The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 237: Going The Full 60

Episode Date: May 22, 2018

In Part 1 of arguably one of the most anticipated crossover events in hockey podcasting history, Craig Custance joins the show to discuss covering the World Championships (1:23), the winners and losers of the Golden Knights playoff run (8:24), and whether their surprising success will have any longer term ramifications on the rest of the league (18:10). We also get into Capitals-Lightning (31:42), and look ahead to the most interesting teams to keep an eye on this summer (42:58). Sponsoring today’s show is SeatGeek, which is making it easier than ever before to buy and sell sports and concert tickets. They’re giving our listeners a $20 rebate off of their first purchase. All you have to do is download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code PDO to get started. Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews are also greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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 package. 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 HockeyPEDEOCast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich.

joining me as my good buddy Craig Custin's Craig what's going on man oh nothing it's been a while since been on the old PDO cast I know you just ran away to Europe rather than coming on and doing the show with me went all the way to Denmark just to avoid being on the hockey PDO cast well if it wasn't for the time change I think we could have pulled it off and the guy doing construction yes yeah the drill guy for sure no we're uh hopefully what we get I mean we're recording this early in the morning so let's let's let's give everyone a an idea of what's going on here. So you and I are going to do my show here, the HockeyPedocast,

and then we're going to stop at like a very inconvenient point where like we're in the middle of a heated conversation and then we're going to transition over to your show of the full 60 and we're going to do a bit of a crossover. Podcast. This is like when a character on a TV show would show up on the other one. I'm trying to think of an example of that, like back in the day on the sitcoms. I used to love that.

All of a sudden like Kirk Cameron was on, you know, full house. Or when George Clooney went on friends. I know our buddy Dave Lozo is going to appreciate that our friends. So have you been following the playoffs a lot? Because I know obviously you went to cover the World Championships in Denmark, so I'm sure that was consuming a lot of your time. And with a time difference, it must have been tricky to stay on top of it as you would in your regular day-to-day life.

But yeah, have you been – Yeah, it's definitely been different this year because I haven't traveled nearly as much as I had at ESPN. I mean, not even, I've only been on one other series in the first round. I did some of the Columbus, Washington series. So been more watching it from afar. When you go to the World Championships, you're basically in a kind of a little capsule by yourself. Like it seems like that's the only hockey being played because the games are on in the middle of the night or whatever in the States or in North America.

So it was funny. Like you just, you would find out the next day, hey, look, the Capitol's, and it was a little hard to follow. And all of a sudden, you know, the big Canada-Korea game is all, you know, we're focused on. And it's like a bizarre world over there. So it was a little tougher. But now that I'm back, it's been all hands on deck and checking it out.

Like that game last night was unbelievable with Washington, Tampa. Yeah. No, well, that's a veteran move on your part, though. I feel like I've never had the luxury of covering a world championship before, but just going off to Europe and just hanging out. And it seems like teams, for the most part, give much more access than they would otherwise and you kind of just get to hang out and I'm sure you pick up a lot of cool stuff so um yeah I got a I got to get in on that someday well I mean

Chris Johnson I did basically a whole podcast about how great it is from a media perspective and I mean this was no different like I had a day where team USA gave me full access to the coaching staff so at at 8 a.m. I was in the conference room at the team hotel with Jeff Blasheel and Dan Balsma and set the opera and Don Granato and, you know, their first thing in the morning and they're, they're breaking down clips and here's what we want to show the team. And then I just followed them right into the team meeting where the team was waiting and watch, you know, each guy stepped to the front and give their, you know, performance and took the team bus to the to the game and sat in the locker room. It was crazy. Like stuff you never would get to do

during an NHL season or during the playoffs. And in that, you know, tiny little window, I learned so much just about, you know, responsibilities of players. It was one of those things where now it's made me even more hesitant to be critical of a player. Like, you know, we assume it's this guy's fault for giving up a goal, you know, this is, he should have been covered in this area or whatever. Right. And, you know, watching it, like, like, it kind of taught me not to assume anything, watching the different responsibilities. It was, it was fascinating. Yeah, well, you have, I mean, that's, that's the trick with it. You, uh, there's obviously, there's a certain human element involved and there's going to be personal biases you create, especially as you create

relationships and you get closer to the situation. So that's, yeah, that's why sometimes I just enjoy looking at the numbers and making my analysis that way because it's, but yeah, no, you're right. I mean, I want, so covering that tournament, did you get the feel from it that like people really do hold like actual winning and losing it to like a high degree? Like, or is it just a just just sort of one of those tournaments that's obviously you want to win and they're all competitors, but it is more so like you're kind of winding down from the season and it's just a chance to experience it. Or are they actually gunning for the for the title? No, I mean, they certainly wanted to win. You know, one of the, I remember talking to Connor

McDavid and basically, you know, I'm sure I asked it more with a little bit more tact, but it was like, you know, what are you doing here? What's your hope? And he was just like, you know, so, He's like, I want to win this thing. He was passionate about it. But it definitely felt different from the U.S. side because they were playing for Jim Johansson who for years had put these World Championship teams together, which is an absolutely thankless task in the U.S. Because nobody cares.

Like the reality is, you know, the players barely care. The fans aren't paying attention. They're all watching the playoffs. It wasn't until recently that you could even watch these games in the U.S. on NHL Network. So for years, Jim Johansson was basically begging. players to go over to, you know, wherever and playing these things. And so there was certainly kind of a constant presence of let's do this for Jim Johansson and the Americans won

bronze, which, you know, I think was disappointing a little bit for them. But I mean, we've seen the U.S. in the past kind of screw up that bronze medal game and different tournaments. So you could tell they went out and beat Canada. Like there was something, they had a little something extra going on there. Yeah. No, I mean, I always enjoy the tournament. It provides a nice little reprieve from from the NHL postseason. And I know like it's awesome, really cool to see a country like Switzerland have success. And I know they have had more and more in the past, but they're sort of starting to slowly enter that into that discussion as one of the major hockey players.

And that final between them in Sweden was really fun to watch. So yeah, it's, you know, obviously I prioritize my time right now with NHL postseason. But it always does seem like that type of tournament where there's cool wrinkles. And obviously kind of like, you know, we didn't get to see the Olympics this year. So it's fun seeing different players get to play with each other and see potential combinations. And it's just, it's kind of like this like a fantasy scape. It seems like it's both literally and figuratively so far away. But it's cool to watch.

Well, and then the other kind of aspect is how crazy the fans are there. Like, you know, Latvian fans are ridiculous. And talking to them and hey, because you're just in this little tiny, you know, for us, it was this town called Herning and Denmark and where Canada and the U.S. were based. and it's this tiny little town. So if you're out having a, you know, a beer after a game, it's, you know, there's three or four players walking by to your left and a million fans all around. And so you get a chance to interact with them. And they talk about, you know, they save up all year long and this is what their vacation time is for.

And this, you know, this is the priority of their of their vacation is to go wherever the world championships are and just unplug and cheer on their country. and I'm like, man, what a missed opportunity for Canadian and American fans. You know, like if you're a Rangers fan and they're not making the playoffs for a couple years, I would totally, like, if you could pull it off, find a way to go out there and just be like, you know what, I'm going to be like diehard Team USA guy for 10 days here. And just because it's, it's an experience, you know, you won't get elsewhere. And I've never seen a level of fandom like you see it the worlds with these countries. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.

Let's talk more about the postseason because that has been, I mean, I think people are tuning into this show and they're like, what the hell, 10 minutes on the world championships? That's more than I thought. I was there for 10 days. I didn't talk about it for 10 minutes. Yeah, I also want to talk about the postseason with you because I remember last year you were transitioning to your job with Athletic at this time. And I remember we got deprived of Craig Custon's takes during the Stanley Cup final.

And so now I haven't heard much from you this postseason either. So I think people want to hear what Craig Cousins is thinking about the NHO season. You know what I don't get, Dmitri, is the Vegas pushback. So maybe you can, maybe you can fill me in on this. How this is anything but entertaining and good for hockey? Well, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the people that are providing that pushback happen to conveniently be fans of teams that have lost to Vegas. Right, right, right.

I think there's a little something that. They're like, hey, this is horrible for the sport. Yeah, I mean, so I've heard this dialogue that, you know, this is an embarrassment for the league. Like, how could this happen as team in this first year is making a mockery with NHL postseason? And it's like, I mean, if you want to make the argument that certain NHLGM should be embarrassed by what's happened, I'm all for that. I think, I mean, the league, obviously, I imagine is very happy with this development. It's going to, you know, legitimize Vegas as a hockey market. I imagine if you're a fan of the team where we're on the fence,

you're going to be in for the long haul now with them. And as just for viewers and sort of the dialogue around the league and people, you know, I feel like the NHL really needs to, we always kind of lament how they don't do certain things to attract casual fans. Like we know that the people who are constantly on Twitter and interacting with us are in on hockey. And, you know,

you don't really need to do much convincing of them. But then there's the casual fan, particularly in the States where it's like, you know, how do we attract this person? How do we show them that hockey is, especially in the playoffs, is such an amazing product. It's so fast-paced and free-flowing,

and there's a lot to like there. And I imagine a lot of people are having conversations about the NHL playoffs and, oh, you've seen what Vegas is doing? I feel like that's something that is happening. So ultimately, like, it's a massive net positive for the NHL, I imagine. I think so.

And I think the other thing it's done is it almost immediately solidifies Vegas as a market, Right. So I was in Atlanta that had not only didn't win a playoff series, didn't win a playoff game for a decade or whatever. And that's a really hard way to establish a fan base. And so, you know, now here you have Vegas making this run right away. And you see constantly on Twitter or wherever these fans that are like, I've never been to a hockey game. And now I'm all in and I'm going to practices. And this happens in year one. Like I thought, you know, they're going to have a couple year honeymoon period where they can do whatever. and it doesn't matter, and then they better start winning. And now it's, like, this is best case scenario because you've, you know, quadrupled your fan base or whatever it is, more than that, I imagine. And now you can, you can coast. And somebody pointed out the other day, they're like, oh, by the way, Vegas has a ton of cap space, a ton of draft picks. And, you know, we haven't even looked at their prospect pool.

You know, they had a good draft last year. Like, this wasn't even supposed to be a good team this year. And it was always about down the road a little bit. I mean, they're set up nice. They're set up real nice. And I mean, at the same time, like, I'll be fascinated to see, obviously, I mean, how this next series goes for them. But also in the summer, just how they choose to act and whether they, you know, kind of take this still with a slower approach or whether this year's success pushes them towards, you know, moving some of those chips in. Like we saw the deadline for when they traded for Thomas Atar and maybe rekindle some of those talks for an Eric Carlson or whoever else is available this summer.

whether they kind of, you know, try to build off of this and really fortify it and actually go for another run next year. They do have a lot of options. I think the fact that they don't really have, I know people have brought this up, but, you know, they did obviously get a clean slate building this team, but a lot of it is also like there aren't really any bad contracts on the books for them. Like there's a couple that aren't great obviously, and they took some injured guys to get picks and to get up to a certain level from the, floor but otherwise like you know there aren't too many albatrosses on this team and it's one of those things where now they can really build this team anyway which which way you want which is can be both a good bad thing obviously right because it only takes a few mistakes and all of a sudden you lose

that luxury and we're talking about it completely differently but yeah George McPhee has a really cool opportunity here to not just have this be a one year flash in the pan but actually you know even if they were kind of overperforming and just crazy sports voodoo was happening this season and them, they have a chance to actually, yeah, like, as you said, legitimize it and really build something special here as opposed to just being a one-year thing. And, well, so that to me becomes the most interesting thing because, so it sounds like James Neil, like you have a couple potential landmines if you're George McPhee, and that becomes, you know, that is falling in love with this team and trying to run it back with, you know,

an extension for 30-year-old James Neal, you know, David Perron. and some of these other guys that are up. Now, it sounds like in early conversations I've had that James Neal, like there's just been kind of a non-starter. There haven't been any talks there. So that, to me, indicates maybe they're, they understand. I think part of the attraction of the Tomas to Tar Trade was you had a guy who's, who's, you know, three years younger and signed for the next three years at a number that

maybe you would want to pay James Neal. So I wonder if they already lined up his replacement. So that's the landmine there potentially. And then the William Carlson deal, I think, is going to be, I can't wait to see what that number is because, you know, which William Carlson are you paying right now? And if you're his agent, I mean, like, he's been one of the best stories in hockey this year. But I want to see it for more than one year before I give a gigantic payday there. Yeah. I know, well, I know my buddy Matt Kane does a sort of based on past history and comparables.

he puts together a free agent predictor tool for what he thinks the contract is going to look like this summer. And I don't have up in front of me right now, but I believe Will Carlson's came around like six years, 5.5 per or something, which is obviously. I saw that. Actually, so I did a story for the athletic on the Red Wings because, you know, they have Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mathis. So I took those numbers, made some calls and was just like, hey, you know, how do we feel about these Matt Cain numbers? and first of all it was interesting because a few people I called you know one person was like I have no idea what you're talking about but a couple of them were like oh yeah you know I saw those and it's you know I always find it interesting that they're looking at you know people on teams and front offices are looking at the same thing we are Craig who's the person who's the person that's not on Twitter no I know but like if you're I don't know if you're a capologist or something but like their attitude is it's just one more opinion like it doesn't hurt to to check out what it is and and and and and Carlson was one of them that came up.

As I was just talking to somebody, we were going through some of the more interesting ones, and they were like, what's the Carlson number? And it was like, ah, you know, that seems fairly reasonable. Like, he's a guy, whatever. So I'm looking at it now. He shot 23.4% this year. So, I mean, every alarm bell should go off in the world there.

But even if he knocks it down in half, we're still talking about a 20 goals score. Well, and the trick is, like Matt, Matt does a great job with that. and I think it's a really useful tool. But in a case like this, I mean, it's just, I don't want to say it's necessarily completely unprecedented. I'm sure it's happened in the past where a guy just took this big of a step at this point of his career.

But like it's, this isn't a normal trajectory, right? So like trying to figure out, you know, how the team and the player. I don't know if I've ever seen this, a guy that goes from 6 to 43 in a full season. Right. It's not like you played 20 games. But you know what the thing is?

And you're right, obviously. I mean, the first thing you have to talk about is that shooting percentage, and he's not going to score 40-something goals next year. But you watch these games, and you watch and play, and you watch how that line works and sort of what they're doing. And, like, as the years gone along, I understand, like, there was initially a pushback. Like, oh, this is a cool story, but it's no way it's going to last.

And then now, like, I just love the way that line and this team plays. And just purely in terms of, like, you saw what they were doing in Winnipeg in that series and what they've done throughout this entire postseason. But it was especially glaring seeing how. how they sort of made Winnipeg look like they were kind of skating in mud at times just because of their forecheck in the neutral zone and what they were doing to disrupt that. And you saw how they created offense from defense with that. And that top line in particular was the best example of that.

And yeah, I mean, like there's a very realistic avenue for them to continue being a super, just successful dominant first line, even if Carlson's shooting percentage comes down a bit and and he only scores 25-ish goals next season. Like, that's still obviously a very immensely valuable player. and they have Smith and Marsha's so locked up long term now, both making $5 million per season moving forward. So, I mean, if they can get in that $5-ish million range, I don't know.

I think it's reasonable. I know that sounds crazy considering we have just one year now of him being this type of player, but I think that I think that's a pretty reasonable estimate, to be honest. Yeah, no, I think five is. I mean, because if he had 3, 40-goal seasons, we're talking nine. So like to me, so I think five does take into consideration that, you know, it's only been one season. Yeah.

Okay, well, there's, okay, so there's two potential fallouts from this Vegas thing that I did want to touch on with you. I mean, obviously, we'll talk more about them and whoever they're playing the Stanley Cup final once we know that matchup and we'll have plenty of time to dissect that. But, you know, we always kind of hear how the NHL is a copycat league and how people are paying attention to what's successful and what's not and they're going to steal components of that for themselves. and do you think there will be an overreaction to this, both in terms of teams trying to replicate the success, but also the potential ramifications for Seattle and whenever that expansion draft happens, and teams trying to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again

where their own players are all of a sudden making their way to the Stanley Cup final and making them look silly. And the reason why I bring that up is because as cool as the story is and as many different contributors as there are And the fact that I, like I've said, I think as the years gone on, I've bought much more into the legitimacy of this team and not thinking it's just a one-year fluke. At the same time, like you look at this postseason and when your goalie's giving you a 9-45, say a percentage or whatever, all of a sudden, that makes everything look a lot better. And I don't know it's necessarily a formula to, you know, every team, I guess, could aspire towards that, but it doesn't seem like a very successful one to try and replicate year in and year out.

So I wonder how different this discussion would be and where their standing would be if Mark Andre, Florey. he was performing like a regular human and not an alien sent from some different planet to stop hucks. So I don't know. Like you think there's going to be a story this crazy lends itself to people overreacting and having hot takes. And we've seen that on the internet. And I just wonder if we'll see that within front offices as well moving forward. Yeah, I think the kind of just the broad first thought I have is it provides some legitimacy to this note. that you know every team is probably not all that far off right in the league and and so you know we've

I've been kind of writing ad nauseum in Detroit about the best step forward and and you know the front office has been pretty consistent in that they didn't want to tear it so far down that they created a huge gap because it's so hard to build it back up and you know I see something like this happening and it and it does lend a little bit of credibility to that thought process that that even maybe tearing things down completely is a strategy that doesn't fit the league in where it is right now because because then it becomes too huge of a climb. And so if I'm looking for areas to emulate or at least some hope, I'm like, okay, this team didn't even exist a year ago. And here they are playing for a Stanley Cup.

Maybe there's only a couple tweaks you have to make as a franchise. And the other thing is, if I'm a team that doesn't have a superstar center or a superstar defenseman, which I've kind of, for years have been saying, are an absolute necessity to win a Stanley Cup, now I have a little bit of hope that, you know, we can win. Like, to me, it was like, if you didn't have Crosby or Malkin or Drew Dowdy or Copatar, then you entered the season without an opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. Like, that was the one thing I felt confident saying was you needed that. like the league is so even that you needed that cornerstone player in those important positions

so that if you happen to have a cane, Taves, and Keith, then you're all set. And now you look at this team, they don't have any of that formula. And maybe we're overthinking it. And it's like, okay, well, then you better have a goalie that saves 940. You know what I mean? Right. And we can sit there and talk about Marcia Soe and Riley Smith and all these guys all we want. It may just be as simple as they got insane goaltending and that can't be replicated.

And I think that's the danger in trying to extrapolate too much out of this. Right. Yeah. There's a certain society that just goes like, can we just sit back and enjoy this story? And it's obviously remarkable. And I guess if you're just, you know, a regular fan of the sport, you have the luxury of doing so. I guess for us, right, it's like it is our job to try and make sense of this and try to figure out what's going on and what we can take for. from this to use moving forward and likewise for because teams will be doing that yes if you're a

GM of a team you're absolutely going where you know okay where is or I hope you're going where's the next Jonathan Marsha so like who you know where and it's it's all the things we've been saying now for a couple years it's the smaller skilled guides that are undervalued and and we're seeing it in the in the east too with Tampa Bay I mean they've they've just made an absolute living off of it and I like I think it was Joe Smith the story or somebody this story it was like okay what are the market inefficiencies that Tampa has taken advantage? And it's the Russians that slipped in the draft after a number of years. And it's the small skilled guys.

And so now I guess the danger is the pendulum swings and everybody starts going after those small skilled guys. Like everybody wanted to be a big heavy L.A. King's team. The smart move is like, okay, what's the next one? I don't know what that is. Well, and the other thing, and this goes back to the one luxury, think they did have from the expansion draft that's very real and you know like just and boring wrote about this that athletic but it's like this team is mostly comprised of guys who are like smack dab in the middle of their prime and obviously if you are building a team

um that's not necessarily something that you can replicate because you know most guys that are worth something are generally under team control for those years and then right time they're entering the unrestricted free agent market all of a sudden you know you're overpaying them probably for years that aren't going to be as productive for them. So you can obviously target guys in trades, but generally, like, if you're calling a team about a guy who's under contract for years to come and he's 23 or 24, 25 years old, they're probably not going to be very receptive to that trade. So it's, that's the one thing that definitely, you know, they've gotten to benefit from and kudos to them for identifying that. But, you know, up front, obviously, like they didn't

have that number one center or I guess William Carlson has developed. into that for them but you know they don't have the traditional guy and we talked about they had a lot of success in the regular season but come the postseason is that lack of star power going to come back to haunt them and then um like they've it's crazy that that line is basically outplayed copatar and then some combination of pevelski and kuture and then they basically play the shifely line to a relative draw which is a massive win for them so it's just it's crazy that they've been as good as they've been and on the blue line i know they don't have you know that traditional brand name stud back there but i do really love um the way it's been constructed and i think there is something to take

from that i mean you look at just the way nate schmidt's played and i know that people were really high on him last season and his limited he was great in the playoffs last year like he was legitimately great for the capitals like i think of that toronto series like there was there was games where he was the best player for the capitals so like that you just watch like that like i think Everyone's talking about the Florida Panthers, and yes, that's the biggest screw up here. But, you know, I think that, you know, this Washington's decision to, you know, I guess it came down to the backup goalie versus a defenseman play in 20 minutes like that. I guess in retrospect, maybe find a way to keep the defenseman. I don't know.

Yeah. No, he's been, I mean, I remember last year, I was sort of doing this like neutral zone project in the postseason tracking the zone exits and defending the. I remember that. And Nate Schmidt was the guy that really, really stuck out as like, holy crap, this guy is very, very good. And it's funny enough, one of the other guys I really loved on that was Shea Theodore. And you watch this postseason now, and both guys have been remarkable. And it's interesting, like, I like that, you know, jarglance split them up, obviously. You have McNabb playing up front with Nate Schmidt on their sort of de facto shutdown pairing.

And then you have Shea Theodore with Derek England. And then there's like just a nice little balance there. And then you look at the third pairing and Colin Miller was like created in a lab for like the perfect ideal third pairing defenseman where he doesn't have to play tough minutes, but he can really do a lot of good stuff as soon as he gets the puck. And so all of a sudden it's like, yeah, you can sort of none of these guys were necessarily, guys you would point to as like, holy crap, Vegas got a loaded blue line. But they just have a bunch of really good players. And maybe sometimes we do kind of put too much stock and overvalue. sort of hype and pedigree as opposed to just evaluating based on what the players are actually capable of. Right.

So, again, out of all those guys you mentioned, are any of them top pair? I mean, I guess, Theodore and Schmidt at this point, you could argue. But, I mean, it goes completely against this notion that you need that 30-minute-a-guy defenseman to anchor your D to win a Stanley Cup. And, you know, I don't know. And the other thing is I wanted to kind of circle back. back on you as you mentioned okay well these are all guys in their prime and they you know typically you would you would look at a Stanley Cup run and a lot of times there's that that 22 23 year old entry level guy that's driving the train right that and that again that doesn't exist so

these are all guys 26 27 and and you know statistically we talk about the prime being much younger than that now that but I know I've gotten a lot of pushback talking to people in the game and And they're like, you know, well, I've gotten an argument over prime ages. And they're like, yeah, maybe statistically 23, you're putting up your best numbers, but you really don't know what, you know, 27 is when you really know what you're doing as a hockey player in terms of winning games and how to kind of navigate the league. And this is kind of playing out that, like, really, Shade Theater is the only guy in that lower range that's a major player, right?

Well, Alex Talk as well, I'd say. Yeah, Alex Talk. 22, 23 years old. Yeah, he's been very impressive. But no, you're right. And it's obviously you can't evaluate the stuff or you can't think about it, theoretically, like in a vacuum because a lot of it, as we're seeing with this Vegas team, is opportunity-based.

And just as we know, like, how developmental tracks work in this sport, like, it's typically unless you are a guy who is taken right at the top of the draft and you're coming in with a lot of pedigree and you're being sort of, you get a B-line right to the NHL, right into the everyday lineup. like a lot of this stuff is it's a big time process right and you're like spending years first of all you're probably continuing to play in ncdbler major junior ever you get drafted and then spend a few years kind of cutting your teeth in the hl and then by the time you come to the nchl level you all of a sudden you are at that age so it's it's really tough to know how much of it is sort of the chicken or the egg I guess because if guys were given a shot earlier on

maybe we really would know for sure that that that prime age is younger or maybe it's happening for a reason and maybe coaches have it right i don't know i'm sure it's like a little bit of both right yeah no i'm sure i mean it's we're trying to make these generalizations where when every single situation is different and i you know but i and my my my sense would be probably it's it's more of uh if you're kind of the elite elite player it's earlier if you're you know a guy that has to figure it out it's it's later right and But I mean, again, this just kind of goes back to this notion that there's there's more than one way to, A, build a team successfully, you know, and B, not, like, no, I mean, that's, that's, like, to me, it's, it's, there's no kind of one blueprint to have success in the NHL right now.

Yeah. Yeah, and that's what makes it fun. Obviously, if it was just one way to do it, it would be boring because everyone would be doing the same thing. All right, Craig, let's take a quick break here to hear from a sponsor. And we will pick up this conversation on the other end of things. Let's take a second to chat about Seekek, today's sponsor, the Hockey-O-Cast. As any of you that have had to do this in the past, no, buying tickets can be a really complicated and confusing task. There's so many landmines out there and, you know, different websites, you don't know where to look,

you don't know what the best deals are, you don't know if you're getting ripped off, and don't even get me started with the scalpers. And none of that is necessary because there's a better way to buy, and that's a Seekek. Zeekeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you're looking for a last minute deal, planning a night out with your friends, or looking to get the perfect gift for someone, seekeek's going to help you find the best seats at the best prices, fully guaranteed. I have the Seek app on my phone.

Now, unfortunately, I haven't had the luxury of using it recently because I've been just cooped up at home in my hockey watching layer, just watching as much postseason action as I can. But the end is near, and I know that this summer I'm sure. I'm going to use Seekek to get my hands on some baseball tickets or, you know, some concerts or some comedy acts or whatever just to get out of the house and enjoy the offseason. But in the meantime, I hope you guys are living your best lives and go to a bunch of events and hopefully you use Seekkeek to score some sweet tickets and send me a picture of yourself.

I've had a great time and I can live vicariously through you. And here's the best deal. As my listener, you're going to get $20 off your first Seekkeek purchase. Just download the Seek app and there's a promo code PDO today. That's promo code PDO for $20 off your first Seek purchase. Now let's get back to the show. Okay. Let's,

should we touch a bit on Washington, Tampa Bay? Like I, Yeah, unless you feel like it's going to be outdated. Oh, we'll post this pretty much right away. We'll post this. It's still,

it'll be Tuesday morning so people will have at least a day and a half or sort of listen. Let's, yeah, I mean, that game six last night was, uh, was really fun.

Obviously, um, especially for like a long while there was, it was scor. list and then watching scores and you just have the one goal of the show for it and I know there's camp that believes that you need a lot of goals to create exciting action but you know you just watch that game and they were just it was so back and forth helter-skelter and they're trading chances and um it I enjoy the physicality too like you know sometimes we talk about how stuff like that can be

overrated overrated and overvalued but I thought like a lot of it was like functional hitting like it wasn't just you know just guys running around just guys you can't play just running around throwing crazy hits for no reason and pulling themselves out of position. Like there was a lot, especially, you know, I've ragged on Brooks Warpick quite a bit over the years and I think he's been overvalued and overpaid by the capitals. But I thought he was like a great example of that where there were a bunch of times where he was dislodging the player from the puck when they were trying to enter the zone. And that's like the sort of functional physicality that definitely has a place in the league.

And it was kind of cool seeing all of that come together. And obviously Alex Ovechkin is the best example of sort of those two words. meshing and interacting because he was just flying around like an absolute lunatic and it seemed like you know he was around the puck pretty much the entire game and obviously he didn't play the full 60 minutes but it sure felt like you watching it yeah and how about smith polly too another guy that just was a wrecking ball can i here's another thing that so i'm watching that game and like where you know i'm sure like everybody else where i've got the laptop out and twitter going and and so you know ovechkin's running around like a wrecking ball and people are great

grabbing clips and I and I see this this kind of pushback we're like look you know if they lose this game there's there's gonna everyone's gonna say ovechkin doesn't care like I'm not like people are making these arguments I don't think exist anymore like are people really writing ovechkin doesn't care still like or maybe they did back in the day when it was like oh he's he's got he's on the first ticket to Russia for the worlds or whatever but like I feel like people are creating arguments out there that that don't exist my yeah Well, I'm sure it exists somewhere. I mean, it's like probably like the lowest common denominator or society.

Like it's like, you know, we generally surround ourselves with either like minded people or people. Yeah, maybe I've maybe I've just like, right. You're not hanging out in like enough seedy bars where like people are just randomly talking about it's ridiculous. Oh, that's it doesn't care. Yeah. No, I, I definitely like it's that's an insane argument. And you're right. I think that's probably at this point is a bit outdated.

I'm, I'm sure there is, you know, this would go a long way as weird as it's. as it is to say, like to not legitimizing him, but I think the dialogue will definitely be significantly different if the Capitals win this game seven and make it to the Stanley Cup final, which obviously is silly in and of itself because it's just won a game and he's had such an insanely good career and it's a team sport and all that. But for this team to finally get over the hump and make it to the Stanley Cup final final and then all the storylines with them against Vegas and Nate Schmidt and George McPhee

and all this stuff, like that would be very cool to see. and there's so much to talk about there. So not to take anything away from Tampa, there's equally just so many cool things you talk about with them. But it's, I don't know, they've played a lot of game sevens. I believe the stat I saw was like 11 of the 18 series now. They've played the Washington Capitals.

They've played in a million. So I wrote a story early on in the playoffs about how, you know, they've all those horrible things happening to them, at the very least, has made them comfortable in these overtime situations. And it was probably premature because all the comments are like I think they were like one in one in overtime They like what you know, they win one overtime game and we're just deeming them you know comfortable playing in these situations But I watched that team last night and it's like there's almost this you can you can feel it's like all the bad things have already happened to them So they're like screw it like we you know what else can happen to us let's just go out and play like there seems to be an edge to them that I've never seen with the capitals like

you used to be able to just feel the pressure coming from the ice and how like there was so much pressure on them to win and I think they're really thriving in this environment of like nobody really thought they were going to do anything so you know who cares and and um I like I think that's been beneficial to them I care Craig I care it's very annoying that after years of pumping them up and telling people how they were actually really good and we're going to finally do it and then losing of the penguins the one the one year we were off the set. The last year was I don't know that series was was unbelievable. I'll say this I don't think it matters if they win game seven or not.

I think this this run has done what that shark's run did a couple years ago for Joe Thornton. Like it with Ovechkin like nobody says anymore that Joe Thornton can't win the big game or isn't a guy you want in the playoffs. Like it's just a love fest with Joe Thornton now. almost universally. Like the only, maybe you get a little resistance still from Boston that I think will never go away, even as he's walking in the Hall of Fame. But I think Ovec can now, you know, we've seen how he's performing these games.

We've seen, he's got a big enough, you know, that his numbers and elimination games are great. I think that that narrative regardless of what happens here is gone in terms of his performance in big games. Yeah, I think so. He's been remarkable. and he really has elevated his game. And it's, it's crazy because he's turning 33 this fall, I believe,

and, you know, he's played so many games and the way he plays. And we don't really talk about this side of it that much with him, but it does remind me a bit of, of LeBron James and NBA where it's like there's this, it just feels like he's sort of like indestructible kind of, like he's built just differently than everyone else.

Russian machine. Yeah, no, but that's the thing, right? It's like, if you look at the full track record, Like a lot of the games he has missed have either been, you know, imposed rest or suspension or this and that. Or like you remember he got, he had to sit out one game because he missed like a practice a few years ago or something like that.

But like it's he's had nicks and bruises, but he's never really had that one big injury. And he's just, which is shocking considering the way he plays and especially earlier in his career, the way he was throwing his body around with reckless abandon. And yeah, just the fact that he's still this physically imposing and also just. When he scores goals, he's just so excited. It's like, man, after doing it so many times, he's still so happy about it. It's really fun to watch. And you're right.

I think getting over Pittsburgh and finally making their conference final now and, you know, having a real series here and forcing it to seven games at the very least is bought them a lot of stock. And I'm sure that people, if they haven't already changed their tune, will hopefully do so after this run. I agree with everything you said. The one thing I would say is I think last year he was probably more injured. than we realized. I forgot who,

wasn't there a big hit in the Toronto series that, yeah, Cadre got him, I think. Yeah. And like he wasn't quite, I remember watching that Pittsburgh series and it just wasn't there. Like,

plays that he would normally make weren't being made. And I'm sure after the afterwards stuff came out, I don't remember now because like he said, I think I, once I switched jobs, I checked out completely because I had like this little gap between employees employers so i i'm sure it came out after but i do remember thinking boy this is as kind of banged up as i remember watching ovechkin trying to play yeah well i've been

surprised by um how good the capitals have been at five-on-five um because i know like heading into the series that seemed like it was like okay well they're going to need the power play and they're going to need the goaltending but i don't know if they're going to be able to hang with tampa five-on-five especially after what we saw them do to Boston. And it's kind of been the opposite. Like that game four where Tampa Bay won in Washington, it was just all capitals. And Tampa Bay got like a couple of power play goals

and Fazilevsky was the best player. I was like, wait a second. Wasn't this Washington's formula? Like what's going on here? And for the most of the series, they've either held serve or actually definitely held their own. And that's been the kind of the surprising part to me. And I just, yeah, they've really ramped up.

their game and after what I thought despite all the wins and losses was a relatively underwhelming regular season, at least by their standards, they've proven people like myself wrong and it's been They won the division, right? Yeah, no, they did, but it's one of those, a bit of that was

they were overperforming the underlying numbers and the other part of it was not, kind of like maybe fatigue on our part where it's like, oh, right, right, or like, I'm unimpressed by this, let me let me see it in the faux season, right? So it was like, yeah. We can only be burned so many.

I remember last year telling Capitals fans because they're all so trepidacious about getting behind this team. And I'm like, look, you can unabashedly support this Capitals team. Like, this is a great team. They're going to make a run. There's no, you know, as long as they stay healthy, you should feel good about this team. And of course, they lose to the Penguins in round two. But the one thing I was, you bring that up about kind of the regular season. I remember talking to John Carlson early on in the playoffs.

and I phrase the question, something along the lines of, you know, you guys are still kind of figuring things out. And what I meant was how to win in the playoffs, but like he heard it as this season, like how to succeed as a team. And he did the same thing. He's like, we won our division. But, you know, like, I think we figured it out how to win with this group. And I'm like, no, you know. And then I didn't want to like correct him and be like, no, I'm talking about all this horrible playoffs you guys have had in the past. Like, that's what I'm talking about here.

But, like, they weren't a bad team. And the other thing, you know, I was watching TJ Oshy score on what was a great pass from Baxter last night. Like, that was another move where it just seemed so short-sighted to trade Marcus Johansson and to extend T.J.O.O.S. on a team where, you know, their best opportunity to win a cup is behind it, behind them. And, you know, if they win a cup this year, almost even if they go to the Stanley Cup final, I think that, now of a sudden that justifies that move,

even though you're still on the hook for the next, whatever it is, five or six years. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe we'll look back in a year and be like, oh my gosh,

32-year-old T.J. Oshy is, you know, a drag on this team. I don't know. I think we definitely will look back at it, but obviously if they have a cup ring to show for it, I think capital stands will be okay with that. Yeah.

Okay, well, speaking of T. And you mentioned John Carlson there, sorry. It's a good segue for us to, I know we want to talk a little bit about, you know, this summer and potential avenues for various teams to explore, you know, both what they could do and maybe what they should or what they will, because those are sometimes different things. And, yeah, I know, I know we still have some playoff hockey here, but at this point of the year, I really start kind of like finding myself looking ahead and trying to sort of fantasy book stuff and wonder what's going to happen. So I think, you know, let's close the show by doing a little bit of that. all right so what's what's the team to start this on what's the team that you're looking at the summer that you're sort of eyeing or you're or you're circling as the team that

is the most interesting to you from like a you know they're at a bit of a crossroads and they could really go two different ways like is there one that really stands yeah well all right i've got i've got one in each conference this is almost like we prepared which we didn't at all for this no we what i mean mean, you know, we're both pretty smart guys. So I'm not surprised we're making it work. So in the east, it's the New York Islanders, kind of in light of the Lou Lamarillo situation.

Because watching, I've got this CBC feed. And so I'm watching Elliot Friedman during intermission last night. And he kind of casually drops, you know, so obviously we've already heard that Lou Lamarillo has reached out to the John Tavares camp, which may or may not be, like, legal. I don't know how that works. But it's okay. let that, because it's Lou La Merrillo, right? It's Lou.

Like, Lou, are you going to tell him he can't do that? So, um, so, so, you know, so now that becomes the, the storyline where we all are just assuming Tavares is gone at this point, or, you know, which you have to because, or else why I wouldn't have signed. And now all of a sudden, okay, you've got Lou Lamarillo. And, and Elliot kind of casually drops, hey, don't be surprised if Lou makes a huge push for Ilya Kovalchuk and not, you know, and perhaps an attempt to convince John. Tavares to stick around.

Like that to me becomes this huge swing. If Tavares walks and maybe you don't get Ilyakovil check now you're right back into a rebuild situation with the Islanders or if if Lou is able to pull that off, you've got this ridiculous

line combination potentially on a team that now is a wild card. That to me is my Eastern Conference and then my Western Conference version is Chicago Blackhawks only because I recently did a top 20 UFA and I try to make calls in every single guy

that I put on the list just to get an update and more than one person to me said man, keep an eye on the Blackhawks. That's a team where you're really getting the sense that Stan Bowman wants to do something big this offseason. And I haven't looked at their cap. With the Blackhawks, I always assume

they're just up against the cap and there's nothing they can do. And it doesn't sound like that's the case. It's not, you know, the message coming from Chicago to the free agent market is, hey, we're going to be in on some big pieces. And so that to me indicates they're like, let's add one more giant piece to try to win, make another run with this group of Taves and Cain and Keith. And I find that fascinating because I wasn't sure what the best route to go with that group is right now.

And I guess I don't mind them making a push. Yeah. Well, obviously, I mean, in our job, I mean, them doing something crazy would definitely be I'm all for it and it would give something to talk about. I'm not sure if I was building that team what that would be right now. But let's take the one by one. Let's talk about the Islanders here for a second.

So I'm very curious to see, you know, we only know kind of preliminary details right now and we're not necessarily certain how everything's going to shake out there. I actually like them bringing in Lou. When you heard that, what were your initial takeaways?

Do you think that's a good move for them? Yeah, I think so they so kind of the belief is that Garth Snow has some kind of crazy poison pill in this contract that he's fired that you get a ton of money or whatever it is like everyone kind of alludes to this when you're talking to people. So I was like how do you like clearly they have to make a change there like I mean I think it's been so mismanaged and Garstone's a funny guy to evaluate because then everyone's like he'll make moves that are great and you're like holy cow you know you got that pick from the oilers and Jordan Everleigh like there's he makes. He makes these moves that you can, that are just thievery. And then other times, but when you step back and look at the full picture, and this is a team that's been spinning its wheels, the Tavares situation potentially could be really screwed up. I don't, you know, I didn't, I don't mind Lou Lamarillo coming in and providing some stability.

To me, it's just, what is that? Does he have complete power or, you know, does Garst Snow? I want to see some, I want some answers in terms of what happens to Garst Snow and how that's going to work between the. two of them. Yeah. Well, the reason why I said I like it is because it does feel like, you know, the one big issue with this franchise has been, especially this year, we're all clamoring them for them to do something. And they had a bunch of different interesting avenues to potentially pursue to make their team better. And they were just so kind of just conservative

and reluctant to do so. And yeah, like fix the goaltending. Yes. Just do something. Just do something. Try. Yeah. Especially in this year, it's like, John Tavares my walk. literally do anything to show him you're trying and so I feel pretty confident saying Lou will at least you know be be comfortable and be cool with doing stuff and so I'm all for that and I mean they they they have those two picks there right they have 12 and 13th I believe so you know that all of a sudden if Tavares does start coming does come back and they have aspirations for actually finally doing something under Lou like all of a sudden you get kind of frisky

there like there's there's a different different machinations for them to to pursue so you're right i think they're a very fascinating crossroads team the black hawks um do you think they'd explore attaching so they're the two first round picks um obviously the second one is so late that it's not necessarily that valuable of an asset but they do have the eighth overall pick now the one potential route that i could see them taking if you as you say you know they're going to for risky and free agency and they're going to open their doors to potential big-time transactions is using that pick to potentially shed Brent Seabrook's contract. I don't think that that's the avenue to go.

Like if you're really trying to make a push, then you're using that pick to make an upgrade somewhere, not free something up in the future. Like Brent Seabrook, like that's going to be an albatross or arguably already is. But, I mean, using that pick to move him to me would help you three or four years down the road. Wow. It's, I mean, it's $7 million in cap space almost. Yeah, I guess to free up. But, I mean, if you, I think if you, you know, with Marion Host's money coming off the books or whatever, like I, like, let's say, I mean, just for the sake of this conversation, they go out and sign John Tavares, and that's their big splash.

Then, you know, you can move an ESM off at 4.5. You can make some other moves without having to sacrifice that pick. This is a team. I think you have to either trade that for a guy that's coming in right away that you think can help you win a stand in the cup or just draft that player because you're going to need an influx of young talent on that team on the cheap. Yeah. I was looking at their books, man.

Poor Brendan Sade. Especially in that first round, it's just an entire love fest. Everyone's like, oh, my God, Art Timmy Pineran. Like, look how good he is. Can you believe that they got him for Brendan Sondon. I was sitting at home like, oh, guys, come on. I love Bernardizade. He's an awesome player.

Such a good five-on-five guy. But, yeah, he shoots like 7.6 percent, has just a woeful, low-full down season, and I expect he'll bounce back next year. But, yeah, he's just taking so many shots and hasn't even played in the postseason yet. Panarin took over that. There was games. Panarin was unbelievable. I mean, I mean, gosh, it just shows how long these playoffs are, because that seems like ages ago.

but I thought he was going to single-handedly eliminate the capitals at one point, how good he was. I think if you're Chicago, I mean, you can still defend the trade. The disappointment is Anton Forrestberg, right? I think the belief was it was, you know, you were getting a guy that you could feel pretty confident was going to back up Corey Crawford. And then, you know, indications were last year that, you know, maybe that wasn't the case. But, I mean, he was a guy that his HL numbers were great. I think I'm looking at his numbers now in Cleveland. 1617 and a 926 save percentage.

And so, you know, here you are. That trade is much more defendable if Forzburg is the goal that you thought it was. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Obviously, yeah, I mean, it's a tough one, especially when Panarin has the type of year he has and he proved that he wasn't necessarily even playing with Patrick Cain. He was his own individual talent. And yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow.

But the team that I have out West that I think is more interesting than Chicago, is San Jose. Oh, yeah. And, you know, they tie into our conversation there with Islanders and John Tavares. And if you're just looking at, you know, potential dominoes that could fall and how that could impact everything else, like, we've sort of heard them as a very realistic destination for him, both because they have the cap space and because it just seems like it would make sense from a roster building perspective. And, yeah, like, that would be fascinating. I mean, they have so much money to spend, and we'll see if Joe Thornton can be healthy. And he comes back, it seems like another one-year deal seems like a reasonable sort of middle ground for both parties, what they do with a Vander Cain.

Like, there's a bunch of moving parts there as well. And, you know, they show this year that, like, they're a talented team. They've sort of done a nice job there of bridging the gap where they have this newer wave of guys in Timelmeyer and Kevin LeBank and, you know, Thomas Hurdle and some of these younger guys come. up and then obviously you still have the Gatures and the Pavelskis and Brim Burns. And so they're trying to find that happy medium there and obviously getting, like John Tavares would do wonders for that. But I'm sure that if they don't get him or they find out that he's going to stay or go somewhere else, they have different avenues they could explore to use that money to sort of

reload and come back even better next season. I mean, they're going to spend. Like, Doug Wilson has been pretty upfront about that. Like, looking at their structure right now, they only have two forwards that are signed after next season. Like what other veteran team is set up like that? Like that's pretty amazing. I don't know if Doug Wilson gets enough credit for kind of his long-term vision

and how he has structured this because he has set this team up to have a really huge offseason. And if that means signing, you know, not all, but if it's if it means they get John Tavaris and Evander Cain, we're talking about San Jose basically pulling off a rebuild and adding, lottery type talent, top, you know, five talent without ever being bad over the course of the last decade. Like that's, that would be a success story. The thing is, is if they strike out on John Tavares, I really, really very strongly dislike this year's free agent class.

I'm looking at the list of players right now. And, you know, this is true most years, but this year, really, it's like, it's just a bunch of guys who are, like, on that edge. there of like 29 30 31 that you just know as soon as that contract is announced it's gonna be like oh my god why it's gonna be why are they paying that player so much money into his 30s so it's all or nothing in your mind with san Jose like they they're either going to be have a huge great off season like how do you feel if they sign cane and van rames like i would view that as a disappointment i think um just because like jbr's another guy he's a bit younger than that

but I think his contract is just going to be, it's too lofty. And I think that's kind of the card to thread here. Like I, you and I have this discussion. Like you have to build a team. And if you have the money to spend, obviously having cap space and retaining it is an asset in and of itself. But also, like, sometimes it's just the reality of the business. And sometimes if you want to add a certain guy into the mix, you have to pay a bit extra to get him. And I understand that.

But I, and this isn't going to happen because we, you know, we saw this last summer with Leandro Seidel. and we know the NHL these guys stick together, the GMs do, and they're not going to go behind each other's backs and sign each other's guys to offer sheets. But this really does feel like the summer where if you have money to spend and you're looking to get feisty, I would explore the RFA market much more than throwing a ton of money at the UFA. All right.

Well, so if we go down that path, yeah, the GM stick together for the most part, or however we want to describe the lack of offer sheets, with a couple notable exceptions. And one of those guys is in San Jose. I mean, he did the Jarmelston offer sheet a few years ago. I promise you he was going to offer sheet Martin Jones if the Kings held on to him that one summer before trading him to Boston. Like that was happening.

And I think they were happy to do that. So I haven't looked at the RFA class. I think this is probably a good story to examine at some point. But philosophically, just in general, terms, Doug Wilson is more than happy to throw an offer sheet out there. And maybe that's a better path if you don't get to Varas. Yeah, I mean, there's obviously like if you want to go big. They don't have picks though, just for the record.

Like they've traded a lot of their picks. Yeah. But for other teams, like, you know, a guy like Mark Stone or Jacob Truba, like they're guys who are obviously like awesome players and their teams want to keep them. But at the same time, like if you reach a certain level of that deal, like their hands just might be tied a little bit there. And I, there's a bunch of names there that I would much rather explore than giving, you know, 32-year-old Paul Stasney a five-year deal just because he's going to bring a lot

to the locker room. Like, I would stay away from stuff like that. No, I think that's fair. I think the offer sheet, with San Jose having money and then you have, you do have like these younger GMs coming in who I think probably, you know, Kyle Dubas, like how is, how does him becoming a GM changed the dynamic there. Like he strikes me as a guy that wouldn't mind doing it. John Chica, if they had any money whatsoever, would probably be a guy that would be okay

doing it. So I think it's, I haven't thought about it, but I think that's an interesting point. Because you're right. Like, you know, signing, signing Mark Stone is a, it's an infinitely better idea than a 32-year-old to a six-year contract. Like, because look at what the standard has been. It's been those Louis Erickson. you know, David Backus,

Andrew Ladd, it's all those six times six contracts that are almost outdated the moment they sign. And you would think people have noticed. Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see some of that, but I've had a bit of the fun beating out of me over the years.

So hopefully that changes and we do see some of that. I don't know. Is there any other teams that you're keeping an eye on? I mean, this really does feel like that summer I talked about as Chris Johnson on a podcast recently. It's like the next summer is the one where it really feels like things get really crazy. And obviously by then, you know, like we've already heard about the OEL extension that's coming up. And, you know, I'm sure some of these guys will wind up just sticking around.

And by the time we get to July 1st, 2019, they won't be up for consideration anymore. But just based on some of the name brand value that's potentially available, like that, it seems like that could be the summer where things really, really get interesting. As opposed to this one, like this one feels like. Like, you know, last year we obviously had the expansion draft and everyone was super excited about all the machinations of that. And then we had the summer of 2019, this does feel like one of those bridge summers where we're not, I don't think like too crazy is going to happen. Well, the wild card is, yeah, that 2019 class is great.

And I think that plays a part in this summer because if you're, if you have one of those guys, you have to entertain moving them at the draft or this summer, don't you? Like if coyotes end up not getting that deal done with Ekman-Larsin by July 1st, man, I'm looking hard at what my other options are. Same with Carlson. So that's what makes the 18th summer interesting is those free agents and what that means in the trade market, if anything. You're right. You know, as crazy it sounds, I didn't even factor in the very realistic possibility that Eric Carlson gets pulled in the summer. Like it's just a trade deadline seems like so long ago, though, like as you mentioned, the first.

first round seems like a while ago like man the start of march that seems like ages ago it feels like a different year i don't even remember does Vegas make the run they make now if they close that deal with ottawa and get carlson i mean the wild thing is is like probably not because it's all of it like it's just so stupid and and sports is just so weird and like obviously clearly adding er carlson makes their team significant better you think just on paper yes they're they're a better team but now all of a sudden it's like oh This is, you know. He'd ruin their chemistry.

He'd throw that room out of whack. Who knows? I mean, how would... Or now we're expecting it. Like, I picked against Vegas every single series. So, you know, we talk about the capitals and expectations. Now you make this gigantic deadline deal, you know, instead of the Tatar deal. And, I mean, I don't know.

Who knows? But certainly changes the dynamic there. How do you think he's going to cope with being the second best Carlson on his own team? That's right. He's got to deal with that. All right. Do we want to Is this the point of the show where we want to

Switch over to your podcast? Yes, let's change gears. Plug some stuff for us before we get out. What's that? Plug some stuff for us. Where can people listen to you and I talk, keep talking? I'm going to plug the full 60, which is a podcast. This week's guest is the talented Dimitri Filipovich,

and we're excited to have him on. I'm going to plug the athletic, as always. If you are a fan of hockey, It's like we had a special, I think, 40% off with the draft. Like, Corey Promin dropped six million words yesterday on the draft, and it comes out to like 30 cents a day to subscribe to read all that. Great stuff coming with the drafts. And the playoffs with Pierre LeBron and Scott Burnside on that every day.

And always good to plug the book behind the bench where I sat down with 10 coaches and watch game film with them. The feedback from you guys on that book has been awesome. I love that. The podcast, You and I did on that. That was one of the best ones I did when I was plugging the book a lot. It was. It's one of my favorites.

Are you planning on doing like an updated edition with your travels from the world championships where you had a bonus chapter? Yeah. Who won gold, Sweden? You know, their coach was a guy that I was hearing when I was over there, like maybe the Rangers were in the mix. I think that's an interesting area to explore someday, the idea of one of these European coaches coming over and getting an NHL job. I think that's going to happen. He has been. I've seen his name, tied.

to certain teams and he grew out that massive beard and you see that I'd give of him celebrating after they won like it was it was awesome so I'm all about that yeah so coming next year the European version of behind the bench so you got that to look forward to all right man um I was going to say we'll talk soon but we will literally keep talking after I press and recording so awesome the hockey PEDEO cast with Dmitri Filipovich follow on Twitter at Dim Filippovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com slash hockey pdocast.