Loading...
Loading...

Ross Levitan and Brandon Piller preview the Ottawa Senators vs Carolina Hurricanes playoff series, analyze line matchups, discuss top defencemen, and highlight key stats and storylines ahead of Game 1.
Follow the show on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, subscribe on YOUTUBE and please check out the SensCentral Merch Store!
Everydayer Club: If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Join our community: https://lockedonsenators.supercast.com/
Support us by supporting our sponsors!
Glebe Central Pub: Your neighbourhood pub in the heart of the Glebe. Great people, great food and tasty drinks. Come by 779 Bank Street and check out our Sens Game Shuttle! www.glebecentralpub.com/online-store
Indeed
Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.
FanDuel
Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.
Rugiet
Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men.
Rocket Money
Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON
FanDuel: FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
#Sens #Senators #NHL
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
This year, experience the NHL playoffs your way.
Want to watch a single, do-or-die game seven?
A full week of a heavy-hitting back-and-forth series.
Then check out Slings 1, 3, and 7-day passes.
Watch the Chase for the Cup on ESPN and TNT starting
as low as 499.
No long-term contracts or overpaying.
Just live hockey at home.
Or when you want it, Slings let you do that.
Visit slings.com to learn more.
What if you could have the most reliable Wi-Fi
at the same price for five years?
That's the Xfinity 5-year price guarantee.
No annual contracts, no hidden fees,
and our best equipment included.
Plus, get online in minutes with same-day Wi-Fi.
Just five years of fiber-powered Wi-Fi
that boosts speeds to the devices that need them most.
Lock in your price and unlock the possibilities.
Xfinity, imagine that.
Select plans only restrictions apply,
powered by fiber connected to the premises
by coaxial cable, actual speeds ferry.
On today's show, the regular season is over
and now the real fun can begin.
We take a look at the Carolina Hurricanes' projected line-ups
for Game 1 and rank the top 10 best defensemen in the series.
This has great control and you're listening
to the Lockdown Center podcast.
Your Lockdown Senators,
your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators,
part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
your team every day.
Welcome, you are locked on to the Ottawa Senators.
I'm Ross Levittan alongside Brandon Pillar today
is Thursday, April 16th and Pillsie.
We finally have Game 1 scheduled
Saturday 3 p.m.
We're leading off the playoffs.
Sends Hurricanes the first game of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.
I kind of like it, not going to lie.
Obviously, prime time, Saturday night is always great.
But to be the first game,
there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on this game.
You get to be ready right away during the day.
I mean, our Sends fans on the West Coast,
this is going to happen at noon on Saturday.
So you got the whole day ahead of you.
I'm fired up.
We've been waiting so long to get just Game 1 scheduled.
Like we don't even know when Game 2,
3 or 4 is going to be,
but Game 1 first, let's go.
We need the full schedule though.
I got heaven and earth to move to get to Ottawa.
Let's go hurry up.
Well, Ross, if you're going to move heaven and earth,
I don't think it matters what the schedule is.
Like you're you're moving.
Having an earth regardless.
Every hour gets closer to hell.
That's true.
You did not say you would move hell.
No, I can't.
One dimension.
You can't handle.
No, Devils in the details.
And I need to know this schedule right now.
But 3 p.m. on Saturday.
You mentioned it.
There's going to be hockey fans that are craving playoffs
that may not have had an interest in this series.
And they're going to set the tone for the entire Stanley Cup playoff.
So 3 p.m. on Saturday.
And we're expecting this to be as tight checking of a series
as there will be across the first game.
These two teams are mirror images of each other when you look
at the way they play.
They love getting shot attempts.
They were they suppress shots better than any other team
in the national hockey league.
Carolina, the fewest shots allowed per game this season.
Ottawa was third in that category.
This is going to be a battle of the trenches.
And who's going to blink and make the most mistakes?
This is going to be an all out war.
Ross, we knew going in.
Obviously the top team in the east is going to be a tough matchup.
We've seen the Carolina Hurricanes have been a real problem
for the sense in years past, even this season.
They got the better of us overall.
But looking at the lines and breaking it down line by line,
diving into the analytics.
That really opened her eyes to be like, oh, man,
this is going to be a very tough series.
And there's Carolina Hurricanes fans on Saturday.
I don't think anyone thinks this is going to be easy.
We are obviously the underdogs.
But there is nothing wrong with having confidence in your team
especially with the way the Ottawa Senators play.
Like Carolina's advanced analytics are very good.
But so are the sense.
Like it's not like,
I don't think anyone thinks this is going to be easy.
We are obviously the underdogs.
But there is nothing wrong with having confidence in your team,
especially with the way the Ottawa Senators play.
Like it's not like,
like there's not really easy advantages for either team.
They're so close in so many different aspects that.
I don't think either team can be fully confident in here
or should say that they have the clear edge can either side be confident
in their team.
Sure, absolutely.
You expect nothing less from fans,
but it's funny to see the brand new sparked rivalry
of Twitter discourse online.
Hey, it's great to see you want a little rivalry.
And this is the first time the sense of played the Hurricanes
and the playoffs.
They're not in the same division where every other matchup
in the Eastern Conference is a divisional opponent.
So there's built in natural rivalries from playing each other
more and competing for the same spots.
But this is going to be an absolute war.
And you talk about the way they play.
How everything is similar.
Well, our friend Jack Richardson pointed out on Twitter.
The points percentage over the last 30 games of the season.
Identical between these two teams.
733.
And if you go through the last 31 games like Josh points out.
The senators and Hurricanes both with 46 points.
Ottawa with a plus 39 goal differential and Carolina at plus 29.
So you you Hurricanes fans can rightfully say we've been the
better team all year.
You can have the smaller sample size.
If you'd like, I would argue that it's relevant because it's
leading into the series.
What stat state is your team at now.
But you know what you earn by getting that extra great play
from October to January.
You got home ice.
So that's where your advantage comes in.
But if you look right now at the form as they would say in
footy.
What form are you in?
I think the Ottawa senators form right now is as good as we've
seen.
They figured out after some tinkering that having stutzlin
could chuck on different lines helps this team get further
scoring depth down the lineup.
They've had now the consistency of those lines.
All the injuries were on the back end, right?
We've seen these forward lines barely change over the course
of the last 30 games.
And that gives me the confidence that they're going to hit
the ground running because if you remember last year game
one was a mess.
The Ottawa senators were horny for playoffs.
It had been seven years.
And they took how many penalties in game one.
We'll get the keys tomorrow on our full preview ahead of
Saturday.
But discipline in this series is going to be incredibly
important going up against a ridiculously potent power play
for the hurricanes.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, discipline in the playoffs is typically a very
important factor, but especially when two teams match up
as tightly as these teams do because five on five like every
puck battle, every neutral zone transition going your way
or against you is probably going to have a major impact
like this.
This is going to be shift by shift hockey and it's going
to be stressful, but it's going to be so good to watch.
And let's look at the Ottawa senators quickly.
It's a day off for the boys after they won their final
regular season game going into the postseason now on a
six one and one stretch over their last eight games.
And if you look closely at the way this team is built,
you can see that depth go throughout the lineup.
The top line of Tim Stutzla with Drake Batherson and
Claude Giroux.
They've got a 59.2 expected goals percentage that could
chuck cousins Ridley Greg line.
They're at 65.6 among the best in the national hockey league
all season.
The Pinto a Maddo cousins line.
They're at 62% expected goals.
And the line that has the worst is the fourth line at 46%
with Ella Vogel and Zetterlin.
But they've actually got the best goal percentage of actual
goals that are scored.
So I think that this is going to be an absolute battle.
And we'll dive into the lines in the next segment for the
Carolina Hurricanes because they were on the ice for practice
today after they had the day off yesterday.
They finished their season on Tuesday.
So they're back on the ice and we'll dive into each individual
line and get analysis on that.
I do want to touch though on the February game in Carolina.
I didn't want to use the in Ottawa game because the
sense had last changed.
They had the matchups.
But if we're going and it makes sense that Rod Brinnamore
would go back to this because just thinking of how you
would coach.
It makes sense to do it this way.
But I looked at the line matching of that game.
And it was Jordan stall and his checking line up against
Dylan Cousins Brady could chuck and Ridley Greg.
So they on their whiteboard.
They've actually got the Cousins line as the Senators top
line.
That's what they matched up with with their shutdown line.
Then it was Sebastian Ajo going up against Tim Stutz
law, leaving the Logan Stan Koven line going up against
Shane Pinto.
So you look in like you could see a world like these are 50
50 battles the way these lines are matched up.
And then the fourth lines match up pretty well against
each other too.
There's no clear edge like there's no way to match up your
lines up against the opponent's lines either way where you're
like all right.
This is where we're going to take advantage.
This is where we're going to get our cookies like.
And the same can be said for the defense bears like it's.
I know people have issues with the playoff format but.
It's this lining up like this is pretty awesome honestly.
Oh man, is it Saturday yet?
Like let's go.
Let's get the show on the road and let's get the puck to
drop on Saturday afternoon in Carolina.
Okay, let's look at the hurricanes lines on the other side.
We'll wrap up today's show continuing our ranking.
So if you missed it yesterday, we went through the top
goalies in this series.
We'll look at defenseman today and forwards tomorrow.
You're listening to locked on Senators.
Your team every day.
Today's episode is brought to by our friends over at indeed workplace
chaos deadline stacking up inbox overflowing and the one
position you have to fill still sitting open when the pressure is
on and you need the right hire.
This is a job for sponsor jobs indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach
the people who actually fit what you're looking for skills,
experience location.
So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your
posts.
Here's a stat that says it all since I've been talking to you
like yours have made 27 hires on indeed, according to indeed
data worldwide.
So if you're hiring spend less time searching and more time
interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed
sponsor jobs spend less time searching more time interviewing
candidates who check your boxes that's less stressed less time
more results when you need the right person to cut through the
chaos.
This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs and listeners of this show
you're going to get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your
job the premium status it deserves at indeed dot com slash
podcasts.
Just go to indeed dot com slash podcast right now and support our show
by saying you heard about indeed on the lockdown senators
podcasts indeed dot com slash podcast terms and conditions apply
need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsor jobs today's
episodes also brought to you by five hour energy if you've got
a sweet tooth like I do you know how tough it is to find the
perfect treat with all that sugar it's tougher for me because
my wife hides the candy in our house so that's why I turn to
five hour energies cotton candy shot it brings that nostalgic
flavor back in a whole new way this is that classic cotton candy
taste that you remember but with a tasty caffeine boost and
zero sugar it's a quick easy way to satisfy that sweet craving
while keeping things simple and on the go I've always loved cotton
candy reminds me of the X back in the day but I can't be eating
sweets all day so this is the perfect alternative the flavor
really does bring back that throwback fruity vanilla vibe and
it's surprisingly smooth I like how convenient it is to it's
just a small portable shot that I can grab whenever I need a
little pick me up it's become I go to when I want something
sweet without going overboard so bring on the sweetness
with cotton candy five hour energy shots available online now
at five hour energy dot com it's also available on Amazon
thank you for making locked on senators your first listen
each and every day helping the locked on podcast network
become the number one sports podcast network you already make
us your team every day so why not go ad free and join the
every dayers club it's been awesome seeing the great
support there you'll get ad free editions of locked on
senators wherever you already listen to it and access to
our members only discord that has been buzzing with the news
the sends are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs you can
join below in our link it's at super cast so join the every
dayers club all right Pillsy we have nothing but respect for
the Carolina Hurricanes they have turned themselves into one
of the NHL's elite regular season teams over the course of
Rod Brenda Moore's time with the team from the day he took
over they went to the conference finals then it was a first
round lost second round second round third round second
round third round and now they're playing the Ottawa senators
in the first round hell of a run for Ottawa born head coach
Rod Brenda Moore however I need to get ahead of this storyline
I think as the city of Ottawa we might have to disown that
narrative going into this series because I've seen it a lot
oh Rod Brenda Moore's going home Rod Brenda Moore grew up in
British Columbia so he's born in Ottawa but I don't think we
need a series long oh Rod Brenda Moore's going home storyline
yeah an absolute scandal that you've uncovered raw so now
that's out there Rod Brenda Moore not claimed by the city of
Ottawa no and it's almost like a one for one trade because
Steve Iserman was born in BC but grew up in Ottawa and that's
why his name's on a goddamn arena in Ottawa I don't see
any Rod Brenda Moore community centers kicking around
in our nation's capital and if there were we'd have to
change that to Travis Green community center because Travis
Green has done such a hell of a job with these Ottawa senators
he deserves all the credit in the world and I think that
he'll be up for the test Rod Brenda Moore one thing he's
really good at is adjustments as well as motivation and
Travis Green the sends coaching staff who green said the
other day the most cohesive staff that he's ever been a
part of they're going to have their work cut out for getting
the intricacies of back and forth and the adjustments that
make playoffs series so special best of seven you're
going to see them at least four times and as many as seven
math guy and if you want to win your game one and the
closeout game are going to look completely different so
how are you going to get yourself the best chance at success
and speaking of Rod Brenda Moore Ross Walt Ruff on Twitter
he covers the Carolina Hurricane said Rod Brin Moore isn't
ready to name a game one goalie just yet he said there's
a likelihood we see both Freddie Anderson and Brandon
Bussie in the series he also said Piotr Kacheckov isn't
an option right now but he is healthy so there's your
tandem it's going to be Anderson and Bussie I expect he'll
give the nod to the veteran Freddie Anderson and
then if things don't go his way then he'll turn to
Brandon Bussie but interesting that now we have confirmation
on at least the goalie duo that's going to start this
series and if you know anything about head coaches they
typically lean to the vet and Freddie Anderson had his own
net today at practice while Brandon Bussie shared one
with Piotr Kacheckov so I'm not ready to confirm it
will wait for Rod Brenda Moore to do that I would expect
it to be tomorrow if not maybe he'll play
the cards close to his vests but I would expect
Freddie Anderson to start in goal in game one the real
question for me there Pelsi is how long is the leash
should he need to go into his bag here's how the
Carolina Hurricanes lined up at their practice today
at the Invisalign Center so how did they get lines
at the Invisalign Center they must have been using
some X-ray glasses Sebastian Alho centering the top
line between Andre Spetschnikov and Seth Jarvis the
second line worth noting here yes Barry Cockkenyemi
was filling in Logan Stan Kovan did not skate but
all signs point to him being available for game one so
let's go with the assumption it's Logan Stan Kovan
centering Taylor Hall and I almost called him Jason
Blake it's his son Jackson Blake third line Jordan
Stahl between Nikolai Elers and Jordan Martinuck
and the fourth line Mark Jankowski with William
Carrier and Eric Robinson on his wings on the back
end it's Jacob Slaven with Jalen Chatfield
Kyandre Miller with Sean Walker and Shane
Gostis Bear with Alexander Nikkeeson
Pelsi what's your overall thoughts when you see
this roster shaken out this is a deep deep
team like we talked about earlier there's not one
line not really one defense pair that you can
point to and be like all right here's where we're
going to make the advantage I would say the
biggest opportunity for an advantage is in
goal Freddie Anderson Cain's fans have a
lot of faith in him but this year hasn't been
great for him now can he turn it around in the
playoffs remains to be seen but they've
done such a good job creating this roster and
I know kind of the typical knock on the
hurricanes is all they don't have that superstar
player which you could you could say is fair
but I think a lot of people would probably
say the same about the Ottawa Senators
like you look at Aho Sveshnikov
Jarvis like those hurt top line guys for sure
and they're all on the same line like that
line is going to be tough you you look down
the line up they've got deaf like getting
ealers on that third line with two more
shut down style guys install in Martinoke
and then adding some offense with ealers
there brings a whole different flavor to
that bottom six and then their fourth line
is tough to play against you so yeah
there's no part of this team that I'm
taking lightly no no there can't be
and all their lines have played so much
together when we'll go through the numbers
like they have the familiarity that Ottawa
doesn't mostly because early on the season
you didn't have Brady Kachok and all the
lines get thrown in the blender for quite
some time Ottawa's line that has played
the most all season is that Kachok
cousins and Ridley Greg line at three
hundred and twenty minutes the Hurricanes
have three lines that have played more
and one of them is one minute more
but the others are two hundred plus
minutes more so that a whole line that
stank open line they've been together
for the majority of the season they play
off each other extremely well they
all have speed they all have tenacity
they all have the ability to score and
that shows with Carolina having such
an elite goal differential all season
long so there's no part of me that's
taking this lightly the one area if
I'm looking at this from an Ottawa
Senators perspective that you might
be able to get into them is the
physicality there's a lot of smaller
undersized guys on this team and I'm
not saying they all play small I
know Seth Jarvis in particular plays
bigger than his frame five seven but
if you're looking like aho not the
biggest guy Jarvis Blake stank open
ealers these are all guys on the
smaller side they make up for it in
their bottom six martinux stall big
guys you look at their fourth line
lots of size there Eric Robinson in
the videos and I told you I watch
one game highlights at a ten of the
season for Carolina that Eric
Robinson can fly he is one of the
fastest players in those clips that
I saw and we know that William
Carrier is the mute non this team
I mean he's not a fighter he's not
that kind of guy but he is their most
physical player in his prime in
Vegas when he was playing on the
other side he would be among the
NHL leaders and hits every year and
I'd imagine that he was close to
the top of that category again this
season yeah one thing to note
Ross I saw one hurricane's fans
saying hey look I know it doesn't
seem like we play physical during
the regular season but this team ramp
it up in the playoffs so I believe
that yeah I'm looking at right now
last year in the regular season I
mean really you can only go by hits
for 60 because obviously the
players carry a 18.55
again this is hits for 60
a sweatshikov 7.2
stall Robinson in the
7.157.34
then you switch to playoffs
Jordan stall bumps his
number from 7 to 16.07
carry a from 18 to 21
sweatshikov from 7 to 13
and then Robinson up at 21
so there is some truth to that
that this is a team
Ross that has made the playoffs
eight consecutive seasons I believe
is eight or nine something like that
it's eight all under rodbrain
Yes so they know
you don't put pedal to the
metal during the regular season
and burn yourself out
do you have to play a certain
style of game in the regular season
to be successful of course they've
got that figured out but a lot of
these guys have been here for a
while this cord knows how rodbrain
he expects them to play
when it comes to playoff time
so there's a reason that
they usually win one round
even two they've been to the
conference finals a bunch
they know when to flip that switch
and if sends fans think that the
physicality is going to be light
Ross I think it's fair to say that
the Carolina Hurricanes are going to
go into playoff mode here and it might
not be as light as we think
No but I'm just saying look
at everything he plays a lot
bigger than his size as well
but just in terms of like
if that Stan Cove and Blake
and Hallline are out against
cousins Brady and Ridley
they're going to have them on their
heels and if you look at it the
Ottawa Senators this season
they were as physical of a team
as you can find in the national
hockey league the Ottawa Senators
ranked among the best teams
third most hits as a team this
is about 300 hits so
I'm not saying that Caroline is
going to wither under the pressure
they've obviously been here
done that time and time again
but Ottawa does have the more
physical team when you look
top to bottom here and the way
Ottawa plays they rely on that
physicality to get into the
forecheck and create loose
pucks create offensive zone time
and I saw some Hurricanes fans
were also noting that they don't
really have that pressure
as well so I don't really take
that at face value.
Let's look line by line here quickly
the Ajo Spetschnikov
Jarvis line Pilsy
they're very good at creating
offensive zone pressure
Yeah definitely and just quick
update here uh the Stan Covein
didn't practice because he's sick
so it's not like some sort of
injury keeping him out he's just
gotten the illness that kept him out
and it's tough like honestly
it Ross uh that's the line
you got to put Pinto up
against when you have home
ice advantage for sure.
Oh yeah you think so okay
because I was like without a doubt
without a doubt that Stan Covein
line can fly too but I mean
I'm not taking anything away from
the other lines Ross but
those are their three best play
Spetschnikov Ajo Jarvis
and they're all on the same line
at the edge Pinto up against Pinto
Yeah I like that that's a very
fair comment there and we'll see
how the Atoa Senators can
match on the road too because
they're not going to have that last
change the Stan Covein hall
and Blake line
their best analytical line other than
the fourth line but they're playing
easier minutes. That's that line
though Stan Covein Blake and
Taylor Hall in 552 minutes
they have a 58.2 expected goals
for per game or per 60
minutes and then their actual
goals for percentage is 57.6
the best line of all four that
they have here and
it's the second best line in the
series in goals for
percentage not expected actual
goals behind the cousins
Kachak and Greg unit so all
through their line they're very
very good even their checking line
is a 56% expected goals
percentage but they're actually
very good. We'll see how it all
shakes out but that's the
Carolina Hurricanes and on the
back end they're dangerous as
well the Slaven and Chatfield
pair I'd imagine that's going to
be their shutdown pair going up
against other teams top lines
not a whole lot of offense with
that pair especially Slaven he's
known as the best defensive
defenseman in the national
hockey league so you got to be
aware long stick gets in lanes
and just frustrates the hell out of
you so they'll have to be aware
of that Miller and Walker played
among the most minutes
together of any deep air
in the national hockey league
they played 907 minutes
seven more minutes than auto
was top air so 12 most in the
league I should get that stat right
then and they're very good
together except when Tim
Stewart Slaff puts on the jets
and splits them and then goes
on the line matching
Ross um I would match
Timmy's line up against
Stan Cove and Blake and Hall
because I think you're getting
some speed matching up there
and then Hall's Rube similar
type players right veteran
guys that are still able to produce
so I like that and then you get
a little bit of a size
advantage uh obviously with uh
Drake Bathes and then Timmy
looking at Stan Cove and
Blake what how big is Blake he's not that big
of an edge there and then I think
you get that uh
cousins really Greg
and Brady line up against
Eeler's stall and Martin
I think those lines match
up really well up against each other too
so that's and then you just
match the fourth line so I think
that's how I would do it personally
but again that's when the sends
that home ice yeah we're going to see
a battle on the benches a battle
on the ice and a battle
off the first round series
between the senators and the
Carolina Hurricanes
let's rank the best defenseman in the series
next you're listening to locked on
senators your team
every day
today's episode is
brought to fire friends over at
rocket money if you've ever
opened your bank account and thought
where did all my money go
you're not alone keeping track of
subscriptions spending and bills can
help you take control of your finances
all in one place
it tracks your subscriptions in one
spot and can help you cancel the ones
you don't need with just a few taps
it automatically categorizes your spending
so you can actually see where your money
is going you can set budgets
get alerts and stay on top of upcoming bills
it just makes everything feel more
organized and gives you a
clearer picture of your finances day
today rocket money is a
personal finance app that helps
unwanted subscriptions monitors
your spending and helps lower your
bills so you can grow your
savings let rocket money help you
reach your financial goals faster
join at rocket money.com slash
lockup that's rocket money.com
slash lockup
this year experience the
NHL playoffs your way
want to watch a single
do or die game seven a full week
of a heavy hitting back and forth
series then check out
three and seven day passes
watch the chase for the cup on
ESPN and TNT starting his lowest
499
no long-term contracts or overpaying
just live hockey at home
or when you want it
sling let you do that
visit sling.com to learn more
all right billsy still firing
on all cylinders here as we get
into the Stanley Cup playoffs
if you want to follow along on
social media at send central on
twitter locked on underscore
senators on instagram and we
will be here all day
every day we got a bonus
episode for you on Saturday
morning so right before
game one of round one across
over with locked on hurricanes
hoes sack martin tomorrow we'll
do our full weekend game preview
to talk forward in this series
we did goalies yesterday and now
it's time for the defense
I already posted this on twitter
because I wanted to see if we could
catch any fish on the hook
and we did I was curious because
there are some hurricanes fans
that are agreeing with this but
I don't really consider it
to be a hot take that Jake
Sanderson is the best defenseman
in this series.
yeah I think that's totally fair
and I don't know why they're
struggling with this the tweet
says unbiased and they're saying
oh Homer sends fans
says right there guys unbiased
so maybe the the capital city
thing and understanding unbiased
they're still working on that
but left all the books in
South Carolina yeah got
ahead to Columbia to get the
books two geologists like us can
tell you that but I think
the difference is
it provides that offensive
element to his game where Jake
Slaven just especially this
here just doesn't have that in his
bag now I am not taking
anything away from Jacob Slaven
defensively he deserves all
the credit for being a shutdown
defensive defenseman
that he can get I'm fully
willing to give credit there
but Jake Sanderson is
very good defensively as well
and then combine that with
Jacob Slaven I think
Jake Sanderson has to be
this series talk defenseman
and I already called
Jacob Slaven the best defensive
defenseman in the league
there's nothing to be taken
away from that but the gap
between them defensively
is so much smaller
than the gap offensively
let's put it to task
Jake Sanderson has six
points in his last four
games Jacob Slaven
has eight points
in 39 games all season
these players are not the
same Jake Sanderson
is a superstar and the
one and it's a fair comment
for people who don't walk Jake
Sanderson in Ottawa and saw them
at the Olympics they said well
Sanderson's better why was he
playing on the third pair instead
of Slaven and I would say
a team is built on roles am I
saying that he's a better
offensive defenseman than
Quinn Hughes?
No. Am I saying that he's a
better offensive defenseman
who is their second guy
Zach Ransky?
No. Those are the guys
that are going to have the
role to be the offensive
defenseman in an Olympic
setting where Jake Sanderson
excels is when he has that
responsibility in Ottawa
and he has that responsibility
of that while also
being as good as he was
in a shutdown role
at the Olympics on a 30
minute a night basis.
That's such a flawed argument
because let's use that same
argument for the Carolina
Hurricanes lines.
So is Chatfield a better
offensive defenseman than
Shane Gossis Bears since he's
higher on the D pairs?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a
hell of a player, by the way.
He's a problem.
And I think that Hurricanes
fans have the same or a similar
stat as we have with Shane Pinto
when he gets a point.
Apparently the record when
Jarvis scores is outrageous.
But I like the Pinto stat
better because it takes into
it when any player gets a point
for the Hurricanes they win because
they win all the time.
Yeah. Probably a sick record
no matter what player that is.
Yeah. Yeah.
So Jake Sanderson the number one
defenseman in this series.
If you're Hurricanes fan and you have a proper argument,
please put it in the comments.
We're all ears.
I want this to be an unbiased list.
And that's why at number three,
we have Hurricanes defenseman.
Shane Gossis Bear.
And one and two.
Jake Sanderson, Jacob Slaven.
Three Shane Gossis Bear.
And we debated this roster.
Because again,
there's one side of Gossis Bear's
game that's so much better
than Shabbat.
And then there's one side of Shabbat's game.
That's better than Gossis Bear's game.
That's the defensevers offense discussion here.
But I mean,
oh my god, you got to give credit to Gossis Bear.
50 points and 55 games.
Nearly a point per game defenseman.
So that certainly is impressive for sure.
So I think it's fair that he's number three.
Because the Carolina Hurricanes,
you look at the rest of their
decor and
they focus a lot on being really good defensively.
Before you get crazy with
me, Kane's fans, I'm not saying there's no offense
on the rest of your decor.
It's just that's the main focus.
So Gossis Bear being a guy that could really bring it
offensively is a big part of their roster.
And I mean, he does effectively.
Yeah, he does.
Yeah, he does.
And a lot of people point
and without looking,
hey, are all those points on the power play?
Is that how it's happening?
No, he does it.
All kinds of ways.
He only played 50 some games this year and at 50 points,
only 18 of them were on the power play.
So you have to watch for him at five on five.
And Kane's fans telling us these improved defensively.
Still an area.
I feel like the sense can take advantage of
in this series.
It was just too much of a hill to overcome
the offensive gap between the two right now
with Gossis Bear there.
I do think Shabbat is a slightly better defensive
defenseman than Gossis Bear,
but the offense was the tiebreaker
and you have to tip your hat to what he Gossis Bear has done.
Especially if you look at Gossis Bear's career
where he started out so hot and Philly
got a huge contract and ended up
having to be given with picks to get rid of.
It's crazy.
And then all of a sudden he just bounced back.
He was in Detroit where he put up almost a point for a game.
And then next thing you know,
he's in a system that just craves puck possession
and offensive opportunity.
And no surprise that he's thrived there.
So Gossis Bear III,
Thomas Shabbat at number four.
And this is where like the biggest gap for me on this is one and two.
And Hurricane's fans can get as mad as they want about this.
But that is how I feel.
And then from three to nine,
three to nine is pretty tight.
Like Sean Walker is a good defenseman.
Good top four defenseman.
And we have him at number nine on this list.
But if we're going in order, next is Adam Zub.
What would you tell Hurricane's fans that have no clue who Adam Zub is?
He plays such a strong physical shutdown game.
We already talked about Jake Sanderson.
That's the pair.
That's all it was number one.
Whenever these two guys are healthy,
they are anchored together.
Travis Turing doesn't mess with that pair whatsoever.
And like Jake Sanderson is really good defensively.
But he's good offensively as well.
And then to have a guy like Zub,
just an absolute responsible shutdown guy.
Jake Sanderson can take risks.
And he can pinch.
And he can carry the puck from coast to coast and know that he's got a guy behind him.
That's going to be there.
If he gets caught out of position.
Then even if Jake Sanderson does get caught out of position,
it only takes some two or three strides to get back to where he needs to be.
I think for me,
it was close.
Zub and Miller.
I would say that's a very tight gap.
But I just think the way Zub is able to really shut things down.
It gives him the slight edge there.
Yeah, we just kind of alternated back and forth here.
When it was Zub, then Kyandre Miller,
then Jordan Spence, then Alex Nikitian.
If I'm zooming in, I know we said three to nine,
but really five through eight.
You could do any order there.
And I would hear you.
So there's a world where Jordan Spence is as valuable going into this series as Adam Zub.
Initially on my list, I had spent ahead of Zub, not going to lie.
Just because Zub on his own without Sanderson is was not nearly as effective,
whereas Spence and we've gone over this roster.
It doesn't matter where you put him,
what minutes you put on him,
what role, what opponents he's up against.
He is just so effective in all three zones.
So I'm really high on Jordan Spence.
I think probably Keynes fans will have a big issue with Nikitian being eighth on this list.
And that's fair, like he is a very good defenseman.
So I mean, look, if honestly five to eight,
you could probably put in multiple different orders.
And I wouldn't get too crazy about that.
Okay, so you're then looking at Alexander Nikitian,
who's down on the third pair with Carolina,
but we know that the Hurricanes roll three pairs pretty well through the entire game.
Slavins at 22 minutes and Nikitian and all those guys are like 1830.
Like they are very quick to turn over their pairs.
They're not going to shorten the bench very unlikely to see.
But Nikitian has an unbelievable shot from the point.
He scored 11 goals.
This is his rookie season in the NHL.
He did play in five playoff games last year.
And did not fare well in those games.
He had just come over from Russia.
He's a trouble to get him in the lineup.
And now he settled in after playing a full season and despite being a rookie,
it's those classic Russians that take a few years.
He was at one point considered the best defenseman outside of the NHL.
He was a very, very, very good player in Russia.
So he could be an X factor in this series.
He's a big boy doesn't fight,
but he did get one earlier this season.
And I remember I forget who he fought.
But after the game, the guy was like, yeah,
he told me he doesn't fight.
And then we looked it up.
And a bunch of fights in Russia is beating the wheels off of guys.
He's an enormous human being.
You have to be aware when he's on the ice.
And Sean Walker is a very,
let's say competent defenseman at both ends of the ice.
Formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers gets traded there and found a home next to
Kyadrey Miller, who they acquired last off season from the New York Rangers.
Jalen Chatfield rounds out our top 10.
I think it would have been a pick your poison between him and Tyler Clevin.
But with Clevin being unavailable right now.
We're obviously going to omit him from this list.
So the two defensemen out of the top six for each team that have not made this list
are Nicholas Matt and Palo and Lassie Thompson.
Pillsie, I think this was pretty unbiased.
Well, like we, it says right on the Tweet Ross unbiased.
So it's unbiased.
Okay.
And there it is.
Let's look at that.
All right, Pillsie, final thoughts on today's show.
Final thoughts for me, Ross, is if you're watching us on YouTube,
if you were with us in the postcast last night, you might be saying,
guys, you said you were going to start your playoff beards.
You're going to be clean shaven for tomorrow morning.
Some might say we forgot.
But the real reason is we decided that we're going to be clean shaven playoff beard starts
when we do our game one game day preview for the playoffs.
So expect to see us all baby face playoff beard set at zero tomorrow morning.
Yes.
And we're going to the shave is happening right after we record today.
But we are so fired up to hopefully get the schedule.
We ended up waiting on that.
We're fired up to get into the Carolina Hurricanes lines.
And we just had to get a new episode of locked on senators out.
So the playoff beard.
Definitely didn't forget.
They're beginning tomorrow.
I might have to hit a peloton here.
I'm going to have 25 chin staring you guys in the face on tomorrow's show.
I know the beard does a lot of work for both of us covering things up.
But it's a little glaring when my algorithm also caught me in a bad spot last night.
It was one of those compilation videos of men who hadn't shaved in a long time shaving
and then surprising their girlfriend with it.
Yep.
And I'm going to hear about it when the wife gets home tonight.
Do you think Lily's going to be like freaked out about you?
I love the baby ones are very funny.
Interesting.
Because yeah, she was like four months old last spring.
So don't think she was all there yet.
But she's definitely now.
I'm curious.
We'll see.
I'll get an update for you on the show.
And it.
Well, she'll see me before my wife's back.
So I won't be able to get any video content to that.
But hey, Lily's two for two making the playoffs.
As an auto as senators.
Yeah.
She's the ultimate slump us to November 25th, 2024.
Look at the sends record before that.
And after that.
And if you want to laugh, go check out the postcast we did.
Like minutes before I went to the hospital was the Vancouver postcast.
And oh boy.
That was rock bottom.
Almost as rock bottom is the January 24th postcast we did.
After Ottawa lost four one at home to the hurricanes and you press the panic button.
And the fact they're playing the team.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
That you press the panic button after the game.
How can you not be romantic about hockey?
My final thoughts on today's show is a prospect update from Luca Beckman.
This guy is unbelievable.
Beckman is now posted back to back shutouts in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs.
He had a 20 save shutout and a five nothing win over the Quebec Rampar last night in his last 10 games.
So all of his playoff games and the last two regular season games.
Luca Beckman has allowed seven goals.
He has three shutouts and he has a nine sixty four save percentage.
Insane.
And if we're just talking playoffs eight games nine sixty two save percentage and zero point seven five goals against average.
Like that is just insane Ross.
We I've been clamoring for to get French Canadian goal tending back on the map in our generation Ross.
That was the factory for elite goalies.
Luca Beckman might just be bringing it back here because he is lights out right now.
Oh man, I mean, what a what a storyline to watch for because we haven't had a senator's goalie play on team candidate the world juniors since Jeff glass in 2005.
The greatest hockey team ever assembled at that tournament and Jeff glass senators prospect was between the pipes.
But Luca Beckman is making a strong case because he was even good on the worst team in the league yet a nine oh five save percentage gets traded to the best team.
And now his record is twenty one one and oh since then not bad is six six shutouts in twenty one games with the the sags in Shakur to me.
So there you have it.
A little prospect update at the end of a preview episode will have our.
I was going to say final round up before the game one, but it's not because we got an episode for you tomorrow.
We'll go through our classic preview locked on players lineup breakdowns and everything and we'll rank top forwards and then Saturday crossover with locked on hurricanes.
Pock drops at three o'clock on Saturday.
Stay tuned to our socials at Central and Twitter locked on dot senators when we know the full schedule for games one through four would actually be one through seven that they would have the schedule for we will make sure to get that to you as soon as possible.
Otherwise we'll chat tomorrow on to on the episode of locked on senators for today we say goodbye.
Thanks so much for liking watching listening and engaging with the show make sure to click the thumbs up on YouTube really helps the show share with your friends.
Maybe got a colleague a family member a friend who is not the biggest hockey fan but wants to get into the playoffs.
Please point them in our direction and subscribe everywhere you listen to podcasts.
This has been another edition of the locked on senators podcast your team every day.
One day dress up time will be a cherished memory but today today you won't just dress up like a Disney princess you'll meet real ones too.
Now's the time visit Disney World dot com slash preschool to learn more.
When you invest with fidelity go it does all the work for you so while fidelity go monitors the markets rebalances your portfolio and tracks your progress to keep your investments aligned with your goal.
You can invest your time however you want all while paying no advisory fees under 25k invest your money not your time with fidelity go get started at fidelity dot com slash go.
Advisory services offered by strategic advisors LLC a registered investment advisor brokerage services provided by fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSC and SIPC.
How do you cash back with chase freedom unlimited tickets confirmed parking reserved seats sat hot dogs secured hat trick scored.
Cash back on goals earning 1.5% cash back is just the beginning with chase freedom unlimited chase make more of what's yours.
Restrictions and limitations apply cards are issued by JP Morgan chase fake NA member FDIC.

Locked On Senators - Daily Podcast On The Ottawa Senators

Locked On Senators - Daily Podcast On The Ottawa Senators

Locked On Senators - Daily Podcast On The Ottawa Senators
