The Hockey PDOcast - Ranking Every Round 1 Series Based On Our Interest Level In Them

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Sean Shapiro to help rank all 8 of this year's Round 1 playoff series based on our interest level in them. 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 PiedioCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey-Ocast. My name is Demetri Fulipovich, and joining me is my good buddy, Sean Shapiro. Sean, what's going on, man? Dimitri, great to see it. I guess it's great to be a guest on your show. It's the first time that I've come on the show after having you on something of mine earlier.

So I'm happy to be back speaking with you after you came on last week. and highly appreciative of that. And as my favorite sports net personality, as you always are. Thank you. Well, that was a lot of fun chatting with you and Robert Tiff. And we can definitely promote that on the way out as well. We got a lot of work ahead of us today. We're going to start the week with a fun little exercise.

I thought it was a great way for us to get a kind of a general overview of everything going on in round one of the playoffs, especially coming out of a busy weekend. And what we're going to do is we're going to rank the eight round one matchups based on our interest level in them, how much we've personally enjoyed watching the games, whatever you want to make the criteria, obviously a level of subjectivity to it. But I feel like it's going to provide us with a nice little glimpse into what's been going on. Two of the series, of course, have already been wrapped up.

A couple other teams are on the ropes at this point, down 3-1. And then we've got a couple that look like they're headed towards a long, drawn-out process, potentially even a game 7. And I'm sure those are going to rank very highly for us. I want to mix it up because typically when we do these sorts of lists on the show, we make the mistake of starting at the bottom and kind of working our way up, I think, saving the fun stuff, the dramatic reveal for the end

to keep dragging. We run out of time. Along and then what we wind up doing, of course, is we get in the weeds, we spend a disproportionate amount of time on the boring stuff, and then we wind up rushing through the end of it. And I wanted to avoid making that mistake today. So what we're going to do is we're going to start at the top,

make sure we spend enough time on the series that deserve it and warranted, and we really enjoyed, and then we're going to get through the rest of our list and kind of inverse order from what we typically do. You're the guest. I'll give you the floor. If this was a draft, what would be your first pick in terms of you could only watch one series? Which one are you focusing on? Yeah, well, obviously, the bias and intrigue for me is going to be, this is, this is, this is like when you go into an NFL draft or an NHL draft and you know who number pick number one is, and so all the intrigue is really about one number two is. But so that, that's the case in this

draft for me. It's obviously, it's Dallas, Minnesota. obviously a series with the stars that I'm going to naturally follow either way, but that series has been, has lived up to the hype of it all for me, has lived up to a lot of kind of the fascinating questions. And it's, and I know it's kind of the, I don't even want to talk about whether this series should be happening right now

because of the playoff series, but I want to enjoy what we've been watching because it has been kind of, of the, a lot of times you get that like long buildup into a series. Like we've known it was going to be Dallas, Minnesota since probably late December it feels like. And a lot of time, and sometimes when you get a lot of buildup for a series or anything, it doesn't deliver. And this, this one has. And so that, that one, that to me is number one at the top. And obviously that's, I'm imagining, I feel like we have three more

games in that series starting tomorrow night. I love that you framed it as status quo because our first sort of shocker comes right out of the gate. I had Stars Wild 5th. Oh, man. On my list. And we can certainly, I'm going to get into why I thought, you know, when I started this exercise and I pitched it to you, I imagine it would be higher.

I knew it wouldn't be number one, but I thought it would be top three. And listen, on the one hand, I think the pro for it is, to your point, it's 2-2, going into game 5 on Tuesday night. Yeah. It's been very tight.

We just coming off two, not only overtimes, but extended ones. one went deep into a second OT, the one in game four pretty much ended right before the final extra 20 minutes. And so it's been tight. I think the two teams, like the selling point for each of them in terms of what they do best and why you tune into them has certainly lived up to the hype. On the stars end, eight of their 11 goals have come on the power play. There's such a ruthless and just exquisite precision to the way they pick you apart with it. And I have so many different options in terms of where they wanted to ultimately end up.

And then on the wild end, they're up 6-0 and they're 5-15 minutes with both Caprisov and Hughes on the ice. I think Boldie has been the most exciting individual player in this series, culminated it with the overtime winner in Game 4. Of course, I just feel like the games themselves, and maybe we're heading in a right direction, because Game 4 was clearly the most watchable and fun game of this series to date. I think the games themselves, though, for the most part, haven't been as good. And maybe that speaks to this relative strength of both teams where they're so evenly matched and they're both so good. And with that comes the territory of being able to take away what the other team does and pose levels of resistance and some of the weaker matchups maybe don't feature. Maybe it's because to your point, we've all known they're going to face each other for months now. And so that level of unpredictability that some of the other series had where it's like you're playing until the end of the regular season and on the final day you figure out who you're playing.

and then 48 hours later you start a series. I think both these coaching staffs had ample time to prepare and mix in counters and different things they wanted to do to pose problems to their opponent. So you put that all together and I think the games themselves haven't necessarily lived up to being the most exciting series,

but there is a level of significance because while they're going to have to play Colorado in round two, these are two of the best, what, three to five teams in the league? And so watching a heavyweight tilt, even if it is in round one, does feel important. So maybe I should have a lot. higher. I just feel like the games themselves haven't necessarily been as, they've been a bit choppier, I think, than some of the other ones I've enjoyed a bit more.

And maybe that's, maybe that's the, maybe I'm enjoying the chaos of that a bit. I think maybe that might be part of it just to be, to be a little bit blunt about it, right? Where there's, I, I enjoy seeing how, I enjoy seeing, whether you're whatever cliche you want to use steel, sharpened steel, two rocks and boulders running into each other. But I enjoy a bit of the, I want to see it prettier to an extent. And I agree with you on that. And I think if, and if we were going the full average, I'm probably giving this series,

I'm probably giving this series a little bit of recency bias based off game three and four, right? Because game one definitely pulled the average down of this series a ton, right? Game one was pretty horrific to watch. Game two was ugly, too, to a point where in the final five minutes, both teams took a too many men. which is like a pretty big no-o from a coaching perspective. So I think maybe it's whether it's nerves or just stakes or whatever,

like it hasn't necessarily been as free and loose as some of the other ones have in my opinion. And that's what bumped it down to my list a little bit. But it's important certainly. That's fair. But I think I've enjoyed the, I think one of the things that's been interesting for me put this series to watch is I've enjoyed seeing the, like the big thing on my note right now is I've got Matt Boldie, bolded literally right on like the top of my note for this because he has been, look, we knew what type of player he is.

It's not a surprise. Anyone who's watched a wild game this year knows exactly what Matt Boldie is. But it's been fun for me to watch him, I think, and I kind of look at the background of this as well. That Zuccarello injury, I think Minnesota did not adjust well to that. Game two, Zuccarello plays game one. They lose Zuccarello for game two. And Minnesota just looked really out of sorts like you'd taken something away and And then I give a ton of credit for a game, you look at game three and four, and you look at kind of the way that it's, Zuccarell's absence has been completely almost forgotten

because I think of what Boldie's done in many ways. And just kind of, and not that he wasn't already doing that, but it's taking things another step further. So I like watching players who can elevate their game. I like them finding the next level and doing that. And I think that's the big thing for me because this isn't even a stars thing. And obviously people who know my work. I've covered the stars for a long time, and that's the team I write about the most. But for me, the Matt Boldie experience of this series has been so much fun to watch because I love watching players take that next step.

Whether it's from a couple of years back, you and I did, had the whole Wyatt Johnston conversation in the postseason about talking, watching Wyatt Johnson go the step from good regular season guy to playoff performer. And then obviously more recent playoff, he didn't have that year. But for me, this is kind of that Matt Boldy further escalation that I've loved watching. And maybe that's why it is. Maybe I'm just so enamored with Matt Boldy's game. And if that's what I'm falling in love with, that means I still enjoy the sport pretty well. So I'm happy with that. No, that's totally fair.

Matt Boldy has been, especially games three and four, has been breathtaking. And I say that in a complimentary way and not in a Seinfeld derogatory way describing the baby. Like, he's so fun to watch, especially when he's kind of flying through the neutral zone, because he's got so many options available to him and there's an unpredictability, but also just like a power to his game. Yeah, I'm with you on the Zucarillo part. Like they've certainly missed them,

especially with some of the playmaking on the power play. And that was so lethal in game one. I think what helps the 5-1-5 is that they just had Bobby Brink like warming up in the bullpen essentially. And we saw in game four, they bumped him up there. And I think he can replicate a lot of what he does, maybe not the distribution,

but just kind of like the pace he plays with and giving Caprizo of another running mate. I wasn't, I love for the postseason, like, there's the stuff that you're prepared for, and then it's fun to just see it play out. And then there's the risers in terms of like an unpredictability where you're like, wow, I did not expect this guy to have this big of an impact. And I think Niels Lundquist certainly qualifies for me there.

A big question for us in our preview was whether Glenn Gulletson, unlike his predecessor, would stick with him in a top four role and play him with Thomas Harley full time, or whether the first time he made a mistake, he'd move away from it. And there just haven't really been many mistakes through the first four games from him to the point where I think him and the Harley, partly because he's not playing special teams, but they were using those two as their top pair at 5-on-5. And he was so important in terms of his puck moving ability and the breakouts and then whatever offensive zone movement they would try to do 5-1-5. And then he takes that gnarly skate to the face, essentially, from Michael McCarran after taking a penalty. And it looked horrific. I'm not sure if you have an update on what his status is for the rest of this series.

But they desperately missed him as that game progressed to a point where in an overtime, you may as well have been playing Yakety Sax music every time Myers and Bischel were out there because every single one of their retrievals and breakouts felt like impending doom. And eventually it did cost them on that boldy winner. And I think they're going to, if they're going to win this series and even looking ahead of any chance against Colorado, like they're going to need Lunkwist to keep playing this big of an outsized role because his puck moving has unlocked a lot for them, I think. I agree. Yeah. And it's that Myers-Bischel pair has been interesting because it's clearly a pair that I think for the first, obviously game one was just horrible for Dallas,

but I think kind of a, from a star's perspective, they kind of realized that Myers-Bisshal pair had its uses as a tool in the bag, but it was, it had to be used in the proper way. And then you can, as you said, that exposure of what happened in game four on the overtime winner, everything on that shift in the overtime winner, that all plays out. I'm also happy you brought up Bobby Brink because I think Brink's a good example of, and I know that it was the Jurisect Trade and it was technically trading young future players for other future players with potential. But I know he had like, what, it was a two or three points after the trade in the regular season

and everything like that. But that's another guy who I've enjoyed watching a little bit just because I think there's, there's been, I haven't done a lot of Bobby Brink isolation, for example, right? Like I've seen, I had seen him in the past in Philly and seen him everything like that. So it's been kind of fun to watch him in that elevation mid-series from when you add this, including the Zuccarello entry. That's another guy that's been on my intrigue list where you're going through and you're making notes on the game and how things go. And his name starts popping up a bit more.

So anytime I'm noticing more and learning more about various guys, I'm feeling pretty happy about it. So that that also adds, I think, to this list on this series as well. Well, and my one final point is from a curiosity. perspective, I want to see how far these dramatic splits for the stars can go because they've scored three five-on-five goals in this series on 213, five-on-five shot attempts. And I thought it looked much better in Game 4 in particular in that second period. They had a couple of those shifts that were about as dominant as you're going to see with like just cycling in fresh bodies and keeping the wild hemmed in the zone, but ultimately had nothing to show for it. And we're

through four games at a point where the Robertson line with Bork and Duchet is up to two nothing in their minutes and they're down nine one otherwise with everyone else on the team out on the ice and so they're going to have to figure that out all right let's keep them moving because that as i said was lower on my list than yours but uh i think a worthy candidate my clear number one with a bullet is habs lightning partly because of how remarkably even it is between the two sides through four games like dallas minnesota two two but here are the numbers in the aggregate. Goals scored.

1111. Shots on goal. 94.93 for Tampa. Expected goals. 12.3 to 12.1 for Montreal. Slod shots, 48 to 47 for Montreal. They've been pretty much completely even to the point where 70% of the series has been played with a tide score. There was a 5 minute and 37 second stretch in game four when the Habs jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

That was the only time this series has been outside of a one-goal game, essentially. on either side. And so there's been an element of like sitting on the edge of your seat because it could really go either way. We, of course, at three overtimes to start the series as well. I thought it was an impressive effort by Tampa on Sunday night, like just digging deep to work their way back because they're down to nothing, about to head into the second intermission,

facing a 3-1 deficit on the road in front of a crazy crowd, and they score three straight and win it in the third. And I don't know, I just feel like I can't wait to see where the rest of this series goes, I guess, because it really could go either way. And one of these teams is most likely going to face Buffalo in round two. And that's going to be an incredible matchup. And so I'm just watching every single second of this series with Bata Breath, just waiting to see what happens. Yeah, I had this.

This was my second one and it was close. If you were going just to be very blunt about it, if we were, as I was making this list, if we were going just purely on ice as opposed to some of the other, the dramatics and things that popped for me about that Dallas, Minnesota series, if we were going just purely on ice play, this would be number one for me. but I brought in some of their outside factors because I'm allowed to make my list however I want. But this one to me has been so much fun to watch.

This one has been kind of the definition of, as someone who, for more work-related purposes, intentionally tuning into Dallas and Minnesota for better or worse, and it has been, this one has been kind of, hey, Tampa, Montreal are playing. This one's got to be on. This one's got to be on the main screen, and everything's checking over there.

I mean, it's been, I love the, to kind of add to the stuff that you've, that you've talked about on the closeness and everything. I like the, it's been fun for me to watch the Montreal like kind of step in real life, right? And I saw a bunch of, I think I saw a bunch of it being in Detroit now, seeing them play Detroit in person, a handful of times and kind of watching where they go. It's, for me, it's been kind of, to see that team kind of, I want to say like 15, 15 or like halfway through the first period of game one, I wondered the kind of, we always hear about the experience versus this versus that or whatever.

I like, it seemed to me, and right away, no matter who won each game so far, Montreal has come into this without like, hey, we belong. And I think for some young teams, and I know there's not a great way to, it's maybe there's, maybe that's more of just a vibe and maybe I'm going too far off that. But you watch the Canadians play and you watch how they're approaching this. And there doesn't seem to be any of that. Well, they're the young team that's supposed to crumble and the lightning are supposed to. And yeah, you know what?

Tampa's experience probably played out pretty well in that game last night. And that certainly didn't hurt. But it wasn't as much of the Canadians being like, well, you know what? They're crumbling and we're not ready for this moment. And I think that's really fun to watch. And then on the flip side, I think the Tampa thing's been really, Like, once again, players that we knew are, players that we knew were good. And I want to be clear that obviously these guys being good is not a surprise, but I love when teams are able to move windows and focal points.

I think that's a really cool thing to look at franchise evolution. And I'm watching Hegel and Sorelli, right? And you think about, and I know they've been with, they've been with both Gensel and Kuturov in this series. And it's, it's been kind of fun to watch focal points change. and now I don't think anyone, as long as Kutrov's there, and as long as he has the vision he has, no one's ever going to stop and say the Tampa Bay Lightning are coming to town with Hagell and Sorrelli.

But just from on the ice perspective, I've really enjoyed watching the evolution in windows and the focal point changing, like not in real time because it's already happened, but that's been really fun to watch for me with Hagle and Sorrelli with those two guys and how they've driven that because I think if you go and look at, I don't have the numbers right in front of me,

but if you go and look at, the lightning success and in numbers with them on the ice first without them on the ice it's it's pretty jarring well i've got those for you i'm glad you brought that up um great great planning great planning even though he has been otherworldly he has six of the team's 11 goals so he's got six the rest of the team is five combined in game two he had and slovsky is the hatrick in game one and the hero in overtime and then he has the fight where he won punches him essentially um in their scrap this is all in light of as well. I think Hagle's been doing this for a long time, but if you go back to last year, he gets cheap shotted by Aaron Eckblatt early in that series and doesn't really ever get to play a

big role in it and they lose in five. And now the way he's asserting himself, they're up six nothing in his five-on-five minutes. And that includes, to your point, him and Sirelli being hard-matched for essentially two-thirds of Suzuki's five-on-five minutes and they're up four-nothing. And that head-to-head match up, and that's been a big subplot in this series. Now, in my notes, I also had like, that's the the positive view of it, the negative to kind of tie this full circle, is I do feel like a lot of the youth and speed that the HABs have throughout their lineup and have been playing with has played a role in this series in terms of altering Tampa Bay's plans a little bit. And maybe partly is like, I think John Cooper acknowledging how vital the Suzuki line

is going to be, how well they were playing down the stretch and how like ultimately a lot of what Montreal does is going to drive through them. But they've been so preoccupied to just like a crazy the obsessive level of making sure those guys are out there to the point where like if you watch the games three and four in Montreal because they don't have last change they're just starting every high leverage shift whether it's the opening draw at center ice or like every defensive zone shift with sorelli and haigle or gensel out there and then if marty san lewis doesn't put Suzuki out there and he puts another line instead as soon as they have a chance to do so those guys are sprinting off the ice getting someone else out there so that they're ready to go by the time

Suzuki is able to get on the boards. And they've had success doing so. I do wonder whether that ultimately makes sense for Tampa Bay because they're not only allowing Montreal to really dictate the matchups because of that threat of the Suzuki line, but they're also at times kind of throwing their own rotations out of whack. Like I was watching game two and you have all these offensive zone draws to start the game from Montreal. They're getting Suzuki out there repeatedly.

And you go a couple minutes into the game at home without Kutrov even seeing the ice because they're trying to make sure that they're prepared. for whatever Montreal is going to do. And I think ultimately you want to kind of counterbalance what the other team does, but also sometimes you have to assert your own will and kind of play to your own strengths and be like, all right, well, let's just play best on best and see who wins. And I think that's been an interesting thing to watch. You know, Kutrov has the two primary assists to help win the game in game for,

but I do think he's looked rushed at times in terms of kind of just throwing pucks on net, maybe sooner than he would otherwise or forcing stuff because there's a lot of speed coming at and he's a little bit flustered. And I think that is pervasive throughout this series as well, just for Tampa in general. So, yeah, I think the dynamic of how these two teams line up against each other has been really fun to watch.

And there's so many X's and O's, like on a ship-by-ship basis in terms of who's out there and then what they're trying to accomplish. And I think on that front, too, just the coaching element's been interesting too for me on this one because I've watched, and it's the Marty St. Louis coaching experience in Montreal. I think, like, I think when they made that higher,

and I know it was kind of funny, because I'll always remember the story. There was an NHL executive who told me that they know someone who lived in the same neighborhood as Marty St. Louis in the Northeastern United States. And Marty was the guy who jogged through their neighborhood every day. And then a week later, he was no longer jogging through the neighborhood because he was behind the bench coaching the Montreal Canadians. So the Marty St. Louis thing has been interesting for me because I think he was the right hire at the time. and I think he, and it's obviously clearly been the right hire, but I think he was someone who they went through the dynamic of in our program building,

whatever you want to do, it was very much more individual. How do we going to have someone who's going to raise individuals? I think a lot of times when teams approach coaching hires, they look at how do we, and there's different stages for different teams, but like obviously maybe based in Detroit, it was Todd McClellan was, okay, Todd's going to, how do we bring everyone up with Todd McClough? I think Montreal brought Marty St. Louis and looked, okay, he's a guy who he can probably basically tutor five or six of our best players that are going to go into skill sets that he can help establish and push further.

And then he's taken, and he at that same time, he's been allowed to grow into more and more of that head coaching push. And that's interesting to watch for me because obviously on that other bench is John Cooper, who is the longest serving coach in the NHL, obviously not a completely, obviously one played in the NHFFEL forever. One has the famous former lawyer story. But like it's to me, that's an another interesting dynamic of the Marty St. Louis story. And I want to give some credit to someone who shows, that was always the big question in my head. When is Marty St. Louis just going to be able to elevate some talented young players on an individual level? Or is he going to

be able to raise an entire team? And I want to give credit to him on that because that's been fun to watch. It has. I'm glad you brought up the coaching because in my notes I had. I feel like Tampa Bay and watching these games is teetering on the edge. and is John Cooper losing his mind? I think, as I said, being so fixated on the matchups. There's been the Scott Sabrin nonsense. We're in the first three games, like for some reason he's getting shifts laid in the third of a tie game

and an overtime and just like actively trying to goad the haves and a penalties and they're just burning offensive zone shifts on fire essentially every time they put him on the ice and finally they sub them out in game four. Tampa's lack of discipline all season. And that's popped up in this series. I know the penalties are pretty much even. but it feels like theirs have been so nonsensical, like the Gensel won out of frustration,

kind of whacking at Dobbish's glove last night. In game two, I don't know if you've ever seen this before. Like a team draws a penalty, and they pull the goalie for the exorcater, and it's the delayed power play situation. And then in the post whistle scrum, they take so many penalties that they wind up coming out of it short-handed. And I've never seen that seesaw flip to that degree before like that,

or at least that I can remember. and I think that speaks to a trend for them all year where they're kind of been trying to go out of their way to bully teams and be overly physical. I think whether it's the Panthers effect or whatever going through the past couple of post seasons, but I think it's been to their detriment at times because they're probably better off keeping this series at 5-1-5.

And so how they manage that in these final three games considering what's on the line, I think, is going to be really fascinating to watch as well. I think there's any trickle-down effect for Tampa from the, because I think one of the Olympic nature things, and obviously John Cooper was, coach of Canada. Julian Breezeball was on staff for team Canada on their management staff. And you and I talked before the Olympics about a lot of the, there's a lot of stuff about USA, Canada,

the way those two teams were built where it seemed like intentional, how do we counter the other, right? And the natural foil for the lightning was always going to be the Panthers, right? That's what it's been, the Battle of Florida, both on ice, culturally, whatever you want to call it, right? That's been one of the big pushes over the last couple years for them. And I wonder how much the, like if the, if the Canadians end up winning this series, do we, does it turn into, in autopsy when you're the lightning, does it turn into you let the Panthers beat you in the year they didn't even make the playoffs? Because that would be in it, I would love some truth serum on that if the, if the lightning don't win two more two out of the next three here. Undoubtedly. All right, Sean, let's take our break here.

And then we come back. We're going to jump her back into it and keep going through our list. You're listening to the Hockey Ocast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right, we're back here in the Hockey Ocaster by Sean Schbarrow. We are going through all eight round-on matchups based on how interested we've been in each individual series. We're through your top two, I think, right? We went through Stars Wild, Lightning Habs,

and so you're next up in this draft. I'll give you the floor for your third pick. Well, let's go with the one. Now, this one was high on my list, even before we had the fun overtime shenanigans last night that have led to so many discussions. But I got a duck oilers is numbers. I had duck soilers as,

three on my list. So we'll go with them right now. And for one, how much fun has Jackson McComb been, right? Let's just, that's been, he's been one of those guys where we've talked about individual players that you kind of start isolating and watching through the series and everything. And for me, he's been, that series always felt kind of like must watch to me going in, but he's been, he's on the ice and you kind of pay a little bit more attention to what he's doing and everything like that. And then the other thing for me, and, Obviously, people can probably pick up on this. I really love watching round one kinds.

It tells us how teams are building where they're going, whether it's for trying to get 16 wins this spring or eventually get to that point. It's been interesting to watch the kind of the ducks, they're up 3-1 in that series now. It's been interesting to watch how some of those older players have been in game, even within games in this series,

and kind of what they're supposed to be in the long term, have been kind of the elevators or stopgaps to kind of fill and allow. And then it's given those younger players kind of pockets and windows to step up and seize them on. Obviously, I'm talking about most of the other roster. I think Lecombe's been one of the best players on the ice since second one of the series. But for a lot of the other guys, I think there's been a little bit of those older players that the ducks went and brought in to kind of surround them. And I don't want to overly hit the culture drum on this. but I do think an on-ice perspective

has allowed some of those guys to come into that series and I don't think the Oilers were ready for that. On the flip side, like, it's funny, like, I hear the, I'm watching the game last night and like,

full transparency, like, I know Jason Dickinson really well, right? Like, he was in Dallas. Like, he was one of the more kind humans I ever covered, but I'm very much laughing when, and this is with all due respect to Jason's Dick, I'm very much laughing when I'm hearing on broadcasts

and they're talking about how important his return to the lineup was, right? I just, I feel like the Oilers have, this is a team that's been in the Stanley Final the past two years and this is where we've become. So that's why, so it's more of the ducks, enjoyment of watching what the ducks are becoming and going

with a little bit of the kind of twisted, what's happening to Edmonton here. Great choice. I had them third on my list and I'll get into number two in a second. But it's lived up to the hype from what we expected, not the result necessarily, because I thought that the Oilers in a high scoring, high event series would probably win in five or six games, and that's looking very precarious now.

But 35 goals combined between the two teams in four games, a lot of twists and turns, especially late in the contests. And I'm with you, LaCoham has been incredible in his first postseason exposure, especially for a younger defenseman. We know how good he's been the past two years in the regular season, but this is an entirely different animal, especially matching up against the best players in the world. And they've used them for 43 of McDavid's 69. minutes and those 69 minutes have not been nice for the Oilers because they are down 4-1 in that time.

Shots on goal are 24 to 12. Ducks with those two guys out there and Lecombe has been a workhorse for them. He's played 2642 per game. That includes 2954 in game four, eight points. Been on the ice for 12 Lanheims, 20 goals scored so far. And so he's been incredible. Leo Carlson has been awesome in his own right. They're getting contributions from everyone across the board.

I think seven different duck skaters have at least two goals. through these four games. I think the trends are interesting to me where the first two games, despite I'm sure them feeling good coming out of Edmonton with that split after blowing game one late with the captain's goal in the final two minutes, but then coming back to win game two, I was curious to see what they would look like heading back home with a different environment and all of a sudden this new situation for them.

Shots on goal in these last two games in Anaheim, 77 to 52 for the Ducks. and they looked great across the board. I'm not sure ultimately, I think because the Oilers were the favorite and we had the expectations after the past two Stanley Cup runs and they have McDavid and Dreis Seidel and Bouchard on their team,

I think a lot of the conversation is probably going to be funneled through the frame of what's going wrong with Edmonton, and I think that's fair because a lot of their top guys don't look 100%, and a lot of the self-inflicted issues are popping up again. But I do think a lot of what Anaheim is doing in terms of the firepower they're able to throw it,

has been able to win out through these four games. And so I'm glad that you framed it instead through Anaheim's perspective as opposed to focusing on kind of what's going wrong for the team that's down 3-1. No, and it's the whole, and I'm going to keep this going a little quicker because this is good we started one and two

because we would have gone, we would have never gotten to one and two if we had gone from eight to one. Like the whole you mentioned Leo Carlson, right? Like I find him as one of the most fascinating players to watch just kind of from the way he entered the league with kind of that interesting load management to the Greg Cronin experience that didn't go really well and kind of who knows what could have

could have been earlier. And so like he's a guy too where I've been loving watching kind of his stepping into this series as well. So it's been, yeah, I have, it's, to me, the ducks are so much fun. And it's as I met when you messaged me, kind of wanted to get the show going this week. I said like I've been really watching more of the Western Conference series. And this is one of them that's been just so much. much, it's been a ton of fun.

Well, and a recurring theme for them all year was they kept playing from behind and they have so much scoring ability that it didn't matter. But they've given up the first goal in four straight games to start this series. And it once again hasn't mattered. And it's because in those minutes where the Oilers have been up, as soon as they go up on the scoreboard, they're just getting absolutely throttled. I think Oilers leading, I was looking at on natural stature, goals are A2 Anaheim after that point.

And shots on goal are 53 to 32 for them. And so it's a big issue. The Oilers are down at like 22, 23% implied probability to come back and win this series. And that still seems probably high based on how doom and gloom optically it's been, even though these games have been tight. I guess that, you know, you have, like David and Dreisaitle, you have two of the final three potentially at home. And so they're still alive, but the ducks through their credit,

I think really have them on the ropes right now. All right, number two on my list. Listeners will not be surprised to hear this. The mammoth versus the Golden Knights, baby. I honestly strongly considered making this number one because I've enjoyed every single second of it so far and this is the only series I believe that we've only seen three games of so far

because game four is on Monday night and part of it for me is this has had the best broadcast of any series now you're based in the States and so you're probably watching whatever the TNT, ESPN feed, whatever they're showing for it. I have been pulling the, because I'm a big fan of my pal Dominic Moore on the Utah broadcast.

I have been intentionally watching ways to watch the broadcast from the Utah perspective. So that has been my kind of whole on the broadcast. He's excellent, but I implore you, whether it's you or anyone else listening in the States, find a way even if it's still illegally stream, the

Sports Night broadcast, because the Harn and Ryan Singh and John Garrett combo has been so fun. It's essentially two buddies doing a podcast and doing it. It's such a fun inviting way. There's a certain charm to it. They're just having a great time with it, and I think it's been an awesome soundtrack for this series, and I'm not saying that just because I'm being a company man.

I think Lord knows if anything, I've been overly critical of sports ed in the past to my own detriment. And so this is one of those instances, though, where I think all the love is deserved. And I think that's really helped enhance my experience, the other selling point for me, talking about young players with their first kind of exposure to this. Cooley and Gunther have been the best players in this series. They've just been going nuts. They've combined for, I think they have a 75% expected goal sharing their 5-1-5 minutes. Cooley to Andre Turney's credit because I've been skeptical of his player usage in the past

and acknowledging who their best players were. He's unleashed him. I think he leads all of Utah's forwards in ice time in this series. Gunther has 35 shot attempts in three games, which is 20 more than anyone on his own team. And the goal he scored in game three with the one-time rip from the flank was absolute cinema because it kind of coincided with like he rings it off the bar, so it makes that beautiful ping noise as it goes off the bar in it. and then I think because of how crazy everything was like the camera is shaking and then

the crowd just erupt and there's this big crowd pop and so all of them happening like with simultaneously was just an awesome clip I don't know do you have any other notes on the series like I could go on I could probably do a full show on this one on a second I know this one was this one was four for me this one was right there with like I had ducks oilers three this one was four for me so We're cooking all in the same territory right now. And for me, all of that on-ice stuff. And I've also loved the, as the storytelling perspective, I love the underlying kind of story of Utah and the first playoff run and year two.

And obviously we know they're the old coyotes, but they're a new franchise or whatever we want to call them. I love the kind of juxtaposition. of this off-ice of the mammoth going and having trades your Vegas jersey in before. Like I just think it's such a brilliant way to, because that's, I mean, when Vegas came into the league, they did this whole like bus tour around some of those quote-unquote flyover states that weren't served by NHL teams and Utah was on the list. And they were, and so Vegas, so when Arizona went into exile and then reemerged as with their

players reemerged during different. in Utah, they were technically moved into a Vegas TV market and a Vegas territory. I've loved that element of it. And I think it's also been a really cool, just like the, when you talk about the atmosphere fear and the building of it, just from a ownership-wise has been fun to watch. And you know me, I don't really care about that. I very rarely give owners credit because I think most of them 90% 99% of the time we say someone's a good owner. It's because their team wins and they happen to luck into hiring the right GM. But I think from a business and marketing perspective and you look at kind of taking it the right way,

I do think it's hard not to look at this series and live example for the Ryan Smith stuff and the Smith Enterprises and everything for how much different, just if you had just, if that type of person had been in charge in Arizona, this probably could have been, the coyotes probably would have been in pretty good shape. But I can't, I think that's an important thing to bring up because as fun is it, well, Vegas is the target right now with the jersey swap and everything like that. I think it is a really good point about the ownership vetting that comes through and kind of seeing it in real time here. So I'll go off ice for a minute because the odd ice, as you said, this has been incredible and I don't have much more to add there. No, I think that's a, that's a fun subplot in terms of that kind of burgeoning rivalry as well in terms of trying to win over fans.

I remember you and I both at 20, 23 maybe. It was around when the Golden Knights went on their cup run. We were talking about this changing in broadcast dynamics as well. They were one of the first teams to switch over, and they were kind of trying to appeal to audiences out of state, essentially, and win over and you fans to build up their own fan base, given the late start they relatively had compared to the other 30 franchises at the time. And now I imagine they're winning Utah's stealing a lot of those fans back.

And it's hard not to enjoy the product they're putting on the ice. I mean, similar to what we said about Montreal, Tampa, I think the contrast of the veteran experience against the unabashed youth and exuberance that comes with it has been very prevalent in this series as well. Like what I said about Cooley and Gunther, their speed has been so disruptive. And you can see Vegas trying to recalibrate for it on the fly. And it's been giving them fits. It's been driving them nuts. Like Nick Dowd wants to murder Logan Cooley.

And Cooley is just laughing it off and just continues flying around and doing it. his thing and that must make it even more frustrating. So I'm very excited to watch Game 4 and the rest of the series. And as I said, it's been one of my favorite ones so far. All right, we're through 4. I think there's a pretty clear one that we haven't gone to yet. And then there's a sort of best of the rest. But I'm curious to see if it aligns with your list.

Yep. For number 5 for me, and to kind of this, for me, when you asked me to build this list, I had a clear top 5 and then 3 rest. And so this part of that group of top 5 is Boston Buffalo. And obviously, we've seen Bruins, Sabers. It's been, we talked about environment. Obviously, the Brawins, the Sabers aren't a new team, but it's been fun to see that market kind of get going and everything like that. And then for me, for all of the Buffalo like storylines and all the other stuff that's been really like in the TV stories as told

and everything like that, it's been really interesting for me to watch. And, It's not that it's surprising, but it's been, but it's the way the sabres are built and they have the pieces. It's been really fun to watch how the sabers have really dominated that area in front of the net, right? Especially offensively, the way they've gone and really done. And maybe I'm giving too much historical value to the Bruins as maybe being strong and protecting that area. And maybe I probably am. But for me, when I look on the ice and I'm watching this series, I look at that area that that's that slot area right in front of the net. and the way the sabers have gone and just been able to cook there

throughout the series, I think that's the biggest storyline for me. Like I know a lot of narratives and storylines that I've been around the goal tending thing. I think the Alex Lion playing over UPL is a little bit overblown, right? Like, it's fine. Like I think that's a little bit overblown on things. To me, that's been the really fun nerdy hockey thing to watch

is how the sabers have taken that area of the ice. and not only are they winning the battle on the ice, you can see how much it's just wrecking Jeremy Swayman, right? Like you can see it getting to him and he is not handling it well. No, well, I think it's fair because on the one hand,

like this Bruins team clearly is overmatched from a talent, a depth perspective, and all of our underlying numbers in the regular season reflect that, but it is self-inflicted because before the series, Marco Stern went out of his way to kind of pop out his chest

and talk about how they were bigger and stronger. And I think early on maybe I think that was pretty smart or shrewd on his end because I think he knows where they're at relative to the sabres. And so he was trying to get them out of their game a little bit by being like, all right, well, now you guys need to overcompensate and try to prove me wrong. And in doing so, either taking down penalties or just, you know, dumbing your game down to a point where that talent won't shine through. And I think that was happening early on. And the Sabres have really kind of adjusted finally. And you saw that in game four, like the first three games, they clearly spent way too much time trailing. and then having to frantically play from behind on the scoreboard.

And then in game four, they score in the first five minutes and then just keep piling it on from there. It was what, 4-0 coming out of the first period. It easily could have been 7 or 8-0, honestly, if Jeremy Seumann hadn't been playing as well as he had because they were just pummeling them with scoring chances. That was probably the most dominant period I've seen in terms of just one-sided beat down in this entire postseason.

And everyone got in on the fun, and that's part of the Sabres charm team too, right? Like by the end of the game, I think every one of their skaters have been on the ice for a Sabres goal, five on five. They were all getting in and scoring chances. They were generating so many looks off of winning battles and forcing turnovers in the forchick in particular. And I was very confident that guys like Benson and Done would immediately become playoff stars because their game translated so well to the setting and we just hadn't seen it before.

But now actually seeing it play out the way they just terrorized the Bruins Defenders in game four and created so many looks off of that forecheck is very playoff hockey as well and so I'm with you in terms of how they're positioned like there's a novelty to this but at the same time the way they actually play a lot of it feels like very tried and true and tested in terms of us knowing it succeeds in the playoffs

and it having the feel of guys who have been doing it for a long time there's sustainability to it that's kind of the way I look at it right like there's a sustainability of this assuming Boston I mean assuming Buffalo wins this series there's going to be sustainability going forward and Benson is also, just my last note on this one is, as you're right about Benson,

he's one of those where the amount of times his name just pops up kind of in my notes as I, as I'm watching even if it's a game I'm watching more casually because this game, I watched a lot of this series a little bit more casually first than tuned in more late in games, just because the timing has been, I let the kids stay up and watch the first period, first period of a game with me typically and then make them go to bed. So it was the, so this one I've kind of tuned in a little bit more focused later in games, but Benson has been continuously in my notes. And so that's,

I'll bring that up to. Yeah, I mean, him and Don't, like, Don takes that massive hit in the neutral zone from McAboy in game four and then just bounces back

and scores a net front goal to your point right after. Benson scores driving the net. Should I start the second one, if not for a great toe save by Swamen in the first. And then later on in the game, when it's out of hand,

like anti-antagonizing, past your neck post-wistle, like initiating a crazy scrum. it's got everything. It's a real shame Arvinson got hurt because Madison and I spent a lot of time talking about how fun it was to watch a healthy Victor Arvison on Friday

and then he immediately proceeds to get hurt and I think that takes a lot of the juice away from the Bruins moving forward. Okay, so we got three left. I had Flyers Penguins next on my list. I was with you. I had Bruins Sabers 4th. I had Flyers Penguins 6th

as the top of this next tier. It could have been another sweep. The Penguins extended the series over the weekend, four is the game five. On Monday night, they scored four goals in that game and finally broke through, like, that doubled their total from the first three games where they had four combined in those first three. And yet you look at it at the end of the day, wound up with 21 shots on goal, nine high-d-age chances. Their goals were a power play goal, which was a nice set play between Carlson and Crosby. But then four-on-four goal, a turnover behind the net from Lidar and then an empty netter.

like it felt like it was more of the same from the way this series has been played. And that is why it's so low on this list. Like there's been a lot of rough stuff and animosity. And I think the chess match element of Flyers defense versus Penguins offense is fun to watch for hockey nerds. But ultimately, like, this series is combined for so few shots on goal and actually meaningful chances. And so from an entertained perspective, it has to be lower despite the fact that it's got the surprise of the flyers going up three nothing. and then all that other stuff I outlined. Yeah, I asked this one,

had six of those last three. This was the top for me. And as someone who watched a lot of Porter Martone in person at Michigan State this year, it's been kind of fun to watch his evolution and step into the pro game, not just in this playoff series. And there's a very valid what-if question.

What if Wisconsin doesn't win 35 seconds to overtime and Michigan State goes to the Frozen four, what happens to the Flyers if they have to wait two weeks to get Porter Martone, are they even in this spot? That's a great another underlying storyline on this. But you're right. It's like the Flyers are winning games. It's funny because I just talked about a very young player being someone I've enjoyed watching,

but they're winning games very much old man hockey style, right? Like it's we're going to we're going to give you the, we're going to take away the middle, we're going to give you the space. And there's some quantity, but like the Penguins quality shots have been so, limited and it's been it's created a this is one where the what you see on the ice does not live up to what the TV broadcast keeps trying to tell you because they really want the Bob the battle of Pennsylvania to be this big thing and it's I think if from a this one has been the storylines have been way better than the actual games in themselves so yep I agree and final two on our list of two sweeps I'm curious I guess the only potential intrigue here is going to be which one you had ranked last. I had hurricane senators just slightly ahead, despite the fact that I thought that the Kings were actually,

maybe this is partly like going against my expectations, but I thought the Kings were more competitive than the senators were relatively. I just, the reason why I had Hurricane Senators higher is because game two might have been the best game of the postseason because it had so many scoring chances, but also all the overtime drama with the review and the penalty shot and then Martinuk getting his redemption. So that bumped it up slightly.

Also, I thought the pace of that series, as you'd expect from a Hurricanes team, was very, very high and actually well executed. Just ultimately, I never really felt like there was any doubt regarding the outcome. Because aside from that game, too, the senators partly due to some of the injuries they had, partly due to poor execution, especially 5-1-3 in the final two games, never were able to really generate anything that instilled a lot of fear into it from a hurricane. perspective. And so ultimately, um, the lack of offense and the lack of kind of ability to breakthrough for them did them in. And that's why it was a sweep despite everyone's expectations

that it would be this very competitive potential upset, uh, heading into the matchup. Yeah, I had, I did have hurricanes, senators higher. Um, and I'm just going to, and the reason for me on that one wasn't necessarily what we've seen on the ice. But for me, it's the biopsy. is more fascinating by that one because there's the buyout. And this is twofold because I think it's a series that is going to be broken down by probably three or four, maybe even five different front offices because we had that battle in the east, right? We had, we had those teams. We had Washington, Detroit, Columbus.

By the way, I don't know if you've seen it, but Spencer Carver, he's been on that was on the broadcast last night on ESPN, and by far one of the best actually good additions we've seen to a broadcast so far. when it comes to American hockey. But so the Islanders, the Red Wings, I think there's going to be four or five teams that look at that series and take different lessons from Ottawa getting in

and then just getting four-oed by Carolina. And so I'm the reason, so that's why this one was slightly like, because I'm fascinated to see which teams take what lessons out of that. Because Ottawa is going to take their in-person experience and look and say like, well, what do we need to do to go further?

well, other teams are going to look at that and say, okay, for one, there'll be the question of, is it worth it to try to get in and get cranked? That'll be one internal question that some people will have. There'll be a question of, if we were in that spot, would we have fared better? So that's why that one's there, because I think there's a trickle-down effect for a bunch of other teams who think, hey, one or two wins this way, maybe we don't fall apart in the month of March, where in that exact spot where Ottawa was. So what would have been different for us?

That's why that one's a little bit. That's why I have that one ahead of LA getting swept by Colorado. That's fair. I'm not sure there is much to take away from it because ultimately I think the 4-0 scoreline is ugly, but I think it was, and listen, like when you have a stretch the way they did in the middle of season and your goal-tending is causing you to lose a lot

and then you wind up squeaking as the eighth seed, like you have to play the best team in your conference. but the hurricanes are just really good and I think uniquely programmed to defuse a lot of what Ottawa had success with down the stretch where, and I said this heading in, like I was worried for them because it fell an awful lot like two teams who play very similar games

and have very similar paths towards success. And if you're going to be the second best team at what you do best in a series, you're probably not going to have a great time because a lot of upsets generally rely on a team to play completely polar opposite hockey in a way in terms of like covering in front of your own net and not needing to have the puck and then all of a sudden countering very opportunistically the way Dallas did against

Colorado last year for example in round one and that's not what Ottawa is they're much more similar to Carolina than than the inverse and so in that type of a setting like they just didn't really have a lot of options I think to to break through what Carolina does best because they were just slightly worse than that pretty much everything you're not wrong but hockey people overthink things yeah that's kind of like someone will take the wrong like someone will take the wrong lesson from this. I don't know who, but like if we're going to spin the wheel and like we, maybe we should check in on that like in like January of next year, we should be like, all right, which team watched Ottawa lose to Carolina and took the wrong lesson from this

completely? Because I think there's somebody who will. That's fair. And listen, like the four nothing score line might not reflect it, but I do think this was a, a good test for Carolina out of the gate. And then now especially like, I think they're their path ahead. If you look, they're going to play the winner of Philly Pittsburgh. And then, you know, we talked about Tampa Base. struggling against Montreal and that kind of being a coin flip at this point. Like I think their path through the East and them emerging as a favorite compared to where they were 10 days ago, I think has been, has been huge for them. Avs hurricanes, avs kings last, sorry, I should say.

Another, I thought very businesslike sweep by the abs. Like the Kings of their credit hung around, especially early in the series and created more chances than I expected. We got an overtime in game two. But ultimately, as we knew from regular season, they just did not have the juice offensively. 5-1-5 goals were 9-2 in this series. They scored just five goals all series. And

game two, I know it was the most entertaining game from an off-ice perspective as well, because if you remember, it had the glass just stunk-coel Steve Austin style, just shattering behind DJ Smith. I don't know we're in. It led to like a 20-minute delay. And then it had this Scott

Lawton interview after he got pasted by Josh Manson in back-to-back games to start the series with Eric Johnson, which was great, because he was very self-deprecating. and acknowledging it. And he was like, man, what am I doing out there? Like, I'm bringing a bicycle onto a highway. Like, I can't, I can't do that sort of stuff.

So I thought that was a real nice moment of levity. And it was a competitive game. But ultimately, Colorado just had so many different paths towards success. I mean, McKinnon didn't even really get going on the score sheet until finally putting LA away in game four. And they got big contributions from Arturio Lekan, from Nikwa with the overtime winner. Kail Makar, I thought, looked great after missing a lot of the end of the regular season, scoring a couple of goals and just flying around.

They shut Panarin down at 515. He wasn't able to do anything really. And yeah, it was a deserved sweep. I think the way many people expected, maybe not the way they expected. But I thought it bodes very well for Colorado that they were able to get through a series like this with no real obstacles

and do so in a way without their top guys just scoring all the goals. Like they actually got nice contributions across the lineup and now have a bunch of time off while Dallas and Minnesota beat each other up for another week. Yeah. I mean, that's my two take. from it, right? Like, it's what one versus

20 in the standings should look like, just honestly, right? Like, obviously it's hockey, so you should expect maybe a team sweep is so difficult because the game is so random and a bounce goes one way or the other for LA in game two in the overtime game, and then obviously, then maybe it's a five game, but it's a

five gamer, but if it's, it looked like one versus 20 should look like, and then it's also the reality is for Colorado, just because I'd like to move things forward and think about it, right? This is part of the reward for running the for running for running for running running running the routes on everybody all year right like getting

being the best team in the league all season getting the spot and whether you like the playoff format or not this is this is the reward for getting the one seed and now getting to sit and watch while your next two opponents go bloody each other for probably three more games like i so that that's my big takeaway from that one and then just because it's probably the last time i get to talk to him about on the pdf cast just it just a

it's sentimental reasons, but Anzay Kopitar was one of my favorite players to watch and throughout his career and so much fun to watch. And I know you and I have had some great conversations about him on the PDO cast. And so it was, I know this wasn't a series where his play on the ice really left, wasn't a legacy and anything like that,

but that's someone who you say goodbye to a player that I know you and I both enjoyed watching play. Undoubtedly, I close on that completely. we got a nice moment at the end for him on the broadcast as well because the game was out of reach and so they got to send him out there a couple more times got a well-deserved reaction from the audience a couple more draws and then got to say goodbye um yeah I mean what a career i was reflecting on it yesterday and uh it was tough not to get a little emotional because it's a player who often has kind of been in the background from a you know attention perspective I guess because

he plays such a more a quiet subdued game but that was part of the charm and excellence along the and the totality of the work is just incredible to reflect on, right? Like 20 seasons in the league, finishes top 40 in points, two cups, two Selkies. Literally everyone loves them. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Anzee Kopachar. And I think they mentioned this on the broadcast, arguably the most impressive stat of all, as I mentioned, those 20 seasons he played, and this speaks to his consistency, the availability as well, right?

Despite, you know, being a bigger frame guy who played a physical game and put a lot of miles on his body, he missed more than one game just five times in those 20 seasons. And so he was just always around as such an anchor down the middle for the Kings. And even though at this point, he's not the player he once was, it still will be a big loss for a variety of reasons. And I'm sure we're going to spend a lot of time in the off season talking about where the kings go from here and kind of how they fill that void and what it looks like for them. But it was nice to at the end of that sweep get a moment of kind of recognition and celebration

and send them off the right way. Yeah, and a guy who even, you mentioned all that time and durability, like he was someone who's still, even when the NHL didn't go to the Olympics for a couple cycles, he was still playing an Olympic qualifying games for his country, even though for a tournament that he would have never been able to play. And so he kind of add that, like, he's just one of those guys where you keep here, you can keep stacking Copatar stories on top of Copa tar stories. And it just becomes, he truly a treat to have in the league for as long as he did. So that was one of the reasons I wanted to give the time of kit, even though they didn't win a game and everything like that, that's worth bringing up to me. All right, buddy.

Well, this was fun. We got to run through everything and it's on a pretty timely manner. I will, I'll let you promote some stuff here on the way out. Let the listeners know about that show you and I did with our pal Robert Tiffin and whatever else you got in the works here as we steer towards the final stretches of Brown one of the postseason. Exactly.

So, yeah, so first off, as I had Dimitri, we had Demetri on last week, our greatest sports net guest yet. on algorithmically incorrect. We do it live on our YouTube channel on Wednesdays at 2.30 Eastern, which is, I think that's 1130 your time? Is that 1130 Pacific? Yeah, the math checks out.

Yep, 1130 Pacific. And it's also on all the podcast platforms. That's algorithmically incorrect hockey. Pretty fun show I do with Robert Tiffin. We're working on a couple good guests for this week as well. So check that out. Got my site over at shapshatshockey.com. try to have something up about four or five days a week during the playoffs we'll have something from definitely from dallas

um minnesota game five tomorrow we'll probably have something up later this afternoon as well if you're listening on monday and uh got to give credit to the the guys and girls over at e p who are in the midst of chugging through that draft guide right now because i start to see a little bit of that as it gets built and it's going to be a big must must read for all of those so got to give those shoutouts and uh and then i i pass a Dimitri to plug the Discord because that is a really fun smart place. Yeah. All right.

Keep up the great work, buddy. This was fun. I'm glad we got to do this to start the week with some fun. To your point, join the PDOCast Discord. We can kind of catch up with us on a nightly basis as we watch all these games. Give us a five-star review wherever you listen. Also subscribe to the PDIOCast Patreon. We've got a lot of stuff coming.

This week we're going to do some series breakdowns along the way. And then when round one's done, I'm going to release all the scoring chance data I've been tracking in the newsletter and break that down as well, both from a team in individual perspective. So if you're not in there yet, please join us there. It's going to be a wild ride throughout the rest of the postseason.

And that's all for today from us. We'll be back soon with plenty more. Thank you for listening to the HockeyPedio, Kess streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.