Buffalo Sabres & Blue Jackets are FOR REAL! + Why the Rangers & Flyers are in Denial

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

I'm Joey Erickson of Lockdown Stars.

In business, there's no room for guesswork.

Every shipment matters, every deadline counts.

When you're trying to keep operations running smoothly, the last thing you need is uncertainty.

That's why reliability is at the core of USPS Ground Advantage.

Each package moves through a secure nationwide network, track from dock to door with affordable

upfront pricing.

And delivery, you can depend on because knowing your logistics are handled lets you focus

on everything else.

Visit usps.com slash ground advantage to start shipping with confidence, USPS, official

shipping sponsor of the NHL.

That's pure automotive joy.

I'm Peter, the owner of Muscle Car Junior.

It started as a hobby, then I started posting about it.

Before I knew it, I built a business for storing muscle cars on Facebook Marketplace.

And the community of car lovers on Instagram.

Today, new customers send me what's that message is from all over.

Not bad for a hobby.

Learn how meta helps over 35 million American businesses, like Peter's Grow, at meta.com slash

community.

The East is right with exciting teams.

The Dallas stars are reaching a tipping point in their window of contention.

And for the Rangers, the Flyers, and the Maple Leafs, tread lightly.

You're locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League.

Part of the locked on podcast network, your team, every day.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this Thursday edition of Lockdown NHL, I am Nick Soros, the

host of Lockdown Oilers.

That is my good friend and one of the co-hosts of Lockdown Penguins Hunter Hodes.

We want to thank everyone that is making Lockdown NHL their first list of the day locked

on NHL as a part of the Lockdown podcast network, the number one stream sports podcast network.

Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at Fandall and Fandall is giving you

a way to turn all of that March energy into even bigger potential wins with the college

basketball parlay profit boost at the Fandall.com to get started.

We're going to open up the show comparing the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabers

two teams.

With some cautious optimism about their playoff trajectories and our second segment, we'll

talk about the Dallas stars who won a big game in a shootout last night over the avalanche

about their trajectory as a Stanley Cup contender, how much longer they have in their window

of contention, and then we'll go to teams at the other end of the window of contention,

the Rangers, the Leafs, and the Flyers, and dissect why those teams are all in similar

boats and they got there in very different ways.

So to start out, we're all talking about the Sabers and Blue Jackets kind of the way

we would talk about an eight-year-old playing 10-year-olds in Little League like wow,

this is really impressive.

Can they keep doing this?

Is this for real?

And I think at a certain point, we do need to just be straight up and say these are good

teams.

I know the Blue Jackets weren't great until Rick bonus got there, but 16, 2 and 4, something

like that since he got there as coach.

The Sabers are first in the Atlantic.

They're four points clear of Tampa Bay who's in second place and these are two really

exciting teams, and these are two teams that haven't had these kinds of moments.

The Blue Jackets have had a couple playoff appearances.

They've won a playoff series before they won in the qualifying round in the bubble as

you pointed out a few weeks ago, and Buffalo, they have been to the playoff since Obama

was president.

So these are two teams where we're all kind of waiting for the playoffs because we want

to gauge how real these are, but more than anything, I think both of these teams are highly

exciting and very fun.

I 100% agree with you Columbus, Nick, they're on a 10-game point straight right now, 6-0

and 4, and their last 10, they're playing some really good hockey.

I was tuning into some of that game against Carolina earlier this week, and they just took

it to the Canes.

That entire game.

Carolina tried getting back into it a bit later on making it a 2-1 game, but the Blue Jackets

just blitzed them right after.

And I think they've been a lot better defensively since Rick bonus took over, which should not

be a surprise.

Rick bonus has been a very good defensive coach throughout his coaching tenure.

You back to some of those Winnipeg teams, Nick, really good regular season numbers, especially

with the way they were defending.

I know, obviously, what happened in the playoffs wasn't ideal, but those teams were still

really good when he was there as the head coach.

Nick, he's also turned Zach Werenzky into even more of a monster, which I didn't know

was possible.

Werenzky is playing like one of the best defensemen in the league this season might very well

win the Norris with the way that he is going, just the level of hockey that he is playing

on a nightly basis is absurd.

Joe Marchenko is also a lot of fun to watch.

Adam Fantilly continues to grow as a player.

And Nick, they're also getting great goal-tending, too.

I think Merz Leakens has been a lot better since Rick bonus took over.

Jack Reeves, throughout the season, he's also been good and they have a legit shot at

getting in here.

I remember when he went bonus first took over, they were at the bottom of the east.

They weren't playing very well.

You know, it was definitely time for coaching change.

And now their offense has been better.

We're also defending special up at our own zone and they're getting saves.

And again, all their elite talent is doing the thing, too.

The biggest thing for them though, Nick, is their schedule is really tough.

They want the toughest schedules to end the season.

So we'll have to see if they can get in even with that.

As for the Sabers, no, I do think the Sabers have what it takes to make a run.

This team is firing on all cylinders.

Their elite players are playing outstanding, whether it's Taj Thompson, whether it's Rasmus

Stalin, who's also playing like a top five defense.

Alex Tuck has been great all season, too.

And I think he's going to get quite a bit of cash this upcoming summer.

Everyone has just gelled so nicely together on that team.

Alex Lyon has kind of been the savior for them.

Ukepek Lukin has also been really good.

They have one of the best goal-tending duos in the league this season.

You know, there's a very real chance they get a more favorable matchup, excuse me, by

winning the Atlantic.

I think every one of us would want to see Sabers lighting if we get it in the second

round.

I think that's going to be seven games of pure hell.

Why not for the Sabers to potentially come out of the East?

It's so open this year.

Now that the Panthers are at the bottom of the conference, Toronto, obviously, isn't

there?

New Jersey is not making the playoffs this year.

You know, the East is really there for the taking.

I still think when everyone is healthy, I would take Tampa as the best team in the conference.

But Buffalo, not only as shown they can play with Tampa this year, they can play with

and beat them too.

So I just want to see a playoff series just for the shenanigans that we're going to

get.

But, you know, if Buffalo gets through them, you know, all bets are off.

I can easily see them coming out of the conference.

And if you're for Columbus, you know, maybe they get to, you know, they get a decent matchup

in the first round, second round, I think they might have to go through Carolina potentially.

But also, it depends, Nick, if they get into that two, three matchup in the Metro, or

if they get one of the wild card spots, that's what comes down to.

But I love watching both teams right now.

They're playing really well.

So the thing about, that's interesting and you just alluded to it about Columbus is they're

sitting first team out of the wild card, the last wild card spot.

They're one point back of Detroit.

They're also only two points back of the islanders and three points back of the penguins.

They are very much in the mix to get into the metropolitan part of this, which was something

we wouldn't have said a month ago.

And no, but that's just a testament to how good they've played over the last month in

change, where you rattle off a 16-2-4, you can erase the type of deficit they were facing.

And the thing I find interesting about both these teams, most of their offense comes at

even strength.

Columbus, 82% of their goals are at five on five buffalos, it's 77%.

You would think a team like Buffalo that has so much talent would have an elite powerplay.

They're 17th in powerplay efficiency.

They do have a top five penalty kill, which helps.

Then you look at Columbus.

Columbus is largely winning games at even strengths.

They're powerplay is 16th in league.

Their penalty kill is 24th, and this is a team that has the goods right now, and defense

is exciting.

And the thing that's interesting about a brick bonus coach team, and we saw this in Winnipeg,

we've seen this in Dallas, because his teams have such an emphasis on defense, it usually

makes your goalie better because your goalie doesn't have as much work on their plate.

So you only need to ask your Jack Greaves to make four or five difficult saves all game

and really kind of efficiency streamline the way your team operates.

And I think Columbus is really interesting in that in Buffalo for the same exact reason.

Neither of these teams really have playoff experience, you know, between Lyon and Peco

Lucan, and they have three goalie appearances in the postseason ever.

That was Alex Lyon, who made starts when Bob got hurt a couple of years ago for Florida.

And then neither of the blue jet mursleekens has a handful of starts way back in 2019 in

the playoffs.

For the most part, we're talking about two teams that have minimal playoff experience

up and down these lineups.

And I think that creates a really interesting energy.

And I know you and I are both, we're both football guys.

We're big believers in the nobody believes in us mentality.

And I think that really can come into play here for a team like Buffalo, and especially

for a team like Columbus, you know, the Blues wrote it all the way to a Stanley Cup in

2019 of nobody believes in us.

Okay, we were in last place.

Let's prove everyone wrong.

And you know, the speech Jake Taylor gives at the beginning of Major League.

Let's prove every single one of these people wrong because we can.

I think that has to you, especially for a team like Buffalo, where you rally that fan

base behind you.

I know Mike Tiktok feed has been rife with sabers at its to uplifting like music and fiery

speeches.

That is a fan base waiting.

And we know Columbus is when the jackets are good.

That is a rocking building.

I know you as a penguins fan can attest to some of those wars in the mid 2010s.

Even when they're not so good, that building still sells out.

They have a really strong fan base up there.

It also helps that it's right in your Ohio state.

So you get that influx of influx of fans, excuse me, coming in there.

That's a great building, man.

And you know, if they get in, it's going to be crazy.

Well, I know it's not Mark Andre Flurry and Bob having a beach ball contest like it

was in the 2010s, where it felt like every single shot could go in in the, I was going

through box scores for something I'm working on.

And I was, there were so many games that were six four, six five.

And it's Bob and Mark Andre Flurry is a two-future Hall of Fame goalies, and they were both

given up four and five goals a game.

And that was a playoff series.

It's just crazy to think about how the playoffs are so different from the regular season.

And speaking of the playoffs being different from the regular season, we are going to take

our first break on today's edition of Lockdown NHL and when we return, we will dive into

one of the regular season darlings of the last half decade, the Dallas stars.

And why?

If this isn't the year, it might never happen.

College basketball is non-stop.

Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night.

From early tip offs to late night, West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board

and now, Fandall is giving you a way to turn all of that march madness into even bigger

potential wins, the college basketball parlay profit boost.

You can build any college hoops parlay you want, rivalry games, rank to match up, whatever

fits your read, you can express totals and player props to match how you see the slate

playing out.

Then you can apply the profit boosting instantly bump up the potential payout.

St. John's got a raw deal, man.

Big East tournament winners, big East regular season champions and there are five seed and

they got to go out to the West Coast and play Northern Iowa, who has like 40 points in

all of their games, just diabolical stuff from the committee.

Get in on the action, ride with the team you've been with all season or change things up.

It's your parlay after all.

Now with just more upside head to fandall.com to get started, that's fandall.com, fandall.

Play your game.

In 2024, a truck crashed into canaw and more rescue where I work, 146 of our dogs needed

homes fast.

We asked for help on Facebook.

Our stories spread through WhatsApp messages and Instagram reposts, immediately people

stepped up and just six hours later, every dog was fostered.

I'll never forget how our community showed up for us.

Learn however, 3.5 billion people connect to what matters with meta at meta.com slash community.

Thank you so much to everybody that is hanging out with Hunter and I on this Thursday edition

of Lockdown NHL, making Lockdown NHL your first listen of the day and if you're in every

day or get in on the club, use code march, get in the club for your first month entirely

free.

Get in that discord server with Lockdown hosts and other everydayers like yourself and

add free episodes of the show on your preferred audio platform.

So Hunter, you and I are both students of the analytical community.

We look at the Dallas stars roster for much of the last half decade and say this is one

of the five to 10 best teams in the league over the last 10 years.

By points percentage, they have the six best points percentage of any team since 2019,

20, the year they made the Stanley Cup final.

They've been to four conference finals in the last six years.

They've only been to one Stanley Cup final.

They have one of the older rosters in the NHL that Jamie Ben Tyler Sagan window pretty

much at its end.

We don't know if Jamie Ben's going to come back next year.

We don't know if Tyler Sagan's going to come back next year.

Matt Dushan is not getting any younger, that older contingent.

But when you look at the younger end of this roster, Ranton is only 29, hence is only 29,

Jars only 27.

Miro Heisken is only 26 and it feels like he's been in the league for a decade and Jason

Robertson is only 26, though they need to sort out the contract situation there this

summer.

The third coach of this life cycle, Rick bonus, who we talked about last segment, took

them to the final as an interim coach for Jim Montgomery, Pete DeBorg out to new

a couple conference finals and then they have Brad Goulison now.

And you look at where they're at.

They have another looming first round match up against a really good team in Minnesota,

more likely than not.

And we're going to flip a coin.

And we're going to see who gets to go to the second round to play Colorado.

And it feels like if you're Dallas, you know, with that Robertson contract in flux,

I don't want to say it's now or never because we see teams break through 10 years after

the fact.

But this is as good a group as you've had in a while.

You have a lot of opportunity in front of you.

But can you get through Minnesota?

Can you get through Colorado?

Can you get through Edmonton or Vegas?

That's the question because they've gotten through the central bracket, Nick, a couple

of times.

They've just run into that buzz solve, and Euler's team that, you know, turned poor Jake

Othinger into a pumpkin at times and a couple of the series.

And I love Jake Othinger, man.

I think he's one of the best goalies in the game, especially when he's on, but there's

just not much you can do when McDavid and dry side will decide to go God mode in a seven

game series against you.

Both those series were a lot of fun to watch.

I don't know if it's going to be Edmonton this year if they get through the central bracket.

But you said it.

Anaheim Vegas.

Is it someone else, for example?

You know, Dallas, they just had a 14 and 0 in one run, Nick, like literally 14 wins

no regulation losses and only one overtime losses.

And I know the likely matchup is them against Minnesota.

We've been looking at this basically since November, but they have slowly, but shortly

started catching up to the avalanche.

Look at the standings right now.

They are only two points back of the avalanche for first in the central.

And now Colorado does have a game in hand.

So if Colorado wins that game in hand, they'll be four points up.

But Dallas is right there, man.

If they can potentially avoid that two, three matchup, you know, I like them even more

going into the playoffs.

What you're saying is something because I think this is one of the three best teams and

the entire league this year, in my opinion.

They're also on this run, Nick, overall, without some of their best players.

Rancidin is still not back yet.

He is going to be back, I think, before the end of the regular season.

Rodic Fox is on IR.

Rupé Hens is still out.

He's going to be back, I think, at some point, before the end of the regular season.

Again, two of your best players are hurt, but they're still mowing through the league.

Basically, it goes to show how good this team is, how deep they are.

They can run four lines with literally anyone out there.

The Lindell Hayeskin in pair is one of my favorites to watch.

You have Thomas Harley as a second pair defense.

And when he's a first pair guy on well over half the league, he's awesome.

And they're going to have to figure out the situation with Roberts.

And I still personally think, Nick, they will sign him.

I think they will have the cap room to do it.

I just don't think you can allow a player like this to either A, walk or B, trade his

rights to.

I just don't really think you can allow for that overall.

But Lichon, since having a great year, they have Maverick Bork on their top line.

And I love what Dallas did, they got to the end of the Ben Sagan years.

But they were drafting so well during that time, it allowed Rupé Hens to come in and

Mero Hayeskin in.

And the obviously you traded for Miko, Ranssen, you sign, Matt Dushane, it's just the organization

has done such a great job of, you know, holding more talent onto the team, especially via

the draft.

I do think Dallas, if I were to pick right now for Dallas, Minnesota, I would take Dallas

in seven games when they're fully healthy against Colorado, man, who I might go Colorado

in seven.

You easily see Dallas beating them again, like it's that close because those to me are

the three best teams by far in the Western Conference, it's really not even close.

I think Dallas overall is one of the three best teams in the league.

But, you know, I really do feel like this has got to be one of the years where you break

through.

You've gotten through the central bracket a couple of times, but it's time to take that

next step, especially Nick in a year where the Pacific Division sucks, man, like this

is NFC South level bad from that division.

You respect Bryce Young, the Panthers won nine games this year.

They're better than Vegas or the docs.

I mean, the Panthers have guys who play defense on their team, unlike the docs.

The thing for me about Dallas and it's one of the great conundrums because they're such

a good possession team in the regular season.

The last night, they got great performance from Montenegro last night.

The avalanche outshot them like two to one in that game and some game, that was fantastic

talking to overtime, especially was on bath salts.

I haven't heard bat salts dropped in a while.

That's a crazy one.

The thing that's crazy to me about Dallas is they are a good possession team in the regular

season, more often than not, but when they get to the playoffs, they have a really hard

time scoring.

You know, there's a team that consistently gets to a conference final and they're doing

it scoring two and a half goals a game on average.

And I know there were games in there where you lose and you get shut out and the average

is even out.

But you think about where our game is going and what's successful in today's NHL.

Dallas has, they've got the two top defense when you need and hardly and high skinned

and then you have Lindellan there as well, who's also, as a Lindell, who's also, I would

say, a little underrated overall.

And then when they get to the playoffs, they can't score.

And that was kind of the impetus for pushing the chips in on Miko Ranton in last year.

They haven't had a true game breaking talent.

Like we love hints.

We love Robertson who are both really good.

You know, Robertson's going to have a chance at 40 talks this year if my math is bearing

out in my head.

Once when he's healthy is one of the best transition players in the NHL overall.

And yet when they've gotten the conference final, McDavid and Drisidle have sung them

to some degree.

And Andrew hasn't been atrocious, but when the other team has the two genuine superstars,

it makes a real difference.

But the last thing on Dallas before we take our second and final break, I think this is

the best testament to why Gary Bettman is wrong about the playoff bracket and the playoff

at up.

It's unfair.

It's quotes Nick where he's like, I love the format.

It makes for a great first round.

You're right.

It makes for a great first round.

But can't we have better matchups like conference final wise down the line?

Everyone hates the format except him.

I feel like he'll defend whatever the owners want, which is why he's why he's had the job

for 30 years at this point is he's a very good punching bag.

And everything rolls off of him.

He doesn't us disliking him at large as a populist doesn't affect his ability to do his job.

And it's why he's been insulated for so long.

And look, this is as ridiculous that Minnesota and Dallas are going to play each other in

the first round.

It's silly that teams that like Nashville that could hypothetically be pushing for a playoff

spot if we were still in the one to rate format, but basically don't have a chance because

we have to do it by division now.

I think it would be a lot more equitable if we did it by the old one to rate format.

Well, I don't want to play in rounds.

We really don't need ninth and tenths playing seventh and eighth, but if you, if that's

the impetus to get it back to a one to rate, whatever, I would accept that trade off if

I had to.

All right, we're going to take our second and final break on today's edition of Lockdown

in Asia.

When we come back, we'll talk about where the Rangers, Leafs, and Flyers all need to

be really careful this offseason and not make too rash of decisions.

Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox is overflowing in the one position.

You have to fill.

It's still open.

When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, that's a job for indeed sponsor jobs.

Indeed sponsor jobs help you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for.

Skills experience and locations, so you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles

across your post and the stat that says it all in the minute I've been talking to companies

just like yours will make 27 hires on indeed, according to Indeed's worldwide data.

So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who

check all of the boxes with indeed sponsor jobs, spend less time searching and more time

actually interviewing candidates who check all of the boxes.

Less stress 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 will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job.

The premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast.

Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard

about indeed on this podcast indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need

to hire.

This is the job for indeed sponsor jobs.

This is the Chase Sapphire Lounge of Boston Logan.

You got Clamp Chowder in New York, 30 martini over 1300 airport lounges and one card that

gets you in chase Sapphire reserve now even more rewarding learn more at chase.com slash

Sapphire reserve cards issued by JP Morgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit

approval.

Thank you so much to everybody that is hanging out on this Thursday edition of locked

on in a cell making it their first listen to the day.

And I'm lumping the rangers leave some flyers together here.

There are a number of other teams you could put into this conversation as well.

But all three of these teams are not where they would like to be in the pecking order.

The rangers thought they would be a one year reset.

They added Gavrikov.

They hired Mike Sullivan and they thought we will push for a playoff spot this year.

Maybe even win around depending on who we play in the first round the Leafs expected

to be business as usual.

They were expecting to be a playoff team to offset the loss of Mitch Marner was increased

with a little more depth and an improved goalie situation.

And the flyers thought they would take a step towards either being a bottom of the barrel

lottery team or pushing for a playoff spot.

And also of these teams are not where they want to be.

The rangers and Leafs are at the end of their respective life cycles.

Both of those teams have a bunch of playoff experience in recent history.

They have older, expensive, aging players and they don't have in-house assets to be

excited about.

They need to start working towards their future.

The flyers, they have a few nice pieces.

Mitch Kov had a very funny moment in the game against the ducks last night where he

goaded someone on the ducks into a missed, I almost had a misdemeanor into a fight that

wasn't a fight.

Then you have the flyers also Porter Marton didn't get nominated for the Holy Baker which

is something they were a little disappointed about.

But all three of these teams to me strike themselves as teams in denial about where they're at.

And I think denial is the hardest thing to break through because when you're talking

about sports, right, a general manager who has the final say on things, it can be really

hard to get through to those people that what they're doing hasn't been working.

You know, is Brad tree living even going to be the GM next year?

We've heard Christopher is safe there and we would assume Danny Breer is safe in Philadelphia.

But if you can't get through to those guys, if you're a fan of one of these teams, what

do you do?

What do you do sitting here?

You can complain online, you can listen to podcasts and read columns about where people

who agree with you, but it's got to feel pretty defeating right now if you're in one of those

boats.

Yeah, I think for the Rangers, Nick, you know, they keep saying, you know, this is a

read tool.

This is a read tool.

I just don't really see it when all their players are well over the age of 30.

You've seen Adam Fox very much voices, displeasure to the media.

He's not happy with where the team is at.

Nick, you saw the quote, and my future is something to discuss during the off season.

That's not something you want to hear Nick from the greatest defenseman you guys have

had in quite some time.

I mean, so he also forced his way to the Rangers.

If anyone forgot about that, he literally was like, I'm only going to the Rangers.

And that's the reason why he's there right now.

That read tool was really quick, just because also Penaer and also said, Hey, I'm going

there too.

Not for near all that stuff.

But like, say, say you don't get Gavin McCann, there's obviously a chance the Rangers

do.

Do I trust the Rangers to develop a player that they get potentially third, fourth overall?

Not as much as because they haven't done a good job of developing graphics as a way.

And I also don't think history is a very good GM.

Nick, I know your thoughts on history.

You can't stand him.

You're waiting for the day that he is going to be fired and that someone will replace

him.

I just don't think he has what it takes to get the Rangers back to where they were,

even just a couple of years ago.

And I mean, I think the longer that he is the GM, the better it is for every team in

the metropolitan division.

The Flyers are an interesting case for me because I don't think they want to rebuild, but

I also don't think they're really contending right now either.

They're kind of just stuck in that mushy middle, which is the worst place to be, I think,

as a team.

I don't think they've really picked a direction for where they want to go.

And I like some of their young pieces.

I think Mitch Cobb, once he's fully developed, I think it's going to be a hell of a player.

Tyson Forster, when he's healthy, he's been great Trevor Zegress is having a hell of a

year.

I think he's going to earn a pretty nice contract extension, but I think they saw

him to figure out their goalie situation.

You know, we're talking, he's fine, but teams don't really generate a lot of offense when

he is the head coach.

I just don't really know what direction the Flyers want to go with this summer.

They're just a very weird team.

I feel like they've been like that for the last couple of years.

The main beliefs are also going to be fascinating to me this summer.

Do they try to start, you know, Nick blowing this up a little bit, or do they try going

all in again for next season?

You still lots of errors there.

You still have knee lander.

You still have Matthews.

I've seen the conjecture from some of the top insiders that Matthews is going to have

a sit down conversation with some of the Leafs management staff this off season talking

about the direction of the team.

And Nick, if he doesn't like it, does he go on the trade market?

Again, that's a thing that I don't think it's going to happen.

I'm just bringing it up as a very low possibility because you never know, maybe he doesn't like

the direction where the Leafs management wants to go with the team.

Does Matthew Nies get traded?

He was dangled a little bit at the trade deadline.

I think the Leafs could get quite a bit back from him, but do they start doing Nick what

Pittsburgh did, you know, towards the end of Sid's tenure where they start accumulating

more assets going into this weed boat on the fly?

Or do they start to, or not really start, but do they continue to try and go all in even

though you don't have much money because, you know, they made better bet.

They thought they were doing plenty enough to replace him and it did not come close to

going according to plan.

So yeah, I'm really curious to see how all of these off seasons go.

I think it's going to be really interesting.

The off season represents an opportunity to reset, but you have to acknowledge the

reset needs to happen, you know, we've heard, we've heard there's no guarantees tree

living is even out in Toronto this off season that there's not really an appetite to conduct

a full on general manager search and maybe they hire a president to serve as a go between

between Maple Leafsports and entertainment network and tree living, which only ramps

up the tension and makes it even harder to do your job well.

I think all of these teams are in similar boats in the respect that they've had one tree

living's only been there two years, three's been there for five, three years going on

year three.

We generally see teams that win.

Their general manager's only been there three, four, five years and once you get past

that five year tipping point, unless you're Kevin Shovel Day of or Doug Armstrong, you

get fired or Jim Nill.

You know, if you're in a smaller market where you can kind of insulate yourself and convince

your ownership, hey, I can turn this around, you don't get long tenure general managers

anymore.

Even if you win, you don't get to hang around that long, you know, Don Sweeney's and

Outwire, you know, that's a one where he's been in Boston for quite a while.

I want to see all three of these teams kind of learn from their mistakes.

Understand why you're in the position you're in right now.

You cannot recreate Mitch Marner in the aggregate.

You cannot recreate Mitch Marner with Nick Walden, Matthias McKelley.

If you're Chris Jury, effort doesn't matter if you can't score.

Yeah.

You know, the Rangers always talk about, well, we have effort issues, we have effort,

like even during the game last night, during the bench report where they talk to Mike

Sullivan, I don't like our effort.

It's not effort.

Your line-up sucks.

The devils who have been in cancun mode for two months, I still have Jack Hughes, they

have he sure they have Brat, they have Timo Meyer.

Almost all four of those guys are better than every forward on your team.

You know, if you want to make an argument for Zubinish ad against some of those guys,

maybe I could entertain it, but the devils even in cancun mode smoked you.

So it's not an effort issue.

Your roster is not very good.

For the flyers, what do you want to be?

Do you want to be Rick talk it and win every game three to two?

Okay.

Well, you need to go out and get a start in goalie this summer.

You can't run back Samerson in Daniel Bladar if you want to be a defense first team.

The defense first mentality can work if you have a good goalie.

It worked okay.

The one year that the one year he actually had a healthy Thatcher Demko in Vancouver.

But if you don't have a guy who can make 50 starts, be a 2627 goalie, a 905 save percentage

goalie, you can't win with Rick talk it coaching your team.

All of these teams have formulas to improve their current situations.

It's simply a matter of recognizing it, accepting it and then being willing to admit you were

wrong.

It drives me crazy how unwilling people are like, it happened already.

It's done.

It's over with like trading for JT Miller was a bad idea.

Does it mean we need to make him the captain and make him the face of the team?

Like, yeah, but you're stuck with him because he's got the no movement clause, but you

can acknowledge, hey, he kind of stinks right now.

He's going to finish the or like 50 points and play half the games this year.

He's been very unimpressive.

The Rangers have outs.

The flyers can really double down on stinking and reorganize their team.

And the Leafs, if that means we have to blow it up entirely and we turn this into a bidding

war for Austin Matthews and William Nielander, if those guys express interest and willing

to go, it sucks because the hardest part of building a team is getting stars, but you

got to start over.

At some point, you got to start over and you need flexibility and right now, all of these

teams have varying degrees of flexibility.

You know, the Rangers are going to have a ton of money this summer to spend.

The flyers are, there's no one there.

Unless you want to roll the dice on the Patrick Linase of the world finding the revolution.

After you have the trade market, that's what you really have to do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

10 John's market is terrible.

Like once again, you know, chocolate.

I know.

But you're going to have to go to the trade market if you really want to make big upgrades

this summer.

Oh, absolutely.

Ken Johnston is intriguing.

Jason Robertson might be out there.

Brady Kachok, Austin Matthews, potentially available in trades based on if those guys express

interest and wanting to leave, but you got to have the assets to get them.

And that's the problem for the Rangers, the flyers and the Leafs.

The Leafs can at least, you know, there's a world where the Leafs could do a star for

star trade where they could turn Austin Matthews into something else.

The Rangers, you have Gabe Perot and three first round picks.

That's not enough to get you Brady Kachok.

Because you're the flyers.

You're not going to trade in each call off because he's your one NHL caliber prospect

who is proven in an ability to be good.

Porter Marton is interesting, but he's not proven at the NHL level and you've got a bunch

of draft picks.

If you don't have assets to execute these star trades, look at recently history, look

at what it costs to get stars.

You got to have assets.

And right now, none of these teams have a lot of them.

All right.

That'll do it for this edition of Lockdown NHL.

Thank you so much to everybody that made Lockdown NHL their first.

Listen to the day.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts for your second.

Listen, go check out Lockdown NHL game night.

If you're watching over on YouTube, we send you to the first ever 24 seven national

locked on YouTube channel.

Use code March.

Join the every day or click for free.

Get in the discord server.

Get access to the show.

Add free on your preferred audio podcast platform.

Hunter and I will see you guys next Thursday.

Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued?

Wake up to Zepbound, Terzepatide.

The first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive

sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity.

Zepbound is an injectable prescription medicine that may help adults with moderate to severe

obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA.

Zepbound should be used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity.

Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection.

Zepbound contains Terzepatide and should not be used with other Terzepatide-containing products

or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines.

It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children.

Do not share needles or pens or reuse needles.

Don't take Zepbound if allergic to it.

Or if you or someone in your family had medillary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine

neoplasia syndrome type 2.

Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck.

Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic

reaction.

Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems.

Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, depression, or suicidal thoughts before

schedule procedures with anesthesia.

If you're nursing, pregnant, planned to be or taking birth control pills.

Taking Zepbound with a sulfonoluria or insulin may cause a little blood sugar.

Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and

worsen kidney problems.

To your doctor, call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbound.lily.com.

Zepbound and its delivery device base in QuickPin are registered trademarks owned or licensed

by Eli Lilly and company.

It's subsidiaries or affiliates.

Finding ways to be financially savvy is a smart move and knowing you could be saving money

for the things you really want, like that dream home or new ride is a great feeling.

That's why the state farm personal price plan can help you save when you choose to bundle

home an auto.

The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the open road is calling.

Bring on the spring at the Honda Spring Event and take that road trip you've been dreaming

on.

But now is the time to check out the Honda Civic and HRV from Hunt, the 2025 Kelly Blue

Book's KVB.com Best Value Brand.