The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 224: Trade Deadline Winners and Losers

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

Tyler Dellow joins the show to take stock of where teams stand after the trade deadline. Topics discussed include:  2:45 Winnipeg Jets finally pushing their chips in 7:30 Vegas making a splash, just not the one we expected 9:20 The Lightning cementing themselves as the class of the East 16:55 What on god's green earth are the Canucks doing 35:30 Keeping Karlsson vs Trading him now 40:00 San Jose's gamble on Evander Kane  41:45 Teams who realistically can win the cup 50:00 Sloan Conference Takeaways 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 Demetri Filipovich. And joining me is Tyler Delo. And we're recording in his apartment in Toronto. We've got a live audience here. Lady V. With Tyler's dog. Well, Tyler's cat.

I was going to say dog. No, that's a cat. Very clearly a cat. Dogs are different kinds of animals. Yeah, I've been told. So if you hear strange noises or purring or all that, I mean, sometimes it might be you or I, but it's probably the cat. Probably Lady V.

So we're recording this on, what is it? Man, yesterday it was so just crazy and tired. It's Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday. Where were you yesterday? Were you at SportsNet? I was, yeah, I was at the CBC studio down on front and around John, front, Wellington. I don't know.

I'm not from here, but I'm, and did you have any like official responsibilities? Were you changing John Shannon's jacket every hour or something? No, I wasn't. He was probably the second little sharply dressed man after me, though. Yeah, well, he eats of turtle decks, but it's true. It's true. Well, oh, I made the great mistake of not wearing one yesterday and posting a picture of my suit. I mean, apparently a three-piece suit isn't enough for people these days.

You've got to have the turtleneck. No, I think once you adopt sort of a Mike Myers-Sprockets-esque turtlenect as your sort of official image, you're kind of stuck with it. Dimitri is headed to tone of black today in a turtleneck, by the way. It's a one-piece turtle neck. It's a one-piece. Some sort of unitarred. Yeah, I was, I don't know why I was doing this, but I was the, I was in charge of writing the recap from a Winnipeg Jets perspective. For the website?

Yeah. And so I did that. You can check that out on sportsnet.com. There's some brand synergy. But I was just kind of sitting in the studio, and it was really fun because I didn't actually make it on TV, but I was just hanging out in the green room. And obviously, I feel like some of the conversations that are going on in there, unfortunately we can't talk about on this podcast.

But some of like the anecdotes and stories, obviously you've got old GMs and players and some of the stories you hear pretty interesting, to say the least. Yeah, I liked that Colie Armstrong story about the guy's pulling a prank on him that he was traded and then he actually got traded. Well, I was sitting there when they were talking about three ways. Yes. And it was, you know what's funny with that? You could see that, like, Whitney was laughing at it like, it's a joke.

And so was, I don't know, so was Colie. I think the rest of them, I'm sure Uncle Jeff was like, God, don't make a three-way joke live on TV. Yeah, he was pretty uncomfortable. It was pretty funny. I mean, obviously, those guys are a hoot. Okay. So we're going to do a little bit of a trade deadline recap. All right, what happened?

We're not going to go trade by trade. We're just going to, let's do sort of a winners and losers type of thing. And I don't even have the trades in front of me. I don't even have a list. I haven't really even thought about it much. We'll bounce back and forth, may pick a team each, and we'll go from there. I'll let you start since you're the guest. If you're looking at it from a big picture point of view,

which team do you think made the best strides, whether it's for this year or for the future? I liked Winnipeg going out and getting stashony. I think that was a great acquisition. I don't mind the price they paid. And I just like that the Jets are like all in. You know, I've been pretty high on them now for a couple months. I was a little early in the year, but I've come around.

And, you know, I think Stashney just gives them that extra center down the middle. So I'm big on what Winnipeg did. Well, especially with the end, I wrote this in that article I mentioned earlier, but especially with guys like Roslilik and Connor kind of coming into their own. All of a sudden, now they really have three. And their fourth line, which I feel like heading into the year, was considered, you know, with Lowry and Cop was maybe a liability. Yeah, and now it's like this matchup line, yeah.

And then they have these three scoring lines now. And I think Stazni is going to be perfectly suited for this role. I feel like it's been really tough to evaluate him fairly the past few years because he probably wasn't worth $7 million, which is what the Blues paid because you tend to have to overpay guys in the UFA market. Except do you remember when he signed that deal? Like, he took less term, right? Only four years.

And so I don't know. I don't know. I think people have probably harshly evaluated him over the last, you know, the last deal. But I just like, I just like that further depth from Winnipeg. Like, you're going to love the Jets' depths no matter who they go up against. Yep. And, yeah, I know Paul Murray's kind of likes to juggle the lines a little bit, but just looking at the fit on paper.

I mean, I know Stasney played a lot with Tarasenko in St. Louis, and it'd be interesting to different players, but just in terms of he's a good playmaker, so getting the puck to a guy like Patrick Lidney might be an intriguing option. Yeah, yeah, no. And, and, you know, if they're all healthy. Like that can almost be, you know, they just have so many options. They could do that, like, you know, run lining and Stasney is like a soft minutes option. But there's so much they could do.

So, no, I think Winnipeg, you know, good trade deadline, didn't go crazy. Got a player who I think helps them. So go Jets. Well, especially in that, I mean, we can agree that the Eastern Conference has most of the best teams in the league at this point, right? Um, can we? Like, I don't know. Like the, like, look at the Metro, the Metro. was a dumpster fire.

Yeah, but I would say that there's a decent argument to be made of the three best teams in the league. And who do you have there? Well, Tampa Bay, Boston and Pittsburgh in some order. Obviously now with Bergeron out and Matt Murray out. Yeah, I don't know what to make of Pittsburgh this year. And it's something I've wanted to do, but like I've never seen a team that's like got numbers this bad at 5-1-5, but has like, you know, their power play is so good.

Yeah. Like that they're just overcoming it. It's crazy. A lot of it was percentage-driven, I feel like, early in the year. it's kind of come back to earth a little bit, especially with the shooting, like, maybe the goaltending, maybe Matt Murray will never be as good, but didn't he have like two games where he let in 17 goals or, like, it's just, well, and that's the thing, you know, context is a bit important because early in the year, I mean, they lost 10 nothing to the Blackhawks.

Yeah. Which is one of those games in hindsight now with how the respective seasons have gone. It's like, what the hell? But I think they got smoked like somebody else, too. They did. But it was all in the second of back-to-backs on the road. So it was at Winnipeg, at Tampa Bay. And it was like, well, you know, in the playoffs, that's probably not going to be an issue.

Yeah, I don't know. Okay, so fair enough. We'll see. In a playoff series, would you feel comfortable betting against the penguins with the penguins? Not with anyone in the metro. You know, maybe to get to the conference final. Right. But, you know, are the penguins, I don't know, I don't like the penguins defense.

Why didn't like it last year and they wanted to stay? I know, I know. How do you explain that, stats, boy? Yeah, well, Cid's great. You know is great, right? And you can't deny Phil Kessel. All he does is win. It's just a winner. It is. Yeah, he is. All right, what were we talking about? Okay. Are we done with the Jets? I mean, I think so. I think, look, look, you know, the Western Conference final, assuming that all sort of unfolds as it should for me is going to be that Central Division final. Right. And it's going to be Winnipeg and Nashville. And every reporter covering it is going to be secretly cheering for Nashville, even though Winnipeg is lovely in the spring and summer.

Yes, but that's going to be an awesome series. And the reason I guess why I brought it up was, It makes sense from the Jets position where one of the knocks against Kevils Shevall for years has been his sort of lack of activity or willingness to kind of push his chips in and it really feels like this is the right time to do so because the Western Conference does feel really wide open. I think Nashville is the only team I would legitimately be scared of, right? Like I like other teams there, but they each have their own warts that could be exposed in a playoff series.

Yeah. What do you make of what Vegas did, right? Like I thought it was so funny when Vegas trades for, like, they block whatever, they doing with Bresard, right? So people are like, well, they want to block Bersard going to Winnipeg. And I was like, okay, but that doesn't really make any sense to me. Like, if you're Vegas, you're not running into Winnipeg until the conference final at the earliest. And even then, it's what, you have to get there, plus they have to get there. Like, the odds are, like, worrying about blocking teams from getting somebody that you

might play in the third round, it just seems crazy to me. Plus, it wound up backfiring if that was the case, because I think Paul Stazen, he's a better player than Barry Broussard, so it's like, that didn't work out. Yeah, no, this, this is terrible. No, it was sort of strange. And I like, what do you think they do of Ryan Reeves? Like, like, who wants Ryan Reeves? I don't know. That was a strange one. And I like Thomas Thatar a lot as a player, but I felt like that was a pretty steep price, especially, I know they have a lot of picks, but I don't know, giving up a first, second, and third, even though it's staggered in terms of the years, those picks will be happening, was kind of curious. It

does sound like they were really all in on the Carlson talks. And then when that wasn't going to come to fruition, they sort of quickly pivoted and went to Thomas Tatar, which, yeah, I don't know. He's a dynamic player, and I'm all for them adding more talent. But it doesn't really move the needle that much. I was wondering with them, like, do you think that's sort of a sign that they're going to let some people go in the summer? Probably. Yeah. And that, that to me might be a case of trying to identify someone to fill the hole in the summer. Because, like, I I don't know if you've looked at the summer's free agency market, but it's not ideal. It's not ideal.

Yeah. Yeah, next summer is interesting, but obviously a lot of those players by then will probably be resigned. Okay, so we're done with the Jets. Let's talk about the lightning. Yeah, let's talk about the lightning. I like the lightning. I think there was the other big winner here. Were they busy?

They added a player I've heard of. You know what? What do you think about that trade? I think they needed another defenseman, so I like it. I like that they sort of gave up a, you know, like they gave up a, you know, Like, they gave up a pile of things. Right. But, like, how do you say that guy's name?

Is it Leibor Hayek? Yep. Yeah. And Brett Howden? And Brett Howarden? Yep. Not Holden as, uh, as Bob. Are we allowed to mention his name?

Yeah, why not? Okay, Bob McKenzie. He roasted me in my turtle next to other days. Yeah, no, fair enough. I got to get him back somehow. I was confused because I actually went in Google. I was like, Brett Holden. I've never heard of him.

Yeah. Who's this? And Bob's just constantly, I know. I know. I know. He sounds like, I was like, that doesn't sell much of a prospect. The ones I figured it was Brett Howden.

Oh, yeah. Like, see, okay, here's what I like about that for, for Tampa, right? Like, to me, they just gave up a bunch of things. But, like, is Libor Hayek going to be a guy you build a team around? No, and that's the problem from the Rangers perspective for me. Like, I'm all for the being in the business of accruing as many assets as possible, especially since they, for years, didn't really have any first round picks and they kept trading them away.

And it's good to rebuild the pipeline. But they didn't really get back, like for Ryan McDonough, who is, a premium asset, did they get back a single blue chip building block piece? They got a pick, which can be anything, right? Yeah, but those two firsts will probably, if Tampa wins a top. Yeah, yeah. Let's see, they get both those first. Yeah.

They're going to be like, what? So one's going to be 31st? Yeah. And the other's going to be like 28th or 29. I don't know, maybe Tampa could lose in the first round this year. If they lost in the first round, then it might be 20, 22nd. So 23rd, yeah. This is where some Rangers fans are going to be like, oh, well, this,

player eight years ago who got picked 22nd and he turned out really good. So it's like, yeah, but see, that to me comes back to, you know, the difficulty with trading high-end talent is, you know, all you're going to do is get a bunch of stuff. And, you know, because nobody's giving you a player. Nobody's giving you a player who they think is a high-end player or like, like, you know, like those prospects who get drafted and then they're doing great, they're impossible. You're not getting them. And so, so you're left with. stuff. You're left with stuff, yeah.

And, you know, I don't know, the Rangers got a bunch. Like, to me, to me, I would always want picks because, you know, Tampa traded those guys because they don't think they're going to be stars. Yep. You know, so give me the pick where there's a chance that I'll pick a star because that's what, you know, ultimately any rebuild needs is sort of high-end drivers. Yeah. Or Tyler Mott.

Okay, we'll get to the Canoxys. Okay. Well, and, you know, there was a lot of noise coming out of Tampa about how they were going to try to maximize Vladim Mestinacob while they still could. And, I mean, you sort of saw that with the fact that how they were using him. And obviously, he was racking up the counting stats playing in a very cushy role with Stamkels and Kutraov, both on the power play of 515. And coming up with arbitration rights, I feel like he was going to get paid pretty nicely for that. And it makes sense that they would sell high on him. I like him as a player.

I think he's perfectly fine. But I don't think he's like, you're going to put him in. on your first or second line, he's going to be driving the bus for you. Right, and that's another example, like, where the Rangers just didn't get. And you can't blame them. Like, when you're making those trades, when you're selling off parts, you know, like, to me, I guess, yeah, draft picks are, I would rather have draft picks. So, like, I don't know, what do you think you could trade Libor Hayek and what's his name for,

Brett Howden? Will they get your first round pick? Probably not. Probably not. No, no, not. I mean, like, what team are you, doing that deal with. Yeah.

No, fair enough. Fair enough. It gets, it gets tricky. I just, and I guess both those guys were second round picks,

right? I think Hayek was like 37 or something. It was how it was anyway. They were pretty high, yeah. They're like high second rounders. I don't know. I just,

I just, you know, to me, if I'm rebuilding, I want as many chances of finding a star as possible. Well, do you think there's something in the idea that, like, I think people generally in hockey circles

believe that the lightning are a very good drafting and developing team. And I, I would honestly subscribe to the theory that maybe, If you're another team, you're looking and you're like, hey, like, clearly they like these guys. And I mean, obviously, you could be the argument, like, why are they trading them if they liked them so much. I did a, I did a story, or I tweeted, I didn't do a story.

I tweeted something once that someone else did a story. It might have been Sean Jintilly. So I'll credit Sean. There we go. If it was someone else. My former boss. Your former boss. The sporting news.

Yes, okay, that's good. I'm glad you said the sporting news because that's where this was. But I looked at sort of what happens when teams trade for, like, drafted prospects. And I think I just looked at, so I had a tweet, I think. think about first rounders and saying that, you know, it seems to me like when a first, a guy picked in the first round gets traded, he never pans out. And, um, and, and, and it's crazy. Like, like, you know, when you actually, and so Gentilly went and did the legwork and good for him because I like just have an idea as another people do the work. Right. And, and it looked like it

panned out. And, um, and so, you know, you just wonder, you wonder, you know, you wonder how those will pan out because I think teams hold on to the best ones pretty tight. Yeah. And those guys that don't pan out, keep getting shot after shot because they were a former first round. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then they end up at the Olympics.

Yeah. There we go. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, I don't think there's that much more to say. Like, Ryan McDonough is a really good player. The Lightning are going to have two cracks in the cup with him. He slots in nicely. I'm not really concerned about the fact that, you know, he's not a natural righty and

they need one of those. I think he's a good enough player that they're going to make it work. So, I don't know. Before this trade, would you have said that the, Lightning were the best team in the East, and if not, are they now coming out of this deadline? I liked Boston a lot. What worried me with the Lightning going to this trade was, like, they seemed like a pretty flat possession team.

Like, they, they've been around 50 all year. Like, they haven't really been, you know, that 52, 53 that we see from a lot of cup winners. Right. So that's been kind of, that's been kind of an issue with me. You know, that's an issue. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's something where I've had a real issue.

They do have the, I feel like, obviously it's not an ideal thing to rely on, but they do have the prime talent that could probably. Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, no, absolutely. And it's, you know, I said this about Winnipeg earlier this year. Like, Winnipeg reminded me a little bit of the Pittsburgh team. Like, this is early in the year when they were struggling to, you know, get possession. Yep.

They reminded me a little bit of that Pittsburgh team that went to the final in 0708. You remember that one that was like a crappy possession team? Right. But it's just like, if you got, you know, if you got two guys who are going to run their lines at 11% you know you can live with it so so yeah no absolutely i agree with you now at the same time though like they had been running cold for for some time so so what i like about this is i think it lets them organize their defense a little better yeah and like if they want you know they can i guess i'm thinking so they got three lefties and are ready in the top four right yeah they're hope well

they're hoping mcdona will shift over to the right side oh okay so so they can run i'm just trying to think of like how i would do it i'd probably run sergeant chev with strawman and then run headman and McDonough is like the tough pair, the tough minutes. That would be, yeah. I'd love to see those two guys play together. I feel like it'd be very interesting. Yeah, yeah. No, I guess the other thing, like, there's so much you could do. Yeah. And the other thing is, like, they've had some faith in Gerardy this year. And he's been, you know, I think in fairness to Steve Iserman, because a lot of people kind of chuckled when they made that move, he's been, he's been pretty good. He has. Okay, yeah, so we got

the lightning. We got the jets. What else stood out to you? Do you want to talk about the Canucks? It's always fun to talk about it. Let's do it. All right. What did you think of the Connecks's, uh, deadline day? Dimitri. All right. I want my producer to get ready to use the bleep button right now because this is a kid-friendly show. I know a lot of parents listen to this with their kids in the car

or putting their babies to sleep. But I have no idea what the fuck the Knucks are doing. So here's the deal. There's a 28th ranked team this year. Yep. They're heading into the deadline with two assets that are expiring, that are impending free agents in, we got some noise in the back

with Thomas Vanek and Eric Good Branson Right So they choose to Resign Eric Good Branson To a three year $12 million deal Mistifying And then they turn Thomas Vanick Into UC Oakenin's contract

And Tyler Mott Now this is a team that Under Jim Benning Has routinely Given away more picks and trades Than they've gotten back And they've been rebuilding this entire time with Jim Benning behind the wheel.

And he's been pegged as this quote-unquote draft guru who's supposed to be some sort of master scout that it's going to kill it in the draft. And he's made some nice picks. But I think there's a general lack of understanding how the draft works with this regime. And it's mind-blowing that they continue to operate this way, considering they're trying not to bottom out because they think the Vancouver market can sustain a team that's not successful. Yet they've been the second or third worst team in the league since Jim Benning took over. Well, we'll see, though, you know, like, I think people in Vancouver are going to get burned out on that at some point.

Like, at some point, they're just, you know, the Canucks can keep talking, but people aren't going to buy it. It's interesting. I was surprised when they extended Benning, how many Vancouver people, like, I saw some polls, some people seemed, you know, like, they were okay with it. And I think that there's, I think that there is an element of, you know, the people that you and I talk to or the people that, you know, like that at hockey dick, who's a great follow for, I get all my Canucks information. through him. He's awesome. He's very entertaining. You know, like, like those people are not necessarily, uh, the typical Vancouver Canucks fan. Yeah. And a lot of people right now are comfortable with where it's going. Now, you know, I've said this before, but I feel like I've seen this movie with the Canucks before,

um, you know, with the Oilers sort of, you know, rebuild that started in 2006. And at some point, I think people will get frustrated because I don't really see it going anywhere. Um, you know, in fairness to Benning, he said that they didn't have an offer of a pick for Vanek, so I don't know what he can do that. I don't buy that. Based on the rest of the market. Yeah? Like, you're telling me they couldn't have gotten a fourth or fifth round pick? I don't know. I guess if he's lying, he's lying, but you know, he always seems like a fairly honest guy. I mean, Mark Lettestu went for a fourth. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. I just waited. How does Mark Letestu get a fourth, but not Thomas Vanek? Well, I just think he

probably waited a bit too long and the market might have dried up and eventually by the time he was ready to deal Vanik, there wasn't a pick available, but I find it hard to believe that during this entire process, someone wouldn't have given up a fourth or a fifth or something, which is a better asset than whatever they got. Yeah, no, fair enough. His issue may well have been that he just, you know, and you know what, there's nothing wrong with, like, he might have just played it wrong or read it wrong. And I don't know, these things, you know, I was going to say there's nothing wrong

with that, but on the other hand, you didn't have to be, like, when you looked at that market and how saturated it was with Wingers, maybe they should have just been like as soon as you get something halfway acceptable, cash in and get out. Yeah. So, I don't know. I look at Tyler Modham, like, what's even the point? You know, like, is he going to be a fourth liner? Like, it's, I don't know.

It's just, to me, you know, I don't have any faith that the current Vancouver group will get it right. And so, you know, maybe they'll win a couple lotteries. But outside of that, it's just, you know, we're just killing time there until Aqualini goes, okay, it's trying to something new. Yep. All right, that's enough about the Canox. It's depressing. No one likes to talk here about this.

Another takeaway I had was there were a couple teams there that I'm intrigued by that kind of just stood Pat. And maybe it's because they don't really know what their own team is. And they just felt uncomfortable pushing some chips in, like the flames, for example. I really like that team. It's kind of bizarre to me that their main move was picking up Chris Stewart, who is now apparently going to play on the top line. Well, you know, I assume Berkland will get that roll back when he gets healthy. but yeah, that was kind of strange. I don't know.

Like, if you're Calgary, I think it's hard to, you know, bet more on that team. They should be, you know, better than where they are. And it's funny, eh, like a lot of people said this, but they aren't unlike Nashville last year. You know, they're sort of scraping and, you know, clawing to maybe get eighth place. Yeah.

But, you know, I think you agree with this. They seem like a team that's better than that. Yeah. So, so I don't know. I don't know. Like, I guess there's two ways to looking at it. One way to look at it. is, you know, for Calgary and extra points or two in the standings would be massive.

But I'm not really sure what they could do, right? Like, it's, you know, was there a third line out there they could acquire, keeping in mind that they dealt a bunch of picks for Hammondack? Yeah, that's a fair point. And I mean, under this regime, they've kind of made it clear that they don't really want to be giving up assets for rentals either. So it's like, yeah, there were guys like Mike Hoffman available, but for what price and maybe they just were uncomfortable with that.

It makes sense. But it's kind of disappointing. Another team is the Dallas Star. who I really like, but it was kind of weird. Like, they literally did nothing yesterday. And I don't know what trade there was to be had or even what they would do, but it just seemed weird to me for a team that is kind of on the precipice of being really, really good that they were just like, eh, we'll just wait this out.

Yeah, but again, like, you know, I don't know, like what was out there? Like, you know, what didn't move that could have moved? Why wouldn't, okay, why wouldn't Dallas have given up a fifth round pick for Thomas Vanek? Because, you know what? Like, here's the thing. I don't like Thomas Vanek. Thomas Vanek makes a difference. Like, he's a guy who's in the NHL.

Yeah. But does he make a difference? I don't think so. Because the fourth liner on your power play, why not? Well, because does Dallas have power play problems? I don't know. How's their second unit running? Yeah, but I don't know.

Like, I don't know. I just, I just, oh, let's go get Thomas Vanek's so he can play on the second unit and the fourth line. Does he seem like a Ken Hitchcock guy? Oh, well, he doesn't seem like a John Tortorella guy. No, no, no. But I just, I just, I find like, Thomas Vannick is like the, you know, like the, like right now, he's like the guy,

he's like the guy that you get so you can show your owner you went and did something, even though you don't think you should do anything. Right. You're like, yeah, yeah, I've got a small piece, Thomas Vanek. Like, I just, I just, I can't, I can't even pretend to care about. And like, like, if you think about, like, how big is,

impact, like, how big of an impact would you expect, like, is he going to win you an extra game in the last 20? Yeah, that's fair. I just, I don't know. And the other thing is with Dallas, right? Like, if you're Dallas, look at their road, to the Western Conference final. It's not pretty.

It's not ideal. Yeah, and like, I don't know that you're substantially moving your, your chances there if you go out and add, like, Thomas Vannock. So maybe they could have got, like, a Thomas Vannock Michael Dalzado combination. Yikes. Yikes. So you get what I'm saying, right? Like, it's those, you know, but, like, when I look at the league this year,

like to me, there's sort of four teams that seem like there are maybe five if you really like Pittsburgh that kind of seem like they're cut above. and everybody else. I'm like, do I really want to throw in assets to try and run through that buzzsaw? All right, but what if you're, say, the Washington Capitals? And I feel like you're, I mean, you're obviously burned by how it went last year with Kevin Shandkirk. But, like, you're also kind of committed to this current group you have. Like, I just hate the idea of sort of sitting in the middle.

Like, either just give up a bunch of future assets and try to win a cup. And if it doesn't work out, well, shit. You should try it and then you go ahead and rebuild after that, but don't. Yeah. Well, what do you think the caps should have done? Do you think they should have tried to get? They were apparently in on both McDonough and Carlson yesterday, so I don't know. Maybe the price was just too much.

Yeah, I guess. I, you know, or they just didn't have the assets to get it done because they've done a lot, you know. I don't know. The caps are such a funny team to me. Like, I'm sure they just, they just look at their division. They go, God, it's going to be Pittsburgh again. Yeah. And, you know, I'm not sure that they, there's an organization.

should have any faith that they can beat Pittsburgh. Yeah, I don't think the capitals are very good this year, which is going to be. There's also that. It's going to be so hockey when this is the year they win the cup. The one year, no one's on them. Yeah, I'd be okay with that, though. Just, you know, like, I'm at the point where when it comes to cheering for guys to win the cup, I just like the older guys who people are going to be like, you never want a cup.

So, you know, whether that's Thornton or Ovechkin, like, guys like that, I just want to see them win their cup so that everyone else can shut up. Although P.K. Savan winning the cup and the parade in Montreal will be great, dude. Yes. Brendan Gallagher can come. Oh, I'm sure we'll get a front row seat. All right, let's take a quick break to hear from a sponsor, and we'll pick up the rest of the trade deadline, post hoc analysis after that.

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So really there's no reason not to be using them. Just download the Ciki app enter the promo code PDO and you're set. Now let's get back to the show. All right. I'm thinking of all this. Okay. The Devils.

So they gave up a second and a third to get Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon as rentals. I have, this might be a controversial take. I actually am okay with what they did. Yeah, I don't know. Okay, here's the issue I have with it. Do you think the Devils are real? No. No?

What I will say as a fan of hockey. Yes. I think there's a plausible chance at this point that even though I don't think they're quote-unquote real, that they could sneak into their playoffs. I mean, there's certainly. No, I, no, I've said all year, I don't believe in the devils, I don't believe in the devils, I think they're going to make the playoffs. And as a fan of hockey, I think it would be awesome to see Taylor Hall in the playoffs.

And I will say that unless they're playing the penguins, I guess, or I guess the Bruins maybe, like, or lightning. But like, if they play one of these other teams, you didn't think you win around. Well, there's a realistic scenario that they will have the best player in the series in Taylor Hall. And I'm very curious to see how that unfolds. Yeah, yeah, no, that would be, yeah. I think that would be a great story. That would be a great story

Um All right Um What are the Columbus I'm looking at So I'm going basically down in order right now Columbus

Is it Columbus depressing Sitting in a wildcard spot They add Who did Thomas Vanek Mark Lettestio And Ian Cole Like what

What the hell Yeah Do they know what year it is in Columbus Like they know it's 2018 Right Man that's bizarre And like I don't I don't mind that team at all

I think they have Some interesting talent and depth But But they've been sitting for two months. Yeah, they really struggled to score, and I would not say that any of those guys are going to move the needle in terms of the goal scoring up. And it's crazy.

When you watch them, like, I saw them, I went and saw them play against the Leafs here a week or so ago. And it's unbelievable how much of their offense just flowed through the point. Like, it's just get up to the point and gun it. And it's, I don't know. I, I, that's a hard team for me to like. And it's a shame because they've got, like, I do think they're set for sort of the next decade.

Like, you have Seth, Jones and Zach Wrenski, you have yourself a platform on which to build a contender. But, you know, I don't feel like the forwards are particularly close at the moment. No, they're not. And obviously, you know, Bobrovsky's kind of getting this rap as being a regular season goalie, whatever that means, and he struggled a bit in the first round. But how many first rounds are we talking about? Two, three?

Yeah, but that's what I would like for him to have a nice little playoff run, so people stop citing those stats because they're very irrelevant. He goes on, he goes on, like, you have your own little list like me with the Vetchkin and Thornton and Bob's a guy on. Guys who have struggled in like eight playoff games. Yeah, yeah, and everyone's like, they're awful. Eastern Conference, we've talked about the main stuff, I feel like. I mean, the Bruins, I like the Rick Nash edition. I think he still has a bit left in the tank.

Do you? Yeah, I think so. I don't know. We'll see what he is. I'm kind of skeptical at this point. I think he's fine. I guess you could add him to the list of people who have. been unfairly maligned with their playoff? Yeah, but you know what? I feel like with him, I don't know.

I don't know. To me, I've never been the world's biggest Rick Nash fan. And part of that's just like, you know, he goes first overall. And as far as first overalls go, like, is he a particularly good one? I think he's perfectly fine. He seems to have had a nice little NHL career for himself. But you think, you think as far as first overall picks go, is he even an average first overall pick? Who would you rather have Kovilchuk or Nash? Cobbletchuk. Who would you rather have, uh, who went first, no, three? Oh, it was Flurry or Nash? Nash. Okay, 04 was Avechkin?

Avechkin, obviously. Okay, Crosby? Yes. Eric Johnson. We take Johnson or Nash? Nash. Okay, so that's 06. Who's 07?

Whose year was 07? I don't know. I was like four years old. That's JVR. That's the JVR. That's the JVR? Oh, Kane, or Nash? Kane.

08 is, is that the Tavares year? No, that's the year before the Tavares year. It's because Tavares is 09. Snapco? Yeah, Stamp Coase or Nash? Stamcoes? Tavares or Nash? Tavares or Nash?

Taylor or Nash? Oh, really? Yeah, no, I take a haul, I take haul. You take haul. I think Ray Nash has been fine. I mean, I just mean that by first round... It sucks that he spent so much time on Columbus while they were...

Spinning their wheels, yeah. No, fair enough, fair enough. And that may be part of the issue, too, is it he burned the best part of his career. He was doing so much heavy lifting with nothing around him and... Yeah, so I don't know, sure. If Rip Nash wins the stand. Stanley Cup, you know, God bless. I don't even need him to win a Stanley Cup, but if he scores like five goals in

12 games or something, just so people stop talking about how he can't score any goals in the playoffs. All right, so we don't need Rick Nash to win a Stanley Cup. As long as none of those goals are on Sergey-Babroski. Right, right, right, right. Yeah, so a Columbus, a Columbus boss to matchup. I'd be a disastrous. Yeah, I wouldn't know what to cheer for.

I guess what you'd want is, like, Columbus, I guess what you'd want is, like, Columbus to win the series in seven, winning each game. game 2-1 with Nash scoring seven goals. Yeah, there we go. Now that would be... Nash scrimed all the goals. It would be more than seven. That would be a PDOCES special.

Yes. Was there any other team out east? Yeah, I don't know. Toronto didn't do anything. Well, they added the turtle neck. The other turtle neck. Yeah, I don't know. That's so they went and got a fourth center.

Who cares? Yeah. I'm the new turtleneck sheriff in Toronto. Who cares? The Panthers. I did, you know, I thought the Red Wings good for them for going on getting some picks. So you think it's bizarre that I understand that probably the Carlson McDonough talks like kind of got in the way of because everyone was like,

why would we go for Mike Green when we can try and get one of these two guys? And then it just like it was going super late into the towards deadline and then there was no time. But it's weird for me like why wouldn't Vegas have just taken Mike Green and added like a six round pick or something? Like it's just like it's so weird to me that Mike Green is still in this Red Wing's team. The athletics, Craig Custin's of the athletic. Friend of the podcast. friend of the podcast. I believe he's a member of your Mount Rushmore, yes. He actually had a good story about this yesterday talking about how the day unfold from Detroit's perspective. And it sounds like

the issue with Green was that he has an injury that might recur, which made teams really uncomfortable while trading for him. And I don't know, at this stage for me, he's a pretty specialized piece. Like, I feel like 15 years ago, teams were like, oh, yeah, get guys, get guys. And now maybe they're a little more cautious about the guys they get. Right. And so when I look at Green, I'm like, well, is anything more than a third pair guy in a good team? No, but there's value in that. Yeah, but is even a good third pair guy? Okay, but so would you rather have Mike Green or Ian Cole at this point?

I don't know if I'd have a preference. I feel like on the odd chance that Mike Green could do something useful, I would take a higher on him. Well, there's a thing. Ian Cole can play higher up the lineup without killing you. Whereas Mike Green... I would disagree. I think he just kills you in more subtle ways. Ah, more subtle way. Hmm.

Well, I don't know. But the fact that we even having to be sort of says, to me that Mike Green's not exactly, you know, and the thing is, too, like, they're all we can play in the power play, sure, but, like, there was talk about Tampa. Tampa doesn't need a guy for their power play. Yeah. There was talk about Toronto. Toronto doesn't need a guy for their power play. Right. So, you know, and you just brought a Vegas. Vegas doesn't need a guy for their power play. That's true. So, I don't know, I think as guys get older and you start to,

and they're skill-based roads, you're looking at very narrow slots that might work for. Well, yeah, and, you know, to Detroit's credit, I mean, I mean, we just talked about the Canucks earlier. Like, they're in a very similar spot, but they actually wound up getting picks for a guy, which the Canucks didn't get to do. So, okay, that is it for the Eastern Conference. Oh, actually, we haven't talked about Ottawa.

Let's talk about Eric Carlson. Do you want to share some thoughts on? Eric Carlson? I thought Ottawa made the right play not trading him. I think they'll probably do better this summer trading him, just because I think they'll be a bigger market. I think there'll be a bigger market for them. And so to me, I think they made the right.

Like, it goes back to what we talked about, we've been done it, right? Like, you can get the platter of stuff right now. Yeah. But I'd rather wait, you know, and see, you know, maybe somebody. And, like, because, like, I made this point. I wrote about Carlson today. It's pretty popular.

Is that the word you would use to describe the article? It's our word. It's, no, I, but I wrote about it. One of the points I made was that this is a weird season because you could have L.A., Chicago, Edmonton all in the draft lottery. Yeah. And, you know, I've made this point before about, I don't think anyone's trading the Dahlene pick for them.

I could see Ebenton or Chicago or L.A. looking to structure something to get Carlson if they had, say, pick two through four. Yeah. You know, it's no guarantee, but particularly Chicago and L.A., like, you know, they only get so many chances to ring the bell. and you know like you only get a dowdy copatar combo or a taves cane combo so many times like in a century for a franchise so when you have it you kind of got to be all in i think so i you know i liked what

ottawa did i know it's easy to kind of kick pierre dorian right now but i think he made the right call holding on to him and um you know we'll see we'll see what he gets we'll see what he gets when the summer comes yeah it's definitely a roll of the dice i mean it's tough to say how much he could have gone right now, you'd think that he would have gotten more from a team based on the fact that they'd have Carlson for two runs, but you're right, if the market expands in the summer. But like, as soon as Tampa, what do you think they were offering? Like the, the, the, the, the, McDonough platter, does that appeal to you at all? Yeah, not particularly. I think if they got back that exact return, that would have been very tough to sell as exactly. And, and, and, you know,

like, what do you think Vegas is offering? Like, you know, I'm sure it's just a mix of Well, if they were offering first, second, and third for Thomas the tar. I hope. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's easy to kind of scream about them on that, but I didn't think that was such a bad trade. Like Vegas doesn't have sort of a, you know,

ultra high-end prospect. So, so I don't know, what are they offering? Shea Theodore and some picks? Like it's... But you love Shay Theodore. I do like Shade Theodore.

I do not like Shade Theodore. Do you not like Shia Theodore? No, I like him fine. I mean, I don't have posters of them above my bed like you do, but... I never should have let you in here. Yeah, no, it's, I don't know. Shea Theodore is to me, no, I like them, but I guess Carlson's who we're talking about. I don't know. I like waiting because I, you know, my preference doing deals like that is give me the best thing I can get.

Right. And I just, when you look around like Washington doesn't really have one of those things. You know, and like, and the teams that would be interested now, people are like, oh, you get them for two playoffs. Yeah, but they don't want to give you anything off their roster. So what do they have? They have draft picks in the 20s and prospects, and they won't give you the best ones. So, I don't know, wait till the summer. But you don't think devil's advocate

just sort of ripping the band-aid off at this point? The past couple weeks have been such a circus. So what? So is Ottawa not going to make the... They're already not making the playoffs. Who cares? So it's a circus for a month and a half and then everyone goes on vacation.

Like it's, I don't know, who cares? Like, it's unfortunate if it's a circus. And, you know what? Like, it's one of those things, too, where it can be a circus outside, but not inside. and it's not necessarily a circus inside the center's team. You know, um, Oh, I would,

might disagree. Yeah? I don't know. I mean, obviously some of the stories are, well, we can't verify them. Yeah,

they might not like the general manager. Listening to music very loudly and. Yeah, as he's speaking, I don't know. Carlson not paying for Uber rides. That, that apparently was just completely made up and people were

obviously, that was ridiculous. Yeah, well, but I don't know, I don't know. I just, I just,

you know, In a lost season, I'll live with, you know, if the mood is bad, I'll live with it for six weeks. Yeah. In order to have a better chance of not having a package built around Libor Hayek for Carlson. That's true. Yeah, I think that's fair. All right, Western Conference, we've talked about most of these teams. Should we talk about Vancouver more?

No, let's talk about San Jose. So they added Evander Cain. I feel like you're higher on San Jose than I am. Is that? I don't know. Am I that high at San Jose? I don't think I'm that high at San Jose. Really?

They're a team. They're a team in the national hockey. Well, they clearly needed offensive help. I mean, they're like 27th, they're 28th, and 5-1-5 offense. No, and I don't mind that. And, like, if Thornton's out, like, I don't know, it sounds pretty grim when you read stuff

about how long he's going to be out for. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know. I'm sure he'll try and come back for the playoffs. I don't know. San Jose isn't really. Like, they just sort of seem like they're at the end of the road. But that position.

The Pacific division is so... That it's not hard to imagine Tampa, or not Tampa, San Jose, kind of making a bit of a run and doing something. You know what I mean? For sure. And it makes sense.

And obviously, like, that's a conditional first if they resign him. So, like, if it's just a rental, like whatever, it's like, what, a second and a fourth? Yeah, that's a tough break for Jason Potter. Like, just the lack of interest in it. Yeah.

Which is, I mean, obviously, there's extenuning circumstances and people really, really don't seem like, like a Vander Cane around hockey circles, but I think, for this short stretch run, especially while he's playing for a new contract. Yeah.

He could be awesome for San Jose. Yeah. No, I know. I like the move for San Jose. I like the risk they took. Yeah. You know,

and, you know, is it hard to imagine San Jose going to the conference final? Not really. I think they're well coached. Yeah. And that Pacific Division's kind of sketchy.

Okay, so I'd play this game a bit with Chris Johnson last week when I had him on the podcast. And he sort of read. PDO cast Hall of Fame. Yeah. Rushmore. Yes.

I wish I was recording the show show with him right now. I know. It would be so much better. He's so much better. He asked me how many teams I thought could realistically win the Stanley Cup this season. Yeah. What did you say? Um, I think there's like what, like five maybe? Yeah, I agree. Because you just said like, oh, could you envision a scenario where San Jose makes a conference final? Like, yeah, I could. I cannot envision a scenario where they're lifting the Stanley Cup. No, it's, it's easy. Unless like everyone else just gets evaporated off. You could see them going through like Vegas. You could see them go through the ducks in Vegas, fine.

Yeah. But then it's like, okay, but could they go through Winnipeg or Nashville and then go through Tampa, Pittsburgh, or Boston? That gets a little harder. Yeah. I think what do you make of this race right now that's going on with the Pacific and the Wildcard? Because, I mean, Anaheim right now is sitting in the third spot in the Pacific.

San Jose's second, L.A.'s in the wildcard in Calgary's on outside looking in. like I don't really, I feel like if you put those teams in a hat, you can just pull out the names. I have no confidence saying which of those teams will and will not make the playoffs and in what order. Yeah, no, I agree with that. Like, I don't know, if you look at it, the Preds are in, the Jets are in, the Knights are in. Wild, the Wild sort of came out of nowhere. Yeah.

They've gotten hot, and it's funny because I just, I don't know, I'm not a big fan of it. I just, I just, they just seem to me like they're not good enough, and every year they get stomped. And, you know, like, do you have any, if it's Minnesota, Winnipeg? Well, yeah, which it looks like it will be at this rate. I feel like that's going to be a bad, bad matchup for Minnesota. Yeah, just because the speed and the skill. Yeah, I think Womte is just better in pretty much every single facet of the game. But it'll be a fun series based on the geographical stuff and the crowds.

How far is Winnipeg from Minnesota? Is it like six hours? Yeah, I don't know, but it seems like at those games, there's always fans of the other team and it's always a pretty rowdy atmosphere. I'm all for that. So I don't know. Yeah, it's a mess there in the Western Conference. Like,

I feel like at least we're going to get the good Western Conference playoff race because it seems like the East is pretty much, you know, it's Carolina of the Islanders and Columbus fighting for that last spot. But outside of that, it's pretty much done. So, I mean, Vegas is locked in as the number one seed in the Pacific. And then obviously it's still up for grabs for who's going to be number one team in the West.

But, like, what do you think of first round matchups? are there certain teams that you would feel confident actually having them as a favorite against them and then other teams that... Against two. For Vegas. Because obviously right now they could play, what, Dallas, L.A., Calgary, At a high.

See, the thing with Vegas is it worries me, it worries the wrong word, but I'll be interested to see how they do in a long series against a team with better top-end talent. Right. Because that's where, you know, the playoffs come and you can shorten your bench

and there will be coaches doing that. and and I think you can also just like tactically prepare better for like I feel like they're really catching teams off guard and it's not even like how are they still catching teams off card did you see any of their game last night no I don't watch I don't watch no of course not it's all on the spreadsheet it was like I swear to God there was like like eight odd man rushes in the first four minutes and they scored on an odd man rush yeah it's bizarre and like every single one of their players like Eric Hala yeah 30 goal score I know I know like the whole team's off base like for like yeah career seasons yeah it's incredible it's an it's an incredible story and I don't know like would you have them as a clear favorite against anybody they might I'm not sure I would no I wouldn't for sure I think like I don't know there's certain teams like I think they match up pretty well against L.A. and Anaheim yeah I think I think their speed is just too much like I don't think those two teams can keep up yeah obviously they have more star talent and maybe yeah in a series that'll prevail but I would feel okay like I think like against Calgary I think that would be a bit tougher for them yeah although Calgary just finds ways to

lose, eh? Did you see that Calgary Vegas game? Yeah. Yeah, that was... What the? Well, and last year's playoffs, against the ducks, it's like, how was that a sweep,

but I know, I know, I know. And it must be just insanely frustrating for the flames and their fans in the front office. Like, just Calgary's ability to sort of lose, like to snatch, you know,

defeat from the Jaws' victory. It's just unbelievable. Yes, it certainly is. Okay, so we, do we have an answer on the teams that go in a cup? It's, it's... Five. Is that insane?

Tampa Bay, Boston. Tampa, Nashville, Winnipeg. Yeah, that's where I am. You know Philadelphia is currently leading the Metro Division?

I did not know that. That is amazing. I just saw this. I mean, they're 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. Is this like their second 10-game winning streak this year or something? Yeah.

It feels like all they're doing is either like 10-game winning streaks or losing streak. Well, no, they had a 10-game winning streak last year, but this year it was like a 10-game losing streak streak followed immediately by six or seven straight wins, and it's like that is peak fires. Now they're 9-0-1.

one yeah well that's hey good for you like remember everyone wanted deep haxed off fire like three months where they're chanting fire hacks yeah it was uh yeah i don't know good for the flyers um that's interesting oh god so that means we might get caps pens round one cap cap spans right now it's like oh my god although maybe it's good to get it out of the way early maybe if they get past that who knows yeah well it's just kind of like yeah like honestly i think it's better than meeting them in the second round again i think that would just be very cruel. So we talked about Stasney from Winnipeg's perspective.

I like, I like St. Louis is a team that for a variety of reasons never really gets talked about much and they're just sort of kind of flying on the radar. But I love the fact that like they're confident enough in their ability to year over year critically evaluate their position in NHL's hierarchy. Like it would have been so easy for them to be like, oh, you know, we're on the precipice of the playoffs. Let's add a piece or just stand pat. Okay, here's my thing with St. Louis.

They're in a brutal division. Yeah. And that's tough. Now, what I don't like is, like, their top six was phenomenal. Like, it was one of the most productive top sixes in a league. Like, they just beat the hell of the other team. And then their third line got, you know, absolutely destroyed. Yeah.

And so rather than, rather than be like, okay, well, let's just sell, maybe try and fix your third line. Like, that's the issue I have is that if they got that third line sorted out. But we just talked about this with Calgary. Well, who are those players that you were going to get to sort that out? Yeah. No, that's fair enough. Like, they're not, they don't seem like the type of team that was going to give up, like, three or four big assets for Mike Hoffman.

They're not trading for a rental. I thought Max Petcheretti would have been a nice. Oh, he would have been awesome for a number of teams. Yeah. But. Yeah, Nick, did you, so were you watching the deadline broadcast yesterday? I was. It was so bizarre to me that, like, Nick Capriose really wanted Patcheretti to get traded.

so badly. Like it was just, he kept harping on that even when he wasn't asked about. Why did he want him going? He was just like, oh, I feel like so bad for the guy. He's,

you know, he's probably the most miserable guy in the league right now. And yeah, it's fair, but. Canadian markets are tough and losing in Canadian markets is tougher. Yeah,

as the captain. Especially as the captain in Montreal. So, no, I think that's understandable. But, yeah, no, I thought he would have been a great addition

for St. Louis. Just a shame it didn't work out. Yeah. All right, is there anything else we want to talk about while we're here. I wish the hurricane's got a goalie.

Yeah. Yeah, that would have been nice. It's just forever with them, you know? Yeah, but they seem like the type of team that's going to be one and a paid three goalies right now? I don't know. Like, is it really that, like, it's, you know, three goalies? Marzik would have been interesting based on.

Razzik would have been interesting. Yeah, City went got Ranta, right? Yeah. He makes one and a quarter. So for a quarter of the season, you're looking at 300 grand or so. I don't know. I would have liked to have seen it. I just, I just, I find it unfathomable how goalies go there and implode. Yeah. And it's like the only, like the best goalie, legitimately, the best goalie they've had forever is Cam Ward. He's not good. But it's like, nobody. Awesome 25 game sample. Nobody could be better than Cam Ward. It's like, it's like a curse upon the franchise.

Yeah. How was Eric Tolski holding up in Boston? Oh, he's well. He's well. It's, yeah, no, he's, he's good. Yeah. There was a bunch of people down there at Sloan from very, Okay, let's talk about that a bit. All right. Because you were there. I didn't make it this year. I was holding down the fort here. Yes.

In the six. You're getting John Shannon's jackets organized? Yeah, yeah. Well, someone's got to do it. Yeah, it's weekends. Weekends work. What were your big, any big takeaways? Any interesting anecdotes or talks or anything?

It doesn't even have to be all about hockey. I mean, I know you're interesting. I thought the basketball panel was fantastic. Yeah. You know, I think the NBA is so lucky for so many reasons. And one of them is, like, there's a curiosity amongst people about about the NBA and like listening to Jalen Rose talk.

There are no former hockey players like them. No. And it's so interesting to get the person. What about like Mike? I guess he's not that. No, MJ is good. I like MJ, but he's like more sort of X's and O is insightful than like purely entertaining. Yeah.

Well, that's like, I don't know. Part of that's just, and I like, I like Mike too. So we're sitting here trash him. Yeah. He's so boring. He's just an awful boring Canadian. Well, I mean, now that he can't come on the podcast anymore. Oh, yeah.

Oh, you feel free to just rip him with impunity? Well, that's not what we're doing here. I love MJ. He knows that. So, I don't know. Like, I thought the basketball panel was great. And it was interesting, like, even a guy like Jalen Rose, who, you know, was a pretty good basketball players.

I understand this thing. You know, he was a very entertaining speaker about the game and thinker about the game. And he had some great lines. So, no, that was great. I thought the Friedman-Betman interview was really good. So Elliot had Gary Batman and Jeff Vinnick from Tampa. and I thought it was pretty insightful, you know, I don't know what your thoughts are in the Olympics.

Like I wish that, you know, the NHL have been there. It's fun to watch, but, you know, it's hard to say the NHL doesn't have a good argument. And I thought it was interesting. You know, I guess we're coming up on lockout slash strike time. And like, it was interesting seeing Don Fear asked about, you know, his negotiation style. And he's like, it's all about leverage. Yeah. I think that's probably true of that.

as well. And it just means that like it's, you know, when you have a relationship that structured that way, I think it's tough to make progress. Yeah. Because, you know, nobody wants to give up anything. Right. Unless they're getting something for it. So, you know, it's too bad that the players didn't get the Olympics when they did their deal. Right. That seems like it may have been a mistake. But, but yeah, I don't know, it's a great conference. If, you know, if people are ever on the fence, it's always worth going. So, yeah, I mean, I had fun last year. It's cool. Just kind of...

And yeah, I'd say that the... Just seeing the other sports panels and sort of thinking about stuff from that perspective is always kind of more interesting to me than actually just focusing on the hockey stuff there anyways. Yep. All right, let's get out of here. What do you want to plug?

Have you heard about the athletic? No, are they hiring? Are they bringing on any staff members yet? They sometimes do bring on staff people. I think there's announcements on... Twitter. No, just going to be right in a way for the athletic. That's what I'm doing. And so you can read it at the athletic.com, subscription, I don't know, Myrtle Custance. Can I say Pierre LeBron's name here? Absolutely. Lebrun. I love Pierre. Yeah, no, I know. Holy mama. Holy mama. Big boy hockey.

Yeah. So yeah, yeah, as we get ready for big boy hockey in the spring. The bride of Hurst, Ontario, him and Claudeau. Yeah. So, you know, there's usually a discount around. If you need a discount, get at me on Twitter, and I'll find you one. And, yeah. Yeah, it's been great. Awesome. Well, it was fun. Chad and Tyler, and I'm sure we'll have you back on sometime around the playoffs.

Sounds good. Thanks, Dimitri. Cheers. The Hockey PDOCast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud. At soundcloud.com slash hockey PDOCast. Music