The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: Charlotte Wilder + The Hockey Show

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

Charlotte Wilder joins the show from New York to discuss the Celtics recent losses to the Hawks and other NBA topics. Then, Roy and David Dwork are here for another episode of The Hockey Show. The pair discusses the Florida Panthers recent tough stretch, and how they are feeling about the team right now after they clinched a playoff berth in a loss. Then, Patrick Williams, who covers the AHL for NHL.com, joins the show to discuss the top Panthers prospects, the upcoming AHL playoffs as well as his predictions for who will take home the AHL awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Charlotte, you asked me what I wanted to talk about and I said, I wonder what happened last night that I'd like to talk about, with Charlotte Wilder specifically. The Hawks, not a great matchup for the Celtics? What's going on? I don't know. Why are they the only team that has beat the Celtics twice? Like, what, my nightmare, I mean, my nightmare is that the Celtics meet the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs,

and the Hawks go up like 2-1 on the Celtics. And then it's just, and the Celtics just start mentally unraveling because something happens at the end of these games where like it all falls apart, which is an insane thing to say about the best team in the league that has already clinched the number one spot. Also, we're just watching the starting lineup out there

and every play I'm like, don't get hurt, don't get hurt. Oh my God, the ankles, like, poor Zangus, ah, he fell. It's really, it was the most stressful game I've watched all season. Charlotte, this is weird to me, and I need you to explain it to me. The Celtics have the best record in the league, they have one of the best net ratings

in the history of basketball, they have the best offense in the history of basketball, and yet, there is zero air of invincibility about them. And I'm not just talking about the rest of the league, the rest of basketball. Even Celtics fans like yourself, I get the feeling you guys aren't 100% bought in and confident in what's happening.

Yeah, and honestly, this is one of those intangible things in sports that I'm having trouble understanding. And I've had trouble understanding it all season because I feel like, I mean, especially on the oddball, you know, the Celtics have been great, obviously. They've been the best, but then they'll lose. And I have, I get way more nervous than I should. And then I feel bad about it because I'm like,

well, obviously teams are allowed to lose. Like that's an insane thing. But then I'm like, well, obviously teams are allowed to lose. Like, that's an insane thing. But then I'm like, why does this make me so nervous? There's something about them. They're like a little quiet. They're sort of a quiet team in a way where I'm like, I would like a little more like... You need some Marcus Smart in your life.

...grandstand a little bit. What? Yeah. You're missing some Marcus Smart, right? Marcus? I miss him so much. Does that dude even exist anymore? I mean, he got traded to another galaxy. Yeah, to another multiverse.

He's just not at all relevant. He went from being a central figure to what was happening in the NBA, the most colorful member of a contender, and now I haven't thought about him like all season until just now when you mentioned him. Charlotte's thought about him. I think about him every single day.

And it's not that like the South, yeah, they're better without him, but I miss that there's no one, there really isn't that, they're all just sort of calm and like they lose and they're like, merp merp and they win and they're like, mer they win and they're like, and I'm like, what's going on in here?

Charlotte, let me ask you a question. The best bit of analysis I've heard this season so far about the Celtics. Thank you. All while they have a psycho at the helm. So before we get to the psycho at the helm, Charlotte, I want you to explain something to the national audience that may not know this

if you don't listen to Oddball or watch Oddball. Remember, it's every day but Mondays. Charlotte, you are married to an avid, rabid Knicks fan, Tyler, right? Mm-hmm, yes. It would seem to me, despite the Celtics having a historic season, Tyler is more happy with his Knicks fandom this year

than you are with your Celtics fandom? 100%, I mean, I was thinking about this on the way to the studio, where I was like, being a Knicks fan right now is this kind of, they're in the sweet spot of like the most romantic place you can be as a sports fan, where your team has sucked, your team has been so bad, and then all of a sudden, your team is good to the point

that you're nervous to talk about it, but they're so easy to root for because they have this, they're gritty, they have Jalen Brunson, they show a lot of emotion, Josh Hart is out there doing crazy things. And as a Celtics fan, it's almost like, I'm just standing at the top of a building, like worried someone's gonna push me off,

and if they don't, then I guess like we won. That's not a fun place to be. We're all the pressure. Mike, did you feel like that when Miami was at its peak with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh? There is nothing in my sports fandom that has ever felt like the entire Heat experience was, where every game mattered, every little

drama mattered, every critique that was out there from the most obscure of beat writers would become living rent-free in your head and just the main focus. Like you would wake up hoping that this beat writer from Indiana was having a terrible day, just an awful day. And that every result meant all, all the world. That was not a rational place. And it has since become what I grade everything in sports against for me. That's the pinnacle. Yeah. In terms of emotion investment, because it was just such a wild time.

And it just, everybody really legitimately hated you. Not this concocted media hate. People doubted us. Nobody wanted to see us here. It really felt like the entire world was against Miami at that point. But you guys were also winning championships. Not a first.

Not a first. It's a huge difference. Not a first? No, well, they won two in the middle, lost the first one, lost the last one. Mike, you spent two seasons, the better part of two seasons, not having a payoff. Like it happened at the end of the second season

where they won the championship. Yeah, I can't really believe it was only four years. It was such a small portion of time. And because you were just so emotionally invested, because every result mattered so much during those four years that it felt a lot longer. Yeah, I mean, you think about it half the time. Like it was as long as from the pandemic

has been up until now, right? It was that long. But that also feels like a long time. No, I understand, but in many respects, because how the days went for several people, which is roll out of bed, hop on a Zoom, and rinse, repeat, nothing really fun. Like Charlotte right now.

Yeah, like it also flew by. It crawled, but it flew by because you didn't have these experiences providing mile markers along the way. It's just pretty wild to me. I do think that since 2018, the Celtics have been good enough where you get your hopes up.

And so I think that this is a very scary place to be where it's like, well, they should probably have won before and they should win this year. But given that they haven't won before when they should have won, there is just something that a pit in one's stomach, if one were to be a Celtics fan, I might say is somewhat how it feels while at the same time then I feel really dumb because they're really good. It's sort of psychological torture. I did, the whole psyche of Celtics fans,

I find really interesting because you have this history that a lot of Celtics fans hang their hat on. And Charlotte, I like you. You're my favorite of all the Celtics fans, but you've been a lot. Wow, fans hang their hat on. And Charlotte, I like you, you're my favorite of all the Celtics fans, but you've been alive. Wow, Mike Schur right now. No, no, Charlotte, easily. But you've been alive for one champion.

You've seen one championship. So has Mike Schur. Of the Boston Celtics. You've seen them win as many NBA championships as the Toronto Raptors. And yet it is known that the Celtics are this prestige legacy franchise, a crown jewel of the NBA.

But in your life, you don't really have anything to actually stand that up against. She's got a liability. When you just said they've won as many as the Toronto Raptors, like, ugh! Yeah. Right in the heart. Right in the heart. Charlotte... Because it's really important that Celtics fans are talked about as this prestige franchise, and it's a conversation from a bygone era. It's like talking about a defunct ABA franchise that just ran south.

We've talked about... Me and Charlotte talked about the ABA-N the NBA mergers should be the start of recorded history for the NBA. But before we let Charlotte go, I do want to ask her, last night they did lose. Dejante Murray has 44 points. He hits a game winner after he gets, Porzinga switched onto him. After the game, Joe Mazzullo said, I meant to do that because we need to practice switching. We haven't done it all year long, so we're gonna use these games as experiments.

So that was totally on purpose. Do you believe him? No, absolutely not. What, that's like even weirder than trying to contest, contest a son's player's shot during a time. Like, no, you didn't, Joe, and that's okay. Just say we lost and we're gonna be better don't oh God, it's got

I think we Charlotte thanks a lot oddball every day, but Monday check it out on the DraftKings Network and also on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts All right, Mike. I was waiting for that Raptors Barb to really get somebody the way that it got her. Mike's been workshopping that for a while. He has, yeah. But you finally found your landing spot. No, it got her, dagger, right through the heart. I was really proud about that.

That was wonderful. Open up the club. Don't you want to vamp? No. You don't want to vamp some? You want to vamp? I want to vamp some. All right, let's vamp. I want to vamp? No. You don't want to vamp some? You want to vamp? I want to vamp some.

All right, let's vamp. I want to get one thing off my chest because I'm really committing myself to this baseball thing. As you know, I'm a diehard Mariners fan. Have been for a while now. And opening day was yesterday. Really missed opportunity. I know an earlier game got rained out, but opening day about oh, I only got after you roll out of bed

I only got three hours to the first game This is super exciting and you have you people get out of work Yeah, you take the kids out of school. That wasn't the case yesterday. You had all these Evening starts late afternoon starts. It didn't really feel like opening day Most of the baseball was going on opposite of the tournament. It was weird. Did either of you guys go to opening day yesterday? I was there. How was it Billy? It was good as a nice little crowd Marlins blew a golden opportunity to win pirates do not know how to run the bases completely disastrous on the bathe pass all day long guys I have an offer for all of you

We've been talking about it's a little late it is talking about starting a Fantasy baseball league in the office if anyone would like to join wait a second late. We were talking about starting a fantasy baseball league in the office if anyone would like to join. Wait a second. I've already got one. Okay. The thing that I wanted to get off my chest though,

real quick, before we open up the club, because we don't have a lot of time to do any of that, is these uniforms are a disaster and it's been a talking point, but a lot of people are finally tuning in and watching these uniforms. I'm telling you, the grays don't match for a lot of these teams.

And also this was supposed to be dubbed as performance wear. That's why you have the different color tones and whatnot. Have you seen the Yankees play baseball so far this season? They are sweating through their jerseys, making sweat stains everywhere. How could this be categorized as performance wear? There's no moisture wicking. The grays don't match. The angels simply should throw away their gray road tops because it doesn't match the pants. They should just exclusively wear the road reds. This is a real problem and

we've all seen Fight Club and we know how recalls happen and they've decided that the hullabaloo around these uniforms isn't worth the trouble and the money that will go into a recall. It looks cheap. It looks amateurish. And they're not going to fix it. And I can't believe that they're that stubborn. Don LeBretard.

How do people always go missing in the mountains? Don't go to the mountains. And by the way, I don't want to bring racism. This is the most white people thing ever. Going missing in the middle of the mountains. It's the strangest thing. You go by yourself. You don't take a radio,

you don't take a phone, you're missing for four days, and they find you like 10 years later covered in snow. And it's like, don't go by yourself. If you're gonna go on a trail, don't go by yourself. Stugats. Put it on the poll, is it the whitest person thing ever, I believe is what you called it, going into the woods by yourself?

Is going into the woods by yourself? I can't disagree with that. I mean, so so black people don't camp. Yeah, black people don't hike. They don't camp. They don't go on to the woods. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the StuGuard. Hello, welcome to the hockey show. My name is Roy Bellamy, David Drucker, the hockey news. We got good news for you. The Florida Panthers have clinched a playoff spot. They got the X. Yeah, they got the X. We got bad news though, they've lost six of the last seven.

It's been a tough time, obviously it's been because of injury, but my goodness, the Panthers, on time, for the big games, they played well. They played well versus the Rangers, they played well versus the Bruins. Yeah, they still came up short. They still came up short. Very close games, but last night's game against the Ollanders, it hasn't been a good situation for them, losing six out of the last seven. But let's go over the week that was for the Florida Panthers. Let's start on Saturday at the Garden. They lost in the shootout, 4- three to the New York Rangers. They did not have Alexander Barkov They did not have Aaron Echblad to meet you cool. Golf was suspended second game of that suspension and

Forsling us for sling. Yep. No, that's time. And this is another game like the Panthers had a lead They scored the first goal Matthew to Chuck got I think they had a two nothing lead actually in that game the Rangers and look Credit to the Rangers. They're an amazing team They've got maybe the best goalie in the league right now, arguably, you and I kind of agree on that. But yeah, it's a tough time for the Panthers, and that was, look, I'd love to see the Panthers and the Rangers in a playoff series.

That game made me want that, and so did the Bruins game actually. I mean, yeah, I would love to see that as the conference final, hopefully. We'll see. Matthew Kachuck scored the first goal in that game. It was good to see that, but eventually they ended up going down in the shootout.

It's a blown third period lead, a trend that we've seen a lot over the last week. It way too many times. It was the first half of a back-to-back. They went to Philadelphia and they won that game. That was nice. They did get back Kulikov, who served that suspension. But they did not have Barkov, they did not have Ekblad or Forslund. Nope, but they did have goals from Sam Reinhardt, they got a goal from Vladimir Tarasenko that game, and I believe Cardiver Hady scored in the third period, which he's done so often this season.

And it was just nice to see the Panthers bounce back because they played such a tough game in New York and that was on the heels of them going through a really tough stretch where they'd been struggling. They had that really good effort at the Garden. The next day you're like, oh, it's the day after, it's back to back, it's on the road. And no, they came out and played a really solid game in Philadelphia that made you think,

okay, they're starting to come out of this. All right, they came back calm, they faced the Bruins, that was the big one. Yes. That was the one that we were all looking forward to. That was the one where they could have potentially gotten past the Bruins in the Atlantic division, but that did not happen.

They did get Barkov and Forsling back. There were some milestones in that game, David. Yeah, what about that game? Let's see, the Panthers had a third period lead again. I believe that was the game where they took two third period penalties, including a delay of game by Evan Rodriguez that Paul Maurice was like you're not gonna eat a guy's lunch Obviously, he doesn't mean to do something like that, but you cannot take too late penalties in terms of the milestones was that Barkov night?

No, Barkov night was against the Allenders. That was a to lose to Ryan E to night. That's right He had the three-day in point Street He had his 100th career point. And just talking about Etu Lusterainen, this is a guy who I think we're going to like in a Panther sweater for a while, just because he does so many things right on both ends of the ice.

Him, Lundell, they're like little mini barcobs out there, they've got the great guy to learn from, and yeah, you know this. We are big fans of Etu Lusterainen. Oh yeah, a lot of mistakes can be cleaned up When those guys are in the lineup I felt the mention by the way Sam Reinhardt got his 49th and 50th goals versus the Flyers Forget that and now we've been waiting for Reinhardt to hit 50 for a while

Like we knew that he was going to be the second Panthers player to hit 50 goals like after Pavel Bari did it twice Yeah, but man what a great year Reinhardt's having. At this point, I am just eagerly awaiting how his contract situation plays out. Him and Florida want to get something done. They've had some talks, hasn't really picked up a lot from, I haven't heard much over the last month, but you'd think they want to get something done

maybe before the summer as Florida has with, they got it done with Forsling Yep, so you know between Montour and Reinhardt the Panthers have a couple big free agents the that They're going to have to deal with ahead of this playoff run that they're about to go on Back in the Bruins game. I want I wanted to particularly point something out that happened the Panthers as you said blew that lead They were up 3-2. Yes. And about 5.43 left in the third period in regulation. And Jordan McPherson, the Miami Herald, pointed this out. The in-game entertainment crew played Peppers.

At 5.43, left in the third period. And then the Panthers immediately gave us two goals. But you see, they've done this in the past and it hasn't been a problem. I don't know about that. No, they've played Pepas at the arena early. I mean, look, this is kind of going, because it's a Miami Heat thing.

For those of you who aren't familiar, it's a Miami Heat thing. The Miami Heat played Pepas. They went on an incredible NBA Finals run and it was super fun. The arena would go crazy, but it would happen with like a minute to go in a game that they were going to win.

And it was like the victory song, the victory salute. So the Panthers doing it a little early, I don't know, I get the apprehension, but they've done it before at the arena. I've heard it before early enough in a game that they haven't blown a lead. So I think maybe this is more of a product of a current funk than it is a poo poo on Peppers.

Well, it is a poo poo on Peppers. I'm blaming this poo poo on Peppers. Last night, not great, they played the Islanders who right now are a desperate club right now. They are trying to get into the playoffs. They played themselves out. They're trying to get back in. That was a big win for them. Yeah, that was a big win for them. Yeah that was a huge win for them. The Panthers

for the past two games including the Bruins game had a chance to clinch a playoff spot basically they needed help during the Bruins game, but by themselves last night they could have made the playoffs but they ended up losing 3-2 against the Ollenders. That was also a milestone game that one was for Alexander Barkov. That was a Barky game. 700 points 700 points. 700 points. It's pretty unbelievable. I mean, he's young. He's young. He started his career early. But he is young. He's already gotten 700 points in his career. And that's just amazing to me.

It's pretty awesome. And this is what his fourth season with at least 50 assists, and he's got another 10 games to go. Yeah, absolutely. The Panthers, following the game, ended up clinching a playoff spot and that was because the Detroit Red Wings lost 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes so thank you Carolina for that. So that's the week in Panthers hockey. Those four games we saw that the Panthers scored first. Yes, they did.

In all four of those games. And third period leads. Lone. No, except for the one they won. Except for the one they won in Philadelphia, but yeah, four straight games of them scoring first and them going one, two, and one, that's just, that's not Panthers hockey.

Well, what we have to find out over the next two and a half weeks is, is this a wake up call that they, you know, is going to get them snapped into form ahead of the postseason starting which is in just a few weeks or the alternative, which I don't even want to say out loud after the season that they've had, after the finals run they had last year, it looked like the stars were aligning, everything was falling into place for the Panthers. So I don't even want to say out loud the alternative. Let's just say this is a funk for them, that they're going to wake up, they're going to learn what they need to learn,

and they're going to go into the playoffs and do what they're going to do. I just want to revel for the next two minutes on the fact that this is the fifth consecutive season that the Panthers have clinched a playoff spot. Considering that for the first 25 years, they've had five playoff appearances before they'd end up getting five straight in the past five, I mean, my God, I mean, if you think about this as somebody who's cheered for this team for 30 years and who has covered this team for a very long time, it almost seems miraculous that they've gone for this team for 30 years, and who has covered this team for a very long time,

it almost seems miraculous that they've gone to the playoffs or will go to the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. You have to almost take a step back, because being in it, because it's not just like, we've been following teams since it started in 1993. We've covered the team pretty closely for over a decade now, but to kind of have to take a step back, because we've been so ingrained in it, like you just kind of broadly explained it.

Five playoff appearances in 25 years, and that included an 11 year gap where they made zero playoffs, and that was when a lot of young fans were just kind of figuring out hockey in South Florida. Yeah. So yeah, it's pretty remarkable. And I keep going back to the one thing. It started with the ownership taking over in 2011, 2012, and hiring of Matt Caldwell, who's paid such meticulous attention to all the details. But for me, it was that and then Bill Zito. Yeah.

Because Bill Zito getting hired in September of 2020 was really the catalyst that's made so many changes. The first moves he made, Patrick Warnquist, Radko Gudis, and from that it just set the culture, it set a tone, and it's been this amazing, like just focus on exceptional, not just players, but people. Bringing in not just good guys at hockey, but guys

that are good in the locker room it's made this incredible incredible team yeah it's you just gotta take a step back and revel in it really Patrick Williams of the NHL.com he's their American Hockey League reporter he is coming up next and we're gonna go into what's going on in the minor league system of the NHL. That's coming up next. Don Lebatard. Let's go Islanders. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Stugats. Let's go Islanders.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. All right, joining us right now is Patrick Williams. He writes about the American Hockey League for NHL.com. And right now the AHL is getting closer and closer to their playoffs. So let's start there. How does the playoff picture look right now in the AHL, Patrick? Well, you know, it's funny because it's such a complicated system. You know, the four divisions, there's

kind of three different formats for who qualifies and who doesn't. And there's buys involves. The long story short is 23 out of the 32 teams make it. The idea being NHL teams want their prospects to get playoff experience as much as possible. So there's a pretty low bar to qualify. But take for example, like the Charlotte Checkers who are Florida's affiliate, they're third place right now in the Atlantic division. So they're sitting pretty, pretty, quite nicely, you know, in terms of their playoff positioning, you know, but with this league, it's a lead to streets. I say that all the time. And, you know, depending on who's called up, who sent down your teams can kind of go on good runs you know or you know or slumps very quickly. And those are obvious variables the players get caught up for

playoff runs for the NHL teams but based on that who have the best who has the best odds to win the Colter Cup this year? Well, you know, at this point you don't have to say the Hershey Bears. I mean, they've run away with the entire league. They're 14 points ahead of the second overall team. They're right on the line right now, potentially setting the record for best point percentage in league history. It's a record that's stood for 32 years now. They need a little bit of a run here toward the end, but they're at 770 right now.

The league record is 775. So they have a good shot to do that. They're the defending cup champs as well. So right now, you have to give the edge to them, at least as it stands at the moment. So Patrick, real quick, I wanted to ask if you could break down because the AHL, the way that they construct their rosters is a little bit different obviously than they do in the NHL.

You kind of alluded to it before, that teams like to have their prospects getting playoff experience and so much of AHL rosters are built of those development type players. So if you could just kind of break it down real quick for us before we dive further into it. Well yeah, for one there's no limit, unlike in the NHL where it's a, you have your 23 players and there's cap considerations, there's no cap considerations, there's only your budget essentially and there's no limit to number of personnel. So those are the two big differences. The other big differences are that quite often late in the season you'll see players that come over from Europe or either from junior or college. So you can sometimes get some, you know, real big additions to your lineup late this

season. I mean, I think of a team like Cleveland a number of years ago, they added Zach Wrenski right out of the University of Michigan late this season. He came right in and was one of their top defensemen. They won the cup that year. So, you know, there's a lot more volatility in terms of the rosters. You know, you can be a team that looks maybe like a borderline playoff team, but say your NHL team misses the playoffs and you get three or four players that are sent down, all of a sudden that changes, you know, the whole look of your team and vice versa.

You know, you can be a team that has been sailing along and all of a sudden the NHL team calls up, you know, a couple of your key players and there go your playoff chances. So it's a much different dynamic than what we see in the NHL. Who right now in the league, do you see who can get called up for a playoff chances. So it's a much different dynamic than what we see in the NHL. Who right now in the league do you see who can call it up for a playoff run who can absolutely change the entire scope of that team's playoffs?

Well, that's a good question. I mean, depending on kind of what you want. I mean, we've seen goalies come up in the past like Connor Ingram a couple years ago, came up in the NHL, went up to Nashville and kind of, at least for a little while, was kind of the hot story of the playoffs. So you can sometimes see a goalie do that. Earlier I would have said Logan Stankhoven from Dallas. He was running away with the scoring title with the Texas Stars, but he has been called up. So, you know, he's a guy that's probably was the most NHL ready player in the entire league, just a player that, you know, quickly became obvious

that he was ready. There was really no further development needed. So I did want to talk to you about another goaltender in the NHL who has been on fire lately. I don't think he's got, he's a candidate to get called up, just the way that the Panther situation is right now, but Spencer Knight has been, and Fledo for the Charlotte Checkers,

who have also been on a nice little streak. As you mentioned, AHL teams going on streets. Spencer's won, I think, nine of his last 10 starts. He's got shutouts in three of his last four. And Charlotte has been creeping their way up the Eastern Conference standings as well. Just in terms of, you know, AHL, how well he's been playing, what have you seen and how impressive has that been?

You know, like, you know, obviously he had that well-documented situation where he had to, you know, step back and, you know, work on some things off the ice. Clearly he did that, like, which was the first step for him to kind of get that part of his life squared away. He came back this year, went to the AHL. He was up and down a little bit early on, but I think one of the biggest differences you just see is just his approach to the entire game. He's got that

maturity to his game, the sense of you see with a lot of young goalies that first year or two of their career at the pro level, I mean, they've had success everywhere and in his case, he even had success at the NHL level. So, you know, you come down and it's a much more chaotic type of style down the HL, you have a lot more younger players, systems aren't quite as tight. So for a goalie that can be really tough and you know it you know I think it took him a little bit of time to to make that adjustment to what was going on around him on the ice but he clearly has done that and obviously now Charlotte is really starting to ride his hot streak and you know their team you know if you just asked around the league their team nobody wants to see in the first second

round of the playoffs their team I think that could be a very dangerous opponent especially with the way the format is you get either a best of three or a best of five early on in the playoffs so you know your your playoff your playoff hopes can go off track very quickly in a short series like that, especially with a hot goal like Knight. Continuing to look at the checkers right now, I assume the Panthers are going to call up Mackie Samuskevich, but the entire roster, if you look at it from a whole, who do you think the Panthers are going to call up for this playoff run? Yeah, you know, I mean, for one, the question becomes like, you know, how many players do you want to call versus, you know, what you're trying to do

at the A.H.L. level? Typically, a team will let for the most part, let the A.H.L. level or the roster kind of be what it is until the A.H.L. teams playoff postseason is over. And then they, you know, you'll see, like last year with the Panthers, they brought up, you know, whole, whole group of players that were, you know, kind of come in there and, you know, sort of on reserve Zach Galpy was kind of the breakthrough player, the story last year where, you know, he, he broke into the lineup and actually ended up really becoming kind of a regular down the stretch there, into the Stanley Cup finals for the Panthers. But I think for the most part, a team like the Panthers, they've constructed a pretty typical AHL-type roster where you have your mix of good, solid veteran guys and then obviously like prospects like Samuskiewicz and Knight, players like that. And then kind of those guys that are you know the go guys in between that kind of hold everything together. So I think for right now they would probably more or less

stand Pat but certainly if Charlotte goes out early and Florida is playing later you'll see a whole group of them caught up you know guys Sam Miscavige, Knights, et cetera. Something we've seen with the Charlotte checkers the last couple of years, that's pretty common across the AHL I wanted to ask you about, is most recently Charlotte signed Ben Steeves from Minnesota Duluth as a college player, they get their ELC.

He signed with Florida, but his ELC doesn't kick in until next year, so he took a PTO with Charlotte to be with their AHL club to learn their systems and to get acclimated to pro hockey. Last year we saw the same thing with Mackie Samuskevich and Ryan McAllister. In terms of the way that the process is, to go from a college player dipping their toe into the pro game, how common is this in the AHL and how much of an impact does this have because it's happening just as playoff time is getting started?

Yeah, it's a potentially huge impact. Samuskevich, I mean, certainly showed a lot of promise, which you would expect in a top prospect like him, but he came in. I thought it was great for his development. I spoke with him earlier in the season and it just gave him a taste of what he would expect long term. You know, he had something to work with when he went into the summer, you know, into his off season training program, kind of had a sense of like, okay, this is what I'm up against in the NHL to say nothing of what I'll have to deal with eventually, you know, full time in the NHL. So it's a chance to, yeah, to for a player to kind of dip their toe in the waters, get a sense of what they're up against,

get to know some of the coaching staff better, get to know teammates, get playoff experience. Certainly that's very helpful. You know, he got a little bit, you know, Savage-Javich last season. So it's almost like, I guess I would almost compare it to like kind of an internship, where you know, where you're probably getting hired full time later on. But you know, this is just a chance to really kind of learn, learn the business on the ground, you know, you know, and be kind of fully immersed in,

in what the AHL team and by extension, what the NHL team wants you to be doing. Much like the NHL, the AHL has individual awards. The Les Cunningham Award is leading MVP. The Red Garret Award is Rookie of the Year. The Baz Bashian Award goes to the best goaltender. And the Eddie Shore Award goes to the best defenseman. Who do you think will win those four trophies this year? Well, yeah, you know, MVP, you know, it might be a, you know, a former name that's probably

familiar for a lot of Florida fans is Rocco Grimaldi. Good solid veteran. Team he's with, Chicago has struggled quite a bit. They're an interesting group because they're not affiliated. So, but, you know, he's kind of put that team, you know, on his back. Adam Gaudet, you know, a guy that's kind of been a bubble guy for another, for a number of years.

It's, he's with the St. Louis system right now. He's right up there, you know, among the top league leading goals. So those would be kind of my two early, I guess, MVP picks. Rookie of the Year, I mean, even though he's been up for a month now, Stan Kovan, I think you have to go with. You know, goalie of the year, I mean, depending on kind of,

the goalie of the year can be a little more complicated just because typically if you get really hot, like you're going up, but I'll go with, you know, a first rounder like Yaroslav Asgarov in Milwaukee. He's probably one of the future people in that for the national predators. And then as far as just a top defenseman, it's probably more likely than not kind of a veteran guy like a Brad Hunt in Colorado. He's 35 years old. He's one of those classic better guys,

you know, obviously on the back end of his career, but you know, the Colorado Avalanche have him down there, both to be a leader and also, you know, because at the HL level, he's still a top notch player. So, you know, he would be my pick for your Eddie Shore top defenseman. Patrick, you mentioned Hershey earlier, just the great season they're having,

and they're a team that often has a very successful season in the AHL, and you see certain teams that always seem to do well, whether it's Hershey or a team like Providence, and I know that a lot of that has to do with how they're funded, and I just wanted to kind of ask you to dive into that a little bit,

on why how the teams that are a bit better funded in the AHL can go so much further. Yeah, I mean, there's no cap, first of all, that's so you're not really restricted in that sense, you're only really restricted by your budget. And those those things you mentioned Providence and Hershey, for one, they're they're very good stable affiliations. I mean, Providence and Boston, for example, been together since 1992, Hershey in Washington 2005.

And it starts with a lot of commitment on the part of the NHL team to be willing to kind of fund those veteran players and veterans drive a lot of success in the league. I mean, for you, you have obviously your first second round pitch. Those guys are going to go on to long-term NHL careers, you hope, but you know, they come in, they're 20 or 21 years old, they have a lot to learn, so they don't necessarily come in and dominate right away. It's your veterans that kind of like pull out of the weight.

So teams like Providence, you know, you look at Hershey as a great example, Syracuse with Tampa Bay is another example. They've always really invested in those veterans. And you know, if you're an NHL veteran, like the money hey it's not what you know what people think of typically as minor like salaries I mean the money is very good down I mean if you're a top vet like you can make let's say 450 and up that's around 575 so like the money's really good like it's not NHL money obviously but you know it's certainly not

money you're going to get in most walks of life. So certainly if you're a veteran and you can also set yourself up down the road, maybe eventually you want to transition into coaching or management. It's a real good pathway for guys around 30 years old or so who are maybe starting to look long term

toward their post-playing career. But in the meantime, they can still pocket half a million dollars a year playing in the minor. So it's not a bad arrangement of those guys. Patrick Williams is the American Hockey League reporter for NHL.com. Patrick, thank you for joining us. Thank you.