The Hockey PDOcast - Takeaways From USA vs. Finland, Saturday’s Matchup Against Canada, and Beanpot Standouts

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Ryan Lambert to talk about what we see in Team USA's win over Finland, potential storylines to think about ahead of Saturday's highly anticipated game against Canada, and the standouts from this year's Beanpot. 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.

It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedocast. My name is Dmitra Filipovich. And joining me is my good buddy, Ryan Lambert. R.L. What's going on, man? Oh, you know, same as always, chilling. Really, you know, trying to get through today so we can get to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a good one.

I got to ask you, because I don't want to say that you're a Grinch by any means. I think you're a very level-headed analyst and industry. individual, but I do feel like it takes a lot to get you worked up and get you incredibly excited. I feel like you're very level-headed about this stuff. How do you feel about the first two games of the Four Nations? Does it capture your attention? Has it exceeded your expectations? Are you enjoying it?

Well, I'm going to be one of these brave guys who says, you know, I actually think it's good that they're playing best on best. Yes. There's a lot of people out there with these takes. Like, I saw people saying, you know, this might not be good. it's good yeah no kidding man like the question was always whether the players would try really hard and then you know everybody said well i've seen one minute of practice and these guys are trying to kill each other so that's good yeah i feel like the combination of having gone so long without an event like this and especially a lot of these players having missed out for like

prime seasons into their early and mid-20s before getting to experience this the fact that it's mid-season. Obviously, the Olympics always are, but when you compare it to the 2016 World Cup that happened in September before the season when guys are kind of working into shape and ramping up, everyone essentially came from playing over the weekend and jumped right back in a game. So they're very in rhythm. And then also just seeing this much talent on the ice, even Team Finland, which is obviously quite undermanned after their injuries and was going to have an uphill battle to begin with, you'd get to see like Barkov and Ranjanon on the ice together that rocks. you just there's so much

there's so much talent all across the board it's being played at such a fast pace now today you and I are going to break down the Thursday night game between USA and Finland and it certainly didn't have the same level of juice I think as the game previously involving Canada and Sweden

yet for the first whatever 35 to 37 minutes when the game was tight pretty much the first two periods it was very competitive certainly and Finland was hanging in there and I think there was some really fun stuff to break down so let's go through our takeaways from that 6-1-win for Team USA. Now, I want to talk about the Cucks later on, obviously, they had an outsized impact

on this game. Both Matthew and Brady had a pair of goals, but what really stuck out to me watching this game, and I'm curious if you agree, just how devastatingly lethal that combination of Jack Hughes and Austin Matthews was, shouldn't come as a surprise considering how good both guys are, but obviously I've never seen them playing together like that. this and then all of a sudden, them just immediately jumping into it and having the level of chemistry they had playing with Jake. And so that line was absolutely terrifying.

It took Team USA a bit of time in that game to kind of find their footing and finally exert their will. But pretty much from the jump, that line was creating pretty much anything they wanted every time they were out there. Yeah. And like you say, I think that's to be expected a little bit. And, you know, I think this is going to be another one of my brave takes. I think the game really changed when they decided I'm going to put it.

Eichel with the with the with the Chuck brothers right and that allowed like those guys those guys are just like you know hyenas out there and like we'll get to them later but like it just allowed the the the hues and matthews and gensel combination like three guys well like three guys with very complimentary skill sets let's say and it allowed them to to find a little bit of a looser or matchup or what, you know, here and there. And, you know, the thing is, like, it's hard to judge because Finland was like, yeah, we have a guy who's, like, never played in the NHL almost, you know. And their roster just ends out so quickly in a way that, like, even Sweden's doesn't,

where, you know, if you're going on paper, you know, Canada, US, one and two, depending on what your preference is. Sweden, a clear number three in Finland, like a distant four, just because, like, you said, their injuries. So, yeah, I mean, I wonder how much of that is the matchups and how much of that is the complimentary skill sets and how much of that is like just these are three of the best players in the world playing together, you know? Like, what percentage mix of it is, is them coming together and really figuring it out?

I think it's them just being that good. I think the complimentary skill sets certainly play a role. Gensel has so much experience playing with outrageous playmakers. And so, like, his ability to kind of just get lost in soft spots and coverage and hang around the net and clean up. And then just seeing the way Matthews and Jack Hughes were looking for each other, how they were attacking downhill. Five-on-five shots of them on the ice were nine-two in their 15 minutes.

They combined to set up the Gensel rush goal, which was kind of the final nail in the game. Matthews early on rang one off the crossbar. and you go back and watch that shot and it was just such an absurd release, right? Because he pulls the puck into his skates essentially and you're like, all right, most human beings won't be able to get a threatening look off here with a lot of velocity and he just rings it by UC Soros

off the bar as he's drifting to his right. He hasn't scored in seven games now dating back to his games in the Leaves before the break, but it feels like it's just a matter of time before I think he erupts and goes on one of those goals scoring binges. It was interesting just seeing the chemistry between those two guys and then they'd go on the power play. and I think early on they were planning on having Jack Hughes on that top unit,

but then they decided to put Gensel on there instead to kind of play more of a complimentary bumper role. And if anything, I'd actually like to see Jack Hughes on that top unit. I know there's a bit of an overlap in skill set, but based on how well him and Matthews were clicking, I'd like to see that moving forward, especially with the man advantage. But yeah, those guys were just incredible. They were so quick at turning any sort of change in possession into an opportunity, right? So I just thought like this is what this event is all about, seeing two guys who don't get to play normally like this and just seeing them absolutely thrive. It's incredibly cool.

What a charmed life, Jake Gensel, by the way, has lived, right? He goes from eight years of Sidney Crosby and riding shotgun with him to then playing with Kutraub and Point full time. And then now he's playing on this line with Hughes and Matthews. And obviously he contributes as well. And he's an elite goal scorer and he does a lot of stuff to connect plays. but man there's like no one has lived the more charmed hockey life i feel like than him over the past decade yeah and even even in carolina oh i the worst guy i played with like sebastian ahho oh okay man that's it's crazy yeah and i mean like he is you know like i don't say this to to to ride him

i think he's awesome obviously um but like he is such a good complimentary player to those like all those guys you're mentioning where it's like you just get me the puck and I'll put it in the net and they go oh no problem you know what I mean like he's he's not a guy that I necessarily think of as being like whoa Jake Gensel took over this game but whoa Jake Gensel and blank took over this game is like you know that's kind of the story of his career in a lot of ways I'm curious for your take on this because we've heard a lot um both coming from team USA but also in the coverage of that how they're sort of priding themselves on being this well-rounded group that can play in so many different ways, right? If you want to get into a back-and-forth track meet, they obviously have the speed and skill to do that.

They have a lot of guys who crash and bang, especially with the kachucks and even down their lineup so they can play any sort of environment you want to get into. It felt like getting into this game. They were like, all right, well, Finland's going to play a very sort of gritty, slower game. And so we're just going to do that better than them. and it felt like they were making a point of going out and just like finishing every check and playing incredibly physically in this game. I think it'll look different against Team Canada, not that they don't have their own set of players who fit that bill, but based on what we saw from them against Sweden, it'll probably be more open and more back and forth chances and just faster in general. Do you think we'll see them keep playing this way and this is actually the way they want to play?

Or do you think they're going to kind of adjust and accommodate it? Or do you think they're going to try to kind of like sucker Canada into playing this type of game to sort of get them out of their own game and then try to do better at it essentially than them? Yeah, I think it's the last one. I think, you know, if you're trying to go up and down the ice, like, yeah, the U.S. has great, super mobile, really effective players who can play quickly. I don't think they have Carter McDavid and Nathan McKinnon. You know what I mean? Like, it really does boil down to that for me. like you don't want to get into a track meet with this team USA 99% of opponents they'd be like

yeah track meet no problem this particular i don't know that you want to play canada's uh game on home on canada's home ice and because look like Finland scored first in this game you know i wrote about this this morning like um it this kind of really felt to me like one of those premier league games where like watford is hanging around against Chelsea. You know, it's like one, one in the 70th minute. And you're like, what's going on? And Chelsea's hit like four posts and there's been 14 corners.

And then in the last 10 minutes of the game, Chelsea's like, and by the way, we are scoring four goals to end this one, just so you know. And like, you can't do that against Canada. You can't be like, damn, we can't solve these guys. We can't, we can't get through. We can't stop hitting the crossbar. I just think that's what it boils down to, quite frankly, is that like, you know, you put Canada on one power play and it's, you're facing it a maybe insurmountable deficit. With all due respect, Sweden, obviously, like, I think a lot of it will come down to like, do you think Ussesaurus is better than Jordan Binnington?

But, yeah. Well, it's a hilarious bit because not only did Finland score first, but it was Henry Yoki Harriyo of all people. And we made such a big deal of the fact that, like, they were a bit. very clear about when they announced their team. They picked Yanni Hacompa over him, who hadn't even played in the NHL this season. It was dealing with this chronic injury and probably wasn't going to be available. And then they exhausted every single possible option. And then when Heiskin and Enron and both go out there, like, all right, fine.

I guess we have no other options. So we're going to bring you at Kenri Oki-Henol. Billy Hynoll is at home. Yeah, Billy Hynoll is like, what about me? So it was interesting, especially out of the gate, they made a clear point of like targeting and punishing Finland's biggest weakness, which is that blue line. Every chance they got, they went after them, and they created a bunch of turnover as the first goal, which Boldie created was off of that very play.

I think they're going to have an opportunity to do so against Canada, because obviously Canada's defense group is much more talented and deeper, but especially after the Shait Theodore injury, I do feel like guys like Perrako, Dowdy at this point, considering how rusty he is, and how he looked in that opener, and even Sandheim is stepping into this lineup, those are guys that it feels like you can force into mistakes if you speed them up and make them make like high leverage plays either behind their net or or against the forecheck. And so if that is the strategy going into that game, it actually feels like it's a pretty compelling one in terms of trying to force those mistakes. And then USA, as they showed, certainly have the players, whether it is that

Hughes, Matthews, or the Cachucks or even Boldie and Kyle Connor, if you make that mistake, they're going to be very quick to turn it around into a scoring chance and most likely a goal based on how to talented there. Yeah, I thought Perrako and Doughty in particular, like I was watching that game and I literally Googled like, did I forget that Evan Bouchard has heard or something? Like, why isn't he here? Like watching Perrako's, because I think it was the second Sweden goal maybe. I don't have the notes in front of me.

It was the third one. It was a third one. He just iced it for no reason. Yeah, yeah. And it was just like, what are we doing here? And then I looked it up. This guy played 23 minutes. He was the second most used defenseman on the Canadian.

team. And it's like, you have Kail McCar out there, man. What are we doing? Yeah, it's not, it's not great. I certainly think they're, they're very vulnerable there. I guess it is, I'm sorry, fourth most used, fourth most used. Still a lot, still a lot. It was, it's a different, 23 minutes is a level in a game against Canada because I feel like the repercussions of, if you're going to play that style, of going over the line and taking penalties. And we saw TVSA, take a couple, they were obviously, went unscathed because Finland didn't really have any offensive juice to punish them for it. But we saw 12 seconds only in the opener of that Canada top unit power play. It looks pretty good.

I think it's a representative example of how good they're going to be. And so if you're going to give them a couple opportunities with a bad advantage because you're just trying to throw checks every time and you're kind of potentially getting yourself in the trouble there, all of a sudden I do feel like that is playing with fire. And I wonder if that's going to be an interesting wrinkle to this game, if that is the strategy. Yeah, and, you know, it might have been Greg, who, like, when Canada scored so quickly on that power play, was just like, I don't think they're getting another power play the whole rest of this game. That's it. And then they didn't.

You know, I think that's something you kind of can't ignore either, is that there are a lot of power plays in the U.S. Finland game relative to kind of what I expected based on what they called in Sweden, Canada. Well, yeah, I think that's a byproduct of the way USA is going to play. Now, also with that forecheck, they got caught deep a couple times and Finland had a few, especially in the second period, right, before, while it was still 1-1, they had a few odd man, Russian opportunities. Hall had the breakaway. They had a two-out-a-one that I think Aho, like, tried to pass it across the hints and it didn't, it wasn't completed, but they just weren't able to capitalize on it,

but I feel like that's another element to that, obviously, on that Saturday night in Montreal, I think emotions are going to be quite high in that atmosphere. and I feel like the crowd's going to play a role as well. It was hilarious seeing, you know, Barry on brand. The Kachukes are mixing it up, especially early on Matthew Kachukh behind the net. Post whistle was doing his Matthew Kachuk bit and was trying to like go with someone into a penalty or like threw a little cross check after the whistle.

And then you could see that he quickly realized it was Sasha Barkov. And as soon as that realization dawned on him, he just like skated away as promptly as you've ever seen Matthew Kachuk remove himself from a situation. I don't think that's going to come into play against Team Canada, certainly, even if it is against Sam Bennett and then being teammates, I think he'll be much more willing to engage in that. But I got a good chuckle out of that because it was like,

you can just see it working through it as mine. He's like, oh, my God, it's Barkaw. Okay, I'm not going to touch it. I mean, you just walked away immediately. Yeah, I'm going to get yelled at when I get home if I keep going with this. Sam Bennett, like you said, all bets are wrong. You want to abuse Sam Bennett a little bit. We might not even resign this guy, so.

Yeah. My one final note on Team USA, especially their forwards, was, and I noted this on Boldie and the goal he created, and he has the second one where he forces a turnover behind the net. He comes up on he tips of Brock Faber's shot. He's so good. I felt very confident that in this environment, his skill set you're talking about what Gensel does to fit in with stars. I felt like he was going to play such a great sort of accentuating complimentary role. And you saw that here. I was able to manufacture stuff just off the wall and off the boards.

And so I love Matt Boldie. And he's obviously an awesome player for Minnesota, but he's one of those guys who in this particular environment, I feel like, just gets leveled up so much more. And he only played like 12 minutes in this game and had the goal in the primary assist. But I feel like he's going to play a huge role in this tournament. Do you have any other notes on,

I want to talk about Hellebuck as well? Do you have any other notes on the Kachucks or any of Team USA's skaters that we haven't gone to? Yeah, I like that, like, I thought Brock Nelson really. Like the thing I'm really kind of watching this for in a lot of ways is like how many guys help their stock for like the regular season and like the MVP. Like because I saw people saying like the the first goal hellibuck gave up was kind of a stinker and like, you know, it got tipped on the way to the net, blah, blah, blah. And I was just like, oh, that makes me wonder if like people will be like, well, I mean, look, did Hallibuck have a great season for the jet? Sure.

But like, you know, USA came in third in the four nation. So how good was it? You know, that kind of thing. And, like, I thought Brock Nelson kind of really stood out for me for a good chunk of that game, especially the second half. And I wonder how that affects, like, just, you know, when he goes back to the Islanders, do they trade him? Do they keep him?

He's getting up there. That was kind of what I was thinking about a lot for, like, a lot of these guys, not just Brock Nelson, but just like a lot of these guys who were maybe in the running for a war. boards and that kind of thing. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, he hit that crossbar if I like him and Matthews hit the exact same spot on the crossbar. They were clearly trying to go on the U.S.S. every single time. But yeah, this team USA, especially even on their fourth line, right, you look at how little Dylan Larkin played, for example, and obviously we know what he's capable of. There's so much shooting talent on this team. I do feel like it was a six-one score line.

And obviously, as we said, Finland was outmatched. I don't think that final score line, though, was representative of how this game went. It was one with like three minutes left in the second. And then kind of the wheels fell off. And they're just not, they're not equipped to once. As soon as they went down, they're like, all right, we have no chance of getting back into this one.

See you later, right. I did like the five forward top unit power play for them, especially early on with Barkov with the point. It made me wonder whether we're going to like get a second phase of Barkov's career when he's like 38 years old, assuming he still wants to keep playing and it's still healthy, where he's like a stay-at-home defenseman. He can't really move up the ice in.

anymore, but he's just so big and long and has such great defensive instincts and stick that he could probably get away with it and play a serviceable role. I get why they did that. The second unit power play is being quarterback by Asa Lindell and you get like a jump scare seeing that. You're like, oh, that's not going to go well. I will say in projecting, because I was watching that game, especially when I felt like the score wasn't, you know, up for debate or in jeopardy for Team USA, just thinking about what Saturday's game is going to look like against Canada, how the two teams are going to fit and match up against each other. And I thought Finland, and part of this maybe is like,

especially upfront where you have guys like Barkov and Randon and playing together, there's so much size and puck protection ability. But they had a lot of success early on below the goal line, and especially like bringing the puck out to the net and causing havoc against Team USA's defenders. And Team USA has a lot of good defensemen, but other than Jacob Slavin, not necessarily anyone, I guess Noah Hanofin is pretty big as well. But like generally, guys, you could probably have a fair share. shot of winning in tight puck battles with you don't want to get into space with them because

they're so good at skating um but just thinking about like that crosbie mckittan stone line and the damage they could potentially do down low and kind of play in this ground and pound game i thought i thought that was interesting because that was the one real area where it felt like finland had a few shifts where it was like all right they can actually hang with them and they're they're just holding on to the puck down low and getting a few cracks in front of the net and obviously canada is going to be able to do that at a much higher level yeah absolutely um that that's it kind of makes me uh you know i i was saying before like that kachuk brothers in

the ikel line like the those guys like this is tough to say because those are like three of the best players in the world at that particular thing and it's like okay if i was going to find three guys who could do it a little better i think crosbie stone mcannon might be might be up there as like a three-man unit who could who could hang with icel the kichucks. So I'm, I'm so excited for tomorrow. It's going to be a great game. I want to talk about Hellebuck because he gives in that first goal to Yoki Haru and everyone was getting their jokes off, right? And I'm not sure I wasn't watching the American broadcast, but the sports that won was quick to flash the Hella Buck stats from the last two post seasons and talk about him

in these big games. And it feels like that. Yeah, it didn't come up. Yeah, it feels like it's going to be a big storyline, certainly, right? Not only for the rest of this tournament, but obviously heading into the postseason as well. He's on track to win his third Vezna decisively in the past six seasons. And he's pretty much done everything you can in the regular season. But when you reach that level, even though everyone acknowledges it's a team sport, he's going to be held to a different, and in my opinion, unfair standard because it is such a team sport still, although the goalie, I guess, can have a bigger impact than anyone else. But he's going to be judged based on how the postseason go for the Jets moving forward. Right. And I wanted to talk about that with you a little bit,

I'm not sure where you stand. I know you're, you're a big hell of buck guy as well. And how could you not be? I just feel like whenever those conversations are had, they're so devoid of context. And maybe that's my fault for, for reading into like headlines and sound bites and online Twitter discourse,

because that's generally going to be devoid of context. But I feel like every time someone cites these stats of like him not being able to get it done on the big stage and in these big moments, it's just, uh, it's unfair in my opinion. because you go through it series by series and it's like, all right,

it's pretty easy to explain why things have gone the way they have, yet it still keeps coming up. And I imagine, depending on how the games against Canada go, and especially if you get into a final, that's going to be something that everyone keeps harping on. Yeah,

look, I feel like the PDO cast audiences are not the people that we need to explain the concept of sample size to. You know what I mean? And especially, like, we also don't need to explain to them like, hey, you've seen the Jets roster the last several years?

You know? Like how it thins out once you get like the top five guys off the ice? You know, I think everybody, and even leaving aside who their playoff opponents have been, I think everybody just can kind of, you know, take a step back and say, oh, yeah, it makes it like you, I'll say this, you'd like him to be better. You know what I mean? Like you said, it's not entirely his fault. Obviously it isn't.

But he does need to be better in like high damage or high leverage situations, you know, high, high importance games. But at the same time, it's like, you know, I haven't, I haven't really thought the Jets have been particularly well coached for the last decade or so. I haven't, like with the way they use certain guys and are over relying on. guys who play a certain way and that kind of thing. They just don't, you often put their best foot forward. But with that having been said, should the guy who's, I think at this point, I feel comfortable saying it, the guy who's been the best goalie in the world over the last five seasons on the aggregate, you know, should he seal a series at some point, given how many other kind of crappy goalies have stolen a series?

Like relatively crappy, obviously. you know, guys who were like the eighth, 10th, 15th, best goalie in the world have stole one guy, he stole a Stanley Cup for the St. Louis Blues one time. Yeah. You know? And you'd like to see Connor Hellebuck play up to that, play up to that standard, like, for a series. But you don't have to pretend, like, isn't it so funny that this guy sucks in the playoffs or whatever? It's like, yeah, I mean, if you're not watching the games, I guess you,

could say that for sure. Yeah, I was going through it. I wanted to jog my memory just year by year, how this is unfolded for him. And it's like, all right, the first year, 17, 18, they make the run to the Western Conference final. He has a 9-22 save percentage in that postseason. They lose to that expansion Vegas team in a series where the Jets scored six goals in the final four games and lost. Then in 2020, 2020, he has a 950 8 percentage in sweeping

the Connor McDavid, Leon Dresite Oilers, and then he loses to Montreal when the Jets score six goals

in four games against Kerry Price. In 2022, 2022, he loses to the Cup champion Vegas team, and you watch that,

it's like, all right, Vegas was much better than them. And then last year, those guys just hooped on them. Yeah,

for sure. They just hooped on them. Last year, the numbers were very ugly, yet you watch that and it was just the layup line

for the abs. They completely detonated the jets defensively. And I'm with you in the sense that we've seen like a goalie can have a more outsized impact on a hockey game and a hockey series than any other skater. And we've seen goalies put the team on their back and miraculously win these games. And a lot of those, I'd argue, though, even though the gaudy number, say, percentage numbers

show up, it was situations where the team just played really well defensively. And it's like, all right, Sergey Bobrovsky, gole, the hurricanes. And you watch it. And it's like, no, the Florida Panthers played. worked incredibly well defensively and didn't give up anything in front of him and he just has not really had that luxury in any of these series.

So I get the stance of he's going to be held to that higher standard because he has been the best goalie in the world for as long as he has now and you want that on the resume. But I find myself as just completely unbiased party rooting for him personally

to get over the hump just because I feel like this entire narrative that he can't get it done in these moments or that the regular season doesn't matter in terms of what he does because of what follows is just such a silly lack of context argument for me. So I'm a, I'm rooting for Connor Hellebuck and this is obviously a big tournament for him to try and kind of, I guess, get rid of that notion. Do you want to get into, before we go to break while we are on Hellebuck? I had a mailback question about Hellebuck from the P.D.O. Gads discord. I feel like since we're on the topic, maybe this is a good time for us

to get into it. Tootha K asks, Hellebuck is already at 43 games play. the season and putting together another Vezna season. It seems like it would be in Winnipeg's best interest to start finding ways to get him some regular rest. What can the Jets do to help maintain his performance going into the playoffs to avoid happening what's happened in the past couple years? Now, I think this complaint is a reasonable one because his workload has been a one-of-one essentially for a long period of time now.

He's on pace for 63 starts this year, which would be his fourth straight season over 60. the two years previously that he didn't hit it were the short ones where he was on a pro-rated pace of 66 and 65 starts. So he's just 64, 63 to 66 starts in the bank for the past seven or eight years. I think he clearly wants to play and he prides himself on availability, especially when a lot of his peers have seen their workloads come down. I've heard that argument and the Jets are like, all right, well, you're the best goalie in the world and you mean so much to our organization that we're just going to play you because you want to keep playing. But I feel like it would be in their best interest to monitor his starts down the stretch here

so that we at least get that part of the equation out of the way and he's actually fresh heading into what would hopefully be a long playoff run for the Jets this spring. Yeah, so I'm just going to read you a handful of, I'm just going to read you some numbers here, okay? 72, 70, 73, 68, 62, 43, 63. And you go down the list. Those are Henrik Lundquist's games played by season, starting it from 07 to like 2015 or so. Yeah. And, you know, then he gets basically in 2015, he gets hurt for like part of that season and then goes right back to playing 60 plus

games for most of the rest of his career. And like, yeah, ideally you're giving guys a little bit of a break, but I think with Hellebuck in particular, like you said, it's kind of one of one, how he gets used. I think it might just be he is the one freak guy who can do this. You know what I mean? Like Lundquist, same thing. Obviously, it was a different era goalies were being, starting goalies, elite goalies, were being used a lot more.

But like, I just kind of, I just. just kind of think like, you know, this isn't a situation where, to tie it back to Boston sports, because that's all I really have context for outside of hockey. You know, the 03 ALCS and Pedro is clearly in game seven, Pedro is clearly gassed, and I think he wants to go back out for the eighth inning. And basically it was a situation where he was like, no, no, no, you don't understand. I'm going back out for the eighth inning. And the manager was like, okay.

And then, you know, by the time they pull him from the game, you know, it's turned on its head. I might be getting some of the details wrong. But like, I can totally see where Hellebuck's like, you know, my hips don't really work. I'm not as effective. But I need to be in there every game. If they want to step in at that point, sure. But if he's like the best goalie in the world, which to be clear he has been for again, the last five years taken as a whole. I think you just let him throw the damn ball, you know?

I was going to say that's not maybe the best example because that famously did not go very well for Pedro and the Red Sox. So I feel like, well, no, but that's what I'm saying. It's like you've got to know when when you get a rain and I, like, like, you know, because people are still remembering at that point like 2002 Pedro. And it's like, oh yeah, this guy, this guy goes eight and a third every game. You know, nobody can touch him and that kind of thing. But that's what I mean.

Like if he's laboring and insisting on it, maybe that's one thing. But if he wants to go out there and just keep being the best goalie in the world, I don't know that that's what's catching up with him come playoff time. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, I think that's fair. I would say the Jets are in a unique spot here because they have a nine point lead for first in the West with only 26 games. That is the other thing that needs to be said is.

that like you can go to Comrie a little bit more. And Connery's been totally fine. He's got a 9-12. He has a 5-7-1 record, but you look and like, they've scored 12 goals and his eight losses. I don't think it's been him letting the team down necessarily. Obviously, he's not counter Hella-Buck, but I think they still have a fine. He's gotten better lately too. Yes.

Yeah, I believe. There was a stretch where it was like, oh, well, no wonder they're playing Hella-Buck every night. Yeah. This guy stinks. Yeah. You know, but. And you're adding.

It's been better lately, and that takes the pressure off. And you're adding, what? at least three, maybe four, pretty high intensity, um, four nations start here as well, which won't count to that ledger. And if the jets are going to win a cup, that means that hellibuck's probably going to get into like the high 80s, potentially 90s in terms of getting started this year. So, um, yeah, I think it's something worth monitoring and it's going to be a big story, especially with the cushion they have. But yeah, while he's playing this well,

it's pretty tough to, uh, to rein it back too far. All right, let's take our break here. And we come back. We'll jump right back in. I've got a few other things I want to talk to you about. You're listening to the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right. We're back here on the HockeyPedocast with Ryan Lambert. RL, your NCAA correspondent.

No one tracks this stuff more closely than you, especially the people we have on the show. So I wanted to talk to you about this week's beanpot. We saw the conclusion of it at the start of the week. B.B.B.C. In a game featuring a bunch notable NHL prospects and guys that I think listeners will, if they don't necessarily care about right now, will want to familiarize themselves

with moving forward. My biggest takeaway from it, and I'm going to give you the floor here and just let you run wild on whatever you want to talk about it. But I've been talking a lot on the show about this organizational heater. The caps have been on for a while here and seeing the dream season they're having in the NHL.

And then whether it's watching the world juniors or even watching these games, how prevalent everything is coming up caps, basically. And you watch Ryan Leonard, you watch Cole Hudson. And it's like, all right, they not only are they good now. And you get to a different conversation on like where they stand with the league's true elites for the rest of this season. But they're clearly so well positioned moving forward because they have this talent infusion coming in the way.

And I love Ryan Leonard. I'm very familiar with his game. Cole Hudson, I'm learning more and more about, but both guys are obviously really popping whenever you watch them play. And so I think just in terms of this year-long storyline of everything that caps do touch the gold, this is just another example of it.

Yeah, it's crazy. Like, Ryan Leonard is a guy who, like, the level of competitiveness that he brings like kind of puts the Kachuk brothers to shame a little bit. If I can compare him to, well, Brady went to BU, so you know, there's something.

But like, there was a game, okay, so Ryan Leonard, his brother went to UMass, which is in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is where the Leonard brothers are from.

And he originally committed to UMass, but then moved to BC when Gabe Perrault and Will Smith also went to BC because they were a line in junior. And so BC is playing UMass this weekend

and I was at BC's first game at UMass last year so he had all the the whole Leonard family's in attendance and all this kind of thing. And everybody knows he's just a super competitive kid

and after the game, he has a hat trick, of course. And after the game, we asked BC's coach Greg Brown, like, you know, I imagine you didn't have to say much to get him motivated for this game. And Greg Brown says, I actually thought I might have to calm him down for how up he was for this game. And he's just like such a singularly dangerous player with the puck on his stick at the college level this year. I don't know. It's been a weird year for college. and I don't know if he's like going to really be in the Hobie discussion because he doesn't have a ton of assists.

But like the way this kid shoots the puck is just on another level. It's ridiculous. And so yeah, like, you know, he's going to be on the capitals. The second BC is eliminated from the NCAA tournament this year, which I believe they've like 95% locked up the number one seed in the country already. that's how good BC has been the loss in the bean pot notwithstanding and then Cole Hudson

you know the joke is that he plays and kind of looks exactly like Lane Hudson and and then you know I would say the production is a step below what Lane did as a freshman

but like he's he's not going he's not going pro this year I would say but like two years from now he's going to be the best defenseman, or next season, he'll be the best defenseman in college hockey. No question about it to me. Yeah, Leonard has 23 goals and 27 games this year after 31 and 41 last year. And you mentioned how he's going to be in the NHL as soon as the NCAA season is up. I mean, realistically, he should have been in the NHL from game one this year.

I think we talked about the time. People were surprised that he went back to begin with, especially after Will Smith came out. But, man, he is such an, he's just such an act. animal. Like, I love the way he takes the puck to the net. And I'm sure there's going to be an adjustment because going from the NCAA, although it's more mature certainly than like major junior is, it's still such a massive step up in terms of the types of athletes you have to play against every night in the NHL and stuff to work. Yeah, quality of competition, of course. Like you watch like Adam Fantilli and the adjustments he's had to make, right? Like what he was doing

at the NCAA level, just net drives and like overpowering people. And then you come to the NHL and it's like, all right, that's much more difficult to just do as your sort of soul means of attacking. But it's so easy to envision right from day one. He'll get a handful of games at the end of the regular season and then stepping into the postseason, him just being an immediate bottom six contributor for the caps. And that's incredibly exciting. I can't wait to watch that. The Cole Hudson one's interesting, right?

Because you mentioned his production. He's got the 28 points in 26 games. He's here as a freshman. He led the world juniors in scoring. They took him 43rd overall. and I think the way they got that pick is such a good demonstration of what we've been talking about. The Caps is like being a very well-run organization over the past little bit where they take back Malenstein in the fifth round. They develop him for years.

He plays on that HL Calder Cup team in Hershey. He plays on their fourth line. And then he's an RFA and they trade him for the 43rd pick. And then they just go out and bring in Brandon DuHame for essentially the same contract and free agency, replace Malenstein as like a fourth line. penalty killer and just buy themselves this 43rd overall pick, which they then leverage into a top defensive prospect. And yeah, I've been a big fan of the way the caps have been running their ship, but this is just another example of that.

Yeah, no, he's, he does like, again, like if you were somehow to blur out the numbers on their jerseys, you would, you would just watch this kid play and be like, oh, that's Lane Hudson. It really is like that much of a mirror image. And what's funny is, of course, that they have a, I think a 16-year-old brother who is also a smallish defenseman who does that kind of thing named Lars. I think he's a 16-year-old in the USHL this year. This kid, this family rocks. And then there's the oldest brother is Quinn, and he's also still on BU. And he's like a, you know, not big, but like a good sized, like met front presence forward.

Just very funny stuff. Love that. Okay. You got any other stuff on the bead pot or any of these guys? Or do you want to end the mailback question? Yeah. Well, I guess I just want to talk about, I don't know if people have been following the situation with BU's season to date. I'm sure they haven't.

But they had some pretty shaky goaltending for the first half of the season, and the opportunity arose to take a Devils, I believe, second rounder named Mikhail Yegorov out of the USHL, Omaha, which has been, I think they have like six wins in 40 games or something like that this year. They're a horribly run organization. I believe the two owners of the team are in court right now, determining who actually owns the team. They've had three different head coaches this year.

It's a mess. And so BU is like, we can upgrade in goal and get this kid out of a bad situation. Let's do it. And this kid is, I want to say, 6-5-6-6. And the most goals, he's played five games, I want to say. And he's just been unbelievable. I don't have a safe percentage in front of me right now. I can pull it up really quickly.

But like, you know, very. reminiscent of the way Connor Hellabuck plays where he's just squared to everything, it hits him right in the chest, and it's not a problem for him. He's, I was going to say, fun to watch. I don't know that that's the right terminology just because he's not like, you know,

flying around out there or anything. But like, the quality of his play, five games into his NCAA season, all but one of which has been against, like, um, you know, a top 15 school. program right now. He's been unbelievable.

He's running at 9.51. He's allowed seven goals in five games. He's ridiculous. So it looks like the devil's got a good one. That'll work. That'll work. 950. All right. Crowbite asks here, let's close out the week with a listener question,

get our PDO cast listeners involved. Crowbite asks, how do you know when your team can't finish versus they just happen to get goalied when they lose? in the last three Oilers losses, opposing goalies, have had a goal stable of expected of 2.1, 4, and 3.2 against them. I think this is an interesting question. Obviously, applying it generally to fandom of teams

and when your team goes through stretches like this, but also to the Oilers in particular, because I've got a few notes in terms of why this sort of thing might be happening to them this year. Yeah, I mean, I think, honestly, a lot of that is just very vibes-based. You can just watch the game and, just say, man,

that goal went crazy on us. Like, because there are, there are two goals above expected games where it's like, yeah, but all the shots were

from the perimeter, like, you know, this guy, like McDavid had an off night, that kind of thing. And there are just some games where it's like,

yep, that goalie stopped six McDavid breakaways or what, you know what I mean? Like, I think broadly speaking, you can say that if a team beats the oilers,

they're getting goalied a little bit, you know? But like, like, I don't, I don't look at the oilers. Oilers and think to myself, now those, now those are some guys that are going to have a problem putting the puck in the net for, for long stretches, you know?

So, but I do think that you're going to kind of take it on a case-by-case basis. Certainly. I mean, the Oilers are fourth in most goals score this year, so it's not like it's, it's been that big of a problem. There's an isolated game here there are stretches. Part of it is like they're getting there through sheer volume, though, right? Like, their first and shot, or the second is shots, first and slot shots, second in, in inner slot shots first, the expected goals first and in offensive zone time

by shooting percentage. There's 21st in all situations, which is sandwiched by Carolina and L.A. Two offensive juggernauts. And they're 26th in 5-on-5, say percentage after being kind of middle of the pack last year. I do have a few theories beyond sort of what you said there and just some small sample size randomness

in terms of roster construction and playing style because it feels like what they did this summer was they got older and slower, right? Especially with guys like Broberg and football and Holloway leaving and then replacing them with guys like Skinner and Arvinson. I think when you get a little slower like that, you just generally become less efficient.

You look at what's happened to the penguins the past couple of years and part of that is them not having that much talent beyond the top six, but also it makes sense that you get a bit slower, you know, efficiency comes down a little bit. When you're top heavy the way they are and a lot of the guys dragging it down are like Connor Brown, Matthias Yanmark, Derek Ryan,

facility McColls, and it's like, all right, yeah, that seems like you're going to be more susceptible to games like this, where if the top guys aren't scoring, the goalie might have a 42 save performance on 44 shots or whatever. And then the guys they brought in,

Skinner and Arbitson, who I liked the time for them bringing it in, but there are two guys who, even in their peak years. Hasn't worked. It hasn't worked necessarily. Arbitson's been banged up. He actually looked pretty good against Canada,

I thought, in a fourth-line role. Um, but there are two guys who even at their primes when they were at their very best had seasons where they were like shooting 7% and were sort of volume inefficient shooters. They've had seasons where they, they scored much more as well. Um, but I think all you put that all together and it maybe explains a little bit of why the oilers, especially at 5-on-5, haven't been this like juggernaut efficient machine in terms of just like scoring on whatever 10% of the shots are taking or wherever the clip is. they're going to get there still through the volume and obviously the power play and the top guys are just going to have games where they combine

for four or five goals and it doesn't matter what anyone else does but I think it's interesting in terms of thinking about the way teams are constructed and how they can run into some of these sorts of issues like they're having this year. Yeah, I mean, I just pulled it up. The four games we're talking about here. They generated 9.3 expected goals and scored seven. You know, like, it's not,

It's not like a crazy, a crazy disparity, but it's enough that, like, you know, if you want to, let's put it this way. If you want to attribute it in this particular case, like, I think, I think if we're talking to the full season, you're absolutely right about everything you said. But I think if we're talking about just these four games, they shot six and a quarter percent. And they're the oilers, you know? in the broader context, I think that that's all, like you said, they got older, they got slower. They kind of made some bets that, like, I think this is something you and I might have talked about over the, certainly I talked about it with somebody where you wondered which of these guys were going to be able to keep up with the pace that the top six plays at and how that would affect the power play and things like that. and yeah, I mean, you know, I don't think it's a coincidence that, you know, McDavid and Dysiddle are just kind of not producing at the level they did the previous two seasons.

Well, I'll put it that way. Yeah. There's still the two best players of the world probably. Yeah, they still rock. Yeah. All right, buddy, we've got to get out of here. That's all the time we have for today. Ed for this week.

I'll let you plug some stuff on the way out. I know you're going to be very busy coming up with all the trade breakdowns and trade grades and everything you do over at elite prospects. Let's listen to know about that. Yeah, elite prospects. We got an app now. You can download an app to look up all the players that you would just look up on the desktop site, but just nice, quick and easy in the app. Yep, college coverage, NHL coverage. I'm your guy.

So head over there. We got a ton of, you know, we're ramping up like scouting and prospect rankings and stuff like that. I'll be in Boston for the Four Nations Monday and Thursday. So I'll have plenty of coverage of that as well. So all of that's over at Elite Prospects.com. All right, buddy. We'll keep up the great work. It was awesome to catch up with you.

My only plug is get into the PDOCast Discord. We took some mailback questions there from today. If you're watching these games at home, it's such a. an awesome place to just enhance your viewing experience, chat with other people while you're watching it. And that's all for this week. We'll be back Sunday with Trans for our Sunday special. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy the games on Saturday. Thank you for listening to the Hockey-Ocast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.