The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Connor McDavid is OUT + Are The Stars Done? | The Hockey Show

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as have the Dallas Stars. Where do the two Western Conference finalists from 2024 and 2025 go from here? Roy, David, and Ethan break down the difficult decisions ahead for each of them this offseason. Plus, how deep can the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild go after their series wins? This week's guest is Adnan Virk, who joins the crew to celebrate his Philadelphia Flyers, tell us who he believes should win the Jack Adams, Lady Byng, and Vezina trophies, and discuss all of the other playoff action around the NHL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Round two is starting to look a lot clearer. We will talk about the playoffs of Ann Ann Burke. This is the hockey show. David Druggled to hockey news is right there. Rose and Ethan is they are both doing stuff. They're both here. I'm doing a lot. They're here.

Yeah, I'm very glad that you are finally back. Yeah, I'm back. Hi. Hi. I miss you guys. We missed you too. It's been a lot of a lot of shenanigans. A lot of putting up with me.

Yeah, exactly. I'm Roy Bellamy. This is the hockey show. So we are moving on with the playoffs, the avalanche and hurricanes have moved on. So the flyers, the flyers have taken out the penguins the night before. We can assume that this was the last dance for Cindy Crosby and Chris Lattang and Evgeny Malkin playing together in Pittsburgh. We can't safely assume, though, that this might be the last dance for Cindy Crosby himself in Pittsburgh. but who knows?

He's entering the final year of his contract now. He's going to go into free agency as a 40-year-old. So what are we looking at here? Pittsburgh, it's kind of shitter get off the pot time, right? Like if they want to have any more success with Sidney Crosby, you would think that they need to get it done in the next year or so. Yeah. How much longer does he want to play?

Is Tate's into consideration? Does he want to go after another Stanley Cup? Does he want to, quote, unquote, right off into the sunset? It seems like the window is closing in Pittsburgh. It felt like that it was opening this year again. Like they came out of kind of nowhere. They're a divisional playoff team for much of the season. And then they got smacked in the face by their cross state rival.

Yeah. So I don't know. Ethan? Yeah. I think that there's clear changes coming. I'm not sure exactly what those changes will be. Look, if they move off of Sydney Crosby in Pittsburgh. Crossburg.

Wow. That was bad. Shalom. Listen, I got a lot going on back here. If they move off of Sydney Crosby in Pittsburgh, like the fans are going to riot out there. So I'm not really sure exactly what they're going to do. But Kyle Dubus did say in his kind of like post-mortem that changes basically hinted that changes need to be made. Changes are coming.

And they're finally going to blow this up because, look, we all saw it clearly. Like nobody really expected the Penguins. They were expected to be one of the worst teams in the league this year. Elliot Friedman came into the season telling you that this is the only two. team that everybody knows is up for sale. They sold at the deadline. They got into the playoffs because they're in the weak metro division and they got really hot towards the end of the year. They fooled me into thinking that they were actually a playoff quality team. And then, I mean, look, they ended up going to six games with the Flyers. But at the end of the day, like they kind of were who we thought

they were right when it came to the playoff time. And they just weren't good enough. And now LaTang was a disaster in this series. Malkin looked good and so did Crosby, obviously. But I'm not sure what they do here, Roy. I think they've got a lot of, a lot of questions to answer clearly in Pittsburgh. Well, I certainly hope that Cindy. He scored one goal in the whole series. I suddenly hope that Cindy Crossburg had a very good Passover.

But what are you seeing, Dave? I was trying not to go off on a tangent with that, and you just brought me right back. Why didn't we hear that more often? He's been playing in... Crossburg? Well, he's been playing in Pittsburgh for like two decades now. And like, why

is that just... Man, that's a good. point. But, yeah, totally off the rails. It's big. No, like, impressive by Philly, like a well-rounded series, only two guys in the entire Flyers roster had more than one goal, one of them being Travis Sandheim, the defenseman. The other one was impressive rookie Porter Martone, who I'm really enjoying watching.

What about Dan Bladar's performance? I love Dan Bladar's performance. I thought he was great for them all year. To see him kind of step up in the playoffs was really kind of nice because you want to see somebody continue that regular season. What surprised me, what? me was that the penguins didn't go to Shilov's earlier

in the series because I think that would have changed things significantly. I know, like Stuart's Dinner, we know Stewart's Dinner, right? Yeah, we've seen them before. Shulabs, I thought, was more of a difference major for Pittsburgh. He made more the, what are they, the goal saved above expected or whatever

the stat is that I can never word it right? Yeah, saves above expected. There it is. I just was very disappointed in Pittsburgh. You get back to what Ethan said. It turned out that they pulled off the mask and, you know, it was the Scooby-Doo villain all over again. Okay, so we know that the Flyers are going to play the Hurricanes in the second round.

That's going to be interesting. The ducks knocked out the Oilers last night. Now that, not, yeah, last night. Now the. She's very happy. Nobody's going to Edmonton. No, nobody's going to. Now we know that the Wild will play the avalanche.

I mentioned a wild because Ethan's wearing the sweater back there. He's very happy that this is. I own way too much wild gear for a person that isn't actually a Minnesota Wild fan. I have a jersey. I have a jersey. I have a shirt. I have a Quinn Hughes Team USA jersey on the way. And I was looking this morning at buying a Matt Boldie jersey as well. They happen to have four of my favorite players in the league. I have way too much Minnesota Wild gear for, again, a person who is not a fan of the Minnesota Wilde. Get yourself some matching gear is all I'm saying. Yeah, I know. I realized after I realized after I got dressed today that I have a Brock Faber shirt that matches my hat better than this jersey.

hat. This is very much the current Minnesota Wilde look, right? This cap. But the jersey is like the mock, like the fallback to the Minnesota North Stars that they did. That is their alternate. Is he explaining his mismatch? Yes, he's eaten explaining. Look, you know, you get dressed at 7 o'clock in the morning.

You're really tired and you end up with a red hat and a green and yellow jersey. It happens. Yeah, late night games does that to you. The Wilde took out Dallas. Quinn Hughes, two goals and assists last night. trade seems to have worked out. A little bit, right? Vancouver.

Oh, my God. Let's not talk about Ventura. I don't know why I brought Vancouver. That series was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure what to expect out of that series, is they both were really good and both kind of solid defensive teams that can put up a little bit of scoring, great goaltending. Jesper Walsh, that was spectacular,

about of a surprise maybe that he started that series, but he turned out to be great. But what's next for Dallas? Like, this is, what, four straight years now, disappointing. They didn't even get out of the first round for the first time in all those years. They have three straight Western Conference final trips. Yeah.

So, yeah, I don't know. They fired their coach last year. Nico Ranssen and it's great, but they've got a lot of, you know, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnson. Like, they've got some really good players in Dallas, but they just can't get over the hump. Yeah, to me, Dallas is even more interesting than Edmonton, David, because Jason Robertson is an RFA, and I think his contract is up, like they're going to have negotiations this season. He's going to and probably should want more money than Miko Ranton who's on $12 million. They're already in a cap crunch. I don't really know what they do.

And clearly something has to change. Like I saw a lot of people saying this morning that, you know, oh, well, if you look at the numbers, like the stars, they shot 3%. They kind of got unlucky. Like they were really even with the Wilde at 5 on 5. No, I watched that series. The Wild dominated that series at 5 on 5. They outscored them 13 to 4 at 5 on 5. The only reason Dallas was in that series is because they were phenomenal on the power play.

They scored 10 power play goals in this series. Basically kept the series even because of that. I don't know what you do if you're Dallas because they have so much talent. This is such a talented team, but something is not clicking when it comes to the playoffs. This is four straight years with a disappointing exit for a team that has Stanley Cup or bust expectations. And now this is a huge setback. So you can't just keep saying like one of these years, oh, we won't shoot 3%. We'll get lucky.

The bounces will start to go our way. You earn your bounces in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's what everybody says, right? And Dallas has not earned their bounces. Something about the way they play, something about their roster construction is not Stanley Cup worthy. It doesn't matter how good they are in the regular season. We've seen it now.

They've lost three straight years in the Western Conference Final and then in the first round this year. Something has to change in Dallas. They can't just keep running back the same team. kicking the same can down the road because it's not working. And you can't just say that one of these years will get lucky and the goals will go in. The goals have not gone in. It's a large enough sample size. Well, one thing is you're not going to win very many playoff series when your power play goals double your even strength goals. That's one. And second of all, Jamie Ben's a free agent.

I don't think they're going to bring back the captain. Do you? Jamie Ben? Yeah. I mean, that's a tough one, right? He's one of the first. few guys. I mean, he was on a million dollar contract, so I don't imagine it would take a lot to bring him back. He was a liability in the series. He was a big turn. He was a liability. He was minus six. He had the turnover that killed the series. He was a liability. He took some really bad penalties. He, something's not right in that locker room. And he's the leader of that

locker room. Like, I would move on from Jamie Ben. I don't know. It was a minus seven with no points. Minus seven with no points. There you go. Something has to change. They've got to change something in that core. I don't know if it's a trade. I just don't know what they can change, Ethan. Looking at their numbers, like, they're locked into a lot of these guys for several years. Like you mentioned Jason Robertson being RFA. They're going to have to pay him a significant amount of money. He's coming off a deal that he was making almost $8 million. They're going to have around $11 million in cap space, give or take next season. And how much of that is going to have to go to Jason Robertson? Where else are you making changes? I'm not saying you're wrong, Ethan. I'm just saying they're kind of backed into a corner right now. Well, the good news is, Dave, they have three. time Jim Gregory Award winner Jim Nick. That's a spoiler. That's a spoiler. We'll get to that in a second. The Oilers I mean just that was just that was bad. It's not a good look if you want to keep the Cond of McDavid as his extension starts

in this upcoming season. In the six games versus the ducks, the Oilers allowed three or more goals in every game except for one. And even trading Stewart Skinner for Tristan Jari before the deadline. did not help their goal tending or the goals against average because they were eighth worst in the league this season. It's been bad, bad defense and everything. So they didn't deserve the win the series, and kind of McDavid himself did not look good. Goal, five assists, he was a minus eight and he was on the ice for 13 goals against.

God, damn, minus eight. Yeah. What do you think about this series? I thought it was great if you were betting the over. It was fun to watch. It was exciting. I guess I'm a little disappointed in the Oilers just because of what we've seen from them in the last few years

but I think you kind of touched on it. They made a big trade trying to spark their goaltending situation and it blew up in their face because they ended up trading the best goaltender in that deal in Stuart Skinner. It's a lateral move really. Well, Connor Ingram, good on him for stepping up and trying to be the guy for the Oilers,

but man, I think you hit the nail in the head when you said Connor McDavid, one goal minus eight, he was clearly something was off. Like he would show flashes where he would have those bursts. He's hurt. But yeah, and, you know, nobody really talks about what the depth that the oilers have. I mean, Leon Drysiddle was good, but man, that was tough. Go ahead, Ethan.

Sorry, I'm working on something back here. Okay. He had your finger up. Yeah, no, no, let's talk about you. Go ahead, go ahead. First of all, Connor McDavid met his match in Jackson and Lacombe in this series. How good was Jackson and Lecombe? I'm going to talk about him in a minute.

He's good. This was clearly the... Like, in the same way that it was for Dallas, this was the something has to change series for the Oilers. Two straight Stanley Cup finals. Now you lose in the first round to a young Ducks team. That I love this Ducks team. I'm as high on them as anybody. I picked them to lose in five games coming into this series because I just thought that the Oilers were going to be too much, have too much experience.

McDavid and Drysad were going to be too much. I get it. McDavid was hurt. Dryside was coming off an injury. If you're the Oilers, you cannot do the thing that the Panthers are going to do. this offseason, which is we went to the cup final two years in a row and we got a little too beat up. And next year, once we're all healthy and once everything's all right, we should probably be back where we were, you know, two years ago. You can't do that if you're the Oilers because

clearly, you're not good enough. McDavid called them an average team all year after his, in his press conference after the game last night. He's 100% right. That is a totally fair assessment. If they were in any other division other than the Pacific Division, they very well could have missed out on the playoffs. But they were in the Pacific Division. They got lucky they ended up in the playoffs. And they got waxed by the Ducks. Like that game five, they beat up on them pretty good. That was them keeping their season alive.

They had nothing for them in game six. And, you know, Hyman makes it three, two. It was a kick. And after that, the Ducks come right down and score and the series is over. So they have a lot of soul searching to do. They've got Darnel Nurse on a nine. He put the same amount of goals. He put the same amount of goals in his own net this year as he put in another team's net this year.

So that might be arguably the worst contract in the league. They have a lot of changes to make. Their forward depth was not good enough. Their defense death was not good enough. And their goaltending, we all know the goaltending situation. They've made a lot of bad roster decisions. Stan Bowman, see you, buddy. Chris Knoblock doesn't look like him and Connor McDavid are on the same page.

might be another see-a-buddy situation. The Oilers have a lot of decisions and a lot of changes to make, and I think Bob Stauffer said last night, these changes could come fast. We could know a lot about what's going to happen in Edmonton within the next week.

After-exit meetings, huh? Yeah. It's looking back in Edmonton. All right, it's award, Roch. The NHL has started announcing nominees for its major awards. They started with the Vezner Trophy. Ilya Syroken, Jeremy Sweman,

and Andre Vasileski are the nominees for that trophy. The Lady Bing was announced yesterday for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. And we'll get the day because he has a rant about that one. Anzee Kopitar, who deserves it. Cole Caulfield,

who deserves it. And Jake Sanderson, the nominees for that trophy, they will announce the Jack Adams finalists today. That's for Coach of the year. So, let's talk about the nominees for Vezna, Dave. I mean, Jeremy Swayman, very deserved. he was a big reason why Boston was even in the playoff conversation this year.

And it was cool to see that just because of the whole mess that's happened in Boston with their goal-tining situation before Lena Solmark got shipped off to Ottawa and started that whole mess. So good on Swamen. I thought Sorokin was spectacular this year on an Islander's team that kind of was up and down in terms of their defense. I know Patrick Waugh got a lot out of that team during much of the season. But man, I've always liked Sorokin. But I think I don't have a vote in this, but I think if I did, I'd have to give the nod to Vasilevsky.

I don't know. He kind of felt like he was maybe on the downslope. And so to see him bounce back in such a big way, he almost won 40 games this year, dude. He had 39 wins. Like, that's really impressive. So for me, it's got to be Vasi. All right, so let's talk about the voting process for the lady Bing.

You believe that the referee should choose. I don't understand why. Look, I think it's a very, very big privilege that we get to vote. Anybody that gets a vote, I think that's awesome. And hopefully next year you'll be in on that, Roy. I think we've been kind of pushing for that now for a few years. This one, it's like the most gentlemanly player. How the bleep are we supposed to judge that?

We're not in between the boards. We're not on the ice. We don't hear how these guys interact with each other. You know who does? The refs. The refs deal with them very much face to face. And if there's an impartial body of people that could vote on this and have a legitimate voice in it,

It's the officials, I think. And I'm just championing what Greg Wachinsky has been saying for a long time. Because this is, I'm jumping on his bandwagon with this. I think he's dead on with it. I think that getting to vote is something that is taken very seriously by everybody that I know that votes. And for this particular award, I just think we're almost doing the players of a disservice. Because basically, what are we doing? We're looking at penalty minutes and points.

Yeah. And I don't know. I just think if there was a more direct way that we could quantify this than great. but I just think it makes a lot of sense. You've got GMs that vote on things. You've got broadcasters that vote on things. Why not have the officials get in on that? All right.

It's not for puck luck. It's sponsored by Draft Kings. Draft Kings. Okay, I'm ready. The crown is yours. You are not ready because Ethan currently has the hot hand. Yeah, I do. You're going to go with him.

What do you have, Badooski? I'm two or three, baby. I am the only hot hand in this crew here. I'm the only person that has actually hit a puck luck. Wow. Okay. Stop talking shit again. All right, we're going to the games tonight.

We are going to go with three Moneyline picks because Moneyline has been where the money has been for me. So we are going to ride with the Montreal Canadians. I believe they're going to close out the Tampa Bay Lightning in a raucous atmosphere. Where? Roy? Bell Center.

Bell Center. In Montreal. I think they close out the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. When we tune in tonight, they're going to say, and from the Bell Center. And from Sontra Bell in Montreal. Next up, we're going to go, guys, I think the Bruins are forcing a game 7 tonight.

I'm going to take the Bruins at home against the Sabres. I believe we are going back to Buffalo. I liked what I saw from the Bruins in Game 5. I liked what I saw from Posternak in his celebration where he was screaming at the fans. We're coming back. We're coming back. I'm taking the Bruins to force game 7.

And I think we're going to get another game 7 out west as well. I'm going to ride with the Utah Mammoth. I like this team. This has been a very competitive series. I've not liked what I've seen in net from Carter Hart for the Vegas Golden Knights. So I'm going to rock with the mammoth. Put it all together. Canadians, Pruins, Mammoth, all on the money line that comes out to plus 654.

Thanks to our partners at Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. I'm sorry, Dave. No, you know what, it's fine. I've got Montreal, Buffalo, and Utah tonight. So now that we know where our votes are, our bets are different, we know why Ethan will once again make me look like an asshole. Daddy! Good luck, everybody.

It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for the hockey. Stat of the Week. Hockey, Stad of the Week. Ethan. Hey, guys, I'm back here. We know you back. You're just speaking. All right.

This is from at Braylin underscore Breeze on Twitter. The Kings are the first and only team to make the playoffs all five seasons under the current ESPN and TNT sports deal and never win a playoff series. That's a... That is five straight first round exits for your Los Angeles Kings, although this year they finally got to get away from the Edmonton Oilers, and they got swept by the Colorado Avalanche. Yeah, they kind of ran into that buzz saw. Well, figures, right?

Like, it sucks for the one year they don't catch the Oilers. It's when the Oilers just bumped out in the first round, too. All right, it's time for Rosa in a minute. Rosie, take it away. I'm going to do this in a minute, but I'm going to try to do it clearly because people don't understand me. So, Hello,

This is a minute of hockey with Rose, and officially, the playoffs yeah entered in a mode of law school. Carolina barrio

to Ottawa 4-0, without drama, and stress, and without them to go. Philadelphia, went to a Pittsburgh

to do over time, Cam York, knocked to and Crosby kept looking to the Vasey.

Rousbue. And Haneh him, Elmone Tsema David, again, again, and he said,

that's the honesty, Conner? Minnesota, eliminate to win a Dallas, and for

finally won't know a series, after celebrating as if you had seen a miracle. Well, I'm going to hear, I believe.

Buffalo and Boston still play on the Montreal has a tampa against the and Vegas, Yuta, is a series

written by someone with problems emotional. Resume in final there were badridden, lagrimas,

funerals, and we're in the playbos, no exist, the logic about the chaos with

patins. This was a hoaxe with a social of Pac-Bassian and a little

a poxie and a lot. All right, That was Rosa in one minute. Before we get to wins and fails, let's get to Rose in a minute. Rose, taking away. Okay, let's do it in a minute because you people don't understand in English.

You said that in English last time. Hey kids. This is one minute of hockey with Rose, and officially the playoffs have entered full madness mode. Cardina swept Ottawa 4-0, no drama, no stress, no respect. No respect. Philadelphia, sent Pittsburgh on vacation in overtime, Cam York scored, and Crosby was left staring in. to the void.

Anaheim eliminated Edmonton. Yes, Macbivit without a cup again. And he said his team was average. You also average. Thanks for the honesty. Connor. Wow. Minnesota eliminated Dallas and family won a series after 11 years

making history with the Timberwolves. Buffalo and Boston are still fighting. Timberwolves? Oh, they made history. They made history. We'll get to that in a second. We'll get to that in a second. Pardon.

Okay. Buffalo and Boston are still fighting. Muldrata has Tampa against the walls. and Vegas, Utah, looks like a series written by someone with emotional problems. Oh, wow. We've already have sweeps, tears, and sport funerals, and we're still in the first round, because in the playoff, logic doesn't exist, only chaos on skates.

This was one minute of Hockey with Rose, your weekly recap of Puck, passion, and a little bit of chaos. All right, it's time for wins and fails. Dave, what is your win? Oh, man. My win of the week was up in Buffalo, actually, prior to game five between the Sabres and the Bruins. They're doing what they always do in Buffalo out of respect,

as they're right on the Canadian border. They sing both anthems. They always do this in Buffalo. When the microphone started cutting out, while the girl was singing, oh, Canada. Batteries in that mic, man. The crowd inside the Key Bates Center took the cue, and it was an awesome move.

I think we have a clip of it. This is so cool. Get on that. It sounds like Xenovia. Really? Genovia. Nice Princess Diaries reference. I like that.

I've never seen that movie. I mean, that's glaring. You have a daughter. Show her Princess Diaries. I have to, okay. All right. My win came at the end of the Flowers Penguin series. As we mentioned.

Gee. Yeah. What could it be, Roy? It is not because Cindy Cron's be lost. That was not my, that's not my feel, by the way. Cam York had the game winner. So it was in overtime as Selly. It was this.

He threw his stick into the crowd with no regard for human life in the first few rows. A potential loss to a side, Cam York and the Flyers have banquished the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dude. And now I can laugh at Cindy Crosby. Now that Hayes has gone down for the rest of the season. Thank you. He-he. Ha-ha.

He-he-ha-ha. He. Ha-ha. Can you imagine, though, like, you spend $800 on some lower bowl playoff tickets. You're a Flyers fan. You're going crazy. And now you got $200 stick. And then there's a helicopter bolt coming at you in the shape of a hockey stick.

I mean, it's a great souvenir, but it costs you some dental work maybe. What an honor that would be, like, lawsuit. Lawsuit. Oh, and you know that there were fans fighting over. I would proudly wear around a broken tooth. Absolutely if I took a stick to the face after what happened in Philly. The flyers going to have to pay for my attention to work. Yeah, that's fair.

My win in the week is from Minnesota. Rose just mentioned it. This is the first time ever that the two teams in the NBA and the NHL, the Minnesota Wild and the Minnesota Timberwolves, have made it to the second round in the same year. That is awesome for the fans up there in the state of hockey. I'm really excited about the Wild. And, I mean, if I cared about the NBA,

the T-WOLS would have been a team that I root for. You're not wearing a Miami Hed hat? No, I'm wearing a Minnesota Wild. I got to think about this. Too many things Minnesota Wild for a fan, a person that is not a fan of that. You got to think about this, though. The Timberwolves were bad when the North Stars

still played in Minnesota, and then they created the Wild. They were bad when the Timber Wolves were actually making the playoffs, and now this is happening for them. So good for them. Rosie, what's your point? You know, I know sports.

My win of the week is the Edmonton Oilers are eliminated. Put that in up. Yeah. Yeha, Wahoo. Woohoo. Yes, because nobody has to go to Eminton. So, well, maybe they have to go to Montreal.

So, well, we don't have to go. I'll go back to Montreal. Montreal's fun. At the Bell Center. All right, it's time for fellow. It's David Bell Center. David, what you'll fail? Another crowd reaction for my fail of the week.

On Wednesday night, the Flyers finally finished off the Penguins, as you just so eloquently reminded us, Roy, winning game six at home, throwing helicopter sticks into the crowd. during the game, before it was over, the Jumbotron was showing some stuff around the arena, trying to get the fans pumped up as they tend to do. And they showed a suite full of the beloved Philadelphia Phillies, the hometown baseball team.

And what did the crowd do? They booed it? Wow. Yes, they booed the Flyers fans, booed the Phillies players. And look, I get it. The Phillies are struggling this year. At that moment, I think they were just nine and 19. They've won three straight, so they had either won just the one game.

Either way, they're in fourth place in the NLEs. They're having a horrible start to their season. They fired their manager. They fired their manager. It's been a big shit show right across this, literally across the street from the Xfinity Mobile Arena that it's called now, where the Phillies play right across the street from. And, man, yeah, just, I don't know. It's a very Philly move.

Yeah, they boosts. Claus. Yeah. So. That's what that town does. Didn't they throw batteries at Santa Claus? Snowballs. Snowballs, not batteries.

That would be a felony. Through batteries at somebody. That would be a felony if they did that. Well, it is Philly. My fail before the hurricanes knocked out the senators for the rest of the season. One of the maize scrums that happened during that series led to something that really should earn a suspension for one player that is Ridley. Greg.

Yeah. Sean Walker was tangled up and with Warren Fogel and then that sucker punch happened. Dude. That can't happen. And I don't believe that Greg's going to end up starting the regular season because he's probably going to get suspended for that. That's gutless. I'm sorry. In a sport where fighting is allowed where you can literally square up with somebody, go toe to toe, anytime you want, that's on between the whistles.

But what is that? He's got a hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Monday. day. If there is a definition of a non-hockey play, an intent to injure, taking somebody who has no opportunity to defend themselves, and sucker punching them, face, chest, anywhere that they can get hurt. That is just so bleeped up. I totally agree with Paul Bissinette on that, because he's been going off for a few days. I don't agree with Sean Avery, who said, oh, it's part of the game. No, no. No, third man in. That's not far as a game, really. That's just so messed. I don't like that at all. No. No me

Gusta. Ethan, what's your fail? Yeah, just to touch on what Dave said, Biz said that Greg should get five games for that, which I think would probably be fair. My fail the week, guys, Jim Nell. He has won three consecutive Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Awards.

Are you reading that out the screen? And say again? Are you bringing that out the screen? That took a while for you to get out. Yeah, you know, a lot going on back here. Like I said, Jim Gregory has, or Jim Nill has won three consecutive Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year awards and none of those years have the Dallas Stars

advanced two or won the Stanley Cup and Bill Zito has not won the Jim Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award despite trading for Matthew Cichuck trading for Matthew Cichuk

going to the Stanley Cup final and then winning back to back Stanley Cups. No Jim Nill wins instead for running out of defense of Ilya Lubbushkin and Matt Dumbah and Alex Petrovich and Tyler Myers and... To play devil's advocate, all four seasons, including this one, Dallas finished with over a hundred points. They finish first or second in their division, and it's a regular season and award and bleep myself because I hate that I'm defending it. But I'm just doing what I... You don't need to defend anybody, Dave, just because they're your friends. They're allowed to make mistakes and make bad decisions.

Friends with Friends. The people vote for it is? Yeah, the people that vote for it are the writers, aren't they? No, this one is the broadcasting. Oh, okay, this one's a broadcaster. Yeah, biased. Not great. Rosie, you fail.

My hell the weakest game. Is Ethan in it? Oh, well, Ethan, but no, it's game for the Bruins. The difference was Beel small. They led four goals in the first period, and the crowd became the visitor's crowd. So, uh, Bruins crowd. Stick with your team, even if they're losing. Come on.

You're giving a fail to the Bruins fans. Rose calling out Boston faithful. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Well, and the defense, because four goals in one period, come on. All right. So if you are watching the hockey show on Jeff King's Network, please go to our YouTube site and subscribe at the Hockey Show DLS, because coming up next, we have Adnan Burke from the NHL Network.

He's going to talk about the playoffs with us and maybe a movie or two. And I have a new cross. We'll talk about that later. And that's coming up next. Ann Dan Burke from NHN Network and Prime Monday Night Hockey joins us. And I want to get this out of the way right now. You okay? Yes, I'm fine.

Adnanverg. But Annanburg. Holy cow. Yeah, I want to get this out of way right now so we don't get back to this. Have you seen the Michael Jackson biopic? I haven't, Roy. You know, I talked to Antoine Fukuwa when Sinai was still in operation, however many years ago. And I remember interviewing me at the time he was talking about

Michael going into production. And I asked him specifically. I said, listen, we all love Michael Jackson. Of course, he doesn't love his music, etc. I said, but I watched that documentary in HBO Finding Neverland. And I said, I could be honest, Antoine. I was pretty shook.

I don't know if I can listen to Billy Jean ever again. And he goes, well, I promise you. When this movie comes out, we're going to deal with all the subject matter that you're talking about, Warsaw, etc. And then the first trailer, I'm like, I don't think they're going to go to this stuff. And then the first reviews are like, it's a sanitized version of Michael Jackson. There's nothing about the sex abuse allegations from 1990.

on. So that's not to say I'm sure it's not a good movie. Matter of fact, I read Owen Glabman, who's a great critic-like variety. He called it electrifying, entertaining, so the kid, you know, is Germaine's nephew playing Michael's very good. But Roy, I have no interest in a movie, which isn't going to deal with, as I called it, warts at all. The reason I love, the line is Johnny Cash being unfaithful to his wife and being addicted to amphetamines, but that also fine in love with June Carter Cash. Ray is Jamie Fox being an adulterer and dealing with infidelity, but also being an incredible singer on the greatest of all time. So I'm not, I don't want to support a movie, which isn't going to tell the whole story.

Well, and then it seems like there might be a sequel. Obviously, they're not going to end on 1988. There's a sequel, yeah. There's going to be a sequel. But you're right. They kind of ended it with the like, yeah, Michael then became a, like, wait until what happened next. Like the rare biopic, which wants to be a sequel. A cliffhanger.

A cliffhanger, like, imagine, like, and then what happened when Sinatra went from here to eternity came out. That feels very appropriate, though. I'm totally with you, Adnan. I can't get behind something that kind of, for lack of a better term, whitewash is the history from something that's so apparent. Maybe they would have gotten away with that, making this movie like 15 years ago when, you know, we weren't necessarily putting so much spotlight on the realities

and how crappy things have been in a lot of different ways. But, yeah, I just, there's some people who once you know something about them and what they did, it's hard to kind of turn back, the clock and be like, yeah, but I really loved him before. I knew, like, no, it doesn't work that way. At least not for me. A hundred percent, David, and people will laugh at people like you mean, go, oh, you guys, your hair, pickage, you support this person, this person, this guy. Listen, I can't go into the baggage of every single person ever and look at what they've done.

But to your point, I know what a few people have done. Like, I know what Harvey Weinstein did. I know what Woody Allen. I know what Michael Jackson's done. So, yeah, I'm sure of my heroes and some people that I love have done some unsavory things. We're all human. But those acts specifically that I'm pretty sure what they did, because, again, I've seen well-researched, documentaries and hours upon hours

and investigate research. I'm like, I'm pretty sure something went though that was a foul. I just can't get behind it. But to your point, though, if there's people that we are championing or that we are supporting and then we learn something new that we didn't know, then oh, guess what? I'll change my opinion. I don't have to dig my feet in on someone just as I like them today.

If I find out that they did something horrible, maybe I'm not going to like them anymore. My God, my contact. My wife said, she goes, you know, I said, Martin Scroo says he's been married five times. She goes like, how can you support that? What he means? He goes, well, he cheated on one white. They had this issue.

I go, I mean, that's a personal issue. That's not going to impact my viewing of Goodfellas. But, yeah, I'm not saying I should live my life like Martin's Square says. He's allowed to make a mistake. He's allowed to get divorced, et cetera. And like you said, if there's new information that came out, if God forbid he beat one of his wives, well, then fine.

Then if I want to turn my back at him after a decade of support, fine. As you said, we're all ought to change our minds. That's the problem in today's world. Everyone just kicks in their heels of hell or high water. They also didn't do them a favor for doing part one and part two. We already know Michael Jackson's stories. So if you leave me with a half, I'm not going to go watch the other half. Like, I already know what happens.

Well, you know the bad half is coming up, too. Yeah. Apparently, the good part of the Wizard of Oz has already played. But now they're going to go from black and white to color. Oh, black and white is a Michael Jetson reference. And it's going to just get so much worse. Oh, and by the way, he died. Yeah.

Dude, what the hell? I'm supposed to say spoiler alert before you drop that. Michael Jackson's dead? You didn't get the memo? Adnan? No. I didn't realize that, Roy. Maybe now I do have to see it now that I know he's dead.

Have you seen it? Are you interested in seeing it? No. I don't care. That's just me. I just don't care. I'm not in the music like that. But here's the thing.

Just talking about the fame of Michael Jackson that I think will kind of put it in a perspective, I bet that there's five of us, right? One, two, three, four of us. I bet four of us know where we were when we found out he died. I know exactly where I was. I was at work. I was doing the show. TNZ reported it.

What was the year? I don't know. I don't know where you were. I know, I was at Old Navy. I know exactly where I was. I was at the checkout counter at Old Navy with my family.

Then I think I was to school. Take a guess at what age, what year it was Michael Jackson died. Rose, you guess first. I think 2016. 2010? Before that. I know the year.

I know the year. It was 09. Oh, I was in school. I remember. Rose and Ethan weren't born yet. I was an old man before I was an old man. It was 09, right? Right, Ann?

Yeah, that is correct. O'9. We're talking about a 17-year anniversary of a guy dying. Again, I thought after that documentary came out and stuff about what he did or allegedly he did, I should say. I'm like, okay, well, this will...

Oh, empty the musical. Still a huge hit. Empty the movie still out, too. Like, man, I guess people just love these beats and Jackson Farnock. I certainly love. Back for that, I can't... I was 2009 17 years ago.

Because we're old, man. What the hell? We are old. Early in the show, we discussed the Vesina Trophy, nominees and the Lady Bing trophy finalists. Now we had just received word that the Jack

Adams Award has their three nominees and John Cooper. Tell me. Talk it's in there, Roy. I haven't seen it. Tell me Talk it's in there. Let's go. No. Talk it is not in there. It is John Cooper, Dan Mews, and Lindy Ruff. Those are the three nominees. So let's talk about who should win

and why it's going to be Lindy Ruff. Yeah, who's a way of putting it. Yeah, that's the way of putting it. want to mention with regards to the Lady Bing. I always find it funny. People who are non-hockey fans are like, understand. There's an award given to the guy who doesn't get penalties. I'm like, yeah. They're like, understand. So he's like

a soft player. He's a great player who just doesn't take penalties. So it's always a foreign concept to non-hockey fans. They would argue some hockey guys are kind of like, yeah, like I won four Lady Bing's. Like it's a way of mocking somebody. But I have to say, fellas, because I did have a vote on this. Guys, and I said Jake Sanderson's going to be

in there. And I was blown away and thrilled he's in there. Guys, he plays 24 minutes tonight. You only have like eight penalty minutes. I think it four double minors. That is awesome to me. So if there's one of what I'm caring about, I know it sounds silly, but I really want to see Jake Sanderson win the Lady Bing.

He deserves it, absolutely. Also ridiculous to Ted Lindsay. Mike Johnson had a passionate appeal about this. How is Nathan McKinnon who's arguably the best player on hockey? He was the best player on the best team. He's out on the top three. If you want to argue a hard trophy celebrating, of course, I totally get that argument.

But the fact that Nathan McKinnon is not for the Ted Lindsay. And again, it's voted on my fellow player, so I get it. You want to get mad at them. I get mad at them. But McKinnon brought up for the Lindsay. I hope Sanderson wins the Bing. I'm upset Vladar, who's 30 goals against,

not up for the Vestam, but not shocking. I hope Sorokin wins. I thought he was great for the Islanders. And for the Jack Adams, I think it should be John Cooper. Fellas, he's never won a Jack Adams. He's just long overdue. Although it's ironic,

because, as David alluded to, Mew's, Tocke just beat, so I don't think Mews should be in there. Although, obviously, Pittsburgh had a remarkable season. No one expected to be a playoff team. But with regards to Cooper, my buddy Jason DeMerson said the other day, because I've got to be honest with you.

Marty St. Louis is out coaching John Cooper. I was like, why? Coaching circles around him. He goes, he's out coaching him. Absolutely. And he goes, this guy has never won a Jack Adams. I know he coached Canada teams, you know, silver gold, met all the rest of it.

But I'm like, bro, Marty's doing a great job as far as matching lines, getting the best out of his roster. The lightning looked a little bit shook. And Montreal could win it tonight and six. So I think Cooper should win and will win. But it's interesting how the playoffs are always a different story. You think he'll beat out rough? You don't think Lindy Rough will win after getting the same respect to the four.

I mean, you got to look at where the Sabres were before they fired Kevin Adams. I think Lindy Ruff went, I think whoever was responsible at the time when the Sabres did what they did this year, and, you know, emerged, rose from the Phoenix from the Ashes and became like kind of a juggernaut kind of team that they are right now. It doesn't matter who the coaches or who the GM is. Lindy Ruff, Yarmal Kekyllian, they're winning stuff this year. So, hold on. So Yarmal Kekalainen should win the Jim Gregory, excuse me, the Jim Nill Memorial Award, because he did what? He's still alive.

I'm so much. Should we give it to Kevin Adams? Like should Kevin Adams posthumously? They're still alive. These men still breathe, Ethan. But he doesn't have a job anymore. Kevin Adams would be posthumous. He doesn't have a job.

Hang on that. The team is put together by Kevin Adams as being coached by Lindy Ruff. And the team is a huge disappointment. Adams gets fired. Yarmu takes over and the team takes off. So Keke Kek-Oidon is going to win the award. I'm like, but wait, he didn't do anything. He didn't construct the wrong.

And Lindy Ruff was the same coach when the team stunk. So I totally understand David's point. Like, bro, nobody expected the Sabres to be, as he said, excellent comp, like a Phoenix Rising with the ashes. But they stunk with Lindy Ruff. Now, I know they were great with Lindon Ruff as well, but that's what I'm saying. I don't think it's necessarily the coaching.

I think the players just woke up. And how was Yarmour taking the spoils of Kevin Adams Hart? That would be crazy. I just want to throw this out there. Bill Garrant should win the Jim Gregory this year. He made the trade. You just saying that because you had the jersey on. He made the award.

He made the trade. he made the trade of the season that has elevated his team into a juggernaut and a Stanley Cup contender. A couple names for you before we move on. Matthew Kachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Seth Jones, Bill Zito. Nah.

Good trades don't win you awards. Those moves will happen before the season. No, but I'm saying all those moves happened and he didn't win shit. Nope. So just say... Got to give it to Jim Nill. Should Jim Nill win it again

because he traded for Tyler Myers who was a healthy scratch in game six? Obviously, Ethan. All right, all right, all right. Before we get on to the playoffs. We need to ask Adnan about the Flyers. No, no, no, no. We need to ask Adnan about the Flyers.

Shut up, Ethan. Shut up, Ethan. Before we get on to the playoffs, we need to talk about these rumors that are happening in Ottawa because Brady Kachuk has had enough in his exit meeting. He says he's tired of hearing it. What say you? Bethowski's right.

We do need to talk flowers or as that came through. We'll get to it. Let's just get to this first. I'm always right. I'm always right. I'm always right. I'm always right. We don't have time.

Talking about Brady Kachachach and the senators. That's right. Roy, it's a mess. And I love Brady Kachuk. I love the fact he's feisty, and he's gordy howe-hack-rick. What are you doing? But, but, but, but, but, but, but,

I like the fact you're going to fight, but you're also going to score. You're also going to get assists. Like, what are we doing here? Like, Brady Kichuk, especially the fact he was fighting on the road. Like, if it was in Ottawa, like, start of game three, he's like, I'm going to just drop the gloves and get going. I'm like, fine.

I want to get the crowd fired up. I think it's almost like he has to get himself fired up. So, like, I don't think it's the wisest decision when your best player has to drop the gloves in order to get himself fired up. Like just, you know, get some spelling salts and get this gun and we'll get this going. Like, that's probably the best way to do it. So he was pointless in the series, period. Ottawa played very close games.

It was a competitive series, but Brady Kachuk was pointless. I don't think he's crazy about playing in Ottawa. There's a lot of criticism around him and the team right now. Hey, the trait you made the playoffs, but he still didn't do anything. It feels like the days, the days are numbered of Brady Kach being in Ottawa. I don't think he's dealt this off season, but he's not going to be there long term. Can I say what we heard? Go ahead.

Roy and I were given an interesting piece of information as the Panther season was ending about Brady Kichuk. I'm not going to say where we heard it or who we heard it from. Don't give up the source. Nope. However, this piece of information told us that Brady Kichuk may have been planning quietly his exit from Ottawa for at least a few months. For what it's worth, this didn't come as a big surprise. Like Roy and I weren't surprised. and I will say going back to listen to Brady's exit

while he was very upset and he talked about the frustration and about how he's been committed to Ottawa. I didn't hear him once refute the rumors. I didn't hear him once shoot them down. He just talked about how he's very frustrated by it, how nobody has said it. The words haven't come out of his mouth. No denial.

Wow. David's right. Ever since they came back to the Olympics and everyone's like, oh God, this American won. I'm like, it just was what were we doing here? Like, yeah, okay, he's American. He's a proud of America. They won the gold medal.

Like he just, it's an odd vibe, in Ottawa. I'm telling you right now, these Canadian cities better watch it, man. It's colder up there. We've got issues with taxes. These players do not want to necessarily play in Canada, especially with the way that they're treated. Brady could actually tell every friend he has. Dude, don't play in Ottawa. It sucks up there. I really go play

in Florida like my brother or go play in Dallas or go play in Vegas or these other places. With no taxes. Not good right now for Ottawa. Well, you mentioned the Canadian cities and playing up there. There's going to be a new Western Conference champion in the year 26 because the oldest have been knocked out by the ducks.

Cona McDavid was not good. A goal, five assists, minus eight, on the ice for 13 goals against, and, of course, the goal in the defense for the olers were not good either. First round loss. What do you think about that at, Nan? No excuses, Roy, but he wasn't very good, and I think he's hurt. Now, again, no excuses, because everyone's heard it this time of year,

but I think between him and dry saddle, those guys did not look sparkling, particularly of all the numbers you said, the dash eight is startling, but only one goal in six games. It was like at some point, McDavid puts a Superman cape and just goes out there and gets it done, and he didn't. And this one, as much as you want to praise the likes of Bill Zito or Kevin Adams or Yarmackekekele or Jim Hill, this time you can blame a little bit of Stan Bowman. He thinks he solves the golden situation by jettisoning, Stuart Skinner, who gets pulled in the Penguins Flyers series. Tristan Archer Seelves almost saves the day. Instead, Tristan Jarre's the guy, no, sub-900 save percentage, goals against of almost four.

Connor Ingham, same thing, 3.84 goals against sub-980%. So same old story in Edmonton, the goal to think not good enough, but their offense didn't carry them either. And it's one thing to lose against Anaheim, to do it in six. I mean, that is genuinely surprising. Props to Joel Quimbo, love Q and love their young talent. Their Cutter Go-Chene Company, big disappointment for the Oilers, and they got two more years done to fix this.

Otherwise, we all know Connor will be leaving that Canadian city. Ethan believes that Stan Bowman and Chris Knoblock are going to get fired. Do you agree with him? I think so. I mean, listen, Noblock, I think, felt the pressure the last couple years. It's one thing to get the Stanley Cup, but you've got to win it. And I think this year, I wouldn't say it's Stanley Cup or boss, but they at least had to get there.

I have a strong showing, let's say, in seven games losing in the Western Conference. They didn't. I think Nobuck's in trouble. I think Ethan's right. They're probably both out of a job. Roy, I just want to update that. I don't just think they're fired. They have made my Jim Montgomery Memorial most fired people ever list.

They are the most fired people of all time. He's like Tony's Soprano in the NHL. He's just whacking guys left and right. Geez. They are both. Both very, very fired, especially Bowman. That guy is so... Ethan Walnuts back there.

All right, Dave. Go, man. Just go? Just go. No, in fact, no, flyers. We had to get to this because... That's where I was going to go. David.

So Adnan, congrats, first of all. Very cool. So much that we liked from that series, from the penalty box goal celebration, to stick getting helicoptered into the lower bowl of the former Wachovia Center. Dan Vladar, as you mentioned before, just spectacular all year for the Flyers. Nice to see him getting some flowers.

Post-Union Center. Flowers for the Flyers. But what's your big picture here? Because now they go into a series against Carolina who just decimated Ottawa, just made them look like a lesser, like an AHL team almost. Ottawa did so little in that series. Now the Flyers, they're high flying. They're a lot of fun. It feels like a good combination of differing ideologies.

But, you know, how are you feeling heading into this series? Well, I didn't expect the Flyers to make. the playoffs and they had 3.8% chance of making the playoffs in early March. So I'm just thrilled the fact they even made the playoffs then to beat the penguins was just, I mean, it's glorious. It's euphoric. It's every adjective you can describe. I made sure I got to get to be with my

son and how who says Philadelphans are not nice people as we're exiting the parking lot. It's about a 15 minute walk there to get to the actual arena because you can park at the link or park it says his bank, etc. Guy just yells out to me and he goes, hey, he hands me a signed puck by Cam York. This is before game three,

which we all owe now. Cam York scored the game winner in game six and I said, oh my God, thank you so much. I walk away, not knowing what to think of it. And I go back, I could get this guy's some money. I go back. All I have was like $10. And I go, hey, man, all I have is $10. I give you a 50. I'm sorry. And I'm and I'm, and my wife is so confused. She was, I understand why he did someone hand you a sign puck of a flyer. And it's because he's because he's because because he's because he's because he's going to, you know, he just saw a bunch of old guys. He saw a father and son. I go, that shows Philadelphia truly is the city of brotherly

love. We get in there and I'm telling him. David, I'm telling him, David, I'm telling him, and we got to get through for God bless America's. What do you mean? We got to get chicken tenders. We're in the car for three hours. I've got to go pee. I'm like, no, no, no. We've got to hear, God bless America.

Lauren Hart does an unbelievable job. Can I explain to a nine-year-old, Ian Hart the Zarles? Anyways, she kills it. God bless America's amazing. And as you said, the big takeaway was in that second period. When Brian Rush starts punching,

connecting the back of the head, and you've got five flyers in a penalty box and there's only two penguins. And everyone's irate. Everyone thinks it's going to be like six minutes of double-minded. You're like, what's going on? Thankfully, Russ gets extra penalty. with those guys. Epic moment there for the Flyers

and winning the game. But Vladar's been the MVP all season long. I know that game six wasn't the most stellar in terms of offensive hockey. I got it. But 42 saves and like making timely save after timely save. When Martone didn't score with three minutes left in the first overtime, oh, he's going to lose it. I was going to be sick to my stomach. I said, this is how they're going to lose.

You've got a capitalist opportunity. Unfortunately, he didn't. Came York did. And the great sellies you mentioned. By the way, the one thing my son wanted is I got to get a Port of Martone jersey. He's wearing a connected. It's, of course, buddy, no problem. We go to the store, sold out. No number 94 Port-Martone jersey sold, but the guys played 12 NHL games. So I did talk to Chris Pronger. He's going to do what he came with Flyers, and trying to get me a number 94 here for my son. But we didn't get a Porter Martone stick. He's an

unbelievable talent out there. And a long-winded answer to your question. For Carolina, they went 1-0-3 against the Flyers this year. They'd never beat the Flyers in regulation. Three times it did so, of course, in the shootout. So the good news is the Flyers didn't lose them all year. Yeah, Carolina is the better team, but Pittsburgh was supposed to be the better team. So it's probably Hurricanes in 6, but I hope they'll be there for either games three or four, and it's going to be an electric atmosphere in Philadelphia. City of brotherly love.

You talk about people in Philadelphia being nice. They booed the Philadelphia Phillies. Roy, have you ever gone to a game with your daughter and just, hey, I got a puck for it, signed by Bill Lindsay. Like, what a nice gesture. That was really cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, flyers are like, they're like Ryan Lomburg, or Matthew Kachukh even. Like, you love them to death when they're your. yours, when it's your team, when it's your fans. And everybody else, it's like, no, believe him. Well, you got that right. Well, I can respect that.

It's a great sports town. Nobody's arguing that. Philly's a great sports town. Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised at David's point. Many of my friends are like, hey, happy for you. Like, I'm not a fan of Philadelphia, or Philadelphia, but happy for you, I know it's 40 years of Phantom. So I think he's right.

You respect it even if you don't necessarily like it. Look, I've gone to all different kind of Phillies games as an away fan. I've been to multiple Phillies, or Philly, the city games, but I've been to Phillies games in Marlins gear. I've been to Flyers games in Panthers gear. I used Robert Esch's tickets back in the day wearing my Panthers gear. Put Robert Ash reference, yes. I went to heat playoff games against the Sixers.

Like, I've been there. And the only time that we had anything thrown at us was at a Phillies game. And it was the year after the Marlins won the World Series. So, to be fair. But no, I think Phillies is a great town. And when you compare it to even like South Florida, which is a very fair weather, like what have you done for me lately town? I got a lot of respect for a good fan-based type of city.

I love it. Love Dwarx take. Good stuff. All right. The Wild eliminated the Stars, and we'll move on to the second round for the first time in 11 years. If you look at the Stars performance, I mentioned this earlier, you're not going to win miniseries when you double your output of goals on the Power Play, and the even-street goals are half that. So talk about the Stars' performance and what the Wilde are going to, they're going to run into a bus song in Colorado.

Talk about that. Yeah, Roy, I'm just always happy when I'm right, because it so rarely happens. I actually called the Wild to win in seven. So I'm just thrilled that they won this series in six. We knew it would be competitive. We do it would arguably be the best first round series. I think Habs Lightning has been an awesome series.

Obviously, five games decided by one goal, three of those in overtime. I wish I could stay up. But people tell me the Vegas, Utah series has been great. I just want to really catch the highlights, to be honest with you. But in terms of Dallas, Minnesota on paper, it would be a great series. And it was a little surprise.

It didn't go seven. Minnesota was the better team. And as you said, the stars got to be better on five and five. They needed that superstar. They needed the extra little mojo, that super-doper guy that could take him to the promise of him. They didn't have him. And guess what, Minnesota does have him to Ethan's point. Props to Billy Garron.

He swung for the fences and knew. If I have to get through Dallas and Colorado, I need some horses, and he's got one, a thoroughbredding Quinn Hughes, who was tremendous. I love that players poll that came out late in the year, you know, which defense would make for a best forward, which forward be the best defenseman. And then the NHTS will be obviously. If this guy wasn't forward or a center, he'd be outstanding. as a defenseman. He's the best offensive defenseman short of cut Cal McCar. So he had a great series. I'm throw up for Minnesota. First playoff series wins since 2015. Are you kidding me? It's been a decade for those great fans in Minnesota. I mean, I always think

of the North Stars. I think of how much they love the gophers. But ultimately, it is the state of hockey and they'll love the Wild, and I cannot wait for Wild Avalanche. I'm with you, Roy. I think the abs win in six, but that game one is always interesting to me, that Russ versus Rest. Colorado might need a period or two to get their legs out from under them. Maybe Minnesota steals game one, but Colorado should win that series. I have a stat for you from the Dallas-Minnesota's series. Eleven to six. Eleven different Minnesota wild players scored goals

during that series, and only six Dallas players found the back in the net during that series. That's not good. That's not good at all. You're going to say depth scoring is such a massive part of it. There's no doubt about it. And again, for Dallas, it's got to be so confound to me because now for the last few years, you've had this window. And it's one thing to say we're among the elite teams in the Western Congress, but ultimately, got to get to a cup final.

hasn't happened these last few years, despite being among the top five or six teams in the league. And they're so locked into that roster for a while. Like, they've got to make it work with what they have now. Otherwise, they've got to blow it up. And it's hard to think you're going to blow it up and you've got such talented players. But they've got to figure something out. As Ethan said earlier, like, they've got to change

something. Yeah, frustrating for Glenn Gallatin. I don't think he loses his job yet, but he's on the clock. All right. And the Lightning and Canadians they are tonight. Lightning won game 5 in overtime. I don't see them getting out of Montreal tonight with a win. It is going to be just, it's going to be bananas in that arena, the Bell Center.

What's say you to Adnan? Roy, there's no other place to watch a hockey game. Regless, she's to R-Plaft and Sontra Bell. The Bell Center is the proper name of the arena. He just said the Bell Center. Sontra Bell is the proper name of the arena. That's why we bring on Adnan. That's why we bring on Adnan.

I'm just telling you what he said at the Sontra Bell. He said Bell Center. Matt Mann just dropped a little pebble into the lake and is watching it explode. Boom. Nicely done, sir. Very entertained. Thank you guys.

But I think it's been an awesome series. How about the fact that the Habs lesser-known players are the ones stepping up? Like Texier's stepping up big with goals. Jack-Eyes had a terrific series. Maybe now is the game that Cole Cofield really puts it together, Suzuki, etc. Getting Gallagher back his first game in a while, he scores. Montreal's been a great story, man.

I always root for the habs because of just the passion of those fans. I love Marty San Luis. And as far as Tampa Bay is concerned, Kutrov, it's honestly shocking. Speaking of stats, like David mentioned in the 11-6, how about one goal is the last 21 playoff? That can't be right. I was like, but apparently it is. Kuturoff is not shown up in the playoffs.

Vasilevsky, it's a challenge to win back-to-back starts for him. And this Tampa crowd, which I believe has 430 consecutive sellers. They've lost 10 of the last 12 games at home. It's a home disadvantage right now in Amelie Arena and Montreal is going to be rocking. I like to have some of it. It's not Emily Arena anymore. No, it's not. Benchmark International.

Oh, God. At least we can spell that. But to Kutrov's credit, though, like with the one goal in 11 games, not for like a trying. Like, he's averaging over four shots a game during that span. He's got like 22 shots in five games this series. So he's making things happen. He's just not finding the back of the net, which is shocking for him. Yeah, one thing if you're snake, it's just the fact you can't actually score.

But hopefully Kooke steps up because I'd love to see the series continue. It's been so entertaining so far. All right, Ann Ann, we appreciate you joining us, Ann Ann Annberg from the NHN. Network and Prime Monday Night on. And enjoy the playoffs. Wait, wait, wait. I expect to say, Rosie, you have a question. Yeah, hold on, hold on, hold on.

All right, well, let's... This concludes the hockey portion of our interview with that name. Let's say goodbye to him first. And then you can ask your question and we can post it on social. How about that? No? The look on Rose's face says, I'm producing. Rose!

Well, 10 minutes over. So wise. All right, so we'll, Rose will ask him a question. You can check that out on our Instagram page and whatever social media outlets She'll be a text. Thank you, Ann Annan. Thanks, Roy. Thank you, guys.

Rose is going to hurt you, Roy. Okay, before we go, Rose has a new crush in her NHL life. She's gone from Alexander Bonkov to Matthew Bazal. Now she wants us to guess who her new, or Bo is. I've been thinking about this for a couple hours now because Rose told me I have to guess when I got here today, and I think I figured it out. And it's an unsuspecting, and I think that's what makes it interesting. Is it Connor McDavid? What?

No. Okay, so it's not in Edmonton Ola. Is he still playing? They're still playing. Yeah, their teams are still in, they're going to round two. Okay. Is it Nathan McKinnon? No.

Is it an avalanche player? Is it in the east or the west? It's not avalanche. It's in the east? I don't know who the heck are east or west, sorry. It will be the teams on the east coast. Yes, I know, but I don't know which one's, but Ethan help me here. Is it a hurricane?

It's a west coast. He's a West Coast. Okay, is it a duck? Yes. All right, so it's a duck. Jackson LaCone. Oh, no, he's not handsome. Jesus.

Lucas Dostal. No. But he's so handsome in his goalie mask. Close, but no. All right. Well, I mean, we could keep guessing Ducks players. How about you tell us why? We're right out of time.

Tell us why you like this guy. Because he's very handsome. He's young. I'm so sorry, he's very young. Does he have an American name or a non-American name? Um, he scored. He scored in last night's game. He did, yes, he scored in last night's game.

I think he scored twice. The old Carlson? No. The other one. Troy Terry? No, the other Carlson, John Carlson. You are the worst. Gothier.

Okay, well, there you go. Got a got to gothier! Yeah, so that's my new crush. But Alexander Barker will always be. Yeah, I know, right? All right. All right, real quick. He's no Chris Kreider.

Yeah. But, you know. Real quick. You got to show me him. Sorry. Real quick. Top five, Ethan. You have top five games.

Yes, Cutter Gautier is a perfect bouncing off point. This is the Matt Boldie Memorial. Quickly. Names they will soon know list. Say five. They will soon know these names.

Number five, Porter Martone. Solid start. Had a great playoff series. The only reason he's down here is because I think people are starting to know him already. Number four, Logan Cooley. Number three, Jackson Blake from the Carolina Hurricanes. I had to throw somebody from the Eastern Conference in here

and this kid's going to be really, really, really good. If you don't know him all. Ready, learn him now. Okay. Number two, Leo Carlson. I could have just done the whole Ducks roster, basically, but Leo Carlson, if you don't know this name, learn it now. This kid is an absolute beast.

Number one, the McDavid Stopper, Jackson Lacombe. This kid is unbelievable. He just had an amazing series. He leads the NHL in points right now, I believe. And he shut down Connor McAvig. He is going to be an unbelievable hockey. That was quickly for Ethan. That was quickly for Ethan.

Jesus Christ. All right. That was good. I mean, that was what? Speed-wise. I thought tempo-wise, that was good. The names, I was expecting. You're not a casual, Dave.

Casuals don't watch a lot of the Anaheim Ducks. We don't watch a lot of the Carolina Hurricane. We have a programming note. The hockey show will be doing Stanley Cup playoff weekly watch-along starting in around two. We will love for you guys to join us for the rest of the playoffs. Remember to subscribe to the hockey show. page at the Hockey Show DLS on TikTok at the Hockey Show 7 and on X Instagram and threads at Hockey Show DLS for Ethan, for Jason, for Rosie, for David.

My name is Roy Bellamy. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs. Let's go Buffalo. We're definitely watching my crush.