The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 271: Hey Now, You're An All-Star

Episode Date: January 10, 2019

Uffe Bodin joins the show to discuss this year's All-Star selections, help make revisions for who we think should've made it based on merit, and figure out ways to tinker with the process in an attempt to make it a more interesting event.  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 Harry’s Razors. If you sign up with them today using the promo code PDO, they’ll send you a trial shave set valued at $13 for free that includes: 1) weight ergonomic razor handle, 2) 5 blade razor with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, 3) rich lathering shave gel and 4) a travel blade cover. 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 sitting across from me is my good buddy Uveh Baudine. Uve, what's going on, man? Hey man, I'm really, really, really pleased to be in Vancouver, finally. This is my first time in BC, and I've been pretty much blown away by how beautiful this province is. Yeah, and well, you got some sun right now, and you're staying in a nice, we won't disclose the location, but we're staying in a nice little hotel room, which we're recording in right now.

Yeah, exactly. And yeah, so the World Junior is obviously wrapped up. I recently did a podcast with Chris Peters, where we, We did a summary of that and talked about the main storylines and so on and so forth. So if you're interested in that, go listen to it here. Oof and I this time are going to talk more about the NHL. And I thought it would be fun to do something about the All-Star game, because obviously it's coming up, I believe it's the last weekend of January.

So it's in a couple weeks here. And recently the NHL released, it's preliminary, or I guess it's ballot, but obviously with injuries and, you know, Ovechkin's sitting out and so on and so forth. There's going to be different names cycling in and out. But for the most part, kind of got this year's All-Stars released. And so you and I are going to go team by team. I usually do this.

I think last year I did it with Jonathan Willis. Two years ago, I did it with Mike Johnson. So you're joining a select group of annual traditions for doing this particular show. But I think it'll be fun. And I'm glad that we finally get to actually meet and do this in person. You and I have done a couple shows now over Skype and through the miracle of modern day technology. Exactly. You know, the time difference.

and the distance doesn't matter, but it's great to actually be able to kind of do this in face-to-face now. Yeah, it's like 10 minutes since we actually met for the first time, and it feels like I've known you for years, actually. Well, we have for years. I mean, we actually have for years. I mean, when was the, I think I came on your podcast for the first time,

maybe three years ago now or something like that. It's been a while, and so we've kind of done back and forth. I know you came on my show. Maybe it's been a while now. I'm glad I'm finally having you on, because obviously I had Jonathan Lindquist on a couple times, and, you know, John's great, but I don't want him stepping up.

on your corner here. You're sort of the official suite of the hockey video guest. Oh, that's nice to hear. Okay, so here's what I thought we'd do. I thought we'd go team by team, and I'm going to list out who made it on the actual ballot, and then you and I can kind of go back and forth and figure out if we agree with it or if we have any issues. Sounds really good. Cool. Okay, let's start with the Pacific Division. You know, we usually get a lot of flack from hockey defense for, you know, East Coast bias. Everyone's talking about the Leafs all the time.

This year on this show, we're here in Vancouver. We're going to start off with the Pacific Division. West Coast bias. Exactly, yeah. Finally. Okay, we're going to go and have a battle corridor here. We're going to start with the ducks. Yeah, the ducks.

So they only had Jonathan. Jonathan, John Gibson. I don't know why. I just call him Jonathan. John Gibson. Yeah, and he's pretty much their team right now, I guess. I just watched some of the Oilers game last night. Yeah.

It was a disaster. Yeah. And, I mean, he gave up, but he didn't have a great game himself. He probably gave up like four goals on, on the 20-something shots and that. But most of them were like just complete defensive breakdowns where they just left him out to dry. And you kind of see when he's not standing on his head

and making miraculous saves, they have nothing to fall back on. No. And it's, no, it's kind of sad to see like, because he's having, I think you wrote about that with ESPN, like how he's having a historically good season, but like, if just the rest of the team did something for him, like just, you know, trying to prevent a scoring chance,

it's like, no, I feel he's, I can't see anyone else. even being close to be. I think they have like three guys only that have scored more than 10 goals, which is pretty sad. Yeah, and one is Ponsa Zalberg, who they go out of waivers. Exactly. You know, I like him a lot as a player, and he's having a great season for them. But, I mean, that's sort of, I think he's literally their leading goal score, which goes to show how bleak it's been offensively there.

Yeah, exactly. And obviously, they're missing Corey Perry and Patrick Eves and Raquel's been gone for a month, but still. Well, that's the thing. I think if, you know, if I guess Raquel, even himself before was kind of having a, down season by his standards and a lot of it was just you know the pucks weren't going in and his shooting percentage down i think he's playing fine but he's not having that typical rickard rickle season no and his shooting percentage is often like way up there now it's not it's like cut in half yeah um yeah i mean i have some stats you're like john gibson's you know he's first in the league and the gold

saved above average um and for those that don't know that stat it's basically if you put a league average goalie in his spot how would they do based on the amount of shots and where the shots are coming from. So he's saved nearly 25 goals more than a league average goal he would have. Second best in the league is Yaroslav Halak at 12. So he's been twice as good or twice as valuable as pretty much any other goalie in the league. He's given the Vesina trophy already. Yeah, maybe even honestly, I mean, if they make the playoffs, I think he's going to be in a discussion for the heart just because of how valuable he's been. Yeah, I don't really have, um, I was trying to figure out who else on that team. Andre Kasha, I wanted to give some love to. Yeah, I mean, because he

missed like first well that's the thing he's only played 25 games yeah exactly so he's he's a bit behind but i think he's been perfectly fine since he came back and obviously a really intriguing player yeah i mean he creates a lot with his speed and and i think you know part of it is he in his own right is incredibly talented and fast but it's also and compared to the rest of the team like when he's out on the ice it kind of he stands out much more just because of what else is going yeah and just look at the roster and see the names like carter roundies of the world like Oh, it's just like a miracle that they're even close to. I don't know if they're still in a playoff spot,

but I know they were a few weeks ago, but now I think they lost like seven, eight straight or something. Yeah, no, they're hanging around there. I mean, that Pacific Division is still a bit open, although, you know, at the top with Calgary, and we'll get into them coming up here, but with Calgary and San Jose and Vegas playing a lot better, it's coming tough.

It's tough, yeah, you're right. Actually, before we keep going here, I wanted to, you know, because we kind of breeze through that introduction, Do we care about this event? How do we feel about it overseas in Sweden? Are people invested in it? Are they talking about it? Are they staying up to watch it?

Like, what's going on over there? I mean, usually it's been on pretty good times. That's true. It's usually like early afternoon here. Exactly. So it's been, I mean, you don't have to stay up all night to watch it. And I think don't think a lot of people would. But I mean, as a lot of people mentioned,

I think it's a good thing for the kids. And, you know, just, I mean, I never been to one, to an event myself, but I talked to other journalists. And they're obviously, they probably like it because they can get together and drink. Yeah. But also, like, it's a great opportunity to get, like, more one-on-one interviews that tend to be a bit deeper than the usual locker room. Yeah, the players are a bit more relaxed, right? Because they have that, like, full weekend off to kind of unwind. So I think there's good things with it.

And it's probably good, like, you get a break in the middle of this. season for players to just reset so they can go away and go to the Bahamas or whatever they do and just get like refuel themselves yeah recharge the battery exactly so but I mean as an adventure the skills competition can be fun at times if if players really uh you know do their thing yeah embrace the game in itself or the games now nowadays than when they play the 303 I guess it's not really much fun well and the thing is is like I find it interesting because I think you you hit the nail in the head there, like it's not really for us, right? No.

It is for the younger fans and sort of getting them excited about it and showing a different side of the players and so on and so forth. But I do find it funny, like the people that say they don't care about it are the ones who are typically the most upset about whether their favorite player or make the team or not. So it's kind of funny if you don't care, why is it such a big deal who makes it on the team, right? But I do think, like, for our purposes as journalists and media members, I always like at this stuff.

And I feel this way more so about the individual awards at the end of the year. but I think the All-Star selections also counted this. I view it as a good kind of like historical time capsule where, you know, if you look back, let's say we're in 2025 and you look back a handful of years to 2018-19 season, you're trying to kind of jog your memory and remember what that year was like, who the best players were, sort of what the stories were. I would like for it to be kind of at least somewhat representative of what was actually happening. So when we're talking now about John Gibson and the season he's having and how valuable he's been,

like on stuff like that to be recorded. through these ballots. So that's why I want a guy is having a great season and he might be omitted. I think it's a bit unfair just because he might kind of get lost in time and I want that to be recorded. Yeah, and I think you had a podcast with Nick Mercadanti

where you're talking about like how short of a lifespan the goalie's peaks are. Like sometimes their peaks are, you know, they're gone. Yeah, they're gone before you even realize that that goal was actually good. So to your point, like in three years, John Gibson might,

might have seen too much rubber and he might not be the same goalie anymore. That's true. Yeah. Well, the other thing is, and it kind of complicates it because I was like going through the teams here and I was trying to, you know, come up with who I would have had on the ballot. And then it kind of restricts us because they're very strict about how many players at each position they have. And also you want one representative at least for every team. And I get that. So, you know, the team can kind of No more young scouts? Well, I mean, it's, and I remember the year like Zemkes-Gergensen's got had the online voting campaign and all that. And, you know, the stuff like that is, I think is a fun story ultimately.

And I think, you know, some people will get offended by it and view it as it's disrespectful to the game. And it's like, I think you're taking it a bit too seriously. I think, you know, I'm sure those types of stories are things that people who aren't even necessarily big hockey fans might see it when they're watching SportsCenter at night or something, right? And then it's kind of like gives the leagues another sort of mainstream storyline for people to talk about.

But it is kind of tough because there's certain teams and we're going to get into them here, especially in the Pacific Division, where it's like, I don't, I don't think they deserve a representative. I don't think they've done that either. Like, just because you're the best player on the worst team doesn't necessarily mean you're an all-star in my view. No, no. And I guess, well, I guess the league just has to, I mean, they have to have someone from everyone and whatever, but still. Well, they want to, like, throw the fans of bone to be like, hey, here's your player. Yeah. Okay, well, let's get into coyotes next. Um, because I had no one on their team, you know, Clayton Keller got the nomination for them. And he's an exciting young

player, obviously. And, you know, he's having a fine season. I believe he's, you know, got like 30 points and 40-something games or something, which is fine. But I think, I don't know, but Oliver Eichmann-Larsen would have been the other possible guy, but he's not having like an Oliver like-win-Lars in season. Yeah. That's true. And I mean, I think Antirontah would have been probably the most logic guy, but still he's been hurt so much. And I think. he's still an IR, right? He's out for the season, I think. Oh, that bad?

Wow. Yeah. Well, that's pretty much their season. It is, and it's super disappointing because I remember, obviously, he was great in a limited sample, pretty much for the past couple years. Yeah. And I remember at the end of last year, he was playing so well, and the coyotes were rattling off all those games after they'd already been eliminated.

And I think everyone would kind of view them as the sexy breakout pick. Yeah, absolutely. They could make some noise next year. And I think one of the caveats for that was Antirondi needs to play 55, 60 games. so the first time in his career, and then unfortunately now we're not going to see that yet again. And, you know, he's getting, I mean, he's still young enough in his career and still, you know, injuries can be fluky. So it's quite possible that, you know, he plays 65 games next year and is awesome.

But at this point, like, you kind of need to see it before you can fully invest in it. Yeah, I think I had him like a dark course for Vizena trove. Just based on like, because it's a small sample size that you mentioned, but still he's been putting up some incredible numbers. So, yeah, it's really disappointing. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, they have a 30th ranked 5-15 offense. So it's, it's tough where it's like generally for these, for a list like this, we mostly favor the guys who are having awesome offensive seasons.

But I can see, like, for entertainment purpose. Yeah. Like, I don't know Michael Grabner or because. Yeah, I think he's injured too, right? Yeah, he got something in his eye, I think. So he looked really bad. But like, or Brad Richardson, because they played so great, you know. Wait, did you just say you would put Brad Richardson in?

this tournament for uh why not for excitement purposes no but i think like uh but i think like a guy like grabner at least like the speed he has like on a three or three he can be pretty entertaining to watch yeah no 100% are you uh are you gonna break news on the hockey pediocast that you're representing brad richards and his agent now uh no comment um okay let's uh we'll do the calgary flames here. So let me pull it up. I think Johnny Goodgerl was the only player from the Calgary Flames.

Yes, he's the only representative of them, which I was surprised by because they are obviously you know, they have a couple of games in hand or have played a couple more games than some of the Central Asian teams, but they're currently first in the West. Yeah, could that be because San Jose is to be and they're the host?

Yeah, and they got three right Burns, Carlson and Pavellowski, so I think that they might be a victim of that because there's like I could probably mention four guys worthy of playing in the all-star game from that team well I guess that's also why um you know that's why it kind of does um you know tie our hands a little bit when you have to have one guy from each team because obviously like we just said if you're not bringing anyone from the coyotes that probably opens up a more deserving spot to someone from a team like the flames and yeah i mean johnny goodroll you know he's

um he had 11 i tweeted this he had 11 points in four games last week yeah And that's more points than James Neal has this season on the flames, which obviously, you know, it's unfair. You know, James Neal's having a bad season. I don't need to rub it in anymore. But it speaks to just how dominant Johnny Goodro has been. He's, I don't even know. He's up to 62 points in 43 games for the year. He's tied fourth.

But I think even more so than that individual scoring, which is obviously amazing, is you see sort of the effect he has as a playmaker on a guy like Elias Linholm this season, right? where Lass Lindholm is already in the 20s and goals already. Yeah, he's already surpassed. Like his career best in full goals and points and we're only halfway through season. So there you go. Like obviously I think I think Lias Lindholm has always had like another level in himself. But I think, you know, playing with a guy like Goodroy is obviously going to help him, you know, just get better.

Well, and that's the tricky thing because I remember obviously he had so much, Eliza Hohm had so much hype coming into the league. And obviously he was part of that amazing draft class with me. McKinnon and Druin and Monaghan and all those guys, right? And Barcov. And I think we kind of take it for granted sometimes because he's just been around for so long now. I think a lot of people kind of rode him off a little bit just because he sort of settled into that like 15 goal, 40-ish point range in Carolina.

But then you lose sight of the fact that like he's still only 24 years old or something, I believe. Like he came into the league so young that you see that for four or five, six years and all of a sudden you just think that's the player he's always going to be where you know now it's conceivable that he's kind of hitting this like physical prime where he's caught the skills and the strength and the smarts are all at their absolute highest and obviously playing with with johnny goodroll helps quite a bit and he's getting he's clearly getting scoring chances that he never got in carolina and not getting to play for carolina because i don't know what's wrong there but their offense never seems to click so no matter how many

scoring chances they get so i don't know like what's running there but that's probably another discussion to have but I feel like you know players that get away from that they suddenly start in the score so well yeah I mean you look at um I mean obviously this the year Jeff Skinner's having in a las land omen yeah you know Carolina's been so star for offense that they could obviously use those guys but I think it's kind of also unfair to say that they would have been having these seasons if they had stayed in Carolina because obviously you know they don't get to play with Jack Eichel and Johnny Goodyear also there so that kind of makes a bit of a difference yeah I guess that's a fair point um so okay on my list I had a

I think we got to have Mark Giordano. Yeah, absolutely. I'm a big Giordano fan myself. I could see him win Norris this year. Oh, I mean, I saw our friend Linas put out his list of individual awards, and I know the NHL team in a podcast is pretty high on Giordano. Do you think he's got a case for the Norris this year? Yeah, obviously his numbers are a bit inflated due to the power play time he might not have gotten.

They had Doggy Hamilton on the team, but I still think like he's good in both ends. Like, his underlying numbers has always been really steady. So why not? I mean, I think there are a few other guys that deserve mentioned, but I feel definitely that he should be on an all-star team based on what he's done this season. Well, that's the thing. I mean, if you have a team that's leading the Pacific Division currently first in the West, I feel like having only the one representative is, you know, we do, obviously these are individual awards,

but it's like if a team has been that good and they've been scoring so many goals, Like you figure that you're going to have at least more than one or two guys who are going to be deserving of that. I actually have a third guy on this list for the flames. Sean Monad? Nope. David Riddick. Oh, yeah. I have him as one of the two goalies.

You know, I think the league does want to have two goalies per division obviously here. Just so that the one guy is not playing in all the games. So who's the other goalie? Well, Mark Andrea Fleury is the second position Division goalie, and he's been a lot better, and we're going to get into that a bit later. But, you know, I think you look at David Riddick, he's only got the 24 games because obviously he's sort of,

at the start of the year, they thought Mike Smith was going to be the number one there, and he's really wrestled that job away from him, and he's got a 921 save percentage. I mean, he's second in the league in that goal saved above the average metric that I mentioned in 5-1-5 just behind John Gibson. So he's been remarkable, and obviously, you know, as a 26-year-old who has very limited in age-l experience, I'm not sure how much to buy into that

or whether he can sustain over the full year. But if we're sort of just commemorating what happened in the first half of this season, I think David Riddick has probably been the second most valuable goalie in the Pacific Division, which is a crazy thing to say, but it also speaks to how bad some of the other performances from some of these other teams are going to get into it been. Yeah, and Mike Smith, he's Mike Smith.

Like, he's for up and down, and I know we had a rough start this season. I think it's been mostly down this season. Yeah, yeah. I remember, like, a few, maybe a month ago, I just scroll through like the goal list and he was like way way down in terms of say percentage five-on-five. So yeah, I can't imagine like the flames would have been first overall in the Pacific unless Riddick had played it like the way he did. So I think you're you're you're on to something there. Yeah and then obviously I mean you know with Monaghan and

Chuck and Lynn Holm like you could yeah you could really make a case of his team should have three or four guys similar to you know when we get into the Tampa bays of the world and so on and so forth, just because they've been so dominant offensively. The Edmonton Oilers. How do we feel about Connor McDavid being their representative? Well, I mean, that's John Gibson territory, I guess. Yeah. If there's, we're talking a heart trophy and, you know, just player that,

I mean, I don't know if even Connor McDavid is going to be able to carry this train wreck, but, I mean, he's doing his best. So I have a question for you. So, because obviously the Oilers visited your neck of the woods at the start of the season this year. Has his popularity reached the level that, you know, his actual individual greatness is, even overseas? Just from the perspective of like, when the Oilers were there, was he as big of a rock star as some of the other maybe less talented Swedish players that were on both teams? I think so, yeah. He's getting noticed a lot for sure.

And we actually, me and my company had a trip to Edmonton where we brought Swedes, Swedish travelers to Edmonton to see three Oilers games, and we got like 25 people that wanted to come, and I think, like, most of them were excited just the chance to see Connor McDavid play for three games, and I think that's the takeaway from this. Like, every time he's on the ice, you know, he's going to electrify you in some way. You can just, you can just, there's so few players that I've experienced during my time doing this, like that every time that player is on the ice, you just, you just peel your eyes on him and just wait for something to happen. It's very uncommon.

So, I mean, he's a special player, obviously, and he's probably the most deservant of a spot here. Well, you know what's funny at the start of this season, because last year, obviously, he led the league in scoring and he had such an awesome season. But if anything, like, you know, the way there's power play was such a mess with cleftball out of the lineup and injured even when he was playing. and I kind of pose this idea on Twitter that, you know, if his power play numbers got a bit better, he could even get like 125 points or something like that this year, which would have seen crazy. And he's on pace for 125 points. I just didn't realize that other guys in the league would also be on pace for that, right? Like, I just, I don't think anyone in their right mind saw this type of offense,

the season coming from McKinnon and Ranton and Kutrov and Goodrow and so on and so forth. Yeah. And Martin and so a lot of those guys are matching him now. So it's kind of like, just because, all these other guys are putting up such impressive point totals. And because the Oilers obviously have been so disappointing, it feels like McDavid's individual greatness is being overshadowed a little bit. And it seems weird to say it,

but I feel like as a collective, we probably don't even appreciate just how insanely good he is enough just because of everything else that's going on around him. No, exactly. I think was it like 53% of the Oilers' goals, and he had a hand in that? I don't know. I think he only had one goal against the ducks last night.

But still, it's mind-boggling. I can't believe it. I think, do we need to have Leon Dreisital on this list as well? Because obviously, I mean, you know, he's got 23 goals and 52 points and 42 games. Yeah, he's been perfectly fine, but I don't know how much. So he's been back and forth between being the second-line center and playing with McDavid. But obviously, as soon as he plays with McDavid, the point seems to pile up. Yeah.

Yeah, I believe he's played, you know, somewhere between like 50 and. 60% of his 5-15 minutes have been with McDavid. And obviously, he's been great with him. But at the same time, when he ever he's been on his own line, the number is just completely crash, as you mentioned. And so it's kind of tough to, on the one hand, like he's putting up the points and he looks great when he's playing with McDavid. Yeah, but it's like, you know,

we also saw Alex Chassan score, like, be on face for 30-something goals playing with Connor McDavid. So it's kind of tough to know, like, how much credit to give to him and how much it's like, okay, well, literally anyone on this planet could probably have great season playing next to Connor David. Except Mila Luchich. Yes.

I mean, what happened there last year? It's amazing. Like, he scored, what was it, 10 goals? Yeah. Well, I believe he's got like one or two this year or three. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty sad. Yeah, and I think Ryan Agent Hopkins is also a great year. But like, like I said, I think if you're picking, like I'd rather have a couple of the

flames guys than all of these non-Connor McDavid Oilers just because of, you know, if you're all things being equal, the flames have been so much better. the Kings so they have Drew Doughty I think I'm not sending anyone from the Kings I think this is purely like I don't think people have even really recalibrated for what Drew Doughty or the Kings have done this year is one of those like name brand things where they just go oh Drew Doughty of course he's got to be on the all-star team yeah I mean both him and Anzikopitar has been kind of underwhelming by their standards but I mean so it's hard when the rest of the team is just caves in obviously but still no I I would be perfectly fine without anyone from the Kings being there. Do you want to hear one of the most mind-boggling stats this season? So the Kings haven't cracked 100 goals yet. I think they've played. They were over 40 games.

The Lightning in one fewer game have 176 goals. So it's, yeah, I think the talent disparity there is... Yeah. No, the things got bad in a hurry for the Kings. I guess we saw this coming with all the aging players and the contracts they have, but it looks like it's going to be a few bleak years before they can turn it around. Yeah. Yeah, they're 30th in the standings, 27th and goal differential.

They've, by any measure, been one of the worst five teams in the league. Yeah, no. Let's not send in one to the same to say. Yeah, okay. I'm an agreement there. So, yeah, that's opening some spot for the flames guys. Getting tickets online can be far too complicated. With hundreds of websites and paying levels of reliability,

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So I tweeted this on Saturday. I was watching the Canucks and Leafs game on Saturday night on Huckinand and Canada. And I tweeted, you know, Connor McDavid, I think, is number one on this. this list, I think Elias Pedersen has a good case to be number two in the sense of guys who are the most valuable for their team's watchability. Yeah. Like when Alas Pedersen's in playing and in the lineup, I think people are flocking over to Canucks games to see what he's going to do, to see, you know, just they want to be part of

the experience. Yeah. And without him in the lineup, like, I think they're literally the 31st team I'd, I'd pick for, like, if I had my pick up watching any team on any given night, I think I'd rather watch even the Kings than the Coxla-Lad-Lad-Peterson. Yeah, and I guess, I mean, not only has he been that good, but also, like, as you mentioned, like, the entertainment value from a guy like that,

just the things he can do with the puck, like, I've watched him for a few years now, and I'm still amazed because, like, you look at his skating and it looks kind of, I don't know. Right. It doesn't look really good, but then you see what he does with the puck and how he just deeks guys.

It's, yeah, I'm still in shock that he's been able to do what he's doing in his first NHL season. He was dominant in Sweden last year, but to go from that to do the same thing pretty much in the NHL, that's, I don't know if we, in Sweden, if we've seen anything like that since Peter Forsberg, basically. Yeah, well, it's kind of tough to, because obviously, you know, he's not, I mean, he's a rookie, but he's in his draft plus one season,

so he's a bit more mature. And, you know, he was playing in a pro league against grown men, whereas some of his peers were playing in major junior or whatever, right? But at the same time, you know, with all due respect to the Swedish Elite League, Swedish hockey league, it's an entirely different animal to come over to the NHL and replicate that success or even go above and beyond and be even more productive as he's been. So, yeah, I know. I mean, like, did you, when he was playing last year, did you get to watch him at all over there?

Because obviously, I think, like, Knox fans here were very excited, but I think it was a lot of, you know, watching YouTube highlights and seeing box scores as opposed to actually watching, tuning into his games. It's pretty funny. like every other week I had a radio station from Vancouver calling me to talk about the latest from Elias Patterson so you could tell like the Canucks were having a really bad season because they were more interested in what was happening with a guy in Sweden than with their own team so yeah it's it's pretty funny yeah yeah no I mean definitely I think last year was pretty pretty much

devoted to I mean Brock Besser had had a stretch there where he was scoring goals every night but otherwise it was a lot of like, you know, enjoying the box scores that Elias Feterson was putting up and kind of daydreaming of the day that he'd come over. And the fact that he's actually lived up, actually exceeded the hype. Yeah, that's the amazing. Yeah, because I was like, people were asking me, so do you think he can score 100 points in his first? He's like, whoa, whoa, take it easier. Like, he's a 20-year-old kid for crying out loud. But no, it's like, now you just feel like the sky's the limit for him.

Like, and especially if the Canucks keep getting better, I mean, they're going to get Queen Hughes and probably some other young players coming up. So they have a bright future now. Well, that's the thing, especially if they can get some defensemen who can, you know, getting a puck quicker in transition. And so you can get, you can kind of get a head start as opposed to having to do it all himself. Yeah, obviously, no one else on the Conucks is, uh, is the zero. No J. Beagle? No J. Vigel.

Man, it's amazing. You know, I joked about this. I believe I had Tyler Delo on the podcast, um, right after July 1st, right after free agency. And it kind of, you know, joked, but it's actually come. come to be true and you know jay beagle's obviously been injured so part of that is the reason why but it's like the capitals let j beagle come to the conucks for this big contract and then they just poached nick dowd from the conucks fourth line and put him into j beagle's role and nick dougal's been like three times as productive as j bagle is he's in for like one-tenth of the price so yeah well

good good for jay beagle i mean he has had a long career and they finally gets gets his money i guess but for the Kinnaks, I can't see what good it would do. Yeah. Okay, the sharks. So they have the three guys here with Burns, Carlson, and Pavelski, and they're the host. So I think obviously that kind of plays into it a little bit as well. And, you know, at the start of the year, I think people were kind of disappointed or underwhelmed by how they were playing. And they've been a lot better lately.

And I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them end the year as good as Calgary's been as the number one team in the Pacific Division. and I think they're still probably the best team, even though it's not reflected in the standings. But yeah, I mean, it's tough to, I think with Browns and Carlson, I mean, obviously by pretty much any measure, they've been two of the best, you know, handful of defensemen in terms of every offensive category. Yeah, Carlson is finally getting the bounces too.

I think his PDO was a joke in early in the season, and they were people were kind of sculling him for not doing enough. But I think obviously it takes some time to get used to new system. I mean, he was in Ottawa for, what, 10 years or something? So it seems like the transition is going better and better. And actually, I read somewhere like he has points in 12 straight games, and that's like a club record for a show. And some of them are like multi-point games, too.

Yeah, exactly. And Pavelsky was also, he's an interesting situation with becoming a free agent this summer. It's hard like he's with 35 or something this year. I think it turns 35. I don't know if he's that old, but he's definitely in his 30s. He's definitely, yeah, young Joe Polowski is definitely in his 30s, which is, yeah, he might, by the day, the time he retires, he might still be young, young Joe.

Yeah, exactly. No, but you're right. He's their captain, obviously. And so, and he's been great. He means a lot of that organization. I think he's up to 25 goals now, right? 25 goals. I think he's shooting over 20%, which is alarming.

But no, you're right. And obviously, I think the Sharks team has kind of shown that, you know, I don't think Doug Wilson is particularly worried about the future. Like, I feel like he's looking to win a Stanley Cup with his core. Yeah. And then kind of like Dean Lombardi, he's going to be making his exit on stage, stage, right? And get out of town and let someone else pick up the pieces of that mess. Because, I mean, you look at the contracts, right, with Burns and Lasic and especially

if they re-signed Eric Carlson this summer and the couture and so on and so forth. Like a lot of these guys are going to be in their mid to late 30s while they're still making lots of money. And similar to what we're seeing with the Kings and the Blackhawks, eventually they're going to pay the price for that and probably suck for a couple years. But if they win a cup like those two teams have, I'm sure no one will care. But if they don't, oh my God. Well, that's the problem.

And they have that one obviously Stanley Cup of final appearance against the penguins. And that was a great story. But you're right. They sort of need to validate this. Otherwise, it's going to be pretty awesome. This is the year. I mean, as you mentioned, the Pacific Division being so weak. And we saw what Vegas did last year.

They got, you know, while Nashville and the Winnipeg, they just went head to head and just to clobbered each other, like Vegas got a pretty smooth, right, and just got to pick up the pieces that were left of the Yets. And so I think if the sharks could do the same, obviously, Calgary is a threat, but, but I think they, they could be a finalist this year. Well, yeah, I mean, once the last time the sharks weren't good. Like, it's been over 15 years. One year, but.

Yeah, they did, yeah. But it was kind of like, you know, a blip on the radar. Otherwise, like, it's a testament to, you know, how consistent they've been and how many good players they've had for so long. Yeah. It'll eventually come to an end. I think I'd actually I'd probably have Logan Couture

over, over Pavelski. If I was picking one other representative, I think, you know, he's been a bit better at 5-15, Pavelski a lot. So here's the problem with the All-Stars, because Pavelsky, I think, has 25 goals or something. Right. And so

by any, it doesn't really matter whether he's been lucky or not. Like, him and the Sharks get credit for those 25 goals. So, with the All-Stars, we're not necessarily trying to figure out what they're going to look like in the second half of the season. We're reflecting what they've done so far, right? So, Pavelski, I think, has been a bit fortunate. A lot of it's power play production.

A lot of it is a shooting percentage, but he still has a 25 goals. But I think, like, if you strip that and you just look objectively at who's been sort of forcing their own success a little bit more, it's probably, good sure, I think has been probably the more valuable player to them. So I'd probably have him over it, but, I mean, I'm not going to quibble with it too much. I think it's fine. Yeah, and I'm thinking maybe like, I don't know about the fans, but if you're a shark fan, like, I guess having your captain on the ice for the All-Star game in San Jose might be a thing too. I think so.

I don't know who's the more popular player up there, but. I think probably Pavelsky. Yeah, yeah. He's been there his old career. Yeah, well, Kature has too, but he's been around much longer. Yeah, no, well, Yang Joel Povilski. Yeah, Carlson. I did want to mention 57.6% shot share on the ice, right, 5-1-5,

56.5 expected goals. I mean, when Carlson's been out there, you know, they're not scoring as much. I think his actual goals for is like 52%, which is still obviously very good. But like, you know, the goaltending behind him has been very shaky. And as you mentioned, the start of the year, some of the bounces offensively weren't going his way. But, yeah, I mean, when he's on the ice, the sharks are the best team in the league. Yeah, basically. good so he's been pretty good yeah so could you see a win norris or no i i can't see it just because i mean

obviously if he keeps up this that stat you mentioned the past 12 games or whatever if he keeps piling up the points piling up ridiculous points but i think like he fell behind so much and the expectations for him are so high it's kind of like we were talking about with mc david's a little bit unfair where he's reached such great heights already that for people to be impressed like he needs to do even more yeah and like it's almost humanly impossible at this point for him to be better than he's been in those peak auto years. So as good as he's been so far, I think people are going to gravitate towards Mark Sheridan

or Morgan Riley or John Carlson or some of these other defensemen that are having equally good, even slightly worse seasons, but just because they've never really done it before like that, people are more excited about it. Yeah, I guess you can never don't play the surprise factor there. For sure.

Okay, let's finish off the Pacific Division here with the Golden Knight. So Mark, Marjorie Flurry got the bid for them. You know, he's up to 9-12, say percentage for the year, which is a testament to how good he's been lately because at the start of the year he was doing incredibly poor out of the way. He was sub-900. Otherwise, like, there hasn't...

I think they're a really good team. You know, they were a bit unlucky at the start of the year, especially compared to how fortunate they were last year. And, you know, Nate Schmidt was out of the lineup at the start and they've had some injuries. But I think they're a really good team and really well-rounded.

The problem is, like, it's kind of a bit of a team effort. Like, there isn't... Yeah, I don't think there's anyone that sticks out, really. Like William Carlson is having good season, but obviously not as obviously. I think we expect him to take a turn down, and I guess he has. So, no, I can't see like Marshes-O, too, he's been injured, and Pasha Redd has been injured. No, there's no one that really sticks out to me.

I mean, Alex Tucker has been probably the most surprising. Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, he's been really good, but I don't think he's like all-star level player. Yeah, and H-Mitt, I think he's probably. arguably their most impactful player but he's only played the 25 games he was suspended to start

the year and yeah they kind of turn it around when he came back yeah I mean he's awesome like pretty much whenever he's in the ice even dating back to Washington his teams just do significantly better than otherwise so yeah and like in a year or maybe even this season they're going to have Eric Brownstrom and that's going to be really oh boy

he's he's as you say I think that's the most excited you've been so I mean we've talked about Eric Austin we've talked about Hunter McDavid but the The light in your eye that I just saw when you started talking about Eric Brancer, you got fired up there. Yeah, I really like Eric Brancer. Not only because he's a sweet, but just the way he plays, he's so much fun.

Give us a little scouting report. What should we expect from Eric Branson? Well, just whenever he's on the ice, he's just, you know, going forward, forward, forward, and he wants to make things happen all the time. Maybe he forces to play a bit sometimes, but just the way, just the drive he has. It's incredible to see. and yeah I'm really looking forward to seeing him in the NHL yeah no I am as well obviously I think you know he almost made the team out of camp this year

yeah I mean well with with Schmidt out I think he made out and Shea Theodore was holding out for his contract right and he signed that very late in the game but I think there was a time there where people we thought Brantzstrom might actually make the team and he's probably I mean young defensemen generally kind of get a raw deal like they don't get to play as much and if they make a mistake they get benched but he's probably talented enough to be one of their six starting defenseman right now. He's an HL all-star. That's a good start, I guess. He's pretty good, yeah. He looked pretty good in the

world juniors as well. Yeah, with William Carlson, you know, he's got 15 goals in 45 games, and that's pretty good. He's a 30-goal score. He scores 30 goals. Like, I think he's going to get paid very nicely, obviously not, it's not 43 goals that he had last year, but

you know, his shooting percentage is down from, what, 23.4 to 15.8, and I think this is pretty sustainable for him, and so if he's going to be a proven 30-goal guy for the next couple years to come. Like, that's an incredibly valuable player with the defensive value he provides as well, and you'll get paid pretty handsomely. Yeah, yeah, I'm all on board for the William Carlson contract extension.

The wild bill. Yeah, the wild bill. Yeah, he's, uh, why did you get that nickname? Uh, I don't know. Like, I guess it has something to do with his hair and his personality. Is he wild? No, he's not wild, but he's a really funny, goofy guy. he, you know, he can be pretty boring interview from time to time, but as soon as, like, he is...

He got a couple beers in him? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'd like to be there when he gets a few beers, that's for sure. Okay, let's take a quick break here from a sponsor, and then we're going to... We're firmly now in that New Year's resolution period of the year. And if you're like myself, most of those goals typically revolve around making better decisions. So you're looking better, you're feeling better. better, you're making smarter financial decisions, so you've got more money in your pocket.

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similar to what we were saying about with the Kings, like the Blackhawks have been a bit more exciting to watch just because their goaltending has been so bad that they kind of had more of these high-scoring back-and-forth games. But, I mean, sheesh, minus 31 goal differential in 44 games. Yeah, that one is tough. I mean, they lack so much right now. I mean, even though, I mean, Jonathan Chaves is having a perfectly good season,

which he hasn't had for a while. And finally getting some of the bounces, but still it's like him and Kane. And I think Dylan Stroman's been perfectly fine since he came over, but there's not a whole lot to be happy about. One good thing I'll say, and we saw this in the world juniors quite a bit. Like they've clearly made a point of investing in their blue line in the past couple drafts. I think their first two picks each of the past two years were defensemen. Yeah, Yoki Haru and Bochrist.

And we saw Yoki Harriou, we saw Boquist, Ian Mitchell on Team Canada, Nicholas Bowden as well, who wasn't in the World Juniors. he was also a first rounder for them last year. And so I think there's something to be excited about there because for the past couple of years, it's been such an aging blue line. And, you know, for so long it was Keith and Seabrook, and now there's shells of the players they once were. And so the fact that there's like another way, we'll see if those guys actually develop into something.

But, you know, I think so far is so good. I think everyone's pretty optimistic, especially about Yokohar Yu and Boquist. So I think there's reasons for relative optimism that at least that area of the game will become better for them. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, they got some interesting pieces up front. I mean, Alex DeBinkat, it looks like he's going to be scoring a lot of goals for the next 10 years or whatever. And a few other young guys, but they're still stuck with the Seabrook contract for a very long time.

And that's going to be a tough one to swallow. You know what's interesting? Their best defenseman by a mile this year has been Eric Gustafson. Yeah. And, you know, that's obviously relative because there's not much else competition-wise around him. But he's been legitimately good. Yeah. What I like a lot is, you know, last year he was sort of like a bit of a fancy stats, darling,

where his underlying numbers were great, but then no one really knew about him. You know, he wasn't a highly regarded prospect by any means, and he'd never really put up the offensive numbers in the NHL. So people were like, oh, Eric Gustafson kind of, you know, take your coursey numbers and shove them. But now he's on their top unit power play. He's playing top pairing minutes, and all of a sudden, I imagine, I haven't checked, but he probably leads their defenseman in scoring. Like, he's been.

He's been very good. I think it's good for him that Jeremy Colleton became the coach because I know he, I know Colleton was the one who, because he played in NHL for like half a season or something. And then the next season, I don't think he was called up once. But he got to play under Colleton and, you know,

regained his confidence. And I think he's another player now. And yeah, he's looking really good. I saw him a bit during the World Championships in the opening last year. and he looked like he was taking a big step in his development. So it's going to be interesting to follow. Yeah, no, I like him quite a bit.

Okay, that's Colorado, you know, McKinnon and Ranton and speak for themselves. They've been in the top five and scoring pretty much all year. I think the question here is do we also give Gabe Landiscagg credit for the year he's had? Or is it one of those things where it's like McKinnon and Randen have been so good that he's been a bit fortunate just to be playing with him. Yeah, both. I think he, I think he,

like, feels an important role playing with those guys. I mean, he's, he's a workhorse. He's really good defensively. And I think he, I think he creates space for those guys,

just by being a ferocious forechecker and stuff like that. So, but obviously when it comes to skill and, I mean, you got to give the other guys credit. So I like client, scope for a lot of reasons, but I think it's pretty clear that it's McKinnons and Ranting this year. Yeah, and especially with some of the other forwards in his division, I think

it's kind of tough, right? Like, with the Winnipeg guys coming up and so on and so forth, it'll be tricky to get him in there, but obviously I want to give him a bit of love because I think sometimes we do dismiss guys who play with great players. And I guess we, you know, we just talked about how Leon Drey said it might should probably shouldn't make the all-star team because he gets to play in the Connem of McDavid. So I guess it kind of, it's kind of, Yeah. It's counterintuitive to what I just said right now about onus Gog, but I think it's very easy to dismiss the 20-something goals he has this year

just because he's playing with those two guys. But, you know, he clearly had something. And I like that point you make about creating more space for those guys, both with a forecheck, but also just, you know, he's such a physical presence. And he's so ferocious and tenacious out there that the other team kind of has to account for him. And maybe, you know, for a guy like McKinnon,

he only needs, like, a millimeter extra space to potentially, eventually burst through the scene there. So that's obviously very valuable. Yeah, and it's been on pace for 50 goals. I mean, a lot of players are this year, but still, like, through the NHL history, only one Sweden has scored 50 goals, and that's Hawkenloob. So that's, I mean, considering, like, like where he is right now, it's pretty impressive. Yep. Um, the stars. The horseshit. The horseshit stars, yeah. Um, that's a tough one, because, you know, Miro Heyskenen is their all-star. I, I, he's been impressive and I think like you know especially considering he's a rookie defenseman but I don't think the fact that he's been impressive as a rookie defenseman should get him on the

all-star team because this is an award for the best rookies in the league this is the this is the best players in the league yeah I think it's hard to argue that he's been one of the best defensemen as impressive as he's been relatively speaking you know especially playing with us aladella on that top pairing while Klingerberg goes out um he really got exposed a little bit as any young defense would yeah yeah I wonder like is it because they don't have enough defensemen from the central division, because as you mentioned, like, there's a lot of good forwards. Yeah.

Because otherwise I, you know, second or Radulov would have been my pick. Yeah. Or even, I mean, can we get like Ben Bishop and Anton Hudobin as a hybrid combination where they just alternate? Because I think, you know, the stars are, this seems crazy to stay after all those years where they were so good offensively and they just kept losing because of Kri-Leddin. But their eighth and five-on-five say a percentage and they're sixth overall. the reason they're in a playoff spot right now or at least hovering around that bubble is mostly just because they're goaltending.

I mean, both guys have over 9-20 save percentage. Yeah, that's crazy. So maybe we can get a sneak those two guys in as one. Yeah, at least two players on the team that are not horseshit. Yeah, yeah. Okay, the Minnesota Wild, this is a tricky one because I would have said Matt Dumba and he would have been a defenseman for this division. So that could have made more sense. But he's out.

And he's, you know, he's been out for a while. otherwise it's like I love Mikkel Granland you know he's hovering around a point of game I think he's awesome I wish he would shoot the puck more sometimes um but he's a terrific playmaker Zach Parizay yeah most back pretty good from the injure but still well he's so I think he's mostly like uh I mean listen he's been great he's been over around a point of game as well he's probably gonna score 35 goals this year um I think it's mostly though like it is a great story because he had like that crippling back injury which could have potentially messed him up for life not just as hockey player and you know he might have the most productive individual season since 2009-10 which you know for a guy as old as he is you generally don't expect it a decade later yeah exactly right so i think he's an interesting story but yeah the minnesota wild don't really have a uh they're similar to Vegas what i like i like them as a team yeah but you know with guys like granlin parise zucker stall like it's kind of all those pieces fit together to create something better than yeah more scoring by comedian than anything else yeah um yeah i'd say dumb but

two he's and also because he's fun to watch like i think yeah he would have been fun in this three on three set yeah yeah because he's like uh you never know what's going to happen when he's on the ice uh so yeah no i'm trying to think of someone but i'm coming up empty here yeah well i think we go i think we outlined all the names there yeah you know you can take a pick of grand or perisi i think like they have devon dupin du bork as they're representative right now and you know he i don't think he's been uh nearly good enough to be an all-star i think it's similar what you said with Heiskenen where they needed a goalie and yeah so they just put them in there but I think if you put

either Ben Bishop or Anton Hudobin from the stars is their representative instead then you have a goalie there you don't need Devin Dubnick you can pick one of these other more deserving forwards yeah no that's true they get the predators so they're tricky because they have a lot of all stars yeah but a lot of them have missed too much time to be all stars right yeah I think Suban Arvitz and Forsberg have all missed at least

half of the season so far pretty much which I I think it's, when a guy's played 20 games, I think it's pretty tough to say he's been an all-star. Yeah. And Ryan Johansson? Ryan, Hansen's been good. He's their leading score, obviously, and he, especially with Forsberg out, you know, and Arvittson, he, I mean, for a while there, as much as I like Fiala, that top line was Kevin Fiala, Ryan Hartman, and Ryan Janssen, right?

So, like, it's not like he had a lot of help there. And he was doing just fine. So he's been carrying that offense. So I wouldn't mind that at all, you know, they obviously have Roman Yossi as, as, as, uh, the representative. And, and I think from an exciting. excitement entertainment purpose. You have to have them in because he's probably one of the most exciting

defensemen to have in this three-on-three setting. But I think, I don't know if this is a hot take, but Matthias Echholm has been their best defenseman this season. Yeah, if you looked at like the whole game. But as you mentioned, entertainment factor, well, Matthias Econ can be pretty entertaining, especially when he's pissed off. Well, that's the thing.

I think power forward to Mattia Sechold. Yeah. I think we should put him in this list as a forward and just get him out there bullying people down down. Yeah, and especially if he's pissed off and just hitting people and cross-shacking people in the back, he can be really mean. Like, I remember last year I was in Toronto for a game, and we watched the Predators, and people like turn him, like, oh my God, Matthias Ecombe, he's the nastiest sweet I've seen since Old Samuelson.

It's like, wow, because he's the nicest guy outside, I know, like, as soon as he's got a pretty hot temper. So, yeah. No, he's having a great season, probably the best season of his career, for sure. Yeah, well, especially offensive, you know, but I think, especially with Suban, I'm missing so much time. Yeah, he finally got to play as I'm on the power play. Yeah, but he's also, I mean, he's been playing with Dan Ham, he was, who obviously isn't the type of player he used to be before. So it's not one of those things where, you know, Ellis and Yose are a pairing and they get to play together. Yeah.

You never know how to separate who's carrying the load there, who's more valuable. Whereas, you know, Echholm and Suban have been so good ever since they've been united. But now that Suban's been out of the line, you kind of get to see Echolm spread his wings and show that he can be a dominant. and sort of singular force by himself. Yeah. Yeah, and he's a funny case because, like, when he was younger, he was, like, one-dimensional offensive player, and he came over to Nashville.

They put him in the HL for a few years, and suddenly he's this great two-way defensemen. So whatever they're doing down there in Milwaukee, admirals, it's clearly working. Yeah, especially with developing defensemen, I think the printer's system's been pretty good. The Blues, you know, they have Ryan O'Reilly as a representative. I'm okay with not having...

Yeah, I don't think anyone is... I mean, he's been... he's been clearly the best player he has but i'd also be okay you know with some of these other names you mentioned and the jets or i have a couple guys coming up yeah like if you wanted to have the blues with no representatives just to uh to make the numbers work yeah i would be okay with that because yeah me too like i said when a team is having the type of season they're having especially how disappointing it's been yeah uh like we all had high expectations for them i don't think anyone thought that the blackhawks or the kings would be great i think people thought the blues could

potentially push the jets up there atop the central and and and the and the predators and they've been one of the worst teams in the league so it's uh it's pretty bleak yeah no um not even tarasenko has been good so that that tells us yeah he's been in trade rumors i mean he's been bumped down to line up like yeah it's been a season from hell from them so i'm okay skipping skipping skipping them out um the jets they've got wheeler and shifley kind of speaks for itself yeah they probably could have had line it too i mean he's been i mean he's line he's gonna like one of these weeks he's gonna 10 goals and then it's going to go 10 games straight without scoring. But it'd be fun to watch them in this

setting especially if you put them next like let's say you you know you paired them up with I don't know who's who's the best pure playmaker in this division Johansen or I don't know I mean you put him with Patrick Payne you put him like you put them in any combination or you just go like you would just go down the ice and just basically be like

sliding all the way in a one time position just waiting for the puck to get to you like I would pay to see that yeah and just see him in his skills competition with his like precision shooting would be interesting too like you've seen he score some crazy goals i just remember when he played in helsink and he just oh those when he scored that hat trick like yeah just amazing goal score yeah i mean he's he's capable of uh stuff with the puck coming off his stick that pretty much no one else yeah like my

memory no i don't even think ovetchen has been like obviously ovechkin is more about power but yeah he's not as much of a precision guy no like when line is on his game he's like a 20% sure yeah yeah it's crazy um yeah it's the prime steven stanco's territory um yeah i would have considered dustin buffin um for the jet suit but obviously now he's out and yeah and there's no hitting in the all-store game i guess that's true although he's funny he's really fun to watch and especially that three-on-three setting you know like he's uh he can get definitely get up and down the ice yeah um okay let's um let's move on to the east here so let's do it let's do the atlantic because you know we have 40 guys

you know, it's Tanper Division. And so there's 40 total All-Stars technically. I think, like, you could make a case that 20 of the best 40 players this season have been in the Atlantic Division, which is pretty crazy.

20 players on the Tampa Bay Lightning? Just go off and down the roster, yeah. Some of their, some of their AHL guys. Yeah. NHL All-Stars. No. Danik Parkell. It's remarkable, because obviously with, like, with the Bruins,

the Lightning and the Leafs, but then even the Panthers, as disappointing as they've been the season. I mean, you can make a case where we're going to get into them, but like four guys on that team. Yeah, probably. And that are probably more valuable than like anyone we just mentioned from Minnesota or some of these other teams that have been better than them,

but the individual star power hasn't been as good. So, yeah, the Atlantic Division, it's, this is going to be the toughest one to actually pick 10 guys. Yeah. Because we could go pretty much anyway. So let's go with Boston. I mean, is there any way that we can not have all three of the guys in that top line? Like, I guess you could make the argument not to have Bergeron,

just because he missed so much time. Yeah, but other than that, who Pasternak has been great. Marchan might not be scoring as much as he did last year, but he's still over a point of game, I believe. Yeah, he's definitely turned it on of late. And, yeah, I mean, those three guys like that, I think you should just have them, the three of them out there

as a three-man team. Yeah, you can really do that. No, because you would have the pucking offensive zone all the time anyway. Yeah. No, I think that's along with obviously, The McKinnell line, it's the most exciting line in hockey. And they just keep on going. Like, I don't know, like, the Bruins, what else do they really have?

Like, oh, Craig She's a perfectly fine player at Brousk, but still, it's like, it's the line that carries the whole team. Yeah. I think I'd be much more down with the All-Star game if we just got Bergeron, Pasternak, Mershan, versus McKinan and Renton and in Alain de Scoggins. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah.

That's sexy. Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah, I think all three of those guys have to be on it, but then obviously if you have those three forwards, like they currently only have Pasternac of the three as an all-star, right? And I get it just from a logistics perspective because, you know, we're going to get,

like, let's get into the Leafs right now. So they only have, they have Tavares and Matthews, left Mitch Marner off, he's one of the top scorers in the league. And I think Morgan Ryan was on some kind of list, Yeah, for the vote, for the final vote to get on as well. And, you know, he's been top three in defensively scoring all year. And I think Frederick Anderson's been their most valuable player. Absolutely.

Like, obviously he's injured right now, but, but how could you not pick him? Like, he's been, I mean, if there was like a Vecina voting right now, I have to think that he would be at least top five. No, the top three, I think right up there. Like, I think I think Gibson's running away with him. Yeah. But then I think, you know, you'd have him right up there. And so it's crazy because, yeah, you you all of a sudden let's so we have matthews marner taveras Riley Anderson yeah that's

basically it's five guys okay yeah so then we've got Pastornak Bergeron and Marshawn all have to be on there yeah it's eight guys and then we haven't even mentioned the lightning we haven't gotten into six of the other teams and the lightning probably deserve more guys on the team than any of those teams yeah so I I don't know what the right answer is yeah I do think I think um But Marner for sure. Marner's been their most valuable skater. Yeah, and also from the entertainment purpose. I would take him over both Matthews and Tavares, actually.

Definitely over Tavares. I think watching Matthews just in terms of some of his puck handling and his shot, that could be a fun thing to have out there. But yeah, I think, you know, Tavares is an awesome player and he's having a great season. I don't think he's like the sexiest player to watch from an entertainer. He just gets the job done. Yeah. And I think Marner is obviously just such an electrifying player,

but also just in terms of, of what he's done with his playmaking and sort of giving Tavares that passer to play with him. We've seen how great of a combination it's been. And so I think it's crazy that, I mean, obviously, Leaves fans have been up in arms about it. And I don't think anyone needs, I don't think Mitch Marner needs two other guys to be singing his praises and starting a public campaign to get him on the All-Star team. But he's got enough love already, but he deserves to be honest. So the only one is have his Cal Duba's because that's at least one thing that he won't be holding against him when it's time to.

He comes into negotiations. Uh, you're not even an all-star. Sorry, you're not an all-star. That's going to be no 10 million bucks for you, buddy. It's true. Okay, so, but, so we've got eight guys we mentioned from those two teams, right? Then we get into the Sabres. And I think Eichl and Skinner.

Yeah. Right? Absolutely. So, okay, so we filled out our 10, we haven't even gone. So are the lightning, their own division? Yeah, the lightning division. But it's crazy because, I mean, yeah, I think Eichl and Skinner. I mean, Ikele's obviously injured right now, but he's still played enough this season.

He's only missed the past couple of games. games like yeah and he's been fun to watch and he's shooting as well yeah yeah so he's not been scoring very much but uh still like creating a lot of things and i mean skinner as we mentioned before with lindholm just getting just getting that really good player to play with and suddenly he's realizing just another potential well he's he's also so fun to watch from his like his skating perspective as well right so he'd be great to have in the setting and then you know you get into um You get into the Panthers, and I'm looking right here, they've only got, yeah, the Panthers only have Keith Yandel as their representative. Yeah.

That also has to be something like, okay, we badly need a defenseman. Because even though he's been perfectly fine, I could think of a lot of different guys who would deserve. Well, yeah, I mean, in this division, I mean, you've got, you know, Thomas Shabbat makes a lot of sense as a lot of was representative. And then, you know, Morgan Riley is not on this team, but we think he should, right? But I think Yandel has also been, you know, that Panthers team has been such a mess. defensively and at 5-15 and their goal-tending with Long being out of the lineup and Rhymer not being very good.

But that power play has been one of my favorite things to watch this year with, you know, you've got Yandel out there, you've got Barkov, Hubert O, Datenov, Hoffman, and all five of those guys are threats to shoot, pass, the puck's just flying back and forth and they've been right up there with, you know, the Winnipegs and the Tampa Bayes of the world

in terms of how good their power play's been. And it's been so fun to watch. And so it seems weird to say because the Panthers aren't probably not going to make the playoffs and they haven't been that good. But that's mostly because the back half of their roster is so bad. I think the top half has been as good as any in the league, right? So I think, like, you know, you got to have Barkov on this team.

Yeah. Which he's not, unfortunately. I think Hubert O has really had a breakthrough season. I think he's been remarkable. And then you can have your pick between Hoffman and Dad and of, but both guys have been good. Yeah. It's a numbers game.

Yeah. I know you were kind of sketched out when I told you that I think 20 of the best 40 guys have been in the Atlantic Division. I'm buying into this now, yeah. The Red Wings, I think Dylan Larkins is the only one you can make a case for. I think we could skip him as well. I think, yeah, based on some of these other names. The Habs.

So their representatives carry a price, which is hilarious, because he's literally been, I think, their most negatively impactful player. Yeah. Oh, well, I guess he's been better since he came back after India, but, oh, no. I mean, from the entertainment valley, I love to see Jonathan Gruan in a setting like this. Yeah, I would as well. I mean, the goalies in this division are Jimmy Howard and Kerry Price.

And, you know, Howard's been really good for Detroit. But I think, like, Freddie Anderson clearly should be on here. And then, I guess we have Asolevsky, right? Yeah. Those are the two best goalies in the division. Yeah. So it's, the All-Star game is apparently not for the best. players. Well, it's a popularity contest and it's also getting all, all 31 fan bases involved in some

capacity. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, the haves. I think Drewan would be really fun. I'm ax Domi's obviously, he had an awesome season. Jeff Petrie? Jeff Petrie's been really good.

Yeah. And they've been, they've been, I highlighted them in the preseason as I didn't think they'd be this good, but I thought they'd be much more fun to watch than they were in the past. And I thought they'd be much better offensively, because if you looked at it, like, all of their guys had horrible shooting percentage seasons last year. And I just thought, like, you know, they're probably going to get a little bit better. And more goals will come and they'll be more fun. And if Kerry Price is good, I think they'll be really good.

And Carrie Price hasn't been good, but they've been good as a team. Yeah. And they've been really fun to watch their, I've watched a couple of their games recently, like the divisional games. And there was a game against Tampa Bay there. And you could tell, like, I don't think anyone wants to play them just because they have, like, so much speed and, and. it's tough to describe like

with guys like Brendan Gallagher like they just no one no one wants to play against them right like they're so annoying because they're skilled enough to make the fact that they're kind of pests even more annoying right and I guess you have to get

Claude Julien's on love too because I mean he had a bit of rough time there at the end of the Bruins era and obviously he when it took go with the Canadians they were pretty much a wreck but he's I mean he's proved once again

what a good coach he is yeah I think he's right now I mean if you're doing a a Jack Adams list. Like he's, might not be number one, but he's definitely like a top three finalist. Yeah.

So what do you think about Jack Adams? Like, because mostly it goes to like the coach that has, you know, taking a surprise team. The worst team to the highest team. Like, there's always like that kind of thing.

But I mean, this year, a guy like Young Cooper, I mean, obviously with the team he has, but still. Yeah. Yeah,

I mean, I think obviously, and we typically see this, the guy who's, whose team has the highest PDO usually wins it. Randy Carlyle. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So Barry Trots would fit that argument, but I do think, like, I'm much more of a believer in the Islanders than some other people are. I don't think they're probably not. I mean, they might not be a playoff team, but like they're clearly exceeding expectations from what people thought they'd be in the summer, right? Yeah.

And I think he's clearly had an impact offensively on, on both the goaltending and sort of what they're giving up in front of those goalies. And so I think it's, for all. lot of these guys like with john cooper i believe he's a awesome coach the track records there the team is winning so much i can't you can't tangibly point to how valuable he's actually been to how good the lightning are no with barry trots like the team is pretty much the same i think arguably the roster is worse they got rid of the bears and they added val philipala and leo comorov and and matt martin like i don't think anyone thought they'd be better no you could tangibly point to last

year versus this year and go this is what an actual n hl coach means yeah to this team right so that's the tricky part but yeah i mean if you're going to have john cooper there obviously i don't think too many people are going to quibble with the fact that what are they like 36 and 7 or something this season yeah it's crazy um the ottawa senators Thomas shabot i think mark stone yeah um matth duchin's been out of season as well i mean i mean mark stone will be kind of fun to watch because uh he's so good in that neutral zone area and so much of this uh three on three competition is sort of that transition game right you're kind of going back and forth

and I'm sure he'd make some stuff happen and he'd probably have a couple notable takeaways in the neutral zone. They'll lead to a breakaway the other way and so I think he'd be a fun player to watch in this setting. So I would have him in there, but I mean, the forward competition in this division is so insane that I see why he's not on there.

But yeah, I mean, Shabbat, obviously he's injured now and I'm not sure if he's even going to be healthy enough to play, but when he's been on the ice, pretty much both teams are just scoring at historic rates. Yeah, it's great. He's a pretty good player to have in this setting. Yeah, he's like, young Eric Carlson in the sense because

he's all over the ice and there's stuff happening all the time so I mean as we mentioned from entertainment value it's going to be fun yeah the lightning so they've got Kutrov and Stamco's I think Braden Point has to be honest I think I would have picked Braden Point

over Stamkels I think he's been more valuable I mean Stamco's really had a little resurgence recently here around the holiday break with like he was scoring so many goals and it's good to see that back because he was a great player last year for them, but he looked like he'd kind of been transitioning into a different part of his career where he's more of a playmaker.

Exactly. And so now he's scoring a lot of goals and that's great to see. But I think, yeah, I think Braden Point, especially from the two-way perspective, is a more valuable player and has had a better season. Yeah. Although he does get to play with Kucherel full-time. Yeah. Which is a good thing.

It's a really good thing. No, but, oh, there's so many players on that team that I like. But, I think it's surprising to be, I think people would be surprised that not to see Victor Headman on this team, but I think it's fair that he's not on. Like, as good as the lightning has been, I don't think anyone would point to Victor Headman's season this year and go, like, he has to be on this team. He's been that amazing. Like, he's more of a name than actual, like he's been fine. Yeah. But I think, like, you know, Morgan Riley's been better. You know, Thomas Shabbat has had him more practice. Yeah, I don't think we're going to seem like in the

Norris conversation this year. Well, he got it last year. Yeah. So he's, he's done. Yeah. And Ryan McDonnell has been perfectly fine, and much better play than it was last year. So there's so many players on that team yeah well we could have it I mean it really could be you know the lightning versus the league yeah North America versus the world like the Stanley Cup champions against

the other teams that'd be kind of fun to watch actually yeah we already did the leaves right yeah pretty much so Metro Division all right the hurricanes Sebastian Aho yeah by mile I think

I think he's in that conversation you know I was saying earlier about Pedersen and how you know I think it goes McDavid and then I think it's Pedersen in terms of like what he means at a team from a watchability perspective exactly like if you took a ho off of the hurricanes I I shudder to think about what would be left yeah I'm trying to think of other players but I mean Terravine and has anyone ever said I'm gonna tune in tonight to watch table with Terrellan and play probably not since the world union's yeah I think it's been a while like he's a great young player

yeah I don't think he's like no type of exciting individual talent no no like I mean they have Good defenseman there, but I mean, I'm not tuning in to see Jacob's Slaven either, even though he's a really good defenseman. But no, I'll hope by a mile. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, I don't think there's anyone else really here. The Blue Jackets? Cam Atkinson is their representative, and he's been having a great season. I mean, I think Arsami Panarin would be incredible to watch in this setting, and he's obviously had a very good year in himself.

Like, that top line, like, that's the thing. It's, it would be fun to watch. Oh, they play with? Yeah, and he's been great as well. So it would be really fun. I don't know what logistically, how you would make it work in this tournament, where it's like you just pick the best,

however many top lines and you have them play against each other. But like, I think that would be more, just from that like kind of chemistry perspective and sort of that, you know, like you, I think you'd see much more competition. Yeah,

and just the two-way perspective as well. Yeah. You would think that because Boston has Bergeron, that they would have an advantage. But yeah, you never know. Like, Yeah, I don't know. It's tough leaving our Temi Pernar and all this list.

And then, you know, Seth Jones missed the start of the year, but he's obviously an excellent player and he'd be really fun to watch here. Yeah, but Brovsky hasn't had the type of season. He's been better of late. But, you know, the goalies here are Holpey and Lundquist and I'm okay with that. I don't think there's anyone. Oh, I mean, the Islanders, it's kind of tough because like Lennar and and Grice have been, Leonard and Grice have been the two best goalies in this division. Yeah, basically. How do you, I guess kind of like what we said with Houdobin and Bishop, can we, can we like jam them after one and just have them alternate? That would be a big goalie.

Yes. The Grice Lennar clone. Yeah, yeah. I'm really happy to see the season Lennar's had. Yeah, especially with what he's gone through and, you know, kind of redemption for all the bad things that has happened to him. So, yeah, I'm happy too, because I think this means that he can prolong his NHL career and just. Well, he kind of bet on, I mean, he didn't really bet on himself because I don't think. there was a market for him based on how he had played recently but you know he got that one-year

deal worth pretty much nothing relatively speaking from the islanders and if he keeps playing this way I think he's going to earn himself a nice little multi-year contract which is great to see yeah absolutely so yeah he's been great and I mean grace has been equally good so so it's tough to kind of separate those two guys yeah and it's interesting I mean grice was really bad last year but how much of that was like the team didn't play defense at all like I guess you can see a correlation there. Yeah. No,

it's true. Well, it's weird because Grice has been so much better this season. Yeah. And Halak has been

amazing in Boston. Yeah, in Boston. Yeah. And so it just makes me, makes me think that it was more so what was going on in front of them. And I think watching it,

like it's pretty good. They had no defensive plan, right? No. But it's kind of, I think whenever we talk about goaly numbers and defensive play, like it's really tough to separate those two, like what's causing what?

Yeah. And obviously a good goalie or a goalie like playing like John Gibson's playing will make the defense in front of him look a lot better than it is. But at the same time, there's only so much you can do when we're seeing how much better. Everyone involved has been this year now that there's actual NHL coaches involved and not

the Doug Wade, Jack Cap, or no combination. Exactly. And I mean, some goal is really thrive in that kind of situation where they're hung out to dry. And then when they play on teams where they're actually not, they tend to not do as well. So it's kind of a gamble that way. Yeah, you never really know how to work out. With the Rangers, Lundquist, I'm okay with it.

Like, his numbers have kind of dip now just because it's such a mess in front of him. Like, we were just talking about the numbers. But the fact that he's, like, at the start of the year, they were kind of winning more games than people thought, and they were hovering around the playoff bubble. And, you know, they've come crashing back down Earth. But the fact that they weren't immediately the worst team in the league, like they've been the past month or so is a testament to just how. Yeah, they actually lost the KIO. It was five nothing the other night. So that tells us something.

Well, and I think the shots were like 35 to 10 or something at one point, right? Like, it's, I mean, it's not nothing new for London. Quist and you know clearly at this stage of his career he can't um hold up as well for as long no as he could in the past but um you know he's still so good and it's a shame like i think he's i think he's loving life living in new york and and making a bunch of money and being super sexy and then all that but i think uh you know so i'm i'm sure he's perfectly happy regardless of some of the tantrums you see on the ice so i don't think he's in a rush to move or or or play with a different team.

But it is like as a fan. It's just kind of like hard-breaking, right? Like, wouldn't you love to see him playing on a good team trying to win a Stanley Cup? Because I think he's still capable of contributing. Absolutely. And, yeah, it's a messy situation. I mean, he turns, what, 37 in March? And obviously, he's, even though he's still good.

And Roberto Longo has shown that you can actually be good way up. I mean, he's almost forwarded. Right. So there's still time, but I don't know. Like, I think the Rangers are probably a few years away, and I don't think Glenquist has a few years left. So, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's kind of sad. Yeah.

Wow, that was depressing. Yeah. I feel, I feel bad for saying. The Flyers, like, this is a very, wait, so for the Islanders, we skip past it because I'd be okay with either of those goalies, to be honest, being on it. I think Leonard is a great story. You have to have bars out on this in this three on three. If you're picking a list of players you want to have on,

how many names do you get through before Matt Barsal comes up, like four or five? Like he's top, yeah. I mean, yeah, he's clearly one of the most exciting players, just the way he skates and, you know. I mean, obviously this year he's been put in another role because the virus is not around anymore, but I still think, I mean, late he's been great. And obviously, just a dynamic player in so many ways. So. Yeah.

So if I don't watch for the pop, yeah, yeah, for sure. And especially, you know, with all due respect to Anthony Bovey and Josh Bailey, you know, if he's, I don't know, if he's playing with Taylor Hall and, and whoever else in this. Who are doing Claudeau and Taylor Hall? Like, I would love to see Matt Purs on play with those guys, right? Oh, wow. Okay, we're going to blast through fires and devils. It's Taylor Hall and Claudeauroo respectively.

And no issue there. they've clearly, I mean, they're the most valuable players and there really isn't anyone else that you would even consider on either of those teams. No, it's disappointing in a way because, I mean, both teams seem to be headed in the right direction and then everything just derailed this season. Yeah, yeah, and goaltending is, for the most part,

with both those teams and, yeah, illustrates how important that is. Okay, the Penguins and the Capitals. You know, it's kind of... Yeah. We're not going to break any ground. It's, you know, it's depending on the capitals. They've got the top guys that have been the top guys.

Yeah, but two and the top guys. So I guess we have two. I don't think so. I think I'm perfectly okay with, although, yeah, I guess Ovechkin saying he's not going to go. It makes it easier. He's clearly an all-star. You know, John Carlson's had an awesome season. Yeah.

And much better than I thought he would. And we'll still see how that contract looks a couple years from now and some of the decisions it forces them to make. But, you know, it's pretty clear that he's taking his game to another level. and he's a Norris contender now, and they're looking pretty smart for retaining him and not letting him walk. I don't think, yeah, with the capital, is like, because Netsov missed some time,

he's obviously great. Baxterm is still Nicholas Baxterom, but with the other names involved, I'm okay with them not making it on the L'SR team this year. Like, oh, I think, especially because Netsov would be remarkable to watch in this, more so than Baxter,

but I don't know. What do you think? I mean, Baxter, he's always, like, been in the shadow of Edgkinwood, obviously and never really got the chance to go to these events a lot. So I would kind of, I would feel that he has earned a spot.

But at the same time, when it comes to watchability, obviously Kuznetso is probably the funniest guy on the team. Yeah. And there's no one close to him. And we want this to be entertaining. So yeah, Kuznets would be my guy. With the penguins, I mean, you know,

Crosby's their representative. And I think, um. Is he going though? I think he will. I think he will. He hasn't said that he's not yet. Okay. Yeah, we'll see.

I don't know. It could be another chapter in the Crosby or a veteran. Although, yeah, Crosby, I mean, let's not act like, you know, Crosby's got a moral ground here. He's also skipped this event before in the past. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But he's been great this year. Yeah, absolutely.

I think he's clawing his way into the hard trophy discussion because the Penguins have been playing much better. And I think Malkins getting his points, but he hasn't really had an Afghani-Malkin type of season. Crosby's been so, so great and kind of, you know, Gensel's been playing with him. He just got Gensel paid. And, you know, they've been alternating that third guy, whether it's been Brian Russ or Dominic Simone or whoever, and it doesn't ultimately really matter. And it kind of speaks that of greatness of Cindy Crosby. So putting him in this tournament and getting him to play with any of these other guys,

we've mentioned, is going to be a blast, and I'm looking forward to it. So I think Chris LaTang, in fact that he stayed healthy and how good he's been. I think he should be one of the defensemen. But, you know, Seth Jones and John Carlson, kind of tough to argue with those two guys as being the two defensemen here. Yeah, yeah, I think so too. Like, Le Tang, he amazes me in the way, I mean, you just look at the injury list that he's had, and he's always seen to find a way to get to come back and be really good,

and it's just happy for him that he's finally healthy. I hope I don't jinx him. Saying that, but he's a really exciting player to watch. I think he's one of the more exciting, I mean, defensemen to watch in the whole league when he's on his game. For sure. 100% there um okay we're let's uh let's get out of here we did a we did an hour in 20 minutes wow we blasted through it wow that was long yeah but it was fun right yeah yeah yeah yeah except for the phone call here it's true that's true i'm not sure if that's even uh gonna stay in the

podcast or we might edit it out but yeah we got a we got a little interruption there but we uh we made it work and i'm glad we finally got to do this hopefully yeah it's the first of many i know you're going to be back here in town uh for the entry draft this summer absolutely yeah i'm looking in the chat. Yeah, I'm already falling in love with the cities. I expect I'll be back a lot of times. Plug some stuff. Where can people find you? What are you working on? Yeah, so for English

speaking, we're both doing work for EPIR Rinkside, elite prospects. So I think everyone who's interested in younger players, prospects, college players, whatnot, should definitely go give it a read. There's a lot

of talented writers, especially you, that are on here. Thank you. You've already been on the podcast. You don't need to butter me up. Yeah, but I want to come back. Ah, there you go.

That's smart men. No, but during the World Juniors, I did some work there. Did some features on Swedish players and so on. So that's probably going to be the things I do. So if you're interesting, reading more about Swedish prospects, I mean, I'll put some stuff out there. Yeah, I mean, you do a nice balance of English and Swedish tweets too. I mean, have you mentioned your Twitter handle yet?

Oh, yeah. Ofe-Buddin. You do a good mix of English and Swedish, although I prefer the Swedish as I've told Jonathan here on the podcast before. I mean, the Google translate is... Yeah, I mean, I don't understand the word of Finnish, but I just love, like, I don't know. Have you had Sammy Hofferman on? I have a no, but I do follow him. Yeah, he's great.

Yeah, yeah. So every time I just, Google translate his tweets, they're all like the most funniest. Yeah. Like into Swedish and English, just wonderful words. So, yeah, I completely get it. Yeah, Google Translate. What a treasure. All right, man. Well, this is a blast.

Everyone go check out Oofa's work, and I'm looking forward to having you back on this summer. Hi. Thank you very much. Videocast with Dim Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovic and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockey p.docast.