The Athletic Hockey Show - What we’re giving all 32 NHL teams for Christmas

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

With Christmas just days away, the guys are feeling the holiday spirit, ready to hand out one thoughtful gift to every NHL franchise. What does your favorite team have waiting for them under the tree? Find out on today’s episode. Enjoy the holidays everyone!Hosts: Max Bultman and Mark LazerusExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris FlanneryWatch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowJoin our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/VTm9VjkFSubscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hey, everybody, Max Poulbin here alongside Mark Lazarus for another episode of The Athletic Hockey Show. We got two more days, Laz, until the NHL's holiday break here. And in the Christmas spirit, I think we wanted to spend this episode doing some gift giving. We're going to hit all 32. We're going to offer up what we want to give them for Christmas. And I think we should start in Hockey's Capital. What do you want to give the Toronto Maple Leafs?

You know, I wanted to get on my high horse here. and demand we start in the Western Conference for once because all these kind of all 32 things always start with the East. But yeah, we got to start in Toronto, right? It's meltdown city in Toronto right now. And you know what I want to give the Toronto Maple Leafs? I want to give them the passion.

Where's the passion, right? Oh, man. That's what Craig Barubi wants to give them. Ask those guys, not me. Have you ever said, I'm about to be fired line more severe than ask those. This is the ultimate we, not me sport. And he called them those guys.

Like, this is, Jonas St.iel did a great story where he pointed to Baroube doing this exact same thing in St. Louis during a losing streak. And it basically heralded the beginning of the end here. I mean, this is, this is the nightmare scenario right now. And the passion is gone. The crowds are dead. The team is lifeless right now. And I would love to give them some passion. That was a great story by Jonas.

I did not even remember that instance in St. Louis. So that does seem to be a little bit of a harbinger there. but I had a bunch of thoughts about this whole thing. Because on one hand, I think every Leafs fan thinks exactly what Craig Baroube said. It's just, and I am not in the habit of telling players, coaches, whoever, to say less. So the only thing I can think of here is that it's like, like, if you're analyzing it, you would give Craig Baroube the guidance to absolutely do not say it this way. I don't think he's wrong.

I don't think he's wrong, that it's a lot to do with the players on that ice, on that bench and on the ice. It's one of those things where we always complain that these guys don't tell us what they're really feeling. And then the second they do, we pounce on them, right? But this is just coaching 101. This is not a novice guy who has not been around the league. Craig Baroube says that knowing what is going to start, right? He is grasping at straws here and trying to light a fire under his team in any way he knows how.

And this is the last, this is like one of his last options. This is this nuclear option is throw the blame. at them, pass the buck to them, challenge their manhoods, all that stuff that we talk about. It's an act of absolute desperation. It's probably not going to work. But here's the thing. If the Leafs go on what, a three-game win streak? They're basically in the playoffs.

Like the way the Eastern Conference is set up right now, as dire as things are, and I don't think either of us really beliefs in these leaves, these leaps, it's not hard to see them just kind of squeaking their way back into the thick of things. And if that happens, are we giving Craig Brubay credit for the genius motivational tactic, or are we still slamming him for skirting accountability? It's like every time John Tortorella went nuts and we were like, oh, he's taking the focus away from his players. He's such a genius.

It's like everyone's playing 4D chess out there. And somehow we, the reporters, fall for it every time, don't we? I don't know that I think it's 4D chess. Like, it may be a tactic. I think he's correct in what he said and simultaneously probably shouldn't have said it. But I'm glad he did. And for that, you know, Craig, maybe the Leafs will get their passion for Christmas. but that was Craig Brubay's gift to us.

That's, I was about to say, the Leafs have given the gift to podcasters everywhere of hashtag content. And we think of them. Well, I'll stay in Ontario. So I want to give the Ottawa Senators last year's Linae-Lermark for Christmas. Last year he was a 909 goalie, excellent. This year, he looks unrecognizable. He stole them games last year.

And this year it's been the opposite. Now, I say this, Sunday night was a much better showing from Linnis Allmark. Granted, he didn't face a whole lot of action. maybe it gets you on the right track. I actually don't think the safe percentage is, actually as I look at this, the same percentage is actually no improvement there. So maybe it's still holds.

But this senator's team, I think, has the pieces, especially in this week east to make a run, not just into the playoffs, but in the playoffs. But it's going to all hinge on Linus Allmark being the guy he was for them a year ago. Well, I think you really need the 2022 to 2024, Linus Olmark, right? That too. Who is splitting time with Jeremy Swayman.

That's Olmark at his best. He was pretty good. last year. He was, I think, 17th in the league and goal saved above expected. It's not like he was lighting things up. So we have yet to see Linus Olmark be a true I am a number one goalie, Connor Hellabuck, 65 games a year kind of guy. So I want to see that guy, the guy who is who won the Vesner, right? I mean, but he did it in a in a in a time share. I want to see him do that as the number one guy. I don't even think you need that. You just need the guy who's not giving you negative seven, which is what he's given you to this point, right? So that's

what it is for me. All right. I want to go down to South. I want to go where it's a little warmer because it's been completely. I want to go to Tampa. Now, look, what I want to give the Tampa Bay Lightning is a neck brace for the whiplash of their season. They started one four and two. Okay, that was alarming. Seven to one after that. Oh, they're fine again. Everything's great. Then a seven game win streak a little bit after that. Oh, they're Stanley Cup contenders. Now they lost like seven of nine before that big comeback over Carolina on Saturday. What are these guys? Because you look at the underlying numbers. This is the second best expected the goals team in the league after Colorado.

They give up the least scoring chances. They give up the least high danger chances. They got a plus 19 goal differential. Braden points not even scoring it and they're doing this. So all signs point to the lightning being fine. But this is not what you expect from a veteran team like this, these kind of ebbs and flows. No, it's very weird.

I still think that they are the class, certainly of the Atlantic Division, even if the standings don't reflect that. But yeah, I mean, there's some guys that Braden Point, I think, is the most mystifying to me. Like a guy who I have come to, with a bullet, say, is a top 10 center in the NHL. The numbers aren't really there for him right now. At least the counting stats are not really there. I don't know if that's something that regression is going to solve.

That's the mystery I can't wrap my head around with the lightning. Like the skids, certainly you're right, are mystifying. But I will feel very good about them making a run in the playoffs and being the best team in the Atlantic Division. It's just I want to see where Braden Point, who is I think their best center, I don't think again. There's any argument that he's their best center hasn't. quite look like Brayden Point to me. Yeah, I can't decide that this is like, frame it positively. Is they're doing this without Braden Point scoring? Or if there's, well, they're struggling from

time to time because Brayden Point is struggling. It's not early in the season yet, but it's hard to make those kind of judgments on what exactly. And I think we're going to come across this as we go through a lot of these teams is we don't know what a lot of these teams are. Because the standings are so compressed and the teams are so mediocre that like, I don't know what every team out here is. If I told you that 30 games, more than 35 games into the season, Darren Radish would be outscoring Braden Point. You would have thought one of two things, Apocalypse or Brayden Point was injured. Right. Yeah, yeah, you blew out his knee or something. There's no way that happens. And that's, again, this is not a small sample size anymore. This is a pretty good chunk of

the season. Yeah. The other Florida team, the Panthers, I don't think there's any secrecy here on what they want or are going to get potentially for Christmas. And it's Matthew Kachuck back. And the only real question here, Las, is is he back in time for the marquee game, the Winter Classic? They're turning it on earlier than I thought they would. I don't know if it's because of the Winter Classics. I know that a lot of fans and pundits like us, we kind of start rolling our eyes at these winter classics, these outdoor games, like they're just not that big a deal to us anymore. They matter to the players.

Like, you know, I'm here in Chicago, and guys like Connor Murphy still to this day talk about how they embarrassed themselves in the Winter Classic last year, how they played one of the worst games of their careers at that game, how it still gnaws at them. So the Panthers seem to be kind of like, they found the switch a little early because I think it does matter. I think they want to go out there and have a big game. You know Kachach got it circled, but they've won what? Is it like seven of eight now before that lost to St. Louis on Saturday? So they're starting to kick it into high gear.

Like we've been kind of waiting for them lurking in the bushes and here come the Panthers pouncing. Yeah, not only have they won seven of their last nine, those include wins over the hurricanes, lightning, and stars, three of the inner circle contenders in this league. Yeah, all right. Let's go to their opponent in that game, the Boston Bruins. What do you want to give them? The Boston Bruins are tricky. I almost want to give them a clearer direction, a clear lane to occupy. There was a nice little run in the start of this season where we're thinking,

oh, okay, Morgan Geeky's here. Are they going to, in a wide open, kind of flying in the wind east? Can they get in here and be a wildcar team again? Of late has not looked quite so good. Obviously, falling to Ottawa on Sunday night. So a clear direction. Waxed by Ottawa. Yeah, that's right.

Getting waxed by Ottawa on Sunday night. To me, I think the ideal is that they pick the rebuild lane. But I'd settle for either. It's just I don't think you want to get stuck in this 14 to 18 range. I wonder, because the Bruins are one of these few teams that have really pulled off the quote unquote retool, right? You know, after in the mid-2010s, they kind of rebuilt around Charlie McAvoy and David Posternock. and they got back to a Stanley Cup final. That's not a thing we've seen a lot of good teams do

where they only missed the playoffs for a year or two and they got right back into contention. I wonder if that colors their thinking here, if they think they can do it again, because they probably can't. It's really hard to do. And I agree with you. I think they need to take a step back

and start thinking a bit more of a long-term picture here. It's tricky because when you have the goalie and Jeremy Swayman, who is playing great, you have a pretty good veteran decor here, Charlie McAvoy, Lindholm, like you're pretty solid up front on D. And then you have two great goal scores. The temptation is like, we're only really one great center away.

And I think Zach has been like pretty competent there, more so as a number two. You have James Hagan's in the system. I can see how you could convince yourself that if you bring James Hagen's in and play him with Posternak, you can accelerate that a little bit. I just think it's a low ceiling even then. And again, it's not like you're in the central division where you've got Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota headway. Right.

You can make headway pretty quick in this. So I understand the temptation. is absolutely going to be there. And it'll be fascinating to see how this next month or two before the trade deadline progresses to see what tack they take. Yeah. All right. How about Montreal? You got anything for them? They need one of these goalies to emerge, right?

Because, you know, we were talking about Sam Montenboe for a while there for the last couple of years. He looked like he was going to be the guy. Then Jakob Dobish comes in, oh, he's clearly the guy. And he really leveled off after a great, he had a great start, a pretty terrible regression in November. He's kind of leveled off. As long as Jacob Fowler is playing Pittsburgh, He's the number one goalie in the world.

He's basically Connor Ellibuck. I think he's got like two shutouts or a shutout and a one goal game against them in like a nine-day span. But I don't feel great about any. I love this Montreal team. I don't feel great about any of these goalies right now. They need one of these guys to step up and become the number one.

You love the Montreal team? I don't not love them. There's a lot to like about it. All the stuff that we liked entering the season is still there. And if you put the right goalie behind to someone who's going to not have an 880 save percentage, I still think this can be a really competitive team. And again, this is the qualifier for every team we're talking about in the Eastern Conference.

The East is wide open and nobody's very good. And you can, it's there for the taking. Trying to quickly count how many wins they have over teams that were in the playoffs last year. I think it's like six, which is not very many. Like they've beaten up on a schedule that, you know, at least not to say their whole schedule, but the teams that they've beaten up on have been the lower end of their schedule. That gives me a little bit of pause with them. But I do think you're right about what we want to give them for Christmas.

It's just one of these guys has to emerge. I think it's ambitious, honestly, to ask for it to be Jacob Fowler. But they're going to need, you know, I thought coming to this year was going to be hard to replicate it from Montembo. You know, injuries obviously are a wild card factor there. But he's the guy I think it has to come from. All right. All right. Let's go to your backyard, the Detroit Red Wings.

On top of the world right now, I think they're like two points out of first place in the entire conference. What are you given the Detroit Red Wings? I'm giving them a 2026 calendar that only has 11 months in it. The month of March just vanishes. That's been the month that has derailed them in each of the last two years. If you go back and look, they were in a great position at the end of February in 2024. They were in a great position at the end of February in 2025. March wiped them out both times.

I guess I could just wish for the first playoff game or gift them the first playoff game in LCA history, or at least hockey-wise, the Pistons have had a couple. But I'm just going to get them the 11-month calendar and see psychologically if that accomplishes anything. The first half of that month, too, this. This March, they got a brutal schedule to open the launch this year. So it'll be a real test for them mentally and on the ice. I want to see that playoff game. I'm with you.

They're like, that's one of my favorite arenas. It's basically a modernized bell center. The atmosphere in there should be amazing. It will be amazing. I loved covering games at Joe Lewis Arena, the big garbage bag of popcorn behind me in that quote unquote press box above the top row and the lower level. I loved that that environment was as good as any in the league. And I want to be there the first day that the Red Wings have.

have a playoff game there. If these were gifts for fan bases, the team that would deserve that gift, like the like free pass to the playoffs is not Detroit. It's Buffalo. Buffalo has weathered everything. They've been through all of it. They're still sticking around. Is that what we're giving Buffalo? I'm going to give them a Bill's Super Bowl. I don't know. I think they'll take that. I think they'll take that too. I think that's by far the most realistic thing. Josh Allen wasn't that great on Sunday, but they still won. I just look, they, they had won five in a row heading into Sunday night, but they're just such an unremarkable team. Do you really believe that Alex Lyon can keep playing this at a 921 level?

Shouldn't you, I mean, I hate to say this for a team that's constantly had to do this, but shouldn't they be selling high on him to Edmonton right now? Like, I just, I don't know. I just, I have a hard time believing in the Sabres. They can set, they can trade one of these goalies to Edmonton. No doubt. They can trade one of these goals. They probably need to move one of these goalies.

The three-man rotation always feels like, okay, like give this a try and, hey, someone will come around and this will work. all you end up doing is taking away practice reps from at least one of your goalies. One of those goalies is going to get rusty and then it's going to be a problem if you ever does have to come in because you really haven't been able to work three goalies into the net. Having said that, like Buffalo's ahead of Toronto in the standings here. So we're going to, they've won six in a row here. Like, I don't know that they need to go. They need to be the ones to go into the tank necessarily.

I just, I mean, do you, I feel like every year the Sabres have like a 10 game win streak. We're like, oh, it's finally happening. And then like the bottom falls out on them. It's just, you know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 15 times. Shame on me. I just, I want to see it. I'm with you.

Like no fan base deserves it more. Buffalo is an amazing hockey town. The TV ratings bear it out every postseason. The Sabres are never in it, but Buffalo's always the biggest non-playoff team market by far. I just, I'm not going to believe it until I see it. We know the new coach bump is a thing. Maybe the Sabres are showing us that the new GM bump is a thing too.

If we go to theirs, Players barely even know who their GM is unless they get their contract from them. Come on. And he's not really that new. He's been around anyway. So probably not. All right. Let's go to the Metro and a team I saw today, the Washington Capitals. You suggested this one. I think it's fantastic.

I think we're going to give the Washington Capitals some respect. I just saw them lose a couple of times this week. But I still look at this roster and I see a team that we were not ready, I think, for at least the first half of last year to buy into the Capitals. They've defied the ability to, They defied our skepticism of the ability to retool on the fly the way they have. At this point, I'm pretty much all in on it.

I think Alexi Protis is that, like, rare piece that you find that you go, oh, my gosh, this guy who was doing all these things that the underlying numbers that we thought, okay, can he really keep this up? He's one of the elite two-way forwards in the league at this point. Ovechkin still looks great. John Carlson still looks really good. I think that the capitals deserve some respect this Christmas. I think we did an entire episode of this podcast last year

where you half-heartedly tried to convince me that Washington was for real and even you didn't believe that was at least three-quarter-heartedly. Since the start of last season, since the start of the 2024-25 season, only Colorado and Dallas have more standings points than Washington. And it's only by five.

And that's just because Colorado is such a ridiculous record this year. They are a plus 79 in that span. They've got the all-time leading goal score on their team and he's still scoring at a high rate. Nobody seems to buy it. Everyone seems to just kind of write them off when you're talking about the contenders. I agree.

You got to give these guys their props. They're clearly contenders. They were very good last year. They're still very good this year. They've got more pieces than ever. They're growing into it. The goaltending's been terrific. The Washington Capitals are absolutely

a possibility to come out of the east this year. How about point per game Tom Wilson for you, too, by the way last year? He's another guy who I think everyone's, especially, we've gotten to the Olympic conversation. It's been popular to like, oh, poo-poo, Tom Wilson. and in comparison to some of the Connor Boudards of the world and all that, he's been a huge piece for the Washington Capos.

By the way, since we're on the topic of respect, our friends at BetMGM have Washington plus 400 to win the Metro, hurricanes minus 250. That feels like too big a gap to me. I know how good the hurricanes are. The hurricanes are great, but yeah, no, I, and the hurricanes have proven over the years to be a great regular season team. I understand those odds, but I, I'm not a gambler,

but I might take that bet on Washington. As for Carolina, I think they already got their present this year. I think their present has been gifted to them really since the early season. And that is an Eastern conference that is wide open for the taking. For the team that struggles to get over for the hump, the absence of a juggernaut in the Eastern conference, that's the best thing Carolina could ask for. You know, it's amazing. Like, I don't think there's any team in the league that is safer, at least in the East, obviously Colorado is fine. But like, there's no team in the East that's safer right now because, you know, they've

got a lead. And nobody thinks that like the Islanders or the Devils or the Flyers. are coming after them, right? Like, there's no, you know, someone will beat me up for saying this, but like, there's no way they fall out of the playoffs the way they're playing and in the division they're in. I still have questions. We're always going to have questions until they do it in the playoffs, you know. Yep.

Is Brandon Boosie legit? That's 11 and 1. He's got a 9-13 save percentage. People always say it's easy to play behind Carolina, but neither Freddie Anderson nor Peodor Kachecoff can break 900 right now. So he's doing something right, Brandon Boosie. A waiver-wire pickup has really solidified this team. Again, I need to see it in the playoffs.

I need to see a goalie do it in the playoffs from more than a round or two, and I need to see their big guns score some goals. I would be very nervous to have it. Now, granted, maybe we consider him proven by the time April rolls around. And I don't think it's going to keep up at this rate, but if it keeps up very strong,

maybe that's full hot. It's not we've never seen a rookie goalie be good in the playoffs, right? I mean, Jordan Bittington, I believe, was still a rookie when he led St. Louis to the Cup. I would feel very nervous going into the playoffs with him as my goaltender right now. All right. Let's get into the mushy middle of the metro here.

I want to give the New York Islander something that they might not actually want. I want to give them Matthew Schaefer being left off of Team Canada. The scars run deep on Long Island. I'm a native Long Islander so I can speak for this. Nobody holds a grudge or stews on something bad happening like a Long Islander. And it's been 11 years or almost 12 years since John Tavares blew out his knee in Sochi. That is a fresh memory on Long Island. And as fun as it would be to see Matthew Schaefer as much as he deserves it.

and he does deserve it. Matthew Schaefer absolutely is one of the best seven or eight Canadian defensemen in the world right now. I want to give to the New York Islanders the stress relief of not having him in Milan. I bet if we gave them truth serum, I bet they'd agree with you. Oh, yeah. Almost every team in the league doesn't want any of their players in Milan right now. No coach wants to see their players in Milan. No GM, no owner, nobody wants to see.

They want to see the arena not get completed and the Olympics just canceled. That's what every coach and GM wants right now. Well, let's stay in the tri-state then. Maybe Santa can double-barrel a very similar gift over to New Jersey, which is a Jack Hughes-sized role of bubble wrap to the New Jersey Devils to keep Jack Hughes in the lineup and healthy. They really can't afford to be without him. That's been clear over the last couple years.

I was looking up the numbers earlier today. Before the injury, they had a 735 points percentage behind only Colorado. They were scoring 3.35 goals per game. They had a 25% power play clip. Since the injury, they're like at 450 points percentage. They're in the 25th, 26 in the league. They're right around like San Jose in Pittsburgh and Vancouver. They're scoring a full goal less per game.

Their power plays down to 16.7%. We're seeing this in Chicago with Connor Bardard. There are some guys that you simply cannot remove from a lineup. The whole house of cards comes crumbling down. And that's what we're seeing. Jack Hughes is the New Jersey devil's offense. Yeah, no, I completely agree. So I would like to see it.

I think it's good for the game when Jack Hughes is healthy and in this. You guys have made fun of me before in the past with this. He might be my very favorite player in the league to watch. I think he's, I think he's an absolute. Well, you said he's like top five, top 10 players. Maybe that might be hyperboizing a bit. But if he were healthy, he could be. The problem is he never seems to get a full season in.

He is, for me, one of the most exciting, most creative. I love his attitude. He's kind of a pain in the ass to deal with as a reporter. And I kind of like the way he pushes back and the snark he gives. I love Jack Hughes and I want to see him, I want to see him healthy. And if it takes bubble wrap to do it, then so be it. All right. So three words I heard, they're exciting, creative, loving attitude. I don't think we apply any of those to the New York Rangers here.

And I think what we're getting for them is a whiteout pen so they can go contract by contract and just erase all these no trade clauses so that they have the flexibility to shake things up. God, if you were starting over, who would still have a no trade clause? It would be Shisterkin. Yep. Fox. I guess Gavrakov, Gavrikov deserved. The I'd be okay. Gavrikov's been good.

But like Panera. None of the forwards. Yeah. Zabonajad, Miller, Trocheque. I think LaFrenier has a partial. Like, no, they have, I saw this in Chicago, too, in the later years of the after the cup, when every player was on the decline, but had a full no movement clause. And it just completely hamstrings what you're able to do.

You get, when you, and when you are able to move them, they, it's like the, it's the, it's the, a club-j-j-s-roo situation where they just completely dictate where they want to go. you don't get any kind of value for your players. The Rangers are not in a good spot, man. They're going to be paying for this for a long time. And the worst part is they've had a couple of conference final appearances. They've got nothing to show for it. They haven't won a cup in, you know, what, 30, 32 years.

With Philadelphia, here's how I approach to my thought process on this. Do you ever have something that like every year you kind of ask for, but because you've asked for it, no one really wants to give it to you? People want to surprise you. They want to think outside the box. It's very sweet. but what you really wanted was this one thing. And for the Philadelphia Flyers, it's the boring pick,

but it's what they want, it's what they need. It's a new, not a used, recycled center. They need a centerman. They need a homegrown, fresh out-of-the-box, centerman to pair with what could be one of the most exciting young winger groups in the NHL. They're not bad enough to get it that way, though. They're going to have to find it somewhere else.

Because this is another one of those teams where I, there might not be a team in league that I am more confused about than the Philadelphia Flyers. I have no idea what they are. Are they actually kind of bad? Are they maybe actually good? I have no idea. I can't make hedge or tails of the scene.

But when you look at that depth chart, if you put a true number one center in there and Zegers can drop down and Ketur, all of a sudden you have the makings of a real lineup. So you're right. I just don't see how they're going to get one because they're not going to be drafting in the top five this year.

Michkov and Martaun, obviously, are going to be two of the most exciting playmaking wingers in the NHL. And so it's not like this person has to be super puck dominant. I think you just need really good, like, play driving in terms of like territorial, two-way center. Ideally, you have some finish to the, when those guys set you up in a good spot, you can make the most of it. Can you get it picking 10 to 12? It's probably stretching it. You can, but the chances are, yeah, the chances are you're not going to get that true number one center at that spot unless you just get lucky.

And that's what it is at that point. After the top four or five, it's, there's a lot of luck involved when you're picking in the teens or even the high team. It reminds me that a team that's been in that spot for a long time, and now I think, I think is out of it. That's the Columbus Blue Jackets. A Columbus Blue Jackets. You know, I feel bad. I don't want to say this because it sounds meaner than it is.

I think Adam Fantilli is a good, very, very, very good player, who can still become a great player, like a legit star player. 31 goals last year. He's playing well this year. He's got 12 goals, 22 points, and 35 games. He is very good. He's only 21. I can't emphasize that enough.

But what I would give to the Blue Jackets is the same third-year Megalip that Chicago has gotten from Connor Bedard and Anaheim has gotten from Leo Carlson. That's what they need. They need Fantility to become their star. They're homegrown, not like a free agent or a trade they made and tried to convince to stay. They need Fantility to become that.

And it's got to be hard if you're Columbus, if you're a Blue Jackets fan, to see Bedard and Carlson going up. Because those guys were joined at the hip, that entire day, the whole year leading up to that draft, it was Bedard and Fantilli and Carlson. And everyone thought Fantilli was going to go second most of the year.

And then Anaheim went out and picked Carlson and raised some eyebrows and they looked like geniuses right now. There's still time. But I want that now because I don't want, I don't want that pressure on Fantilly and I don't want that burden on Blue Jackets. I still think it's coming. And I think that we see it take a little bit longer with players of Fantilli's profile. When you play the power game, the hard game, right? Like there's just that much more that you have to grow into because that style of game,

you really can't do until you're in your man body. I think Fantilli still has more to come there. Maybe it's not going to be like the Bedard production, the Carlson production. But I think he's a winning player in the mold of, you know, Brady Kachuk was a few years into his career when the offense started to catch up to some of those other things. I talk all the time, Nathan McKinnon was like a fifth year before he became Nathan McKinnon. And McKinnon, I think obviously has a little bit more of the like speed, creativity, dynamism to him maybe than Fantilly does.

But certainly there's speed in Fantili's game. And there's a lot of power to it. I think the Brady Kachuk, but he plays center, that's a pretty good selling point. And that's what I think, Fantilla can kind of be. For the record, I'm still waiting to grow into my man body.

I'm still waiting for that to happen. Someday. You got one more team out east. It's the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I want to give them 40-minute hockey games because, holy cow, like this is, it is uncanny how good they are at blowing third period.

I think it's seven times or eight times. They've lost when leading entering the third period. Three of them during a third period, a recent eight-game losing streak. They almost did it again Sunday night. They led, they blew it. They did pull it out in the shootout, but they put that in play for Montreal once again. Which is like, it's clearly in their heads at this point, right? Like, there's no way that keeps happening to you and you don't start thinking about it every time you enter a third period. So I just want to give them little two period games and then they get to go home early, beat the traffic on I-279,

and everything will be fine. All right, let's go to the Central now. And the team I struggled the most with, is the same thing you struggle with every Christmas. What do you get the person that has everything? What do you get the team that seemingly has everything? So I'm going to give the Colorado Avalanche a challenge. And I think that's probably most in the form of the Dallas stars. But hopefully it's also coming in the form of Connor Hellebuck coming back. When Hughes entering the division, I think one of the hardest things to do it.

Maybe this is why we see like these record breaking teams, these president's trophy winning teams go out in the first round. I think it's hard to keep your edge when you build up a buffer, right? And so I think for that reason, it's a good thing for the Colorado Avalanche that their division is the most competitive in hockey, that the Dallas stars are not going to just get left in the dust and that Minnesota is adding up and that Winnipeg is getting the best goalie in the world back. Because I think that's the biggest thing the avalanche need. Yeah, I mean, the Avalanche just went out and smoked the wild on Sunday night. So I'm not even sure that even qualifies as a challenge right now. I agree with you that it can be a challenge for teams, especially teams that haven't won recently. to flip that switch.

We always talk about it. I don't worry about it with the Florida Panthers. I didn't worry about them with them last year. I don't worry about it. Even if Edmonton kind of got incredibly hot, I wouldn't worry about it. But a team like Colorado, I don't know, because they are a few years removed

from a Stanley Cup. They've got a lot of pieces from that team, but a lot of new guys, too, that haven't done this before. They lost in the first round last year against that Dallas team. So, yeah, I agree. Like, I feel like they need something to come up

because other than, like, do those little, the Harry Potter time turner that Hermione had? Do those only go backward? Or can you just go forward to mid- paper right now because that's what they would really want. It's just like, let's just get to the playoffs right now while we are clicking on all cylinders and just rolling. That's what they need right now. Yeah, well, hold on to that idea.

We may come around to something like that in the future here. What do you got for the Dallas Stars? I want to trade the Dallas Stars back to the Pacific Division. I think that would be the best thing possible for them right now. It's just, I know they hated to travel when they were out there, and those are brutal. Like every road trip was like three hours minimum going out to California all the time. But imagine how dominant they would be in that division. and imagine how much easier their path would be to another conference final

if they didn't have to go through Minnesota right now and Minnesota looks really, really good, and now has Quinn Hughes, then the mighty Colorado Avalanche. Obviously, Dallas has proven that they've proven they can beat these teams, but that's hard to do every year. And if they were out west, if you gave them Anaheim followed by, like, Edmonton or something, they'd win it in 10 games total.

I never like the argument that, like, you heard us a lot with Toronto in recent seasons. any other division. Oh, of course, they had to play the lightning in the first round or whatever, right? If you're going to win the Stanley Cup, you're going to have to beat good teams, and you're going to have to do it at some point, and you might as well just do it right off the bat, when in theory, you're the healthiest you're going to be. That being said, I do get your point here. And I understood it with Toronto, and I understand it for Dallas, is it is tough when, like, especially if you get that second seed and your prize is hosting a team that's just as good

as you, and the winner is going to get a team that is probably better than you. And you might be a top five team in the league and you have to beat two of the other top five teams. How about we give Dallas a one through eight seating system instead? I like that better. I like that better. All right. What about the, let's go to the third team of the Holy Western Triumvir right now, the Minnesota Wild. What do you gift in them? Yeah, I'm gifting them some real estate for them to build the Quinn Hughes statue when he extends there and becomes the face of Minnesota hockey. You know what? Is he going to last the season the way they're playing them? Oh my God.

They paid him 32 minutes in Columbus. Be careful. The Wild fans, when I made a joke about this this weekend. We're all over me for making this joke. It's not even a joke. Nobody plays 30 minutes a night in the NHL in the regular season. We want to talk about doing that in the playoffs, absolutely. But the wild are riding in Martin. I know if anyone can handle it, it's Quinn Hughes. He is awesome. I love Quinn Hughes. I love, and I hate to say this, because you know, I'm an East Coast guy who lives in the Midwest and tries to like support the Western Conference in general. So many more people are going to see Quinn Hughes. Hughes now that he's in Minnesota than when he was in Vancouver because his games aren't going to be on at 10.30 a night. And he is freaking awesome. You should seek out every Minnesota. I've never said this before in my life. You should seek out Minnesota Wild games. That's how good Quinn Hughes is. He's going to make the Minnesota Wild exciting. His workload, the riding him too hard. It was more. It was more manageable Sunday. Only 26 and a half minutes, which I know that's a funny only to send. But when the alternative was 32, now granted, maybe that's only, maybe that's only because they

lost five to one and they were like, all right, well, we're not going to burn it on this. I thought it was interesting, though. I don't know if you saw Drans and Dom had a really interesting exchange on Twitter this weekend just talking about the usage and how Hughes was deployed against McDavid much more than Vancouver had really used him in that head to head. That is going to be interesting to see the more. I mean, to me, yeah, if you're going to play him with Faber, then that's part of the, that's part of the freight that you're going to have to do with playing with Brock Favor is taking,

Brock Faber is taking matchups like that. But it's an interesting one. It's kind of a next level challenge. challenge for Hughes. Well, what do you want to do? Do you want him to be freed up matchups to score points? Or do you want your best defenseman on the ice against the other team's best players? I lean towards the ladder. I want him out there against the best players. I do too. And I think because Quinn Hughes can kind of tilt the ice, what you're trying to do is make the other team's best players play in the D zone as much as you can. Right. You're trying to keep the puck away from Nathan McKinnon or

Connor McDavid or whoever, right? And you do that by putting Quinn Hughes on that's because nobody has the puck on a stick more than Quinn Hughes does. And the thing is, like the list of players who can skate with Nathan McKinnon and Connor McDavid is extremely small. It might be 10 players, and Quinn Hughes is on that list. So that's another way that it tracks. How about the team in your backyard last Chicago? What do you want to get them for Christmas? I want to get them like a set of what do they call fish bowl bubbles or college cages because, oh my God. Frank Nazar took a puck to the face. He's out a month now. Tavo Terra Vinen took a puck to the face a week and a half ago. Missed a couple of games. His face it ballooned up. Two years ago, Bedard breaks his jaw on a hit

like, honest to God, I don't understand how players aren't playing with those. Like, every player should be wearing a face mask at all times. I didn't understand it when guys in the 90s refused to put helmets on. I didn't understand it in the 2000s when guys refused to put visors on.

And I don't understand in a modern era where sticks are so, you know, wippy and guys are shooting up always. They're always shooting high now. Why, in God's name, would you just leave 70% of your face exposed to that rubber? I don't know what it is. I think there's actually a rule against it

because they don't like the marketing of having a bubble on. Put a god's face mask on. It's better to play 82 games than they look cool. That's my spiel. I would think that it has to do with vision and thinking that like,

you know, you can see that much better and, you know, something like that. Conor Bernard scored like 190 goals in wearing a fish bubble in juniors or whatever or in world juniors. Like, you can still score goals. I'm with you.

I think on this that it like It should be more popular than it is. Put on the cut resistant turtlenecks. Put on a face shield. Protect yourself. You are a multi-million dollar investment from your team. Fans want to see you play and you want to play. Protect yourself out there.

I had a conversation. I don't want to get too much of a side tangent. I had a conversation in the locker room in L.A. I won't say who was talking. But I was asking what rule they would change. And one of the guys says, I would like to be able to not wear my helmet during warm-ups. I'm like, that's the rule you would want to change.

He's like, yeah, it just feels better. And Connor Murphy's sitting. over there. And two years ago, Cotter Murphy took a puck off the face because he didn't have his helmet on during warm-outs. It bounced off the crossbar, and he agreed. I don't know what we're doing anymore, man. Yeah, that's a wild one. I don't understand the appeal of the no helmet and warm-ups. I would be out there just the entire time conscious of the fact that I would have Jack Hughes's bubble wrap all around me, head to toe at all times. No, you can't. It's in New Jersey. They only made one of those custom. I'm also a lot bigger than Jack Hughes. Yeah. The Winnipeg Jets,

I'm going to keep this one simple. They need Vez and a level. level Hellebuck, especially now, especially with what has come into their division since in the time between when he was out and now, they need Connor Hellibuck to be at his very, very best. Without question, I mean, they, they, he's, he's looked pretty good since coming back. They're already leaning on him hard. He needs to be that 65 game pace guy. Can he be on, on a recovering knee?

I don't know, but they're clearly not a playoff team without him. They have work to do. I mean, they are right now, they are toward the very bottom of the NHL standings. I think that they will recover from this. like they've shown us enough in the last three years. This is the opposite of the Eastern Conference. There are three teams that they will not catch in their division. Yep.

So that leaves a much narrower gap for them to get into the playoffs. Yeah, really you're chasing the mammoth. They have a games in hand advantage on the mammoth. And that's going to be the interesting thing, especially with Logan Cooley out. I do think, like, if there is a team that I think can do it, I think the Winnipeg Jets are that team. But they need to stay healthy and they need Hellebuck to be peak Hellebuck to do it. Well, let's go right to those Utah Mammoth. And, you know, what I want to give the mammoth is the Karel Vamelka that was promised to me in the fantasy rankings by Dom and Shana because I fell for it.

I think it was all just a big ploy against me. I drafted him very highly. I think they had him as one of the top goalies in the league. And he, the Utah mammoth have the worst five on five, say, percentage in the entire NHL. Worse than St. Louis. So I think Dom and Shana intentionally sabotaged me. My team is garbage. You're trying to get guys from me already.

It's not even New Year's and I'm already trading everyone. And I'm really mad about it. And my offers for those guys really haven't gone up yet either, despite your offers are pathetic. You want to get eight-rounder for Jack Hughes. Get the hell out of here. You can't take them with you. I guess actually technically you can't. It's a keeper league. All right. So in the similar line, let's talk about the blues. Yeah. Who I just made fun of their goaltending because it's hilariously bad.

I want to give them an Epstein file like redaction of the standings that nobody sees their goal differential. Because if you, if you, if you got seriously injured in October and you just woke up from a coma and you looked at the NHL standings right now. The Blues would be right about where you thought they would be, right? Like they're on the periphery of the playoff picture. They're like a point or two out of the playoffs. They're very much in striking range. They are a minus 33, and that's after a four-goal win on Saturday.

Seattle is next at minus 21. The Blues, you can't take this team seriously with a goal differential like that. So are you just redacting the goal differential, or are we redact so you, like, you can't even see where they are in the standings. No, you can see where they're right where they're supposed to be. They're kind of in it, kind of not. Like nobody was super excited about the St. Louis Blues entering the season. But you see that minus 33, you just laugh at them.

Like there's just no way that's a playoff team to go this far into the season and be that much underwater. I like it. I like it. All right. Last one in the central is the Nashville Predators. I think I'm going to take your idea on this one. We talked about a pre-show. I think what Nashville needs is for this recent little hot spell to go away.

They do not need to delude themselves into thinking that this is going to end anywhere positive. they need to sell. They need to pick high in the draft, and they probably need to do that for multiple years. Barry Trots, I admire so much. He was one of the best coaches in the NHL of a generation. And I wonder if he's managing a little bit too much like a coach, where you see the potential in players

and you think you can get it out of them. And that's where your head is. Rather than kind of come what may, okay, the results are going to tell us what they are, what I need to do, I think he might be managing a bit too much like a coach. That's a great point. I hadn't really thought of him in that respect, but that does make sense where a GM and a coach very much look at their roster. Coach is trying to win now and a GM's got like a three-year plan.

No coach has a three-year plan because most coaches are not going to be there in three years. Yeah, the last thing this team needs is an excuse for Barry Trots to stay the course because staying in the course would be an unmitigated disaster for this team. Yeah. All right, let's go to the Pacific and we'll start with the Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers, by the way, committed a little bit of, at least in my family, what is a big no-no. you do not shop for yourself in the month of December leading up for Christmas. The Edmonton Oilers did. They went out and they got themselves to Tristan Jari.

They might want to do over. They might get one because, you know, Jari's always week to week already. It was a lateral move at best to begin with. I don't think anybody was really excited about it outside of maybe Stan Bowman. So maybe this actually opens the door for someone better. Maybe it is Alex Lyon. Laurent Reisois is playing well for the Rockford Ice Hogs, and there's nowhere for him to go in Chicago.

They want to move him. He scored a goalie goal. Come on, that's pretty good. You need goals. Goals are good. I think this, no offense to Tristan Jari, his playoff track record is abysmal in more recent seasons. And his regular season record is not that much better. So I just, I think that that was a bad move. And I think this injury opens the door for them to make another one that could be a little bit better. What about for the Vancouver Canucks? What do you got for them? Vancouver Canucks. Oh, those poor Vancouver Canucks. I want to gift them the number one draft pick.

Oh, wow. I want to do something nice for the Vancouver Canucks, who were never nice to me in my mentions, but I love the Vancouver Canucks. That is the most, you know, bat bleep fan base in the NHL, and God bless them for it. They provide so much entertainment.

Come back to us at LOL Vancouver. I missed that Twitter account. It was one of the all-time greats in the old days of Twitter. After watching Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard, the two local boys, the two North Vancouver guys, blow up the way they have, they should get one of their own. And then they can go out

and ruin them completely the way they ruin everybody else. Is Gavin McKenna the number one pick right now? I don't know. It's starting to feel like James Hager's thing. He was fourth on Corey's last most recent ranking. And he put an own goal in

in a world junior pre-tournament game a couple days ago. Hey, that happens at the best of them. Everyone puts in a known goal every now and then Patrick Kane had a known goal once. Yeah, I don't know who it is. This isn't the draft from everything that smart people tell me,

this isn't the draft to have the number one pick. But that would just fit Vancouver to a tea then, wouldn't it? It would. We'll stay in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm giving the Seattle Cracken a lump of coal. If anyone deserves it, oh, man, it's the Seattle Cracken. For reasons off-ice and I mean, I thought that the press situation

over the weekend that broke, you know, them having to have only the team reporter ask questions. That's the primary reason for this, but on the ice too. I mean, Jordan Eberley is their leading goal scorer right now. There's not a lot going right in Seattle. For an expansion team that I think we were all pretty excited about when they were announced, not so much the roster, but as a franchise, it just seemed like, hey, this could be a really good fit. I think that the way they approached it and the way they staffed it,

I don't really have any qualms or places I can point to with that. Not a lot's gone right there. I just can't figure out why they haven't been able to find more traction. I just find them so, God, awful, boring. Like, they're a game. 60-minute hockey game, like 59 minutes and 58 seconds of it is just spent with five guys crammed along the boards in the neutral zone, trying not to move the puck, just trapping the puck with their skate.

They are just abysmal to watch. Lane Lambert, besides that nonsense he pulled with that press conference, is the most boring man I've ever heard speak. I don't know how you get a lot of inspiration from him as a player. this team just like, it's such a shame. It's such a cool city. It's such a cool arena. I love going out there.

I hate watching every Seattle Cracking game. I'm sorry. I want to like the Cracken. They've got cool uniforms. I like Bowie, the mascot. Everything's going right, except for everything that's happening with the actual hockey team,

and it's just a bummer. I would like their approach and trying to stockpile these young centers. For some reason, they cannot keep the momentum for these young players as they start to find it. Maddie Baneer has won the Calder trophy, has not come close to reaching that.

production level since. Shane Wright seemed like it was a breakthrough year last year, fallen way off that pace to start this year. It's very bizarre that they just can't seem to kind of hold these progressions with doing what I think any of us would tell a team that's starting from scratch to do, build from down the middle. They've done it. They just haven't done it. They just don't have any elite players. They don't have any elite talent. And you need some elite talent to build around. You can't just have a bunch of pretty good guys. Yeah. All right. Where else you want to go in the West? How about Anaheim? Let's go to L.A. actually, because you're the other most boring team in the league that I can't stand watching.

I want to give a bottle of no dose of their fans because, like, I think Phil Donneau might have been their leading score with zero goals. That's how boring the Los Angeles Kings are to play. It's funny, I talked to Drew Dowdy when I was out there a couple weeks ago. We were kind of talking about that 2012 and 2014 teams, those really heavy Kings teams that just dominated. They were like the last real heavy team to win the Stanley Cup. but I loved watching them play. I loved watching them play the more graceful and speedy Blackhawks. It was such a cool mismatch.

And I was asking him, like, do you think those teams could thrive in the modern day NHL? And he said he thinks he could, but like the game is so much different now. He said, there's a lot less thinking in the game now. Everyone is so fast that the game is just pure reaction and improvisation. It was a really interesting conversation. But the more I thought about, the more he was, everything he was talking about the modern NHL is not the Los Angeles Kings. They're not fast. They're not exciting.

They're not very creative. They're successful because they've got enough talent and they're well coached and they play a system really well. They do what Seattle's trying to do. But I just don't want to see these kind of like half-trapping teams anymore in the NHL. I first wanted to give, for the Anaheim Ducks, I wanted to give Joel Quenville a Laboooooooo so that he could better relate to today's youth. But I think you've got another idea for him. Are those still happening? I thought we've already moved past Labubu.

That's very possible. I actually saw one yesterday. It was the first one I'd ever seen in person. I just saw a guy with a Labubu on his backpack. I'm like, all right, there you go. I've been trying to sell various friends and acquaintances at holiday parties on the concept of a Subaru Labubu called the Labuobaroo. I think it's a million dollar idea. No one has reacted positively to it.

Just producer Chris, just you know, I'm quitting this podcast. A lot of reactions just like that. I thought it was a fine idea. But you had something else in mind for Quinville. I want to give Joel Quenville a year's supply of Tums because. the object of this man is going to have in the playoffs with his team that gives up chances at such a, at like a league worst rate,

they're like the anti-Tampa Bay Lightning. They're just giving up action nonstop. I don't know how Joel Quenville is going to handle, having covered him in the playoffs, when one single defensive mistake would set him off into nuclear levels. I don't know how he's going to handle in like a game five or a game six. The way his team plays hockey.

I love it. It's like everything I was just saying about the Seattle and the Kings, the ducks are how I want hockey to be. Just let's freaking go. Let's score some goals. They are so much fun. I love the Anaheim ducks. I'm not convinced Joe Quedville's going to.

I think if you can play in this manner and you have the style of players, I mean, they're young. They want to run and gun, but they have the ability to rein this in. And that's where I think Anaheim is in such a good spot. I look at their team, and I don't see any reason that Leo Carlson

and Mason McTavish and Beckett Seneca can't rein this in and turn into the kind of complete game playoff hockey team. And to be fair, like the team that a lot of people, including Joel Quenville, have compared this team to is like the 2008, 2008, 2009 Blackhawks who just, you know, Denny Savard and then Joel Quimble just basically let Kane, Taves and Patrick Sharp just run wild on the top line and basically taught them defense later. And they became one of the great possession teams of all time. So you're absolutely right.

I hope that doesn't happen soon, though, because I really like watching the Ducks play the way they play. Yeah, absolutely. Vegas Golden Knights, I wanted to get them a fast forward button because I think, as we talked about earlier, there are some teams that have kind of been there, done that proven it, they can flip the switch. I think Vegas is there. And I think that this is going to be an annoying second half of the year to just kind of wait until what they're really waiting for. You had an alternate idea on that one, too. The trade deadline, when they make some move that drives everybody nuts. Is that what

they're really waiting for? You can fast forward to that too, yeah. But I think we're in the movie click here. We've got to get through some of the boring stuff here for Vegas. I want to give them a Mitch Marner regression to the mean. He's got six goals. Look, he's playing Selky caliber defense. Like, he is playing outstanding hockey. He will not shoot the puck. He has 15 games this season in which he's had zero or one shot. Zero or one, 15 times.

So a lot of this is self-inflicted. He's got like 52 shots or something like that in 33 games. That's not enough. He's too talented to be that unselfish. He needs to start being a jerk out there and shoot the puck more. Absolutely. San Jose, I want to get more overtime. I learned this today.

They are tied for the most overtime wins in the National Hockey League with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Anaheim ducks. So I guess you could argue if San Jose is also a team that probably ideally would pick in the top five again. But they're knocking on the door. And hey, when they go to overtime, good things seem to happen for them. The San Jose Sharks are the NHL's version of the Chicago Bears. I still don't think they're very good. But man, they're fun as hell. And I hope this ride just keeps going because it's pretty crazy right now what they've been able to do.

Caleb Williams is a Macklin Celebrini. No, he's not. Maclin Celebrini is great all the time, and Caleb Williams is just like pulling two amazing throws out of his backside with 30 seconds to go. But it's fun as hell, man. It is fun. I'm not even a Bears fan, and I'm enjoying it. I'm like the opposite of a Bears fan, and I have to say, I mean, Ben Johnson was in Detroit

for so long. That's right. I think I have the impulse to really want to not like him because he's in a division rival, but there's still something about Ben Johnson that I think is very like. It's funny because it's an interesting comparison in the NHL. In the NFL, you bring in a coach, and it can single-handedly change your team. It really does take one guy because the coach has his fingerprints on literally every single snap of the ball. He has a handoff.

In hockey, I think Barry Trotz is really the only guy who was able to have that kind of an impact, where he would come in and just fundamentally alter a team's DNA on day one. Most hockey coaches can't do that. It's kind of interesting to see the difference in the two sports. And I think the dominance of football in sports culture in the United States and that effect with football coaches is a big reason why coaching tenures in every sport and particularly in hockey have gotten so short because I think we expect that from coaches when they come in. And we expect that we're going to be able to like see night and day difference not just in the first like, you know, month that you got that adrenaline rush, but like, oh, it's a year and nothing's difference. Like, yeah, the players are the same players. Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's true. In every sport we see that. We see it in baseball. We see it in basketball. nobody has any patience anymore for a learning curve because in the NFL, you can do it right away. As I say that, I do have a story publishing on the Athletic Monday about what a difference Todd McClellan is made for the Red Wings in one year since he took over.

Tom McClellan is a good coach. He's a good coach. He has a good coach. He's got a lot of presents, I think that does kind of have a little bit more of that style of effect. Let's close things out with the Calgary Flames, Laz. Last and least. I feel bad for the Calgary Flames because I feel like they're in this kind of purgatory. and maybe that's what we want to get them because I feel like that's their way out is they need to get out of purgatory,

they need to bottom out, and then they can become interesting again. They need, what I want to give them is a robust market for Rasmus Anderson and Nazim Kodry and, you know, to make sure that they still kind of talk about you, you read CJ's trade board and, you know,

maybe Anderson wants to resign. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got to jumpstart this thing. The new arena is coming in a couple of years and Anderson's exactly the kind of guy that teams are looking for at the deadline. He's right shot. He's physical.

He plays a ton of minutes. Cadre might not be scoring at his usual pace, but that's a proven player performer. He had two amazing runs with Colorado. This is a very productive player who can bring a great second line center on a playoff team. Calgary has to maximize the value out of those. And given how weak the market is this year,

they might be able to actually do it. Yeah, Cadre in particular, it feels like there are multiple teams out there that there might be a second line center away from, especially in a wide open. an Eastern Conference. If you could add him to a couple of those teams, massive difference maker.

Minnesota, I mean, I know they've exhausted quite a lot of capital now, but if you could find a way to get Nazim Kadri in there, all of a sudden, I start to think a little bit differently about the wildest chances of coming out of that. Cadry is this year's Brock Nelson, right? He's the perfect guy. You just slot right in, and you know he's going to, he's going to work. Yeah, he's done it before, and maybe he'll do it again.

That is going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Athletic Hockey Show. You check back tomorrow for our World Junior's preview with Scott Corey and I. We'll talk to you then.