The Hockey PDOcast - We’ve Finally Got Real Games to Talk About

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by John Matisz to break down the first two regular season games we saw from the Devils and Sabres over the weekend, and some of the names around the league that figure to define the upcoming NHL season. 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.

Progressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name is Dmitra Filippovich, and joining me is my good buddy John Mattis. John, how's it going? Welcome for the first time this season. Yeah, and this is year 10, right? This is a monumental season. I appreciate you bringing me on so early on.

And yeah, looking forward as usual to talk Buck here. This is year 10. I'm glad you brought it up. I feel like I've been, I haven't. been planning to, but I've just been referencing that on every show I've done so far this year. I'm kind of, I think, subconsciously hoping people will make a big deal out of it, but no one seems to really care other than myself. And I personally, honestly, don't care.

It's just wild to think about, right, that how far, I remember you and I had a conversation, was it during the playoffs last year or maybe in the start of the off season, you wrote this big feature on the score about the analytics movement, quote unquote, right, and kind of like how front offices have changed. You had these great insights from Bruce Cassidy and all these various characters around the league. And then you and I kind of just had an off-the-cuff conversation about how far things have come in the time we've been doing this. So it's kind of crazy to think where we were in whatever 2015 it was now compared to now in some ways. Not much has it changed. Like still

kind of doing the same thing. But on the other hand, the entire landscape and the conversations and the stuff we have to work with, I feel like has evolved so much. Yeah, 10 years. Like it's a short amount of time, but also a long amount of time to be doing the same thing. So props to you, man. I mean, especially going from whatever you were doing before two or three shows a week to five, you know, as sort of like the staple. I think that transition has been pretty seamless. I'm a big fan of the show and I, yeah, I just love being a guest because I'm going to listen anyways. John, don't worry. You're going to get invited back on.

I'll have you back on enough of a week. You don't need to butter. Yeah, I'm really buttering you up here. Yes. Okay, here's a plan for today. We are going to at least off the top talk about the two regular season games we've seen so far between the devils and sabers that happen in the, it. in Prague, I guess it was, which is very exciting for us because I don't know if you feel this way. I kind of, you know, I started up the show again last week.

I'm sort of parachuting in after enjoying my time off during the summer, kind of catching up with what's going on. There's obviously been news along the way, but it feels like this preseason in particular has just been excruciatingly long, right? We've seen key players get banged up. I'm not sure where the fan interest is in the product itself. Like, it's cool to see sort of young players. who probably aren't going to start the season on the team,

get a few reps in, right? You get to watch them wearing your team's uniform finally. You get to see them in action against other pro players before they get sent back to either the junior team or HL team or what have you. But for the most part, I don't think anyone really cares that much about the preseason. It just feels like it's been dragging on so long. And then complicating matters is that these two games that we're going to talk about

that do count and are meaningful for our purposes happen simultaneously with other, preseason games still going on. And I think people generally find that very confusing. And so I'm glad that that's at least out of the way now for the most part. And we're going to get into actual games that we can dissect and obsess about the way we do here. Yeah, it's always been goofy to me that a league will have the regular season start while the preseason's still ongoing. Obviously, this has a lot to do with them being in Europe and all that kind of stuff.

But you'd think that there would be an endpoint and that this. Buffalo New Jersey matchup would be sort of a way to unveil the new season in a more

official way but it seems like such a soft launch very strange well I think especially because I find that people

unless you're a fan of one of these two teams are just generally die hard and listen most of the audience listening to us right now would probably qualify for that

so maybe we're kind of preaching to the choir here but I think for the most part if you're a casual fan you're probably caught off guard by the fact that these games

are even happening right because you just look on NHL.com or whatever app or the score app as I use to plug your product. And you just see like, oh, a bunch of teams are playing. It's still preseason, whatever. I'll tune in on Tuesday once the games actually start mattering. And then meanwhile, you have these two games going on, obviously, early because of the time difference.

And I get that. But just from like a marketing and promotion perspective, you're hiding in an NHL network. It's difficult for some people in certain regions to watch. It's happening at this odd time. It's just very bizarre for the most part. I get what the league is doing in terms of like kind of trying to grow the product internationally, certainly. And it's a cool experience for the players involved. But just in terms of like generating hype, right, and making this a big deal of like, all right, the 2024, 25 season is starting.

It seems like it's also not the most optimal way to do it. I also find that no matter what part of the season it's in, these neutral site games never have a great atmosphere. like, you know, the traveling Buffalo Sabres fans that are in Europe, they did a great job, you know, trying to boost the volume levels inside the arena on the weekend. But it was generally a pretty bland atmosphere. You could barely hear the fans throughout the two games. And I get it because, like, there's just, you don't have a home base of fans that are filling that arena and kind of getting things fired up. So it's a bit awkward. I think it doesn't hurt to have the odd regular season game elsewhere.

I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think it should be just regular season games or just preseason games, but there's just something about the energy in the building is very preseason-like. Yeah, I think it doesn't translate to TV. I do, like I've never been on one of these games. I have heard that the fans there are certainly enjoying it, right? And it's kind of cool to get them be part of that experience. They otherwise wouldn't be watching on TV.

It was awesome. I'm just seeing like the camera just pans and you've got Yarmour Jagra in a press box, a drink of Prosecco and Patrick Elliott just sitting there kind of looking odd, right? And so I like that they incorporated that sort of stuff. But if you're one of the people we just said that is tuning in now and you're like, oh, wow, I didn't even really know games were happening or I didn't get to watch them because I didn't really, the NHL didn't really make that clear. We've got you covered.

We're going to break down both games here, both from the Devils and Sabres perspective, talk about our observations, stuff we saw, what matters, what doesn't, kind of look ahead to the season for both those two teams. And then at the end, we'll do a bit of more of a sort of general season preview where we talk about some of the big characters for the NHL the season and names that are going to define the outlook for the league. Let's start from the devil's perspective. They won both these games, I think very encouraging to see the way they played in particular beyond the actual score lines, especially because a lot of the conversation here is going to kind of be centered around the fact that the immediate contributions they got from the names they brought in this offseason in particular. right. It's kind of gratifying to see those immediate dividends being paid out by guys that you either traded for or signed on the free agent market. And that's exactly what they got here. They got two

goals from Paul Cotter, including a beautiful finish in tight in the second game, multi-point game from our pal Thomas Drance's guy, Jonathan Kovicevich, a goal from Stefan Nason, Brendan Dillon, a friend of the podcast, had that big hit that took JJ Petirka, unfortunately, out of the game, but he also had a couple big blocks that I thought they did a good job. both highlighting on the broadcast, particularly one, like just the bravery it takes to stand in front of a Tage Thompson missile and essentially just completely absorb it and nullify it. You can kind of see why they valued him so much and why they brought him in. Jacob Markstrom, of course, stops 30 of 31 in his debut, makes that remarkable paddle save

early on in his first game. And so you put all that together and all of a sudden, a lot of the questions we had about this Devils team, it's going to take more than two games to answer them after a disappointing last year was, but you can see it all, all the pieces kind of coming together and jelling and at least make a very realistic case why this year is going to be different for them.

Yeah, I mean, when they were showing the replays of the paddle save that Markstrom made just an unreal moment on his part, it was a reminder of how bleak things were in net last year. I mean, I guess any goalie can make a highly real save at any time, but it really underlined the fact that Marks is a legitimate number one, let's say, for argument's sake, top 10 goalie in the league. And he just immediately raises the floor of this team to, you know, one of the seeds in the

Metro, in my opinion, like not even just a wildcard team. And last year was such a gong show for them that the standings are are pretty dire if you go and look back. Like they were, they plummeted pretty poorly, pretty, they went down the tube there pretty quickly. So Markstrom-Malone jumped off the page and Paul Cotter, I mean, you know,

let's you know, he's leading the Art Ross right now, the Ratt-Ross race. This is how early in the season we are. But even if you put aside, even if you put aside his scoring plays, I thought that he was a standout player in general.

Him and Mercer, I found between like their anticipation, their motor, their puck protection. Like, these are two guys who, you know, maybe they end up being more third liners or second liners. I don't know if they're necessarily top line guys at the end of the day, but just such key pieces to a team that's trying to, like I said, rebound from a mulligan year and take the next step in general under the Jack Hughes era.

Well, the great thing is they don't need to be, right? Because the devil's already very clearly have the guys that are going to fill that top line scoring role and so forth, this team getting these complementary scenes. skill sets is huge and you can see what the vision was in particular on the PK. We're going to talk more about the Sabres power play and kind of what they did or didn't do in a second year. But I imagine they're going to be a very difficult matchup for a lot of teams because they can essentially just throw a lot of bodies out there who are not just going to sit back

and try to block shots, but actually take it to you right there. Mercer had that sequence where he wins a puck battle, then he skates it out of the zone, then he brings it back, kills another 20 seconds off the clock. they've got a lot of guys who have that sort of dog mentality of chasing after the puck, retrieving it, winning battles. And that's huge because it gives them a sort of strength in numbers, but also I think complements the skill sets of guys like Brat and Hughes and their young defensemen quite brilliantly as well. Right. So for the role they're going to have to play on this team,

it makes a lot of sense why they sort of valued guys like that in the office season, especially because they're not making much money and they're going to chip in exactly the ways I think they need. And on the note with Cotter and the trade from Vegas, I mean, so it's a third and Cotter for Schmead and Holtz. I think at the time of the trade, people were thinking if Holtz is unleashed and, you know, Vegas unlock something in him, then this is a clear win for the Golden Knights. And I guess it remains to be seen if that happens. But Cotter, you know, kind of flew under the radar as a guy that you can plug and play and who has, you know, some upside. and Schmead, I think, was expendable for New Jersey. So as, again, caveat, early goings, et cetera,

but that trade looks all right for New Jersey, especially given where Cotter can slot into their lineup and just give them a little bit of a different look. I know you mentioned, you know, Mercer and Cotter, somewhat similar players can do, you know, that second tier stuff in their forward group. But even if he, you know, ends up on the fourth line, I mean, he can drive that line with a Lazar

and a bastion. So he's very versatile in terms of where you can put them on the lineup card. Well, a big difference for New Jersey, a talking point for them last year was that ridiculous stat of how often they were trailing one-nothing, right? And it kind of took a life of its own and really became a self-defeating sort of thing where you just look up and it just became almost a given that they're going to be playing from behind. And compare that in contrast with a team like the Canucks, where we highlighted how often

they were playing from my head and how that allowed them to sort of establish their identity and play defensively the way they want. wanted to and then selectively counter off the rush when opportunities presented themselves. That's a way you can play when you're defending a lead, right? The inverse of that is like, all right, if you're constantly trailing, it's going to, I think, highlight or make an even brighter emphasis on some of your existing flaws because all of a sudden you're going to be stretching yourself a little thin, right? You're going to be pushing where you might have otherwise not.

And we want this devil seem to be aggressive. But if you're having to play that way the entire time, there's going to lead to a lot of counter opportunities for the opposition and we saw their goalies really hung out to dry and unable to make saves in those moments last year. When that happens this year, I feel more confident that Markstrom's going to be up to the task because that's one of his strengths as a goalie individually, but also just seeing them playing from ahead in particular in game one for large stretches with a multi-goal lead and then being able to sort of hold on to that and still play aggressively, but in a much more strategic way, I think was very encouraging as well and hopefully

a sign of things to come for them, right? That it's going to be a bit of a different sort of blueprint as opposed to last year where it's like, all right, we're down one-nothing again. Here we go. It's the same old, same old. Hopefully it'll be different for them this year. And I think they're off to a good start in that regard. Well, I think the biggest compliment that you could give New Jersey from the weekend is that

they did all this without Luke Hughes, without Oprah Pesci. So you mentioned Brennan Dillon. He fittings seamlessly with Dougie Hamilton and is really going to be such a staple of that top for as far as shut down P. doing the dirty work for a pretty mobile and creative back end. I thought Chimis Casey had, you know, maybe I didn't watch him enough coming in, but way more flare than I thought.

He's got some tricks up his sleeve offensively. And, you know, you throw Kovacev in there. And like I said, Luke Hughes was not there. Brett Pesci was not there. They just have a ton of options long term. Nemich, who you've talked about, you know, countless times on this podcast. Siegenthall are, you know, fully healthy.

Like, you know, even if even if a guy or two goes down, like we just saw, they can put another guy in there and at least, you know, hold down the fort. I really like what they've done with their blue line in terms of the different skill sets. And, you know, I think Dylan is honestly the one guy where I'm like, he might hold it together some nights as far as the defensive end. Oh, Casey was, was. Brilliant. I mean, obviously what plays 13 minutes in game 1, 12 in game 2 or something along those lines. So a bit of a sort of tertiary role. But what an embarrassment of Richard is for this blue line.

You mentioned not having Pesci and Hughes being able to have a guy like that and Kovacic in the lineup and not really missing a beat. And if anything, you could argue like what we saw from Casey there, I'm sure it's not going to be smooth sailing entire way because it's a 20 year old defenseman. There's going to be some hiccups and some mistakes. And we'll see once they get healthy, he'll probably will be the odd man out, although I imagine he's going to get an extended. look here as they come back to North America. But I just thought he was so impressive with the poise he showed with the puck, right? Early on, gets kind of a bad pass in his feet on the power play, I believe, and could have easily panic, but I kind of had the poise to stick with it and battle and knock the puck away at least and prevent a scoring chance going the other way.

And then you mentioned sort of the flare or however you want to describe it with the puck. I mean, the goal is very obvious, right? Like I tweeted out a clip of it, the drag move and then picking the corner with a beautiful shot. But he had so many other more subtle plays, especially in game two, where on the breakout quick ups where he'd elude a four checker and just seamlessly connect tape to tape with a forward moving up the ice, they would allow New Jersey to not only break out, but kind of fuel their dangerous transition game. And then little stuff that I really liked in the offensive zone. Like in particular, when they had him out there for offensive zone sequences with the Hughes line,

he who showed that he's able to think the game at, a high enough level to sort of riff with them, right? There was one sequence where he was kind of has the puck on the right side near the blue line and Casey reads the play and then kind of weaves behind him, brings the puck down the wall and is able to get a shot off. He had a few of those where he'd stick handle and got a backhand shot off on one play. So there were sequences like that where it's like, all right, it's not just that he's able to break the puck out or transition up the ice.

But in the offensive zone, he's already thinking the game at a really high level. And so you put all that together and you can't help but just love everything you saw from his game in those two appearances. Absolutely. And on the topic of Hughes and his line thinking the game at a high level, that obviously includes Brat,

what do you think of Timo Meyer starting on that line? I'm curious to see what Sheldon Keefe does with that combination, assuming that Hughes and Brat stay together as they have been for a number of years. But does Meyer end up kind of pairing up, you know, kind of pairing up with someone further down the lineup, or does he become that third wheel?

Obviously, he has some utility there as the bigger guy, the guy with some net front ability. But he's been, you know, a disappointment since he went to Jersey. Let's not sugarcoat it. So I was just curious about that in terms of like, okay, good, you know, good for Keith to give him the leash here to start. He has. I think we kind of documented the tale of two halves in particular for him last year, right?

He was banged up. He was playing on the wrong wing. He was playing with inferior talent down the lineup. And it's like, all right, well, yeah, this guy is probably not going to deliver the goals that you traded for and then signed for. Played much better down the stretch. A lot of that was kind of thrown out the window because it was relatively meaningless games for New Jersey because they were already out of it by then. But you can see the vision in this game in, in the game two in particular, crash in the net and finishing on that brat wraparound. I thought that trio, that's the only goal they created as a three-man group.

but they had so many looks off the rush, both Brat and Hughes, Myers, the Trigger Man. I think they combined for nearly 40 shot attempts in those two games. And so I expect goals to come in bunches for them. I think if they're healthy,

that's going to be a very difficult line to handle. I thought Buffalo didn't have a lot of answers for them, as you could see. And so, yeah, I want to see a longer run of them together because I think the dynamic between those skill sets makes a lot of sense in theory and on paper,

and you're starting to see it realized on the, ice and so I just want to see an even healthier dose of it. Right on. I just had one last note on the devils if you don't mind. Of course. Yeah, just one thing that fascinates me is how Eric Halle turns his stick over to take offensive or defensive zone draws on his offside. So he's a lefty, but he'll basically take the draw like he's a righty and is able to

have his blade pointed towards the corner versus the net front. And it worked. I was keeping a close eye on it. It seemed to work on the PK. He doesn't do it every time. But that's something that Vincent Trotrex tried out. I know Paul Goste did it back in the day. And it's just one of those things, right,

where there's so much focus on faceoffs, especially on the broadcast, that it's kind of crazy that there's such a lack of creativity in terms of what you're doing with your stick. But Halla, you know, he tries to do something different. So that was more of just an observation. and I believe he won two of three draws when he did that. So I guess a fruitful way to go about doing business too.

And another name you could add to that list of the Mercer's and Cotters and that sort of vocal player that I think is going to complement New Jersey's top-scale guys quite nicely here. Obviously, he's been there for a while now, but just another guy you could add to that list. All right, let's shift over to the Sabres perspective. This is a team that you and I have spoken about in the past. You have a familiar area with them just regionally. right like I know that you sometimes visit there you're around the situation I think those in-person

viewings and conversations certainly help and are going to be additive to this conversation it's just two games right like I think at the end of day I thought they looked pretty sloppy and disjointed at the start of game two the commentary team was talking about how through conversations with people around the team and after game one there was a feeling of like nervousness or what have you in that game and you could certainly see it on the ice it makes sense as a new season there's a time kind of baggage with this organization based on the extended playoff drought and them trying to finally get over the hurdle. I get all of that. I don't want to be too dramatic about just these two games because it's such a unique circumstance and I expect them to play much better the

rest of the way. But obviously it wasn't ideal in terms of how you'd hope to start a year, especially after how disappointing last year it was. And I kind of had the note here where it was fitting that these were the two teams playing each other, both because they're theoretically kind of young, exciting teams with a bunch of tasks. But also because they were two of, you know, arguably the most disappointing teams in the league last year based on our lofty expectations heading in. Now, to be fair to the Sabres, I think when you compare them to the Devils, they're clearly, while you can both lump both them in that camp, I think they're on different timelines, right? Like the Devils are clearly ahead of them. They had that playoff run two years ago.

Their players are a bit more mature. I think as an organization, they were much more aggressive this offseason. And that probably highlights that exact point where they went out and. and they spent a bunch of money. They're very aggressive in revamping their team and adding all over the lineup, whereas the Sabres took a much more sort of half measure, right? Like they kind of, they did a lot of the stuff that we said about the devils in terms of, like, bringing in guys like Lafferty and Malinstein and sort of complimentary,

high motor, high work ethic, bottom six players. But they didn't do anything very aggressive. And I think their fans were probably been disappointed, especially after hearing Kevin Adams come out and say like, yeah, we were trying to do stuff, but ultimately nothing materialized. That's never very satisfying for a fan base to hear. And so I get why there'd be discontent and why there'd be uneasiness of like, okay, here we go again.

It's the same old story. But what did you think of their performance and kind of the outlook and whether that's changed at all after these two games? As far as a performance, I mean, they look very much like a team with a new coach. They were playing with Lindy Rough-esque pace. Like I thought that they were, they were fairly quick up the ice, but they seemed pretty confused in the ozone, like still like trying to figure out, okay, are we allowed to do this? Are we supposed to do this? Where am I supposed to be in this scenario, that kind of stuff? And I think that'll figure itself out. I think, you know, we got to give them some runway here. But I think it was pretty apparent that not replacing Jeff Skinner in the top six is going to hurt pretty significantly. I understand why they bought him out. And I don't disagree with that. But to not. bring someone else in. I guess they struck out in free agency, which, you know, Winnipeg and Buffalo are the teams that tend to do that. So not surprising. But to do that

and then not trade for someone, it's tough, especially with, and we'll see what the timeline is on Peturca, but especially with him getting concussed. It's looking somewhat bleak in their top six. And I think it's just going to be like, let's just say Petrca's fine and, you know, he has a great season, et cetera. I still think that the biggest challenge for the Sabres moving forward is to find another difference maker up front. And, you know, I don't think that'll be through the draft because they're not going to bottom out again. I mean, we'll see. I guess they could draft a hidden gem. But I see Dahlene, Power, Byram has huge pillars on the back end. No real notes there. They'll figure out the rest. Ucapeka Lukinen, Devin Levi, good bets and goal. Sounds good.

but then when you get to the sort of meat of the forward group, the difference makers, Thompson, Tuck, Patyrka Quinn, cousins, Benson, I like all,

I think I like all those players individually, but I feel like they need someone to be a step ahead of Thompson as far as, you know, the amount of offense that can be generated and just lead the charge to slot everyone else in the right spot.

Ironically, I guess I'm saying, saying they need a Jack Eichel, which is, you know, awkward. But too suit, too soon. But seriously, like, you look at that four group and, like, I have, like, I think they're actually a pretty well-balanced team, but I'm wondering, like, long-term, where are they going to find that game breaker up front beyond Thompson? And I know that Peturka has it, but does he have that sort of, like, star-level quality?

I know Cousins has flashes of that, but he's maybe a little more two-way. So I'm just wondering whether it all goes long term. And that's not just a commentary on the last two games. It's more of just looking at this roster realistically and wondering where are they going to find that guy. Well, I think that's fair. Obviously it doesn't help matter is that Petrica gets hurt early in game two. Benson got hurt after game one and didn't even play in the second game. And so all of a sudden that's going to deplete a lot of these questions or make them even more dramatic.

but I just watching these games, I'm with you in that I kept thinking just how much of the burden and pressure for scoring is going to be on the top line in Tage Thompson in particular. He scores the one goal, right? Kind of like a greasy one around the net that he jams in. And that's great, especially to supplement the goals we know he's going to score with his shot. It wasn't for a lack of trying in these two games. He got a lot of looks off, particularly dangerous ones off the rush that he just narrowly missed by, right? He missed the net a couple times. there was a nice save by Jake Allen in game two there. He's going to score a lot.

But when you look at the lineup construction and the kind of the route they've chosen to go, when you compare it to what we just said about New Jersey, it's great to have these sort of secondary skill sets and guys who can just sort of work hard during a shift and keep the puck in the other side of the ice and not hurt you. And because you can't just have four lines of all the same types of players,

but they sort of box themselves in a little bit here unless a lot of these young players just keep developing. And that's not that. unreasonable of a bet, right? Whether it's some of the names we mentioned or even we got to see a little bit of Yuri Coolidge, I think expectations for him are high down the road. They've drafted a lot of forwards in the lottery and in the first round. So it could come. But just for the time being, you look at this depth chart and this Sabres team that scored so many goals two years ago and got and kind of became known as this like young, fun, high scoring explosive team. I think there

were what, they were like 20 second or second in goals or something last year. And a part of that was Tage having a really slow start and being banged up. But to turn that around and get back to resembling some version of that, a lot of the burden is going to be sort of just inherently on Tage Thompson and Alex talking that line to create a disproportionate amount of it, I think. Yeah, another way to put it, and I think you're kind of circling around this, is that they have a very defined top six and a very defined bottom six. And, you know, back in the day, that used to be a compliment,

but I feel like in the modern NHL it's not. You want more of a defined top nine and then that workman like fourth line but things really drop off after their sixth or seventh forward and again the whole the high end those first or second guys just aren't quite at

in the tier that you want them to be Thompson counts as one but where's the other top end guy in other news and more sort of sunny news Zach Benson continues to rule he might have won the most puck battles out of any player in those two games.

Like he's just an absolute animal along the wall. In the first game. And then he got banged up. And that's so I hope that's not going to be long term. Yes. Bowen Byram, that's my sunny note here. Because I thought that he really flashed in these two games. I thought he was flying.

You could see the skating ability and how he's able to just create up the ice. I thought he really had almost an extra gear to his game. And he led the team in 5-15 ice time across. those two games. It's a huge year. It's a huge year for the Sabres because everyone's like, all right, they finally make the playoffs.

In particular, it's a massive year for him, right? Because he's an RFA. He's up for a new deal this summer. They traded for a midseason last year. He's got this big opportunity. He obviously,

I think he needs to say healthy, right? I think that's really the only sort of drawback early on in his career. Hopefully he's able to do so. I think he could have a massive year if he keeps playing the way he did in these two games. And I really hope he does.

because he's a fun player. I think he showed that despite, you know, they have Dahlene and power. Certainly they've committed a ton to those guys nearly 20 million moving forward into the 2030s. The next question is going to be, all right, how much are they willing to commit to him? How does he fit into all this? He's playing with power right now. They're going to rely on him quite heavily. And maybe that's one of those answers as well, right, in terms of where the offense is going to come from, who's going to be able to create. It's never ideal because it's really tough for defensemen in this league to consistently drive offense in that way. but he certainly got the skill set to do so

and it's going to be fascinating because you look on on buckpedia and this Sabres team I believe is committing the highest percentage of their cap expenditures in the league to defensemen. Part of that is those two massive extensions on Dahlene and

power. Is Byron going to make that number even higher moving forward? We'll see. But I really like what I saw from I don't think it was all negative because there's a lot to build on particularly for him there.

Yeah, that power that power in Byram duo could be deadly for the next 10 years. Like I really like the mesh of skill sets there with power being maybe the more kind of stay back guy, be more responsible, but also contribute offensively and Byram being able to let loose a little more often. I guess it's interesting because I just brought up how much they've committed to the blue line. And I do love those three players. I have a lot of concerns about the rest of the blue line.

and I know people and myself in particular were quite high on Matthias Samuelson in the past, and he's had injuries since. But just watching him and Clifton, another player who I love, I'm kind of talking out of both sides of my mouth here, because these are all players that I've been high on in the past. But those two, Yoki Haru, who I thought there were numerous times in these games, where he's kind of just aimlessly floating around a defensive zone, not really picking anyone up, not really having any sort of purpose,

just kind of standing there, winds up biting them on one of the goals, where he almost screens the goalie and never really had anyone tied up. Those guys and their ability to play within this concept and if this team's going to rely so much on their blue liners, it can't just be the top three guys because at least one of those guys

is going to have to share the ice with one of those three and them being sort of this like anchor that can't really handle the puck, can't really do a lot of the stuff they're being asked to do in such a high leverage, big spot is a concern for me. And so I think they're going to have to figure that out. But I just thought watching these games, there were a lot of times where you could

tell that under Lindy Ruff, the Sabres do want to play up tempo and fast and move the puck up the ice and get it to their forwards. But if they're asking a defensemen who can't really do so to try to accomplish that, it's going to have them sort of spinning their wheels in the mud. And I thought that's what we saw. To be fair, against the devil's team. The pressure is a lot and has a lot of good skaters themselves is going to boast challenges for a lot of different teams regardless of how good their defensemen are. Yeah, Samuelson's an unfortunate case because I was pretty high on him when he signed that extension.

And I thought they were getting ahead of it as far as lock him into a number that was reasonable. But it's kind of gone the other way through injuries and whatnot. But if he's on a third pair, I think he can survive and be useful. Getting him away from Dahlian or power, I think will be helpful as far as like lessening the minutes, lessening the responsibility. and, you know, maybe him and Clifton can become a pseudo shutdown pair that maybe chases, you know, second lines on the other team or something like that. I don't know.

But, yeah, it's unfortunate how that's all kind of unfolded from Samuelson's perspective. Yeah, well, not off to a good start because that pair got pretty rocked in these games. So I think some of the watch for, certainly for them moving forward. The other thing that I thought from the Sabres perspective, and this kind of cropped up a lot last year, and I think you and I in particular spoke about it. But just when you get into a situation like this where you're playing against a devil's team that's pressuring and not really giving you a lot of clean space to move the puck up the ice, I know they got a few rush looks, especially with that top line. But I still need to see that they're capable of some sort of like problem solving and secondary mode of attack, right?

It's like when you play better teams in this league, they're not just going to let you step right into what you want to do and keep executing it. everyone is so good now at preparation and knowing tendencies and in game planning and everything and these things are going to keep coming up and if the sabers are going to compete in the Atlantic and make the playoffs and become go or transition from being like a young team full of promise to an actual winning one you're going to have to find ways to actually string together meaningful attack in those instances and i didn't really see that in these games and that's a concern stemming from last year and hasn't really been resolved under a new coach, admittedly in just two games. But that's something I want to be watching from them moving forward, because until that changes, I think we do need to temper our expectations. Well,

and I know you're speaking mostly about even strength, but even on the power play, in game one, Tage Thompson gives up the puck right at the red line. And then it happens again with Jack Quinn in game two. And, you know, who knows, maybe those are two of 10 throughout the whole season.

And it's just weird, early season noise. but that's the devil's knowing that's that area of the ice is where you can attack them and strip them of the puck and go for a breakaway. So again, a lack of creativity or whatever you want to call it was on full display there. Well, in the second unit was admittedly more dangerous, particularly in game one. They actually got a few looks from cousins, but also one of those rare instances where they were essentially just alternating them evenly.

And then you look up at the end of the day and the second unit power play actually wound up playing more overall than the first one. And that's certainly not ideal considering we know. know what a weapon, Tage Thompson is when he's healthy in trying to sort of unleash that shot as much as you can. So, yeah, a lot of stuff there to kind of put tabs on, I guess, or bookmark, and we'll revisit as the season goes long.

All right, let's take our break here. And then when we come back, John and I will jump right back in, and we're going to talk about some of our big picture questions and stories and players and names in the league to highlight moving forward. You're listening to the HockeyPedioCast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app.

We're back here in the HockeyPedio cast joined today by John Maddis John. We spent the first, I was going to say half of probably two thirds of today's show, talking about the Sabres and Devils, just because of the fact that the novelty of we actually have regular season games, we can break down. And so we got into that a little bit here. Let's end the show. We've got a bit more time here to kind of take a bigger picture of you. We still have a bit of time here before the rest of the NHL kicks off the regular season.

So we've got a little luxury here to squeeze in a bit more preview content and help get people ready for it. You did a really fun exercise over the score, kind of highlighting names around the league that are going to define this upcoming NHL season. A nice sort of balance of players and front office names as well. But let's get into a few of them here. and in particular are the ones I think I'm curious for your take on the ones that were sort of the most significant, not to diminish the others, but just in terms of like the ones that I think are going to have the most appeal. And in particular from a fan interest perspective,

ones that are going to drive the conversation and sort of really determine what kind of NHL season this is. Sure. What do you think? Well, let's get into it. What's the number one, number one on your list? Yeah. I mean, I think it's undeniable. that Alex Ovechkin and the gold chase is the number one story heading into the season.

And I think there's an argument to be made that even if it goes south for him in his production, that it will still be a major story. So I guess let's look on the optimistic side of things. So he's scored out of 40 goal pace 16 out of 19 seasons. This is his 20th season. So he needs 41 to Ty Gretsky, 42 to pass him. That's right around sort of what he's, usually up to.

But it is, you know, a goal every other game when you actually, you know, think about it for a second. So that's tough. And especially with how last year went. So I think what makes it intriguing to me in general is that if it gets down to say the last month of the season and he's within 10 goals, I think the whole sporting world turns its attention to hockey and that's so rare. I'm trying to think off top of my head.

that happened in a positive light recently. It's pretty rare, but this is one of those records that, one, wasn't really supposed to be broken. It was just so far and ahead of everyone else at one point. And two is just so pure, right? I mean, the whole point of hockey is to score goals, and this guy is on track to have the most of all time. And then you add in the fact that he's not only Russian,

but has ties to Vladimir Putin. That creates an awkward storyline as far as, how much the NHL is going to promote it. Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner, says that they're going to have no problems hyping it up because Ovechkin's been such an ambassador and such a face of the league for 20 years. And then the sort of last layer is what's going on with the capitals.

I mean, they turn over, what, a third of the roster, including bringing in Pierluke DuBois and Andrew Mangi to be part of that top six that Ovechkins a part of, obviously improvements to their defense. They got Logan Thompson, part of their goaltending tandem. And you look at it all and you go, okay, maybe they're improved, you know, maybe slightly, but they're not like a cup contender. So by the end of the season, is Dylan Strom like he did last year,

force feeding passes to Ovechkin, do we see more of those shenanigans? So there's just a lot going on there and it all centers around Ovechkin. And, you know, he's obviously a, you know, a top shelf personality too. so I'm sure there'll be plenty of quotes along the way, especially if he doesn't produce up to his own level, he'll, I'm sure he'll have a few things to say about it, some self-deprecating comments.

Yeah, especially late in the season as you're getting close. I remember, like, when I was a kid, and I'd be just watching baseball back when, I know the baseball playoffs are going on right now and people are tuned in, but I certainly used to watch it more as a kid

and it felt like it was really in the mainstream and be watching a game, and then it would be like, all right, we're going to cut away now, to a Barry Bonds at bat because he's chasing the record, right? And it'll kind of be that sort of element, and obviously trickier to do in hockey

when it's so free-flowing, but certainly for like power plays or opportunities when he's getting close, I think that's going to become a big thing. You mentioned that from the Caps perspective just how much they improved. I think they will have significantly improved in terms of the talent they brought in,

whether it manifests itself to significantly improve results, I guess is a different conversation because like last year, they sort of punched above their weight, right? Like they cobbled together through a variety of different factors. a playoff berth that seemed incredibly unexpected based on the personnel they had and kind of how they started the year.

So I'm not sure how much they're going to be better from a points perspective, but I think certainly from playing style and interest level, that certainly helps. And a lot of these players in particular you mentioned should help facilitate easier opportunities for Ovechkin as well. Right. Like, we'll see who he winds up playing with. But if he's getting some minutes with Pierluge Dubois, he's quite a good playmaker, at least theoretically, when he's playing at his max capacity.

Manjipani is more of a goal score, but he's a battle winner and I think can provide a few extra opportunities just in terms of having more pucks in the offensive zone. So I like all that. He needs the 41 goals you reference to Ty Gratzky. He had 31 last year, right? Now, 25 and 46 to end the year

after starting remarkably slow by his standards, certainly at his age with the mileage and how much he's played and all that, it's understandable that we should kind of you shouldn't compare, I guess, to his career norms because when he was 24, 25, it was just especially like the shot rate you look at it. It's like how many shots per game and per minute on ice did he generate?

And so, you know, he's at a career low last year, for example, in a permanent basis in terms of how often he's shooting the puck. Well, that's still pretty good for the rest of the league. Maybe not Pico Bettskin, but so I think this team, while there's heightened expectations for like, all right, this isn't just a year entirely centered around getting him. goals, I still think on the power play. And in particular, if they're better as a team, maybe more empty net situations as well, where

they're actually up with a lead. And all of a sudden, they can throw them out there and try to get a couple easy goals as well. And so you put all that together. And I think that's a really interesting one. And certainly, I think in particular in the second half, as we get closer to that number, is going to become a big one. All right.

Who's the next name on your list? I find Shasturkin pretty, pretty intriguing, both, you know, just on the ice and off the ice. So on the ice, I think that he's one of those a handful of players across the league where he can swing a season one way or another for a cup contender. Like if he's playing at a high level at the right time, the Rangers can win the cup. I feel very confident saying that. And, you know, he's done well in the playoffs. So we have a track record there. And then off the ice, the guy wants to reset the goalie contract market, which has fallen off a cliff, which is falling off a cliff, with scoring up and

tandem's taking over for the starter backup dynamic. I don't think it'll be, it's not going to be like impossible for him to do that. Right now, Kerry Price at 10.5 million a year that was,

and it was signed in 2017, is the benchmark. So, I mean, Shasturkin might even fly past Artemaran, who's at 11.6 and change to set a Rangers mark. So there's a couple layers there.

And then also the guy hasn't signed a contract yet in extension. So I guess the door is somewhat open for him to leave in free agency. I know it's unlikely. I'm sure he will resign with the Rangers. But that adds another layer of intrigue. And I just think that with his trajectory, it's setting up this season to be a monster one as far as him being in his prime. And, you know, Vasilowski, you know, kind of drawing back into the group.

Obviously, Schisturkin isn't the only goalie that's capable of kind of taking the throne more permanently. But he's certainly like one of a handful that is capable. He is. What's interesting is, obviously, we got the resolution to the Jeremy Swayman case recently, right? And he gets his massive extension eight years. We saw Sorok in the previous summer get eight years. We saw Hellebuck at what, I think seven as well. We saw the Soros extensions.

So it's interesting because on like on a dollar basis, you're right. Like that 10 sort of threshold that Bobrovsky and price are in seems like very rarefied air. And then Vasselowski a bit below that. But despite the volatility of the position, some of these top names and guys who have consistently sort of been near the leaderboard in a lot of these categories, we have there. seen their teams commit the term to them as well, right? Which you could argue is almost just as dangerous as the actual dollar figure itself. Maybe it's a bit of a consensual concession to keep the overall value down and bring the AAV down a little bit to allow the team to create some flexibility.

But yeah, I think, I assume that it's going to be a massive deal and I expect that to be with the Rangers. So I'm not that interested. No offense in that storyline. Just from that perspective, because I think we are going to see a very logical resolution there. But yeah, obviously one of the. the bigger names and especially at that position, one of the few guys, I mean, we just coming off a playoff run, right,

where the entire conversation was like, how far can this guy carry this team? And the answer was pretty far. Obviously fell short a little bit at the end, but still quite impressive nonetheless. Do you want to do McDavid a little bit here? Because he was also on your list for kind of obvious reasons. But I think interesting nonetheless,

because we just saw him get to the precipice of this remarkable feat, right, one game away for winning the Stanley Cup. that 3-0 comeback and now they've got the dry-sidal extension all sorted out he will be next uh he's still got the extra year on his deal after but they added a bunch of fire power up right which i think in terms of managing his workload throughout the regular season is going to help quite a bit because i think there's going to be less incentive or pressure to have him and dry sidle playing together a five-on-five and having to log these ungodly minutes in november and january games because there I actually have guys like Arvinson and Skitter now who can very admirably fill in on the wings and help those guys out and balance the lineup a little bit.

And so I think that's going to do wonders for him in terms of keeping him fresh throughout and helping them sort of accomplish the bigger picture goals they have. But obviously, especially as he approaches this thousand point milestone, right, and kind of where he was at last year and how well we saw him playing down the stretch, I'd argue that's still the number one storyline just because, As a spoiler for my watchability rankings, when spoilers are playing, I'm tuning in because I want to see what he's going to do. And so in terms of building up fan interest and kind of who as an individual character can define this season, it feels like whatever great heights he can achieve is right at the top of the list for me. Well, it doesn't it seem inevitable that he's going to win a cup? Like, maybe it's not this year. Maybe it's not next year.

But given how close they came last year and just how lights out him and Drysiddle are in the playoffs, it's going to go their way. And, you know, if McDavid re-signs, which seems very likely, they're going to have another, whatever it is, eight to ten years when it's all said and done to try to win that cup. So there's that factor, too. Like, if they end up in the cup final, I don't think anyone's going to be surprised by that.

And we have to mention, too, that the Four Nations face-off is coming in February, which is a bit of a weird event right now, I feel like, in terms of, like, how it is in, the fans eye. I feel like some people don't even know it exists. Some people are like, oh, that's interesting. But, you know, there's going to be the Canadians, the Americans, the Finns, and the Swedes playing a seven game, quote-unquote, best-on-best tournament.

And this is McDavid's first time to really shine as the best player in the world on the international stage. Last time he played for Canada was back in 2018 at the World Championships, which, you know, wasn't quite best-on-best. So there's that element too where it's, you know, oilers stuff aside, it's going to be the McDavid show in a lot of ways as far as Canada and the four nations. That's a great point.

All right. We've got to get out of here. We're at a time. I'll let you plug some stuff, including the article we were just talking about because there's a list of other names that we didn't have time to get to that I think people are going to be interested in reading about. So I'll let you plug that and kind of let the listeners know as well,

what you've got in the works right now, what they can expect moving forward. Yeah, so that story we were talking about, it's 10 people who will define the 2024-25 NHL season. Best bet is probably just Google something along those lines with the score and you'll find it or go to your score up and type it into the search engine. I'm on Twitter at Mattis John, that's M-A-T-I-S-E-J-O-H-N. And actually, Jack Hahn, a PDO-Cast favorite, just talked to him the other day about what to expect from Connor and Brock Faber for their sophomore season. So the story revolving around that conversation will go up on Tuesday. So watch for that as well.

Awesome, buddy. We'll keep up the great work. And, you know, I was kind of, I wasn't sure if I was going to have you back on. But after those nice comments you had at the top of the show, I will certainly have you back on here soon. My plug, as always, is to get into the PDOCast Discord. The invite link is in the show notes. If you can't find it for whatever reason, it's eluding you, feel free to message me. I will gladly get you sorted and get you in there.

John's in there. Not a big poster necessarily, but I see you working around and liking stuff and leaving emojis here or there. So I know that you're there. You're checking it out. And I'm biased a little bit certainly here, but you got to agree, right? It's becoming an invaluable resource, right? I mean, even in the off season, there's just great commentary in there every day.

People having big picture conversations and also very niche specific team-oriented ones as well. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like this year as it continues to grow and people get used to it. I think we're going to see some really fun conversations along the way. So if you're not in there yet, I think it's the best way to keep up with the show. Get involved in future episodes as well for topic discussions and suggestions and all that sort of stuff. And also helps us keep growing this little thing we're doing here. So if you want to help out and get involved, that's the best way to do so. John, this was great as always. Keep up the great work. Thank you to everyone for listening. And we're going to be back soon with plenty more of the

Hockey, Hockey, Kast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.