The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 90: The Life of An International Hockey Fan

Episode Date: May 30, 2016

Uffe Bodin joins the show to discuss what he saw covering the World Championships in Russia, the differences between Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine as players, and the trials and tribulations of following the NHL from overseas. Here’s a quick rundown of the topics covered: 1:00 Watching Matthews and Laine up close at the World Championships 4:55 The rivalry between Sweden and Finland 7:00 Building excitement for the World Cup 9:00 Team Sweden picking Niklas Kronwall over better alternatives 15:00 Roster construction theory for short tournaments 18:20 The next generation of Swedish goalies 20:45 Victor Hedman's remarkable postseason 24:11 The life of an NHL fan overseas 28:00 The Swedish Hockey League's adoption of analytics Every episode of this podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and can also be streamed right here on the website. Make sure subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new shows as they’re released, and also take a minute to leave a glowing review. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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Welcome to the Hockey PeeDOcast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich. And the man I have on today has his own rival. podcast that we're battling with atop the charts in Sweden. And he's definitely the first person we've ever had on the show that's recording from overseas. It's my good buddy, Ufebaudine. Ufe, what's going on, man? Hey, man, thanks a lot.

It's a true honor to be the first, I guess, none. Did it something go wrong? No, no, no, it's great. It's funny because we were discussing having you on the show for, I feel like a few months now. And then every time we were about to record something, what happened, with either me or you, and we have to keep pushing it back. So it became a running joke for you and I, but we're finally getting around to doing this thing.

Yeah, exactly. It's been a long time, but eventually it turned out okay. Yes, it turned out okay. So you just got back from Russia, where you were covering the world championships that recently came to an end, and that means you're a pretty lucky devil because you got to see both Austin Matthews

and Patrick Liney up close and personal. So, and I thought it would be a good place to start. We're just kind of discussing that tournament and what you saw from those guys. Yeah, exactly. They had a showdown in Helsinki at the World Uniors to start the year, and now this was like chapter number two. So it was quite interesting to see them both up close and see what kind of special players they are. Because, you know what, I feel like no matter who Toronto Maple Leafs decides to pick, I don't think you could go wrong with either one. it's just like a matter of taste if you want to go with a centerman or you want to go with like

the like the winger so i mean just patrick line is such a monster out there i mean he's got the like ovechkin release and uh great skater someone said he reminded them on mariel m u it's it's been a bit too long i can't remember what mariel m u was like but that's quite uh i mean that's That's quite a really, to be mentioned in that kind of company, it's pretty huge. And Matthews is such a durable center. I mean, he plays beyond his years. I mean, you watch him and you feel like he's 25 and you realize he has turned 18. So two extraordinary young players.

Yeah, well, it's interesting because we're going to have this debate leading up to June 24th in Buffalo when Toronto finally has to decide. And I think you're right. It's going to be pretty hard for them to mess. one up because both guys are going to be are going to be great players but it's interesting because matthews has been this guy that we've just sort of considered the automatic number one pick for i don't even know how long it's definitely been over a year now i feel like even before last year's draft people were talking about this is the matthews draft and and sometimes it's easy to um people kind

of get bored of talking about the same stuff and just taking it for granted so when a guy like line a bursts onto the scene this year and and has an electric performance in the world juniors and his team wins gold and then he has a really good performance for his SM Liga team during the playoffs. And then all of a sudden he's named MVP and best forward at this world championship tournament. It's easy for people to kind of, he's like the shiny new toy where people are getting really excited about him. Not necessarily that he shouldn't be the first overall pick, but I'm just wondering whether it's a little bit of people sort of a little bit of a recency bias where people are just kind

of getting a bit too excited about Lina and forgetting about how good Austin Matthews also is himself. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, of course, what Lain has done this season is like extraordinary. It's almost unique. I can't think of any 18-year-old that's had this kind of success this early in his career. At the same time, like Matthews scored 24 goals in 36 games in the Swiss League. And that, I mean, I can tell it's not too many players that are capable of doing that. So you have to keep that in mind as well. And also I think people over here tend to be biased towards the Finn, obviously, because, you know, a cultural thing, I guess.

But I think obviously we've seen much more in Sweden and obviously Finland of Lainey than we have with Matthew, so it's kind of hard to compare. And also, if you look like during the World Championships, what kind of players Lainey was playing with him? Alexander Barker was amazing. And you see Yokinen had a great tournament. Those are two top players as well.

Matthews on a rather I mean the American team at the World Championship wasn't much much of a team really I think Matthews was by far their best player so I mean you have to take that into the equation as well

well you mentioned that people people in Sweden are more partial towards line A because you know it's sort of a closer to home thing and you're sticking with your guy but I always thought that there was at least a little bit of a Sweden-Finland rivalry. Is that just sort of the fact that he's at least kind of closer to home or trumps that?

Or is there a little bit of a, we wish this guy was Swedish instead? You know, the funny thing is, yes, the Poliarv is actually born in Sweden. So that kind of stinks a bit. But when it comes to the line, I think, you know, people that appreciate hockey, they appreciate, you know, talent no matter where you're from. And obviously with guys such as line, I mean, it's easy to get impressed with what he's done this year. So I think if Team Finland would have played Sweden, I think it would have been a completely different matter. But I mean, as it stands now, I think people are just impressed with what an 18-year-old has done at the world stage.

Yeah. I think the world championships as a whole was, I don't know. I don't know if it necessarily gets the attention it deserves over here because it's going on at the same time. is the playoffs and people, and it's sort of on a slightly weird hours and people are necessarily following it as closely as they should be, but at least in recent years, it's been a lot of fun seeing some of these top prospects, kind of show what they're capable of before they're ever even really playing at the NHL level. And it is good hockey. I mean, it's a lot of the top players from over here and combining with players overseas,

and it's interesting to see how they mix. So I imagine it was a pretty fun tournament to cover for you. Yeah, except Sweden really, sucked but that's another question. No, but the funny thing was like you don't see too many North American writers at these tournaments actually but this year, you know, Mike Trichos of

post media news was there. Ryan Dixon from Sportsnet and a bunch of other North American. So that was kind of funny to see, you know, what Matthews versus Linehype really, it seemed to turn a lot of heads over there. So I think the ratings were probably

a bit better than the usual Yeah, yeah, I imagine. Okay, well, let's spin it forward then and discuss the World Cup a little bit because it's obviously a ways away, but I think the finalized rosters are going to be announced any day here and people will start talking about it again slowly. Are people overseas excited about this thing, or are they kind of begrudging to the fact that it doesn't look like there's going to be any more competitive Olympic hockey instead of this stuff? Well, we'll see about that, but I think people just in general are. happy to see, like, finally get the chance to see best on best, because that's what missing from the world championships, you're always, I mean, the whole tournament is basically, you know, everyone is waiting for, you know, which Swedish NHL player would show up this time, who will say, no, that's kind of half of the discussion leading up to the tournament. So, I mean, just to see, like, the best players, you know, go head to head. I think that's just pure excitement

for everyone. Yeah, and I think right now it's easy because it's so far into the future a few months, it's so far into the future where people are like, we don't really care about the World Cup. It's a thing that Rogers Sportsnet, who, you know, I might be biased, happens to be my employer,

are peddling to try and get ratings and keep discussion going, but I think that as we get closer to date, people are going to start getting excited, especially since around that time in September, it's been a few months without any real hockey to watch and you're just going to be craving it no matter what.

So seeing some of these top guys get back into action before the season starts is probably going to be a pretty fun thing. Absolutely. And I don't know, I was kind of skeptical towards the notion of having like Team Europe and the Under-23 team. But now, you know, the under-23 team, I really think it's a nice idea. I think it's going to be great fun to watch, you know, all the youngsters and the speed that they're going to put on the ice.

It's going to be amazing to see. Yes. That's going to be a lot of speed. And speaking of speed, that's a great transition point to discuss Nicholas Cronwall's inclusion. Oh, I can see that one coming from miles. Yeah, you set that one up. So listen, I don't want to spend necessarily too much time on this because it might not ultimately matter. We don't know how he's going to be used or how much he's going to play because it's pretty clear that I guess you could argue Lundquist is the strength of this team just because he's probably the best goalie in the world. But other than that, their strength really is this blue line where they have some. some of the world best guys back there that can really do everything amazingly well. And so he might not even necessarily crack the lineup. And if he does, he might play minimal minutes or he might be playing with a guy that's so good that can kind of drag him along for the ride anyways.

But it's weird. Like, I saw this coming when they were announcing the roster just because there is, hockey is known for this sort of, you know, character leadership, veteran experience sort of thing. And so it makes sense on that front. but just based on some of the other names that could have been picked instead of him, it strikes me as a very baffling decision. Yeah, at this time, we don't know yet who the last defenseman is going to be, but you have like three guys like Matthias Ekholm, Hamphus Lindholm, and John Klingberg,

and you know at least two of those guys are not going to play, and that's a shame, really, because they're all three on their own merit, really good defensemen, so that feels, it feels really, really wrong. That's my opinion. it. Yeah. Well, it's so, I mean, the, the Hedman-Straulman pairing seems to be as big of a no-brainer as you can get based on how good they've looked together for the lightning. And then you can, you can mix and match with Carlson and Jalmersen and, and it's, I think that it's an interesting question of whether you're going to play Klingberg or Hampas Linholm. I think both guys have to be on this team just based on how good they've been. But yeah, you're right. Like a guy like Matias Mekholm, it kind of sucks a little bit for him because he probably should be on this team. but he's going to be left at home watching it instead because Cronwell is being rewarded for all the work he's done in his career as opposed to with a player he actually is these days.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's not like, I know Team Sweden that's exactly what they're saying. Like he's getting this position, I mean, based on leadership qualities. And you have to question that because I think there's so many players that have done so much. I mean, of course, they're maybe not old like he is, but they've still played the Stanley Cup finals. They've played Olympic final and, you know, a bunch of stuff. So I don't think, like, leadership, I'm not sure what that means, really, in this, in this, I mean, on the ice, well, I think the guys have what it takes.

And, I mean, just in the locker room, I don't know, okay, it's a short tournament, but is that really that important? Well, Oofi, you know what leadership is in these cases? It's, he's going to show all the other guys what not to do. He's going to do it and he's going to be like, don't do what I just did, okay? Yeah, I guess. No, but I mean, it's no question that, I mean, he's been a good defenseman, no doubt about it. But, you know, you can see from his numbers that he's declining and he's declining and he's declining in fast.

This past season was a drag. And, you know, he's got issues with his knees and obviously the speed is going to be, I mean, they're going to play the under-23 theme for Christ's sake. And, you know, I don't want to, I don't even want to know. how that's going to look when, you know, Dylan Larkin and some of those guys are on the ice against him. Yeah, maybe they're hoping that Larkin's going to take it easy on him because they are teammates still at the NFL level. So that's their one advantage there. But no, you're right.

And the leadership thing is kind of curious because while the blue line is fairly young, I mean, most these guys are sort of in their mid-20s and their prime. So it's not like they're complete youngsters. But, okay, let's say they are a slightly younger group. I look at this forward group, and it's mostly built off of quite a few veterans who, who have been playing in world championships and Olympics and won Stanley Cups and competed at the highest levels. So it strikes me as a bit of an odd move that you'd even kind of burn a roster spot on a guy like that.

Yeah, and I mean, even if Eric Carlson, Victor Headman and Oliverick-Mallerson, even if they're like 25, there are still players that have, you know, they wear their assistant captains on their NHL teams. So obviously they must have something, you know, going for them leadership-wise. So, yeah, it's curious case, I agree.

So it's good to see Headman on here And it sounds like a no-brainer Just based on how remarkable he's been in the playoffs so far And we'll discuss that in a little bit But I think people will remember that he wasn't there for Sochi And I don't know I guess you can answer this better for me But I just always assumed that it was

Related to some sort of tension About not participating for the country At the World Championships As opposed to something based on his player Or what happened there? Why wasn't he on the team? He actually played the World Championships in 2012

well here at home in Stockholm and things didn't turn out well he had a rough tournament and got some criticism that maybe wasn't really fair from the coach and I guess it stemmed a bit from that but also you had you had that one leadership player in hendrick talinda that the coach really wanted to bring along I don't know if he was going to be a share leader or something but for some reason they they picked him instead of headman and that was like something we all scratch her head about Yeah, no, that was incredibly bizarre. And obviously, you know, that team did really well. It made it all the way to the final and competed admirably.

But it was just, trust me, everyone, not just people in Sweden, thought that was a pretty bizarre move. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, he put old Rickman Larsson, was pretty much benched the whole tournament. So that was another thing that people were kind of mad about. Okay, so I'm going to throw a handful of names that you hear, and you tell me which guys you like for this team. upfront. So based on guys that haven't been announced for the team yet, we've got Carl Haglin,

Patrick Hornquist, Gus Nyquist, I don't know, you can go Marcus Johansson, Michael Backlin, Victor Rask, Mika's Abinajad, or maybe some guys I haven't even mentioned yet that haven't been necessarily announced to the team yet, which I think there's like three or four spots they can fill left with those guys. Which ones do you, which ones are you bringing if you're making the team? I think Nyquist is one. I was, I was, I'm sure. sure of him because his season with the Red Wings wasn't what we were hoping for. I think he scored 17 goals after scoring 27 the year before. But he had a strong world championship, one of a few Swedes that actually came to play. So I like what he did and I think hopeful that he could

create some kind of chemistry with Sederberg. Another guy I really like for maybe a fourth line is Jacob Silverberg. I think he really came around late. in the season and started scoring some goals and I think he played really well with Ryan Kessler down the stretch so that's a guy I'm bringing on and I mean both Hornquist and Hagelin you know see what they've done for

the Penguins this playoff so I think those two guys are probably shooing I think the curious one is what to do with a like you have a forward flying center do you want to go like with a defensive guy like Kruger or do you feel like

you want to go with someone who's got some scoring punch, maybe Carl Soderberg or Sibaniad, Raquel, Backland. That one is, I think that one is going to be interesting to see which way they lean. Yeah, it's always interesting in these short tournaments because I feel like sometimes they can really overthink it with trying to build a hockey team from top to bottom and going, these are our fourth line guys. But I think that when you have as much talent as you do to choose from, a team like this. I think you really just got to take all the best guys you can and just hope that

things fall into place and it works out because you never know what situation you're going to be in, right? Like it would be great to have a guy like Marcus Kruger, for example, if you're defending a lead all game. But let's say you need to score some goals and you're down early. All of a sudden you'd love to have a guy like maybe like a Carl Soderberg, as you mentioned, who can help generate more offense. So you never know what situation you're going to be in and you just kind of, I always go as just take the most talented guys you can and just hope it all works out. Yeah, I mean, there's so many two-way players on

the roster as it stands. So I don't think, like, do you really need that, I mean, fourth line in the plug, really? I don't think so. I think you're right on point there. Like, you need someone, you need players on all four lines that can score because, you know, you're going to have opponents

like, especially Canada, who's going to have that kind of threat, you know, no matter what line they have on the ice. I mean, I remember, I think it was last Olympics, I think, yeah, Carter played like third or fourth line. I think he ended up being the best scorer. Yeah, he did. Yeah, you're right. Case in point, I guess. Exactly. And then in net, it's obviously Henrik Lindquist that if he doesn't play well or

if he gets injured, well, then I guess maybe there's always next year. Exactly. Yeah, no, it's interesting because I always, you know, you think of this Swedish goalie factory and it's a big topic of discussion here in Canada because Obviously, you have the Holtbies and the prices, but then after that, there hasn't necessarily been this next wave of guys that have come along and have shown any sort of real potential yet in terms of Canadian goalies. And I was looking at the list of active Swedish goalies. And there's some intriguing prospects on the way, but it seems like that kind of next generation of guys, whether it's the Markstroms or the Lenners or I guess Enroth was never really considered a big prospect by any means. But let's say like a netty lack or something.

It feels like these guys have sort of, I don't want to say disappointed, but not necessarily lived up to the big expectations they had as prospects coming to the NHL. No, you're absolutely right. I mean, Markstrom was, I think we all saw him as the next longquist and he struggled, but he seems to be on the right path now. The only problem is he played for the Vancouver Canucks, so that's going to be a bumper right no matter what. But you're absolutely right.

I thought at this point we would have at least another first string. goal in the NHL and basically we haven't. So I will see. I still feel there's hope for Robin Leonard, although all these injuries might, you know, hamper him. And Eddie Lack, I don't know, he had a rough season with the hurricane. So I guess a guy like Linus Ulmark played quite a few games with Buffalo Sabres. I'd say actually right now he seems like the most promising guy to me that has that

potential to be a number one in the NHL. But other than that, I guess you can say that a lot of prospects really have been a disappointment. Yeah, no, it's, O-Mark looked good in his limited time with the Sabres, and it wasn't necessarily the greatest situation for him. But, yeah, no, it'll be interesting to see how this next crop develops. I'm personally, based on the limited draft research that I did heading into the draft last year, like a guy like Felix Sandstrom, for example, everything I read about him sounded like he's going

to be an amazing goalie prospect. So I'm sure there's going to be new names that crop up in the next few years, but we still have to kind of wait for that to happen. Absolutely. I still feel like Finland is way ahead of us right there. Yep, yep. Now there. Okay, so we were discussing Headman a bit earlier,

and I feel like we'd be remiss if we didn't spend at least a few minutes here. Just discussing about how remarkable he's been in this postseason. I mean, it's not a surprise by any means just because he was amazing during last year's postseason. and of course he's been a very consistent regular season producer, but it seems like especially early on in the playoffs with Strawman being out with injury, he really, they gave him a workload that we've never really seen him play before, where he was playing nearly 30 minutes a night, and he was just handling it so admirably well that I don't know,

I'm sure you've been kind of watching from afar, just marveling at how amazing he's been. Yeah, I mean, because that's the thing. I mean, before the season, we all felt, you know, having last year's postseason in mind that this guy could, really win the Norris trophy. And I think the big difference is, well, he's not getting the power play time, you know, that certain other defensemen are getting.

And also, you know, like you said, the workload, I mean, during the regular season, I don't think he had more like than 23, maybe 24 minutes. And that's pretty low considering what kind of, I mean, for an elite defenseman in the NHL at least. So I guess that has been to his disadvantage. really and I feel like maybe it's time to to give him some more room because he seems to play better once he gets you know like almost up to half an hour of game time yeah yeah no he's uh and it makes sense I mean you just look at him physically he seems like definitely the type of guy who could

hit with his build you know log those minutes and not necessarily get injured or or slow down based on wear and tear and and uh the thing I marvel at when watching him is is the size is obviously you know people especially here in North America just love their defensemen to be big and strong no matter what but it's how smooth he is as a skater and how slick he is as a passer where it seems like a guy that big shouldn't be able to do a lot of the stuff he does with the puck and with his with his skating but he just makes it look so effortless yeah you're absolutely right and I think that's that's the most amazing thing with him I'm from I understand he's been he's changed a lot of things in his preseason training and I think that's

help him. He works with a guy named Hans Jonson, who used to be a defenseman on the Pittsburgh Penguins. And that practice that they're doing together, I think it's really, he really benefited from that he's become so much stronger in so many areas that maybe before he wasn't. So I feel like, you know, the sky is really the limit for what he can achieve. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's amazing. And listen, when I was prepping for the show, I was rereading this article he wrote for the Players Tribune back in February. And if someone's listening to this right now and hasn't read it, I would definitely recommend just click pause or just keep listening to us. Whatever, we already have your download. It doesn't matter.

But just go just go read this article because it's a really fun read where he discusses sort of his adjustment to the NHL and how different the game is compared to the one overseas. And sort of I love the part where he talks about the small town he came from. And of course, it's been known as such a hockey factory, producing all these legendary players. But the population itself is so small and just how they've been able to continue churning out with these guys. So I don't know. I'm sure you read that article yourself. Yeah, it was really funny, actually. Yeah, it was my guy.

So it got me thinking because let's pull back the curtain a little bit here. It's early in the AM for me. I'm here sipping my coffee. And you're about to have dinner soon. I imagine if you haven't already. The time difference is huge. So what's it like trying to keep up with the NHL game over there? Because I think it's for someone like myself, it's pretty easy to kind of just take for granted

because, you know, at night there's nothing else really going on. Of course, I'm going to put on the game and watch it and follow along online. But it must be weird when it's on at such crazy hours in the middle of the night and so early in the morning. I guess all the recent technology makes it a lot easier. But I don't know. What's it like being a fan of the NHL overseas? It's a struggle, I'll tell you.

No, but you have to be really dedicated to be able to follow as closely as some people do. I mean, staying up in the middle of the night. I mean, I work with this, and I don't get to see as many games as I would like to not even close. So I guess, you know, the early weekend games, that's kind of our hockey night in Canada, or hockey night in Sweden like getting a chance to to watch some of those East Coast games maybe you know

6, 7 PM in the evening that's goal for us because that's like that's like the closest thing we get personally you know I try to catch some games here and there I try to catch you know watch maybe

during the morning when I get up they have a lot of reruns and obviously as you said like with the technology today can just basically watch any game over and over again. So it makes it much easier. I mean, when I grew up in the middle of the 90s, you had to wait like two days to even get the results because like before internet was like newspaper and they had like the results

from two days ago. So like all the traits and the results and stuff like that, you had to wait a few days for it. So, I mean, technology has really given us an advantage in this day and age. So it's completely different. But still, the time difference is a problem. No, no, that's true. Yeah. Well, I think the devotion point is a good one because I think that a lot of the fans overseas that I interact with on Twitter, for example, are, you can tell right away, they're like the most devoted 1% of, of the entire population, right? Where they're staying up at, they're following the games, live as they're happening and pretty much anytime I tweet anything, they're instantly like the

first ones to reply and pull up stats and, and, you know, if I ever say something about a Swedish player, it's all of a sudden being retweeted by hundreds of, hundreds of people. It's, it's pretty cool. It's great that, you know, with something like Twitter, we can sort of interact and bridge that gap, whereas we never would have necessarily, we certainly would not have been doing this podcast, but we never would have even been kind of trading thoughts. and growing his hockey minds before. So I think that's the kind of the coolest part of it all. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, we learned so much more about the sport, you know, especially with the work that you guys like you do, it's amazing. I mean, a few years ago, I mean, you know, I thought it was a pretty sharp hockey mind. I mean, I've been playing and I've been working in this industry for quite a while. But, you know, this new, I mean, the new analytics and stuff like that, it's really opened my eyes. And today, I can, you know, thanks to guys like you, Dimitri, actually, I can say that I watch the sport in a completely other fashion than I would otherwise. So yeah, it's been amazing. Well, so I did want to ask you that. We'll discuss your podcast in a second. And you had me on a few months ago and we discussed this there. But just to repeat it for the people that didn't necessarily listen. What's the, has the analytics movement reached like the Swedish hockey league, for example? Is there, are there teams that are, you know, using this?

stuff to help with their personnel decisions and how they're approaching all their moves, or is it still a big work in progress? Well, I can't speak for like every team in the league, but I know quite a few of them actually have hired analytics people to help them out. And like Frolanda, the team that won, a friend of mine is actually working there and doing really good work for them. So kudos to him and kudos to them for being, you know, open-minded about this. I know, I mean, you have, you and many other of your peers, you have, you know, you have met like the people that they don't believe in this and they can be pretty persistent.

But it's the same thing here. You know, some people don't want to, don't want to understand this. They want to do things like they've always done things. So it's always like resistance, but some things really have taken this to heart. And I think they're getting reward for it as well. Yeah, that's pretty cool. It's great to see. I know exactly who you're talking about with the Frolanda hire.

So, no, it's exciting times, man. And what else is going on with Swedish hockey these days? Are people over Moto being relegated yet? Has anyone checked on Peter Forsberg recently? I don't think anyone dares to call him, you know. He had such an outburst there when they got relegated. So I guess it's tough on him, and it's tough on the whole city up there.

because like these guys, they live and breathe hockey up there. So I feel really bad for them. At the same time, the team's been kind of mishandle of late. And I guess this is what happens when you don't go about your business the right way. So, I mean, it's a lesson to be learned. And hopefully they can, you know, just control, alt-deleted and, you know, start all over again. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, Forsberg's sure just showing up to the game wearing that.

And you see that video where he put on the world. wig and a little bit of makeup and it should have just gone undercover with that one. Exactly. Amazing. All right, man. It's been a lot of fun. This is the part of the show where I'm going to let you plug some stuff. I know that you have a podcast that everyone should be listening to

and you do some written work yourself and you're a great follow on Twitter. So where can people check you out and what should they look forward to from you? Well, I'm mostly right in Swedish. I just want everyone to be heard of that. Google Translate is always great. No, but I'm editor-eer-chief of a Swedish website called HockeySvary.Svary.S.E. Well, it's hard to pronounce that in English, but basically means hockey Sweden, so there you have it. And you can find me on Twitter at Ufi Bodine.

Yeah, and I do some stuff sometimes for the hockey news and other outlets. So you can find me pretty much anywhere. Yeah. And hopefully we'll be able to do an in-person podcast or something like that in-buffalo for the draft. That would be neat. It's going to be so fun going over there and meet all the great hockey minds. Yeah, man, it'll be a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to that. And I highly recommend everyone listening, check out all your work. And we'll chat soon, okay? Thanks.

The Hockey PDOCast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockeypedocast.