The Hockey PDOcast - Stories we're most interested in down the stretch

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Pete Blackburn from Bally Sports joins Dimitri to talk about the most interesting stories to follow during the final five weeks of the NHL regular season.This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty. 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. 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 HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich, and joining me is the co-chair of the Tage Thompson Appreciation Society. It's my good buddy, Pete Blackburn. Pete, what's going on, man? How are you? It's been a little bit since the last time we talked. Since then, we've got matching T-H t-shirts. We're on our way to the fan club of being official. Yeah, we haven't gone to the matching denim jackets yet. That's going to be the next step in taking this relationship to the whole other level, but we've started off on a good note. You know, there was a, there was reportedly a sighting of a large group of dudes at a Sabres game recently

who were spotted wearing page Cajan, 2023 t-shirts. And, and apparently they weren't even cheering for the Sabres or whoever the Sabres were playing that night. They were just, quote-unquote, hockey fans. There's a lot to unpack there. First off, kudos. I see you guys. I respect it. Second of all, why weren't Pete and I invite it? That's, that's, that's kind of. know what I want to know. Yeah, that's a good question. Either way, whether or not I'm involved, I support it 1,000 percent, just guys being dudes traveling around, like the traveling Tage Club, I'm all for that. You were telling me that, was it at the All-Star game? You were talking to people and they were admiring our conversations about Tage and how much we were supporting him

this season? Yeah, it was either the All-Star game or the Stadium series, but I was talking to this group at a bar and they were like we love dim we love tage we love that you guys are like behind them and i was like i was like i was like i got to show you my dms with with dim and it's just literally it's just all just either just the word tage or tage highlights just endless stream of just tage content and they were dying laughing it was so funny that's cool man well a shout out to them and uh and hopefully we can uh we can keep the good times going so here's the plan for today um i gave you a bit of a homework assignment. We each put together a list of our favorite or most interesting stories that we're kind of keeping an eye on for the final five weeks of the regular season.

And let's be honest, this is kind of like the most boring part of the schedule, in my opinion. I know there's some playoff races to be kind of excited about, but for the most part, like the drama of the trade deadline is done. We all just kind of want the playoffs to get here because especially this year, it's going to be so awesome. So we're trying to draw up some interest here. So the plan is we're going to do our draft. We're going to go in order. I'll give you the first pick here. You can give me your most interesting story to watch. And then we'll just go back and forth. And hopefully we can let the listeners know kind of why we're excited about them and then also why they should be as well. Okay. Yeah. No, I agree with you that this is. I wouldn't, I don't know if I'd say that this is the

most boring part of the schedule, but it's the most excruciating because like you said, we're kind of just waiting for the playoffs. With my first pick, I feel like I would be, I would be wrong to go any other direction as a Boston guy just to see if the Bruins finish the best team basically in regular season history. That's to me, that's the hook for me, but also I think that that has obviously like a national appeal in maybe being able to witness the best regular season team in the history of the league. So that's certainly on my radar and it probably is on a bunch of other people's radar as well. Wow. I can't believe that that was your first pick. True stunner just out of left field. So, okay, let's, let's unpack it. They,

at the time of recording, they're 49, 8, and 5. They're on pace for 136 points and 65 wins. They've lost four games this season by more than one goal, which is just a staggering thing to think about. Like, they have not been blown out basically all year. And the reason why that point pace is interesting. I had them second on my list. I knew you were going to take them and I was going to give you the first pick. So I never, I never doubted for a second that I was going to ever going to get them in this draft. But, you know, the 95, 96 wings had 131 points, the 76, 77 habs, a team I definitely spent a lot of time watching live and in the moment 50 years before I was born, had 132 points. And I guess the only real question here is if the Bruins approach in the

final five weeks is going to be like a lot of load management and resting guys and kind of, especially with some of their veterans just getting them prepared for what they hope is an extended playoff run if sitting those guys is going to give them a few more losses and prevent them from getting that 133 only total that would set the all-time high now but they have so much depth and we've already seen it on the blue line right where they basically have seven guys that they want to play and so they're just taking turns alternating one of them out of the lineup and so it feels like they'll be able to do that for the most part without missing too much for beat yeah and like based off of that too is that, you know, more or less the, well, I guess with the exception of the wild

card, it's like the Eastern Conference, the teams that are in kind of know that they're in. So like I wonder if the Bruins going up against like a team like the Lightning or a team like Toronto where it's like they don't have too much to play for either. And then you've got teams towards the bottom of the standings where their incentive is to lose. So even if they are arresting guys and taking their foot off the pedal a little bit, they still could be winning these games. And I think, like, the closer you get to accomplishing history and that, that history of that magnitude, I don't know if they're going to take their foot off the gas too, too much. Yeah, I mean, so far they've talked about how they don't really care about it. And they're,

like, and I understand why, right? Like, especially in NHL, everything is so centered around winning the Stanley Cup. And that's kind of all the matters. And so especially the last time we saw a pursuit like this in the 2018-19 Lightning, they, They didn't win a single playoff game and flamed out in historic fashion. So I get all that. But yeah, they're a uniquely position where, like, let's say they want to give Bramershon a couple nights off arrest him. All right, they can just bump up Tyler Bertuzi up to the top line wing or whatever.

It's like they're going to sit Linus Elmark and they should because he's already going to quickly be approaching sort of territory he's never been in before in terms of games played. They're just going to play Jeremy Swainman instead. It's not like they're necessarily going to be like calling up HL guys and forcing them into premium roles here. It'll just be like other good NHLers that are stepping up. So yeah, I'm pretty confident in their ability to get there and it's pretty remarkable. I don't know. Do you, do

maybe you're the wrong person to ask this because I'm sure you're sort of like in it and you're and you're feeling on a day to day basis, but do you feel like nationally it's been a big enough story in terms of like the season they're having? Because you just look at it's like they already have 49 wins. They smash their preseason over under like three weeks ago or whatever. Like it might be the best regular season team we've

ever seen. And yet people are talking about it certainly, but it's not like a day-to-day sort of a point of of attention, I guess. Yeah, but I mean like I don't I don't expect that to happen. I feel like there's there's a certain level of boredom that comes when a team is just like this good for for this prolonged period of time. And like you kind of exhaust yourself in what you're able to say about them. And I think at this point, everybody, I'm so I'm even surprised at this point how many people are like, damn, the Bruins are just on another level. Like, I expected people to find reasons to hate and find reasons to be like, all right, well, they're just going to flame out because they haven't faced any adversity. I've seen a lot of people around the entire league just

be like, this team is so far above everybody else right now that it's crazy. And I think that that's true. And I don't know what else there is more to say from like a national level. Yeah. Well, there's also the fact that like, you know, like, Doms model of Athletic has them as like a 40% chance to win the Stanley Cup or something, which is like the highest total we've ever seen. And yet that still means that there's a 60% chance that they don't. And yeah, there's a better chance that they don't. And that could be turned into a, oh, well, it was all for nothing. It was kind of like a failure of a season, right? Even if they, even if they fall short in the Eastern Conference final or second round or something like that. So yeah, it's, it's interesting, interesting framing of it. All right. Well, here's, well, here's, here's a follow-up pick I had to the Bruins side because with any draft you got to know your opponent and you got to know game theory and so I knew you were going to go Bruins and then I'd be able to follow up with mine

which is the wild card race in the Eastern Conference and the reason why I bring this up in particular for the second wildcard spot which is slated to face the Bruins in round one I'm curious for your take on which of the teams in the mix has the best likelihood or chance of giving the Bruins some sort of a problem in a seven-game series.

Not necessarily any of these teams is going to be a massive underdog, of course, but just whether it's stylistically or personnel-wise, something that one of these teams can do that can sort of give them a bit of a problem or trip them up or potentially give them at least a bit of a scare in round one. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm not overly scared of any of them, but, you know, I think when you look at it, like, I think that the Panthers and senators would give me a, bit more of a concern.

Like, I'm really not worried about, like, any of the teams from the bottom end of the metro, honestly, like, the Islanders, the, the penguins. Like, I think that both of those teams are really flawed. And not that the others aren't, but in terms of, like, matching up against the Bruins, I think the senators and, uh, and the Panthers probably have, like, the best I guess pure talent to matchup against the Bruins at this point

but at the end of the day I don't think I'm going to be overly scared based off of what they have versus what the Bruins have and what they've had all year long yeah I mean in 2019 when we were kind of going through this exercise with the lightning where before the playoffs

they were rattling all these regular season wins and we were trying to devise a strategy for like how they can be beaten and then I remember at the time I basically made a checklist of four things and they were you have to slow the pace down against them because like if there's just fewer events happening you're kind of more likely to upset them uh you have to limit the number of power plays because at the time the lightning's power play was just outrageously good now the bruin

is still really good but they're kind of less reliant on it so that might not be as big of an issue here having a hot goal goalie of course which is i think the number one thing and mabrofsky in that series certainly uh was a difference maker and then just like recent performance in terms of like the last 20, 25 games, how the teams play, how they're controlling the puck, what their underlying numbers look like. And the issue for a lot of them, in this case, the Panthers kind of come up in that, right, where they've been the best team most recently in terms of underlying numbers. The issue for me, though, is they play at an incredibly fast pace, which worries me because

it exposes them to the Bruins, just kind of countering them and then beating them that way. And they also take a ton of penalties, and their goalie is highly successful. suspect. And so, yeah, for like, in isolation, I would say that the Panthers are the best of the bunch or have the most firepower, I guess, to threaten the Bruins in that type of series. But I just, all of those underlying kind of traits of theirs make me worry that they're actually a legitimate risk to upset them in round one. I mean, the, the Panthers are an interesting case because it's like, you mentioned Bobrovsky and obviously not having the year that he had last year. And, like, they're, I do believe that the Bruins can slow them down.

and like they can beat the crap out of them over the course of a seven game series especially with the kind of the snarl that they picked up at the deadline. So like the Bruins can beat you in so many different ways and they've shown that throughout the course of the year

and they can counter whatever you do strength-wise. But Brobowski's an interesting case because he has been really good at the front end of playoffs in the past and then he kind of loses it as it goes on. So I like regardless of what he's shown this year, he's such an inconsistent goalie that's hard to kind of figure out who he's going to be at any given time. So like even the fact that he's not having such a great year doesn't deter me from the fact that

like he could be a star goalie in the first round of a playoff series and could give you some trouble. And I think that that that does give me a little bit more concern when it comes to the Panthers versus any of the other teams. Yeah. I mean, they sudden, It's tough. I think it's my head versus my heart in this conversation because I think the Islanders probably like mathematically have the best chance just because if I'm trying to paint a roadmap for what happens, it's like Sorokin has four games where he stops 45 out of 46 shots or something and they win that way and then you wind up just looking back and you're like how did the Islanders just win this in six. Now I watched that most recent game. The Islanders played

against the Bruins a couple weeks ago very closely and I believe it was like 6-0 or something at one point and it was just the Bruins were sort of running laps around them so I'm worried that the Sorokin is the best player but they just don't have the firepower otherwise to keep up with them right and like the reason that Sorokan's year so far has been so so damn impressive is just because they're giving up so much in front of him and like the high danger chances that that the islanders have given up all year long is they're not the same islanders team as like the very retrods era and So, like, they're kind of going in the complete opposite direction. So, like, that's, I just think that the Bruins would have so much opportunity

against Sorokin in a seven-game series regardless of how good he was. Yeah. Well, that's the, that's the strange thing about this, where out of these four teams, they were talking about, right? The Islanders, Senators, Sabers, and Panthers. The senators this season have actually technically been the best defensive team out of the bunch, like basically any metric you look at, whether expected goals against high danger chances against whatever types of opportunities

they're giving up. They've been the best. And right for years, it was like, oh, the Sends team can score a lot of goals and they have a young, exciting team, but their defense is just so loose. And that actually hasn't really been the case this year. If anything, their 5-1-5 goal scoring has been dragging behind. Whereas the Islanders are still thought of as this kind of elite defensive juggernaut. And really, it's just been Soroken for the most part, carrying them on that end. So I guess all of these teams will probably lose and probably in quick fashion in that series. So I guess my pick for this would have to be our Buffalo Sabres because- It would be the most entertaining, and I think they'd probably get swept.

Maybe they could win one game, but there would be at least two games in that series where the Sabres like went up for nothing or 4-1 or something, and then eventually wound up just giving it back in quick fashion, or they went down early and then scored a bunch of goals. You know what it would be. It would be the Battle of Alberta from last spring, where it was like an incredibly entertaining series, but it was also incredibly quick. Yeah. Right.

I agree and I have like on my list of draft picks I did have you know Buffalo Sabres making the playoffs wild card push like I'm rooting for that very hard just because pound for pound I think they had been the most entertaining team this year and we we talked about it in the watchability rankings earlier this season they're just like the most watchable team in the league this year but for better and for worse because they score a ton and they give up a ton it's just a lot of high event stuff yeah I mean they're like youth and good vibes and offensive great vibes

I think would be a bit of a challenge for the Bruins right like I at the same time though they're just they're so loose defensively and they make you know the types of mistakes you'd expect from a team that's in their like life cycle where they're at right now which is on the way up that like there'd certainly be over the over every one of those games at least a handful of times or you're just like

why did the Sabres just do that whether it's a turn over a dumb penalty or something and the Bruins would immediately make them pay so in that sense it would be kind of like humbling because It's a horrible matchup from like an experience and a disciplined perspective. But the firepower and the vibes are so there that I think they could at least like threaten them in a handful of those games. So I think that's why they'd lose, but they'd be the most entertaining loss out of the bunch, I think. I agree. I agree. Okay. What's up?

And my next pick, I have Connor McDavid pushing 70. I think that's going to be absolutely worth watching. I don't know. What was the last time somebody hit 70? Like 91, 92? I have the stats for your repeat. This is what we do on the show. So he's on pace for 68 goals, right? Okay. The last time anyone hit 65 was Obetkin in 0708. No one's hit 70 since Solani and McGilney did it together, where they did it at the same time, the same season in 92, 93. Okay. Yeah. That's, uh...

Can we hit 76 and 77 games for something like that, I believe, that season? outrageous. So yeah, it's been quite a while. Quite a while, and it's certainly like one of those things where, like, growing up at my age, like I look back on some of those stats, like Salani, even like Mario

Gretzky, and you look at those numbers, and you look at kind of the way that the league plays now, and you're like, how the hell did any of those guys put up that kind of production? And I know, like, the games change and stuff, but it's kind of like hard to wrap your head around. And I think that we're in the midst of

of a season right now where even in a few years people can look at at those numbers and be like how did this happen and so watching connor even get close to 70 and you know you mentioned obechkin hitting 65 and that being you know the only time that he touched that like the greatest pure goal score of this generation maybe ever only hit that number once and you've got mc david on pace to eclipse it and possibly touch 70. That is insane and it's just like, I'm interested to watch to see how, where he finishes at and as a,

as like a 1B, what kind of heart discussion will there be? Will people wrap their mind in such a dumb little pretzel that they convince themselves that anybody is more valuable than the guy who is putting up like a generational season. I don't see how that's going to happen. Because the Bruins are already going to take home the cell.

But it's plus minus, though. Oh, my God. I'm not even going to entertain that. That topic. I think, like, there's a, there's a pasturnack argument in terms of what, like, it's the Kucherov equivalent in 2019, right? Where McDavid that year also had an outrageous season. It was carrying the Oilers to an even greater extent.

But Kucherov put up all these points on this team. that was historically great. And so that was the argument. But in this case, it's like, Montgomery's going to win the Jack Adams, Allmark's going to win the Besna, Bergeron's going to win the Selke. I think that's okay. I think the Bruins are accounted for on the individual awards. I think we can recognize Pasternak's incredible season with the contract he just got

and also like a second or third place hard finish. I don't think we need to shoot Hornem into first here because what McDavid is doing is clearly, like he's playing his own support and then everyone else is battling for second. I don't even know if Posternak would be like the hard candidate it for the Bruins. Like, it might be Olmark. I had the Posernock in terms of, I know that the workload is smaller.

And, you know, you have the argument about, you know, goalie's winning hard, never happens, doesn't get the boats, whatever. But, like, I don't know. I think that for as good as a season of Posternach's having, like, Olmark has been insane. And, like, I don't think that he should be hard. Like, I would put Tage in front of him, too. Like, but it's a one-man race at the end of the day.

It's, there's no, there's no discussion to be had. McDavid is just outrageous. And even by his own standards, which were insane to begin with, he's blowing that out of the water. So there's just no discussion. It's, it's unnecessary brain gymnastics to even go anywhere else. Yeah, I guess if you're making the, the Bruins MEP conversation, Pastor Neck doesn't even have goal scoring anymore because Almarc has them there now.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. So another note on McDavid, so he has 124 points in 65 games, right? Steve Eiserman got to 155 in 1988, 89. That still stands as the most anyone not named Gretzky or Lemieux has gotten to, and McDavid's on pace for 156 right now. So I think from like a, there's the 70 goals certainly,

which is highly intriguing to follow, but I think also whether he can get to 156 points, which he's on pace for right now, actually is a significant number because it would be it would basically put him in even more verified air right up there with with basically anyone other than lemuey o'gressky which is quite the company to be keeping so um yeah i i'm really fascinated by by mac david because i was just watching this like five with five minute video feature that ryan rishog did on tsn the other day about him and it was sort of the the perspective of it was basically like and this isn't unique to him

because all these great players go into the off season and the reason why they're great is because they keep working at their graft right and so they like get better at stuff and he like a year ago or whatever was like i need to get significantly better as a shooter and improve my finishing ability even when he was having all these hundred plus points seasons and then now he comes out and has this year and it's kind of like cool to see that progression and also scary to think that he could keep getting better and adding different tricks to his to his bag while he still has that like generational speed right It's not like this is like a 28, 29 year old veteran who's kind of losing it physically. So he's trying to find ways to get better.

He's doing this while he's still on the way up. And that's kind of scary to think about. Yeah, it's sort of like that Jordan Kobe mentality where it's like you legitimately have to be built different in terms of like if you're Connor McDavid and you look at what you've done over the past several years. And then you're in the off season and you're evaluating yourself and you're like, I can be better than you like you're. were legitimately built different because I know if I was in that position, I'd be like, I'm the best player in the league. What do I have to work on? Like my team needs to get better around me. And like, I'm doing the best that I can and I'm already so much better than everybody else. And so to have the mindset that like, hey, I can, this is where I can improve. This is

where better. Good for him, especially in the fact that he was right and he did it. He has 33 more points than anyone in the league that isn't on his own team. So the gap between him and Kuturov is the same as Kuturab and Anzay Kopitar, who's 45th in scoring. He has like 25 more chances off the rush and from the shot and from the slot than anyone else in the league. I noticed he was playing like 2243 or something per game. And I was like, wow. I know he played 2250 a couple of years ago, but I was like, I wondering sort of in

recent years where that's stacked up against the most usage for any forwards. And then I found this Paul Korea season in 98, 99 where he played 2516 per game. and didn't miss a single game. And I was like, wow, that is, that's something else. What a, what a tank that guy was. Yeah, I love the McDiaman's also doing this. Like, a lot's been made about, you know, how much of his production is coming on the powerplay, right? And it's silly to me that that's kind of used as a knock against him.

I acknowledge that 5-15 points are, are tougher to come by than power plate points. But in this case, it's not like he's playing the Tyson-Berry role where he's just passing it to Connor McDavid and then squeezing out all of these secondary assists. He is Connor McDavid, right? He's the one creating all this. He plays with Dreisidal, and he's fantastic in his own right, as a trigger man in particular. But just watching the way he sort of operates with the speed and precision that he still uses in those ozone settings is, that shouldn't be a knock. In fact, it should be another sort of feather in his cap that he is responsible for, arguably, the best powerplay we've also ever seen.

Yeah, I mean, it's not like he's immersed. He's, he's, number one, he's probably creating, I don't know what his, like, his penalties created or power plays created numbers are, but like, I'm sure that a lot of those powerplays come because he's, he's debris and so much faster than everybody else and he's getting mugged and, you know, he's facilitating. And at the end of the day, like, they count the same. I know that you don't want to be like exclusively a merchant, but he's not exclusively a powerplay merchant.

He makes, he generates and produces. both at even strength and in the power play, and at the end of the day, they both count the same. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's at 515, he's actually,

you could argue, he's been a bit unlucky. Like, the team is scoring less with him on the ice on their shots than they historically have with him, and he plays like 40% of his minutes with that Cody C.C.

Darnelner's pairing, which, like, there's stretch patches to him. I feel like if they were a little bit better, that point total might be even higher. So, you know, not that he needs any more points. I think he's doing fine.

but I just you put it all together and there's really it's kind of like an unassailable case for everything and that's why he's going to win the heart, the Lindsay, the R. Ross, and the rocket the season. So, okay, Pete, let's take our break here and then when we come back, we're going to do the rest of our lists.

You are listening to the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Merrick Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back here in the Hocoppedio cast with Pete Blackburn.

We're going through our list of favorite storylines for the final five weeks of the regular season. So Pete, I believe it's my turn. You just did Connor McDavid's point and goal pursuits. Let me give you more of a future-oriented one then. The tank battle of 2023. So it's business is picking up here. The Blue Jackets have 47 points and 64 games. The Blackhawks are 49 and 64.

The Sharks. are doing their best. They're at 50 and 65, the Ducks, 51 and 65, and the coyotes, 54 and 64. First, it was, like, Belmalka and Ingram, and more recently it's been Schmaltz and Keller, and they're just doing everything to piss Bill Armstrong off as much as they can, and I love it. I have this, like, vision in my mind of after every game, as they win, they're just coming back in the locker room, and Bill Armstrong's there, just, like, his arms crossed just looking super sad, and they're just, Kelly are just giving him, like, a little smirk. It's hilarious that they want to be as bad as they can and they should be

because every one of these teams should be, but they're like going out of their way to play as well as they can. And I know that players don't tank, right? It's teams that do. And I think the coyotes, for their part, have tried to do everything they can to position themselves to tank. And yet still, they are struggling to be in the bottom five teams.

And that's kind of funny to me. Yeah. I mean, it's like the, it is funny. It's like this team can't do anything right, even if it's losing and intentionally, take tanking. So that's been funny to me. And then like kind of like on like the flip side is like the docs where they had some momentum last year and people were like, okay, maybe they'll take the next step this year and they've been awful. And so it seems like there, I mean, I agree with you that this

is a storyline to watch. It's what I had. I had it on my list. Like there are a number of themes that are going to be in the tank battle and are already in the tank battle. And they've, been fluctuating in like a weird stretch to like Chicago even after trading everybody like just went on a heater and it's like I wonder how egregious it's going to be like towards the end of the year in the final weeks that like they're sitting they're sitting guys they're you know kind of like tanking their own lineup because they should absolutely be trying to lose as much as they can because badard's just that good yeah I mean the difference between like the bluejack right now are holding what a 25.5% chance of getting Madar and also if you're last you get

guaranteed top three and it feels like the top three in this year's class in particular that a division between those guys and then the fourth pick is pretty significant as well and so that's like a clear objective whereas you look at the ducks they're down to 9.5% and they must like it's it's kind of ironic because you you look at it they're 30 second in goal differential they are 30 second in regulation wins. They've only won 11 times a season of regulation. They have the worst defensive metrics of any team in the analytics era. Like they're giving up 40 shots against per game. They're giving up four goals against per game. And they also would be, for my money, the most interesting bad dart landing spot because I think they have the most realistic path to immediately getting at least like feisty and

competitive, not necessarily really good. But they have a ton of flexibility. They're going to change their coach. We're just going to give them a massive improvement on the defensive end. And if they out of Guy like Badar, they call up Zell Weger and some of these other, like, prospects they've drafted recently. They could legitimately get better in a hurry, which isn't always the case for teams picking that high in the draft. And yet, for everything, for as bad as they've been, as miserable as the season's been, they're only the fourth worst team. So it's kind of, it's like, it's almost, it's remarkable that they're not the worst, but maybe that speaks to sort of just how bad

some of the other teams have been around them. Like the sharks, I was watching the game the other night. And I know there was a second of a back-to-back, but, That game they played in Colorado was absolutely hilarious. There was a point where the abs had five goals and the sharks had two shots on goal. And for the first period of that game, they generated as a team's 0.02 expected goals for, which I've never seen in a period for a team. And so I'm really curious to see, like, I think these final couple weeks there are going to be some shenanigans, right? I'm really curious to see some of these lineups that are trotted out and some of the tactics teams employ

because it could get pretty competitive in terms of like trying to lose as much as they can. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some some phantom or suspicious injuries that are popping up in the final few weeks of the season. And I agree with you that. I think the ducks and the blue jackets are potentially like the two teams

that could get better very quickly with the addition of Bedard. And I just like, I don't know, like I think that the ducks are the duck server maybe the most intriguing landing spot for me in terms of Bedard. So like I'm keeping an eye on them

and obviously that minus 100 goal differential is quite hilarious at this point in the season. And they're the fourth worst team. Like it's almost impossible to be 11 regulation wins. I know. And a minus 100 goal differential is amazing that they're not the 32nd ranked team. They're not even the worst team in California.

It's crazy. Yeah, this brings me back to the 2050. I was looking this back up again. There's a YouTube video of from the game, March 26, 2015. It was the 74th game of the Buffalo Sabres season. You're playing at home against the coyotes. The coyotes win in overtime.

And the Buffalo crowd just goes crazy. They're just so happy their team lost. And I think it's, you know, there's going to be a lot of McDavid-Badarer comparisons, but I think in this case, like the intensity for trying to maximize your draft lottery odds is going to be about as great as we've seen since that point. So I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah. Okay. You, uh, what's next on your list? Yeah. So, uh, I had that one, but I'm also going to go with, uh, the Pacific race because this Pacific race is really interesting to me just based on like, it's a bad division. But I also think it's bad and entertaining just because the teams are pretty close. Like I feel like any of those, like you, you look at like the knights, the kings, the crack and the Oilers.

any one of those teams could win that division based off of how the final five or six week shake out. And I legitimately think any one of them has a shot to win that division. And so, like, it's, I'm interested to see how that shakes out, one, because, you know, you obviously give yourself an easier, a little bit of an easier path in the playoffs. And I'm interested to monitor the, like, the matchups that come out of, out of that round in the bracket.

And I'm kind of rooting for another Oilers Kings playoff rematch. And I think that any of those matchups that come out of that division are going to be really interesting. And just like I think that those teams with how wide open the West is worth monitoring. Yeah, Oethers Kings will be fun. I guess if the Oilers were to win the Pacific, then we'd get locked into a Golden Knights Kings. round one match up but unfortunately i think jonathan quick probably wouldn't be playing ideally for the golden nights in that but it would also be highly entertaining to see that as a series as well but i think you know considering the other options they haven't and it seems unlikely

they'd actually use quick in those games so like a lot of camera shots of the broadcast like showing him sitting on the bench and his baseball hat aren't as appealing uh from an entertainment perspective but i think after every goal after every goal they they cut to quick they should just have an iso cam yeah it just watch I have like a heart rate monitor that just monitor and like seeing like what's going on with all his biometrics. That'd be funny. Yeah, no, I think I think the Pacific being wide open is is highly interesting and sort of that

jockeying for position and trying to get whole mice. I guess the thing for me is like the discrepancy between pretty much every team in the central aside from what Colorado could be if they get healthy for game one of the playoffs is so minimal that, like, the incentive, you know, some years it's like, oh, you want to, you want to stay out of that two, three battle in your own division, or, oh, you like, you don't want to be a wild card because you're going to have to play the one seat in the opposite division, and they're so good. In this case, I feel like it's really, it's going to be a bunch of coin flip series for the most part. So I don't know if there's, like, every team's going to be trying to finish as high as they can,

but I don't think the incentive is necessarily there for the difference between finishing third in your division and finishing is the first wildcard isn't nearly as big as it was in previous seasons. I agree. I think like the really the only path or the only concern in the Western Conference playoff picture is like how long can you avoid Colorado. Because the Colorado is fully healthy. I think that they're clearly the best team in the Western Conference and you probably want to avoid that match up as long as you can if you're any of the other seven teams. So otherwise, like you said, bunch of coin flips. And then like there's a lot of parity. even if it's not the best parody.

Yeah, well, one of the themes around the trade deadline was like everyone in the East was loading up, right? And then we kept waiting for West teams for the most part to make some sort of like a civil range move. Yeah, and it was like, West is as wide open as it's ever going to be. Go for it. And I really like what Edmonton did. I think at home was a great get for them. For the most part, like even like Dallas, it's like, all right, we added Maxillow, I mean of Guinea-Dadonna up. Like the Jets, we had an Eno need rider.

It was kind of like, you know, sort of secondary stuff as opposed to something that foundationally changes, team's composition. And I think in a lot of conversations I've been having, and I'm sure other people have as well, the teams themselves might not have necessarily felt that West is a wide open because there's this like shadow of the abs still sort of looming in the background. And like everyone just believes that Landisog will be back for the start of the playoffs and Manson will be back and they're just going to have everyone. And it's just going to be maybe not necessarily as much of a nightmare as they were last year, but still clearly the like the deepest and highest upside team in the conference.

So my next topic was can the abs sort of turn it on and flip that switch and establish themselves as a clear top team in the West? And maybe that's already been happening because if you look since the start of 2023 since January 1st, the only teams are the better goal differential than them are the Bruins, the Hurricanes, and the Devils out east. And so they already kind of have been. They've worked themselves in this position where there are five points back of the stars with two games in hand for the one seat in the central.

there's six points back with two games in hand of the top spot in the West, which the Golden Knights currently holding on to. And so it's within striking range here in the final five weeks for them to conceivably, after all this, after all this talk of them sort of sleep walking through the regular season, being banged up every step of the way, still at the end of the day entering the playoffs as the one seat in the West. And that's kind of remarkable to think about. It sure is.

And like they've been shredding water for so long that, you know, if they do have a full strength lineup. And even if they don't have like a fully full strength lineup, I, I do buy into that team just being able to engage knowing that it matters and that they have a title defense to work on. And especially with, I would say, the lack of quality competition in the Western Conference. Like, I have no, no doubts about that team just being able to snap into it when it matters. And as long as they, which they already have shown their ability to tread water, as long as they have like enough runway to kind of pick up some momentum heading into the playoffs, which we've already seen them do, they're still far in a way, an extremely dangerous team.

Yeah, although I will say, you know, speaking of dream matchups, a potential abs versus Oilers rematch with like David playing at this level, them adding at Cole, Dreisaitle, hopefully being healthier than he was when they met last year. and the abs kind of being a bit more vulnerable would make for one heck of a series. And the game they played most recently, which the abs won, I'm coming back and winning in overtime,

was incredibly fun and high scoring. And so I think that would deliver once again. That was one of those where it was a sweep, but it was a really fun series to watch. And I think it would be an even longer one in entertainment value would be just as high, if not better. So let's hope we have.

As for all the problems have been an extremely entertaining team recently. I mean, even the game against New Jersey was incredible fun. I'm with you. All right, what's next on your list? Because I just had the abs.

I have two more left on mine. I have one more because you've stolen a few of mine. And this is a little bit of a fun one. I want to see over the next five weeks if Jeremy Swayman can get a goal. Because All-Arts got one. Swamen has tried to this point in this season. He can't move close at one time, right?

He can't aim. closer than O'Mark did and was a few of inches off. Given the chemistry and the camaraderie between those two, I really do think that Swainman's going to try his damn hardest over the final stretch of this season. And I don't believe that any team in the history of the NHL has had two separate goalie goals in the same season. So that would be another incredible piece of history for the Bruins.

And I really want to see him do it. There's nothing that quite unites all of us. regardless of our rooting interests, like a goally goal. When Allmerg scored that goal, I'm sure there was people that were like upset with the whole team celebrating or whatever. Or I actually had one person be like, oh, if you like pause the, pause the video, the Canucks skater was really close to knocking it down because he kind of shot it over a couple Canucks, right? It was like, oh, that gets knocked down. That's back in his own end. And it was a one goal game.

And then all of a sudden, like, everyone is like upset about it. It's like, all right, yeah, I guess, I guess so. I guess if this worst case scenario happened, it could have led to a tie game, I guess. Yeah, he shouldn't, oh, you're right, he shouldn't have done it when he pointed out that way. So, yeah, there's always going to be people who try to kind of take the opposite to you, but for the most part, it really feels like everyone is just like the two words, goalie goal, just make you feel a certain way. Of course, yeah.

And somebody asked me the question recently, it's like, what moves the needle more at this point? Or like, I guess what's more rare at this point? a goalie goal or a goal that we fight? Because, like, what was the last, like, legitimate goalie fight that we've seen in the NHL? It was, I believe it was Mike Smith versus Cam Talbot a couple years ago, like, right before the COVID shutdown in a, in a Flames Oilers game, right? Remember when it popped off?

We had that one. That was a couple years ago. We almost got John Gibson really, really bad. They wanted to fight Phoenix Copley recently. Yeah, but they wouldn't have. I know. Cows. So, like, we've had what, like, one goalie fight in the past several years, and we've had multiple goalie goals.

So you can make the argument that goalie goals are becoming more regular than goalie fights. I mean, I couldn't care less about, like, regular fights in NHL games, and yet the idea of a goalie fight intrigues me. And I think it would be even cooler if once they fought the two goalies in their full equipment had to sit in the penalty box and serve the five-minute majors, and then both teams played with empty nets, and then they had to run back out on the ice after the five minutes, I think, let's go for it.

I mean, this is an entertainment product after all, and what would be more entertaining than that? That's an outrageous take. I think they should at least try it in, like, the ECHL and see what happens. I mean, the other day we actually did get, speaking of your question, Gertr Kachkov, scored a goal,

and then in another game, same night, Ascarov gotten a fight and so we got a goalie fight and a goalie goal in the AHL by two top goalie prospects in different games on the exact same night. So hopefully the future is bright

in that regard that maybe those guys coming into the league will give us some more entertainment on that front. Yeah, take the chains off, let the goalies live, man. Yes. Okay, so I have two more here then.

Let's go through these on our way out. My first one is I think the funniest possible outcome in the West would be the Predators sneaking into the playoffs after trading Batia Secoa, Michael Gran, Santorjno and Inno Need a Rider for eight feature draftics, and just like fully embracing being sellers for the first time, and then somehow still making the playoffs and improving as a result, especially since they traded Nino Nieder Rider

for a second to the Winnipeg Jets, which is a team they're competing for that last wildcarts part in the West with. And Dom has them currently at 30%, which is a bit behind the Jets at 53 and the flames at 39. But honestly, they're right there. Like, they've got four games in hand on both those teams. They're a few points back. This is their upcoming schedule, Pete. The coyotes, the kings, which is tough,

the ducks, the red wings, the Blackhawks, and then they play the Jets. And so it's very conceivable that in about 10 days or so, the predators are sitting in a playoff spot. Now, I think they're the worst of those three teams, but they also have UCSarros, who can be the best goalie in the league. For especially periods of time,

and so if he gets hot and carries them, Philip Forsberg's return seems imminent here. I think that would be a really funny outcome. And I'm not, it must be like such like a weird roller coaster ride of emotions for Predators fans to like finally be like, all right, for years we wanted this team to embrace being bad

and taking a step back and kind of playing for the future. And they do that and they still make the playoffs anyways. That'd be kind of funny. It would be quite a funny scenario. I don't know if anybody in the world wants it, including Predator's fans. Like, I get like getting it and gives you a chance and whatever, but like this team is where they should be in terms of like selling and trying to reshape for the future. And I don't know if there's any, if there's any interest in seeing that team in the playoffs.

Probably not. but I just think I mean we're going to have enough other exciting playoff series I'm okay with sacrificing one of them for that storyline I mean I guess like would you prefer

the jets or the flames to make it because I guess there's an outshy shot that the Oilers could finish as the first seat in the West give me a battle of Alberta and then the planes crawl in and we get that again in round one it's a very unlikely scenario

because the Oilers have a lot to operate to do themselves to get there as the one seed, but it's technically mathematically in play. Even if it's a 1% chance that we get that matchup, I'm going to root for that matchup every single time, just for the pure chaos of it. Like, I will take an outside shot of Calgary getting matched against Edmonton than Nashville facing anybody. Yeah, I think I'm with you there. I mean, I was high on this Jets team, and then now you watch them play on. They're going through there's like two seven and two stretch or whatever. I just,

every single Jets game, it's like a maximum amount of Rick Bonus looking disgruntled on the bench camera shots. It's like, all right, I'll take my shot with the flames here and see if they can potentially turn it on as opposed to this as the alternative.

So I think I would go flames, Jets, Predators in that order, but Reditors winning out of those three teams would be the funniest outcome. My one final one here, Tampa Bay, how worried should we beat? I don't think worried

too much. This team just like legitimately has nothing really to play for right now. And I again we talk about we talked about like Colorado finding that switch and just being able to turn it on.

Tampa Bay showed that they can be that team. Like if there's any team in the in the NHL that's learned that regular season isn't as important as it may be hyped up to be, it's probably the lightning. And there's still so much talent there at basically every juncture.

You want to see them at least tighten up defensively and not like be a little bit competitive. Which is an effort-based thing for the most part, right? So if your argument is, well, they're not trying, then that would probably be most reflected on the defensive side of things. So I guess that would kind of go hand and hand to support that argument. Yeah, right. And like I think that they are trying to tread water for the most part. But in shifting into that mindset, they're literally drowning themselves. And I think that they will correct and find a nice little healthy medium over the next five to six weeks.

Like that's too good of its team to just completely fall apart and forget how to play defense. Like in three quarters of the way through the season. Yeah, there's sleepwalking in. There's whatever that performance against the hurricanes was, which was like downright and perishing, right? Like not getting a single shot in a full period, as good defensively as the hurricanes are. I think there's a certain bar that you should be able to clear as a team. I'm a little bit worried about the defensive personnel because I'm sure trying harder and going max effort will help some of it.

But then you look at the actual players that they have on the blue line. And I just, I'm all for trading five draftbacks to improve their team the way they did. I just wish instead of Tanner Genoa would have been a defenseman who could move and like skate properly and handle the puck because they're relying on a lot of guys who cannot do those things. And in a series against the Leafs, with some of the speed that they could potentially throw at them up front,

does worry me. And so we'll see. I'm sure that this isn't representative of how much they have left in the tank. I remember last year there was a point down the stretch where they look just as miserable. But certainly something to monitor, I think. I wanted to acknowledge it

because it's pretty clearly one of like the biggest storylines the final five weeks, just like seeing how much energy they're willing to exert down the stretch and kind of how they look heading into that first round series against the Leafs. Yeah, just as long as they don't like fully limp and drag their lifeless body across the goal line, I think they're going to be fine. I mean, headman hurting his back is concerning because that's something, especially given the miles he has on his body and at his size, it's like that's one thing that could come back very quickly, right?

Like a weird movement here, they're all of a sudden tweaks it. And if he's hurt, then I'd significantly worried, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Especially even how much they're going to have. have to rely on him in a playoff run. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Pete, that's it. I had another thing here about the awards, but honestly, this is like one of the least intriguing award seasons to me just because pretty much everyone other than the Norris feels locked up, right? Like, the Norris is legitimately interesting

because I think like between Carlson, Dolly and Fox, if you even want to throw in like Bram Burn and so, though I think there's a pretty clear gap between those three and everyone else. Like, there's an argument to be had there. And I think that's really the only award for the most part right now that even feels like it's up for debate because like I think the Vesna like you can make a statistical argument for Sir Oaken versus Almark but it's it's it's kind of dumb to argue it because it's clear that everyone is going to vote for all Mark just based on the season you had and that's fine so I mean the wheels could fall off a little bit like he could definitely regress back a little bit in the next five weeks and then it

becomes a discussion especially if Sir Oaken keeps it up and the Islanders get in I mean it's very skewed in O-Marx's favorite at this point, but I think there is room for there to be a discussion there. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. If the Islander sneak in is one of those wildguards bots and it's all Sorokan, it'll be interesting. All right, Pete, let the listeners know where they can check you out

and give them all those plugs on the way out. Yeah, my writing and TV stuff is for Valley Sports. So Ballet Sports.com is where you can find it, Twitter, P. Blackburn, a lot of dumb hockey takes and whatever on there. And then my podcast is the Listen to Brunch. So it's a pop culture podcast.

Getting weird with that. Let's give your buds handle a shout out who made us the glorious t-shirts and also sent me a beautiful Pavel Boerer T-shirt, which I love to wear. Oh yeah. Ryan Lefleur. I'm not sure what his Twitter handle is.

It may just be like Rye Lafleur or something, but if you're on Instagram, Cherps is a company that he puts his shirts out with. And they have a ton of awesome stuff. Like, they do like a lot of like big faced player teas. And like I got the Yarmir Yager one that was just like it looks like an old school vintage t-shirt. Phenomenal quality too. Yeah. So shout out Cherps.

They rock. Yeah. All right, man. This is a blast. We'll have you on again soon, especially if our Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs for the listeners. smash that five-star button wherever you listen to the show. And we'll be back tomorrow

with another episode of the Hockipedio cast. Thank you, as always, for listening to us on the Sports Night Radio Network.