The Hockey PDOcast - Sabres vs. Lightning, Avalanche vs. Wild, and Trade Deadline Takeaways

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to discuss Sunday's Sabres vs. Lightning and Avalanche vs. Wild matchups, and get into some bigger picture takeaways coming out of this year's trade deadline.  If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey-PedioCast. My name is Dimitra Filippovich, and joining me as my good buddy Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? Well, been a fun week of NHL games, I mean, and fun week of NHL news.

The trade deadline was wildly interesting, I thought. I thought this was a really interesting window into where the market's evolving, like a really fascinating stress test for teams just across the board. I thought there were some interesting teams that decided to keep their powder relatively dry. I thought there were sky high prices on right-handed centermen and right-handed defensemen. In particular, I was surprised by how affordable left-handed centermen, who are of equal or better quality than some of their own. right-handed counterparts, how depressed those prices were. Did we even see a big-time trade for a

lefty defenseman? Like, it just felt like it wasn't even on team's radar as a priority to add. Yeah, I guess I'd say McKenzie Weeger, because I believe that he's better on his left side, but he's obviously a true righty. A true righty, yeah. So, I mean, right-handed defenders, right-handed centermen, those were the premium pieces. You've got to be productive. You've got to be tough. You've got to be big. You've got to be able to crash and bang and play playoff hockey. That's teams will pay for. And if you don't meet that description, like if you're just a solid defensive piece, especially if you're left-handed, even if you can play center and win some draws and are an ace on a, on the penalty kill, like the value didn't seem to be there for you.

So I thought it was a really, really interesting deadline. I also was surprised by how frequently teams actually were still willing to pay to get off of problems, right? Or at the very least, in the case like Ryan Strom, right, which I sort of view as. a part of the Nazim Cadry sale, right? The Flames sort of take on $5 million in salary this year and next to upgrade its center in the wake of trading Cadry, but that was a seventh round pick. Yes. I thought the extent to which teams are still willing to, if not pay, then give away for free,

term that's inconvenient. And so I think that's sort of an interesting window too into where the market's going. This is clearly a market that behaved very differently from what we've been used to. during the flat cap era, we're sort of just getting, for lack of a better term, woke to what the cap growth era is going to mean in terms of how teams behave,

in terms of what the trade deadline looks like. Are you saying that woke took fun trades from us? No, I actually, I don't know, is it, I think, I actually think a flat cap is woke. I'm going to go ahead and say that. But the, I thought we got a really good glimpse

into where the game's going at the deadline, when you distill it. And I'm excited to get into all of that, but also into some of the incredible games that we've been treated to over the course of this weekend. Well, that's the thing. So we're recording this on Sunday evening later than we typically do.

And we were going to start earlier, but then we started watching Sabers Lightning, and we realized pretty quickly on that we had to just watch that game and enjoy the spectacle and then record right after. And so we are recording about 48 hours after the trade headlines passed. And, you know, we've spent this weekend using the opportunity to digest how things shook out on Friday, allowing to settle in a little bit.

We wanted to circle back and take a bigger picture of you, I think, of where things stand league-wide coming out of the trade deadline, and we will do so. And maybe we can even kind of use that as part of this discussion. But as you noted, on this Sunday, we got a banger back-to-back essentially out west with Minnesota versus Colorado, and then followed by the Eastern Conference. matchup, the Atlantic Division Tilt for first place in the division between the Sabres and the Lightning. And we're recorded right after that. And we're not going to treat it necessarily as our typical postgame show, but it really does feel like that because I think you and I are both pretty

electrified coming out of that eight with seven win from the Sabres. And I've got a lot of notes on both games as well. And, you know, that's going to tie into, I think, naturally our conversation about the trade deadline, particularly because I wanted to start with a conversation about the abs who are clearly the main team dominating the headlines because of their activity, the voice. all yield of trades, but also the significance of them capping it rather fittingly with the Nazim-Cadry trade right after the final wire. And so, I don't know, do you want to start with the abs or do you feel like Lightning Sabres was so good that we almost owe it to ourselves and our listeners to just embrace it, change our hierarchy here, and just get right into it.

I think that was a special regular season game. I think that was a regular season game. That was less a regular season game and more a novel, right? The... I mean, the Lightning certainly treated it like a playoff game. 100%. think that's the ultimate sign of respect for the Sabres team in terms of having our attention, but also clearly Tampa Bay's. Well, and Tampa Bay came out to fighting immediately, so they were treating the Sabres with the sort of respect that they give the Florida Panthers. We're going to actually try to

hurt you, which I think is telling in and of itself, right? There was no moment at which the Lightning didn't view this as, you know, a really important one, a game in which you want to first of all, sort of put the shalacking that the sabres put on you a couple weeks back in the rearview mirror. And B, potentially, you know, come out and sort of give a young upstart opponent, a challenger in the heavyweight sort of Atlantic Division, something to think about in the back of their minds when the puck drops on your potential second round series in eight weeks time. And I thought their intention, their bad intent, the way that they were finishing hits throughout the game, how they were celebrating goals, right? Like beefing with the Sabres players after every goal they scored.

You know, I thought all of that spoke to a Tampa Bay Lightning approach where they wanted to administer a punk test, where they were trying to win five games in one. And, you know, that's like that was championship level swagger that the Tampa Bay Lightning showed, and it looked like it was going to pay off until the Sabres recovered. Yeah, each goal reminded me of that clip of Scott Hartnall scoring an Fonnesc goal

and then immediately getting in a fight with Dionne Frenuff from back in the day. And that's the vibe here in terms of, I mean, listen, the seeds for this were planted in that game that you're mentioning where Buffalo near the end of February coming out of the Olympic break went into Tampa Bay on that second leg of a back to back after beating

the Panthers the previous night and really handed it to him. I think the final score was six to two. And as that game progressed, even the broadcast at the time was talking about how like the lightning were almost trying to set the tone for this upcoming meeting between the two and the significance that it would carry, and we saw that right out of the gate. I mean, this game has so many twists and turns. It's a game that finishes with 15 combined goals and 100 combined penalty minutes and, like,

70 shots on goal or whatever between the two teams. But it started early on with exactly that where the lightning, we're kind of going out of their way trying to almost bully your big brother. The Sabres to be like. Rasmus Dahlin. Well, it was, I mean, Hagle and Sorrelli on every single play. Yes. We're just like the Bash Brothers just getting in after it.

Well, Kutrov was mashing guys too. I mean, it was a full team. We're going to finish every hit and play with some level of intensity that, you know, it's probably not playoff intensity, but it felt pretty close. It did. And I loved early on that the Sabres were like, all right, feel free to do so. We're just going to burn you on the power play. And I believe their first three goals were scored with the man advantage and then the lightning

come back, take a multi-goal lead. I thought where the game really ultimately flipped and we were talking about this while watching it here together in studio was Lindy Roughman. made the adjustment up front of bumping Zach Benson up the lineup. He essentially started using this makeshift line with him, No, O'Sland, and Tage Thompson. And Benson made a number of plays that I thought, in very fitting fashion, dragged his team back in the fight. To the point, like, we talk about how underrated this guy is, the play he makes to set up Beck Malenstein's goal. Yes.

In the third period, he gets the primary assist on it, but even the Sabres broadcast goes out of its way to essentially crop him out of the highlights on the replay and not even mention. what he did to set the table for it with this beautiful anchor play in the neutral zone with his back to the defender where he gets it to him with a clean runaway. And he gets destroyed, like totally willing to take the hit. And then by the time, you know,

he makes it down the ice to join his teammates in the celebration where he made the key play. I mean, nice finish by Malenstein too. But he made the key play to open up and set up a two-on-one. Sorry, I think it was actually Sam Carrick. Oh, was a Carrick's goal? It was Carrick, yes.

But he makes the key play to set up a two-on-one that Carrick finishes. by the time he makes it back down the ice in typical Zach Benson fashion, despite having been absolutely mashed on the play, just laughing his head off, right? It was an incredible, like cue the Woody Woodpecker music. No, I thought, I thought early in the first period right before Hegel sets up Kutrov for a gorgeous go-ahead, 5-4 goal that the Lightning score,

there's a sequence where there's sort of a dump-in opportunity at one end, and Matia Samuelson doesn't finish his guy along the wall. And the puck goes the other way, and another similar, like, wringing, hard rim around the, at this point, the Sabres net, and Jack Quinn goes to make a play on the puck, and I don't remember which lightning player it was, but it gets absolutely destroyed. Like, the similar, like, the lightning were intent on playing playoff hockey,

and it was a playoff hit on Jack Quinn around on the boards. Play goes the other way, that's where the Hegel goal comes from. And in that moment, I thought to myself, like, I think the Sabres are going to need to elevate the players that have the stomach for this type of game. And it took them a little bit too long, in my opinion, to do so. And, you know, then the lightning sort of add kind of a weird goal on that Bjork, or was it point, that point rush chance that Owen Power ends up putting into his own net off of Byram skate.

And it just felt like the Lightning had a sense of how they had to play to win the game, and I wasn't sure if Buffalo had enough horses to do so. Once they stacked the deck, because it wasn't just that they went Ostland and Benson with Tage Thompson, and Ostland and Benson are two guys

that I think absolutely had the stomach for that type of environment. And then, I think Norris and Josh Dohn played with Tuck, which was, I think likewise, is two absolute dogs with another one of your high-end scoring forwards. And then, you know, from that sort of 10-minute mark of the third on, like, I think that

third line with Zucker, Quinn, and, Zucker, Quinn and the center would be Ryan McLeod. I think they only played a bit. They only played like three shifts. Now, Zucker ends up scoring a key game-tying goal. So it's not that they played poorly, but they also shortened their bench, right? they really did sort of keep it to, you know, I think they're the guys with the speed and the doggedness to hang in that type of game with the lightning and I think it switched the game. So kudos to Lindy Ruff. I, you know, I haven't been overly impressed with his work in Buffalo, but I thought that

adjustment completely turned that game on its head. And he demonstrated exactly the feel that he needed to. Like they needed to lean on the players that were going to make the types, those types of winning plays in an environment where the Tampa Bay Lightning were going to play to take their heads off on every single opportunity. Well, part of this is due to the fact that Benson gets heard in one of their final games before the Olympic break and then he misses their first one coming out of it. And upon reentering the lineup, he winds up on the fourth line. And, you know, Payton Krebs, who I think is a more limited and more inefficient offensive

player has, to his credit, been quite good next to Tage Thompson and has really made a bunch of nice offensive plays. In the meantime, but I do think this is the logical blueprint for the Sabres in terms of getting Benson up there. And, you know, there's an element as well to these types of games, which are very emblematic of playoff hockey, especially as you progress later, into the later stages of the postseason of understanding the assignment, which you're talking about, where, like, at some point, you need to treat it differently.

And Benson had this other play that didn't result in a goal or anything where he's kind of skating into the offensive zone. I believe it was Connor Geeky, who just, like, very visibly. obstructs him long after the puck's gone. And instead of complaining or, you know, just stop playing or allowing it to rattle you, Benson just goes right back at him and takes him down. Yeah. And he's like, the refs aren't going to call it. No. And so that's- Because they've already let the other guy get away with interference. Yes. And so like, yeah, that was awesome. You need to play that way, essentially. And when they need, they need the

guys who are capable and have the instinct, the first instinct to play that way to be the guys they're leaning on. You know, I mean, the Sabres have some really good players that I don't think quite match that description. I don't think there are players that aren't going to be useful for the sabers, but once you get into games against teams like the Lightning that know how to win when the chips are down, that's where I think having a guy with Benson's level of nastiness or the Josh Done game winner, right? And I mean, forget that he puts the rebound home and gets the goal, obviously a huge goal. But it's the play after, so they come up ice and it's a double drop set entry.

And I don't remember who the puck carrier was who ends up with it on his stick, but he fumbles it. It's a sloppily executed double drop. And Don't salvages it with like just knives the puck, like hustles, knifes the puck, and then wins a 50-50 along the wall just to get the puck down low again. It's not like he controlled possession and made an incredible skill play, but that moment of doggedness, because he also, on the play that they end up drawing the penalty on,

there's a lightning chance and they're sort of doing some fun stuff up high to create. It's kind of like a three on two. It's his back check and his stick lift that causes possession to change, leading to Byram drawing the slash that sets up the game winner. Like that was, it wasn't a dusty because he didn't draw the penalty, but I mean, he sort of created the environment where Byram draws, the penalty with Pure Dog and then his hustle play at the, at the offensive blue line, gains them possession leading to Dahlene hitting the post and don't putting home the goal.

So those are the sorts of plays you're going to need to be able to make, especially because as we saw with like that incredible Rasmus Dahlene goal, the obviously the Zucker finish, like this Sabres team has the sort of skill you need to negate a team that's playing you the way that the Tampa Bay Lightning played them tonight. Like they have the sort of skill to go toe to toe to with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That's an incredible place to be in. Like that's the sort of requisite level you have to hit to, but it's insufficient. You also have to be able to take a punch. I think we learned today that the Sabres can take a

punch. Oh, undoubtedly. And, you know, there's so many, we've talked about Benson, and Don't, certainly with the multiple goals and all the plays he made. You know, Dahlene, considering how much he was being targeted by the Lightning and not allowing it to rattle them and coming back with the goal to make it 7-6, I believe, in third, and then getting that shot through ultimately to wind up winning the game. This game had it all. It was high event. It was peak competitiveness. It had the adjustments. It had the storyline of, you know, the incumbent in the lightning, even though they've lost in the first round the past couple years, still like what they represent in the league's hierarchy in our belief that they're either the first or second

best team in the east. And then this upstart Sabres team that's been playing remarkable hockey for about three months now, but it's still relatively untested. unproven and this is kind of uncharted waters for them and it's only a regular season game. We're still in early March. We've got about 40 days left until the playoffs start. But man, if this is a taster for what's to come, I think you and I are incredibly excited. And we have to start with this. How can you not be romantic about this Buffalo Sabres team?

Yes. And this is what the Sunday special is all about. If we have a chance to talk about the Buffalo Sabres, gosh darn, darn. We're going to do it. Heck yeah. All right. Let's put a pin in that because I'm actually doing a Sabre show tomorrow for the Patreon. And so I'll get more into that then.

Let's pivot and talk about the other game today that really captured our attention. And it was out west, the Aves and the Wild, we got to see, I don't want to call it Nassamcage's debut, I guess, reemergence on the Aves. It was his debut in his second stint. Re-debue? Sure. Reintegration into the lineup. Nick Waugh played against the stars on Friday in his first game, but it was once again active here. If you get a second stint with a team, is it a sequel? Sure.

Let's go with that. It doesn't ultimately matter. What a weekend for the abs. Yeah. Because, you know, they dominate the trade deadline, of course. They land cadre on Friday. It adds to their deadline hall of him, Nick Wah, Brett Kulak. They beat the stars in Dallas in a really fun game where they come from behind,

I believe, in the Valenuchin scores with the Antiette. With 13 seconds left, they win in shootout, and then beat the wild here on Sunday. Two, high event, entertaining. dramatic finishes against their two biggest rivals in their division. Now they're not going to have to beat both teams because one of them is going to be out before they get there in a round two tilt. But still, it was, I thought, very interesting. And in this game in particular, because as you and I were talking in the aftermath,

it was very telling the way the Wilde approached this game in terms of how they played it, what they were trying to do, especially once you got into the later stages of it. We've been focusing a lot from the stars perspective. If they're the team that gets through that round one matchup and faces the as in round two, what they're going to try to do. And I think the Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting acquisitions the deadline were very telling on what their approach is going to be in terms of trying to drag the game into a special teams battle and stay as far away from 5-1-5 play as they can.

I think the wild are better equipped to pose some of their own challenges at 5-1-5. but I think still ultimately no one's going to want to play the abs 5-on-5 until their power play proves that it's not a weakness. And they scored a bunch of power play goals before Cadre made his re-debue in that Star's game. They didn't and had a couple opportunities early on. I did like what I saw, though, from Nace's being in that shooting flank on the left, and he really should have scored at least one, if not two goals and had great looks. And Walsh had made a remarkable save on one. The other one, I think it might have hit Brodeen in front.

I still don't know how it didn't go. in. But I like that wrinkle. We saw a little cadre on one of those opportunities had a great look where as a left shot, he comes over to the middle of the ice and works that triangle with him, Natis and McKinnon and gets a great A look from the slot. The Walsas is able to fight off. So I think all of a sudden now they're starting to figure out some adjustments and kind of problem solving methods that are going to hopefully lend themselves to this postseason setting where it's not going to be a liability for them and they're not going to be a league worse power play and even a league average one for them is all of a sudden going to put that thread in the back of your mind

if we can't afford to, you know, mix it up like this and just try to beg for calls and try to draw stuff and really go out of our way to initiate. And the wild did that here and they were pretty effective because they nearly stole this one on the road. And, you know, they were up to one after that Nico Stern short-handed breakaway goal. But I thought that was very fascinating. And like I said, we still have a lot of runway until the playoffs. Teams aren't going to necessarily can empty the bag in terms of all of their,

tricks and what they're going to try to do in a potential meeting. So we need to keep that in mind. But yet, it was still a fascinating watch. It was instructive. Yes. I think it was instructive more than anything else because that game lacked the playoff heat that we saw from Tampa Bay tonight in Buffalo. I thought that was a game that felt more regular season, felt more like a, you know,

like a take the measure of a potential playoff opponent, a division rival, as opposed to a, you know, we're going to come in and try to. a big brother you and try to win five games in one. Get some stuff on tape and then we can reassess what it happens. For sure. But I did think that the way that the lightning were working the referees, John Hines was working the referees, an incredible amount, even just as captured on broadcast in that third period. I thought there was basically no play where the wild weren't appealing for a call of some

variety. And then, you know, it worked, right? Like the Caprizov slash that he drew which he didn't sell, to be clear. Like, I'm not suggesting that he did. But it was just a soft call on Nachushkin on that slash, sort of in the high slot after Kaprizov was cutting in late in the third period. That's a super high leverage penalty. It gives the wild a chance to really put them on the brink in that game. And then...

Well, Ryan Hartman did the opposite of what we just said, Zach Benson did. Yes. Ryan Hartman, I mean, how many times have you seen Ryan Hartman strong on his skates in the blue areas, just sort of waiting to tap in a puck based off of what Zuccarello and Caprizov are doing with their weird mind-meld stuff, puck movement, right? I mean, impossible to push over when he wants to be. Yes.

No, I thought it was a really fun game. I thought the wild certainly, and I do think this is instructive of what you probably need to do against the SAVs team, because you cannot really afford to defend them in zone the way you might have a different opponent. And I did think the wild did a good job with sort of their... They did. It helps when your goalie's making a lot of big saves. And if he's not playing at that level, maybe it looks a little different because some of these sequences where you're building up two, three scoring jats at a time. Ultimately, the dam's going to break.

And it didn't hear about it. I thought in the third, like I would say, I mean, I think the underlying numbers have them like 10 attempts, 10 attempts. But in terms of who had the puck and who was trying to create, I felt like the abs probably had like 65% of it. and they weren't actually pulling off a lot of the stuff that they tried. Volstead was there when they did. They still had their looks. I still felt like in that third period the aves were leaning on counters, right? Sorry, the wild were leaning on counters where the abs were dictating with the puck on their stick.

But I thought the abs were having a mighty tough time breaking the wild open down low, which, you know, it's pretty rare to see the abs frustrated in terms of generating. You can sometimes see them not score, but it's often luck and goaltending. And I actually did think that the way that the Wilde coped with that sort of compressed zone puck movement that the abs do so well, I thought was really impressive in that third period. I will say, you know, Lekin and Landisog in particular are probably two other better bets to win a battle in tight there and maybe create a potential opening that they didn't have in this game. And neither of those guys were available in this one. So maybe the dynamic changes a little bit there. But yeah, it was a fascinating one.

You want to talk a little bit about the Aves' deadline approach and kind of the decision to go all in in the capacity they did? I don't necessarily want to frame it that way because while they clearly, you know, emptied the clip in terms of futures, I believe they wound up sending out two firsts, two seconds, and two-fifths. They get a fourth back from the flames in the cadre trade. They're down to just a 27 second and a 28 third

in terms of remaining draft capital in the first three. rounds or the next three drafts. I don't necessarily view this as all in from their perspective, even though there is a bit of risk, I guess, with the age, cadre's at and the commitment, even after the retention, because of how many alternatives are still available to them with the guys they have under contract entering this offseason, right? Where obviously their Stanley Cup or bust and firmly positioned as so because of their place in the standings and how the past couple years have gone for them.

regardless of how this postseason goes though something I've been talking about in the show is I imagine they're going to get creative with either and maybe even two of these a Ross Colton Valenachushkin or Jack Drury potentially because I believe they've tried to already extend him at a Avs type of number and I think he's quite smartly

even though he doesn't have the counting stats I think everyone appreciates his value and he's one year away from unrestricted free agency and should get up pretty sizable pay raise off the 1.75 wherever he makes. If that proves untenable, we saw them do this with a guy like Alex New Hook, for example. Yep. Was that 23 in that off season where they wind up trading him for 31 and 37 overall and then just get his replacement in Ross Colton with one of those picks

and essentially bank an extra pick, bring in a player they can get use out of. They could explore that. So they're going to be up against the cap, but they also have a bunch of desirable players that they're going to be able to monetize and recoup a lot of this capital they've spent and then rebuild their roster and reload in Kail Makara's final season at $9 million, right? So it's not all in from the perspective of like, I think of the Bruins in 23 when they spent all those picks, I believe it was two first, a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth on Orlov and Bertuzi and Hathaway, and it was kind of a one last ride type of situation.

They lose in round one, all those guys leave. But Tris Burjohn retires, that's clearly not. the case here where the team's going to look different next season, regardless of what happens to this playoffs, but it might be as good or even potentially better because of the optionality they still retain. Yeah. The, I mean, we know that the abs will keep problem solving, and I thought they were wildly impressive and so doing at this deadline. I mean, even little things, like obviously using the Gerard cap hit or that cap space to upgrade its center was kind of a no-brainer, given sort of what their needs were, but to also flesh out your

blue line depth, right? And I mean, the prices that were being paid for right-handed defenders were so absurd. And like one edge, we talk a lot, or we were talking a lot, and then we had to sort of correct ourselves because we kept saying these things about like Sam Malinsky. Right. Being sort of like, you know, somewhat undersized puck mover, Jack a Khan can just like fit into the Aves lineup. But there is a meaningful edge. edge, I think, in having a system that benefits these smart puck-moving undersized defenders that like those types of players can slot into because the acquisition cost, if you're willing to be like, oh, Blankenberg's great.

Like, Blankenberg's perfect for us. And he is, by the way, Blankenberg's awesome. But you pay a fifth versus paying a massive haul for a Luke Shen Logan Stanley package versus paying a massive haul for, like even a Justin Falk or what have you, right? I mean, we saw the prices on these right-handed defenders around the league. You know, Blankenberg for a fifth is tidy business. And if you emerge minus Gerard, but up with, you know, up both Kulak and Blankenberg, and granted you paid a second and a fifth to accomplish it, like their defense or their blue line group is just as good as it was and is in fact deeper than it was,

while they also carved out the space they needed to upgrade elsewhere. I mean, those are the sorts of, those are the sorts of like holistic maneuvers that it just feels like that that organization does better than anyone else in the league. Well, and those are the only two of the guys they acquire that don't have term on their deal. Right. Beyond this season. And I imagine considering how Kulax already looked. And I know, like, the Aves front office generally approaches stuff the same way you and I do in terms of appreciating players.

and I imagine they're quite high on Kulak and that's why they went this route. Assuming it goes well, I think they're probably going to try to bring him back, especially with Brent Burns being a free agent. And then Blankenberg will see if he even factors in at any point this season and it will probably take some sort of an injury to actually get a good viewing of him here. But given his size and generally, I mean, you just said he was available for a fifth year and I don't think there was a big market for it. I imagine they're going to try to bring him back.

as well and get two pretty cost-controlled options moving forward. So I thought the thing that I loved about it is beyond just, like, it was an aggressive approach, but I thought it was controlled aggression and doing it in a pretty pragmatic, thoughtful way with regards to how the pieces all fit and also how to squeeze the most juice out of this window they've got in front of them. And it was also, I think, correctly acknowledging both the opportunity in front of them this season and also maybe the challenges as well, right, in terms of the path and the teams they're going to have to beat. And we saw one of them here and what a grinder was against the wild.

So I don't know. I really enjoyed it in a deadline where we saw some other contenders not really make any sort of meaningful upgrades. I do have to commend them for doing so. Like, they certainly paid a fair price to improve their team. And yet, I think it's one you do every day of the week and you have a chance if you want to get a bunch of those picks back as soon as this offseason. Well, but even if they do get those picks back, they're surely going to use them no High players, right? I mean, that's how you keep reloading,

right? 100%. And, you know, there's going to be some really interesting opportunities to do so, right? Like, you know, you mentioned Drury, obviously,

but we've seen them too, in addition to doing the new hook type trade where a guy's, you know, expiring or close to expiring, but has RFA sort of eligibility. Like we've seen them do with coil, the if you have two years,

right? You might be a guy that we can shop to create flex, ability too. They've got like Nick Waugh, I mean, as much as he could be a long-term fit or a partial answer for them next season, he could also be a means to an end. He could very much fill that coil role, as could Ross Colton. They kind of have two options to do it this offseason. So, you know, yeah, they're, when you're creative enough and know who you are and have built your team too where depth players can come in who are.

particularly undervalued. Like I think that part of their puck possession game, where they almost want their third pair to be a little bit undersized or at least very adept at moving the puck, actually creates this incredibly straightforward route to netting value, right? And I think that's also sort of a big part of the story for me, that Blankenberg price versus everyone else and how little or how easy it is for the abs to fill out the depth of their Blue Line Group as a result of how they play and sort of how thoughtfully they exploit that. I thought that was a really fascinating wrinkle or part of what was kind of a masterclass in

loading up at the deadline. In fact, the Aves did such a good job at the deadline. I'm a little worried that it's going to ding Nathan McKinnon's MVP case, right? We've got 25% of the season left, basically, 20-ish games left for everybody. And when you think about the McDavid of it all, especially, and, you know, he's going to win the Art Ross. He is the best player on the planet. We know this. And his team just surrenders four or five goals a game against a game. Every single Oilers game follows the exact same script. They will be down four two at some point. And it'll just be a question of whether a dry

sidle and McGeighb could score enough goals to win six five. Yeah. Or whether they're going to give up an empty net or lose six four. It's, it's unbelievable. And in fact, that Hurricanes game that they most recently played was like a carbon copy of that. Yeah. And they do it in season. They do it in playoff series. I mean, it's really a remarkable. They are the ultimate in escape artists, but you know, you compare those flaws and, you know, all the, all the injuries that Tampa Bay has had, like in terms of the description most valuable, you know, there's going to be cases made that for me are too cute by half. Like, at the end of the day, McKinnon's the best goal scorer and the key driver of the best team in hockey by a lot. And for me, he should be

obviously the MVP based off of what we've seen to this point this season, provided that he keeps it up, which I have no doubt he will. So I almost worry that the Aves' excellence might cause that conversation to get silly over the balance of the season, and I really just don't think it should. I just think this has been the season of Nate, and we shouldn't factor in the Olympic miss. We shouldn't factor in how good the Aves are at this team-building thing. Like, we should at least be focused on the fact that he is the MVP,

of this season in my mind. I mean, forget the miss in the gold medal game, and I spend every day trying to. I think we came out of that tournament a little worried about his health. Right. In terms of the way he was playing, especially after that hit he took against France,

I believe, in the group stage. And he's come out of the Olympic break, and him and Natchez have been incredible. I feel like they've even leveled up. And we talked about how NACIS was kind of carrying that Chequia team, and even on a team with David Pasternak was their most dangerous player.

Yeah. And he's been... Lights out. Out of this world. Yes. I watched the game. game they played last week, I believe, against the Kings, and, you know, they absolutely shredded them and then put up a crooked number on the stars on Friday. We're great again here. So yeah,

they've been phenomenal in carrying this team. Let's take our break here. And then we come back, we're going to close out this week's Sunday special. You're listening to the Hockey P.D.O.cast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. We're back here on the Hockeyediocast, joined by Thomas Trans for our Sunday special. Tom. What do you want to talk about here? Because we want to certainly stick with the deadline theme and kind of circling back to that. I initially wanted to focus on, you know, big picture consequential items in terms of the good teams that are going to matter in the postseason and what they did or didn't do. And we can certainly do that. I've got some notes on the lightning team we talked about, the hurricanes as well. I've also got notes on teams

that probably aren't going to be in the playoffs, though, and ones that I liked or didn't like in terms of what they did a deadline so i don't know i'll give you the floor here what do you want to start with or do you have like a personal preference or an item coming out of friday's deadline that it's kind of burning a hole in your pocket and you want to you want to get it out here right now the man i'm trying to think through there's um well do hurricanes quick sure so their only ad was nick deloree yeah for i believe a conditional seventh super fun i really hope i'm never traded for a conditional seventh any day you get to stay in the league is a good day.

That's true. That's true. You know, we've talked about the internal kind of hardline valuation system they have, right? In terms of defining a price for every player in terms of their value and for the most part not budging on it and being pretty strict and disciplined. And that's a difficult thing come the NHL trade deadline on an annual basis because it's the time we see T's. teams throw that out the window for the most part and get into either bidding wars or paying premiums out of desperation or because, you know, the market's all wonky the way I was this year and all of a sudden it's like, well, this is kind of the going rate or if we want to improve our team, there's not that many players available. So we're going to have to pay this

price and that's how we're going to justify it. The hurricanes don't do that. The past couple years, they've certainly made the big splashes, right? They got Gensel, they got tried Miko Ranton last year and then pivoted and got Stankovenin. The first. They did. And, you know, as we talked about at the time, like it wasn't ideal in terms of the optics of it or ultimately the end of it from last year's postseason perspective. And we saw how unreal Rantan was and getting Dallas as far as they did. But for the most part, we felt that they made the most of it in terms of the assets they got back, especially with the Stankovin extension that kicks in next year. And then the first, which they still haven't used and will at some point. And the other first

which they used to get P. Andrew Miller. Yes. Now, I get all. that. I come away from it feeling a little bit disappointed just from the perspective of they're going to enter the postseason with a game day lineup that costs about $77 million, which leaves 18 and a half or so on the table in terms of unspent resources. And it's a team that's clearly, really good, is certainly still, in my opinion, one of the two best teams in the East. And you could argue the most likely team to make the Eastern Conference final because of their respective path compared to what the Lightning for example are going to have to go through and they have a long term.

I mean the Sabres. The Sabres are number one in the Atlantic. Whoever comes out of the Atlantic. They're going to take this long term view and it's not going to be judged on just one year certainly. Yet I just talked about how the abs viewed like the opportunity in front of them and made it happen and the Hurricanes did not add a player of significance or consequence to this team that's already really good, but I feel I could certainly get better in some ways. And I don't view

Vincent Trochec like if they had added him, I would not have viewed that as a meaningful upgrade, especially at the price that they certainly would have had to pay. So I'm not sure what that option would have been. I'm sure they explored a variety of ones, including players with term and long term at that. But I don't know, do you have any thoughts on that in terms of coming out of it in our view of them as a contender out east and how they chose to essentially keep their powder dry still with the assets they have and rolling the caps face over and they're going to enter with a ton of flexibility again this off season and we're probably going to see them make some sort of a pretty aggressive move the way they did with Kandre Miller this past summer.

Yet they have a great opportunity to compete for a Stanley Cup this year and they did not improve their team in a meaningful way. So I think we can, I actually think it helps to think about three consecutive deadlines for the Carolina Hurricanes, right? You have the Gensel buy, which turns into a rental. But they did their absolute most that they possibly could to sign him, and only once they realized it wasn't going to be tenable, did they make sure they got something back from him? Even then they wouldn't let him get to July 1 without recouping whatever they could,

even if it was just mid-round picks. Rantan, they test drove, and when he wouldn't sign an extension, they were not going to go down the rental road again. And now this year, they don't do anything. And I think what this speaks to is a organizational philosophy that, you know, we're good enough to win a cup. And what matters most for us to actually get it done

is not to load up and buy a Justin, Falk type or a Nick Wa type to sort of further reinforce our third line. What matters most is to have the longest possible window where we're a team of this quality to try and win. Now, and to add a difference maker. Eventually. Yes. Right.

So, a, they're willing to buy at the deadline provided that it's sort of a barbell strategy. It's either free, Nick Deloree style. or relatively free, Nick Delorese style, or it's incredibly expensive because the player is worth the price of acquisition. Yes. Renton and Norgensel style. They're not going to trade a mid-round pick for Luke Shen.

Like, they're not going to play in that market. They think that's a bad bet. They don't think that those types of players clearly help them win. And sort of they're not going to value adding marginal improvement during their window, what they're instead going to value is the moves that extend their window. And that's the bet. Now, they are definitely zagging where everyone else in hockey zicks. And so I do think that opens them up to criticism.

And I actually think criticism is fair. If you want to second guess that approach, like we'd second guess, you know, a team that's always retooling and refuses to rebuild because their philosophy is that, you know, if you just make the playoffs, you can, anything can happen. And like, it's totally fair to second guess that. I think it's totally fair to second guess this. But I'd say I'd way rather be a fan of a team that's betting on, like, time, right, betting on lengthening their window as opposed to a team that's sort of betting that everything might just magically hit one year. Also, it should be noted that, you know, the context of, and I haven't necessarily seen any reporting on this, I'm not sure if you have any takes on it, but, you know, we talked about like an Asim Qadry for them.

Or Ryan O'Reilly, certainly who doesn't have a no-move clause, but the Predators essentially treated him as such, and he clearly wanted to stay in Nashville and did. Like, I imagine they went down that road to at least some capacity, and those would be the types of players. Like, I'd prefer an O'Reilly for them to a cadre, but given the spot they're in and, you know, the assets they have, and also the just embarrassment of cap space they have moving forward where you can. afford to take some of these risks. And even if the player declines or gets hurt, it's like it won't box you in. Like you'll be able to pivot off of it. There probably isn't a price for the most part, assuming it's futures or prospects who aren't contributing to this team. Like I'm not

including Stancovin and Blake in terms of these trades. That is too rich for me given their proximity to the Stanley Cup. Right. And I think that's a completely reasonable read. In fact, I think you're right. But I understand the sort of obsessive value-minded approach. And, you know, the truth is, too, is we didn't, other than Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild,

like, we didn't have a rantin and caliber guy move at the deadline this year. Yeah, we almost got it with Robert Thomas. We almost got it with Robert Thomas, but we didn't get over it. We didn't get over the hump there. And the hurricanes were reportedly in on that. So...

As they should have been. Yeah, as they should have been. So I think short of something that really moves the needle, I just think that's going to be how they approach it for better or for worse. And I think it's completely, you know, I think this season it's disappointing because of the Panthers' angle of this. Well, and the Lightning similarly, like they had Corey Perry for a second, but I would have felt a lot better about them if they had turned and leveraged Oliver Bergstein, as we were talking about for weeks and months now.

For sure. A guy who's going to score goals on the power play from that shooting flank. And yet on the other hand, of everyone in the East is kind of playing a longer game and being a little bit scrupulous or at least a little bit careful in what they're paying, even though the Buffalo Sabres tried to do more with Pareko, right? I mean, Logan Stanley, Luke Shen, and Sam Carrick for the Sabres.

How good was Logan Stanley on the Sabres broadcast at the start of the second period? Well, first of all, he looked like a cast member from the perfect storm. Gosh, I loved that sweater. It was great. It looked super cozy. I mean, it wasn't a fleece.

If it was like a cool pattern fleece the way I would wear, then I would have been even more in it. That would have been aura farming for sure. I thought the optics of him just towering over not only their play-by-play guy, but then in general, like, menacingly looking down from the press box as all mayhem is breaking loose on the ice and just knowing how desperately I bet he wishes he was out there. It's such a cool visual. So good. But, you know, the Tampa Bay Lightning ad, Corey Perry and the Carolina Hurricanes ad Nick Deloria. I mean, I don't think any of the team at Montreal did very little. Right? Detroit sort of bought the biggest player and it was Falk and I would say they paid too much.

So I want to talk about a team that I think showed an incredible amount of discipline actually. I thought there was one team that I think we should be holding up as an object case and really thinking about and talking about in the years to come because so many teams find themselves in the position that Ottawa or Columbus, are and end up sort of, you know, buying a little bit. You just kind of dip a toe in the water as opposed to really committing to something. And I thought the Washington Capitals, who before this weekend, we would have talked about in the same sentence as both the senators and the blue jackets. And now we won't because they sold. But I think their decision to sell was fascinating to me, mostly because it's a window into the sort of self-discipline. that I think is required if you're going to be the retooling team.

Like if you're going to be the team that is always pushing to make the playoffs next year, I think there's a cost to it. Obviously, we know that there's a cost to it. The middle, in the middle of the NHL standings is death. You don't get access to the draft picks that are most likely to return future heart trophy level players. And, you know, you, so anyway, there's a cost. cost to being in the middle. But I think the way to offset it is if you're constantly good, your players have value. For all that we were talking about, the lack of value for guys like

Scott Lawton, like you look at Scott Lawton versus Nikwa, right? I mean, I think they're pretty comparable players in terms of actual quality. I think, you know, there's reasons to prefer Lotton, especially as a two-way guy. He's also faster. You would say that. I would, but I'm also right. No? No. I don't think so. Defensively and Skating speed?

I think Nick Gua's a better player. I think he's certainly a much significantly more impactful playmaker. Yes. And he has more versatility to play the wing. But, I mean, Lotton's got the speed in the defensive chops. True.

Nick Guad, three million next year is nice. Very nice. So the term plays a role too, but we're talking a huge gap in price. First and a fifth versus a third. Michael McCarrarrow. versus Nick maybe I should have used Michael McCarron versus Scott Lawton maybe that's the more or or Sam Carrick versus Scott Lawton Sam Carrick returned an extra draft pick there's no world where you want

where you take Sam Carrick over Scott Lawton as like a you know in terms of their playing ability I guess yeah no I think it's fine I like Sam Carrick me too yeah me too I also like Scott Lleyn I just don't say yeah that's well documented on the video guys you know the the I think there's a cost to being in the middle and I think the way to offset it is to be extremely ruthless with your self-evaluation at mid-season during those years that you don't have it.

And I thought trading Carlson and moving to trade Nick Dowd and being good enough that like Carlson returned more than just about any right-handed defender except I mean did he return the most? of any of the right-handed defenders?

You could argue that Weaker returned more because he had three, but it's pretty close. Right. Pretty close value-wise. And then Rasmus Anderson, pretty close value-wise. I mean, he was right at the top of the market. And, yeah, he's been productive this season, and obviously he's a winner and a power play, ace, and on and on.

But I don't know that his form dictated him being at the top of the market, given the quality of right-handed defenders that moved. And then Nick Dowd was the exception to the left-handed centerman, and don't seem to be netting huge returns. They do the second and the third. They bring back camp. I mean, you'd rather have doubt he's a way bigger threat to score 10 goals, but they're still going to have the guy to do the yeoman's work

with the extreme deployment that Carver is going to use in camp. So, I mean, I just looked at that and thought, this is the cost. This is the cost of always being in the mix. And this is a team that's willing to sort of make those hard decisions in real time in the midst of a season in which they don't have a chance of contending. I just felt like it was a really, you know, the deadline tells us a lot about various teams like philosophical assumptions, and I thought that was as revealing as the Keynes deciding not to buy.

Undoubtedly, yeah, I talked about this a lot on the Friday show, like in the immediate aftermath of the deadline, but I loved what they did, you know, at the time they had about a 30-ish percent playoff probability, and I think, on true form they're better than that like they they probably are one of the eight best teams in the east but the season's got away from them for a variety of reasons there is also the element of like and we've talked about this the sooner they and i think they're you know they even said as much in the meantime they kind of pass the baton or sort of turn this over in terms of handing over the

car keys to this next generation of capitals players right and we've already seen the the outline of what it could look like from Ryan Leonard. We're going to hopefully get some reps from the second pro die, Ilya Proto, down the stretch and Cole Hudson after the NCAA season. And so they have a lot working for them in terms of what the next wave of Capitals hockey is going to look like. And they just in general need to be faster and more dynamic. And those players are going to be their path towards doing that.

And it was a tough pill to swallow, but I think a necessary one, almost eating your vegetables in a way where they now have this extra first. They have a ton of cap space. They have a lot of young players they've drafted over the past couple years. They're going to be highly desirable in any trade for one of those players that they're craving atop the lineup. And so their malleability and I think optionality to get there was certainly helped by this. You know, you're talking about a lot. And I did want to quickly note, I don't want to spend too much time on the Kings.

No. I could argue we talk way too much about them this season. Yeah. They don't deserve it. I loved, in general, I actually loved what Ken Holland did over the past month or two. And it certainly helped that are, you know, the way things evolved, with intertimore Pannarin eventually after the four-hour teams were kind of out, being like, all right, I want to go to L.A.

and that dictated the price. We don't have to go over that again. But he essentially, since the Christmas break, turned Phil Donneau, Warren Fogel, Corey Perry, Liam, and two-thirds into Artemey-Paneran, Scott Lawton as a rental, and three seconds. Which is nice,

but I also love that all these trades had some sort of condition on the pick that involved L.A. King's playoff success. Right. And it was the ultimate, like, wink? Yeah. Because you're not getting the upgraded version of that pick.

No. Although I think the Lawton 1 actually does upgrade if they just make the playoffs. Yes. So it doesn't necessarily require success, although even that seems a little far-fetched given the state of the team. Just the injuries have piled up against them. But yeah, you know what? Credit to them, right?

Like that is, without waving a white flag in Kopitar's final season, they did make some, you know, necessary choices to look to the future. and that's not easy to do, given the weight that Kopitars had for that franchise. So I do think Ken Holland deserves a tip of the cap for that. I think a less veteran general manager might have found themselves chasing bad money with good money. And he managed to avoid that very obvious landmine. Well, especially getting off some, like, if you include the Fogel money and the Deno one in particular for next year, like they're clearly going to be very positioned to try to leverage or consolidate some of these assets into a player that can fill a spot.

down the middle higher in the lineup. Yeah. And not only the picks, but also the cap space that comes with it is probably going to make or break the ability to do so. Do you want to quickly talk flames? I would love to talk flames. So I know this is going to sound like talking out of both sides of my mouth because I just said I love the, the cadre edition, and I thought the price was totally fine for the, for the

avs in the earlier segment, especially with the retention that allows all of this financially to work for them. But a trade can work for both sides. Yes. I know. It sounds like a bit of a crop. out though in terms of like win-win. But the, for the flames, for example, like retaining on Cadry for the Avs who are in a

win now cup window, you know, not just this year, but for two, three years beyond, maybe five years beyond, given how good they are at rejigging things. A 35-year-old Nazim Cadry with the level of term that he has, especially if you're able to lop a million plus off his cap hit, is the sort of risk that's well-weighed. worth taking to put you over the top. For the Calgary Flames, holding Cadry as a depreciating asset with that level of term on the deal, especially given what the corner you're painted into with the Hubertow contract, is anathema, is far too risky.

I mean, they can't hold that much hockey value in a player that age in a lineup that's going nowhere. That's self-defeating. That's fatal. And it's especially fatal because the big problem that the Calgary Flames have had is despite making a ton of rebuilding moves over the course of the past, what, two and a half years? Like two and a half years, they've basically completely detonated their roster, right? I mean, so sorry, was it last year? No, it was it before. Yeah, so the last year and a half, they've sort of completely detonated their roster.

they've picked 16th, 9th, and 18th. You're never, you're like, so they're getting the sorts of picks you get as a mid-team, while all of us know that they have no path to contention, as it currently sits. Like they had to decide to get worse. They had to. That's the issue.

Cadreys good enough to prop up a team like this and good enough, you know, as a leader to motivate guys and to buy into the rebuild and all of the stuff that's the reason why he makes sense for Colorado to put them over the top, actually harms a team in Calgary's position. Same with Uyghur, same with Rasmus Anderson, and how those guys can hold up in Tufts and on and on. Now, the flames have, you know, very little path

to have the sort of floor that they've maintained across the past two, three seasons, even as they've lost Hannafin and Kichuk and Lindholm and, you know, all of those guys that were on those division-winning teams that they had in the early part of this decade. Absolutely necessary. This was an absolutely necessary deadline for the Calgary Flames. I like that they set an incredibly high market price for right-handed defenders with the Rasmus Anderson trade

and then leaned in to the inflated market that they helped create. Yeah, this is the going rate. Yeah, double dipping, like set the market price exorbitantly high and then hit it again with the Uyghur trade. I think this was the step back that they've needed for years. And I thought they were creative and how they went about it. I mean, even the Ryan Strom value resuscitation project that they took on, it's not an exact analogy for what Montreal did to them with the Sean Monaghan gamble. But it's the way that you have to go about doing that in the cap air, I think, right? It's like no one's paying a first to get off Ryan Strom anymore. In fact, the Ducks still

needed to get paid nominally to part ways with the player. But you're creating a huge vacancy on the power play and at the top of your lineup. And you need an incredible NHL body to fill it. So at the same time that they send Cadreau for a hall, they also bring in a guy that they can speculate and try to rebuild his value. And at two and a half million at the deadline next year, if Strom's a 45, 50 point guy again, as opposed to what, does he have 10 points this year, something like that, having fallen out of the Ducks lineup. I mean, that's a pretty straightforward path to getting a third round pick. I mean, these are the sorts of small value wins that I thought they were able to net just about everywhere with what they did at the trade

deadline while also putting themselves seriously in the running with the likes of Vancouver in the Gavin McKenna, or sorry, the Gavin McKenna, the Landon-Dupont sweepstakes. No one's catching Vancouver in the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes, but the Landon-Dupon sweepstakes, I mean, they have a real shot at being a bottom two or three team next year, and that's what they've needed for the last three years more than any single factor. So I thought this was the sort of deadline that Craig Conroy and the Calgary Flames absolutely needed,

and I thought it was executed with a high degree of creativity. So they turned Rasmus Anderson, McKenzie Weiger, and Osam Khadry, and a fourth round pick they sent the abs as well, into three seconds this year, including the Rangers one, which is really a late first. 27 first and second, 28 first and second, and Zach White Cloud,

who I would very reasonably argue is a significantly better asset than Rasmus Anderson at this point. Yeah, I mean already, right? Yes, because, listen, like, I know Raston Anderson is like an 830 on I see a percentage in Vegas, and that's going to make anyone look bad. I think the first 14 games, though, have looked bad enough that I think the proposition

of giving him eight years, as he turns 30 is downright harrowing, whereas White Cloud at 2.75 for two more years, is immediately going to become a premium asset who they obviously value enough to keep him around because he plays the right way and is useful and cheap, but the day will come at some point over the next year or two where they turn that into probably another first.

Yeah, almost certainly, given the premium for right-handed defenders. And so... Especially ones with mobility who are willing to throw big hits, and he's willing to do both. And now I will say, that's a great. great point you make about like they were already kind of in the race to finish 31st. This certainly helps push them further in that direction though. And they've got 20 games left and they're only one point back of the Blackhawks and the

Rangers for the second best lottery odds, which is guarantee a top four pick. Now, ironically enough that the win on Saturday night against the Carolina, against the Carolina hurricanes does not help matters. But there's going to be a lot of losing over these next 20 games and over the next couple years and I think that's perfectly fine and a justifiable part of the process. And picking 18th last year, as fun as that story was, and we appreciated how competitive they were and Dustin Wolf being so incredible. Like, you can't have that. No, you can't. You cannot have that. They also even did well with the pick. Like Coles, Resny would go higher than 18th

in a redraft today just 10 months after that draft was held. So it's like, you know, they've done a lot of things well. They've drafted well. They've found good value. And all of this matters. Like they're going to eventually be positioned with a ton of the sorts of assets that can help you win the bidding for one of those dudes that matter. But the Calgary Flames aren't getting back to the top of the Pacific Division, especially with, you know, what we're seeing from Macklin, Celebrini and Leo Carlson, not to mention what McDavid's still got in the tank and what Vegas does year after year, even if those two teams are having down years relative to their usual form. and frankly, relative to the level that we think they'll probably hit in the playoffs, or at least be capable of accessing in the playoffs. You're not getting back to that level without two and a half heart trophy level dudes.

Like that's the whole goal. And everything Calgary has done has prevented them from accessing those types of players over the next 18 months. I think they're going to have multiple swings at the plate or multiple chances up to bat to find and land the sorts of real game, like math, all the way. altering game changers that that organization needs desperately. This was, I thought, a masterful deadline for Conroy and company. I think they were the winners among the seller teams, and I actually don't think it's all that close.

I wanted to also talk Cracken and Islanders, but maybe we can just save that for next week or down the road. I was watching that Cracken game against the Senators, and I was like, yeah, tough. They don't have it. Well, they certainly don't have it, and regardless of the outcome of that game or whatever happens, I could also argue that they did not need their 17th middle six forward that they just added in Bobby McMahon.

Yeah. Also, it was like they made the Marchment trade cost neutral and then basically paid the same price as they got back for Marchment having paid for him the first time. I guess you could say that it's like they hedged their bets in December when things looked grim and then decided to bolster a team to try and make a playoff run in a market that is saturated. It is Seahawks country down there. The Mariners are hot as heck. It's pretty easy for them to, you know, fall off the map in the context of sort of the Seattle sports zeitgeist, especially with, you know, news now that the Sonics might come there. So the Cracken are always sort of fighting against this business case.

Yeah, but no, I mean. Bobby McMahon isn't going to increase their stronghold in the market. Nothing kills you more than being mid. Yeah. Nothing kills you more than being mid and they just continue to. in their wheels, despite, you know, some good work from Lane Lambert to really tighten up what they're doing in zone. And then I thought the Braden Shen trade was probably a, you know, kind of like the key for sure would trade. Like, I like the fit for them in some ways in that they've

added, you know, I think some high character people to their forward ranks, some guys who I do still think have some game left, even if they haven't been as good this season as they typically are in Shen and Palat, but, you know, it just felt a little too soon for me to be giving up those sorts of assets for a player at that stage of his career. See, I view it the opposite. Like, it's too soon in terms of how good they are, even though they're sitting in a playoff spot that they're in the metro, they've got 50 plus percent playoff probability. They keep finding ways to win games late and overtime and shootout. And there's so much to like in terms of you just get in. And it's like, all right, Elias Sorokin is playing as the best goalie in the world.

Matthew Schaefer is going to be on the ice for 27 to 28 minutes and is going to make a huge difference. And this is fun. And I get all that. I view it as like Schaefer is so good. And this team has still has so much work to do around him that maximizing his ELC years is actually an interesting idea. I don't know necessarily that taking on Andre Platt's money next year and bringing back J.G. Pajot and now acquiring Braden is necessarily my definition of doing maximizing that window yeah now they did get off of the jonathan drew on money for next year as well and that was a big swing or mid swing and miss for them yeah and so like the actual cap cost is pretty low and that first is the abs pick so it's i don't portray it as like you know they went

all in because they certainly didn't no um but if anything i would have liked to see them be more aggressive in like an actually meaningful way especially if it was for a player that's gonna fit the timeline a little bit more and not be someone who's 35 plus yeah it just feels like now a lot is going to hinge on like geeky acheson and eckland providing that second wave of young talent for them i definitely would have liked to see them give themselves more outs over like a three to four year horizon to find you know that one other guy that's going to matter uh as like a running mate for shaffer right like ideally ideally a center who's going to be a player at that level for this franchise at the time that, you know, Shen, Pajot and Beau Horvett begin to age out of being

really good. All right, buddy. Let's get out of here. This is a fun Sunday special. I feel like we covered a lot of ground. I mean, still so much I want to talk about with you, but we'll be back next Sunday to cover the rest of it. What do you want to promote the way out?

Oh, you know, a lot of Canucks talk at Canucks Talk on Sportsnet across the Sportsnet Radio network. You know, I ironically find every time I appear on the show, there's not as much. Canucks talk as you'd think. We really are not talking Canucks very much. No. And it's a high quality show. I think so, yeah.

We have lots of fun conversations. Well, you know what? Realistically, come listen to Canucks Talk. It's your home for chatter about the 2026 NHL entry draft and the 2027. I've gotten, I don't know if you have. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on the show we did a week or two ago where we just on National Pokemon Day. Yeah.

We just spent a full segment talking about like the evolve. forms of various Canucks players. Yeah. And including feedback from people who I know aren't Canucks fans or even live locally here in this market and they were just tuning in and they're like, yeah, this is, this is podcasting at its finest. Well, we can appropriate the bit for our needs at some point on a Sunday special. But yeah, so we'll, you know, we'll be talking Pokemon and other things on Canucks

talk. So check that out. And then, you know, I'm, I'm going to do some fun stuff at, at the athletic that'll be Canucks-E, but also sort of more focused. on big picture rebuilding ideas, you know, which I think will have some interest for Canucks fans and non-Connux fans

alike over the course of the next two months. All right, buddy, keep up the great work. Looking forward to having you on next Sunday. Give us a five-star review wherever you listen. Subscribe to the PDOCest, Patreon. Got a couple fun shows, book to start the week right off the hop. We'll have Jack Han on.

We'll also do a Sabres deep dive. So join us for those. That is all for today. The trade deadline may be over, but we're not going anywhere. In fact, business is just starting to pick up here for us. We're going to get ready for the stretch run, which will be a sprint heading towards the playoffs. So a lot of fun stuff ahead. Thank you for listening to the HockeyPedocast streaming

on the Sportsnet Radio Network.