The Athletic Hockey Show - Worst team rebrands, Ilya Samsonov's arbitration ruling, best contracts in the NHL

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

On the morning of Twitter's rebrand to X, Ian and Julian discuss the NHL's history of team rebrands, especially the less successsful ones. Next, Ilya Samsonov's arbitration ruling, and a look at Dom Luszczyszyn's piece about the ten best contracts in the NHL. To wrap up, Julien rolls out his cartoon theme song bracket, and absolutely no one can get mad about it, guaranteed.Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowStart building your credit up. Open a Chime Checking account with at least a $200 qualifying direct deposit to get started. Get started at chime.com/nhlshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. It's the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Ian Medes, Julian McKenzie is sitting with you here on the 24th day of July, 2023. And, you know, even as I say those words out loud, Julian, I'm like, it's July 24th. There's not much going on here. We're going to be up front.

We're going to have some fun on this pod, but it doesn't feel like there's a ton of news to sink our teeth into. So we're going to have a lot of hockey talk, but let's be honest here. This is the, this is the absolute most quiet part of the hockey season news cycle. But, you know, the flip side of that is it gives us an ability to be a little bit more creative, have a little bit more fun with topics. You know, so we're going to try and do that. But boy, it's, it's super dry right now in terms of,

news and and and and anything tangible to sink our teeth into right you did we can't we can't ward off the the few listeners we're going to have on this no no i'm saying we we i get we got to be honest with them but like you know there's at least there's at least a few things i'm sure we could you know bring up to the surface on july 24th i mean you know it's the athletic hockey show there's no way there's nothing we could discuss on the show also no seriously If there was someone I had to do a podcast with in the middle of summer where nothing was going on and we had to find a way to make something work, it would be you. Because I know with you, we always find a way, even in times of the year where we should be talking about other stuff. We find ways to talk about funny stuff too.

So I think we'll be okay over the next how many minutes we do this show. So let's start with faith. Well, let's start with this, okay? Because if a lot of people woke up on Monday and if you're a social media user, you would have gone to Twitter and realized, wait a minute, Twitter is now kind of changed its name and it's branding, right? The bird is gone and the X is moved in. So technically now they're trying to shift this thing. They're going to call it X. It's not going to be Twitter, even though people like us will probably still, like this is how I feel.

Like, I'm old enough that I still refer to arenas by like their old name. Like, or like I still call it Skydome sometimes in Toronto. I'm like, I'm not going to call this thing X. I'm not going to go. So here's my question, though. In the hockey world, we've seen logo changes, team name changes over the years. What's the best, for you, what's the most memorable could be best, could be worse? NHL team either changing its logo

like Twitter is done or changing its name also Twitter's done what jumps out to you I said most memorable name change the one that stands out to me is the ducks like the mighty ducks

we all know from all the movies from the 90s and then the team itself that run that they made to the final in 03 against the devils were in the mighty ducks uniforms those are classic uniforms. That's a classic logo. And then in the mid-2000s, they decided they were all grown up

and they decided to go to the, what, the orange and black, the web duck feet. Like, they won a cup with it, no seven. But I just think they took away some joy when they changed it from mighty ducks to ducks. It's almost similar to when, like, the Tampa Bay Rays got rid of the devil in the name. I can maybe understand that a little bit because they did have some really bad years with devil rays and they've since been a better team since. But like Mighty Ducks, I feel like if they added Mighty back to their name, we would all love it. They're going to have the anniversary jerseys coming out in the new year and they look sick. And they've incorporated the old color scheme.

I guess the kind of eggplant color jerseys, they look sick. So for me, the most memorable one, and I don't necessarily think it was a good thing. but going from Anaheim Mighty Ducks to Anaheim Ducks, that to me is a crime. I mean, if you look at some of Dom's the graphics that he'll like, he's a little post you'll put up and he'll put like team logos. He purposely switches the Anaheim Ducks one to the old school one. Like look through some of his old posts and see whatever the ducks are mentioned. You'll sometimes see that old ducks logo.

I purposely bought a Ducks old school app the other day because that logo is just timeless. It's a great logo and it's time we bring that back permanently. I didn't expect this to turn into a PSA, but I'm turning this into a PSA. I'm turning this into a call for attention. Change it back. Permanently.

Do it. So the first year that they dropped the mighty name was the year they won the cup. Yes. So let's give them a little bit of credit there. I mean, they want a cup. But we do have an Anaheim Ducks fan who is on this pod right now,

our producer, Danielle. That's true. Now let's bring her in and ask, Danielle. The people have asked for it for years and they just refuse. Just like if they went back to the original colors, original logo, like everything, they could be printing money just with Jersey sales alone, not just from Ducks fans, but from everybody. Everybody. The current black orange now, change it. It's time. Change it back. I'm with you. I think a lot, like, how long did it take for you to stop calling them the Mighty Ducks? Like right away or did it take a couple

seasons. I don't, honestly, I don't remember. Because now it's just like it's ducks now, but that would be a quick switch back, you know, easy. Yeah. Especially when people see those, I mean, we're an audio form show, so there's no way for us to actually show you those jerseys. But the ducks, I know a couple weeks ago, they pulled up what those anniversary jerseys look like. So once we start to see the teams, see the team wear those jerseys, I think that's the perfect time if you are some kind of fan group that's like really pushing to bring the Mighty Ducks back to bring that color scheme back like now's the time this coming year is the time to do it considering the

youth movement they've got going on they just drafted Leo Carlson they have all those young players like Trevor Zegra's like these next few years as that team starts to get better and better there might be no better time to make that switch back to Mighty Ducks than within the next few years there's a golden opportunity for that franchise I believe yeah you know one team that I think went through a ton of kind of jersey redesigns, whatever, in the 90s, the Buffalo Sabres. Like, if you go watch Buffalo Sabers highlights from the early 90s to the mid-90s to then the early 2000s, like it was total change, right?

Like they were, they wore the goat head jersey. Then they went to those, what do they call them, Buffalo, the slug jerseys. One of the worst jerseys I've ever seen in professional sports. Yeah. And so, like, I'm with you. I didn't mind the goathead one. I don't have a problem with that. It's the slug.

That one, that might be the worst. That one might be the worst. We're talking about logo and jersey name, and name change. They didn't change the name, but boy, the logo. That was pretty bad. That was pretty bad. But what's funny about that too is,

is like that slug was like in that middle part of the 2000s where the Sabres were turning themselves into a playoff team and they were very close to go to the Stanley Cup final. Correct me if I'm wrong, they wore the slug the year they went to the conference final and lost to Ottawa before they went on to the cup final that year. I believe. And the year before when they played Carolina and went to a game seven, and that was the whole Puckover Glass thing in 06.

I think they were wearing the slugs both those years, weren't they? I think so. I know it was very much a thing. like mid, so 2006 to about 2010. That's when the slug was a thing. So that makes sense. That tracks. The Sabres were, at least in the beginning part of that era with the slug.

They were a really good team. Do we refer to that as the Max of Finneganov era of the Sabres? Oh, yeah. I think he was like, he was there. He's a very, if you're trying to think of like a Buffalo Sabres player from the 2000s, like Danny Breyer comes up for me, JP, J. P. Dumas somewhere there. Stu Barnes might be a little late 90s,

but like Max... Yeah, Stu Barnes was late, late 90s. Max was gonna get out the sick move where he kind of does the little spin near the net and he finishes and Rick Janorette just loses his mind. Like, that's very 2000s hockey. That's like a core memory unlock.

I'm gonna give you a classic, a classic Sabres name of the 2000s. Okay, ready? Give me one. Yoken Hesched. Oh. He's the most classic saber guy of the 2000s for me. Like a Finneganov.

Absolutely. Like, I remember playing NHL video games as a young child and coming across the Buffalo Sabers roster and coming across a Yolken hack. He's German? I want to say he's German? Yeah, Yolken hack. Yeah, yeah, yeah, German guy.

Yeah, Yolkenhack. Like, just in the, in the hall of let's name some guys, like Yolken hack deserves a spot there. He doesn't deserve a wing, but like he just, like, you mentioned Yolkin Hack. Like, that could end up being a really good Puck-Doku clue for somebody this week. Yeah. The Puck-Doku phase. It's been a ton of fun.

You know, and so I love to hear from our listeners, though, like, with Twitter rebranding, renaming it. Two things. One, what's the most memorable one? And two, other than the might, like, I think we all, the three of us agreed that the duck should consider going back to the old logo, going back to Mighty. Is there any other team out there, Julian, the NHL,

that you're like, you know what? You got to go back to old school. Go back, change your lame or logo. So Ottawa did it. Ottawa went back to their 2D logo. And that's people like that. People like the two-dimensional logo. Is there any other team in the NHL

that you look at them and you say, you know what? You should go, I like Arizona going back to that. New Jersey. Yeah. Exactly. Like, I think those are kind of cool. Those are sweet. But there's a nostalgia factor, right?

Like, it kind of takes you back to the 90s. I know, yeah. Like, I love the design of them. And again, thinking of guys who were in that era, like, I thought of Nikolai Habi Bullen the other day. And I know we think of it as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Stanley Cup winning goalie from 04, but he was in Arizona.

He was a Phoenix coyote in those jerseys once upon a time. Another team I thought of, and they're a bit more top of mind because just as we started recording, they just re-signed their general manager for another two years. Jim Nill and is Dallas Stars. I always thought the 90s look with the Star was a really good look. And then they did have some questionable choices. They have the Mooterous third jersey in the mid-2000s.

But like the D, the green, I'm like, it's okay. but like I could, I think if they went back to their original jerseys from the 90s, so I guess after they moved from Minnesota, like that would be a really good look. The jerseys they won the cup in in 99 with, like that would be a really, that'd be cool if they went back to those. I'm with you there. Those were, those are great in the kind of those Medano years, right? When they did the switch.

Right, all in the crease. Yeah. See, now we've just gone back to Sabres fans. making them think about Oh, I'm, oh, God, I'm sorry. Late 90s. Sorry, sorry, sorry. We didn't.

No beef on Buffalo. Ouch. There was a little bit of news on the weekend in the NHL. Like I said, nothing seismic. No. But I was surprised when they walked in and they actually did the arbitration hearing, I was like, oh my God, they actually went through it

because it's pretty rare that teams and the player actually go through it. And I think for me, I look at this and I think, okay, so Ilyas Samsonov gets a one-year arbitration award at $3.5 million. And it makes me think, Julian, that this guy is walking out the door next year. Because if we know anything about the arbitration process, go back and look at the history of teams and players that go through arbitration. it usually means at some point there's a divorce. Go back, you know, Shea Weber went through it with Nashville. I had a couple of other examples there that I jot it down.

Jacob Truba with Winnipeg. Blake Wheeler, way back in the day with Boston. Yeah. It usually starts the clock ticking that, hey, like I would not want to go. Like even with us with the athletic. Can you imagine anybody, whatever your job is, imagine that your next contract was settled in an arbitration type of setting where you would go in and you would be like, well, I work, you know, six days a week during the hockey season, sometimes seven days a week, and I do this, this and this. And then the employer on the other side of the table is like, well, actually, I have the metrics here that say you're like, it would be really awkward. It would get personal.

you would lose a lot of trust and faith. Like, I don't think this is going to end well. I just, I think Samsonov's going to play out the year in Toronto and then that's my guess, right? Here's my thinking about that, right? Because we've seen that with skaters in recent years. P.K. Suv adds another example for me. Like, when it got to arbitration with him and the Montreal Canadians, I thought, okay, it's only a matter of time before he ends up leaving. And then we all know what happened after that.

What happens with goalies? That I have a big question about. Because we're already at a point with the position where more and more teams are realizing that you don't have to pay top dollar for a goal. Not anymore. So for a guy like Elias Samsung, if he has himself a really good year, I'm sure there would be teams who'd be interested in signing him for a good amount of time. But how much more money would he be due to make than the 3.5, what, 5?5. he's supposed to make over the next year. I'm not saying he can't make more money,

but as opposed to some players who they go through an experience like that, and in theory, they should be able to command more money on the market for a guy like Ilya Samsonov and the position that he's in, how, like, what does that look like for him? I'm intrigued about that. Also, we have to account for the fact that the salary cap is supposedly supposed to go up.

Does that make a difference in terms of what money you should get? and whether or not teams feel like, hey, you know what, we feel comfortable giving you this because the cop's going to go up by X amount of dollars over the next few years. I think that plays everything to it. But for me, the big thing is because of the position that Ilya plays, depending on how well he does, even if he has himself a really good year, how much more money is he do to get,

considering how more and more people are realizing that you don't need to give a guy, Andre Vasselowski money or anything close to that for a goaltender. Where do you come down to, like the arbitrator ended up kind of, of going in between the two numbers, like Toronto off, what Toronto said he was worth, what Samsonov said he was worth. What do you think about the idea of if you do arbitration that it would be binding, meaning like, I'm not binding, sorry, that there would be a high, low number and the arbitrator has to pick one of the two numbers.

Do you think that that would result in the two parties being a little bit closer in the numbers? Because really, Ilya Samsonov could have said, yeah, I'm worth $7 million. And the Leafs could have said, well, we think he's worth $1 million. But in their mind, they would know that they weren't going to win, but maybe they'd find something in between. If you do the high, low number and the arbitrator has to pick one or the other, you're going to be a little bit more likely to make sure that the number is reasonable, right? because as the player, you're going to say, you're not going to put $5.5 million because you're like, man,

the arbitrator's not going to pick five and a half. So I should pick something a little closer to what I think it's going to be, right? Like, I think I like that approach better than two parties go in and they just throw in the numbers and the arbitrator can pick something in between. I think if you're forced to pick, the arbitrator is forced to pick either the team or the player's number, those numbers will be a lot closer. That's always been my thinking on that. Well, my question about that is I can totally understand why it makes sense for the team to pick a reasonable number because if they don't get the number they want, then it's likely that the salary cap situation, depending on what it is.

They end up getting screwed with an insane number. Then they have to do a whole bunch of other things to make the numbers work. But if you're a player and you feel you deserve to be paid a certain rate, why should you give a damn about what the team's supposed to pay? you know, already you're going through the arbitration, especially if you go through, I don't know at what point in the process you put in the dollar amount that you're putting in. So, we've seen people say that when you go through arbitration as a player, it's this miserable process where this team is basically dumping on you and dumping on your skills as a person. There's like a famous like Jeff O'Neill tweet going around from a couple years ago where he said,

he went through arbitration and the first thing that came out of the first thing he thought of was man i never want to play for this team again whichever team he has whatever so if you're a player and you feel you deserve a big amount of money and you feel you're confident enough to make that money why not make that big number right i guess at the end of the day like if the team's going to be more reasonable if you go out of the too much out of the park you're going to lose that battle but i think if you're a player especially if you go through that process why should you have to care so much about a team salary cap structure that would be my cynical view on it but i also understand where you're coming from in the fact that it is to if both sides want it to be as amicable as it can be it is to both of their incentive to come together with a number that can at least something in

between two reasonable numbers. But I can also see a scenario where someone's like, no, screw you guys. You guys think I'm a scrub. I'm going to ask, I think I'm really good. I'm going to ask for this number. And if I get my number, too bad. So sad.

Move around some guys. Yeah, I don't know. I just think that the baseball model of the arbitrator, the mediator having to pick one side or the other means that the two sides are forced to submit a more genuine offer, right? Because like in this case, Look, Samsonov, his camp submitted 4.9 million, which I think was a touch high. Absolutely.

The Leafs came in with 2.6 million, which I think is a touch low. Yeah. But if you knew that the arbitrator was going to pick one or the other, Samsonov's not going to ask for 4.9. He's like, ah, that seems a little high. Let's maybe four is the ask. And if you're the Leafs, you were like, man, 2.6, we're never going to win that. that we should probably, you know, maybe maybe a three-ish, three-point. And guess what?

When you submit those numbers, now you realize, guess what, guys, the Gulf isn't that big. No. So before we walk through that door, let's just settle this right now. And you could have settled it. That's my thinking. Anyway, that's my feeling on it. Yeah, I'll say this. Like, I'm also a bit surprised that it got to that point.

but the fact that I think 3.55 is pretty reasonable. My guess was a shade under that. I was in a group chat with a couple of least friends and I was saying like 3.475 somewhere around that. I was a shade underneath. Just hang on here for a second. We need to talk about the fact that it's July 24th and you were in a group chat with some friends

and you submitted a number that sounds like, you know, when people read out the digits for what pie is actually worth, and it's like it's actually 3.14-66-6-6. That's what it sounded like. What was the number you said you just submitted into a group text? Okay. Well, it sounded like pie. For those listening and know about all the other stuff that I do,

I think you can all figure out who the Leafs friends I'm referring to are, first off. Do the number I submitted. in this group chat, 3.476. That's actually the specific number I use. 3.476. I wouldn't have a problem with it

except for the six at the end. That's a weird number. Why? I don't know. It's just like... Make it a five. It could be a five. The six makes it something weird. Yeah, but like contract numbers

do weird stuff like that all the time. Have you ever seen a guy? Okay. I'm going to give you a challenge for the... I'm going to give you a challenge for the... I'm going to be weird. give you a whole week to come up with this. Okay. Your job

is to find me a guy who's contract. I want two players. Two players. The final decimal point number in their contract is a six. But it's got to be at least two dozen. So it's got to be 3.56. I don't want a 3.6.

The second decimal point, so the 10th or whatever. The second decimal point is a 6. Is a 6. Second or third number is a 6. Okay. After the decimal. Not the first number because you could easily find,

oh yeah, this guy signed for 4.6. I'm looking for 4.76 or 0.86. I think you're going to have a hard time. But that's your homework for the week. Find me two guys whose contract ends with a... With a six. Oh, my.

See, now you're going to find out. I didn't know that screwed myself this bad. Okay. You're going to find out. Oh, my God. Why did I do this to myself? This is terrible. There's five's, there's sevens, there's zeros.

Okay. So anyway, that's your homework. I'm going to give you a week. You find it. There's no way. No, exactly. This is a perfect segue, though, for us to talk about good contracts because Dom, Julian, Dom has a brand new column up today on Monday looking at the 10 best contracts in the

NHL. And I don't know what you. think. But it's got Matthew Kachuk at number one. The best contract, if you ask people who's the best contract in the NHL, I don't know that a lot of people would immediately say Matthew Kachuk,

but Dom does. At 9.5 million per. What did you think of that being the number one contract in the NHL right now? Do you agree with that? The very first thing that came to

my head is Brad Trillivin doesn't get enough credit for signing that contract. Sorry. Because that happened in a sign and trade, obviously. Yeah, sorry. Just, you know, a little joke. Seriously, for Matthew Kachuk, who turned himself into a bigger star than he was in the first few years of his career in Calgary through that first season he played in Florida, I don't think it's a wrong move to put him at number one.

It might be a little bit of projecting on the fact that you're expecting him to have another good year, I guess when he's healthy enough to play again because remember he was banged up. Yeah. Where he hurt, broken. He hurt his sternum in the postseason. But this is a player who is still in the, like at the beginning of the prime years of his career. And the fact that he signed to a deal where, again, with that salary cap going up, It's going to look very nice, especially if those numbers go up.

I don't have a problem with him getting, what, at 9.5 for the next how many years, that's going to look like a steal if he plays like a top five player. If you think of guys who are in the top five in the NHL, players who are around that like a McDavid, a dry sidel, an Austin Matthews, we all know his next contract is going to pay him a sizable amount, no matter who's giving it to him or how much it's going to cost. Matthew Kachuk, at least for the next handful of years, is not going to touch 10 million in terms of an AV. And if he plays like a top five player, which is what he played like last season, that's why he was worthy enough of a heart trophy consideration. It's going to look like a steal.

And with respect to some of the other guys on this list, like a Jack Hughes or I think Jason Robertson's a little further down. A Cam McCar also is on that list. And he's third. And that's also a player you could consider a top five player in this. league, nine million. Like, those are steals. We all know how much hockey players should be making in a perfect world where they market themselves a little bit better and their salaries don't trail behind the NBA and

the MLB and all the like. But the fact that you could live in a world, we live in a world now where Kail McCarr, I think is a top five player in this league and you can make an argument. And I think of Chuck, if he isn't already, is a top five player in this league. and they're making under 10 million annually, those are steals as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, you know what? I guess maybe in my mind,

if you had asked me before looking at this column, somebody said to me, who's got the best contract in the NHL? I mean, for years, the standard answer was Nate McKinnon, right? For years, because McKinnon had signed that long term. And obviously he's re-opted. He's getting a handsome raise as he's deserved. It's Jack Hughes for me.

I think it's Jack Hughes. Like, like, Julian, the guys only made, only, air quotes, make an $8 million a year. And I think, given the way that he is progressed as a player, I think he's potentially a top five center in the NHL. Yeah. You know, as, and that's with a lot of respect to as, as Sid and some of those guys start to exit maybe the top five. I said it's for me, it's still probably in the top five. But Hughes is ready to be a top five center in this league for the next seven years, for the length of the contract.

I don't disagree with that. And where I like the deal on Hughes is, I think, like Robertson and Elias Pedersen, let's use those two guys as examples. Okay? They're going to be needing new contracts. Jack Hughes doesn't need a new contract for, you know for a number of years and you know an eight million dollar a year deal for seven years uh i mean it was a gamble i guess at the time it's it's very much like what ottawa did with

tim stutzloh which is sign the guy and you know you hope that he breaks through and you're good to go but like to me the best contract in hockey is jack hughes it's jack hughes for me uh that's another player who like you mentioned top five centers in this league we're talking about a guy who could turn himself into one of the faces of the league in terms of how he, as the way he plays, we see some clips from some of his post-game availability, making the rounds and people laughing up those. Like,

he's a player who could be seen as, like, a future face of the league. Wouldn't surprise me if, like, in the next year or two, like, he was like, I don't know how much that matters in the Grants game of things in terms of sponsorships or whatever. Jack Hughes on the cover of, like, EA Sports NHO. Like, I totally see that happening for him than the next two years in his future. It could be as early as this year.

I don't know. But, like, I think this is a player who, if he continues the trajectory that he's on, just like I made the argument for Matthew Kachuk, and I still think he, I still think Don was right in ranking him where he did. Jack Hughes could easily find himself in that conversation. I just think that right now, Matthew Kachuk is a lot. If he's not number five, he's knocking on the door, you could make the argument to flip out Austin Matthews out of that top five now

and put Matthew Kachuk in his place. Jack Hughes, I think, is a player who is knocking on that door of being a top 10 player, a top 5 player. But he's not there yet. But he's right there. He is really good. And as a top 5 center in this league, like, absolutely, you can make him a top 10 player if you want to. But I think if you're going to, and the value is there. But I think for a player like Matthew Kachuk who's at the level that he's at,

and even if he does have the injuries, that's still a player who, when he plays at his best, that's, I don't think you can dispute that much that he's a top 5 player. If he's healthy enough next year, we'll see how it is. But I don't think Dom was wrong in his analysis. Okay. And the other name I want to bring up with you, like I said, if you're asking me who I think the best contract, who has the best contract for me, it's Hughes. But I totally, I get the point on Kachuk and all the other guys in McCar. Absolutely.

The other name I want to bring up, because like I said, I think for years we said Nate McKinnon had the best contract in hockey. What about Leon Drysidal? Dude. I mean, the issue on Drysidon. Seidel is he's only got two more years left. So there's not a lot of runway left, but at 8.5 million per, Leon, we're talking about who are the top five players in the game or whatever? Like, you know, is Hughes ready to bust in the top five? Leon's been there for four years. And he's not making $9 million. He's making $8.5. Is there an argument to be made that just for this upcoming

season. Leon Drysidal, or I guess the next two seasons, has the best contract in hockey. Absolutely, you can make that argument, especially if he puts himself back in the Hart Trophy discussion again. And this is a player who easily could do that, right? He's unbelievable. And he just gets overshadowed. Like, it's what Malkin dealt with for years in Pittsburgh.

I think a little bit what Peter Forsberg dealt with. Sergey Federov when you're perceived as like the second fiddle guy you sometimes don't get your props but man

Leon Drysaddled at 8.5 million is going to be one of the great contract signings in history like you look back at what he performed and what he did vis-a-vis the cap and all that stuff it's crazy really it's crazy

like what's that guy's next contract going to look like who's going to and where is he going to sign it There's no guarantee. I mean, I'd be surprised if you want to leave the imbiton oilers, and I'm not trying to be alarmist here. But, like, there's a world where Leon Drysidal feels he's worth, what, $13, 14 million. Well, the cap's going to go up to where we think it might by 2026, 2027.

If you're Leon Drysidal and you're like, I'm worth 12% of the cap, 13% of the cap, whatever, whatever, 15%. now you're talking, you know, 13% of a $100 million cap is $13 million, right? Yep. And who could give him that money? You know, Edmonton, I think would be very silly to let a player of his caliber go. But I, again, this is me just trying to drum up more excitement in the NHL. Leon Drysidal, unless there's some other player we're not thinking of, if he becomes a free agent, once that contract is up, how many other guys of his caliber are going to be seen as like the number one free agent out there?

Like he should be the guy. But I also think on the contract that he's on right now at 8.5 mil annually, like that's, that is really good for a player who could be competing for a heart trophy virtually every season he plays. We should hammer home the fact that Calgary-based reporter floats idea that Drysidal might price. himself out of Edmonton. We need to really zero in on that. I feel like I'm getting myself in trouble with a handful of fan bases to know. Yeah, yeah. What's more likely in your mind, like to keep dry sidle in Edmonton,

if they win a Stanley Cup in, he's got two years left on his deal. Yeah. Does that make him more likely to stay? Or, and hear me out, again, I'm not trying to be alarmist, I'm just trying to play this out in the athlete's mind. Right. If you win your championship, then do you say to yourself, now I'm going to go secure the bag? Like, does it make you more likely, or do you look at it the other way and say, oh, man, we want a title together?

Let's keep this thing going. Let's run it back. Like, let's play this out. Drysidal wins a cup with McDavid at some point next two years. More likely he stays or more likely he leaves. We're not Leon Drysidal, so I understand that. And when we make these guesses, it's, you know, it's a fool's errand, I guess. I would like to think that it makes it more likely to stay.

Because if he stays on that team, he thinks, okay, we just want a Stanley Cup within the last two years. I'm on, if I'm leaving out, Leon Dryside, I'm thinking I'm still at the best years of my career. Connor McDavid is with me. He's still in the best years of his career. Ryan Nugent Hopkins is really playing well now. Vander Cain is still a contributor. I'm sure there are other bit pieces and players who could step in and do well. Stuart Skinner is likely going to be if the Oilers win the cup in the next two years for however long that Leon Drysidal is still to be employed by this team,

there's probably a good chance. Stuart Skinner is probably the number one guy unless Jack Campbell somehow emerges out of nowhere. Or they make this like tandem system work. This team probably has enough pieces to make something work where they can get a second cup or a third cup. And for Leon Drysidal, if you're going to put yourself on another competing team to try to win, again, we're projecting way too much into the future. How many teams can you look at right now with the salary cap structure that they have, even with the cap going up? Could you confidently say, you know what? They could afford to put it in a Leon Drysidal and win.

But that's another thing in all this too. You can go secure the bag somewhere. There's no guarantee that a competing team will sign. you to that bag and you win with that team right away. If you're Leon Drysidal and you're leaving the Emmington Oilers, it's because you feel that you want a chance to win a Stanley Cup somewhere else. And, you know, that's what I think he's going to do because it seems as if he's a determined player who feels, you know, he's among the best in the league.

And I think at this point, just like Connor is, he very much wants a Stanley Cup. And I think for a player of his caliber and the money that he should be making on the open market, I would be very surprised if he found a way to sign with a team that was able to give him all the money that he wants and be on a competing team. Yeah, well, to me, I mean, if they don't win in the next two years, this will be one of the great failures.

And I'm not putting this on just one general manager. There's been multiple GMs in the role and different things going on. But if you can't win one, championship with McDavid and Drysidal in their prime, and Drysidal making, like we said, 8.5, it's going to, it has to be viewed as one of the great missed opportunities in the history of the game because, I mean, dry saddle and McDavid, what they've done the last three, four years, certainly as good as any one-two punch in the salary cap era, arguably as good as any one-two, like, not what they've done.

Like you're talking about kind of like Lemieux Yager. Yeah. And like I said, Sackick-Forsberg or Eisenman Federov or what, you know, Gretzky Messier, whatever you want to say. What they've been able to do is remarkable. To not even get to a cup final is kind of mind-blowing. So I'm with you. I think if you're dry-sidal, it's going to be awfully hard if you don't win a championship

to do the dual thing, which is I'm going to go make 14 million somewhere and win a cup. And it's interesting because isn't that kind of what Julian, what Eric Carlson is kind of wrestling with now? He did secure the bag from San Jose,

the 11.5 mil. But guess what? Their competitive cycle has ended. They're not going to be a Stanley Cup contender likely for the duration of Carlson's deal.

And as he tells the Swedish newspaper on the weekend, Carlson is quoted as saying, I just want the best chance to get to the best team. Carlson tells the reporter in Sweden, Julian, that he's confirmed. Look, I've spoken with the penguins, the hurricanes, the Cracken,

which I think is interesting, and the Maple Leafs. I mean, it feels to me like Eric Carlson is ready to leave San Jose, wants to leave San Jose. But, I mean, if you're looking at those four teams, Pittsburgh, Carolina, Seattle, Toronto, and you, you're Eric Carlson, and those are your four options, and you want to win a Stanley Cup, where would you pick? So Pittsburgh, Carolina, Seattle, Toronto. Yeah. If those are the options and Carlson could handpick which place he could go to to try and win a cup in the next, call it two years, three years, where would you go?

I mean, for me personally, like, wow, Pittsburgh looks really intrigued. I mean, Pitts, I get that the core is aging, but the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup with Sidney Crosby, of Guinea, Malpkin, Chris LaTang. Like, come on. Like, those are gamers. We know those guys, it's cup or bust for those dudes. And the opportunity to be a part of that team, that is really wild. I mean, I get it in Toronto.

You have Austin Matthews and you have Mitch Marner as well. That cannot be discounted from that discussion at all. And you win in Toronto, you win in Canada, period, you are a god. That is for sure. And Eric Carlson knows what's like playing in Canada, obviously, so he has that experience. Does he want to go through that again? That's a big question that he has to consider. Carolina, though, good defensive team, a team that has, of all of the four teams mentioned there,

they have been closest in terms of their pursuit to win the. the Stanley Cup. They got dusted in the conference final against Florida, but they still got to the conference final. That's something that Pittsburgh hasn't done in a couple years. That's something that Toronto hasn't done in over 20 years. The Seattle Cracken are very young in their development as a team. And you could argue they're ahead of schedule, but not so ahead in their schedule that anyone's looking at them as a real conference final team. Like that would be a really interesting team for him to end up with with the Seattle Cracken. Yeah. Really curious to see like I mean the crack in being interested intrigues me because this is a team that it feels as if they're slowly building with the players that they have and no one's expecting them to be ready right away.

But depending on what the asking price is for Farah Carlson, I'm sure there's going to be some salary retention somewhere like having a player of his ilk that that speeds up your window. And that could be seen as a good thing where it's like, oh, hey, you know what, let's try to be competitive right now. Well, it can be seen as a bad thing because instead of being able to take your time and turn yourself into a, a winner with a flushed out team in terms of prospects being developed and all that, you might rush the process a little bit. Carolina, I feel like if you're if you're Eric Carlson, like I think that team really intrigues me or Pittsburgh. Those two teams for me, like just the the copper bust nature with those two teams. And I get that sort of, you could argue it sort of applies for Toronto too. but I think those two teams, Carolina and Pittsburgh, for me, if I'm Eric Carlson, they would intrigue me the most. So here's my only question on Carolina.

And I agree with everything, like everything you said, I wouldn't have changed the word. But Carlson and Brent Burns, for whatever reason, it didn't quite work in San Jose. That's true. Does it work there? Like, I don't know. Like, that's, I mean, could you make the same argument that Carlson and Latang might not work in Pittsburgh? I guess, Carson and Morgan Riley? Maybe.

But I guess that's my question, is that it didn't work in San Jose with Carlson Burns. Why would it work in Carolina? Could it work in Carolina? That's my only question on the hurricanes. That's a fair point. I mean, the playing styles obviously dictate would also play a role in this too. I think of Carolina because of the fact that they have a commitment to this defensive structure where I feel as if for a guy like Eric Carlson,

where a plunder, if you insert him into your lineup, I mean, I feel as if knowing what he's able to provide for you offensively, I mean, maybe Rob Brendermore gives him, gives him some leeway and puts him with a more defensive partner where you put him with a Jacob Slavin, for example, maybe you find a way to make that work. And you account for whatever deficiencies he has at the other end, knowing that he has a very capable partner in terms of cleaning up some of those mistakes. But like Eric Carlson would be a boon for the power.

play, a boon for the offense, and you don't have to put him and Brent Burns together. I mean, and you can put the other power play units where they're separate. Like, there's a world where they can coexist just not playing directly with each other. I'll tell you what, we said coming into this pod, that's a dead time in the, in the new cycle. We're not going to have a lot. Look, we just went 40, what I mean, 40 minutes, whatever, chatting about contracts, Carlson, Jersey's. Yeah, you're right.

you. But like I said, I like the, I like the flexibility that the summer affords us, that we can kind of just, you know, toss out ideas like the jersey and the name changes and all that stuff. But now we've gotten to the point in the pod. We do want to follow up on something that we, we did last week. And I will give a, what do they call those, a disclaimer. It's a podcast, Monday Athletic Hockey Show disclaimer, which is from this point, until the end of the pod in the next 10 minutes or so, we're likely not going to hit on hockey, okay? But don't say that we didn't talk about hockey because we just went 40-ish minutes,

and we had a lot of fun doing so. We gave you a lot of good gems. It gave you a lot of good material. Yeah, and we did want to circle back to something we talked about last week. And it was very much an offhand comment in which I said rather flippantly, you know, Arthur,

the children's television show Arthur. That might have had like the best theme song of a kids TV show. And sure enough, you threw this out on Twitter and said last week, what's the best theme song on a kids TV show ever? And you got hundreds of replies and dozens of possibilities of who could or should be crowned as the number one children's theme song of all time of a TV show. And so then you spent the week. kind of combing through these suggestions. And then you went ahead and you created a bracket here.

I did. So tell the listeners a little bit about the bracket making process. And can people now go in and vote on this or what's happening here? So we still need to figure out the voting process. What I propose, and I would like your opinion on this and producer Danielle as well. I've seen other sites do this where they tweet out polls for each of the matchups in the bracket and you let people vote that way. And I figured just with the platforms that we have, we could just retweet them and then just

get whatever votes we can get. But we, in terms of figuring out the bracket itself, in terms of which shows we're going to be there. First, we saw the hundreds of replies from people. I consulted a couple other people as well. And I have to admit, like trying to come up with a really good list, it was difficult because there are a lot of, there's a lot of. of good TV show themes out there.

Yeah. It got to a point very late in the process where we made the executive decision to limit it to animated shows. See you later, Sesame Street. Yeah. Another day, Fraggle Rock. Yeah. There was a lot of those shows that you get to cut them off.

Like, it just, because if you include them, we're doing like a 64-14 bracket. We don't have that type of time. But I mean, we do have the time. I mean, yeah. I guess. In the summer, but that's neither here nor there. Exactly. But I thought a 16-team bracket would make a lot of sense.

And for those who have not seen it on Twitter, these are the shows, these are the best animated show theme songs. And I'll give you the match-ups. And you tell me what you think here. Seed 1 through 16, by the way. In the first bracket, number one seed. Since this is the show, this is the show that started this whole thing. It's got a very good theme song. I think Arthur deserves to be a number one seed.

Very iconic show. Great theme song. up against 16 seed recess. Pretty iconic, pretty big theme song over there for recess. That's a pretty, I mean, I can imagine where that matchup would go if I was trying to project it. But like, I can see why some people might make the argument for the 16, but I think the one seed would take it there just personally. Oh, yeah. There's no Cinderella story here with recess.

No. Kind of shocking the world. Like I think if and when you put this to a vote I think what's going to happen with all of your This is going to come down to three shows maybe four You think And that's when I think it's going to get interesting Is when you're down to the Arthur

You have ducked Ducktails Yeah let me speak to the rest of the map Yeah yeah yeah yeah So the eight and nine seed So eight seed Kim possible Danger or trouble I'm there on a reach me

Uh Versus the ninth seeded proud family. Family, a family, family thing, a family, proud family. There are a lot of people who were probably my age, who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons and they watched Kim Possible and Proud Family that day. Those are two, that's a tough matchup. Magic School Bus is a four-seat.

Up against a 13-seeded dragon tails. It's almost time for dragon tails Come along, take my head. You have Pokemon who's a five seed. Against Darkwing Duck at 12. There are some people who are like, man, like that's a brutal matchup. How about number two-seated Ducktails? Against number 15, where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

And that is from the 90s animated show, not from the Netflix edition. That's an important distinction. Ian, I will tell you a specific text I got from a friend about this next matchup. Number seven, SpongeBob. SpongeBob Square Pants. Sponghob Square Pats. Versus number 10 Teen Titans. A friend of mine texted me the night before and said, you better do right by Team Titans.

Teen Titans is a sneaky good, that was a sneaky good show. That was a very good show. I don't have a lot of time for Teen Titans Go, but the OG Teen Titans'I. Titans. Yeah. That is a good show. That is... That was funny.

Yeah, it was sneaky good. And I believe we're using the English. We're considering the English theme here. There is the Japanese one, but we're considering the English theme here. X-Men, the animated series for X-Men. Number three seed against number... There's some controversy about Batman, the animated series being ranked number 14. I understand that.

The whole thing is riddled with controversy. That's the whole point of this. The whole point of this. The whole point is. is to unleash the chaos and the opinionated views of people who just, they just, they're so, you know,

you have such childhood attachments to these shows. So you're like, how the hell can Batman be a 14 seed? That should be a top five. It all just depends on what your connection is to the show, right? That is. Because I think like if you could say like, oh,

well, Batman should be a top five seed. You're telling me magic school bus should be not a top five seed. That is a, you tell, You tell them that to Little Richard? Pokemon should be a top five seed? Yeah. X-Men?

Dog Tales? Really? And the last matchup you have is the mutant ninja turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Versus the 11-seated What's New Scooby-Doo? And unless I'm wrong, what's new Scooby-Doo might be the only piece of CanCon of all the matchups that we have, because I'm talking about the simple plan.

because simple plan, the Montreal band Simple Plan, did the theme for What's New Scooby Do? Julian, you're going to have to explain the term CanCon to our American audience who are like, what are you talking about weirdos? That's true. So in radio, CanCon is a term that's, it's short for Canadian content.

Yes. And depending on what radio station you work for and all that, you're supposed to play a certain percentage. of Canadian content. Not to say that we were abiding by those rules for this, it's just that off top of my head, unless there is a band I'm missing and I'm completely disregarding,

simple plan is the band that stands out in this whole matchup, and they were the ones who did the theme for the show, what's new Scooby-Doo? And that is a banger of a theme song. Oh, you know what? So as I looked at this, and I know that we are going to put this out on social,

we'll get the... But is this a final list? Because there is one show I gotta be honest And we did talk about this I got to be honest with you It might be the number one pick for me And it's not in the top 16

And that is Phineas and Furb As you can see There's a whole lot of stuff To do before school starts this fall Come on, Barry So stick with us Because Phineas and Firm Are gonna do it all

And I feel like it should have been You're right We did do dirty By Phineas and Furb Yeah I wonder if there's a way for us to do like a play-in Or like, what if, what if like, Wild Card playing?

Yeah, what if we did a wild card playing? Yeah, what if we did a wild card playing? Like, what if we did, hmm, because we have 16 shows already. And then if you do a play in, you'd have 17 teams. Or what if you did, like, what if you did a 17 and an 18 seed? You let those two teams battle it out. The winner of that matchup plays against the 16 seed.

And the winner of that matchup ends up where the... But I'll tell you this. ...playing Arthur in the first round. I'll tell you this, though. If you're putting Arthur up against Phineas and Ferb in a 116, I think Arthur might get bounced. Arthur is shaking in his boots. Arthur should not have to deal with that in round one.

That's on. I feel like Phineas and Furb is like a five seed. I would have swapped out Carmen San Diego for Phineas and Furb, but just a lot of enough people suggested Carmen and San Diego. That's another thing, too. The town goes brown. That's all. That's the only guy that did it.

There are some other people. I mean, at least one or two other people suggested it. And like, we, that's another thing too. We try to account for people's suggestions in this as well. I will also say, I don't know if it would have been 16 worthy. Someone on Twitter, I'll try to get their name if I can. and I think their name is Lars Thorell. Transformers.

Lars Thorso, I'm sorry. The Transformers theme song. Transformers. The Transformers. The Transformers. That's pretty good. That's fair. That's a very good one.

We could do, I mean, I don't know if you want, if that's worth doing, Transformers versus Phineas and Furb, and the winner of that matchup goes up again. get 16-seeded recess, and the winner that- recess is over. Recess is done. Recess is losing two ever wins between Phineas and Furb and Transformers. And then I'm telling you, I think Phineas and Furb takes out Arthur. Oh, my God.

And then it's mass chaos. How about this? Today, in terms of the polls that we put out, we do this. We do Phineas and Furb versus Transformers, and the winner of that matchup goes up against recess. and then on Tuesday, that's tomorrow, we will put out the proper bracket with whoever comes out of that.

I'm going to start doing that right now. Let's do it. Let's do it. All right. See, look, we did a full hour of podcasting. The last 10 minutes was a little less hockey talk, a little more Phineas and Ferb talk, but I got to tell you, it was just as entertaining for me.

Hopefully the listeners found it, just as entertaining. So Julian's going to put that out, put that all together. We'll retweet it. We'll get it out there. And hopefully our listeners will, we'll jump and have some fun here.

This is what late July podcasting is all about, right? A little bit of fun. A little bit of fun. I think I'm having a blast. I had a blast today. There we go. So we'll leave it there. And a reminder at,

you know, vote on this, but also follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review. We appreciate that. You can follow us on YouTube as well. YouTube.com slash at the Athletic Hockey Show. Right now, you can get a one-year subscription to the Athletic for $2 a month

when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. Of course you.