The Chris Johnston Show. Let's go. Your number one destination for a behind-the-scenes look at the game of hockey. Is this thing on? Here's NHL Insider Chris Johnston and host Julian McKenzie.
Cj, I really appreciate you doing some homework before we got going today. You dropped this little nugget in the chat. Since we last recorded a pod, 16 players have been traded in the NHL, including JT Miller, Marcus Pederson, Michael Grandlin, Joel Farabee, Morgan plus seven draft picks, three of which were first-rounders. A lot of activity has been going down the NHL the last few days. How is your head not spinning?
Well, it is spinning. We've had Brandon Sod sign in Vegas. We've had two Finnish defensemen, Yanie Hakem upon Miro Hayekinen, drop out of the Four Nations face-off. Maybe the biggest news of all, which I know we'll get to, is we have a fixed salary cap for not one, but two, but three seasons in the future. Man, you think we did our homework Thursday, we did our show, we're like, All right, let's put our feet up for the weekend. That's not the way it's turned out. Not the way it's turned out, my friend.
Okay, we got to get going with the biggest trait of all, the saga that we've been following for weeks and weeks on end, JT Miller. He is, once again a member of the New York Rangers. That deal goes down where he goes to New York with Eric Brandstrom, defensive prospect, Jackson Dorington also goes as well. Philip still Victor Mancini and a conditional first-round pick. We'll get to that first-round pick in a second, but those pieces end up going to Vancouver. Let's start with that trade on the surface. How did we get to this point and what did you think of the deal?
Well, how we get here is Chris Dury, since he's been ranger's GM, has had his eye on JT Miller, and that goes back three years. And so if you want to look at it over a long enough time frame, I think JT Miller has been on the ranger's radar. Obviously, this season, there was a couple of previous instances where they made either half-hearted or maybe full-hearted attempts to acquire him from Vancouver. And I think ultimately, look, in the last few days, you had the comments from Jim Rutherford publicly in the Globe and Mail about this being an untenable situation. You obviously had the big Miko Rantanin deal last weekend, which took Carolina, rather, out of the running for JT Miller just because they got Miko Rantanin. And so I think, really, it was down basically to Vancouver and the Rangers, and they managed to get across the finish line. From the Vancouver end of things, the significant part of this deal is, A, making it, finally moving forward and giving their team a chance to, I guess, recalibrate post-JT Miller. Obviously, there's a second deal that I'm sure you're teeing us up for here, where they've also brought in a bunch of new players, too.
The other part of it, of course, is that they didn't retain any of JT Miller's salary. He's got five more years on his deal at eight per season. It could be It's a pretty big bargain if he continues to perform at a high level, especially with the cap going where it's going, which is something the Rangers were comfortable with. But I think from Vancouver's end, just being free and clear of him and his contract is a big bonus. They really like Victor Manchin Cucinei coming in, right shot defenseman that the Rangers saw as a bottom pair guy is being where he'd end up. I think the Knucks see him potentially projecting a little higher than that down the road. Obviously, he He'll replace his Miller in the short term at center. Some question marks there because he missed most of last season with concussion issues and has had an injury, pretty lengthy injury history. But I don't know where you want to dig in on this deal, but I think it makes sense for the Knux. In the environment they were operating, it was a pretty good return, I'd say. Without question, of course, the Rangers get the best player in the deal, at least today.
Jt Miller has already scored a couple of goals for New York in the quick time that he's been back with that organization. But over a period of time, this might end up being a win for Vancouver, which is obviously what the Knux are open for.
We're not in the Knux locker room, but I am very curious about how everyone moves on. I know Elias Patterson was asked about it, and he would say, Well, he wishes them all the best, but we can all move forward here. In the aftermath of that trade, I would love to know how guys like Quinn Hughes and really how Petterson and other players feel now that Miller's out of that locker room?
Well, I think it was Quinn Hughes who said it doesn't feel real because that deal was made essentially when they were playing a game in Dallas, and he's asked about it pretty soon afterwards. But in time, I think it does give a chance certainly for Elias Petterson. So much heat on him. His best stretch of the season came when JT Miller missed 10 games due to that personal absence he took in November into December. I don't know how much to read into that. It might be just a small stretch of time, but certainly the Knux are looking more for Petterson. This is going to open up, I would think, even a little more minutes and opportunity for him. And certainly, if the rift or whatever we're calling this was part of what was imparing him this season, well, then that, presumably, is not a concern now moving forward either. And so what's interesting about this trade is you have two teams in Vancouver and the Rangers who aren't presently in a playoff spot but aren't punting on the season. I mean, both teams are hoping this leads them to a little better next stretch of their schedule and get back into playoff position and try to get in and go on a run.
That's what got me so fascinated by a lot of the trade activity we've seen is it's not clear Buyers buying players. The Dallas San Jose deal that we're going to get to, okay, that was a team like the stars is just trying to load up as much as they can. San Jose is thinking about the future. That's the normal trade. A lot of these other deals, there's a lot more nuance to them, and I think that's what's interesting. A big part of it from the Knuxon, if it is basically as much as that oxygen as that feud was taking up or whatever personality conflicts were going on, they're just hoping that disappears and everyone's freed up to play hockey. With the second part of the deal with Pittsburgh that they made, I mean, they've added some real players there, too. Both of the players they added, Drew O'Connor and Marcus Petterson, are expiring contracts. So what a bold few days. This reminds me of the way Jim Rutherford ran the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the day, where he would trade himself into trouble at times, but then he trade himself out of trouble. He was constantly moving the He leases around until he got it right.
This feels a little like that for Vancouver. So part of it, of course, is removing JT Miller, but they've also brought in significant additions to the team in the short term that they're hoping that their fight with Calgary for a playoff spot right now, and obviously Calgary is loading up, too.
Okay. We got to mention Calgary, too. There's been so much trade activity, even just the excitement that CJ is processing all of it. It's so hard to not just hop around in all these different deals, but let's get to that second-You can't really do one by one by one exactly perfectly because there's a lot of overlap in the thinking and what's going on there, right? Absolutely. So that other part of the Knux deal, which you're alluding to, that first round pick that the Knux got from the Rangers. They flipped that to Pittsburgh with Danton-Heinen, who they signed in the offseason, Vinnie Dernet, too, I think, and another prospect in the deal. And then Marcus Petterson and Drew Connor come the other way. Pittsburgh gets a first-round pick out of this, which is pretty surprising. But what else do you think about this deal?
Well, basically, Heinen and Dernet were two players, the Vancouver signed last summer that just didn't fit in for whatever reason. They had become inefficient contracts for the Knux. They weren't really contributing, weren't everyday players in the lineup, at least in Dane's case. And so you get rid of two what I'll call inefficient contracts. Both those players have had... I mean, Hyman had a great season last year in Boston. And so I'm not saying that they're an ineffective players per se, but they weren't fitting in in Vancouver. So you remove that from the equation. You add in Drew O'Connor, player who doesn't bring a ton of offense. We had a good year last year in that regard, but really more of a four-checking, agitating winger that can win SPAC for his line mates, but certainly top nine option for the Canucks. And then obviously, Petterson. There's been a lot of people connecting Petterson to Vancouver going way back. Jim Rutherford made the original deal when he was in Pittsburgh to To get Petterson at that point, of course, he was an established player, traded Daniel Sprung back in the day to get him in a deal that everyone thought didn't make a whole lot of sense at the time.
It worked out pretty well for the Penguins. Petterson is a stabilizing defensive defenseman. Nothing flashy about his game, but can eat up minutes and I think give the Knux a better top four with Ronick, obviously with Quinn Hughes. They have Tyler Myers playing up there, too, at this point in time, but it gives them better balance on their blue line. I think their forwards get a little stronger because... I guess the question mark is you're swapping out Hiedel and Miller. I don't know what to expect Effective heatle in the short term. Again, someone who's missed a lot of time with injury, but a pretty good offensive guy when he's been locked in and healthy and going. You're moving a lot of deck chairs around there. You're hoping it works, and it's a short window. So What's interesting to me, Julian, is the Canucks are going to try to sign O'Connor and Petterson both. I mean, both pending UFA's. Obviously, if you give up that first-round pick in that trade. I think the way Pittsburgh got a first, frankly, is including both players because both players had fair markets. I don't think you're getting a first straight up for Petterson.
But when you've got contracts going back that the Canucks didn't have a lot of use for and you have both players coming over, it rises to where you're getting a round her back. I know Pittsburgh likes to prospect in that deal, too. There's a few moving parts there to evaluate. But Vancouver isn't giving up that haul with the idea that these guys are just going to walk away on July first. They're going to make a bid to sign them. Obviously, they're hoping the team in the short term starts winning games. But what will be interesting, we still got four weeks and a little less, almost five weeks to the deadline. If they can't sign one or both of them, and if the team maybe doesn't rebound in the way they want, could they flip by either of them before the deadline? I mean, that's not their plan right now. To be clear, they've got these guys because they think they can help. They really like the players. As I say, they want to sign them. But if they're unable to do so, it's not out of the realm of possibility that one or more of them is flipped again at the deadline.
That's the benefit that you get by making this trade early, early vis-a-vis the trade deadline. An interesting set of moves for the Knux. The Miller thing had to happen. I think How long? It feels like every episode we've talked about this, really since Christmas and even a little bit before that. I think it's best for everyone, including JT Miller, quite frankly, just to turn the page on everything and move on with their careers, move on with their situations. But then to flip that pick is interesting. The pick we didn't even get into the conditions. The Rangers top 13 protected it, which right now, I think the Rangers are about 13th lowest to the bottom the league. So if that pick is in the top 13, it becomes a 2026 unprotected pick. And obviously, the Rangers want to be good in next season. I don't think the Rangers, by any means, are planning on bottoming out. But sometimes we've seen when those picks go unprotected that maybe the bottom does fall out of the range. It's interesting. So I wonder if you're in Pittsburgh's shoes now that you have your hands on this pick, would you rather the Rangers finish Do you want the Rangers to just take it this year?
Say they get the 15th pick, well, then you get the 15th pick. Would you rather say the 15th pick this year, or would you rather roll the dice and hope, Hey, maybe the Rangers grab it top 13, it moves over to 2026, it's unprotected? I mean, There's not a clear answer to that, but I would be inclined to want the unprotected pick because you don't know what's going to happen. I guess there's no reason to predict a fall off in New York, but I just don't know what the Rangers are fully. It It's been a strange season there. Obviously, they lost the first game in Boston on Saturday afternoon with Miller in the lineup. Anyway, there's risk in every trade on each side, but there's some risk in that pick trade protection, I think, too.
For what it's worth, the Rangers are now losers of three in a row, including that game against Boston that you've mentioned. With the way that you're mentioning the conditions here, I wonder how much that also depends on how you feel about the draft classes coming up with 2025 and 2026. If you think the players in that '26 class might be a little bit more enticing, maybe you hope more for that pick. I guess it plays into that.
But yeah, a lot to think about. If you're the Rangers, I guess you've signed Igor Shesterka Obviously, they do have lots of quality players. You're thinking we're not going to fall to the bottom of the league. Even if something goes wrong, how bad will they ever be? This is probably where they are right now is as bad as they could be with this roster, if that makes sense. Where they are right now is There's a gap for them to make up, and there would be a lot of teams for them to pass to get in the playoffs, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility because you could tell me they could rip off five or six wins, and I wouldn't offer you pushback. I think that's there for them. Just really a It's been a compelling deal all around. I think for Pittsburgh, it's pretty obvious what they're doing. They want more prospects. They don't even have yet the full group of players that's going to replace the Crosby's and Melkins and down the line. They're just starting to compile that next wave of guys. Obviously, they like Owen Pickering. They got Rutger McGrordy, and I know that they've been happy with his development, the AHL.
I'm not saying they don't have future NHL players in their system, but they need a lot more. And so that's why you get the pics and the prospects thrown into all these deals that Pittsburgh is making.
How's your trade board looking? You dropped it on the 5A. The number one guy on that list is gone, JT Miller, Marcus Petterson was number four on that list.
And now I'm very curious about- Even O'Connor was on there. It's decimated. Cody CC and Michael Grandlin, both on there.
And we'll get to those two. I imagine you're going to take number 10 off that list, Elias Petterson. What's next for him?
Yeah, I would think, and look, I haven't yet put my mind around the next trade board because this one just had a stick of dynamite blown through it. It's going to need a few days to to really survey everything. But yeah, I think it's fair to say Elias Petterson will not be included on the next trade board, or if he is, it's going to be at the last spot. Quite honestly, I don't think he'll be there. Just because this was... I'm not saying they'll never trade Elias Petterson, but I think they have to now let it breathe. I suppose if someone, because they did have trade talks on them, if someone has some crazy offer, I'm sure they're going to listen. But I think that the urgency with which they were operating prior to the JT Miller deal has now been taken away. Obviously, they like the series of moves they made. As I mentioned, getting Pederson, moving out some contracts or players that weren't working, getting O'Connor in there. Once, Sure, it's healthy. They actually do look like they have a decent mix that they could go on their own run. I think that with Petterson, it could still be...
Look, his no trade clause does not kick in until July first or no movement clause. There's still a world where they see how this plays out the next few months, and maybe before July first, they pursue a trade there. I don't think that can be ruled out entirely, but I'd be very surprised at this point if they traded him before March seventh, because I do think they want to see if he can step into the role, if he can seize this opportunity, get some of his game back, get some of his mojo back. I should say I was fairly hard on Elias Petterson in our last episode. I should be clear here, I think that he's going to get his game back at some point. For me, it's a question of when, not if. I don't think he's magically just lost everything at this age. You know what I mean? I don't know if you can do it midseason. That might be tough, but that's what Vancouver is obviously hoping for. Let's take the trade label off of him or the trade target label for the time being, and we're going to have to focus elsewhere.
There's still going to be tons of trades. I've seen a lot of commentary like, Oh, the deadline is ruined. To me, it's not ruined. There's still a lot out there, but it's hard for me to imagine we're going to get bigger trades than maybe some of the ones we've seen here in the last couple of weeks.
If you're James Duffy for TSN Trade Center, how are you feeling?
How should you feel? Well, I don't even know where James is right now, so maybe he's not even paying attention yet. I'm just kidding, James. But he's not feeling great. Obviously, when you're doing his job and you got to... He's basically air traffic controlling the whole show, right? I don't even know how many hours we're live, but it's a lot of hours on air. For him, it's better if he's just throwing to people to analyze a lot of deals happening. When he's just up there, what we'll call in the TV industry tap dancing, just basically waiting for something to happen, we don't know when it's going to happen. It's more of a challenge for him. I'll put it that way, although he's the best in the business. It's way too soon to predict. But basically, a lot of people were telling me they thought there'd be two trade deadlines this year. People work for teams that put that on my radar, even going back a month or more. I wasn't sure that they were... I didn't think they were wrong, but I wasn't sure if that would actually be the case. But it's been what's happened.
A bunch of teams now have made moves to basically get some clarity. They don't want to just wait through that two week Four Nations break where I don't think we'll see trades to get action in. This is Trade Deadline 1, where we don't have a live show, and then Trade Deadline 2. I think there's still lots. Look, most of the really good teams out still have not acquired the players they want to acquire. Again, some of these moves that have happened are more unique trades. But I just look at the top teams in the league, other than Dallas, maybe doing its work. I mentioned Vegas signing brand I saw. But Vegas is still going to make a trade. Edmonton, Toronto. I mean, go down the list of teams, Washington, Minnesota, Winnipeg. Teams that are at the top are still going to load up as much as they can. That, to me, still, for most of those teams, isn't going It's not going to happen until after Four Nations, because a lot of them need to accrue more cap space or they want to see... They want to get a sense of what the market is because the market is not still defined in a lot of cases.
I think Dallas making the moves they did for Cody CC and Michael Grandlin, that's a product of like, You know that that is a right to go defenseman who's available because San Jose is one of the clear sellers. Dallas feels really good about Grandland. Obviously, they have a strong finish presence on that team. I think that that's just a little extra bonus. Plus Grandland is a center that was available. But right now, I don't know how many other defensemen are available. If you didn't want one of those players, there's a bit of guessing there. I mean, Ristalina is on the market out of Philly.
David Savard in Montreal.
Exactly. I'm I'm rambling now, but I just think the bigger market is still taking shape. The top teams don't have a full picture of what's available yet. If you don't need to make that move now, I mean, Dallas has all sorts of injuries. They just lost Eskinen. They announced that Niels Lundquist, the defenseman, has done for the season with a shoulder surgery. Mason Marchman has been out since standard December. Tyler Sagan isn't coming back, so they needed more immediate help. But I think teams that are also like Dallas in terms of their ambition, but are winning more and are less banged up, they have the luxury to wait. And so it's a long way of saying, James Duffy, just chill, man. We still got lots of moves to come on March seventh when we're live on air all day long.
Can producer Donkyface, can we please clip up that segment so we can email it to James so we can reassure him. I think he needs some reassuring. We've alluded to Dallas San Jose. I know there's a Calgary trade, but let's get to Dallas San Jose. We've talked about it enough. We've danced around it enough. We might as well go to that next. I like how, I mean, one, Dallas getting Michael Gramlin and Cody Ceeci. I know Cody Ceeci has bounced around, and maybe he's not the guy you want to put in top minutes, but they at least help their depth on defense, and they get themselves a good guy on forward for for their middle six. I like it for Dallas, but I also like it for San Jose, too. I like what they've been doing with accumulating these draft picks and talent, in this case, more draft picks. But I like this deal for my career in the Sharks. What say you?
Absolutely. I think this is the third deadline now that Mike Rear has been the GM of the team. If you look at the last two, he's added a boatload of younger prospects. They don't have as many draft picks as some teams, some of which they flipped in other deals to get the Askarovs and the like. But I I think that they're rebuilding the way you should rebuild. It's not an easy process. It's not a guarantee that next year they're going to win twice as many games. It could still be a long road for them, but I can't really fault them for what they're doing. They got Cody Ceci, if you remember They're in a contract dump from Edmonton when Edmonton was scrambling after the offer sheets in the summer. They get them for very little. Although Embersum has turned out pretty well on the oilers blue line this year, I should mention. Now Now they're flipping him and Grandlin and getting two draft picks, a first and a fourth guaranteed that could become a third if the stars are in the Cup final. So it seems like tidy business. Again, I think that for a team like that that has other players potentially to sell, It's beneficial to get that price now and just move forward, and then you can focus on your other deals because it's hard to juggle five deals at once if you leave it all to the last week.
So, yeah, I like it on both sides. I think Cee Cee, you mentioned there, people are way too hard on this guy, man. I mean, if you view him... Yes, really. If you view him for what... He's played 52 playoff games the last three years. He was playing in the Stanley Cup final last year. He was part of the Oilers' success. He's a good penalty killer. He's a defensive defenseman. Got a sneaky good shot. Obviously, he doesn't put up huge offensive numbers, but he scored some big goals for the Oilers. I just think if you... And he shoots right. I wish I I had the numbers. I actually ran the numbers this week, but there are not enough right-shot defensemen to go around for every team. It's just a fact. I think he ticks a lot of boxes. Dallas has been looking for someone on the right side that could play on their blue line just to bolster there. Since losing Chris Tana, I've been for agency. They signed Matt Dumba, they signed Elio Labushkin in the offseason, but I think they wanted more deaths there. Body Ceeci fills a lot of boxes. Very experienced guy.
Grandland, I'm curious to see. He has found the fountain of youth in San Jose. His production has been back to where it was eight, nine years ago, earlier in his career, certainly. But he was playing first-line minutes. He actually led San Jose's forwards on the penalty kill in ice time and on the power play and played a lot of minutes five on time. Clearly on a top quality team, that's not where he's going to fit in. And so I'm curious to see how he adapts to a different role, what they can get out of him. But let's face it, the stars are a pretty loaded team, especially at forward. He should still end up with good line mates once they figure out the right mix of their players. And he's a very good player. Again, he's played a lot of playoff games, played a lot for his country. He's going to wear an A for Finland at the Four Nations Face-off in a few weeks as an alternate captain. So I like the move, too. The key part, as I mentioned earlier, is just how injured the stars are right now. I feel like they didn't want to wait and play six more games or whatever they got left before the Four Nations break.
They didn't want to wait and be bidding with everyone else. They have tons of cap room because they put Sagan and Lungfist both on LTI are. They just went out and made one of their moves. And look, they still have time to make a subsequent trade if something else makes sense in the market for them.
Okay, so that's trade number three that we've discussed on this show. I don't know what the record is for most trades, excluding Trade Deadline, where we've talked about on one show, but this seems like it could be a lot. Number four, the Flames trade. We'll get to that. Joel Farabe, Morgan Frost of the Philadelphia Flyers, they go to Calgary in exchange for Jacques Peltier, pending UFA, Andre Kuzmenko, and two draft picks. What do you think of that trade on the surface? I have some thoughts, but I'd like to know yours.
Yeah, we should mention two of these four trades. Only one of them happened during daylight hours. And this Flames one was maybe the latest. Actually, it might have been the Pittsburgh-Vancouver one was pretty late, too. But What do I think of it? I like the move for both sides. I mean, for Philadelphia, they've been looking to try to get rid of Joel Farabi's contract, maybe get rid of Raspis-Ristalina's contract. They're still with them, but they've been looking to free up some money longer term. So not necessarily just to make a splash right now at the March seventh Trade Deadline, but maybe heading into this summer. Maybe it's not until summer 2026. But the flyers have big moves in their DNA. This is an organization, and they don't all We could go back and find some massive money they spent on free agents that didn't pay off, including a notable goalie at one point in time. But they're an organization that they like the sizzle. And so So they've been handcuffed since Danny Berre took over as a GM, just with a lot of the contracts that he inherited and where they were in their cycle.
This, to me, is the start of clearing that out. They think that some of the younger forwards they have, the Owen Tippets of the world, had passed Morgan Frost and it passed Joel Farabee on the depth chart. So they saw those guys trending in the wrong direction. Morgan Frost is a restricted free agent this summer. He's probably going to sign for 4 million or above. Farabee was already locked in at 5 million for multiple in the first couple of years. And so for Philadelphia's end of this, yeah, they add another high draft pick in a first rounder. But what they also do is they clear their cap sheet moving forward, and I think they line themselves up for bigger moves. They're going to lose more in the meantime, though. I mean, that's the likely outcome here. Whereas the Flames have had maybe a better season than certainly I was predicting. I know you could go back to the... There was a lot of articles in training camp where those players believed in themselves and talked about how people were sleeping on them. And look, so far, they've proven themselves right because they've hung around. But look at the teams Calgary's battling.
Look at the other playoff teams. The Flames do not score enough to truly hang with the other playoff teams. This should help They've added two players that are certainly in their top nine, four group, potentially when the dust settles, they're both playing in the top six, and they're 24, 25 years old. That age that Craig Conroy has talked about, that he's been targeting, that players that can grow with others in their group. I like this deal because it sends the right message to the locker room, I think. I know Calgary lost the first game after the trade. Let's take bigger picture than that. It's a lot of disruption for a player. A lot of guys go minus two in their first game with a new team after flying across the continent and getting their mind around it, not even knowing where they are, what's going on. It's going to take a few months and years maybe before we can really evaluate this deal. But I like the spirit behind it for the Flames. That group of players, which saw a lot of guys when you were there last year, Julian traded out in the lead up to the deadline.
They're getting some reinforcements in, and their odds of making the playoffs go up with a move like this. It's not a move made just with this season in mind, obviously. It's for the next three, four, five, seasons.
You nailed it from the Calgary perspective. I think you absolutely nailed it. Considering the fact that they have had that exitus before and they're trying to find guys who want to play in that market and they're playing above expectations, How do you not reward this group? I have all the time in the world for the other side of that argument where you're thinking, well, you don't want this team to be mid. You don't want this team to just get into the playoffs. And I don't want this to start a whole other conversation about rebuild. But just bear with me here. But I just think with the way that this team has been playing. Dustin Wolf was just named Rookey of the Month. He is helping us call the trophy case. He's showing he's the number one guy in net for your team. How do you not at least try to add to what you have right right here. And you have to ultimately put in the work to find elite talent because they still need a star. They still need an elite player. They need to figure out a way to do that. And you better hope you find yourself in a position where you can get some first round pick depending on where you finish.
But I I think with what they're doing right now, getting those two players, you're right, it fits a bit somewhat in that age group that Craig Conroy is looking to fit. I think he was looking more 18 to 23, but I don't think he's going to haggle too much at 25. I don't mind this trade at all. If those players end up working out really well with an Azam Khadri and a Jonathan Huberto, those are good reclamation projects. And Morgan Frost, I guess, in this case, may be playing with other guys in the lineup a bit. But again, this could work out really well if those players play at least a little bit above that they've been playing the last little while in Philadelphia. I like this move for them. I'm still really curious about it for Philly because Jacques Appeltais, really good energy guy when he's healthy. I know there are guys in that flames room who are really sad about him being gone. I was always impressed at how for a young player, he endeared himself, or at least he pulled himself in the fabric of the locker room the way that he did with his energy.
You've seen the videos of him being happy with his teammates. Jonathan Huberto thinks of him as his son. He made an impact, and he's not a top six player in any way, but he found a way to make an impact in the locker room. There were guys who were genuinely sad at him leaving. Kuzmenko, look, I think when he is on- Don't overthink it.
He's got four goals this year. That was a pure contract dump.
Yes, you're absolutely right. Here's where I'm dealing at with this. How the hell are he and John Torterella going to exist, my man? I have no idea how the hell that's going to work. When Andre Kuzbeko, you mentioned four goals this year, when he is not scoring, he doesn't do much. He's not this reliable defensive forward. I know when the flames brought him in, they were hoping he could at least try to play that a little bit more. That's not his game. The other night, Mat Vymitchikov and John Torterella were going at it. I wonder if we see at least one of those between Kuzbeckho and Torrance. It looks as if that deal was made with Mat Vymitchikov in mind with the relationship that Mitchkov and Kuzminko have. They at least played with each other in Russia. But I'm very intrigued at how those two personalities, especially Kuzminko as a personality, will coexist in Philly. Those are my scrambling, rambling thoughts.
That's It's not there. But you have to think of Torterelle as the substitute teacher here. Because I don't think Andre Kuzmenko has a long future in Philadelphia. I could be wrong, but he's a pending UFA. It's been a tough season. They only have to coexist together for a pretty limited window. It's not even three full months. And so you're right. It might be rocky because it tends to be that way with John and his players. I mean, that's partly why he's an effective coach, is he creates an atmosphere where he's pushing everyone all the time. And I will say this. It's funny. I think there's some misconceptions about John Torrell. There's a lot of players that love that guy. I agree with that. We'll say great things about what he's done for his career. Sometimes it's It's too easy for us to focus on the odd interview where he gives snippy answers or walks away after 12 seconds, or maybe an interaction like you see on the bench with Michkov. That stuff goes viral in this day and age, but I think it's missing some of the context of what an effective... Maybe Torterella gets the best out of Kuzmenko.
At this point, if you're Kuzmenko, you're fighting just to be in the league. Certainly, it's going to be tough for him to get a contract anywhere near what he's paid now as a free agent. Even no scoring goals, which is something he has proven he can do and is something that tends to get players rewarded. The book's out on this guy. Now he's on his third team in a short period of time. He's got a lot of motivation, I'll put it this way, to finish the year strong. To maybe make things work. Maybe he'll be energized, but if he gets to play with Mitchkoff, and maybe Torterelle will help him. So I think you're right. It's fair to wonder what that looks like, but I'm just saying, let's not necessarily imagine the worst because it could actually be a positive situation.
Yeah, you never know. Hey, look, Andre Kuzbenko, this time last year, we were talking about an Andre Kuzbenko trade from Vancouver to Calgary, and he ended up playing pretty well for the Calgary Flames from that point on to the end of the year.
He found 29 games, I think, with the Flames.
Yeah, he played well on the goal line, got power play goals. Actually helped that power play, which was sputtering for most of the year within the limited time he played at the end of last year. Yeah, I mean, maybe it works, but maybe we just get a lot of social media memes because that guy is, again, a personality. He's very much a personality. I think Sportsnet had that video where they were asking him about if he believes in ghosts, and he was telling ghosts. He saw a ghost in a hotel once. He's that type of weird personality guy.
Fair. And funny thing about the Mitchkoff-Torela video that was going around, that was going around while the trade was being completed, too. It almost added fuel to the fire because there's so much focus on the flyers in that moment. And obviously, because Mexico's name came out. Anyway, it's been a crazy couple of days, man.
It has. And I'm still not done. Brandon Son, we've mentioned it a couple of times. Why? So his contract gets terminated by mutual termination with St. Louis. He was put on waivers a couple of days earlier, and he signs for Vegas. Was it one year, 1. 3 mil? What is the reasoning?
1. 5 million prerated.
Excuse me. Yes. Thank you for that. What's the reasoning with... I shouldn't say, What's the reasoning? Why Vegas?
Why not Vegas? Why not Vegas? I feel like it's a perfect fit. I know the Leaps showed some There's a lot of interest there. I believe the Devils were a team that were calling, looking for another winger on Saad. But it's tough to compete with Vegas on a couple levels. Really, really good team, obviously. They had a need at Ford, like a clear need I think that there's a real opportunity for him to fill a role. They have the weather thing, they have the tax thing. It just seems like if you're Brandon Saad, what a spot to put yourself in a position to rebuild a little bit your image or finish this season strong, going into free agency potentially on July first. Vegas ticks every box. This one almost made too much sense. He signed within an hour on Friday afternoon of that contract officially being terminated with the Blues. It guarantees he's going to play playoff games this year. Pretty nice work, I think, both from the Goldenites end of it, because I think he's a big guy. As long as he gets moving, he can be skating well, can fit in their system perfectly.
And Vegas, the thought was, is probably going to be getting two forward additions before the deadline. Let's imagine this works with Saad the way he and they are hoping. While they've gotten one now and all they had to give up for was a bit of cap space, whatever the contract ends up being. I think it's a marriage. It just makes perfect sense. I can't even think of a reason not to do it if you're Brandon Sod. It's no disrespect to those other teams, but I think that he's just in a position to succeed there with an organization that's had all kinds of success. It's a great place to showcase your sofa the future teams. He might still end up a little behind in the total dollars he earns because he did walk away from a lot of money in St. Louis. But you can see why this is an improvement for lifestyle, for competitive reasons for him. Obviously, he was going to go to the American Hockey League had he not pursued this way of things. I just think this one makes too much sense for everyone involved.
Yeah, I think you have that right. The NHL and the NHLPA, let's move on to the salary cap story. The NHL and the NHLPA forecasting significant jumps in the cap limit. As you have tweeted, 2025, 2026, we could be looking at the cap going up to about a little over 95 million.
It could go up potentially toLet me stop you there. Sure. Just because... So that is completely locked in. That is happening. We will have a $95 million cap next season, guaranteed. The next two you're going to read, there are more projections. It could be a little above, a little below. Just to give the context before you get there.
Appreciate that. Yes. It's 95 mil. That's where we're definitely going to see the salary cap for next year. It is forecasted by 2026, it could go up to about as high as $104 million, and then by 2027, it could go up as high as a little over $113 million. I got that?
You got it right. Basically, a seven and a half million dollar jump from today's cap at 88, then an eight and a half million jump to the next season, and a nine and a half million jump to the next year beyond that. I mean, this is unprecedented in in the history of the NHL salary cap that they would have those jumps. Also unprecedented, Julian, that you have the players and the owners and the league sitting down and agreeing ahead of time. The ramifications from this are hard for me to break down because if you're a free agent, a free agent signing a contract, you've never known where the cap was. Obviously, those projections have always existed. You have it in your mind, but it was never formulated in this way, never written down on and agreed upon. If you're Mitch Marner or Miko Rantan, the top free agents for this summer, are you negotiating off the $95 million cap, which is what used to be done, meaning next season? Or are you thinking, Well, no, guys. In three years, it's going to be 113. 5 million. That should be what we're thinking about with my contract.
This is going to change the league drastically, but I can have a few guesses at what's going to change. But I don't think anyone knows for sure until we see it in action. But the obvious takeaway would be this, the absolute best players are about to get paid a lot more money. I mean, that I'm sure of. I don't know what's going to happen to the middle class. I don't know what's going to happen to the players on the bottom end of things. Obviously, there's a new CBA being negotiated. I think you're going to see the minimum salary of the league negotiated up. That would be a negotiation point, though. But I don't know where this goes other than to say the world as we know in the NHL, it's just changed with that big announcement on Friday, and it's got all kinds of different roads we can walk down when looking at how and why.
So as an example, a hypothetical situation, you're Connor McDavid and you see those numbers go up. What are you thinking?
You're not upset about it.
20 mil per season, baby.
Maybe. The beauty for Connor is he's going to get to see some of these other guys sign deals in the meantime. Miko Rantan is going to sign a contract. Mitch Marner is going to sign a contract. Potentially, someone like Kiero Kaprizov might sign a year out. He might see three or four deals that for top players that he's going to obviously exceed all those guys eventually., so he gets to see, do their numbers go above the 14 million that DriveSightle is already signed for? I mean, that's where the bar is right now. Leon DriveSightle's contract for 14 million kicking in next season. Is someone going to raise that bar? Because then, Connor McDavid can raise it again. If you're at the top of the food chain, this is outrageously good news. If you're Mitch Marner, and this is pure circumstantial, this is not a knock on him. It's just the truth. He signed his last deal just before COVID and everything kicked in. The interesting part of that is he got top of the market, 10. 9 million call it on his last deal. Signed a six-year deal. In the six years, in the meantime, as it turns out, COVID If something happens, the cap barely goes up.
But guess what? He's stepping back to the plate ready to take a swing just as the cap explodes again. Again, he had to be a top player at that time. He was always going to make near the top of whatever it was going to be, but it's just amazingly fortuitous timing for him the way this goes. The top guys are going to get paid. I think what's going to happen, too, though, Julian, if we have a 113. 5 million dollar cap in three years time, how many teams are going to be cap teams? Right now, most of the league is pretty close to being a cap team. Something like 22, 23 teams essentially spend at the cap ceiling or a little above it if they're in LTIR or what have you. But I do think that that number will be drastically down if we see these jumps happen as projected.
Well, I've wondered just with the space that could be coming, if we see just GMs go on these large, lavish spending sprees. You have all that space, try to just fill that up and throw money wherever you can. It happens, right? You get that, you get more money, you spend a little bit. It happens to everybody.
And how many contracts are now immovable? Any deal that used to be thought of as bad because the player was overpaid, it becomes at least a little better now in the context of the cap going up this much. Any bad deal that's out there, at least for a player that's still physically able to play, is maybe not as bad as it was. And maybe teams, especially when they're dealing with teams that are in rebuilds, are able to move out contracts we never would have thought possible. I don't think... There's all kinds of outcomes that could spawn out of this. On top of it, I do think it just There's more certainty now. We're not guessing anymore. We've talked about we knew that the cap was going to jump, but now there's real numbers to play with when agents and teams are having those negotiations. I know both sides, there might be some nerves on the team end now. Like, Oh, how are we going to make all this money work? But both sides now have clarity when they're having those discussions. I think we'll see some extensions and deals done, too, because this is going to help at least give everyone more comfort at the negotiating table.
Why are we in this economic period of prosperity in the NHL? What's worked out where we were able to see these really promising figures go up?
All kinds of things. We've fully bounced back from the pandemic times financially for the league. That's one thing. You You have two new teams added in recent history in Vegas and Seattle. They're both inside the top five or six revenue teams per game. You've added teams that are really driving the overall business forward. They're not taking money in revenue sharing. Those teams are putting money into the pot. They're two of the more wealthy and more financially successful teams in the whole league. You've got a new Canadian rights deal that's going to kick in after the end of next season, but that's anticipated to grow significantly significantly from what Rodgers has been paying over this last 12-year deal that it's had with the league. That's a projected future growth thing, of course, but I think just the revenue has gone up, and players have the right to 50% of revenues. That's why ultimately the cap has been held back during this period, but now we're getting where revenues mean that the cap has to go up so that players are getting half of the money. Basically, it's a perfect storm right now for the league. I think that they want to be smart because if you move the cap up too much and the revenues don't go up, then the players are having to pay a lot of their contracts back in escrow.
I don't want to bore everyone for everyone who doesn't understand that. But the idea is you want to have it about right. You want the cap to be where it means the players as a whole are paid about half of what the revenues end up being. It's a projection. No one knows for sure exactly what the yearly revenue will be, of course. It's dependent on a lot of different factors. But the revenue has been growing. We've added two teams. I don't think it's fair I don't know how they factor in these projections, but at some point, the league's planning to add more teams, probably on the other side of the CBA negotiations. But it's a growing league. It's a growing sport, and the business is going in a positive direction. Finally, the players are going to see more of a bump to their paychecks than they've had. The NHL still lags way behind, as I know, every other major sport in North America in terms of what the top players are paid, even what we'll call the middle class, the middle-tier players in the league. I don't know that they'll ever make up the ground, but you're going to see that there's going to be a jump where it's not going to be such a big disparity that's existed now.
Okay.
One more thing before we get to ask CJ, any extra thoughts you have on Yani Hakeba not being available for Team Finland at the upcoming Four Nations Face-off?
Well, disappointing for him. I spoke with him, call it a week ago, might have been two weeks ago now anyway, and he was still hoping to play. He's only been healthy enough to play two games for the May place this season. He played two games in the American Hockey League on a conditioning State with the Toronto Marlies. Obviously, he's had ongoing knee issues since last March. This doesn't say good things about the status of his health or potential availability for the Leifs. It leaves Finland in a tough spot, too, because they've only had 11 defensemen play meeting for any minute in the NHL this year. They've now lost. I mean, Maira Heiskanen, of course, is going to be their number one defenseman. He's out for the tournament. You lose Hinkampah, who's going to be a shutdown guy for them. It's getting pretty thin on the finish blue line heading that tournament. They're in a difficult spot. I don't have any deep thoughts on Yanei's situation, but obviously, he just has not... He spent most of the season rehabbing. I've seen him skating now for at least, I'd say, a month, like regularly out morning skates with the leaves and the like.
But I do think that it's a tough spot for him because he obviously was hoping to play and isn't going to be able to do so. Okay.
Wow. That was so much to go through in about what? Like 45 minutes of just trade after news. That's a lot of activity these last few days. You ready for questions? You ready for fun, weird stuff?
100 P. Let's go.
I like 100 P. I'm going to steal that. Adam Wild dropped a question in the chat he'd like for you to answer. As an insider, what is it like when a trade breaks overnight? Are you already awake? Do you get a phone call? Leave your your phone ringer on? How does that work? What are the hours of an insider?
Well, they've been stretched in the last week or two because obviously, if you go back to the the ranting and trade, that was a Friday night trade a week ago. And in that In my case, it's not just... Obviously, the first part is you're just trying to report the trade, right? Getting any aspects of it out on Twitter, what have you. Then in my case, I write at The Athletic. That night, I ended up writing a column off of that deal. I had to be in touch with people involved in it to get an understanding of how it came together, all that stuff. So that was a late Friday night there. Then this last week has been nuts because the Flames Calgary trade starts breaking under Cusmano's held out of Calgary. 'S lineup. Morgan Frost exits the game in Philly. It's an earlier game. And so you're reporting that one knowing it can't be finalized until after those games are played. The Calgary games played two time zones behind where I live, and so that trade doesn't get completed until, I don't know, midnight Eastern time. So that one was happening in real-time, and obviously, I was aware of it, so I stayed up through that.
Then you get to Friday, the JT Miller deal starts to break. I'm at dinner. Oh my God. With my partner, out to dinner, not just sitting at home. Part of being the plus one of an insider is to be very patient at this time of year because I spent a good chunk of that dinner either on the phone making calls or texting.
Oh my God.
Obviously pursuing the details of that. And as it turns out, the subsequent deal that happened somewhere around after 11: 30 Eastern Time or close to midnight for the Marcus Petterson deal, I was just flat asleep. So I woke up to that the next day, just chaos on my phone. So to add to Adam's point is, I don't even know my Ringer was on, but no one called me and I just slept through that one. And then Saturday morning, I got pretty early wind on Grandland CC and just worked that from home. That one was the most sensible of them all. Other than it was on a Saturday, I guess, but that's fine. It's just the midnight. There's been a lot of midnight trades in the last year, too. I actually wonder if there's a story there. I'd love to know why. Here's my guess. I think in the old days, and I don't mean old days, like 1984, I mean even like 2014, I think if trades, The Calgary... Let's say that Calgary-Philly one. That one maybe is an exception because they had to take players out of the lineup. But some trades in the past, I think, might have been agreed to at 10: 00 PM, but they just announced it the next day at 9: 00 AM, did the trade call then.
I think everybody was like, Hey, we're in agreement on this, but let's go to bed and we'll deal this in the morning. I'll let our PR staffs know. But I think we've become... Everything is just so minute by minute. It's impossible to keep things under wraps fully. Once somebody knows and everybody starts to know and speculation grows. I think now when teams get to a point where their GMs are basically finalizing a deal, they don't care if it's 1 AM, 11: 30. We've had a lot of late trade trades the last couple of years. I've noticed a serious uptick in that. You got to stay up a little later this time of year. You got to be ready for it. I'm certainly not complaining. It's a fun part of the job. Honestly, I think fans love it. If I I didn't love it, I never would have the job I do. I love the chase. I love scrambling, texting everyone, trying to figure out what's going on, trying to get little morsels of information to push things forward, and then ultimately, trying to figure out how the decisions were made, how it came together, and being able to describe it on a pod like this or in a column for The Athletic, that thing.
I appreciate that perspective. That was really insightful. So the follow-up-I slept through a train, a big train.
Yes. That happens, too. You do have to go to bed. Honestly, my normal... You know this because we're good enough buddies, we text about it, but maybe the audience doesn't... My perfect life rhythm is to go to bed early and wake up early. I love that. But this last week, because of some of these trades, I have been up later and been getting less sleep because I still get up early often. By Friday night, I was just bagged after that JT Miller deal. I was like, All right, whatever. That dinner was blown to smithereens in terms of just sitting there and being able to chat. But then get back home Whatever. It's fine. I'm not complaining. It is the job. Like, I do. And as I said, I love it. But then I didn't catch wind of the other one before going to bed, and I just went to bed. I was like, Hey, it's been a bonkers week. I'd like to get some sleep. And then I wake up, whatever, 6: 30 Saturday morning. I'm like, Holy shit, what happened? Did you see all the text and all the group chains going? But it's crazy.
And The closer we get to the deadline, typically, there's way more of these nights where trades are happening all hours of the day, and you just got to be on high alert.
These last two Fridays, for me, I've been just out, and I've just said, I'm just not going to check my phone. And the last two Fridays, two massive trades have occurred. I don't know what the... I was late to the JT Miller deal. I was maybe two hours late or whatever, and I just started texting the CJ Show chat. I was very late to the in a trade. I don't know. I mean, thank God I didn't have to report on either of those trades. I just have to obviously be in the know for the podcast in general knowledge. But if I was an insider and I just for whatever, there's no way I could ever be in a situation where I'm two hours late to a trade and it's not like four in the morning or something.
It can happen. I mean, look, you got a life, too. Obviously, we all want to be on. You'd love to break every trade. You'd love to be in a I'd love to be at my desk whenever every trade was happening and be there with a laptop and be able to... But sometimes you're in the middle of stuff, man. I was in the back of an Uber when all the NHL, NHLPA stuff was happening on Friday. What are you going to do? You have a phone. I can write. I wrote a little quick news story for The Athletic. I wrote it on my phone. Obviously, use my phone to get the information I needed with calls and text. You constantly make the best of it. That's why I say, if you're someone who spends a lot of time with an insider, be it friend or partner, what have you, you got to be patient this time here. What I always say is when it's August and I just have nothing but time, this is the trade-off. Some of these Friday night dinners get blown to smithereens.
You get Bucket Hat CJ in August. You can't get Bucket Hat's sunglasses CJ without dinner plan, blow up CJ on a Friday night, something like that.
Exactly.
Okay. The follow-up I have to Adam's question is, what's it like for you as an insider, and you know what it's like when you report on a trade or other people report on trades and everyone blows up about it, what's it like for you when you see other leads go through the same thing, like a trade that happened late Saturday night involving Luka Datchik?
Well, the thing is, I don't know enough about the NBA that I didn't even know why everyone was freaking out about that one.
People are calling it one of the most shocking trades in pro sports. I still can't come up with a really good analogy to put it in NHL terms, but Dallas essentially traded a guy who everyone thinks is going to be the next best thing and shipped him off to... Offered him to LA and no one house and shipped him off to LA and got back a guy who's still in his prime but is a much older asset and is also injury prone and said, Hey, we think defense is going to take us there. But you also got rid of a generational talent in the process.
It just But they did it before they have to pay him, I read. So they were going to have to pay him a lot of money, and they didn't want to pay it. They had some doubts about paying them that money.
But it was a lot of money, and the player was definitely going to sign into that money. It's one thing if it's like, you know what? You're not sure about the player. He's a top 15, top 20. I don't know. Luka Donchik, he can play one of the best players in the world when he's healthy. I know he hasn't been healthy all year.
It's just... Wow. For me, I like looking at how the other league work. I like looking at the insiders' work, guessing where they might have got it from based on how they tweet, that thing. I almost like the inside baseball part of it versus... Because I'll be honest, I won't be watching. That doesn't impact my life in any way, just because... Basketball and hockey overlap as sports timeline-wise, and hockey is my life. There's not a lot of time for much else during the hockey season. One of the reasons I do love baseball is because there is a lot of time when I'm not I'm busy with doing the hockey thing where I can focus on baseball in that alternate universe where that was still happening. But I don't have... It's just as simple as... It's not like I hate the NBA or anything. I just don't have time to pay much attention or watch games or know about all the players. So I saw everyone freaking out, but I didn't know. I literally wrote, explain to me why everyone's freaking out, guys, because I don't get it.
It was nuts. Anyway, I appreciate the insight for Adam's question in my follow up. Okay, here's a really fun one from totally offside. You are offered a superpower where your hair always looks perfect. It's always your preferred style with no need for haircuts. However, in exchange, any time you are offered any beverage, you automatically respond, I wouldn't turn down a nice chocolate milk. Thanks, big fella. Do you take the deal?
Here's the thing.
I don't take the deal, but probably not for the reason you're thinking. Okay, I want to know.
I will say, when I'm going to get my hair cut and my beard trim, that's one of my favorite. That's one of my favorite things. I have a barber safe, just an awesome guy. We always get into these great chats. It's the one time I can't really be on my phone much because you could, but it's really difficult. Usually, it's just an hour during the day, chill with safe, have a great conversation, get pampered. I wouldn't want to give that up. That's the biggest reason why. I love chocolate milk. If I had to drink chocolate milk, I could live with that. I don't even mind that, thanks big guy or a big fella, whatever the trade-off was. But I would miss my time was safe too much. I actually like getting a haircut. That's the main reason why I wouldn't take that deal.
You know what's funny? We have the exact same reason for rejecting that deal because my guy, Neil... There you go. I know it's been a while, clearly, but my guy, Neil, that's when I get to hang out with him. That's my time. It's a weird therapy thing. He had a haircut for me. That's why I would say no. I would miss my hangouts with him and everyone else at the barber shop I go to. That's a very valid reason.
I don't do anything else really like that. I don't really pamper myself any other way. It's my favorite thing to do where I'm treating myself and I take the time, and yeah, you get it. So I'm not taking that deal. I don't mind working a little hard to look as good as I can look, which is this gliding scale.
And you look good.
Thanks, buddy.
From LD, what are the Capitals planning to do at the trade deadline since the Metro is seemingly getting into an arms race? I'd see Brad Marshawn and Jake Evans as great fits?
Well, I don't know about those players specifically, but certainly I can see them adding maybe another winger more than a center. Seems to be what they're looking to do. But the Capitals are having such a great year. There's no question they'll be in buyer mode as we get closer to March seventh. That's a market, as I was saying earlier. I don't think that market is fully formed yet. It's not clear who all... Even Brad Marshan, who you mentioned, I don't know the odds he's traded yet. I think it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but at this stage, I'd say it's rather unlikely. He does only have an eight-team no-trade list, though, by the way. It can be a move that Boston makes, even if whether he wants it or not, essentially. He only has a limited say in what that looks like. But it's not yet clear that Boston is going to go down that road. And after a big win Saturday afternoon, that's how close it gets. When you get this close to the deadline, when your team is winning or losing, can impact the decisions of management. So I think the Capitals are among the teams, and there's a lot of them, that have to wait still to see exactly what they're choosing between.
As we were recording, the Department of Player Safety announcing Ryan Hartman for the Minnesota Wild has been offered an in-person hearing for Ruffing It was Tim Stutzla, date and time to be determined. I was at that game yesterday. Hartman basically driving Tim Stutzla's head into the ice. Big cut along his eyebrow. Yeah, I think with the way that he was going around that game yesterday, I think it was definitely... I think that's the right call here with getting an in-person hearing. There was no way he wasn't going to get suspended.
It's going to be a doozy, though. He's got four suspensions, including one last year, so he's a repeat offender. He's had seven fines and just a gross play. And so because he's a repeat offender, Julian, he is going to forfeit a lot more money. It's not just because of the length of that suspension, it's more punitive. So basically, Basically, if he gets a six-game suspension, he's going to forfeit 680 seconds of his salary, which I don't have my calculator app in front of me because I'm recording with my phone today, but it's going to be a lot of money. It's going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars is what he's going to forfeit for that decision.
All right, that is going to go down as one of the more packed... That is going to go down as one of the more packed CJ shows we've done in a long time, especially for this time of year, where sometimes the news gets a little bit quiet, that quiet before the storm. We're in the thick of it, baby. It's a lot going on, and you killed it as always.
It's hurricane season. Hurricane. Chaos. I don't even mean Carolina hurricanes. I just mean everything's happening. It's blowing around. It's whipping. It's crazy.
Everything is happening, and we found a way to cover all of it. Cj, you killed it as always. Be sure to read his work at The Athletic. And of course, subscribe to the podcast, whether on Spotify, Apple, through the SDP and YouTube page. Do what you need to do to be up on everything that is the NHL well, thanks to the one and only CJ. Seech, enjoy the rest of your weekend, my man.
You too. We'll have to dust off some emergency pods if it keeps getting crazy like this. I was the one who was just buckled these last couple of days, couldn't really squeeze it in. But this show is packed. My head's spinning. So if we get more big trades, maybe we'll squeeze in bonus 20-minute pods or something to break them all down in real-time.
We'll figure something out. In the meantime, I'll go enjoy some chocolate milk.
Right on, big fella.
Guys.
The Chris Johnston Show. Follow Chris on Twitter @reporterchris, and follow Julian at JKA McKenzie. The Chris Johnston Show.
On This episode of The Chris Johnston show Julian McKenzie and Chris Johnston go over a variety of topics including: 00:00 ...