The Athletic Hockey Show - Why does Gary Bettman love the NHL playoff format?

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

The General Manager meetings are in the books. Michael Russo joins Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn for a full recap on the event, including goalie interference clarification, the player safety department getting a vote of confidence, if the NHL has relaxed there standards on head-shots and why the current NHL playoff format will remain. Plus, Sean and Dom discuss Sidney Crosby's return from injury, the Sens and Avs getting goalied last night and Jack hughes clarifying his comments on the Hockey Hall of Fame.Host: Sean Gentille With: Dom Luszczyszyn and Michael RussoExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff DometWatch 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. What up, what up? It's Sean Jinteli here. This is the Athletic Hockey Show. It is Thursday. March 19th. I got the date right again, despite producer Jeff's best efforts. But March 12th in the rundown, how dare you? You know, I'll just read whatever's on this thing and not think about it. Join today by Don Lus Jish and Haley Savian's at the Women's Frozen Floor.

So we needed someone to fill in. That's Dom's job. Mike Russo is also joining us a little bit later for some post-GM meetings recap, but again, first off, hello, Dominic. Hello, how's it going? Always a pleasure to be here, although it's annoying that I'm not here with both my friends. I got a custody here. Yeah, we, I get you on Wednesdays and every other weekend, I think, is the way the judge brought

stuff down on us. Oh, I just want my parents back. It's okay. It's a new kind of family. Don't a little bit. It'll be okay, buddy. Pretty, you know what? I don't want to say it was a busy last night in the NHL,

but it was fairly eventful. Let's take a spin there before we talk to Russo, who's again back in Minnesota after a few days in Florida. Tough life for him. Big news last night, Cindy Kraz, he's back. He'd missed 11 games post-Olympics injury. That was a crazy Carolina. to overtime win over the penguins shocking shocking stuff there it was truly crazy for two reasons

Sydney Crosby scored who could have seen that coming and also the Pittsburgh penguins lost in a shootout I think those those were two guaranteed outcomes at the start of that one one wasn't it yeah and also a lot of goals considering the goaltenders were Stuart Skinner and Frederick Anderson it was an exciting game no lead felt safe at all for either team messaging about it last night and I said five four penguins, John goes regulation win, question mark. Question mark exclamation point. I was like, no, no. Simply impossible. No, not today, folks. It is commendable that the penguins keep getting these

participation points. It's kept them in the hunt. But it'd be nice if they're five and 16 after the third period, dude. it'd be nice if they won some of those in the shootout. One in ten in the shootout now. Like this is their... Worker practicing. One hour of shootouts.

I think that's happening. I think it might just be bad at it. This is proof that no matter how much you practice it's something, sometimes you just suck. And I think that might be what we're seeing here. It's gone past like it's gone past the bad luck, the bad luck and end of things. Come to bring back the leg kick backhand.

They need to. just pick they need to just move move with speed again i i that's my that's my big theory is that the the goaltenors have adjusted to the to the slow play move and guys just need to start coming coming as fast as they can go it can't it can't be can't go worse than anything we've seen from them otherwise um traded for a shootout specialist that's that's the key right there dust it off eric christensen penguins penguins legend who's the first player to come to when you're like shootout specialist. UC Okina.

Oh man. The juice box. Two penguins legends. Bring them back. Get T.J. Osi rivalry special at a retirement. Broadcaster, Extraordinary, T.J.O.C.

I think a big takeaway from that game for me is that something bad has happened to Chris Lattang. He's gotten progressively worse over the course of the season. On for two goals last night. 3210 course he disadvantaged, shot attempt to disadvantage for him. In X goal, sharing the teens. I've seen a little bit too much of that from him lately. I fear that the age and curve for him has gotten quite steep.

We just spent the Wednesday show gassing up Eric Carlson, rightfully so, for how good he's been. But the flip side of the coin, when you're talking about aging, formerly elite offensive defenseman is Chris Luton. he's been he's been rough yeah it's been a tough go father time comes for us all and it's come for chris letang and it is great that carlson's playing the way he has because i think coming in the season you expected both of them to be like pretty good and instead you have one guy who's awesome and one guy who kind of stinks and it's sort of like averages out um Carlson like he's looking vintage every night. He's playing tough minutes for the penguins and doing well at both ends the ice. It's crazy to see. And it'd be like you could you think of what this team could be

if LaTang could just turn back the clock two or three years. Do something. Maybe that happens in the playoffs. Should they make it, that'd be something that can get them past the first round and maybe farther if they get a Carolina team, they can score five goals on. We talked about Carlson a lot yesterday, like I said, but I wanted to ask you specifically here. Like, in your purview, what has changed for him year over year? Because I think in some regards, you know, there are underlying numbers that are similar, but, you know, there's a decidedly different feel about the ways he's gone about, you know, the process here. Yeah, well, part of it, he said himself earlier in the season, previous coach, we'll leave him unnamed, wanted him to

be something he's not. And Carlson's at his best. when he can just be himself. And he's not only had the free reign to do that this year, he's had a partner who allows him to do that. And I think having someone who's defense first, who's steady, who's solid, who's got the Mark Motho energy, I think has always been where he's been at his best,

where he doesn't necessarily have to worry about being this defensive stalwart, because that's not his game. And he can really bring the heat offensively do a lot his own, he still has his fastball in that way. And I think being able to play that way and having the support has allowed him to not have as many defensive screw-ups as years past where the confidence is up. And I just, I wouldn't say he was bad previously. It just looked like he was getting that age curve feel that we're seeing with the Tang where he just wasn't himself anymore. This looks like a return to form. He was getting big mistake. I think,

I think that's what was going on with him last year, which, like, maybe not necessarily enough to push, you know, the underlines in a truly, in a truly brutal direction. But the mistakes that he was making were egregious and costly. Like,

like the sequencing of the mistakes were also bad, right? So a lot of them were happening in third periods, you know, with one goal leads. And I think that's a big part of what's changed the dialogue around them so far. Okay. The Ottawa Senators 4-1 loss did the caps last night

They got goalied It's Logan Thompson was incredible again 34 saves Got goalied Can you imagine such a thing 34 saves on 35 shots for Thompson More than three goals saved above Expected I think he's I think he's tops

In the league in that category at this point Probably Probably gonna be a Vezna finalist We'll certainly deserve it But to me this loss Is about the Sends I know there's a lot of people who are freaking out about what it means for their playoff, for their playoff hopes.

You know, people are throwing out. They've got to go 11, 0, and 2 and whatever else. Dom, I know on your playoff odds, they're, though things are looking a little bit rosier. So explain because I think that deviates from what we've seen, you know, from the larger body here. Yeah, they have to start getting some wins together and they start to have to start, have to start turning this massive possession advantage and defensibility into actual wins. But they still have a 45% chance because I don't think they have to go 11, 2 and 2 or whatever it is. They have to probably get to 97 or 98 points, which is a little easier than that.

The big thing is that the teams ahead of them are not the best. You can say it. It's a pile of mid in front of them. And there's two teams, I think, that are catchable. And honestly, other than Tampa, Carolina, Buffalo, maybe in Montreal, I don't think any of the next four are as safe as the record might feel. And you look what they're on pace for. I think Boston's on pace for like 100 or something points.

I don't think they're going to land there because of how difficult their schedule is going forward how much they've been outchance this season. Their schedule, they're playing, I think, the second type of schedule league. They have a lot of road games where they've been particularly brutal this year, where it wouldn't be hard to see Boston fall off and Ottawa take over. The issue is that there's still Columbus lurking there. They just have to hope that one of these teams falls off and I think the chance is was good before last night's loss now it's a little less good they've dropped from like 55 to 45 percent they're on the bubble they can still make it happen they just need these teams that don't look great on paper to actually start looking apart

because they're they continue to rack up wins in in some ways uh the Bruins man I'm trying to I'm trying to find certain wins for them on the schedule moving forward I don't they got the Jets tonight, you know, maybe you can write that one in pencil. Maple Leafs on March 24th. Other than that, it's a bunch of teams that are either in the playoffs or have played like they could conceivably be there over the last little bit. I'll throw Florida and Philadelphia in there, honestly, too, because they've been, you know, decent for the last few weeks in both those cases.

So, yeah, man, there's a, there's a, if there's one team, and I think that this is kind of the upshot for me, if you're, if you're talking about, you know, Ottawa, maybe to a lesser extent, Columbus, you know, they certainly look like a better bet. If there's one team that you could maybe pick off, to me, the primary target should be Boston. And I don't know, and maybe I'm giving the Detroit Red Wings too much credit because they'd be out of the playoffs today based on points percentage. And God knows we've seen what's happened to them in March over the last couple years. But if you force me to say, you know, one of those two teams in the wild card based on points today is going to fall out, and you can only pick one, I still kind of think it would be Boston, too. Yeah.

And I think looking at the schedule, the fact they have two road games against Columbus probably works against their favorite. The way Columbus is playing since Rick Bonas took over, the fact both those games are on the road where we've already said Boston struggles, those are huge. four-point games in the wild-card race, and you'd probably lean in Columbus's direction right now, and that is obviously must-win territory. Detroit as well. Again, another road game,

where it's one reason to feel a bit more optimistic about Detroit's chances instead, because that should be a game, the Red Wings win this Saturday. Dallas, Colorado, though, we saved the best for last. That was the marquee matchup of the evening, I would say.

who Dallas wins Colorado got goalieed Jay got injured big big game Dallas is now within two points of Colorado which is crazy in that game though man Colorado out shoots Dallas 2712 at even strength

34 18 overall then X-coal share of 64% at 5 on 5 Scott Wedgwood was was fine right like I don't think that's a that's an instance where he can blame the loss on the goaltender.

Dom, do you have any degree of concern about the Colorado avalanche right now? Because we just spent part of the Wednesday show, you know, edging around the idea that maybe, you know, they've been a 90-point team since, you know, January 1 or whatever. Are you feeling the same way about them? I'm still feeling confident about Colorado. I think they're probably the best team in the league. And as long as Landis Cog is in the last,

line for the playoffs, I think they'll be okay. Their record without him this year is comically low given the rest of the skill on the team. They really just need to get their power play working. I thought Cadre would have a bigger effect immediately, but they're still working through it. The game looked a lot like last year's first round loss against Dallas, where they got injured almost every night and they carried the run of play. They just couldn't find a goal and that part worries me a little bit but it feels like even last night was more overwhelming than what we saw last year that I I know I think it's fine I feel better with McKenzie Blackwood in that and I was a bit surprised that Wedgwood got the start after getting

shelled on Monday but I don't know I they'll be fine they're Colorado they saw McKin McCarr they have unreal depth it'll be okay We're going to clip that one and save it whenever they lose in the first round. Oh, great. Let's go to Russo. The first round and the first round. The second round. No, they're going to lose this.

They're going to lose to Seattle or whatever, yeah, sure. San Jose, that'd be sick. I'll take that. I'll take a San Jose, Colorado first round match-up until it's over in 15 minutes. Give you all that. Let's go to Russo. He's back in Minnesota from Florida with everything you need to know about the GM meetings. We'll be right back.

All right. joined by Mike Russo. He made the trip from West Palm Beach back up to Minneapolis yesterday. That's a, that's a fun one. Have you gotten sick yet from the temperature change is the question. No, I haven't. I haven't. But actually, the weather was crap down there. It wasn't like when you and I were there a couple of years ago. But man, it was, first of all, a ridiculous delay. Like, it couldn't, there were broken sinks on the plane, so then they start breaking in. Of course, I knew exactly what was going to happen. An hour, after they tried to fix it. They're like, oh, we can't fix it,

so we're going to put a bunch of wet naps in there. I'm like, do that, like every regional jet I've ever been on like that. So just do it an hour. I've never been on with a work, never been on with a working sink. It's always like a half working toilet.

Like, it's okay. And then we have like ridiculous headwind. So, I mean, that, the flight just felt emily. A commuter jet.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, it wasn't a computer jet, but it felt like it should have been. Great. All right.

Let's start, let's start with the funniest part about this. I saw a quote or a tweet from Alan Walsh yesterday that made a bunch of waves talking about a contentious exchange, a scraping match of some sort between an unnamed general manager and commissioner Gary Batman at the general manager meetings. One of your write-ups with Pierre coming out of the meetings just came out and said it. According to League sources, Hurricanes GM Eric Tolski raised the ire of Bettman when he suggested that the standard had slipped on headshots. the commissioner said to have retorted that it was Tulski's team owner Tom Dundon

who was making him bring that up whatever the cases managers were buzzing about it after the meeting. So I please tell me everything you know about this exchange because I need more information. I will say I talked to a couple GMs yesterday at the airport that basically

did tell me that it wasn't a shouting match that he was level headed Tulski which you know you would expect from him and measured in his column but he basically said that he felt like it was slipping that we were, that we, me in the league, was essentially, you know, justifying, you know, that's probably the wrong word, but allowing, allowing headshots when they say unavoidable contact. And, you know, I think we all know that Gary Batman is very sensitive

to this topic for many reasons and basically retorted back with, with, with that accusation, which I think, you know, kind of had had GMs buzzing, as he said. But I think Tulski was standing up for what he thinks was right, not only just protecting his players, but talking about the league in general. I respect it. I think it says a lot about his confidence right now, you know, being a youngish GM in this, to, you know, nobody loves to go up against Gary, who we all know is the boss. I think what was more contentious with Pat Verbeek and his belief that the goalie interference standards are slipping. And I think they are. You know, like, they brought us, they trotted to all of us in media into that room last year

and showed us the same video that they showed the GMs of bully appearances. And basically we came away from it with the belief that if you go into the crease on your own volition and make contact with the goalie, it's now on you and the goal is going to be disallowed. And then they allow the one with Sputzel the other day. And I think Spitzel is even surprised. I know that Pat Ravik was definitely surprised. And now it just opens up a real can of worms here because, you know, these goalie, these video coaches have major decisions to make in the playoffs.

And you want a standard that you are going to be confident on when the cost of that is a power play. And now, you know, I think it's back to like nobody knows what the situation. And I respect what goes on in that situation. I was just in Toronto last month or in January and sat in them with those guys. I love doing it. I've done it probably about six or seven times. and I think that they all do a great job in there, but I don't know what happened on this one.

And I think it does open up a can of worms, and I think that's what some of the GMs are feeling right now. Isn't part of what they're trying to do there is like gauging the intent of the goaltender? Like it seems like that's the can of worms that's been open. And you're like, all right, the goalie, we think maybe the goalie was trying to sell a little bit. Like maybe he was hampered, maybe he wasn't.

And that just by definition is going to make things more complicated, right? Because you're trying to gauge intent. You're trying to infer, you know, could he do his job? Like, could he not? And I was like you. I think we're on the same page there, at least as of last year, it seemed like that's the kind of thing that they were trying to move away from, was to try to make it a little bit more of a black and white thing where it's like if you go into the paint and you impede him

at all, we're not going to try to guess like it's a penalty. But it doesn't seem like that's the way it's being called. year. Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. And I think there is something to it, right? You know, you don't want goalies flopping around left and right. But the way that rule book is written, it is, you know, if ASE does say that you have to prevent the goaltender from being able to make the save. And so, you know, I get where the situation room there, they're trying to figure out, all right, did that really affect who so for making that save? But I think that, you know, from somebody that didn't play the position, when you are all of a sudden,

and offline because now you're right pad and skater being pushed back. I think it's hard to sit there and say that that that is not incidental contact and goal interference by Spitzla in that situation. And now if this happens in the playoff, it's a big problem. Now, Coley Campbell did say, look, this is not like the Brett Hold Day is in 99 where you can't go into the crease. This is, you are allowed in the crease. But, you know, to me, this was one where he is driving the net. So Huso's standing his ground and it has no idea that he's about to be made contact with. He's in his blue. I just think the smartest decision by the league here would have been just to disallow the goal.

And now, I think video coaches around the league are going to be real gun-shy on holy macro. What do we do here come playoff? Right. We had Betman, of course, this is standard operating procedure for the general manager meetings, comes out in defense the playoff format. says he's more than comfortable with it gives us a sensational first round probably the best playoff first round in any sport

which I don't I don't disagree with but Mike you tell me if I'm off base here I think part of the reason he he likes the playoff I think part of the reason he likes the playoff format so much is because it's important that they make

the product as good as it possibly can be when you have 16 fan bases they're engaged right like you because we've we've seen year after year that it's really tough for the NHL to capture a larger American audience. So you might as well lock in, you know, the Sabres and the Wild and Pittsburgh and all these markets that you know can float the TV number as much as you possibly can. And that's the easiest way to do that is in the first round. So of course, Gary Vettman likes the first round.

This is not news. Yeah. Well, you know, he almost said the, you know, the dirty little secret out loud yesterday, the longer, You know, it is true. Like when you look back to like back to 2013 to now to the conference finals, conference finals have been pretty uncompetitive and don't go past six or seven games. You know, I think it's like 27% of games have gone to seven years. So like, I mean, you know, I covered that Carolina, Florida series with you last year.

It wasn't very competitive. The one three years ago was certainly not. That ended in a sweep. And this is what happens. I personally think that when you have 16 fan bases in it, that if you didn't, one through eight. All those eyeballs would be on it as well. And I think that the playoffs, just the first round is by by by nature in this league is going to create for the best, best product on the ice. I think that you're going to have upsets and things like that anyway.

Like even Bill Guerin said to me, who's a big, you know, is a big proponent of one verse eight. He said, look, be careful what you wish for. Anybody could beat anybody on any given night. But what he likes is the competitiveness, the fact that all the eyeballs are on it and that the, that the first ground matchups can go long. But I don't think that helps the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Minnesota wild owners or fan bases to be happy when all of a sudden they're potentially out after round one and certainly round two.

It's insane that they have a format where potentially the top three teams in the league that two of them are going to face in the first round and one are going to be out after two. It's just about that. And I'm just shocked that Gary, who's the lone proponent of this, that I can, is when anytime you ask, first of all, any fan hates it. You know, GMs I talk to don't like it.

Players and coaches don't like it. I think league executives don't like it. Gary likes it. And we know that Gary is the boss, even though the owners are the ones that are potentially, like he's just somehow convinced them that it's better. And look, to your point, Sean, too, like we see it in our athletic numbers, right? I mean, like, like as the playoffs go along, our numbers go down and down.

And it's because hockey fans in general are provincial. If you're a Minnesota wild fan, if you're a New York Rangers fan, if you're a Buffalo Saberton, you want to read and watch your team. But once your team's out, you don't really pay attention to the conference finals. It doesn't matter if the Columbus Blue Jackets are playing in a really captivating seven-game series. Exactly. You just don't care. And I think that's how Gary feels.

I think they must have the analytics to show that this is the way to go. But just say that. Like, if you have a competitive situation here, The regular season does mean nothing in this situation. You know, I just said this on another show. Like, to me, this isn't, I've covered this lead since 95. I covered back when you played inside your division six, eight times sometimes. Okay.

That is, that would make for a smart divisional format playoff system. But right now, the schedules are essentially balanced. It's idiotic, in fact. The fact, and it's because there's so many teams, but the fact that you are essentially inside your division playing three or four times. So if you're playing teams in your side of division three time, it's the exact number of times you're playing in the other side of your conference. So essentially, you're all playing essentially the same schedule.

And the fact that you could play 82 games like that and then not have a one through eight that you're going back into a divisional format, it makes absolutely no sense. It's built on a fallacy that these are already just by nature, great rivalries because they're in the same division. That's not necessarily true. Good rivalries come from frequency of competition. And if that, that should happen during the regular season, it does not. And because it doesn't, regular season rivalries have like, what's the, there's historical rivalries, right? But you remember when we'd randomly get bits and pieces where two teams, just because they face each other so frequently in the regular season,

wound up hating each other. That's where the fun is. It's not because there's a chance that they play each other in the playoffs every now and then. Well, here's another little example. If the NHO was running the Olympics by their standards with a playoff format, the Canada and the U.S. would have played in the quarter. But yet you know in the World Cup next year when the U.S. and Canada go up to Calgary for the round robin that the league is going to do everything possible to try to make sure that those teams are going to wind up in the end of the semi-farm. So why are you doing that? If this, This is the playoff format that you're going with in your actual 82 game season.

It's just, you know, again, it's money and it's, I, look, I usually actually, like, you know, there are a lot of agents out there. Definitely the players association that over the years have accused me of being an apology for Gary Beth. I usually do agree with a lot of things. This is the one phone that I've had with him for a while on this. And I think he's just stubborn here and he just doesn't want to, you know, you know, Not Gary.

And me yesterday, when I got him going on the subject, I think he just eventually admitted it that, you know, like the first round in the NFL. It was as close as I've ever seen him come to just like say it. And look, I get it. Like I watched the NBA and my God, I mean, they talk about an uncompetitive first round. Like, I mean, it's just, you know, I get it. But I think you're going to get that in any system because this sport is just, you know, it's tremendous.

The first round series are always going to be the best. by also nature of how physical this sport is, you know, by the time, I mean, I covered that Florida Degas Stanley Cup final. I mean, there were guys on a Florida team that couldn't walk. I mean, it was unbelievable the number of major injuries that players are playing through. It is just, it's an abusive game that as the rounds go,

go further, you're just going to get beat up here. So I think in the first round, to matter what system you're going to have. You're going to have upsets. You're going to have competitive hockey no matter what. But to me, to have a setup where you're going to have the top three teams and division have a much harder path to make the Stanley Quinal than Utah or Anaheim is just absolutely ridiculous. And the fact that Gary just continues to be a proponent on this is insane. And I just think it's ridiculous that the owners who are his boss, essentially, you know, don't step up and point this out and change the system.

I mean, it's just ridiculous. him cook. It's priorities in the wrong place and it's just very annoying as someone who lived through it in Toronto for a decade and Minnesota and Dallas and Colorado are going to live through it as well. And it just feels like force feeding rivalries instead of letting them develop organically. And I think part of the way they develop is that the intensity builds as you go through the playoffs and you think of probably the greatest rivalry during the 90s, which is Detroit, Colorado. They didn't mean. meet in the first round. They man the second or third round because they're the best teams in the

league. And because there was a Stanley Cup final birth online, a conference final birth online, those rivalries became more intense. And you're not going to get the same thing in the first round. Yeah, I agree with you. Dom, I am so distracted by how cool your condo is. It's ridiculous. Oh, my God. I mean, how much. Very high ceiling. How about a hockey show playing you guys? He's getting Russo money, baby. Come on. God. I got the guitars. hanging up, the records, Wathfield, downtown Toronto. Oh my goodness.

Bruce, but before we let you go, just like last thing, because I know you got a role. George Perro stands by his work. He said that. Gary Betman does too. Are there any changes coming in your foresight? Even a minor one, like adding

a former skill player to that group. Is there something, is anything going on? Well, Ray Whitney used to be part of the group. I'm not sure if he still is. I mean, Ryan gets last part of the group now. The one thing I'll just say is that until the NHLPA is the one that really, you know, goes to the league and wants to changes, it's not going to change. I mean, it's always, you know, just kind of like, you know, the dynamics always crazy in pro sports, right?

You have a commissioner that's essentially hired by the owners, but he's the boss. And it's the same thing. You have the NHLPA when an injury like this happens, it's like they got to be a proponent for both Arthur Matthews, but also they have to be a conduit for Rocco Goudis. And so it's just this weird dynamic. But they're the ones that collectively bargain this system here. And the fact, you know, I think that the reason why they went to max to five games is because now if there's a, if there's a appeal, it goes right to Gary and not to a neutral arbitrator. I just don't think the league wanted to go through that process again because it does

seem, especially after the Ryan Hartman one, that the PA is. going to appeal everything to a neutral arbitrator and it just creates, frankly, it creates a lot of paperwork. You know, Gary just wants to enjoy the last month. No, I'm just being a lot. Everyone, everyone hates, everyone hates paperwork. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's like, I was reading the Ryan Hartman thing after Gary wrote him. Like, my God, I'd be ticked if I was a commissioner and had a rightful synopsis and, you know, deposition and all that stuff. Um, so anyway, uh, I, I just think I'm the NHLPA wants to change, they're, they're just going to side with the process that George

Perros has here. You know, the reality is historically here, you know, there has not been a ton of me, like when I covered the league in the 90s, it was a freaking epidemic. This was not your typical kneeing. You know, this one, this wasn't even your typical Rocco-Guda's knee. He was trying to go stick on pop. He was offline and he just reacted poorly. It was just a poorly executed. I don't know about that. Does Radco Gudis... Super 567 has a different take on this one.

Does Radco Gudis deserve the benefit of the doubt when he already eliminated... I just think it was a clumsy, clumsy check here. A clumsy check from Radcoe Gutis. That's fine. That's what he does. He's just a little clumsy out there. Oh, brother. You know?

We need more... I was just clumsy. Just eliminating North American captains left and right from his clumsiness. Dude who's cloniness. I'm captain on captain. See? I just,

I do feel like they, they went to the max here. You know, I think it's the system in the whole. You know, I think it's, I think it's the appeal process that created them that just like,

you know what? I think it'll go through the trouble. We're going to have a phone here and give them five. They want to appeal. It's just going to go to Gary, you know, save a bunch of money.

We're hiring lawyers and going to the new full arbitrator and all this stuff. Everything is about money. We just proved it with the playoff format So we're thinking that really That they that they wanted to give the NHLPA a chance to appeal and go to a new Arbitur and then they got to hire out with the whole

lawyer system This is this is why we need Connor McDavid To keep speaking out Before he's a North American captain at the next at the next International event because if he is Rod Kilgutis will be coming for him too So let's so let's keep talking Connor Let's let's let's push this border up the hill

Because it seems like that's the only way anything's going to change Mike, thanks for the time, dude. We'll talk to you down the road. Yeah, see you guys. All right, we're back. Thanks to Rousseau. Glad he survived being on an airplane that didn't have a functioning sink.

Sounds hellish, truly hellish. Tom, our third segment now, I feel like this is going back to the Olympics, is just bookmarked for whatever wackiness. Jack Hughes is getting himself into on a given day. We talked about it on Wednesday. his remarks about the gold medal puck not ending up in his pocket.

He's very upset about it, telling Greg Wischinski that he's trying to get it like that's bull crap that they didn't say crap that the Hackela of Fame has it, in my opinion. Why would they have that puck? Rhetorical question from Jack Hughes. Walk some of that back on Thursday. Quotes electric from him here.

This is after. This is after a game yesterday. I mean, listen, I'm obviously honored that the puck's there. This is after the devil's 6-3 win against the Rangers on Wednesday, because I forgot who they played and what the score was. I mean, listen, I'm obviously honored that the puck's there. I mean, it's the most special place in hockey. I'm honored that it's there.

When asked about the comments, the other comments, Hugh said, obviously things were taken crazy. That's just the way I felt. I didn't know where the puck was, so it is what it is. he's what do we expect from Jack Hughes just generally what did anybody expect him to say

I think that's the fundamental problem here and I didn't quite hit this yesterday like we've seen it over the course of the last over the last few weeks Jack not a guy who looks before he leaps I don't think he's thinking too much about the words

that are coming out of his mouth until they're out in the ether. And I think this is just the latest example of that. He told the truth. He's upset about it now. He's like, I don't know what anybody was so mad about. I just said it was bullshit that the Hockey Hall of Fame has a gold medal puck. I go, like, what's the big deal?

And I think it comes down to like a fundamental issue that we've all brought up at one point or another. everyone wants hockey players a show personality without considering that sometimes you might not like those personalities and I think that's what we saw from Jack yesterday I think that's what we saw from Jack the day before I think for some people that's what we saw from Jack

in the immediate aftermath of the gold medal game and now here we are he's stepping on rakes left and right this is side show Bob Hughes and he's stepping on rakes that he planted himself it's it's it is a sense of entitlement uh that the puck would just naturally belong to him i understand to some extent where he's coming from because that is obviously the most important goal of his life and he did say he wanted it for his dad's personal collection but i think

when you score on most important goals in american hockey history that's something that should be shared with everyone in America. And obviously, it's ironic that's in Canada because that's where the Hockey Hall of Fame is and maybe there should be a U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. I don't know. But it's just...

So you don't want memorabilia or artifacts venerating the United States hockey program in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Is that what you're saying, Don? I won't be personally visiting it. It's there already. It's under glass, man. They set a land speed record on getting that set up.

I think the fundamental problem here is that Jack Hughes clearly is a kid who did not watch Indiana Jones growing up. It doesn't understand the concept of things belonging in a museum. That's all the Hockey Hall of Fame is. Watch Mr. 3,000 instead and saw the 3,000 baseballs. T-Rex-Pennivaker. Is that Jack Hughes? name. Yeah, and credits it with Shinsky, too, because he's the one who got that story, and he followed

it. He gets, he gets Philip Richard, the man himself, to go on record saying, unfortunately, in the easiest words, it was never Jack's puck to own. It's been donated to us now. For every artifact that's been donated, we have a paper trail and signed paperwork of where it's come from. So he's saying, like, yeah, I, Jack, we all want things, I suppose. Jack wants that puck, good luck with him because he, because he ain't getting it. It's, you get pucks for your, your hat tricks and your four goal games and your mile, your personal milestones. You, I do feel for him in a sense because that one is, it's too important. It's too important. I don't. I don't. I don't feel bad for him. I don't feel

bad for him. I don't, I don't feel bad for him. I, I understand where he's coming from because players do get their own pucks from personal accomplishments. This is a team accomplishment and he happened to be the guy who scored. So it's just a blurred line that I don't think he understands the way he maybe should. It's like the most special place in hockey. So yeah, I'm honored that it's there. That's what he's saying on Thursday. Different.

After several people talk to him, perhaps. Different approach. Yeah, maybe he had some conversations on Thursday. Thursday morning to set him up for that one. I hope this is over with. I can't I can't keep doing this every week. What like what, what trap has Jack Hughes set for himself and then then immediately falling into?

Like stop talking for a while. Miss, miss the playoffs, you know, keep, keep rehabbing and, and all that stuff and come back and have an MVP season next year. Like, just take,

take a breather. Stop talking for a while. Stop talking. Show up places with your girlfriend, Tate McCray. And that's all you got to do to become and continue being a household name. He's just, it's been an interesting couple of weeks of putting his foot in his mouth repeatedly and then walking back saying, hey, hey, what's going on? Why is everyone so mad about this? I don't understand.

Oh, God. Okay. But yeah, the big takeaway here is, you know, if you're someone who wants to see personality from hockey players, just be careful what you wish for. You make that wish, the monkey's paw starts to curl sometimes, and then we fall in situations like the one we have today. Dom, what do you have? It was 16 stats is up. I read it first thing this morning, of course, because I always do. Thank you.

Anything else? Power rankings. We should have done live power rings today. That would have been great. Could have been a window into the process of our genius. Someone else that nobody wants to look through. Let me tell you, brother. Thanks for being here, man. And thank you for Teruso for all he brought wherever he may be. I know he was jetting off somewhere else. And thanks to you find folks for listening to this edition of The Athletic Cocky Show. Prospect Boys are back tomorrow. That's Friday. Haley and I are back next week. me, Carrado, and Maccindoo back at some point in between that. 11 games, the NHL Thursday night. That's light work for the powerings, boys. Let me tell you.

Including a Stanley Cup rematch in Edmonton. And another must-win for the Sends versus the Islanders. They're going to have must-wins from here on out, despite what the model says. Enjoy it all. Have a good night. We'll talk to you real soon.