The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: The Return of Puck

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

The Hockey Show is back after a two week winter break and the gang is all here! Roy, David, Rose, and Ethan catch you up on everything that happened over the break, including the Winter Classic in Miami and all the parity we have seen in the NHL over the last few weeks. The gang steps into the Panthers Den where things are looking bleak after a recent spell of injuries and a few bad losses before Rosie gives us an update on the Seattle Kraken and the gang shares their wins and fails. This week's guest is David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period, who catches us up on the latest trade rumors around the league, how mad the NHL is about the situation with the Olympic rink in Milan, and which fringe playoff teams he believes in most. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Go Cains. And I'm definitely not talking about Carolina. This is the hockey show. David Droger, the hockey news is holding up to hockey news. He's holding up to you. Ethan is in the other studio. Rose is back for the rest of the season, hopefully, I think, possibly. Are you?

Are you back? Yes, because this is done. And if you're asking about my sunglasses, I know it's not cool to have them. on but my eyes are popping puffy and I don't want it to be on camera because he hurts I did not ask you about your glasses I'm telling the audience yes hi they are asking about your glasses my name is Roy Bellamy this is the hockey news you can watch us on you the hockey show oh I'm sorry hockey news that's where you work yeah yeah well this is the hockey show the hockey show dLS is where you can find us on YouTube on TikTok the hockey show seven on X Instagram and threads

at hockey show dLS we had a lot of fun at winter classic I'm Unfortunately, Rose wasn't there to partake. Hopefully she will be for Stadium Series. We will talk about that in a moment. But the NHL has made an announcement where the next Winter Classic will be next season. It is going to be in Utah as the Utah Mammoth will host Winter Classic at Rice-Eckley Stadium, the home of the Utah Utes. And I got to see a picture of the stadium. Mountain background, very scenic, good chance of snow.

and if you've read any of the mentions that I got from the day of the Winter Classic, when I posted a picture, hey, this is what the ballpark was like right now, this is probably a good spot to have because everybody wanted it to be in a winter wonderland instead of near a beach somewhere in Miami. But, yes, the Mammoth will hold this game for the Winter Classic.

Do you agree with the decision? I had a joke there. this team is hosting and is not even old enough to rent a car. Yeah, that's true. Three years old. They came from Arizona, which came from Winnipeg. But officially they are their own franchise, the Utah Mammoth, and they are gone off of the previous two seasons that they've been in existence.

Do you agree with, yes, Ethan? I mean, you know, Rose mentioned that they're a brand-new team. Seattle hosted the Winter Classic. That is also true. and they were their third year of existence as well as things. Remember, I am three years old of knowing hockey. No, I'm just saying, I think it's cool that the NHL is trying to get these new teams and new franchises out into these premier games and these premier spots to promote them.

It'll be really cool, first of all, to see what they do with the uniforms, just in the same way that the Panther uniforms were a really cool fallback kind of idea. Like, I think the mammoth, they have great colors, great jerseys. I think they'll do a really nice job, and yeah, the setting's going to be beautiful. that stadium is absolutely gorgeous. So I'm really excited for it. Utah was the last team, interestingly enough, that hasn't played an outdoor game. They're three years old and every other team now, thanks to the Panthers doing their thing a few, like a few days ago, like a week ago, right?

A week ago today. Tampa played. Yeah, Tampa did the stadium series against Nashville a couple years ago. Columbus Stadium series, I think, last year. Yep. So, yeah, it's just the mammoth. And I don't know, I'm excited. I know that the late Tahoe experiment didn't go.

super duper awesomely well because of the sun and the glare and all that. But I remember like the lake setting behind it with people like pulling up on their boats. That was cool of shit. So I hope that they come up with something cool. I think what they did with the Winter Classic down here blew away my expectations, which were admittedly low for a Winter Classic in Miami, but they killed it. So I'm very curious and excited to see what they come up with in Tampa, and I think they're going to probably do a really awesome job in Utah.

The boys at what chaos specifically Pete Blackburn mentioned the uniforms as he and brought up. Now, they do have a sky blue tint to their uniform. That would be a great base color for their winter uniform. I think sky blue, black and white is their color. Pretty simple winter colors. I think they should lean into the mammoth. I think their jerseys should have some kind of like a animal hair coming off. Yeah, for sure. Like a fur. Like a brown jersey. Yes, absolutely. With like tusses maybe hanging off the front of the helmet, little tusses up there. It would be cool. It's like a brown with like a light blue.

And it's kind of like they're the mammoth, but you incorporate that light blue, kind of like a... Like a mammoth vest over a hockey jersey. Yeah. We're on to something. Oh, man. The Buffalo Sabres and the San Jose sharks have been the biggest surprise so far this season, I think. Even the Blackhawks have been better than expected. And that's just the positives.

We're not going to talk about the Jets here, which is the complete. complete opposite a positive. So, this gives us a chance to review our preseason predictions. What hell was that? I don't know. What was that? What are you doing? Somebody allowed Rose to have the Telestrator. Rose thinks she's John Madden over there.

Oh, I was showing you. Oh, are you looking for it? Yeah, it was right here next to Dave. Now it's gone. I'm so sorry. I hijacked it. I don't know who's idea this was. I don't know who's idea this was. It certainly wasn't mine. No, but keep talking about the sabers. I'm

I'm going to try to... We're not talking about our tears. Before we get there, any time you're watching a football game, right, on the Telestrator, and somebody draws Rose, can you give me two circles? Dude, anytime somebody draws two circles. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that.

We're not going to sit up a little bit. You know, you get a little excited in your chair. You're like, is you going to do it? We're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. They rarely ever do it. Our preseason tears that we made prior to this season starting. As I said, the Sabres and Sharks and Blackhawks

positive surprise. So let's go over what we said earlier in this season. As you remember, the Florida Panthers top tier. Yes, they're in their own. They are in their own tier. And they will stay there until somebody knocks them off. Correct, David, correct. That's the only take. Yeah, and of course, in the bottom tier, the Roy's opinion of Cindy Crosby are the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh

penguins. Who were both in a playoff spot at this moment. Both in the playoffs spot. Yeah. In the middle. In the middle.

Now we can pass out where we were right and where we were wrong. Let's start with the second tier. The teams trying to be like the Florida Panthers. We had Minnesota, Carolina, Colorado,

Dallas, New Jersey, Vegas, and Winnipeg. Winnipeg being the obvious wrong answer there. Yeah. Jersey's a little ebbs and flows this year out of a playoff spot at the moment, but everybody else in that tier,

especially after Minnesota made the trade. Who could have seen that coming? You shut up. No, seriously. I mean, I probably would have put them in the should-be playoff teams tier, but you guys had them right at the top of the trying to be like the Florida Panthers tier. And now they are trying to be like the Florida Panthers. They went out, made a huge swing and got Quinn Hughes. And, I mean, they've been the best team in hockey since they did that.

Rose has wrote the word dying on the Florida Panther tier there, which is not true. They're recuperating. No. They're healing. They're losing it. everything. Rose, it's the first half of the season. They're not losing everything. Well, it's the second half of the season. Let them get healthy.

It's the start of the second half of the season. It's still tightly packed enough. That's a useless correction there. You know what? There's a theory that you guys have that one player doesn't make a team. And I believe a little bit of that, but the Florida Panthers, they need two of the players. If not, they're not good. Rose, they're missing half the team, but neither here or no there. We've got to continue with these tears here. Multiple. Hall of Fame caliber people are out of their line. Multiple.

Barky. That's why we need Barky. Chucky. Chucky. And their best defenseman. Marshie is out. Jones is out. Marci is out. Oh, sorry. You've been on vacation. Way more than one player.

All right. Let's talk about the third tier here. This should be playoff teams. We had Calgary, Columbus, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Montreal, Ottawa, the Rangers, Toronto, Washington, and Tampa with the clear wrong answer being Cagery and Ottawa. Ottawa, I'm not done with Ottawa. Ottawa's not done either. They're five points out of a playoff spot.

In Columbus, by the way. Yeah, Columbus. Columbus is on there as well, but yeah, we can replace Columbus with Ottawa there. Yeah. Well, right now they're the bottom two teams in the east. Yes. It's tightly packed. I'll give them.

But yeah, we may have been a little over-excited there with some of these teams. Teams with potential maybe we had Boston, Buffalo, Utah, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Louis and Anaheim. This might be our best tier just because. St. Louis. Yeah, one miss, really. But like, come on. Anaheim we saw coming. The Sharks, so somebody here saw coming. Yeah. It's Seattle. So, whoa, Seattle's in a playoff. Seattle's a division, man, because the dogs have fallen off so much. They've won like two of their last 14 games or something like that. And yeah, wow, I didn't realize Seattle's been playing better. Guess Q's not going to win the Jack Adams anymore.

Mm-mm. That's definitely our best tier. The Biroleleaguers, Chicago, Vancouver, and Nashville. Chicago should be in a higher echelon there, Vancouver and Nashville. All of them are out of the playoffs, but, yeah, I mean, Winnipeg is. Chicago's injured, though. Chicago's been coming back recently. Chicago's one better recently, four in a row. Stay tuned. Chicago's coming up in puck luck.

All they need to do is stay afloat until Bedard gets back, and they can just kind of hang around because this wildcard race, man, it's wide open. and Jose's still in there. Los Angeles hasn't played very well, but they're holding on to a playoff spot. Los Angeles will get themselves aligned next to Edmonton as the season progresses. However it plays out, you know where they're going to be. Exactly.

All right, let's go into the Panthers Den. Let's start with the Winter Classic. Start with the new year. They lost 5-1 to New York, the New York Rangers. They beat Colorado. That was almost a perfect game, and they had to play an almost perfect game. Two-one filthy, baby. The best team in the league.

And then they went out to Canada and got the... Their ass is kicked by Toronto and Montreal. Yeah, losing 10 to 3 combined in Toronto and Montreal, not ideal. Granted, they played four of those periods without Brad Marchand in all of those periods, without all of the guys that we talked about before. But this was supposed to be a time where the Panthers were turning things around. Like, it looked like as we got around Christmas time, that they were really starting to figure it out. They had 1-8 of 9 or 7-8 or whatever it was.

Now they've been alternating wins and losses, but the road trip, they've got to turn it around. Just because if you look at the divisional standings particularly, that's one area that it's starting to spread out a little bit. I know Florida as of this morning. Let's see. Tampa's in the third spot at 55. Florida's not 47. That's a big number.

Eight points back is a big number. Panthers are two games into a six-game road trip. Ten of the next 12, including two that they just played on the road. The injuries that definitely hit the Panthers again, Brad Marshion taken out of the Toronto game. That was a coach's decision by Paul Maurice. He's been dealing with a little bit. And did not play against Montreal.

Matt DeKuchuk is on. on the road trip with the Panthers. He just got back to wearing a normal practice jersey. He took off the non-contact jersey and he's getting shoved around. So that is a good sign. He's close to the playing. Yes. Hopefully.

I mean, this is just me totally speculating. I have not heard anything on this. But hopefully it would be cool if he plays on Saturday just because he's praying against this brother. It'd be kind of a cool way to market it and get Chucky back on the ice. And the last few years, it's been a lot of fun when the Panthers and Senators get together. For whatever reason, they don't seem to like each other. So either way, he's coming back on this trip. It looks like Marchand's day to day, so it's nothing insidious and serious with that.

So I'm just trying to be positive here because they're still right there within striking distance. And we've seen how good they can get just by adding a little bit of depth. You remember when Verhadi and Lusirin missed the game or two last month, they both came back and it was like a huge shot in the arm. So if they can get a similar effect right now, go a long way towards their momentum towards the playoffs. I mean, it just goes to show how important Seth Jones is for this team, now because they managed to stay afloat and survive and win that Colorado game with what I thought was actually a great defensive effort despite not having Seth Jones out there. But since then, I mean, just they had a good third period against Toronto, I guess you could say, but

wall kind of stonewalled them and they didn't score anything. Montreal last night, like I was kind in and out of that game because of the playoff game. But like it was a, you know, it was not a great effort from the Panthers, I thought. Like it was very laxadaisical offensive. just it's hard to generate anything right now because their defensemen aren't getting up the ice as much. The power play is nowhere. You know, and you've got guys that are in roles that they probably shouldn't be in and eating minutes that they probably shouldn't eat. I don't want to say any names here, but, you know, I think you can kind of pick up what I'm putting down. And look, they got to stay afloat because it, you know, this is a crucial, crucial road trip for the Panthers. I mean, six games on the road here. You're two in already and you're down to.

and you're falling three points out of a playoff spot. Like, if you don't get anything going on this road trip, there's a chance that this could be it for the season. And not enough rest, even with the Olympic break, because half the team is going to Italy. Right. As I mentioned, we had a lot of fun with the Winter Classic, and if you want to watch that video,

it will be posted on YouTube. But for right now, guys give you a quick thoughts on what happened on New Year's, not even New Year's Day, but the second of January. Well, I think I said ahead going into it, it that my expectations were kind of low just because it was a winter classic in Miami. I had no idea what to expect. I purposely wanted to go in kind of with sunglasses on and let it potentially blow me away. And it really did. I think they did a great job. I thought everybody that went had a good time. I think the only negatives had to do more with the stadium BS than the game or any of that.

Which is not the league's fault. No. Not the Panthers fault. Not the league sport at all. No, it's just they don't know how to put on a big event at Marlin Stadium because they don't really get a lot of people there. Hopefully that will change as the Marlins continue to improve, but you know, that's another topic for another day. But overall, I think they killed it at the Winter Classic. I thought it was awesome. I think we all had a good time. Ethan seemed to have a blast making his way around, spending way too much money in the team store. And Roy, you even cracked a few smiles. I hate when you, listen. You're smiling right now. I smile. I smile, okay. Right. Now, people like to say, hey, Roy, you don't smile. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finally, Roy got the, was able to

smell. Ha, ha, ha, ha, he, he, he. I smell. I'm not saying you don't, but the ratio of smiles to other expressions on your face is a lot lower than other people. That's true. That's true. All right, it's time for puck luck. It's sponsored by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. I will not do that pause that Chris Cody does every time he does the draft Kings read. So no, that's not happening from this side. Dave, let's win some money. That's win some money. So this, only three games on the slate tonight, so I had to do a little digging, but I feel good about what I've come up with. First off, As Ethan mentioned earlier, Chicago has been playing really well lately.

They've won four straight, and those four straight include wins over Dallas, Vegas, and Washington in Washington. And that's relevant because they're playing the caps at home tonight. And the caps have lost four of six overall and six of seven on the road. So I like Chicago's money line. Get some value there. Dylan Gunther on Utah, we talked about them earlier. He's hit his over two and a half shots prop in eight straight games before missing last game against Ottawa. So we're getting slightly better odds off the miss.

and then Kevin Fiala of the Kings, him as well over two and a half shots on goal. He's hit that number in five straight. The Kings are a little banged up and he's seeing a little bit more ice time right now over the past few Kings games. Total odds on your parlay, 477. Go make yourself some money and have a good weekend.

Chris Cody is in the studio and as we mentioned with the Winter Classic he was there as well. He was there as a fan. Chris, talk about your experience at the ballpark that day. I liked it a lot more than this show represented. I thought it was fine. I thought the vibe was really.

good. I agree. I mean, that ballpark kind of stinks in terms of getting in it, lines. You missed the first part of what I said. I raved about the event. I just trashed on the kind of the ballpark experience of people trying to move around. I thought it looked cool. I couldn't hear role model from where I was near the unnamed beer

bar. They had speakers around the home plate area facing the actual seats. I don't think they had any in the outfield section. I'm telling you, man, I had to, like, someone's like, oh, they're performing. I couldn't even hear, didn't know the performance was happening. And the bar we were at is like the closest actually to that performance.

You were at the outfield bar. Yeah. And my brother was sitting in left, the left field seats right next to it. And I went and sat with him. And there were speakers right in front of the seats. So you could hear like the skates during the game. It was a really weird audio experience because they had miced the ice. So you could hear all the sounds on the ice.

Like you could hear them already. But then you were also hearing them through a speaker. It was just kind of weird. It's not a great viewing experience. Were you able to hear any chirps? Not chirps. No, that would have been cool. That would have been neat.

It was really more so just like kind of the skates and the puck crashing and the stick, whatever. It was a, I mean, it was a great time. I had a great time. We never get it again, though, right? Like, we agree. I mean, no. It'll be done. Think about this.

Think about this. Outside of the football window for stadium series, do you think Heart Rock will get one? Yes. I think because of the timing, right, with football still going on, they might not do that. It's in February. They just have to do it. What are they worried about the Dolphins in the playoffs? A non-super Bowl year.

College football playoffs, bowl games. No, that's in January. But they can make it one. That's in January. Tennis. I think we blew it, guys. I'm speaking positive of it, but no, I don't think we're getting another one. I think Lone Depot blew it.

I don't think Miami necessarily blew it because it turned out fine. Like, the guys after the game weren't really complaining about the ice or anything. Like they said the ice held up pretty well by Chris Cody. Love you. But, you know, they weren't really complaining about the ice. I thought the surface held up pretty well, all things considered. So, but of course, Hard Rock is outside. Marlon Spark is indoor, so it might make it a little more difficult.

You guys kind of set off a little light bulb in my head a minute ago when you're talking about the mics on the ice and maybe could you hear them chirp? You know how maybe you don't know this, but you know how like in NASCAR, you can actually dial into the radio feeds of the drivers and their crews and everything. So you're hearing whatever they're saying. They could be chirping each other. They'd be swearing at each other. They can be talking shit about other drivers? You don't know. So can we get to the technology where we can maybe cut into a feed of a,

of a hockey player who's miced up and just hear how he's like bagging on the guys in the other bench or go, you know what I mean? Like, wouldn't that be cool to like, you could tie into Brad Marchand, mic'd up for a game? It would be for Matthew Kachukh versus Zibandah. Yeah, just think about the endless possibilities. The NHO would never let that happen. No, not the NHL. The NHL Players Association would never let that happen. That might be true too, but I don't think the NHL wants people to know what's that on the ice.

I think this is a great idea. I think this would bring more people into the game. It humanizes the players. It's like, oh, he's pissed about the same thing I'm pissed about. It's a great idea. Don't get me wrong. I just don't think the NHO would ever let people hear what players say to each other. There was an outdoor game in Miami a week ago.

Like, maybe we're... That's true. That's true. Maybe they're getting a little more advanced. It's time for Rosa in a minute. Rosie. Okay. Let's go.

I miss this song. Hello, I guess this is a minute of hockey with Rose. This time we're going to Seattle, where it's set up the caracken. The last one, the first time, Aplastando 5-1, Calgary. Shane Wright marked the goal of the advantage, but the real-a-monstone

that one of the one in the one of the men, that's been to get 41. Yeah, 41. The man was in mode of parade. Then, they're still with the show in-cassah. Victory, four-contra-contra-court-contrake. Metier-Kak-Kak-Kuck, meted two goals, and Berkey Katung.

Annotes his first two goals of the NHEL. And then he extended his ratche's a new game of two-godes, summing-pontos. Nobody else par. But the feast had to terminate. With Minnesota, the Krakken

empataring in the third part of the second. With his carelo, it was appalled in Movertime, the Rota 3, 2. Even as if you do you end,

the year, the second, two victories, a lot of a game serious, and playing, a team, very serious.

Because when the Krakken is a day, someone hockey with Rose. But it's a semandal of Puck Paxion

and a little chaos. Woohoo! Yeah, go cracking. I hope that was in the English, people. That is loud.

What is I told you it was the English script. One minute of Huffkin with Rose people. Hey kids, this is one minute of Huckett with Rose and this time we're heading to Seattle where the Krakken has been on the last. Cracken. Yes. The Krakken has started the weekend by crushing Calgary 5-1. Shane Wright's score, go ahead, a goal. But then the monster was Philip Gabrard with stopped 41 shots.

Yes, 41 shots. The man was in full brick wall mall. So, they kept the show going at home. 7 4 win over Boston and Capu Keku scoring twice and Bert Grie Katoon nearing his first two goals of the NHEL Woohoo! Nobody stopping them, but everybody has to end. Against Minnesota, the Cracken tied in in the third period.

But Sukarelo shut them down in the overtime, two loss. Still Seattle finishes the weekend with two wins, one loss, points and thin straight games and play. Pointing sense scrapes and playing in a serious team. Yes, a very serious team because when the Cracken wakes up, somebody's getting dragged under. These was one minute of Huckoole of Rowe's. I love that.

You're a weekly recap of cup. Cheeky. And a little bit of chaos. That's so. And that's why she's wearing sunglasses. It's time for wins and fails. Dave, what you win? Oh, man.

All right, hold on. My wins and fails have a fighting theme this week, so you might enjoy it. But my win is Maverick Lamaroo, former first round pick of the former Arizona coyotes, now the Utah mammoth playing for the H. The H.L's Tucson Roadrunners. The massive Lamaroo. 7-214, Roy. Big boy.

He won a fight against Turner Ottenbright during Tucson's 3-2 win over the Calgary Wranglers last week. And the fight was actually at the end of December, so two weeks ago.

But the video is just showing up and the video shows Lamaru after he got sent off the ice for fighting, trying to get back on the ice to fight someone else. And the referee's like, no. That's illegal. No, no, no, no.

So bad ass. You're done. No, no. And he's like, the fans are into it. He's like, come on, let me fight. That's what they paid for. I thought that was awesome. I thought that was so cool.

So that's definitely my win of the week. Three wins for me this week. Hatrick, if you won't. Three wins. Yeah, funny enough, two of those wins were Hat tricks. And both were from former Florida Panthers. The first was from Monday as the Capitals played the Ducks, Justin Sordeefe, who was traded because there was no room on the Florida Panthers roster last season,

at least last season this year they probably could use them. Got a hat trick as the Caps beat Anaheim 7. to four. And then on Tuesday, as the Islanders hosted the Devils, Anthony Declare messed around again himself and Natty-Haddy in New York's 9-0-0-0-1 versus New Jersey. Celebrating an Islander's event. That's... Oh, wait until my fail. My third win is even more special. Lela Edwards, who is currently a senior at Wisconsin. She is playing on defense over there. And as a badger, will now be an Olympian as she was chosen to be part of...

of the U.S. women's hockey team, she became the first black player to ever be rostered for the Olympics for the United States women's hockey team. So that's awesome. Ethan. Yeah, I want to go back to the Winter Classic, Roy. That was just an amazing event. And a lot of people deserve props for it. The NHL, first of all, did, like, watching that happen from the inside, that's an unreal event that they put on there. Quite the production that was happening there. And I just wanted to highlight it again, because we had such a great time. First of all, I wanted to shout out Fatu for coming down and hanging out with us.

She gave you some love, Roy, on the Justin Sordi Patrick. She was all excited that, you know, her caps were taking good care of a former panther. So we had so much fun hanging out with her and Sean and everybody that was there. And we just had such a great time and it was such a great event. I'm so happy we got to go. So thanks again. Okay, I'm not going to give you a win. I'm just going to give you the next week.

And the next week is the lightning. But my win was stringier things. I'll talk to you about it after. Yeah, okay. Fails in a week, Dave. Massive brawl last week between Ryan Reeves of the Sharts and Columbus's Matthew Olivier. Not the first time they've squared up, but this might be the most memorable because Avelier knocked Reeves the bleep out. Didn't quite get him out cold, but certainly put him on his ass on the ice.

You know, Reeves is a fighter. He knows how this out works. He's cool with it. After the game, he was talking about the fight and the neurological tests he had to play. So if you guys have that, can we play it? They just played it. No, there it is right there. Oh, there is.

Yeah, I mean, I had to memorize some words. Cotton, honey, arrow, I think, was there. The months of the year backwards. To do some number games, some balanced stuff. Pass with flying colors. Well, there you go. All right. My fellow for the week, and you sure saw this coming.

My fellow goes to the Devils. Because on January 6th, the Islanders played the Devils on Long Island. On January 6th, the devil's lost 9-0-0 to the Islanders. On January 6th, Tony DiAngelo scored the Islander's seventh goal. And on January 6th, you allow a goal to the Tony DeAngelo, you deserve to get what you get. And on January 6th, Tony DeAngel scored. The Devils deserved that 9-0 beat down. Ethan.

You called it, too. You texted me like, I should have taken DeAngelo on January 6th. On January 6th. The fitting that he scored on January 6th. Did you guys see what happened in the Chicago St. Louis game the other night with Jordan Bennington. Jordan Binnington gives up seven goals. This is Team Canada's starting goalie. And he refuses

to come out of the game and then the Blues can't find their backup, Joel Hofer. He's just kind of hiding. I'm not sure if he's hiding. He didn't know what to do exactly. But it gave us this unbelievable screenshot of Hofer just kind of waiting in the wings

like hiding in the locker room. It was really a hilarious moment. I don't know how Jim Montgomery always finds himself in these situations where he just loses control of his team completely. He is once again the most fired coach in the history of sports. If you're watching on Draft King's Network coming on next,

we have David Pinoa of the fourth period. We're going to talk about the league. He has some inside news for us. You can watch that on YouTube. So for everybody who's listening on audio, David Pignota's coming on next. In sports championships aren't one alone, the one with the right people around you.

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No purchase necessary must be legal U.S. resident, 21 or older. Sweep steak starts 1215, 2025 at 12 a.m. Eastern and ends 1.23, 2026 at 11.59.59 p.m. Eastern. See official rules at program website. David Piota is from the fourth period. He's our, he's not our insider, but hey, he's all insider. He's all insider. He's all insider. So, yes, he's our friend, and we love him, and he joins us with some league news. And we are getting closer and closer to the trade deadline. And we will start with the defending reigning two-time Santa Cup champion in Florida. Panthers. Is Bill Zito going to do anything? Well, he's looking around, boys. He's looking around. He's trying to see what he can do. Talking to a few teams in the last week, they're starting to at least relay that, yeah, the Florida Panthers are starting to kind of comb the market a little bit, see what options

might be available to them depth-wise more so than anything. You know, he's looking at strengthening the decor and just deepening that, but there's also, maybe it's the bottom six, maybe it's the fourth line, just to give him. some more options as the season moves on. We know Matthew Kichuk's coming back soon and see how the roster looks once he's back in it, how he does. They're probably going to ease him into it and then kind of go from there. But yeah, Bill Zito, GM of the Florida Panthers looking around, just trying to see

what options are available to him, probably closer to the trade deadline, not the holiday, excuse me, not the, not the, not the Olympic freeze, where there's a roster freeze from February 5th to the 22nd. outside and some teams are viewing that as like the mini trade deadline. I think we'll see some activity, but it won't be like a regular trade deadline, which will happen on March 6th. And it looks like that's kind of the timeline where Florida's kind of seeing,

well, look, unless something happens now and falls into their lap, that's probably closer to the actual trade deadline where they look to make a move. Who is the most expendable person on the Panthers roster right now? I don't even know if they're looking or have a desire to move anyone out per se. When Kachuk comes back, they're going to be sitting at around 17,000 in cap space. So they're allowed to do that because they're working within LTIR parameters. They still have flexibility to send guys down. Some of the guys that are waiver exempt, you add that all up.

It's about $2, $3 million in additional space. So there is wiggle room. We know Barkov's not coming back to playoffs. So they're not really concerned about that money right now. So I don't even get the sense that they're looking to move anyone out really. It's more so just insulating the roster and cushioning some areas of the roster as much as they can until playoff time. Now, with Barkov, you know, the initial prognosis and timeline was in and around conference final time, the end of May. That could be escalated up to beginning of May, potentially if they get to the second round.

we'll see. I mean, they got options. There's no sense of urgency. It's just looking to see what options may be available to them. And again, I just don't get the sense that they need to move anybody out in order to make something happen. Speaking of flexibility, I know that another team in the Eastern Conference is looking for some flexibility as we get closer to the Olympics and the trade deadline. And that's Carolina. You reported a couple weeks ago that Gisperi Kotke-Kin-Mie, they were looking to shop him.

they were trying to get to unload him off of their books. That may be heating up lately. Can you tell us anything more about that, Dave, and just about Carolina's plans? Yeah, so the hurricanes offered up Kockenemy right before the holiday break for Phil Dono in L.A. And the King said, no, they didn't want to add on the additional term. He's got four more years on his contract after this season at 4.82 million per year.

It wasn't necessarily the money. It's just the term. And, you know, he's kind of fluttered this season. I don't think L.A. viewed him as an option at the dot for them. He's been kind of rotating. He plays center, but he's also been rotating on the wing. But he's been available. The hurricanes are never afraid to take a big swing, not lately.

And that's something that they're looking to do. They've got some cap space, but moving Kakenemi out frees up a lot more, and it gives them a little bit more roster flexibility too. So that's a player that, you know, we put up our trade watch, list earlier this week. He's on it. They've been actively made, they've actively made him available. But again, I think it's more of a preference to upgrade the roster in another area by moving him out and utilizing his position on the team roster-wise and the cap space itself. So we'll see kind of where that goes. There's been more smoke today on, on Kakinemimi. We'll see kind of if that

evolves today and into the weekend. But he's definitely a piece that the hurricanes have been dangling. As we're sitting here talking, I just saw a tweet of the neutral zone at the Milan Olympics ice. And it is tiny. This is like two strides for Connor McDavid from blue line to blue line. How did this happen? How mad is the NHL about this happening? And it seems like I was reading an article yesterday from Emily Kaplan. Things are it's going to happen.

You know, the arena is going to get done. How did this happen? again, how mad is the NHL about this situation? Well, with the ice size itself, they were supposed to have NHL size rank, an NHL size rank. Like, it's three feet shorter. It's I-IHF size. So it's international size, but it was supposed to be NHL size. So that's why everybody is kind of like up in arms going, well, for this Olympics in 2030,

we agreed for NHL size. It's not the end of the world, really, and everyone's kind of, They seem to be okay with it now because they really don't have another choice. But it was supposed to be NHL size, not IHF size. So that's kind of where things kind of got disconnected. With the building itself, look, I'm Italian. Italians have a tendency of moving at their own pace. So I'm not overly shocked that this building is not done yet.

the ice seems to be in place. Now it's just figuring out everything else. Like the locker rooms aren't done. The concourse isn't done. It looks like the seats are all in. The roofs finally finished. That's a plus. But they still have, you know, what is it?

Like three weeks to go. So all hands on deck for these guys. Put the espresso down and just finish it up, boys. Come on. So what you got this? What's the concession? situation going to be once this place is open? Like, are we getting like fresh pasta?

Like, how exactly, because I'm, you know, now you have to think about food. Yeah, right? Are we going to get some nice fresh canolies out of the oven? Like, how hard do they go with the concessions out there, Dave? Well, I've never been to a hockey game in Italy. So I'm not. The soccer. You know, I'm not sure how that.

I've done soccer. Yeah, I've done. I've done. See, I went to, I went to Milan in August for the NHL player tour. And at that point, there were supposed to, some of the Canadian and Americans were supposed to have, they didn't even go, like from the executive team. They were supposed to do a tour of the facilities then. And there's no chance. It wasn't even remotely close. But I've been to a few soccer games out there. And I'm sure they're going to bring in some like there's going to be pizza. There's going to be, I guess, sausages, equivalent, like not really hot dogs, but they got a lot of

different, a lot of different sandwiches, a lot of different types of sandwiches. I didn't see any pasta when I was there at some of the soccer games. But that could be something. That's disappointing. I'm sure there's, I would impose, I would impose an espresso bar. Well, you think about like baseball games in Japan where they're like shoveling lo-main into their mouths. So I'm thinking like, why can we do that with pasta? You can.

I just, I don't know. It's more of the sandwiches. Italy does more of the pizza and the sandwiches that come in for, for their sporting events at the concessions. But I don't even know if there's popcorn, to be honest. There might be. There might be something. But I never saw it.

I just saw these little sandwiches. And little. They're actually massive. And the opposite. We're having a big discussion here, assuming that the concession stands in the arena will even be done. It's the most important thing. Have you seen the walkways?

Yeah, it's not. I think the fan experience is going to be done. It's insane. They're going to have to make shift it because, like, you know, if you're going to a game, you're going to want snacks and all that stuff. Like, maybe they just simplify it. But, like, so I saw a picture of one of the locker rooms yesterday.

It's just a room. Like, they have, like, the, The wall's done, but nothing's in there yet. Nice. And I think some of the electrical Celeste has to be worked out and finished up. Like, all hands on deck, these guys can finish off like those types of rooms in like a week. You know, it's not. And I think that's kind of their mindset going, when he opened?

The fifth? Ah, we got time. Seven years they had to construct this arena. Seven years. Mm-hmm. It's insane. Jeez. It's insane.

First. Look, I don't get it, but. I know you don't get it. It's crazy to me. It's crazy to me. It's still excited for the Olympics. This happens every Olympic seemingly, though. But, oh, I can't wait.

Once they're on the ice, nobody's going to give a shit. Right. This doesn't mean the ice holds out. It should. I think they're using the same type of technology that the NHL's using to make sure that the ice is good to go. And we'll know pretty quickly because I think the first game is on the fifth. I think the women's game, they play on February 5th or 6th. something like that.

So, yeah, I hope it works out. First, Rose dances with pizza boxes and before the segment starts, then we end up talking about pasta and massive sandwiches and pizza. Let's just move off of food because I'm very hungry. The Ottawa senators announced that Lena's Allmark would be away from the team on personal leave. And apparently, somebody had gone on their social media and, I guess the team called him a troll and delivered some misinformation. about what has been going on with Linus and the senators

elicit statement with fury against this so-called troll. What do you know what's going on in Ottawa? What can you divulge? Yeah, well he's Olmarch's gone for he's taking a personal leave

and that's really all the senators are saying now there have been some rumblings that you know there may have been altercation with a teammate or something along those lines and that's part of the reason why he's away. There's been some talk that they've been exploring the trade market on him. So it certainly sounds like something just doesn't jive with Allmark and the team.

Look, I saw the stuff that was posted on social media on X and whatnot about it. And I just figured it was just fans doing what they do. Like guys like to troll and chirp and do all this kind of stuff. I didn't think it warranted a statement from the team. It's just some random anonymous fan that's just causing shit and stirring everything up. Excuse me. But look, I don't know why they decided that they needed to acknowledge that. But it does add a little bit of fuel to the fact that something's going on within the organization with Allmark's relationship there and with the team.

and it just amplifies some of the rumors and speculation out there that he might be on the move. Now, I've asked around some people around the league have heard his name out there, some haven't. So this still might be a little bit fresh, but it certainly sounds like the relationship between player and team in some capacity has been hindered a little bit and is it in the best of spirits, let's put it that way.

If he does go on the trade block, Do you think there's any potential teams that he'd be a good fit for? I think there'd be a lot, but the issue is his $8.25 million cap hit. That's going to be the biggest problem, at least in season. Like maybe this is something that they view as an option in the off season. But, you know, right now in terms of pulling it off, you know, which teams want to make an upgrade and goal and which teams have the cap space to do it? Like if Edmonton, for example, wanted to get out on this, they probably have to package

Jari, who they just got from Pittsburgh, with another piece to make the money work. You know, Carolina, you know, Kachekhov is done for the season. Do they want to roll with Anderson and Bussie? Or do they want to just go for the upgrade with Allmark? Maybe that's a potential fit. But outside of that, it's hard to see where the options might be in season. I think there'd be a lot of options out in the off season, excuse me, just in season, because of the dollars tied to it, it might be pretty difficult.

The Eastern Conference is all bunched up, so I'm going to give you three teams right now that you can talk about. You can talk about Toronto because they were in the bottom of the league and have somehow worked their way up now to within striking distance of a playeroff spot. You can talk about Buffalo, who was won 12 at the last 13, given that they fired the general manager, Kevin Adams, in the midst of that winning streak. They won a three-game winning streak at the time. And you can talk about how close to Lindy Roe. Ruff was to close, how close he was to losing his job. And you can talk about the New York Rangers who have been so terrible at home. And is it because of Mike Sullivan's play style and they haven't gotten used to it yet like the Panthers did with Paul Maurice when he just got, when he first got there and is the key word on Igor Shostokin's injury?

All right. Well, Toronto, they, yeah, on an upswing. They've gotten things, you know, rolling now. What is it? 6-0 and 2 in their last eight. So things are going better for them, certainly after the win last night. They play Vancouver on Saturday at home

before they go on the road for a week. Things have looked better in terms of their overall performance. Austin Matthews, people are saying, yeah, he's back. He's back to the player he was. And we've been waiting for that since last season. He hasn't really, you know, exploited his talents in the best way because of some injuries that were nagging and bothering him,

It seems like that's now a thing of the past. And if you're a leaf fan, you're hoping for that. But they're also a little bit banged up. Like Chris Tanev's season is probably over. He's going to need surgery. And if he does, he's done for the regular season anyways. Not coming back until, I think, the timelines end of April, maybe beginning of May. So they're going to look to see if they can move or make an addition on that back end.

Initially, they wanted to bring in a puck mover to help get that up the ice. But because of TANF being out, I think they want to just see, can Carlo hold that role, that defensive physical presence in that back end? And we can still bring in a puck mover, or do we have to replace now what TANF is brought to the table? I think Bradshaw living there. GM is looking at every angle. But now that they're rolling again and kind of got their heads out of the you know what, they're going to look to add and try to cement themselves in a playoff position. Buffalo. I think Rough was right there.

I think they were contemplating making that change behind the bench and then said, you know what, let's just, we'll keep it going, see how this goes. You know, it's not Yarmal Kekalainen's guy. Maybe if they, you know, can build up a few more wins together, then, you know, gives him enough runway for the rest of the season. Well, he's got a hell of a lot of runway now, given 12 wins in their last 13. Things are looking good there. The priority right now for Buffalo is,

Alex Tuck, can we get him signed? That's their mindset. So they're trying to see if they can get him signed or at the very least know that they can get him signed this month, they're going to hold on to him. If not, if they feel like he's not going to sign here or he's out of our price range, whatever deal he signs,

it's going to make him the highest paid forward on the team, 9, 10 million plus. It won't be the highest player. That's Rasmus Dahlene, the 11 million. But he'll be in that 9, 10 range, somewhere in the tens is what I think, especially if he hits open market. And if that is the case and the sabers don't feel they can sign them,

then closer to the trade deadline, they will probably try to trade him within that two-week window from end of Olympics to the trade deadline itself, unless they find out now, for example, that he's not going to sign. But I don't think they're going back and forth right now on that subject. And then Rangers, I don't even know if they know exactly what direction they want to go in. You know, the owner, James Dolan, came out last week and said, preach patience. He's willing to be patient with this group.

He may wake up tomorrow and say, the hell with that. Go make this team better now. There's no, the Schisturkin injury, thankfully he's only day to day or whatever it is on IR. I think it's not as serious. Obviously, he's got to miss some time, but it's not as like this isn't a long-term thing. at least that's what they're relaying to everybody. Similar to tuck in Buffalo, Panarin in New York, they got to figure that out too.

So they're trying to see if realistically they can sign him. If not, and he likes it in New York. He'd like to stay, but he wants more term than I think the Rangers are willing to give him, at least at the dollar figure that they're looking at, which will be similar to the 11 he's making now, because he's going to be the biggest fish in the open market in July if he hits it. So if the Rangers feel they can sign him,

they'll do it. If they don't, then they'll probably make him available for trade. But this is another team like Carolina, always kind of lurking right now. And if they can make a big splash and take a big swing, I think that's what Chris Rory would like to do. And it would revolve around the player in his 20s that's controllable for the foreseeable future. And then shifting to the West, Dave, I've got four teams for you. Two are in playoff spots right now. Two are not. Seattle and San Jose are currently playoff teams, Chicago, who's won four in a row, and Winnipeg, I don't know what the hell, are out of the playoffs. Is that how it's going to stay?

Do you see some switcher-roo? Mainly, Dave, Seattle and San Jose, playoff teams right now. Is that how it's going to stay? I don't know. I don't think there's enough in the tank for Seattle. Personally, if they proved me wrong, awesome, good for them. but I think there are other teams that are going to surpass them. I think San Jose has the potential, but San Jose is in a buy and sell mode.

They've got pieces they're willing to sell off, but they're also trying to insulate that roster and give them a good shot at making the playoffs, which is evident in them, A, resigning Alex Wenberg, getting him to a three-year extension, and then the trade yesterday to bring in Laurent Brasua to stabilize their goaltending position a little bit and provide a backup there.

So there are other guys like Mario Ferreiro, Timothy Lilgren, John Klingberg. They got two other guys on expiring deals as well on that back end. I think they're going to move out one or two of them. But they're also looking to add as well and bringing somebody that fits like a top six role. Excuse me, a top six, top, holy smokes, top six forward line. Still not saying it, right, but a top six forward is something that they'd like to bring in, but also controllable, fits the mold. They can grow with the younger guys like Celebrini and Smith and Eklund and everyone.

So they're an interesting group for me. But I think there's enough there because of just how great Celebrini is and has been this year, where there's an argument for them to make the playoffs. They probably won't do much. But to just gain that experience would be something. I think the ducks are going to rebound a little bit, get back into it, get their game going. They're on a hell of a slump now. But I think they've got enough to rebound and get back into it.

get to get out of this little funk they're in. I think L.A. has got enough to be a playoff team. Edmonton's obviously rolling. The Knights are rolling. But I don't know about Seattle's the kind of the bubble one more so than anything for me in that group. Because I don't think Chicago is going to have enough to get going. And nobody knows what else is going on with the Winfair. So they can't score.

They got the first line and then the rest nobody else can do anything. So we'll see. It'll be very L.A. like for the Kings to lose to the Jets tonight. and snap that streak and then everyone in LA will panic and go, what the hell? How do we lose to a team that's lost 11 straight?

But eventually Winnipeg's going to win again. It would just be a little bit hilarious if it ends up being against L.A. because the King's fan base will lose their minds. All right. That's what's going on around the league. David Pignota from the 4th period. Thank you for sharing what you know.

Thank you, boys. See you. Thanks again to David Pignota from the 4th period for joining us and giving us some league news. We are back, ladies and gentlemen. Norman, we are back after a long, long leave, and we are happy to be back to cover the rest of this season, Dave. That's nice to be back. It should be fun for a lot of the things that we just talked to Pignota about. The standings are tightly packed.

The Panthers have a long road ahead of them to make up some ground, and they're getting healthier. So, I don't know, it's fun. It's hockey. It's great. The Olympics. The Olympics. The biggest event of them all. Oh, that's going to be fun.

The biggest event on the, like, is the Rose Bowl. Biggest sporting event on the planet. I mean, I guess you could argue the World Cup, but nobody loves the Olympics more than me, guys. And I cannot wait for this tournament. Big Olympics guy, Badowski. She won an Emmy for that. I have an Emmy for a year. No wonder he loves it so much.

Yes. I mean, I love them way before, but that helps. Sure, he did. So he couldn't talk about the group chat in today's show, but he did bring up his Emmy. Yeah. That is a miracle. You brought up the group chat. I did not bring up the group chat.

I brought up my Emmy. I brought up that you didn't bring up the group chat. I was giving you some props. And Rose actually said at me first. Well, I don't know. I wanted to talk stranger things, but the show is called the hockey show. So I just reminded that it says hockey show, no stranger things. All right.

I will give you the floor here to end the show for a minute. Okay. Stranger Things. One. So, the first time that I saw it, the first time that I saw it, I did not think I liked it. The finale. The finale. Yes.

But then, spoilers. So if you don't want spoilers. close your mute your microphone and walk you La la la la la la la la la la la la So at the beginning I was not happy I did want 11 to die That was part of what I needed

Because it's kind of like she represents ET so in E T She had to go home So she had to go home She's somewhere But I believe also So it's I am like When her sister was dying

But Hopper never touched the sister That's where I was like No no no Millie Bobby Brown? Calm down. But when I saw that, I'm like, no, no, no, there's something more there because she had the power to make you see things that you couldn't see. So then when they played into that at the end, I was like, ah.

But you never know if she's alive or not. The only ones that know is Dufford Brothers and Milly, and it can go either way. Because if you analyze it, it can go either way. But that's a good ending, though. It's a great ending because we're talking about it. You don't know. Yeah, exactly.

The only people who are pissed off are the people who have just been spoiled. No, because I say spoiler. And it's been on for like a week now. Yeah, it's been on for a week now. You got skip 15 seconds, 15 seconds. Yeah, it'll be okay. But right now I watch it yesterday again. I cried and I keep crying and purple rain at that moment.

I watched it last night after the Canes game because I had to watch it before coming in today. I had to finish last night. This is like when those cry? Dude, I cried several times. Several times. Several times. So, yeah, that's just like two minutes of stranger things, but I'll talk about it. In my own podcast, that's Wistazar Quarral.

You want to speak Spanish? Go there. If you don't speak Spanish, just forget. I've tried. It's entertaining, but I don't understand shit. Not a damn word. Yeah. That's been the hockey show for this week.

We will return next week if we don't get canceled. Thank you, everybody for joining us. Everybody in the back, Gino and Jason, thank you for helping us out. That's Ethan. That's Rose. That's Dave. I'm Roy. See you later.

Bye.