The Steve Dangle Podcast - Sixty | April 27, 2022

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Auston Matthews hits SIXTY goals and looking ahead to the playoffs (00:00), the Vegas Golden Knights lose to the Dallas Stars in the shootout (25:00), who has more pressure on them, Tampa or Toronto? (39:00), let's talk about Milan Lucic (46:00), Talbot or Fluery? (54:00), we have not found Cameron (59:00), is Jordan Staal the most overrated player in the NHL? (1:02:00). Originally aired: April 27, 2022 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/Uq3lp9tZts8 Visit https://sdpn.ca for merch and more. We've joined The Athletic and you can too! Hit the link to subscribe: https://theathletic.com/sdp Visit this episode's sponsors: Get 20% off + free shipping with the code DANGLE at manscaped.com. That’s 20% off + free shipping with the code DANGLE at manscaped.com. It’s time to get wet and clean with your new MANSCAPED™ Shower Routine." https://manscaped.com/ CODE: DANGLE https://stathead.com/ CODE: SDP https://betterhelp.com/SDP https://athleticgreens.com/SDP Follow us on Twitter:@Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram:@SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you.

S.A.P. Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system, and it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with S.A.P. Grow, AI cloud ERP for any size business. S.D.P.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts, Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde and Jesse Blake. i want you to know that i have several cans of bubbly cold uh after last show being called out i'm drinking strawberry today and i'm also drinking blackberry and no they are not a show sponsor as much as i want them to be if anybody works at bubbly please call us i mean i just drink it a lot why would you pay for it like if you were well if you guys are gonna buy me this

much bubbly every birthday it'll last me two to three weeks it's amazing two to three i know i six boxes um can i just take a moment a moment's pause jesse jesse's still working on that manscape code i think still working i was posting the lfr i don't know what he's doing i know i'm sending you a text message for this i know i'm stretching because i need you all engaged on this one thing okay okay so when when jesse's ready we're gonna get there math you said six no not yet not yet jesse's not okay he sent it are you ready oh okay i was like if we need to stretch time i can do my alan walsh impression hey we'll save that austin matthews got 60 freaking goals last night alone oh he got 60 goals against detroit detroit's so bad by the way by the way

detroit played like it was game 81 last night yeah well they were missing players and they didn't have they don't have many players to miss but i was like yeah i was looking at the the shots like midway through the second it was like 34 to 16 or something it's like that's there weren't really many moments in the game where it was close yeah yeah after the first five minutes the leafs were like all right that's enough and you know what i get it for detroit it's like what are we what are we doing jack was sharp on the penalty kill and after i mean matthews made it one nothing the game was over a hundred percent okay it was it was yeah yeah well it was great to see him get the last two i would assume he's gonna sit against boston on friday night must so listen he's the

first guy in 10 years to do this i think of one of three active nhl players obi and stammer being the other two noted wash up sam garbage player got his first 100 point season that's so funny i know listen he wasn't great in the playoffs last year when i said it i understand why you're dunking on me but he wasn't but now he is i was wrong he we've had the conversation before like careers riddled by injuries are not linear. And he's on his way back up. It's amazing. Can I read the Yari Curry record he broke

last night? Matthews or Stammer? Stephen Stamkos. Okay, then we get back to Matthews. Since we're here on Adam Wilde hates Stephen Stamkos talk. Oh my god. Stamkos, with three points last night, became the first player since Yari Curry in 92-93 to record

five consecutive games with three plus points. Wow. Five? five in a row three points the all-time record is six so he is one game with three points away from tying bobby or wayne gretzky and yari curry for the record of most consecutive games with three plus points so this dude was like 15 20 points back of 100 like last yeah so this hundred this century mark is even more impressive considering the streak he's had to go on to hit it oh my wow yeah wow um hey also can we just a little shout out to yari curry who never gets

the deserved shout outs he deserved well he needs he was two points shy of 1400 he should have just played a couple games got his last coach no he wasn't no no his last coach i think was actually probably mark crawford not much better at that point no mark crawford was known as a dick back then uh he was but a successful dick um he played in colorado if anybody has by the way a yari curry new york rangers jersey uh or an anaheim ducks jersey which year you stole yari curry's jersey yeah you did yari curry played 14 games for the new york rangers after a very long very successful career with edmonton and the kings so let's talk about this matthews thing i loved i have to give ea sports a huge uh shout out here i did love this graphic i always wondered if they kept track of

this and they said 60 goals plus 26.6 million scored in nhl 22 that's how many goals players playing with austin matthews have scored online online and at least a quarter of those are mine i was actually thinking jesse with his uh video game stream no that wouldn't have counted oh no you know because it'd be it'd be they can't track me in offline gm mode you know okay it should be in uh hut where you get his card those are how many goals he scored that's very cool it's very That's how it's – that actually feels like quite a lot. It does. Right.

That's what I'm saying. That's an impressive number. That's a crazy amount of goals. Wow. Yeah. So, you know, obviously seeing it happen, it was lovely. Jesse, Steve, and I actually got out for dinner last night. So we got to see it together.

And I think it was cool because the bar sort of erupted too when it happened. And there is – I think that the focus of Toronto is so interesting right now because yes every fan is very excited about this but very much fans have been waiting for what happens next week all year you know what i mean it's almost like the 60 goals thing is like yeah but okay we got to think about the first round and i feel like you got to take a moment if you haven't already to embrace and enjoy this this has never happened before and it's it's not all the time we give credit to toronto fans in scotia bank arena doing the right thing and being true being like on the intelligent fan base side but last night when austin hit 60 there was a

three minute five minute standing ovation it was really like it bled into the face off you know like it was i was great to see from the toronto crowd him getting the recognition there it it's there was a great video i saw this morning um and it showed you the vibe of the building no one gave a shit about the score of that game no nobody cared the leafs were on the power play and this guy had his phone out and he was just following matthews just following matthews and he got the 60th goal and you you really get uh i love i love the the fan shots where the screen is immediately blocked by a sea of hands because everyone just goes freak out because that's exactly what it was and it's like it's almost like now we're allowed to go into the playoffs

in a good mood you know what i mean doesn't it if the leafs go into the playoffs and matthews is at 59 you can't tell me it's not a different it hurts a little it hurts a little it hurts a lot it hurts him yeah and i think the fans go yeah oh yeah if matthews right now was at 59 do you play him on friday yes oh man and then send him home once he scores oh that's so tough yeah literally bench him after yeah no just just set him off the ice just don't even bench him yeah you take nine shots this first period and then leave i i think it was it was pretty easy to tell like in in the first half of the game how hard like the least we're looking for him everybody's looking for him who and you know having him out there for both power play units and it's it turns

out at spezza and was it blackwell getting you know what are his line mates when he scores 59 um he um no other okay he had seven shots on goal no other leaf had more than four amazing like it was very obvious what was going on although to be honest that's most nights yeah yeah but like tabaris looked upset with himself when he scored like he was like ah that should have been austin I shouldn't have done that. Yeah. Oh, well. He broke an eight-game streak, by the way.

Eight-game goal-less streak. Tavares? Tavares, yeah. Man, I don't know why. It doesn't feel like it. I know. And, you know, that's because, again, we keep talking about how Tavares is useful in other ways, even when he's not.

That's why he's such a great player, is that when he isn't scoring, people aren't like, fuck, he didn't do anything. Well, and he's at, like, 75 points. Yeah. Like, he's fine. If I'm not mistaken, and this is going back to his Islanders days, Islanders fans, you can correct me if i'm wrong he's always been streaky he okay people are not going to like this his production reminds me of matt sundin interesting why because like he's not among the

like the world beaters of the league but he's just very consistently great every year yeah point a game ish guy 70 75 so yeah yeah yeah point a game ish guy yeah actually since he joined the Leafs I believe he's above that oh yeah certainly is yeah I don't he's he's a okay yeah so among my worries he is not one of them so here's the thing here's what's left and again I think Steve you and I are both going to be at the game Friday Jesse last night was talking like he was going to pick up tickets and go although I think I was just kidding I think he's full of poo on that one um we're not sure who's actually going to play on Friday on either side I hope I see as few Leafs as possible. 100%.

However, Mitch Marner is three points away from 100. Oh, boy. Three points. Yeah, no points last night. Disappointing. Yeah, which is crazy. And he's going to play so much in the playoffs though. Right. So at that point,

because he's at 97, if you're Mitch, like, obviously you want to get Mitch's biscuits, but at the same time I'm sure Mitch Marner probably doesn't care. He probably is like, yeah, I would have liked it, but maybe sitting is the best option he cares you think he cares why why were we saying that about matthews yeah well i think to be uh mitch martyr's done has he not done 100 points before no no he's done

100 point pace he's never hit 100 he's sort of like him and austin have been screwed for these milestones because of just the way the the covid schedule yeah hit 50 yeah this year 50 yeah he if Oh, if you go by Jesse Blake hat trick rules, he still hasn't. Yeah. Well, technically, he's a 60-goal scorer. He's never been a 50-goal scorer. He's not a 50-goal scorer this year. When you're talking about Austin Matthews,

you're going to say he's a 60-goal scorer. He's got a 60-goal season. We'll see if next year he can get the elusive 50. You need to sit on the 50. That's such a baseball thing, too. It's like they hit for the cycle, but, oh, I didn't hit for the cycle. I hit two doubles instead of one. Or a double and a single

Three home runs instead Yeah, but hitting for the cycle is better I don't understand that at all It's not better It's a stack Vladdy hit three home runs in a game If only he had hit for the cycle Yeah, if only he had a single, double, and a triple

So now that Matthews has got his 60 And by the way, his postgame with Sean McKenzie was awesome I don't know if you saw it I didn't But he's just very honest He's like, yeah, I was really hoping I really wanted it Oh, I did see that

And it was really great to hear the crowd into it And I Austin is obviously I know you know that Austin Matthews is a personality, but rarely does he show it in front of the media. And, you know, he's got to be guarded and protected in a city like Toronto. Very intense media scrutiny. But it was great to see him just be honest to go. Yeah, I really wanted that. And it was awesome. He dropped his guard.

Yeah, he doesn't he doesn't often do that. And I think in this time he can. And it was it was cool to see Sheldon Keefe say not many people like him in hockey anywhere. No. So I thought that was neat. Mitch Marder. I want to get back to that quickly. Do you start him on Friday, guys?

Okay. Muzzin has very obviously had his schedule maintained. I don't know how you watched carefully. Matthews has sat out of caution. Sounds like Bunting is sitting out of caution-ish. Tavares got a load management game. Is Mitch going to get one? I know he doesn't seem like the sort of guy who needs it.

Like, he never does. He's got Energizer Bunny. even when he's struggling you're never like mitch marner looks tired never it's just it's almost like he's trying too hard yes but he's gonna play against the lightning he's gonna play like 23 minutes a night so oh boy ah if he i think that's up to sheldon keith sheldon keith has to talk to marner and say what do you want if he wants it you let him try and get it but i almost worry if he doesn't get it because it's three points right and it's boston like how many players have gotten three points against the boston bruins this year like it's it's not a gimme if he doesn't get it

i almost wonder if it's gonna screw them a little bit why and so but then here's the other here's the other side of it because sometimes players say like if um let's say a big team sweeps a not so good team in the first round and then they have to wait a week for their opponent and they come out in the rusty because here's the thing marner if he doesn't play when do when do the playoffs actually start they say may 2nd yeah i think tuesday so that's that could be you know tuesday to tuesday not playing no you guys give marner the day off like he's not oh i'm just bringing up both sides here i mean i'm i'm fully on day off side so i'd rather give an older guy the day off can't you do older or injury guy the injury risk is too much like you want you don't

want austin out there if marner has to play play him five minutes like i don't want to see mitch marner touched the ice there's no reason for it there's you have to take advantage of being a team that has the benefit of sitting for on home ice with a couple games to go and you know you're in the playoffs you have to take advantage of that and give the guy just some rest there's no three points isn't it like three points is is it's not like it's not one point you know three points is too much to throw them out there for a full game just to try and get that if that's the reason you're doing it that's bad coaching i have a martyr bad team management martyr tavaris willie line actually no because tavaris shouldn't be playing either here's what i want to know because

i the the rules are just they're too much i want to know what the maximum amount of players the leafs can call up is that's who should play yeah i'd love to know how many marlies you can get on the roster all of them all of them oh yeah robertson should be in that game joey anderson should be in that game. Curtis Douglas should make his NHL debut. Carl Dahlstrom should be in that game. Everyone, Christians Rubens, why not? Everyone who's... They should all be

playing. Michael Hutchinson should start. Do you not think that... That's not a joke. No, it's not. It's super not. Do you not think that, too, for the Bruins, like they've got the Sabres tomorrow, then they get the Leafs Friday. I know they could still

potentially catch the Leafs. No, they can't. They can't catch Tampa at all? No. Yes, they can. They can. Because Tampa's at 80. They're at 80. Tampa needs one point. No, well, this is the thing.

We're being exact about it. You're right, Jesse. It's been over, you guys. Theoretically, Friday, the Leafs could basically choose their playoff opponent. It could happen. It's probably not going to happen. Oh, yeah. No, totally.

It's a thing. It is. It is a thing. It's a thing. No, it's going to happen. I think if you're the Leafs, you let the cards. fall where they fall right well the lightning have the blue jackets tomorrow and the bruins have the savers and both teams will finish the season on the end of a back-to-back um i imagine that

the lightning are probably going to want to put that one away but the blue jackets aren't an easy out always well and especially not with the lightning because strangest rivalry ever they just hate each other and always why is that why do they hate each other dogged playoff matchups man the blue jackets humiliated the lightning like literally their most humiliating defeat in franchise history followed by the bubble where tampa beat them in a quintuple overtime in game one game two wasn't it game two game one it was game one and braden point finished it right tampa i can't remember if tampa swept them or if it was in five and then they win the cup so the full redemption arc right uh and then i can't remember did they play each other again they've played each

other at least twice there's no way there's no way that if like and jesse's right like the chances of the playoff positions changing at this point are pretty slim it's very unlikely but you never know in friday in toronto bruins leaves very unlikely we see marsh and bergeron those types of guys especially bergeron yeah he's he's been battling stuff and i think pasta has been battling stuff This should, honest to goodness, be the Marlies versus Providence. And why not? You know what? I always think that, first off, it's fun to see what the other players look like.

Yeah. Second, you know, you get deep in the playoffs, you're going to need some depth options. I think it's good for Sheldon Keefe because you think about a head coach, right? And they talk about this from time to time in media and stuff that oftentimes a head coach for the NHL team will call the AHL coach and go, who do you like? Yep. Because what chance would they have to really evaluate that team? And a lot of the times, you know, the AGM is obviously very involved with the AHL team. But the, you know, like Kyle Dubas, how many times is he going to be able to see a Marley's game throughout the year?

Five, six? Oh, I think it's more than that. Yeah? I think it's different for the Leafs because they're in the same city. Right? Fair enough. Yeah, but a lot of GMs, I don't think it's that situation. I wonder how many GMs have to miss their own NHL games to be at AHL games.

I'm sure it does happen. I know that. It does happen. Okay. So, with the Boston-Tampa situation, if you're Boston, you don't want to win. I would much rather face Carolina than the Leafs. Well, they're both teams they've beaten. Carolina has confirmed that Frederick Anderson will not be there for the first series of the playoffs.

The whole first series? He's expected late in round one or not in round one at all. Can't lose the first round if you're not playing in it. Damn. Yo, what if he's sick from the second round onward, though? Oh. And that's been the secret the whole time. That was the trick.

That was the trick. If I'm Boston, I'm comfy. Also, Tampa's going to pick up a point. It's Tampa, Toronto, you guys. Let's start previewing it. Well, one thing we are going to do on Monday, Monday's show is going to be special because we're going to go through...

Sorry, actually, should we do it Friday's show or Monday's show? because Friday's show we could go through and go through our preseason picks and give ourselves a report card about how bad we were. People have started to bring that up, right? Because we did all those preview episodes. Should we be doing that before the playoffs

or should we be doing that after the playoffs? No, because they're a regular season. They were regular season. Yeah, I don't know. We'll figure it out. It's going to be I think that Kane series is going to be very, very interesting.

The one that I... If that's where it lands. And I'm really, really looking forward to this one is Washington, Florida. Because there's a 20-point gap between the two of them right now. And the team with 120 points is the team with the most pressure.

Oh, easily. You know? What's Washington got to lose? They're both so chaotic. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be wild. That's going to be a great series. I think Washington's actually

a really interesting matchup for the Panthers. because the this year's panthers have a lot of like 2017 caps energy where they just they wreck shop but they do it in such a well they're not going to win in the playoffs style you know what i mean but we just watch them crush opponents night in and night out um but if the caps it's sort of like how the Leafs did if the Caps score the first goal in game one oh yeah it just feels a bit different doesn't it

now the Panthers are not um you know they've come back a number of times and the amount of overtime wins can't be understated either for Tampa yeah they have 13 wins that are literally impossible to get in the playoffs

there are going to be no three on three overtime goals in these playoffs I can almost guarantee it it's not impossible but it's extraordinarily unlikely right uh-huh so that's uh it's a really interesting matchup for them the the weathered the weathered capitals against the new kids on the block not that they're any of them are really kids but you know so this is the one i think i'm gonna move on to something that i hear adam before we move on yeah oh let me try let me try uh one last thing and then if it doesn't

happen just read it okay Steve wasn't it crazy that Matthews scored and then got Friday off like just before the game like it we're like okay is he gonna score two goals and then take off Friday and then he did it isn't that wild you ever seen anything like that happen

before yeah Ovechkin yeah what happened with Ovechkin what is it because I've said it a thousand times read what i texted you before the broken record steve dangle will say on this episode there was a season a few years ago on where alexander ovechkin was two goals away from 60 and on the second last game of the season he scored a hat trick and took the final game off Listen, I have LFRs, hat pics, dang it's, the streams, this goddamn show.

And sometimes I don't remember what stories I've told people. I don't assume everyone is just consuming Steve Dangle content 24 hours a day. And sometimes I repeat myself. I've just, I've never heard you tell that story before. Well, it's crazy though, because a few years ago, i thought you were gonna come in here and within the first 10 minutes of the show you were gonna mention that ovechkin had scored a hat trick i didn't do it you didn't do it and i'm proud of you and you proved me wrong damn it i'm impressed yeah it's embarrassing yourself and not knowing

you didn't though i ever tell the zoo story but hey um so two and five canadians will hear the words you have cancer that's why every step and dollar raised matters on september 19th join thousands in toronto for the princess margaret cancer foundation walk challenge yourself friends and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research together we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer register today at pmcfwalk.ca Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this back-to-school season. Save on lunchbox savers like Ziggy's sliced deli meat products for always $3.75. And get Life Brand Pure Vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each.

At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready. With a whole world and more. The game to watch last night, as much as we all love the Detroit-Toronto game, the game to watch last night was Dallas-Vegas. This was playoff implications. You bastard. Jesse just showed me the text. jake is very urge jake jesse is very excited to talk about jake on and germ we will in a second

but i want you to know that right now nashville has 95 points dallas has 95 points at vegas has 91 with two games left nashville holds the tie break over the two of them so if not if neither nashville or dallas won the next two games nashville still gets it if vegas ties them okay um basically it's just dallas it's just dallas it's just dallas but they're pretty but the vegas golden knights are pretty darn close to missing the playoffs here and i believe they hold the tie great over dallas if they tie it up if they finish the season at 95 points each vegas will make it but they don't control their own destiny they do not seven round shootout But Jason Robertson scored twice to reach the 40-goal mark.

And they are so close. But what I loved to hear was Vegas' coach Pete DeBoer, not known for being the most positive guy over the last couple of weeks, said, we've still got a pulse. We're not eliminated. Did you see his pregame quote? I'm proud of our group. We came in and played a hell of a game.

Have I just not been paying attention? He's like the least likable coach. I think it's because he's on the West Coast and you don't see him as much over here. yeah but he's when asked about um robin lennar he's like oh i'm just focusing on the guys who are here and he didn't do it in like the typical coach way of you know is vegas just gonna alienate every star star goalie they have yeah oh like it's the most position important position in the game i think he's he's i mean he's gonna get fired he has to yeah so he's not even i mean to be

honest with you is it is is it really his fault or is it a bunch of injuries uh i think life leaves room for both i think it can be both by the way jason robertson with the two goals um i can't remember was it kyle cushman i was talking to on twitter the dallas stars had themselves a time at the at the 2017 draft mural hayes can in good third overall and in the second round they get jason robertson in the same draft they got guys who are sixth and seventh uh ranked in scoring for that draft class wow and one of them plays d that's pretty great that's pretty sick yeah i like that uh so that i mean it's a heck of a game jesse ottinger was the guy that really stood out for you yeah there was a moment in the third period where vegas was really turning

it on you could see that they wanted the regulation when i was uh actually steve i was on the phone with you when i when i was watching that third period and i was like should vegas pull the goalie here because you're trying you're you need the regulation when you can't let dallas get that extra point i would if i'm pete deborah i'm thinking about pulling the goalie because they're your season's on the line but they didn't end up doing it but at that moment when vegas was really getting all the shots peppered on ottinger he was absolutely unbelievable there's like four saves where it could have been uh depending on if they make the playoffs a season saving save at that moment for ottinger and when we were going through all that campbell mess and we don't know

what's happening with the least goalie situation jake ottinger was the guy i really wanted but there was never a chance but dallas had so many goalies going into the season there were like four goalies they're sending down um just bona fide starters in the nhl just because they'd have room for them on their roster and it kept working yeah and i was like okay is jake ottinger going to be a guy who's going to be available but they clearly picked the right guy and he was yeah and this and even in the three on three overtime like there's a couple magical saves that he made and then the shootout is where it all came to a head and just shutting out vegas like not allowing any goals in the shootout it was absolutely unbelievable credit to ottinger for standing on his head for that game

because dallas is not there offensively and without that goaltending i don't know if they ever win that game so i i asked a rude question and this is not a shot at this player but was that game the most important regular season or sorry most important nhl game of jack eichel's career yes man dude's had a tough career that was the most important game oh man i feel bad Professional career, yeah. Followed by the next one. And hopefully the next one. If he's lucky.

Yikes. Yikes, man. Yeah, it sucks. It sucks for him. I don't know if there's a way to find this out. But I would love to know what the most amount of actual dollars spent and still misses the playoffs teams are

in the last, say, 10 years. Because if you look at the two most expensive teams this year, it's the Montreal Canadiens and the Vegas Golden Knights both missing the playoffs. Now Montreal obviously major injuries. Vegas obviously major injuries. But both are at about 92 million bucks. Montreal's 92 and a half. Vegas is almost even at 92.

Trying to think of the last time two conference final opponents both missed the playoffs the next year. Yeah. They were both in the final four against each other. Against each other. Like if I told you last year that Vegas and Montreal would not

make the playoffs, everybody would have believed me about montreal nobody would have believed me about vegas no not a person they were a top five stanley cup contender probably on paper it's still maybe they are right oh like they could definitely watch them win the freaking lottery yeah i don't or do they even have their own pick i don't think oh that's a good question let me have a look uh they must be do not but it is protected it must be yeah yeah traded away on the 4th of November. Oh, for Jack Eichel.

Condition is, if Vegas' first round pick in the 2022 draft is a top 10 pick, then Buffalo will transfer their 2024 third round pick instead. I still think they get it. I don't know how that works. They may still get it. No, because all of hockey Twitter would be freaking out about it.

Oh, that would have been good. God, that would have been delicious. Yeah, I think... Are you kidding? Like, we're talking about like, oh no, the jury's still out on the jack i know i like you talk about imagine getting tuck krebs and shane right so if the pick is a top 10 pick vegas will instead transfer their 2023 first round pick to buffalo oh and if vegas's first round pick in the 2022 draft is a top 10 pick then vegas will also

transfer their 2024 second instead because they transferred their 2021 first and their 2023 second so this is gonna all right so so they win the lottery they still get the first overall yeah oh my god can you friggin imagine oh oh that would be despicable even a even the second or third pick winning any of the lotteries well what if what if they're 11th like that buffalo is drafting in the top three or top five and 11th that's a solid assuming buffalo doesn't screw it up that's a pretty solid start what are the odds for that i think they made them worse right what For Vegas to even move up, it's like 2%. It's poor, but it's possible.

It's Tampa-Boston. Getting two first-round picks, I mean, Boston had three, and the best player that got out of it was Jake DeBrusque. Could have had Barzal and Connor and Shabbat. But I look back to two players who are sort of at the end of their career. one who's about to head into the playoffs

but another whose career is literally over the Ducks drafted Getzlaff and Perry in the same round same round Capitals underratedly Ovechkin and Mike Green in the same round people forget how

freaking good Mike Green was what always goes down in history in my mind is one of the worst of those the complete opposite is the Bruins trio of picks that's what i just said oh is that the one you're going to go ahead and repeat i'm gonna send a shitty text to adam i'm gonna send a shitty text to adam hey i bet jesse's gonna repeat the thing i said um i think emily yeah same one okay yeah

i didn't know same one yeah emily emily caplan i think deserves a huge shout out for that lennar story too because man yes you know one of the things about being a reporter that absolutely sucks is when you know something's true and the team comes out and goes no it's not and then a bunch of fans from that team go hey stupid reporter you're stupid yeah you're stupid now here's a reporter that's a woman and that's even worse because people are shittier to them and it's fucking crazy the kind of heat that emily took after that story took because remember it was april 22nd when that when she broke that yeah that's like a almost a week ago and then and then like three days later vegas is like okay fine he's getting in season ending surgery but it's for the

cap reasons or something like that there's like depending on the reporter though all the team has to do is deny it and fans will be like yeah no it's it's bullshit but well no it's probably bullshit oh it's emily caplan oh shit yeah we can't right yeah there's definitely an air of oh it's emily caplan who said it fuck it's true that's a really good source matter source matter 100 and it was her and everyone's just like oh shit i guess he's done guess what yeah guess what whose reputation are you going with right i take no relish in the fact that it's by the way we carved vegas like a jack-o'-lantern last show not knowing that their goalie wanted to get season ending surgery and they're like okay but please back up for this game yeah what happens by the

way like people weren't talking enough about like what happens if logan thompson goes down with an injury and robin leonard has to come into that game and he suffers an injury that jeopardizes his career who's liable for that is it just tough shit you agreed to be in the game yes that's the answer yeah because because the team doctor according to emily the team doctor did say this is the best course of action and vegas what's the best course of action season no he's an ending surgery right but they'd be going against the team doctor no no they they allowed him the team doctor said he could play like he could play through it he said okay esp Here's what she wrote.

ESPN sources. Robin Leonard told Vegas on Thursday he was getting surgery. Team doctor agreed it was the best course of action after evaluation on Saturday. Then team asked goalie to delay and back up last night before allowing it. They cited capital implications per sources. And I'm assuming this because they would have had to bring somebody else up and be over. He's still, even though he's out, he's still on the roster. Like he isn't on IR, none of that, because he still needs to be on the team for them to play games with all their players.

so again like we talked about this with eichel like he was in pain with his neck every day and he wanted to get a certain type of surgery and his team wouldn't let him get that surgery so he just had to live with that pain every day can you imagine how poorly he slept with a fucked up neck for that many months you know what i mean yeah yeah yeah and the stress and the mood and all that and leonard's got this shoulder that sucks and like it confirmed by his team he needs surgery and i can't get it because you fuck the cap up right cool yeah i'll just sit here in pain and what would that do put him over 50 grand or something like it's not crazy well and and this is this is a guy who blew the whistle on basically uh team's hand and out painkillers in the nhl what

do you think they were prescribing him for his fucked up shoulder i have a few guesses i don't know for sure interesting he's been playing like this by choice since march because he wanted to help the vegas golden knights get to the playoffs of course and the thing that pushed him to go to the team doctor and be like hey can i get surgery is peter boer being an asshole that's what it comes back to is vegas management isn't really good at managing people and like their personal relationships with these guys. They're not in the people business, that's for sure. No, they're in the winning business,

and they're winning at all costs, and it seems like they're sacrificing professional relationships with these guys in favor of winning. I get the Vegas fans' argument, by the way. They're like, whoa, they've done so well the last few years. Why are you being so hard on them? And it's like, no, no, we 100% get that,

but you have to understand with the talent on this roster, they should have been doing better this year as well. They fell way short of expectations and also did it while shooting themselves in the foot several times along the way. They should be commended for being on third base. They should be criticized for getting thrown out trying to steal home.

Yeah, and injuries are a part of that. Sure. Like, half the team's been injured the entire season. Yep. But it's also, hey, you put yourselves in these situations. Let me throw it to another team. Yeah. Does this not put what Tampa Bay did with Kucherov

into perspective? Because everyone was like, oh, they just tucked away Kucherov for, like, a couple months and saved him for the playoffs. And I think I made the point and several other people were like, okay, but that means they didn't have Kucherov. Which means they had to make the playoffs without Kucherov. And they still finished first. Yeah, like, they still killed it. It's easy, like, it's not like most, nah, I think they were second or third. But it's not like teams can just take their best player

or one of their best players, throw them on LTIR, and be like, mission accomplished. Tampa has that mentality, though, and that's what I think has led them to those back-to-back chips. Because last season, when they had a COVID outbreak, I believe, I forget which team they were playing. It might have been the Stars, because they were in that weird division, uh where they played with i think it's 10 forwards or something like that and five defensemen they

were short like three guys you remember when all the rosters when you have the coven they'd be i believe they were down to like 15 skaters total and they won that game of course they did and and um i think it was freeman who reported like when he talked to them post game and talking to the situation around that their mentality going into that was oh this is a fun challenge let's see if we can win this game down three guys compared to the other team let this is going to be a fun game oh thank you for waking us up now we got something to play for tonight it just won't be another game in march or february we have a challenge tonight i'm gonna wake up and play extra hard tonight so tampa's so crazy with that mindset and that's why they're super dangerous here versus elite i uh

oh what oh just we want to see the leafs achieve greatness yeah and we do what a privilege to be able to take on the tampa bay lightning seriously well if you want to be great you got to beat the best right you want to be the best you got to beat the best and they are the reigning best the you know what like leaf fans a lot of them have been asking me like who would you rather tampa or boston last year the leafs got the habs we lost the privilege to ask that question ever again who would you rather you got the ultimate who would you rather and lost everyone every team in the nhl would have picked the haps are the canadians the worst team to ever make the playoffs they might be the worst they might be the worst team to make the stanley cup by record by record

no because teams from uh the 80s like when oh when over half the league was getting in no the leafs had like sub 500 records in god when there was 21 teams but if we're talking about in the in the in the most like let's say era but post yeah yeah let's in the cap era they must have been right because the well they finished 18th right so i i know that's that's bubble year when no bubble year they finished 23rd or 24th 24th they were 24th and uh so last they were the last of the cutoff teams right right and last year was 18th yeah we're all in the standing yeah that's brutal and and i'll grant you that they didn't get to play american teams but i don't think it would have been much better it might have been worse uh uh and the leafs still

lost to them you're right steve but i think they've lost they've lost you can't ask that ever again no no i i i'm excited for this series though i'm really excited for this tampa series because to me like you know i think there is that bit of you can't be a leaf fan and not feel a little bit like how is this gonna go but you you feel that going into every playoffs anyway and i to me it's like like in consecutive consecutive years boston boston heartbreaking both of them like the washington series was not heartbreaking it was oh it's nice to be here yes but washington boston boston heartbreaking 2019 columbus heartbreaking montreal heartbreaking and at this point you're like okay let's try the other thing and i think that they're starting to feel

that i felt like when jason spetz has said hey that montreal series really really stuck in our like i can understand first off a not particularly well-coached team against bruce cassidy losing in game seven both years i can understand that i can understand a couple of really bad games in each of those series from freddie and i gotta know i know leaf fans think i'm too hard on freddie but there were there were games in that in that series where he's unstoppable and then there were games where it's like he can't stop anything right and then you go to columbus a series they absolutely should not have lost by the way the leafs didn't make the playoffs that year no um technically not and then montreal you have that devastating injury to tavaris in game one but you need to be able

to overcome that and they did they did and ah so it's to me i feel like they're like okay i'm like i am fucking done with this and and if you look at it from a pressure perspective i want to ask you guys this because i was saying earlier florida and washington florida's got the pressure on them they've lost in the first round they didn't make the they made the second round ever since they went to the finals. In 96, that's the last time, that Eastern Conference semi was the last time they won a playoff

series. They won, I think they won their qual... No. But that doesn't count. That's not playoffs. I think they might have lost to the Islanders. Okay. Probably did. I can't remember if it was their qualifier or the first round. So the Florida Panthers have all the pressure on them. Who's got the pressure on them in this series? Because Toronto obviously has

the first round losses. But then Tampa is a is a two-time stanley cup winner i would say and they're very good i would say tampa is both the favorite and has the least pressure you give tampa the the favorite yeah they're the back-to-back cup champs everyone the okay the play as soon as the playoffs start you crumple up the standings and you throw them in the garbage but everyone knows who the favorite is it's the guys who won the cup back-to-back here it's like why are we all playing games here i know it's a new season

and everything begins anew, why are we playing games? It's the Tampa Bay Lightning. They're the favorites. Let's be honest here. I'm not saying the Leafs are screwed or I don't expect them to win. I'm just...

Let's call it what it is. You're giving the weight to... They're absolutely the favorites. Okay. Jesse, do you agree with that take? Yeah, and to answer your question, I couldn't even find the pressure point for Tampa. What's the pressure for them?

If they lose, they go, I guess I'll stare at my two rings all summer. Oh, let's go watch tape of the boat parade. there's no pressure for them i think there's a little bit i do think what's the other side it's a lot you know we're gonna tear apart the entire team yeah potentially which i don't think the least would do i don't know depends how it goes willie might be taking a trip to the moon you know oh come on a rocket ship no way no way like he showed up big last year he'll show up this year i believe it okay we lost in the first round we gotta tear it all apart wait sorry who

do we lose to again the team that it could potentially win three cups in a row i don't know that kind of sounds like you played a really good team but the context of the leafs is different okay so the other the other thing i want to talk about because we are going to do a shorter show today a little bit longer on friday we were talking about vegas dallas ah screw them we we I think we've exhausted Vegas. They're silly bananas, both of them. Well, the Friday show is going to be so much more interesting because we'll have more information.

It'll either be done or not. That's what it is. I want to talk about Milan Lucic. Okay. A guy that, frankly, I don't think has ever been able to live up to the contract that he signed in Edmonton, but he has found a way to become a player that is useful in Calgary.

Yes. I mean, we forget. Milan Lucic had 50 points in his first season in Edmonton, and everybody was like, wow, he sucks. And then the next year, in 82 games, he had 34 points, and everybody was like, whoa, he could really suck. And then the next year, in 79 games, 20 points. That's a precipitous fall.

But what's been amazing ever since is he's held tight at that, but he's found a way to become the character guy that they all said he was, that he's always been. I mean, he's always been a character guy. he's always been like a leader but what he did last night you know screening uh uh the nashville goalie and one of the goals and being a real part of the the swagger and attitude of the calgary flames i'm trying to look up his hit on matt duchesne oh my god that was not devastating not okay it was well he got it it looked like a clean hit to me am i wrong i saw it this morning at 5

he got interference on it right so it's one of those yeah i'm just oh my freaking god he sent him to the shadow realm man but he's got the perfect coach for him if anyone oh my god holy shit like that hurt yeah i don't who's that maniac so borjetski throws off his gloves and then immediately is like i've made an egregious error but then some other pred comes in like actually full bore like i'm gonna kick milan lucic's ass and i just want to say good for you you absolute nut also clean hit don't fight i think it was a clean hit yeah he doesn't have the puck the one thing that video doesn't show is where's the puck yeah that's fair right it's it is it's a clean hit if he's eligible to be which you know what steve good point hey guys look at

the hockey analysis on this guy well the clip it just doesn't show if he's eligible to be here so i don't know uh i don't know this is all no we weren't watching the game no yeah if it's interference which is what he was called can't do that yeah but i mean this is a most likely they're going to play each other in the first round here and it felt like a playoff game that was a great flipping hockey game and and you know you have kachuk getting into it you have Luchich getting into it. The Calgary Flames, like we talked about last week

or last show, you know, four guys essentially with 40 goals. That's crazy. But let's talk about how fucking mean they are. Oh, they're incredible. Luchich,

Kachuk. Oh, imagine seven games of that. Four games of that. Ugh. The depth, the coaching, just...

And it's... It feels like their first couple rounds could be quick. but the longer any series with the calgary flames goes it's in their favor because to grind you oh you go through four games of that shit the it's the grind from five to six to seven is going to be exponential they have a really really good shot at winning the stanley cup also i think we have an underratedly good shot at getting a battle of alberta we could now why why do you say that

with edmonton's potential uh they are potentially well they're playing la there yeah those are locked in that's locked okay yeah edmonton la so la doesn't have dowdy and also the playoffs a big part of the playoffs is just sort of hitting the right stride at the right time and you know who has been absolute trash all season long but has decided to play his best hockey in like two years mike smith mike smith yeah he has undeniably like listen people are gonna be like oh man people were hating on mike smith no people were hating on the mountain of evidence that showed he was no longer a good goalie but he almost scored last night and then he almost that was crazy playing not just playing great like what ridiculous swagger that guy had

two shots on goal yeah like mike smith's currently on a five game winning streak and i thought it was sick is the 6 a.m 6 a.m actually but i want to go over the last five games because what he's done against these opponents has been absolutely spectacular so he has two shutouts against nashville and vegas one playoff team one right on the cusp one desperate team 34 of 36 saves versus dallas 34 of 37 saves versus colorado 33 of 34 versus pittsburgh that's his last five games pittsburgh's somewhat desperate too he's been unbelievable i don't know how this old man is pulling this out and like evander kane had a hat trick the other night connor mcdavid has just been remember huberto led the league in points like two days ago and then mcdavid's like oh six points

the art ross trophy is my trophy how dare you like that is that's uh like i i will hear every argument for a heart trophy for mcdavid i also say this edmonton just look at a basic stat the most basic stat of all wins edmonton has four more than la they squeak them out it's it's they have a similar thing to the leafs where like they just they get no benefit of the doubt because let's frankly based on their past they don't deserve it until they potentially beat the la kings and then all of a sudden way you go but on the other side if they lose to the la kings like how do you trust that team ever again it's a it's a really tough well it will i mean we i've been personally very hard on on them for not figuring out the goalie situation if the goalie gets hot

at the right time this is this is when the magic happens so who called 97 year old mike smith we were all right in criticizing ken holland no doing that because what's happened here is he's fallen ass backwards into a good goal no it's like when jay beagle scored that one overtime goal for vancouver and all vancouver fans were like see your stupid jb goes right no holland he didn't do a good job he's just in the end it kind of worked out nice when you fuck it up and it still works in your favor it's great i love that it wasn't a good decision they were going out and looking at every goalie and they just looked and the guy he just just happens to be playing his best hockey of the season i mean well like what was he pretending right he was hiding it he was

holding back for this moment i don't know oh boy he was a really he was a method actor when he got mad you know like i i think it's just the oilers are uh you know right game play at right time and the kings are without their best defenseman it's a tough go and another matchup i think is going to be interesting as the week kind of goes on is, so Minnesota plays Calgary, which is not going to be a fun game for Minnesota or Calgary. Both very good teams. One point

separation between the two of them, although they're not in the same division, so it doesn't matter as much. But Minnesota is fighting Calgary because they need home ice advantage over St. Louis. St. Louis is currently tied with Minnesota, 109 points, although Minnesota's got a game in hand. And that

is going to matter immensely. That series, no one's talking about it yet. But I feel like that series is that's two teams that are high-scoring but could tear each other apart. Jesse just had the standings up. Minnesota and St. Louis should not be playing each other. That's such bullshit. They're third and fourth in the West.

Yeah. The Leafs get screwed on the other side, too. Yeah. New York gets a huge advantage for no reason. Who are they? New York's going to be the fourth seed, and they're playing Pittsburgh, who's the seventh. Yeah, but they could potentially, if the Rangers win,

Could the Rangers not pass Carolina? I'm pretty sure they can. No, they got 108 points. Oh, never mind. Yeah, I literally, I see the logos. That's crazy, really? Steve is a foot and a half away from Jesse's computer. He can't see it.

Can't read those numbers. Wow. So I think that Minnesota-St. Louis series, and I know we'll do our full playoff preview, but man, Minnesota-St. Louis is going to be fun. Marc-Andre Fleury being as amazing as he's been too. a lot of pickup hell of a pickup

and noted worth 3 first Jacob Middleton what? no it's a joke he wasn't worth 3 what do you mean? in Minnesota Cam Talbot or Marc-Andre Fleury

Fleury's been 8-1 or is he 9-1 now since he got there 8-1 or 9-1 yeah but Cam Talbot started golden he was Sorry, if I go out and I acquire Marc-Andre Fleury, you're not my starting goalie anymore.

If the Leafs went out and got Marc-Andre Fleury, is Jack Campbell the starting goalie? Let's ask Alan Walsh. What number of teams in the NHL would trade for Marc-Andre Fleury and be like, hello, Marc-Andre, you're our backup? The Vegas Golden Knights. Yes.

Correct. That's the only correct answer. They claimed him. They claimed him. They didn't trade for him. No, they did trade for him. because uh they did trade for him made a deal and they got it works they got him and a second rounder yeah because pittsburgh was like please take him because we want to build around matt murray okay so you guys are like oh marco is 981 also he lost uh last night so oh sorry bum let me let me tell you his save percentages over the last four games

840, 840 893, 867 Marc-Andre Fleury yeah Alan he's right beside me you want me to give him a right or a left okay both okay well he's pretty tall

we'll see sorry that was my mom she was calling and asking if I brought a coat Cam Talbot, on the other hand, in his last five games, is undefeated in regulation. He's 3-0-2. Wowza. Who do you start? Hmm.

I think you go... I mean, those are two veteran goalies, and you can go into the playoffs fully saying, listen, I am going to flip a coin, and I'm going to start 1-0 in game one, and the second you lose, I'm going to the other one in game whichever. i'd go oh boy i ain't gotta go flurry i think i'd go flurry too yeah even though it's safe percentage sucks the team wins oh that's true they had they did win a bunch of those games let's do the press conference now