The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 106: Watchability Rankings

Episode Date: October 14, 2016

Jeff Marek joins the show to help count down this season's most watchable teams from 30 to 1. Much like last season, the premise is as follows: "If you’re sitting down on a random Thursday night and there’s a ton of hockey on to choose from, which teams are you prioritizing seeing (all other things being equal, and rooting allegiances aside)? Talent is obviously king, but style and likelihood of engaging in a back-and-forth, fast-paced affair is just as important. Remember: sometimes being a very successful hockey team in terms of wins and losses and your place in these rankings can be inversely related." Here’s a quick rundown of the topics covered: 1:45 Cellar-dwelling Vancouver Canucks 9:00 Flawed upstarts 12:30 Teams lacking puck-movers 18:30 John Tavares Appreciation 26:00 The Ducks under Carlyle 40:00 Downfall of the Chicago Hawks 45:00 Minnesota's chess pieces 54:45 Marek's love for the Hurricanes 67:00 New Look Colorado Avalanche 70:00 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 75:00 High flying Jets 78:30 Eastern Conference Cream of the Crop 82:30 #1 Most Watchable Team This episode is brought to you by Freshbooks, an online accounting service designed to save time and help avoid all of the stresses that come with running a small business. They’re currently offering a free 30-day trial to listeners of our show at Freshbooks.com/PDOcast (just remember to enter “Hockey PDOcast” in the ‘How You Heard About Us’ section). Every episode of this podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and can also be streamed straight from this website. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews of the show are greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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.

Are you ready for the most ridiculous internet sports show you have ever seen? Welcome to React, home of the most outrageous and hilarious videos the web has to offer. So join me, Rocky Theos, and my co-host, Raiders Pro Bowl Defensive Inn, Max Crosby, as we invite your favorite athletes, celebrities, influencers, entertainers in for an episode of games, laughs, and, of course, the funniest reactions to the wildest web clips out there. Catch React on YouTube, and that is React. R-E-A-X-X. Don't miss it. This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light.

These days, everything is go, go, go. It's non-stop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family. Expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold-filtered, and cold-packaged. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.

It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Regressing to the mean since 2050, it's the Hockey P.D.O.cast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey Pediocast.

My name is Dimitri Filipovich and making his triumphant return to the show. It's our cool uncle Jeff Merrick. Jeff, what's going on, man? I promise not to host. I promise not the host. I promise not the host. I promise not to step all over your podcast here. I promise to stay in my own lane,

treat this like table hockey, and stay in the same side that I belong in. I will not host this podcast, unlike the last few that I've tried to hijack. Hi, Dimitri. I mean, you always say that. Generally, 12, 15 minutes in, it just kind of devolves into...

It's not going to happen today, but... Jeff Merritt. I need to be a good point. I need to be a good point. Excellent. No, no, it's all in good fun, man. It actually makes life easier for me. I can just kind of hang out and just check out what's going on Twitter and just let you, just give the floor to you and you just go after whatever you feel like talking about. People have done with my act by now.

It's like, all right, what little is he have left to say? Just get it out so we can move on with our lives. Let's, speaking of moving on to our lives, let's get into what we discussed. We're going to do on today's show, which is, uh, yeah. We did this last year and people seem to like it. So we'll do it again. It's the game center alive rankings, the watchability ranking. So we're going to go 30 to 1 and we're going to rank basically.

It's a subjective exercise, right? Like, listen, different people are looking for different things and you can quibble with, you know, certain rankings. So we'll probably kind of wind up tiering teams as opposed to going like, well, this team is definitely the 17th most exciting team. We'll kind of go like, these few teams are kind of here. And then it's, you know, whatever you're looking for. maybe you'd pick one over the other, but I feel like it's kind of going to be a fun exercise to see where are we different or where we agree. Yeah, this was one of my favorite PDO cast from last year when you and Travis did it. I loved it.

I remember specifically, it was almost like a JFK moment for me. So I was driving in, listening to your podcast on my iPod. And I remember I was on my way in to do a shift with Steve Coolius and Sirius XM on NHL Network Radio. And here's the ultimate compliment that anyone can pay anyone in our industry. when it comes to audio. I got to the parking lot. I parked my car and I stayed in my car until the podcast was done. How about that for respect?

That's how much I liked you and Travis last year. So this is a high bar that's been set for me today. You know, when you texted me or DM me, like, this is what you wanted to do on the podcast today. I'm like, oh, shit. Like, the bar has been set pretty high by you and Travis last year. So I started yesterday, scratched them all out. And then at the gym today, I was like having a little notepad.

So, you know, in between sets. So I was like jotting things down. Like, no, no, I'm scratching them all out. And then I came home and started again from scratch at noon Eastern today. So hopefully I've got my 30 in the order that I want. But having said that, the minute we go off the air, I want to change them all. Let's see how it ends up, Dimitri. I think you're pretty equipped for it, man.

I think you watch as much hockey as anyone out there. So I think you're ready for it. But the question that I have is sort of for watch. Let's set the parameters here. Okay. So what would you, I'm hosting again, the definition then of watchability, because I think that everybody watches for different reasons. Like some teams I'll watch just for one guy.

And some guys I'll just want to watch a couple of games for one guy, St. Louis Blues, Hello, Neil Yakopov. Or is it that you want to watch this team because stylistically you like the way this team plays? Because to be honest with you, Dimitri, when I look at my list, I've sort of filled it out using a number of different definitions. Some teams I just want to watch because of a couple of different players. some guys I want to watch stylistically, some I'll have a lot of questions about, and others, I just want to see how much of a train wreck it's going to become. I think that's right.

I think it's a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B, just because I think star power in this league is very important, right? Like, let's say a team will get into the Ottawa senators, for example, but I have them higher on my list than I probably should, just because Eric Carlson basically plays half the game, and when he's out there, he's doing something exciting that's worth watching. So that bumps them up the list. Without him, they would very realistically be like the 30th ranked team on my list. So I think Star Power is very important. But at the same time, you know, it's fun when you have a good system in place,

if a team plays up like a high tempo game or if they constantly get into these five, four games or they're trading chances or it's a little bit of everything. So I think that's what makes it subjective, but I think that's what also makes it fun. Okay. Okay. Let's do it. Let's do it. So let's start off with the bottom. We'll kind of start at 30 and we'll go up to one.

And I think for me, the 30th ranked team was a pretty easy one, and it's the Vancouver Canucks. You want to say, I was going to say, you want to say it at the same time. I think that might be the only consensus we have Vancouver Canucks. Which is a bummer because I think that if the team had done a better job of assembling young talent around the Cydines, they could be much higher up this list. Because the Cidines, as we saw in the World Cup, when they get that cycle game going behind the net, they still have it. And if you squint hard enough, it looks like the old guys we saw back in 2010, 20,

but around them there's just whenever they're not on the ice I could basically just flip the channel and come back on a few minutes later. I'm with you about that too because it's unfortunate that there's a team that has these two players on it whose brain is symbiote, who are two of the more interesting players we've ever seen in the history of the game and the watchability ranking for the team is so low. When you consider that these two players fly in the face of conveys, eventual hockey thought. Okay? Like the game now is north-south, you know, fast to the net, you know, throw the puck on net, and then, you know, hope for a rebound and bang it in like your sticks of pool queue. That's sort of the way the game is played right now. But I can't think of a combination who over the course of the career have consistently played more east-west while the game

has gone north-south. And for that reason, I'm with you. It's a shame that this team can't be better because I would like nothing more than to watch a competitive Vancouver Canucks team featuring these two guys who when I watch them play, I think back to 80s hockey. It's not that fast. It's wildly creative and it's going across the ice, not up and down the ice. Yeah, no, there really are wizards out there. But, I mean, I've been beating this drum a lot for the past year or so, and it's that. This is what happens when you kind of go for that Band-Aid, Band-Aid fix approach rather than kind of committing fully to one thing or another.

Jim Benning and Trevor Lyndon have brought in these older guys to try and kind of keep the Canucks at least relatively competitive while the Cidines are still good and it just hasn't worked out. And as a result, for a team that hasn't really done a lot of winning the past few years, they don't have as much young talent as you think they should have by now. But I don't know that I rest that solely at defeat of Benning and Linden though. I mean, that's still, you know, that's still the fumes of the Gillis operation where, you know, you could have made the point between, you know, the drafting, which was, which was terrible, the development, the free agent signings. I mean, there are a lot of, you know, people that, and they ultimately did, you know, kind of deserve to lose their jobs because,

you know, what do they say about missing a first round draft pick? You set your franchise back two years. I mean, how many draft picks did they just flat out whiff on? Right. There's, there, there, there's more than a couple. So I know it might not be the most popular thing to say around the hipster crowd and certainly not in Vancouver, but I think I give Benning and Lyndon, I think more slack than a lot of people do. Because I still think they're trying to, trying to correct the wrongs of the previous regime. Yeah, and it's a reminder that it is kind of a tough business, right? Because while the Canucks were competitive and were winning the president's trophy

and competing for the Stanley Cup, you know, they kept kind of siphoning off these depth picks, second rounders and third rounders for rental guys at the deadline. And that's what good teams generally do to load up. And if you wind up, you know, making a long run or hopefully winning the Stanley Cup, then it doesn't really matter what happens in the next couple of years. But they fell just a little bit short. and then now they don't really have anything else to fall back on. So it's just kind of a tricky situation for them.

Yeah, that's a tough one too when you continue to do that. And you get that close. I mean, it's almost to the point where you'd rather just, middle of the pack would be worse. But you'd rather, you know, what's the old saying? If you're going to miss heaven, heaven don't miss it by two inches. And I felt that, you know, a couple of different times, 94.

And then most recently, I guess not recent anymore, against the Boston Bruins back in 2011. They missed heaven once again. You know, they missed heaven in 1970 at the draft. Is there a franchise that's had just flat out worse luck than the Vancouver Canucks luncheon? But is there a, in the history of the organization, that's just had more bad luck than the Vancouver Canucks? And it happened from the get-go when they thought they won the lottery. And we're going to get the first overall pick.

And it's Jealbert Perot, only to have the rug yanked under them. The football taken away by Lucy to find out that it was Dale Tallinn and now, Jealbert-Pro, they were getting in second overall. Yeah, yeah. It's tough, man. I can't believe we just spent 10 minutes on the Vancouver Canucks. This is going to be a very long podcast. We got to go quicker. We got to go quicker.

Yeah, here we go. Okay, I got Columbus Blue Jackets 29. You go. You do. Okay, so I have the next three teams it looks like on my list are sort of, I'm going to lump them together. It's the blue jackets, the sabres, and the Devils. And the reason why I lump them together is because you can kind of see the makings of something, especially up front. They have intriguing young forward talent that they've either drafted in the past few years or in the devil's case had fallen to our lap with the Taylor Hall trade.

But it's just you look kind of at the surrounding. parts around that outer shell and there just isn't a lot to like. And I think that these teams could potentially move up the list as the season goes along or if we do this again next year, they'll be a bit higher. But for now, I kind of had to suppress them down here. Yeah, I get Columbus at 29, Ottawa at 28. I know we differ on that. And what's not to like about Carlson?

What's not to like about Mike Hoffman shooting in the offensive zone? My only question about Ottawa is, is how is Guilla Boucher going to coach this team? Are there going to be bungee cords on the hockey pants? And as soon as they get in the offensive zone, they get yes. bank back hard to the neutral zone. We still don't know. So for that reason, I've got Ottawa 28, 27. I have the New Jersey Devils as well. So we're sort of similar there. It's the Corey Schneider, Taylor Hall show in a lot of ways. You know, I would love New Jersey to be a better team just because I really want to see Taylor Hall do well, you know, considering everything that

went down at Edmonton and how he was scapegoated. You know, it's almost, you know, Greg Wischensky will love to hear this. That trade kind of made me a New Jersey Devils fan. a lot of ways because, you know, me, Demetre, I don't cheer for teams. I cheer for players. And man, would I love to see Taylor Hall do well here just to show that, you know, you can win on a team, you know, much like in junior with the Spitfire, you can win on a team that has Taylor Hall on it. Well, I mean, at the very least, you look at the New Jersey Devil's kind of projected

lineup for opening night. And they have, you're a big O.HLG. I mean, they have guys like Miles Wood and Blake Spears and Paul Azaka in the lineup. And at least for fans of that team, are people that are going to be two. in their fresh faces with with high upside that you can at least kind of see see what's going on there as opposed to what we just discussed with the Canucks you like Zaka big strong skilled and has a nasty edge which is a delightful compliment to have as a centerman so I mean no one expects you know no one expects like an 80 point season out of out of Zaka but you know somewhere down

the road they're going to have themselves a legit you know big strong productive first line center many suspect and I think the right yeah and and for the blue jackets quickly who we had I think that there is a lot of talent up front and there's some intriguing names, but then I just don't trust that John Torterill is going to be putting these guys in a position to succeed necessarily. Curious to see where Werensky does. I mean, he's excelled at every single level. That's one of the reasons that, you know, there is something interesting there. I've always been a big fan of Sam Gagne and he's been a victim of circumstance in a lot of his situations. And you wonder if this is another, you know, a shot at, you know, getting himself in a situation where he'll play.

Some decent minutes because you're still a very good and experienced hockey player at, you know, only the age of 27. Right now, I'm curious about Oliver Bjork Strand. If he can continue that torrid pace, you know, that we've seen pretty much his entire career going back to Portland as well. You do see the beginnings of what will be a really nice blue line there. And I'm curious to see what they end up getting when they inevitably trade Jack Johnson and maybe that's sooner than later. but between Werensky and Jones and Murray, you're really starting to see them put some together, but they're still not there.

Yes, having said that, they've got a goal that they can keep you in a lot of games when he saw him, that's Bobrovsky. Yep, yeah, for sure. Okay, so who do you have next on the list? I got your Rangers, I've got your Los Angeles Kings, and I've got your Boston Bruins at 26, 25, and 24. The Rangers, you know, they sort of mitigated it by some nice contract signings in the off-season,

And I do like this advantage ad trade. I think that long term not so win for the New York Rangers. It seems as if they're going about rebuilding the team without burning the house all the way to the ground, which when you have someone like Henrik Lundquist, no one expects him to waive on no trade to really hasten this thing along. That's the way you have to do it when you're the Rangers. But this has been a team. I mean, we've been waiting for them to fall off the cliff.

And you think that specifically when you look at the back end, this is probably the year that's going to happen. Yeah, so I have a tier here with the Rangers, the Bruins, as you mentioned, and the Detroit Red Wings. And the thing that I keep coming back to with these three teams is something, a common thread up for this list for me, or at least in terms of teams that I enjoy watching, are teams that have defensemen that can move the puck and transition quickly, because that makes for exciting hockey for me when you get that transition game going and when it's free flowing from one zone to the other. And these three teams are sorely lacking in defensemen that kind of are those quote-unquote puck movers. I just see very few options on all three of these teams, and that kind of is why I have them down here.

Even though they very well all could be playoff teams, or at least will be competitive and will be better than some of the teams will have higher on the list. I just don't think that they're going to be necessarily that aesthetically pleasing. I've got Detroit in my next tier, we'll get to that in a second, but when you're talking about a blue line, they can't move the park, holy smokes, the Boston Bruins.

Well, I'm looking at this right now. Okay, is Rob O'Gera an actual person? Because I actually had to Google him. I wasn't sure. Yeah, he's playing on the team, but he made him and Brandon Carlo. And I think Carlo is playing with Charif, I'm not mistaken as well. The old tri-city American, big tall U.S.-born 6-5, 210-pounder. Yeah, this is a, it's funny because when you read all the clippings from Chloe Julian,

it's all about, you know, turn, it's all the stereotypes you want to hear about a defenseman in 2016. The puck goes in, the puck goes out, you know, retrieve pucks and get them out of the zone as fast as possible. I just don't see how you can do that with that blue line. you know, I think we're all on the same page about, you know, how great Bergeron, although he'll start the, play in the opening night game, Bergeron and Brad Marchand, that line with David Pasternak, that should be nice. Yeah, and, you know, David Krechie is not the fastest guy in the game, but he's, you know, wildly creative.

He'll play with David Bacchus. Again, not the fastest, but that's okay. You can still live in the vacuum with a bullet and Ryan Spooner. So top six is an interesting combination of players, but who's going to get them the I know Burroughs can go back and get it himself. I mean, you can need some help down the road. Well, I mean, you look at the bottom six up front. And it's honestly, like, it's tough.

It's a lot of guys that I actually had to Google. And I mean, I watch a lot of hockey and I follow this stuff very closely. And it's like Danton Heinen, Austin Sarnik. Like, these are guys that I definitely wouldn't call household names, that's for sure. No, and you can tell specifically what they've tried to do in the past couple of years. and that's get a little bit faster. You know, you're bringing a kid like Zach's ignition, you draft them a little bit high.

But what you've really tried to do for the Boston Bruins is you say to yourself, our defense is getting old, our defense is slow, and that's why you go out and you draft, you know, Jacobs Warl. That's why you draft Lozon. That's why you drafted Carlo. That's why you go and get Charlie McAvoy.

So you can see that, you know, they clearly recognize there is a problem with the back end in the future. The problem is they probably recognized it a few years too late, and it's going to take a few years before these guys hit as legit NHLers. Yeah, and I think it's sometimes easy for us to lose track of how good to Karasquez, for example. It kind of gets swept under the rug, but he's still amazing.

But the thing that I would worry me as a Bruins fan is they relied on Zdeno Chara a lot last year. I think people don't necessarily realize how much he was playing. And we saw in the World Cup, I don't know if that was just, you know, rust and he's going to work it out or what. But he was really struggling with the speed of the game. And that would be a red flag for me. It's been the last two years. And, you know, now you're getting, it's, you know, you feel awful saying this about Charo, who's been so good for so long.

I mean, you remember that era where, I mean, you're an analyst guy. I mean, what were the numbers when Chara and Bergeron were on the ice together? Yeah, I think it was 2012-13, the lockout sort of short season. They were on the ice for one, five-on-five goal against all year, which was insane. It was spectacular. It was like, it was like record setting in the NHL. But, I mean, Charra right now, if you just want to take a hard, cynical look at his play on the ice, he's got a long stick.

You know, really, because, you know, the turning is, he's never been the quickest turner and the game is getting faster and he's not getting any fast. Like, it's awkward to watch and it's painful at times. You know, you wonder if, you know, if Boston could make a move, would they look at unloading Zedano Chara? And I know, I can tell you for a fact, it has been discussed. Obviously, didn't go anywhere to any fruition, but I know that internally, that's something that everything gets talked about, but I'm sure they've had that conversation.

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's tough. You see this summer, for example, they throw a lot of money in term at a guy like David Backus, which indicates a pretty kind of clear mindset that they're trying to win now. Otherwise, you don't necessarily make a move like that. It'd be kind of tough to reconcile something like that and then trading Charo away for like prospects and picks. No, I get that.

Or you just look down your right side and you say to yourself, who, you know what, Hayes, Pastor Neck, we need some help here, ASAP. Yeah, yeah. All right. One of the kids are ready. You know, Frank Petrano is injured to start the season. And, man, you know what? Because I would have had Boston a little bit higher just to watch Frank Petrano this year,

who when the puck is on his stick, it just seems to go in. But I got Boston locked into 24. Go ahead. Okay, so who do you have next after? Who do you have 23? I've got the New York Islanders, the Florida Panthers, and the Detroit Red Wings are my next ones. I just don't know, you know, how long you can play this revolving door around John Tavares until it finally bites you.

Yep. You know, that's, that's a, that's a huge concern for me. I was talking about this on our podcast a while ago. I can't think of another elite level sentiment in the NHL who's had a revolving cast of characters more so than John Taviris, which really underscores just how great the guy is to begin with, that it seems if, you know, every season, you know, he's getting a, he's getting a fresh cast on his wing. But I don't know that I see a whole lot.

of, you know, they're there, and, you know, you bring in Bavillia and Barzal and to form, I guess, two thirds of your third line compliments. And that's two more kids you're breaking in. You know, you wonder at which point the Islanders are going to finally take that next step to legitimacy. I mean, I'm still scratching my head on, you know, letting Kyle Koso go the way they did. And as I understand it, it wasn't even, you know, they didn't even have like serious negotiations to try to keep them. And then you replace them with 30-year-old Andrew Lerlo. that that to me is tough so i've got i've got islanders and then panthers and then the dutchevre i know i might be in the minority on the panthers um but it's tough without being sad to start

the season and it's a killer not having jonathan huberto there yeah yeah back to the islanders for a second it feels a bit weird to say that last year was kind of a disappointment for them because they did wind up making the playoffs and winning around and and for that franchise it's a pretty big deal at this point but i remember two years ago they were just such an exciting team they kind of finally started putting it all together and we all thought that you know 2015-2016 they could really take that next step and and they didn't they sort of fizzled out and were a bit more mediocre and kind of just i was a bit more indifferent on them than i expected i'd be and and that was disappointing to me so i'm kind of curious to see whether they can

take that next step this year and the reason why i have them just slightly higher than you do is you mention some of those young guys and also nick letty who i think people don't realize is probably like one of the top five finest players to watch in the league. Nicoletti is too. I got a lot of time for Travis Hammondick. I really do. When you look at a player that plays like big, hard, tough minutes, like against top competition every single night.

I'll take Travis Hammondick any day of the week. And I'm with you on that. And look, Yaroslav Halak, and geez, we just saw it again at the World Cup, you know, has the ability to upset teams and put on the one-man goaltending clinic. I'm just, maybe all of this is just borne out of this frustration that I don't think the Islanders are letting us see how great John Tavares can be because he just hasn't been surrounded by talent that is in any way complimentary on a consistent basis. Yeah, I mean, his right winger right now is Jason Chimera.

What's going on? How old Shemarra? Yeah. I think he had one of his best years last year, too, which is pretty funny. Yeah, and he's a lovable guy, all the dudes like him, and I get all that. But can John Taviris play with someone who's like 23 and flying out there? Yeah. You know, we're 25 years old.

You know, like someone in their prime, please. Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. So who are the other teams you mentioned? You mentioned the red wins, I think, right? Yeah, I mean, and that back end is going to be tough. And you can see what they're trying to do with their back end for the future. And I think, you know, Joe Hicketts is going to be a piece there for a long time. So, you know, I mean, Dennis Chilosky to go out and draft in the first round this year.

So they're cognizant of it. They need to redo their back end. This is not unlike with the Boston Bruins are sort of going through and trying to do it through the draft. It's just going to take a while to get there. But man, that blue line is underwhelming. It really is. Some interesting stories up front. Here's why Detroit will be interesting to me, because I don't know what the answer to this question is.

Who's a faster skater? Dylan Larkin or Andreas Athanasia. I think she would say Athanasia. Massue. Yeah. Just flat out red line to red line. Yeah. Yeah. He's amazing.

And the thing that I love about him is you see with most of these guys, whether it's a Carl Hagelin or a Michael Grabner or some of these speedssters or Mason Raymond, they don't necessarily have the hands to keep up with their feet. So they get to places, but then they just, you know, they never wind up actually finishing those opportunities. And we saw in flashes last year that he's a remarkable finisher. So he could really kind of turn some heads this season. And that's what made Pavel Burray so great, wasn't it?

I mean, he was the first guy that we. said, wow, man, this guy, I mean, we've seen fast, you know, plenty of fast players in the NHL before, you know, Nelson Emerson, like, we've seen fast players in the NHL before, but to your point, you know, when the hands are as fast as a feat, you get something special. And I think the first one at that sort of ultra speed burner level was probably Pavol-Burray. And that's where Vancouver fans, you know, got one of the greatest blessings of all time, because you can see that on a consistent basis.

I remember I'd watch Vancouver games. I was, hey, how can someone skate that fast make those plays? plays. How can he get that shot off at full speed? Because you're right, guys, we have to slow down. You can get there fast before you made the play. You'd have to slow down a little bit. Bury was the first one that like, yeah, whatever, man. I'm making everything at top speed. Yeah. It's frustrating with this Red Wings team because they have drafted well, obviously, in the past and have a lot of young talent up front. But a lot of Kenny Holland's moves in the past few years have been very head scratching, whether it's sort of this loyalty. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

You mean like letting go of FERC and Polkinen in favor of Steve Ott? I mean, you're talking about a move on a move like that? I'm just surprised that was Steve Aud and not Danny Cleary. You know what? Loyalty, right? I mean, he didn't take the three-year deal from the Philadelphia Flyers, just come in on Evergreens. And I guess Ken Holland was true to his word.

And you do have to respect that. But I'm surprised at how many un-Kent Holland-esque moves we've seen in the last little while from Ken Holland. I guess it's inevitable, right? you lose five, you lose 13, you know, 40's going to be gone at some point. Franzon's gone too. I guess at a certain point, some of the bloom comes off the rows, even for general managers, like Ken Holland. Well, and I've had this theory for a while now, but I think Ken Holland is,

maybe he's kind of ill-suited to be a GM because of some of his player personnel decisions recently, but it's clear that he has an eye for sort of front office talent. Like, I feel like as a VP or something like that, he'd be great because we see all these guys that have come from the Ken Holland tree, so to speak, that have done great things on their new stops. And I think if he took sort of a, I don't know if it's a step back or if he just kind of stepped away for a little bit and let someone else come in for player personnel decisions that could go a long way for this franchise. Interesting. And you can say the same thing about Mike Babcock and you look at, you know, as much as you talk about, you know, some of the people that worked underneath Ken Holland that are now populating front offices, whether it's Jim Nill, whether it's Steve Eisenman, go right down the list. You can probably say the same thing about coaches that stood beside Mike.

Babcock and for me front and center like without a doubt one of the more and we'll get to this team but not for a while demetri is Bill Peters with the Carolina Hurricanes but you're not going to hear me say Carolina for quite some time made on this podcast because you're up in the top for me but anyway let's carry on so the next team that I have what are we at right now like in the low 20 we're 20 we're 20 I have I have the Montreal Canadians here and that might be a you know we might get a lot of hate mail about this, but I just, you know, I'm very intrigued to see how Radulov does and Patcheretti and Gallagher are very fun, but it's just, I can't get over the move they made this summer with the Sub-Band trade. I mean, that just makes them so much less entertaining to watch in my eyes. Yeah, I have Montreal up a little

higher than you. I have them at 13. At 20, I've got Arizona, Toronto, and Anaheim as my next three. But if you want to do Montreal now, I'm cool with that. My big question about Montreal. Well, there's a few. I think we all have them. I don't think we have a question about Carey Price. I'm going to see Opener with the flu. But I mean, I remember talking to a goal tending coach before the World Cup. I said, what are you looking for from Carrier Price? How do you know that he's back? How do you know that he's not lingering? He said, if you see him in that deep crouch where he explodes into position from it, because that's the athletic carry price we were all accustomed to. If you see that guy, then Carrier Price is back. If you see a

Carrier Price that's standing up a little bit more and isn't exploding to get to position fast so he can block shots, then you know there's a problem. But, you know, Dimitri, safe to say that what we saw in the World Cup was at Carrier Price had that deep crouch that was pushing off hard and getting into position quickly to make saves look routine and easy, even though he is very quietly, maybe the most athletic goaltender in the NHL. So no questions about Carrier Price. Alex Galcena, can he be the legitimate number one center? Arturoa Lekanin, now formerly of Rolanda, does he stay the entire season?

I'm with you on Radulov. That's a low-risk move for the Montreal Canadiens. And no, this isn't an Alex Semen move. This is a Radulov move. But my big question about, and it sort of hints at what you were talking about too, my big question about the Montreal Canadiens is also on the blue line.

And when I look up and down it, I ask myself one question, who is going to break the puck out who is breaking the puck out out out out of this collection of players well were you surprised to see that mikhil sergeantchev made this

roster out of king come I um two things people seem to go all the way back and forth on whether it's surgachev or sergeantiav which is cool I kind of expect him to be sent back to Windsor maybe as soon as when jeff petri comes back

from the injury. I am a little bit because it's rare specifically for Montreal to put an 18-year-old defenseman in the NHL. I still think that there is plenty for him to do at the OHL level, considering his team is hosting the Memorial Cup this year and will have a really good year and may just win the OHL championship as well. So I'm not surprised about Ahteroy-Lakinen making the team. I mean, everything that I heard last year about Lacken was he's too good for the

SHL, he's ready for the National League and he's not coming back. So too bad for Lunda, the perennial powerhouse in Sweden, you're not getting Lekkonen back. But I was more than a little bit surprised to see Surgachev make it, but wouldn't surprise me if he's back there within a couple of weeks back to Windsor. Well, there's going to be a lot on the plate of Nathan Boyer, that's for sure, because he's playing with Weber now, as it looks like. And he's going to have to do, we saw with Yose, for example, he's going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting and getting the puck out of the zone. and it's interesting because he's shown those flashes and he was a highly regarded prospect and all that. But we haven't necessarily seen him kind of put it all together and become that guy that we were

expecting him to. So it's quite reasonable that he could. But if he winds up struggling at all, then this team, I think, is going to really struggle moving the puck. Can we pause for a couple of moments on the team that I have at 18 and that's the Anaheim Ducks? Yes. When I look around the NHO and you say to yourself, okay, normally you want to go class half full, you know, which team is?

this poise of surprise and do the most damage you didn't see coming and we'll get to Colorado in a second. But if you look the opposite way and say which team is ready for the huge fall, man, I go to Anaheim fast. And knowing that he may end up being signed by the time this podcast has published, I mean, dancing with Hanfuss-Linholm like this is dangerous. Yeah. You know, it's one thing to do this with a Samoan de Prey or even Sammy Vatnan. But, I mean, I've got Hamphus Lindholm as we won the top 15, if not top 10 defensive,

and he's higher NHL. Like, that's how highly I think of Hamper Slintholm. You have brought back a coach who is not the most popular guy, safe to say, with a lot of those players that are still in that room, namely Getslaw and Corey Perry. I think there's some really underrated players on this team, namely Andrew Cogliano and Jakub. Sulfurberg, who don't get as much love defensively as they should. But if I look at a team that's poised to have the big crash, and it might be spectacular considering what we've seen of late, it might just be the Anaheim ducks.

This might be the one we look at them and say, whoa, we knew they might take a small step back, but not a giant tumble off the cliff. Yeah, I think the decision to head into the season without Hampus lit home under contract is pretty unconscionable. I mean, he's quite clearly their best defense. And as you mentioned, I think he's somewhere in that 10 to 15 range in terms of the entire league. And the same can be said for Rickard Raquel, who's not necessarily as big of an impact player as Linholm is. But I think people are underestimating how much he brought to this team last year just in terms of kind of being a dynamic player who can make things happen out of nothing because this team is so veteran-based

and plotting. And he added a totally different dynamic that currently when I'm looking at this roster, they don't very have much of. So I'm really worried about them in terms of how they can keep up. And we haven't even mentioned the coaching change yet because Boudreau, Boudreau very clearly made adjustments last year that saved their season after that horrible start. And if Carlisle isn't capable of making those adjustments on the fly, then they really could fall back in the Pacific Division.

And I'm not 100% sold on the goalie. Yeah. Right? Like, I mean, what's the old saying? If you have a goalie, it's 50% of your team. if you don't have a goal, it's 70% of your team. Like, it's, if John Gibson isn't the guy, because they've said, you know,

Sainara to Freddie Anderson, if John Gibson isn't your guy, what then if you're the Anaheim ducks? Yeah. Yeah, it's a tough spot to be in. Okay, so I think you, did you already mention the Leafs? Yeah, I got them in at 19.

I think it'll be into just to see Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner. Marner, to me, is one of the more fascinating players that I've seen. I mean, the cane comparisons are there. I would throw Paul Korea into that mix in that when you watch Mitch Marner play, A, he's got that weird sort of hunchback style of skating, which I suppose allows him protect the puck a little bit more. But normally when we say the guy, someone's a good, here's the thing about Mitch Marrne,

normally when we say, oh, this guy is a really good skater, like you say, you know, Dylan Larkin, right? So all this guy's a really good skater, normally what we mean is he's a really fast skater. When I look at Mitch Martin, I say he's a really good skater because he's able to create separation between himself and the opponent, not with speed, but with quick cuts. Right. Like the way that he moves his body, the way that he cuts, the way that he button hooks, you know, the way that he button hooks, you know, catches the defenseman off guard, and he buys himself that buffer zone and buys himself that space to look around and to make his plays. That's rare. You know, normally it's, you know, it's speed zone.

It's fly, fly, fly, fly. Get there faster than the other guy. It's almost as if Mitch Marner wants to get there smarter than the other guy, not faster than the other guy. So the Maple Leafs will be fascinating just for a couple of players. I think the only question about the team is 30th or 29th. But a couple of players, Austin Matthews and Mitch Farner, that's the reason why I suppose maybe I have them higher than I should at 19.

All right. Don't forget, Willie Nylander as well. He'll drive Babcock crazy. You know, he's, he's, and he's going to play on that young line with Matthews and Hyman to start. And whether it's, you know, the lack of defensive acumen, which we know drives Babcock nuts or, you know, maybe overloading on his shots and not getting them off quick enough. I can see the one guy, and we saw it last year, right? I mean, Babcock went out of his way to rip him a few times. I can still see William Neelander, as talented as he may be, still ending up some night.

nights in the doghouse in Mike Babcock this season. Yeah. So I lumped the Leafs, right around this range, around the 20 range. I lumped the Leafs, the Arizona Coyotes and the Calgary Flames together. Where do you have the Coyotes and the flames? Yeah, I've got Coyotes at 20, but the flames up a little bit higher at 15. I think they're going to have a better season than I think some people suspect. And namely it's because of that blue line and that goaltender. I mean, the goal tending right away is a big improvement.

I mean, that's an obvious one. They couldn't get any saves at all. And maybe the other reason I should probably throw them into the mix as well is the coaching change. And, you know, we won't see that very predictable long bomb pass from the defense, which teams, you know, recognized early and dined out on. Sam Bennett is one year more immature. Ditto for Sean Monaghan, Johnny Goddrow, has now been signed. I know that the right side may look a little bit weaker than the last.

side of the Calgary flames, but, you know, between Giordano and Brody and Hamilton and Yocopaka, who I think is a pretty underrated defenseman. Surprise, I didn't try to retain, hello good for Carolina, McLeodal, the Czech defenseman. But I still like, because of that blue line, because of that goaltender, and because they're one year deeper into their very young NHL careers, I still have Calgary a little bit higher. And for that reason, that's one that I'm, they're right in the middle of the pack for me. They're number 15 as far as watchability goes. What about two, Dimitri?

So, yeah, I had the flames at 19. And you mentioned Bennett. I think that if there was like one guy that I picked could take that next step this season, I really think he could. He showed a lot of flashes of the last season, had huge individual performances, is kind of scattered around the schedule. And if he puts it all together,

I feel like he, that'll be huge for them because we know that Goodrow and Monaghan will carry that first line. But if him and Brower and, And it looks like Chuck's going to be playing with them at least to start the year. If they can give him a legitimate second scoring line, I think that's going to go a huge way towards potentially kind of having them even leapfrog a team like the ducks if they fall off like we just mentioned. Yeah. And the interesting thing about Sam Bennett, even though he's a centerman, don't you get that plays like Taylor Hall vibe about him?

I mean, he goes to the net hard. Like it's almost as if you know, if you're Glenn Gullet's like, that's great kid. But can you ease up a little bit on going to that? I guess it's a nice problem to have to try to calm someone down. I mean, he really, he really plays an aggressive style of hockey. That, that to me, is an exciting brand down the middle. So I'm with you 100% on San Bennett. And we should quickly touch on the coyotes just because we haven't really said anything about him yet.

But it is, I mean, they've fully embraced the youth movement, even though they brought back for Bata and Shane Dohn is still there. I mean, you look, I went down the lineup with Domi and Duclair and then Strom, Strom, Devorak. I mean, Lawson is in there. And then the big difference this year from Lassus is the blue line where it was pretty much, if Ekman-Larsen wasn't out there, they were cooked. and now they obviously they signed Gologoski and Jacob Chikrin looks like he's going to be really good right out of the gate. So there's some options there.

So I think that the coyotes, it's interesting because last year was sort of the perfect storm for them where they were really fun to watch. I think if you kind of in hindsight rank the top 30 teams on watchability, they would have been top 15 last season, but they didn't do a lot of winning, which was perfect for them because they wound up getting some high picks. And I think that could be more of the same this year

where I'm not necessarily sure they're going to have a winning season or even be kind of sniffing the playoffs, but I think they're going to be really fun to watch run on a nightly basis. Yep. I think the Goligowski move is an excellent one for the Arizona Coyotes. I mean,

I think we and I've talked plenty about Oliver Reckman-Larsson. I don't think we need to waste more oxygen doing that. The guy's outstanding. What more can you say? He's a phenomenal defenseman. Although the Gologoski signing was excellent. I do wonder about Jacob Trickren. I mean, I'm very happy that he made the team.

Cheer for the guy. I hope that he does well. I don't know that he's there for the whole season. You know, I know there are different teams and different conferences, but if, you know, if Sergachev can't hang in the NHL for the season, how can Jacob Chickren, maybe that's an unfair comparison. And when you're, you know, maybe it's not just apples and oranges, it's chalk and cheese when you're comparing the two.

But I like them. And I like, you know, I'd be very interested to see what that, you know, Lawson-Crow, Dylan Strom, Anthony DeCle, Claire line can do. I mean, talk about kids. And I am really curious to see how Dylan Strom is taking that next step. You know, the Stromes of, and we'll see it with Matthew, who's draft eligible this year out of the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Skating has never been the strength, but all the other skills more than make up for it. You know, the puck smarts, you know, the puck protection, the distribution. In Dylan Strom's case, has a real nice shot, like a really nice wrist shot. I'm interested to see what that, that DeClair line with Strom and Krause. look like because there's a lot of muscle on either side of uh of uh of uh tallen strome for this year for a i'm with you i understand why you know shame don't is there like i get it um a you want to have reliable vet and be he's a recognizable personality in that marketplace so um oh yeah we should probably mention how good max domi is somewhere in this conversation and how exciting max domi is so i'm

with you i dig me some arizona coyotes i'm looking forward to seeing them play okay so who do you have next i've got uh 14 13 and 12 i got your minnesota i got your montreal and then i got your team that is maybe ready for a big tumble chagel black ox am i allowed to say that now i still know people love them and look at kane and daves and panerans your rookie of the year and crawford and keith and seabrook and chalmersen are we allowed to say that depth may be an issue finally for the Chicago Blackhops? I think I think it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's a 12 on my list um I think that oh so do I get him at 12 yeah so yeah so I think that they're going to be very entertaining to watch just because that high end talent up front still is

there and I think that bringing in a guy like Campbell to give them a second option other than Duncan Keith to help move the puck will be huge for them but you look on the on the edges of this team and and I understand that you know when you're doing so much winning as they have or the years it's tough you know you're going to bleed out talent and eventually you're going to have to kind of you know either adjust on the flyer or go through a few years of bumpy bumpy patches in the road but they're relying on a lot of guys who i you know if you if you gave bowman some truth serum i feel like he'd probably uh be honest with you and tell you that he wouldn't really want to be relying on these guys at this point yeah and then maybe he want the andrew lad trade back

yes but hey you're going for right what what can you say um Yeah, after that top six, it gets pretty thin, pretty fast. It really does. It looks really un-Chicago Blackhawks-esque. Which is your point, you know, when you're successful that long in a solid recap era, you know, things are going to happen. To me, we might be seeing one of the more disappointing things that I personally will watch in the game, and that is a decline from Marion Hosa, who I think is going to go

down in history, at least in my mind, as the greatest player to never win the Selke trophy. I've gone on about the center bias for the Selki had a number of different times, and I won't bore you with it. But the fact that Marian Hosa, as a winger, never won a trophy that was named for a two-way winger, Bob Ganey. I mean, they made the trophy because, you know, shit, Bob is so good, we can't give them the heart, we have to give them something.

I know, let's make up a trophy for the best two-way forward, the best defensive forward, the fact that Marian Hosa in his career, and you have to go back to Yeri Lennon to find the last one that won the Selke, the fact that Marian Hosa will go down his entire career and have not won the Selke trophy, to me, is borderline criminal when it comes to voting for that award. Yes, yeah, I know it's a remarkable player to watch, so effective, so good at everything, such so polished.

Players player, right? Like, if you ask all the guys, like, with all due respect to Dave's and DeKana, if you ask the guys that play in the NHL, you know who do you most admire on the chicago blackhawks most of them will say marian hosa thoroughly professional like it does everything impeccably you know and is a big strife he's that

that perfect blend of like strength and skill you can't move him off the puck can't lift them lift up a stick he's great on the back check he's always in position you know there's you know joel quenville's had a real luxury there's two guys on his team that he can tap on the shoulder and know that for the next 45 seconds he won't have to worry about them at all and that's Jonathan Taves and Marion Hosa.

And when you have not one with two of those as a head coach, it means you have to buy that much more or less Tylenol. And he's had a real blessing having those guys on the team. Yeah. And when you're this top-heavy, I mean, you look at his team, they're one injury to one of these guys away from really,

I feel like tumbling down the standings. And listen, Corey Crawford is still, I feel like he's never going to get the credit he deserves just because everyone's going to talk about Tate. and Hosa and Kane and Panarin and Keith. But Crawford was, you know, very arguably their most valuable player last season. There were stretches there where they were getting pummeled in the shot department and weren't looking like the Chicago Blackhawks teams we've come to expect in recent years.

And he was saving them. And obviously, you know, Kane had a remarkable scoring season. And he'll probably, I don't think he'll repeat it, but he'll once again be right up there in terms of the scoring leaders in the league. And it's very easy to see them kind of with that formula once again finishing maybe second or third in the central and being a very tough out in the playoffs again. But it's pretty clearly a step down from what we've come to expect from them. Going into the World Cup, you could have done an interesting exercise.

I know he won the gold medal for Canada and world junior success and all that. But if you were choosing a goaltender for Team Canada based on who's been in the most high pressure games and high pressure situations in his career, could you not make the case for Cory Crawford over Gary Price? Yeah, I think you could. I think he could too. Yeah, and he's remarkable. It's, it is one of those things.

It's like the Mark Andre Fleury thing, right? Like, if his team loses, it's going to be his fault. But if they win, it's going to be the guy. I know. I think they're drafted the same year, too, aren't they? I think Mark Andreeple was the first goal he drafted that year, and then Crawford was second, I think. I don't know. I'm getting old, Demetri.

Yeah, it's been a while. Facts are escaping me. So you mentioned the Minnesota Wild, and I think they're a fascinating team to discuss because they have a lot of interesting chess pieces up front. that they could move. I feel like, you know, we know the Zach Perise. I think the one given on this team is that Zach Parize is going to be their top left winger.

Other than that, I feel like every single thing is so fluid. Okay, a few things on that. We saw at the World Cup, he's not the same Zach Peresey. And at 32 years of age, I don't know that we're going to get, is he 32 or 30? He's in that neighborhood. Might be aging them. I don't know that we're going to get that Zach Parisi that we all remember back. I almost think, okay, he's still real good, he's still a great player,

but that, you know, left winger that at times was dominant. I don't know that we're getting that Zach Pruzzi back in the NHL. The left side to me for, the left side to me for Minnesota is really interesting. You have Zach Porezi, who's, you know, some of the shine has gone there. You know, Michael Granlin has been endlessly frustrating. And again, you saw it this year, even though Finland underwhelmed at the World Cup, you know, Michael Granlin may have been their best player. And I don't know what it is, Dimitri,

but every time I see him play internationally, Grandland is awesome. And I keep saying to myself, where's that in Minnesota? Yeah. You know, where's that guy that we see play internationally in the NHL? I think I think Nader Rider is a really underestimated player. I think as far as being someone who's poised for a breakout season,

if you put a gun to my head and said, choose one in their mid-20s, have that breakthrough between 24 and 25. I'm taking, you know, Nita Ryder. And I've always waited for more from Jason Zucker. Yes. And I keep saying, nope, this is going to be the year. Nope, this is going to be the year.

I hope this is the year for Jason Zucker. And maybe with Bruce Boudreau, it will. There's a real skilled guy there. I know he took a real step backwards last year, but the season before was real good. So that whole left side for Minnesota to me is a curious case, because between Parisi with, you know, giving you diminished returns and a bunch of, we don't know what, but we suspect they can be better than what we've seen,

the potential for growth is not down the middle, Eric Stahl and Miko Khoev. It's not down the middle from Minnesota. To me, the potential for growth, and it might be explosive, is all along the left side. And none of it has to do with Zach Perisi, interestingly enough. Yeah. And that's a thing. I think that we've seen Boudreau in the past puts his guys in position. succeed and can kind of tinker with the lineup like that.

And I think he's going to have to do a lot of that this season to make this work. But that's what makes them fascinating to me just because I feel like their ceiling is very high and it could also not work out at all. It's an interesting kind of a science experiment they have going on. It is. And the one thing about Bruce Boutreau teams is they get in the playoffs. I look at the lineup and I say to myself, oh, Bruce, how are you going to get this theme with the lineup?

But the one thing we do know about Boudreau teams is they get to the playoffs. This may be Bruce Boudreau's biggest test as a head coach going back to 2008, 2008, was it 208? No, 2007, 208 when he finally got the Washington Capitals into the postseason. But it took until game 82 in an afternoon game, I think, with the Florida Panthers. This may be the toughest challenge for Bruce Boutreau so far. Well, you were mentioning Granlin as a guy that you watch internationally and you just wonder how he's not that same player in the NHF. And I feel like every time I've watched Charlie Coyle play, I think he's amazing. He looks like he does everything.

But then you look at the overall package in terms of what he did that season, for example, or whatever, or what he's done for his career so far. And I feel like there is still a mismatch between when I watch him in select viewings, what he looks like he could be versus what he actually is in reality. I like him as a center more than a winger. How about you? Like when I see Coyle, I say to myself, I don't want to see him on the right side. I want to see Charlie Coyle in the middle.

Well, are you a bit surprised that he's not centering that line? feel like, do you think that they had to kind of promise that to Stahl, at least out of the gate, to bring him to Minnesota? I suppose so. I mean, this is sort of, you know, reclamation time for Eric Stahl. I think it is in his own mind. I was on it, to be honest with you, I'm kind of surprised that Eric Stahl, because he wasn't in position to do so, got that deal.

You know, I know there's a real short list of teams that he could have gotten a contract at all from concerning the kind of money that Eric Stahl was going to come in. and it's three and a half million dollars times three, I think it's just been too many miles on Eric Stahl. And I don't seem as a legit number one guy anymore. I don't think any of us do. He wasn't that towards the end in Carolina. Certainly wasn't that with the New York Rangers.

I don't know. If Eric Stahl ends up starting the season as Bruce Boudreau's first line guy, you can pretty much take it to the bank that it'll be short-lil. because that guy's played a lot of hockey for a lot of years, and there have been a lot of injuries to that body. Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about the blues, because I have them next. I'm not sure.

Have you mentioned them yet, or are they higher up there? Yeah, I had the St. Louis Blues at 17, so I've already sort of passed by. See, I look at St. Louis and I say to myself this. I say, self, the St. Louis Blues will take one step back this year to take two steps forward next season. Yep. you know when you when you look at the players they let go of and you look at how you know now it's going to really transition to the terra sanko the terra you know fabri this you know these jaden shorts when he comes back um you know it's going to move away from jay bow meister and be more about colton perrako who i still think at the end of all this ends up the class of that blue line um i kind of see this as that that small step backwards before two big steps forward year for the uh for the st louis blues Yeah, but I mean you mentioned all those guys

And I feel like that's a pretty good spot to be in And that's like what five or six guys that are both Remarkably effective but also really fun to watch Especially Teresenko I mean I remember I remember you did that That piece we showed you know when he's in the home plate He doesn't shoot until he you know Imachens himself in that zone and it's effective and it's fast

Like there's a difference of being quick and being sudden And when I watch Teresenko when the puck's on it's on his stick, it's not a fast release, it's a sudden release. And that's what makes it so frightening. May have the best release in the entire NHL. And I don't think it would surprise anybody if you won the Rocket Richard this year. So, you know, with you on that, I am curious about Yakupov and how they use him and what ends up happening there. He'll play on that third line with Berglund and Yaskin. They pretty much said that from the get-go. You imagine he'll have plenty of power play time. I always like them. I always like the personality.

You know, maybe I'm just like an old, you know, sappy guy, but I've always had a soft spot on my heart for Neil Yakupov because of the personality. I know he drives some coaches crazy. I know there's been some frustrating moments with Neil Yakopov. But for whatever reason, I've always kind of had this thing about Yakupov that I want to see him do well. And I think it's also tough for people to separate the idea of him as the first overall pick. but at this point, it's like a sunk cost, right? So you kind of just got to scratch that from your head and just recalibrate your expectations.

And I feel like for this team, he could very conceivably score 20 goals for them. And if he does, it was a no-brainer of a trade for them, especially since he's playing in the third line. I wonder if, I wonder if him and Magnus Pearvie are going to have some fun war stories to share with each other on this team. So what did they give up on you? Oh, yeah, you too. Hey, okay, yeah, let's get Taylor-Holl in here next and I have a three-way conversation. So I'm curious, you might be the guy to answer this question. since you follow the major junior circuit more closely than I do.

Is Ty Rattie ever going to make it in the NHL? He, for a long time, was an elite level score, an elite level score in the Western Hockey League. I've always said that Ty Rattie's going to be a long time, and he's going to be productive. You know, it's not as if he's, I mean, I guess maybe the barrier to entry now in front of six foot one. He's not the biggest guy out there at what five,

11, 6 feet tall. So he's kind of in that. He's in the conversation for being a little bit on the smallish side. But I've always thought, and I'm still sticking to it. I know he's 23 years old now, but I still think that Ty Rattie with the right situation. And unfortunately now for Ty Rattie, he's been replaced by Neil Yakuboff on that third line right spot. Like the minute the trade was made, I'm like, oh, this is not look good for Ty Rattie. And sure enough, it was in good news for Tyratty.

But I think if he finds himself in the right situation, he can still be a productive guy in the NHL. Because he certainly was so, you know, going through in his bantam draft year where he was, you know, torching leagues or playing major junior with Portland. Okay, so my 10-11, I grouped here together, and that's the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Where did you have those two teams? I've got, at 11, I've got Winnipeg and I've got Edmonton at 10. I got the Carolina Hurricanes. You were ready for it? Yeah. I got the Carolina Hurricanes at four. I love the Carolina Hurricanes, dude. I mean, you should say no more, a fourth o'all.

As you can tell. I just, I mean, a lot of that was, you know, the curiosity factor. I love, I love little moves, like what they did with McHodale and what they did with FERC. I mean, and that's got Eric Tulski written all over it, which is fantastic. And I remember talking about Bill Peters on our podcast in the summer, and he went, you know, out of his way to talk about how greater relationship he does have with Eric Tulski, and I don't think I need to explain who that is to anyone that listens to a show called the PDO cast. But, see, Bill Peters, to me, is sort of on the vanguard of being one of the more progressive

thinkers in the game. He was telling us about, you know, I want to play a line with Elias Lindholm and Sebastian Aho and Tebow Taravan and started talking about it. And I kind of cut him off and said, you got three centers on the same line. And he said, yeah, I get that. But aren't we at a place now where we need to start rethinking what lines are and what not the lines are, but what positions are? You know, like, if you're the first on the back check to the puck and it's not in your lane,

I'm sorry, all of a sudden, now you're the centerment and you have that responsibility. Like, I've personally felt this way for a while. And Bill Peters, to me, was the first to articulate it. I think the next wave of coaching is in a lot of ways. doing away with this table hockey-esque idea of positions that you know you don't just go up and down your right side and that's it and your only responsibility is a back checker is to make sure the defensemen don't get in front of you. I think we're at a place now specifically when, you know, kids into the NHL with high skill sets and understanding, you know, they do so much, you know, puck theory and game theory and playing different positions. I think we're a place now where we can really rethink, you know, sure you line up at right wing when the puck drops. but after that, you just react to what's there, regardless of what your quote-unquote position is. So I'm curious to see what Peters is able to do with that Carolina Hurricanes, with that philosophy, to say nothing of the great work he did specifically in the neutral zone last year with how they turned overpox.

I know that Carolina, you know, they're analytic starlings in a lot of ways. I remember talking to someone there who said, oh, yeah, yeah, what we like to do is we take the first 10 minutes and, you know, we take a million shots and we warm up our coursey and that keeps everyone online happy. And I kind of a chuckle about that, but I am really curious to see what that coach can do with that team. Yeah, no, they were, and that's the thing. They clearly dominated possession last year and the big issue was they just didn't necessarily have the talent up front to convert on a lot of those chances. And suddenly we're seeing an influx there. And I think that line you mentioned with Ajo, Tuervo and Linholm will be one of the finest lines to watch in the league just to see how those guys play off of each other.

And on the first line, I mean, Victor Ask burst onto the scene last year, but Jeff Skinner, I feel like it's still so underrated somehow. We all think of that 18-year-old season he had when he scored 30 goals and won a Calder. And, you know, he had a few concussions there. And it looked like his career possibly could have been derailed. But he quietly had an amazing gear last year. And he does, I'm very partial to him because he does the few things I really love from my forwards. He shoots a lot.

He scores a lot of goals and he draws a lot of penalties. And that's really all you can ask for it from a guy like that. especially on the wing. He's a great skater that gets in position. Right? I mean, and in a lot of ways, I mean, you know this. I mean, a lot of, a lot of shooting in the NH, a lot of goals, you know, can kind of, you know, come down to luck, which is why you need the volume. And in order to get the volume, you need to get yourself into position to have that. Skinner does that. I mean, he's slippery. He really is. And the one thing, and this is, hey, you mentioned the concussions. And to some, it wasn't a surprise knowing how he played in junior with

the Kitchen Rangers. And there was one series where Kitchen went up three nothing against the powerhouse wins or Spitfires. It was one of the years that they won the Memorial Cup. And I mean, I betty Peter DeBoer might have been the coach then, too. I think DeBoer still was in Kitchener. Maybe it was Steve's spot. I can't recall.

One of the two. And Skinner was, honestly, he was high-scale, certainly the skating was outrageous, but he was going around the ice, knocking everybody around. I know it's a freak when you watch Jeff Skinner now and you think about it on like a wrecking ball and junior. But, you know, there were times when he was that guy. I mean, he was a guy that would score 40 goals and hit everybody on the ice. That was Jeff Skinner. You get to the NHL, you can exactly play that way.

And all of a sudden you have to be a little smarter and can't just try to steamroll kids. But I've always liked Skinner and I've always admired the way that he's able to get himself in position to get shots off. in offensive zones that are just clogged up with everybody, you know, everyone just sort of surrounding the net, like it's a fortress. Yeah. And the other thing with this team is they're in a good position because they have a plethora of young, talented defensemen. And when you look around this league, I mean, we just discussed teams like the Bruins and the Red Wings and the Rangers. And they would love to have like any of these seven or eight guys that the hurricanes could trot out. I mean, whether it's, you know, Hanifin or Pesci or Slavin or obviously Falk and, you know, you go on.

You go on down the line. I mean, Hayden and Florio eventually make this team role in McKeon. Like, they're just loaded, right? You're forgetting a very important piece who's backyard back here. It backs up under my backyard here in Stowville, and that's Trevor Carrick of the Carrick family. Thank you very much. We're going to throw him into that mix as well, for a little Stoville flavor. Yeah, you're right.

It is an embarrassment of riches, like on the back end for the Carolina Hurricanes. It's, they've done a great job. And, you know, you mentioned Pesci. I mean, there's players that jump. Like, did you, the beginning of last year, think he was going to be that much of a factor. No, we all thought Hanofin was going to be the one to keep their eyes on. And very quietly, specifically in the back end of the season, Hanofen had a pretty good year. You know, Hanifan's, you know, looking like, okay, we got solid NHL here for 15 years. I mean,

is a big guy who can really move his feet, like really move his feet. Yeah, so I mean, I know I'm gushed about it. I'm like the invented oxygen year, but I'm getting ahead of myself on my rankings. But yeah, I've got them in at number four, just for all those, all those reasons we just mentioned. Well, let's do a, let's do a quick thing. the oilers since we both had them around here. Yeah, I got Oilers at 10. They'll be interesting because of, you know, Connor McDavid, Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid.

That, the question to me is, and yes, the defense improved a little bit. I mean, Larson is an improvement. Would I have spent Taylor Hall on him? No. But there is an improvement there. The Chris Russell story is the Chris Russell story. I mean, that was going to be the test. And it took a long time.

it was the Oilers that ended up signing them and bringing in yet another left-handed shot into their mix. So coming around the net, some guys are going to be doing it on their backhand, which doesn't bode well for a defenseman, but that happens. To me, one of the questions is, you know, how far can players like Connor McDavid and Leon Dricentel drag this team? And I don't say drag lightly, although it does sound frivolous, but really, to me, this is the test of Connor McDavid, and it's early. but I'm still not, I know there's a lot of excitement at Edmondson and it's the new rink and it's out with the old Yakopov and out with the old Taylor Hall and there's a couple of new guys on the blue line but I still see this being another year of pain for the Edmonton holders unless Conor McDavid can drag this thing into the playoffs.

Well that's a thing. I mean, it really just speaks to the talent that Connor McDavid is that we both had them here around the 10 range just because there's clear flaw. and holes on this team and there's a lot of guys on the edges that I don't really have any interest in watching and McDavid will just make it all kind of make me forget about all of it pretty much. You have to. You have to. Honestly, every time he was on Game Center last year, every time the evidence while he was healthy, you had to watch.

Yes. Does not matter who they're playing. If you have a chance to watch Condo McDavid, that is your speed bump game. I'm sorry. You know, it might be the grudge match, you know, the Keystone State Battle of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and it's going to be four hours, line brawls. It doesn't matter. You're watching Connor McDavid when he's on.

He's a handful of guys you can see. Honestly, how many players, Dimitri, can you say can individually sell tickets that you would go just to watch that player? You know, Crosby, Ovechkin, you know, someone even said we just talked about Flat Tarasenko. He may be won as well. But isn't Connor McDavid top of that list who individually can sell tickets? Yeah, I think so.

It's crazy that we've, what we see, 30 or 40 games of them, and we're already saying that. 45, I know, which is why, you know, come July 1st, when they can negotiate a long-term contract with Connor McDavid, to me, it should be the easiest conversation in the world. Just a blank check. Well, it should be Jeff Jackson walking in there saying, we can do this, who's an agent with Bobby Orr Group for Conradite, can walk in there and say, listen, Peter, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. we want the max for the max amount of years. Either you can give it to us or we can go the offer sheet route because there are 30 other teams, yes, Vegas is part of the team, part of the league,

there are 30 other teams that will offer sheet Connor McDavid when he's done his contract the following year. How do you want to do this? The easy way or the hard way? Yeah. It should be simple. It should be simple, right? It should be the easiest.

It's almost as if Peter Schrolet should already have the contract tucked in a drawer. closed and locked, ready to open up on July 1st. And it's feeling, okay, what's the max per CBA? Yeah, I just hope that they actually do a reasonable job here of surrounding him with the talent. The past handful of moves that they've done, I haven't necessarily been left feeling too optimistic the fact that they're actually going to maximize these years where he's incredibly cheap and incredibly good.

Yeah. Yes, I agree. I wonder about the move with Milan Luchich, and not to say that he didn't drag guys around the Ontario League, because he did, because who's keeping up with Conn McDavid? It's rare. I mean, he's going to keep up with this guy. But Alex DeBrenkitt kind of did, too.

It's a nice little draft of the Chicago Blackhawks. But Milan Luchich has had two centers in his career. He's had David Kreichie and Anzegopet-Kopizar, for the majority of his career. The one common denominator between David Kreutche and Enzikoputzar is neither of them are particularly fast. They're creative, they're smart, they're real good, smart, intelligent, elite level hockey thinkers slash hockey players. But none of them had speed as the main skill set in their game. One of the questions, one of the reasons why I'm curious, and I have Edmonton this high is,

can Milan Lucch keep up to Connor McDavid for 82 games this year? Or is his tongue going to be hanging out by the end of every shift? I don't know that. Don't know the answer to that. The cynical side of me says, not a chance because he's never been expected or asked to. He's played with Kreichi and Kopitar. He's never been asked to play with someone as fast as Connor McDavid. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a struggle. And it's a shame because this is their window here, right? Like obviously they're not necessarily going to go from being where they've been the past few years. I've done being a cup contender. but you'd like to see them make those positive steps in the right direction. And I would have liked them a lot more if they still had Taylor Hall on this team instead of Milan Lutjich, for example. So it's kind of a bummer.

But once again, I mean, Connor McDavid is just such a talent that he sort of makes you kind of forget about all that stuff, at least for a few minutes. Okay, so number nine, we're getting into the top ten here, which is exciting. Number nine, I have the Colorado Avalanche. I've got them higher, man. You've got to be shocked how high I have them. I've got San Jose, Washington, and Dallas next. Or my next.

You want to do Colorado now? You want to hold on to it? Yeah, let's do Colorado now. Okay. New coach, new coach, and new coach. This team is too highly skilled to be this bad for that long. I think that Bedner, and it's funny, even just talking to Toddolishko about him last week when I did Hockey Central with him,

who played with him in the minors. And it consists, like, everyone that I talked to about Bedner says the same thing. People love this guy. this will be a breath of fresh air in that room. I know there might be a depth issue up front. I get that. But when you look at Matthew Shane and Nathan McKinnon and Gabriel Landiske and Carl Soderberg, like there is just, there are too many, Miko Ranton, when he's healthy,

when he gets off the injury. There are too many skilled guys there for them to be around the bottom of the conference for as long as they were. I'm curious to see plater deployment, specific. with Matt DeShane specifically on the penalty kill who I mean he was a really good penalty killer before Patrick Waugh got there and then it just vanished and he never got out there on the penalty kill anymore so you know we all looked at Nathan McKinn at the World Cup I think maybe you're on the same page Demetri and said wow this guy is ready for another step in his career like you look at

Nathan McKin and say wow there's the other gear he's big he's strong like okay Nathan McKinna's ready for yet another big step in his career forgetting that He was the first overall pick for a good reason. I think that this team now all of a sudden, I know there's issues with depth. I know there's still some issues on the blue line, but they just became infinitely more interesting for me to watch. I'll let you know.

I've got them at three. That's how excited I am about Colorado this year. I mean, you have them over the hurricane, so that really says it all. I know. I got Carolina in four, but I know. It's so embarrassing. I think McKinnon is a play. that I'm going to be wanting to watch a lot of the season.

It speaks to the embarrassment of riches we have as hockey fans now that we have all these sort of generational players that are coming into the league at the top of the draft. And it's been three years now, so we kind of forget about all the hype about Nathan McKinnon. But, I mean, he's just insane, right? Like, he just turned 21 years old, and he does everything well.

And you mentioned big, fast, strong, you know, shoots the puck well. Like, I think that he could really be the type of guy where everyone just remembers where he is. Deke's big Swedish franchise, Hall of Fame, goaltenders pretty well. Like that move in front for that game winner against Sweden, how you get A, Lundquist to bite and then B, make that move to get around him to tuck it under the bar. At 21. Look out. Yeah. It's spectacular.

He's been one of my favorite players to watch, and I think that he is going to take that next step this season. So who are the other teams you mentioned up here in the What have I got there? Nine, I got San Jose, Washington, Dallas. I think I mentioned that. Afterwards, I've got Pittsburgh. I got Pittsburgh and Philadelphia back to back.

Philadelphia, I mean, I've wanted for so many years to see an improved homegrown blue line from the Philadelphia Flyers. When you go back to 1967 and, you know, when the league doubled and the league expanded, you know, up until most recently the Philadelphia Flyers, you know, never drafted and developed an elite level defenseman. They either signed the defenseman by way of free agency or they traded for them. If you think I'm wrong, I will pause right now and you can tell me how I'm wrong. No, Ben Wilson doesn't count.

He wasn't elite. Like, they just never did it. But now you're starting to see whether it's Ivan Proveroff, who makes a league this year. And by the way, when you're watching the fly, watch how big Ivan Proveroff stick. He has a two-inch extension. And so he has this, a weird style when he skates. He's got his elbow way up in the air. It's a bizarre thing to see.

But watch for Philadelphia Flyers fans and Game Center observers of the Philadelphia Flyers. But now you're starting to see, we saw a last few of Shane Gosses Bear from Union, you're starting to see homegrown defensemen on the Philadelphia Flyers blue line at the high level at an upper end. We've never seen that, Dimitri. You know, we've never, Travis Sandheim, Sam Moran. Like, we've never seen the Philadelphia Flyers draft and develop a blue line. this is another love letter to Ron Hextall, who despite, you know, when Ed Snyder was still with us, you know, every year is being like, you know, mortgage is a future. We got to go for it. We know, we got to win every game. Win every year. We got to be contending for the Stanley Cup. You know, always fought back and said, no, man, we're playing the long game here in Philadelphia. You know, we can't keep playing the short game. So for that reason, I'm really interested to watch it. And I want to see Connectney. And if he sticks for the entire year, that could be a real nice, mid to late round find for the Philadelphia Flyers.

So yeah, give me some affiliate number five. Yeah, I mean, I have the Flyers at six, and I don't know if people are going to be surprised that we have them this high, but the top end talent here is going to be. And it's the Flyers. You know that they just, for whatever reason, get into these interesting games where everyone's talking about them, whether it's like a 6-5 game or, you know, there's skirmishes going on. It's like a Raggo Gudis destroying someone.

That's what you try to say. Yes. I mean, the blue line is, I'm really happy that they're going to be relying less on guys like Andrew McDonald and Nick Schultz and these guys and bringing Provov into the mix. I mean, the thing that when I see Provovrov in the limited viewings that I've seen of him, it looks like he's just thinking the game on another level than anyone else. It's like he's seeing it three steps ahead and he's putting himself in a position where he kind of makes it look a little effortless. Like you watch him and you're not blown away by anything he's doing, but that's because he's just making it

looks so easy because he's so far ahead of everyone else. So I think he's going to be amazing there. And then, you know, we haven't mentioned, I think Wayne Simmons is quite arguably one of my favorite players to watch in the league. It's, I don't know how he does it. I mean, you watch him out there and it looks painful watching him skating, lumbering up and down the ice. But he's just so fun in and around the net.

And he's probably the scariest person in the league, I think. Nobody, and I mean nobody, tips puck's better than Wayne Simmons. In front of the net, no one tips puck's better. I don't know what it is about that hand-eye coordination that Wayne Simmons has, but damn it, no one gets their stick on parks in the air better than Wayne Simmons. And I don't know if this, you know, I'm going to be outing myself as a massive hockey nerd here. I mean, I do host a podcast called a hockey video cast. I've probably already done that to myself. But next time you watch the flyers for everyone out there, especially on the power play, watch Wayne Simmons operate around the net because it's the underrated thing that he does is how he positions himself to receive, you know, these amazing.

passing passes from a guy like Claudeau, for example. He makes life so much easier for him because whether it's just how he's kind of contorting his body or where he's, he always has his stick in the right places, the right time. And you mentioned, and he's just, it's really fun watching him operate around there in his office. And he's tough as nails. He has a little bit of what, you know, it's so funny because we talk about, and we just mentioned Chris Russell a while ago, and that was going to be, you know, the eyeball test versus analytics, right?

That was the big debate. But when you look at someone like Wayne Simmons, doesn't he have something in there for every type of person who watches hockey. You know, the numbers are great. The subtlety is great. And then just that raw bone toughness on the wing is old school and its approach. Like I know it's something we're turning this into the Wayne Simmons hour, but for good reason. Like this guy has something to satisfy the appetites of, I would argue, just about every single viewer of hockey.

Like you can watch his game and take something away from it saying, yeah, I really like this about this guy's game. whether you're hardcore with the numbers or hardcore with we like big burly power forwards going up and down the wing. And if they want to throw knuckles five or ten times a year, well, so be it. I think he's got this. There's something in Wayne Simmons for everybody, essentially is what I'm saying. Yeah, just Wayne Simmons just brings people together. I think he's like the United Nations.

We're a Benetton commercial. Yes. So I have the Jets 8, Shark 7, and Flyers 6. And then we're going to get into the top five. So I think the Jets are going to be really fun to watch. Last year was, I mean, if they had to do it over again, I'm sure they would do it exactly the same way because they got their hands on a guy like Patrick Lainey. But there was like a really weird mismatch between how fun they were to watch and the talent

that they had on that team versus how much winning they were actually doing. And I think that they're kind of a trendy pick here to make a run, especially now that they sent Pavlich down and will be relying on Connor Haleboyke to kind of carry the load. Yeah. And we'll be interesting to see how this stand. off between Truba and Shevoldeoff works out because this isn't just, you know, player demands trade so general manager tries to get the max value out of him. I mean, this is a really sensitive market, not unlike Edmonton, where, you know, just to be blunt, you need players to want to

play there, you know, you need guys that are going to want to stay, you know, Winnipeg winnipeg winters can be pretty unforgiving. And when you're making a choice between whether they don't want to go play with the New York Rangers or the Winnipeg Jets, I mean, there are certain things. things that other markets offer above and beyond compensation from the team that Winnipeg just can't. So if you're Kevin Shevoldeoff, this isn't just a hockey decision, you know, based on what's happening on the ice. This is sort of message to the marketplace that you just can't ask for a trade because you don't like how you're being used and the general manager can acquiesce. And the interesting thing about that is too, you know, prior to that of Vander Cain deal,

what did Kevin Shevoldeoff have his reputation? He was paid. patient and it was painful. Like, what is he doing, putting the day off and shovel day off? Like, is he doing anything? What's going? He is a patient, patient general manager. I really, honestly, Dimitri, I really don't think that Kevin Shevledeoff is going to get backed into a situation where right away I need to acquiesce and give this player what he wants. Yeah, yeah. And they're big, and listen, and they're big and they're skilled and they're fast and they're strong. And I think, you know, people look at, you know, look where they play and it's going to be challenging for them. I'm with you. I think they're a better team than people give credit for. Yeah, but that's frustrating. I'd love to see Truba in that lineup and utilize properly

because, like I mentioned, they're going to be a fun name to watch, and I think they could be very good and make some noise in that Central Division. So I hope something it's worked out there. Let me ask you this. Who would you rather have as your second pairing right side defenseman? Tyler Myers or Jacob Truba. I'll take Truba. Yes, for sure. I don't even think it's really much of a debate. No, I'm taking Truba all day all night on that one, but Myers is the guy behind Buffum. Yeah. Well, I think, I guess there's people that are kind of worried about Bufflin in terms of he might be too risky for them or whatever. But I would argue that Bufflin is sort of in the Wayne Simmons mold, the type of player that really kind of does a little bit of everything for everyone out there. Like he has these highlight real plays where he looks amazing and he does stuff that no one else can do out there. His numbers are amazing. He's big, tough, and physical. I don't understand how anyone can watch us in Bufflin and not just be infatuated with him. Well, he does put his team short-handed. I guess that is true, yes.

That might be the one. That might be the one knock against them. Let's get to our top couple of pictures. Okay. So I had three, four, five. I kind of ranked them together. And that's, there's sort of the class of the east. I had the lightning, the penguins, the capitals.

And I think that I can't really quibble if you want to put one or above or the other. I think it's kind of subjective amongst those three teams. Yeah, I had the capitals a little bit lower. And that just might be because I've, you know, I've always looked for it. Maybe I just take them for granted. But the one thing that I'm really curious to see this year is curious to see slash expecting. I'm expecting Andre Beirokowski to pop this year. Like we all know that stuff.

I know that you can go right down Baxter. You know what, you know, Carlson. You know what's there. To me, one of the big questions is, are we going to see that Andre Burekowski that we think has always been there? Is this going to be that Andre Burekowski takes that next big step? Because other than that, I mean, we already know this is an excellent team. team is the team that can win the Stanley Cup. In no way is the window, you know, closed on the Washington Capitals.

This is still an excellent team with an excellent coach and the best left winger in the game and, you know, that are dynamic and they're smart and they're skilled and they're deep. And the only question I have is how good can this Berkowski kid be? Yeah. And I mean, it's insane to say because Ovechkin is such an amazing talent. But I think that if I had to pick one player that I love watching the most on this team, it's probably of getting you because that's out. Yeah.

No, I know. He's fun. There's no... To me, I mean, I'm a big backstrom guy. Yeah. And I think there's a sulky trophy in there somewhere down the road. I really do. But yeah, I'll...

I'll... I got Washington 8 and I probably have them too low. But that just might be because, listen, I know what I'm getting with Washington. And it's excellent. It's great hockey. It's a lot of fun. If you're picking...

one guy right now in the league to kind of quarterback your power play from that half wall area. Is it backstrom? Is it Juru or is it still Joe Thornton? I'll still take Joe Burton. It's still the premier pastor in the NHL. Yeah. The possession. I'll still take the bearded possession monster.

Yes. I'll still take Joe Thornton. Yeah. Okay. And then, you know, the penguins, hopefully Crosby's okay. We know enough about hand injuries now that I really hope that they don't try to rush them back in there. And I hope everything works out because it is such a shame. I feel like the narrative had shifted a little bit here now that they won the Stanley Cup,

and he was so good in the World Cup, and obviously won the MVP there, and everything was kind of clicking at the right time, and now this happens, which is kind of a bummer for all the times. Yeah, I wonder about the blue line. I know it's the obvious thing to say, but that to me, I mean, what's not to love about Chris LaTang? And then after that, you're going to get a lot of question marks. I still do wonder about the blue line, but yeah, I'm with you.

Penguins are still a fun team to watch. and yeah knock out wood Crosby stays healthy so where are we at with Derek Pooleyot is he ever gonna do what we thought Is it just me

Does it look like he's lost Like about 80 pounds Yeah he does look a little bit Like he looks like he has like I know that your motherford put a lot on They really disappointed that last year Didn't really happen for him And he always kind of

Derek Poolyot Even going back to junior I always had that like Bigger Kind of chubby head of face You know he's like And I look at him this year I'm like

Holy smokes how much weight did you lose in the offseason? We've all been waiting for that first round pick to show up and be an impact guy. I would go a lot to alleviate some of the problems I think the Penguins may have on their back end. So I know it doesn't make good for a podcast when one person on it says the answer is I don't know. But when it comes to Derek Fuliot, honestly, Dimitri, I'm not going to bullshit you. I've known you too long and her listeners as well. I don't know.

That's my answer. You can make a big difference for them. Okay, the number one team I had was the Dallas Stars, and I know you mentioned them. I think you had them at six or so. Yep. What made you drop them down the list? You just liked the other teams that much more?

They lost two big pieces off that blue line in Gologoski and Demers. And I, going with kids, you know, Alexiac and Nemeth and Matthias Janmark, he may be gone for the whole season. Like that's how bad that injury is. What's not to love about Tyler Sagan and Jamie Ben? and for that reason and John Klingberg. So I'll always tune in to Dallas Stars games, especially if they're going to play that up and down the ice

and let's just trade goals and let's see what happens and last shot wins. But I've got Nashville at number one. Yeah. I got the Preds in at number one, man. I am all, I've pushed my chips to the middle of the table this year for Nashville. Yes.

Yeah. Just one final thing on the Stars. I don't know if I'm necessarily just like chasing the high from last year or not and I might be disappointed. But I mean, I honestly can't remember anything in recent memory that was just like that. Like, it was like every single night it felt like people were just like, the stars are on. You should probably, you should probably put them on immediately. Washington was like that for a long time too.

And maybe they still are. Yeah. Like, I know. Like the dream final would have been like a high-flying Washington, Dallas final. Yeah. Which we still might get this year. I doubt it. But I know what you mean.

I still, man, I just still can't figure out the Lori Karpikoski signing. Yeah. that peace yeah strange okay so predator predator's time um I had them in number two I have number one yeah man I what's not to like

the thing that's amazing to me is sort of just the organizational facelift they've undergone right like for all those years under barry trots even when they were winning it was oh well they have no forward talent up front it's it's you know they're they're boring to watch and now they're just it's an embarrassment of riches with all

the guys they have, particularly young guys. And when you look at this top line with Kevin Fiala, Ryan Johansson, and Philip Foreswig, and that might be the number one line in terms of just like how entertaining they're going to be to watch. Yep. And let me play a quick little game for you. Let's focus in on the forward specifically, right? Philip Foresberg, James Neal, Ryan Johansson, Kelly Yarncroke, Mike Fisher, Mike Rubiro. What do they all have in common?

They play for the Predators? All trades. No, we talk so much about you need to draft and develop and that's the kind of league it is, and that's the way you build your team. Isn't David Poil saying, well, hang on a second, guys. There's not just one way to build a team here. There are other ways to build a team, and you can do it through trades. You have to get lucky, but you have to be shrewd, you have to be smart, you have to know what you have.

to me the story of the national predators is an interesting one up front because these are all guys that have been you know these guys are all trades yeah these are all players that came from somewhere else and they've done such a good job of drafting as well to compliment that because whether it's guys like mika solomaki or victor arbitson or both underrated both underrated huge huge Vlad camina fan i think he's going to be on the way soon because he's probably too good for the hl already at this point i mean you some of these guys you look at them and it's just Nashville just they have so much talent up front and and the blue line is still a strong suit for them. I'm just the one thing I'm worried about with them is, I mean, other than Pecorane is it just seems like so, such an obvious thing. Everyone is so all in on them that generally I, as a sports fan, I feel like something bad is going to happen. But maybe maybe it just kind of overthinking it, I think just kind of enjoy it because they're, they're going to be amazing.

And one of the things that I like about it too is the coach isn't afraid to open it up. I know we talk a lot about Lindy Rough in Dallas, but I mean, Peter Lovie. Gillette, you know, he's fine, you know, he's fine playing pond hockey. Like, all right, boys, let's get at it. Let's just open it up and we have a really good team. Here, let's see who wins. I know, you wonder if a team that's been so used to being the underdog and the counterpuncher, you know, once they become a team of expectation, like significant, dude, I've got them

winning the Stanley Cup this year. Once you become that squad, all of a sudden, it's like when a backup goalie becomes a starter, your mindset changes. Now, all of a sudden, there's expectation. and you're responsible. You wonder if that changes a team. But I think that most of these guys have been there long enough that they're probably ready to switch that mindset.

And if they haven't already going back to the last couple of seasons. Yeah, we're on the same page. All in on the predators. There you have it, man. One to 30. That was a lot of fun. I didn't think we'd do it still with a couple of minutes so I can go and pick up my kids from school.

That's great. Plug the new stuff you're doing over at sports. Oh, all kinds of shit. So I'm doing the top 31 draft rankings now. Yes, Las Vegas will be in the draft this year. Those rankings will update monthly in a accompanying podcast. The Prospect Project, I should have thought of a better name. The Prospect Project, 2017 companies that.

MVSW continues. And as far as television goes, I'll be on doing our new 630 national show on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. And doing inserts into all of our regional games for that evening, plus assorted podcast and writing in Sportsnet.com. Beautiful. Well, Jeff. And then they hand me a broom and I sweep up on my way out. Listen, Ben, that was a lot of fun.

Thanks for taking the time. And I'm sure we'll have you back on soon. I hope that I did last year's podcast with Travis Justice because honestly, I'd say that honestly, that was one of my more favorite podcasts you guys did last year, you and Travis Joe. So I thought that was a great one. I loved it. I mean, I think you did great.

So I think that's all the matters. I just need the Travis Seal of approval on that one. I have to DM them. All right, man. We'll chat soon. Thanks, for having me on. Before we get out of here,

I just wanted to give some quick love to our friends over at FreshBooks. For those of you who don't know, FreshBooks is an online accounting service designed to save time and help avoid all the stresses that come with running a small business. If you're like me and you have to spend

a solid 90 minutes of time talking to Jeff Merrick on the phone, then you're probably pretty up against it time-wise to get a bunch of the other housekeeping things you know you need to eventually get done over with. So FreshBooks allows you to create easy professional-looking invoices in a matter of moments.

It also helps you keep track of all your expenses, who owes you what, and how much time you've spent on various projects. The reason why all this is relevant is because FreshBooks is now offering a 30-day unrestricted free trial to all of my listeners. To claim it, all you have to do is go to freshbooks.com

slash PDOCast and enter HockeyPEDEOCast in the how you heard about a section. That's freshbooks.com slash PDOCAST. The Hockey PEDEOCast with Dmitri Philipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com slash HockeyPedocast.