The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 215: Window to Win

Episode Date: January 9, 2018

Jonatan Lindquist joins the show to discuss the Lias Andersson incident in the World Junior Championship final between Canada and Sweden (0:30), Rasmus Dahlin's NHL readiness and ideal landing spots (10:20), the Anaheim Ducks injury plagued season and window to win (21:12), and the perks of being a reporter in a non-traditional hockey market (42:35) 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 Hockey PEOCast. My name is Dimitri Filippovich, and joining me is my good buddy, Jonathan Linkwist. Jonathan, what's going on, man? Well, I'm down in California, enjoying being in California and not in Sweden right now. Yeah, I bet it's a bit warmer, right? It's a tiny difference, yeah, for sure. I mean, I went to New York for the Winter Classic, and that was obviously a hint of home. That's nice. I like Winner. Honestly, I like snow and all that, but California isn't too bad either.

Yeah, it's not bad. So, before we get going with this conversation, you know, the Twitter sphere was pretty excited that we were finally getting around to doing this podcast. Obviously, I've had your buddy Uffet Bodine on before, and I've been on your guy's podcast. I still haven't had Linus on, but it's good to have the Swedish Cosmo Kramer on here chatting hockey with me. Yeah, that's, I've been nicknamed that. I guess I don't keep too good of a track of myself all the time. So I guess that's what it comes from. You know what? I always been told, I don't know if you remember this. But I heard a story like way back that Dominic Hasek used to be called Kramer,

but his teammates in Buffalo because he looked like him. I don't know if you heard that. I did actually. Yeah, he does. Like I don't think I look like him. Maybe I behave like him, but I don't know. Maybe I look like him as well. Well, okay, so I should say before we get going here, because I've had someone on Twitter before tell me that I don't do a good enough job of actually introducing the guests.

I just say their names, but I don't say what they do or sort of what they bring to the table. So I'm going to introduce you here. So you cover the NHL for VSA from Anaheim. Is that basically it? Correct. So you can say that, so VESAT, for listeners who don't know, it's the Swedish and Finnish broadcaster of the NHL. so like sports net's obviously but in scandinavia so i cover like the focus is obvious on the swedish players

i'm based down here in california and i go to all the ducks games and most of the king's games but the focus is going to be on the swish players so i usually do the way team as uh as you might know almost every team has a suite right now it's only uh it's actually only the panthers who haven't used a single swedish player this season um good for the islanders getting sebastian owl up there the real sebastianawa i might say yes So, yeah, that's the deal. Awesome.

So you're the perfect guy to have on here then to talk a bit about the World Junior Championships and the thrilling final between Canada and Sweden on Friday evening since I haven't had a chance to do a show since then. I think we're both in agreement on, okay, let's talk about, there's a bunch of stuff I want to discuss here, but I think the elephant in the room is sort of what happened after the game with Leahs Anderson and obviously the incident with him throwing his medal into the stands. And by the way, I think I can see why people are talking about that, but I think the far more interesting topic is the guy who was wearing three jerseys. I think that was pretty ridiculous. Like, what's the line of thought there?

Like, what was he planning? Was he, like, that's, I want someone to talk to him. Like, he's interesting in a kind of a scary way. It's so weird because he was wearing the, like, a Rochester jersey, which makes sense. They're playing in Buffalo. That's the Sabres A.H.L. affiliate. And then he's wearing a U.S. jersey underneath, which, okay, I guess if he's a American. but then he was wearing a Swedish jersey underneath that which is I just I don't yeah I want to know

what the thought process was beyond I don't know maybe he just wore every hockey related thing he has to stay warm yeah you're kind of curious you have like a fourth did have a Canadian under the Swedish jersey we don't know he might have had like yeah that's true that's true yes I said he's an interesting person we want to hear that um okay but let's talk about it about leas because I know that you um you had some thoughts on it as well and you posted a little a little paragraph on like what do you when you saw that happen and you saw the reaction, what was your takeaway from it? Well, you know what? Number one, because it became a big deal in Sweden and a lot of people were really upset about it.

I feel number one, like in terms of respect, it's one thing, let's say they didn't shake hands. Let's say he threw a teammate under the bus. Let's say they trash the hotel room and whatnot. Those kind of things, it's kind of like that would have been bad. but he only kind of disrespected himself in a way if you know what I'm saying yes and obviously they made some comments about comments about the refs and whatnot after game but i mean they lost they were so bummed like it's no big deal like in my opinion um so i feel that um it wasn't such a big deal i mean you kind of have to embrace a kid that's so tuned in on winning that he doesn't

think a silver medal is worth anything you i mean i kind of like it um and the one thing i feel And you can give your opinion as well about this. And then in the shelter, like, today it's so much skill. And the game is getting safer and safer. And that's good. But we have to kind of find a way to keep the motion in the game without risking players' health. Right.

And like this is kind of like a thing where you have like a sore loser that adds a little bit of drama to the game, which we need. Like I love to bring up Maca Chuck as an example. He's like maybe the one guy in like the new. generation that doesn't make a single friend on the opposing team and i like that i mean we need that not anyone that's like dangerous in terms of you know running people in him to the head and all that but just like we need a couple of sore losers and that kind of stuff to to add some something to the game listen as someone who used to be quite a bit of a sore loser himself when i played sports

um i definitely can relate to this and i completely agree i don't know if it's like this back home in sweden as well but i know that you know one of the contentions that i have here in canada is that this idea of sort of hockey culture and, you know, everyone needs to be classy and their sportsmanship and everyone needs to look and behave and talk a certain way and you always hear these interviews where all the players are basically reciting a script. And then as soon as they ever do something or if someone dares show personality or act out a little bit, all of a sudden everyone gets outraged and gets mad at them and there's a lot of pushback. So if you're another player and you're seeing this unfold, it makes sense that next time someone asks you

something you're not going to risk doing anything crazy because what's the like if there's so much risk and so little reward so why would you even bother so it's kind of annoying because there's this sort of catch 22 where we want our players to have fun and show personality but as soon as they do uh we take moral outrage with it sure and i mean i spoke to players off the record about that and they're fully aware about it and it's kind of like a chicken or egg kind of conversation where like okay is it are we blowing everything up because of the players being boring or are the players boring because we blow everything up and I lean toward the second option I think we blow everything

up too much so so definitely that and also about lias and that's kind of like the second elephant room is that I mean we know the history we lost six straight finals speaking of team Sweden of course against Canada and I mean after seeing all those final losses I'm not saying

like if you look at this game for example I think it was like an evening match game couldn't win anyway. Like, Sweden played great. They didn't choke or anything like that. But still, to see the attitude that it's win-or-nothing, I mean, isn't that what we need? If you look at the track record?

Yep. Yeah. I mean, it's quite simple, right? I don't know. I don't think if Canada lost that game, I'm pretty sure a lot of guys would have been really upset and probably been pretty sore losers as well. And that's maybe that's the attitude.

the mentality we need. That's the way I look at it. And that's what Leah said himself, right? He basically said, like, listen, I already have a silver medal at home, and the guy in the stands probably wanted it more than I did, so I thought he should have it. And obviously, he's saying that a bit as a joke, but there is some truth to that.

And I think that this was, you know, that Friday night, everything that happened there with a game, and then afterwards on Twitter and social media, was the perfect encapsulation of the best and worst part of this tournament, because I don't know how if you feel this way, but it's obviously, you know, so exciting, the action lends itself, the thrilling results, but then at the end of the day, it is a bunch of teenagers and people

are dissecting them and picking apart and freaking out over it. And I don't know, sometimes that makes me a little bit uneasy because I remember when I was 17, 18, 19 years old, I was a bit of an idiot and I probably still am, some would say, but especially back then. And it must just, you know, I can't imagine like being so critical of it. And then, you know, we're not even talking about the extreme people right now who go on social media and actually send kids like that nasty comments, which, you know, there's a special place in hell reserved for those people. But I think, like, yeah, it's, it's, it's the good and the bad, and we saw it all on Friday night. Sure. And that's, like, that's part of society and, like, a bigger picture. Like, I always say,

because I, I'm 28, so I kind of grew up before social media. I think I was, like, 18 or 19 when I got Facebook and all that. So I always say, like, I'm so glad that I kind of, that we didn't have Twitter and all that, like, when I grew up, because imagine all the stupid stuff you would post and it's the same thing with these kids like they're still only 17 and they get scrutinized so much and it's just like as you said like they're their kids it makes me an easy as well because they're kids and we blow it out of proportion so i definitely agree on that yeah and um listen you know people were talking about how he was the captain and he needs to uh be a leader and represent his players a certain way and you already mentioned the point about how he's representing

himself more than anything but i mean listen i thought he was amazing in this tournament and now we know that he was playing injured and he had an injured shoulder and I thought I think that's the thing we should be focusing on. It seems like a pretty good leader to me playing the way he did despite the fact that he wasn't 100%. No, yeah. Yeah, I'm totally behind everything it did than him as a leader. Like, I don't have a problem with it at all. Okay, let's talk a bit more about positive stuff now. Let's talk a little bit about the unquestioned first overall pick in this summer's draft, Ross Mislavian. If there was ever any question, and I think there was maybe last year, whether he would go number one or whether someone like Andrei Svetnikov might, I think by now that's obviously been put to rest. And, you know, whenever you see a young player like this who has this much pedigree and is this highly talked about, sometimes people talk about comparables. And I think they're often unfair. I think each player is unique. And sometimes, you know, you can get in trouble by comparing a guy to a former legend. And it's very tough to fill those shoes. But I know I was watching your, your Facebook page where you post some of your videos you do with people. And you had Ray Ferraro on there comparing.

him to Nicholas Lidsstrom defensively and Eric Carlson offensively. And, you know, okay, first off, I understand all those guys are Swedish and they all play the same position. So it can be kind of misconsumerous a little lazy there. But Ray Ferraro, as an analyst, we know, is certainly not someone to say stuff just for the sake of hearing himself talk. So whenever a smart hockey mind like that says something like that, you kind of, your ears perk up a little bit. And when you watch him play in a tournament like this, you sort of see all of that and how he really is a full package. Oh, sure. I mean, there's no weakness to his game already. So it's, I mean, it's hard to compare him because I think, like, if you look at the way he moves, the way he skates, it's a little bit of a headman.

If you look at the poise, obviously you have Croscender. And also, I think, I'm not going to say defensively led to him because I might be pushing it at this point. But he also has, I compared him to headman, but he also, he's actually a good error. Like, if you take victory, he's never been like a big hitter. Right. and an open ice hitter in that sense. Like, Dahlin has the timing and just the talent to deliver those heads as well. So he's really the full package.

And he also has, like, obviously, I haven't had a chance to cover him that much because I'm over here and he's still back in Sweden. But he's, he carries himself in a way that's sort of the typical, I'm not going to, I'm generally, international talent more or less like he's he behaves like mac david or or an austin matthews or something like that where he's kind of like he's very humble he i'm not going to say boring but he doesn't kind of stick out he does all his media and he's he's smooth about it but he doesn't and he's nice but there's no headlines he's just i don't know he's he's really full package yeah he's basically

already a professional which at that age is uh is pretty impressive um yeah I want to ask you, do you think he plays in the NHL next fall right away? I think he does. I understand that, you know, with defensemen, it's a bit tougher because teams are still, you know, teams still believe that defensemen take longer to develop and that you sort of need to physically mature. But, I mean, he certainly looks physically mature to me. And I think that whatever team he goes to, unless it's a really unique situation, they're going to need to sort of market him and put him out on the ice.

Like, let's say he goes to a Buffalo, for example. I find it hard to believe that they won't be marketing him as the guy and putting him out on the ice and on all the billboards because a team like that needs hope so badly. And what he showed at this tournament kind of provides you with that hope. You can believe that he's actually going to come in and single-handedly change a franchise. And there's a lot of drafts where guys like that just don't exist. So it's a pretty rare phenomenon. Yeah. Well, for me it's interesting to already, like, to speculate about the teams, obviously we have a lottery.

but like if you look at the status right now we're halfway through it who would you see being finishing last and having the best chance of getting the first overall pick well I mean I think it's gonna be a two horse race between Buffalo and Arizona again you know for for Buffalo I feel like I mean this is the stories there pretty much for every team you can sort of write a good story right for Buffalo the fact that they missed out on a couple drafts there where they were really hoping for the first overall pick and they had to settle for the second guy and especially

now they so desperately need a defenseman that he's like if you have to go into a lab right now and go like okay what is one player the buffalo saber is really need it would be rossmislalin so i'd say that for them that'd be very interesting obviously you know for people who like to watch the world burn a little bit maybe edmonton would be a fun option um and that would be amazing watching him and macdavit obviously feed off of each other but then i mean even you're going down the line like detroit obviously the nicholas lidsstrom stuff and the fact that that, you know, they're mired in this mediocrity now and they desperately need a defenseman, or, you know, you go on down the line, Arizona, you know, playing with Ekman Larson and how

he could come up together with him and all this stuff. So pretty much with a player like him, I feel like all those storylines are already built in. So there isn't like a one right answer. I feel like wherever he goes, I'm going to be excited about it. But you know what? Let's get carried away because this is podcast and we have time to get carried away. Let's say Arizona gets him. If you're, if you would be the GM of Arizona. Would you keep Oliver? Well, it depends on what the, I feel like those two questions aren't necessarily even related, for example.

Like, I feel like right now I would be exploring trading Oliver even without knowing that I'm going to get Rosmus. And then obviously seeing what the market is like, I feel like if someone is willing to give you an amazing package of King's Ransom for him, you sort of have to do it based on the fact that he's coming up on free agency soon and you're going to have to pay him and your timeline as an organization. but I don't know, like, for you, is the reason why you asked that question. Do you think that getting him swings the needle one way or another? Well, I look at a, like, they play the same position. Because if you look at the other teams, we mentioned, we look at Buffalo, Buffalo, of course, have their number one centermen. Detroit has a couple of talented forwards.

But Arizona, they don't really have, like, they have Keller, but we don't really know what he is right now. Right. So they really have a need up front to get, like, a difference maker. and if you get Dalling maybe Oller could bring you that difference maker up front in some shape somehow

if you work out that trade because as I said they play the same position and then Dallin you only have one point man on the power play you only have one guy to play the first pairing on the left side so it's kind of like maybe then again maybe you want to keep him

to have a mentor but I think like for Arizona in particular it's interesting because that would I would probably think about it even more if they get a chance to draft Dahlon. Yeah and especially I mean like you know the logical fit that people keep pointing to in terms of fantasy booking is the Maple Leafs and maybe someone like William Nealander would fit that bill so that would be a an interesting destination but I mean yeah I mean all these teams you know what I really feel bad for the Buffalo Sabres fans especially having to watch this disaster of a team the past couple years and uh you know watching someone like Casey Middlestad at this tournament provides hope and Jack Eichl is obviously amazing.

So if you added Rasmus to that mix, all of a sudden that would be a fascinating sort of trio to build around. But yeah, this is the one year. I understand how the lottery odds work and it still isn't a sure thing, but just purely understanding how odds work and how math works, I think every single team that's near that bottom that isn't going to make the playoffs. And that includes Montreal and Vancouver and Detroit at this point. And even Edmonton, it looks like, unless they really turn it around in the next few weeks,

you sort of have to lose as many games as you possibly can just to increase your odds even if they're incremental because of what this guy could mean for you and then you know that's obviously not the case every year but this year it feels like it really is sure and it's so rare to find like in the draft to find a defenseman that's a short thing like i don't know like i haven't been around long enough to remember a guy that was felt like such a short thing at defense like i don't know like can you what's the last name you can come up with oh man It's been a while. I don't know. Are you going to count Victor Headman here, even though he didn't go first overall in his draft? I feel like people were very, very high on him when he was coming out. That's probably the closest thing, actually, I think. But as you said, he didn't go first overall.

So even that's not, like, really a fair comparison. But he's probably the closest thing. And that's almost 10 years ago. So it's pretty rare. Yeah, there was that draft. Obviously, they didn't go first overall, but the one with, like, Doughty and Petrangelo. And, I mean, obviously, looking back at it now,

a guy like Zach McGo, probably shouldn't have been in the conversation, but I remember people were very excited about that group of defensemen. But yeah, it's pretty rare, and especially since the development for a defenseman is tough, it's much less of a sure thing, but he definitely seems like he will be in. You know what? Just one last thing on him, like watching him. I mean, the thing that stuck out most for me watching him was how it was sort of the patience with the puck, right? Because in today's NHL, you don't see this as much with European teams, but definitely in the NHL, it's sort of, as soon as a guy gets the puck. His coach wants him to get rid of it, get it deep, don't make any mistakes that could lead

to a scoring chance against. You know, you want to get as deep in the zone as you can and go and throw a body check and try and work the cycle down low with with Dallan. I mean, how many times was he sort of in a spot where he was tightroping the blue line by himself as the last man back? And he's still stick handling and putting it through guys' legs and trying crazy stuff. And, you know, maybe the, maybe an NHL coach will sort of beat that out of him or won't allow it. But for now, I can dare to dream that he's going to come into the NHL. really thrive by sort of being a modern day defenseman. Yeah, and it's like, it's almost like a new way to play it.

Like, I don't really see defensemen that plays taking that big risk on the blue line in the HL right now. Even if you look at Carlson, maybe a Klingberg, they play differently in terms of they're not really deacon guys. It's more that they kind of, they're finding lanes with passes and that kind of stuff. So it's like for me, he's a little bit different. As you said, like every player is unique. and he could really, he could really change, like,

especially how he played offensive blue line. I think he could change, like, a little bit of the perception of how a top defenseman can play the blue line. If he's managed to pull off that stuff at the NHL level, it's obviously not as easy as the Swedish League or at the world juniors. Yes. Yeah.

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All you have to do is download the Seeky app and enter the promo code PDO, and it's yours. You're welcome. Now let's get back to the show. Okay, so we're back here. Let's talk a bit about, I'm going to have you on here to do an Anaheim Ducks Deep Dive. And you obviously, as you mentioned, being a local down there. You see them quite a bit

and you get to interact with them and you follow them pretty closely. So you're going to be a good person to have this conversation with. It's been, I guess it's an understatement to say that it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride this first half of the season down there. Well, yeah, like all the injuries they had,

it's been crazy. Like, it's not, it shouldn't be possible. Like, I was looking at one point, they had six potential top six wingers out or forwards. Like they had Getsian Kessler, Andre Kosh, Patrick Gives, Silverberg, and Raquel out at the same point. That's basically their first two lines. And I mean, that they're still in it, it speaks to the quality of the team.

Gibson has been great in that, and they obviously have the good defense corridor. So it's a good team. And like, for me, honestly, on paper, they're almost as good as any team in the Western Conference right now. When everybody's healthy and playing to closer to full capacity. It's a really well-structured team for me. Yeah, so I mean, if you look at it right now to get a bit of the lay of the land, they're currently in a three-way tie for the second wildcard spot, although they've played a few more games than some of those teams.

So by percentage points, they're not in it yet. But that's obviously going to change on a daily basis. And the sort of the takeaway there is there's six teams fighting for what looks like two playoffs spots. And so it's going to be a bit of a dog fight here towards the second half of the season. But, you know, this is a part of the show when I'm doing a deep dive for some of these teams where we evaluate their underlying numbers and try to figure out how good they are based on how they've done so far,

and we compare their expected results versus the actual ones. But with this Anaheim team, I mean, you basically have to throw the first half that out the window because the team that they were using to get those results is probably, or at least hopefully in their case, not going to be the one that they're going to use in the second half. So it's not really very predictive for us. No, I think it was yourself that pointed out on Twitter a month back or so that they had Logan Shaw and Chris Wagner as their top two senators.

right? And right, and now they're going to have Ryan Gessler and Ryan Kessler, which is, I mean, as you said, there's no point of looking at the numbers, no point at looking at what they've done. But what we do know, like with this team,

if you look at the way it's structured, I mean, Gibson has been great in net. Their defense, I'd say, like in terms of all six defensemen, it's probably maybe close to the deepest defense court in the league, honestly, because they're really good. Like, if you look at Nashville,

they have the big four and in Calgary has a couple of good guys but in terms of just the quality they can roll for three pairings I really like the ducks and obviously like I always say every watching Ryan Gessloff you don't really understand how good is until they watch him every single game because he's so he's one of those rare guys that really can control the pace of the game and he's he's sort of like a dying breed you know it's a speed game right now but he slows everything down and he's such a he's such a beast honestly like he manhous people still like And it shouldn't be possible to do it the way he does it, but he really does it. Like he's the one player that really changes everything for this team.

Yeah. Well, it's him. And it was like Joe Thornton maybe a couple years ago, maybe not the version of he is now at his age, but the guys that really do, they're sort of like a point guard in basketball or something, right? Where it's like they are out there and they're controlling everything when they're on the ice and it slows it down or they can speed it up. And he's always retrieving the pocket zone zone and making these crazy lob outlet passes. and he really is such a unique player in that regard.

And he showed last year, which I think has to be encouraging for the ducks here in the second half, that if there was any concerns about his age and if he still had it, I mean, watching him during that playoff run, when he was magnificent peak, Ryan Getslap. And I think that if he can channel that again, then that's going to be huge for this team. Sure. He might have been like the best forward for that run up until the finals. And he was, he's so good.

And the one thing, if you compare him to Thornton, that he does have, is his shot, which is really good. And he has the ability, because he's so naturally strong, he can shoot it from everywhere. That's something I really like looking at his specific skill set. And I'm not talking about everywhere on the ice, but in terms of having the puck and the blade on difference length from his body, he can practice shoot it from having the puck almost between his skates to all the way out

with his enormous reach. You can shoot it out there and get a lot on it. And, you know, every guy in NHL right now can shoot the puck. If they have it in their sweet spot, they can put some velocity on it. But he can shoot it from everywhere. So it's so deceptive. And, I mean, obviously he doesn't use it as much as he could. But he has the weapon as well.

So for me, he's such a difference maker. Yeah. Yeah. So like I mentioned, you know, they're basically a bottom five to ten team in pretty much every five-on-five shot metric. But I think a better sort of starting point or a better limit. test for them would be what they were towards the end of last year, where they were sort of a middle of the pack team or maybe even in the top half. And obviously, if they are, that'd be a huge upgrade for them, especially if the goaltending they have this year is here to stay. You know,

you mentioned that it's sort of been their life raft through all these injuries. And they've been eighth and five-on-five, say a percentage and fourth overall. And Gibson and Miller have been amazing for them. So, you know, you put all of those things together with the top of the talent up front and the blue line and all of a sudden the goaltending. And maybe you're right. I mean, when you say, like you said earlier, that on paper, they might be one of the best teams in the Western Conference. It sounds crazy based on where they're adding the standings right now and sort of how good some of the other teams are. But just if you stack them up, it makes sense. It could be the case. Yeah, sure. I mean, as I said, like, you look at the defense, obviously, and if you talk top metrics, the hampest land on Josh Manson pairing is always good.

And they're so good. Again, like, if you don't, obviously, if you look at the numbers, you will realize how good they are. but then again there are plays that especially hampas you have to watch and i keep telling people back home because he never makes the highlight real whatever but he's such such an amazing player like in terms of defensive defensemen like there's very few players at his level because the way he can i mean he's strong enough and fast enough and smart enough to defend any player in this league and once he wins the puck he'll he'll do something with it something good and uh it's pretty rare to have that skill set in the defensive zone. So he's a very good player to sort of, I don't know, he's to start a defense around and

they have camp follow with offensive touch. And then if you look at the Adam Henrique trade, it kind of gives them that third line kind of thing. If you look at Pittsburgh with Kessel two years ago, where obviously Adam Henrique is and Phil Kessel, but it gives them three good scoring lines. So it's, as I said, it's a very well-composed team. and I think they have a shot, honestly. Yeah, I mean, if you look at it,

you know, they used 22 different forwards so far this year and 10 defensemen, that's crazy. And in terms of forwards, in terms of who's played the most total minutes for them, Antoine Vermet is fourth, Chris Wagner's fifth, Derek Grant is seventh, and Logan Shaw is ninth.

So that's pretty crazy. I mean, there were many nights where they were using a lineup who might not even pass the sniff test in the HAL. So the fact that they're in this race to begin with is remarkable. But, you know, if we spin it forward and we sort of look at the Pacific Division and the Western Conference

and how wide open it is this year. Like what's a matchup you would like to see for them assuming they can make the playoffs? You know, obviously the California one there with L.A. would be pretty fascinating in the first round if they can catch the sharks for third in the Pacific. Oh, yeah, it's a great rivalry. But, you know, the one thing about the Ducks is

they're kind of like, I would guess that they're probably one of the least like teams in the league. They have a lot of players, Ryan Kestler being maybe the number one guy, but even BXA. I mean, Gatslov as well. They have a lot of players who kind of rub opposing teams the wrong way. So they have, like,

they have good rivalers with Calgary. That will be a good matchup, I think. And I think Calgary is a team that's going to, obviously, you don't know, we don't know if they're going to make it. But they have some qualities. Can they figure out their scoring and get some more scoring from, from Backlands line and maybe the third line? They can be a good team.

That will be a fun matchup. LA would be great. I'm hoping to see them play Nashville sometime during the playoffs because that would be a great series. I'm convinced. See, I'm interesting you say Nashville because I really enjoyed last year

as Western Carmen's final, no doubt about it. But when I was thinking about the rest of the conference here and how the ducks measure up against the rest of them, I would say that the two teams they wouldn't want to see in the playoffs are Vegas and Nashville. You know, we've seen a bit of it this year. I know that Anaheim wasn't really held.

for a lot of those matchups against Vegas, but the sort of the speed discrepancy between the two teams really stuck out to me. And I know that, you know, Anaheim's a bit more of a physical team and maybe come playoffs when the referees put their whistles away a bit, maybe that'll help them to their advantage. But, you know, just like we saw in last year's Western Conference Finals, when Nashville just was a bit too fast for them to kind of keep up with them. I think that those are the two teams that would present a real nightmare for them in a matchup. Sure. I mean, I would say Nashville is probably, they're kind of like the Ducks, but a better version. In saying they have, especially the defensemen, like obviously we all know Nashville has great defensemen and they have obviously an edge there.

And so, yeah, Nashville is, they're better. And I totally agree on Vegas. They're a speeder. And a lot of teams have trouble with that. Like, I'm so, I mean, as everyone else, I'm so blown away, but by the goal of nice, it's totally amazing. But they play a good team game. And, yeah, the ducks would have trouble with that. Saying that, I think they would be able to handle, honestly, I think they would be able to handle every, every team in the Pacific Division in a playoff series.

So it kind of depends on, like, if they get in on a wild card, that wouldn't be the best thing. Like, if they can make top three and play a team within the division, that would be better for them for sure. Yes. Yeah, I agree with that. But, see, this is the thing, because you were mentioning earlier, you know, how three lines and you like all six of their defensemen, I think you're a bit higher on some of the, the depth Anaheim has than I am. Like I wonder if as the year gets going here, and especially as we

approach the playoffs, if their best bet isn't to sort of front load their lineup, especially with, you know, the fact that Kessler's only played six games so far and Gatslaps played under 20, they're pretty fresh, even though they're getting up there in age. And I wonder if, you know, just top loading the top two lines there and maybe rolling

a top four with Linhol, Manson, and Fowler and Montour might be their best bet. Because I do think that, you know, with Bocheman and BXa on the back line and then sort of their third and fourth lines for the most part up front. I'm a bit more sort of skeptical of than you might be. So I'm not sure whether if I was running this team, if that's something I would do instead. Well, sure.

I would definitely do that. And I think Carlisle is kind of the coach who would do that. I think we're going to see Gessup play a lot. And so, yeah, I would totally do that. But the thing, especially with Henrique, I mean, I agree with you on the third pairing, that's sort of, yeah, that could be an issue. with, especially with like the faster teams with some depth. Vegas would be a prime example of that,

that could kind of expose the third pairing. But I always felt like, so the problem with the ducks up until the Henry trade was that they were kind of forced to every now and then play Raquel as a center on the third line to kind of get something going there. But Raquel is so much better playing on Gatslop's left side. Yes.

So if they can keep Raquel on the left side with Getsloff, They can keep Kessler's line together with Kogliana and Szilberg, and that's a great line. Then they can keep Henrique on the third line, which gives them some sort of scoring threat, where I think that maybe Wermet isn't that player. They were kind of hoping that he will be like a scoring threat. Yes. When they brought him in on the third line, he hasn't really been that. So that kind of gives them.

And then, so they obviously play the top two lines a lot. But the right guy on Gessloff's line could be, I'm not going to say whoever. but he can be a Casa or a Cori Perry or someone and they would still have something going on with the third line as well and that's what I like about this team compared to before their trade obviously they lost a little bit of depth on the defensive side losing Sama Bhatton he's a player I like but he struggled a little bit

the last year and also this season so it was a good trade for him I think yeah yeah and I made sense for an organizational fit and you know I'm glad you mentioned the Kessler line there and how good they are. And I'm kind of curious for your take on this because one of my favorite sort of parlor games the past few years has been the question of who drives the bus on that Kessler-Coglio Silverberg line because, you know, we never really, when they're healthy, we never see them split apart and they're obviously dominant together. But all three guys have their own sort of strengths and weaknesses.

And I know there's differing opinions on who is the most important player there. And, you know, I'd say popular perception would be Kessler just based on his reputation and everything around that. But, you know, watching them this season while they were together, I thought that Cogliano and Silverberg did sort of just fine without him. I mean, obviously, you know, having to play with an Antoine Vermet or something instead is an ideal and they're going to suffer a little bit. But it's not like they completely fell apart without Kessler either.

So I don't know, maybe we got our answer there. Or do you think that Kessler really is the most important guy on that trio? Well, I would say he's the most important guy, but I do agree that those two guys are fine without him. I think what he brings is actually maybe the offensive touch. You kind of look at him as the shutdown center, but he has, I mean, obviously he has a good shot and all that.

And he adds that to the line, I think maybe, especially maybe Cochleano lacks a little bit of offense, whereas he's a great, obviously a great penalty killer. He's just a smart player. He uses his speed the right way. But maybe he's not a scoring threat as much as Kester maybe.

So that's one thing I see being added to the line with him. And then you have all like, it's so hard to quantify and to value like Kessler's in your face attitude. I do think it has an effect in certain players, not all of them, but I do think he can kind of get under his skin on a lot of guys. But it's hard to, I mean, you don't want to put too much value in it or just. say that it works on every single player, but I do think it works in some players. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it must be very annoying to play against. So do you agree with the statement? For this Ducks team, this year and next year are sort of the two years,

if you're trying to establish a window where they could really conceivably be contenders and potentially make a cup run, do you feel like these next two years are sort of not it for them, but are like the prime years, considering that, you know, after the 2019 season, they're going to have to pay John Gibson, who right now is making basically peanuts. And you're going to have Getslaff, Perry, and Kessler, you know, all in their mid-30s, another couple years of miles on them. And at that point, they're going to be costing so much that it's going to be really tough. Like, you're still going to have the blue liners and you're still going to have Raquel in their prime and all that. But it really feels like this year and next year are the two years for them to make some noise.

Oh, I would totally agree. Like, I was kind of expecting them to fall apart a little bit. even last year. But I would say that Kessler surprised me the way he played. I mean, he was 30 at that point. I thought maybe we'll see a little bit of drop off because we all know the style of plays, the miles on his body.

But he was great last year. And Getsloff is also a guy. He's aging really well. But him might see sort of like a Yol Thornton scenario, but he could probably play like on high level up in his, I'm not going to say 40s, but a couple more years. But yeah, I totally agree.

given the contracts, given the way the team is composed definitely. And it comes down to Getslaff, honesty, to me, because he's the difference maker. Like, I truly believe you need difference makers to win on the playoffs. And he's up front, he's the one guy who really makes a difference. Like, I think Raquel is great. I think Silverberg and Colorado are great players. But I don't know if they can be that kind of difference makers

that sort of drive a line by themselves the way Gessloff does. So that's kind of the key guy. As long as he's on this level, they sort of have a shot because the defense is going to be great. But I totally agree. They have to do something real quick. And I think, I mean, I don't know. We'll see what they need because it's hard to say what they need because they haven't played with this team that much this season, if you know what I'm saying.

Yeah. But they should definitely do something at the deadline if they feel that they need to add something. Because as you said, like the windows right now is they just have to go for it. Yeah. I mean, I guess you could argue that their big trade deadline acquisitions is going to be getting all these guys that they already have on the team healthy. So that would be a good start. Yeah. So, hey, I want to ask you, because going back to Silverberg, I just want to have your opinion.

Because I always say, like, I'm kind of bummed about Mark Stone because if Mark Stone wasn't around, I could say that Selleberg. Silverberg was potentially the best two-way winger in the game. If you take Bramarshaw away as well, but he's more like a superstar guy. But if you take away those guys, how would you rate him, like in terms of wingers when you look at the defensive side and like the two-way play? Oh, he's right up there. I mean, he's a he's a remarkable player. And, you know, I'm glad you brought up Silverberg. I did want to talk to you a little bit about him because he's such a fascinating player for me because, you know, I think more interesting to me than his defensive qualities are actually.

his offensive game because you know you see especially last year in the playoffs like when he's got it going and when he actually you know gets a proper hold of one and he has a beautiful shot as as there is in the league and it looks remarkable and it looks like no one could stop it but then you look at the actual season long numbers and he's for years been a below league average shooter in terms of shooting percentage and the past year and a half or so it's kind of started to rise a bit above 10% which is obviously huge for him, especially since he's a volume shooter, but there's always been that mismatch between how good his shot looks and how often it actually goes in, which I think has been the most fascinating thing about him.

Well, I would say, I mean, I've watched Silverberg a lot, covered him in Sweden when he came up and when he won the championship and all that, and over here as well. And the one thing, I talked about Gestloff before, the way he's able to shoot the puck from every single position, like, within his reach. I think Silverberg is sort of like a sweet spot guy. where once he gets it, he doesn't have like a slow release, but he puts a lot into his wrist shots, especially back in the day he did.

So I think as he's adjusting to the NHL where you don't get as much of a time to get your wrist or off, and it helps. Because as you said, like when he really can, like, shoot it and he gets a little bit of time, gets a little bit space, it's a bullet. But for him, it's about finding a way to get it off and get a lot on it when you're not in your ideal spot.

That's just my take from watching him. And it's kind of hard to really, I mean, I haven't clocked his shot, but that's kind of like a theory. Because I agree with you. Like, you think he should really be a better goal score. Yes. So that's the only way, the only thing I've come up with, like, thinking about it. Have you ever, maybe that'd be a fun thing story for you to pursue? I mean, I don't know how, what your relationship.

is like with him or whether he'd be willing to talk about it, especially in season. But that'd be sort of a, I'd love to hear that from a player's perspective. It's sort of like, because I think he would, you know, he described one of his assets or one of his weapons in his arsenal is his shot. But for years now, I mean, he's been in the NHL for what, five, six years. It hasn't translated to the results and it's starting to slowly get there. So maybe we are seeing that adjustment. But it just, it's weird to me.

I'd be fascinated from his perspective of whether he sees something there or whether there's a reason why or whether, I don't know what the end. answer. Yeah, I should really ask. Like, I haven't thought about it. I think, as I said, I thought about it, but I end up in the trap, like, I always talk him about, I'm so curious about, like, playing, because they're such a dedicated shutdown line. So it's so interesting to me to talk to him about certain guys, you know, playing a McDavid, playing a Coppeter, those kind of guys. So you kind of get caught in that. I mean, I talk him so much about McDavid, because he's the one that fascinates me the most like how do you defend a guy like that and um obviously there's no good

answer but but you're right that's something i should ask him about uh because it should really translate so i'm kind of curious about this this is like one some one thing that i really had when i was preparing for the show with you that i wanted to talk to you about and it's this idea that you know you are you said you came uh to north america what four years ago now that's your fourth season and you know so you're a swedish reporter in the states uh as you mentioned there's pretty much Swedish talent all across the league now and pretty much every single team. And especially covering a team like the ducks in California where maybe, you know, it's a bit different than covering the Leafs in Toronto or the Canadians and in Montreal

where there might be a bit less, you know, they might not be as much under a microscope 24-7 in Anaheim. So I'm always fascinated about sort of do you feel that, that there's kind of a bit more, I don't know, accessibility or players might be more willing to open up and participate and have fun, because I always see that, you know, you're posting really fun videos where you're hanging out with a guy like Eric Carlson or what have you. And that's a unique perspective that I think that is awesome. And you do a great job of, to your credit, of drawing it out of them and having fun and taking advantage of it. But it is so different than a lot of the other coverage we see around the

league. Well, sure. I mean, number one, to go back to the first point, it's great to be in California. I always say this is the best spot. Like if you're covering league stuff, it's actually like a great spot to be in because you have the two teams with a time difference. You can watch East Coast as you know yourself at 4 and

then watch your game at 7 and beat to bed in a reasonable time. It's great. And like the last point you made, the media like you have so much more time. If the Rangers are in town, I can talk to hang one-on-one for how long I need. But if I would be in Toronto,

I would have to elbow my way through 10 different guys at least to get two coached. So it's totally right. Like you have a lot of time if you go to a practice or a morning skate, there's plenty of opportunities to talk to guys. And it's more relaxed, obviously. Because they do so much, especially the Canadian guys, like a Carlson, as you mentioned. he does media almost every single day and like if he goes outside of like the normal stuff it's going to blow up we all saw it happen with the contract stuff and it's like that's another

thing like that's a common it's not to me it's not outrageous to say that you want to have your market value uh but it got it became such a thing so like if you're er Carlson and you say something like I want like I want to have market value and it blows up to that proportion. Like, why would you say something that's out of the box sort of say? So I kind of get the guys. And that's what I try to do. Like, I try to get guys to maybe show another side of themselves and just be good about

it. So not, like, blow things out of proportion. If they do say something that's interesting and kind of see it for what it is. But, yeah, it's different. But I got to say, like, the guys are great. Like every single guy that I cover over here, they're so accessible. And they always take their time and they always like give you what you need. So it's honestly, it's a great gig.

And it's, as you say, it's different because we're only three people from Sweden covering the league like full time over here. So it's not like they have to do a ton of Swedish media. So it's not, I mean, if they would have to do it every single day, they would probably work. But. Well, listen, Jonathan, I, I'm on the record here. I consider myself an honorary swede. I've already noted my love for my Swedish following. It's remarkable.

I guess with the time difference and the distance, if you're really going to be one of those people that's following, especially from overseas, and you really need to be truly in love with it and super passionate. And that shows, and I think that the support I get from my Swedish followers on Twitter especially is remarkable. So I'm always thankful for it.

So I just wanted to get that out there as well because it's a pretty cool group of people. That's great. And I always said, like, covering the NHL for Swedish media, like, it's hard to compare to something in North America because you'll only get the nerds or they're really passionate people. Because if you're an everyday fan, you would follow the Swedish League because it's, you know, accessible and it's the right time, whatever. But to follow the NHL in Sweden, when like an East Coast start, a seven-star on the East Coast would be one at night in Sweden. So it's so difficult. So you have to be so passionate, passionate about it.

And so the following, like the Swedish NHL following is great. And I mean, and also I think like Swedes have like a general, like we grew up with so much North American pop culture. Like I remember I watched The Simpsons every single day when I was younger. I read, you remember the Screech-A-Haw's books by Ryan McGregor? Yeah. I read them every single book at least like 15, 20 times when I was a kid. Like I loved them. So we grew up with so much North American books.

pop culture and whatnot. And so we have like this sort of this connection to, uh, through US and Canada. Uh, so I don't know, maybe that's part of sort of the love love story as well, I guess. So it goes both ways. That's good to hear. Um, so let's, uh, okay, so we're going to get out here. Um, plug some stuff. What, uh, what are you working on these days? Where can people find you online, all that good stuff. So, uh, I'm on Twitter. Uh, you're going to have to tag me because I'm not going to be able to spell my Twitter name. Sounds good. But it's a pun, actually.

Did you get the pun? I didn't, no. So it's your last name and then IK, right? Yeah, so it's like a pun of linguistic. Oh. You get it? I just got it. I started out as a writer, you know?

Whatever. That flew over my head. I got it now, though. That's awesome. It's not a good joke if you have to explain it. Yes. Number one. Yeah, so for, I mean, for North American people, I would say that's the thing.

Mainly, I do post, I try to post stuff in English. I try to mix it up because I do have some people we're here following, so I want to get it out there. Other than that, like I do the morning show, but that's in Sweden, and I think it's like Geobox, you can't watch it online. And it's in Swedish, so you have to be, take a couple of classes if you want to watch it anyway. But, but, yeah, Twitter is probably the main way and Facebook as well. I'm on Facebook as well with the same handle. So that's that.

Awesome, man. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to come chat. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we finally got to do this. It's been a long time coming. Oh, yeah, it was a blast. I'm super happy you had me. All right, Jonathan.

We'll have you back on for sure. Maybe if the ducks get it together in the second half and make a long run, we'll get you back on. And hopefully I'll come down to California and we can do one in person down there. You've got to get out there. That's amazing. And also, you have to bring me on once we get around to the whole, I mean, we haven't talked about it because you're a good BC kid.

And I grew up like a Canuck fan. That was my team growing up because I'm from the same place as NASDA and Sadiens. Oh, awesome. So they were my flavor of playing growing up. So once we get around to the whole Sadiens are retiring, going to pump their tires, I have a few things to say that I want to get out there. I'm looking for that. When we do that, you're going to be the guy I'm going to call.

Perfect. Awesome, buddy. Chat soon. Thank you very much for having me. The Hockey P.D.O.cast with Dmitri Filipovich. on Twitter at Dim Filippovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockey p-diocast.