The Athletic Hockey Show - Vladimir Tarasenko's future with St. Louis Blues. Can Connor McDavid crack 150 points? Will the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-peat?

Episode Date: September 13, 2021

Ian and Hailey welcome Jeremy Rutherford from the Athletic St. Louis to discuss Vladdy Tarasenko's future with the Blues, if Jordan Binnington is a legitimate candidate to backup Carey Price at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and how the new editions including Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich will fit in, and they celebrate Blues legend David Backes who signed a one day deal with St. Louis to retire as a Blue.Plus Ian and Hailey ask the listeners for their bold predictions, including Vegas not winning the Pacific, Spencer Knight winning the Vezina and Patrick Kane winning the Hart Trophy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, we're back. It's another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show to kick off your week. And after taking that Labor Day Monday off, we're back at it with Ian Mendezson, Haley Salvean, with you for the next hour or so. Up ahead on this podcast, Jeremy Rutherford, stops by to chat about a very busy offseason with the St. Louis Blues and to give us the very latest on Vlad Teresenko in that situation, which is certainly interesting, heading in the training camp. We've received all sorts of bold predictions from hockey fans for the upcoming. season? Can Connor McDavid crack 150 points? The Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs.

And what about this one? Spencer Knight for Vezna. It's all part of our bold prediction theme that we've got going throughout the podcast today. And as always, we'll wrap up with a little multiple choice madness where I talk about how do we feel about players signing those ceremonial one-day contracts to retire with a certain team? And who would you take second overall in a fantasy hockey pool for the upcoming season?

And like I said, off the top. We missed the Monday for Labor Day. We actually took a week off. It feels like it's been forever. My friend, Haley Salfion, welcome back. But you still kind of got the vacation vibe going. How can you tell? Is it because I look half asleep or, you know, I, yeah, no.

It's been a while, especially because the show we did before the Labor Day one, we did the show with Sean, other Sean. Have we ever discussed how many Shans there are at this company with the exact same spelling of their name, specifically in the hockey group? It's weird. It's weird. We'll move on over that. We should do power rankings one day. That might really upset a lot of people, so maybe we shouldn't. But yeah, it's been a while. And I was on vacation for the last 10 days or so. It's a late vacation for, you know, the, NHL calendar, but because of the women's world championships took up a big part of what would usually be the offseason for me, I had to kind of push back my vacation time because I wanted to make

sure that we were covering that tournament properly. So yeah, I went over to BC. I have a friend out there, and then I have another friend who's moving out there for work, and it was nice. Went surfing and Tafino. Almost didn't come home. I totally understand now why people just pick up their lives and work at a surf shop and say, this is what I'm going to do now. I almost did it. I texted my editor and said, this might have been my last athletic story ever. Like, I don't think I'm going to come back. Just beware if I, you know, delete slack off my phone. It's because I now work at, you know, the taco truck. And I'm now surfing for the rest of my life. but don't you agree having spent some time on the West Coast,

it's just a different vibe. Like, it's just different. You can't replicate it anywhere else in North America. I mean, there are parts of the East Coast, I will say, that are really laid back,

but there's something about being on the West Coast that it just feels like you're, although Canucks fans are like, what are you talking about? What do you mean are stress levels you're down on the West Coast? But it is. There's a totally different vibe and a feel on the West Coast. 100% like especially when you're in a place like tefino that is kind of different than maybe other cities that are on the west coast like it's just you know it's it's it's pouring rain and it's cold but everyone's in the water surfing or everyone's just relaxing and hanging out i don't know it was a really nice place to just unplug there's barely any cell reception which was a beautiful thing um so it was really cool and in vancouver's nice too

You know, everyone's just like that we saw was just running or biking or walking and it's, it's super active. There's so much to do outside. And that's one of the things I love so much about Calgary is, you know, I've got the big city and there's enough to do inside the city. But I can just go out and go for a hike and bam for go to Canmore. And you can just, you know, unplug and escape so easily. And I'm really loving being. in Western Canada, like it's, I grew up in the GTA, well, in a small town outside of the GTA. And it's just, you know, I didn't get any of these experiences in small town, Ontario.

So I'm a big fan. I'm going to be back in Tafino for sure. Can we talk, though, just for a minute before we jump into some really fun, bold predictions from our listeners for the upcoming season. How much better it is to be a sports fan in the Western time zones in North America? Like just from a, and I know there's NFL fans who don't love the morning starts for the games, but from a hockey perspective, I love it. I love the four o'clock start times.

My favorite team, you know, if you live in Anaheim or Seattle, you're going to see this this year. Maybe your game on a Tuesday night, your team is playing at four o'clock local time, but it's not that bad. It's actually pretty good. And I got to say, I think it's way better being a sports fan on the West Coast than it is on the East Coast. Yeah, I think that was one of the big takeaways that I had when I first moved out here was I just watched sports from like 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. And I'm not up super late doing it, even though, you know, realistically I would be up. I would stay up really late to finish a game.

But you don't really have to because you just start early and you end early and that's your whole day. And you don't have to plan anything. You don't have to worry about anything. You just put on the TV like with football yesterday. I think the Rams and Bears game was done here by like 1030, 11, which isn't that bad for, you know, a game between Chicago and although the Rams looked great. It was nice to watch Stafford play with his new team. But you know what I mean? It's not like it was like some marquee matchup Super Bowl ending at, you know, 1 a.m.

So it's nice. I love it. I love being able to just sit on my couch all day on Sunday specifically. And to be able to just do that for a 12-hour chunk and then be done at a decent time. It's nice. I love it. The late games, though, you still get them. Like, the flames, I think, play like every Saturday at 8 p.m.

Which is... Yeah. I think it's better. Yeah. But it's still... And, you know, if I was still an on... Ontario, it would be like a 7 o'clock game instead of an 8 p.m. game because of, you know, it's, I guess that's 10 p.m. Eastern. I don't know. The 8 o'clock games, that's now the thing that bothers me is just

like, oh, man, I'm going to be done so late. And then if I have to write, it's going to be so late. And then the desk closes, like, there are little things about being on this coast or like this time zone that are worse because our all of our U-desk and like the editing desks are mostly in Eastern time. So your window to get things done is a lot smaller if you have to do something. But no, it's really improved my ability to just sit and do nothing all day, which I love. Yeah. Well, listen, like I said, I wanted to have a little fun on this episode of the podcast because

it's a little bit of a quiet cycle in the NHL that training camps, a lot of teams have their rookie in development camps going on this week. But, you know, main training camp is still about a week or 10 days a week. and there's a lot of things in a holding pattern, be it Jack Eichel or Vlad Teresenko or some of the RFA. So I thought, let's have some fun here and talk about some bold predictions for the upcoming season. And so I threw this out on Twitter on Monday.

And we got a great response here. More than 100 people wrote back with like some bold prediction. So I'm going to start, though, Haley, by giving you my bold prediction that I think it's kind of going out on a limb, but maybe it's not. and that is that Connor McDavid has a chance to flirt with 150 points. And just to give this a little bit of context for our listeners, there's only been five players in the history of the NHL who have had a season in which they got to 150 points.

Gretzky, obviously, Lemieux, obviously. And then the other three might be a little bit harder for people to get. It's Steve Eiserman, Phil Esposito, and Bernie Nichols. And that's it. That's the list. That's the entire list. And if you go back to last season, because he had 105 points in 56 games, if you pro rate that over a full season, Haley, that's 153 points. So now I understand it was against the same division and he feasted on a couple of teams. But I'm going to make my bold prediction right now and say, I have a suspicion that we're going to be talking about the odds of Connor McDavid may be flirting with 150 points.

Is that is that too bold or do you think that that? And again, bold predictions are meant to be bold. They're meant for you to be like, I don't know. But do you think there's any chance of Connor McDavid flirting with 150 points? Well, I mean, it's bold because of how few people had done it as you already discussed. And it's, I mean, it's just a lot. It's just under two points per game. That's like 1.8 points per game over an 82 game season.

So we have to, I don't know, like McDavid's career high. is 116, right? It's like 115, 116. But that was, I don't even think he, I think he missed a couple games that season. So, I mean, he's shown that he can still feast on teams that aren't in the Canadian division. I mean, yeah, he's not going to be playing against the,

you know, who did he score the most against? I think it was, was it. Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, something like, I mean, he feast on everybody. He scored 105 points in 56 games. games. Um, but he, like he's going to be able to play against the, the Detroit's, the, the, the, all the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, we don't know what the crack and are going to look like. Arizona. Buffalo. Like, there's maybe more teams that he can just, like,

go to down on. So I don't know. I, I don't think it's like too crazy because, you know, the caliber of player that Connor McDavid is and, you know, what we've seen him do in the past. And I think we probably have to consider too, you know, now he's probably going to have Zach Hyman on his line. So he's actually going to have somebody who, if that works out properly, he's going to have a linemate who can actually go into the corners and dig the puck out and make plays for him. You know, like David's maybe not going to be, you know, the trying to do it on his own and they're not going to be looking for the perfect line mate for Connor McDade. it anymore because they believe that they have it. And I'm not saying that Zach Hyman's going to be the key

that unlocks Connor McDavid, but we did see him have success, you know, with players like Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner, you know, speaking of Zach Hyman. So, you know, maybe he, maybe he's the guy that gets the net front and cleans up McDavid's stuff and McDavid gets like extra assists on that. So, I mean, I don't think it's too crazy. I wouldn't put my money on it because I hate betting. I just panic and freak out and say no, never mind. Like, I won't even, you should see how stressed I get when I'm trying to pick, like, what color Gatorade it's going to be at the Super Bowl. So I wouldn't put money on it, but I wouldn't be, like, horribly surprised if you were right.

But I don't, I don't know, that remains to be seen. Here's some bold predictions, Haley, from a bunch of hockey fans on social media. So Colin has written in. And Colin's not the only one with this one. Colin Newby has suggested the Pittsburgh Penguins' playoff appearance streak is going to come to an end at 15. And I think that is obviously a bold prediction because they've, as Colin says, they've made the postseason every year since Crosby's second year in the league. But Crosby is going to miss the beginning of the season, certainly all have training camp with a wrist injury. Evgeny Malkin status is up in the air.

Haley, is this bold? The Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs. Um, I feel like that's maybe a team that people have been kind of wondering when's that window going to close for a while and they just keep on keeping it open. Um, if Crosby's only missing the first week, I feel like one week of this season, especially back into an 82 game season, that's like too much to be like, no, no, they're, they're done for. Um, you know, I don't know, I don't recall how long, you know, with Heddy Malkin, like when they would get him back, they did lose some pieces this offseason.

And that division looks pretty tough. I wouldn't bet against them, though. I don't know why. I just think that's the team that we've all been saying. It's like when we have Dom on it, and I think he was talking about, you know, there's the penguins, there's the capitals and maybe the, not so much the Bruins,

but like there's those teams that have just been in it for so long that you're like you know what now their core is aging and now they're done so you know what i'm going to say that they're ranked here and then they're just they just make the playoffs again because that's what they've done so i'm going to say no to that i think there was one in here another one about the penguins um the penguins go on a crazy hot streak when 71 comes back of getting himalkin they're out of the playoff race then but then oh you know what he said it's too, they go on a crazy hot streak and even with the hot streak they miss the playoffs. That's a lot of people.

I'm saying a lot of people are saying make your bold prediction, Pittsburgh misses the playoffs. But you're right. Wouldn't it be more bold to say that Washington? I mean, I guess no, because like we've been saying that about Washington. It's definitely more bold to say it about Pittsburgh. I think so. And I think Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh have been the class of the east for more than a decade, right? And so we've been waiting like at what point is the window going to shut?

And what these people are saying? yeah, what these people are suggesting is the window on Pittsburgh isn't going to close very gradually. It's going to slam shut on the fingers of Crosby and Malkin. So we'll see about this. Sorry, but if their goal tending is the way that it was last year, they will miss the playoffs. They will not be making it any further if, you know, Tristan Jari looks the way that he did in that series against New York. Okay. Here's another bold prediction from our friends.

fantasy hockey hacks on Twitter have written to us Haley saying, how about, and this is bold. The Vegas Golden Knights will not win the Pacific Division. So they're not saying that Vegas is going to miss the playoffs, but I think a lot of people look at that Pacific Division as the weakest one in the NHL, and they look at that and they're like, now, Vegas is probably the strongest team. But that's pretty bold. I look at that division, and I do think that Vegas is the class of it. I'd be shocked if they don't win the division.

Yeah, I think that's a really good one. I think the follow-up question, though, is okay, but who does win it? Like, it's a really good- Edmonton, I guess? I'm guessing that would be the pick, no? Edmonton, maybe Seattle has some crazy Cinderella story, even though we don't really like their forward group. Maybe they're, you know, they just, nobody can score on them,

so their mediocre forward group gets it done. Like, that would be, that would be a great story. I'm sure, like, that'd be, I don't know if the NHL would be happy or mad about that. if you have two expansion teams doing that back to back. But I don't know if I would see Seattle. Yeah, I guess you could guess Edmonton, you know, if things come together, their goaltending still isn't the best in the division. But I am curious to see what Vegas looks like because, you know,

everything with Mark Andre Fleury, Robin Lennar, had come into games and shown. Like, he'd obviously challenged the net against Flurry so much to the point that they believed that they didn't need him anymore. But what's Robin Lender going to look like in that starting role full time next year? You know, I guess maybe they've just become so unlikable to me that I'm waiting for them to take a step back and that's mean. But I don't know. It's weird, right?

I like this prediction because I want them to lose. It's weird how Vegas became like a black hat villain pretty quickly in the NHL, right? Like, I think there was a little touch of Cinderella pixie dust that first year. But then we were like, wait, wait a minute. Why are these guys just rolling in and strutting to the cup? And, you know, so, and I think for sure the way that the fleury thing played out last year probably left a bitter taste in some fans' mouths. So you're right. Like, I do think they're kind of one of those scenes.

One of the, the other predictions you mentioned, Haley, this came to us from Adam. Adam sent this into us and says, here's my bold prediction guy, Spencer Knight. wins the Vesna trophy. That's capital B bold. Because, I mean, you look at it, they're playing Bobrovsky like 10 million to be the guy. So Knight would not only have to surpass Bobrovsky, but he would then become the Vesna trophy winning goaling. But it's a bold prediction and I like it.

Oh my God. I like it because it's, and it's about our favorite team of Florida Panthers. That would be bold. That is a bold prediction. It's. Yeah. This is one from JMC tweeted Addison said, here's a bold prediction. gang, the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup with Freddie Anderson and goal, and yes,

Barry caught Kenyemi, a top six winger. And I'm here for the Leafs and Habs going into fans, going into a complete meltdown on social media. So I don't know, is it that bold that Carolina would win the Stanley Cup? Because I kind of feel like they've been on the verge of being a Stanley Cup team for two or three years, or at least knock it on the door. It's not that much of a stretch to them with it, but maybe with Freddie Anderson and Kotkinemi playing a big role, maybe that is a bold.

Yeah, it's the roles that they've placed those two in that makes it bold, I think. Like, we have not seen Freddie Anderson be able to do that for a hockey team with Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner and, you know, William Nealander, John Tavares, Jake Muz and Morgan Riley, you know, the list goes on. The Leafs were supposed to be the team that does really well. So we haven't seen Freddie Anderson do that with a good hockey club. And we haven't seen Yisbury Cockneyami take. you know, have those developmental steps and be legitimate full-time top six setter in the

National Hockey League. So that's bold. It's a good one. These are really good bold predictions. I, you know, yeah, sure, Carolina wins the cup. You just have to get in and anything can happen. I think we saw that with the Montreal Canadiens this year. But it's the role that they've put those two in that I'm like, ah, nah, I'll believe it when I see it. Okay. Bold time here. Now, this is an interesting bold prediction from, somebody named Brock, who sent this in, the Tampa Bay Lightning complete the three-peat. And on the surface, you're like,

well, Tampa Bay winning another Stanley Cup, that's not so bold. I'll tell you, Haley, you win three Stanley Cups in a row. Now you're going down in history as one of the all-time great teams. I like it because I think it's, the deck is going to be stacked against them. It's going to be awfully tough to have it all go away. Like, I don't mind somebody saying Tampa winning the cup

as a three-beat as a bold prediction. I think that is actually pretty bold. Yeah, it's just that, you know, it makes it even more bold because this is going to be a different Tampa team. You know, they lost their entire third line that was, you know, such a big and important complementary piece to their stars. You know, Gord and Coleman Goudreau, they're gone. You know, so it's not going to be the same Tampa Bay Lightning that won the last two Stanley

Cup. So that certainly makes it, you know, an even bigger prediction. because we're not just looking at the same cookie cutter roster, you know, let's let them run it back because it's the exact same group that's here. So that makes it bold. If that happens, yeah, that would be cool, but I probably wouldn't like the last playoffs,

the last Stanley Cup playoffs when the first round was awesome, it was so exciting. The second round was pretty good. But then it was just like, okay, Tampa's really good again. Okay, great. Congratulations on your Stanley Cup. I want more. parody. I want there's to be more teams in the mix trying to mess with things. That makes it more

exciting and fun for me. So I'm sorry. I'd be awesome to have this dynasty and it'd be awesome for Tampa fans and people in Florida. But I hope that doesn't happen. You know, I would say if they are able to somehow pull this off and Tampa wins the third cup, I will say, and people don't have to agree with me, I think it's the greatest dynasty in hockey history because of the era that we're playing in, the constraints of the salary cash, the parody, yeah, and you'll get people saying that they kind of blurred the lines. But I do think that there's an argument to be made that three cups in a row in the year 2021, 22 is certainly as impressive, if not more so than a team like Montreal winning five

in a row back in the day when there was only six teams or a team like Edmonton or the Islanders winning four in a row at a time when there was no salary cap. So anyway, but I think it creates a great discussion and it is bold to say that. Yeah, and I think what would make it more impressive and what does make Tampa more impressive is like when you look at the roster construction or, you know, how that team was built, you have a really good, you know, there's people that you drafted and developed. so you can see that's like a strength of the organization is not just selecting the right player, but developing that player to be a full-time NHLer.

But then you also make good trades. You also pick up on guys like, hey, I think Barclay Gudrow could be really good for us. And everyone's like, why are you giving up that much money for that much stuff? You're giving up a first rounder for Barclay Gudro. And then he ends up, you know, being a really great complimentary piece. So I think Tampa has done a good job with, you know, all of the. elements that you need to build a successful team, and that's drafting and developing and having good pro scouts and making good trades, et cetera. And I think that's what kind of makes

them even more impressive. All right, Haley, one more bold prediction from our fans and hockey fans on social media. Real quick, Noah Turgeon wrote to us and said, Chicago with the return of Jonathan Taves and Kirby Doc, Mark Andre Fleury joining the equation, and Seth Jones are going to not only make it back to the playoffs, they're going to win around and Patrick Kane is going to be in the running for the Hart Trophy. Is that bold? Like, aren't a lot of people kind of saying, like, look at everything that they did. They're probably back in it. Yeah, exactly. That's, I don't know. Is it bold or not? No. It's not bold. Sorry. It's a good one, though. Like, I mean, adding, like, winning the playoff round and Patrick Kane being being involved there,

yeah, that adds a little bit of spice to it. But I think a lot of the things that Chicago did, I think you know, they have their young core still there. They've got their veterans who are decorated and have successful careers. And now you've got the reigning, Vezno winning goaltender. You've got Seth Jones, who everyone can debate how good he is or isn't. But, you know, this is a better Chicago team that we're going to see next year on the ice. So, yeah, I don't see that as like a crazy prediction. I think, you know, if that happens, I'd say, yeah, I think they had a good offseason.

Yeah, that happened. All right, Haley. Hey, we're just talking about the Chicago Blackhawks and whether or not they make the playoffs. It should be fun to watch that division. And one of the great rivalries in hockey has always been Chicago and St. Louis. And the perfect segue for us to bring in our pal from St. Louis.

He covers the Blues, Jeremy Rutherford with us here. On this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, how is J.R. doing today? Doing well, guys. And let me tell you, it's interesting you bring that up because the Blues and Blackhawks did not play last. year with the realignment because of the pandemic. And I think a lot of blues fans miss playing the Blackhawks because for years and years and

years, you got beat up by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves and lost a bunch of six, two games. And now it's a chance for blues fans, the way they've been playing the past couple of years, you know, if they can beat the Hawks, but it's going to be a better Hawks team, as you guys mentioned, it's going to be fun to renew that rivalry. Yeah. And listen, I think big reason why we want to have you on is as much as Chicago made some moves in the offseason, St. Louis.

Lewis has been a super intriguing team as well. And I think in most situations, Jeremy, I think if Jack Eichl's situation is resolved or not there, we're all focused on Vlad Teresenko, like on a national level. But because Eichl feels like it's stinking up moats of the oxygen, maybe some of us forget that. Oh yeah, by the way, there's this Teresenko thing going on. So can you get us up to speed? What's the latest?

We're like a weekend of change away from training camp. What's the latest between the St. Louis Blues and Vlad, Teresenko. Yeah, sure, Ian and Haley. It's a situation. As you mentioned, with Ikel being in the headlines all summer, you almost forget about it a little bit. But yeah, Vladimir Teresenko, who's been one of the league's top scores, you know, for a long stretch here, requested a trade. And we reported that at the athletic. Since then, it's been pretty quiet. And I think the situation is now a week before camp, that there just aren't a lot of teams that, A, want to take on a player who's had three shoulder operations in the past, you know, let's say 30 plus months,

and B, a player who's 7.5 million AAV for the next couple years. And so I think there were some interested teams, but from what I've reported and heard is that the Blues were unwilling to retain much, if any, of Vladimir Tarasenko's $7.5 million salary. And perhaps that makes the asking price just a little bit too high for teams. And so there's been some interest, but it looks like you see Carolina's moved on and did the offer sheet with Kakanemi. And then you see that the New York Islanders have made some moves and signed some guys. So right now it doesn't appear that there are a trade is imminent. And it appears that Vladimir Tarcinco will come to camp with the blues barring some 11th hour deal.

Okay. What do you think that asking price? Do you think the blues are just standing pat and saying we don't ask? actually need to trade him. So this is what we want. And if we don't get it, we're going to keep him. Or do you think they could be flexible on that? Yeah, you know, I think that's been the big question. You know, first of all, you know, I reported it that Teresenko had this last surgery was a stabilizing surgery that a lot of doctors tell me really works. And so if you get this idea, this impression that, hey, it's popped out a couple times, you know, this is going to be a

recurring deal. You know, maybe that's not the issue with Vladimir Tarasenko. Maybe he never has any more shoulder issues again. So I think from the blues perspective, they're saying, hey, you're not getting the guy who, you know, has only played a handful of games the past couple of years. You're getting a guy who could become a 25, 30 goal score, perhaps even more in a player in Vladimir Tarasenko. So I think Doug Armstrong is being very cautious.

And the other element that we have to bring into this is that if you're Doug Armstrong and it leaks out from people around the league that Tarasenko asked for a trade, which obviously leads back to his camp perhaps. I think it's a situation where Doug Armstrong says, oh, yeah, well, you know, if that's how we're playing, we'll see you in camp and be ready to play with this team that you've requested a trade from. And I think that's going to be probably a bit of an awkward situation for both Teresenko and the blues.

But here's the bottom line to me. If Doug Armstrong has waited this long, this long to consider anything serious, for Vladimir Teresenko, he's certainly not going to make a bad deal at this point because everybody would be looking at the situation and saying, you waited this long to make that move. I think he's going to hold out for one where the Blues are retaining little, if any, salary in the deal, and it's going to make sense for the Blues. I think that's how you look at this when it's all sudden done. You know, J.R., I think you used a really interesting word when you were talking about if Teresonko

comes to camp next week and it's awkward. So, like, what is that going to be like? Do you anticipate his teammates are going to be okay with him, that they understand that this is a business? Is it just going to be this dark cloud hanging over everybody? Like, what would your best guess be if when training camp opens next week, Teresenko's there? Like, what's the vibe? What's the mood? Well, this is a different situation because he does have a contract.

And as I mentioned, has two years left on it. And this isn't a situation where, you know, it's a contract holdout and he doesn't show up at camp. Vladimir Teresenko actually showed up a couple weeks ago and started skating with the players. in St. Louis. So he's kind of broken the ice in that regard. And he never came out and said anything about the teammates. He just said that he wanted to move. And I think, you know, talking to Chris Pronger recently, a story that I wrote for the athletic, he said that he felt like teammates understand they've been through things like this, you know, they're going to treat him professionally, so on and so forth. But my big question when you talk about it potentially being awkward

is where do you put Vladimir Tarasenko in the lineup? It's kind of a catch-22 because you want to give them some ice time. You want to give them a big role. You want to give him. You want to give them some power play time to boost those numbers and perhaps increase the value if you can make a trade. But yet on the other hand, you just brought in Pavel Bucenevich. You just brought in Brandon Sade. You've got a young guy in Jordan Kaira who appears ready to break out. Do you play Vladimir Tarasenko ahead of those guys, you know, like Sade and Buconovich, who's signed

four and five year deals to be the future of this team over a guy who's requested to leave? So to me, that's where the awkward part comes down. Craig Ruby is going to have, I think, you know, a dilemma, not a dilemma because he'll be able to handle it, but a situation on his hands where he's going to have to figure out what kind of role Vladimir Tarasenko gets while he's on the roster. One of the other big things with the Blues, and you just had a story come out, I think, about 10 minutes ago, JR, is just about Robert Thomas. He still does not have a contract.

You know, the Blues signed their other three notable restricted free. agents, you know, earlier in July and August, but Robbie Thomas still doesn't have a contract. What is the hold up there in your opinion or from in your knowledge? Yeah, Haley, I think it's, you know, and I wrote this in the story, I said that Doug Armstrong every off season, he's like, hey, we've got so much money to spend. If you want yours, come get it. Otherwise, it might be gone when you circle back with us. And so they did sign three of the restricted free agents, including Jordan Kairu.

And it was a little eye popping when we saw that Cairo contract, a 2.8 AAV for the next two years for a guy who really has only played one real season in the NHL last year. And it was a shortened one at that. But he was really good. And it was a breakout season for him. He definitely took that next step, 35 points and 55 games. And so 2.8 for Jordan Cairo, Robert Thomas and his group is probably looking at that saying, hey, look, I've been here three years. I won a Stanley Cup with the team. I had two pretty productive years. 33 points as a rookie, 42 in my second year. Yeah, I was banged up with injuries last year, but I'm at least worth 2.8 million, which is what you gave Jordan Kyra. So I really do believe in talking to people around the league that that's the divisive issue and why there's no contract for Robert Thomas yet. Still plenty of time, a week's a long time, only takes a phone call. But at this point, nothing eminent.

And that seems to be the divisive issue in the negotiations is that Kyru AAV. And I think it's interesting. I mean, the blues really have, I think, a million, what, like he said, million and a half in change in salary cap room. And part of that is because they were pretty aggressive in the offseason. As you mentioned, Jera, they got Pavel Bouchnavich and they got Brandon Saud. Let's talk a little bit about those two guys because I think there's lots of listeners that, you know, you're getting into fantasy hockey pool season and you're wondering where these guys are going to slot in. So what are the realistic expectations for Bichnevich and Sade in St.

Yeah, first let's touch on Sade. I think that played pretty well last year. year for Colorado blues fans definitely familiar with them all his years in Chicago. The Blues needed top six help on the left side with or without Jaden Schwartz coming back. If they get Jaden Schwartz, re-sign and you can add a Brandon Sod, you know, all the better. But Schwartz moves on to Seattle. You bring in Sade. I think they're going to give him a top six role.

But we all know that, you know, does he handle it for 82 games? Can you move them down the lineup? You know, there's going to be some moving around, I think, with Brandon Sod. But he'll be on that left side for sure. And then I think with Pavlov Bucanavich, you know, he's more comfortable on the right side. That's where he's played his five seasons with the New York Rangers, really put his game together nicely the past couple of years, talked to the coach David Quinn, and he said that just becoming that all-around complete player added the penalty kill to his game.

I think if he had his choice, he'd play on the right side, but going back to the Tarasenko and bringing that into the conversation, he plays the right side. David Perron plays the right side. Jordan Kairu plays the right side. So do they move Bucenevich to the left side? I suppose it's possible, but as I touched on, more comfortable on the right. So we'll see. But those two are definitely very good top six additions for this Blues team. And I know, you know, Han covers the Ottawa senators and one of the the big ones that we have here is, you know, there are some people suggesting that the Blues

should make an aggressive offer sheet to bring Brady Kachuk back to his hometown. Is there any way that you could envision something like that happening? Yeah, I don't think so. I think they're up against the cap. Ian said, you know, about a million five. If you send down the eighth defenseman, it gives them another $750. So they're sitting there at about $2.3 million. You know, the Tarasenko cloud has been over their head all summer long. You know, to be able to think about offering Brady Kachuk an offer sheet, you know, you would have to clear up that salary situation and have Vladimir Tarcinko moved. And even at that point, I don't think you could get the number. high enough to where Ottawa wouldn't match it. So I think it's a situation where it's a nice idea on paper. Brady Kachuk, phenomenal young player and to be able to bring him to his hometown as you, the three of us have touched on before. But sometimes the storyline and the fantasy land doesn't match up with the math.

Do we talk about that a lot? I don't know. Isn't that I think? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Hey, listen, speaking of, you know, you know, fantasies kind of coming true. Hey, David Bacchus was able to close up. out his career, JR, with a one-day retirement contract with the Blues.

And I'm just curious for people who, I mean, I think we know David Backus and kind of what he did, but in particular, what did David Backus mean to the fan base and the market in St. Louis? Yeah, and thanks for asking about David Backus on a national level because, you know, I think sometimes we feel like David Backus is a player who maybe only caught that notoriety in St. Louis. He was a guy who honestly, he had that old school mentality. He was for St. Louis blues fans, they'll remember Brian Sutter. He just wore his heart on his sleeve.

And so I think with David Backus, I recall covering his early days with the St. Louis Blues, he would say, I thought I was going to be an electrical engineer for my career. And second round pick, he latches on with the Blues and becomes their captain and became their captain during some very lean years. And I'll recall David Backus being a guy who has. was at his locker win or lose every time held accountable, did everything. But real quickly, 2016, Blues Lose to San Jose in the Western Conference finals, that are one step away from that first trip to the Stanley Cup finals since 1970, didn't make it. And PR, you guys will, you know,

understand this. You're in the locker room. You're waiting for the player. And PR said, I don't think he's coming. And that was because he was pretty emotional behind the scenes. But here comes David Backus out of the locker room. His eyes are just red and puffy, and he stood there at his locker and poured his heart out. So that was his last game as a St. Louis blue, but to wrap up his career, he played his last game this past year, this past May, with the Anaheim Ducks in St. Louis, standing ovation, kudos to the ducks for putting him in the lineup. And afterwards, they put him on the Jumbo Tron with the microphone, and he was able to say farewell. So he retires with the Blues by sign in a one-day deal with the organization, and he'll be one of the most remembered, I would

think, for his hard work and dedication to the organization. I love that. That's always great. Those are, I love the one-day contracts to retire with an organization. I think that's so special. My last question for you, in your Olympic tiers or your, you know, projection, you put Jordan Bennington on the radar for Team Canada. How realistic do you think that is that he could make the team?

or is it kind of too soon? You know, we kind of have to wait and see what he looks like to start the season. Yeah, probably wait and see. And, you know, all honesty here, we had a story at the athletic where our staff, a couple guys, Dom and Corey and Sean put together the list of players who will probably be in that conversation. Obviously, Carrie Price, Mark Andre Fleury, top that list in terms of the Canadian net minders. But I think Jordan Bennington's in that conversation to be the third guy.

Price is going to be able to start the season, I believe. after some thought that he might not be ready early on, so he should be healthy to get that nod. And then Mark Andre Fleury went in the Vesna last year. But Jordan Bennington, you know, you look at the numbers last year, and even if you didn't watch him play a lot, you probably think, okay, well, this is a guy who's taking a dive since winning the Stanley Cup with the blues. And, you know, just not the case.

You know, I think there were some nights where he definitely didn't look like himself. But in the end, I thought he played well and helped carry the team a little bit down the stretch and was pretty good in that series against Colorado. to say that when you get swept. But to me, Jordan Bennington, not the highlight reel that we saw in 2019, but still, I believe, one of the top eight or ten goaltenders in the league and deserving of being in that conversation for the number three for Team Canada.

Well, listen, Jeremy Rutherford, we said earlier in the podcast, it's kind of a quiet time in the hockey world, but certainly no shortage of storylines around the team you cover. The St. Louis Blues, want to thank you for dropping by, keeping us up to date on Vlad Tarasenko. And I have a feeling, maybe just maybe, we'll have you back on the show real soon just to give us an update on Terrice.

But thanks for doing this and enjoy the start of training camp. Yeah, I love dropping it. Thanks for asking. All right. Fun conversation is always with JR, Jeremy Rutherford there. And actually one of the things, and you touched on this, you kind of gave a preview to your answer, Haley. I love that for multiple choice madness.

So here's my first question for you to wrap up this edition of the athletic hockey show. So what do you think? What are your thoughts on players signing ceremonial? one-day contracts to retire with the team that they're kind of the best known for playing with, like David Backus did last week in St. Louis. So here are your options. A, I like it. It brings things full circle and often provides closure or B, you know what? This is dumb and pointless. They're just signing a one-day contract. This is dumb. But I think we already know your answer, right? You like this? Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you can hear how meaningful that is for a player like David

back us and how you can hear what JR had to say and think like that's stupid. I think it's great. I think there's meaning for the player, probably for their families too, for the fan base. Yeah, they left, but, you know,

that organization was clearly a huge part of their career and their life for a really long time and they want to be able to retire technically with that shirt on their back. And I think that's a great thing. I don't know how you can know how meaningful that is for somebody and think it's stupid. Yeah, no, I agree. Like, I do.

I've seen people say it's so dumb and it's pointless. But, A, I love it because, you know, there is often some healing or closure. But you know what I think, though, all teams should do? Here's what I think. And Ottawa did this with Daniel Alpherson years ago, and I thought it was perfect. And I wish every team did this, Haley. When you sign the one-day contract with the team, you have to come out and, you have to come out. take one final pregame skate with your teammates and or you know or with the team you played with

it is such a cool way because you know what here's the only problem i have with the one day contract those are often done in a press conference setting and the fans don't get a chance to kind of shower the player with love but if you let him take a final pregame skate just say listen uh we have signed so i'm using david bacch as an example uh and say you know what david bacch is signing a one day contract to retire, but on opening night or, you know, pick a night, he will come out and he's going to do a lap and he's going to take part in pregame, you know, the activities and the stretching and the warmups one last time. And I bet you that the barn would be packed. I think people would have the backest jerseys. They'd share. And it'd be a really cool thing. So to me, I like it,

but let's add mandatory pregame skates to it. I like that. Okay. There we go. On to question number two, which also had a little touch of Jeremy Rutherford in it because we mentioned Brady Kachuk. Hey, we're closing in on the start of training camp and there's a handful of prominent RFA's Haley who have not yet signed. So here, out of this list of five guys, these aren't the only five, but these are five prominent ones. Who's going to be the last RFA to sign his contract? Is it A, Brady Kachuk in Ottawa, B, Kareil Kaprizov in Minnesota, C, Elias Pedersen in Vancouver, D, Quinn Hughes in Vancouver, or E, Rosmust Dahlina of the Buffalo Sabres. Haley, they're all up in the air.

They're all RFAs. Who's going to be the last one to sign? It's a tough one because I think you could realistically say that, you know, most, if not all of these guys, have a good case to be made that they're going to be the last one. I guess maybe just the fact that Brady Kachuk's agent and like, you know, know, maybe other players, like, you know, Matthew Kachuk, you know, came in the last day of camp, and they, they share the same agent. So part of me wants to say Brady. But I think Kriel Kaprizov could be one too, considering he, you know, went back home and there's all these discussions over what's going to happen with him, is even going to play in the NHL this year? Is he going to go to the

KHL? Like, that seems a little bit more complicated. then some of the other ones, which is just, hey, this is how much money we want. So the Vancouver ones are interesting because it feels like we've been talking about that for a long time. You know, this is the Vancouver cap situation. You've got these two players that you have to sign. What are they going to look like? How are you going to get this done? How are you going to make it work for your organization?

So really, I don't think you could go wrong with any of those four. But I think I'm going to say Caprizov. And I don't really know why. It's just how I feel. But you know what? We should point out, though, because I was under the same impression. But remember, a couple weeks ago, Mike Russo did say that Caprizov can no longer, it's either the wild or bust, that the KHL for this season anyway, I think it's CSK Moscow, they kind

of submitted their list of players. Caprizov wasn't on it. Okay. So basically that CSKA, Moscow said publicly, Caprizov's not playing with them this So I think the KHL threat is eliminated. But what I do think is that the most interesting thing on Caprizov is is the term. And because he's a little bit older, like the age, like I agree with you. I think Carrillo Caprizov might be the last one to sign.

But there, you know, there is. It's a little bit of a more complicated feeling. Don't you kind of think? And maybe I'm wrong on this. But if you're Vancouver, wouldn't you want to do Elias Patterson and Quinn Hughes on this? Like get a close. enough, get them done and announce it on the same day. Yeah.

Right? I think so. I think maybe the hold up with that is like, you know, I think people probably assume that Pedersen will get more than Quinn Hughes. And so they need to get that one done so they know how much money they have left over for Quinn Hughes, but then he don't want to do too much for Pedersen and not have enough for Hughes. I don't envy the position, but I think for like a fan standpoint, from a PR standpoint, from

the social media like top to bottom. I just think that is the best course. Like get them both done and announce them at the same time. They're both back. There's something fun and, you know, punny. I don't know. You can come up with that tweet, but you could make it a really positive thing for the fan base for sure.

Yeah. Okay. Last question in multiple choice badness, Haley. And again, we're still a couple of weeks away, probably from people having their fantasy hockey drafts. But let's be honest here. Connor McDavid's going to go first.

overall. Like, no matter what pool you're in, McDavid's going first overall. So my question is, let's say the person ahead of you, your friend has taken, your coworker, family, whoever, has taken Connor McDavid first. Now, you're on the clock, Haley. Who you take in second and in fantasy draft this season? Is it A, Leon Dreisdell, B, Nate McKinnon, C, Austin Matthews, or D, somebody else? Who are you taking? You're picking number two? Yeah, I'm taking Leon Dreysidal. Um, the last three years, he's scored more than Matthews and McKinnon. And I guess like in terms of fantasy, he has left wing eligibility as well.

So he can play on that position, get you points there. So I think just because, you know, if you just look at the, the stats, you know, he has, you know, scored more than both Matthews and McKinnon over the last three seasons. Um, so he could do that again. So realistically, he could, you know, have more points. in both of those guys and he has the both position eligibility. So I would go with Leon Driesidal. Ooh, you know what?

Good point on the, on the, and it depends. Like some people don't have that, you know, you got to have X amount of left wingers. And some people are just like you got to draft 12 skaters or whatever. And then it does become interesting, like where you take defensemen too. Like if you have to have certain defensemen, like where do you take Fox or where do you take, you know, whatever. But you know what?

I, to me, boy, I don't know why. I don't know why I'm a big Nate, I mean, I think I'm a big, I think we're all big Nate McKinnon fans. Like he's just, uh, just the way he plays the game. But I feel like Nate McKinnon, especially after that story came out about him and the, what was the chickpea pasta. Chickpea pasta. I think this guy is going to be coming in and he's going to be making some statements.

And, and I think McKinnon last year, you know, had, I think, yeah, 65 points in 48 games. year before that missed a bunch of time and almost flirted with 100 points. I think he's a pretty good bet for 100 points this year. And I love that Avalanche team and the way they play. So I think if I was picking second, I would go with Nathan McKinnon. But realistically, I don't know that you could really go wrong. The one thing that I, and I talked about this last week with Sean McAdoo, just as we wrap this up, you know what's going to be really interesting, Haley?

This is the first year I would go into a hockey pool and I'd be like, man, I don't know where I'm taking Sidney Crosby. Yeah, that's fair. Just right? Just because of the injury and like, like, right? Like where would you take Sydney Crosby? Well, you don't want to go too high because he's going to miss the first week of the season. But if he's available, it's tempting because it's Sidney Crosby. Fantasy is hard.

I just like betting, I also panic when I do fantasy. My fantasy football team, I think I hate them already. It's been one week. I mixed up my time zones when it was like time for the draft because I was in BC and I didn't have much service. So I had the fourth overall pick and it auto drafted for me because I had no service so it wouldn't log in in time for the first round. So I got Ezekiel Elliott.

Like that's fine. It's not the worst, but he was not good this week. But then I was like walking around on the streets of Amiens. Vancouver like, hey, I told my friends like, hey, do you want to go and watch that steam clock for about 45 minutes? You know, steam clock in Gastown that just, that just blows steam. I was like, hey, do you want to go watch that clock and just went on my fantasy draft? And it was such a panic. And I, it's a, I always, it's a two QB league that I'm in Ian. And so all the quarterbacks go in like round one, two and three, which you don't always do in fantasy.

I feel like a lot of people wait on QBs. And so I am probably going to be terrible again this year because I waited. The only thing that's important is the pun factor on your fantasy football team name. What are we got? What's Haley's fantasy football team name? Okay, so remember last year it was bad juju. Juju Smith-Schuster? I changed it before the season to good Juju to like turn the tides for me.

Yeah. But I have C.D. Lamb. So I think I'm going to make. make my name, Haley had a little lamp. Haley had a little lamb. I like, I did pitch to you, C.D. Motel. I don't get it.

What do you mean? Like a gross motel? Yes. Like, you've never heard the term, oh, that's a cede motel. Like dodgy. But like, like, why would I call myself a dirty motel?

Well, I don't know. If you have Nathan McKinnon on your fantasy hockey team, what are you naming your fantasy househouse? Oh, now this is just, this is, you're putting me on the spot. Would you take of Gennie Mock and Seventy Mock and second overall to name it Malkin Cookies. Malkin cookies.

Do you still stand by that? I would go with love Nate relationship. How do you come up with that so fast? Okay. Also, you'll appreciate this. My fantasy football team name, I've got Dalvin Cook on my team. Oh, no. Delvin and the Chipmunks.

Oh, that's good. That's good, right? That's good. Delvin and the Chipmunks. Okay, we're going to leave it there because I really, there's no one else to go. hopefully you, now you technically, our listeners should know, you kind of did this show while you're on vacation here. Well, they can probably tell by how terrible. Vacation vibes.

We're coming through the speakers today. When are you back in terms of kind of writing again and getting back? Tomorrow. So back tomorrow in time, we've got, you know, about a week, 10 days to lead up with development camp and training camp and the flame season. So I know it's a little bit late and I apologize for that. I definitely couldn't go right into the season without taking any time off because I'd probably crash and burn by week three. Exactly. All right.

Well, listen, great to have you back in the podcast. And we do want to remind our listeners as we wrap this one up. The Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey show is going to feature Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. He's also, of course, head coach for Team USA at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. He's going to join Sean Gentile and his guest co-host for this week, Max Bolman. So make sure you tune in Tuesday with Mike Sullivan. We want to thank you for listening to this edition of The Athletic Hockey Show with Haley and myself. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform.

Leave us a rating. Leave us a review. We appreciate that. You can also subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcasts to get all the bonus content from our entire athletic network and start with a 30 day free trial. And then it's just 99 cents a month after that. And right now on the print side of things, annual subscription to the athletic, they're 50% off when you visit theathletic. com slash hockey show.