Sports
Best/Worst and McDavid Stays
In this episode, Ryan Lambert and Sean McNew dive into the chaotic world of hockey as the preseason wraps up with unexpected suspensions and controversies surrounding the Florida Panthers. They also d...
Best/Worst and McDavid Stays
Sports •
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Interactive Transcript
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I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects.
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I'm Sean McNew from The Athletic.
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And folks, hockey starts tonight.
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They're saying that the preseason is over.
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They're saying everybody on the Florida Panthers has been suspended for 14 games.
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It's really, you know, you thought the barcov injury was bad.
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Everybody's in trouble down there now as well.
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The whole state.
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Pretty much.
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I can't think of an NHL player in the whole state that isn't in some kind of trouble these
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days due to what happened in those playoff or preseason games.
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They were playoff games.
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Be crazy if that was a playoff.
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They had a playoff atmosphere.
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They didn't.
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I don't.
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Hmm.
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You would know better than me.
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Has there ever been a playoff game with whatever it was, 320 penalty bets or anything
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close to that?
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I imagine there has been bench clearing brawls in the playoffs, but not for a very long
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time.
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Like I'm thinking of the the habs and flyers in 87, the where they had a brawl before
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the game even started and had to lock.
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Sure.
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I'm still in the dressing room, stuff like that, but it has been a long time, I would
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imagine.
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And if there if there was like don't bother sending me like, well, actually there was 200
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penalty minutes in this game because the refs gave out 20 misconducts at the end.
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Right.
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Just because they had little panic attacks and just kicked out everyone who might do
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anything.
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Yeah.
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Again, this is a game where there were like three skaters left on the bench for one of
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the teams and another guy got an assist on a goal after he had been thrown out of the
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game.
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And they were like, actually that goal didn't happen.
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Never mind.
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I have never seen that before.
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I have I had no idea that that was a rule or that was something they can do.
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And I'm not completely convinced that it is.
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I think this might have been like its preseason.
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We're just going to sort of take the goal off the board and that'll be that.
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But I have never heard of a goal being taken off the board after playing time has lapsed
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for any reason.
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Yeah.
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It was it was something like six or seven minutes of playing time, but like 40 minutes of
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real time.
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And I mean, it was, it was, you know, eight nothing or something like that.
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So whatever.
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And it's a preseason.
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So it was the least meaningful goal in history.
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But as far as precedent or whatever, I've never, I've heard of guys getting kicked out
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of games and not knowing and still being on the bench or whatever, but I have never heard
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of it leading to a goal coming off the board.
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That was extremely weird.
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Yeah.
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Only one real NHL like Scott Saber and got four games.
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I think who's the guy from from Florida who got two games?
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Why am I saying?
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I thought it was all Tampa that got the suspensions.
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Maybe you're right about that.
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Yeah, you are.
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And nevertheless, I'm still blanking.
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But yeah, I didn't watch that game live.
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I was.
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Oh, really?
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You're not doing a lot of preseason live.
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Let me ask you this.
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Okay.
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J.J.
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It was.
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It was J.J.
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motion.
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That's right.
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Let me ask you this.
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And then we'll stop talking about this completely irrelevant.
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No, we're doing an hour and a half on.
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Well, you would think the way people were talking about it, you would think they got to do
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something about the preseason, right?
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This is fucking insane.
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It's like, yeah, you're just you're just going to play the team you hate three times in a
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row right before the there has to be a rule of like, you can only play each other once.
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Let's be serious.
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Well, I mean, hopefully next year we will not have to deal with this to the same degree
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because there were season games which.
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Yeah.
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Eden theory makes each preseason game slightly more important or at least, you know, there
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will be actual roster spots, maybe as opposed to this game that meant absolutely nothing.
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But right, I have, I have a question for you.
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It's very important to me.
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Okay.
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It have the floor to Panthers in any way indicated whether they're apologizing.
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And if so, who are they apologizing to?
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They're apologizing to the good people of Florida for besmirching this great game of ours.
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Oh, I'm assuming.
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I mean, what else could they be, could they be indicating publicly an apology one way or
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the other?
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That's that's all I can think of.
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I need a, I need a, I need a, I need a check here for you.
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Oh, because I find, I, when I see like an opinion forming on social media, I tend to be
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on board with that opinion because I've, I don't follow people whose opinions I don't
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like.
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Sure.
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Generally, it's, it's only smart people like you and a handful of others.
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Well.
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I saw a lot of stuff yesterday about how cool the floor to Panthers Stanley Cup rings
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were.
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Yeah.
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that these things are lame as hell.
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For people who didn't see it on the inside of the ring, I'm going to say worse, worse
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language than the black speech of Mordor has not graced a ring in a long time like this.
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It said no apologies or something like that.
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Sorry, not sorry.
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Like that kind of lame bullshit thing.
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I believe it was we apologize to no one.
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Cool, man.
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Awesome.
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Why don't you get a hat that says I heart my haters while you're at it.
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You fucking geeks.
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This thing.
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This sucks, man.
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Thank you.
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I, this, this to me is the pro professional sports championship ring equivalent of like
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the comedian who puts out an album where he's got like duct tape over his mouth.
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You can't cancel me.
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It's like, all right.
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Cool, man.
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Yeah.
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Look, I get it.
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If you are an extremely successful, look.
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They are, the panthers are so good at what they do that people are going, we have to change
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the rules of the sport to account for the unfair advantage they have that people want to
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sign with them.
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Right.
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Like I get that aspect of it that they're just like fuck you.
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We, you know, you got to probably with the tribe beating us.
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How about that?
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If I put that in the ring, I would have been on board.
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I get, I get that.
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But like, look, I live in New England and there's the New England versus everybody shirts.
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And actually, I was just talking about that.
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My girlfriend, not a big sport, though, right?
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She's just not really into it.
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She has, you know, a vague understanding of a lot that goes on probably only because of
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me, but she's just not into sports.
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That's fine.
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And yesterday or the day before she was talking about, whoa, did you see what happened
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in the Yankees series?
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And I was like, I mean, I saw that they lost two games and she's like, they gave up more
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runs than the Yankees have ever given up in two games in the playoffs.
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And I was like, that's crazy.
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And the reason she, I'm sure someone she followed just like posted this or retweeted or something.
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But even she knows it's fucked the Yankees.
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Like it doesn't matter.
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Everybody, we all agree.
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Fuck the Yankees.
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That's fine unless you're a Yankees fan.
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There's, let's put it this way, there's nobody who's neutral on the A.
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I could leave or take the Yankees, you know?
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And so she just inherently understands that there are sports teams.
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People are going to hate because they're extremely successful.
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The Patriots, the chiefs, the Yankees, like go down the list.
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And now the Florida Panthers are on that list.
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And so I get why those teams are going fuck off.
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You know, we win.
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That's your problem.
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Is that we're better than you?
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I guess so.
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All in favor of having a villain.
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Yeah.
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In fact, I have written, I think a couple of years ago before they won their first cup,
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I wrote about the Panthers being the new villains.
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And you know, this is, but be like, be cool villains, please.
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Don't be dweeds about it.
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Well again, this is, can we, can we not, it's just, it's just the thing of like the,
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the Panthers are making their haters, their waiters at the table of success.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Like, you can't, you can't have like little phrases and sayings like that.
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That it just, it's not even about like winning with grace.
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Like I don't care if you, if you like rub it in in a way that's annoying to people.
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But don't make it annoying to me, you know what I mean?
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Like, be, have it a way, have it a way that's cool and not a way that it's like,
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I don't know if you see.
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Yeah, I don't know.
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A t-shirt at the mall.
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Yeah.
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They also had in addition to the, the lame slogan, they listed the 14s that they beat.
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See that's cool.
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That I'm fine.
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I could see that in a tradition.
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That is kind of cool.
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But, yeah.
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We apologize to all.
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Okay.
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Like I said, this is just something you see on a, like on a, on a t-shirt on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore.
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You know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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Oh, the next year when they, when they inevitably win the cup again, maybe the insides can say,
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I drink and I know things.
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Scroll up.
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Anyway, that wasn't the only news yesterday as a matter of fact.
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There was, so I'm, I'm driving to the movies yesterday to see the smashing machine.
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Oh, okay.
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And it was only okay.
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I'll be honest with you.
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Great performance from, from our, our boy DJ though.
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I'll tell you.
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Anyway, I get the little pop-up notification, like my phone buzzes.
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I'm like, okay, what, what is this?
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And it says, McDavid Extension imminent or something like that, you know, whatever it was.
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And then it was like, I stopped to get lunch and I'm looking.
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And this is how the text roll out basically.
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Extension imminent short term.
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Oh, interesting.
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Under Capri's off.
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Okay, that makes sense.
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Yeah, he's trying to keep that team together.
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That was always the expectation.
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It makes, it makes perfect sense to me.
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Under 15.
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Whoa, that, that's crazy.
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Interesting.
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Under 14, huh?
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12 and a half.
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I'm like, that's not even a raise.
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Mm-hmm.
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He just extended his current contract in other two years.
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He didn't deserve a raise, you know, what is he really accomplished?
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No, you're right.
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I mean, they lost, bum.
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Yeah, they lost in fewer games in the Stanley Cup Final this year than last year.
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Lucky he didn't get a pay cut.
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It's true.
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So, but, it will take three years now.
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I must have rode at any of these.
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No, I literally was like pulling into the Wendy's parking lot when I got the notification.
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All right.
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Like, I was at the light across the street from Wendy's and I was like, okay, here we go.
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You know, this is perfect timing for me to just sit there and watch these, these tweets from various insiders roll in.
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I mean, I guess the answer here is he did what he said.
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You are kidding.
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He gave them the, this is the ultimate you have three years because it's a two year deal.
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Yes.
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This one last year that's already on.
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You've got three years to prove it.
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And my, my first thought is this is amazing for Euler's fans.
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You got to be doing cartwheels.
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My second thought is also if I'm an Euler's fan, the clock is now ticking very loudly.
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And I can't imagine anyone's going to blame this guy if he walks in three years.
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If they know, like, this is he's got, I wouldn't say a free pass out the door, but if he wants to go play for the Rangers or
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it's kind of a free pass though, you know, kind of is.
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It kind of is.
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You can't ask a guy to do much more than this.
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So no, for sure.
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Pressures on Stan Bowman and friends, but that was my immediate thought as well as like, man, he's let,
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he's giving Stan Bowman the ability to spend an extra, whatever it is, like, $45, $6 million a year.
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Like he's trusting Stan Bowman to do.
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I know, I guess the thing is he can't like trust any, like, well, you know, I say that.
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This guy's basically going to get the lead, Brian James treatment of like, hey, Connor, we're,
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we're thinking of trading for this guy and he's going to go, I don't know about that.
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And they don't do it, you know, we're thinking of giving this guy this contract.
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Now, I don't, you know, like he's going to have say so on all of this in a look.
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He already did his junior coaches, their coach got a big extension just the other day.
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Um, there is his, his old agent is the president of hockey operations or whatever.
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The like, he's already signing off on a lot of stuff in the Euler's organization.
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So it makes sense that he's taking a discount to stay there.
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But at the same time, it is, you know, unexpected, let's say that he again, no raise it all.
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Which, you know, rising cap environment.
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This clearly is a blank check situation and he chose to take a lot less.
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And look, I mean, yeah, his last contract was $100 million.
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Dude's not eating ramen noodles.
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We all get that.
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Yeah, for.
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But then and there is like, there's part of this that is, you know, when you get down to some
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of these in all sports, like you can spend that extra million.
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You can spend that extra, but for a lot of these guys, it's not just that.
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It's, it's the pride.
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It's the, you know, I don't want to be seventh on a list of highest paid players.
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If I think I'm the second or third best player.
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Right.
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And he obviously was able to put that aside in a way that most other guys do not do.
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We've seen guys take a little bit less.
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But I've never seen anything like this.
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Like the closest would be Crosby with the, you know, some of his deals.
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But I think this one is even more right.
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Yeah, because when Crosby committed it was for his second 8.7 forever contract.
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That was at least like its long term.
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It's the cap definitely wasn't going up.
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I don't remember what it was at the time, but it definitely wasn't going up at the level
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that is expected the next two or three years, right.
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And I think that's an important aspect of all this, honestly.
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Like, oh yeah, I really smart of me to say is like, I think it's important that the
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cap is going up.
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Yeah, no shit.
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But like, A, this walks him to a point where the salary cap is going to be $120 million.
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And he's going to be like 31, I want to say.
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And he'll be able to go, okay, now it's $20 million to whoever he ends up signing with.
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So I think that is definitely a part of it.
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Is like this more aligns him at a time when Austin Matthews is hitting the free agent market, right.
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Like, there can be a bit of a bidding war and two guys can write $20 plus million
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AAB tickets and all this kind of stuff.
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That all makes sense to me.
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But I just, you know, let's, okay, let's quickly talk about this.
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Jake Walman gets seven by seven on the same day.
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Like minutes before the McDavid extension, they say,
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Jake Walman is getting 49 million, which Jake Walman is a really good player.
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And seven years from now, it's probably not going to matter what Jake Walman is making when he's
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this, and this is the important thing, 37 years old.
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Right.
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It's, it's win now for the oilers in a way that it has never been win now for any team,
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the NHL, I think.
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Yeah, I mean, it's, they're certainly right up there.
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And yeah, you, you're right.
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It's in three years, you're either going to have McDavid or you're not.
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And in either case, Jake Walman's probably not somebody you're super focused on,
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unless you're Steve isem.
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So, but to that point, this is, this is McDavid saying, whatever, he was never going to make
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$20 million, but he could have easily signed for 16, 17.
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And, and said, I'm taking a discount, by the way, and everyone would have said, we agree.
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You know, and so with that in mind, that's the thing that I keep thinking of is he goes,
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I'm giving you $5 million to spend that should have been going to me.
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How are you going to spend it?
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And they go, what if we extend this 30 year old defenseman for seven years?
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And it's like, yeah, I guess it's better to have Jake Walman than not have him, I suppose.
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Yeah.
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But I don't, did they pay market rate for Jake Walman?
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And did they overpay Jake Walman?
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I feel like that's in the range of market rate.
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Yeah, I, I, right, I think it's about right.
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But I'll put it this way.
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Jake Walman didn't take a fucking discount like Connor Rick David did.
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Oh, he's not a chump.
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No, I mean, earned his raise.
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I totally agree.
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I've been a huge Jake Walman guy forever.
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So that's all fine with me.
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What I'm saying is there's no, there's no trickle down of the of McDavid going, I'll take less so we can,
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you know, be more competitive.
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It's very, it's a very strange dynamic.
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And again, this is the stand moment thing of like, oh, we got, we got this guy on a good deal.
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Let's give this other guy all that extra money, you know?
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Yeah.
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So who do you think
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was the maddest about this?
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It not counting fan slash media in every other market who now put away their
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Connor Rick David, 2026.
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Sure.
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So is it like, who does this cost the most in terms of other players?
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And is it Jack Eichel?
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Was Jack Eichel like the one guy
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and obviously maybe we don't know what his situation is and what he wants, but assuming he wants a
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significant contract,
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probably should have signed it in between Capri's and McDavid.
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So here's the thing.
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I think this is just another contract where everybody's going to go, that's not what the market is.
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Because you can't,
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right?
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McDavid's the only guy taking dramatically less money, right?
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And especially in Vegas,
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that's just not a thing people do.
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Everybody gets their market rate, even if they all want to play there.
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And somehow it all works, you know what I'm saying?
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Maybe a little less, but not, yeah.
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I think, I think, I think the baseline is now dryside.
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Like I think everybody will kind of look at the Capri's off situation the same way as
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the McDavid situation.
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Like that's actually not market to find it.
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But that is the other thing.
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How long now is it going to be until somebody passes Capri's off?
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Is it McDavid in three years?
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I'd have to look.
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I don't have the puckpedia open in front of me, but I have to imagine there's maybe one or two
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guys that can get in that conversation if not who would it be?
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Because I mean, there's not any young guys coming up that are like,
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you know, like Celebrini's not going to get 17 on his.
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No, no, no, for sure.
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When Hughes might be the one guy,
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that's the guy I'm also given this, because that would also feel a little Capri's a V,
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and that like we have to keep our guy sort of thing.
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So maybe that's the one.
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So let's see here.
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I'm pulling up who the free agents are for.
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That's a year away from an extension two years from.
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Right.
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Right.
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When's the car up?
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That's got to be soon.
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That's got to be pretty soon.
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I think that's also two years.
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Okay.
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I'm not getting to it quickly enough on puckpedia right now, but yeah,
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to your point, there are two or three guys.
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I think, I, Quinn Hughes is the one that jumps off the page to me as that guy has to get all the
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all the money in the world from Vancouver.
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But also, if he's going to New Jersey, he's probably taking the discount.
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So I don't know, you know.
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And speaking of that, Luke Hughes, seven years, nine million bucks.
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Yeah.
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Somewhat, some what's surprising is it fair to say?
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I mean, it's, it's only surprising in that this is what everyone has been agreeing is probably
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the number for, it feels like months.
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I feel like we talked about this over the summer of like, they're really going to give him eight or nine
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million dollars, huh?
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Yeah.
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And then they did.
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And, and look for a good young defenseman.
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If you, if this is the, if you know, if you really feel like he's about to pop,
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this deal could absolutely work out great for, for New Jersey.
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But yeah, I think he's a good player.
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Has he shown enough to make this sort of commitment?
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I don't know.
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Put it this way.
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My reaction when I saw this was not my typical,
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oh, here's another young guy locking in for way too long.
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And I was like, good job, Luke Hughes.
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Sure.
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And I did, if he's Luke Smith, is this
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well, so I did see the argument that someone was like, well, look, like now the Hughes family
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is being fairly compensated.
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Like the two brothers has a hole or being fairly compensated for their collective value.
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And it's like, that's probably true parentheses if Jack can stay in the lineup.
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Close parentheses, you know.
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But I don't, maybe I'm crazy.
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I don't think it should work that way.
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Yeah.
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You know, Jack probably doesn't think that either, but yeah.
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Well, I'll tell, maybe Jack does.
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If he's like, okay, they're, they're screwing me a little bit on $8 million.
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It turns out.
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But hey, that's just a lesson to, to you young kids out there that are, you know,
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borderline elite NHL players don't sign long term contracts to economic David just did three years, two years.
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Make it easy on yourself.
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Get a raise every few years.
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You want to talk about knock on effects of a contract.
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Jackson LeComb, eight years, nine million bucks.
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That one is a, I mean, that one's the Luke Hughes deal even more so.
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And not just because it's he extra year.
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Like this is a guy who, I mean, a year ago, what percentage of hockey fans even knew this guy's name.
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When this contract got announced, people on the Puck Soup Discord, these are people who watch
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a lot of hockey. They're like, who the fuck is this guy?
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Yeah.
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And, and I mean, if you did know his name and, you know, you're not a ducks fan, chances are,
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you knew him as the guy who was really good, really cheap.
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That, you know, was, was kind of hidden away on this rebuilding team.
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And he's, he might still be really good, but he's not really cheap anymore, which can change
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the equation. Now, how old is he? He's 24, 25, 24. So, I mean, for a defenseman, especially, like,
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still, still young, still some, some ceiling left to reach.
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But I guess we've, we've kind of found our setting for good young defenseman who are
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not at that Norris level at all yet.
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Yeah, I think this is just like what number two defenseman costs now.
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Yeah.
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In the, in a cap situation where it's like over $100 million.
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The one thing I want to say about this really quickly is, again, like, people, people going,
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I don't know who that is. Okay, sure. You didn't watch a lot of ducks games last year. I don't
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think you're alone in that. But if you look at the splits from when they traded Fowler to
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St. Louis, like before and after, they were just like, okay, we got to run this kid out 25 minutes
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a night and he did really well. If you, I want to say they traded, they traded Fowler, like, mid
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December or something like that. It's either mid November or mid December. And right after that,
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LeCombs minutes go up really fast to the point where by the end of the year, he's logging over 25
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minutes a night and again, playing well doing it, which can't be easy on a team like that.
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You know, a team that traded all the way all its veterans obviously doesn't have a lot to play for.
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So maybe you're not getting the hardest level of compete from your opponent every night. But like,
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he just acquitted himself really well. And from that point of view, it's easy for me to see why
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the ducks were like, yeah, eight years. This is our guy. But he did it for half a season when it
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didn't matter. So you'd like to see a little bit more of it, but this was the duck saying,
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we don't want him to go play 24 minutes a night and look like fucking Victor headman out there
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on a better team than we had last year. And then we're going to pay him $12 million. So let's just
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give him nine now. I get that aspect of it from the ducks for sure. But there's room to grow.
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Or to prove something I suppose. Another defenseman extension, Niko Mikola, eight years, five million bucks.
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Sorry, not sorry. We're the Florida Panthers. We just get these guys freaking cheap as hell.
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They've got to be sorry.
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No, they don't. I really thought there was going to be an apology on that ring.
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No. No problem for me on this.
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No problem. It's just it is a little weird to see max length deals for like very
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middle of the lineup amounts money can make perfect sense for both. He's a middle of a guy.
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So it just is, you know, kind of interesting that day. Oh, we saw us a few years ago. We're
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handful of guys are getting like eight times 3.5 and you're like, right? And that's kind of the
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equivalent of this. But it it locks in both sides. Everybody knows what the number is and
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sure. Yep. Believe they didn't apologize.
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They think, you know, they said we apologize. And I was like, here it is.
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No for nothing. Oh, geez.
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Doing they're out here doing bright hard 1997 promos.
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Well, I was going to say that's that's it's the Nathan for you joke. I hope you're hungry for
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nothing. That's right. Or call an ambulance, but not for me.
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Remember, I do.
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Philip Gustafson, five years, six point eight million. It's a little bit of housekeeping.
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It feels like there again, I think we talked last week, the week before about yes for wall
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step. Sorry kid. Oops.
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Well, he's he really seems to have fallen off as far as
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hype is in the right word, but just excitement over a young goal. So sure.
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I mean, Philip Gustafson is very, very good recently enough that you can see why
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Minnesota wants to do this. Every goal of contract is is a question mark.
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But I guess this one's why where does that rank him
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cap it now? Oh, geez. Got to be in the count 10, but I shouldn't have closed that
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pup pd a window. So yeah, pup pd says not including carry price. He would be 10th. He would
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slot in behind UC Sorrow's who's at 7.7. So there's a pretty big gap and then it drops down to him
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at 10 and then right ahead of Lucas Dostol at six and a half.
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Right. And when the when the contract kicks in next year,
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price is gone, but Dustin Wolf and that your demo call come in. So he's still at 11. So yeah,
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right outside the top 10, I guess that feels about right because there's just not a lot of
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established goal tenders that you necessarily trust. I mean, I'm looking at the guys below him
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on the list and nobody is really jumping out. Jordan Bennington's deal will be up, but nobody is
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really jumping out as oh, this guy is a huge value. So I guess it's about right. Every goal
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the contract scares me every single one. Yeah, of course. But this one I suppose is okay.
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I don't have a problem with it. And again, this is just like I'm assuming part and parcel with
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giving it getting capris off to stick around. Man, we also got to resign the goalie who's good.
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We can't have that like up in the air for the next four or five years. Yeah. And I mean,
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if yes, per wallsted has a fantastic season, I think that falls into the nice problem to have
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category. Yep, figuring out. Oh no, it's crazy. No teams ever want to trade for a good young goalie.
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Yeah. Luke of Angelice to two years, three million bucks. This is it was always going in this
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direction. I don't know why it took so long, but we did it. And who cares?
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Correct. Okay, great. And finally, I like to see this one. Macrizzlyk signs a one year,
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$1 million contract with Chicago. He's a good player. He's going to be of help to them.
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Somewhat surprising because he was PTO. And I think people were somewhat surprised at that because
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you look at his numbers from last year, he probably should have had a deal.
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It's a point or something. Yeah. I think it's in the 40s at least. Like this is
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then and it's a good opportunity. So he'll take another swing at it next summer, I suppose. But
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yeah, this good value and either help Chicago or gives them a really nice trade ship for down the line.
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Could be both. Yeah. Could be both. Jack Rosavik, by the way, still no contract. It's insane.
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I don't know what goes on. What is happening with it? Like this.
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Well, I feel like it crossed into weird a little while ago, but
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well, I mean, there's only one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten teams with at
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least five million in cap space. You can't find anybody who's going to find anyone. That's only
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a third of the league almost. I mean, is it is today the day? Like is it one of these things of,
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day one salary cap? You file it. I don't know. And then we do it or it's so weird. Yeah.
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Like I'm looking at the signings on Pupiti right now. Connor Sherry got a
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got a league minimum contract. Now maybe Rosavik's going, I don't want to play for league
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minimum. I want to play for three million dollars. Which, you know, that makes sense. He
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wouldn't want that money. He's worth probably about that much. If Luke of Angelista can get three
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million bucks, I think Jack Rosavik should get three million bucks. That's my, that's my take.
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But yeah, just kind of strange that that's still ongoing.
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I'm speaking of cap obligations. The San Jose Sharks, not content with having just gotten
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carry price, have also taken on the Ryan Ellis contract, which somehow is still going for this
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year and next. This guy's are going to be so good in 2019. Crazy. Ryan Ellis last played four games
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in the 2020, 2022 season. Yeah. It's, it's surprising that that this contract is still going. And
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yet here we are. But as we said, when they got the carry price contract, this just gives them extra
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flexibility to trade people at the deadline if they want to, because they will be well above
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the cap floor as a consequence. They in fact only have two million dollars or so in cap space
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right now. But listen to this. Almost yeah, more than 6.9 in buyout money, flasick, Martin Jones,
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Nikolai Nijov. Yeah, I think that's how you pronounce that. And Lucas Carlson, who I'm not really
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sure who that is, is on season opening IR. So they're carrying a little bit of money on that as
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well. They also have two retained salary contracts, Eric Carlson and Tomash Hurtle, and
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carry price and Ryan Ellis both like LTI are retired. And their combined cap hit is almost 17
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million dollars. So Sharks are carrying a lot of dead money. Oh, and Logan Couture. I forgot about
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this Logan Couture. Also, 8 million dollars. He's not playing anymore. So a lot of dead money on the
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books there ends next year as well. Okay, much like the, I, the one though the price one ends this
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year. So much like the Ellis contract. But yeah, like 25 million dollars just in LTIR retired guys.
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Geez. So yeah, again, this is just all about having cap flexibility at the deadline to trade
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guys without worrying about the, the falling below the cap floor or anything like that.
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Gonna be a weird year in San Jose. Finally, this is the end of extension talk. Thankfully,
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no block three years extended in Edmonton. I think we mentioned that already. And if not, you know,
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well, isn't that weird? It lines up almost exactly with the Carmic David thing. That's crazy.
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But Ryan Husker gets a two year extension in Calgary.
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Yeah. And we now have, according to Pierre, exactly one coach in the entire NHL
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coach. Who doesn't have multiple years left on his contract? Did Pierre say who that coach is?
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He did. It's Lindy Ruff in Buffett. The only guy. Sure. Because as we all know, as I think
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we have discussed previously on this show, it is impossible to coach an NHL team with only one
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year left on your contract. Players just don't listen to you. They give you the, you're not my
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real dad, I rule. Right. Whereas if you have two years, then they're like, yes, sir. Absolutely, sir.
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Yeah, this is, this is good stuff for this. Yeah. But yeah, you know, whatever Husker seems like
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he's got a good hat on his shoulders up there. Well, I did about as well as
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it could in that team last year. Yeah. I mean, again, like some of that was the whole, like, just
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tell Dustin Wolf to make a bunch of saves. But
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they, so the thing is they have like good players up and down the roster, but not enough of them
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for me, you know. Okay. Like there's a bunch of guys that if, if blank hit the trade market right
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now, there'd be four or five teams that are like, we'll take them, you know,
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cadre, cadre is the obvious one. But like weager is a really good player. Dustin Wolf's a really
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good player. Haven't traded the Rasmus Anderson yet. Which, nope, we're all, we were all told to
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expect and now maybe not. Yeah. But teams would want to, teams would want to take a crack at play
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Coleman, I think, you know, Diego Sharon Govich, like these are good players. Not good enough, but
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that's not the coaches fault. He did it again. He did a good job last year. They were a pretty good
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team less five more points than two different playoff teams. Can't say it better than that. Yeah.
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Why don't we take a break? We'll be right back and we'll discuss what we always do right before
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the season starts are tears of the best and worst of every level of quality in the NHL.
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All right, we're back. Like I said, right before the break, this is something we've done, I think
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the last two years before this one, where we talk about the best and worst bad team, mediocre team,
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and good team in the NHL. I was listening back to see exactly how we form added it because I never
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remember this kind of thing. And you had said to me last year, how did we do with these predictions
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last season? And I was like, and I said on that episode, I didn't write it down. I don't know.
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But because I was listening back and I was in front of my computer at the time, I did go, uh,
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make sure that I got all that information written down. So who do you think we said was the worst
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bad team last year? Oh boy. Did we hopefully we said San Jose? We both said San Jose. We're so smart.
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Yeah, that was don't get that really top one or else guys, we were the ones.
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We're on that. Who did who did we say would be the best bad team? And this is two different
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answers. Okay. Did either of us say Montreal? Uh, yes, you did. Well, well, well. All right.
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What did you say? I said the team that finished right ahead of them in the standings, the St. Louis
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Blues. Okay. Both teams made the playoffs last year. That's a big oopsie from us. What about
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worst mediocre team? Again, two different answers. Worst mediocre team.
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Um, who did people think I'm trying to put myself in the headspace of who people thought would
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be mediocre? Cause I was going to say like a team like Columbus, but I feel like last year,
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everyone thought Columbus was going to be terrible. So I'm going to say the penguins.
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You said the flyers. Okay. And I said Utah. I would say probably the flyers were a little
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worse than mediocre. Yes. Utah at an at 89 points feels like maybe there were a little too good
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to be the worst mediocre team. But they were that's not a bad. They weren't good. Yep. No.
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Who did we say was the best mediocre team? LA Kings. No, uh, you said Vancouver.
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And I said, I don't know what I was fucking thinking. I said the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 102 point
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Tampa Bay Lightning. Okay. Um, although if we had said the Kings, they had 105 points. So
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standings isn't always, you know, the anyway. Uh, who did we say? Best me. How many? Yeah.
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Yeah. Not not great. But what would have been the best? Like I feel like, what,
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Calgary's probably would have been the Montreal or Calgary feels like a good pick there.
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Who did you, who did we say we both said different teams for worst good team? Please tell me
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somebody said Nashville. You said Nashville. Okay. So I mean,
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here, obviously they weren't good. So on some level, that's a terrible call.
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They were 30 points away from good, but they also were considered a good team line. So
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to say that they're the worst of the teams considered, I don't know. I'm confusing myself here.
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What did you say? I said the New Jersey devil and I feel like I nailed it.
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Well, honestly, yeah, I think that is the right answer.
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So because the list of this 16th in the league, it by total points, 91 from 82. That's fine.
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But there were a plus 20 team and that was with Hamilton and Hughes missing a bunch of time.
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So I'm happy to say they were good last year, but they weren't like that good. So there you go.
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Who did we say and we agreed on this one was the best good team?
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Did we just jump out and go Florida? No, we said Edmonton. We did the very brave thing of saying,
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I think the other team in the cup finals, the good one this year. Not the team that won 16 games.
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The team, the one 15 is the one that's right. Okay.
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So let's do it for this year. Who do you think will be the worst bad team in the NHL?
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And so this is not out of teams that are necessarily considered bad right now, but teams that are at the end of the year.
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Okay. In the one through 32. I will go.
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So you know what, I'll mix it up from San Jose and I'll go Chicago.
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That's who I have as well.
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Who is the best bad team?
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I'm going to say.
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See I go.
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Okay. So my thought process here, I was going to say Anaheim.
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Because I've sort of even gone out and said I think they could make the playoffs.
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I agree. Does that make them better than a bad team?
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I have them as a mediocre team.
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Okay. So you know what, let me go with Boston. I think people are
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writing off the broans a bit too much.
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I also have them as a mediocre team. Okay.
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So I get why anybody would say they're not going to be that good.
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Ryan, can I just tell you something right now?
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Yeah, go ahead.
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I apologize to not you.
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Oh, good. Oh, that's a huge relief to me.
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Thank you.
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My best bad team is the Philadelphia Flyers.
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I don't trust that goal-tending man.
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I don't know what they're doing.
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There's a lot of talent on that team.
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If you told me at the end of the year,
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hey, we ran the numbers. It came back 875 for the year.
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I'd go, yep, that checks out for me. Okay, no problem.
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You know? So there's a lot to like about that Flyers team.
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But the most important position on the ice by far is like a black hole.
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So that's why.
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Who do you have as the worst mediocre team?
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I'm going to go with the New York Islanders.
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Partly because I think with a new GM, they...
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I'm not saying they want to rebuild,
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but I don't think Matthew Darsh would think it's the worst thing in the world
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if they ended up having not agreed.
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So what I guess I'm trying to say is if they don't have a great first half,
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I think the second half could be by design quite bad.
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Sure. Yeah.
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I wonder about their goal-tending situation here as well.
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Like obviously, Serokin can be great, but they used to have very reliable backup,
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play, and now they don't, I would say.
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And that division's really weird and they do...
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They have some good players, for sure. Same with Calgary.
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They don't have enough of them.
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But I have them as actually worse in the standings than Philly.
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Wow. Okay.
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In part because of what I think you're talking about,
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like my expectation is that they will be moving guys if they can.
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They're one of those teams where like, you look and you go,
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he has a full no move clause.
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Oh. So maybe that's a thing.
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But my worst mediocre team...
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How bad...
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You've got no move or no trade.
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How many people are like, no, man,
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I want to play for the islanders, come hell or high water.
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Yeah. That's a good question.
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I think there's just a lot of people really like living on Long Island.
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That's good.
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Yeah. I've heard great things.
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But man, okay.
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How many guys have some sort of trade protection on the islanders?
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Do you think?
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Well, geez. I mean, it was Lulamorello.
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So you would assume it's low because he was supposed to be such a hard-ass.
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But he wasn't.
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He would always give.
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No.
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These ridiculous long-term deals,
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because he clearly knew it wasn't going to be his problem.
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So I'll say...
spk_0
Geez.
spk_0
Seven guys with...
spk_0
The four words beat that number.
spk_0
There are eight forwards, three defensemen and two goalies with movement
spk_0
inspections.
spk_0
Okay. I don't love that.
spk_0
No. You're not going to like that very much at all.
spk_0
And like,
spk_0
that doesn't include Romanov,
spk_0
who's full no trade clause kicks in next season.
spk_0
Oh good.
spk_0
We love you, Lou.
spk_0
Sean, you said seven.
spk_0
That's how many guys have some form of movement protection in the 29-30 season.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
What a team.
spk_0
Have fun, New York.
spk_0
My worst mediocre team is the Nashville Predators.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
I can...
spk_0
It's an upgrade from last year.
spk_0
It certainly is, but like...
spk_0
I don't know what to make of UCSAROS anymore.
spk_0
I guess is my thing.
spk_0
Like, it wouldn't surprise me at all
spk_0
if they were perfectly like, you know,
spk_0
playoff competitive this year.
spk_0
Because in theory,
spk_0
they have one of the best goalies in the league.
spk_0
He hasn't been that good in two years, though.
spk_0
He was 906 two seasons ago, which is good, but not great.
spk_0
It's certainly not elite.
spk_0
And then last season, he's 895.
spk_0
If he can be back to like, 920-ish, which he was like, three, four years in a row,
spk_0
we don't have anything to talk about here.
spk_0
This is one of the...
spk_0
This is a definite playoff team.
spk_0
If SAROS is old SAROS, but it's been two years, so I don't know.
spk_0
He wasn't their only problem last year for sure.
spk_0
You know, they had a lot of problems last year.
spk_0
But...
spk_0
Yeah, I don't know what to make of them.
spk_0
So I'm airing on the side of they'll be better, but still not very good.
spk_0
Who's your best mediocre team?
spk_0
My best mediocre team, I am going to go with the LA Kings,
spk_0
who I...
spk_0
As we mentioned, we're better than you think last year.
spk_0
During the regular season.
spk_0
They're a good team, 105.2.
spk_0
Very good team.
spk_0
Does their GM know that?
spk_0
As he mentioned.
spk_0
No, it's never come up.
spk_0
But I...
spk_0
So I think we all enjoyed
spk_0
dumping on Ken Holland in the off season.
spk_0
And rightly so, I think he made the team worse.
spk_0
But they can be a fair amount worse and still be
spk_0
solidly mediocre team that finishes.
spk_0
30 in the Pacific and then gets crushed by the Oilers.
spk_0
I have them 17th in the league.
spk_0
Does that add up to a playoff spot?
spk_0
Like the way you've got the conferences?
spk_0
No.
spk_0
They are behind two other mediocre Pacific teams.
spk_0
I have Calgary and Vancouver ahead of them.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
In the 15 and 16 spots to be clear, like not very far, like, you know,
spk_0
a mile ahead of them.
spk_0
But my worst mediocre team is...
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
And for all the reasons, I think anybody could guess.
spk_0
I have them 14th in the league.
spk_0
That's good.
spk_0
That has them in the playoffs.
spk_0
Comfortably, I'm assuming.
spk_0
Although, you know what, that actually looks like I would have them as maybe the eighth seed.
spk_0
Let's see here.
spk_0
Which is what they were two years ago.
spk_0
And then last year they were...
spk_0
Second best record in the league.
spk_0
And...
spk_0
That actually would have them seventh.
spk_0
I have...
spk_0
God, I have the Bruins.
spk_0
One of the playoffs teams.
spk_0
I don't feel great about that.
spk_0
As the 18th best team in the league, I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
spk_0
The East...
spk_0
I guess that's me saying the East sucks.
spk_0
I wasn't thinking about it in those terms,
spk_0
you know, when I just did one to...
spk_0
You know, it's just the thing of like, is this team better than this team?
spk_0
You move them up and down the spreadsheet.
spk_0
And the Bruins settled at 18.
spk_0
So...
spk_0
Who's your worst good team?
spk_0
Give me the Winnipeg Jets.
spk_0
Totally makes sense to me.
spk_0
I just don't fully trust it.
spk_0
Similar to LA, I mean, they were so good last year that they could take a bit of a step back.
spk_0
Yeah, they really...
spk_0
They really stand like the Rangers.
spk_0
This to me is the year that Dallas and Colorado both kind of get serious during the regular season.
spk_0
And go, we're tired of playing each other.
spk_0
So let's...
spk_0
Right.
spk_0
Right.
spk_0
I see Winnipeg finishing a strong third in the central and then not really being anyone's playoff pick.
spk_0
I have them fourth in the central behind Minnesota is the third.
spk_0
Yeah, I thought about putting Minnesota as my good mediocre team, but yeah, I think Minnesota could be...
spk_0
Full season of Capriza of their in business.
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
That doesn't happen as often as you'd like, of course, but that's a different story.
spk_0
I have the St. Louis Blues as my worst good team.
spk_0
I think that I really like their coach.
spk_0
I really like certain players in their lineup.
spk_0
I...
spk_0
You know, again, depth feels like an issue and maybe some of the younger guys step up a little bit and
spk_0
you know, a full season and a half under Jim Montgomery and all of a sudden we're rocking and rolling.
spk_0
That all makes sense to me, but I do have them fifth in their own division.
spk_0
So maybe that's not...
spk_0
Yeah, I wouldn't have them as a good team.
spk_0
So that's...
spk_0
Despite you calling them the worst, you're higher on them than I am.
spk_0
And finally, who do you have as your best good team?
spk_0
Give me Vegas.
spk_0
That's who I have as well.
spk_0
Okay, then I'll change.
spk_0
Give me...
spk_0
You have to?
spk_0
You say Vegas is Vegas, that's fine.
spk_0
Give me Colorado.
spk_0
Okay, great.
spk_0
Crosby and McKinnon.
spk_0
Yeah, you know, I really thought about all that kind of thing when I was when I was placing Pittsburgh.
spk_0
I put Pittsburgh 30th.
spk_0
And it really depends on when and who they move out.
spk_0
You know what I'm saying?
spk_0
Like if they if they find a buyer for Carlson in November and like I don't even know who their number one
spk_0
defenseman would be at that point, I'm going uh-oh, that feels like a problem, you know.
spk_0
Like I guess it would kind of technically be Chris Latang, but...
spk_0
Actually, you know what, I'm looking at this Latang played more minutes last year than Carlson did.
spk_0
I wouldn't have guessed that.
spk_0
Neither would I.
spk_0
Anyway, yeah, if like if they move out Crosby or Carlson or
spk_0
roster any of these guys, obviously it's a it's a different discussion.
spk_0
But yeah, I don't really have a ton to say about why I think Vegas is going to be good.
spk_0
They had they were really good last year and they added Mitch Marner
spk_0
without really losing very much in the summer quite frankly.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
So that, you know, with I feel like I feel like the central is going to be a bit of a knife fight.
spk_0
Like you tell me Colorado, okay, sure.
spk_0
I think Minnesota is better, okay, sure.
spk_0
I, you know, Dallas obviously full season of Ranton and
spk_0
and we don't see the you know, the coaching change could go in a few directions.
spk_0
It's hard to say.
spk_0
That's why I'm a little I was I was hesitant on that.
spk_0
I still have Dallas two in the league, but if you told me Glenn Gulletson, it turns out isn't
spk_0
a good coach.
spk_0
It's like, well, I've seen it before and I that checks out for me, you know.
spk_0
So that's if you that's why I couldn't go both leaning on the West if we had to pick
spk_0
yeah, on the east, who's your I have Carolina for.
spk_0
Yeah, but I also have Tampa six.
spk_0
I would think so is is but the and again, part of that is Florida with the injuries.
spk_0
Part of that is just nobody gets any credit for picking the two-time champs.
spk_0
You know, we're all gonna nudge Florida down our list just for that reason.
spk_0
And part of me.
spk_0
I have a faith.
spk_0
Like there's because they didn't apologize to me.
spk_0
Super rude.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
I have them the the Panthers eighth most if the you know if everybody was healthy,
spk_0
I which is what third in the third in the east.
spk_0
That is one.
spk_0
Yeah, third in the east.
spk_0
That's right.
spk_0
Where do you have the Leafs?
spk_0
The Leafs I have twelfth, which is fourth is sixth in the east.
spk_0
Okay, honestly, sounds about right.
spk_0
Yeah, I'm really curious about what they're going to do this year because
spk_0
first of all, full season without Mariner, that doesn't feel like it's going to help them.
spk_0
But also like their gold endings really weird this year.
spk_0
I don't know what's going on up in Toronto.
spk_0
Crazy.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
spk_0
Oh speaking of injuries to the Panthers, apparently Barkov like met with the Miami Heat and he was like
spk_0
I'll be back in five or six months.
spk_0
Instead of seven and nine.
spk_0
What?
spk_0
And how are the Miami Heat getting injury scoops here?
spk_0
Well, the crazy thing is then like there was a quote from Bill Zito the other day that he's like
spk_0
he's off crutches next week.
spk_0
What?
spk_0
It's kind of blew out.
spk_0
Apparently he said he could be the fastest guy ever to recover from blowing out his ACL and MCL.
spk_0
Sure.
spk_0
Why not?
spk_0
I mean,
spk_0
good.
spk_0
Great news for them and I know everyone's going to make the LTIR joke but that's not how it works this year.
spk_0
So it doesn't wouldn't
spk_0
Nope.
spk_0
Help them.
spk_0
Doesn't help them at all to not have him.
spk_0
spk_0
I do have any thoughts on the Bruins announced it's there are retiring Zadano Charra's number
spk_0
clear this season.
spk_0
Yeah, no surprise.
spk_0
Yeah, I mean, I really have nothing to say on it other than
spk_0
I've been looking at that list because until that announcement,
spk_0
Fedorov was the only guy this year.
spk_0
Feels light.
spk_0
Feels like only two.
spk_0
I'm surprised the Bruins didn't just say, oh, you know what in Bergeron too.
spk_0
I guess, you know, get two nights out of it but that's what I kind of figured.
spk_0
But maybe they're waiting till next year.
spk_0
Because after that, who else would you really retire?
spk_0
David Crachey, he's among the lead.
spk_0
He's among the leaders for them and basically every offensive category.
spk_0
I can see them eventually retire.
spk_0
Do you?
spk_0
Do the Bruins only do Hall of Famers?
spk_0
That's a great question.
spk_0
I think they're one of those teams.
spk_0
No, because like Terri O'Reilly has his number.
spk_0
Yeah, okay, so there you go.
spk_0
They have 12.
spk_0
Charra will be the 13th.
spk_0
Oh, presumably.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Sure, Hitchman or Clapper, Esposito, Neely, Busek, Schmitt.
spk_0
Middleton, O'Reilly, Bork.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
And now, Charra.
spk_0
But yeah, then you get Bergeron and, you know, next November or something like that and
spk_0
you're off and running.
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
It's fine by me.
spk_0
Certainly one of the best defensemen of my lifetime.
spk_0
Absolutely.
spk_0
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
Finally, I wanted to talk about this.
spk_0
This is so sick to me.
spk_0
The San Jose Sharks.
spk_0
This is the headline on their website.
spk_0
Sharks announced new song, perks and partnerships.
spk_0
And one of the things that you get for a partnership, I guess,
spk_0
is on opening night, fans will experience a new aroma with an SAP center,
spk_0
as the sharks introduce, quote,
spk_0
Shark Tank Sent, the official fragrance of the sharks.
spk_0
With fresh notes inspired by the Pacific and a subtle saltwater undertone,
spk_0
Shark Tank Sent will create an immersive first impression, the moment fans walk through SAP
spk_0
centers doors.
spk_0
Shark Tank Sent will be available for urges in the sharks' pro shop in the future,
spk_0
giving fans a way to bring the game day experience home.
spk_0
I'm still convinced this is a real like.
spk_0
What do you want your house to smell like a fucking like hockey rink?
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
If there's anything that we associate with wonderful smells, it's hockey.
spk_0
I'll say this.
spk_0
I hope the sharks get in touch.
spk_0
I hope they send me some Shark Tank sent candles or something like that.
spk_0
Yes.
spk_0
I'd love to smell it and report back.
spk_0
This is the thing that I don't understand.
spk_0
Inspired by the Pacific and a subtle saltwater undertone.
spk_0
The Pacific is saltwater.
spk_0
You can't say both of those things.
spk_0
Sure you can.
spk_0
So what is inspired by the Pacific then?
spk_0
This one smells like a sea lion.
spk_0
What are we doing here?
spk_0
That's right.
spk_0
It would be the sake of it then.
spk_0
Delicious and
spk_0
Well, don't eat the candles.
spk_0
This is a just fantastic way for like, my first thought
spk_0
is this is fake.
spk_0
My second thought is I'm somewhat shocked that other teams haven't
spk_0
done this before.
spk_0
Selling sense.
spk_0
Just blast people with a stench when they walk into your building and then sell them that.
spk_0
You love it.
spk_0
spk_0
spk_0
Remember that time that you're the team one and you were happy?
spk_0
I don't know if this is the ideal team to do it with but
spk_0
this will be our new Guardian project.
spk_0
That's sent for each team.
spk_0
I'm going to tell you right now listeners do not put that in as like
spk_0
the bonus episode.
spk_0
No, no, no.
spk_0
We're not doing 32 variations of oh yeah this one would be poop.
spk_0
This one smells like and then okay, we said Chicago poop.
spk_0
The penguins do do.
spk_0
Yeah, you know, I don't know that they're you know what they're probably our 32
spk_0
synonyms for poop.
spk_0
By I would pretty much guarantee.
spk_0
Is it 32 feels like a lot?
spk_0
Maybe this is a bonus episode.
spk_0
Hold on.
spk_0
The bonus episode is just me saying 32 synonyms for poop.
spk_0
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
spk_0
And like repeating them in like the pronunciation guide.
spk_0
Takah.
spk_0
All right, why don't we get out of here?
spk_0
Big applause.
spk_0
You can do some plugs.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Find me at the athletic.
spk_0
We are back tomorrow with the athletic hockey show with me and other Sean
spk_0
and Frankie Carrado is back.
spk_0
Got the lots of content going up including this morning.
spk_0
Oh, we get the annual oddly specific predictions.
spk_0
That's always a favorite.
spk_0
And if you're listening to this and it's not five o'clock yet on Tuesday,
spk_0
you still have a chance to enter the prediction contest.
spk_0
I was getting worried because the numbers were low,
spk_0
but apparently everyone just waits to the last day as if
spk_0
new information is going to break.
spk_0
So get in there now.
spk_0
Don't leave it.
spk_0
Well, Sean.
spk_0
Yeah, this is me entering the prediction contest.
spk_0
Let's go.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Do you have the questions in front of you?
spk_0
I'll get them.
spk_0
Yeah, here we go.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Are you writing this down?
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
All right, I'm done.
spk_0
I got it.
spk_0
Okay, great.
spk_0
Give me up to five teams that will definitely make the playoffs.
spk_0
You know how this works, right?
spk_0
You get up to five, but one wrong answer.
spk_0
You're out.
spk_0
You're out for that question.
spk_0
For that question.
spk_0
Now, I'm going to tell, I'm going to say this right off the hop.
spk_0
I answered the full five for every single one of these because I'm not a coward.
spk_0
Not a coward.
spk_0
So the five teams that are definitely making the playoffs,
spk_0
Caroline, a Tampa, the Rangers, Vegas, and Edmonton.
spk_0
I like the Rangers in there.
spk_0
That's the that's spicy.
spk_0
That feels like a fucker.
spk_0
That feels like a fucker.
spk_0
That's a fucking tap in for me.
spk_0
Seattle, Chicago, San Jose, Buffalo, Pittsburgh.
spk_0
Buffalo, Pittsburgh.
spk_0
spk_0
Give me up to five teams that are going to finish in the middle of the
spk_0
standings, the middle of the pack, between ninth and 24th.
spk_0
Boston Calgary, LA, Vancouver, Ottawa.
spk_0
I agree.
spk_0
LA, Vancouver, Ottawa, I think you're 15 for 15 so far.
spk_0
I agree.
spk_0
I've coached you will not be fired this year, not including any of the recent
spk_0
hires.
spk_0
Cooper, Noblock, Maurice, Huska, Brindamore.
spk_0
Noblock.
spk_0
Reese.
spk_0
Brindamore, and who is who is Ryan Huska?
spk_0
He just got a big extension.
spk_0
I feel I feel pretty good about this.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
You'll notice I also had Noblock in there for that reason.
spk_0
I did.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
GM's same question.
spk_0
Breeze, Bob, Garin, Hughes for Beak, Briere.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Up to five goalies who will start at least
spk_0
50 games this season.
spk_0
He'll buck Shesterkin, Ahtinger, Swaman, Saros.
spk_0
He'll buck Shesterkin, Swaman, Saros, and Ahtinger was the other one?
spk_0
Correct.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Five rookies who will finish in the top 10 of Calder Trophy, Balloting.
spk_0
Demidov Leonard, Snuggaroo, Nikitian, Booeyum.
spk_0
And who is the fourth one?
spk_0
Uh, Nikitian, Nikitian, from Carolina.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
The confidence you're rattling these off with.
spk_0
Five defensemen who finish in the top 10 of Norris, Balloting.
spk_0
Macar Hughes, Morrissey, Dalline, Slaven.
spk_0
And obviously Hughes's Quinn not look.
spk_0
Hmm.
spk_0
I don't know.
spk_0
Well, all right.
spk_0
I'll put a little
spk_0
cue there.
spk_0
Up to five players who will finish in the top 15 of Hard Voting.
spk_0
McDavid Kutraov, Drysidle, McKinnon Caprizov.
spk_0
No, Austin Matthews.
spk_0
That's fine.
spk_0
Do we note it?
spk_0
Five players from the NHL who will score at least one goal in the Olympics.
spk_0
Matthews, McDavid, Ikele, McKinnon, Crosby.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
And the last one, the optional bonus question.
spk_0
Which I, of course, answered due to no comment.
spk_0
Fifteen points for getting it right.
spk_0
But wipes your whole entry if you get a wrong name.
spk_0
One player who will finish with at least 45 goals who is not Austin Matthews early on Drysidle.
spk_0
Connor McDavid.
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
You know, like that's the right call there.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
spk_0
Dude, spoiler, like if anybody out there wants to absolutely copy and paste that,
spk_0
and like that's the winning entry, man, we just gave it to you.
spk_0
For free.
spk_0
There's never been a perfect score in the contest.
spk_0
I feel like it's going to happen.
spk_0
Trend in that direction, for sure.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
And then for me, EliteProspex.com, you head over there,
spk_0
you get all kinds of college hockey takes for me all season.
spk_0
NHL stuff too, obviously.
spk_0
And now's the time to get dialed in.
spk_0
We're doing more content than ever over there.
spk_0
I think I think I saw that there's an article.
spk_0
Somebody else is writing about Gavin McKenna's first two college hockey games,
spk_0
where he looked quite good for Penn State.
spk_0
I guess we didn't talk about that.
spk_0
That was such a big deal.
spk_0
The NHL put it on their YouTube channel and the NHL network,
spk_0
just kind of like announced the day before.
spk_0
And it was cool.
spk_0
He had two incredible assists
spk_0
that he made look super duper easy.
spk_0
And then the next night he had a ridiculous goal,
spk_0
as the Penn State Nitin Lian swept at Arizona State.
spk_0
It was really exciting, fun, fun, a couple of games there.
spk_0
So yeah, lots of college hockey coverage for me this year.
spk_0
And I'm very excited.
spk_0
It's going to be a good season in the NCAA.
spk_0
And then head over to patreon.com slashpok soup all kinds of bonus episodes,
spk_0
including we're about to do a mailbag.
spk_0
We're probably going to do a bonus episode this week.
spk_0
All kinds of bonus stuff over there all the time.
spk_0
Stick to sports,
spk_0
meason pod, you name it, we do it.
spk_0
So yeah, that's it.
spk_0
Thank you for listening.
spk_0
And if I can borrow a phrase from the A-W-W
spk_0
and Ring of Honor announcer Ian Rick Abon.
spk_0
He always says happy wrestling at the end of every show.
spk_0
Season starts tonight.
spk_0
Happy hockey folks.
spk_0
Happy hockey.
spk_0
This is what it's all about.
spk_0
Have a good one.
spk_0
Bye-bye.