Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: All right, everybody, welcome back to the good old hockey podcast. It is me, Sean. I'm here without Galley. Galley, our gracious co host. He's busy working in the ECHL for the Bloomington Bison. Having a great time out there, but it's been a while and we're back. I have a new co host that's going to be filling in for Galley.
He's a buddy of mine. He is a former SJSU hockey player. He's a college hockey player. So we've got some, we've got some experience. We've got some experience in this room now. But please everyone welcome Mr. Alan Mopus. He is going to be the new co host with me. Alan, how you doing?
[00:00:53] Speaker B: I'm doing great. College hockey is a little bit of a stretch there. Well, shout out to the Acha boys.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Hey, it's on the resume.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: College hockey's college hockey. All right.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. Hey, you played hockey and you were in college.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: So this is. Yeah, that is a fact for a short period of time. But.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: But Alan's a long time friend of mine. I've played with him, actually, currently playing with him on men's league here in Idaho. Shout out.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Greatest men's league team ever assembled.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Yep. Greatest men's league team in the state of Idaho and ever assembled, like you said. But yeah, we've, you know, we've known Alan for what, since high school?
Played here and there together.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: 14.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, something like. So it'll be fun. We've had a lot of debates and things, so could get spicy here. You never know on the good old hockey podcast now. But that's where it becomes fun.
But Alan, we always did this to start. How's life been for you? How's.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Life's been just fantastic. I got no complaints. I'm a big Sharks fan here.
They just went on a three game win streak. So. Yeah, I'm buzzing.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: As am I. So you've actually got. You guys watching. Got two Sharks fans on here, so let's go. Unbiased takes are not a thing here because we both believe in the same team. We're not, we're not going to be biased at all. I'm kidding. We're gonna have a 10 minute shark talk at the end just to. For our amusement at the end of every episode. So if you are a Sharks fan, stick around for that. If not, you can kick rocks. But yeah, life's been, it's been crazy. We haven't. I don't think we've put out a episode in about a Month. Been trying to figure some things out just with Galley's work schedule and stuff, but it's been tough. So here we are, excited, season is underway. We got some crazy shakeups and stuff like that, but we're going to jump into coast to coast something. We just talk about the league all around. First thing that's pretty notable on the agenda is Alex Ovechkin. He's currently got seven goals in 11 games, and we all know what record he's chasing. Seems like he's chasing pretty hard. But, Alan, do you think Alex Ovechkin hits that record this year?
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Yes. I'm gonna say yes on this. I. I know it's a long shot. Obviously he's a bit older now and Father time is catching up with him, but I think he's still got that shot. He's still Power play. Go to Guy.
And he's been lighting up the league for the first part of the season. I think he's got seven goals now. I think it's completely doable. It's not like we haven't seen Obi score 40, 40 goals before. And he's well pace right now.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Yeah, he needs 35, like 35 more. So 42 at the end of the season.
I don't know. I think it could be possible. It's Alex Ovechkin at the end of the day. I know he's a little bit older now, but that shot in these last 11 games hasn't looked like it slowed down at all. So I don't know. I just. I really don't see it as like a.
It's. It's. It's possible. It's a long shot, but it's possible and I'd love to see it happen.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: As long as John Carlson and Dylan Strom can keep finding him in that circle, yeah, I think anything is possible. I think he could be chasing a thousand thousand goals. It might be a little stretch, but.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Maybe just a little bit. Who cares? A little bit. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I think it's crazy because he's 39 now, so he would have. He'd have another.
To think that he has another season too is crazy to do. Easily 40 years old, but it doesn't look like anything slowing him down. Even though he's eaten Subway and McDonald's before the game.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Goat move, drinking Coke on the bench.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Joining, I will say, even for me, eating beef, chicken or no beef, rice and eggs before games and a beer, I still can't do what he's doing. And the fact that he's able to do that on his diet and I try to clean up my diet before again, I go out there and fall five times a game. It's unbelievable.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Cleaning up that diet, including at least a couple Coors banquets before games.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Ah, yeah, I guess I forgot about that part. But that's like, you know. Yeah, for the game. Yeah, same deal. And it's in some smelling.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's possible though. I think he gets there. If. I mean, he's gonna get very close this season. Yeah, I think 30 is definitely in his wheelhouse, at least. Yeah, I think he's gonna get probably 35 to 40 goals and I think if he gets that close, he's gonna do it.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh yeah, he'll definitely do it. I don't, I don't see assuming he stays healthy in praying for it, but you know, I. As long as he stays healthy, he's gonna break it, especially for. He'll definitely do it by next season, but we'll see about this season. But second thing we're going to talk about is National Predators and Alan in her group chat for Men's league.
This is your favorite thing to bring up with one of our buddies who's a Preds fan. So I'll let you take the floor on this one.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: I believe they're currently sitting in 31st place. I think they have one more point than the San jose shark. The 20, 24, 25 San Jose sharks video. And they just spent how much money in the off season bringing in Stamco's, bringing in Brady Shea, bringing in just a bunch of guys like that, right?
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Jonathan Marsh said that's the name I was forgetting. I didn't want to say anything, but it's just, it's honestly embarrassing. I know it takes some time to put the team together, but they're God awful. They. They gave $8 million to an older Steven Samkos. Frankly, Steven Samkos has not been prime Stephen Stamcos for a few years now and they put up 90 points last year or whatever it was. But he has not been vintage Steven Samkos for a while. He's injury prone and he's getting older. That was probably.
It's one of the worst signings I've seen the last five years. Right.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Really? Okay.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: It's gonna age poorly. Eight years.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Yeah. The number on that is, I think.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: It'S four years either way. Four years. $8 million.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: $8 million. He Currently, I think last time I checked he had two goals. So you're currently paying him $4 million a goal. I know it's still early, but it's gonna look awful, especially two, three years down the line.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the best way to describe the Predators this season is Penguins last season. They go out and they get. Eric Carlson helped us the out as a Sharks fan. Thank you for that. Penguins, by the way.
Yeah, it's essentially a retirement home out there in Nashville.
You know, also Jonathan Marcus. I, I feel for him because like the Knights just kind of screwed him out of, you know, team he wanted to sign with.
But yeah, I think that Steven Stamco's signing it is very early and I'm kind of just on them to on them. But to be one point ahead of the Sharks is pretty embarrassing because we have not done anything except for that. Yeah, I guess we, we had a three game, three game bender that we.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: You know, boys are going 71 and one after that game. Simple.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Yeah. It's not that hard. It's doable.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't think with this roster it's happening, but a man can hope, right?
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Here's all the Sharks have to do in order to get that. They just have to win every single game from here on out.
And they're gonna be what, 70 set the record for best regular season. All they have to do is win every single game, though.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: All they have to do is win out for the next 70 some games. Right. And there'll be 70. They'll be. Yeah, they'll go 72, 8 and 2. 69 game win streak could happen.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Take it one game at a time. All you got to do is win one game each game, win each period. That's all you gotta do.
Not even each period. You could lose a period. But when, if you win a majority of the periods, they will be the best regular season team.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: This is gonna happen.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: And this is what, this is what we bring me and Alan, this journalism that we're doing right now. This is what we bring to the table for you guys. Is this kind of hard hitting? We're bringing the facts up. I'm sorry. Okay.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: It's a fact.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: It is.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Gotta win 69 more games. Great number, by the way.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: It is great number and that's a lucky number. So I think it's possible.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: But, but yeah. Onto the next. Igor Shisterkin. Some drama. We kind of missed it with a little bit old. But we're going to bring it up anyways because it's kind of interesting. And really the only hot piece of news is coming out of the NHL right now as of recording. Sure, there'll be something tomorrow that we're going to kick ourselves for, but Igor Shasturkin turns down $88 million. Eight year. $88 million for eight years for a total of $11 million a year. He turns that down. Alan. Why in his right mind did he turn that down, do you know?
[00:10:31] Speaker B: He turned it down because, although I hate saying this because I'm not an Igor Shuster can fan, I'm an Igor Shuster can hater. He's the best goal in the NHL. Right. I don't think anybody who genuinely watches the NHL and keeps up with the NHL doesn't believe that he is the best or at minimum the second best behind Connor Hellebuyck.
[00:10:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: And I love to, I love to say he's, he's terrible, but realistically, he's not. Right. He's worth all the money in the world.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: The, the reason why I have a problem with this.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Is there's been two goalies who have ever made over $10 million a season. One of them being Carrie Price, who's the greatest goal of our generation. The second one being Sergey Bobrovsky, who's up there. Right.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: The problem that I have with this contract is, you know, if I'm a Rangers fan, I don't want them to dump, you know, 11 plus million dollars into a goalie every year. We've kind of seen over the last three years, we've had one really elite goalie win a Stanley Cup. The other two. Darcy Kemper won it with Colorado back in 2021. In 2022, Aiden Hill won the cup with Vegas. Those are not guys you pay $11 million a season to. Right? Those are, yeah. Six, seven million dollar. Maybe if that goal is very scary.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Hill was making way less than that.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Aiden Hill I think is worth more than Darcy Kemper, but I think Darcy Kemper makes more than him either way.
We've kind of seen that in today's NHL, today's high scoring hockey. You don't need a goalie. That is going to be the best of the best. Right. You want one?
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: But you can win with it. Average to slightly above average goalie. Why would you dump eleven plus million dollars a season into a goalie who. It doesn't really seem like he wants to stay there.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, that too.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: You're gonna have to overpay for him to stay.
And that's already an overpayment for a goalie.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Why would you keep him around that's a controversial opinion, but like, no, it's.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Tough because it's like, I mean, we've seen this. I feel like it's going to get less and less. But those teams that pay players over what, $10 million a year don't have any cups.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: Yeah, there's. I think the apps were the first one two years ago with, with McKinnon. Wait, yeah. No, no, it was Vegas with Jack Eichel because McKinnon was still on his six point something million dollar contract when they won.
So there's been two ten million dollar players to win a cup and we're talking about one Sergey Bobrovsky. Yeah, yeah. And then the other one is going to be Jack Eichel, who. Yeah, he was a big part of that team. But like.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: And also we know what Vegas did.
Yeah. So they're. The whole cap things. Yeah, the whole cap thing doesn't really apply to Vegas, actually. So we're gonna leave out Jack Eichel's name for that just because there's some circumventing going on. But it's still.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah, they've had Jack Eichel for a couple years now and they didn't win it before. It's like having a player that's played that high, you have worse depth unless you completely circumvent the cap.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I mean, even like all that in a goalie. Yeah. I guess we weren't that far away from McDavid and dry seidel both winning a cup, but we literally won two goals away from that. But still, I mean, I think it's to dump that much. And I mean, I think the salary cap is going to keep going up.
I've heard some rumors that it might break 100mil in the next couple years.
I just don't, I don't know what you do in that situation. Like, truly, like, what do the Rangers even do to keep you circling around? Like, I don't even. I just don't think he wants to.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: It's one of those things where if you don't sign for $11 million, you'd be the highest paid goal in NHL history, right?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: You don't sign for $11 million a season. Do you really want to stay in New York?
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: And then you look at it from the Rangers perspective. They're going to have to sign lafreniere in a couple of years. I think it's next season. They have to sign Alexa lafreniere and he's having a breakout year.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Like, what are you going to do when you have. Laffy is going to be making 10 plus a year. I almost guarantee it. You're going to have two guys that are making over $10 million a season, which I think the only other team that has that.
Well, I guess Toronto had it for a while and look how it worked out for them. And then Edmonton has it.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: It's not working out like you gotta have. You gotta spread that money around to get better pieces down the lineup.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: I just don't see it working out if they do end up signing them. Even if the cap goes up.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's. That's a lot of money. Like 11 mil. Even if the cap goes up a couple million.
It's just still so much money. And like you said, lafreniere also needs to be resigned soon, so.
Oh, I just. I don't really know what they do in that situation, I think because he. What he still. Does he still have another year after this year. Are they doing it early or was it.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Is this.
This is his last season. I think he's still an RFA because he's 25, 26, something like that. So he's still an RFA, so they don't necessarily have to sign him, I believe.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: But at the same time, you want to sign. You don't want to go to arbitration with that guy.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: No.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: And then one year contract and deal with it again another year when he's not an rfa.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: What Boston just went through. Yeah.
And this is Igor Sturkin too. Not. Jeremy Slim's a great goalie, but this is Eagles.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I think it's. It's gonna be crazy what happens with that, but we'll follow it along this year. I'm sure it'll come up again. But last thing on this coast to coast is contender or pretender. Alan's gonna name some teams here and he's like, I'm gonna name some teams and you're gonna tell me if they're a contender or a pretender.
The Minnesota Wild.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: They're pretenders. That, that team. I love the Wild. Carol Capri jobs. One of my favorite players in the NHL.
They have four guys and their goalie, Philip Gustafson is playing out of his mind right now. He is, which is why they've seen as much success. I think that's a huge reason as to why they've seen as much success. Him and Kirill Capri stop carrying the team on his back. He does also have a goal. That was awesome.
It's just one of Those things. I don't think it's sustainable for an entire season. I do think they're a playoff team. I think they're getting out of that Ryan Suter, Zach Parise fiasco couple seasons ago where they have a good younger core on a cheaper, on cheaper contracts.
But I don't foresee them being this 55, 60 win team. I think they're max gonna squeak into the playoffs and like a.
Probably the third playoff spot in the Central Conference. Yeah, the Central Division, pardon me, not conference. I think the ABs are going to get a lot better. There are teams behind them that are going to get a lot better over the course of the season. They're going to fall off a bit. I think they'll still be in the playoffs though.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think looking, I mean, the Central right now, we kind of looked at it before. We were recording just at the, you know, standings and things and I think the Central is just really odd right now, seeing some of these teams down and where they're at, Colorado being as low as they are.
But yeah, I mean, I think, I think it's gonna be the top three again. Winnipeg, Dallas and Colorado.
And honestly, Utah, I just don't know if Utah's gonna do it.
I could see Minnesota. I do too. I hope Minnesota and Utah are fighting for that, that late spot. And again, it's like we said before, like it's kind of tough to judge some of these teams on where they are in the standings at this point because it's so early. There's only 12 games played.
I think come December, January is when we can really kind of start seeing that playoff picture come to life.
But right now it's just so early, it's hard to tell. But next team I have for you, the New Jersey Devils.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: I think the New Jersey Devils are going to finally break out this year. They got their goalie, they got their guy in net. I know. I was just talking about how you don't need a goalie to be great. Right. But you need a goalie to be good.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: At least if you have a defensive core that's as young as they are.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Led by Luke Hughes and I think they have Dougie Hamilton back now, but yeah, I think that's a legit wagon. I think they're gonna go maybe not deep, deep in the playoffs, but they're a second or third round team. I think they're a contender for the Stanley cup, which is going to be really fun to see Jack Hughes playing late in the, in the year. Yeah, late in the season, I should say they're a contender. I think 100.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Yeah. I think New Jersey, like, like you said with the goalie thing, I think the biggest thing, too is just you got to have a good goalie to make the playoffs, but you got to have a goalie on fire to win the Stanley Cup. I think that's what makes it so tough is, like, we see all these runs that these teams make, and it usually comes from the dude between the pipes. Vegas. Somehow, Aiden Hill just came out of nowhere and was just stopping everything also. I mean, Vegas had a great defense that year, but.
And then also Bobrovsky, you know, him doing him. But Markstrom's a good goalie, and I think he's someone that can.
We'll see if he can turn it on when it needs to be. But yeah, I mean, I really think that this Devil's team. I'm excited, like you said, to see Jack Hughes playing hopefully later in the season, opposed to his, like, normal first round exit and just seeing.
Because they always say, like, oh, we're in the golden, golden age of hockey. And I feel like none of these players are really shining as of late, at least in the playoffs. Besides, like, McDavid, obviously. But it's always been these. Yeah, it is every year.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: But, yeah, I think you made a great point with.
It's more important to have a goalie that's hot in the playoffs than it is to have a good goalie in general. Yeah, you look at. I mean, the last.
You go back to 2016 with Matt Murray winning the cup of the Penguins. Matt Murray's not an elite goalie who got hot at the right time. He got extremely hot. He was unbeatable in the 2016 playoffs. Obviously, they had a good team around him. They won the Stanley cup, but 2017, same deal here, replaced Mark Andre, Florida as a starter again, won the cup there. 2018, Braden Holtby was a great goal in his time, but he was at the back half of his career. He was not the Braden Holtby that's, you know, competing for Vesna's anymore.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: 19, Jordan Bennington. Yeah, that guy's mid, but he got really good at the right time.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Jordan Middington. Yeah. No, I think it's. It's honestly, like, it just seems like these. All these goalies, like I was gonna say.
I mean, even Bobrovsky, for example, he hadn't, like, he was a great goaltender throughout his whole career. He's at the tail end now, but he was great, but never really had a Chance to shine in the playoffs. I guess you could say he won.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: Vezna's on. Well, I think both of his vesnas came on Columbus. Yeah. If I remember correctly.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: So.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: And yeah, one playoff around the entire time he was there.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So stuff like that where it's like you can't, you can't expect some of these amazing goalies to take you. It's always just these random little spurts of heroism. And honestly, like Bobrovsky is the latest goalie to really have that, that shining, shining moment as of lately. So yeah, I don't know. Interesting to see. But last team, the Washington Capitals, Washington Capital suck.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: They're pretenders. I don't even think they're going to make the playoffs.
I love Alex Ovechkin. I hope for the rest of the season Alex veteran scores a goal every game. I hope he has an amazing season. You know, breaks all the records. Breaks. Breaks Gretzky's record, whatever. Right. But I don't think that team is a playoff team. I think they're sitting in third in the NHL, something crazy like that. It might not be that they're in.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: The metro at least third in the metro.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Either way, I don't think they're that good of a team. Dylan Strom has 17 points in 11 games. His highest overall area's highest point scoring season before this season so far at least the pace that he's on was 67 points.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Geez.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: He's a great player. Great second line center on a. On a very good team. He's not your first over or your first line center that's going to win you Stanley Cup. He's not the first line center that's going to take you, you know, to a President's trophy or whatever.
I think that that team is as pretender as pretender gets. Just like last year when they made the playoffs with a negative goal differential. Like it. It's not. Yeah. It's not feasible. I don't see it happening.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I mean even. What were they last year? They were the four spot. They were the wild card team. One of them.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: They were the second wild card team in the East.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe. I mean.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Because didn't they get in over Detroit or was that.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: They did. They got in over Detroit on the last day of the season.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: They ruined the, the magical comeback for the. The Red Wings. All those games they had. So this is karma coming back for him. But Obi still is going to score a lot of goals. But I just. Yeah, I don't see them.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Making the playoffs. I think the Islanders are going to creep back up. I think they'll figure their out.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Pittsburgh, they're too good of a team.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Columbus. Ah. I don't think they're going to do anything. Philadelphia. No.
But yeah, that wraps that up. So we're gonna go into the award prediction. So last year we did this before the season started, but obviously with the circumstances, we're here, so we're gonna do it beginning of the middle. Yeah.
Post mid season. So we kind of know who's ahead right now. A little bit of cheating. But you know what, we're working with what we got. So we'll go back and forth. We're going to start with the Heart Memorial trophy. I've got Nikita Kucharov. I think, you know, especially with McDonald. I would have picked McDavid to start the year off, but now we know he's injured. Don't know how long yet. But I'm gonna go with Nikita Kucharov. He lit the league up last year and I think he's going to continue to do that.
You know, I think Tampa is going to be a good team this year, but Kucharov is just. He's hard not to pick. And I think there's a lot of players you could pick for that. But who do you have for heart?
[00:25:34] Speaker B: For the Heart trophy, I have Kirill Caprizov. Like I was saying earlier about the Minnesota Wild Beam Pretenders. I think they're gonna make the playoffs and it's going to be on the back of Kurok freeze off so far this season, I think he is the front runner. He's led Minnesota to 11, 1 0. Or not 111 0. They're like 81 and 2. Pardon me. But still, it's an unreal start for him. Obviously. I don't think he's going to hold that up to where he's, you know, leading the league in points.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: But I do think that if they go anywhere, it's going to be on the back of Kuroka Pries obvious. Like, what's the character in Dora Backpack. Backpack.
Like, that's what he is right after that team. Yeah, yeah.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Yeah, whatever.
Yeah. No, I could definitely see that. I mean, if they have a magical run too, like.
Or at least just can. If he can carry their ass to the playoffs, then why not give it to him? Yeah.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: But.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Yeah, Norris, I'm pretty sure we have the same pick here. It's gonna be Kale Makar again.
Obviously off to a hot start. Wasn't injured this year. So Good to see that. Do you know how Quinn Hughes is doing? Is he.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: I did not check. I know he has been good but he is not.
The second leading point scorer for defenseman is Josh Morrissey. I know that he's got like 15 points and frankly the Norris is a points competition for defense.
Yep.
So I don't think it's even close.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Nine points.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Quinn has nine points. Not a bad start. I mean think about a relatively defense.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: And I do think Vancouver is also going to get better as the season come goes along. They haven't been great. They just had a battle with the Sharks which is brutal.
30 seconds left. Yeah. You only beat our team with 30 seconds left. You suck. No.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't think it's going to be much of a competition this year. We have a healthy kale McCarr. This is a. It's a points competition at this point. But I think even you take away that fact. I still think his best fence in the NHL. Yeah.
And he's been showing it this year. He's kind of been carrying the abs even though they haven't been good. He's been the only bright spot. Nathan McKinnon has been great. At least this. At this point in the season. Yeah. But yeah, I think that's pretty easy pick.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: Yeah. No. Norris is pretty much like we said, just a point thing. I kind of hope that they have something for a defensive defenseman.
Don't know if that'll ever happen. But Norris is pretty much just whoever the highest scoring defenseman is at this point, which is sad. As a fellow defenseman myself, I get depressed when you just see who can provide on offense. It's like that's not what a defenseman is. The defenseman defends the home. And a lot of times, like my trife with Eric Carlson, blood pressure's going up.
My. My beef with these offensive defenses sometimes is just their lack of defense. And it's like you're just a fourth winger at this point. Yeah. You know, I think if it's a player that can play defense, great. But it's not very many of them that are like that.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: If I know he's had a bad start to the season, at least statistically, I think that if there was some. If the Norris was awarded correctly and not just to the. The defenseman who, you know, provides the most on offense, I think Charlie McAvoy would probably win it year in, year out. He's had a bad start to the season.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Bruins have not Been great, but he is phenomenal all around. The other guy, Mackenzie Weger gets like zero recognition, but he is phenomenal on both sides of the puck.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: I think that's what we should be judging the Norris off of.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Then again, Kale Makar is phenomenal on both sides of the puck as well.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: If he wins it, I'm not mad.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Kale's a different.
He's an outlier in a lot of this, but a lot of time. Like when Eric Carlson. Never mind. I'm not gonna bring it up.
It is a sore subject because everyone glazed him in the Sharks Phantom. And I'm just like, he's the reason our team fell apart.
I mean, not him. I guess it was Doug Wilson.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: But we love Pavelski walk so we could sign him.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And look, that didn't help. Look where we're at now.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: So anyways, we're almost beating the Canucks. Come on. Three game winning streaks.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Three game winning streak. Yeah. That was so awesome. Like, to beat the Kings. I was like, all right.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: I felt good.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: If we beat. If we beat the Kings, the Knights and the Predators.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: That'S all I care about.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: If we get those wins there. If we have, you know, nine wins left.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: That's funny.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: It's not gonna happen.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Next one, the Rocket Rashard. Most goals, who do you got?
[00:30:45] Speaker B: So I. I am kind of looking at just who's leading the league right now. And I was a big fan of Sam Reinhardt last year, putting up 50 goals. That's insane.
He's just. It seems like he's just now stepping out of his shell. Obviously, he was drafted, I think, third overall back in 2013. 14. It was. I think it. Yeah, it was third overall in 2014.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: I think it's pretty cool to see he's finally kind of fulfilling, that third overall pick.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: Kind of potential. And he's always been a great player and has been since he was just.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Really funny also for Buffalo because anything. And then Jack Eichel goes off to win a Stanley cup and Sam Reinhardt is now. And those are two picks right there. Yeah.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: God, I.
He's had a hot start this season. I think that he is Matthew. Chuck. I think Matthew Ketchup, Alexander Barkov are still the guys in Florida, but, like, he's the guy that's getting fed.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Both of those guys. Chuck can score some goals, Barkov can score some goals, but they both get a lot of assists.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: I think he's the guy that people are going to go to. So that's. That's my pick for Rocket.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, I like that. Mine's a little out there, but this is a new year and we don't know. My pick is Mr. Cole Caulfield. Gold Caulfield, to be exact. He put on that number 13 on his back in remembrance of Johnny Gaudreau. And it's helping him out because he's also tied for first in goals. Right now.
The only issue with this pick for me is that he's often referred to as the greatest 40 goal scorer to never.
So there's that. But it could be the year, because, I mean, I think for Montreal especially, like, you know, roommate Cody. He's big, big Montreal fan. And they look very promising on paper. They really do.
But for whatever reason, just nothing really works for them. But Cole Caulfield is having a hot start right now. Yeah. And I think I. What was it? Isn't it Nico?
Number 13, Gold Caulfield, number 13. All leading the league in gold now. And I think that's, like, response. It is. I think Nikita Kucharov broke that the other night, but.
Yeah, yeah, whatever. Yeah, he's Russian. Ignore him.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Russians don't count.
[00:33:15] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't count. They're not. They're not. Yeah, they're not huge, but, yeah.
Yeah, they're not human.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: I bet that. In a good way.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Yeah, in a good way.
Pick is a little out there, but could happen.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: I think it might be a good pick.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: I think in especially, you know, four or five years down the road.
I know Cole Caulfield has this. This, you know, idea around him that people hype him up a whole lot. He hasn't showed anything in the NHL. Right.
I do think he's one of the premier shooters in the NHL. That kid's got a cannon, which is hilarious for a guy who's five eight.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah, whatever.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: He is also 23. Yeah. He's got so much potato. He's got the world in front of him, like.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: Winning a rocket at this point in his career, I don't think is out of. Out of the stretch of imagination.
I think it's possible. And especially he's the guy on that team. Right. You have Slafkovsky. He's great. You have Nick Suzuki. He's great. They're both feeding. They're feeding Cole Caulfield.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: Slavkovsky scores goals, too. And, yeah, I used to be a Slafkovsky hater. I kind of like that guy now. I think he's kind of GROSS. Uses that 6, 4 frame.
He's kind of nasty.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: He is.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: But I think Cole Caulfield is still the guy in Montreal.
I don't think 50 something goals is out of the realm of idea or realm of possibility. I think realistically, probably more like 40, 45. Yeah. He will actually get 40 goals this season. I guarantee it.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: But this hot start might help him a lot. I think that's good.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, Yeah. I mean, I think he's already got 10 goals, so just needs 30 more to get 40. So we'll see. But I digress. Moving on to the Vesna, who I think we both have the same pick here. Yeah. Igor Shasturkin. That's my pick and I believe that's yours as well.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: That is my pick as well. He started out the season hot. He's been great. I know we were talking about a lot of contradictions in this episode by me, but I know I was talking about I don't think an 11 million dollar goal is worth it. At the same time, I do think he's worth about that money. I just don't think the Rangers should pay him that money with what they're right now.
Shell.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah, no, he is. And I think he gets that Vesna pretty easily.
But up next, the Art Ross.
Who do you got?
[00:35:46] Speaker B: I have Nikita Kucharov. Went in there at Ross.
Guy's nasty.
He showed that year in and year out since I believe it was 20, 18, 19. He put up 128 points, which is the most points in the. In the cap era.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Beat Joe Thornton for that jumbo.
And he's still producing at an insane level. And especially with Connor McDavid going down with injury, he's week to week right now.
Who knows what's going to come with that? It's kind of the same situation as last year. You know, Connor McDavid isn't doing Connor McDavid things, at least to what we expect of him. Now, there are two guys that are also capable of that. It's Kucherov, McDonald and McKinnon.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: And I think Gutrav's gonna get there this year, but who knows?
[00:36:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like that's a good pick. Like you said, with McDavid being out, it's like it's really anyone's award to win right now. And did he win last year? I don't even think he won last year, did he?
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Gutrav won last year.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's not like McDavid, you know, could. I just thought he'd Be out for blood this year, but, you know, he's hurt.
My pick for ART Ross is Mr. Nathan McKinnon.
I know he's kind of off to the slow start, but it's still Nathan McKinnon. He can turn around whenever the.
I think, you know, Colorado's just off to a rough start, but I think they're going to figure it out. They have a somewhat healthy team for the most part. Obviously missing Landiscog, but is it.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: It's Landiscogs injured. He's probably going to be medically retired.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: It's the same situation as, like, Carrie Price today. I think it looks. It looks better than Carrie Price and. And, yeah, like Shea Weber and whatnot. Yeah, but like, you haven't played in two seasons.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Jonathan, same situation.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: Yeah. He did say on Instagram. Did you see that comment that he responded to someone was like, retire or something like that? And he's like, no, I hope he does.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: I love Gabe Landiscog. And he's. He's young enough that he's still. It's. It's not like a Shea weber where you're 34. Yeah, he's not getting any younger. You're just gonna go out and do yourself again. Like, he's young enough. He could still recover that. I believe he's 28 or 29.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Oh, he's got time. Yes.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: His 20s still. It's. Yeah, he'd be fine.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: Yeah, he'll be chilling.
But, yeah, I think Nate Mac is a comfortable pick for me. I just. I trust him. I think he can do it.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: Because real quick, he was my. I think I picked third in fantasy and I picked up Nathan McKinnon. So I'm. I'm praying that he comes back. I hope I'm wrong here.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Yeah, hopefully.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: But. All right, Calder, I think we got the same pick here. Yeah, this is a bit of a homer.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Well, okay, hold on. This player, he's averaging two points per game.
He's a rookie. He was great overall selection. I guess he'll be playing. He'll. We'll see how he does. We're recording this on Monday. This will come out Wednesday, so he will have played Tuesday night. So maybe his point per game might not be perfect. If anything, it'll be point per game, but I can't overlook that.
No, it'll be crazy. We can't overlook that he's at a point per game, if not point, two points per game. At the time of recording, Macklin Celebrini has one game played in two points, one goal, one assist.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: He's on pace for 82 goals, 82 assists. Like, you can't argue with that.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: No, because he missed. He missed some games. He missed like.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Yeah, but he hasn't played. Oh, yeah. Huh.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: So.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: So he's on pace for 71 goals. 71.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: Assists or whatever the hell it is. 69. 70.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: Shark got 69 games left to win.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: True. That's right. We did that earlier. Yeah. So he'd be at. He's on pace right now for 70 goals and 70 assists. So I feel like I can't not give it to Celebrini at this point.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: I'm gonna change my heart. And Art Ross and Rocket Boat and.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Vesna, he's gonna play goal too.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: He's gonna play both ways, Norris. Why not? Yeah, give him everything.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Centers, centers. Play defense. Usually they have to pay back.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Give him the bill. Masterton. He recovered from an injury, right?
[00:40:09] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Give him everything.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Unbiased. Unbiased pick here, bro.
But I mean, I really do think it's possible. I mean, we saw.
We saw Bedard go down with injury and still end up winning. Granted, it was Bedard who was averaging a lot more than the second place, but I do think it's a tough.
It's gonna be a tough win for him. I think he's got a really show up and show out.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: This is again just put me putting my faith in the Sharks and Celebrini, which often leads to depression, but it's okay. I think that we're gonna have to stand behind him and trust the process.
I think Matthew Mitchikov is another solid pick as well. He would be my number two, actually. My number two is number two, Will Smith.
Number three is Matt Vanity. No, he's got two goals and what, 11 games. Hey, he's got two goals though. Yeah.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: I think Cy also picks Celebrini. I am. I am hoping that that kid turns out. I think of the one game that I watched this season that he played in, the one game he's played in, he looked phenomenal. He looked like a game all this game. Yeah, all games. He's looked like a game changer, which you can say the same thing about Matt Bay, Michkov. And obviously as more games played, he's also older. Given it's a year, it's not a big difference. But he is an older player and he's got pro hockey under his belt.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: I think what celebrity did in that one game. We'll see how this goes on for the rest of the season. But I think what he did in that one game is really showing. Like, this kid can compete at the best level in the world. Yeah. Which is really cool.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: I mean, he looked comfortable on line one.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: He looked fantastic online, given he's not really competing for line two spot minutes.
But at the same time, he looked very comfortable going up against the other teams.
Best defensive group, best forward group. Like, it looked fine. The other guy that. I think this might ruffle some Stars fans feathers, but I don't think should be in the conversation. But he is because for some reason he's still eligible to win the Calder is Logan Stankoven.
That guy is gross. Don't get me wrong. He's 21 years old. He's nasty at hockey. He's on one of, I think the best teams in the NHL, is probably the most complete team in the NHL. And he's an impact player.
But at the same time, you played a full playoffs.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: You have like a hundred something pro hockey games under your belt. Why are you competing with guys like Matt Bay, Mitch Goff, specifically pro American hockey games.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Playing in the AHL and the NHL. Why are you competing with somebody like Matt VAY Mitchkov who played, you know, a season a half in the KHL with limited minutes, and Macklin Celebrini who played in college? You could be with kind of, gosh, yeah, there's.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: There's Wayne Hudson.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like guys who have never played pro hockey before or played pro hockey in Russia in very, very limited minutes.
Right. Why are you competing with them when you played the entirety of last year's NHL playoffs?
[00:43:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:34] Speaker B: You played what, 18 games in the NHL playoffs. It's. I think it was more than that.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: I know. I don't, I don't love how they don't.
Like, they should. I get it because, like, I get it in terms of like the stat being all regular season games. But what I don't understand is how. What is the difference between regular season and playoff? Like, there's really not. I mean, there is a difference, but.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Realistically, playoffs matter more.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Exactly. So I just.
Yeah. And like we talked about this when we were talking about getting you on, but even like, NHL was talking about him, like, oh, first day of the NHL, it's like, no, I know he didn't technically play the given times or whatnot, but I, I don't think he should be up for this conversation. And if he does win, we're not going to count it. We're going to make Our own.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: So absolutely.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: We're gonna leave him out talk. Yeah.
[00:44:30] Speaker B: It's not gonna be biased at all.
[00:44:32] Speaker A: Nope. There's gonna be. The thing is, when we're talking, any moving forward, any like, rookie talk, we have, like called a race, we're gonna leave Logan out of it for the sake of our own opinion. And, you know, if he doesn't win, or if he wins, we'll give our Calder Trophy to the actual winner that we.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: I just, I. I'm sorry, I'm kind of dragging this on and on, but I think it's kind of ridiculous that they pin him in the same conversation as these guys. Because, like, you go back to the last one that I remember people complaining about was Artemi Panarin back when he was a rookie with the Blackhawks. That would have been what, 2015? 2015, 16, I believe. Yeah. I think was his rookie year and he was like 21.
But he had never played a pro hockey in America. He had played in the khl. He was one of those guys who signed that KHL contract and played over there for a few years. Right. He had never played American pro hockey, which is a different game. Yeah, it's. It's a more high scoring game. It's more. It's a quicker game. Like, it's. It's completely different. So, like, you look at a guy like Matt Bay, Mitch, who played, what, two years in the KHL, but that's a 17, 18 year old and then an 18, 19 year old. It's a little bit different than if you're looking at a guy like Logan. Logan Stankovan, who has 100 AHL and NHL pro games under his belt, played an entire playoffs with the Dallas Stars, who went deep. It's not like they got bounced in the first round. He played six games. Yeah, they went deep in that playoff and went to the Western Conference finals. It's like, why is he being compared to kids who just came out of college?
[00:46:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: Who are, you know, 19 years old. Yeah. They played pro hockey, but it was in Russia. They were playing 10 minutes a night. It doesn't make any sense to me. He was playing. He was playing a full on role with the Dallas Stars. Yeah, he deserves it. Don't get me wrong. But you look at a guy like William Eckland, again at homer, excluded from the Calder Trophy because he played eight games at the beginning of the season two years in a row. Sixteen games at the beginning of NHL seasons is not the same as 16 games in the playoffs.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: Why is this guy still Eligible. Yeah, that's my rant.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fair. But that wraps it up for all that.
Those are our picks.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: We'll.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: We'll check in about the halfway point of the season, see where we're at and then of course at the end of the season as well.
But we appreciate you guys for listening, but me and Alan are gonna go on a Sharks rant for about 10 minutes. So anyone that's interested, keep listening. If you want to hear some just crazy delusions, that's really what this is for. For us.
We're just going to talk Sharks. But if you aren't wanting to listen to it, click off and save yourself the time. But if you are interested, we're gonna get into it. These Sharks. Mike Greer just made a really amazing trade. I love it so much.
My career is.
I think he could, I think he could win GM of the year this year.
[00:47:43] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: Granted.
See, I say that, but as soon as it came out of my mouth, I feel like the Sharks have to show some promise first before he gets that nod.
[00:47:54] Speaker B: I think a three game winning streak is promised given that came after a nine game losing streak.
But at the same time, like you win three games in a row as a team that put up 40 something points last season, like that's promise right there. I don't, I don't think they've had a three game win streak in the last two years. Like that is true. They probably, they might have had one.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: No, they went on. Remember the year that Bedard two seasons ago. I remember they went on a bit of a heater and I was like, boys, what are we doing?
[00:48:28] Speaker B: The Sharks were the last. The end of the season, I think it was like four games left. They want a three game heater. Just a heater. And it's like why are you doing this? The season is gone. It's worthless. There's no point. I'm happy. I love that guy.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: I'm too. Yeah.
[00:48:44] Speaker B: But he's gonna be a great secondary option to Macklin Celebrini. And at some point down the line, probably another very highly touted prospect. Yeah, hopefully Gavin McKenna. But who knows, right?
[00:48:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. We don't really know how the future holds. I don't really know that I even want the Sharks to win the first overall pick this coming year. But like you wrote down, this team is definitely miles ahead of where they were last year.
Well, maybe not the start here, but even we're not getting blown out in.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: The start of the season.
The first you know, 13 games last year, they'd gone on back to back benders, letting in 10 goals a game. Right?
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:27] Speaker B: The fact that their worst game this season was an outlier and we led an eight goals that.
It's not good. No, it shows. There's improvement here. That. So they played Vancouver two nights ago. Right.
That game was the one year anniversary of Vancouver blowing the Sharks out 10 to 1. And it went down to the wire. They lost. They lost 3 to 2 in regulation. But again, the Canucks, they. They scored the game winner with 30 seconds left given. The Sharks did tie it up with a minute left, but that's neither here nor there. There's improvement here, which is what's amazing. It's amazing. It's very fantastic.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: Exactly. It's what we want. That is what we want. That is all we're looking for in this day and age for as a Sharks fan. Like we're just looking for improvement and not necessarily in the standings, just more of like players overall. Because I still, we definitely still need a high draft pick this year. There's still some pieces missing, but I will say, like, I mean, starting off last year, even at this point last year I was like, the Sharks are well, well, well, far away from playoff berth. But since my career has been moving some players around, that has changed my opinion on it. And I feel like they're a lot closer than, you know, we're hoping for.
[00:50:54] Speaker B: So I want to talk about one thing real quick.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: I have to pull. I have to pull up the statistic. Yeah, hang on one second.
It's involving a player that the Sharks acquired in the off season right before the season, last season, goes by the name of Yaroslav Askarov. All right, so I saw this today, hold up a follow him on Instagram and he posted it.
That's good. I love that guy.
Oh, it's gone. I believe he throughout the beginning of the season. First of all, he's 5. 0. The Barracuda is solved this year, which is interesting because we pulled up a lot of our talented players. Daniel Gooshin, you have Ethan Car, Ethan Cardwell, a couple other guys.
Obviously Eklund's been a full time player for the last two years, but guys like that, I believe he's 5. 0 and has something crazy like a fifth.959 save percentage and two shutouts. Five games played.
[00:52:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Unreal. He is one NHL game or I think it's three. Okay, so something like that. Some astronomically low amount of NHL games and considering they picked them up for I mean, for Tomas Hurdle.
[00:52:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:24] Speaker B: Guys I didn't really care about and a guy didn't really care about and picks I don't really care about.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: It was just part of. Yeah, it's part of the plan. It was getting like. Essentially, we got the arse of. Ask Rob for Tomas Hurdle.
[00:52:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Which is great player.
Yeah. Great player. Great, spectacular player. But we didn't need him. And he wasn't going to fit our game plan of moving forward. And to flip that, you know, in the moment when I saw that Hurdle trade, it was a little unsettling.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: But.
[00:53:01] Speaker A: Also like, what are we going to get from Vegas? Vegas never has anything in their.
They get rid of everything they have. They get rid of picks. They get rid of any future that they have. They just get rid of it. So I was like, well, we could turn that around, maybe take a good draft pick out of it, but we get the best goalie prospect who has not played a game. Dustin, if you're listening, love you.
[00:53:22] Speaker B: But Dustin Wolf's nasty.
[00:53:25] Speaker A: Yeah. He's so gross. And he could be. He's also called a favorite as well. For me.
[00:53:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. I think he should be up there because the Flames aren't bad right now.
[00:53:33] Speaker A: No, not that. Really. Well, no.
[00:53:34] Speaker B: Which is crazy because that team was awful last year and they're basically the same.
[00:53:38] Speaker A: Yeah, no, it is. I'm looking right now, but, yeah, I think yourself, Askarov is the best goalie prospect, which means a player who does not play enough games. Dustin Wolf has now, so we're putting him out of there. But even then, before that, he was still ranked above him.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: So ask her off. I'm looking at it right now. He's played three NHL games, all with the Predators.
His first game was in 2022, 23. He had an.886 a percentage of the 415 goals against average. That's one game. So he let off. He led in four goals off 31 shots last year. He had a 1.47 goals against average.943 save percentage in two games, slowed in two goals on 33 shots this year, obviously hasn't played an NHL game yet. They just played tonight. So that's why I saw that statistic this morning. And for whatever reason, it's gone.
He's played six games. He has a 151 goals against average and a.950 save percentage. He's letting nine goals off of 171 shots in the AHL, or, pardon me, 180 shots. It's. Yeah, yeah, those are saves, 180 shots, two shout outs. He's five. One and zero.
That guy's gross.
[00:55:01] Speaker A: He is. How long do you think he stays in the AHL for?
[00:55:04] Speaker B: I hope not much longer because I love Mackenzie Blackwood.
Vanity checks. He's. He's, he's a good goalie, obviously. He's. He's in the National Hockey League. You have to be really good to get there.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: Yes. Correct.
[00:55:20] Speaker B: You have to be really, really good. You have to be the top, you know, 0.1%.
But at the same time it's like, does that guy deserve an NHL spot over a 22 year old that's torching the American oculi? No.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:33] Speaker B: Absolutely not. Trade him somewhere else. They can use them. Trade with somebody with a terrible backup.
[00:55:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So do you think.
Do you think Askarov comes up this. This season?
[00:55:46] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:55:47] Speaker A: Full time.
[00:55:48] Speaker B: I think he's probably a back in a backup role.
[00:55:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: I think Vaynerchuk has definitely gone. Gone by the deadline. I think Blackwood and Askarov is like the tandem for the next couple seasons. I think that's who you run with. Blackwood's obviously been around the league.
He's played on two different teams now. Play for the Devils now the Sharks.
And he's been a starter since he was 20. He was like 21 when he became the Devil starter, which was not the best position for him. I do think he's a great goalie.
[00:56:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: He's never played on a team with a good defense. He's never played on a good team. On a team that controls the puck in front of him.
[00:56:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:29] Speaker B: The Sharks sure as hell don't do that. And he consistently keeps the team in games 95% of the time, which is all you can ask for for a goalie. Right. So keep him. V check. I like, I like VTech. Vaynerchuk. I think he's a good goalie, but I have zero affiliation to him. I don't really care if they keep him around. And you have this guy who is a budding star in the ahl, Right. Is stats again. Dustin Wolf is nasty. Great goalie. He's insane.
[00:57:01] Speaker A: That's why he's in the show right now.
[00:57:03] Speaker B: And especially him. I mean, he's what, six foot, six foot one, Something like that. That's a smaller goalie in the NHL, which, first of all, that's ridiculous.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:14] Speaker B: What that guy is able to do, his skating ability is astronomical. It's crazy. He looks like UC Sorrows 2.0.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:22] Speaker B: And I think, I hope for The Flames that he becomes that. I think he will.
[00:57:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:29] Speaker B: At the same time, we're talking about the best goalie prospect we've seen.
I mean, I guess Jesper Wall stats also up there. Yeah, but he's.
[00:57:40] Speaker A: See my thing with prospect though is like. Yes, for Wall said I feel like has played enough games to not be considered that anymore. That's in my eyes.
[00:57:49] Speaker B: That's just how he's also. He's been in the HL for what, two seasons in a row now?
[00:57:53] Speaker A: Yeah, the two.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: I. I don't remember seeing his stats, but I don't remember him standing out to me like when Dustin Wolf was playing the hl. That stood out, right?
[00:58:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:58:05] Speaker B: Yaroslav Askarov last year playing in the ahl. Obviously he got beat out, I believe, for the.
Whatever the top goalie award is for the AHL by Dustin Wolf. Yeah, right. The last two seasons. Because that's Wolf's nasty.
Askarov was up there, right? Yeah, you saw stuff about Askarov, you know, pitching shutouts, doing. Doing push up or not push ups, but bench presses. With the net.
[00:58:31] Speaker A: Yeah, with the. Yeah, net.
[00:58:33] Speaker B: And his stats were ridiculous. And it's like this guy deserve. He deserves his flowers. He deserves his chance. I think that the Shark should pull him up sooner, rather much sooner rather than later. I think they should get him in the NHL, get him experience, get him some shots because it is different hockey in the AHL versus the NHL.
[00:58:52] Speaker A: No, it is. And that's. That's my thing is just like getting him used to that. But that pretty much wraps it up. We're at an hour now.
Listen through that. Appreciate it. Appreciate you guys.
Listen to us talk about the Sharks, but.
[00:59:08] Speaker B: Yeah, baby, here on out.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: Yeah, here we come. Here we come.
But no, the. Yeah, we'll be back to see season's back in swing. We're back in swing coming at you on Wednesdays.
If you guys, you know, think of anything you guys want us to talk about, you can reach out on Instagram. Go follow it right down there below Alan, at good old hockey podcast on Instagram and Twitter. This will be on the new YouTube channel, I believe, hopefully if I do it right.
So be sure to subscribe here. If you're new, give this video a. Like, give us a follow on Instagram. Go to. You can listen to this on Spotify, Apple podcasts, all that stuff.
But with that being said, Alan, great talking with you. We're gonna do this next week. I hope you had a lot of fun.
[00:59:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:59:58] Speaker A: Give us, Give us a little rookie lap. Rock. Walk around your. We should have done it before, but. Run around your couch. You got to do a little rookie lap.
Buck it off. Buck it off.
[01:00:07] Speaker B: Wait, hold on, hold on.
We gotta do those.
[01:00:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
Little rookie laugh right there for Alan, but.
Oh, that was good.
But, yeah. Everyone listening. Thank you so much, and we'll see you guys next week. Peace.
