The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 68: Welcome to Corsica

Episode Date: March 15, 2016

Chris Johnston joins the show to discuss the fallout of the Dennis Wideman arbitration process, from which essentially everyone involved came out looking bad. Then Emmanuel Perry comes on to discuss the emergence of his newest hockey stats website. Here's a rundown of the topics covered: 0:00 State of the Union 2:45 The Dennis Wideman arbitration process 13:00 Lull in action since the trade deadline 17:00 Should the Penguins and Leafs make a trade 21:20 How long is Patrick Roy's leash 27:00 GM Meetings 31:12 Corsica Intro 38:45 Mike Hoffman offer sheet potential See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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.

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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. Hey guys, Demetra here. Before we get started with today's show, I wanted to address a few questions I've been getting recently from listeners of the show. A little state of the union for the podcast, if you will.

First of all, apologies for taking last week off. I had some really fun ideas for shows that were being put into action, and then I woke up one morning without my voice and with a nasty flu, just keeping me in bed, and we had to push it all back. So seeing the number of people that were freaking out about there being new episodes, knowing new episodes last week was selfishly kind of cool, though, because it made me really just want to get back at it as soon as possible. The other thing is, as you've probably noticed,

the show is now appearing on Sportsnet. And it's obviously a tremendous opportunity for myself, and it unfortunately doesn't come without a price. So what that means is that some of you have already pieced it together that my good buddy Travis Yost won't be able to be on the show for now. And that's mostly just because the lines have been sort of drawn in the sand between the two brands. And that's just how this business works, unfortunately.

I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't a bummer because it's the obvious fact that he's a really sharp hockey mind. I thought we'd develop some pretty good chemistry together over the months working together twice a week. So I don't know. It's tough because. I personally enjoyed a lot of stuff we did a great deal. And I think the reason why the show came across so easy to listen to for so many people

was because it was something, these were conversations we would have been having, even if we weren't really recording them and distributing them publicly. So it felt really organic. And I think I want to miss working with Travis in that regard because he was just really easy to work with like that. But with that being said, the plan is to otherwise keep the Hockey Piedocast looking and sounding the same way as it's always been. The mission statement isn't really going to change at all. We're going to keep doing the show a couple times a week, and I'll be using it as a platform to bring on as many great, knowledgeable guests as I can

that can provide insightful conversation into what's going on with the sport. So with one last thing before we get going, I'd like to give some love to both the artists who put the cool new graphic together for the show. You can find more of his work on Twitter at Brad 4D Boy Comics, and my producer, Matt, for the new snazzy intro outro music. So with all that being said, let's do this thing. Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PTOCast.

My name is Demetri Filippovich, and joining me is someone who's becoming a frequent guest on this show. It's Chris Johnson. Chris, what's going on, man? Hanging around like a bad smell. Oh, man, I'm so excited to hear someone else's voice. I've been cooped up in bed the past week with the flu, so just hearing anyone else, other than the thoughts in my head is a relief. Were you still able to watch some hockey last week then?

I was, yeah. I'd pull up the old NHL TV and, of course, deal with all the commercials and stuff. It was great. Well, I'd be really worried about you if you weren't able to watch TV. You were so sick you couldn't watch games. Yeah, and couldn't complain about the commercials and the lagging and all that jazz. Exactly. So I knew I had to get you on as soon as on Friday afternoon,

everything sort of hit the fan with this Wideman situation, and I don't know, let's recap all the facts for people that have them paying attention because basically I went back and checked in the archives and I had you on the show on February 9th, which is, I think today's the 14th, so that was a while over a month ago now. And it was right before they were about to start this arbitration process. And at the time, you and I were both like, yeah, this is a total sham. There's no way Wyman's actually going to get any sort of a legitimate relief here. And then sure enough, he misses 19 games and then we wind up being proved wrong because

he actually does wind up getting his sentence pretty much cut in half. What the hell happened here? Well, I think everyone's still trying to figure it out. I mean, there's so many layers to this thing. But on the kind of the base layer is that, you know, the independent arbitrator found that Gary Bettman didn't have a strong enough case to argue for intent to injure on the play. And, you know, I think that that was always probably,

with hindsight, that that was always going to be the key is whether they could prove that that fact. act and and you know obviously they couldn't but man I mean there's there's questions about what would they do with this going forward is there a way to shorten the process to ensure someone doesn't miss nine more games and they're supposed to in a suspension and you know there's even some kind of greasier stuff with text messages and all that so I don't know where you want to go next but it was a pretty crazy process all and all and you know I really didn't expect to see the suspension dropped and was very surprised when it was

cut in half. Yeah, I mean, there's so many layers to unpacker. I guess let's start with the text because when the news first broke that when they gave him the 20-game suspension and Betman sort of made mention of those text messages that they didn't really show remorse and he wasn't buying that Wyman was actually sorry about what he'd done. I always thought like, okay, that was fine, but it felt like that was one of their main arguments that, like that's why they were really dropping the hammer on them. And I always thought that was a little bit weird. And then obviously news comes out that the text that Wyatman sent might not have been to a teammate but might have actually been

a Gregory Campbell who was at the time celebrating Colin Campbell's birthday I believe and all of that stuff you can kind of connect the dots there and make sense of it but I don't know just like all of it just seems so fishy to me well the thing that we have to remember is that none of this occurs in a vacuum and I do feel and this is a personal opinion as opposed to something someone's told me who's connected to this but that the fact that the concussion litigation that's going on is going to expose, you know, private messages that were sent by league officials and, you know, from all indications, they're going to be unflattering from whether it be

Coley Campbell or perhaps Gary Batman and Bill Daley, the other senior leadership of the NHL. You know, part of me wondered all along, is that why this text was included in the original ruling that Gary Batman delivered? Because if you read it, it's 20 pages, give or take of legal, legal, legal, legal, legal, and right at the end, They just ram in this text, which is, you know, when you first read it before you think about it, it seems a bit salacious or, you know, something you're not supposed to be seeing. And, you know, I never understood that. And then, you know, in the independent ruling that we got on Friday, he basically outsid

is saying it's to Gregory Campbell, which is something everyone's denied, you know, including Gregory Campbell, you know, Bill Daley, I believe, of the NHL's on record saying it was actually to Mark Giordano from Wyden, you know, obviously who is a teammate. and I mean the whole thing is it's just strange to me. And then, you know, this is the first time we've gone through one of these since it was put in the CBA back in 2013. You know, I think the expectation back then was that it was going to be something that would be quite frequent where, you know, basically suspensions would rise to the point

where someone not connected to the league was making the final decision on them. And it's taken three years and, man, I wonder how long we'll see before the next one because I don't think anyone leaves this process feeling, you know, as though any justice was done or as though it was handled in a way you'd want future cases to be handled. Yeah, I feel like everyone here just sort of uniformly took a hit, right? Like, Wyden gets his money back, I guess, but he missed 19 games. The league looks horrible from a PR perspective and just how they handle the whole situation. And obviously, the referee himself is still out for the year with a concussion.

So just like, there's nothing really good that came of this. No, and the league, you know, I think is, you know, it's always basically handed out punishment itself. You know, it's always made those decisions, you know, whether it be the disciplinarian at the time, which is Def Gingtel now, in this case, Colin Campbell made the original ruling, or Gary Bettman, would come in as a final ruling. And, you know, I think that there's some uneasiness about turning the process over to someone else who is, you know, I guess the arbitrator is supposed to be completely independent of all those things and making kind of ruling. that could become binding for the future.

And I think that that's for the NHL more than anything. I mean, the PR probably isn't great, but I think that the bigger concern is that, you know, someone else is going to be handing out these rulings potentially if this continues to happen. And, you know, I don't sense that they're all that. I mean, for all the knocks over the years, the discipline process has taken,

they've really resisted expanding it, say, you know, I remember back in the day that there was talk, maybe there should be a small tribunal of people rather than just one, Obviously, they've come up with the Department of Player Safety, which is a different approach in the last five years or so to how it's done. But, I mean, the league has been pretty steadfast about wanting to control discipline and to try to find, you know, I guess the thinking being that no two crimes are exactly the same. And there's certain things unique to hockey that happen in plays. And that's why they obviously have former players involved in the process. But, man, I mean, it's going to be interesting where it goes next because, you know, I do wonder if this process,

is going to be overhauled in some way or what? Because as you mentioned, no one comes out of it feeling as though that any justice was served, I guess, that it was the right thing to go through. Right. I mean, sometimes I just want to go totally full bore at the NHL on this. And then I kind of harken back to it. I was watching a Brian Burke interview during the trade deadline. And he even said as much, he was a very level-headed about it. And he was like, listen, I'm kind of sympathetic here that this is like the first time they've really done something like this. and obviously there's going to be hiccups as they try to figure out what the best way to handle stuff like this is. It's very, it is our uncharted territory, as you said.

But like, I don't know, for Wyman, I mean, he basically, what, he just gets his money back and gets a pat on the bum and says, and they're telling him, like, listen, we're, hopefully no one else will have to go through this. Is that like the end, is that the end to this story here? It, I mean, possibly. I mean, the interesting thing is that it's sort of a simple solution, which baseball has in that when, when something's being appealed, the player can play. during that appeals process. But, you know, the obvious issue we can see is that, you know, what leads to suspension in hockey tends to be much worse

than than what, you know, players in baseball have to do to get suspended. So you could have someone do something pretty heinous on the ice that literally nobody agrees with. Right. The league comes down with a very harsh suspension and that player appeals it and then he can still play, you know, two days later. I mean, that to me, I don't think anyone would be happy if we went through that, that kind of scenario either.

So, you know, this is, they're going to have to find a way to speed it up. I mean, maybe eliminating the second step where the commissioner basically is deputized, you know, the guy who makes the first decision who works for him. I mean, maybe that could lead to it. But, you know, it's a tough one. And, you know, I do think that there's a sense in general that no one has the exact answer for making, you know, this perfect. But I think all are in agreement.

It's got to be better than what Weidman faced here. Well, I mean, Bill Simmons has this running gag about how, either he or someone else should be the sports czar and basically that person would be consulted on all these kind of common sense things that happen in sports before they're finally pushed through to the public and it honestly feels like the NHL could really use someone like that especially this year with all the hits they've taken just like just someone to come pitch ideas to and be like hey so we're going to publicly go with this do you think there's any sort of way someone can get back at us about this and and they

can solve a lot of their problems because like betman goes at the Sloan con conference, for example, the day of the announcement that the suspension is going to be cut in half. And he has an interview where he says he's been perfectly happy with how this arbitration process has been played out. And then he sings the praises of the new NHL.com and stuff like that. And it just seems like it's so totally out of touch with reality. Yeah, well, I mean, I think that's some of that is Gary's way.

And, you know, it's very, he's a very tough guy. He's been in that seat a long, long time. And, you know, I think he is loathe to admit that things don't go well all time. And, you know, occasionally he's proven right. I mean, in some case, you know, I remember when the Sunbelt teens were a little newer and there was a lot of talk about whether they should all be taken away and whether this was a horrible idea. Well, I think on balance, it hasn't been. I mean, he's in a seat where he's got to make tough decisions. And I think part of kind of his external skin is to resist any notion that they've made a bad decision. But you're right. I mean,

this has been a tough, you know, stretch. And, you know, as I say, I don't have the answer. I really don't I don't have a way to speed it up because on the flip side, you don't want to be rushing someone through a judgment in this case. I mean, in the legal world, it does take time. And even Donald Fear said that. And, you know, we know that if he felt otherwise, he wouldn't be afraid to come out and, you know, hit the NHL with a big stick here. But, you know, I think he even acknowledged in his comments about a week or so ago that these things do take time and they want the player to get a fair trial, so to speak, in this case. and, you know, as a result, Dennis set out nine more games than ultimately what his punishment was for. All right, let's move on to do some quick hitting topics for the stretch run here, just kind of league-wide.

We were talking before we started recording, and it does feel like it's sort of this little dry stretch here between the deadline and the playoffs, where especially this year, there aren't particularly too many very interesting sort of do-or-die situations for playoff seating. Like, there's going to be some kind of tinkering here along the way, but there's only one, I guess two with the flyers kind of making a run here. There's two races to follow, but otherwise everything's sort of set in stone. Yeah, it's kind of, it's weird. I mean, I guess there's going to be some jockeying to see what the matchups come to look like, and that's, you know, obviously important for certain teams.

I think especially the Western teams where there could be quite a gap between the competition they're facing based on one position or so in a standings. But it's a weird season. Usually you at least see a few teams that have a notion that they're, you know, it's possible that they win seven of their last 10 to get in or something like that. But, you know, it seems like this year we had almost, teams were painfully honest with themselves. I mean, I think part of that we saw at the trade deadline where not a lot of teams are out, you know, swinging and then giving up, you know, futures or good futures for rental players. You know, I'm talking with the teams on the bubble.

And, you know, as a result, we kind of know it's down to about 18 teams are going to fill out those 16 spots. And at least the flyers have made it interesting because before that it really had already looked like. the East Top 8 was locked up as recently as a couple weeks ago. No, you're right. I mean, even take the hurricanes, for example, right? Maybe in past years they would have convinced themselves that, hey, we should keep Eric Stahl and John Michael Ows and maybe even bring in an extra piece here and try and make a run. But instead, they sort of took a cold, calculated, big picture approach and traded off those guys

and sort of submarine their playoff chances in the process. Yeah, and I guess Calgary was kind of the model for that last year because they traded Glencross, got futures. And even despite losing Geridano, it's still made the play. off. So, you know, I think some teams view it as is that way. And, you know, this will, this will swing back at some point. I mean, let's face it, the salary cap is holding things up a little bit for, in terms of player movement and teams, I think, are kind of stepping a little bit more carefully because, you know, they do need to find their own talent and then they can't rely on taking those

risks. But, you know, I do think that different market forces, I guess, will present themselves that we'll see more active teams maybe going for those playoff spots. But it's been unexpected, I think, to, I mean, everyone talks about the parody era, but, you know, that we really don't have serious playoff races. And certainly by April 9th and 10th, when we get down the last couple days of regular season, it's entirely possible. We'll know even a week in advance of that, you know, which eight teams are in. All right, so that's a good segue, because the penguins are one of those teams

that is sort of on the bubble here where they're trying to fight off the flyers and they're jockeying with the red wings for the wildcar positioning. And I look at them as an interesting team to buck a little trend here because we typically don't, there is this low period here on a year to year basis, right, where the trade deadline passes and then teams kind of sit still. But you actually are allowed to trade. The guys just won't be roster eligible for the playoffs. And I look at the penguins, especially with this malking injury,

as an interesting candidate to potentially make a little move here to sort of get, inject a little shot in the arm and help themselves with some scoring. And I don't know, what do you think about this? I've been thinking about it. I've been laying in bed the past few days, kind of just mulling these thoughts over in my head. Try to put yourself and Jim Rutherford. Yes. And it's made a lot of sense to me.

I haven't actually ran this by anyone yet, so you're the first person that's going to hear this. But I was thinking about, wouldn't it make sense for like the Leafs, for example, who actually have a rooted interest here because they get the Penguins first round pick if the Penguins make the playoffs? Why wouldn't the Leafs be like, hey, we'll just give. you Brad Boys or PA Parento for, I don't know, a conditional seventh or future considerations or something like that? Like, wouldn't that be a trade that could potentially make sense for both teams?

Well, it certainly would make sense for both teams. I mean, the only issue that Leafs are running into right now is they don't have enough warm bodies. They're so many injuries. And, you know, they might be... Shanahan looks like he's in pretty good shape these days. Well, they might be loathe to give up someone and have to call someone else up from the Marley's because, you know, their H.

gel team, you know, which is really where they're hoping to build the future has been suffering ever since they brought up the best players to the Leafs in the last two weeks. But, you know, that does make a lot of sense. I kind of wondered if we see those teams connect on a deal at the deadline because of that reason. And, you know, if Pittsburgh does miss, the Leafs aren't totally screwed because they do keep a second round pick that they have of Pittsburgh's this year and can still get the first rounder. But I would think, you know, they do want to see them get in. And then, you know, if you're the penguins right now, even with so little time left, I think you have to be looking to make a trade because, you know, they're a cap-strapped team,

but they can get around that by putting Malkin now on LTIR because he's out for the remainder of the regular season and, you know, create the space they need. And, you know, it's kind of, we haven't, to my knowledge, we haven't really ever seen a team do this. But to me, there's value in trying to bring someone in to help for that four weeks because, you know, the cost would likely be very low. And, you know, the potential gain here. I mean, Pittsburgh is not a team that could afford to miss the playoffs. I mean, as recently is a few weeks ago,

I think some were viewing them as a bit of a dark horse to maybe make some noise because they have improved the way they play, you know, since making their coaching change mid-season. And that, you know, that shouldn't change. They're in a win-now mode. So they're the biggest candidate I can think of to go out and make a deal to bolster themselves. And really their first call should be titer.

because, you know, they have a few guys that that could fit the bill and, you know, a lot of motivation to make that kind of deal at this point, too. Yeah, I mean, I was really, I wrote this column for sports said last week, and I had, the Penguins is one of my seven true contenders, and a lot of people were like, look at their place in the standing, it's not even guaranteed they're going to make the playoffs. And I don't know, I just, I think if they get in, I don't think any team's going to want to play that. And you were discussing kind of jockeying for position earlier, and I think, like, before this Malkin injury, I bet the Capitals were really hoping that the Penguins wouldn't get. that second wildcard spot in the east because that would just be a terrifying matchup where you're going against, say you take a bunch of penalties and all of a sudden Malkin, Latang, Kessel, and Crosby put three or four power play goals on you and all of a sudden this series is just getting at hand and Flurry's been playing really well this year and ever since Mike Johnson came in they've sort

of, they're so much faster than they were a few years ago right? Like remember that trade deadline where they brought in again Lian, Morrow and Douglas Murray and they were so slow and and this year a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that they've been kind of relying on some of these HL call-ups and trying to adjust to the new NHL, but they've been playing so much faster, and it's shown in the way Crosby's been producing and the results for themselves as a team. So I don't think anyone really was relishing playing them in the first round, and obviously now without Malkin, they're a much more one-dimensional team where, let's say a team like the Bruins, for example, plays them. They can just get a

Bergeron and Marshawn combo to sort of shadow Crosby whenever he's on the ice. and all of a sudden defending the rest of that team becomes a lot more palatable. Exactly, but you're right. I mean, I could see them certainly, you know, delivering an upset in the first round, and that's what it would basically be at this point, because I don't see them finishing much higher than the first wildcard spot. I mean, you never know, I guess. But, I mean, at this point, they're going to be playing someone

where they're likely to be the underdog, and they have the guys that can do it. I mean, it might benefit them in some ways to not have kind of the expectations that they've had in the past. I mean, I think that right now that there's kind of a chip on the shoulder of those players and then that organization in general. And, you know, they're not washed up. I mean, if you've watched Crosby played the last two months, I mean, he's still a dominant player in the league. Mark Andre Fleury's had a really good season on the balance.

And, you know, if they can get Malcon back, that could be something that could help them. So, I mean, the penguins to me still are an interesting case, but they've got to get there first. and we'll see how this injury impacts them because it's obviously a major loss at this point in the season. Well, I'm glad I wasn't being delirious with this idea that it passed a sniff test for you, so that's good. The second thing I was wondering, the other sort of big jockeying for position we're seeing out West is with the abs in the wild battling for that last wild card spot. And I think the interesting thing spinning it forward to me because I think that the wild will ultimately prevail in that matchup is, how long do you think moving forward Patrick Waw's leash is? Because there's been a lot of sort of uncertainty with regards to whether he's been sort of the person that's orchestrated the building of this team, even though he's not technically the GM, that he's had a lot of say in how the roster has been constructed, and whether he should be taking a lot of blame for that as well as the coaching job he's done. And I'm just wondering now if they missed the playoffs again for a second straight year after that first year they had, whether his leash will become a lot shorter. just what are you hearing in that regard?

I think that he's safe, but I mean, it's always problematic to me when you put someone as legendary as Patrick Wall was in that organization and even Joe Sackick as well, the general manager in charge, because, you know, you're not going to have as many people. It's just human nature that are questioning what they're doing. I mean, there might be guys like you and I, but not other people within the organization, not those below them. And I think that that can be difficult because, look, the abs have a lot of nice young pieces,

but they've not really made the most of what they've had here the last couple of years. And, you know, I think on some level the coach and the GM should have to answer to that. But, you know, my sense is that they're both safe. I mean, there's some question about, I think that you'll see some change there. There's a feeling around the league that maybe Sackick isn't long for the job necessarily. That, you know, by his own choice, we'll kind of see how that plays out.

So I don't think that they're necessarily there in perpetuity. But I'd be stunned to see Patrick Waugh fired, for example, by the avalanche. I don't think that that's coming. But at some point, I think those questions need to be asked by the people in charge there because they went through kind of the losing you have to have to pick first overall or get Matt Duchyne at number three and get players. They found Ryan O'Reilly in the second round. Now he's gone.

I mean, they kind of built. up, but they haven't taken flight yet. And, you know, they need to while these guys are in the prime of their careers or else they're going to be back to a rebuilding phase before they ever made anything of that core. Well, I'm of two minds here because obviously selfishly, I hope Patroquas takes around forever just because he's endlessly amusing. And during a time where, you know, there isn't that much personality around the league and generally you're better off just kind of keeping your mouth shut and towing the

company line. It's always fun seeing him just have his random blowups at the media. And watching the abs, just pretend that everything, you're going to be. fine while everything's just kind of burning around them. So that's hilarious to me. But I like his fighter spirit too. Like he keeps pointing out that that course he's kind of garbage in his mind. You know, he doesn't hide from the criticism. He's kind of going back at the people that are talking about that.

And I find that amusing because he's very much on the wrong side of history with that one. Yes. But I'm also at the same time kind of bummed out as you were saying that they have such great, exciting talents to watch like Duchet and McKinnon and Landisg and Tyson Barry. and it seems like they're definitely not squeezing all the juice out of this orange. And it seems like they're wasting a great opportunity here to at least play an exciting brand of hockey. Because you watch them and it's not even that they're not successful. It's that they're just like not that even fun to watch.

I mean, they have spurts where they play sort of back and forth really fun open-ended hockey. But it seems like there's a massive divide between the actual sort of talent in a vacuum they have and the output they have as a team. So I'd like to see something. done there, but I don't really know what the answer is beyond just kind of cleaning house and starting over, which I'm sure that that organization wouldn't really want to do at this point. Well, and, you know, what's also interesting to watch too, I think, is, you know, Matthew Sheen's name was legitimately in play early in the year in trade talks. And, you know,

I don't know how close anything got exactly, but, you know, that wasn't, you know, a fictionalized story or someone taking a guess. I mean, his name was out there for teams. And, you know, I think it was pretty clear that Matt knew that and was a bit rattled by it. And I wonder if they might revisit something like that, which could be disastrous for them clearly. I mean, they almost certainly would be trading the best player in that trade. I don't think they're going to get back a package where there's a better player coming back. But, you know, this could still go south still, you know, depending on how they proceed. And again, I just go back to the fact that, you know, I just worry, I mean, like Steve Eisman, for example, is a legend in the league.

But he went to Tampa Bay, and I think it was a different kind of scenario. It's just tough when someone is so well regarded by an organization that he comes to run, that there maybe aren't enough people asking tough questions around them. Well, I mean, Steve Eisenman is also just a badass. I mean, was there any doubt that this Duran situation would play out any differently? Like, what has Steve Eisenman ever lost a game of chicken before? Well, you're right. And, you know, I think that obviously, look at it, even he's rattled Duran.

He went back to play in the American Hockey League. That's the part I didn't anticipate. You know, I'm not the least bit surprised. He's still a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning at this stage of the season, but I didn't think that he would go back and play in the H.L. And kind of take his medicine there. But it just shows you, I mean, you're right. You don't want to go to war in any way with Steve Eisenman

because, you know, I don't think anyone's ever won one of those wars yet. All right, one final thing before we get you out of here. We're recording this on a Monday morning very early here in Vancouver. It's 7 a.m. if anyone's wondering. The GM meetings are happening today in Florida and they're going to go on for a few days. Beyond enjoying some nice, refreshing beverages

in the sun out there, what are sort of the main storylines people should be getting well-versed with in terms of what they're going to be discussing moving forward? Well, the most likely, first of all, I covered a number of those GM meetings. They happen on two levels. There's always an immediate issue that kind of gets addressed

and a rule recommendation made at the end. But then, you know, I think what's more interesting is what percolates, because it does tend to take a few years of discussion for ideas to gain enough traction for change. For example, three-on-three overtime was discussed at these meetings for years and years and years before finally, you know, they made the move to bring that in. And so I think the sort of direct storyline we're going to get is some sort of tweaking with how the coaches' challenges are working. I think that it might not be unanimous, but it's near-unanimous agreement that it hasn't, you know, worked exactly. the way it was designed to that there's not enough success rate and calls being overturned that maybe the offsides at times are not really doing what they're supposed to do.

So I think you'll see a change in some way, shape, or form made there. But what's most interesting to me is how they approach the draft lottery. And that's something that they have tinkered with a little bit the last couple seasons. and as we know now, the top three are decided by lottery, which hasn't been done in the past. But I wonder if we're going to get a quote-unquote Edmonton Oilers rule that comes forward here where there's some limit placed on either how many times you can get the number one pick

or who can get the number one pick. Because there is a strong undercurrent going around the league, right back to the day that the Oilers won the draft lottery last spring to be able to take Connor McDavid, that it's basically unfair that it's an organization that's been unable to, despite having so many previous number one picks get itself back on track in any meaningful way, can continue to get the best young talent

coming into the league. And, you know, I do think that there's a potential. We'll see a change there. It might not happen, as I say, right out of the three-day meeting in Florida this week. But, you know, I think we're going to hear a lot more discussion on that as these guys get together and kick around some ideas. What about sort of tangentially related to that? I saw there was a little bit, the ball got rolling a little bit on terms of the discussion of elevating the draft age. Is that something they're going to discuss or is that something that's

kind of shell for later? No, I think that that'll be a discussion. I mean, the one thing about that is, is one of the ideas that I've heard kicked around is that basically could take 18-year-olds in the first round and not beyond then. And, you know, while that, I guess, changes the experience for some guys who would get drafted a year earlier. We don't see very many second rounders immediately make the NHL at 18. I mean, it certainly happened. You know, Daniel's Brong spent 18 games or so with the Penguins this year. Right. But,

but, I mean, it's, to me, it doesn't necessarily change all that much. I mean, I guess it allows, uh,

the CHL to have a firmer grip on, on some of these players' rights for an extra year. But, um, I don't know. I just get a feeling that the change isn't going to be as dramatic as when you first hear it in terms of what we, what we see.

But I think that, certainly nothing will be decided, but that, that, that'll be a topic. I mean, that's a big decision. I think the NHLPA is going to have a say in this, obviously, ultimately,

and I'm not sure that it's something that they're eager to see, you know, more limits placed on the way players can basically get into the league and when. But I think in terms of true impact, we're not going to see a huge difference if they end up making that change at some point. All right. Well, there you have it. Chris, thanks for taking a time to chat. You've fulfilled your obligation on this early Monday morning.

All right, now I got to go write a story on William Neelander. All right, man. We'll catch up with you soon, okay? All right, thanks, buddy. And joining us before we get out of here is someone I wanted to have on the show for a few weeks now, just because he's been doing such groundbreaking work on the interwebs. And it's about time we kind of help spread the word and get people helping his cause. It's Emmanuel Perry, who's the creator of Corsica hockey.

Mani, what's going on, man? How are you doing? I'm good. I was going to introduce you as an Alex Chassan superfan, but I didn't really think I'd be able to get that sentence out without bursting into a coughing fit, so here we're... Yeah, I was expecting the Chavez-O stream, and that's how you're going to say what's going on, man.

All right, let's discuss your website a little bit because I'm sure most people that have listened to this show have already been on it, but for those that haven't, I think there's a lot of cool features that kind of distinguish it from the websites that came before it. I personally really enjoy the similarity calculator. I don't know, like

tell people a little bit about your site and kind of what they can check out there. It's really just a hockey site. The only thing that I'm really committed to is that I want it to be for the public. I want it to be pretty open. So, I mean, it's

open source, but even more than that, I want But it's important to me that people have easy access to information. So other than that, like, that's really the only thing that I'm sticking to. I've been taking input from people, so whatever people want to see on the site, that's what I'll host. At the moment, lots of the features are similar to what you were able to find or are still able to find on one. With some additional stuff, like you said, the similar calculator. So unique sort of like this stuff. Let me let me cut you off.

I should say, I mean, you're not giving yourself enough credit. I think the combos function of the site is something that I haven't really seen anywhere else, which I've really enjoyed because I was looking at it earlier. And a guy like John Tavares, for example, I was looking at sort of his most common line combinations this year. And I don't know if you can necessarily kind of attribute any of the weird up and down season he's had to this. but he's had a remarkable number of different combinations where I think I counted either six or seven guys that he's played like nearly 100 minutes with at 5-on-5 this year,

which seems like it would be probably something that most other stars in the league don't really have to go through. Yeah, sure. And that's, I mean, it's great that you're able to, if you have a question, you're able to answer it with that feature. That's sort of, that's what I won't decide I want. To be able to query the database and get exactly the information they want to answer whatever questions they might have.

So the commos, the line combinations and pairing with something, I actually wanted to work on for a war on ice to host. And that never materialized, but lots of the code I already had ready, so it wasn't too difficult to until then. So you mentioned you're kind of taken requests from fans and people out there based on what they'd want to see. Is there anything you're currently working on that hasn't necessarily shown its way into the site yet, but will in the near future?

Well, my thing recently has been the live game staff. So I just recently got everything automated, which is nice because, I mean, I was going to say I don't need to worry, but I'm actually worrying more now, so I'm worried that the automated system is just going to break everything. but the live game stuff is what I've been working on. I introduced this new teacher called Stories that basically automates the process of showing people that'll tidbits of information from games.

So it'll show you in text form rather than tabular, which is easier to interpret for some people. It's easier to digest. I haven't completed that way. It's sort of in progress. And when I say, take input from people. I feel bad because oftentimes I'm not always able to

implement what people suggest. Part of that is just because I'm not expert at this. Yeah, and also, like, I need to weigh input from lots of different people, right? So if one person likes something a certain way, it doesn't necessarily

mean that the majority of people want that. So I sort of need to listen to multiple people. I mentioned in my mission statement that compromises are going to be important on both ends. I mean, people need to understand that.

I think people that know me or know me through Twitter know that I'm not an expert by any means at this shit. So, like, if if I say I'll think about something and then they never materialized on the site, it's not because I forgot or because I don't want to do it,

it's just because there are other factors I play. Right. Well, listen, man, don't beat yourself up too much about that stuff. You're doing a remarkable job, and I think that I understand that people online can sometimes you give them a finger and they want the whole hand immediately and people can get carried away from time to time, especially when with a resource like this, I mean, even myself sometimes, right, where something new like this comes out and you're just like, oh, I just want to do everything on the site now.

And obviously it's kind of a process and it takes time to put it together. And as you mentioned, like War on Ice, for example, that was a, was a whole team of people that were all working together, whereas you're obviously getting help from different segments of the online hockey community, but at the same time, you're sort of running the show here, and it's going to take some time for it all to come together. Yeah, I think it's going to work out.

I wasn't even sure I was going to have it ready for this season, actually. But, yeah, I mean, we'll see where it goes. I'm sort of looking forward to the off-season because it's going to give me time to, to shake some stuff and ask some stuff without you know people going on the site every day right um some downtime um all right let's uh this is the part of the show where we can

hopefully get some people to help you out why i know you start start a patreon page uh that kind of help cover some of the housekeeping costs of running a website like this um give people information on both where they can check you out on Twitter and how they can access that patreon page to help out if they want to do so yeah um give me give me your money give me all your money because that's what I'm in it for. No, but I have a Patreon campaign, like you said. I think it's patreon.com slash Corsica.

But the site has a Twitter account. It's at Corsica Hockey, just one word. And the PIN's tweet on that Twitter account is a link to the Patreon campaign. So you can find it that way. My own account is at Mani-Oak, M-N-N-Y-E-L-K. I tweet a bit less about stats and more about stupid shit now A lot of lines of your cat, right?

I've noticed that. That's a lot of, that's the main feature there. There's pictures of my cat, Larry. There's me being stressed out and disappointed with the Ottawa Senators. There's a lot of that stuff. Well, okay, while we have you on, you are, as you mentioned just now, an Ottawa Senators fan. are you worried that Mike Hoffman will no longer be on the Ottawa Senators next year?

Oh, man. Why are you putting me on the spotlight? I thought we were going to talk about this side. I mean, yeah, I wouldn't put anything past Ottawa management at this point. Like, the thing with Mike Hoffman is that I think they're going to weigh the end in the season more heavily than they should instead of looking at the aggregate. And, you know, throughout two seasons now, or parts of two seasons, he's been one of the best forwards.

But if you decide to single out a few weeks, then you can make them look pretty bad. And if those are the two weeks, that's a sample that they want to rely on, and it'll lead them to make, I think, ultimately disappointing decisions. Yeah, that's one word for it. I think that's, I'm growing open to that possibility, just not even, it might not even necessarily be a management thing as much as it might be, I don't know, like I feel like they're very vulnerable here for an offer sheet or they might just view Hoffman as being sort of out of their price range based on the fact that he has scored a lot of goals

over the past two years now. And I don't know, it'll be an interesting thing to follow because the senators certainly haven't been the most freewheeling organization in terms of spending money in the past year. So that'll be a storyline to follow this. Yeah. Well, speaking of price range, Like the arbitration hearing was ridiculous. Yes.

What they settled on. So I don't know, maybe that's a sign that even Hoffman's agent doesn't value him as highly as he should. So, I mean, I'm grasping at straws here. I'm definitely worried. An offer sheet would be cool. We don't see those too often. I'd be interested in seeing if anyone makes an offer. Yeah.

Well, I mean, I don't know. I guess it's been a pretty depressing end of the season here for the senator is, right? like you have this Zach Smith absurd goal scoring run I feel like he's sort of like a monster and he's just taken all of Mike Hoffman's goal scoring abilities and just like zap them straight up his energy

so I don't know I guess that's the way It's like it's like eight straight games and he scored a goal and it's ridiculous and I think they're all primarily assisted by Stone Yeah it's crazy I don't know like Is there anything else for I know we have a lot of a senators

fan listeners so is there anything else you can see it's sort of been a silver lining to the end of this disappointing season? I think that's perfect. I think that's, I think you captured a well. Can we just end it on that note? There's the, there's the Scott Gomez signing, of course.

Hey, I didn't even mind that. Like, a lot of people were pissed at that. I actually didn't mind the Gomez signing at all. Yeah. He hasn't been great, but like, I think Gomez's underlying numbers were fine. I think he can see. still play.

It's a, you know, it doesn't hurt the tank to sign Gomez either. I would have rather they kept Prince for sure, but if Prince was on his way out, then whatever I'm fine with it. All right, whatever I'm fine with it. The Ottawa Center was 2015-2016 season. Mani, thanks a lot for coming on the show, man.

And keep up all the great work with Corsica. And I'm sure everyone listening to the show will continue checking all the new cool features you have installed. hopefully help out with opening their wallets a little bit with your Patreon page, man. So we'll check back in with you later on potentially in the summer when you start really kind of ramping it up in terms of new stuff you're adding to the site. Yeah, cool, man. Thanks a lot. The Hockey PDOCast with Dmitri Filippovich.

Follow on Twitter at Dim Filippovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedocast.