The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 232: Eastern Prognostications

Episode Date: April 11, 2018

Andrew Berkshire joins the show to help dissect the first round playoff matchups in the Eastern Conference. We get into: 2:30 Leafs vs. Bruins 21:55 Lightning vs. Devils 35:40 Blue Jackets vs. Capitals 50:10 Penguins vs. Flyers 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. 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.

Are you ready for the most ridiculous internet sports show you have ever seen? Welcome to React, home of the most outrageous and hilarious videos the web has to offer. So join me, Rocky Theos, and my co-host, Raiders Pro Bowl defensive end, Max Crosby, as we invite your favorite athletes, celebrities, influencers, entertainers in for an episode of games, laughs, and of course the funniest reactions to the wildest web clips out there. Catch React on YouTube, and that is React, R-E-A-X-X. Don't miss it. This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light.

These days, everything is go, go, go. It's nonstop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family, expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold-filtered, and cold-packaged. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind.

So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dimitri Philipovich, and joining me is my good buddy, Andrew Berkshire. Andrew, what's going on, man?

I'm just excited to be back, buddy. Yeah, wait, for the playoff season or on the PDO cast? On the PDO cast. I mean, playoffs happen every year. PEDYO cast is a special treat. You've been on more frequently than once a year. Well, I mean, like, how many playoff games are there? That's true.

Many more than the PEOCast appearances. You're right. You're right. You know what? When you're right, you're right. And hopefully we'll be right more frequently on this podcast when we do our Eastern Conference preview here. I did one with Jonathan Willis yesterday.

It was a good time, good fun. We bounced around all the series, and we did the Western Conference. And today you and I are going to do something similar. I think the plan is to go about 12 to 15 minutes or so on each series, do a little bit of a deep dive, actually provides some analysis beyond just filling out a bracket and giving our picks. And I'm wondering what happened and what went wrong after there's some upsets. As we know, there's going to happen.

So hopefully we'll figure it out. The thing is, you know, you and I both did our brackets for Sportsnet and we have the same picks on the Eastern Conference. So how far, like, because I didn't get to go through all of the brackets on the sports in that article yesterday because I had to write a bunch of stuff for RDS. How far into the East were we the same? Did we go all the way to the Stanley Cup final? That's a good question here.

I'll pull it up. I mean, what do you have? I think I had Boston going to the final. Yeah, yeah, I do as well. But we had, see, like, I should have had you on if I know it for the Western Conference portion because you had the, you had the jets beating the predators. And that obviously would have made for fun conversation, although we can do that in advance of their second round series if it does happen. This is true. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.

We have the exact same picks all the way through. That's awesome. That's going to make for a riveting podcast. But no, you know what? Hopefully, as we talk away through it, maybe we'll make some changes or we'll solidify our opinions or we'll come away from this, putting down all the money we have between us on our picks because we feel so good about the fact that we're both on the same page. We'll see how it goes. Let's start with the Leafs and the Bruins while we're fresh and chipper and excited here because I feel like that's the series that everyone's going to be paying closest attention to and is going to have the most intrigue. probably going to be the highest quality of hockey out of these four.

So let's just get right into it. You know, you and I both pick the Bruins, although that probably, you know, if you just look at it like that, it's like, oh,

how come you're disrespecting the Leafs? You're now buying into them, and it's like, well, I would have picked them in most other series. It's just based on the luck of the draw and how this stuff happens. These two heavyweight teams drew each other

and one of them has to lose in the first round, and that kind of sucks, but it's going to make for a great theater for our viewing purposes. Yeah, it's going to be like a fantastic series. I feel like both teams kind of got unlucky here. Everybody's kind of talking about how Toronto got unlucky that they have to play the Bruins despite being, you know, arguably the third best team in the Eastern Conference this year.

But man, the Bruins got unlucky too. Like, the way that they played, they deserve an easier out than the Maple Leafs. I feel like this series is, you know, you look at the regular season and there's not very many categories that the Leafs are better than the Bruins in. Like the Bruins are just such a dominant 5-1-5 team. And to me, this series hinges entirely on how much time is spent on special teams. Because the Leafs are absurdly good on special teams. And while the Bruins have had good results on special teams,

their actual underlines are like low league average. Right. Yeah. No, that's, I mean, that Leafs power play is something else. You know, they, I believe they're second in the league. this season in terms of actual goals the penguins have that honor for number one but their expected goals rates are and everything else is off the charts all the underlines and you know you watch it it's it's it's just so immaculate constructed and what i really enjoy about watching that leaves power play is

sort of it's the thought process behind it or or sort of what they want to accomplish right it's not like that conventional sort of just let's tee up shots from the point and see if we can tip you know tip it and hopefully some of these go in. It's like, you know, they're working it from the side angles and they're really going for rebounds. And it's fun to watch and it's really just a well-old machine. So you're right from the Bruins perspective, the longer they can keep this series at 5 on 5 is, you know,

bodes really well for them. I think if they can, it's interesting because it's a postseason. I remember I looked at this last year. Penalty rates actually dip a little bit. And I think it's fair to say that, you know, in the playoffs, the hockey sort of ramps up in terms of what guys are trying to get away with and the infractions are actually committing. So the idea, like, referees definitely do let it go a little bit more than the regular season.

So that could bode well for the Bruins if, you know, they're able to get away with stuff and it's not actually just a march to a penalty box all series long. Yeah, and the Bruins have taken advantage of that in many past playoff series. but I have to say as a longtime viewer of Boston Bruin's series with a stake in them, they are a team less so without Luchich now because he was probably the biggest culprit, but they are a team who can be riled into taking bad penalties at bad times. And, you know, it's not like Toronto is bereft of agitators with, like, I know Leo Kamarov isn't the most popular guy on the Lee's roster right now among fans.

but he could be a really important guy in this series if he gets, you know, ramps that agitation game up to 11 and Nazim Kodry can do the same thing. You know, guys like that are huge in the playoffs, especially against teams that sometimes lose their cool like Boston. So if they're able to do that, you know, they could switch this series. And I also think, you know, just watching the last couple of Bruins playoff series, if Toronto doesn't have a game plan to just wear out Zadano Chara as fast as possible and constantly get on him, like I would be shocked.

Like I feel like that's probably outside of trying to contain that Berger Online, which is basically impossible. That's got to be priority number one for Mike Babcock. When you said that for a second, you know, Leo Comer, I was not popular amongst the fans. It's like, is he less popular amongst Leafs fans or fans of other teams that Leafs are known? You know, that's a good question. I would say probably less popular among opposing teams. Yeah. So some of the notes I made here in terms of points I wanted a hit

or stuff that I want to be watching in this series, you know, I got asked about Mike Babcock and the job he's done this season a couple weeks ago and when I was doing a mailbag episode. And, you know, he's generally considered to be one of the best, if not the best coaches in the league. And I don't know if he's necessarily the best, you know, guys like Joel Quimble are,

in my opinion, kind of a notch higher, but he's definitely a very good coach and very established and very, has won a lot of hockey, let's say. And the thing is, is like, I dig him a little bit because it took him a while for to actually start using the Leaf's most effective lineups this season. And maybe it was kind of experimenting or seeing how it goes because they were locked in their spot for so long. But they've clearly become a much more dangerous team after they've made some of the changes that I feel like their fans have been clamoring for for weeks on end this season.

And then now, you know, they head into this playoff series and Klamrov's back in over Andreas Janssen and we'll see if that continues. And it's clear that while you mentioned, you're right, he could be a next factor there in terms of drawing penalties and agitating the Bruins into, you know, getting off their game a little bit of 5-1-5. Ultimately, I think this Leafs team is much more dangerous when they're just rolling those lines and they have guys like Jansen and Kappenden using their speed and actually playing with skill as opposed to playing with a more conventional four-line setup where you have that defensive shutdown. line and then you spread the wealth like that. Yeah, on the service, like, I definitely agree. I wonder if it's a little bit different against the team that, I don't know if they can match Toronto's offensive depth at forward, but, you know, you look at guys in that team who've just had, like, crazy, impressive seasons that nobody expected, like, Hinen and, you know,

like they've got depth guys that just continue to surprise in Boston. So I wonder if maybe there's a bit of diminishing returns in that idea. of just rolling for offensive lines against Boston, and they have to kind of play that matchup game a little bit more. And we'll probably figure that out as a series goes on and see what works and what doesn't, as much as the playoffs are an unforgiving mistress. And, you know, one bad decision in one game can be the end of it.

But, you know, I'm interested to see what it happens. I think Mike Babcock, you know, I'm of two minds of it. Because, like, I totally agree with you on, you know, Andres Johnson is already significantly a better player than Leo Kamarov, especially at 515. Right. Like, it's super obvious. I think even Mike Babcock probably knows that, even though he's, like, very close to the situation. And, you know, like, I think it was Justin Bourne recently on your podcast was saying that Mike wants everything to be his idea.

He's very stubborn. Right. And I get that. I think all coaches are like that to a degree. But I also look at some of the things that Toronto's done this year. that everybody's kind of on them for, including me. And I think that there's some reasoning behind it. Like I kind of got on Toronto a little bit for this year and last year.

They lead the entire league in attempted stretch passes and completed stretch passes, but they have the lowest stretch pass completion rate in the league. So, like, they're always going for that long bomb pass, and they are terrible at doing, like, short passes out of the zone. And the carryouts have dropped big time. They go stretch passes and dump up. That's like what they do. And they've stopped attacking off the rush as much.

They generate much less off the rush than they have the last two years. And as a result, they also allow fewer rush chances against because they're committing fewer turnovers. And I think the reason why they're going to that style is because even their better defensemen like Gardner and Riley are very exploitable off the rush. They're not great defenders that way. And the rest of their defense is, you know, either. not very good like Zytev or kind of a little bit immobile like Polack and that's the

nicest thing anyone said about Roman Paul podcast I I know right kind of a mobile kind of a mobile you know he can he can get around once in a while he's not he's not quite at Douglas Murray levels yet I don't think you give him enough time he'll get there for sure exactly the other guy will still be there by the time he gets there but but yeah like I think there's some things that maybe Toronto has like overreacted to a little bit but they're trying to get the best out of the lineup that they have. And for whatever reason, the Leafs haven't been committed to,

you know, making a big move on the defensive end to improve that. But I guess they just have a lot of faith in the guys that they have coming in like Dermann and probably Lilligrin, probably not next year, but the year after. Right. Yeah.

And I think they should in those guys definitely. I'm sure that these decisions Babcock and the Leafs make are coming from a place of reason. Like I, I, it, when, whenever we critique a team for doing stuff like this, I don't, I'm not trying to suggest that, you know, they're just kind of picking names out of a hat and just throwing stuff up against the wall and not actually giving any thought into this. But I wonder if, you know, they're coming at it from the right perspective. Maybe they are, but you're close to it because, you know, while they are clearly trying to play a more defensively oriented style of hockey because we, we, you know, there's this idea that that's what gets it done in the postseason. I just wonder if, like, their best bet would be to just. embrace what makes them special and just try to do as much of that as opposed to

trying to play this more balanced type of game that we conventionally think because this is a very unconventional team and very few teams have this much high-end skill up front and ability to just kind of overwhelm you with you know it kind of feels like when they really get going and they start building some of this momentum in terms of the way they play not even the results it's it's like a snowball effect and it really just can get overwhelming for teams and very few teams can slow them down when they get rolling that way. So I wonder if they'd be better off just embracing that as opposed to trying to do stuff in half measures.

Well, and that's a great point because if they try to get into like a defensive battle with the Boston Bruins, like they're going to lose. Like you're not going to win that battle. So you have to push down the throttle a little bit, put that pedal to the metal and let those guys fly because like the only way that the Leafs have an avenue to beat the Boston Bruins. is to do exactly what you're saying is overwhelm them offensively. Just, you know, wave after wave, always be looking for, you know, the highest end play

because, yeah, you're not going to win a tight checking defensive battle with like very few shots and scoring chances each way. It's not going to work. So who do you, do you think it's fair to say that the winner of this series is going to be the one that's able to get more scoring and more offense out of its secondary lines? I imagine we're going to see a ton of Bergeron versus Matthews, especially in the games in Boston. Like I imagine that the Bruins will try to go for that matchup as often as possible.

And, you know, Chris Johnson wrote on SportsNet yesterday. You never know how much of it is sort of puffing your chest out and showing you're not afraid. But it was basically the gist of it was, you know, the Leafs are going to embrace that matchup as well. And it's not going to be something they're going to shy away from. And, you know, I'm sure Matthews can hold his own. And whether it's play that line to a draw,

at least make competitive, but I wonder what that matchup is going to look like in Toronto and whether the Leaves are going to try to get them away from them a little bit to open it up offensively or whether they're just going to go for that matchup, power versus power, and then see if they can get more secondary scoring out of their, you know, out of their Mariner line and out of the JBR line. Yeah, I have a feeling that, you know, Matthews might be, you know, less productive than the Leaves want him to be simply because he's going to have to take that Bergeron matchup. But I don't know if, like you said, I don't know if they'll make.

people he's mind that and I have you tell me if you have the same feeling but I think Nazim Kodry is going to be a huge factor in this series like if the Leafs are able to win I feel like he's going to be the guy that everyone points to as either their MVP of the series outside of maybe Freddie Anderson or you know maybe Mitch Marner does the same thing as he's been doing the last I guess 30 40 games of the regular season he's been on fire but I just feel like Nazim Kodri his ability to take to take that tough competition and score goals and now that he has you know know, linemates that actually produce offensively, that's a big deal.

And I do wonder if at a certain point, the Leafs kind of take advantage of Boston wanting to get Bergeron against Matthews and take Nealander off that line and put him somewhere else so that he can produce. You know, it's something that, you know, you want Nealander with Matthews, so Matthews has another offensive outlet because Zach Hyman, as much as he's had a much better season this year, he's not a high-end offensive player. but you know you give nielander an out away from that bursar on matchup and it becomes a lot tougher for boston to to figure out what they want to do yeah well they would never do it but that this is

where like you know if you put a guy like undrius yonson to the lineup like it's conceivable that he could step into one of those wing spots and give you the yeah give you the luxury to free up nilander a little bit to increase your scoring i mean this is true of most um high-end forward lines but I feel like especially with that with that Bergeron line like it makes sense for the Leafs to you know even if you're not going to win that matchup to try and at least play them to as much of a draw as possible by having the Matthews line out there and trying to actually come back at them a little bit of your offense of your own like I think it would be a disaster to try to approach defending Bergeron, Pastor Nack and Marchand with you know more prototypical defensive types

who just sag back in their own zone because they're just going to they're just going to they're just going to, you know, beat you to death in the offensive zone and just keep the puck for minutes on end. So, um, or just, I guess, get Leo Kamaab out there and try to sucker Brad Mershont into doing something stupid. Like, those are one of your two options for slowing them down, but it's going to be easier said than done. I mean, just the numbers they've put up at five on five this year are incredible. And the Bruins as a whole, right? Like, that's the thing. I like this leaves team a lot and I can see how, um, I can very easily draw out the blueprint for how they would win this series. But then it's just so tough to overlook the fact that the

Bruins are what like I was looking this up there 40 4 13 and 8 in their last 45 games and that includes losing their last three games um you know they're plus 65 and goals during that time league best 54% uh shot share team like it's everything points the fact that this is a very dominant team and i think i wonder how much of the skepticism about them because i feel like there is still some based on how good they've been like there's a mismatch there between people buying into them fully and how good their results warrant us talking about them. And it's got to be the secondary scoring idea, right? I feel like there's this misnomer that it's just that Bergerall line,

and then it's a bunch of either cast-offs or young players who aren't ready for the spotlight yet. But when you just look at the numbers, especially with Rick Nash in the fold, I know it's a small sample, but the work he's done on that second line with Creachian and DeBrusk and then, you know, the third line will see if Riley Nash can come back at some point. but you know you've got uh david bacchus there um danton heinen and then we'll see how ryan don't know goes into this so like they have weapons it's just people seem reluctant to fully buy in on the fact that they're going to be good enough to compliment the bursar online and i'm buying in although i understand why people are still um a bit reluctant to do so i mean yeah

they have 10 10 plus goal scorers outside of that top line who all have 30 plus yeah and burgeonrion got 30 and 64 games marshon got 34 and 68 so he's scoring like a half goal game that yeah like the bruns just seem overwhelming to me and i i know like and even troy crew got 14 goals like there's there's a lot to deal with with boston and i feel like you know as much as we do get caught up a little bit talking about how how much offense the lees are able to create. The Bruins are right there with them. You know, like they're a top five offensive team in this league.

It's not going to be an easy route. This is, I feel like this is going to be a super entertaining series that, you know, there's that 2013 series that everyone's going to be thinking about at the same time. And I think this one's going to be tight. But every time that I think of a way that the least can, you know, get in there, I just think that it's just not likely. Yeah, I guess the one thing would be Tukorask turning back into a bit of a pumpkin. Yeah.

That would help, obviously. I mean, that's true for every series. He's had a bad stretch recently, right? Yeah, he has. I mean, he's exceeded my expectations for sure this season. I viewed him similar to, similar to Renee in Nashville as like a great team's liability. And both guys, I mean, Renee obviously to a much higher degree this year, but still, Raskin in his own right has been very good.

And as long as he's able to just like, not completely crap to bed and just give up a bunch of goals, like as long as he's able to hold the fourth down a little bit. I don't think this team is going to be relying on him to, you know, carry them to too many victories, although against this Leif's offense, especially if they're getting a couple of power plays a game, all of a sudden,

that could be an interesting matchup as well because Freddie Anderson has been just so rock-solid on the other end, aside from a short little stretch there in the middle of the year where he was giving up four or five goals a game. But otherwise, I feel more confident in his ability in it, um the rask at this point so maybe that's where they could get a little bit of an advantage yeah i i would say like at this stage i would say that freddie anderson's better than tuka rask yeah at least more consistent right uh i mean like you look at his save percentage the last four years and it's like 919 918 918 918 and it's like you know what you're getting

with freddie henderson he's going to give you that that's what he's going to give you so i guess He's the new prime Ryan Miller where I mean obviously Brian Miller had that one insane season around the Olympics but otherwise he was just like above league average and just you knew within like two percentage points what he was going to be every year. And I know that's not like the sexiest thing in the world, but it's it must be kind of nice just knowing exactly what you're going to get, especially it's a chivalent opposition. Yeah, for sure. All right. You know what? We did 20 minutes on this series. And it was worth it.

It was worth every second of it. I don't regret it at all. but we got to move on here. And thankfully with this next series, with the Lightning Devils, we'll be able to get back on our allotted time slots because I don't think we're going to need the full 15 minutes for this one. How? Okay, drop a scenario for me that's based at least a little bit in reality

where the Devils beat the Lightning in the series. But, well, you know, they won the season series, Demetri. Three nothing. You're right? Yeah. I would say the only way that I can see this happening realistically is if Vaselowski is who he was the last half of the season. If he's terrible, then the devils have a chance. And, you know, Taylor Hall will have to be otherworldly great, probably even better than he was in the regular season.

Because the lightning, you know, I've underestimated them a few times in the playoffs, but John Cooper is such a good coach. He's so good at preparation. and I feel like now that he has, you know, Ryan McDonough in there, he's got a bit of defensive depth for the first time. It's, this is a big mismatch. This is really tough, this one. Even though, like, the lightning weren't as good in the second half of the season, I don't think that's a big deal.

I think they kind of coasted a little bit. I think they knew that they were, like, that division was wrapped up by what, January? Like, everyone knew who the top three teams were going to be, that it was locked in. And there was pretty much no chance of the lightning falling out of the playoffs. So they coasted and ended up winning the division. Like I just don't see. Like maybe maybe the devils, because they've had to fight so hard, you know, surprise the lightning early and they can get an advantage in those first two games. But man, to win four against the lightning, I'm just not seeing it.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, you're right. I guess, yeah, the one X factor is it is the NHL playoffs after all. and we've definitely crazy things happen. I mean, the Montreal Canadians in 2010 beating the capitals, nobody would have ever predicted that, right? No, yeah, you know, you're right. So the one place I could see the devil's having an advantage is,

I'm not entirely sold on this lightning blue line. I know that adding Ryan McDonough helps a bit. I don't love the way they've used them. He hasn't looked great so far in a lightning uniform. and if Tampa Bay is really going to insist on using Dan Girardy with Victor Headman as what I guess would would is there to fact with top pairing whatever pairing Victor Headman on is we're going to consider the lightning's top pairing um that could be a bit of a challenge against the devil's speed on the left wing because I feel like that is definitely their strong suit I mean obviously even beyond Taylor

Hall um I really like miles wood uh they got Michael Grabner there like they they definitely have speed to burn on the wing and against the potential lack of foot speed there, that could be a bit of an advantage. But, you know, it's grasping at straws. I'm just trying to throw Devils fans a little bit of hope here. And maybe the answer here is the lightning just, you know, shoot themselves in the foot or can't get out of their own way. And you're right. I mean, the coasting thing for Tampa Bay is interesting because obviously they were just

the talk of the league early on and, you know, Kutrov and Stamco's were putting up video game numbers and they were just, you know, pacing the league in pretty much every single category and it's easy over an 82 game marathon of a season to you know kind of overcompensate for that type of a hot start by you know coming back down to earth and and really just trying to get ready for the postseason when you know you're going to be there for sure um there were some alarming trends there you know the baselowski's numbers are one thing but i think even the play in front of him was uh not ideal like i don't want to put it it's it's sometimes overly simplistic like to just be like, oh, well, the goalie stopped making saves.

Like, I feel like just anecdotally from watching some of these lightnings games, it seemed like it was a bit of a bit of a clown show in front of them at times in their own zone. So I don't know. Those are some of the potential red flags, but I just don't think this devil's team is equipped to take advantage of any of those flaws, really, at any sort of dangerous way. And that's ultimately why this is probably going to be like a five-game series. Yeah, I feel like, you know, if the devil's had a second Taylor Hall, it would be a lot more interesting because, you know, like you said, that speed to burn is a big deal.

And like if the devils are able to get haul out there consistently against Dan Gerardy, even if it's with Victor Headman, you know, that's a whole side of the ice that he can exploit with speed. And man, there are so many goals this year that he scored where you're like, oh, there's no avenue for him to go. And then it's like, oh, he just barreled in there and scored. Right. And he just does it himself. Because, you know, the devil's 5-on-5 underlying resume is obviously not that of a playoff team. And that's why people kept expecting to come crashing back down Earth. But if you look at their numbers with Taylor Hall as with most superstars around the league,

like they were actually very respectable whenever he was on the ice. And so you're right. If they had more of that, that would definitely help in terms of moving the needle for them. I wonder, you know, one of the notes I do have here is the idea of loading up a line versus spreading it out and trying to become more dangerous and more difficult to deal with by stretching the defense thin and moving some of your better players onto other lines. And I wonder if as good as Hall is and sort of, like on the one hand, he attracts a lot of attention and that means that you kind of want to have him playing with better players

that can actually take advantage of the extra space they have and of the opportunities he's going to provide them just by how much attention in space he draws. But at the same time, like some of those goals, as you mentioned, are just such. solo efforts where it feels like it doesn't really matter who else is on the ice. And I wonder if maybe the devil will be better suited not having his year and Palmieri on that same line because, you know, you could make an argument. Those are like their second and third best forwards. And so I wonder if going for a more of a two or three line balanced attack where you

spread that out would help a little bit. Although, you know, the additional Patrick Maroon has been really nice. I really like that line with him, Zaka and Miles Wood. So that gives them at least something to hold on for hope. But yeah, beyond that, I mean, like that bottom. is pretty rugged and I wonder if especially against this lightning team they'd be better off doing that or maybe just trying to play that haul line 60 minutes tonight yeah I was going to say how many minutes do you think hall can play in one like on average and still be effective like I think realistically

they're going to have to play like can you do like Ilya Kovalchuk minutes like 25 I don't I don't think he'd be able to maintain his effectiveness like the thing about kovych and and I think sometimes this can get misconstrued as he wasn't trying. I just think he was sort of similar to like Ryan Souter on the blue line just better at kind of conserving his energy and sort of paying his spots and sort of doing the old Chris Pronger. Yeah, yeah. Like you're not just going full bore all the time and just putting your head down and trying

to, you know, bull rush towards a net. With Hall, like that's kind of what makes him most effective. And I guess just having him out on the ice in theory makes the devil's team as a whole better just because the lightning would have to pay attention to him and devote some of their defensive resources to slow him down. But I think he's going to have to play like 22, 23 and maybe even north of that for this team to have a chance. Like every time he's not on the ice, the lightning aren't going to have an advantage.

Yeah. And that's the other thing is like, do you put Hall out against that top line that's so dangerous and kind of like mitigate Hall, Hall's effect in this? Or do you just hope that the absolute may have? him that happens while Hall's not on the ice versus like Stancos and Kutraov is something that's survivable. Like that's the problem that the devils have for me is like they don't have many matchup options and the playoffs that's a that's a big deal.

Yeah, that's the thing. I could, you know what? I could honestly see like that Raiden Point, that Braden Point line with Tyler Johnson and Platt or whoever they decided to use on his line just feasting in a series like this, right? Yeah. Like, it's conceivable where Hall would play that Kuturov line to a bit of a stalemate. And then the secondary scoring on the Lightning, it could be one of those series where we're heading into the second round of the playoffs. And there's like four players in the Lightning, not named Kuturov, who are atop the leaderboard for playoffs scoring.

And you're just like, what the hell is going on here? Yeah. The other question, though, Demetri, is Keith Kincaid Michael Leighton? Man, this is, you know what? Good, good for Keith Kincade. Good for Keith Kinket. No kidding. He seems like an awesome, awesome character, has a lot of fun on Twitter and social media,

and I'm always all for that. I think we need more of that in the league. This is obviously a surprising run he's on, and if you told me earlier than the season that the devils were going to make the playoffs, but it was going to be on the back of Keith Kincaid and not Corey Stider. I would have thought you were a crazy person. So I don't know. It's a good story.

We'll see how long lasts. I mean, that is one of those things where, who knows? Like, I guess that's another potential avenue for New Jersey. you hear to squeeze out and upset it's Keith Kincaid just out of his mind for five or six games and you're just like where the head and we just and then six years later we're just making jokes about that this Keith Kincaid run where he beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. I could also envision that and in a crazy, crazy world that we live in. So I don't know.

Yeah, we're, I'm trying to be more optimistic here for the devil's chances because it's very boring. Like I ran into this yesterday with discussing the avalanche versus the predators and it's like, no one wants to hear like, oh, yeah, there's no reason to tune into this series. It's going to be a very one-sided battle. And yeah, let's just move on around too.

But it is one of those things where I think it's going to be a fun series to watch. Like I watched purely just to see Taylor Hall out there. And I go his year's super fun to watch. And this devil's team has been surprisingly exciting. But it's going to be, it's going to be an uphill battle for them. Yeah. And, yeah, you don't want to say anything like, you know, they don't even need to play the series.

but it's close to that. No, they need to play the series. They do need to play the series. You always need to play the series. But it's very, like, everything has to break right for the devils to win. You know, to say something nice about the devils, they have probably the most underrated jersey in the league. I love their jersey. Yeah, it's pretty sexy.

And you know what? You know why they need to play this series? Because as much as well, we're not. we rail on the the playoff structure and how sometimes it could be unfair. Like in both conferences, the best team is playing very clearly the worst team in their conference. And I'm all for being rewarded for having a great regular season by

not having to play the Toronto Maple Leafs in round one. So although, like it goes back to it. You know, we were saying earlier how everyone's talking about how it's unfair to the Leafs. Like, you know, from the, from the Bruins perspective,

I mean, if they just win that last game against Florida, we're talking about this being a cakewalk for them and a sweep for them against New Jersey. and we're sort of licking our lips and wondering about what a Tampa Bay Toronto series is going to look like. And so, yeah, I mean, it's tough to feel bad for the Bruins because they control their own destiny there. And they just kind of, they craft the bed in that game. And the Tampa Bay Lightning get rewarded, and they're going to feast on the devil's here.

So that's just how it works. This is true. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's take a quick break here from my sponsor. And then we're going to do the two Metro Division series. And I've been waiting all podcasts to talk about Capitol's Blue Jackets.

So I'm really excited to get into it with you. Awesome. With it being playoff season, I know that a lot of you listening right now are planning on growing out the playoff beards to support your team and get in on the fun. And as anyone that knows me and I listen to the show knows, I'm all for that. I'm fully in support of beards in any and all forms. Now, with one exception, there's this misconception that if you're growing out your beard for something like this, you're just going to let it go.

It's going to be an unruly mess. And you're going to embrace that. And that is definitely something I do not support. That's a line too far for me. If you're growing out your playoff beard, you still need to be making sure you're looking nice, fresh and well-kem. You've got to be getting rid of that neck beard. You've got to get rid of those loose unruly hairs. You've got to making sure you're looking your best, even though that beard's coming out.

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blade cover. So listeners on my show can redeem their trial set at harries.com slash PDO. Just make sure you go to harries.com slash PDO to redeem your offer and let them know that I sent you so that you can help support the show. Now, let's get back to the PDOCs. All right. So I love the blue jackets in this series. Two things holding me back from just going completely all in.

Well, I guess, okay, there's three. There's a respect for how crazy good of education. and Kuznetsov and Baxter Marr. And the other two are very irrational things. And they're one, it seems like everyone is picking the blue jackets in this series. And whenever there's this group think like that, even if it's based completely from a logical, well-reasoned perspective, I'm always kind of gun-shy about it a little bit. And the other thing is this is the year that everyone is kind of off the capitals.

and it would make so much sense just from the NHL playoffs or a crazy perspective and you never know what's going to happen that this is the year that maybe they don't win the cup but they actually go in a long run and make it to the conference finals or something it would just be perfectly fitting it would and you know I've thought about that and I wrote about the capitals for sports net a couple weeks ago and how they're like you know they don't look like a Stanley Cup contender for the first time in a long while and a bunch of capitals fans were like oh how dare you and I was like listen I've taken them to win the cup last like four years.

So guys, take this for what it is. I'm probably still wrong. Yeah. Yeah. The only is the Capitals are winning the Cup. Yeah. So, yeah, there's not much that the Capitals have done this season that has been, you know,

impressive as far as, like, team play. Alex Ovechkin has been phenomenal. But again, he's just, he's too much, like too big of, or too much of their offense is based around just, oh, Ovechkin getting shots. And, you know, is not something that normally you would criticize because it's Alex Ovechkin, but when the other players aren't shooting enough, especially talented players like back from Kuznetsov, et cetera, you know, there's got to be some other second layer of

offense and they haven't really had that, at least sustainably, this season. I do think they've actually been better in the second half than I thought they were when I broke it down recently. they were actually above par in high danger chances in the second half and in scoring chances where they were like way way below in the first in the first half like 46% like really bad so they have improved a bit but again it's one of those things where like which sample size is the one that's more indicative and you know like I'm tempted to say the second half but then you know the bigger sample size might matter more because they really haven't had many

any injuries that it would like obscure. Right. It's not like Anaheim or something. Yeah, it's not like Anaheim where the first half of the season, it was a skeleton roster or Nashville where they were without Ryan Ellis and, you know, Arvinson missed time, Forsberg missed time. So like the big change in the second half for both teams made a lot of sense. It, like how much of it is strength of schedule, you know, you never really know.

And the other thing that worries me a little bit for Washington is that Columbus has had the same thing happen where they're much better. in the second half than the first half. And the Capitol's biggest advantage at 5 on 5 is they're pretty good at moving the puck, especially into the slot. But the blue jackets have actually been better. So like the biggest advantage that the Capitals have, the blue jackets happen to be better. And it's just a bad matchup.

And with Brayden Holbe be struggling. Like I like Philippe Grubauer, but the playoffs are a different animal. And, you know, I know some goaltending experts disagree with me, but I think there's a huge, huge difference between a guy playing backup role versus you're the starter now. It's a whole different level of pressure. And, you know, Sergey Bobrovsky,

I saw you tweet in the other day that people were making too big of a deal out of his playoff stats because of who he's face. And I agree. Like, you look at Sergey Bobovsky over the last three years, man, he might actually be the best goal trainer in the league the last three years. So it's a tough matchup for Washington.

Yeah. I mean, the one advantage is going to have. have is on the power play for sure. You know, the Blue Jackets' power play has been better as the season's gone along, but still obviously pales in comparison to how effective they were last year, particularly in the year. And the Capitals, as always, are a nightmare there. And if that's clearly one advantage, like, it's kind of similar to what we were saying about

Boston, Toronto, where the longer the Blue Jackets can keep this game at 5-on-5 throughout the series, the better off they're going to be for it. with the white capital is like i know they improved a little bit as the year went along as you're saying but still i mean you look at some of those number season long numbers and what they were like 24th and shot share and 26 yeah and expected goals and and the few is shots in the league yeah and yeah they were i mean they're sub 50% for the first time since 2013 14 and that was the year they missed the playoffs and fired everyone and so that's not a great company to be keeping um from their own historical perspective.

And with this Blue Jackets team, like, I'm all in on this being the year that we kind of pay more attention to some of these guys and start talking them up. You know, they've fallen short the past couple times they made it to the playoffs. And I'd love to see guys like Bobowski, as you mentioned. You know, he's like an 880 something, say a percentage in his playoff career. That's like 14 starts worth. So I'm not putting too much stock into that, especially when in 2011, four of those who were against the Bruins who went on to win a cup and other 11 of them were against the penguins

the past two times they've played them so it's like you know i think he's just kind of gotten the short on the stick a little bit there and he's a great great goalie and one strong series here he's going to do wonders for lifting those overall numbers and for changing the perception on him and then i think this is an important point that can't be overstated it's what having a guy like artemie paneran means to this blue jackets team because yes it feels like for like it feels like they're not just bringing a knife to a gunfight anymore like i think in these playoffs it's very important to have at least one or two guys that you know you can bank on and you know are going to attract a ton of attention and you know can make a huge difference offensively for you

when it matters most like you need the depth but you also do need the star players to move the needle for you and drive the bus and in his case i mean the year he's had is just remarkable i think he's like in the top 10 and uh the percentage of goals he's creating created for his team. He's the first Bluejacket ever to score 80 points, which is pretty remarkable. He's just, he's had an awesome season and he's turned it on down to stretch when they needed it most from him. And they're coming into this series, like 13, 2 and 2 in their final 17. All the shot metrics are great. They're playing awesome. There's a lot of questions about the capitals. And just from every rational perspective, it seems like we should be all in on the blue jackets

winning this series. I do have this nagging thing in the back of my mind. They just like, I don't want to get fully invested in it, but it really feels like this is the year that happens. Yeah, I feel like I'm not only am I fully invested in it because the numbers are supporting it and like everything logical is pushing that way. But also I look at like the spread of teams and what's kind of shaken out this year in terms of the standings. And there's always at least one upset in terms of like the standings positions. And this is the one that looks like the most likely to me by a huge. margin. Like out west,

there's, I don't think you can call if the sharks beat the ducks an upset. They were separated by one point in the NHL standings. You know, I don't think that

even if the Golden Knights lose the Kings, which I think is sort of unlikely, that could be called an upset either because it's, there's still an expansion team. So like this is the only

matchup that I see that it's likely to be a major upset. And I'm brooding for that just because if there is no upset, the playoffs are kind of boring, you know? Right. No, you're right. There's going to be so many hot takes about the capitals.

Although, I don't know. Maybe we've come so far just from the perspective of like they've been so underwhelming this season, even though they were racking up the wins and finish high in the standings. But like, I don't think anyone is under the impression that this is the same Capitals team from the past few years ago where, you know, Stanley Cup robust. Like I think expectations have dropped on them quite a bit, but at the same time. anytime Ovechkin loses in a series, you're going to have the trolls come out and say crazy stuff online,

and then we're going to have to come back at them, and then it's going to turn into a whole thing again. Yeah, I mean, I think it won't necessarily be about the capitals this year, the hot takes. It'll be about Ovechkin himself, because it always goes to, you know, the Russian winger can't lead a team. Which is hilarious, because if you look at this season,

like I understand why he's not getting a hard trophy buzz. There's so many good candidates, and we just kind of, come to expect it from him. But just in terms of the workload, he was, or I guess like the amount of offense that he had to generate for this team, I believe he scored the highest percentage of his team's goals this year yet again. Like it's, this team wasn't very good this season.

They lost a lot of talent in the summer. And they won a lot of games for a variety of reasons. But one of them was he all scored 50 goals again. And he is freaking awesome. Yeah. One goal away from being just the fourth player ever to score 50. over the age of 32. Yeah.

You know, like, he was so close. And I thought it was hilarious that the capo just kept on throwing him out there for like almost a three-minute shift in the last game. Yeah, he had a couple opportunities there. He did, you know, and I remember, like, I kind of like, I didn't watch the whole game, but I knew that he needed a hat trick. And, you know, you're flicking on and off between games and you're watching this. And as soon as he scores one, you're like, oh, here comes. And then he scores two and you're like, I can't believe he's going to do it again. Yeah.

And there was just that, you know, that little bit of magic needed. And I was, I was kind of mad that the other team didn't, you know, pull their goalie just to give it to him. Because, like, the game's over, man. Just let him get his 50. Let him match this, this, not record, but, you know, this cool thing. Yeah. You know, maybe, you know, years down the line, Washington can throw them a seventh round pick for it. I don't know.

That's probably, like, really bad for the league. another reason why the devils deserve to lose in round one because they stopped the vetchkin from getting to 50 goals exactly no you're right and he was it two years ago he did against the blues where he went into game 82 with 47 goals on the year

and then it's like man like everyone is aware of it and I kind of mad like he's like a little one player in the world where it's like you could call your shot like that I'd be like I need three goals today okay cool I'm gonna go out there and get it done and yeah the fact that he came that close is like he's just such a showman and so fun

to watch and it's mind-boggling that people still take shots at him and I hope that if this series plays out the way you and I both think it will that people are going to try to remain level-headed about it and realize that Columbus was just a better team but you know maybe this is maybe this is the year where yeah maybe he they'd get outplayed but he just scores like six goals in this series and carries carries the capitals to victory and advances the second round and people start giving him some some love that he deserves but I'm not holding out hope for that you know with this bluejackets team mentioned their improvements down the stretch and the Thomas Vannock pickup was huge for them.

I mean, you look at just that second line that he's given them with Alex Wemberg and Boone Jenner coming back from the dead, getting some love from the shooting percentage gods finally, and Thomas Vannick setting him up has certainly helped with that. But now this Blue Jackets team isn't just the Panarin line anymore and they can throw a couple different looks at you. And I believe Felino's coming back for this series as well.

they're a really well-constructed team like it's not just the one line although panarin does drive so much the offense for them they can comfortably roll their four lines without worrying that they're going to get completely caved in whenever any of those guys are out there yeah i mean it's like you said earlier about panera and like Columbus has always had a good amount of like depth good players like i don't want to like denigrate them by saying like a bunch of good second liners but you know No superstars, right? Right. But now they have that, that, how would you put that, like the foundation of good players and they have that superstar and Panarin to be a game breaker? And that's a whole different level than they've ever had in the playoffs. And like, no disrespect to Brandon Sodd, who I don't think it's a second line player. I think he's a first line player and had a really unlucky season this year.

But Panarin has that high-end offense, whereas Saad is more of that like two-way transition player. And it's just a look that Columbus has never had. I'm really excited to see what they can do. As much as, you know, in the playoffs, in the past, I don't think Columbus has been that likable of a team. And I think that's mainly because of Brandon Dubinsky. But we'll see.

I mean, I don't know. The interesting thing for me is if Pittsburgh wins their series and it's Columbus, Pittsburgh, again, how much mayhem that series will be. Yeah. Oh, that's going to be. That's going to be a fun. want to watch and also try to figure out what's going to happen there because you're going to have the sort of narrative like the you know the whether the penguins own them or not it's like

kind of need to see it to believe it and it's going to be tough to pick against the penguins just because of their history but this is clearly the best this is clearly the best the blue jackets have looked and as we're going to talk about here in a second maybe the penguins are a bit more vulnerable than they've been the past so that's that would make for a fascinating round two series but I'm excited about this first one against Washington. I'm not, as much as I think Columbus should be favored and as the superior team, for reasons we've laid out, it's not going to be, you know, the one side of thing where it's like, oh, why are they playing the series?

Like, it really could go either way. And the capitals do have home ice and that could play a factor. And, you know, I'm going to be excited. I think it's like one of the, I don't know, third, it's like the third or fourth series that I'm most excited about in this round once late. So I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on it. Same here. Okay, let's finish us off then talking about Philly Pittsburgh.

Yeah, no one's excited about this series at all. Seems poised for complete chaos. Here's the thing, though. I think it seems crazy to say this. If this series goes into that type of chaos that we're expecting, though, I think the Flyers don't have a chance in hell beating the Penguins. You think? Well, I say that from this perspective of like, I'm fully expecting the Penguins to score every single time they get a powerplay opportunity in this series.

Yeah, that's a good point. Just the matchup of this penguin's power play, which is historically great versus this Flyers penalty kill, which for years has been atrocious in this year to get to a whole new level of stinkiness. Like, it's, that's as one-sided as it gets. And I could see the Penguins just racking up goals and punches there. So that would be concerning. You know what it could look like, Dimitri? Do you remember the first round series way back when between Vancouver and L.A. where L.A. scored something like they were like 50% on the power play against Vancouver.

I think it was the first round sweep. It could end up something like that where like the even strength is a little bit more even than people expected. But then Pittsburgh just mashes on the power play. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right about that. Yeah, I'm okay, so I think it's a be a fun series. I'm trying to think of it from the Flyers perspective because, so I say that on the,

like that special teams battle is, is very one-sided. At 5-15, like, it's going to be closer. The problem is, is, and we saw this in their regular season matchups, how are you going to defend the three lines that the penguins can throw at you? Like, having Val Filpilat out there against Crosby, Or whoever. You don't think that'll work? Like, it's, it's, it's not good, not good.

Um, it's either going to be a goal or you're going to take a penalty and then it'll be in, in short order, another goal. So it's, that's the alarming thing where it's tough to find one very obvious avenue in this game. Like, you know, we talk about Columbus, Washington, and we like Columbus, but the Washington capitals have a massive advantage in the power play. Maybe they can take advantage of that with this. It's like the best bet is to kind of just hold serve for the,

Flyers, the worst case scenario is it really gets out of hand. And that's why I think it's fun, you know, Battle of Pennsylvania and we've seen crazy things happen in the last time these two teams played in the playoffs, although that was a while ago. But I think this is a different scenario. And I think that it's just a bad matchup for Philly. Yeah, it is a bad matchup. And it's too bad because Philly actually has had quite the good second half in terms of

the underlines. You know, they're a 53% high danger chance team, which is really good. really decent for a team that doesn't have home ice. They're above par in every offensive measure at 5-on-5, but the problem is the penguins in the second half have got up to like 56% in like every measure outside of like Corsi where they're just under 53. So it's just the worst possible matchup probably for the Flyers outside of Boston, I guess. but even Boston, I think, like you said, there's that special teams area where you can exploit them.

And I feel like it's annoying because it's kind of, it's a great story, but also kind of boring that Pittsburgh could easily win the cup again this year. Like, their second half has been brilliant. And then they've got, you know, Sydney Crosby this year has been amazing. But his on-ice shooting percentage is like 6%, which is like half his career average. So, you know, he could all of a sudden explode in the playoffs and, you know, score 30 points and, you know, another run to Stanley Cup. We just don't know. But there's just too many things for Philadelphia to try to handle in this one series, especially if Derek Bressard's back early in the series. You know, maybe the best avenue is to try to get if Guinea-Malkin riled up enough that he gets himself suspended because he's had a couple of anger meltdowns as the season's worn on.

Yeah. No, you're right. I think, yeah, this is the worst possible matchup for Philly. Like, you mentioned Boston. I think I'd pick Boston in the series against Philly, but I would give Philly more of a puncher's chance. Like, just the fact that the penguins can spread it out with, like, having one, at least one complete superstar that you're alarmed about defending on these three lines

and the Flyers not having three lines to combat against it. Like, that would be tough, whereas against Boston, We mentioned their secondary scoring, but at the same time, you know, you could just go Couturee versus Bergeron and then take your chances with everything else beyond that. With this series, it's going to be really tough. And, yeah, I don't know. I'm worried about Flyers fans getting very, very upset at us here. So I sold him up on by just saying, Claudeau, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru, Clajuru. That's true.

He should be on the heart ballot. He should. He should. He was fantastic this year. He had an amazing season. And I've gotten a lot of. flak from flyers fans for not giving enough credit and giving too much of it to shan katirier and let's just spend a couple of minutes here just talking about claud grue and how he

should just say his name a bunch of times he's been awesome yeah he has i think not to derail the clauduru lo oh no don't do this no stay let's stay on the claudu for a little bit longer this is this is this is what they get on from you about i had justin born on uh last week or whatever and uh i was like let's talk about Claude Girou and then he brought up Mark Edward Vlasic randomly and we just talked about Mark Everblassic and I had someone go like oh classic PDOC say they're going to talk about Jeru and they wind up raving about Mark Everd Flassic and I was like yeah that's pretty that's pretty on brand what about there's one area I think the the flyers might have a bit of an edge of the penguins they have Clau and the Penguins zone they have Clodgeru but also they have that group of amazing young

defenders you know and chrysletang has been really good this year but you know Ivan proverov's really good. You know, man, Gostas Bears had a phenomenal season. For some reason, nobody outside of Philly really has talked about him. He's been phenomenal. A real breakout year for him where he's more than just, you know, the power play guy. He's actually been, you know, driving plays, playing good defensive hockey. It's a real blossoming year for him.

I do wonder, though, like we said this is a bad matchup for Philly, the one area that worries me for Pittsburgh is in goal with Matt Murray where he hasn't been very good this year. But then unfortunately, it's the Flyers, so you know they're not going to get good cold ending. It's just written in the stars. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, you're right. Although I, I don't want to sweep that under the rug. Like this Penguins team, like that is a massive red flag, whereas the past couple of years, their goaltending was so great, especially in beating what thought was a superior capitals team last season. Their goaltending was great, and this year it seems like they, you know,

the playoffs may be an entirely different animal and maybe they'll improve, but they haven't really shown many signs this season of being a group that this team can rely upon. And if things do go off the rails in this series or in a future series for them and they lose, I imagine that will play a big role in why they wind up being defeated. It's going to be that there should be these games where the goal is there's a series. giving them like an 875 say a percentage. Yeah, and I think that's kind of what you have to hope for with Flyers Penguins anyway.

Like I just hope both goaltenders don't stop shots at all. And like every game is like 9 to 8 because if any series is going to transform us back or transport us back to the 1980s, it's probably going to be this one. And I'm for it. You know, I think 80s hockey overall is overrated. But one series a year, I'm down. Yeah. And this, if we get with the one series, It should definitely be this one.

Yeah. Team mayhem. Yeah, I think this is going to be a fun one. I think the Penguins should be heavily favored, but I think that the games, like each game in and of itself is going to have a lot of storylines and reasons to tune in and stuff for us to talk about. And it's going to be a great series to follow along on Twitter for.

Oh, yeah. I think that would be the number one. So I'm excited to watch it. I just think, It's a shame because this fire team is actually pretty decent for like as as topsy-turvy as their years been with the losing streaks and the winning streaks and never really annoying what to expect from them. Like there's a lot of positives to draw from here and it's a team that next year like if anything should be even better as they start getting some of these younger guys into the lineup and giving them bigger roles. And if they can get another year like this from Claudeau-Joo, Claudeau-Roo, Claudeau-Roo, Claudeau-Roo, then all of a sudden, like, this could be a very dangerous team. next season. But yeah, the need to show up the goal-tending and need to not play the penguins in

round one. Yeah. Is this the series where you kind of wish both teams could win? Yeah, yeah, because I actually do really enjoy watching both teams, and I think that they would make for just better viewing the longer they were in, the longer they were in, whereas there's going to be some of these other teams where it's like, I know they're, they deserve to go into the second round, but I don't really feel like watching another series involving them. So, yeah, I hear you on that. I do wonder if Maybe there's a couple coming out parties for the Flyers in the playoffs. You look at Travis Kinekney down the stretch. Like his second half of the season's been brilliant.

Maybe the Flyers surprise us and some of those young guys just go gangbusters on the Penguins. Yeah, Nolan Patrick too. I mean, you know, we're mentioning how we're worried about the depth and how they're going to combat the penguins of those three lines. And obviously, if they could get a big series out of Nolan Patrick there. And our boy, Charlie O'Connor's number one boy to like Oscar Lindblom. So, you know, they have some interesting players there for sure. It's just there isn't a lot there to inspire confidence. And I don't know, I guess it is a positive move for them.

I know that recently they moved Michael Ravel onto that top line and having Jake Warwick on the second line and then Wayne Simmons on the third line, it gives them a bit more of a balanced approach. So there's that. And yeah, well, I guess we'll just have to tune in to see and enjoy the mayhem as it happens. Can't wait, man. Awesome. Well, we did it. We survived. We did.

That was fun. I'm glad we got to do this. And let's check back in as the playoffs get going here. Maybe we'll do, next time I have you on, we'll talk about the Western Conference, where I think we disagree a little bit more. Sure. That sounds good to me. Awesome. So what are you working on these days? Plug some stuff before we get out of here. I got some playoff previews going for RDS.

I got the Western Conference already up. And I think the Eastern Conference stuff has been published this morning. And for SportsNet, same stuff as usual. always three articles a week, man, so you can check out my author feed there. And also, I guess sometimes I make good tweets, mostly bad, but sometimes. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend following you on Twitter. Thanks, Dimitri. All right, man, it was a blast, and we'll chat soon.

Thanks. Cheers. Cheers. The Hockey P.DOcast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedeocast. Thank you.