Yeah

...

so we gotta get back up to 910.

Lyon in the win streak, right, that changed the whole season around, you know.

Obviously Kevin Adams gets fired in the middle of a little mini two-game winning streak, two, three-game winning streak.

Jarmo comes in, and they just keep winning, winning, winning.

So he really can't do anything 'cause you can't...

But I mean, how difficult a tightrope is that to kinda, to kinda walk in this league?

What, what are early storylines that we should be looking for?

I think the Edmonton Oilers, you know, they had the controversial hiring of Mike Babcock and they have come out absolutely flying.

Evan Bouchard, you know, the early Norris Trophy winner, and Connor McDavid looks like he could win another scoring title.

And, and that was the whole point of hiring him, as controversial as it was, that they wanted to button things up.

Their window is closing, not only the age of the team, they're an older team, but McDavid only has two years left on his contract, so this time next summer when you're allowed to extend, you can extend when you're one year out of your contract in the NHL, um, you know, would he do it? Or would he say, "Yeah, want, why don't you move me? Let me go try to win my championship that I haven't won yet somewhere else." So that, that's, that, that's been kind of a constant storyline there.

Philadelphia Flyers, you know, with their worst start in franchise history, that great market, obviously Philadelphia, and what it does for all the sports teams when they're going good, uh, really disappointing, uh, right now.

So yeah, it is a bit early, but certainly, um, you know, McDavid and Edmonton off to this incredible start offensively and then, uh, we'll see what happens, uh, in the Eastern Conference, which is really bottled up again.

Uh, to repeat at this point, who's the biggest challenger in your mind to their attempt to try and hold Lord Stanley's Cup for a second year?

what about buffalo

yeah buffalo is a big question in my mind um i still have them third in the division um out of respect there's a lot of stuff there but talk will be you know that's a big loss he's a force of a player for them big impact guy around a lot of smaller younger skilled guys he was a good guy to have out there um again the goalie Their position is they got real lucky last year with Alex Lyon going absolutely a heater of all heat checks.

And, you know, that's probably not going to happen again this year.

So this is more about starting from square one and just kind of figure out what we are and how we get wins.

And they kind of won a lot of it on emotion as they, you know, it was so weird about the GM position.

And then they start a little winning streak.

Then the GM gets fired.

Without Barry Melrose.

But what did, what did you make of the fact of them kinda moving on from Yzerman in that position? Like, did you think it wa- it was time to finally, to, to make a move in that regard?

Uh, not necessarily.

He has had tough lottery luck, let's face it.

They have not ...

They had some tough luck where they dropped, and then where they were, a guy just wasn't there, a really dynamic offensive player.

You know, Raymond's really good, but he's not obviously a huge needle mover.

Um, you know, the DeBrincat trade and sign was a good deal.

... do you see him as a guy that can play in every situation and play you 25 minutes a night?

But talk a little bit about your journey because it's cool when people put the time in and then experience the success.

Yeah, it's been great.

I mean, you know, I grew up, my parents were both born and raised in South Boston.

So they were city kids who moved out to Pittsburgh in their late 20s.

And that's where they started a family and they ended up staying there for 30 years.

So they're the only relatives who left New England for me.

So just my mom and dad and us in Western Pennsylvania.

Talk a little bit about given back and what that means in in the fact that you're in the position to be able to do that because it's it is a cool thing

Right

... not as accessible.

We didn't have as much television.

We didn't have as much inventory of things yet.

I always talk about, you know, being a music fan when I was, uh, like in the '70s and '80s.

We didn't have a lot of inventory of music to choose from.

So we only had 20 years of rock and roll.

Does that accurately describe to, a, a, a, Wayne Gretzky to you, a great hockey guy? Does that f- does that mean something?

When you look at this off-season, what has been the one storyline that you've loved to follow for fun in the NHL?

Well, certainly it's the salaries, right? And the Leo Carlsson offer sheet and where the salaries are going, how teams, some teams didn't, couldn't just read the math in the room.

And even some agents who didn't read the math either, and probably could've got their clients a much higher AAV had they done a shorter-term deal.

We saw these TV deals exploding.

We knew the revenue was going up.

Uh, I'm surprised some of these players signed those seven, eight-year deals the last couple of years knowing this day was coming.

It was pretty obvious.

... for those, is an RFA right now, or a, yeah, RFA going into his-

I've written a lot of words on this.

I was pretty pissed.

I think it takes a little bit of the shine off the USA Olympic gold medal.

There's multiple players doing this.

I get Brady Kachuk.

That's more of a brotherly family.

Mom can see the three grandkids.

Um, does ownership play a part in this considering that that's what, as fans point out is the one constant, uh, Is there any responsibility by ownership for this type of atmosphere? And two, is there something that ownership can do?

What was your reaction to the change?

Yeah, that was a, certainly came out of nowhere, big surprise.

We knew Bowen Byram would get traded.

He's, uh, only has one year left on his contract, then he's a unrestricted free agent.

He wants to be a number one defenseman somewhere, so he wasn't gonna sign a contract extension.

So when you know someone's not gonna do that, I mean, you can use their services, and Buffalo is good to let him walk and use the cap space, or you can get ahead of it and make a trade to somebody.

And Chicago is looking to start to add adult hockey players to their children's team, and he's a 25-year-old guy raring to go, and they gave up a pretty good price in that fourth overall pick.

Uh, what were you- what are we looking at here in terms of McKennas probability to go with the first overall selection? Is there a chance we could get a surprise here, John?

What was your reaction to the change?

Yeah, that was certainly came out of nowhere.

A big surprise.

We knew Bo Byram would get traded.

He's only has one year left on his contract.

Then he's a unrestricted free agent.

He wants to be a number one defenseman somewhere.

What were you, what are we looking at here in terms of McKenna's probability to go with the first overall selection? Is there a chance we could get a surprise here, John?

Agree or disagree?

Yeah, he probably would've got, like, seven times four or five in the open market.

Obviously getting the six years from Columbus is six is very, I mean, for a third line center, which ultimately that's where you want him to be, your third line center.

You want two centers better than him ideally if you wanna be a playoff team.

That's certainly the market.

He was making 5.25. It's a very small raise for a guy who had a very good year at fifth.

So he's basically makingLike I said, he's very small rates, uh, uh, to what he's making last year.

Yeah.

Mm

... that he feels that is well structured and stable and has all the chances to win a Stanley Cup.

It's difficult.

There's 32 teams.

Uh, very few players win multiple Stanley Cups.

It's hard to win just one.

So this is an organization that's kinda operates this way.

It's not you, it's me.

What are you seeing from Matt Vamichkov in this postseason?

Yeah, I'm in the pro Matt Bay Meetscoff camp.

You know, I have been all year since he came into the league.

You know, he probably did come into camp out of shape this year.

And that's a young player is going to have to learn that.

But I really like his upside.

I think he has.

Could you have ever seen that one

Like is Buffalo going to need to learn how to win in the playoffs by getting their asses kicked? Or are they going to come out and just continue this insane assault that they've put on the National Hockey League for the last few months?

Yeah, probably the former.

This is different.

Playoffs, it's difficult to get experience and to learn.

And so it'd be surprising if they came right out and played Buffalo Sabre, run and gun, fire wagon, pond hockey that they were kind of accused of during the regular season.

The Bruins will be...

They're trained in this area, this slow it down, playoff type checking.

But, Gucci, where do you stand with this Carolina-Ottawa series?

Like is Buffalo going to need to learn how to win in the playoffs by getting their asses kicked? Or are they going to come out and just continue this insane assault that they've put on the national hockey league for the last few months?

Yeah, probably, you know, probably the former.

You know, this is different playoffs.

It's it's difficult to get experience and to learn.

And so it'd be surprising if they came right out and played Buffalo Sabre run and gun fire wagon pond hockey that they were kind of accused of during the regular season.

The Bruins will be.

They're trained in this area, this slow it down, playoff type checking.

I've definitely seen two or three more people say it, but Poochie, where do you stand with this Carolina Ottawa series?

Oh, yeah.

He's always wanted it.

He's, as a player, I remember having him on NHL Tonight, and he would join us.

I'm like, "This guy's gonna be ...

Like, this guy is the kinda guy that goes to Denny's at 2:00 AM and writes the Olympic roster on a place mat." Like, "Okay, who's making the Olympic roster, boys?" Like, he's doing that as a player, the legend, Stevie Y.

So you knew he was gonna be a GM, and he lives for this, so, um, but it's a long time.

And at some point, maybe it takes a tweak.

[chuckles]

Yeah.

He could have had four goals.

I watched the game again last night, Ryan, without again, because I've kind of lost my fandom for all my favorite sports teams growing up.

I know it's kind of a cottage industry now to be a national broadcaster and root for a college team or a pro team.

I just was never comfortable doing that.

And so I've lost my fandom for my favorite teams.

And I kind of miss that.

So go ahead.

Told her too.

Well, you know, he's a young fellow.

He, uh...

It's hard for young players like him, you know, 17 years old to, to score in college hockey.

These are men he's playing against 23, 24-year-olds, 22-year-olds, and it won't be easy.

So I would probably say no on the Hobey.

I think there's gonna be older, more experienced players that could have bigger years.

What are you looking at as far as storylines are concerned, and who do you think will potentially win a national championship?

It's just an incredible second chapter for somebody to be this important to a team that's had this kind of run.

I'd love a documentary on this guy.

Like I really would.

It'd be a hardcore hockey audience.

I would love a doc on Sam Bennett.

Yeah.

Ryan, he's obviously when you go that high in the draft, you have physical skills and he couldn't do a pull-up.

But I just think it's going to be a really frustrating conversation if they find a way to lose this back-to-back years against Florida.

Is there one you expect that you think, "Okay, people aren't paying enough to this as we enter this series"?

Well, of course, we have kinda two.

As you know, when Tony waves that Canadian flag at the end of the show, you know, uh, Canada hasn't won a cup since 1993.

They beat Barry Melrose and the Los Angeles Kings that year.

Our boy, Barry.

Um, but since then, since Patrick Roy and Montreal won that Stanley Cup series, they haven't won one.

They won the Four Nations this year.

Do you think he needs to win a cup?

But, what, uh, what would be the holdup to put both of these men in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Well, just adding a sentence to the criteria, Dan.

Right now, the criteria, there's a category for sports writers and for play-by-play guys.

And that's it.

And that was my point.

You can change this f- with 11 words or less, play-by-play or analyst, whatever word you want to use.

And, uh, obviously, Don Cherry and Barry Melrose, for 30 years, were the biggest names in their countries, in terms of broadcasters.

What do you have?

But what, uh, what would be the holdup to put both of these men in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Well, just adding a sentence to the criteria, Dan, right now the criteria, there is a category for sports writers and for play-by-play guys, and that's it.

And that was my point.

You can change this with 11 words or less, play-by-play or analyst, whatever word you wanna use.

And, uh, obviously, Don Cherry and Barry Melrose for 30 years were the biggest names in their countries in terms of broadcasters.

You know, Don Cherry was certainly John Madden.

He was in that kinda, uh, level.

What do you have?

How does this drive momentum?

Yeah, you hope it gets eyeballs towards the sport.

You know, Four Nations got some amazing numbers, the Four Nation tournament.

So you hope that maybe that propelled some.

I haven't seen the numbers since then.

But, you know, hockey is one of those sports with a high inventory product where there's a lot of games.

Sometimes it might feel like wallpaper, hard to figure out what are the special games.

But in a school with the largest alumni base in the country, can they become a perennial powerhouse in college hockey? And how quickly could that happen?

What do you think? Do you think there's anybody that you can point to now that you think could have this type of runway and this type of durability to get to the position to pass Ovi one day?

Right.

That's the big question.

And then we were doing it last night in the studio.

I was doing the wraps for our late game there at 10 o'clock Vegas.

I was playing Vancouver and somebody asked me, is anybody now? I don't think anybody now is set to do it because you have to have this incredible foundation of goals in your 20s.

And then from there, hope to stay healthy in your 30s.

Is there anything else that should be added for people to know about the phenomenal career of Ovechkin that obviously is capped off yesterday but not finished with goal number 895?