The Hockey PDOcast - Our Guys for the 2024-2025 NHL Season Part 2

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to highlight the players they're excited about heading into the upcoming NHL season. 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.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovic. Welcome to the HockeyPedocast. My name's Dimitri Filippovich and joining me for part two of the 24th, 2025, Our Guys. Edition of the show is my pal Thomas Drans. In part one, we highlighted some players were high on this season higher than I think the general consensus and guys were really excited about. We did some of the sort of more obvious names, players who have already

reach a certain status in terms of their NHL production. We're going to keep it going. And Tom, I'm excited because this is part two. This is where we really get freaky with it. I still got a few sort of bigger names, and then I think we're going to really go off the board and start mixing it up with some fun ones. I've got two players here that I want to lump in together.

I'll kick us off that I think are kind of similar in terms of both their production and also playing style and stylistically. and that's Kiral Marchenko, and I know that you have his linemate and teammate, and we're going to talk certainly about him, and Owen Tippett, a player you're familiar with as well. Yeah. Both in terms of, I think there's kind of like throwback players in a way because they're big,

they're skate fast, they shoot hard, they score a lot of cool goals, and I just, I have a type. Like I certainly love the Stankov and Benson tier of player of like undersized, competitive guy who does a lot of stuff. and winning battles and stuff. And then I love this type of player where it's like hair flowing, just scoring a bunch of individual one-on-one efforts, just kind of carving through the defense.

And that's what these guys did. Tip it kind of quietly, 28, 27 goals in back-to-back seasons. And if you look like all the sport logic stuff, he's amongst the league leaders, similar to a lot of other Flyers players in rush chances last year, just general shot volume. and he was creating at a top tier that would suggest that, yeah, it's very real that I think, if anything, 28 is kind of a baseline in terms of goal projection for him if you can stay healthy. And so I love his game.

I'm very excited with the talent there infusing with Mitchcov as well, just another playmaker that can open the ice for a guy like that. And then Marchenko. Similar to what I just said about Tippett, I think that Columbus did themselves a disservice last year with keeping Pascal Vincent on board because he seemed for whatever reason to be like very hellbent on making sure they didn't have any fun whatsoever and the one saving grace of their season was that trio when they played together just watching marchenko veronkov and chinikov riff off of each other and create cool sequences and then he went on this rant about how they were like

they're playing at the harlem globetrotters and that was unacceptable and split them up and i was like oh man okay well the one thing that i had a reason to and for all of a sudden doesn't exist anymore i love watching marchenko play i think he's like a certified rock star I think he's such a cool player. I'd expect him to score. I mean, he scored a kind of, what, like a 26, 27 goal pace in his two years in the NHL on a per 82 game basis. And so I'm excited to watch more of him.

And both guys, I feel like the selling point is very easy for people. Like, you go on my Twitter feed. You'll find a bunch of very cool goals they scored that are very sort of unique to them because they're almost a throwback type of guy. So do you have any notes on either of those two guys? Or you can kind of pivot off that and go on. on your Columbus player as well. Yeah, I mean, I also can save my Columbus player for like a physical freaks standpoint.

Yep. Or for sort of pairs there. Yeah, though, I think both guys are, I think you're right to lump them together because I'd sort of view it as that wild horse rush attacking style and the way the league's trending with the emphasis on that rush offense, you know, having the size to protect the puck in space, but the speed to. beat guys out wide to beat them north-south. I mean, I think that's how you have to score goals with just how sharp teams are on in-zone coverage and how incredible set goaltenders are. And that's the other thing that both of these guys have in common. We're talking about, you know, two of the 30 human beings on the planet capable of reliably

beating said NHL goaltenders with a shot. And so when you pair that combination of attributes, I'm interested. You have my curiosity and my attention. Yes. I've got two players that I also sort of see as linked, in part because I think they're ready to break out. In fact, I think they already have shown signs of doing so, but the opportunity that both are going to have this season is going to be at a totally different level. And as a result, I think you're going to see massive spikes. And I think people are going to really have a much better appreciation for just how skilled, just how good.

these two players are, in my opinion, anyway. I think they're already there, but 50 points from now where we're going to be having a very different conversation around both guys. The first is Pavel Dorofiev in Vegas. We know what Vegas has done, loading up down the middle and sort of crossing their fingers that they can get some hits on the wing.

I also think they can rejig and play the Brett Houtens and Nikwas of the world on the wing if they need to. But Dorofiev, to me, is going to for sure get a top six opportunity, probably with a high-end playmaking center, especially in the wake of, you know, Stevenson and Marsh Sos's departures, and he's ready for it. I mean, this guy was already top 50 in points rate. I think he left a lot of meat on the bone, right? Like, I actually think he's, he was a little bit unlucky in terms of finishing some of the chances he had, especially out the rush, especially on breakways last season. I look at his skill level. There's no reason that he can't

be an average finisher on the break. He definitely wasn't last season. There was a lot of like, he had, you know, and this happens sometimes. You get these young players who get more opportunities than they get paid off for it. Yep. And that doesn't necessarily last year over year. If he keeps getting those types of chances and he, every, every shift he had last season, it felt like he was getting multiple, at least across every game he played last season,

it felt like there were multiple chances where it was like, oh, how did he not score? there. I think that breaks his way with more frequency this season. I think Dorofia is going to light it up this year. Well, there was that stretch of games last year, I couldn't if I'm wrong, but it was kind of around the trade headline, right? And they were so banged up all year. But particularly there, they were just so thin. And he was playing in a big role for them. And he really popped off the screen for me. Like I thought, I mean, certainly like all the numbers were backing it up. But he just felt so involved and was creating a lot. And it wasn't necessarily being that rewarded for it, although he did have like a bit of a goal streak there at some point. But I really

like what I saw and then, you know, they made a bunch of moves of the deadline. They started to get a bit healthier. And there was such a, there was just such a log jam of players. And I was like, all right, it makes sense that a player is unproven all of a sudden, especially under an established coach like Bruce Cassie, would be like, all right, well, he's going to have to wait for his turn. And I think that turns arrived. Game one, there's his turn because the opening is there.

You know, I think the last show you and I did at the end of the season we were talking about Vegas and how I actually like the gambit of like taking a flyer on like an Alexander Holtz and Victor Oliveson. Very flawed players, but have shooting talent. And when you have the infrastructure they have of the wingers who can get the puck off the wall, the center depth they have, the defensive structure, the transition ability, the north-south game, having guys who are like, all right, you're going to get a bit of open space in the offensive zone.

And when you get the puck, we want you to shoot it as hard as you can, it might have its limitations, but I feel like for what they're paying those guys, I feel like that's a perfectly reasonable bet for them to make. Some of them will work. Some of them won't. But if any of these guys hit, that's gravy for them. And I feel like D'Rofiev is the top of that list of guys that I would expect to. Yeah. And I also think D'Orfeiav has the ability to be less flawed. Right. Not to drive Rousse Cassidy crazy to the point where he's putting healthy scratch six games in. Right. Or to the point where he's like, I have to have Stone or Nick Wah on the wing in addition to playing one of these guys with Carlson.

You know what I mean? Because you know you're going to see that. Right. Like if Holtz struggles defensively, if he has some of the sleepy moments that he had last season really throughout his devil's career. You know it's going to be like Carlson, Nikwa, and Alexander Holtz. And that's just like such a good sign that Cassidy's like, hey man, you need some babysitting out there. I don't think Dorfiev's going to necessarily need that. I think he's got the ability to be better than that as a two-way guy. And then another guy I think maybe a little bit under the radar, but I think has a massive opportunity ahead of him this season could break into the top six, could break into the top line, Luke Evangelista out of Nashville.

The level of deception that Evangelista brings to just about every touch, every puck touch he has is like so mature beyond his ears. Honestly, like there's the things that he can do handling the puck look like he's been in the league for 10 years. He is already He's already got Like I almost want to compare it to like Like Ray Whitney or something

You know what I mean? Like one of those like old school Offensive Savants Like he's got that in his game And then he's also got the speed element He's also got the agitation element The pest element to his game

Like there's so much that he brings But it's the skill side It's the puck skills And it's just the subtle deception in just about every touch, the way that he'll look off defenders, the way that he'll fake pass, the way that he just, like,

adds something to create that extra inch every sort of, over every, like, square foot of ice. That to me is special and really special for a player his age. Now, you throw him with a veteran sniper, like Stamco's or Marshalo, if he's able to earn that opportunity.

You sort of throw him into the mix with some of the savvy vets, that the Nashville predators have accumulated. Like, I think he can bring some youthful energy. I think he can bring some juice to their top six. And I actually think he can think the game at a pretty rare level for a young player. To me, that's like a rare sort of combination, right? Like, it's going to give him a shot, I think, to pop in a major way in his sophomore season.

Arguably, for my money, watching that first round series against the Canucks, now this is a low bar to clear because the Canucks suffocated them so much defensively that there weren't many standouts offensive. I thought he was one of, if not their most dangerous player offensively, in terms of how much he was creating and buzzing around when he was out there. Yep. And then the Kucs were like, all right, well, we'll take one of them. I'm sure they would love to get an evangelista as well, but he wasn't available.

I had him initially on my list, and then I got scared off just thinking about the fact that I feel like, at least for the time being, I like the talent bet from your perspective, his road to getting there at the start of the year at least is blocked a little bit because of how much they invested in both Stamco's and Marchesau because I think the Preds seemed like a smart organization and I think if they were watching the Lightning last year they probably realized that Stamco's probably needs to play on the wing at this point of his career to be insulated and then bringing Marchesaw as well I feel like a guy who might benefit from that and I know he was the opposite in round one Tommy Novak. We were high on him and then he really got exposed in his first NHL playoff experience really struggled. in that environment and spotlight. But he's probably most likely to center those two guys, at least right off the bat. I don't think they're going to want to move Stamco's in a middle. Maybe if Novak isn't up to it, they will.

And then all of a sudden, an evangelist that could be in a top six wing scoring role. And at that point, if I was in a fantasy league, I'd be like, you need to pick him off. I think he's going to really produce. I like him a bit less so if he's playing with Sizzins on a more like defensively or into third line, which it seems like you probably will out of the gate. But from a talent perspective, and that's kind of, know what this exercise is, I'm completely waiting. They might not trust Novak, though, to play.

Well, he was playing like fourth line minutes for that. That's what I'm saying. So I think there's at least a possibility that you see some sort of like sheltered scoring line centered by Novak and Evangelista is able to win the assignment early and just sort of bring some of some of that like protective element too to what the predators are doing in the top six. Look, the moment he gets that opportunity this season, and I won't be stunned if it's early. I think he's going to absolutely cook.

I like that. What does it say about us? I'm still holding Tommy Novak stock. Yeah, me too. Me too. Listen, like, it's scary when you watch a player's struggle like that,

but also it's like, yeah, it was his first NHL experience in terms of the playoffs. And it's a totally different ballgame. And I'm willing to chalk that up as like a learning experience, even though he is a bit of an older player, right? He's not like, eventually says what,

22, 23, Novak's already 27. So less room for growth there. But yeah, what does it say about us? in terms of our preferences and players we gravitate to and are drawn to and excited about that I don't think we've listed a single defenseman yet. I think, I actually think I was looking at defensemen.

Yeah. Trying to figure out some guys. I feel like a lot of the guys that I really like have kind of already established themselves. So I can't, like I can't pick Will Borgon again. You can. No one's stopping you. You're allowed to. Yeah.

You know, like there's guys I like. I mean, uh, Can I give you two names? Yeah. Okay. First one. I don't know if you think this guy's already established.

I would argue he's not necessarily. Yeah. Shimone Emmetts. Yeah. I mean, Nemitz is sick. Now, got thrown into fire last year as a 19 year old defense and right.

He makes his debut in December after the injuries to Duggy Hamilton and, and Sagan Thaler was banged up. From that point, he led the team in 515 usage. Now, Hamilton's back. They brought in Pesci on the right side, right? I'm really curious. and I wanted, this is why I wanted to bring him up to talk about it with you. How you think this is going to shake out at full health.

I know Luke Hughes is banged up. We'll see what happens at the start of the year. But assuming their top six defensemen are all available, how you think that Sheldon Keefe is going to choose to orient the pairs, whether he's going to go with a more sort of traditional, let's play Brennan Dillon with Nemitz and let's play Pesci with Luke Hughes as like a, you know, veteran, reliable stay-at-home guy with a more, sort of free-flowing a player. I like that. Or you think he's going to use Dylan and Pesci in a

defensive role and just free up Hughes and Nemitz to cook offensively in a more sheltered role, which we saw a little bit of last year. And as you'd expect, their 5-15 numbers are preposterous in those spots. Now, a lot of it is like getting a ton of offensive zone usage. But as you'd expect, they did really well in that spot. And I'm curious to see whether they experiment with that or how Keith decides to, I guess, orient that top six. My guess would be that they'll ultimately space it out. And then... Maybe like if they're down in a game.

That's what I'm saying. And then you have Dylan Pesci as a pair of... Breaking case members. You're protecting the lead, of course. Yeah, exactly. You can situationally switch up and shorten your bench, you know, last 10 minutes of the third, depending on game state. And neutral script, you keep them separate.

I mean, I think it'd be super fun, though, to let them... you know, you've got this long runway and with these two super talented young defenders, uh, certainly as you draw it up on the back of a napkin if you're Tom Fitzgerald, right? You're hoping that in five years that's your top pair, right? Yeah, you're hoping in three years that's your top pair. So letting them sort of like go from kill soft minutes,

pick your teeth with soft minutes and then become our second pair. And then I like that just from a sort of like linear storytelling perspective. Yeah. But also from a linear. development perspective. Of course, that's not quite how it's going to work. There's going to be injuries. There's going to be different needs. My guess would be that we see them split. I will tell, I will say one guy I thought about picking for this is Markstrom. I think he's a little too established. But I just think this is going to be such a perfect fit for him. Yeah. Especially

given his specialty is, his specialty was never how they played in Calgary, you know, where they were a lockdown Darrell Sutter defensive team. His specialty. He's speciality. He was, he was playing for the Vancouver Canucks when they were giving up 18 rush chances a game. Or for the flames last year when he was like a legitimate Vesnik candidate. Right. Behind a worst, behind a worst defensive team. That's perfect for him.

And that's something that Sheldon Keefe, who, you know, whatever you think of Sheldon Keith, I legitimately believe he's one of the top offensive coaches in hockey. I mean, I think he's brilliant at that side of the game in particular. He's never had the safety blanket caliber goaltender, you know, of Markstrom's caliber. So look, I'm in on the devils. I'm excited about the devils. I like the Nemich pick a lot. Kovacevich?

Well, can I give you? So they went with that pair 177, 5 of 5 minutes last year. 64% chances, 62% expected goals. Now, opposite zone starts through the roof. Nemets, man, like, I struggled a bit towards the end of the season just because it was like volume of minutes and also such a mess in terms of everything that was going on, never really able to get stable footing. what I saw though in the meat of it of like the poise he plays with and like just like I don't really know how to articulate it but you know it when you see it of a defenseman like Quinn Hughes does this very well I think maybe a bit more obviously so because he's generally the primary puck handler so pucked on so like you just see it all the time because he's always at the forefront of it. Nemitz's a bit more in terms of passing as opposed to skating it but his ability to sort of like understand what's going to happen and then create space for others. accordingly is already so next level.

Like Luke Hughes is more in your face, like coast to coast, carry the puck, deak around someone, score a highlight real goal. And it's like, wow, I can't believe a defenseman just did this. Nemitz has that in his bag, but he's much more willing. And I think why he actually makes sense as a long-term fit as a partner for Hughes of playing back a little bit and like as a puppet master, getting everyone into where they need to be and then getting the puck to them and dragging defenders along with.

him and then getting it to his partner and all that sort of stuff, like for a 19 year old offenseman to be doing that stuff is just, it's so rare, right? Yeah. And he already did it. And so I'm so excited to keep watching him. He's just so advanced. And I think he unlocks and enables if the devils are going to get back to that prolific

game they played two years ago, right? Like, he's going to be a big reason as an engine for that. For sure. The, the side of Nemich's game, too, that I don't think is quite appreciated is he is way broader. Like he's not, he's an offensive defenseman, but he's not like a little guy. I thought he was actually pretty good from the hash marks down in his own end, which is very rare for a player his age. I mean, Luke Hughes absolutely didn't have that. Yeah. Right. Last season,

which is fine, by the way. Neither did Quinn when he was that age, right? But I think Nemwich has, you know, some like tank-like size qualities that I actually think will maybe accelerate his development away from the puck as well and maybe even the ability that he has to earn trust and minutes very quickly despite the depth on the right side of the devil's defense. Okay. My other defenseman and the only other, I had another one for like when we get to really the end of the list, but another one I'm high on. Can I interest you in a little Jordan Spence?

Oh, you can always interest me in Jordan Spence. So I thought hard about putting Brant Clark in on this list. These two guys are going to have a massive opportunity. And one thing, one thing that's fortunate for the Kings is I think both are pretty capable players. Well, after Dowdy's injury and it's currently being labeled as month a month, like we'll see when he comes back. I think it's going to be for a very extended period of time. All of a sudden, you look and it's like Spence and Brand Clark,

think back to two or three years ago where this was the most loaded right side of any organization of the league. Labor and company. That's all that's left. Yep. Right. And even like Matt Roy, Dersie. Sean Walker, like they just had so many guys there. And all of a sudden now it's these two guys.

I'm very curious to see I actually want to see him just essentially step into Dowdy's role and not that he's going to be that player like Mikey Anderson I want to see Spence play with Mike Anderson yeah and then put that's great put Gabrikov with Clark

yeah put Edminson Kyle Burroughs or whatever as like a third pair that just kind of plays 12 to 14 minutes love it kills penalties but not much else I'd like to see that because Spence last year you had to drag around

Andreas England and I think for my money probably the worst an HL regular, especially of that role that we saw in the league. And Spence still, I thought, looked apart of like a player who should be playing higher up the lineup, didn't really allow that to completely submarine him. I think he's got real juice. You watch the way he goes back, retrieves a puck, evades four checkers, how elusive he is, skating ability along the blue line, all that stuff.

Like, it's going to be impossible to fill Drew Dowdy's void in the time he missed. is, but I feel like he's probably their best bet. I know that Clark has more like long-term offensive upside and is certainly a more highly regarded prospect. But I feel like I've already seen enough from Spence in a smaller role that I feel like I want to see whether he's capable of filling those minutes. So I think he'd be my pick for that. And for years now, I've been like, I just want to see more Jordan Spence. And he's kind of been blocked. And now I feel like this is sort of a natural opening for him. And I really want to see if he's able to seize it. Everyone wants to see more Jordan Spence. Let's go. I like that pick a lot.

I thought long and hard about picking Grant Clark, you know, for similar reasons. I just think the opportunity now on the right side of LA's defense corps is mammoth. And to some extent, the way that that team was just able to count on Drew Doughty night in, night out, especially like potentially 30 minutes if he needed to, right? Right. They needed it. Yeah. I mean, they've needed it. And, you know, to his incredible credit, right, he's been able to remain exceptionally effective, even as he's sort of.

of aged out of like year over year Norris consideration. I also still believe to this day that no defender in the league would be remembered as differently as Drew Dowdy in a different system. You know what I mean? Like if Drew Dowdy had ever played a brand of hockey where he'd been given a green light on a regular basis, I think the offensive point totals he could have put up would have been completely crooked. But to his credit, one, a ton of cops and...

Well, that's what I was going to say. I feel like it's kind of a double-edged sword because... I'm sure he doesn't care. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. But also he's regarded as one of, like, the league's ultimate winners, right? And I think part not that he couldn't have won elsewhere, but I feel like those kind of go hand in hand. So... 100%. No, look, I'm sure he'd take the trade. I don't think...

Yeah, he's like, I wish I had 75 more points. Yeah, I don't think he's thought that once in his life. But I do want to note that I still think he... Anyway, sad for Doughty, but in some ways, the kings, having messed up the Dubois deal having, you know, pushed in some chips to level up quickly, uh, at the expense of a prospect pool that, you know, ultimately didn't produce a ton of star level talent. Yep. Right?

Despite, you know, Turcotte top five and Valardi top 12 and on and on, right? Like they didn't land those transcendent stars to give them jet fuel, uh, in a loaded Pacific division, but they do. I don't think you can say, I know you didn't do as on Burbos, but you said Valardi and jet fuel back to back. Yeah. You're right. I didn't do that on purpose.

But, like, Valardi's a nice player. He's a really good defensive winger. Yeah. He's been great in Winnipeg. He's an awesome shooter. He could totally be on my my guys list. He's on yours?

I love it. Like, I've got time for him. I'm just saying he didn't hit as a, you know. Yes, of course. Yeah. We keep bringing up Peterson as a reference point, but it's useful. A needle mover.

A needle mover. Yeah. You're right. And anyway, they traded him for Pierre-Luk Dubois. For Darcy Kempra. That didn't work out. For all of that, all of the sort of missteps, if you want to call them that, of the Rob Blake era, I still hold up the Kings as a really instructive example because it's like if you rebuild

aggressively enough, you can come back as a, I mean, they've made the playoffs three straight years. Yeah. You can come back as like a credible, solid playoff team with a shot way faster than you think, even if you blow all your top 10 picks. But they still have an out. And that's Byfield and that's Brent Clark. Yeah. And to some extent I wonder, you know, if Doughty's able to make it back late in the

year and be himself, right? And that's an important thing because I definitely don't want to see, you know, a diminished Dowdy in the twilight of his career. Like that would suck, especially given how well he's moved and how well he's played and how durable he's been throughout his career. No one wants to see that. But if he can come back and be himself and in his absence, like Spence and Clark have seized the opportunity and become.

stud top four caliber right-handed defensemen and ideally one of them hits even higher than that. Yeah. Um, you know, I think we could look back on this as something that, you know, was like essential in the Kings actually reaching their potential. I don't, I don't know that that's going to happen. I'm not saying that's the most likely outcome or the fat part of the bell curve here, but it's, it's a storyline I'm tracking. I got two defensemen. Do you want me to quickly throw them at you? Can I make just one more Kings note while we're on it? And maybe this is better for the watchability rankings pod. So I'm just going to kind of like, well, it can't get worse. out there. No, I just don't know what to, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what my

expectation is because on the one hand, you mentioned like making the playoffs three straight years. They got broken by Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisidel, maybe even nor so by the latter, right? Like Drysiddle just completely feasted against them the past couple years. And their response to that and part of it, like I understand like getting out of the Dubois contract while they could, but they went a totally opposite or maybe even doubled down further direction this offseason of like, well, our guys are Fogel, Genoa, and Joel Edmondson, and we're going to become difficult to play against. And watching those series, I wouldn't say, while Edmonton's top stars had a pretty easy go of it, I don't think the answer was being more difficult to play

against. It was you don't have the firepower to match these guys. Yeah. Despite Campay's best efforts. Despite Campa's best efforts, they needed more campaigns. Not more of the opposite. And so the reason why I had Spence on this list is because I think, he does provide them one of those outs as a playmaker to potentially create a bit more. Yeah. Whether they as an organization want that to happen, I guess we'll see in terms of how they use him and Clark and how they play. And how they play.

Or if we see a ton of Joel Edmondson and we'll be like, all right, well, all of my biggest fears have been validated. We'll see once the season starts. I'm keeping the door open for despite me not liking their transactions this offseason that they might play differently because their players, right, seem pretty fed up, like as fed up as you're going to hear, NHL players publicly of being like, yeah, I don't want to play the one through one. That sucked.

And you often don't hear a guy say that. They actually did. So now I'm curious to see what Kings hockey looks like this season. There's a scenario where it's like, oh, Jordan Spence is in the top four and this actually is much more fun than I thought it was. And there's a very bleak, dark outcome, which I think might be more likely. So the Pacific Division, everyone knows I track the Pacific Division very closely, the overunders in the Pacific Division. last I checked, so this is probably 48 hours ago. So not super up to date, but it's 108.5 for Edmonton,

99.5 for Vancouver, 98.5 for Vegas, 96.5 for L.A. I feel like L.A. probably shouldn't be as close to Vancouver and Vegas as Vancouver and Vegas are away from Edmonton, if that makes sense. Like one of those teams is going to be nipping at the Oilers' heels, I would imagine, come the end of the year unless the oilers truly go nuke and we're on the verge of a 120 point season, which by the way, totally possible. They should be that hungry given, you know, that they didn't have home ice advantage by six points and it cost them massively. Yeah.

In that Stanley Cup final. Not to mention how it started last year. Yep. But it does feel like the market has priced L.A. as being very much in Vancouver and Vegas's tier. And I struggle with that. I think they should probably be. a step behind. Like, of those teams, the only one that I'd be like, I think the under is the sharper play there, I think it's the Kings. I'm with you. All right, Tom, let's take our final break.

Oh, you'm not throwing two defensemen at you? No, let's take a break here. And then we come back. We've got 20 minutes left. And we're going to go rapid fire style, get through as many names as we can, make sure everyone is satisfied. You're listening to the Hockey Pee-Ocast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show. with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays 3 to 4 on SportsNet 650, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, we're back here in the HockeyPedio cast with Thomas Drance.

We are wrapping up our, our guys, annual tradition here on the show. Tom, we've done however many names now. We're in the final segment here. We're going to bring it home. Let's have some fun. If there's people still listening, let's give them the goods and make sure they're rewarded for their loyalty. give me some of those names.

You tease before we went to break. There's a couple defensemen you wanted to shout out. Two defensemen I want to shout out. Give them to me. Ready? Yep. Number one. Agor Zamula from the Philadelphia Flyers.

Yep. I love this player. Yep. So sharp. Just does everything well in terms of keying the rush, defensive positioning. He's a sharp passer. Look, I don't think he's the most.

dynamic player. I don't think he's going to be a top pair 40 point guy ever in his career necessarily. But I think he's got outs in terms of just being, you know, almost like a John Marino type facilitator in a high-octane environment. Now, he's playing for the John Torturellas, Philadelphia Flyers. I'm not expecting that to be. Which was last year a high-octane offensive environment. Relatively high-octane offensive environment. But generally, philosophically. Philosophically not. Anyway, I love the way he connects play.

I think he's a really high IQ player, and I think he's a future top four guy, and I think he's going to come into his own even more so over the course of this year. I mean, he really was that last season, but I think this is the year that that's the sort of sements that this is a young player, a young defender to watch closely.

The other guy has actually been brought up already over the course of this podcast, and I'm not quite sure why he fell through the cracks and unrestricted free agency. But Sean Walker in Carolina. I mean, feels like a player they haven't had in terms of his ability to connect play.

And a player I think they could sorely use, even though on paper, right, Peschi to Sean Walker is a downgrade, I feel like they needed a transitional defender who can bring. some of what Sean Walker can bring. I think he's desperately underrated as honestly like

a fringe top paracalibre guy reliable in his own end. Incredible skater. Love to see him make it back as thoroughly as he has from that ACL MCL injury, devastating one. You know, got traded as a bad contract, hit for two different teams last year.

I thought he was good for Colorado. I was stunned that the market so significantly went in on size. slept on him, Keynes get another discount. I think he's going to add a really crucially needed dimension to that back end.

I like both. I mean, you've been talking about Zimula to me more than, I think, most players, I can vouch for that. This isn't like a,

no, no, off the cuff. Like, you've been tracking Zimula closely. I just think he's a smart, smart player,

man. And when we started mic checking for today's show, you just kept yelling Zamula to get the levels right. I also like saying his name. Yes. No,

I, I, I, listen, and I hate when people say, say what you will about this, and then it's such like a backhanded kind of like damning with faint praise thing. Like, say what you will about this guy. Say what you will about John Terrell. I kept talking about it last year. I do think it was genuinely true.

I'm curious to see if it carries over this year. I think they actually did want to play a high octane, very modern style. They were attacking so much off the rush. They were pushing the pace. They just didn't really have the players to punish teams for it, I guess. and they got away with it for a large stretch, and then it's very physically demanding to play that way. They didn't really have the talent,

and so they kind of faltered down the stretch and they wound up blowing it. Now they're adding talent, right? They're another year playing this way. I'm very, like, I'm going to be watching. I'm very curious. I think he's an interesting player for that type of scheme as well. And so when you're that big and you're that smart.

Yeah. You know, like, I mean, he even played some power play last year. Like, he can, he can kind of do a little bit of everything, but it's the intelligence side of it. Way more than the production or the, like, potential to be a power play threat down the line that has me so interested. I just think there's, I think there's a really solid building block for a Flyers back end, especially if they transition to take advantage of, you know, your Mitchcove, Tippett, Ferrabi tier guy, which, you know, they actually have a fair bit of talent here coming.

Yep. I've got a couple other defensemen that I'll shout out here. Okay. One, Oliver Shillington. Now, similar to what you said about Sean Walker. Can we throw, can I throw like Brantstrom as like a flave of flave like hype man? Of course. And Brantstrom.

Yeah. Just to add it to it. And it seems like at least right now, I'm curious to see how it shakes out once the season starts. But if you look at their depth chart, it seems like they're at least going to start the season with like a bargain bin version of what we just said about Nemitz Hughes pair. Right. Right. Where it's like they were going to play Brantstrom Schillington as a high octane third pair that's going to probably they're going to pick their spots with them. But they're going to be able to do a lot.

and also use those guys with Colorado's top forwards to facilitate it and not necessarily just relying entirely on Taves and McCarra to do everything. They got both guys for super cheap. They're very low risk investments. I thought they were incredibly smart teams like that and Carolina and Florida because if you have this infrastructure in place with stars and you have a very identifiable style of play, you can go out and just add guys who either move the puck well or skate well

and just drop them in and be like, we got this guy for cheap because they're undervalued for whatever reason because of perceived limitations or whatever in playing style or size by the rest of the league, but we're going to get the most out of them. I'm not sure if both those guys are going to hit, but we've seen Shillington especially succeed in the NHL in the past. He missed a lot of time and then came back in the second half of last year, and I thought looked very close to the version of he had been previously.

And so if there's a place to succeed, similar to what we saw with Jonathan Drouin last year, It's probably playing in Colorado in this system. And so I really like that bet for them, and I'm excited to watch and play for them. What do you think about the Colorado avalanche zinging when everyone else zags in terms of size on the back end? Because I brought up Walker falling through the cracks as the market really valued size. Ian Cole for three millions, Zedorov six times five, right? I mean, you saw a lot of the bigger defenders be the guys who get paid. Walker falls through the cracks.

Brannstrom and Schillington are like mid-July or mid-off. August in Shillington's case, um, deals, right? Those get done way late. What do you think about Colorado zinging when everyone else zagged in terms of mobility,

prioritizing mobility on the back end? Well, I like it because first off, I don't think they really had the luxury of valuing that other player type the way the rest of the league has because of their current financial situation and how much money they have invested in other players atop the lineup. And so zig like zagging like in this sense makes a lot of sense.

for them because it's like, all right, well, we have limited resources. We're going to bet on talent that the rest of the league discounts and we're going to try to make it work with them. And I think both guys are going to look awesome in this, uh, in this environment. So I really like that for them. I've got one more defense. Or actually, I've got one more defenseman who I want to shout out and then another who I think is probably too exciting to really be included in this tier of guys, but I got to bring them up

anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know who I'm talking about? Mitch and Cobb is all right. Yeah. Yeah. Of course I do.

ducks. Pretty predictable. Owen Zellweger is obviously my guy, like the one that I want to shout out here. Well, good, because Minchikov's mine. Yeah, perfect. Well, but Minchukov's everybody. It's like everybody should, all Pucknows knowers know what Minchukov is. Yeah. I think Zell Weger, because it took him a little bit of time to really break into the show, and because I think the ducks were so far off the radar by the end of season,

people might have missed some of the special things that he was able to accomplish in the last 20, 25 games of the year. But man. Yeah. This guy is, you know what? He's got some of those Benson stankovin attributes, just like a lot of dog in him, but on the back end. And the skill level, the puck moving, the poise. You know, Cronin had them playing really boring hockey.

I don't know how much ducks. You wash it down the stretch, but they were playing. A depressing amount. They were playing an incredibly disciplined system. My hope is, is that it was very much like, hey, we're overmatched every night, but let's go out and actually try to win some games and build some confidence and build some good habits. Yep. And even within that framework, like Zellweger, Sean. Yep. In terms of his ability to move the puck, defend, positional brilliance, the way that

he's able to attack, some of the, some of the shooting that he's able to do in terms of the wrist shot attacking downhill. I mean, I think this guy's the total package and I think this is the year where he cements himself as a top four guy. Minchukov, he showed us last year, especially before he got hurt. Minchukhov legitimately could be a supernova. I don't know what else to say. This guy's one of the best young defensemen in the league. He was made in a lab to play 2034 hockey.

Yeah. Like not even, not even like present day. Like he's the future. He's like in terms of the way he reads the game and how he extends plays and everything, like his reading of it. And the. Yeah.

Just understanding of it is like unbelievable. Such a fun player. He's like more insider with more puck skills and offensive IQ. Yes. But maybe not quite as big a tank. Yeah. Yes. Who is?

Okay. give you a more future oriented ones because we're really getting into like the niche portion of the names. I don't know, are we? Well, not yet. Throw the name of me. Sure. Okay, this is admittedly a long shot. I just want you to keep it in the back of your mind. I've spoken to you about this player before. We got neither of those are scouts. We got a little bit of scouting in Langley. Was it two years ago now at the top prospects game? I saw someone stick stride for stride with Connor Bardard and make his life miserable in the game. And I was like, I have no idea who that is because I don't really watch WHL hockey,

but I bet this guy's good. People are like, oh, yeah, he might be like a third round pick, second round pick, wound up being, I think, 24th overall or 26th overall to the Predators, Tanner Melendike. When this guy makes the NHL, his ability to skate is going to blow people away. And the only reason I bring this up is because the Predators just cut their roster down to 31 names and he's still hanging around on the team. Let's go. Now, they added Shea, right, and the off-season invested heavily on them.

But beyond that, it's like Lozahn and Spencer Stasney on that side of the ice. I think there's an opening there because this Predators team wants to compete. And he gives them a dimension of skating that I think Andrew Burnett in particular is going to really value and utilize. And Lozon can bump over. Lozons. Lozon might be – Lozon's one of those rare lefties who might actually be better on the right side, like Jordie Ben and there's a few others. But, yeah. I didn't realize that Mollendike was getting down to the nitty gritty with that NHL roster.

I don't think he's going to necessarily make it, but I think the door is open. His size and intelligence is ready. Yes. Sorry, speed and intelligence is I said size. Yeah, yeah, his skating ability and just how much ground he covers and how he uses his stick defensively. Sick. I'm, I'm here for that. I can definitely do some more future-oriented ones if we're going in that direction,

but I have some, I have some NHL guys that I want to shout out. Yeah, go for it. Got a couple of penguins. Okay. For which I'm going to apologize to you in advance. No, that's okay. Valteri Pustinen? Nice.

Come on. Yes. Valter, like, he was awesome when he came up. Definition, the definition of my guy, super undersized, super off the radar, just gets on the sheet and outworks everybody. And has really sick puck skills. Love watching him play. I like, if we had him, if we had our guy's poster, I feel like Pustinen would need to be my guys, on the My Guys. on the My Guy poster for this upcoming season.

And then Drew O'Connor. Nice. I love Drew O'Connor. I love every O'Connor. Yeah. Logan O'Connor, Drew O'Connor. Yeah. A whole team of O'Connor's. I love the way that this guy finishes off the rush.

I like that he looks like a throwback 1980s player out of like Newfoundland when he shoots off the rush. There's something about that 6'4 foot four frame, especially when he's set up by Malkin, and they're both just like lanking down the, the ice and it looks like it's happening in slow motion and it kind of looks like throwback hockey, but he's such a sick finisher. He's always in the right spot, works like high motor for a guy his size, love watching Drew O'Connor play. I think he has real breakout potential this year. Yep. Like I do too. I think he's sick. I think both are great shouts. Yeah. Now, while we're on

the Penguins apologies to Ryan Graves, we've run out of time today. No. How about Justin Brazo? Okay, he's on my list. Oh, man. Yeah, I love Brazo. Watching him in the playoffs, I was like, this is amazing. There were segments in both. Like, really, like, there was, like, a three to four game span between the end of the Leafs Round-on series and the start of the Panthers series

before, like, Boston started getting outclassed in that matchup, where I was, like, every time he's on the ice and it was, like, 12 to 15 minutes per game or whatever, I was like, he's just creating. Like, you mentioned, like, having size, being able to use that frame. He had rushes. He was causing havoc around the net.

I was like, A, this guy is a real player, and then B, the opportunity is there as well, right? Like, you look at the depth chart and you look at the openings they have, and it's like, yes, if it's there for the taking. And so we'll see if he's able to carry it over. It will be quite sort of not an unprecedented developmental story, but certainly like not one that you would have bet on a couple years ago. But man, really fun player to watch and really stood out to me when I was watching the Bruins last postseason. the concept of Bruins black magic amuses me.

Right. Just as a general rule, the fact that the Bruins defy all common sense and logic when you're evaluating hockey, I find it funny. Like, I increasingly find it funny. And them finding this six foot five guy, they sign him at like the age of 24. Yeah. He was like an overager in the OHL scored 60 goals. He was really an HL ECHL. HL tweener.

And then he pans out to be an NHL difference maker within a couple of years. It's like that could only happen to the Boston Bruins. Absolute juice. Like this guy has legit juice. I think he has a legitimate upside. He's like 26. He's not even young, but I think there's real potential there. And I love watching him play.

Brezzo's a great shout was also on my list. While we're in the Bruins, I wanted to shout out of Mason Lurye as well. I'm a little bit like. I'm worried about his core strength, but I love watching him. reckless abandon that he plays with is what draws me to him and also what makes me fear for him. But, I mean, like, the swag that he just showed last season, right? So much fun. Especially what the injuries they had in the blue line.

It's like, all right, you're just going to play much more now in him handling that. He just gets crushed on the wall, man. He does. He, like, whatever. Look, he's had a summer. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, hopefully.

Yeah, yeah, players get stronger and smarter. And specifically with him, it's just the core strength. I just, he gets pushed off the puck in a way that, like, people are talking about it with Jaden Daniels. You know what I mean? Right. Where every time he gets hit, I'm worried he's not getting up, but I love watching him play. Like, I, he's so sick.

Mason Lora, I just needs to, I don't even know if he's on Twitter or on Instagram. I just need to post like him doing crunches. He needs to just doing like core exercises. In the best shape of my life. I love that. I like that shout a lot. I want to shout out Mirichenko out of Washington. As you said, we spent some time in Palm Springs where the Coachella Firebirds were

rolling deep into the playoffs was, you know, by the end of that Hershey Bears series, they were broadcasting like the Eastern Conference final in the Valley because the Valley is so AHL-pilled down in Palm Springs. And so I got really into the pointy end of the Calder Cup playoffs

and I loved watching Mirichenko, just like such a jerk in the best way. I think there's, I mean, we all know sort of the game, the physicality, the scoring. We all all know the story, the overcoming cancer thing. But this guy's going to play in the show this year. I'm pretty confident. And he's going to be an absolute, like, lights up Twitter all the time because of his antics, jerk puck, all star from day one. And I'm here for it. I loved it. I was legitimately

watching his shifts and watching him punk guys and watching him throw hits and just like cackling to myself. Just like a type of, um, like a type of pugnacious player that I just, will always love and ride for and include on my guys lists. I love that. I have a goalie. Ooh, let's go. Lucas Dostal. Yeah.

Fun. I'm generally hesitant to put any goleys on this list just because of the nature of the position. Out with the appendectomy for probably the first couple weeks of the season. We already saw Dostal play 44 games for them last year, so it's not necessarily that big of a leap to say that he could have a number one or some equivalent in today's game workload. World Championships, the way he stepped up for the Czech Republic or Czechia, Right. And like shutting out the U.S., shutting out Switzerland in the goal mental game, how good he was for that,

scored a goal in the HL recently, tried to again last year against the Red Wings. I irrationally love goalie goals. I think it's probably the coolest part of the NHL product, and I want to see it more. And I bet, especially if he gets a larger workload, he's going to dust that off in a couple of games, assuming the ducks are able to be leading games late. And so I just love the swag, the personality, the athleticism. what we've seen from them already. It's tricky because you mentioned like the ducks were playing a certain way at the end of last year.

It's still such a young team that despite Greg Cronin's best efforts, if they don't materialize this year, it's probably a pretty adverse environment again for a goalie to play in, right? And so we'll see if he's able to hold up under it. But if I'm ever going to bet on a young goalie, it's from what I've seen already from Dostal.

And so I thought he'd be my like one sole inclusion of a goalie on this list. A couple of physical specimen forwards. we talked about his linemate a bit earlier or maybe in part one, but Dimitri Varanco out of Columbus, they call him the freak. It's for a reason.

He's on the Aldemitri team. Yeah, yeah. So the, on the El Demetri team. So this trend in the game, like if you go back 20 years, there were like five forwards in the league over six foot five. And they scored like 20 combined goals

and you know what types of players they were, right? You go back 10 years and you start to get like some Martin and Hansel, some Nick Bugstad types, and it was 45 goals. There was like 10 of them. Last year there was 12 and they scored 115. Now, Tage Thompson's obviously pacing that. But like, there's a variety of skilled guys. And when I was up at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, like, every team had one.

The Canucks have this Vilmer-Alrickson guy. The Jets have a guy I really liked, like jumped off the ice, a 2024 draft pick named Kieran Walton. The Flames had one also a 2024 draft pick who did not. jump off the ice to me. But my point being, like, teams are looking for this archetype and the Columbus Blue Jackets, I think, have the next really effective skyscraper forward, already in-house, athletic, fast, legitimately skilled.

This guy's just so much fun to watch. Such a beast. And he was so productive, especially when you apply the context of, like, him coming overseas. Like, he was very, as we've spoken about, vocal about what a struggle it was for him, like, not knowing the laying. I just wanted to go back home at times because he was so homesick, and for him to still be as dominant and assertive and productive on the ice whenever he was out there,

despite, as I mentioned, the Marchenko section, his coach did him no favors, and I'm really excited for him. Create a good environment for your 15 blue chip assets challenge, please, Columbus. Yes. All right, I think that's it. Do you have any other? I have one more.

I just want one more. I want to shout out. I just want to shout out. He was on my list last year, and he did, like, I think, deliver on it. but I think there's another level that he's going to get to, and I'm going to keep including him on my list until, you know, he's a top line player. And that's Matthew Nyes.

Matthew Nyes rules. Yep. Just so much fun to watch. Yep. Yeah. He was on my list before I really cut it down just for the sake of brevity. Yeah. He's the Rick Nash of Matt Frattens.

Okay. And that's going to be it for today's show. Thomas, certainly in my mind, this delivered, as I expected it to. Hopefully the listeners enjoyed it. if you're still listening to us right now, first off, the plug for Tom is go check out Canucks Talk Daily on the Rogers Sportsette radio network. And go check out all my Canucks coverage at theathletic.com. Yes.

I didn't even want to do that plug, though, because you're going to be a very, not that you weren't last year, a frequent, making frequent appearances on the show, but as a programming note, as a little nugget for those still listening to us at this point, next week we're going to do the watchability rankings. And then we're dusting off. It's going to become a staple on the Hockey Piedocast feed this year where you and I get together Sunday evenings, record a show, have it on the feed for people,

first thing Monday to start your week with some familiar voices. We're going to do it every week. So it's going to become, we're going to get some gimmicks going, right? We're going to play some games. We're going to have some fun, especially once we get into the season. And it's like, all right, well, there's not that much going on. We can really kind of have some fun with it and have some banter that I think people know you and I generally have here.

And so if you want to get involved with that, that get into the PDOCAST Discord where you can bring up suggestions or stuff you want us to talk about for those shows. But yeah, I just wanted to sort of as a programming note, say that that's something you can come to expect. Just for the game center junkies that, you know, want their weekly dose of like hockey conversation really just focused on all the fun stuff that you're noticing if you're watching the league on a nightly basis. The product's never been better.

To be totally honest with you, like I thought last year, the way the way the game's trending, the way skill is decisively deciding games, the way goalies are losing the war, thank God. I mean, the sport is in such a good place, and we just want a space to talk about the games as opposed to, you know, sometimes too much chatter spent on, yeah, the headlines, the bad hits and all this stuff when every night, if you're tuning in

and watching this game, you're seeing, you know, some of the best, well, the best players on the planet do incredibly cool stuff every night. Yeah, we're going to have some fun with it. We're going to try to highlight all that stuff and hopefully people will come along for the ride with us. So Tom, we'll see you on Sunday night, Monday morning, I guess, when people are listening.

Looking forward to that. In the meantime, I'll be back in a couple days here with some more preseason preview content to get you ready for the games. Just so you know, you're my ultimate, my guy. Thank you, man. You as well. You're my number one on my list,

just slightly ahead of Lucas Raymond. Thank you for listening to the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.