Transcript of The Hockey Show: The Return of Puck

Go Canes. I am definitely not talking about Carolina. This is the Hockey Show. David Droger, the Hockey News is holding up to you. Ethan is in the other studio. Rose is back for the rest of the season, hopefully, I think, possibly. Are you? Are you back?

Yes, because this is done. And if you're asking about my sunglasses, I know it's not cool to have them on, but my eyes are popping puffy, and I don't want it to be on camera because it hurts.

I did not ask you about your glasses.

No, I'm telling the audience. Yes, hi.

They are asking about your glasses. My name is Roy Bellamy. This is the Hockey News. You can watch us on YouTube. It's the Hockey Show. I'm sorry, the Hockey News. That's where you work. Yeah. Well, this is the Hockey Show. The Hockey Show, DLS, is where you can find us on YouTube, on TikTok, The Hockey Show 7, on X Instagram and threads at Hockey Show DLS. We had a lot of fun at Winter Classic. Unfortunately, Rose wasn't there to partake. Hopefully, she will be for Stadium Series. We will talk about that in a moment. But the NHL has made an announcement where the next Winter Classic will be next season. It is going to be in Utah, as the Utah Mammoth will host the Winter Classic at Rice Eccley Stadium, the home of the Utah Ute. And I got to see a picture of the stadium, mountain background, very scenic, good chance of snow. If you've read any of the mentions that I got from the day of the Winter Classic, when I posted a picture, Hey, this is where the ballpark looks like right now. This is probably a good spot to have because everybody wanted it to be in a winter wonderland instead of near a beach somewhere in Miami.

But yes, the Mammoth will hold this game for the Winter Classic. Do you agree with the I had a joke there.

This team is hosting and is not even old enough to rent a car.

Yeah, that's true. Three years old. They came from Arizona, which came from Winnipeg. But officially, they are their own franchise, the Utah Mammoth, and they are gone off for the previous two seasons that they've been in existence. Do you agree with... Yes, Ethan.

Rose mentioned that they're a brand new team. Seattle hosted the Winter Classic That is also true. And they were their third year of existence as well, I think.

Remember, I am three years old of knowing hockey also.

No, I'm just saying I think it's cool that the NHL is trying to get these new teams and new franchises out into these premiere games and these premiere spots to promote them. It'll be really cool, first of all, to see what they do with the uniforms, just in the same way that the Panther uniforms were a really cool fallback idea. I think the Mammoth, they have great colors, great jerseys. I think they'll do a really nice job. And yeah, the setting is going to be beautiful. That stadium is absolutely gorgeous. So I'm really excited for it.

Utah was the last team, interestingly enough, that hasn't played an outdoor game. They're three years old, and every other team now, thanks to the Panthers doing their thing a few days ago, a week ago, right? A week ago today.

Tampa played.

Yeah. Tampa did the Stadium Series against Nashville a couple of years ago. Columbus Stadium Series, I think last year. So, yeah, it's just the mammoth. And I'm excited. I know that the late Tahoe experiment didn't go Super duper awesomely well because of the sun and the glare and all that. But I remember the lake setting behind it with people pulling up on their boats. That was cool as shit. I hope that they come up with something cool. I think what they did with the Winter Classic down here blew away my expectations, which were admittedly low for a Winter Classic in Miami, but they killed it. I'm very curious and excited to see what they come up with in Tampa, and I think they're going to probably do a really awesome job in Utah.

The boys at What Chaos, specifically, Pete Blackburn mentioned the uniforms as Ethan brought up. Now, they do have a sky blue tent to their uniform. That would be a great base color for their winter classic uniform. I think sky blue, black and white is their color.

Pretty simple winter colors. I think they should lean into the mammoth. I think their jerseys should have some animal hair coming off. Yeah, for sure. Like a fur.

Like a brown jersey.

Yes, absolutely. That might be pretty cool. With tusks maybe hanging off the front of the helmet, little tusks up there.

You know what would be cool? It's like a with a light blue, and it's like they're the mammoth, but you incorporate that light blue, like a- Like a mammoth vest over a hockey jersey. Yeah.

We're on to something.

Oh, man. Keep them warm. The Buffalo Sabers and The San Jose Sharks have been the biggest surprise so far this season, I think. Even the Blackhawks have been better than expected, and that's just the positive. We're not going to talk about the Jets here, which is the complete opposite of positive. So this gives us a chance to review our preseason predictions.

What was that?

I don't know. What was that? What are you doing?

Somebody allowed Rose to have the telestrator.

Rose thinks she's John Madden over there.

I was showing you. Oh, are you looking for it?

Yeah, it was right here next to Dave. Now it's gone.

I'm so sorry. I hijacked it.

You hijacked the telestrator.

I don't know who's idea this was.

It certainly wasn't mine.

No, but keep talking about the savers. I'm going to try to-We're not talking about the savers.

We're talking about our tears.

Before we get there, anytime you're watching a football game on the Telstraiter and somebody draws Rose, can you give me two circles? Anytime somebody draws Rose, don't you?

We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that.

You sit up a little bit, you get a little excited in your chair. You're like, Is he going to do it?

We're not going to do it. Is he going to do it? We're not going to do that. They rarely ever do it. We are talking about our tiers, our preseason tiers that we made prior to the season starting. As I said, the Sabers and Sharks and Blackhawks, positive surprise. Let's go over what we said earlier in the season. As you remember, the Florida Panthers, top tier.

Yes, they're in their own.

They are in their own tier.

And they will stay there until somebody knocks them off. Correct, David.

Correct. That's the only take.

Yeah. And of course, in the bottom tier, the Roy's opinion of Cindy Crosby are the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Who are both in a playoff spot at this moment.

Both in a playoff spot. In the In the middle. In the middle. Now we can pounce out where we were right and where we were wrong. Let's start with the second tier, the teams trying to be like the Florida Panthers. We had Minnesota, Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, New Jersey, Vegas, and Winnipeg. Winnipeg being the obvious wrong answer there.

Yeah, Jersey's a little ebbs and flows this year out of a playoff spot at the moment, but everybody else in that tier, especially after Minnesota made the trade.

I was going to say, who could have seen that coming?

Yeah, You shut up.

No, seriously. I mean, I probably would have put them in the should be playoff team's tier, but you guys had them right at the top of the trying to be like the Florida Panthers tier, and now they are trying to be like the Florida Panthers. They went out, made a huge swing, and got Quinn Hughes. I mean, they've been the best team in hockey since they did that.

Rose has wrote the word dying on the Florida Panthers tier there, which is not true because-They're recuperating.

No. They're healing.

They're losing everything. Rose, it's the first half of the season. They're not losing everything.

Well, it's the second half of the season. Let them get healthy.

It's the start of the second half of the season.

It's still tightly packed enough.

That's a useless correction there. You know what?

There's a theory that you guys have that one player doesn't make a team, and I believe a little bit of that. But the Florida Panthers, they need two of the players. If not, they're not good.

Rose, they're missing half the team, but that's neither here nor there. We got to continue with these tears.

Multiple Hall of Fame caliber people are out of their lineup. Yes. Multiple.

Barky. That's why we need Barky.

Barky. Chucky. And their best defenseman.

Marci is out. This year. Jones is out.

Marci is out. Jones is out. Oh, sorry. I did not- You've been on vacation.

Way more than one player.

All right, let's talk about the third tier here. The should be playoff teams. We had Calgary, Columbus, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Montreal, Ottawa, the Rangers, Toronto, Washington, and Tampa, with the clear wrong answer being Calgary and Ottawa.

Ottawa, I'm not done with Ottawa. Ottawa is not done either. They're five points out of a playoff spot.

And Columbus, by the way.

Yeah, Columbus.

Columbus is on there as well. But yeah, we can place that Columbus with Ottawa there.

Well, right now, they're the bottom two teams in the East. It's tightly packed, but yeah, we may have been a little over-excited there with some of these teams.

Teams with potential, maybe we had Boston, Buffalo, Utah, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Louis, and Anaheim.

This might be our best tier just because- St. Louis. Yeah, one miss, really. But come on, Anaheim, we saw coming. The Shards, somebody here saw it coming.

Is Seattle? Whoa, Seattle's in a play.

Seattle's in a divisional.

Divisional playoff time. Yeah, because the Ducks have fallen off so much. They've won two of their last 14 games or something like that. Yeah, they're struggling. Yeah, wow. I didn't Seattle has been playing better.

I guess Q is not going to win the Jack Adams anymore.

That's definitely our best tier. The Beerle leaers, Chicago, Vancouver, and Nashville. Chicago should be in a higher echelon there, Vancouver and Nashville.

All of them are out of the playoffs, but yeah, I mean, Winnipeg is- Chicago is injured, though.

Chicago has been coming back recently, too.

Chicago has been playing better recently. Chicago has won four in a row. Stay tuned. Chicago is coming up in fuck luck.

All they need to do is stay afloat until Bedard gets back, and they can just hang around It's this wild card race, man. It's wide open. San Jose is still in there. Los Angeles hasn't played very well, but they're holding on to a playoff spot.

Los Angeles will get themselves aligned, nets to Edmonton as the season progresses. However it plays out, you know where they're going to Exactly.

All right, let's go into the Panthers den. Let's start with the Winter Classic. Start with the New Year. They lost 5-1 to New York, the New York Rangers. They beat Colorado. That was almost a perfect game, and they had to play an almost perfect game.

Two unfilthy, baby.

It was the best team in the league. Then they went out to Canada and got their asses kicked by Toronto and Montreal.

Losing 10-3 combined in Toronto and Montreal, not ideal. Granted, they played four of those periods without Brad Marsh in all of those periods, without all of the guys that we talked about before. But this was It was supposed to be a time where the Panthers were turning things around. It looked like as we got around Christmas time that they were really starting to figure it out. They had one 8 of nine or seven of eight or whatever it was. Now they've been alternating wins and losses, but the road trip, they've got to turn it around. Just because if you look at the divisional standings, particularly, that's one area that it's starting to spread out a little bit. I know Florida as of this morning, let's see, Tampa is in the third spot at 55, Florida is at 47. That's a big number. Eight points back is a big number.

Panthers are two games into a six-game road trip. Ten of the next twelve, including two that they just played on the road. The injuries have definitely hit the Panthers again. Brad Marshan taken out of the Toronto game. That was a coaches's decision by Paul Maurice. He's been dealing with a little bit. And Did not play against Montreal. Mati Kuchuk is on the road trip with the Panthers. He just got back to wearing a normal practice jersey. He took off the noncontact jersey and is getting shoved around, so that is a good sign he's close to the playing.

Yes, hopefully. I mean, this It's just me totally speculating. I have not heard anything on this, but hopefully it'd be cool if he plays on Saturday just because he's playing against this brother. It'd be a cool way to market it and get Chucky back on the ice. The last few years, it's been a lot of fun when the Panthers and senators get together. For whatever reason, they don't seem to like each other. So either way, he's coming back on this trip. It looks like Marshan's day-to-day, so it's nothing insidious and serious with that. So I'm just trying to be positive here because they're still right there within striking distance, and we've seen how good they can get just by adding a little bit of depth. You remember when Verheyd and Lusterine had missed the game or two last month, they both came back and it was like a huge shot in the arm. So if they can get a similar effect right now, go a long way towards their momentum towards the playoffs.

I mean, it just goes to show how important Seth Jones is for this team right now because they managed to stay afloat and survive and win that Colorado game with what I thought was actually a great defensive effort despite not having Seth Jones out there. But since then, they had a good third period against Toronto, I guess you could say, but Wall stonewalled them and they didn't score anything. Montreal last night, I was in and out of that game because of the playoff game. It was not a great effort from the Panthers, I thought. It was very laxedasical offensively. It's hard to generate anything right now because their defensemen aren't getting up the ice as much. The power play is nowhere. You've got guys that are in roles that they probably shouldn't be in and eating minutes that they probably shouldn't eat. I don't want to say any names here, but I think you can pick up what I'm putting down. Look, they got to stay afloat because this is a crucial, crucial road trip for the Panthers. I mean, six games on the road here. You're two in already, and you're down two, and you're falling three points out of the playoff spot.

If you don't get anything going on this road trip, there's a chance that this could be it for the season.

And not enough rest, even with the Olympic break, because half the team is going to Italy. As I mentioned, we had a lot of fun with the Winter Classic. And if you want to watch that video, it will be posted on YouTube. But for right now, guys, give you a quick thoughts on what happened on New Year's, not even New Year's Day, but the second of January.

I think I said ahead going into it that my expectations were low just because it was a winter classic in Miami. I had no idea what to expect. I purposely wanted to go in with sunglasses on and let it potentially blow me away, and it really did. I think they did a great job. I thought everybody Everybody that went had a good time. I think the only negatives had to do more with the stadium BS than the game or any of that.

Which is not the league spot.

No.

Not the Panthers' fault, not the league spot at all.

No, it's just they don't know how to put on a big event at Marlin Stadium because they don't really get a lot of people there. Hopefully, that will change as the Marlins continue to improve, but that's another topic for another day. But overall, I think they killed it at the Winter Classic. I thought it was awesome. I think we all had a good time. Ethan seemed to have a blast making his way around, spending way too much money in the team store. And, Roy, you even cracked a few smiles.

I hate when you... Listen, I smile. You're smiling right now? I smile, okay? People like to say, Hey, Roy, you don't smile. Hey, finally, Roy was able to smile. Ha, ha, ha, he, he, he. I smile.

I'm not saying you don't, but the ratio of smiles to other expressions on your face is a lot lower than other people. That's true.

All right, it's time for Puck luck. It's sponsored by DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours. I will not do that pause that Chris Cody does every time he does a DraftKings read. So no, that's not happening from this side. Dave, let's win some money.

Let's win some money. So this is only three games on the slate tonight, so I had to do a little digging, but I feel good about what I've come up with. First off, as Ethan mentioned earlier, Chicago has been playing really well lately. They've won four straight, and those Four straight include wins over Dallas, Vegas, and Washington in Washington. And that's relevant because they're playing the Caps at home tonight. And the Caps have lost four of six overall and six of seven on the road. I like Chicago's money line. Get some value there. Dylan on Utah. We talked about them earlier. He's hit his over two and a half shots prop in eight straight games before missing last game against Ottawa. So we're getting slightly better odds off the miss. And then Kevin Fiala of the Kings, him as well, over two and a half shots on goal. He's hit that number in five straight. The Kings are a little banged up, and he's seeing a little bit more ice time right now over the past few Kings games. Total odds on your parlay, 477. Go make yourself some money and have a good weekend.

Chris Cody is in the studio. And as we mentioned with the win of Classic, he was there as He was there as a fan. Chris, talk about your experience at the ballpark that day.

I liked it a lot more than this show represented. I thought it was fine. I thought the vibe was really good. I agree. I mean, that ballpark stinks in terms of getting in it, lines.

You missed the first part of what I said. I raved about the event. I just trashed on the ballpark experience of people trying to move around. I thought it looked cool.

I couldn't hear Role Model from where I was near the unnamed beer bar.

They had speakers around the home plate area facing the actual seats. I don't think they had any in the outfield.

I'm telling you, man, someone's like, Oh, they're performing. I couldn't even hear, didn't know the performance was happening.

That's not close.

The bar we were at is the closest, actually, to that performance.

We were at the outfield bar.

My brother was sitting in the left field seats right next to it, and I went and sat with him, and there were speakers right in front of the seats, so you could hear the skates during the game. It was a really weird audio experience because they had miced the ice, so you could hear all the sounds on the ice. You could hear them already, but then you were also hearing them through a speaker. It was just weird. It's not a great viewing experience.

Were you able to hear any chirps?

Not chirps. No, that would have been cool. That would have been neat. But it was really more so just the skates and the park crashing in the stick, whatever. It was a great time. I had a great time. We never get it again, though, right? We agree.

I mean, no.

It'll be a done.

Think about this. Outside of the football window for Stadium Series, do you think Hard Rock will get Yes.

I think because of the timing, right, with football still going on, they might not do that.

It's in February. They just have to do it. What are they worried about? The Dolphins in the playoff?

A non-Super Bowl year.

College football, playoff, bowl game.

They have to coordinate the schedule, but they can make it work. That's in January. That's in January.

Tennis. I think we blew it, guys. I'm speaking positive of it, but no, I don't think we're getting another one. I think Lone Depot blew it. I don't think Miami necessarily blew it because it turned out fine. The guys after the game weren't really complaining about the ice or anything. They Like I said, the ice held up pretty well by Chris Coty. Love you. But they weren't really complaining about the ice. I thought the surface held up pretty well, all things considered. But of course, Hard Rock is outside. Marlin Spark is indoors, so it might make it a little more difficult.

You guys set off a little light bulb in my head a minute ago when you were talking about the mics on the ice, and maybe, could you hear them chirp? Maybe you don't know this, but you know how in NASCAR, you can actually dial into the radio feeds of the drivers and their pit crews and everything? You're hearing whatever what they're saying. They could be chirping each other. They could be swearing at each other. They could be talking shit about other drivers. You don't know. Can we get to the technology where we can maybe cut into a feed of a hockey player who's miced up and just hear how he's bagging on the guys on the other bench? You know what I mean? Wouldn't that be cool? You could tie into Brad Marshan miced up for a game?

It would be for Matthew Kachuk versus Zee Van der Kuh.

Yeah, just think about the endless possibilities.

The NHL would never let that happen.

No, not the NHL. The NHL Players Association would never let that happen.

That might be true to, but I don't think the NHL wants people to know what's said on the ice.

I think this is a great idea. I think this would bring more people into the game. It humanizes the players. It's like, Oh, he's pissed about the same thing I'm pissed about.

It's a great idea. Don't get me wrong. I just don't think the NHL would ever let people hear what players say to each other.

There was an outdoor game in Miami a week ago. That's true.

Maybe they're getting a little more advanced.

It's time for Rosa in Un Minuto. Rosie, what do you have?

Okay, let's go.

I missed this song... Shane Wright, marcó el gol de la ventaja, pero el verdadero monstruo fue Philip Gough, Juan en la una que se mandó 41 batajadas. Sí, 41. El hombre estaba en modo pared. Después, siguieron con el show en casa. Victoria, 7-4 contra Boston. A Caput, Cacuq, metieron dos goles y Berk y Catun anotó sus primeros dos goles de la NHL. Ya lo extendió su racha de nueve juegos seguidos sumando puntos. Nadie los para. Pero la fiesta tenía que terminar. Con Minesota, los cracker empataron en el tercer partido. Con Zucarello, los apagó en overtime. Derrata 3-2. Aun así, si ya lo cierras la semana, dos victorias, una derrota Yeah, let me give you in English, people.

I hope that was in the English script. Holy shit. That is loud. What is happening?

I told you it was the English script.

One minute of Huffing with Rose, people.

Hey, kids. It's one minute of Humphrey with Rose, and this time we're heading to Seattle where the Kraken has been unleashed.

Kraken.

Yes. The Kraken started the weekend by crushing Calgary 5-1. Shane Wright score, go ahead, a goal. But then the monster was Philip Gabriel with stopped 41 shots. Yes, 41 shots. The The man was in full brick wall mode. So they kept the show going at home. 7-4 win over Boston. Rick Wall Mode. Caku is scoring twice, and Burkree Catun there in his first two goals of the NHL. Nobody kept the show going at home. 7-4 win over Boston. Rick War mode. Capul, Cacul, scoring twice, and Burkree Catun there in his first two goals of the NHL. Nobody kept the show going at home. But everybody has to end. Against Minnesota, the cracker tied in in the third period, but Zucarello shut them down in the overtime 3-2 loss. Still, Seattle finishes the weekend with two wins, one loss, points and then straight games and points in 10 scrapes and playing in a serious team. Yes, a very serious theme. Yes, a very serious theme because when the cracker wakes up, somebody's getting dragged on there. This was one minute of Hacker with Rose. I love that. Your weekly recap of cop, fuck, passion, and a little bit of chaos.

That's so. Sheeky. That's why she is wearing glasses.

It's time for Wins and Fails. Dave, what's your win?

Oh, man. All right, hold on. My Wins and Fails have a fighting theme this week, so you might enjoy it. But my win is Maverick Lamarou, former first-round pick of the former Arizona coyotes, now the Utah Mammoth, playing for the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners. The massive Lamarou, 6-7, 2-14, Roy. Big boy. He won a fight against Turner Ottenbrite during Tucson's three to two win over the Calgary Wranglers last week. The fight was actually at the end of December, so two weeks ago. But the video is just showing up, and the video shows Lamaru after he got sent off the ice for fighting, trying to get back on the ice to fight someone else. And the referee's like, No. That's illegal. No, no, no, no. So bad ass. You're done. No, no. And he's like, The fans are into He's like, Come on, let me fight. That's what they paid for. I thought that was awesome. I thought that was so cool. So that's definitely my win of the week.

Three wins for me this week. A hat-trick, if you want. Three wins? Yeah. Funny enough, two of those wins were hat-tricks, and both were from former Florida Panthers. The first was from Monday as the Capitals played the Ducks. Justin Sordeef, who was traded because there was no room on the Florida Panthers' roster last season, at least last season. This year, they probably could use them. Got a hat-trick as the Caps beat Anaheim 7-4. And then on Tuesday, as the Islanders hosted the Devils, Anthony DeClaire messed around and got himself a nitty-hattie in New York's nine-nothing win versus New Jersey.

Celebrating an Islanders event.

That's- Wait until my fail. Wait until my fail. My third win is even more special. Leila Edwards, who is currently a senior at Wisconsin. She is playing on defense over there as a Badger, will now be an Olympian. As she was chosen to be part of the US women's hockey team. She became the first Black player to ever be rostered for the Olympics for the United States women's hockey team. So that is awesome. Ethan.

Yeah, I want to go back to the Winter Classic, Roy. That was just an amazing event, and a lot of people deserve props for it. The NHL, first of all, did... Watching that happen from the inside, that's an unreal event that they put on there. Quite the production that was happening there. I just wanted to highlight it again because we had such a great time. First of all, I wanted to shout out Fatou for coming down and hanging out with us. She gave you some love, Roy, on the Justin Sordee Patrick. She was all excited that her caps were taking good care of a former Panther. We had so much fun hanging out with her and Sean and everybody that was there. We just had such a great time, and it was such a great event. I'm so happy we got to go. So, thanks again.

Okay, I'm not going to give you a win. I'm just going to give you the next week. The next week is a lightning. But my win was, string your things. I'll talk to you about it after.

Okay. Fails of the Week. Dave.

Massive brawl last week between Ryan Reeves of the Shards and Columbus's Matthew Olivier. Not the first time they've squared up, but this might be the most memorable because Avillier knocked Reeves the bleep out. Didn't quite get him out cold, but certainly put him on his ass on the ice. Reeves is a fighter. He knows how this out works. He's cool with it. After the game, he was talking about the fight and the neurological test he had to play. So if you guys have that, can we play it?

They just played it.

No, there it is right there. Oh, there it is.

I had to memorize some words. Cotton, honey, arrow, I think was there. The months of the year backwards to do some number games, some balanced stuff. Pass with flying colors.

Well, there you go. All right, my fellow for the week, and you sure saw this coming, my fellow goes to the Devils because on January sixth, the The Islanders played the Devils on Long Island. On January sixth, the Devils lost 9-0 to the Islanders. On January sixth, Tony DiAngelo scored the Islanders' seventh goal. And on January sixth, you allow a goal to the DeAngelo, you deserve to get what you got. And on January sixth, Tony DiAngelo scored. The Devils deserved that 9-0 beat down. Ethan.

You called it, too. You texted me like, I should have taken D'Angelo on January sixth.

On January sixth. Fitting that he scored on January sixth. Did you guys see what happened in the Chicago St. Louis game the other night with Jordan Binnington. Jordan Binnington gives up seven goals. This is Team Canada's starting goalie. And he refuses to come out of the game. And then the Blues can't find their backup, Joel Hofer. He's just hiding. I'm not sure if he's hiding. He didn't know what to do exactly. But it gave us this unbelievable screenshot of Hofer just waiting in the wings, like hiding in the locker room. It was really a hilarious moment. I don't know how Jim Montgomery always finds himself in these situations where he just loses control of his team completely. He is once again the most fired coach in the history of sports.

If you're watching on DraftKings Network, coming on next, we have David Pinota, the fourth period. We're going to talk about the league. He has some inside news for us. You can watch that on YouTube. For everybody who's listening on audio, David Pinota is coming up next. All right, kicking things off with Smearing Off, the official vodka sponsor of the NFL and the number one vodka in the world, Chris Cody. You're here. Smirnoff. Wow, you're on the money with Smeerinoff. Smeerinoff. Chris, you know what goes great with Smeerinoff? Smeerinoff. Yes, but I'm really talking about the game day fit. The style has got to match the vibe. All right, here's the deal. Game day is everything. And that's exactly why your fit has to match the occasion. Starting this December, Smeerinoff is giving fans 21 and over the chance to score limited edition Smirnoff commission, merchandise from some of today's top creators, including Kayla Jones, Gavin Matthew, and Aaleigh May. Here's the kicker. One lucky fan will take home the grand prize, a trip to the biggest game of the off season. Plus, one fan will win a Laila May's one of one game day jacket.

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David Piotr is from the Port, period. He's our... He's not our insider, but hey, he's our insider. He is our insider. He's our insider. So, yes, he's our friend, and we love him, and he joins us with some league news. And we are getting closer and closer to the trade deadline. And we will start with the defending, reigning two-time Santa Cup champion, Florida Panthers. Is Bill Zito going to do anything?

Well, he's looking around, boys. He's looking around. He's trying to see see what he can do. I'm talking to a few teams in the last week. They're starting to, at least, relay that, yeah, the Florida Panthers are starting to comb the market a little bit, see what options might be available to them, depth-wise, more so than anything. He's looking at strengthening the decor and just deepening that. But there's also maybe it's the bottom six, maybe it's the fourth line, just to give him some more options as the season moves on. We know Matthew Kachuk is coming back soon. Let's see how the roster looks once he's back in it, how he does They're probably going to ease him into it and then go from there. But yeah, Bill Zito, GM of the Florida Panthers, looking around, just trying to see what options are available to him, probably closer to the trade deadline, not the holiday, excuse me, not the holiday, the Olympic freeze, where there's a roster freeze from February fifth to the 22nd. And some teams are viewing that as the mini trade deadline. I think we'll see some activity, but it won't be a regular trade deadline, which will happen on March sixth.

And it looks like that's the timeline where Florida is seeing, well, look, unless something happens now and falls into their lap, that's probably closer to the actual trade deadline where they look to make a move.

Who is the most expendable person on the Panthers' roster right now?

I don't even know if they're looking or have a desire to move anyone out per se. When Kitchuk comes back, they're going to be sitting at around 17, 18,000 in cap space. So So they're allowed to do that because they're working within LTIR parameters. They still have flexibility to send guys down. Some of the guys that are waiver exempt, you add that all up, it's about two, three million in additional space. So there is wiggle room. We know Barcov is not coming back till playoffs, so they're not really concerned about that money right now. So I don't even get the sense that they're looking to move anyone out, really. It's more so just insulating the roster and cushioning some areas of the roster as much as they can until playoff time. Now, with Barkov, the initial prognosis and timeline was in and around conference final time, the end of May. That could be escalated up to beginning of May, potentially, if they get to the second round. We'll see. I mean, they got options. There's no sense of urgency. It's just looking to see what options may be available to them. And again, I I just don't get the sense that they need to move anybody out in order to make something happen.

Speaking of flexibility, I know that another team in the Eastern Conference is looking for some flexibility as we get closer to the Olympics in the trade deadline, and that's Carolina. You reported a couple of weeks ago that Jaspary, Kutkut, and Yemi They were looking to shop him. They were trying to unload him off of their books. That may be heating up lately. Can you tell us anything more about that, Dave, and just about Carolina's plans?

Yeah. So the hurricanes offered up Khakunyemi right before the the holiday break for Phil Deneo in LA. And the King said, no, they didn't want to add on the additional term. He's got four more years on his contract after this season at 4. 82 million per year. It wasn't necessarily the money, it's just the term. And he's He's flutter this season. I don't think LA viewed him as an option at the dot for them. He's been rotating. He plays center, but he's also been rotating on the wing. But he's been available. The hurricanes are never afraid to take a big swing, not lately. And that's something that they're looking to do. They've got some cap space, but moving Kakenyemi out frees up a lot more, and it gives them a little bit more roster flexibility, too. So that's a player that we put up our trade watch list earlier this week. He's on it. They've actively made him available. But again, I think it's more of a preference to upgrade the roster in another area by moving him out and utilizing his position on the team, roster-wise, and the cap space itself. So we'll see where that goes.

There's been more smoke today on Kakenyami. We'll see if that evolves today and into the weekend. But he's definitely a piece that the hurricanes have been dangling.

Pags, as we're sitting here talking, I just saw a tweet of the neutral zone at the Milan Olympics ice, and it is tiny. This is like two strides for Connor McDavid from blue line to blue line. How did this happen? That's normal, isn't it? How mad is the NHL about this happening? And it seems like, I was reading an article yesterday from Emily Kaplin, Things are... It's going to happen. The arena is going to get done. How did this happen? And again, how mad is the NHL about this situation?

Well, with the ice size itself, they were supposed to have NHL size rink, an NHL size rink. It's three feet shorter. It's IIHF size. So it's international size, but it was supposed to be NHL size. So that's why everybody is up in arms going, well, for this Olympics in 2030, we agreed for NHL size. It's not the end of the world really. And everyone's, they seem to be okay with it now because they really don't have another choice. But it was supposed to be, excuse me, NHL size, not IIHF size. So that's where things got disconnected. With the building itself, look, I'm Italian. Italians have a tendency of moving at their own pace. So I'm not overly shocked that this building is not done yet. The I The place seems to be in place. Now it's just figuring out everything else. The locker rooms aren't done, the concourse isn't done. It looks like the seats are all in. The roof's finally finished. So that's a plus. But they still have What is it? Like three weeks to go. So all hands on deck for these guys. Put the espresso down and just finish it up, boys.

Come on. You got this.

What's the concession situation going to be once this place is open? Are we getting like fresh pasta? How exactly... Because now you got to think about food. Canolis. Yeah, right? Are we going to get some nice fresh canolis out of the oven? How hard do they go with the concessions out there, Dave?

Well, I've never been to a hockey game in Italy, so I'm not The soccer. You're familiar with the Italians? I've done soccer. Yeah, I've done. See, I went to Milan in August for the NHL player tour. And at that point, they were supposed to... Some of the Canadian and Americans were supposed to have... They didn't even go. From the executive team. They were supposed to do a tour of the facilities then, and no chance. It wasn't even remotely close. But I've been to a few soccer games out there, and I'm sure they're going to bring in some. There's going to be pizza. There's going to be, I guess, sausages, equivalent, not really hot dogs, but they got a lot of different- Hot sausage. A lot of different sandwiches, a lot of different types of sandwiches. I didn't see any pasta when I was there at some of the soccer games, but that could be something. That's disappointing. I'm sure I would impose an espresso bar.

Well, you think about like baseball games in Japan where they're like, shoveling lo mein into their mouth. So I'm thinking like, why can we do that with pasta?

You can. I don't know. It's more the sandwiches. Italy does more of the pizza and the sandwiches that come in for their sporting events at the concessions. But I don't even know if there's popcorn, to be honest. There might be. There might be something, but I never saw it. I just saw these little sandwiches. Little. They're actually massive.

The opposite.

We're having a big discussion here, assuming that the concession stands in the arena will even be done.

It's the most important thing.

Have you seen the walkways?

They don't think the fan experience is going to be done. It's insane.

They're going to have to makeshift it because if you're going to a game, you're going to want snacks and all that stuff. Maybe they just simplify it. But I saw a picture of one of the locker rooms yesterday. It's just a room. They have the walls done, but nothing's in there yet. Nice. And I think some of the electrical still has to be worked out and finished up. All hands on deck, these guys can finish off those types of rooms in a week. And I think that's their mindset going, When do you open? The fifth? We got time.

Seven years they had to construct this arena. Seven years. It's insane.

It's insane.

Look, I don't get it, but... I know you don't get it.

It's crazy to me. It's Crazy to me. Still excited for the Olympics. This happens every Olympics seemingly, though. But I can't wait. Once they're on the ice, nobody's going to give a shit.

Right.

That shouldn't mean the ice holds out.

It should. I think they're using the same type technology that the NHL is using to make sure that the ice is good to go. And we'll know pretty quickly because I think the first game is on the fifth. I think the women's game, they play on February fifth or sixth, something like that. Early. Yeah. I hope it works out.

First, Rose dances with pizza boxes. And before the segment starts, and then we end up talking about pasta and massive sandwiches and pizza. Let's just move off of food because I'm very hungry. The Ottawa Senator announced that Lena's Omar would be away from the team on personal leave. And apparently, somebody had gone on their social media, and I guess the team called them a troll, and delivered some misinformation about what has been going on with Linas. And the The Senator's, at least, the statement with fury against this so-called troll. What's going on in Ottawa? What can you divulge?

Yeah. Well, he's... Walmart's gone. He's He's taking a personal leave. And that's really all the senators are saying. Now, there have been some rumblings that there may have been altercation with a teammate or something along those lines. And that's part of the reason why he's away. There's been some talk that they've been exploring the trade market on him. So it certainly sounds like something just doesn't jive with Allmark and the team. Look, I saw the stuff that was posted on social media on X and whatnot about it. And I just figured it was just fans doing what they do, like guys like to troll and chirp and do all this stuff. I didn't think it warranted a statement from the team. It's just some random anonymous fan that's just causing shit and stirring everything up. Excuse me. Look, I don't know why they decided that they needed to acknowledge that, but it does add a little bit of fuel to the fact that something's going on within the organization with Allmark's relationship there and with the team. And it just amplifies some of the rumors and speculation out there that he might be on the move.

Now, I've asked around some Some people around the league have heard his name out there, some haven't. So this still might be a little bit fresh, but it certainly sounds like the relationship between player and team in some capacity has been hindered a little bit. And is it in the best of spirits? Let's put it that way.

If he does go on the trade block, do you think there's any potential teams that he'd be a good fit for?

I think there'd be a lot, but the issue is his $8. 25 million cap hit. That's going to be the biggest problem, at least in season. Maybe this is something that they view as an option in the offseason. But right now, in terms of pulling it off, which teams want to make an upgrading goal and which teams have the cap space to do it? If If Edmondton, for example, wanted to get in on this, they'd probably have to package Jarry, who they just got from Pittsburgh, with another piece to make the money work. Carolina, K'Chekow is done for the season. Do they want to roll with Anderson and Bussy or do they want to just go for the upgrade with Walmart? Maybe that's a potential fit. But outside of that, it's hard to see where the options might be in season. I think there'd be a lot of options in the offseason, excuse me, just in season. Because of the dollars tied to it, it might be pretty difficult.

The Eastern Conference is all bunched up. I'm going to give you three teams right now that you can talk about. You can talk about Toronto because they were in the bottom of the league and have somehow worked their way up now to within striking distance of a playoff spot. You can talk about Buffalo, who has won 12 of the last 13, given that they fired the general manager, Kevin Adams, in the midst of that winning streak, they were in a three-game winning streak at the time. You could talk about how close Lindy Ruff was to... How close he was to losing his job. You could talk about the New York Rangers who had been so terrible at home. Is it because of Mike Sullivan's play style They haven't gotten used to it yet like the Panthers did with Paul Maurice when he first got there. And is there any word on Egor Shostoken's injury?

All right. Well, Toronto, on an They've gotten things rolling now. What is it? 6: 0 and 2: 00 in their last eight. So things are going better for them, certainly after the win last night. They played Vancouver on Saturday at home before they go on the road for a week. Things have looked better in terms of their overall performance. Austin Matthews, people are saying, Yeah, he's back. He's back to the player he was. And we've been waiting for that since last season. He hasn't really exploited his talents in the best way because of some injuries that were nagging and bothering him. It seems like that's now a thing of the past. And if you're a relief fan, you're hoping for that. But they're also a little bit banged up. Chris Tanev's season is probably over. He's going to need surgery. And if he does, he's done for the regular season anyways, not coming back till, I think, the timeline's end of April, maybe beginning of May. So they're going to look to see if they can make an addition on that back-end. Initially, they wanted to bring in a puck mover to help get that up the ice.

But because of Tanev being out, I think they want to just see, can Carlo hold that role, that defensive physical presence in that back-end, and we can still bring in a puck mover, or do we have to replace now what Tanev has brought to the table? I think Brad for Living, their GM is looking at every angle. But now that they're rolling again and got their heads out of the you know what, they're going to look to add and try to cement themselves in a playoff position. So Buffalo. I think Ruff was right there. I think they were contemplating making that change behind the bench and then said, you know what, let's just keep it going, see how this goes. It's not Jarmo Keckalina's guy. Maybe if they can build up a few more wins together, then it gives him enough runway for the rest of the season. Well, he's got a hell of a lot of runway now, given 12 wins in their last 13. Things are looking good there. The priority right now for Buffalo is Alex Tuck. Can we get him signed? That's their mindset. So they're trying to see if they can get him signed, or at the very least know that they can get him signed this month, they're going to hold on to him.

If not, if they feel like he's not going to sign here or he's out of our price range, whatever deal he signs, it's going to make him the highest paid forward on the team, 9, 10 million plus. It won't be the highest player. That's Rasmus Dahlene, 11 million. But he'll be in that 9, 10 range somewhere in the 10s is what I think, especially if he hits open market. And if that is the case and the savers don't feel they can sign them, then closer to the trade deadline, they will probably try to trade him within that two week window from end of Olympics to the trade deadline itself, unless they find out now, for example, that he's not going to sign. But I don't think they're going back and forth right now on that subject. And then Rangers, I don't even know if they know exactly what direction they want to go in. The owner, James Dolan, came out last week and said, Preach patience. He's willing to be patient with this group. He may wake up tomorrow and say, get the hell with that. Go make this team better now. The Shesterken injury, thankfully, he's only day to day or whatever it is on IR.

I think it's not as serious. Obviously, he's got to miss some time, but it's not as like this isn't a long term thing. At least that's what they're relaying to everybody. Similar to Tuck in Buffalo, Panarin in New York, they got to figure that out, too. So they're trying to see if, realistically, they can sign him. If not, and he likes it in New York, he'd like to stay, but he wants more term than I think the Rangers are willing to give him, at least at the dollar figure that they're looking at, which will be similar to the eleven he's making now because he's going to be the biggest fish in the open market in July if he hits it. So if the Rangers feel they can sign them, they'll do it. If they don't, then they'll probably make him available for trade. But this is another team team like Carolina, always lurking right now. And if they can make a big splash and take a big swing, I think that's what Chris Drury would like to do. And it would revolve around the player in his 20s that's controllable for the foreseeable future.

And then shifting to the West, Dave. I've got four teams for you. Two are in playoff spots right now, two are not. Seattle and San Jose are currently playoff teams. Chicago, who's won four in a row, and Winnipeg, I don't know what the hell, are out of the playoffs. Is how it's going to stay? Do you see some switcheroo? Mainly, Dave, Seattle and San Jose, playoff teams right now. Is that how it's going to stay?

I don't know. I don't think there's enough in the tank for Seattle. Personally, if they proved me wrong, awesome, good for them. But I think there are other teams that are going to surpass them. I think San Jose has the potential, but San Jose is in a buy and sell mode. They've got pieces they're willing to sell off, but they're also trying to insulate that roster and give them a good shot at making the playoffs, which is evident in them, a: resigning Alex Wendberg, getting him to a three-year extension, and then the trade yesterday to bring in Laurent Boursoua to stabilize their goal-tending position a little bit and provide a backup there. So there are other guys like Mario Ferrero, Timothée Lillgren, John Klingberg. They got two other guys on expiring deals as well on that back-end. I think they're going to move out one or two of them, but they're also looking to add as well and bring in somebody that fits a top six role. Excuse me. A top six forward line. I'm still not saying it, right? But a top six forward is something that they'd like to bring in, but also controllable, fits the mold.

They can grow with the younger guys like Celebrini and Smith and Ekelen and everyone. So they're an interesting group for me. But I think there's enough there because of This is how great Celebrini is and has been this year, where there's an argument for them to make the playoffs. They probably won't do much, but to just gain that experience would be something. I think the Ducks are going to rebound a little bit, get back into it, get their game going. They're on a hell of a slump now, but I think they've got enough to rebound and get back into it, get out of this little funk they're in. I think LA has got enough to be a payoff team. Edmonton is obviously rolling. The Nites are rolling. But I don't know about Seattle The battle is the bubble one more so than anything for me in that group, because I don't think Chicago is going to have enough to get going, and nobody knows what the hell is going on with Winnipeg. Oh, man. They can't score. They got the first line, and then the rest, nobody else can do anything. So we'll see. It'll be very LA-like for the Kings to lose to the Jets tonight and snap that streak.

And then everyone in LA will panic and go, What the hell? How do we lose to a team that's lost 11 straight? But eventually, Winnipeg is going to win again. It would just be a little bit hilarious if it ends up being against LA because the King's fan base will lose their minds.

All right. That's what's going on around the league. David Pinota from the Fourth Period. Thank you for sharing what you know.

Thank you, boys. See you.

Thanks again to David Pinota from the Fourth Period for joining us and giving us some league news. We are back, ladies and gentlemen. We are back after a long, long leave, and we are happy to be back to cover the rest of the season, Dave.

It's nice to be back. It should It's going to be fun for a lot of the things that we just talked to Pinota about. The standings are tightly packed. The Panthers have a long road ahead of them to make up some ground, and they're getting healthier. I know it's fun. It's hockey. It's great. The Olympics.

And the Olympics The biggest event of them all.

That's going to be fun.

The biggest event is the Rose Bowl.

The biggest sporting event on the planet. I guess you could argue the World Cup, but nobody loves the Olympics more than me, guys, and I cannot wait for this tournament.

Big That's the guy, Bedausky.

She won an Emmy for that. I have an Emmy picture of the-Oh, yeah, that's true.

No wonder he loves it so much. Yes.

I mean, I love them way before, but that helps.

So he couldn't talk about the group chat in today's show, but he did bring up his Emmy.

Yeah. That was a miracle. You brought up the group chat.

I did not bring up the group chat.

No, you didn't. I brought up my Emmy.

I brought up that you didn't bring up the group chat. We brought up the Olympics. Giving you some props.

Rose actually said Emmy first.

Well, I don't know. I wanted to talk Stranger Things, but the show is called The Hockey Show.

I wanted to talk Stranger Things.

Okay. The Hockey Show. I was just reminded that it said Hockey Show, no Stranger Things.

All right, I will give you the floor here to end the show for a minute. Okay.

Stranger Things.

One, two, three.

The first time that I saw it, I did not think I liked it. The finale. The finale. But then, spoilers. If you don't want spoilers, close your...

Mute your microphone and walk... Mute the speaker.

At the beginning, I was not happy. I did want Eleven to die. That was the part of what I needed. Because it's like she represents E. T. In E. T, she's like, E. T. Come home. She had to go home. She's somewhere. But I believe also.

When her sister was dying, but Hopper never touched the sister. That's where I was like, no. They killed Millie Bobby Brown? Calm down. But when I saw that, I'm like, no, there's something more there because she had the power to make you see things that you couldn't see. Then when they played into that at the end, I was like, ah.

But you I don't even know if she's alive or not. The only ones that know is Dauphre Brothers and Millie, and it can go either way because if you analyze it, it can go either way.

But that's a good ending, though. It's a great ending because-We're talking about it.

We're not pissed off about it. You don't know. Yeah, exactly.

The only people who are pissed off are the people who have just been spoiled.

No, because I say spoiled, that's why I said, do not watch it.

You gave a spoiler alert, and it's been on for a week now.

It's been on for a week now. You got to skip 15 seconds, 15 seconds, 15 seconds.

Yeah, just skip. It'll be okay. But right now, I watched it yesterday again. I cried, and I keep crying in Purple Rain at that moment.

I watched it last night after the Canes game because I had to watch it before coming in today. I had to finish last night.

This is what it's like when doves cry?

Dude, I cried. Several times. Several times.

Several times. Yeah, that's just two minutes of Stranger Things, but I'll talk about it in my own podcast. That's you want to speak Spanish? Go there. If you don't speak Spanish, just forget.

I've tried. It's entertaining, but I don't understand shit.

Not a damn word. Yeah. That's been The Hockey Show for this week. We will return next week if we don't get canceled. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. Everybody in the back, Gino and Jason, thank you for helping us out. That's Ethan, that's Rose, that's Dave. I'm Roy. See you later.

Bye.