The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 263: You Couldn't Do Worse If You Tried

Episode Date: November 27, 2018

Frank Seravalli joins the show to discuss Ron Hextall's departure in Philadelphia (0:00), the Oilers hiring Ken Hitchcock (17:05), the William Nylander contract situation and how it'll impact future prominent restricted free agents (30:10), and the Dylan Strome trade (46:50). 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 $10 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. Also sponsoring today’s show is For Hims, which will serve as a one-stop shop for all of your hair loss, skincare, and other wellness supplement needs. They’ll connect you with real doctors and medical grade solutions, while sparing you the embarrassment of in-doctor visits and saving you the time you would’ve otherwise spent sitting in a waiting room. Just go to forhims.com/pdo and answer a few quick questions, a doctor will review your file and prescribe what you need, and the products will be shipped directly to your door. As my listener, if you let them know we’ve sent you you’ll even get a trial month for just $5 right now while supplies last. See the website for full details. One final sponsor today: PuckPedia. It’s the ultimate resource for hockey fans, containing salary cap information, basic and advanced stats, draft and transaction history, news feeds, game previews, and injury updates. It’s also the exclusive home of the Agent Leaderboard, which shows who the top agents are and lists which players they represent. Regardless of what you’re looking for, it’s got it, which means that you no longer need to be switching between multiple different sites in the pursuit of information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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Welcome to the HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich. and joining me making his triumphant return. It's been ages now since he's made an appearance on the PDO cast, but finally we can have him back on, and it's my good buddy Frank Saravilli. Frank, what's going on, man? Well, it's because you're no longer with that company that can't be named.

I mean, it's like the one unwritten rule of sports media that I learned since joining TSN is you don't talk about the other company. Anything that happens on Twitter might as well not have happened if it came from the other company. I have no idea which company you could possibly be talking about. I'm excited to have you on, man. There's so much for us to talk about. Usually with these in-season episodes, unless it's around trade deadline time or whatever,

there isn't too many kind of current events or actually moving pieces. It's a lot of like I'm doing team deep dives or I'm doing rankings of forwards and defensemen. But now, I mean, since you and I have been trading messages on Twitter and trying to figure out when we were going to finally do this thing, since then over the past week, there's been like three or four big developments in the, uh, in the, in the, uh, in the NHL landscape for us to discuss. So I mean, I think let's just kind of start in chronological order from most, most recent, especially with, uh, your connections to the Philadelphia area and the

flyers and the, uh, the news today that Ron Hextall has been, uh, relieved of his duties as the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. Um, when you first saw this come across, um, either you're, I don't know, people are still using Blackberries these days or whatever device you're using. Um, what was your, uh, what was your, uh, What was your first kind of takeaway, and were you surprised it all by? Well, I knew something was going to happen. It was just a question of what? Would it be the coach?

Would it be the decision to bring up Carter Hart from the A.A.L. To solve these goaltending problems, I didn't think it would be Ron Hextall, but I'm really not shocked at the end of the day, considering that something had to happen. And the fact that Ron Hextall was so resistant to deviating from his plan, that it makes sense that he's the guy that goes. this has been simmering under the surface for a bit. It's quite clear that the Flyers and Paul Holmgren thought that they should be doing more to try and win.

And I don't even want to call it speeding up the rebuild. I mean, we're in year five of the Hextall plan. At some point, they probably deserve to take that step. And by Ron Hextall's own admission in the preseason, he thought this would be the team this year to help start to take that step. They lost in the first round last year. I think their goal was to win around this year, something that this franchise hasn't done since 2012.

And you look at the success of the Flyers overall, you know, they're one team where mediocrity, they don't stand for that. And that's been the definition of the Hextall tenure, the Hextall era, is that they're probably Demetri, the most mediocre team in pro sports

when you get down to the numbers. They've missed the playoffs as many years as they've made it since textile has been in charge. There are points for San Francisco, is 550. They're not good or bad. They're just kind of there. And I think that's one of the big issues with the Flyers is that apathy was setting in.

They have a bunch of difference makers on their team. And Ron Hextall, you know, aside from drafting really well and sticking to his plan, he hasn't done much to help this team move forward in a positive direction in the here and now. He didn't make a single trade other than Peter Morazek at the deadline last year, really, because he had to when both goalies went down. He hasn't done anything in here and now to help them. So it's great that he's drafted well.

I think the Flyers wanted him to adapt a little bit to his plan and change on the fly. And clearly that was something that he wasn't interested in doing. Yeah, there's so much to unpack here. I mean, with the Flyers, it seems like there always is. But no, you're right. I mean, they have in the big picture, if you look at it cumulatively been the definition of mediocrity. It's really funny, though, because the way they've gotten there has been anything about mediocre, right?

it's these stretches of absolute brilliance with 10-game winning streaks or whatever, followed almost immediately by massive losing streaks. And it seems like there's always something going on with this team. And I don't know, it's tricky because you're right. I think if you're looking at it from the view of why Hextall needed to go, it's pretty clear that this summer they had, I mean, they made the playoffs last year. They played a six-game series. That was relatively competitive with the Penguins.

And, you know, they have a roster that's set up to at least be somewhat competitive right now this season. and they didn't address questionable goaltending and the atrocious penalty kill they've had and they sort of knew those were the team needs and they didn't do anything to go about fixing either of them. So I understand why fans are, you know, sort of irritated or impatient with it. But then, you know, we look at a team like Winnipeg, for example, right?

And with the job Kevin Shevoldeof's done there and for years there was a running joke about how he was so inactive, he wasn't making any trades, he was taking so many days off, this and that. And then now everyone kind of looks at them as this sort of model of how you want to build your team through the draft and patience and letting these guys develop. So you can't really kind of have it both ways. I understand there's no necessary blueprint for what's going to make a contender. But whenever people talk about how Hextall was so inactive or so unwilling to make big moves, I kind of can't help but look at some of these other situations and go like, well, maybe he just needed a longer leash.

Yeah, I get that. I think there's two differences. there, though. One would be that Hextall was really trying to walk the tightrope between having a team that's competitive now and also building for the future. I feel like in some ways, that's no man's land. That's like the one place you don't want to get caught. And I think the other difference is in Winnipeg, Kevin Shevoldeuf had the complete backing of ownership with his plan that they were comfortable with, not however long it took, but they were comfortable with taking the long view. And it's quite clear that the flyers who have perpetually had an itchy trigger finger,

you know, they wouldn't be. That's not something that they would stand for. And the funny thing is, Ron Hextall got hired with Ed Snyder's blessing saying, hey, you know, this is the guy that's going to be the breath of fresh air to do things differently than we've always done it. I think after five years or this is, they're now in their fifth season that they finally said, uncle, enough. Like, you should be further along now than you were. And I think part of the, of it were the goaltending, as you mentioned, I thought it was inconscionable to go into this season on a year that this team's supposed to take a step with the same goaltending that they had last year. I mean, Elliot and Neuverth are no strangers to the injury list. These guys, I mean,

Noyverth in particular, it seems like he can't even string together a solid week of being healthy, and Elliot's a guy getting up there in age. So, you know, the fact that they didn't get that bridge to Carter Hart that they needed, to me, was one of the real downfalls. Like, I don't know how you sell that to your team when you have guys like Klojuru and Jake Vorichick real difference makers. I think that's the one thing that kind of drives me nuts about this team just being in Philly is people say, oh, well, they don't have the players to do it. Clodzuru was second in points last year. Jake Vorichick was fourth. Right. They have, or fourth an assist, excuse me. They have, you know, James Van Rheemstike and Wayne Simmons, who statistically are pretty much locks for 30 goals every year.

And they have Ivan Prorov on defense, who's a... Number one, that's every bit as good as a Zach Werenck that's playing 25 minutes a night and scored 17 goals last year. Like, the fact that there are four points out of a playoff spot at the moment at the time Haxall was fired kind of gives you an indication that, you know, maybe it wasn't all on Dave Haxel. And I think that was the other tipping point. You mentioned the goalies and the PK, you know, look, the Flyers used to change coaches like it was their job. So the fact that, you know, Dave Haxstall was still employed. after two blowout losses in a span of four days, you know, that's another tipping point. I think the flyers were looking for some sort of change.

And, you know, Hextall is certainly resistant to that. So he kind of, I believe, stuck to his guns here in this case saying, look, this is my plan. I'm sticking to it. And I could see why that didn't sit well. Yeah. No, it definitely seems like, you know, without any intent from information just from the outside looking in that he fell on his sword a little bit there. And I mean, listen, in the grand scheme of things, as you mentioned, they only made the playoffs twice in the Hextall era.

Both were losing in the first round. And at the same time, like, it's pretty fair to say that if you look at the job he did in Philly, like, the Friars are in significantly better position moving forward now than they were what he inherited, right? I mean, just I was looking at some of his transactions and just sort of, I mean, first of all, getting them out of that financial hell with some of the moves he was able to make and some of the contracts he was able to. offload, but also the pipeline. I remember for years, the Flyers were consistently considered to be one of the most barren teams in terms of prospects on their way, and they were constantly in the bottom five. And then now, you know, with guys like Sanheim, Lindblom, Provov, Kine, so on and so forth. Patrick, obviously getting that first overall pick helps. But the point is, is that whenever this team is ready to compete for a Stanley Cup again, it feels like a lot of

Ron Hexel's fingerprints are going to be over that next generation of Flyers teams. And that's why I called it a complicated legacy when I wrote my story on TSN.com. Just saying, look, like, he did get them out of that hell that they were in. I mean, think about some of the issues that they had with their cap. The Chris Pronger LTI that he shipped off to Arizona, you know, all these guys that they had that they were somehow able to find a new home for really short of Andrew McDonald's. And they also waited out. you know, Vinnie La Calleier, they dished him off to L.A.

You know, there was a series of moves that really helped this team. And I think the draft picks moving forward that are going to continue to help this team, Joel Farab, J. O'Brien, Chairman Roopsov is out for the rest of the season. He's another guy. These are all impact players. He's had eight first-round picks in the span of five drafts. So that's a pretty significant total to add to your team. And I think that's going to be the bitter part.

for Hextall is that whoever is coming in is in a really nice situation because first off, you have assets that you can unload if you want to. The pipeline is pretty full. They've been consistently ranked as one of the one or two or three best systems in terms of prospects now after being so far down the rankings, as you were saying. And so not only that, but you have pieces on your roster that you can continue to build around. I mean, Coach Rueh isn't old.

and same with Jake Vorechek and Games and Reimsick, they're kind of right at the end of that sweet spot that players really find a ton of success in on that age flowchart. So, you know, to me, moving forward, it's going to be a really attractive job also because of the cap space

that they now inherit. What, 7 million, I think as of today, and a team that historically has had a pretty limitless budget for anything else that you want to do, you know, I totally get why people, would be lining up to take this job based on the work that Ron's done. Unfortunately, at Parfram, he's going to have to watch someone else kind of reap the

rewards that he didn't. Yeah, no, there is a lot to work with. I like a lot of the pieces they have, both right now and moving forward. And I guess, you know, with that cap space, you mentioned, and sort of the obvious needs, particularly Annette, I know a guy who's been linked to the flyers quite a bit in the recent past has been Sergey Bobrovsky with his impending free agency and sort of the uncertainty there with, you know, his future with Columbus. And obviously, I, you know, everyone reviews him as one of the best handful of goalies in the league still. Like, do you think that that is a natural fit? Or do you think the fact that, um, obviously Columbus is still a really good team that has Stanley

Cup aspirations and the fact that, uh, you know, we don't typically see goalies of this pedigree moved, especially at this point of their career. There's very little turnover there. I just, there's like very few historical comparables for me to look at and pour into and go, okay. They almost never make it to market. Yeah. So like, how are we supposed to evaluate this situation? It seems like it's kind of a bit of.

of an anomaly. And that's why I'm very fascinated to see how it plays out. But obviously, you know, the fit is there. But at the same time, like, we've been down this road with the flyers so many times before. It seems like, you know, I don't really believe in curses by any means, especially it's not a very analytical thing to say. But it feels like if they were to sign Sergey Bobrovsky to a massive mega deal, it feels like it would almost immediately wind up being something they regret. Yeah. And you know what? For as well as Sergey Barbarowski has played, I'm not even really sold that he's the answer. I get that You look at his numbers historically, two-time resident winner, and everything that comes with it, he's been so good in the regular season.

He hasn't won in the playoffs. That and, you know, he's also had a pretty wonky history when it comes to groins and staying healthy. So he has certainly missed his fair share of time over the years. It's going to require a mega deal. The only thing that's interesting to me from a Philly perspective is I wonder how hungry they are to do so in the sense that they write it around James and Reimsdike over the summer signing him to that $35 million deal bringing him back. And do they want to try and go out and write the same wrong that they had with Sergey Bobrovsky, the mistake that they made, dealing him after signing Elie Braz Galloff.

They felt like they had no choice. You know, historically, I have no idea what the new GM is thinking. Historically, Paul Holmbern is a guy that doesn't believe in spending a lot of money in goalies, excuse me on the cap. And I think, you know, from an analytical perspective, certainly people would back that saying that, you know, you can get close to league average bullpending without spending a ton that once you get past those handful of top goalies, that really everyone else can be or has the potential to be in that same ballpark. You saw that in 2010 when they went to the Stanley Cup final with Michael Leighton. And I think that kind of reinforced that notion for the

flyers until Ed Snyder was the one who stepped in and said, we're not doing this again. We're going out and signing the best goalie available. And unfortunately, they bid against themselves getting Ilya Brze Gallif on that humongous big contract. So to me, I don't know which way they go. I get why they would be interested in Bobrovsky because he's the shiny news. We have the market. But, you know, I'd be curious to look and see what else is out there.

I know just off the top of my head, Cam Talbot is a pending. Unrestricted free agent, Jimmy Howard, you know, none one really gets me excited, but point being that you only need a two-year deal maybe to get you to Carter Hart. They need the bridge to Carter Hard, which they haven't had. And who knows how quickly he's able to cross it, but, you know, that's to be their goal, not any sort of long-term solution with Sergey Robrovsky because they don't need him. Yeah.

I mean, it'll be a tricky thing to navigate. I imagine the, you know, the GM that comes in to, inherit this job, we said it is a very, you know, luxurious and tantalizing job for anyone to inherit because of the pieces there. But at the same time, just based on the guy who just went out the door and sort of the reason why he was let go, I imagine there's going to be quite a bit of pressure and incentive to make some sort of a splash move and sort of reinvigorate this franchise. And that could ultimately wind up being like the most detrimental thing they could possibly do, right? So it's like, it's going to be a very tough thing to balance that and kind of stay the course

while also making this your own team. Yeah, I think the easiest solution would be to get a guy this year that just is a stopgap guy. That can, you know, pending the UFA, a rental that can give you some solid and dependable goal pending from now until, you know, whenever you're finished playing, if it's April, May, or June. I don't know how many of those guys are out there. They tried at the very end with Morazick last year, but the way that Elliott and Noirvirs, their health has been, like, you can't keep trotting Alex Lyon. and Anthony Stolwarnes and these different guys, Cal Pickard out there, they need some sort of dependable presence. I think it's the only right thing and just thing to do for the guys that they have

that really have been playing quite well in some of the earlier difference makers that I mentioned. All right. We've got so much here to talk about. So let's switch gears here a little bit and talk about one of the more, I guess the transaction that had happened before that is the Oilers replacing Todd McClellan with Ken Hitchcock behind the bench. And I know that you've written about this and covered it. And it's a situation you've been following pretty closely.

I don't think it's necessarily any surprise that Todd McClain was let go, considering the expectations for this team. And the fact that they were underwhelming so drastically, especially in that division, I think the fact that it was Ken Hitchcock raised some eyebrows around the league, justifiably so. What do you think about that move and sort of taking a bigger picture of you of it? because I feel like one reason why I've been very critical of the Oilers and Peter Schrelli

and the job they've done there building this team around Connor McDavid is I feel like it's been a lot of, you know, shorter term approaches and kind of band-aid fixes because they do feel the pressure to compete while you have the best player in the world. But at the same time, given his age and the fact that you have him under contract now for, what, seven or eight more years, like I do feel like it's a bit disappointing that they haven't been able to take a step back and try to find longer-term solutions. and it feels like this Hitchcock, one, just with the lack of commitment and where he's at in his career and the fact that they've yet to, you know, commit to anything beyond this season.

Like, it strikes me as just another continuation of this kind of carousel and turmoil that we've seen in Edmonton for so many years now. Yeah, I mean, I see it as a self-preservation firing and hiring. Simply put, I mean, I like Ken Hitchcock. I think he has the potential to do good work. but as I said last week when the decision was made, I don't care who you put behind the bench. They're not a miracle worker. And the issue with this Euler team is roster construction.

You hit it right on the head. It's been so many band-aid fixes to some pretty clear and obvious issues that they've had. And I think what hurts the most for the Oilers is that they have some pieces in their organization that could actually check all the boxes that they need. in terms of finding some guys to play on the right side. Hello, yes, he Pooley-Rvys there. Getting a puck mover that's a right-shot defenseman. Evan Bouchard is there and looked pretty good in the games that he played.

So they have these pieces. They need to figure out and set a plan in terms of how they're going to get the most out of them. And with Pooley-R-E-R-V in particular, to me, he's the most frustrating case out there because you look at the situation that Todd McClellan was in, and I was really critical of his usage and deployment of poor Yardby. You know, I was thinking back to that time when Ty Rati was out. To me, he was the perfect guy to slide up there on McDavid's line to see what he was like, playing with McDavid.

The numbers have always said that Pooley-R-A-R-V, excuse me, McDavid gets his highest-danger percentage of scoring chances when he's playing with Pau-E-R-V and to see him not get that shot and to be. scratched and then thrown in there on the fourth line, it scratched again, and then playing on the fourth line on his offhand side. To me, it didn't make any sense, but when you get down to the bottom of it, you know, Todd McClellan was coaching like his job was on the line, and it's clear that it was. I think the problem for the Oilers is if Todd McCollin was coaching really with, you know,

a five-year view, 10,000 foot view in hand, thinking that he was going to be behind this bench for a long time, he probably would have handled it differently. And we all know that he didn't have the affordability to do so, given that Peter Shirelli was breathing down his neck. But, you know, Bouchard, to me, is another example. He's going with veterans that he feels like he can trust instead of guys that, you know, really might help this team. I think Bouchard, there was certainly a sticking point.

My understanding there is that the Oilers Brass and Shirelli wanted to get a longer view of Bouchard. They were willing to keep him beyond the tension. games because they really liked what he brought. Everyone made so much of Shirelli's comments on, you know, we don't have any B-plus level passers on our defense. Well, Bouchard was the guy moving forward that can do that. And I think he was interested in seeing what he looked like at the halfway point of the season as you get close to that magical 40 game mark that's way more important to teams than burning the first year on the ELC. So to me, there was some friction there. And when

Todd McClellan sat Bouchard for four straight games. He left him a little choice but to send him down to London for everything to do with his development and the long-term view. So certainly some sticking points. You know, Ken Hitchcock has raised some eyebrows. And the bottom line, Demetri is anything to do with the Edmonton Oilers, what he couldn't do with the Dallas cars last year that kind of sent him on this path to retirement. Yeah.

I mean, I know that he's sort of, you know, obviously, think the way we view Ken Hitchcock as a coach now is change from his time in Columbus and in Philadelphia and so on and so forth. But I still think no one would necessarily call him as, you know, the guy that you bring in to sort of develop all your young players and give them a longer leash. And especially if we're talking bigger picture of you or self-preservation tactics by the coach, like what incentive is there for Ken Hitchcock to try and set this Oilers team up to be a Stanley Cup contender three years or now? Of course, at this point of his career, he's going to be incentivized. incentivized to try and squeeze everything he can out of them right now, even if it is at the expense

of future outcomes. And I think that is a big mistake. I just wonder ultimately, like, what the end game is here. Because I think everyone would agree that Ken Hitchcock is a good coach. He's had a very successful career in NHL. And I'm sure that he's going to get these guys playing better than they were under Todd McClellan. I just wonder, like, with the pieces he has, what they're trying to accomplish. I mean, you still look at it, and it is ultimately a roster construction thing. I mean, there's no way around the fact that, I mean, McDavid has a goal or a primary assist on like 45% of the team's goals this year, which is just truly insane. And whenever he's out on the ice, it seems like nothing's happening. And I don't think the change of coach is ultimately going to do that much.

So I guess, you know, if you're an Oilers fan, I guess the silver lining here would be this season probably will not wind up playing out the way you'd hoped it would. But hopefully bigger changes are going to come this summer, both in terms of management and potentially roster construction. because of the way the rest of the season's going to unfold. So I know it's not something you want to hear because there's been so many years of losing and you're wasting another great Connor McDavid season, but it probably is sort of losing the battle to win the wars, for a lack of a better analogy. Well, and the only way to make that happen, right, is to have Peter Shrally be fired, no?

I mean, there's no chance that Euler fans are placing their trust, Peter Shelley to be the guy to be conducting this surgery in the summer based off his recent transaction history. I mean, his portfolio in Edmonton is abysmal. You know, the way that he left the Boston Bruins in salary cap jail, inheriting the oilers knowing that he's going to get Connor McDavid, like somehow this team is in a worse spot than they were when he took over, both cap-wise and asset-wise. It's incredible. I mean, it's a failure of epic proportions to trade away the family jewels that you know this team suffered so long to acquire like how different would this team look with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberley you know in their lineup you talk about lack of skill and lack of depth I mean like those two guys are a big part of it like let's go back to the Reinhardt's trade before that I mean from day one it hasn't been a good run really for peter sirelli nilat luchy go down the list

So that's the only answer is to lose the battle and win the war for Oilers fans is to have someone else be calling the shots. So it's great. I mean, I just don't understand in the short term. It's exactly what it sounds like. Short term, Ken Hitchcock is here to make the playoffs and see if Peter Schroly's job. That's the only reason he was brought in. You know, anything else that Ken Hitchcock is saying, like he's a master of,

This is what I learned about being around Ken Hitchcock last week in San Jose and Anaheim. He's a master of telling you exactly what you want to hear. He's almost 67 years old. No one's teaching this old dog new tricks. He's not going to all of a sudden treat Yassie Pooley-RV differently than he has a lot of the other players. I know that he said that it's his project. To me, it's just a small sample size, but game one, I mean, how many minutes to pull you RV play in the Oilers' loss at the King, there's not many. The situation he used in wasn't all

that different than what we saw under Todd McCollin. So some of its window dressing that Oilers are hearing, you know, exactly what Ken Hitchcock is saying is what they want to hear. I just, you know, I need to see it to believe it first before I believe that this is anything other than it grab to try and just make the playoffs with Connor McDavid. Right. And obviously, I mean, when you do have Carter McDavid and you make the playoffs, we've seen in the past, you know, you have a chance to do something special. But I think if you're an Oilers fan, like, wouldn't that be the worst case scenario for the outcome of this season to, like, ride those top guys to the point of making the playoffs and then, like, losing it round one. And then all of a sudden, you know,

Peter Shirley can go to ownership and go like, oh, we're moving into right direction now that we have this new coach. And all of a sudden, Hitchcock and Shirelle, you're back for another season. And you're just kind of in this never-ending loop of just spinning your tires in the mud. Like, it seems like that would probably be the worst case scenario for, for that, you know, this franchise moving forward. I said it before with the flyers. No man's land is the absolute worst place to be in the NHL. Yeah.

And it seems like that's exactly where the Oilers are, which is very upsetting. And I've said this time and time again on this podcast, but, you know, people always come in me for being overly critical of Shirelli and making fun of the Oilers. And it comes from a place which is, I'm not mad, I'm disappointed because as a hockey fan and as someone who covers this league for a living, like, I want to watch Connor McDavid on the biggest stage competing for the ultimate prize. And it's a disservice to everyone out there that that's not happening because he's so freaking good. And it's very clear he's the best player in the world. And there's only so much one player can do in hockey, unfortunately. And until that changes, we're just going to keep rehashing the same conversation over and over again. I said before, the Oilers are the best team in the league when Connor McDavid is on the ice.

And they're the worst when he's off of it. The only play is 22 or 23 minutes a night. They need to figure out what they're doing with. the other, you know, 37 or 38 minutes because it's abysmal. It's just to think of where they were and where they've now gotten to and they've gone in the opposite direction while having Connor McDavid. Like, I don't know that you could make all these same mistakes again if you tried to be this bad.

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That's promo code PDO for $10 off your first Seek purchase. Now let's get back to the show. Okay, Frank, as the guest, I'll give you the choice. Do you want to talk about the Dillon-Strae trade that happened last night? Or do you want to get into the whole Willie Nealander situation? Which topic interests you more? I mean, we're going to do both. It's just a matter of situation.

Okay. So there's three options here, obviously, right? There's trade him. There's sign him to a contract, whether it's short or long term, or there's just him sitting out all year. You know, this conversation could obviously be deemed kind of outdated because the December first deadline's approaching, and any day now we could find out some sort of resolution to this.

But, I mean, are you, okay, I guess the first natural question here is, are you surprised that it has taken this long for something to play out? Yeah, I am. I think, you know, this is really unprecedented in the sense that no one has lasted this long among RFAs under, you know, the post-lockout salary cap world. I'm not surprised that both sides have dug in based on what this means in the real long view for both sides. sides. Obviously, the easy part to dissect is Kyle Dubus, not only in his first negotiation or real tense negotiation as a GM to not back down and send the message to agents and GMs around the week that he's going to stand tall. the other part is he's got a budget that he has to work with. They made a promise to John DeVaris that when he signed for $11 million that he would have the necessary cap flexibility to retain all the players

that they had when he signed. He said that he wanted to come, Tavares did an ad, not subtract. And so you can see how their budget unravels pretty quickly, given how well Mitch Marner has played and what Austin Matthews is going to demand based off of what or how much more than six and a half or six million bucks will have been the Neelander ultimately signs for. So I can see from the Neelander side as well because they don't want to be outdone so quickly with the next contract signed by Marner and Matthews.

They want to make sure that when, you know, whatever those two guys are inked up next year at some point, that he's in a relatively comparable ballpark. and I think you look at deals like the David Tosternack one, which everyone is now obviously saying is such a bargain, you know, he wants to make sure that he's not talked about in that same light, that you perhaps you only get one crack at this, is that having gone through this to make some real life-changing money

and wants to make sure that he takes advantage. So I'd be shocked at the end of it if December 1 rolls around on Saturday and 501, the Maple Leafs don't have a deal, and William Neelander is the guy that's sitting out for the year. I think they'd move him before that. But I understand that they've come a long way and they're still not over the finish line as well.

Yeah. I mean, it definitely seems crazy that there's even the potential that there wouldn't be a resolution that this season just because of the caliber of player and the caliber of the team and the fact that they do have cup aspirations this season and he would obviously help them quite a bit. But, you know, in his case, I kind of sympathize with him, right? Because on the one hand, he's taking a lot of his.

publicly right now because, you know, fans have this weird way of always backing the teams they support rather than the players and they just want to see him out there helping contribute to their team and he can't really prove himself out there while he's sitting. And the Leafs themselves, I mean, what, they're 9th and 5-on-5 offense fourth overall and that's with Matthews missing a large chunk of the season. So it's not like they've necessarily been this team that's really craved his offensive value. At the same time, though, like, you know, you kind of forget how good he's been in the past two years and also the fact that, you know, you raise a lot of those great points.

I mean, the cap's going to be rising. Marner's extensions coming in. A lot of these other RFAs are about to get paid. There's obviously the injury risk. The whole RFA market's about to change. It is. And, yeah, of course, the entire financial landscape is going to change. And if you're him, like, I understand people might view that as being greedy.

But at the same time, you might only have this one situation. And who knows, the next time you step out on the ice, you could have a career ending injury for all you know, and I'm always fully in support of the players looking out for themselves and their best interest in trying to squeeze out every ounce of value they can. So that's ultimately where I stand on it. But it is obviously frustrating that he's not out there playing because he's a heck of a player to watch and he'd help this Leafs team become even more special offensively. So it just seems like, yeah, it's crazy that we don't have a resolution yet, but it seems even crazier that potentially he could go all year without playing, considering all of that.

Yeah, I think the one big thing with Neelander is the Maple Leafs don't need him as well as they've played. They don't need him in October, November, December. They need to add one more difference maker in a playoff series that can help put this team over the top. As well as they've played, they don't have anything to show for it over the last couple of years. And I think that's what's hurt. And not having a guy like Neelander, another weapon in your lineup that just adds to the depths that you already have. there's a debate, you know, is the best top nine in hockey in Toronto? Is it in Winnipeg? You know, to me, I'd probably give the edge to Winnipeg, but I understand with Toronto and how well they've played.

You know, it's a heck of a debate, and they need one more weapon that they can throw at teams in a playoff series, not in the here and now. So that's the kind of big, big, long-term view is that's exactly what you get with William Neelander if he's under contract. Yeah, like I love Casperi Caponin's game and he looked great for that little stretch while Matthews was still healthy, but it's pretty clear watching that there's a different level there of offensive ability and kind of creativity and capability when Neilander's out there with Matthews. And I don't know, like, do you think, is, has there been more rumblings behind the scenes in terms of the Leafs exploring that trade market? Or is it one of those things where they're really waiting until they get to, you know, right before the deadline before they fully explore that? because I imagine there's a ton of interest around the league for, what, 22-year-old or whatever Newlander is now with his resume and his ability, and especially you'd think that the team acquiring

would probably be even more incentivized to play him down the middle as opposed to where he's been playing on the wing on the Leafs. So he has a ton of trade value, and it feels like we've only really heard the hurricanes, I guess maybe just because of the way the roster is kind of fit in terms of potential trades with defensemen they have. But has there been more of that, or are we just not hearing about it? I think there's been more that the Leafs have done a really good job of keeping quiet. I think my sense of the situation is that as it stands on Monday, five or six days before the deadline,

Kyle Kubis has a general sense of from teams what he could get for William Nylander. Now, if you get to the final 48 hours and there's still no deal, my sense is that the communication would increase to the point where he's starting to press teams on, well, can I get this over and above what he already kind of has as an initial idea. And so that's kind of, I think, how he's proceeded in this, you know, negotiation. But the interesting part that not a lot of people have hit on, Dimitri, is the fact that the Neander camp has the ability here to talk to all of these other 30 teams. It's a unique situation in that he can, any leverage that the Leafs were trying to create by

having that story out there that Kyle Dubus was beginning to field initial offers or initial get a sense what he could get is they can do the same thing. They can call a team and first off they can scuttle things by saying, look, there's no chance

that we'd sign with you. This is what we'd be asking for that's a different, or maybe above what we're looking for in Toronto. He can also get a sense to, you know, is this real? And it kind of decreases the Leaf's leverage from that standpoint that these two sides are on a level playing field here and that they can talk to all 30

teams, which is really rare for a guy that could potentially be traded. I mean, you mentioned this, let's talk about the whole league here and how this impacts it. I know there are 30 other teams other than the Leafs, and this situation will obviously influence that. And you know, you mentioned the RFA class and how the landscape's going to change and everything. You just look at the list of guys and, you know, you have Miko Renton and with this insane season he's having, Braden Point, who's right up there in terms of goal scoring. I mean, Matthew Kachuk, Sebastian Aho.

You go on down the line, I mean, Patrick Line, for goodness sake, there's so many guys that are about to get paid and cash in this summer. Do you think that this entire situation and sort of how it's unfolding is going to influence those transactions we see that are coming up this summer in terms of both the teams need or desire they have to make something happen quickly before they get. priced out of stuff or from the player's perspective now that we are seeing a bit of a historical precedence with what Nealander is doing similar to kind of what we saw in the NFL with levy on bell this time this year um do you think that's going to kind of just kind of increase their patience yeah

that's going to go okay listen like now i'm seeing how this is playing out and obviously we'll see what the resolution is and how it winds up working out for neelander but i imagine there's players around the league that are looking at this and even if they're not saying so publicly um kind of taking stock of what's going on and wondering how they can use that to gain leverage for themselves moving forward. And they're probably rooting for him too, right? I mean, it's an interesting situation. And I think the other part that you didn't mention, you covered it off pretty well, is

just that there's two other contracts out there that have also kind of helped set the table along the way that have really helped Nielander. If not specifically, then more so will help guys like Ranton and Matthews and so on. and Marner, really, is the Jack Eichael deal at $10 million a year and Leon Dreisle at at eight and a half. I mean, the Eichol one is fascinating that, you know, teams and players, excuse me, and agents are now looking at that if you're a guy like Marner saying, well, if Jack Eichael is at 10, then I should be at 10 and a half or maybe even north of that.

It starts to get really interesting, really quick. If I hear that Jack Eichol is a $10 million player, I don't bat an eye at all at Marner being at that same level, if not above. So those are two deals that everyone is looking for as have already kind of changed the landscape. And then whatever Neander gets is just kind of on top of that as well, given what he's went through to help get to that point. Yeah. And I imagine, like, the Jets who are sort of in a similar spot here in terms of their upward trajectory as a franchise and some of the young talent they have that's about to get paid, you know, they have similar to how the leaves have Neelander and Marner. I guess those guys are a year spread apart.

This summer, the Jets have to make some decisions on Kyle Connor and Patrick Lione. And, I mean, obviously it's a great problem to have if both guys keep playing the way they have this season. But given their financial situation and how much those guys are set to be paid and how this Nielander situation is unfolding, all of a sudden, you start to try to make the numbers work and your head gets spinning, thinking about how the Jets are going to make that work. Yeah, I mean, it's going to have to come at a cost to something because really, realistically, I think the conversation, we're going to be having with the Winnipeg Jets at this point next year is the same one that's been ongoing with the Leafs forever, which has been, will they have the defensemen to really stand up and make a difference and rely upon in a Stanley Cup run? Because maybe the one guy

left standing is Dustin Bufflin at 7.6 million, but truly is an RFA at 5.5. Myers is a UFA at 5.5. how do you figure a way to kind of keep everyone together, depending on what you're giving lining? If he's anywhere close to 50 goals, I don't know what that number looks like. I don't even want to spitball, but Kyle Connor, like, to me, he's the one guy that if they had him in Toronto, like, they'd be jumping up and down screaming, you know, 31 goals last year. The chemistry that he showed with lining in the five-goal game, I mean, it's incredible. He's a legit top-end play. player at the age of 21. So he's another guy that said they're going to have to pay.

And all of a sudden it gets pretty top-heavy. What a bargain, though, like that they were able to lock up certain guys long-term. Shrevely 6.125. Like, it's incredible. He's locked up as long as Blake Wheeler is now who kicks in next season at 8 and a quarter. So they were able to kind of strike early. And perhaps in some ways, you catch you on both sides. You know, you were talking about, you know,

FAAs before and will teams strike earlier when players decide to be more patient? For every Posernak you have, like sometimes you end up with a guy like Nick Heelers who, you know, I'm not down on, but if you look at this season, something's definitely off. Started the year on the fourth line, 29 goals last year.

This year through 22 games has five goals and five assists, and he really struggled at times and hasn't been noticeable. So he's a guy in the first year of a $42 million deal that for the Jets is pretty significant at $6 million. But given that cost certainty, as much as it might hurt next year, he also is a guy that you could potentially probably unload pretty easily to another team if you really wanted to at that cost. Yeah, no, 100%. I guess I'm just curious to see what Miko Ranton is going to fetch after he finishes this year with 130 points.

He is a beast. Yeah. Yeah, I took a lot of flack. I wasn't too high on him when I was ranking wingers at the start of the season. And, you know, I probably should have been more glowing in my evaluation of him. But yeah, he's what him, McKinnon and Landis Cogger doing right now is a sight to behold. And he's going to be earning quite a nice little payday. Frank, let's take one more quick break here.

And then we're going to talk about that strong trade on the other end of things. Those of you to listen to last week's podcast episode with Nick Mercadante, where we rank the goalies, you heard us talk about what a ridiculously good season Henrik Alunquist is having yet again. The man's got a number of things going from quite clearly. He's a marvel, if you think about our statistical anomaly in every sense of the word. He's out here as a 36-year-old posting a 9-20sage yet again, backstopping a Rangers team that's shockingly sitting in a playoff spot

in what we thought would be a loaded Metro Division before the season. And yet as good as he's once again been at stopping the puck at this age, arguably his biggest achievement yet is maintaining that beautiful, luscious flow on top of his head. The reality is that most of us aren't Henrik Lunkwist, unfortunately. Don't I know it? And that 66% of men actually lose their hair by age 35. But the thing is, when you start to notice hair loss, it's too late, because it's a lot easier to keep the hair you have than to replace the hair you've lost. For those of us out there that unfortunately aren't blessed with King Hendricks immaculogenetics, why do we instead turn either weird solutions or just do nothing at all when we can

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for seemingly the 45,000th time traded. And we saw, to recap, and Nick Schmalt moved for Dylan Ström and Brendan Perlini. Let's, I guess let's take this. from the Hawks perspective because I feel like, you know, Dylan Strome is the biggest name involved in his trade. And it's, watching the discourse about him online has been fascinating to me because the pros of him are obviously, you know, quite obvious. He's still only 21 years old. He has a track record of success as a big time point producer at both the OHL level and also more importantly the AHL level last year. The concerns with him, uh, I watching him play, I do think the, the the skating is a major red flag, and I'm not sure it's going to stop him from being an

NHL player for a long time, but in terms of getting to those heights that he has at previous levels, I think that is a biggest sticking point. And the other thing is, and this is something I really wanted to get to, because it's a major pet peeve of mine. If I see one more person cite the fact that he was taken third overall as a reason why he couldn't possibly be traded, I am going to do something very bad because it just drives me crazy. Like, people don't seem to grasp the concept of sunk costs and the fact that as soon as he's taken third overall, uh, that pretty much stops, it loses all value. Like, it sucks that the coyotes

missed out on Marner and Pro Rob and Orensky and so on and so forth. Um, but once you take that guy third overall, like, that's a sunk cost. And ultimately, you have to reevaluate based on what he's done up until his point. And what he's done, especially at the NHL level in, albeit only 48 games, is not very much. So I don't know, like where are you at with this one? Because on paper, just based on name value, I see people talking about it as a slam-down coal-run trade for the Blackhawks. But when you actually look at it a bit closer,

I'm not necessarily sure how to feel about it. Yeah, I would kind of lean towards this being a win for the coyotes, to be honest. I thought John Chica hit it on the head. By the way, Strome wasn't his draft pick. Chico was hired in 2016. Right. Stron was drafted third overall in 2015.

he said today that there's a difference between patience and hope and that the latter is not a way to build your organization. And I totally agree. Once you get to the point where you feel like Dylan Strom isn't going to be a real difference maker for your team and you can get a player that you can depend upon in Schmaltz, the guy who gave the Blackhawks, what, 21 goals last year. Like to me, I would take that deal in the same. a second. The only question is Perlini

who did score 17 last year for the coyotes. And so from the Black Hawk's perspective, Stan Bowman was saying, look, we got two NHL players for the price of one. We're going to make that deal any day of the week. It hasn't gotten that

bad in Chicago that they're just dying for bodies at this point? I mean, I guess it has given their lack of prospect depth and the fact that they traded so many draft picks over the years to get the Stanley Cup. steals that you'll make every single time. They're now paying the price for it.

But I kind of like the forward thinking from Chica saying like, look, at a certain point, we're just cutting ties here. We don't think Dylan Strome is going to be the guy here. We don't think he's ever going to be the guy. And there's a difference between kind of what you said, just being an NHL player

versus being a difference maker. And that's what the coyotes clearly weren't seeing in Strom. The same question marks that have existed for the last two and a half years since Chalka took over, still existed today, and now it's time to make the move. Yeah. I mean, listen, neither you or I are qualified enough to, as skating coaches or skating experts, to say whether Strome can, like, biomechanically get better at skating.

I mean, we've seen guys like Bo Horvad and John Tavares and so on and so who are improved. And obviously with technology these days, like, it's quite possible, especially a 21 years old. But at the same time, right, to be that elite player where you're a point of game or even better as he's been in the HL and both OHL, you do need skating in today's league. And I'm very curious to see how he develops. I mean, listen, both teams are ultimately looking for the same thing here, it feels like, which is that kind of elusive number two center. And I'm very fascinated to see how it plays out. Like I like Schmaltz. Every time I watch him, I think he's a very talented playmaker. Now, the issue with him is, you know, when he put up big numbers of the University

of North Dakota, he was riding shotgun with Brock Besser. And then on the Blackhawks, all of his best nights typically came playing on that line with Patrick Kane. And he's been in great spots, obviously, to produce offensively. And I'm fascinated to see whether he has an extra gear or how much of it was his own doing. And I don't know, it seems like a calculated bet. I think, like I said, I just wanted to make the point that I don't think it's necessarily as big of a slam dunk in either direction, really. It seems like a pretty fair trade or both teams are taking on some risk.

Yeah, I mean, Smalls is clearly the more defined. player at this point. Knowing and knowing what you're getting, I just place a high value on that. I know sometimes potential is to play. In this case, we know enough about Dylan Strome at this point to make some sort of judgment. I don't mean we. I mean, the coyotes have seen him up close and personal.

They know them better than anyone. If they're making that bet, you know, we always see, you know, what we're like, wow, look at this first rounder that's been traded. You know, Marco Dono is a guy just with a Chicago connection. and everyone's like, you know, first round are traded. That's so interesting, can't wait to get that guy in my lineup. And you kind of figure out, like, teams are so invested in first round picks. Like, they don't just trade him unless they have a real good idea that he's not going to work out.

It's kind of rare that a guy does get traded and plays better somewhere else. There's way more the other way around than that way. Yeah. I mean, it goes both ways, obviously, because I don't want to necessarily be, like, you know, doing the whole appeal to authority thing here because teams clearly make mistakes and guys get traded pretty much. maturely and wind up blossoming, but you're right. I mean, if you had a guy in your system for a couple years and all of a sudden, a team that has had that guy is very willing to trade him all a sudden for what you'd perceive to be below market value, like it should raise some red flags

for why they are so willing to move on. Sure. Right. No question. Yeah. I don't know. Like, is there anything else with that trade? I mean, the Blackhawks have been interesting just because, you know, obviously they make the coaching change. And I think it's been, fascinating to watch how they've performed since then because they bring in this young coach from the HL level and you think, okay, this is going to be a bit of a youth movement and they're going to embrace the rebuild. But it's been anything but that where it's pretty much they've top loaded their lineup with veterans and they're just riding those guys into the ground and trying to squeeze out some wins here. And I don't know what the end game is or what the long-term

plan is, but it's kind of been counterintuitive to what I feel like people were expecting when that move did happen. Yeah, it's basically been like play patching. for Kane until his wheels fall off, right? Yeah, and Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook as the top pair. It's been, I don't know what year it is, but it doesn't feel like it's 2018-19 or how the Blackhawks are playing. Well,

I'm more curious, you know, less interested in the Blackhawks and we're curious, where does Joel land? You know, like, I wonder if the Flyers end up hiring, say, Ron Francis, for instance, is Quenville, the guy that he brings in. You know, clearly the

flyers are looking for some sort of splash, to bring it full circle to the beginning of our conversation, I mean, Ron Francis has a deep, long-standing relationship with, with Quenville from their playing days in Hartford. Like, you would think that that would be a really obvious connection.

And Fires fans have been clamoring, Churchill Quenville, as a guy that can come in and be that difference maker for this team. You know, what a bloody month it's been. November still has a few days left. Curious what that means for William Neelander's season, but the fact that it's been four head coaches and now at GM in a span of like three weeks it's been

it's been pretty interesting yeah no it has and i'm thankful for that um yeah i don't know is there any other big kind of big picture storylines that we haven't hit on here i mean it seems like we've kind of gotten to most of the transactional stuff at least yeah i'm really fascinating in buffalo um they're the team that you know they're head of the toronto maple leaves at this point through the same number of games played, which is fascinating. I mean, I know a nine-game win streak will certainly help you out a bit in the standings, but just going through the player media tour in September, like, I polled all the guys that I talked to, 36 of them or something, and they were all saying their two surprised

teams were Buffalo and Arizona, and Arizona has gotten it together when you consider kind of how bad their start was that they've really, you know, turned it around at times. They're kind of slumping again. But the Pacific has been so bad and has, you know, has quickly become the old South East division. Like, you look at the teams that are in playoff spots and how underwhelming they've been and how bad the Pacific has been in all. Like, I don't think, other than maybe L.A., I don't know that there's going to be a point

up until the very end that you're going to be declaring teams like Arizona. Edmonton and Vancouver out. And really, what does the Buffalo Sabres being in that top three spot mean for the rest of the East for teams that kind of thought that they would be in the mix? That all of a sudden, at least at this point,

bumps Boston to a wild card spot, and they've been pretty much exactly that to season, a wild card at times. You know, what does that mean for the rest of the East? So it's kind of been fascinating to figure out a lot of people, you know, a lot of people were thinking,

that this would be the year, maybe that the Atlantic gets a couple more teams in than the Metro, but the Metro has produced the last three Stanley Cup winners. I don't know. It's been crazy to see. Yeah. Yeah, no, it has. I mean, I better do a Sabres deep dive here on the PDO Casu, and they're such a fascinating team. It's crazy how much can change in such a short period of time, because I remember when the Jeff Skinner trade happened this summer,

my whole argument was I feel like, you know, he obviously had that no move clause, and he could have kind of dictated his fate a little bit, and he did by turning some destinations down. But I felt like the Sabres could probably flip him for more at this year's deadline than what they paid for him. So it was a smart move regardless. And then now, after this otherworldly start to his season, we're instead talking, like, how much money could he possibly make from the Sabres on his next contract? And is there an incentive to sign him or play this out and see how it goes? I mean, obviously, you don't want to pay for a guy when he's at his absolute peak, both in terms of production and shooting percentage. And playing with Jack Heckel certainly helps.

But, I mean, clearly that change of scenery has done wonders for him, and he looks like a massive difference maker for him. And all of a sudden, now that Jack Iko has a running mate, and they're getting legitimate goaltending from Carter Hutton and taking these training wheels off of Rasmus Daly in a bit as we go along in this season, I mean, there's certainly plenty to point to as reasons for optimism moving forward if you're a savers fan. Well, and you hit it right on the head.

Like, what do you do with him contract-wise? Like, how much do you pay him knowing what you're going to have to, to pay guys like Dahlene down the line. I mean, it's like to me the initial ask was it north of $9 million bucks for Jeff Skinner. It sounded absolutely

crazy, but he's a guy that's three times at 30 goals in his career. He's still only, what, 26? I mean, he doesn't turn 27 until May. So he's right in that prime window. To me, he's just been all over the map, kind of

streaky-wise. Like, you know, has a great year and then has a down year. You know, that's part of that I ever imagine is playing in Carolina with some of the tough teams that they had. He's never made the playoffs. But, you know, what do you pay this guy? Like, 13 goals is leading the league and even strength goals this year. I mean, it's been an incredible run.

And where did Jack Eichol, the playmaker come from? He's the guy that since his draft year, we thought of him as being a sniper. And now he's got five goals and 23. assist. Like, what a ridiculous change of event. Well, I think finally having someone to actually pass the puck to probably helps quite a fit. Yeah, no question, but still, five goals? Come on. Yeah. No, I mean, listen, he's an awesome player. I mean, the stuff you can generate with his speed and it seems like a natural fit. And I think if you're Buffalo, you ultimately wind up letting this one play out, at least for the time being, and see what happens. I think if you're approaching

the trade deadline and you're still competitive and Jeff Skinner's at a pretty much goal per game, all of a sudden that's a great problem to have and then you maybe recalibrate but uh i feel like you know he'll eventually come back down earth a little bit and as well as asking price i imagine so it seems like this is one of those uh situations where it's probably best off to wait and see how it unfold uh frank plug some stuff what uh what are you working on these days where can people check you out just the usual spot tsn dotia and on twitter all the normal same old stuff going on uh we got world Junior coming up in December on the holidays. And other than that, I just write about people getting fired.

Fun stuff. Are you going to be coming to Vancouver for the World Juniors? I will. Well, we might be, we should do an in-person podcast then. How about that? Let's do it. I'm in. All right, I'm looking forward to it.

And before you get out of here, I'm going to let the listeners know, peek behind the curtain. Frank today, big time me. We were going to record earlier, and then all of a sudden, you're sliding into my DM's telling me you've got to go on TV. instead and pushing it back. So you're a big shot. So I'm glad you had some time to make for the PDOCast and to come on and chat. And it was good to finally have you back on and hopefully we can do it again soon.

Not a big timer, just a mercenary. I go where I'm told and I go where I'm paid. So happy to join you anytime, Dimitri. Awesome. Chat soon. Before we do get out of here, I wanted to quickly give a shout out to Puckpedia, a website that's made life significantly easier for me and the Hockeyedio cast ever since bursting on to the scene. Puckpedia.com recently launched and it's the ultimate source for hockey fans. It's got any type of information really that you can be looking for, whether it's salary cap info, player salaries, basic and advanced stats, draft and transaction history, news feeds, injury news, game previews, whatever you're looking for, they're going to have it.

And that's ultimately the main selling point here for Puckpedia because during a time where, you know, if you're looking for a bunch of different stuff for a story or to try and prove a point to your friends in an argument you're having. You're going through various different outlets and opening a bunch of tabs to try and, you know, get to the bottom of it. And Wikipedia has made it easy enough for you to just have a one-stop shop for all that information. It's become my go-to source when I'm preparing for the show because it's so user-friendly

and easy to navigate. And like I said, has everything that I need in that one place, so I don't need to be bouncing around. You know, I've talked about it on the show before. I personally really love the agent information they have. with the agent leader board and um trying to figure out uh you know which players are represented by which agents and and all that goodness but they also got you know stuff like for today's show for example i was preparing for my conversation with frank i'm trying to figure out who the upcoming

uh... rfas are in that conversation we're having and right there uh just a couple clicks i've got it all listed and sorted for me and uh like i said it makes life significantly easier for me and I'm sure it'll help you out as well. So go check out Puckpedia.com. Follow them on Twitter at Puckpedia. And look forward to all the useful information they're tweeting out there, whether it's signings or news or any kind of transaction, really. With that said, we're going to get out of here from now.

Finally, thanks for listening to today's show. And remember to listen to the podcast on Spotify, if that's your cup of tea. And go Tide Tunes and leave a rating and reviews. It would be greatly appreciated and helps us out. And yeah, I think that's all for now. So thanks for listening and check back later this week for another episode of the Hockey-PedioCast.

Videocast with Dimitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovic and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedocast.