The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 194: A New Chapter

Episode Date: October 2, 2017

Chris Johnston joins the show to help preview the upcoming season by investigating the biggest and most interesting stories around the league. Topics include: 2:02 Hurricanes and Jets living up to the hype 5:27 Metro vs. Central for divisional supremacy 8:23 Can the Penguins do the unthinkable by three-peating 13:39 The best bets to bounce back after a down year 18:45 How the Kings can dig out of their hole 24:17 Sneaky Watchability Rankings teams 29:31 Canadian team most likely to break Stanley Cup drought 36:01 This year's most talked about league-wide trend Sponsoring today’s show is SeatGeek, which is making it easier than ever before to buy and sell sports and concert tickets. They’re giving our listeners a $20 rebate off of their first purchase. All you have to do is download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code PDO to get started. Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher. 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 are also 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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Welcome to the HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dimitri Filippovich. And joining me live from the practice rink is Chris Johnson. Chris, what's going on, man? I'm doing great, man, just in suburban Toronto here, two days before the NHL season gets going for real. I remember, I mean, you probably are leading the Hockey PioCast list of random locations we've recorded from. I remember you did one from like MSG during a Rangers playoff series.

We've done it from all over the place. So it's a new one, I think, for us, though. It is. I don't typically get to do such a thing here, but expecting some cuts today. So I had to get out here early. Okay, so the plan for today's show for us is, you know, the season starting in a couple days here. and we thought it would be a good time to bounce around the league a little bit and look at some of the most, you know, interesting or notable teams or players or storylines that we're going to kind of keep an eye on as the year gets going here because for a variety of reasons.

So, I don't know, I thought a good point to start here would be with two teams that I think have been trendy sleepers for a few years here. and I think people are optimistic once again heading into this season that they finally put it all together. But I don't know if you'll agree with that or how optimistic you are about them, but that's the Carolina Hurricanes, the Winnipeg Jets. How should people be wary of buying into these teams again as preseason sleepers, or do you think that this year is a little different from years past? No, I do see it as being a little bit different, you know, for both of those teams. And there's no guarantee, obviously, that the playoffs is coming,

this big breakthrough is coming, but there's not a lot of obvious holes. I mean, there's questions certainly about Winnipeg's goal tending, and I think that that's been a huge issue. I guess really for Carolina, too, with Scott Darling. I mean, you know, he's had a great , you know, backup numbers, but, you know, you're not sure until you see it if he's worth, you know, the faith they put in him in terms of giving him a four-year deal after making a trade to sign him. but, you know, to me, there's a lot of skill there. Both are kind of in tough divisions, and with the divisional playoff format, that'll be something to consider.

But, you know, I really wouldn't be surprised if we saw both these teams take a step forward and, you know, be competing in the playoffs in mid-April. Yeah, the Scott Darling one is fascinating to me because obviously, as you mentioned, I mean, he put up a 9-24 last year. He's, what, a 9-23 for his NHL career, but that's only spanning 75 games over a couple seasons here. So we don't really know what he's going to look like if he has to play 50, 60 games, and that could be an entirely different animal for him.

So I'm all optimistic about these teams. I think it would be, you know, as a thought exercise, if you got to just put the two of them together with Carolina's Blue Line and Winnipeg's forward talent up front, it would be a pretty good team. Well, and let's not forget. I mean, they didn't miss the playoffs by 20 points last year. And we've even seen teams that did miss the playoffs. You know, the Leafs two years ago were 30th in the league

and managed to get in last season. And so, you know, it's possible. And, you know, similar with Columbus, took a big jump last year. But, you know, we're only talking about four or five more wins, probably over the course of their season or maybe more shootout losses. But, you know, they don't need to make a ton of ground

from where they were to get in. And, you know, the darling one's sort of interesting because it reminds you, you've seen times when it worked. I mean, certainly Camp Talbot comes to mind as a goalie, you know, who had done well for the Rangers. as a backup, but, you know, Edmonton rolled the dice on him a bit, and he had a great year last year. And then, you know, even someone like Eddie Lack, who, you know, sort of seemed to be trending in that direction that didn't work out for him when he went to Carolina. So, you know, there's

a bit of a guessing game involved with the goalies, I think, and, you know, especially handling the increased workload. And, you know, I do think both those guys, as simple as it is, you know, hold the key to whether these teams do take a step forward, you know, whether it's Hellibuck or Steve Mason and Winnipeg and Darling in Carolina because I just see enough outside of them in front of them that those teams should be controlling the puck pretty well and able to beat some teams that have been more traditional heavyweights lately. Well, yeah, I mean, so those traditional heavyweights, I guess a good direction for us to pivot here with another question that's going to be fascinating to monitor is which

division in this league do you think is the toughest right now heading into the season because you know the metro last year was obviously a jam pack especially up top and had four or five really amazing teams during the regular season but um and the hurricanes will have to deal with that themselves but for the jets the central division is looking like it's going to be you know I think the Colorado avalanche it's safe to to not include them in this list but even they will probably be better than they were last season and all of a sudden you you could have some really stiff competition there. So which are those divisions do you think should scare the rest of the league more?

I lean still towards the metro simply because, you know, there's only three guaranteed spots for the playoffs, you know, five at the most. And, you know, I think you can make a case for basically everyone but New Jersey, potentially having a good enough season to be in those spots. I think that there's fewer maybe weak teams or evidently weak teams in that division. and even if we accept that Washington is likely to take a step back this year after, you know, shedding some important guys over the summer, you know, they're still going to be good. I don't see any reason to doubt Pittsburgh. You know, I'm actually very high on what the Columbus Blue Jackets have done.

I know Artemmy Panarin, the reports there is that, you know, he's been great in training camp and that they're very pleased with what they have and adding some high-end skill from him. You know, the Rangers, it's tough to say, but, you know, they've been a perennial playoff team, and Lungfist has been. a big part of that. You know, the islanders, to me, aren't too far off and then, you know, they only missed the playoffs last year by point. Philadelphia, I mean, you go down the list and then there's Carolina. To me, that's probably the deepest division in terms of making the playoffs. You know, I'm not going to sleep totally on the Pacific. I'm just not sure what to expect from some of those California teams. And, you know, it's been a number of years where we've had those teams as absolute powerhouses in the league, always usually among the handful that we

could see winning a Stanley Cup when you're having that kind of conversation. You know, does Anaheim, are they able to keep doing it? I tend to think so. You know, we think Edmonton's on the rise. I'm pretty high on Calgary's offseason and where they've positioned themselves. You know, the sharks will be an interesting story. Maybe this is a year that they are sort of clinging to having to fight to get in rather than getting in as comfortably as they typically have over the last 10 years.

You know, that's another one, but, you know, they're going to still have an expansion team in that division. The coyotes had a good off-season, but, you know, it's going to be tough for them. Vancouver's, you know, still in the midst of whatever it is they're doing, but not, you know, not in a position where we say really pushing for a playoff spot. So just in terms of sheer numbers in depth, I think the Metro enters the year as the powerhouse division. Yeah, I think that's fair. And, you know, so if you're looking to top that Metro, I was reading a fascinating story today

on the athletic, the Pittsburgh branch about Sydney Cross. And, you know, now that he's 30, how long can you keep this going? And whether the presence of a guy like McDavid is good for him, if it's going to, you know, motivate him and keep him going at this high level. And just it got me thinking about the Penguins as a whole and sort of how this year is going to go for them. Because obviously what they've done in the cap era is really sort of unprecedented at this point winning those back-to-back cups. And they still go into this year as, I mean, you can make a very good case that they are still the best team in the league. and I'm just wondering, you know, is it even fathomable that they could do this for a third straight year, or is something going to finally going to go wrong that's going to derail them?

It's fathomable, but I think that, you know, we really look at them as a team that Jim Rutherford's going to have to make some moves during the season. I think to give them the parts to make it possible, you know, their center position beyond having two of the best in the world. And I realize having those two players gives you a leg up on basically the entire league. But, you know, you get into a playoff series, I'd be a little concerned with their depth beyond Crosby and Malkin. But I do also think that, you know, there's plenty of time. I mean, Jim has been a very active trader, really his whole career is one of the longest serving, if not the longest serving GM in the league. You know, they're going to need a bit of, I just think a bit of a push to get there.

But, you know, I wouldn't bet against these guys. I mean, they did it last year with a blue line that, I just, you know, I just think. don't think many of us thought could withstand four playoff rounds and just the grind of that. And, you know, now having Chris Littang back, and we hope in a healthy form, because he's had the numerous injuries and ailments over the years that have kind of interrupted his career. But, you know, if he's there helping, you know, transition the puck up to those forwards, you know, I think Matt Murray, what was really interesting to me, Josh Yo, he had a piece with Matt Murray on the athletic Pittsburgh site.

and he was saying that he thinks he's only been average as an NHO goal, that he feels the numbers that he put up that one season, the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre when he had something like 12 shutouts and 40 games, had the best, say, percentage in the HL history, that he can reach those positions in the NHL level at some point. And, you know, maybe that's just a driven guy who's always going to try to get better. Maybe there's some modesty in that, but, you know, I think that there's no reason to doubt him.

and, you know, the two big guys, you know, I haven't seen enough evidence of them slowing down. I mean, it was two years ago at the start of the season when Crosby got off to the worst start of his career, and there was a lot of doubt about, you know, is this the end as he hit the wall? And, you know, what he's done since is really rewrite, I think, how we'll remember his career. And he was going to be a great either way. But, you know, with everything he's amassed in this last two-year, you know, time frame, it's pretty incredible. and, you know, I think he's driven, from what I hear, very driven to try to do it for a third straight year. Yeah.

Well, I mean, I was trying to construct the case of against the penguins. I was like, oh, well, you know, injuries happened. I was like, well, they had some pretty significant injuries last season, and that didn't really seem to slow them down. So, yeah, I think it would probably have to take a Crosby or Malcon injury or maybe just the fact that they have played so many games over these past two years, wearing them down a little bit, but it's tough to bet against them at this point, especially since there isn't like a natural obvious fit to supplant them out east like you'd like to say the capitals but they had such a miserable off season and it lost a lot of depth of their own so it's it's tough to be too high on them like maybe i don't know if you think the lightning can just really bounce back and regain that form they'd be an interesting candidate but beyond that there isn't there isn't a natural fit yeah for me it's it's the lightning and you know you don't put too much stock in these preseason predictions that we all have to do but you know they were my pick in sports dance preseason prediction to come out of the

the East and, you know, I, I, I really think that they handled last year as well as they could, that they were pretty upfront in terms of knowing where they were at the trade deadline and were able to do, you know, make some sort of sneaky good moves, like getting rid of Valtteri Philpola to have themselves in a better cap position. You know, I think the Duran move is intriguing and we'll see if Mikhail Surgiev can be part of their blue line on a regular basis this season. But, you know, just with the team that they've had there, I just think that I look at last season, you could chalk so much up to injuries.

And, you know, they're in a similar boat to where Pittsburgh is now, and a few other teams have been in that they played so many games, having been part of long playoff runs, the couple seasons prior to that, that, you know, I don't think it's a stretch to imagine them, you know, being a team that could challenge the penguins. And, you know, really when you talk about constructing a case for why a team won't win, it can be as simple as just saying,

if you remove their first line center, you know, basically any team in the playoffs, it might be difficult. I mean, if Pittsburgh had to weather through something like that, you know, I don't think that they would be able to keep going, although that being said, they just won a cup without their first, their top pairing right shot D. So anything's possible. Yeah, no, that's very fair. Okay, so I'm looking at a list of teams here that disappointed last season.

And I'm curious for your take on which. one you would think is the most likely candidate to bounce back. And obviously the Tampa Bay Lightning would take the answer here. So we're going to exclude them from this discussion. But you know, you have teams like, I don't know, you have the stars, you have the Panthers, you have the islanders, you're the Kings. Do any of those teams stick out to you as an obvious sort of bounce back candidate that could really regain form that they might have had in yours past previous to last season? Yeah, the stars probably jump out the most.

And, you know, there's a danger in this because, you know, we've seen this over the years. Any team that adds some of the more notable names that move in the offseason, they automatically go to the top of these lists, well, everything's going to be perfect. And, you know, the reality is that sometimes it can be difficult to find the right role for those players or it doesn't work as well as, you know, management had hoped when they looked at it on their whiteboard, you know, in their war room on July 1st. But, you know, it's just that team. team was so exciting two years ago, especially in the way that they played and they could

seemingly outscore a lot of their problems. I do think that they're better situated with Ben Bishop as the number one goaltender to maybe make up for any lapses on the defensive end than what they've had the last couple years with Kari Lattin and Antibemi. And, you know, just that, you know, Radulov, I mean, it seems like an embarrassment of riches, frankly, when you look at their depth at Ford. So, you know, it would be a surprise to me if they didn't have a better season. You know, I do think also Ken Hitchcock has a pretty long track record of making immediate impact when he gets to a team. And now we know he tends to wear out his welcome, so to speak, or sometimes the message doesn't get through for years and years and years. But, you know,

I wonder if we'll see a Gie-Boucher-esque effect on the stars now that, you know, he's there working with that group and, you know, trying to squeeze whatever he can out of a core of players that, that frankly is getting a bit long in the tooth up front. I mean, you know, they do have to kind of get it done here, I think, in the next couple of years before they're looking at turning things over. But, you know, to me, they're the most likely candidate to beyond Tampa to really have a great season after last year. Yeah, yeah.

No, you're right about that. I should have probably given the stars a bit more of an obvious credit there. Just that I guess, you know, from my perspective, I generally tend to look at these things from a wider scope and with a longer-term outlook. And I was not that high on the stars off-season just because it felt like a lot of the moves they made were kind of short-sighted, quick-fix moves

trying to wash away the bad memories of last season and have this instant turnaround without actually thinking long-term about it. But just heading into next year purely, I think that there's a pretty obvious blueprint here for them to follow to get significantly better than they were in 2016-17. Well, and there's a reason for that.

I mean, I think that if you're Jim Nell, that there's some question about, you know, your job stability if this year was another disappointment. And, you know, I also think it is because, you know, some of their frontline players, you know, even the Jamie Ben and, you know, Tyler Sagan, they're still younger-ish. They still have years, I think, that we can consider them pretty high-level performers, but you have Jason Spetsa there. It's just, it strikes me as a team that if you weren't going to consider a rebuild, and I think that it would be premature to kind of go down that route and be blowing it up,

that you're trying to extend the life, you know, for whatever it is with this particular core of players. I mean, it reminds me a little bit what Montreal has tried to do. And, you know, I know there's a lot of commentary about, you know, what sort of a confusion, I guess, about, you know, some of the moves that Canadians have made. But, you know, to me, it's about them looking at their team and thinking we're too good to consider dismantling this. We don't have a front-line center. and you tend to only get those players in the draft, although there are some exceptions.

And so you're just making moves to try to improve on what you have. And I just think that it will work for them this year in terms of them being a very good team, a team that's in the mix. I don't consider them one of my four or five picks that is likely to win the Stanley Cup as we stand here right now. But I do think that there will be a playoff team, which is obviously a step four.

from last year. Yeah, I'm rooting for it. I mean, it's easy to forget. You used to love stars, huh? Oh, man, yeah. It's honestly, last year was so just mediocre and underwhelming from them that it really just,

it made it really easy to forget how, they just took the league by storm the year prior. So, I mean, I don't think they're going to bounce back to that type of form under Kent Hitchcock. It seems like, and that might be a good thing for them, honestly, in terms of their ability to compete in the NHL. but I would like to see them get back to something resembling that at least. One of the teams I did mention there on the potential bounce back candidates was the Kings,

and I think they warrant a quick discussion here just because of some of the comments they've made this summer with regards to sort of acknowledging what's gone wrong the past few years in terms of team speed and not being able to convert this crazy shot volume they've had into actual goals, and then, you know, there's the point to be made that acknowledging that and recognizing it is one thing, but actually doing something about it and being able to is another. And I'm not sure they really have this summer and some of that has to do with their hands kind of being tied behind their backs

a little bit with some of the moves they made in the past. But is there any reason to believe that it's going to be a different story or is it going to be sort of a similar thing where they're going to be pretty good, you know, they're going to be around a 500 team. They're going to be difficult to play against. They're going to control possession. But ultimately, they're ceiling kind of capped with this roster they have. Well, there's certainly one team I don't think that needs to be explained, you know, what PDO is or what some of these analytics are because, you know, based on those comments you're referencing, it's very clear that they understood what went wrong and that they looked at, you know, what is a positive and what has been a strength of their team is their ability to control shot attempts, but not have very much finish and, you know, wanting to get better at that. I'm with you. I don't see the moves to this point to suggest that personnel-wise that they've, they've

really done a whole lot to address that. But I do wonder if maybe there's some systematic aspects with the new coach, with John Stevens, who's, you know, been there and been sort of a trusted advisor on the bench under Daryl Sutter's time, if there's things he can do. And maybe if there are a few moves up Rob Blake's sleeve, because it does seem as though he's trying to shed some of the skin from the championship teams. I mean, it's a dangerous thing for any organization that that wins, especially after a period of losing because, you know, I do think that the loyalty contracts in L.A. in particular

have become very onerous to manage there. But, you know, I think that they're an intriguing team to watch simply because they've sort of publicly identified what I think, you know, a lot of people like yourselves, Demetri and Tyler Delo have talked about as their weaknesses and then to see, you know, what they can do just now. I mean, it hasn't really been so long that Rob Blake's been in charge. And, you know, I'm willing to give him a little bit more time here to see, you know, ways he can get out from under some of these deals. I mean, you just go down the cap-friendly page, and it's a pretty ugly wasteland of Dustin Brown contracts and long-term to Marion Gabbarick and, you know, players that are just beyond the point of being productive anywhere near the level they're being compensated. And, you know, I don't see them taking a huge step forward this year, but, you know, I am kind of hopeful that,

they'll find their way to a better place because at least seems like they're working on the right areas. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough to talk yourself into it just because they're pretty much bringing back the same roster except, you know, from Michael Camilleri, who was a nice upgrade, especially at the price they got him for, but I'm not sure he's going to move the needle for them that dramatically just by himself. And I guess the blueprint from them to follow here would be something similar to what, like, the Philadelphia Flyers have done over the past few years where, I mean, it wasn't that long ago where if you looked at their cap-friendly page, you'd be horrified.

with a lot of the moves they had made in the past and the contracts they still on their books and it seemed like kind of getting out from under that would be an impossible task and then you know you make a couple moves here or there you obviously have to get someone to bite on some of those deals and all of a sudden you're you know you've got a brighter future for yourself and I think the flyers are a much better spot now than they were a couple years ago so I guess that would be something for uh king's fans to to look for in the future as as sort of the objective for this front office well and we've seen a lot of GMs be able to maneuver this? I mean, some of it I know gets some people wondering about the

legitimacy of injuries and such, but, you know, long-term injured reserves seems to be at a place a lot of the long, long-term deals to players over 30 end up being paid out and played out with them nowhere near the ice. I mean, perhaps that will be something. You know, certainly in Marion Gabrick's case, players had a ton of injuries. I know he's missed time during camp as well. So, you know, I'm not saying at this moment that it's going to happen, but at some point. And, you know, it's probably too bad for L.A. that they weren't able to do anything during the window with the Vegas expansion draft because, you know, we did see another team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, get rid of David Clarkson's contract in that.

Mikhail Grabowski from the Islanders ended up in Vegas under some similar maneuverings. And there was maybe a little bit more of an opportunity than normal to get out from under the big ones. But, you know, it is possible. some creativity and you know in some cases maybe you just have to bite the bullet and pay out a deal and use long-term LTIR to as a way around it but you know it it strikes me that you know for all the the complaining we do when you see T.J. O'Shee get an eight-year deal that very few of these truly hinder a team forever I mean it some certainly do but you know it just seems more often than not that there are ways that that we

see Chris Pronger become a coyote before the end of his career and things like this, that teams don't end up regretting those deals as much as we predict they do the day they're signed. Right. Yeah. No, that's definitely true. Okay, so next question here. I am doing the watchability rankings later this week, and I'm trying to kind of figure out

the sort of tiers and where I'm going to group teams. And I'm looking for a surprise team because it seems like, you know, my list so far is pretty chalk and it's sort of the obvious names up top and the obvious names of the bottom and then there's this massive tier in the middle of interchangeable teams. Is there anyone you're looking at heading into this season that you think could just be sort of that sneaky fun team, kind of like how the stars just kind of came out or I don't know where to take the league by storm a few years ago, maybe not even, you know, to that degree or even that good of a team, but just one that's going to be sort of every night people on our on Twitter

are going to be talking about their game and telling you to tune into that because it's like a five, four game that's really just kind of going off the rails. Is there anything like that that sticks out to you? I don't know if they count as sneaky. I mean, to me, I think the Leafs are going to be pretty fun to watch this year. Just seeing Nealander and Matthews, you know, do some pretty crazy stuff already in preseason and the success said last year. You know, I really think Patrick Lainey as opposed to have a kind of monster type season, potentially for the Jets and wonder just with the makeup of that team, because I do think there's some sort of, still some questions on their blue line that they could be, and with the goaltending, as we

addressed earlier, that they could be a 5-4 kind of team, you know, with Nikolai Heelers and Shifley and Wheeler. I mean, there's a lot in there, but, you know, those are teams, I think, that the hardcore hockey nerds have already been watching. You know, it's hard for me to identify a team that we would say was bad. I mean, let me give you one here, CJ. What do you think about this one? Okay. The coyotes. I was just going to kind of get there. I don't know how fun they'll be to watch though, but they'll certainly be more competitive. I mean, I like what they've done this summer. To me, they've added NHL players that they're going to be way more competitive, I would think. And they actually, you know, last season point-wise wasn't, you know,

they weren't down. It would be unfair to lump them in with the Colorado's or the teams that really were putrid last year. You know, I could see them being a bit more fun. I mean, Clayton Keller has had a pretty strong preseason and I think part of what makes these teams, especially the surprise ones, jump up to watchability ratings is if they have young players that people are just kind of getting to know and that are

actually contributing and doing a lot in their lineup. I could buy in on low on the coyotes in terms of I'm not devoting a lot of my my I guess my stock info onto them but I would give them a little bit of an investment in that

if you were pitching it because I see some possibility there and they certainly have some prospects. And if nothing else, I think that we're going to look a lot more like an NHL team, competitive NHL team. Right. Yeah. The reason I brought them up is because of the guys you mentioned like Keller and even, you know, you go down the list, Perlini, Christian Devorak.

I mean, Dylan Strom is finally going to get a chance here to stick in the NHL. Even like the guys at Christian Fisher. I mean, so they have all these intriguing young prospects that I'd like to see. And then one thing I look for in these watchability rankings a lot, is I really favor teams that have competent blue lines because I see how often, you know, just the ability to make those breakout passes and transition plays leads to exciting hockey. And so when you have the puck just dying on your stick every time coming out of your own zone, I don't particularly find that very exciting to watch.

So, you know, like a team like the Devils, for example, I'm fascinated to watch Hishier and Taylor Hall is exciting and Marcus Johansson is this neutral zone wizard. And so they have the forwards and even a Palazaka, but then I just don't see, other than if Will Butcher just takes the league by storm, like who's going to get them the puck that often? So I think that really caps the ceiling for a team like the devils in terms of how exciting they'll be to watch, whereas at least with the coyotes now,

you can talk yourselves into, you know, with OEL and Gologoski and Demers and all of a sudden they have guys that can actually do some stuff back there. So maybe it could come together for them a bit. See, yeah, you're making it make more sets. I mean, look, if you have great players and they don't have the puck, it's pretty boring. I know great players get the puck for themselves too, but, you know, we want to see teams that are in transition and creating that way. And, you know, it should be more fun.

I mean, it's going to be an interesting season, I think, you know, with a new coach as well and Rick Tocke to see, you know, perhaps what he's learned in working with some skill players in Pittsburgh to see, you know, in this go-round if he has a little bit more. And even moving past someone like Shane Dohn inside the organization, there's sort of an opportunity maybe to rebrand what the coyotes are. and some of these kids you would think we'll be having a lot of fun together. I mean, it's one thing I observed up close in covering the Leafs last year is that it's pretty neat, I think, for those players when they have a lot of their peers with them.

You know, they're not entering an environment where it's all 30-year-olds and they're scared to say too much that, you know, you kind of feel more part of a team right away. And maybe with having that many young players and skill and that skill being encouraged and then having the players you're talking about to transition the puck to them. Maybe that does add up to a little bit more fun than we've typically seen out there in Glendale. Okay, so we are, you know, this is a Sportsnet podcast, and we're both employees of Roger Sportsnet, so we're contractually obligated to talk a little bit about some Canadian teams here.

So if you have to pick one of the teams, that would be most likely to, let's say go all the way and break the streak here for Canada and winning the Cup, you know, it seems like the Leafs and the Oilers are the two obvious picks. Do you have a preference for which one of those two teams you think is going to be better this season, or is there a third team potentially that we haven't mentioned yet that they could kind of sneak in there and surprise? I have to go with Edmonton right now. I think that they got pretty valuable experience last year going to game seven, you know, almost getting to the Western Conference final already in their first time in the playoffs.

in a long, long time. You know, Connor McDavid, I'm not sure there's much I can add to what we don't already know, but when, you know, at his age when you win the scoring title, and then you're only in your third season now, I mean, he's, we, it's not unrealistic to expect him to go, you know, beyond 100 points. I think Leon Drysidal is a pretty imposing second line center, assuming that's where, you know, he spends most of the season. Their blue line's pretty good.

I mean, it's not a perfect team in terms of composition, but I think that they have enough there that, if we had to label one is the most likely to break the crazy drought that Canadian teams have, it would be the Oilers. You know, I'm still kind of sneaky, wondering about the flames. And, you know, I know that there's lots of reasons to doubt Mike Smith and certainly his age being the start of that. But, you know, you just kind of, you know, here in the optimism of the fall, wonder maybe if he can, you know, have a bit of a career, you know, Renaissance.

You know, we've seen other goaltenders do it. I think of Duane Rollisand back in the day. You know, had some pretty good seasons in his late 30s and even up to age 40. You know, if he can be capable and with the blue line they have, you know, I'm not sure if they have quite as much scoring to be a team that we'd say really can be a cup contender. But, you know, I can almost talk myself into thinking that Calgary could be a surprise there. And what, you know, what would be really interesting is that we're likely to see the flames and oilers. play a playoff series at some point

with the way that the playoff formats work and I think given the legitimate animus between those franchises I think that that would be quite something you know I the Leafs to me you're just not a team quite yet I'm stamping a cup contender maybe it's because I

watch them too close up from time to time you know covering them a lot day to day but you know their blue line to me It's sort of like the Penguins Blue Line last year where you have all these questions about it, but I don't think that they're the Penguins up front just quite yet. I mean, they're going to be a fun team to watch.

I think that they're going to get back to the playoffs again. But in terms of them ending the streak, we might be one year or too soon before anyone's predicting that. Right. Yeah, it seems like they're going to be much higher on the watchability rankings and they will be on the actual Stanley Cup contender rankings. Right. You don't want to bet against some of these guys. The one thing I will say is that I think that somewhat because of the way Austin Matthews came into the league,

that maybe some people in the wider hockey world might be underestimating his place in the conversation to be among the absolute best in the league. And I could see him, even though he scored 40 goals as a rookie, you almost think how could you move forward from that? Right. But I could, to me, he's a very good candidate to be a point of game guy, maybe even a slight tick better than that. And William Mielander is probably a little better than some people realize. So, you know, I see a lot there, you know, between that and Mike Babcock that maybe something crazy could happen. Maybe they're making a big deal at the deadline getting, you know, a right shot D that changes the outlook of their blue line. I mean, it's not impossible. It's just not probable, I don't think, as we're talking now. Yeah, with some of these, you know, young, great players that come into the league and have instant success, it's, it's, you know, it works both ways where, yeah, obviously, they're going to get better as they mature and get physically stronger and sort of find out some of these nuances of the game at the NH level at the same time. It's like, you know, thinking about a guy like Connor McDavid, like how much better could he possibly get individually? And then I circle back to the idea of, you know, that sort of growth will probably be reflected more so. how much better he makes his linemates and his team in general as opposed to his own actual point totals, right? Because it seems like, at a certain point, you reach a bit of a ceiling

where it's like how much better could this guy can see what we get than he already is at this point just purely from a point production perspective. Right, but, you know, I think that Crosby's career and there's been times where he focused on shooting more and then he scores 50 goals. And last year he won the Rock of Richard trophy. I mean, you might see, yeah, the point totals are sort of consistent, but there might be different ways these guys can impact the games. You know, what I've seen of Matthews is he's a dog on the puck. Like he is so often in the preseason

starting the back check out of the offensive zone and stealing it either at the blue line or early in the neutral zone and, you know, fueling the transition. And when you have someone who shoots as well as he does, but also his line mate William Meilander, I mean, I think in his case, he's due for a fairly sizable jump in points

from what he had last year. You know, the scoring wasn't the issue for the Leaves last season, though I believe they were second in the league and in total goals. So, you know, the question will be how they can do in their own end, you know, what they can do to keep Freddie Anderson from being under fire every night. But there's a strange level of optimism in Canada because we haven't even talked about Ottawa and, you know, they're not a PDO-Cast-friendly team by any stretch, but they did come one goal away from playing in the cup final last year.

You know, Montreal is Kerry Price. You know, there's certainly more teams that, you know, from two years ago where we didn't have any in the playoffs that you could see something, you know, exciting happening in the springtime, you know, then certainly we've had in a little while. Yeah, I think that's definitely fair. Okay, so one final thing before we get out of here. Is there any sort of storyline, maybe league-wide, more general, wider scope thing that we haven't touched on yet that is going to sort of, you predict, is going to be.

be kind of something that is going to gain traction the year goes along and has been going to come something we're all talking about more and more. I mean, you know, in the years past, we've had stuff like the goal scoring issue and maybe even league-wide trends, like how more teams are using four forwards and one defensemen on the power play or maybe rotating their goalies more and not going away from the true number one guy, where, of course, who starts like 70 games a year, like, is there something that we're going to see start materialize this season league-wide that we're going to talk about more as a year goes along?

Well, to me, we're moving one year forward from not really having enforcers, like even still from where we've been. And, you know, it seems to me that the teams are even going to change a little bit their fourth lines. And we saw a little bit of this. I think part of Columbus's success was having more kind of traditional skilled offensive players play fourth line minutes. You know, I wonder if any team will truly go for it and, you know, almost remove the idea of players without skill in general in their lineup. We might not get it this season, but because of the goal scoring issue you mentioned, to me it's a natural evolution for organizations when they're looking at ways that they can, you know, become incrementally better.

And, you know, I'd like to see that. You know, we have the opportunity as well if, you know, who knows where the officiating standard will go. But, you know, if the penalties keep getting called the way they have been in the preseason, there's more power plays. I mean, maybe this is a year that we see scoring go up because of a couple factors, including more, you know, skilled guys being in the league, but also more of those power play opportunities. And, you know, I do think we're trending where we have been trending dangerously close to the point where, you know, my sense is that people with the league are considering pretty drastic changes as a possibility, be it, you know, a larger net or some kind of change to force more scoring.

So, you know, they're going more traditional routes at this point, you know, i.e. crackdown on the penalties and teams doing some different things. but, you know, if there isn't more goals this year, and I think there should be, but if there isn't, I mean, then we're probably getting into that conversation of, you know, something, you know, sort of a fundamental change to the game because, you know, where the trend has been is something the NHL, I believe, is sort of incentivized to reduce. Do you think from a fan's perspective that, you know, artificially maybe inflating goal scoring by cracking down a penalties more is ultimately a good thing because on the one hand, it'll accomplish more goals as we saw when we came back from the previous lockout,

not the most recent one but the one before. But at the same time, like I think that at its root, like when hockey is at its purest is when you have this just free-flowing back and forth, 5-1-5 game with tons of transition and high-flying action and stopping and starting for all these penalties, seems like it would be kind of counterintuitive to achieving that goal. So I think it might be a little bit of a kind of a short-sighted missing the four-flying. for the trees thing. Well, there's sort of two conversations around that to me,

is that if you do, even if you're artificially increasing the goals, you're going to get better storylines. I mean, last year, just for off the top of my head, we didn't have a 50 goal score. And, you know, Connor McDavid only just got to 100 points. I mean, you're not having sort of milestone chases and the same excitement that that can produce. And I think that that does help sell the game on some level.

But I'm with you. I mean, anytime I'm at a game where you see it, ton of penalties called. I mean, it's, it's, it's not that much fun. I mean, it's, as interesting as power plays can be, and it's as close as we get to coaches, really having tactical advantages and really being able to, to do a lot, I think, to help their team have success or not. You know, it's, it's, it's not as exciting. And, you know, why we, why you have, like, the stars of two seasons ago ranks so high on your watchability ratings is it's just going back and forth. No, no lead is safe. And it's not because

there's 10 penalties in the game and the other teams go to the power play. It's because it's a free-flowing game. So, you know, I don't know the answer myself, but I suspect just knowing how the conversation has been with people I've talked to is they're looking at the hard numbers and they're saying we need that number to go up. And the easiest way to do it without sort of fundamentally changing the game is calling more penalties. And, you know, I think that that's partly what's behind. I mean, there's some player safety after seeing Johnny Gujarro and Mark Mothot and a few players get some pretty nasty injuries. from slashes last year.

But I think a lot of it is also motivated by a desire to see that total number of goals go up. Yeah. Yeah. I see both sides of it. CJ, you've fulfilled your obligation here. Enjoy Leif's practice. Enjoy the start of the regular season. And we will surely get you back on some point once the season gets going here back on the PDOCest.

And we'll chat then. Sounds good. It's never an obligation with you, first of all. And secondly, I'm pretty excited. headed to Winnipeg for opening night, and I think Leif's Jets was one of my favorite games to the regular season last year, and maybe we'll get something special right out of the hop again. Oh, that's awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to it, and we, as I said, we'll chat soon. Okay, buddy. See you.

The Hockey PDOCast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com slash hockeypedocast.