The Hockey PDOcast - Summer Series 2.0 Part 4 with Scott Wedgewood

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Scott Wedgewood and John Matisz for Part 3 of this year's Summer Series to talk about why save percentage is down in today's game, how the challenges of playing the position have changed since he first entered the league, adjustments he's made along the way, dealing with the pressure of being an NHL goalie, bouncing around the league until he got a real opportunity, and playing on last year's Avalanche team. To gain access to all of the content we're posting on this feed moving forward make sure you've subscribed to the PDOcast's Patreon. It provides you with the ad-free version of every single episode we put out there this season, and it will be available for you to listen as soon as it's been recorded. We've also finally got some merch available for our listeners! If you'd like to get your hands on a PDOcast shirt or hat to rep the show, you can do so here. If you've already subscribed to the Patreon, one of those aforementioned perks is that you get a discount on all merch to go along with it. I'd also recommend subscribing to our Youtube channel. We'll be posting full shows on there more regularly this season so that you can watch along with us. I'm hoping to grow the channel this year, so each subscription, like, and comment is greatly appreciated. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Progressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey P.D.O.cast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEOCast. My name is Demetri Fulipovich. And joining me is my good buddy, John Mattis. John, what's going on, man? We got a special guest today, man. I'm not going to waste your time.

Let's get to it. I'm very excited about this. We got big shoes to fill. We had Dan Mews on most recently for part two of the summer series. He blew us away with how good he was and how good his voice sounded in particular, real podcasting tone. So we got big shoes to fill. but I'm confident that we're going to kill it on this one because I was canvassing the league for prepping my guest list before we started the summer series.

And a name that kept coming up was you got to get Scott Wedgwood on. He's great. He always provides tremendous quotes. He loves to talk about the game and just talk shop in general. And so we're going to do so. Scott's joining us. Scott, how's it going on. Really good.

I got to live up to that entry, I guess, right? Yeah. Well, I had to big you up a little bit on the intro there. But I'm excited about this. I was reflecting on your journey over the years, right? And how much the game has changed in particular since I think you came into the league. You were drafted in 2010. I think your first like real NHL season came in in 2015.

And that coincided with the peak for league average, save percentage where I think it was a 915 that season. If you compare it to this past year we're coming off of where it was 896. I think that kind of demonstrates how much maybe offensive has changed around the league and what's taken place. in NHL, it's definitely not because the goalies have gone worse, if anything, they've gotten bigger and more athletic in that time. But I think a combination of the shooters getting so lethal with their releases, the stick technology, you know, just the approach teams have in terms of where they're trying to create their offense from, the way shots are tracked as well, that kind of all coalesces into what's happened with goalies, say percentages. Have you felt that

in real time over the years in terms of maybe like the changing environment or just like in general, the way the game's being played in front of you? Yeah, you know, I think you kind of, you know, touched on all of them. I think one of the biggest things that has changed is not just the throwaway shots anymore. Like I think it used to be like, you know, teams would be, all right, we got to, we got to 12 a period or 15 a period to make them feel the pressure and you just go load a high hammer it, load a high hammer, load a high hammer, load a high hammer, and I just got

four shots and nothing was dangerous. We boxed out, you know, you just fed three to the, through the corner and caught one, it was easy kind of pickings. Now I think with the deception of skating and angle changing and cutting to the middle and putting defensemen on, obviously, their back of their heels and making the extra pass, like it's all kind of correlates into that. And like you said, the tracking of it too, you know, sometimes you look up, I've got 15 shots in the first period. And you come back out for the second. I got 11. So I lost four in the intermission somehow. And that's, you know, betting is a big part of the game now. I think that is, you know, one thing where

you'd go into Madison Square Garden and be middle of the second period, you have 35 shots. I mean 35 shots in seven games. Like what do we? And you make a save outside the post. Does it go in? Probably not. It gets taken away. But yeah, I think just people are fine in their spots.

I think, you know, shot blocking obviously has been with the layered defenses. Some teams are playing stuff stays off the net more. You play an east-west team like Utah. They're not kind of, you know, Carolina. they play ping pong off your pads, it's a little bit different. So yeah, I think all that. And then like you said, I think with the ability to score the, you know, the 12 until they score has now become a 10 until they score and also on your 900 guy.

What about how you've adjusted? Like, you know, you mentioned all the different variables there and how offenses are just at another level and a little more I could call it sophisticated than they were 10 years ago, if you take just east-west passing and how much, I suppose, pre-shot movement there is, whether it's the puck or bodies themselves, like, how do you adjust as a goalie over the years to that in particular where there used to be a lot more you just square to the shooter and, you know, let's see what you got, buddy. But now it's just you're playing a lot of, it's a lot of guessing game. It's a lot of moving laterally. What have been the major adjustments to your game?

Well, I think when I came in, I thought I had to do everything, middle of my blocker. catch every puck, be clean. Like it was almost like I wanted everything to just like feel perfect, right? So it was like, you know, if I made a block crusade, but it hit my fingertip and kind of created chaos in the middle and then I'm like, oh, I got to get the, you know, back my hand on that, push it to the corner. And then it started to become like I had so many tools in my toolbox. So you can come down the right side.

I can one pad save. I can one knee drop. I could butterfly. I could go splits. I could go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? You can play it. I remember Scott Clemenson as a goalie partner. It came down and guy picked me corner.

and I was like, oh, I should have went one knee down. He's like, what do you usually do? I'm like, I usually go one knee down. He's like, yeah, but nine out of ten times, that works. But I'm like, yeah, but that one I made the wrong choice on him. But he's like, it's 900. Like you're now trying to change it on that one shot that beat you when you didn't need to change it nine other times.

And that kind of put it into like a little bit of like a, you know, light bulb quick. It's like, okay, so if, you know, I do seven different things on 10 shots and all of a sudden I'm getting scored on five times, even though I made, you know, five different saves. I could just do the same thing over and over again, play it the right way and lose once. And that was kind of where it was kind of like, okay, now my game started to mature. I used to be half splits on everything. And even when I got to Colorado, it was still in my game.

And you see, like, I don't want to see like your, you know, post one knee down in the middle of your net. Like, it's never used. Maybe in a shootout, but he's like, I don't ever want to. He's like, you drop both knees. You make the save of you're a sealed component. You're not half in between things. And that's, you know, the last, obviously, my full NHL time, I bounced around there, Arizona at a few different stints.

But going to Dallas, then to Nashville, then to here, I think the last four years, really, has just been when I've really started like take up space. And I'm not the biggest goalie at all. I mean, I'm just shy of 6-2. I get 6-2 on the stat tracker, so I call it 6-2. But, you know, it's become situational where it's like the micro-suffles. I'm a very good skater. So like if you used to work dot line to me and skate dot to dot to dot from the top of the blue line to the face off circle on like my blocker side, I would just kind of like spread and move myself back.

So I'd start at like, you know, just inside shoulder width. And by the time you got to me, I was almost like halfway to the splits. And now it's like you just take that shoulder with stance and that left foot just it might move three inches, but it's moving instead of just like kind of getting that gliding spread. And that's where I think the game really changed because now you're not in a situation where you're off balance, you're leaning, you're guessing that guy moves downhill. His stick is now lined up to my right shoulder and I've got to make a blocker save only. And the left side of my body is now out of position. So like that microchuffling, I mean, you watch Demko. He does it very miniscule.

He's very good at it. But I think that's one thing where it's just like I've been able to stay more upright, push shooters off what they see, take a little more space. and then once they're in their release point, then you spread, then you're not caught in that, you know, off center lean where instead of being center mass, you're now a foot off and he's pushing and he's going low blockers and only got to go and get it, but you're now extended in at a position on the next play. I think that's where my game's really leveled up. And then I think, you know, in the summary of it all, I think it's just playing. I didn't get a chance to play a ton until the last two years, a lot alone before that, right? I'm 34 now. I've not even hit 200 games played.

So it's the last two years has been the big bulk of my games played and my games elevated just being in there. Do you think skating's become even more important for goalies? Like it's sort of always been that underrated skill where if you're a casual fan, you go skating. What kind of skating to golies do? But then you actually look at a goalie and really pay attention to the little nuances. It's pretty obvious that skating is huge.

Do you think it's even more important than ever given the way, the modern offense operates. Yeah, I think like, it's funny. I think it's come back around, right? Like Broder, I think, peaked it with the way he moved around the net. And he got lucky, but he got very smart in the sense he would work you downhill. So if you came over the middle and then worked to his blocker side, he would just rotate his left hip and just push you downhill.

And so you shoot back against him, his body's there. And then he's just working down. He wouldn't be on his outside edge going right, which no one really does ever anymore unless you're kind of just losing your net. And then like a Ben Bishop comes in, it's like you don't have to move if you're that big. And he could move. It was just he took up so much net. So then it was like, let's go get these monster goalies.

And now the monster goalies have caught up that they have to move. Just with the angle changes and one timers and pull-ups and everything, like you just got to be able to skate. And, you know, I mean, I'll shoot my own horn. But if you took my pads off, I think I can give some guys a run for their money and speed. And I can, I used to, I mean, I still like, if I don't skate before, practice and stuff. Like, it's mobility stuff. Like, I, I don't feel like I get tired in that sense in the bag skating. But yeah, like you have to, right? If you get stuck on a post, unless unless everything they're doing is not changing your stance, like if you have, you know,

making passes from the dot to the top of the circle, that's just a spread, like the same circle. But if you're going, you know, dot to far hash mark, you got to move. And then you'll get a guy stuck in a sly and they shot back. And you can see it at different times. Everyone gets beat. But if you can beat a pass on your feet, you know, offside guys where they're not taking one timers, you can keep that foot. And that guy throws another pass. You're there. And that's where, like, the big saves come in and you make harder saves look easy. But it's got to be the first tool, because you can only react so much if you're off, if you're off center or off mass, right? Like, it's, it's become such a fast-paced game releases, backdoor plays. Everyone's driving the net.

You got middle lane drive. You got a guy cut in middle. Then you got a drop pass. And he's going back either way and then they're going back door on you. So I think that post integration has really changed helping a lot of, not bad skaters, but the, say, lesser tier of it because you anchor posts, now only have one movement. So like I sit there, they just play that percentage. Like I'm now, you know, you're at the daughter below. I'm in a reverse. The only thing you really have is people call it a bad goal, but you have earhole and

you have the odd leaker through the hip. But then if you go anywhere back door, he's. that leg's preloaded just to jam any backdoor play. You know, Ander's really good at it. Vasaleski's really good at it. And they just sit in that reverse and you just throw pucks off them. Yeah, you hit your perfect shot four times a year. I'll give up those four goals for 100 shots into my body.

And then that's that lateral post movement. And then they just reset once the play guitar. I think that's where the reverse really started to save people. I don't want to call it a coppe or anything. It's just a smart play when you have the size. You're only there for a couple months because you got traded last season to Colorado, but you got to spend some time in Nashville in a tandem with UC Soros. Do you feel like, I'm always curious about the relationship that, you know,

you have with the goal you're in tandem with and sort of either on a day-by-day basis, kind of trading tricks of the trade or working on stuff together. And then I imagine with him there's an element of not necessarily being able to replicate some of the stuff he does because he's so unique in terms of his athleticism and some of that agility and kind of post-to-post movement. Was that, do you think that's true? Or was there, because that kind of underselling maybe like what a technician he is or certain things that you could kind of take from his game?

No, he's an elite in a very different way. And I think that's a guy that reverses, call him small, but reverses in a smaller size. But my, like, biggest takeaway from that was Benderclaw, Corn, Mitch Corne, and him were obviously very peak with Pecca. and then making UC as good as he is, a lot of his stuff is he reacts like, I want to say the word in motion,

but I don't want it to be like he's like not static. I think what I'm trying to say is like if you got a guy coming down your blocker side and he's shooting glove, they're trying to implement the fact that like if he's shooting glove, you're making that save glove and like flowing with it. So it's like I'm making the low glove save while traveling low glove. And then that rebound, and I'm already kind of flowing in that.

And that was so hard for me because I'm like, if you come down low glove and you shoot low glove, I'm firing my left leg out. I'm not firing my right ankle to move left. And that was like the hardest rewire type situation for me. He's like, okay, I'm going to, this guy rips it blocker and I'm anticipating to fire right leg. I'm off on blocker.

But then if he goes blocker, you also want to make that save and move into post where like I would sometimes not drop and spread, but I would just react. if I made that save glove, I'd react, then it's fire right hip and move, move right, where it's almost like, okay, let's take that shot, move into it right. Now I'm almost like ready for two. And then it's just like a mini adjustment because you're already in flow. And he'll see Soros make some of these unbelievable saves two on one. It hits his low blocker and then he's already like

somehow flowing blocker without that rotational thing. And then when he does get sprangly, he's great at somehow keeping his hands a foot and a half off his body. and clearing leg lifts where I find like, it's cool. Like in practice, I can, I can, you know, manipulate it and be like, I'm going to keep my hands out and then just shift and, you know, kind of draw that steering wheel. You know, my stick's going to go and then my hips are going to come up. But a lot of times it's like I drop seal and now I want to get my leg up. I got a clear hand.

So a lot of guys throw their glove over their left hip to pick their left hip up, right? He's like almost hands in front of them. So he's like, I'm going this way. My hand's coming. It's hard to, I don't do it stuff, but you can't see it. but his hands just clear it. And that was like the hardest thing for me to try and like, not even replicate it,

but just like try and add to my game because it was just like he's so good at it, fluent. He's like chest square hands in front of him and legs are firing where it's like, I feel like a lot of people are kind of that runner, right? Like your arms are swinging opposite to go the other way. Awesome, dude. Love the guy. It was honestly like not in a long time.

I didn't learn anything, but I just want to say like it was like a new approach when I got to Nashville. and loved learning. It was just kind of one of those days where you almost kind of lost confidence sometimes because it's like, I don't do it this way and I'm like annoyed at myself that I can't do it this way. And I see that it works for somebody.

And then I just didn't have enough time there to obviously try and implement it and follow that because once I got the Colorado, that game plan just wasn't what we were then working towards. On the note of kind of reacting to either change in the shot angle or where it's coming from and then accordingly moving yourself to get said again, I told our mutual friend, Kevin Woodley, I was going to have you on,

which was going to be no surprise to any of our listeners, he was incredibly fired up by that, and he sent over a long list of stuff to ask you about one that really stuck out to me, though, was this concept of quote-unquote counting hands, and he wanted me to get you to talk a little bit about that in terms of, you know, being either familiar with what you're dealing with in front of you, whoever's on the ice, where the shots might be coming from, do you feel like that allows you to maybe kind of play the odds or have some sort of probability of like, all right, well, I know that the, if there's a shot or a threat coming, it probably will be from here. And so it allows you to not cheat, but maybe get ahead of that

read a little bit. Like, obviously, the game's moving very quickly. And there's certain times where it might be tougher to accomplish that. It's probably easier off a faceoff where it's a bit of downtime in between. But I want to hear you kind of cook a little bit on that sort of process and just that idea of counting hands. Yeah, this, this was that TNT interview, I think, kind of shocked everybody. But I mean, my thing, in a big summary of but it's like doing your homework right like you know right now if you were just coming this podcast and be like we're going to talk to scott wedgwood and well crap where has he been right like you're just you just don't know so it's like you know you go to hockey db you look at some stuff you figure some

stuff out you're like okay now i can go into that moment and be like hey i have a question about this that you did so i kind of take that same approach from high school right if i didn't study and i walked into a classroom like hey there's a test today we told you on monday it's friday you didn't do anything you're that was i hated that feeling and it wasn't necessarily that in game but it was, you know, if I didn't check off properly and all of a sudden that guy fired a one-timer and I get beat. And you can see goalies and even me at times when it's like, oh, if I would have just looked or if I would have just checked off one more time, that backdoor pass to a lefty was different than a backdoor pass to a right. And it's the same as an angle change to me. It's like, okay, if he pulls up and that guy's a one-timer and he's coming down the slot as a one-timer, I'm going to preset on the inside.

And if, you know, he's on his backhand facing up ice, he's no threat. I'm going to drift back a little bit on them and be prepared for this one-timer pass. Like, why would I wait on this guy's backhand going to a one-timer and then be late and the guy beats me far side? It's kind of how that approach came. And I just didn't like being surprised. I still get surprised. I was like you said, games fast, screens, all that stuff.

But yeah, like, you know, before games, I have a sheet on the wall that their team puts up. And I just had them, I kind of mentioned it that they put hands on guys. So it'll be all righties. We got, you know, three lines of all righties and one line of a lefty center and a lefty on the right, like a three lefties or whatever you want to call it. And most of the time teams don't really switch. And if they do, it just kind of is a count for me. But it's mainly like rushes, right? You take a two on one and you got a lefty with the puck on my glove side to a righty. You got, you know, guy coming down, he opens up for a one timer. Yeah, you're going to know that. But if that righty is still driving and I can get. You got a righty, you got. You got a guy coming down. He opens up for one timer. Yeah, you're going to know that. But if that righty is still driving. And I can get get one more check inside the hash marks. Now he's just backhand jamming it. So I just push to his backhand. And if he catches and goes, it's that. He can't open up below my goal line or my top of my crease.

Same if he was a righty on my glove side back door. You just take a little bit more flow to try and get back and meet him inside that post because they can't really chip that right puck up into the top corner that well. Most of the time they're scoring back to the middle of the net and it's under your arm as you're extending. So it's like, you know, you just, I watch it. I watch games. I watch how goals go in. It's just hard to be like, okay, I'm going into a low glove push back door to a righty. And I'm going to extend and take away the net and he chips it back underneath your arm at your hip. And you're like, you know, I was talking about today with Talbot, we were skating and I was just like,

we were talking about price. And I was like, it used to not annoy me, but it was just like he'd come over in like a sealed butterfly slide and get a one timer in the hip and not move. And then you'd come or you get a one timer, beat him a low blocker and he'd not move. I'm like, dude, you're amazing. Just make that save. And then, but it was just kind of that same thing,

nine and ten times. He was so in control and flow. He would just come over tight and they'd hit him because that right of the opening up can't score really that well inside that short side post. And he'd play those odds over and over again. It's just doing it obviously every time. So that's where I think that hand exchange for me is like if I can have a little bit more information than the next guy,

if I don't have all the talent, the world. That's another, you know, another, you know, tip to my side of the scale. It's kind of how I just prepare each play and then, you know, battle it out after that. Scott, you and I have talked in the past about sort of the mental side of the game, but maybe off ice or like interpersonal related versus if you're in the crease and that mental part of it. And, you know, specifically a couple of years ago, we talked about what it's like to be an HL backup and how the cheerleading part of the role doesn't come naturally to some younger goalies yet is like absolutely essential. Not only for you in that year and making your GM happy, your coach happy, your goalie coach

happy, et cetera, getting starts, but also just for the longevity of your career, being known as a guy who can work in tandem. And then, you know, you fast forward a little bit to where we are today. And the vast majority of teams are either tandems or three goalie rotations. I think it was Vamilka at 64 games was the only. only goalie with 60 plus last year. So, like, you're running into a tandem everywhere you go. Can you talk a little bit about your evolution, how you've wrapped your head around sort of like that aspect of working with your partner and not being like, I suppose,

overly competitive because as you and I have discussed in the past, like, there was a point where you maybe couldn't get out of your own head in terms of like, hey, I want to be starting. I want to be, you know, in the net, whereas sometimes you got to take a step back and go, okay, It's my partner's turn for the net. I got to support him. I got to be on his side, and we're all sort of in this together. Yeah, I mean, it's another one of those things that comes with time. Like, it's different because one guy plays every night, you know,

and then also if you have a tiered situation, not in your play, it's going to play more than me the day I signed, I knew it. You know, those situations kind of right themselves, and you just got to wrap your head around it. But like, American League coming up, it was like, do or die every night. Sometimes you don't like your partner or the situation. that's going on and those thoughts creep in where it's like if he gives up five I'll get the next one then he plays the next one you're like well what happened to him giving up five in your mind and now

you're not playing the next one like and it was hard I think in a sense because it's like it's a team sport so if he won and got the play again sucks for me but our team's doing better than if I played and won our team's doing better but if I played in lost then I don't get the play again so then I am annoyed but the team's not doing well so I want us to win like it just there's that mental you know hula hoop and roundabout that you're going on and your mind. And I think in the American League, it was obviously like I need to, I need to learn. I need to grow East Coast. I played a ton. And then it got to a situation where it was like, if I play and play well, now I can get my shot in the NHL. So then now you're once again a little

bit selfish. And then I got hurt. And at the time, Kincaid went up and got a had a great year and they signed them. So I came in a camp, like, you know, I want to push for a job. And I said, well, we got two contracts. We'll go back down. And then I missed the whole. season and he had a good year and then I came back and it was like we got blackwood now and we're going to play them and you're on you know Arizona's going to trade for you so then it's like okay now I'm going to Arizona and I think it was Louis de Ming at the time wasn't doing that well and aunt you're onto was kind of hurt so I was like I'm going to get chances to play so I got to play on a on a bad team we were bad I was young I was trying my best and then all of a sudden it was like

oh we're training you to L.A. for Kemper and then L.A. is like hey like we're going to help you get to the NHL, but we're going to send me to the American League. I'm like, I just got there. What do you mean? Like, I just played my first 20 games. Like, what do I need help with? And then they, they had their situation. I didn't play. So then I go to Buffalo hoping to get a chance in the NHL with Mac or, sorry, Carter Hutton and maybe not being the healthiest of his career in all Mark's first experience. Selfish there. I want to play and want to get up, blah, blah, blah. nothing happens. There's not a there's not a break the whole season. I think I backed up two games with like a sickness. Had a good American League year. And then I signed in Syracuse. And that was where it was

like, you know, this doesn't go well. I'm pretty much overseas. And I've hit my limit. I missed that one opportunity I thought I had with the injury. So then you're selfish. And like I'm never a bad guy. Like obviously teammates play and things like that. But it just started a switch where it's like I always worked. I always, you know, guys were happy to shoot on me. And it wasn't lazy. And I've I had partners that guys want to chop in the head sometimes, like, go down, like, give me an effort. So I always try to stay away from that. But then I kind of switched where it was like, if I can just get my feet in the door and be that kind of helper. So then I get the bubble, Franz John, that was kind of the, obviously the fire got lit winning the cup with Tampa.

You know, I didn't do anything other than help the guys practice. But I did a part, which was cool for me. and at the time, you know, highlight of the career. And that was kind of like, you know, you're a part of it. You're more of a shooter-tutor energy guy, happy-go-lucky. You can take Stamcoast's one time around the head for 68 days and still smile kind of vibes. And then I resigned in Jersey, made a victory lap. And then Cory Crawford retired and was Blackwood and I.

And that was like, okay, I'm in the NHL, Black he's a guy. I'm his biggest cheerleader. If I get the play and get a contract. that I played decently well. And then it kind of switch, again, you know, Scott Clemenson, I got to give him a Christmas card every year. But he's just like, you know, I played probably three to five more years because everybody knew what they were going to get.

And he's like, I had my chance to be a starter. It didn't go that well. But, you know, I played my 20 to 30 games at different points. Never caused a problem. Never had anyone say a bad name about me. And, you know, maybe they did. But, you know, is what it is. And he's like, I got made, you know, three, four more years,

making a couple million bucks being a good guy. And that kind of hit where I was like, okay, maybe I'm not going to be the superstar that my mind wants me to be. And I feel like I can be, but I can make into the league. And then I got from Jersey to Arizona, then Arizona to Dallas. And then I kind of, then I kind of lived it, which I think I was proud of because when I got to Dallas, I was close with Sag and he was like, hey, we got this stud and Ottinger.

And he just wants to play. And I don't think he knows yet that he can't play 82. He just wants to play 80. So I remember like the first couple interactions. Like it wasn't bad. I used tell he's like, is this guy going to take my job? He's going to get starts.

I was like, dude, like I've been bad on to keep my head above water. Like I don't even want your job. Like I do in like the back of my mind, but I'm like I want my own. Like if I can help you and you like me and like I come back and I make a million bucks in the NHL like I don't care what I got to do.

And that's where it's switch where it was like, okay, there's the 60 game guy. I might get 20 plus depending on what happens. let me help. And then it was like, you know, he's a great dude. It worked so well with just what we both liked and all that stuff. I think I had matured. I'd taken my, you know, my wax and my beatings and all that kind of stuff of trying to do it and failing. I'm proud of all that because like, I think you look at my DB, like, I don't know if I, I should have owned a U-Haul

just the way it all went around. And then that was where it evolved into like I'm going to be the support character and the guys, Robertson. shoot thousand bucks a day, you know, and then this all becomes now, I get a chance with Blackwood, and he unfortunately gets hurt. I get a chance to play whatever it was this year, 40-something games and do well, get consistent and all that. But even now, like, I think going back with him after we've both matured, it's been awesome too, because it's the same vibe as like, dude, go out there and get a shoutout, please, because I'll give you a shoutout tomorrow and then you get a show to the next day, and then we're going to get 80 shutouts and we're going to win the Jennings and all this stuff.

and it was never like, you know, especially when a team that you're, you know, when you're in Arizona and Jersey, playoffs aren't even in the picture post December and it just kind of sucks. Everyone's playing for themselves. With our team, it's like, dude, like just get points. We get points. We're in the playoffs. We got a chance to win. Let's get in the playoffs. And then obviously we did what we did.

But, but yeah, I think, you know, it was taking those licks and having conversations with guys who've gone through it. And, you know, there's no real recipe to it because you're selfish at the end of the day when you play. Like, I want to be the best for me. I'm playing for me. I'm obviously with the teams in front of me, but I got to get, you know, my best out of myself. And then when you play,

I'm part of it all, but I'm just sitting here open out of door. But guys, bend their ear. I think I got really good at kind of helping guys with goalies for playing against questions here and there, being that cheerleader. I love the game,

so I love to talk it. And I think guys understand that. Sorry, long-winded answer, as would it would be probably expected. But, yeah, I can see why you guys get along so well. Yeah,

But that growth of it all, I think, you know, in the grand scheme, it was just earning my licks and then finding a way to keep my head above water. And, you know, now last season was obviously the peak of it all. Yeah, you played 45 regular season games last year, another 11 in the playoffs. It's, I was looking at it. It's, you know, other than that one year in Rochester where you played 48 games, I believe, it's the most by far that you've played since the early 2010s. And I'm curious in reflecting on that, if you have any thoughts on this was sort of the unique journey you took along the way. where you've been part of seven different NHL organizations, all the teams that you've played on,

kind of whether goalies just have a different development arc than maybe their skater counterparts, right? Because I think we typically all think about forwards and defensemen and like generally early 20s, you're kind of at your physical prime. If you're going to be something in this league, we're probably going to see it by then. For someone like yourself, you know, you get drafted in 2010,

you come into the league in 2015. You're 34 years old now and just, coming off your best season still clearly adding to your game and evolving at your position, do you feel like it was kind of not a necessary part of it, like either that maturity or seasoning along the way and some of the stuff you picked up at each stop? Or do you think it's just as simple as like there's only 64 jobs in the league for goalies that are using two of them? And it's a matter of opportunity and you finally fell into the right spot to get to play this much and have the success you had last year. Kind of how do you sort of view that in terms of

that aging process and development along the way over? these past 10, 15 years. I mean, to make it a one word, like a two-word answer is games played. Guy, we just don't play enough. And it's not even a, like, no, like, it's not that you can. It's just in the American lead, there's two guys. There's usually two prospects in the coast. You're sometimes sharing the net.

And then, you know, you get guys that kind of get their, you know, easy, not easier path, but their, their waters are a little bit clearer. But, you know, I remember I was always envious of Peter Marast. who got drafted in Detroit my year. I think Howard went down. I think they had the monster that Gustafson went down. Thomas McCollum and Grand Rapids went down. He played like 40-some games

as second or third year in the minors. I waited six years for Cory Schneider, hurt his elbow. And I was just like waiting. Obviously, you got to earn it. Sometimes you earn it well early enough. And teams like, hey, you're outperforming what we can even do.

I come up here and get a shot. And maybe I didn't do that well enough to force their hand either. But I just think, you know, like you said, there's two jobs. A lot of it sometimes contract. Like, am I really going to call up this American League contract and then sit my $3 million backup who only plays 25 games so this other kid can play? It's just it's not part of the cap situation. And then it's also you got to have somebody willing to make that decision for you. A lot of the time, it's, it's an injury situation.

Guy comes in play as well. It's like, oh, by the way, this guy can do it. This guy's up for contract. We'll let this guy do it. And it's just kind of how it teeters, right? And there wasn't a lot of turnover there. I felt like, you know, it's almost like the next. 90s babies were learning how to use cell phones. And then we were also learning how to change with the hockey goaltending position because it changed so much from, you know, when you started to what it is now. But yeah, I think, you know, you get some guys in certain situations. I mean, who was it just this summer, that COSA, right?

Like he didn't really get much chance in Detroit to play. And Utah's like, well, take you. And all of a sudden, here's a $2 million contract come play. He's got to be ecstatic, but it's also, you know, why didn't the wings do you know, why didn't the wings do you know? and it's nothing against them. It's just, you know, they had guys under contract and people were going to play. And it's like, okay, am I going to really sit a veteran for a guy that we don't know what we're going to get out of them?

Maybe if you're out of the playoffs, kind of the year, some teams throw those, you know, games around. Yeah, I think also the maturity, right? Like, you want to make money. You want to take care of your family. You want to do all this stuff. And that was a lot of my pressure. It was like, you know, I want to make something out of this and get a good life career short, all that kind of stuff. I remember in Jersey before they signed Bernie that last year of like the COVID Canadian

American schedule in the divisions. I had like maybe as like I mapped it out. I'm like I might get six more starts. If I play like legit, I can get a one way. The amount of pressure I had for no reason on myself for those six starts was was like soul crushing. And I had a bad game. And it's just like you think you just lost everything for your future family and stuff.

And I remember that. And you know, players come out. They earn it. They have two good years. And all of a sudden here's an eight by year. and you have, you know, a stud player, all the nutrition stuff's paid for. You know, you get all those early accessible advantages and perks that you've earned. But I find that sometimes we don't, like, I didn't get that until, you know, 32.

And it's like you start making some money and you can start spending it. You get it at 23, 24 when they come up that entry level and they're making money. A lot of that, I mean, not that the pressure is not there, but I feel like that, that side life pressure kind of comes off and then people are stable and you can play and play right so there's probably a lot to it but and it could just be be better well you mentioned you mentioned that pressure um and i think typically we get a lot fixated on technique and tactics and we've you know we're guilty of that here we've talked about that for the first 30 minutes but i think an underappreciated part of the puzzle is maybe that mental component and you touched on it a little bit but i wanted to dig it into

a bit further because in preparation for this i was looking at some of your previous interviews and you were talking about when you were in Arizona. I think under the guidance of Carter Hunt at the time, you kind of seeked out like a mental coach and sort of investing in that part of the game and described it as a career-altering decision on your part. I want you to get into that a little bit and sort of the utilization of that, whether it's for, you know, visualization, resetting off the ice, whatever you're using it for to kind of help navigate some of that pressure. And I guess prepare yourself for when you're actually on the ice needing to physically make the stops that you do. Yeah, it kind of was one of those, you know, maybe like a potential regret, right?

Like, hey, I'm going to go into this career, give everything I have, sacrifice Christmases and family time and nieces and nephew time and everything that comes with it. And I'm like, if it ends, and I didn't seek somebody else out to talk to, like, I feel like I would have had a regret not making that decision, right, to call. And remember Carter Hutton had the same agency as I. And we had just kind of been, like he was hurt and we were just kind of, you know, spitball in conversations. Have you worked with anybody? Kind of thought process. And I always kind of felt like I was like a profit. I'd like, man, we'd come down. We'd hit the post or something. We'd be up to one.

I'm like, damn, without going to put the game away, like they can't score. Bang, two, two. You're just like, am I like, what's the lottery numbers? Like, let's just start going. Like, you know, it just seemed to be like one of those implemented seeds that I would lose that, you know, final battle on early in my career. And those thoughts come in. I'm at, what if I'm a realist? Like, it's like, you know, we missed the. then they score games tight. No, yeah,

no crap that happens. Like, it's just the way it is. But I felt like sometimes those, those thoughts would creep in and I'd be having a great game. And all of a sudden, it would just quickly, like,

you know, getting in quicksand all of a sudden, your mind for two minutes will be gone and it just isn't clean. So, yeah, I made a call. His name was Eric Hoffer. He used to be a coach at RIT.

And now he does, this is a performance coaching thing. And, you know, it's different. Like my wife's in my corner, my parents from my corner, you know,

text to your dad after the game. Hey, you played great. I'm like, honestly, I felt terrible. But, you know, oh, we love you. Have a good night. Like, you played great. And it's like, yeah, you're in my corner. And I'm paying this guy. So he's kind of in my corner too, right? It's not like, you're paying him to not listen to you. But it was just nice to sit there and be like, you know, in my hotel room before a game. Like, dude, like, I don't know why. Like, we're playing whoever. We're playing Jersey who I used to play for. And I just, you know, I want to beat them. They let me go. I didn't work out,

blah, blah, blah. Like, I just want to stick it to them or whatever. It doesn't matter if you played for everybody. Like it's just, it's a hockey game, blue paint, you know, there's just like easy, not cliche things,

but it was more just like, how can we rewire our mind to be like, okay, if it's 2-1 and we miss the net, how do you get back to that next shot? You're in your blue paint. You play it the same way. You prepare the same way.

And then we had some voice note stuff that would just kind of like, you sit there before I'd get ready and you'd fire some, some questions. You know, how do you feel today? Where's this? How do we get into the zone?

This kind of stuff. like how do you want to play this situation? I don't want to play that situation. Like visualize that. So it wasn't like this, you know, crazy out of the blue kind of context of how do you approach it. But it was also a little bit more of don't just go in there and feel that anxiousness. Let's get, let's get direction.

Let's, you know, understand we're playing the game inside the blue pain. And this is how we want to play it day in and day out. Feel confident in that. You're meant to be there. Let's play. Instead of just being like, hope I don't give up six. You know, it was always like, yeah. at both ends of the spectrum, it's like either I'm going to have a shutout, make 42 saves,

or I'm going to give up 20 goals on 22 shots and I'll never play hockey again. He's like, what if you just gave up two on 25? Like your brain is, for whatever reason, like fight or flight, right? Like, I'm going to be the greatest goal ever or I'm the worst goalie ever. Why don't we just like be comfortable if they score a goal and have two on 25, you give a team a chance to win? And that kind of was like the big kind of like lightball moment where I'm like, yeah, it's kind of good nowadays.

Like let's just approach that where if we get scored on, you know, you don't have to fall apart. So, Scott, I mean, that's fantastic. I'm glad you came around on that. Sounds like a real crossroads moment in your career. Switching gears a bit. So it's been a wild couple of years for the goalie union. I mean, you had two goals, goalie goals in 24, 25, Sorokin, and then a guy you know fairly well, Nadelcovic.

And then last year, there's three fights, Nadalkovich versus B, Bob, Swayman versus Vasselowski, Markstrom versus Shisterkin. This may be a dumb question, but whatever. If you could only have one on your resume, would it be a goalie goal or a goalie fight? It has to be a goal. It's just because it's, you know, anyone, I mean, one, I don't want to get punched in the face from anybody. I've kept my hat to the guys that do that on a nightly basis, like all the power to you. But I think the goal is just a little bit more of a momentum.

So I think if you have like the line brawl, Patrick Wach, Chris Iosgood, rivalry, you know, everyone's pulling that clip up for the rest of their lives and talking about it. Like that's a, that might, you know, be over a five to, you know, shot off your pad off the far wall and end kind of goal. But I think the goal of goal is just a little bit more of an achievement for sure. Well, on that note, like who who is your guy from 90s hockey? because you're 34, I think DIMs 35, 36. I'm 38.

We all grew up on 90s hockey and really a heyday with Haschik and Juan, Kujo, and all these guys. Who was your guy back in the day? Honestly, it was Marty. It was being drafted there. And I didn't want to, like, I didn't want to, you know, breathe his own air kind of vibes. And my first interaction was funny. He's like, your sticks too long. And I was like, oh, nice to meet you, Scott.

And then I had like an O.HL stick. I guess it wasn't NHL height or whatever. and then he got hurt and I think I did some too. So then we spent like a week together on the ice and unbelievable. It was like I still had that photo on my phone. It's like taken by like the live barn camera. It was like the one photo that I had with him on the ice when I was young. But no, I mean, it was anyone who played the Leafs, like my family loved the Leafs

and I just loved to be a pest third child and annoying my brothers and stuff. But like I love the mass like the Lean with the Marvin the Martian. I played for the Mississauga Senators growing up. So it was kind of like, you know, I was affiliated with them in a way and just a gear, Trevor kid, like anything Don Cherry, like the goalie section of where it be like, you know, Grant Fear, Curtis Joseph seemed more rubber than a dead skunk and a Transcanada Highway, like Rock and Sockham's Six. I love those things.

I mean when I was younger to watch before games. But yeah, I think, yeah, like the Kujo, Pot van, Leaf Time, obviously they were on our TV every other night and then I'd fall in Jersey when they were obviously in their heyday. Oddly enough, like I don't think I watch much of Patrick Gaw just because of the timing of it all, right? Like it was kind of the least wrong. We watched every leaf game and it wasn't like you had the TV like you have now, right? Like I get an NHL network. I can just throw on, you know, Vancouver and watch Longo play Patrick Wall.

Like it just, I don't really. And then we were doing our own hockey, so it was also timed that. But yeah, it was pretty much the Leaf guys in Jersey. Well, first off, I'm still 34 for a couple more months. I appreciate John aging me. Both Scott and I are 34-year-olds who are in our prime and thriving and only getting better every day. So I wanted to get that on the record. Scott, this is one of the final questions I have for you, but I wanted to talk about last year a little bit with the Aves.

In particular, I think, how you sort of view from your perspective the benefit of playing for a team that obviously had a remarkable regular season, but the goals support specifically in front of you where the Aves, I think average like three-point six goals per game last year, which led the league and whether you sort of view that as a benefit as a goalie, just from the perspective of maybe decreasing some of that pressure in the moment where let's say you give up a couple early or whatever happens, you don't, you have maybe slightly more margin for error. You don't have to be perfect on that night because you know that the team can actually come back and score goals and bunches to get you back in it and still have a chance to win because I know Woodley and I talk about that a lot, sometimes that pressure that goalies put

on themselves where if you have a low scoring offense in front of you, maybe you feel like you're a bit tight because any mistake you make, you might not be able to dig your way out of it and actually have a chance to win. Did you sort of feel that way last year with the abs just knowing that we have this, you know, firing on all cylinders offense? And even if we are down to nothing in the first period, we might be up for two by the end of it. Was there any element of that? Or you kind of just focus on what you're doing and let the skaters figure out the goal scoring for themselves? I think it's there in the sense of like it's not a hope in a prayer away. Like it's almost like especially my first game.

If you guys remember, I went in the Buffalo and Georgia, I gave up four in the first. We came back to one five four. It just like it almost got built into like, you know, your bones or your bloodstream there. It was like,

you know, first period down four nothing. And then you win five, four and 40 minutes. And they only give up 15 more shots for 40 minutes and just overpower. a team. And even when you played them, it was like, you know, these guys could as a goalie, it's like, these guys can put a four on me in four shots if it, if it goes their way. So I think with a lineup thing, and that was one thing I've kind of talked about too at times is, you know,

you're in the NHL, but when we were playing in Arizona and all of a sudden, the powerhouse would come in, you're like, all right, like, you know, if I give up less than five tonight, I had a good night. And that goes into that mental approach too. It was like, all right, now you've just put five in your mind as a thought process. But that was kind of the view. It's like, you know, if we have a good night, you know, we lost three two, but I gave up, you know, three goals on 38 shots. I had a great night. Could have been seven to in the first.

Like, just the way it kind of goes. And then you go into games with that lineup and you're like, all right, like, we can win. Let's go. Like, let's play. I can be free and play. It's not like I have to be carry price in 2015 and be sub two every night on 40 shots against and win every trophy the NHL has to offer kind of vibes. As much as you want to, like, every, you know, no one takes that and says, like, okay,

I don't have to try. It's never that. Everyone obviously puts their best foot forward. But there is an element to a little bit of freedom in the sense of, you know, if something goes wrong, everyone's kind of pulling the same rope where it's not like, all right, we just need McKinnon to take over. Like, you know, you've got five, six weapons that can put the puck in a net. And even the bottom six forwards were great for us last year in that sense where people

were chipping in and so many facets that was really cool. So, yeah, there's definitely a lighter step heading out to the lineup, to the ice with that lineup than it is, you know, obviously when you're near the bottom of the league and you got to fight to stay in it some nights. You brought up McKinnon there, I got to ask. Lots of lore around him in terms of his fieriness, his hard driving personality, you know,

obsessive about nutrition and training plans. Just generally, it seems like super high standards, like when he's at the rink, like it's business. And honestly, as a national media member, not even a beat writer, I can feel the intensity just being in the room. But I mean, what's it like being his teammate? Everyone has opinions about, you know, his intensity from afar.

What's it like when you're actually in the room with him? It's so funny. I feel like he's like one of those like he's good in so many different ways in that, right? Like whatever, we're on the road and the guys are all hanging out. He cracks something of beer and you're just like, you can't have that. Like media told me you can't have that. They don't know what I put in my body and it's just like he plays into it a little bit too. but he but he's also one of those people that I've found throughout my career like just in his presence

makes me want to be better in a sense of like you know if he's pulling this rope at this speed and this intensity and this thing like I don't want to be the guy to ruin that and fail behind him that you know pulls his pedigree down but he's also got like a good a good point to it where like the stuff that he does isn't just like I'm going to go and lift heavy before the game to to prime my nervous system and I think it works and it's been helping me and then just hide it from everybody like he's so good at the sack that I do this this is what I have my team and people that I've paid for because he's got the resources and he brings it to the rest of the roster it's not like you know I'm over here with the secret sauce and no one's allowed to touch it because no one

else wants to get to my pedigree so he's great in that regard like recovery rides like he's got a team that obviously is knowledgeable and goes about what works and finding that extra edge. And then it's, you know, seeing down the ladder, down the chain throughout the organization in the room. And he wants to win. And I think that's one of the things that people give him a hard time about is,

you know, he's obviously a little fiery and he'd probably be the first one to say at a different moments. He could probably handle a little bit better than what he does. But at the same time, you know, talk to me when you've got 140 points a season and you score 60 goals and do what he does, yeah, you know, it might put people from afar on edge. And, you know, he's owned it at times. He's come up to guys and apologized and done stuff that media doesn't know and they don't

have to know. You know, obviously there's times where he gets chewed apart. But, you know, some days he comes in. He's funniest guy in the locker room. I don't want to talk just the way it is. Like, there's the side of it. But, you know, I've had 20 minutes son of sessions with him. And I'm like, you know, I'm the greatest guy ever. And then there's times where after a game doesn't go right. I'm not talking to them in the sauna. It's just, you know, if I give up six and get pulled, you don't want to talk to me in the sauna either. Like, it's just, you know, he holds himself to a super high standard and that's what makes them

great. But, no, I think he gets a little bit of a bad rep just because of the viral clips that they pull out of certain things. But since I've been there, you know, it never has said a bad word to me as a goal. I remember I watched one interview he did and he's like, I don't know. He's got a great attitude and he stops the puck. He's like, I don't know the first thing about goal to me. I don't care. He's just nice to be around.

Let's go. He's on my side. That's what I want to hear. Yeah, but no, like, you know, it likes the same thing. Golf, we talk books. You know, he had me reading one of his book series this year, and we were, you know, bond over that, sits in front of me in front of the plane and chat. And just like anybody, some days he doesn't want to talk to you. And I'm sure sometimes when the media beats you up and comes after you all the time,

like I give him all the rights sometimes. They're in a stall every day. And you guys are doing your job. And he's sometimes he's just over it. And obviously that gets. shown after a bad game when you're like, how'd the game go? He's like, well, fuck, get out of my face.

Like, it's just, you know, there's those moments at the end. And sometimes with those high competitors, it's not the right time. But you catch them on a good day and I've seen them talk to guys for a long time. So, yeah, I think it's just, uh, depends, uh, time and day and how many points you got, I guess. I got one from one more for you, Scott. Um, when you first game in the league, it was still kind of that heyday of the Zadino, Chara, Shea Weber, 100 plus mile per hour. slap shots. We still got Darren Radish and Evan Blouchard in the league, but for the most part,

it's become a bit of an extinct art form. I'd argue the bigger threat for a goalie these days is just the release on some of these forwards and how deceptive they are and disguising their intentions or kind of when they're going to let go of it, where it's going to go for you to read. As a goalie, is there anyone in the league that you really kind of view as like incredibly annoying to try to stop their shot because of either the placement or just not having a good feel for like when they're going to get it off like who sticks out to you as the most either dangerous or creative shooters in the league right now um i mean obviously we play the central a lot it's funny because like i skate with robinson the summer and we're good buddies so like he's he's always

trying to score 40 a night on me just the way it is so um yeah but i mean like he's he's got a different release than like deceptives he's just pinpoint um i feel like caprisov has a few different release points and just skillful. It's like he's back foot falling away, middle of the slot gets off his heel and it comes off higher than a heel shot should and skate with Cole Coffey on the summer. And he's 90 stick handles inside the hash mark and, you know,

can just hold on to it longer than you should and then pinpoint that corner. But we only play them twice a year. Kyle Connor, I skate with him in the summer. He plays on Winnipeg. He's a threat every time he comes down. But like that crazy, like deception, of thing. I think the Matthew's release has really changed goalie's view on that just because of the

two foot pull and then you can push it still from the inside, which has been what everyone's trying to kind of replicate is, you know, you change the angle. Golly's got a shuffle. Then from the inside you can go back the other way. That's become, you know, a hard shot. And then you just got the, you know, for whatever reason everyone is now like to go low glove and low blocker underneath the hands, right? So that ability to kind of come east-west and then go underneath it has been a big challenge but it's hard like when you skate with your own team so much you see them more than you get four shots from a guy you know in the in the slot but these higher goal scores obviously have been able to get it off but uh yeah like it's different like ovechkin powers it through you

with a curve and that puck never lays flat like he's always just bearing it through you with movement so if unless you catch it center mass it's it's finding a hole just because it moves and then like dry cycle sits in that low corner and just hammers it off your hip no matter what you do you have to almost play him as a beardly goalie to stop it because of where he's placed but yeah i think it's through screen deception movement extra pass and then just fire at home right like so many different ways of scoring out right like you can be a good timord scored 15 goals that way and you can be a one-time specialist and be dylan gunther and you can be a think that guy scored two goals on me hammering knucklepucks and I'm just like how like that shouldn't move that way and but let alone be hard and on net but you hit a rolling puck like why wasn't that 40 feet into the net let alone bar in somehow when you hit a rolling puck which doesn't seem to go my way but yeah like you said there's just there's so much of it I think it's now just finding that gaps in the D zone and releasing some stuff all right Scott well this was awesome you definitely lived up to the hype

we're going to have to get you back on turn this into an annual tradition in the off season. Thank you for coming on, man. And good luck with this season. And we'll have we'll chat soon. Always appreciate you guys. All right. Where there you have it.

The Scott Wedgwood interview on the PDOCast the first time, definitely not the last time, John. He was incredible. You know, he was sold to us as a must for the summer series. And he was incredible. Now I just want him and Woodley to have a weekly podcast, maybe here on the PDOCAST network, just so we can listen to them talk shop and break down the, the goalie position.

I mean, he was phenomenal. I love, you know, you never know, especially with players. Like, I always expect in these summer shows, you're going to get a bit more out of them. They've agreed to come on the show. I think they get the general vibe of it. I'd like to think we ask them more thought-provoking questions than they get during intermissions of games. And so it allows him to kind of settle into a comfort zone.

But he was off the charts with all of his answers. I thought, like he pretty much just cooked for 10 minutes anytime you and I asked him something. So I think he made our lives pretty easy as, co-hosts here. And yeah, I really enjoyed that. Yeah, I mean, just an open book, right? Like, like you said, a long, informative answers every time.

And I think there's a lot of humility there where, you know, this guy's a legit journeyman who has risen to Jennings Award winner. And it wasn't easy. Like him talking about hiring a mental skills coach. Like he talks about it sort of as like this crossroads moment. That to me really sticks out as, you know, something important to talk about generally, but also,

you know, you think about what could have happened if he didn't, you know, look in the mirror at that moment. And he's up to eight NHL organizations, five NHL teams. He repeated the devils and the coyotes there.

So, like, he's bounced around. And for him at 34 to finish fifth in Vesna voting, and, and, you know, 9, 21,

say, percentage, you know, almost 40 goals saved above expected. Like, he really had a huge year at 34. And for him to have in his back pocket all these experiences of being an HL or an ECHL or a backup, traded four times, claimed off waivers, like he can really bring it all. Like if you were an organization, you had a rookie coming through the door,

let's say a star rookie was drafted in the first round. I mean, Wedge was got to be right up there in terms of the guys. You would hope that that rookie would interact with and be able to learn from. Yeah, he was telling us before we went on the air, he's renewing the basement that he was recording from and he's looking for space to put all 40 of his goalie masks that he's worn over the years. And I think that demonstrates definitely how he's kind of bounced around and worked his way to where he is now. And I think it's a pretty cool story. You know, didn't really get to bring this up as much as part of our chat, but I think it's definitely

in line with when we were discussing sort of, I think the luxury of playing on last year's ads for him where you get that kind of relative lack of pressure from a pure scoreboard perspective. because you can give up a couple and still feel like they're going to score enough to get you the win. It probably, honestly, though, doesn't apply to him as much because, you know,

I talk about this would be quite a bit, like maybe the pressure goalies put on themselves depending on their situation. Like, if you're on a bad team and I think like the sharks a couple years ago, when Black was there before he came over the abs, were a great example of this. He was putting up these huge, say, percentages,

but it's like ultimately doesn't really matter as much because, like, you're not going to be judged on whether you win or lose that night. And there's such high shot volume that like you're facing 40, 45 shots. It's a pretty good spot, I think, to settle into a rhythm and feel the puck and get settled, which, you know, goalies aren't really getting to do that much in today's game. But that doesn't really apply to him because even when he was on bad teams in the past, he was always trying to either earn that next opportunity or that next contract, right?

Like regardless of the team's own ambitions and where they were in the standings, he individually was needing to prove himself just to stay in the league. and create a career for himself. And so I think that's a pretty interesting component of it. And then so now getting to this spot in Colorado where I guess there is the pressure of, you know, especially with Nathan McKinn on the team, like it's such a high standard. You're going to be judged on whether you win the Stanley Cup or not.

And so the games matter that much more. But just kind of this, I guess, roundabout path that he took throughout his NHL career to get there and then finally earning that opportunity, I think is incredible. Yeah, if you were going to go through the transcript of that interview, I betcha he mentioned the word pressure the most out of, The non-common words that you use like and and but and I. Like I feel like it's just a huge theme in his, in his development and his evolution here where it's like an internal pressure

and just sort of like not seeing the forest for the trees. And then him finally getting over that. And you know, you make a really good point there where now he's in a position where there is that team pressure. Let's win the cup. Let's actually make, you know, some noise in the playoffs aside from our 2022 cup. So that's something I'll be looking out for in terms of that. storyline here moving forward. And of course, there's Blackwood there who he's he's partnered with.

And I think ideally if you're the abs, it's a nice split. Blackwood's this guy who's, you know, been touted as athletic and, you know, powerful and this sort of like freak of nature physically. But, you know, can he stay healthy? Can he get in the rhythm? That's, that's another story. And we saw play out last year with Wedgwood really sliding into more of a 1A role, partly because he was playing super well, but partly because it was out of necessity. So I'm keeping an eye on what's going on with the abs and the goaltending and the workload there. I mean, it makes sense that he's fixated on that.

He's living it, right? Like, after we, we finished our call with him, he was talking about like, because we had caught him coming off the ice during his off season training and he's out there taking shots from some of the guys he listed, but, you know, Kyle Connor, Cole, Caulfield, Jack Hughes, like going down the line of top goal scores in the league. And so he's feeling that pressure every day in terms of trying to get better and testing himself. And so I think you can certainly see that on the ice with him. Yeah, what else stuck out to you?

Because I think, you know, he was so transparent, as you said, and made it really easy on us. We, I think, got to ask him pretty much everything we had planned to get into. But what stuck out to you in terms of like the most either insightful or interesting stuff that, you know, he was pretty willing to talk about today? Well, I find the, you know, paying attention to the handedness super interesting as a non-goly. Like, I'm sure there's some goleys out here that and go. like, oh, I do that too, not a big deal.

But for Scott to be so open about it and talk about how he is fixated, it's probably the wrong word, but how he's obsessive in some ways of like, okay, you know, we got four righties on the ice right now and one lefty, okay, this guy just changed and just sort of like keeping a tally so that when there's a guy going back door, is he a left ear or is he a righty? And, you know, there's the position of goal tending has changed so much physically and it is so demanding physically that we sometimes forget that like a huge massive gigantic portion of it is mental both when you're in the crease and then when the pads are off and you got to deal with you know the pressure of being the last line of defense of like if you let in the goal

everyone's sort of blaming you the lack of knowledge around the position generally in terms of fans and media you know that that brings even more haters in terms of just not knowing like oh, that was actually a goal that was impossible to save versus like, you know, just blaming the goalie by default. So, yeah, I mean, I find the mental stuff like super fascinating. I've written, you know, three or four deep dives on like getting goalie's heads and trying to figure out what it is like to be them at the NHL level, whether it's like the art of being a backup or like, hey, you let the goal and the puck's

dropping in a minute, what are you doing to reset? which Adam Francilia, who has been mentioned by Kevin Woodley a bunch on the show, he calls it a post-goal protocol where you try to have, you know, these habits that reset your mind and then you can actually stop the next puck versus being fixated on what just went in the net. So, yeah, Scott's is again, like one of the, you know, maybe one of the ideal people to have on to talk about all things goal-tending because he's just seen it all and been through it all.

Yeah, it must be humbling. to kind of like realize, I think that there's only so much you can control, right? I guess this applies for everyone. But I think goal is in particular because of all those elements where you could have the right safe selection and make the read and do everything by the book and the puck still goes in because it either bounces weird or someone's in front of you and screens you and takes away your eyes or it gets tipped or goes in off your defender, particularly if you were an oiler's goalie last year and everything was going.

And off darn all nurse, I'm sure they feel. Yeah. Like all this stuff plays into it. But I think he's kind of been primed for that because. of that path we talked about where I think he even and he brought this up which was interesting sort of the business side as well right with how few positions there are available in the league and maybe especially once you become a bit of a journeyman in the league within the eyes of the organization like there's probably someone else they're more committed to either because they took them higher in the draft

or because they've already invested via contract and so it's not necessarily even an even playing field for you where it's like a pure meritocracy like if you make the saves you're going to keep playing like isn't necessarily how it always works either in terms of burning starts. And so I think all that stuff kind of coalesces together. And, you know, it was just really cool kind of talking about all of it with him. And I thought he was incredibly well spoken and also just willing to chop it up. I told him afterwards that if he ever wants to get into broadcasting, he'll be very equipped to do so. He doesn't seem as keen, but it seems like he's got a couple more strong years ahead of him playing the position.

So he doesn't have to worry about that yet. Yeah, I mean, goaltending is, it's all reactive, right? Like, if you actually just sit there and think about it, it's like, okay, if you're a forward and you had a bad shift, you just go out and hit someone. They're like, if you don't have your legs at that night, you find a way to block a shot, whatever it is. There's other ways. If you're a goalie, the play's all coming to you.

You can't, like, go out and do something. I suppose you could, like, play the puck to feel it and feel like you're contributing to breakout or something. But again, you're waiting for the puck to come to you. So it's very difficult in that aspect where you got a. really, you know, center yourself if things have gone sideways and make sure that you perform for the rest of the game. Like, you know, there's the, every year there's a goalie that for whatever reason, the first shot of the game, it's just really fooled him. And then, you know, it depends on

the goalie. It's case by case. But does he bounce back in that game? And it almost becomes irrelevant that he keeps letting in the first goal or does it crumble him next thing, you know, he's, you know, on waivers. It's the margins are so thin with goaltending. You say that just sent a shiver down the spine of Devils fans who have been living that the past couple years. All right, buddy. Well, that's all we have for today. Part three of the summer series is in the books. If you haven't listened to the first couple, definitely go back Todd Diamond on part one.

Dan Hughes that Madison I tag teamed as well on part two. You and I have a couple more coming up. I think I've got maybe three or four more of these scheduled. Nothing imminent right now. so we're not going to tease like we did last time a specific guest, but a couple really fun ones. We got to, you know, without giving too much away, get some GMs on here as well

because we've covered all the other angles of hockey, but we've got to get into the decision makers and the guys who are making some of these moves. So you and I are working on unlocking that in. We'll have a couple more probably early September, I'd say, to look forward to. You got anything you want to plug here on the way out or you're still just plugging the PDO cast

and everyone's subscribing to listening. Yeah, just plug in the, the summer interview series, which was a great concept to come up with in terms of catching people when they, you know, have the top button of their shirt undone versus in the middle of season when things are a little more serious and just talking big picture things with them. It's, is it your third year or second year doing it? Second year, yeah. Yeah.

So last year was a huge hit and I've enjoyed the two I've been on this summer. And Todd Diamond also hit out of the park too with your solo up. Well, it's been a blast doing these with you, Mattis. I'm looking forward to the remaining interviews we've got left on the summer series schedule. A couple quick notes from me on the way out here first, if you're a diehard sicko that enjoys listening to the show and we're well over an hour in today. So if you're still here, I think it's safe to say you qualify as such. I highly recommend subscribing to the PDOCest Patreon if you haven't done so already.

It's going to give you access to every single show we do this season. You'll get the ad-free version of each episode and we'll be posting them on that feed immediately as soon as we finish recording so you can listen to it right away. We're still going to have at least one. new show per week available on this free feed for you. But if you're not on the Patreon, you're going to be missing out on a lot of the content. We're going to be doing over the course of this season. There's going to be a steady flow of Patreon exclusive episodes available just for our subscribers

on that feed. So if you don't want to miss out on that and you want to catch all these shows we're doing, please join us over there and become a Patreon subscriber with a subscription. You also get a discount code to the merch we've now got available for our listeners. We've got the first edition of hats and T-shirts available for purchase on the online. mine shop, you can find more information and links for how to get some for yourself in the show notes here or pinned to the top of the Patreon page. A bunch of you have already picked up some merch for yourselves and it makes me very happy to see that. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you rock it

with pride, help represent the PDOCS brand in full force and then more of you get in on the fun. Last note, please also subscribe to the PDOCS YouTube channel. That's a free option available for you. We've already been posting the video for a good selection of the shows. We've done this offseason there. we're going to keep doing more and more of that this season, trying to get as many episodes as we can up there for you to watch. It's something we didn't really do that much of in the past, and I really want to grow that channel this season, so each of your likes and comments and subscriptions

helps build that up along the way and is greatly appreciated. Okay, that's all I've got for you today. We'll be back soon with plenty more. Thank you for subscribing and for listening to the HockeyPedioCast.