Episode Harry Watson (443): Tavares Hits 1000pts. Over and Under Achievers. TOTW Tampa Bay Lightning

Auston Matthews passes 50 goals and on pace for 75. Are the Vancouver Canucks for real?  We assess it in our Team of the Week segment.  

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Title Player Derek Sanderson - Connect to Jaromir Jagr

News

Matthews past 50! On pace for 75 - truly remarkable

Jagr sweater retirement - came out for the warmup 

Kekalainen fired - finally - 410-362-97 record in 869

11 years

Jackets 18-28-10 this year - last in Metro, 29th in league

Tilman Fertitta - owner of Houston Rockets is in talks to get an NHL franchise.  

Are Jets in trouble? 

Trade deadline looming - 

Guess the 5th

Connections - What do Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull and Alexander Ovechkin have in common?

Team of the Week - Vancouver Canucks - 

82 PTS (1) .683 PTS % (4)

GF% 59.44 (2)  SF% 49.15 (19th) xGF 51.04 (13th) 

SH% 11.69 (1) 

SV% 92.29 (7) 

PDO 1.04 

PP 22.8 (11) 

PK 78.95 (19) 

Points

JT Miller 29 - 50 - 79

E Pettersson 29-45-74

Hughes 12-58-70

Boeser 33-27-60 

Goalies

Demko 44 GP .917  GSAA 17.3 (2) 

DeSmith 17 GP .894 -4.6

 Hot / Not

Atlantic FLA, TOR 8-2-0 / MTL 3-6-1 - Florida pouring it on

Metropolitan NYR 9-10 / NYI 3-4-3

Central - MIN 6-3-1 / ARI 0-9-1 

Pacific - LAK 6-3-1 / 4-5-1  A lot of middling performances 

Crazy Stat

DOPes Rielly ended up with 5 games - Leafs appeal, Bettman upholds

Dale is away but Mike has a great chat with Al Mitchell from Sports 1440 Radio in Edmonton. We discuss the state of the Oilers, and the Pacific division. Mike tested Al's draft knowledge in Guess the 5th. 

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Title Player Dan Maloney 

News

Oilers winning streak ends with loss to Vegas - good game, had a playoff feel

Al Mitchell from Edmonton Sports 1440 

Guess the 5th - Who are the 5 players drafted in 2015 with the most NHL Games Played?

Hot / Not 

Atlantic DET 7-2-1 / MTL 4-4-2 - worst team at .500 

Metro CAR 7-3-0 / NJD, WSH, CBJ 3-6-1 

Central DAL 7-2-1 / CHI 2-7-1

Pacific EDM 8-2-0 / SEA 3-6-1 

DOPeS - Dillon Jets - 3 games - 

Nikita Zadorov - 2 games for hit on Lucas Raymond 

Rielly - 6 games? Seemed a lot like Perron

Dale and Mike are thrilled to speak with retired NHL linesman Vaughan Rody. He gave us some great stories and fascinating insights into the life of an NHL official. The All Star Game happened this weekend and it wasn't a complete fiasco, so that's a step forward for the league. 

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Title Player Randy Burridge  

News

Trades:

Lindholm to Vancouver

Monahan to Winnipeg

All Star Game - Skills was an improvement - was fun and interesting and they were actually trying

3 Hours? WAAAAY too long - no need for bands 

Does the $1,000,000 prize make it more interesting for fans?

PWHL game was fun - skill is impressive - 

Draft feedback

All Star Skills competition - Steve Mayer - been Chief Content Officer for 7 years and this was most input from player - doesn’t speak well of him imo

3 on 3 main event.... meh

All Star Announcements - NHL Players in Olympics!!

4 nations faceoff - replaces all star next year

World Junior Charges - 

All players officially named - 

Michael McLeod has 2 charges

Dillon Dube

Alex Formenton

Cal Foote

Carter Hart

Vaughan Rody Interview - 20 years - 1228 regular season games / 19 playoff games

https://nhlofficials.com/nhl-officials/current/vaughan-rody/ - Read the bio - had some serious injuries

Connections: 

Guess the 5th 

Mike watched 1967 Habs vs Leafs on Youtube and was fascinated

AT THE ALLSTAR BREAK - 

Playoff picture

East - by P% wildcard teams are TBL / PHI

West - by P% wildcard teams are LAK / STL

ATLANTIC - 1st Bos / Last Ottawa Predictions - Leafs / Canadiens 

METRO  -  1st NYR / Last CBJ Predictions - Rangers / Flyers

CENTRAL - 1st WPG (Pts%) / Last CHI Predictions - Avalanche / Blackhawks - very tight

PACIFIC - 1st VAN / Last SJS Predictions - Oilers / Sharks

Player Stats - 

Kuvherov, MackInnon, Pastrnak, Miller

Goalies - league average save % .899!!

Swayman, Hellebuyck, Daccord, Demko, Ingram, Jarry

Crazy Stat 

DOPeS - Trouba 2 games for elbowing

https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/player-safety/new-york-rangers-defenseman-jacob-trouba-suspended

We welcome back Jeff from Meat and Potatoes: A Flyers Podcast (formerly Broadstreet Bully Podcast) to give us the update on the Flyers season and the Cutter Gauthier situation. The Oilers run the table in January and extend their winning streak to 16 games. 

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Title Player - Blaine Stoughton - 

News

• Is Oiler streak extended to 16. One away from Penguins record of 17 from 92-93. 

World Junior 2018 Team - 5 players are to surrender to police 

London Police will have a press conference on Feb 5. 

Friedman stressed how they were told to be very careful as anyone linking the players publicly before charges laid would likely be sued

• Utah - Ryan Smith requests NHL open expansion process

Arizona supposed to have plan by end of January - coincidence? 

• Borje - not great TV but fun to see the story
• Zach Parise signs with Avalanche after being off all year so far

Connections - Congrats to Cody Trafford for the first correct guess on Last Week's contest

This week: What do Valtteri Filppula, Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews, and Mats Naslund have in common?

INTERVIEW - JEFF FROM MEAT AND POTATOES: A FLYERS PODCAST 

• Jeff does a guest version of Guess the 5th

What’s the Call? 

Last week discussed Oilers got 2 min penalty and Kraken 5 min and Oilers received 3 min PP. 

Table 15, Rule 19. Example 19. 

Table has 32 examples of who serves what in different penalty situations. 

Proposed Rule changes - no more coincidental penalties? Why not get rid of the rule? 

These charts from Moneypuck.com are pretty cool. https://moneypuck.com/standings.htm

DOPeS - Brendan Gallagher hit - 5 games https://www.nhl.com/video/topic/player-safety/gallagher-suspended-five-games-6345655846112 - 

William Lockwood - 3 games for hit on Fleury - https://scoutingtherefs.com/2024/01/43464/panthers-lockwood-suspended-for-goaltender-interference-on-wilds-fleury/

Listened to Agent Provocateur episode about a DOPeS Hearing. - kept calling them Department of Player Suspensions. Called it a Kangaroo court.

The Oilers have extended their winning streak to 13 games with wins over Toronto, Calgary and Seattle.

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Title Player Dean McAmmond - Connect to Patrick Roy

Feedback - thanks to those who entered guesses in Hockey Connections - 

NEWS

1. Oilers win streak - 13 games - will it continue? Cbj,chi,Nash

   1. How much credit to Knoblauch, Coffey?

2. Isles fire Lambert, hire Patrick Roy

3. Pinto signs for $775,000, 1 yr

4. Rutherford signs 3 yr extension

5. Matthews with hattrick in win over Calgary - on pace for 71. Leafs needed that win, big performance. After blowing leads in 4 straight, they came back from down 2-0.

6. First look at trade deadline March 8 - Athletic / Daily Faceoff / TSN

   1. Elias Lindholm - CGY - seems to be consensus top player available - 2nd line C - UFA

   2. Trevor Zegras - ANA - unbelievable with hype around him . 2 more years at $5.75. Varying opinions on whether will be moved. Surgery on ankle and should be ready to play at deadline

   3. Chris Tanev - CGY - solid d - UFA at end of year

7. PWHL Update -



GUESS THE FIFTH

CONNECTIONS - WInner Last Week - Nora - Brodeur, Roy, Barrasso, Fuhr - all had 45+ assists

THIS WEEK: What do Tony Esposito, Peter Sastny, Ed Belfour and Artemi Panarin have in common?

Weekly Topic

What’s the best city to play in?

via www.gavingroup.ca - hockey wealth specialists

Top 5

Bottom 5 (Ascending from worst)

Notes: 6 Canadian cities in top 10 safety

6 Canadian cities in bottom 8 for climate 

Taxes - based on $5,000,000 salary 

California/NY Teams - $2.5MM

Escrow calulator - enter salary and season 

Crazy Stat - 

Hot / Not

Atlantic DET 7-2-1 / OTT 3-6-1 - Leafs in 3rd by P% but TBL Closing

Metro CAR 8-1-1 / NYI 2-6-2 - Rangers 3-6-1

Central WPG 9-1-0 / CHI 3-7-0

Pacific EDM 10-0-0 / ANA, SJS 2-7-1 -LAK 2-5-3 - falling back after good start - McLellan on hot seat 

DOPeS - Gourde 2 games

https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/player-safety/seattle-kraken-yanni-gourde-suspended-two-games

In a wild week in hockey, William Nylander signed an 8 year, $11.5MM contract keeping him in Toronto for the long term. The Oilers continue their hot streak breaking a team record with a 10 game winning streak. What is the best line in the NHL right now? Ever?  

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Title Player Russ Courtnall - 447 Assists

Feedback - Arvids from Latvia 

Pat from Detroit 

News 

1. Nylander signs for $11.5/season - 13.7% of cap

Comparables - McDavid 16.7% (when signed)

Auston Matthews - 15.87% 

Nathan MacKinnon - 15.27%

Big Extensions coming - how does Nylander affect- 

Sam Reinhart ($6.5MM)- UFA at end of season

Elias Petterson ($7.35MM)- RFA at end of season

Leon Draisaitl - ($8.5) 1 more year - can sign July 1 

2. Cutter Gauthier traded for Jamie Drysdale 

What happened? -

- was all in to be drafted by Flyers july 2022

- Totorella already coach

-March 2023, Fletcher fired, Briere hired

- after season ended (basically same time) Gauthier wanted to finish season with Flyers

- shortly after, said he didn’t want to be a Flyer

3. Borje series- episodes 1 & 2 review

4. PWHL - Minnesota leads the league 3-0 - seem to be the team to beat

Montreal - 2-1

Ottawa 1-0 

5. Rumours - Markstrom to Carolina? pure speculation but makes sense - .910 SV% 

Calgary have some good players and sounds like they will be sellers

Lindholm - UFA

Hanifin - UFA

Tanev -UFA

All Star Sweaters - ugh

6. #81 Linesman - brutal - Ryan Daisy - lined game between Edmonton and Montreal 

7. Double digit points streaks - 14 for McDavid - ties Lemieux. Next is Lafleur 15. Gretzky -31

Guess the 5th

Listener Quiz? 

Best Line in Hockey Now?  Ever? 

via moneypuck.com

Goals For

GF / 60 

GF%

Production Line 1947-52 - Detroit - Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe, Sid Abel - 2 Cups, 3 Art Ross, 1-2-3 in scoring in 1949-50

Nitro line 1967-75 Boston - Phil Esposito, Wayne Cashman, Ken Hodge - 2 Cups, 1-2-4 in scoring in 73-74 (Bobby Orr was 20

Punch Line - 1942-48 Montreal - Elmer Lach, Toe Blake, Maurice Richard - 2 cups, 1-2-3 in scoring in 1944-45

Crazy Stat

Hot / Not

Atlantic FLA 9-1-0 / MTL 3-5-2

Metro CAR 7-1-2 / CBJ 2-4-4

Central WPG, COL 8-1-1 / CHI, MIN 2-7-1 

Pacific EDM 10-0/ SJS 1-9-0  - SEA 9-0-1 

DOPeS - heard people saying Cousins leapt into boards to embellish on Zucker hit. Watched again. No chance. 3 games was way too little. Borderline Hunter hitting Turgeon for 20 games. NHL “while Zucker insists this wasn’t retribution”. Why say that - there is no chance it wasn’t.

The USA won the World Juniors, defeating the hometown Swedes.  Connor Bedard is out with a broken jaw and the Winnipeg Jets are in first place in league. They are our Team of the Week. 

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Title Player  Milan Michalek

News

Winnipeg in 1st in league in PTS, but Rangers in 1st Pts %

Bedard injury - didn’t seem bad - should be back - of course Smith had to fight smh

https://youtube.com/shorts/avN4I1c4lKU?si=enKFpyF5RDUD025C

broken jaw - on IR

Borje Series

Friedman reporting Nylander deal close - over $10MM - what do you think?

World Junior - USA vs Sweden final - fast, excellent hockey 

 USA wins gold 6-2

Czechia over Finland - 8-5 - Fins were up 5-2. Chechia tied with 2 min left, then lead goal with 1:14. 

Oilers - Zach Hyman with 3rd hattrick of season 25 on season

continue to roll but fans are a bit too comfortable. After going 14-3 in last 17, still only 22nd in league in Pts %

Talking like they could win all 11 games in Jan - really?

Norris talk for Bouchard - really?  Is he even better than Ekholm? 

Leafs - talk seems negative, but 19-10-7 despite injuries. 

PWHL - will you pick a favourite team? 

Toronto pays back NY with a win - new rule comes into play as game winner was shorthanded

Have to think Montreal is favourite with Poulin and Desbiens

All games on Sportsnet, TSN or CBC. Also on Youtube. Americans can watch on different regional networks.

All Star Game - first 32 players announced

TOR - Matthews

CHI- Bedard

EDM - McDavid

LAK - Cam Talbot!

WSH - Tom Wilson

Guess the 5th

Team of the Week

Winnipeg Jets - 

First and foremost - change to third uniforms - red pants

5v5 stats

SF% 52.6 (6)  GF% 62.7 (1)  xGF% 51.7 (11) SH% 9/14 SV% 93.99 (1)

All Sit 

SF% 51.5 (11) GF% 58.06 (3) xGF% 50.83 (15) SH% 10.7 (10) SV% 91.78 (1) 

Top Scorers

Scheiffele  12-26-38

Morrissey 6-24-30

Ehlers 13-16-29

Kyle Connor still out for a while

Goaltending -

Hellebuyck - ,921 SV%  GSAA 14.9 (1) 

Brossoit - .920 GSAA 5

Summary

Goaltending, BUT given Brossoit’s numbers, playing to system has to be huge

GF% a bit high based on performance so will cool off some, but as long as goalies keep it up, will be fine

Crazy Stat

Hot / Not 

Atlantic FLA 8-2-0 / OTT 3-7-0 

Metro CAR 6-1-3/ CBJ  3-3-4 

Central WPG 8-0-2 / CHI 2-7-1 

Pacific SEA 8-0-2 / SJS 0-10-0 (wow) Joey Daccord playing great VGK - 3-7-0 - slumping

DOPeS - 

Hartman fine - high sticks Perfetti - mic’d up and admitted it - gets a parking ticket

Can’t use mic’d up content in discipline 

Botteril and Mayers argument 

Zucker - 3 games https://www.nhl.com/news/arizona-coyotes-jason-zucker-suspended-three-games

Happy 2024 to everyone. Canada gets upset by Czechia in the quarter final of the World Junior Championship. The PWHL gets started to a capacity crowd and the Winter Classic turns out great. 

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Title Player Dick Redmond - > 

Feedback -David Huyben, Nora 

 request questions / ideas for new segments

News

Winter Classic - SEA 3 v VGK 0 - any thoughts? 

World Junior - 

Quarter finals - 

CAN 2 v CZE 3

FIN 4 v SLO 3

LAT v USA

SUI v SWE

Anything or anyone stand out for you? 

Letang - 6 assists in a game - ties with several others

5 assists in a period

Malkin - 2nd Russian goal scorer all time - passed Fedorov

PWHL kicked off NY 4 - TOR 0. 

6 months to prep so things rushed - no logos, no team names and no timeline on names

Leafs - Samsonov on waivers - headed to Marlies if he clears

New Year’s Resolutions for: - something that you want to see them do better or stick to 

1. NHL - 
2. Maple Leafs - 
3. Oilers -

Guess the 5th

Rules Suggestions - Pierre LeBrun 

https://theathletic.com/5173482/2024/01/02/nhl-rule-changes-2024/

Nothing really new - your thoughts?

1. full 2 minute power play
2. O-Zone Draw when on PP at start of period
3. Longer 3 on 3
4. Easier to carry 3 goalies
5. Baseball - like multi game series - suggests 2-3-2 playoff format too
6. 3-2-1-0 points 

FEWER GAMES!!!!!!!!!

Crazy Stat

Hot / Not

Atlantic - BOS 5-2-3 / DET, OTT 3-7-0 - 

Metro - PIT 7-2-1 / WSH, CBJ 4-3-3  - 

Central - WPG 7-1-2 / CHI 2-7-1 - 

Pacific - VAN, SEA 7-1-2 / SJS 1-8-1  -  

DOPeS  - nothing to report

It's the Merry Christmas episode!  The World Junior Championship is up soon and we have a quick look at the key players. Also, we take a look at the standings in the NHL as we head into the Christmas break. 

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Title Player - Daniel Alfredsson - > Drew Bannister - born in Belleville, grew up in Sudbury, coach of St. Louis Blues

Daniel Alfredsson -> Erik Karlsson 2010-13 -> Drew Bannister 09-10 Binghamton Senators

Celebrini - BU Tom Willander -> 

Feedback - Ben in NY - stickers on way

News:

World Junior tourney - 

Mack Celebrini - will he get suspended for hit from behind?

Canada looking to 3-peat

Bruins release Poitras to play - last minute - watch for him to be big factor

Team USA probably the favourite 

Top Prospects to watch

1. Mack Celebrini -Canada

2. Will Smith - USA 

3. Cutter Gauthier - USA

4. Gabe Perreault - USA

5. Konsta Helenius - Finland

The Athletic’s top 10 - 6 are Americans

DJ Smith out in Ottawa - Jacques Martin interim

• great junior coach, maybe not NHL

Oilers going streakin’ win 8, lose 3, win 2

Zach Hyman - Tied for 4th in NHL with 19 G

Leafs - pounded 9-3 by Sabres - Samsonov a problem

What’s solution?

Luongo - ring of honour - what’s your take on retiring numbers

Ducks unis - garbage

Guess the 5th

At the Christmas Break Summary

Crazy StatDOPeS - Bettman affirms 6 gamer for Perron 

Friedman - players are pissed that refs are telling them to police themselves, but the suspensions are for guys policing themselves - 

John Tavares hits 1000 points vs the Islanders. After 30 games, what teams are overachieving and which are underachieving? We do a bit of a statistical evaluation to predict the rest of the season.  Team of the Week is the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

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Title Player: Harry Watson - connect to John Tavares

News:

1. Tavares gets 1000th pt vs Islanders

Leafs continue to go to OT - 27 GP - 15-6-6 / 13 OT games - 7-6   

2nd in division despite injuries

Matthews at 23 G - on pace for 70G

2. Kyle Connor out 6-8 weeks - no suspension for Strome?

https://youtu.be/TPZow5phhEA?feature=shared

3. 2 investigations into Wild front office

AGM Chris O’Hearn fired or “agreed to part ways”

Was Guerin’s right hand man

Something is afoot but everyone is very quiet

4. Rob Ray takes puck to face between the benches -

https://youtu.be/E3z40vmKm5s?feature=shared

5. Oilers finally lose a game - need help for Skinner

Outshot Lighting 57-24 and lost 7-4 

Lost 5-1 to Panthers

6. All Star Game - back to skills

8 skills - 12 players compete for $1MM prize

Guess the 5th

Who is for real and who is not?

Method - xGF% - GF% - per Naturalstattrick.com at 5v5

Top 5 Pretenders

1. Vancouver - 48.7-61.2
2. Winnipeg - 49.6 - 59.4
3. Detroit - 46.8-55.8
4. Boston - 50.1-56.9
5. Arizona - 47.2-51.8

Top 5 Underachievers - xGF%-GF% -

1. Oilers - 58.0 - 47.4
2. New Jersey 53.3-46.09
3. Calgary - 51.9 - 45.5
4. Carolina - 55.7-50.4
5. Seattle - 51.3-47.1

** San Jose and Anaheim have large difference but xGF is still well below 50% so wouldn’t expect much improvement

Team of the Week

Tampa Bay - xGF% 48.98 - 44.78

Should expect some improvement, but not good enough

SF% 48.37 (21) GF% 44.78% (29) xGF% 48.97 (19)  SV% 90.24 (26) SH% 8.45 (15)

Vasilevskiy .902 after injury - expect that to improve

Kucherov - 50pts, 1st in league

Depth?

Hagel-Point-Kucherov - most TOI - dominant stats 62% GF

Anyone plays with Kucherov - stats are over 50%

Without, almost everyone below.

BucPower - turnovers like crazy - via  Statmuse.com TBL are 9th in league in GVA with 250

League leaders- CHI, MTL, EDM, NSH, TOR

Kucherov leads league with 41.  (Draisaitl next with 37)

D Pairs

Hedman / Perbix - 231:58 - xGF 41% GF% 52

Cernak / Sergachaev - 218:15 - xGF 47.9% GF% 42

Raddysh / Sergachaev - 217:36 xGF 55.6 GF 20%

Of all regular 6 D, Hedman is only one with +50% GF

Summary - I think depth is the story. Kucherov is pushing the river but supporting cast is weak

Need Vasilievskiy to save them

Hot / Not

Atlantic - TOR 5-1-4 / OTT 3-7-0  - 4 teams with 5 wins

Metro - NYI 6-1-3 / CBJ 4-5-1 - (NJD 7-3-0 )

Centroal - NSH 7-3-0 / CHI 3-6-1 -

Pacific - EDM 8-2-0 / ANA 1-9-0  - (Van 7-3-0, SJS 6-3-1)

Crazy Stat

DOPeS - Perron 6 games suspension for cross checking Zub

NHLPA Appealing  - will they go to an arbitrator?

Gudbranson 1 Game -https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/player-safety/erik-gudbranson-suspended-one-game-for-actions-in-blue-jackets-game

Should hit by cousens on Gudbranson have been a suspension?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfShpOFYqZs

Pastrnak kicked out of game vs Rangers for similar hit