Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky breaks down Mikko Rantanen trade, deadline moves

Energy Line with Nate Thompson and Julie Stewart-Binks opens up talking about all the trades that went down at the deadline. They get into the Brad Marchand trade to the Panthers, breaking down the other big trades that went down and the Aaron Ekblad PED suspension. Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky then joins Nate and JSB to get into what went down at the trade deadline. He discusses his lack of sleep at the deadline, how he got into hockey, trading for Mikko Rantanen then trading him away and him not wanting to extend. Tulsky also breaks down getting Logan Stankoven, Rod Brind’amour’s comments and getting to work with him, his approach at the deadline and the outlook on the Hurricanes. Nate and JSB close the show looking at the post trade deadline playoff picture and giving out their flowers in the NHL this week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
Welcome back to the Energy Line with Nate and JSB.
I'm Julie Sharpinks he's Nate Thompson. We have got trades

(00:25):
all over the place.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
As we know.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
The trade deadline happened last week and Nate a lot
went down. I think, in my opinion, more happened than
I thought.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
What happened.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
What's your overall consensus of this year's NHL trade deadline?

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Yeah, it was a seller's deadline.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
I think there it was weird, right, it was like
a lot happened and then a lot of teams that
didn't happen right, Like they didn't do anything. And my
take is basically the big hitters took a huge swing,
some hit and some didn't. Write like it's it's interesting
and I do believe though this when there's so many

(01:04):
big names involved in trades, it's so good for the
league and as hard as it is on the players,
I think a lot of players that are watching are
also very intrigued and excited by it too, because this
is the most exciting time of the year. It's springtime,
and that you know what that means is around the
corner playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
So what trade was sort of like your biggest excited surprise.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
So my best trade I think was the Brad Marshawn
to Florida.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
I think that Florida.

Speaker 5 (01:33):
I think Florida has done a phenomenal job in how
they've put together their roster and they've added Seth Jones
and now you add Brad Marshawn. I mean, Brad Marshawn
still has a lot of game left. We saw how
well he's been playing as of late. We saw how
well he was at four Nations, how good he was
at four Nations. And to add Brad Marshawn to the
Florida Panther in the same division, and I know it's

(01:56):
a second round conditional pick. This is so hard that
the Bruins had to do this. But at the same time,
the Florida Panthers I think hit a home run because
this might be a seamless transition for him as he
joins the Florida Panthers.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, so I think that that's I mean great for
the Florida Panthers and for the Bruins as teams. But
like we saw Brad marschaw On just like getting choked
up in his first press conference, first interview because of
how much the Bruins organization has meant to him over
the years. You know, he is Boston like when you
think of the Boston Bruins, he's one of those one

(02:32):
of the guys you think of. We interviewed Patrice Berjon
in our first episode, who who was very i'd say
convinced and thought that Brad was going to resign there.
And I think that when he had that face to
face meeting which Elliott Friedman discussed on a hockey night
in Canada, like he wanted to come to some kind
of terms this is Brad Marshawan and Don Sweeney with

(02:54):
the team, but they ultimately couldn't get there.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
But he wanted to be still a Bruin.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
So then, like, what is it like for a player
that's like it's one of those guys at the end
of their career or potentially you know, nearing the end
of their career. They spend it with an entire team,
have become like a mascot of that team, and then
they are traded to another team and they're not very
jazzed about it.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
This was not what Brad Marshawn wanted to me, it's
a it's a fail on Boston's part.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
I think that.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
You know, when you think of the Boston Bruins, you
think of cam Neely, you think of Ray Borke, you
think of Patrice Bergeron, and you think of Brad Marshawn
And to me, he was a untouchable. They obviously didn't
see it that way. Things come into a head like
they did. I think it was no other way for
them to go their separate ways. And I still can't

(03:44):
believe that Boston traded them into division to Florida. Yeah,
I was the best offer they got, I guess, And yeah,
I mean it's it's tough. I mean it's tough for Brad.
I mean you see that, you know, you're with your
You're with one organization your whole career, and then all
of a sudden, you flipped up upside down like we've
talked about with trades, and you're on the Florida Panthers now.
So for him to have to compartmentalize all that and

(04:06):
realize that, Okay, I'm not with the Bruins anymore now,
I'm now I'm on the Florida Panthers. I thought at
the same time his press conference and the way he
joked around and the way he walked.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
In and said do I have a tan yet?

Speaker 5 (04:17):
Was was pretty great and just so Brad Marshawn and
I honestly do think that the fit there with the
Florida Panthers is going to be perfect because you know,
Paul Maurice is great communicator, great coach, and then you
have all these other great players and guys that he's
just gonna I think he's just going to fit in
perfect with a style of game they play too. It's
it's very similar to you know, the Bruins when they

(04:39):
were when they were really good. You know, they play
very they play the same way they played. They're hard
to play against, they play mean, they finish all their checks,
and I.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
Don't think Brad Marshaan is going to have a problem
playing like that.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, once he just gets his sea legs underneath them.
There that seems as though, oh my lord, the Florida Panthers,
already so good, just got even better. And we always
you know, had been has been dealing with injury, but
like and he is back. He is I mean, there's
no other guy that gets under another guy's skin.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Like Brad Marshaw and as we know, but I'd say,
like maybe, like.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Overall, who do you think got who do you think
improved the most?

Speaker 5 (05:18):
Another team that I think got better was the Ottawa Senators.
I think in that trade, I think that to be
able to get Dylan Cousins on a pretty friendly deal
for what he's making, I think his cat pits around
seven something, and Josh Norris was over eight or round eight,
and no offense to Josh Norris has no dig at him,

(05:40):
you know, but he's had a lot of shoulders injuries
over the course of his career already. And Dylan Cousins
is younger and has a lot of upside And I
think that for them to make that deal and also
get stuff in return as well, was was a big
deal for the Autawa Senators. And for them, you know,
now they're a lot more comfortably in a playoff spot
than they were before and things are looking a lot better.

(06:02):
So I think, you know, and then I have to
state the obvious, right with with Dallas and Colorado and
what they did, you know, getting Miko Rant into Dallas,
locking him up for eight years. Having a guy of
that caliber for that long is only is only going
to be It's ridiculous. Actually, you know when you when
you look at their core group of players, it's it's

(06:22):
pretty amazing. And then you look at the Colin Avalanche,
you know they gave.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Up a lot.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
I thought to get brock Nelson. But at the same time,
you know, it's these teams want to win now, and
they're in the and they're in that window and when
you're making big deals, this is what you got to do.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yes, it seems that there's a lot of teams that
are in that wind now mindset, which is frightening. And
we're going to get into the Mico Ranton in trade
trade with Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Telsky will be
joining us later on. But I want to go back
to what you said about Josh Norris being traded from Ottawa,
and so I think we saw some more emotions from

(07:00):
guys this trade deadline than I've ever seen before, where
we Brady Kuchuk get a little verklemped in seeing his
best friend go be traded. Have you ever been on
a team where you've seen best friends be split up
and sort of the dynamic of how that changes things.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
Yeah, I think for me, looking back, it was when
I was in Tampa and we traded Marty Saint Louis.
You know, there was all of us that were pretty
close to them at the time. We spent about myself
spent about five years of them, and then I think
the obvious guy was, you know, Steven Stamkos.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
You know, they were extremely tight, played on the same
line together.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
I mean, they were attached to the hip a little bit,
and Stammer learned so much from Marty, and and Marty
taught him so much. And at just at the same time,
I think Stammer was good for Marty because it kept
him young at the same time. So they were just
they were a good pair. And when Marty was traded
to New York, it was it was tough. It was
tough for guys to, you know, to realize that Marty

(07:59):
wasn't going to be in the room anymore for us,
you know, because in a way, Marty, Marty was always
been a coach, even when he was a player, Even
when he was a player, he coached all of us
in his own way, and so when he left, it
was tough.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
But that's part of the game, and that's part of
the business. And that's what we had to go through.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, that's I can't imagine. I mean, we talked last
week about the different trades you'd gone through and just
getting acclimated to different situations and then having to pack
your bags and go and sort of having friends and
then having to have a whole different situation. So I
can only imagine just you're trying to build chemistry with guys,
because that's how things really work on the ice, and
then it's like boop, all right here You're going off

(08:39):
to somewhere else and everything kind of changes, and just
to swift switch gears, excuse me a bit too back
to Florida. Want to get to some breaking news that
happened yesterday, and that was the announcement that Aaron Eckblad
is entering into the NHL NHLPA Program for substance abuses.

(08:59):
He has been suspended for twenty games for PEDU And
you know when you saw this news come out, and Nate,
I know you've seen guys go through this in the
league before.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
What was sort of your initial reaction.

Speaker 5 (09:13):
My initial reaction was, I mean, I guess it was
I had a feeling he didn't know what he took
was illegal. The thing that I loved about Aaron ak
Glad is he came out he took full responsibility, and
he said, you know, I should have checked with my
medical staff and the trainers to make sure that it
was okay. You know, it was something for recovery from
an injury. You know, it happens right at the same time.

(09:36):
You know, as players, we are responsible for what we
ingest in our body. And again he took full responsibility.
He took full accountability on this. And this has happened.
You know, I had a teammate in Anaheim, Sean Horkoff,
where this happened, the same thing, and it was towards
the end of his career, and I think it was
the same kind of thing. He had an injury and

(09:57):
it was a it was something for the recovery part
of it. Didn't realize that it wasn't it wasn't legal,
and he got to spend it as well, and it's
you know.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
These things happen, right, And he had said he'd failed
sort of a random drug test, and he did take accountability,
said he took something that he should have I guess checked.
Like we were just talking off air before this that
there's just so many different drugs that and different drug
classes and different chemical compounds, all this different stuff that

(10:28):
like you might think you're taking something in your doctor
might even think that that's okay, and it might not
because it might not seem like necessarily something that would
be banned or prohibited or like any of that kind
of stuff. But that, you know, do the trainers know
like all, like there's got to be like a book, right,
like a big massive book of like what you can't

(10:49):
take because it seems like it can't take anything.

Speaker 5 (10:52):
No, there is there is a booklet of all the
different things you can't take. Whether it's I mean, it's
so many things I don't even know right now at
the top.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
Of my head, but yeah, there's any pronounce the words,
it's just exactly and there is a booklet where I
think everyone does have the trainers have where Yeah, I mean,
I'm sure there's stuff that the medical trainers don't even
know for sure that they have to go look and
see to make sure as well.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Just to go back to Anaheim what you'd mentioned about
Shaun Hohrkoff, I was there then when that happened, and
we were in Boston, and I just remember the media
were there and we're part of the team media, so
that means that we and myself we don't break news
on the team. We know it, but we will use
it in the game. Let's just say if it comes up.

(11:39):
So I just remember one of the pier guys coming
over to us when we just went up to him
and we said, so, where's Horcoff's stall, like just looking
around the room and like it's not there, And he
came over and he just said twenty for twenty two
and we were like, oh my god, like twenty games
for number twenty.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Two Shaun Hohrkoff. We're like, like, no one knew yet.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
He's like, we're gonna wait till all the other media
get out of here and then we're going to put
out something because I just didn't want it to be
then like at morning skate that news coming out at
that time, But like, when do you guys find something
like that.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Out pretty early?

Speaker 5 (12:17):
I think it's something that's said throughout the team or
I can't remember if he told us.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Honestly, I can't remember that part of it. But obviously the.

Speaker 5 (12:24):
Players know beforehand, and it was more of a support
thing at the time, and I know, I know the
Florida teammates are doing the same thing for AARNet, you know,
for Aaroneck Budd because it's you know, it's it's not
like guys are trying to cheat.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
I don't. I don't think.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
That's the case here, and I want to make sure
fans understand that, you know, players are not trying to cheat.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
I don't think that's the case.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
I think it's just a it's a mistake where they
need to check probably beforehand to make sure and they didn't.
And it's a long season and guys are guys are
always playing hurt. You know, there's only one there's only
I always say there's only one part of the season
where guys are one hundred percent and that's before training
camp and that's the only time. So when when when
Quork was going through that, I think it was more

(13:05):
of just man, it's I'm sorry, it's unfortunate. You know
you're going to be back. It's okay. Accidents happened. Shit happens,
and you move on from it.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Knowing also in the world that we live in, especially
after the pandemic and a lot of people dealing with
mental health issues, depression, anxiety, normal people stuff like hockey
players must have that too. So like what if you
have a condition or like a psychological condition or something

(13:34):
that you need to take medication for, but it's like
maybe it's banned, but like you need that to be
able to function, Like where where's the line with that?

Speaker 5 (13:41):
That's a good question. And guys do get doctor's notes
at they're stuff that they need for any any condition
or whatever they have, whatever it is, if it's talked
about beforehand with the doctor and the league, it's it'll
be okay.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Oh okay good.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
I was always wondering, like what if like a guy
like needed something for something and it's like nope, you
got to figure it out on your own. You're a
hockey player. Now it's like, oh gosh, that would be
really very miserable. Yeah, yeah, that would be like really
like problematic. All right, So we have not talked about
one of the big trades. It was Migo Rannan going

(14:20):
from Carolina to Dallas and also sort of some of
the like it's such a fascinating trade because he came
from Colorado in like a blockbuster deal and that happened
thirteen games ago, I guess before the trade deadline comes
to Carolina and it just doesn't work. What were your
what are your thoughts on the fact that, like Carolina

(14:42):
gets him and then has to deal him away.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
I understand the thought process for Carolina.

Speaker 5 (14:47):
I know they were like, Okay, we're going to we're
going to take a big swing of this guy. We're
going to bring him in and we're going to chance it.
We're going to chance to see it if he's going
to stay. That's a hell of a that's a big gamble,
big fucking gamble, and it didn't work out. Do I
think what the Carolina is Carolina did to be able

(15:09):
to flip to send him to Dallas and flip back
all of what they got was great.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:13):
I think I think Eric Tolski did a very good
job with that. It's just tough because you have a
guy like Mikranton, who I think is a top ten
player in the league, and you know, you trade for
him in this big deal, you lose some other guys
that you had and now you don't have him anymore.
So there has to be a better way to be
able to get a player like that of caliber, or

(15:35):
don't or don't get that player if you don't think
he's going to be coming. And but this is this
is what gentlemeners do. This is the this is the
game within the game, I guess you could say, right
when it comes to the trade deadline and teams are
all trying to get better for their long playoff runs.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, because we know that written and didn't know like
everyone was super blindsided up by this trade, like from
Colorado to Carolina because we saw the reaction from a
lot of the aves and then it was so it's
not like something where you can kind of be like, Okay,
we're going to trade for him, but are you before
we do?

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Like are you going to.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Sign here long term? You know, like are like is
this something we should like we should commit to, Like
are you gonna do you want to get married someday?

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Or we just like in a date for a while.
Like it's just like a really weird.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Thing where I think that now looking back on it,
you think, well, shouldn't they have known something that maybe
he would potentially want to stay there, But then it's
like you don't know that with any guy. Like that
is when you try to get a rental in a
way that a guy that has a contract that's expiring
or that's you know, going to be a free agent,
you can't really tell for sure, especially if they want

(16:40):
to test their the free agent market and all that
kind of stuff. So I guess it, you know, hindsight's
always twenty twenty. But this one seemed like a bit
of a whiff in a way. Branton didn't want to
be there. That feels like big no, but I mean.

Speaker 5 (16:57):
Or or the other option was to keep him, you know,
even if right, even if possible, maybe he didn't want
to be there, But like you already traded for him,
and you're saying, Okay, we're not going to trade him
no matter what's going to happen, because we're going we're
trying to win a Stanley Cup and we'll deal it.
We'll deal with it in the summertime. Yeah, the summertime issue,

(17:17):
you know, where we don't want to have to trade
a top ten player in the league at this at
this junction when we just traded for him, you know,
weeks ago. So it was a wild trade deadline and
a lot of a lot of a lot of good stories.
But I just think that the Carolina Hurricanes, Yeah, this
was a tough one.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, do you think maybe in those thirteen games, they're
just like our projection is that he's probably not going
to be worth the rental, Like we're not gonna this
is not going to work out, even just if he
doesn't sign, like just the way he's playing, the way
he's the chemistry, everything, like.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
We made a mistake.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
I don't think so.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
I mean, you look at some of the I've read
some of the analytics that and his expected goal rate
was the highest in the league still even if he
wasn't scoring. So you look at it that way, and
you're like, Okay, well it was just a matter of
time before he starts scoring again.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Right, Like it takes guys a while anyway anywhere exactly.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
And it's Miko Rann And I mean, the guy is
still the elite of elite, and I just think that
it's tough to let a guy go like that, even if,
even if there's a part of him that doesn't want
to be there. But at the same time, he's still
got to play hockey. He still got a job to do,
he still has to earn a contract, he still has
to impress other teams, whatever it is. But I just yeah,

(18:32):
I don't know what else to say about this. It's
just it's hard because but at the same time, look
at Dallas.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
Dallas now we.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Don't even talk about the West because we're like, well,
you're we do because you live out You're in La
Nate's recording this very early in the morning, so just
you know, snaps to you having to get up and
do this at that time. Got to get your thoughts
on the with Wrennon. But Mitch Marner, I don't I
forget who started the dance with with whom, but it
was maybe the Leafs. Yeah, the Leafs reached out for

(19:03):
rent or I'm sure I forget who reached out first.
But the thing was that Carolina was interested in Mitch Marner,
not like Brad free Living was not being like, here
do you want Mitch Marner. Knowing that Marner's contract is
obviously a big topic of conversation, he doesn't want to
talk about it. It's going to be done in the
off season allegedly. But what do you make about just
the idea that this this potential trade or like just

(19:27):
even this news has come to fruition and like the
idea that also Mitch Marner has been playing well, but
that this could be a distraction for a guy like Mitch.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
And it's funny these two have been compared in contract status,
right with Brandon and Mitch Marner.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
So it was ironic that, you know, they.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
Were apparently being possibly traded for one of another, you know,
in a deal where they were trying to work that out.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
But I think it's tough.

Speaker 5 (19:51):
At the same time, I do believe though, that Toronto
Maple Leaves and Bradtree Living are going to do everything
in their power to re sign Mitch Marner because you know,
it's Mitch Marner. He's one of the best Leafs ever.
Now I think you could say, now, yeah, you know,
they wanted to make a big deal too. You know,
I think they wanted to get better. It's it's for
all Maple Leafs and it's Miko Ranton. And I can't
sit here and say who's better right now, but I

(20:14):
can say this. You know that if Randon goes to
Toronto and Mitch Marner goes to Carolina, wow, But obviously
it didn't happen. But I just think that I think
the Leafs are heavily invested in Mitch Marner. And kudos
and Mitch Mahyer on the year he's having and how
well he's playing, and he silenced some critics, I believe
at Four Nations the way where the way he stepped

(20:35):
up and he played in those big games. So you know,
maybe maybe Mitch Marner is back and he's extended for
for a long time and he's a leaf forever.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Well, it's kind of like the opposite situation to how
Carolina handled Branton in because they well and I mean
Brandon made it known that he didn't want to stay there.
Mitch has made it known that he, you know, would
like to stay there in Toronto without really like revealing
all of his cards because you do want to have
some leverage when it comes to negotiating.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
But they have, you know, decided to keep him.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
And there is a potential that that a guy like
that could walk at the end of the season and
test free agency and not come back. But it seems
as though based on everything, like you are going to
you're gambling on the fact that he's going to stay
and you want him to stay. But to Brad tree
Living's credit, he has to ask you don't have the
commitment from him, Like again, talking about like, we don't

(21:30):
have the engagement, we don't have the ring on our
finger yet, so got to go check out.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
I mean, can you imagine what that would have done
to the Leaf's locker room, trading a guy like Mitch
Marner out of that room and bringing in Miko Ranton in,
I mean, who knows, you know. I mean, that's a
big shake up because obviously Miko Ranton had no ties
to Carolina, it didn't matter where he was going. But
to bring Mitch Marner out of that locker room, who's,
obviously you can tell, is a popular guy, fun loving guy,

(21:56):
and now he's gone.

Speaker 4 (21:57):
I mean, I know we're all we're talking what IF's here?

Speaker 5 (22:00):
But still, I mean I think that I think what
Brad Tree Living did and keeping you know, Mitch Martin
and and who knows, We don't really know behind the
scenes of what what went down, and who knows if
I mean, do you think that do you think that
he went up to Mitch and said, will you trave
your will you wave your no trade?

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah? I think he did, But he did it in
a way that like, I have to do this as
a general manager because I don't know for sure we
don't have anything in writing beyond this season. Like, I
just got to ask because if I don't ask as
a general manager, if I'm Brad, then I'm not doing
my job.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
That's what I would say.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
But like, as much as you would want to keep him,
you're just like, hey, like I don't want to have
to ask you this, but like, just would you go
would you do this?

Speaker 5 (22:43):
I saw something Brad trulyman came out and said He's like,
you know, we want Mitch Marder to be a leave.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
They've been trying to get this done.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah, he doesn't want it like done right now.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
And I guess like Darren Ferris's agent just usually waits
till the off season, which I'm like, okay, I feel
like his agent has put him in this really messed
up situation where he has to now like for.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
All these questions.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
First of all, I was really shocked that he was
made available to the media after that Colorado Avalanche game.
I know he scored two goals, but like, just with
the fact that that story came out, you're just like
feeding him to the Toronto media afterward.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
So yeah, yeah, And I think it's fascinating to hear
stories come out about potential trades that could have happened,
because I'll take you back to when I was in Regina, Saskatchewan, the.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
City that rounds with fun, the Queen City it was.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
I once reported about a trade that almost happened with
I love this with the Regina Pats, and I think
it was like the Prince George Cougar's and I named
the player that wasn't going to be potentially traded, that
was not traded, and I remember getting a call from
a general manager there that was like very upset that

(23:59):
I had named the player because the trade didn't happen,
and now the player was like wait a second, like
you guys were gonna trade me, and you know, I
was like, okay, I can come apologize to him and
buy him like an ice cream Sunday.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
I don't know what you want me to do. I
feel like this is like part of the world that like.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Sometimes happens if this, but I learned very quickly, like
don't name a player that isn't traded, but that is
in discussions.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
But that's obviously.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
I just think that those people were I just think
that general manager was a little sensitive to the situation
because see I was about to use a different word
than that, or.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Player who had his bags and just walking by Julie
with his hockey bag thinking he was going.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
To get traded or what.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, he's already packing his bags. I'm like, wait, not happening,
go back, no, I love. I actually did go up
to the player and I was like, hey, blank named player,
I apologize to putting you in that report on the
local news. He was like, I don't care. I was like, oh, okay,
here's right, scream Sunday. All right, speaking of players that

(25:06):
were actually traded and that we have talked about quite
a bit and has been in the media, we are
very fortunate to have joining us here on the program
is general manager for the Carolina Hurricanes, Eric Telsky, to
break down and take us inside the room of everything
that happened with Miko Rantan and beyond, and that's coming up.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Right after this.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
All right, Well, we're very thrilled to be able to
welcome on an extremely important and busy person, and that
is none other than Carolina Hurricanes General manager Eric Telsky,
who has been very busy over the last couple of
days and has so generously joined us here on the
energy line with Nate and JSB. That is, of course
myself and Eric. It's gotta have been a crazy couple

(25:56):
of days for you. How would you describe it in
layman's terms, what it has been like to go through
your first trade dead line as general manager of the Hurricanes.

Speaker 7 (26:06):
Yeah, it was a pretty busy week.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
You know, there's a lot going on, a lot of
calls to make the uh the peak of activity was
So went to bed Thursday night at about one thirty,
thinking we had our deal done. Before I got into bed,
my phone rang and found out there was a hiccup.
Get back on the phone, talk to a couple different

(26:30):
people for a while, went up to go to sleep
and went to set my alarm and it was six fifteen.

Speaker 7 (26:36):
In the morning.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
So wow, I got eight minutes of sleep because my
phone rang again at six twenty three.

Speaker 7 (26:42):
That was a long night, O kid.

Speaker 5 (26:45):
So I did a little bit digging. I see, I
think you're from Philly, Harvard, Berkeley.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
How did how did you get into hockey?

Speaker 5 (26:52):
Was it something you were right away from a young
age you were into or was it something later on
in life that you that really got into.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, so I've followed sports in general my whole life.
I've you know, spent time focused on baseball, spent time
focused on football, spent time focused on hockey. It was,
you know, it's something I've probably depended on how well
the local teams were doing. Right, It's always more fun
to follow the good teams. And yeah, so then I

(27:22):
followed it as a fan reasonably closely for a while,
and in around two thousand and nine or ten started
getting engaged in blog posts and writing stuff up on
my own and ended up with a whole career out
of it.

Speaker 7 (27:36):
Somehow.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
It's amazing.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
It's pretty crazy to go from starting with the blog
post to then being a general manager. But in the interim,
you worked a lot in science and technology, and for
the people that don't really know, kind of a lot
about that side of your background. Maybe what aspect of
the science and the tech that you were a part

(27:58):
of do you feel has maybe most helped you in
this general managing role.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, So there are a few different things. One is
just an industry. I spent time as a manager, I
spent time as a team leader, and so I learned
a lot of sort of industrial best practices about how
to run a team and how to run an organization,
and you know, ultimately this is a management job, right,
It's a hockey management job, but it is management. I've

(28:24):
got a staff to run, I've got you know, And
so that's those skills all transfer they're sort of an
understanding of how to plan ahead and look at what
the options are and make sure you're prepared for what
might come. All that sort of stuff transfers over. The
science specific stuff probably didn't transfer it that much, you know.

(28:45):
When I was working in data, there was a little
bit of it, But probably the thing that transferred most
directly from that is in chemistry. It's not a field
where you have really hard proof of anything. You have
a lot of sort of indirect information and you have
to kindkind of tease things out, piece things together and

(29:07):
be comfortable with a little bit of uncertainty. And hockey's
kind of the same way, right. It's hard to ever
really know for sure how this player would look if
you were playing with that player, but you have indirect
information and you have hunches, and you tease it out
and you get more information. So that comfort with uncertainty
and ability to update your feelings as you get new
information is part of both jobs for sure.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
What's the dilemma I guess or the yeah, I guess
dilemma and making trades while you're in a playoff spot.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's tricky, right. You want to
keep making the team better, but you also need to
manage your team chemistry. And we have a fantastic group
of players who all you know, really like where they are,
really like playing for the coach. We have really like
this team in this city, and you have to be
careful with that, right, Like it's This off season in

(29:59):
particular was especially tough because we had, you know, we
had a lot of agents and we didn't have the
cap space to keep all of them, and so we
knew we were going to have some turnover and that
creates some risk, and we worked pretty hard to try
and make sure we knew the personalities and make sure
we were going to keep the chemistry in the room
the way we wanted it to be.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Now, Eric, there's so many different levels and I guess
iterations of sort of this the Migo Rantanen saga that
has sort of gone on For those of us who
aren't in the room, who don't know what it's like, maybe,
could you take us back to when you decided to
trade for him when he was in Colorado and sort
of the influences that went through your mind or went

(30:42):
through your entire team's mind to get this guy when
also it was a bit of a surprise for him
to come to your team at that time.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, I mean, so we talked through with everybody on
the staff, and you know, the opportunity to acquire a
player like that just doesn't come along very often, and
we don't want to miss out on a chance. Right
If they had traded him somewhere else and he had
extended there and we never got the chance to get him,
we would have kicked ourselves for that. And we're willing

(31:13):
to take some risks. And we knew he wouldn't extend
on the day he came in. We also knew that
we have a long history of having everyone who comes
in here really like it here and want to be here,
and you know, we haven't always been able to keep
everyone because that's how the salary cap works. But I

(31:34):
don't think there is a single player who is left.
And I'm sure it's not literally true, but I can't
think of a single player who left because he was like,
I'm done with you, guys, I want out. It was
always we couldn't find a way to make it work
or fit within our structure.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Okay, so just based on one thing you said there,
when he came in that first time, you were aware
that he wasn't going to sign with you, guys.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
We knew he wouldn't sign that day.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
He came in with an open mind and said, you know, look,
I'm in shock. My whole world just got turned upside down.
Gimme a minute here, and we're like, of course. And
by the way, that's the same thing that happened with
Genseil last year when we traded for him. We knew
he wasn't extending that day either, and within you know,
by the end of the season when he was ready
to talk about it, he didn't want to think about

(32:20):
it during the year. We got to the end of
the year and he wanted to be here, and he
would have signed. We just we had some big contracts
up in a tight cap situation and had a hard
time making sure we could sign him and not put
ourselves in a difficult spot with other players. That was
our hope that that was where this one would go too,
and he spent a little time getting to know us.

(32:42):
And you know, it's honestly the first time that I
can remember where a player came in and said, you know,
this just doesn't feel like home to me.

Speaker 7 (32:49):
And that's okay.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
You know, obviously it's not what you want. But everybody
prefers different things, right. Some people want to live in
a big city. Some people like to be in a
place that's a great family town. Some people, know whatever.
Some people want to live in Canada, some people want
to live in warm planets. Like, everybody can have their
own motivations, and that's okay. It thinks that, you know,

(33:15):
someone who I think could have been really good for
us decided this wasn't it for him, But it happens, right,
It's we're dealing with people, and people have their own
emotions and their own opinions and make their own choices.

Speaker 5 (33:29):
Two questions here, I guess, and we'll shift to now
that you get Logan Stankovin and obviously all the return
picks you got for him as well with Niko rant
and Trade, you know, now that you have Logan Stankovin,
is that going to be a long term fit for you.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
And second part.

Speaker 5 (33:44):
Is is it championship or bus for you guys this season.

Speaker 7 (33:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
So one of the things that we liked about the
way the rantin and timing worked was that we did
that early enough that he could have time to decide
whether it was a fit and still leave us for
him to decide if we wanted to just make a
run with him this year and move on or try
and get a longer piece for him. And you know,
he told us about a week before the deadline that

(34:09):
he didn't see an extension here as being likely, and
there were four teams that he thought did feel like
a fit to him, and we went and talked to
those teams. And you know, if we had not gotten
a piece in the deal like Logan, we would have
just held on to him. But we think Logan is
as good of a fit as he'll find, right he

(34:30):
he he seems like he was born to play for
this team. And so when you get a player with
his age and ability who fits the way he does,
you know, it's that's a valuable piece and that's something
we're going to take. Then we got a bunch of
draft capital which we can use one way or another.
It'll make the team better in however we end up

(34:51):
using it. And so yeah, this is you know, this
is a pivot to making the team better for the
long term. I don't think it's ever championship or bust, right.
We have tried to manage our organization in a way
that makes sure we're going to be good for a
long long time. And we have taken swings like we
did with Genzel, where we knew, even if it was

(35:13):
just that year, we were okay with it because it
gave us the best chance that year. But that doesn't
mean we don't also always have our own long term right.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
And then just you know, going through this entire process
and knowing that Migo riant and said that he you know,
wouldn't want to resign, and you discuss how some players
want different things based on their family, based on their interest,
and that's just something you kind of sort of have
to take a gamble on when you're making.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
A trade, I assume.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
But maybe what's something you've learned from this experience as
a general manager that you will take going forwards so
that perhaps maybe something like this you can try to
prevent something like this from happening again.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
There were a lot of trades made at the deadline
this year. Some teams gave up some very valuable assets.
I think there's only one that came with an extension
that day, right, So it's that is sort of the normal.
Is you make your trade, you give up your assets,
you get the piece you're bringing in, and you take
your shot. And sometimes there's an extension at the end
of it, and sometimes there isn't, depending on the fit.

Speaker 7 (36:22):
That's how in season trades work all the time. I
don't think we would have.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
You know, the difference here is we gave up two
players off our roster, and that's not always what happens.
But you know, part of the deal here was we
knew we were doing it early enough that we would
have a chance to recover a roster player or two
if we needed to, and we were taking a shot
at the kind of player who you don't get a

(36:46):
chance at very often. So look, you know, obviously the
more information you have, the better. I don't think it
would have been possible to know how he would feel
once he got here. We did our best to guess
how likely it was that he would extend. But we
do have a long history of every player that comes
in and wanting to be here. You know, we're we're
not going to shy away from taking risks when we

(37:07):
need to we win the team, When we have built
a dynasty and feel like all we need to do
is protect what we have, then we'll be conservative. But
we still haven't gotten where we want to go, and
we're going to keep taking swings and trying to get there.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
So one of my favorite coaches in the league is
Rod Brenda Moore and obviously one of my favorite players too.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Growing it when I was when I was watching.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
Hockey and you know, he came out and said that
Ranton told the Hurricanes you wouldn't resign, And I know
you touched on that.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
Can you elaborate on that?

Speaker 5 (37:36):
And also too, I mean, do you have any of
rodbrinda more stories now that you're working with him.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, I mean, so Rodd's a little prone to exaggeration.
You know, It's it's sort of a running joke in
our market that you know, when you ask Rod about
an injury, if he's like, yeah, you know, look, it's
you know, it's horrible, He's going to be out long term, Like,
I don't know what we're going to do that means
the players out until at least Thursday, maybe Friday. So

(38:01):
you know, it's not like the player walked in on
day one and said, you know, I'm not signing here,
here's my four teams. Like he did give it time,
and that was something we heard from him a week.

Speaker 7 (38:13):
Before the deadline, not on day one.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Look, Rod cares passionately about this team and it stings
him that a player didn't want to be here, and
it's really the first time we've dealt with it in
that kind of situation. And you know, he was sticking
up for his team and he was trying to get
across very clearly the message that everyone else who came
in wanted to be here, right, That's that's whatever was

(38:38):
going on with this guy. He was the exception, not
the norm. And Rod cares a lot about this team,
and he wanted everyone to understand that when one player
decides to move on, that's not anything about our organization
or our culture. That's just one person's own personal decisions

(38:59):
on what's best for him and his family.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Right, And we're not trying to grill you, by the way,
I know, it feels like some sort of like I
don't know, like legal counsel type thing that we're.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Questioning out of deposition.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, yeah, definitely nice there, Nate not just a former
hockey player over here. I have one last question on
my part about the rantinant thing. And I'm from Toronto,
so of course obviously, I mean it was just any
if you know, if if a Toronto may belief sneezes,
it's like the front page of the news. So the
fact that Mitch Marner was that it was reported on

(39:34):
the leaf Side, like from uh, I guess had been
sort of leaked by a by the I think the
team from the leaf Side that you guys were interested
in him in part of a potential rant and in trade.
In what way for you as a general manager do
you deal with or sort of what's your perspective with

(39:55):
giving information to insiders and how you manage that with
how it could potentially affect your team or help your team,
or what's stance on that.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
It is very important to me that people know they
can trust me. I basically don't give anything to anybody,
you know. I feel bad because I know people are
trying to do their jobs and I want to help.
But it did a lot for me that when we
did the first rent and in trade. Nobody in the
league knew it was happening, and of course we've been
talking about it for a long time, and so I

(40:24):
demonstrated there that you can bring your biggest players to
us and it won't get out through us, right, And
so that's important because the next time someone wants to
trade a big player, they won't be worried that if
they come talk to us about it it's going to
end up in the media and create a circus for them.
They'll know we're a team that keeps things quiet and they.

Speaker 7 (40:46):
Can be open to them.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
And we've heard other big names honestly, like it's like
teams recognize that we can keep a secret and that
they can talk to us about what they're interested in doing.
I think that's really important. I know it's not as
much fun for the media or the fans if they
don't get those little tid bits of information, but it's
important to having us be able to get deals done.
That teams know they can come to us with their

(41:10):
ideas and have it be just between us.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
It must be tough for all those insiders and just
trying to get information out of you. If it's especially
about this situation.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I try to be friendly
and helpful without giving any.

Speaker 7 (41:26):
Information basically, so after.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Something's done, if you know, if somebody wants me to explain, like, hey,
how does this you know Jarvis contract work? Like, I'm
happy to walk people through stuff like that, but while
it's happening, you know, it's it's sort of private stuff
between the parties involved.

Speaker 5 (41:44):
I know exactly what it's like to be traded and
to go through that process as a former player, when
you're making these calls to players or other players, are
you are you talking them through it? Or is it
one of those things where it's okay, I'm calling you,
this is the deal?

Speaker 4 (42:02):
You know, how do you navigate?

Speaker 7 (42:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (42:04):
So that this was the first one I've had where
it was really I think a surprise to people. We
traded Dylan Coglin, but he knew we were looking to
move him. He was hoping to find a new opportunity
that was different this one. You know, they were surprised.
I of course kept everything quiet and it hit the
media before the trade call was done.

Speaker 7 (42:26):
I did not.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
I think that's hard, right, I don't want to I
can't talk to players until the trade call is done,
because if it falls through, it looks really bad if
I've told them, hey, we're trading you and then we don't.
But at the same time, once it hits the media,
now they're finding out from Twitter or their friends texting.

Speaker 7 (42:44):
Them, and that's no good either. So I you know
that stinks.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
So I ended up making calls that night saying I'm
sure you're reading this. You know, I got to acknowledge
we're working on something. Nothing's final yet. That wasn't great.
It's not the way I would have liked to have
handled that. That's what happens when stuff gets out before
it's supposed to. It's part of what I try hard
to keep things quiet.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Right And of course you have such an interesting background.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Have you done any analytics or science on Nate Thompson's
stats because he was a former flyer.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah, I'm going to keep that one just between you
and me. We can talk later, but I think we know.
I don't think we need to get into it.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
Eric, Eric should know that if anyone was gonna sign
me to analytics my last I wouldn't. I wouldn't have
been the league my last five years if it was
just straight analytics.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
So there were no numbers.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, but Eric, just coming from your background, I mean,
hockey is obviously been an old boys club for as
long as I've been alive, and seeing your background coming
in and I know that you've we talk about the
science and the technology background, but we know that you
have a hockey background and you've worked your way up
through various different levels, through different teams. But maybe can

(44:01):
you tell us just a bit about sort of breaking
in and from into your role, from having a different
background than your peers, and maybe some.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Of the struggles that you might have overcome through that.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
So I was fortunate actually to have a path that
wasn't that challenging. I was brought in by a general manager,
Ron Francis, who was hiring me because he wanted to
hear what I had to say. You know, he didn't
know anything about data yet, but his view was if
it can make us better than I want to know,

(44:34):
doesn't mean that from day one he was going to
put a lot of stock in what I said. But
from day one he was going to listen to what
I said and see what panned out and decide whether
it was something you should put stock in and so
that gave me the opportunity to build a foundation of
trust right and demonstrate that I was worth listening to.
And over time, you know, enough of the things that

(44:56):
I said held up that the organization's confidence in me grew,
and my opportunity to have a voice and an impact
grew as I demonstrated, you know, that I had information
worth having.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Do you have people kids in school that have a
bit of a different background or similar to the one
that you had, that have reached out to you, that
have been interested in kind of taking a similar route
to you.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Yeah, I get a lot of incurease from people. I
try to find time to talk to them when I can.
I have less time for that now than I used to,
but yeah, there's a lot of people who like to
have a little chat about how I got into this,
how what they can do, what I recommend for them.
In general, my advice is, of course, there's certain skills

(45:42):
you need to have. That part. There's lots of people
who have that. The harder part is demonstrating to people
that you are someone who can use those skills effectively.
And so whether that's by publishing blog posts or publishing
research papers or doing an internship with the team, like

(46:04):
one way or another, you need to find a way
to make it so that people can see that you're
somebody who has the ability to take these tools and
produce something useful and interesting with them.

Speaker 5 (46:16):
I think we're less than twenty games around that twenty
game mark going into the playoffs. What are you happy
with the way your team's playing? Do you want to
see more? Where do you feel your team's act going
into the playoffs, going hopefully for a long run.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yeah, so both, we always want to see more. I
don't think we're ever satisfied in this organization, but yeah,
I do think the team is playing well.

Speaker 7 (46:38):
I think we're playing well.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
I think we have a group that is very committed
and positive and playing the right way. Rod is very
good at getting the most out of players who are
committed and playing the right way. And the way he
has this group play, when everybody's dialed in, we can
be really really hard to play against, you know. I
think that's what we'll see going forwards.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yeah. I live in New York City. I've covered the
Rangers for a couple of year now, and so I've
seen firsthand the relentless suffocating for check that your team
has and.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Really makes it so difficult.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
On other teams, and I know is something that so
many other teams want to be.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
Able to possess.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Just to wrap up sort of on your experience of
going through your first trade deadline, as you know officially
general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, what is your biggest
takeaway or biggest maybe surprise about the entire experience that
you think will help you going forward that maybe you

(47:41):
hadn't hadn't even anticipated would be a feeling or an
experience when you headed into it.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think this deadline was different for
most because everything we wanted to do hinged on a
first step. Most of the time, I think we will
be going in saying, you know, here are our top
two needs, here are the players we like for those roles,
get the prices, and decide which way we want to go.
In this case, it was tricky because we might have

(48:09):
been trading rentin in or we might not. If we
didn't trade him, we had very little cap space and
it was just going to be depth moves. If we
did trade him, then depending on the deal, we might
be getting back this kind of piece or that kind
of piece. So we didn't even know what our needs
were yet until we knew how that was going to
shake out, So it was very different for most And

(48:29):
of course we worked through sort of contingency plans for
each of those and what we would want to do,
and that made it a lot more work than it
usually would be because we weren't just starting from here
are the two things we need. We were starting from
if we do this, then we need these two things.
If we do that, then we need this thing. It
just it made for a lot more permutations and a

(48:50):
lot more time on the phone.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
So hope we don't have to have to do that
next year. Would you maybe not do a trade like
a month out?

Speaker 7 (48:58):
Well, I.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Don't expect to be in that kind of situation. Again,
we'll see how it goes, but that was a different
situation for sure.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
I see, like, I love the fact when gms are
able to have the guts to make these big trades.
I mean, I think it's great for hockey and it's
it's it's great for it's great for everybody. It makes
it makes it exciting. I know it's not as exciting
for you guys at times, but for us sitting back,
it's it's definitely fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Yeah, I mean, we always want to take big swings.
We also know that when you're taking big swings, it
doesn't always work out, and so you need to know
what you're doing next if it doesn't. And in this case,
we had a pivot plan that brought in a player
who we think is going to be a core piece
for us for a long time to come.

Speaker 7 (49:47):
And you know, we're okay with that outcome.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
Right, And I'm sure it's also interesting just to have
there's just so many people with various opinions, talking heads
that will have various perspectives on what you're doing, and
you never really know until things settle and you see
how the season pans out and you see how players'
careers pan out as well. So can't really sort of
make a I guess evaluation until things, you know, twenty

(50:14):
years down the road in a way.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
But we really appreciate you taking your time here Eric
to join us.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
It has been amazing to just be able to talk
freely with you about the trade deadline, about the whole
random deal and in Nate and I are very appreciative
of your time and for your insights, So thank you
and good luck for the rest of the season.

Speaker 7 (50:35):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me on. I had
a good time.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
We are so lucky to be able to have had
Eric Telski, general manager Carolina Hurricanes on. Really just cool
to get a little bit of, you know, opening the
door inside the room. I mean, none of us really
actually know what it's like to be in there, but
Eric is very kind kind enough to sort of shed
some light on how things go down and maybe how

(51:05):
things could have gone better. And when I know, we
were talking about trades ahead of time, but now teams
are set for the rest of the season, which is
like very as you mentioned, like it's like play it's
warm out, it's sunny, it's like, oh gosh, it's like
playoff season already, which is the best time of the year.
Who do you think is like trending after the trade deadline,

(51:27):
like trending up and who is coming down?

Speaker 5 (51:31):
It's that time of the year now where after the
trade in line, the general managers, the coaches, the players
and kind of go, Okay, this is our team, this
is what we have, and this is what we got
to do. I mean, I look at the West, it's Calgary,
Vancouver and Saint Louis. I'll look at a wild card
teams first, but I see those three teams and Saint

(51:53):
Louis has entered the chat.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Now you say wild right, like we thought Braydon Shen
was going to be traded all this stuff.

Speaker 5 (52:00):
It played some unbelievable hockey and that that that one's tough.
I mean, those three teams didn't do a whole lot
for a certain reason. I don't think they could in
their situation. I mean, it's crazy right now. And then
you look at the teams in the West, the top
teams in the West, and there's four teams that had

(52:20):
forty plus wins. I just wanted to the name is
the forty plus wins after March or going into March ninth,
and I was Winnipeg, Washington, Dallas, and Florida. And for me,
I would just want to mention this. For me, Washington
earned the right to not have to do that much. Dallas,
we know what Dallas did. Florida, we know what Florida did. Winnipeg.

(52:41):
That's the one for me where I'm like, all right, guys,
I don't know if you did enough. I don't know
because I look at other teams in the Central and
I think they're looking at Winnipeg and saying, we're not
scared of you. You know, we're not worried about that.
So we'll have to see how that plays out. At
the same time, Winnipeg's Winnipeg. They've been good all year

(53:02):
and we'll see if they can shut everyone up in
the playoffs this year. And then I mean, I mean
you look at the East and you know, I think
you look at the two you know, the two Florida teams,
you know, Florida and Tampa, and you've seen what they've
done as well, and there's a possibility of them playing
in the first round, which would be as in the
words of Julie Stuart Binks.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Banana lands well banana and and also banana Sandwich. Those
are I just want to give a yeah shout out
to banana Sandwich, Banana Sandwich. And then you look at
the wildcard situation there and as of now it's you know,
it's Ottawa and Columbus. And last night, what a huge
win for the Oowa Senators to beat Detroit.

Speaker 5 (53:42):
Yeah, in regulation, and now they have a five point
cushion with a game in hand. Things are starting to
kind of come into place for certain teams, and teams
are starting to fall off and you're seeing seeing things
kind of transpire the.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
Way they're supposed to. So yeah, it's a.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
Three team race, you know, with the Rangers, Columbus and Ottawa,
you know, fighting for that wildcard spot.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
So Rangers are at sixty eight points and they've played
sixty four games, so will Columbus and Ottawa at this
point have a game in hand and Columbus seventy points
and Ottawa seventy one points. But then right below the
Rangers you got Montreal, Detroit, Boston all sixty six points,
and then the Islanders.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
At sixty five. Like that's just such a slim margin.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
One of those teams, which would likely be the Islanders,
they'll just go on a run right like at the
end and then get into the playoffs and then be
like do nothing because that just seems to always happen for.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
The Highlanders take up a spot in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
You know. I'll due respect to the Islanders nation that
of course loves me so much as I'm from Toronto,
That's why they absolutely hate me all the time. But
I don't know, I just think that like this could
be one of these things where it's like the last
ten games of the season, last five games of the
season could like determine who's in or who isn't.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
Oh yeah, it's going to be wild. I mean, I
think even the last five games, because you never know.

Speaker 5 (55:05):
Maybe maybe the Islanders go on a five game winning
streak at the end of the season and they gets
into the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
Who knows.

Speaker 5 (55:11):
I mean, there's so many different scenarios that could happen.
Do I think that's going to happen. No, I still
believe that. I do think that Ottawa and Columbus.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
Are going to get in. I don't I don't know
if the Rangers are going to get in.

Speaker 5 (55:22):
It just it just maybe I'm saying that early, but
it just it just feels like that. It feels like
the way Ottawa's playing, feels like the way Columbus is playing.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
It's such a good story too.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
At the same time, I guess I know it really is.
They're playing for a bigger goal.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
They have a different energy around them, and everyone wants
them to do well, like that's the one team people
would all I think if somehow Columbus won the Stanley Cup,
everyone would be happy. Yeah, maybe not the team they're against,
like in the Cup final, but you would be like,
this is it's otherworldly at this point because of the
tragedy they faced.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
I mean, if that would be that would be amazing.
But there is another team that I want to talk
about as well that I think that I really they
were not small moves, but not huge moves. Was the
Toronto Maple Leaves. I really really loved what they did.
Adding Scott Lawton and Brandon Carlow. I think those deals
are I think those two deals are going to be

(56:18):
more noticeable. So let's say May and June if they
go deep into the playoffs, because I played with a guy.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
I play with Scott Lawton in Philly, and this guy
he does everything. He can play up and down your lineup.

Speaker 5 (56:31):
He can play in the first line, wing, he can
play fourth line, center, wing, whatever it is. And not
only that, he's one of the funniest guys I've ever
played with. You know, he's what we you'd say, a
glue guy, right, and I think he's going to help
that room. Even if it didn't need help, it's going
to help even more having Scott Lawton in there.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Love hearing that. I think what you mentioned great point.
Those two signings. They're not sexy signings, but they're ones
that definitely bolster your team. As you mentioned, they needed
a third line center or wherever you're going to put him,
and he can also play wing lot Scott Laton and
then Brandon Carlo defenceman. Also with Chris Tanna being out
and coming back in. But for the Leafs, they're in

(57:09):
a good position. The only hard part is that the
entire division got better. You look at those top three
in the in the Atlantic and it's like, oh great,
Like right now it's Florida, Toronto and Tampa. So at
this point, right now they'd be playing Tampa and you're like, well,
we've seen this one before, Like you don't want to
be going up against John Cooper in the first round.

(57:29):
Like in the way Tampa has been playing, the way
Veslevsky has been playing, It's like there's just too many
teams that are good that are going to be going
up against each other in the first round. This is
what happened last year too, Like we saw teams get
knocked out in the first round last year that were
teams that could go on a run. Like I don't
know the way you know, we're not going to get
into like the way the team's set up.

Speaker 5 (57:50):
But I mean this is why I think it should
be one through eight and yeah, the way that's set up,
because it's like you have a good season and then
you're like, okay, I gotta play.

Speaker 4 (57:59):
I got to play the first round for having a
good season. You know. It's like I I don't like that.

Speaker 5 (58:04):
I mean, I know I to build the rivalries and it,
you know, playing within the division, but I mean you
look at Florida's got eighty three points, Toronto's got eighty one,
and Tampa's got seventy eight, and so it's like there's
a collision course.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Like as you said, you look up after like playing
all seasons, like all right over here, we're like, oh great, playing.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
These guys again.

Speaker 5 (58:25):
Like what I mean you look at like the LA
Kings and everybody be playing each other for the fourth
time in a row.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
That's tough. That's tough for LA.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
Yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 5 (58:37):
I don't think those two teams want to play each
other again in the first round.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
I think they're like uncle, really, yeah, they should.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Just be able to be like you know, what can
we trade like teams if we both agree to it,
can we just like trade who we're going to play? Okay,
So what our consensus is is that there are a
lot of teams that are on the bubble that could
get in, and Nate mentioned a couple of them that
he thinks they're gonna are going to be.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
In those wildcard positions, and then we're kind of.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Not really sure what some of the ones that are
in in the top positions are going to be like,
especially a team like Winnipeg that you mentioned, didn't really
do a whole lot at the deadline, and I don't
think anyone's scared of them, but I think that that's
just like a Winnipeg thing.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Who are you giving your flowers to? Who's your biggest
beauty this week?

Speaker 5 (59:21):
Well, my flowers have to go to the guy who
just scored his thousandth points last night, and that is
Nate McKinnon.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
Ornate, Nate Dogg McKinnon.

Speaker 5 (59:32):
This guy, I mean, what can we say the year
he's having in the NHL at four nations, He's got
one hundred and two points. He got his thousandth point
last night in eight hundred and fifty six games, and
you know, it's it's incredible because you know the way
his game has evolved. And Jared Bednar talked about it

(59:53):
last night and said how impressed he is by him
because you know how hard it was for him, maybe
in his twenties to even get close to one hundred points.
And now we're, what twenty games, twenty games left, and
he's already reached a hundred points and he's probably gonna
get a whole lot more so. And he also mentioned
he talked about too, the way his defensive game.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Is rounding out and how every time.

Speaker 5 (01:00:15):
He touches the ice he's dangerous. Hear that from your
coach saying every time he touches the ice, he's dangerous,
And you know he for me, I think he's you know,
he's he's on that McDavid level. Whenever he touches the puck,
whenever he gets it. You know, you're you're you're getting
out of your seat what the Colorado Colorado alanch did
with their trade adding brock Nelson and then you look

(01:00:35):
at the rest of the core guys, obviously Cale mccarr,
but like, who knows what we're going to see this
playoffs from Nate McKinnon, because what we've seen already this
season and what he's done has been pretty special.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
And it's even though he has the Stanley Cup from
a couple of years ago, it just seems like he
always has that axe murderer gene to him where he's
just like not satisfied.

Speaker 4 (01:00:56):
He's a killer.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
He's an absolute stone cold killer and I love yeah.
And you know, even Sid. I think Sid came out
and said something too about him. You know he you know,
he gets to work out with him, He gets to
see him day to day and you see he said,
you know, I get to see how much he work,
he puts into it, how much he cares, and you know,
he deserves this.

Speaker 4 (01:01:14):
He deserves all the accolades. It's awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:01:17):
I mean, he's one of my favorite guys to watch,
just because, like you said, he has that killer mentality
and the way he skates with the pocket, it's like
when he skates with the poker when he's coming to
it's like he's skating angry, like yeah, yeah, yeah, get
out of my way, you know, and it's it's so
fun to watch. So those are my flowers for good
old Nathan McKinnon.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Yeah, he definitely deserves them love to see. I mean
the as you mentioned, the speed, the pace, the way
he plays with the puck. I think he's underrated. I
don't think we talk about him enough in the league.
One funny little story I have about him and being
underrated was like World Juniors a couple of years ago,
I guess was twenty. It was twenty twenty, so before

(01:02:00):
right before the pandemic like hit.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
I was going to go.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
I went to watch it in a bar in New
York and Colorado was in town and they he went
into the bar to try to get a spot.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
No one was there yet.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
It's just me sitting at a table like ready, but
all the tables were reserved, and he like asked the
owner like, hey, can we like get a table and
they were like no, everything's reserved, and I'm like, this
is Nathan McKinnon. It was like the World Junior Gold
Medal game. Canada is in it, and they're just like nah, sorry, Bud,
like you don't have any pull at a hockey bar.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
World Junior's Gold Medal Game. And then I don't really
know him at all really well, and he just.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Like walked out like and just like walk by me
and I'm just like sitting at the table.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
I remember thinking like, I should probably let him sit here,
I guess, and watch the game.

Speaker 4 (01:02:46):
You would offer your seat.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Yeah, like this guy feels like he deserves a I
get to watch the World Juniors come into. He came
in early too. It wasn't like he just showed up
a puck chop or something. But anyway, speaking of also
with the Nova Scotia connection, we did not see Sydney
Crosby get traded. Were you surprised?

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
No, I was not surprised. I had a few. He
wasn't going anywhere. I mean, we all want him to
go somewhere, Yes, I think we all. I think we'll
just say I think everyone wants him to go play
in Colorado with Nate. I mean, can you imagine? But
I don't know. That definitely didn't happen this year. Maybe
we see it next year, who knows. But yeah, I
wasn't surprised.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Nate's very dialed in, so he knows if things are
moving and shaking in that one. That one looked like
it might but then it didn't come to fruition. But
I don't want to know more about talks. Okay, we
have been speaking of talks. We've been talking away too
much on this program here, but we want to thank
all of you guys for listening to this episode of

(01:03:47):
the Energy Line with Nate and JSB. Energy Line is
a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
Thanks to Eric Telsky.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
For joining us this week, and thanks as always to
Jake Brown for producing the show.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
Subscribe to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
On Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, give
us say five star rating, and please rate a nice review.
You can also hear us on the iHeartRadio app. I'm
Julie shorp binks, He's Nate Thompson. Nate now will be
back with another episode and next week or potentially maybe
be not next week because I will be on bally,
But thank you so much for tuning into Energy Line
and we will chat with you next time. Energy Line

(01:04:27):
is the production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For
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