We tackle 10 burning questions about the current NHL season, discussing trade rumors, team performances, star players, and even the possibility of the Washington Capitals being Stanley Cup contenders. We also debate if the Toronto Maple Leafs need to make a move for a new goalie, analyze the New York Rangers’ disappointing season, and highlight surprising teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets. Join us for some great hockey talk!

00:00 Welcome to Overtime Hockey Talk

00:45 10 Burning Questions: Trade Deadline Approaches

01:49 Trade Rumors: Rangers and Canucks

02:39 Competitive Balance in the Eastern Conference

08:34 Vancouver's Playoff Hopes and Trade Dilemmas

11:19 Toronto Maple Leafs Goaltending Concerns

16:14 Washington Capitals: Stanley Cup Contenders?

22:11 Heart Trophy Favorites and NHL Superstars

24:19 Player Analysis: Kuchar and Kaprizov

26:05 McDavid vs. Ovechkin: Record Chase

29:10 Playoff Pretenders: Bruins and Kings

32:19 Disappointments: Predators vs. Rangers

34:38 Bruins' Struggles and Future

38:17 Red Wings' Resurgence

41:45 Biggest Surprises of the Season

43:20 Conclusion and Farewell

Hello and welcome to Overtime Hockey Talk.

My name is Mark Paul, my cohost, Justin Baker, joining me as always.

Justin, what's up?

What's how's, how's life?

It's been so long since we've talked.

We look both very plaid.

Oh yeah.

I

didn't even notice that

the flannel flannely plaid vibe.

we should match more often.

We really should.

I'll I have more.

I have a

lot of, I have a lot of flannel.

this is my only flannel.

Is it really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I need more.

I'm I'm yeah, I've got the lumberjack thing going on.

So it's makes sense.

Yeah, we're, so like you said, we did just hang out a couple of days ago.

We did an episode top 25 players of the last 25 years.

if you have not checked that out, go and listen to that now.

Subscribe to the show, on today's show, though, we are going to get into

some current topics that are going on.

We just figured we'd toss some questions back and forth to each other.

So we're going our 10 burning questions.

I've got five for Justin.

He's got five for me.

I don't think this was a said rule, but I think.

I assume, like, I need to ask you at least one question about the Red Wings and you

did the same, asking me about the Leafs.

So, we've got lots of good questions, good conversations, so that, I

mean, we're, believe it or not, we're like six weeks away from the

trade deadline, something like that.

It's creeping up, man.

So, and I mean, first we're going to get our, first we're going to

get the four nations, of course, which is coming in about a month.

And then, you know, from there, what, let's see 51 days to the trade deadline.

So by the time you're watching this less than 50 days, probably around 50 days

left, so really not much time at all.

And, yeah, the rumors have been going.

I feel like nothing has really happened.

All season long, though,

I'm waiting because there's usually always like there's one team that,

that January, you know, close to February, they make a huge splash.

Right.

And then of course that just kind of trickled down a little bit, you know,

little moves here and there, but really we haven't had that big move yet.

So I'm, I'm, crossed

I would say as far as like rumors go, this has been a down year for like,

for some burn it like, Oh man, these, these trades are, are out there.

Like, yes, there's been, there's been the Rangers and the Canucks

and a little bit of this like Sabres cousins stuff, but nothing.

That's nothing.

That's just going crazy right now.

And maybe if you're a New York Rangers fan, you're going, well, all

we've been hearing is trade rumors.

Yes, it just feels a little more quiet than usual.

Yeah, I, I agree with you.

And I think a lot of that has to do with the competitive balance we've seen, right?

I mean, what was it a week ago in the Eastern Conference?

All 16 teams essentially were, you know, maybe 10, eight points out of a

playoff spot, you know, at the worst.

So really when you're only four or five wins away from potentially

hitting a wild card spot, right?

You're not really thinking about giving up on the season yet, you

know, especially like if you're buffalo, for example, right?

You're not looking at trading guys making a big move yet.

Just because again, you're still kind of in it

Yeah.

Ish.

Although, I mean, hey, out of the, in the Atlantic Division,

you've got 7 teams above 500.

That's pretty unusual, I would say, I mean, you've got in the

Metropolitan division, there are only four teams above 500.

So that's,

and I think the next close and yeah, five in the Pacific and Five in the central.

So by far the most competitive division, top to bottom, not

necessarily, you know, I, I'm not putting, I'm not trying to put Detroit.

I like, I'm very much on the fence.

We'll, we'll, we'll get to Detroit.

We'll get to Detroit.

we've got some questions about that.

why don't we just jump right in because we, we could dance around

asking these questions all day.

For the next 45 minutes, but instead let's just start asking the questions.

why don't I go first?

because we're talking about the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks.

This one seems to fit, who gets traded first?

Is it

JT Miller?

One of the two, both of them.

I doubt both of them, but one of the two, or is it Crider slash

the Benajad, depending on who you talk to, which, which group.

Gets makes that move first.

Oh, yeah.

I love this question.

And like you said, it's pretty much been the only like big

rumor going around as of lately.

And it could be for each other, so it could happen at the same

time, but we, I, from what I understand, that has been proposed,

but it was, it didn't go anywhere.

yeah, I I mean honestly, I really think it's probably going to

be Elias Pettison or JT Miller.

And I mean to be quite honest, it could be one of those two guys

for another one of our other two guys that you talked about, right?

So Benajet and Kreider.

And for me, really, it comes down to, you know, you look at Elias Pedersen, right?

We know he's, he's done, you know, that a hundred point season, he's

got that massive contract, but the difference between him and these other

three people we're talking about here is he's under 30 years old, right?

so with that age gap, right?

Obviously the teams are much more willing to take a chance on a guy

who's already proven he can put up a hundred points, but yet he's still

young enough to really kind of rebound if he is struggling a little bit.

And, and, You know, when you're in your thirties and you're kind of

struggling a little bit, a lot of times it's easier to just say, you

know what, this is probably it, right?

The career is going to start dipping now.

This is, you know, the end.

and it becomes harder for teams, you know, other teams to, to be

willing to take on a contract, right?

For a guy like JT Miller, right?

Unless there's.

Kind of guarantees or sometimes even money going back the other way.

A lot of times teams are a little bit more scared to take a, a guy

in his 30 with a lot of term left.

Right.

Well, and, and when you're talking about a lot of term, but also, you

know, there was some, you know, when he was out for a while and like,

there was that portion of it too.

Like, how committed is JT Miller here?

I, I would imagine that that's being tossed around as well.

yeah, absolutely.

And not to mention that, but when you talk about the contracts, JT Miller's

the Benajet, these guys all have no full, no trade clauses on their contract.

So they control really Elias Patterson, his doesn't kick until next year.

So if there's a time to move him, you're trying to shake it up.

It's this year or maybe even this off season.

I'm not sure exactly what.

you know, what time of the year his no trade kicks in for next season.

But again, it's, it's the time to move them.

And, you know, of course you're not going to get, you know, an Elias

Pedersen back in return, right.

But maybe you get a star defenseman, which is what I think Vancouver really wants.

They, they need another top four defenseman and, and

another guy who can play center.

So for example, right, we take a.

A team like Detroit, for example, who I know has been kind of, you

know, kicking the tires on a guy like Dylan cousins, for example.

But if maybe they're looking at a guy like Elias Pedersen, right, obviously

maybe you're sending back a guy like JT confer, who again would be

a serviceable, you know, middle six.

I think centerman for Vancouver, and if at the very least, right, then

they can go pluck, you know, one of Detroit's, you know, defensive

prospects 'cause they got a lot of them.

But, I don't think, you know, obviously Detroit's gonna be a viable trade

partner, but again, that's just a, an example that comes to mind.

I just don't, I don't see how you give up on Pedersen at this.

Like you, I mean, he's, he's still a great player.

I think to me, you're looking at JT Miller.

You make this move with the Rangers because he wants to go there.

He will go there.

He will wave his no trade clause to go to the Rangers.

And you figure out how to make that happen.

I agree with you.

I think that's the trade to me that makes the most sense that I think would

benefit both teams, whether or not you're sending Zibinaged back the other

way, which we've heard rumored about.

But

But if I'm the Rangers, I don't even want, I don't think I want to trade

the minijet for JT Miller because JT Miller cannot play defense.

He does not

well, there have been the, you know, yeah, that has been a knock on his game.

But, you know, the question remains, who's going back the other way, right?

And of course, right now, the Rangers do have cap space too.

To make this move, right?

They've got, oh gosh, I think it's 21, 23 million bucks in deadline cap

space and, and 10 plus million dollars right now in just current cap space,

but who's going back the other way.

Right.

I think maybe, maybe you look at a guy like Philip Petal.

Go check.

Yeah.

Trocheck maybe, but I think honestly, to me, Trocheck's the guy that, you know, I

I've been hearing lately that if they're going to, you know, make somebody else

captain this year, he's the guy, right?

I think he's been the voice in the locker room.

I think that most guys respect.

So I don't see him getting moved either.

Yeah.

It's an C to me, Vancouver.

I mean, They're still very much in the playoff hunt.

Like they're one point out of the playoffs.

It's they're, they're still there.

They still have a shot.

the Rangers on the other hand, I mean, we're talking five points out of the

playoffs and things like, it doesn't look like they're ready to turn things

around by any means, like they've been bad on, The road, they've been bad at home.

At least Vancouver has been really good on the road.

They have been bad at home, but they also, they've lost 10 games in overtime.

That's almost like, or a shootout.

That's almost incredibly unlucky.

so many games to lose in overtime that.

You almost look at that and you go, all right, the Rangers, they've

only lost three, three games.

I'm trying to get three games in overtime.

whereas, so then you go, well, they're losing a lot of games in regulation.

That's, that's a bad look, but when you lose a ton in overtime, Hey, yes, your

points look a little inflated, but also.

We all know like three on three is a relative toss up like, yeah, there's

some teams that have a little bit better record and then there's other teams that

have a little worse, but usually it's a, it's a relative toss up, especially

when you get to the shootout later on.

So I look at that and I go, I mean, Vancouver is very much in this, you

know, you look at, they go, if they were to win three of those other games.

They're securely in a playoff spot, right?

And fighting with the LA Kings for the third spot in the Pacific.

So I think losing.

Either one of those players, unless you get someone back who has an immediate

impact, I think it's a mistake.

Even if they don't want to be there right now, I think you

go, this season is still viable.

Let's figure this out.

Get Rick talking on board, get like, make this happen.

I, I think that it would be a mistake to give up on the year.

You know, based on like what they've been able to do, thus far and almost

like a little bit unlucky, so, we'll, we'll see what they do, but I think it's

a mistake to give up on what they have,

Fair.

at least for this year, much easier to move and I know a no move kicks

in, but much easier to, You could probably convince him to move,

Pettersen to move, if, if you really felt like you needed to deal.

He only has two years left on his deal after that, so I think you could

convince him to move if it was to somebody that he wanted to play for.

alright, oh, it's your question.

Yeah, let's go.

so look, we speaking of Vancouver, right?

They've been doing this all with, with a relatively unknown

goaltender and Kevin Lincoln.

And right now he's playing phenomenal.

which is a segue to my neck to my first question to you,

because, I look at Toronto, right?

Your team, we've, we've talked about this many times.

but when I look at the, the goaltending there, right, we've got stole arts and

we've got, you know, you know, wall there.

How confident are you with these two goaltenders going into maybe, you

know, the final stretch of the season, the second half and potentially the

playoff with both of these guys?

And do you think maybe Toronto makes a move to bring in a, another goaltender?

I don't think they do.

I think they're pretty confident in what they have in Stolars and, and wool.

And, and I, I, as far as a backup goes, you know, between Murray Hill to

be come playoff time, you're probably not using that third guy anyways.

I know it happens.

but as far as third string goalies go, I think that they're like, they're pretty

covered and then unless just someone falls on their lap, it's not like you're

going to, I like Tristan Jari went on waivers today and I thought, Ooh,

what would, what would that look like?

I don't think anybody's going to touch him, obviously he has way too big of

a cap hit and has proven that he just can't play anymore, which is unfortunate.

My, my assumption is he goes on waivers, he goes down to the minors

at some point, they'll bring them back up, but he will probably be bought

out because he's got one year left

two years left.

So I, I mean, either you're buying them out, like to buy, either you buy

them out or you, you trade them and hold on to some of that cap space, but

I, it's, that's going to be tricky.

You're probably going to be trading a pick with him

just to make that happen.

Three years after the season

Oh, three years left.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, there's a lot of, a lot of rope left there.

Good signing there by Dubas.

Dubas is just, man, yeah, I think the way Stolarz played before he got hurt.

I think you're more than confident with him being a

number, like your number one guy.

And if he is hurt, Wal, I think is good enough.

do I, do I?

Wish they had a superstar goalie.

Sure.

But I think that still ours could get it done.

I don't think they need a, they've kind of proven this year.

They don't need a top flight goalie.

they're, they're still first place in the division.

They've had seemingly like everybody hurt at different points.

Austin Matthews is still hurt and I, I would guess that they're looking at it.

Like, I mean, why, why are we going to go spend assets on a goalie

when we have good goaltending?

I would say they have good goaltending.

It's been fine.

It has not been the reason that they've lost many games this year.

that's fair.

The reason they're losing is because they lack depth score.

This is like always most of the really good teams in the league.

What do they lack?

You go, well, they lack depth scoring and maybe some, like a top four defenseman.

How many teams in the league do you look at depth scoring,

top four defensemen, like

everybody.

pretty much everybody.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, I mean, a combined eight games of playoff experience

between the two of them.

So

Yeah.

Yeah, that's true.

but.

Yeah, they're, you look at like anti Niemi, how much experience did

he have going into the playoffs?

Corey Crawford, how much experience did he have before he was

going and winning Stanley Cup?

So, not a lot.

well, let me ask you, I mean, if you can get a guy like

Alex Lyon, for example, right.

It costs you a fourth or third round pick.

Would you want to bring in a guy like that towards the end of the year?

I, I suppose if you felt like you, if Stolarz isn't healthy,

Mm-hmm

if, if it maybe takes him a little bit longer to get back, my, my guess, I

think it just actually just came out yesterday, that he was a few weeks away.

So, a few weeks.

My guess is you, I look at that and I would go, well, that means

he's back before the four nations.

And if there's any question mark about whether he's a hundred percent, they'll

probably just go, just, we'll go into the four nations, like take that time

off, come back fresh at the end of it.

Or, you know, or they throw them in for a game or two and then give

them that extra rest, to kind of see how he responds to playing again.

Yeah.

I think, I think the Leafs for the most part, Stan Pat.

They've got too many other things they need.

Yeah.

Well, won't disagree with you there.

And John Tavares, I don't know if you saw, went down during

practice, I think today looked

a little, looked a little banged up.

Haven't heard anything about it, but yeah, they were doing like

some little mini skate mini drills

Perfect.

saw him go down in the corner,

so

seems to be the, that seems to be the year they're having just like

stupid little injuries that nag.

Mm-hmm

That is a, that's what happens when you play hockey all the time.

It's going to have stupid injuries that nag, you know,

Mm-hmm

all right, let's jump, we'll stay in the Eastern conference,

looking at the Washington capitals.

They are now just blowing everyone away 63 points.

They are one win away from 30, which no one else in the NHL has yet.

The Vegas gold.

Oh no, sorry.

The Winnipeg jets have 30, but in 45 games, they played one more game

so they could, could match them and they had to have more points.

So tied for first place in the league in points.

Again, we've kind of talked about this earlier at different points in the

season, but now like we've talked, Oh, are they, are they for real?

Like, is this, is this team a legitimate playoff team?

Well, now, I mean, there's no question.

They're a playoff team.

They're going to make the playoffs barring a, an absolute collapse.

They're going to make the playoffs and it's likely that they're.

One of the top teams in the metropolitan division, which we

had them outside the playoffs.

I believe both of us had them outside the playoffs, for this year.

So we essentially saw it as like, this is a rebuild year for the Capitals.

however, now my tune has changed and I ask you, are they Stanley cup contenders?

No, I'm gonna say no and.

You know, obviously you're going to ask why.

And so let me get into that.

So

obviously, okay, let's smoke.

Okay.

So, I mean, obviously, right, we, we look at the stats, right.

With this team, right.

They're second and goals for fourth and goals against in the league,

which are phenomenal numbers.

And, you know, you gotta give a lot of credit to the coaching staff there.

They're, they're doing a great job.

They have a great system.

but when I look at, right, when I look how they, they played last year, right.

And so sometimes you have to look at this season and you think, okay,

are, are a lot of guys playing above.

where maybe their potential is or maybe where they should be playing, you know, i.

e.

guys like Tom Wilson or even, you know, I mean, no offense,

but Alexander Ovechkin, right?

He's, you know, does chasing the record have a lot to do with this?

So once you get into the playoffs when the record really doesn't matter

anymore, am I questioning his drive?

No.

But you know, could he, you That goals per game average kind of dip

off a little bit, perhaps, right?

Goals get a little tougher in the playoffs.

He's not as fleet as foot anymore.

So, you know, I went back and I started, you know, looking at all the previous

Stanley cup contenders, or not previous Stanley cup contenders, but champions, and

you look at all these teams and you, you know, there was no doubt going into each

one of those seasons, you know, many years leading up to it, that they were Stanley

cup contenders and they were legit teams.

All, all of these teams, you know, leading back pretty much, you know, You

know, with the exception of maybe St.

Louis in there, all of them had a star forward player as far as, you know, no,

again, no offense to Alex Ovechkin, but he's not the superstar he was, right?

I mean, he's a second line guy at best and you can't really rely too much

defensively, you know, with his game.

But outside of that, you know, they had a star, you know, most

of these teams had star forwards.

They had us, you know, top.

You know, one, two Defender that you could absolutely rely on for 28 minutes a

night, which I do think the capitals have.

And they all had, you know, a legit goaltender, which, you know, there

were no questions about, right?

So, you know, Vassi, you know, Barki, right?

The, the year they lost the cup, right?

He just kind of stepped up and then proved again, you know, Hey,

I am this SNA winning goaltender.

So again, no question marks about what's a net, for me.

Logan Thompson is my guy and I think, you know, it's still a sham that he's not

on the four nations over Sam Montembeau, but that's a whole nother discussion.

but, you know, again, the

19 and two

insane numbers,

but I mean,

and three.

right, but, you know, at some point, right, you know, like I said, he's

going to take over as the number one.

but the difference is I haven't seen consistency out of this team

as far as, you know, multiple years leading up to this, right?

So they're still kind of fresh as far as, you know, being on the scene and

this, this dangerous threat of a team to the Stanley cup, you know, playoff.

So, if they go in there this year, they, they win a couple of rounds.

They maybe get to the Eastern cup for finals.

They look good, you know, coming in next year, of course, I'm going to say

they're a Stanley cup contender, but having the season they did last year

where they barely squeaked in, thanks to the wings, you know, losing a couple you

know, and, and again, with that lack of superstar power up front on the forward

group where like, you know, again, no offense to Alexander Vetchkin, but you

look at the rest of this, you know, This team, you know, Protus, Pierre

Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, are these guys that I think that can drive play and

really steal a game if they need to?

Probably not.

So,

But those, I mean, you look at where's the difference between last year?

Well, we, we definitely didn't have a Dylan Strom with a point per game.

We definitely didn't have like Protus, you know, he wasn't doing what he's doing.

Pierre, Luke Dubois, there's the addition that has seemingly

changed everything for this team.

I

right.

And maybe that's the difference maker.

If we're looking at something that, that has made a huge difference, it's

in goal and it's Pierre Luc Dubois, he's found a home and, and he's kind

of, dare I say, they have found a replacement for Nicholas Backstrom in

Pierre Luc because I think they found somebody who, who doesn't want the puck.

He doesn't like having the puck.

He likes to dish it.

That's what I mean.

He likes to dish it.

He's

not a goal scorer.

So I think you found your guy and he seems to fit alongside Alex Ovechkin and

Alex Ovechkin is Such a huge personality.

There's no room for Pierre Luc Dubois to be Pierre Luc Dubois and it's perfect for

Pierre Luc Dubois because he needs to he needs to not have the spotlight and You

need like somebody else needs to have that So I think that it's, it's going really

well and that, and like, Hey, he's what?

27,

Yeah.

He's, I mean, he's still young and,

and again,

the inconsistent play and yeah.

I mean, just his inconsistent play in the past.

Right.

And again, I need to see it to believe it with this team before I'm going

to dub them a Stanley Cup contender.

Okay.

Fair enough.

all right.

Your question,

Yeah.

All right.

So, so just with the NHL, right, we obviously we're, we're talking, you

know, the superstar players, right.

But what I want to know, speaking of superstars, who is your.

Heart trophy favorite and potentially maybe the next big superstar in the NHL.

my heart trophy favorite.

well, my, I gotta say, you know, I'm, I'm really between Kirill Kaprizov

was the first name that came to mind, you know, there's, there's

like what team has one guy and.

He's only played in 34 games.

The guy has 20 even strength goals.

That's just ridiculous.

I just, I look at what he's done for that franchise, a franchise.

That's not supposed to be competitive right now.

And they are, and it's a bulk of that comes because of him.

So I looked at Caprizov and then, you know, I think I,

I, I got to look to Kucherov

Okay.

be my other guy because man, he's.

Tampa Bay Lightning are on, they're just scoring goals,

They look good.

153 goals.

It's crazy that they, they seem to be losing a lot of like one goal games and

then they, they blow some teams out.

But, for what this team lost to still be chugging along, I mean, he's got, what

is, Kucherov's got 63 points in 40 games.

he's just spectacular.

He, he probably is going to end up with close to a hundred assists

again, maybe not a hundred eighth.

I think he's definitely is.

He's missing Stamkos for the apples, but he's just making it up by scoring a bunch

of goals instead, scoring goals himself.

he, you know, right now would be on pace for almost the same.

Production as he had last year, which is unreal.

And last year he won the art Rossman was second in heart

trophy voting to Nathan McKinnon.

So I, I mean, and McKinnon even there's so many good choices for

this award, but I'm going with those two are my choices right now.

Those guys.

Okay.

I don't hate it.

Don't hate it at all.

And it wasn't Kuchar off your choice last year when we were doing the end

of season, you know, picks there.

Yes, I believe he was.

I feel like he was.

Yeah.

Okay.

He was like, ah, man, he, I mean, he, he, he's just, there's something about him,

like, you know, guys, you just look at and you're like, some, some players,

you feel like, you know, them like, you're like, I know your tendencies.

I know, I know who, like, why, what you do works and him.

You're like, I don't know anything about you or like, why, what you do works.

I, he just, he just has his space.

He can create space.

He can find space.

And that is a unique, usually it's one or the other and he can do both.

So anyways, he, Him or Kirill Kaprizov, if, if the wild finish where they finish

and he continues to dominate, I mean, I'm pointing at Kirill Kaprizov, he's

probably my, my top guy right now.

That's a good pick.

I like, I could put him in my top three for sure.

And, and again, when you look at what this award really means, and

it's, it's maybe gotten away from that over the last decade, right?

The most valuable player to your team.

To me, Kirill Kaprizov might be the definition of that this season.

Yeah, exactly.

And that was, that was kind of where I was coming from is that.

I mean, he's,

if any of these teams lost the play, like certain players,

they would be completely lost.

I think, I think he's the number one guy like, all right.

I, and, and Nathan McKinnon means certainly, you know, he's got 70 points.

Guy's got 55 assists right now.

He's going to get a hundred assists.

Just crazy too.

okay.

I wanted to ask you right now, Connor McDavid, he was actually in 10th and he

picked up a few more points since I wrote those questions to you a couple days ago.

He's now in 7th.

He's 11 points back of Nathan McKinnon and he's played 5 fewer games.

Knowing that, And Ovechkin needs, what, what is it?

24 more goals to,

to hit Gretzky's record 21.

Okay.

to tie.

So he needs 21 goals in the last, we'll say about 40 games of the season.

And, Connor McDavid 11 points back of McKinnon for the art Ross.

Which one is more likely McDavid wins the art Ross or Ovechkin

beats Gretzky's record this season.

Oh

man.

This was

a

got, he's got 38 games left

Yeah.

21 goals.

A tough question.

I mean, literally I could see both of these things happening this season,

which would be phenomenal for the league.

but if I'm going to pick anyone, because I do think, You know,

Ovi is going to have the benefit.

I think as we near closer and closer to this record, you're going to see him

playing on a lot of, a lot of those six on five situations where maybe he's just

sitting up at the point, just waiting for somebody to clear the puck out of the zone

and he can just go get an empty netter.

to me, I'm, I'm going to pick Ovi.

Only because I think the talent in front of McDavid, again, McDavid is

a phenomenal player and a guy who can easily put up three, four, four

points every night if he wants to.

But, when you look at guys in front of him, Nathan McKinnon, the seasons

they're having Kucharoff, it's going to be a lot to chase down, right?

And, and of course, you know, making up 11 points in 40 games is you got to get,

I mean, essentially an extra point almost, you know, every night I feel like, but

for me, which again, more than possible.

But.

When you look at the pace Ovi's on right now, right?

He's scoring at a pace of a little over 0.

7 goals per game right now.

and if you take that and you spread it out over the remaining 38 games,

that's he, yeah, he's on pace for a little over 27 goals a season.

So again, that 21 goal pace that, or that 21 goals he needs to, to

catch Gretzky and hit 22, I think again, if he stays on this pace,

that's absolutely more than possible.

and I think the league would love to have that.

So.

it, it, to me, it would be much better if it was like, he's chasing it at the

end of the season and then he gets it as opposed to like, all right, he's

two off Gretzky's record for next

right.

That just is, I mean, it's.

It's like, well, okay, it's going to happen neat.

And it happens early on when no one is really watching, you know, like

Right.

We're in the thick of

people are watching the baseball playoffs.

They're watching

football start.

They're watching college football.

And like hockey kind of takes a backseat to those things until football's over.

And I just think it would be epic if he can get it this year.

And I did say at the beginning of the year that I thought he'd get it.

You did.

I did not.

come on, baby,

I wish I put money on it.

And actually I don't, because then I'd be really stressed out.

all right.

your question.

Yes.

So what I want to ask you next, speaking of, you know, Stanley cup teams, right?

We talked about the Washington capitals a little bit there.

but when you look at these playoff teams currently where the standings

are, you know, I mean, and you can even, if you want, you can take a team

right outside on the bubble given, you know, a point percentage wise, you know,

consideration, which of the playoff teams do you think is the biggest pretender?

Biggest pretender.

Well, you know, the easy answer is the Boston Bruins because they,

you know, their points percentage is actually lower than two of the

teams outside of the playoffs.

That's an easy.

That's an easy route to go.

as far as a team that is much higher up in the standings that Everybody's

got as a really great team.

I gotta, I gotta say, I think that the LA Kings are pretenders.

Wow.

Okay.

I know that they've got a great defense.

I, I just something about them.

I just don't love.

And

They're

not flashy, right?

So maybe that's the problem.

and you know, come playoff time, they're like, they've been fantastic

at home at 14 and two at home, 10 and 10 on the road, struggled on the road.

And.

I just don't know if the goaltending will be there for the playoffs and

they're going to have to play the Oilers again is the way that it's looking.

I look at that and I go, they are not going to beat the Oilers.

It's

not going to happen.

Sorry, not going to happen.

So if there's a team that's in the playoffs right now that I go,

I have no faith in them at all.

It's the LA Kings.

No faith.

I think that's a better way to put it.

Like, I don't know.

If they played another team, could they win?

Yes.

I don't think they're beating the oiler.

I just don't, I don't think it's happening for them.

I don't disagree with you on that one at all.

the thing that made me laugh, I haven't looked at the L.

A.

Kings, you know, statistics in a while as far as like individual stats, the

fourth leading scorer on this team.

Can you guess who that is?

Oh boy.

Well, now I can't look at the stat.

I've got the

stats like almost pulled up, Drew Dowdy.

It's Warren Fogle.

I mean,

that's what makes me

former Edmonton oiler.

dude.

Yeah, when Warren Fogle is your fourth highest scorer, I mean, that's when

maybe you need to reevaluate things a little bit, just say, Hmm, maybe, maybe

we need another guy up front, right?

But, you know what?

I agree with you.

I think LA, their defensive play is great.

They're getting good goaltending.

This trade seems to have worked out for both Washington and LA as far as

the Kemper Pierre Luc de Bois deal.

But Yeah, you're right.

They're going to end up playing Edmonton at some point.

And that is not promising.

Yeah.

And, I, I knew that Drew Dowdy was not actually playing, which by the

way, he's supposed to, he is going to be taking the ice, this week,

next week.

Next week to be on the ice with the team next week, that would be a huge,

I mean, there, there's a big boost for the Kings really defensively.

although, you know, he's, he put up 50 points last year.

So,

He's still a good defenseman.

still good to, I mean, she, no, one's going to complain about adding

that guy back onto their team.

competitive standpoint.

All right.

bigger disappointment, the Nashville Predators or the New York Rangers.

Both teams are outside the playoffs Predators with 35

points and the Rangers with 43.

Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna make this quick and easy.

I'm going to say the New York Rangers.

mostly because when you yes, Nashville added to 3040 goal scorers.

However, when you look at Nashville, right, they were a year removed just from

saying, you know what, we're rebuilding, we're, we're starting fresh, right?

And then they add Ryan O'Reilly, Gustav Nyquist to say, you know

what, we're going to bring in these vets just to kind of fill in the

pieces and

Stam coast and they, Marsha.

So, and they, what defensemen did they add now at the top of my head?

I can't think, but

Oh, Brady Shea,

Brady's got, yeah.

But again, when you look at this team, right, there's not much

behind Brady Shane and Roman Yossi.

They don't have much up front outside of, Marcia Schell and Forsberg.

So again, there's, there's a lot of question marks with that team.

Whereas the

New York

Staros hasn't been nearly as good as he was.

right, exactly.

But with the New York Rangers, right, they're the president's trophy winner.

They have the superstar goaltender, they've got a, an elite defenseman

and they've got a great top six and even an emerging star in my

opinion, and Alex Lafreniere.

So they've got all the right pieces having come off, you know, you know, a lot of

quality seasons leading up to this year.

So for them to come in with the same personnel and really just kind of.

That

After sweeping the Washington capitals to

find yourself 20 points behind the Washington capitals, halfway

through the season is mind blowing.

You would have never, no one would have ever taken that bet.

Nope.

So for me, the Rangers, because again, they're, they've been my Stanley

Cup pick the last few years and you got to do me, do me dirty like this.

I still think they'll make the playoffs and

then anything goes.

and whereas the Nashville predators, there's no shot at the playoffs.

There was super high expectations and, like they're, they're out of it already.

They're completely out of it.

The Rangers are.

Absolutely still in it.

They go and they went, they've got a couple of games in hand.

They go and win those games and they're, they're knocking on the door.

I think, you know, between the two, the Rangers still have a shot.

predators halfway through the year.

They're not even watchable.

They're 14 points out of the playoffs.

It's crazy.

All right.

your question,

Yeah.

Next question.

So Boston Bruins, right?

You said they would have been the easy pick for the playoff team.

That's been the biggest pretender, but what to you has been, I guess, the biggest

issue and maybe is it time to rebuild?

don't think it's time to rebuild.

I, I think you gotta figure, you gotta figure out what's going to

happen with Marchand, the whole pasta Marchand thing was so overblown.

and you know, of course, Marchand comes out and says, You know, the guy who

started that rumor that we're mad at each other and we're playing on different

lines because we don't like each other is like the furthest thing from the truth.

And I think he, he posted a picture of pasta on his back

and they're like flying around.

It was just a stupid, a stupid rumor.

And even if there was some frustration, like you can have

two guys who are best friends.

I mean, you're not going to be best friends with somebody for years,

play with somebody, play a sport with somebody for years and never yell at them

like you're two dudes

who, and you probably get drunk every now and then together.

So eventually somebody is going to yell at somebody and it, you know,

probably happened and that's how a rumor started, but that's, that's stupid.

I, I think Marjan signs in Boston.

I just, I think Boston needs to figure out that.

Yeah, that second line center, Elias Lindholm, he's fine.

I think he could still be.

A decent top six forward for them, but it's kind of filling in the rest of it.

Yeah.

Mack avoids having a down year coil looks as though he's spent and

they'll need to move on from him.

I think there's just a lot of, a lot of things that have gone wrong.

And then, you know, Hampus Lindholm, he's only played 17 games this year.

And he really is the, the glue of that defense now, because I mean,

he's the, he's that stay at home defenseman who just gets it done.

He shuts everything down and he, he's, he was hurting me.

He hasn't played since November 12th.

And I think that that has really hurt them.

So I think all those things, this is, Maybe the year where you go,

we got to just, we got to retool.

There's no way this team's rebuilding.

They'll retool.

You don't rebuild when you have a guy who can score 60 to 70 goals in a year,

like posture, not, and, and the, the goaltending, which hasn't been fantastic,

like Swayman's definitely had a down year, Corpus solo has been a little bit

better statistically, but both guys bet.

Swayman screwed himself.

It's always the guy who holds out for more

money.

I mean, you know what I'm forgetting more money, but like

it's, it's like a broken record.

If you do that, you will have a bad year.

You do like you will.

It always, always happens.

Somebody could tell you that, you know, send us or, you know, here's

three examples of where that didn't happen, but it's, it's almost a given.

So I think they're just suffering from a couple of things and

they need to kind of find.

A different mix, but they don't need to go like Pasternak doesn't need to go.

Marshawn's probably, he will resign.

They'll they'll work it all out.

I mean, good on them for not signing an extension.

Also, why not?

If you think you're going to miss the playoffs, why not

go his trade me somewhere?

Let me go have some fun and I'll come back.

That's what Doug weight used to do.

You see, Carolina, you trade me.

I'll come back.

Yep.

Yeah, just trade me somewhere.

I can get a

couple

go to Edmonton.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Why not?

Why not?

That's what I'd be doing every time.

all right.

A couple more.

One more question for you.

It is about your red wings.

What are the wings doing different?

I know they lost last night to the San Jose sharks, which is, we'll

just pretend that didn't happen

before that seven wins in a row, seven and two with new head coach.

And, how, What are the wings doing differently?

Yeah.

Two things really for me.

It's, it's accountability and a coach that knows how to adjust, right?

So putting in the right systems and being able to adjust on

the fly during games, right?

Whether that means just, you know, okay, cool.

We need to, we need to back off the puck a little bit more.

Or we need to pressure up, you know, on the boards a little bit more and go into

those corners, go into those dirty areas.

Hey, we need more guys in front of the net.

Whatever those little things are.

they're making those adjustments in game and it's actually working, right?

Where Lon, it was just, Oh, let's jumble up the lines really quick.

And that's the only thing I can think to do.

you know, I, I heard it last night, you know, after that game, you know,

you know, Tom McClellan came out and said, Justin Hall had a shitty game.

Like he was, he was garbage and he knows it.

So again, Tom McClelland's not afraid to call guys out.

He's not afraid to hold guys accountable for, for poor play.

And I think, you know, that was the problem with Derek Lalonde.

He gave the same repetitive answer and now these guys, you know, can

come in and, you know, maybe they feel a little pressure from that, but I

think they, you know, they look like they're just playing a little bit

more carefree and, you know, a little, they're not gripping the stick as tight.

They're not, Feeling the pressure as much anymore.

I think, you know, with a new coach coming, you always

get that little bit of boost.

And I think that comes with knowing that.

Okay, cool.

Our jobs are safe for a little bit longer, but

I'll

I'll give you my, my two cents.

Todd McClellan walks in Patrick Kane in those seven wins, 13 points, five

goals, Larkin tearing it up as well.

Since, since McClellan takes over, he's been, I mean, he's put up

five points in the last five games or, no, sorry, seven points in the

last five games and has four goals.

Like their best players are playing like their best players.

And that's what they needed.

They weren't getting that from Patrick Kane.

Patrick Kane, I think before that stretch had like 15 points in the

first 35 games or something like he just was not playing well and now

McClellan knows how to unlock guys.

He's a guy who can just, he walks into a lot, into a team and he knows

how to unlock and squeeze some juice out of guys and knows what to do.

Well, loaned had these players and wanted them to do the same thing every time

they were out there and it just stopped working like that can work for a minute,

but the wings weren't ready for a loaned.

In my opinion.

And I think Lalone will be a better coach in his next job.

He will probably get another job somewhere.

but I think he, he had to learn what he learned and he just didn't have

a good enough team to do what he wanted, which he kind of came from.

He came from the, Islanders, right?

No.

Tampa.

He came from Tampa.

Where you had a much richer talent group to work with some but anyways, yeah I

just I I didn't didn't love what he did in Detroit and now McClellan is unlocking

everybody So that's a good on him.

And I hope that the Red Wings make the playoffs and I Hope that the Leafs get

to play the wings in the first round.

Oh,

that would be

I'll pay some money to go to that game.

I will go to one of those games with you

hundred percent.

absolutely.

Yes one more question for me

and then I gotta run

So if the wings make the playoff, that would be a surprise, but I want to know

what has been your biggest surprise during the first half of this year?

Columbus Blue Jackets

All right.

have first half of the year.

They're in the playoffs

and they lost their best player and I mean, he's obviously there

in spirit and they've been, we talked about how this could happen.

That, you know, we, we wouldn't be

totally shocked if they

said it wouldn't.

if they, they, there was, there's some level of like, well, it wouldn't

be totally shocked if they were to channel this into something.

and they, they went out and you're playing for something bigger than yourself.

And, but I, I, I also thought that the first 10 games would be that.

I think that's what I said.

I think I said something about like, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if

they started had a really hot start, but they've managed, I mean, right now

I think they're eight and two in their last 10, one, their last five, they've

been great at home, terrible away.

but yeah, they've, they've been a big surprise for me.

And if I had to go another team, that is my other biggest surprise.

No, they're my biggest surprise.

Well, the Washington capitals,

definitely the Washington capitals, but we just beat them to death so much.

I got it.

I like Columbus better.

That's, that's a much better pick.

There we go.

Zach Wierenski is my Norris trophy pick right

now.

And if you told me, you know, even pre, you know, Johnny Goudreau, you

know, incident that Sean Monahan, when he first came on board, that he was

going to be a point per game player, even playing with Johnny Hockey, I

would have said, nah, you're high.

That's not going to happen,

what a turnaround.

dude.

Love it.

for his career.

He's been great.

All right.

Well, that is our show.

The, our, our 10 burning questions.

Let us know if you have any other questions burning a hole in your pocket.

we'd love to answer those.

And you can find us on Instagram and X.

At OT hockey talk.

I ditched the tech talk because what's the point

Bye.

to pass away soon.

We get on lemonade or something.

I don't know.

Or there's some new China one, red something.

got a red logo.

I don't

going to be something new here in a

It's going to be something, something to teach me Mandarin.

All right.

All right.

Well, that's our show.

We'll talk to you guys soon.