The Hockey PDOcast - Blackwood in Colorado, Demko’s Return, Stolarz and Thompson’s Value

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Kevin Woodley to talk about the moves the Avalanche had made in net and Blackwood’s fit in Colorado, Demko’s much anticipated return, and the value Anthony Stolarz and Logan Thompson have provided to their new teams this year.  If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name is Dimitra Filippovich and joining me here in studios, my good buddy, Kevin Woodley, Kevin. What's going on, man? Do you want the actual list of what's going on and why I've only had four hour sleep? But let's just say everything's good. Let's do that because I'm in here with you. So let's put aside the little bit of negativity and lack of rest in my life and a busy day in sort of the day. coverage of Vancouver Canucks hockey for me. But that's not a bad thing.

I'm still getting paid to watch hockey, no complaints. And let's focus on the joy that being here brings me. Let's also turn down my Do Not Disturb here. This is why you're a true pro, and I know that despite how tired and sleep deprived you might be, we start talking goalies for 50 minutes. I see a sparkle in your eye. I see you rise up like The Undertaker, and you're good to go. It's going to be fun.

Every time you're in studio, it always rocks, and we have a blast. We have no time for filibustering today. Not that I don't want to hear about everything you've got going on in your life, but I've got a long list here of topics that I got to get to with you today because I generally hate talking goalies with any other guests I have. I save it all for when you come on and I've got four or five things that we have to hit here today. Let's do it. So we're going to get into it.

Let's start with the Colorado Afflanch who completely redid their entire goalie room within the past 10 days or so, which is a true rarity in today's game because I know how sort of rare, meaningful change at the position is, especially mid-season, the challenges of like integrating a new goalie, right, with the familiarity of positioning, tendencies, communication with defensemen in terms of like net front coverages, even playing pucks behind the net, all that stuff. There's a lot. Understandably, the Colorado interviewed their situation and the sort of nadier they hit and had to address it with the way, especially McCar and McKinnon are playing this season, they're like, all right, we can't afford to waste another season. We're going to make wholesale change.

They get Scott Wedgwood from the predators. They get McKenzie Blackwood from the sharks. It's essentially net neutral from a cap perspective based on all the moving parts. They've got Blackwood. They've got Wedgwood. I'm sensing the common theme here. Are you going to be the next guy they get the call is Kevin Woodley? Ooh.

Ooh, I've always wanted to do the ebug thing. And I know injuries have been a big part of McKenzie Blackwood's history. So you're saying there's a chance. I am saying there is a chance. Let's get into all of it. I want to obviously focus on Blackwood. Agoly, you and I have spoken about at length in the past. First from Colorado, I want to talk to you about their defensive environment and kind of what Blackwood is stepping into.

Give me one little quick interruption because you talked about like how rare it is to revamp a tandem. I think they're the first ones in the history of the NHL to do it before Christmas, both guys. I like that they're being proactive because one of the challenges, and I feel like I've written this. story five or six different times over the years of making a move at the deadline involving goal attending is inevitably there is a period that it takes to get comfortable and unless you're going to run the guy out there every game there is not enough game. Yeah, you're getting like 10, 15 game tops. Right. Between the trade deadline and the end of the season to get guys comfortable. So I do, let's give them that. They were decisive and they did it early and I think that will benefit them

when we get to the part of the season that for them matters the most. It will. Okay, at the times of the trades, especially the Wedgewood one, right? I believe they'd play 25 games up until that point. They were dead last in the league in Team Save percentage 856, which is just shocking and egregious. I think it included most notably from like an optical perspective, a couple games where they just got detonated. And there was the one in particular in Tampa Bay where I believe they started Annen. He gets pulled. They bring in Georgia in the second period. He gives up a goal against and has that outburst that I think everyone's seen by now where he like smashes a stick against the crossbar, then just throws it. Then they had the game.

Buffalo. In my world, in my beer league world they call that pulling a woodley. Yes,

pulling a woodley. Georgeyev did exactly that. Then in Buffalo he gives up four goals in 12 minutes,

gets pulled. They bring in Wedgwood. He shuts the door with 22 straight saves. They wind up coming back and winning that game.

I'm curious for your take on how much of the struggles they've had in terms of goal suppression dating back to last year can be pinned entirely on the goal attending. How much do you think

even with the changes they've made is still still going to leave a bit of sort of, not margin for error, but kind of like, you're curious to see how it plays out, especially factoring in, let's focus on Blackwood here, his own individual strengths and what we've seen from him in San Jose recently, because I think one of the challenges here, obviously going from San Jose to Colorado, there's going to be more run support. There's generally a better environment just in terms of the quality of the team in front of them. It's also an entirely different environment, in my opinion, because you look at Colorado,

they don't really spend much time in their own zone. I believe Spore Logic has them like 12th or something in the league in terms of how much time or possession time they can see to the opposition because they spend the most time of anyone in the league at the other end of ice, right? They just cycle the puck. They have control of it, especially with their top guys out there. So they don't give up a lot of shaw volume because they're just not in their zone much. They do give up a fair number of shots kind of around that slot area, especially netfront. and last year in particular, they really struggled to box out

and defend in front of the goalie. I'm curious for your take on how going from San Jose where it's an exceedingly high volume of looks that Blackwood was facing to the point where his last game for the Sharks was in Florida, where he stopped 51 of 54 shots, and that was quite a showcase performance from him. I doubt there's going to be too many instances

where he faces 54 shots playing for the avalanche. And it's just an entirely sort of different ballpark in my opinion for a goalie going from a situation where it's like, you're not expected to win, no one really cares, there's not a lot of pressure, to now all of a sudden you're on this team that people still think of as a Stanley Cup contender, and I feel like everything is more kind of heightened and put under a microscope. So for sure, the pressure shifts, and that's a, the mental part is real in this. But interestingly enough, I think the volume change in what he faces may actually be a bigger or more difficult, or at least has the potential to be a more

difficult adjustment for him than the expectations and the pressure. And I say that because when I look at the numbers, McKenzie Blackwood's expected save percentage in San Jose was actually significantly higher that Alexander Georgiev's in Colorado. 883 for Georgiev, which is below the league average of 887. So expected say percentage being indicative of environment. And Blackwood's in San Jose was actually one of the friendlier in the league, 896. You watch the games. You know they give up great A chances.

What the sharks also give up a lot of. And I haven't watched enough to say this is systems versus, let's be honest. Some teams probably go in there and maybe they're not as focused on making sure they grind out high danger plays. It has a little bit of like playing with your food. You've been watching that Florida game. And it's a lot of like, you know you can get whatever you want. So you're just kind of passing around the puck

and making sure everyone touches it. And you're not like refining everything into a funnel. And you're shooting from, like, so that environment and McKenzie Blackwood's day-to-day existence within it included a lot more low danger shots than he's probably going to face with the Colorado avalanche. And I say that with another caveat. And that's that the Aves defensive environment's not bad.

like Giorgi have got the worst of it for sure and he got them and he was behind them when they were missing a bunch of guys and they weren't great and so his numbers suffered but overall on the season their environment is actually quite friendly for goaltenders they have given up more

odd man rushes this year and so that's a problem and that's I think we saw that in some of those games but overall five on five you know six and expected goals against 10th off the rush, 11th D zone and third on the penalty kill. That's the type of a defensive environment most goalies would want to play behind.

The difference is they have everybody's attention. And this actually kind of goes to, we can touch on this, and I'll get to it in a minute, or we can talk about it after we talk about the aves. What I think is actually one of the biggest shifts in the league and why you're seeing say percentage go down is because most teams don't waste possession and shots on low danger opportunities. And for whatever reason, again, I don't know how much of it is. San Jose's defending versus other teams going in with a different mentality, but they got a lot of

them there. And so for a goalie like Blackwood, that means he's going to have less of those feelers, right? Like he's not going to be as busy. They are going to spend more time in the other end and when they're in the other end. And you know you're not getting those, what I call 99 percent or the ones that you know you're going to stop. They make you feel good. They sort of help your save percentage.

They're kind of disappearing from the league. He had more than most in San Jose. he's not going to get them in Colorado, and that has the potential to add yet another layer to the mental challenge. Now, the problem and where he's statistically an upgrade, and let's see if it translates, is he was very good on those chances. He had really good numbers against the low danger stuff,

and that was the thing that killed Georgiev statistically. Some of the worst numbers in the league on the low danger chances. He'd given up eight low percentage goals already, this season. There are only a couple goalies in the league that have given up more. And I think that speaks to what was kind of a broken relationship between the goalie

and the team in terms of trust. And I'm not blaming one or the other. But when that happens, it's a snowball that can start going downhill or building up steam and getting bigger and bigger pretty fast. Like, goalie doesn't make a save. Maybe there's some backdoor stuff

off the rush. And so the goalie doesn't trust everything going on in front of him. He stops starts maybe missing some long ones. Now the team maybe doesn't trust him, so they start trying to do too much. They're trying to block shots they shouldn't be. They're in lanes. They shouldn't be in their chasing plays.

They shouldn't be. And pretty soon everybody else is worried about the other guy so much that nobody's doing their own job. And when I've seen that happen, my favorite example over the years, I probably used it here before, so I apologize if so, but is Steve Mason in Columbus, right?

Like, I remember him going to Philly and having success immediately and telling me shortly after that he had made all the fixes and changes in his game well he was in Columbus, but because that snowball got so big, because that trust was broken and nobody was doing their own job, it was never going to come around with the Columbus Blue Jackets. And you get the sense, at least, that that's where the abs got with their goaltending and why they made the wholesale change.

Well, if you look at the sharks, they're 31st in shots allowed, 29th in slot shots allowed, 31st in those own time allowed. And so a lot of that volume and kind of stacking together these sequences and getting a lot of touches or feeling the puck for Blackwood comes into play there. he's got a positive goal save above expected he's got a 913 save percentage according to my count from swore logic and so i think he's played really well given the circumstances really since since last year but it is i just didn't want to discount like i think naturally the thought is okay you go from a team that's going to be a lottery team vying for the first pick

despite how encouraging a lot of what the sharks have done recently is it's still a negative environment and so you go from that to a team that's really good that's going to score a bunch of goals I think people generally just assume like, all right, well, that's a massive upgrade for the goalie. But I do think some of this stuff is worth considering, right? Like for the abs and you watch these games, a lot of what did Georgia then is they'd have these extended sequences in the offensive zone where they'd be like stacking together shots and chances. You'd be like, all right, Colorado's really in control here. The other team would get the puck come down. And it would be a shot that probably should be saved by an NHL goalie.

It would be like unscreened, not that much lateral movement. and either Georgia or Annenin would give it up. And then there would be that sort of sewing that sort of frustration you said and sort of the broken relationship between goalie and team. And that can be incredibly backbreaking. So if Black was just able to like make the saves that he's supposed to, I think that's obviously just a natural upgrade to begin with. And so I think that's one thing.

I think the other is the abs in general. Like, okay, the past week, like they're coming off a really good week right now. Right. I think they gave up three goals total to end that Eastern trip through Detroit, New Jersey, Pittsburgh. And ironically enough, one of those was in Detroit. And I was watching that game Saturday night. And a Red Wings team that really struggles to create any sort of meaningful offense in 5-1-5 was getting all of these great A chances at even strength.

And it was Georgia has by far his best performance of the season, in my opinion. I think he stopped 29 of 30 that wind up winning. And that winds up being his last game in an avalanche uniform. but I think the timing certainly makes sense from giving yourself more one way to integrate these guys and to make sure everyone feels more comfortable. I think also for the abs, there's not a lot of commitment here either necessarily. I think they did pay a pretty steep price in terms of, what, a second and an interesting young sort of prime player in Covalenko. I think it makes a lot of sense for San Jose to get what they did for a goalie while they still could. For Colorado, though,

it buys them a bit of an extra look here at Blackwood too, right? Because he's only 28 years old. He doesn't make much money now, but he's a UFA. He's always had the tools. You can see if the fits there as opposed to playing out this season and then getting into the off season and then taking a risk on an unknown. I think it gives you just more runway in general. So it's funny you mentioned like the, you know, the chance that comes down the other end and, you know, it's a rush,

but it's not odd man. There's not a pass involved. It doesn't look like a high danger chance, which quite often gets classified as clear-sighted shot from the slot, but with time and space. So an opportunity, because time and space matters, right? It's something that's a little harder to quantify, and I've found that a lot of analytics don't.

They've added it at ClearSight Analytics in terms of having that time and space look. And it's interesting, again, that you mention that because I looked it up really quickly, and Georgie have an N and have two of the five worst results in the entire league on those types of chances this year. So the numbers kind of match, the eye test there. The caveat would be, and again, you know,

Blackwood had a lot of those feelers. shots or a lot more of them in San Jose than he's going to get here. And, you know, his numbers on those types of chances, two on nine so far are also from an adjusted say percentage standpoint, bottom third of the league. So I believe in the potential of McKenzie Black would always have. I mean, he's a physical beast. He moves well. But let's see if it's going to translate to the degree some believe it will or do the numbers

say it might not be quite as. over the top of success as maybe the avalanche are hoping. I hope it is because it's a great opportunity for him. And then the flip side is, let's not forget that McKenzie Blackwood was a rehababilitation project for the sharks. And again, I actually think, like again, you look at the numbers, like peak of their powers in their careers, when they're playing at their best,

there's similar numbers between Georgiev and Blackwood. And so Georgiev at his best, and obviously they didn't feel they were going to get that anymore. They didn't trust they could get it anymore. If you get him back to that level in your San Jose, you might have an asset you can turn around again and gain value from. Well, that's what I'm saying from the Sharks' perspective, I've been pretty critical of like the Ducks,

what they did this past week, where they just take on Jacob Troobah's full deal and wind up giving a pick themselves and really kind of letting New York off the hook. And I hate when rebuilding teams that have cap space aren't leveraging it to its full potential and just taking on some of these projects that they can actually recoup future value from. And that's exactly what they did here with Blackwood, right?

They give up a six-rounder to get him to, summers ago. His body was broken at the time and also New Jersey was clearly ready to move on because they, I believe that was when they had Vanichick and Schmid and then obviously they've themselves completely changed that goalie room as well in the meantime. But this is the types of moves that enterprising rebuilding teams should be doing. It's like a guy with potential that at least has something to bank on there from the past and then bringing him in and if it doesn't work out, whatever, you didn't pay that much for it. But all of a sudden, you rebuild him, you rehab it, and you get a couple of very valuable assets.

So I think that's well done by my career. And on the flip side, like the other thing I've heard a lot about with McKenzie Blackwood is that, you know, sort of the struggles in New Jersey when they were a team that they thought could was ready to be competitive and he didn't give them the goaltending they needed at the time. And you hinted at it there and we've talked about it before and I don't want to gross anyone out. But like some of the injury stories that I heard about his time, there are some of the things he was playing through, like cutting out the heel of his skate and putting black tape behind it to cover out the fact that like he had the biggest Bauer bomb. in the world. It required surgical repair and he basically played without the heel of his skate in there to

try and get through it. I think a lot of guys would have stopped playing at that point. So I do, it's hard not to know those stories and think that it didn't have an impact on his performance. So to put a number on it, we're mentioning the volume difference. San Jose is giving up about six more shots on goal per game and 12 more shot attempts that as a goalie you have to prepare four facing than the Colorado Alvline Shab. And I will say, at least anecdotally, I don't have the numbers to this, but in watching George EF's failures both last year down the stretch and this year, a lot of what plagued them beyond some of those shots that you quantified earlier was the rebound control.

And it was the unpredictability of not only controlling it, but also just kicking it out right into the slot. And the avalanche have been a team, as I've talked about, that sometimes struggles to box out in front of their own net because of their coverage and their personnel. And so what would happen is, even if when he would make the initial save, it would come out into the slot

and the other team would be all over it and that sort of did them in. And so I think for Blackwood and Wedgwood to a lesser extent, I think that's going to be critical as well in terms of just being better on those, whether it's actually controlling rebounds or sort of more decisively placing them in locations that Colorado is actually able to cover a little bit more

because it just felt like from a backbreaking perspective when things would go south, it would be a lot of that where either the initial shot would beat them or the one that came right after off the rebound would be the big issues. And so I think that for Blackwood, considering there's going to be less volume in general, I think holding up in that regard is going to be incumbent. Yeah, I think interestingly enough, I think that might be when he's playing well. And it hasn't, you know, the last year or so haven't been necessarily his best hockey of the past five.

but when he's on, it's actually a real strength of Wedgewood's game. He plays. There's a little more movement. There's a little more flow. There's a little more aggression. But he's got good hands and he controls plays and reads and processes.

And he's the kind of guy that doesn't just make a save. It's about activating the hands, whether it's to catch or control or steer into a different spot and reads the game well enough to make sure he's steering it into a good spot. So lost in all this is I could see a nice bump for him. It didn't start great in Nashville.

Obviously a lot of struggles there. It didn't end great statistically in Dallas. But everything up until the last half season in Dallas was all trending in a real positive direction. If they get that guy, as much as we're focused on Blackwood, they get that Scott Wedgewood up until, like I said, like literally halfway through last season for two and a half seasons up to that point, he's a guy that could get you a lot of wins. and build the cases are really nice, whether it's a safety net or a guy who could take over if things go sideways in the playoffs.

I've always kind of been, maybe he's a great guy too, so you get a little bias in there, but I've always, like I said, I admit the last year the numbers have dropped, but up to that point, I like the way his game shaped up. He's doing the full,

central division tour, I believe he's only got Winnipeg, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Chicago left on his list. So we'll see if he can get there eventually. And like, we forget the human aspect of this and it's tough and he's obviously going from a team that was struggling to a team that's

you know a cup contender in Colorado and that's seen as a positive but you know there's a guy with a new baby at home and that's not easy as well so you gotta you gotta give these guys a little time to adjust professionally that's the job personally there's always more to it than we know

and so I'm kind of curious to see how this goes for him because I do believe in his ability but I think it's clear just to anyone that's watching that there was bubbling frustration that was visibly coming on on the surface, both from goalie and team. And so just moving on from

that type of frustrating situation, you talk about the psychological element. I imagine everyone's human. If you're a skater right now in the Colorado Avalanche, it feels like a bit of a fresh start or clean slate as well, right? You don't have that sort of emotional baggage and everything, the house of horrors that you've been through over the

past year. So I think that helps quite a bit. And if you believe you needed it, do it now, like I said at the beginning, it's like so much credit for them for not just like, oh, maybe it'll turn around, like pull the trigger. Well, I also mentioned this when Boston made their coaching change and sort of the point in the schedule they did it to set up Joe Sacco for success. And then you look at the immediate returns they had from that based on who they were playing. The upcoming stretch for the avalanche. Utah, who's 20th and goals. Nashville, who's 32nd. The Canucks were up to 11th. But then San Jose

24th, Anaheim 31st, Seattle 18th, Utah again before a game against the Jets on New Year's Eve. and that's really, I think, the first sort of real test. The Canox can obviously score some goals as well. But if you're going to pick a series of opponents to sort of ease in a goalie change, I feel like this is probably a pretty good one to do so as well for them. Now, I got two more questions for you on this. Now we'll go to break and then we'll switch to a couple other topics. One, I do want to ask you quickly about whether you think Georgiev is salvageable,

not only in San Jose the rest of the year, but obviously, he's still not even 30 years old, so just moving forward as a UFA. but also you hinted at Blackwood's health and I think some of that was certainly sort of not a freak accident but like a freak unique situation in terms of what was going on with his body it wasn't necessarily a soft tissue injury that keeps recurring so I'm not sure how much of it is applicable

to like something that's going to continue plaguing him in the future but he is a guy who throughout his career has still yet to up in those point hit 50 games in a season right and not that many goalies are even doing so anymore so I'm not holding that against him as he's never done it so he can't do it. But the reason why I bring that up is for all of his faults. And there were many for Georgia of the past two years in Colorado. He was a workhorse for them.

I would argue up until them to a detrimental degree. Playing the literal wheels off of him at the beginning of last season, everything was fine. So 63 games and 62 in his two full years and then however many he played this year for them. And availability is a very valuable skill. And so I'm glad you brought up Wedgwood because. because I didn't mean to discount him in this conversation, because I think just having a reliable veteran to give you solid starts is going to be huge, because I don't think they just want to play Blackwood every single night at this point.

But I think just going from someone who you knew was going to be available every single night, even when maybe you wish they weren't based on the way they were playing, to now something that needs to be a bit more proven to me, I think is an important part of this conversation as well and shouldn't necessarily be overlooked by us. Yeah, and honestly, I don't have the full answer on, Blackwood's injury history. The one I mentioned was just because that was a year we got a lot of attention and I knew and I didn't talking to him, I realized after the fact what he was playing through, but there were, I believe there were other injuries along the way. And I honestly,

Demetri, I just can't speak to it. I don't know, you know, how much of that was the problem. And the other question at the beginning of that was Georgia. Yeah, absolutely believe that there's. He still, I think he's turning 29. Yeah. And again, not just in New York, there were underlying numbers that indicated he was ready for a bigger role in Colorado. And I know there were ups and downs for sure. I watched him in the playoffs in Seattle first-hand personally covering that series two years ago. Certainly was not the reason they lost. And up until, like I said, they literally played the wheels off him last year.

And up until that point, he was fine as the number one goal tender for a team that should be considered a cup contender. And so absolutely, like I said, things got broken. there. And certainly some of the body language stuff, there will be more people watching that closely now, especially if you're trying to rehab him as a project to sell later. So that's something you have to be mindful as a goaltender. Like we, I get that a lot. Like from NHL goalies, from NHL goalie coaches, you know, past and present, advice to young

goaltenders about the importance of that body language. And ironically, he came up through New York where maybe the only criticism you you'll hear of the guy he played behind for a long time, Hendrik Lundquist was showing up to mates. Yeah, after goals and stuff. And so that stuff matters. And now it's a chance to reset. But physically the tools, I saw a lot of tension in his game.

Like just, I don't mean like tension like between the ears, but I mean like physical tension, like a lot of rigidity to his game. And anytime you're rigid or tense, it inhibits naturally our ability to react and move. You dig in, you lock in. and Thomas Speer, the goaltending coach in San Jose, has had a lot of success. First pro goalie coach for a guy like Dustin Wolf,

his first year in Calgary. We've talked about what he did with Blackwood. And so, and Devin Cooley, who's on a heater now with Calgary and the HL and has made changes in Calgary, but a lot of those started with Thomas Spear in San Jose last year. So to me, absolutely. There is a goalie there,

and a goalie, I believe, is capable of being a number one. but the rough ride and the way things ended in Colorado is inevitably going to make other teams a little more hesitant to hand him the full reins the way the aves did at the beginning and it's going to take a little time to sort of prove that he still is and can still be that guy. Can I just make one last one? Colorado fixed it, right? And they get credit for fixing the goaltending.

We think. Yes. At least doing something. On the short list of teams that I screamed from the rooftops, to sign Kevin Lanken in this summer. Right. Thank you for, like, come on. Yeah.

Like, and, and if I'm not mistaken, could have still gone on waivers to the mine. He didn't even need waivers to go to the miners. And I still think there's a goalie there, to be honest with you, from some of the things I saw two years ago. So, you know, they're high on the list. There's a few that I just don't understand why they wouldn't look at an option like that in the summer and maybe we're not even here. I will say, I do subscribe to the idea that pressure is a privilege, especially in professional sports, right? It's like everyone wants, or I think mostly guys in the league, want to be playing competitive, meaningful games on national TV. If you don't want to be that guy as a goal league, you're probably in the wrong profession.

You've picked the wrong line of work, yes. And at the same time, I will say that especially playing for a team like Colorado with how the star power they have in terms of their skaters and how many eyeballs are going to be glued to not only watching their games live, but following their progression, you're held to a very high standard, right? because you know that those guys are going to produce and they're going to score goals. And so if you wind up losing, naturally you're going to be the one to blame. And I think in this case, a lot of it was deserved for Georgia. I will say, though, if there is something to salvage moving forward, I feel like going to San Jose based on what we just saw from Blackwood there, is a great landing spot for him because it's going to be a lot of volume of shots to get under your belt.

And people will be watching, not only to see if there's something to trade for as a potential down the stretch closer to the trade deadline, but also into the off season when he's a free agent, so people will be watching, but I think it won't be held under as much scrutiny, I guess, in those games, because ultimately for the shark's perspective,

if you have a clunker where you give up six goals on 25 shots on a random Tuesday night, I don't think too many people are going to care that much about it. In fact, I think Mike Greer will be like, all right, that's fine. What are our lottery odds again? And so I'm sure Georgia doesn't want to have those, and it wants to play better, and I think I'm rooting for him to do so,

but I think it is a good spot from that perspective to kind of settle into just getting back to basics and doing what he was doing previously before things went off the rails here for him. One last one before we go, you talked about three, you said one last one, like about five times by now.

Like, this is actually what I'm famous for on the Ingo Radio podcast, last question about six times. So, um, well, as you were talking,

I just happened, I wanted to look, because you talked about the rebounds. Yeah. And so like, I don't often have time, but I've got, you know,

as you're talking, I'm looking it up. and what we classify as weak rebounds, so rebounds that spill out to the other side, in other words, you're not able to control it and keep it in front of you. And not all far side rebounds or weak rebounds, sometimes you do it on purpose,

but it's the easiest way to classify it. Let's be honest, most don't classify it at all. Georgiev has, he had 10 already this season, and seven of them resulted in goals. Yeah. Look at that, the eye test coming through for me. The eye test matches what was happening out there. interestingly enough

one of the highest numbers is Connor Hellebuck with 18 week quote unquote He's doing that on purpose To me that that probably is something I want to look at all 18 before I'm willing to agree that they're weak but only five

goals against and this becomes interesting As part of this conversation Blackwood's already got eight of them and five of them as resulted in goal So there are things there that the statistical profile of Georgiev There are some similarities between Blackwood So let's see how this plays out before we declare it a win.

But at least in terms of chain of scenery and recognizing the need to move on, and certainly I've always believed in the potential of Blackwood. I'm excited to see where this goes because there's a lot of potential. The numbers, however, say there might be a little more overlap than people are expecting. Well, also one of the reasons we don't see wholesale goalie change like this in season is because generally, I think, most good teams already have good goaltending. I think those two things are kind of inextricably linked, but also for a team to make this type of change,

things need to become very dire and obviously they did in Colorado so I think that's why we saw it and this is why it's a unique circumstance and that's why we spent the first 30 minutes of today's show breaking all of that down so I'm glad we did let's take our break here then we come back

we'll jump right back into it we're going to rush through the four topics I have left over you're listening to the Hockey PEDEO guest streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network All right we're back here in the Hockeypedio cast joined by Kevin Woodley Kevin let's talk about Demko's return. We got his first game back on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues

after his mysterious knee injury that kept him out since the start of last postseason. I think there was a lot of eyeballs certainly kind of anticipating this return. We finally got to see a game of action from him. It's just one game. So I don't think we want to read too much into it necessarily. But I'm curious for your take since considering you were there. You're a goalie guru. What were you seeing from him?

I think what are the reasonable expectations here in the short and long-term moving forward because we already saw certainly, I think the shot volume was low in that game. I think he only faced 25 shots, but you watch it. A lot of it was off the rush. There was a bunch of lateral stuff, including one of the power play goals, the Blues scored. So I think they threw him right into the deep end. I don't think they necessarily wanted to, but when three of your defensemen are Vinnie Day Harne, Mark Friedman, and Noah Julesen, that's going to happen. And I will say, I think the Blues were uniquely qualified for this perfect storm, because, you know, because they're incredibly low in terms of shot volume.

But I think there's six in the league in rush chances. Since the coaching change, especially with Jim Montgomery, with their top players, they're very good at passing up low percentage shots to get into that high danger area. And so it was this perfect kind of confluence of factors. It's a theme with that one. One we're going to get to you later, but not taking too many low danger chances. And so we saw that Demko gave up the four goals. I thought made some very encouraging saves.

I thought in general, listen to my untrained eye, looked fine. I think he came out of it okay, which is, I think, the most important thing for the Canucks and Demko, but Warrior takes on seeing them and kind of what we should expect here over the next couple, couple of days, weeks, and months. Well, first all, I'm with you. It would have been nice if the team welcomed him back without a Beer League level 2 on 0. Probably didn't need that. I think three or four breakaways, one one goal on, expected goals against, based on clear site analytics of 4.01.

so he was better than expected by 0.01. I always think that, like, I feel like we should throw out overtime. You know what I mean? Like, it's 3 on 3, but it counts against the goalie, like a normal stats. Like, you never see a low danger chance in overtime. Microcosma where the game's going. I liked this game. I didn't love every element of it,

but the elements that were off a little bit in terms of some of his visuals and early eyes on things, first goal is probably a result of not seeing the pass up to the high slot. Didn't help that the Canucks says, as Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway. Actually, it was Dylan Holloway that pointed it out postgame. He's like, oh, that was in the pre-scout. Their F3 is really slow to come back,

and if you can find that spot in the high slot, it's open. So it's really interesting to sort of hear that from a visiting team. Right. After they exploit it. I just thought that you're, I mean, yeah, it's funny. You say it's a giveaway along the boards, handling the puck. but to me that's when you don't have a play behind the net

you're taught to rim it off the glass high so that even if you don't regain possession even if it is a turnover as it resulted you have time to get back in the net you're not throwing it as someone who's going to put it into an empty net so that's actually what you're taught to do if you don't have an outlet and I don't know whose fault it was he didn't have an outlet you know with all those changes on defense maybe there was a lack of communication but I don't blame him for that

puck gets picked off he goes into his reverse VH on the post and doesn't see the past so would you like to see him get off his post on the top of his crease and does he therefore make that save if he does? Yeah, probably. Probably hits him on the left pad if he gets the top of his crease and just drops, especially with that butterfly width of which I'm very jealous. But to me, that's just a visual thing in losing a puck in traffic and a good screen. Um, the breakaways and, actually the breakaway goal by Thomas was another hat tip to the goalie coach. Robert Thomas talked about as soon as he saw Dempco start to drop the right knee and blocker in what he called the one pad down.

and sort of build that short side wall, he pumped that high side blocker. And that reeked of him having a conversation with his goalie coach. I don't know if it's pre-scout specific to Demko. I actually think it's more of a general characteristic around the league because he said, I followed up with him. And Robert Thomas said, yeah, I used to just pump that into the goalie's pads, but I've learned to recognize what they're doing and look for.

And so great player, time and space on a breakaway that he probably shouldn't have had short-handed, see something not specific to that goalie, but just in general and exploits it. The saves he made, the way he moved, yeah, with some of the timing or the moth, at times a little bit as he admitted a little rusty, maybe, but everything looked fine physically, right? Like explosive in and out of his post, the way you're used to seeing him, no signs of him changing his game. And just to be clear, because one of his, his third media session or second media session after training camp when he was practicing and addressed the media, he was very, it felt point. pointed in talking about not needing to change his game, almost like maybe he'd heard some of the talk that because of the injury he would have to change his style and he very specifically said he won't be. And it was interesting to me because the reason I think a lot of people assumed he might is because there were whispers from the team itself that the style is what led to the injury.

Not because of the injury you have to change it, but to avoid future injuries, we might want him to change it. I think it's a good thing, especially in the short term, that he doesn't, because asking a guy to change his game after missing the whole summer is problematic at best. So there are a lot of positives. And I think the fact that, you know, he talks about being rusty afterwards on a night where he still hangs in, despite a ton of quality looks, there are a number of times where, you know, guys walking in rush-style chances, even off in zone, there's enough space and blown coverage that a guy can walk in like a rush. and rather than drifting and retreating

like you do when you're not confident, he just held his ground and made really confident glove saves. And so there was a lot to like, it will remain a work in progress. He has as high a standard for himself as anyone in the league. It's encouraging if you're the Canox after all you've gotten out of Kevin Lichen, who will start again tonight against Florida, that you've got this guy not only working his way back to,

if he gets to peak of powers, like one of the best three goalies in the league, but a guy who's playing really well behind him so you don't need to run him when we talked about Georgia if you don't need to play the wheels off that's your Demko like they did last year it gets lost

and I feel like I almost hate to point it out again but like not a coincidence that the first knee injury last year came at the end of a run where he was from All-Star Break to injury time on a 65 game start pace just can't do that anymore and they don't need to because Kevin Lincoln

is certainly the real deal all right I want to keep Tomo Demko but we got to get through some of these other topics. Next time I have you on, we'll have a bit of a bigger sample of Demko games since his return, so we'll save it for then. Anthony Stolars, I think last time we were in together, we mentioned him at the end.

I wanted to do a bit more on him because he's coming off this masterpiece in New Jersey. Now, let me give you a few stats. In that game, shots were 16 to 1 after the first period. They wound up being 39 to 17 final count. Stolars stopped 38 of 9, including 14 to 14 to 14 on the high-danger shots. He faced according to Natural Statrick,

kept a minute long enough Matthews obviously wins it in overtime with a beautiful breakaway goal himself for the year Sporologic has Anthony Stoller 16 games 934 save percentage now NHL officially has him in 928 and something I've talked about in this show and I want to bring up with you here and maybe this is a good plug or tease for the article you're working on I know that's been kind of pointed out that shot volume in general is down across the league this year in terms of shot counts for teams part of it I think is certainly strategy with teams optimizing

their efficiency and their approach in limiting low danger shots and trying to work it into high danger areas I think the league is also undercounting some of these shots and I think as a member of the goal union you should be furious at this because it's doing the goalie's no favors but it's more logic pretty much as every goalie

at at least a couple percentage points higher and say percentage at this point of the season than the NHL.com website doesn't so Stolar is 934 plus 17 goals able I've expected for them, which is ahead of Hellebuck 16, Dos D'Ellas 14, Gustavs and Justricans 12 for the league lead. I mean, he's been unbelievable. And I think the main talking point here for me is the value that he and Joseph Wol,

who I think combined make 3.3 million this year against the cap, provide to the Leafs because they're getting essentially quality starts every time those guys are a net and they're paying pennies on the dollar to get that. So how about Anthony Stollars? Let's give him some love because this is a guy who I think he's been on your list for a while now because what was it in 21, 22. He outperformed John Gibson in his starts. Last year in Florida on a start by start basis was their number one goalie, even though Sergey Bobrovsky obviously was the starter. On an adjudice, a same percentage standpoint, the number one goalie in the NHL.

He was phenomenal, especially off the rush, which I think we noted. And he's doing it again this year with a higher workload now having started 16 games with WOL on. obviously being out at the start of the year. And so I think just gen general from a cool story perspective, this career arc for him where he's a second rounder in 2012, kind of winds up bouncing around. Obviously he's in the Flyers organization, goes all over the place,

has to work his way up from, you know, backup who's starting 15 to 20 games. So now all of a sudden he's probably going to start, I guess, between 35 and 45 games this year by the end of the season. And so at least right now, I mean, today I, he certainly looks phenomenal. so in control and obviously just a massive human being, but he's been making some ridiculous saves. And I thought that, especially after that New Jersey performance, it was a great time

to talk about Anthony Strollers a little bit because that was one of the better goalie performances you're going to see. Yeah, healthy. Again, we talked about Blackwood. Like Stollers is a little more extreme. Had the knee injuries early. I know it was Soudrechaam Maharash, Sadi, the goalie coaching Anaheim who's back on the job as the goalie director in Anaheim this year after overcoming a battle with pancreatic cancer who played a massive role in recognizing what some of the root issues were for Anthony and flying to because this is the kind of guy says he is he cares about his guys more than just performance flying to New Jersey and watching him train in the offseason after they signed I believe not acquired signed him and recognizing that one

leg was just, and I think Stephen Valacad, who knows Sudsey well as well, has actually shared this story. Like, not just was one side significantly weaker than the other, but one leg literally half the size of the other. And so brought him to Anaheim and they started a new program. And rather than just throwing him in the games,

like really worked to make sure he had an opportunity to rehab. And as a goal, obviously having that balance in your physical body is so important. And, you know, I talked to Anthony actually for a piece on Sudzy and his recovery miraculous, frankly, from pancreatic cancer,

about the role that SUDCIA has played in his career, both in terms of that recognition and giving him the time and the guidance as a goalie coach to sort of come back from that, the space to come back from that, the resources to come back from that, but also what he's meant to him as a person. And so within that, getting to talk to Anthony, like, you're right, these numbers have always been there.

The ability has always been there. The potential has always been. And they're interestingly enough, much like Blackwood, like based on the size of an athleticism. And starting in Anaheim and continuing with Robbie Talas in Florida, like the numbers have jumped off the page for two straight seasons. And he's shown now. The only question was, and I think it's more because of the history and the surgery and the surgeries involved on his knees, was could he do it if he was playing more? Could he stay healthy and so far so good? I mean, amongst guys that are in that starter role.

Like, the only guy, and he's been out for a while in injured, but the only guy with a better adjusted save percentage is Freddie Anderson. Well, he hasn't played since October. That's what I mean. So, like, Stollers is, you know, he's past Gustafson. He leads the NHL in adjusted save percentage. He's not tops on ClearSight's list for goals saved above expected, because, again, Joseph Wolves eaten into some of his starts,

because he's a hell of a goalie himself. but he's third on that list, just barely behind Chesterkin at 13.05. And on a per 100 shot basis, though, he, you know, he tops that list at over three goals for every hundred. So it's like, that guy saves you a goal of game. Well, that's what Anthony Stoller. He is saving them a goal a game right now. And it's not, I mean, obviously the performance I highlighted against New Jersey, like helps with that because that's an accumulation of that. But the consistency as well where you look, I believe Sporlogic has him at like 14 out of his 16 games have been deemed quality stuff.

He's given up, or a state percentage has been below 900 three times this year, and one of those was like a blowout win for them where they gave up a couple goals late. And so pretty much every single night, you're just getting very reliable goaltending. So I think that's been really cool. I mentioned the value that he's provided for the Leafs. And on that note, I wanted to quickly highlight Logan Thompson with you as well, because last week, of course, he was passed up by Team Canada for four nations. He's played 14 games this year. He's 11, 1 and 2 in those games. 917 save percentage plus 10 goals save above expected. I've got him at 875 slot save percentage,

which is first in the league just ahead of the aforementioned Stolar's at 871. Now, I mentioned 11-1 and 2. That's partly because the Capitals have scored 62 goals in his 14 games, which is good for 4.4 per game, so he certainly get in the run support. But I think this is an important development for the Caps because you and I spoke last year. part of it was at a necessity because they had no margin for air battling for that final playoff spot in the east and because Charlie Lingren was playing so well

and Darcy Kemper was banged up they just rode him into the ground as well that's a bit of a common theme for us here and so I think Lingren as the year went along his performance started to erode a little bit now you look they're pretty much splitting at 50-50 I think they've given Thompson 14 Lingren 13 and Lindgren after a bit of a slow start

started to come around bouncing back as well yeah and here's the craziest part of all they're spending 1.87 million combined for their two goalies because of course Logan Thompson makes literally less than the league minimum this season at 767 K. And so yeah, I mean, they're seventh in the league as a team with those two guys in both save percentage and goals against. They got him for two third round picks and then Vegas turned around and spent three times

as much on Ilya Samsonov. And so I wanted to shout out Logan Thompson because he didn't make team Canada, but man, he's having an awesome season. and when we're talking about goalies who have provided best bang for your buck, Stollars is certainly at that list. Logan Thompson is right there as well. Yeah, I mean, he's tied for fifth right now

and adjusted say percentage by ClearSight's numbers with some guy named Connor Hellebuck. Like he is having a great season. Here's the thing. Do you think this is discrimination because of a glove-handedness? This is a full-rate discrimination? I don't think so. I think it's a little simpler than that, to be honest with you.

He deserves to be there based on the way he's played. this season. He, his underlying numbers have, like, they were pretty good in Vegas, a little more up and down to them, not as consistent as he's been so far in Washington. Don't think it's a coincidence that he's having this success in Washington. Remember the organization that believed in him first from Brock University, and this is like a really great story to come out of Canadian University and have this type of career. But the organization that believed in him first was Washington.

He started with their ECHL affiliate and Scotty Murray, who's the goalie. coached in Washington now was part of that goalie development staff at the time. So there's a familiarity there. His performance, like I said, it's warranted Team Canada consideration. I do think, especially when you know, as I said, the numbers were good in Vegas. And yet, despite the salary and despite the numbers, they were willing to move on him. And I think that it's probably not a coincidence. that two of the coaches that were there during that time

are on Canada's staff and Logan Thompson is not. And so there may have been some frustration with how things went in Vegas around him that cost him that opportunity. Fair or not, not for me to say, but I don't think that's a coincidence. On the basis of his performance this year, absolutely should be a slam dunk

if we were just going on short sample performance. And like I said, not even short sample, because the underlying numbers haven't been this good. No, he's been a good in-hage-law. But he's been positive. for a couple years. Now, he plays there's a little old school in his game, right? Like, he is not a, he's not a

technician out there, right? I love it. Like, I love it. Like, it's the thing that makes me most passionate about the position. There's no one way to do this. I was having this conversation with Basilevsky last week. Like, we kind of geeked out a little bit. And it was like, like, we both sort of agreed. Like, there is no one absolute.

And so the way Logan does it, if you have a bunch of more technical goalie coaches looking at it, they might see that and say, hey, there's probably going to be some volatility based on some of these technical elements, based on maybe a little more

reliance on read and timing and rhythm just based on where he plays and how he plays. Statistically, though, it works. And it has worked for a long time. And there may be a little more reliance on rhythm and timing, but if that's the case, nobody's had better rhythm and timing

than Logan Thompson this year, because the numbers are what they are. And he's been great. So, again, without necessarily having any scoops, I just think it's not a coincidence that the coaching staff is what it is and he's not on that team. That's probably true. I like my conspiracy theory as well. I will say, though, I'm no goalie coach. I'm no goalie guru like you.

He's fun to watch. It's different. Hey, if you make the save, you're good in my books. And that's all I care about. And I guess we got to revisit our, remember I said two full rights, two lefties in Washington? How would that play out? Could it affect their shooters in a negative way? I guess not.

No, no, it seems to be working well. I think they should stick with it. All right, we got to get out of here. I've left you a minute or two here to plug the story that you have coming out on NHL.com. So let the listeners know about it. NHL.com, unmasked. Every two weeks, they let me write a goalie column. Thanks to my bosses for continuing to do that after all these years.

Why is say percentage dropping in the NHL? I think we've all heard the answers about, you know, shooters are better. Teams understand the importance of moving goalies east-west, of creating certain types of traffic. Teams use analytics, and they know. know how to score goals. Yep. And certainly younger shooters with more talent,

shooters going to work with skill coaches in the summer, like goalies always have, instead of just bigger, stronger, faster, like shooters used to do for generations. Yep. Those are all factors. But guess what the number one factor, Andre Vastelisky, the first thing Andre Vasselisky pointed out to me was.

What did you say? Fewer easy shots. Yeah. So the decline in low percentage shots. And so I dug into it, used a little bit of the stuff we have in NHL.com, the NHL edge data, and we've seen a slight decrease in long-range shots. But then I went to ClearSight and talked to John Healy, who works with players there, and Stephen Valak had a little bit.

And, like, clear-sighted perimeter shots down 27%. Wow. Outside the slot, clear-sided shots, down 20%. Net play, interestingly enough. So, like, you can create garbage and rebounds, funnels through low slot, but just trying to score from sharp angles, that's down 25% as well. And those are all low percentage chances. And Vasaleski's argument was, if I see fewer of those, not only does it make my life harder mentally,

because now I'm seeing 15 shots instead of 22 or 22 instead of 32, but the different, I'm still seeing the same amount of high danger. I don't get those low danger that allow me to make quote unquote easy saves, feel the puck, and feel good about my game, get my rhythm, get my timing with these low danger shots, and what's going to happen? If goalies face, and the other thing that Clearside had in the last six years, the ratio of low danger to high danger, six years ago it was roughly three to one. This year so far, it's almost two to one.

So high dangers up, low dangers down, inevitably, even if goalies are getting better, save percentage is going to drop. and I dig into that with Vasalesky and Jordan Biddington. You should have dug into that with McKenzie Blackwood as well. He's about to experience that firsthand. I don't know if I wanted to plant that seed with him. And also I didn't have access to him. I didn't want to text him.

Hey, by the way, you know, life's going to get a lot tougher behind a better team. No, but honestly, like, anecdotal. I had this conversation with Paul Maurice a little bit this morning. He talked about Sam Reinhart and offensively, but also when not to shoot, like knowing why not to shoot. And so I followed up on that. And then talked with Spencer Knight about it as well. And so I think all those things.

things going to us. And as Spencer Knight pointed out, you're right, about them not, they're, you know, he'll look up and there'll be 12 shots on the board and then 10 minutes later it'll only be 10. Yeah. Well, you know why they're doing that right. Well, it's gambling probably. Yeah. Clear sight has, but here's the thing. Clear sight from the point of the puck

uses, like, draws lines on the, like, from the point of the puck to the posts, as to whether that is a shot on goal. Right. And they've argued for years at the NHL actually, again, don't take away their goal union card, but They've argued for use that the NHL actually overcounts shots by giving credit to goalies for making saves on pucks that were inevitably going wide. And, hey, as a goalie union guy, give me credit for all those saves, especially me.

I don't care if it's going wide. I'm catching it so you can give me a save credit. Right. But this isn't beer league. And so ClearSight's kind of had this for years as being overcounted. And the NHLs kind of looks like for those reasons is coming around on it. Well, because everyone's betting over on shot props. So now they're very, very quick to take away shots.

And so you add all those factors, but I do think for goalies, like inevitably, if I see even four or five fewer shots that I stop 99% of the time in a game, guess what? My say percentage is going to drop. And I think that's part of the equation that I think intuitively we've always known it. But I thought Vassi sort of putting an exclamation point on it as his number one factor was a reminder to me that I don't know that we've had this discussion in And so we have it tomorrow at nashel.com.

Get a load of this guy. I'm usually, a lot of my stories and anecdotes are like, oh, I was talking to Thomas Drans yesterday about something and you come in here and you're like, oh, I was talking to one of my best pals in the world, Andre Vasselowski yesterday.

No, no, no, no. That's a relationship I'm still building and trying to build. But you know what? I'm just in a really good mood. See, and this is, remember I started? I was in a bad mood when I came in here? If you could see the before and after right now,

Kevin walking in versus how he's glowing. It's been a tough year. Like, teams don't practice anymore. And so we've had all these teams come through and I've barely talked to a goalie. So all of a sudden I'm having a week where I'm some time with Spencer Knight, some time with Jordan Bennington,

some time with Andre Vasselowski. I am in my element and about as happy as you could be. So yeah. Awesome, buddy. We'll keep up the great work. And obviously you didn't do the plug, but Ingoal magazine, as always, as well for the listeners, check that out.

Engelmag.com podcast and like basically I'll just give it this plug. If you're a goalie, a goalie parent or a goalie coach, we have tips, drills, insights, including breakdowns of NHL goalies, watching their own video and explaining the decision-making process

that you can't get anywhere else and will make you a better goalie, or goalie parent, or goalie coach. I'm going to put this out into the universe right now. It's probably going to have you on sometime early in the new year. I want to talk to you about Piotrudecachecov because he's driving me crazy recently. Polk Chetkoff, as they've got a t-shirt in Carolina. The pokechecks are fine, but there was this play,

they were playing the Islanders over the weekend, and he's just recklessly going out for a puck. Anders Lee, I think, actually tries to actively avoid him. The referees call a penalty, but then realize what happened. And so to save face, they just call both guys for interference somehow, even though both guys were making a play on the puck. It just drive me up the wall. But I had a question in the mailbag, and we can do this next time about we saw Blackwood trade. And now the avalanche, at least for the time being theoretically solved their dilemma, which contending team is going to be next to make a move with Anderson's uncertainty and I think on reliability at this point with his age and his injuries accumulating.

And the fact that Kocchekhov every other night is going headfirst, a million miles an hour into a direct collision with someone's knee, I would put the hurricanes very near the top of my list. I know as an organization, they don't really believe in investing in goaltending as much. So I'm not sure what the sort of ramifications of that would be. I'm talking about Jop's music I hear, but I think that's the last organization. As a matter of fact, I think they may have passed on it based on analytics already once. We'll see. But Kachkov's really taken to heart the fact that I say goalies are coddled these days because you, look at one the wrong way and you're going to get a goalie interference penalty,

he's really like, oh, let's see, let's see what I can get away with and just trying to force the referee's hands. So he's fun. I can't take that away from him, but I get nervous every time I watch him play. Kevin, this was a blast. Thank you for coming on. It's great to see you in better spirits than you were 50 minutes ago. Thank you to the listeners. I really enjoyed this conversation, not only in terms of what we talked about today, but I feel like next next time we have you on, we can just revisit everything. We can talk about Blackwood in Colorado. We can talk about Demco and just play the hits. Thank you to everyone for listening.

We'll be back tomorrow on Friday with one more episode to close out the week here. You're listening to the Hockey, GEOCast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.