The Athletic Hockey Show - White hot Lightning and Stars are 'all in' ahead of NHL trade deadline

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Sean, Frank and Sean discuss the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, both on heaters and poised to be major players ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. The guys take a closer look at what is going wrong right now in Winnipeg, as the Jets continue to struggle to score goals, and they rate the NHL's 'big fish' at the deadline, the highly sought after Brock Nelson, of the New York Islanders.Hosts: Sean Gentille and Sean McIndoeWith: Frankie CorradoExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What up, what up? This is the athletic hockey show. This episode is presented by E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. It's Sean McIndoo. It's Frankie Carrado. I am Sean Jantilly. We are two days before the NHL trade deadline.

Got plenty of stuff to discuss there. I know that's got to be shocking for people to hear that we have trade deadline discussions lined up. Real surprising stuff. Fellas, I want to start with something. that's actually taken place on the ice. We saw some of it last night. Dallas and Tampa, man, killing it. The stars will start with them.

Stars won six to seven. They've won six to seven. They beat the Devils last night on a goal by Thomas Harley with five seconds left in the third. The Lightning, nine and ten. They beat the Blue Jackets last night, crushing it. Outscoring outspon opponents 23-9 in five-on-five in that stretch.

These are two teams who, I don't think anybody should be surprised to see making a charge here, but it's still got to be somewhat heartening to see it because they're elite groups, I think, and they're getting their act together

at the right point. Man, that Atlantic division, doesn't it feel like the AL East in baseball a little bit? Like just when you think a team might be turning the page or they're slowing down, nope, the Tampa Bay Lightning find a way to

to get it going even more. And for me, there's a couple things that stick out about the lightning. We know their top players are going to be the ones that lead the charge. That's always the case. Like, they've been good on the power play. They've been good at five on five. Jake Gensel, you know, now 29 goals on the year. He's been as advertised, exactly what they could have hoped.

But they're getting more scoring from other guys, which was an issue for them. They're defending well. Their goaltender, Vasilevsky is kind of turning back. the clock to a few years ago where it's like, this is the guy that you don't want to see in a playoff series. And now they have some cap space to play with, like just under $6 million going into the trade deadline. How much more dangerous are they going to be able to make this team? And if you are writing off the lightning and you haven't been paying attention, like they're, they're kind of creeping up into that, I don't want to see them territory or they're already there.

And it's not going to be any easier for any team that is trying to get out of the Atlantic this year. How much of that is due to Vasilevsky? Because in this stretch, like I said, they've won nine of their last 10. He's leading the league in that run with almost 11 goals saved above expected. His save percentage is 950. Like this looks like the guy that was winning Stanley Cups and terrorizing opponents in the process. I mean, we love what they get from from the best players, especially that, especially their top five forwards, especially headman, all well and good. But to me, that's the variable, isn't it? Like, he is, he is back to looking like a guy who's, who's legitimately, legitimately scary. Yeah, which he had not for a while, right? Like, going back to the injury

and a year and a half, you know, the surgery and everything. And you don't necessarily expect him to be a hundred percent right when he shows up. But we've been waiting a while. And the thing with the lightning this year, it's been up and down. Because I remember I got sucked in a couple of months ago, where I was like, wait a second. They got something going. here and then they immediately lost four in a row and they you know they they just hadn't been fully clicking and you always wonder with a team like that you go okay is this just a flawed team that is you know pretty good but pretty good is is going to get you your ups and downs or is this a really good team that knows how to win in an eight month season not a six month season

but an eight-month season where you got a big long playoff run ahead of you. And they're just sort of not slamming down fully on the gas pedal. And it almost felt like when you look at the streak they're on now, it started with those two games against the senators where everybody was going, oh, wait a second, hold on. Ottawa's not just going to make the playoffs. They might catch Tampa and they might finish third. This is up for grabs.

And it was almost like we made a big enough deal about that that Tampa kind of did the like, all right dad's going to get off the couch now you've done dad was trying to rest his eyes and now but no now he's going to get up and now you're all going to find out and uh and we woke them up and uh let's just say no one's talking about ottawa catching them right now now it's more like are they catching Toronto are they catch in florida uh and which of those three teams is going to win that division and avoid a first round matchup that's going to be brutal Sean, you mentioned Ottawa. That's what I, you took the words out of my mouth.

Like, they're the team that's like, are they up, they're up, they're down, are they real, are they not? That's, that's Ottawa, that's Detroit, that's Columbus to some extent. That is not the Tampa Bay Lightning. I know, and I know whatever, maybe I held on to that a little bit too long, you know, 2020, 21, whatever. Those are sad to say. That's, that's a few years ago now. So things can change. We can't we can't just assume it,

but I still kind of felt like I was assuming it. So there is like there's some degree of validation. That's going on with them here for me. And you know what Tampa Bay has now that they didn't have the last couple years is a top four on the back end that they can really lean on? Like bringing in J.J. Moser who had missed a lot of time with an injury and playing with Victor Headman, that's been a really nice fit for them.

And having McKeigh, Duna back with Chernak. It's just like old friends getting reacquainted, right? And like those guys, they kind of know exactly how to feed off each other. And McDonough is such a, you know, guy that puts out fires for that team. And like, there's just nothing he hasn't seen. And so Vasilevsky's playing great. A top four that can take on a lot of responsibility and a lot of minutes.

And now the prospect of bringing in a player that can add something to the lineup, because you actually have some cap space to do something, and it's like, it's straight up. There's no weird maneuvering that they have to do. And if we've learned anything about Julian Breezebaugh, like he is willing to pay a steep price to make his team better at the trade deadline or before the trade deadline. Like, I think,

I think there's going to be a player that comes into, um, into Tampa Bay's lightning that has a significant impact, um, and adds already to, you know, what they're kind of building from the back end out. And one thing you can always rely on is the players are going to play there.

Like the goal scores, they're going to be the guys that lead the charge. All right. Let's put someone on the Tampa Bay Lightning because, Frankie, like you said, they have money. Freezo has real money to spend CJ Chris Johnson said as much on TSN last night. It's about $6 million for the Tampa Bay Lightning to just go out and get somebody. They don't have to do. It's not Berkeley Good Row this year. They don't have to go, they don't have to get.

cute. Don't have to get cute. Don't have to don't have to take on, you know, whatever. It doesn't have to be money in, money out. Doesn't have to, they don't have to, uh, hand pick players that are already signed to contracts that might be beneficial in the future. They got about six million dollars to spend and, and go add somebody, which is something that we haven't, that we haven't seen for them in the past. You want to do this? We got to, we got to take them seriously. Okay. You, you want to do this exercise, put yourself in Tampa Bay's boardroom and you got two players to pick from. You got the package that's going out. Either team will accept it. You can either have Brock Besser or you can have Alex Tuck. You can have Besser or you can have Tuck. Both

teams have said yes to the offer. It's just up to you now. Besser makes 6.6, which whatever, you can find a way to make that work. And Tuck is, I believe, in the mid-fours. I think, like, my train of thought would be this. And DGB brings up Barkley Goodrow. Like, when Tampa won their cups. They had a middle six that played with some edge, played with some speed, and could still, you know, contribute offensively. So if I'm thinking that Tampa Bay wants to replicate, you know, what they've had in the past, I'm probably thinking I want the power forward with great wheels that can still, you know, score. And Alex Tuck has been as hot as anyone in the league right now over the guy in Besser who is a good goal score.

but it's going to have to play a secondary role, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get that same kind of, you know, edginess and speed that I might value in the middle of the lineup. Did you know that Alex Tucker has 20, do you know that Alex Tucker has 23 goals, Sean? I just, I just, I just did their game.

Yeah. He has, I think he's got seven goals in his last eight games. It was just called the Buffalo game on Monday. And boy, imagine going from Buffalo to Tampa. I mean, you talk about an energy boost.

I'll be honest, when you first ask that question, Brangy, my first thought was Brock Besser, and I feel like you talked me into Alex Tuck. Plus, he's got the one year left on the deal, which maybe complicates things for a team like Tampa that is usually up against the cap,

but you kind of like that at the value. I will say this. They go out and get Brock Besser. How quick do you think he signs there? If there's a fit and they're interested. And on the plane. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

He'd be right there. Those are two big names. I mean, the name that I was thinking with Tampa, and this is, Pierre and CJ brought this up, we talk about Ryan McDonough coming back. And, and, you know,

like he didn't miss a day. Is he Annie Gord, the guy that they go out and, you know, bring back another, get the band back together. But yeah, if those bigger names are available,

you got to think you, you jump in on that. It's got to be, it's got to be tuck. right he just feels he feels like a tampa player he feels like a guy who can slide in on that second line with sirelli and hagel too if you want like because imagine what that looks like that because that's been their problem that's been their single biggest problem this year is for as good as those five guys are as good as as as as good as the five forwards are you guys with between

kutcherab and point in gensel and sorelli and hagel there is a steep drop off after them and if you go out and get Alex Tuck, who's capable of doing so many things, he's still such a great skater, too. I think that's, I think that's huge. Man, I, I, I, like, make it, make it happen. How much does he make? He makes, like, he makes, it's like four and a half. I know, like, they, just go out and flip a, flip a 20, 28 first or whenever, whenever, whenever, they have their next first round picks.

We're not, we're not going to talk about, we're totally, we're totally just going to ignore where that leaves the Buffalo Sabers. We're not going to talk about the implications of that for their roster and what they would need to be bringing back. Like it's just there's so many different layers to that. But we're just, let's just talk about. If I'm a Sabres fan, how terrified are you of the idea of like Julian Breezebaw like cornering Kevin Adams somewhere and being like, let's get a deal done. You and me. Come on.

Let's just talk this through. Yeah. Like they're going to send back Isaac Howard or like one of those prospects that the kid with this, the kid with the suit from the Montreal draft a couple years ago. And Buffalo is going to be like, yes, thank you. Thank you very much. Enjoy your cup, chase. Call us about Dylan Cousins in three months.

Yeah. Yeah. The other team we brought up is Dallas, as our pre-trade deadline riser here. Six to seven wins. Like I said, Thomas Harley beats the clock against the Devils last night. I think they're interesting because they're a little bit of an inverse. from Tampa.

I'm not worried about Jake Ottinger. He's playing fine. But Jake Ottinger is not the reason they're doing this. This is because Rupa Hince is leading

the league in points over the last couple weeks. He's got 15. Jason Robertson has 12. Wyatt Johnson has 10. This is over their last seven games, by the way.

Wyatt Johnson is 12. Matt Dushan is 10. Thomas Harley has 10. Their big boys are producing in a very in a very big way. And I think that was necessary, especially from hints.

I think that dialed up production from him over the last couple weeks has been huge. You know what's funny about the stars? Is that every day we get like a report from sport logic. And it just has like all the analytic numbers and what they're doing away from the puck, what they're doing with the puck. And Dallas was always, you know,

top five to eight in every. single category. But then you looked at their results and you're like, okay, they're fine. They're plugging along. They're not running away with anything. But the thing about those numbers is they do tell a story. They tell us that at some point, things are going to correct and we're going to see some kind of progression towards those numbers. And we've seen that now. And you brought it up. Johnston and Robertson, for the longest time, they weren't getting what they're supposed to get from those guys, now that they are, all of a sudden, those numbers are starting to match, you know, what we're seeing as far as the output for that group.

And not having Hayskinen hasn't really held them back. Like, they're still in a good spot. Of course, you would like to get him back. But I just think this was a matter of time for the Dallas stars. At some point, the puck was going to go in more and they were going to get to where they are now. And they're, for me, the stars are as deep as any team in the NHL, especially up front. And when Hayskenen comes back, like that's a pretty nice blue line that they've built with the addition of Cody Cici. Say what you want about him.

Same with Lubushkin. When those guys are slotted correctly, they're fairly effective players. And you did say it, Frankie. It's when Heiskenen comes back, not if. Because we're told he, you know, barring any setbacks, he should be back this year. But the most recent insight from Jim Nill was, well, it'll be right around the start of the playoffs. And as of right now, my understanding is he is not on the LTIR. He is on the regular plain old injured reserve, which means they don't have access to his cap room.

But doesn't it feel like this year teams are just being more and more transparent about, yeah, we're just putting this guy like, you know, Matthew Kachon. Okay, he's just out for the season. He'll be back when the playoffs. And, you know, that's the example because Paul Maurice was like, yeah, yeah, we're just. think we'll be able to get him back. And then two days later, Seth Jones on the roster, he's like, yeah, we think Matthew's going to be out for the rest of the regular season, actually. It's a layup.

And you know what? We've been over this for years and years and years and years. Going back to the Patrick Kane, you know, geez, that was almost a decade ago, I think, at this point. And the golden nights. And I know people get fired up and they get upset about it. But this is how the league works. This is how it works.

You're allowed to do this. You're not, you know, you're not a lot. loud, but you are. And these guys are hurt. Like nobody's faking injuries just to get more cap space. So Dallas could have access. They've already got Tyler's again sitting in sitting there. They put high skin on LTIR.

In theory, that's more cap room. Now they're in the mix on guys. And they were, you heard Seth Jones for them a little bit in the rumor mill. Now who's available here? Who's the, the, uh, the big name that they go. hunting or do they? Or do they say, you know what?

This, the group we've got is, is fine. And maybe, you know, maybe Merrill comes back a week before the season ends miraculously. They should call about Carlson. Jim, Jim, why not? Jim Nill should call Kyle Dubas and be like, hey, what do you think? What do you think about this? My man, you think Peter DeBour is going to watch some of that stuff that goes on with Eric Carlson? I don't think so.

I will tell you, the window to trade. I so badly want this to happen for so many reasons. The window for that was right after Four Nations because he looked good in Four Nations. You had to do it after Four Nations, but before that Leafs game, because holy smokes. Oh, my God. And I was like, I wouldn't pay this guy $11, let alone $11 million. I had the image of Dubest, like on the phone with somebody like, like, like kicking tires in the third period of that game. Hey, man, you're watching the game.

No, the line. You're not. You guys play this afternoon? No, no, no, we play tonight. It's fine. It's good. Out with the family? Okay, let's do something right now, actually.

Are you by a TV? Don't, don't pay attention to it. Dude, the other thing, the other thing I find fascinating about the stars is Peter DeBore. Like, this is a guy who always seems to have, well, not always. Like, I think for the first part of his career, he had some teams that really struggled.

But for the last, call it, I don't know, seven, eight years, this guy has coached very good hockey. teams that have been on the precipice of winning Stanley Cups, but haven't been able to get it done. And the stars are as good as any team in the NHL. They're going to have some cap space they can weaponize. Like, this is a coach that at some point is going to, you would think he has to win at some point, just the sheer odds of him always being around and always being on a good team. And he is a good coach.

But I think like that's something that I kind of have my eye on with the stars. It's like, you know, can, can they do it? And I think the coach is part of that. Like, he's a hell of a coach. He has been for a long time. His record kind of speaks for itself. But I'm sure he's, he's as eager as anyone to kind of win something here. It's been, it's been a while.

Frankie, is that anything, is stuff like that's something that follows around a coach for players? Or is that like a media construct where it's like, Peter DeBore, a really good coach, hasn't been able to get it done, you know, in June or whatever. Is that something that? It's a good question. You know what guys talk about more? Guys talk about structured coaches more than winning coaches. I think winning coaches, that has a lot to do with, you know, the players that are around and the teams.

I think the one thing that does come up, you know, in regards to the winning is as a player, can you recognize that your coach is making the adjustment before the other coach, or is your coach too stubborn and not willing to make the adjustment? And I think there's some coaches. And DeBoer wouldn't be one of these guys for me. I would say that Babcock was one of these guys where when the other team tried to change something up, they would say, well, no, this is what I do. And you kind of have to adjust to me.

And I'm not, you know, moving around for you. But I think, like, John Cooper is one of those coaches that is willing to be, like, he's willing to initiate that. And he's going to, well, I'm going to throw something at you. you early in the game or keep you guessing. And so that's something that players will notice and players will talk about because we feel it. We see it on the ice.

And that kind of goes hand in hand with, I think, you know, some coaches around the league have a reputation for being pretty loose and just saying, well, we just got to work hard. Like, okay, that's great. We're all working hard. But can you put us in the right spots to make it purposeful? And, and, and, Dabour, he, like, he's, he's as detailed. His reputation would be like, he's, he's as detailed as anyone around the league for that kind of stuff. And let's just remember before we go, you know, he's been doing it for so long.

He's never won the big one. Maybe he can't get it done in the bit. We were saying all that stuff about Paul Maurice. Exactly. It worked out. Okay. It's like, especially guys like that, coach like that who've come as close as DeBor has, I'm just more apt to give them. You say, yeah, game of inches, you know, you never know, bounce here, bounce there, changes everything. When you're talking about guys who've coached in his many big games as he has, I think it applies even more. Because it's like over the course of his career, if he gets, if a couple coin flip sequences go a different way, we're talking about Pete DeBoer, multi-time Stanley Cup champion, like one of the best coaches of his generation, blah, blah, blah, that stuff that he has no control over.

I think he controls the stuff he can control, which is, which is to me the sign of a, the sign of a good coach. Okay, glad we agree there. Peter DeBore, good hockey coach. More at 11. Next segment, boys, we're going to talk about the big fish at the deadline question mark. He's a guy Frankie saw recently. And we're going to talk about the Winnipeg Jets who are on a little bit of a mini slide coming up to Friday here. So stick around. We'll be right back.

All right. We're back. Last segment we talked about some, I don't want to say slumping teams that got hot, but some good teams who've looked great over the last couple weeks. Now it's time to talk about a potentially great team who's looked mediocre, okay, for the last handful of games. We're talking about the Winnipeg Jets. They've lost three straight. And just kind of generally before that, there's a lot of one goal wins, a lot of a lot of squeakers. Frank, you saw one of those up close last night.

Yeah, I was working. I was working the intermissions for the Jets game last night. And all the talk, like in the pregame show, we were just talking about the lack of scoring right now, going in the last night's game, there was two goals over two games. And the power play had been 0 for 16 over its previous six. Now, power play gets two last night, so that's still cooking. That's power play in the NHL still. But at five on five, they had a hard time kind of, you know, generating in the quality areas and making life different. for Sorokin, and I explained it this way on the show. The Islanders are the worst

defensive, defensive team. You know what I mean? Like, we always think of the Islanders as like, well, they're a good defensive team. The numbers would tell you, they're actually not. They just lean on their goaltender quite a bit, and they don't score enough either. That's why they, they are where they are. But the Jets couldn't find ways to exploit it. And this is, this is where I think people get a little timid with the Jets, because the last couple years, things have been rolling for them. And then the offense dries up and then it just, it goes downhill for a certain period of time. Like last year it did that, the year before it did that. So now we're three games into this thing. Are they going to find a way to kind of turn it around here and get a little more

scoring? And that's where it leads us to the trade deadline where, you know, if you're, if you're shovel day off and you were looking at your group and you said, well, I'm pretty happy with how everything is okay, but you can definitely use someone who helps you, like on that second line, you know, score a little bit more because the first line you're not changing. The third line you really like. The fourth line is a fourth line. It's good. It's fast.

It's fairly physical. But if you could get someone in that second line that gives you a little more, a little more pop, that's going to go a long way for that group. Yeah. And we should point out, they've lost three in a row. they've also won 11 of their last 14 because they had won 11 straight before that. So, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it, it kind of gives you the reminder of how quickly things can change in a week,

uh, when it's right before the deadline. Because they, they had three game losing streaks earlier in the year and we all just kind of shrugged it off. But the fact that it's happening right now, suddenly you're looking at it. You're going, okay, they got to get this guy or that guy. Um, but even when they were winning. Let's take a step back. Let's look at the Winnipeg Jets, what's happening in that market. Some of the stories we've seen in the last couple of years about selling tickets,

getting the buy-in from the community, potentially even the long-term future of that team. Now you've got a team that's quite possibly the best team in the league right now. If there's ever a time to push a few chips into the middle of the table, you've got to think it's now. right? I mean, for this team to go out there, having this great season and then losing the first round would be potentially disasters. So if there's going to be a time for a big swing,

and Kevin Shevolde have is not that guy. Typically, he has not been a big trade guy, but you got to think now is the time. Well, he did it like last year, he kind of went against it a little bit, right? Like he got Monaghan, he got to Foley. And that was like, that's a pretty big deal to have that kind of trade deadline and try and bring in that much.

I don't think it's two moves. I think it's one move. And I think if you could get Brock Nelson, because the guys that you currently have on the second line are all good players, right? It's Perfetti, Eilers, Nemesnikov. They're all good, but they're all kind of built the same way. If you can bring in a bigger body that scores around the front of the net and can kind of will some things around there, like now all of a sudden,

you have a little variety there, which is nice. and it just throws a different wrinkle into things. And the thing I like about Nelson is whoever you keep on that line with him, he could play at the same pace as those guys. Like he can skate with Nemesnikov and Eilers. So he's not lagging behind. And then, you know, he can kind of shovel things, you know, filter things around to the front of the net.

And that's where he does a lot of his work. I think that's like if you could find a way to make that happen. But the thing is, like, are you going to be willing to give up a Cole Profetti? because Perfetti's been playing really well recently, right? Like I don't know exactly what the asking cost could be, but, you know, if you're really going to go in this, you know, win now, quote unquote, all-end mode, it's going to have to cost you something more than just, you know, a draft pick.

I think it's worth pointing out to that Brock Nelson is still a pretty good skater because I think we just sort of assume that, you know, he's a little deficient in that area. Maybe it's because he plays for the Islanders. Maybe it's because we all saw the photo coming into Four Nations when he looked, you know, look like he was 45 and smoking cigarettes at intermissions, whatever. The dude still got his legs,

and I think that can, that's going to help him wherever he ends up. The Jets to me, they're hard to talk about the 24, 25 Jets, because the proofs in the pudding, that's a, that's a high-end team for a lot of different reasons. Best Goaltender on Earth,

you know, the power play is, as good as as as good as we see in the league on a nightly basis. They have a bunch of guys that are scoring a fair amount of goals. Like those are all reasons to believe in that like Dylan Sandberg's been great. And like he's he's clearly shown that he can, you know, perform on a second pair, which was a big question there. But I still see issues with them in the same,

in the same places as I is a date in October or November where you're like, yes, the power plays good. it's got a bunch of really good finishers on it. They're more productive there than any other team in the league. Like that's all noted. They don't generate chances there at an elite rate too. So that makes me nervous over the course of a short series where you're like, if you're relying so much on this really good power play that outkicked its coverage just a little bit,

and you have four games where that stuff goes cold, like I'm nervous immediately because for good as they are at everything, they're a pretty good five-on-five team, and they're pretty good at generating chances on the power play. And given, you know, what they need offensively, that just makes me,

it makes me nervous. So yeah, the idea of them going out and getting a legit middle nine piece, not just, you know, whatever, cross your fingers for this year's version of Paul Stasney, or whatever,

like the textbook shovel day off trade is. I don't think Joel Armea cuts it. Yeah. Right. That's not going to work. If you've got issues with your penalty kill or you know, you need someone lower in the lineup, Yoel R. Me is your guy. But like I agree. It's different for the Jets. And to just kind of, you know, put the numbers to the eye test as far as what Sean is saying, like expected goals, they're 16th in the NHL. Actual goals, they're third. So like they're, they're scoring more than they

should be. And they have been all season long. And don't get me wrong. Like, they still are a fine offensive team. They're just not a truly elite when it comes to what's under the hood. And the two areas that hold them back that are making that happen is the rush chances. They're 28th in the NHL off the rush. So they really have to rely on the cycle, you know, getting things off a forecheck. And you know how it is come playoff time. Like everyone's just a little more clean with how they're doing things. Everyone's defending just a little bit more. So you have to find a way to have that like jail break, you know, kind of pull one out every once in a while off the rush.

And they're just, they're not the most inclined team there. And this is the one that would worry me the most. And we're talking doom and gloom, but it's the reality. They're 26th in the NHL at generating shots from the slot. So, like if you're going to rely on,

you know, shots from the outside and getting rebound chances, like, well, we just talked about how teams are a little more sharp and a little more dialed in defensively. It's not going to become any easier come playoff time. So that's one of the things that I would like to see.

And I think it has been for them. It's really just not going in right now. Like I think their process is okay. It's just it's just not going in. You just don't want that to happen, you know, in the middle of April, which, you know, I guess every team is susceptible to, but they're no different. The good news is if you're a Jets fan and you're hearing about Brock Nelson is, as we learn from Mike Sullivan at Four Nations, Brock Nelson's better than Kyle Connor.

So, yeah, I mean, that's pretty good, right? It's wild that a team, it's wild at a team that is Kyle Connor. Imagine, imagine three years ago or four years ago where you're like, okay, Kyle Connor, he's going to be on a team in 2025 that is 28th in in rush chances or whatever, whatever that number was. And Eilers. And Eilers, too. Yeah, I know. I just feel like with the Jets, man, I just always feel like I'm digging them for things that they're good at.

And I don't mean, I don't mean to do that. Like, that's a team that has that, like, finishing is a skill, right? Like, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to knock them for that. That's, that's an elite finishing team. But Frank, you mean, you, you set it in, in your last, uh, in your, in your last little bit. Like, stuff doesn't go in for a couple games. Like, guess what? That's the difference between getting balanced in the first round again and, in staying alive and being able to make some, make some real noise.

They just, they make, they make me nervous. Yeah, well, I don't know, like, there's a few things, I think, that that come to mind when it comes to the West right now. The Jets are for sure one of them because they're the best team, but we know their track record. The Edmonton Oilers are an interesting one as well, because Edmonton, they're in it right now. And, like, as much as you think about teams that are playing well, we talked about Dallas, we talked about Tampa, teams that are legit Stanley Cup contenders. Like, we're approaching the trade deadline. and the oilers are going into that with a blue line that consists of Bouchard,

Klingberg, Emberson, Stetcher, and I'm like, that doesn't scream Stanley Cup to me. You have to be able to rely on and lean on, you know, your top four.

We talked about it with Tampa. You know, when Hayskinin comes back, even without him, like, yeah, it's thinner in Dallas, but when Hayskinin comes back,

there's a top four you can really lean on. I don't know who you can really lean on there outside of like at home. At home you can really lean on. Darnell Nurse at times you can really lean on. But that's not enough of a top four to say that you guys are all playing 20 plus minutes against, you know, really, really stiff competition. So if you've got the ammo for one ad in Edmonton, is it blue line and you just trust Stuart Skinner or is it, do you look at one?

of the big name goalies who may or may not even be available. It's also worth noting, by the way, after they traded for Trent Frederick, they still have about $4.5 million in projected cap space, which is more than I would have thought. I hadn't dug into the salary ramifications of the Frederick trade. If they want to go get somebody else, they can. Dude, you know, it had a one million percent. If I have one bullet, it's on the blue line for the Oilers. I'm not even. even thinking about anything else.

Because if you want to make the goalie acquisition, how many times has the trade deadline goalie acquisition won you the cup or come close to it? I feel like it's been a long time. Maybe the last time was Dwayne Rollison in Edmonton. But if they could get, I think Connor Murphy has one year left at around four and a half, I mean,

I would move heaven and earth to try and get that guy to be a top four defenseman there. Like they need something like that. I know the fan base, like, it seems like they're done with Skinner. Like Daniel Nugent Bowman, who is our Oilers writer, he did like a, you know, mailbag call out for, for trade requests from the fan base. The one that he sent me and asked, asked me my opinion on was someone asked for, it was Kachetkov from Carolina in a fourth straight up for Stuart Skinner. And I'm like, you're just taken, you're taking one question mark and replacing it with a bigger question mark, right? Like I don't I don't know if I'm overly sold on Stuart Skinner.

He's been he's been terrible. But I think given the yeah, man, given the other options out there, I'm trying to, I'm trying to go get a defenseman. I don't know if I. I don't know if I. Jordan Biddington. Go ask Connor McDavid. Hey man, you ever, you ever played Jordan Biddington? How'd that go?

Is he any good when the chips are down and you needed a big save? Where is like Jordan Bendington just won for team Canada? It's like all of a sudden St. Louis is going to trade this guy when they're a point out of the playoffs. Like, the St. Louis is just, they're just as much in it as, as Calgary and Vancouver at this point and Utah for that matter. It comes, it comes from the same pipeline of fantasy BS that puts Sydney Crosby and Denver every, every, every, every 10 days.

Like, people don't care. They don't, they're not, they're not, they just want to, they just, they just, they just, they want, they just want, they just want, they just want, they just want, they just want, they just want, I think I've come from. I kind of, I don't, I don't need to name any names on that one. Oh, yeah. I'm very familiar with that shop. Oh, God.

Yeah, but whatever. Like, then it, then it ends up, it ends up everywhere else, you know? I mean, I get it. I get it. Everyone, everyone wants Sid to play for, play with Nathan McKinnon. Everyone wants Sid to ask us way out of Pittsburgh. Yeah. Everybody, everybody, everybody except for Sid.

Not everyone just, everyone fantasizes about this, like, magical run. And if it were to happen. like that the move gets made and the magical run doesn't happen. Do we all feel a little bit dirty? Like, do we feel like we know, we wish that this happened? And then we didn't get the outcome we wanted and we're like, now what? We ruined. We ruined something really nice.

Not me. I almost. I almost wanted to happen. Good stuff. Just for my own entertainment. I'm fine with that. And that brings us back to everybody's fantasy edition. bell of the ball at the 2020

2025 trade deadline. It's Brock Nelson. Oh, brother. And we should say, maybe that's why he was crying after the game. It wasn't that he didn't want to get traded. He was just like, really? I'm, this is what we're doing this week.

What's the most special part about playing here at UBS Arena for you? Everything. I mean, all of that. I think it's a great place, great fans. Yeah. We had a Brock Nelson heavy rumblings from Pierre yesterday,

by the way. He mentioned him in connection to the Devils and the Avalanche and, you know, he called him a home run swing for Colorado, which is grim, I think, as it relates to the, to the programming for the, for the deadline in a couple days. But we will, but we will see. He's a good player and he's going to go make some team better. Frankie, what are your deadline day plans? What are they got you doing? What's going on? I, uh, I got to work the Jets game tomorrow. doing a little sports center after that. And then deadline day, we're up at 8 a.m.

Eastern time. And I'm doing the big board, the trade bait board with the touchscreen technology all day long, keeping you up to speed on who's available, who's not available. And yeah, it'll be good. Are you just going to stay up after taking care of the girls at 4 o'clock in the morning or whatever? Like, what happens? Do you just, like, roll that into the day?

Like, how's that going to work? I will get every last. minute I can possibly get. Like if you're telling me there's 30 minutes of sleep up for grabs, I'm going to grab it. That's just, that's how I operate. And I'll say this so you don't have to. Let's hope there's a couple trades. Let's hope there's a shortage of stuff to talk about because there is a segment

that Frankie Kriato possibly has planned for, yeah, that is laser created for me specifically. And I think some people who listen to our show here. So let's go. We'll see. Like if it's a slow day, I've been tasked as being the general manager for a certain country that will be playing in the Olympics. That is not usually a hockey country in the Olympics to pick their team.

So could it be an outfit involved. We'll see. Not sure. It feels like SNL where like the cast is not sure if something's going to make it to air or not. To do it in dress. This one needs to kill it dress. We'll see what happens. Yeah.

And if it doesn't work out, guess what we're doing next week. Let's say, yes. It's great. It's going to be post deadline. We're going to have nothing to talk about. But for the time being, man, we're busy as hell. And you certainly are as well. So take it easy, brother.

And we'll talk next week. See you, boys. All right, we're back. And Sean, I would like to tell you what I've learned. What have we learned, Sean? I would like to hear it. I've learned that I've learned that. like the Spencer Knight trade because that's what we're calling it now.

Okay. It's not the Seth Jones trade. Just kidding. Spencer, how is that reaction? Your first home game here with the Chicago Blackhawks, you put on a great show. Way to go. Yeah, that's a team win right there. That's not just one person.

And I've always loved coming playing here as a way of quarter, but play here as a blackhawk is 10 times better. I like it more for the Black Oaks than I thought I did. I'm a very suggestible fella. I'm easily swayed by recent performances and things that are said in the wake of them. I had some nails Spencer Knight quote after his first start with the Blackhawks when he was fantastic. But another thing that sold me is a piece on the site. It's a combo job from Scott Powers and Jesse Granger just talking about why Chicago is in fact so optimistic about this guy. And it goes beyond what we saw against the LA Kings in his first start, you know, obviously fantastic there.

There's a bunch of good bits there from Blackhawks goalie consultant, Dan Ellis, which is a wild blast from the past for anybody who was on Twitter in 2011. Also just good stuff from Jesse, good stuff from Scott. We knew that Spencer Knight was, it was an elite prospect. He was the next guy not that long ago. And I think he's the exact kind of guy that Chicago. needs. He's worth rolling the dice on. If that's what they got back from a player who'd outlived his usefulness in Chicago and

Seth Jones, along with the first round pick, I think I'm pretty good with it. That's a guy who I'm willing to, you know, roll the dice on and see, see how they, see how they, see how things pan out. I haven't read the piece. Are you telling me Jesse Granger likes a goaltender? Yes. He's, oh, interesting. Okay.

We need to, we need to get him on record. for goalies that he doesn't like. Yeah, I want that. Give me a goal you hate, Jesse. I like the trade for the Hawks a lot. And that probably won't surprise people who listened last week when I explained why I didn't think they'd be able to get a Seth Jones deal done, period. They not only did they do it, they did it. I would say retaining as much of the salary as they could without it being a problem.

you know, a big problem. It's going to be a medium-sized problem, but it's, it's, uh, that, that was about as high as I would have been comfortable going. Um, and they didn't go any higher. And they got a first round pick and a good, a good prospect who's not really a prospect anymore, um, age wise, but, you know, I mean, he said his ups and downs on and off the ice. So, uh, you're, you're not quite sure what you're getting.

The one thing with him that's interesting is, he hasn't established himself. as an NHL goalie, as a 1 or a 1A guy yet, didn't have that opportunity, obviously, in Florida with Robrovsky in front of him. But what's interesting is he's already being paid like one. Yeah, true. And I was surprised.

I had to be reminded of the fact that he's getting 4.5 this year and next, which is fine if you're Chicago. They've got the room. We know where they're at the rebuilding curve. but I do wonder what that next contract looks like. Definitely, definitely true. That's going to be an interesting piece to me to see before we can necessarily fully evaluate this. And they can do that this summer.

So, you know, we would maybe put a pin in that. But I thought a Seth Jones move would be essentially we're going to retain some salary and not get much back. And instead, they retained a bit more salary and got potentially a significant package back. I thought that was a great work by Chicago. He had almost a 9, 10 save percentage and, you know, five goals saved above expected in 23 appearances with the Panthers. Like he had make, he had taken some real strides towards getting the bloom back on the rows

after after a rough couple years. So I don't know. The other, the other flip side of it now is, it's also kind of interesting, like not, if I'm Florida, that's,

wouldn't, wouldn't mind having a guy like that around for, for the next for the next couple months. So it's, it's interesting. I think it makes, I think it makes the Blackhawks more interesting moving forward because we don't have to pretend that Arvid,

Soder, Blm, or whoever is, is going to be, is going to be a long-term answer there. Like, it's, it's,

it's good to have a lot. Yeah. It's, it's, it's in a way, it's, it's, it's kind of like San Jose going on and get NASCAR off at the beginning of the year, right?

Like you, you, it's, it's tough. As a rebuilding team, it's really tough to get the goaltender part. Because it's, you know, you can't just tank, get a top five pick and go, oh, we'll just take the best goalie. That's not how it works as far as drafting goalies.

We rarely see them in the first round period, and certainly not with high picks. And then if you do pick the guy, it might be five years of development before you see any payoff on that. So it is, ideally, you just hit on somebody, maybe even earlier in the process and you've got that guy ready to go. Otherwise, you've got a trade for him. And we've seen San Jose and Chicago both do it. As far as what I've learned, rebuilding teams that maybe already have their goalie set up or maybe not. But what I've learned is the Montreal Canadians.

Not dead. Not out of it. Feeling feisty. Not at all. Five straight wins and back one point out of the playoffs, one point behind the Rangers for the last wildcard spot. Which is crazy. it's the thing that's so interesting about the Eastern race to me right now,

apart from the fact that so many teams are packed in there for those wildcards is the Rangers and certainly the Bruins may not even be, they may be selling, I guess is the way, like we, the Rangers kind of already did with the Colorado deal. Boston, I mean, we don't know what's going to happen with Marchand. We don't know what's going to happen with other guys. So it's possible that that race is out. actually going to thin itself out, not from teams losing, but from teams kind of voluntarily

exiting. And it was a wild night last night. It was one of those weird nights where if you were a team like Ottawa that didn't even play, you had a great night because everybody left points on the table. But that's usually not the way it goes. Usually it goes the other way. So I think it's an interesting race. It is open.

you would assume Montreal is still selling at the deadline, although they were not a team that had any big pieces to set. Like they weren't. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is this is Jake Evans slander. What are you talking about here? I think he was number three on the big board. They broke everybody's heart by signing Jake Evans to an extent.

How could you do this to us this close to the deadline? Is there still time to like pump up the David Savard is? actually, I mean, he's really just Ben Chirot, just a little bit younger is, is really the, let's see where David Savard lands on the most recent trade board from our buddy Chris Johnston. It's going to be up there. Control F. Stavard. No, number 40.

Okay, that's reasonable. Are you, like, I think that's about where he belongs. Are you selling if you're Montreal? Are you even buying and, you know, when I say buying, they're not going to be, you would assume, in on a like a Brock Nelson style rental. But are you looking to say maybe we can get a little bit better? And, and again, we say this, we've been saying this for a year with teams like Detroit and Ottawa.

And I think those two teams are past this point, but Montreal is in this zone. Just playing meaningful games can matter. You would like Nick Suzuki and Cole Cofield to play some important hockey for the first time in their NHL careers. You'd like Lane Hudson to get that experience. of playing some big playoff style games, even if they don't end up being playoff games.

It's interesting. And it's not a conversation I would have remotely thought we'd be having them out to Montreal Canadians two weeks ago when they seemed completely cooked. But five straight wins, 10 at 10 points, that'll change things. Somewhat unrelated. I like how hard it is to find the NHL standings on NHL.com. Isn't that cool?

Yeah. How you have to click four different things to find the standings on the on the on the on the on the on the league's official site. I think that's great. That's great. That's not an issue for me because when I I'm on that page so much that when I press and on my keyboard, it just like auto fills the standings. What I really like is that they do have the the, the useful feature that you can check the standings on any date. Yeah. But I love it when you at you don't realize that you're checking the standings and it's like prefilled it with like a previous date.

So you just sitting here like the Canadians are cooked. what a bum bunch of two. And then you realize you're looking at the standings from a week ago and everything has completely changed. I was looking at the standings from January 30th when Montreal had lost two straight and they had 53 points. That's not useful. No. But yeah, they're a point out. And they're certainly playing a point out and no, no like games in hand silliness or anything like that.

No silliness. The senators are the team that has the one game in hand, but that's not. much of anything. And again, it's, it's Columbus. Fantastic story. We're all written for Columbus, but believe it when we see it with, with them. The Rangers who may or may not even be in this or think that they're still in it, you've got the Red Wings, the Senators, and the Habs are right there. And then Boston fading. And the Islanders, who knows what they do with the, as far as selling, because they're a little bit in. Yeah.

But who know, you never know with Lou, right? No. As we're contractually mandated to say, you never know with Lou. But yeah, the vibes are good with Montreal out of that group and possibly no one else right now.

And I think that counts for something. All right, Sean, what's going on with you this week? I'm trying to imagine what's happening with you on deadline day. I will be around. I will be chipping in on the, we put the full court press, the full team effort

going both on the site and on the pod. So I will be a part of that and I will, you know, just looking to contribute where needed, wherever they need to drop me in the lineup, I'm happy to be there. And, you know, if, if that means my ice time gets cut a little bit,

no problem, you know, I'll kill penalties. I'll do whatever. I'm looking forward to. I'll drop the gloves off the face. off. Why not? I'm looking forward to doing the emergency Anthony Bavillier trade podcast with you. That's right. It's just going to be a deep sigh and then six minutes of silence and then you'll hear my

shoulders shrug. I love it. I love a good. I love a good deep DGB sigh. All right, folks. Thanks for listening to the show. Haley and I have the next one on Thursday. We're going to have a bunch of stuff for you on Friday.

As we've said, No Mac and do next week. Enjoy your time away from me, my friend. Did I just get traded and this is how I found out about it? Yeah. I'm going to be somewhere warm. Wow. I better be.

Put it that way. Tell me where that'll be off, Mike. All right. Make me even more jealous. Everyone, enjoy your week. We'll talk you again in a couple of days.