. Now the blueprint has been basically laid out. Thanks to the Golden Knights and the Cracken, really, for how an NHL expansion team should roll out and put themselves in a position where they can be competitive.

If we are not in the days of the 2000s where you're Columbus and you're basically toiling for quite some time before you're anywhere close to relevant. Like if you want an HL team and you've seen what Vegas does and you've seen what Seattle has done, like you know what to do in order to make that team at least somewhat competitive within the first few years of your existence. And maybe they can do that in Atlanta. But I'd be very surprised to see if that works out immediately. All right. Monday pod, we always wrap up by doing a couple of segments. Look, Jack Adams of the Week award. We could give it to Jim Montgomery again because the Bruins went four and O again. But I think we got to go DJ Smith for all the reasons I laid out.

They went four and oh. Come on. Let's give it to my guy, DJ Smith. I'm down, man. Like DJ Smith, I mean, the senators, if I, as someone who wanted the senators to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year, Yeah, I'm rooting for them to find it. I'm rooting for, and I get Pittsburgh and Islanders fans are not going to like this. I'm rooting for the senators and the sabers to leapfrog over those two teams and make the

That's the right answer. Those are two teams who have been dying to make the playoffs for years. And they have good teams. They have good players. I do not think it's a stretch to say that Tage Thompson or Tagee Thompson deserves MVP consideration. I'm not saying he should be the MVP. I'm saying he should get MVP consideration. And I love the fact that people in Ottawa are getting behind their guys the way that they are right now.

Those are two teams, I think, I'm not saying once they get in, like they will find a way to make it to the Stanley Cup final. I think they've done what needs to be done in order for them to taste some of that playoff success and try to get into that next tier of NHL teams. So, yeah, I like that idea. Let me alert all the listeners to something that you, You probably don't know unless you're an Ottawa or Buffalo fan. For Ottawa, game 82 of the regular season, final game of the year, it's Ottawa Buffalo. Can you imagine if that's for a playoff spot? Last playoff spot, win and you're in.

There's a scenario where it could. Where's the game? In Buffalo. Oh, if it's in, like, I have no doubt in Ottawa, people would go crazy. In Buffalo, yeah, that was the stakes. In Buffalo, you're probably going to see people tailgate outside that game. Oh, yeah. jumping into tables and stuff.

Flaming tables? That will be off the charts. Like if you're TNT, if you're ESPN, you find a way into Buffalo for that game. Exactly. So hockey fans, cheer for that because those, these two fan bases like Julian said, boy, they've been starving for some winning

and playoff hockey. Okay. Final thing we do is a little multiple choice badness. Now, we have done these kind of behind the trade stories around the NHL leading to the trade deadline. You had the piece this week on Mike Kamala trade from Montreal, where he got traded mid-game, literally had to get up in the middle of the game and he's like,

well, Mike Camilleries out. He's on his way to Calgary and you got traded in the middle of the game. Here's my question, Julian. Should NHL players, I guess, really, I guess is this question. Should teams be allowed to trade players in the middle of the game? Absolutely. A yes or B, no. What's your name?

Absolutely not. If you know your guy could get, like, especially, now in 2023, trade-related reasons is a thing. Take advantage of that. It blew my mind as a kid, watching the Canadians and watching Mike Camilleri get traded in the middle of a game in a season where they fired an assistant coach before a game and fired a head coach before skate that day, Jacques Martin, who we both know very well because of the franchises that we have been around.

And then Michael Camilleriard gets traded in the middle of a game. if it gets interviewed on, like, TV at a hotel trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Don't we, I don't want to encourage any more Monsieur Pierre Gautier's who training people in the middle of games. And I get that like, it kind of happened because like flames, apparently the word is that flames ownership was like, okay, like if he gets injured, like we're calling it off. And then Montreal is ordered to desperate measures, I guess. But like, just don't play him. If you, because it looked as if like that deal had been discussed for, Cambellary to leave Montreal.

If you know that's happening, just don't play him. And then deal with whatever storm you have to deal with or just say like he has the flu or whatever. Like, don't do that because it just looks embarrassing. It makes the player look bad. It makes the team look bad. Like, don't, don't do that. Same thing happened with Matt Duchin got pulled out of the middle of the game with the

avalanche. You got pulled before the game started though. No, Duchenne got traded in the middle of the game. In the middle of the game? He skated off the ice in the middle of the game. I'm sure of it. Right? Period.

I don't know. First, second, whatever. He got traded in the game. Because I thought he took part in warm up and then he got scratched. No, I think he was in the game.

Then again, he was in Ottawa. So like you would know. So like I'm not going to question what you would. No, no, no. He was playing for the avalanche in against the arrangers. Yeah,

so he got flipped to Ottawa. Sorry. To Ottawa. And it was in, I think it was in game. He got traded in game. I think he, my recollection,

again, you're probably right, but like my recollection was that. It was the game started. I'm sure of it. My great collection was that Yeah, there you go, Chris. He won't come up and then got flipped.

Producer Chris says the middle of the first period. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, the game started. Bet, all right, you got it. So we've seen it happen. I'm with you. I think it's crazy. I don't think you should be traded in the middle of a game.

I'm with you. Not going to. And hopefully, maybe this will never happen again because of all this bubble wrapping and trade related reasons. But I don't think you can be doing this. You can't be trading guys in the middle. Can you imagine the NFL like,

well, the quarterback just got traded the middle of the game. It wouldn't happen. No, it wouldn't. Like, could you imagine you're watching a Dallas Cowboys game and you see the second half come out? I was like, well, Jack Prescott is not starting.

Well, I'm not going to lie to. There's been some times what I've wanted guys traded in the middle of the game. All right. Hey, we, uh, we, uh, we better leave it there. This is a fun hour. Like, this thing just flew by. And, uh, it was great.

It was a little bit of therapy for you about the Calgary Flames. There was a little bit of me being able to be excited about the team I cover. So you kind of got the two extremes. I love that. I love the extremes. But I just want to make something clear. Like I sense the frustration from the fans and I'm seeing it from the players. I'm selfish about it from the standpoint of a journalist who was really excited.

But the possibility of covering a playoff team. And I'm also realizing that that might not happen. So I think a little bit of that kind of came out in the rant. But I also think there's a genuine reason, especially for, for fans of the team to really feel frustrated at what is going on. Oh, yeah. No, well said. All right.

We'll leave it there. The Tuesday boys are back. And Pierre Lebrun is going to be joining. Pierre LeBrun joining Custons and Gentilly on the Athletic Hockey Show Tuesday edition. Give Pierre LeBron. We'll do this thoughts on the trade deadline. And that puts a wrap on the Monday edition. I want to remind everybody you can follow us on YouTube at YouTube.

dot com slash at the athletic hockey show and right now you get a one year subscription to the athletic for two dollars a month when you visit the athletic dot com slash hockey show of course he