The Athletic Hockey Show - Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, Jonathan Marchessault Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Deryk Engelland on his Golden Knights misfits

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

The Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup champions! Rob Pizzo, Jesse Granger and Joe Smith are joined by original Golden Knight Deryk Engelland to look back on the Golden Knights 5 game series win over the Florida Panthers, Jonathan Marchessault winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, Mark Stone and Jack Eichel's journey from serious injuries to champions, Bruce Cassidy's gesture to the original misfits and the legacy of this championship team.Plus, Rob, Joe and Jesse discuss Peter Laviolette being hired by the New York Rangers, Ryan Huska the new bench boss in Calgary, Billionaire Michael Andlauer purchasing the Ottawa Senators, Timo Meier contract negotiations with the New Jersey Devils and Connor Hellebuyck and Pierre Luc Dubois long-term future with the Winnipeg Jets.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowNuts.com is offering new customers a free gift with purchase and free shipping on orders of $29 or more at Nuts.com/hockey23.For 15% off MudWtr go to mudwtr.com/hockeyshow and use code HOCKEYSHOW to support the show and get a discount!Go to dave.com/nhlshow to sign up for an ExtraCash account and get up to $500 instantlyGo to grammarly.com/tone to download and learn more about Grammarly Premium’s advanced tone suggestions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Well, it took just six short years with the Vegas Golden Nights are the Stanley Cup champions. Welcome to the Athletic Hockey Show, the Wednesday Roundtable Edition. We've been gearing up for this show all year. I am Rob Beasel from CBC Sports, joined by Joe Smith, who's in Minnesota. He's helping us fill in for Rousseau, who always seems to have a plane ticket right about this. time. So Joe, welcome as always to the show. Thank you. I'm sure Rousseau was in first class getting his mimosos right now on the way back. So I'm not feeling bad for him. And joined as always by our own

misfit. He's never played a minute for this team, but he has been covering this team since day one. Jesse Granger. How you feel, buddy? You probably had the busiest night of your life, didn't you? Yeah, I'm exhausted, but still excited. It was the whole, and like Joe knows this as well as anyone. I mean, he covered two in a row. These cup runs are as much fun as you can have as a journalist because like covering meaningful games is the best, like to me, that's the best part of this job, is covering meaningful games.

And I got to cover more than I've ever covered in my life. And last night was the most meaningful game, at least for my beat that I'll ever cover. And it was, it was exhilarating lots of travel for the last couple months. So yes, you're excited the whole time, but you're also exhausted when it's over. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm kind of glad it's over. I wasn't upset with not having to fly back to Florida this morning. So, yeah, it's been a long night, but I'm excited. Well, you did a terrific job, Jesse.

And like you said, like I've been a couple of times, and it's exhausting, but it's exhilarating. And like, you're right. You're traveling back and forth. You get 5 a.m. wake-up calls or 3-m. wake-up calls on no sleep, but you're just on adrenaline, right? And you're telling your favorite stories and the things you worked all year on, like you did with a lot of your stories. He collected in string and then at the right time, be able to pop

them out there. It's such a gratifying feeling. You did an awesome job. And I am jealous, though, that, you know, you were able to go, like, probably on the ice after the championship, right? Yeah. The first cup I covered was the bubble one, right? So no American media was there. So I covered it from my couch in my dad's house in Grand Blake, Michigan. So I didn't almost didn't feel like it was a real thing happening, right? You know, in the next one thing. And the next one. So I'd all A lot of Zoom calls, a lot of phone calls. So it was definitely a different experience. And the next one, obviously, it was more in person.

And my biggest memory, I think, from the Cup in Tampa. One of them was at like 2.30 in the morning after they won the Cup in Tampa. It was Chris Stamco. He was Samko's dad on the ice. He borrowed Nikit Kutchev's skates. It was out there with a stick and Stephen and Stamco's mom. And he was, you know, they hoisted the cup together, set an ice and did a fake face off. And like, that's be such a coolest moment.

I'm sure you have a million of those stories from last night of just the guys with their families and their kids and the pure relation. That was probably the favorite part to see is the celebration among people that were closest to them their whole journey. So the Golden Knights players had babies, all of them, this whole season. Like every player on the team had a baby. So there were babies everywhere on the ice. And Mark Stone was the cup. I tweeted out like Mark Stone's cup delivery service because he was basically taking the cup from baby to baby to baby, just setting it. it down. They'd put the baby in the cup. They'd all take a picture with it the whole family.

And then Stone would pick it up and carried across the other rink. And here's another baby. And it was just, it was hilarious how everyone was kind of taking their turns with it. And like I said, there were, I was shocked by how many babies were on the ice. There is no more time where a player becomes no longer a hockey player in my eyes and more of a human than during that Stanley Cup celebration. Yeah. It's crazy. You see people get emotional over, know, their parents, their families, people who have, you know, passed on their kids. It is such a fun thing to watch, even if you have absolutely no rooting interest, that half hour that we get to see of them, forget even lifting the Stanley Cup, but just being

with friends and family and everything, it's, it's just awesome. It is. It was really cool. And you get to talk to all their families because they're all on the ice. So you're just kind of walking around. And happy. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. And like not just, not honestly, not even just the players and the families, but like, I was like the team chiropractor came up to me and started talking to me and just like everyone around the organization is just so happy to to be here. They're like everyone's more than willing to talk. They're all just kind of in a good mood. It was it was, it was obviously never done it. I'd covered the one cup final when OV won, but I didn't go on the ice. I was in the Vegas locker room covering that side of it. So I wasn't on the ice for that one. So yeah, it was a really cool

experience. Got some really good stories out of it. Well, I mentioned what the parades didn't look like. on this trip or wherever, like the boat parades in Tampa were unbelievable. Like, in media boats, you can follow the guys around and see them shotguning beers and passing beers to fans along the railway there and so like that. But I can only imagine how crazy a parade in Las Vegas will be and what kind of unique, creative ways they'll be able to immerse the city and random people who are there on a Thursday or Friday just ready to gamble the life away. There's a hockey parade going on right now.

Yeah, this city's pretty good throwing parties. Well, real quick, we're obviously going to talk. about everything that happened last night in the series, but paint us a bit of a picture because you, as you mentioned, Vegas is known for partings, the city that never sleeps. What's it like there right now? I mean, what was it like when you left the rank? Was the party still going nonstop? Yeah, I mean, so the crazy thing is because the game went the way it did with nine goals and just a total blowout. And like the fans were basically celebrating the cup halfway through the game. The whole second half of the game at T-Mobile Arena was a party. Loudest I've ever heard,

the building, people losing their minds. And it cracked me up because well after the players had got the cup and we took pictures, I'm sitting in the media tent and I'm typing away. I'm the only reporter left in the media tent. It's so late. And they're still blaring the goal horn outside the arena. Like they're still hitting it. And I'm like, are they trying to make up for goals that they missed during the game because there were so many, they get all the goal horns? Like, what's going on out there? It was pretty wild. And then I was telling you guys when we came on, I walk out into the plaza and I was like, kind of shocked. There weren't really any people out there.

I was like, oh, man, I thought there'd still be crowds, but they had moved into the casino. So I start walking into the casinos into Park MGM and Cosmo and Aria. And as far as you can see every bar, every slot machine, everywhere you look, Golden Knights, jerseys. It was still a party in there well into the night. I think it was around three or so when I left the Aria and it was still slammed, jam-packed. with Golden Knights fans. This party will last a while, though. I'm excited to see what the, what the parade will look like. I'm not sure where it's, you have to imagine they're going to go down the strip. And I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow ends up downtown where Fremont Street is with the,

with the canopy down there. I'm sure they could put some pretty cool graphics up on the roof. And then that's obviously a really like good area to hold a rally because everyone's kind of jammed in there. You've got the stage. I wouldn't be surprised if it ended down there, maybe. Maybe they find a way to do it on the strip. I'm not sure. But whatever they do, you know it's going to be over the top and like something we've never seen because that's Vegas. I mean, you look at the pregame show, everything this team does, everything this city does, is over the top and as big as they can do it. So I would expect nothing less for a championship parade. All right. Let's get right into it, guys, because there's a lot to dissect here, especially just from game

five alone. As Jesse mentioned, a nine spot, nine three is what did it. And three, of those goals came courtesy of the only captain the Golden Knights have ever known. Mark Stone, that shorty to open the game was just one of the weirdest two-on-ones I've ever seen, but it ended up looking good in the end. First player in the modern era to serve as the first captain of a franchise and also the captain of the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Definitely one of the guys for Consumite that we'll talk about a little later on because this team was just full of him. But Joe, we'll start with you on this one. When you look at Mark Stone

and what he did and what he's come back from and what he's had to endure to come here, that's one of those heartstring tugging type stories, isn't it? Absolutely. I mean, you know, the surgery and the injuries he went through are no joke, right? That's not just something you can just come back from really easily and to have him come back and do that and play at the level he did. And I think he's just more of a probably emotional leader too. Jesse can speak to this as well. like just him, his passion for the game and obviously a very talented player. I know people were joking afterwards that he had a back injury from hoisting the cup

and he'll be available for next year's playoffs. No, LCIR, but I'm sure the back will be fine after the couple of parades. But no, it's just a tremendous player. And you see a guy who, you bet on himself and got a trade to Vegas. And obviously it's proved big time for him.

Yeah, you guys mentioned his, like, the emotional leadership. he means so much to this team and like talking to players about him after the game and how happy they were to see him be able to do this. Like they would almost get emotional, like just talking about what it meant to see Mark Stone get this. And then you go up to Mark. And so I remember when he first came back from this back injury and he just like kind of emotionally was saying, I just didn't want to miss this. Like I just had to do whatever I could. I got the surgery on the date I needed to to make sure I wouldn't miss this. I knew this team was good and I don't want to miss this run. And so then after the game, we go up to him and, or after he had had the cup, we go up to him.

And I was like, so this is what you didn't want to miss, right? And he's like, see, this is why. This is why I didn't want to miss it. I just won the Stanley Cup with 30 of my best friends. It was a really cool moment for him. And he, I mean, what a player. He throughout this postseason, he was really good and he saved his best for last. I read he is the first player with a hat trick in a cup clinching game in over a hundred years, which is insane.

And the celebration, like this guy's known for his goal celebrations, it's all we ever talk about is expressive Mark Stone. The hat trick goal celebration where the entire bench is just waiting for him to come over and they just tackle him when he gets there. What a moment. And you don't have that moment unless you're going on the other team out. He had 12 shots into the empty net that he almost didn't get that. How many chances? Right. If it's a two, one game and he scores the third goal, you don't get that celebration because

you're still like in a hockey game and everyone on the bench isn't just throwing a party. But yeah, what a cool moment for him to come back and experience this run. A guy that loves hockey more than any player I've ever talked to. And it looked like you have your second back surgery in nine months. Like it was not a sure thing he was going to get to play hockey. And that, like I said, I think it means a lot to every player. I don't know if there's a player on the planet that hockey means more to than Mark's So I was really happy for him to get his moment.

Jonathan Marshall took home to consmite. And I don't think you'll find anyone who said that's the wrong answer. But if you took like a thousand hockey fans and said right before that, my announcement was made, who's your consmite winner? You would have had many different names. And that obviously just speaks to the depth of this team. But let's talk about Marshall, so because we touched on this, Jesse, on the show before the final started.

Oh, you want to leave me unprotected. for the expansion draft Florida. Okay. All right. Like how good must this have felt for Jonathan Marshall? Yeah. And I don't know how much of it is the chip on the shoulder from the Panthers specifically, but I think he just has a chip on his shoulder, period. The guy went undrafted. He I mean, Joe knows covering Tampa. He had a hard time getting through the Tampa system. He was back and forth from the HL. And like this guy took, it was a long road to get to the NHL for Jonathan the Marsha. So he was not a top prospect that got in right away and got to develop. Like, it was hard for him just to be an NHL player and have an NHL career. So for that guy to win the

Kahn Smyth is pretty crazy. And to your point, like, I was one of the 18 voters last night for the Konsmyth. And there were guys like, let like, so you put, you give your top three. There were guys who weren't even in my top three that I was considering putting first. Like there, there were five players that I could legitimately make an argument, like an, an, an, an, an, an, actual argument, not just for argument's sake, but an actual argument for them to be the winner of the cons, five different guys. And that's why they blew the Panthers out nine to three. It's why they never trailed in a series after losing the first game of the playoffs to Winnipeg. This team rolled through these playoffs. Like there was never really any, any like drama. I mean, they just rolled

through everyone. And I think the biggest reason is because they had five guys playing at a consmithe caliber play throughout this play throughout this playoffs. So it kind of speaks to the depth of this team and Marsha was my vote just because he scored all these big goals. Everyone else did great things, but goals are the most important and he scored most of them. So he was

my vote, but you could make really good arguments for a lot of the guys. Sorry, Joe, before we get to, who is your fifth? Was it Carlson? Because I'm assuming you got Stone, Marsha So, I call Hill. Yes, Carlson. Who's your fifth? Carlson. Just wondering. Yeah, I covered Marcha So,

just so in Tampa and I know the undrafted thing is part of a narrative, but also like he takes a message. He had 2015 training camp, I believe it was. And he was cut, last one of the last cuts, so he went through waivers. So every team passed on him. And he came back to camp because they stayed with the lightning. And at that time, he was living in a downtown hotel with his wife. And they had two kids then, one son and one daughter. And so they had the son in the one bed. And then him and his wife slept with their little daughter and a sofa bed in their hotel room. And he remember being and how, you know, he talked about how, you know, teams passed him over and, like, you couldn't believe it. And, like, you know, you, you see a guy at his career pinnacle, which is a consmight and

cup winning. You often want to look back at some of the lows, too, of like, do you guys think they can make it? Or we'll give him a chance to show what he can do. And a year later, he was, you know, getting a chance opportunity with the Florida Panthers who offered him a similar deal the Lightning did. They just had more opportunity. And he got that chance to play. And he saw with Carter Verhege as well, obviously, with the Florida.

to Panthers, but just happy to see a guy like Marsha Stowe and his family get rewarded for the faith that teams put into him. But in 2015 conference final on New York Rangers, they, John Cooper put him in the lineup. So they definitely liked him a lot. And he has a potential and he's a big game player, but we saw in the playoffs. And to your point, Jesse, doing cons smith voting myself for a few years, like, I was ashamed that Nikit Kuchrop didn't win a Kahn Smith or Braden Point, right? And those runs, it's just so hard to pick between the top players. And that's why those guys when the Stanley Cup is you have four or five guys that could be legitimate MVP candidates. Yeah.

And I love the fact that like Jack Eichel leads to playoffs and scoring. Usually they are like, you know, one of the, I said this last thing. Usually you've got two players in mind. When Gary Betman comes out with that trophy, you're like, okay, it's either going to be player A or player B. Like I legitimately had no idea. I thought, I remember thinking I would have picked Marsha. So just because of how big he came up in the big moments. But to have four, even five players, legit, like legit, those names could have come out of Gary Batman's mouth.

And I would have said, yep, is just such a testament to their depth. Got to ask you about Eichel. I know you wrote about him for the athletic, Jesse. First time in the playoffs, leads the playoffs in scoring, again, kind of along the lines of Mark Stone, what he had to go through just to be able to get the surgery he wanted. This has got to be just so good for him. Yeah, what a flip in narrative. What a what a change of the way people view him as a hockey player just by this one brilliant postseason. He goes from a guy like even when he came to Vegas after the trade and the neck surgery, the Golden Knights have a bunch of injuries and they miss the playoffs. And of course, everyone says, well, they made the playoffs every year before they got Jack Eichael, who couldn't make the playoffs in Buffalo. They get him. And it's Jack Eichael. You can't win with this guy. There's so many. people, you can't win with that kind of player. And he proved that not only can you win with him,

you can win the Stanley Cup because of him. And to me, what was the most important or the most impressive part of Eichol's cup run is all those years in Buffalo, he would score all the goals and he'd have the fancy assists and everyone would say, yeah, but he doesn't do all the other stuff. He doesn't play winning hockey. He didn't score a goal in I think the last 11 games of the playoffs. Like, he didn't score a goal in the Stanley Cup final, but he did ever. And he did ever. everything else. He was still, I thought last night he was the best player on the ice of any player. He didn't score a goal. The Golden Knight scored nine times. He didn't score one of them. I thought he was the best player on the ice. His forechecking, his back checking, the way he helps flip possession and

then transport the puck to the offensive zone to where you're constantly spending good shifts attacking because he's so strong off the puck is just so impressive. And Bruce Cassidy deserves a ton of credit. He came in and helped Ikel get to that type of game. And Ikel deserves a ton of credit for stepping up and showing he can be that guy in the biggest moments for the entire postseason. He was so consistent. Despite the goals not always going in, he was so consistent every night, one of the best players on the ice. Can't say enough good things about what Jack Eichael did this postseason to change at least how people should view him and his hockey career. It was a complete 200-foot game, right? You saw him sacrificing, and that's the same,

Steven Stamco said a lot about learning how to win is you had to learn how hard it had to hurt to win. I think the Vegas mantra was and blocking shots and playing your own end and taking a hit to make a play and all those things that you see. And that's how the narrative changes in a player and player's career. And I think especially this might, I don't know how big a moment this was, but it felt like a big moment when Kachuk hit him, he left the game and everyone's like, holy crap, what happened? Or like, is this easy done or whatever else like that? And for him to come back, that has to be such a lift for the Vegas Golden Knights. And also for him, he handled it afterwards. He didn't complain about being a dirty hit or he took the high road.

Like, hey, it was a clean hit. Happens in hockey. And like the way he kind of settled that down, it almost helped a lot. Just, you know, he came back. He was tough and he played the next game. And I think that was a big emotional, probably a moment for the team to see him come back. And the way he handled it too in such a pro way. I totally agree.

One more, one more quick thing before we actually touch on the team that lost in the Stanley Cup final. too. Got to talk about the misfits. The original six, you know, from when this team joined the National Hockey League six years ago. Bruce Cassidy starting five of them on the opening face off. I mean, just understanding the magnitude. You know, we're going to talk to Derek England in the second half of the show so we can touch on this with him as well. But I've never seen a team so steeped in history that's only six years old. I feel like we always talk about that when it comes to to the Vegas Golden Knights. But Jesse, like I said, off the top, you've covered this team from day one.

How cool is it not only to see those six guys win the Stanley Cup, but to see something like that, to see, you know, Bruce kind of go, you know what, this is a big moment. Let's put five of them on. Yeah, it shows you how much that word misfit and what that first season means to this team. Like, not only did Bruce start them for the game, but when Mark Stone won the cup, held the cup. That's his decision was the six misfits get it first before anyone else. Before Jack Eichael touched it, before Alex Petrangelo, Chandler Stevenson, before any of the top guys touched the

cup, all six of them were going to get it first. It was funny. I was talking to William Carrier after the game. And I was like, so he started all the misfits, but he couldn't quite fit all of you. You were the one that was left off. Like, what was that like? And he goes, yeah, well, Bruce comes in and announces it. and he immediately comes over to me to apologize because he felt so bad. And I told him I would have, he could have put me in the net. I would have went in for Hill for that one shift if he really wanted to get me on the ice, but he wasn't going for it. But yeah, it was a cool moment.

The fans loved it. It was a great, it showed how much understanding Bruce Cassidy has for, for like the short history of this franchise. And he really understood what it would mean and what it did mean for those guys. I talked to Braden McNabb after and he got to, he got a little emotional saying it meant a lot for him, not just for the start, but also to get the cup before everyone else. It was a really cool night for the original guys that have been here for the long, long history in Vegas, the suffering fan base here. It's amazing.

Like I was talking to Mark Andre Fleury this year and we were in Vegas for one of the games. And people were asking about his time there. And obviously, we know how it ended. But he said some of those favorite parts of his career. was that year with Vegas and how close they were. And obviously what happened off the ice and the tragedy there probably brought the whole city together. But he just mentioned how much fun they had and how close they were. And Jesse was there obviously so he can speak to it more.

But it's telling that guys who've been, I'm sure we'll talk to Derek later and he'll probably say the same thing of how guys who've been in a league for a long time mentioned that as such a one of our favorite moments and such a close team. I don't know how and why they became that close is all these vagabonds together. but it was such a special team. Before we move on to some of the big news from the week, we got to talk about the Panthers. No Matthew Kachuk for game five because he had a broken freaking sternum that he somehow played game four with.

Like that is just insane. What a run for them. I mean, it's obviously heartbreaking, but when you look at their playoffs, it's just incredible. I for one kind of felt for Paul Maurice. He's one of those emotional guys that I would have loved to have seen lift a Stanley

Cup. Your thoughts on this run by the Panthers that really seemed improbable. We always talk about them not being a traditional eight seed, but they still were an eight seed. Joe, we'll start with you. I mean, you think about that in January, who would have thought they didn't even make the playoffs, much less going this run. And I was there the first day of training camp for the Panthers and did a story for the athletic on it. And watching their practices, Paul Maurice said 85% of the game is played within three feet of the boards, right? And everything was done physically and fast, and you saw that in their

playoff run. Like, they were not a finesse team, and they were a finesse team before when they played against the lightning and lighting just shut down the neutral zone and they couldn't do anything with it. So I think it's just an impressive bit of coaching and buy-in from the players. And it's hard not to talk about the panes without talk about Kachuk, such a

culture changer there for them. And you mentioned broken sternum. Like, you have guys playing without turf toe, you know, and just other sports and not doing that. Broken sternum is just incredibly... I mean, probably it's unsafe, too. I don't know how safe it was for him to do that. But you knew when he didn't play last night that it was something got awful and it certainly was. Yeah, it's a sad ending to what was a really cool story. Rob, you mentioned you feel

for Paul Maurice. You already know who I feel for. Sergey Babrovsky, this poor guy had the month and a half of his life coming back from not having that grade of play for the last couple years in Florida being as spectacular as he was, carrying them to this point over some incredibly good offensive teams. And then for his season to end like that, I mean, he only technically led in nine, I mean, sorry, eight because there was one empty netter, but to give up eight goals while the other team is celebrating a Stanley Cup, that is heartbreaking for Sergei Babrovsky and an awful way to end what was probably the best couple months of his life. So really feel for for Bob, it was a great run. They had a lot of great moments in this run, but just fell short.

They ran out of bodies. They ran out of bodies and they ran out of gas. It just seemed like the Golden Knights were very fortunate to be as healthy as they were. They had really one injury the whole playoffs and that was the goalie. And everywhere else, they were full strength, not even really banged up. And the Panthers were, I think they were outmanned to begin with, because the Vegas was so deep. But then you get a couple injuries and a couple guys banged up. And they just, they were outmanned and, and they ran out of gas. Kind of surprised we didn't see a little bit of a mercy pulling at some point there. Just like, you know what?

You don't want to be. I get why Paul Maurice didn't, but I kind of thought at some point like, oh, just let the guy go sit down on the bench. He probably wanted to finish. Like a lot of guys, a lot of guys don't want to leave the net, right? Don't leave their guys. He's been out there last two months. And then so I think that I'm sure you might ask him, how much as it sucked, he probably wanted to stay out there with his guys.

All right. So the Golden Knights are your Stanley? Cup champions and we'll talk more about that with Derek England in the second half of the show, but that doesn't mean that stuff didn't happen outside of the Stanley Cup finals. So guys, I want your opinions on a couple of these things. The long awaited sale of the Ottawa Senators is done. A group led by Toronto billionaire Michael Ann Lauer will be the new owners of 90% of the Ottawa senators, the price tag, just a shade under a billion dollars, making them the highest paid

team in franchise history in league history, excuse me, as far as dollars go, your thoughts and are you happy this thing is finally done? Jesse, we'll start with you. I'm disappointed that none of these people rap or make movies or like, what's going on? I was expecting a full celebrity and then we just get, some guy I've never heard of. I'm sure he's great and clearly has a lot of money, but I don't know who these people are. I wanted Snoop Dog or the weekend or or Ryan Reynolds. I wanted somebody, somebody exciting. I don't really know what to think of it. I, like you said, I'm glad it's over. It seems like it was a long, drawn-out process, so glad for it to be over. I'm happy for the Senators fans to get some stability of their ownership. And, you know,

obviously, anytime you have that, it's important in the game. But yeah, I like Jesse, like, I really wanted Snoop. Like, I really did. Like, I thought it would be such, bring such life to the game, such juice, not gin and juice, but juice to the game. You know, I think just think overall, you know, people were so excited about how, you know, the popularity of the sport and how, you know, getting all these celebrities to want to buy into the NHL was like such a great thing for the league. And then here we end up with another billionaire that nobody has ever heard of before. But no one ever heard of Jeff Vinnick before. And then he turned into a heck of an owner.

So, you know, just hope for that of a center's franchise, of course. Two more coaching vacancies filled, guys. And we talked about coaching changes last week. And Jesse, I remember you saying you like when a team kind of doesn't go to traditional way they don't, you know, fall into the carousel. Well, there were two coach coaching hirings this week. One falls into that category, one doesn't. Calgary hired Ryan Huska as their new head coach, fifth coach, in the last eight years

for the Calgary Flames, the first real move under Craig Conroy. And the New York Rangers did what Jesse doesn't like and went out, not necessarily anything against Peter Lavillette, but they just kind of said, who's available that we know. So Galant out, Peter Lavillette in. Your thoughts, guys, on these two moves. Very different moves and which one you think might make the most immediate impact. Joe. I think, you know, everybody kind of frowns and there's like recycling, coaching out there, of course.

But I think it's all about where your team is in the cycle or what your owner thinks your team is in the championship cycle. And I think the Lavialette thing was kind of predictable in a sense of you fired Gerard Goul, who had what, the fifth best record in NHL in his two years as a head coach, you know, and he wanted a guy who has maybe more fire there and stuff. But, you know, that was predictable. I think that with that team and the players that they have and where their expectations are, I think it makes sense to do a veteran guy who has a history of turning around a team

or getting a jump out on a team the first couple of years in his tenure there. But I do like what Calgary did. I also like what De Anaheim Ducks did a few weeks ago, too. Like they know where they are in their cycle. They're rebuilding. They have a lot of young players. They found a guy who has a lot of experience developing and having success with young players. So I think that's for me, if you're your new head coach, you have to figure out where you are, what you need.

I do think that there should be more of a focus on trying to find the next Jared Bedinauer, John Cooper to a lot of good AHA coaches out there that, you know, who knows if they didn't get a shot, you know, what the way if I'm be missing? So that's my opinion on it. Yeah, I totally agree. And I love the Huska hiring. I think that. So it's kind of honestly covering Bruce Cassidy this season has opened my eyes a bit, I guess. to what it can mean for a coach to have coached these guys in the HL and developed them in the HL to then get to coach them in the NHL because he's talked a lot about his experience in Boston. And he was with the Providence Bruins for a long time and coached a lot of those players when they were first getting into the pros

and then got to coach them as Boston Bruins. And it really, really helps. And I think that on top of what Joe said about just trying to find new talent. Like I think the Laviolet hiring has a higher floor for sure. The Huska hiring could blow up in Calgary's face. He could not be any good. Like, who knows? We haven't seen him at this level yet. Laviolet, you know what you're going to get. But I think the ceiling is much, much higher. You know what you're going to get with Lovuolet. It's probably not going to be spectacular. It's going to be okay. That's what he's done for a long, long time. Whereas Huska, I think,

has the potential. You don't know. Maybe he is the next John Cooper, the next Jared Bednar. And he knows these guys. He's coached a lot of them from when they were first getting into the pros. Like, they're comfortable with him. He's not a totally new face that they don't know. Now he gets to implement his systems probably was running a lot of the, the coaches above his systems during the HL and when he was an assistant. So now he gets to kind of put his stamp on it. It's going to be exciting. And then like for LaVuette, maybe you find that that's the magic connection. Like maybe this specific roster is what he needs for his coaching to get the best out of it. Maybe. We'll see. We definitely.

will and two very different hiring there. Stick around after the break. We will speak to one of the original members of the Vegas Golden Knights, probably with a big headache this morning. I'm celebrating. Derek Anglin joining us after the break, so don't go anywhere.

You know, guys, I touched on this in the first segment of the show. I've never seen a franchise that's only been around six years. I feel like they're so steeped in history. Like, everybody talks about members of this team, like it's, you know, one of the original six franchises. think that's a testament to how much this city has embraced them over these six years.

And if someone were to write a book about this franchise, I guarantee you our next guest would have a chapter all to himself. Derek England, joining us on the athletic hockey show. Thanks so much for doing this bright and early after your team won the Stanley Cup. Oh, thanks for having me. I got asked. I mean, you look pretty good for someone who was probably celebrating pretty good last night. How was last night and how you feeling this morning?

I'm not feeling too bad. I had to prioritize some things. My sons, both my oldest had tennis at eight and my youngest, I just dropping them off at Faith Lutheran for a flag football camp right now. So, you know, I'll try to save it for Saturday when there's nothing getting up for on Sunday. Were you in the locker room around the guys at all during the champagne or like, Just take us through your night. Like what happened after the final buzzer for you? Yeah, I was upstairs in Goose Island with all the staff and fans and a lot of, a lot of pitchers all night.

Actually kind of started, I had to go see my agent. He lives here in town now, so we went to talk to him and I got stuck on the concourse. I didn't get to talk to him at all, but I was taking lots of pictures. And then, you know, up at Goose Island, everyone was pumped. So a lot of pictures, a lot of cheers. going on and then it moved out to the patio outside and had a couple drinks out there and celebrated. Derek, I was cover the wild here in Minnesota and Mark Andre Fleury.

We were in Vegas for the game and he had mentioned just how close that group was and how much one of the most fun parts of his career was that season and he's won Stanley Cups there in his career. What made that team so tight so unique to where guys have been around the league? I'm sure you could speak to it as your, well, your career. how special it was for you guys. Yeah, I'd have to agree with him there. It was the most outstanding season, most fun I had throughout any season I ever played.

You know, I think it made it. We were so tight, I think, because everyone knew we had to get tight in order to accomplish anything, let alone getting into playoffs and going as deep as we did. So I think that mixed with what happened on 1 October, just brought not just the team together, but the whole community and got us that fan base right away. But we knew we had to be tight. And, you know, it was kind of, I don't know,

everyone talks about the Vegas flu that year, but, you know, I don't think I've ever gone out as much as I did that year. You know, it was everyone on the team, whenever there was, you know, something going on. Everyone was invited. There was never when anyone left out. It wasn't, you know, you didn't have your groups. It was just everyone all out all the time and, you know, brought us closer together as a group.

And I feel like, Derek, that's what the culture of that team has been from day one. And it's continued right up until last night. I'm watching all the post, you know, celebration interviews. And to a man, every single member of that team. was talking about how close-knit this team is. You know, Jesse mentioned in the first half of the show that Mark Stone said to him, I got to win the Stanley Cup with 30 of my best friends. A lot of times during those post-game celebrations,

you're hearing guys talk about their family and such, but a little bit more personal, what they had to go through. I feel like no one wanted to talk about themselves because this team is a brotherhood that maybe we don't see very often anymore. Yeah, I think the team, it's a very unselfish. team. You know, you look from top to bottom, it was never all year long. It was never I or me at all. It's all about the team and the sacrifices they made. And I think that definitely does make a good team destined for, you know, runs every year. You know, I think Bill Foley's built

and George McPhee and Kelly McCrimman have built an amazing base here over six years. And, you know, missing playoff once, I think still due to injuries. You know, you don't miss that many guys and get that close. You know, if you don't have as many injuries, you're in the playoff six years in a row. And, you know, conference finals, Stanley Cup final loss, Stanley Cup final win. So they built a good base. And I think that was the one thing coming in that first year is we wanted to start a good culture in that locker room. and, you know, we had a lot of good opinions out there.

Everyone brought something good from their team that worked for them or didn't work. And, you know, we kind of took everyone's perfect team outlook and tried to build the culture here. And I think it's continuing on. You've seen it out there last night and throughout this whole season, no matter who's in the lineup or who's doing it, everyone's just right behind each other. Eric, everyone's trying to build that culture, right? Like you have 32 teams out there that are trying to do that. Everyone's looking. You say, like, we bring in good guys.

Everyone's trying to do that. We're trying to figure out, like, how this team did it as well as it did. And I thought that Bruce Cassidy said something interesting during this playoff run. I forgot exactly what he was asked, but he mentioned that because there aren't draft picks, there aren't guys that have been in this system forever, sometimes when you bring a new guy in, it's kind of hard to fit in. And you mentioned, like, there's clicks, there's groups. how much of the harmony in this locker room and the fact that everyone gets along, do you think that is because everyone was new altogether?

And then even the guys that have been brought in since, Mark Stone, Alex Petrangelo, they're just welcomed right in and they're part of the group because everyone on this team was kind of had to get used to a new team together. There weren't draft picks that had been here forever. Like, do you think the way the team was built is a big part of why that culture is the way it is? Yeah, I definitely think, you know, we had a whole bowl. bunch of, you know, hardworking guys and that helped set the tone that first year. And they brought in character guys. That goes a long ways, you know, there was from day one

to now, you look at even the top stars, Ikel, Stone, all those guys, they're not talking about themselves like you see in, you know, other places. It's all about the team and what they can do to help the team. And, you know, you need good character guys. But I think it's we got to start from the fresh and, you know, I played in other cities. Pittsburgh was phenomenal, but I think the groundwork was set by some,

you know, Mario and you and those guys. And you go to Calgary and it was a little clicky and clicky there. You know, we tried to, instead of being in different groups, we tried to bring them together. And we kind of went on a run after Christmas

once the team started getting together. But it's so huge. You know, the more you hang out, the closer you are as a group, the more you're going to go to a battle for each other out on the ice. You mentioned you never went out as much as you did that season with that group and a lot of options in Vegas to do that. What were your go-to things you guys would do?

Like, when you guys, I know some people live in Summerlin, but like where were your favorite restaurant, favorite places? Like, this is Wednesday nights. We're going this place. This is our spot. We're doing this. Yeah. You know, if it was down on the strip, usually you just waited for Neeler to send out a text.

and get us, get us somewhere, wherever he was going because he was, I wouldn't, not, don't want to say into that stuff, but he, you know, he was, orchestrated everything. He's the one that gave us the golden misfits and the name and all that stuff. So, but my favorite, you know, Vittner Grill, I love going for dinner there. Me and my wife still to this day, go there, honey salt. You know, it's, it's some of the best food in the world. You get, you're spoiled here. So there's always good places to go. And, you know, you probably don't venture down to the strip quite as much now, but it's a good option to have. So I'm always good to try new places, and they're popping up everywhere. I'm excited for Durango to open up the new stations casino there on Durango. Should have some good stuff there and across the street there too. So Vegas is just booming.

So it's fun, fun to be part of. Players locker is pretty good too, right? I've heard they've got good ownership. Yeah, it's a, yeah, some of some are kind of, you know, dushbags. You had to get rid of them. But, uh, no, just joking. No, no, it's, uh, it's good. Actually, it's, it's, it's tough.

But, you know, you got Jing and you got, uh, what is, Linetta right there. It's a, yeah, it's a different, different vibe. But, uh, you know, I love going to, uh, the players locker. We take the boys there all the time. and great food. I haven't had anything bad there. You know, beer tastes the same. Beer tastes the same every place I go.

So, you know, we still love going there. It's great. Derek, it's almost comical to think about this question, but I remember asking it six years ago, would hockey work in Vegas? Clearly the answer is yes. They've embraced this team over the last six years. But have you even seen an evolution with the fan base

as far as what they were like year one versus what they were last night in every way? I mean, have they evolved with this team as well? Yeah, I think so. I think Riley Smith nailed it on the head, you know, the first year they're cheering to cheer. And, you know, there's a lot more hockey knowledge out there

for the, you know, the fans that didn't know a whole lot about hockey at first, but now they do. So it's growing. The youth hockey here is blowing up. So, you know, there's other ways for, for the fans to get more knowledge with their kids wanting to play and stuff like that. But it was amazing. Last night, even you go back to practice on, I don't even know what day is, Monday,

you know, I heard the first person showed up at 4 a.m. to watch practice. You know, like you don't see that anywhere, anywhere. But here, you know, hold it. There's 200 people by 7 a.m. It's great just for practice. And, you know, it's just great to see the city get behind the team like this. I want to ask you about Mark Stone. You won the Mark Messier Leadership Award,

so I consider you an expert in this department. We talked about him in the first half of the show. What makes him such a good leader? What makes him the type of guy that fellow teammates get emotional about? I mean, they really look to him in a way that you don't always see on other teams. What makes Mark Stone just such a good leader? I think, you know, he's not the guy in the locker. room that's going to be yelling and screaming, but when he says something, guys listen,

you know, they, they, they respect them. His word goes a long ways, but then, you know, I think the biggest thing is the, the emotion he plays for, like, plays with, I guess you say, you know, every goal he scores is an NHLer's first goal every single time he scores. And it's not like it's, it's not like it's me, like I'm scoring three goals a year. He's scoring a lot of goals, but he gets, as excited every time. And, you know, the one thing that stuck out to me the most last night when the,

when the final seconds are ticking down is, I don't know if you guys noticed him throwing his gloves and stick, you know, everyone else is throwing him off and he's making sure they're hitting their rafters, you know, like little things like that that, you know, I wasn't focusing on on him, but you notice that stuff, you know, so it's just the emotions he plays with and his skill set and how he plays a 200-foot game. I think is well respected by everyone in that room. I'd like to get your thoughts on Bruce Cassidy's starting lineup and how cool that was for him to start the five guys from the original team and just kind of him understanding the moment right there. I think we all kind of appreciated it.

What did you think when you saw that? And the fact that those guys got the cup before everyone else is cool. Yeah. Yeah. No, I thought that was a very classy move. You know, it's not like they needed more energy in the building at that point. but if there was a way to get it, that was the way. You know, I would love to see Carrier and goal for a couple seconds.

He said he was lobbying for it. Yeah, so, you know, great to get those guys out there. The Misfit Line has been, you know, such an instrumental part of this organization and will be, I think, hopefully for years to come. Derek, obviously, Marshal So, the Kahn Smythe winner, a heck of a run there. I heard this playoffs, and I covered him in Tampa, too. Such a great guy in family. I was curious what your first impression was of him when he came in.

And if you have a favorite memory or story with March or so there. Oh, man. My first impression, man, this kid is loud as shit. You know, like just obnoxious at first. But, no, he's an amazing guy. You need that guy in the locker room, a guy that's going to, you know, when tensions are tight or stuff's not going to way. should be. He's going to lighten the mood. He's going to, you know, it's just great to have in your

locker. Like, he makes everyone smile. He's a good guy, but he competes. He's a, it's not the biggest guy out there, but he plays like he is. He's all over the ice. And, you know, he was my pick for the Kahn Smyth. I thought, obviously, Eichol was there. And I think if he'll plays the whole playoffs, obviously his name would be in there, I think, for sure, too. But So happy for Marchy, such a good guy, such a good, you know, teammate and parent and father, everything, you know, so it's good to see him. And, you know, I can, I can imagine he was up to his old self last night afterwards. Yeah, so before we, sorry, go ahead. Sorry, I had to ask you, did Fleury ever get you with a prank that first year?

Did Fleury ever get you one? No, I don't know if, man, he got a lot of rookies when I was in Pittsburgh with him, too. here. But I think maybe he was scared of me or something. You know, he always took it easy on me. It didn't go after me too much. But I hung out with him a lot. So maybe that made it harder for him to pull prank on me. Everyone said they were too scared to prank there. So I can continue. Derek, you mentioned Marcia so being a hockey dad. I see you around the rink. I think carrying hockey bags more than anything nowadays. Just what's, what's it been like? transitioning to being on that side of things and how are you enjoying it?

It's been awesome. You know, my youngest is all over. He's in flag football right now. Faith, he does the little nights right now, soccer. He has no idea what the heck he wants to do. Hopefully, in the fall, we'll start him back up in hockey again a little more, kind of giving him the summer off a little bit. My oldest is all tennis.

So I'm at the tennis courts, and that's a, I can, everyday thing. So it's busy, but I'm loving every second of it. I'm home. You know, I missed a lot of the early years traveling all the time. And it's just nice being at home in the city that is so amazing to us, my whole family, and that we love it here. So it's nice not having to travel, get to sleep in my own bed every day. I'm sure my wife's probably sick of me a little bit at times, but we're getting through that. And here you are so busy. You got to get up the day after watching that Stanley Cup win and go and hang out with your kids for sports. But I will ask you something like I did off the top of the show.

I know you're saying you're feeling good and people are going to see on our YouTube page, you don't look worse for wear at all. But have you talked to any of the guys this morning via text or anything? Are they alive? Are they okay? I have not talked to anyone. I'm sure some of them are maybe probably sleeping. Some of them still might be going.

I don't know. But it's going to be a long, I think the parade Saturday I read. read something that Saturday evening. So that's a long four days of getting after it. So I'm sure guys are, you know, you got to get your rest in and get ready for another day

or hit the course and get back at it, you know, just don't get that you don't want to hit that lull. Yeah, the last time the Stanley Cup was awarded in Vegas, they had to watch OVy party the entire summer. I'm sure that's their goal. Just top Alexander O'Batchkin. Derek,

thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate. Enjoy the parade and hopefully we'll talk to you soon. You can give us some behind the scene stories of this celebration, this summer of party. Sounds good. Thanks a lot for having me, guys. Thanks so much there. No problem. Eric England, one of the original members of the Vegas Golden Knights. Rapid Fire coming up after the break. All right, my favorite time of the show and yours, Rapid Fire and No Russo today, which means these might actually be rapid fire. Topic number one, Jets, one.

out. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor Hellebuck. Apparently I want to play hockey elsewhere, guys. Both Gumpfrey agents July 2024. Which one moves first? Jesse? Probably Hellebuck, because I feel like Pierre-Luc Dubois is going to dictate where he goes a little more. So maybe the options are limited. So I think because there are more options for Hellebuck, I'm going to go with him. I feel so bad for Winnipeg. No one wants to play there. It's like, I feel so bad for that team. I feel bad too because if you've been to that building, like it's such an incredible atmosphere to play. You know, like, and oftentimes the Winfake trips for us as writers are always in the wintertime,

so you get a bad, bad vibe for it. But, you know, I think Helbach moves to goalie market there, and he's one of the best in the world. Rapid Fire topic number two, the L.A. Kings pulled off that three-team deal. Last week we talked about it on the show, and it was suspected that they did it to free up some cash to sign Vladislav Gavrigoff, which turned out to be true. years.

5.8 million A.A.V. Your thoughts on this signing. Joe, we start with you. I think it's interesting the two years thing, too. Bet not himself, but I think it'll happen a lot in the UFA market where the cap's going to go up significantly the next couple years. So why would you want to bank into a deal not knowing what that cap will be in two, three years?

I think you'll see a lot more of these guys going on the shorter route, depending on what their age is, but I think it'll be a trend for the NHL. Yeah, I think it's fascinating. I think it's a good deal for the Kings. Obviously, he's a solid defenseman. You get him at a super reasonable number. You don't see this very often in hockey. Guys taking the shorter deal to try to take advantage of maybe the cap going up.

Usually in hockey guys are, you know what? This is a physical sport. Give me my money when I can get it as soon as possible. So props to him for taking that risk and betting on himself. He's a very good defenseman. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't make more than that two years from now. Rapid Fire topic number three, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Shane Done.

as a quote special advisor to the general manager. And I could just see that interview process. Shane, we've got this guy on our team who might leave in a year and he idolized you his entire career. So could we just hire you to convince Austin Matthews not to leave? Am I the only one who thinks that's his entire job description, Jesse? That's literally what I was thinking when they announced it. And then everyone's posting the like training camp video from from Arizona when, He was 16.

Yeah, when he was a teenager and they're like, look at all these great memories they've had. You can make some more of those great memories if you just sign here in Toronto. Yes, I think special assistant to the GM, I think he's the, yeah, he is the Austin Matthews recruiter, vice president of Austin Matthews recruitment. Not quite like the college basketball where they hire some guys, AAU coach, right, to be assistant coach, right? To get him to go, the fad that happened all the time in Michigan. But I think if Austin Matthews signs and they win a cup, I think there'll be a Shane Doe statue. in front of

a social make arena there. And just sticking with that topic for one second, Jason Spetsa announced it. He has joined Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh. We remember during that whole Dubus thing, Jason Spetso resigned ASAP. He is now sticking with

Dubus in Pittsburgh. So that wraps up our leap topic there. Number four, Devils have begun negotiations with Tim O'Meyer. We could see a one-year qualifying offer and then he becomes a UFA or a long-term deal. Which way do you see this going? Joe.

It's a tough one. I mean, I think the whole idea of inquiring them was to sign him long term. So I think this will be the pressure point. I think the team will want to. So I'm going to lean towards that edge in that situation. I think they definitely get him long term. I think partially because if you're the devils, you gave up all that for him, like, you have to sign them long term. And then if you're Timel Meyer and you're looking like, this team's future appears to be very bright. They've got a lot of really young, good players. I think there's no reason.

from both sides for this to not be a long-term deal, I expect. I think they'll get it done. And finally, Patrick Waugh back in the news, officially stepped down as head coach and general manager of the QMJHL's Quebec Empire, especially off that Memorial Cup. Obviously, everyone immediately starts thinking, are we going to see Patrick Waugh back in the NHL behind a bench? Of course, one of Jack Adams' award with the Colorado Avalanche.

He says there's been absolutely no interest from NHL teams. I don't believe him, but do we see Patrick Waugh in the near future once somebody gets fired either at the beginning of the season or maybe even the offseason, Jesse? Right. He hasn't received any contact about head coaching positions. Just like Kyle Dubus will not be a GM for any other team. 100%. Yeah. For now, at this very second, Patrick Wally is in a coach. But that could change three seconds from now. Who knows? Yeah, I think, I mean, the big name, he's shown to, I mean, it's one of those like high ceiling, low floor things.

Like, things were very good in Colorado when he was doing good things. Things were really bad when he wasn't doing good things. But I think he does get another shot. I think he does too. I think it was kind of sour the way to end it in Colorado, which I think probably made some pause for teams in looking at it. But I think the last three or four, five years he's had here in Quebec and making a run there, I think he'll get a chance.

And what the coaching carousel changes every year, you'll have another handful next year probably to look for. all right boys end of the show you know what i do at the end of every show it's a stupid question for jesse but what are we working on this week jesse you're going to be working on covering a bunch of drunk celebrating hockey players aren't you yes sir i'm going to be searching them out that that is my that is my job for the next few days until this parade and and during the parade is uh find partying hockey players and they do my best joe can i join you out there can i use some like first person type stories like that would be great um to uh to uh to be able to accentuate the

coverage with a first person detail. So I'm going to do that. If Russo, yeah, if Russo wasn't staying out here, I don't know if, I mean, if that beat was open, Russo wouldn't have been flying back right now, I think. I think he'd still be out here at a cigar bar. Even though I did the trip in Vegas, like in March, he still went out there. And so he was there with friends and then he ended up showing up to the game. So I don't think he can stay away. So I think, yeah, the Vegas becomes a two-person beat. I think you'll you'll see him there pretty soon. Thanks as always for another good show, guys.

Want to let everybody know, of course, if you want to see our ugly mugs or Derek England, because that will be, he was one of our guests today. Go to our YouTube page, YouTube.com slash the athletic hockey show. And the athletic hockey show continues Thursday with Ian Mendez. And down goes brown. I want to say a big thanks to Derek England for coming on the night after the Vegas Golden Knights became the 2020-23 Stanley Cup champions.

We are going to be previews. doing the draft next week, so be sure to tune in for Russo in a plane for Joe, for Jesse. I'm Pizzo. We'll see you next week.