The Hockey PDOcast - What We Saw in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to break down everything they saw in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovin. My name is Dimitri Filipovich and joining me for a postgame following the game seven of the Stanley Cup final with the Florida Panthers. Coming back to win it all is my good buddy, Thomas Trance. Tom, what's going on, man? Oh, man, just soaking up the Stanley Cup final broadcast. It was a great game.

I really liked the pace, especially the first period. You know, I thought the second period was fascinating in part because, honestly, kind of reminiscent of the first three games of the series, I thought the, from about the 15 minute mark until the Sam Reinhardt goal, I thought the Oilers played their best 10 minutes of the night. Like, I really thought just at the moment where it felt like the Oilers were beginning to turn the screws on the Panthers, Reinhardt gets the Stanley Cup winning goal against the grain, sort of handcuffs. Stuart Skinner, one I'm sure he'd want to have back. I mean, obviously right now, he'd want to have it back. And then we saw the lockdown defensive game that I think makes this Florida Panthers team champions. A worthy champion, yep. Yeah, well, but like that play where McDavid kind of gets it down low off some high-low action,

it was like the one time, the only time all night, frankly, especially the only time in the third period, where the Oilers were able to take a bit of a can opener to, sorry, where the Oilers were able to take a can opener to the Panthers in zone. And it's Forzling who ties him up. It's Montour with the stick check on Hyman. And then it's Lusterrain and coming in with the save. And then it's Sam Bennett covering it up, which really all just sort of emphasizes for me how significant a miscarriage of justice it would have been. If Bobrovsky, who, you know, he was good tonight.

But he also was not the story. The story was the way that Forzling and Barkov locked down 97. The story was the way that this more complete. better built, exhaustingly good defensive unit from Florida, effectively shut down, like the highest caliber machinery in the league, which is that Oilers top five guys on the ice,

and won the cup as a result. Brilliant stuff. First off, you stole all my talking points. Second of all, on the Skinner goal, you show me a goal against, and I'll show you a goalie who wants to have it back. Although I get what you're saying. I know it's just a running joke in the P.D.O.G.

Discord that that's a big talking. headpoint every time following a goal. I'm with you. It was a complete defensive effort. Let's start from the beginning of this game because I thought that, first off, considering the stakes, the stage, everything that was on the line, I thought it was a remarkable game of hockey, right? We were kind of noting that despite that goal against you mentioned on Skinner that made it 2-1, there were very few sort of noticeable blunders or kind of like overt expressions of

guys being nervous or feeling the moment, right? McDavid kind of fell a couple times and I think that was probably more due. to ice in Florida late in June than anything else, not nerves necessarily. It was a well-executed game. I actually thought the only time we really saw poor execution in this game was when Edmonton struggled to pull their goalie late, and then once Skinner finally left the net, they couldn't string together a pass to actually enter the zone

and have a real shot of creating some sort of a look to at least test Bobrovsky and potentially tie this game. And that's really the end of it, right? Like Florida did a great job sort of salting this one away. But the thing that I love about this is you could tell just right, we were following this online, and people who all across the sports world clearly don't watch hockey tuned in because this game, it's a game seven for the championship. This team's trying to make this historic comeback from down 03 and everyone was watching.

And I really thought that despite the lack of goals, especially those first two, two and a half periods, the pace it was played at, the intensity, like how hard everyone was competing and how relatively free-flowing it was, right? very few penalties, very few stoppages, the icing's kind of started to come late. How can you not fall in love with this game, right? For all of our kind of like consternation about the NHL and how it messes up the most obvious rudimentary things and how frustrating it can be as a league, like this sport is so great and this game, when everything was on the line, really delivered. And I think that's like a great starting point for us here.

The pace in the first, I think, set the tone. And then one thing I love. loved about this game was I couldn't tell you a player for whom the moment seemed too big. Yeah. You know, on both teams, right? Like, on both teams with truly unthinkable stakes, right? Like, literally historic. Historic, yeah.

I mean, for the Panthers to get to the final twice and to lose if they had lost tonight, how significantly that alters the legacy to have choked away the three nothing lead, everything that would have come with that. I mean, it would have been unthinkable. And for McDavid and company, the immortality of being the team that comes back like that, the arguments that would have been had not just on like Canadian sports talk radio, but on like first take tomorrow is McDavid the goat, right? The stakes of this game, the magnitude of it, the amount of casual interest from especially

an American sports audience, the sort of crossover appeal of these storylines. And yet, you had Reggie Williams. Wayne tweeted. Football legend Reggie Wayne tweeting. Still enjoying himself. Well, how could you not? And I think that when you really unpack that, the fact that to a man, every single player was able to perform at a really high level. You know, to match the pace of the game.

That there, I mean, I'm not going to say there were no passengers. But there weren't significant mistakes. You know, I mean, even the Skinner goal that I would think is like a little bit softer, like the McLeod giveaway ahead of the Panthers first goal. It wasn't like a guy sort of like self-destructing right in front of our very eyes. No, there were routine mistakes, you know, or like, I mean, it was a difficult shot, shot by a 50 goal score. I mean, you know, credit where it's due.

But I just felt like this was one of those games where both teams kind of threw their fastball at one another. And that was a lot of fun. Well, and I think it's really impressive from the Panthers perspective, right? We think of sort of the emotional swings in this series and kind of how momentum is so wildly shifted. you and I in the final show we did together from Palm Springs right after game three, we're noting how demoralized the Oilers looked on the bench, right?

They kind of mustered that comeback that was sort of, I think, the foundation of things to come over the next couple games, but they still lost that game and looking on that bench, listening to Chris Knoblock interview during the game, we were kind of noting how they felt not defeated, but it felt like they kind of were realizing they were being a bit outclassed by a deeper, more versatile team. And then how the three games unfolded after,

that and how miserable Florida looked for large parts of it, right? We were just noting like making uncharacteristic mistakes, just getting beaten through like sheer effort by the oilers, really just not playing at all the way they played all the way throughout the regular season and through to this point in the postseason. And for them to come out of the gate the way they did, right? I know that they only held that first lead for two minutes or so. Yeah. But I thought just getting that first goal and also just like playing more Florida Panthers hockey,

right? Like they're forechecking, creating turnover, cycling the puck, like, being. much more active than they had looked the past couple games. And I thought even coming out of the first period 1-1, it was a precarious position because all it takes is one moment of greatness from Connor McDavid to break that game open and give the Oilers the lead and potentially a win. But I felt like that was such a massive statement for them to like get that out of the way because if they came out looking nervous again, that'd be a really tough hole to climb out of considering everything that happened previously. Forzling Barkov against McDavid too, right? Three-nothing on the shot

counter at the end of 20 minutes. What was it, something like 12-2? Yeah, I think it was 11 to 2 shot attempts, yeah. Pretty significant territorial edge. And I think this is where all of those minute advantages that the Florida Panthers had over the Edmonton Oilers mattered in game seven. And, you know, that starts and ends with, hey, the Florida Panthers were a more consistent team on balance this season.

The Florida Panthers went into the season without, you know, what we thought were their best two defensemen. Turns out it's actually Gustav Forzling, but nonetheless, two crucial top four right-handed D. You know, they still finish ahead of the Oilers in the regular season. They were far more consistent tip to tail, and then they get to host the game tonight. Yep. And that means McDavid has to chat, has to battle Forsling and Barkov all night long. You know, they end up spending, he ends up spending 14 minutes, five on five head to head against Forsling. I mean, that's, That's tough. Like, you know, even if there are six additional minutes there or seven additional minutes,

you know, that we saw all, we saw all series long where the Panthers were really outmatched was when Hurricane McDavid wrecked everything that wasn't Barkoff. Yep. Right. And so the ability to go power, strength on strength, power versus power on home ice, I think mattered. I think the fact that we saw Edmonton really slice their bench up, right, that really shorten their bench. and they end up playing this sort of top six group.

They ditch Holloway. They don't have cane in the lineup. Like the Panthers never would have done that. They were always going to roll three lines. Yeah. Even though there were some deficiencies on the fourth line, even though there were some deficiencies for the Panthers on the third pair, even if over the course of the series,

it's actually kind of amazing how much the Oilers struggled to actually puncture the Kulikov-OEL pair, despite what it looked like to the ice, right? Like to the eyes, it was like, break away, break away, break away. You told me the Gouikov was on the ice for one goal against, and I was like, that cannot be mathematical. I've visibly seen him on for like seven goals against. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, five goals for, one goal against. I mean, that's, ultimately, Florida was deeper.

They were more complete and they were more consistent all season, and all of those minute edges matter. And what's sort of the story, I think, for this oil. Oilers run as a whole were all of the ways that the franchises appeared to like try to sabotage McDavid over the course of the last four or five years in terms of player movement and, you know, Jack Campbell's counting $3.8 million against the cap and on and on. It didn't matter because with McDavid Bouchard on the ice, right? And obviously credit to Hyman and all the other players. But just with McDavid and that top pair on the ice, the Oilers had the

highest gear of any team in the sport and it carried them almost like to within a goal of immortality and yet those edges still matter right like next year you know the oilers are going to lick their wounds tonight and then they're going to go into the offseason and and the panthers are going to be the template they got there last year right and it's like next time don't go but don't fall behind three nothing in the stanley cup final you know next next year make sure you don't start two and nine. Yeah, don't start every series with

CCNN as your pair. Well, have a better, have a better second pair. Yes. Like, you can't have that as your second pair. You need more. You know, even though McDavid can overcome so much,

even though the game is evolving in a way that actually favors just having the best player on the planet, especially when you're able to play him with Bouchard and Eckholm. I mean, take care. They have to take care next year, and they have to take care of this offseason, frankly, to make sure that those small

edges aren't things that McDavid has to overcome, but that actually help push McDavid over the top. Yep. And that was funny because obviously Yanmark scores the breakaway goal in this game, right? The penalty kill once again delivered. I know they gave up the goal against shortly after they killed off a penalty, but they still held up there under the bargain. And that's where you saw guys like Connor Brown and Matias, Yannmark in particular tripping in, right?

Adam Henrique as well, who they added a deadline, not to take away from those guys. But it was interesting, the dialogue throughout this series, and all postseason, really, but it kind of crescendoed here was everyone sort of tripping over themselves trying to find these sort of ancillary reasons to justify the Oilers success, right? And at the end of the day, it was like, Connor McDavid is just this supernova that is just blowing through everyone and bringing everyone along for the ride with them. You look at the points leaders this postseason, it's like Connor McDavid by a mile,

and then everyone who gets to share the ice with Connor McDavid. And that is going to take away from those guys who help, like, You're talking about guys supplementing. We've spoken at length about how much Bouchard does in that vein, yet still what's remarkable to me is while talking to David up, he was the worthy Kahn-Sythe winner here, right? They got it right. He had 42 points.

He had more points. I love that stat so much more points in this postseason than Pierre-Luc Dubois had all regular season. Out of Pierre-Luc-Dua, just listening to this show being like, oh, finally they won't be talking about me. Just getting catch and random strays. I just can't help myself. He was so good all post-year-old.

season and yet as you noted in this series 42 5 on 5 head to head minutes the goals are 1-1 against alexander barkow and i i can't construct a case because the counting stats just aren't really there i know he was like at around a point of game for barkov like i think you can make a compelling case i think it's a bit too much of the lebron andre guadala year right where it's like you're giving this guy credit for essentially doing little things to bother the best player on the earth who still got his numbers regardless. And it was in a losing effort, but it was still like the totality of the postseason, everything he put together, people are going to get their jokes off and him not coming out

to receive the trophy and everything. Like, he's unbelievable. And it was a very, very deserving consmite trophy. And I shudder to think what. It would have been weird. I think, I think if you want the player on the losing team, now it doesn't happen. Like, it hasn't happened since the mid-70s. It's an impossible situation.

He comes out and people will be like, oh, he's just. in it for himself, like not a team player. If you want the player on the losing team to accept the Kahn-Smith, you have to rush it. Yeah. You have to do it like while the handshake line is going on. And you know what I mean? Like it has to happen fast. Yeah.

Fast. Like it's not, I mean, because the Florida Panthers have the world's politest captain, like did you notice how quickly Barkov went and acknowledged the Oilers in the handshake line? Like that's classic Barkoff, right? he's like, oh, they probably want to leave. Do you think he smiled more in his entire life than he did in that 30 second span where the camera paned to him as he was about to accept the Stanley Cup trophy and then once he finally lifted it?

I think so. I mean, look, I don't think he, I'm sure he, knowing how competitive he is, I doubt that he's ever been like that satisfied as a competitor. Professionally, he's never been dissatisfied. But, I mean, that's a very happy guy. Yes. He was smiling ear to year. For all that McDavid was great all series, I do think it's worth noting that he struggled tonight, right?

We saw him fall a couple times. I mean, I don't know what the ice quality was like. Well, I think this wound up. I don't. Listen, we're recording these shows, like literally right after the celebration we have and looked at the numbers really or anything, very cursory stuff. I believe he finished this postseason top five in like most minutes played in a postseason by. any forward since they've tracked it obviously they started tracking that kind of relatively recently in terms of NHL history but the volume of minutes he played in this series but also throughout the

postseason is just through the roof so yeah him looking like slightly like a mere mortal and yet in the third period he still had a few sort of puck on a stick game on the line moments that were just nullified ultimately by unbelievable defensive plays and I think that's the story here as well right we kind of started it with this team defensive effort Edmonton scores one goal the sports night broadcast seemed very eager to put this all on the doorstep of Sergey Bobrovsky. And he was good. He didn't give up bad goals in this game, certainly. Yet early on, two squeak by him, kind of just go out the other side.

Bouchard beats him clearly and he springs it off the bar. A couple times badly out of position and his team steps up and makes either blocks or defensive plays in front of him. Certainly. And listen, like this happens for any goalie, right? To have a good game like this where you give up one goal against, your team's going to have to bail you out a couple times. You get fortunate a couple times. That isn't a take.

away from them at all, but it just goes to show you that, like, you can't just look at this and say, wow, the Oilers are unlucky because they got goalied by this guy who gave up one goal against. Like, I honestly think his teammates in front of them probably made a larger volume of high degree of difficulty saves tonight than the goalie did. Yes. And kudos to them. That's why they're Stanley Cup champions. They were the best defensive team in the season, all season.

And they were the better team tonight. I mean, they really were the better team tonight. All those little edges. I thought they exerted their game plan better, right? Like, I think the counting stats at the end will sort of make. make it look like Edmonton had the better of it. And that's because the third period was largely spent with Florida sort of tanking and sort of parking the bus.

It was close, but Florida had the edges that mattered, in my opinion, watching the game throughout out. Although the only thing I thought they were where the only moment where I really thought Florida was pretty fortunate was on the Reinhardt goal, just given the way. Right. It was kind of against the flow of play. Yeah, given the way that the Oilers had like really seemed to be coming on in the 10 minutes prior to that goal going in.

Look, before we move on, because I think there... Oh, we're not moving on. We're doing this. We're sticking around. Where do you want to go? I thought we probably would do a part two and get into some of the more hockey. Like, you want to break down game six of the Calder Cup finals? Well, I definitely want to get into things like one thing that I thought Florida was

exceptional at all night was just their puck-on-stick defensive game. I feel like a lot of the series, they've been... And not that they weren't physical tonight, I thought they were, but a lot of the series, I feel like they've been trying to take the body at the expense of doing some of the stuff they do best, which is like the smooth criminal act of just like, you know, Candyman taking the puck from their opponents. I thought tonight they really did that exceptionally, especially with McDavid. How many times did McDavid try to do one of those, you know, slip through two, three guys? And, you know, Eckblad had a great play on a one-on-one rush, you know, with McDavid hunting him down on. on sort of the left wing, knocked the puck out. You know, Foresling had several sequences like that.

Reinhardt had several sequences like that. Like I thought they did a phenomenal job of that. And one thing I do think hurt the Oilers significantly in this one. I thought the in-zone play, and we've talked about this all series, the Oilers in-zone play maybe wasn't as impressive as their ability to attack off the rush or attack against the grain or attack especially shorthand. But tonight in particular felt like they settled for too many point shots, especially with Bouchard and Ecombe.

And it felt like they really struggled to translate the rebounds into like retrievals that then created high quality chances. Like I thought that was a really notable part of what we saw throughout the game. You know, I mean, Bouchard had 17 shot attempts. Echome had eight. So they had 25 shot attempts from that pair. The third place

Euler was McDavid with six. I know the bush bomb is amazing, but there was too much bush tonight in terms of the oil. Maybe they thought they were shooting on Artur's Seelovs, but it's like they needed... Especially without traffic.

I know in the third period there was a few scrambling moments, but a few of the other ones, it was like a clear lane and Bobrovsky was just catching it with his glove. Too much under turn. with Bobrovsky tonight.

And that's sort of where I think this series gets bookended. It's like game one, I did think that was there for them if they'd shot high, if they'd shot Blocker High, if they'd made him move right. And they didn't. He was moving left and he was robin' them. And they were mostly failing to lift the pie. And then tonight, it just felt like their approach offensively, especially in zone, was too perimeter oriented, two oriented around point shots.

And I thought that ultimately played into both Brobrovsky and the Panthers' hands, especially because the Panthers, to their credit, were so on it in terms of those down low retrievals and didn't, you know, with the exception of about a six, seven minute stretch in the second period right before the Reinhardt goal, allow like the Oilers' customary withering battle-winning persistence to sort of wear them down. Well, and I think it's no coincidence that the Panthers were able to sort of bounce back and win this game, considering how, I think much more similarly it resembled the first three games, right? Obviously, game one was a bit of a different story because Bobrovsky legitimately stole that one for the Panthers. And the Oilers just had so many rush opportunities. And they were kind of either on the wrong stick or they just weren't. They clearly didn't have. Like, unfortunately, if you go back and look at it, it's, you can't really like think this way.

You've got to keep looking ahead. I mean, I'm sure you can't spend out the summer just lamenting this. But they clearly made it such a concerted effort as the series went along, realizing the Bobrovsky was just weaker and more vulnerable moving to his right. Yeah. Obviously, the lifting thing is one thing. But yeah, like if you shoot high, you're more likely to score against an athletic goalie. I think everyone gets that. Yeah.

But in game one, we were sort of noting how they were actually kind of going the wrong way. They were going left quite a bit. And he was making those saves, getting across with plenty of room to spare. And then Yanmark scores in this game going to Bobrovsky's right and kind of sneaking it under his blocker. And then even in the intermission interview, he sort of like sheepishly, he was like, yeah, you know, we've noticed something's working. And so, yeah, we want to keep going to that. And we're having success with it right now. And what was interesting to me was in this game,

how many rush opportunities that the Oilers have? They had that breakaway from Yanmark. Beyond that, I think that might have been it really. I think it was. Especially like dangerous ones that were actually followed through with, right? They had like chances at chances. They were nullified by stick on puck or that one. I think it was even like Bennett coming back on the backtrack

to maybe deter them a little bit. And that's why I say that Florida executed their game plan, right? Because early on in this series, you and I were kind of talking about how the Oilers were just too willing to play into Florida's defensive game plan of passing the puck around the outside and bombing away as hard as they could from the point with those bush bombs and Ekholm ripping it. And that's what they got back to in this game. And that's because Florida was pretty diligent, I thought, about getting back and getting their sticks on pucks when they could.

And then I think what really helped them was in the third period, just protecting a lead and seeing the finish line in sight, they had no real desire to try anything. And that's why it was funny when Luce Terenan got high stick. We were like, oh, I really hope for Florida's sake, this is only a two-minute minor and not four, because I feel like Edmonton's much more likely to actually get a rush opportunity and score short-handed than they are at 5-on-5 right now. And sure enough, they got through and Brown almost had that opportunity. And I was like, man, this is a nightmare. Other than the puck that McDavid and Hyman couldn't quite get to, or maybe the one that, like, Echome kicked.

McDavid had another redirect that he just, like, sailed it so high off of a Blouchard Pass, which is actually one of the rare instances where Bouchard looked for a shot pass as opposed to just bombing recklessly from the point. Yeah. I mean, look, that's another thing, you know, this playoffs will end, and Bouchard will have finished the playoffs with the same number of primary assists as Quinn Hughes. And I do think there's an element to which, for me, and we had this sort of debate after game one, you know,

Bouchard as the perfect guy to capitalize off the environment that the Oilers create, I think there's no doubt about that. but that next level, creating the environment or doing more to help create the environment, I think he's knocking on the door there, but there's still another layer to get to. And I think being a little bit more diligent in terms of what he creates as a playmaker in zone, I think his breakout passing is phenomenal. I think he's awesome, like elite getting the Oilers moving. And I think there's an awful lot that the Oilers elite players are able to do with that.

And then the finishing ability from the point is second and un. I mean, probably the most dangerous point shot finisher. in the league now that Shea Weber is retired. But I do think there's that next level as a playmaker and decision maker. And yeah, there were so many Oilers point shots where it felt like they were letting the Panthers off the Schneide. And some of them came after like 80 second shifts. Yeah, extended ones where they're like on the ropes. With like Stenland and Kulikov on the ice.

And I thought that actually harmed Edmonton in this particular game. No, there'd be an extended shift. And you'd be like, man, they look tired. They cannot clear the zone. and then at home would kind of just flow one up. Bobrowski would glove it down and go to TV timeout and they'd be off the hook and be able to reset. And that's why it was so interesting.

I just think there was a bit of a misunderstanding in terms of the rules of engagement here in the series and who wanted what? Because at one of the intermissions, Kevin BXA, who I love and is genuinely a top-tier analyst on these broadcasts, is like making this note about how the Oilers, after every practice, practice these D-to-D passes at top the offensive zone,

and that's why they're so good at it. I'm like, no, they should not be doing this. This is the worst thing they're doing in this game because obviously, like, if the rush opportunities aren't there, you still have to find a way to break through in the offensive zone offset plays and cycle and everything. But the D-to-D, I come to Bouchard, and then shooting from there was just not working in the first three games. It did not work tonight.

And I thought that's kind of ultimately well let them down. And I don't think that was an accident. I think Florida was perfectly content to let them do that. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting because for the first half of the game, even, I do think Edmonton's quick pass, like their quick pass game, their speedy breakouts, I thought were playing.

Like I thought they were actually getting in, getting set up in the zone, getting speed through the neutral zone off of stretch passes. But that's one of the issues you bump into with the Panthers is once they take the lead, they kind of continue to exert down ice pressure. The broadcast, the Sportsnet broadcast actually did a really good job, I thought. spotlighting a moment where Barkov leaned offense briefly in like the last six minutes, right? And then quickly had snap back into it. Oh, no, no. Wait, I've got a cup to win and sort of rush back to McDavid. But, you know, that tells you a lot, I think, about the instincts of the Panthers. Like, they become conservative in terms of how they move the puck, right? They don't

want to make a mistake that you can capitalize off of. But in terms of their pressure game, that tends to still stay dialed. We even saw it with the net empty. Like they were still forechecking with the six on five with a minute to go before they won the cup. And so, you know, I thought there's, I thought that's sort of one of the issues that you bump into, especially when you trail Florida, they stop pressing. You're not likely to catch them leaning when you try to make those home run, you know, passes out of their, out of your own end. But they're still forechecking.

Yep. So it, this team, this team, the pace that they play at, the, the chance, the challenge. championship level pressure game over 200 feet of ice. The way that their defense, like the tip of their defensive spear starts in your blue paint, basically, I think that created real problems, especially whenever they took the lead. We saw it all playoffs, but we definitely saw it tonight. And I thought, if you were wondering what that team was about, what drove their success this year, they saved, I think, one of their more impressive performances, considering the circumstances

of opposition of how the past couple games have gone where they started leaking and showing, you know, cracks in the armor defensively. They tightened it up. They played a vintage game the way they played the past two years, and that's why they lifted the Stanley Cup tonight. Tom, let's take a break here, and when we come back, we will jump right back in and do some final round-up stuff

in terms of our observations from not only Game 7, but with the rest of the Stanley Cup final and all that. So let's go to break here. You're listening to the Hockey Piedocat streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Tom, we've been talking about Florida's defensive performance, what drove their success, why they were able to ultimately win this game. game seven. I should know it. I've gotten a lot of things wrong throughout this postseason and in

the Stanley Cup final as well. But at the end of game six, when it seemed so doom and gloom for the Panthers, I was doing a post game with our palis Sean Shapiro. And I guess it's kind of captain obvious because Ryan Hart scored 50 plus goals. Perhaghi is one of the more clutch playoff scores over the past couple years. But I felt like if they were going to win this game, they really needed something more from those guys, right? It felt like Verheagie was in particular sort of double clutching and overthinking plays and not shooting the way he normally would. Reinhardt had been ineffective. I think he'd been outscored by Stuart Skinner over the past couple games

after Skinner's beautiful primary assist to seal game six. And both those guys scored the two Panthers' goals and kind of came through in the biggest moment. Ryanhart in particular now, as we sort of start to slowly shift our attention to a rapidly approaching offseason in particular, free agent frenzy, which is going to kick off in less than a week or whatever. We'll see what happens with him. We're going to get so many trades tomorrow.

I'm still there. Well, I mean, we've already gone a couple, right? Like 10 minutes before this game started, we got Linus Elmark going to a division, not rival, but a division. Can we, like, bookmark that and come back to it? We certainly can. I think we'll have a bit of time here to kind of talk about what's to come. But yeah, just a note of the Reinhardt,

I think he even had a quote after this. And obviously, in this moment of euphoria, you're like, yeah, I'm never leaving. I want to stay here. But I'm still, like, steadfast in my belief that he's not only going to stay with the Panthers, but for a number that's going to frustrate a lot of people who are hoping that he's going to put them in a bit of a cap bind. And for a Stanley Cup champion,

I actually think the Panthers are pretty well set up here to kind of bring this back and compete again next year and in the future. We'll see, I think they're going to have to make some difficult business decisions. Bill Zito has shown that he's pretty willing and capable to not only make them, but benefit from them. And so we'll see if he's able to replicate that. I think it becomes a bit, I don't know, do you think it becomes more challenging after winning a Stanley Cup

because you sort of become attached to this group and you feel like a level of, not nostalgia, but like a level of like, let's bring the band back together? Or do you think winning this allows you to like, you're playing with house money now where you can sort of afford to make long-term business decisions? And obviously I'm sort of hinting at potentially Eckblad and even Bennett who have one year left and turning those guys into other players where you can utilize the money elsewhere. Or do you feel like they just sort of roll this back, obviously try to sign Reinhart, and for the most part come back with a relatively similar top of the lineup?

I mean, going long on Lundel and trading Sam Bennett for a massive package, like, in the next week, would be one of the gutsiest things we've ever seen from an NHL management group, but isn't that their MO? Yeah, I mean, certainly, like, right. I mean, the Hubert O trade, obviously. Yeah. Like, I mean, that's their MO. So, you know, I think we'll get our answer to that. I'm really curious.

I mean, we saw how emotional Zito was. after game five. Yeah, it was a bad day to be in a water bottle in sunrise. The, yeah, so I mean, we saw how emotionally was. The emotional attachment aspect, I don't think it's just difficult for hockey operations teams. It's hard for ownership groups, right? I mean, this group, I'm sure, is about to party very, very hard, right? Like, they're about, they're about to have some really nice times.

A couple adult beverages, you think? I'd say a couple of adult beverages. I mean, I mean, hopefully like some sick fishing with the cup, like, I hope the cup is going down to the keys. Like, I hope the Stanley Cup's going to be in some fun spots in Florida. So, you know, and owners are involved in that. And, you know, it does get complicated. I mean, we saw it last year, right? Like, very quickly, the Vegas Golden Knights did Aden Hill and Barbachev.

I don't know that they like were either of those were mistakes. But now, you know, it probably does cause. you won a Marsha, so or Stevenson, if not both? I mean... Wait, did you just blame the Vegas Golden Knights for being too emotionally attached to their players? Well, weren't you surprised when they did Barbachev? I was a little bit, especially then trading Riley Smith for it,

and even the goalie, yeah. All I'm saying is they're so ruthless, and they've been so ruthless, except for this one 10-day stretch after they won the Stanley Cup. Right. And so, you know, I do think that that's a challenge. I don't think that's necessarily. like just about general managers making their decisions.

I think it's an organizational level thing. It's pressure from fans. But, you know, we know how Florida operates. We know how ruthlessly they've avoided those long-term commitments for players that they view as like non-elite in their 30s. Sam Bennett's 28. And he's up after next year. I mean, this would be the moment to do the Hubert O. Weaker thing.

No? No, I would say that Reinhart and Verhege, are both clearly like core players that you want to keep for as long as you can. I would say that Montour is obviously a UFA,

although I'm sure they're going to take at least a crack at trying to get them to sign long term for a below market A, V, and sell him on staying here and all the good stuff that's happened to him

over the past couple years in Florida. And then Bennett and Eckblatt at least have a year for you to figure that out and think or maybe just try to repeat as champions and then let them go in the off season. You're right.

I mean, that's what I would do. I think it's very easy for your eye sitting from these wonderfully comfortable couches in your living room to make those decisions. Bill Zito has shown that he's willing to do so. I do think the winning a Stanley Cup potentially complicates that a little bit. But regardless of what they do, I'm going to feel very confident that they're going to be a big time player next year. Obviously, I think the one sort of complicating thing here is they play such a demanding style that I don't think you can afford to take your foot off the gas pedal. maybe they have more margin for air because they have talent, they have depth,

and they don't necessarily need to have home ice throughout the way they did here. So maybe the regular season is a bit of a step back and they still aim to compete for a Stanley Cup regardless. But it's very difficult, I think, for three straight years, especially after you win a Stanley Cup in a summer partying maybe to come back with the same hunger and drive as you did this year, especially after, you know, falling short being so injured last year against Vegas, I think it was an easier selling point for Palm raised and the staff to be like,

all right, like this is going to be our year to finally get to that mountain top. Now that you're there, I'm sure if you're Alexander Barkov, you're probably not taking the summer off because all you do is eat and breathe hockey and you're just going to want to get back to that mountain top. But for some other guys, it might be a bit more of a challenge. So we'll see. But I'm definitely not counting them out. I think they're pretty as well positioned as any really recent Stanley Cup champions

to, like, be a big time player next season. I guess the only thing I would say is they're really well positioned to keep building if they keep being bold. If they keep doing what got them to this point. Right. But what got them to this point was so unconventional, so outside the box, and there were some really significant hiccups, and they made some moves that were widely panned. And, you know, I mean, some of those moves were widely panned rightfully, paying too much for Giroux, paying too much for Chirot. And some of them were widely panned and turned out to be brilliant, replacing Andrew Brunette with Paul Maurice and, you know, certainly the Kachuk for Hubert O deal. So this team, you know, the churn, the way that they've gambled on pedigree defensemen who sort of washed out elsewhere, they're, you know, excellent pro scouting, some of the best in the league, although there's probably a little bit of chicken and egg there too in terms of how well players thrive within this system versus how efficient they are in acquiring them. You know, if they stick to those principles, avoiding the long-term commitments for guys in their 30s. trading guys for value if they're not cinch guys you're for sure going to extend. It's a big demand to continue to play by this set of, you know, pretty rigorous, pretty rigid, wildly successful, this sort of paradigm that they've created in terms of team building.

But I think if they continue to do it, so long as they continue to do it sort of the Panthers way, I think there's absolutely a path for them to keep. being great. I certainly agree with that. But there's also a, you know, it can calcify really quickly, right? I can't. Yeah, I mean, it's a slippery slope. You make two inefficient bets. You're done.

We saw it happen with, I think the Pittsburgh Penguins are a great example of a cautionary tale of this because there was a time I remember where their cap sheet in particular was so meticulously crafted where it was like Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Latang, and then everyone else was like short term and very, kept them very. very flexible. Yeah. And they were making tons of moves on the margins, churning those role players, finding guys from the H.L who could come in and step up and contribute.

And then they got like, after those back-to-back titles, right, they got very committed to guys who were sort of more supporting secondary tertiary players, started giving those guys terms. Kind of, Grant, yeah, started changing their priorities in terms of the types of players they were looking for, started getting older. And as a result got slower, less efficient offensively.

and we know what they've become now, not to turn this into another Pittsburgh bashing session because I spent a lot of time this season, certainly talking about the Penguins style of hockey. How about Carolina? Yeah, hey. So I do think one of the big picture takeaways, though, from this, because, so you were talking about Barkov in part one.

I'm going to, I want to bring this back. By the way, we should note, I tweeted this, but he got asked what it feels like to lift the Stanley Cup, and he said, it's nice. Yeah. Which is great. I agree. I mean, I'm certainly not want to disagree.

with that. I think that's probably correct. And I'm with him. The, the, so going into tonight's game, Barcoff was on the ice for one goal, right? Yep. One goal for zero against five on five to nine. So he finishes this series with five goals four and two against, plus three. McDavid finished at seven, two. They were one, one, head to head. And, you know, as you go through sort of cons my candidates, you go through the McDavid versus Barkov of it all, right? I think there's a really fascinating dynamic at play between Barkov and McDavid in the series. They could nullify each other, right? But when the Oilers were able to loosen 97 from 16, yeah, 97 had a higher gear to outscore and

demolish the rest of the Panthers lineup than Barkov had to demolish the rest of the the way he's wired, right? Like, I think that makes a lot of sense. It's, it's the way he's wired, but also it's like, he's the seventh best player on the planet and McDavid's the best. Right. You know, so it's like, no, I mean, there's a tier gap, certainly. Yeah, so across a seven game series, he only outscored the Oilers, the best team in the Western Conference by three, which is like a totally sick margin. Well, this was an unbelievable feat on his part. Like, for him to play McDavid to a draw at 5-15, considering the way he's been playing, and the way he, like, ripped through the stars in particular, right? We were kind of like

looking. And for a while there, I was like, like, wow, like Tanev, Miro, they're really well suited to defend this guy. And then he just sliced through them, carved up Wyatt Johnston, like, just emphatically made no doubt about the fact he's the best player in Earth. And he was again in this series, but in these minutes and in these home games for Florida, they actually did have the perfect foil. And that's so beautiful, right? You kind of reflect on our series previews from Palm Springs. And we were like, oh, we cannot wait to see this head to head. like the best offensive forward against the best defensive forward and it actually played out that

way. It actually was. We actually got to see Power versus Power. Yeah. And they went full speed into each other and just like essentially just like, yeah. Yeah. It was like the intro to the X-Men. Yeah.

It was truly a unstoppable force met and immovable object. It really was. And it was awesome. Yeah. But I do think the. So I do think the one of the big takeaways that we should have coming out of the. this playoffs just in general is, you know, the Oilers sustained a shooting percentage well north of 10% across this playoffs. And in a world where, you know, what I'm starting to call the fixed

percentages era, right, which, which we're leaving. We're leaving this fixed percentages era where, you know, average safe percentage like spiked to like 9-19 at one point, right? Like 9-13 was an average state percentage. We're down to a point where teams actually can sustain 10 plus percent conversion. rates over large samples of games over 30 games go look at Tampa Bay and St. Louis over hundreds of games right and in a world where teams aren't you know going to regress to seven and a half percent but in fact they're going to be able to shoot almost twice that right or or certainly 66 percent premium on that I do think you're going to get into a world where elite players have a greater impact in terms of

playing a decisive role in playoff games, in key games, in game sevens. It's going to be your 50 goal scorer who handcuffs Skinner. It's going to, you know, that's the world we're going to go to where shooting efficiency becomes a far more powerful force than it had been, you know, for much of like the cap era, where it was really all just about like volume. And if you were out shooting your opponents by a large enough, you know, sort of margin, eventually that environment, that mass would be overwhelming. And so with Florida, right, the key was, because we thought going into that Dallas series, a lot of people did, I even did, you know, Dallas is the deeper team and we're so used to living in this world where it's like game seven time for Ruslan Fedetanko to make the difference, right?

Yeah. But now we live in a world where it's like game seven time for the best players to still be the best players. Well, it was Ryan Hart, Rehagie, Cody C, C, all the best in the game. Yeah. And I'm sorry, I had to Mr.

But that's not even ironic. Mr. Game 7, he made some unbelievable plays. He had a sick game. Yeah.

Legit sick. So sorry, but the Panthers at the end of the day, like people will say, I think one takeaway coming out of this is going to be

defense beats offense, right? Like, that's what people are, are going to say effectively. And the thing is, is, while that's true to an extent,

certainly the Panthers defense was their championship caliber quality. The reason they won, game seven, the reason they ultimately hoisted the cup in Sunrise, Florida night. I don't think we can ignore the fact that Florida still with Foresling Barkov on the end, on the ice together, had this overwhelming top end, this top end that made it impossible for the Rangers to generate anything. Like they also were deeper. They also had that.

But if you don't have that top of the lineup, fastball. If you can't hang with the best of the best, with your five best on the ice, you're still kind of dead in the water, especially in a world where the sport is favoring elite skill to a greater degree than it has in previous years. I agree. I mean, listen, I get that the postseason, like, there are lessons to draw. Certainly, I think sometimes we can get ourselves in trouble from, like, they're kind of, like, isolated in a way. And then trying to apply that to a next season, it's like, it might look different. The landscape might change.

This is a peddle. Yeah. Coal these are going to catch up again. Some things like Matias Yanmark and Connor Brown, looking like Connor McDavid and Leon Dre Seidel on the PK, might not necessarily be like a thing where you look at that and go, all right, we need to have this dominant PK and that's how we're going to compete for a Stanley Cup, right?

Like it kind of ebbs and flows. I think where we can get into trouble in this series, and I think this is what made it such a compelling and such an amazing Stanley Cup final. I know there was a bunch of blowouts along the way, but still we got this game seven with two really evenly matched teams. was they were so perfectly suited to give each other trouble in these unique ways, right? Like, I don't think what the Oilers did off of the rush from games four to six to this Florida team, there were really the only ones that could possibly do that, right?

Like we saw, I'm sure other teams tried along the way, they just didn't have the horses to pull it off. The Lightning couldn't, the Bruins didn't, the Rangers couldn't. No one in the East really could do this to Florida. And so I don't think Florida, if they lost this, would be right to look at it and be like, oh man we desperately need to change the way we play rushdie because i think that would be an overreaction to just running into connor macdavit same goes for the oilers right where it's like they ran into alexander barkov and gus forsling who did just enough to give florida this slight edge in a game seven and those two guys are superhuman at what they do there's no combination out there

really right now of forward and defender who can just hard match the way they did and do this to connor McDavid and actually give him legitimate trouble over a seven-game series. And that's why it was so fascinating. Steve Eisenman did one of these like state of the union press conferences about obviously his team, right? And I don't know what the question was. I only saw the quote, which was his response to it. But his quote was, I'm sure you saw this.

He was like, oh, I'd love to have a Connor McDavid. I just don't know how to get one of those. And that's obvious. He's the best player in the world. He's the best player I've ever watched by hockey. Yeah. I would say the same thing for Alexander Barkoff. Yes.

Right? Like you're going to see like big centers. who are good defensively comp to him, and he's obviously been calm to Kopitar, who came before him. I'm sure we're going to see a version of this type of player. But the level he played at throughout this postseason, really from start to finish, it's easier to overlook because he's so, like, subtle and quiet in the way he moves,

and obviously he doesn't get these loud interviews and everything, all of that works together to allow him to, I know the joke is he's been underrated for so long that he's not actually underrated anymore. I think he is because you looked at the dialogue coming out of this, series, after games five and six, it was like, man, this guy's not doing enough. He's the captain of his team and he's going to let them blow this three nothing lead. Like, he's not scoring enough, all this and that. And I think it just presents a fundamental misunderstanding of what

makes him special. And what that is, is he's the reason that they can go and add Brandon Montour, all of, uh, Oliver Ekman-Larsin, all these defenders who suddenly step in and just have to skate forward because they know the barcove will always be there on the right side of the puck to protect them and just work as a free safety in the middle of the ice. And that's a wonderful thing. And I think that's why I'm so optimistic that this Panthers team will probably be really good for the next couple years because they can just plug and play this like the way I have. And so he's on that level.

Obviously, he's not Connor McDavid. They're different players and there is a gap between those two. And there's a gap between Conrad David and really everyone else in the world. But man, he's so good. And he did everything. And he was so far and away the MVP for the Panthers, throw this postseason run. as much as I love Gus Forzing, and I thought he was phenomenal as a bounce-back effort in this game. Like, stick and pock every single time, it's all bark-off.

Like, he drove all of that. And so, yeah, I think we've said enough glowing things about him, but really we could have done his full show about him because I thought he was that good in the shadows lurking and like sealing guys along the boards to win possession for a teammate. And he's doing all the cool stuff when you're like, you're like, oh, man, this guy did it again. The stick, the reach, the battle winning. I mean, it's he's a blanket. He just blankets his opponents. And that has the skill to do unbelievable stuff himself, right?

And, you know, like, I used to watch him take one-timers at the half-wall. And I'm telling you if he wanted to be like a high-volume half-wall guy on the power play, like he's got the shot to do. He probably will at some point in his career. I hope he does. I think it'll be a later stage thing, but it'll be cool. I hope he does it because he can't. You know, like there's nothing this guy can't do. It's unbelievable.

And so, look, seeing Barkov win us. Stanley Cup tonight was incredible. It was satisfying, yeah. Just very, very cool. And you know what? So we've talked a lot about the way. Let me just add this. It was rewarding to that.

I think it was rewarding to see the Florida Panthers have success. Yes. Because I'm sure, like, obviously if you're a fan of another Atlantic Division team, you probably aren't rooting for them. There was a lot of people rooting for the Oilers to complete this historic comeback. They've done a lot of smart things as an organization in the past couple years. I will say, I will say. the Oilers getting bailed out of like 18 mistakes because they have Connor McDavid.

Yeah. And the Panthers. And then people being like, the depth. Yeah. And then the Panthers historically blowing a three nothing series lead despite having done like just about everything right. Yeah. You know, with the exception of like the Borowski contractors they inherited and there was no way out from. You know, I think that would have been there's something about that that I actually would have offended me.

personally you would have been a little bit personally offended yeah it would have been the fantasy football manager which is me i'm i'm referencing myself where it's like look at my points for this season bro and then i'm like out of the playoffs yeah you're like um four and 12 you know i think the oiler stuff is more obvious from like all right what happens next because we kind of spoke we did it after game three it was like a very premature eulogy i think we noted they had a chance to come back but we were like they just need more speed in particular on the wings and we were figure out the second and we were right and we were right and that's what i'm going to note here because we were were kind of commenting how I really thought

like Fogel and Holloway were doing so much heavy lifting today because unfortunately Leonra Seidel just had nothing left in the tank. He could not move. And Holloway in particular did not play enough. He was kind of lost in the shuffle because they went early to loading up the top line. Then they used a different combination online too. So Holloway only

played like 10 or 11 minutes. Coming out of this, you have to feel good because him and Broberg finally showed us that like they're legitimate cheap cost controlled contributors. That's what they need more of. Now keep going that direction. anything you want to say on the way out as we sign off for this 2024 postseason. You and I are going to have a chance.

I know you want to talk all mark offseason stuff. Yeah, we'll have plenty of time. You and I, that's all we go. We got time. I think just a big picture takeaway from this season is that I thought this was one of the most interesting and entertaining, like years of hockey we've seen in a long time. I think the way that the game has evolved to put stars in a greater position to make the difference. I thought the way that penalties were still called through most of the Stanley Cup final went away a little bit in game seven. But like for the most part, I thought the way that the games were officiated.

I thought the way that star players had a greater impact on outcomes. I thought the storylines throughout the season, like I just thought that this was a tremendous year of hockey. And I felt like the Stanley Cup final being this historic, this memorable, this interesting, and then Game 7 really delivering on that hype was really satisfying. We just don't get too many hockey seasons where we can look back with that level of satisfaction at just sort of not just what we witnessed, not just the stories we enjoyed and the performances we were odd at, but the fact that it feels like it's trending in the right direction in a more durable fashion in terms of how much skill matters, in terms of, you know, how teams are playing,

in terms of the way that, you know, teams are even going about creating offense and attacking goaltenders and how rare it is that we see these like, you know, 3-1 games with 40 shots, but the difference is that there's a deflection that goes in one way or the other, like, stuff matters again, skill matters again. Stuff matters again. I love that. What? Stuff matters again.

Stuff matters again. No, it does. It's not just about this team outshot this team. And so over a large enough sample, they're going to win, there's nuance. You actually have to watch what you're, what watch the game and sort of understand how the things connect. And, you know, the way that McDavid and his rush attacking actually becomes like a defensive force for the Oilers, right? There's all these nuances to the game now. I think partly because of how it's opened up and partly because of how efficient shooters are, I think that's got us in a really good spot. And so as we sort of sign off on what was one of the most enjoyable hockey seasons, you know, in recent memory for me personally, just as a fan of the league, I'm sort of buoyed or like excited about the prospect of what comes next because I think it's evolving in a way where the best is yet to come. And that's kind of my final thought as I think about what we witnessed and the Florida Panthers Championship. What a wonderful final thought, Tom.

was a treat to do these with you. I feel like we were really documenting every chapter along the way. I know the listeners enjoyed it. Thank you to the listeners for coming along for this wild ride with us doing these postgame shows after every Stanley Cup final game was awesome. Check out Tom's work. He's going to be covering the Canucks and everything they do, which should be a very fun and busy off season. It's starting pretty much right away. So check him out on Canucks Talk on the Sportsnet Radio Network. All of his written work at The Athletic. And come back here for plenty more of the HockeyPEDO cast on the Sportsnet Radio Network. Thank you.