The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 110: Early Season Legit-O-Meter and Panic Meter

Episode Date: October 27, 2016

Chris Johnston joins the show for an early season edition of the Legit-O-Meter and Panic Meter, in which we try to figure out how sustainable the surprises thus far are moving forward. Here’s a quick rundown of the topics covered: 1:15 The spike in scoring 6:00 The Rangers rolling 4 skilled lines 10:00 How legit are the Oilers? 15:00 How worried should we be about Freddie Anderson? 22:30 The ghosts of Pavelec and Cam Ward 27:30 The California Teams 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.

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My name is Dimitri Filipovich. and joining me is a familiar voice, but one that hasn't been on the Hockey P.D.O. cast in way too long. It's Chris Johnston. Chris, what's going on, man? It feels like it's been forever, man. Did we do a World Cup one? It's been months.

We did one when I was in Toronto when you came over, and it was like in the peak off season where there was nothing going on, so we were just kind of trying to figure out what we could talk about. But, yeah, we haven't really discussed anything since the new season started. Yeah, that was the great days of July when we didn't need any excuse for day drinking. But that was the start of your off-season beard, and I see that it's kept hold and kept shape. It's looking good these days. It's lived on.

I mean, I have big shoes to fill being friends with you and trying to keep up with yours. But it's been nice. It just grew because I was lazy, and my wife liked it, and the people at work were okay with it. So now it lives. You're doing good, man. You're doing good. All right. So obviously, every team's played like five or six games.

We're only a couple weeks into the season. So it's always a bit sketchy to kind of draw very strong conclusions and try to make sense of what's going on so far because there's a lot of volatility involved. But we got to work with what we have, and I thought it would be kind of a fun exercise if we went through some of the main storylines so far and did a legitimator for the good performances and then a panic meter for the bad ones and kind of tried to figure out what's real

and what's going to come back crashing down to Earth. So a good place to start is, since this is an optimistic show, we'll start with the good stuff. And one of the main storylines earlier on has been that there's been a lot of high-scoring games and more goals are being scored in general across the league. And I think that I was looking, this is the first time the teams have averaged north of three goals per game since 0506, which was the year after the lockout where pretty much everything was being called as a penalty. So one potential answer I've seen for why this is happening is teams are just younger,

faster, more skill than ever, and fewer lineup spots are being wasted on guys that can. can't really play and contribute offensively. Do you buy that as the reason why, and do you think this is something we're going to see for the rest of the year? I certainly think it's legitimate. Scoring, to me, is going to continue to be up, maybe not to the degree that we're seeing right now because, you know, I just have this sort of fear. I think a lot of people do that have been around long enough that coaches are going to

react to this in certain ways and try to stifle it. But, you know, it seems to me in looking around the league that more teams have better, lower depth players in their lineup for the most part. And certainly players that are more skilled than we've seen. And I just think that that's going to keep it going. I mean, it just seems like, what are we now, maybe 90 games into a 1,300 game season. So it's pretty darn early.

But the degree to which scoring is up to me is significant enough that it suggests that this is going to continue. And let's face it, it's a lot of fun. We've already had a couple rookies. have hat-trick games, you know, some pretty memorable performances already. And then, you know, maybe we're going to see a few guys crack 100 points this year, like the good old days. Right.

And then I remember last year kind of in the middle of the debate we were having about how we increased goal scoring across the league, the point that I kept coming back to was that goals are nice and generally, you know, they make for more exciting games because if a team goes down to nothing early on, there's actually the possibility that they might come back and that just makes the product more entertaining. but the goals themselves aren't what's important. It's the play and increasing scoring chances.

And we've seen that so far, which I think is the more encouraging thing, that a big reason why we're seeing more of these goals scored is just that teams are just generating higher percentage of high-degree high-danger scoring chances. And if that persists, I think that regardless of how good the goalies are, we're going to see this spike continue. It might not necessarily be, as you said, as high as it has so far, because it feels like the first couple weeks have been very wacky in that regard.

but it's encouraging nonetheless. Well, and what I've found interesting is that it appears that most of the increases come at 5-on-5. It's not that there's been a binge of power plays and more power play scoring, which is, I think, what they observed in the 0-5-06 season when they really crack down on rules changes, and, you know, we're able to create more offense essentially by giving teams more man-advantages. I mean, this is happening when we're at regular strength. and you know, I do think it just part of it is the trend towards youth and skill and talent. And obviously, even a lot more teams, I think, are aware of, you know, trying to control the shot differential and generate things that way.

I mean, I think all these things factor into it. And, you know, just on top of that, we've seen enough poor goal-tending performances to fuel it as well. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I know that O5-O-6 season, it was kind of artificially propped up just because it was so many. any penalties being called. And we don't want to see that. I mean, the goals are nice, but if you keep kind of stopping and starting the game, it makes for a choppy product. And that sort of goes against everything we really want to see, which is like just a free-flowing game at 5-1-5.

Exactly. I mean, if it comes too much of a specialist type of game that way, and, you know, power plays, I think, are, you don't want to see six or seven a night. I mean, I guess if they're, if they're warranted, if the play is, you know, if teams are taking liberties, it maybe make some sense. But, you know, I've thought the games have been great. I mean, it's only two weeks in, but I've really enjoyed some of the games I've watched and attended this season. And, you know, I do have, I am feeling optimistic that this is going to register on a legitimator is something that's going to continue. Okay. So the goal scoring uptick is legit. Okay, moving on to the second topic I have. It's been one of the sneaky surprises so far this year. And there's, there's been kind of

ones that have come more out of left field. I mean, the Newark Rangers have been, good in years past so it's not necessarily that surprising but i feel like um some of the shine came off in the past year or so and especially the summer it felt like people were kind of throwing dirt on them and expecting them to really fall off fall off this year but i mean they won four of their six games they're they have one of the best goal differentials in the league and i mean just kind of digging into their underlying numbers everything seems legit i remember last year they were winning a very high percentage of their games but it was basically lunkwist and just some some well-timed shooting percentage spikes rather than anything they were really kind of doing sustainably and they of course came

back crashing back down earth as the year went along but um i don't know if you've had a chance to watch this team at all but the the fact that they can just roll four skilled fast lines and without much of a drop off is what's really kind of uh stuck out to me watching them play yeah the team play has surprised me frankly with the rangers and you know it was an organization they made some some pretty smart bets i think with their their depth signings uh you know maybe another team example of that that's been able to generate a little bit more with some of the players that they have around the margins outside

of their core players and you know it's nice to see them not relying to the same degree so far on Henrik Lundclist and I think the skepticism about that and some of the dirt throwing you observed was well earned I mean that that playoff series where they lost to Pittsburgh was not

it didn't inspire much confidence that better things lie ahead for the organization and even for Lundfus themselves was a tough series and kind of a tougher second half of last season than he had this year at the start of the year. But to me, I'm not sure if I can give them the full seal of approval legitimate, but that would register as a surprise and does appear to be something

that they've made some changes in and that they've maybe observe some of the same things that guys like yourself have Demetri and work to address that here and you're really going. Yeah, I mean, two guys that have really popped off the page are off the screen watching them have been Chris Kreider and Mika Zabinajad. Crider was obviously there last year, but he sort of constantly draws the ire of Rangers fans, I feel like, just because he has these flashes of brilliance and then has long stretches

where he doesn't seem to do anything. And Zabinajad, of course, came in over trade this offseason and he's looked great. But, no, I mean, anything they can do to help Blunquist is key because obviously he voiced a lot of his frustrations last year. at that time he flipped over the net and watching in that penguin series there were like at least four or five occasions where the camera would pan to him after a goal against or something and he would just just look I don't know just like he wanted to be anywhere else but but there at that moment and he got pulled out one time and he was just looking so glum on the bench and I mean he

has a 900 save percentage so far so he hasn't been immune to this goal score goal scoring spike we've seen across the league but if we know anything it's that henrik conquist is probably 920 save percentage in the bank just based on the fact that he's done it for like a decade straight now. So we know that he's going to improve the performance and if they can kind of help around him, then I think that they might not necessarily be totally legit as in being one of the best teams at the Eastern Conference, but I think that they're going to be a playoff team once again. Well, and an interesting thing that will be to follow there is there's a lot of talk out of the Rangers organization that they want to acquire a defenseman.

Obviously they've been one of the teams linked to Jacob Truva. you know, and if they were able to somehow make moves to improve their blue line, which, you know, at this stage of the season, when you get into all the cap trouble, it's not always easy to do, but that, I think, would go a long way because I still do have some question marks in the big picture about their defense corps. So, you know, if they're able to address that need, which they've obviously already identified themselves, I mean, they could, you know, maybe even get a little bit more love from the PDO cast here, which isn't something that they can say a lot of lately. Yes, yes, that's for sure.

Okay, the third topic, the Edmonton Oilers, who are definitely much more surprising than the New York Rangers. And I know that there was sort of like a little bit of a trendy sleeper pick this offseason, and a lot of that obviously has to do with Connor McDavid, and a lot of people had him as a very viable Art Ross candidate, and that's looking like that could definitely be the case so far. But I was a bit skeptical just based on, I mean, you discussed the margins with the Rangers there,

and looking at this roster, I kind of wondered about sort of the, depth roles about whether they'd be able to hang with the upper part of this roster. And so far, so far so good. But I don't know. What have you seen from them? I know you've watched Connor McDavid pretty closely. Well, he's been as Bill. I mean, I think where the surprise comes in is just kind of the different range of guys

that have been scoring for them. I mean, they've had a lot of contributions from the players that no one would expect to do much, which kind of makes me a little bit skeptical. because, you know, I don't think the pitlicks of the world are going to score at the same rate they have. I believe he's got three goals as we're speaking now. You know, I'm still not completely sold, but clearly they've taken a step forward. I mean, the cynic in me thinks how they couldn't really go further back with where they've been and with what they have now in Connor McDavid.

I mean, there's no debate about where this guy stands now. I don't think it's only a matter of time before he's totally realized. kind of the future most people have been talking about for them for three or four seasons now. And, you know, I'll give them credit, though. They've had, I think, a bit of a soft schedule to begin with, but they've made good on it. And they're off to the best start they've had in 30 years as a team. But I still think it's going to be a slog for them to get into the playoffs over the season. And they're capable of doing it, but, you know, I think the jury is still out here

on just how legitimate that this team is at this point. Yeah, I mean, McDavid is just, honestly, it renders me a bit speechless watching him play just because I was joking on Twitter. He's basically got Michael Grabner's legs with George Costanza's soft, smooth hands. And it's an unfair combination where he can kind of create all these scoring chances for himself and for his teammates, but then actually be like one of the best, most efficient finishers in the league. And he has this one move. I've noticed across the league with the younger players, but he does it better than anyone else where he just sort of finds an open space in the ice and throws the puck there and then

just goes and gets it because he can and you know either he winds up retrieving it or he draws a penalty on someone who just can't keep up with him and winds up resorting him or taking him down so i think mac david himself is worth watching uh no matter what and it's kind of been surprising that the rest of the team has been able to to hold serve as well well he's such a product of his time I mean, we're talking about a guy, what's he, 51 games into his NHL career now, and he's already, you know, I think, kind of figured out, you know, where he can dominate and how he can dominate. I mean, it's a perfect kind of poster boy for this era of the league

where just so many rookies being put in in more prominent roles right across, you know, it seems like every team more than we've seen in the past. And maybe with him, it'll be an interesting study. And I don't want to, he's not totally doing it by himself, but kind of how far one man, especially when that one man isn't a goal tenor can carry his team. Because, you know, he is so far and above the best player they have. And, you know, it's going to be interesting to watch.

I mean, it isn't beyond the possibility he'll carry them to a playhouse spot. I'm just not sure yet myself that they'll get there. Yeah, I mean, right before the season started, I was recording with Andrew Berkshire and we were doing the top ten centers. And I felt a little uneasy putting Connemick-David super high up the list just because we had seen less than 50 games from him. but I mean after these first two weeks I find it hard not to put him at least

I mean definitely in the top five but maybe even in like that top three range with the Bergerons and the Crosby's of the world he's been that good yeah well good for you so where did you have him in that list I didn't hear that I think I had him like fifth or six like right behind the top guys I think I had Copitar ahead of him as well

just based on track record and sort of how confident I felt in that performance but I mean he's been so overwhelmingly dominant so far that it's just impossible to sort of ignore the case he's putting together. That's pretty awesome. Six games in the regular season, and he's already moved to climbing the list. I mean, maybe he'll be won by the end of the year if this continues. I think it's possible. I mean, just, I mean, a lot of people had him as like,

listen, the Oilers might not be that good, but I think Conner-McDavid's a very good bet to win the Ratt Ross just because he's going to score so many points. And, I mean, he has nine points in six games so far, so I guess so far so good. Yeah, no complaints there if you're them. Yeah. All right. And so the last sort of topic I had on the Legitometer here and it's going to be a good transition for the panic meter is the Toronto Maple Leafs. And so they've won only once in six games and a couple of them have been very winnable ones that they really should have won. And the bad has been, I mean, their 29th and

5-1-5 say percentage and Freddie Anderson's come under a lot of scrutiny already. So we can get into that in a bit. But the good is Austin Matthews leads the league in goals and points. Mitch Marner seems like he's making something happen on pretty much every shift. And Willie Nealander, I think I saw as a point of game in his last 20 NHL games dating back to last season. So I think the fact that this is a team that not too long ago, one of the main storylines surrounding them, was what was up with Tyler Bozac. And so I feel like people don't even really realize that Tyler Bozac is even on this team anymore.

So I think it's, there's a lot of positive stuff to talk about with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it seems like the play of Friendie Anderson and these late blown leads have kind of drawing a lot of the attention as well. Yeah, which in some ways, in the big picture of your lease, not be the end of the world because it is taking some of the spotlight off the young guys. I mean, you know, had they even won the game they just played against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, maybe everyone's story and focus out towards it would have been Matthews leading the league and goals and points. And let's face it, that in itself, I don't believe it's sustainable for him.

But, you know, to me, what's interesting about the Leafs is for a 30th place team last year, they had pretty good underlying metrics, you know, for where they finished in the league. They obviously had a very low shooting percentage that they couldn't score. They didn't have near the talent. And, you know, after injecting some of that talent, they've kind of done a bit of the same thing. And without the goaltending performance so far, they definitely would have won more games. I mean, they're not just hanging on. This is a long way from the Randy Carlisle era in terms of how the team plays as a team.

And certainly a long way from that era in that, you know, you had Phil Kessel back then, it was a pretty impressive singular talent, but now you've got three forwards, Neelander, Marner, and Matthews who look like they have tremendous potential. You know, to me, there's a lot to be excited about in Toronto. But in terms of how legitimate they are, this season feels like it's going to be a roller coaster for them,

just because there's a big unknown with Freddie Anderson. Let's face it, I mean, he had a really strong career in Anaheim, but this is a totally different animal on a number of levels. He's the unquestioned number one entering this year. He's got a five-year contract worth pretty good money, and he's got a lot of expectations that I don't think he's ever shouldered before. And on top of that, he is going to play in front of a team that still has some issues on the blue line is going to give up some tough chances.

So, you know, he's admitted that he's not comfortable yet here, and I think that that could be an interesting dynamic if the team continues to play, you know, well in front of him, controlling the large portion of play, but are losing games because you can't make a save. I mean, look out. You can already see it growing on the horizon, and it is just still so early in the year. Right.

I mean, with a lot of these sort of younger, exciting teams, a lot of forward talent, we, like, let's say like the Arizona Coyotes, for example, you know, last year we were saying, it's awesome that they have these guys that fans can be excited about now. We can watch on a daily basis, and they're generating a lot of goals, but I think the franchise themselves is pretty content with kind of losing due to goaltending because it's going to help them in the long term in terms of getting higher picks

and kind of cultivating more young talent. But for the Leafs, I mean, they did make that investment in Anderson, so it's pretty clear that, you know, this isn't one of those cases where they're like, we're perfectly cool with the goaltending kind of just submarining us and us just playing exciting games, but ultimately losing and being in the lottery again. Like it's pretty clear that with how well some of these young guys are playing, they should expect better of Anderson, and it'll be disappointing if this continues moving forward.

Yeah, well, I mean, we're a little ways off this, but it will become very troubling very soon if it continues, because, you know, let's face it, the Leafs are in Sourkept jail of their own right now. They're not that far off having to pay these young guys that people are excited about and to be locked into a goalie that long. I mean, they felt they did a lot of due diligence on them.

They felt very comfortable, obviously, and surrendering assets and then signing him to a five-year contract, giving them more security than most goleys get at any point in their careers. And so he's got to deliver on that. I mean, there's just no way around it. And if it doesn't happen, this will be a big issue for the Leafs. And there's already a lot of people tying it to some of the decisions of the past, be it acquiring John & Bernier or Vesotoskal or even Andrew Raycroft.

I mean, there's so many scarred minds around the Leafs franchise in terms of fans. that everyone's already bringing this up. But, you know, Frederick Anderson can silence it, I suppose, if he starts to play better. But there's a lot of, I mean, you miss a month due to injury right before and into the start of training camp. I mean, that's tough in itself to come back from. And even some people wondering if maybe the Leafs are asking him to play

in a style that he's not entirely comfortable with. Yeah. Before we move on the Leafs, there, move off the Leafs, there is one thing that's kind of caught my attention. And listen, I know that Mike Babcock is considered one of the best coaches in the league, if not the best coach, and deservedly so. I mean, his track record is amazing. But all these guys, even like John Cooper, for example,

and all these guys that we think are really good coaches have these blind spots that they just can't seem to get past. And one that I've noticed early this season with Babcock is this Roman Polack, Matt Hunwick pairing, which I don't know, you follow the team pretty closely and cover them. Is there any sort of logical explanation for why those two guys have been on the ice at the same time, let alone in the lineup to begin with? no logic that I can see other than it's only happened kind of when a team is when nothing's going right I mean when he just starts juggling things up I mean they haven't started a game as a pairing it's never been

kind of a conscious decision made with a lot of thought I mean I guess I guess maybe he's putting thought into it when he switches to it during the game but it hasn't been very good I mean it is I mean let's face it the least need a better blue line I don't think that they have of the eight guys guys they have here now, I don't think there is a perfect six among them. But it's very strange to me that Frank Carrotto, again, hasn't got in after sitting, I believe, 39 of the first 43 games last year. The Leafs are reluctant to put them on waivers, you know, because they'll almost certainly lose them. But then they don't want to play them. I mean, it's kind of a weird dynamic around this blue line right now. But, you know, Matt Hunwick, I guess the best way to understand it is that's a safety guy for Mike Babcock, for whatever reason, you know, he's a

He feels that he knows him well. They have sort of some personal connections from the past, and he just trusts him. Roman Pollack sat a couple games to start the year, and he's only recently been putting the lineup and has appeared on that pairing. But if you look at the results, it hasn't been very good, and I'd be quite surprised if it continues to be a pairing, you know, moving forward. Yeah, no, it's been weird. Okay, moving on with the panic meter. Two sleeper teams this off season, and I have to admit, I like both of them as well, were the Winnipeg Jets and the Carolina Hurricanes.

And so far they have three wins between them and the common denominator, as we just mentioned, with Freddie Anderson, the Leafs has been the same percentage. I mean, they're 30th and 28th in the league respectively. And it's been a combination of, I don't know, if it's the ghost of Andre Pavlik in Winnipeg or what, and then the curious case of Cam Ward in Carolina. But neither of these teams can seem to buy a save,

which is really disappointing because they have so much exciting forward talent and even on the blue line. Are you worried about both these teams, or do you think there's kind of some optimism for them? Yeah, my trembling right hand is hanging over the panic button, as we speak, in both cases, frankly, because I just don't see a lot of solutions for them. And, you know, the jets you would think would be in a better place

after choosing to move on from Andre Pavlich or sending him to the H.L., I guess he could reappear at some point if the struggles continue from Michael Hutchinson and Connor Hellebuck. But, you know, if that duo, and there's not a lot of track record to suggest yet, I mean, there's hope that they can become something over time, but they may not be ready for this moment.

And beyond that, you know, the Jets can really only turn back to Andre Pavlik, who's, you know, those that have been watching that team, has had a lot of ups and downs in Winnipeg and, you know, really was trusted for a long, long time despite some tough results. So, you know, they're hoping, I guess, That's still, if you're looking for no panic, I guess you have to hope that one of Hutchinson or Helibuck will be able to seize control here and lock things down. But, you know, it's been a tough start. And, you know, I just, I don't know.

I just don't get a good feeling that it's going to come from one of those players this season. So if your hopes in Winnipeg are to make the playoffs, I'm not sure the organization is it set on that. Maybe as the fan base, that maybe they don't mind another year. of trying to add a good prospect to the mix, but that's a very tough one. And let's face it, Cam Ward and Carolina, I know Demetri, you probably saw this coming. I think I saw a tweet to that extent from you recently here,

and again there, I mean, Carolina kind of creeped it briefly in the playoff race last year. I think they have a team that could get it done, but man, it's not looking good on the goaltending side. Well, the bizarre thing to me is, I mean, we know that with Eric Tal's, there and Ron Francis has done a great job. It's pretty clearly a forward-thinking organization that has its head on straight.

And then, I mean, you look at right now, they're fourth and an adjusted shot attempts, and then they're 30th and save percentage. And neither of those things are surprising based on what we saw last season, right? I mean, they have a lot of players that can play. And Bill Peters has them clicking, but they just can't buy a save. And I mean, you look, you mentioned the tweet I had since 2012, four goalies have a sub-9. 9, 10 save percentages that have been regulars, and they're Jonas Hiller, Ben, Scrivens,

Andre Pavik, and Cam Ward, and only one of them in the league, and that one guy got an extension this summer. And I don't know, like, I know no team would ever really openly admit to this, but I mean, it does sort of feel like one of those things where they kind of are intentionally maybe not winning

as many games as they could, so they could get better prospects moving forward. Like, that's the only possible explanation I have for why they paid on Cam Ward and then keep playing them. Well, and, you know, Obviously, they feel comfortable with them as a person. It's the devil you know, so to speak. And if you look back to last summer, you know,

there really weren't a ton of other options. I mean, they could have tried to get on James Reimer maybe or, you know, been one of the teams to try to trade for Frederick Anderson as Leif's did, although given what we've seen so far, maybe they were wise to not be part of that bidding. But, you know, it just felt like a tough summer to get better at that position. and, you know, with the comfort level of Cam Ward, you know, that that might have helped. But, man, it's, you would think the playoffs there are needed. They've had, you know, a lot of tough years in a row.

It's hurt their attendance. The team has been up for sale, at least half of it, you know, with the owner trying to bring on minority partners there. So there's a lot of reasons to want to win, and they look like they have a team from the outside of the goalie capable of doing that. So, you know, I would think if this continues, you'll see them get in the market for a goaltender, because I do think there's some pressure to put some victories up. But, you know, it probably is not going to happen at this point. They themselves haven't hit the panic button. We're just doing it for them.

Yes, yeah. I'm definitely on board. I'm hitting the panic button there. Let's move over here. You should have a sign-in the next time we do this. A little sound effect action. I was telling you earlier before we started recording, for those that have, I mean, I don't know if you will notice, but there's been very few sirens around,

and that's because I've moved to an area that there's fewer ambulances moving around, but there is a construction zone outside. So it's, you know, you win some and you lose some. That's life in a big city, man. I live downtown Toronto, and it's not quite outside my door very often. Yes. We're all good. Okay, one final thing, and it's the California teams.

So the ducks and the kings, I think they have quite a few issues. the Kings obviously with Jonathan Quick out are playing Peter Boudai which is amazing to me and they just signed or they brought in Anders Limbach on a PTO and they're trying to figure out what they're going to do there in Net to try and buy some saves and with the ducks I mean it's been predictably it's been unfortunate because we saw how good they could be in the latter stages of last year and they've kind of reverted back to their old ways and not having Hampus Linholm there obviously hurts them a lot but I think the common denominator with these two teams is I look at their rosters and I just wonder where the goals are going to come from because whether it's lacking the defensemen to move the puck or whether it's just general kind of team speed up front, I think they're going to really struggle, especially at 5-1-5, to score enough goals to be as good as we think they can be. Yeah, I mean, the Kings are going to be fascinating because they're kind of trying to do what Montreal wasn't able to last year in losing the guy that they rely on so much in net.

And I know that Kerry Price is an even better goal tenor than John and Quick. but I mean they're really going to have to patch it together. I think with their cap situation, unless they really contemplate doing something big and to this point, there's not a lot of willingness from the Kings to do that. They're just going to try to scrape by with these guys. And, you know, they look to be off to another great start as a possession team, but, you know, it's going to be tough.

I think that they're in serious danger of being a team that misses the playoffs again. You know, they kind of got into that where they locked up all the guys that helped win them the Cups to long-term deals, and they haven't really been able to bring a lot of new players into the fold as a result of that. It sort of, you know, felt like a bit of inertia there. And, you know, still very early, but, you know, I do have some real concerns for where the Kings are at, just with, again, the ill-timed injury to their goal-tending. And now they're down to their three and four, and they're flying out of Lynn back in from Sweden to see if he's got anything left at him.

And, man, I mean, they even looked at trading for Andre Platt Pavlick. So, you know, there's a lot in the air there, and I just don't see, they're kind of hamstrung by what they've done, you know, with the way their cap's been built and the way their team's been built. And, you know, it's sort of the ugly end. I feel like it's probably too soon that we're not going to see in Chicago, but it's the ugly end of winning a few cups is that, you know, in the cap world you're locked into the players of the age.

And, you know, I just don't. see enough there from LA to consider them a true contender again. And maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I would have some panic there as well, I guess, even at this early stage. Well, I'm glad you brought up the Blockhawks. I mean, I didn't even have them on this list, but that is sort of something that unites these teams. It's like this realization that when you win constantly in this league year over year, generally speaking, a lot of these GMs kind of reward the players that did that for them. And you pay for past performance rather than future one and that can always get you in trouble as we're seeing with these teams now where

you're kind of hamstrung and your hands are tied and you can't really bring in new talent and I don't know like I mean it's a great point with the ducks where we're seeing them play out the first couple weeks of the season without their best defensemen and I'm a little reticent to talk about it just because you know there could be a solution to the whole situation by the time we post this podcast but I mean is there anything happening on the Hampus Linholm front at this point it feels like both sides are completely dug in and you know obviously it only takes one or the other to change its mind and to reverse course on that because I think they're very clear on what kind of deal

would get it done from from either perspective but you know it's a strange one I'm surprised it's got this far in some ways even if you look back of their summer the fact that they signed sammy vatenen and that it was hampas windholm sort of left the twists in the wind I guess it's obviously because the Vaughan and deal was a little easier to get done. He came in for less money than what Hapus Lindholm's ultimately going to get. But, you know, it's a difficult situation. I think both with he and with Jacob Truba, you know, who's sitting out right now in Winnipeg without a contract,

that December 1st deadline is really the next hard deadline. And unless either the team's panic and neither shown that they're really close to do it, that, it's probably going to go down to late November before that situation gets solved. And you know, at that point, who knows what version of Hampus Lindholm you're putting in your lineup. You know, obviously, he's doing what he can to stay in shape,

but to join the NHL at that stage of the season, even as a young player, is going to be difficult. So, you know, it's a tough situation in Anaheim as well. And, you know, they're on the second version of Randy Carlyle. Obviously, a couple wins maybe is taking the heat off after that

that road trip to start the year. But you know, you got a feeling that all of a sudden after California being a place no one wanted to play as a road team, maybe the games are going to get a little easier when you got to travel west. I will say, you know, you mentioned that and the sharks are a team. I feel like I'm kind of kicking myself over not being higher on them in the preseason because, I mean, obviously they brought back most of the team that made the Stanley Cup final last year and they'd be good once again. But I feel like people were just like overlooking them a little bit when discussing the best teams in the West. but I've been really impressed watching them play.

And the thing that I didn't factor in that I really should have spent more time thinking about was how big the difference going from Roman Polack as your fifth or sixth defenseman to David Shlemko would be. Because, I mean, he's been fantastic so far. And he's basically the antithesis of Polack in terms of being able to move the puck and sort of fitting in with the rest of that blue line and what they're trying to do. And I mean, we discussed with the Rangers how they can roll four lines and without much of a drop-off. I mean, the sharks right now are rolling a fourth line of Matt Nietto, Tommy Wingles, and Melker Carlson, who were three players that, you know, could play on pretty much any team's third line and fit in perfectly.

So the sharks are loaded once again. And, you know, the ducks and kings, I think there's a lot of reasons to be concerned. But it's amazing that the sharks who have done their fair share of winning in the years past have managed to kind of keep the cycle going and keep bringing in young, fresh talent to sort of go with the Joe Pavelskys and Joe Thorntons of the world. Yeah, and as long as Joe Thelsohn's, you know, Thornton can keep, although there, I mean,

they're in great shape because, you know, he's amazing and so much focus on the youth and speed and everything and just the guy can just flat out still play

late into his 30s. And, you know, it's funny, though, I was thinking, last year if we did this podcast, this stage of the season, the sharks were not getting any love anywhere.

Most people thought they're kind of best before day to pass. So, you know, maybe the Anaheins or Chicago's or L.A. s will be able to make some moves, to bring in some players

that aren't even on the radar. so much yet to try to refresh where they're at. It's not a final answer on the status of them as organizations, but I just feel that we've gotten to the point where you don't automatically pin them in at the top of the Western Conference that, you know, really they've got to go out and earn it in a different way now in terms of even just getting the love from people like us. So you're right, the sharks look great.

You know, I see them, it wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them playing again next June, There's a lot of runway to traverse before we get there. There absolutely is. CJ, man, thanks for taking a time out of your busy schedule to come and chat. It's a shame that it's been so long since we've been able to do this, but I'm glad that we eventually got around to it. Yeah, I'm glad that we got hockey every night, man.

It's been so awesome these last couple weeks. You forget it. You enjoy the summer, but, man, I was missing it. So I'm sure I'll be on again soon because there's always lots of talk about. Absolutely. I look forward to it, and everyone can follow you on Twitter at Reporter Chris, but based on your follower account, I'm pretty sure every single person listening to this podcast already is doing that. So I'm not worried about it.

Okay. Well, thank you, bud. Have a good one. Bye now. Before we put a bow on another edition of the HockeyPedocast, let's give some love to the sponsor the show, FreshBooks. FreshBooks is an online accounting service designed to save you time and help you keep all your checks and balances in order. With their new user-friendly software, accomplishing that goal is now easier than ever. You can use their service to create professional-looking invoices in a matter of moments, track business expenses so you know,

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