These playoffs, and I mean both legitimately
and metaphorically, have been fucking killing
me. They absolutely kill me. Not only with how
late it is, because you know, Eastern Standard
Time, we're all, you know, open as fuck right
now. But, and just how much they drag the fuck
on. I love the playoffs. I love them. You know,
they're so energetic. They're so fun. But my
God, guys, you are killing me. I'm going to have
more gray hairs on my head by the time the cup
was sifted. I swear to God. Imagine if our penguins
were still in it. I'd be all gray. Nothing else.
How do we do this two years in a row? We actually
had a team that was good. But they had been fun,
though. Again, I love the hockey playoffs. I
love them. But it's stressed me the fuck out.
That first round between... Winnipeg and St.
Louis was crazy. The second round between, we're
about to see game seven tonight, between Toronto
and Florida has been insane. It's just been back
and forth, back and forth. The Dallas series
was pretty intense. That one, what was that last
night that ended? Yeah. Winnipeg and six. Carolina,
that's one I didn't catch. I didn't catch much
of the Carolina -Washington series. That series
was boring. Carolina just kind of kicked the
shit out of Washington up and down the ice for
18 periods. Outside of game two, Carolina was
the more dominant team. Hands down. Freddie was
being Freddie. Carolina's defense is phenomenal.
Shut down Washington's top six. Their offense,
they were rolling. They were cooking. Carolina
was keeping their cool, not letting the Caps'
shenanigans get to them. I like round one against
Montreal. They let Tom Wilson get to them. Look
what happened. But yeah, just looking at Carolina,
they were a really, really competitive team there
against Washington. And obviously it shows with
them moving on to round two against whoever the
Titans winners are. The series has been... This
series has been violent. It's been brutal. I
honestly think that Carolina might be going to
the final regardless just because these two teams,
regardless of the winner tonight, are so beat
up from this series and so ran down from this
series. I don't see either one of these two teams
make it to the final just because of this series
alone. This series has been probably the most
fun to watch in these playoffs and probably the
most... It's the most energizing and just the
most physical series I have seen in quite some
time. These two teams, you can tell clearly they
do not like each other. No. Nobody really likes
Florida right now. I think they're a bunch of
goons. In all honesty, putting my jokes and my
love for laughing at Leafs aside, The biggest
reason... You're more or less laughing at the
fans. Oh, yeah. But that comes with the territory.
But putting all that bullshit aside, you know,
one of the biggest... I really want Florida to
advance just because, you know, seeing that Eastern
Conference final matchup between Sergey Bobrovsky
of the Florida Panthers and fucking Freddie Anderson
of the Carolina Hurricanes. Two veteran goalies
that have been around for a while. Yep. Obviously,
just the one cup to Sergei and nothing to Freddie
yet. Yet. Oh, I don't know why I knocked on wood,
but yet. So that would be a goaltending matchup
dream. I think that's one of the only things
I would not hate to see Florida go back -to -back
is to see Bob raise another one. As much as I
don't want to see Brad get another one, or as
much as I don't want to see Kachuk get another
one, or Sam Bennett get another one. I did gain
a lot of respect for both Kachuk brothers after
the Four Nations. I still don't really like Brady.
Matthew, I never really had anything much against
Matthew. I've always sided with him. I've never
liked Brady. I've never liked Brady. You had
to cheer him on there in the Four Nations. It
was fun to see when you're cheering for that
team, but now that they're in Florida, I don't
give a shit about him. Or he's in Ottawa, don't
give a shit about him. He can stay out there.
Nothing to talk about. We know, as we predicted
pretty much the last month and a half, two months,
the London Knights are your reigning back -to
-back J. Rob Robertson champions. As we predicted
at the very beginning of the series. I saw they
are now tied for the most in recent modern OHL.
I know... D .O. Hunter is tied for the most.
J. Ross Robertson as head coach. But, yeah, that
was pretty predictable. I'm glad Oscar Davis...
I mean, I think I had said that halfway through
the season when they started off, what was it,
like, fucking 35 -2 or whatever. That ridiculous
right wasn't that bad, but that ridiculous 35
-10 record that they had to start the season,
I was like, they're going to repeat. And here
we are. I mean, Oshawa took that first game away.
It's funny because the day after I said, you
guys are allowed to lose a game, they lost the
game. So I think it was the day after, the night
that this would have been live, or the day after
that episode went live, they lost. I'll take
a little bit of credit for that, just a little
bit. They didn't get swept like they did last
year against London. They did not want to lose
on home ice is what they were fighting for. Are
we shocked that that happened? We said at the
beginning of the playoffs that London is the
best team in the league for a reason. We got
together for just a little small get -together
last night. We just bullshitted for a little
bit. We were talking about first we started talking
about Malcolm Spence who committed to Michigan
State. Or not Michigan State, Michigan. Thursday,
May 8th was when Oshawa beat London. It was a
couple days after this last episode went live.
Yeah, we were talking about Malcolm Spence being
committed to Michigan. Why did it have to be
Michigan, Malcolm? I love you, man, but why did
it have to be Michigan? Best of luck, but fuck
you, Michigan. Second, then we brought up, we're
like, there should be absolutely no reason that
London is this good again next year. Are they
still going to be a playoff team? Yeah, without
a shadow of a doubt, yes. They're still going
to be a playoff team. Are they still going to
be probably a top four seed at home? At least
the first round of playoffs at home? More than
likely, yes. But there should be no reason at
all that they are a number one seed again next
year. Not number one nor number two. I can still
see them being a four, maybe having to drop down
to the five and not getting any home series.
But there should be no reason that they are 50
-18 again or 50 -4, whatever the record was this
year. There should be no reason that that happens
again. Especially with Kitchener still going
to be probably even more stacked next year. This
conference is tough. Well, technically that season
was the season Kitchener was supposed to be in
the rebuild. They were supposed to be a rebuild
team. So, you know, anywhere between five and
eight. And they finished second. This year they
finished third. Oh, third, sorry. This year was
third in the conference. I think last year was
second. Well, either way, they finished third.
So, you're right. Kitchener is going to be even
more stacked. I mean, granted, they're losing
their away goaltender, Jackson Parsons, but...
I mean, yeah, the two teams to beat next year
are going to be Windsor and Kitchener. Maybe
even, I mean, Barry's in the other conference,
but they show that they're going to be a team
to beat. They prove that. Brampton's going to
be a team to beat. Oshawa, I think, is still
going to be a team to beat. Brantford is going
to be up there. The East is starting to get stronger
over time. I mean, obviously, any team's going
to get stronger. With the exception of Niagara,
but Niagara is Niagara. And Saginaw is still
a great team. Are they going to be as good as
they were this year? I don't know. We'll see
about that. I think we all know the Otters aren't
going to be as good as we were this year, unfortunately.
I hope and I don't think we're going to be bad
enough to miss the playoffs again. I said we're
probably going to be lower seeded. We'll probably
be seventh -eighth seeded again next year, but
I don't see us. fighting for that fourth seed
at all next year. We'd be fighting, I think,
for a sixth seed at best. Prove me wrong. I hope
they prove me wrong, but that's... Potentially
fighting to be a first round against London next
year with the third or fourth seeded London.
But that's, again, if we're lucky. But yeah,
it's definitely going to be interesting going
into... Yeah, we're now losing Malcolm Spence.
We are obviously already guaranteed to lose...
Pano, Marty, and Alfie. Potentially going to
be losing Schaefer. Potentially going to be losing
Carey. Again, that all depends on how Anaheim
they want to work out on his contract with us.
It's going to be a rough one. It's going to be
tough to figure out, especially that bottom six,
too. And then the defensemen as a whole are going
to be jumbled to bits. It's going to be a rough
one. I mean, I have faith in Chris Millett and
what he can do with this roster and what he can
do with a full season with this roster. Because
this weekend we just had our draftees orientation
camp this weekend. I saw on our local news was
interviewing, he's like, I don't know much about
these guys yet, but he's like, they got to show
me. if they really want to play next year and
stuff like that. I'm sure they've got to really
amaze me. Open scrimmages again, hopefully we'll
usually do those July, August, those open scrimmage
games. I will see the actual roster get to play
right before preseason. I'll definitely be there
again because I'll be able to go because I did
renew my season ticket for this upcoming season
for my third season with the off year. So four
years, technically, but not... I mean, I went
to... Still went to a majority of games last
year, but... Basically, these guys helped hook
me up with some of their tickets for even one
that they didn't use. It's going to be tough
for the Otters next year. I mean, I really...
I do have faith in these boys, man. I'm going
to stand by them no matter what happens. I know
you guys are with me on that one. I've got to
stop saying um so much. It's going to be tough.
It's going to be very tough to see what this
team can put together. Again, I have faith in
Coach Chris Millett to see what he can do with
a full season with this very tough to manage
roster. We'll see. I know we were talking also
briefly yesterday. Depending on The whole O .A.
situation. I think Auditor's Tracker, shout out
to you. I don't know if you listen to this, but
you had tweeted out about a joke. You said Wesley
Royston breakout season. I hope so. I think that'd
be hilarious to see. But we were talking, me
and Colin, I told him, I said it all depends
on if we decide to keep Messier as one of our
O .A.'s, which I don't see it happening. I really
don't see it happening just based on his discipline
issues. He is one of our enforcers, one of our
power forwards, our guys that are meant to stick
up for this team and drop the gloves when he
needs to. If he ends up being one that stays,
then I think that gives Wesley the opportunity
to start being more of that playmaker, goal scorer
type of guy. If not, then if Wesley... If Messi
ends up leaving, then Wesley can continue to
be the role that he has. Be that fighter, be
that power forward, be the guy that drops the
glove when he needs to. We also said that we've
seen Sauter drop the gloves a fair share amount
of times. Is he a very good fighter? Sorry, Nathan.
No, you're not very good, buddy. He's one of
those leaders that's like, okay. He will take
the punches for his team. He will be the one
to drop the gloves. I don't appreciate that you
did this to my teammate. Here, I'll take a couple
fisticuffs. He can get some punches in, but he
does not often win a fight. I think I've seen
him fight maybe five, six times in the last two
years, and I think he's... one, maybe one of
them. But he's going to shit rock the other four
or five. He's agreeing. He is that guy that he
will drop the gloves if he needs to to defend
his team. But he is not going to win that fight.
Wesley can't. I don't think I've seen Wesley
lose a fight. Him and Messi, man. Those boys
don't lose fights. My favorite thing is going
back to the Peterborough game last year. And
seeing, you know, Messi go up and grab him by
the fronts of their jerseys and just back and
forth and fucking back and forth. He went after
the one, but then that third guy decided to be
third man in and also was like, hey, I went in
on this and Messi goes, I bet. Fuck you, let's
go. Fucking rock 'em, sock 'em robots with two
of them. Two reds and one blue. Rock 'em, sock
'em Peterborough, right? Rock 'em, sock 'em Pete's.
still mad that I ended up missing that game.
Because I think we had a Saturday -Sunday home
-home two games in a row. I think I ended up
going, oh, I can go to one or the other. I ended
up going to that Saturday night game. Which I
think we still ended up winning that Saturday
night game, too. But I was very, Colin's like,
you guys should be very upset you didn't make
it to this game. I was watching it. Colin was
the only one there, so. Yeah, exactly. I figured,
at least. Wasn't the only thing on there. Well,
yeah. Thankfully, but. Now, I remember talking
to a couple of the guys around, and, you know,
the guy next to me asked me, I was like, you
know, I need to ask him about this coach, and
I was kind of telling him, you know. And then
I turned, looked down, and I'm like, oh, oh,
shit, the coaches are fighting. Oh, shit, the
coaches are fighting. Listen to him talk about
it on the Out There Record podcast. It was just
hilarious. He goes, he just, he just. Soon as
he starts talking to Wes, and he was turning
his left to start talking to Ken, and he sees
Peter Burrell's coach standing at their door,
yelling at him. So he's like, I had to go over
there and see what was up. And he's just laughing
the entire time, too. You can see it on the telecast.
You can see it on the broadcast. Smiling as they're
talking. I love this coach, man. I'm very excited
to see what he can do. Fresh heads, fresh season.
Get the off -season out of the way. The off -season
out of the way. Get fresh new heads. Get these
boys where they need to be for next season. I'm
sure we will see how preseason looks and how
these scrimmage games work. Depending on my work
schedule, depending on when they host those,
I'm definitely going to try to be at those. If
we even get any home preseason games this year,
I know we didn't last year because we did all
three years prior to that. I know not all teams
get to host preseason games. The way they do
it, I think it's still stupid. A lot of the rules
in the NHL are stupid. 2, 5, 10, fuck you. Yeah.
Real quick before we get into the... current
playoffs that are going on. One that we forgot
to mention with the London Knights, San Jose
Sharks prospect Casper Holtman. He's the first
CHL import draft player to win the Wayne Gretzky
99 award in the OHL history. Who? They gave it
to Holtman? Yeah. Really? Yeah, they gave it
to him. I definitely would have seen it go to
either Cowan or Dickinson or something. Yeah.
Like I said, he did have a rabble of a playoff
run. He did very well this year. He kicked our
ass all four games. He was the first CHL import
draft to win the Wayne Gretzky 99 award. That's
pretty cool. That's pretty awesome. Moving on
to talk more in depth about these NHL playoffs
we got going on. Starting from the East, we know
we had briefly mentioned Carolina more or less
kicked Washington's ass up and down the ice for
five games. One game Washington took was game
two in Washington, a 3 -1 win. Other than that,
2 -1 win, 4 -0 win, 5 -2 win, and 3 -1 win in
favor of the Carolina Hurricanes. Moving on to
the final four. I don't know what the hell I
just saw on my TV. The freaking pulp is in there,
man. It's nasty. That stash, though, is fantastic.
Dude, what a fucking beauty, man. It is. He's
such a fucking beauty. Such a beauty. Washington
didn't stand a chance against Carolina. I thought
they were going to put up a little bit more of
a fight than that. I think most of us said that
that was going to be a seven -game series in
the last episode. It was not. Hold on. Hold on.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but I kind of want to
see this because apparently he's on the air right
now lighting a memorial for the Core 5. Paul,
Biz Nasty, I know you're a big Toronto fan. Like,
you're all for Toronto. But this is not how you
do it, you fucking weirdo. I saw this, just looking
at this Maple Leafs player right now, all these
fans going crazy right now. I saw a post, I think
it was on a TikTok. It said, name a sports city
that would absolutely lose their shit, damn near
burn their fucking minds if they win a championship.
Toronto. Toronto is going to be insane if they
pull this thing off. Downtown Toronto is no longer
going to exist if the Toronto Maple Leafs pull
this off. The whole thing, not just this game.
They're going to out -Philly you. Philly, pretty
much. Philly will lose their shit. They win or
lose. Again, they're going to out -Philly you
Philly. Downtown Toronto is going to be unrecognizable.
If Toronto wins this Cup. That's what they mean
by the Philly special. Instead of Philly, Philly,
what are they going to yell? Toronto, Toronto.
E -A -G -L -S, Eagles, right? You know why they
call it Philly, right? Because the people that
live there can't spell Philadelphia. I can't
spell Philadelphia. Exactly. That's the nicest
thing you can say about Philadelphia. You good?
Going to the Winnipeg... Are you good? No. Actually,
some of us had to work today. Thank you, fucking
Bones. Unlike Bob, who obviously has only got
to show up once. One shot in 11 minutes a game.
So going to the Winnipeg Jets and the Dallas
Stars series. Again, what an entertaining series.
Really entertaining. Obviously with the Jets
winning games 2 and 5. Actually both with the
final score 4 -0. And then Dallas winning the
rest. 3 -2, 5 -2, 3 -1, 2 -1, N -O -T off of
Mark Scheifele tripping penalty. That really,
honestly, really has to strike it far. Because
only, what, a minute and a half into overtime?
It was something like that? Something like that,
because, like, the tripping penalty came in,
like, within the last, like... I got the notification
on my phone that it was going to overtime, and
I went to turn it on, and it was already shaking
hands. Yeah, Mark Strifey took a tripping penalty
with 15 seconds set in regulation, and then the
goal came a minute 33 into... Which, by the way,
condolences to Mark Scheifele and his entire
family. That, I mean, just completely unexpected
death of his father. You know, the thing I saw,
he literally called his coach or called his team
that night, prayed them in there and says, I'm
playing tonight. And, you know, he went out there
and scored Winnipeg's only goal of the game.
Unfortunately, it was not enough as Dallas took
that one in overtime. Sadly, based on a penalty
caused by Mark Scheifele. What an amazing series
that one was, man. 4 -2, Dallas takes it. Dallas
in the final four for the third year in a row,
I believe, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, third year
in a row and three of the last five, because
2020 and then 23, now 25. And then, moving over
to the other finished series in the West, Edmonton
taking down, thankfully, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Thank... Christ. I know I'm rocking the jersey
tonight, but I don't care. Thank God Vegas is
down. You don't like Vegas anymore? I'm sorry.
Ever since the whole IR, Mark Stone, and the
whole bullshit, I'm done with them. I know it's
a reason a lot of people hate them now, is that
whole situation. Yeah, between that and them
practically trading up Mark 100 for pretty much
crumpled up one, happy, uncrustable. A crumpled
up one and a half even Uncrustable. No, they
give you an Uncrustable with the crust. Yeah,
but like, just how they treated the whole situation,
you know? I just don't like them. For some reason,
I saw their future in Robin Lehner and I don't
think he's played a game for them since. Nope.
I'm wondering if he had a gambling problem. Yeah,
he... Learn some skills from Evander Kane. I'm
no gambling man, but I think Manor might be a
snake. I'm not a gambling man, but I'd bet you
any money that... But yeah, it was almost...
No, not really a gambling sweep. Vegas took Game
3 and ended it in 4 -3 off a goal with .4 seconds
left. I saw that one. crazy point four second
set and then obviously edmunds from one one the
last four four four two five four in ot three
nothing and a casper captain seer game winner
series winner one nothing in game five in the
fortress insane which i wish she'd be able to
do that for pittsburgh but no so we obviously
know brown room Conference Finals in the West,
we got the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars.
Starting on Wednesday night, Game 1 in Dallas.
Who do we have winning this series? Is Otter
going to keep playing the way that he's been
playing? I'm going to stick to my bracket. I
think Dallas takes this one. Yeah, it's going
to be Dallas. I know they are neck and neck.
I know the bets, the odds, they're both at minus
110. Skater -wise, they're kind of even, pretty
even. I know Edmonton, yes, has more offensive
firepower. Dallas has some better defense. I'd
say goaltending is much better than Dallas. You
need defense in these playoffs, man. Dallas,
I think, has a much stronger defense. If Mira
Heichkinen wasn't back, It might be questionable.
You've got Miro Hishkin, you've got Thomas Harley,
you've got fucking S .L. Endell. I mean, Cody
Seabin has been playing pretty well. Dallas is
a better team just all around. They are a better
team. I mean, Edmonton's defense is still pretty
good as well. But you have names like Darnell
Nurse and freaking Evan Bouchard. Other than
that. And again, I'm going to keep going back
to this statement because it's fucking true.
Anywhere else, both those names would be third
pair of D -men best. Tops. They would be trash
anywhere else. At this point, I mean, yeah, he's
old at this point, but when you go to a team
like Dallas and Jamie Benn is not even one of
the first maybe six names that you mention from
that team anymore. Back five, four, five years
ago, he might have been one of the first names
you mentioned. But now he's not even one of the
first seven, I can find him seven, eight players
before him. You've got Wyatt Johnson, you've
got Miko Rantanen, obviously you've got, as we
said, Thomas Harley, Esa Lindell, Miro Heskinen,
you've got Jason Robertson, you've got Jake Audier.
You're like, oh yeah, I forgot to have Jamie
Benn still. They still have Jamie Benn and Tyler
Sagan. That's another one. I can't believe I
forgot Tyler Sagan. They still have fucking Tyler
Sagan in there. That's crazy. He's only, what,
32 years old? Yeah, he's still. And he still
forgot to mention it? I think that's what's crazy
about Dallas. Just how much depth they have.
They have so much depth, man. All these guys
are still very young, too. And there's still
a bunch of prospects in there. With Texas. They're
going to be a good team for quite some time,
man. I mean, I've even seen Christian Cairo is
doing very well down in Texas. Who? Exactly.
He's doing very, very well in the AHL right now.
That whole team is doing very well in the AHL.
As Bob makes another great save on a breakaway
from, was that Nylander? No, Stephen Lorenz.
But, I mean, as I said, we just got to wait for
the final of this series. Hopefully, we have
a winner. Because that's right, we didn't want
to talk about this. How Game 7 of the Winnipeg
St. Louis series ended up. happening, because
I think we cut recording literally shortly before
that game -winning goal was scored. That second
overtime was just as crazy as that first one.
I remember, oh my god. I think it was literally,
we said, alright, we're not going to be able
to have the result. Literally five minutes after
we hit stop recording and scheduled to post it,
Winnipeg scored. I'm literally getting ready
to walk out and start heading home. Winnipeg
shoots and scores the game -winner. Just unbelievable,
man. I think Dallas, because I didn't say what
I said, I think Dallas will probably win this
series. Obviously, I had Edmonton going all the
way, but I think, in all honesty, it's going
to be Dallas. I think you originally had Colorado
beating Dallas, didn't you? No. Did you have
Dallas from the beginning? I had Dallas from
the beginning. I know the whole world, I think
it was 50. That was one series where the whole
world was like, damn near 50 -50 split on. That
one was just such a tough one to call. And ended
up being right because that one was one of the
two in round one that went to seven games. I
think only two did. I think it was Winnipeg and
then Dallas. Yeah, all the other ones didn't
except for Winnipeg, St. Louis, Dallas, Colorado.
I think we're the only two that went to seven.
Yeah. Everybody else went to six or, I mean,
three of the four series and East went to five.
Yeah, I don't think there was a sweep that was
there. Yeah, there was not a single sweep this
year. Three series went to five, three series
went to six, and two went to seven. We could
be completely wrong. We could go into this and
Connor McDavid could be Connor McDavid and carry
them to a sweep. I mean, who knows? Jay Gottinger
might lose whatever magic he has going right
now. You never know what's going to happen in
these playoffs, man. You really don't. Anything
can happen. Hey, for your first period intermission
entertainment, do our normal Puck Doku hurdle.
Depending on how quickly we get this done, we'll
do the pyramid on here. If you guys want to play
along, go ahead and pull up Sunday, May 18th's
game, and feel free to play along. Going for
the columns, it's going to be St. Louis, the
Shorts, and Minnesota, Minnesota. And then for
the rows, it's going to be Detroit, Carolina,
and CBJ. For Detroit St. Louis, David Perron.
Yeah. Wait, wait. Oh, no, you're right. I thought
I said the wrong one. No, no, I'm right. I'm
not writing the type, but I'm writing the column.
Can't spell David. Eric Stahl, Carolina, Minnesota.
Great. I believe. Yep. And then didn't Cam Talbot
do Minnesota there for a little while as well
as Detroit? Yep, Cam Talbot. Jake Wallman, Detroit,
San Jose. We cooking, we cooking. Not for much
longer probably. Carolina, San Jose. Brent Burns.
Yeah. Justin Falk. Didn't he do St. Louis, Carolina?
Carolina? Justin Falk. I thought he was in Carolina
there for a hot minute. Was he? Yeah, I think
you're right. I think he was there before St.
Louis. Good job. So we just need the whole Columbus
row. So Columbus, St. Louis, Columbus, San Jose,
Columbus, Minnesota. Did Jack Johnson play for
any of the teams on top? Obviously he played
with Columbus, but did he play for Minnesota?
Oh, no, he didn't play for San Jose. I don't
think so. That could be like a... A last second
burner, I guess, if we have nothing else. Corposalo
has only been, what, Columbus, Ottawa? Ottawa,
Boston. Boston, too, that's right. Bob has only
been, what, Philly? Philly, Columbus, Toronto,
Florida. Bob had a stay with Toronto? No, I'm
sorry, I'm thinking of Freddie. Because Freddie
did Anaheim, Toronto. Anderson. I don't think.
Voracek was only Florida. Oh, not Florida. Philly,
Columbus. Started and finished in Columbus. Same
thing with Cam Atkinson. Or Atkinson, whatever.
I might have to go down and drink one of my ghosts
or make my pre -workout. I'm starting to die.
The team who never played for Columbus. Rick
Nash. I think it was only... Columbus, Boston.
New York. The Rangers. The Rags. I'm thinking
goalie has to go somewhere here. But where? Antony
Yemi, I don't think he ever played for Columbus.
Jake Allen played for St. Louis, Montreal, New
Jersey. I don't think he played for Columbus.
I'm trying to think of journeyman goaltenders.
Jonathan Quick with his... Long stint in Columbus.
Columbus with Jackets legend. Why am I trying
to think? It's only game. Why do you have to
be so mad? Oh, um... Oh... What the hell? Brizgalov.
Ilya Brizgalov, dude. I have no idea where all
he played. He... Philly, Columbus, Arizona...
Brian Elliott, I know he jumped around. Brent
Johnson has been around. Tomas Vukun's been around.
I think Vukun was only like three or four different
teams. He wasn't around too much. Still, there's
a few teams. Tim Thomas played for St. Louis,
Boston. Dallas. Anybody playing along is screaming
a name into their phone right now. There's somebody
screaming. It's this guy, you fucking moron!
This kind of thing. I know for a fact there's
somebody screaming a name right now. I can't.
I'm blanking so hard. I'm going to go snort a
line of free workout. I'm only kidding. I'm only
kidding. That is really irresponsible. I'm trying
to remember. Zach Gorinsky. I think his whole
career has been out there. Okay. What about Seth
Jones? I think he's only done Columbus, Chicago.
Florida. Bobby Lou obviously wouldn't fit there
anywhere. Claude Drew won't fit because he's
only been in Ottawa. Yeah, Claude Drew is nowhere.
Yeah. He's only been in Philly, Florida, Ottawa.
I don't know why I just thought of him. We're
naming other flyers with Atkinson and Borchek.
Like a Daniel Breer. I know he jumped around.
Buffalo Philly. Was it just Buffalo and Philly?
Just Buffalo and Philly. I swear, I thought he
played at a stint with St. Louis at least. No.
Oh, did James Neal play for Columbus? No. No?
I know he had a very short stint with St. Louis.
Very short. He was down in my 18 game, something
like that, stint with St. Louis. Joe Morrow.
Castor Kapanen never played for Columbus. I'm
trying to think, like, early Columbus days. Don't
mind me. Oh, yeah. Best sound in the world. It's
even better with the beer, but... I'm sorry.
Oh, the Welch's grape goes. I love the smell
of grape, but I hate the taste of grape. Yeah,
good old Ghost Energy. We're not sponsored, by
the way. Just shouting them out. Yeah, I would
love to be sponsored by Ghost Energy, but no,
we are not sponsored by them. So, hit me up.
Our email's on a Twitter bio. What about like
an Eric Goodbranson? He's another Journeyman
defenseman. He did play for Columbus. Did he
play for any of those other three? Oh. Maybe
like a Minnesota? Oh. Florida. Didn't he spend
some time in the Berger? Columbus. I don't remember
anybody else. I would say L .A. Tyler Toffoli
didn't go to Columbus, I don't think. Matt Duchesne,
I think he spent a little bit of time. Did he
not spend a little bit of time at Columbus? I
don't remember. Because I know Colorado, Nashville,
and Dallas. I don't remember. Man, it's like
we do this every fucking week. First five, we
were... Well, the last couple of tries, we've
been struggling with the first two. We at least
coped through the first six here. It's because
Columbus is just so newer to, let me guess, Minnesota.
It's two, and we got two there. But... Oh, man.
My best guess that I have right now is if Eric
had been principal, where else would he have
been? Or where did we say we were going to keep
him? Who did we say we were going to keep in
our back pockets? It was a goalie, I don't remember.
Where's he going to be? Steve Mason. Columbus.
Columbus, St. Louis. I think. Well, let's throw
that there. No. I thought that was about to be
an amazing poll. Another one I just thought of,
Steve Ott. Steve Ott, where would he go? St.
Louis. I know St. Louis. St. Louis, Dallas, Buffalo.
He didn't play for Columbus, though. No, not
that I know of. JVR not spend some time over
in Columbus? I can't keep track of the Van Lee
and Shive brothers. I always get them mixed up,
honestly. I'm pretty sure he did, but I don't
think he would have been with St. Louis or any
of those other three. Brad Brizgolov, this is
not what we thought. Marion Gabryk, Miko Koivu,
Goose Nyquist. Ian Cole. There's one of the German
defensemen, I told you. Mike fucking Rupp. Anthony
Duclair, oh my god, yes. Rafi Torres. Ray Whitney.
Ryan Dezingle. Brandon Sod. Mike Sillinger again,
of course. Ian fucking Cole, Ty Conklin. Gilzado.
Jordan Leopold. Wow. That's a name I haven't
heard in about 11 fucking years. Jordan Leopold.
Wow. Geez Louise, man. Alright. Main topic for
this evening. We've definitely done this. Sorry.
We've done this in years past. I think we might
have done it every year thus far. Our UFA predictions
are talking about the top 25 to 30 -ish. Maybe
even go up to decent names all the way up to
even 40, I'd say. But the UFA is where we think
these guys could end up. They just might re -sign.
Where we think a lot of these guys could end
up. I think we should start at the bottom. Start
down near the 40 range. I think a good name to
start off on is number 40. Being Taylor Radish
from Washington. He's only 27 years old. So he's
still pretty young. I think he's definitely going
to stay out east. Now the concern is, well, my
concern is, you know, is he going to stay in
Washington or is he going to go down to Tampa,
Florida? Or Darren Radish is seeing a whole lot
of success down there. Well, not a whole lot
of success, but he's made a pretty good name
for himself in the defensive core. He'll go play
with his brother again the second time in their
career. I know during the 21 run, the 2020 -2021
run, he was... He got caught up from Syracuse
and then was on their taxi squad. He was dressed
and everything in case... In case something would
happen. And then obviously right after that he
went up to Chicago. I think he's probably going
to resign. Just resign with Washington? I think
it could happen. I could see maybe somebody like...
I don't know, maybe somebody like Boston picking
him up. I know they're going to start needing
some help with a lot of the guys that they lost
this year. Honestly, yeah, re -signing maybe
somebody like Boston. Buffalo, teams that need
help, as much help as they can possibly get.
Another one coming from Washington is Andrew
Magipani. He's re -signing. Yeah, I can see him
just re -signing. I can even see him maybe. possibly
reuniting with Calgary, going back over there.
Maybe even somebody, like, depending on what
happens with, like, a Brock Besser, maybe I could
see him maybe going to somebody like Vancouver,
because they just have to worry about Pius Suter,
they have to worry about if they're going to
end up keeping Thatcher Demko with his health
problems, that he can't stay healthy. So, man,
I could see him going somewhere like those guys,
but, yeah, that's another one that's kind of
tough to tell there. Next big one that I want
to go over is Brett Burns. Chewy. The Wookie.
I think he's probably going to call it. I think
depending on how deep Carolina goes in these
playoffs, it's probably just about time for him
to call it. I mean, the man's 40 years old at
this point. He is 40, yeah. His age is 30. I
know. That's why I said it. I thought you said
he's about 40. No, I said he's 40. Come on, Kyle.
Listen up, bud. Yeah, you're right. He's old.
I'm sorry. And going right below him, Dimitri
Orlov. He's 33 as well. Another defenseman there
on Carolina that's on the verge of potentially
leaving or testing the market. I mean, I don't
know. I don't know about him. Could maybe again
go reunite with Boston over there. Could reunite
with Washington. But I really don't think Washington
needs the help. That honestly wouldn't be one
that I would... I'd hate to see him in Pittsburgh,
but he's a little older than I'd like. With how
old our team already is. But I think he'd be
a decent replacement for LeTang, because I know
LeTang is going to be questionable to start the
season. He might be questionable to play at all.
He might be done this week. It all depends on
how he heals from the surgery he's had this offseason.
One person I would like to pick up as a Penguins
fan, and who's still relatively unsashed in their
prime, At 34, it's, oh, age 29, number 34 on
here, Victor Olsen. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't.
He's still a young guy, you know. If he doesn't
sign with Vegas, I'd like to see him come out
and play for the State City. He's pretty solid,
too. Well, I was talking more like defensemen
that replace Tanger. Well, I'm saying for a youth
standpoint. Not taking Tanger or our defensive
core, our awful, awful defensive core out of
the picture. Yeah. Which will actually probably
get better after that, but that's besides the
point. And going back down, Jeff Skinner, I can
see him just re -signing with Edmonton. He seems
to be in a good fit there. Actually gets to have
some playoff experience being in a team that
can make the playoffs. Because of his time in
Carolina? Nope. When he was with Carolina, they
sucked. Of course, he goes to Buffalo. Buffalo
has sucked for, what, 15 years now? Yes, a long
time. I think this was their 14th year not making
the playoffs in a row? 13th or 14th year in a
row? Yeah. It was. Longest active streak in the
league. This is another one in the top defenseman
names that I think Pittsburgh could go after
going up to number 31 with Vlad Gavrikov. I think
he could be a very good addition to the Penns
defense, especially if we end up letting Matt
Gryzlik walk as well. I think he could be a very
good fit in our system. Again, it's tough to
tell when we don't have a head coach right now
to be able to debate. who might fit in with the
system. Again, we might even bring in somebody
that we've never heard of. Somebody from the
AHL that has done very, very well. But, again,
time will tell with that. Corey Perry, I... Retire.
I can see it definitely happening. No, no, no.
He's going to resign with the... I'm trying to
think of a name. Where do people go for their
career to die? Buffalo. There are a lot of hot
ladies up in Sudbury. that he can go up and,
you know. Apparently there is in Chicago, according
to Corey Perry. No, it's just bombs. He just
goes after the bombs. If he does play, you're
at that age where you don't really want to change
where you're at. If he does, just resign for
another year and finish it there. Connor Brown,
that's one name that has honestly just kind of
been a disappointment his whole career. No offense
to him, but he just, he has never lived up to
the hype that he had coming out of Erie and coming
into the NHL. He's never been able to reach that
potential that he had around his name. But I
think he does fit in well with the Edmonton team.
I could just see him re -signing a smaller, maybe
two, three -year deal worth $2 million, $3 million
a year. No matter where he goes, it's not going
to be anything massive. No. That's what you said.
Yanni Gord, another one. I can just see that
being a quick re -sign for Tampa Bay. He really
loves it there. The fans and the team loves having
him there. Another one I think I can just see
him re -signing and staying there. The amount
of success that he has had in Tampa versus anywhere
else, it's ridiculous. So Tampa and that system,
if John Cooper does end up staying for the long
run, you know. Yannick will succeed. Our role
continues to be successful under that John Cooper
system. Eric Robinson, no offense, I don't know
too much about him to talk too much about him,
so I think we might skip over him. The next two
are the other two defensemen that I think Pittsburgh
should have a chance of going after, both being
Aaron Eckblad and Ivan Prokhorov. Well, the only
concern I have with Aaron Ekblad is he's obviously
on the final year of an eight -year deal. He's
making $7 .5 million per year, and he's on a
minimal no -trade clause, whereas Ivan Prokhorov
is obviously on the sixth year, $6 .75 million
per year, and he doesn't have a trade clause.
Out of those two, I think I would honestly definitely
prefer... pro -Rob that might be kind of the
hot take or kind of an unpopular answer there.
Yeah, I mean, he's a tad bit younger being here,
younger than the neck blood. But also a left
-handed defenseman, which we could use a couple
left -handed defensemen on the line. That'd be
actually really nice. I'd very much like having
him there. And plus for, you know, granted it's
only a $250 ,000 cheaper, technically you could
get away with that and still be good to make
a couple minor signings for You know, your depth
or your age, I'll squad for a two -way squad.
Or a two -way contract. And Aaron Edelblad has
kind of been on the downfall the last, let's
say, by two, three years. He definitely was not
as good as he was in his first, you know, eight
years in the league and since he's been drafted.
But that one, like, dead serious, I could see
that one being a Buffalo signing. Like, I could
honestly see him, see Buffalo trying to go after
him. I mean, considering all their top defensemen
in Buffalo are lefties, you do need to have a
couple righties in there. Like, you need to have
a decent balance, whether it's threes or two
and four or whatever. You need to have a good...
I thought it would be a good possibility for
that. Especially, you know, being paired up with
somebody like a Rasmus Dahlin. Yeah. That'd be
a good... Even an Owen Power, too. I mean...
You got the old man. Old man. I'm going to use
that term lightly, but the old man. I'm sorry,
the middle -aged man, because I know people like
said who hate the phrase old man. The middle
-aged man. Young guy in power could really utilize.
You can't call it said old. You just have to
add an er to the end, because every time somebody
would say old, he'd be like er. Old er. Yeah,
he's older than some of the rest of the guys.
Christian Dvorak, again, I don't know too much
about him. I only really honestly remember him
being from Montreal. I'm not too familiar with
his career path. I mean, I could see him just
resigning there with Montreal having the year
that they did. Probably don't want to make too
many major changes. Because they made the playoffs.
Montreal? Yeah. No, they played Washington. They
played Washington. That's right. Okay, yeah.
That's what I thought. I keep paying attention
to this postseason. Kyle, get in the system.
I knew they made the playoffs, but they were
that close. I knew that they were right on the
cusp of making it. Kyle, get in the system. We're
almost over the fucking second round. Montreal
made the playoffs other than this year. 2021.
It's 20 -41. Get it with the system, okay? It's
almost the same for something. Listen, we're
watching the second. The house came with the
fucking second round right now. Get it with the
system. The second round felt like it's lasted
two months. Two weeks. It says this round is
shorter than round one. Is it really? Yeah. It
felt like it's been a lot longer. Because it's
been only one game seven for this one, but round
one we saw two. Get it with the program, freshman.
God. Marcus Johansson, that's another one I'm
not too familiar with much of what he does. So,
I mean, I can't give much. Being an older guy,
I mean, he provides the experience. He's a good
middle six forward for Minnesota, considering,
you know, who they have up there on their top
line. But he's going to stay in Minnesota. I
think so. I think he loves the Twin Cities. The
Twin Cities, you know, most of the fans love
him. Yeah, he's one of the fan favorites over
there. I can't see Minnesota being too happy
if they let him walk. Oh, no. JBR, he's another
one. He's up there in age, being 36 years old
now. When you get to that 35, 36 range, that's
when you start thinking about the one, two -year
deals. You just take what you can get, where
you can get it. I can see just being another
resigning. I can see him going to somebody maybe
like, I don't know, maybe like a New Jersey or
something. I don't know. New Jersey can definitely
use a little bit of help in that middle six.
I mean, they will fight against Carolina. And
considering Jack Hughes can't fucking stay healthy
now, I know his injury when he went down against
Vegas with his collision with Jack Eichel, it
was poor timing. It was a shitty circumstance
for him. And I feel bad, but just in case he
continues to go down, well, guess what? You have
somebody like Marcus Jansen who can step up and
play top six minutes. Grant might be on the second
line, but he is able to play those top six minutes
and produce on a consistent level. Andre Kuzmenko,
this is kind of, he's almost 30. He's 29 years
old. He's still pretty young in the end. He hasn't
had too much experience in the league yet. I
know I think he had, what, a couple years with
Vancouver, if I'm not mistaken. I think he just
went over to LA there in the deadline. I'm not
too familiar with what he's done. He has 11 goals
and 37 points in 66 games. Okay, so he's a pretty
decent bottom six or middle six forward there.
I'm just trying to think of teams. Again, that's
another one I could see maybe Boston going after
with all the guys that they lost. Brandon Carlo,
Jake DeBrusque, obviously the biggest one being
Brad Marchand. I could see that being another
middle six guy that Boston tries to pick up.
I think a big one, or one of the bigger ones
here in the top 15 -20 range is obviously Jack
Roslevich. only being 28. He did obviously amazing
in Columbus, where he started his career. He
did great in, or he was consistent in the Big
Apple, the Rags. And now he's doing pretty decent
in Carolina, finishing up a one -year contract
at a 2 .8 million. In 81 games, he has 22 goals
and 39 points. So, I mean, he's just coming into
his prime. He's young. He can fit in the middle
six. Obviously, he's doing pretty good in Carolina.
I can see him staying out east, like maybe in
the Metro, go back to the Bluecoats, or hell,
even go back to Columbus, who's missing that
offensive firepower with the loss of Johnny Goudreau.
I mean, you can't use the word replace Johnny
Goudreau, obviously. Well, I mean, as a human,
no, but as a hockey player. As a body, as a player,
as a body on the ice, as a player. As a body
on the ice, it'd be a good replacement. when
it comes to scoring -wise and depth -wise. I
don't think he can replace the scoring aspect
of it, but I think coming from more of a playmaking
asset and getting those opportunities, he can
definitely fill those shoes. Oh, for sure. And
really wear down that goaltender, because you
might not get the tally, but you might wear the
goalie down enough or their D down enough to
have your teammate get the goal, which a goal
is a goal. Don't ask them how, just ask how many.
Evgeny Dadunov is another one of those. He's
kind of bounced around his whole career, been
just about everywhere, getting to that age where
you want to start thinking that one, two -year
contract. I think it fit for him. I think he's
played here previously, but Team Out West, I'm
thinking maybe a team like San Jose. Yeah, they're
going to be getting some youth here in the next
couple of years. Bring in that veteranism. guy
like him definitely hasn't been, you know, elite
to any level. But, just, I mean, I think anybody
would be, he'd be good bottom three or, you know,
bottom line forward to help just about anybody.
Matt Grislick, I said this is one of Pittsburgh's
decisions that they need to make. I haven't,
he hasn't been horrible, but he definitely hasn't
been worth what we've been paying him these last
two seasons. I mean, just finishing up a one
-year $2 .750 million con. Or $75 million con,
whatever. With a full release, whatever. 82 games,
his one goal and 40 points. If we were to re
-sign him, I would be okay with this amount.
I just don't want us to pay any more. Maybe bump
it up to three. But I would not really want to
pay him any more than that. Yeah, three tops
would definitely be the most I'd go. Unless if
he continues, like if he improves. Yeah. If production
-wise he gets better, if he's a great person
on the PK, if he can run the second power play
unit, as well as anybody in the first, then I'd
be happy with Vader more. But it's a prove -me
-wrong point. Riley Smith, fuck him. I really
don't give a shit what he does. Pui Suter. Fucking
stay in Vegas, Riley. Stay as far away from Pittsburgh
because you really didn't fucking like it here,
so fuck you. He's going to resign with Vegas.
I can just see him resigning and staying there.
Fucking good. Pui Suter, this is honestly one
that... I could see him going to a powerhouse,
you know, helping out a team that has, like,
kind of been struggling in that first round or,
you know, first, second round the last couple
years. I know they just went back -to -back a
couple years ago. I could see him going somewhere
like Tampa. I think he'd be a great replacement
for Stephen Stamkos there on the top six. Well,
he'd be the second line because the top line
of Kucherov, Gensel, and Point has been outstanding.
I think he could be very solid. I think he could
do good in the middle six. I'd say he'd probably
be in the middle six. But, again, body on the
ice -wise, he'd be a decent replacement for Stamkos.
And being in a system like just a very heavy
point and scoring team like Tampa Bay, I think
he would fit in very well there. The next three,
all with a couple years, only 34 years old. Yeah.
Dude, he's one of those you think he'd be like
42. I thought he was older. I thought he was
way older than that. I was going to say, the
next three players, Kyle Palmieri from the Islanders,
Jamie Benn from the Dallas Stars, Claude Giroux
from Ottawa, I can see all staying, signing those
one, two -year contracts. Maybe a three -year
if you're Kyle Palmieri, but I can all see them
signing at least a one or two -year contract
with the teams they were on. Claude Giroux, honestly,
I wouldn't put it past seeing him reunite with
Philly, bring him back for a year. I wouldn't
be opposed to it, but I'd just imagine him wanting
to stay up in Ottawa a little bit more. Or stay
up somewhere he's familiar with. I don't think
I can see him going to a new team, going back
to a team that he used to play for or just staying
with. I'd say if he were to move, he'd probably
be back to Philly. But if it's not retirement,
then he'll probably do a one or two. In my opinion,
I think this guy should be top five. This next
one being Brock Besser out of Vancouver. I don't
know why he's as far down as I am, but I really
think he should be top three on this list. Injuries
and personal issues have really plagued his past
couple years. I can see him going to a young
upcoming team that has not quite reached that
skill mark that they need to. Someone that I
personally think he could fit in very, very well
in. Anaheim. Put him with Trevor Zegras. That
could be a very good line. That could be a very
interesting thing to see. Next up is The Rat.
And I can see him staying in Florida. I know
before the trade. I think I saw an interview
with him. Like, shortly after he got to Florida,
because he sat out for a couple weeks due to
injury, and he was like, yeah, I've always liked
Florida from an opponent's standpoint. I've always
liked their system, how they play, their physicality,
the style that Paul Maurice has. So he's like,
if I was going to be traded anywhere, this is
definitely going to be one of the places on the
top of my list. So I do imagine Brad Marchand
wanting to stay in Florida for another year or
two before he calls a quits. Number nine, Sam
Bennett. Stay in Florida. Stay in Florida. Keep
him away from everybody else. Nobody else wants
him. Brock Nelson. Here's one. I could see him.
There's one team that comes to mind that made
a bunch of moves last offseason. Big moves last
offseason. And it didn't work very well. So I
think this team now needs to get as much help
as they could possibly get. There's actually
two names here in the final top now that I can
see this team going after. And that's the Nashville
Predators. Yeah. Made a bunch of moves this offseason
that obviously did not work out very well. There's
one thing that I have against Brock Nelson that
I know can kind of be contradicted because of
who Nashville currently has. Age. Yeah. Stammer's
getting up there. Riot is getting up there. Martial
Soul is getting up there. Yoshi is getting there.
Who? Yoshi. I heard Yoshi. I was like, Yoshi's
a Nintendo character. But yeah, Yoshi's getting
up there. Pekka is... I don't know how old Pekka
is. Oh, not Pekka. He's been so long. Yusi, yeah.
Yusi. He's getting up there. But the other name
in that top nine that I could see going there
is Mikael Grantland. I could see him going there
as well. I'm sorry, he's staying in Dallas. He's
staying in Dallas. You think so? He's having
a good playoff right now in Dallas. Yeah, but
you've got to think, they just paid Wyatt Johnson
all that money. I think they already did give
Branton a whole shit ton of money now. I don't
know if they started paying Aria or not, but
if not, he's going to have to start getting paid
very soon. They are going to be paying a lot
of money to these stars that they've got coming
up. Obviously, they're paying Robertson a lot
of money right now. I don't think Thomas Harley
is on the big page yet, so he's going to be getting
there soon. I don't know. I just don't know if
Granlund is going to make the – unless he's willing
to play for $3 million to $4 million, then sure,
I could see it happening. But if not, he's definitely
going to have to be looking somewhere that he
can still shine, a team that needs some help,
and I think Nashville is one of those teams.
They may not go after both of them, but I could
see them going after at least one of those two
guys. Or Detroit, depending on where Patrick
Kane ends up. I mean, the man's 36 years old.
He's coming off a one -year contract getting
paid $4 million with a no -movement clause. Or
no -trade clause. So, depending on where Patrick
Kane lands, they can pick up Grantland. Besser
or whoever. I think I could see Patrick Kane
staying put. I mean, he's been fighting injury.
It's going to be the year he might call it quits
early. I know Taze was only, what, 37 when he
called it quits. And I know he's... Kane might
fall on his footsteps and call it quits pretty
early. I saw someone in an interview, like, well,
like, kind of in the middle of the season, like,
saying, like, his son and the Brinkett son, like,
have, like, a really good... are really close,
but he's worried that if he would leave, he'd
ruin that. I know his kids, they're both young,
but he... It's just the young friendship kind
of thing. Lifelong memories. Future line mates,
hopefully. I guess Ryan Donato, I guess that's
another one with his age, I guess that's another
one Nashville could honestly be looking at, too.
He's a little bit younger than Nelson and...
in Grandland. He's only 29, so he's still got
that youth energy to him, but I don't know how
much money he's going to be looking for. Yeah,
he just finished up a two -year, $2 million deal.
He's kind of a bottom six guy, so I really don't
know where I could see him going. Pittsburgh
is honestly a possibility. We definitely need
some help in that bottom six. We need some help
everywhere. The Eilbers? Going to Long Island.
Going to the... Going through the very short
island now. Kind of a replacement for the loss
of Brock Nelson. You didn't pick up what I was
putting down. The very short island. Nikolai
Ehlers. This one's tough. He could go, I think,
just about anywhere. I feel like Winnipeg would
like him to stay in Winnipeg. He might want to
stay in Winnipeg because that's where he spent
his entire career. In Winnipeg. Let's see. He's
just finishing up a seven -year contract, $6
million with a minimal no -movement clause. He
had 24 goals, 63 points, and 69 games this year.
Nice. Honestly, what I could see happening, if
Vancouver doesn't re -sign Besser, I could see
Ehlers possibly going over to Vancouver. Just
how much are they willing to pay him? Yeah. Kind
of thing. It's just, you know, the whole monetary
thing. Yeah. I'm going to jump up to number two
because one and three can kind of go, you know,
hand in hand. Matthew Shane, 34 years out of
Dallas. This year, you know, he's finishing up
a one -year $3 million contract. No trade clause.
He had two games, 30 goals. He has a point per
game all season. Or all this year. So, I could
see him... If he stays in Dallas, obviously he's
going to take a pay cut. But he'll be 34 looking
at staring down the barrel at 35 years old. I
can see him being added to one of those teams
that have been right there on the bubble of first
round exits or right there missing the playoffs.
The team that comes to mind is maybe somebody
like St. Louis. Well, when you have people like...
Jordan Cairo, and Pavel Buznevich. Robert Thomas.
Robert Thomas. St. Louis might not be able to
fit him into the system. I'm thinking more along
the lines of Seattle and Utah. You know, those
bubble teams. Utah. Utah. Utah. It's just, okay,
who's that one player that could take us from
a French team to just right there on the cut
line? Just maybe barely above the cut line. Florida
just scored again. Maybe just above the cut line
like Montreal was this year, but, you know, right
there into the postseason to dance the third
statement. Trying to see what happened here.
Oh, my God. What a scar. That's just a garbage
goal, man. Just a nice snipe off the faceoff.
All right, the Carolina Hurricanes will be playing
Florida Panthers in round three. All right, speaking
of Toronto, the last two players, obviously out
of Toronto, at the number three spot would be
John Traveris, 34 years of age, finishing up
a seven -year deal, cap it $11 million. No matter
where he goes, he's not going to get that amount
of money again. No. There's no chance in hell.
Especially with how he's paying. I'm sorry, he's
not. A team that I could see him sticking in
the Eastern Conference, a team that I could possibly
see him going to, is honestly somebody like the
Rangers, maybe. No, he's not going to go to the
Rangers after being a lifelong Islander. I'm
sorry, that's a sin. That's a death sentence
for him. The Islanders fans already fucking hate
him. Let's not hate him more. It goes both ways,
that's the thing. You know, as long as you're
paying for the Islanders, you don't go to the
Rangers and vice versa. I said, if he's going
to stay, because I feel like he honestly is going
to stay in the East. I've seen something, but
I'm leaning more towards Ottawa, but I said the
other two I had in mind were Ottawa. Yeah, I
said Ottawa could be good. Ottawa, I think Ottawa.
Boston and New Jersey. They were kind of my other
two. I could see them in Ottawa. I was going
to say, I'm kind of going with the Boston vibes.
With an older guy, a middle six guy in Boston
who, again, as you stated multiple times beforehand,
Boston needs those forwards to kind of help rebuild.
And having a couple veteran guys. will really
help them. So, again, I'm going to piggyback
off your statement there, Kyle. Boston needs
those guys. Johnny T could potentially be one
of those guys. And then the number one name,
everybody's talking about it. What's going to
happen? This is very close, very similar story
to 2016 and the Stephen Stamko situation. What's
going to happen with Mitch Marnie? Where's Mitch
Marnie going to go? Is he going to re -sign with
Toronto? Is he going to go somewhere? Mitch O
'Barney. Bitch O 'Barney, right? Honestly, I
can see this being kind of like a Stephen Stamkos
situation where it's going to be the hype all
the way up until the free agent debt, all the
way up until the free agency. He's going to talk
with a couple of different teams. Everybody's
like, oh, he's going here. Everybody is positive
that Stamkos was going to Toronto. Everybody
was so confident Stamkos was coming to Toronto
just for him to re -sign with Tampa Bay that
year. Yeah, and on the trade deadline eve...
you reassign to Tampa, stick with them for another
eight years. I could honestly see that being
a very similar situation with Mitch Marner. I
could very easily see them being, honestly, how
this game is turning out, maybe not, but this
might be a situation where he says, hey, I'm
testing the market, I'm possibly going to be
leaving until the very last second. Just kidding,
I'm resetting with Toronto. If not, two teams
come to mind. Pittsburgh is one of them because
his history with Kyle Dubas, I really think Dubas
would have the interest in trying to bring him
over. And I think with him playing with either
Crosby or Malkin would be insane. Even making
him his own line, maybe down on the third line.
Yeah, I was going to say. With the two young
kids, like a Rucker, McGrody, and Billy Coivin
in. Yeah, Kyle and I were talking about this
off the air, just sitting around bullshitting.
It's almost like a Phil Kessel situation. Yeah,
like, all the hype might be around, you know,
Phil Kessel bonding with either Sid or Gino,
but no, we were proven wrong, and he had his
own line, the HBK line, which was highly successful
during their first cup run. Marner could potentially
do the same thing. Marner, almost like Sid and
the kids. Marner and the kids. Even though Marner
is a kid. The HBK would have the MMK line. McGrody,
Marner, Klavenen. That could be sick. That'd
be really sick. If not, a team that, again, this
is another one I think we just mentioned briefly.
Somebody like Utah. I think he could fit in very
well over in Utah. You have players like Dylan
Gunther, you got Clayton Keller, you got Lawson
Kraus. You got a very young, talented team over
there. And bringing in somebody like Mitch Marner
could just be that last little... Who are that
last little oomph that they need to get over
that hump, maybe get into a playoff spot next
year? Well, I was going to say Seattle because
a lot of Seattle, they have great puck movers,
they have great playmakers, but they don't really
have a whole lot of players to be able to finish
the playoff, to actually put the rubber in the
net. And Marner could potentially do that. He
does have a nice wrister. He does have a knack
for the net. So, like, I could see him also fitting
in Seattle. Yeah. That was the other one I had.
Seattle, I know Utah was kind of one of my last
three choices. Also, I'll pull this up real quick.
Believe it or not, Seattle only has, or at the
moment, only has 1 .97 million of cap space right
now. So, I'm sure they're not going to be resigning.
not a lot of the guys that are on the team right
now, so I'm sure that if they wanted to, they'd
let some guys walk, maybe some that they don't
want to, to free up at probably at least 10,
11, 12 mil that Marner's going to be asking for.
Or also try to trade up, use some trades for
the draft. I think people often forget, myself
included, there are going to be some teams that
are going to be trying to be aggressive. at the
straight deadline. And I know this draft has
to be a little bit weaker compared to years past
and years coming. No, no, no. Next year is it.
Next year is stacked. It's stacked. But take
advantage of the very few great players of this
draft. There are 15 of them. They're amazing.
If you guys could guess the top five teams with
the most amount of cap space right now, who would
you guess? Chicago, Detroit. No, not Detroit.
I agree with Chicago. Chicago's close. Chicago's
8th. Okay. I know it's not Detroit. Obviously
it's not Toronto. Not Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's
9th. We're close. Neither are... Buffalo might
be up there, but the other two New York teams
definitely aren't. Correct. Buffalo's 7th. Yeah,
Buffalo would have been the closest out of all
three New York teams. Neither Florida team. We
have mentioned a good majority of these teams
tonight. So, Dallas is a no. Carolina's a no.
Colorado's probably not either. No. Nashville
has to be up there. They just got there sixth
for available cap space. By about less than a
mil. Utah has to be up there. Number five has
the most. They have $7 .72 million of cap space
right now. Okay, so Utah's five. Then we got
Colorado's not going to be up there. Minnesota
might be on the fence. They might be seven, right?
No, Minnesota actually has barely. Minnesota
has $36 ,000 of cap space. They could pay somebody
to play for about three games. Let's see. Moving
Pacific to Atlantic. I don't think Pacific. Vancouver
has to be up there. No. One of the three California
teams. Two of the three California teams. So
not LA, so it's going to be Anaheim and San Jose.
Four and three respectively. So we're just missing
one and two. Yeah. All right. Any more in the
Pacific? No. Yes. Sorry, yes. Up north. So, not
Vancouver, Seattle. Calgary. Calgary is number
two. What's number one? At least Metro. Metro.
Columbus. Columbus has $18 .2 million of cap
stays right now. Well, you do realize that they
were below the cap basement because of Johnny
DeDrobin. They got a pass in the league. They're
like, we get it. We're fine. So, I fucking should
have guessed Columbus. Yeah. Ah, dang it. That's
why, I mean, yeah, Utah. Honestly, Ehlers, I
think, could even go to somebody like Anaheim,
too. Anaheim or San Jose. That was actually one
of the other ones I've... I mean, those top five
guys can go just about anywhere in all those
teams that have space. Nashville still has...
Like, Nashville's in sixth, still, with all the
signs that they made last offseason. They still
have $7 million of cap space, which is crazy.
Clone's just learning this right now. Yes! Let's
go! Yes! Cry, baby, cry! Let's go! I love this!
This is what I live for! Yeah! Now we turn on
Steve Daigle's stream here shortly. Oh, man.
Here, hold on. We'll talk about it here in a
second off the air. While we are letting the
last four or five minutes of Toronto's season
come to an end, just a couple things that happened
outside of free agency and outside of the playoffs.
The Philadelphia Flyers hiring Rick Talkett as
their new head coach, which I fucking hate that
so much. I hate that so much. I do not want Philadelphia
to have a good coach, man. That one's rough.
And then Joe Quinto is announced as the Anaheim
Ducks head coach. So this is probably about 10
days ago. With Niagara, the Ice Dogs, cleaning
the fucking house after an OHL review. Which
I am not surprised. We kind of saw that one coming.
Honestly, it's loser because just how garbage
they've been. of everything they've done over
the last few years in that organization. Good,
clean. At this point, I might as well throw some
money together to buy that freaking franchise
and be like, hey, here you go. Fresh start. Again,
I feel bad for the fans of Niagara. Like, over
the years, I've talked to a few of them that
have come to hear that. But, that I might feel
bad for. But, just in general. The organization
itself? No. It's not a joke. Florida or Toronto
with the empty net. Your seat is on the line.
You have nothing to lose. Game's over. I'm trying
to keep this close because the laptop's ahead.
But, alright. Hey. Remember? We want Florida.
We want Carolina. What happened now? Let's go!
Yet another Game 7 playoff by the Toronto Maple
Laughs. Man. Oh, man. Are we stuck in like a
time loop or a time machine where we just keep
seeing the same thing back and forth? Groundhog's
Day, I swear. We're living a live Groundhog Day,
to be honest with you, man. It's every year with
this team, man. That's about all we were waiting
for to wrap up this episode. We didn't want to,
again, end it without knowing the outcome last
episode, but we kind of had to because it was
pushing midnight here. And we all had it. We
only just got caught after 10 p .m. here right
now. I was going to say, at the time, two of
the three of us had to work. And now all of us
have to work in the morning, but whatever. This
game is just about over, so we can just about
wrap this up and say, prediction for Carolina,
Florida. I don't know if I said this off recording,
if I said this at the beginning of this recording.
It's going to be Carolina because I do think
Toronto did give them enough of a beating to
where I don't know if they're going to have enough
left in them to get past Carolina. If I can remember
last year, Florida and Carolina in the conference
final, it was in six last year? No. It wasn't?
In the conference final. So, sit between the
last full season knockout and present day, this
is Carolina's fifth Eastern Conference Finals.
Guess how many games they've won. One? Four.
Wow. They won the series back in 2006 when they
won the Cup. They haven't won a game since. They
lost in 2009 to the Penguins in four. They lost
in 2019 to the Boston in four. And they lost
in 2023 to the Florida Panthers in four. They
are 4 -12. Since the NHL lockout. Since Sidney
Crosby came into the league. In the conference
finals. In the conference finals. Specifically,
the conference finals. That's insane. So, I don't
know. They obviously have that haunting them.
That adds a little backstory. But I don't know
if they're coming back with a different vengeance,
with more confidence, with more swagger. primarily
kicked the shit out of New Jersey up and down
the ice for five games. New Jersey, I think the
one they won was in overtime. Yeah. Kicked the
shit out of Washington up and down the ice for
five games just as bad. Again, did they waste
too much energy on those two series to be able
to take on Florida? But the one thing with Carolina
is they've had some time in between series. Between
rounds one and two. And between rounds two and
now round three. That series ended what? Six
days ago already? That's a good question. Five,
six days ago? Because obviously game one will
be in Carolina on Tuesday. I want to say game
five was either Tuesday or Wednesday. So by the
time the next series starts. May 15th. So five
days. It'll be five days between game five of
the Carolina -Washington series and game one
of the Florida. Carolina series. They haven't
put, they just put the graphic up there. It's
over. They still have a blank there. Oh, can
we please note over it? Let me know it's over.
Dude, I, I just, I, I'm sorry. Like, I, I, there
are very few fans that I truly feel bad for.
Like Toronto fans, I truly feel bad for. Steve
Dangle's one of them. He has been through so
much bullshit in his life. He's only seen, Five
playoff series wins this millennium. Five! This
fucking millennium! I feel so bad for him, but
he continues to torture himself with this franchise.
He wrote a book about how much this team has
ruined his life. But he still loves them. He
still loves them. That's how we feel about our
Ariadnas and our Pittsburgh Penguins. We've seen
three cups in our lifetime with the Penguins,
so we can't really say that. And two, kind of,
we were all on an age of five when the Otters
won their first one. Yeah. Right? Yeah. 2002.
Yeah. Born in 1997. Yeah, I was five. I was literally
about to turn three when they won the... Four
days after they won it, I turned... When we won
our first one, I probably couldn't even say Erie
Otters yet, so... Yet again, the Toronto Maple
Leafs choking in Game 7 on home ice. They love
Game 7s. I know what Colin was saying. Certain
Toronto fans definitely have had this coming
to them. But the way I look at it, honestly,
is when you were as bad as you were for as long
as they were, and now you actually have a team
that is starting to see success, you're going
to start to get a little excited. You're going
to start to show... Your bias and a little bit
of your cocky side show. Some of them have definitely
gotten a little too much of it. But... Yeah,
man. Florida Panthers have advanced in seven
games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A repeat
of the Eastern Conference Finals from last season.
Two years ago. Who did they play last year? Who
did the Panthers play last year? I thought they
played the Hurricanes. That's what I thought.
So is it the third year in a row? The Rangers.
Oh, that's right. The Rangers beat the Hurricanes
in second round. Because like I said, it was
Florida, Carolina, and 23. When Carolina got
swept in the conference finals. That's right.
Well, that's about wraps it up for this episode,
guys. I think we're going to quickly end this
here. Watch this handshake line. Watch Steve
Dangle lose his mind for a couple minutes before
we head out of the studio ourselves. Thank you
guys for listening. Stay tuned, possibly next
week. I don't know. We'll get together here and
decide if we want to go back to back weeks here.
Depends on how quickly these two series are moving
along. But, uh, Toronto fans. Adios. Adios. Florida
fans, welcome back to the third round. And, uh...
Brad Marchand, welcome back to the third round.
Toronto Jersey can officially come down in the
studio. Only four remain. Literally last recording,
we still had like 10, 11 remaining. Yeah, I was
still on the wall behind Jeffy. The only non
-staple jersey that was up was the Penguins one.
Because the others, you were still on the faucet.
Because, again, that one's not going away. Wow.
Anyways, thank you guys for listening. Hope you
guys enjoyed. If you haven't already done everything,
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
you know what to do. Goodbye. We want Florida.
We want Florida.