The Athletic Hockey Show - Troy Terry skills it up, much love to Ryan Getzlaf and better times ahead for Anaheim Ducks and the NHL Schedule and playoff format needs a refresh

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

Craig and Sean welcome Troy Terry of the Anaheim Ducks to discuss the up and coming Ducks, playing and learning from the legendary Ryan Getzlaf, skilling it up, Tyson Nash, Auston Matthews and keeping up with multi talented line-mate Trevor Zegras.Gentille and Custance take a look at the NHL's schedule and the playoff format and share their frustration with how the NHL has handled both and that change to both is long overdue.In the only good segment on the show, the Tuesday boys answer your comments including who won the Pacioretty/Suzuki trade, the Jekyll and Hyde Dallas Stars, who the current most underrated American born player is and what dog breed exudes the essence of American hero Phil Kessel? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, happy Tuesday, specifically to all of you listening on Tuesday. That's right. That's the day that it is. Today is Tuesday, April 26th, the Year of Our Lord 2022. There's no debate. This is Craig Custin's host. Co-host, I don't know. Star. Star of the Tuesday show with Sean Gentile, where we focus exclusively on the American

teams because no. Nobody wants to talk about them on the other days of the week. It's true. Especially that Ian Mendez. Especially on that Monday show that definitely has already taped that I was third chair on. Definitely already taped it. Definitely know what I said. So Sean and I are being super immature right now, not any more than normal, because it's really, for us, it's Monday.

I'm traveling to New York for some business, super important business stuff. and so rather than bring in Maxwell, Boltman to replace. Did you know he's Maximilian, Boltman? No, he's not. Yeah, he does. He's Maxwell. I've seen his paperwork.

You've seen his, I've seen his W-2. I know his name is. I've seen all the official page. I think I have made up his middle name. Maximilian Sanderson, Bolton. Mm-hmm. Sanderson, it's definitely Sanderson. So we're recording it.

We are recording on a Monday. And we've, and we're just hoping nothing wild happens in the NHL tonight. So if it does, and we don't mention it, that's why. It's Monday for us. But this is going to be dropped on a Tuesday. But we felt confident we could do this because guess how many games are on the schedule tonight, Sean? I mean, it's technically one. Is that, can we call it that? Are you even calling it that? I mean, it's Blackhawks Flyers. Who cares? There's a Black Hawk's Flyers. So this, here we are in the heat of a playoff race. We're getting ramped up. We're getting excited for the playoffs.

And we've got one game. I got an email from, I think it was ESPN saying, hey, get excited. National TV. You know, ESPN's got the, all the things we've ever wanted. So we went and like, yeah, what's the game? There's one game. This is also. And I know showing that schedule is your favorite topic. That the NHEL crush is. I mean, aside from that, this is two consecutive days where the flyers have been ostensibly on national television because that was an ABC game yesterday against the Penguins, which was a complete, complete dud,

very, very, very boring, even though the Penguins blew that game. So you have two straight days with one of the three, the third worst team in the league versus the fifth worst team in the league tonight. Great. Great,

great, great. Because they make that, because these are big, we know the why. We know the why. No, we, no,

not really. Making the schedule is hard. Like, I get that. It's a huge, huge undertaking. Hold on. Before you get too far, can I just say one thing? Troy Terry is our guest today, ladies and gentlemen. He was great.

He was so good. We recorded that on what? Two months ago? No, on Friday. That was on Valentine's Day. It wasn't Valentine's Day. He was so good. We have our run of national team development program players at four from the,

from whatever team that was. I think he was the first one that we, I think he was the first one that we, I think he was the first one that Jeff got us deliberately. I think we made it through three consecutive or whatever it was by accident. And they were like, oh, wait a second. Next three guests, Charlie McAvoy, Christian Fisher. We should probably get Austin Matthews. He's having a good year. He's got, he was on that team. So anyways, Troy Terry was great. We'll get to him in a second. But let me go, let Sean, let me get Sean back, engaged on the schedule and why we can record a day in advance. I get that there's heavy days and late days.

I, and also me and Dom are the morons who decided to write power rankings on Thursday, which is one of the big nights. There's always like 14 games a night on Thursday. Why do you do it on Thursday? I don't know. We realized midway,

like not long after we started it last year that it was a poor tactical decision. We're like, yeah, we've got to change that for next year. But there's something, I mean, the flip side, oh God, this is so boring for people, is that like,

Yeah, sorry. It's a good thing to run on Fridays. It's a good thing to run on Fridays because, like, there's not a lot, there's not a lot going on and whatever. So it's just sort of, you know, you take the hit. It pays off a little bit. But making a schedule is tough. I mean, we've seen it. There's a reason it takes, it takes months and months.

It's an insane logistical undertaking. We know how hard it was based on how much a cluster the COVID rescheduling was, right? Like, that was just a moving target that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that they had to hit. So I don't say this. I don't, I don't mean to dump on the schedule makers because they can only, they can only play the cards that they've got. And it's fundamentally a really difficult job. But to have one game on the last Monday of the regular season and have it be, I mean, it's just a bad break that it's Chicago, Philly, so whatever, can't knock that. I understand that some days have to be light and you want to load up on Saturdays in that.

and there are, you know, there's collectively bargain things in place and whatever. Have two games. Have three games. Have 12 games instead of 15. Why is it so, I get, and I get you have to load up on certain days for logistical reasons. Like, absolutely. But there is nothing that's stopping them from trying to at least break it up a little bit. It also stagger start times.

That's it. Like pull off one of the, maybe pull. What an East Coast game on Monday night rather than have 9 7 or 7.5 p.m. starts. It drives me crazy. And it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. I'm sure it was a problem 25 years ago. But now when you have people who are capable of watching every single game, every single night if they choose for $6.99 or whatever the ESPN or whatever the ESPN cost is,

you were shooting yourselves in the foot. spread it out, stagger start times a little bit because people want to be able to watch games without having eight of them go to intermission at the same time. And without having to juggle in what, and especially during playoff chases or seating chases, juggle eight different games at once. Like spread it out a little bit. And I get that there's logistical concerns. But, you know, I'm talking moving two games off of one night onto the other.

Like, why, why can't that happen? Ugh. Do I, and like, do you have an answer for that? Like, I, oh, yeah, seriously. No, my, they probably, this is how they started doing it 20 years ago. That's it. I don't know. It's, it's actually a good question to say, I know Mark Lazarus did a really good story on the schedule making a while back.

Because Jonathan Taves had some ideas and how to, you know, he wanted to, he had some concept. Like, just, again, just thoughtful ideas that could make it. better and modernize the schedule in a way that isn't happening now because I think the players would like to see some changes too. And again, during COVID, we saw some kind of creativity and it's like, oh, maybe that's going to usher in this new era of, hey, this worked, this didn't, you know, a series and this, whatever, whatever it was. Yeah, maybe have more two-game, three-game series, like whatever. Yeah, like make an inch. Like, I always thought that was fun. And, but it didn't. It just kind of reverted. And as always,

if you think that this is impossible, there is another league, and I know that, like, the NBA only has one Canadian team to worry about, so that's, the travel's like a little bit different, I suppose. But if you think this is impossible,

there is another league that plays at the exact same time of year with the exact same schedule length and basically has a, has a season that lasts the same length of time. And, yeah, you want big nights on the schedule. You want to be able to say,

like, Thursday night's big for, you know, for the NBA. Saturday night's big for... Right. Like, that's fine. But spread it out a little bit, like, for the love of God. It's...

And this might be a niche complaint, too, because I'm someone who actually has to pay attention to all these games at once, and it can be like, it can be overload. But I guarantee you, and I know this from a fact, is that a lot, is that there's a lot of non-media people

who are just, who are just fans and enjoy watching hockey, and they're the ones that are done a disservice because they're the ones that have, it's the worst of both worlds because you have all, because you have all these games that go to intermission at the same damn time.

Ugh. Who should play tomorrow? That's the, that's the question. Like, which of these, which of these games that's, all these games that are staggered for, for Wednesday, just, just move, move one of them off.

I don't understand it. This is tangentially related, but it is scheduled. Wait, you want to try it again? Oh, it's not tangentially. It's not the word I'm going, for. Tengentially.

What I say? There's an IA in there, brother. This is somewhat related. See what I get for trying to use big words. Because I think it falls into the same lack of creativity, but, you know, we're already kind of sneaking ahead and looking at playoff scheduling and playoff matchups. And we're on this collision course to have some, I know, say this every year, and I hate that we're just repeating, arguing, talk.

points. But two of the, you know, we have really good teams and great players who are about three balls. It's not our fault that we're regurgitating talking points because they don't do anything to fix it. Like you're going to have the same conversations every year if you don't do anything differently. Like the wild and the blues are going to play in the first round. And one of those teams is going home. It's not fair. It's not fair. The Leafs and the lightning are lined up to play each other in the first round. So either you're, you know, Austin Matthews, your best player in the league, as we know, or the team that's, we were just talking last week about being a potential dynasty three-peat.

So you're either losing your best player in the league or your three-peat dynasty candidate. Who, by the way, and I know the Panthers didn't have a ton to play for in that game, but just curb stomped Florida yesterday, Tampa. Yeah. They beat their ass. I mean, Tampa's going to get it together. I think Tampa They already have

up until like yesterday No no No No like that They won two straight cups They're not already about October And now they've won three straight

And they're six three and one In their last 10 And they just destroyed the team That they're going to have to Potentially face In the second round of the playoffs Whoops And so we've long been

Or I have I don't want to speak for you Sean Is any more than I normally do You've been doing it For almost 15 years now brother Like I've been in favor of high-end creativity. You're the NHL, let's draft some opponents. Now, I know that's unrealistic, but there's got to be a better solution than what we have now. So remember last year? Was it last year?

It was like, here's the list of superstars who are no longer playing in the play at the best time of the year. And it was like everyone you'd want to see. Just go back. And look, I know that the play, we talked about the plan last week or whenever that was. And people don't like that. I get it. Like, I do. Like our ideas? I thought we were. It's a, it's like Dom, Dom hated it because, you know, a lot of the, a lot of those guys, a lot of the, a lot of the, a lot of the, a lot of the, quant guys would rather just not have their beat playoffs, I think. Oh, just if you just have a model to turn out. Stanley Cup winner. No, no, just have it be, have it be a soccer set up where, you know, the team who wins the president's trophy just wins the whole thing.

Is there relegation in this scenario? I hope there should be maybe maybe if a team's ready to play it in an a HL ring they can an HL rink they can compete with HL teams possibly so whatever I'd like fine who cares about the who cares about the plan we don't even have to worry about that go back to one to eight seeding yeah one day it was like there's no and it was one of those things where you know you could see the logic in it back then when they went to the divisional pool Right? Because you want to foster rivalries. You people want, you want to guarantee that you get pens caps in 2016 or whatever. I do remember that was a big thing. It was like, and they'd only met

once maybe and Sid and OV's career up until this. Yeah. Is that right? Is my math? Like I remember that was a big selling point. Have we created any rivalries? That was the other thing. You're going to have rivalries. Have we got any new rivalries since this, this? was enacted. I guess it was all just about travel and saving money. Yeah. And it was, you know, hey, great. It's classic short-sided stuff. Or they're like, hey, we have, and, you know, sure, you want to foster or rig it up so you have Crosby versus Oveskin or whatever. But guess what, man? This is year seven, eight, ten, like, I don't even, how long have we been doing the, been doing the conference? Like, it's move on. Do something else. It's time. It does. It does. It

doesn't work anymore. Like, it maybe made sense back then, especially now, too, where, you know, everybody talks about the parity. And that is, I mean, obviously, it's the ultimate goal of the NHL is to have 32 teams that all have 91 points. But that's not working either. Right. We are in a two-tiered system now where you have, where, you know, the second wild card in the East has 100 points and the best team has 112. And the gap between. I mean, have you actually looked at this? How many points ahead of the Islanders do you think the caps are for the last wildcard spot? Guess.

I don't know. 20. 20. I'm just reading the history of playoff formats right now. Sorry. Not that I was tuning you out. So I don't even know what you just asked me. It's not parody when there's eight good teams in eight terrible ones.

Yeah. And that's where we are in basically every, in basically each conference. So that hasn't worked. worked either. Like, in the end result is you just have these chases where it's like, we're trying to get jinned up about who's playing who, and that's fine. Yeah. And thank God for the collapse of the Vegas Golden Knights and in the chaos at the bottom in the West, because if it weren't for that, we would have truly nothing to pay attention to down the stretch here. Uh, but the end game is just, it's what? Like, we're trying to get excited about seating, but the

seating is going to directly lead to superstars and great teams being eliminated in the first round. It's garbage. So the current system was introduced in 2013-14. So the format that we were saying was we preferred was introduced in 98-99. So it got a run of, let's say, what, 15 years. So is that how long we have to wait for this? Was anybody complaining about that? in 2013-14, like nobody had a problem with the one through eight system. Travel. I do. People were complaining because I was in, I remember being in Detroit and they were like,

we're getting the end. So like we're playing the ducks in round one. And there was like secret talk of, A, should teams blow it so they, so they have easier travel. So like, yeah, but there were travel.

Just when I was talking to players, I remember travel complaints. Yeah, okay, that's fair. By the time, you know, the Flyers would get to the Stanley Cup final and they would have traveled a total of like 11 miles because they were playing the Rangers and whatever. You were talking to players on the Detroit Red Wings who were upset that they had to play the Anahunuchs. This was probably all done to appease the Detroit Red Wings. It's fixed. Like, it's fixed. The conferences are fixed. You don't have to worry about the Red Wings playing some insane, insane travel. So I do remember, there was, to answer you, there was complaints because they were like.

Yeah. By the time we're playing the conference finals. But it might have been one dressing room specifically. that was upset. If you had one through eight, just straight one through eight system. In the West right now, we would have Colorado versus Dallas. That's fine. Minnesota versus Nashville, fine. St. Louis versus L.A.

Like, maybe not great, but, you know, the West is big, and there's always going to be one of those. And then Calgary versus Edmonton. Pretty fun. East would be Florida, Washington, fine. Carolina, Pittsburgh, fine. Toronto, Boston, fine, Rangers, Tampa, fine. Like, sorry. Sorry that you are going to be on a private jet for 45 minutes longer than a team you

potentially might play in the next round of the playoffs. Tough cookies. It's not a reason to do this anymore. Made me angry. Sorry. I did on purpose. Let's get to Troy Terry. Before we, I want to say one thing about the Troy Terry conversation is it came before

Getslaff's last game. So, you know, we, we, so if he, if he, you're like, hey, how come he didn't bring that up? He does talk about Ryan Getslap a lot. I did want to give you an opportunity to, we can do a moment of Ryan Getslaff appreciation because what a career he's had. And, like, he's going to be one of those guys. Like, I think of like, I mean, you know, the Ducks for me in that era, especially when I was, you know, doing national stuff at ESPN or whatever.

Like, they were always the best team to never win it. in that like I know they won it. Oh, really? Like, like I love them. Hold on second. You have them over the sharks. Yeah.

Those ducks teams were better than those sharks teams. Like the, the one that would play like they'd run into the Kings or the Blackhawks or whatever. Just during that like heyday of like whatever year that would have been 2010, 11, 12. Like those Bruce Boudreau ducks teams were so good. You mean that? There was a Kings Black Hawk series in 2013 or 2012. It was a, I, I, those years really blend together for me.

Yeah, yeah. But it was a, it was a, it was a, yeah, it was a conference final. It was a war. That series I ever saw. Getslaff's a Hall of Famer. Easy. Easily. He's, he was so good.

First ballot, just put them in. Gets laugh, Pete Getslap was just a horse. And when he would just, he would turn it on, he would dominate the games in a way that I don't know if people really appreciate. He was, he was one of the first guys, like when I started, actually. actually covering games. He was one of the first guys who I saw in a dressing room. And I was like, this dude is a fridge.

He's huge. Gigantic. He fills up a doorframe. You're like, you're like, you are, you're a big, big guy. And I hadn't had that reaction because he's like, six, five or whatever he is. And he's like, you know, just a, just a big, big guy. And he was the first one that I saw where I was like, oh, man, this guy's a, he's a, he's a monster. I loved, I loved what Eric wrote about him a couple days ago, by the way.

Eric Stevens wrote a really good, um, elegy for his career or, and it was, you know, it was sort of an oral, I mean, it was an oral history kind of set up. Yeah. Um, and those are dodgy because sometimes they don't work and sometimes they're just excuses for writers who don't want to write a story, right? They're always good. I'm saying this is someone who's written shitty oral histories, too, by the way. they don't always work.

Eric's did. Eric's worked well. He talked to, the people he talked to were great. The way it was structured was great. You know, kind of from the come up to what to, you know,

just sort of chronologically, you know, him as a prospect going up to what comes next for him. And his, he's another one. I know we talk about this whenever someone retires, but whatever his post career path is going to be,

it'll be interesting. He's going to have his choice, I think, of a lot of different rounds. But man, He's a, God, what a great player. Him and Perry and him and Perry and Bobby Ryan. That line was, that line was a blast.

Pretty good. Wins two Olympic Golds. He was part of the powerhouse Canada. Like that, he was one of those guys who was like, Canada has all these guys, Crosby and Tate. And you're like, oh yeah, they also. Oh, yeah. By the way.

They have third line center, Ryan Gatslap. Who would be the, maybe the best, maybe the top line. Yeah. And also always ended up being one of the three best players on those Canadian teams, too. No, it's good. So I'm glad. So we'll take a quick break here. But Troy Terry does, you know, give him a shout out, you know, talks about what he's learned from him.

And what, you know, what a great guy to have around to pass the mantle to the next, you know, young great ducks. So let's get to Troy Terry. And we'll jump back in. We'll get back. we are now thrilled to be joined by Troy Terry, breakout star with the Anaheim Ducks. Troy, first of all, thank you for joining us. We're excited to talk to you today. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.

We were laughing because you had a quote somewhere. We were talking, Sean and I while we're in the waiting room here, about how like your breakout season that we've all been predicting, right? Like, it's happening. And this is the year it's happened. And it's, it's been exciting to witness from afar. how has it been to live? Like this is, it's all coming together.

Yeah. Well, thank you. I was actually talking to my dad yesterday. I just feel like there's been a lot of media the last, you know, week or so and, you know, where I'm sitting at, you know, I just, I felt like I've really more reflected on it the last couple days. And I felt that, you know, growing up like my, when I was young, I was always very small.

I was always told, oh, you have a lot of potential. And then, you know, that just continued. I was continued to tell or be told that you have a lot of potential, even at the college level. You know, you have the potential to be a good NHL player. And everything's been, you know, how do I make it to the next level? And, you know, to realize that, like, I have to remind myself sometimes because that's been my mindset all year or my whole career,

is that, you know, this is the highest level. It's the best league you can play in in the world. And, you know, I feel like it's a satisfying feeling to, you know, feel like you finally reach that potential that, you know, I've been told I have since I was, you know, 12 years old. It was always, you know, you're a good player, but you have potential. You can be much better. And, you know, to just kind of, you know, feel like you've achieved that

and reached that and, you know, everything I've worked for. It's, it's a pretty, you know, gratifying feeling. That's me. First of all, I should have, I'm rude not to recognize D-U's championship. So that's, uh, congratulations. That is rude. Yeah, thank you for, thank you for, thank you for, thank you for acknowledging that. I, uh, that was a big day for me.

You're wearing the hat and everything, man. We completely, we completely, we completely, we completely, we completely whiff. So what's, I mean, I love the idea of this kind of being the, do you really, you feel like this is the first time in your career that you've kind of actually delivered on all the, you know, the potential that people have? I feel like, I mean, in college, you know, I had some really good seasons. And, you know, it was always like, oh, I hope this translates to the next level. And, you know, last year I felt like I found my game a lot. But I didn't feel like I, you know, I didn't really have the numbers to, you know, back that up.

And then, yeah, I mean, coming into this year, I just, you know, started off well and, you know, it was the whole streak thing. And, you know, I was ready for that to be over. I wanted to, I was excited to prove that, you know, it wasn't, you know, a streak at the limited time, you know. I was excited to prove that, you know, it was more than just a limited time and it wasn't just a streak. And I've just been taking it day by day. And so yeah, I mean, it's been a wild long journey. You know, every hockey player goes through it. And, you know, I think by no means am I satisfied.

I think I can, you know, keep building on this. And, you know, I'm excited for next season. But it's a good feeling to, you know, just look in the mirror and be like, yeah, I can, you know, really be the player that, you know, I was always sold that I can be at this level. We talked to Tage Thompson a couple days ago, and he's in a similar, similar boat as you. You guys, you guys play together. Obviously, the situation that you guys are in, it's fascinating to me because the production,

it's both for both you guys, is skyrocketed. And it skyrocketed immediately at the start of the season after a really short off season and after a really bizarre kind of end of the, I mean, whatever, the last two seasons blended together and it was crazy. So to have, like, what, from a production standpoint, what changed? like was it just getting more time with with getzlath like what what was the change over the course of those three months or whatever it was from the end of last season to the start of this one because you got off you know you had the point streak and you you got to a really to a really

you know fast start what was the what was the switch um well yeah I'd be remiss if I if I didn't mention right yeah we can we can we can we can talk about him for as long as you want by the way yeah I mean he is I mean I've talked about him to a hundred different people in the last two to three days because of everything that's going on, obviously I can talk forever. But, you know, just as a hockey player, he, I felt like me and him had played together quite a bit over the last maybe two or three years. And I've always been a past first type of guy.

And that's what he's been for, you know, 17 NHL season. So it felt like it took me kind of a few, a year or two to kind of. kind of figure out that, you know, I needed to be the shooter. And I felt that I made that switch this year. And it kind of just, you know, rounded out my whole game. It made me more dangerous. And, and for me, you know, the three months that we had this past summer were huge for me. I felt, you know, what I needed to work on and what was going to make me a better hockey player was,

wasn't necessarily on the ice. It was off the ice and in the gym. and just getting stronger and faster and, you know, just making sure I'm able to handle a full 82 game schedule. So we can see you now. This is, I don't know how much of this is going to clip for video, but there's still a little bit of the black eye that you guys became a national story there for a few days, the Tyson Nash stuff. Now that it's settled, like, I mean, it speaks volumes about kind of hockey culture. Like we, you know, we're American. We're like, we understand you have to be exciting.

You have to produce offense. It can't just be like this old school hockey. We're, what did you think of all of that? And kind of what is, you know, where are you at and all that? Yeah, I can tell you that I was ready for, I didn't really love how much attention I got because it was kind of me just getting punched in the face. Wow. Yeah.

That wasn't really your fault. Come on. Yeah. But, I mean, I have a couple different takes on it. I feel that there is a, you know, an unwritten code amongst NHL players. And I think that it was, you know, I think it was very against that code. I think, you know, I watch games every night. I see a lot of scrums.

I see, you know, things happen. But at the same time, I was also, I mean, it was a learning lesson for me. You know, not everyone is going to view situations the same as you, and you've got to be ready for those situations when they come. And it was unfortunate learning lesson for me because you guys saw a black guy. And, you know, it was, it was, you know, it is what it is. And, you know, I'm not mad. Like, I'm not mad about it anymore. It was, for me, it was more of a learning lesson. And I was kind of, you know, it's not like I wanted

anyone to feel sorry for me for getting punched in the face. I mean, it happens. It's hockey. And it was what it was. And for me, it's more of a learning lesson. I'm not going to sit here and tell you guys that, you know, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. But, I mean, it was it's something that I'm glad you know the eyes healed up so um I don't have to talk about it every time someone looks at me but it's definitely something I I learned from and I'm ready to move on what did you what did you learn from it just to be you know I not everyone's going to respect the code of hockey I mean it's yeah you know I watched a hundred scrums a game happened and you know there's a lot of face washing going on the refs are in there

and I just I need it to be more ready. I mean, I've talked to Ryan Getslav, you know, if something like that happens and you feel that, you know, this guy is trying to all of a sudden go with you. You've got to be more ready to, you know, make sure you get your gloves off and you're in a position where, you know, you can protect yourself because I just, I felt that, you know, it caught me off guard and I think he got me pretty early. And I just found myself in a position where, you know, I couldn't.

The biggest learning lesson is just I was in a position where I felt I couldn't control the situation because I couldn't protect myself. And that was my fault. I mean, I just needed to be more ready for it. And it was an unfortunate way to learn that lesson. But that's kind of what I've taken on it. I'm glad that Pat Verbeek, who's pretty old school dude, right? Like, played the game understands how it's played, came out publicly defending Trevor Zegra.

Like the notion that you all can't have fun out there and produce offense and do however you see fit to me is. Yeah. I don't know. At best. Okay. Here's here's my question about that, though. We're just going to talk to. Yeah.

And we can, this will be, this will be it for that. Do you feel like other players have a problem with that or is that what we hear from guys like Tyson Nash and sort of, you know, John Tortorella getting into a Zegress? Do you see that from, from, do you see other players having a problem with that? Or is that media, media popcorn? I mean, there's a way to go about it, but I don't think there's anyone in the league that, you know, has a problem with. I think it's good for the game. I think it's exciting. And I mean, I don't know who's to say that it's against anything if you're putting the puck on the net.

I mean, Tyson Nash should probably stop there. But yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I. I don't know who's to say that it's not good for the game. And I think that there's definitely a way to go about it. I know that, you know, there was no showboating. It was, it was, you know, I was, I had front row seat for, you know, the Michigan goal he scored in that game. And I saw how the puck was laying there. I saw how easy it was for him to be able to get it on a stick, how it was.

And it was the right play for him to make in that position. And he scored. I think, you know, he's a smart hockey player. He's got the ability to do that. I don't think he's, you know, trying to force things and just be, you know, like just a showboat out there. I think he does things when it's the right time and he has that ability. Okay. So we can talk about Trevor now.

You said a couple weeks ago, you know, when you started getting more time with him, because I know you played more in a line with him over the last little chunk than you have before, it sounded like you were worried about being prepped or received passes from him. Like you were like there might be a little bit of a learning curve with him out there. Do you feel more comfortable there? How do you feel after getting more consistent time with him over the last little bit? Yeah. I mean, it took a little bit.

You know, the other guy I mentioned, Ryan Getslav, cared me for that. Just a little bit. Yeah, I mean, he's got that same ability, Trevor and Ryan, where, you know, you don't, you don't see. a passing lane there and they're not looking at you but be ready for it and um so you know I feel that I've come a long ways and that I'm just trying to be ready and Trevor's the same you know playing with him he'll find you he'll you know force pucks through a skate duke I mean he'll get the puck through anything and he'll he'll find you and um the only thing with Trevor is as he does it in sort of a different fashion I mean he's just he's more

more his creativity is, you know, I like to think of myself as a skilled, you know, creative hockey player who can make plays out there. But there's, there's things I see him do where I'm like, I just wouldn't have even thought of that in a hundred years. You know, like, he surprises me sometimes with, you know, just how creative he can be. And it's, it's, it was definitely an adjustment. But, you know, I thought me and him, you know, worked really well off each other. He's fun to play with.

That's for sure. Yeah. So you said at one point, if someone would have come to you and said, we'll give you 30 goals, you would say, I would have taken that in a heartbeat. So now what's your number next year in a heartbeat? Like that someone says, hey, I'll give you this and you'll say, okay, I'll sign up for that. Yeah. I'm about to give you the most cliche hockey. Oh, no. Troy, you were doing so well. Everybody. move on. Well, I mean, in all honesty with you, I just felt that this year, I kind of just, like I got scratch game too. I don't know if you guys even know that, but I got healthy scratch game too. Yeah, and what happened after you got healthy scratch, by the way?

And then I went on a streak after it. So, like, talk about the hot eyes and the lows. And I feel that I've just kind of, you know, stayed even keel and just taking it day by day, which is the most hockey answer ever. but it's what you have to do in pro hockey. And then now, like I said, I've kind of reflected on it the last couple days. And I'm sitting here at 36 goals. And it's crazy to me.

I mean, it's just been a chiseling, you know, away type of thing. And it's not to say that I can't, you know, do this every year. And I have that confidence. But, you know, it's a national hockey league. It's hard to say, I mean, I want to hit 40 goals next year because it's not easy to do. I feel that I'm more than capable of doing it. And my cliche hockey answer is kind of what I'm going for. I'm just going to take it day by day.

You almost got there. You almost gave us the number. That's close enough. Do you feel like you've added stuff to the bag like over the last couple months in terms of the way that you do score goals? Because like especially watching you early, you know, there's a lot of, whatever, a lot of the wrist or a lot of placement stuff. But you look at the two goals in 22 seconds versus.

Tampa. I mean, both those came off redirects, right? So I don't know. I feel like, is there, do you feel like your skill sets diversified now, even versus, you know, two months ago? You know, I felt last year, I think I had, I felt like I found my game a little bit last year. I had seven goals. I like went back and looked at my seven goals and, and they were kind of all, you know, not individual efforts, but like, you know, I beat a guy. And, and then I make a nice move and then I score or like someone makes a good pass to me and, you know, I make a really good shot. And then like I watch the NHL and I watch guys, you know, have, I watch Chris Kreider,

you know, he's got a hat trick and they're all within three feet of the net. They're in the same, they're in the same spot in the same spot from the slot. Yeah. I mean, it's not to say he can't score in all ways, but, you know, that was something that I felt that I never did. and I needed to, you know, get stronger in the summer and I needed to be more of, you know, around the net type player. So you're a former Olympian, or I guess always an Olympian once you're an Olympian.

Will you be playing for the U.S. and the world championships? I will not, I will not this year. Yeah. What went into the thought? I'm actually, I mean, I'm getting married. Oh, congrats. Yeah. And, you know, it's a big commitment.

on time. It is. And yeah, with the wedding and everything, I mean, if I want to hit the numbers that I didn't tell you guys next year, I got to make sure I'm getting in the gym and have enough time for the summer. All right. And I want a lightning round the last couple. A, is it true, your name after Troy Aikman?

Yes. Okay. Is that lightning answer to? Yeah, yes, I am. My dad was a Cowboys fan. Yeah. I am too. Your dad played football at Arizona State, right?

That was, this is Wikipedia. This is Wikipedia shit from us. How are you not named after Jake Plummer? You were born in 97. Like, he was the guy back thing. Come on. I know. I mean, I don't know.

My dad's from Dallas. He ended up playing in Arizona. And then he met my mom in Arizona. I mean, living there after. But he's diehard Cowboys fan. And I've kind of just taken that up in the family. The other lightning round, the answers don't have to be lighting run.

I'm just banging these in before I get the questions in. So completely randomly, we've just been, we now have a streak of four straight players off the 1415 national development team. We started with Matthew Kachuk, then Roslovick, then Tade Thompson, then you. So who, knowing that roster well and who's fun to talk to, who would be your recommendation that we go to next?

Like who is so much fun to play with? Who is the most fun to play with in that team? Yeah. I mean, you've mentioned some of the obvious guys. Yeah, I mean, that team, we had so many good players. I mean, maybe Jordan Greenway. He's always fun to talk. That's a good one.

I think that's the guy you guys got to get on if you haven't. He's great. Tage was said Christian Fisher, so he said he said he would be. Yeah, he's a character also. What was your Austin Matthews? What's your moment that you knew he was going to be a superstar? Um, I actually, uh, so like, and growing up at hockey, there's national camp. I don't know if you're familiar with that.

Um, so you go to state camp. If you make it out of that, you go to regional camp and then you go to national camp. And I was probably 14 at the time. Yeah. And I went to regional camp with Arizona. Mm-hmm. And he was actually on my team there. And, you know, I was like playing AAA.

I thought I was like, you know, that I thought it was awesome. you know, I like, was, was whatever. And then we had this kid from Arizona who was, I think he might have played single A the year before. No one knew who he was. And he just absolutely dominated out there. And it almost bothered me, you know, because I was like, oh, I'm this AAA player. And single A players, you know, put scoring more than me. And it was funny because as much as I didn't want to admit it, because he was better than me.

Like, he was that good even coming from, you know, not playing AAA. at the highest level at that time. You could just tell how good he was. And then, you know, fast forward a couple years and you're seeing what he's doing now. It's crazy. It's amazing. Well, Troy, we appreciate you doing this. Yep.

Thanks, guys. Congratulations on D.U. The wedding. Everything. It's a big year. It's been a big year. And a certain number of goals next year that we will not, we want to mention. We'll see.

Thanks Thanks guys This is the only good segment on the show It's when we Beg Do we beg each week for comments Craig Is that true? I don't know if we beg

We involve We involve our subscribers and friends It's about engagement We want you guys to feel a sense of ownership Over this show A sense of ownership over this show A sense of ownership over this segment Do our work for us

Really That's not a charitable way to phrase it, but yes, we want you to do our work for us because it really is. Like you just, we can just wind you guys up and then talk for 45 minutes. It's awesome. This was after our Tage Thompson interview. He was great. Also scored, well, it was yesterday, but not actually yesterday. He is now best at Jack Eichol for career high in goals. Very, very, very. very, very funny. So, yeah.

I would have lost that bet. Well, I'd like to find the person that, like, sincerely put money down that, put money down on that happening. It would be a pretty weird bet. Like, when would that have had happened, like, a couple years ago? Who's going to have a higher career high, Tage Thompson or Jack Ike? I feel like you could have maybe gotten odds on that, like, after the Ikel trade or something where it was like, where you knew that, like, Tage was going to slide in as the

one C. You just bet on. bet on production there. I'll make a bet with you. Yeah. Who finishes their career with a higher single season? High goal total. Tage Thompson, Jack, I can't.

Will Jack score 40 goals in a season? That's like, that's really the question. I'm going to say yes. I'll say he has one. We'll see what happens on a team level. I'm taking Tage, then just. to be, I'll take the other side. How many more goals?

Mark this down. I'll remember this conversation in 20 years. I'm saying that, I'm saying that Jack will have like, whatever, a 41 goal season or something. Then the issue becomes, are they just going to go back and forth? How about this? Next year, Jack has 39. Year after that, Tage has 42. And they just go back and forth.

And it's one of the great rivalries in the sport. individual rivalries. I'm pretty sure that's going to happen. That could happen. Jack scored 36 and 68 games. Yeah. The age of 23. He's going to happen.

Jack's going to have a... He'll have a... He'll still be healthy long enough to have. Yeah. I would take Jack too, but we like to age. First comment is about the Vegas golden nights. Actually, Alex R says, I feel like the Patrangelo siting and the patchy ready trade were both the type of move you end up regretting in a few years because of their

ages and they had to trade all their depth for fifth rounders to fit them under the cap. Yes on Patrangelo, no, and Patche, you're ready. I think there was less,

I know you gave up Suzuki, right? That's not great. But, the Patrangelo contract is not looking good. He's going to be,

if this is who he is, I know we've said this before, if this is who he is moving forward, that's going to, that's going to be a problem. So I, I don't think those,

I don't think those deals are in, you know, similar, similar camps here. But you got to factor in that you gave up something to get Patcheretti. Like, I mean, yes, you had to move cap space. Like, cap space is an asset that you're giving up and signing Petrangelo. But, I mean, Suzuki is part of that equation.

Suzuki is part of the equation. It's just more that Petruetti's got, you know, one year left on his deal. And Petrangelo just goes on so much, so much farther, right? Right. Like, pay for it forever. Eileen says, as a 419, so this is six days ago, Jason Robertson, sits at 36 goals with six games left. Does he hit 40? Well, he's got 38 now. I love the stars. They're so, they're so funny. I don't think they're, are they good? I don't know that that really matters,

but they're games. I've said this before. It's just like 56 minutes of whatever. And then you get a few good, a few good shifts out of Hinson and Pavelski and that's like enough, that's enough to get them, get them where they need to go. This team is going to make the playoffs. Yeah. The Dallas stars are going to make the playoffs unless they completely go down. But that, and that's why they're fun. Like, it comes with the asterisk, right? Where all they got to do is basically get two points in one of their final,

and one of their final three games here in their set. And I don't know that you can say that because this team is so prone to streakiness and so prone to duds that like anything is on the table. If there is one team to watch down the stretch here, it is them because they are chaotic and very funny. I like Kendall Litch nominates Robertson as the most underrated American That's

That's gonna be We talked a little bit about Kyle Connor last week I think Kyle Conner's in that conversation Kyle Conner has 45 goals you guys Everybody That's unbelievable How about Chris Kreider with 51 Can we call Chris Kreider underrated

He's a 50 goal score in New York I don't know if he's underrated. I don't know if he's underrated, but I, because of he does get some. He's a superstar? It's a 50 goal scorer. Are you trying to get me to turn on Chris Kreider here after, I know you love Chris Kreider. I'm just saying, is shit talking me like periodically all season for, you know, dapping up Chris Crider on a good basis.

You personally hate Chris Crider. That's not true. And you don't tell us. I love Chris Crider. You remember, you remember when, whenever he came up, he jumped directly from from NCAA to the playoffs with the Rangers up. I was at that game. I think I was too.

I remember the early book on Chris Kreider was that he was a low talker. Do you remember that? But he was really smart. Like, I remember talking to him. Yeah. But it kind of, I distinctly remember having this conversation with some other people on that, on that series. And we weren't sure if he was, if he just was super duper soft spoken or was deliberately trying to mess with us and I'm still and I'm still not sure you think a guy gets brought in from college

and he's immediately messing with the national evil in the playoffs evil genius Chris Kreider I would I would appreciate it if you he was how about Jake Gensel in the most underrated I I'm I got to recuse myself from them because I don't think he's I don't think he's underrated at all I hear a lot about Jake Gensel you do I don't yeah I mean that's that's what I'm saying like he's not underrated here I know that. Yeah. I think a big part of the early part of the season when Crosby was coming back from

surgery and then, you know, had an underratedly rough time with COVID, by the way, he was sick. I think a big part of that was that, and a big outcome of that was that Censel produced without him. And I think we can say,

that's kind of the season that Crens has had, where we can say definitively now that he's not a passenger, he's not a creation of Crosby. If anybody had, and not that that's something I, I believe my, myself. But if anybody had questions about that, I think, you know, the way he's played this season, you can pretty safely, pretty safely throw that out the window. I know whenever we were,

and whenever we were trying, whenever we did our last rounds of Olympic roster projections, it kind of came down to Robertson and Gensel. Like that, like, those are the guys that me and Dom and Corey were, we're sort of ping pong and back and forth. I think we ended up, and this is funny because the thing never got published because of, you know, know, all the, for obvious reasons. I don't know where we end up standing. I think we found a way to get them both on there. But I want to say that Robertson was out of the lineup and we had Gensel on a line.

So like those guys are, I mean, whatever, flip a coin between those two, you know? Do you have Tate Thompson on that team? No, but we're penciling them in for the, for the, for the 20, 26 team. I have, dude, whatever. We got to make through the summer in, in, uh. That's true. that's going to be one of our Apple podcast bonus episodes. Oh, God.

Who would be the 20, 23 Olympic team? Also, very funny moment in Detroit, Terry interview is when you're like, hey, you're going to the world championships? He was like, nope. I was rattle. I just assumed he was. Yeah. And then I'm like, well, why? He was like, I don't know.

I'm getting married. I don't know. I don't know, jerk. I'm getting married. That's kind of, that's kind of difficult. I was. Like, I did not. If you listen to the follow up, go back, I was like, oh, oh, well, how come?

I like this comment from William T because it starts out and I was going to make fun of them. That's always good to make fun of them. Cool, because in hindsight, we have the benefit. We have the benefit here because a lot of these comments were left, six days ago. We have the benefit of having known what happened in the ensuing six days. We don't know what's going to happen tonight in the Chicago Philly game.

Can make fun of whoever we want, baby. I don't get the alarm about Vegas, William T says. clearly they have a plan, which is when I saw that, and I was like, okay, we can, we can rip on this guy. He flips it quickly, though. Clearly, they have a plan to acclimate their fans to being true NHL fans through expedited heartbreak. So far, it's been heartbreak in the cup final, heartbreak in the conference final, heartbreak in the conference final, and heartbreak in the playoff in year, they finally get their All-Star Center should mold their fans into the same bitter, pessimistic, surly A-holes as the rest of us.

job nights. It's true. They've done it in short order. They're like, how can we get this fan base to turn on us? How can we become a true NHL team? Because they've done that, right? Where you have people turned on the Twitter account. That's a big, that's a big step. And now their, and now their fans have been disappointed in so many different ways. And we're getting the questions now, and I know we're going to talk about a lot of this on the Monday show, but now it's turned into like what's going on. You talked previously. You talked.

Go back and listen to the Monday. Definitely not going to start talking about that in eight minutes. Oh my gosh. You up against it. All right. I want to read this because I, let's see if I can get through this question. William S says,

I named my dog Tuka Peckaloo Kauron after three and a half of my favorite goalies. That's a mouthful. Sebastian, Karan? Is that? Matthew? I pick the next breed. Oh, hold on.

I picked the next breed. but not the name. So which dog breed exudes the essence of American hero Philip Kessel? Cocker Spaniel. Oh, you're already answering it? What dog breed exudes the essence of American hero, Philip Kessel? Mike's, I like the answer. I think we already answered.

Mike Sullivan looks like a Doberman. Okay, so I saw that, I saw that and I was like, that doesn't, my initial reaction was like, I don't know, I don't know. but after sitting with it for a second I'm there Mike Sullivan's intense He's intense He's got a kind of a narrow

kind of a narrow phase too Yeah but we're talking about their essence Less their physical makeup This Cropped ears Thornton is kind of a schnauzery type What other spirit animals exist in the league I gotta sit on this one for a while

You know what this is buddy Apple podcast plus content bonus episode. Like, who's like the golden retriever of players, you know? Oh my God. Brent Burns. Mm. Brent Burns.

I don't know. He's got a little bit, he might have a little bit too much of an edge, actually, not I think about it. Yeah. Like, goldens are just so eager to please at all times. Brent is not always. No. I would say.

No. I've got, yeah, I like Brent, but he's not, I wouldn't say he's eager to please. Like, who would be like the one that's like, I don't know. Is it one of the young guys? Maybe. Is it Jack? Is it Jack Hughes?

Jack's not, Jack's got an edge, by the way. Hughes. Like, not a negative way. And I, like, I want my hockey players with an edge. But Jack, like, a golden, like, Jack would blow you off in a second if he felt like you were messing. I was thinking, oh, yeah, for sure. I was thinking more of, like, I was thinking more of, like, on-ice stuff, though, where you're like, you're, like, you're, you know, whatever, happy.

Yeah, I'm thinking, like, interactive and silly and whatever. Yeah, that's, I mean, obviously. Yeah, we got to think. I'll think of it. We got to think about this one. But who, well, well, you're, you're very well equipped to say this. Like, who is just like the most happy go lucky, you know, dude in the league? Like, who is the happiest person you've ever spoken to?

You know, the happiest, like, Bobby Ryan would be like, like, Bobby was always so pleasant, honorary third member of this podcast. Yeah. We're going to bring him in for a segment in 30 seconds here, the weekly Bobby Ryan. Maybe we could have Bobby Ryan break down. Doug. I don't know. He would play ball too. Emily L.

Don't tell McIndoo since I started listening to the Thursday show for him, but you guys are absolutely the best day in the athletic hockey pod family. Oh, thanks, Emily.

Oh, yes. Don't want to disrupt the US NDP NTDP you've got going on. But we're three for three on Sabres interviews, which is true. It was been great.

We had Granato. We had Tuck. We had Thompson. All three are wonderful. But thank you. I just wanted to read a compliment. That's very nice. Connor R.

I feel like there's been an appalling lack of anti-Canadian hostility lately. Is it possible to get the Monday show labeled as a terrorist organization? That's a good question. And there's some possibly libelous claims about Haley Salvean. I'm not saying that they're incorrect, but we don't want to open ourselves up the legal issues here. Have we been nice? Are we going soft in our old age since the anthem, probably? Men doesn't Haley go at us a little bit?

So they're going at us and we're, I did open the show calling Ian. What did you call him? I don't remember. A coward. Oh, Haley, Haley jumped into the comments section. Oh, yeah. You guys, we have a celebrity appearance in the comments section. He said, Helvi just goes, what have I ever done to you?

Michael K. Craig specifically has you all fooled, Haley says. Top rope. Jeez, Haley. I've got some thoughts on this. Correct as nice as you think. Yeah, go for it. No, I'm not.

We did have a large Zoom staff meeting where Haley really showed herself. Slarms McKenzie is a star in this. I love slurms. The Knights have tried to Martin Gale their way to look up, which is ironic considering the city they've played. That is a gambling reference. And I'm not going to go too far into it. But if anybody wonders, just Google the Martin Gale.

The Martin Gale, what's the word I'm looking for? Not theory. Not theory. Can you explain it a little more or you can't? I'm bad at the math. But it's a, it's a gambling strategy where you basically, you, if you're at a roulette table, you basically double up on your bets and every time you lose. Every time until you hit.

Oh my gosh, that's really good. It's arms. Breakout star. Absolutely. The people still love the athletic show Rumble. We need to turn that into more content because people really like it. Nate, here's a good question from Nate, you. Do you think that I as a lightning fan should be worried at all about the first round playoff matchup with Toronto?

I know they have Austin, but it's the Maple Leafs in the playoffs for Christ's sake. Should we worry? Yes. I think this, I think, I like the Leafs this year. Yeah, me too. So I know it's not fun to say. It's anti-American. It's not, though.

Austin Matthews is a, is a superstar. Yeah, absolutely. Austin Matthews and, you know, games being on ESPN, great American player, lifting the leafs to glory they haven't ever seen in decades. That's, that's just irresistible to me. So, and I believe in them. I do. So I got to say, if you're a lightning fan,

like that leaf stream is going to be motivated and ready to ready to roll and you're coming off two cups and yeah I know you want your legacy and all that stuff but there's something about Toronto I don't know yes it's tough to pick I hate to say that as an American you know etc but as an awesome Matthews podcast that that team that team is so good if they just get if they get something from the goalies they're going to be they're going to be a problem I think we've got to go, by the way. I think we've got to be done here.

Seriously? There's so many more. All right. Great job, everybody. Make sure to listen to every other podcast in our podcast network ever. What other plugs do we do at the end and subscribe to the athletic? Are we rushed? No, we're not rushed.

We're at the logical endpoint for this. And also, I need to record the Monday show here. It's a traitor. Or wait a second. This is Tuesday. Melanby joined, Scott Melanby joined Mike Russo this week on Strayer from the source. That's always, that's always fun. First, uh, captain of the first team I ever covered Scott Melanby.

Great dude. The thrash, baby. Long of the thrash. Do I have time to tell a quick Scott Melanby story? Yes. Go for it. So I'm not going to. Okay. See you, everybody. Have a great week.

I don't know.