How could Edmonton exploit four rookies on a blue line tonight?

I think the way that I've seen Edmonton play in the early going, a lot of it has been about forechecking and decisions right around the red line.

Where they're committing to a forecheck, a young defenseman in the NHL, even offensively in fun ones, the hardest thing to do is go back, peel a puck off the wall, look for your first guy.

And if you have the ability to look for that second option as well, I would be dumping the puck in relentlessly.

And, you know, as a former defenseman, when we'd face groups that maybe had two or three new guys in, even if they had high pedigree, even if they were offensive guys, make them break out the puck.

When you dump it in constantly over and over again, the big moment, It's going to be happening because it's all about repetition and understanding the way a good structured forecheck comes in and makes life difficult for you for defensemen.

So I look at the Oilers and go, you've been practicing a forecheck since Mike Babcock got there.

How hard is it to kind of get used to doing that when it's not necessarily your normal, natural way to attack as a team?

How do you think that they manage both of those goaltenders? Because if there is this belief among the team that they're gonna get to the playoffs, you don't wanna overuse Sorokin, but you also have to be, you know, cautious of the fact that Varlamov hasn't had any sort of workload basically the last two years.

It's the biggest wild card.

It's the biggest question when you look at the Islanders.

Um, if you look at Ilya Sorokin's games played throughout his career, you'll go, "Ah, not a big deal." I mean, a starter in the NHL, especially one that's of Vesna caliber, should be able to start between 50 and 55 games.

Um, the difference is, it's where those games were allocated, and Varlamov missed the last two seasons.

So last year, I, I think Ilya played just over 50, but he played, like, 19 of 20 down the stretch, and he's 6'3".

He presents like a smaller goalie.

Is his benefit the fact that Matthew Schaffer is on this team right now? [chuckles]

I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on the Ottawa Senators forward group.

Yeah, I think they've been one of the best teams in the East all year.

Obviously, the standings don't show that at all.

Issues in net, like, not going to beat this up.

Everyone has talked about the Ottawa Senators a lot in that regard.

Yeah, they've got maybe the best balance of forwards in the league and maybe not like the most top, top high end skill.

But I love the way they're set up.

So,

I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on the Ottawa Senators forward group.

Yeah, I think they've been one of the best teams in the East all year.

Obviously, the standings don't show that at all.

Issues in net, like, not going to beat this up.

Everyone has talked about the Ottawa Seveners a lot in that regard.

Yeah, they've got maybe the best balance of forwards in the league and maybe not like the most top, top high-end skill.

But I love the way they're set up.

So, yeah.

Like everything about this kid is just, he's got a big smile on his face and to, and to know the adversity that he is faced already in his young life and to, and to be that positive and to have that kind of impact, like it's, Has that been, like, how big, can we understate how big of an impact that has had on the entire Islanders franchise to this point?

No, he's transformed the organization from top to bottom.

I don't think he thinks about it that way, right? He just shows up and does his job.

You know, go through... you know, the past.

We go through the, I don't want to get into history of hockey, but, you know, let's just take the most recent eras and say, which one player has affected an organization the most? Matthew Schaefer's got to be at the top of that list.

It's looked like he's, when I say this, taken years off of people's lives.

I don't mean it, the stress that he gives.

What do you need to see from these two teams tonight?

It's almost not, impossible not to gravitate towards that playing style.

Yeah.

He's, he's revitalized so many of his teammates, especially the veteran guys.

There's a different energy that they play with now, and a lot of that is to do with Matthew Schaefer because the, the Islanders as a whole, I s- I, I don't get mad, but, uh, the, the biggest misnomer in hockey, at least surrounding the Islanders, is that this is Barry Trotz's New York Islanders from five or six years ago.

And even up to the start of this year, uh, last year, the year before that, everyone's like, "Oh, you're playing the Islanders.

Probably gonna be a low-scoring, tight-checking affair.

They don't give much.

But whether it's certain skills thing or tactical wrinkles or just trends around the league you're seeing, I'm curious for your take on kind of what you're seeing from that spot and, uh, what's working and what's not right now around the league.

What did you think about the return for your hometown Flames?

I think Craig Conroy just continues to stockpile premium assets.

And when you look back to when he took over and you look at all the players that were moved out for firsts and seconds and prospects.

It's actually incredible to think that was your roster and you had all these guys that demanded valuable assets as in first-round picks or multiple seconds.

Noah Hannafin, Zdorov, Lindholm, the list goes on and on.

Markstrom.

It's incredible that...

What effect does that sort of public comment, whether it's frustration or not, what does that have on a dressing room? And how do you handle that between the guys?