Transcript of The Hockey Show: I Don't Know Hockey, I Just Know Barky
The Dan Le Batard Show with StugotzYou're listening to DraftKings Network. Hello.
Welcome to The Hockey Show. I'm Roy. Rose is in David's seat because David is in Boston. Ethan is in the ERP chair. He's given a wave. A small bit of news just happened just now. David, you have details on a signing.
I do. Just coming across the news wires as we are doing the hockey show, Kevin Lankinen, perhaps some may call him the goal-tending savior in Vancouver this year, has signed a five-year extension worth pretty reasonable four and a half million per year. Granted, this is his first, you want to call it breakout year or whatever, but a pretty steady move by Vancouver to get him long term for that price. I mean, Thatcher Demko been a little hurt this year. He came back, then he went back out again. So obviously, they want to So we're up a little bit of insurance there. I know they got Sheelabs, who was amazing during the playoffs last year. But I don't know, Roy, I'm pretty pleased with this move for Vancouver. I think it's smart on their end.
So is Demko and Lackinen going to be a Bob and Spencer Knight type of deal here if Vancouver was better than what they are this year?
Well, I think it's probably a little bit more long term, considering Demko's got quite a few less miles than Sergeo Barovsky does. Bob's done. His contract is done after next season. Well, both of them are Bob and Knight. But no, I think Vancouver, if Lincoln is long term, what he's appeared to be this season and in bits and pieces the last couple of years on some lesser teams, then their goal-tending situation, assuming Demko gets healthy and once he's I think he's good to go, their goal-tending situation to be pretty solid moving forward for a while.
Okay. Obviously, we're going to get in the Four Nations in a second, but apparently, Rose has some hot take that we actually have to get into. So go ahead.
So my take is more than four nations, it should be a two nation. Canada versus United States. Just get Finland and Sweden out. They didn't do anything. I'm so sorry. I love Marquis.
I love this take. I love this take. I love this take. I'm going to tell you why. Not because I think Sweden and Finland should be thrown out, but because I think in the years that it's not the Olympics or the World Cup of Hockey, the All-Star break should be a three-game showcase, best two out of three between the United States and Canada. Because what we saw... Could you imagine? It's one-one right now. Could Would you imagine the anticipation for a third game three days from now? What that would be like after what we saw in game one, a great game in game two, which we'll get into. Obviously, we don't love the result here, but that was a fantastic hockey game, super well It's great on both sides.
Yeah, you are absolutely right. And you are absolutely right. I like Ethan's idea of a best of three. That was not even an idea.
With my hot take-I know.
You were the catalyst. You were the catalyst.
He gave me the idea with my hot take.
I've been saying this all week, but it's okay.
I'm just agreeing with your hot take. But there you go. He's been saying this all.
They're fighting over the hot take. Come on, guys. We don't have to fight. You can share the hot take.
Sam Bennett versus United States.
I can be Sam. Sam Bennett versus Reggie Kutcher. Sam Bennett versus Reggie Kutcher. Let's go. Right here. Let's go.
Four Nations final was last night. It was a spectacle. It was an epic. And of course, it went into overtime. It was like a script was written. I was right, saying, Everybody, take Canada as the the dog at plus one and a half, and obviously, they went into overtime. So if you picked that one, you want money. So you're welcome. But let's start with the national anthems. Okay. O Canada was booed. It was booed from the beginning, and I'm sure it got booed louder because that rendition sucked. Absolutely was horrendous. Do you guys agree with that?
David was there. David, what were your thoughts on the anthem last night?
On O Canada, it felt like the hit. It was pretty drawn out. Honestly, I felt like based off of what happened in Canada for the first game, I was expecting more. And I hear the way that fans have reacted to it, it was some great situation. I don't know. Maybe I just set the bar too high in my own head. But the anthems were... I mean, it was so politicized, though. A lot of this felt very politicized throughout it because of what's going on, nothing to do with hockey with America and Canada. But I don't know. You know Alex Baumgard, who covers the Panthers down south with us? He's up here. He got almost attacked by a bartender at my hotel because he's like, Yeah, I'm Canadian. The guy just free that. He's like, Oh, you can't boo the... Seriously. Like, F-bombed. The guy had to leave work. This has gone way beyond hockey, and it's just considering hockey very much a stay in your own lane thing. It's been a little weird.
The problem is that we tend to politicize a lot of things, so we take out the fun of a lot of things. That happens with the Oscars, which I love, and with hockey. Everything is It's all later size, and it makes it not fun anymore.
Well, this is what happens when you get international tournaments going. If this was a regular season game, this probably wouldn't be an issue. But the way the rhetoric went, I mean, obviously that happened. John George Gross on Twitter said, I hope Canada plays like that lady just sang for the rendition of O Canada.
That did not happen.
Now for the Star-Spangled Banner, the Boston pops came out there, and I got to tell you, that was fantastic. The anthem singer that sang the United States National Anthem, she knew she owned that shit, man.
One thing we need to do more in America is what Canada did in Montreal on Saturday night, which is just let the crowd take over. You have somebody lead it. I think the Blackhawks do this sometimes. They have their animals.
No, the Blackhawks do the applause.
They cheer the entire time. I think what America needs to do is, look, most people know the National Anthem. Just a few lines, say, Can you see by the Dawn's early light? And then put the mic in the air and just let the crowd take over because being in that arena on Saturday night and hearing the O Canada, that was goosebumps. I started singing along. That happens in M&A Jersey. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Yeah, that was goosebumps. I'm telling you right now, I wish I had the video of the lady singing, but at the end between Home of the and then brave, she looked around and then gave a hit. She took a moment. She took a moment.
Did the head nod Oh, yeah. I got that. That got me fired up. That got me fired up. It was a little weird in the building, though, because everyone else obviously didn't know she was in a pause there.
So the whole unison singing kept going. And then two seconds later, the song finished again. So you got to get on the same page when you do something like that.
That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of it. Yeah. Because it got you excited, pause, but it got you excited again.
This is like in the WWE when The Rock comes to Miami and goes to Sunrise, and he says, Finally, the rock has come back. He stops. Everybody says to Miami a full audio, but he says home at the end because he's back home because he went to University of Miami. That's the thing that By the way, if you bet the over, if you think the over hit on O Canada, it definitely hit on the Stal's Mingo banner because that thing went... It was like two minutes.
Yeah, that was a long anthem. I hate a long anthem, to be honest with you, because I just wanted the game to start. But last night, that got me fired up. I want to hear from David about the atmosphere because I think I spoke a little bit about what Montreal was like, although we didn't speak about USA Canada. Rosie has a point, though. What's up, Rosie?
Since you don't like long Anthems, next hockey show, I will sing the Guatemala Anthem. It's very long.
Okay, I think that's a great idea. I think that's a great idea, actually.
I think that's a social media club right there. You got to get on that.
Twerky. I wanted to I wanted to ask you about the atmosphere last night, buddy, because I can only imagine what it was like being in that arena. And Boston is a great city to host this event. So tell us a little bit about it.
At its best, it was great. It was pizza valleys. And I guess my bar going into it was what we experienced last year and the year before in the Stanley Cup final and all that. But at the best moments of the game, it was loud. There were USA chants, there were Johnny Hockey chants. It was great. Maybe I'm unreasonable in thinking that you wanted them to keep that throughout and the buzz in the building throughout. But there was definitely periods of low, and that maybe surprised me a little bit. But the crowd was loud. It was not as one-sided as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be much more pro USA, and it was maybe 60, 40, 55, 55, 35. Really? Wow, what have you seen? There was a lot of red in the building, a lot. When Sam Bennett scored to tie the game, I was like, whoa. It got really loud in there. Then obviously at the end, it could have been a home goal, the way that those Canadians made that noise. It was pretty cool. It was one of those situations generations, Roy and Ethan and Rose, I guess.
When you're watching a play, we're watching a play out.
Just because you said that, I'm going to call on your math. You didn't do the math, right?
Yeah, you did 55-35. That was bad.
55-35, Honey, it's 55, 45.
I was told there would be no math.
Did you say, Honey?
I've been hitting the head with a lot of hockey pucks, okay? Leave me alone.
I'm calling you out now.
All right, going into the game now. We're going to talk about the actual game now.
55, 35.
The first goal for Canada, the first goal of the game, Canada did something that they really didn't do in the first matchup, which was create traffic and screen Conor Hela Buck, and that's exactly how they ended up scoring. Nathan McKinnon was able to skate freely and got a quick shot off, and that got past the best goalie in the world currently.
Yeah, all the US goals that they'd given up before this game had been off rushes or zone entries. No in-zone extended periods time that led to goals for the US. To see the Canada, the Canadians, I can't talk today. Montreal? No. To see the Canadians able to capitalize in ways that other teams had not throughout Four Nations had me as somebody that was watching from the American perspective a little concerned for the US just because there were areas that they had done so well for so long, and it seemed like early on Canada was finding ways to exploit that.
Yeah, I think the story of the game last night was, and the story of this tournament, was everybody said coming into this, This is finally the year. The US finally has the better roster. That's probably true. The US has the better goal tending. I thought their blue line was better, and they're probably deeper up front. The problem is, those guys have McKinnon, Makar, McDavid, Crosby, Reinhardt. Power play. That's their entire power play. They have the two best players in the world, the best defenseman in the world, the best player of his generation, and I'm not going to get you started, Roy. Thank you. The best player of his generation who is still playing at a very high level. And I just think you saw McKinnon. Look, you can do the whole playoff Hellebuck thing. He got scored. The three goals were that shot by McKinnon that we just saw, which basically impossible to stop. He's getting screen. He's coming back the other way. Mckinnon, perfect shot in the upper 90. Then Bennett gets in, point blank, goes top shelf, where as Muler keeps the peanut butter.
Wide open on that.
Wide open right in front of the net. I mean, this is a point blank chance that Sam Bennett has right here that you're going to see. Then the third goal is, again, another perfect shot by McDavid. You can do the our Hellebuck thing, but really it was just Canada's top-end talent, namely, McKinnon, and then McDavid here on the winner, beat the United States last night. The US has some great, great players, and they were certainly missing Quinn Hughes because Quinn Hughes all of a sudden makes it pretty even on the blue line. He's basically the American version of Makar. But their guys came through when they needed them most last night, and especially McDavid. It was very poetic that back in 2010, nobody wants to revisit it, but Sydney Crosby scored the game-winning goal in the Olympics.
I thought you said he wasn't going to give you a rile of.
The United States had beaten. Exactly. Remember, the United States beat Canada in the preliminary rounds in those 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Canada comes back and wins the gold. Us beats Canada here in Montreal in the preliminary rounds, and then in the final, Canada comes out. And this time, it's McDavid. And I think this is basically like a passing of the torch here, where Crosby scored in 2010, 15 years later, which, God, that's 15 years ago already, McDavid scores to win this tournament. And I think it's poetic in a way, David, that you as a hockey fan and a guy that can... And Roy, too, that can appreciate that greatness that It happened that way. It almost felt fitting.
Yeah. What I was just saying before is there was a moment where everything slowed down. When the put came out of the corner from Mitch Marner, and by the way, credit to Mitch Marner, who you did not mention, but he had the primary assist on both of those, the Bennett goal and the McDavid goal. So he went from a quiet tournament to having a really big impact on that last game. But it was just like it happened in slow motion. All of a sudden, there was McDavid, spotlight on him, nobody around, alone in in the slot. I felt like we all had time to reach down and grab our phone and open the photo app and put it up there and start recording. It all felt like it was in slow motion, and there was zero chance that that puck wasn't going in the net. Even from an American watching, it was still pretty cool to see it play out and to see the best player in our game right now pull it off.
Go ahead, Ryan.
Except for Jacob Slaven, the defense for the United States was pretty awful, and they turned the fuck over, and their neutral zone play wasn't exactly great either. They left Hellebuck out the drive for a lot of this game, especially in front of that. Dude, protect your goalkeeper, clear out the crease. What are we doing here?
Well, Slaven was ridiculously good in that game. But Zach Rens, he also had a really good tournament for Team USA. But I mean, look, Quinn Hughes was missing throughout that they couldn't get him out there. Jake Sanderson was fine, but the depth there, I think, maybe played a part. Also, we haven't mentioned once so far, Jordan Binnington was unbelievable.
Unreal. Unbill. Unbillied in overtime.
Oh, my goodness. Hellebuck was great early and throughout, but Jordan Binnington stole that game and allowed them to get it to where McDavid's for it. Credits to Binnie. That was great.
Yeah, he made this save on Matthews, which this is the chance right here that just has to be buried. I mean, it's a great blocker save, but if you're Matthews, that's point blank. You're a 69 nine goal scorer last season. That just has to go in. And then he made another one on Bradley Kachuk that was just like, maybe that's just Jordan Binnington's building. He won game seven in 2019 there. He made 32 of 33, stopped 32 of 33 or something like that. And then last night, he was absolutely fantastic when they needed him. By the way, that shot I saw of McDavid wide open in the high slot is the alternate universe of Game 7 Panthers' Oilers, where the fuck has pinned up the boards and somebody somehow, someway, dry-sidal or somebody fishes it out of there and gets it to McDavid. Because if you watch back the replay of Game 7, McDavid's sitting there wide open just waiting for the buck to him. I guess you can say then that the Panthers are a better defensive team than Team USA because the Panthers didn't let it out of that corner. They won that battle, and Team USA let it out, and you saw what happened.
Tough night for Austin Matthews. He couldn't bury that chance. Then he was the guy that gets caught napping on the goal. Didn't score a goal in this tournament. Hasn't scored in eight straight games, including his leaves duty. It was a tough tournament for him. But is there anybody... One last thing I want to touch on here is, David, is there anybody that raised their... And Roy, is there anybody that raised their stock in the NHL more than Jacob Slaven in this tournament?
Yeah, just him. Absolutely. Maybe Sanderson offensively, but yeah, definitely Slaven.
David? No, I After the game he had, it's hard not to think otherwise, but I mean, hopefully, Jordan Binnington gets a little bit more respect for his big game ability. Putting me, putting it on top of my head, the first guy that comes to mind after that game yesterday was certainly Jacob Slaven. Because even Connor McDavid, for the goal that he scored, he admitted he wasn't quite as dynamic as he should be in his and many of our opinions.
All right, one power play in this game. It was basically playoff officiating. They weren't going He didn't call anything egregious, unless he was egregious. There was that, and that power play went to Canada. That penalty kill was pretty good because Jack Eichel's play-He had his Kevin Stendland moment.
Yes, he did. He lost his stick, and he kick the buck away. I was like, Oh, my God.
That led to a two-on-one.
He returns.
Yeah. So yeah. Michael's played defensively throughout was really solid in this tournament. Maybe that's an eye-opening element, too. He was probably USA's best player all around.
And Matthew Kutchuck got hurt got hurt in the first matchup, and he gave it a go for a period and a half and couldn't do it anymore. And that is bad news for the Florida Panthers. It looks like he might be out for a little bit.
Yeah, I saw the Kachuk brothers after the game last night doing what players do, hanging out with family or whatever in the inside of the arena. Just watching Matthew trying to get up and down the stairs a little bit, clearly, he's dealing with something. So hopefully it's nothing that lingers too much into the Panthers season, but I think at the end of the day, as good and as entertaining as this tournament was and what happened in Matthew Kchuck and Charlie McAvoy, is that just you take it, you take the good with the bad for something this amazing because it's hockey, right? They're not going to do what football does in the Pro Bowl and make it a mockery of the game. They're going to do it. They're going to do it right. Flag hockey? No. Is this just going to be an acceptable thing, Roy? We want best on best, Yeah, I think so, David, because I was there, and having experienced that, I saw people that were home tweeting about, Barcov limped off in one of the games, and it's like, Oh, my God, Panther fans.
This is the worst possible case scenario. And then Chuck He gets hurt. This is the worst case scenario. For me, it's not going to take away any of what happened over the last week and a half in terms of how awesome this tournament was. Guys know what they signed up for. They know what they're getting into. They asked for this. We have to remember, the players asked this in the last CBA discussions. They want this. And yes, it sucks that the Panthers probably aren't going to have Matthew Kuchuk for at least seemingly the next couple of weeks or so. But let's be honest. First of all, here's your chance, Panthers. This could be your LTIR season. If you think this could be something really long term. You could put Matthew Kachuk on LTIR, take advantage of that loophole, go out and do something at the trade deadline to bring in some big time salary and really reinforce your team. Or Matthew Kachuk is out for the next few weeks and he just rests up and, look, the Panthers They want to win the division, obviously, because they want home ice. But the regular season is not what matters to the Panthers.
What matters to the Panthers is the playoffs. And so as long as Matthew Kutchuk is good to go for the playoffs, nobody's going to remember that maybe he got a little bit hurt in the Four Nations face-off.
All right, we'll talk about how the Panthers did in the entire tournament, and we were going to talk to Sarah Sivian of the Civ Report, and too many men about the Four Nations tournament coming on next week.
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Sarah Sivian joins us from the CYV Report, and Too Many Men. And as David's The airport announcements continue. They were both in Boston for the Four Nations final, which turned out to be a significant event for Canada in this situation. But how is the atmosphere in the arena at TD Garden? Because it was pretty palpable for the entire week from both locations based on the political thing, basically, that happened with the United States. How was the atmosphere in TD Garden during the game?
Yeah. Okay. First of all, that cracks me up because we talked to Nathan McKinnon after the game, and he's like, Listen, I don't know much about politics, but I know Canada and USA is a thing right now. That cracked me up. It's like a thing. But yes, it was a thing at TD Garden. It definitely booze for Canada, but people were there. But then there were cheers, too. There was a lot of Canadians in the Lower Bowl. Obviously, when the momentum shifted to Canada, they showed up and they showed out. But at the same time, everything was extremely loud. I was at Game 7 of Maple Leaves versus Bruins years ago. It got as loud as that, maybe a little bit That was the goal that Rhymer gave up on that one? Yeah. Oh, isn't it always?
Sarah, I wanted to get your take, and you just alluded to it a little bit, but just as somebody that's been in that building so many times. I wasn't sure how that would compare. And so if that's comparing to Game 7, Bruins, Leaps, that would be a big thing. But I was a little bit surprised just based off of how pro-Canada the crowd was in Montreal last Saturday, that there were so many Canadians that I don't know if infiltrated is the right word. I mean, there's talk about guys that drove like 30 hours to get there. But I was a little surprised that it wasn't more of a Home Ice Advantage feel, were you?
No. This is Canadian... This game, them winning was just emblematic of like, You know what? Team USA can improve and improve and improve, but hockey is still Canada's game. And I think, obviously, Obviously, Montreal is just hours away from Boston, so that was a good geographical rivalry type thing. I know a lot of people from America that went to Canada for the other games. I just think at the end of the day, hockey is very Canadian, and you saw that with the representation there.
Hey, Sarah, was this maybe the most little brother moment USA Hockey has had with Canada, where you win the game on Saturday in Montreal and everybody's really fired up about You have the three fights in nine seconds, all the drama with the group chats and the political stuff. And then you come out, you go to Boston. It feels like you talk a whole lot of just to lose the game that actually matters again. Could this have been more of a little brother moment for USA Hockey?
Oh, what a great take. Absolutely. And also just they succumb to the drama around it where Team Canada and you saw... Okay, in the media, there was a lot of questions asked about, How are you feeling about this moment? Where does it compare to everything? Cindy Crosby said something before the Championship game that just made me realize, All right, this is little brother moment for USA. He's like, You know what? I've been involved in a lot of big moments. It's so true. Everybody on USA was fighting for their lives. I don't know. I liked Brandon Hagle on Team Canada, Tampa Bay Lightning. You may know him. He's playing for, obviously, the leaf in the jersey and not the group chat or whatever. That's the mentality that a team that gets it needs to have. I mean, I loved the antics to some degree. I love Matthew Kachuk, and I love when he was asked about that group chat thing, and Brandon Hagle said, We don't have a group chat. And Kachuk's like, Well, maybe they don't like each other. That's hilarious. And these chirps back and forth are needed to grow the game. But at the same time, you end up a little brother when you can't pull it off at the end, even though this is the closest hockey game I've ever seen in my life.
Was this also a missed opportunity for the USA? Isn't Canada only going to be stronger one more year? Usa is still going to have the goal-tending advantage, but obviously, everybody's looking forward to Milan now next year at the Olympics. Do you feel like this might have been USA's best shot to get Canada in one of these best-on-best tournaments?
Great question. I don't think so because of the trend of how hockey is growing in America. You look at the percentage of guys that are American-born from 10 years ago, and it's at least 10 or 15 % higher. So I feel like the game has been exploding in the US, so I think it's just going to get better. But I think this was a measuring stick of, Okay, we thought we were absolutely there, and we're not quite yet.
With the politics being driven up and affecting things in both of the countries, it pretty much seems that the Johnny Goudreau Memorial for the United States team got overshadowed by all this nonsense. Do you agree?
Yeah. It's a shame because at TD Garden, there were Johnny Hockey chants and tributes. You know what? The team itself was talking about him and thinking about him every day, but in such a politically charged environment. It really is like they lost focus about a lot of things, and that's the most important one.
Sarah, one of the least surprising things that happened last night was Conor or David.
Now, you better not say Sydney Crosby. Please don't say that name.
Was Conor McDavid, the new Sydney Crosby, the new Daddy of Canadian hockey, scoring the winning goal. I don't think any of us were surprised by that. What did surprise me, maybe the most surprising thing of all yesterday, was the treatment by the crowd of Brad Marschand. He got booed on his home ice loudly, and that was like, wow. So I don't know. As the Boston girl, what's your take on that?
I think there were a lot of fans that aren't from Boston that ended up going to game, first of all. I think people are idiots in general. People were very much idiots about this game. And Brad Marschand is somebody who is okay with being booed. You know what I mean? He has been booed in every single atmosphere he's been in. So I think Bruin Hockey fans do know that. But the McDavid point, I don't know. I was thinking about this. I know there were tons of new USA hockey fans watching this game, and I was thinking, Oh, my God, maybe they're disappointed that USA couldn't pull it off. But they got to see the absolute absolute best hockey player in the world do what he has not been able to do thus far on the biggest stage. That's just the best hockey you're going to get. So USA Hockey fans that just started watching during this tournament, you got to see something great.
I wanted to ask about the big stage before the airport guy talked over me. But speaking of a big stage, just generally, how do they leave a guy that open? He had an entire dance floor of space to store that goal. Come on, America, you can't leave such an amazing tournament and leave that with the taste in our mouths. But that's it. I'm stepping back as the American after that.
We were talking to McKinnon after the game, and he's like, Yeah, you can't leave Connor wide open. He just said that. He's not even trying to flex. He's just like, he was wide open. What's he going to do? Score. It was a tough tournament and a tough season for Matthews right now. He's fighting something. I don't know what. They tried to fix it in Germany. I don't know if they did. I don't know if he's sick. He seemed sick when we were talking to him. Everybody here is sick. I sound sick. I'm a little sick, clearly. But I think something's going on with Matthews, and you just can't leave Connor McDavid that open.
Sarah, I want to look ahead now. The second half of the season starts tomorrow right? So let's look ahead to it. One of the big story lines going into the second half of the season is going to be what the Carolina Hurricains do with Miko Rantan after they just traded for him, it feels like two weeks ago. There were some rumors flying around yesterday that he doesn't seem all that excited about being in Carolina, about extending with Carolina, and that could lead to them trading him here within the next couple of weeks when the deadline is on March seventh. I want to ask you because the only reason I've heard for why he would stay in Carolina is people really like Rod Namur and the power of friendship with Sebastian Aho. Why should I believe that after he was going to test free agency with the team he's been with for 10 years, he's not going to just test free agency with Carolina, a team he was just traded to?
I don't believe that at all. I think his agent is really good at negotiating in the public, too. And I think it depends. I know Tom Dunden and the Carolina Hurricanes are very much negotiators themselves in the way a lot of NHL agents are. It's going to be hardball for a minute here. And I think we're in such a no man's land when it comes to the salary cap rising and rent it in. Everybody wants to test the market. Why wouldn't you? It's increasing. We don't know if Carolina is going to spend to the cap. They have been right now, but it took them a few years to get there to this position where they're spending to the cap. It's all interesting with the salary cap. And I would think it wouldn't be about bad vibes in Carolina or anything like that if rent didn't test the market. It's just you'd be crazy not to test this market when the salary cap is jumping more than it has in a decade.
Give us a sense at how angry the Boston Bruins are at Team USA based off of the injury of Charlie McAvory.
Oh, my God. On a scale of 1-10, it's Mike Milbury throwing a shoe in the crowd. Oh, wow. I think the Bruins are extremely disappointed and frustrated with the way this was handled with Team USA. I think you don't specifically make that statement that they did with our naming their medic by name and title in a tweet. Why are you putting that out to the public? Because you are mad. But it feels like maybe this didn't have to get as bad as it did. You're looking at there's a ton of injuries and question marks with guys. To get Kachuk on Team USA, and maybe you're questioning a little bit, how did they pick the staff? Was that the correct decision? But I think the Bruins would say no.
Sarah, you brought something up before talking about Carolina that made me think of something that's really been interesting me as we head toward the Tradeout Line, and that's the goalie market. I feel like Carolina has got to be the front runner, if nothing else, to go after John Gibson or maybe another goal tender on the market. I feel like he's the number one guy out there, but do you get that sense that they need to bring in a goalie, or are they going to try to ride it out with Anderson and Kochechov and see if that works this time?
Personally, I have wanted them to get a new goalie since I came out of the womb. I'm like, Can you please Can you trade for a goalie? Can you do something? They just are adamant about having the best defense of all time and a slightly above-average goal tender. I think the Anderson situation is so precarious that you have to. They would love somebody like Gibson. That That's when I look at Hurricanes, I'm like, That seems like a safe bet. They like safe players that have had veteran insurance. They can see. And Gibson, he's itching for the playhouse. I think that'd be a great thing, but are they going to do it? I don't know. Why wouldn't you? You look at what the Avalanche did, we're like, All right, we'll simply get two new goal tenders in two weeks, and we're an entirely different team. I think that gives everybody else the allowance to try it.
Sarah, real quick, I'm going to give you five teams. You're going to pick two of them that to make the playoffs? The Ottawa Senators, the Detroit Red Wings, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Boston Bruins, and the New York Rangers. Who makes the playoffs?
Red Wings, Blue Jackets. Blue Jackets might be biased because I love the story and the vibe around them, but they have dealt with so much adversity in so many injuries, and they have not a great team. If you think about comparatively to the teams that they are beating, it's like they are underdog and they're injured. But Boon Jenner is coming back. They got people coming back. And Donald L said he's not necessarily selling at the deadline anymore. So I think if he can buy, he said he's going to prove to this team that they deserve to be there and maybe buy. So I'm like, if he's going to do that, give them that vote of confidence, that's great. The Red Wings, ever since they got a new coach, it's like they learned how to play hockey again. They have one of the best power play units of all time. Watching this, I'm almost mad at them for like, what do they do to just turn this on? It can't be just as simple as getting a new coach, but I guess it was. But they showed they're significantly better and they're trending upwards.
Finally, to close out our Four Nations coverage with Sarah Sivian, you're a fashionista. Why don't you give us the grades on all four of the uniforms that these teams wore?
Usa 4. Oh, my God. Everyone's going to listen to them. Usa hater number one. That's not true. I love my country because I can criticize my country, okay? So number four, Team USA. That just looks like a fake knockoff jersey to me. Three, We're going Canada. Just same deal. I mean, it's boring. It's the maple leaf, but you get what you get when it comes to Team Canada and the maple leaf, right? Two, Finland. No, no, no. Two, Sweden. Yeah, there you go. I agree. It's great. It's clean, but it could be better. Okay, there's room for improvement. Nothing special. Yeah. Finland, the most special of the bunch, I guess, but all around weak jerseys.
Wow. Rose is happy.
Okay. Rose is happy because of Alexander Balko. But Sweden is classic. I mean, you got the three crowns, the accent on the sleeves to make it look like the-It's not an alcohol bottle. Okay.
Come on.
Okay. Sauros' helmet was awesome.
Hela Buck's helmet. Hela Buck had the best helmet, I think. That glittery gold, shiny. I don't know. I just, I loved it. I like Chauvinors, too, with the honor. And Swayman with the throwback, Rangers.
Sarah Sivian, The Siv reporting too many men. Thank you for joining us, The Dan Levitard Show with Studio Ots is sponsored by Better Help.
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All right, everybody. Let's go over how the Panthers did in this tournament. I got some stats here, just some counting stats or whatever.
I think the Panthers went undefeated in this tournament, really. I don't think the Panthers have lost in two weeks.
I'm not talking about statistics over here, David. That's all I'm doing. I'm sorry. All right, let's go over to Finland contingent. Itu Lusarinen. Itu Lusarinen with just an assist. He was a minus to Niko Mikola. Assist, he was a plus two. Antoine Lundell, a goal. He was a zero. And Alexander Barkoff. Jesus, I'm getting to it. Yeah, thank you. A goal and an assist and a plus one. Finland did not do well. The entire team did not do well in this tournament, but how did the Panthers do, guys?
I thought Barkey... I mean, he's Barky. He does what he does, right? He's awesome. I thought Lundell had a really nice tournament. I actually was listening to a podcast, and they were talking specifically about Lundell and how he's one of those younger guys that's coming up that got some shine in this tournament that could really take advantage of the stage and did well. Meeksie had a tough tournament. Lusty did what Lusty does. But I really thought Lundell, if you're talking about guys that maybe surprised us a little bit, was one of those guys that had a really good tournament.
I think for Finland, what stood out for me, Barcab does this thing, and what Ethan was just saying about Antoine Lundell showing off a little bit more on the international stage, what we see on a more regular basis from him. But I thought Nico Michola, his usage was really high. They had him in a lot of different situations, a lot of tough assignments. So I thought particularly his effort, while he's not going to get a lot of credit for how he played, I thought the effort that he put out there and just what they did with him in terms of the situations, I thought he did really good.
I should say that I said he didn't have a great tournament. That was a terrible spot for Meeksy after the defensive injuries, he was their number one defenseman, basically. He's not a number one defenseman. He's a good player. He did handle well. But when you're forced into that spot, you're going to have a tough time. Beep.
Two minutes.
All right, so we're done.
No, we are not done. For Sweden, Gustave Worsling had zeros across the board offensively. He was basically primary defense on that one. How do you think he played?
Similarly to Michela, where they just gobbled up minutes that he was used a lot. Just like with the Panthers, Gustav Worsling wasn't getting much power play time. I don't think he got any power play time, actually. They definitely used them shorthanded. But both Finland and Sweden just really struggled to get their footing. It's Ethan alluded to earlier. This really did feel like... Actually, I'm sorry, I think it was Rose that said it earlier. This really just did feel like it was just in America, Canada, and everything else was just secondary.
Yes, excuse me. Don't take my public.
Great analysis by Rose.
It's the first good analysis that I get because I don't know hockey, I just know Barky, but that analysis?
Well, you guys shared it. There was a primary assist and a goal on this one.
Who had the secondary assist on that.
Just give it to me.
Okay.
Four to zero was really good. That's all I got.
All right. That's all you got. United States, Mati Kuchuk, two goals and assist plus three. Unfortunately, his playing time was diminished with the injury. Aside from that, it's pretty obvious.
He was the star of the tournament for me, Roy. You talk about Slaving for NHL fans, raised his status more than anybody. But as a casual observer, for casual observers for hockey, I'm not sure anybody had more of a star turning than Matthew Kachuk. Obviously, he's already a star in this league. But I think casuals now, people that don't really watch hockey, are going to know who Matthew Kachuk is because of what he did on Saturday and how he was the face of the team. I understand he was an assistant captain. He really should have been the captain, if we're being honest. He was the face of the league. David, do you have to board right now? Do you have to leave? Was that last call? Are you boarding?
No, no, Mike, that's not my flight. The white zone is for loading and unloadding passengers only. No, if we can wrap this up sometime soon, I'm actually thinking I'm going to-We have a minute left.
You want some alcohol? Okay, that's what it is. I wasn't going to go there, Roy. I do, too.
Me in an airport, it's alcohol.
Never too early to start drinking It's five o'clock somewhere.
There's no time.
See you next week.
There's no clocks in here.
Yeah, okay. It's Canada. Sam Reinhardt, no goals, four assists. He was a plus one. Sam Bennett a goal and no assist and a minus one. What? What did you say? We said bye. We didn't say bye. Thank you, Sam Reinhardt. I'm not done. All right?
Go.
Please. Reinhardt, tough games offensively, really good defensively, though. And then obviously, Bennett, huge goal, big moment fighting and braided Kachuk. I thought he had an awesome tournament. Got put into the lineup in game two, never left it. Awesome tournament for Sam Bennett.
He since in love with Reinhardt. It was a gradual build for Sam Bennett. He scratch, he played, I think, eight, seven or eight minutes in the first US-Canada game, and And then John Cooper started to realize, Oh, yeah, Sam Bennett, impactful player. There's a reason I hate this guy. He's beat the crap out of my lightning team. It was nice to see that Benny got a little bit more play, but getting back to what you just said before we wrap it up. All right. Your point about... Oh, wait, I'm sorry.
Am I getting wrap up? No, no, no, no, no, forward.
I'm very excited to see. Sorry, Rose. She's gone.
The regular season starts back up again for Florida versus the Seattle cracker at home. The cracker four wins in the last 10. In a previous matchup, Panthers went in a shootout, two to one, and they outshot and outhit them by a wide, wide margin. But the injuries, that's going to be significant coming into this game. That's pretty much it. We don't really have to do anything other than that.
Brighton Montour, homecoming. Salute to him. Yes.
Bye.
We're saying goodbye now. Josh Mahrer, obviously, as well. That's it for this week. That's it for the Four Nations. We are back to regular season hockey coming up this weekend. Rose, Ethan, Dave, live from the Austin Airport, Logan Airport. My name is Roy. We'll see you next week. Okay, goodbye. Bye-bye.
The Dan Leventard Show with Studio Outs is sponsored by Better Help. We talk a lot about red flags, the warning signs that tell us to stay away from toxic relationships. But what if we You spent more time looking for green flags? You know the signs that a relationship is actually healthy, supportive, and worth investing in. What are some green flags to look out for? Good communication, emotional safety, mutual respect, and someone who genuinely listens to you. Whether it's a romantic partner, a friend, or even a coworker, recognizing these positive traits can help you build relationships that truly love you back. If you're not sure how to spot them or even how to practice them yourself, therapy can help. It's not just for people going through major challenges. Therapy can teach you positive coping skills, how to set boundaries, how to show up as the best version of yourself. Betterhelp is accessible, affordable, and convenient with over 30,000 licensed therapists and a fully online platform, so you can find the right match for you. Plus, you can switch therapists at any time at no extra cost. Discover your relationship green flags with Betterhelp. Visit betterhelp. Com/delbtoday and get 10% off your first month.
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Roy, Rose, and Ethan are in the studio, and David joins the gang as he travels back from Boston, after covering the final three games of the Four Nations Face-Off. The guys break down last night's epic final that saw Canada emerge victorious yet again over the United States in a best-on-best competition, and Rose has a hot take about where the NHL should go from here with international competition. Then Sara Civian of The Civ Report and the Too Many Men podcast joins the show to recap the game and why this may have been the most little brother moment ever for USA Hockey. Plus, the crew touches on the upcoming second half of the NHL season, including Mikko Rantanen's contract situation with the Carolina Hurricanes and the wild race in the East for the last two playoff spots. Finally, the crew analyzes how the eight Florida Panthers who participated in the Four Nations fared for their countries.
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