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Choose Your Meme - Tougie's Take Podcast (3/5/24)
160 Plays1 year ago
- We lost Endo's video and audio due to a power outage, so enjoy this episode as we awkwardly try to cut out numerous moments of silence where he would've been talking!
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- Check out our Discord!
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Transcript
Show Return and Travel Experiences
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome, everybody, to another edition of the Toogies Take podcast. And for the first time in a long time, I get to say we're back. It's us, the guys, the fellas. I am joined alongside, I am, I, me, the name, the namesake of this podcast, the missing kakalaki himself, Toogie24, joined alongside missing Finland,
00:00:29
Speaker
Won sin for the win and just plain missing Yeah, it's um, it's it's been a time, you know sin elected to take off for the vast majority of endos month and
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I had my own travels this past weekend to lovely Greensboro, North Carolina, alongside the one and only Crash Andrews. Good old Crash Andrews, which, you know, I think I'm gonna have to, the two of us are gonna have to make its own separate podcast of our lovely journeys.
00:01:21
Speaker
to Greensboro he had a hell of a time getting there with numerous numerous delays meanwhile I had like the easiest travel I did a very of my life great yeah a good enough one of those weekends where you're just like goddamn how is it over already and you're just bummed out that it's already over yeah
00:01:46
Speaker
I probably haven't felt this way since last February, when Sin and I had gone to Finland, covered the sports gamer world finals and stuff like that. My now wife got to go with me on that trip. And then once, like the second we stepped foot back in our house, we were like, oh, we're kind of bummed. I finally feel that way again, even though I will be attending another AEW event eight days from now.
Returning from Finland and Gaming Projects
00:02:16
Speaker
Well, big business in Boston, TD Garden. I'm excited for that. But, Sin, you're back. I am back. How was your time? I mean, I know how your time was because, I mean, you and I talked on multiple occasions as we do, but how was your time and how much does it suck to be back in the United States? Yeah, it's things are things are much better over there, just in general. Yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker
And I know, yeah, I cannot wait to live there. And that is the goal and hopefully quite soon. Hopefully, hopefully. Yeah, I mean, I can't lie. Like, I'm glad you're back. I get to be get to be selfish. We get to work more on a super secret project that we have going on. Mm hmm. Brother. A few projects, actually.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Although one of them we haven't even started. Very true. We get to play more FC pro clubs with the fellas. Can't wait for that. And then we get the three of us to talk hockey, which I'm intrigued to see where the three of us are in terms of
00:03:36
Speaker
current interest in the NHL hype level because it's a really big week with the trade deadline coming up and we're gonna talk all about that throughout the course of the show. I would be remiss though if I didn't ask Mr. Consistency himself, endurance, mm. Endurance, mm. What have you been up to? I imagine you've just been playing a lot of hockey.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, so that was my kind of intro today to getting back to reality from this trip, is looking online and seeing the freaking conversations surrounding the fact that MLB The Show 24, which comes out 10 days from now, you're gonna be able to be a woman.
00:04:23
Speaker
in Road to the Show. And of course you can imagine how some people on the internet react to that because people are fucking terrible. Literally there was a tweet that I just retweeted that I saw. It's the same exact conversation as the NHL community had when they added women into Ultimate Team.
00:04:44
Speaker
Oh, women, they're not good. It's unrealistic. And this this fucking tick tock from it's literally you can't put women in the game. It's unrealistic. The average MLB road to the show player. It's a dude four foot two hitting a 500 foot bomb and then flying across home plate like Superman. It's like the sanctity of my realistic video game. You can't have women.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, dude. I saw your fucking... Your dude levitating when he was hitting home runs. The celebrations are unrealistic, so why people getting so bent out of shape? People just need something to bitch about.
Social Media Negativity and Memes
00:05:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:31
Speaker
I think that was one of the things for me this weekend where I was just really happy to not be paying all that much attention to social media. Because that is just so much of what it is, is people just having to shit on something for the sake of shitting on something.
00:05:52
Speaker
You know, wrestling fandom is some of the most toxic goddamn fandom you could possibly have. So, you know, there were moments with the pay-per-view revolution this past Sunday where people are just like, oh my God, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like, look, I was there. It was fucking awesome. Every one of the 16, nearly 17,000 people that were there had a fucking blast. Shut the hell up. And it's the same thing here with MLB The Show. Like genuinely, oh, it ruins the immersion.
00:06:20
Speaker
It's just people having to bitch. You know, that's the way to do it. I mean, Jesus Christ, like I make torf every year, nearly seven foot tall. He's literally if Yvonne Drago was a baseball player, like he's more steroid than man.
00:06:44
Speaker
I mean FIFA does have some some icons that aren't around anymore like George Bast has a card and stuff like that but what they will do is if an active player passes away they'll take him out of ultimate team so people can't
00:06:58
Speaker
Like, it was like 2016, 2017. The Brazilian team, Chapa Colense, whatever pronunciation it is, Portuguese, I don't speak Portuguese. There was the plane crash that killed almost the entire team. And then people went on to FIFA and are like, you want to buy the badge? One million coins is what I'm selling it for. They were trying to make a video game profit on a tragedy.
00:07:24
Speaker
So then EA was wisely like, look, this guy passed away. We're going to make it so you can't try to make fictional profit off of tragedy anymore. And it's like, that's kind of a good way to handle it. God. Yeah, that's the cynical side to look at it that way, if you cared. Gentlemen, anything else to
00:07:53
Speaker
to catch up on here before we kind of get into the meat and potatoes of what we got going on today. That was from December. Yes. Yeah. There wasn't that much snow here that time. There was snow, but most of the time I was there, it was sleet or rain.
00:08:16
Speaker
or nothing. So it was bullshit. There was so much ice, dude. I had to get spikes. I had to get those fucking thing of spikes to put on my shoe because I finally ate shit. I didn't want to do it again. So how do you feel now going back home? Because for me, I went down to North Carolina and it was 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it was great. And then I got off the plane and stepped outside for the first time when I was home and went, Jesus Christ. I don't know. Like it was like Fahrenheit wise when I was there, it was like anywhere between like 30 and 35 degrees most of the time.
00:08:59
Speaker
And then I got back here and it's like, I don't know, it's like in the fifties. I have a weird temp, like a really high temperature tolerance besides when it gets like brutally hot. That's when I, like, I, I don't know, cold weather. I don't know. Like it didn't feel like it felt different obviously, but I don't really.
00:09:21
Speaker
like get affected too much by those weird temperature things. I love Finland in the summer because it's not brutally hot. Like I'm very much a cold weather or warm, you know, that warm sweet spot type person, which is funny. Cause I live in like the hottest part of California summers here. Ah, damn. Well with that, I want to get things started here with some viewer questions as we often
00:09:47
Speaker
Do as we are off to do so I just throw a pen across my desk. Don't mind me Our first question comes from the ghost of Gary Batman And I thought this was a great way to warm back up into getting all three of us on the show here If your fellow co-hosts were memes, which ones would they be? Oh, man, okay. Oh I gotta think of it. I have a good one for toogie, but I gotta think of one for endo Damn, I have a couple of mine
00:10:17
Speaker
Is there a list, let's see, most popular memes? I need a list. I know, yeah. This is, damn, this is a tough one though.
00:10:56
Speaker
And she's just uninterested. Just, you know, just talking at length. Holy shit. And someone's interest in interest starts to slowly wane. Oh my god. Yeah, any of them. The guy at the baseball game, the guy at the party.
00:11:00
Speaker
real talk when I make video.
00:11:21
Speaker
No, no, not that. Like the, you know, the one where the guy's like, like yelling at the girl at the party. Yeah. Or the one in the club or whatever, the guy's whispering to the girl and she's just. That's incredible. You've fucking nailed it. I do have one for sin. And it's specifically for when we're playing Ishel. Oh, he is the why, you know.
00:11:51
Speaker
Oh my god. The old rage memes dude. Hell yes. He's the old rage meme. The why you know guy. Um, that's, that's sin. When we play eashel, 100%, 100% this one. This one's for endo. Um,
00:12:20
Speaker
It's it's it's not saying like you are this meme, but this meme makes me think of you And I will elaborate because it's it's we're walking a dangerous line here. Oh Do you remember? the Russell my Jimmy's
00:12:43
Speaker
I Will elaborate I will elaborate Tugi just compared endo to an ape That's he did it because it's not your month anymore came off and it's With two holes in it
00:13:06
Speaker
as you look at the face of said ape. Oh, you're saying that face looks like a... No, you're not letting me finish. Oh, fuck. Endo, as a fellow fan of Game Grumps, would you not confirm that the look on that face is not the same thing as the Donkey Kong face in Mario Party 2?
00:13:39
Speaker
Not as the look of his whole family died. And he's just like different. Oh, shit. And worst case scenario, Endo is exhibit.
00:13:59
Speaker
Because you have a way of explaining things. Yeah, I'm just trying to dig myself a further hole here. I'm doing my best. Is there any other... Yeah, Neil deGrasse Tyson. The rent is too damn high. The ain't nobody got time for that woman.
00:14:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Hide your kids, hide your wife. Oh, God. Oh, God. So you can run and tell that, run and tell that. Jesus. I got it. I got it. I finally found what's going to get me canceled. I found it.
00:14:57
Speaker
EnduranceM, as a meme, is the vast racist kid.
00:15:21
Speaker
The heck didn't grow up to say, it's my month! Holy shit. Okay, well, there we go. The um...
00:15:45
Speaker
It was my goal to get Sin to crack as much as he got us to laugh. So at the very least, I accomplished my goal. I can't fucking stop. Oh, you know, we didn't mention the D's nuts guy. We didn't mention... What? Oh no.
00:16:16
Speaker
Did you put your face on it? Like that time I sent you to the puppy, he's never touched grass and you put your face on that. Well, while we wait for Endo to solve his technical difficulties, I don't know if we're the question was for co-host, but if I could nominate myself
NHL Players in Different Roles
00:16:41
Speaker
As a meme, it would be this one. The dog. I have no idea what I'm doing. That's pretty good. It's just we're trucking along doing the best we can, but who the fuck even knows what's going on here? Oh, do we have to describe ourselves to you? That'd be fun. What the fuck was that?
00:17:06
Speaker
How dare you appropriate the whitest GM in the NHL as you? How dare you? Oh, fuck. Oh, God. What a sizzler, he says. Holy shit. I think if I had to describe myself as a, uh,
00:17:36
Speaker
as a meme, I would probably be the, uh, the old cat on the phone. Uh, no, the cat, the fucking confused cat at the table.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, that was the one I was talking about. Oh, God. All right. Well, that was- Oh, yeah. We forgot the question mark meme. Who was that? What NBA player was that? Was it Bob? Swaggy P. Oh. Oh, Swaggy P.
00:18:23
Speaker
Um, you know, saying the unfortunate thing that happened when, when you were, when you were gone was we got a music question. So we ended up talking about different metal genres, including porno grind. Sorry. I don't even know that one. Yeah. Well, it's what you think it is. Um, but you were at least here for, for the meme discussion where, um, I got myself canceled. I'm mad. I didn't get to talk about metal genres.
00:18:48
Speaker
It's not too late, I could find a question. What about Mordor core? Two girls, one cup core. Mario party core. Mariachi core. Muggle metal. Muggle metal. Holy shit. I'm sorry, that was from a video.
00:19:09
Speaker
Me and my bandmates made in like 2011. Okay, I have a serious answer now. About what? For what meme I think Endo would be. Now don't get me wrong, Sin got it 100% correct, like you fucking nailed it. Because I knew it would make you laugh.
00:19:39
Speaker
Oh my God. Um, you would be the skull trumpet. The skull trumpet. You know, I shared it in the chat. You remember the, uh, they had the disturbed for the skull trumpet with the dudes. Yeah.
00:20:01
Speaker
Oh, by the way, to you, why'd you never fucking watch the video I sent you on Instagram asshole? Oh, because I never check Instagram DMS. Ah, that would make sense. I never I never remember. I should have just texted you the link, but it's well, it's can you play it on here? Yeah, let's.
00:20:26
Speaker
this is it oh yeah this is this is this is how much we care folks about oh did you see there was a headshot and the penalty didn't get called i can't fucking believe it oh did you see that matt rempe fought another guy yeah i hope he lives to see his 50s all right what the fuck is this
00:20:57
Speaker
So it's um, it's skulls it's skulls playing guitar With a real corn That's
00:21:22
Speaker
Jesus. Okay. Well, thank you for the question, Mr. Betman. Yes, thank you so much. Really setting us up on a strong note in our return here.
00:21:40
Speaker
A lot of these other questions are related to the trade deadline, and we'll get to that. I'm going to go to the one from Roussel, though. What active forward, an actual hockey question, what actual forward slash D-man would make the best goalie, and what goalie would make the best forward? Or D-man. For me, the best goalie to be a skater would be Marc-Andre Fleury, just for his ability to handle the puck. Or Tuka Rask, noted sniper, Tuka Rask. But for the forward defenseman question, I'm like, who's the biggest?
00:22:08
Speaker
That's just what it is that we don't have short Kings anymore. As endo and I discussed last week, we don't have five foot, three goalies anymore. You just get the biggest son of a bitch that you can stick them in there. Like it's ultimate team and hope that he makes the save. So as a goal.
00:22:52
Speaker
Alex Ovechkin and goalies.
00:22:55
Speaker
That's the way. You heard it here first. You know, Bruin. Yeah, the hard part for me is which forwarder D-man who would be a good goalie. I can think a ton of goalies who I think would be good skaters for a variety of reasons. Number one. Oh, he's not. Mike Smith retired, though, huh? He did. Yeah. Or at least as an active. He was a sick puck handler. Mark Iflanduller. I'm going with Jordan Bennington simply because he'd just be the most effective rat on the ice.
00:23:25
Speaker
He would give Marchand a run for his money. Hey, other goalies do cheap things too. Why don't you call them out when they do it? You only call out Jordan Binn because he has the... Because he does it regularly. Other goals do it sporadically. Binnington, you can count on at least like five things a season. Yeah, pretty much. That's why.
00:24:09
Speaker
Our next question comes from AJ. Does a repeat winner make a sport boring? For example, Max Verstappen winning every race in F1 or the NBA era flip-flopping between the Cavs and the Warriors. Now the Cavs only did win once.
00:24:26
Speaker
So the race on Saturday, I was at the airport. And yeah, Max Verstappen won the first race of the F1 season by like 22 seconds or some shit. I'm all for. It seems like a lot for a race. It is. Although I don't know what F1. OK, I don't know if it's like a long distance or anyway. I mean, they are distance races for sure. But yeah, he has been dating. He won all but what, one race last year?
00:24:55
Speaker
That's crazy. And yeah, he wins the first race this year by like 22 seconds or some shit. It's definitely hurt my interests in F1. I mean, say what you want about, oh, well, it's always been that way. Cool. But it's also never had the opportunity to take off
Sports Boredom and Devils' Challenges
00:25:11
Speaker
in terms of like popularity in North America as it's had over the last couple of years with like Drive to Survive taking off on Netflix and everything like that. And
00:25:23
Speaker
At the end of the day, there's no denying that it can hurt some people's interests, mine included, when the conversation becomes, hey, I can't believe that battle for sixth place. You know, that's not gonna hook anyone, even if it's somewhat tradition in F1 to be like, okay, this is the dominant person. This is the dominant team, the dominant car, whatever.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's I mean, how did NFL fans feel when the Patriots were in the middle of their dynasty and winning three and four years? And then, you know, they're running the 2010s. How do football fans feel now about the Kansas City Chiefs? How did baseball fans feel in the 90s, early 2000s when the fucking Yankees were repeating? They won fucking three in a row, didn't they? And four out of five.
00:26:20
Speaker
It's for some people, they're just going to be able to sit and appreciate the. You know, the the dominance for what it is. And for some, they can appreciate that and be annoyed. And for some, they're just going to be annoyed. So it's it's definitely not as fun to just see one person or one team when consistently, unless you're a fan of that team, that person, whoever, you know, yeah.
00:26:50
Speaker
I'd say that makes sense. Although there have been unique cases like where, you know, Michael Jordan and the Bulls where clearly I wasn't, you know, that was.
00:27:00
Speaker
I don't know, like I think I think if like McDavid were to do something sort of similar in hockey, some people may just enjoy it. But then, you know, there's that flip side of like, you're a fan of a team, you're Windows now. And Connor McJesus is just fucking single handedly bitch slapping all your players. I don't know. Like I think in some cases, it's it's it's good for a sport where like Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were great for basketball globally. Right.
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, but overall. Yeah, it probably isn't super exciting. That's why we all like hockey. So well, that's why we all have preferred hockey for one reason or another is because there's a lot more parody than some of the other leagues, just with how it's structured and how the game works and stuff like that.
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've seen that this season, like one of our topics today was going to be New Jersey and how strong the Devils were last season. A reminder for those who do not recall, they finished third in the league in points on 112.
00:28:10
Speaker
Now here we are a few days before the deadline and they have in fact fired head coach Lindy Ruff and Travis Green is the new interim head coach and already causing some ripples amongst the fan base like he's benching Simon Nemitz and a lot of people aren't happy about that and you know right now they're sitting eight points out of a playoff spot for one of the two wild card positions and that's going to be
00:28:37
Speaker
You know, flat out, like, hey, this team that's currently not in, should they buy, should they sell? I'll tell you right now, my answer for the Devils is they should sell. I mean, I don't know who they... You could argue, like, okay, if they get into the playoffs, they can do damage.
00:28:52
Speaker
But if they have a couple of pieces that they can get rid of here, they're eight points back with 21 games to go, it's not an insurmountable thing. But if the market is there for a team like the Devils, and I'm gonna take a look at who they have for UFAs here this year, you know, Tyler Tafoli, who they acquired earlier this year. If you can flip Tyler Tafoli, I think you should.
00:29:20
Speaker
I think you should because I'm not really sure if it's worth the risk for them to go out and add. And then what happens if you make the playoffs after you didn't add or after you add it to the team, what happens if you don't make the playoffs? You're just not going to be looking that great. Anyway, you know, I digress about the Devils, but, you know, it's just one of those things, right? Where how quickly in hockey a team that looked like
00:29:47
Speaker
serious cup contenders last year with 21 games to go now, they're in a brutal spot. Probably has to do a lot with the fact that in Lindy Ruff's near four season tenure as the head coach of the Devils, they have had the 31st
00:30:04
Speaker
save percentage with an 890 over the last near four years. So the second worst goal tending in the league in that time. Maybe just maybe roster construction is a bigger issue than they thought as opposed to Lindy being the issue. Maybe it's both.
00:30:21
Speaker
Gonna find out. But all I know is they're supposed to make the conference finals this year and let that second turn into the first motherfuckers. Oh, shit. That that's why they're they're doing it to just stick it to the sharks. It makes sense now. Oh, man. How about Timo, though, man? Are you aware of Timo Meyers current stat line? I was just going to look it up. I know he hasn't been doing tremendously.
00:30:51
Speaker
You want to read it off, you know what, you read it off to me. Maybe I'll be, so I'll allow myself to be shocked. Give me games played too. So Cap Friendly, as of earlier today, has him listed on the top line with Niko Hishu and Tyler Tofoli. In 48 games played, Timo Meyer has 28 points. 48 games played, 28 points, 13 goals, making $8.8 million until 2031. Oh, that is brutal.
00:31:22
Speaker
First year of that contract, and well, he's got time to turn it around. Funny thing is, he has a no movement clause that kicks in after this season. If you're the Devils, I don't know if you can get anybody to take him, but I'd fucking try. Like, I mean, honestly, like, yeah, if Tima Meyer turns it around, it'd be like, oh, okay, that's not too bad. But you look at teams that have a lot of cap space,
00:31:49
Speaker
Um, Chicago, Anaheim, Nashville, Buffalo. I mean, you know, if there's a team where it's like, Oh, okay. You know, maybe we do build around this guy. Or if there's a team like Buffalo, where it's like, you know, maybe we're not sold on paying this guy this much money. That could be the type of move that opens up. That's tough. Um,
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not going to. I'm not going to be like, oh, my God, he's fallen off and now we've completely won the trade. I still love our return because, fuck and hell, Mooka Medoulin's looking sick. Zetterlin's just fine. Like, oh, yeah. But and I'm pretty sure with their first last year, we got quit and musty. And that's what I can double check. Yeah, because he was a late first pick of ours and I'm pretty sure it was the devil's pick that
00:32:43
Speaker
We used to get him a Myer train and Quinton musty is looking real good. So the team a Myer trade New Jersey acquires now. This is February 26th. So we've already passed a year. Of course his trade broke When we were in Finland, which yes And I remember you just being like we better get up. We better get this we better get Your initial reaction was hmm
00:33:08
Speaker
but you came around to the deal. So the Devils acquired Scott Harrington, who they put on waivers and immediately lost if I'm not mistaken. Timo Meyer on 50% retained. AHLers, goaltender Zachary Immel, defenseman Santary Hataka, and Timo Robrogamoff forward and a 2024 fifth round pick.
00:33:31
Speaker
The Sharks acquired Andreas Janssen, who left for Europe. Gone. Fabian Zetterland, who's still there. Nikita Okhotjuk. No. Shakir Mukamadulin. Yeah, Okhotjuk's decent. He's a third pairing guy of the future, probably. 26th overall pick from last year, Quentin Musti. Mm-hmm. That's what I'm really happy about.
00:34:00
Speaker
a 2024 conditional second that states if the Devils make the conference finals this year and Myers plays in 50 percent of the games. It was yeah, it was either. That was last year. Yeah, this year is now if they make the Eastern Conference final, it becomes the Devils first. Ah, yeah. Well, that ain't I know I didn't happen at this point. It seems unlikely.
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah. We will talk a lot more about trade deadline ramifications and everything that's kind of going on there. Couple other questions.
00:34:37
Speaker
Um, let's go for the, uh, the old PK Subin enthusiast. There was a question in regards to like PWHL rules and stuff like that. Let me get the exact wording for this, but essentially it was going to be one of our topics of conversation anyway, regarding the PWHL because they did something essentially that a lot of people are like, Oh, the NHL should do this. And that kind of seems like what the PWHL is doing. Um,
00:35:17
Speaker
Wow, what happened? Did you return from a European country recently? No? Quit bitching. Go. Did you fly over a thousand miles yesterday? Endo, it's okay. We love you. We love you. PWHL. PWHL, baby. So what they are... Shut up and go get your coffee. I'm trying to give you an out. You keep talking.
00:35:47
Speaker
Anyway, um, they are kind of doing what he's the best. I love him. You can still hear us. I'm pretty sure maybe not. So.
00:36:02
Speaker
The PWHL is kind of doing that thing where it's like, hey, let's try out all the cool ideas people have that the NHL won't use. And that includes their playoff format where they announced that the top four teams at the end of the regular season will make the playoffs. The number one seed will have the opportunity to select if they want to play team three or team four, which has been done in other leagues before, but obviously a big,
00:36:30
Speaker
kind of move there. But then even more controversial one has been the quote, gold plan for the draft lottery that a lot of people have talked about. Hey, this would be cool. No. So draft order is going to be determined by how many points a team earns after the after they at the team is eliminated from playoff contention. Now, some people are like vehemently against this because there's the idea of, oh, is that going to stop
00:37:01
Speaker
you know, tanking or whatever, it's like, oh, our good team's still gonna end up with the picks. I think it's a damn good rule because, you know, like you're talking about a smaller league right now in general, but the idea is, and if we take a look at the PWHL standings right now, if I'm not mistaken, it was a 21 game regular season. Teams right now have played anywhere between 13 and 15 games.
00:37:31
Speaker
As of the time of recording, you have the bottom two, which is funny because it's only the bottom two, right? Like there's only two teams that can end up with that top pick. Right now through 14 games played, both Ottawa and New York are on 16 points.
00:37:49
Speaker
So it comes down to, OK, once New York and Ottawa, if they are, are officially eliminated from playoff contention, however many points they pick up in those remaining seven games, determines who gets that top pick. I like that a lot. Now, you could argue how well it would work in the NHL. It wouldn't. I don't think it would either, necessarily. It'll work for this format because there's so few teams. Right.
00:38:18
Speaker
It would not work as the teams get increased because then you just come up with a cycle of bottom feeding teams say as bottom feeders. And they just can't happen. Potentially. Potentially.
PWHL Playoff Format and NHL Trade Deadline
00:38:34
Speaker
I'm intrigued to see if it would work in the NHL because obviously right now, the way the NHL is structured right now, it would not work.
00:38:45
Speaker
Because a team like Chicago, a team like San Jose, you can't look at them as they currently are constructed under the gold rule system. Because they would not be constructed the way they are, if that format existed. I do think it could work in the NHL.
00:39:06
Speaker
to try and keep like that general competitiveness up but the negative to it to me and let me know if you disagree either of you would be I feel like you'd get less younger talent getting a shot you would you would more more than likely get
00:39:24
Speaker
The veteran players who are more proven because teams know, okay, we might not be bad, but we can't intentionally be bad to get these younger guys an opportunity. Would Chicago be playing Alex Vlasic first pair with Seth Jones? No.
00:39:44
Speaker
I can't imagine. I like Alex Vlasic. I do too. I really, really wanted him in the draft. Would he be getting that opportunity though? I don't think so. Oh, under the golden rule. Hell no. Again, like you said, we would go back to 10 years ago when it was so much harder for young guys to break into the league.
00:40:07
Speaker
I get the concept of it. I think it'll work in a smaller league system when not half of the teams or more than half miss the playoffs.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah. In like a larger team basis, like it's tough. I don't, I don't think it really works. Like because you'd have to, there'd be no relief for smaller market teams. Like, okay, here's a rebuild. Here's where we don't, we can spend to the cap floor only save up some money or, and then when we're ready to push, we have this access to throw towards the ceiling. Hmm.
00:40:46
Speaker
When we are ready to be competitive, because it's not, it's not just a cap thing and, and being the best team that you can. It also comes down to a financial thing for a lot of these teams is that, okay, we're bad right now. We know we're going to suck. We have to lower ticket prices and we're going to have to not spend as much because we know we're going to be bad and we're going to have all these ELCs.
00:41:06
Speaker
Um, and yeah, if you had this thing, teams would almost feel like they're being forced to go up to the cap. Because if you want to get that top pick and have those great players on those entry levels, you have to be one spot out of the playoffs. And then what happens on a weird tiebreaker thing? It's like, Oh my God, we're going to get the first pick. And no, nevermind. We're in the playoffs. Like that's great. You do get extra revenue for that. But if for the grand scheme of things, it's not good for.
00:41:34
Speaker
for team development. It would make free agency a hell of a lot more interesting. And we'd probably see a lot more players going to free agency rather than signing longer term contracts necessarily. But I don't know, I just, I think it's a very, that would be a very flawed system. And I think the negatives would far outweigh any positives.
00:41:56
Speaker
Because no team wants to be bad forever. The goal of tanking is to get a nice core of young talent that you can be good for 10 plus years with. And then you're competitive, like it's cyclical. I want to talk about the trade deadline coming up here in just a few days. And I kind of mentioned the
00:42:23
Speaker
You know, the current standings that we have right now and kind of taking a look and saying, okay, who do you expect to go for it? Who don't you? And obviously for playoff teams, there's different levels of going for it. Like the Florida Panthers are already going for it. They're top of the Atlantic division right now. They're going for it. Will there be a big ad for them? Who knows? But you know, much like the Bruins, if there is an addition to be made,
00:42:51
Speaker
They'll be in the conversation at the very least. It's just whether or not they make the deal. Then you have another team kind of like Toronto.
00:42:59
Speaker
where it's like they should be in it, but are they gonna do the, I don't know, maybe we don't wanna give up that first round pick this year, this pick for whatever frickin' reason, as it is, John Tavares, they lost to the Bruins, and John Tavares says, ah yes, basically dropped the word lesson, and lessons learned, and stuff like that, and I saw Leaf's fan on Twitter being like, motherfucker, it's been six years of learning lessons. Stop losing to the Bruins, who they haven't beaten all season.
00:43:29
Speaker
Um, the only real team in a playoff spot that I wouldn't consider as like fully going for it in the East is Philly. Because they're just like, how the fuck are we here talking about memes? It's like, how the where?
00:43:47
Speaker
What, where's our, how, how are we here? Where's our competition? In no way should the Philadelphia Flyers be six points up on the New York Islanders for that third playoff spot in the Metro. And as it is, there's talk for the Flyers and rightfully so about, hey, we'll probably move on from like Sean Walker or something like that. And that's the right call. For them, it's house money if they make the playoffs. If anything, you could argue it's a bad thing if they make the playoffs because they're
00:44:17
Speaker
I'll be not really good enough yet. And I mean, you know, it's unfortunate that a certain defenseman happened to get hurt, but you did just trade Kutter Gauthier this year and you kind of want that high end talent still. So they're the one team that I look at that's currently in a playoff spot where it's like, yeah, if you can get something for Sean Walker, God, take a bag of pucks for fucking Mark Stahl, if you can get it, like do whatever the hell you can just to get
00:44:47
Speaker
whatever and if you still make the playoffs then you're kind of laughing to the bank really even if you get wiped out in the first round which I don't really know Philly without Sean Walker less likely to win but are they drastically like do their
00:45:07
Speaker
Do they go from like, oh man, you had a 60% chance to beat the Rangers in the first round. Now you only have a 35. Like, no, if you trade Sean Walker, it's like, oh, I had a 30% chance to beat the Rangers and now I have like a 22.
00:45:21
Speaker
You know, get what you can for Sean Walker. But that brings me to the current teams on the outside looking in or in the top two wildcard spots in the East. Because top two is Detroit and Tampa. Tampa's had a really freaking weird season where it's like Fassie hasn't looked great, but Kucherov's been insane. Got booed at the All-Star weekend. And Detroit, very much hungry to make the playoffs. The Patrick Kane gamble has paid off perfectly.
00:45:48
Speaker
He has been better than I think anybody could have expected, honestly. Like, he's coming off of major surgery, and it's like either he's cooked or this is going to give him a few more good years. And for Red Wings fans, they're very ecstatic as they should be that it's given them a few more good years, presumably, or at least another good year of Patrick Kane. But the teams that are not in, I kind of want to know. Now, I don't expect, obviously, all three of us, we're not going to sit here and be like, yes, we know everything about every team. It's great.
00:46:18
Speaker
But at face value, a team like the New York Islanders, 22 games to go, six points out of the playoffs, buy, sell, or stand pat with Patrick was their head coach. I don't know that we're just talking about the Islanders. Are we allowed to comment on any team?
00:46:39
Speaker
We're allowed to comment on every team. I mean, I was going to kind of go up and down the order just in terms of not expecting to say much about some of these teams. But there are ones where it's like, OK, there's at least a debate to be had. So it's up to you if you want to hold off or just go for it. Your call. OK. Yeah, I don't know if the Islanders, yeah, they're six points out. They do have three games in hand. Can Philly keep it up? That's the big question I'd be asking if I was an Islanders.
00:47:08
Speaker
You know, if I was in the Islanders organization, the thing is, it's like, what do you think Lou's going to do? I mean, GM of the year. Yeah, again, I guarantee you, they sneak into the playoffs. He wins GM of the year. Oh, 100 percent. Yeah. They don't have any big pieces to sell. Clutterbuck, Matt Martin, Mike Riley, Swedish Sebastian Ajo.
00:47:33
Speaker
Like maybe add something if you can, but I'm kind of with Endo where it's like, don't sell the farm to make the playoffs because they are that type of team. I said it last year, too. The way they're constructed, they're always going to be a threat in the playoffs if they make it. They just might not make it. Yeah, I honestly think they can maybe even benefit from getting something at the draft like a mid first pick mid early like that.
00:48:00
Speaker
could be decent, but yeah, I don't know. Islanders are tough because they just are so weirdly inconsistent in the regular season. And then sometimes a beast in the playoffs, like they had like multiple conference finals appearances in a row, not too long ago. Yeah, I don't know.
00:48:16
Speaker
But again, that was very trots, I think, coaching them at the time. I don't think they're that much of a defensive dynamo anymore. So I don't think they're the same team that would go deep in the playoffs again, though they do have some of those physical players, as you mentioned, that are benefit from playoff hockey. The Washington Capitals, 22 games to go, seven points out of a playoff spot right now.
00:48:45
Speaker
Fresh off of waving Evgeny Kuznetzov down to the AHL. That was wild. Jesus. I can't really sell much, but the thing that I've, I came upon this interesting point made that the Washington Capitals right now, their sole existence is to be a vessel for Alexander Ovechkin to break the record. And I agree with that.
00:49:15
Speaker
And I think that's what's going to sell tickets right now. So you can't go crazy in your selling, but you need to get something back. I think that if you sell, you don't sell for draft picks. You sell for prospects and guys who are right on the cusp of being there.
00:49:29
Speaker
because Ovi needs support very quickly. I doubt they're ever going to be at Stanley Cup finalist again or a winner, much less a winner, but yeah, Ovi needs some goddamn help. Backstrom's cooked, Kuznetsov, unfortunately, you just can't get his shit together when it comes to his addiction.
00:49:51
Speaker
I'm not too sure if I like how the Capitals have handled it, like putting them on, like just throwing them away on waivers and stuff. But I mean, he's also, this has also been ongoing for several years, right? Like the first, the first like breaking of him, Snorton lines or whatever was at least three years ago. That was when they made the cup final in like 2018. Poor guy. Yeah. Yeah. So I think they're at their wits end, I guess that's what that move in a vacuum. It looks bad, but, um,
00:50:20
Speaker
I think with everything else that's happened with Kuznetsov, which is unfortunate, he was a hell of a talent.
00:50:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'd speak. Yeah, he's making good money right now, that's for sure. So he gets his full money and no escrow and please, please don't, please save your excess. For the caps, Mantha, Patrick Ready, Obey Cubel, Joel Edmondson are the expiring deals, UFAs that they could try to get something for. I'd maybe hold Mantha, but that's about it.
00:50:52
Speaker
Yeah, the biggest fell off a fucking cliff, by the way. They have been doing terribly pissing me off because it's screwed me up in fantasy. Two wins in their last 10. Yeah. We'll talk about.
00:51:09
Speaker
Well, of course. We'll talk about it. I know we're going to talk about it more later, and I'm trying to hold off, because I'm going to rant about that shit. But yeah, one thing I want to mention, because we have a Toronto fan here, since we're talking about the deadline, you breezed over them earlier. And I think we should talk about them, because they have an interesting, they're in an interesting situation at this trade deadline. They're not where they should be in the standings. At all. Yeah. Look at that roster. Look at the skill on the roster.
00:51:37
Speaker
And how the hell do they keep doing this underperforming? Guess who they're going to play in the first round of the playoffs? Pretty much guaranteed by this point. Florida or Boston. Yeah, it's going to be Florida or Boston. Yes, that's that's the guarantee. Yeah, I mean, if they end up in a wild card spot, they're looking at Florida, Boston or New York. Yeah, like if you're on it. All right. I'll ask you this question, Endo, in a playoff series.
00:52:05
Speaker
I'm gonna pull up the what you guys were just talking about if they like ended up in those weird positions For the record with the Leafs eight wins in their last ten and Oh, yeah, they still have their first round pick this year and bear bond off too. Oh wait, he might not have been anyway So endo as I was gonna try to do and then we got sidetracked. I'm gonna ask you to
00:52:29
Speaker
some questions about all the possible playoff matchups and even the hypothetical ones. So, do you feel confident going playing Florida in the first round of the playoffs? Do you feel confident playing Boston in the first round of the playoffs? Do you feel confident if you played New York in the first round of the playoffs? Maybe. Would you feel confident if we were in the old 1-8 format and everything started today, would you feel confident playing Carolina?
00:52:59
Speaker
So you answered maybe for one, yeah, tentative yeah for one, and then a hard no on two others. Why? I'm aware, but how is a team with the talent that Toronto has in the minds of pretty much everyone in the league expected to just get fucking swept aside?
00:53:27
Speaker
by pretty much anyone they face. I'm curious how you've never mentioned the players. I said they're skilled, yes. But when does the buck fall on them? Does it fall on them? Because the court four is still together. Well, I'm just saying, all your top guys are still together. Oh, breaking the trade. Oh. The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals.
00:53:50
Speaker
I just said they should sell Mantha. I am a fucking prophet. Did you say this? I thought I could have sworn you said they should keep him. Oh yeah, I did. I did that last time. I was like, wait, I made a point about Mantha. I'm like the only one you keep is Mantha and he's God. My bad. Of course.
00:54:11
Speaker
Oh my god, yes. I'm not going to talk about the IR yet. Okay, so anyway, but yeah, that Toronto thing, and I wanted to ask that because it brings me to the point I was going to make about their trade deadline, is that this new GM, does he trust this team?
00:54:31
Speaker
to sell futures, to get players for now with their performance this year, how inconsistent they've been. Yeah, because we could have mentioned that earlier, but yeah, there was the TANF trade to the Dabless Stars, as they have been called, where TANF ends up in Dallas on a 50% retention.
00:54:57
Speaker
New Jersey was involved retaining money to make it happen. They got a fourth for it, and Dallas ended up with a second, a conditional third, and defensive prospect Artem Grushnikov, which is a lot lower than what people thought Tanner was going to go for, and leads to the Leafs being like, hey, why the hell weren't the Leafs that involved, and so on and so forth. Nope, am I at a lost endo? Am I at a lost endo? That's okay. Sen, make your point about this whole topic. Yeah.
00:55:28
Speaker
I think they should stop, I think they miss their window to really make a difference. If they don't go for it this year, they can't go for it next year because they have that situation where Nylander's contract kicks in, Tavares is still making 11 million.
00:55:49
Speaker
they're gonna be stretched even further. There goes all the supposed increase of cap out the window. They have to meet yet another year. So I get holding onto the first this year, but the trade should have been made to move one of those guys, probably Marner. And you can't now, because the no move kicked in on, oh, July 1st, I wanna say? Yeah. Okay.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah, so if they would have done that, been able to restructure their team and then use their first to trade for other stuff like that. But also, I think they should still trade their first this year and try to do something because you're screwed next year. That's the whole weird, the logic behind this to me is you guys don't realize how quick time flies. Nylander is 27.
00:56:52
Speaker
Yes. Or 28? 28 on May 1st. Matthews is 25? Austin Matthews is 26. Oh my god. And then Marner's, that's the same age, or a year older. That's crazy.
00:57:10
Speaker
is 26 he'll be 27 on may 5th so so like their plan to me seems like all right we're gonna can't you know we'll we'll stand pat this year see what happens keep our first because yeah by the time that guy a late first round comes in a league three years probably at best plus you know
00:57:34
Speaker
Like, sure, it would kind of line up with what they're planning right now, but next year, they're screwed for Capwise. They're going to have no depth, and it's going to be the same old story as this year. So you're essentially saying you have to wait an extra year. You're talking about Nylander's 2930 season. Marner and Matthews' 28-year-old seasons is when your window is going to start again. To me, that's kind of insane when you've had
00:58:02
Speaker
the level of talent for them. I think if you're not pushing every single year, if you're Toronto regardless, you're doing something wrong. Jason Roberson, utilize them or trade them. First rounder, trade it. McMahon, utilize them better, trade it, and utilize your cap space for not dumb stuff in the off season, stuff you don't need, like clean bird. I understand the reasoning behind Bertuzzi and Domi, but I don't know, man. I think the Leafs are,
00:58:32
Speaker
So much of their time is spent thinking about the future, that they're trying to make it like a franchise mode and that's not how real hockey works. Like you can't have your cake and eat it too.
00:58:45
Speaker
You know, I was looking at- Oh, but the, but the Foligno trade, that hurt. So fucking what? It happens. We, we got Marty Havelot in a trade and that turned out terribly, but you know what we kept fucking going for. Yes, it leads to a rebuild eventually. That's cyclical hockey, baby. You can't rebuild as you try to contend. I was looking at ages over the years.
00:59:10
Speaker
in regards to the NHL and like the average age around the league and stuff like that. And this year, the vast majority of players, or not the vast majority, but there are more players in the league and the NHL right now at age 27 than any other age. Second is 28 at 71 years old. Now, you can get into debate over prime years, but essentially,
00:59:38
Speaker
age 21 there's 19 players, age 22 there's 40. And then it doesn't dip below 40 until you start talking about age 33. So you're talking about age 22 to 32 is where the vast majority of the league currently resides. And you could potentially restrict that further to say 23 to 32.
01:00:05
Speaker
prime years 27, 26, 27, 28. They're at that time, right? If they're not exactly there yet with all of them, they're getting damn close to you have to figure this out because then, like you kind of mentioned before, you know it, it's going to be like, oh shit,
01:00:24
Speaker
William Nylander's 30. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are almost 30. And then it could end up being, oh shit, these guys are 33 now. What the fuck? Morgan Riley's 29. I hate to say it, but that's what happened to the Sharks.
01:00:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. 100%. I do think they pushed more consistently than we've seen the Leafs do so far. But with the Sharks, it was, okay, we pushed. We didn't make it, but we pushed. We pushed. Oh shit, we can't push anymore. It's over.
01:00:55
Speaker
like we got close but you know 2019 right that was it where it's like okay maybe 2019 wasn't the last wasn't the last ride and then that cold hard dose of reality said it I'm like now that was that was it that was it and for some people it's like
01:01:11
Speaker
You could even argue the the Cup Final lost to Pittsburgh was when it was like, oh, fuck. And then you got 2019, which was like the last glimmer of hope before it was like, you're you're done, you're done. Yeah. The thing that I said, what I said when we lost that Cup Final Pittsburgh is like, that's that was probably Jumbo and Marlowe's only shot.
01:01:31
Speaker
And 2019, yeah, we had that glimmer of hope. I always wonder what would have happened if the Blues hadn't headshotted us into oblivion. But that's how the playoffs work. Fuck the rule book. Yeah, I don't know. I think we probably would have lost to Boston. But maybe we could have got there. I don't know. You never know how those matchups end up. But they were similar teams, Boston and the Blues, like in a lot of ways. So probably Sharks were getting clobbered either way.
01:01:58
Speaker
And just too many old legs. But yeah, it's. And we were very similar to the Leafs in the sense that like when our prime core guys or our core guys were in their prime, we were underachieving a lot of the time. Right. Most of the time. And that is frustrating.
01:02:21
Speaker
but we kept going for selling firsts when we had to and stuff like that. There are a few detrimental mistakes made towards the end especially, i.e. letting Pavs walk and signing Kane instead.
01:02:37
Speaker
But yeah, so yeah, that's where I find I think Toronto's in that kind of spot where it's like, what are you doing? You can't do this waiting game anymore. You can't try to continue to refill the cupboard while pushing like father time is catching up quick. And I know it's it. I'm not I'm not calling Matthews, Nylander or Marner old. I'm just saying you're essentially saying, OK, we're not punting on this year, but we're not going to go above and beyond at the trade line deadline to give them support because quote, you know, maybe they don't deserve it.
01:03:06
Speaker
And the next season, you're not gonna have the depth because Nylander's contract kicks in. Tavares is gonna be still making 11. And then your whole plan is the next year, okay, Tavares is gonna take this pay cut. That's maybe, and if he does, great. But again, you're wasting essentially this year and next to get to this point where you feel like you can go all in. And what if he doesn't take a pay cut? Who else in Toronto has taken a pay cut?
01:03:35
Speaker
Fucking no one. None of them. No one. When why should they? And at this point, if I was Taveras, dude, he walked away from more money as a UFA. Right. He already technically took a pay cut. Yeah, I guess technically he's the one, right? Yeah, like technically he walked he walked away from 13 mil that sharks offered him. And I think Tampa offered him a similar amount, like 12 plus like it.
01:04:04
Speaker
I don't know like that. You're hanging a lot on the hope of someone tank taking less in Toronto. Maybe tomorrow's is the kind of guy to do it. I don't know. But yeah, it's just I you're wasting years. I feel like with the Leafs, if you don't go for it every single year with this core and yeah, since you didn't split up the core, you're going to what? Lose Marner for free and free agency to have caps cap relief, because that's your only option now, unless he waves, which no way he's going to do that.
01:04:35
Speaker
To wrap up the Eastern Conference pretty much, I think there's two teams left to talk about because you have New Jersey on 64 points with 61 games played, so they are eight points out.
Trade Strategies and Player Values
01:04:47
Speaker
We already kind of talked about them a little bit where they can go either way. But then there's Pittsburgh, 62 points, 59 games played.
01:04:57
Speaker
and all the talk right now is surrounding Jake Gensil. Now I think, and we'll talk about Vegas in a little bit, but I think you can now officially rule Vegas out of the Jake Gensil sweepstakes. They went after Anthony Manthe, which we'll talk about it, but I do think that's a pretty damn good pickup for Vegas. Hey, you never know, man. They're gonna have plenty of cap space. You never know if they can get Gensil too.
01:05:19
Speaker
They might find a way. But yeah, all the talk around Pittsburgh right now is how Sydney Crosby would be upset if Jake Ensel gets traded. Kyle Dubis, I mean, here you go. You're in control of this team now. You got some damn big decisions to make, buddy. First decision he has to make, I think. Does he give us their pick this year?
01:05:45
Speaker
Or does he or does he say we're going to keep it this year and you guys can have our next one because we'll somehow be better? Hmm. Yeah. Because they are right now the ninth worst team in the NHL, which would bring up the condition for that pick. It's top 10 protected. So do they sacrifice that top 10 protection and give us that or do they risk?
01:06:13
Speaker
next year them being even worse and giving us a potential lottery pick. Because that's the question that it should be fresh in everyone's mind is, how is this team going to be better next season? That's a really big question.
01:06:36
Speaker
And I don't know how, right? I mean, you talk about guys with deals coming up, Jeff Carter, he's not going to get you anything. Chad Ruidle is a good piece, but he's not going to get you anything. Alex Nadelkovich, unless you're like a superstar level goalie, that's not going to get you anything. No. Your one piece to move at this deadline is Jake Gensil. And if you do it, it's pretty much known that we don't know how much it'll piss him off.
01:07:05
Speaker
But that could harm your relationship with Sidney Crosby, who has one year left on his deal after this year. And then all of a sudden, instead of this being the try to win one more with Sid and Malkin campaign, this could turn into Kyle Dubis as the guy that had to take the reins and break up that penguins core. And that could
01:07:33
Speaker
ruin your reputation if it goes poorly from there. Not the GMs with bad reps. Don't get opportunities later on down the road. But that's the big question for the Penguins is, is this the time that Kyle Dubas pulls the trigger?
01:07:49
Speaker
I don't think
01:08:09
Speaker
you know, hold on to the pick for this year. And then you're I don't I just, you know, you're probably gonna be worse next year, no matter what you do. And then you give us an even better pick in a time where that's probably when you want to start the rebuild at a time where Kyle Dubis sits down with Crosby like, hey, it didn't work this year. We got to I have to break this up. This this I gave you guys a shot. I brought in Eric Carlson. I have to break this up.
01:08:39
Speaker
We got we got to do this to we got to rebuild. And then your first year of saying that of you probably able to you'd be able to trade Crosby. And he'd be like, if he's on that last year, you trade him somewhere cool. But there's the thing. You don't have your own pick anymore. So your tank is already fucked. Right. So that's why I'm really curious to see what what Pittsburgh does in regards to that pick, because man, oh, man.
01:09:07
Speaker
They have... They could be good either way for the sharks and I'm really, really excited. They have Malkin for two more years after this, Rakard Raquel for four more years after this, Carlson for three, Latang for four, Ryan Graves for five, Jari for four more, Rust for four more. Things have gotten interesting in Pittsburgh and...
01:09:31
Speaker
I don't see them selling because I don't see them selling. How interesting is it that Eric Carlson's trade legacy is that the picks used to acquire him turn into really good picks for the team that acquired those picks. Ottawa. It's true. Stutzla. Pittsburgh. Right now within that top 10 range, if they push it the next year and they're worse, that could be nearing towards the top five range for the Sharks.
01:10:00
Speaker
I need to use the restroom real quick. I'll be back. You're good because I don't think we have too much to talk about for the East. I'm just going to go. But throughout the rest of the Eastern Conference, you're pretty much looking at players where it's like, yeah, there are teams where they're going to sell. The Buffalo Sabres are 10 points out of a playoff spot right now with 20 games to go. It's been an incredibly disappointing year for Buffalo.
01:10:23
Speaker
now's the right time for you to try to get whatever you can. I don't know what they can get for Victor Olafson, Gergensen, Zok Pozo, Eric Robinson, Eric Johnson, but you try to get whatever the heck you can because let's be honest, none of those guys are core players. Alex Tuck's name has been thrown around as well. It's not just UFAs that get dealt.
01:10:44
Speaker
But yeah, if you're the Buffalo Sabres, it's been an incredibly disappointing season and you don't want to kind of have that error of, Hey, we're selling again, but it's what's best for the team. And it's the same situation for teams that are, that they're just out of it.
01:11:00
Speaker
Montreal, Ottawa, and Columbus. They are dead in the water. That's the only way to put it. Like, it's done. It's just a matter of when it'll be mathematically done. Montreal, they don't have too much to move, at least for UFAs. You got Tanner Pearson, basically, and Chris Wyden, as UFA is, Colin White, who I also think is injured right now. I saw something about that. He's day-to-day at the very least.
01:11:26
Speaker
Montreal doesn't have too much to move. Ottawa, they're a little bit more interesting. Vladimir Tarasenko, Dominic Kublick, we'll see what they can get there. Tarasenko's not going to fetch you what he used to be able to get you. And then Columbus, obviously, just another team. Super high hopes. And Jack Rosslick's really the only UFA.
01:11:45
Speaker
Sin, now that you're back with us, I was just saying, the bottom four teams, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Columbus, sell what you can, even if you don't have that much to sell, you're not making the playoffs. But we talked about that at the start of the year, right? There really weren't any teams in the East where you would look at it and say, that fan base won't be disappointed if they missed the playoffs. There might have been some fan bases where it would have been like, okay, we're not really expecting it.
01:12:13
Speaker
But even a good amount of Montreal fans, I think, are gonna still be disappointed that they weren't able to push.
01:12:21
Speaker
at least a little bit better than they have for a wild card spot. I mean, they are out of the race at this point, you know, so 100 percent. That's the east, the west. Obviously, you have teams right now. Central Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado at the top. Could easily see them adding Vancouver, Edmonton and Vegas at the top of the Pacific. Vegas did just add making use of the Mark Stone LTR move to get Anthony Manthans. And I know you have thoughts on that. Can I talk about it yet?
01:12:51
Speaker
Yep, go ahead. This is every year they do this shit. They're the best. They are the best. They keep doing it. Sorry, that's my interjection. I fucking love them for it. No, it's fine.
01:13:04
Speaker
I don't care because we're not trying to compete, but it's also just stupid. They're just like, fuck you, NHL. And they're just like, we're going to subvert. Doesn't matter. We're going to subvert. And the timeline for Mark Stone, oh, the rest of the season may miss some playoff time. He's not missing playoff time.
01:13:24
Speaker
If he does, it's one game. If they win that one game, maybe he'll miss a second. But there's no it's if they lose that first game, if he doesn't play, he's back for the second. But more than likely, he's coming right the fuck back like the undertaker coming out of the coffin just in time. It's it's absolutely ridiculous that we keep letting teams just get away with this consistently.
01:13:49
Speaker
It's like I agree, but it's so fucking smart because every every single year prior to Tampa being the first team to take advantage of this, right? Every single year, there were always the stories of man, that guy was hurt heading into the playoffs. Probably shouldn't have been playing. And now I legit, I believe it. Mark Stone is hurt. But in the past, he would have kept playing.
01:14:18
Speaker
Now, teams are like, go get the surgery. We'll get the extra cap space. You'll be back in time. And we'll make an even stronger push.
01:14:28
Speaker
Like I said, years past, Mark Stone just would have kept playing, and he would have played like shit because he was hurt, and people would have been like, oh man, Mark Stone sucks. Now teams have gained the system. They figured out how to take advantage of it, and there was no better example than the Vegas Golden Knights. And I love it because it makes the NHL look fucking incompetent, which they are. They are, yeah. So I am loving
01:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, I get it from that side. Like I'm torn on it because of that, because it's like it's Vegas and fuck them. And they've been, you know, wheeling, dealing and gaming everything that they can since their inception. Right. And yeah, fuck them for eternity. But yeah, the NHL is this is what they get for having, you know, all everything up to interpretation from the rule book to how the league works, to how everything's officiated. Everything, you know, this is
01:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. This is what you get. This is the fucking bed that they made now. Fucking lie in it and look. You don't have a hard cap. You have a hard cap asterisk asterisk. Some, you know, terms and conditions apply.
01:15:40
Speaker
In terms of the non playoff teams in the West, I think it's a very similar story, right? Like you have Los Angeles and Nashville currently occupying the two wild card spots. They are teams that, you know, aren't like Philly, where it's like, Oh, get rid of this guy, get rid of this guy. And if you make it, maybe Nashville.
01:15:57
Speaker
maybe Nashville is like the Philly of the West, where you could maybe see them get rid of a piece and then they'd be like, hey, we got something. And if we still make the playoffs, cool. And if we don't, then we're, you know, we're getting a relatively high pick in a stack draft. Whereas the Kings, I mean, definitely have the motivation to make the playoffs. I mean, they were looking much better than top wild card seed earlier this year. But it gets us to the two or to the team to the teams that aren't in the playoffs currently. St. Louis Blues, five points out, 21 games to go.
01:16:27
Speaker
Bye.
01:16:28
Speaker
I shitter get off the pot, St. Louis. Like, it just feels like year after year now it's, oh, Colton Pareco might get traded and this might, what do you want to be? Who were you trying to be? I don't understand from the St. Louis Blues perspective. It's like, okay, something finally happened with Terrasenko, but beyond that, I just, I don't know. I don't know what to make of the Blues, but if history is any indication, they'll probably just fucking stand pat here then at this point.
01:16:58
Speaker
which is annoying. And I'm not even a Blues fan, just to have it be like, oh, cool, yeah, we're just hanging out, just doing our thing. Whereas Calgary, who are only two points back at the Blues, have actually done some things, right? Like there was the TANF trade. They've been so annoying with it. Oh, for sure, yeah.
01:17:25
Speaker
But, ah, we're not going to move anyone. We can resign all these guys. We're not going to move anyone. They're just trying to raise the prices on their own players constantly. Right. And I mean, for them, they have one piece left. No disrespect to Kevin Rooney, Oliver Chillington, Jordan Osterlei, Dennis Gilbert, or even AJ Greer, former Bruin. They have one piece left to move, and that's Noah Hannafin, who's on an expiring deal.
01:17:53
Speaker
You have to like you're not gonna make the playoffs and if you do you're gonna get fucking stomped because you're not that well constructed of a team Even if they've been okay, I mean six wins in their last ten I'm sorry if Calgary plays Vancouver Winnipeg in the first round or Dallas, Colorado Edmonton It's it's not gonna happen. It would be a big upset if it were to happen move Noah Hannafin
01:18:19
Speaker
get something for the guy, move on type of thing, right? I mean...
01:18:24
Speaker
Like I said, the West is an interesting situation where, yeah, you got a team like St. Louis in front of you. But again, St. Louis doesn't have much to move either. So it's like you might as well, at least in terms like UFA, right? Like Kappen and Sammy Blade, Scandala. Like if St. Louis does something, it's going to be someone with term like Colton Peraco, who God has six fucking years left. So I doubt it. Calgary has an easy UFA to move, an easier deal to make. Just fucking do it, right? Yeah. Just do it.
01:18:55
Speaker
Another team that is kind of like the Islanders of the West or even New Jersey, the Seattle Kraken.
01:19:06
Speaker
Good last year, found some playoff success, and now here they are, seven points out of a wildcard spot with 21 games to go. There was word that like Alex Weinberg might be moved, and yeah, I think if you're Seattle, you don't do anything too crazy, but Alex Weinberg, Jordan Eberly, Thomas Tatar, Belmar, Justin Schultz, all those guys are UFAs,
01:19:35
Speaker
I mean, I have a Jordan Everly Kraken jersey, but man, if I'm a Kraken fan with that jersey, I'm gonna say, hey, you should be able to get something half decent for Jordan Everly, and then have him come back if he likes it that much, you know? But I think for Seattle, man, if you're seven points out of the playoffs like you are right now, sell off some of those parts.
01:19:55
Speaker
You've kind of figured out now who the core of the team is. You know that, OK, Burakovsky is still super important to us. Jared McCann, Vince Dunn got that big deal in the off season. You don't have to blow it up, but you're certainly not going to add to the team either. So just make a couple of deals here and there, get something, and come back for next year.
01:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they don't don't try to be something that you're not for seattle for sure Right just to like keep up with oh we made the playoffs last year. We got to do it again this year Yeah, yeah, don't don't look to vegas They are the exception to the rule. Absolutely Minnesota Eight points out of the playoffs with 20 games to go dead cap city
01:20:44
Speaker
In terms of UFAs, and again, UFAs aren't the only pieces that can move. They have Brandon Duham. It's gonna be a Bruin, I'm sure. Alex Gologoski, Dakota Murmis, and Mark Andre Fleury, and also Patrick Maroon. They don't have much to move to bring in a big return. And yeah, $14.7 million in dead cap this year and next year.
01:21:14
Speaker
After that, it drops to 1.6 from Parisian suitor. It just feels like you're trying to survive right now. They are. But the problem is you have Kirill Kaprizov. He'll be a pending UFA in the final year of his deal once that $14 million finally comes off the books. That would trade Kaprizov.
01:21:40
Speaker
I just, I, I can't imagine them doing that. He is no best player franchise history. I know. I know. But they, they, they screwed, they screwed it. They screwed it up by those with those buyouts. They really, really screwed things up with those buyouts. I don't know what they were thinking. It does heavily affect the Lindo. Yeah. Yeah. Like, cause basically Kaprizov, if he resigns on that last year of his deal, he's entering his thirties.
01:22:08
Speaker
Yeah, he is going to turn 27 at the end of April. So he is going to be in that kind of similar situation like we talked about where the Leafs currently are of, okay, you're not able to make the most of Kaprizov's beginning stages of his prime because of prior mistakes of prior management.
01:22:33
Speaker
But is the rest of the team going to be built up to where you can make that strong push once that 14 million is off the books? And maybe, I mean, you know, you do have another younger forward or set of forwards like Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi. I mean, defensively, Brock Faber's been insane. You know, maybe they have the pieces, but you need more pieces.
01:22:58
Speaker
I'd say everyone that they can trade UFA this year do it, including Flurry. Someone would pay for Flurry. You're not going to get too much, but you could get something and that's good. With this playoff track record, you're getting something. Right. Even if it's a third or a second best case scenario, you can always use those to trade up. Right. Very true. Bottom four teams in the West are dead in the water.
01:23:23
Speaker
72 points to be a wildcard team right now. Arizona has 55 and the three others below them are obviously worse for the coyotes. They're going to win out and still miss. Let's let's all prepare ourselves for the Chicago Blackhawks getting celebrating because it's going to happen. Yep.
01:23:44
Speaker
And this time it'll be because they were in dead last and it's okay. No controversy here. But Darr, carry them some more wins so I can piss and moan and talk about how they only have a 1.25 chance of winning the lottery from second place twice in a row.
01:24:03
Speaker
Just wanted to mention for Arizona, Jason Zucker is the UFA. It's already been put out there that he's not playing tonight, so they are definitely exploring trades for him. In terms of other pieces, they do have a lot of UFAs on defense. The only other on roster forward UFA is Liam O'Brien, who's a face puncher. Defensively, every single defenseman, all eight of them listed, are UFA or RFA at the end of this year.
01:24:32
Speaker
Dumbo, Josh Brown, Troy Stetcher, Travis Dermott, all UFA. Durzi, Valamaki, Kesselring, and Moser, all RFA. And damn, there's like a couple of Vancouver castoffs in there, an LA castoff, a Minnesota castoff. I mean, maybe it gets something from Dumbo. That's always been Arizona's thing, like taking all the castoffs.
01:25:01
Speaker
Yeah. The desert of misfit toys. As opposed to the island of misfit toys.
01:25:08
Speaker
For the Ducks, obviously, it's been a disaster season for them. If you can get something for Henrik, for Silverberg, do it. But you're not. And again, Zegras' name is constantly out there, even though he's hurt right now. That's an off-season move to me. Yeah. I can't imagine you're going to get the super. I mean, maybe they do. It'd be exciting. But I can't imagine they're getting the super high price for Zegras right now. Absolutely not. You have to get on the off-season when teams can take the contract comfortably.
01:25:35
Speaker
We'll talk about Chicago really quickly instead of the Sharks first. By the way, two other little topics that I missed in talking about the West. Shout out to Mika Kippersoff, speaking of the Sharks. Kipper had his number 34 retired by Calgary, which is great. Kipper is awesome. And the Canucks re-signed Pederson. Eight years, 11.6 million.
01:25:59
Speaker
It's not too much of a talking point because it's just it's a really good deal It's been a great season for Canucks fans where the team has been so much better than expected and to lock down Maybe argue with the best player on that team It's huge for them. So there's not too much else to add there other than good job good contract on paper Ggs Canucks fans. Yeah from a deadline perspective with the Hawks
01:26:25
Speaker
If you can get something for Tyler Johnson, Beauvillier, Colin Blackwell, Jared Tenorty. I mean, get what you can, but again, you're not going to get much. Like, they're already stripped down. Like, I can't envision a situation where it's like, oh, yes, the Hawks traded this guy for a first. Like, that's just how. Yeah, I can't envision it. Simply can't. The Sharks are in an interesting situation.
01:26:55
Speaker
Um, U.F.A.'s Kevin LeBank. You're not getting dick for Kevin LeBank. No. No. Cause we're scratching all the time. Mike Hoffman? Mid to late round pick? Yeah. Yeah. Duclaire? There's supposed to be so much more. Duclaire's would probably get the most. I think he would because you're on the other op. Well, Barabanoff is the U.F.A.
01:27:17
Speaker
Is not a UFA boy. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think I think do Claire and Baraban off as UFA is are the two best pieces they have I Don't think and again, I don't think either is gonna fetch too much of return But yeah, you know you knew this coming into the season trade do Claire you hope to get like a second I don't know if he'd even fetch a second. He might get like a third. I would keep them then I
01:27:44
Speaker
Again though, I envision this, maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's too video game for me, but the idea of like, trade to Claire, and if you liked it there enough, say, hey, we're willing to give you some money to stay, but for now, go try to win. It's better for us, it's better for you, and then come back if you want to. Yeah, I don't know if that ever happens. I don't think it does, but it's fucking stupid that it doesn't. Yeah. You know? It's, you know, people rarely come back wrong. You're not wrong, but neither am I. God damn it.
01:28:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, I get it. Yeah, it's, I was hoping for some better performances out of certain people so they'd get more at the deadline, particularly Hoffman. So the price just, yeah. Do you have any other thoughts on the Sharks or should I tell you the price that Vegas just paid for Manta? Oh God. A second and a fourth. That's it.
01:28:41
Speaker
Let me look at his stats. Jesus Christ, that's it? He has been pretty damn good this year. Especially from 34 points in 56 games. Jesus Christ. Yeah, the fact that I only got a second and a fourth. Right. And there is a conversation going on.
01:29:10
Speaker
Um, right now regarding Manta, um, in regards to like, okay, how good is he defensively? Because if you look at, let's say like a J-Fresh card, his defensive metrics are way the fuck up there. Um,
01:29:22
Speaker
And someone, Jack Hahn had responded, a reminder that good defensive impact doesn't necessarily correlate to a good defensive player. Most of Manta's shot prevention value comes from his offensive zone puck protection game and his ability to help get his team up the ice. Yeah. That to me describes a good defensive player. You don't need to be Patrice Bergeron in the defensive zone as a forward.
01:29:45
Speaker
if your impact on the ice from a defensive standpoint is that you keep the puck away from the other team and you can put up points in mantha's case fucking a vegas second and a fourth to get a player like mantha he's a perfect player for them too that's that's the thing as well he's he's mark stone like he's literally like they they are taking mark stone
01:30:12
Speaker
maybe like version, a slightly lesser version. But, slotting him right into that spot. Yeah. Duclaire only has 23 points. Yeah, he- Second is the best case scenario. Yeah. And if Manta's only getting a second and a fourth, be happy with like a third or a fourth for Duclaire at this point. And that makes me not want to move him. Yeah, Hoffman's only got 20 points. Jesus, Craymonny.
01:30:42
Speaker
We're a couple days out from the deadline. Our next show, we'll talk about what happened at the end. But I, right now, cannot imagine a better bang for your buck deal. I thought Dallas had that pretty much locked up with TANF. I cannot imagine a better bang for your buck deal than what Vegas just got for Anthony. I can't keep getting away with this. That is such a good fucking trade for them, man. Holy crap. That's insane. That is such a good trade at face value. We'll see how it pans out. You never know.
01:31:12
Speaker
Base value. Great deal for Vegas. Like Grandland could be a guy that gets moved. Yeah, he has, I think. Goddamn dude, the NHL app sucks. Yeah, it does. Holy crap, man. I got to use other. So I'm looking. Well, good Lord, I will say.
01:31:42
Speaker
in terms of the deadline. I'm excited for it. Maybe not as hyped as I used to be. It's definitely because I'm very much like in a wrestling fan kind of mode right now. But
01:31:55
Speaker
I I'm intrigued to see how this all plays out and what the market ends up looking like. Because again, no first round pick for TANF, no first round pick for Manta. It kind of screams that teams are very hesitant to give up first round picks. Rightfully, so this draft looks like it could be a good one. And if they're hesitant to give up those first round picks, I don't see the blockbusters happening. I don't see Trevor Zegrist getting moved. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it happens. But it seems unlikely.
01:32:25
Speaker
at this point. Did you find what you were looking for? I was looking at his stats and then trying to see what his contract was. If it's two years left, I'm pretty sure it is. Or a year after. For Grandland? Yeah. Michael Grandland's contract on the Sharks right now is one year left of $5 million. Yep. So probably not this year. Maybe next.
01:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, but he's been pretty damn good this year, which is why I think he could get sold simply because the Sharks have been saying, oh, we think he could be a solid part of our future here. So it's either you're trying to upsell, or it's like, yeah, you really do consider that. He could be one of those veteran guys you keep around the younger guys during the rebuild. But yeah, he's been pretty decent. He's terrible at the beginning of the season, but yeah, he's got
01:33:19
Speaker
He's got an equal or more points than Manta does in less games played. So to wrap this up, because I made the terrible joke.
Personal Anecdotes and Podcast Wrap-up
01:33:32
Speaker
So Crash and I, when we left the pay-per-view on Sunday, we tried to game the system of walk away because Uber prices were up.
01:33:43
Speaker
because everyone was calling an Uber. So we're like, let's walk a couple blocks away and try to call. The prices never dropped. So we ended up walking two miles back to the Airbnb, which was fine. It was a bit bizarre in a strange city, but it was fine. And we saw a sign in a neighborhood of like, my student goes to Berkeley, but not like Berkeley, Berkeley. But it was almost like,
01:34:10
Speaker
It was spelled in a way where at first I read it as Barkley. It's like, ah yes, Charles Barkley University. And we were so wish that you or Endo were there with us to be like, what would Charles Barkley offer at his university? And that is going to be my request from you to end this show is as Charles Barkley, can you please
01:34:38
Speaker
Promotes self promote your own institution while you think about what you want to say I will of course mention that yes We lost and we had endo lose power during this podcast But of course you can catch him on the Twitter side of things at endurance em Or as I call him and Doran's mm-hmm as he is still streaming on twitch somewhat often and of course
01:35:02
Speaker
Uh, you can catch sin, sin for the wind productions on the YouTube side of things. Catch me on Twitter and Twitch to get 24. I'm going to be back, uh, for a couple of days, at least before taking another couple of days off to head down to AWM Boston on, uh, Wednesday the 13th, but.
01:35:23
Speaker
Sin, if there's nothing else, I will say take it away, Charles. I don't know. I'm so jet lagged. I don't even feel like my impression would be good enough right now. I kind of feel bad. So I will leave it up to our viewers then. What would Charles Barkley University entail?
01:35:45
Speaker
And we'll see if we can get that ad read out of sin on the next episode. We will be back more than likely next week. Who knows? Maybe we do a late show for the deadline. We've done it before. So hey, it might be a twofer this week. We'll see what happens for now, everybody. We love you. Have a good one, take it easy, and we'll catch you next time. Thanks for listening.