The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 282: Opening Up the Mailbag

Episode Date: March 15, 2019

Emily Kaplan joins the show to help dip into the mailbag and answer your questions. We get into a variety of topics, which most notably include: 2:35 Can anyone give the Lightning a scare in round one? 7:20 Who is the favourite to come out of the Metro? 13:10 What happened to the Devils this year? 19:55 How have the Coyotes managed to win games? 26:40 The Hart Trophy race 30:15 The Norris and Calder trophies 34:00 The Jack Adams award 36:30 The Vezina and Selke 43:35 Real Time video reviews 47:45 Are the Rangers Rebuilding Effectively? 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. Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews are also greatly appreciated, especially the ones of the 5-star variety. 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 Demetri Philipovich. And joining me is my good buddy and my coworker at ESPN, Emily Kaplan, What's going on? I love it. Hi, co-worker. How's it going? Not much.

Just two co-workers casually hanging out, chatting about hockey. I'm a bit under the weather today. Hopefully my voice isn't too bad for all the listeners out there. But we're going to enlist the help of all the listeners out there. I asked them for mailbag questions and they came through, and we've got a bunch of stuff that we can kind of bounce around about and talk about. And it's going to be a lot of stuff sort of what to look forward to in the final couple weeks, some of the awards, ballads, and stuff like that.

And I'm really looking forward to it. I'm glad to finally have you on the show. For a little behind the scenes, you and I and Greg Waczynski were supposed to record your guys' podcast this weekend. Unfortunately, I was a game time decision, and I couldn't make it because of this flu I'm dealing with. But at least you and I finally get to record eventually. It's better than pulling like a Corey Crawford, right, and doing the first two periods and then suddenly getting extra sick. Yes, yeah, just bailing and tossing Colin Dealey out here to get peppered with four goals against and almost blow it. Yeah, exactly, and dislodging the net and, well, never mind.

go into that. It made for a, you know, the Blackhawks this year have made for a, I can't decide if they're like the best worst, worst team or the worst best team, but they, whatever, however you want to classify them, it feels like everyone other games this year has been like a six five total and they've made for great entertainment of viewing, although I imagine for, for everyone that's coached them this year and their fans, it's, uh, it's been a bit of a hair-pulling session. Yeah, you know, I live in Chicago, so I have seen them quite a bit. And I think what happened honestly is that, that all their superstars are one and two extreme. Their offensive superstars have showed up.

Patrick Kane is playing probably the best hockey I've ever seen them play. Jonathan Taze is incredible. And then the defense of superstars like Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith to a lesser extent have just been pretty dreadful. So it's a tale of two teams in that sense, I think. Yeah, no, it definitely has. They definitely have a bit of work to do in their own zone, I'd say, especially if that game against the Leafs was any indication.

But we'll get into the Blackhawks and some of that other stuff later. But let's start with a, we have a question from one of our listeners, Aaron Feathers. His handle is Malkin Cookies 71, which sounds delightful. He asks, do you guys think any wildcar possibilities out there have a realistic chance against beating Tampa Bay in round one? Or are they basically being served a free pass into the second round here? What do you think, Emily? Oh, that's a great question. I would not personally pick any wild card picks against Tampa Bay.

I really wouldn't. currently they're facing the Columbus Blue Jackets if the playoffs that started today. And I just see that as a team that maybe has the offensive firepower, just hasn't been able to find it. Of course, goal tending is kind of a question with them because you got Sergey Brabosky and there's a little bit of a shoddy playoff record. So if that was the current series as is, I just don't know if I could, in good faith, pick against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yeah. So I guess right now it's the Eastern governments in particular, although the West as well in the wildcard race, but it's so murky right now.

It feels like every day there's going to be a new variation or a new permutation of the matchups, but it feels like it's going to be one of Columbus, Montreal, or Carolina, I'd say, one of those three. So Wasinski and I actually, earlier this week, kind of did a little bit of back and forth on ESPN.com, and I recommend everyone go check it out, and we sort of tried to brainstorm some ideas

for how a team could potentially upset the lightning. And obviously, we discarded the ideas of, like, some catastrophic injury to Kutrov, or Vaselievsky, or something like that. And it was really tough. It felt like we were kind of pulling at straws, and it was a lot of like, well, hopefully your goalie just gets incredibly hot. And you get a Yaroslav Halak type performance against the Capitals when they were the best team. And you squeeze the series out that way.

But the thing I kept coming back to was, and it reminds me a bit of what we saw in the NBA the past couple years, where teams were trying to figure out how to play the Warriors and, you know, whether they could gun with them and shoot as many threes as them and outscore them or whether they'd really slow it down and really kind of beat them up and ground and pound them. And I think teams have to go to this opposite extreme where if you get into a back and forth shootout with the Tampa Bay Lightning, they have so much firepower that they're eventually going to find a way to outscore you. And it seems like you're playing a dangerous game if you choose to do that. So I feel like whatever team eventually gives them a scare or beats them at any point in this playoff in this postseason, it's going to be like just sort of limiting the amount of events that are happening and really playing this ugly game and trying to squeeze out a 1-0 or 2-1 win where you just leave the game wondering what the heck happened because you watch 60-minute. minutes and nothing really occurred. And I don't know, I think Columbus is probably the team that's best suited to do that just in terms of how- Yeah, I think the sports coach team for that. Yes, yes, I agree with that. And also just if you look, I think they're like 26th in, in Pace play this year and other teams in the conversation there, especially in Carolina, like part of what makes them so fun is this sort of frantic helter-skelter back and forth,

track and the place they like to play. And I think it's remarkably entertaining and I wish more teams play that way and I love to watch them but unfortunately I think in a series against Tampa Bay if you play like that you're going to leave yourself susceptible to you know all a guy like Nikita Kutraub really needs is that one little opening for you to kind of let up and miss a blown assignment or something and all of a sudden the puck's in the back of your net and and that's a very slippery slope for you to play so I feel like Columbus um checks the most boxes here for a team that could give them a scar onuskir in round one but I think they're as big of a sort of an overwhelming favorite as you're going to see in that HL,

considering how parity reigns supreme in this league. I hear you. I'm with you. Yeah. What about the HABs? I feel like, before we move off this question, I did want to, because we sort of listed them slightly there, but we kind of skipped over them. Like, Carrie Price has been playing a lot better lately.

They kind of have this sort of personality, this, like, frisky, annoying team with guys like Max Domi and Andrew Shaw, where it constantly seems like they're sort of, you know, drawing the attention of the other teams and always getting into these post-wistle scrums. And I imagine in a seven-game series, they'd be a pretty agitating team to play against. But I'm just not sure if they have enough firepower to keep up with what Tampa Bay can throw at them. Yeah, their penalty kill is okay. I think that would be one favorable matchup for them.

I worry about their offensive potency, though, for lack of better words. You know, I believe it was yesterday. They had only scored 11 goals over the last five games. That includes an empty-net goal. Their power play has been pretty dreadful. lately and I just don't think they had the firepower to be in a shootout with a team like the lightning. Yeah, yeah, I think their recipe would be a lot of like carry price playing vintage carry price and to his credit. You know, he's looked a lot better as this year's gone along. I

believe he has like a 925 save percentage or something like that since December. So that's obviously a good sign for them considering the contract he has, but it would be a definite uphill battle for them. Jordan Faulkner asks, a favorite to come out of the metro side of the playoff bracket. And you and I took in a little bit of a roundtable at ESPN today sort of we were forced to pick a team that, or a wildcar team that's going to upend a favorite and actually win in round one.

And I kind of had a difficult time trying to come up with one of those because it's, you know, it feels like the favorites are going to come out in round one. But it feels like the Metro Division is really wide open this year. What are you seeing there in terms of your sort of, if you had to look into your crystal ball and trying to figure out what's going to happen in the play? I'm really liking the way the capitals are trending. I feel like so much of this is who peaks at the right time.

And when they came to Chicago, I think it was like January, February. That's when they were in their bit of a losing streak. And ever since then, since I've watched them, they've looked terrific. They've got Brett Connolly looking like he should be, you know, nominated for some heart trophies or something like that. So, no, I really like the way the capitals are playing. And I think Braden Holpe is also kind of having an underrated season, especially of late. So I think they've got a favorable stretch at the end of the regular season.

You know, they do have to play the Lightning, I believe, three times, including twice in Tampa Bay, which is absolutely insane. But if they overcome all of those humps, I feel like they're going to be really poised for a nice playoff run, one yet again. I guess if you, I guess you'd probably never want to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, but if there is an ideal time to play them, it would be these final couple weeks where I imagine, you know, they don't really necessarily have that much to play for. they've already cinched up pretty much every single first place thing.

Yeah, exactly. So it feels like this is a good time for them to be playing them. And you're right. I think that Metro Division is going to come down to the very end. And it's tough because pretty much none of those seeds so far are locked up. So it's not like, you know, in the Pacific Division, for example, where it's like, okay, you want to finish in this particular spot to avoid the Vegas Golden Knights in round one, for example.

In the metro, it seems like all the spots are wide open right now. so it's not like you can pick a particular matchup or try to pick a particular spot as the most favorable place to land in the regular season, so it feels like it's a bit of a free-for-all. But I'm with you. I mean, that capital's formula of Brayden Holby being like one of the best,

if not the best playoff goalies ever and the power play and Alex Ovechkin scoring all the goals and sort of them being able to go with Baxramar from Netsoff 1, 2 down the middle against every other team. Like, it's sort of that similar recipe to what we saw last year.

And I don't know how I'm going to prognosticate my playoffs. off matchups because I'll fully admit that last year I picked the capitals to lose in every single series and they obviously prove me very wrong each time so I'm not sure I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it did you go against the capitals as well no you know what I think I went against them a couple times my real big mistake was Vegas Golden Knights until finally in the finals I'm like you know what I'm going to do it they prove me wrong and every time and here I am yeah you weren't the only one hockey expert I mean I try to tell that to people all the time like I don't know if you're like

if it's like this for you and you're a personal life, but my friends always, especially if I'm like go to a party or a dinner or something and people find out what I do for a living and they're like, oh, like what's going to happen? Who's going to win the Stanley Cup this year? And I'm like, I don't know. Just put a bunch of names into a hat and pick one of them. I mean, your guess is just good as mine.

It's not like us covering this league for every single day and for a living necessarily gives us a huge revelation of what's going to happen in the postseason because it is such a random free for all, it seems like. Yeah, no, I live off of my first year covering football. Apparently I predict all the division winners. and there is a Reddit post. I think it's called Emily Catholic as a goddess on our NFL. And I just point to that as my crowning achievement in life.

How is that not your pinned post on Twitter? It seems like that's something you should be like retweeting every couple weeks. Yeah, yeah, huge flex by me to bring it up now and to bring it up every week from now. Thank you for suggestion. So, yeah, I guess we answer Jordan's question. I mean, I'm at the point with the capitals and the penguins where even if they're struggling and at certain points of the year, you could point to both teams and go like, oh, there's some serious flaws with both of them.

Like the star power and what they've done in the past makes me always so reticent of picking against them and I'd always feel uncomfortable picking a team that I haven't seen do it before to beat a team that has Sidney Krazzi and Hvgeny Malkin on it, for example. I don't know if it's like that with you as well, but regardless of any flaws they might have the goaltending's in trouble or regardless of who's on their blue line,

I keep coming back to those two guys and being like, I still like the Penguins' chances in a series where they might have the two very best players. Yeah, no, two points of the Penguins. ones two. One, whatever they've done, they've been doing it without Phil Kessel being at 100%. And I think if he turns it up, that's a huge weapon they get. Plus, they'll probably get Chris Letang back. And I know he's had an up and down season, but he's definitely an asset in the playoffs. And two, Matt Murray is just a huge wild card for me, just in his entire career. I believe in

him, if we want to call out old takes exposed, he was actually my Vesner winner when we did preseason picks, L.O.L. at that. But over the last two weeks, he has looked much better. And I wonder if he can get locked in into that playoff mode if you can be an X factor for them. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the good thing, and we're seeing this with most teams, I feel like, around the league, and it's been a trend over the past few years. But I think going in their favor is the fact that they weren't having, because of injuries, and because of other stuff, and because of his play, you know, they were splitting a lot of the starts throughout the start of the year between himself and Casey to Smith. And so it feels like coming into the playoffs, they're going to have a pretty fresh version of rep Matt Murray, where he's

going to have played 40, 45, 50 games or whatever. And that's a huge departure from what we've seen in the past where sometimes teams have relied on their goalies to play 60, 65, 70 games and they come into the postseason and they're not at 100%. So I feel like, you know, whatever the best version of Matt Murray is, I feel like we're going to see it this postseason. That's obviously a great sign for a penguin team that because of their blue line is going to need to rely on him more than they might have in the years past. For sure. John Murray asks, what happened to the devils this year? I've got two answers. Yeah, go for it. I think what will them into the playoffs last year was two things.

One, Taylor Hall and two sports of good goaltending. And they had neither this year. Taylor Hall has been out since right before Christmas, and that's a huge loss. And goal tending really took a step back. I mean, Keith Kincaid fell back to Earth, Corey Schneider. We don't have to rehash, you know, the saga

of Corey Schneider. And, you know, really the only thing they've got going for them right now is the hope of McKenzie Blackwood. So when I look at the devils, I look at Ray Shiro knowing this is going to happen. You know, we looked at all of their needs in free agency and they're like just help the blue line out just do something sign anyone and he purposely did not sign any notable free agents and you know i think he knew the team was going to regress

you saw them give john hinds a contract extension anyway i think they're just gearing up to reload next summer when they've got a ton of cap space so uh i think young players have looked good honestly the you know bigampton team beat the oilers last night on the road and an oiler scene that should have been a competitive so uh that's kind of my explanation of what happened to the devils i'm curious what you think. Yeah, no, I think you'd hit up the nail on the head there. I mean, obviously, you know, the year Taylor Hall had last year where he was named the league's MVP and deservedly so.

And the fact that he's been out since, I believe, like, sometime in December, goes a long way to explain a lot of their offensive woes. And then defensively, the goal-tening is a big issue. I will say, I do feel good for Corey Schneider that he has looked not necessarily back to his peak form since he's come back from his most recent injury, but he's looked back to at least being an NHL goalie, which is, um, You know, great, great to see for him and both the Devils because it looked like his NHL career was teetering on the edge there for a while. And he went like a calendar year without a single NHL victory.

So the fact that at least he's stringing together some competent performances this year is huge and provincially provides a bit of hope that maybe next year with him and McKenzie Blackwood. They can split that 50-50 or maybe 60-40 in terms of Blackwood's favor and actually get at least league average goaltending. So that's huge. I'm kind of curious for your take on because as you alluded to, we saw Ray Schiro and I think astutely, not get carried away by the Cinderella year they had last year and then kind of doubled down on it and spend bad money in free agency this year just to kind of try to ride that high and continue that wave.

And he sort of acknowledged that maybe they were a bit lucky to be where they were and that they were going to take a step back. And so he viewed this as a bit of a transition year. Obviously, with Taylor Hall's impending free agency next year, I imagine they're going to have to do at least something this summer to give him a reason or convince him as to why he should want to be a New Jersey Devil for basically the rest of his prime with the next contract he signs. And I'll be very fascinated to see what those moves are,

whether they actually do make a big splash UFA signing or whether they use some of that cap space that you mentioned to potentially take on someone else's contract or get creative via trade. I'm not sure what that avenue is for improving their team. But we've seen Ray Sherrill be willing to get frisky and mix it up via trade. NBS signings in the past, and I imagine they're going to have to do something here, because this doesn't strike me as a type of roster where it's like, you know, we're going to get Taylor Hall healthy next year and maybe we're going to get some better goaltending and we're going to get back to the postseason because it seems like the gap between where they are now and where they need

to be to get back to the post season is pretty, pretty massive. Yeah, I think that's exactly it. And look, I think there's probably only a few GMs in the league based off of their status previously as a winner and their ownership situation that can essentially wave a white flag and say, like, we're taking the season off. And I think Ray Sher is one of the very exclusive guys in that club. But you can't do it two years in a row. And I think the devils need to put all of their efforts, every ounce of energy in their body,

into resigning Taylor Hall and doing everything to make him happy. Because let's face it, he's probably the next guy that's at risk of being the next John Tavares and spurring it, you know, spurning a fan base. And I know he's only been there for a couple seasons. He wasn't drafted there. But really, you know, they need him as part of their future. And if he doesn't resign there, they're kind of screwed. Yeah, they are. They are. I do like some of the pieces they have. Obviously,

Nico Hissure is a great young player and some of their defensemen, but Taylor, Taylor Hall is in a kind of caliber and a league of his own, and they don't, those types of guys don't come into your organization very frequently. So the fact that they got one, via the trade that they did, they need to make sure they keep him and keep them satisfied and keep things moving forward. Emily, let's take a quick break here to hear from a sponsor, and then we are going to keep answering some listener questions on the other end of things. Let's chat about Sikh, who's sponsoring today's episode of the hockey BDiocast. Seekek knows that getting tickets online can be far too complicated with hundreds of

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with confidence knowing that what you're paying for is what you're going to get. All of that is why you need to make Seekekek's source from everything from sports and concerts to comedy and theater. I've got the Seeky app on my phone, and as I've talked about many times on this podcast before, it's my go-to because I know that regardless of the event I'm looking to go to, in just a couple clicks in a couple minutes, I will be good to go, and it's as hassle-free as possible and it's going to save me time, effort, and money. This is obviously, I think, one of the best times in the calendar year to be a

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all you have to do is download the Seekie Cap and enter the promo code PDO today. That's promo code PTO for $10 off your first Seekkeek purchase. And when you use it and when you go to one of these events and you have a blast, please feel free to take a picture and send it to me. I love seeing my listeners out there enjoying the games and me doing everything I can to help facilitate that so definitely take advantage of that offer and go out there and have some fun and with that said we're going to get back to emily gaplin and the hockeypedo cast okay so i know you wrote about uh you wrote about the Arizona coyotes at depth recently and i really enjoyed that piece and they are one of if not the best uh stories in the league this season just based on the wacky sort of

unpredictable up and down season they've had and currently sitting in a playoff spot now. Let's get into that a little bit. I want you to tell the listeners a little bit about that, and then we're going to discuss them and sort of the future outlook of that Western Conference wildcard race. Yeah, I was lucky they came into Chicago right when they were on this massive role. Of course, they get shellacked by Chicago, but look like they're on pace again, but it's kind of incredible. It's, you know, I think if not for Barry Trotson, what he's done in Long Island, or for John

Cooper and really running a juggernaut that is Tampa Bay. Like we would be talking about Tocke as the coach of the year. The man games they've had loss is it's just insane. You know, I lead the story with a bunch of quotes from guys being like, this is the crazy. It's insane. I've never seen anything like it. Don Chica got a little dramatic that he's never seen anything in life hockey or sport

or I don't know something. That's a bit extreme. Yeah, a little extreme. That said, it is pretty wild what they've had to go through. And I actually asked, I think it was Vinnie Hintros. I was like, do you guys kind of remind me of last year's golden nights where you're kind of golden misfits and no one's believing in you? He's like, well, it's not getting carried away.

But it is ridiculous what we're doing. And I think so much of it is goaltending that they've gotten, you know, they didn't have Auntie Ranta and Darcy Kemper really over the last month or so has been outstanding. And then another crazy fact about them is that I believe this is the first time we could ever have a playoff team that doesn't have a 20 goal score. You know, as I wrote that piece, Brad Richardson, career four. fourth liner was leading the team with 16 goals. It helped that he had won four goal night.

But I think it was Hinnis Droz again. He's like, we know that we don't have any superstars on this team. And if we're ever going to win games, it's not outscoring them, it's out working them. And that's why I think they've been able to have the success. Yeah, it's been quite a team effort. I didn't even realize that until I read your piece that Brad Richardson was leading the team with 16 goals. And Clayton Keller was leading the team with 44 points, and the next couple guys are a defenseman. and I mean, Darcy Kemper, you know, his career starts before this were 25, 28, 16, 17, and 25,

and now he's starting his 45th game, I believe, tonight, and he's had a 920% percentage in those, and he's looked remarkably excellent as a Pug Stopper the past however many weeks, and he's sort of having the type of season that I think people were hoping anti-Renta would finally have this year. So it has been that team effort, and Rick Tocke's done an excellent job of pulling the strings, and I guess, I don't know, do you think they're going to actually seal the deal here and finish this off by potentially making the playoffs? Or how do you see that Western Conference wild card chase shaking out because it looks like one of those teams, whether it's them or the Stars or the Wild or the Avs, I guess two of those teams are going to wind up missing out in the playoffs. Yeah, I'm not being crazy about the Wild lately. I just don't really love the way they're playing.

The Stars, and as we were recording this, I believe Ben Bishop, has just left with an injury. So I want to be careful there. But their goaltending has been absolutely spectacular this year. I think that's really buoyed them into the spot that they're in. So I think that's good enough to carry them in. I like the coyotes in making it. I really do.

I think, you know, they've got six home, six away left. They're against eight quality teams. So that's a bit tough. But if they can keep up what they've done the last month or so, there's no reason to count against them at this point. Yeah. No, they're a remarkable story. I am with you on the wild.

Devin Duhnick has been, I think, like the most negatively impactful goalie this year in terms of his workload and sort of how he's performed relative to what we'd expect from a league average goalie. And they're good defensively. We expect Bruce Boudreau teams are always going to be in it and always going to be feisty. And I believe he's made the playoffs in every year that he's completed with an NHL team. So it seems like it'll be a good bet to bet on them to make it. But I agree after the deadline moves they made, I don't think they have the firepower to keep up. and Colorado is the team that I keep coming back to because I know it's going to be a bit of an uphill battle with Gabriel Lannisog out of the lineup. But now that their goaltenders are at least kind of rounding back in a form and just how good Nathan McKinnon and Miko Randon have been as a pair, it feels like, and that kind of home ice advantage they have.

And I think they do have a pretty favorable schedule coming up as well where they sort of control their own destiny against some of these other teams. Colorado is a team that I view here with like the highest upside in terms of if they can get it together. they might actually be able to get into their postseason and give one of these central division teams that are above them an actual test in round one as opposed to just kind of making it in a feel-good story and then eventually getting eliminated in five or six games. Yeah, I hear you. I wonder two of the wild of what happens to them this off-season.

We see, I think, Bruce Brederil might be on his way out. I like to think that Paul Fenton wants to hire his own guy behind the bench. And I wonder what other seismic shakeups they can have because, you know, Paul Fendon finally did some stuff with the trade deadline, but I do think there needs to be more done to this core to make them a more sustainable team in the playoffs. Yeah, I, you know, I disagree, obviously, then you don't need to ride or traded at time look bad and in hindsight looks like a disaster, but the other moves that kind of, you know, I understand the perspective of like we've sort of seen what the ceiling for this current roster is and we're going to try to change that up or

mix things up by potentially getting a bit younger and a bit faster and maybe taking a bit of a step back here in the present, but having a brighter future in the years to come because of it. But I don't know, I'm very, very of pinning it. Like, I know I've seen this story before where Bruce Boudreau will eventually be blamed for this and we'll be let go and Paul Fountain's going to bring in his own guy. But history has shown us that, like, Bruce Budo is going to get scooped up pretty quickly, I imagine, and whichever team he takes over will suddenly get dramatically better. And so...

And then 100 points and get the playoffs. Exactly. And, you know, you can say what you want about how his... postseason track record has worked out but there's a lot of teams around the league that would love that type of a regular season and i imagine it'll be fascinating to see sort of what teams that aren't having the year they were hoping they were had this year and are potentially eyeing a coaching change of their own whether that realization that brujo might be out the door all of a sudden that might sort of make you like circle back to that and be a bit more patient with your own

situation and waiting to see what happens and if brujo is let go i imagine there's going to be at least five or six teams that are going to immediately be circling him and trying to bring him in to fix their own roster. So I think that's definitely a situation to watch. All right. So Emily, do you have a, you have a ballot this year, right? I do. Do you want to get into some of the awards and sort of where you're leaning right now? Are you allowed to talk about that at this point?

I'm allowed to talk about it. I'll just give you a disclaimer that awards voting is like the bane of my existence and I hate it. Yeah, it's pretty rough. I'm with you, especially now that they're, I mean, it's good that they're making them public, but it is, you obviously, unless you pick the favorite player of a given fan base, there's going to be 29 other 30 others that are going to be wondering why you hate their team and why you hate their favorite player. But I'm kind of curious, I want to bounce around through some of these main ones with you and sort of see where you're leaning, where your head's at, acknowledging that there still are a couple weeks and obviously a strong finish by a certain player. could go a long way towards vaulting them atop of the award. Where are you at with the Hartrowby right now? Is Kuturov, does he have it on lock just based on the ridiculous point season he's having?

He does, and I'm not a subscriber to the fact that, okay, he's got all the help in the world, and if he took him off the team, the lightning would still probably be a juggernaut because they wouldn't. His point total is absolutely insane. We have to be able to reward that. And he's just been dynamite from the beginning of the season. So I'd have a hard time not putting him as number one right now.

that said, I think Sidney Crosby has worked himself in the situation in the conversation. I really do. And I think if the Blackhawks somehow miraculously get into the playoffs, Patrick Cain would have a very, very good case, kind of a la Nathan McKinnon willing in the Colorado Avalanche last year, or Taylor Hall, obviously doing the same with the Devils. Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. We'll talk more about Crosby in a second when we come up to one of these other awards. But obviously the year he's had, especially of late, where he's kind of single-handedly carrying this Penguins team up the charts. Like, it felt a couple weeks ago, people were like,

oh, my God, could the Penguins miss out in the playoffs entirely? And now they're at least have a puncher's chance for winning the Metro Division. And it's basically been him carrying whoever he's been playing with, whether it's been Dominic Zyvone or now Jared McCann most recently or Ryan Rust there for a while. Like pretty much anyone you put on his line is going to be money. So that's all Crosby there. I'm with Yongkutrov. It seems like, I mean, let's keep it real for a second.

and the guy's going to have possibly 130 points this season, which hasn't been done. He's on pace right now as we record this. Yeah, and that hasn't been done since I believe, like, the early 90s when Yager and Lemieux were doing it together as a one-two punch on the Penguins, obviously in a completely different NHL. And I think we can sometimes kind of get carried away with this idea. It's like, yeah, this lightning team is obviously great. And I imagine they would still be pretty good if you took Kutra off their team.

But, like, it kind of, it doesn't do him justice in terms of what, how integral a part he plays in making all those better around him, especially on that power play and sort of what he's done to get brain point, I imagine, handsomely paid this summer and revitalizing Steven Stamco's as a top-light goal score and sort of all the space he creates for all those guys with his passing. So I don't know, I think there's obviously teams that are in more dire straits and maybe have some individual players doing more heavy lifting, but I think it is a bit unfair to penalize a guy like that just because he happens to play with other great players because he himself has been responsible for such a large majority of that. So I'm right there with you. I think

this is the year that he should take that home. The Norris, who you have in your ballot. So I feel, and the reason this is the bait of my existence, honestly, is that I feel like the criteria for all these awards is just so vague. And with the Norris trophy, it always seems to be the guy with the most offensive points gets, you know, kind of carried to the top. And Brent Burns right now is on pace for 86 points, which is pretty ridiculous. It's actually the most points of a defenseman since I believe it, Brian Leach. Just consider that. And that was a long time ago because Brian Reach has not played in that H.L.

In quite a while. Yeah, no, yeah, he's been gone for a bit. So I think that that's a guy that's going to be in my top three, just because that's the way things tend to go. And he has been defensively responsible. But I also really like Mark Giordano. And I think some of his possession stats can stand up. He also has the offensive production.

And, you know, he's just kind of, he passes the eye test of like, here's a guy that's kind of a shut town guy for his team, but he doesn't have as much help. And he's one of the best defensemen I've seen this year. And he also fits the sort of storytelling or the narrative angle of this as well, right? Where it's like he's been close in the past. And it feels like this is finally the year where he has put it all together. This Flames team has put it all together. And people want to reward him for sort of the career he's had. And I think it's completely justified in the season he's had.

I know sometimes we can quibble with that kind of career achievement angle, but he has definitely earned it this season with his individual play and what he's meant to that team. And the numbers he's putting up, especially at the age he's at, is remarkable. And I'm right there with you. I think he is the number one on my list as well. I also have guys like Morgan Riley and John Carlson up there. And I would have had Eric Carlson as well if he had played more than 52 games. But yeah, I think Giordano is a good pick.

In the Calder Trophy, I know our coach. worker Greg Horsensky's been really pushing this Jordan Bennington agenda of his, I don't know if he's been quietly hired as his agent or not, but do you think he's done enough at this point to potentially steal enough votes from the early lead, Elias Pedersen, it built up, or do you think Pedersen still has this? Yeah, don't let Octagon know they've been fired. It's always more. No, my thing with him was always games played, and he's just not going to play enough in the

body of work that Elias Pedersen has done. Elias Petershoun, I learned how to properly pronounce it like a month ago. I think it's just pretty incredible. He's having one of the best rookie seasons we've seen in the last 20 years, really since Sid and Obe's debut and just being able to almost change the complexion of that franchise, he willed them into almost being in a playoff spot until about two weeks ago, which is something of a miracle considering their depth concerns on that team, plus the injuries that they've had.

So Petterson for me is the pick. I have a very hard time pick someone else. I think Bennington had a strong case. He's dropped off a little bit in the last week or so. And that probably is going to drop his numbers and be able to justify it for everybody else who might be enamored by like a 25-game sample. Yeah.

No, he definitely had some buzz going there and it was a little bit of a snowball effect, but he has come back down to Earth a little bit. And I think there was also an element of, especially when they changed their coach and they brought in Craig Brubay to take over for Mikeo. They definitely short things up a bit defensively.

It made life easier for him as opposed to what Jake Allen was facing in front of him at the start of the year. And so that goes a bit of a way as well, obviously not to take anything away from the job Biddington did. But I think what Pedersen has meant to both the league and the Canucks in terms of just excitement and sort of how he's coming to the league and been this generational talent seemingly immediately is warranting of this award. And I always view these awards as kind of a bit of a time capsule where we

look back at them 10, 15, 20 years down the road and try and look at the individual wars to sort of remember what that year was all about. And it seems like this year will be remembered as the year that Elias Pedersen came into the league finally as opposed to the year Jordan Biddington got hot for 25 games. Well said. The Jack Adams. So you mentioned a couple names there with Rick Tocke and Barry Trots and John Cooper. It's a really tough one because similar to that conversation we just had with Kucharov, it's like how much do you want to, how much of the success

of the lightning do you want to give to an individual like John Cooper? And then how much do you want to reward a guy like Barry Shod's for the fact that his goaltenders have been remarkably good pretty much all year and kind of buoyed that team? Like, where do you stand with this and how do you factor in? Also some guys like Taukitt and

Brindamore that have coached these upstart young teams that have kind of come out of nowhere and exceeded expectations. Yeah, so this is the one that writers don't vote for, which I actually think is unfortunate because I feel like this is the one where I'd have some kind of expertise or something. I think my feeling is that I want to reward John Cooper, just the way I want to reward De Kutrov.

That said, the transformation, the expectations to what this team became of the New York Islanders is simply remarkable. And I know the goaltending's been great and we can call it the benched corn effect, but so is the defensive structure. They really brought back all the same defense minimal as last year. and it was a very poorest defensive group and literally went from a Cinderella like it's a Cinderella story really

so with all that said and managing the expectations managing all the hype and hoopla and even just that game and if you want to talk about capsule time we can use that John Tavares return to the Long Island night as the night that Barry Trots proved that he can

corral his team into willing themselves into an incredible performance he would be my pick Yeah, and it helps for his case that we can actually specifically look at what this Islanders team looked like last year and what they look like this year and the fact that the personnel hasn't really changed much except for the fact that they lost a superstar and they got dramatically better defensively. And it's not just the goaltending numbers, but it's all the high danger chances they're giving up, all the shots in general on the penalty kill. Like everything has supported the fact that a goal, that a coach actually does matter and the system they implement does matter beyond just the 10. talent itself. So I'm with you. I know sometimes we can ridicule this word for just being the

PEO Award and sort of the coach that got the best luck from their, from their goalies, their shooting percentage gets it. But in this case, it seems like just the draw of trots is done. And sort of the fact that we can identify specifically the difference he did make himself, goes a long way towards this. We got the Vezna and the Salki left. So my Vesna vote has changed in the last like five days. I was thinking it would be an Andrei Bostelevsky jam. but man, Ben Bishop has been absolutely ridiculous. This is a bit of recency bias because before we're recording this,

he had just recorded, I believe, the franchise record for shutout streak, but he now leads the league in safe percentage. He has six shutouts. He's been absolutely terrific for the Dallas stars. And I know Anton Godobin has been very good as well, and it's almost the same issue that we have with the New York Islanders, right? Where it's like how much of this system when both of the gold tenders are doing really well, and one just plays slightly more than the other.

But he, to me, is the definition of what a best in a goaltender, has been. So I'm voting for him. Yeah, I knew that he was having a good year. I didn't realize that he had a 932 save percentage heading into today. And obviously having three plus straight shutouts will go a long way towards doing that. But yeah, it is tough because, as you mentioned, Houdobin has a 924 save percentage, I believe, and slightly fewer starts than him.

It's just like Rice and Lennar, where both guys have been so good that I wish you could just kind of package them together and go like, okay, we're going to give this goalie tandem the award. I'm with you. My award has changed quite a bit. I mean, it hasn't changed, but my perspective on it has a little bit just because I would have thought there would be a strong case for Freddie Anderson, but he got shelled so badly the past couple times out that his numbers have taken a bit of a dip. But if you look at sort of, I know it's a bit of an unconventional pick just because that

Leaf's team has so much offensive firepower on the score, so many goals in front of him. but defensively they've been such a mess all year and he's really kind of made them hold up and allow that offensive talent in front of him to flourish and I feel like he doesn't get enough love for how responsible he's been for that team's success so it seems like we list martin Matthews, Tavares, Riley, so on and so forth for everything they've done but it seems like you know Anderson has done most of the heavy lifting this year for them and I wanted to give him a bit of love there so I'd have Anderson, Vasselveskin, Bishop in some order and I'm willing to see the final a couple weeks before I determine who out of those three deserves the most.

Except if Freddie Anderson gets pulled for his eighth and second of game a week from now. Yeah, then we'll have to revisit this. And the Selke. The Selke. This one is interesting. Yeah, this one is one of those, obviously, as you alluded to, the kind of nebulous ones, where it's like, what are we really awarding here and how do you even capture best defensive forward? And it seems like you have to have a certain baseline level of offensive production to even be

considered for this. but I don't know where are you at with this and what names are kind of bouncing around on your ballot. Well, I've become obsessed with your thing about this being a capsule in time. And if you really wanted to have a capsule of time with the 2018-19 season, shouldn't it be Mark Stone because this is the year that we all discovered and became obsessed with him? And it could be the first year that a winger has won in like forever. But I digress. I think that the name that really is sticking out to me is Sidney Crosby.

And I think part of this might just be rewarding him for some of the offensive success he has if he doesn't get the MVP, but he's been so defensively responsible and is so important to that Penguins team that he'd probably be my pick if I was voting today. Yeah, I have Crosby, Stone, and Ryan O'Reilly as my three guys. Ryan O'Reilly is the other one. I did not mean to overlook him, but go on. Yes. Well, I think Stone is, obviously, I'd love a winger to win this just so that we can get, you know, we can open the door for future wingerers to win this award, and so we can stop citing the fact that it's only been centers winning it as the reason why a winger can't possibly win it.

It's like, we've always done it a certain way. Why do we change it now? And so hopefully Stone could kind of break down a bit of that barrier and potentially open the door for some other wingers to win in the years to come. But I'm with you. I think Crosby, I would love it from the storyline perspective of he's obviously won, the Hart Ross, the heart, the Ted Lindsay, the Rocket, the Kahn Smyth, pretty much every single award that a four could possibly win.

And it seems weird to say that he's been the best. defensive forward, just because we think of him as, you know, he's, I think, fourth in the league in scoring or whatever, and we sort of tend to think of them from that perspective. But if you just look at the on ice versus off-ice numbers this year and what he's meant to that Penguins team and who he's played with and the fact that I believe, you know, in a thousand minutes that he's played so far this year, they're plus 40 at 5-1-5 in terms of goal differential and they're minus 23 or they're minus 13 in the minutes he's not playing. Like, just the fact that an individual player can swing the pendulum them that much for that team.

And then when you look at who he's playing with, and he's played like 300 of those thousand minutes with Jack Johnson, and he's played with, like, all these guys that you wouldn't necessarily think of as being players that would be, you know, driving the bus or being net positive players at 5-on-5, but just because they get to play with Sidney Crosby, he makes them look so much better. So I am perfectly okay with giving him that award this year

and potentially even using that defensive case to justify him winning the heart, as we talked about earlier against Huchrov. All right. I'm perfectly okay with the green. with you then. I like it. Let's take one more quick break here and then we're going to answer a few more questions and then we're going to get out of here. Also sponsoring today's episode of the Hockey P.D.O.cast is Harry's Razors. Anyone that's had to shave before and I imagine that is most of us out there, know that shaving can be a pain of the ass. You know, you can get these blades and pay exorbitant

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on Wednesday night, I believe, with Brendan Lemieux getting tossed for kind of an incidental with Antoine Roussel and Roussel got hurt. And I imagine the referee didn't necessarily see it live and just, you know, given Lemieux's track record and the fact that there was a player on the ice hurt and he sort of saw the contact, he assumed, I imagine that Lemieux had done something wrong and sort of tossed him for it. And given everything else we review, I guess it opens up the door and similar to what we were talking about at the start with Collendelia pushing the net off of its bearings that's also come up as whether that should be reviewable. Where do you stand with all this?

Or do you think that hockey at its best is such a fast, free-flowing game, and all of these reviews just slow it down, and we should live with a bit of the inexact science as long as we preserve that fast-paced nature of it? Yeah, I think that's a paradox, right? It's such a fast-paced game that it's hard for these referees to keep up. And I have the utmost respect for these guys. I did a story in them last year of just how they even stay in shape,

and it's pretty incredible when you think about it. and they can't call everything. So I think when the video is available, I think we should use it. This is why technology exists. This is why, you know, this is modern sports. And we have the lecture of doing these things. I don't think these type of reviews would take very long. Maybe players would agree with me.

I know that they tend to think that the TV two timeouts are become kind of out of control and the stop and go play really messes with the flow. But something like this, which is kind of egregious, if it goes, you know, called the wrong way, in my opinion, should be reviewed. And maybe we do something like we penalize if, you know, someone calls for their review or challenges it and they don't get it right. Yeah, I mean, it seems kind of weird to be like, okay, we can challenge offside and goal interference,

but we can't challenge the other things that could be just as impactful and aren't necessarily, you know, they're not subjected things like you can view it clearly to see what it happened there. Or I think one of my favorites is like, I think we should be able to review, that delay of game where a defenseman shoots the puck out of his own zone and it goes out of play and you get two minutes for delay of game it's like so many times you see that it actually didn't happen or the referees missed it and it feels like that can be just as impactful as an offside and if we're

going to open the door to that challenge system i feel like we should include that as well if we're all about sort of getting the call right and acknowledging that as you said it's it can be too fast too fast sometimes like i don't blame the referees i think they do a remarkable job of getting as much right as they do but I think especially with what's on the line in some of these postseason series, like stuff like that and sort of some of these miscalls on a high stick or whatnot or when a guy high sticks himself or high sticks a teammate or something like that or fakes it and dives. Like I think we should at least consider opening the door stuff like that. But I do see the other side of like you can get carried away with it sometimes. And if we're just constantly stopping and starting, it really defeats the purpose of what the NHL is trying to accomplish. Yeah, I'm torn.

Yeah. I would like to see. Another question, Mike, last year, was should the league be more transparent with how it deals with missed calls by officials? And the only reason I bring that up is because I do think that an NBA, for example, does such a great job with their last two-minute reports where they sort of go through what happened and what the referees could have done better or what they missed. And I do like that sort of transparency. Although I can't see the NHL ever doing that because it's just not the way the league operates. Yeah, no, I'd have to say, as a journalist, I have a hundred people. hard time saying no to any than that involves transparency. I'd love for them to do it.

I also think that referees would love a chance to explain themselves sometimes and, you know, give their take on why a call was missed or what happened there. So I'd love to see this happen. I just like can't imagine it any time in the near future as in the next 25 to 30 years. Yeah, it's not going to happen. Ross Chaplin here asks, are the Rangers doing an effective tank so far. And we can, we can, we can just, you know, rephrase it and say, are the Rangers doing an effective rebuild so far. Obviously, it's been about, what, like a year in change now,

since they penned that letter to their season ticket holders, sort of explaining what they were going to do and how they were going to strip this down and how they wanted them to be patient with them. And it was a bit of a sort of revolutionary or new thing that NHL teams aren't really known for doing. And speaking of transparency, I think that went a long way towards buying some people's support or admiration at least for they were trying to accomplish. But I don't know, it is a bit of a divisive topic, especially, and we're going to see a lot of this here in the final couple of weeks,

whenever you mention that a team should be potentially better off losing as many games as possible to better their lottery odds. And then you get a pushback of, oh, look how good it's gone for the Oilers with all the first overall picks they've had. And people cite all these examples of how maybe bottoming out and getting a bunch of high picks or with the Buffalo Sabres, for example, as well, how that doesn't necessarily buy you future success. Where do you stand with that topic? And I guess for the league as a whole in some of these teams that are rebuilding, but also for the Rangers and what they're trying to accomplish this season and the summer.

Yeah. For me, I don't think tanking can exist in the NHL. Wow, NBA, Ferdin's up there. We have talked quite a bit about basketball in this podcast, I feel like. Chesh. Yeah. Tushik. This is a basketball complimentary podcast.

But it's just with the chances and the way the lottery system is built up, I mean, even if you finish in last place, you only have a 2% greater chance of getting the number one pick than the guy who finishes in second the last place. It's just designed that way. And so for a team like the Rangers, I can't really evaluate how their tank is going. But the rebuild that said, when they sent out the letter, like you mentioned, it was a little bit of inside baseball here and we're just going to bring in another sport. But in a story recently, I called it the infamous letter. and Reinders' PR guy really pushed back at me. It was like infamous. Like what executives across all sports have come to us and congratulated us and said that's the way to do it?

And I probably was wrong and infamous because that has a negative connotation. That Wally was not the right word. But I'm saying it was just so off-brand for them is kind of where I'm going at. And I do think that people across sports have appreciated it and recognized it. And like you said, I think the fans have as well. And if I look at a year later, everything they said in a letter has been true today. They said they were going to say goodbye to familiar faces. They've done exactly that.

They said goodbye to so many fan favorites. It wasn't just last year with Ryan McDonough and those trades the lightning. I mean, getting rid of Zuccarello this year. Kevin Hayes was a fan favorite as well. And they've been able to incorporate some young players. And I don't think many of those young players have really stepped up in the way that they've hoped. You know, Bouch never seems to always be in David Quinn's doghouse. And Bias Anderson's been a little bit slower to adjust as his chitle.

But they're getting there. And, you know, they've also showed a lot of discipline and not signing for agents, which is very off-brand for them. So when all of that taken into account, I think it's been very successful. Yeah, I, I'm at, it is, it can obviously be heartbreaking for fans that get attached to some of these players. But like, what's the alternative? You look at the Los Angeles Kings right now, for example, and it's like, okay, they have all the guys that were on their team when they were winning the Stanley Cups. And they're old and slow now. and I guess every time you see them put on that King's jersey,

it brings back those memories of the team hoisting the cup, but they're not doing a lot of winning right now, and their future outlook doesn't look very great because they haven't been able to emotionally detach themselves from some of those players. So it's ultimately like a risk-reward situation in that regard. And I think, you know, you look at the Rangers and we'll see how some of these pick pan out,

and that's obviously the big sort of caveat here, a big asterisk. It's the lottery is a very inexact science in the drafting as well, and all you can really do is sort of get as many kicks of the can as possible and develop those players down the road. But, you know, they didn't have a first round pick from 2013 to 2016, which is pretty remarkable. And then they had two firsts in 2017. They had three in 2018.

They could potentially have three more this summer. They had 10 draft picks last year. They could have 10 more this year. So they're doing, I think, a good job of embracing that and embracing their place in the league and building for the future. But now, with that being said, because of that market and because of that market and because, of the fan base. I imagine when Artemey Panarin hits free agency this summer, there's going to be a lot of desire or a lot of clamoring from their fans to go out and make a big splash signing like

that and bring in a guy like that that can revitalize this fan base and potentially the team. And I think that's going to be the next big ultimate test for them to see how committed they are to this rebuild versus sort of pulling the plug on it and trying to speed it up by bringing in a bunch of high-price guys that could potentially bring them back to the playoffs again sooner rather than later. You know, I alluded to it a little bit earlier with Ray Scherro, but there's very few GMs in the league that have that luxury where they can kind of say, like, I'm going to pause for a couple of years and then do it.

And the reason that Ray Scherer has it is maybe because of the fan base in the ownership situation, New York doesn't have that luxury. And so even though they did enter this rebuild, so to speak, I don't know if they can do it as long as other teams could. I don't know that they can do what the Detroit Red Wings are doing right now and be this irrelevant for this long. So I wonder if Jeff Gorton is going to be tempted by some of the free agents that come up this summer and you mentioned Panarin, that's the perfect example. Are they going to go out and try to trade for someone? Are they going to try to lure Eric Carlson

away from San Jose or something like that? That'll be the true test of discipline for them. Yeah, it will. But as of right now, I give them a high grade just based on the fact that I think they've made the most out of not starting off with too much or at least sort of acknowledging that this was the trajectory of their team and sort of dispatching some of these older guys for future assets. So I do like that. Hamily, while we were recording, Nikita Kutrov had three more points against the Detroit Red Wings. I feel great about this podcast. It is going to age beautifully. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's ultimately, like, a good rule to live by, a good rule of thumb. It's like, just say nice things about Nikita Kutrov and his play, and I feel like it'll probably be

aging very well for people that are coming around and listening to this. Yeah, exactly. All right, plug some stuff. What are you working on these days? Where can people check out your work and what can they look forward to from you moving forward? Because I know you've done a bunch of really entertaining and insightful sort of deep dive features on various topics that I recommend people go check out. But speak a little bit more to that yourself. Yeah, well, really all I want to plug right now is ESPN NHL coverage. And I'm so excited.

I feel like when I started, it was a little baby that we were trying to grow. and it has grown and grown because Greg obviously came on like a month later. And now we have awesome people like you and I love your column every week and Chris Peters. So I just encourage everyone to check out the stuff we're doing. I think it's fun and different and we all compliment each other very well. I've got a few pieces coming out recently. I just had a big one on the two women's leagues. I had a lot of questions.

I didn't really understand how things ran. So that one kind of just explained it all. And I've got a magazine story coming up. I'm really proud of. and it involves the women that work for the Maple Leafs. And it's a story that I'd wanted to do for some time. And luckily, I was given permission. So that should be out right at the start of the playoffs.

Awesome. And you and a Greg as well have a podcast, which I will hopefully be making my debut appearance on here in the coming week. So people should check that out as well. Maybe we can get a bit of a podcast rivalry going. Emily, this was a blast. I'm glad we got to do this. Thanks for taking the time.

And let's definitely check back in and chat sometime down the road. Sounds great. And I am so glad I could find a quiet space. like my P.D.O. past debut where I did it in a cafe making smoothie from that now. That's okay. At least there were no sirens on my end this time either. So we, this was a pretty smooth, smooth recording. So anyways, we'll chat soon. Okay. Chichet. Thanks, Dmitri. The Hockey P.D.Ocast with Dmitri Filippovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim

Filippovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedocast.