The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 226: Hockey Hotbeds

Episode Date: March 22, 2018

Alex Prewitt joins the show to discuss a variety of topics, most notably including: 1:10 Most interesting Rasmus Dahlin landing spots 4:08 Why the Arizona Coyotes have had such a rough go of it 17:21 How the Florida Panthers turned their season around 33:31 Alex Ovechkin's ability to keep scoring goals 47:16 Profiling Zdeno Chara  Sponsoring today’s show is Harry’s Razors. If you sign up with them today using the promo code PDO, they’ll send you a trial shave set free of charge that includes: 1) weight ergonomic razor handle, 2) 5 precision-engineered blades with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, 3) rich lathering shave gel and 4) a travel blade cover. All you have to do is cover the shipping cost and that starter kit will be dropped at your door for free. Also helping make today’s show possible 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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My name is Dimitri Filipovich. my good buddy, Alex Pruitt. Alex, what's going on, man? Like you, I'm very upset that we scheduled at this time. We can't catch the end of Buffalo, Arizona. I know. If I sound sort of, you know, vaguely distracted and distant and not really responsive, it's because I'm, uh, I've got a picture and picture going on here. I'm, uh, I'm trying to focus on the game while also doing this conversation with you. So it's that time of year, man. This is the, uh, this is the most exciting time in the season. We've got some playoff races. We've got some tank battles. I mean, everything's happening in NH all these days.

Oh, sorry, I was watching. I deserve that one. It's been a good excuse, actually, for me to go back and watch Rasmus Dahlon highlights. And my goodness, that's going to be really fun. Yes, yeah, for whichever team is lucky enough to... Edmonton. To get that first overall pick, all the losing this year is going to be worth it. So what would cause the most consternation?

Edmonton... Chicago? Chicago. yeah, I was going to say Chicago would be up there for sure. Those are probably be top two, right? Would the Rangers be third? Yes, although, you know, you can kind of make the argument like, oh, it's kind of good karma for how they handled this year in terms of, you know, just being out and coming out in the open and being transparent about their intentions and with that letter to their fan base

and everything, like you could sort of make the argument that it's not necessarily deserved, but that, you know, they're kind of quote unquote doing it the right way. Whereas if it was Chicago, first time it was in the playoffs in 10 years, I think people would be pretty upset. And same with Edmondton, obviously. Yeah. Doesn't, um, Dahlin plays with the Lundkiss brother, doesn't he? In Furlunda?

I think he does. So just, just transfer over. Yeah, I should know that. I mean, we do have a shout out to that. We have a pretty big Swedish fan base of the PDO cast, and so everyone listening there. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I love Sweden.

I just loaded up. Yeah, we're good. Yeah, we're good. Okay. Yeah, whew. Yeah, what would be the most... You're a storyteller. You write these stories.

What will be the most poetic story here for landing spots? Because obviously, with Arizona and Buffalo, you could sort of make the argument that, you know, they missed out on McDavid. And especially with Buffalo, they really tried to bottom off that first overall pick and kept getting second. I don't know, with the Canucks,

it's sort of whether the Cedines come back or not, kind of continue that Swedish lineage. They desperately need that. and you face the franchise. Like, I don't know. What will be the best story for you in terms of writing a full sort of profile of his landing spot? Oh, Ottawa would be really fun, wouldn't it? If only for what that means for 65.

Yeah. Because, I mean, you assume he gets there, you know, they would pick him what a week before agency opens a week before July 1. Or, you know, does that factor in to their decision? I don't know. That'd be super interesting. How about this one? I just thought of this one.

Well, actually, I thought of it a while ago, but it just popped back into my head. What if the Islanders wanted, one of if the Islanders wanted with Calgary's pick? And then their pick wound up being second overall, and then they had the first two picks, and John Tavares re-signs, and all of a sudden we've got ourselves, we're cooking with some. And then Garth Snow still doesn't do anything else. Both of them. Yes. For Eric Carlson. No, you just moved down in the draft.

We're going with a value-based approach, and they're just going to acquire 14 first-rounders, in the next two years. Ooh, I do like that. Although careful, careful. I've heard when you have three picks in a row in the first round, it might not work out so well. It's foolproof. Okay, so speaking of the coyotes, you and I are both watching them play this riveting matchup against the Buffalo Sabres today.

You had a chance to talk with their general manager, John Cheyke, recently, I believe it was your most recent piece that's appeared in Sports Illustrated. You had a nice little sit-down Q&A with him. I don't know. Let's just get into that because I feel like that. I haven't spent too much time talking about the coyotes on the podcast this year, but they've had a Imagine why? Well, I mean, they've had a sort of interesting season, obviously starting off 010 and 1.

They can't buy a win. Now they're sort of providing hope and optimism, I guess, moving forward because they're actually playing pretty good hockey, but is it going to come at the cost of their lottery odds? So it's been a bizarre year there, but it's not short on storylines. Yeah, no, it's certainly not. There seems to be a little bit of drama. And you throw their building in there too And what's going on with ownership And they got a new president

Or what a new sole owner this year Yeah, there's a lot to pick out there You just talk to people around that organization Not just John I think the party line tends to be That if they hadn't been so banged up the beginning And they had gotten any semblance Of even average goaltending

I think to Ming when he was in there It was like an 856 For like seven games So they think that they'd be closer. Probably not in the mix, but maybe, you know, 10 or so points, more points higher than they are right now, which would put them probably above Edmonton in the conference.

And I think that they're actually quite fine where they are right now for the reasons we just discussed. If they end up getting the Dallin pick, then incredible. If not, then, you know, still more high-end assets you can build off of. And at the same time, you're gaining experience. I think Strom at a Golden Knight. Some of their other young guys are being put in advantageous positions. And you're jelling with a first-year coach in Tocke,

who they clearly believe that he's the guy to steer this rebuild. But talking to John Chica, it was interesting. When I called him, he was at the Diamond Vax facility, and he just finished a meeting with some front-office officials over there, and he was kind of talking to them about everything from training practices to health and performance stuff to they got to. into like some simulation talk and you know just comparing uh you know simulations and the variables that they have in baseball to what um Arizona the coyotes model have in hockey um so you know he's

he's a fascinating character to me he's the youngest GM right in uh in league history but he has a monumental task ahead of them and um you know he was optimistic when i talked to him i think uh this past month or so they've um been winning at a pretty solid clip and it's been encouraging their defense of core has been um what they expected to be at the start of the year um um You know, that they have money, I think. They have some caps based in the off season, some guys to sign, you know, whether Ranta or, you know, Domi, if they bring him back. But at the same time, he did hint that they might have some moves still to make.

And I think, you know, the trade deadline, they were pretty quiet, a couple of depth moves, you know, in Darcy Kemper and, et cetera. And just kind of nibbling around the edges. And I think that's probably setting up for them to be a little bit bigger players either in the summer or entering next year. when this really kicks in. And don't we say that every year, though? I mean, this was supposed to be the year that it kicked in and they were starting to contend.

But I think things are trending in the positive direction there. I think they're doing this the right way. I think they're smart not to have deviated from the plan and not to have blown this all up. So kudos to them for patience at least. Yeah. It's interesting because I don't necessarily subscribe to the idea that, you know, them finishing the year strong is going to carry into next year or anything by any means. But like if you do look at how their season unfolded, especially with that losing streak to start the year and the fact that

I think they were relying on Ranta to be the goalie he's proven to be in the second half here. And he, I think he started one game and then like he got either pulled or he came in relief in that Vegas home opener that was just completely fell apart right away. And then he basically got injured. And the goalies that replaced him just weren't up to snuff. And in today's NHL, it's really tough to compete unless you're getting at least sort of some baseline level goaltending. And now we look in 40 starts, you look in Ranta has a 925 save percentage and you wonder if he was around all year, especially to start off, how differently their season would have looked and whether things would have spiraled out of control the way they would have. I don't necessarily

think that this, what, 13, 5, and 3 run if they beat the Sabres here is necessarily indicative of what they're going to be moving forward. But I don't know, there's probably some middle ground there and I think that based off their moves they made this summer, that would be a step in the right direction just because it's clear that they want some level of respectability and to not be a laughing stock of the league anymore. Yeah, and look, everything's going to come down to what they do with Echman-Larsen and probably how much they extend them for.

But, I mean, if you're moving forward, he's probably going to get protection on his next deal, I'd assume. And your top four is pretty much locked in a place there with him, Golgoss, at least the highest-paid guys, Golgoski, Homerson, and MERS, who have a couple years left. But they're pretty good, and the Chickrens coming on. I think he's, what, 19 years old. I mean, the building blocks are in place there.

I just looked it up, Ranta's been a 936 this calendar year. So since giving up four goals against Anaheim on New Year's Eve, he's been a 936, 8%. So, yeah, he's probably not that, but he's certainly not a guy who is, yeah, given up, you know, with three goals on like five shots against Vegas and that second game of the season either. So I think they want to bring him back. But yeah, as far as it carrying over, I think maybe not results-wise, but I think it's probably important to be putting these young kids in, you know, in the NHL situations, right?

I would think, I mean, you might as well. We gripe about this with other teams. You know, why not just let the kids play, let them figure it out. And I mean, it's a free pass. It nothing really matters from here on now. So you might as well get them in. And if they win, great, good for the confidence. If they lose, great, good for the lottery balls.

So, I mean, having spent time with John, and I'm assuming you call him John on a first time basis after doing such a lovely Q&A with him. Well, I don't know what else I should call. Like when I'm referring to him here, you know, he's my age. Yeah, I was going to say, are you older than him or younger? I think I'm younger than him. Oh, there we go. Yeah, I guess you could call him Mr. Chica then.

It's kind of interesting because obviously I don't necessarily even think of him as a quote-unquote analytics guy per se, but I guess he is a bit of an outsider just from the perspective that he's younger and he didn't play in the league or anything, right? So it's like, I think people are quick to jump on the coyotes whenever something goes wrong. And when they were losing early in the year, everyone was pointing to them as another example that analytics don't work in today's NHL and this and that. And I don't know, there's always a bit weird to me considering that if you just looked at all their moves, they made this summer in particular, like, those weren't even necessarily, like,

analytics moves. They were just bringing in actual NHL players. I don't think anyone was quibbling with it at the time. and then when the results didn't come with them, all of a sudden everyone was like, ah, see, obviously doesn't work in this league. So I don't know.

I'm just trying to figure out what's going on there and why there is that divide. I think it is that he's not part of that old boys club, so to speak. Yeah, I think part of it is we have a pretty basic understanding, really, of what teams are doing, analytics-wise. You know, because analytics and public discourse, gets thrown around from anything from, you know, very high-level tracking and,

and crunching of numbers to, you know, simple shot attempts and division. So I'm sure that factors in to their equations, but, you know, stuff like simulations and projections of draft prospects and, you know, valuations of picks and stuff like that. And we're not really sure what models these guys are using or if they're using them at all. I certainly think that they are in Arizona. he seems very forward thinking in that regard. And actually the way you kind of phrase that, I was curious, like what, do you think we're ever going to get to a point where,

or soon will we get to a point where, you know, analytics and not having played in the league are synonymous? You know, like being an analytics guy, does that mean, therefore, that you're an outsider? Or are we going to start seeing, you know, people who are, quote, unquote, inside the game be labeled as analytics people? because that's what you should do. I mean, you should take that stuff into account. You should be looking analytics. It's foolish for you not to if you're in a position of power in any sport or anything, really. So at what point do you think we might get there?

Well, that's an interesting question because I think it has to do with sort of how you control the message and sort of how you come across with what you're saying in the media. Because I don't know, like the other team we can lump in here is the Sabres, for example, when you're talking about the worst teams in the league over the past couple years. And, you know, Tim Murray took a lot of crap. for sort of his methods. And, you know, he comes from the Murray family who have been in hockey forever. He was a scout for a long time before he took over this job. So he wasn't necessarily, you know, an outsider by any means, but he was considered more of a progressive

analytics forward thinking type. And he took a lot of crap for that from people. So I don't know, it's interesting because then you look at the Canucks, for example, and I wrote about this last week, they've actually been the worst team in the league the past three years, right there with the coyotes and the sabers, but no one really thinks about him that way because, A, they've never openly sort of tanked and admitted that they were losing to get higher draft picks, and B, because they run by Trevor Linden and Jim Benning, who are both quote-unquote respected hockey people. And I think that that goes a long way in terms of having certain segments in the media on your side. I still think it's sad, but I do still think we're at that point right now. I mean,

we're still in the infancy stages of this stuff. I do wonder what will happen or what the the discourse will be, depending on what happens there in Arizona, like if, you know, say, this doesn't work in a couple years and Chayk is on his way out, does that then become a total referendum on, you know, so-called analytics? And, you know, are we taking a couple steps back? Because, I mean, in those situations, in Arizona and, you know, Buffalo, it might be some false equivalence. Like, analytics probably didn't get them to be bad. They were just bad. And it just, you know, it speaks to how difficult it is, really, to get out of that hole in the salary cap era. you have to hit on your prospects, you have to make trades.

And I think, you know, Chike has done, he's been pretty aggressive, right? He hasn't he made more trades than any other GM in the league since he came in? So he's certainly mining that avenue. But, I mean, look, it's pretty darn difficult to get out of the seller. And, you know, the frequency of, you know, the times we see Edmonton in the top five and picking, and, you know, Arizona and Buffalo, I think, speak to that. So, you know, they're stuck there. But, you know, reading the T-leys, it seems like.

like Arizona is at least on the right track. I mean, you compare it to basketball, right? I think Chikin hasn't done a good bit of research into what Sam Hinky did in Philadelphia and trust the process and all that. I mean, it now seems like he's right, doesn't it? Yes. And obviously, you know, just because it doesn't work with one team, for example,

is not, I think that shouldn't be a referendum on the entire process as a whole. But like, even though the lottery odds still have skewed, I think it's just like simple. that if you're going to be bad, you may as well increase the likelihood of getting the top pick. Like, it's, I don't understand how that's an issue. Like, you know, everyone points to Edmonton and Buffalo and it's not working. And it's like, well, how do you think that the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks got good? Do you think it's, they were stuck

in mediocrity for a long time? No, they completely bottomed out and sucked for a while. But then they got generational talent and got lucky, obviously. You need a bit of that as well. But those are perfectly fine examples of things working out. And I think those franchises have benefited from it. Totally. And actually one thing that stuck out when I talked to John was, you know, kind of used the phrase like diversification of your risk, basically, that, you know, you ideally, you know, you get a Dallin and you change the course

of your franchise or you get a Sydney Crosby or you get a Patrick Ane or a Taze or whatever, and everything's great. But, you know, you have to hedge. You also have to hit on, you know, the mid-level picks that you acquire. You have to surround them with useful players, cost-effective, useful players who can play in the middle six, for instance. Or can play on the second and third pair and can support those guys in a locker room and help them adjust to life in the NHL as well. So, yeah, look, a lot of variables, but it's not necessarily like an all-or-nothing approach. I think you can slowly climb the ladder, but gosh, it certainly helps when you can just take a big leap because you've got one guy at the top.

Yeah, and obviously, I think to pull it off correctly, you sort of need total buy-in from ownership, and you're going to have to swallow a handful of really miserable seasons, and you kind of need to stick with that process rather than kind of giving up halfway through or trying to half-acid. And so I guess we'll see how it goes in Arizona, but they're definitely a team to watch. Is there anything else on the coyotes and John that you wanted to talk about, or killing Boulan or something else? Let's move on. That's plenty of time. All right.

So we're going to naturally ship pivot from the coyotes to the Florida Panthers here. We're really hidden all the NHL hotspots. Oh, hang on. Let me get on my computer then. Well, you know what? This is what the PDOC has all about. We're giving... Odd data.

We're giving the quiet few the topics that they want to hear about that they're not hearing about on the radio programs. What does that speak to me, that I'm the only? one writing about it then how about that i love it honestly i uh i don't want to blow up my uh my editor or my uh or the process that goes on at sports hand but if i pitch uh stories on the panthers or the blue jackets and stuff like that it's it's met with a lot of indifference so i'm i'm glad that you actually get the freedom to write about this sort of stuff well i don't about you florida's pretty high on my watchability rankings right now i mean it's really because of their top six um there's not much i mean and luongo i'm very much enjoying roberto loongo this year

But my guy, I mean, watching Barkov every night is, I think that's probably where you wanted to go with this. Just, I mean, just such a treat. Some of the things that he does, the way he's able to carry the puck through the neutral zone. Some of the, I mean, just talking to the guys in the team that, I mean, there's a reverence there with him. And not only how hard we he works, because it's, you know, it's very Jaeger-esque and show up late at night and, you know, where the way to invests and all that. But, you know, also like really, really crafty and smart. And I forget who was. One player was telling me a story that he, you know, he was working and practiced on making passes by seeing reflections in the glass, or at least he was checking it out to see how viable it would be during a game.

And, like, that's the kind of thing that I think, you know, only a select few guys in the league. Like Nick Baxter here in D.C. strikes me as a guy you might think about that stuff. But that Barker at this age is, you know, he just seems to be hardwired like that. And, you know, if Florida is going to turn it around, if they are going to make the playoffs this year, I really would love to see, you know, like a Tampa, Florida first round series and see Barkov go up against those guys. That'd be super fun. Yeah, those two teams played, I believe, like a week or two ago, and it was a really exciting game. Tampa Bay won it over time.

But yes. No, it's, it's funny because with Barkov, I feel silly saying this because he's been in the league for only a couple years now and he's still only 22 years old. But it's like, ah, finally, this is the year. He's sort of, you know, fully breaking out and realizing that potential. He was awesome the past couple of years. But, you know, he's finally stayed healthy. He's over a point in game now. It feels like he's kind of becoming that type of player.

We've all been talking about him quietly being for the past few years and at least coming more on the mainstream radar. As you noted in your story, I mean, he's playing over 22 minutes a game this year, which for a forward is obscene. And I believe, as you noted, Marty St. Louis six years ago was the last forward to do so. So, you know, we don't see this very often. And you talk about his work ethic and his ability to prepare for such a crazy workload. And obviously, sort of the engine for this team.

But, you know, we talk about the coyotes in sort of their first, first, second half splits and stuff like that. I mean, I was looking with this Panthers team at the All-Star break, they were a minus 26 in goal differential. And that was just six weeks ago. And now, you know, they're 17, 3 and 1 since then, plus 27 goal differential. So they're back in the positive. And it's remarkable that, you know, they have this big game coming up on Thursday night against the Blue Jackets. And these two still have a couple games in hand, but it's kind of bonkers that they're still technically on the outside looking in and could conceivably miss the playoffs with how hot they. they've been, and I think that would be a shame because just based on the way they're playing

right now, you know, they'd be really fun and they'd be a very tough out for a really good team like Tampa Bay if they were to meet them in round one. I agree. I mean, they're very deep up the middle, especially, you know, I think if they've been kind of fluttering with Buxtab, putting him on the wing and back up the middle. But I really like what Dad and I was given them on the wing coming in this year. But, I mean, Barkhov and Trojag is a pretty nasty one-two punch that can, you know, not only attack you, but also does a really good job retrieving the puck from the defensive zone and playing low below the hash marks with those guys is kind of the first forward in there on the backside. So, yeah, I mean, you know, I think the defensemen are coming

around. I don't think I glad had the best year last year, but he certainly looks like he's playing better. Same with Mike Matheson as well. But yeah, I mean, to go back to Barcar's workflow, you just, I mean, look at the minutes he's shouldering. I think he's around like 40 percent D-Zone draws or 40% in the offensive zone, excuse me, at even straight this year. So he's getting the tough assignments. He's getting put out there in defensive situations. And I think that's a smart move on Bob Bognor's part because it allows Barkoff to do what

he does best, which is carry the puck. And some of the ways he's able to like kind of knife around guys in the neutral zone. And I mean, just almost have to let him go at some point and just, you know, his teammates can just be pylons and then just trail because he's pretty much going to take care of the rest. Well, it's really funny because I was talking to my old boss at Canucks Army and now running the PR for the Panthers Thomas Drance for in the podcast. And, you know, he was sort of telling me, like, someone's got to write about the job

this coaching staff has done and how they've turned the season around for the Panthers. And so obviously I did a little bit of digging and looked into it. And, you know, it's really interesting in terms of the adjustment they made where they split up Barkov and Hubertoe, and they stuck Hubert O with Trocheck on the same. second line to give them two legit scoring lines. And more importantly, sort of just resuscitate Vinny Trochec. I mean, early in the year, he was just getting murdered, playing with guys like Redim Verbara and Jamie McGinn. And now all of a sudden, you know, you have Daddanov with Barkov, you have Hubert over Trochechek. And they're just riding those top two lines. I mean, what, they're obviously,

they play together a bit on the power plant and so on and so forth. But it's like 22 minutes a night for Barcov and 21 and a half for Trochecog or something. I mean, that's the last time the top two centers for a team where we're shouldering that big of a workload. I mean, that's, that's something else. And, you know, we'll see how viable it is as an option moving forward and whether they run out of steam here a bit. But it's clear that this team has a lack of depth. And it's an interesting approach to just be like, okay, we acknowledge that. And instead of trying to jam a square peg in a round hole, we're instead just going to ride the hell of our top guys here and see how far they can take us. And obviously it helps having both of them be under

25 years old. So they have fresh legs and are able to handle it. But it's interesting. Yeah. And by all accounts, I mean, work out animals. Like Trocheque is right there, um, with Barcove. I think there was, early in the year, I think that they might have gotten wax in some game or something like that, or one of those two guys didn't have particularly a game, but, um, you know, they did the go out on the ice at like 11 p.m. in their track gear and start shooting. Um, and I don't think that's particularly uncommon for Barkov to do, but, um, I think Trochex, you know, kind of latched onto him in that way as well. Um, so they certainly seem to be, uh, wired pretty similarly. So, which is to say I think they can probably handle it.

Yes. Yeah, I'm sure they can. And, you know, Drance was quick to point out that this coaching staff isn't making them do morning skates and his limiting practices. And it's trying to do everything they can to keep those guys fresh for game time. So it's going to be fascinated to see how their final 10 games or so here unfold. And, you know, another guy we haven't really mentioned yet is of Guinea Dattanov. And I have a funny little story I have to admit where I'm in this long-time fantasy keeper league with some high school buddies.

And, you know, pretty much everyone in this league is owned, it's super deep. And we get into the first sort of waiver deadline or whatever of the season. And Shipposhov and Daddanov are the two main guys that are kind of available as the big free agents. And I just like spent like all my money I could on Shepashab. I thought he was going to be great this year. And it turns out I made the wrong choice there, Alex. Didn't we all think he was going to be an awesome fit? Didn't we think he was going to be like their best player this year?

Yeah. And he like looked good in pre-season. I was like, oh, there's going to be opportunity there. Like, why wouldn't he just play a ton and rack up the points? And wow, that could not have gone differently than I expected it to. Here's something with Barcov and Daddanov together. 706 minutes, 55 seconds together, time on ice at 5 on 5 this season. By far, his most common line mate, I think Hubert was second.

And they are plus 13 in goals, basically 60% goals for at 5 on 5 together. I mean, they got something cooking. Very fun to watch. But, you know, as has been the case in years past, I think it probably comes down to depth. It probably comes down to, can you get scoring for maybe a third line? So those top two guys, you don't have to shoulder as big of a load, you know, when you're going up against the depth of, say, a Tampa Bay. But, you know, I like where they're at.

They seem to be that team this year where everyone says, you know, if they can sneak in and watch out, you know, kind of like the Kings have been past years, that, you know, if they can sneak in, watch out. And if not, you know, okay, I guess we'll watch New Jersey and Taylor Hall's

not a bad consolation prize. If only this Panthers team could get their hands on some guys like Jonathan, Marsha, and Riley Smith, and all of a sudden they'd have some depth,

scoring depth, and maybe they'd be a really dangerous team. But, you know, that's improbable that a team like this could ever get guys like that. I don't even know

where you would find guys like that. I don't know. I mean, they're rarely ever available. I don't think you could, I mean,

no one would definitely give you one would definitely give you one never gives them way. That seems crazy. And you mentioned a little Luongo there. Let's give him a bit of love too because, you know, I was writing today about how I think Pecker-Renay should be the Vesna trophy frontrunner. And I was looking at the candidates, and it's a weird goaltending year.

And, you know, Luongo and Flurry both aren't going to be in that discussion just because they don't have enough games played. You know, Flurries at like 40 and Luongo is at 28 now, I believe. But, man, both guys are just having, especially for Luongo. I mean, he's approaching his 39th birthday here. and he's hovering around a 930 save percentage for the season, which is pretty remarkable. And the guy just keeps, he's just aging like fine wine. I mean, it's obviously such a great guy and everything that happened this year and, you know,

the speech he gives before the game and how he's played since then. But it's, I think everyone should be rooting for him. And it's kind of awesome to see that he's stepped up and done this well when he's been able to be on the ice. It does at least anecdotally feel like we're in the age of like the old grizzled goaltender. right like Luongo's having a heck of a year last year we had Peca and Anderson in the conference finals and

Lundquist obviously made it to the conference semis and you know Flurries I think pushing what he'll be 34 during next season so I mean the age and curve of goalies is clearly it's later than other positions it takes longer to develop and I think therefore they can play later

but it is interesting seeing you know some of these older guys I mean rest probably helps for the long ago. I'm sure that's probably not the worst thing for him, that he's not playing 60 like he has in the past, that he's probably only going to get up there to, you know, like, what, in the mid-30s by the time he gets in the playoffs and has to go every other night. But, yeah, and as well, yeah, I would like to say, I mean, that speech brought tears to my eyes. I'm sure that was a very, very powerful moment for him, and, you know, kudos for the way he handled it.

Because, you know, for as amazing as his Twitter account is, I also wish he was in the spotlight a little bit more. I had a chance to talk to him a couple years ago for his story. And he is certainly one of those personalities that the league needs more of, but maybe it doesn't come out as much. I wish, yeah, it's people know that, you know, he's a hilarious guy and he definitely feels very comfortable sort of taking shots at himself and not taking stuff too seriously. I mean, I've been in a fantasy football league with him for a couple years.

Oh, you're in that? Yeah. I was going to say about that. Oh, man, I wish you could, I wish, you could do like an oral history on this league and just write everything and I will definitely contribute to it but obviously he would take like him consenting on it but it would just be I mean he's so into it it's hilarious I mean just like when when you're playing him that week just he could just get so into it just amazing to me that he's that fired up about it and so it's he's such a

nut apparently he does countless leagues and he's like crunching the numbers and doing all the research throughout the summer and yeah i mean he's he's just quite a character i did i remember asking him what he did in his spare time and his answer was sit on my couch and play fantasy football wait does does that mean that if you like went to your phone you'd well i don't know how those would uh play in terms of um him being cool with me playing them and also with uh translating into a a written medium but yeah no but like those exist though yeah Yeah. Oh, okay. That's what I was wondering. Yeah, no, he's, he's hilarious. I mean, and like, during the draft, the message boards and everything. Yeah, it's, uh, how did you get in this? Because it was like random a start. Did you get like an invite? Um, so what happened was, I believe he started it while he was still in Vancouver here. And he sort of did it with like a bunch of local sort of people that were just on Canucks Twitter and, uh, bloggers and everything like that. And I believe he started two leagues and then you sort of an A league and a B league and you do like a relegation. And you do like a relegation. type of thing. And it's pretty competitive and it's really fun. Yeah. And he's super into it and

very responsive. Like if you're ever trying to make a trade or anything. And it's like it goes into the NHL season and he's still on top of it. Like it's great. And I don't want anyone to, uh, to spin this as long ago is not focusing enough on his craft and he's spending too much time during the season worrying about. Oh my God. Yeah. That's what hogwash. It's like call of duty, Joelle and B plays. Yeah. Yeah. You're not allowed to have other hobbies. It's all hockey all the time, Alex. Yeah, yeah. You need to be on your couch doing butterflies.

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Okay, I lied. We're not going to talk about the Blue Jackets. I'm going to do the blue. Well, I really want to buy that product and or service. I can testify. Yes. Yes, thumbs up, five stars. Both of my thumbs are in the air.

Yeah. It's actually, well, it's Seekkeek, so tickets to a Columbus Blue Jackets game. Oh, I actually, I actually did buy, I'm going to see Wizards Nix on Sunday. Oh, there we go. Did you use the promo code PDO? Yes, you did. Obviously, you did as a loyal listener of the show. Let's talk a bit about Alex Ovechkin, because he recently scored 600 goals, or his 600 goal. He hasn't scored 600 goals recently. But it certainly feels like it based on the year he's having. you know you've covered him pretty closely having covered the capitals on a full-time basis in the past and you wrote a little piece about it and his shot and sort of what makes it so special after he celebrated that milestone um it's remarkable to me with him and with the other top scores in this league that they're able to get as open as they are in certain instances like i understand sort of the free-flowing nature of hockey and with like line changes is and transition and all that.

Like, it's impossible. It's not like basketball where you just have man to man, and you're just following a guy all over the court. But when you watch, I mean, especially on the power play, that goal he scored the other night against the Dallas Stars, there's just no one in his vicinity. And it's like breakdowns like that. How I would hate to be in the video room after with Ken Hitchcock,

just being one of the culprits there. I'm just like, how do you leave this guy that open? To be fair, that one, that one was off a faceoff. But to that end, I would probably keep a guy over. Screw covering the dot. You need to go sit. You need to go, you go over there, and you need to sit in his jockstrap

and make sure that he doesn't wind up. It does, though, to me it feels like he does, this is not a, I'm not trying to intend this to be a knock on him, but it doesn't seem like he does a heck of a lot of, as much, at least, getting open as other guy. You know, he's not, he's not that sneaky guy who's like, you know, kind of like picking in blind spots and dashing low, and, you know, he's able to kind of muck around the net.

He really does one thing extremely well, and it's shoot the puck. And he does it with people in his face. He does it with when he's wide open, and he mostly does it from that left wing. And it's, I mean, that's kind of what I was getting into with the piece was, you know, so much of what makes him dangerous happens, like after the puck comes off his stick. It's just the way he shoots so that, you know, regardless of what position he's in, he can just be kind of floating and then he can just kind of uncork one. And, you know, you see that, for instance, off draws and how many goals that he scores

or how many scoring chances he generates just because of how, you know, quickly he can kind of drag that puck in on the move and, you know, snap it through a lane. It's, I mean, it's pretty remarkable. I never get tired of seeing him generate. But, you know, at the same time, a lot of it is just, you know, he's there in the left face off circle and they know he's going to be there and the puck comes there and they know it's coming to him and they know he's going to shoot and no, it's in the back than that anyway. But that's sort of kind of bold, like in your face. Like, I do this so well that I'm just going to be here and you know exactly what I'm going to do and good luck stopping it. You probably won't be able to is it makes it like even more impressive to me in a sense. Like I can appreciate a certain level of craftiness and ability to, you know, reinvent yourself and do different stuff to get by. But also that sort of just kind of overwhelming force of nature that he is is remarkable. And, you know, you watch a lot of these. There is a lot of side to side movement.

and especially when they're really cooking and Baxter's fighting them across that seam, it's really tough for the goalie to come across in time. But there are certain times where, like, the goalie's squared up on him, and he's just beating him with that shot, as you mentioned. And very few guys are able to do that in this league. Like, I feel like regardless of the shooter and the goalie, if the goalie is squaring up on your shot and can see it, it's probably going to be saved. Like, goleys have gotten that good in today's NHL.

And Rolovecgen, sometimes it just doesn't matter. The goalie can be right there, and it's just going to go past them, and it's always kind of flummoxing how it happens, but it happens so often that you have to give credit to where it's due, and it's not just a random one-time thing or anything like that. Right. Not all the goalies suck that much. Yes. Someone close to Ovechkin, when I was doing that story, compared him to Mariano Rivera, in that he has a fastball, he has a cutter. And that's really about it. And, like, you know, you know in the scouting report, you're getting one of those two pitches. and, you know, it's probably coming, if you're right, he's probably diving away,

and if you're a lefty, is probably coming hands in, and it's, you're still batting, you know, oh, 90 against him. Because just of how well he does it. And I think that's pretty apt with Ovechkin. You know, a lot of it's just, you know, a lot of it is raw power. But, you know, there are other guys who, you know, hit the puck harder than he does. You know, he's not winning the hardest shot contest every single year, even though. I think we kind of expect him to be putting up these crazy numbers.

It's not necessarily just like sheer force that's, you know, getting him to blow by these goalies, as you said, are pretty squared up. It's, you know, the way it comes off at some of the deception that he has and the way he releases the puck or some of the action that we talked about. You know, the inspiration for that story was Holpey was very eloquently, as he put it, talking about, you know, the draw on Oveshkin's shot that it's almost like a golf club sometimes where, you know, it kind of like frisbees and the disc, you know, know it's not flat at terms kind of angles on its side a little bit almost like you know when

you overhand throw a frisbee and it kind of you know like parabola us to the left or something that's a little bit what you see on a vespian shot a lot more than other guys yeah no it's it's it's super cool i guess the question here is uh you know how long can he keep doing this it's it's happened a few times now where we sort of expect him okay you know he's he's shown that he's kind of human he's had a bit of a down here and then all of a sudden he comes back with his vintage a game and it's like, oh, maybe he can, it just, I can't even at this point in a visual world where he's not at least scoring like 30 to 35 goals, which is remarkable. And if he keeps doing that for a handful of years, now all of a sudden we really start, you know, talking about how far can he take this thing in terms of overall career goals? I know you wanted to ask about him, so I looked up two stats for you.

Oh, bringing the heat, Alex Pruitt. I like it. Yeah, well, you know, trying to prepare. One, since he's ended the league, he has 372 even strength goals. that would rank seventh on the total goals list. So you take away all those blasts that he has. I mean, it's like 226 of them. Everything really that he's known for,

which is, you know, capitalizing when the other team has a one fewer player. And he's still top 10 in goals since he entered the league with even strength. The second is he's currently sitting at, I think, 0.61 career goals per game. And And among counting guys who were basically like born after the 19th century,

or yeah, basically born in the 20th century, so not, you know, people playing in the 1970s and whatever. There's the only the list of people who have averaged 0.6 goals per game, man, I'm really stumbling through this. Are Gretzky, Lemieux, bossy, Bure, and Ovechkin. So not that company. And to be doing it in this era, as you said, goals are getting better, technology is getting better.

It's, you know, time and space is getting smaller. To be doing that, I don't know how long he can keep it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has another like two or three more years of 40 left in him. Would you? No, I wouldn't, which is, and I would say that about very, very few guys. But, you know, I was reading another story you did a while back about Brent Burns and, you know, the shot volume of his and sort of the kind of getting game planned for and the adjustments that are.

made around the league with teams sort of knowing their tendencies and what they want to do and how you as in turn it's like a game of good get a back and forth game of chess and then you need to figure out what you're going to do as well and with ovechkin i mean it's as we as we alluded to it just he like everyone knows what he's going to do and he still does it i remember what was a years ago now where in a playoff series like how gill slowed him down and then dan gerard he's slowing down it's like oh there's you know the script on how to how to slow down alex ovechkin is out i think everyone's going to be able to follow it now it's like no it's been like seven or eight years and he's still scoring 50 goals a year.

Sure, yeah. And I mean, it's hard to stomach, too, putting a guy in his hip pocket and playing four on three on the rest of the ice when Nick Baxter was running the power play. Like, that's not a great alternative either. So I think, you know, shutting him down is possible. But, you know, I mean, there are noticeable differences in his game. I think he's certainly backchecking harder. I think he's gotten a little craftier on the net.

And I think he's, you know, going there a little bit, a little bit more often to kind of look for rebounds and, you know, use his strength as opposed to, you know, just slinging pucks from outside, which he does extremely well, mind you. You know, Holpey talked about there's, he hasn't, you know, he hasn't gotten on top of as many shots. He's not clubbing as many high and wide, which, you know, if he does that and then it rims around, it's essentially a turnover. It goes all the way back in your zone sometimes.

So I think he's done a better job getting more on net. And look, he's, he's slain the league in shots. And actually, I just looked, I did not notice that he's pretty much at. his shot total from all of last year in like nine fewer games. So, seems to be getting the shot off, or at least hitting the net at a better pace this year, too. Yep. Yeah, no, I completely agree on that. And yeah, I don't know. Like, what's, you live in Washington. What are, I remember last time I had you on, I sort of asked you for what the pulse is around there in terms of how the season's going and sort of after everything that's

gone through and losing the penguins over and over again in the playoffs. Like, just what's the vibe like in terms of, is it, are people still capable of appreciating what's going on here? Or is it all like, ah, well, let's see what happens come the postseason. Yeah, well, this is a really interesting year because last year was the year and the year before that was the year. This is not the year, at least on paper. It shouldn't be the year.

Now, wouldn't surprise me if they win just because that's hockey and crazy stuff happens all the time. but I don't think expectations are necessarily high in the playoffs. I don't think there's the doom and gloom about having to run into Pittsburgh as there was last year. It was very clear like whoever wins that is probably going to win the cup. You know, this year it's a little more up in the air. I think they're pretty clearly at best, what, the fourth best team in the conference, right, behind Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto at this point.

And then you can quibble for a position in the metro in general. And, you know, I know some of their shot differential metrics are pretty atrocious this year. year and they're giving up a lot more shots per game than they have in the past as well. And, you know, the goal tending is kind of a question right now with Gru Bauer getting a little more reps than Hopi. And, you know, you look into the future and they got to sign Carlson after this year. They got to sign Wilson after this year, assuming they want to go those routes. And, you know, the core is pretty much staying the same.

But I think it's pretty clear that, you know, stay in the course. If they do get bounced in the second round by a familiar opponent again, very curious to see what Brian McCullen does because, I mean, as has been reported in recent weeks, he got extended and Barry Truss did not. So at the very least, you're probably looking at having a new coach behind a bench and whether you do something drastic with the core

remains to be seen, but I don't think that... I don't think people are getting their hopes up around here. Let's put it that way, because, you know, once you do that, it generally goes one way in this city, or at least it has in the past couple years, not just with hockey, but other sports.

So I feel like there's probably a little bit more fatigue. Just trying to get into a reverse jink situation. It's like, this clearly is not our year. And then it would be so NHL if this is the year for them. Oh, 100%. I'm fully banking on that to happen. And look, like city curses are falling left and right now between Chicago and Cleveland. Like, Washington can ensure they can be up next.

I don't know. Why not? Yeah, why not? Okay, one more quick break here. And then we're going to wrap up this show on the other end. I'm sure some of you have seen by now if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, but for those of you that haven't seen any recent pictures, I'm tentatively bringing back the beard by popular demand. I'll see how it goes, but the plan right now is to at least grow it back out a little bit for the playoffs and go from there. It's only been a couple weeks so far, but I'd be lying to you if I said that the comeback tour didn't feel pretty good.

Here's the thing, though. I think there's a general misconception out there among some people, especially those who haven't had big beards before. that, you know, rocking the beard is, it's done because it makes your life easier and it saves you time. And I guess that could be true if you're going to go with the sort of unruly abomination of a look that's covering Patrick Linae's face region right now, for example. But if you are like myself and you take your look seriously, it's important that you're practicing proper grooming habits and that can take time and effort. And anybody knows me, knows that I feel very passionately about this, especially when it comes

to neck beards. I feel like hockey players in general are very poor about carrying out of that sort of thing. I'm looking at you, Braden Holby. You're good at stopping pucks, but, man, you are an egregious offender in that department. And that's where Harry's razors comes down a mix, because they're all about making sure that you're looking like your precious self at a low cost with no real hassle. I made this switch myself to them a while back, and it's been a pretty seamless process. Basically how it works is they send you the goods straight to your doorstep and keep it coming so that you're never left cutting yourself up and butchering your pretty low face using some crappy doll off brand blade from your local drugstore. Harry's is so confident that you're going to join myself and the 3 million others around the world that have similarly taken the plunge and become users of theirs that they're willing to give you a free test run to try it out and see for yourself and they're going to do so by sending you a trial shave gift set that's valued at $13 for free that includes a weighted ergonomic razor handle

five precision engineered blades with the lubricating strip and a trimmer blade, rich lathering shave gel, and a travel blade cover. Listeners of my show can redeem that trial set for free at harries.com slash PDO. Make sure you go to harries.com slash pdo to redeem your offer. Let them know that I send you to help support the show. Now let's get back to said show. All right, Alex, let's kind of look ahead here. You told me that you are working on something about Zadano Chara.

How much Give me Give me a little Nugget off of that I don't want you to spoil the full thing But Okay I'll try to yeah

All right Let me think of something That I don't think I followed it recently I spent some time with him The best of my knowledge I don't know if He's ever really had a reporter

Over to his house And I had a chance To spend some time with him While he was babysitting He had twins a couple years ago When his wife had twins And he was on babysitting duty I just turned two

Which was a very fascinating experience to be with Zadano Chara as he's babysitting. Because not only does he babysit like you'd expect Zanatochara to babysitting that, he can just pick one kid up in each hand and just kind of lug him around. But, you know, he was very focused when we were talking, and then he would, you know, quickly pivot and change a diaper. And then I answer another question about, you know, his plant-based diet and then quickly pivot and have to go handle like a temper tantrum or something.

But, I mean, what stood out to me, and I kind of went into it trying to answer the question basically how is this happening how is a four-year-old defenseman the oldest defenseman the league by three years the tallest player in league history in this era of youth and speed still somehow at the top of his game leading boston in time on ice before he got hurt um you know not a liability like you know i think maybe people at the start of his career would have uh well certainly they wouldn't have projected him to last until he's 40 but um i mean he's really reinvented himself over the course of his career you know starting from a kind of more of a fighter with the islanders to a puck off the glass kind of guy in

in Ottawa to I think a six-time Norris finalist in the top three in Boston, which is truly a remarkable one, no doubt, Hall of Famer. So my task was to kind of figure out, like, how is he approaching this final stage? And I guess the overarching answer is pretty much the same way he's approached his entire career, which is with a tremendous amount of detail and attention to detail and a curiosity about, you know, not just, just in, not just from learning from other hockey players, but, you know, some of the stories of him, you know,

hitting up other cyclists and going to the Tour de France routes and riding those routes and then, you know, sticking around and trying to find the bikers and talking to them and picking their brains about, you know, nutritional supplements and training techniques. You know, people know those stories, but it was interesting just to see it up close, to see his process. Because, I mean, boy, it is no joke.

You know, talk about irreverence with Barkov. There's everyone, in that locker room has a story about either the first time they saw Char in the in the weight room, you know, two hours after the game ended or you know, his agent told me a story. I think when he was in Ottawa, they had

gotten bounced for the playoffs last year, one year and the next morning his agent calls him up and he's like, hey Zee, what are you doing? And Zadano had just, it was like 9 a.m. And he had just gotten done rollerblading with his wife because, as he put it, he wanted to work on his stride. So

he's like, he's a guy who's it was literally always working. There's kind of that Yager intensity. One person told me that the hardest they've ever seen Chara work was when Yager came in for the playoffs at one year. And there was almost like this unspoken competition between like two workout legends

getting after it. Just kind of pushing each other that way. So yeah, I mean on the one hand, it doesn't make sense. On the other hand, it makes total sense that he's still going at 40. And I mean, he told me, he's told people in the past he wants to go until he's at least 45, people around him,

say they're pretty sure he's going to get there and they're pretty sure he might go beyond that too did you uh did you consider having a line in there goes like uh so they know chara races his baby's poop like he erases opposing attackers or something like that i guess do you do you consider putting that one in there i mean that would provide a nice little personal element to it oh man baby's poop i like that this is this is why you get paid the big bucks to write he he he uh he he clears, he wipes away baby feces like he clears away traffic in front of the crease. I've never seen someone else get away with more cross-checks.

I mean, if you go in front of him, he's probably just going to just check you right in the back. And no one does a single thing, which I, granted, you know, what are you going to do? You're going to look up and try to swing at him? Of course not. But just like some of the clout that he has in 10 situations, and look, look, with some of the guys they have

that team, 10 situations tend to abound. But he is like the ultimate policeman. Like you just all you have to do is just get one look at his glare and you know, okay, no, we're good. He's here. I'm out. I'm not bothered with this anymore. Let's just move on with the game. I love that his Instagram feed is just, it's so charming and wholesome. Like it's just showing just so much personality that you wouldn't necessarily know just from watching them on the game because obviously it's much more stoic and menacing. But it's kind of cool seeing that other side of it. I'm sure you got to see more of that hanging out with him in person. Totally. And that's aside, I think, that is slowly coming out the past couple years.

He's a very private person. People around him suggest that that, you know, probably goes back to his upbringing and communist Czechoslovakia and just kind of the privacy that was valued there. But, yeah, it's been interesting. And, you know, not just like pictures, but, you know, very lengthy captions and kind of ruminations on life and, you know, the meaning of like mothers and, you know, Yeah, he had one on vegetables, how they can fix it. Yeah, one on his plant-based diet, the one where he's feeding the pigeon. I talked to this guy who, his name's Michael, and he usually reps Slovak rappers. That's kind of how he made his mark over there in Slovakia.

And he met to Dano on the shoot of a rap video, which I need to dig this up. But apparently, Chara had some cameo in this rap video where they're just like toasting champagne in a castle, I think. It was like a quick cut. But now this guy, Michael, is his big. business manager. And he moved over to the state's full time to work with Charo. And a lot of his work is with that Instagram feed. And it was kind of revealing

to me that they talk for like two or three days on every post and like it's planned in advance and Charra like sends them drafts of what he wants the caption to be. And you know, even as something like is, you know, instant gratification as social media. This guy is like approaching it in the same way he

approaches everything, which is like very planned out, very thought over. You know, he's made a lot of changes in his life, you know, from his diet to his workouts, but all of it's like very meticulously research and he's reading and he's watching documentaries. And it really is no wonder once you once you're up close and see the process, like why he's, he's managed to endure as long as he has. Listen, you're not the only one that has, uh, that did some research knowing we're going to talk about something and has some, uh, fun stats to share. Let me get me. So, uh, we know that he's

41 years old right now and he's playing 23 minutes a night. But I saw that he, he's, uh, he's a He's logging 3.41 per game short-handed. He gets, like, no power play time. Only when McAvoy's hurt has he become getting power play time, which is incredible. I don't think he's happy about that, which I don't think any player would be happy about that. Right. But, yeah, I mean, he's out there. Yeah, he's first over the boards on every panel to be killed.

I wrote about this a little bit. Do you see that Pittsburgh game at the start of the month where he had the three-minute shift on the P.K. And then fought Alexiak. Yeah. It's crazy. And the thing with the advantage of obviously having him out there for that is with his reach and how much ground he can cover, it's basically like, I wouldn't say it's even strength, but it's like five on four and a half, let's say. Yeah. And I did notice that just watching him up close for a couple games, he doesn't actually cover, he can cover a lot of ground, but he doesn't.

And I think he's really good at conserving energy. The way they play, it's, they kind of play his own defense and they let him just kind of patrol the area in front of the crease. and use that long reach to break up passes in the slot. He's not required to chase guys in the corner. He's certainly doing more activating under Bruce Cassidy that I think he did under Julianne, but he's also not, you know, jumping up in the play a heck of a lot. And I think that's why McAvoy's been a very beneficial partner for him. You can just kind of do what he does and defend the way he does.

And I think that's kind of a lot. One other reason why he's been able to play so much is he's very, very smart. about conserving his energy. It never looks like, you know, he's going totally out of his way to, like, go check someone. You know, he's very smart about, you know, how he approaches guys in the corner and when he even leaves his post in front of the net, too. Well, what I was thinking about Charo, when I was just kind of thinking about the career he's had and all that and how special it's been, you know, we constantly hear how it's a copycat league. And sometimes I feel like we can ever just sort of appreciate that some of these guys are just sort of once in a generation

or just complete freaks that we might not ever see again. We always go like, oh, who's going to be the next so-and-so, right? And I feel like Zadano Chara's career arc and success, and you mentioned sort of the different stages of it and how he maybe developed a bit later on, has led so many teams and GMs down sort of a dark and dangerous and fruitless path in terms of thinking that their big defenseman is going to develop a bit later maybe than other guys.

and so we're going to stick with him for a while longer, and you see that a lot with a guy like Eric Grantson in Vancouver, where it's like, you know, he's 25, 26, and it's like, oh, you know, he's still coming around, give him time, look at how Zeno Chara's career turned around, and it's like, yeah, that's, maybe Zan Chara's just a special player and we might not see a guy like it ever again.

I think he's probably just a special player and a special personality, but, I mean, when Chara was 24, he was just getting to Ottawa, and he was really nothing more than, really nothing more than a fighter. I think even in his first year in Ottawa, he was over like 150 penalty minutes too. I mean, and that's what stands out to me when he look at the arc of his career is that, I mean, going back to his childhood in Slovakia and Czechoslovakia,

when pretty much every coach is like, hey, you should maybe like try basketball. Oh, that's another little fun little bonus off of this. There was one game, I think it was when Boston was in Philly and the Sixers had a morning shoot around. I think Golden State was in town. and this is when Chris Mullen's was working in, like, development in their front office. And Charra just kind of mosey's out on the court and starts shooting. And Chris Mullen goes up to Peter Sherelli and is like, who the hell is that? Looking at this guy, he probably belongs on a basketball team, at least height-wise.

But it turned out he could really ball. Like, he could really hoop in his day. So, you know, it wouldn't have been a bad career path. But anyway, you know, going back to his childhood and then, you know, he's in New York. And it's, okay, you probably are going to make your life as a fighter and, you know, a five, six defenseman. And then in Ottawa, you know, you're a little bit better. Okay, but still, you know, we want you to just kind of chip it off the class, get out. And, you know, don't make those plays.

Like, just defend. And, you know, he's really done a tremendous job. But I think kind of reinventing himself or at least adapting to how we can survive. And that's kind of the story of his later years, too, is that, you know, I get in this piece and please go read it on newsstands in like, I don't know, two weeks or something like that. He's put in a ton of work with his skating. And his skating is noticeably better this year than it was the year before, and noticeably better the year before than it was year before that. And, you know, he is able to keep up.

He's, as we said, you know, he's not doing a ton of moving around relative to some of the, you know, more flea-footed puck-moving defenseman of this era. But at the same time, he's not getting burned. He's not getting, you know, caught out of position or he's not getting caught with bad posture because, I mean, it's pretty hard for a guy that size at that age. And it's, you know, it is remarkable. But, again, it falls in line with who this guy is and, you know, how he got to this point in the first place. Yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to checking out that piece. Is he going to be online as well or just in the magazine? Oh, both. Oh, yeah, yeah. We'll throw it up there for you. Oh, there we go. But, yeah, everyone should get the magazine for sure, obviously. All right, Alex, plug some stuff other than the Chara thing.

Is there anything working on? What are you going to do? Have you already started thinking about postseason coverage? Are you going to just bounce around or are you going to go to see? Yeah, you know, I'll probably be. Are you going to get that aside? Yeah, I'll probably be probably on the East Coast for the first couple rounds. You know, with the National Magazine, we generally have to, you know, try and find a theme that can take off a couple series,

so we're not just writing about one. So that'll allow me to get to Philly, to get to Washington, to get to Pittsburgh, to get to Jersey, assuming they're in. Even Columbus is probably like a six-hour drive from me. So that's totally doable. And then as the rounds go on, then it becomes a little – the stories tend to, I guess, focus a little more. more on individual players or who's playing well. So I imagine then I'll be bouncing around a little bit more. I haven't been on the road a heck of a lot this year.

So there are definitely some Western Conference cities I'd love to get to. I haven't been to Winnipeg in a little bit, especially since they got good. We love to go there and, you know, got family in the Bay Area. And Nashville's always a rollicking time, too. So I'm pretty excited about what this postseason is going to bring. You don't want to come to Vancouver and write about the Canucks? Ooh, sure. To hang out with your pal to meet you?

Yeah, bad Canadian team. That's exactly what our U.S. subscribers love. Well, when Rasmus Dahlian comes here, you can come check. Absolutely. That sounds great. Rastmas Dahlian and the twins. I love the sound of that. Awesome.

Well, Alex, I appreciate you taking the time. It's always fun chatting. And let's get you back on in the postseason when you start writing some of these stories about some of these teams. And we'll touch base then. Always a pleasure, man. Thanks. P-D-O-Cast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at

SoundCloud.com slash hockeypediocast.