EP60 - Department of Player "Safety"????

Well, Ryan, the aiming five-wheel podcast is something in common with the Toronto Maple

Leafs.

We're a little late this week, just like the Leafs reaction on the Austin Matthews knee

on knee hit from Gootis.

Yeah, yeah, but we didn't, we didn't fail to back each other up.

No, no, we'll talk about this in the end.

We'll talk about this in the end.

We want to announce a little bit of a format change this week.

Our good friend, Ron, who talked about a bunch of times on this show as recommended for

the non-Habs Leafs fans among our listenership, maybe it would be better or at least kinder

for us to leave our blowviating about our respective teams until the end of the episode.

Well, there's not a whole lot to talk about the Leafs anymore, so this is really becoming

a Habs show.

Habs and everybody else.

Habs and everybody else just don't want to talk about the Leafs anymore.

You're wearing black.

I'm wearing black.

Yeah, the few and rolls on.

The few, she's sad, sad, sad, sad.

Yeah, but we do need to, so yes, we'll talk about going on around the league.

The big story in the league this week does, however, involve the Toronto Maple Leafs in

the sense that Austin Matthews is a grade three MCL tear.

I don't know what that means, but it seems like surgery may or may not be necessary.

It seems like a complete tear of the MCL.

Yeah.

Well, maybe not completely tear, but close to it.

Close to it.

From a neon-need hit by Rikogutus of the Anaheim Ducks, and repeat a fender.

Repeat a fender.

I have to say the fact that everybody freaked out right away that he had an on a phone

hearing, not an in-person hearing, and a phone hearing automatically means that the maximum

suspension they can give you is five games.

But here's my problem with the phone hearing.

And some other instances I understand it, there was no reason to jump to that conclusion

that night right away because he was in Toronto where the player's safety group is.

So if they had announced it was going to be an in-person hearing, it would have left

their ability to make this a bigger suspension.

Yeah.

That's the whole point of an in-person hearing, right?

Right.

I understand that.

But because he was in Toronto, they could have made that decision and left themselves

more open than saying, okay, the guy's in Anaheim and I got to drag him to Toronto, right,

for in-person.

So it doesn't matter, like whether it's, by the way, when it's in-person, it's not actually

most of the time in-person hearing, they offer an in-person hearing because it's more

severe.

And most of the guys, from what I understand, turn it down, just do it by phone and take

their lumps.

Yes.

But Gutus took his lumps and they're not a lot of lumps, five lumps, which is ridiculous.

Which is insane.

If you look at the replay, you look at it fast, you look at it slow, you look at it somewhere

in between, he targeted him with the knee.

He realized he was going to miss him and he stuck the leg out and went knee on knee.

And the only place he was going to be able to hit him was knee on knee.

Yeah.

It was obvious.

It was a dirty hit and he has got a record of doing this.

Yeah.

There are knee on knee hits that often happen when like one of the two players turns

around quickly and they're just lined up, a little offset and there's nothing that

can be done.

For example, the kneeing hit that took out Patrick Linae in the preseason last year where

he missed the first three months of the season.

That wasn't even a penalty.

I don't think it was just sort of an accident on the only hit.

But Gutus lined him up from about, I want to say, 15 to 20 feet away.

Oh, easy.

He went to go play him because Matthews was alone in the slot and just brutal.

This is the garbage we need to get out of the league for type of hits.

The hits from behind, the vicious stick swinging, we have the hits to the head.

These are the things that are creating, when you take a star out of the league like Matthews

for 18 games, and all you get for repeat offenders, five games is completely unacceptable.

Yeah.

Yeah.

By the way, just to, sorry, just a level set here, Phil, one of the criteria for the suspension

is expressly your past history.

So let's go through Mr. Goose's past history and intent.

Let's go through Mr. Goose's past history, December 2015.

By the way, what were the penalties that you just listed as the ones we have to get out

of the game?

Um, checks to the head, hits from behind, and sticks swinging.

Okay.

And obviously needs.

Okay.

So this is, this is Mr. Goose's history, December 2015, illegal check to the head of Mika's

advantage ad three games, October 6th, 2016, illegal hit to the head against Austin

Charnick, sticks game suspension, November 2017, slashing against Matthew Perot.

Now I don't remember that particular one, but it must have been really bad because for

that one, Radco got 10 games.

Right.

So they're ramping up here.

Yes.

In February, 19, he took another high sticking suspension, another one of the hits you

stay has to get out of the game to the head of Nikita Kutcheroff, two game suspension.

Come in the other direction.

Basically, all of the above on him.

Yep.

And now, finally, he completed his grand slam by getting a kneeing penalty on Matthew Matthews

and only getting five games with that history.

To me, that's insane.

If there's a hall of fame of dirty hits, he's in that hall of fame, maybe the first guy

in there.

He is, he is right up there, isn't he?

I mean, he's like in Mad Cook territory.

Yeah, absolutely.

He's in Mad Cook territory and he doesn't get the same sort of, the same sort of recognition

or infamy, I should say, for it because I honestly don't know why.

No.

I honestly don't know why.

Frankly, I'm glad he plays in the West so that the Canadians don't have to put life

in limit risk to a guy like that, but he's a dirty player.

And quite frankly, he should be sitting a minimum of 10, it's not 15, it should have been

in person hearing, it should have been a minimum of 10 or longer because of the history

and like I said, all the above.

He has got a track record of playing on the edge and going over that edge way too often,

and I'm sorry.

I think Paros and the whole discipline group has gone off the rails.

It's just not this one.

I think there's been other evidence, other instances this year where you shake your head

at what's going on and I think there's a change that needs to be had.

And even now the conversation across the league has been this all since last Thursday

when they hit happened, even Conor McDavid weighed in over the weekend and said,

look at, you know what, I understand the system, but sometimes at some point,

you have to look at the system and look at the process and change the process.

I'm not saying it was right or it was wrong, but at some point, you've got to look

at the process and make some changes.

And I think this should be the impetus to make that happen in the off season.

I think Paros has been in that job since 2017.

It's time for a change.

It's time for some new, someone new to come in to look at this game, look at it and

change how they, they, they go about their business because this was wrong in.

Yep.

I agree.

I don't care if you like Matthews.

You don't like Matthews.

You like the least.

You don't like the least.

This was a star player going out because of a intentional dirty hit.

And intent and past history should be taken into consideration and it clearly wasn't

in this one.

I'm sorry.

It wasn't.

Yeah.

I couldn't agree more.

And let's just sort of broaden the lens a little bit and zoom out because you could

make the argument that you have any Malcolm suspension for his slash was way too short

as well.

Absolutely.

I mean, it was a high stick to the head.

He actually came down on the neck.

I don't know.

He too handed him to the neck.

The last time a guy swung something like that at a guy's neck, he had to wear a black

hood.

I mean, that's like execution or stuff.

It's crazy.

Oh, it's crazy.

It's crazy.

And you know, that's kind of be 10, 15 games minimum as well.

But and we've said this, we have, there has to be a bigger deterrent to get these things

out of the game because the things that give hockey a bad name are these type of hits.

These type of stick swing instances.

People understand fighting in the game.

They might not like some people night, not like it, but when it's a dirty hit, neon

knee, hitting somebody from behind, stick swinging somebody's head, we got to get rid of

this stuff.

We got to get rid of it.

It's got to go.

And you've got to, it has to, I think it has to start at 15 minimum, right?

For any of those one big ones that can injure and I think a player going out and being injured

and being injured for a length of period of time should also be a criteria of the length

of the discipline.

I'm not saying it should be matched.

People make that argument before.

Yeah.

I don't think it necessarily needs to be matched, but I think there needs, I think there needs

to be a deterrent to get this out of the game and there needs to be bigger fines.

There needs to be more games lost and especially someone like Gouda, who is important to that

back end and going to be important if they're in the playoffs, you know, get him out of here

and make him pay and make him think about it before he goes and does something stupid

to somebody else.

Who's next?

Right?

Well, we're going to think about this way.

We're going to be playing Edmonton probably in the second round of the playoffs.

You know, if I'm Conor McDavid, I'm speaking out because this guy's going to be coming

after me for sure, for sure, but think about it this way, like the number of suspensions

that have been like two to three games in the last couple of years for shoulder hits

to the head that have arguably been where the intent is arguable, you know what I mean?

The player could reasonably argue that he was trying to do a shoulder on shoulder hit

but the player turned a little or he missed and he caught him in the jaw or whatever and knocked

the guy out.

They want that out of the game.

They're giving two to three games for that.

Right.

Right.

But it could be intentional.

Very well could not be intentional is to you know, they're suspending you for, hey,

you need to be more responsible for how you go.

But I think that's right.

And hit people.

And that feels right.

But for Gouda's to only get five more games.

No, I know.

Something that was clearly intentional, clearly, stuck is really intentional and it's

an intent to injure.

It's not just an intent to make do something illegal.

It's an intent to injure.

Yes.

Yeah, but yeah, just awful.

All right.

Well, let's leave that alone.

Discipline is something that needs to be revisited in the off season.

And let's hope it does.

And I agree with you.

This may be Paros' time is up.

It should be up.

Yeah.

Yep.

You think of Princeton grad would have a better sense of what's, you know, good incentives

for players are.

But I promise you, think of what type of player Paros was.

You know, is that the right guy you need to be having?

I played pickup with him once.

Did you?

Yeah.

I made sure I was not within 10 feet of him at any point in time.

Yeah.

It's just only on the on the on the on the odd chance that he just like, you know, would

stop unexpectedly and I would run into him and that I would run into him.

He's, he's, he's in large, large band.

The other, the other player, the other guy I played against once, uh, who was not as big,

but you didn't want to skate anywhere near him.

He either was McSorley.

McSorley?

Yeah.

Marty McSorley is just like unpredictable.

You never know what's going to piss him off.

So you just pass in a smart state of his way.

No.

But and the other guy that I actually played competitively against in a beer league, um,

from a professional athlete standpoint, who I was not afraid to beat, to do anything with

this guy, even though he's, I don't know, 63, 64, yeah, easily 200, um, was Alexi Lallus,

the US soccer player.

Oh, really?

Why?

And pretty skate.

Very good skater.

Really?

Wow.

Very good.

Good hockey, but you could tell he played a lot in his youth.

You know, soccer took him away.

Yeah.

But Alexi Lallus, sort of a gentle giant.

I think he knew he was a better athlete than everybody on the ice and knew that he might

accidentally hurt somebody if he played, if he played as hard as he could.

So, uh, yeah, he was, he was a lovely guy, lovely guy.

Um, yeah, good, good guy to play against.

But anyway, yeah, Paros, wow, I went, really went off on a tangent there.

Yeah, it was a bit of a tangent.

Yeah.

I got to do that that often, but Ben, man, that one was a, but next thing, you know,

that I could have been talking for, you know, just the seven minutes on that topic and realized,

oh, my gosh.

Now, anyway, I know I was done.

Yeah.

I think so.

And I know we wanted to sort of wait and hold and talk about our Leafs and Habs till

the end, but we can get our Habs or Leafs out of the way because it's adjacent to this.

We think we were going to leapfrog off the, the discipline and go to who's disciplining

the Leafs for the lack of a response.

I wanted to be in, I wanted to be in the change room at that

intermission.

And here, something being thrown, the F-bombs being thrown by Baroubaix, being the type

of player Baroubaix was that could not be acceptable to him in the change room.

Four guys on the ice, all skated around after that hit, like nothing happened.

And, and you can say, you can say that guys, like, as the guys on the ice were Riley,

Carlo, Nies, and Neil Gerder.

Yeah.

It can excuse maybe, Neilander, but maybe not because still you can't put your own safety

and, safety up for grabs at this when a player, your star player in Captain goes out like

that on a dirty hit.

That guy needs to have something happen to him right away.

I don't mean cross-check him over the head or anything like that, but you need to go

after him and say, you can't do that to our Captain.

And, and with, Carlo on the ice, who was, like, six foot seven, you got Nies on the ice

that could have done something and Riley on the ice, those three guys should have been

on top of him and jumping away.

Something.

I don't care what you do.

I'm not saying you have to hurt the guy, but you have to have a better reaction than

skating around like nothing happened.

It was complete embarrassment and it is, it almost is the leaf season in a microcosm in

that moment going.

Just a lack of character.

A lack of character, a lack of, at least caring about your fellow teammates, just a lack

of will to win and to compete and to, and to drive.

It just, and that moment, I'm looking around going, who's going after this guy?

I've seen it.

The lesson, beer league hockey, beer league hockey, somebody gets hit badly and you got

four guys on top of them.

It's just like, come on.

This is the NHL.

Your star player just got his knee buckled by a dirty hit and you do nothing.

And the problem was the refs jumped in right away and Gouda's got escorted off the ice.

So nothing could happen.

You could say that the Leafs did have a response for the rest of the game because their

physicality for the rest of the game did step up and they won the game.

Yeah, great.

Who cares?

You got to do it in the moment.

You got to do it in the moment.

You got to do it in the moment.

You got to do it in the moment.

In the moment was not there.

And it just shows the character of the team.

And I want to know what's going on in that change room because if they're going to let that

happen to their captain, what's happening in that change room?

Yeah.

They can all say now.

This is embarrassing.

We didn't do it right.

But you didn't.

So saying it afterwards means nothing.

It's hollow.

Right now they're going to play Anaheim again in a couple of weeks.

I think they played them on the 31st of March in Anaheim.

So it'll be interesting to see if Gouda is on the ice.

And if it doesn't happen in the first shift, whenever he gets on the ice, someone's got

to go after him.

Yeah.

And make it.

Well, okay.

So we spent 15 minutes on this topic.

We should probably move on.

There's a lot of other things going on around the league.

Let's talk about the resurgent Dallas stars who find themselves only three points back

from the juggernaut.

Yeah.

The Colorado Adelaide.

So we said after the trade deadline that Dallas might have gotten left behind a little

bit.

Yes, they got Tyler Myers.

But with cadre coming in, we thought Colorado would wake them up a little bit because

they've gone into a bit of sleep mode.

And lo and behold, Dallas goes 9-0 in one.

Their last 10 is playing fantastic hockey and Anaheim jurors playing out of his mind.

Yeah.

Auditor said, hold my beer because he's like, he's given up like, I don't know, like one

goal in March.

I don't know.

And Robertsons make and team you, I know they won the gold medal, but he's almost make

and team you go, proven a point going, I should have been on that team.

And he's because he's scoring goals in buckets right now.

But what about Wyatt Johnson?

Wyatt Johnson should have been on team Canada.

Like both of them are like, first of all, they each have 36 goals on the season.

They have two 36 goal scorers that's like, you know, that's, that's Neil Ender Matthews

territory.

Yeah.

But what's interesting about them is how top heavy they are.

You know, you've got Ranton and at 20 goals.

And then you've got, I think, Roupé Hins at the end of the year right now, too, isn't

he?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Then you got, then you got Roupé Hins with 15 goals and I think Jimmy Ben has 14.

So it's a pretty top heavy team, but that, you know, that those top two lines are

crushing it right now.

And their defense is playing great.

You've got a top two of Harley and Heskin and, you know, an all-world goalie and Audinger

going, yeah, hella buck was the star of the Olympics, but don't forget about me.

Oh, absolutely.

And this team is going to be really, really dangerous.

If Audinger keeps playing like this, I'm sorry, you know, if McKinnon has 50 goals, he

might have trouble, you know, putting too many past Audinger at the point.

Absolutely.

And it's going to be a shame that Dallas and Minnesota are going to be gone after the

first round.

If you assume Colorado is going to lead that division stay out because they've got a

game or two in hand, but Dallas, Minnesota and that first round, that's going to be the

round of the first, that's going to be the series of the first round to watch.

It's going to probably do a whole episode just on that series.

Yeah.

So in central division, so it's going to be not too late, not too early, it's going

to be great.

It's going to sit right in that middle.

It's going to be fantastic, fast, big hitting hockey.

It's going to be a lot of fun to watch, but it's a shame that they have to play each other

in the first round and then play potentially Colorado in the next round.

Yeah.

That's dog fight right there, you set it all year round.

This is going to be the, we said it last year, this division was the toughest to come

out of.

It's going to be the toughest division to come out of again.

For sure.

For sure.

It's interesting, like you compare the central and the Atlantic and the central has the top

three teams in the league and the Atlantic, once you take out Carolina, has like the next

seven.

Yeah.

It's great.

Like top to bottom, the Atlantic division is insane, so it's, what would you rather be

a part of?

Would you rather be a part, would you rather be one of three juggernauts in one division

or would you rather be part of like a log jam of like seven really good teams?

I think you want to be the log jam because I think it keeps your sharpness, you're playing

at a sharper and harder level against more teams and you need to keep sharp, you need

to be playing well.

I think that's what's happened to Colorado.

They got so far ahead and they were playing so many bottom-feeded teams in the Western

division that they've fallen asleep a little bit here and they've got to wake up and we've

seen too many presence trophy winners fall asleep in the back half of the season.

Too many.

All of them.

Yeah, all of them.

And not and not be able to turn it back on for the playoffs and I hope that, like I

said, we've said it a few times now.

We hope Codrew is going to be that spark plug that's going to wake them up again and get

them going and hopefully, hopefully they can, hopefully they can because they've, Dallas

and Minnesota are playing, well, Dallas is playing fantastic cars.

Minnesota has gone into bit of a lull right now, but, you know, again, it's going to be

fun to watch this down the stretch to see what happens.

No one's going to catch the three of them.

So the three of them are going to battle it out in some shape or form in the first two

rounds of the playoffs.

Yeah.

Although I have to say there's this really small part of me that wants to see Colorado make

the Stanley Cup finals and then play, I don't know, pick your team.

Maybe Carolina, although there are no decks on Carolina, I'm going to say Tampa, I'm

going to say I'm maybe it'll be Buffalo, but I can't think of any real dicks on I'm Buffalo

either.

I'm thinking about.

I'm thinking about Buffalo.

I know.

But now I'm thinking about Tampa because they have Corey Perry.

But how awesome funny that it be if Tampa beat Colorado and the Stanley Cup finals.

And while they were in the handshake line, Corey Perry and Nathan McKinnon and other

stuffed animal.

He got through winning silver.

No, it's just you see violence in the handshake, I don't think you can see that happen.

I think it's the Corey Perry being the Stanley Cup jinx.

I know.

Tampa's out.

I'm writing off Tampa Bay.

Tampa's the first round exit now.

Maybe they're getting there.

Yeah.

Maybe they get there.

But they're not winning it.

There's just no way.

No.

That streak is the streak is too long and to be married.

Yeah.

Like it's like seven with what six different teams?

Well, it's six.

He's lost the last six Stanley Cup finals he's been in this would be five with five

different teams.

Five different teams.

Because what are the odds?

It's crazy.

Yeah.

He lost it twice with Edmonton, once with Dallas, once with Montreal, we're all once

with Tampa Bay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No guy has no luck and no luck.

Why would you bring this guy back to your team?

Now good.

He's, he's doing everything we said that cadre is going to do for Colorado.

It's all culture.

He's that he's that guy and he knows the team and God loved them.

But I don't know.

Absolutely.

So now you've got, so Dallas is resurgent in the and descendant in the West.

Yeah.

And you've got off low that just has not slowed down.

They're, they're juggernaut and they're doing it with good goal tending, not great goal tending.

Like their defense is playing really well.

I think some of the two pickups they made at the deadline and they're going to really

solidify their playoff defense.

They're getting scoring from up and down the line up.

It's fantastic to watch.

Owen powers.

I won't say he's playing like a former number one draft pick, but at least he's playing

like a top 10 pick.

Yeah.

And not a bust.

Yeah.

He's really going into his own.

So does Lindy Ruff jump to the, to the Jack Adams trophy award for the coach of the year?

For this back half of the season performance, another last of first potentially.

I think, I think, I think you got to give him serious consideration.

Who's, who's going to get this award above him at this point?

Bednar.

Maybe.

With that team, I just, the team has been the juggernaut from the beginning.

Yeah.

They mean.

I know, but he's never won a Jack Adams.

And he's the story of Lindy Ruff.

They've taken his team from zero from last place to, well, they won't be first potentially

because they got a catch collar Carolina.

But I don't know.

I think Lindy Ruff is the odds on favor right now to win the Jack Adams award.

Yeah.

Got to be.

If Anaheim wins the Pacific division, Granted, it's, but that's a massive, it's the

Laosie's division.

Maybe you got to get him in the playoffs and the East.

That's true.

I don't know how you give that Pacific division.

I don't know how you get.

Yeah.

Look, he's done a great job with a young team that nobody thought we're going to make

the playoffs, including the two of us, not that we're experts around the situation.

Well, I thought that we're going to have to win.

I thought that, Docs, I said this earlier in the season, that ducks were going to have

to win every game six to five in order of winning.

Now, the irony is they've played two games against the Canadians in the last two weeks.

I think 10 goals were squared and each of them are close to it, so we'll get to that.

But yeah, Buffalo and Carolina have to be the two Eastern front runners right now.

So here's a question, Mark, because let's take this in a bit of a different stretch of

the teams in the chase that aren't in the wild card East and West.

Let's pose this question to both of us here.

Got it.

OK.

If you have to suggest right now, one or two teams that you think are currently in the

playoffs won't be, who would you replace them?

Like, so if you think at the East and you think right now, you've got New York, Pittsburgh,

Detroit, and the Bruins, and if you wanted to throw Montreal right now in there, I know

you got a games in hand here, but so said 82 and down and then you've got Columbus, Ottawa.

Let's just say Columbus and Ottawa.

Mayor, do you think this is going to settle out?

Do you think either Columbus and Ottawa are going to get in?

And if so, who's dropping out?

Detroit.

Detroit's dropping out.

I think that's a sound pick.

I call Detroit to make the playoffs this year, so I'm going to not want to make that.

I actually think it's going to be Boston.

Really?

I think Boston's going to drop out.

OK.

I think they're falling off a little bit here.

I'd like to say the Islanders, but a Shavers just too good.

I actually think it could be Pittsburgh too.

Both at 81 points, but the problem is the only, oh, yeah, the Columbus would have to overtake

them, put one of those guys in a wild card spot and they fall out of it.

Yeah.

Columbus.

Columbus has an advantage here over Ottawa because Columbus can catch Pittsburgh and New

York or even be in a wild card spot because they're only one point out of a wild card spot,

there are also only two points out of a third place in the Metro, right?

Right.

Right.

Where Ottawa has to catch Montreal and that's five points.

That's going to be difficult.

Mm-hmm.

Although, although they could catch Boston, Detroit, Detroit, three, three points back of Boston,

but I think that's a longer shot.

I think they're playing well right now.

They're seven, one and two in their last 10, which is great.

They're seemingly caught a bit of on fire and playing well and getting better goal

tending.

But I think you're right.

I think the team that's going to drop out could potentially be Detroit, maybe Boston,

but I think I think so.

Who's going in then?

Do you think it's Columbus?

What do you think Ottawa's going to be?

I think it's Ottawa.

I think Ottawa squeezes in.

Yeah.

It's possible.

It's one of the teams we both had in the playoffs.

Right.

Sorry.

Now that it's the West.

Columbus.

So let's go to the West.

So the same thing here of the bottom feeders because now you've got it.

It's really closing up pretty tight here.

We got even Nashville at 67 points tougher, but San Jose, Los Angeles, the cracking and

math and Utah.

Well, I think Seattle, there's a chance Seattle falls out a decent chance Seattle falls

out.

They've, you know, they're four six and two, they're four and six in their last 10 games.

Now the problem is the Kings and the Sharks have been barely hotter than that.

They're five and four and five three and one or whatever.

Look at, I said the Kings were going to make the playoffs this year because of the swan

song of Copa Tar.

Copa Tar.

Who is now the all-time leading score for the L.A. King?

It was a really nice moment to, uh, really great moment for him and for the Kings.

Yeah.

So I actually think they're going to squeak in.

Okay.

I think they're going to be squeaking.

I think I agree with you.

I think you want them to squeak in because then they get something right because they

got to send the second round.

My Stanley Cup final pick is just gone.

You know, you want them to make the playoffs because then they send a second round pick

for a lot instead of a third round.

Yes.

Yes.

And let's go back to that for one second.

How about that?

And I know we were talking about the lease and halves at the end.

All three leaves that we traded at the trade deadline.

Did they score in their first game?

All of them scored in their first game and McCann actually scored twice in his first

game.

Oh, there you go.

I'm sorry, McCann.

McCann scored twice, lotten scored in his first two games and was scored in his first

game.

Well, there you go.

There you go.

Just wonderful.

All right.

So the Kings, you're saying the Kings replace Seattle.

I think they replace Seattle.

I think I'm going to agree with you because like that's now my home town.

I want to see the shark.

I want to see Celebrity in the playoffs.

That kid is a beast.

That kid is an absolute beast.

He does everything well.

He fights for Pucks along the boards.

He said, hustler.

He said, so fun.

He's got eyes on every side of his head.

He's an incredible pastor.

He skates like the wind.

Yeah.

Like shoots the buck hard.

Everything.

He does everything right.

Just everything right.

How cool is that at 19?

It's unreal.

Unreal.

This kid is something super, super special.

McDavid's got some McDavid and McKinnon have some some competition.

Yes.

Well, we said it during the year for the heart for the next ten years for the heart,

but he's also, he's going to challenge them in the next three to five years for being

the face of the league.

Is there has there ever been a face of the league?

This league markets itself so poorly around its star players.

Yeah.

I think that there's no such thing as the last few years.

I think they've done a better job of it.

It's going to be a little bit on the sharks to get into the playoffs, give him some more

exposure in a bigger stage, make a run, maybe not to the final, but make a round or two,

give him some more exposure.

Obviously, the Olympics was such a great leaping off point for him.

Yeah.

Well, guess what?

Mike Greer's turned that franchise around so fast.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the playoffs this year.

I would or and no later than next year.

Yeah.

All right.

So we're 30 minutes.

Should we spend a couple minutes just sort of breaking down the Canadians this week?

Yeah, I wish to break down.

Because I mean, because yeah, you still, you still okay with them?

No moves at the deadline because I, yeah, yeah, yeah, we regretting that a little bit.

No, I'm not regretting it at all.

I'm going to keep asking you.

You can keep asking me.

Why don't you throw the gold tender thing at me because foulers played pretty well.

You played really well.

Yeah.

It starts since you got caught up.

Okay.

So here's the question.

And you said months ago, I asked you this question, who was the starter for the playoffs

if the started, I think it was a couple months ago before Christmas, before the new year.

You said, Mottenbow.

Yeah.

He's not even, he's not even dressing right now.

He's not dressing.

He is not dressing.

The starter day one, if the playoffs started tomorrow and you were playing Tampa Bay,

who are you starting?

I'm going to start foul.

Wow.

You're going to keep with Dobish as the printable backup on our channel.

I think that, I think that fouler is mentally tougher.

And now I'm a guy sitting on his couch watching hockey and half the time I'm watching it

on an iPad size screen.

So it's.

It's very fair for somebody who's still working on the West Coast while they're starting

to play.

Like, so it's very, very fair for people to ask, what the hell are you talking about?

You don't know anything.

And those people are right.

But from the body language that they both have after giving up goals and the way that

fouler moves around the net to follow the play, he's just calm.

And he reacts after a goal calmly.

Dobish always looks like, you know, his dog died after he gives up a goal.

And so that's, it's just a hunch.

Like honestly, it's probably a coin toss.

Yeah, but I have to pick one I might, I might go with foul.

The Habs have a record of having rookie goal tenders, taken pretty far into the playoffs.

Pretty far in the playoffs.

And you're talking about Dobish sounding or looking like his dog died after goals.

I could read people your text messages after the Habs get scored on.

They think your dog was dying.

Yeah, I pulled out my phone and read some of these texts.

Well, if it wasn't for so many, it's so many shots from the point that just squeaking

because they're not clearing out the front of the net because the goalie's too deep in

his net.

Like, it's like, things like that drive me crazy, especially when it's mom to vote because

those goals he could see, at least like Dobish and follow back in this year.

No, I don't think he, he doesn't play again.

So he's done as a Hab then.

I think so.

I think so.

But the Habs have played the Ducks and the Sharks twice in the last two weeks each.

That's eight possible points of which they've successfully recorded one.

That's, that is a tough stretch of very, very loose hockey against teams.

That like to play loose hockey, right?

The way you beat offensive teams like the Ducks and the Sharks is you clamp down on them

and you take your shots, counter-punching when you can.

Why is that?

Because you're a better coach.

You're a more experienced team, even though you're the youngest team in the league, you're

more experienced because you've got these young guys that have been playing two, three

years.

You've been working on this defensive system together for two or three seasons now.

For crying out loud, like, stop at the blind passes up the middle.

Stop with, look, it kills me to say anything about Lane Hudson, but it's not digging

around with the puck at your blue line and giving up odd man rushes the other way.

Make this, especially in the third period of a game you're tied in.

Well, you say he's a young player, he's trying to make something happen and you're right.

At some point, you have to understand where you are in the game and the puck's got to go

in deep and you can't try and, yeah, jerk and drive at the blue line and give it up to

going the other way, you're playing big boy hockey here now, the puck's going the other

direction.

Yeah.

And, but what I will say from a positive standpoint is like the way that I will continue to

like the way Kirby Doc is playing, even though his linemates are not sort of taking advantage

of the space that he's making for them and the puck's that he's keeping deep and getting

out to them.

But, and I haven't given in to this guy enough credit, I've said he's a lot better, I've

said he's looking much better.

But, your ice of Kofsky has shown that not only is he the skilled player that I knew

who would become, he's becoming the beast that I thought he would become a big boy.

And he, his assist on the, what was the coffee or goal or the Suzuki goal the other night.

I can't remember which one.

He, he, stick handled the puck through the neutral zone, like wearing a dude, like literally

just wearing a dude on his back and he's like stick handled the puck one handed and made

a one handed pass on the backhand that sent it.

I think it was Kofield went in shot scored and all I could think to myself is that is a

strong mother clucker like wow, that's, that's the Euro ice of Kofsky I thought we'd be

seeing by this point.

And he's doing that kind of thing more and more and more.

And it's awesome.

He, this dude's going to be a handful for years.

He's going to be a great player.

You guys got such a great young core and it's going to be fun to watch.

Hopefully they can take out Tampa Bay or whoever they play in the first round of the

playoffs.

I'd love to see them.

I'd love to see them win around or two.

Yeah.

You know, especially if it's like if they can avoid a team in the first round like the Washington

capitals last year that were really big and mean and kind of suited for, for playoff

hockey.

If they could play like Boston, for example, who used to be that way, but are, you know,

a little bit more of a sort of play the right way, skill like they can move in that series

that I think they could, you know, by the way, you're not going to, and now I'm rambling

again and we got to wrap this up, but like after that game we saw last week, no one's

going to intimidate either Tampa or Buffalo in a playoffs here is both those teams are

coming of, you know, throw it down if they need to.

There's a lot of tough teams out there.

I have one more question on the Habs before I let you go.

How would you think of Gallagher getting scratch, healthy scratch for the first time in,

I think his career in his career.

Uh, is that arresting him?

It was soiled.

It was, it was sold as a rest because the Canadians have two back-to-backs in six days.

Got a lot of wear and tear on that body.

A lot of wear and tear on that body.

He throws himself into every scrum, every player like he, no, nobody, I don't think anybody

in a league takes care of himself the way he does.

Just because his dad, I think, is the strength and conditioning coach, uh, for, uh, junior

teams.

The WHO team giants, what is it, Colona?

I don't know.

I'm not sure.

Whatever WHO western hockey team is the giants, uh, I think his dad is or was the strength

and conditioning coach, but so he's an insane shape.

He hasn't been, he hasn't been as effective lately.

Yeah.

And maybe he needs a rest, but even if he doesn't need a rest, when you've got a guy

like Alex Texier coming back from injury, now granted, he made a pretty decent mistake

in the third period.

But you need him in the playoffs because of his tenacity.

Who goes out?

Yes.

That's a really good question.

You don't have to answer that.

It's a really good question.

I might have to think about it a little bit because it could involve sitting playing

with six defensemen.

Okay.

Uh, we'll see.

I don't know.

I have to think about that.

I have to think about that.

Okay.

Anyway, so, um, what are you looking forward to the next week, though?

I know what I'm looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to hopefully the least getting back on the tank record.

So we can have a shot at our top five pick.

Um, we're only six points up on St. Louis, who's currently sitting in that five spot.

Um, the couple, the three points we got in the last two games kind of hurt us.

I know there's a theory between the tank and try and get the top five pick this year

with the unfortunate side effect.

If we don't get it, we're given Boston the sixth, seventh or eighth pick.

Or do you win as much you can and give Boston the pick this year, whether it's nine, ten,

eleven, whatever it is and, and get it over with and get back on next year.

I, I think this draft is deep enough.

I'd like to see us try and keep it and I'd like to see us tank it.

Okay. Well, that's what what I look forward to, what I look forward to, um, this week.

And I actually, this is going to sound facetious, but I think there's a very decent chance

that you're going to start hearing this.

I think the Toronto media is so frustrated and so bored.

They've got nothing to write about anymore.

This good is thinking gave him something to write about for one day too.

Well, they turned it into two days because that's what Toronto journalists do.

But I think they're going to start talking about should they trade my Austin Matthews in an earnest way.

They've already started that talk.

I've heard some of it already.

I think, I think the question mark was before this last two games where they tied Buffalo

lost and over time and then beating Minnesota last night, the question mark was going to be,

do they mercy fire Barube before the end of the season?

Cause the job that's not going to happen.

It's not going to happen.

It might not happen now, but we'll see what happens this next week.

If they go back in tank mode, uh, I want to give you something to think

about what's that?

I want to give you something to think about because the, the Edmonton oilers are not going to win the Stanley Cup

because of their goal tightening.

So I want to give you something to think about.

Connor McDavid traded to the Toronto media police for Austin Matthews, for Austin Matthews.

For Austin Matthews, Eastern Cowan and a first.

If I'm the least, I do that heartbeat.

But why would you make that trade that if I'm on absolutely for the least, if I'm on the least,

I would do it in a heartbeat.

But why would that?

Why would, why would Edmonton do that?

Because Connor McDavid tells them trade me because you can't get your act together.

He doesn't want to be in Toronto.

Uh, I don't care what you say.

I don't think he wants to be in Toronto.

He wants to win.

I don't think the Toronto right now, the culture and that, the culture in that

change room is so bad right now as bad as it is in Edmonton because of the defensive

play and the goal tending.

I think that example on Thursday night, the culture in that room is

so bad, there's got to be sweeping changes this year.

And yeah, maybe they got to move on from Matthews or from Nieland or something.

They got sweeping changes has to happen this season.

I don't know what it's going to be, but there's got to be sweeping changes.

The attitude change in that change in the culture has to change.

All right.

All right.

Well, on that note, it's been fun on the aiming five hole podcast.

And we'll see you next week.

And thanks for joining us.

Take care, Phil.

Okay.

See you later.

Bye.