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Week 1 Mailbag · Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast

0:00
Baby to Mount Bound Bangor Management Fantasy Hockey
0:02
podcast. Woo wee what?
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The heck was that that? That was a completely sincere
0:13
reaction. Like I caught you off guard once
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again. Ohio, what the you?
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Have once again falling for. The classic.
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Creepers have also once again curious to know if the viewers
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hate this intro or. Not I was gonna say we.
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Never says anything. We never got an answer so.
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I think somebody joined the disco recently and said they
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really love our sound effects. So listen, I'm just gonna take
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that and run with it. Let's take that massive sample
0:38
size and just say that that's everyone cuz I like our sound
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effects and I think we should be allowed to have some fun too.
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Alright, let's dive in. OK, welcome any all the banger
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management, the fantasy hockey podcast with Jake, Josh and
0:52
whatever that sound was Kevork. I'm Kevin.
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OK, so today's mail bag. Wow, can't believe the season is
1:01
already upon us. So basically you guys just
1:05
submitted questions. We're here to answer them.
1:07
I really do appreciate everyone who reached out and submitted
1:11
their questions. Before we dive in, please follow
1:13
us on Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:16
Rate is five stars. If you like what you hear, you
1:19
find the link to all the socials in the link tree and the podcast
1:21
description and be sure to follow the Discord.
1:24
Join us there. It's a really great time.
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We're going to be there all year and yeah, we're growing the
1:30
community there, which is really exciting, so we'd love to have
1:32
everybody a part of it. Kevin, why don't you give a
1:35
little brief explanation for the mail bag and then we'll dive in.
1:38
Yep. So if you were rocking with us
1:40
last year, you know that every week we upload 3 episodes.
1:44
We do a news segment where we cover all relevant, relevant
1:48
news that happened throughout the week to give you like
1:50
fantasy insight. We do a buy low, sell high,
1:52
which is a very good episode because we're always trying to
1:55
make trades. So we're talking about guys that
1:57
we want to buy on the load, guys want to sell the high, and we
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also do a waiver thought on Sundays.
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So this year we're trying to implement also mailbag episode
2:04
so we can answer your questions throughout the week as well.
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And listen, we're very active in the Discord.
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So I feel we're already answering a lot of questions
2:14
directly and personally to you guys there.
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And it's been really a lot of fun.
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Honestly. Like I have such a good time
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interacting with all of you guys.
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We can't get to all the questions on the podcast.
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So what we did was we kind of chose the ones that we thought
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would benefit the most people listening to the podcast.
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And we don't wanna leave anybody hanging.
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So if you ask a question, you know, in the Instagram DMS or
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Reddit or, you know, Twitter or Discord would probably answered
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you guys directly there. And we're going to take some of
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them and answer them here so more people can enjoy the fun.
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Perfectly put alright, let's dive into some some questions so
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Camino on Discord asked how aggressive are you on waiver
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wire moves in weeks 1 and 2 So obviously some context here in
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general is weeks one until you just drafted your team it's like
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a brand new baby and you have no idea what you have in front of
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you right I mean you should have some idea, but if.
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You're listening to this podcast, you know you've had
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some good stuff. Yeah, exactly.
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But in general, you know, you've got your things, you took some
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chances on whatever and you kind of want to see it play out, but
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at the same time you got to be optimizing every week.
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So that's that's kind of the contents of the question.
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So what do you guys think? So to me there is a fine line.
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Honestly, between weeks one and two I picked up David Tomaszek
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and Daniela Yarov. There's a decent chance in one
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year from now I forget about who they are.
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I don't know, like a week. From now, yeah.
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Actually, though, I, I mean, I, the only rando that I remembered
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picking up distinctly being super high up on was Nikita
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Gusev, who only because I was really convinced he was gonna be
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outside beauty and he was, he was not.
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He's back in the KHL now. So like I, I would say that
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after week one, there could be some guys coming around who
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you're going to have on your radar be like, OK, they could be
4:12
the real deal. Now as far as aggressive goes.
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That could be in terms of FAB and that could be in terms of
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waiver priority. Those are pretty much the two
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ways that things go. I would say that by the end of
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Week 1, I would go, let's just say fabs because it's easier to
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contextualize. I would be willing to put 30% of
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my FAB on someone who is really picking up because the risk
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reward is. There I also don't think they
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necessarily mean just that way though.
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There's also the fact of like how, how willing are you to give
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up on someone you drafted? Like how easily are you willing
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to drop someone? And let's say someone has one
4:47
good game, How willing telling you to grab them and hope that
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it's a season long thing? Or do you wait, be a bit more
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patient, see if they can repeat it for 2-3 games and hope no one
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else grabs them? So, so my answer, and I answered
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Camino directly in the Discord, so he knows what I'm about to
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say. But if you're listening, shout
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out. But for everybody else, I
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honestly think early in the season.
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So, you know, he said weeks one to two.
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I would even go weeks one to four, let's say like after a
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month of the season is when you should be the most aggressive on
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the waiver wire. And that's just because, you
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know, when the drafts are happening, we're all playing
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with the same information and projections on these players,
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right? Like, we don't actually know
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necessarily who's going to be good, who's going to be bad.
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Like we all thought Nashville was gonna be good last year and
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ended up sucking, right? So things can happen and things
5:32
change and we have to adapt quickly.
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And the beginning of the season is when you need to take
5:36
advantage of this because there's going to be guys on the
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waiver wire who were not projected to have the deployment
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they're going to end up getting. So, you know, if there's a
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breakout candidate, you don't want to miss out on him.
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And it's when there's I would say that the most volatility in
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terms of who's on the waiver wire later into the season, when
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you're like week 10 or 11, most of the guys that are worth
5:55
rostering are already on rosters at that point, right?
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So you're kind of like using the waiver wire more as a streaming
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basis where schedules or certain categories.
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But there's not really gonna be those like breakouts unless, you
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know, somebody gets brought up from the minors or whatnot,
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right? So early in the season is when
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you have the opportunity to capitalize on those, you know,
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breakout players who nobody expected to be good but ends up
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being stuffed like the Marchenko is like the quote UN quote
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Galloways. I know that didn't happen last
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year, but I'm just. Like for example X.
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Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't go that far, but.
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But the surprise guy that you know, ends up being lined 1P1 on
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the team when nobody expected it.
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Like, you don't wanna be like, OK, I'm gonna take my chance.
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I don't buy into it. Like if you're worth taking, if
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you're willing to take the risk, that's the time to do it.
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Yeah, I does on that. I fully agree with that.
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If you're into finance, I would say that the early in the season
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is the highest rate of arbitrage opportunities.
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That's essentially when the market, OK, the the league
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hasn't priced in the value of all the players correctly and
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there's an opportunity to take a shot someone who's valued way
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more and should never be in free agent in the 1st place.
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So definitely, as Kevin said, like when you get later in the
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season, everything kind of gets priced in.
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You kind of know what you're dealing with.
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Obviously things can happen, injuries, trades, whatever, and
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that's when new guys will pop up a value on the waiver wire.
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But for the most part, later on this season, there's less value.
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One thing I like to do right off the bat and the season is have a
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top three guys you're willing to drop on your team, like written
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out in front of you. Look at who's who has, you know,
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who did you take? It's oftentimes the last three
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guys you took the draft, but not necessarily.
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Sometimes it'll be guys you kind of took a shot one and it's not
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looking like it's gonna pan out or you're willing to miss out on
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it if it's because it's not that high upside stuff like that.
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So first immediately have guys in your head that like if
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someone good pops up, you know who you're dropping.
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So you don't have to waste anytime on that part of it.
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And then the two things I like to look for in early weeks 1 is
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deployment. So if a guy has an amazing game,
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like we mentioned Brazo on another episode, just put up two
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goals, right? I'm not I'm not expecting this
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guy to get any, you know, much goals this season.
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I'm not expecting a point guy, right.
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So if there's deployment tied to it, if you got power play 1 and
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then put up two goals and then I'm like, OK, this is a serious
8:01
deal. If there's no deployment
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attachment, had one off good game, then I'm not as excited.
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But the second thing I look at is the back cats.
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And that's a big one because that one is I think the hardest
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to project for a lot for a lot of guys, especially the younger
8:14
new guys and. Leak back cats, for those who
8:16
are not familiar, are like in early, we call them back because
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they just happen to be on the backside of the category, but
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it's just like the banger category.
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So we're talking about hits, blocks like face off wins, shots
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like those are kind of like the quote UN quote penalty tests
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that we reference. Yeah.
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Exactly. So pretty much I like to, you
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know, throughout the first couple weeks, you look at season
8:36
average and you sort, you know, by highest, the lowest in each
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of those categories and you could see if anyone's been kind
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of performing crazy. Well, I'm not gonna grab a guy
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who's just like, let's say he's a double, double putting up no
8:46
points, then whatever. You can find that on the way
8:48
right throughout the year. But if a guy putting up eight
8:50
hits, you know, let's say a league of super shallow and
8:52
someone hasn't heard about Will Cooley, you know, he puts up
8:54
eight hits game one, That's someone who either you pick him
8:57
up or he's at least on your watchlist right off the bat.
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And so that's kind of like the two kind of types of players
9:02
that I look for picking up is guys who can surprise in the
9:04
back hats or guys who might get surprisingly good deployment and
9:06
then become a points guy. And honestly, the other side of
9:09
the coin with a question like this is you have to be ready to
9:12
pick up these guys when you see them on waivers early on in the
9:14
season. We're saying like, you know, be
9:15
willing to be aggressive early on.
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That's when it's the best time to be aggressive.
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But you also have to know who to drop and like how long to wait
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because that's the other side of it.
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You're adding a player. You gotta cut a player.
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Last season after week 1, I cut Neil Pyong, who ended up being
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like, I wasn't in my head. Neil Pionk was, he's like a more
9:32
banger oriented defenseman who will get you some banger
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categories and not necessarily a high points defenseman.
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And then last season I dropped him and he ended up being like a
9:42
top five defenseman for the first two months of the season.
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And I kind of regretted it. But like that's I, I would do it
9:47
again if if it happened this year, you know, so you always
9:49
have to know who you're willing to drop and when to cut bait.
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If somebody is getting lesser deployment, like you drafted and
9:56
expected to be line 1P1 and they're like line 2P2, like
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that's a visible connection that you can make between what you're
10:03
drafted them and what their real value is ended up going to be.
10:07
I would cut beta Maguy like that as opposed to somebody, a
10:10
starter you drafted who had one bad game and you're like, oh,
10:14
rethinking everything, you know? Yeah, 100%.
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Yeah. Alright, we move on to.
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The next one, yes. Alright JVDO 308 on Reddit asked
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one of our big fans from last year.
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He asked in a bangers cats league with Pimm's hits, blocks,
10:29
face off wins. So very similar to our league.
10:31
Someone offered me niches for Holloway.
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Should I take Natus and? You should take.
10:36
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yes. OK, but there's probably shots
10:41
too, right? Yeah, I think that's assuming.
10:44
You like the banger categories? Yeah, just mentioning the ones
10:47
that might not be in every. Yes, yes.
10:48
Like absolutely yes, they're they're I, I don't know why he
10:52
offered this to you. It sounds a little SUS but.
10:55
Maybe if the guys are listening to the podcast, yeah, my opinion
10:58
more than Jakey. So he's like he's had nachos.
11:01
But Josh is high on Holloway. So no, no, but it's it's natures
11:03
all the way and listen. We're we're super high on the
11:05
hallway, don't get us wrong, but that doesn't mean that we're
11:08
taking him like in the first round or, you know, highlight
11:11
that right when somebody's offering you around 3 pick like
11:14
you got to take the points upside there.
11:16
Yeah, for sure. I imagine that nature would have
11:19
gone a little lower in the league, so probably would have
11:21
like around 5:00 versus around 8:00 pick if this is actually
11:24
though a true one for one night. Just all the way 100%.
11:26
Yep, and this is the bad part about doing a mail back episode
11:30
like this where we have to record like a few days after we
11:32
collect the answers because these trade questions, like I
11:35
love answering them and they're so fun.
11:36
But I really hope you were able to get that deal done before you
11:38
listen. To this podcast, yeah.
11:40
And that's why he's gotta hop into the Discord because if
11:43
there's any time sensitive ones, we'll respond right away and
11:45
then we'll see if you know, we'll save the ones that are
11:48
more less time sensitive than doing the mailbag episode.
11:52
JVC, please let us know if you pull that trade off.
11:54
I would love to hear that. Yeah.
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And how you plan to celebrate when you win the league.
11:59
Yeah, exactly. Let's go to the.
12:02
Cross league trade of nature to Jakey, Yeah.
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And you'll get Holloway back. Yeah, exactly.
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It's a great, great if you can get it some unbelievable.
12:13
Trade. Yeah.
12:15
All right. Zabraks 90 on Reddit asked in a
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Bangers points league, their hits are worth half what blocks
12:22
and shots were worth. So that was just something I
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figured was worth noting. His my Dr. Wigger, Dobson,
12:28
Nurse, Letang Wallman. Should I drop any of them for
12:31
any of these available guys? Sanheim, Matheson, Perec, Faber,
12:34
Rinzel. OK, so to me, the name that
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jumps out on the free agent guys is Rinzel.
12:41
I don't know about you guys, but.
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That's the only thing that's. That's yeah, that's exactly.
12:45
And then I think the worst of the defensemen is probably
12:48
Wallman. I don't know I I would stick
12:52
with. Who I would drop?
12:53
Wallman. Frenzel.
12:55
Yeah, absolutely I would. Probably also draw Dobson for
12:58
Rizzo. Yeah.
13:00
No, I will not draw Dobson here with heads being half and shots
13:04
and and blocks being decent. I know it's really a hits guy
13:08
and he can. Block.
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I'll put up four blocks in his first game.
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No, but I mean Dobson. I think it might be a bit much,
13:14
but for me, Wallman Forenza, no-brainer.
13:16
Oryza power play quarterback. Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, look, I still I still probably would do it.
13:22
It just a bit more scary because Dobson, I feel like it's just.
13:25
Has a lot of light. Around him also like it's
13:27
looking like the Habs might have a really solid power play too.
13:30
So I think Dobson may be. Under nonsense, but I will try
13:36
to get on your roster that's. The thing, yeah, while I'm in
13:38
for Rinzel, I think of these data drop and pick up, that's
13:41
the move. Would you rather Dobson or
13:43
later? That's tough.
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I would probably drop Lang over Dobson.
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Even though the tanks the second defenseman on that part P1.
13:51
I just don't trust that to stick.
13:52
I think Rust is gonna come back and he can take that spot.
13:56
And also if the Habs have this P2 like you're happy with.
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Dobson, like on TV 2, is for the Habs right now.
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Includes Dobson, Demidov and Line.
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Yeah, that could be a P1 on a lot of teams, I feel like.
14:09
True. Yeah, true.
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So I wouldn't, I wouldn't write him off just like that, but
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while I'm inside I think is an easy.
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Affair. Alright, made Rav on Reddit
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asked what backup goalies might steal some starts this year and
14:22
are worth a stash. He has an eye on Ingram in
14:25
Edmonton. So I think we're looking for
14:27
real, real deep cuts here and don't think Archer Sheloves is a
14:29
secret anymore now at the time of.
14:31
This he would have been a perfect answer for this.
14:33
I know he would have been a perfect dancer.
14:35
So who are backup goalies that can steal some starts?
14:37
I have a lot of good names on the top of my head.
14:40
I just did it. With us your entire watch list.
14:43
No, but so obviously, you know, if the goal is a backup, he's at
14:47
least playing the back to backs, right?
14:49
So you're trying to think of goalies who have upside besides
14:52
just playing back-to-back starts.
14:54
My mind goes to those 5050 split goalies.
14:57
And also the goal is to have immense upside if the starter
15:00
goes down. So the names that I have on my
15:03
watchlist, I mean, Wedgewood is the perfect answer to this,
15:07
right? Because Blackwood, first of all,
15:09
has an injury history. He had surgery last May and he's
15:13
not healthy currently 100. It hasn't started this season.
15:16
And Wedgewood has had the the praise sung out of him over the
15:21
whole preseason. And then he comes in game one
15:23
and he kills it and, and robs A robs the LA Kings like so many
15:28
times. So that's the type of name
15:30
you're kind of looking for. The other names I had, I mean, I
15:33
just did a 20 man draft that went like 25 rounds deep.
15:38
So the guys on waivers in that league are like 0% owned.
15:41
So I kind of had to like put pieces together and goalies and
15:44
my goalies are there. She loves I also went Levi
15:48
Marilyn, who I think is one of the sneaky good values this year
15:52
because almost also has a squishy history right and Ottawa
15:56
is supposed to be a team that can be realistically a top two
15:59
or three team in this division. Now I'm looking for that and I
16:04
also like I was going to say, like, do you think there's any
16:08
chance that the cord, you know, is not necessarily the
16:13
juggernaut starter on that team and kind of splits?
16:16
I'm not to be biased but I'm pretty sure I saw the coach say
16:20
like completely decorated is our starter.
16:22
OK, yeah. So that would have been another
16:24
name that I'm like. What about Columbus?
16:27
I mean, I feel like Jack Reeves already.
16:29
That's a 5050. Start.
16:31
He's hyped more than merely kins at this point, but I like that
16:35
as. A curious for both of those
16:36
guys. Yeah, yeah.
16:38
I like Joel Hofer on Saint Louis.
16:41
He's been good when he had the opportunity, and Bennington's
16:43
been notoriously inconsistent. But I feel like even when
16:47
Bennington was kind of garbage last year, he was still getting
16:49
the lion share of the starts. So I think it would take an
16:51
injury for Hofer to get to starts, but it's definitely
16:54
something to look at. But wait, the whole thing here
16:56
is like may steal some starts like this could happen.
16:59
Like I wouldn't be surprised if it's like a high end of a tube
17:02
right before like A1V level. Tier I have two glaring names to
17:06
add to this list and I think that there are also amazing
17:09
picks and it's 1 is we saw it last year.
17:11
Kevin Lankinen Demco, not only is he hurt, but lengthening got
17:16
paid because he held down the Fort.
17:17
All Demko was out and is he realistically like I would not
17:21
be surprised if you told me like Lincoln and performed better
17:23
than them at this point. Demco has had so many injuries
17:25
in his career. Is he the same the same guy Like
17:28
we have yet to see that. So that one a lot.
17:31
Definitely high on Lincoln. Like in my 0G team, Sorry I
17:35
can't articulate anymore. And my teams, like LinkedIn is a
17:39
name that I'm always considering because I feel like he has a lot
17:41
of upside. And the other name that I don't
17:43
know if this is a surprise, but Charlie Lindgren.
17:46
Charlie Lindgren. Of the Washington Capitals,
17:48
yeah. I I saw the coach mention, you
17:51
know, that they're not necessarily decide on how they
17:53
want to split their goaltending tandem this year.
17:56
We've seen Lingren be solid in, in stretches Last season, Logan
17:59
Thompson, like, yeah, he was elite for a large part and he
18:02
kind of fell off near the end of the season.
18:04
I would not be surprised if Lingren is just in better form
18:06
and they roll with him at some point.
18:07
I don't think Thompson is like cemented in that in that spot.
18:11
I agree with that. And then another name, Calvin
18:13
Pickard. I know you know, Kevin, you're a
18:15
big. Colouring, right?
18:16
Yeah, I love Pickard. He's the king of the locker room
18:19
and Stuart Mustache anymore. So.
18:21
Yeah, no mustache and that definitely worries me so, so
18:26
yeah, those I think. Are awesome great Jake Collins,
18:28
Jake Allen too. Yeah, Markstrom was injured a
18:31
bit last year, and Allen. Allen was solid.
18:33
So that I see more of the injury handcuffed though.
18:35
Yeah, that's fair. But steal some stars here is you
18:38
mean like a chance to really overtake it?
18:40
Like is that how you guys would interpret?
18:42
It I don't see the results. Mean starting non back to backs
18:45
that where the goalie isn't injured.
18:48
So like it doesn't mean it doesn't mean fully overtaken,
18:51
but it means like might get some games he like some games that
18:54
aren't the classic backup games. I really like hover there
18:57
honestly. OK.
18:58
Interesting, I was actually I was just looking at the Habs
19:01
roster on a website that shows rosters and they have the second
19:06
penalty killer unit. They have Jackye Carrier, New
19:10
Hook and Capo Kakanin, so he's probably not.
19:16
So what I was gonna say was Dobesh, I'm more curious as to
19:21
why Jacqueline is playing forwards.
19:24
So anyway. We have one goal, he's good,
19:28
then two goalies either. 11 Last thing I want to mention, I just
19:32
want to see what you guys think. But like, yeah, I'm Talbot.
19:36
Like, do you think John Gibson there is like 60 stars John
19:39
Gibson, or is Talbot like Talbots not young either, right?
19:42
So I think Talbot is a very good name to throw out there because
19:45
he struggles. Then he could definitely take
19:47
some starts we. Gave a lot of names.
19:49
Can we just say like the top three we would say?
19:52
OK, I mean. She loves if you still
19:54
available. Yes, he's the starter at this
19:56
point, it feels. Like, honestly, he's the
19:58
starter. I'd be surprised he's available,
19:59
but he's a top one. Obviously, let's not overreact
20:01
too much to one shot out, but I think he's straight up the
20:03
starter because Jerry's awful. I don't think that's gonna be
20:05
good. Lincoln, I think, has got to be
20:07
a top one. That's to me, I think is a
20:10
clear, I think that could that's honestly a 5050 to me.
20:12
Yeah, I. Think for me it's the Columbus
20:14
goalie and the Vancouver goalie. So yeah, 1 of Jed, Grieves,
20:17
Armers, Lykins. If one of them is available, I'd
20:19
be in on that and and Lincoln in.
20:23
Yeah alright, I think that was pretty pretty good let's go on
20:27
to the to the next one. We've got D GST on Reddit asked
20:32
what are your thoughts on Nikishin this year, which is
20:34
interesting because Jake drafted him and I had drafted
20:37
Gostisbehere. So a lot of a lot of vested
20:40
interests here. I think that bangers he's going
20:44
to be he's got a very good bangers floor right.
20:46
So like Jake if. You.
20:48
Was it just his or does he block as well?
20:51
I think we'll have to wait and see.
20:52
I'm not sure. I looked at his stats and shall
20:55
I think he he can do both, but obviously who knows how that's
20:58
going to translate to the NHL. I think he could be solid for
21:01
bangers, which is why I didn't hate the pick from Jakey,
21:03
because when you have that floor, it's not a guy that you
21:06
have to drop. You know, we've got those guys
21:07
that are like you want them to take over power play one, but
21:10
they're also garbage at back cats.
21:11
Like in terms of defensemen, you hate holding them until you
21:14
can't even hold them until their play one.
21:16
But if they have the back cats, then it's just only upside from
21:18
there. So I like his his floor on
21:20
there. I still am very hesitant to
21:23
think that Ghost is going to lose his spot, but it's all
21:25
going to depend on how they form.
21:27
I think if they perform poorly on the power play then Nikishin
21:30
definitely could take that spot, but if they're good then I don't
21:33
see him getting. It I have some strong thoughts,
21:35
but I wanted you to go first. Yeah, I'm not optimistic that
21:39
he's going to be power play one. I picked him because I just,
21:44
there's so much hype around him being a really good player,
21:48
actual NHL player. And that's the type of thing
21:51
that can translate to fantasy, especially for Bangor category
21:54
leagues. I really, I mean, I spoke about
21:58
it on the last episode, but essentially on the draft
22:01
episode. But the blocks to me are not
22:04
really something I'm considering too, too much this year.
22:06
The shots combo I expect is going to be good and he's like a
22:09
big dude 64215 you know he's a. Cheeky as such a size.
22:13
Clean class, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I almost said it
22:17
just so you. Guys would call me back.
22:20
But I'm optimistic about it and if he does get that power Play
22:25
1, I think it could be really fun, even though that could last
22:28
a day and then not be a thing the next day because it's a raw
22:31
team. So we'll see.
22:33
Kevin, what are your very strong thoughts?
22:35
I mean, my strong thoughts is I feel like throughout the whole
22:38
offseason, I've just kind of like cooled off completely on
22:41
the Keisha. And I have honestly, right now I
22:43
have 0 interest in the question. Sorry, Jake, I don't wanna.
22:47
Write you wouldn't pick him up on.
22:48
Waivers. I would not pick him up on
22:49
waivers. Geez.
22:51
He'd be on my watch list though, so at least there's that.
22:55
But right. Now.
22:57
He's on, so we're talking about him being a banger guy, right?
23:02
So he's good for bangers, which usually includes hits, blocks.
23:06
If you just want hits better guys, you can pick up the
23:08
Nikishin, right? So he's gotta be doing more than
23:10
that for him to be valuable, first of all.
23:13
And second of all, how many bangers can we expect when he's
23:16
playing line three with spear and has zero special team
23:19
exposure? He's on any of the power plays,
23:21
he's not on any of the penalty kills.
23:22
So what can we realistically expect?
23:25
Like that's a defence that's be paying less than 18 minutes a
23:27
night right now. I I would not want that on my
23:30
roster. We spoke about this in the
23:32
offseason. We were talking about the top
23:34
signings. Like they, they paid a lot of
23:35
money to Kendra Miller. Like, yeah, he's a guy that, you
23:38
know, realistically has some offensive capabilities.
23:41
I'm not saying he's a power play quarterback.
23:42
They have goes for that. But he's gonna be on the second
23:44
unit. And I feel like it's just going
23:46
to be honestly monitored deployment, right?
23:48
If Nikisha starts playing more and gets exposed to P2PP1, I'm
23:51
obviously more interested than I am now, but it's not a guy that
23:54
I really wanted my roster while it's not happening.
23:56
So I'm leaving him on waivers. And Josh even said like he's
24:01
yeah, he drafted gossiper so late and he's kind of like out
24:05
on Elers because he doesn't think this power is going to be
24:07
good anyway. So, you know, is the power going
24:10
to be better when a power play specialist is not on the power
24:12
play anymore? And you put a rookie there on a
24:15
PowerPoint was already 20th in the league last season.
24:17
Like that's why I just kind of feel there's just so many signs
24:20
and it's not lining up right now.
24:22
Like he's on my watch list and that's if he starts putting up
24:24
easy bangers that I'm interested, but I don't want my
24:26
roster right now. Yeah, I I agree with all that.
24:30
Honestly, I'm gonna wait. Waiting to wake up tomorrow to
24:32
see Jackie having dropped. The the the defensive pairing
24:37
and the the power play situation doesn't really make like I'm not
24:41
putting too much. This doesn't inspire joy.
24:46
Like it doesn't change. Your opinion?
24:47
I'm not worried at all. I also think he's gonna get
24:49
like, I think the defensive lines mean nothing really to me.
24:55
It's been more than a defensive pairing with Jacob Slavin and
24:59
then. I just don't.
25:01
Think pairing with 100 million. I think the only.
25:03
Time stay with glasses. Beer.
25:05
No, the only time that defensive lines actually do matter is for
25:09
a bangers defenseman, because for a bangers defenseman, all I
25:12
care about is how much ice time they're getting.
25:13
It gives them more time to hit and block.
25:15
So in that case I see it. But in your bet, you're saying
25:18
where it's not necessarily gonna stick, where if he gets.
25:21
More, and I said that too, like obviously you monitor the
25:23
situation. If you start playing like over
25:25
20 minutes a night then I'm way more interested in him being 16
25:27
minutes a night. Yeah, offensive line pairings
25:30
make a big difference because like there's like a lot of
25:32
chemistry that has to be involved there.
25:34
Whereas with defenseman, it's just kind of like I see them
25:36
shuffled all the time. Yeah, people like double
25:38
defenseman, double shift all the time.
25:41
No idea if he could carry like a load of playing 22 plus minutes
25:44
a night. I'm not there yet with him.
25:47
But I, I think, I think you should definitely be rostered
25:51
for the upside, I would say. I think it depends.
25:53
How that low? Absolutely, yes if you have a
25:57
shallow league. But if you're in a deeply like
25:59
ours, like he has to be on someone's name like he's on
26:02
mine, I'm not overly excited, but I think it.
26:05
Gives if you're looking for a banger, I'd rather have like a
26:06
Connor Murphy at Jake McCabe, like I'd rather have those guys.
26:09
And if you're looking for someone points upside like give
26:12
me like Jamie Drysdale or Klingberg or something.
26:15
Fair, but what's cool about him is that he could maybe do both.
26:18
We just don't know. That's why.
26:20
Like all those? Well.
26:22
But then you're holding him on your roster when he's not giving
26:24
you any production until you're hoping that.
26:27
Yeah, I'm I'm happy to give him five games as your goes.
26:29
There's nothing for my rest week.
26:32
Yes, I'll give him to the end of Week 2 if he's literally not
26:35
doing anything like Sayonara, but I I would expect him to to
26:38
put up decent production. Over like if you have, if you
26:41
have the roster spots like JK, I feel like you already have you
26:43
have a couple other guys that you could drop over him so so
26:46
you're not like. You're not David Thomas.
26:48
Yeah, you're not dying for a streamer spot.
26:51
If you're not dying for a streamer spot and he's on your
26:53
team, OK, give him a week or two and see what he can do.
26:55
But if he's like the worst guy on your team and you wanna
26:58
stream, I would not feel bad dropping him at all.
27:01
Yeah, he the the short answer for me is the probability of him
27:05
succeeding in both points and bangers makes him an undeniable
27:10
person to roster now. And when does the?
27:11
Potential, yeah. When it's baked into the cake
27:14
that he just can't do it, then OK, no problem dropping him.
27:17
But he has a lot of hype around him.
27:20
He look at his KHL stats and size of course and he's looking
27:22
good. So.
27:24
So we'll see how things shake out.
27:25
It's gonna last one. All right, last question for our
27:28
mail bag. This week, Armchair GM podcast
27:30
on Reddit asked what's a realistic amount of points for
27:33
Morgan Riley this year. I know that Kevin has Morgan
27:37
Riley, so he's gonna say like a million.
27:40
Happy to have Warrior Rally on my roster.
27:42
Got him in like the 15th round this season and.
27:44
Yeah. Power play on probably one on
27:46
Toronto now that Mariners gone. So I feel just like a minimum,
27:50
right? Like last year he played 82
27:52
games, he got 41 points like that.
27:54
I feel like it's the floor with he wasn't even on P1.
27:57
I think a realistic outcome is probably like between 50 to 60,
28:02
like 60. 5 I had it. I feel like it was realistic.
28:06
Could be more though, if this power play could be elite again.
28:10
Like yeah, they have no Marner, but Matthews is still there.
28:13
And yeah, I mean to be a password more, not a not a
28:15
scorer. They've still got elite talent
28:17
on the power play, you can't deny that.
28:19
It got way worse cuz switch swapping out Mariner for Riley
28:24
is just a huge downgrade but who knows how nice is gonna gonna
28:28
react on that power play as well.
28:29
Matthews is still amazing obviously and then Neulander
28:32
Antivirus are both sick so it's a good power play to be on.
28:35
I don't think his spot is locked up.
28:37
I think Ethan Larson could easily get it, so that's one
28:40
thing to consider, but I think last year was his floor because
28:44
how can it get worse when he already didn't have the
28:45
deployment last year? So so yeah, definitely agree.
28:49
I see him as like a 50.55 point guy and it's like it's fine for
28:54
you got him super late. He has the upside and he can
28:57
chip in some points and power play points.
28:58
So he's definitely fine to roster, but it's not like I'm
29:01
dying to roster him either. Like would you prefer Riley or
29:03
Gosta Spare? I mean, I dropped Riley over
29:07
gossip spare. Yeah.
29:08
But now like looking back, like not that either of them are
29:10
particularly exciting, right? But but being objective.
29:14
I think I'd take the chance on Riley because I think Toronto
29:16
will have a way higher chance of being a more elite power play
29:19
than Carolina. So just give me the chance like
29:22
neither or like breaking the bank on my team type of thing.
29:25
So like if I end up having to cut bait, I cut bait and I don't
29:28
feel too bad about it. But give me the upside about
29:30
like Riley actually contributing on this power play we saw two
29:33
years ago. He dropped 58 points and 72
29:35
games. Like that's actually like that
29:37
was two years ago. That's obviously like he played
29:40
82 games, he got 41 points, so that's pretty bad.
29:42
But he was bumped off the power play.
29:44
So we saw it before that it could work.
29:46
He's also like the highest paid defenseman on this team.
29:48
Like he's paid to be the number one defenseman.
29:50
Like he's going to be given the opportunity to be the number one
29:52
defenseman and have those duties.
29:54
But like we he might just suck. So if he gets bumped off, I'm
29:58
cutting bait and that's it. All right, Kevin, what I'd like
30:01
you to do now is go over to the Beer Bets tab and see what just
30:06
happened. I read it out loud.
30:08
You make your bed. I think he might have placed the
30:11
two of us into one. Where, Oh my God, where am I
30:15
scrolling to? OK, I'll read it.
30:18
October 8th, 2025 Jake vets Kevin that Nikishin gets more
30:23
points than Morgan Riley this year, Kevin says.
30:25
Really. No way you.
30:26
Actually an insane. But just happened.
30:30
OK, you actually have to drink your beers this year.
30:33
You actually Because you can't get away making crazy vets like
30:36
this if you're not gonna back it up with the.
30:37
Beers so it's not crazy OK you'll.
30:41
See, if I was invited on this one, I would 100% choose Morgan
30:44
Belly. Button ignited so I'm not
30:46
risking 2 beers. Yeah, I was gonna say for all
30:49
the new the new listeners out there, like if you're really
30:51
confused about what just happened, we have this thing
30:54
that we do on the podcast where we call beer bets.
30:56
So if we complete disagree on a take on, let's say a player on a
31:00
points threshold or whatever, like I think this player is
31:02
better than this player will make a beer bet where we bet one
31:05
beer and at the end of the season we killed them all up.
31:07
And whoever was right, the other person has to drink a beer.
31:10
So. And then we make an episode
31:11
about where we go through all the bets and we drink the beers
31:14
that we need to drink. And last year, I think Josh and
31:17
I both lost four beds so we had to drink 4 beers.
31:19
Jakey lost what was it, 6 or seven?
31:22
Yeah, dry. He drink less beer than us
31:23
because. He chickened out.
31:26
So this year he's promised us that he won't and he's but he's
31:30
got to earn, he's got to earn our trust back.
31:31
So we'll see. We'll see what happens.
31:34
Just like this, but listen. I'll take no by drinking the
31:37
beers after making bets like this.
31:39
This is. This is not points per game,
31:41
this is total points. Kneecap rightly in the parking
31:46
lot. I just like it.
31:53
Like send out there to HL now or something.
31:57
Kevin, Kevin, Kevin's gonna get sent down to the H and then
32:00
Jake's gonna be like, I never specified which league.
32:04
Like we read that in in the NHL. I will actually include, well,
32:11
actually do that. No, I either Riley's gonna get
32:14
injured by by something that has nothing to do with.
32:16
Me. I'm like, if you saw his face,
32:20
you would not believe anything you say, right?
32:21
Yeah. He's got a voodoo doll, like
32:24
right in his room. No, no.
32:26
OK, all kidding aside, no, no kneecapping.
32:29
However, Riley does have an injury history, and Nikisha's an
32:32
absolute beast, so you'll see. It's gonna be great.
32:34
How tall is Nikisha again? 64216.
32:38
Oh my God, classic passive stuff.
32:42
All right, let's let's wrap it up before JQ threatens anyone
32:46
else's kneecaps. That did not happen.
32:50
I didn't say that. Alright, thanks to everybody for
32:53
listening. If you enjoyed the show, follow
32:55
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33:19
Join the Discord Radius five stars, baby.
33:21
Woo woo I. Didn't know you were a lot of
33:24
say stuff between the woos. I make my own rules.
33:27
Oh my God. Morgan Riley's like 6-1.
33:31
You guys are. You guys are crazy.
33:34
Short for you, Ice Queen.