The Athletic Hockey Show - Will the Montreal Canadiens make the playoffs?

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Sean McIndoe and Frankie Corrado discuss the playoff-like atmosphere in Montreal between the Ottawa Senators and the Canadiens, with the red hot Habs currently in a playoff spot. The guys discuss the NHL owner rankings with Frankie providing his experience with ownership, and Corrado shares a personal story on neck guard protection. Plus, Anaheim Ducks forward Alex Killorn joins Frankie and Rob Rossi to discuss the Ducks rebuild, extending the NHL regular season and overtime, and his partnership with the new Body Check Cup.Host: Sean McIndoeWith Frank Corrado and Rob RossiGuest: Alex KillornExecutive 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. It's the athletic hockey show. This episode is presented by E-Trade for Morgan Stanley. No Sean Gentile this week. This is Sean McIndoo, the other one. And your boy Frankie Carrado with the Wednesday show. Frankie, how you doing?

What's going on, buddy? I sent a message to a couple of my people in Ottawa last night because I was doing the SENS regional panel. But as you know, at TSN, we don't have national games. But we had the double regional last night. We had the HABs broadcast going out to their region. We had the SENS broadcast going out to their region. And it's what I call national regional night at TSN.

So you know what I did for you? Because I know you live in Ottawa. I threw on the three piece. I said I'm wearing the three piece for the people of Ottawa on TSN5. You were looking sharp. You were looking fantastic. And I hope, yeah. In fact, that's the talk of Ottawa here right now.

Nobody's even all that upset about the thing. Yeah, we will, we will get to that game definitely in, in a minute because that was, that was the big one last night. How did you feel about my what up, what up intro? I don't feel like I pulled that off the way that, I don't think I'm a what up, what up guy. I didn't take you for a what up, what up guy. I took you for more like a, hello, everyone, like, how are you on this pleasant Wednesday morning? Yeah, I try.

I mean, you know, you get swap, you get put in the lineup in someone else's spot and, you know, you try to. Yeah. Sometimes I guess I got to, I got to play my own game. Yes. No gentility today, but we know that our listeners do demand the Pittsburgh representation. So we got Rob Rossi is going to be joining Frankie for an interview with Anaheim Ducks forward, Alex Clorn. That's going to be some good stuff. So you hear that in a couple of segments.

But first, a playoff atmosphere in Montreal. Is that fair to say? Yeah, yeah. Like, I wasn't there, so I was doing the panel last night, but just watching that building, it felt like the, everyone was on their feet, everyone was banging the glass, and the energy was huge in that third period. And, like, Ottawa's been on the six-game winning streak.

They've been winning games different ways. Like Linus Allmark has had to steal a cup. couple, like they've, they've gotten some depth scoring. But last night, the, the wheels fell off for them in the third period and give Montreal a lot of credit. They played, they are a desperate team, and they played like a desperate team, and they picked it up like an extra, an extra gear, an extra half step in that third period. And that was, that was a very significant comeback. Because if you looked at Money Puck before the game, like, if they lost, if Montreal lost that game and regulation, their playoff chances were going to get cut by 50%.

And so that was so significant for them. And now we wake up today and it's Ottawa and Montreal in the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. And I would have told you DGB, there is like slim to no chance that that was going to happen without Kate and Gully. And sure enough, here they are. They've been doing this without their best defensive defenseman minute munching guy. It's been unbelievable that they're doing this.

Yeah, and we got to talk Montreal because it's, and this is no disrespect to the senators because they've been a great story. I mean, I feel like I went away last week and the senators were a bubble team and I came back and they were locked in. Because they kept winning and everything else that needed to happen kept happening. And now we're almost, you know, we're almost just looking past the senators because they're a lock. But the thing with Ottawa is, you know, we always say this time of year, well, who could have seen this coming? I think everyone could have seen this coming for Ottawa. A lot of us have been waiting for it. Nobody thought it was a sure thing.

But, yeah, they've been at this position for a couple of years. Montreal, I did not see this coming for this year. This season, this was not a scenario where, I mean, I really felt like Montreal was that classic. just be five points out so that you can play games that you tell yourself mean something down the stretch. And instead, they've been the hottest team in hockey for, uh,

you know, for, for weeks now. Yeah, since the, since the four nations break, they've come back. Suzuki's been unbelievable.

Like that first line, it's funny hearing the different coaches talk about that first line. Like, they, they went into Vancouver. That line had a massive night. Rick Tuckett said, we had no answer for those guys.

And, you know, I've heard other coaches say, like, that's one of the best lines that we've seen. And you know what really kind of kicks it into that gear for me is when Slavkovsky plays like a big, rugged power forward with skill and some intelligence. Like, that's, that's the package that he can bring to the table when everything is going well. And, like, that wasn't, that wasn't a busy night for them last night against Ottawa.

Like, that was a quiet night for them. It was a quiet night for Ottawa's first. line. It was almost like a battle of the depth players and Montreal wins that battle. But that's, that is what's really carrying Montreal right now. Because if you look at the rest of their lineup, the second line is a little bit of a spare parts island right now with Joshua Wah, who's got called up. Patrick Lione. We know what he's, you know, not necessarily bringing at five on five, although he's been excellent on the power play. God bless the third line. They generate a ton. They don't score a ton. But last night, they, they scored.

and like that made a difference in that game. And the fourth line, like, that's Marty St. Louis, you know, like, that's his bread and butter. He loves going to those guys. But, I mean, having a first line that different coaches around the league are talking about saying, we don't have an answer for those guys or they're one of the best lines that we've seen, that's, like, that's keeping you in the mix. That's keeping you in the fight. And now you've actually, like, you're leading the fight in regards to the Rangers and

the blue jackets and the red wings. So that's huge for Montreal. And you know what I love about that line? It's at least arguably, it feels old school because it's arguably just their three best forwards. Right. On the first line, which is how it used to be.

You know, I'm old enough. Like I remember where a team, like you, it was the best center and the two best wingers on the first line. And, you know, your first line looked a lot like your first power play unit because that's who you

wanted out there. And over time, it's become this thing where now, like most teams, there's like two guys on the first line and then a third guy gets just swapped in and you're looking for the mix and, you know, teams are spreading it out. And this is like, this is old school. Like if you're playing NHL 94 with this HAB's team, those are the three guys. Maybe line would be that you'd swap him up, but like those would be the three guys you'd

put on the line. You turn line changes off and let's go. Yeah. The other thing that struck me about last night that I enjoyed so much was you mentioned the Rangers. And at one point in the broadcast that I was watching, the Ottawa one, when it was tied in the third, right, we go into the third period, sends her up, Montreal scores, Ottawa scores real quick, takes the lead back. Montreal ties it up. And even the broadcaster said, okay, this is the nightmare scenario for the Rangers, because this is going to be a three-point game.

There's 10 minutes left, but it's a tied game between two bubble teams. and everyone is going, we know what happens now. This game's been so fun. It's been great. But now we're going to shut it down. Everyone's going to play nice and polite and, you know, just bounce the puck back and forth until we get to overtime to make sure we turn it into a three-point game. And Montreal missed that memo.

Montreal was like, now, we've got the momentum. Let's win this one in regulation. And they went out and did it. I loved seeing that. Yeah. So, like, the Shane Pinto panel, is the thing that opens the door for that for me. And, you know, so Travis Hamannick,

we have to go back just a little bit. Travis Hamannick is very much maligned in Ottawa, right? Like every time he's in the lineup, it's like, why is he playing? And I understand having a veteran guy. Like Travis Hammondick is not the player. He used to be, but he's a big presence, young group.

Like, there's something to be said for having a bigger guy, bigger presence around those guys. Now, it was the Hamannick game. It was the Hamannick legacy. game last night because he had an assist on a really nice play on the blue line. He had a goal that Montembo should have had back. And if I was doing the Sports Center hit at that point, it would have been this was the Hamannick Knight. And I even mentioned like Sends Twitter on the broadcast. And, you know, like, because Sends Twitter, they're all over him. Anyways, so then Hamanick's

coming around the net. He gets like a pass intercepted, gets beat to the net, and Josh Anderson scores. And I'm thinking like, oh my God, we went from Hamanick's. having the Hammeson, Haminick legacy game to you just, you just gave it back to them. You just gave it back to them basically single-handedly. And then that's the first thing. Then senators are in on a rush. Shane Pinto overskates a puck, swings back, like super low percentage play, just swings around to see if he can like, I don't know if he's trying to swat the puck.

I don't know if he's trying to swat a player, but regardless takes a penalty 180 feet from his own net. And that leads to the Montreal power play where Nick Suzuki, pulls the Alex Ovechkin and then Nikita Kutcher off and says, I will be staying for the full two on this one. And give the official a lot of credit because that puck, it looked like it was covered, but it wasn't. And he didn't pull the whistle.

Suzuki buries it. And to your point, that's when it was like, see you later. The roof blew off that place. Montreal just kept like attacking and attacking. And Ottawa didn't handle the momentum swings. And I guess this is not like a summit on the senator. they just won six games in a row and they're going to win more games now. But I think it's just more a testament to the resilience of this Montreal team that you could find a number of reasons why they shouldn't be there, but they are there.

And it's like, it's very well deserved at this point. Travis, we can't be knocking Travis Hamanick for the defense. He's an offensive defenseman now. I mean, you're going to see. So let's plan a flag here for me. Is Montreal going to do this? Are they going to get that last spot? Oh, man.

I want to say yes. I want to say yes because it's almost like if you doubt them, it's like they say, I'll show you. You know, there's just there's just something. It's like they've kind of almost taken over the persona of Marty St. Louis at this point, haven't they? Like everyone would have said, you know, best case scenario, you're like, what, 10th, 11th in the conference, you're playing meaningful games. Just like you mentioned, right? But they're like, no, actually, we'll just exceed your expectations. What did Marty San Luis do his entire career?

just exceed expectations. Like I think, and the Rangers are not showing anything. Igor Shisterkin's not been unbeatable. They brought in J.T. Miller, that hasn't really changed the way that group operates. You know, Detroit, good story, don't score at five on five, terrible penalty kill, losing games. How much can Merslikins, you know, kind of cover up some of the defensive blemishes for Columbus? Like, we can find, we can find reasons why for all these teams. I think there's just something about the HABs where they're like, if you doubt us,

just watch us, man. So let's do. Let's go down the rest of the Eastern Conference battle, which like I say, it's now for one spot. We looked at this for a while and we thought, wow, there's going to be like eight teams fighting for two spots. I think the number of teams has dropped. The number of spots, I think, has dropped.

Ottawa is not locked in, but things would have to go very badly. down the stretch. But you look at these other teams. I mean, you start with the Rangers. One point back of Montreal, but Montreal's got two games in hand. The Rangers are kind of, they're letting this slip away.

And we talked about Travis Hamannick being an offensive defenseman now. Igor Shistercans apparently an enforcer now, because he's over there shaking the gloves at the bench and, you know, all of this stuff. where I think they'd prefer him to be stopping the puck would be and he's not doing that. What's it got to feel like for the Rangers?

Because all these other teams we're going to talk about are teams that like, you know, they're young. You'd like them to play these games. You know, it's a building process. This is last year's president's trophy winners. Yeah. And it will be disaster if they don't make the playoffs. And it certainly doesn't seem like they're going

to because they're just, they're, they're letting all these points slip away. Ask yourself this. What changes next year for the Rangers? It's not like there's all this significant money and contracts that are coming off the books. You're tied to a lot of these guys.

Like you're still going to have to try and go through some kind of roster shakeup over the summer. Because clearly since you've done that, you know, at various points this season, it hasn't been the fix that you would, would have hoped. Now, you can hope that you come back next year and everyone's just kind of refreshed and reinvigorated and that, but that that's, that's hoping at that point. That's not really assertive action. So there's, there's nothing that's going to happen naturally

that's going to help the Rangers. They're going to have to find ways to kind of, I don't know, move, move the needle a little bit here because it's not just a bad month. It's not just a bad couple weeks. It is a bad season for the Rangers and it has been basically since November at this point. So like I kind of think if the Rangers were going to do it, like if they were going to make the playoffs, they would have been there already. Like the fact that they're still kind of kicking around on the outside looking in tells me there's nothing there that's going to grasp the opportunity. And isn't it crazy that this is foreign territory for all of those teams? Like it's foreign. It's foreign for Ottawa, Montreal, Columbus, maybe not Detroit because they were right down to the wire

last year, but it's foreign for those other teams, because this is new territory for them. It's also foreign for the Rangers. We're just so used to them being a top three team in the Metro and it's a formality they're making the playoffs and it's like, how are they handling this? Well, not great, but the teams that are, you know, right there knocking on the door to take that next step, they're handling it quite well. So it's really, it's a different world that, you know, all these teams are living in right now. Tough market for that to be happening in. And you would have hoped that maybe the J.T.

Miller trade would be the thing that flipped a switch. And he's been fine, but it just hasn't really, it doesn't feel like this is a new team since making that big move. It kind of feels like there is a cloud over, over the Rangers. And there, if we move just a little bit to the Islanders,

a team where it's felt like there's been a cloud over them for a lot of the year. And in fact, I don't know. And Islander fans maybe won't like to hear me say this. But when I'm thinking of the Eastern race, the Islanders a lot of times are the team that I forget. Because you're just sort of like, ah, you know, the last time I checked in the Islanders, they weren't doing so great. They're probably out of it. And it's like you look and you're like, no, two points back. It feels like they've been two points back the whole way, just lurking along last night. They get a big win, regulation. Who scored the game winner? Who scored the game winner? Who scored the game winner?

Who scored the game winner for the Islanders? I don't know. Pierre Engval. There you go. The Pierre Engval that signed that crazy. Yeah, had to get the seventh year in on Pierre Engval. And then he's now an alumni of the Bridgeport Islanders out of nowhere. And he gets the game winner last night.

Crazy. But the Islanders have played themselves out of it so many times. Haven't they? Like, you know, they go on a losing streak. They win a few. another losing streak. I've described the islanders like this and see if this makes sense.

They're the worst defensive, defensive team. You know what I mean? Because you just think of them as like, they're supposed to be this like lock it down defensive team, actually a great blue line on paper, but then they're just so many times they're just not good at that.

And you're like, well, if you're not good at that, like, what are you good at? Because that's, that's got to be your foundation, right? But they do feel like the forgotten team just because, you know, they don't have any real flash to their game and Brock Nelson's moved on. But, yeah, like, you know, you look at the standings and you would say they're right there. Like, they're just as capable, especially with Sorokin, Annette. Like, he's been really, really good.

70 points, 67 games for the Islanders, exact same record as the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are breaking my heart right now, four straight regulation losses. They seem like they are fading. out of this race and the best story, the single best story in the NHL this year, whether they make it or not, but boy, them,

them slipping into the playoffs would have been something. Yeah, certainly not out of it. Certainly not out of it. Like three points back of the, of the Canadians, 15 games to go, there's room to make that happen.

But that is fading. The Red Wings, flat lining, two wins in their last 10. again, three points back, game in hand there for Montreal. So, I mean, we're at the point where those one game gaps mean a ton, but, boy, this is, I don't want to get ahead of things. And I guess maybe we'll talk about this later in the year, even another week or two.

But boy, if Detroit doesn't make it, especially in a year where, look, it's a fun race, but that spot is right there. If you're the Red Wings, you can't let the Montreal Canadians. It would be two years in a row. Remember last year when Larkin got hurt and they lost like six in a row and that did them in. And then, you know, game 82, they're waiting on the Philly Washington game to see how their fate is going to be and they lost control of it. And there were times this year where they were in control of it as well. Just maybe, you know, there's more players in the mix and more teams in the mix.

But yeah, that would be two years in a row where it's like you're so close, but nothing to show for it afterwards. They played the coaching card. They got that bounce that you're looking for when you change coaches. But the bounce is no longer bouncing. And just to be polite, I guess I'll mention the Bruins. But they made their intentions pretty clear at the trade deadline. In theory, they are four points back, which doesn't sound insurmountable, but with that many teams to clear. doesn't feel like it's going to happen.

We'll do the West real quick because we had a couple of big games last night. Vancouver gets the win, reclaims that wild card spot beats a real good Winnipeg team. And meanwhile, Utah gets absolutely pumped by the Oilers. So where are we at there? What do we think? Is it Vancouver again? they're kind of back. If Vancouver play somewhat to their capability, it should be them.

Although St. Louis is playing great right now. Like that's the team that's kind of emerged here. And you're like, that's like that's the one that I would watch for is St. Louis. But, you know, Vancouver, they scored two goals off the rush last night. I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm like, I don't know if they've scored two goals off the rush the entire month of March. And then last night, it's like, you see what that does for you, right? you play it against a good team in Winnipeg that scores a lot, that defends really well,

and get those two quick strike ones, completely changes the complexion of a game for you. And so, you know, Lankinen was great again, like it has been a lot of the year. But, you know, if Vancouver can play, I don't know, 85% of what they're actually capable of, it should and always should have been Vancouver making the playoffs. And getting way, way ahead of ourselves here. season ended right now Vancouver would be in the playoffs and they would be playing the Winnipeg Jets

little old school smite division first round matchup which could be fun but yeah you're right St. Louis is chugging along they beat the Predators last night and you kind of go well yeah I mean you're supposed to beat the Predators Predators have run up the flag on this season a long time ago but those are the games you got to win

like you got to bank those points you you look at the schedule and How many times do we talk about trap games and whatever else? So it's still a fun race. It's going to change. It's the beauty of this time of year every week. We're going to look back and be like, hey, remember when we said this team was in?

They lost three in a row. Now they're completely screwed. Oh, wait, hold on. Week later, they're right back in it. It's a fun time of year. Let's take a break. And we're going to hit on some other news on the other side. Something fun this week on the athletic.

Fun for some teams. Maybe not so much for others. We had our owner rankings. This is something that James Myrtle put together with a lot of help from our readers. Lots of fan input on this one. And I wouldn't say huge surprises at the top or at the bottom. But I wanted to ask you, as a player, how much do you care about an owner who owns a what they're doing.

Like, is it just a case of, hey, man, as long as the checks clear, you're good, or do you, you know, are you sitting there going, man, my owner's a moron. What are we doing here? Okay, hold on. So if you stay at the, the right hotels and the plane is there and it's fueled up.

And I'm trying to think, whatever, if there's sticks in your stall, so basically all the stuff that's just normal and commonplace in the NHL, all that stuff is just operating smoothly. chances are you don't really think about the owner unless there's something egregious that happens when it comes to like player transactions that maybe the owner might be too involved but I never had any kind of experience with that kind of stuff I'll tell you my experience with with owners that I played for and I wasn't in Pittsburgh long enough to have any kind of experience but in Vancouver

we had like a great team dinner at like Mr. Aquilini's house I think it was over Thanksgiving and it was awesome, very classy. And then in Toronto, we did the same thing with the Raptors. That was really cool. So we were all mixed in with the Raptors and all the staffs. And we were at Mr. Tannenbaum's house. And that was really cool. There you go.

That's the extent every once in a while, you see the nice car in the parking lot. And you're like, oh, Mr. Tannenbaum's here or Mr. Aquilini is here. You shake their hands. You say, thank you for everything. Really appreciate it. And you're on your merry way. That really is the extent. of the player to owner kind of thing,

unless, which I never lived in this world, you're maybe signing like a $9 million ticket, and I would be sure there's probably some kind of like, you know, there's got to be some kind of communication there, I would think. Maybe not. I don't know,

but that's like for the regular guy in the NHL, you know, this is going to sound so douchey of me, but let's, let's be pulling into the Ritz Carlton. Let's make sure that there's, there's some prime rib on, the plane and I'd like to use a new stick every game.

I'm trying to think of other stuff that you really, you really care about. That's about it, I like how you're dropping the mister though on the owners. Is that, I've never had a boss that I called Mr. In, you know, even the C didn't get a mister.

You got to think about the names of Larry Tanenbaum. His name's not Larry. It's, isn't it Lawrence? Right. So Larry's the short form. And then Francesco Aquilini, who everyone would call Frank.

So I'm like, I'm not walking up and be like, hey, Larry, hey, Frank. Hey, fellow,

other Frank. Yeah, hey, Mr. Tanimbaum, Mr. Aqualini. And the first words out of your mouth,

thank you. Thank you for everything. Yeah. But I will say, the Thanksgiving, that's a nice touch. They go all out for that. That's pretty cool.

Okay. So there you go, man. The Leafs and Mr. Tannenbaum did, did okay. in the city. They were middle of the pack. And okay, so this thing, like grading the owners, you know what they all have in common?

They all win. Tampa's won. Florida's one. Vegas has won. Dallas is very competitive every year. St. Louis is won. Washington is one. Colorado's one.

And then you get like the bump of the new guys. Like Ryan Smith brought hockey to Utah. Of course they love him. Michael Landlauer, like they were dying for a new owner in Ottawa that has this vision and this fresh perspective. So of course they love him, right? Like there's just, you know, there's, there's a couple things in common there. Either they really wanted new ownership or the team wins.

And that leads to kind of what you got with the ranking. And the winning, I mean, you're right. Because on one level, you could look at this and you could say the owner is the most important position in the sport. Because look, every team that's got a good owner is winning. And every team that's got a bad owner is losing. Hey, put it together two plus two. This is pretty easy. The flip side of it is everybody loves the owner when the players are getting it done.

And then as soon as you're not, suddenly everyone, it's got to be the owner's fault. It's kind of like how every team that wins a cup, oh man, we had a great room. We had such a great room. And then you're like, really? Did you guys have a great room? Or is it just way more fun to win? No one. No fan is going to know that the Bauer bill.

hasn't been paid. So that's why your skates haven't arrived yet. That was something you deal with in Europe. Like, I remember ordering a pair of skates and it was like, yeah, we can send them, but your owner's got to pay the bill first. I'm like, okay, I don't think I'll be broaching that topic of conversation with them. So it sounds like we're not getting any of those like major league scenes from the movie where they're, uh, you know,

they're all mad at the owner and you never had like Larry, the Larry Tanenbaum cardboard cut out and you were ripping pieces of, clothes off in. No. No. And chances are the NHL check clears. Yeah. Typically, in this area, it does. There was a time. There was a time here in Ottawa where that wasn't a sure thing. But yeah, good times there. All right. That is the owners. Real quick, Tom Fitzgerald made a really emotional presentation about neck guards. Thoughts on those. Listen, man, like, if I was playing in the league, you know, 10 years ago and I just pulled out a neckguard out of nowhere, I'll be honest with you. I think I would have got chirped.

I think guys would have been like, what are you doing? Like, that looks goofy. This is the NHL. Like, that's, I think that's the reality of 10 years ago. But now events have happened and that stigma has really softened. And I think guys have gotten to the point now where they're like, I just want to be protected. And the Kevlar stuff has come such a long way. a lot of people bought into wearing the socks,

which I think was really important. There was a time where I used to wear the wrist sleeves. And then they would jumbled up, jumble up right by your hand. And I took them off because I'm like, I don't want jumbled up sleeves. But now they've built this technology where it's like, it can be cooked into your shirt,

you know, so it doesn't have that. So the technologies come such a long way on all this stuff. The stigma is kind of getting lessen now because of recent events. I think it's a, it's a no-brainer for, guys to just say like, what are we doing? Like, it really doesn't hinder your performance.

And I went to Sweden where it was mandatory to wear a neckguard. And I, I swear, I rolled this thing down. I was like, I am not wearing a goofy neckdard. And that's the year 2021. And you know what? If I got handed that shirt with the neckguard attached to it today, there's no chance I'd roll that thing down. I would wear it at its full length.

And I, you know, no one would say a word about it because just times have changed, man. And I'd love to say to leave just make it mandatory. You know, grandfathered in. Just like the visors. No one's like the visors, just like helmets. I mean, yes. Yeah. The game's really does it.

The game's moving. It's moving really fast and it's just, it's hard to keep up and protect yourself. You hope that that tipping point comes without a tragedy at the NHL level. We've already seen it elsewhere. Okay, we're going to head to a break. And when we come back, Frankie and Rob Ross, you're going to have Alex Clorne next on the athletic hockey show. Welcome back to the show.

Earlier this week, Frankie sat down with Rob Rossi and Alex Collorn, the Anaheim Ducks. And they had a really interesting conversation. You're going to hear that right now. All right, we're here with someone who's done just about everything in the NHL

and doing it now with the Anaheim Ducks, Alex Kilhorn. Welcome. Thanks for having me. What's going on, Alex? It's a, you know, we're at the point of the season now where, you know, the dog days are over. Everyone's kind of making that sprint towards the finish line. How are things going in Anaheim with this young group that you're playing with?

Yeah, I mean, I think this year, we've definitely taken a step in terms of our team. It seems, you know, we always said we wanted to be playing in competitive games and have a look, you know, at the playoffs and try to find our way into the playoffs. And we're playing in those meaningful games at this part of the season in the past. past, you know, the past five years, I don't think the ducks have been in that situation. So like you said, everyone's tightening up now. The games are a lot tighter. And fortunately, we're actually playing a lot of teams. We're chasing.

So hopefully we can get a little bit closer to playoffs. Alex, I'm covering a team in Pittsburgh that's kind of got its trying to straddle the line between rebuild and still contend. And I'm curious, as a guy, you know, who's achieved what you have. a veteran, when you're on a team that's got more of a clear direction like that, does it make it any easier to sort of relate to the guys into the room than maybe it would if you were still trying to sort of live in both worlds? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think Anaheim was put in a much different situation than Pittsburgh in that sense

where I think everyone kind of knew that it was going to be a rebuild, not a retool. I think when Pat came in, Pat Verbeek, the draft picks he had made, some of the signings. Everything was indicating it was going to be a rebuild. And I think, you know, two or three years in, we can kind of see the light.

Like, I mean, there's still a long way to go, but with the young guys we've drafted in the talent we think we have in the organization, at least we could see the trajectory going in the right direction. So I can't speak about, you know, Pittsburgh a ton. but they're definitely in a different situation with us in terms of like their older guys,

Hall of Famers that they have on their team. So you played a long time with Andre Vasselowski. You got to see him, you know, be a young guy and then turn into this veteran dominant force in the NHL as far as goaltenders. And now you have this young goalie in Anaheim, Lucas Dohtel, who's kind of like taken the league by storm. If you haven't paid attention,

he's one of the best goalies around. His numbers speak for themselves. Like, I don't know if there would be, similarities, differences, but you saw Vasilevsky, you see Dostal on a day-to-day basis, you know, what can you tell us about the young goaltender? Yeah, in terms of just build Vasilevsky's a bigger body than Dostel, but Dostel, for his age, he is very consistent, which even with Vaselowski when he was younger, consistency is so hard to come by in goaltenders, especially young goaltenders.

he has a very similar work ethic that Vaslowski has. You know, probably the hardest worker on our team. I think that's a big aspect of why he's done so well. I think another big reason that he's done well is that he has a backup. I mean, I wouldn't say there's a tandem with him and John Gibson where, you know, neither of them has to play too many games. They could kind of lean on each other. And they've done a good job in that tandem where a lot of times,

even with like Vasilevsky, he was playing a lot of games as a young goalie. And when you play that many games, it's very difficult. One question I've always had as a guy who covers a team and sort of lives on the East Coast, but really enjoys watching, especially the California teams when they play each other in the regular season, because I, you know, I'm coming back from a game and I get to stay up late. What are those games really like against the Kings and the Sharks? Because they always seem to be more heated than. maybe the casual hockey fan would expect.

Yeah, it reminds me a lot of, like, when I was in Tampa, when we played the Panthers, there's just these rivalries that happen in the NHL because we play them so many times. I mean, you play them three or four times in the preseason, and throughout the season you play them at a time. You're so close in distance that the fans build up that rivalry. So even San Jose is the same way,

And I think, you know, we're all in kind of different stages of where we want to be. LA being kind of what we're chasing right now. So it's always a fun game whenever we play against those teams. So you guys are, you know, chasing down some teams in front of you, trying to, you know, make the playoffs or have that push. You know, if you look to the Eastern Conference, you know, I can't remember the last time that there was this many teams still in the mix. Like you played in Tampa and you would have known basically in December that you were, going to play Toronto in the playoffs. Like it was just a formality.

How different is it right now, you know, the landscape of the league, just knowing that there's a very good chance you're playing against the team that is in their own fight, you know, within their own conference? Yeah, I think the parody in the league is unbelievable right now, especially in the East. You know, I don't pay as much attention to it as I used to being in the West. But I think when you look at the East, there's maybe two teams or three teams that are out of it. everyone else has a chance to play.

And like you said, the playoff matchups aren't set yet, which is great. I think it pushes better hockey down the stretch for some of these teams that are, you know, when you look at Florida and Toronto and Tampa, who are most likely going to make the playoffs. But like,

there's teams coming for them. So it's going to make for an interesting end of the season. So we open the Pandora's box. Let's dig into that a little bit more. There's always talk this time of year. about the format. Should it go back to 1-8? Do we like the current format?

When they went to this format, I really liked that you had a divisional round, you know, opening. But then, you know, as it's evolved, sometimes you don't, sometimes you almost see two or two or three the best teams meeting in that first round. Where do you stand on that? Because you've come at it from both ways, obviously. I'm kind of split.

I understand why they did it the way. they did and they want there to be these rivalries. But then when I look back at my time in Tampa, it seemed like we played Toronto or Florida, you know, so many times in the first series that, which probably should have been a matchup for the second round in a lot of years. I'm old enough that I was in the league when it went, it was 1-8, you know, 2-7.

If I had to pick one, I'd probably pick that one. One plays eight, two-play seven. And I just think you work so hard during the year to kind of set your spot in the standings that I don't know that you should play a team just because they're supposed to be a rival of yours in the first round. Well, and one of the teams that's having a lot of success in the Eastern Conference, and they would be one right now if it was all said and done is the Washington Capitals and everyone's been following OV and, you know, you've played against him a ton in your career. Are you surprised that we're sitting here now and there's still plenty of season to go and he's eight goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record? Did you think this was actually something you'd see? To be honest, I didn't think it was going to happen this year. I thought it would probably happen next year.

Nothing against him is just to do it at the rate at which he's doing it is unbelievable. And I don't think a lot of us, you know, saw the capitals being as good as they were this year. And I think that helps him with, you know, everyone around him having a lot of success as well. But it's unbelievable the way he does it. Like even at his age, the amount of shots he's able to still produce and get on net, he's found a way to produce at this age and it's unbelievable. Is that something that like, you know, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, among all the hockey stories you'll tell will be like,

I played at a time when there were like the Ovechkins and the, Crosby's that led into this sort of next generation. Because like you said, when you came in, we were coming out of a bit of a dark time. A lot of the stars from the early 2000s were kind of aging out. Those two guys specifically Crosby and Malkin carried the mantle for a long time. It's the game's in a great place now. But do you have any stories you tell about playing against those guys? Oh, man.

I mean, like you said, those guys have a huge impact on one. where the game is at where it is now. I mean, when I think of stories, I mean, we played, I played both of them in the Eastern Conference Finals at one point, Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin. And I guess one story I could say about Ovechkin, I still remember to this day,

in that Eastern Conference final, like Tom Wilson was on the ice, and you weren't worried about Wilson. You were worried about Ovechkin because he was playing at a different level, and he was the most physical I've ever seen him play. and I still remember I was on the PK, and the way the PK works as a winger,

when you win the draw, you pop to the corner to get the D will pass it behind the net to you so you could clear it down. And Ovechkin is waiting for that play because he's in his one-time spot, and I still remember we won the face-off, it went to that corner, and Ovetkin just had a beat on me,

and he hit me so hard that the glass moved and I could touch, it was wherever the Zamboni was, and I remember, if I could, I could have touched one of the fans because he hit me so hard. Wow. He was playing at a different level. You know, I was all over, I don't collect sticks, but this year we just played them and I made sure Strom,

whose brother plays on Washington got me a stick of Vovetschkin's sign because I'm worried that he's going to get the record and just go back to Russia or nothing. So, but it's been unbelievable to play against those guys and I'll tell my kids about those days for sure. So it's interesting that you said you don't collect sticks because I look back at my career and I'm like, why didn't I ask for, you know, the Sedeen twins? Why didn't I ask for one of those sticks? Or, you know, why didn't I ask for Crosby stick? And I don't know, like I felt like maybe I didn't want to badger guys. I didn't want to pester them. Like, is there a reason why? Like you played with a lot of great players over the years. Headman, Stamco's like, you know, some Kucheroff, like just you

didn't want to bother guys or like, what did that? Well, for those guys, I mean, I could get their sticks whenever. It's more, I think I've always just waited. I didn't, I'm similar to you. I don't want to be badgering guys and talking to equipment guys and I'm sure Crosby has to give a stick or two every game. I just figured after this year, I have two years left on my deal. I think now, now's the time to start. Like you said, like, I remember my first year in the NHL, like, Saku Kuiu growing up in Montreal was like my idol. And like, I played against him in Anaheim and I never, you know, asked for a stick. So those are the ones. that it would be kind of cool that going back in time. But as a rookie, you don't really want to, you know, badger people.

Talk to anyone. Yeah, for writers, it's credentials. And I kept a credential from the last game. I didn't know what at the time, the last game ever in Atlanta. As I was leaving the building, somebody told me, you might want to hold on to that. I'm like, really? And then, of course, a week later. I'm curious though, you know, you've seen it at such a high level.

And where is the game better now than it was when you broke into the league? And is there anything back then that we've lost that we could bring back to improve the game? That's a great question. I think you guys would agree that the talent and the speed is obviously much superior now. than it was. I don't think if you given guys 20 years ago a video of Connor McDavid skating and stick handling at the radius, I don't know that they would believe it. So I think that's gotten a lot better. I think some of the creativity is a little different. I just think maybe that's partly coaching. Teams are so structured and coach so hard and we do so many pre-scouts and no one

wants to make mistakes that I think a little bit of the creativity has been taken out. But not not a tonne. That's just, I guess that's the one thing I would say. Well, and now there's, it feels like there's this new wave of young guys, right? And, you know, if we bring it back to Anaheim, I'm always impressed how Anaheim drafts young defensemen so well, right? And now you have guys like Lecombe who's having a great year, Zell Wager's there, Minchukov, like how different is it like when you see these young defensemen? These guys want to get up in the play all the time. They want to head fake you. And it's like years ago, 10 years ago, it was like you don't get off the blue line or you just make your first pass and it's very simple.

Like I feel like that has to be different from your aspect as a forward seeing all these guys trying to, you know, work you one on one essentially from the back end. I think it's great. I think especially when you look, well, it was funny because we played St. Louis last night. When you look at their blue line, I think they have like four D men that are right around like, well, obviously Sutter's way over a thousand games, but their other three, Ledy, Fowler, Falk, all are like a thousand game players. I think Broberg has the least amount,

and he's obviously an unbelievable player. But when you compare it and contrast to ours, where we have a lot of young guys, it's a little bit different. But like you said, they get up the ice grade. I think in today's NHL, you know, the ability to skate as a D man is so paramount because having good gaps and being able to get up in the play

just creates so much more offensive play than it did in the past. Obviously, there's still a place for D-Men who are positionally very sound, but I think you have to have a mix of both. We saw in the Four Nations, Alex, what would happen if there wasn't a shootout, and we just sort of went to an extended four-on-four overtime. I've kind of gotten bored of the shootout in the NHL, and my argument against it has always been,

if you brought an alien down from another planet and you showed them a regular season hockey game, you'd go from five on five to three on three to a shootout, where if you showed them in the playoffs, it would just be five on five. Yeah. How would you work it in a perfect world in the regular season, the way we would determine games after regulation?

That's a tough question. If we didn't play so many games, I might have a different thought about it. Like, I remember we're in a world championships and we lost in the finals to Sweden in a shootout. And we were just, like, so devastated, because we felt like, you know, not that it wasn't unfair,

but it just, I think both teams would have agreed to keep playing if we could have. In season, we play a lot of games, we travel a lot. I'm not a huge fan of the shootout, but I don't care that much. I just care about obviously the playoffs being the way that they are

and you go to someone, until someone scores. I guess you could lengthen, you know, you could do four on four for maybe 10 minutes, but even then it's you start playing that. That's a lot of hockey by the end of the year. And maybe I'm just an old guy now,

but that's what I'm looking out for. Well, you know what happens. You know what happens, right? Coaches can't help themselves because they see that extra point and it's like that carrot that's dangling. And it's like, if you have McKinnon or Marner or Matthews on your team, you're going to play them, you know,

seven out of the 10 minutes. And all of a sudden those guys ice times are going to skyrocket into the high. high 20s and they got to play back to backs and they got to play three and fours. And that kind of brings me to my next question. You know, like what's the chatter amongst the guys, you know, when it comes to the schedule changing, maybe getting rid of a couple preseason games, adding a couple regular season games. You know, how would, how are the players kind of feeling if it were to go in that direction?

Well, from the players I've talked to, guys are fine with it. I get a little worried because once we give them more games, I think they might just keep asking for more. Right. When you work, when you're in the NHI, I work with a PA and I understand revenues and two extra games will create a lot more money.

So I think if we can not play as many exhibition games or get to a point where guys can only play one, which the GMs and the coaches, I'm sure, are going to hate because they need to see these young guys and see where they fit in. I think it's manageable, but I think that's kind of where the league's heading. Yeah, that's, I always wonder too about, you know, it seems like a lot of teams are set after three days of camp and others aren't.

So they'll be having that discussion about how many games for years. I don't think anybody, you know, who's alive, doesn't know somebody that's been affected by cancer in some way, shape, or form. It's, it's just the reality. And, you know, can you tell us a little bit more about the Astrozenica body check cup and not only why you got involved in it, what's in it, but what people can expect from it? Yeah, so AstraZeneca reached out to me to see if I wanted to get involved.

And I've obviously had family members that have been affected by cancer. Luckily not my parents, but my grandparents were affected on both sides of my mom and father. So it's something I wanted to get involved with. Truba on my team had done it last year. And I thought it was great. It's just about talking your doctors and getting early screening so that, you know, even if you're not feeling terrible or whatever, just get a screening. And because the earlier you could detect these things, the better, right?

So I'm working with AsphraZeneca. There's the website, get bodychecked.com is where you can go sign up. And they're doing this fun little challenge. It's called the Body Check Cup Challenge. and they're basically going to see which teams fans get the most screenings when they go to the get bodycheck.com. And there'll be rewards for that and stuff like that. But it's really just about people getting screened early.

Yeah, that's so important. I only got one last one for you here. I'm colorblind. Can you tell me in a way that would make sense to me how bright the Anaheim Ducks orange uniforms look? about as orange as your glasses. I actually really like the New Jersey's. I think when they first brought out the orange helmets,

a couple of us were a little bit skeptical, but I think the more we've played with them, we've actually really enjoyed it. And, you know, when you live in Orange County and the town beside is orange, and it's kind of this thing they're built. there and the logo is great. So everyone's kind of rallying behind it. Well, Alex, thanks. Good luck the rest of the way, wishing you health and some enjoyable hockey here. Keep, keep

playing well. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. So Alex mentioned the Body Check Cup from AstraZeneca. To participate, fans should visit get bodychecked.com. Select the Bodycheck cup, choose their team, and pledge to get body checked against cancer. By doing so, you'll automatically be entered into a drawing for incredible prizes, including a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame for you and a guest. Thank you to Alex, and thanks to Rob Rossi for tagging in on that. To participate in Get Body Checked Against Cancer fans can visit getbodychecked.com. All right, great job on that, Frankie.

We're not going to have you next week. What's the situation? man, I got a little travel, a little travel. We're in St. Louis for a game, Philly for a game, got to connect in the morning. So just got to get the air miles, the segments up, and then head to rally, head to Florida. So it's a busy week on the road covering the haps. Good times. All right. Well, we will talk to you in a couple weeks. And until then, safe travels. Thank you for listening to the Athletic Hockey Show. Max Boltman, Shannon Goldman, Peter Baugh have the next The Athletic Hockey Show on Thursday. And they've also got to

a player guest. They've got Tampa's Ryan McDonough joining them tomorrow. Sean Gentile and I are back next Wednesday. Frankie will not be there as we just said, but we will have that whole trio back together on April the 2nd. So until then, thank you for listening. We'll talk to you in a week.