The Athletic Hockey Show - Will the Ottawa Senators make some noise in the playoffs?

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Hailey and Sean discuss the Ottawa Senators clinching a playoff spot after an eight year drought, and the Vancouver Canucks amazing third period comeback over a Dallas Stars team who suddenly have defensive issues. With the Women's World Hockey Championships underway in the Czech Republic, Hailey and Sean preview the tournament, with Canada and the United States, once again leading the way.Hosts: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the athletic hockey show. It's Haley Salvian here with Sean Gentilly. The women's world hockey championship has officially begun in, I'm going to do my best here. Cheshka Budiovicha, hour and a half outside of Prague. We're going to preview the tournament today. Team USA, as we're recording this, is beating Finland at the moment.

moment in their opening game. But first we have some NHL headlines to get into. And I'll just have to say hello to Sean. What's up? Good morning. Hey. He's in a mood. Do you want to know why? Because the Ottawa senators have clinched a playoff spot. It's hard to believe that it's been eight years. Well, I shouldn't say that. It feels like it, it feels, eight years feels about right. It's hard to believe that, that I saw the Ottawa senators eliminated from the postseason for the final time, which was against Pittsburgh in 2017 with a Chris Coonitzk, school. That feels like it happened a hundred years ago. That was four lifetimes ago for me. And for that to, for that to be the last time, man, that's, it is wild. There's, whenever you have streaks like that, whenever you

have postseason futility streaks like that, there's something about, you know, the span of time that we're talking about that really, that really kind of hits homes. Yeah, I've been thinking about that a bit. It's funny. So I obviously covered the Ottawa senators for a couple of years when I first started

at the athletic. And one of the, one of the big, you're not from here moments that I had covering the Sends was when the Blackhawks came to town for the first time. and Chris Koonitz is one of the coaches. And me,

a Penguins fan, and you don't like fan girl in the press box. You don't do that. But I do remember being like, that was, I just came out of university. It's my first year on a beat and I'm like, there's Chris Koonitz.

That's crazy. I want, he was, and he was one of my favorite players on the Penguins. But then everyone else on the Sends beat is like, there's Chris Koonix. Yeah, they had a different.

He's like, public enemy number one. and I'm texting my dad like Chris Koonitz is here. This is pretty cool. Different, different tone reserve for Chris Kuntz by the Ottawa Press Box veterans for sure. Yeah, very, it was very funny. That was my like, oh, yeah, I definitely grew up in Fergus, not Barhaven.

But the Ottawa senators did end their eight-year playoff drought last night. They lost their game, but it was thanks to a Detroit Red Wings lost the Montreal, Canadians, so they're going to return to the postseason for the first time since 2017. This big push to clinch now really did come from the month of March. The Sends have been very good. I know they had a losing streak in November. There was a bit of question, like, are they, is okay, another lost year for the Ottawa senators.

But they went 10, 3 and 2 in March, including huge wins against Detroit, one against the blue jackets. And they've won three of its first four games in April before losing yesterday night. So they're back in. And I don't know, as someone who lived and worked in Ottawa, like I'm excited for the fan base to get back to postseason hockey. I think the Canadian Tire Center is going to be unbelievable, especially if the first round matchup is against the Toronto Maple Leafs. my dad, a Leafs fan, sitting on the couch yesterday,

gives me a call. I'm a little afraid of the Ottawa senators. Yeah. I was like, yeah, yeah, I've heard this for more. This is Sean McIndoo calling,

actually. This isn't my dad. But they're interesting because there's a couple of things to feel uncomfortable about the senators with. And I think that's Linus Allmark playing

the hockey that he's been playing. and playing Brady Kachuk in the postseason. I, you know, we're talking about the long-term ramifications of this, right, in 2017 and eight years and blah, blah, blah. Haley, you kind of touched on this. In December, they seemed like they were cooked. Yeah. And Julian included this stat in his write-up of how they got here to this point after the game. Their playoff chances were in the teens, according to Dom's odds, like,

It was like 17, 18% in December. And back then, build year. Right. It was it. Like, it was it. Like, this is year number not. Brady,

people were poo pooing on Brady being like, he needs to be better and da da da da da. Well, and not just, not even just that. Around that time is when, you know, how much there was to it,

we'll never know. But that's when it was like, boy, the New York Rangers would really like to trade for Brady Kachuk. Right. And that's, and that dialed it up, I think even more.

whether that was legit or not, that started the discussion, I think, back in December, like, how long can they keep doing this? Like, how long are they going to continue with the core as is if it's Stutzla and Kachuk and some combination of the guys between them? Jake's Anderson, certainly. Yeah, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson.

Yeah, like, what are they going to do? Like, how long can they keep rolling this back and expect something to change? I know we obviously saw that we saw the we saw the we saw the Josh Norris Dylan Cousins trade that's a relevant shakeup at the deadline so so we did see something eventually because Josh Norris has played what two games gets hurt immediately Dylan Cousins looking like the 2023 version of himself too so the early returns on that trade for auto are great so we did see some kind of move to the core

eventually but man it's what a difference four months or five five months can make. The tone is is wholly different there. And, you know, and yeah, you said it. I'm interested in the Brady Kachuk playoff perform an era because he just seems like he's got the juice, man. We haven't. It's not just that Matthew's his brother. We saw it in the Four Nations face off. He seems like he's going to bring something of the mix. Yeah, absolutely. I think. So I remember writing a story when I was covering the team. And it was the year where the Sends were like Sends fans, in the Sends, I'm sure, were so disappointed because they lost the draft lottery. So they missed out on the Alexei Lafronier pick.

And obviously they end up getting two of the best players in that draft at three and five, like just period. We can have the quit and buy field debate. He just scored like maybe one of the best goals of the year the other night, the single hand deflection. Unbelievable. But like Tim Stutzland and Jake Sanderson are still two of the best players to come out of that draft class. If they're not one and two, there's some combination in the top three,

right? But the big conversation was, what are they going to do without a franchise player? And I remember writing a story about, like, what if they already have one and what if it's Brady? And it's been kind of fun to track that progression of his career from outside of Ottawa, the viewpoint on him. I don't know. I think that's a guy who can get it done when it matters. And we saw that at Four Nations. I think the Kachuk. brothers and you know Matthew didn't play in the final and they obviously lost in the final but you saw the juice that those two can bring and um chris pronger actually tweeted last night as well uh congrats to the sends on getting to the dance this will be a great experience for the up

and coming young team brady kachuk will be a maniac on the loose he will need to keep his emotions in check they're going to make some noise i speak from experience oh my god i was waiting for that from experience, but he called it must see TV. It's just like, it's just cool to see people like fired up about the Ottawa senators because they've always had that like little sister to the Leafs vibe. Oh, they're the poor little team in Canada that's stuck between the Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple Leafs. And it's just, it will be musty TV. Even if the first round, even if they lose, I still just think it'll be cool.

And like Brady and Shabbat have played over 500 games in the NHL. And now they're finally in the postseason. And those will be the two guys that I'm kind of looking at in the first round. And Sanderson and Stutzla. But it's interesting what a difference, what kind of difference it's made with new owner and Michael Ann Lauer comes in in, what, 20, 23, 24 for last season officially? new GM and Steve Steyos, new coach Travis Green comes in in 2024, new goalie and Linus Allmark. And then other than trading, what are you laughing at?

New VP of Communications out of. New V. Were you waiting for that? Yes. Yeah, new VP of Coms, Ian Mendez. But the core other than the Norris trade has been relatively the same. we've got Brady Kachuk, Tim Stitzlet, Jake Sanderson, Thomas Shabbat, Shane Pinto still in the mix, Claude Drew, he's a core piece even though he wasn't there in like 2019. But that core is relatively unchanged.

So you just get a good goalie, good coach, new GM who's making smart moves around the, around the fringes, even bringing in Dave Perron, smart. That'll be great in the postseason for them. They haven't changed that much, but those are also significant changes at the same time. And that was always, if you look at these teams that have been trying to make the jump over the last few years, Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, like to, we'll put those teams at the top. There was something about the Sends that made them more disappointing than the rest. The fact that they couldn't get over the hill and get this done was more annoying with them to me than it was for, for like Detroit and Buffalo, say, because because of Kachuk and because of Stutzl. Those are prime time players who, you know, were, were they the main culprits and why they,

that they didn't get this done earlier? No. But it was a bad thing that they were kind of languishing on the, on the periphery there, right? So the fact that the league has that group of players in the mix for the playoffs in the postseason is, is an undeniably positive thing. because those are elite pieces, right? Like, those are, they're guys with a capital G. And I think the fact that they're in the mix now is only, only, only a positive thing.

Yeah. I'm just going to, if anyone needs me on April 25th, I'll just be on the Sends Mile. You can find me on Elgin Street. I've never been that. I come to the PWHL now. Who cares? Just go vibe around outside in Ottawa. I've never been to Ottawa, not once.

Really? Mm-hmm. I don't know why that surprises me. The timing never really worked out. They were, I didn't go, I didn't go to Ottawa when I was at the paper for those series. And then after that, like, since I've been here, they've thunk. So, like, there was just never really any reason for me to do it. So who knows?

You can go to a fine Italian restaurant in Little Italy. you can walk by the apartment I lived in for three months before I was like, you need to let me out of this lease. It was like a room in a house that they turned into an apartment. I didn't have an oven. It's a hot plate. You're like Millhouse's dad. I was like, hey, so this wasn't like you said there was a full kitchen.

This is just a room in your house that you built a small kitchen in. I think I'm going to move. You have to go down. to go down the hall to shower too. Was this like a YMCA kind of situation? Yeah. Maybe. No. Ottawa's great.

You should go. I'll see everyone on the Sends mile. Okay. One more headline to get to. I'm not like a, I sound like the biggest hockey fan girl today. Chris Koonitz and now I'm going to go party with Sends fans. I'm mostly joking.

Am I? I don't know. Mostly. Last headline we've got to get to here. The Vancouver. Hoover Canucks became the first NHL team to overcome a three gold deficit in the final minute of the game last night. I'm not going to lie. Jeff sent us a slack about the finish. And I had turned off the TV, was milling about like, I'm going to bed. I'm done. Because I was watching some of it. It wasn't too late for me, but I was like, I'm going to bed. I'm going to go read my little fantasy novel and go to sleep. And then Jeff says we need to talk.

talk about that. I'm like, this is a joke. So the Canucks score three goals. They were trailing the Dallas Stars 3-0 to open the third period. And then they score three goals in the final minute of the game. And they win it overtime. And it's against the Dallas Stars who I was gassing up last week to say they've got to win the division. They've got to win the West, you know, leapfrog over the jets. You can do it. Because I, I don't want to see you play the apps in the first round of the playoffs. This might be the reason Sean was telling me to calm down. That's right.

They remain, and we've talked about this last week, but I'm going to say it again, since March 1st, which is basically whenever Hayskin and left the lineup, they have allowed more shots against per 60 than any team in the league. Their shot share is the worst period. expected goals they're second from the bottom expected goal share their second from the bottom this is all at five on five uh they need meryl hasten back i think i think the last minute there is that's like a it's like a little on the nose giving up three goals in a minute against the vancouver canucks is like if you're looking for some bit of shorthand to explain what dallas is missing with hasten and out of the lineup

It's not possible to imagine a better example there. So like, look, I'm not sounding any alarms here. I'm not, I'm really trying not to hit the big red button and make everyone worry about it's about the stars because they found a way to win games. It's an extremely talented, deep offensive team. Ottingers bailed them out clearly a bunch. Like there's reasons to think that they can get this done, but there is bad stuff happening under the hood. And it's been true. It's been true for five or six or seven weeks now.

And we got a really, really, really high profile reminder of it last night. Well, just think of the conversation we have about the Dallas Stars every year is like, I really like this team, but boy, I wish they could get one more defender. And now we're looking at a team without their number. Like we've been saying that of like, oh, their blue line's kind of weak when Miro Hayskinin's in the lineup. Like, Miro Haskinen's great, but their D-depth kind of stinks. and now we're looking at D-depth with no Miro Hayskin, but at least there's savior Cody Sisi or whatever that haiku was.

There's no, yeah, right? The hyacu that Dom wrote and the power rings a few weeks ago. I think of it often, very fun. Yeah, you know, I'm not, I don't blame them for what they did at and around the trade deadline. Like everything, every move they made, you know, made sense to some degree. And a lot of teams, if they lost their, you know, elite first pair defensemen would look pretty crummy with them out of the lineup. So, like, I'm not trying to dock them unfairly here. But yeah, you look back and it's like they added Miko Renton and they added McEl Granland and they added Cody Cici, who is, you know, should be a spare part at this point.

Those choices are, it's backfiring to some degree right now. And we'll see what happens. There's, you know, 10 days left in the regular season. There's plenty to shake out as far as the playoff matchups are concerned. But, man, right now, there's reason for concern. And for the Vancouver Canucks, too, like the team that did win that game. They avoided mathematical elimination. It's kind of tough to imagine that.

It's tough to imagine that having any other bigger meaning, like, We can hold out hope if we want their six points out of a playoff spot. Bye, bye. But not yet. Whatever. They made a, they gave their fans one good minute and had a nice moment on April 8th, and now we can all move on.

Yeah, give something for Drans to talk about on the radio. Why were they playing Beethoven when you were on with them the other day? I saw that on Twitter. There was some, Drancer and Jamie were having some kind of, they were messing with each other before that. I'm not even sure why.

I think I don't even know the specifics of it. But Tom Dranx played me on to his radio show with a Beethoven symphony. It had nothing to do with me. He was the fifth, Beethoven's fifth. Yeah, I heard the clip when he was like, is this the eighth?

And everyone called him. He was called an uncultured swine. You rude? That's great. Yeah. All right. Let's take a break because we've got to get into the women's world hockey championships. It is on right now.

Game one was at 5 a.m. Eastern between Sweden and Germany and Group B. Team USA is playing right now in Group A. But we're still going to preview the tournament because the big, big game is Canada, USA, and the prelims. And then the metal rounds are still coming in the next couple days into next week. So that'll be next coming up here on the athletic hockey show. All right, before we come back to the show, I just want to introduce everyone to the athletic hockey show playoff crisis line. When the playoffs start, you can leave a short 20 to 30 seconds. Keep it tight, guys.

Voice mail telling us why your favorite team is in trouble, what you're seeing and thinking. We want to hear all of it. We're going to listen to some of these on the show. It's just going to be me calling in about the Ottawa senators game one. The number to call, am I going too far into the sense fan thing? Yes. The number to call is 321, 2, 2,22 7-72. We're going to look, we're looking forward to hearing your panicked messages. It's going to be me in McAdoo calling in.

Yeah, McIndoo. This is probably didn't want to play the sense. Doing a really bad job of disguising his voice. And if I had a, if I had a Mac and do impression, this is where I would drop it. But I don't. So I won't. That's all right. All right.

So the women's world hockey championships is on right now in Cheshka Budievich. I'm sorry. You're just like, you're flexing at this point on that. Like you know, you know how that's pronounced. No, I don't. No, I don't know how the Budiovice is. at Budioviches, is it Budiovice? If we have any listeners from Czechia,

please let me know. I've listened to so many different clips of it being pronounced. I can't get it. It's an hour and a half outside Prague. It's the first time the tournament has been hosted in Czechia. And Team USA is playing Finland right now as we're recording this podcast. It's 5 to 1 Team USA in the second period. Hillary Knight just scored.

Lee Stecklines back on the roster. It's a good, good U.S. team team. A good U.S. team. Sean. I just called Sean team. It's a good U.S. team, Sean. Congratulations to you. Thanks.

Yeah, I'm interested in them stomping Finland first thing because I know the Finnish team is typically, you know, a medal contender, certainly, right? Like their consensus number three team in the world. So to see the US team come out and handle business, you know, first thing on day one is is gratifying. But let's so let's start with what what is this? How does this team, how does this US team differ from the last incarnation of the international team? Like how have things changed from now versus at the last.

at the last set of worlds. Yeah, when they lost to Canada at the world, it's on the U.S. oil in Utica. Was that in Utica? Yeah, that was my... Yeah, that was my... Chased by Loose Dogs and... That was the worst...

That was the worst world championships of my life. Wow. There was a carbon monoxide alarm going off in my room, and I got chased by a German Shepherd. Anyways. So hopefully neither of those things happened to me once I arrive.

So I am going to be... at the tournament. I'm just leaving. You'd be getting chased by a Czech Shepherd, I think, technically, if this were to happen. Jesus. That was awful. Yes. I am going to be at the tournament.

I'm leaving tomorrow, which is why we're recording the show on a Wednesday. I guess I did I say welcome to the Thursday edition off the top? That's a good question. Who cares? Oh, God. What day is it? I am going to be going to the tournament. Hopefully there's no.

dogs chasing me. But there are some pretty big key differences, I would say, for the U.S. roster. The biggest one, and it's relevant because she's scored in this game, is Lee's deckline is back on Team USA for the first time after taking a two-year hiatus from the women's national team. She's still playing in the pro league. She won the Walter Cup last year with the Minnesota Frost, one of the best shutdown defenders in the world still. She just took a break after winning the gold medal at 2023 World Championships in Brampton.

So she's back. That is a huge boost for the U.S. team on the blue line and just in general. She's still elite and that's going to just help shore things up. The other big change on the blue line, Layla Edwards,

one of the best goal scorers in college hockey, a forward for the Wisconsin Badger. She ended up as a top three finalist for the Patty Kaz, which is like, the women's version of the Hobie Baker. It's for Player of the Year. She's playing defense at this tournament for Team USA.

John Robleski has moved one of the best forwards in college to the blue line for the national team. She's been playing either with Lee Steckline or Megan Keller, just like a veteran defender beside her to kind of help her ease her way in here. So Layla Edwards is on D. Those are like two significant changes for the U.S. Um, what's the logic behind that? Because I, as like, uh, as a casual here, I see, you wrote a great Layla Edwards story a couple years ago about, I mean, because she's, she's, she's, she's tall and strong and so skilled and so productive at Wisconsin. I mean, she seems, you know, to put it to put it in terms for someone who doesn't follow this as closely as you, like you look at, you look at Hillary Knight. Then you look at, you look at, you look at Lail Edwards. You're like, okay, this is like, like, this is like, you know, to put it, to put it in terms of someone who doesn't follow this. You know, like, like, next. Layla's taller.

I know, but this is like the next prime. Yeah. Power forward scoring threat that can be at the top of the lineup for the next 10 years. She got MVP at last year's worlds. And then, yeah, which is incredible. As a forward. And now she's playing back, which is weird to me. Okay.

Yeah. It's weird for me too. Like I have written about it on my Olympic roster projections. Like I put Layla as a forward. And like usually those projections are what I think the coaching staff is going to do. But that was one where I was like, I can't unless she comes out and scores a hat trick against Canada as a defender in a gold medal game. Like I don't know how much I'm going to get behind the Layla on D movement because she's so good as a forward. And like she wasn't really playing D at Wisconsin this year either.

Like it wasn't something where Mark Johnson was like, okay, we'll play ball with this. I'll put her on the blue line. they did it a couple times when they were blowing out lower level teams. But it's not like she was playing D all year because she's a very good forward. So it's a weird thing for people on the inside too. I think a lot of this comes down to the calculus and the fact that the blue line, even like Steklines back, which is great. But I think if you just look at the U.S. blue line in the U.S. forward group,

it is easier to crack an Olympic roster on the U.S. defense than it would be for the U.S. forwards. Because you have players like Grace Sumwinkel and Jesse Comper on the outside looking in. You have young players like Layla, like Kirsten Sims, who was the star of the national championship game. She scores the unreal shootout winner. She scores the OT winner. You've got Abby Murphy. Like there's all this young talent mixed in with the veterans. who you probably want to bring to the Olympics like Haley Skimmer, Kelly Panic. You don't really want to cut those players and bring an all-kid lineup,

especially when you're going to be playing against a veteran lineup in Canada. So it's just harder for a young player to crack that forward group. So I really think this all just comes down to like what position is Layla Edwards going to make the Olympic team on. And I think the U.S. thinks that she can make it as a D, even though she's just making the swap. So it really just comes down to roster calculus. I don't love it.

I would rather see Layla. Like, I would rather see Layla Edwards at her natural position than like there as a defender. But we'll see how it goes. I've seen her play D like twice. So maybe she ends up being great.

She did it a couple times at, I think at rivalry in the collegiate series. She factored in on a couple goals. Like she's got the size. She's got the shot. She's a, smart player. So it probably will work. It's just weird because she's a great forward. So, but that just, and like, I've asked Layla about this, like, how is the swap? And like,

this is a player who is just taking every opportunity to be on Team USA. She's doing what needs to be done. She's working with the coaching staff on this. Ellen Hughes is like one of the, is still with the U.S. national program. That's, you know, Quinn, Jack. he's mom so she's helping out so Layla's going to be okay but it yeah it's it's that's a huge story for this tournament is the MVP forward of last year is now on the blue line and how's that going to work I think a big thing for me too when I look at the lineup is I don't want to call like an influx of young players and collegiate players because these are these are players who've been there then on the national team and made and made impacts of varying degrees

right but these are still seven out of ten patty kaz finalists uh in the mix there i mean we know we know what we know what caroline harvey can do we know what abby murphy can do we saw lela edwards the impact that she made it at worlds last year right but we're also talking about gerson sims and haley win and tessa jenecky and players like that who uh maybe casuals who watch international hockey primarily are are less are less familiar with and i know you like Sims a lot. I think she's a player you've who I you know you've talked about one way another in the path like let's okay so let's let's talk about her like she she seems like she's a name that um US hockey fans are gonna hear quite a bit over over the next however many years so what

does she bring to the table what kind of player are we talking about there I think Kirsten Sims is one of the next great clutch women's hockey players in the world she's only 20 years old and her resume is like stunning and it's pretty rare. She scored the game winning goal in a 1-0 national championship game against Ohio State as a freshman. She scored the game tying goal in that shootout and the game winner this year again against Ohio State. So in three years at the University of Wisconsin, she's been to three straight national championship games, scored the game winner twice. She also. She also, scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Canada in her first world championships last

year in the preliminary round to win one-nothing. So that's three massive game-winning goals and games that matter for Kirsten Sims. And she's 20. She's 20. So I'm not going to say she's like the next captain clutch because what Mayor Philippe Poulin has done, hasn't even been done on the men's side, right? These are Golden Olympic goals. And and Sims has only been in one and like one eighth of a women's world championship. But her career to date has shown that this is like a big game player. She's very deceptive. She's a very silky offensive player, like highly skilled, great playmaker.

Can score goals. So Sims is absolutely somebody to watch. And I'm excited to see what she looks like in year two on the national team. and after this kind of confidence boost coming out of the national championship game, the one thing, I spoke to John Robleski about his roster and yes, there's a lot of young players, but he did say, like, maybe for the first time they don't have any questions about the young players on their roster. Like he's heading into a world championships with no question marks up and down the list. Where in years past, it was like, okay, Sims is on the roster.

let's see how she does at a world championships. They know now. Layla Edwards makes her first team last year. Let's see how she does. They know now, even though she's switching to the blue line. But he said there's no questions on this U.S. roster anymore.

He knows what to expect. He knows that all these people deserve to be here. Like this is no longer like who fits in here. How are they going to look? He knows that they all look good and can play well in this environment. So I think that's the big thing for Team USA is the Layla Swap. The young players are there and experience now. They're not just like the young rookie making the debut and Lee Stekline's back.

So what's the concern then for Team USA here? Because I look at this roster and I see elite veteran players. I see Lee Stekline back in the mix, whatever we've talked about, what she brings to the table extensively. I see this young core of super skilled, productive, like young veteran players is probably the best way to put it because they're, because they've proven plenty. I see Aaron Frankel,

who's, you know, been one of the two best goaltenders in the P-dub over the last, however many months and going back to the inaugural season. So my question is like, what should I be worried about as an American hockey fan? with his group because I got like as a as someone who's far less steeped in it than you are I'm like I don't know I'm trying to find things not to like about about about the group and it's it's a little bit of a struggle I'm sure but I'm sure they exist well I think this is probably the best team USA roster we've seen since the 2023 worlds when they beat Canada in the final if they lose if they lose it if they lose to Canada why will that be is probably the best is probably a better way to phrase it because Canada's better.

Yeah, that's just it. Okay. Like if they lose, it's because Canada's like veterans and top players showed up bigger. Like honestly, I don't. It's hard to find holes on this U.S. roster. Like Grace Sumwinkel, who was the rookie the year in the PWHL last year is the 13th forward today. Jesse Comfer's not even in the lineup. Right. Because before that was like, because before it in the last few rosters, you know, you look at the bottom of of the lineup.

Like at the third and the fourth lines. You're like, okay, not a ton of scoring there. Like if, if they need goals, like maybe like, can they get them? Can they get them from from those players? That seems like that's a little bit in the rear view now because you're talking about, you know, yeah, like grace umwinkels at the at the bottom of the line. Yeah. I mean, that's that that's different than it was a couple years ago. well like the mix is pretty similar like we still are looking at kelly panic and lacey eden and haley skimura and the kind of uh brittic curl too and that bottom six but what's interesting is robliski is the lines are weird today like i was looking at the the sheet when it came out and it looks like he's actually trying to mix in some of those like bottom of the lineup quote unquote type players

and i say this bottom of the lineup on team usa is still a very good hockey player But the like players who can grind it out, who can get the puck out of corners, he's kind of mixing one of those in on each line. So in years previous, we've seen a line of like Tessa Janicki, Taylor Heise and Abby Murphy, let's say. Whereas now Abby Murphy's on a line with Kendall Coyne and Kelly Panic, which is like kind of strange. And I had sent a text to somebody at puck drop being like these lines are weird. And then in Kirsten Sims, for example, she's on the fourth line with Haley Scamara and Brita Curl right now. And I'm like, these lines are weird. Like that line specifically is very strange.

Haley Scamara scores two goals in the first period. I was like, oh. Well, maybe I'm just a media person. Never mind. I know what he is doing. So, yeah, the mix is good. I think if they lose, it will be because Canada is better.

That's fair. Okay. Maybe it's time to talk about Team Canada. Let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll get into the reigning champions, the favorites to win. That is Team Canada. All right. Welcome back to the Athletic Hockey Show.

We are previewing the Women's World Hockey Championships. It is started right now. Team USA, we're just going to do like a live tracker. It's still 5-1 end of the second period. Get a little look into what time we record the show. It's time to look at Team Canada. They don't play their first game until Thursday. day. That'll also be against Finland. That is such a tough schedule for the Finns back to back

against Canada and the U.S. happened last year for them too. But the Canadians as the reigning champions, they are the favorites to win this tournament. I'm sorry to say. Allegedly. Allegedly. So I, to me, when I look at what they've done heading into this tournament is, it feels like they're mixing in some new blood. It feels like they're mixing in some new players. We're going to see Daryl Watts.

We're going to see. Finally. We're going to see Jen Gardner, Sophie Jakes. Like there are new players in the mix there. Look, we're still briefly playing. men, still there. We're not a fast. Still there.

Claire Thompson, Spooner, like all these players who were so, so familiar with over the last five years or 10 years or 15 years are still in the mix. But it is interesting. It felt like it was maybe time to incorporate some new players into the mix. And it certainly seems like that's what they're doing, right? This is the most interested I've been in a Canada roster in years. And it's just because the.

roster has always kind of been the same and very good and very successful. Like Canada's won four of the last five major international tournaments, including the 2022 Olympics. So it's hard to sit here and say like, ooh, they needed to make changes because they didn't. Like that roster has only lost one tournament. That was in 2023 since they've won 2021 worlds, 2022 Olympics. Like they've won last year's tournament. again, for the last five major international tournaments who've gone to Canada.

But I think these changes to the roster and this influx of new talent is the management and the coaching staff balancing, like, we want to win now. But also like their last chance at player evaluation before the 26 Olympics, at least when we're talking about at a major international tournament, right? And I think it's like, all right, this is our last chance to see Sophie Jakes, your family. And base yells at us all the time. They want you on the national team. Here we go. Show us what you can do because Sophie Jakes has been a better player in the PWHL than J.B. Forbunet, who is not on this roster.

She's been a better player in the PWHL than Mike is Andy Hart, who is on this roster, but is getting a chance to show that she should be on it again. She's been better than Ashton Bell. So we're seeing the PWHL impact who makes the Canada roster specifically and saying, show us. Show us if you can be on the Olympic team, right? Show us what you can do inside this peer group, not just in the PWHL.

Same with Darrell Watts. Darrell Watts, excellent season. She's third in point. She's tied for the league lead and assists. And that's someone who even I've been being like, why is Darrell Watts not on Team Canada? Like, give her a look. She's so good.

She's so skilled. She was, who won the Patty Casmeyer as a freshman in college, unbelievably skilled player and she's finally getting a look. And so we're seeing this player evaluation with players who deserve to be there, but also kind of like the final chance to see, like, can you, can you be there in Milan? And then after Chloe Proumerano is getting a look.

She's 18 years old. I do think so. This change is in part because of the roster increase at world championships. Finally, the IHF is letting them bring 20, players on these rosters. It used to be 23. So that's why on Team USA, we're seeing Zemwinkle and Comber back

because they have the extra room on the rosters. For Team Canada, you get an extra spot on D. Why not bring the teen phenom and see what she can do? Bring her along. Who cares? If you don't have to play her,

I think I've lost a lot. I wonder how much of this is one of the benefits of having that all world, ultra elite talent at the top of the line. You can just set your watch by that. You can say, all right, like, that's money in the bank. If we want to try to get creative at the bottom of the roster and answer some questions

and maybe incorporate some new players, like we have a little bit of latitude there. Because something that fascinates me about women's worlds generally is how important it is, even still, every single year. Because it's U.S. versus Canada. It's like one of the biggest moments in the sport. right and that differentiates certainly from men's hockey but also from sports overall like

like international basketballs a great example like there have been times where the US men's national team in hoops has used FIBA tournaments international tournaments like their world championships as like the test kitchen they're like the old guys aren't going this is all young all young guys all the time like let's let's see results are second

What's important is setting yourself up for the next, you know, Olympic cycle or the next phase of the program. And that's a luxury that the women's teams in hockey don't have. Because if you're the U.S. and Canada, you can incorporate new players and you can try to maybe, you know, see what you have. But ultimately, it's still, the result is still paramount. It's still really, really important that, you know, that they take gold here in a way that we don't necessarily see from every other international competition.

Yeah, this tournament matters and it always has been. And it will be interesting to see if that changes, if the PWHL ends up saying, like, you know what, we're not going to take a three-week break right before playoffs anymore. Send a collegiate roster if you want, but you're not taking our players. Like, will they do that?

I don't know. I think if the PWHL did that, then maybe the IAHF would move the tournament to like August or something. Yeah. And maybe they should do that because I always feel, like having women's worlds on during like the first round of the playoffs starting like kind of sucks like the timing of this tournament it's very busy and I feel like it just gets drowned out but that's a different conversation but yeah I think um the tournament matters um and yeah we're

seeing Canada like experiment around the edges a little bit more than we have throughout this Olympic cycle. And it's interesting that it's happening in the final year of the quad. But I'm, I think part of that, as I said, is the PWHL impact of it all. Like it's interesting. It's harder for, it's easier, I should say, for Canada to look at the body of work of a, I'm just looking at some of the players who are in and out, Jamie Lee Ratre or Jamie Borbony or Ashton Bell. Like, it's hard to bring these players who are having not so great PWHL seasons when you have Sophie Jake's scoring more points on the Minnesota Blue Line than Claire Thompson, who has the Olympic record in points by a defender at a single tournament. Sophie Jake's expected goal rate is like

70% in the PWHL right now. Like her play driving is unbelievable. And like so how are you going to leave her off the roster anymore? So we've all, we've all seen it. Like, this isn't, there's something different about being able to watch Sophie Jakes on television doing it. Yeah. A couple times a week. Versus at Ohio State. Or hearing, or hearing, you know, maybe reports out of, out of development camp or what or whatever. Like, that's not what we're dealing with anymore.

Like, we're watching it happen. We watched her get better year over year in the PWA. And so is Gina. But, like, and so is Gina Kingsbury, the general of the team. Exactly. Exactly. So like before, if you're Gina, it's like, yeah, Daryl Watts scored a hundred points or whatever for Wisconsin last year. But we got a look at her at camp and she was just fine.

So we're going to stick with what we knew. And now you're getting like a bigger level of more player development within the peer group in the PWHL. So it's like, okay, yeah, you proved it. Like, let's see if you can do it here now. So that's the big thing for Canada in this tournament is just that the roster looks different. You've got some really exciting players making debuts. Like I said, this is the most excited. I've been about Canada's roster or interested in Canada's roster in a while just because, yeah,

you've got Mary Philippe Poulin, still the best player in the world, by the way. Sarah Filier, rookie sensation in the PWHL, Renata Fast, maybe one of, maybe the best defender in terms of all around game in the world. I think Caroline Harvey's the best offensive defense. vendor. I think Stekline's still like the best shutdown D. Renata Fass can do both. You've got Claire Thompson. But then, yeah, you've got Daryl Watts and Jen Gardner, by the way, who's been kind of the Chris Kunitz for Mary Philippe Poulin this year in Montreal. And, you know, Sarah Nurse is back from injury. Natalie Spooner's back from injury. By the way, you still have like the best third line.

I'm saying quotes, third line with Laura Stacey Blair, Turnbull, Emily Clark. Like, the Canadian roster looks pretty much the same. You've just got some fun, interesting stuff happening around the edges. The big question mark, I'm going to steal your question from the U.S. team. If Canada loses to the U.S., why? To me, it's the X factor for Canada is not like how to some of the young players look because Poulin can just do her thing, you know? It's Anne Renee Debian.

She enters the tournament with a lower body injury sustained on March 18th. She was put on LTIR for the Montreal Victoire. The results from her medical exams were all promising. And Danielle Sobejo, the GM of Montreal, said, we expect her back soon. And the hope is that Debian is going to be good to go when it comes time for Canada to defend its world championship title. but that is what scares me about Canada,

is if Debian's not able to play, if she's not 100%, how is she going to be able to outdule Aaron Frankel? Because Debian is the number one goalie in the world. But if she's not healthy, by the way, Emerence Mashmire, typically Canada's number two,

also not healthy. So if Debian's not ready to go for a gold medal game, we're looking at Canada's number three, Kristen Campbell. And Aaron Frankel is a better goalie than Kristen Campbell if she's playing well and firing all cylinders and she's healthy too. So the goaltending picture is what maybe we're, if there's a reason to be worried or scared, if you're a Canadian, it would be the goaltending, more than anything. And their number three is Ev Gascon. She's 21-year-old goalie prospect from Minnesota Duluth. Great player. She's making her world's debut.

So the goalie picture is what maybe makes me a little bit nervous because it looks very different than it typically would. Interesting. I'm satisfied. I think I'm ready to watch this tournament now. I don't know if I was a half hour ago, but now we're ready to roll. Is there any other bits we should know about Finland, Chequia, some of the other medal contenders here? Or is this still fully the U.S. Canada show? Mm-hmm. In terms of a gold medal game, I think it's still the Canada USA show. and that's okay because last year's gold medal game was maybe the best Canada USA gold medal game I've ever seen

and it's only going to keep getting better as the talent keeps increasing. It was the 6-5 overtime game last year. But for Finland and Chequia you know, that's going to probably be the bronze medal game. The way that the groups work, it's very hard for a team like Sweden

to make the jump over and make the bronze medal game. So for people who don't know, the way that the groups work is kind of dumb, and it is changing finally. So it's the top five teams by ranking in group A. And then the bottom five teams in group B. So it's not a snake format.

So everyone in group A makes the quarterfinals, and then the top three teams from group B make the quarterfinals. So basically like Sweden, congrats. You did so well. Now you have to cross over and play the third or fourth best team in the world to try to make it to a semi. So

it's hard for like anyone else on Group B to cross over. So Finland and Czechia are the big ones. Finland is historically a podium contender 15 medals at women's world's third behind Canada and the USA. But Czechia has been the team

that's made the last three bronze medal games and they've won two of them. They lost to Finland last year. Obviously, Czechia, they're the host nation. They are probably the favorites to win bronze this year. They've got a fun roster. Teresa Venetheva has been playing really well in the PWHL this season. Only Mary Philly-Pulen has more goals than her this season.

So she'll be someone to watch for the Czech team. For Finland, a big thing to know is that Yenny Herkoski is not playing. and she's their captain. She's, you know, the longest tenured player at women's worlds like ever. Nobody's played more games

than her at this tournament. And she's missing it due to kind of a mysterious illness that they just can't solve. So she's not, she's not playing. She's one of the top defenders in the world. Again,

she's Finland's captain. So that's a big hole for that team. Michelle Carvinan, she's on the roster again. She was back last year. She's just one, point away from passing Rika Salinen for the all-time scoring record for Finnish women's hockey.

And Salinen is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. So that's something to watch if you're interested in Finland. You got to get this tournament in August. You planted that seed. That's not my primary concern. I would love to be able to watch this at a time where they could have the spotlight completely to itself. I don't have to worry about, you know, are we going to get star?

his abs in the first round or whatever. But yeah. Well, there was an August tournament in Denmark. And I thought that actually worked pretty well, but we'll see. Who's to say? So yeah, that's the women's world championship preview for you guys. All the games are on TSN and Canada and NHL network in the United States. The IHF also just launched its own web stream that has global access to all IHF tournaments.

there are some geoblock restrictions due to media rights agreements. So I haven't been able to find out like if you are in the U.S. and you don't have NHL network, can you watch it on IHF TV? I'll have to get somebody in America to test that out to see if they can access it. Good luck with that. I'm an American colleague perhaps. But the tournament's on now. Team USA is still winning 5 to 1.

Canada opens the tournament tomorrow. against Finland as well. Canada and the USA will play against each other in the prelims on the 13th. What is that? That's on Sunday at 1 o'clock Eastern. It'll be 7 o'clock local time. And then the gold medal

and the bronze medal games that we just kind of teed up are going to be on the 20th. So that's the tournament. I'm excited. My travel is going to suck. Oh, my flight to Prague. Oh, it's going to be so hard.

My two-week work trip in Prague is, it's going to be a little bit of a hassle for me to start it. Gross. I'm going to roll up to the U.S. game at 7 p.m. after, like, not sleeping for two days. I'm sure you'll find a way. Thanks, everyone, for listening to The Athletic Hockey Show, a little bit of NHL headlines, but mostly a women's world special. And once again, just want to remind everyone that we are starting the athletic hockey show playoff crisis line. So in the playoff start, you can leave us a short voicemail 20 to 30 seconds, telling us why your favorite team is in trouble, what you're seeing, what you're thinking.

We want to hear it all. We're going to listen to some of them on the show, too. The number to call is 321, 222, 7972. We're looking forward to hearing all of your panicked messages about your favorite. teams. Thanks to Sean for doing a women's world to tee up with me today and for doing the show on a Wednesday. Thank you everyone for listening to this episode. Sean DGB. I hate calling him that. Sean McIndoe. Sean Gentile. Sean Em. What? Is it Sean M? Who we're about to hear from on the on the on the on the playoff crisis hotline. Yeah. Hey, this is Sean M. Linus Allmark scares me.

they've got the next one on Thursday. Thanks to you guys for swapping so we could do this preview. That's it from me. Bye, Sean. Bye-bye.