The Athletic Hockey Show - Trevor Zegras gets misconduct penalty for OT celebration, the Pittsburgh Penguins getting sold, New York Islanders finish 13-game road trip, and more

Episode Date: November 18, 2021

Ian Mendes and guest co-host Julian McKenzie kick off the episode discussing Anaheim Duck's forward Trevor Zegras being assessed a game misconduct penalty for his OT goal celebration on Tuesday night. What should be the line for unsportsmanlike conduct for cellies? Also, as it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins are being sold to Fenway Group, other ideas for weird sport ownership crossovers. Then, the guys head down an arena name rabbit hole as they discuss the home of the Los Angeles Kings changing from Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena, and the Islanders wrapping up a massive 13-game road trip to return to their new home of UBS Arena.To wrap it all up, in Granger Things, Jesse Granger brings the numbers highlighting the Anaheim Ducks in the betting world and the team's surprising success so far, and the crew try to guess which member of the Ducks has the best chance to win an award at the end of the season.Have a question or comment for the show? Email [e-mail], or leave a VM at [phone]! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back, everybody. It's another Thursday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Ian Mendez with you, as always in the Thursday slot, we got pinch hitter extraordinaire Julian McKenzie. Stepping into the batters box to take over from Sean McAdoo, down goes brown, giving him the week off. Sean will be back next Thursday. We got a lot to get to in the next hour or so.

We're going to talk about the Anaheim Ducks in a couple of ways. Our pal Jesse Granger is going to drop by with Granger things. We're going to talk a little bit about how Anaheim's been off to a great start. We've got to talk about Trevor Zegris. What a great goal the other night, but he gets a misconduct penalty. So we're going to talk about the kind of weirdness

that is misconduct penalties after a game ends. Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be on the verge being sold to an ownership group involving the Boston Red Sox. We're going to have a little bit of fun with that. The New York Islanders are finally home after a 13-game roadie

and we'll kind of hit on that. And the staple setter's got a new name. Welcome to the crypto.com arena. We're going to talk about arena name changes and just arenas that we have a hard time calling them by their names and all of that stuff. But like I said, off the top, he's pinch hitting. I need to know though, Julian McKenzie. Do you have to go to Chris Johnston and get permission and be like, hey, CJ, I got an opportunity to slide into the athletic hockey show. Will you let me go because you do the podcast with CJ and part of the Steve Dengel podcast network there.

You guys have launched that a few weeks ago. Did you have to go to CJ and say, can I slide over and do this show with Ian? Okay. I'm going to let you in on a very, very interesting secret. CJ has no idea of doing this podcast right now. So like, you- You get around. Yeah, I'm kind of sneaking around on CJ.

I hope he doesn't mind. I mean, he has insider trading on TSN. He does that like all the time and everyone gets to see it. Why can't I appear on other properties? You know what I'm saying? I work at this company. Like, he shouldn't object to this. And the other thing is the podcast that you do with him, it is, there's a little bit of an athletic tie-in, right?

Like, like, it's, it, we see that on the athletic feed, don't we? Yeah, it's there. Yeah. You should actually, you know, listen to the podcast over there while you're there. And if you don't already subscribe to the athletic through the podcast, you should do that. You should do that. Yeah. Yeah, listen, I've listened to a handful of the episodes you guys have done.

You know, the one that I really enjoyed, like, and it was right off the hop, like, you know, because Chris Johnson left SportsNet for TSN. Yeah. That was a really compelling podcast you guys did. As he walked you through, I thought you asked all the right questions, and you didn't pull any punches. You were like, walk us through this, this, and this. And I thought he was about as forthcoming as you can be. You know that people always will, you know, you have to kind of balance it a little bit when you leave company.

You don't want to burn bridges. And Chris Johnson's one of those people that he's not going to burn any bridges. he's just a class act. But I thought he was really forthcoming. I thought that was like I would suggest if you're if you're kind of like a media junkie on top of being a hockey fan, go back and listen to that podcast with Chris Johnson and Julian. As CJ walks everybody through his decision to jump over to TSN,

it was phenomenal. Thank you. Yeah. It was funny is that that episode, like the night before I was thinking, okay, we were probably going to touch up on it. and then some other NHL stuff. And then CJ, like, message me just being like,

you know what? We're just going to do the entire episode of me joining TSN. I was like, okay, if you want to go there, we're going to go there. And yeah, I really appreciate him being as forthcoming and as revealing as he was. I could tell at different points with the questions I was asking. He might have looked like a little uncomfortable. I don't think he expected me to be as invasive, but like he really wanted it out there. And we're all pretty happy about that podcast.

So that really means a lot coming from you. I just want to say straight up, like, do it. I know I'm pinch hitting here, but like, as someone who like grew up and like watched you on TV for years, like doing this podcast with you is like so cool. Not to make you feel older or nothing. No, you just did. I'm sorry. But it's cool. This is like a cool like highlight for real.

Like I remember like watching you on, on, on sports set like for years and then you made your move to TSA and all that. Now you're at the athletic. We're teammates now. This is a, this is an honor for me to to be on this show with you. I just want to say. Okay. but you did make me feel old and I love it. I'm sorry.

Sometimes people will be like, oh, man, I grew up watching you. And I'm like, but you're almost 30. And you have a full-time job yourself. You know? That's me. Yeah, exactly. You're in your 20s. What are you doing?

So anyway, I appreciate that. This is going to be a lot of fun. And so when we knew that we were kind of being tossed together to do this pot this week, the first thing you sent me was, we got to talk about Trevor Ziegis. So why don't you walk our listeners through? And by the way, again, Jesse Granger is going to drop by. I think the Anaheim Ducks might be the best story in the league.

And it's going to be a fun time. We're recording this on Thursday. They got a date with the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night. I think that's going to be maybe a real telling game for Anaheim. But why do you walk our listeners through, Julian, like the Zegris sequence of events on Tuesday night that kind of caught your attention? So Trevor Zegris. talented young player in the National Hockey League on a very good Anaheim Ducks team

scores a wonderful overtime winning goal and does a really cool celebration, which I think could be one of the cool things we see if more and more players decide to do this. He proceeds to skate towards the other side of the rink and toss his stick into the crowd. Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils did this after he scored an overtime winning goal. and some people have already made the connection that if you played for the U.S. national development team in sometime in 2019, you are probably going to do this. So I'm sure there are people in Montreal just sitting back wondering when the heck cold coffee could come back so we can score no T goal and do the same thing. But I have to admit here, I didn't realize this was the case until our producer Danielle brought this up to me.

Trevor Ziegres scores this overtime goal. It's an amazing celebration, amazing going on. that. But he's assessed a misconduct penalty, like a game misconduct penalty. Okay. It's an overtime winning goal. Like, where does the misconduct come in? Like, the game is already over. You're already going to the locker room. You're already done with the game. Where does this misconduct come in? One, two, a player is actually having fun. He's celebrating. I'm going to quote one of my buddies who actually quotes, well, yeah, no, one of my buddies at Tristan Nammuul who used to do a podcast together, he always likes to make this whole point about how, you know,

whenever players celebrate championships and all that, and then you have some random sideline reporter coming up being like, hey, I want to get these questions in. Would you please let him celebrate? Like, like, do that. Don't penalize him. Don't assess this random misconduct. I know that means nothing that doesn't even carry over. Just let him celebrate. Don't let to think about the fact you'll have some random penalty on his record. It's the most mind-boggling thing that I've seen this week and the Vancouver Can I explain this week? So yeah, it's weird. It's just absolutely weird that the NHL would do this. And I'm glad that I have the platform to rant about this. Oh, 100%. Like it's fair. First of all, all I can think about

now I want Cole Caulfield to score an overtime winner against Utica. That's what I want. Yes. Yes. Tweet that, Utica. Do it. Do it. Do you. do it. Yes, please. I'm all for revenge. I'm all for memes. I'm all for all that.

It's fun. Yeah. So Zegris gets, by the way, and so I double check, yeah, so it's a 10-minute misconduct penalty

assessed to him at the end of the game. So this is no different than, you know, I guess, again, it's like getting, uh,

getting something slapped onto your permanent record, really. That's, uh, that's about all this is on, on Trevor Zegris. Like there's, there's really no,

there's no punishment to the, the young man for this. for this. It's like it's like being at the last day of school and being assessed the detention and it doesn't count into your next year when you start like 10th grade. Like what's the point? I don't know. But okay. So we should point out now Jack Hughes when this happened to him when when Hughes did it, no penalty like you said, no penalty assessed. Nothing. So I can let's just talk this out here for one moment in. Sure. And I hate to do this to because I try to look at both sides of it. Okay.

We're living in the COVID world. Yes. Do you think that that is the biggest, like the league is saying to players, don't be tossing sticks into the crowd because, you know, it's, like, is that the reason why? Because I watch, listen, I go to a lot of games. The one thing I watch is players are flipping pucks over the glass at warm up to little kids. Like the new thing is everyone shows up with a big sign saying,

first NHL game, give me a puck, even though it's probably their 50th NHL game and they just bring the same sign every time. But now I'm seeing that. I'm seeing the Seattle Cracken at the end of every game with the three stars. They got that thing where they're throwing like stuffed fish

into the crowd. So this can't be the reason. You can't say, I just want to know. Like what's the, like, is Matt Sundin years ago got a one game suspension for throwing his stick into the crowd. But he did it. in a very aggressive kind of helicopter passionate way. Like, remember he was all ticked off?

Yeah, he threw it up. I feel like if you score a game winning goal, like Hughes, Trevor Zegris, and you're so excited and you throw your stick into the crowd, I personally don't think that that should be over the line. Like, I understand, like, you don't want to throw, like, I get it. But can we use, can we inject a little common sense into this, or is that too much to ask for?

we're asking the National Oculee to exhibit common sense. Like, I think that's asking a little bit too much. And you make up a really good point. Like, I forget which NHL player I saw do this, but there was at least one guy, but I think it was exchanging like tic tacks with like a fan. Like people do this all the time where they throw stuff into the crowd for young fans or slightly older fans to get. So why is the NHL saying, okay, this is the hill that we're going to die on with stick tossing?

If we're going to get to that point where they don't want. want anybody to throw anything into the crowd. They better crack down on some of the stuff that happens in Warma. But I hope they don't. But it doesn't make sense to me that they would assess a penalty to Trevor Zee. Why not find him? Like at least like a, I mean, that's, and that might even be an excessive penalty in itself. But if you really don't want the guys to do that sort of thing, at least hitting them in their pocketbook, like that matters a little bit more than a random 10-minute misconduct penalty that is assessed after the overtime period where goal was scored and it doesn't carry over to the next game.

I think that has to be emphasized here. This is not a case where Trevor Zegra scored in the second period and, well, he was hot-dogging it, so he has to sit out for 10 minutes. Then I can understand why people would be mad and I'm sure Dallas-Akins would not approve of his player doing that and put himself in trouble. He scored an overtime-winning goal. You get to go home after the goal is scored. a 10-minute misconduct penalty means nothing.

Was it Nikolai Eelers? You know, you said that there was a player that exchanged something for like candy or mince. I feel like it was Nick Eilers. It might have been him. It might have been him. That like before a game, like some fan had some candy and he was like, you know what? I'll give you my stick if you give me these, whatever they were, whether it was tick-tacks or whatever the candy was. I feel like it was Nick Eilers that did that back in the day.

It might have bit him. But, like, yeah, like, if you're, if they're doing stuff like that and you're going to get mad over a stick toss, like, I don't know. Maybe it's maybe you're taking, maybe I'm taking a leap here, but like it's, I don't know, the policing on stuff being thrown into the crowd and stuff that isn't. This is just a little bit weird. Yeah. Now, okay, so it sounds like we both agree that, hey, Trevor Zegris's celebration, we're okay with it. It's not over the top. But now I want to ask you, so where's the line for you?

Like, what's the thing that somebody would do in a celebration situation that you're like, you know what, you do deserve a misconduct penalty for taunting or unsportsmanlike conduct or something that you're like, you know what? And here's what's funny. Like, if you Google like NHL crazy goal celebrations, it'll come back like, sorry, search not fat. Like, there's nothing. Like, this thing is like, it's Ovech.

hot stick from like 10 years ago. And even that was like, well, I don't know. Ovecanskin should have been fine for that, but not for anything other than, ah, that was just so. Ovecans shouldn't have been fine for that. No, no, no. Because it was so, it was, it was, like,

and I loved it, but I was like, oh, I wish he did something different. Like, the hot stick, I don't know, it just seemed weird to be. You know what it is? It's because we don't have the luxury of seeing, guys in the NHL be nearly as creative and as awesome. I mean, in their own special way, they're awesome, but not in the same level as we would

see in the NBA or the NFL where they're able to take their celebrations to a completely different level. So whenever I see people lose their minds over Ovechkin, just doing the hot stick celebration, I'm like, really? This is particularly tame. My line, I guess, like as long as you're not, I guess, facewashing someone on the other team after the fact or like sliding over to the other team's bench and like punching somebody like I don't know I as long as the other team isn't like directly like contacted after the fact I think

that I'm even cool it's funny you say that like you were looking for an HL celebration you couldn't find anything I would even be cool if somebody did like the nail yakopov celebration after you scored that game time goal against the Kings where he like scored he like slid all the way to send That's one of my favorite things I've seen in this league. It's not quite Tiger Williams, but like, I mean, again, could you please let these guys celebrate? Like, it's fun. It's cool.

It's great. I love the Theo Fleury one from back in the day with Theo. And it's game six of an overtime player. Do you have any other memories or recollections of Neil Yakopov's career other than that, Selly? Nope. Nope. Absolutely not.

Why is the first overall pick? That's the only thing. That's the most vivid thing I remember about Neil Yakupov. Yeah. It's the best thing he's ever done when he was, I don't even know where he's at now, but that's like the best thing he's done. And one other, okay, the other selly I think of that I think probably did cross

the line at the time. And I think certainly now in 2021 it did. This has happened about 10 years ago. Okay. Artemisimov with the New York Rangers, he scores a goal. And do you remember this? He takes his stick.

and then he points it out as a rightful. Yeah. And I remember John Tonorella didn't like it. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, that's probably important. Yeah. That one, yeah. That would I feel, so that's the line for me.

If you turn your stick into a toy gun, I'm out. Wait, wait, time out, time out, time out, time out. So Artemisimo, I believe, if I recall correctly, like, he gets down and he's like pointing it either at somebody or like just like on a low, like it's low. He's trying to be a stick. Yeah, he got down on one knee. Yeah. Yeah, but that immediately made me think of another great celebration that also invokes like a gun.

But like, I don't know if we'd ever think of it in the same way. It's when Timu Salani in the 90s scores like his like, what, 76 goal of the year? Oh, if it's like he broke Bossy's record, yeah. Yeah, and he throws his glove in the air and acts like he's going like duck hunting or whatever and he's shooting like in the air. But like I think of it now. Like I wouldn't have a problem with that compared to Artemisimov getting down on one knee and looking like a sniper. for whatever reason. I don't know why my brain is like that.

It's weird. Yeah. And I think it needs him off turned around it. Like he pointed at the at the Tampa goalie, whoever it was and like pointed at him. So that that, that you're right. That there is a little bit of a separation there. Yeah. All right.

You know, Julian, I want one of the things I want to talk about. And this, for me, this story kind of, I think it came out of the blue for everybody. But all of a sudden like earlier this week you're like, hey, Boston Red Sox you're going to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. You're like, what? Like, wait, what? Like it was obviously, you know, was a little bit of a surprising story. But I think if you look at it from the Pittsburgh Penguins and the current ownership group,

which includes Mario Lemieux, like this would be the right time to probably think about getting out because it's been a great 14, 15 year run. But you can see the finish line on Sid, Gino and Latang and like this group. Like, so if I'm the Penguins ownership group, I'm like, it would make sense that now is the time, right? It feels like maybe this is a good time to get out of owning the Pittsburgh Penguins, as great as they've been, right? Wouldn't you make the argument that maybe after their last Stanley Cup might have been it? Because, I mean, at this point now, because they're on the decline,

you're going to get the best that you can get now. If you wanted to be, you know, selling at an absolute high, maybe it's after that second Stanley Cup of the two back to back that they won. I'll rephrase that again. The second of the two that those years in the Salatap area where they won back to back, English is supposed to be my strongest language. You get what I'm trying to say here. Yeah.

Like that's, I mean, from a business standpoint, I guess you try to sell at your highest, I guess. But as much as I'm not a betting man, I'm also not the greatest entrepreneur. But that's what I'm thinking. But yeah, it looks as if the penguins are probably seeing this as an opportunity, at least the ownership group anyway, might see this as an opportunity to say, you know what, like before this value goes down any lower, let's just, you know, sell off the assets, but I'm just also intrigued at the fact that Boston, like a team bit, like the Red Sox, the ownership group there wants the penguins.

Like also, I don't know. Like that just sounds kind of weird to me, but like not wrong, but like how many times? I mean, how far is Boston and Pittsburgh? It's not like we're talking about teams in the same like county or same state or anything like that. We're talking about like pretty not that distant, but like, there's some. between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Like, I didn't see that coming. Also, if I'm a Bruins fan going up against the Pittsburgh Penguins,

like, anytime a game would go up and, like, say the sale goes through, like, penguins fans want to talk trash to us. I'm like, yo, my baseball team owns your team. Like, we literally own you guys. Like, from a trash talking standpoint, like, Boston wins this. Like, but, okay, so a couple of things here. I think if you're the, like, the Boston Red Sox, Like, you can't, like, you can't put an ownership offer in on, let's say, I'm going to use the New York Islanders as an example.

Sure. Right? You can't buy a New York team if you own the Boston Red Sox, correct? Yeah. That's, that's, like, sacrilegious. But the funny thing is there is a little bit of a rivalry between Boston and Pittsburgh, but that's more on the NFL side, right? Where you think of the Patriots and the Steelers, but really from a, there's no, there's no Red Sox Pirates rivalry, right? As far as I don't know.

Although I think, I think the first ever world series was between Boston and Pittsburgh or when it was like the Boston Pilgrims and the whatever. But I feel like enough time has passed since 1903 that we could probably let that one go. But I think like to me it's interesting like the dynamics. Like it is. It's very random. Like what if like I was thinking about this the other day? Like wouldn't it be so random if one day you just found out like, hey like just like

FYI, the Jacksonville Jaguars are buying the Nashville Predators. And you're like, yeah, I guess. Like, Sean Con's got money, man. Like fine, I. Yeah. Like, it would just be so random. So that's the part where I'm like, it seems like a random thing. But here's what I want to know.

Because look, that Red Sox ownership group, they've got deep pockets and they got investments overseas with the premiership soccer and they're obviously getting their portfolio going here. I want to know if you're a hockey fan. And now you see other sports teams are looking at the NHL baby and saying, you know, this might be a good investment. Would you want your favorite NHL team to be owned by Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys? Would you want Jerry Jones to buy your hockey team?

Yes or no? That's a really interesting question. Also, you said premiership. I haven't heard premiership in years. Yeah. It's Premier League. I'm pregnant. Listen, I don't watch soccer.

You are old school, man. Like premiership, that's crazy. Would I want Jerry Jones to own the team that I mean, I technically don't like, I don't, I'm not a fan of an HL team. But like if I, I mean, I don't know. I mean, oh, man, I don't even like the Cowboys that much. So I don't even know how I feel about the idea that like Jerry Jones owns my team. Does that mean that like we're basically like whenever November hits or, December hits, my team's just going to suck.

Is that what's going to happen when Jerry Jones owns my team? Is that what's going to happen? Are we just going to have fans who just suddenly pop up out of nowhere and like to flawn about all the championships they won in a completely different century? Like, is that what's going to happen? If Jerry Jones owns my favorite team? I have a lot to think about it. What you're saying is in a weird way, spiritually, Jerry Jones already owns the Toronto

Maple Leafs. Team that has a ton of fans. they fall off a cliff every year and you know they talk about previous championships you're like hey damn Jerry Jones but you know why I would okay here's why I wouldn't mind

if Jerry Jones bought my favorite team because A okay first of all deep pockets like you wouldn't have to worry about any of that but B I kind of feel like he'd be so preoccupied with his NFL team he wouldn't care he's not going to be meddling with the hockey team would he like Jerry Jones

is the general manager of the Dallas Cowboys and is involved probably in every decision right down to the stationary that they use in the office. He doesn't have the time to get involved with the hockey team. That's fair. That's why I would want him in there. And like the Dallas Cowboys are, you know, to some are still considered America's team. Do you want to focus more time on a team that is considered to be America's team and has the poll on national television that it has or a random the NHL franchise that would kill to have a fraction of the TV ratings that the Dallas Cowboys get. Pretty, pretty obvious answer here.

Yeah, I think so. I think so. All right. So I also want to talk about what turned out to be a pretty interesting turn of events. And I saw a lot of angry people. Like, people get very possessive, oddly enough, about venue and stadium and arena names. And for the longest time, we've just referred to it as Staples Center in Los Angeles, Home of the Kings, home of obviously the Lakers and the Clippers.

And I think one of the busiest sports venues in North America. Staples Center is probably booked, you know, 365 days of year. It is jammed. But it's not going to be called Staples Center. In a month from now, welcome to the Crypto.com Arena. Now, let me ask you first how you feel about the name change here. Will you still refer to it as Staples Center? Or are you going to be able to smoothly call it the crypto.com arena?

I just don't like crypto.com arena. I don't have anything against the company. I have nothing against cryptocurrency. I do a podcast with a guy who literally loves to talk about Bitcoin. So, like, I'm not here to shade on Bitcoin. But crypto.com arena just doesn't roll off the top. Maybe the crypt, but also maybe Crip in L.A. Maybe you don't want to get in any of that.

probably not a good idea. I might still end up just calling it Staples Center by accident, kind of like what we do in Toronto with the Skydome, as opposed to the Rogers Center, right? People do that? Yep, the dome. Or the dome. People call it the dome.

Don't they? I see Skydome. I don't hear the dome. I don't know. I'm the guy that also said, I think they're going to play a premiership game at the dome. Or like with in Toronto, the Scotia Bank arena. Yeah. I always get messed up with like Scotia Bank Arena and Scotia Bank Center because it used

to be the Air Canada Center. So for like a while, I would say Scotia Bank Center, but it's Scotiabank Arena. And I believe Scotia Bank Center is in Halifax. Oh, it's like if Vancouver's got Rogers Arena and Edmonton's got Rogers Place, right? Like it's... Wait, is that what that is? I thought it was BC that had Rogers Place and then Vancouver and then Edmonton had Rogers Arena. So that trips me up like all the time.

I think Vancouver's Rogers Arena and Edmonton's Rogers Place. Oh, really? Oh, really? Okay. You're not allowed to look this up. Fine, fine, fine. Okay? I got a couple for you.

Put your hands where I can see them. So I don't see you Googling. All right. So here we go. I'm going to give you a team in the NHL. And this is not meant, because I feel like I would trip up on some of these. And you're going to tell me what the arena is called right now.

You ready? Okay. Okay. What's the home of the Colorado Avalanche called? right now. Ball Arena. Wow. Good for you.

I still think of it as the Pepsi. Yeah, the Pepsi Center or something. Pepsi Center. Yeah. Okay. Good for you. You're one for one. Okay.

I'm looking for the home of the Winnipeg Jets. Um, Bell MTS Center? You would have thought. We want to welcome you, Julian, to Canada Life Center. They changed it? Oh.

Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Here we go. This is why crypto.com is not going to seem that out of place. Home of the St. Louis Blues is what? Okay. That really, I really do not. It used to be like the Savas Center like years ago.

Oh, but you can't call me old and then drop the Sabbath Center reference. I didn't say the Correll Center. Oh, my God, the sap. I have not, you know those things that are just deep in your brain and you forgot about, Savas Center is one of those for me. Yeah, that's why I official guess, because I have no clue what the arena is called in St. Louis. Okay? You're ready for it? Enterprise. Enterprise Center. Enterprise Center. Okay, all right. I'm one for three. Yeah, are you one for three or two for three? No, one for three. Yeah, because I didn't get the Jets one.

Yeah, but again, I'm very impressed that you got the, uh, the home of the, uh, the avalanche. Okay. Last one, this is one that is constantly changed over the years. Let's see if you're, uh, if to date, home of the Buffalo Sabres. Marine Midland. It's, it's, it's, it's, I, it's like the key bank? Yes, guy. It's the key bank center. Good for you. You know what? Going two for four is pretty good.

500 record, baby. Yeah. A lot of HL teams can't be, are in 500 right now. I'm 500. Exactly. You didn't, you didn't even have a shootout loss in there. You're like the real 500. Oh, it's a real 500. Yeah. So look, I think it's funny that, that it's hard for a lot of us to remember because there's a few like the United Center in Chicago or TD Garden in Boston. Like there's a few that have just kind of stayed iconic and had the same name. But boy, there's been a lot that has changed.

The one that always trips me up is the one in Arizona, which by the way, I mean, if the story plays out the way we think it is, right, their lease is up there. But the way it's pronounced, it's like the GILA River Arena, right? but it's spelled G-I-L-A. Yeah, but it's Gila. Right? Heela River Arena. That's one that I, that one always trips me up.

That and the flyers used to change their name like every nine months, right? They were like the Wachovia Center at one point. Oh, they were, they were the, my favorite, and this is when I used to cover playoff series. Oh, no, the spectrum now, right? No, I don't know. No, now it's Wells Fargo. Yeah, that's what it is. Sorry, my bad.

But, you know, they. used to be the Comcast, you know, arena and all that. But I remember at one point it was called the First Union Center and because it was for First Union Bank, but it was great because it was in Philly and they shortened it to the FU Center. And I'm like, yes. This is the most Ph.U. I'm going to the FU Center to watch Roman Checkman to watch Roman Check Manic tonight.

Man, we really get an old school. I'll just mention one thing about Arizona. sometimes I still think of the days when the arena they played it was the jobbing.com arena. Do you remember those days? Was that the first dot com arena name?

I know again, we got that's the first one I could think of now. Yeah. Yeah, I think you might be right. Jobbing.com. Yo, I don't even know. I mean, I guess it's like, I guess like a job website, kind of like what Indeed is.

Okay, so I need you to go to your computer right now. I need you to punch in jobbing.com and tell me, is that site still active? Okay. Is jobbing.com still a site? J-O-B-B-B-B-I-N-G, right? It was two Bs? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Is it still active? Yeah. It is still active. It is still active. It is still active. The very first thing you see, the launch page, it has let's go jobing and a search part

that asks you to, you know, find your next job. I don't know. just, I'll just say journalist. Why not? Not that I'm looking to leave. Hold on. The athletic is a great company. Thanks. Thanks, the athletic.

They got an opening for two podcasts hosts on the Thursday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. What? Here's the sad thing. I typed in journalist. It maybe it's because it took my location settings as well. It said nothing found. That's not fun. Stayed in the industry.

Yeah, exactly. That's reflective. All right. Just to wrap this up, this conversation. here. The islanders are about to head to their new home. Brand new home. Now, first of all, do you know the name of the New York? UBS Center? I know. Are you like me? Do you have to actually stop and not say USB? Or do you know UBS? Like, I, in my mind, I'm like, USB, USB. I've never thought of USB and now I'm going to think

USB and it's all your thoughts. Yeah, now you're going to be like USB port. USB type C center. Yeah, type C. That's the, Apple has ruined things with that type C and type B. Android, too. Android too. Like, Android two. Like, Android devices, they have that too. Like, like, like, people like to go out on how technology is advancing. We don't talk enough about how USBs have gotten so complicated. I want, I want back to the old school USB days where you just had one wire and it worked for everything. Back in the day. Those were the days. Maybe I'm the old man. Yeah, seriously. The Islanders are.

back though, they had a 13-game roadie to start the season because they needed the UPS arena to be ready, required a little bit of time, so they got a 13-game road trip. They come back, and I think a lot of people, Julian, looked at the islanders at the start of the year and said, this is a team that's been in the final four back-to-back years. They're probably the class of that division. And the metro is tough, but I think a lot of people felt like the islanders are the class of the division. But here they are. They're coming home after a 13-game.

trip and they're in last place. But they're 5, 6, and 2. So how do you view the Islanders? Are you like, yeah, you know what? They're a team game road trip. You came back. Yeah, you're a touch under 500. You're in last place. But you're at the end of the world, like you probably did

about as well as you could, or are you a little bit concerned that the Islanders are sitting where they are. And I think they're like 10, yeah, they're basically like 10, 12 points out of first place here to start to start the season. Well, I mean, they're 10, there are that many points out of first.

I'd like to know how many points they are out of out of a third or fourth in that division. That's what I think matters. I think what we're seeing a lot with some of these teams that are banged up, you know, I think of a team like Vegas, for example. If they could just get healthy enough and they just get into the playoffs,

that's all that really matters. You just make your luck from there. The New York Islanders, I was definitely one of those people who thought they'd be the class of the division at the beginning of the year. I'll just be, I'll be truthful here at the doubt out for the fact that they would start the first set of games.

on the road, but five, six, and two, there are worse records to have after playing that many games on the road. There are teams like the Canadians who have played games at home and away, and they have a much worse record. So I'm not particularly worried about the New York Islanders. We all know they have a great coach. We all know they have a great composition of players. They've gone as far as they've gone in the playoffs. If they don't win the division, which I don't even think, I can't even remember the last time they've won the division that they were in. But this is an Islander's team that I think if they go on a decent run at some part of the year, they'll put themselves back in the conversation and make the playoffs. And once they're

in the playoffs, they're going to be a tough out for anybody. At this point, just look at the record that you have right now. Be thankful for the wins that you have. But try to get yourself some wins at home in your new digs. I think there'll be some urgency in those first few games at home just to kind of improve the record, of course. But five, six and two after what what they went through on their road trip, there are much worse records to have. I think they're in not the worst possible shape they can be. I know they're lost in their division,

but I think they could go on a run and they could essentially kind of put themselves back in the middle of the pack. Last time the Islanders won their division, a bespeckled Al Arbor was behind the bench for them. 1987, 88. 1987 88 the last time the islanders regular season

won their division last couple of years they've kind of been I think they finished second in 2019 yeah it looks like they finished second in 2019 but yeah they have not been a division winner since 1988 that's crazy they didn't even use the premiership back then

no the Sabbath Center wasn't even around back then 1988. That's how old school that was. Okay. Last question for you here on this, on this topic with the Islanders, and they had the road trip. Now, let's say, Julian, the NHL comes to you in the summertime. They're like, Julian, your team, I regret to inform you.

Oh, boy. At some point this season, your team's going to have to go on a 13 game road trip. Now, here's the good news for you, Julian. You get to choose when that 13 game road trip happens. You can have it as your first 13 games. You could put it in the middle of the season. or you could put it to the end. Where are you picking?

If you had to, you're like, hey, I know because of arena reasons or Renault or something, I got to leave for almost a month. When are you doing that road trip? First, part of the season, middle or the end?

Put it in the middle of the season. I think it's just important for teams to start well and then end even great. And especially if the team is not good on the road, you put that in the middle, you go through your lulls, and then before the end of the year, you just hope your team kind of gets out of that funk and puts itself in a position where they're

able to do well. And also, again, it depends on the team because there are teams that are just genuine road warriors and, you know, at home, they don't play as well, but they might thrive on being on the road. So I don't know. Maybe if you're a team that is really good on the road and you want like the opportunity to thrill off some wins, maybe you go like eight, two, and three. my math is right. Yeah.

Like you could do that. You can put that at the beginning of the year. You can start off well. You can put that at the end of the year. And that's great momentum to have going into the postseason because I think that's still something important to consider. I think in the middle, just generally speaking, just put it in the middle, out of sight out of mind. As long as you start well, as long as you end well, you are putting some pressure on that.

But rather you go through that and then you don't do as well in the middle of the season compared to starting off your year with a bad road record or ending your year with a bad road record. and you kind of have to pick up the pieces if you are a playoff team or you risk putting yourself in a position where you miss the playoffs. Yeah, I think I agree with you there. Like if you're forced to do it. But again, I think the islanders, all things considered, they're kind of hanging around.

They're five, six, and two. But now the question is they got all these home games coming up, starting with this weekend's game to kick off that new arena against Calgary. Like now you got to, now you, now there's some pressure on you though. Like you kind of have to, like you said earlier about, you know, know your record. Like I almost feel like now they kind of do have to go eight, two, and three in their next 13 games, right?

Like to hang around the playoff race. But it's going to be interesting to watch. And I'm curious to see what that new barn kind of looks like. They've been talking for years in New York. Where's the future of the Islanders? Are they going to, right? They had the ill-fated little trip to Brooklyn. Yeah.

The old arena wasn't great. Like, I still think, just to put a bow on this, if I were the island, Islanders, if they could have found a way to play four or five final home games at Nassau. And I know that last year was a great send-off. They played playoff game. But it would have been neat. Then you could have maybe brought some of the old guys back and had a real true proper farewell to the old barn that they won the Stanley Cups. And I think that would have been cool.

And it would have maybe allowed you to not play 13 games in a row on the road. That would have been the only thing would have been neat if they could have found a way to play a couple of good buy games at Nassau, right? That's fair. That's fair. But also, if memory serves, they got to win their last game at Nasson, game six of that. And like that, I mean, I know how that series ended for them, but I think that's pretty cool that for all those fans who were there, the very last time they saw the Islanders in that arena, they saw them win a playoff game and force a game seven. That was a pretty, if I remember correctly, that was a really crazy game six too. Like that was, that was the one that went into overtime. I think it was like a one-nothing game or no, that was how game seven ended.

But no, that series was just really incredible to watch, really gravitated, like, really gravitates to the games and the way both teams were playing, like game six to be in that arena, to be in that series. Like, you know what? Even if that is the send-off, there are worse send-offs to have. I think it's a pretty decent send-off to have. Maybe you would have liked the series to end a little bit differently for the Islanders, but it's not like they got blown out in their own building to end off their time there. All right, Julian, when we do the Thursday show, we always. Bring in our pal, Jesse Granger for a little segment we like to call Granger. Thanks brought to by BetMG, the exclusive betting partner with us at the athletic.

And earlier in the podcast, you know, Julian, we're talking about Trevor Zegris, the Anaham Ducks being a great story. And I know that that is exactly what Jesse Granger wants to hit on it. Because I got to say, Jesse, when you look at, like, if I would have told you at the start of the year, kind of a month in, this is the Pacific Division. You'd be like, what, what are you talking about? Ligginz spin, it might be, I thought this was going to be the lamest division in the NHL, the most vanilla, bleh. I got to tell you, this might be the best division in hockey in terms of storylines, angles, and Anaheim's leading the way.

Yeah, this division has been a lot more exciting. Obviously, Edmonton with the hot start makes it a lot more fun when those two guys up there are playing well and that team's winning. Hockey's more fun. But the ducks and the kings are surprising some people. And it's funny, the last time I came on this podcast and mentioned the Anaheim Ducks, it was during the off season. And it was when I, I, after all the free agency moves in the draft, remember I came on and I told you the three teams that their odds improved the most

based on the off season and the three teams that had their odds worse than the most. And the Anaheim Ducks, the only team whose odds got worse this off season, more than the Anaheim Ducks were the Arizona Coyotes who basically tanked their season away and we can see how that's working. So the next worst team was the Anaheim Ducks. They were all the way up at 150 to 1 to win the Stanley Cup to begin this season. That's all the way down to 100 to 1, which is still long shots. Obviously, all the betters aren't rushing to the tables to bet on the ducks to win the Stanley Cup just yet.

But to go from 150 to 1 to 101, that is a pretty massive move. And to me, the most impressive thing about this Anaheim Ducks team so far from a betting perspective is the phrase, good teams win, great teams cover. Well, the Anaheim Ducks are covering at an insane rate. They've obviously won 10 of their 17 games, 10 and 7 record against just money line. Not bad, but against the spread, they are 14 and 2 this season. What that means is when the Anaheim Ducks are underdogs, they are losing by a goal. They're not losing by two because that puck line obviously is minus a puck and a half. When they are favored, they are winning by two goals or more every single time.

you go back and you look, they've only been favored four times this season, which is, yeah. So out of their 17 games, 13, they've been the underdog. Four of them, they have been favored. And they've won by two or more in three of those four. They've only had one game where they were favored this season and they didn't win the game by two or more goals. So if you're seeing that Anaheim Ducks as a favorite, rare favorite, not only will they win the game, they'll cover the puck line spread. And then when they're underdogs, it's kind of incredible.

how, so they have seven total losses this season. Six of them are by one goal or, well, I guess just by one goal, you can't win by less than one goal. And a lot of those are in shootout or overtime. So once you get to that point, you know your teams, if you've got your team with the puck line plus a goal and a half, you already know you've won your bet. So six out of the seven losses, you, you are feeling good about the Anaheim Ducks

in that bet, even if they lost. So this team has been on an incredible run. Julian, what have you seen from? Just from off of what I know like the Canadians got to play against them, just off of what I've been seeing over the last little while. Like I get the sense this duct team with all the young cool players that they have, Zegris we mentioned in a bunch on the show already, Jamie Drysdale as well. They have some young players who are trying to make the most of their opportunities and are probably just able to, they can skate and they could just have fun out there. The expectations for this Dux team were particularly low heading into this year. And now they find themselves in a position where, you know, what, they're playing some of their best hockey right now.

And that's fun. That's awesome to see from this Ducks team. I don't know if the bottom's going to fall out. I don't know if they're going to eventually kind of regress and be a team that's just going to be on the outside looking in when it comes for playoff time. But I have to admit, if I was a Ducks fan, like it's cool to see them play well. And also, I'll give a stick tap to Ryan Gatslap as well, who just made the 1,000 point plateau as well. And I always thought he was funny. Like he was a free agent in the off season.

Like maybe it should be time for him to go to a team where he could win another Stanley Cup. He won it really early in his career. And he has the, I mean, he doesn't have too many like individual accolades, but he has the Olympic success and the international success. He has a pretty good career for himself. But it looks like that decision for him to stay in Anaheim and get us a thousand point there. And maybe the all-time point leader for that team is looking to be, is looking to pay off. I think he's just chill

with where his career's at right now. So the older guys with him doing well, the younger guys doing well, it's a good recipe for success for them right now. Don't you think, guys, that when you're a guy, and Getslough, if I'm not mistaken, he won his Stanley Cup on his entry level contract. Like, Getslap and Perry were on their

entry level deals when Anaheim won that cup in 07. It's amazing how that can alter your career trajectory because now Getslap doesn't have to go full Jerome Ginnla. He doesn't need to go find his cup, right? Like he's got it. And like, like, Julie's, look, if you win another one, great, but I'm amazed here,

uh, Jesse, uh, he's got 17 assists in 17 games. Like, as much as, nuts. It's nuts. And, and we haven't even brought up Troy Terry. Like, somebody's winning their hockey pool right now because they took Troy Terry, like laid in a pool. A guy's got 21 points and 16 games. Like, that's the thing, Jesse. Like, they got a great mix. It's exactly what you want. You want your young kids, the Mason McTalry.

Havish's and the Jamie Driesdale's and the Zegrises who are like 20 and under, you want them to slide in and not have too much pressure on them. Here's Gatsloff. Adam Hen reeks off to a good start. That's what I think is amazing. Kevin Chattonkirk, too. Kevin Chattonker has almost as many points this year as he did in 56 games last year. I know that's one random like depth defenseman, but like that just goes to show how good some

of these guys on the team have been. Yeah. And I was right there with you during the off season. And I remember saying, like, maybe Gatslap should go to a team that actually has a chance to win right now. He'd probably be a cheap contract for one of those teams that can help him fit under the cap. And he'd really help him. Well, he's doing that for a team in Anaheim that's winning plenty of games. And you mentioned Troy Terry, obviously, the point streak is up to 15 games now.

That's insane. Another betting angle. If you wanted to bet Troy Terry tonight on Bet MGM, because one of the cool things now offered a bet MGM is you can pretty much go to any hockey game on the slate on any given night. And you can pick a player in that game and say, I think that guy is going to get a point tonight. And they have odds for pretty much every player. You can bet them. Troy Terry's kind of like the ducks, still not getting a ton of respect as a team at the betting windows. Neither is Troy Terry. He's only minus 125 to get a point tonight. So you got to bet $125 to win $100. So almost your money back. It's, that's shockingly low considering the guy has a point

in 15 straight games. And there's only been one game this season, the opener, that he didn't get a point in. Wow. Like, yeah, that, that, that, that, it is, it's one of the great stories of the young season. Let me ask you guys this. And, and you don't even have to use the,

the, the bet MGM lines on this. I'm going to, I'm going to throw this question out to the two of you guys. You tell me what you think might be the best, okay, so we're a month into the season. If you had to pick one guy from Anaheim who at the end of the year wins a major award, who's it going to be okay so i'm going to throw three options Trevor zegris for calder okay

john gibson for vesna Dallas akins for jack adams so right now we're a month into the season you got to put you know use a your educated guess what's your educated guess you can pick one thing of those three you're like yeah you know what i feel like that's going to happen what's it for you uh zegris for calder uh gibson for vesna

Akins for Jack Adams. I want to say Gibson just because I think he's so good and I've been talking about how underrated he is for the last four years while that team has been just getting him killed.

And I hope John Gibson gets some love for the Vesina, but I feel like, and I'm like looking at his, I'm constantly looking at the advanced analytics on that and he's just not popping the way he, like there are so many goalies ahead of him

in terms of goals saved above expected. And the Vezina is voted on by the GMs. also they often like to just give that to the goalie with the most wins. And I feel like John Gibson's not going to be anywhere near Andre Vasilevsky or those guys by the time the season ends in that. So I would probably go with Eakins for coach of the year. That probably seems the most likely to me. What about you, Julian?

Yeah. You know what's crazy? Like at first I was about to pick John Gibson because, as you mentioned, he's a guy who even as the Dan-I-I-M-Ducs have not played their best hockey, he has been the best thing about this team for the better part of the last few years, which is also a cool thing about this, this duck team being as good as they are right now. John Gibson finds himself with a talented team in front of him.

And again, who knows how the season's going to end for them, but John Gibson can at least say that, like, his best hockey is not gone in Bain. I know he's been in the playoffs, but like it's cool to see him do that. But I also like the Dallas Aiken story. He was out in Edmonton, remember a couple of years ago, and that experiment did not end well. And that, he was in charge of a team with a bunch of talented forwards. And when it didn't work out there, I wondered, okay, well, what's his career going to be?

So now he finds himself in a position in Anaheim where he has some talented young players coming up. And it seems like he's getting the most out of them. And if the ducks find themselves in a playoff position, yeah, I think Dallas Aikins, unless there's someone else here who I'm not thinking of, probably is most deserving of coach of the year, I think. good for him if he's able to put himself in that position. So I guess if I was a betting man, which I'm not, I'd probably put the bet on Dallas-Aikins. I'll say this about Trevor Zegro's for Calder,

the for Calder. Maybe he puts himself in the running, but have you seen what's going on in Detroit with Lucas Raymond and more excited? Like, those boys are really doing well this year. So I think Trevor Zegris might actually be in top, especially against the guy like Raymond, who I think is leading all rookies and points right now. So he has a chance,

but I don't think his case might be as strong compared to what. But we might see with John Gibson with the Vezina and maybe even with what's going on with Dallas-Akins and the Santa Huck's team, especially if they put themselves in position to make the playoffs. So if you look at the actual, like I know, or Ian, do you have a pick for yourself? No, no, I think you've got the odds now, right? You got the odds over there on these things. Yeah, let's hear them. Yeah. So Gibson is way down the list at 30 to 1 to win Vezna. three, six, nine, 12, 15. He's down there about the 20th goalie. There are 15, 16 goalies in the league with the better odds than John Gibson to win

the Vezina right now. So if you're looking for a guy to put money on, that's the guy. Whereas Zegris, he's 5 to 1 to win the Calder only behind Raymond. So obviously not nearly as good of odds on that. And then let's see, where is Eakins? Man, I can't even find him on here for Jack Adams. That's not good. He is way, way, way down the list.

So, yeah, he's probably about there are 15, 16 coaches above him on coach of the year. So it's funny. We thought Ziegers was the least likely to win. But according to the odds, he's actually the most likely to win one of those awards by a pretty wide margin. You see why I'm not a betting person? And this is why, this is where if you're looking to make a smart bet kind of before, you know, American Thanksgiving, Anaheim might not be a bad place to put some money on either the head coach or the goaltender to win a major award. Yeah, they also aren't a bad place to just put your money, just betting on them on a nightly basis.

Just for fun, I wanted to do this little math experiment. And I wanted to see what would have happened if back on October 31st when they started this eight game win streak, because it's been an incredible eight game win streak, considering how many times they've been an underdog during it, If you would have put $20, just $20 on Anaheim to beat Montreal that night, you would have won 16 bucks. So you take that plus your 20 that you initially bet. That would give you $36.67. If you had just rolled that and every time you won, just taking your money and put it right back on the ducks,

eight games later, you would be sitting at $5,879. So over eight games, you would have turned $20 into $5,879. The Anaheim ducks have been phenomenal this year. What? I really need to get into betting now. Julian's thinking I could have had six grand. Two minutes ago, Julian was telling me I'm not a betting man. I can see Julian already figuring out how to set up his bed MGM app by the end of this.

Exactly. I mean, let me get my phone right now. It's pretty incredible. Yeah, listen, this was great. Appreciate the visit. I'm sure Anaheim fans appreciate a little love from us on the Ducks and hopefully for a more national audience get a little bit of an idea of how good Anaheim has been to start the year. Listen, enjoy the week.

Thanks for doing this and we'll hit you up again next week. Thanks for having me, guys. All right, hey, listen, that was a great little visit with Jesse Granger and always great to chat about a team like Anaheim that I don't think gets a lot of love. So, Julian, listen, this hour flew by. This was awesome. And I just need to know at what point, like, do you just let this episode drop and then you tell Chris Johnson that you did this?

Or are you going to tell him in advance that you did this, you know? That's a very good question. You know what? I might like, at the time we're recording this, we haven't recorded our Thursday show yet. Maybe I'll just start off the episode and just be like, hey, buddy, this is my second podcast and just see what we said. What? Yeah.

I'll just kind of go with that, man. I don't know. I kind of expected that like he just sees that I'm just doing like three different. I have like two other podcasts that I do. Exactly. He listens to any of the. There's no way he'd listen to this and get jealous. No, we gave up a big shout out at the beginning.

And Chris Johnson, one of the really good guys in the industry, as you know, just a phenomenal guy, but a really hard worker. and I love seeing him now on on insider training. I still kind of weird though when I turn on TSN and I see him there. It's like it still hasn't sunk in yet. Sunk in to my brain. I'm like it still doesn't seem right that C.J. is there. But it's funny.

It's hilarious. He's been great. Listen, this was great. I love the fact. Okay. So I like walking away from podcast episodes with like something I learned and you know what I learned? I learned that I got to stop using the term premiership.

Okay? I learned that today. I didn't even realize I was using it. You have shown me, showing me the way. And I think you learned that the home of the St. Louis Blues is the Enterprise Center. There, see? It's not the Sabbath Center.

Like, God, I was like, oh, God, I got to remember it. Yeah, the Enterprise Center. It was Scott Trade, too, wasn't it, for a long time? I think, yeah. Scott Trade Center? Yeah, it does kind of make sense that it would be Scott Trade, I guess. Yeah. And we learned that jobbing.com is still a thing.

Although apparently you're very much a thing. Don't go there if you're looking for a job in our industry. Especially in our neck of the woods. There's no jobs. We brought up Neil Yakupov, Al Arbor. Like this was fun, man. Like the whole hour just flew by. I don't know if DGV mentions or goes that deep with these random blasts from the past.

Hopefully I'm able to channel him. Hopefully I was able to channel him in some way. That's exactly what you did. That's exactly what you did. Hey, listen, man, this was awesome. And, you know, as you know, the chairs often shuffle with people's schedules and stuff. Fingers crossed, man, we can do this again. Because this, honestly, this was fun.

I hope from the listeners' perspective, you could feel the connection and the energy that the two of us had. It was a ton of fun, man. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. It's an absolute honor. Again, someone who watched you on TV all these years. But yeah, this was really awesome, man. If you ever need to be back on, let me know.

100%. We'll give you a call for sure. Hey, listen, everybody, thanks for joining us for this Thursday edition of the podcast. Like I said, Sean will be back next week for American Thanksgiving. We'll have something special plan for you then. As a reminder, you can always email us your questions. The Athletic Hockey Show at gmail.com. You can even leave us a voicemail to 845-4-5-4-5-845-4-59.

I want to remind you, too, if you're not a subscriber with us at The Athletic, you can join us to get an annual subscription for just $399 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey. show.