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Falling Leafs - Tougie's Take Podcast (4/29/24)
139 Plays11 months ago
- The Fella's return to talk about the ongoing NHL playoffs, the departure of the Arizona Coyotes, and more!
- Subscribe to the podcast YouTube channel!
- Check out our Discord!
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Transcript
Podcast Returns with Hockey Talk
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back, finally, to another edition of the Two Gees Take podcast. It has been a couple of weeks since you have heard from us, the guys, the fellas, your hockey friends, but we are finally back against quite a few wads, I would say, in my case.
Endorrance's Job Love-Hate Relationship
00:00:22
Speaker
But I am joined alongside Mr. Endorrance
00:00:28
Speaker
And indeed, how are you? I'm a blue collar man. I have a disdain for the current government and power and it's great. I love it. Everything's so great. It's been a month and I hate everything. It's great.
00:00:43
Speaker
That's how quickly things can change. We miss a couple of weeks, Endo has a job that he hates and it's a good
Humor on Political Bumper Stickers
00:00:49
Speaker
time. No, I actually, I really like my job. I honestly love my job. I'm not even joking. My camera just switched completely for some reason, but yeah, I love my job. Flat out. I will say that. It's just everything else surrounding it. Yeah.
00:01:04
Speaker
Like the first conversation was like, oh, you don't know how many fuck Trudeau bumper stickers I've seen on trucks in like the parking lot area. Fair. There's a healthy amount. I mean, as someone who recently took a trip to a Southern United State. Yeah, a lot of people don't like old Joe Byron, do they? Oh, and I saw I saw truck nuts. Those are still a thing.
00:01:35
Speaker
Hell yeah. More on that in a minute.
Health Struggles and Hockey Playoffs
00:01:39
Speaker
Sin, how are you? I'm just wanting to talk about hockey, baby. The playoffs have been awesome.
00:01:46
Speaker
Well, that's a good thing because damn it, that's what we're here to do today aside from me testing the waters of how over this battle of bronchitis am I actually? Which continues to be an ongoing battle and is of course the primary reason why we haven't been here for the last
Missed Hockey Discussions
00:02:04
Speaker
little bit. And it's a shame because we missed out on getting to talk about a lot of what we normally do at the end of a season.
00:02:13
Speaker
You know, we missed out on our chance to talk about, you know, a lot of the teams that were eliminated and kind of what the outlook is for them moving forward. Although I would say, thankfully, for a lot of teams, it's pretty straightforward in terms of like, oh, OK, like, you know, Detroit, they'll be back. They'll be fine. Chicago.
00:02:34
Speaker
They'll probably get the first overall pick, even though the Sharks have the top odds, since, since pretty well prepared for that. Oh yeah.
00:02:45
Speaker
You know, there was a lot of coaching changes. Like, what year is it? Lindy Ruff is the head coach in Buffalo again, which is incredibly bizarre. Um, speaking of the Sharks, David Quinn was let go as head coach. The tank commander's gone. That was a bit weird. And even today, like Dave Hacksdall's out in Seattle, which I think a lot of people expected when they first named him as a head coach, but it's kind of an awkward time now.
00:03:14
Speaker
You know, we missed out on a lot of stuff like that. We missed out on a lot of the end of season awards. And now we're at the point where they're naming nominees for certain awards like the Vesna finalists came out today.
Vezina Trophy Nominations: Is Hellebuyck a Top Contender?
00:03:29
Speaker
Bobrovsky, Demko and Hellebok are the final three there, which
00:03:34
Speaker
I don't really know how much of a conversation there is to be had there. I think it's going to be Connor Hellabuck more than likely from a statistical standpoint. I don't know if anybody disagrees. No, not really. They're all three very deserving in their own way, but yeah, Hellabuck kind of carried that team. Now he's fallen off tremendously in the playoffs, but I mean, we'll get to that. Yeah, that, that has nothing to do with, you know, uh, trophies. They're all regular season awards except for the ones that are
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. So, you know, it's one of those things where it's just kind of
Arizona Coyotes' Relocation Drama
00:04:06
Speaker
weird, right? Because it's like, okay, we've missed out on so much of what we normally get to talk about at the end of the season that we do just kind of want to say, screw it, it's gone, whatever. Let's jump into talking about the playoffs. But there is one topic that I feel like we cannot skip over in that regard, right?
00:04:23
Speaker
I mean like i said the moment's gone in terms of being like oh montreal had a bad season huh but the one topic that we cannot skip over that has happened over the last couple of weeks is the departure of the arizona coyotes that became official um
00:04:41
Speaker
which is still very weird to think about. When it first came up, it was around the time I was getting back from, or was going to be getting back from this road trip that I took to Tennessee with my wife, where again, at the end of it, I end up with fucking bronchitis, and that's been fun. But we were gonna have Deek on the show, good old twitch.tv forward slash Deek Slayer, of course.
00:05:06
Speaker
But even we joked, he and I joked about it at the time, it's like, well, we tried to get you onto the show to talk positively about the coyotes, but that just wasn't in the cards, was it? Ever, apparently. And now I'm not against still getting him back and talking about it. But at the same time, it's almost like, let's just leave the poor guy alone and just, you know, let let him let him mourn for a little bit because
00:05:36
Speaker
after all of that, which that I think now has to be deemed as nonsense of the Tempe deal and ownership and really just their entire existence moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix in the Suns Arena, which wasn't fit for hockey.
Critique of Coyotes' Ownership
00:05:56
Speaker
not getting their arena deal in Scottsdale and going to Glendale instead, which created its own issues for 15 years, not getting the arena deal in Tempe in favor of that city keeping a landfill, not getting other deals lined up, and it all leads to the team moving to Utah.
00:06:18
Speaker
They will be playing in the home of the Utah Jazz, at least short term. I mean, the word is they're going to be looking to make that arena more fit for hockey. But it's just really weird to think like the Arizona Coyotes at the moments do not exist as an active team. They do technically exist.
00:06:39
Speaker
Um, as people will know at this point, you know, the owner has five years to get his shit together and can reactivate the franchise via an expansion draft. But I think for me, like what kind of sealed the deal for them. We had talked about on the show for a while, like they're not going to relocate the coyotes and technically they're not like there was money exchanged between ownership groups and the NHL. It's not a full on relocation.
00:07:09
Speaker
You know, the NHL had money to earn through this deal and if the coyotes are reactivated in the next five years There's technically essentially an expansion fee for that I think that's what kind of doomed the coyotes is the NHL had the ability to make money Yeah, they're just outright relocating a franchise What also doomed the coyotes was their horrible owner who still owns the
00:07:34
Speaker
Uh, yeah, like you said, he owns the rights to the branding and that's, that's the worst thing is that I don't think he's going to get his shit together. I just hope he passes it off to someone else.
00:07:45
Speaker
Like, because he's clearly unfit, like, to run an NHL franchise. It's been made very,
Coyotes' Branding Future
00:07:53
Speaker
very clear time and time again. And the whole drama between him putting his son up there to be the social media manager. It's honestly an embarrassment and everything wrong with NHL owners, but also kind of the NHL in the nutshell.
00:08:13
Speaker
It's a boys' club and there's an appetism all around. Yeah. I think the greatest thing about this whole season was beginning of the year, Gary Bettman was like, hey, this franchise is here to stay. Hockey in the Desert works 100%. A couple months in, it meets Ryan Smith and the collective that has all the sports in Utah, like Real Salt Lake, Utah Jazz, a bunch of other sports that he owns in Utah.
00:08:42
Speaker
And then the script suddenly switches from, hockey is going to st- hockey belongs in the desert to, oh, maybe we could probably move them and give them a franchise. And, you know, fuck giving them an expansion, have another expansion draft in like two to three years. We can give you this team right now that doesn't have proper, quote unquote, used to be adequate, but now not adequate enough facilities for NHL players.
00:09:07
Speaker
I think the ball started to roll a little bit more when more stuff came to light about the coyotes having issues paying hotels on the road and not paying up the bill and basically those hotels saying you need to basically rally together and say, oh, if these guys come to your city, don't book them because we're not going to pay.
00:09:34
Speaker
and basically making them pay up and pay up front instead of traditionally giving them a check or whatever, paying off and all that stuff.
00:09:43
Speaker
I think the ball really just kind of went downhill super fast once Brian Smith was like, yeah, we want a franchise. And then Batman kind of went, OK, now all this stuff is going on. And then you find out that fucking Shane Doan didn't get his retirement banner. It was just kind of left there by the Coyotes when they moved out of their stadium to go over where Molotarina is. And then a fan had to basically dumpster dive and grab it and
NHL Financial Interests and Coyotes Struggles
00:10:11
Speaker
shove it away.
00:10:12
Speaker
I think it's less because of things like that and more just comes down to the stain that it left on the league, like the not paying and the fact that as Tukey alluded to that there's money to be made for the league now. And yes, hockey works in the desert. We've seen it work. We know it can work.
00:10:27
Speaker
And it's going to work because it's going to go back there. It can't be Marullo. And I hope it is still the coyotes. It's great branding. It fits. But for me, the thing that always stands out the most through all this is that the fans get absolutely fucked. First of all, they were gaslit this entire season and years previously by this ownership group. This is going to happen. We're going to do this. We're going to do this. And the whole time, they're just not doing it.
00:10:55
Speaker
And the cherry on top is the fact that Coyotes fans have suffered not only through bad ownership and everything else going on, but a shit team with various ownership groups who wouldn't pay to have a good team. And now, once they've collected all those draft picks, they've made a ton of draft selections. They got Gunther Keller. They got all these cool young players come. Seems like they're on the cusp of becoming a bubble team.
00:11:21
Speaker
Nope, it's in Utah. And maybe in five years, you guys can have an expansion draft. Right. That is, like, it's not the team that got ripped. It's the team that got ripped away, the branding, not. Obviously, it's still the branding. But like, that's your team, the team that you've watched build up, the team that is supposed to be good in the next couple of years. And now you're going to have to wait more than half of a decade and likely a decade to have a true contender.
Naming Utah's New NHL Team
00:11:51
Speaker
despite how, even if the expansion thing kicks off, you know, very, very quickly, like you're going to wait at least half a decade to a decade to be able to watch contending hockey, most likely in Arizona. You mentioned kind of the stockpile that they have. Over the next three years, the Utah Whatevers, more on that in a second. I was going to say more on that in a second. Hold on.
00:12:18
Speaker
The Utah Whatevers have three first round picks, all three of their own. Oh, I thought that was you said three years. I thought just three total. It's the coyotes actual draft picks. They have. Ten second round picks over the years. Amazing. And seven third rounders. They essentially have
00:12:47
Speaker
expansion draft caliber like teen as it is like I wouldn't be surprised if in the next like year or two like hell I thought the coyotes are gonna make a run this year cuz they look they look strong coming out of the gate it was surprising
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah, they fell off a fucking cliff midway. But yeah, no, Utah is literally getting something 10 times better than an expansion. They're getting like Endo said, like it's a team with like skill wise on ice product is expansion caliber in today's expansion rules, but they don't have a bear in prospect pool as Seattle or Vegas did when they started, right? They have all the history and on all these picks and
00:13:29
Speaker
That's just worked out so fucking well for the ownership group in Utah. Yeah, they are competent, too, because they jumped on a good deal. Yes, they bounced on this opportunity. And like you said now, they have a team that is a souped up version of an expansion team. This is a better situation than they ever would have had had they just gone through the expansion route or the expansion option itself.
Impact of Team Relocations on Fans
00:13:58
Speaker
everything in terms of a shrewd ownership group that Arizona did not have, essentially. And I was drinking the Kool-Aid because I wanted it to work. I did. And I am very much of the similar opinion to Yousin that it's not going to work with that ownership group. There is just no reason to have any faith whatsoever. And I think that's the worst part for the Coyotes fan base at this point is you can look forward to what?
00:14:27
Speaker
Oh, and in up to five years, the same ownership group that just dropped the ball and saw us move is going to get another crack at like I in a worse situation. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to get them back in a worse situation than what we were looking at when we lost them in the first place. Yeah. I. Do not know. It. I don't think it works if it's him.
00:15:16
Speaker
If he goes to get the team back, he has to give back that money. 600 million figure because he has to pay back. He did. He did still technically sell the team for more than what he paid for it. Yeah, but six million. I don't think he profited six million at the most. Six hundred million.
00:15:20
Speaker
If it's the marijuana ownership group, I don't think it works at this point.
00:15:37
Speaker
I don't know if it was six hundred million or three hundred million or something like that, but I know what Endo is referring to. I don't know the exact number I don't have in front of me, but I know what he is referring to as the wind carries. Yeah. But I thought like he has to pay back like he will have to give back like three like like, yeah, I think it's like a billion dollars or some shit like that. Like it's pretty ridiculous. So.
00:15:59
Speaker
So it is a $1.2 billion sale to the Utah group. And he has to give back $1 billion.
00:16:18
Speaker
to, I think it's either a certain amount of it. Okay, so he bought the coyotes for 4.25, 425 million. So subtract that from 1.2, he's made, yeah, Sportico recent value at 675 million, by far the lowest in HL. So basically, if he is to get the team back, he has to give back the money, essentially. So he can say, fuck it, hold on to the rights of the team and not try to win out the bidding for the arena.
00:16:45
Speaker
Cause he has to, if he wants the, if he wants respect from the, the coyotes faithful to actually, you know, support this hockey team, he's gotta buy that land and the auction coming up in June. And he's gotta like, he's gotta overspend completely. And I'm hearing that apparently the land auction right now asked me to go to 14 to 15 million at least. So it's gonna even more, even higher than that. It's a mess when it looked like
00:17:14
Speaker
in reference, like it was going to be everything else. Like it is the polar opposite of what it looked like the situation could have been when this guy got the team, the reason for him getting the team and what it enabled him to do from a gambling perspective as an owner of a casino chain or whatever. And just, it's all just a mess. And I do think we will see hockey in Arizona again. I do not think it'll be within five years.
00:17:40
Speaker
Um, I hope it's not within five years because if it is, I don't, I just don't
NHL Playoff Series Overview
00:17:45
Speaker
see how it works. I don't see how anybody can trust that ownership group to be competent whatsoever at this point, you know? So that said, Utah, you mentioned the Yetis, which is one of numerous trademark applications that have been filed by the ownership group.
00:18:09
Speaker
And I want to play a bit of King of the Hill here in terms of out of those parked potential names, which one would you guys prefer to see for this team? So we will say that the Yetis are number one on the board right now. Would you go with the Utah Yetis or the Utah Mammoth? Yetis. Yetis.
00:18:36
Speaker
The Utah Yetis or the Utah Ice? Ice. Ice is decent, but I still like Yetis. I'll be tiebreaker here. I'd go with Yetis. Fuck you guys. Sorry. Get good. The Utah Yetis. Winnipeg Ice, the Kootenay Ice. The Winnipeg Ice branding was sick. I will say that. It would do something similar to that for the Utah Ice. Chef's Kiss.
00:19:04
Speaker
The Utah Yetis or the Utah Venom? Uh, Yetis. Venom. What's even Venom that's there besides the wasps? And I'm not talking about the insect. Got him. We'll let the Yetis continue. The Utah Yetis or the Utah Fury? Yetis. Yetis. Yeah, it is. The Yetis or the Blizzard?
00:19:33
Speaker
The Yeti's. Right. Yeah. Yeti's. Yeti. Yeah. The Yeti's or the outlaws. That's a tough one, because I'm a really big fan of the way things sound. Utah Yeti's, they both have a very similar mouth shape and it's not alliteration, but it evokes that same thing. But Utah outlaws, it almost kind of rhymes. It's an off rhyme, which is good.
00:20:02
Speaker
The branding for that could be pretty cool, but I still have to favor the Yetis over that, because I'm thinking of it as the entire thing. Jerseys would look sick with the Yetis. Lobo, I'm thinking of the mascot. It's fucking there. It's all there. The final one. Utah Yetis or Utah HC, as in Utah Hockey Club. God bless the hockey team.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, it still has to be Yetis. I don't know. Are they just going to? Yeah, it has to be Yetis, man. Yeah. I mean, to your point, I think a lot of the other options are interesting. I do think some of them kind of end up sounding
00:20:50
Speaker
XFL ish, you know, like if you were to load up like blitz, the league, the video game, you would expect to see a team called the venom or the fury. It's like venom. It's almost a little bit too gimmicky to me. The Utah hockey club very much in line with the Washington football team before they became the commanders. What about HC Utah, like kind of like HC Davos?
00:21:22
Speaker
I mean, maybe, but then it's like, is that the long term or are you just parking that until you decide for sure what you want the branding to be? Which seems likely given how little time they kind of have to get prepped. Like we're talking about a team that is going to be playing hockey in Utah in five months. Yeah.
00:21:49
Speaker
The good news is like the only thing pulling for perhaps venom or even outlaws is like you get a lot cooler color scheme potential. I just wanted to be different. Other people don't use. Yeah. Like what the Yeti is, you know, we're going to see. Probably light blues and shit, which is fair. There's not enough light blues. Besides that, you know, the powder blue Winnipeg Jets alternate, which the color was great. The logo sucked.
00:22:18
Speaker
But yeah, I would love to see some.
00:22:21
Speaker
I don't know, man, like there there's there's there's there's good potential for like color schemes for a few of those names. But yeah, I mean, yeti's it just it just it just fits, I think. And it's it's hot. It's it's not. I mean, it can be anywhere with snow related, but and it just feels hockey related because yeti's are, you know, that form of, you know, whatever you want to call it, the Bigfoot, whatever that yeti's are always in snow region.
00:22:51
Speaker
That's their name for it when they come from snow regions. So it just fits with the winter sport type thing. I'm intrigued to see what they end up doing.
00:23:00
Speaker
Like I said, as much as we have a lot of stuff that's already gone down over the last couple of weeks outside of that discussion, we're going to park it and just say we missed the window. Let's move on. Let's talk about some playoffs. And I think there's pretty much no better way to start than talking about the Rangers and Caps, given that that is the first series that came to its conclusion as, you know, heading into that matchup, I think there was
00:23:28
Speaker
Tiny bit of conversation about like I'd be a hell of an upset if Washington were to do it. That'd be a hell of a story But this series played out. I think as everyone expected like the the Rangers just kick the shit out of them I mean the biggest topic of conversation is Alex Ovechkin literally held to without a point in the entire series. I mean this was You know, we have seen sweeps in the past and
00:23:58
Speaker
where, you know, the series has been close and maybe they could have won a game or two Eastern Conference Finals last year. Yeah. Yeah, Christ. We'll talk about Carolina soon, which I'm interested in. But this this was never this was never close. I mean, this was just the Rangers. Making a statement that I feel like they had to make
00:24:25
Speaker
in terms of like last season. Yeah, like they've been viewed as a as a competitive team and a competitive franchise for a couple of years now. But have they ever really taken that next step towards being viewed as like, oh, yeah, they are, you know, legit contenders. I don't know if that was the case.
00:24:44
Speaker
this year it feels different because it's like, okay, you're playing a team that barely made the playoffs, that made the playoffs with like this brutal goal differential. Negative 37 goal differential. Like you should have kicked the shit out of them and you did. That's a, that's a good way to start, you know? Yes. It'd be interesting to see who their next opponent's going to be. But, uh, yeah, uh, Rempe needs to stop jumping into hits. You're six, seven. There's no need for that dude.
00:25:13
Speaker
Learn to, you gotta learn to hit normally or else they are gonna call you. Like, I agree, mate, that's a borderline interference call when he hit TVR, but you jumped into the hit. That's unnecessary. They're gonna call something. You're six foot seven, bro. Right.
00:25:28
Speaker
I just don't think there's necessarily a ton to talk about with that particular series, just because, again, like it was so one sided. I mean, you had all but four Rangers skaters end up with at least a point in the series like they did so well in terms of shutting things down on one end, putting up points on the other. Again, Ovi held to without a point in the series. And honestly,
00:25:54
Speaker
Out of 22 half the team out of 22 skaters, 10 registered a point in the series for Washington. They scored. They scored seven goals and four games. That's so bad. Their top goal scorer. Any guess? There's no way. But any guesses on who led the caps in scoring in this four game series? Hmm.
00:26:25
Speaker
And spoiler alert, there's no way in hell you're getting this February. Holy shit, you got it. I did. Yeah, every let's go. The defenseman, Martin Farivari, whoever the hell you pronounce it, led the team with two goals in four games on the best. I am the best. So I. Yeah, I think this is what most people expected for the caps.
00:26:52
Speaker
They are in a situation now moving forward, but it's like, okay, you do have good players like Hendrix Lapierre, but it's all about whether or not Ovech can break the record over the next two to three seasons and the regular season playoffs are, I mean, again, they shouldn't have made it. No, they shouldn't have made it. Teams like Pittsburgh and Detroit drop the ball. Washington never should have been there in the first place. Nope. Pretty straightforward.
00:27:20
Speaker
The question of who will the Rangers play comes down to Carolina or the New York Islanders. The Hurricanes up three to one in the series. If I am not mistaken, we are recording this on Monday night and indeed they play on Tuesday.
00:27:39
Speaker
I think heading into the series, the Islanders had a shot. You know, they're one of those teams that we kind of talked about, like, OK, in theory, blanket. Yes, defensive, physical, good goaltending. You get them into the playoffs and maybe they can give some other teams trouble. I think this has been a good statement for Carolina. I mean, they almost pulled off the sweep. The Islanders, you know, stay alive with an overtime goal in game four.
00:28:07
Speaker
I just can't really envision a situation where the Islanders were first sweep the Carolina Hurricanes. The Kains are just too damn strong. Yeah. And particularly how when you think back to that game three meltdown that the Islanders had, dude, how much different does a series look? Potentially, you know, maybe they don't play the same way in game three if it's only a 2-1 series, but like, dude, like they could have maybe been tied.
00:28:34
Speaker
If they didn't do that was a horrific meltdown from a team. I haven't seen anything like that in a long, long time, actually since 2019. I thought you were going to say since Nashville last night, but 2019 because I have to take a stab at Vegas. They still hurdle. That's fair. But yeah, for the Islanders, I just can't envision a situation where they make this happen.
00:29:00
Speaker
You know, especially to like the guy who's supposed to be their guy hasn't been their guy. Ilya Sorokin did not start off the playoffs as the starter. And when he did play, he survived 27 minutes before being pulled for Semyon Varlamov, who has a 930 save percentage in four appearances.
00:29:23
Speaker
You have that tandem for a reason. It's because Varlamov is starter caliber, but he shouldn't be the guy. It's very close to an all Mark Swamin on paper. To have the guy in Ilya's stroke and struggle that heavily puts that team behind the eight ball, I think just a little bit too much.
00:29:45
Speaker
He is American or 28, man. When did that happen? Mm-hmm. Sirokin and Shasturkin are both 28. Yeah. How did that happen? I know, I know that Bregoli's getting brought along a lot slower, but it's just, I was like, yeah, what, are they 26 by now? Nope, 28. Oh, and I can't wait to talk about the third member of the Russian three in terms of that next generation of great Russian goaltending. Sergei Bubtitsky. Let's go. Not him.
00:30:12
Speaker
Not him. Excuse me. The disrespect. You said a trio of great Russian goaltenders and you disrespect. Yes. But he like that. But he was already here. Ah. Back in the day. Oh, Sam Stornoff, of course. Yes. Yes. It was just Erkin, Sorokin, Sam Stornoff.
00:30:33
Speaker
We'll talk more about them in a second. Be at, uh, Caroline is white as the Volga river. Oh, fuck that. Yeah. I know my Russian geography. Caroline is going to win that series. Um, I think the Islanders had a chance, like you said, the collapse. Okay. You win game four, but I,
00:31:02
Speaker
Carolina is just too damn strong. And then obviously even the time. And then kind of a great counter for that, too, for the Islanders play style. Carolina plays so fast. They can play off the rush. They can for check you. They play great defense themselves. Like, bro, in that game where the Islanders melted, they had one shot in the third period. Yeah, that's pathetic. I can't wait to talk about Rangers and hurricanes, but we'll get there once it's official. Yes.
00:31:28
Speaker
Let's let's get to it now. I think a lot of people viewed this as the main event, but uh We'll talk about it now because ilia samsonoff was mentioned the boston bruins have a three one series lead On the toronto maple leaves game five on tuesday in boston. Um The discourse that we have seen since saturday night has been beyond entertaining because
00:31:58
Speaker
You can argue whether or not the Bruins should be up 3-1. You know, heading into this series, I wasn't able to make videos or any of my normal, kind of, oh, let's simulate stuff that I normally do. But on Twitter, I put up that I thought the Leafs were going to win the series. Because for me, heading into it, it was more on the Bruins to prove themselves than it was the Leafs.
00:32:21
Speaker
which I don't think has been the case in a series between these two teams. Normally it's okay, the Leafs have to prove themselves here. But for the Bruins, best regular season of all time, below a 3-1 lead to Florida last year, a large part of that is Jim Montgomery got outcoached, tried to rely on an injured Linus Almark for a bit too long. I had a lot of doubts.
00:32:47
Speaker
Heading into the series, though, and now as we've seen it go through four games, Jim Montgomery has stuffed Sheldon Keefe into a locker in terms of coaching. That's what great coaches do. They learn from their mistakes and Montgomery learned from him. His mistake early on says we're going to rotate and then he chooses the hot hand out of the two, which is smart. I think if he stuck to it, like just rotating when Omar was clearly the inferior goaltender, I would say he hadn't learned anything from last year.
00:33:16
Speaker
because he went into something with an idea and didn't evolve, but this time, oh dude, he is, it is a mastermind. It's fucking atomic bong versus coughing baby in the coaching matchup. It is insane.
00:33:32
Speaker
Like you said with the goaltending last year, it's like we're just going to go with Linus Hallmark and step away from our rotation. This year, it's we're going to go with our rotation, but then step away when the time is right. It's clear that Swamin is the guy and he has been outstanding in this series and the Bruins in general have just. I mean.
00:33:55
Speaker
There's so much to talk about with this series. Yes. And you want to give the Bruins proper credit, but so much of it revolves around the Leafs shortcomings. And how stylistically they are getting destroyed, how slow the Leafs have been on their zone exits and and and turnovers and the physicality, which
00:34:24
Speaker
doesn't do much when you're playing another team like Boston that thrives on the physicality and how the Leafs are playing too slow allowing the Bruins to actually get settled defensively like that's what killed the Bruins last year was that the Florida Panthers played so fucking fast.
00:34:42
Speaker
that the Bruins couldn't keep up. That's what we're seeing now between Florida and Tampa, which we'll get to in a second. Like I said, so much of this series, you want to give the Bruins proper credit because they deserve it. But the flip side of the coin is the Leafs dropping the ball in so many ways. And while the Leafs have come back
00:35:04
Speaker
from 3-1 down to force game seven against the Bruins in the past. And the Bruins blew a 3-1 lead last year. I don't think too many people have confidence that that's gonna happen this year, even though it could. And it's because of just everything going on with that team and the stars and people are already writing the eulogy for the core four or five, whatever, which sounds really familiar to prior years where it's like, they have to do it or the core is gonna get blown up.
00:35:33
Speaker
I've heard that for four years and every single one of them are still there. I don't get why this year is so drastically different.
00:35:39
Speaker
because Shanahan should get fired, whether he will or not, it depends. But we all know at this point, at least for me, it is very clear that the reason Kyle Dubis got fired is because he was going to trade one of the court for likely Marner because Marner, his no movement clause kicked in on July 1st. And obviously with all those exit interviews, he had time to get a deal for Marner where Marner could have nothing to say about where he was going.
00:36:09
Speaker
I know Leafs and I know there's a very vocal sect of leaf fans who like to dunk on Kyle Dubas and raise up to living there very very tribal in whatever is currently under the Leafs logo but um looks like Dubas was right and it looks like Shanahan was wrong.
00:36:27
Speaker
And you're paying for it now. And yeah, sure. MLSE makes a ton of money. Maybe they like Shanahan for what he brings to, you know, making them a ton of money. But guess what? You'd make a shit ton more money if you had longer playoff runs with how much you charge all those suits to go sit in the front row and network, not watch the games, all those executive press boxes. Like you can make more if you get two extra rounds every single year.
00:36:56
Speaker
And that that's in my opinion, Shannon has to be gone if they fall and Marner needs to be traded. You can't trade Tavares unless you retain 50 percent. So get rid of that idea. Also strip him of captaincy. That dude is a robot. It's kind of wild. I understand leading by example, sharks had Marlow like, you know, but that guy showed some emotion, showed some fire a lot of the time, too.
00:37:25
Speaker
But yeah, I don't see anything from Tiberis. Endo. We've talked about your Leafs fandom over the past couple of years and, you know, how the
00:37:45
Speaker
how to describe it. How the... I noticed in character they get to the playoffs and the playoffs. I was gonna say that's most Leafs fans and a lot of Leafs fans now like instead of when this core was first put together and the walls were coming down and it's like we're choosing to believe
00:38:09
Speaker
They're at the stage where the walls are going back up of, you won't hurt me again, you fucks. Where are you right now with the Leafs being down three to one in the first round matchup against the Bruins again? Send them to the ranch. Not even joking, send them to the ranch. I have no words.
00:38:37
Speaker
There's nothing to say that has not already been said for the past two years that I've been on this podcast. And for the past 26 years that I've been alive and a Leaf fan. 26 years next month.
00:38:54
Speaker
There's there comes a certain point where you can you hear all the talking points on social media? On radio shows and all that out. You're not good enough to not this and not that it's like okay speak with your wallets Stop paying for these fucking games Show them that I don't know you're not gonna sit in front of a team that struggles to win against
00:39:22
Speaker
low-end teams at home. The record that they had against Arizona, because we're mentioning Arizona again, they hadn't won a home game against Arizona in over a decade. And for over a decade, that Arizona team has not been the best hockey club in the NHL.
00:39:45
Speaker
I think during that time they made the playoffs once and got further than the Leafs did in their past decade of getting into the playoffs. I'm going to ask you a question. Why do you think that is? What do you think are some of the culprits for that?
00:40:08
Speaker
Well, we'll start with that, but I think it has a lot to do with also their playoff performances too. But what do you think, what is your interpretation as our resident Lee fan of why they seemingly play down to those opponents and then why they fall apart in the playoffs? Like what is your interpretation? They don't have that drive. They don't have that second gear. They're NHL players. They're creating the regular season because they're getting paid and that's what their contracts are for.
00:40:37
Speaker
They just don't have that second gear when it comes to high clutch moments. When they're supposed to be on top and be consistent and you don't play constructive hockey, they don't do it. If it's a bad team, there's a chance they're going to lose that game. The Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens have had our ass this season. And those teams are on the bottom 10.
00:41:06
Speaker
of the NHL standings at the end of the season. If we are a competent hockey club, competent hockey club, you should be beating those teams regardless night in, night out. If I see that the Leafs are playing Montreal, who are in a rebuild, or Ottawa, who are in the middle of just getting out of a rebuild until it reads whoever the fuck you want to call it, I should know that they're going to win this game by at least three fucking goals.
00:41:33
Speaker
And you could talk about it being defense, not doing anything in the post-season or the regular season, talk about offense. This team was the second highest goals for in the NHL. They have scored two goals max a fucking game.
00:41:53
Speaker
Your top six players, nowhere to be seen. Going into game two, your bottom six were outperforming your entire roster. Ryan Reeves looked like the best player on the fucking ice. That fourth line was amazing. And then Nylander comes in and they break up the fourth line. Makes no sense to me. It's absolutely
00:42:18
Speaker
I'm dumbfounded with what they've done, basically. I'm surprised that Sheldon Keefe still has a job. I think that if he loses this game, they have to get rid of a coach. You have Guy Boucher writing your power play.
00:42:35
Speaker
And you've had 11 chances on the fucking power play going into game four. Hold, shut your mouth, shut your fucking mouth. I haven't said anything about the Leafs all year long. All year long, I'm gonna have my fucking moment and save your voice. God fucking damn it. 11 chances and they've only scored once. Playoff officiating. They're actually one for 14 now.
00:42:58
Speaker
That's even better! Makes my argument even better. You can't do that. You can't do that and be a playoff team. Let alone a regular season team. This team on paper every year, every year on paper, it's supposed to be a great team. It's supposed to be amazing. It's supposed to be absolutely fantastic. Sellout and everything.
00:43:23
Speaker
With that quote-unquote core four, whatever you have there, you should be winning the fucking President's Trophy every single fucking season. Every season. Numbers. And employment on the curse. I got some numbers to break up your rant, but I think this quite illustrates some of the issues as you were alluding towards, but this is going to put them into perspective. Austin Matthews in the regular season has a point per game of one point one five.
00:43:54
Speaker
So he scores a solid amount over one point per game in the regular season. In the playoffs, Austin Matthews point per game drops to 0.87. That is a nearly 30% decrease in his production. And I could probably go and do all the math on Marner. Nylander might not be as steep of a drop off, but that is a theme throughout the entirety of their lineup.
00:44:25
Speaker
That's not good. And I think part of it also comes to coaching because, uh, what, how to, you know, how do the Leafs enter the zone throughout the regular season? They don't. Well, they do. What's their strategy? Because I know didn't watch the Leafs this year. Okay. True. I didn't watch them already. The Leafs are a putt. They, they carry it through the blue line most of the time.
00:44:53
Speaker
And what happened to the playoffs every single year? But what happens to the playoffs every single year? Can you carry the puck into the zone as you do in the regular season?
00:45:09
Speaker
Okay. So why is your strategy to carry fuck into the zone during the regular season? If everyone kind of knows that doesn't, that shit doesn't work in the playoffs. Like what, what is the law? Because Sheldon Keefe, Sheldon Keefe is a AHL coach who got lucky with getting a massively stacked AHL team to lead them to their Calder Cup winner. That's what it is. That Marley's team was fucking stacked.
00:45:37
Speaker
Tons of players who ended up not only becoming NHLers, but also becoming top six forwards on other clubs. Mason Marchman, Trevor Moore, who else? There's more. There's fucking more. It's great. They were all traded for nothing. Exactly.
00:46:00
Speaker
So, I'll say this, first and foremost, the whole geeboucher reference for those who don't remember, former head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Ottawa Senators, who was known for employing the 131 trap, a very defensive strategy that we've talked about on the show in the past. Again, that is who is running the Leafs power play currently.
00:46:20
Speaker
Why is he in the fucking P.K. guy? We got a trap specialist throw him in. Run the power play, baby. Yeah. Fuck me. My whole draw on the power play. Fuck. Again, for all the talk of of the grit of it all, it's like, you know, Ryan Reeves, he had that he had that one game where he had a couple of hits. He can't really judge him anymore.
00:46:44
Speaker
It's just a really poorly constructed roster. We all knew that. And the problem is, in terms of goaltending, obviously, Ilya Simsonov has not been great. He's had moments, but he currently has an 884 save percentage from four appearances. Joseph Wall, in relief, in game four, looked better. And I'd imagine that's who they're going with moving forward in this series.
00:47:17
Speaker
It's like defensively, you have these physical defensive stalwarts like Ilya Lubushkin, Simone Benoit, Joel Edmondson, but that is leading to problems on zone exits.
00:47:33
Speaker
Yeah. And even if you get the puck out, you're not able to move the puck fast enough. The Bruins are trapping the blue line and then you don't necessarily have the pace or the grit upfront to get into the corners and win those battles against the Bruins. So they're having a lot of struggles there. I think the biggest, not to cut you off and I won't go on for long, the biggest red flag for me in that they're just simply not fast enough, which is bizarre because they used to be really fast team.
00:48:03
Speaker
Uh, on a four on three power plate, I struggled to gain the zone. Yeah. That is disgusting. Continue to, I mean, they had a power play towards the end of game four, where they didn't get a single shot on goal. I mean, their power play has been abysmal. Yeah. Um, say what you want about officiating miss calls, this, uh, the bias or whatever. You're one for 14. You don't need a power place.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yes. And everybody knows our opinion at this point, my opinion, especially, but it's like officiating sucks. Yeah. There are missed calls against both teams. There are egregious, no calls. It happens all the fucking time. Might it happen against beliefs in terms of no calls more than the maybe, but again, one for 14 on the power play and
00:48:51
Speaker
Here again, they didn't have William me landed for the first three games, which they were deeming as migraine issues. There's a lot of questions as to whether or not they're being honest about that. Look, I don't know. End of the day, though, William me Landers only played in one game, didn't record a point in game four. John Tavares, one point in four games, one goal, making 11 million dollars until the end of next year. That's not good enough.
00:49:20
Speaker
Mitch Marner, whether or not he is, it seems to be clearly he's not a hundred percent. There's something going on. Ankle injury or something like that. And dry saddle at 30 points and 14 games on like no ankle. Y'all remember that? Like the excuses for me are just are just running out. The main problem with Marner is that he doesn't attack the middle of the ice. He did it once and he scored and then he doesn't attack the middle of the ice ever. He's such a like a dainty little butterfly on the perimeter.
00:49:50
Speaker
I mean, Paul Bissonette nailed it. Yes. Even if it led directly to Marner scoring in the third period of game four, like he nailed it in terms of what the issues are with Marner. Obviously, it's a it's a hockey thing where, oh, well, he's got to go out there. It's like, again, we've talked about it before. The fine line between Mitch Marner
00:50:11
Speaker
What do you want to argue? Is he a 50% right now because of this ankle injury, potential ankle injury, whatever? If he's a 50%, how much worse is Noah Greger at 100%?
00:50:25
Speaker
You know, at least Noah Gregor is going to be like, obviously he has nowhere near the offensive talents of a Mitch Marner, but at least he's going to go out there. He's going to skate hard. He's going to hit people and might be able to win some more battles in the corners that Mitch Marner is absolutely not going to win right now, whether or not again for Marner, it's an injury thing and effort thing, whatever. But that's always my thing is just okay. If we're talking about someone being that banged up, like the guy has two points in four games, but
00:50:55
Speaker
You know, in between those points has been horrific play. And again, is that an effort thing, an injury thing? I don't know. I tend to think it's an injury thing, but whatever. And then there's Auston Matthews, who has three points in four games, but just one goal for a 69 point score. A lot of talk about some sort of illness going on. And again, a lot of people doubting the legitimacy of that or whatever the hell.
00:51:24
Speaker
And again, that always kind of raises the question of, okay, like, yeah, it happens to teams every year, you know, star players get hurt before the playoffs or something comes up and they just can't keep it together. But that's also kind of the point that we were all reminded of last year when the Florida Panthers barnstorm their way to the Stanley Cup final. Again, beating the Bruins, beating the Leafs in five, sweeping the fucking hurricanes in the conference final for fuck's sake.
00:51:54
Speaker
They get to the Stanley Cup final and just had too many injuries at that point and their depth was too slim. So for the Leafs, you head into the season not getting rid of somebody. And surprise, surprise, now you have Marner and Matthews, Nylander, not at 100%. And then obviously someone like Bobby McMahon's been hurt too and that's hurt them a little bit as well. So you don't have the depth that you need.
00:52:21
Speaker
We've seen that. We see it every year. We literally just saw it with the Panthers last year where it's OK. You either don't have the depth that you need or you're just like, nope, Austin Matthews at 60 percent. We're more comfortable with that than we are with, you know, again, you can throw a note, Gregor out there.
00:52:45
Speaker
I mean, shit, you know, AHL, like I certainly understand Matthews on 50% being more appealing than Nick Abrazzese or Kyle, fuck your handshake line Clifford. You know, I certainly, I certainly get that. But again, it comes down to roster construction, it comes down to timing, luck, injuries and all of that. But you also got to make your own luck.
00:53:13
Speaker
in a playoff series, and I don't know. I still see a scenario in which the Leafs could win this series, despite it being much more slim at this point. But that also doesn't erase the very legitimate and valid critiques that are going on right now. And that leads to the thought of what is the best thing for the Toronto Maple Leafs moving forward. And the answer is, unless they're winning the Stanley Cup this year,
00:53:43
Speaker
The best thing for them is to lose the series and get some of those much, much needed changes now, as opposed to like, well, we won the series, so it's fine. Like clearly it's not fine. So any other thoughts on this particular series? Yeah, I think the Bruins are getting better as the series goes on.
00:54:09
Speaker
which is also not a great sign for the Leafs. Bruins, game one, they won. They didn't wow me. I thought that was a winnable game for the Leafs if they didn't completely collapse in the way that they did. And if Samsonov was better. Game two, obviously, Toronto won. I thought that was Boston's worst game by far. They just kind of looked disengaged. And then I only unfortunately caught pieces of games three and four, but the last one especially, I actually was able to watch a lot of it back on replay.
00:54:39
Speaker
And they absolutely dominated that game. And the fact that I'm, you know, and that's again, what good teams do. And I was seeing all like less physicality from the Leafs at times. But like, like when I think back to that game one where they're just bodies flying all over the place and they were to their detriment, putting themselves out of position for a Beecher to score.
00:55:03
Speaker
Yeah, for the least, they just don't seem to have any direction. And they also seem in denial because post-game, game four, Riley was like, I don't think we got off to a slow start. And when I was watching that first period back after I'd heard all these quotes, I was like, the fuck do you call that then? You were just getting absolutely smacked around. And then, of course, Sheldon Keefe, nothing wrong with our efforts.
00:55:33
Speaker
Uh, I don't think guys are frustrated. I mean, where'd he even start? Uh, that's, I think it comes back to kind of gaslighting. Um, the, my only, my only thought is that he's taking the fall for his team, but at some fucking point they've got to be held accountable.
00:55:59
Speaker
Like your stars have to be held accountable at some point. And I don't know if he's doing that in the room because it doesn't, it doesn't seem like it. Cause this is an every year thing. If they were being held accountable, they would change. And if not, well, you're clearly not the man for the job. If you can't hold them accountable and get them to be coachable, maybe they're uncoachable. Maybe we'll hear, we'll have a tell-all from Sheldon Keef in a few years about how fucking uncoachable Matthews, Nylander Marner are. But, uh,
00:56:26
Speaker
like it just that organization in a lot of ways the team the on ice product and everyone behind the bench they just seem like they're in shambles and they don't have an answer and that's not a great place to begin Ryan O'Reilly was right
00:56:45
Speaker
The final Eastern Conference matchup is Florida and Tampa, which is actually about to start as we're recording this. So the game might already be over by the time we get this podcast up. And of course, the series could be over. The Panthers have a 3-1 lead. The Lightning staved off elimination in game number four with a good bounce back. Although they almost fucking blew it. You know, there's the crazy Mikhail Serkachev thing coming back from a broken leg. Oh, my God.
00:57:14
Speaker
I have no idea. Modern medicine is what we'll deem that as. Because holy shit, but we're at all the NHL's version of Kurt on a perk, basically. In terms of the lightning's odds of coming back here. So I think, yeah, it's nice to see that there was some pushback there.
00:57:41
Speaker
But at the end of the day, you're talking about Andre Vasilevsky with an 899 save percentage in four games. You know, the star players for the Lightning, Kucherov and Stamkos each with six points, although they're all assists for Kucherov and five goals for Stamkos. It's the depth, the bottom six for the Lightning have four points between them.
00:58:11
Speaker
And two of those four belong to Nick Paul, who has two goals in the series. Worth that contract? It just kind of feels like they finally hit that breaking point, right? Like they lose to the Leafs in the first round last year. They're probably gonna lose to the Panthers here. They have stretched it about as thin as they can.
00:58:34
Speaker
I'm happy if I'm a Tampa fan. Yeah. I mean, look, if this is the end of the run, if this is Steven Stanco's last run with this team, um, then yeah, I mean, you can't be disappointed in any way whatsoever. You can't even be like, Oh, did they leave anything on the table? Look, they made three Stanley cup finals in a row and one, two of them, you know, there's an incredible, incredible run that that team had. And you can only do that for so long because you're constantly pushing up the cap.
00:59:02
Speaker
you're overpaying certain players, giving them more term because that's what you do. When your window's open, you go all in. I do want to pivot over because we were talking about Keef a little bit and the fact that Tampa came back and won. John Cooper's comments, did you see any of his comments? Yeah, about how basically, if you don't believe, then don't show up. And put that side by side with Sheldon Keef saying, oh my god. I don't think we're frustrated.
00:59:33
Speaker
That's putting a fucking ultimatum to your team, setting accountability, so many things done by a good coach, maybe the best coach in the NHL.
00:59:45
Speaker
You know, debatable. But John Cooper, that's one of the best NHL coaches and what he did and how he challenges his team and basically lay out at the thing of come hungry and come to fucking win. And then there's Sheldon Keefe being like, oh, he's got to coddle these guys. You don't want to, you know, like they're all the pressure from the media. Don't worry, guys, I'll take care of it. Like, you know, we can't hold you guys accountable. Like they're they're fucking men now.
01:00:12
Speaker
all 26 plus. Right. Right. Yeah. You know, for the lightning. Go ahead. I think that's why Keith coddles them so much, because a lot of them were under his watch when he was with the with the Marlies. It kind of feels like it's like, I don't know, like a dad to them. That's a weird thing to say. But like a relationship like that, where like you basically nurtured them to be, you know, NHL superstars in a way.
01:00:39
Speaker
I keep saying, he's an AHL coach who got lucky with NHL Caliber players on an AHL roster. That Marley series went seven games, but that game seven was definable, and that was probably the best hockey they played all season. But do I think Sheldon Keefe was a good signing for them to bring up, especially on a two-year extension coming up as well too, which I don't think they're going to
01:01:09
Speaker
I don't think they're going to go with, go through with the extension. It might just fire him. If he, if he blows it for game, game five, they should fire anyway. Honestly, I wanted to say for Tampa, um, they're at the point right now where the Pittsburgh penguins were a few years ago.
01:01:29
Speaker
And the penguins, of course, have made the decision to push and to try and squeeze one more great run out of that phenomenal core. I wonder if the lightning do the same thing, or if they say, you know,
01:01:45
Speaker
we can let go of Stamkos, you know, we can maybe take a bit of a step back here, try to restock the little bit. And like, I just, I wonder what their moves are over the next couple of years. I think if they do let Stamkos go,
01:02:03
Speaker
Even if they get him back, if they get him back or let him go, I think they push for one or at least one more year because they're going to look at the cap space they have from Stamkos. And there's going to be that lingering thing of like, OK, we lost him for free. That we got to make use of the cap space now rather than OK, we can, you know,
01:02:23
Speaker
We traded that guy, you're able to get certain assets back. I think if he walks, they're going to try to utilize that cap space for at least one more push. Then after that, they should cut the cord. Who knows if they will.
01:02:38
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to have hella, hella good assets to move. I don't have contract info, but point and like Kucherov. They have cap space coming up. Like Stamp Coast is eight and a half. Declares three million. Dumbo's 3.9. Again, both of them were deadline acquisitions. Like they have cap space coming off the books and no like major players to have to resign this year.
01:03:08
Speaker
Next year, at the end of next year, Victor Hedman's deal is up, which again, he's making under seven point nine million. Oh, 33 years old. I thought he had an extra year. And then Kucharov's deal is up at the end of twenty twenty seven. So it's a very interesting time for them, you know, in terms of like, OK, what do they look to do moving forward? And again, that would be to cut the cord now.
01:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, and again, it's under the presumption that they lose the series, which who the fuck knows? I mean, Jesus, you wouldn't put it past Tampa to be able to pull off a freaking upset like this. But the Florida Panthers are also absurd. Like, the only real weakness you could see in the Panthers right now is despite him being a Vesna finalist, Bobrovsky has an 874 save percentage in the series so far. Like, he has not been particularly great, even though he has one of the greatest fucking playoff saves I have ever seen in my life earlier in the series. Yeah.
01:04:01
Speaker
He continues to just kind of be a fucking enigma. Like, you never know what the hell you're going to get out of Sergei Bobrovsky. But very likely, obviously, that the Florida Panthers are going to move on. And unless something changes, Rangers, Canes, Bruins, Panthers, as your final four in the East, which both of those matchups would be fucking outstanding. Although, certainly,
01:04:29
Speaker
You know, don't know how much confidence I'd have in the Bruins to beat the Panthers, but it would be an interesting rematch to say the least. Um, anything else on any of the Eastern conference match ups before we switched to the West, I have a hunch. We're going to have less to say about the West anyway. Ah, we've been missing a series. I think we hit all the series. We hit all them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, we get, let's, we can shift over to the, uh, the West.
01:04:55
Speaker
All right. Well, we have three different three one series and then a two one, which, yeah, there are three different three one series. Sorry, I was saying I'm like, no, Dallas and Vegas is two one. But yeah, it is. And that's where we're going to start with Vegas being up two to one on Dallas. Very nearly three, three. Nothing. I mean, it took Dallas and overtime when it was the best game of the series.
01:05:22
Speaker
It was. I mean, they fucking dominated that game. And I mean, golden barely cracked. It's disgusting. Yeah. Yay for hurdle, though.
01:05:31
Speaker
Barely came away with the win in game three. This is exactly what people thought. Vegas being the second wild card team was then being a second wild card team in name only. Obviously, you get Mark Stone back from injury. This is just the nature of the playoff format where you're going to have a great team like Dallas or Vegas get bounced in round number one. That's just how it goes at this stage.
01:05:58
Speaker
you know, heading into this particular series and kind of thinking back to it, it's like it was another one of those series where you could see it go either way. And I'm trying to remember here, I'm looking back for the for the tweet that I had just in terms of who I thought would win the series. And I did say Dallas by
01:06:22
Speaker
Again, no surprise whatsoever if Vegas were to win this. I mean, I do think Dallas has the talent to win this particular series, but then you talk about like, okay, you know, if Vegas takes a three, one lead, then it's like, all right, you feel pretty confident that it's over and done with. So if Dallas does not tie this series up at two, two, it's probably series over. Vegas has blown a three to one series lead.
01:06:47
Speaker
They have. Have indeed. To a fantastic team. Um, yeah, you know what? Um, like no matter what happens like this season, uh, Vegas is, well, I mean in these playoffs, like Vegas is going to be
01:07:04
Speaker
Pretty sick no matter what I think. I think they can easily make another deep run because they're, again, miraculously a full strength again when the playoff starts. Another thing I want to say, man, you know how good Marner is going to look on Iko's wing next year? It's going to be insane.
01:07:23
Speaker
Oh, what that would do to Buffalo and Toronto. It's going to happen. They are 100 percent going to like get Mitch Marner somehow. And I guarantee like, bro, it's it's right. Like, think about it. It's right up their alley. Who could they send back that kind of Toronto really has a deep need for? Who's now aging? And in Vegas, his mind's like could decline.
01:07:47
Speaker
so petro does have a no movement clause so he'd have to agree to it ah shit yeah however um was he a leaf fan growing up yeah what pajamas did he wear um
01:08:04
Speaker
You know, like in terms of those defenseman, I mean, all the, you know, they, uh, the golden Knights did of course, recite Noah Hannafin to an extension, which is funny, but maybe that means you could move out a, another physical defensive defenseman like Braden McNabb. Oh my God.
01:08:21
Speaker
Alex Patrangelo grew up in King City, Ontario, which is just north of Toronto itself. He was totally a fucking- We need a first round elimination now for Vegas and the Met trade, Petro for Marner. Other stuff to make that happen, but yeah, that's that.
01:08:43
Speaker
Like in some way, Vegas is going to be in on the trade. If Marner decides to agree to a trade, I guarantee you Vegas is going to be one of the teams on this list for a variety of reasons. The no state tax and their contender. I don't I don't doubt it. Yeah. Anything else to mention about this particular series between Dallas and Vegas? I mean, again, it's it's a competitive one. You know, outside of that, it's like, OK, it's just more waiting to see how it's going to go.
01:09:12
Speaker
Please, Pavs deserves one before Harnold. Let him through. I hope for Joe Pavelski's sake that Dallas does win the series. Yeah, me too. Colorado is up 31 on Winnipeg.
01:09:31
Speaker
Oh Winnipeg. It's just my only response. Oh Winnipeg. You went from looking like in the off season that you were probably going to blow it up. Probably get rid of Hellebok. Probably get rid of Shifley. You hold on to both of them. You make this great run. You were competitive for the division all season long.
01:09:52
Speaker
You get to the playoffs and yeah. Like I I just I don't get it like Connor Hellebuyck especially like his playoff struggles have continued. Like Georgiev. He's playing worse than Georgiev. Also I know I know like that's the crazy thing Georgiev is playing better than Georgiev should.
01:10:17
Speaker
Connor hella bucks numbers through four games 523 goals against average with an 870 save percentage hella suck He played the exact same fucking way in my NHL 18 be a pro I was just about to say NHL is realistic because you get a great goalie in the regular season of as in the caliber guy and then the playoffs He can't stop a fucking beach ball turns out NHL is realistic
01:10:41
Speaker
I'm still suffering PTSD. Like, they gotta stop having their goalies play fucking 60 games a season and then wonder why when it comes to playoff time they just can't compete the exact same way they used to. Like, the max, you're just exhausted. Yeah, but Brodur played 75 back when the game was slow as fuck. Bro, there was a French freak. God damn it. Hunter Hellebach, over the last two seasons,
01:11:09
Speaker
Last year, 64 games played a 920 save percentage. In the playoffs, five games with an 886. This year, 60 games played with a 921. In the playoffs, an 870 save percentage in four games. That's better, only 60. I would still... I mean, you are paying him to get 60 games out of him, that's the thing. Like, if you're paying that much to a goaltender, he's got to be at least a 60 game guy, probably.
01:11:37
Speaker
But at the same time, if you want to be a playoff team and you want that better performance, maybe only playing 55. Yeah, I know. So it's fucking Colorado and it's Nathan McKinnon. That's the other aspect of it, right? Because it's like, OK, it's fucking chickpea balls on everyone. You look at this Jets team and they're not performing necessarily that poorly. It's just that the abs.
01:12:02
Speaker
are insane, still. You know, like last year, you know, they weren't able to go back to back. And despite Georgiev with just an 885 save percentage, star players, Kale Mccarr, eight points in four games with two goals, including a fucking wicked goal in the last game. Our Turi Lekkinen has seven points in four games with four goals. Brother of someone too, and I know.
01:12:31
Speaker
Did I know that? Do you not know that? I'll tell you off off off camera because he doesn't like the the fact to be to be spread around everywhere. There you go. Maybe I do know and I just have intentionally forgotten it for that reason. Mika Rantin six points in four games. All assists. Nathan McKinnon seven points in four games, two goals, five assists and then fresh off of a hat trick in the last game. The Larry Nachushka six goals in four games.
01:12:59
Speaker
I still don't know what the fuck's going on with that guy, what the hell happened in the off season, then he was in the player assistance program, whatever the fuck. But when he's on the ice for the abs, he is everything the Dallas stars were hoping he'd be with the 10th overall pick in 2013. Yeah. I mean, the abs are just an absolute wagon. That's that's the case, right? Like sometimes it just comes down to the fact like in the playoffs, playoffs,
01:13:30
Speaker
Florida, Tampa, Boston, Toronto, the Rangers, and the Hurricanes. If I were to tell you any one of those six Eastern Conference teams were to win the Stanley Cup this year, be like, I've seen the future, one of those six are winning it, you'd be like, yeah, okay. If I were to set the caps to the Islanders, you'd be like, wow, really? Okay, especially the Islanders I can kind of see.
01:13:51
Speaker
So it's not surprising when six out of the eight playoff teams, UV was like, Oh yeah, I could see them getting it done in the West, Dallas, Vegas, Winnipeg, Colorado. We haven't talked about Edmonton yet or Vancouver, Nashville, LA.
01:14:05
Speaker
The vast majority of the teams at the playoffs you can view, because it's a league of parody, would be able to get it done. So, yeah, for Winnipeg it sucks to be down 3-1 to Colorado, but at the same time it's like, oh yeah, Colorado's sick. That's just kind of what it comes down to. Yup. Then you get into the Pacific portion of the Western bracket. Vancouver's up 3-1 on Nashville. Oh, Nashville.
01:14:35
Speaker
Oh, you had it. You don't come back from this. This series is over. I don't care if Thatcher Demko's not there. I don't care if Casey De Smith isn't 100%. I don't care if the Vancouver Canucks have to play Brock Besser in goal. That series is done. You do not come back.
01:14:53
Speaker
from missing an empty net and then blowing a two goal lead or, you know, giving up a goal, missing an empty net, giving up the tie and goal and then losing it over time. You don't come back from that. Like that is the death knell for the Preds who were better this year than I think a lot of teams expected, but it also would have been viewed as kind of an upset. I thought Nashville could win this series. I picked them to win the series because I thought Vancouver had a lot to prove. Thankfully for the Canucks,
01:15:21
Speaker
Nashville dug their own fucking grave with their mistakes and their ability to not capitalize on their opportunities in the series. I think it was very winnable for Nashville, but even though it's 3-1, it's GG's. I cannot imagine a team coming back from that collapse that they had in game number four. I mean, it's it's such a mental detriment. I feel so bad for systems, but also, buddy,
01:15:49
Speaker
You gotta, you gotta, yeah, you gotta make that. Like, I'm sure, like, it happens, and, but dude, like, first of all, Brock Besser's back, like, fully fucking back, and I'm so happy for Vancouver, man, because for years, I mean, years ago, they were like, dude, Brock Besser's gonna be such a sick goal scorer, starts looking good, starts looking good, starts having a shit ton of trouble, then we find out his dad was sick, his dad dies, he's still, his play is still down in the dumps, and now he's coming back because he's,
01:16:20
Speaker
Presumably processed a lot of that grief and now he's getting himself right mentally good for him we love ourselves a healthy and self-growth King and Yeah Vancouver is looking pretty good The get the parts that I've caught of them. I don't know if this is a deeper unplayoff team still I have my doubts about them. They're a little bit too cute now They got the fucking skill to pull it off put him up against Vegas or Dallas though, man. I don't know
01:16:50
Speaker
like a Vegas, a Dallas, a Florida, like they could do it, but. In terms of the next round.
01:16:57
Speaker
Yeah, who are they? Edmonton has a 3-1 series lead on the LA Kings after a hell of a series. After shutting them out in game four, Stewart Skinner saves the day. The Oilers just 13 fucking shots, but they win 1-0. And that is what people have been looking for out of the Oilers, is for the defense and the goaltending, especially because they gave up, what, 33 shots. It was the goaltending to be able to steal them a game when the offense can't deliver.
01:17:26
Speaker
And that finally happened for the Oilers after it really, it really hasn't happened for them over the last couple of years. It's like if Connor McDavid and Leon Drizetl are firing on all cylinders, they're fucked. This game proved otherwise. And for that reason, I'm sorry. I think the Oilers have a clear cut shot to the Western Conference Final. I cannot imagine them blowing a 3-1 lead to LA and I cannot imagine Vancouver beating Edmonton. I just can't. I think the Oilers are conference final bound bare minimum.
01:17:54
Speaker
That's insane, I didn't even, that was, that game started, that was the late start run. Dude, they started at like 10.50 Eastern, it was fucking stupid. That's crazy. You know what, yeah, no wonder, I'm like, I'm like, when did this game happen? I'm like, oh yeah, it was so late. Like I was checking scores throughout the night last night and then got carried away gaming and then obviously going to bed. But goddamn, that's impressive as hell.
01:18:17
Speaker
Uh, for oilers and I, that, I love that. I love that so much for that team, for that fan base and especially for McDavid. I hope like how they can make a long run out of this man and get more performance like that from Skinner. And hopefully they don't, it's not just going to be one O's. He can't do that a lot, but yeah, a couple two, one victories on route.
01:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, you better watch out if Edmonton learned how to defend and have above average goaltending. That's really all you need these days, is above average goaltending with the way the league has shifted. Because like- Aiden Hill won the Stanley Cup for Vegas last year. Yeah, Aiden Hill and then Kemper the year before, who's now not even a starter. And then you look at the elite goalies. Hell of a buck, trash, Demko injured.
01:19:03
Speaker
The quote-unquote elite you see sorrows probably doing pretty fucking good, but he's on a terrible team against a really good team I think the record sorrows has an 857 Holy shit We're shooting at like 50% yes, you guys want to play a quick game of Forgot that you guys want to play a quick quick goalie game real quick. Yes, I
01:19:27
Speaker
Sure. Out of the five guild goalies with the most games played in the regular season, all at 64 for Sorrows, Gyorgyev at 63, Connor Halbuck at 60, Stuart Skinner at 59, and Sukya Paparovski at 58, which one is the goalie that has an above, say, percentage of 900? It's got to be Skinner. Stuart Skinner. Yeah, I mean, he got that shot out last night.
01:19:56
Speaker
And it's funny because Edmonton, you look at those teams and it's like, okay, defensively, like, are they the strongest? But here they are. Yeah. There's the thing about Edmund, Edmonton though, is like, man, when the sharks played him, I want to say it was 2015 or was it 2016?
01:20:12
Speaker
I thought you were going to mention when the Sharks played him in like November and beat them and everyone was dancing on the Oilers. Great. Oh, no, no, no. That was funny. But no, I'm thinking about like playoffs. Like since the McDavid era started, this is how their team has kind of always been constructed. Questionable defensively. Good fucking offensive upside.
01:20:30
Speaker
and a bowl attending when they beat the Sharks in in the first round and I think it was 2016 No, cuz that was the year we went to the cup fuck. What was it 2017? They beat the Sharks in 2017 in the first 17 then lost to the ducks in game seven in the second round. Oh, yeah
01:20:51
Speaker
But again, that was a very similar kind of constructed team. And if you get the right coach, if you get the right buy-in, you can do some good stuff. That was a good fucking Sharks team they just beat. That Sharks team was in the Stanley Cup finals the previous year. And then they lost to a tough Ducks team at the time. It wasn't that long ago that Ducks were that good. And like,
01:21:15
Speaker
This if they figured something out and they got the pie in and this is kind of yearly reminiscent of 2019 St. Louis Blues, albeit two completely different teams, but the situation is quite good. Dead last to a potential. Cup.
01:21:32
Speaker
I mean, oh, yeah. Do you have the bracket up? Like, what would what would Edmonton's path be? Like, it's so it'd be to make a pass.
Edmonton's Playoff Expectations
01:21:41
Speaker
Yes. If it's Edmonton over L.A. and Vancouver over Nashville, it's Edmonton and Vancouver in round two. And then you'd be talking Edmonton against either as it stands, Colorado, Vegas or Dallas in the conference final.
01:21:57
Speaker
That's where it gets fucking tough for Edmonton is a conference final. But if they don't make the conference finals, I'm going to go out and say it was a, it's a failure. 100%. They can't lose to Vancouver with, with the way your team's constructed and their team is constructed and with the way your goaltender is performing and them having a huge fucking question mark now in net.
01:22:16
Speaker
I mean, Christ, they just won with their third string goalie last night, Vancouver. So, you know. Yeah, I mean, I think. Any other team in this playoffs, I don't think, besides maybe Islanders. Edmonton has the easiest theoretical path to the final four over anybody else. Yes. Because if you're talking about, again, Dallas, Vegas, Colorado. It's going to hate us, by the way, but it's the truth, guys. Sorry. It is. Because look, Vancouver, despite being a number one seed,
01:22:45
Speaker
They have a hell of a lot more to prove than Colorado than Vegas, especially the last two fucking cup winners. And the Dallas is also a number one seed. You know, that's what has to come after or out of the top half of the Western bracket, whereas the bottom half, it does look like it's going to be Vancouver and Edmonton around two.
01:23:03
Speaker
In East, if things continue as they're going, it's Florida and Boston in the second round, New York and Carolina. Those are two wars. Like, I'm sorry, but if it's those two match-ups, and then in the West is either Colorado against Vegas or Dallas, Vancouver against Edmonton, Edmonton is viewed as having the easiest opponents in the second round. That is just a fact.
Tough Eastern Conference Matchups
01:23:28
Speaker
and Vancouver might prove people wrong. Whoever, whoever limps out of that potential Boston, Florida matchup. You can say the same about the Rangers games though. Really? I don't view them as at least the Carolina. I don't view them as, ah, yeah, they can be quite fucking physical. I'm just, I'm just, you know, it's, I think maybe they're not too much separation. But when you think of Florida versus Boston, like Jesus Christ,
01:23:55
Speaker
That's just considering last year. Yeah, you might be right. Yeah, I mean, well, in my mind, a Rangers Hurricane series becomes more physical than expected, even though they have the high skill, because I feel like those two teams are going to worry about the skill so much that they're going to turtle up and go to the physicality and rely on the goaltenders and so on and so forth. But.
01:24:19
Speaker
I don't know. It's a very interesting playoff bracket at this point in time. And again, unlike in some prior years, there are
01:24:27
Speaker
so many teams where it's like, if I were to tell you they're going to win this day in the cup in two months, you'd be like, yeah, I believe it. Yeah. And that's awesome. I mean, you know, for as much as people are like, oh, it's a league of parody and that can be kind of boring. Come playoff time, it makes it a hell of a lot more interesting where really on paper there was only one true lame duck playoff team and that was the caps.
Playoff Unpredictability and Potential Upsets
01:24:49
Speaker
You know, even like the islanders or the Preds, you could be like, I could see them winning around and causing a bit of a ruckus because they have that that aura of defensive, tight defensive teams and good goaltending. Right. And then weirdly, islanders don't have the good goaltender. Good goaltending. Well, they have a good goaltender. It's just not when you. Yeah, it's not who you thought. Varla mom's doing great. Yeah, so.
01:25:12
Speaker
Gentlemen, with that, anything else to bring up here, or shall we wind things down for our first of, who knows, maybe two episodes this
Future Podcast Plans and Personal Anecdotes
01:25:20
Speaker
week? We shall see. I mean, certainly, I mean, you know, depends on how the series goes and the next, you know, couple twists to the tail, basically. Oh, that scared the shit out of me. Sorry. I got distracted because, uh,
01:25:36
Speaker
I thought I accidentally ordered pickup instead of delivery and I don't have a fucking car now that I took the rental back. Anyway, what would you say? Can anyone buy me one more time? Endurance M. I'm endo right now with the food distractions. Endurance M, what do you have going on? I might stream today. So past tense, if this is coming out tomorrow, they won't know.
Streaming and Social Media Updates
01:26:02
Speaker
Oh, maybe I stream on Tuesday. Yeah. You have a stream schedule there, buddy? No, I don't. As soon as he's working, my blue collar fucking job where I'm hating the government. You have Twitter where they could follow you for updates? Yes. I mean, I'm going to teach you, and one of these days, I'm going to teach you how to do some good plugs on here for yourself. Okay. Clearly, it will not be today. Keep going. No, it will not be today. Go on your tangent. I know you have to. Yeah, that's it. No. Shut up. Fuck you. I'm leaving. You know what? What?
Content Creation and Gaming Preferences
01:26:32
Speaker
Sin for the win. What do you have going on? Yeah, I'm doing some YouTube. I haven't been doing too much. The St. Louis Blues franchise mode sucked all the fucking life out of me. It's a great team, guys. You got to see how I built that team up because it's fantastic. All the stuff after that is...
01:26:51
Speaker
It's EA and I'm not trying to spoil anything, but I kind of did. Uh, yeah, I'll be starting a, uh, oh, how old now it's it here. Um, I'm going to be starting a banner Lord series again, which I'm very excited about getting back into that game. And then, uh, I'm going to also be doing some streaming eventually and I'll do a little bit of NHL and stream, but I'm also just going to be like, play a lot of games that I want to play, maybe some older games that I really enjoy to relive it. Cause.
01:27:18
Speaker
A lot of the newer games that I try to play now, they don't do it for me. I don't know what, what it is. There's some good games coming out like nowadays, but it's, it just seems to be few and far between. And that's depressing because I lived through the golden age, baby. Follow me on YouTube. Sin FTW productions. There you go. I did Mendo right there. I talked all that shit and I just went on an endo tangent.
01:27:41
Speaker
Hey, there you go.
Introducing Family Guys Podcast
01:27:43
Speaker
If you want to hear, Sin and I involved in other tangents, of course, again, over the last couple of weeks, we have launched a non-hockey podcast by the name of the Family Guys, where we are going back through the original season currently of Family Guy, and going through the episodes, talking about the history, the references, and all of that. So make sure to check that out. If it is of interest, you can find us on any podcast platform of choice, and of course, video form.
01:28:10
Speaker
on the YouTube side of things. For me, obviously, I am very much trying to get back into the groove of an unexpected two weeks off thanks to this fucking bout of bronchitis, especially in the aftermath of having COVID at the beginning of March. It's been an interesting year for me so far, but very, very motivated right now on the YouTube side of things, especially with some of the different types of videos I want to make.
01:28:38
Speaker
You know, I go through those phases of just like, all right, I want to talk about real hockey. I want to talk about the older sports games and stuff like that. So just very, very motivated to kind of get back into the groove and to making stuff that interests me and hopefully interest you because nothing like having your ability to speak ripped away from you to make you really
01:28:58
Speaker
motivated yet again for you know content creation porpoises man gentlemen with that we will talk again soon as uh well we'll see if any of these three one series leads can get a little bit more interesting and if not then hey round two will be coming up before you know with that we will see you all next time thank you again for watching for listening and we will see you all soon