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Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Update + NHL Draft Lottery | Fantasy Hockey Podcast · Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast

• 0:00
  Bit about Bound Bangor management fantasy hockey
• 0:02
  podcast. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 0:07
  Nice welcome in one and all from far and wide to Bangor
• 0:11
  Management, The Fantasy Hockey Podcast.
• 0:13
  Gentlemen, how are you doing today?
• 0:16
  Feeling pretty good after a nice win last night for the boys.
• 0:20
  Yes, yes, it's been a, it's been a while.
• 0:22
  It's here so far. I mean, I'm, I'm in high
• 0:26
  spirits. I had feels like what was the
• 0:29
  best Sunday, Mother's Day, Habs Day, all three, all, all three
• 0:36
  combined. It's just hard to be in a bad
• 0:38
  mood after that happens when like that, you know, I don't
• 0:40
  know. Yeah.
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  Yeah. So we're gonna be going over
• 0:44
  around 2 of the series, one of which is done already, one of
• 0:47
  the matchups pretty crazy. So before we dive in, follow us
• 0:53
  on Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcasts,
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  we are there. All the socials are in the
• 0:57
  podcast subscription and the link to the Discord is there as
• 1:00
  well. Be sure to join the Discord
• 1:02
  community. If you're watching on YouTube,
• 1:03
  give this video a like and subscribe to the channel so.
• 1:08
  If you're watching on YouTube, this is not wine, this is just
• 1:11
  water with some. I think it's like sugar plate.
• 1:15
  Yeah, like sugar free like grenadine thing.
• 1:17
  I pull it all lemon in there cuz my girlfriend's the best.
• 1:23
  You look like you're a Sex in the City extra.
• 1:26
  Yeah, I am. What are the odds this is my
• 1:32
  little sweet, my sweet treat drink?
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  You know, little sweet drink you put in a wine glass.
• 1:35
  Everything tastes better than wine glass.
• 1:37
  That's it. It looks really good.
• 1:40
  Yeah, I've got one. Where is human there too?
• 1:44
  Did you did you say? I wasn't sure.
• 1:46
  Never mind. OK.
• 1:49
  I heard Josh say bleep. It looks really good.
• 1:53
  I don't think you said. The bar has heard OK OK.
• 1:56
  Oh man, so. They get me in trouble.
• 1:59
  Yeah, seriously. My bad.
• 2:02
  My bad. OK, So, yeah, lots of hockey.
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  Where do we begin? We begin with the West.
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  We begin. Alright, what do?
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  You go. Let's start with Carolina.
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  Looks like it feels like one. Done basically.
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  OK, so Carolina Hurricanes sweep the Philadelphia Flyers for
• 2:16
  nothing. I mean two games in overtime, so
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  give Flyers some credit there. It wasn't like a complete, you
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  know, easy sweep, although any sweep is a sweep.
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  Carolina first team since the Oilers in 1985 to start a
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  playoffs 8 and O I'm feeling I feel like they're pretty scary
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  this year. I know they make it to the
• 2:35
  conference finals every year and we kind of like to meme like,
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  oh, they never, they always get swept in the conference finals.
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  But maybe it's the two sweeps, I don't know.
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  But this year feels a bit different for Carolina.
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  Gretzky, Stan. Koban him crazy stuff.
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  I think they're a good team, but I don't, I'm not scared of them
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  more than I am on any of the previous five years type of
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  thing where they've been in the same situation, just with a
• 3:02
  couple more games played. I just feel like they played
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  like 2 of the quote UN quote weaker teams of the playoffs.
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  And I'm not, I'm not taking any like credit away from them.
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  Like they are a fantastic team. But I do feel like if you're
• 3:13
  putting up like the competition that they had compared to some
• 3:16
  of the other matchups we've had in like the early rounds, I'm
• 3:19
  not surprised that they were like heavily favored going into
• 3:22
  those and that they ended up just taking care of business.
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  There were some close games. The fact you don't lose even one
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  game is an impressive feat nonetheless.
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  But it just still goes to show that like they would lose a game
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  against Tampa or Montreal. Why did those two teams played
• 3:35
  each other in the first round? So I'm like, I'm like, I'm
• 3:38
  impressed, but not too impressed.
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  I feel like these are conference final.
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  They're gonna have a lot of time off.
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  They'll be playing one of these hot teams coming out of the
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  other side of the East. And I think they'll have a good
• 3:47
  run for their money at that point.
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  But definitely a strong team. Like we predicted them to get
• 3:50
  here and they're here. Yeah, I mean, where do you where
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  do you stand in the argument of well rested versus fresh and
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  more, you know, like played recently?
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  Because obviously the way it stands now, assuming the Habs
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  and Sabre series goes to seven, Carolina will have had almost
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  two weeks of rest before they play the conference finals,
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  whereas the other team will probably have two days of rest.
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  So at what point is it always one versus the I like, do you
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  prefer to be the rest of team? Do you prefer to be the more
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  fresh team? Is there a certain amount of
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  time where your opinion changes? Like what do you guys think?
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  If it's the Hobbs and it goes to seven, that means that Carolina
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  will have played basically half the games Of Montreal.
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  One wear and tear. That definitely is a factor
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  here. And normally I would lean on the
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  side of a team keeping up the momentum.
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  But considering they were, you know, they they had almost what,
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  four or five days between their last series and then this series
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  and they still managed to sweep like this is a team that's OK
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  being rested. So I think it's scary.
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  I probably lean more on the side generally of keeping up the
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  momentum in too many days off as bad, especially in the playoffs.
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  But in this case, I'm probably leaning that it's scary that
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  they're on their way rested. Maybe this is a hot take but I
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  like hate this conversation because there's so much
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  confirmation bias that happens from it and it just feels like
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  it's so situational and it's just like you can make pros and
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  cons arguments for both sides. Like either 1 is like super well
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  rested, so they have less tool on their body.
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  Like they'll have a better chance at winning like a series
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  over seven games type of thing. Then you're like, oh, but this
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  team just like just came up a hot series and they're like
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  keeping the momentum going. Like we saw the series with
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  Philly and they were on such high momentum and Carolina like
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  slap them in the face or the Habs had just come over like
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  this big emotional game seven against Tampa going up against
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  Buffalo like that were more well rested at that point.
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  And then Buffalo like smacked us in the first game, right.
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  So like it just kind of depends. I feel like it's all contextual.
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  It just depending on how the games end up playing out gonna
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  be like all this team like the rest won out over like the
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  momentum, everything. So I don't read too much into
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  it. I feel like it definitely some
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  teams benefit more from like than others, but in the grand
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  scheme of things, I feel like there's pros and cons to both
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  and it's just about like which team ends up being better is the
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  one that prevails minus like the injuries that can happen, which
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  you know, less injuries happen if you play less games.
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  The news, I mean, I definitely agree with that, I think.
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  Yeah, they were down three one, right?
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  I was just gonna say is that it wasn't like they were coming in
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  with like tons and tons of momentum.
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  If the Habs just go and win every game by two plus goals,
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  like I would say that that's really, really good.
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  If they can close out the series in another two games from now
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  and just beat them 41. Like, I would love to have
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  chances. But if it's like I'm back and
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  forth or let's say they go up three one and then Buffalo comes
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  back and then it's the same story as Philly.
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  Like I don't like that. I don't like that at all for the
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  hubs. But then as I do you, do you
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  prefer because if we won out, let's say in five games,
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  hypothetically, right, the series is now 21 from Montreal
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  as we're recording this, they play tomorrow.
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  So the day that you guys are listening to this, the haves
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  will be playing this evening. Do you rather we finish it in
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  five and at that point, Caroline will have had one week of rest
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  pretty much if these series go like as early as planned or do
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  you prefer to have to go to seven and you're making Carolina
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  have like 2 weeks off at that point.
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  So there may be more mentally like disconnected on the haves
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  are more instill in the game flow like at that point you're
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  thinking, oh, we'd rather do this than the other.
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  They don't care. They just try to win every game,
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  right? But you know the other fast,
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  though? Fast.
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  Yeah. I mean I'm in the same boat, but
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  I just don't think it makes a huge difference.
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  It's just also like generally, I think I agree in general, I
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  think I agree about like the confirmation bias and just
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  arguments can be made for both. Like it is kind of a, you know,
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  conversation that kind of goes in circles because at the end of
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  the day, there's no real proof either way because it just both
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  situations have been beneficial in the past.
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  I think what makes this situation a bit more interesting
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  is the fact that if it does go to seven, that's two weeks.
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  This has got to be like a record for the longest time that a team
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  would be rested between series compared to another team.
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  So I think like, that's what I meant when like, you know, at a
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  certain point it's got to make a difference, right?
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  Like when there's a couple days, then who gears, right?
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  It's that happens in the regular season all the time.
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  A team plays, you know, has a couple days rest for his team
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  that played like 2 nights ago, whatever.
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  But two weeks is, is almost, I mean, that's like an Olympic
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  break, right? Yeah.
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  So, so I think at that point, I feel like that again, then it's
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  just the same argument, but just more extreme right for both
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  sides. So I don't think there's a
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  definitive answer. I think at the end of the day,
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  the one thing that you could like is like objectively true is
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  you just want the team that's less injured, right?
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  Like less injured is a benefit. And generally it's got to be the
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  team that had two weeks of rest, less injured and play fewer
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  games. So in that sense, I would give
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  the the edge there. But if both teams are coming in
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  fully healthy and one team at two weeks rest, one week, one
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  team didn't, I mean, they're not playing back to backs in the
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  playoffs, right? These guys are all super well
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  conditioned. They'll be fine to play, you
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  know, however many games they do it in the regular season.
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  Why can't they do it in the playoffs?
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  I know it's more intense games but still.
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  I lean towards the team that has the more rest as well.
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  I just feel like, you know, maybe it takes you one extra
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  game to get into it mentally, but then once you're there,
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  you'll have like an advantage having, you know, more energy in
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  your legs. But we do gotta talk.
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  Listen, we all thought Carolina was going to be here.
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  They did it. We talked about on the podcast.
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  We said, you know, Philly, we we were rooting for them, but we
• 9:11
  don't expect it to happen for them.
• 9:12
  I thought they would at least one game.
• 9:14
  How do you feel about Philly? Like I know we had a couple
• 9:17
  feeling fans of the discord. So if you guys are in the
• 9:19
  discord and Philly fan, let us know how you feel about this
• 9:21
  season because I feel like you guys were kind of playing with
• 9:23
  house money at the end of it. But then the ending is kind of
• 9:26
  like anticlimactic. How do you guys feel about
• 9:28
  Philly and you know, their roster going forward and some of
• 9:30
  the drama that I've been hearing.
• 9:31
  I know about you guys, but. Yeah, I mean, I feel like my pal
• 9:36
  Matthew might not be at Shady Maple much longer if, you know,
• 9:38
  you get if you get shipped off somewhere else.
• 9:40
  But I mean, OK, top. I think the top like highlights
• 9:43
  for Philly has got to be Dan Vladar, got to be Porter
• 9:46
  Martone. And I think we saw how big of a
• 9:49
  Losso and tip it was not being in that series.
• 9:51
  I think Philly definitely wins at least one game If Owen tip,
• 9:54
  it's there. I mean, you lose your best
• 9:55
  layer. It's a massive impact.
• 9:57
  I think some of the biggest cons for for that one is the whole
• 10:00
  Michkov situation, right? Look, it's definitely possible.
• 10:03
  We come back next year. He's you know, he trains a lot
• 10:06
  over the summer and whatever, but just seems like him and talk
• 10:08
  it aren't working. He guy gets scratched twice in
• 10:11
  the playoffs in like the second round and he's this is this guy
• 10:14
  was is right AA Demidov level. People flaming the habits for
• 10:19
  passing over. Him yeah, people are blaming
• 10:20
  everyone who passed over. He was supposed to be the
• 10:22
  second, second overall pick, like consensus, everyone wanted
• 10:25
  him. So this is crazy to see.
• 10:26
  So I think that's a big, big question.
• 10:28
  We're going to steer. I this is not really as much of
• 10:30
  a question mark. It just happens to players.
• 10:31
  But I was pretty disappointed with Travis Connect's
• 10:33
  performance in the playoffs. I thought it was a big
• 10:35
  disappointment. So again, I don't, that's not
• 10:37
  one that I think has an impact for next year.
• 10:39
  It's more just like it happens and it sucks.
• 10:41
  I mean, look at Caulfield right now.
• 10:42
  But yeah, so I think I think the biggest question mark for me
• 10:45
  with Philly is, is the Michkov situation in terms of like where
• 10:48
  they are with what you said. Like no one expect them to even
• 10:51
  make the playoffs 3 weeks ago, right?
• 10:52
  They, they were so lucky a month ago, they were out of the
• 10:55
  playoffs. They were, you know, we talked
• 10:56
  about it. They were that the team that you
• 10:58
  toss in the playoff picture just to show things as more
• 11:00
  interesting than they really are, but no one actually thought
• 11:02
  they were gonna make it. I.
• 11:03
  Think Jake believed? I think Chicky started.
• 11:05
  Believing when he picked up the diapers.
• 11:07
  Yeah, like he picked, he believed.
• 11:09
  Like I believe like. Three with three weeks left in
• 11:12
  the. Season yeah, so it's.
• 11:13
  Kept saying I was like they're on a terror like you're.
• 11:15
  Losing, yeah, but like before that, before they went on that
• 11:18
  tear, they weren't, they weren't even the conversation, right?
• 11:20
  So they go on this crazy tear, they make the playoffs, they go
• 11:22
  up against their number one rival, they beat them, right?
• 11:26
  They get revenge for all those years of Crosby and Malkin just
• 11:29
  absolutely bullying them, right? Make the second round and then
• 11:31
  get swept in the second round by a team that's made the Eastern
• 11:33
  Conference finals for the past four years, five years.
• 11:37
  You're 100% happy with how this season went.
• 11:39
  It sucks. Losing in the playoffs always
• 11:41
  sucks. It's just a year that you, you
• 11:42
  know, had a chance. But in terms if you look at it,
• 11:44
  the, you know, higher level, right, you're super happy with
• 11:48
  how this season went. It's kind of like the Habs
• 11:50
  losing in round one last year, right?
• 11:52
  Not to keep making equivalent to the because obviously like we're
• 11:54
  house fans, that's just hits close to home where we are.
• 11:58
  If that wasn't evident enough from last episode, but uh, but
• 12:01
  yeah, it's it's like we weren't even expected to make the
• 12:03
  playoffs. So even though we lost four one
• 12:04
  series, we only won one game. We even went around last year.
• 12:07
  We were pretty happy like, OK, the the rebuilds going pretty
• 12:09
  well. So really should be Philly
• 12:11
  should be super, super happy and yeah, that one big Michkov
• 12:14
  question mark. Yeah, Jake, what do you think
• 12:16
  you were on the Philly horse? Yeah, the most.
• 12:19
  Important thing is, is a disaster.
• 12:22
  That's the truth. But they obviously did the right
• 12:24
  thing picking him. He slid in the draft
• 12:25
  tremendously. It was him and Bedard were neck
• 12:27
  and neck for a while and then obviously Bedard counter pulled
• 12:32
  ahead and rightfully so. But also like, sorry, I wanna
• 12:37
  call you didn't and you'll know this, but I didn't scam like
• 12:41
  tell teams like if you draft him, I'm not gonna play their
• 12:43
  type of thing. So that was kind of silly was
• 12:45
  like that decision so other. People, which already is a bit
• 12:48
  of a red flag kind of like it. It could be that and and he's
• 12:53
  just he's tremendously skilled and I also think it was that he
• 12:56
  was going to stay in the cage all for a little longer.
• 12:58
  I think that was kind of part of the the reason he slid all this
• 13:01
  to say he was supposed to be and is tremendously skilled.
• 13:04
  It's just with these kind of old school like coaches, it's not
• 13:09
  really something that you can you can screw around with.
• 13:12
  You have to be able to play defensively and as a team
• 13:15
  player. But for the team as a whole,
• 13:17
  Philly, I think this is one of the brightest futures and and
• 13:20
  the best scores in the NHL. Carolina is an exceptionally
• 13:24
  good team. If they do make it past the
• 13:27
  Eastern Conference finals like we can now, you know, stop with
• 13:30
  like the the curse thing. I'm on the train that I hope
• 13:33
  they do lose to Montreal. But let's say I yeah, I just
• 13:39
  will say that the teams that they've lost to were like Tampa
• 13:42
  in their prime and Florida in their prime.
• 13:45
  Like these are amazing teams they lost to and they've gotten
• 13:48
  better since. So if I'm a Philly fan who just
• 13:51
  lost, I I mean, I'm not discouraged by that at all.
• 13:54
  I think they wanted a great team and they're going to be a
• 13:56
  playoff team, you know, for like the next three out of five years
• 14:00
  type thing with their core, if they manage it properly.
• 14:02
  And yeah, I think they're great. I think.
• 14:06
  Hmm, So first of all, just to name a few players that we don't
• 14:11
  talk about all the time. So we always talk about Martone
• 14:14
  and I think we've talked about zebras quite a bit and we know
• 14:17
  connecting is a good player, but you look at Forster really,
• 14:21
  really underrated, really solid. And also, you know, Jamie
• 14:25
  Drysdale, he's not a bad player. He could be really offensively
• 14:30
  valuable. He's only 24, so defenseman tend
• 14:32
  to take a little longer to develop, but him and Jake
• 14:35
  Sanderson had a very similar job profile.
• 14:37
  Yes, it's been 6 years. Obviously Anderson has pulled
• 14:40
  ahead, but still he could be a very good offensive defenseman
• 14:42
  in his career. And I mean he's entering his
• 14:45
  priority now. Camera as well.
• 14:47
  Got trapped in one spot before Cofield.
• 14:49
  Sanheim is like Jacob Slavin Lite if you will like it under
• 14:53
  the radar defenseman, and Vladar has proven to be a very solid #1
• 14:56
  goalie, so I'm very happy I'm a Philly fan.
• 14:59
  Yeah, there you go. Thanks.
• 15:02
  Sealer is the blocking goat. Yeah, that's true.
• 15:06
  That's true. So I'm, yeah, I think way better
• 15:09
  days are ahead and I'm I'd be excited for you as your second
• 15:13
  team, Josh. Here, Yeah, Honestly, honestly,
• 15:15
  ever since we had that conversation about the names,
• 15:17
  like the ridiculous names they have, I just can't get out of my
• 15:20
  head. Every time I hear Alex Bump, I'm
• 15:21
  like, bump. That's what is going on in
• 15:24
  Philly. Bob Bonk and Barkey like what?
• 15:32
  If that doesn't make you cheer for them, I don't know what
• 15:34
  will. 111 last thing on on back to Carolina Before we move on to
• 15:40
  the next series, I wanted to also point out that it's
• 15:43
  interesting how well they've done with almost 0 performance
• 15:47
  or zero production from their top line.
• 15:49
  Again, not to tie, not to keep referencing the haves and
• 15:52
  everything. Really applicable.
• 15:53
  Though, but like it reminds you of like what the haves are
• 15:56
  doing, right? They're obviously they're not
• 15:58
  there yet, but they're two wins away and they've done it all
• 16:01
  with 0, not 005V5 contribution from their top line.
• 16:05
  And it's pretty much the same in Carolina.
• 16:07
  So it just seems like that. Obviously it shows how strong,
• 16:11
  like how well-rounded they are. But at the same time, if you're
• 16:13
  talking about winning the conference, winning the cup,
• 16:16
  you're not doing that if your top guys don't start producing.
• 16:19
  I feel that way as I have a fan. I feel that way as a as a fan
• 16:22
  watching the Hurricanes. Like there's a chance they could
• 16:25
  make it to the finals even without that top line because
• 16:27
  these are such route well-rounded teams.
• 16:29
  But you're not, you're not beating a Colorado or a
• 16:31
  Minnesota if your top guys don't show up, because their guys sure
• 16:35
  as heck are showing up. But that's what I'm saying.
• 16:37
  Maybe you could be an Ottawa who has been leaky all season, who
• 16:40
  you know, do Carolina is really good at winning close?
• 16:43
  You know, like low scoring games, the teams that can score
• 16:47
  a lot of goals. You can't win low scoring games
• 16:49
  against those teams, right? Like it'll happen, but that's
• 16:52
  why you need all your scoring to show up right.
• 16:54
  And I think they haven't played against a team that will show up
• 16:58
  consistently in that domain. That's a little I'm not a little
• 17:01
  afraid for Carolina because I feel like I've been here before,
• 17:04
  but they have if they haven't been battle tested yet properly.
• 17:07
  So they've had some close games, but that doesn't mean over A7
• 17:09
  game series that they've been tested enough.
• 17:11
  So I'm curious to see how they go against the winner of this
• 17:15
  Montreal series. Yeah, alright, we alluded to
• 17:17
  this series enough. Let's get into it and we will
• 17:21
  also watching this thing. Yeah, yeah, go.
• 17:22
  Last thing, my funny one liner I wanna say is that, you know you
• 17:25
  can't win if Keandre Miller is getting more points than
• 17:28
  Sebastian Aho, which is the case right now.
• 17:32
  But I will say, but but the caveat to that is that there is
• 17:36
  an 8 game sample size only that's not a lot because they
• 17:39
  barely played any games. So I know what you're saying.
• 17:41
  The top line is not producing and I do agree.
• 17:43
  But to play devil's advocate, there is that part of it where
• 17:46
  there's just like not as many games, which is like, OK, maybe
• 17:50
  they're just that dominant, but you're right, their opponents
• 17:52
  have not been as strong. So we'll.
• 17:54
  See what happens and wait. One last thing though, do you
• 17:56
  think? Michael, last, last thing.
• 17:58
  Last thing, do you think Mitch Covers is staying or do you
• 18:00
  think like his career in Philly has chalked?
• 18:02
  I think he's saying, I think. He can be staying with his
• 18:05
  careers is like chalk like he's going to be like.
• 18:07
  No, I don't think he's a Buster or anything like that.
• 18:10
  I think that either he's really coming back to Philly, but I
• 18:14
  think eventually either he breaks out under talking,
• 18:16
  talking gets fired in the next year or two and I think.
• 18:20
  He fired a coach at one guys around 2.
• 18:22
  Well, I don't mean it's gonna happen immediately, but if he
• 18:26
  keeps struggling and if the team doesn't keep over performing
• 18:30
  like that, then in general coaches don't last that long,
• 18:33
  right? Especially these types of
• 18:34
  coaches. I feel like they don't really
• 18:35
  last that long. And that's the type of guy where
• 18:38
  I keep an eye on that for fantasy purposes.
• 18:40
  And the second talk, it gets fired.
• 18:41
  I pay I draft Mitch off the following year and like super
• 18:44
  late because he's had an awful start to his career, let's say,
• 18:47
  and then he pops off. So I definitely keep an eye on
• 18:49
  that. And not to say that he can't
• 18:51
  succeed and talk IT system. I think if he comes, if you like
• 18:53
  buys into it, he can. But I think by buying into it,
• 18:56
  he's going to have to hamper his kind of natural abilities and
• 18:59
  not hit the ceiling that he can if talk it wasn't there.
• 19:02
  So it's a tale as old as time. It's it's really tough because I
• 19:06
  was listening to 32 thoughts, 32 thoughts today and they were
• 19:09
  saying how like, you know, they already they already messed up
• 19:12
  the whole Cutter Gautier situation.
• 19:13
  If they mess up Michkov 2, like that's a huge deal.
• 19:17
  And at some point do you like Mitchell was getting scratched
• 19:19
  and you didn't really see a lot of pushback from like his
• 19:21
  teammates and stuff. So you're kind of thinking, OK,
• 19:23
  this probably merit like they're seeing this guy in the locker
• 19:25
  room and on the ice and stuff like that.
• 19:26
  So like if they don't think it's crazy that he's getting
• 19:28
  scratched. So, like, I don't know, you
• 19:31
  can't waste the talent, but you're gonna side with the coach
• 19:34
  if he's got the whole team behind him?
• 19:35
  I don't know. It's tough.
• 19:36
  Tough decision. You're feeling fans.
• 19:37
  Let me know what you guys think. There's obviously a peculiar
• 19:39
  situation, but you can't mess up on 2 superstars like that.
• 19:43
  Yeah, superstars. I mean, as a new Philly fan over
• 19:46
  here, I can tell you that anytime A-Team chooses the coach
• 19:49
  over the player, I think it's the dumbest decision you can
• 19:51
  ever make. I always think of Patrick and
• 19:54
  and that whole. Depend on the player though.
• 19:56
  I mean we knew he was a stud. Such guy hasn't shown anything.
• 20:00
  Yet yeah, but he's he's supposed to be a stud any player who's
• 20:03
  supposed to be a stud or has proven to be a stud if you
• 20:05
  choose a coach or that coaches are replaceable even the most
• 20:07
  even the best coach in. The league I disagree that's.
• 20:10
  It that's, I think that's my, that's my take on it.
• 20:13
  Doing right now, you're like fired a coach.
• 20:15
  Absolutely. I mean not like if you can find
• 20:17
  a solution you go, but if I had to choose between salary and
• 20:19
  Demidov, I'm choosing Demidov. No, I'm keeping that we all.
• 20:22
  Day I think that's a that's a really hot.
• 20:24
  Take it's also two years ago and this is coming played two years
• 20:28
  I. Love that will be OK like you.
• 20:29
  Put me in this situation, Yeah. Michael is only played for two
• 20:33
  years. I'm actually curious if you know
• 20:36
  anyone listening to this, if you're in the discord or on
• 20:38
  YouTube or whatever, leave a comment.
• 20:40
  Do you side with the like, would you keep the coach or would you
• 20:42
  keep the star player? Because I'm shocked you feel
• 20:44
  that way, Kevin. I would keep the star player.
• 20:47
  Over Saint Louis, Yeah. So we like made our, made us
• 20:51
  competitive. Yeah, look, luckily the
• 20:54
  situation, right, we love Saint Louis.
• 20:55
  You know, I love him as a coach. I don't want to get rid of him,
• 20:57
  but if it came down to it, I'm taking the star player every
• 20:59
  time. And like it was what, 10 years
• 21:01
  ago that Mike Sullivan won the won with Pittsburgh, right?
• 21:05
  They, he wanted 2 amazing years and then they'd been not win the
• 21:08
  Stanley Cup after that, which I mean, they were still
• 21:10
  competitive, still a great team and he was a good coach.
• 21:12
  But you know you could get 15 years out of demo all of one and
• 21:16
  two, you know they could still be successful if they shake
• 21:19
  things up if there really is a conflict.
• 21:21
  I see what you're saying though. I get.
• 21:23
  It I think it's subjective to like it's a case by case
• 21:26
  scenario for me, but I don't. Know it's definitely case by
• 21:30
  case, but in the blind like you're just telling me choose
• 21:33
  one, I'm always choosing the star player.
• 21:36
  And this is an YEAH for hockey, I mean for basketball.
• 21:38
  I don't care about the coach. Lebron's the coach.
• 21:42
  It works. But yeah, OK, let's move on.
• 21:45
  Let's move on to the next one. Yeah, let's move on to Haves and
• 21:48
  Buffalo. And I will preface this.
• 21:50
  We're gonna try and keep this. I mean, we actually talked about
• 21:52
  this first series of decent amount, so that gives us some
• 21:54
  more leeway to talk with the house, but we're going to try
• 21:56
  and not be too much. Homers, you gotta forgive us for
• 21:58
  the last episode. We were just riding the high of
• 22:00
  that game seven. It was literally the night.
• 22:02
  Before we recorded it, I didn't see actually.
• 22:04
  This is only coming from my dad actually.
• 22:07
  That the stay in line? What the hell?
• 22:09
  He listens to the episode and he said great episode.
• 22:12
  You guys are real Habs homers, though.
• 22:14
  And I was like, OK, if that's the first comment then, you
• 22:17
  know, from someone who already has to love the podcast, you
• 22:21
  know, because he's my dad then. And I have to.
• 22:24
  I feel like a few other people have said, like you know,
• 22:27
  mentioned how he spent a lot of time on talking about the haves
• 22:29
  look. We just won game seven against
• 22:31
  Tampa. That's what I'm saying.
• 22:32
  I say it's it's nothing against him.
• 22:34
  I'm just saying we'll try and be a bit more mindful about it.
• 22:36
  We're gonna be like, well, don't talk about it too much.
• 22:39
  Like, no, I mean, we went to Stanley Cup.
• 22:40
  That's all there to talk about. But anyways, getting into the
• 22:43
  series of the best team in the world and the Buffalo Sabres, it
• 22:47
  is currently 21 series from Montreal.
• 22:49
  We are recording the day after game three.
• 22:51
  That was a monster game 62 win for the Habs in Montreal.
• 22:55
  It's just it's feeling pretty electric right now.
• 22:58
  It's tough because as I mentioned in the previous
• 23:01
  episode, for me, when we lose a game, we're never going to win
• 23:03
  again and when we win a game we're never going to lose again.
• 23:05
  So it's hard, especially this is it was the first time the Habs
• 23:09
  have scored five plus goals in back-to-back playoff games since
• 23:13
  2006, which is honestly crazy, crazy and also crazy that I just
• 23:17
  remembered that because that's I just read that maybe last night
• 23:20
  when I was, you know, after you. Went online, guys, don't.
• 23:23
  That's not the show's hand. I will show my hands because I'm
• 23:27
  a I, not because it's on my palm.
• 23:30
  But you know, after like a win when you go just read every
• 23:33
  single comment and message board and just revel in it.
• 23:36
  So I was doing that interview. Yeah, exactly.
• 23:38
  So I was doing that, man. Dovish is just a monster.
• 23:40
  Yeah, let's talk about it. What do you guys feeling about
• 23:43
  this year so far? What's been the standout for
• 23:45
  you? Go ahead, Jackie.
• 23:47
  OK, let's let's try it. Tell me if you like this We
• 23:51
  start with Buffalo and then we get on all of it all Yeah OK, so
• 23:57
  I think that I actually I guess overall matchup kind of thing.
• 24:01
  I expected us to lose the first game.
• 24:04
  I'm actually very bad at predicting playoff stuff.
• 24:06
  So I'm not I'm not riding I horse, but I'm so far very
• 24:10
  accurate with the way I saw this, because what happened was
• 24:12
  is I felt like the Canadians spent the whole, you know, lead
• 24:16
  up to the playoffs and everything preparing for Tapa,
• 24:18
  who was such a wagon that when Buffalo came in and they were
• 24:22
  like a high flying team. And but they're not as shut
• 24:25
  down. Like they don't have a Cirelli,
• 24:26
  you know, they don't have a I mean, Tage is a fantastic
• 24:29
  player. They don't have like a true
• 24:31
  superstar, like neutral that they have to strategically play
• 24:33
  all the time. You know, So I think that I'm
• 24:36
  not surprised we lost the first game that they scored a lot of
• 24:38
  goals. But I really think from here on
• 24:41
  in, I mean, we've shown that we can take them down pretty,
• 24:46
  pretty easily. And I think that it's going to
• 24:48
  be a very, it's not going to go to seven.
• 24:52
  I think it's going to go to 6, maybe even 5 and I it's.
• 24:57
  OK, it's two change. For the better team, I also, I
• 25:02
  really like when the team is on their heels and they don't know
• 25:04
  which goalie to play. Yeah, so.
• 25:06
  That's gonna mention it's do you guys think 6 case coming in next
• 25:08
  game? Yeah, I think you have to after
• 25:11
  back-to-back games like that for Line, I think you have to.
• 25:13
  And it's not because Line played bad, like the goals weren't
• 25:16
  necessarily all on him, but the. First period of the game, last
• 25:19
  game it felt it felt like line was gonna steal them the game
• 25:22
  because the haps were just dominating and we left the
• 25:24
  period tide 11 and he was just making ridiculous after
• 25:27
  ridiculous save. But The thing is if you just
• 25:28
  keep dominating, eventually they start going in.
• 25:31
  So yeah, I don't blame him, but I still think I also think 6
• 25:33
  starting the next one. Bright spot.
• 25:35
  I will say Benson looks really good, you look.
• 25:38
  Insane. There's a reason why I held him
• 25:42
  the whole season while he was on my IRS and then caught him as
• 25:45
  soon as I had the choice. But I'm a little word for
• 25:49
  Buffalo because they're running into the same problems that kind
• 25:51
  of like some of these other playoff teams have been doing
• 25:54
  where the stars aren't really producing.
• 25:56
  I feel like their offence has dried up.
• 25:58
  It's been literally all bends and like some Josh done.
• 26:00
  But like, you know a certain point, you need some other guys
• 26:03
  to do something right? Thompson scored 53 seconds into
• 26:06
  the game after. Did you guys see that in Game 2
• 26:09
  when he like spun out and it I really want if anyone again if
• 26:13
  anyone in the discord is good at making memes, I really wanna do
• 26:18
  see his spin out turned into remember that shooting star
• 26:21
  meme? Do you know what I'm talking
• 26:23
  about? Anyways, if anyone listening
• 26:27
  knows what I'm talking about. Is it like the like the Super
• 26:30
  Smash Bros shooting shooting? No, it's like.
• 26:34
  It's that song. It's like, dude, dude, dude.
• 26:38
  Yeah, yeah, I know that I do. Yeah.
• 26:41
  So like, take that and then you turn it into him just like
• 26:44
  floating in the song going. I would love to see that.
• 26:46
  I'm just not good enough at multimedia or whatever.
• 26:49
  This is that called the shooting star meme.
• 26:51
  I think so. I don't know.
• 26:52
  OK. Anyways, you guys know what it
• 26:54
  means. We did that sound effect.
• 26:55
  Everybody knows. How to get a muscle memory to
• 27:00
  the Stardew Valley theme? That was close, but yeah, no, I
• 27:05
  totally agree. Yeah, if you're looking at the
• 27:08
  stats of, you know, tall players, let's say out of the
• 27:10
  both the West and the East, it feels like the top guys in the
• 27:14
  West on their team, you know, Cappers, Sov, Queen, Hughes,
• 27:18
  McKinnon, Yeah, all these guys like they're the ones who.
• 27:22
  Are Goldie. Boldly anyway, they're the ones
• 27:27
  who are like leading their team in points pretty substantially,
• 27:30
  and then in the East, that's not the case at all.
• 27:32
  What do you mean Alex Newhook, the best goal scorer?
• 27:34
  There. Pick for him.
• 27:37
  I mean, Suzuki is I think the Habs leading scorer these
• 27:40
  playoffs as as the time of this recording.
• 27:42
  And so is Thompson with like a point per game.
• 27:44
  But let's say Marner has 16 points in 10 games.
• 27:46
  Yeah, that's Suzuki has 9 and 10.
• 27:49
  Yeah, right. So it's one of those things.
• 27:51
  I just feel like I've noticed this trend too, where it's
• 27:54
  really the second line and the depth players that are, you
• 27:56
  know, holding their own, especially in the Eastern
• 27:59
  Conference matchups. I wonder if it's just like the
• 28:02
  East is really playing so strongly defensively against the
• 28:05
  top guys that it both shuts them down but frees up space.
• 28:09
  I mean, what we're talking about in the Tampa series with the
• 28:11
  Habs, right? We were saying, you know, we
• 28:13
  were saying by the time we get to Round 2, Buffalo plays a very
• 28:15
  different style. They can't shut them down as
• 28:17
  much. We expect to see more normal
• 28:19
  gameplay of the top line scoring and less from the bottom lines.
• 28:22
  But that hasn't really happened. Maybe they studied the tapes of
• 28:25
  what Tampa did and we're like, let's try and do that.
• 28:27
  And they're shutting down the top guys as effectively, but
• 28:30
  they're just not as good as shutting down the rest or yeah,
• 28:33
  I don't know, but it's been a very strange trend that I've
• 28:35
  noticed also. And it is interesting that it's
• 28:38
  more in the East than the West because even like the teams got
• 28:40
  eliminated even actually at the start of the LA series, McKinnon
• 28:43
  went pointless in two games and then Crosby one pointless the
• 28:46
  first I think 3 games with the Philly series.
• 28:49
  All these top guys were just not showing up.
• 28:51
  I mean the Habs, Habs guys they yes Suzukis 9 points 10 games.
• 28:54
  How many of those are power play points or secondary assists or S
• 28:57
  on empty net? You know, I think that like our
• 28:59
  top line, almost all their points are power play points.
• 29:02
  What's crazy to me is that before, like the game last
• 29:05
  night, Slap scored another power play goal, right?
• 29:07
  He has four goals, all on the power play.
• 29:09
  He got a hat trick game one of the playoffs and then didn't get
• 29:12
  another goal until last night, right.
• 29:14
  Again, all the power play. I don't know.
• 29:16
  It's still it's still concerning.
• 29:17
  I think your top guys have to have to show up.
• 29:19
  But it is also nice to see these depths guys kind of like, you
• 29:23
  know, especially as a neutral fan when you're watching your
• 29:25
  not your series, it's always more fun when the random guys
• 29:27
  score because you just see how excited they get into stuff,
• 29:29
  especially in it. So it's it's called, Yeah.
• 29:31
  In terms of Buffalo, I think that I'm a bit worried that that
• 29:35
  last night for Thompson, even though they ended up getting
• 29:37
  shelled 6-2, maybe like will help wake him up a bit.
• 29:41
  I, I'm hoping that some of these power play action could help
• 29:44
  Caulfield wake up because I'm really, I don't know what's
• 29:47
  going on with him. He's been just.
• 29:48
  He's been. Getting his back.
• 29:50
  Yeah, because he's been getting good chances.
• 29:51
  He just hasn't been putting them in the net.
• 29:53
  But for Buffalo, Dalene has also been a standout to me.
• 29:56
  I think he's been fantastic. He's had a couple of, I mean a
• 29:59
  couple goals, a couple great plays and and it'll be
• 30:03
  interesting to see how, you know, Buffalo adjusts.
• 30:05
  I wonder if they're going to, I think just goalie change maybe I
• 30:08
  don't know if they're to switch up their lines at all, but uh,
• 30:11
  the hash, I mean, they have switched off their lines and
• 30:14
  honestly, some of these lines are just popping off and they're
• 30:15
  so random, right? Demidov, Evans and Newhook is
• 30:19
  just a monster line. Obviously we have our classic
• 30:22
  Bolduc, Duck and Texa which is just our best line.
• 30:26
  Sexy taxi. Bringing Joe Veleno in has been
• 30:30
  pretty nice. Also he he had a noticeably good
• 30:33
  game. He got actually or he was
• 30:34
  playing I think with Duke and dog last night.
• 30:37
  But yeah, it's I'm loving the depth from the Habs.
• 30:39
  Dobson being back is just a massive, massive addition and
• 30:44
  Lane Hudson. I mean at what like.
• 30:46
  I wanted to talk about Lane. Hudson, right?
• 30:49
  Is he for the Habs win the Cup? He's consummate, right?
• 30:52
  I know it's between him and Dobish if that was in the Cup,
• 30:54
  but. I know the Dobesh for sure, but
• 30:56
  I feel like Hudson, like is there.
• 30:58
  It's just you guys. You watch him play the things he
• 31:01
  can do. Man, 62nd overall, by the way,
• 31:04
  is second round pick. He was quote UN quote too small.
• 31:07
  Yeah, one of the size ever mattered, you know.
• 31:09
  Yeah, exactly. It's how you use it.
• 31:12
  But yeah, no, he's nuts. I mean, to me at this point,
• 31:17
  he's in the conversation. He's a top five defenseman.
• 31:20
  I would go obviously Mccarran, Hughes, Werenski, talking fan,
• 31:24
  then I'm talking. Real, real life.
• 31:26
  I'm talking real life, yeah. Mccarrick, Hughes, Werenski,
• 31:28
  Dalene and then I'm putting a Hudson at 5:00 there.
• 31:32
  Yeah, I mean, it feels like the only bad part to his game is his
• 31:36
  defensive abilities. And like even that I feel like
• 31:38
  has come such a long way and he still young, so he's gonna be
• 31:40
  making mistakes, but give him a few more years of experience.
• 31:43
  I feel like with the way he skates, he can be like a top
• 31:47
  tier defenseman just with like the finesse that he has there.
• 31:50
  I feel like he's solid defensively.
• 31:51
  Like I don't feel like I watch games and I'm nervous of him
• 31:53
  being a defensive liability. Like I think Bouchard gets too
• 31:56
  bad of a rap for it, but at the same time he does, he is a bit
• 31:59
  of a defensive liability. I don't see huts in the same
• 32:01
  way. Maybe it's just, you know,
• 32:03
  perception, all that, but when I'm watching the game, I don't
• 32:05
  get stressed out when he's on the ice defensively and also
• 32:08
  with his speed. Yeah, exactly.
• 32:10
  Like things like, OK, he's safe. He's, you know, it's one of our.
• 32:13
  Outstate him like. That's it and it's kind of crazy
• 32:17
  seeing him go all the way up the ILB behind the opposing teams
• 32:19
  net. They'll break it out, get a two
• 32:21
  on one and who's racing back and makes it back in time?
• 32:24
  It's Hudson. He's just that fast and he puts
• 32:26
  in that much effort every shift. It's a I don't, I don't know
• 32:29
  when, when have we ever had in our lifetimes a player like this
• 32:32
  on the Habs? I'm so happy we have him and
• 32:35
  like, I, I listen to him like talk in interviews and stuff
• 32:38
  like the way his mind works and like how he's breaking down
• 32:41
  plays and stuff. Like you can see like this kid
• 32:43
  like loves hockey. I feel like he doesn't feel like
• 32:46
  he knows nothing else besides hockey and it's just, it's
• 32:50
  insane to watch. Like he's so impressive.
• 32:52
  I can't believe that we have him on our team.
• 32:54
  Like I'm he's on the last. Year of his entry level contract
• 32:57
  this year, next year he begins an 8.85 * 8 contrast.
• 33:02
  Mccarran, Quinn, Hughes are literally going to be making
• 33:04
  double. That's not even exaggeration.
• 33:06
  With the cap going up, my car is about to resign a contract
• 33:08
  that's gonna be double what Hudson makes.
• 33:10
  I don't care how good. Contract and the slave contract.
• 33:13
  Yeah, guys, we are set up. Is I don't care how good Makar
• 33:16
  is, I'd rather Hudson at his contract versus Macara, the
• 33:19
  contract he's gonna sign, no doubt.
• 33:20
  Yeah. That's a good time.
• 33:22
  Behaves bad. Ohe yeah, I, I think and you
• 33:25
  know, I've, I've loved what I've seen from Kirby doc.
• 33:28
  Yeah. To be able to have that balance
• 33:31
  back, yeah. I mean, honestly, we were
• 33:34
  writing them off as like injury prone can never make the NHL and
• 33:38
  stay on a team because he just had so many injury issues.
• 33:41
  But he really brings an intensity like when you have a
• 33:44
  fourth line with Bolduc and Doc and actually feeling like you
• 33:48
  said, it's been pretty solid. Like we have a really deep team
• 33:52
  and, and this kind of goes back to what you were saying earlier.
• 33:55
  This is Saint Louise, genius. It's, it's important, you know,
• 33:58
  like to, to have a coach. People do this.
• 34:01
  Yeah, And so I wonder, like you guys were alluding to, if
• 34:04
  Buffalo makes that switch and actually starts putting
• 34:07
  different players on different lines.
• 34:09
  Like right now, Jason Zucker has been invisible.
• 34:11
  I don't even think it's like he's not even playing.
• 34:13
  But he's such an important piece for them during the year.
• 34:15
  And he was like a very solid player for them.
• 34:18
  And I don't know why. Like, no disrespect to Jack
• 34:21
  Quinn, actually. For fantasy, by the way, sleeper
• 34:25
  pick next year. Keep that in mind.
• 34:26
  I've been saying this for years that I think I'm finally not
• 34:28
  wrong. I'm not going to say right
• 34:30
  Finally, not wrong, but still, you know, change it up and put
• 34:35
  put Zucker on that power Play 1. I mean, they actually just
• 34:38
  changed up the power play last game.
• 34:40
  They they mentioned it a few times on the broadcast.
• 34:41
  It was Daleen Thompson and then they had done Benson and Quinn
• 34:46
  and it was. So that's what I'm saying.
• 34:48
  Yes, but all was OK that was actually knew they had just
• 34:52
  brought that combination for last game.
• 34:53
  They scored a power play goal and they probably actually
• 34:55
  looked really good. But but yeah, it's kind of it's
• 34:59
  tough because if you're doing line blender because you're out
• 35:01
  of ideas and it just doesn't work, then it kind of feels like
• 35:05
  you're scrambling If you do line blender and it just everything
• 35:08
  clicks. Like it feels like with the
• 35:09
  Habs, right? A lot of these lines you look at
• 35:11
  them and like that's super random.
• 35:13
  Why is why is Evans playing line 2?
• 35:14
  See, you know, I love the guy, but he's more, he's always been
• 35:16
  a 3 or 4 3D like shutdown guy, right?
• 35:19
  And now he's playing line 2C and it's just working.
• 35:21
  That fourth line is working. Every line just makes sense
• 35:24
  right now. So that's kind of where the line
• 35:29
  blender could be good. And I mean, Lindy Ruff is a
• 35:31
  finalist for the Jag Adams, right?
• 35:33
  He's no slouch. He brought Buffalo to where they
• 35:35
  are right now this year. Three wins.
• 35:37
  You think so? I mean, look what you do with
• 35:39
  Buffalo. They were the worst team in the
• 35:41
  in the league for a certain part of this season, right?
• 35:44
  Let's not forget they were like on a massive losing streak and
• 35:46
  then for where they finished the season and they want to playoff
• 35:48
  round. I think just expectations to
• 35:50
  result. He was the biggest.
• 35:52
  Yeah, I think it's hard to beat that narrative also, right,
• 35:55
  because it's all people voting. It's all subjective.
• 35:57
  It's hard not to vote for the guy who broke a 16 year playoff
• 36:00
  track out, right, Because it's not the roster changed that much
• 36:03
  year over year. So you got to give some credit
• 36:05
  to the coaching. But yeah, so I'm not I'm not
• 36:07
  really ready to Buffalo out by any means.
• 36:10
  And one thing that I am worried about with the haves is it felt
• 36:12
  like in The Tempest series, we had so many opportunities to
• 36:15
  just shut them down and knock them out of the playoffs.
• 36:18
  We were up 1, nothing. If we had gone up to nothing in
• 36:20
  Tampa, I think we're we're this game is it's not gonna get 7.
• 36:24
  We were up to 1. If we made it 3-1 in Montreal,
• 36:26
  it's not going to seven. And it's like we had plenty of
• 36:29
  opportunities to just knock them out of the series.
• 36:31
  We were up 3, two, we could have ended in game six.
• 36:33
  That's we had three opportunities to take that to
• 36:36
  two game lead and we didn't take it.
• 36:38
  So it'll be interesting to see if they have that kind of killer
• 36:40
  instinct, because we know when the going gets tough, the Habs
• 36:44
  could hit another gear and they can play like no other and come
• 36:48
  back and win. But I wanna see them win when
• 36:51
  it's not do or die when they could just not give us all heart
• 36:54
  attacks pretty much. Show show of strength and just
• 36:57
  prove that we are the better team and like win no matter what
• 37:00
  type of thing. Absolutely.
• 37:01
  So I think next game obviously is gonna be massive.
• 37:03
  The difference of three one series and A-22 is is massive.
• 37:07
  So very interesting to see what happens there.
• 37:09
  Are there any other note you guys wanted on the series before
• 37:12
  we move on? I have to touch on two things.
• 37:15
  Dobesh, first of all, he's been incredible, right?
• 37:18
  Like are you guys, I saw some of the panelists on sports and
• 37:24
  stuff talk about like his emotional outbursts, like after
• 37:27
  every goal and stuff. Like how do you feel about that?
• 37:28
  They are so dumb. They are so dumb.
• 37:30
  These panelists like Oh my God, how dare he, How dare he have an
• 37:34
  emotion or anything like that. Let first of all, these are
• 37:37
  crazy and that's what makes the game one of the things that
• 37:39
  makes hockey such an amazing sport.
• 37:40
  It's so fun having these wacky characters. 1 of people.
• 37:43
  Some people's biggest complaints about hockey players is that
• 37:45
  they're too boring, but no ones ever said that about goalies.
• 37:48
  They're always fun. Let him have his moment.
• 37:50
  Especially Ilia Brigalow. Yeah.
• 37:53
  I don't know if anyone looks. Mad it's only game.
• 37:57
  The universe is so big whenever I let it go I just OHP man
• 38:04
  sorry. Didn't Cooley also on on on the
• 38:07
  flames? He's he's pretty hilarious.
• 38:09
  But yeah, no. So anyways, they're so old
• 38:12
  school being like, oh, discussion, show emotion,
• 38:14
  whatever. No, that's stupid.
• 38:15
  Let the guy do his thing. Clearly it's working for him.
• 38:18
  And I think people are just over thinking it.
• 38:19
  Even when earlier this year, right when things weren't going
• 38:22
  so well and there was that that moment where he had a bad game
• 38:25
  and I think he like cried a bit or whatever and he got blown out
• 38:27
  of proportion. It's 2026.
• 38:29
  If a guy can't show his emotions while people are going to
• 38:32
  players assistance program, if people are accepting it, why
• 38:34
  can't you accept a goalie being upset that he lost?
• 38:36
  It just shows that he cares. Or have you done his team scored
• 38:38
  or something? On yeah, exactly, I think.
• 38:40
  It's like shove, like arrogance, like people like don't be too
• 38:43
  arrogant, like the games not over.
• 38:44
  I don't know if that's what's. The best players, the best
• 38:46
  players in every sport have swagger.
• 38:48
  Yeah, hockey players, obviously a big thing with them is the
• 38:51
  humility and all that, but at the end of the day, when a guy
• 38:54
  is playing at the top of his game, you need to have that
• 38:56
  swagger because it feeds into each other.
• 38:58
  All the players are celebrating. Why can the goalies celebrate?
• 39:00
  Yeah, the thing I love most about Dobesh is the way that he
• 39:05
  involves himself with the team and that's where it kind of
• 39:09
  culminates. But even just sometimes it looks
• 39:13
  scary. It's like, OK, yo, don't do
• 39:14
  that. Don't go out like that much.
• 39:16
  But it's good and it's effective.
• 39:18
  And honestly, I mean, I'm sure at one point it'll come back to
• 39:22
  bite him in the behind, but it really has not yet.
• 39:25
  Like he's really good at playing the puck, going out there and
• 39:28
  just just being involved in the play.
• 39:30
  Price used to do that in a much more low key way that didn't
• 39:34
  seem as as crazy as the way nobody does it.
• 39:37
  Yeah, watching exactly. But it just him being involved
• 39:41
  and showing how much he cares and and you know, that
• 39:44
  manifesting like it feels like his crease is the hash marks.
• 39:48
  It's not the blue paint. It's like he's just the way he
• 39:51
  challenges and he's a ginormous guy.
• 39:54
  He's like 65. So like he's a he's a big goalie
• 39:57
  challenges and what lies finance.
• 40:02
  Yeah, he's also hilarious. He said that thing.
• 40:05
  Another quote last game about like people think I'm a hero.
• 40:08
  I don't consider myself a hero. I'm just a goofy goalies.
• 40:10
  Carly to go home eat and we'll watch Game of Thrones.
• 40:12
  Yeah, it's all relatable. Yeah.
• 40:16
  Yeah. So, Ben.
• 40:18
  The other thing I wanted to mention was I've seen a lot of
• 40:22
  this on social media and I've gotten major FOMO.
• 40:24
  I have not obviously had the opportunity to go to the Bell
• 40:27
  Centre to watch a playoff game yet.
• 40:28
  But man, there's a reason why it's the Mecca of hockey.
• 40:31
  And I feel like everybody's finally like realizing I'm
• 40:34
  seeing people from like that don't even watch hockey, being
• 40:36
  interested in in the sport and like seeing the Bell Centre and
• 40:40
  how Montreal is for a hockey team.
• 40:42
  And it just honestly makes my heart full seeing like everybody
• 40:45
  appreciate the culture here and how like everybody, the whole
• 40:48
  city just like breeds this team. And when Montreal's doing well
• 40:51
  and we're in playoff hockey, you feel like there's no other place
• 40:53
  you want to be. It's just like, I see you
• 40:55
  walking down the street. Everybody got their jerseys on.
• 40:56
  It's not even game day. Like it's just nuts.
• 40:59
  It's awesome there minds me when in 2021 I was living about 10
• 41:03
  minute walk from the Bell Centre and I would watch the games home
• 41:07
  and then after that I would walk to the Bell Centre and just be
• 41:10
  out there in the crowd going nuts.
• 41:11
  And everybody's just there. Partying.
• 41:13
  Yeah. How is Covin?
• 41:18
  That's where people were supposed to be inside the kids.
• 41:22
  No, it's true. The restrictions were starting
• 41:24
  to get. That was like a leave you toned
• 41:26
  down version and even though it was like pretty wild you.
• 41:28
  Know yeah it's. Crazy I mean you were allowed to
• 41:31
  walk outside with the point is like people just like didn't you
• 41:34
  know what I mean the. Whole so you can feel it in the
• 41:37
  air. It's just all the cliches are
• 41:38
  just accurate because if you're there, you know, if you go, you
• 41:42
  know, I had a friend, a guy, one of my hockey teams here in
• 41:46
  Pennsylvania, he actually had a work to Montreal this week and
• 41:49
  he went to the game last night and he was texting me the whole
• 41:51
  time. He was saying this is the most
• 41:52
  insane in like on the honest I've ever experienced and my
• 41:55
  ears are gonna be shot for the next week.
• 41:57
  It's just crazy. I'm so mad.
• 41:59
  I'm coming to Montreal Wednesday to Saturday morning and the
• 42:03
  house playing Montreal Tuesday and Saturday night.
• 42:05
  So I'm not, I'm just missing it. I would have 100% gone.
• 42:08
  And yeah, so I'm pretty bummed about that, but hopefully I
• 42:11
  could maybe next round. You could know, you know when
• 42:15
  they're winning just by being like in the general vicinity of
• 42:19
  downtown and hearing the madness.
• 42:22
  Like, you just know what's happening.
• 42:24
  Like my friend from work, like does not watch hockey.
• 42:27
  And he was like, so I was doing pretty well.
• 42:29
  It was like, did you watch? It was like, no, just keep
• 42:32
  hearing people yelling and celebrating.
• 42:34
  So it's like really cool in that way.
• 42:36
  On that exciting note, let's move on to the West.
• 42:40
  Las Vegas. OK, let's start with that Vegas
• 42:42
  Anaheim series. They are currently tied to two
• 42:45
  series. Super, super close.
• 42:48
  I, I haven't been able to stay up for the games.
• 42:50
  So frustrating, but they're too late for a guy who has a baby.
• 42:53
  But, uh, but they've been watching all the highlights
• 42:55
  actually missed a single highlight package of a single
• 42:58
  game. Yet this playoffs.
• 42:59
  That's kind of my, my goal for the playoffs is not to miss any.
• 43:01
  And it's been an unreal series. And we kind of talked about this
• 43:05
  last episode, right? We are prediction was kind of
• 43:08
  like we were saying either Vegas if it ends in four or five, we
• 43:13
  think Vegas is winning it. But if it goes to six or seven,
• 43:16
  we think Anaheim is winning it, right.
• 43:17
  That was kind of at least Yeah, exactly.
• 43:19
  At least that's what me and Jake just saying.
• 43:21
  I think Kevin was all on Vegas. But it was obvious.
• 43:23
  But we were saying if, if this if Anaheim shows that they could
• 43:26
  hang with Vegas. We think that they're gonna take
• 43:28
  it. So right now it's going pretty
• 43:30
  much exactly as I mean, I think we all had No, you had Vegas in
• 43:33
  like 5, right, Something I don't remember show doc, but I know I
• 43:37
  had Anaheim in seven. So no cheeky at Anaheim and 5,
• 43:40
  right? You guys I had, I had Vegas in
• 43:44
  six, J had Anaheim in six and you had Josh, you had Anaheim
• 43:48
  and seven. OK, cool.
• 43:49
  So we're all we're all still in it.
• 43:50
  We're still in it. Yeah, we're all still in it.
• 43:52
  And it's honestly, it's great to see.
• 43:55
  Vegas is a wagon and I feel like there's still the favorites, but
• 44:00
  I love what I'm seeing from Anaheim and I still think they
• 44:02
  can get it done. Yeah, I think anybody serious at
• 44:05
  this point, Mark, I didn't have Marks Don't get hurt on my on my
• 44:08
  bingo card, which I probably should.
• 44:09
  Have really not? I should have.
• 44:11
  That was my middle, my middle circle, the free one.
• 44:18
  Yeah, I just, I just think that Anaheim, the reason I think that
• 44:24
  they're gonna win is because they're very deep.
• 44:26
  Like we're talking about all these other teams that are very
• 44:28
  deep except their top is scoring and like their top line.
• 44:31
  And I feel like maybe I'm wrong, but it's not as apparent that
• 44:37
  they're getting, they're getting a lot of depth out of Vegas,
• 44:39
  except for Brett Howden. This guy's nuts.
• 44:42
  Sick. Yeah.
• 44:43
  And I feel like the last playoff run also, he was insane for
• 44:46
  them. This is happened in the playoffs
• 44:48
  where he's come up really clutch.
• 44:50
  I still think the short handed goal that he got the last.
• 44:53
  Series. He has like 3 shorties this
• 44:54
  playoffs. It's crazy but I mean it's
• 44:56
  really fancy. Is it really depth?
• 44:58
  I feel like he isn't playing on a line with Mariner and Carlson
• 45:01
  like the second line. I guess I just mean like but
• 45:03
  yeah, like less high key. Players 100%.
• 45:07
  So so yeah, they're both teams that have a lot of star power.
• 45:12
  Vegas is a little bit more top heavy, but I also, I mean Carter
• 45:17
  Hart has been inconsistent, right, Both of these.
• 45:21
  Yeah, I wouldn't give the edge to either of them honestly.
• 45:24
  Both goaltenders like haven't really stolen either games for
• 45:27
  either team. Yeah, but I don't know.
• 45:29
  I like. I'm still on.
• 45:30
  I'm still in Vegas cause I, I think when it's 22 now, right
• 45:35
  The series, I feel like now it's like if you wanna win this
• 45:38
  series, gotta win a close game. And if I choose one team to win
• 45:40
  a close game, I'm gonna go Vegas.
• 45:42
  I mean, Anaheim just 143. That's a pretty close game.
• 45:44
  Yeah, they were winning 42. I think, yeah, that's fair.
• 45:47
  But Mark, what about the Mark Stone injury that's.
• 45:49
  A massive loss, massive loss. Do we have news on how much time
• 45:53
  is going to miss? It could be months, could be
• 45:56
  days, could be hours. Playing right now for this
• 46:00
  day-to-day four months. Exactly.
• 46:03
  But I think in general, I still the the reasoning that I had
• 46:07
  going into this series, the same reason that I'm keeping now.
• 46:09
  I said Vegas in the six. I feel like, you know, it's just
• 46:11
  going to be kind of like the same thing where it's going to
• 46:14
  come down to a close game and I'm giving the edge to Vegas.
• 46:15
  It could be Vegas in the seven, but I'm rooting for Anaheim.
• 46:18
  Don't get me wrong, rooting for Anaheim.
• 46:20
  I hope they can get it done and prove me wrong.
• 46:22
  I think both teams get slapped by the winner of this next
• 46:26
  series. Which I think that's the coldest
• 46:29
  takeout. I think everyone is saying that.
• 46:31
  Listen, I've been a lot of, I've had a lot of hot takes
• 46:34
  apparently. So now this finally a chance to
• 46:36
  get a cold one. Yeah, I will say also in terms
• 46:38
  of injuries for Vegas, obviously losing Mark Stone is way more
• 46:41
  impactful. But getting back William
• 46:43
  Carlson, he missed most of the season.
• 46:45
  And after the game where Barner got the Hattie right, also, we
• 46:48
  have to talk about Marner, but he was talking about just how
• 46:51
  big of a an impact having William Carlson back in the
• 46:54
  lineup is for them. And he has been crucial for
• 46:56
  their past playoff success. So even though he's kind of not
• 46:59
  a big name, he I think he is a big impact player.
• 47:02
  But yeah, let's talk about Marner, right?
• 47:04
  Leading the team. He's he leading the team 16
• 47:06
  points. Checked the playoffs.
• 47:08
  The playoffs. Yeah, yeah.
• 47:11
  Yeah, but not leading. Texas coppers all but yeah, 16
• 47:14
  points in 10 games. That's I'd say that's pretty
• 47:16
  good. I'd say that's not a playoff
• 47:18
  choker if you. How many points does Matthews
• 47:20
  have these playoffs? OK, the least fans will come for
• 47:24
  me. You guys already got what's with
• 47:26
  McKenna? Yeah, that's crazy.
• 47:29
  Yeah, we don't think like that. But quick side tie attention on
• 47:32
  the on the lottery. I'm still talking about that.
• 47:34
  Soriano, Toronto and San Jose, I mean, they're not being ripped
• 47:38
  allegations. It's actually crazy that all the
• 47:42
  stats about Vancouver's luck in the laundry since their
• 47:45
  inception as a team is kind of a joke.
• 47:47
  You have you feel. Like so bad for.
• 47:49
  Them it's actually it's it's nuts and.
• 47:51
  They deserved it this year. Yeah, it's tough because they
• 47:55
  talk about like, Batman will see this and he'll say, you see,
• 47:58
  This is why you don't get, you don't get rewarded for tanking.
• 48:02
  But at the same time, you kind of are rewarding teams for
• 48:05
  taking because Vancouver didn't tank.
• 48:07
  They're just an awful team, right, yeah, I guess, but no,
• 48:12
  not even there. They weren't gonna do better
• 48:14
  than last place realistically with that roster, especially
• 48:16
  when he's leaving. And then you look at a team like
• 48:18
  Toronto who just got blessed because the lottery.
• 48:21
  They're not they're not the worst team in the league.
• 48:23
  They're not even you know, they finished bottom 5.
• 48:25
  This is an off year for them. They had they actively, you
• 48:28
  know, they shut down Matthews earlier than they had to right.
• 48:30
  I mean, maybe not he actually got injured, but still they they
• 48:33
  were shutting down players left and right.
• 48:35
  They, that's kind of my, my view of that's more rewarding teams
• 48:39
  for taking as opposed to rewarding them.
• 48:41
  It's honestly, I think that this whole lottery system was made to
• 48:45
  avoid that, the tanking, but I think in the end it actually
• 48:47
  leads to teams that are bad staying bad for longer and teams
• 48:51
  that are good getting gifts out of nowhere and kind of
• 48:54
  revitalizing their their rebuilds and their teams.
• 48:57
  I don't know what you guys think.
• 48:59
  I I think Santa Rose is going to be such a sick.
• 49:03
  Team yeah, like. My God.
• 49:06
  I mean, it's as much as McKenna is the guy who's gonna go first
• 49:11
  overall skirt. Somebody doesn't.
• 49:14
  Yeah. I mean, I don't think, No, I
• 49:17
  think he has. To yeah, there's no way they're
• 49:19
  gonna bring that, Yeah. Yeah, Stenberg's like supposed
• 49:23
  to be right up there with him. Amazing.
• 49:26
  You put him on the wing with Celebriti.
• 49:28
  I mean, it's sick. I just hope that I hope that
• 49:30
  they don't go defenseman just for the.
• 49:32
  Sake of I don't think they will. I will say.
• 49:36
  What happens? I feel like the NHL has been
• 49:39
  behind on this in terms of light the draft of just like just
• 49:42
  taking best player available. I feel like we've seen it so
• 49:45
  much in recent years where we're like, OK, this right hand did
• 49:49
  let me take him or yeah, we really need centre.
• 49:52
  Let's take this guy with his, you know, just take the best
• 49:55
  player available and figure it out, especially with these guys
• 49:57
  are so young that you know, not to contribute on in the NHL for
• 50:00
  like multiple years. Like just take the best player
• 50:03
  that has the best chance of becoming an NHL superstar at his
• 50:05
  position. Figure out the rest out later.
• 50:08
  You can figure it out through trades or through free agency or
• 50:12
  whatever you can figure out always take best player
• 50:14
  available, same as in fantasy early on in the draft.
• 50:17
  So I think you just take the best player available and then
• 50:19
  figure out the positions. Later, imagine we didn't take
• 50:21
  linebacker. I know.
• 50:24
  Well, it would have been Michkov, in all fairness.
• 50:26
  Yeah, Guy that that Who did they take?
• 50:31
  The Coyotes? I think it was the Coyotes who
• 50:33
  picked 6 you. Know I don't remember we could
• 50:36
  have. Been the team anymore?
• 50:38
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:42
  No, fully agree. It's that much more, right?
• 50:45
  Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
• 50:46
  Yeah, back to that. So are we.
• 50:50
  So what are we, what do we think the deal is with that with him?
• 50:54
  Is it just fake? Is it just a better team than
• 50:56
  Toronto was those years? Cause Toronto is a pretty strong
• 50:57
  team those years, right? They were killing in the regular
• 51:00
  season and Mariner was getting most of the blame for all their
• 51:05
  playoff woes, right. For some reason, for some reason
• 51:07
  it never fell on Matthews. I mean, he got some, but Marner
• 51:09
  was definitely the figurehead. Nylander would actually put up
• 51:12
  points. So he didn't get much blame.
• 51:14
  Fair enough. But it Marner leaves, goes to
• 51:17
  another team and is suddenly the best points guy in the in the
• 51:20
  NHL in the playoffs. I don't know.
• 51:22
  I think it was just the team chemistry.
• 51:24
  I think also you keep running it back with the same core group
• 51:28
  and you keep having the same results.
• 51:29
  It's a mental thing, right? You know, he doesn't have that
• 51:32
  here in Vegas. It's a fresh start.
• 51:33
  He knows how good of a player he is.
• 51:36
  Getting rid of 100 plus point guy because he doesn't show up
• 51:38
  in the playoffs. To me is this is just this is
• 51:41
  the same as getting rid of a star player because the coach
• 51:43
  doesn't like him. I'm always I'm taking the guy
• 51:45
  who has the the 100 plus points and figuring out how to make him
• 51:49
  work in the playoffs. But I mean, I guess the Leafs
• 51:51
  tried to do that. That didn't work.
• 51:53
  And he doesn't have to be talismanic on Vegas.
• 51:55
  Like, they got the Icold, they got the Mark Stone.
• 51:57
  Like, whether you like Mark Stone or not, like his name is
• 51:59
  gonna be up there when you talk about like, the best players on
• 52:01
  Vegas. And I feel like you just like
• 52:03
  slot in right there as like a support character that can also
• 52:06
  just like, run the game when he needs to.
• 52:08
  And this is what we're seeing. I feel like this is Mitch Marner
• 52:10
  when he doesn't have like, the pressure of an entire city on
• 52:12
  his shoulders. So I'm happy.
• 52:15
  I'm happy for him. I was never a big monitor hater.
• 52:19
  I always felt like Toronto just kind of did him dirty a little
• 52:22
  bit, making him the scapegoat in a lot of situations.
• 52:24
  Do I think like, he could have played better?
• 52:26
  Obviously, yeah. But I wonder if Toronto fans are
• 52:29
  looking back at me like we should probably either trade a
• 52:32
  Newlander or done something else and kept Marner, maybe got rid
• 52:35
  of the virus or something like I don't know.
• 52:38
  I know the solution is, but the solution?
• 52:40
  Is getting is winning first overall in the lottery, so we'll
• 52:44
  see how that works out for them. But but yeah, I think should we
• 52:47
  go to the last series that we haven't spoken about yet?
• 52:49
  Yeah, we should. All right, last series is
• 52:52
  playing tonight. They actually have started their
• 52:55
  game already. What's 10 Minnesota and the
• 52:58
  second period is about to commence.
• 52:59
  OK. And by the way, 2 ones, yeah.
• 53:02
  Before getting into this, it was Dmitri Simakov.
• 53:06
  You don't need 23. Nice.
• 53:10
  Sorry. Carry on.
• 53:11
  Yeah. So it's currently 21 series
• 53:13
  Colorado before the last game of the series when it was 2,
• 53:16
  nothing Colorado. I was starting to think that
• 53:19
  nothing could stop them. I thought they were just gonna
• 53:21
  cruise to 16. And OI mean, obviously they lose
• 53:24
  the house in the finals. But it really it's it's hard on
• 53:27
  the team just keeps winning like that.
• 53:29
  It's in the playoffs. It's hard to think they're ever
• 53:31
  going to lose, especially going 2 and out against Minnesota,
• 53:33
  which we thought was gonna give them a much harder time.
• 53:35
  But then Game 3 happens and Minnesota does show up and give
• 53:38
  them a much harder time. And now all of a sudden we have
• 53:41
  a series. Colorado actually switched their
• 53:43
  starting goalie, right? They're going with Mackenzie
• 53:44
  Blackwood today and tonight instead of Scott Wedgewood,
• 53:48
  which is not surprising based on how the first three games of the
• 53:51
  series went. And also not surprising based on
• 53:53
  kind of the the the advantage of having a tandem like that is
• 53:57
  that when one of the goalies kind of falters, you can go to
• 53:59
  the other one. I'm curious to see how Blackwood
• 54:01
  does after not having played for like a month.
• 54:03
  But but yeah, we're seeing maybe a bit of cracks in in Colorado's
• 54:07
  armor. I still think they take the
• 54:09
  series, but we never thought Minnesota is going to be a
• 54:11
  cakewalk. That's why I was actually more
• 54:13
  surprised by them going up to nothing and what seemed like
• 54:15
  pretty easy fashion as opposed to Minnesota winning a game
• 54:18
  here. Yeah, I, I'm, I'm very impressed
• 54:23
  by their resilience to be able to win without Ericson neck.
• 54:27
  Yeah, and Ryan Hartman, such an underrated player.
• 54:30
  He's one of those like, not great for fantasy guys.
• 54:32
  But I invented Ryan Hartman. It's.
• 54:34
  True. You never want to pick him up in
• 54:38
  fantasy like 3 years ago when he he was like the surprise one.
• 54:41
  See. Yeah, actually the right heart,
• 54:45
  but. Seriously, he apparently found
• 54:49
  out he got traded from Philly like 3 days later because he was
• 54:53
  on a camping trip with no. Reception.
• 54:56
  I remember that. So it's just another one of
• 54:58
  Philly's potentially questionable, you know?
• 55:02
  Harman, Cutter Goatee. Who's next?
• 55:04
  Yeah, exactly, exactly. But yeah, look, I'm still on
• 55:08
  the, I'm still on Team Colorado because I think they're just too
• 55:11
  good. But I, I mean, it's, I thought
• 55:14
  it was more, let's say 8020 and now I'm thinking it's like 6535
• 55:18
  type thing. And Walstad, man, what a guy.
• 55:21
  He's so good. He is so, so good.
• 55:25
  It's just, yeah, I don't know. I mean, we, we forget to
• 55:29
  mention, well, we did forget to mention.
• 55:31
  We just haven't mentioned yet that after game one they went to
• 55:34
  Gustafson, right? Like, yeah, and then they made
• 55:36
  the goalie swap. That we talked.
• 55:37
  About, by the way, you did. I remember when when I saw it
• 55:40
  happen, I was, I was like, Jiggy literally just said this was
• 55:42
  gonna happen. Yeah.
• 55:44
  But then they went back to Walton and then he was excellent
• 55:47
  in game three, right? So I mean, I remember on the pod
• 55:50
  being the only one that was like kind of like fighting from
• 55:53
  Minnesota a little harder than the two of you guys.
• 55:54
  I know you guys were both cemented in the Colorado camp.
• 55:57
  Obviously they're arguably one of the best teams, but I don't
• 56:02
  know if they can pull this off and go to game five with it
• 56:06
  being 22 and that they still haven't had Ericson neck back.
• 56:09
  I think I would be scared if I'm a Colorado fan like this, this
• 56:13
  game four that we're currently watching right now, it feels
• 56:15
  like this series is in because Minnesota is not coming back
• 56:18
  from three one, right? Like it can be 31, it could go
• 56:20
  32. You can go to Game 7.
• 56:22
  I feel like Colorado still got it.
• 56:23
  They won three games in a row, but if Minnesota wins tonight, I
• 56:27
  feel like they're going to be in the driver seat here, especially
• 56:29
  if they start getting healthy. Colorado also another thing to
• 56:33
  note, um artery luckins out tonight, which is a pretty big
• 56:36
  loss because he is one of the clutches guys in the playoffs.
• 56:40
  I mean he would he did it for the haves before we tried it
• 56:44
  right. He brought us to the the cup
• 56:45
  finals against vegan by beating Vegas, but he's super clutch in
• 56:49
  the playoffs. So that's actually a big loss.
• 56:50
  I know it's not necessarily as big a name of one of the top top
• 56:53
  guys, but I think it's a big loss for Colorado.
• 56:55
  So noticeable if Ericsson act comes back like an stays out and
• 56:59
  Minnesota. I mean, it's a lot of ifs, but
• 57:02
  this little wins this and that. Those things happen.
• 57:03
  I think that that's a big shift for sure.
• 57:06
  Yeah, so I feel we haven't really talked about the
• 57:07
  Minnesota injuries. I mean, we're we're we're
• 57:10
  talking about them, but we're not.
• 57:11
  I feel like we're not discounting them as much.
• 57:14
  Like that's pretty big deal when they allow for a few games.
• 57:18
  Like in the first series, they lost their number one seed
• 57:21
  technically for the start of this series and they're playing
• 57:24
  tough competition too. So yeah, I'm really liking what
• 57:27
  I'm seeing from Minnesota team like Quinn Hughes, honestly,
• 57:29
  like he is like when I watch him and I wanna watch Lane Hudson, I
• 57:32
  feel special. Well, I'm like, wow, I feel
• 57:34
  lucky I'm able to watch them both on the ice.
• 57:35
  Yeah, I've really become a Queen Hughes, like Queen Hughes lover
• 57:39
  these these last few weeks just watching these playoff hockey.
• 57:43
  I'm just amazed at what these guys can do on the ice.
• 57:46
  We haven't even talked about my car.
• 57:47
  It's like he's been kind of quiet, but still delivering.
• 57:49
  So yeah, it's it's. Not standing out as much as
• 57:52
  Queen Hughes. No, exactly Queen, who feels
• 57:54
  like he's very talismanic for this team, like he's.
• 57:57
  Well, it just feels kind of like a yeah, yeah.
• 57:59
  You're really using the cosmetic a lot this episode.
• 58:02
  I love it. You know if the Talisman.
• 58:06
  Fits news Talisman Makar's lack of form.
• 58:12
  Talismanic or in four or out of four?
• 58:15
  Out of form. I guess that's what it would.
• 58:17
  Be like those are the two options.
• 58:19
  But yeah, I mean with Quinn Hughes, it feels like he's got
• 58:22
  his career back by escaping Vancouver and no shade to
• 58:26
  Vancouver fans. I it sucks what you're going
• 58:29
  through your team, but it really feels like he just got put in
• 58:33
  the perfect position to succeed. And essentially for all these
• 58:36
  years, right, it's been Vancouver fans have been saying
• 58:38
  this is good to Makar. He's as good as Makar and the
• 58:41
  rest of the league is like, OK, OK, bro, you know, But now he's
• 58:44
  on an actual team with some other superstars and he's on a
• 58:48
  massive stage right second round of the playoffs.
• 58:51
  And he's showing it. And it's been very, very
• 58:53
  impressive. And we talked about it last
• 58:54
  episode in terms of fantasy for next year, how how we view him
• 58:58
  as just as highly as Makar and for the value at a pick, you
• 59:01
  know, we might even prefer him. So it's it's really crazy to
• 59:04
  see. And this is this really feels
• 59:06
  like a battle of the Titans. It kind of feels like, like, I
• 59:09
  mean, we've said this and I feel like everyone saying this,
• 59:11
  whoever wins this is going to the Stanley Cup Finals.
• 59:14
  I mean, every series. You never know what happens.
• 59:16
  But it's hard to dispute that when you look at these two teams
• 59:19
  versus Anaheim Vegas. Just look clearly better.
• 59:24
  Yeah, I just, I'm just like look like if you look at their
• 59:27
  roster, it really feels like there are lacking centred
• 59:30
  centres because Ericsson X not there and they're still able to
• 59:33
  win. So it's just extremely
• 59:35
  impressive. Like I guess the team would be
• 59:37
  most centred depth in the league.
• 59:38
  Yeah, yes, since you don't use centres.
• 59:42
  Yeah, I think yeah, Kadri definitely would be their top
• 59:47
  line centre and he's currently their third line centre like a
• 59:50
  Colorados and then their 4th. No, maybe Jack Drury would not
• 59:54
  be the head of Hartman, but still.
• 59:55
  Ross Fulton would probably be ahead of Hartman.
• 59:58
  Yeah. Honest.
• 59:58
  Eventually. And he's playing wing, but he
• 1:00:00
  could be there for their 4C. So with Erickson Eck out, like,
• 1:00:04
  you know, I've launched, definitely have a way deeper
• 1:00:06
  centre depth. So let's why don't we wrap it up
• 1:00:09
  by saying our predictions for we end every episode by saying our
• 1:00:13
  predictions. Obviously they may not have
• 1:00:15
  changed, but well, I don't you want.
• 1:00:17
  Who wants to start us off? We're Carolina and for.
• 1:00:20
  All you're good. I think quick head to the sports
• 1:00:27
  books. Like I, I'm very, very confident
• 1:00:32
  in the Habs and that's the only the other ones in the West I'm
• 1:00:35
  like, I have no idea. So I would say.
• 1:00:37
  What did I say originally called the one?
• 1:00:41
  I'm going to go with Hobbs and five, So I'm changing that from
• 1:00:44
  Hobbs and six. Yeah.
• 1:00:46
  Uh, so hopefully that actually materializes.
• 1:00:49
  And then I had Colorado and five, which I don't think is
• 1:00:53
  going to happen. So I think that's gonna be like
• 1:00:55
  Colorado in seven and then my Anaheim in six.
• 1:01:00
  I'm still confident I don't aim and six.
• 1:01:04
  All right. And then the rest of the
• 1:01:05
  bracket. Afterwards.
• 1:01:08
  Yeah, why? Not oh, Colorado is going to
• 1:01:12
  beat Anaheim. Hmm 40 OHV the next mashup
• 1:01:20
  numbers. I don't know.
• 1:01:21
  I mean, yeah, probably 555 games Max.
• 1:01:25
  But then the other side, I don't know.
• 1:01:26
  I don't wanna, I don't wanna say it, but hey, I thought Tapper
• 1:01:29
  was gonna win so. Chill.
• 1:01:32
  So. Say it with your chest if you're
• 1:01:34
  gonna betray your people. It's good.
• 1:01:37
  I keep making these predictions that are like, you know, Ronner
• 1:01:41
  Connor. Yeah, that's OK.
• 1:01:43
  So I'm gonna continue with my wrong predictions.
• 1:01:44
  Carolina will beat the Habs in five foot.
• 1:01:47
  Colorado's gonna beat Carolina in like 7.
• 1:01:52
  OK, Kevin, what do you got? I got Carolina in four.
• 1:01:56
  Nice. I got Habs in six, I got Vegas
• 1:02:02
  in seven, I got Minnesota in seven.
• 1:02:06
  And if Minnesota loses tonight, then I got Colorado and six, but
• 1:02:13
  Minnesota at 7:00. And then I think Minnesota beats
• 1:02:16
  Vegas I think in six. And I have the Habs beating
• 1:02:20
  Carolina in seven, and then I got the Habs winning it all in
• 1:02:25
  seven. Nice.
• 1:02:27
  That'd be cool if you got that Minnesota, Montreal thing,
• 1:02:29
  right. I mean, it's looking good.
• 1:02:33
  The A sports, I know how to do it.
• 1:02:36
  Alright, I'm still going. Philly and seven.
• 1:02:43
  Philly and eight. Sorry.
• 1:02:45
  Alright. Yeah, so we got Carolina.
• 1:02:47
  I'm going to Habs in six still. And then in the West, I think I
• 1:02:51
  still gotta go Colorado and seven and Anaheim in seven.
• 1:02:55
  And then haves are going to take against Carolina.
• 1:02:57
  I'm going to say we're taking it against Carolina in five.
• 1:03:01
  Oh yeah. And I'm going to say that
• 1:03:04
  Colorado is going to take it versus Anaheim in five as well.
• 1:03:10
  And then the haves are sweeping Colorado in the finals.
• 1:03:15
  We set the tone down the homerism.
• 1:03:19
  Imagine you. Could you imagine that happens?
• 1:03:23
  Oht My God, that would be wild. Yeah.
• 1:03:28
  OK, Love, last question to wrap it up.
• 1:03:31
  OK, I have two last questions very quickly though.
• 1:03:34
  If they have didn't draft Rimbach or would you have rather
• 1:03:37
  they take Ryan Leonard or Dalibor Dworski?
• 1:03:41
  I'm a big Ryan Leonard fan. Yeah, I would have gone,
• 1:03:43
  Leonard. OK, I thought Jake was gonna I
• 1:03:44
  was giving him the the layout to go devorski cause I was a boy.
• 1:03:47
  Yeah. That was his boy, Yeah.
• 1:03:50
  But we've heard it here first, so it's not surprising.
• 1:03:52
  No loyalty so. Yeah.
• 1:03:56
  And the Dalibor, if you're listening.
• 1:04:02
  And and the other thing I was going to say is do you think,
• 1:04:05
  how do you think the goalie situation gonna play out for a
• 1:04:07
  Colorado? Like do you think they're gonna
• 1:04:09
  go back to Wedgewood? I think they go back to, which
• 1:04:11
  was just the guy for the rest of the series in my.
• 1:04:12
  One thing before we go on to the next.
• 1:04:15
  This is super important. I actually would have picked
• 1:04:17
  Daniel Boot over both. No, you wouldn't.
• 1:04:22
  Was Alex Bumper actually that year?
• 1:04:24
  Was was pick #13, Ick, Benson, Ryonan.
• 1:04:31
  Zach Benson and Ryan Leonard, but.
• 1:04:33
  Yeah, I think, Leonard. I'm, I think I'm going Benson.
• 1:04:36
  Ooh, there we go. Yeah, it's close though.
• 1:04:38
  But yeah, Benson's looking. Benson's looking great.
• 1:04:42
  What was the other question? Oh yeah, about wedge role is
• 1:04:44
  Lockwood. I think that Wedgewood bump was
• 1:04:48
  not bonk was. I'll take it, Bong.
• 1:04:54
  You get bombed and then you end up with a bump.
• 1:05:00
  And and Barky, yeah, I think, I think that Wedgwood's gonna be
• 1:05:05
  the guy to bring them to glory if if they are to win like.
• 1:05:10
  I mean, I think in terms of, I think it completely depends on
• 1:05:13
  game by game. Starting with tonight, if
• 1:05:16
  Blackwood has a good game, they're gonna keep going
• 1:05:18
  Blackwood. And if he has a bad game, they
• 1:05:19
  go back to Wedgewood. Are you asking if you lose?
• 1:05:22
  Well, Black, what's going to do? I think if Blackwood loses, but
• 1:05:24
  it's like a two, one game, they're gonna give him the net
• 1:05:27
  the next game. Interesting.
• 1:05:28
  OK. You guys think if they lose a 21
• 1:05:30
  game they're going to watch would next one?
• 1:05:32
  I think, which was the starter, and I think Laws gives them an
• 1:05:35
  opportunity to actually arrest him.
• 1:05:36
  Which was allowed in this series?
• 1:05:38
  What the game one was they, they won 96, so six goals.
• 1:05:42
  Game 2 was like 5 four-game three they lost 51.
• 1:05:46
  He's let in almost 20 goals in three games.
• 1:05:51
  Yeah, just listen. Two goals in a game and they
• 1:05:54
  lose. They're gonna go to
• 1:05:56
  platformance. Yeah.
• 1:05:57
  But I just feel like, I don't know, I feel like just Wedge was
• 1:06:00
  just better. But yeah, those running with
• 1:06:05
  Blackwood, if he has a good game and you move by a goal or two
• 1:06:07
  and it was a close game, like probably ride with Blackwood
• 1:06:10
  again. If your question is like for me
• 1:06:11
  to predict how tonight's gonna go and based on that make the
• 1:06:14
  decision, I could see them going back to Blood to Wedgewood.
• 1:06:18
  Maybe not next game, but the game after.
• 1:06:20
  I don't think Black was going to string together 2 good games in
• 1:06:22
  a row, but it's completely, it's so hard to predict.
• 1:06:26
  He hasn't played in a month, right?
• 1:06:29
  2 Wedgewood say 29 on 31. So we actually had made-up that.
• 1:06:35
  Four goals and then game three, yeah, he had a bad game.
• 1:06:38
  But yeah, I think, I mean, I think it was just kind of like,
• 1:06:42
  I take this opportunity to rest. We still have the upper hand in
• 1:06:44
  the series. Is there a reason why Jacob
• 1:06:47
  Fowler was the 6th goalie drafted in 2023 draft?
• 1:06:50
  Like those five other goalies that were clearly better than
• 1:06:52
  him. I have no idea.
• 1:06:53
  I feel like this segment should be called random.
• 1:06:54
  Thoughts. Random thoughts at the end of
• 1:06:59
  the episode for sure. I mean, that was another thing I
• 1:07:01
  want. I thought it would be
• 1:07:02
  interesting to talk about for next season is what do we think
• 1:07:04
  the Habs goalie situation is gonna look like?
• 1:07:07
  Obviously Montalbo's yeah but and Dobish is starter.
• 1:07:10
  But do we think Dobish and Father are going to be close to
• 1:07:13
  a tandem or is it going to be Dobish full starter with
• 1:07:15
  Fowler's backup? Full starter.
• 1:07:18
  This can be a big deep dive and I do want to do that at some
• 1:07:23
  point this offseason because there's a lot of things that
• 1:07:25
  could happen. The reason the reason I'm hasn't
• 1:07:27
  the answer now is because if he actually takes us to the sound
• 1:07:30
  like a finals, like this is his net moving forward.
• 1:07:33
  Yeah, if they do lose like this round, Round 2, Fowler was
• 1:07:37
  poised to be the goalie of the future for a while.
• 1:07:39
  And I'm actually. Still think you're too young
• 1:07:42
  though. Yeah, people who are like real
• 1:07:45
  major Jacob Fowler fans is always like comparing this price
• 1:07:49
  HELOC situation like this is, you know, uh, no, I think that I
• 1:07:56
  think that Dobesh is the guy who has deserved the upper hand and
• 1:07:59
  it would be a shame if they don't do it even if they do lose
• 1:08:02
  this series round two. But if they go into round three
• 1:08:05
  and then on to the cup finals especially, and if they win,
• 1:08:09
  then like that's like golden ticket for dovish.
• 1:08:12
  But otherwise, yeah, I think it is safe to say that he's going
• 1:08:16
  to be the starter, but probably not like on a Vasilevsky level,
• 1:08:19
  probably more like a solid 1A. OK.
• 1:08:24
  And now actual final last question.
• 1:08:26
  OK, one answer. Who has been your favorite
• 1:08:30
  player to watch in these entire playoffs thus far?
• 1:08:33
  And I want everybody that's listening right now.
• 1:08:34
  If you're watching on YouTube, leave us a comment.
• 1:08:36
  Who has been the most exciting player that you have watched as
• 1:08:38
  far in the playoffs? If you're in the Discord, let us
• 1:08:41
  know in the Discord as well. I'm so curious.
• 1:08:43
  But I think to me, it has to be, I mean, I know we're having
• 1:08:47
  fans, but it's like Dobesh or Hudson to me.
• 1:08:49
  It's like these are the two guys that like, so exciting.
• 1:08:55
  Cheeky who you got? So it's it's I'm gonna give a
• 1:08:58
  non Habs answer, but it is tough to watch all their games just
• 1:09:03
  because it's on the West Coast. But like Leo Carlson's been
• 1:09:05
  sick. Yeah, I think he's he's been
• 1:09:07
  fantastic. So I've been I've been on the
• 1:09:10
  Leo Carlson train for a while. We'll definitely this will
• 1:09:13
  evolve over the offseason and see what happens.
• 1:09:15
  But I think that Gotye Carlson could be one of those insane
• 1:09:18
  stacks or fantasy next year. And I'm just like maybe excited
• 1:09:21
  by that prospect and that's why I'm so excited by this now.
• 1:09:24
  But just his play. I mean, his past don't look
• 1:09:27
  home. And what game one it didn't
• 1:09:30
  shoot. I know, I know, I know.
• 1:09:33
  That's a that's a current defenseman, not a forward
• 1:09:35
  former. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:09:39
  So I'm going to go with Leo Carlson.
• 1:09:41
  Yeah, I'm like I'm racking my brain trying to think of a more
• 1:09:44
  exciting answer or a more interesting answer, but I just
• 1:09:47
  don't understand. I don't know how I could not say
• 1:09:49
  Lane Hudson. It's I'm trying to think.
• 1:09:52
  I wanted to refuse. I want to think on the haves,
• 1:09:55
  mainly because that's just I've watched every single game all
• 1:09:58
  the way through, whereas a lot of the other series has been
• 1:09:59
  mostly highlights, especially the West Coast.
• 1:10:02
  But I just can't think of a guy who's been more exciting to
• 1:10:04
  watch than Hudson. On the on the subject of the
• 1:10:07
  Ducks, actually though, I think for me Cutter Toyota has been
• 1:10:10
  super impressive. I just, I would love to have him
• 1:10:14
  on my team next year in fantasy. I think he's just a super.
• 1:10:17
  Phenomenal line 3 colour go to. Honestly, what he can do with, I
• 1:10:21
  mean, first of all, Anaheim. He said him a little Carlson
• 1:10:23
  gonna do. You're talking about him and
• 1:10:25
  Ryan paling like that's the that's the duo, right?
• 1:10:27
  There no the real the real code is.
• 1:10:28
  It was named Jeffrey Ville. No, Brett Howden actually,
• 1:10:33
  that's the that's the GOAT. No, there's it's been an awesome
• 1:10:38
  playoffs. It's been the highlights have
• 1:10:40
  been unreal. I wish I could watch every
• 1:10:42
  single game. It's if that's the one, the one
• 1:10:44
  downside living on the East Coast, right?
• 1:10:46
  If you live on the West Coast, you can watch every game.
• 1:10:48
  So if you can watch during work or whatever, but but you just
• 1:10:51
  getting to watch the highlights. It's been a phenomenal playoffs
• 1:10:54
  and I can't wait for to see where we go from.
• 1:10:56
  Here Cutter go to is averaging 3.2 hits a game in these
• 1:10:58
  playoffs so far. 3.2 hits? Yep.
• 1:11:01
  Oh my God, Brady could Chuck gazillion inside, man.
• 1:11:07
  Have to figure out how how early I have to drop them next year to
• 1:11:09
  steal him from you. Guys, this is actually insane.
• 1:11:12
  He's gonna be like around 3 or 4 pick at this point.
• 1:11:14
  He's deserves it. Or we're going to get what we
• 1:11:17
  got with Zach Hyman where we're like he was monster hitting in
• 1:11:20
  the playoffs and then he just did not do that during the
• 1:11:22
  regular season. We talked about that.
• 1:11:24
  But the floor of the points and the shots is still fine.
• 1:11:29
  Yeah, so it's, uh, he's pretty exciting.
• 1:11:32
  And I will say some honorable mentions who are no longer in
• 1:11:35
  the playoffs. Supporter Martone, that was fun.
• 1:11:37
  That was Brandon Hagel. I'll never forget that save on
• 1:11:40
  some Cosky. Oh my God.
• 1:11:44
  If it wasn't against the Habs, I would be so much more on the
• 1:11:47
  brand. I mean, no, it's.
• 1:11:48
  Over now we want I'll be releasing him and that's
• 1:11:51
  something. Yeah, he he was awesome.
• 1:11:53
  It was, it was fantastic to watch him.
• 1:11:55
  It was every time he touched the puck.
• 1:11:56
  I I was stressed. It was it was really crazy to
• 1:11:59
  watch. It's funny that that it was
• 1:12:00
  Hagel and not Couture off that really gave me that feeling over
• 1:12:03
  the course of this series. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:05
  All right. That was a good one.
• 1:12:08
  Thank you to everybody for listening.
• 1:12:10
  I really like this hashtag. Kevin's random thoughts at the
• 1:12:13
  end. I appreciate it.
• 1:12:15
  Well, it's fun. That was fun, but it was great
• 1:12:17
  to break down the series. By the time we are we're going
• 1:12:21
  to release the next episode, it's probably gonna be all, if
• 1:12:24
  not most of the teams in the conference finals.
• 1:12:27
  Like we might get some, I guess sevens one or one or something,
• 1:12:32
  one Game 7 left or something. But yeah, overall, round three
• 1:12:35
  upon us. I hope we're in a good mood at
• 1:12:38
  the next episode. Yes, you too.
• 1:12:40
  Yeah. If not, it's gonna be like 10
• 1:12:41
  minutes. You have to talk about.
• 1:12:44
  It. Exactly.
• 1:12:48
  Yeah. But I, I think we will be.
• 1:12:49
  I think we will be afterwards we'll see what happens with the
• 1:12:53
  Carolina series. But anyways, I'm a believer.
• 1:12:57
  I am. I'm just trying to, I'm trying
• 1:12:58
  to be as objective as possible on the podcast, but I am a
• 1:13:01
  believer. Sure, I believe you.
• 1:13:06
  Alright, are you fucking everybody for listening to?
• 1:13:09
  I was gonna say are weak insert thing here so I'm so used to it,
• 1:13:13
  but our halfway through round two breakdown of these NHL
• 1:13:18
  playoffs. That's the title of all of us.
• 1:13:21
  Sorry. That's the title of the episode.
• 1:13:23
  Exactly halfway through these round through right?
• 1:13:29
  Derek Zoolander, centre for kids who can't read.
• 1:13:32
  Good, but is this an episode for ants at least three times as
• 1:13:37
  long? Cool.
• 1:13:42
  I cannot stuff Alright, OK, follow us on Spotify, Apple
• 1:13:47
  podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, we are there.
• 1:13:49
  If you're watching on YouTube, give this video like and
• 1:13:50
  subscribe to the channel. All the socials are in the
• 1:13:53
  podcast subscription and join the discord community which we
• 1:13:56
  mentioned many a time as well and that was hilarious.
• 1:14:03
  Ohhhhh alright, take it away. Bye bye About Bow Banker
• 1:14:07
  Management Fantasy Hockey podcast.
• 1:14:09
  Whoa, go Habs, go woo. Whoa, that's not.
• 1:14:14
  He didn't say that. Go, Habs, Go.
• 1:14:17
  They say they go, ABS go. Well, I don't repeat what Kevin
• 1:14:20
  says. What?