The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 314: Watchability Rankings

Episode Date: October 1, 2019

Justin Cuthbert joins the show to help rank all 31 teams based on their watchability for the coming season.2:00 What we're looking for and prioritizing as viewers9:30 The Coyotes 11:50 The Kings14:30 The Wild16:50 The Senators20:00 The Red Wings22:45 The Blue Jackets26:00 The Ducks29:50 The Sabres33:00 The Islanders35:45 The Flyers38:10 The Canucks40:15 The Oilers43:30 The Stars and Predators50:00 The Panthers52:00 The Blues53:30 The Hurricanes56:00 The Devils59:00 The Canadiens1:02:00 The Jets1:05:20 The Flames1:07:50 The Bruins1:10:00 The Blackhawks1:13:00 The Rangers1:16:00 The Golden Knights1:20:00 The Capitals1:22:45 The Penguins1:25:00 The Avalanche1:28:00 The Sharks1:31:00 The Leafs and LightningSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Are you ready for the most ridiculous internet sports show you have ever seen? Welcome to React, home of the most outrageous and hilarious videos the web has to offer. So join me, Rocky Theos, and my co-host, Raiders Pro Bowl defensive end, Max Crosby, as we invite your favorite athletes, celebrities, influencers, entertainers in for an episode of games, laughs, and of course the funniest reactions to the wildest web clips out there. Catch React on YouTube, and that is React, R-E-A-X-X. Don't miss it. This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light.

These days, everything is go, go, go. It's non-stop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family, expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold-filtered, and cold-packaged. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind.

So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the HockeyPedioCast. With your host, Dimitri Phil. The hockey Pediocast. My name is Dimitri Philpovich.

and joining me is my good buddy, my colleague, my friend. Colleague. Justin, what's going on, man? Not much, man, gearing up for the NHL season. I'm pretty excited to be doing this. I'll let you obviously intro it, but it's the one year where I'm actually going to focus completely on one team. And now I've got to talk about all the teams,

but I'm excited to do that because you can't just have narrow focus. Well, and we take things very seriously here at the Hockey Videoscast, and so you were gallivanting around Croatia in the summer, and I sent you some homework. You did. you, Justin, I want to be in town before the season starts, and I want to do this properly. And you took it a step above and beyond. We'll get into our criteria here in a minute. We're doing the watchability rankings and annual tradition here on the Hocopcadio cast. You did like a full analytical

point system. You were breaking it down in spreadsheets. I did a very rudimentary point system, and it is definitely flawed. But, you know, it gave me a passable ranking 1 through 31. I didn't mind by Gutfield, you know, the guttillics as, uh, as my back quark, I think, or no, Ken Holland once coined it so aptly. Same true. So here's the methodology. We obviously kind of approach this from different perspectives, but I think when I pitched this to you, the way I framed it was assume all these teams are playing on a

given night, which NHL schedule makers usually on like a Saturday evening, usually all the teams are playing at the same time. Which ones are you going out of your way to watch? who are you prioritizing. Everyone's going to have different sort of subjective criteria. Like we can agree that the kings are pretty boring. The lightning are really fun to watch. But otherwise, especially in the middle,

there's a lot of room for negotiation, a lot of room for just personal preferences. The way I did it was, I don't really care if a team is going to be bad or good. Like obviously, if they're going to be really bad, sometimes that can affect the quality just because it's just bad hockey and they don't have talented players. but I think of a team like last year is Chicago Blackhawks, for example,

or the year before the New York Islanders under Doug Wade, where they're so bad that they're actually good to watch because they're getting into these, what Chicago played an 8-7 game last year against Ottawa, they played 7-6 against the Leafs. Goals aren't necessary, but it's fun knowing that you don't want to look away because you might miss something ridiculous happening. And that's ultimately, I think, why we're kind of tuning in and watching these games.

Right. I mean, you obviously, weighed that into your analysis here, but the fact that a team can be scored on did skew my results. I think the teams that finished at the very bottom for me were the teams that played, you know, boring hockey didn't necessarily have a player that you wanted to tune in for specifically. But like the teams that could get scored on that could get lit up, I give them a little respect in these rankings because I want to see, I don't necessarily want to see to see a team get blown out. But I want to see goals in hockey games. So that's definitely an important aspect for me.

Yeah, and if a team is so good defensively that, like, if they get up 3-0 early and you just know there's no chance their opponent's going to come back, like that's obviously great for them, great for their coach, great for their fan base. But for us as a viewer, I like sort of that feeling of suspense where it's like this team could give up this lead and then all of a sudden. That's why the Leafs have been so fun to watch over the past couple years. Everyone always talks about how they have all these defensive liabilities, how they're too loose. And there's certainly an element of that. but as a viewer, the fact that they could be up three goals or down three goals and just be equally likely to win or lose is pretty much all you can really ask for as viewers. Certainly.

Should we go through the method? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, you go first. Okay. So the NHL isn't a superstar-driven league, but certainly not to the extent the NBA is. But when I'm deciding, especially when all the games are on at the same time, like, I naturally gravitate to the superstars here. So I want to see something special.

So you mentioned the point system I did to try to. limit sort of the bias I have. I did create a point system and I gave the most points to or at least weighted in a way where the superstars got a lot of say in it. So I pick 50 players. I didn't want to just go through the teams and pick every really good player. I limited to 50 and the top 10 got double the points. So I have 40 players that got a certain amount, 10 players that got a certain amount. And then I added three rookies just the ones that I'm most interested in. Obviously I didn't want to really want to fit them in. I didn't think that was right. But there are three rookies, at least in my opinion, that I really do want to see. So 53 players that sort of

really tilted the scales here. I'll reveal the 10 players. It shouldn't be really a surprise. Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Nikita Kutrov, Eric Carlson, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marshawn, Austin Matthews, Alexander Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, and for me, Artemi Panarin is maybe the surprise. Especially in the new situation. One of my favorite players to watch, and I'm really excited to see what he can do in New York. So that's the the first step and try and get through this quick. On ice measurables, basically how entertaining are the hockey games? Do they play high event hockey?

How many goals are scored in their game? So it gives a little bit of value to teams that are giving up a lot of goals. General relevance, pretty simple. The team matter. Do they matter a little bit or they not matter at all? Atmospheric, does the setting enhance the viewing experience? And then sort of the it factor, which is similar to relevance, I guess. But do they interest me?

And I guess the Blackhawks are the best example of that. You mentioned them. They're moderately relevant, I guess. they sort of do matter. It could be a playoff team. But what happens to them does interest me more than maybe a regular team? And I might be conditioned to think that just because they've been jammed down their throats for so long. But I do find them to be a fascinating team. So they matter a little bit more in my scale. For sure. I think that's very important. And I think there's also an element of, especially when you're talking about Panarin and the Rangers, I'm thinking of like,

there's a sign of kind of kind of that like shining you toy syndrome where you kind of want to see all those pieces mesh, but there's also this unknown where you want to watch, especially early in the season, just to see what it looks like. Maybe it's unfair, but some of these teams that we're already kind of comfortable with, we kind of know what we're going to get from them, even if it's good or bad, like the Bruins, for example, especially after watching them make it to game seven of the Stanley Cup final, and we got 100, whatever plus games of them last year combined with the playoffs, we know what we're going to get. We know that top line. We know on the blue line. We know the goal tending, the defensive system, their power play is great.

So there's elements that you want to watch. But for me, they were lower on my list than they probably deserve based on like first, first glance if you're thinking about it. It's like, oh, the Bruins with Pasternak and Berseran and Mashran, they have guys that you want to watch. But I just know what I'm going to get from them. And it's kind of just not like sexy because it's like, you know exactly what it is. I think I'm on the flip side of that.

They ranked high on mine. But because they score in these objective measures, right? But when I look at it, do I really, am I really? am I really turning them on or turning their games on over, you know, maybe even in New York, a Colorado, maybe a Chicago. I'm not sure I'm really doing that. Right. But they do rank highly in the system.

So obviously my system's a little bit flawed, but it'll be interesting to see where the difference is between us on that. Well, and one thing I do want to say is everyone's going to have their own definition for, like, what their favorite brand of hockey is. I'm sure there's some like purists or whatever we want to call them. They'd love a good old fashioned 2-1 game that's hard hitting and has a couple of fights. and I certainly have time for that on occasion, but I want to watch games.

I think the NHL hockey is at its absolute best when it's free flowing, fast-paced. And that's why teams that have bad defensemen, I docked them on my list because if you can't get a clean exit going, you can't get a transition game going through the neutral zone, it's just like ugly, choppy hockey where you're like dumping it off the boards and out,

the other teams getting it back, you're trying to retrieve it. You just can't ever get that sort of rhythm. And these teams that are great, through the neutral zone, like the Carolina, for example, last year, are the teams I gravitate towards because I know that, like, there's going to be like a 10-minute period in each, a 10-minute span in each period where there's going to be no whistles,

and you're just going to be watching, like, hockey at its absolute fastest, absolute best, highest level, and just that's what makes the NHL special. Yeah, I think there's a time in the place for a 2-1 game. I think separating definitely the regular season in the playoffs. Regular season, I mean, if you are a channel surfer, you're looking for highlights, you're looking for the big moments in each game. In the playoffs, I can get behind a St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Stanley Cup final, where it's just hard fought and every inch matters and all that.

But that's, I don't think, what I'm looking for. Other people are, obviously. I don't think that's what we're looking for, I guess, in the regular season. All right, well, I'm excited about this. Let's get into it now that we've sort of explained where we're coming from with this. And since you're the guest, I'll let you go first. And we can kind of just go back and forth. We'll count it down from 31 to 1.

And then obviously, I'm sure there's going to be certain areas where we agree, and we have teams similarly ranked, but hopefully there's going to be some discussion here. So who do you have as the least watchable team in the NHL? So with three points, I have the Arizona Coyotes, and I know that won't match where you have Arizona. I think you have them sort of in the middle. But they didn't register on my point system.

I mean, Phil Kessel is not a top 50, most watchable player, in my opinion, anymore. Beyond that, they didn't have a single player that hit 50 points last season. So they had a strong push at the end of last season, not really a relevant team yet, nothing really redeeming about their style. If they went with the Kachina jerseys all the time,

I might have to bump them up a little bit. But right now, even though there should be a competitive team this year, really nothing drawing me there, and it just didn't register in this system at all. I agree with you. I have a 27. So I am low on them. And they were a great story last year.

I think people were excited about the fact that they were so close to the playoffs, and I think they got eliminated in the final week or so. It was right there in this kind of unsung story. of like Brad Richardson is leading them in goals. Darcy Kemper is their number one goalie. And all that's well and good. But unless Phil Kessel really just sparks this offense, especially their power play,

which was 26th ranked last year. Clayton Keller maybe takes another step. Like they have a lot of these guys that are invested in with Schmaltz and Keller and Devorak and so on and so forth, Christian Fisher. And so are these guys where it's like, yeah, they're all still young enough where if we look back at this list at the end of the year,

we might be like, oh, we should have had them higher because all these guys do have a certain level of, like, growth to still hit. But just based on what we saw last year, I don't think they warrant being any higher than the bottom, like, five or so teams just because of all that. It's like Ruktocket system is one that prides itself upon being stingy and defensive, and that doesn't really excite me. So you're right. On Saturday evenings, I'm watching those Kachina jerseys for sure. But otherwise, it's not good. And I think it's pretty bleak when your biggest selling point is Jersey aesthetics, which is important. Yeah, I mean, we should point out, like, especially in these like bottom 10, like there's really nothing sort of separating, I guess, a few of these teams.

Like if they don't have that star power, those redeeming qualities where their coaching philosophy is, you know, presented in a way in which it's supposed to bog down the game, I don't think there should be much that are separating, even though I do have a one to 31 system. You got the tiers. I did break mine down in tears as well. And next up, I guess we'll let you go next. Well, I have the Kings at 31. Kings, oh yeah, Kings are fair at 31. And that might be surprising to some people because it's like, oh, you drew Dowdy's exciting to watch.

They still have Hansi Copa-Copatar. But I think this might just be a personal thing for me. There's nothing more depressing in pro sports than watching guys who used to be at the absolute pinnacle who either aren't, who like, they still physically, like, they have the name played on the back of their jersey. They still kind of like look, they have the same face. But then you just watch them play and you're like, that's not. the guy I remember and the other thing is some of these guys are still like have utility and I'm sure

they could go to a better situation and like a guy like Dustin Brown or even Jeff Carter if he can stay healthy I'm sure he still has like he could play for a good team and put up 25 goals and be a useful sort of middle six player the issue is that on this king's team they're just kind of like skating around in the most like inconsequential setting where this team sucks they have all of their money tied up in guys who are on the wrong side of 30 they've drafted drafted really well over the past couple years, but based on the early projections for their depth chart, it doesn't look like any of those guys are going to be up here, at least to start the year. And so I think for the first handful of months, it's just going to be a grind,

we just log to get through these games, unless, like, they can really turn back the clock. Yeah, this probably should be Team 31 in this ranking at least. We aren't so far away, though, from two obviously big players in this league, or were big players, Drew Dowdy and Zaykobatar, having. really good seasons. We're really only one year removed from both of them, maybe not, maybe not doubty to as much of an extent as Kopitar. Kopitar was close to, you know, competing for the art trophy two years ago. But these guys coming off a down season each, they don't have the same drawing power. And the only really redeeming quality with this team is they could get hammered by

when a good team comes in here. Yeah, they're kind of a blank canvas for someone else. Yeah, exactly. They're a blank canvas for a Tampa Bay to just go off on, which is, you know, if you're going to, we're going to be obviously interested in Tampa Bay. Yeah. I'll tune in if they're going to have, you know, some serious power play time against the Kings. How do we feel about the Kings jerseys? I don't know if I feel. Don't you feel like they could do something like cool, like, let me get some like purple

going. Like I don't know. They do something more interesting. I actually think they're bringing back sort of the Gretzky style this year. Okay. I like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. It's a little bit stale. Yeah. The color system should be good.

but I think maybe the third jersey is to look a little better. The third jersey coming in now are pretty good. Okay. Cool. All right. Who do you have at 30? I got the Wild. Wild at 30.

I'm at 26, so I'm right there with you. So we're kind of in the same area. It's another one that just gets docked really hard by the fact that they don't have anyone that I really want to watch. Matt Dunba and Jared Spurgeon are two players I really, really like. But it sort of says something when two defensemen who aren't overly offensive Matt Dumb has scored a lot of goals a couple years ago, but they're just,

that's sort of the height of the interest for me is two guys that aren't necessarily game changers. Jared Spurgeon is just a really quality defenseman who I appreciate, and that just doesn't, you know, do it for me when it's compared to other teams. No, absolutely not. You know, they have guys like Jason Zucker

who they, I think, are lucky that Paul Fenton didn't wind up selling them for like 20 cents and a dollar while he was still there. He tried his absolute best, couldn't pull it off. Like, he's fun to watch, Kevin Fiala. like they do have some speed for me what's like a bit disconcerting watching this team is like i can't get a feel for it from it's just like an eclectic mix of talent which can work sometimes

like you don't always want to have the same type of player clearly you need a nice balance of veterans and young players on entry-level deals but for them like i don't think they're good enough to warrant being so all in on this suitor parisezoucorello spurgeon core now like they're going to be paying all those guys big money for like the next four or five seasons well into their mid-30s in late 30s for some of them and unless this core of like fiala donato um joel erics and neck can like really just take a huge leap i just don't see how they're going to get out of that like middle class which is like arguably the worst position to be and i'll just talk about how depressing the kings are but at least like they're going to suck and have a good

draft pick for the wild if you're like finishing 10th in the western conference and and just missing the playoffs, but then picking, like, 12th or 13th? It's like, where does that ultimately get you? It seems very disjointed to me. This sort of too contrasting, I don't want to say eras, but sort of that old guard, not mixing with what is a decent group of young players coming up, but nothing that's really going to draw me in. I would like to see a game there, though.

I think it's one of the, if we're looking at the atmosphere, I think it would probably be one of the better ones, and that gave at least enough marks to get by the coyotes. I got the senator is at third. and I know that you have them a bit higher. Where do you have them? We're different here. What number are you on?

I have a really random tier, which is the Panthers and Senators together at 20 and 21. Okay. But to go on the Senators, they got two of my favorite players in the league to watch, Thomas Shabbat and Brady Kachuk. Kachuk in particular is one guy that just, you know, makes me smile when I'm watching him play,

and I really, really enjoy watching him. And like the Kings, they can get the doors blown off them with regularity or at least could last season. If DJ Smith has a hand in any, anything that might not happen and it could be really ugly. But for at least this rating system going on last year, that helps them out a little bit. Last year they were bad, but at least exciting based on they had that blank canvas element where like if a good team came into town, they could

get into a shootout with them. DJ Smith like really just wants to bog this down and turn this into a rock fight. They're going to be bad and boring, which is the worst combination. I struggle with it because I actually enjoyed watching them quite a bit last year. I mean, less so after the trade deadline when they got rid of Mark Stone and Matthew Shane and obviously and Ryan Dezingle who was really fun to watch but I just I think the talent aside from Kachuk and Shabbat and you know there's some interesting pieces there Brandstrom might get a bigger role there Colin White down the middle though Colin White is your number one center could be a pretty gruesome but the talent isn't up to snuff and for me I really struggle supporting or endorsing this Eugene Melnick run organization

in any way because they are, I've called them that NHL's equivalent of a shell company. Like, it's some sort of a scheme. I don't know what's going on. But if you just look at their moves this summer, like their main guiding principle behind every move is can we get a guy whose actual salary that we're paying them is significantly less than their cap hits

so that we can hit the cap floor but not actually be spending of our real dollars. And when you look at their defense, I'm glad they avoided it. that will there or won't they with Shabbat and they're just like okay he's going to be under contract for the next nine years for us and that's exciting but beyond that it's like Nikita Zaitsev is their highest paid defenseman he's making four and a half million two thirds of which the leafs paid for them right he's only making 1.5 million in real dollars i think and then it's like Ron Hainzy it's like

oh yeah so your plan was we're going to take the two worst defensemen on the montreal on the Toronto Maple Leafs we're a good team but i think they're they're shortcoming was their defense and we're going to get those guys and they're going to be like our two like highly valued veteran defensemen and it's just like I don't know I think they could be they could get into some high scoring games I do want to see how could chuck and shabbat progress but if you just look at the rest of the depth chart it's so bleak and the Eugene Melnik factor and I just like I just want to stay away from yeah I'm with you on the Eugene Melnick factor but if there is one time to be cheap this is the time right this is when they should be doing it when they're flipping the roster here if they are cheap

by the time they've spent there it looks like nine picks in the next in the first and second round over the next two years. If by that point we're still playing this game, then yeah, I'm out. But at least right now, I mean, they do have an excuse to do this because they have to retool their roster. My only worry is I feel like they've put them in selves in a position. They're going to be bad, no doubt. But I don't know if they're going to be the worst team in the league and they're acting like they should be the worst team in the league, if that makes sense. Yeah. Ron Howard voice, they still will be cheap then. It's not going to change until something structurally changes with them. Who do you have?

at 29. 29. I have the Detroit Red Wings. Oh, I have them exactly 29 as well. There you go. It's exciting. Honestly, it's sort of the same old story. They've been bad enough to at least register on my list, earning some points with their

style of play. Yeah. But Dylan Larkin and Athenisu for sure, they don't quite register in that top 50. So it's one of, I think, five teams where they didn't have a person, they didn't have a player that fit into that, I guess, distinction for me. So they're down at the bottom. bottom of the list. Yeah, I love watching both those guys play. They're obviously excellent skaters. The issue is I was talking about how one of my prerequisites for this list is you have to

have some quality defensemen that can move the puck. And I like Philip Pronick. I like what we saw in births from Dennis Shalowski last year. But if you look at their structure right now, it's, I know Nicholas Cronwell's gone mercifully after all these years. A lot of Jonathan Erickson, a lot of Trevor Daly, a lot of Danny DeKisers, still Mike Green. And, I just want them to fully like embrace I guess contractually they can't so they just need to ride this out and kind of make up for all those mistakes and I think in the next two years they'll get out from under most of those contracts and that's kind of going to give them a new lease on life but for now the defensemen are so bad that I think it really influences their ability to play the style of hockey that I want like if they're going to have an exciting play it's going to be lark and or not to see you going back in the defensive zone retrieving the puck and basically doing it all. themselves. And that's just not a sustainable formula as good as those guys are time and time again. You're going to run into walls on your way up the ice. And so not having anyone that can get them to puck consistently bumps them down my list. And that's why I have them at 29. And I will say I despise

their broadcast team. I cannot stand. I have them, the Columbus Blue Jackets for sure, Fox Sports Ohio. And there's a couple others where like the quality is just. You get the cannon shot with them at least. Yeah. It's weird because I was going to say like they're such homers. that it's upsetting to me but like I actually, I'm in the camp that I like, I like Jack Edwards because like he's so unabashedly

a Bruins fan and he's like flunting his Stanley Cup ring and like full measure you gotta go full out if you're gonna be like that there's something about these guys that are just like it's like so upsetting to me

that they're like they're like arguing about calls against the Red Wings and I don't know it strikes a weird note and they so I don't like that and I bumped them down I have them 29

and I feel really good about that let's keep going and obviously as we get into this list if like for example I come up with a number and we've already done one of your teams. We can just gloss over that. But who do you have a 28? I got the Columbus Blue Jackets to 28.

Probably an unfair rating, if I'm being honest. I mean, I really like Pierre-Luc Dubois. Werensky, Josh Anderson's sort of widely one of my favorite players to watch just with the style. But after losing our Timmy Panera and Sergey Birovsky, there's really nothing much there beyond Seth Jones. I think he could have a huge year, potentially win a Norris. I think there'd be some backing just because of how bare the cupboards are. But I think they're just going to be a far cry from the team that showed that we're at times really exciting last year.

And I love how they went all in, but this is the consequence of doing that. They're just not going to be that interesting this year. Right. I'm on the corner that they're not going to fall off as much as people seem to think. I have them at 25, so it's kind of like a half measure. I'm not all in on it and saying they're going to be like a top half team. But there's enough sort of depth talent there with Atkinson, with Anderson, with Boone Jenner. They have a lot of these guys that are just like really difficult to play against and can play that sort of frantic, really, like, functionally physical style that John Tortoella teams pride themselves on.

And we saw them execute that last year against, they just gave the lightning fits. And they probably should have beaten the Bruins of Tukarisk wasn't standing on his head for a large stretch of that series. And so there's still a lot of those elements there. And it's not like they're starting from scratch because they have the Pierre-Luc Dubois, Seth Jones, Wrenski kind of nucleus to build around. moving forward. I think they're going to miss Panarin a lot. You mentioned how he's in your top 10 players. Statistically, he's right there.

And I think from an aesthetic perspective, he's incredible to watch. And so for them, I wonder, he did so many little things in terms of attracting attention from opposing defenses and kind of making life easier for Atkinson and Dubois. And if he can't do that, maybe they'll kind of be like skating in mud a little bit

just because there's going to be so much less room for them to operate with. And so I think there could be, like the obvious effect of not having a player of Artemey Panarin's production. And then there's like the sort of trickle down effect on what it means for everyone else because they all have to do a little bit more than they're probably capable of. Yeah. I think you're right though with the functionally physical style. That is for me that is fun hockey to watch. But Artemey Panarin was so important for that because he was that he was that change up right in that system. And I think he that's what really made them an exciting team for me.

And the fact that we're, you know, Gus Nyquist is fine. But it's a tremendous drop off in terms of an aesthetic. And they probably should be higher on my list. I mean, they don't really belong to be, they don't really, they're better than being bookended by the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings on my list. So I feel a little bit bad about that. But that's what happens when you lose a top 10 player for me. I'd hope we'd all be a little bit better than being bookedended by the Detroit Red Wings

in Los Angeles Kings. Yeah, I mean, and they have some, like, exciting young pieces there with Texie and Bemstrom and their goalie Elvis Mers-Lincoln's. And, like, there's, like, some unknowns there. So I want to watch them. And it might just be, I might be understanding the effect of losing all that star power. And they could struggle. But I'm going to be tuning in for at least the first couple weeks to see how that plays out. I had, so we're at 28 now. I have the Anaheim ducks. We're at, oh, that's what I was, yeah. Yeah, I had 28. So I have the Anaheim Ducks. And I wanted to get them higher. I just think they're not going to, they don't have the firepower right out of the gate at least to warrant being moved higher. I think they're going to be playing a lot of, they're going to try to slow it down and sort of get John Gibson to carry them as they have in the past few years. Now, the reason why I describe them as kind of, I'm cautiously optimistic about them because they, unlike some of these teams that we've talked about, not embracing their situation and their place in the hierarchy, I think they've kind of acknowledged that they're in a rebuilding phase, right? They bring in Dallas Aitken's.

They sort of have all these young guys now. Like Ryan Getslaff is really the last guy from that old guard. Like even Adam Henrique is still, I guess, like 30 years old or something. And he's only been there for a couple of years. There's very few players left from that sort of constant perennial Western Conference contender for much of the 2010s. And I want to watch these guys because they had success under Aikins in San Diego, right? The Troy Terries of the world, the Sam Steele, Max Comptuau. Max Jones.

They might struggle, but I like the fact that they're kind of like bringing all these guys in at the same time and they're like, okay, let's like grow together. And then even their veteran pieces are Ricard Raquel was like 26 years old, Silverberg who's 28, Camp Fowler was 28, like they're also guys who are still fun of watching in their prime. So I think there's a lot of pieces there and I'm willing to embrace the fact that they could be much higher on this list. But for now I just kind of, I'm still a bit wait and see with them.

Yeah, I haven't met 26, so right where you are. And I'm with you. I don't think, I wouldn't be surprised if this team does become interesting over the course of this season. I think you met with John Gibson. You mentioned the young pieces that are going to be there. I think it might have be a bit of a struggle out of the gate. But they're a little bit higher on my list for the simple fact that they have John Gibson. I mean, when when I'm looking at superstar potential players, it's rare that a goalie is going to be included, I think. I only have a few because. they're supposed to make the game a little bit less interesting. Right, that's their job. Just taking goals off the board, right? So there isn't many that I'm dying to see, but John Gibbs is a goaltender that I love watching, and for that reason, he's, you know, not quite at the bottom. But this team, I don't think the outlook should be as bleak as it might be

because I think they could be moderately interesting by the middle of this season. No, I'm excited about them. And I was talking about this on a recent podcast, but I'm kind of excited now for this potential last chapter of Getzlaff's career in like the Joel Thornton role over the past handful of years for San Jose,

obviously, and I need some of these players to develop so that you can get your Logan, contures, Timo Myers, Tom O'Shertells with the World to allow

gets to have to play more of a secondary that kind of like third line but dominant on a power play role but who knows maybe in a couple of years

assuming health and assuming he wants to keep playing we could see that as well so that's kind of like something I'm just like there's a lot of storylines here I guess

and a lot of questions that remain unanswered so I don't think he's quite there yet, but he does have the potential, I think, to age a little bit more gracefully than, I guess, obviously, a Corey Perry. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Clearly. Just because it was like size and anymore, but he, I don't think he's, yeah, I mean, we're not seeing vintage Ryan Getslap or having for the last couple years, but I think, I think he still can be a quality player in this league, but still someone that's interesting to watch as well. Okay, let's, so, and then you were

saying after the, what are the teams that were for you? I had the Kings of 27, so we already touching them. I think we're, I had ducks at 26. Have you given, or 26? So I had the ducks at 28. The thing is now, like I have the coyotes of 27, which we did. The Wild at 26, which we did. So we're at 25. The blue jackets at 25. I got the Sabres at 25. All right. Let's get into I have in 23, so I'm right. I'm right in the same ballpark. I mean, it's pretty simple. I mean, it's in this group right now, it's just the one, just the one player that's drawing you. To me, that's Jack Eichel. There's other pieces there. I like the fact that they brought in Brandon Montour and Colin Miller. You mentioned getting the puck up the ice. Those are two guys that can

contribute there. But they're not quite at the point where they're a relevant team. I don't think they're going to be a good team in a very tough division. And they're going to have a lot of competition when we're turning it on on Saturday nights. And I just don't think they're going to be on my television too too much. Yeah, Eichols like just waiting to crack into that top 10, like most exciting players just in terms of his rush ability and sort of when he gets a full-headed team, how funny is to watch in that combination with him and Skinner and a lot of those blue line pieces watching Rasmus Dahlin's development

there's certainly pieces there in place and I think they've actually done an impressive job of if you compare their situation now compare it to where they're at like a year and a half ago just in terms of how many defensemen they brought in signing Marcus Johans into a nice team friendly deal trading and getting

Jeff Skinner like they've added a lot of pieces here where their future outlook doesn't look nearly as bleak as it has in the past and probably as bad as it looked for the second half of last season. I don't know how good they're going to be. It's really tough for them to crack into that top four or five in their division. I want them to be better because I think, in terms of the atmosphere,

I think those home crowds could really get electric. I mean, we know how much people in Buffalo love their hockey. When I tweet something about the Sabres, I get so much, so many reactions from Sabers fans who are so passionate about their team. I love to see that. it's kind of like depressing but true that every year for the for the postseason when mbc releases their ratings buffalo is right up there in terms of the most popular markets their most heavily watch markets and so i think they're really going to embrace this team i think they got like

you saw it a bit they got really excited during that tanking winning streak as they should they haven't experienced anything like that in a while and and then i think the the wheels just came off so drastically in the second half that it was kind of like that seems like a distant memory and i don't think i think the answer is probably the truth is somewhere in the middle of there where they're not as bad as they looked at the end, but they're not obviously a team that just wins every 10 games. Yeah, you're right. The potential is definitely there. I mean, you have the fan base required to have that sort of extra element. You have obviously an arena that could be popping. It is popping when the Leafs go there at least. So the Sabres, I mean,

but it's just, I mean, we've seen this movie over and over again, right? I think made some sage moves getting Montour and Colin Miller move and even Henry Yokohiro as well. I mean, I think there's some pieces there but it just there's there's elements there's hurdles at important spots there's running Rasmus Ristelining out there for whatever it is 25 plus minutes yeah uh there's just things that are holding them back and i'm not sure that they've gotten rid of those things just yet yeah i've got the sabres 23 on my list i've got the islanders at 24 they're the next team that we haven't covered yeah i have them at 22 um here's the problem with the islanders i mean this is probably a generous rating because they have a coach who literally takes pride in sucking the life out of the game.

So the fact that they're up there, I mean, he made Matt Barzell considerably less fun. Yeah. So they're definitely higher on the list than they should be at 22. But they're, I mean, the best game, the best regular season game I watched all year last year was when Tavares returned to Long Island. They have the potential to make it really, that added element where it's really exciting to see a big game at Nassau. Well, they need to, that's atmosphere.

They need to sort out that. Exactly. That's only a handful of games, and that's maybe, you know, one time out of those handful where it's really, really popping like it was. Yeah, I mean, I think especially like early in that, and then the early in the Penguin series,

like, game one, which they wound up winning in overtime, I believe. Like, that was, that crowd was, that was one of the better crowds I saw all postseason day. They just, like, they did not stop getting after the Penguins. And it was fun to watch. The Barry Trots effect is real. and it's spectacular. I mean,

2017, 18, under Doug Waite, they were fifth fastest in terms of pace if we're looking at shots four and against. First and total goals combined four and against. Last year, Andrew Trots, they went to 27th in pace and 30th in total goals. And Barry Trots, I imagine, loved that.

And listen, we're saying that I don't want to honor's fans to get mad because clearly, like, it's a good thing for them. Look at all the success they had last year. I think they're once again going to be competing for a playoff spot on the metro like they're going to be a good team it's just beyond mad parzal and like a couple devon taves rushes here and there there aren't too many things

on this team that you point at and go i got to go out of my way to watch like anders lee boxing people out around the net like listen i'm uh i love andersley doing that as much as the next guy but i'm not going out flip i'm not flipping over to watch him do that right like he's good at it but it's not like a captivating spectacle and and they don't have nearly enough of that for this list to warrant being anywhere higher up. Yeah, I distinctly remember Trots walking out of, I guess it was, it was Scotia Bangerina last year as well, or was it? I can't even remember.

It was. Yeah, it was Scotiabina last year. And he was just howling to himself because he turned the Maple Leafs who were going to be high on both of our list, a game against them, into an absolute slog. And he was laughing because he got a look from someone who basically, I guess, was a little surprised. the islanders were able to shut them down and he took so much pride in it and you can see it written all over his face and I'll never forget that because but that just sums up exactly sort of

who they are who they want to be and that's not a terribly exciting team okay so where where are we at in your list then I have 23 and 24 still up up in the air okay let's do 24 I got the flyers there now that's probably going to be a bit of a contentious one there but I got to be honest I got flyer fatigue. I mean, I think we've seen this over and over and over again. Well, there's some exciting elements. There's a Claude Giroux who I didn't put in the top 50 who should be. Right. But I just I've seen this. I need to see something different from them. I want to see a new dynamic, something that gets me interested in this team again because in the past, I have been really interested in what's going on with them. But I just feel like the same thing is happening over and over

again. And it's just not, it's not appealing anymore to me. Yeah, well, see, I mean, Alan Villan vigno notoriously gets a lot out of his teams in year one before the message kind of gets drowned out. So we'll see how that works out. I mean, bring in Kevin Hayes while the contract was terrible, clearly makes them better as like a second line center. And there's a lot of pieces there. I think they're banking on Gostas Baron Provarov to be better than they showed last year.

I think if you squint enough, you could sort of envision a playoff team here if everything comes into place. If Carter Hard really is their goal in the future, they have good crowds. you know, there's the gritty element, I guess. Like there's, the flyers, I have them at 15 purely because they deserve to be in the middle of this list because they have been such a mediocre franchise. But they do it in the most roller coaster-ish roundabout way where it's double-digit game

winning streaks followed by double-digit game losing streaks. Wild stuff is always happening with this team. They never, there's never a quiet, dull moment. It feels like something is always happening, some sort of storyline, usually people making fun of them. There's ridiculous stuff happening, throwing batteries on, or bracelets or whatever they did during that cap series on the ice. Like, there's just, there's an element of like uncertainty or the unknown with them that I really enjoy, but you're right. We've been burned by them a lot in the past. It's been easy to get excited about them. There's a lot of great pieces there, but for whatever reason, they haven't

been able to put it all together. This is a form of protest for them getting the most NBC games. Not that that matters in Canada, but the fact that they're setting, I mean, they're setting themselves to get burned like the rest of us. I mean, this is, this, this could be a really exciting team that, you know, makes the playoffs and has great success in their first year under vigno, but they don't deserve that because as much as these wild swings can be entertaining. It all comes back to the middle every single year, it seems. Yep, I'm with you. And then so you had them at 24. Who did have 23? I got the Canucks at 23. The lowest Canadian team, and I definitely will get it until later, but I have some Canadian bias. Alias Pedersen, though, is worth tuning in.

for obviously not quite in that top 10 where he gets you know really ranked highly but a guy uh that elevates them but in terms of relevance and what their games look like it's it's not quite there for me uh i do like their broadcast i don't know how you feel as a vancouver guy their crowds are abjectly terrible yeah it's a lot of uh people in suits looking at their phone same story here um but what i will say Quinn hughes hasn't a chance to give them a second sort of must watch player along with Pedersen. So that's something to watch. And I didn't know how to feel about this,

whether it's a good or a bad thing, but they're so all in on this year, which is weird to say about a team that's not good. But like with Benning and all the money they spend this summer and how long it's been since they made the playoffs, it feels like I don't think they're going to be very good. So I feel like things could really go off the rails in a hurry if they don't live up to any of that potential.

There's a needless pressure on this team. Yeah, it's weird. which does certainly adds to the intrigue. But when we get down to it and when there might be that failure, is it going to be really, is it going to be, are you going to want to watch that, you know, fender bender? It's not going to be a complete car crash, I don't think. Right, no.

But are we going to enjoy, I don't think it's going to hit on any level, even if it's good, moderately bad. Yeah. I just don't think they're quite have that draw, but who knows. I mean, if it's a complete disaster, things could get more interesting. I mean, yeah, for this franchise to be like a kid. cap team where they're like waving guys like Berhardtian and Goldobin because they need

to clear space and it's like it's a mess let's catch up with my list here I've got the Islanders at 24 we did them I've got the Sabres at 23 the Canucks at 22 which we did I've got the Oilers at 21 okay so I have the Senators at 21 so we're all

cut up there and then we get to the top 20 at least yeah so okay let me do my bit on the Oilers here because I think they were the team I struggled with the most because on the one hand, and I think in years past, I had them as a top five watchable team, even though I was skeptical about them being good, because Connor McDavid is the best player in the world, and he's the most exciting player in the world to watch. And if he's playing, I want to be viewing that because each of his shifts, he could do

something that we never even thought was humanly possible before he stepped on the eyes and did it. And so there's an element of that. The issue is like, it's so depressing watching all the other minutes. and kind of like these like sad pictures of connor mac david just like eyes glazed over sitting on the bench just looking at this debacle on the ice in front of them and they tweeted out their practice lines today and we'll see what happens i mean everyone's been clamoring myself included for them to split up mac david and dry sidle and have them play down the middle and so they did that and they've got nougin hopkins dry sidle and connor macdavid in their own lines the problem is it's a lot of like thomas yirko as like a top scoring winger for them and so the depth is terrible terrible on this team. The supporting cast is bad. It's bleak and that's so frustrating as a hockey fan to say because you could make an argument that they're like a bottom five watchable team if you buy into that idea of it being depressing. But then you could make an argument for them being a top five team because if you have Connor McDavid, people are going to be watching. If the Canucks

aren't a car crash worth watching the Oilers are. They are. Simply put, if McDavid's on the ice, I'm going to be tuning in. I mean, I think he, He has the single most drawing power obviously, and it overrides much of the decision making I'm going to be making when I'm deciding between games. They don't register anywhere else, but I don't think I'm a hockey fan if I'm not interested in what's going on with the best player in the world, good or bad. So I got them at number 12. Yeah, no, I think that's certainly fair.

And I guess last year, the one saving grace here is, like, they were using him and Dreisidel so much that it limited the amount of exposure to the other guys just because, like, he was, there were games where he was playing like 27, 28 minutes a night, which is just unheard of or forward. So I guess if they keep just like riding that top line into the ground and playing them as much as possible, like that'll bump them up this list, but it's tough. I'm also interested to see what happens with Dave Tippett, whether Ken Holland can make an impact. I know he didn't do much this year that he got, he got rid of the biggest weight on this franchise, but introduced another weight, maybe not as heavy as the luchy's weight.

but again, I didn't mention this with Detroit. I am interested to see if there is any difference with new guys taking over, even though much hasn't been done. Yeah. Especially with the Oilers who do have a new coach. How does it change things? It's at least something to watch if it changes things at all. I guess at least you can make the argument, nothing's really been done,

but at least nothing bad or nothing like truly detrimental has been done. So that's a step in the right direction from the Shirelli regime, I guess you could say. Yeah, so we've done all of, uh, all of my teams, I guess 21 were the Oilers, so now we're getting into my top 20. Yeah, we're in my top 20 as well. Okay, I'll give you, I'm going to lump these teams together, and then we can take them one by one.

And I think I got the most pushback when I released my list online. I had the blues at 20, the stars at 19, the Predators at 18, and the Bruins at 17. And I think all those teams are really good. They're all playoff teams. They're all cup contenders. But they all kind of pride themselves on, stingy structured defensive games and to varying degrees clearly but i'm just going to lumping them

together for the sake of convenience um and we kind of know what we're going to get from them i guess from the predators we can talk about duchin and sort of that monkey wrench that's thrown into a national's game plan but these teams are like really good really successful teams i just like i prefer sometimes watching a chicago or a florida that's so bad defensively that i know it's going to be a more up-tempo game. Sometimes these teams with the dump and chase, with just laying the body, it can be fun,

especially in the come to postseason and that Blues Bruins Stanley Cup final was really entertaining, despite what I'm saying about these teams not being watchable, but for an 82 game regular season grind, sometimes it could just be like, it's like a bit too intense in a way.

It's like I just don't on a Tuesday night want to be watching this. Yeah, I sort of have the same sort of tier here which should be interested in but not really. I'm interested to see your list having the Stars and Predators. I think you had, do you have 1920?

I had Stars Predators 1819. And I thought I would have them higher on mine and I thought you would have them higher on yours as well. And I'm not sure. There were other reasons for this, but something about the central time zone, I think, plays into this a little bit. Because, and it applies to those teams for sure.

Because when they come on, there's already a game on. You already find yourself invested into one game, then there starts, and you haven't really got a chance to get into that one. Right. And then by the time the first game starts, the next game is already on. So I think they get lost in the shuffle a little bit. Yeah. But it is deeper than that with the stars and predators. I, for the predators, I think they just lack that top end star power now. Like tons of really good teams, tons of really good players on that team, but no one that really draws me in. A terrible power play does not help them at all. Yeah. But if there was one arena that I would go to, top three would.

be Nashville. So they got some points, they get some points in that respect. But I'm just surprised that the Stars and Predators rank so low and both of ours. Well, you know what feels weird about the Predators? Like, I remember that year they made their spirited run to a cup final and lost to the Penguins. You know, they're kind of like the talk of the hockey world. It feels like the hockey world like discovered Nashville as this like destination and

how crazy they were about their team and all the stuff they were doing during the game, the pregame, the catfish, all this stuff. It feels like it's gotten like a little stale in a way. Maybe that's unfair. Maybe that's kind of like a human psychology thing where it's like it just, it happened and now we're moving on to the next thing because we've already seen it. But that roster and maybe that was sort of the rationale behind trading P.K. Sub-Band and bringing in Matthew Shane to kind of like diversify their portfolio in a way

or spice things up and give them a bit of a jump start. And I think there's reasons to be concerned about whether they're a better team because of it. But at least with Dushain, like he's an exciting dynamic. forward and when you pair him with Philip Borsberg, Victor Arbetson, they don't have that like top of the line top 10 star, but they do have a handful of dynamic players that are worth watching. And so I'm willing to bump them up this list if we revise it later on in the season if that actually happens and some of that staleness goes away because Duchenne does give them a bit of a spark.

And I'd be willing to bump up the stars later on as well because they have a really solid collection of players and they have a really solid collection of superstar players. Guys you really want to watch. I mean, included in that top 50, I had Tyler Sagan and Amiro Heiskenen, but the John Klingbergs, the Jamie Benz, the Joe Pavalskys, they're all,

they're pretty close as well. I mean, this is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender with league relevance. I just find myself wanting to tune in when they've proven it or in the postseason. And I'm not really sure the rationale behind that. Well, and we talked about this last time you and I recorded in this studio.

I think it was between rounds one and two. their home games there's this like optical illusion that they have going on with like how like it seems like they're like are always going downhill and it's like this like snowball effect and it's fun to watch and they have a great broadcast and there's a lot to like there I really like watching their home games I find myself gravitating towards them bishop is a fun goalie to watch because he's just like so freakishly long and athletic

that all of his saves are always an adventure and there's just like limbs flying all over the place. I'm curious to see Root Rehintz and year to who he plays with on the second line, whether they can give him secondary scoring. I feel like Miro Heiskenen still is such a young player that he has more room to grow. And I like how they play him in Klingberg, sometimes in the offensive zone. And so there's a lot of stuff there that I like, and I wanted to get them higher. But I just felt like Jim Rungummerie ultimately wants to play a defensive,

grinded out to one game where Ben Bishop doesn't have to make that many saves, but when he's called upon can win them for them. And that obviously made them a much better team, much more competitive last year, but it also made them a bit less final watch. And some of the talents they have can make the game or look at least exciting, sort of in spite of that style. I mean, if they had a coach who wanted to just let the horses go, this could be easily one of the most exciting teams of the league.

goaltender in the back that can play that style or at least shut the door to sort of allow you to play that style but again there's just something drawing the back and that's probably definitely a part of it so who do you have next on your list then you as a panthers at 20 oh okay yeah i'm at 16 um so so we're right there same ballpark obviously they have an incredibly dominant player in alexander barcoff and they really they do play a really fan friendly style um one of the highest scores for game quality for me. But I'd just be lying if I said I was eager to watch Florida Panthers games. Like it's just, it's deep in my subconscious that I just can't get behind it until I see something. And when you're tuning in, you see 12 people at the game. And that's a huge factor.

Yeah. I mean, you just, you can't get by the fact that there's no added element to it. It is, it is a, it doesn't reflect what's going on the ice, what's happening around it. It just doesn't all mesh for me. But again, this team isn't, it hasn't been relevant in the league for quite some time now until they are. I don't think I'm going to be, you know, killing myself to watch. Yeah, I guess like they, you could argue, they spent a lot of money this summer, although it was on a goalie, an aging defenseman, and then like middle six talents. So it's not like, that's not really going move the needle. Their power play I thought last year was, I mean, I think the lightning were the only team that scored more power play goals on them. And for my money, I think they were the most fun

power play to watch because they basically just sent five shooters out there and they're just like you never know where the shots coming from. We're just going to, the puck's going to be flying around and they just gave opposing penalty kills fits. So I like watching that. They did lose their power play coach, which may or may not have a factor, but I mean, it should be able to repeat some of the elements from last year. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're kind of like middle of the pack there. And their top six is really fun. Beyond that, they still have depth questions. So I think that's a reasonable spot.

Keep going on your list. Let's rattle with some more of these teams. So I think we're through 18 on my list. 15 through 17 is the hurricanes, blues, and devils. Probably a few we could talk about here. Yeah, so we've got the blues at 20, so we can quickly do them. I'm curious to see, I guess, how they bounce back after last year's season. And I get in a certain way, I'm not looking forward to how we're going to try to jam a square peg into a round hole narrative wise.

Where if they come out of the gate struggling, it's going to be a lot of Stanley Cup hangover. If they come out of the gate hot, it's going to be a lot of, they're bringing back the momentum from last year. Like, I don't like it's, I think it's a good team. I think clearly last year was just a magical run from them. I'm not expecting them to repeat as cup champions. but I also think the storyline was a bit overblown of how out of nowhere it was because at this time last year we were all talking about all these additions they made and how they were going to be a dominant team and it just took them a while to get that goaltending in place. So I guess we'll see they want to play a defensive brand. They want to play a beat you up style.

In the year 200, Burube, we'll see how that translates. Whether they take the training wheels a bit off of guys like Vince Dunn and Robert Thomas and some of these younger players and open it up a bit during the regular season, that would keep. me coming back in for more. But there's also an element of we just watched this team play. It seems like the cup final ended yesterday and we watched them play 25 times. And there's a bit of a fatigue from my end of like, I think I want to be gravitating towards other teams early on just because I feel like I haven't watched them in longer. Yeah, I mean, it's a team I have a deep respect for that style of play. But it is, it is something that's going to be more, it lends itself way better to postseason hockey than an 82 game slog. But Ryan O'Reilly is one of

my favorite players to watch. Colton Perrako is a true unicorn in the NHL. Vince Dunn, you mentioned, he's a player I like watching as well. But I don't think this is the most exciting team in the regular season. But, you know, if they are able to repeat some of that success, they, the style that they bring lends itself well to a playoff intensity and all that comes with playoff hockey. Obviously, they're able to have some success with it. This is where we just, I think this is like the first big disagreement we've had. We've just weird a bit in the flyers. The hurricanes, I have at five. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think, again, there's some limitations to this point system. Well, you, you, I'm assuming it docked them because, like, you're not giving much credence to, like, the strength and numbers approach because you're looking for, like, individual star talent. I mean, that's definitely what hurts them here. In a superstar-based point system, they don't really have a fighting chance. I mean, and I understand the hype, and I appreciate how they've gone about building such a strong roster. But the fact of the matter is that Sebastian Ajo is really the only point of viewing player on this team. Maybe Svetchenikov can join that. Maybe Svechnikov.

But then again, if every team played the way the Hurricanes did, I mean, we'd have something here. This team grades high across the board just about every facet in terms of game quality. And they are a Stanley Cup contender with relevance. So they should be higher on my list. It's obviously one of the bigger limitations with what I did. But again, I mean, if push comes to shove, They're probably going to take a backseat to many teams that I've obviously included in my top 10. Yeah, no, listen.

I get it. I just think for me, they really just embody what I love. When I was talking about, like, had my whole monologue about what I love most about NHL hockey, they sort of exhibited it last year, right? It was like they play fast, they play with a ton of pace. They never really stop coming at you. And they had a lot of fun doing it. And I know that people took issue with their celebrations and all this stuff.

but like it was just such a breath of fresh air that they have this young group that's putting it all together and sort of developing into a contender before our very eyes. And this summer, all they did is just add guys who fit into that mantra, right? Like they bring in Eric Hala, they bring in Ryan to Zingle, they bring in Jake Arner, they bring in guys who can skate, who can move the puck, who can play at that frenetic pace of theirs. And so I just don't really see a lot of dips here in terms of if you're watching a Keynes game, unlike what I was saying with Oilers, there's not going to be like large extended stretches where you're like, oh, I can see what else is on or I can send some emails. Like you're going to want to keep watching the full 60 minutes because each line comes over the boards with the same type of sort of fervor or pizzazz or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, there's something to say for consistency. I mean, there's such a drop off with some of these teams in terms of line to line.

Yeah, like top six and having to play matchups and having to really break your back to to make sure that you're protecting lesser players in your lineup. that's not a worry with the hurricanes, which is definitely a positive for them. And having so many defensemen that can move the puck really puts them in my good graces. There was a third team there that you did. You had the blues. You had the hurricanes. I got the devils at 17. The devils.

That's probably the one that stands out. So I got the devil's at 12. I mean, if there was a biggest riser, I mean, we obviously didn't do this together last year, but it would certainly be the devils. I mean, if we talked about this a year ago, they would have been, you know, right near the bottom, but they're getting three players, not Taylor Hall, they're getting, not receiving him just as, you know, from last year. They're getting him back, though. And P.K. Subban and Jack Hughes being one of the three rookies that I, um, that I included in that list. I still think they're largely irrelevant.

I don't think they're going to be a great team. Um, and I think some of the shine will wear off eventually here. But Taylor Hall could be one of those players that you just have to watch and having a, having a rookie like Jack Hughes who could do some special things this year. I mean, they're, I think they're worthy of the hype right now. Well, and Nikita Gusev as well,

who's a player who will see how his game translates to the NHL level. It's obviously been hit or miss, but just based on his sort of projections and how he's played on international events, he could be a difference maker for them as well. And so you're right. I mean, you've got the PKK-B manufacturer,

and I think he has, he's right, if you're making a list of, like, guys are the most approved this season. He's sort of right up there, just in terms of how he was kind of, like left for dead by Nashville, how no one wanted to take him on basically because they either didn't have the cap space or they didn't want to move stuff around and create the cap space because

they felt like he's not a difference maker anymore. And we're what, two years removed from him being a Norris trophy finalist and deserving that. And clearly there's been some back issues and some health concerns and we'll see how his game translates here into his 30s. But I'm still hopeful that he's got like a second win in him here and he's still and he's not just like we're not going to write him off anymore and so you got him you've got haul and a contract year coming back and he's two years removed from winning the MVP you've got goose seven hughes even their depth guys like miles wood and blake coleman are fun to watch hard to play against fast and so it's a roster that's like sneaky entertaining and that's something we haven't said about a devil's team and in quite

some time but you mentioned the defense and how important it is to have the guys who can push the puck up where are you on the devil's defense? Are they going to be able to facilitate those guys beyond Subban? I think they'll be fine. I mean, clearly Suban's going to need to do a lot of the heavy lifting there. And if he can't be something close to resembling peak P.K. Suban, like, they're going to be in trouble. But let's assume that he's some version of that electrifying self.

With him, his presence there allows all these other guys to bump into a more natural spot for their talents. Like, I love Damon Zeevers. And I don't think he should, like, be your headline act as your number one defenseman. but if all of a sudden he's playing second pairing minutes and not having to do everything on the power play Sammy Vatin and Will Butcher like you have guys there who have good puck skills I think there was just being too much assed of them in the past because they didn't have that number one sort of go-to guy that does everything Yeah um so yeah I have the devils at 12 on my list um I don't know we can we can keep going with yours

I mean I feel like we're uh we're getting to to sort of the prime time here with the top half at least but yeah so at 15 or just in front of 15, I sort of have my Canadian bias section. I have 11 through 14, the flames, oilers, jets, and Canadians. We did talk about the Oilers. So I guess we'll start with Canadians at 14. They're just straight up fun to watch. I mean, this isn't the most talented team. There are some serious limitations there. But they're sort of strong across the board in my, in my view. I mean, they have the on-ice measurables that I mentioned. I mean, obviously one of the best ranks in the NHL to attend or watch a game in. And I mean, they do, they obviously have league wide relevancy as one of the, the teams that a lot of people are interested in. But I think they still

have that, even though they're definitely one of those bubble teams. That means they have relevancy to this year as well. So I, it's just one of those teams that should be exciting to watch, should be sort of maybe the default if nothing else is going on because they're just, they're just exciting to watch. Yeah. I and you know what you can make a case that Brendan Gallagher is their best player and he's the perfect sort of mascot for this team and especially their forward group in terms of undersized fast as hell and just really really annoying to play against must get under your skin and supremely effective especially at 5-15. Last year they were the fifth ranked team in terms of 515 scoring now unfortunately only the predators were worse on the power play and I've got big issues

with how they sort of allocate their resources there and why they're still just catering everything around wild shay weber bought bombs from the point at this point like why they aren't diversifying a little bit so i think there's a room to grow there but you're right they don't have that um marquee talent or marquee name i guess like brandon galliger max domi but they just have this like strength and numbers approach as well similar to carolina especially up front they don't have the same blue line but they have a bunch of guys who can play and play fast and play well. And so I really, last year, I think they were probably my most surprising team in terms of like my expectations for them heading into the year and then watching their games,

how much I found myself enjoying them. Maybe one of the teams that's a little overrated for me, because, or at least in my list, because I did include Kerry Price and Max Domi as two players that I enjoy watching. I do enjoy watching those players. But in comparison, a team like San Jose only had two as well. Yeah. Now we had one of the top 10, so it got a little bit more of a push there. But their talent pound per pound is not cool. close to a lot of teams. Yeah. So I think that's one, another team that maybe was a little higher than they should be.

But generally a fun team to watch. So I've got the Jets at, I'm just going to rattle through these Canadian teams, I guess. I had the Canadians as well at 14. Okay. I got the Jets at 9 and I sort of, I made that call anticipating that they were going to sign Patrick Klein and Kyle Conner just felt crazy to me that we could enter the season without them considering how badly they needed to get a win somehow, considering all the else they took this summer.

losing Dustin Bufflin, at least for the foreseeable future, and we'll see if he comes back eventually, is a big hit both for their ability to compete in the Jampack Central Division, but also from a watchability perspective, because he might not be a top 10 player, but in terms of like entertainment value, his ability to just skate so smoothly at that size and be able to just truck someone while at the same time skating around someone and dangling around them. The fact that you have a person who can do both of those things equally well and on the same shift is just made him such a unicorn or such a unique specimen that you always felt this gravitational pull with your eyes just whenever he was on the ice and they're going to miss that. A truly unique player in the league. It's obviously sort of makes their watchability at least take a little bit of a hit. I had them at 13 and probably a little bit low. I only included Schifling Line A in that group of players that you much, must watch, even though Blake Wheeler is clearly a top 50 player in the world in Kyle Connor

is an awesome player to watch as well. Unbelievable atmosphere for their home games. I do worry that they're going to take a bit of a hit this year and potentially drop out of the postseason, but they do remain relevant in that central division. So I'm a little disappointed to see them fall where they are because it is a team that I definitely want to watch more often than not. Yeah, the blue line's going to be dreadful and that's really going to hold them back. They're going to be really watchable. They're going to score a lot of goals. He didn't mention Nick Eler is there. I think he's got a big bounce back season in him and he's just so fun to watch in the possession game in the neutral zone. Line A, I think, is going to bounce back and score

a lot of goals this year and in silence a lot of critics. And Blake Wheeler kind of quarterbacking on that half wall. It's like him and Nick Baxter right up there as like sort of two of the best guys of what they do there. And so there's a lot of fun forwards to watch there, but they just lost so much talent and they didn't really do anything to replace it. And so it's tough. And it's also psychologically it's it's it's tough not to be disappointed as a as a hockey fan with no um you know rooting interest because this was a team that we sort of pegged as like the next powerhouse team you know two years ago they make the conference finals um we kind of feel like okay they're going to get better and better they have this young nucleus and it feels now like the window has kind of been

closed or at least like is closing and their margin for error has really decreased yeah it's disappointing. I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't as worried for this doomed day scenario as I think a lot of people, I guess, in that market were, but it hit them harder than I had ever expected. Obviously, the dust and bufflin thing was sort of unforeseen, but it just, it just doesn't, it feels like it slammed shut within maybe a year and a half. It was just, it seems like it's over before it started, and I hope it's not the case because they were one team that was obviously very interesting during the regular season, but a team you really wanted to see in the postseason because that atmosphere and everything that goes with it was really enhanced the viewing experience.

Yeah. So did we do all those Canadian teams? We didn't do the flames yet. So I've got the flames at number seven. And I think that might seem high, but I do want to point out they tied San Jose for second most goals last year. They were a dominant dominant, dominant five-one five, sorry, even on the power play. They were just a dominant offensive team.

Our lasting image now is them just getting embarrassed by the Colorado Highlands. And so it's kind of tough to shake that image. but they're for the most part bringing back that same team right like you've got mark sheridano you've got john monaghan elias lynn holm and then obviously the kuchukh backland line and so i think they have a lot of good players um i'm a bit worried about the fact that they just signed zach rinaldo not that i'm expecting him to play a big role but it sort of feeds into this idea that like they totally miscalculated what went wrong last year and then they trade for milan luchich and they're like we need to get more physical and playoff ready.

And I think that's the exact opposite of what they needed to do because if you watch that series, they definitely did not lose because they weren't physical enough. They just got outskated by arguably the fastest team in the league. Yeah. What was really appealing about them last year is everything seemed to work at least the forward groups one through four lines. It seemed like every all four of them like obviously there's the top end talent, but all of them sort of played their role and all of them had success, even though there was some

questions about some players and there was I guess a little bit more concern about certain guys but they all seem to fill that voice or seem to fill that space and really provide quality minutes for the large part of the year enough so to have the best record in the Western Conference and then they overreacted obviously to what happened in the playoffs in a terrible way because I don't know how you're going to hide Luchich in there at all yeah I don't you mentioned Rinaldo probably not going to play a big factor but you have to play Luchichie's probably that conversation happened where it's like, should we bring in Zach Ronaldo? And someone presumably said yes, like is jarring.

Yeah. And it's, it's disappointing because everything seemed to work so well. Now you're throwing a wrench into it. But two players I consider much to watch, obviously Johnny Goodrow. Matthew Kuchukuk is one of my favorite players to watch as well. And they're one of the most exciting teams of the league. On ice measurables are there. You mentioned the scoring, but everything's there.

And they also have questions and goal, which makes them a little bit more exciting letter as well. Even though they lost Mike Smith, it's still not solidified. So a lot to like with the flames. Yeah. I'm right there with you. So let's keep going. Where are we at so far? We're into my top 10.

Wow. Okay, so we still have a couple teams on mine that we haven't hit before we get into my top 10. Let's do the Bruins who had 17 and I mentioned them with that kind of good teams, but style of play docks them on my list. I have a bit of that sort of fatigue. Like I was talking about with the blues, I feel like I've been watching them until as recently as yesterday.

I need a bit of a break from them. And there's also an element of like, I feel like I know what I'm going to get from them. And I know that you feel like that's like a positive thing because it's like you know what you're going to get from them and there's going to be damn good. But for me, it's like, it's, I just, some of these teams are going to be worse,

but I want to watch them because I don't know what to expect. See, I got the Bruins of four. This is definitely one that's sort of, we're looking at things in a different way. Right. But they measured because they obviously have that superstar potential at the top. and despite being so top-heavy, they also, they drive, they're able to compensate for that. That line is so dominant that their whole team ends up being dominant.

Now, there's a lot of other factors that play, obviously. There's some really good defensemen there, mobile guys, guys that move the puck really well. But they're able to be, they're one of the highest event teams, at least in a positive sense. And it's despite predominantly relying on. on one line. Brad Marchand is one of the more special players in the league in terms of just being a differentiator, being different, being unique, being someone that brings multiple elements to the game. And Pasternak and Bergeron are guys obviously on that top line that are within that top 50 for me. So they graded a lot of points. They scored across the board for me. And I think there is some

fatigue for me there. But when they're in a big game, I want to watch that game. I'm glad those are the adjectives you used to describe Brad Marchand. This is a family-friendly podcast. You know, Pastor Nack's interesting to me because clearly, like, he's on the forefront. There's a lot of spotlight on him. I think people know how good he is, but it feels like sometimes just because he's playing with Marchand and Bergeron, and they sort of have seniority and they've been doing it for longer. He kind of falls back into the shadows as like the third guy on that line and we kind of take it for granted. But some of the stuff he's capable of doing physically with the puck and that shot, like he doesn't get mentioned in that same conversation with Ovechkin and Lainey as like the best pure shooters in the league.

But watching him on that power play, setting up at that left circle with that one timer, I do wonder like what he's still so young because he made into the league as a teenager. I really wonder what this guy's ultimate ceiling or is because he has gotten like a little bit better and added just a teensy wincey bit more each season. And he's still young enough where you could make the argument there over the next couple of. years, he's going to sort of keep growing and eventually become their best player as Marshaun and and get into the 30s and kind of take a bit of a step back. Yeah, and such a weapon on that power play, which should enhance their score as well. I mean, if we're talking about red zone channel teams, I mean power play is what you want to watch. I want to see these immensely talented teams work the puck around with less resistance and they have obviously one of the best power plays.

So I know the Bruins at 17 We're done that tier I've got the Panthers at 16 Which we did Flyers at 15 Canadians at 14 The Hawks at 13 We did them already

Right you were talking about We mentioned them But we have not I have them at 8 I mean listen The 87 game against the Sends The 7-6 game against the Leafs That's sort of all you need to know

They had The star talent up front To kind of work It a way out of a lot of early holes in game and get back into it and turn him into shootouts, and it was really fun to watch. I'm curious to see if that continues this year,

because I imagine Jeremy Calden probably doesn't want it to because as talented as they are up front, if they keep getting into those types of games, he probably won't have a job for very long. So I imagine he's going to want to really kind of grind things down to a halt a little bit, now whether he's going to be capable of doing so as a question. But, you know, they prioritize this summer getting Olimata, getting Calvin Dahan, clearly, getting Robin Lennar,

clearly improving their in-zone coverage and their ability to suppress goals against. Now we'll see how much that actually comes to fruition. And maybe despite their best efforts, they just haven't done enough and it won't matter and they'll have to anyways. But that's kind of like my one reservation because they were clearly a top 10 team last year in terms of watch a. Oh, yeah. I mean, my guess is that they probably don't have enough.

And for that reason, their relevance from a, you know, championship perspective or whatever is waning. But I'm still very much interested. I mentioned before that's probably that I'm conditioned to be that way, just because we've seen so much of them. But Patrick Kane is still obviously one of those players that you just want to see what he's doing. Alex DeBrinke, I probably have an unreasonable sort of fandom for.

I think he's one of those guys that I find myself wanting to watch all the time as well. But the really, the appeal with this team is that they're not good defensively, but they can get into any firefight and make it interesting. So that's why they're a top 10 team for me. Yeah. No, I mean, listen, I'm right there with you. I'm at 13. I was a bit worried, but I still think the potential's there to be a special team in terms of a watchability perspective.

So I've got the Devils at 12 and then the Rangers at 11 and then we're going to get into my top 10. And clearly since we haven't discussed the Rangers yet, you have them higher. You are, you're buying into this sort of shiny new toy syndrome in terms of like, because no team, I think. I guess the Devils similarly added a bunch of guys and that's why I had them as 1112 back to back. but the Rangers just in terms of if you look at the talent they brought in this summer through the draft through free agency and through trade there's no one else that added as many pieces they do no the Rangers are definitely at nine for me they're sort of the one that stood out in the top 10 and they kind of scored across the board now things are going to be a little bit

different I mean this should be an improved team with you know Jacob Truba and a guy like Artemi Panarin capo caco coming in caco and panarin were two of the guys that I consider or that scored in my in my system um so they might not be as interesting from a goals against perspective uh they should be even though they were a pretty relatively decent offensive team last year they should be even better so uh i mean they should score again but this is going to be a different team and that adds that adds to the intrigue for me i want to see if the rangers in this sort of expedited rebuild can sort of pull it off yeah because it seems like they're doing their process has been not only successful to this point,

but very unique compared to what most teams in the league have done. So while I do think they will eventually drop because I'm not sure they're going to, I won't say live up to expectations because I'm not sure the expectations are out of control. But if they are a mediocre team in the end, they probably will slide a little bit. But for now, I'm really interested to see what they're bringing this season.

Yeah, there's a lot of defensive question marks, and that could ultimately sort of be our perfect marriage of fun to watch but not actually necessarily that good. And it is interesting because we typically don't speak this way about teams in huge markets like this, but I'm sure there's people online that are like, the Rangers are going to win the cup because they added all these pieces. But for the most part, it feels like people are pretty restrained and like sort of in universal agreement of they added a lot of talent.

They're going to be interesting. They'll be fun to watch a couple years down the line. They could be really good. but this year our expectations are pretty tempered. And that's sort of like a unique thing in 2019 on hockey Twitter to hear, especially from a big market team. And I think it's definitely comes down to the uniqueness of the situation because I think they're doing things a little bit different,

and there's not that rush yet. They're one of those teams that went out and, okay, we want to be this at a certain point, but to get to that point or at that point when we want to have that impact player, let's go get them now. Right. And they've drafted well, and there's guys coming up, A lot of picks have been spent. So I think there's just a general intrigue

with a big market team that's doing things a little bit differently and I think that all falls into the interest in this team. We're in the top 10. We can do this. We're fully immersed in the top 10. And it's funny because the top 10 teams are usually the ones who are like

the least interesting from a discussion perspective because it's like, you know these guys. They're good teams. They're excited to watch. They have a lot of superstars. But let's get into your top 10 here. You said the Rangers are 9. Who's a 10?

So I got Vegas 10 and this is this certainly high the limitations of my very unscientific process here because they are one of my favorite teams to watch, probably top three if I just did it, you know, looking at teams and assigning them in order. I only included Flurry and Stone in my top 50, but the Marcheosos, Patoretti Smith, Tuck, Nate Schmidt, even Ryan Reeves. I mean, these are guys that enhance the game for me. Obviously, the atmosphere is second and un. Lucky enough to see a game there. It's fantastic. They're a legit Stanley Cup content.

they should probably be a top five, maybe the top three team, but my process just didn't reflect that. I've got him at third, so I agree with you. It's funny, I was almost the predators and how they've gotten a bit stale for a variety of reasons. Heading into year three right now, it's miraculous that this schick of the whole Vegas thing has not, for me at least. I don't know if that's a consensus opinion, but I still get excited watching those games. I still get excited about all the shenanigans and all.

all the kind of like secondary stuff that's going on at the rink. And the crowd is great still, the support for that team. And it's easy to support them because they play a fun brand of hockey. They have a lot of great players. And after they added Mark Stone, I remember you and I were sitting on these couches and we're sort of grading the trades and we were talking about the biggest winners and losers of the trade deadline. And I might have undersold how well Vegas did with that trade.

They gave up some interesting pieces clearly. but when they brought in Mark Stone, I mean, they were arguably like the best team in the league at 5-1-5 after that. And so I'm excited to see that for a full season now and with him really fully integrated with Patruetti and Stasney healthy and all of those pieces lined up because they could be something special. And similar to flames, how like the lasting image is a sour one. With Vegas, we can't help but think about how their season ended, how they lost in round one, the controversy that surrounded it. but I wonder if that had not happened how far they would have made it and how differently people would feel about them because there's still some pushback to people saying like,

like I think they're a front runner. Well, not a front runner, but they're like one of the top three or four teams in terms of Stanley Cup purposes and arguably should be the favorite coming out of the West. And I think there's still people that are like, come on, like really with this team. But if they had made it to the Western Conference finals, I feel like people probably wouldn't be speaking like that.

You mentioned the sustainability of what they've sort of build in such as Shrador. it's sustainable because they're unreasonably talented. Yeah. Like there's no way this team should be that good in only three years' time. Right. But I think the way that their season ended should help drive a lot of that. I mean, this team, they needed some adversities, the band base to feel something. They hadn't felt the heartbreak, yeah.

There's anger. There's not just this overjoyed sort of situation for that. But now there's anger and there's a real rivalry. The Vegas Golden Knights somehow are probably part of the best. rivalry in the game right now with San Jose. I believe they play them on opening night. I think back to back. That is the perfect storm.

It should be on NBC if it's not. That is the perfect way to start the season from a league-wide perspective is having Vegas and San Jose meet because the only thing that's going to be missing is the fact that Evander Kane won't be on the ice. Yeah, for a preseason game, that things got heated for sure. And that's going to be, I think that's probably like the hottest rivalry going right now. So that's considering such a short period of time. I guess there's like a recency bias,

but the fact that they've reached that echelon is impressive. So I had the capitals at 10. I got them at 6. Okay. They're a boring team because it's like, yeah, we kind of know why they're watchable. I think they're the peak like red zone team. Like I want to watch all their power plays.

If Ovechkin scores a goal early, I want to be watching because he's going to be hunting. aggressively for a second and a third, maybe even a fourth goal. And especially now that we're not necessarily like coming to the end of his career because he's still scoring 50 goals a season, but it feels like there's like a sort of a mortality to it because I think he's got two years left on his deal. I know this summer he was talking about potentially not even playing after that

because his contract will be up and given his age and the mileage and sort of the punishment that he's taken and all he's already accomplished. And so it feels like this is going to last for forever because I can't. imagine a world where Alex Obechkin isn't scoring goals in NHL, but as we know, if all their time is undefeated and eventually the good times will come to an end and Washington's going to have to sort of reconcile the fact that they're going to have to find a new core to build around. But, you know, for now, I just want to enjoy Ovechkin. I want to watch him score goals.

I want to watch him. I want to watch that enthusiasm. Like he's, I don't know how many goals he scored at this point, but he still acts as as if it's his first one jumping up against the class, just yelling in his teammates' faces. like that enthusiasm and joy is exactly what this league needs more of. Yeah, as long as we have Ovechkin, he's going to, I mean, he's going to push that team into relevancy unless it's like sad old Ovechkin. We get to the point like that won't be obviously as fun, but I don't think really

that's going to be an issue, at least in the time in the near future. I'm actually surprised they rank so highly because I didn't think I was overly kind to them when I was going through the players in selecting out of the top 50, but Ovechkin's obviously one of those top 10 guys. on ice measurable is not terribly strong like nothing really sticks out but they sort of hit across the board enough to end up where they are um but probably too high for my rankings because as much as i do want to see them in a red zone type of situation uh sitting down for the full game it's not it's not it's not going to be something that this incarnation's been in our lives for so long right that it's like

there's other more kind of fresh new stuff out there and they've hit that while they obviously could compete again for title while i don't think it's as likely. Right. They've sort of, their story's been told. Yeah. And there's less interest now

because I'm not quite sure they're going to be able to do that again. Yeah, they're not like chasing. I mean, they are in a way, but they've already, since they've reached that pinnacle,

they're not really like chasing it with the same sort of desperation. Yeah. As Vegas, where we were just talking about. So, yeah, I've got them at, at 10.

I've got the Jets in 9, which we discussed. We've got the penguins at 8. Have we done the penguins yet? We haven't. I have the penguins at 3. Yeah. So Star Power,

clearly driving it, storylines and relevancy and sort of all that good stuff. Yeah, just one of my favorite players in the league to watch obviously still is Sydney Crosby, but it's just sort of, again, hitting across the board. I do hate their broadcasts. Like, that is a challenge.

It's tough. But they just, there's just something about the penguins, right? I mean, they're always one of the most exciting teams from an event perspective. Goals have two of the greatest players of our generation. Yeah.

And they're still at the height of their game for the most part. I think that was maybe the most enjoyable Sydney Crosby season for me ever, which is strange just because he was such a dominant two-way force. And the numbers at the start or the first three, four months were just off the charts in terms of efficiency. And there was just a great appreciation on my part for that. Probably a little bit too high on my list. Obviously, we talked about Vegas and I probably would kick them out.

in favor of the Golden Knights, but this is just a team that I will always be interested in as long as Sidney Crosby's there. For sure. And, you know, he has a luxury of it because Sidney Crosby's so consistent on a night-to-night basis that you know what you're going to get from him. Same isn't the case for Havgeny Malcolm.

I'm not calling him enigmatic, just because he's Russian, but his game is enigmatic in the sense that on the right night, he's the best player in the world. Like, when he is at his most dominant self, there's nothing quite like it. And he's like a prime candidate from that, Red Zone perspective of like if early on you get the you get the sense that any Malkins got it going and he's pissed off and he's like just taking the puck and just taking it to the net every time himself

there's nothing there's very few things that are as captivating for me so it doesn't happen that often and I imagine as he gets older it'll happen less and less frequently but he still got it in him and I'm expecting a bounce back season from him as well so Malkin and Crosby I mean it's not simple When Malkin's on, he's different. He's one player or one superstar that has that switch where he can turn into an absolute monster when the night is right. So obviously, Sidney Crosby is sort of the mark of efficiency and inconsistency. But they have that added element in Malkin. So where are we at on your list now?

I think seven with the Colorado Avalanche is the next one we haven't touched it. I've got them in the four, so let's get into them. Pretty close. obviously Nathan McKinnan and Kail McCar is one of the three guys or three rookies that I included. For me, I think he's just his impact was so unexpected and just tremendous and something that I just want to see more of. But one drawback with Colorado, I think that had them fall back a little bit on my list is that the games are not overly interesting when the top line isn't on the ice. They're one of five teams that didn't score any points in terms of game quality for me. which is surprising because when they are at their best, they are as entertaining as any team.

But the fact of the matter is, while they've added some pieces, they've yet to show that those pieces are going to enhance the game to even a close extent to what their first line can do. Yeah. Well, they're the opposite of some of these teams like Cagre. Like their lasting images couldn't possibly be more sort of glowing and optimistic, right? like they lost in round two to San Jose, but in a sense,

they may as well have won because I think everyone left that postseason run of there as being like this team is special. They're going to be a team to watch moving forward. The fact that they added cadre, they added Brokowski, they added Don Skoy. They added a lot of guys who might not be stars in their own right, but considering what they're replacing,

clearly represent an upgrade on what you were speaking of in terms of the drop off after line one. They have Ranton and re-sign now. Nathan McKinnon. I mean, we were talking about McDavid. McKinnon's a clear number two for me in terms of his ability to be a singularly dominant force. And I just want to watch every single time he gets the puck at his own blue line or at center ice. And he just puts his head down and he starts going because it's just an overwhelming force, unlike any of we really have in the game.

Yeah. My only thing with McKinness is it seems like it's sort of case dependent. I mean, sometimes he doesn't seem to be quite as engaged as he would be in, say, the playoffs where he looks like an absolute superhero. I don't know if we see that superhero status like we do with McDavid over the course of an 82 game season, but when he's on, he is as appealing a player as there is in this league. And I think there's other pieces that are not close to his status, but are in the top elite end as well. Yeah, I mean, their broadcast for altitude is a mess for sure.

but I do, I think they have a really good home crowd and there is a bit of that altitude element of like, it seems like they have a bit, they have that sort of home ice advantage against teams and, and are more fun to watch at home. So I give them credit for that as well. Like I feel like I, I'm more drawn. If I see there on the schedule and they're playing that night and they're at home, for whatever reason, like subconsciously I find myself gravitating more towards him in those games. But yeah, with McCar, with McKinnon, I mean, there's so much to have.

island there and they're only going to get better. And I kind of want to be in on the ground floor with his team because I think they're just going to keep sort of rising up both the standings and our lists here. So, I mean, we only have three teams left that we haven't covered, I think, right? Okay. So fully into the top five? Well, yeah. I mean, there's literally, I think, I mean, I've got the, well, I've got the sharks at six. Okay. So we're not, yeah. Well, I have the sharks at five, so we're the same ballpark there. But so sharks, leaves and lightning, I think are the three teams we haven't done. Right. I think we've done everyone else. So let's do the sharks.

Carlson and Burns is a cheat code. No one else in the league can really replicate that. Like, I guess if, if Heiskenen really keeps getting better, you can make the argument, like, from an entertainment perspective, Klingberg and Heiskenen are right there. But otherwise, there's very, like, very few comparables or very few rivals in terms of, we can have these two guys out for 45, 50 minutes in a given night combined. and that's exciting to me.

I really love watching Timel Meyer. I think he's right up there in the conversation for the next sort of most dominant power forwards in the league. Tomash Hurdle is always a blast to watch. Logan Kutcher, playoff Logan Kutcher is a special animal. But I think now that Pavelski's gone, he clearly needs to take more of a sort of leadership role and fully embrace that. And I do wonder what that's going to look like for him as well and whether he has another gear to hit. And so there's a lot happening there. The one thing I don't like about the sharks is their home games always feel

to have, feel like they have this weird dimly lit setting where I don't know if they do that intentionally. I don't know if it's supposed to make you feel like there's sharks coming after you in the water or something. But like it's always a bit disorienting for me watching those games because I'm always like trying to turn up the brightness on my laptop and it's never working. And it should be one of the best atmospheres in the game too. Oh, the crowd.

The crowd is great. It doesn't reflect quite as well on television, I guess. One of the best goal songs, Jock James. I don't it's definitely a and we hear it a lot which is which is great um but to the extent that carlson and burns enhanced the game i'm not quite sure their forwards do right these guys didn't rank for me uh... coutures hurdles meyers lavangues thorntons uh obviously that's a really talented new race and guys that are exciting players exciting players on the power play and they do a lot um but they're not they they could have ranked a little high if it was a sum of all of

parts thing. It could have been bumped them up a little bit more. But just individually, they didn't quite do that. But they rank strong across the board. I mean, they check off all the boxes for me. And I mentioned it with Vegas suddenly a part of the best rivalry hockey. A lot to like about San Jose. Well, it feels like San Jose is always like with the kings for a while. Like they're, they're always getting into these sort of heated, heated blood feuds. So yeah, they're a blast. And so now We're at number two? We're at one and two. We're one and two?

I'm not sure if we have the same here. So I have the leaves at two and add lightning at one. Okay, so I got it reversed. I got the leaps out of one. Well, you cover one of these teams. So clearly there's a bias involved. I'm pretty fortunate to actually, you know, get to cover the team that I, at least through this system.

Yeah, if you were covering the lightning, I'd like to hear. Yeah, I'd like to hear your take on this one. It would probably be the same. And I'm sure the lightning have a better inner arena experience. But the difference for me, me because they did rank a little bit lower on atmosphere and because they don't quite have the same amount of superstars. Obviously their superstars lifted them to this spot, but not quite as many as the lightning. But it was the on ice measurables. High event team, high scoring, but the big difference is

they can be scored on themselves. They can be involved in more entertaining and competitive games according to the numbers because they are less likely to blow out a team than the lightning, which I think just gives them a little bit more of an edge, even though they were working at a little bit of a deficit when considering the amount of stars on the lightning and how boring the in arena experience in Toronto can be at times. Yeah, I think the Leafs are number one if you're telling me they're going to be down early in a game and are going to have to just like throw their peak fastball at the team to try and get back in it. Like they're the flurry they can throw at teams, I think is unparalleled. The reason why graded the lightning slightly higher is because even they're like

guys who aren't stars have entertaining star qualities or trillions. grade marks to their game that I've as someone who watches way too much hockey for their own good I find myself gravitating towards like victor headman for a guy that size his ability to like somehow sneakily join the rush as a trailer and always be open you'd think people would notice a six foot six guy coming down the ice but somehow he gets lost in traffic he's so good at that surgachev with these like crossover moves he does while he's walking the blue line the 99% of n-hiel defensemen wouldn't even try because it could lead to a breakaway going to other way but but he's breaking ankles like Iverson.

I mean, there's stuff like that Vasilevsky. Like, you were talking about how very few goalies are like entertaining watches. He's so physically dominant and gifted. He's probably the most entertaining. That he like goes out of his way and probably to his detriment. Like he could have better numbers if he wasn't trying to do wild saves where he's like literally turning his back and trying to glove the puck without looking at the shooter. Like he's just, he's on such a different plane right now physically that like it feels like he needs to keep himself.

And because of how good the team in front of. of him is that he needs to keep himself engaged in a way. And so he's an entertaining goalie to watch. I mean, some of these guys, like I think if Anthony Sorrelli was playing on a worst team or Matthew Joseph, they could be star as we could talk about them as like the next gen guys who are going to take the league by storm. I mean, there's so many weapons here. And we haven't even talked about the fact that they had a guy who scored 128 points, two other guys who scored 40 goals. They had the number one ranked offense at five and five, number one ranked on the power play. And I think they were even top five in shorthanded goals. Like this team is,

just obscene offensively. Yeah, and me putting the Leafs ahead of them just for the simple fact that they're more likely to get scored on and be in games. You have to give Tampa credit for they find themselves up early, but they don't necessarily just sit on it. No. It seems like they're always getting power plays. They're always threatening on those power plays and they put teams away while they get up early, but they also just keep it going. Like there's no, they never fell into the trap where they were where they became complacent, which I think was a theme for them all year trying not to be complacent. It obviously didn't work when we got to the playoffs because we, but they made it seem like they were different through the way that they played

throughout the regular season because they just kept their foot on the pedal. It'll be interesting to see if there's anything different about them this year in terms of that mindset because I could see them wanting to look forward and wanting to look ahead so bad. I thought that'd be an issue last year. I feel like they made a point for it not to be an issue and I wonder if they can repeat that. That is my concern. Like there's, in terms of like the carrot dangling above your head for the regular season, it feels like a team like the Leafs, for example, is much more likely to go all out in the regular season to avoid playing Boston in round one to finally win the Atlantic and give themselves a better fighting chance in the postseason.

Whereas with Tampa Bay at this point, I mean, they just literally had like the best regular season ever and didn't win a single playoff game. And so for them, not that it's the right way to approach it, but from a psychological perspective, I'm sure they're like, they don't want to do the same thing over and over again because if they're just beating teams by a six two as a six two score every night as silly as it is to say I'm sure there's going to be this like nagging thought in the back of their minds it's like okay here we go again like it's too easy now what's going to happen when we come to the playoffs are they is there something going to slip into their mind do we have to be this yeah to do this and we saw with calgary or we we what we believe might happen with calgary with the with their emphasis on a certain thing yeah

are the Tampa bay lightning going to find an emphasis on a certain thing that just makes them A, maybe not as exciting, and B, maybe just not as successful. I hope not. I hope they come out, like, take it to an even higher degree. The lightning we know won't do it. Yeah, let's hope so. Justin, this is a blast. I'm closing the book on today's podcast.

We did it. We did the 31 teams, the watchability rankings, plug some stuff. What are you working on? Where can people check out your work? So we mentioned off the top, covering the Leafs. They've been kind enough to let me sort of hang around for the last couple years, but this year I'm going to be writing and doing, all the content on the Leafs more so than I have been in recent years.

And that includes postgame stuff and videos throughout the year. And on Saturday, we're going to be doing a Puck Talks event at Rec Room. Both of us will be talking with the Leafs and other things. And it should be a good season. With the great Sarah Jenkins. And I'm not saying that just because she's producing this podcast. But this was a blast, man. I'm glad we got to do this.

It's always fun. For those of what, I'm sure a lot of people are most people, are probably just listening on their phones regularly. as usual, but if you're watching this podcast, this is a blast to get to sit in the studio here and do this. And yeah, hopefully this was a sort of not maybe necessarily illuminating, but maybe like instructive. Maybe it can guide people in terms of what to watch for when the season starts. So hopefully we accomplished that. I had a blast doing this with you. Thanks for doing your homework this summer and we'll check back in soon.

and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com slash HockeyPedocast.