Transcript of The Hockey Show: Barkov Injury Reaction

The first week of preseason has started in the NHL, and the Florida Panthers have devastating news thrust upon them. We talk about it here. This is the Hockey Show.

With David Droger, the Hockey News, Ethan Across the Glass, and Rosie on Vacation, or actually she's in Guatemala right now, going to a A Loved One's Wedding.

Congratulations to whoever that person is. My name is Roy Bellamy. This is The Hockey Show, and we got some bad news for Panthers fans out there.

Good news for everyone else.

Good news for all the rest of the 31 teams in this league. Alexander Barkoff is getting surgery on his right knee, the injury that he sustained yesterday in practice, basically the first drill of practice. He went down in a noncontact injury and could not get back up. He had to be helped off the ice by two members of the Panthers staff, could not put weight under his leg. It was a bad situation and has gotten worse because he's going to miss a significant chunk of time this season.

Yeah, it sucks.

Yeah.

It's the worst possible news. It is. It's the worst thing in sports, which is when you feel like your team's season is over before it even starts.

No, we are not going that far. No, no, no.

Guys, what are we doing? It's Alexander Barcov. The Panthers are not winning anything of note if Alexander Barcov is out for the entire Damn it, Ethan. That's it.

No, no, no, no, no. Okay, first of all, focus on the playoffs. Make the playoffs. They will worry about that then. But we're not going to say that the season is over. That is a defeatous attitude.

Are the Panthers winning anything if Alexander Barkoff doesn't play this year at all in the regular season or the playoffs?

I'm not going to say no, but I'm definitely not going to say yes. But come on. That's a defeatous attitude that is pessimistic.

You need to be a realist in this situation. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case. Nice. That's what it feels like. It feels like your season ends before it even starts. It's the worst thing. It's like the Yankees this year when Garrett Cole went out and needed Tommy John surgery before the year even started. It's the worst thing. You lose your best player before the season even starts. It feels like, it doesn't mean it necessarily is, because we don't know what Bill Zito is going to do. If they decide he's going to be out for all of the regular season and all of the playoffs, they can replace his $10 million salary in LTIR, and then we can let Bill Zito go and do his thing. So we don't know what they're going to do, but as a fan, that's what it feels like. It's a crushing blow before the season even starts.

All right, let's talk about new line combinations here. Obviously, Antoine Lundell is going to end up going up to most likely center spot in the first line. Most likely. But also, Evan Rodriguez. Oh, boy, he's more important than ever. Now, we were talking about him possibly getting traded, but now? No.

No. No, he's centering the third line as of today with Jesper Boquist and Matheo Samoskevich. That line that You mentioned the Antoine Lundell, Itzu Lusterine, and Brad Marschand line. Is that your top line now? Based off the playoffs, it was. And then you've got- Rhino and second line. Reino and Verhejje being centered by Bennett.

I imagine that'll be the first line, if we're being honest.

Look, that roster that we just talked about, okay? Bennett, Verhejje, Reinhardt, Lundell, Lusterine, and Marschand, Erod, Maki, and who's the other winner? Career. No, no, no. Bocquets. Bocquets. That's not a Stanley Cup, smacky in the face top nine, but that's a very solid top nine. If you compare that to a top nine with Sasha Barcow and Matthew Kuchuk, obviously, lesser than. But just putting that grouping up against any other group in the NHL, that's a playoff team. That can hurt you as long as... When you started off by saying the most important player out of the lineup, and I hesitated, the only thing that made me hesitate, if Serge Barovski is Serget Barovski, they'll be okay.

Let's be clear here. Also, they'll have options when Matthew Kachuk comes back, right? So eventually, Matthew Kachuk, we all expect he'll be back around sometime around the Olympics, right? Which are in February. Hopefully, he'll be back before that so the Panthers can feel some of that impact on their regular season. But if he comes back for the Olympics and then he returns to the team after, that'll be great. You have all kinds of options then because Sam Reinhardt can play one seat. So Sam Reinhardt is only a winger because he plays with Alexander But if you put Sam Reinhardt on 1C, all of a sudden, he can be flanked by, let's say, Matthew Kuchuk and Cardever Hagey. And then what you can do is you can drop Sam Bennett down to 2C and have him with maybe Maki and E-Rod at 2C, you have the Lundell, Lusserine, and Marshan line at 3C, and then you have all kinds of options on your fourth line, whether that be Jabeau, Greer, Luke Cunnan. Trade deadline acquisition to be named later. Exactly. So the Panthers will have plenty of options, and they'll still be a very, very, very good team.

It's just how high is their ceiling without Alexander Bartkopf? It's a huge question mark.

I'm laughing because as you were saying that, the name that popped into my head of somebody that they could bring in. Boy, oh, boy. I showed it to Roy in the look on his face. Who's a veteran player? That's not Sydney Crosby. Oh, I thought we were cooking it up.

No, no, no. I thought we were cooking it up.

Bear with me. Who's a veteran player who has... There's been-My face would have been a lot different. Reported interest in Florida Not making a ton of money, offensive upside, and you're on the right path.

Older, is it... It's not Criro. Capri's office.

No, no, no, no. Are you crazy?

I don't know. That would be fun.

They've got $20 million in cap space. Let's bring in Capriza.

I'm lost here.

Crosby. You know Malkin, dude. Malkin.

First of all, we all assume that Malkin is going to play out the season up there. If Crosby is not going anywhere, then Malkin is definitely not going anywhere.

But if Malkin does go somewhere- We know Crosby wants to stay. We know Crosby wants to. He's a Penguin's guy that we know he's made that clear. I don't know what I'm getting Malkin's thinking.

I mean, that would be an option. We're getting a little crazy here, but that's- We're getting a little crazy.

It's a crazy day, dude. The Panthers Center is having surgery as we speak.

It's a crazy day. The best player on your team is probably going to be out for the entire season.

The best non-golier on your team. Speaking of goal teners, you mentioned Bob and also Daniel Tarasoff. Really suitable backup for this team. I think it's a good to go.

It's a positive transition there. I like it.

I have no choice in You have lots of choices. I have lots of choices. I could mention Tomas Nosek not being there, another true center. So the Panthers are then centerized, actual true centers.

That's why E-Rod is playing center. That's why you're going to see Sam Reinhardt taking a lot of face-offs.

A whole bunch of plug-and-play situations, man.

But yes, you are right. Denil Tarasow was unbelievable. He's been great in practice, too. I think it was one of the first training camp practices where there was a bunch of fans there. I think it was last, maybe it was last Saturday, but he made a couple of these ridiculous behind-the-back stick saves that had a training camp practice crowd making more noise than I'd seen in years. So that was really cool. If he's the guy that he looks like he is, I mean, look, Bill Zito liked Tarasoff a lot when they were in Columbus together years ago. Now they're back together. Tarasoff is looking like the guy. We got the whole connection with Bob idolizing his dad back in the day, and it's very cool. But I'll tell you what, man, if he is what he has appeared to be early on, that's going to go a long way towards mitigating these injury issues that we've been obsessing over for the last 10 minutes or whatever.

I'm drawing up the lines here, guys.

Coach Ethan.

Right now, and I've got the folded paper, too. It's got to look like a hockey coach. I don't know. I just pulled the first paper I could find back there. Herb Brooks over here. Yeah, right? 19, 13, 23. 25, 9, 17. 25 is now 11, excuse me. Maki Samuskievich, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodriguez.

You mentioned 19. This is a playoff final?

I'm saying this is when you get to the playoff and you have everybody healthy. All right. 7, 15, 63, of course, Luster, Reinen, Lundell, and Marshan. Then same fourth line as last year, Greer, Nosik, and Boquist. That's still a very formidable team. That's still a team that can absolutely get to the Eastern Conference final.

We have to take into account that we've talked about at Nassim over the course of the life of the show, really, what an amazing job Bill Zito has done in building one of the deepest talkie teams that we've ever seen in our lifetimes. This is where you, for For the lack of a better term, you reaped the fruits of that labor.

This is a stay ready so you don't have to get ready situation.

Yeah, exactly. When all is going well, you're winning back-to-back Stanley Cups and everything is awesome. When things aren't going well, you're still right there, which is the point of it.

Oh, boy. All right. That was me being exasperated. That was... Oh, shit. Not good. It's not good, right?

You also can flip this middle six and have the Lundell line be the second line, and then all of a sudden you're looking at Sam Bennett, who just won the Kant-Smith Trophy as a 3C. This team has options.

That's the thing about the Panthers. Their top nine is so interchangeable. Really, you could base which line you think is the top line on the minutes, and that changes night to night depending on who they're matched up against. That's the luxury of what Bill Zito has done with this team.

Paul Maurice is basically going to look like Eric Spolstra as far as starting line of combinations is concerned. He's going to put these lines in a blender the entire season just to make up for the loss of Alexander Borgoff and Matthew K'Chuck and Tomas Nozak. So that's the situation right now. The Panthers are in a bit of trouble. They are going to lose their first-line center. They're captain for a good bit this season. Hey, The Hockey Show has a new YouTube page. Please follow us there at The Hockey Show DLS, The Hockey Show DLS. That's on YouTube. We also have a TikTok, The Hockey Show 7, and our next Instagram and threads at Hockey Show DLS. We are on social media, and I'm sure Rose is very happy that I mention that right now.

We are everywhere.

There was another significant injury that happened. This one happened in Dallas. The Stars lost their captain, Jamie Ben, who was diagnosed with a collapsed lung. A collapsed lung. That's painful. Yeah. That was during the Stars 3-2 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild. Ben skated off to the bench. After a shift, he took a hit in the third period. He said he wasn't feeling right after taking that check. And lucky for him, it was a home game because you cannot fly with a collapsed lung. No. That would have been a disaster.

I have been in the hospital with a collapsed lung before. It is not fun. For me, it was partial, so I didn't need a chest tube. If Jamie Ben needs a chest tube, that is a painful recovery. It's not a long recovery. I don't think if that's what it is, you'll probably only miss a couple of months while the heel is up, I think. But that is not going to feel good. And what's going on with captains?

The captains are going down.

In the same day, we find out that two of the captains that would be contending captains to hoist the Stanley Cup are now out for extended periods of time.

That was a complete hole. What's going on? In Jimmy Benz lung. A hole. Just a straight-up hole.

If you're an NHL captain today, are you driving a little cautious to the rink, making sure the seat belt's clicked on and looking both ways before you cross the parking lot, tie in double knot? I don't know.

Are you worried? Well, if I was a New York ranger, I'd be worried if I was going to be traded because that's what they usually do, captains.

They don't usually survive their- I think their captains swore a goal last night, actually.

The contract, yeah. Jason Miller, Congratulations. You are now the captain of the New York Ranges. Watch your back.

Never played for Vancouver. That never happened.

It was like Rocky 5, apparently.

I feel like he probably wants to pretend. That's true.

So happy to be back in New York.

Where did the stars go from? They have cover.

The stars will be okay, too. Like the Panthers, they're not as obnoxiously deep. I think it's more of a little bit sneakier depth on Dallas, but they've got some really good players.

I think they'll be okay. Things get tough here. I'm looking at their lines now after... I mean, they've got three lines, I would say. Fourth line is okay. Their defensive depth isn't my favorite in the entire league, but I know they'll be fine without Ben. I think they have plenty to cover it off, but certainly, it's going to be a big question for them how long he's going to be out for it, because that doesn't sound It's really fun.

Don't sleep on Liam Bishel on that stars blue line. He was really good last year. Just saying.

David, why are you angry?

You're not going to do this to me, huh?

Yes, I am.

I'm angry because I sit on information too long. I'm angry because I'm overcautious as a journalist. You know this. The Barkov news just came out as we record this. It's around 11: 30 noon on Friday. I had this yesterday, but I held off. I wanted to be sure. I'm frustrated because you remember when the Winter Classic happened, I showed you I had that like a month before it was out.

Yeah, I had to sit on that, too. I can't mention it here. You showed it to me like, Hey, let's talk about it.

No, we can't do it. So, Roy, viewers, well, Roy says, I need to be less cautious and apologize later. That's the advice that Roy gave me, and I don't think he's that wrong. I think maybe I... I don't know. I feel like we're really personal on the hockey show right now, but I'm upset, man.

Yeah, the mood has been... I think everything is just like... You mentioned everything is just down. It's just like, we're all just sad. I can feel it in the air. This news is just crushing us, and we're doing some introspection here, Dave.

Well, I mean, how would you feel? I've worked my ass off to get to where I am in my career, and now I have legitimately good sources that feed me really good information, and I just believe it.

I'm going to be your therapist for a second. I'm going to be your therapist for a second.

Okay, here we go. There we go.

Imagine you're on the couch.

Lean back. Jeremy over here. Look at this guy.

Lean back here. All right. Lean him back.

Dave.

Head down.

What scares you? Why? Why do you refuse to share the information when you haven't. What are you afraid of? Look deep into yourself.

I'm afraid of it being wrong.

But you trust your sources, Dave.

It's never been wrong before. I have never been fed bad information. I just got this Trust your gut.

Are you afraid of people getting mad at you?

I don't want Bill Zito to be mad at me.

Why would Bill Zito be mad at you?

Because he'll trade me.

Fulgino Malkin. He'll trade me.

Why would he be mad? What are you afraid of? Go deep into yourself.

I'm like, Dude, all right.

No, come on, dude. Go deep into yourself.

You had to take it there. I'm just trying to do some introspection here. What I'm getting at is if you trust your sources, you trust your information, go for I very much do.

I'm so fearful because it's been a long path to get to where I am, and I don't want to screw that up. I don't want to piss off the wrong people. But I guess that's part of the business, right, Roy?

Yeah. Listen, it's not like you're a part of some podunk radio station in the middle of the outskirts of Arkansas. I mean, you work for the Hockey News. This is a major-You work for the Hockey Show as well, Dave.

That's the biggest thing.

The fact that I've been able to associate myself with so many things that have the word hockey attached to them makes me feel good. So that's a positive.

Well, some good news out of Las Vegas is the Mitch Marner era has begun for the Vegas Golden Nights, he played last night, got an assist on Jack Ockel's goal to make it 2-1. Utah was leading at the time, and the Golden Nights ended up winning three to two over the Utah Mammoth in that preseason game. So he's already made a valuable contribution to the team. Congratulations, Mitch Marner.

Trade money well spent. Well done. Good on you. I Who are we talking to? I think it was Jeremy before the show. We're talking about Mitch Marner going away from the Leaps. Basically, we're saying, was Mitch Marner the problem in Toronto where he didn't perform in the playoffs, or was that just the Toronto problem because the whole team doesn't seem to perform in the playoffs? Yes. So we'll see. I don't know. Obviously, the people in Vegas are very confident that it's a Toronto problem and not a Mitch Marner problem. I tend to agree with that just because Mitch Marner has got so much talent, maybe getting out of Toronto, getting out of that headspace, his home team and all the treasure. Maybe Vegas will be better for him. But I don't know. I think Vegas is going to be a judge or not this year.

I mean, considering that Mark Lazarus has had his credential revoked for asking a question about the Canada 5 and their interest in Carter Hart.

Speaking He has a fear of a journalist. Hold on. Let me get my joke off.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. What I was going to say is, he'll fit right in in in Vegas if reporters aren't allowed to ask the tough questions.

He'll be happy. Did that...

I don't know how much you guys know Laz. I listen to the athletic hockey show. Sometimes he does a great job. He's a great reporter. He asks all the important questions. For him to have his credential revoked for asking a simple question that I think a lot of fans have interest about. That was not a good look for the Vegas Golden Eyes.

No, Bush League. It's not like it's unheard of. When I read that, I'm like, Oh, it's been in situations like that before. But it It's a nice glimpse into, I guess, what journalists and media are aware of is that every team, every PR department is so different. You can have some that are just open and let you do whatever, and you can have some that are much more tight about what they want their players to talk about and not talk about. But that was... To go up to a guy and to ask him questions about a very topical thing, and then to have your credential revoked because you, quote, ambushed a player in the locker room, what is ambushed a player? I mean, approaching a in a media open locker room and asking him questions. That whole thing, I did not like that at all.

Under zero circumstance should a journalist lose their credential because they ask the question about somebody who's not even on the team?

A completely fair question, by the way. A completely fair question.

If the PR department asks these journalists not to bring this stuff up, and then they do it anyway, that's another story. But it does not sound like that happened here. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't like this at all.

Yeah, that's completely inexcusable. And I was seeing a lot of that everywhere, outside of sports, inside of sports, of journalists just not being able to do their jobs. And that's just inexcusable.

We want you to report the news that we want you to report.

We don't need you to ask about why we're considering signing these five players. Anyway, I just wanted to bring that up because I know as a show, we probably all wanted to show our solidarity with Laz there. He's a great reporter.

He gets a great job.

I wanted to show we stand with you. Keep doing your thing, Laz. We love you.

There's another Jacky in the NHL. Did you know that?

I do now.

Yeah. Two Jacky's on the same club, apparently, because Florian Jacky got to play with his brother Arbor, and the Canadian 4-2 win over the flyers on Tuesday. In fact, both of the Jacky brothers scored a goal in the game.

One of them got in a fight, right?

Yeah, one of them got in a fight. Sounds about right. Yeah. I mean, that's what they do, Jacky's fight.

Two Jacky's don't make it right?

Yeah, okay. Florian made it two, nothing in the period, and Arbër made it four, two, and a third with an empty net shorthanded goal, and the mom, Simona, was in attendance to the game.

That was cool. I like that they show the mom.

Wait, I heard a great story about this on 32 Thoughts this morning. The mom works at a Costco in whichever part of Canada they live in, and the manager at the Costco told her, What are you doing here? Go watch your son's play, and made her leave her job and go watch her son's play. That was really cool.

That's a Canada thing, too. I love that.

The most Canada thing I love that.

That's a hockey mom right there, man.

What's a hockey Costco? That's a hockey Costco manager. I love that.

It's a Canadian Costco. That's what it is. Wins and fails of the Week is presented by Jagen Meister. Serve cold or don't serve it at all. Jagen Meister, damn. That's cold. For more, visit jagenmeister. Com. Drink responsibly. David, what's your win of the Week?

My win of the Week was from a preseason game in Dallas earlier this week. Somebody decided to show up ready to go. You got to stay ready to be ready?

Yeah, you got to stay ready so you don't have to get ready.

Yes. Well, that's what this man did. He showed up full goalie gear. He's like, The only thing missing is a sign saying, E-Bug ready. I love this guy. It must have been a huge pain in the ass. Because I'm sure he drove there. You get out of your car, you got to walk to the arena and all that gear. It's hot. It's hot. It's not easy to move around. It's Dallas. It's August, September, whatever it is right now. September. So it's the end of September for crying out loud. But yeah, I thought that was awesome. Anytime you see a goalie dressed in full gear and he's not in between the pipes, I think it's pretty cool. Yeah.

So, yeah, get on him. Yeah, definitely an E-Bug situation. The You know, Tarasow had a fantastic game, and the Panthers 4: 2, went over the hurricanes on Wednesday. That was the last bit of good news that we got, Panthers related. But anyway, he had 47 saves on 49 shots, and he did it with style because take a look at his helmet here. For those of you listening on the podcast, audio-wise, Tarasow's helmet has what appears to be a robotic panther head with his mouth open.

It's like a ThunderCats vibe a little bit there. That's really cool.

Yeah, it's similar to Jon Van Biesbrook's panther on his helmet, if you remember his helmet from the early '90s.

How can you not? That's the most iconic Panthers thing. Anyway, don't get me started. Beezer's helmet's awesome. Yeah.

It's a badass helmet. It's a beautiful-looking helmet. It looks Like a Robot Panther.

I like a robot panther. I like the whisker area, too. I think that's pretty cool.

Yeah, it's probably made of metal. That is a badass helmet. Ethan, what's your win of the week?

Staying in the esthetic department, we had another great alternate jersey dropped this week, the Minnesota Wild. I believe they're honoring their 25th anniversary or celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. They pulled out these absolute beauties of an alternate uniform. I love the numbers here, especially 97 is such a great hockey number, and Kaprizov looks awesome. But I really like the gold accents on this uniform. I think it's something they could look to incorporate more into their look. I'm personally a fan of the Wild's look. I know that some people aren't, especially the fauxback. The fauxback. The Fowback. The Fowback, excuse me. Thank you. Minnesota North Star look that they go with. I have one of those jerseys for Kareil Kaprizov.

You got the green one, right?

Yeah, the green and yellow one. But these are really, really good. That's a much better look than they have going on now. I would roll with these full-time if I were. If every team just went back to how they looked in the late '90s, early 2000s, I think sports as a whole would just look better.

All right, quick question for you guys. When you look at that jersey, first goalie you think of?

Oh, man, I don't remember. I don't remember.

Come on. Dwyane Rosen, Manny Fernandez.

Come on, guys. This is out of my hockey wheelhouse.

Yeah, you put me on the spot, though. I'm getting old, dude. I'm usually better at I know you are.

That's why I put you on the spot. You play the old man card.

I'm always going to play the old man card because it's true.

I went to Ilyubrish Galov. Was he later in his career, Wild?

God, that is a fun goalie. I was just talking about Brezgalev with, I think, maybe... Was it Randy Mohler? We need to have Randy Mohler on the show at some point. He was telling me some amazing goalie stories from back with his time with Buffalo, like Grant Fjerd, Dominic Hoshik stuff. Oh, man. We need to have Mohs on the show for sure.

Him and Buffalo, that was... That was Alexander...

John Muckler, I think, was the coach.

Alexander Muckler was on that team.

It was like the game that never ended against the Devils, I think it was. Like four over time.

Or was a Buffalo Saber from '91 to '92, '92 to '93, '93 to '94. So '91 to '94.

Yeah, Muckler was on that team. I think LeFontaine was either on that team or he was on the Islanders at that point, I believe, if I'm remembering. See, I remember that shit. When you get to mid 2000s wild, I'm like, oh.

It's the goalie stuff that fails you?

Yeah. Oh, by the way, I want to admit something. I'm not a fan of those wild jerseys. Really? I don't like the font. The font on the back, it's just terrible.

Our friends on the What Chaos Show don't love the Wilds branding, but I do. I think they have great colors. They've got a great logo.

You got to keep in mind, though.

They have a couple of really good jerseys.

Two bears are in this league because you got the Bruins. And now you got the Wild. So you got two bear mascots. That's true. So they're flooding the zone with bears in this situation. But yeah, that's the situation in Minnesota. They got themselves throwbacks now.

Isn't there something weird about the Wild logo that it doesn't look like...

If you look at the full body, it's jarring to see it with the full body. Dave, we got to get to your fail of the week.

Okay. My fail of the week. So the San Jose Sharks decided to put up some new banners. They wanted to condense them. Teams have done this when they did several banners. The Miami Heat down here did it. The Panthers didn't have to do it at some point, I'm sure. So the Sharks put up some new banners. But the problem is they put up fake news in their rafters. They decided to take credit for the President's trophy in 2015, '16 when they finished third place in their division that year. That wasn't them. No, that was the Washington Capitals. That was the year that the Panthers won the Atlantic division when the.

The winning three. The Trochek was tripped year.

Yes, exactly. But how does that happen, Roy?

Ethan- There's so many layers for this to get through for it to end up in the rafters. It's crazy.

It's not just one person sends an email and then that's it. This has to go through several sets of eyes.

And then it has to actually go up.

I've been waiting all week for the message that, No, they were just trolling us and ha, ha, ha, jokes on you guys. But no, I haven't seen that yet, so I don't know what they were thinking.

They did win the Prince of Wales trophy that year, so maybe there was some confusion, but they haven't won the President's trophy since 2009.

No, I think maybe that was supposed to say Western Conference Champions. Maybe.

That's what the banner is there for.

I don't know. It's crazy. What are you guys doing, San Jose? Whatever.

Yeah, well, they have since fixed that problem.

I would think so. No, just, whatever. Just leave it up there. Who cares?

A potentially serious situation happened in the Ontario Hockey League. The London Nights played the Winsor spitfires on Saturday, and the spitfires scored late in the third period of their 4-1 win, and the crowd was celebrating. In fact, the fans were pounding the glass so hard that it shattered, and all the shattered glass fell on Nites' head coach, Dale Hunter. He ended up getting minor cuts when the plexiglas glass in his head.

He's so lucky that's only minor.

Yeah. So it was a bad situation. He got lucky. Oh, man. It just shattered and fell all over him. It was a bad situation.

He was showered in glass. Is he okay?

Yeah. Have Have you guys ever seen that video from a... I don't even know what level hockey it is. It's like youth hockey. A dad breaks the glass and somebody from the back with a heavy Minnesota accent, yels, Way to go, Paul. No. That reminds me of this video. If you've never seen that, that's a good one. It's something I've referenced in my life all the time.

You probably don't remember this, but Roy probably does. Was it Tiedomi in Philly?

Yeah, the fans fell over. He fell over the glass.

The glass broke, the fan fell in the box, and Domi pummeled him.

Yeah, and there's a famous highlight of Trevor Linden checking one of the St. Louis Blues players into the glass, shattered over a Fan. That's pretty famous.

Bench fighting, by the way, next time we have Billy Lindsay on, we're going to talk to him about he was involved in a very famous bench brawl in Juniors. That's on YouTube.

That's awesome. Ethan, what's your fail?

My fail of the week goes to, I'm not sure exactly who the player is on the Utah Mammoth, but they leveled a hit on Kael McCar and then got their ass beat by Gabriel O'Landis cog.

Yeah, that's the captain right there, boy.

Not a good idea to mess with Kael Makar and an even worse idea to mess with Gabriel O'Landis cog. You don't want to be hitting superstars like Kael Mccar in the preseason. You're going to end up paying for it. This was almost my win of the week because it's so awesome that Gabe Landis cog was beating guys up in the preseason. Yeah, welcome back. But instead, we'll give it to whoever decided it was a good idea to mess with Gabe and Mccar.

Sam Lipken. Thank you, Dave. Yes, sir.

All right. That's a journalist right there, boys. All right.

For those of you who are watching on DraftKings Network, we have Jessica Blaylock. She is the Florida Panthers Studio Host for Scrip Sports. She's on as a guest, and she's going to be crying because of the news that happened with Alexander Barkoff. It's just a sad, sad situation down here in Florida, and I'm sure everybody's happy. Yeah. I mean, I've already seen comments of Mapleies fans and all his fans happy with this injury. You know why, Roy? So you can kiss my ass.

Because they're losers. They don't know how to win. Like the Panthers know how to Jessica Blaylock joins The Hockey Show next. This episode is supported by FX's The Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawk. Allow us to introduce you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist, rare Bookstore owner, unofficial truth seeker who's always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent exposé puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa. Meaning only one thing, he must be on something big. Fx is the low down. All new Tuesdays on FX. Stream on Hulu.

Jessica Blaylock joins us. She is the Florida Panthers Studio Host for Scripps Sports. And normally I would say a little joke, a little icebreaker to have some fun here. And what I was going to say is she had a better summer than anybody in this studio and in that studio over there. But now I can't even do it. I can't do it because the Florida Panthers captain is hurt.

The summer is over, so it's okay. It didn't ruin the summer, right, Jess? Your amazing summer is still intact. All the amazing photos that we were following on Instagram, that all still happened. You're still- Yes, correct.

An amazing summer is still intact. However, my mood for the time to come is obviously not nearly at the excitement level that it was 48 hours ago because, like we heard Roy mentioned, just the devastating news about the injury to Alexander Barkoff, who currently is in surgery as we speak. And we should be getting a statement from the team later on this afternoon, giving us more information on the extent of the injury and the time frame that We can expect the captain to be out. And Paul Maurice, we just spoke to him less than an hour ago after the morning session for the Florida Panthers, and he said that they are going to be very transparent when it does come to this injury. It is a knee injury. But again, the captain currently in surgery as we speak, and we'll have more information later on this afternoon as to the extent and the time frame, but it certainly does not look good.

I can't do this, man. I'm sorry. How did your summer go, Jessica? How was the summer? Holy cow.

The summer was amazing. I had my first off-season in probably 10 to 15 years. So I traveled, I read books, I went to the movies, I rode my bike, I got back in the gym, spent time with my dogs, of course. That was the top priority. So yes, summer was amazing and feel fully rested and ready to get back to Florida Panthers hockey for sure.

So the reason that you had a full summer, just to give everybody a glimpse into the Blalock magistry, is that you are working full-time hockey now. You're no longer doing baseball, which was a big part of your life. So I have a question for you on that regard because you've covered baseball, you've covered basketball, you've covered a lot of sports in your professional life. And my question is, which athletes are the most fun to be around, and why are they hockey players?

So what's funny is I would actually say it is a tie between hockey and baseball because the biggest thing with baseball is the pure amount of time that you spend in the clubhouse, and especially the fact that I was on the road. So it wasn't just the clubhouse, it was the team playing. It was getting to the hotel collectively at sometimes three, four o'clock in the morning. Whereas I have been with some of these hockey players for now 11 years, in particular, Alexander Barkoff, Aaron Eklat. So it's so different in the sense that, obviously, the way we get media for hockey is a lot more structured. But the time we spend in the clubhouse is so much more extensive, and there's a lot more downtime to just have a regular conversation about, Hey, how's your family? Who did you draft for fantasy football this year? And so on and so forth. So it's a different vibe for sure between the two. But I'm lucky in the sense that the Panthers at this point, so many of them feel like my little brothers or my children, to be honest.

Oh, come on, Jessica.

No, I'm like, guys, I'm like 20 years older than Macky Samuskievish. There is a large age gap now between me and the players. But yeah, so I think for baseball, there was a lot more downtime to have just regular life conversations versus it's a formal interview, if that makes sense.

All right, Jess, I know none of us want to talk about it, but let's get back to the news here. Talk me off the ledge. Tell me why. We'll get to that. Tell me why.

No, we will not.

What ledge do you want me to talk? There are multiple ledges. The dolphins, the gators, the Barcov. All right, pick a ledge. Okay, we're going to go with the Barcov ledge. Jess, tell me why. I started the show today saying that as a fan, it feels like the season is over before it even starts when you lose a guy like Alexander Barcob. Convince me that this is not true, and the Panthers can still win a Stanley Cup and three-peat without Alexander Barcob.

Yeah, no. I feel your pain. And honestly, it's a gut punch. There's just no getting around it. It's an absolute gut punch to lose a player like Alexander Barcob, not Just because of what he does out on the ice and really impacting every aspect of the game, right? Even strength, special teams, defensively. I mean, I think he's hands down the best two-way forward in the league, and He's got a couple of selkies to prove it. It absolutely breaks my heart that he's most likely going to miss the Olympics. That, to me, is the most devastating thing of all of it, because he is the face of Finnish hockey, and you wait so long for this opportunity to represent your country. That, to me, is just the part that absolutely is gut-wrenching. Now, me trying to put a positive spin on it on why I think this team is built to be able to overcome a devastating injury, even to a player of Barcov's caliber. You look at the past couple of seasons, there are lengthy stretches that they've had to play without an Aaron Eckblad, without a Matthew Kuchuk, without an Alexander Barcov. There have been stretches where they have had to be with multiple elite players for a lengthy amount of time.

And what have we seen from this team? Everybody finds a way to step up. Whether it's Anton Lindell, who is going to obviously shoulder a huge amount of responsibility this year, you got to assume that he's going to be your top line center at this point. Whether it's, to me, having a guy like Brad Marshan in your dressing room now who wore the seat for the Boston Bruins for so many years, and his ability to be a vocal leader, The fact that you have a guy like Sam Reinhardt who finished second in the Selky voting, who is like Farcott, that defensive-minded two-way forward, that you have a Sam Bennett that's an identity player, that you have a Carter Verhege, who is able to come up with so many clutch goals at key moments. The one good thing about this team, Bill Zito has done a tremendous job building depth. You still have so many talented elite players in that dressing room. The fact that this team finds a way time and time again, no matter what they are up against, to come through, to get the job done. The fact that Paul Maurice has had in past seasons to be created with his line combinations.

And you have an Antoine Mondel who's played with Etulos to Ryan and Sam Reinhardt, if you make that a line again. The fact that you have a Verhegy who has played on that top line, who has also played alongside Bennett on that second line. The fact that Lusterine and Jesper Boquist, there are several players who can shift from playing the wing to being a center. You have so many players that you have tremendous depth with, and you have so many players that you have position flexibility with that I do think the Panthers are one of the few teams in the league that could have this devastating of an injury and find a way. You're not going to replace Barcob. You're not going to in any way, shape, or form. But I think with what the Panthers have, they're at least going to be able to soften the blow of everything you lose in losing the captain for an extended period of time.

I feel better now.

Okay. I hope you do.

I do. I do, Jess. I feel better now.

I still feel like crap.

All right. As you were saying- I appreciate the effort. As you were saying, Jessica, the Panthers do have a top five in the Silky Trophy candidates in Sam Reinhardt. They also have Evan Rodriguez. Yeah. And he's plug and play. And about a month ago, we were all wondering if he was going to get traded if Matta Kutcher came back early. Well, now he's more important than ever. Do you agree?

Absolutely. Paul Maurice has referred to him as his Swiss Army knife. You've played Evan Rodriguez on the top line. You've played Evan Rodriguez on your fourth line. He has been that one guy that when you need to plug a hole, you've been able to plug that hole with him. So, yeah, I think his role becomes even that much more important. He becomes even that much more significant of a player in your lineup because he is probably going to be one of those guys that does have to do some moving around while the Panthers figure out what their new lines are going to look like without Varkov and without Kinshuk and without Tomas Nosek to start the season. So no doubt about it, Evan Rodriguez is going to be a key, key component.

We saw Jeff Petrie yesterday, and he's basically the replacement for Nate Schmidt. What gaze you have on him?

Well, he's obviously a veteran. He's got a ton of experience. I think he's a guy that plays a physical brand of hockey, so I think he's a guy that's going to fit into the Panthers system pretty easily. I think there's always when somebody comes in, there's that period of adjustment where you're trying to balance your skillset with what's being asked of you and the system that you're trying to learn how to play. But again, he's one of those players that's going to provide depth for the Blue Liners, because obviously, you've got your top two pairings set. We know that Ekblad and Forzling are going to play together. We know that Seth Jones and Nico Michela are most likely going to play together. So now you've got some options between Uvis Balenskis and Jeff Petrie to pair with Dimitri Kolakow.

I want to move off the Panthers for a minute, Jessica, because it's very dark cloud over the show at the moment. And something else hockey-wise caught my eye this week, and I wanted to get your take on it. It's regarding Alex Ovechkin, who we all love, right? We all love.

Sure, yeah. I like him better than the other guy, the guy that plays in Pittsburgh.

Who's going to be a Panther?

He's always going to make it on the hook.

Shut the fuck up.

Not in front of Jess, Roy.

I'm sorry. Not very gentleman.

Running out in front of Jess. I apologize.

Everything Martian in a Panthers uniform is weird.

Trust me, I've had a hockey for a decade. There is no combination of words that you could use that I've either never heard before or not I'm going to be offended by.

Yeah, well, he brought up a red button issue with me. Getting back on topic.

Yeah, go ahead. So TSN put out their list of their top 50 players yesterday or today, which is fine, whatever. Ovechian is number 49 on that list. And then earlier this week, Brian Hayes, who's a TSN host up in Canada, he was on with Jay Onre, and he said he doesn't even think Ovechian is in the top 50 of the NHL players anymore. That It blew my mind because this guy has been like... He's Alex Ovechkin. He scores a million goals. He changes the game. Everybody's watching him. He's very... I don't know. He's just really good. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. I don't know. Is that surprise you, Jess, as much as it surprises me that he may not be a top 50 player in the NHL anymore?

It really does surprise me because all we talked about this season was how unbelievable it was that Alex Ovechkin broke a record that was previously held by the great one, and how impossible everybody Everybody felt like that was going to be for this record to be broken. So that's point number one. Point number two, his longevity in the league. And he is not just a skill player. Alex Ovechkin has consistently stayed in the lineup throughout the years, despite the fact that he does play a pretty solid physical brand of hockey. So I think just the longevity as well, considering his style of play, the consistency that he has given the Washington Capitals throughout the years. Yeah, I find that to be a little bit surprising, especially with what Ovi accomplished this season. And how many times do we talk about it? Alex Ovechkin, that one time around the power play. You know it's coming, and you still can never stop it. This guy has just an incredible, incredible shot and incredible skillset. So I find that to be a little bit surprising.

He broke his leg last year. He came back in like three days.

Yeah, that was crazy. Right.

And he was averaging... When he got hurt, he was averaging a little over a point of game, which is just impressive at his age, right? Because everybody's like, Oh, is Ovie starting to slow down a little? Is he starting to feel his age a little bit? No, not at all. His production this season was incredible. Then you look at the points that he put up factoring in that he did miss a stretch of games. No, I think Alex Ovechkin still continues to impress after all this time.

The athletic in their player tiers have Ovie in 5B, which is the support tier in between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Morgan Reilly. That seems a little bit crazy to me coming off a record-breaking season. All right, Jess, Roy, let me ask you another question, so I'm going to use this opportunity.

I swear to God, if you are going to mention Cindy Crosby.

What the fuck are we going to do about the Gators? What are we going to do about the Gators, Jess? What are we going to do? The Gators. What What are we going to do?

It's the hockey show. What are we going to do? Do they have a hockey team in Gainesville.

Yes, but I'm talking about the football team. What's the fuck are we going to do?

They had a club team. Oh, my God, it kicked their ass.

It's not necessarily our defense that is problematic. It's the fact that our offense cannot consistently stay on the field and put up points. And when you've got a solid defense, but you're constantly putting them back out on the field and asking them to make a stop, it's just not a great recipe for success. And honestly, you know what they say, in all kinds of weather, we all stick together for FLOR IDA. So I'm going to wrap my alma mater through and through. I bleed orange and blue, but we are going to continue to be in for a long year when it comes to Gator football, because we still got to play Florida State, who looks legit this season. We still got to play Georgia, who we know is being done.

O-mis, Texas.

Done. O-miss. Texas struggled out the gate, but that's still going to be a tough game. So, yeah, just to quote Samuel L. Jackson from Jurassic Park, Hold on to your butts.

Okay. All right, forget I'm not going to say about the game. Fire Billion. All right, so let's talk about, since we got this injury situation with Florida, let's talk about the division at large. Do you see any changes happening in the top three and potentially any wild card implications as compared to last season?

I still think the powerhouses are going to be the powerhouses, and I still believe that about Florida. I still think that the Toronto Maple Leifs and the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be those other teams that are right there. Super intrigued with the Leifs, especially with Marner going to Vegas, who I think is actually going to crush it in Vegas. So I'm always fascinated by the Leifs just because of their history being such a good regular season team and then not being able to get it done in the postseason. Tampa, I love what that rivalry has turned into and how much Florida and Tampa just absolutely hate each other. Buffalo, I'm not going to believe in until they actually give us a reason to believe. Boston, I'm intrigued by because obviously they made so many changes last year and sold off so many players at the deadline. But But yeah, I think when it comes to the division, you're going to see the usual suspects. Montreal, obviously making it to the playoffs last year, Ottawa as well. Do they just get that much stronger? Montreal, especially, Actually having so many good young players. So the Atlantic division, it's just brutal.

Every single year, it's just brutal. Continues to get better and better. So we'll see what happens. Detroit, they've had several disappointing years. Do they finally make a comeback this year? So there's a lot of intriguing story lines around the Atlantic division for sure.

Now, before we let you go, Jess, I wanted to ask you about something with your Sam Jackson line made me think of something that we were talking about yesterday when we were all hanging out at the Panthers' Practice. We're getting into some pop culturey topics. Talked a little bit about the Mighty Ducks and some things like that from our childhood. So what sports movies or TV shows were the most significant to you, Jess, that helped shape your career as a sports journalist? When you think back, are we talking Mighty Ducks? Are we talking Air Bud? Air Bud? I think I'm a little too old. Jess is a dog person.

Air Bud came out when I was a senior in college. Is it that? I don't know if I was necessarily watching Air Bud.

I thought it came out when we were kids. Did it? I thought it. No, I got to look it up.

Air Bud came out in 1997, so it beat me to the world.

Okay, so I was in high school.

We're in high school.

I'm sorry, Air Bud beat you into the world?

Yeah, I was born in '99. I was born in '99.

Listen, we already sound old, but that doesn't help.

Thanks, Ethan. Oh, my gosh. Sorry. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so movies that defined my childhood from a sports perspective. Honestly, The Mighty Ducks. I did not grow up with hockey, so everything that I knew about hockey, I knew from watching The Mighty Ducks, and I am still personally waiting for some team in the league to perform the Flying Bee in a game. That's all I want to see.

That's all I want to see. But Iceland already debugged it. Wolf, the dentist, Stanson showed us how to beat the Flying Bee.

No, we're not debunking it. We're not debunking it. We're not debunking anything. I just want to see the Flying Bee, the Flying Bee, in an NHL game. Baseball, Sandlot. I mean, right? Sandlot was every kid's dream, that backyard baseball. What would you do if you really lost that ball over the fence?

It was Property of the Beast.

And these passions that they had to come up with to try and get it back, going to the pool every day in the summer with your friends. And honestly, okay, I know this isn't technically a sports movie, but to me, it's one of the greatest sports scenes from a movie, The Naked Gun, Enrico Palazzo singing the National Anthem.

And Home of the Free.

A bunch of bums in the air.

That thing over Oh, my gosh.

The game, the Angels game, I think it was the Angels, right? In Naked Gun, that whole sequence, I must kill the queen. Reggie Jackson. To me, that was one of my favorite sports scenes. And how far ahead of its time it was, the fact that they had 15 people in the booth? Because how often now do we see analyst desks where there's eight people?

Dr. Trace Brothers.

Yeah, exactly.

I'm trying to go watch that. It's been a while.

Yeah. Those for me are probably like, The Mighty Ducks taught me everything I knew about hockey. The Sandlot was my go-to baseball movie. And then just the baseball game from Naked Gun to me is one of the most iconic sports scenes from any movie of all time.

And it goes, He Who Shal Not be Named, rolling down the stairs in that wheelchair and then flipping up like 35 feet in the air and then fall into the ground. Yeah, that was a great ending, that movie. Jessica Blaylock is the Florida Panthers Studio Host for Scrip Sports. She is going to smile while hiding her tears. We will see you on Monday when the Florida Panthers play the Carolina Huracanes with our first home game of this preseason. Thank you for joining us, Jessica.

I appreciate the time. And yeah, you nailed it, Roy. I'm going to go cry in private now.

Again, thank to Jessica Blaylock for joining us to talk about the sad, sad news of Alexander Barkoff. We're not in contact injury, going into surgery and missing a significant chunk of time. Rose is with us who is currently in Guatemala. She has heard the news. What is your thoughts on the entry to your beloved Alexander Barkoff? I don't know if the pot is up, but I might not watch anything. I might not watch hockey this season. I don't know.

You're going to boycott hockey? Yeah, Now I'm going to disappear from hockey, and you guys are going to have to do all the work by yourselves because I'm not going to go to any of the games.

I'm not going to do any video.

I'm going to disappear forever. Kaitlyn Clarke and Barkoff in the same year is tough. Rosie, that's tough.

I did not watch the WMBA because of that. Rose, you are a credential media member who goes to these Panthers games to do a job along with me and David.

You can maybe light a candle at Barkey's locker. Or maybe not- That's a great idea. Maybe not like a natural... I have been very objective. Maybe like one of those fate candles that the restaurants have on the table. Maybe you should just bring one of those and put it on his locker stall.

Yeah, I'm going to put something there. No, that's true. You're going to have to I'm sorry. I want to go with you guys.

No. No. I'll go.

Take me. Hell, no. No. Take me. No.

This injury news is getting worse and worse for us.

The credential is already in, Nathan. I'm sorry. All right.

We love you, Rosie. I'm joking about it. We I miss you.

You're back next week, Rose?

No. No. No, she's back. She's gone to another college football site, another campus. No. I am staying in Guatemala. Yeah, she's all gone. I'm sorry. She won't be here.

University of Guatemala. Yeah.

U of G. U of G. What's the nickname? What's the nickname?

U-o-g.

The Monteneers or something? Anyway, thanks to- The Caccellis.

The Caccellis? The Caccellis.

Oh, my God. Yes.

We sounded so American when we said that.

I'm sorry that we offended you. Yeah, you offended me, guys. I offended you all the time. You offended me. Okay, great. Thank you to Gino and thank you to Jason for everything that you do with us. Thank you for the video support. You guys are awesome. Ethan, you can kiss my ass. We were talking about Cindy Crosby and the gators. What are you doing? You're sabotaging us.

I have another plan. Bradley Kachuk.

Thanks to Rose for doing her job while abroad. David, I'm sorry that you got beat to the story today.

I almost just said I beat myself.

That's not a good thing to say.

That's not a good thing to say on a micro.

Not a very good visual. My name is Roy Bellamy. We will see you next week.