EP76 - Summer Recap!

0:00Well, Ryan, we're back. Season three of the Aming 5 World Podcast is back in session. Welcome back. How was your summer? My summer was great. Welcome back to you, Phil. It's been a nice year. I've been, dude, it's, when I don't talk to you every week, it's a miss in something in my life. There's no question. There's no question. And so much has happened that we've been texting about not speaking live. So it's a lot to catch up on. Yeah, there's amazing that, you know, that free agency, first week and a half of free agency was kind of crazy. Lots of activity, lots of things going on. And then between then and this week, things went quiet in terms of player movement and stuff. A lot of signings, a lot of drama around the league. We're gonna touch on all of it. But today, I think, is sort of a summer recap. A little warm up before the season starts. The preseason has started. Whatever that means anymore. And next week, we're gonna get back

1:00into our regular scheduled programming. We'll do a season preview next week before the season starts. But today, I think our focus is going to be on all the stuff that's happened over the course of the summer, the signings, the changes, and all of the drama that's happened around the league. Because there's a lot of drama going on. Yes. Where should we start? Do you wanna start? And just to remind the viewers out there, and the listeners, Ryan and I are two Canadians living in the US. I'm a leaves fan, he's a Habs fan. And we just have fun, we just talk. We don't have people on. It's just the two of us blabbering on about the things that we wanna talk about and putting our own little style on it. That's exactly right. And not to put too fine a point on it. We do this as a therapeutic exercise, neither of us live in a traditional hockey market. Stills in Florida, I'm in LA. Yeah. So this is how we get our fix in for talking hockey during the week.

2:01Yeah. We both still play the game. I mean, not so well anymore. Not so well. I've bowed down to father time and I've moved into a 50 and over league. There you go. And you know, you may not be too far behind me at some point. I don't know. I'm in a 35 plus, but still, it's a bunch of older guys. That's for sure. I'm one of the older ones on the in a league, but it's all good. It's all good. Let's get started because there's so much to talk about today. Yeah, absolutely. But before we do that, we just wanna let everyone know all of our listeners and subscribers that we are firmly joining the 21st century now. And we are available on all of the social media platforms, not just YouTube and Facebook. We have aiming five whole pages and YouTube on Instagram, on Facebook and now threads. And now threads. So we will be posting them. We will be posting commentary on, especially on threads

3:02with all of our hot takes during the week. And everything that is annoying me, because I easily annoyed in the game of hockey. Absolutely. So with that, let's talk about the summer. Summer, wow, this has been the summer of change, I think, for some teams, anyways, and we might as well start. We'll start with the Leafs. Okay. There's been so much change with the Leafs. Not just players, management, coaches, training staff, you name it, it's happened. The Leafs have brought in 10 new players, basically overhauled the whole lineup. Chica and Sundine have done a lot of work. Obviously, last year, there was a lot of controversy last spring after they fired brought in Chica and fired Barube, brought in Hiller and brought in Chica and Sundine. There's been a lot of talk about, you know, what was Chica gonna do? And he's done a lot of work, you know,

4:03really overhauling the lineup. And I think it begs to say that we've talked about this before, this isn't the first year the Leafs have overhauled the bottom six of this lineup. It's gone well beyond that. This is a good year. Yeah, just a good year. But this being 10 players plus new goal tending, new forwards, new back end, I would have to say though, you know, the one thing I think the Leafs have missed in the past couple of years was talent and a little grit with talent on the back end. And I think that is, hopefully that has been solved. I think this year is going to be a big year of ifs for the Leafs. We'll get into predictions next week. We're not going to talk about our predictions right now, but I think the Leafs are a big what if, what if 10 of and Matthews are healthy all season? If what if Matthews has a break bounce back season, he's got to have it, you know, it's for the Leafs to be successful this year, he's got to have it. Where's McCannock going to play?

5:04Where's Russell of it going to play? You know, how are they going to use Nick Paul? Yeah, within the team. So, you know, and the biggest surprise I think of all for the Leafs this year is Riley is still a leaf. I think if you're at the beginning of the summer, one player that wouldn't be there during this conversation, Riley would be one of them. Yeah, yeah. Look at that list. Look, the the roster that is starting in the season in Toronto is very likely not the one that finishes the season in Toronto. I think when you've got Darren Radish, who is just a better version of Morgan Riley at this point, why wouldn't you? Yeah, find the exit ramp somehow and turn that salary into something more useful for the team. Absolutely, absolutely. It's just, you know, the other big question mark is, you know, the power play and Radish is going to solidify the top unit in terms of the point, but then how do you deploy the rest of the forwards,

6:07who gets that other forward slot? Is it still going to be the big four being Matthews, Neelander, Tavares and Nies, along with Radish or does McKenna or Ross Levick or somebody else get a shot. Nick Paul, who's a big net front presence could be a guy. Maybe he's on the second one, who knows, but the Leafs need to figure out it's my identity here. They need to figure out how they're going to deploy and where does McKenna play, right? So far it seems like he's being deployed in the first week of training camp and this past weekend with playing the first precinct games against Montreal, he's playing with Neelander and Tavares on the second line. And Ross Levick is playing with Matthews and Nies on the first line. We'll see how long that lasts. Yeah. Yeah, that's like, that's a lot of size on that first line. Yeah, absolutely. That'd be a fun one. As long as they do some banging, that's a fun line to watch. Absolutely. Well, it's interesting because the whole Ross Levick thing

7:07is interesting because he has a relationship with Matthews. They've played together on Team USA, they grew up in the system together. They've got some sort of relationship there. So it'll be interesting to see if that sticks, Ross Levick isn't traditionally a top six players, played a lot on the third line in Edmonton, wasn't a top six player, but can he be playing with the talent of Matthews and Nies? And they just say being a big solid line, can they move the needle a little bit? And I think that Ease's McKenna and a little bit because a lot of people suggested, well, maybe McKenna's the answer to Ryle, to a Mariner no longer being there. Can he distribute the puck? It's a lot of pressure to put on an 18-year-old, 19-year-old kid, right? So... Especially an 18-19-year-old kid who, you know, you're not just asking him to replace a player who's more than a point-to-game, or a hundred point, he's a hundred-point player, Mariner. You're asking him to replace somebody

8:09who, you know, gets selky votes. True. You know, Mariner is an outstanding defensive player on top of, you know, when he skates backwards. He's an outstanding defensive player. And... McKenna's, that's not his game at this point. That's not gonna be his game for at least a couple of years. So he's gonna a lot, a long way to go. I still learn, I'll still learn, but, you know, the other piece on the back end is Emil Andre, how will he slot in? He's a puck-moving, quick defenseman as well. So... And I think, as I said early on there, I think the big question mark on the back end is, Ten of. He really solidifies that defensive core from a defensive perspective. The least last year, and we talked about this all season long, couldn't get out of their own end. They spent way too much time in their own end. Yeah. If Ten of and McCabe, two years ago, they were probably one of the best combos in a defensive role. Shut down, pair. If Ten of is healthy and McCabe has a good year,

9:09again, with Ten of, that could make a big difference for the Leafs, getting the puck out of their own end, not playing in their own end, banging people around. If Emil Andre and Raj can move the puck out, if Riley can... Without the pressure of being the number one defenseman can find some of his old game back, maybe there's a role for him somewhere in terms of being that guy without the pressure and not having to do everything that he tried to do last year. Because I think I said it a number times last year, he just tried to do too much. Right. And it showed. And now he won't be asked to play as much, he won't be asked to do as much. He won't have to be the guy anymore. He spread it around. So, I guess that I think the big question for the Leafs is ifs, big ifs, Matthew stays healthy, can he score 40 plus? Ken Bobrazki find his game again after last year. He's gotten a bit of a bad goal of it the last year.

10:12Let people say, oh, he didn't find his game last year. Well, Florida was bad because they were a bad team because of all the injuries. Right. You know, he didn't have a great year, but they weren't a great team last year. So, let's see if he has a bounce back year. This could be their really good year, or it could be a very, you know, who knows? We'll see, but there's a lot of things have to happen for the Leafs this year for them to turn this around and make the playoffs. Because, and I don't think just making the playoffs is good enough, you know, they've got to make a bit of a run, you know. So, if they're going to be successful year, I don't think just making the playoffs in Toronto now is good enough after a year. Okay, well, so next week, when we do our preview, I'm going to ask you what their best case and worst case scenarios are. No problem. We'll get into it. Remember, I already made my predictions in the East. I sent them to you back in the spring. I don't think that's right. That's right. So, we're really okay. Yeah. Okay. But that's, I think that's the big question is, the other question is, is it too much change, right?

11:13We're going to be interested to see how that all plays out. It'll take time to gel. It'll definitely take time to gel before you understand what you really have. I mean, they'll figure it out. They'll figure it out. Well, on the flip side, your abs. Montreal did nothing. No, really quiet. I heard most of the summer. It's not true. They were very quiet up until the last week and a half. Yeah. Then they got busy and they signed everybody they had to sign. Look, the, I don't want to spend too much time on Montreal because we have so much stuff around the league that we want to talk about. But here's what, here are the things I want to say about the Canadians. Did make the big trade for a second line center or for a right shot. The signed Arbor Jack, a guy to a one-year deal. Signed Kirby Doc on a one-year deal. These are very show me type deals for those guys. But the one thing I want to talk about is I will reemphasize given the signings that have happened for the rest of the year with young players. The Ivan Demidov signing at $9.15 million is extraordinary.

12:13Given what that team has put together. And I think the kudos to the Montreal leadership completely in terms of the signings that they've done and keeping all these players at, compared to what we're seeing. And we'll talk about celebrating the car. They can't even have a dollar. Such a great, a great overall feel that this team is young. They've got room in the salary cap. And they are all signed long term. And this team could win for a long time if they can have a good season and continue to improve. Wow. Yes, so we need to reckon with. So the two signings we need to talk about later are Leo Carlson at 18 million off the offer sheet. Cutter Goche, who took a sweet time, but finally came to terms at six years, 13 million. We'll get to them, but that's finished. No, no, no, no. I'm making a point. I'm making a point. I'm not going off the rails here.

13:14That's $31.5 million a year for two guys. The Canadians will be icing Nick Suzuki, Cole Caulfield, your ice left, Cowsky, Lane Hudson, and Ivan Demadov for $41 million. It's amazing. Five players instead of two for $10 million more. I mean, amazing. The asset management is fantastic. And these guys do this because they want to be in Montreal. The management team in Montreal is already won the award for the best management team for 2025, 2627, without even the season starting. Probably 27, 28, 2, within the 2627 season started. And you know, when you talk to the players and they are all so excited to be part of this, they got Chris Criter, who was the most hated person in Montreal for a decade to come sign with the team because he wanted to play for Marty Sanlewy. By the way, signing Marty Sanlewy for another four-year extension. Well, that was a must. That was a must. It was an absolute must, but it shows how they are really confident

14:16in what they're building here. And I can't help but be super excited about it. But I don't want to get ahead of myself because that's when I start getting suicidal in the spring when they don't get to the final or whatever. We don't want to get to the final. We'll get to predictions. I can't wait to hear your prediction for Montreal this year. Last year, you were, oh, if they make the playoffs, they're a wild card team, win around maybe. Now there's got to be expectations there. There's a lot of expectations. But let me ask you the question. I think everybody's asking because camps have just opened for a week. We've just had the first preseason games. Yep. Where does Criter fit into these, into this team? Where does he, he's got to be a top six guy somewhere. They're going to, they're going to give him a long, they're going to give him a long look on the first line with Suzuki and, um, coffee. Really? Yeah. I thought he's second line, winger. I thought they were going to, well, don't forget for almost half the season, last season, left Kofsky played with Capitan and Demidoff on the second line and really drove that line. That's what got his season going.

15:17Right. It gave him the confidence to hold the puck more, you know, skate, skate with the puck into the zone a lot more. It was really him driving that line to a large extent. Right. So they already know that works. What they couldn't do last year was find anybody else to plug into that first line. Right. Um, to do what he does. Like they tried everybody. Um, so what's really interesting to me about that is like maybe Chris Crider is kind of a slightly less skilled but more net front presence version of your ice love Kofsky with a ton of experience, especially in playoffs. And hey, maybe that'll work out. At least they'll give him a good long look at it. Yeah. The, but what makes that a little bit weird is that you've just signed Alex Newhook to an extension. He was your probably one of your best performers in the playoffs last year. He was certainly the best player in the Buffalo series. And he looked pretty good against Carolina as well. Got least compared to all of his teammates.

16:18And now you're going to bump him down to the third line. Right. After signing him for five something a year for the next four years, it to me is like five fives. To me, it was like, okay, we're committing to you, but you're, you're spot, you know, in the depth chart. Is it is a, is it really a short term? Was it two year ago? Yeah, it's a one year guy. It's really a show me type thing. I think you're right. The deck chair is going to change a little bit, right? You've got to move things around, try and find some magic somewhere. It's going to be interesting to see how Criter fits in on that top line where they do with Newhook. You obviously have some issues. Goole will be out the first four or five weeks. Doesn't help you either. Yeah. When it comes to your back end, you know, and you know, you're solid in that, Dolby's and Fowler have proved that they're great goal tenders. I guess they're going to keep Montenbo for now. You had trade, bait, are they going to keep three goal tenders? See what happens. But look, they're a strong team at a great season last year.

17:20Great run of the playoffs. I'm going to be interesting. It's going to be fun team to watch. I said last year they're going to be fun to watch. They're going to be fun to watch as well this year. Yeah. Young, fast. If they play with as much heart and determination as they did during the playoffs last year, man, watch out. I think they're going to be a tough team in the East. It's a tough out to be sure. And imagine how much better they would be and this is my clever segue way. Imagine how much better they'd be if they had Dylan Larkin as their second line center. Well, which brings us to Detroit. Like, which brings us to Detroit. Which brings us to Detroit. Which brings us to Detroit. Hot with ownership. What a hot mess that franchise is from top to bottom. Ownership, what's ownership doing? You know, we said this since the trade dad line last year, when does the Iser plan get the next? They finally through Larkin comes out in the spring or after during the playoffs and said, I'm out of here. I don't want to be here anymore. Get me out of here.

18:21Clearly there's issues with Iserman. The two of them did not like each other. Wouldn't even talk to each other. Finally, ownership steps in. Goes, OK, Iserman, you got to resign. You got to, we'll give you a nice little cushy advisory role. They don't replace them until this week when they give Horkroff a intern management shift. But the whole time now, you got Larkin saying he wants out. He's only given three teams that he wants to go to. Florida, Minnesota, or Vegas, I think it is. None of them want them. So from a character, the team is now stripped of his cap to seat and rightfully so. And then he comes to camp and has one of the worst press conferences I've seen in my life. And stands in front of reporters after all the drama that he's created this off season with the trite. Home town kid says nothing.

19:23There's nothing. And actually goes further than saying nothing and saying, I'm not addressing it. I'm not sure I'll ever address it. How do you do that? You've created, you have flipped this franchise into a hot mess. And then you won't speak about it? Give me a break. Let this guy rot for the next five years and sit on the side. And then go ahead, mess up your career, see you later. Like I don't understand. I'd love to see it. Yeah, no. So to your point that you made a little earlier, like how do you hire an interim GM when you have a restricted free agent in Edmondson who needs a new contract? And I can't believe he's not signed yet. Thank God he's reporting to camp anyway. Right. Even though he can't take the ice. And you've got your former captain and best player demanding a trade. Like this is when you give somebody a job audition. Are you kidding me? Like you've got to hire someone who's

20:24got the vision to make something out of this. Two weeks ago, everybody thought it was going to be the Detroit Tigers GM was going to come on and start running the GM of the team. Like what's going on in Detroit? Like this is a historic franchise that has an original six franchise with a huge foundation and huge history of winning. And an amazing fan base. And an amazing fan base. And in the matter of months, they've made a complete dumpster fire of the whole thing. Yeah. And one player has done it. And then not wanting to talk about it. Where's ownership coming out and talking about it? Where it's just, it's just got me completely, this is got me completely confounded. I get just ridiculous, Larkin. The other point I wanted to make on this, and I wanted to go back to one of the episodes that we had last season when I made the point

21:26that there should be a rule that if you have a no trade clause and you request a trade, that no trade cause is forfeited. I don't disagree with that comment. And there's been lots of talk across social media and the press and hockey pundits about this and talking about the same thing. My problem with that is, okay, do it. And then you got guys like Larkin and Hellebuck, which we'll talk about in a second, that are gonna say great, no trade is void. It trade me to Columbus. Sorry to pick on Columbus, we'll get to Columbus in a minute. And they're gonna trade, great. Columbus will trade for him and they'll go, okay, trade me from here, I don't wanna play here either. Right, so that's the problem, is that a player of Hellebuck or Larkin, a more elite players like that, and I put Hellebuck ahead of Larkin, can sort of pick and choose where they will

22:26and won't go to because even if you trade them, who in the right mind is gonna trade for him unless they know they're gonna go there? And if Hellebuck or Larkin and a team comes to them and goes to their agents, says, oh by the way, we're interested, would you come to Columbus or would you come to wherever, pick another franchise? And they go, he's not gonna come, he's not gonna report. He's just gonna ask for trade again. So that's the problem with that, that settlement. I don't disagree that they need to find a penalty for this or find a fix to it, but just opening it up and saying his no trade clause is void, great. Well then, you might not report to wherever he gets traded to. I don't know if I agree with that simply because then nobody would bother negotiating for a no trade clause in the first place, right? Because if they have all that leverage without having the no trade clause, then they would exercise, without bothering the guy. Well, the problem is there's only a certain echelon of player that has that ability to do it.

23:27And Hellebuck is one of them. Larkin thinks he is, but the three teams he wants to go to, no interest in him. His character as far as I'm concerned now is in question. So, but Hellebuck might have, Hellebuck is, at least he's not reporting to camp, they've suspended him in Winnipeg. You know, he's got a wider range of where teams he wants to go to, none of them are Canadian. He wants to go back to the US, he wants to be able to win. He said he's from all into indications, Buffalo is a destination, Buffalo tried to do a trade form. I guess the biggest problem, there's been a lot to talk over the last week about this as well is that Winnipeg is figuring finding out in Soys Hellebuck that his value is not what he is. Now, this is a three time Vesna Trophy, a heart winner and now a gold medal winner in gold tender that has had great historic regular seasons.

24:27Questionable playoff record, but he's a three time Vesna Trophy winner, a heart winner and a gold medal winner. And seemingly there hasn't been a trade, a decent trade offer that Winnipeg can go, swallongo, okay, we'll take it, right? I think the problem in Winnipeg's God is that, in order to keep all the other players there that they wanna keep in sign, they can't take futures. They need players are gonna help them now because they also have to make sure the fan bases there and people are showing up. And if they take a futures deal, other guys are gonna start to ask to go to, I'm not here for a rebuild. I'm here to win, I'm here to Lowry and all those other guys are, they're here to win now, right? So, and they've signed some of those guys to good deals, long term deals. And they're gonna start to ask to go out too, if they can't replace Hellebuck with another decent goal tender and try and get somebody to help them in the near term versus the long term,

25:28they're gonna have a problem keeping other places because they're biggest problem is gonna be a net because Skinner isn't the answer, right? Is they going to the season with Skinner as your number one goal tender? It's a fall from Hellebuck in a big way, right? So, I think other guys start to ask for out, and that's the problem. And Hellebuck signed a seven year deal, it's got five years left, wanted to stay in Winnipeg and now all of a sudden, I look at it, call me crazy, I think is best spot is in stay in Winnipeg and hopefully the team can, I think last year was a little bit of an aberration of a bad year, the year before they won the present trophy, right? But, you know, you think around the league, where else would he be a good fit for? Buffalo will probably be a good fit for him. The best fit for him. The best fit for the best fit for him would be Carolina, except for the fact that they, Tolsky doesn't think that Nicky Shin,

26:28who would be part of that trade, would agree to sign in Winnipeg. I think he's actually said he won't. Oh, Hazy, has he gone that far? I think he's gone that far to say he doesn't want to go to Winnipeg and I think that's part of the problem. It sounded like they got close with Buffalo during the draft. It's the closest city to Russia. It's going to feel just like Russia in Winnipeg. Why wouldn't he want to go there? They're kidding. But, you know, I look at, I also would believe that, Carolina believes that, look, they bringing back essentially the team that they brought, they won the Stanley Cup minus Anderson, minus Nicky Shin, and they're going to go to, go to Bat with Bussi, right? So Bussi can have another good year, they're happy with them, right? They don't believe they need an upgrade in Goldtender, after winning the Stanley Cup with Rookie, right? So it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Like, and I think what's going to happen with Healybuck is you're going to get, he's going to be sitting for the next couple of months because teams have to figure out, you know, we're now, if he got traded in the early part of the summer

27:28when teams were looking around and trying to figure out how to improve their team, it's one thing. But teams then went on and made other decisions, right? And then and said, okay, we've set our lineup, we've gotten to where we need to in terms of cap, I'm spending our budget and now, Healybuck's sitting out there and Larkin is sitting out there and they're going, okay, how do we fit these guys in? I don't know if we need them right now. So I think these guys are going to sit until Thanksgiving at the very least and maybe Christmas, until teams get into the season, see how they start and see what their needs, injuries happen, and then the need will sort of kick in, right? So I think they're going to be sitting there for a while. And hopefully, I'd love to see both of them sit for the next five years. Never going to happen, but I don't want to see that happen because I don't want the jets to be without an equivalent set of assets. No, I don't disagree. I love the jets I thought, I rooted for them a few years ago in the playoffs. But they got to, I agree with Shalou Dayoff,

28:31he can't take futures here. He's got to take something, it's going to help him now, he's got to keep the fan base happy. And he's got to keep these other stars that he's got happy and a rebuild isn't what they want. So, and they're too close, they're too close to being that team that could, because we talked about it two years ago, how they were challenging Colorado and Minnesota and Vegas in the West. They were that other team that were on the team. So, but they just never seem to get over the hump and without Hella Buck and Skinner and Adler, never going to get over the hump. So, they're not going to see what happens. But one of the teams that he could go to, Hella Buck would be, you know, but you talked about a second ago, the ducks, you know, Leo Carlson getting signed to that offer sheet and taking $18 million and now Goatier, who was holding out now, it seemed like the really weirdest negotiation thing. He sounded like through it and guess you can't all believe what you hear in the press and whatnot. He was looking for Carlson type money.

29:31He wasn't ever going to get to 18, but then they were saying it's got to be 15, it got to be more than, but art, you got to be more than this person. He's got to be in this echelon. And then all of a sudden settles for six years and 13 and a half, I was kind of surprised that after all that fighting and seemingly fight that they had, that now 13 and a half, he settled on, which apparently turned down 13 four months ago. Yeah, I think the key difference here is that it's a six year deal, right? Yeah, he's betting on his life. He's betting on other lease on life. Yeah, he's betting on himself that when he's 27, 28 years old, he's gonna go out and sign a mega deal under a much higher salary cap and make up for probably the million or two that he may have left on the team. Yeah, but here's the problem with that team and you can just go up and down their roster. They are now extremely thin on the point. This was a team. Oh, the most top heavy team I've ever seen. This was the team that, this was a team last year, everybody was looking at going, wow, these young stars.

30:33They've got some guys, they've got, you know, they went and signed, Carlson, not Carlson. Yeah, John Carlson in the point, they were gonna make our little bit of a run, Dostoyl played well in the playoffs. And now their defensive core is young and Lachon and Jensen are the only two guys on the point that anybody knows. Like these guys. Michikov. Michikov. Yeah, Michikov. I guess is another guy, but there's such inexperience back there and Goatier and Carlson, now thrown their salary structure so out of whack. What's gonna happen? I just don't see this team getting back to where they were last year, this year losing so many players on the back end and gonna, I think they might be able to score goals, but can I keep them out of their own net?

31:34Keep right. That's gonna be a problem, I think, for them. I don't think they're a playoff team this year. We'll talk about them. And for Beak, what were you thinking? He misplayed that completely and how he not, how is he not worn this in a more destructive way? I don't know, like it's just such a weird space there. Yeah. But the Carlson signing started a whole bunch of stuff and the knock on effect impact on the league. You got Celebrini at 18.8, you got McCarrot 20 million. You got, well the top paid player changed hands three times in the off three times. Three times, and now... Carlson Celebrini getting 18.8. Now he did it and he said, I wanna be, I wanna help this team win, I wanna help team like five years again, so let Goche A, prime of his career, he's gonna come back out of this and he's gonna skyrocket again, right? Cause in five years for now, the salary cap's gonna be over the moon and he's gonna be,

32:36he's gonna request some big bucks. But that's another team, like where do they go in this year? Like can they, you know, they take that next step and sort of try and find, you know, another place? Like that's another place. They probably have the assets to go and get Helly Buck. Can you imagine Helly Buck on that team? Might change their opportunity because they did sign, you know, nurse on the back end or love on the back end. You know, they've got some, they've got some, you know, they can score Celebrini. He's gonna continue to be, how they've not named on the captain yet, I don't know. I think they wanna give the net to us, car off and see what he can do. Yeah, so we'll see, but you know what, again, Helly Buck could turn their fortunes in an instant, right? So I think that's another place. And I think both San Jose and Anaheim were places that Riley could have ended up. The problem is San Jose went and did nurse

33:39and did a few other things and Anaheim got into this problem with salary cap because of Carlson and Gochie and then they went, we can't afford him anymore. We can't take the seven and a half million dollars that he's making. It was two places I think Riley was interested to go because he wanted to go to the West Coast and then their salary cap and the whole structure went out of the window, right? But let me ask you this question. And you know, we can talk about individual teams and where they are next week. But if you're Mike Greer in San Jose and you've just traded a good young player, William Eklund for draft picks and you've gotten even younger and even more future looking, do you trade for a 33 year old gold tender in that instant? But you're gonna trade guy as five years left on a very good cap friendly spaced thing. And at some point, but you've also got like, you've also got a guy fighting for the net

34:40who is at one point, you know, the next great Russian goalie in the league. And you got to give a shot, right? I'm pretty good at that. But you put him behind, but you put him behind a Hellebuck and learn from Hellebuck. Again, three time Vezanotrophy, heart winner, gold medal winner, how do you not want to add that to your team in the net, right? I know he's had a question. I think it's timing. I think it's timing. I think San Jose is a little bit early in their progression to bring in a veteran. Right, maybe that's their line of thinking. And I think you also made a great point this week when we were talking about him going back forth on text, is that goal tenders, it's hard to get a really great return on a goal tender when their goal tenders requested to be out Patrick Law. Patrick was another, you can get a cure example of that from Colorado. What did they get for Patrick? They got Mike Keane in a bag of Pucks if I were a call correctly. Like that was the terrible trait. So, and as a Montreal fan, you can attest,

35:41it's a tough thing for a goal tender, especially an older goal tender. Yes, he's well decorated. But I think it, I think that's the question, the thing that's being showcased here is that the league has sort of gone, okay, his value isn't what you think. No question that he's a decorated goal tender, but the value isn't what you think it is. And that's a problem for Winnipeg. And that's why I think his best value for him is to stay there. Yeah, but. Yeah, yeah. So with all those signings, where does that leave? Well, he's a big open question, which is Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes in Minnesota now, like, wow, like they bring him in, they make the trade of the year last year, bring him in, he did great. He played well. They ran into a buzz saw in the playoffs, didn't get to where they wanted to. And now he's sitting there, go with a year left on his contract, going, hey, I'm gonna take my time here. I'm not ready to commit to the city yet. What do you think the, what do you think the floor on his number is? 19, a floor.

36:42He's got to be under McCarrer. I think 19, 18 and 18 and 18 to 19, I think is where up the land. Okay. But I would say it'll be lower than that if he gets what he really wants is to play with his brothers, which I think is a mistake. I think I don't know. I just knowing what guilt Bill Garing has done in the past. Yeah, remember, you think of pulling out of his rear end and you'll see the preshop signed in November. Remember to his huge extension. So, you know, it seems like both management and player are comfortable talking during the season. Right. So this may drag out a bit, but I have a suspicion this gets done. Yeah, you could be right. I think he will. He's taking his time. But, you know, if you're Bill Garing, you're sitting there going, oh my God, what am I gonna do? Right? He might have to trade him at the deadline. If he won't sign before the deadline for less than he could probably get from otherwise, because it'll be a rental player at that point. Yeah, exactly. He won't commit before the trade line. He's got to go.

37:42Yeah. And they got to get something and return form because you can't let him walk at the end of the season. Right. So it'll be interesting to see with teams know that they're going to take Minnesota for all they can in terms of the rental player. Then I guess the question is, do you make that decision at the deadline or do you make that decision? Well, I think you see how your season goes. Right. Again, this is a thing is if the seas, they come out and play really well and they continue to challenge Colorado in that division and Dallas, then you got to hold on to them as long as you can and you've got to convince them to stay and say, hey, look at, look how good we are with you. Look how we can win this thing. We can go further with you and get them to sign. But if they come out and they're like fall off pace, yeah, maybe by Christmas, he's gone when they can get some real value for him. But I think that's going to be a real storyline to watch as we go through the year. Yeah. That's the top mess that we have to talk about. I don't want to talk about Edmonton. No, Columbus. I don't want to talk about Columbus either. Because we have to talk about Marchenko holding out.

38:43Yeah. But Minsky turning tail and all of a sudden saying he wants to stay. Yeah. That's like, you know what? But this is a small market team. How does this team survive? It's the same question mark in Winnipeg. Yeah. How do these teams survive? They can't get people to stay and play. Columbus might as well be a team in Canada because no one wants to go there. You know what Columbus needs? I'm going to tell you right now what Columbus needs. They need LeBron James to buy a big piece of the team. That's what they need. That hometown boy comes in massive celebrity, buys a chunk of the team and turns into a free agent destination. Not really going to happen. But there you go. What I really wanted to talk about. What are the other things about? The mess is frentilly still unsigned. Unsigned. And Rick bonus this week called out two players. Didn't I don't know who they were that came in overweight and out of shape and flipped out. That dude that dude's going to age 10 years. He's going to age 10 years this season. Now the thing I don't want to talk about before we go because we're running at a time is where we're going next.

39:43The indication that the NHL is willing to expand yet again. And the front writing teams are Atlanta and Houston slash Austin. Well, first of all, I think I think I think another team in the state of Texas. This is going to happen. It's the question mark is Houston or Austin? It sounds like Houston is winning the thing. Well, it's the fourth biggest city in the US. How do you not have a team there? No, absolutely. I guess. But that's it. I said, could you have the Austin ice bats as a. That would be awesome. The Austin ice bats is like the greatest name in sports as far as I've been. But come on expansion. Why? Now I get the $2 billion fee expansion fee. $3.5 billion include the arena. You have to commit to a billion and a half an arena bill. The $2 billion expansion fee is all you don't have to say anything else. But to talk about diluting the league, how can the I get the owners want the money and

40:44they want the $2 billion. But the league is just there's not enough second line centers to go around. There's not enough starting goal tenders to go around. Not enough offensive defenseman to go around and you want to expand by not one. But two. Yeah, that's a little nuts. This is a Gary Batman ego trip that he wants to go out and say I expanded them the first league to get the 34 teams. And this is an ego plane that he wants to retire and he's going to leave daily with a hot mess. Yeah. Yeah, maybe like this is the interesting thing. The interesting is why are they even entertaining the idea of Atlanta? Atlanta has had two shots at this. Two shots. It's ego. He failed. He brought the team to Atlanta twice. It failed twice. Well, he wants. Yeah, the time was before the other time. I don't even know who the commissioner was. He wants to prove that he was right. Because he's still talking Phoenix. Yeah, that's just like that's crazy talk. He might open another team in Toronto somewhere in Hamilton or something or go back to Quebec

41:47city or Kansas City. Kansas City. Kansas City. Like you can find a new city. Find a city that hasn't had a shot at this yet and see if you can make it out. Get you tall how well it's being received. You know, like come on go find somewhere new that they actually are going to break this part. But again, that's small market teams. Like there's a reason they're in they're talking about Austin or Houston is because they're the fourth Houston's the fourth largest city and they've got a fan base and money, right? But they go and stick another team in a small market city. You're going to have another Columbus. Yeah. Right. You have another Columbus where they're going to fail and no one wants to go and play there and everybody's asking. Plenty of money in Portland. Don't keep it so. Yeah, I get that. But there's plenty of money in Columbus when nobody wants to go there. So anyway, but it's seasons upon us. The season is upon us next week is our preview show. Preview show just before the season gets started. Absolutely. And all this week I'm going to release some some videos and some short takes from this episode. So follow us on social media.

42:49You're also going to know it on our YouTube page. We have a new logo, a new header. Oh, yeah. We've just we've been I mean, busy this summer, Ryan. Your graphic design skills are really improving. So I think you are going to hand it to you. Thank you. You're not supposed to say that part. Well, you know what? Well, you got my live. It's just a zoom. It's just a zoom days. Yeah, I'm a media schmuck and so I don't know how to do these things. So I'm actually learning from my kids. Impressive. Yeah. So it's all good. Impressive. I'm going to record it next week and talking about the season and seeing how this next week plays out preseason being no one cares about it anymore. I'm glad it's short. But my only my only concern and we can talk about it a little bit more in the preview episode if we've got time and the inclination to talk about it is what will be impact of a shortened preseason B on the first month of hockey? Well, I think there's no question it's going to look like dog dude. Oh, yeah, the first few weeks are going to look pathetic. You're going to be a lot of giveaways, but you know what?

43:51Who cares? You know, we're going to talk about it next week and how does it look at Thanksgiving? Yeah, this week. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Theory. We're going to be all over again, people. All over. But looking forward to getting to it and talking to you all season long, our third season, whoever thought we would get to our third season. And we're going to have some new things this year to talk about. We're going to some new weekly little episodes and features we're going to do. Now, we're going to try and get a little more structure to this thing and have some fun, but have some fun with it and still do it our way. How many episodes we do? We have. This is our 76 episodes. So this year we will get to 100 episodes. 200. We'll have to come up with something fun for the 100 episodes. We can, yeah, we can sell into syndication. There we go. That's where the real money starts. That's your role. Anyways, I'm looking forward to this season and I'm looking forward to next week and all you're long on the aiming five hole podcast with you. Ryan will see you next week for the pre-season show. All right, take it easy. Have a good night.

44:51Talk to you soon. Bye bye.