The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 277: Make Your Move

Episode Date: February 12, 2019

Andrew Berkshire joins the show to help preview the rapidly approaching trade deadline. In this episode we discuss trades we think could happen, trades we think should happen, and what each of the top contenders needs. 0:30 Making your move now versus waiting 6:1 The Predators going all-in with this group 20:45 Finding the ideal 2nd line center for the Jets 37:00 The answer to San Jose's goalie woes 45:45 The crossroads for the Blue Jackets 53:50 The Islanders need for a talent infusion 58:00 The rest of the winger market 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 Philip Owich and joining me's my good buddy Andrew Berkshire. Andrew, what's going on, man? Not much. You know, late start today. We're really pushing it, Dimitri. I know I made you sleep in. Yeah, yeah, it's only 6.11 AM here local time in Vancouver. But you know what? It's trade deadline season. We are, what, it's on 25th, right? So it's two weeks away today. Yep. And it feels like, you know, we obviously get a lot of stuff that actually comes down the day of and people waiting last minute. And some of these deals being finalized, but it does feel like this is going to be the week,

maybe more so towards the middle and latter half of it, where we start hearing some more rumblings. It feels like, you know, we're still kind of waiting for teams like the Ottawa senators, for example, to figure out what they're going to do with their two big upcoming free agents. And obviously those dominoes falling will impact where teams go elsewhere. So I think there's like, we're still in a bit of that holding pattern. We've seen a couple of little deals sprinkled in here and there. But for the most part, there is, I guess Columbus has two guys, Ottawa has two guys. and then everyone else after that.

And it feels like we're waiting for some sort of resolution for what those teams are going to do with those players before we figure out what's going to happen with some of the other guys like Matt Zucarillo and Wayne Simmons and so on and so forth. Yeah, it's definitely one. I feel like every trade deadline is kind of the same, right? They're waiting for the big shoe to drop on the big names and then everything else kind of pours in.

And we all expect, you know, some level of entertainment. And we tune in to TSN or SportsN or NBC in the States to watch. I don't know if NBC carries anything in the States, but to watch the trade deadline coverage and it's not until like five minutes after the deadline closes that a bunch of trades come in. Well, I remember last year we were waiting until after the fact to figure out

if Eric Carlson had or hadn't been traded. That's right. And then all of a sudden we're like, okay, Ryan McDonough has been traded, but I remember we had to wait like a solid 20, 25 minutes after the deadline had passed to figure out what the return was going back to New York. And, you know,

when you say 20, 25 minutes, you make it sound like it's like this eternity. But it feels like in this Twitter age where you're just like constantly having this breaking use and expecting immediate gratification that waiting those 20 minutes, I remember was excruciating. Everyone was just kind of collectively huddled around the TV, which I guess is the 2019 version of doing that. Right. And I feel like also when you have to write about it, that 25 minutes feels like forever, right? Because you're like just hovering over your keyboard like, okay, what's their turn? Where do I got to fill in here? And what's my opinion on this trade? Let's start doing the research. and, you know, it's just time ticks so slowly.

From a theory perspective, and obviously kind of, I think we can agree that every case is, um, needs to be evaluated on an individual basis and maybe depending on what your situation is a team, it would impact this. But this idea of, um, you know, jumping at it now and not being held hostage to that and not having a wait for some of those dominoes to fall before you strike, like, do, would you prefer a team go for it now and bring in a guy, um, and sort of start that chain of events and get an extra couple weeks of, integrating him into their team and into their lineup and into their dressing room or would you

rather wait until maybe not the last possible moment but closer to the deadline because i guess in the western conference especially like we can say especially after firing their coached at a team like the ducks and and how bad they've looked out east are probably done but at the same time with a lot of these teams regardless of how big a mess the oilers have been or the funk the canucks have been and so on and so forth you've got 10 teams that are within 10 points of each other and there's only three spots, playoff spots available for them. And I imagine for a lot of those teams, even if we from the outside can look at their situation and go, okay, yeah, this team probably shouldn't be going for the playoffs because if they do,

all that's going to happen is they're going to get swept. Like if you're in it there and you're running that team, it's, I imagine it could be a bit of a challenge sort of sending that message to your fans, fans that you're just waving the white flag and trading away parts and becoming a seller, even though you're technically in the race. Yeah, it's a tough situation. I feel like it's obviously preferable to get your player in. in as like your rental or if it's not a rental, somebody would term in as soon as possible,

you know, ingratiate them with the team, find where they fit in the lineup a little bit quicker. Plus you get like their impact for a couple more extra games. I'm sure that some people have floated the idea that the prices are a little bit cheaper further away from the deadline. I'm not sure if that's actually true. But I think it's one of those things where you have to have the luxury of the cap space

to add earlier, right? And it seems like a lot of teams, not necessarily up against the actual cap, but their internal cap is so tight that they wait until the last possible moment so they can have like one fewer day paying extra salary. So I guess it also depends if you're moving salary out at the same time, right? If you're finding a way to move player for player, which is pretty rare in season. But yeah, I would assume that it makes way more sense to add earlier than later for just a team perspective. Yeah. No, I mean, it does feel like it's kind of this game of chicken where you just got

these GMs just eyeing each other and just waiting. And I'm not sure if there is anything to the fact that the prices are lower now. It feels like it's kind of all over the place. Right. Like we always like to act that one trade comes down and we're like, okay, well, this is the market. The market's been set for this type of player and what they're going to come back in return. And then we constantly find that it's all over the place. It's basically like guys just waiting each other out. And sometimes the desperation kicks in one way or another. But okay, today you and I, I actually have given you some homework and we have both spent the weekend doing some thinking and we are going to on today's episode we're going to focus on the trade island obviously and we're going to discuss some

trades that we'd like to see happen now these can kind of i think um range anywhere from trades we think probably will happen to trades we think should or could happen i think like i approached this exercise mostly from the perspective of i looked at most of the contenders and i sort of tried to identify the biggest weakness on their roster or a guy that was available that would make a ton of sense for them and try to come up with a trade from that perspective. So I wasn't really focusing on like the, you know, the seventh, the seventh defenseman and some of these trades that we are going to see come down the road towards the deadline. But it was more so the bigger picture things. But hopefully, I'm sure there's going to be a bit of overlap here, but hopefully you and I have

some different ideas behind it and we can get into it. And as the guest, I will allow you to go first. Oh, perfect. Okay. So I'm going to take, I think, probably one that's been mentioned a few times that I've seen on Twitter. So it's not exactly original, but I think if you look at where Nashville is right now and what the issues are on that team, you know, terrible power play, their forwards outside of that top line kind of have trouble transitioning the puck and that second line, you know, whether it's the health of Kyle Turris or, you know, lack of consistency from Craig Smith or Kevin Fial and not, you know, necessarily. fulfilling a potential that Nashville wants from him.

I think they could really use Artemey Panarin more than any other team who's contending right now. He is a one-man transition machine. He would immediately solve their depth scoring issues, great power play player, and just, you know, the kind of dynamic game changer that outside of that top line they just don't have. And I think that turns them from, you know, they're a good team right now. And I know they've suffered a lot of injuries and they maybe are a little bit better than they look standings-wise or analytically.

But it changes them from a good team that's probably a second round team to back what they were two years ago, where they actually have a bit more depth at forward. And then you can continue fawning over that defense without having to rely on the defense for offense. Yeah, they've been tough to properly evaluate the season and kind of get a full grasp of, you know, not even how good there, about what their upside is just because it does feel like it's always been one important player out of the lineup, whether it's, you know, Taurus, missed 25 games, Arvinson, missed 24, P.K. Subman, it's 19, Forsberg, 17. And there's been some overlap there, but there's been also been periods where they finally look like they're going to get healthy, and then one of those guys goes out of the lineup.

So it's been tough to sort of figure out how good they've been. Obviously, the constant this year has been the awesome goaltending. And they're still up there. I think they're ninth in shot share and 12th and expected goals. So not necessarily super. elite, but even if you look at the past couple years when they've been, you know, making it to, I guess, whatever, they lost in the second round last year to the Jets, but everyone felt like that was the Western Conference final and obviously making it to the cup the year before. The underlying numbers were necessarily that dominant either. So I think this is a really good team, and you're right, I think adding Panera into any roster at this point would increase their ceiling

and move the needle quite a bit. And he seems like he's one of the few guys available that can single-handedly do that. I guess for them, It seems like... What do they have to trade, right? Well, that's the thing. It seems like everyone's kind of hovering around Ely Tobin, and I don't think necessarily any of the sort of luster has rubbed off of his star as a prospect. Like, I guess we're now the fact that he hasn't cracked that NHL roster yet,

and he hasn't necessarily blown people away at the NHL level. Kind of has soured people a little bit just because he was riding so high with everything he'd accomplished two years ago, it felt like. But I think most of these teams would still love to... to toss them into their lineup. And I guess I'm curious, you know, from the Predator's perspective, the idea of going and trading for an impact winger, like Panarin versus kind of waiting on some of these guys,

like either Fiala to take another step or Ely Tollivan. But you're right. I think with the core of this team and how good they are right now and how close they've been to winning it all, it does feel like of all the teams that we're going to talk about, they're really primed to capitalize on this and push all their chips in and figure it out. And it feels like if things don't go the way they expect it to,

this year. This summer, it feels like there could be some changes, especially with potentially moving one of those higher-priced defensemen to bring another star forward. Yeah, it seems like I know that this is, you know, only opinion. I don't have any necessary, well, I won't say I don't have any inside sources in Nashville, but I don't have, you know, like anybody in the locker room that I'm chatting with. Don't act like you don't have any inside sources in that. Okay, fine. But anyway, I feel like there's a little bit of impatience surrounding Kevin Fiel. in Nashville. And part of that is just you look at ice time and you can pretty much draw that conclusion.

It seems like he can't necessarily. Like last year, I feel like he, they felt like he was taking that next step. And this year really struggled off the outset. I feel like his underlying numbers are still really good. But I'm not getting the feeling that the coaching staff is in love with him. And he's a guy that I could see them if,

say they could find a way to sign Penera, which is probably unlikely. because he wants to be near the ocean or whatever. I could see them moving on from Kevin Fial in a trade where they're getting a player back with term. But I guess, like, Tolvinen is definitely a guy that they can move on from because, you know, they're primed to, like you said, win right now. But I feel like other than those two pieces, they don't have a lot to offer. I mean, Dante Fabro maybe, but I feel like I get the impression. they want to keep Fabro for when they trade one of the big four, right?

Like they can kind of see in the near future that that big four isn't going to be able to stick together. So I don't know. I just don't see. That's the problem with Nashville right now is they've kind of wasted a lot of their future assets on low-level rentals and Kyle Turus, who hasn't panned out as well as he could have mostly due to injury. And it's kind of tough to.

to make a big trade. Yeah. I mean, if anyone is, if anyone out there is selling their Kevin Fiala stock, I would love to scoop it up and buy it at a discounted price. I mean, I get the frustration, and this happens with the young players,

especially when he does have that kind of perceived breakout that he had last year, and then you come into this season expecting that he's going to take another step, and all of a sudden he's going to become like a 30-goal 60-plus point guide, and he's going to be a rule of lock to be in that top six and potentially even driving his own line. And it hasn't happened for it. him this year at the same time he's you know he's still 22 years old he's going to turn 23 this summer and and he's flashed enough talent for me where it's not one of those things where you're

just circling back to the fact that a guy was taking 11th overall and and going like well i'm purely basing my opinion off the fact that he used to be a top prospect like i've seen him do this at the n hl level maybe not over a sustained enough period of time but i've seen enough in spurts from him that i still believe he'll eventually put it together and he'd be a fascinating guy if i was a team um like ottawa for example example, if I was, I guess he wouldn't be made available for a rental, it feels like, they wouldn't be selling that low on them. But I would definitely be contacting them and seeing if I could capitalize on some of that frustration and be like, oh, I can improve your chances

of winning now and you can get rid of this guy that's been disappointing you. And I'd love to bring Kevin Fiala into my team and just give him a bigger workload and hope that you can finally take off on a new setting. Yeah. And I feel like there's also some questions with Nashville and like what they're prioritizing when you go out and get Cody McLeod. And Brian Boyle, especially for a second round pick, which probably, I imagine, would have been useful in any potential future trade they're going to do for a more impactful player. Yeah, I've seen like some defenses of the Brian Boyle trade. And like it's rare to have, I haven't actually looked into him. I haven't at the time.

But apparently he still has a positive shot share and also wins face off. So I guess that's a pretty rare combination for a fourth liner. But again, like you said, a second round pick is pretty high price, same price that Toronto paid two years ago. Maybe his value hasn't diminished, and he's good on the power play as well, so it might work out. But I don't know. He's the kind of guy that I think skates more on the reputation of how good he was when he was super underrated than what he's actually accomplishing right now, which I think he's fine. But a fourth line upgrade is not worth a second round pick to me, especially when there's other areas that Nashville could really focus on. Oh, especially when you can get Cody McLeod for a seventh.

I mean, yeah, exactly. Every team needs a mascot, right? Yeah, it's, yeah, I don't know what happened there, but it's, it's tricky because I do think this team needs an upgrade. It looks like they're headed despite the fact that both teams have had kind of weird up and down seasons and haven't necessarily looked as dominant as expected. It looks like they still are headed towards that second round slugfest with a rematch with Winnipeg. and I think they do need to make some sort of a move to swing the pendulum in their favor because I think I'd still favor Winnipeg right now in a series. But the issue for me is I'm not sure how much one of these secondary wingerers does for them, like whether it's take your pick, whether it's Matt Zuccarell or Wayne Simmons or Michael Furland or whoever.

I'm not sure how much those guys, especially playing them on a second line of wing spot over a Fiala or over Craig Smith or whoever does for them ultimately. Like Panarin is an entirely different situation, and he's good enough to vault them over there. But I think the bigger issue is, you know, they've made all these bets over the past couple years on some of these centers with trading for Kyle Torres and signing Nick Bonino,

and now they're bringing in Brian Boyle. And I still be on Ryan Johansson in the top line, I don't love what they have going on down the middle there, and it feels like they've made some poor bets. And I wonder if a center would be a bigger need, but obviously you look at the market and beyond Matt DeShane and Kevin Hayes, it's so barren at the center position. Yeah, and I feel like the center thing is like the prices are also a lot higher.

Right. You know, and that's one of the reasons why I thought about Matt DeShane and then I thought, what could they possibly trade for Matt DeShane? But then again, it is Ottawa, so maybe they don't actually, you know, win a good trade. I mean, look what they got for Carlson, so you never really know. Maybe you can sell them on a couple of B-level prospects. But I feel like, yeah, that's been kind of the problem. him with Nashville last little while, right?

Because I feel like even last year, Ryan Johansson didn't look like the best bet. You know, he kind of had, his career was starting to take a bit of a downturn, although he's great in the playoffs. His regular season wasn't very good. And then this year, I mean, he's been phenomenal. He's still not, you know, shooting a lot.

He lets that go to Arvinson and Forsberg, who were scoring at ridiculous rates, partially due to his playmaking. But he's, the only guy who's kind of fulfilling the promise at center right now. I know a lot of Nashville people had hope for Cal Yarncroke, and I think he's a good player, but I think he's a better winger. Calturus injured, I mean, Nick Menino, to be fair to him, actually has 27 points this year, which is not bad for a third line, fourth line center. So that's something better than last year,

but like you said, they're a little bit thin down there. I feel like each guy kind of is in the right spot and they are like Ryan Johansson is a first line center Kevin or Kyle Turst is a second line center Nick Benino is a third-ish line center but they're all on the lower end you know like I think I had Johansson ranked like 27th or 28th among centers so he'd probably be obviously much higher this year but yeah they are weak there I do wish yeah every single one of those guys was just a little bit better yeah exactly right but yeah I mean listen it's it's ultimately I I think we'd agree that they're one of the top teams, and now we're kind of did picking because that's what happens when you're trying to differentiate between the best handful of teams in the league.

And I think there still are, especially with Dave Boyle, we've seen that he's not going to be reluctant to push his chips in and make some sort of a home run swing. And I think they're definitely a team to watch, especially since we have been hearing this rumbling and a connection to them to Panarin, as you alluded to. Okay, let's take a quick break here to hear from a sponsor. And then we're going to talk about the Winnipeg Jets, who are their Western Conference rival. sponsoring today's episode of the Hockey PDOCast is Seekkeek. Seek knows that getting tickets online can be far too complicated, with hundreds of websites and varying levels of reliability. It's hard to know who to trust out there.

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Now let's get back to the show. Okay, so I'm glad that you went with the Predators and Panarin because I had the Jets all teed up here and I was a bit worried that, you know, my good grace as giving you the, as the guests, the opportunity to go first, would come back and bite me in the butt and I wouldn't get to talk about the Jets here, but it all worked out. And I think the Jets are a fascinating team because of all these teams that we, that we're going to talk about, it feels like they have the most obvious.

need. And they, I think just like last year, when they went in, went out and got Paul Stasney and brought him in and Patrick Linae and Nick Elers took off beside him and really cemented that second line and all of a sudden gave him that amazing one, two punch up front. I think once again, they are going to have to pay whatever that price is to go out and get a center because I just, I'm not looking at this team and thinking that this combination of Linae and Brian little and whoever else they've been using on that second line is going to be good enough when they enter the postseason. I mean, they've been getting absolutely caved in and even acknowledging the fact that line A is such a good finish and such a good score that he doesn't

necessarily need to be a dominant possession player to still have a net positive result because he's going to turn a higher percentage of his chances into goals. When you're hovering around a 40% shot share and expected goals rate the way those two are with pretty much whoever's played with them. That's awfully alarming to me. And I wonder, Matthew Shane's been the guy that's been linked to them. I wonder from a stylistic perspective, just based on how we saw Paul Stasney looks so good as a playmaker next to those two guys and sort of how the individual skill sets fit, I wonder if a guy like Kevin Hayes wouldn't be a perfect guy to slot in there as sort of your traditional, like he strikes me as a type of guy watching him. I know he shot a bit more this year,

but for the most part, it looks like it's pulling teeth whenever he shoots the puck. I feel like he naturally wants to pass it at all times. And when you're playing with Nickylers who's driving into the zone and always controlling the puck and creating extra space, then you've got line A obviously as a one-shot finisher, having that guy who prioritizes passing and sort of just being a dominant workhorse down the middle, all of a sudden I think really gives this team

that's sort of logical structure that it's craving. And so I'm not sure what the price is going to be, but I imagine he can be had based on where New York currently is in their own rebuild. So, yeah, I know Duchenne's the sexier target, but I wonder for a value price, whether Hayes might not be a better fit. I love that idea.

I really love that idea. I didn't even think of Kevin Hayes, but he is one guy who, when I looked at players who could be available at the deadline, who kind of are a little bit underrated, he was one of the guys that came out as one of the top playmakers, if not the top playmaker available. and that would be interesting because, you know, covering Winnipeg a lot this year for the free press,

that line does not work. Little in line A, I don't remember if it worked a little bit better last year or not, but they just aren't simpatico. You know, like their skill sets don't fit together. And I know Paul Maurice is kind of demoted line A consistently for how that works. And I guess that's, you know, the young player who's scoring at an, lower than average rate gets punished, but it just doesn't work. I think you're right that they have to find something to figure that out.

I don't know if that's, you know, trying to put more on Jack Roslovich in the latter half of the season, although he's kind of flourished on the wing in the last few months here. So I don't know what the plan is internally. I love the idea of Kevin Hayes because the other thing is he's a great rush player, right? He is one of the league leaders in passing off the rush. And that's an area where Winnipeg is really weak. They're not very good at attacking off the rush outside of when Nicky loses on the ice, who is like the preeminent rush attacker in the entire NHL outside of like McDavid.

You know, so I feel like that's the kind of thing that could really put them over similar to what Stassie did, whereas Stassie was more like small plays in close to the net front, really effective on the power play. Hayes would be a really big even-strength driver who could probably change that line's fortunes around. Bump a little down a line. You get more depth at center that way as well. That would be awesome. I actually had a different idea for Winnipeg, which was looking at their second defense pairing. But let's keep talking about Hayes for a minute.

Well, yeah, I think it's pretty clear. I mean, we saw it last year, right? And I imagine it would be a similar effect where, you know, Line and Little have been obviously worse together this year than they were last year. but they were kind of plotting along and being pretty underwhelming, especially at 5-on-5 together as a combination. And then when they added Stasi, they really just exploded. And as soon as that trade happened, I know people wondered how big or different Stazzy would make

and how much he had left in a tank. But I thought just like stylistically as a playmaker and a pass-first guy, he would make so much sense the next to them. And it really played out that way beautifully on the ice. And whether it's Hayes or Dushain, I think the point of them being a rush team and wanting to play that way and playing with tempo would suit Dushain well as well, obviously.

I'm sure he'd look great in a uniform passing it next to Line. But it's clear that for this team to realize their potential and not only get back to the Western Conference Final, but get over the hump against whichever Pacific Division team they're going to have to play in the Western Conference Final, they're going to need to get that second line going going going to eventually Line will start scoring goals. And the fact that he has, what, zero in his last 11, one in his last 18, two in his last 23 is a bit of an aberration just because when he's shooting as much as he is, we expect the more of those bucks are going to go in.

and I'm sure he's going to rattle off a crazy goal scoring streak here, but they need a more stable, sustainable fit at 5-1-5 in terms of getting on the puck and controlling possession more to get him more opportunities in the offensive zone. And I think a guy like Hayes would do great. I wonder, I know people have been, we were talking about Fiala and sort of how he shows his potential and then people get disappointed because he can't always do it.

I know people that had these frustrations with Hayes. And this year he certainly looks like he's taken his game to another level with added opportunity. but I know with guys like him and Kreider, I'm not sure how much you factor this into it, but their numbers always feel a bit wonky at 5-1-5 because when the team is as bad as it is, if a guy's like even remotely competent, sometimes, especially their relative numbers are off the charts. And you look at, I think more so with Kreider than Hayes, like some of these relative 5-on-5 numbers that a team are just so eye-poppingly crazy.

And part of it is the player being good. But I think I imagine it's also tough to evaluate when the team is as bad as they are around them like the Rangers are. yeah it's it would be a huge opportunity for him you're right like and dropping into playing with Patrick Lainty yeah that'd be a bit of a different opportunity for Kevin Hayes he's passing it to Ryanstrom or whoever he's passing it to yeah and like not to denigrate New York I feel like they have a good group of second line forwards and Chris Kreider right like they have some good players but they just don't have a guy who can shoot like Linae which almost nobody does I guess

guess it's not a fair thing to say. But yeah, I expect Lani to turn things around. I have seen, like, a couple of insiders kind of floating the idea that the Jets might move on from Lani, and I'm like, really? Yeah, that seems like a mistake. Yeah, I mean, it's a mistake, but also, like, is that really reading what the Jets are thinking, or is it just like they're a little bit frustrated right now? I'm sure they're a little frustrated. And obviously people want to talk about stuff like that. But like, this is a frustration of mine because people constantly point this out. It's like he's so one-dimensional. It's like, yeah, he scores goals. That's the most important dimension. Yeah. I mean, Ovi's one-dimensional too. Yeah. And he comes out, he's one of the least

involved defensive forwards in the NHL. You know, he's always taking long shifts where he might be a little bit overtired and maybe a little bit selfish in trying to get pucks on net. But you know what? There's a reason for that because he's the one who's going to score the goals. You know, he's still going to be a huge positive impact on the team. And Lainey, I feel like he doesn't get enough credit for his ability to move the puck up the ice as well. He's a pretty good skater, pretty good passer. He's had some terrible time moving the puck out of the defensive zone this year.

But when he's skating it, he's really good. So I feel like the whole one-dimensional thing gets tossed around at guys who are great offensively more than the guys who are just kind of mediocre all around. and, you know, they're probably also one-dimensional, but the one-dimensional is they can't score. And they kind of don't get that label. You also look like, I rattled off all those stats about what? He has, like, two goals in those last 23 games.

He's still on pace for 37 this season. Yeah, that's not bad. I imagine he's still going to get into 40s after he goes on this upcoming hot stretch. And we've seen it with, you know, a guy like Stephen Stamco's, for example, I fully believe the line A. And he was already, I think, flashed at this stage of his career more than Stamco has had in this regard as a past.

and a playmaker, but I imagine just with all the attention, his shot draws and how worried defenses are about it, once he unlocks that part of his game where he's soaking up that attention and then doing those cross-scene passes and allowing other guys to benefit off that extra space that he creates for them, like he's going to become unstoppable and at this stage of his career and how young he is and what he's already accomplished. Like, I fully believe he will realize that sooner rather than later. And it would be foolish to be on the wrong side of history just because he struggled for 20 games here. But you mentioned the second pairing

defensemen and that is an interesting point for us to pivot to because when I was thinking about these potential trades and thinking about them going out and getting a haze or a Dushan or whoever as a big fish in this rental market, if I was another one of those teams, if I was the Rangers or if I was the senators,

I would be demanding Sammy Niku in return. Their young who has, I think, looked very good in that limited time he came up when Bufflin was out. And I think for now, if they're healthy, he probably doesn't factor into their plans. But I'm sure as injuries come and as attrition of the regular season takes hold, I think we'll see him back up.

He's already, you know, looked great both overseas in professional leagues, but also in the HL and limited samples. And I think just with his skating and how good he's looked, like he's one of those guys that I would target. And immediately, if I was a worst team, just bump into my top four and give him more reps. And I wonder if Winnipeg will be reluctant to do so just because with Myers as an upcoming UFA and him probably being, you know, lost in the shuffle just because they won't be able to afford him. And with Buffaloin getting up there in age, I imagine having a guy like Sammy Niku who can step in

and probably play a bigger role and bring a lot of that to the table at a cost-controlled price like his on his rookie deal is a massive asset for the Jets when they probably are a bit of an internal cap team and are going to have to pay all these guys this summer. So I wonder if they're going to be reluctant to part with him. But if I was trading one of these big impact forwards, I would be asking for him in return. Yeah, I would totally get that. I feel like that's probably the thing that might hold the Jets back from making a big deal because, you know, I looked at NICU a lot in like preseason because I really liked how

honest he was about having like struggles, keeping up with the pace of the NHL and having to know what he needed to work on. and when he first started playing in preseason first couple games in the NHL, the Jets were absolutely lit up for high danger chances when he was on the ice. And then in this stretch where he was in while Bufflin was out, no one on the Jets was on for fewer high danger chances against

for 20 minutes than Semenikou. So he's clearly really rained his game in and focused on defense. Now, the problem was that he kind of sacrificed his transition game for that, which that's a learning process, I think, for a young player where, you know, you can over adjust to try to work on a specific thing and kind of hurt your game. But I think you're right that he's a really good piece for them in the future. And especially, you know, he started getting really good at cutting down pre-shot movement. He was one of the best just defensemen at that.

So I look at him as a guy that, you know, maybe he's not ready right this second to jump in and be an option for them in the playoffs. but he should probably be on the opening lineup next year. The guy that I had looked at that I've mentioned before as a possible upgrade on defense for Winnipeg is Radco Gudis, which I don't think he would cost a huge amount, and he's got a little bit of a term left, which might be a bit of a detractor for Winnipeg because they're kind of up against it with the RFAs that they have to sign.

But can you imagine going into a playoff series against Winnipeg that's already a tough team, and their second pairing is Goudis and Bufflin, like, you're going to get hurt. Because they kind of fill that idea, or not idea, but like, I know that as the analytics people, people think that we're against, you know, physicality and adding big guys,

but both those guys can play. Yeah. And they're also physical, which adds this extra dimension. It's kind of like Michael Furlin and Carolina, right? Where, like, when they were adding, and they were saying they wanted to add people with size and everyone kind of rolled their eyes like,

oh, here we go again. They add Michael Furlin. Like, okay, no, no, he can score. He can play. So that's good. That's good kind of adding of size. Goudis kind of is that, right? So that would be like the heaviest defense pairing in the NHL and probably the roughest as well.

I would be very worried for any team that tried to gain the blue line against those two guys. Yeah. No, I mean, it's clear that there's a distinction to be made there between like functional physicality, right? And it feels like those two guys are definitely obviously using it to actually be difficult to play against as opposed to the guys who are just throwing big hits but always chasing the play and they're actually using it to leverage like getting the puck back in return and obviously tilting the ice in their favor. So I agree with that. Yeah, it seems like the Jets are primed to make a move,

obviously because some of these needs are so obvious, but also like you look at Frank Servel, he's trade but trade board and he's got the, uh, the Jets first rounder as the fourth most likely asset to be move. So it seems pretty clear that something's going to happen there and whether it's packaging that with a Niku or a Christian Veselainen or one of these other prospects and going to get a big fish or potentially moving a depth asset to bring in a guy like Udus. It's pretty clear they're going to do something. And I'm really looking forward to also seeing like if one of these teams, if the predators, the Jets makes a move earlier, if the counterpart feels, you know,

had an obligation to do so just to keep up in this arms race because it seems so obvious that we're headed towards another seven game series in the second round between them. So it'll be really fun to watch. I'm still preserving the right to change my mind because I said I'd pick the Jets ever so slightly in a series, assuming these two teams hold the form. But it's so tight to call that I'm going to have to wait to see how both the deadline goes and how they finish off the regular season before I make any sort of a firm opinion. Yeah.

And I feel like I think we agree that the Jets have a bit of an advantage right now over the natural predators. And I feel like they have that extra advantage that I think their prospect pools a bit deeper. they have more of their own picks. So they have more assets to move if they really want to go for it this year. So it's kind of just like everything points a little bit towards Winnipeg having the advantage heading into the playoffs, having the advantage heading into the trade deadline, which means Nashville is going to win in the playoffs because hockey, right? Yeah. Well, I think they're pretty evenly matched, obviously.

I think you could make an argument. I wouldn't fight you against it that the predators are a better team. I feel like the jets have a bit of a higher ceiling right now as currently constructed. Like I feel like if they play their best game, if they're healthy and really firing on all cylinders, and they've got the goaltending, obviously, that they are capable to kind of run up the score a bit more. So I would pick them in a series because of that. But you're right, it's super duper close. All right.

Let's go to the next one. What's your next team? Okay. My next one was San Jose all year, can't keep a puck out of the net. but everything else is going amazingly. They need to get Sergey Bobrovsky. I know he's not having the greatest year, but put him behind that San Josei Sharks defense.

And I don't know, that looks pretty good to me. I think they always find ways to, you know, they don't necessarily have the highest picks, but they keep on finding guys. I'm sure they have some prospects that could entice Columbus, maybe a lower end, or not lower end, but like a mid-tier roster player. I think Bobrovsky would fit perfectly there.

I think, you know, they also love Russian goalies in San Jose after Nabokov. So I don't know. I love the idea of that. I think he could come in and push Martin Jones aside, at least for one season. And I think San Jose could win it all. I think they're so, so good. Yeah. I mean, you talk about where I guess I was talking about the upside of the Jets.

Like, I feel like the sharks unequivocally. I guess maybe the Lightning are the only other team. I guess the Leafs, if you really, really want to talk yourself into it. But in the Western Conference, I feel like the sharks have that highest upside of, like, the highest gear they can hit when they're rolling. You're just like, oh, my God, who is going to possibly get in the way of this team?

I mean, as currently constructed, I think there's skater group, especially up front is, like, flawless. I know, you know, he's done great in the playoffs. So I think people are generally believers of him, but maybe he doesn't put up the huge point totals, but you have a guy like Jonas Don Skoy, and he might not necessarily be a huge household name, but he's so good in that combination with Caden Hurtle.

And that's like their second line. And then Timo Myers taking this next step. And all of a sudden you're just like, oh man, he's so good. This team is freakishly good. And you're right. They're 31st and 515 say percentage. Only the Panthers have been worse overall in all situations.

And I'm not sure, you know, you have access to some of the sport logic numbers in terms of the slot, say percentage and stuff like that. But it does feel like, you know, the skating group up front maybe has, you were talking about that balance for Sam Mniquu of finding the right amount to give back versus what you're taking and it feels like sometimes the sharks have been playing a style that maybe has been opening up or conducive a bit to leaving their goalies out to dry but it's pretty clear of watching that the dell and bard and jones haven't been nearly good enough and you're right i just based on the amount of money they have invested in them in the term and the fact that jones um despite how bad he's been or how average he's been for the most part over the regular seasons has looked at awesome in the postseason i'm not sure how much stock we want to put into that but

I wonder like whether they'd be reluctant to make any sort of a move like that just because then all of a sudden you're presumably carrying three goalies or you're trying to figure that out and it becomes a whole mess and a whole talking point. But you're right, Bobrovsky. I actually, I wonder, I kind of like Jimmy Howard for them. Oh, yeah, that's a good one too. I was kind of waffling between the two, right? But I feel like there have been so many rumors that the Red Wings might keep Howard and resign him. Yeah. But I was like, but Brolovsky's probably more likely to be on the move.

So that's the name I went with. But yeah, Howard, I think would be a great fit as well. Because he's a guy who has had a lot of success behind fairly stifling defensive teams and kind of stuttered when Detroit fell off and now has found himself again. And I feel like he's probably one of the more underrated goaltenders of this current group generation. I don't think he's necessarily fantastic. But I think he's an above average guy who's been above average pretty much his entire career. Yeah, and I think it makes more sense because I think, you know,

Brodsky comes in with more name value, I guess, and conceivably behind this team, if he really got his game together, could hit a higher gear to match the forward group. But I just think from the price that it's going to take to get those guys and for what the sharks have to offer, like you're talking about that prospect pipeline and sort of the younger assets. I imagine this is a team that doesn't want to be subtracting anything from its skater group or for its main roster to bring in a goalie.

So it would make more sense to trade for Howard because I imagine the Red Wings would be more willing to take futures, whereas Columbus, and we're going to talk about them more in a second. But if they're trading Bobrovsky, they're probably going to want either something they can step into their lineup right now and help them a bit or an asset that they can flip for immediate help. And I do love a guy like Kevin LeBank. I feel like he's underutilized just because the sharks have so much forward depth and

he's stuck to playing third, fourth line minutes. and I know they use him on the top power play, but it feels like he could be prime for a bigger role, but at the same time, I imagine they wouldn't necessarily want to move him in a trade for a goalie. So I think Howard makes a ton of sense there, and I think it's pretty clear that if you're trying to identify a weakness, it is the goaltending position for them,

and they're a reliable. I think they don't even need great goaltending. I think they need, like, competent league average goaltending. And I'd say that they're a favor to come out of the West just because of how good that skater group is. Yeah, I totally agree. I think that's, you hit the nail on the head. They just need somebody who doesn't lose them games, right?

And I think the thing with Jones is like he's a pretty good gold hinder in tight. He's actually above league average on high danger chances according to the sport logic data, but he's just been letting in floaters all season long. And I feel like as much as, you know, having the high danger scoring chance, say percentage being high is a good predictor for future success in the short term. of like a one-season playoff run, if a guy is letting in those back-breaker goals that just kill your confidence

and make you feel like you can't take risks, that's going to hurt teams, especially teams that have their defense built around Eric Carlson and Brent Burns, who really like to take risks, not saying they're necessarily bad defensively, but they like to take risks and create offense. So if they feel they can't do that in the playoffs

because Jones is going to let in every little chance that goes in against them, then, you know, that kind of kneecaps San Jose right from the start. Agreed. Okay, let's take one more quick break and we're going to continue this conversation. Perfect. Let's try a little bit about Harry's Razors who have gone out and changed the game when it comes to shaving. I think there's this misconception that people who have beards are doing so because they're lazy and untidy and they just don't want to bother with shaving.

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supporting the show. Now let's get back to the Hockeypedo cast. Okay, so let's keep talking about Columbus, because they're a team that I had out of my list. Obviously, we've talked about Panera and potentially going to the Predators. We've talked about Vibrovsky, Adam going to the sharks. So it seems like you are all in on stripping the blue jackets bear of their top players. I mean, if you look right now, as of recording, there are two points behind what Washington. There's seven points behind the Islanders in the Metro Division, just as we all predicted. And there are two up on Pittsburgh and eight up on Philly, who are the teams below them in the wildcard and on the outside looking in. So, you know, they've got a game in hand on all those teams.

It seems like they have been playing better lately, I think, over the last 20, 25 games. They've been a top 10, 5-on-5 team. The goaltending still hasn't really been there, at least not consistently. Lee, how would you approach that situation? Because obviously for the purposes of this exercise, when we're identifying some of the other contenders, it's more fun to have a Panera and go into Nashville and have a Boghawski going to San Jose. But if you were running the blue jackets, I imagine it's such a delicate balance because the rational part of our brains goes, well, you don't want to, especially Panarin,

you don't want to lose him for nothing. Like I imagine you could get a pretty sweet haul in return, whether it's a first round pick and a prospect or some young players to come in and help immediately. But man, what a kick in the pants that would be to a fan base that I think is actually a low-key, really fun, exuberant bunch. And they only have five total playoff wins to show in their franchise history. No, they have never, never won a series. And this is arguably the best team they've ever had in franchise history.

Panera, I think, is pretty clearly the most lethal offensive force they've ever had in franchise history. And to move on from that, with an eye on the future would be a really tough pill to swallow. Not that they're guaranteed to win a playoff series or make a long run, but at least they're one of those teams that's in a legit conversation for it. And to move on from that, especially for future assets that can't help you right now,

would be a pretty tough message to send, I feel like, which is why I feel like they're not going to move them. But who knows? Yeah. I mean, ironically, based on the trades that I was suggesting, I totally would not want to move on from either of those guys if I was Columbus. I guess Bobrovsky is a little bit of a different situation since he hasn't necessarily had the greatest season

and maybe they feel like they can move him get a nice return and not necessarily suffer in the playoffs, especially with the reputation that is undeserved that he's bad in the playoffs. I think Columbus is in a position where at a certain point, you have to kind of stop spinning your wheels as an organization and stop being in like the constant get almost good and then rebuild mode kind of the way like the 90s oilers were. I think they kind of have to go for it. You know, they owe it to their fans.

They owe it to themselves as an organization to try to win that first playoff round. And I look at, you know, like lots of stuff can change with almost 30 games left in the schedule. But right now they're paired up with Washington for the first round, which is the same as last year. and, you know, I was a non-believer of Washington all last season, but they look weak right now again. So can Columbus beat them into the seven-game series? Yeah, especially with Pan Ambarovsky playing well. I think they kind of have to try, you know,

and it sucks to lose two marquee players for essentially nothing, but if they win a playoff round, it's not really nothing. You know, and you can only really judge that in hindsight, which sucks. But for that organization, I think winning even one playoff round is a turning point to no longer being seen as like the last expansion team to not do anything successful. Right. Like they're they've done so many good things over the last five, six years to get to this

point. I just, I want them to have one win. You know what I mean? Just just get there. Get over the hump. And who knows. Maybe once they get over that.

that hump, they gain the confidence and go on this crazy run. Crazier things have happened, right? It's not like they're a bad team. So I'd love to see it. I hope that they don't trade them just for that reason because they're going to make the playoffs. But at the same time, it would be super exciting. Both those guys are on the move. So I guess it's a win-win for us observers, but for Columbus fans, I hope that you guys keep them.

Well, and the tough thing to reconcile for them is that, you know, actually, do think that I like the group they have and I think they have quite a bit of depth. And so, like, in some cases, you could make the argument that, okay, if you trade a Panarin for a bunch of pieces and then potentially you repackage those futures to get help now and you come out of it, maybe not quite as good as you were before, but you can salvage a situation because all of a sudden you've added a bunch of depth and become a more, a tougher team to deal with. Like, you can make that argument for them. Like, the thing that has vaulted them that has higher gear is, having a guy like Panarin who all of a sudden is a dynamic kind of star player and difference

maker and gives them that additional ceiling. And so moving him for a bunch of kind of spare parts, I'm not sure how much that does for them. And so that's why it's a very tricky situation. I did want to talk a bit about Panarin because, you know, he turns 28 next year and obviously he's going to get paid quite handsomely this summer by someone. And I think typically you and I would both be an agreement that you'd be worried about committing super long term with high dollars to a guy like that just because he is so old. But I don't know, are you in agreement that he strikes me as a type of guy that will probably age pretty well just based on the style he plays and also the fact that he relatively speaking doesn't have that many miles on his body just because

he was playing like 40 to 50 KHL games a year up until just a couple years ago. Yeah, I mean, he's a guy who also kind of shakes checks pretty easily, right? He's not a guy who it's lit up a lot, so you're not looking at a ton of injury time unless, you know, freak things happen. So at 28, he's probably, like you said, a young 28. And also, I feel like we focus a lot on player decline, like he's at the end of his prime area there, but a lot of it for a star player can be a bit smoother than I think the way that we usually frame it. So I wouldn't be too worried about him into his early 30s. Like, if a team can get him for six years, I feel like that's perfect.

He's the kind of talent level that you pay for and you don't really regret it, I think. So I guess it also depends on the cap number, right? Like if he's getting like $12 million, that's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. But 10, I think a lot of teams are probably pretty happy. I mean, he's the kind of player that's fairly rare that's a winger who drives a line. You know, there are a lot of great wingers in the NHL, but most of them are, you know, good scores or pretty good offensively and defensively kind of do it all. But there are very few that drive a line and score at an elite rate.

And he's one of them, you know, Nikita Kuturov. There aren't a ton. You know, even Patrick Kane for a lot of his career was not necessarily a play driver, right? He was a goal driver, but his team's not, weren't necessarily outplaying teams at even strength because of him. It was because of, you know, playing with Taves in his prime who is a, a huge play driver. So it's an interesting situation with him because, I mean, there's almost any contract

you can think of could be thrown at him and it would make sense. Yeah. I mean, it's crazy how giddy has been since coming to Columbus, only McDavid and Kutraub have more 5 on 5 points. And just the fact that he not only has lived up to, because I remember, and I, myself, I wanted to see how he do not playing. Without King? Yeah.

And having a kind of fan for himself. and he's not only lived up to it, but he's wildly exceeded it. So it's been fun to watch. It's been obviously very, it's going to be very lucrative for him. And I'm curious to see how that plays out. I have the Islanders as a team that I'm watching. I don't think it makes sense for them because I don't think they're in the tier of teams we've talked about so far here. I don't think it makes sense for them to push all in with futures and go.

in for a rental and try to win a Stanley Cup because I don't think they're that caliber team. But I think a bit of a half measure does in this case make sense just because it's pretty clear that they desperately need some sort of skill, whether, you know, they could obviously use a center, but for the most part, it feels like a winger especially would come a skilled winger that could create some plays for them would be huge, not only just bumping Leo Komrov down the lineup, but potentially giving a better running made for Barzal to play with. So I'm not sure who that player would be,

because if you look at this winger crop, it is a lot of those like prototypical playoff types that are kind of like, you know, bigger lumbering guys who still have utility but aren't necessarily the type of player that I think they could really use on that second line owing spot. I think a guy like Randa Zingle actually makes quite a better sense for them. Oh, I like that. Yeah, because I can't imagine the price would be, you know,

super ridiculously high for them. And if you look this year, obviously he's going. gotten the luxury of playing with Matthew Shane quite a bit, but he's tied 10th and 5-15 goals. He's top 40 and 5-15 points and primary points. And he's been a kind of sneaky, productive player. And I think if they could get him for a reasonable price, and you all of a sudden put him in there on a second line wing playing with Bailey and Barzal, and then you have that top line with Eberlea, Brock Nelson and Andrew, what's his name?

Andrewsley, sorry. All of a sudden, you got actually a kind of competent frisky. top six and it makes their lineup make a lot more sense. So I'd have him there, but I was kind of racking my brain because I think they could use a little bit of an improvement there from a skill position. There just aren't too many guys available that kind of fit that bold. Yeah, it's tough to find guys that fit what the Islanders would necessarily need while at the same time being relatively cheap.

And yeah, I think the single is a good one. I wonder, like, is Anthony Beauvillier going to take off soon? I feel like he's like only islanders No no no No like in his career Just like take the next step Because I feel like he's a guy who has that level of skill That he could be in the top six rule

So maybe it's one of those situations Where the Islanders are waiting for the next season For that to happen And they acquire a guy for now But yeah That seems like the area that they need the upgrade at I mean obviously their center line is not the best They could probably

Yeah, but they don't make sense for trading for like a top center. Yeah, that's the thing, right? They're not in a position where it makes sense to add a huge name unless it's somebody with term. And are they really, you know, at the point in the Islanders' competitive window to add big names with term? Probably not. It's a pretty young team outside of like a couple of guys like Comorov. are there for a transition period that Lou, you know, likes to oversee. I feel like maybe if they wanted to add on defense, but again, their defense seems to be like

relatively solid middle of the pack guys, right? Like nobody great, but nobody necessarily bad. Well, and I think after, especially after they called up Devon Taves, like, he's really short up that third pairing, I guess, for them. And all of a sudden there isn't like a, you're right, there isn't like a noticeable weakness there. So I'm not sure whether any of these guys, that are in the mix would make that big of a difference where it's like, okay, we need to prioritize going and get them. I think they just kind of need a bit of an infusion of skill, right? Like they just need someone who can create plays and alleviate some of that pressure

off of Matt Barzell and not having to do it all by himself. I think, so we had, you had Panarin going through predators. We need to find a home for Mark Stone. We need to free Mark Stone. Yeah, see, I looked at Mark Stone and I thought, the problem with Mark Stone is that he's so versatile and so good that any team with any modicum of cap space would improve by having him. You could literally plug him in anywhere. And I feel like that's why he might not get traded.

You know, like the debitting more might be too crazy and Ottawa might not be able to make a decision because they seem to get paralyzed by, you know, indecision a lot. I feel like that happened with Carlson last year where they could have moved him and gotten a lot more than they got at, they trade him at the draft. just after the draft. I don't remember, or was it after July 1st? Yeah, I can't remember. Yeah, either way.

It was, you know, the wrong time, in my opinion. So it's a tough one. Mark Stone could go anywhere. I would love to see him go home to Winnipeg in the offseason, but that's like a whole different question. I feel like he's a guy that, again, you could give basically... He's going to make so much money, though, right? Yeah, he's going to be.

make a ton. Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be priced out of one. It's, yeah, it's tough because you're right. Pretty much every one of these contenders should be trying to get Mark Stone. I just wonder, like, for Ottawa's perspective, they're going to, just a safe face, they're going to need to get some sort of like legitimate package that comes back, right? Like, they're not going to be able to be like, oh, we got six assets again. And if you look at them, they're all like, Mikhail Bodker is a contract dump. Like, congratulations. Like, it's like, they're going to need something tangible in return. And I'm not sure whether a team like the predators or whoever it makes sense for them to make that move.

I keep coming back to Chris Kreider because he has another year after this at 4.625, which is very palatable and appealing to a contender, right? Because you get him. He helps you this year. And once again, he fits very nicely into your books. You're not paying an exorbitant price to keep him on your team. And you kind of get another run out of him. And in that case, I'd be, you know, if I was, I think he actually makes a lot of sense for Nashville in that wing position. If they strike out on Panarin and they can't get it done for whatever reason, like if you can package Tolvinen and a first and whatever, and you bring in Chris Crider and you get two cracks with him.

And he really kind of, you know, he brings a lot to the table, but also if you're forecasting, matching up against the jets, you don't want to make too much of the kind of like size in the end of discussion. or the physicality, but he would fit seamlessly in a series against a team like that. And I think that would be a very fascinating combination. And I haven't seen that link made. And I'm not sure how desperate the Rangers are to move him just because he has an extra year left on his deal. But it makes sense, because I think we agree that the New York Rangers are doing this right in terms of taking a longer term approach. And maybe that changes if they go and spend a ton of money on our Timip Panera in the summer. But they could probably squeeze out quite a bit more value off of Crider now who's having a really good year.

just because he does have that extra year on his deal, which would be appealing to a lot of teams, and it would be kind of helpful for both. So I think, yeah, I've been talking myself into Kreider to Nashville, actually, although he does make a ton of sense for a team like the Bruins as well. That's exactly who I was going to mention next. Whenever I look at Chris Kreider, a part of me is like future Bruin. There's just something about him.

Maybe it's the purposely injuring goalies thing, but he just seems like a villain to me, you know? like what he did it again the other day in Toronto I guess last night not to date the podcast but uh yeah Sunday night against Toronto again he tried to go after Anderson by knocking somebody into him he's said he's good at the accidentally on purpose was it sparks yeah okay the other guy yeah he loves to do the accidentally on purpose injure the goalie thing so I tremendous yeah the Bruins really seemed like a fit for him to me but uh yeah I can see him going to Nashville as well.

I think the thing about Chris Kreider that's interesting to me is he's a guy who plays with a lot of speed while having that size. And he's also really good defensively. He has a pretty big defensive impact for a winger. So he's a guy that a team like Nashville who kind of has struggled a little bit defensively the last couple of years in terms of like their forward contributions. That would be a good upgrade. Whereas Boston doesn't necessarily need that because their system is fantastic defensively.

and they have that Berger online to shut people down. So it's probably a bigger need for Nashville. One other guy that I thought would be super interesting would be Wayne Simmons, who I know is not having as good a year as last season, but I could see Wayne Simmons. Not a better year than last year, but like, is he anything in two years ago? Yeah, yeah, because he was injured last year mostly.

Right, right, right. Last year was when he had, was it the hip injury? He was like playing with a hip injury pretty much all year, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So I could see him going to Montreal. I know Bergervan loves him. Their power play is terrible. I know Brennan Gallagher is a good net front presence and so is Andrew Shaw. But I think Wayne Simmons has a history of being a very good power play player who can have a solid impact. And he also kind of fits in with their forward group a little bit where they're, I mean, he's large, but most of them aren't necessarily big guys. But you know, Gallagher, Shaw, Domi, Byron, all like under the race. radar gritty guys adding a bit of size in that same mold in Wayne Simmons could be pretty annoying for playoff teams to deal with like one of those guys or multiple of those guys on almost every line you know I think that would be a good fit yeah and it's pretty clear I mean I'm

not sure I think they have bigger issues on their power play than a net front presence obviously they need a shooter but but he has been historically a pretty good power play guy and I wonder how he fits in as well yeah I think I'm worried more so for him being the team who picks up the tab and signs the next contract and potentially if he's a good playoff run talking yourself into being that team because he was so good for you for that run because I think that's going to age very poorly obviously with the injuries and his style of play and his body type and I don't think it's going to look awfully pretty into his 30s but yeah for a sprint in the playoffs for a final 20 25 games and then

potentially another 10 to 20 games in the playoffs I think he could definitely hold up and be a very valuable contributor. And yeah, a team like Montreal makes a lot of sense. I was looking at some of these like kind of not fringe teams because they are playoff teams, but teams that aren't necessarily in that contender range, but we'll be frisky and have had interesting seasons like the Islanders and the Canadians and, you know, the blues have been playing really well in some of these Western Conference teams in that jumble and trying to figure out what makes sense for them.

But it's it's so tough right now with how tight the standings are to try to figure out how teams are going to approach this from, you know, how they internally view themselves and how willing they're going to be to move future assets to try and potentially make a run because on the one hand, you could argue that just because it is so tight and there isn't a lot of distinction between some of these teams, an addition like Wade and Simmons or some of these names we've mentioned could potentially be the difference in a vault queue to the top of that group, but at the same time, if you're in that jumble, it's probably not a good sign that one guy like that is going to make that big of a difference for you. Yeah, that's true. What do you see Pittsburgh doing?

Do you think they're done? Because I feel like they're not done. Pittsburgh's never done. Like even when the trade I'm like, I was just still expecting them to make some sort of a trade. Seriously. You know, Rutherford's a tinkerer. I feel like that Brassard trade

was a very lateral move even if the guys are younger and, you know, signed for longer. I know they don't have a ton of assets to trade anymore, but I just can't see them standing pat at the deadline. It just with how weak,

or not how weak, but how bad they've been lately, Yeah, you know, only won three of their last 10. They're on the edge. They're only a point ahead of Carolina. Carolina's red hot right now. I can see not necessarily a giant move, but a relatively large move happening to Jolt Pittsburgh back into, you know,

the team we, I don't want to say know and love, but the team we know. I would like to see them go after Alex Edler, assuming his face recovers and he's going to be healthy. I think there's no reason to believe he's going to be out for the playoffs or anything. I think he's obviously sitting out right now. He had a scary injury in Philly, but it seems like he will back eventually. Now, obviously, the complicating factor is, I'm not sure how heavily there's a report of this is, but I know for a fact that he does not want to leave Vancouver, and he has a no-trade clause. And that'll be tough to kind of finagle that and try to figure that out.

And listen, I don't blame him. He's carved out a nice little life for himself here in Vancouver, and it makes sense that he'd want to stay. But he strikes me as a type of guy that, in a change of scenery, playing with more skilled players that he can get the puck to would flourish and take off. And I still think he has something left in the tank, but getting around that no trade clause might be tricky. But you're right. I think Pittsburgh is primed.

I think it makes sense for them, obviously, what this team they have is currently constructed to try and squeeze out as many playoff victories as they can at this point, regardless of the future price they pay for it. And I don't think this team they have right now is currently constructed is good enough to, I mean, when you have Crosby and Malkin, you're going to be in the, conversation, but I think they do need to do something of actual significance, not just tinkering on the edges to vault them into that higher tier. And yeah, I'm not sure what that is, but it's pretty clear that they need to do something. Yeah, it's, I mean, goaltending has been

the issue for them. Matt Murray not having as great of a season as he had the last two. And, you know, he's consistently had injury troubles, which is a bit worrying for his, you know, long-term future as a starter to me to be getting injured this off and this young. But yeah, they obviously need to redline it as long as Malkin and Crosby are still, you know, hyper-elite players. Here's an interesting thought exercise for you. Mm-hmm. What would you say about a trade revolving around Phil Kessel for Mark Stone?

Do it. but if you're both teams oh uh i don't know for ottawa i mean they love just taking on players well they usually they want to take on money obviously yeah and yeah that makes sense it kind of buys them more time

to um figure this out right like it feels like it's crazy that there still doesn't seem to be a discernible plan in place like they're kind of waiting and i guess hoping that mark stone's going to decide to stick around and sign a contract but we're approaching we're two weeks away now and there's still no resolution and I'm not sure that the market has necessarily materialized the way they would have hoped for Mark Stone for a player of his caliber just because it seems like a lot of these contenders

don't necessarily have the super enticing assets to make that happen for you. At least with Phil Kessel, he's under contract for a couple more years, and you can potentially buy yourself more time to figure that out, and he's still obviously a productive player, and you have a guy who is contractually obligated to be in Ottawa. So, yeah, I wonder if that would be... For Phil. But I guess Phil probably...

I haven't even looked, but he probably has a no trade clause and he probably veto that. But yeah, that would be. Does he have one? Because I think when a player's traded, he has a modified no move that is an eight-team trade list. And I know the auto is not on that eight teams. Okay. Because I know that a lot of times when players are traded once they, like, weigh the trade, no trade clause once or if they're traded while they're an RFA before that trade clause kicks in,

the team that inherits them can choose to not honor that. Because I know like with the P.K. Suban trade, he had no trade clause that kicked in once his RFA years were out or we're over on that $9 million contract for eight years. And the predators were like, yeah, we're not honoring that. Why would we honor that? So I don't know if Kessels, yeah, I guess Kat Friendly says that he has one. But who knows? Maybe he'd be up for going back to Ontario.

He does love Toronto. I mean, it's not that far from Ottawa. true it's true yeah no it'd be interesting to see them terrorized Toronto from Ottawa because it seems like even with Toronto being pretty good they have trouble putting Ottawa down so but I think uh like a trade like that makes sense for Pittsburgh right like you got to think outside the box a little bit because they clearly don't have the assets to you know they can't like package together a bunch of bottom six guys and get a star player again like they need to uh they need to figure out a way

to creatively uh I guess increase their variance or uh the likelihood that they could potentially put it together for a long playoff run because I don't think this team they currently have is it. Well, you know, I mean, I feel like Pittsburgh's been mostly pretty smart about finding ways to just squeeze good players in at small numbers. And then you look at that Jack Johnson signing and you're like, what happened that day? Bizar. It doesn't make any sense.

And then you look at this season, you follow, like, I haven't watched a huge amount of Penguins hockey, but you follow all the Penguins beat reporters, and they're just aghast at, like, what's going on with this guy? He's just caving in Dumlin's minutes. I just don't get how he's, not only still in the lineup, I don't only have some depth issues on defense, but how they convinced themselves that five years at 32

was a thing that should be done. I know he's Crosby's friend, but man, I just don't get that at all. It's insane. Okay, do you have, I guess the one name we haven't really touched on that is clearly going to move is Matt Zuccarello. Right. Who has had a bit of a resurgence lately playing with Criador and Zuban and Zabanajad on the top line and he's racking up the points. And I wonder what the most logical fit for him is. Do you have a team in mind that makes sense to add like a second line Ray Winger?

I mean, I feel like when you look around, I'm trying to think of teams in the same conference, but I guess he's fitting in pretty well in Pittsburgh because he's a pretty cerebral player, but they probably don't have the cap space. I think he would look really good in Colorado. And I know they're not technically in a playoff spot right now, but by the numbers on Sport Logic, like I was messaging Aric last night. I was annoyed. I was like, I recently wrote an article about how Colorado,

I was legit this year. And they went on this huge losing streak. And I was like, fix it, damn it. And, you know, obviously, I'm not going to say what he said back because I don't want to get him in any trouble. But, yeah, I think they're a good team that has a pretty good amount of depth set forward. But on the right wing, they're a little bit weak after Ranton. I think Colin Wilson's a fine player, but a third-line player.

Yeah, he's half overmatched. Yeah, Andrew Ghetto's a good depth player. But I can see Ziccarello really fitting in well there. There's a team for you. What's that? Maybe not for Zuccaro, but we haven't really mentioned them in this conversation yet, and I think that they're good enough that they could justify making a bit of a trade. I'm not sure if they'd be scared off by how last year's deadline went, but I think Vegas.

Ooh. Makes a lot of sense as a team that should be frisky. Like, I think this is a good team. Oh, yeah. I think they're even better than last year. Yeah, like, I think pretty clearly they're better than last year, right? They obviously haven't had the percentages they had last year, but as a 5-15 team, they've been really good in Cincinnati. Schmidt came back. Their numbers are super solid. They're relying on Mark Andre

Florea ridiculous amount. I'm not sure how he's going to hold up. Probably starting like 65 to 70 games this year. But yeah, they seem like a team. I know they've been, now they've reunited that top line with Marshal Carsallson and Smith. And they've been playing better. They obviously haven't had the success they had last year. I know they've kind of experimented splitting those guys up and going for a more depth approach with their forward group. That second line of Stasney, Patriety, Tuck has been awesome. So it seems like they're a kind of kind of locked in. But I wonder if you got a guy like a Zucarillo or potentially some other winger and all of a sudden you can bump a Riley Smith down the lineup a little bit and maybe

solidify your third line all of a sudden that makes them a bit more of a potent team. So obviously maybe just based on how the Tatar trade went last year and what they gave up and how it kind of backfired on them maybe might sour them a little bit. But it seems like they're a team that hasn't really been mentioned much. It seems like they're kind of laying in the weeds, but they could be potentially frisky. Yeah. And they don't seem to be shy about spending assets either, right like everyone expected them to be really conservative and build for the future and they were like no man all in and it paid off last year almost paid off completely you know like that would have been fantastic to see them win the cup right away as much as it would be heartbreaking for Washington but yeah I can see them making a big move I feel like uh pure Edward Bellamar is having a phenomenal season for for what he is so their fourth line probably doesn't necessarily need an upgrade um especially considering they feel like they're in love with Ryan Reeves, and I really like Will Carrier as well, or Carrier.

Right. Yeah, I feel like their third line is probably where they need the most. Cody Ekin's okay, but I feel like Valentin Seikov has these spurts of being able to score like crazy, and the rest of the time he's pretty meh. So being able to bump Riley Smith down would be pretty interesting to me if I was running Vegas. because the top line was fantastic last year. Marsha So is a borderline elite level player. But right now I think Corsica has them as the 17th best first line in the NHL.

So it's not like they're crushing it. They're good, but they're not killing it. And I think if you can add a guy like Zucarrello or another right winger who can really bring it, that could add another dimension that they don't have. Yeah, maybe Jacob Silverberg or something. I don't know. There's a bunch of guys they could potentially explore that. Yeah, I feel like Silverberg is another one of those guys.

is like he could fit on pretty much any team because he brings like a versatility right and I was looking at him when I was making the list and I at first I had him uh where did I have him I had him on Minnesota to kind of add a bit of uh scoring punch after they lost need a rider for rask but anyone you know like any team because I don't think he's necessarily going to be hugely expensive either I know Bob Murray is pretty cagey but I feel like anhym's kind of in full on panic mode and I'm you know I'm kind of in full on panic mode. Yeah. So I could see him being added to virtually any team in the playoffs because he's awesome. Yeah. No, I agree with that. All right, man. Well, let's sign off, hopefully, because we're probably going to run this tomorrow and Tuesday, hopefully none of these trades actually happen in the meantime.

I think we're safe. We're still far enough out that hopefully nothing will happen. But, yeah, we'll definitely reconvene sometime after the deadline and kind of see where we right and where we're going wrong and look ahead to how the landscapes change. is ahead of the playoffs. Andrew, plug some stuff. What are you working on these days? Oh, man, always busy.

Got the three articles a week for Sportsnet and two for the Winnipeg Free Press. And I've got the podcast coming back now that I'm not sick for a good stretch. I've got one recorded that I have to edit and put out. So look forward to that. Awesome, man. Well, thanks for taking the time. It was fun as always. And we will chat soon.

My pleasure, man. Talk to you soon. Cheers. The Hockey PEDEOCast, Dimitri, follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovic and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedocast.