The Athletic Hockey Show - Will the Vancouver Canucks play again this season, talking Washington Capitals with Tarik El-Bashir, Multiple Choice Madness, and more

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

First up, The Athletic’s own Tarik El-Bashir joins the show to break down how the Washington Capitals have once again found themselves near the top of the NHL standings despite an aging roster, if the franchise will look to upgrade their goaltending at the trade deadline, and who they might target, Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, and much more.Plus, Ian and Hailey discuss the Vancouver Canucks’ COVID-19 crisis, and whether or not the team should play again this season, as upwards of fourteen players and coaches have been added to the protocols list, less-than-normal trade chatter a week away from the NHL trade deadline, and a round of Multiple Choice Madness to close things out.And, you can get an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back for another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm Ian Mendez, alongside Haley Salvean. Coming up on this show, our Washington Capitals reporter, Terrick Al-Bashir, will join us chat a little bit about the capitals and how they're so successful, even though the Corps is north of 30 years old. We're going to talk a little bit as well about the Vancouver Conucks and the scary COVID situation surrounding them. We'll talk some multiple choice madness as well as we hit on Playoff

bubble teams and the trade deadline. And speaking of that trade deadline, coming up, we got a live stream edition of the athletics hockey show. It's Haley Salveen. You're going to be part of this, I think, with me. It is coming your way Monday, April the 12th. So that's the trade deadline day on our athletic YouTube page from two Eastern time till 3.30.

We got the trade deadline covered for you wall to wall. and we're going to be handling this. Haley, are you ready for this, by the way? We're going to be doing this live. There's none of this. Oh, stop. Let's go back and re-record. It's live, Haley.

Live, you ready to roll? The only time I say, can we stop and re-record is if I say something incredibly stupid, which doesn't happen that often. It's not, you know, I'm ready, though. I'll just put a little sticky note on my computer that says, be dumb. I'm really selling myself here. This is my self-deprecating humor for anyone listening who doesn't know me very well.

I like to make. Yeah. This is what I won't do on our live show. There we go. Yeah. There's no safety net. It's going to be live coming your way. Like we said,

the athletics YouTube page, 2 o'clock to 3.30 is there's going to be a ton of talk in and around the trade deadline. And you know the Washington capitals, Haley, are one of those teams that are going to be pretty active in and around the trade deadline. And I'll tell you what, I got to give you credit because you basically painted us into a corner, if I'm not mistaken last week,

and said, we're going to have to have Terrick on the show to talk about the Washington Capitals, right? Like, you're getting full credit for Terrick El Bashir joining us on the show. This is a Haley-Salvian initiative. You left us with no wiggle room, Haley. Yeah, so the context, we were talking about the Washington capitals. And I think one of the questions that Ian asked me was, it was just something

about, like, are we surprised that the capitals are where they are with OV at his age, backstrom at his age. And I was like, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of surprised, but I'm also not. And none of my response made sense. Like, I was like, you know, maybe they shouldn't be very good, but they are, which is surprising, but it's not very surprising. Maybe we should bring, uh, maybe we should bring our friend from the Washington Capitals on the show because I don't know what the heck I'm talking about right now. It's kind of what happened here. Exactly what we're doing.

And we say hello to our friend, Terrick L. Bashar, from The Athletic covers the Capitals. Terrick, we were just talking about this before we brought you on. I remember running into you at the beginning of the Bruce Boudreau era in Washington when this thing started to turn in like 0708. And here we are 13 years later. and the Alex Ovechkitt era is still going strong and you're still covering the Washington Capitals. That's right.

I actually began covering the team during the lockout. That was like my big break. My big break was going from high schools to finally covering the team that I grew up cheering for in Washington, the Capitals. I'm a big hockey fan. I grew up playing the game. I got my break. And then Gary Betbin said, no hockey this season.

So I spent a lot of time on a sidewalk in New York talking to executives as they left meetings. It was not a great start, but you know what? They drafted Alex Ovechkin first overall. I didn't cover the end of that season, but I was there for the draft. So I was one of the first guys to talk to Ovi when he came to the states for that draft. And I've been riding his coattails pretty much ever since. Yeah, 700 goals later. 700 goals, actually.

I was 10 years old. Okay, we're done here, Haley. We don't need. Terrick and I don't need to feel like old guys here. I, you know, I was 10 or 11, yep, because I remember the Crosby draft, which was the 2005. Yeah, 2005 draft right after. and I was, yeah, I was like 11 years old sitting at East Side Marios with my dad. Not as cool as covering the Washington Capitals, but they did have good breadsticks, I must say.

So I was going to say, Ian, you remember, so not only did, was there a lockout that first year. So that's why Ovi and Crosby had the same rookie season because there was no season for Ovi's rookie season. They were terrible. The capitals were terrible those first two years. I mean, they were 70 points back-to-back years. I mean, the building was empty. They played a boring, dry style. Now, Ovi was a shining star.

We saw his opening game, his first game, he broke the boards on his first shift and then scored two goals. So we knew he was going to be something. But the capitals had this really patient plan to surround him. It was like, we're not going to go out and sign. You know, they learned their lesson from the Yager debacle. They already knew that just signing a bunch of random dudes with big names, wasn't going to do it.

So they basically raised the white flag. Listen, we're going to draft this generational star. Dame Alex Havich. You guys are going to love this guy. But we're going to stink for a few years. And we're going to keep taking first round draftics. We're going to get a center to platform to play with that. That became Nicholas Baxter.

We're going to get some back-in guy. They got Mike Green. They got other. They just kept building and building and building. And it didn't all come together. And like you were saying, until Bruce Boudreau was added to the mix. and so he came along from Hershey. They fired Glenn Handlin on Thanksgiving Day.

I got a text or a phone call Thanksgiving Day at like 7 in the morning going, hey, how far are you from the practice ring? I was like, practice is like 11. It's Thanksgiving. They're like, can you get here quicker? And so the change was made. Bruce Boudreau took off. He had known a lot of the core players from this time in Hershey,

you know, Mike Green and Brooks-like and a bunch of those. and they just, they were in dead last place when they fired, fired Glenn Handling. By the end of the year, they'd won the Southeast Division, and the whole Rock, the Red Air just kind of started from there. It was, it was literally zero to 60 and then to 100 miles per hour in like the blink of an eye. Yeah. So what I, what Haley and I want to kind of delve into here a little bit is how is it 13 years later? And this is still a successful franchise.

Like I, at the start of the year, I looked at this and I thought, if anybody is ready to become the next San Jose sharks. It's Washington. The core is north of 30. It's kind of like, you know, not that they're getting stale, but that's an older team. How are they? Yeah. How are they successful, Terrick?

You're around them all the time. You're watching every game. How is this team with a core of, you know, Oshy's over 30? They had Charah he's over 30. Ovi. Over 40. Yeah, over 40. And like, explain to our listeners how the Washington Capitals

are successful with this old bunch of guys? Well, it starts with high skill level. And that's why they're able to break the models of all the advanced analytic guys who look at models before the season. They're like, oh, this is the year. Obie's going to do this. John Carlson's going to start going. You know what?

Their skill level is so otherworldly that they're able to overcome every model that says at 34, Ovi's going to become a 30 goal score. He's going to regress. At 30, no, never mind. It's going to be 35. Oh, he scored 48 again. It's going to be the time after that. It just never happens because they still are the best team in the league at outscoring the opponent.

I mean, right now, last night's game was, I mean, point in case. They were so badly outplayed by the New Jersey Devils. A young team, a fast team. Jack, Duke is all over the place. they got outshot 39 to 19. They won 5 to 4. They don't need any opportunities.

And they don't waste their opportunities. When Alex Ovechka has the puck on a stick and he's within 20 feet of the net, there's a very good chance it's going in. If it's not going in, it's hitting the goaltender in the chest and Nicholas Batcham is knocking it in. When those two guys aren't going, John Carlson's going to come up with two goals and an assist.

They are so deep. And even as the roster has evolved over the last, you know, really started to evolve with the last six or seven years, general manager Brian McClellan has done a really good job of augmenting and just kind of bringing in guys like, like Char has been a revelation this year. I mean, has he been perfect? No, but he's been really good. Brendan Dillon, Justin Schultz. They just always are able to add one or two pieces that keeps them from sinking. It's kind of like a lifeline.

And McClellan just knows the right guy to get and he's been doing. doing this for about five years now. The thing that makes them so dangerous this year, as opposed to last, remember last year before the whole COVID mess, they were the best team in the league from October to like December. And then they were one of the worst teams in the league after the break. And then everything kind of fell apart. And they got run out of the building by the Islanders in five games.

This year, they brought in Peter Lobilette, who's a no-nonsense kind of taskmaster, who's he knows how to push the right buttons on those key players. And, and those key players are on point right now because he won't allow them to, to slip up. And I don't know if that answered a question, but I'll tell you, every time,

every season I read somebody's preview and they're like, this is the season where the capitals regress. And I just laugh. I just go, yeah, until John Carlson scores 75 points in 60-something games. until Alex of Etchkin goes off for 48 goals. The capitals also read those previews. And, you know, and again, some of them are in the athletic. And someone will tap me on the shoulder or give me a call and go, you know,

our evaluations of our own players, they don't jive with what that guy is saying or what those people are saying about our players. We think they're going to age better than other people do. And I think they're just able to outperform. some of those models because because of that incredible high skill level and also because of the depth. I'm going to throw Dom under the bus here because I just pulled up his Washington Capital Season preview. He's a friend of the show. It's fine. We can do this. Yeah, he had them projected as fourth in the division, 63 points and essentially said, you know, for over, for a decade now,

they've been the class of the East. Like, that's probably not going to happen anymore. So, Dom. So the thing I love about Dom, and I talked to him quite a bit on, you know, on, on, on, uh, on messenger. He is, is, he at least owns it. He knows that his model for somehow it doesn't capture the capitals. Like the capitals are like this outlier that he can't quite figure out. And I think that's, that's true. He's not the only one. It's true for everybody. You look, you read the hockey news preview. You read the Washington Post. Everyone is expecting this team to fall off the map at some point. And they just don't. they're almost kind of defying

expectations in in that way and it's something I mean just look at Ovi for example every time I feel like oh here we go this might be the year where he really does drop off

and I thought that at the start of his year I was like he doesn't look that great right here and then he ended up on the COVID list and I'm like oh here we go and what's it to now 19 goals right I mean, he's just, he's scored a goal in every game for the entire, you know, the entire month of March, pretty much. He's back on. And the thing about a veteran team, that I think is going to make this veteran team such a tough out in these upcoming playoffs is, you know, they might not be spry.

They might not be fast, but they also know, they know when to turn it on and when they can kind of back off a little bit. And in a season like this where you're just playing every other night and you're not practicing and it's just difficult. It's just hard on the body. These guys know, okay, you know what? Let's use the first 20 minutes to kind of feel guys, feel the other team out. And then when we see, you know, when we wear them down a little bit, we'll turn up the pressure a little bit in the second period.

We'll score three goals and then we'll hang over to your life in the third period. And that's what they've been doing. And there's a whole other level that this team can get to, and they're not going to show it to us, I don't think until the first round. Like I said, if they get good goal tendening, which I think is the one question mark, they get good goal tend and this team could go far. Well, let's expand on that then for a moment,

Terrick, because I think you look at this team, we talk about how much experience they've got, older team, and then you juxtapose that with the, we'll call it inexperience or youthfulness in the blue paint, and it creates a very intriguing situation. So we've got a handful of days to go until the trade deadline. And do you think Brian McClellan is confident and comfortable with his goaltending situation? Is there an option out there to pick up somebody?

Is Craig Anderson the wild card wading in the weeds? Like, how do you see the goaltending situation playing out for Washington when it matters in about six weeks from now? Well, so to understand what the capals make do at the deadline, you got to take a look at cap-friendly. And not only are they at the ceiling, they're beyond the ceiling. And not only are they beyond the ceiling, they've already spent. their LTI money. Like, they have the least amount of flexibility of any team in the league right now. That said, McClellan has always made a move or two to make his team better at the deadline.

The only way he's going to do it this year is if he moves a player or two off of the roster. It's possible. I do feel like they're, I think deep down the organization, the decision makers, they know they need goal pending. They know they need, even though the kids have done well, you know, this, team is one of the top teams in the league. They do know that they probably need someone who has been

in the NHL playoff caldron because look, Ilya Samsonoff, he's never been there before. He doesn't even know it. He's only seen it on television. He wasn't even in the restart because he fell off in ATV in Russia last summer and wasn't able to join the restart. So he's only seen it on TV. I mean, Vitech vonnecheck, he hasn't

seen it either. He's been in Hershey for five years. So to trust those two guys to you know, the last year, two, three, whatever you want to call of this group as is currently constructed to win a championship, that's a really big risk, in my opinion, probably too big a risk for Ted Leon to see owner and Brian McLeoan, the general manager. I think they're going to look at each other and go listen. We have to go out and get a 30-something year old goaltender. Look, maybe we'll hand the keys to Samsonoff, who's been really good when he's on. But we've got to have

someone that we can turn to in case things go sideways. Just because of the urgency and the pressure and the closing window, this group is facing right now, but it's not going to be easy. I mean, they're going to have to trade someone, you know, off of the roster. And they've got 8D. So they got two extra D and they got one extra forward.

So, I mean, there's options, but it's not going to be easy. I mean, and just pulling up cap friendly here, they are extremely tight. I mean, they're, I think it says they have $10 in cap space. Which is a mistake because I ran that by the guy who runs, the guy who knows and he was like, we don't only have $10. It's zero. He said it's really $0.

I don't know where the $10 comes from. It's so funny to just see $10. Like, okay, wonder what we could do with that. But the, you know, the roster side, like the contract is really interesting. too because the capitals have 49 of 50 contracts. So that is a really, really tight situation, like you said. One of the goaltenders, though, that we personally discussed back and forth a little bit was David Riddick from the Calgary Flames. Is that something that you think is possible? And I know that it was Pierre LeBron that kind of stirred this up a little bit. But Dave has been playing really great

Hawkins. He is an unrestricted free agent. He was asked yesterday after the game, after a loss, if he thought that that was his last game ever. And he was like, don't make a storyline out of this. So I don't know if Dave is going to, Dave enjoys that. I mean, it was after a loss. It's really bad timing. But what do you think about David Riddick's fit in Washington? So because the capitals are going to have to move a roster player to go get that insurance. guy, the guy who could be potentially a number one, I feel like it has to be a significant improvement. I mean, it has to be a big move. I mean, Riddick's good, but he also hasn't been the number one in Calgary, right? I mean, he's been, he's been Robin to, you know, so I, I don't know if that's the move. I mean, when people ask me, what do I think, you know, I, and just kind of looking at the way the capitals have handled their business over the years, I think they're going and try, they're going to try and make a move for a big name. And if that doesn't work out,

they'll just ride with the two kids. I mean, Jonathan Quick hasn't been great. His numbers haven't been great in L.A. But he's a championship level goaltender who knows his time is short to win another championship. That's the kind of guy, I would think, would be more on the Capitol's radar, someone who's done it, someone who, even if, even if he, you know, isn't on top of his game right now, maybe knows how to find that high-level game and can do it for a month and a half. That's more of my feeling. And, you know, the wild card here, guys, is we don't really know what's going on with Henrik Lundquist.

You know, I think it'd be a pretty big stretch to expect a guy who had open-heart surgery a few months ago to be ready to play in an NHL playoff game. But everyone that I've talked to, including people who are close to them, everyone's like, don't write him off. You know, he's, I don't know if he saw, if you follow him on Instagram, like he's been jogging in Central Park. He's been on the ice and full gear facing shots. I mean, I think if he can, I think the capals will welcome them back with open arms, they probably aren't expecting it. But if you were to ask me, the one place where I feel like they need to make a move, it's goaltending. And probably the second area would be a depth center. I, I feel like. to like, and again, they don't have any money, so they're going to have to move pieces to get this. So it's a lot harder this year. But if Gini Kuznetsoff was out with COVID for a month, exposing their lack of depth in the middle,

then Lars Eller had a shoulder injury, then he had a leg injury. He was out for a week and a half, two times. That exposed their issues at center. So maybe if they can't, if they can't find the right fit for a golden, or maybe they use what little they can. and, you know, what little space they can create to go get some depth and, you know, maybe do what the Blackhawks did in their first cup run was just trying to outscore everybody. Yeah.

And I would imagine, like, correct me if I'm wrong here, T.J. Oshy plays a little bit of center, but it's probably unfair to put him up against Bergeron or Crosby or something like that in a playoff series, right? That's 100%. I mean, you nailed it there. He can play center against the New Jersey. He's he devils and the Buffalo Sabres.

He played a little center in, you know, AAA hockey as a kid. You know, I don't think he even played it at North Dakota because there were, you know, there were guys in front of them that were centered. He's a right wing. He's a right wing who can take face-offs. You know, he takes face-offs on the right side, on the power play because he plays that middle diamond spot, so it's just easier to have him to do it. So when everything moves over, he's already in the middle.

He's been doing that for a number of years. That said, when he goes up against the same center over and over and over, and that center is a good face-off guy, it gets exposed a little bit as a right wing. So, yeah, asking him to do it in the postseason, I think will be asking for a disaster. And you don't have to look back forward to see how big a problem this could be for the Capitals.

Last season, you remember in the restart, game one against the Islanders, Anders Lee, put his shoulder right into Nicholas Baxter's chest and rocked him hard, and that gave him a concussion. He was out. Lars Eller was already out that game with an injury. So, or was it an injury, maybe it was the birth of a child. Anyway, he wasn't around.

So, I mean, that exposed their problems there. And I think they're going to do everything they can to not put themselves at that risk again. So let me ask, let's gaze into our athletic crystal ball down the road. Now, one of the cool things that I got to cover years ago, although it was a bit of a sham, was Barry Bonds's home run pursuit of Henry Aaron. I got to go all over North America in 2007 covering Barry Bonds as he finally broke the home run record. Okay?

Yep. I'm looking in the future and I'm wondering, are we going to see you, Terrick? Bouncing all over North America, maybe three years from now, four years from now. Alexander Ovechkin has 725 goals. Gretzky's at 894, so we do the math. It's about 170 goals away.

169 to tie, yep. Yeah, 169 to tie, 170 to break. Let's look into the future. Are you covering Alex Ovechkin's pursuit to break Wayne Gretzky's record at some point down the road? So I've asked people who are close with Alex.

Alex doesn't like talking about himself. He doesn't really enjoy questions about Gretzky and records. He's always, like, I'm focused on this season and getting the most out of the season, which is fair. But I've talked to people in and around his orbit, and they've pointed to a few things. Alex has a great affinity for the players who have played into their late 30s and late 40s,

or early 40s, and continue to perform well. If you go back and listen to his interviews, especially in the offseason when he gives some more in-depth interviews, he praises the Thorntons of the world and the charas of the world. And guys who continue to play at a high level, you know, 38, 39, 40, 41, he has this thing about that. He just has this appreciation for what those guys have been able to do. And so I think that gives us a little kind of window into the way he's thinking and the way he kind of views things. He's got kids.

He's a great family man. He loves his kids. I think he wants them to remember him as a great goal score. He wants them to see him scoring goals in the building. Like right now they're just too young. They're not going to remember this. If he retired after this season, his kids would be 16 and go, I don't remember that, dad.

I remember you told me the story. I just don't remember it. Three, four, five years from now, they'll remember being in the building when he's, you know, chasing down Gretzky. And the third thing I would say is from people who are close with him, they've told me that number two is a big number two. 800's a big number two.

So, like, he's lost a lot of playing time because of lockouts because of COVID. Like, he's lost so much time. I think had there not been a lockout as a rookie season, you know, another season was cut in half by a lockout, COVID knocked off 13 games. He's only missed like 30 games for suspension and, and injury. So he's been available. We could be a lot closer right now. So that's a long-winded way of saying, I think 800 is probably in his crosshairs. That's like his target. He gets to 800 and he's still feeling good. I can definitely see him sticking around and trying to make a run. It's funny you

asked me that question because it's going to come down to contract stuff too. And I'm actually working on a story for the athletic that's going to run later this week about what his next contract could look like. And talking to people in the business, a few people have told me he needs to pull a page out of what Yager did and just signed one-year deals. A, so he can keep getting the bonuses so he can stay around the $10 million range. But that way, he can just kind of give the team flexibility and also he can just continually assess how he's feeling where he is in the race. Does he still have that burning fire to chase down Gretzky. I do think I'm going to be covering a season where it's within striking distance.

So four seasons from now, you know, I think he's going to make some headlines. It's going to depend on a number of things, including health. But something tells me he wants to be remembered as the gray-haired, old grizzled veteran who kept at it and kept playing and kept playing and kept producing at a high level and, and I made a, made a, made a game run at Wayne Gretzky. Yeah. Well, he's got the gray hair part already down. So he's, uh, he's, he's halfway there.

Do you think he'd get the like crazy jumbo Joe beard one day? I'm coming in with the hard hitting questions. Yeah. Oh, oh, you mean like the big like, yeah, I don't know. Um, he usually just goes with kind of the, the kind of the, um, unkempt kind of scragly beard. It just looks good on him because he's kind of a rugged-looking dude anyway. And then he gets frustrated and he just shaved it all off. He goes and gets the hair and he shave it all off.

And then he goes, they grows back. But in the playoffs, it gets pretty good. You remember the cup celebration through the streets of D.C. where he was doing keg stands in the sand. Go back and look at that beard. That was the best beard he's ever had. Because, I mean, it was the deepest they had ever played in the postseason. That got kind of not quite Thorne-esque, but it was going in that direction for sure.

Amazing. That was the summer of Ovi in 2000, 2018. Hey, this was the best. Hey, thank you so much for taking a few minutes with this, Terek. We look forward to your coverage around the trade deadline. And obviously, this piece on OV's next contract, too, sounds fascinating. Thanks for doing this and have a great week. Thanks for having me.

All right, Haley, that was a great conversation with Terek. You know, the one thing I was thinking of off of that conversation when he said, you mentioned that the cap had $10 under the cap via Kemp. Cap friendly. Do you think if you're the teams capologist, like you go back, like, you know how like when you're, you know, you check your bank account and you keep checking it. You're like, I wonder if we got paid. I wonder if I got paid. And then you get, yes. Like, do you think teams capologists like go to their like basically their, you know, their account and they're looking at how much money they have? Just like a like a person looks at their bank account.

$10. Yeah. I'm in overdraft. What? It honestly reminds me of my old roommate when I was in university. We ran cross-country and track together. And like I don't know what this girl was doing and it probably wasn't great because we were roommates like she had to pay rent and stuff. But like there were times and I was like, hey, do you want to go grab a coffee before practice? Do you want to go, do you want to go check out this gym?

It's like $10 for a drop-in. I, shit you not, Ian. One time I asked her to go to this drop-in gym class. It was $10. She's like, I would, but I have $12 in my bank account right now. So she was richer than the Washington Capitals in terms of cap. The capitals only have $10. She had $12.

Yeah. And I was just so astounded. Like, how can you get only $12 in your account? Like, what are you doing? Like, we're in university. We're living downtown Toronto. It is not expensive. But I was just so astounded.

Like, okay, yeah, maybe we shouldn't go to the class. Okay, hold on here. Okay. So you're telling me you have never at any point in your life had a bank account of $12 or less. You have always been north of $12. Always? Yeah.

Wow. I got a paper route when I was a kid. I was always, I was so crazy about saving money and stuff. Yeah, you're the 1% apparently. Oh my God. Now I sound so ridiculous. I just thought.

Yeah. Yeah. I want everyone to picture Haley telling that story like sitting on a high horse on a No, no, it was just the $10 cap hit and the, oh, sorry, I have $12 in my bank account, just like it hit too close to home for being my old roommate. It was really funny. There you go. All right.

Now I feel like in the ass. Yeah. Very good. That was the whole point of that. That was the whole point of that exercise. But it was a great conversation with Terrick. And I do think that the Washington Capitals, they got a legit shot of the president's trophy, legitimate shot at going deep in the playoffs.

So that was a great conversation with him. And we're kind of just doing things a little bit differently. Usually we kind of get to our headlines, but we thought that conversation with Derek was so good. We bumped it to the top of the show. But Haley, as the new week unfolds in the National Hockey League, a significant story and a significant crisis is unfolding in Vancouver, where reports now suggest up to 20 members,

Haley, the Vancouver Connects, players and coaching staff, have tested positive for COVID-19, appears to be the Brazilian variant here. this is more serious. I think it's a legitimate question to ask, and we're not trying to be sensationalist. I don't think we're trying to, you know, amplify this story.

It's a legitimate question to ask, do we think the Vancouver Connect should come back and play again this season? This is essentially a non-playoff team. This is essentially a team that isn't going to rattle around it for a postseason spot. What's the point?

Let's, I guess let's talk this out. Let's talk pros and cons, risk reward. Vancouver Canucks. Should they come back and play this season? Yes or no? Honestly, I think that's something that's got to be up to the players, without being near them and knowing how they're feeling about the fact that they played, the fact that I think it's now 20 people, if you include coaches,

the NHL roster at Taxi Squad, who've tested positive. Some of them are quite sick, you know, getting nauseous, throwing up. They have, I saw Michaela Goddette. She, she tweeted, you know, one day in the middle of the night, like, I, these cold sweats are no joke. I can't sleep. She said, my husband's not doing very well. Adam Goddette, you know, there's public posts about how bad some of these players are feeling right now.

And, you know, I just, I think that if these guys are adamant, like, you know, we're back healthy, we really want to play, you know, that. then that makes it different, right? Like I would always be more inclined to, you know, say, okay, like they really want to come back. That's fine. But like you said, they're not a playoff team. A lot of, I mean, we've got to wait a couple hours still, but the COVID list will come out at 5 o'clock Eastern, 3 o'clock mountain. I don't know if those numbers are still going to be climbing and how long it's going to take for them to recover.

And where's the season going to be at by then? you know, they couldn't even go and get players from Utica. I saw that they were going to go call some guys up and 10, 10 players from Utica tested positive. So I think it's a really fair question to ask. And I just, like hockey is just such a backseat right now because you're just hoping that everyone comes out of this healthy with no, you know, long-term issues from COVID.

It's just, I don't know. I'm not seeing, I just don't know how this is going to play out. And I think it all depends on the health and well-being of these athletes and their families. Yeah. And I think what's important to note is that when you hear some of the reporting that is being done by the likes of Pierre LeBron, Darren, Dregor and others, Thomas Drans, that have reported in and around this, the players are symptomatic. And I think there's always this feeling, Haley, that, oh, if you're in your 20s and you're in an elite athlete and you're going to get COVID, it's going to, it's going to. it's going to pass through you like it's a common cold. You'll get it and be done with it. And I think you actually, you raise a really good question about whether or not the players,

if they want to come back, that's fine. But if I'm a player who has just been ravaged by COVID, I'm wondering, do I want to come back and put my body through that? Or is it best to just put the breaks on this season? We're not going to make the playoffs. I guess the PA would have to get involved because there might be some contractually obligated bonuses that players could have met and you're going to have to compromise on some things.

And I get that. But again, that's minor details in what could be a significant story. I just, I look at this and I think it was not even a month ago where we were kind of sitting on a little bit of a high horse when it came to COVID in Canada, where we were like, look at the North Division hasn't had any COVID issues. And now I think this is the worst outbreak of any team, arguably in professional sports, since the pro sports world relaunched about, you know, 10 months ago. And it is, I think what this leads me to believe, Haley,

is that the NHL should seriously consider going back into a bubble for the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I know that that's not ideal, but I think the Vancouver conducts are going to serve as a, as the test case of if you don't play it in a bubble, this is the risk you run. And I'm not, nobody was reckless. nobody that we, like, we don't know what they did, but it's not like,

I guess my point is, unless you're in a bubble, this is what you're susceptible to. And I just don't know why you would risk playing a Stanley Cup playoffs in a non-bubble environment. Yeah. And I mean, I think that, you know, we saw with the NHL bubble, there were some positive test pre-bubble, but inside the playoff, the return to play bubble, there was zero positive tests. So we know that that was successful. I do know that that was a pretty large financial undertaking for the league. So that's obviously going to be something to balance.

You're going to have to balance. You know, are you going to host it in Edmonton again? Where are you going to host in the States? Can you host in the States? I mean, that's probably much more likely now because compared to us in Canada, most Americans are able to get the vaccine right now, which is, you know, making things much better. you know, a lot of American teams have fans in the stands. Like that's one of the craziest parts about this is, you know, 20 people on this

Kinnucks team have COVID. Meanwhile, a bunch of the U.S. teams have fans in the stands. And just the difference between what's happening in the U.S. and Canada right now, you know, just in this little vacuum of the NHL, it's very different. And I think that, you know, having a bubble. I know that's something that the players didn't want to do. But honestly, when you look at all the regulations, the recommendations, everything laid out for this season, all the things that have changed,

they're not in a bubble, but they're basically on house arrest this season. So, you know, I know that you get to go home to see your family, which is really important for these players. But, you know, what really is the huge difference with going in a bubble? It's you're spending the last, I guess, month. you know, a week to a month of the season, you know, in one centralized location where you know that you're going to be safe. So I don't know how the players are going to feel about that. I know at the start of the season they were adamant. We do not want to do a bubble. We do not

want to do that again. But I feel like if you probably ask some of the players about how this season is, they're not allowed to do anything. You know, like I said, they're not in a bubble, but they're on house arrest. And, you know, I can't imagine this season has been easy for anybody. So I wonder if the added level of safety and security, especially for your family, seeing what's been happening to other teams, makes them reconsider a bubble for the playoffs. You know, when we chat with Tarek,

we talked to Haley a little bit about the fact that the trade deadline is coming up. And he mentioned, look, the caps might need a goalie. They might need a centerman. I can't believe we're now under a week to go to the trade deadline. This is the least amount of chatter and experience. excitement and buzz or whatever word you want to insert in there, I think I've ever experienced in and around the NHL trade deadline. And obviously the COVID is a, COVID is a factor in all of this. But as we're sitting here, the bar is so low, I'm starting to wonder, Haley, if we're going to see any trades of consequence in the next seven days.

I'm going to say no. I think we saw our big trade, we saw it already. was the Patrick Line A deal. That was it. That was the big trade. We're not getting anything close to that in the next seven days. And I'm starting to wonder if we're going to see anything of consequence. Yeah.

I feel like, you know, there's just so many considerations to be made for this trade deadline that it makes it really complicated to make a deal. And it's not just, you know, one side too, right? Like I was talking to general manager Bradtree Living about this. We did a Q&A. It's posted on the athletic. And, you know, he spoke really in depth about all of the stuff that's going on with this trade deadline. Like you have a flat salary cap that most teams are very tight to.

Washington capitals, my roommate, $10, $12. You have the expansion coming up, you know. Are you going to go and acquire a player who you then, cannot, you know, protect in Seattle. So you're giving up an asset for a player that you might end up losing to Seattle or are you giving up an asset for a player to end up losing a big player to Seattle. So that's a huge consideration right now. You have the seven day quarantine. It's not as bad as the 14 day. But again, you know, if you make a deal at the deadline, you're not getting that player for that long to finish out the regular season. So I think what that does is it's not

going to stop everyone from making trades, but it's going to maybe make a very stark difference between the bubble teams and the without a doubt contenders. I don't think the Toronto Maple Leafs will care as much about a seven-day quarantine as the Nashville Predators will, right? Nashville's, they're on the bubble, they're on the cusp. You know, it's Nashville, Chicago. There's a couple teams that are really, really tight for that four spot. A seven-day quarantine, losing a player and waiting for a player for seven days when you're fighting for those points is going to be much bigger than a team who is, you know, 99% going to make the playoffs. So that's a big consideration as well. And then, of course, you have a situation where, you know, you have to

find a willing trade partner who is on your level, right? Like, and who values your players the same way, which is the normal consideration you have with trades. But then you just have all this additional stuff on top of it. It's not in a great environment for blockbusters. And I don't think it's going to be a great environment for an overly exciting NHL trade deadline. I think it's just going to dwindle down the amount of major players at play here this year. You know, Toronto, they're tight to the cap. But again, they're they're right there in the standings. You know, you could see anyone who's really just without a doubt going to make it if they feel like they need to boost something, they'll go and do it. I know the Leafs have been somebody who wanted to make a move,

but I think some of the moves that people were hoping they've made have kind of gone in the trash can because the Nashville Predators, they were, you know, getting a fire sale, and now they're winning and they're almost in the playoffs. So now most of those players are probably off the board, or at least their value is much higher. So it's just a really weird year right now. And I, like in Calgary here, I don't know what's going to happen. They have a couple of UFAs, but what's the value of these guys? You know, Derek Ryan makes a lot of money for a fourth line center. You know, as we heard from from Turk, there's, you know, there's David Riddick, but is he a huge improvement over Simsonov? We don't know. So I'm not expecting to be overly busy or as busy as I was last year

at the deadline. That's for sure. Okay. So that's pretty much the green light for Johnny Goodro and Sean Monaghan, they will be traded at the deadline. Just so you know, because you just said you're going to be pretty quiet around the deadline. Hey, speaking of Nashville, that leads us right into a little multiple choice madness, Haley. Here we go.

We got some fun questions to wrap up this edition of the Athletic Hockey Show and Nashville front and center in this question. Here you go. Which team that is holding down a fourth place playoff spot right now? Haley, are you more confident that they're going to make the playoffs? A Nashville. or B, Arizona. They're both sitting in fourth place

because I looked at the other divisions and I kind of feel like like Boston's in fourth in that division. I'm like, they're probably going to make it. And you look at the North division, it feels like the four teams are set in the north amongst Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto. So I'm looking at these ones

and I feel like legit Nashville and Arizona are bubble teams. So who are you more confident will make the playoffs? The Preds or the Coyotes? You know what? I'm going to say, I'm going to say Nashville. Just, I think that, you know, I'm so bad at multiple choice, Ian. I say one thing in immediate.

It's a staple of the show. And you're saying like, I'm just terrible at these things. But anyway, go ahead. I'm so bad at our main segment. Yeah. Like and subscribe. Leave a review. Yeah.

I'm, you know what? Just a gut feeling I'm going to say Nashville, you know, just looking at the division. you know, Arizona's mostly going to be fighting with St. Louis. There's a, you know, St. Louis is at 37 games. Arizona's at 38. There's three points separating them. And then you look with the predators. There's two points separating them from Chicago, who's, you know, also a bubble team.

There's Dallas who do have a few games in hand. We're only a couple of points back. So I do think that the central race is going to maybe be a little bit tighter. but I don't know. There's something about the blues that makes me think that they're going to be able to make a run, like a mini run since they're both on the bubble. Like I don't see the blues missing the playoffs. And that would mean that they're bumping out likely Arizona because they're 10 points back of the wild for the third place in the West.

I almost called them the Honda West again. If I see you driving a civic, I'm going to know that this was a sponsorship. deal. And by the way, earlier today, in this show, East Side Marios. Are you just fishing for an East Side Marios sponsorship? No, I'm celiac. I found out when I was in high school. So no more breadsticks for me. Anyways, I'm going to just say Nashville. You're going to say Nashville makes a playoffs. Yeah. It's weird because you look at this

and I agree with you. Like, in my mind, I'm like, well, there's no way St. Louis misses the playoffs. But then, you know, you look at them and you're like, they've only won two. of their last 10 games and they're they're scuttling along like they like something's up and and reading Jeremy Rutherford's pieces like you can tell like they got to do something it's almost like they got to do something to save the season in St. Louis Chicago I feel like they had a fun run but it's starting to kind of catch up there's another team they've only won three of their last 10 Nashville's been hot you know Nashville in the last month Haley their goalie save percentage goal-tending for Nashville,

960. They've got a 960 save percentage. I just, I tend to agree with you that I look at them and I think that they probably have a better chance of fending off Chicago and Dallas. But something's wrong in St. Louis. And are we counting out, by the way, are we counting out San Jose?

Like the San Jose sharks have won four games in a row. They've essentially come out of nowhere and they've crept right back in to the playoff picture in that West Division. Are we saying goodbye to San Jose or are they alive? Yeah, I guess they're tied with St. Louis 38 points. I feel like nobody's paying attention to the sharks. My eyes just glazed over San Jose and went right to the Kings and was like, yeah.

They've been four games, four games in a row that they've won. And they've done a really good job of beating up on, I think they're California, cousins there. But full credit to San Jose, they could have folded a long time ago and they're hanging around in the playoff picture. Yeah, and I mean, I think it would be

I guess made me a bit more useful or it would be helpful, you know, if we were able to take a look at, you know, the schedule for all those teams down the stretch. Like, is San Jose going to get to beat up on those California teams for the rest of the season? Or they have a bunch of games against, you know, Colorado and Vegas.

because then they're just going to probably drop back down. But I think that'll be interesting to see. I mean, it would be great for, you know, obviously fans. It'll be great for our friend Kevin Kurz who covers the sharks so they can make it interesting. I'm always good for, you know, having multiple teams in the race in a division, you know, for us in the Scotia North, it's basically seemed like the same four teams since the first couple of weeks of the season.

So it'll be nice to be able to watch some good battles down the stretch. Well, I think what's interesting, too, as you do look at San Jose's schedule, I don't believe they play L.A. again. Because remember L.A. and Anaheim have that crazy stretch where they play each other like five games in a row. And those will essentially be meaningless games. But I think it is worth noting that San Jose ends the season, Haley, with four games in the final couple of weeks against Arizona. So the team that they are chasing down, including the last, I believe the last two, yeah, last two games of the season are against Arizona.

And I hate using the phrase, control your own destiny, because I feel like that's the rallying cry of the loser. They're like, we control our destiny. Well, that means that you need to win some games. That's all that means. But I'm not saying goodbye to San Jose just yet. I think they might still be alive. All right. Next question, though, in multiple choice badness, Haley, I'll tackle this one first.

we talked about this, trade deadline might be a little bit of a, a little bit of a dud here going forward. Here's my question. Which one of these players do you think is most likely to get traded before the deadline on Monday? Is it A, Matthias E. Atcombe of Nashville, B, Hennar Pearson in Vancouver. C. Chris D. Drieger of the Florida Panthers, D. Ricard Raquel of Anaheim or E, none of them are going to be traded. Look, Haley, I'm going to go first and I can't believe I'm going to say this. I don't think any of them are going to get traded. I think I look at Ackholm, I think Nashville all of a sudden has become a contender and it's almost like maybe he just becomes an own rental and they just decide to hang on to him and see where this goes. Tender Pearson,

I now wonder what's going to happen to anybody involved with the Vancouver Connect. So I'm going to take him right off the list of guys. Chris Drieger, I look at him. If I'm Florida, I still wonder, like, isn't it worth hanging on to him? Like, do you really, truly implicitly trust Sergey Barbrowski to get the job done? To me, you hang on to him. And Ricard Raquel, still another year left on the deal. Like, to me, if you don't find the trade that you wanted, the deadline, if you're Bob Murray and Anahehm, just wait until the summer and move him. He still has another year left on his deal.

So I don't think any of them are getting moved, Haley. I think none of them get moved before the deadline. What about you? Yeah, I'm going to agree, but I'm going to add in an like an option. None of these players, but here's one. Like I think that, and it's no question. I mean, now that I say that, it's probably not going to happen. But I think if there's one person that we can probably say is going to get moved before the deadline is Kyle Paul Mary.

His agency, Bartlett hockey, his agent is Steve Bartlett. They tweeted yesterday night that they can confirm that Kyle Palmary is being held out of the devil's lineup today in anticipation of a trade in the coming days or weeks or week, because. because we're now one week out from the trade deadline. So, you know, I think that just shows that, you know, of anybody right now who's on those big trade boards, this is the first player, I believe, that has been held out for trade reasons that we know of. Maybe there's someone who's been held out and they said, oh, he's day to day, but there's, it's actually for a trade.

I don't know. But, you know, I think if there's one player that we can say, yeah, he's. he's probably on the move. It's going to be Paul Mary from the New Jersey Devils. He's a pending unrestricted free agent, a good rental piece. His cap hits not huge, but it's okay. I think it's between three and four million around that mark. So I think he could be somebody who's definitely on the move.

As long as you have more than $10 in cap space, you should be. Yeah, not to the, I mean, unless the caps are moving somebody huge. Yeah. But I don't know. Okay. Next question, Haley. There's a whole bunch of players in the N. NHL this season that are having

terrific years that we're not talking about. And as we start a new month, I'm going to ask you, which are these players that's averaging at least a point a game? And these are all players who have played 30 games. So none of this, you know, 12 games, 12 points. These are all players who have played 30 games and all have a point a game. Who should

be talking about a little bit more? Is it A, Miko Ranton in Colorado, B, David Peron in St. Louis, C, Alex Debrinkat in Chicago or D, the old guy, Anse Copatar. with the LA Kings. Haley, who deserves a little more love?

I'm going to say Anzay Kopitar with the Kings. And maybe that's just me being biased because I adore Lisa Dilman. But she did this great piece. And like she was just way ahead of the curve on this. She did this great piece on like why does Anze Kopitar not get more. I think it was heart trophy love because he's been,

that's the how great of a season he's been having. And she wrote this again like over a month ago, just does he deserve some hard trophy consideration? He was a finalist for MVP, I think three years ago. He's been one of the NHL's top scores this season. And, you know, he's been a part of this landscape in L.A. for so long, he won two Stanley Cups. And she just wrote this incredible piece about how effective,

that how effective Anzee Kopitar has been this season for the L.A. Kings and obviously in his career for the L.A. Kings. and it just gave me, I guess, a bit of a soft spot. And I was just like, yeah, why don't we talk about this guy more often? Because he's a great player. So I'm going to say Anzee Kopitar and anyone who wants to read that piece, Lisa Dilman posted it at the beginning of March. And it was really great.

You know, I got to say Miko Rantan, only because I think he just gets overshadowed by Nate McKinnon, right? Like, Nate McKinnon gets all the press and all the headlines and all the love. And Rantanin is having a heck of a year. He's 21 goals for Miko Ranton this season, 43 points. I think that whole avalanche team, I think, yeah, Rantanin's a plus 19. And I'm looking at that avalanche team, like the gold differential.

Like, they are, they're a powerhouse when they're healthy and they're rolling. I think Rantan probably deserves a little bit more love. Like, the guy's a stud. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong on that. Maybe there are enough people giving them love. I just, I feel like he doesn't get enough. credit in Denver or outside of Denver for being an elite player.

Like I just don't, I don't know how many hockey fans realize. Unless you're in a pool, you may not know Miko Renton has 21 goals so far this season. But an honorable mention of David Perron, 37 points in 37 games. I'm not sure a lot of people saw that. Okay, next question. In multiple choice madness, we talked about this with Tarrick a little bit earlier. Rookie goalies have had an impact in Washington. What about around the national hockey league, Haley?

Who, which rookie goalie do you think has had the biggest impact on his team so far this season? Is it, A, Alex Nadelcovic in Carolina, B, Kevin Lankan in Chicago, C, Capul Cacadin in Minnesota, D, Vtec Vec Vec Vec in Washington or E. He's been pretty good when he's, you know, when he's been going and healthy. But Igor Shasturkin in New York, it's been a really good year, Haley, for rookie goalies in the National Hockey League. we think has had the best season. And I think, you know what, I'll go first, and I will say Vanissec in Washington. And I'll say that because I looked around at the start of the year and I thought,

wow, they're going to have Hank Lundquist and Samsonoff and they'll be fine. And guess what? Lungwist start of the year, obviously the hard issues. Vanekek kind of came out of nowhere. And he's put in some like legitimately good numbers, not just okay numbers, but you look at what he's done. And I know his numbers have fallen off a little bit, but 15 wins and a 907 save percentage,

at the very least what he's done, in my opinion, is he's allowed the Washington Capitals to be in the President's trophy mix. I don't know that he's actually the guy to take them over the top in the playoffs, but he's done enough to keep them afloat. And I've been really impressed with him. So I would go with Van, Sack, but I think there's a number of good options here. I'm going to go with Kevin Lankin with Chicago. I think, you know, you just look down the list of the rookie goaltenders. He's played the most games. He has 27 starts. You know, he has 13 wins, so a little bit, you know, a little under Vanisek. And, you know, but his save percentage has been great. He has a 9-18 save percentage. I think that he was another one. I mean, you could probably argue that a lot of, not all of them, but, you know, quite a few these goaltenders really did come out of nowhere.

I think he was one of them that became this, like, really great story in Chicago. And everyone's like, where did this guy come from? You know, they're like, they went on this really great run for Chicago. And a lot of that was, you know, on the heels of, of this rookie goaltender playing really well. And again, I think he's, he's started the most games of any rookie. He has the best save percentage of any rookie. I mean, actually, Igor Shisterkin has a 925 and Nadel. has a 924. But I think when you look at the body of work along with that save percentage,

I think it's, I think it's great. And he's played the most minutes of any rookie as well. So I'm going to say in terms of his impact, the way he's been able to go in, play a lot of games and post some really great numbers, I think makes him the most impactful out of any rookie. Okay. Haley, we're going to wrap up the show with a fun Easter question for you, because we just had Easter weekend. I need to know, Haley Salvean, who's got the best best Easter-related name in NHL history. Is it A, former goaltender, Bunny LaRoc, B, Mark Lamb, C, Corey Cross, D, J. Feaster, B, Fester and Easter Rhyme, or E, you got somebody off the board other than Bunny LaRoc, Mark Lamb,

Corey Cross, or Jay Feaster. So who's got the best Easter-related name of all time? Well, when I saw Feaster, I didn't think of it rhyming with Easter. I thought about like a feast. Yeah, you can take it multiple ways. Like, right off the bat, you think Bunny LaRocque is obviously the best. These are so funny, Ian. This one I'll actually hand to you.

These are great. For once, she's giving me credit. I'm going to make myself sound really dumb, but I think Mark Lamb, because I I just think like those little lambs are really cute and they remind me of Easter. Oh God. Yeah, I'm going to say Mark Lamb. Mark Lamb, best Easter name. You know what?

Just because those those cute little lambs. But don't, but don't people eat lamb at Easter. So I don't know. I was thinking of the really cute little lambs that you see at the petting zoo or like the little stuffed animals. but you just devastated me. I did. Yeah, this was your, yeah. This was a tough moment for you finding out people eat lamb.

You know what? Is Bunny to Rock too obvious? Like, bunny, that was my initial thought, and I probably should have stuck with it because Mark Lamb just ended up being devastating. Yeah. So I know I'm going to take Bunny LaRoc so you can't have it. Oh, see, I was going to take Bunny LaRoc.

But you know what? I mean, Corey Cros. isn't bad depending on people's backgrounds or whatever. They might, you know what, forget, I'm going Bunny La Rock. But you're not, the guy's Bunny and this is Easter. You're not, if somebody, and by the way, if any listener has a better suggestion for an Easter related name in hockey history, fire it over to us. But I don't know if you're going to be Bunny La Rock or Mark Lamb.

Corey Cross is pretty good too. Yeah. I actually mentioned Corey Cross. He was part of the lead of my column in the athletic today. So a random, I like to drop random references. Corey Cross made it into mind. Hey, Haley, that's all the time we have for this show. Look, we're back at it next week.

We're going to have some fun little trade deadline edition of the show, which is going to be a ton of fun. But listen, have a great week. And hopefully, fingers crossed, you said it was going to be a quiet trade deadline for you. We're going to come back and replay that clip. next Monday after Brad Trilliving makes some major trades. Yeah, I know. Can't wait.

Thanks, me. All right. All right. Hey, thanks, everybody for listening to The Athletic Hockey Show. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Leave a rating and a review. We would certainly appreciate that. Your annual subscription to the Athletic.

You can get it for $3.99 a month when you visit theathletic.com Hockey Show. Our next edition of the Athletic Hockey Show comes your way on Wednesday. It's the two-man advantage edition of the athletic hockey show with Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBron. And I'll be back in this chair on Thursday with Sean Mackey.