The Hockey PDOcast - Part 2: Most Interesting Players This Postseason

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to look at the most interesting players for each playoff team ahead of the upcoming postseason. 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.

since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovin. Welcome to the Hockey-Pedocast. My name is Demetri Filippovich and joining me for a second Sunday special this week because we're peeking at the right time of the season is my good buddy Thomas Drenz. Tom, what's going on in? No much, buddy. Thanks for having me. Second straight show of the day and one that's a little bit more focused on the good stuff. The fun stuff, yes. We eulogized all the teams who were eliminated in part one. Now it is time for us to get into the playoff spirit because this is the last time. the two of us will get the chat on here before the playoffs kick off on Saturday. And so I thought it'd be fun as like an initial foray into playoff previews for us to go

through all the playoff teams, talk about the players on each one we're most interested in heading into the postseason. We're going to provide our rationale for doing so. Hopefully not just do like every team's best player because that's obvious. Guys, you could have the most outsized impact, maybe the most approved, most on the line for some of them contractually as well. So it'll be a fun one. Do you want to do this as kind of a draft, like going back and forth,

and then you can go first, you can pick the team and the player, then I'll go next and do it like that as opposed to just like doing it conventionally in order. You're the guest. I'll let you go first. Let's go snake draft. All right. So if I'm picking first, you get second and third. And then I'll snake on the other.

Let's do it. I think there's one, like, the most obvious player in this entire exercise. So sorry, give me the criteria one last time. We're picking. Especially if you're then saying there's a really obvious, I better get. We're picking the most interesting player for each team ahead of this postseason. It can be any reason that you want, whether it's biggest impact, whether it's most to gain or lose, whether it's questions to answer, whatever, what have you. You can go with it.

Let's try not to do, as I said, the best player on every team being like, because I think that's obvious. But in some cases, it'll be unavoidable. What's your first pick? Pick number one. I think you're right. It's very obvious. It's Connor Hallibuck on the one. to peg jets. Yes. And look, Connor Hellebuck, I mean, Connor Hellebuck and Andre

Vasilevsky both playing as often as they did at the level that they did over the course of this season and given the goal, the average goaltending performance around the league was, you know, in the low 900 range. I mean, we're talking about a goal saved number, you know, very much in line with like some of what we saw. And Dominic. Archick's prime seasons. Like these were special, special goaltending seasons. And for both of these gentlemen, it has become routine, right? The difference is that Hellebuck hasn't done it in the postseason, whereas Vasilewski has multiple times. And in fact, you know, Helibuck struggled to get out of round one. It has dented his reputation, I think, and I don't think fairly. I don't think there's any reason to believe that Hellebuck is not the, best goaltender, the best puck stopper in the world. But he has to win the big one. He has to win the big one. Um, you know, because honestly, like even other NHL players, I think, you know, wonder whether or not you'd take him ahead of some other guys, given, uh, that the, the big game,

you know, not, it's not that like, it's his fault that McDavid beat him in that four, on that four nations shot. But Bennington was the hero of overtime for Canada. And, it's just like, it's always like that for Hellebuck. At some point, he's got to flip the narrative. I still think the biggest issue has been that he tends to be overused and isn't on his game. It doesn't have enough left in the tank by the time they get to, you know, starting him in game 68, 69, 70 come playoff time. I would have loved to see them be a little bit more disciplined about using backups over the past six, seven weeks especially once they really had the Central Division more or less locked up. But, I mean, there were some sketchy moments.

Yeah, Dallas pushed them for sure. So you can understand why they wanted Hellebuck and Net. We know what the stakes of this playoffs are for the Winnipeg Jets. And it feels like among Jets individual skaters, the stakes are even higher for Hellebuck's an individual. I believe the guy can do it. I believe that this is the best goaltender on the planet. But I would love for him to shut up the rest of the hockey world

that isn't so sure that he can win the big one. Yeah, he's about to win us. third, Vesna of his career unanimously, which makes him the 13th goalie to have three. With Dreisaitle stuck at 71 games for a last bid here, he's jumped up to a minus 135 favorite to win the heart as well. And yet every time I tweet out a crazy stat of his, and there's so many to choose from this season, I met with a barrage of, yeah, but playoffs, echoing exactly what you said. And so I wanted to take it with you just year by year on Hellebuck, okay?

To break down this resume and this perceived notion that he's a playoff choker. 2017-18, his first playoff run. 9-22, say percentage. He beat that year's Vezna winner, Pecorina and Round 2 in game 7. Then he lost the Vegas. In the West Final, the Jets scored six goals in those final four games. 2018, 19, 913, he lost it a blues in six games. The Jets scored five goals for him in the final three games of that series.

1920, it's a best of five in the bubble. it was incredibly weird. He had a 904, save percentage. The Jets scored five goals in four games to end that series. 2010 or 2020-21. He sweeps the Oilers. He has a 9-50 save percentage. And then he loses the carry price in a series where the Jets scored three goals

in the final three games. Misses the playoffs in 21, 22, 22, 23, loses in five in a significantly outclass series against the eventual Cup champs Vegas. The Jets scored two and one goals in the final two games of those series. And then last year, which everyone holds against him, the aves scored 23 goals on them in five games. You watch that. It was just a complete detonation.

They just ripped the Jets defense apart and got every single look they wanted. And Prime Dominic Hachek would not have mattered in that series. But I'm with you in that a goalie of this stature, we've seen much inferior goleys put together a series or a playoff run where they just inexplicably steal games and series for their team under adverse or. circumstances, and we haven't, for whatever reason, up until this point of his career, seeing him do that. So to consolidate this season and potentially unify the Vezna and the heart and have a potential Kansmite trophy season, that would put him in truly rarefied air. And so in terms of stakes, I think it's a very, he's clearly the most, like, most to gain,

most to potentially lose out of any player in this postseason. Yeah, look, I always have, the thing about goaltenders, too, is when you, when you, you get to the playoffs, you're playing such a small sample of games and sometimes, you know, like the best goaltending playoff run we'd ever seen, for example, was like that Tim Thomas 2011 run, right? But he allowed five goals or more in four games in the Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning that year. It's just that in one of those games, Tyler Sagan went absolutely, 19-year-old Tyler Sagan went absolutely nuke, right? And sort of pulled a sure L from the fire for the Bruins. They get to advance.

You know what I mean? Like sometimes you need breaks. It's not enough. Like some of those playoff series where Hellebuck has an 870 or whatever, if the Jets had figured out if they'd got one incredible performance and survived, the next series, you know, he probably gets back up to a 925, a 930, whatever. He's that good. Give him enough games and he'll make the difference for you.

But you have to as a team create that opportunity to advance. 9-11 career save percentage in the playoffs is significantly lower than his career save percentage in the regular season, which I believe is 9-18. So he's got a lot to prove here. And I think he's capable of it, and I think this Jets team is capable of it too. So, yeah, I don't know that there's anyone I'm more keen on watching come playoff time. That's my pick now, right? Yep.

I'm going to go with Quinton Byfield for the L.A. Kings. I love this big. simple stats. 345-on-5 minutes of this line of him, Fiala and Lafairier, they're up 20 to 6th. They have a nearly 60% high danger chance and expected goals sharing that time. 19 of his 22 goals this season have come in the last 50 games where he's absolutely flying around the ice. And as you look ahead to this fourth straight season of Oilers v. Kings, with the

king staring down the potential of finally having home ice in that matchup, there's a very realistic possibility that we get him and Fiala out there versus Henrique and Yanmark and guys in the bottom six that have really struggled to keep up for the Oilers. And so if that series is going to finally swing in LA's favor, beyond just the home ice, within that home ice, those guys dominating that matchup is absolutely essential. He just needs to play the way he has played in the second half, which is being assertive and attacking and driving the bus off the rush. shooting the puck and doing exactly what he's done over these last 40, 50 games.

I think he's capable of it. He's still so young that I'm not holding the start of the season against him. He's transcended that environment. And now he's giving them a very positive outlook heading into this postseason. And so I feel like him and Fiala just need to be game breakers essentially in this. And I think he has clearly the physical tools as he's shown time and time again to do so single-handedly. And so that makes me, or that makes him right up there. as the most interesting skater heading into his postseason to see if he can finally

realize that and take himself to an even higher level moving forward in his career. The Edmonton Oilers are more vulnerable than they've been entering the playoffs in a couple of years, depth concerns, Skinner concerns, Blue Line concerns, although Wallman has helped in that area. But the at home injury obviously blows a big hole in what we sort of expect from the Oilers on the back end. in previous years because the kings have lacked some of that offensive juice, they've been like good enough to lose in six to the Oilers, right? You know, you think of that first year, they actually press them. They at least forced the Oilers to play two elimination games,

which the Oilers were able to overcome. The next year they did kind of have them on the ropes for a second there in that fourth game with a chance to take a 3-1 lead, but the Oilers fought back. And that was where the dynamic of, oh, hey, the Kings are just good enough to make the Oilers work for it. in the playoffs. And then obviously last year, it felt rope, routine, a right of spring. This is, I think, L.A.'s best chance to defeat the Oilers. I think Byfield's the face of it, although I'd add Andre Kuzmanko. Honestly, I know it's silly, but Skinner is especially vulnerable if you're able to create shots off East-West movement. And that's a strength of Kuzmankos.

Like, that's something he's actually incredible at, both in terms of being a, a passer and being a backboard for passers at the netfront. I still think I'll be picking Edmonton in this series, but I'll be doing it while holding my nose. And partly it's because of this sort of, I think, new level of offensive creativity we've seen the Kings begin to tap into over the last couple months. I just think the difference in those series, and this is obviously just very clear, but one team had McDavid and Joyce Eidl and the other team had a system and guys who weren't other than occasional Kempay flourish off the rush,

capable of transcending it. And what we've seen from Byfield is that he can just like out of the blue, strip a puck in the neutral zone and just gallop up the ice and create magic. And they need that so desperately and he's very capable of it. My next pick here, I'm going to already

break the rules here because I'm going to do the Florida Panthers and I'm not going to do one player. I'm going to do a decision as my most interesting thing to track for them. So we'll see with Kachuk's health, although, like, it's been kind of, we don't have any clarity or real reporting on, like, his timeline or availability for game one. I haven't heard anything to the contrary, though, to suggest that he won't be available. Assuming he is, and they're back at full health up front, obviously they'll get a glad back for game three, I'm very fascinated to see what Paul Maurice does with the forward lines and whether he does the right thing or whether he just kind of goes back to all reliable.

And by that, I mean, I think they're very clear top three forward lines are Barkov and Reinhardt with Mackie Samiskevich. A line where Marchand, like, he looked quite bleak in my opinion when he first made his recovery and came back and debuted with the Panthers. But since then, they've put him with Lundell and Lucerne and Luseren and he's fit in perfectly as like the third honorary hardworking, grinding finish forward on that line. And then putting Verhege on the line with Bennett and Kachuk and hoping that. his goal scoring can come alive a little bit, which has been missing for the large part this season. It's a tall task for any coach to be like, we've seen Brahegey work with Barkov and Reinhardt, Mackie Samuels. It's still so young and unproven.

He's going to play on the fourth line instead. And I feel like this is like the optimal strategy for them to utilize, especially I was talking about it last week. They played a game against the Leafs. And they had, as we talked about last Sunday, tanked a couple games in a row where they just weren't playing their guys. And I was like, all right, the Panthers don't care anymore. And then Barkov comes back for that home game against the Leafs and just absolutely annihilates the house of Matthews line and is like, oh yeah, Barkov is the best when he's trying. And what they did in that game is they split up him and Forsling with a defensive assignment. They played Barkov with Seth Jones and Mikola against Matthews.

They played Gus Forsling with a Lonell line against Willie Nealander and Tavares and had great success doing so. And that isn't something we've really seen them do previous in the postseason. They generally like to stack together Barkov and Forsling against the top assignment. And so that's a fascinating look heading into this postseason, especially if they're going to play Tampa in round one. We know how good Hegel and Sorrelli are and the added depth. The lightning have up front, it's not as simple as neutralized Kutrov and you're going to be fine because none of the other guys can score anymore. And so if they opt for that strategy and they actually use these forward lines the way they would, I still feel like this Panthers team is, despite the fact they might be third in the Atlantic, the best team in the league. Like at full health, that forward group is absolutely absurd.

And if they use it that way, I would probably pick them in it. every single series regardless of home ice or opponent. Love it. So, so far, to recap, I've picked Hellebuck. Yep. You've picked. Byfield and the Panthers forward line construction. Perfect.

Now you have two picks. I've got two picks coming up. Oh, boy. I hate to do it, but I have to do it. I'm picking Austin Matthews and I'm picking the Toronto Maple Leafs. All right. And I think Marner could have been picked here. Yeah, Marner was my pick in my notes, yeah.

Yeah, but I think it actually. she should be Matthews. And I think this is why. I think there's a sense among teams that have played the Leafs and defeated or lost to the Leafs in the playoffs, one team that lost. That, yeah. One team that lost. What? I love you just threw that in. It's true. All the teams that have lost them. Okay, fine, one. One time that they've advanced. I think there's a sense that you focus on Mitch Marner when you enter and prepare for a playoff series against the Maple Leafs and try to get him off his game.

And it's not because you think you can get to Mitch, it's because if you take Mitch Marner out of the game, the belief is you take Matthews out of the game. Right. That the inner play between them, that the way that Matthews plays off of Marner means that if you're able to take away Marner, right, if you're able to focus your assets,

the top of your lineup, all your matchup, discipline, all your game planning, on Marner, you effectively remove both off the table and then you're just hoping that William Nielander doesn't hurt you and he usually does, but not enough to overcome, you know, the overall goal scoring issues that have dogged the Maple Leafs year over year. And now we've gotten to what might be the end of the Big Four era, right? I mean, we don't know what Marner's future looks like on the other side of this. Tavares, we expect to stay in Toronto, but he is expiring too, so there's some uncertainty there. What does this team look like beyond this season, I think, is a massive question.

At some point, you know, the truth is, is that Austin Matthews is, if you were putting a player into that tier with McKinnon, right? Like Matthews is obviously on the short list to discuss, but given his just goal scoring prowess, the amount of shots that he generates, his defensive ability, the way he He reads the game, how physically assertive he is. I mean, frankly, he is probably the third best player in the league. And we just haven't seen him go nuke in the playoffs ever. Well, the game two, he played in Boston last year.

I would stack up against any individual game. Like, it was just a nightmare for the Bruins. And then he obviously won it with his second goal of that game, I believe. And then he gets hurt or ill or whatever heading into game three. And then we don't really hear much from the rest of that series. And if you're getting that version, all of a sudden, the roadmap becomes pretty clear. He's a dominant force. He's a dominant force who hasn't had a signature playoff yet. Plus, he was the guy who had the misread, along with Adam Fox, for Team

USA and the Four Nations. So it just feels like there's always a lot of pressure on the Maple Leafs and there's always a lot of pressure on Austin Matthews, but I think some of the external dynamics, the sort of accumulated baggage, like, I'm, again, I sort of framed the Hella Buck one kind of negatively in terms of his legacy and how he's viewed around the league. And I want to be clear that, like, I believe that Austin Matthews is the third best player in the NHL. I believe firmly that this is a special, special goal score. Like, the most probable error to Alex Ovechkin in terms of just like a volume shooting force of nature, who is effectively impossible to prevent scoring goals if you give them long enough to do it.

But you don't have a long enough to do it in the playoffs. Like, you have seven games. we've had so many near misses with him so many like the deflection against the Tampa Bay Lightning that just or the sorry the Montreal Canadians that misses by a half inch he had one against the lightning though the next year too that chance in tight

at some point he's at some point I believe he has to break through the mass of his overall talent and the overall threat that he represents is too great to not at some point get it done in the postseason but this would be a perfect time to do it given some of the uncertainty that looms on the other side for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I mean, you could argue that the pressure on those four players that you mentioned to create offense is greater than it's ever been. Yeah. Not only because we're reaching the end of this potential timeline, but also because of the coaching decision and the personnel philosophy that they chose to approach at the deadline. Like, for them to create enough offense in, I think they can get by in round one, although I think it'll be a really tight series against Ottawa because that probably will be regardless a pretty low-scoring kind of grind. it out series. But if you're going to beat Florida or you're going to beat Tampa Bay, you're going to need to create consistent offense to match those teams. And it's going to be coming on those guys to do so. The concern for me, and I get the logic that you had here, is that we have 33 games now of Matthews scoring 10 goals in that stretch. He's clearly not

100% as a goal score at least. He's still getting his chances and he's still dominating in other ways. He does have 29 assists in that time. So he's kind of remade his game along the way, but I'm not sure what the expectations are there. Whereas for Marner, the reason why I had him is obviously him being a UFA this summer. I don't think his performance regardless here is going to dictate his bargaining power because there's going to be a team out there, whether it's a Blackhawks or whoever who's like, here's 15 million because we're craving your skill sets so badly. A team like the Sabres who we talked about in part one, he's like made in a lab to answer a lot of the things that ail them in terms of passing ability and defensive acumen up front

and making them a serious team, I feel like we've also seen him for whatever reason. I mean, in the Four Nations, he obviously played remarkably well and took some big shots. It feels like we've been seeing more big game Mitch here recently in terms of his willingness to actually step into that shot and embrace that moment. And so I had him as my pick for the least,

but I think obviously if Matthews is just going to start scoring goals the way we've become accustomed to from him, that's a game changer. So I think that's a good pick. Okay, who's next in your list? I'm deciding between two guys, so just give me a second to Weasel about this. I think I've got to go with the sexy pick, even though I think that's... You always got to go sexy.

You know what? I'm going to leave the sexy pick to you because I actually think it's the wrong one, given the overall stakes of this game and the way that we're trying to draft this. So I'm going to leave the sexier pick to you, and I'm going to pick a guy from the same series, though. And I'm going to pick... I think I'm going to pick Nathan McKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche. Okay.

And now, obviously, Miko Ratan is the more like, ooh, because he's playing his former team and on and on. But we have rarely seen a team be remade as dramatically in mid-season in midstream as this Colorado avalanche team. And not that there's some imminently approaching expiry date on this avalanche core by any means. But, you know, this Aves team, they've been past the second round once. but they did the thing. Yeah. The year they did it. But we haven't actually seen this team just like sustain deep runs year after year

and be like knocking on the door. We always know that they have a high enough gear to get it done. And yet here they are facing a 106 point team with a plus 59 goal differential in the first round, including their former teammate in Mika Ratan. And they've pushed a lot of chips into the center of the table. And they've built a lineup that I look at. and think, man, every time I watch this team play, the way they attack, they are so unique, they are the best team to me right now at just generating looks at will.

And I believe the way the game is trending, that's the single most important skill that you have to have in the playoffs. It helps you eliminate problems when you fall behind. It helps you build leads. I mean, this roster to me is, if not the best, then certainly one of the best. I think it's the best in the West from a true talent basis. I think the stakes should be pretty high for the avalanche to make a deep run here, despite the fact that they're going up against such a, you know, imposing opponent in round one. McKinnon's, you know, the consensus second best player on the planet. He's only the consensus second best player on the planet because Connor McDavid is, you know, hit immortal levels of individual.

Well, he's the first best human on the planet. Yeah, he's the first best human on the planet. That's right. And like just watching the evolution of his defensive game, the chase downs that we're getting now, the aggression, the predatory nature of his goal scoring that we saw at the Four Nations. I mean, this is this is an elite player at the absolute apex of his powers. I expect a deep run from him. I think the stakes to put together a deep run should be pretty high for this group, just given how thoughtfully composed it is. So I'm going to pick Nathan McKinn, and I think the Aves should be a team that's expected to make a lot of noise.

And in some ways, honestly, given the fact that it's harder to find an obvious flaw on this avalanche roster than it is on this Dallas roster, I honestly think the, like, I'd be more disappointed by Colorado going out in round one than I would be with Dallas. I don't know if that's how the public feels about it. In fact, I know that's not how the gambling market feels about it. the Dallas stars were, you know, they were the odds on favorite to win before they blew that third period lead against the Canucks and then were matched with the Florida Panthers. It literally took them down from plus 550 to plus 600. They lost it of Canucks? Oh, man. We need to recalibrate.

Oh, boy. But I honestly have higher expectations personally for Colorado entering this playoffs. So that's why I wanted to pick McKinnon. I didn't have them on my list. And I'm glad you took the abs here because I didn't have a clear pick. I had a couple considerations that I was going to run by you. I didn't pick McKinn. You could have picked Landisca.

I didn't pick McKinn in because I know what I'm going to get from him. Yes. And my expectations are going to be met regardless of the team's success. Yeah. Like he's going to deliver. Same with McCar. Same with all their top players. Landisog made his H.

I'll return this weekend, scored a goal. What a great story. Hasn't played in 34 months. I think an incredible accomplishment. One that I was highly skeptical we'd see at this point, given his age and how long it had been. I think we can't underrate what an emotional. uplift that's going to be for the organization to get them back out there, especially in game

three at home with the crowd going crazy and having him around. So I think that would be a remarkable pick. I just felt it would be a bit unfair because it's like me picking him as the most important, interesting player is like a bit unfair because I don't know what you're going to get from them, nor should we expect anything. Anything is gravy at this point. If you get, if you get like what Lanny McDonald did for the Flames in 1989, you know what I mean? Like that's sort of the super topical reference for our listeners. But, the way, but, you know, McDonald's that that guy with a mustache, right?

I mean, McDonald at that point wasn't like an every game player. Like, they were debating whether or not he should be, he should play, like he played 14 games in the playoffs and had four points on the way to that Stanley Cup victory, right? So it's not like,

but he was a guy with an incredible weight and resonance and came up big in that game seven, even though they were debating whether or not he should even dress, right? So it's like, that's sort of what you, I think, your baseline expectation. Like, if Landiscag can give them fourth line contributions, that's one of the coolest hockey stories the last five years. I mean, we'll be thrilled by that. So, yeah, I don't think Landisog, we're all rooting for him, but I don't know that he would have been the pick in this

exercise. At some point, though, I just, I think it has to fall on McKinnon because, as the pick for the abs, because while we know what we're going to get for him, I think part of the McKinnon mystique is built around like how hard driving he is, who he sort of is as a leader, what this group has accomplished. Like I do think, at least making a deep run here, I do think matters. At some point if this team's only been to the conference final once, you know, in his tenure, even though they have the Stanley Cup win, it's like, it's almost like a lack of success relative to where you would rate him in terms of how great he is in all moments.

Right? Yeah, that's fair. I do think also Landisog's presence, like, anyone you talk to around that team over these years is going to be quick to tell you that, like, while McKinnon obviously is a good leader, a lot of his is like, hey, follow me because I'm going to be doing this, right? And that's why he, like, doesn't want to be the team captain. That's why, like, he doesn't want to assume that role. Whereas Landisog, I think, helps that a lot.

and it's kind of impossible to even fathom that McKinnon would be like more free and more energized for a playoff run because he's the definition of energy. But I think that is a very realistic possibility here that I do think that's going to open a few doors for him individually. So I like that. You talk me into it. All right. Let's take our break here. And then when we come back, we will finish up.

How many? We've done five teams. Yeah. All right. We're going to do the other 11 or 12 or however many we're going to get through today. You're listening to the Hockeypedo guest streaming on the SportsNet Radio Network. All right, we're back here on the Hockey PEDEOCast. We're doing part two of our Sunday special this week.

We're doing two of them with Thomas Drans. Tom. We're working through our most interesting players, team by team, heading into this postseason. We've taken a lot of the glitzy high profile picks already. So I'm going to throw a curveball at you here. We're doing very opposite team building approaches here. You're taking Matthews and McKinnon.

I'm taking more sort of subdued kind of niche talking points here. I'm doing the PEDOcast. You're doing Stephen A first take. Can Nathan McKinnon get it done? Washington Capitals. Okay. Here's my pick for you. Pier Luke Dubois.

Oh, I love it. That's a great pick. So here's the case. The past two post seasons on two different teams, first the Jets and then the Kings wilted and crashed out in very high profile, miserable fashion. You read the exit interview. views after that Jets lost to the Golden Knights.

Last year, after they lost at Oilers for a third straight year, it was a disaster. He's been remade and reinvigorated in year one in Washington under Spencer Carberry. We've talked a lot about how Carberry's essentially been sicking him head to head against the other team's top lines and how he's taking pride in that role. He's up 72 to 42 in his 5-on-5 minutes. And as you look ahead to this potential round one meeting for the caps, first, Montreal, most likely, if they're able to close out and clinch here,

the way the haves have played since four nations, in particular the Suzuki line, which is up 22 to 11 in that time at 515, what a percentage of Suzuki's minutes as well come with Marty St. Louis loading up Hudson and Suzuki together and trying to kind of tilt the ice in their favor, and they're up 16 to 4 in their shared minutes, over 200 minutes of play in that time.

If the caps are able to hold that combination and check and neutralize them somewhat, well, still it's a TBD to see, like Ivan Demetadol will be making his debut this week, it's quite possible given how talented he is, that he comes in and has an immediate sort of transformative impact as like a secondary playmaker to make this less of a problem for the haves. But if Spencer Carberry, especially with Home Ice,

is able to get PLD out there against them and he's able to hold up his end of the bargain, I think that becomes a much more favorable series for the caps in advancing and getting a round two and playing potentially the canes and all that stuff. So yeah, I think PLD, especially given given the baggage and how good he's been this year and the role he's going to be used in and the specific opponent, I think is a very interesting player to track this postseason.

Because Pierre-Luc Dubois has been on such a roller coaster of public perception across the last couple of years too, I think we've kind of forgotten what 22-year-old blue jackets Dubois looked like in the playoffs where he's just kind of allowed to get a... He's allowed to defend more physically than most players, especially once you get into that post-season environment. adds to his overall effectiveness as a two-way player. And, you know, he's, he often does it in a way where it's not just the, like, water skiing, a faster guy through the neutral zone, but like, where it's actually a battery of cross-checks

and, and other sort of right on the borderline of clean play that actually looks like it physically hurts. Yeah. He has the ability to really wear down opponents. And for this Montreal Canadiens group, you're talking about a bunch of players who, you know, especially in terms of the most important ones, haven't been here as the guy, right? They might have been bit players back in, in 2020.

One, but now it's going to be like, you're the guy who has to carry this. You're the first line guy. You're the guy we're counting on to manufacture offense. It's a different challenge in Pierre Lue de Blas a really difficult final boss to encounter, I think, right off the bat and a really physical one. I think we're going to be reminded

of that in a very rich way over the next couple weeks. All right, here's my next pick. I'm going to go with the Oilers, and I'm going to pick Evan Bouchard, especially in light of Mitya Segment's injury and him likely being out for the postseason, especially round one. The trickle-down effect that's going to have on not having that Bouchard-Eck-Holm pairing, probably seeing Bouchard and Walman playing together. They played 120 minutes of 5-15.

The numbers aren't as good as they've been when it's been Eckholm on his side. given the kind of crossroads we're approaching here with Bouchard within the organization as well, right? All the flack he takes as a player, how every one of his mistakes is magnified. I think a misunderstanding maybe of the value he provides. He's an RFA this summer. He's making 3.9 right now. What's that going to look like on the next contract? Triple that.

I think it's a huge series upcoming for him. It helps a lot that McDavid's back and has seven assists in the two games since he's come back. Hopefully, Dreysaito is able to come back as well and keep playing at his MVP level. But I thought that both McDavid and Drysaito would be kind of boring picks for the Oilers, just because, as I said, like, you know what you get it. It's going to be freakishly good. I feel like Bouchard doing the thing he does so well, which is like force multiplying those minutes, though, and especially doing it without at home, I think could go a long way towards maybe changing

the narrative or the perception. around him that I think is generally unfair, but if instead this is the year the Kings get over the hump and he makes a couple mistakes that lead to that doesn't play a bi-field rush well, makes a turnover that winds up in a counter-goal against the cost of the Oilers. Imagine what the conversation around Bouchard, especially entering this off-season when he's going to become such an expensive player is going to be like. So I think he's going to be a fascinating guy to track. All right. I'm going to pick Jake Sanderson from the Ottawa Senators. Nice. I had Sanderson slash Kachuk.

Yeah, and I think either is a good pick. But I feel like Sanderson has the potential for us to be discussing him completely differently in a month and a half. You know, if Ottawa was able to shut down that top line of the Maple Leafs and do a number on whether it's Barkov or Kuturov, right? you know, if we're, if we get to like game six of the second round or game seven of the second round and the Ottawa senators are still alive, I guarantee you Jake Sanderson's going to be a major reason why. His defensive play is going to be a major reason why. And is there a world where the conversation about him turns as rapidly as it did for Gus Forsling over the course of last spring? Right. I mean, I felt like a hipster when I put Gus Forsling on my Norris ballot last spring. And I don't think that's, you know, something that anyone would even blink at going forward. Everyone. Everyone. just knows that he's an elite, elite defensive defenseman who just sort of accomplishes it in a non-traditional way with mobility. Sanderson's got some of that, too. I think he's got maybe a little bit more offensive juice.

He's obviously a lot younger. He's not a finished product. But the consistency in his game, the fact that, like, when was the last time you watched the senators and thought Jake Sanderson doesn't have it tonight? Yeah. You haven't thought that once. Like, maybe his entire career. He is an absolute metronome for that team.

His defensive chops are through the roof. I think he can have a dominant playoff run. Yeah, especially with him in Zubb, right? That top pair is incredible. Matthews and Marner potentially, yeah. And so I just think there's, in terms of, if I was to power rank, like, players, we could have a completely different conversation about six weeks from now than we are today. I think he's, you know, in my top two, top three.

I just think that this could be a transformative postseason for his sort of reputation around the league. And honestly, I kind of expect it to be. I think he's going to be an absolute dog for the senators across this, you know, playoff appearance. Yeah. Putting a, how long it goes. Putting a nice finishing touch on the conversation we had about the benefits of the four nations

experience, the first exposure to the NHL playoffs, a low-scoring series. Although it turned out Jordan Bennington was the real winner. Yeah. Well, no, it was Sam Bennett if you listen to one, Thomas Drans. All right? All right. You have another pick here, right? Yeah, I do have another pick here.

And I'm going to go. There's a lot of different. directions I could go in. I'd stop filibustering. Excuse me. I just, I'm agonizing about whether or not I should take another top player. You can. I'm going to go with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Okay. And I am going to pick Jack Eichael. Pavl Dorphy. Oh, nice. Okay, you're speaking my language. I thought about picking Jack Eichol. I want to be clear. but I'm going to pick Pavl Dorfiev.

And I'm going to pick Dorfiev on the idea that, look, this grand Vegas Golden Knights experiment where we're going to load up at center, we're going to load up on D, and we are going to trust ourselves to piece it all together on the wings. And if we have to, you know, acquire a $1.5 million, you know, malcontent Brandon Sott in midseason, we're going to do it. And we're going to shift guys around and we're going to find enough offense by hooker, by crook and they have they put it together right i mean they they they made it work they're a hundred and seven point team they're going to be 110 point team by season's end like this um this golden

night's team is wildly impressive and very very good and dorofiev's been sort of the the most consistent spark plug offensive winger for that team outside of obviously like stone and barbachev of that lower tier guys and he's been phenomenal all season and now it's about to be the playoffs doing it in the playoffs is different than doing it in October and November and, you know, even March and April. This is going to be a completely different test, and they need, they need him to be creating looks, they need him to be finishing looks. He's going to be counted on to score big goals. I think a lot of what we've seen this season should give us confidence that he's going to be up to the task, but, you know, Vegas is going to need to score enough, especially because in some ways they defied our expectations this season

and didn't just like suddenly pull out a Ricard Raquel at the deadline for no reason whatsoever. I guess sometimes they even go more off the board than that, right? Some guy we hadn't even considered getting traded. So I think there's a fair bit of pressure. I feel like a lot of Vegas's success or shortcomings over the course of this playoff run are going to be determined by what they get from that sort of relatively anonymous bevy of wingers that they've got on their team. And Dorothea, for me, is the face of that.

I consider a guy who plays with him, Tomas Hurtle, because I feel like him being healthy the second half of the season has been so massive. I mean, his impact on the power play. And also just,

like, he creates this convergence of defensive attention that allows Dorfia to just step into his shots. And so I think that's huge. I also considered, and this was even too niche for me, but has anyone had a better month

in their life than Riley Smith has had over the past month? Just leaving that dumpster fire in New York, coming back to Vegas, just instantly being reunited with William Carlson and just starting to cook again

like it's the late 2010s. And their biggest weakness this season, one of the few ones that exists, has been the PK, which is like 22nd or 23rd in the league. And in a short time since Carlson came back and Smith rejoined the Knights, those two guys are in their top unit PK

and are dominating in those minutes, and that's a massive development for them. So I consider that. All right, I'll do the Dallas Stars next. Now, I think Thomas Harley is the pick just because since Mira Hayskins been out. He's gone up to 25 minutes per game and in a series against the abs,

that's probably going to need to be even higher approaching 30. I just have my concerns because you watch the way those games have unfolded and similar to everyone in Dallas. The metrics have come down. FI.15, bleeding a lot against I'm going to carry around

Ily LaBushkin in those minutes. I considered why Johnston, just because he was such a revelation last postseason and like single-handedly carry their offense. And if the stars are going to do the improbable of making a post-season run, this year, they're probably going to need to outscore their defensive problems. They're the betting favorite.

Yeah, but neither you or I are going to pick them in that round one series against Colorado, right? And so I feel like Waijo, especially how good he's been or the past, whatever, 30, 40 games, is just going to need to replicate that and then some. But I think hardly because of the exposure and just having to do so much for them is probably the pick. Because like, think about it this way, if you're Pete DeBoer in the minutes he's not out there, you're just like praying that he can catch his breath. he can get back over the boards. He has to do everything for them from the blue line.

Yeah, no, you're right. I mean, that team is in trouble defensively based off what they're surrendering across the last month. If that's not immediately like, oh, we flipped a switch. It's the postseason now. And I don't think it will be. I think they're just going to be in a lot of trouble

against an avalanche team that, I mean, if you've got flaws on the back end, that's like the worst team to have them against. They're going to find them. All right. My next pick, Sebastian Hawo for the Hurricanes. Yeah, I like it. He's had a strange year of 515.

He has the same number of 515 points as Eric Robinson. On that team, he's scoring at the lowest rate of his career since he was a rookie. He's played nearly 500 minutes at 515 without Jarvis, and they're losing 30 to 22 in that time. Now, recently, they've put him with Jarvis and Jackson Blake together, and that line has absolutely crushed at 515, and then him and Jarvis on the PK are nearly matching opposing power plays. It's an annual tradition for the hurricanes,

where are they going to be able to create enough? I feel like if they are going to, and I think they're pretty well positioned to make the Eastern Conference final, even though they took a bit of a step back or a lateral step at the deadline in trading me, Corantan. It's going to be because Aho scores a bunch of clutch goals and delivers on that. Maybe him and Jarvis together as a combo, but I feel like Aho is going to need to have that type of postseason. We've seen him have postseason moments before. Certainly he's an awesome player. But for whatever reason, at 5-1-5, he just hasn't really been the same guy for large stretches this season. I'm going to go call Cole Cawfield.

Okay. For the Montreal Canadiens. Look, I know Cawfield, did Cawfield debut in the playoffs for the abs in, or the Habs in 2021? Do I remember that correctly or incorrectly? He certainly had some moments. I remember he scored an unbelievable goal against Robin Leonard. He had some moments, but had he played previously? Like, had he been in the league?

Yeah, he'd played 10 regular season games. Okay, so he played 10 regular season games and really, you know, we were introduced to him on that 20-game run in. the 2020-21 playoffs, which is like one of those classics where he was up for the Calder the next year after we already knew that he was like a clutch goal score in the playoffs. So look, he's done it, but it's different to do it as a top liner as opposed to, you know, a guy we'd never seen play in the NHL or had only seen play a select number of games in the NHL, you know, playing a little bit further down lineup. Right?

Like he was a 15 minute a night guy then. He's an 18 minute a guy per night guy this season. I bet that goes up. They're pretty dependent on him in that line, that top line in terms of generating looks and playing the rush game that they're pretty reliant on to create offense. And look, at the end of the day, doing it as a top line player and doing it as a 5'8 top line player who weighs a buck 80,

you know, you have to do it. it before people in the league really accept that you can do it. And I believe he can do it. But I think that there's still always going to be that like impetus on players with his profile to sort of prove it at the top of the lineup and answer those questions. Again, we know who Cole Cawfield is. He's going to be awesome. But I still think there's pretty interesting stakes here for him.

And for a HAPS team that, yeah, I think we're all looking forward to seeing play in a pretty entertaining series against the Capitol. Yep. All right, you go one more pick. I got one more pick. So we have Tampa, New Jersey, than the three West teams that aren't locked in yet. Yeah. Well, I mean, New Jersey, it's got to be Markstrom.

Yeah, I think so. Although I do think we could see some Jake Allen considering how well he's played, especially if it goes off the rails, but I do think they are hoping that it's going to be Marks from. It has to be Marks from. He has to start with Marks Strip. Yeah, of course. And he's struggled.

Like, he's been struggling for a month and a half, but look, he's a experienced goaltender. He's a pretty good player. He's getting a little bit up there. Jake Allen's a UFA. They've got some big decisions to make here. I agree with you. I'm not going to be shocked if we see Jake Allen in the playoffs.

And for that reason alone, it's got to be Markstrom. He's got to hold it down for that. Especially historically a guy who's thrived in a high-volume environment playing the Carolina Hurricanes, having a chance to join illustrious company as guys who have thwarted the Hurricanes offense. Yeah, for sure. This would be a Carolina Hurricanes. the perpetual

The kingmakers. The perpetual get right spot for playoff goaltenders. Markstrom needs to take advantage. All right, I like that. I guess what leaves us with the lightning? And I think it's a testament to the team they have. We didn't pick the wild with the blues. We can go through those three together at the end.

The lightning, I struggled with it because I think like Kutra of Baselowski and then, you know, point, headman, Hagle Sorelli, I don't find that interesting just for this exercise because I know what I'm going to get from them. I picked the McDonough-Churnack pairing. Yeah, I think that's a good pick.

Because they've given up 24-5-1-5 goals against in nearly 1,000 minutes, sub-40-percent offensive zone starts. And the question that I have for the lightning getting into the postseason is, especially against the Florida four-check in round one, are they going to be able to go back, retrieve pucks, get it to their forwards,

get it out of the zone without getting stuck in the mud? And so a lot of that's going to come down to headman, certainly, but I think that pair is going to need to hold up, especially against the Florida team that doesn't really have soft middle six minutes or even if they're going to go against Barkov's line. So I think that's going to be imperative for them. And I'm curious to see how they do. So yeah, give me McDona and Chernak for the Lightning. I wanted to do our guy, Connor Geeky. I mean, he hasn't played since February 1st or whatever, but if he can somehow

draw into the setting, I would love to see how he looks. Yeah, is he coming up? I mean, he's going to be, he's going to make a difference in a playoff game if he gets in. I guarantee it. It would have been so unbranded if I was like, my pick for the Lightning is Gage Gonzalez. All right, the wild, the blues and the flames, three teams who aren't locked in yet. I think for the while it's got to be Faber in his usage, right? Yeah.

We just saw him play 61 minutes in a back-to-back over the weekend. Or is he boom coming up? Zibu, yeah. I mean, he's going to play Tuesday, it sounds like, and that'll be fascinating. How comfortable are they using him, given, you know, that organization's relatively rigid prioritization of size. I think that's going to be an interesting wrinkle here.

Certainly, adding a player or prospect of that caliber to their lineup could give them a big shot in the arm, which they desperately need. For the Blues, I had Holloway's injury. Yeah. Because he's missed the past couple games, and they've had quite a different amount of juice. In my opinion, we saw Braco come back, of course. But, you know, guys like Holloway,

and then the young guys who talked about Snoogrood, Bullduke, and neighbors are going to have to step up. But I feel like Holloway's availability and performance, is going to be huge there. And then for the flames, do you want me to give you our guy Jonathan Huberto? It was either that or cadre, right?

They've combined for 60 goals, a bunch of them huge, in huge spots as they've stayed alive here. I love that Backland, Coleman, Corin Auto line, but I feel like it's got to be one of those guys with a special honor I mentioned to Adam Klapka,

who I'm fascinated by and is playing with Huberto and Khadri right now in the top line. Yeah. Clapka rocks. Clapcox. All right, man. Well, this is a blast.

It was really fun doing a mega two-part Sunday special with you. What do you want to plug on the way out? Well, uh, follow my playoff cup. No, I'm kidding. Follow my off-season coverage at the athletic and, uh, of the Utah Hockey Club's off-season. Well, and we'll be doing a bunch of shows. Like, we'll be watching games and doing a bunch of shows.

So it'll be fun. Well, the Discord listeners, no. You don't have to tip to all around it. They know we're going to be going to Palm Springs, uh, the following week. And so the Sunday special is going to turn into a everyday special. of an all the time thing. It's going to be awesome. We did that last year, of course,

with the Stanley Cup final, and it's backed by popular demand. I've got a big two-part preview of round one that'll go even deeper than we just did. Coming at the end of the week, I think Thursday night, Friday morning, so look forward to that. Thank you for listening to the HockeyPedioCast streaming

on the Sportsnet Radio Network.