November 11, 2025 • 44 mins
On this week’s episode of Energy Line, Nate Thompson and Julie Stewart-Binks discuss whether the league’s young guns can keep scoring at their current pace—and how “Enough is Enough” has quickly become the rallying cry for a few frustrated teams.
Then they’re joined by Rangers analyst and Clear Sight Analytics founder Steve Valiquette, who breaks down:
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Whether or not things are turning around for the Rangers after their first home win
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The key metrics every team needs to hit to win consistently
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The data markers that help to predict if a team will make the playoffs
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Whether he’d ever consider coaching or taking a front-office role
Plus, a surprising reveal about Henrik Lundqvist’s secret talent—and plenty more.
Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here next week for more Energy Line.
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeartPodcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
(00:27):
Hello and welcome on into Energy Line with Nate JSB.
I'm Julie Shurpanks. He's former NHLR Nate Thompson. Energy Line
is the production of iHeart Podcasts and the NHL, and
Today on the show, we will be joined by former
NHL or and NHL goalie, MSG analyst and founder of
clear Sight Analytics, Steve Valiquette And on that note, tom Or.
(00:49):
The Ranges got their first win a whole on November tenth,
a monkey off their back. They'd had a whole lot
of donuts, been shut out an incredibly increasingly number of times.
I witnessed one of them on Saturday five, nothing against
the Islanders. But now that streak is broken. Is everything
(01:11):
hunky dory? Now that they just got that one off
their back and they can say, all right, it's over now.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I wouldn't say it's all hunky dory now, but it
is a step in the right direction. They should feel
good about themselves. You know, Mike Sullivan was you know,
I watched his postgame presser and he was he was
pumped for his players. You could see how much it
meant to them, and you know, because obviously the media
and a lot of pressure and you know it's November
and you don't have your first your first win at home,
(01:39):
and they finally get that, inserting tro Check into the lineup,
Gabe Perro like those guys, I think that helped a lot,
especially Vinnie Trochek, like having a guy like him, he
was on four Nations roster like he and Team USA.
He's you know, best friends with j T.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Miller.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know, he's a guy that's important in that room.
And I think that I think sometimes not even the play,
but just you know, he talked about Mike Sulton the presence,
having the presence of him around can help guys and
boost guys.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So a huge win for the Rangers.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They still have a lot of work to do, but
you know it's interesting, right the Jacqueline Hyde of the
road team and the home team, and let's hope that
they can you know, balance that out a little bit
moving forward here.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, because it was really surprising just seeing how many
times they'd been shut out at home, and the stat
was like, they scored six goals against Nashville in their
win on Monday night, but prior to that, they are
previous seven games at home, they'd only scored six goals
and that was in two games, five goals against San
(02:46):
Jose and one against the Wild, So the other ones
a couple of zeros on the board. And I mean,
I think that that was maybe the most shocking part
of all, especially when I went on Saturday with two
friends who had never been to a hockey game in
their entire life and they never even got to hear
their city's goal song once, and it was pretty disappointing.
(03:12):
And I was up up in the rafters and so
I got to see. I got to see a lot
of action between Islanders fans and Rangers fans, and it
is not pretty. It's exciting to watch, but it felt like,
why can this team not score at home? And I
will say the absence of Vinnie Trochek it felt like,
and I'd say the absence of Chris Crowder too. There's
(03:33):
just something about their offense that just wasn't really threatening
in that regard. But so many times being shut out
at home. Have you ever seen a team go on
a run like that?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I'm not scoring at home, never like this, I don't know.
I can't remember a time when I've seen a team
not win or not score at home like this. But
like I said, I mean sometimes inserting maybe just one
two players. I mean, we've seen it. If you can
insert a player here or there into the lineup, it
can change the whole landscape of the lineup. And I
(04:05):
think Trochick did that a little bit. I mean when
you look at him on paper with that team, it's like, okay,
a little different look now, you know, it just looks different.
It looks better, obviously. So I'm happy for the Rangers.
I'm happy for the Rangers fans. They got to get
they got to get a win at.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Home times, they got to say their goal song won't
sing it okay, So in that regard, let's flip it
on the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
They won against the Nashville Predators.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And this is a team that we had talked to
Brady Shay in the off season about that they wanted
to get off to a hot start because they didn't
last year, and they have all of these superstars on
their team, but they can't seem to figure out.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
How to make it work.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
If you are on the outside looking in at this season,
which we are, but you're looking at Andrew Burnette.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Is he on the hot seat right now?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I would say yes, just because of the start they've had.
You know, I obviously start is not as bad as
it was last season, but in the division that they're in,
it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be very hard, and
I just don't know how.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I don't know how they get out of it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I don't I just don't know who they bump ahead of,
right Like, there's so many other central teams that that.
I mean, that's the best division in hockey probably, and
I don't know who they're gonna beat out. And I
think I foresee some moves being made here eventually. I
don't know if it's gonna be coach players. It's gonna
be something though, because eventually something's got to give. And
(05:35):
you know, we talked about the Rangers. Yes they get
a big win at home, but you know, no disrespect
to National Predators, but they're not a strong team.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So this is this.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It's good for the Rangers to win at home and
gets the Predators, but they're gonna move on. They're gonna
have to play Lightning next. So I know I get
off topic there, but you know, with with Nashville.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's tough right now. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It's gonna take some time, and I think they're gonna
have to make some deals and and it's it might
be player, it might be.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Andrew Burnett, right, it seems tos So there's a couple
teams that are looking to probably shift some things around
at this point in the season. When we look at
teams that have kind of been floundering. You mentioned the
Central What a wagon is Colorado Holy Bananas And they
put up nine goals against Edmonton, who's been back to
(06:21):
back Stanley Cups in the last two years, and they
lost them both. But they just sink Connor McDavid to
an extension. We knew that the pressure was going to
be on them this year to do more in this
time that they have With Connor, he said, you know,
enough is enough, which is the catchphrase of the season.
We know that Anthony Stoller said it. It's kind of
like the you miss one hundred percent of the shots
(06:43):
you don't take, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott, enough is enough
is now? Anthony Stolar's Craig Bruby and now Connor McDavid.
What do you make of what's going on with the
Oilers right now.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I talked about this yesterday with somebody, and I take
from experience. You know, they've been to the they've been
to the Cup finals two years in a row. And
you know, I think when you go into a season
after having a long playoff run, sometimes there's that sentiment
titlement that it's just going to happen right away. It's
automatically going to happen because you have these guys, you
(07:19):
have the same roster. It's just, you know, you're not
thinking about the regular season, You're not thinking about the
process that you have to go through. You're thinking about
the playoffs because you just want to be back there again.
We're just going to get back there again. But no,
you have to you got to play the eighty two
games first to get there. And maybe there's a little
bit of that, Maybe there's a little bit of Okay,
you know, we're just going to be automatic. It's just
(07:40):
we're going to go out there and it's just going
to happen. No, it doesn't work like that, and I
think there's been a little bit of that, and they're
they're inconsistent play it shows that and you know, Connor McDavid.
I mean he last night, you know, they they showed
up and they they managed to find a way to
win against the Columbus Blue Jackets and and Connor led
the way. So I think this is it's alarming because
(08:02):
I just don't think they can can continue to do
the same things they've done the last two years, where
they've you know, got these slow starts and then come
on strong and obviously Connor McDavid leon lead in the way.
But you know this, this league is getting better, Teams
are getting better, their division is getting better. So you
can't play with fire like this this early in the
(08:23):
season and try and play catch up the rest of
the season. So I think if they can get back
on track, get a big win last night against Columbus
and maybe this catapults them, gets them going.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, that seems to have been sort of the story
for them in the last couple of years of having
a slow start. But let me say a phrase I've
heard a lot of people say recently, and I'm going
to have you try to finish it because you might
you have certainly heard it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It's getting late, getting late to say that it's still
early in the season.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, it's getting late early.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Getting late early. Is that what you're going for.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, like we got there, we got there getting
late early, Like, you know, the pressure is on now.
It's you know, we're getting to the twenty game mark,
we're almost up to American Thanksgiving and at this point,
you know, it's, uh, it's kind of you really got
to step step on the gas.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And you'd look at other teams.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
John Cooper even said this a couple of weeks ago
about Tampa when they were floundering earlier in the season.
You know, just because you've done it doesn't mean you
can do it again, Like you aren't entitled to winning
because you've won before, which I think is a really
great statement, but also one that goes against my theory
of what Harry Potter says, just because I've done it,
(09:44):
or because I've done it, I knew I could do
it again, you know. So it kind of was unfortunate
in that regard, but he what he said was true.
So there's a lot of teams like that. I'd say
that about the Leafs as well. They're in a certain
situation like that. We'll get to them later on in
the program, but before we get to our guest.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I just got to ask you about these young guys.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
These these fire very little firecrackers around the league. The
Leo Carlson's, the darts, the Maclin Celebrini's just pumping out
goal after goal after goal. How surprised are you that
this is how things are going?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I mean a little bit surprised, but I think this
is this is fantastic, Julie, because you know, you look
at the last probably three or four years, and in
the top ten scoring, it's usually the same guys, right
every year. And for fantasy goers like yourself, you know
you're picking the same guys the last three or four years.
Now you know you have new names in this in
this top scoring and you said it like Connor Badar, Macklin,
(10:43):
Macklin Celebrity, Leo Carlson, like, these guys have been amazing
and they're amazing for the league. And I think part
of this uptick in these young guys producing is you
know this it's it's a young man's game, right, and
we're seeing these young guys come in with technology and
how good they are and how confident they are when
they come in. I think it's just it's we're in
(11:05):
a different era. We're a different time and but it's
great though because Maclin Leo like watching Leo Carlson right
now with the Ducks, like he he's going he's going
to be from last year in Sweden's Four Nations roster
he was an extra, he's looking at probably being the
top line center on Sweden this year. So just the
(11:27):
the trajectory these guys are taken and how they're handling it,
it's just fun.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
It's great for the game.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, boy, is it ever exciting to watch them, especially
guys on teams that maybe aren't necessarily doing that well.
And I'm just looking at overall in the standings potentially,
you know, like a guy like maclen Celebrini, but he's
just continuing to score and that just makes everyone feel
good as well.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
They're going to slow down, Julie either, I really don't.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I don't think this is I mean, we're, like you said,
we're we're almost twenty games into the season and these
guys are top top ten scoring. I don't think it's
just going to change, right.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And one of our faves, at least my faves on
Instagram coach Chippy, who does incredible videos. If you're a
hockey fan, go follow him. And I say that as
not an advertisement. He's hilarious. He talked about he was
imitating Badard and Celebrini the other day, just being like
they're in charge of Team Canada now essentially of who's
(12:22):
going to be honest, They're like, okay, Sid's on it,
of course. But then like, you know, and they jokingly
called or Brad Marshaun called them, and like they're like,
you think you're on the team kind of thing. But
it just kind of showed the youth movement. And then
they're joking, you know, not joking, but they're like, oh,
we got to bring Schaefer on here. That kind of
thing too, which of course is obviously a big debate
we can have another day, but we have a great
(12:43):
guest to be able to join us to discuss more
about the game and where it's at, and especially in
the back end, in the goalies of this league and
how they're doing, and that is none other than Steve Valqutt,
former NHL goalie, Rangers analyst and the founder of clear
Sight Analytics. Steve Valqett will join us on the other
(13:03):
side of this break on Energy Line with Nate and JSB.
All right, welcome back into Energy Line with Nate and JSB,
and we are so fortunate to now be joined by
former NHL goalie Rangers analysts, founder of clear Sight Analytics,
my favorite analyst of all time because it breaks down
(13:23):
things at a fourteen year old level, which is right
at my speed. It's Steve Velliquette Valley. Thank you so
much for joining us here on Energy Line with Nate
and JSB. And it's a big day because the Rangers
got their first home end of the season last night
on Monday. They win six to three over the Nashville Predators,
and we can kind of all just take a big,
(13:45):
deep sigh of relief after that.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Well, I don't know, Ken, we we don't know what's
going to happen next. Their next game tomorrow in Tampa
is going to be a juggernaut. Tampa is playing really
well right now. Tampa's got three days of rest before
this game tomorrow, So I don't think there's you know, oftentimes, Julie,
after the game's over, I say to John Gienon, my
(14:09):
co host, just give us the cup, you know, and
tug and cheek of course, but you know, it's not
really quite that feeling after that game last night against Nashville.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, Valley talk about you know, the insertion of Vinnie
Trocheck gay Pro like obviously putting gay Pro in the
first line.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That was big.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But you know, the I think the big one for
me watching he's having Vinnie Trocheck back in his first
game and how much he means to New York Rangers.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Well, you know what, Nate, it's not like it was
when you played, where the depth is as good because
of the thirty two team thing and the salary cap
and everybody has holes. So when you lose tro Check
in the second game of the year, it's like it
messes up the slotting for everybody and everybody's out of position,
and every team has to deal with that. But what
(14:58):
happened to that line was, you know what happened to
it two years ago? Trocheck, Lafrener, panerin two years ago
scored the most goals in the NHL at five on
five and they dominate scoring chances. For every ten high
danger scoring chances, they get six of them. And you know,
I was looking at a number of things just to
represent what this might mean before the game last night,
(15:21):
and to me and to you know, John Gianan who
I work with, and Henrik Lundquist who I work with.
You know, we were all saying, like this is guaranteed
win night. Like this, this lineup looks legit and gay.
Piro he's a player that has a really high hockey
IQ and he reads the game really well. I mean
he put Lafrenier in on a breakaway with ease for
(15:43):
a young guy. He's able to slow the game down
the way Panerin can for a young guy. So you
can see those skill sets. The Rangers were getting plenty
of scoring chances at home over their losing streak, just
weren't able to finish. And one thing that I found
interesting was the more that I looked at the shots
on goal. Our company has this silhouette of a goalie
Nate just You had for a pre scope before playoffs
(16:06):
on where to shoot. All of the Ranger shots that
were high danger shots were right in the goalie's chest,
right on the ice and not five hole but outside
of five hole. And it's funny that the morning after
when I watch video, you could look at a one
timer from the slot, but if it's right in the chest,
doesn't quite have the same feel as the way the
(16:27):
team was shooting on the road, which was all corners,
so there was a big difference. It was forty five
percent difference with where the Rangers were shooting on the
net on the road versus at home. And that's why
the success on the road not at home.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I love when I watch your pregame shows because I
always feel as why I take something away just you know, oh,
they should be shooting on Bobrovski, you know, high glove
or Vasleevski, just like breaking it down like and you
show exactly why and where and what's not happening and
why that's not happening. But like with Mike Sullivan, I
(17:02):
haven't been there yet in the locker room, I haven't
kind of seen what the dynamic is like. How would
you describe maybe how the DNA of this team is
both different on and off the ice for better or
for worse this season versus with Peter Labulette.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
You know, I know Mike from playing for him. I
also know him just from my relationship with the Pittsburgh
Penguins when he was there are Stats Company working with them,
working with Mike and having presentations with him and doing
projects for him. Over the years, and I know what
he brings. He brings a presence and he's demanding, but
(17:39):
he's fair and everybody's accountable. The team defensively, Julie, I
haven't seen them play this well in ten years. That's
how well defensively they're playing. The first six starts for
Igor Schusterkin this year he was outstanding. His last seven
have been way below his level. So it's a weird thing.
(18:00):
I told this story at the beginning of the year.
I'm on the bus in tooth thousand and seven. Carolina
won the Stanley Cup in two thousand and six. Behind
me is Mark Stall And I remember saying to him,
right Nate, I'm you know, just being on the bus.
I was like, Stallzy, is Carolina going to make the playoffs?
Like what's your brother saying? You know, like they're awful
right now, And he was like Valley. The way he
said it to me was the beginning of the year,
(18:22):
cam Ward was outstanding, we couldn't score, and then when
we started scoring, he wasn't giving us the saves and
we're out of the playoffs. Like that's how quickly you
can miss the playoffs if goaltending and scoring aren't aligned,
you miss, and I thought that for a while here
that's where the Rangers sit. It was igors outstanding goaltending. Early,
(18:45):
Rangers aren't scoring, and right now Rangers aren't scoring specifically
on the road and now of course last night, but
his goaltending's been a little bit suspect for him and
his level. So he has to bring it up and
they have to go on a run because they're not
comfortably in the mix right now.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know, you talk about scoring and and where the
league is headed right now, and you look at you know,
the top scorers in the league, and you look at
these young guys and they inserted you know, gay pro
last night, Like what do you make of you know,
where the league's headed? These young guys that are coming in,
these young superstars, you know, guys nineteen twenty years old,
you know, making an impact right away.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Well, Nate, you know what it was like taking your
first few shifts in the NHL. You're trying not to
screw up. You don't have a lot of rope, And
I don't think that's the case these days. I mean,
these guys are making plays that would have your ass
stapled to the bench if you try it right, and like, look,
(19:42):
it's every night right now, because I like Nate. Our
thing is is that we have thirty four points of
data for every shot on goal, and there are times,
because we have sixteen guys manually tracking the games, there's
times in the morning where I get called in because
one of the shots on goal is flagged and they
just want me to have a nice overhead view of
(20:04):
it after it's gone through two layers of quality control.
I'm looking at this shot and I'm saying to myself,
all right, I haven't seen that before. A couple of
mornings later, I've not seen that before. Did you guys
see the Druenne pass? He was on a partial breakaway
and he passes it back to Horvat against the Rangers
on Saturday?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Like what was that?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
I nearly died watching it?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Right, But Julie, I'm watching around the league. These are
happening more and more frequently now. Like guys have rebounds
Nate right in front of the goalie and it's not
a shot on goal, it's a pass across. You have
the luxury to pass the puck on rebounds like this
is again, you would have your ass staple passed on
a rebound. But it's the young guys, you know, it's
(20:49):
the young guys. Everybody's doing it, and it's allowed because
the coaches now there's a mix of old school accountability
with progressive thinking with the coaches, and I see them
allowing it. And if you're allowed to do it, and
you're seeing the other guys doing it, the older guys,
and it's allowable. Now you're able to try it. And
that's why I think it's harder. If you look at
(21:10):
the safe percentage right now, it's at an all time low.
I mean it's at a thirty year low, and there's
fewer shots on goal. Guys, there's fewer shots on goal
than ever east to west forty two percent increase over
the last five years east to west passing and a
thirty percent decrease on point shots without a screen. There's
(21:31):
no easy, easy, easy shots anymore. There's no easy ones.
So that's how the league's changed, and the young guys
are really benefiting from it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
You mentioned some of the different shots and the angles
and guys that will come to you and show you
what they've seen the night before. What maybe since you
started the company, Clearside analytics like what have you. Maybe
what would surprise the audience, hockey fans about maybe what
data is important right now for on the shooters aspect
(22:03):
that we wouldn't maybe know as regular people.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Well, it's funny because Raffi Torres good friend of mine
as well. I remember having this conversation with him when
he was still playing, because it was at the time
I was starting the company and I was consulting Nate,
you know, with my former teammates. I'd call Raffie, I'd
called Gomer, I'd asked these guys questions about what they're
seeing and what we should be tracking, because I wanted
(22:28):
the company to be for coaches. And you know what,
I probably shouldn't have called the company clear Sight Analytics.
It should have been something like clear Sight Information, because
all we did was just put a title to all
of the different shots on goal, a description, and then
put them into categories. Right, like breakaways, there are three
different types of breakaways, and I'll give you an example.
(22:50):
We tag a full ice breakaway coming in from the
blue line clean. We have a partial breakaway which is
just from the top of the circles down. And our
third breakaway is a half ice breakaway. Which is your
d's tracking back to cut the ice in half. The
goalie is aware that there's a breakaway, but there's no
ability to cross to the other side of the ice.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
You know.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
That's example for three different types of breakaways that we track.
We have nine different types of rebounds. They all don't
slot in the same A weak side rebound is forty
two percent, where a strong side rebound is just eleven.
So these things are really important just to be able
to sort.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And back to.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Raffy Torres, I'm watching his game San Jose at the time,
and I'm like, raf you can't take that shot from
from like the half wall, you know, on an entry.
I'm like, you're just given the goalie a free save.
It's like you're playing catch with your father in the backyard.
He goes to me, he goes, well, do you know
how hard it is to get a shot in the NHL.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
That made me feel good. Yeah, And I'm like, I
get it, you know.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
And the thing about it is, guys, is that what
we came up with the ultimate recipe for winning shots
on goal wise is you need seven or more high
danger chances in the game to win, while having twelve
or fewer danger bad shots. The one that I'm explaining
to that Raffi took because you don't want the goalie
(24:09):
to feel the puck and then face a breakaway.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You don't want.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Carolina loses every year because they take too many easy ones.
The goalies they play against guys they always get hot.
You know, I've obviously covered this game a long time,
and I remember Henrik's best games being against Carolina. Shasturkin's
best starts I've been against Carolina because these good goalies,
when you get to the final eight best goalies in
(24:35):
the world, they feed off of warmth and then a
two on one. The way you get to these guys
is you don't give them a shot. And that's what's changed,
Julie in the game right now. I have never seen
in our now eleventh year with this company so many
low danger shot count nights. Every night it's eight, nine
(24:56):
or ten, and the goalies they're safe percentages are dropping
because they're just not warm when they're facing these high
danger chances. And the high danger chances have never been
so creative as we talked about, with passes off rebounds
and guys getting to the slot. Nathan McKinnon scored a
goal a couple of nights ago off the rush where
(25:18):
the player in the slot received the pucket was Natchushkin,
and he was in that spot, Nate, where you're saying,
ten times out of ten, he's got to shoot the
score there and he's dead slot and he dishes it
off to McKinnon for a wide open debt. And you're like,
if a guy did that in the practice, Nate, we
used to say to them, I'll.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Play it like you would in a game. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
Right now the practice has found a way into the game.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
You know you talk about those nothing shots from from
how far where?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
That's for a goalie. That's like a warm up.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It's him feeling the puck where you know, guys playing
the game, you know, when they're touching the puck, they
want to feel it right, to feel better throughout the game.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
You know, are you working with any players?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
You know, because Chris Crowder at the beginning the season
talked about and edited you with his uptick and his goals.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
You know, at the end of his career in New.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
York I, I signed contracts with these guys, Nate, where
we just don't talk publicly.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
You know you were going to say that.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Yet it's fair, right Like, if I was working with
you and and you're chugging along and you're at twelve
goals right now, you kind of want to keep that
to yourself.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Oh for sure, for sure that's I don't. I don't.
I don't blame you. I don't. I wouldn't say anything either,
I know.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
And Nate, by the way, when Chris said that, I
had no idea it was coming. I've always told him
to keep it between us, and it was nice of
him because it does help me. But you know, he's
a great student. When when I first started working with him,
he was just conflicted with where offense really truly came
from or what's hard for a goalie. You know, that's
(26:52):
all that's the conversation, right Nate. It's guys, my overarching
theme for hockey, if I was speaking to coaches and players,
this game is about half a second, and a goalie
is trying to achieve half a second of clear view
on the puck before it comes off the shooter stick.
When they do, they have a ninety seven percent chance
(27:13):
to stop the puck. When they don't, they have an
eighty five percent chance to stop the puck. So when
Nate you were playing, I know the way you played, man,
you were hard to play against net front screening the
goalie wall. You were not allowing him to have half
a second of clear view on it when it's coming
from the point. Therefore it sprays off of him, okay,
(27:33):
Or I would be instructing your defenceman to shoot it
off of you, Nate, if they can't get it to
the goalie, because maybe you're off to the side a
little bit and they can see him, then it's shooted
off the pile and create a broken play. But never
give it straight to the goalie with clearview. Another point
that I worked with with the defenceman is that there's
(27:55):
an imaginary line on the blue line, one that separates
the ice into two parts. And when defenceman slide the
blue line cross the middle, don't just settle on one
side of the ice, the same side of the ice
that you're on. Always cross that imaginary line, because that's
specifically when the goalie moves from strong side shoulder of
(28:17):
the screen to the weak sized shoulder, and as soon
as they move, they're in transition. That's again a moment
where they don't have that all important clear sight on
the pock and that's when you deliver it across the
screen and now you have more value. And what I
mostly talk about Julia and Nate's probabilities. You know, it
just gives you an extra boost. It's not going to
(28:37):
go in every time. And what criter, he's a smart guy.
What he understands is that if three don't go in,
I'm not changing anything because I might get the next
three and you know, I'm going to hit the law
of averages. And it's sort of like counting cards when
you're playing blackjack.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I love the way you explain it, Steve. I mean
just I like your analogies a lot, but when you
just break it down in the way you just did,
it's like we can see it, you know. It's it's
so easy to digest in a way of like, okay this,
you know, looking at a defenseman all this kind of stuff,
and I find that as a viewer it's really helpful.
You mentioned Chris Crider, though it's his absences I find
(29:17):
noticeable with the Rangers right now. But let's get to
him on Anaheim and why this Ducks team is just
En fuego. Right now, when you've seen and what you've
seen from Anaheim, what stands out analytically really as to
why they've been just so successful so.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Early young energy, young energy, And it's always amazing in
hockey when you find that chemistry in the locker room
between young and old, because the young guys they have
such a great influence on the older guys that have
been doing it and grinding through it for ten years.
And then you can see on that team in particular,
(29:55):
the older guys getting really the best version of themselves
and giving the best version of themselves as teachers to
the young guy. And you know, like Leo, Carlson and
Crider have the same agent and there's a lot of
those subplots that really work for them.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
The team.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
I actually don't have them analytically that strong. Defensively, they're
actually quite weak.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Now.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
One thing that I work through each year is I
have different playoff markers, and when you get to the
twenty game point, you can start to see prediction wise
who's going to slot wear. There are eight columns on
this screen that I use, and if you have two
or more bottom five positionings, you don't make the playoffs.
(30:41):
And they have three right now. Yeah, so it's like
five on five scoring against their bottom five, off the
rush against their bottom five, and then east to west
in their D zone their bottom five, and those are
markers against not being favorable for them long term to
(31:03):
make the playoffs. However, if they are able to self
correct in season, you can see them climb out of that,
they can get themselves into that position. If they are
not currently aware of that and they still fumble over
their feet a little bit, that would be a very
difficult environment for dos Stall, who's a top goalie. I
put him in about top ten to fifteen in the league.
(31:25):
I think he's that good, but it's going to be
hard for him to overcome that. It's it's like, you know,
you've seen it here if you're following the Rangers closely
for years. Igorsha Serkin is a great example. He was
a top ten goalie last year in those categories and
still couldn't overcome his environment.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
You know, you talk about, you know, all the analytics
and things like do you do you ever see yourself
coaching or in the front office? You know, just because
this is this information, it's it's incredible value, Like it's
just all of this is some of the stuff I'm
learning right now. So you you ever, have you ever
seen yourself possible be coaching or in the front office.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Maybe I don't, Nate, because you know probably the same
reason why you don't want to do it, which is
the travel, right you know, Like like Nate, I left
home when I was fifteen, Right, I grew up in Bolton, Ontario,
a town of ten thousand people, and I've been living
out of a suitcase my entire life. And I'm really happy.
(32:26):
I have two young boys. I go skiing every weekend
with them. We have a house in Vermont. Like, I
love my life. So I don't see it happening. But
if my wife was on board, ten years from now,
when the kids are in college, maybe we're having that conversation.
But you know, it's funny because back to Raffi Torres,
(32:46):
I remember him going through a contract negotiation once and
he was like, oh, will you just be my agent
because we're really close friends. I was like, man, I
don't want to be an agent. I don't want to
swim in those waters with those guys. I mean, you're
on your phone all the time, You're not mostly the
most honest person in the world, Like I don't like it,
Like it's not my feel so I didn't want to
do it. And the same goes for the coaching thing.
(33:08):
And you know what else, Nate, I paid attention to
this when I was playing. All my coaches were divorced,
you know.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
And I'm serious, man.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
And you know what I know, Hey, Nate, that's an
expensive problem right now.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It is surprising too, right, Like no, like they live apartment.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Hey, hey, guys. I was listening to Sheldon Keith the
other day on a podcast and he was talking about
how his family's back in Ontario and he's in New
Jersey and he sees them once every couple of weeks. Like,
I'm sorry, that's not the life I want to live. Right,
It's not for everybody. It's not for everybody.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
It's not for me, right, I know.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Like I'll message Valley something about the Rangers and you'll
be like, I'm sorry, I'm skiing right now.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Dover is all over me about it, because like you'll
call me and I'll be on the chair lift. I'll
be buddy, it's a milk run day today, And he's like,
what's a milk run? What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
You know, so how much is Gomer at tech? And
you've talked to the Steel right now?
Speaker 5 (34:05):
I talked to him a lot because I worked with
the steel with our company for a few years and
I have a good relationship with those guys, and it
was really easy for me to call them and say, hey,
this is your guy when Gohmer was up for the job,
and I was very proud to help him. You know,
I love him like a brother, right so, you know,
I think that as we work through all these things
(34:26):
and we're trying to figure out what comes next in life,
I love where I am right now, I guess is
what I could say. And you know what, Julie, skiing
through the trees full speed is the closest thing to
playing gold in the NHL.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
I take your word for it.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
But just to follow off of Nate's question, what about
front office.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Well, I think it would be again like I think,
if we're talking about big picture life here, I think
I have to talk to my wife about, you know,
where do you want to live, kids are in college,
what kind of life do we want to have, how
much do you want to travel?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
That kind of.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Stuff, because that's It's such a commitment, isn't it, And
that would be years down the road for me to
do that. I'm really happy doing what I'm.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Doing right now.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well that's great because not a lot of people are
happy doing anything right now. So we're i mean, you know,
everyone's searching for a happiness and whatever, and it's great
to have your joy here. So you know, it rubs
off on everything, and we love we love your vibes.
And this is just that was just a fall up
to that needs last question. But I just got to
ask you, when you're sitting beside Hendrik Lundquist, what's something
(35:34):
that would surprise us about being in his aura?
Speaker 5 (35:38):
I got a good one for you. This guy can doodle, okay,
Like I mean, like I'm looking at a cartoon next
to me on the panel, like I sometimes just look
over at his page and he's got like this artwork
that he's put together over the last hour, and I'm like, heck, man,
you could draw. I'm like, once again, I know you're
(35:58):
probably shaking your head like what cat this?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I'm like, course you. Oh you can sing everything, I
know exactly.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
And yeah, he's a really fun guy to hang out
with too, Like he's got The city's changed, right, Julie.
Like the city's changed where we used to go out,
Henrik and I to you know, bottle service and have
fun that way. And now after games we go to
private clubs and you have a membership. And that's how
the city has changed since COVID. There's a lot of
different places you got to get in.
Speaker 4 (36:27):
Which club you guys hitting up?
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Well, I don't know if I want to give it away.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
No one could, no one could get into it.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Who's listening to this podcast?
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Yeah, this week we went to Last week, rather we
went to Crane I don't know if you've heard.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Oh yeah, Crane Club. That's right. Yeah, that's not not
too far from MSG.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Yeah, it's convenient, so there's uh yeah, it's just the
way funny how the city has changed. It's not bad
because now you get to sit and you don't have
to worry about, you know, fighting for real estate so much.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Right, you just enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
I love you talking about Hank because I scored my
first ANHL goal on him and I'm I'm playing I'm
playing in a charity thing and Aspen I played with
him last year in it, and I'm playing with him
again in it, and yeah, it's just it makes me
laugh because you look at him. Obviously he's handsome as
ship and then everything else that goes along with it.
He can sing, he can he can doodle Julie too,
(37:20):
So yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
Yeah, we we enjoy our long conversations. And you know,
I hope someday talk about management. I hope and someday
he gets into management. I keep teasing him about that.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
You think he would would you think would make him
good for management.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
Because of team culture. Henrik really understands how to hold
people accountable. Like we have a lot of conversations about that.
And I think that management always finds a way onto
the ice. Any team I've ever been around, when there
are disconnects up top, it always finds a way onto
(37:59):
the ice. And I think that a lot of teams
could do a better job of having more continuity from
top to bottom. And I know the Henrik understands that,
and I think it's it's hard because we're in a
time right now where we're in between the old guard
and younger guys coming in, and he still wants certain
things done a certain way, and you know, not have
(38:21):
too much information but at the same time holding on
to our accountability that we had when we were young.
And I think that we're just in a strange time
right now, and I think over the next ten years
start to see a few more progressive thinking gms that
are willing to budget accordingly because teams have never been
worth the amount of money they're worth right now. And
(38:43):
you wouldn't believe how it takes me eighteen months to
still close a deal for you know, under one hundred
thousand dollars, which you know you'd imagine for a billionaire
as a rounding error.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Well, I mean, what great insight in all different aspects, Valley.
We truly appreciate your time here on the show on
Energy with Nate and JSB. And you're, as I mentioned,
your joyful essence being here bringing us all of your
insight and analysis and just continue doing what you do
because you're my favorite analyst. And I know you hate
(39:16):
when I tweet that Valley is the best, Julius.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Don't do that.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
You're bringing attention to me And then what you know,
what happens Nate? She does that right, And then I
get all these devils fans just churning me like I.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Don't like Nate.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I don't need that in my life.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
No, you don't.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
You realize that was the effect. I apologize.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
Yeah, you know why, Julie are starting a thread and
then that just goes you know, that goes, that goes sideways.
I appreciate you, but I like to keep it quiet.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Oh, sorry about that, and thank you again.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
All Right, you guys have a great one.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Welcome back to Energy Line with Nate and jsb Wee.
Thanks Steve Valkev for all of his insight and analysis
and just great vibes all round. Now, Nate, lots of
games on the docket this week. What are you watching
and why I.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Am going to tune into the Anaheim Ducks and the
Colorado Avalanche. And I don't think either one of us
would have circled this on the calendar to start the
season saying that this will be the best game of
the year thus far, just based on entertainment, scoring goals.
Hopefully they score a lot of goals. And the leading
(40:27):
scorer in the league Nate McKinnon, who I think right now,
you know he's always under Conor McDavid shadow, and I
think right now in the league he's the.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Best player, yes, and the NHL would say that as well.
He's one of the first Stars of the week. He
was the first Star of the Week, and Leo Carlson
also a Star of the Week for his goal scoring efforts.
I mean the Ducks can put up a lot of
goals too, As we said the Avs nine to one
over the Oilers, but I mean the Ducks are putting
(40:57):
up a touchdown every dame. It seems like it's crazy.
I also am looking forward to watching that as well.
But before watching that, I of course will flex some
of my hometown muscles because I am a masochist and
I would like to see how the Toronto May Beliefs
do against the Boston Ruins again, because they lost to
(41:18):
them on Saturday five to three, and they are a
team that does not look like they looked last year,
which was pretty good in the regular season. We know
that they lost Mitch Marner, but the whole team has
been real and consistent, and I'm going to look toward
the defense as being pretty pretty bad, and they are
(41:41):
turning pucks over like that is the goal of the game.
The breakaways to Carolina, it's just been real, real bad.
We know that the goaltending situation has been tenuous as well,
But I'd like to see how they respond because they
do have a William Nilander who is just ripping shots
(42:02):
real well and John Tavaris is the most consistent part
of that team and that is still surprising to see.
I will say, but Matthew ny is really great, I'd
say in terms of his ability to support in the
in the playmaking role. But beyond that, I feel like
there's a big drop off from the top line, in
(42:23):
the top two lines ish and special teams to then
there are no good defensemen that can skate.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
It's yeah, I mean the depth and I think the
d I mean not having tannev is huge.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
I think, like I said, you know, we talked about.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
It, Julie, I mean with on the show is you know,
losing certain guys out of the lineup can change your whole
contange your whole roster. You know, losing Scott Lowton again,
you know, that's that's tough. So I think, yeah, that
the Leafs are being tested of what team are they
going to be this year? You know, I think you
said it like they lose Mitch Martner, which is one
hundred points and it changes their lineup. I mean, they're
(43:03):
different team and they're trying to find trying to find
out who they are.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Right now, I'll just send off on this.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I don't even know if Toronto's gonna make the playoffs,
so what a fall from grace at this point?
Speaker 4 (43:13):
We will have to see.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
As they say, Nate, it has been a pleasure doing
this show with you again, and thank you guys also
much for listening to Energy Line with.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Nate and JSB.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Thank you so much to Steve Velliquette for joining us,
and of course we are our producer Matt Heavia for
producing the show every week, and for all of you listening, liking, sharing,
subscribing to this podcast.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
We truly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
We'll be back with more Energy Lineup with Nate and
JSB next week. Energy Line is the production of the
(44:03):
NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
(00:27):
Hello and welcome on into Energy Line with Nate JSB.
I'm Julie Shurpanks. He's former NHLR Nate Thompson. Energy Line
is the production of iHeart Podcasts and the NHL, and
Today on the show, we will be joined by former
NHL or and NHL goalie, MSG analyst and founder of
clear Sight Analytics, Steve Valiquette And on that note, tom Or.
(00:49):
The Ranges got their first win a whole on November tenth,
a monkey off their back. They'd had a whole lot
of donuts, been shut out an incredibly increasingly number of times.
I witnessed one of them on Saturday five, nothing against
the Islanders. But now that streak is broken. Is everything
(01:11):
hunky dory? Now that they just got that one off
their back and they can say, all right, it's over now.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I wouldn't say it's all hunky dory now, but it
is a step in the right direction. They should feel
good about themselves. You know, Mike Sullivan was you know,
I watched his postgame presser and he was he was
pumped for his players. You could see how much it
meant to them, and you know, because obviously the media
and a lot of pressure and you know it's November
and you don't have your first your first win at home,
(01:39):
and they finally get that, inserting tro Check into the lineup,
Gabe Perro like those guys, I think that helped a lot,
especially Vinnie Trochek, like having a guy like him, he
was on four Nations roster like he and Team USA.
He's you know, best friends with j T.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Miller.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know, he's a guy that's important in that room.
And I think that I think sometimes not even the play,
but just you know, he talked about Mike Sulton the presence,
having the presence of him around can help guys and
boost guys.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So a huge win for the Rangers.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They still have a lot of work to do, but
you know it's interesting, right the Jacqueline Hyde of the
road team and the home team, and let's hope that
they can you know, balance that out a little bit
moving forward here.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, because it was really surprising just seeing how many
times they'd been shut out at home, and the stat
was like, they scored six goals against Nashville in their
win on Monday night, but prior to that, they are
previous seven games at home, they'd only scored six goals
and that was in two games, five goals against San
(02:46):
Jose and one against the Wild, So the other ones
a couple of zeros on the board. And I mean,
I think that that was maybe the most shocking part
of all, especially when I went on Saturday with two
friends who had never been to a hockey game in
their entire life and they never even got to hear
their city's goal song once, and it was pretty disappointing.
(03:12):
And I was up up in the rafters and so
I got to see. I got to see a lot
of action between Islanders fans and Rangers fans, and it
is not pretty. It's exciting to watch, but it felt like,
why can this team not score at home? And I
will say the absence of Vinnie Trochek it felt like,
and I'd say the absence of Chris Crowder too. There's
(03:33):
just something about their offense that just wasn't really threatening
in that regard. But so many times being shut out
at home. Have you ever seen a team go on
a run like that?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I'm not scoring at home, never like this, I don't know.
I can't remember a time when I've seen a team
not win or not score at home like this. But
like I said, I mean sometimes inserting maybe just one
two players. I mean, we've seen it. If you can
insert a player here or there into the lineup, it
can change the whole landscape of the lineup. And I
(04:05):
think Trochick did that a little bit. I mean when
you look at him on paper with that team, it's like, okay,
a little different look now, you know, it just looks different.
It looks better, obviously. So I'm happy for the Rangers.
I'm happy for the Rangers fans. They got to get
they got to get a win at.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Home times, they got to say their goal song won't
sing it okay, So in that regard, let's flip it
on the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
They won against the Nashville Predators.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And this is a team that we had talked to
Brady Shay in the off season about that they wanted
to get off to a hot start because they didn't
last year, and they have all of these superstars on
their team, but they can't seem to figure out.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
How to make it work.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
If you are on the outside looking in at this season,
which we are, but you're looking at Andrew Burnette.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Is he on the hot seat right now?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I would say yes, just because of the start they've had.
You know, I obviously start is not as bad as
it was last season, but in the division that they're in,
it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be very hard, and
I just don't know how.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I don't know how they get out of it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I don't I just don't know who they bump ahead of,
right Like, there's so many other central teams that that.
I mean, that's the best division in hockey probably, and
I don't know who they're gonna beat out. And I
think I foresee some moves being made here eventually. I
don't know if it's gonna be coach players. It's gonna
be something though, because eventually something's got to give. And
(05:35):
you know, we talked about the Rangers. Yes they get
a big win at home, but you know, no disrespect
to National Predators, but they're not a strong team.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So this is this.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It's good for the Rangers to win at home and
gets the Predators, but they're gonna move on. They're gonna
have to play Lightning next. So I know I get
off topic there, but you know, with with Nashville.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's tough right now. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It's gonna take some time, and I think they're gonna
have to make some deals and and it's it might
be player, it might be.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Andrew Burnett, right, it seems tos So there's a couple
teams that are looking to probably shift some things around
at this point in the season. When we look at
teams that have kind of been floundering. You mentioned the
Central What a wagon is Colorado Holy Bananas And they
put up nine goals against Edmonton, who's been back to
(06:21):
back Stanley Cups in the last two years, and they
lost them both. But they just sink Connor McDavid to
an extension. We knew that the pressure was going to
be on them this year to do more in this
time that they have With Connor, he said, you know,
enough is enough, which is the catchphrase of the season.
We know that Anthony Stoller said it. It's kind of
like the you miss one hundred percent of the shots
(06:43):
you don't take, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott, enough is enough
is now? Anthony Stolar's Craig Bruby and now Connor McDavid.
What do you make of what's going on with the
Oilers right now.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I talked about this yesterday with somebody, and I take
from experience. You know, they've been to the they've been
to the Cup finals two years in a row. And
you know, I think when you go into a season
after having a long playoff run, sometimes there's that sentiment
titlement that it's just going to happen right away. It's
automatically going to happen because you have these guys, you
(07:19):
have the same roster. It's just, you know, you're not
thinking about the regular season, You're not thinking about the
process that you have to go through. You're thinking about
the playoffs because you just want to be back there again.
We're just going to get back there again. But no,
you have to you got to play the eighty two
games first to get there. And maybe there's a little
bit of that, Maybe there's a little bit of Okay,
you know, we're just going to be automatic. It's just
(07:40):
we're going to go out there and it's just going
to happen. No, it doesn't work like that, and I
think there's been a little bit of that, and they're
they're inconsistent play it shows that and you know, Connor McDavid.
I mean he last night, you know, they they showed
up and they they managed to find a way to
win against the Columbus Blue Jackets and and Connor led
the way. So I think this is it's alarming because
(08:02):
I just don't think they can can continue to do
the same things they've done the last two years, where
they've you know, got these slow starts and then come
on strong and obviously Connor McDavid leon lead in the way.
But you know this, this league is getting better, Teams
are getting better, their division is getting better. So you
can't play with fire like this this early in the
(08:23):
season and try and play catch up the rest of
the season. So I think if they can get back
on track, get a big win last night against Columbus
and maybe this catapults them, gets them going.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, that seems to have been sort of the story
for them in the last couple of years of having
a slow start. But let me say a phrase I've
heard a lot of people say recently, and I'm going
to have you try to finish it because you might
you have certainly heard it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It's getting late, getting late to say that it's still
early in the season.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, it's getting late early.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Getting late early. Is that what you're going for.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, like we got there, we got there getting
late early, Like, you know, the pressure is on now.
It's you know, we're getting to the twenty game mark,
we're almost up to American Thanksgiving and at this point,
you know, it's, uh, it's kind of you really got
to step step on the gas.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And you'd look at other teams.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
John Cooper even said this a couple of weeks ago
about Tampa when they were floundering earlier in the season.
You know, just because you've done it doesn't mean you
can do it again, Like you aren't entitled to winning
because you've won before, which I think is a really
great statement, but also one that goes against my theory
of what Harry Potter says, just because I've done it,
(09:44):
or because I've done it, I knew I could do
it again, you know. So it kind of was unfortunate
in that regard, but he what he said was true.
So there's a lot of teams like that. I'd say
that about the Leafs as well. They're in a certain
situation like that. We'll get to them later on in
the program, but before we get to our guest.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I just got to ask you about these young guys.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
These these fire very little firecrackers around the league. The
Leo Carlson's, the darts, the Maclin Celebrini's just pumping out
goal after goal after goal. How surprised are you that
this is how things are going?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I mean a little bit surprised, but I think this
is this is fantastic, Julie, because you know, you look
at the last probably three or four years, and in
the top ten scoring, it's usually the same guys, right
every year. And for fantasy goers like yourself, you know
you're picking the same guys the last three or four years.
Now you know you have new names in this in
this top scoring and you said it like Connor Badar, Macklin,
(10:43):
Macklin Celebrity, Leo Carlson, like, these guys have been amazing
and they're amazing for the league. And I think part
of this uptick in these young guys producing is you
know this it's it's a young man's game, right, and
we're seeing these young guys come in with technology and
how good they are and how confident they are when
they come in. I think it's just it's we're in
(11:05):
a different era. We're a different time and but it's
great though because Maclin Leo like watching Leo Carlson right
now with the Ducks, like he he's going he's going
to be from last year in Sweden's Four Nations roster
he was an extra, he's looking at probably being the
top line center on Sweden this year. So just the
(11:27):
the trajectory these guys are taken and how they're handling it,
it's just fun.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
It's great for the game.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, boy, is it ever exciting to watch them, especially
guys on teams that maybe aren't necessarily doing that well.
And I'm just looking at overall in the standings potentially,
you know, like a guy like maclen Celebrini, but he's
just continuing to score and that just makes everyone feel
good as well.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
They're going to slow down, Julie either, I really don't.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I don't think this is I mean, we're, like you said,
we're we're almost twenty games into the season and these
guys are top top ten scoring. I don't think it's
just going to change, right.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And one of our faves, at least my faves on
Instagram coach Chippy, who does incredible videos. If you're a
hockey fan, go follow him. And I say that as
not an advertisement. He's hilarious. He talked about he was
imitating Badard and Celebrini the other day, just being like
they're in charge of Team Canada now essentially of who's
(12:22):
going to be honest, They're like, okay, Sid's on it,
of course. But then like, you know, and they jokingly
called or Brad Marshaun called them, and like they're like,
you think you're on the team kind of thing. But
it just kind of showed the youth movement. And then
they're joking, you know, not joking, but they're like, oh,
we got to bring Schaefer on here. That kind of
thing too, which of course is obviously a big debate
we can have another day, but we have a great
(12:43):
guest to be able to join us to discuss more
about the game and where it's at, and especially in
the back end, in the goalies of this league and
how they're doing, and that is none other than Steve Valqutt,
former NHL goalie, Rangers analyst and the founder of clear
Sight Analytics. Steve Valqett will join us on the other
(13:03):
side of this break on Energy Line with Nate and JSB.
All right, welcome back into Energy Line with Nate and JSB,
and we are so fortunate to now be joined by
former NHL goalie Rangers analysts, founder of clear Sight Analytics,
my favorite analyst of all time because it breaks down
(13:23):
things at a fourteen year old level, which is right
at my speed. It's Steve Velliquette Valley. Thank you so
much for joining us here on Energy Line with Nate
and JSB. And it's a big day because the Rangers
got their first home end of the season last night
on Monday. They win six to three over the Nashville Predators,
and we can kind of all just take a big,
(13:45):
deep sigh of relief after that.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Well, I don't know, Ken, we we don't know what's
going to happen next. Their next game tomorrow in Tampa
is going to be a juggernaut. Tampa is playing really
well right now. Tampa's got three days of rest before
this game tomorrow, So I don't think there's you know, oftentimes, Julie,
after the game's over, I say to John Gienon, my
(14:09):
co host, just give us the cup, you know, and
tug and cheek of course, but you know, it's not
really quite that feeling after that game last night against Nashville.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, Valley talk about you know, the insertion of Vinnie
Trocheck gay Pro like obviously putting gay Pro in the
first line.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That was big.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But you know, the I think the big one for
me watching he's having Vinnie Trocheck back in his first
game and how much he means to New York Rangers.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Well, you know what, Nate, it's not like it was
when you played, where the depth is as good because
of the thirty two team thing and the salary cap
and everybody has holes. So when you lose tro Check
in the second game of the year, it's like it
messes up the slotting for everybody and everybody's out of position,
and every team has to deal with that. But what
(14:58):
happened to that line was, you know what happened to
it two years ago? Trocheck, Lafrener, panerin two years ago
scored the most goals in the NHL at five on
five and they dominate scoring chances. For every ten high
danger scoring chances, they get six of them. And you know,
I was looking at a number of things just to
represent what this might mean before the game last night,
(15:21):
and to me and to you know, John Gianan who
I work with, and Henrik Lundquist who I work with.
You know, we were all saying, like this is guaranteed
win night. Like this, this lineup looks legit and gay.
Piro he's a player that has a really high hockey
IQ and he reads the game really well. I mean
he put Lafrenier in on a breakaway with ease for
(15:43):
a young guy. He's able to slow the game down
the way Panerin can for a young guy. So you
can see those skill sets. The Rangers were getting plenty
of scoring chances at home over their losing streak, just
weren't able to finish. And one thing that I found
interesting was the more that I looked at the shots
on goal. Our company has this silhouette of a goalie
Nate just You had for a pre scope before playoffs
(16:06):
on where to shoot. All of the Ranger shots that
were high danger shots were right in the goalie's chest,
right on the ice and not five hole but outside
of five hole. And it's funny that the morning after
when I watch video, you could look at a one
timer from the slot, but if it's right in the chest,
doesn't quite have the same feel as the way the
(16:27):
team was shooting on the road, which was all corners,
so there was a big difference. It was forty five
percent difference with where the Rangers were shooting on the
net on the road versus at home. And that's why
the success on the road not at home.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I love when I watch your pregame shows because I
always feel as why I take something away just you know, oh,
they should be shooting on Bobrovski, you know, high glove
or Vasleevski, just like breaking it down like and you
show exactly why and where and what's not happening and
why that's not happening. But like with Mike Sullivan, I
(17:02):
haven't been there yet in the locker room, I haven't
kind of seen what the dynamic is like. How would
you describe maybe how the DNA of this team is
both different on and off the ice for better or
for worse this season versus with Peter Labulette.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
You know, I know Mike from playing for him. I
also know him just from my relationship with the Pittsburgh
Penguins when he was there are Stats Company working with them,
working with Mike and having presentations with him and doing
projects for him. Over the years, and I know what
he brings. He brings a presence and he's demanding, but
(17:39):
he's fair and everybody's accountable. The team defensively, Julie, I
haven't seen them play this well in ten years. That's
how well defensively they're playing. The first six starts for
Igor Schusterkin this year he was outstanding. His last seven
have been way below his level. So it's a weird thing.
(18:00):
I told this story at the beginning of the year.
I'm on the bus in tooth thousand and seven. Carolina
won the Stanley Cup in two thousand and six. Behind
me is Mark Stall And I remember saying to him,
right Nate, I'm you know, just being on the bus.
I was like, Stallzy, is Carolina going to make the playoffs?
Like what's your brother saying? You know, like they're awful
right now, And he was like Valley. The way he
said it to me was the beginning of the year,
(18:22):
cam Ward was outstanding, we couldn't score, and then when
we started scoring, he wasn't giving us the saves and
we're out of the playoffs. Like that's how quickly you
can miss the playoffs if goaltending and scoring aren't aligned,
you miss, and I thought that for a while here
that's where the Rangers sit. It was igors outstanding goaltending. Early,
(18:45):
Rangers aren't scoring, and right now Rangers aren't scoring specifically
on the road and now of course last night, but
his goaltending's been a little bit suspect for him and
his level. So he has to bring it up and
they have to go on a run because they're not
comfortably in the mix right now.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know, you talk about scoring and and where the
league is headed right now, and you look at you know,
the top scorers in the league, and you look at
these young guys and they inserted you know, gay pro
last night, Like what do you make of you know,
where the league's headed? These young guys that are coming in,
these young superstars, you know, guys nineteen twenty years old,
you know, making an impact right away.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Well, Nate, you know what it was like taking your
first few shifts in the NHL. You're trying not to
screw up. You don't have a lot of rope, And
I don't think that's the case these days. I mean,
these guys are making plays that would have your ass
stapled to the bench if you try it right, and like, look,
(19:42):
it's every night right now, because I like Nate. Our
thing is is that we have thirty four points of
data for every shot on goal, and there are times,
because we have sixteen guys manually tracking the games, there's
times in the morning where I get called in because
one of the shots on goal is flagged and they
just want me to have a nice overhead view of
(20:04):
it after it's gone through two layers of quality control.
I'm looking at this shot and I'm saying to myself,
all right, I haven't seen that before. A couple of
mornings later, I've not seen that before. Did you guys
see the Druenne pass? He was on a partial breakaway
and he passes it back to Horvat against the Rangers
on Saturday?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Like what was that?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
I nearly died watching it?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Right, But Julie, I'm watching around the league. These are
happening more and more frequently now. Like guys have rebounds
Nate right in front of the goalie and it's not
a shot on goal, it's a pass across. You have
the luxury to pass the puck on rebounds like this
is again, you would have your ass staple passed on
a rebound. But it's the young guys, you know, it's
(20:49):
the young guys. Everybody's doing it, and it's allowed because
the coaches now there's a mix of old school accountability
with progressive thinking with the coaches, and I see them
allowing it. And if you're allowed to do it, and
you're seeing the other guys doing it, the older guys,
and it's allowable. Now you're able to try it. And
that's why I think it's harder. If you look at
(21:10):
the safe percentage right now, it's at an all time low.
I mean it's at a thirty year low, and there's
fewer shots on goal. Guys, there's fewer shots on goal
than ever east to west forty two percent increase over
the last five years east to west passing and a
thirty percent decrease on point shots without a screen. There's
(21:31):
no easy, easy, easy shots anymore. There's no easy ones.
So that's how the league's changed, and the young guys
are really benefiting from it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
You mentioned some of the different shots and the angles
and guys that will come to you and show you
what they've seen the night before. What maybe since you
started the company, Clearside analytics like what have you. Maybe
what would surprise the audience, hockey fans about maybe what
data is important right now for on the shooters aspect
(22:03):
that we wouldn't maybe know as regular people.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Well, it's funny because Raffi Torres good friend of mine
as well. I remember having this conversation with him when
he was still playing, because it was at the time
I was starting the company and I was consulting Nate,
you know, with my former teammates. I'd call Raffie, I'd
called Gomer, I'd asked these guys questions about what they're
seeing and what we should be tracking, because I wanted
(22:28):
the company to be for coaches. And you know what,
I probably shouldn't have called the company clear Sight Analytics.
It should have been something like clear Sight Information, because
all we did was just put a title to all
of the different shots on goal, a description, and then
put them into categories. Right, like breakaways, there are three
different types of breakaways, and I'll give you an example.
(22:50):
We tag a full ice breakaway coming in from the
blue line clean. We have a partial breakaway which is
just from the top of the circles down. And our
third breakaway is a half ice breakaway. Which is your
d's tracking back to cut the ice in half. The
goalie is aware that there's a breakaway, but there's no
ability to cross to the other side of the ice.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
You know.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
That's example for three different types of breakaways that we track.
We have nine different types of rebounds. They all don't
slot in the same A weak side rebound is forty
two percent, where a strong side rebound is just eleven.
So these things are really important just to be able
to sort.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And back to.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Raffy Torres, I'm watching his game San Jose at the time,
and I'm like, raf you can't take that shot from
from like the half wall, you know, on an entry.
I'm like, you're just given the goalie a free save.
It's like you're playing catch with your father in the backyard.
He goes to me, he goes, well, do you know
how hard it is to get a shot in the NHL.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
That made me feel good. Yeah, And I'm like, I
get it, you know.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
And the thing about it is, guys, is that what
we came up with the ultimate recipe for winning shots
on goal wise is you need seven or more high
danger chances in the game to win, while having twelve
or fewer danger bad shots. The one that I'm explaining
to that Raffi took because you don't want the goalie
(24:09):
to feel the puck and then face a breakaway.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You don't want.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Carolina loses every year because they take too many easy ones.
The goalies they play against guys they always get hot.
You know, I've obviously covered this game a long time,
and I remember Henrik's best games being against Carolina. Shasturkin's
best starts I've been against Carolina because these good goalies,
when you get to the final eight best goalies in
(24:35):
the world, they feed off of warmth and then a
two on one. The way you get to these guys
is you don't give them a shot. And that's what's changed,
Julie in the game right now. I have never seen
in our now eleventh year with this company so many
low danger shot count nights. Every night it's eight, nine
(24:56):
or ten, and the goalies they're safe percentages are dropping
because they're just not warm when they're facing these high
danger chances. And the high danger chances have never been
so creative as we talked about, with passes off rebounds
and guys getting to the slot. Nathan McKinnon scored a
goal a couple of nights ago off the rush where
(25:18):
the player in the slot received the pucket was Natchushkin,
and he was in that spot, Nate, where you're saying,
ten times out of ten, he's got to shoot the
score there and he's dead slot and he dishes it
off to McKinnon for a wide open debt. And you're like,
if a guy did that in the practice, Nate, we
used to say to them, I'll.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Play it like you would in a game. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
Right now the practice has found a way into the game.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
You know you talk about those nothing shots from from
how far where?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
That's for a goalie. That's like a warm up.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It's him feeling the puck where you know, guys playing
the game, you know, when they're touching the puck, they
want to feel it right, to feel better throughout the game.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
You know, are you working with any players?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
You know, because Chris Crowder at the beginning the season
talked about and edited you with his uptick and his goals.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
You know, at the end of his career in New.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
York I, I signed contracts with these guys, Nate, where
we just don't talk publicly.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
You know you were going to say that.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Yet it's fair, right Like, if I was working with
you and and you're chugging along and you're at twelve
goals right now, you kind of want to keep that
to yourself.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Oh for sure, for sure that's I don't. I don't.
I don't blame you. I don't. I wouldn't say anything either,
I know.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
And Nate, by the way, when Chris said that, I
had no idea it was coming. I've always told him
to keep it between us, and it was nice of
him because it does help me. But you know, he's
a great student. When when I first started working with him,
he was just conflicted with where offense really truly came
from or what's hard for a goalie. You know, that's
(26:52):
all that's the conversation, right Nate. It's guys, my overarching
theme for hockey, if I was speaking to coaches and players,
this game is about half a second, and a goalie
is trying to achieve half a second of clear view
on the puck before it comes off the shooter stick.
When they do, they have a ninety seven percent chance
(27:13):
to stop the puck. When they don't, they have an
eighty five percent chance to stop the puck. So when
Nate you were playing, I know the way you played, man,
you were hard to play against net front screening the
goalie wall. You were not allowing him to have half
a second of clear view on it when it's coming
from the point. Therefore it sprays off of him, okay,
(27:33):
Or I would be instructing your defenceman to shoot it
off of you, Nate, if they can't get it to
the goalie, because maybe you're off to the side a
little bit and they can see him, then it's shooted
off the pile and create a broken play. But never
give it straight to the goalie with clearview. Another point
that I worked with with the defenceman is that there's
(27:55):
an imaginary line on the blue line, one that separates
the ice into two parts. And when defenceman slide the
blue line cross the middle, don't just settle on one
side of the ice, the same side of the ice
that you're on. Always cross that imaginary line, because that's
specifically when the goalie moves from strong side shoulder of
(28:17):
the screen to the weak sized shoulder, and as soon
as they move, they're in transition. That's again a moment
where they don't have that all important clear sight on
the pock and that's when you deliver it across the
screen and now you have more value. And what I
mostly talk about Julia and Nate's probabilities. You know, it
just gives you an extra boost. It's not going to
(28:37):
go in every time. And what criter, he's a smart guy.
What he understands is that if three don't go in,
I'm not changing anything because I might get the next
three and you know, I'm going to hit the law
of averages. And it's sort of like counting cards when
you're playing blackjack.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I love the way you explain it, Steve. I mean
just I like your analogies a lot, but when you
just break it down in the way you just did,
it's like we can see it, you know. It's it's
so easy to digest in a way of like, okay this,
you know, looking at a defenseman all this kind of stuff,
and I find that as a viewer it's really helpful.
You mentioned Chris Crider, though it's his absences I find
(29:17):
noticeable with the Rangers right now. But let's get to
him on Anaheim and why this Ducks team is just
En fuego. Right now, when you've seen and what you've
seen from Anaheim, what stands out analytically really as to
why they've been just so successful so.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Early young energy, young energy, And it's always amazing in
hockey when you find that chemistry in the locker room
between young and old, because the young guys they have
such a great influence on the older guys that have
been doing it and grinding through it for ten years.
And then you can see on that team in particular,
(29:55):
the older guys getting really the best version of themselves
and giving the best version of themselves as teachers to
the young guy. And you know, like Leo, Carlson and
Crider have the same agent and there's a lot of
those subplots that really work for them.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
The team.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
I actually don't have them analytically that strong. Defensively, they're
actually quite weak.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Now.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
One thing that I work through each year is I
have different playoff markers, and when you get to the
twenty game point, you can start to see prediction wise
who's going to slot wear. There are eight columns on
this screen that I use, and if you have two
or more bottom five positionings, you don't make the playoffs.
(30:41):
And they have three right now. Yeah, so it's like
five on five scoring against their bottom five, off the
rush against their bottom five, and then east to west
in their D zone their bottom five, and those are
markers against not being favorable for them long term to
(31:03):
make the playoffs. However, if they are able to self
correct in season, you can see them climb out of that,
they can get themselves into that position. If they are
not currently aware of that and they still fumble over
their feet a little bit, that would be a very
difficult environment for dos Stall, who's a top goalie. I
put him in about top ten to fifteen in the league.
(31:25):
I think he's that good, but it's going to be
hard for him to overcome that. It's it's like, you know,
you've seen it here if you're following the Rangers closely
for years. Igorsha Serkin is a great example. He was
a top ten goalie last year in those categories and
still couldn't overcome his environment.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
You know, you talk about, you know, all the analytics
and things like do you do you ever see yourself
coaching or in the front office? You know, just because
this is this information, it's it's incredible value, Like it's
just all of this is some of the stuff I'm
learning right now. So you you ever, have you ever
seen yourself possible be coaching or in the front office.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Maybe I don't, Nate, because you know probably the same
reason why you don't want to do it, which is
the travel, right you know, Like like Nate, I left
home when I was fifteen, Right, I grew up in Bolton, Ontario,
a town of ten thousand people, and I've been living
out of a suitcase my entire life. And I'm really happy.
(32:26):
I have two young boys. I go skiing every weekend
with them. We have a house in Vermont. Like, I
love my life. So I don't see it happening. But
if my wife was on board, ten years from now,
when the kids are in college, maybe we're having that conversation.
But you know, it's funny because back to Raffi Torres,
(32:46):
I remember him going through a contract negotiation once and
he was like, oh, will you just be my agent
because we're really close friends. I was like, man, I
don't want to be an agent. I don't want to
swim in those waters with those guys. I mean, you're
on your phone all the time, You're not mostly the
most honest person in the world, Like I don't like it,
Like it's not my feel so I didn't want to
do it. And the same goes for the coaching thing.
(33:08):
And you know what else, Nate, I paid attention to
this when I was playing. All my coaches were divorced,
you know.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
And I'm serious, man.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
And you know what I know, Hey, Nate, that's an
expensive problem right now.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It is surprising too, right, Like no, like they live apartment.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Hey, hey, guys. I was listening to Sheldon Keith the
other day on a podcast and he was talking about
how his family's back in Ontario and he's in New
Jersey and he sees them once every couple of weeks. Like,
I'm sorry, that's not the life I want to live. Right,
It's not for everybody. It's not for everybody.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
It's not for me, right, I know.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Like I'll message Valley something about the Rangers and you'll
be like, I'm sorry, I'm skiing right now.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Dover is all over me about it, because like you'll
call me and I'll be on the chair lift. I'll
be buddy, it's a milk run day today, And he's like,
what's a milk run? What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
You know, so how much is Gomer at tech? And
you've talked to the Steel right now?
Speaker 5 (34:05):
I talked to him a lot because I worked with
the steel with our company for a few years and
I have a good relationship with those guys, and it
was really easy for me to call them and say, hey,
this is your guy when Gohmer was up for the job,
and I was very proud to help him. You know,
I love him like a brother, right so, you know,
I think that as we work through all these things
(34:26):
and we're trying to figure out what comes next in life,
I love where I am right now, I guess is
what I could say. And you know what, Julie, skiing
through the trees full speed is the closest thing to
playing gold in the NHL.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
I take your word for it.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
But just to follow off of Nate's question, what about
front office.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Well, I think it would be again like I think,
if we're talking about big picture life here, I think
I have to talk to my wife about, you know,
where do you want to live, kids are in college,
what kind of life do we want to have, how
much do you want to travel?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
That kind of.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Stuff, because that's It's such a commitment, isn't it, And
that would be years down the road for me to
do that. I'm really happy doing what I'm.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Doing right now.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well that's great because not a lot of people are
happy doing anything right now. So we're i mean, you know,
everyone's searching for a happiness and whatever, and it's great
to have your joy here. So you know, it rubs
off on everything, and we love we love your vibes.
And this is just that was just a fall up
to that needs last question. But I just got to
ask you, when you're sitting beside Hendrik Lundquist, what's something
(35:34):
that would surprise us about being in his aura?
Speaker 5 (35:38):
I got a good one for you. This guy can doodle, okay,
Like I mean, like I'm looking at a cartoon next
to me on the panel, like I sometimes just look
over at his page and he's got like this artwork
that he's put together over the last hour, and I'm like, heck, man,
you could draw. I'm like, once again, I know you're
(35:58):
probably shaking your head like what cat this?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I'm like, course you. Oh you can sing everything, I
know exactly.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
And yeah, he's a really fun guy to hang out
with too, Like he's got The city's changed, right, Julie.
Like the city's changed where we used to go out,
Henrik and I to you know, bottle service and have
fun that way. And now after games we go to
private clubs and you have a membership. And that's how
the city has changed since COVID. There's a lot of
different places you got to get in.
Speaker 4 (36:27):
Which club you guys hitting up?
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Well, I don't know if I want to give it away.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
No one could, no one could get into it.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Who's listening to this podcast?
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Yeah, this week we went to Last week, rather we
went to Crane I don't know if you've heard.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Oh yeah, Crane Club. That's right. Yeah, that's not not
too far from MSG.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Yeah, it's convenient, so there's uh yeah, it's just the
way funny how the city has changed. It's not bad
because now you get to sit and you don't have
to worry about, you know, fighting for real estate so much.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Right, you just enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
I love you talking about Hank because I scored my
first ANHL goal on him and I'm I'm playing I'm
playing in a charity thing and Aspen I played with
him last year in it, and I'm playing with him
again in it, and yeah, it's just it makes me
laugh because you look at him. Obviously he's handsome as
ship and then everything else that goes along with it.
He can sing, he can he can doodle Julie too,
(37:20):
So yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
Yeah, we we enjoy our long conversations. And you know,
I hope someday talk about management. I hope and someday
he gets into management. I keep teasing him about that.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
You think he would would you think would make him
good for management.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
Because of team culture. Henrik really understands how to hold
people accountable. Like we have a lot of conversations about that.
And I think that management always finds a way onto
the ice. Any team I've ever been around, when there
are disconnects up top, it always finds a way onto
(37:59):
the ice. And I think that a lot of teams
could do a better job of having more continuity from
top to bottom. And I know the Henrik understands that,
and I think it's it's hard because we're in a
time right now where we're in between the old guard
and younger guys coming in, and he still wants certain
things done a certain way, and you know, not have
(38:21):
too much information but at the same time holding on
to our accountability that we had when we were young.
And I think that we're just in a strange time
right now, and I think over the next ten years
start to see a few more progressive thinking gms that
are willing to budget accordingly because teams have never been
worth the amount of money they're worth right now. And
(38:43):
you wouldn't believe how it takes me eighteen months to
still close a deal for you know, under one hundred
thousand dollars, which you know you'd imagine for a billionaire
as a rounding error.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Well, I mean, what great insight in all different aspects, Valley.
We truly appreciate your time here on the show on
Energy with Nate and JSB. And you're, as I mentioned,
your joyful essence being here bringing us all of your
insight and analysis and just continue doing what you do
because you're my favorite analyst. And I know you hate
(39:16):
when I tweet that Valley is the best, Julius.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Don't do that.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
You're bringing attention to me And then what you know,
what happens Nate? She does that right, And then I
get all these devils fans just churning me like I.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Don't like Nate.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I don't need that in my life.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
No, you don't.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
You realize that was the effect. I apologize.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
Yeah, you know why, Julie are starting a thread and
then that just goes you know, that goes, that goes sideways.
I appreciate you, but I like to keep it quiet.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Oh, sorry about that, and thank you again.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
All Right, you guys have a great one.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Welcome back to Energy Line with Nate and jsb Wee.
Thanks Steve Valkev for all of his insight and analysis
and just great vibes all round. Now, Nate, lots of
games on the docket this week. What are you watching
and why I.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Am going to tune into the Anaheim Ducks and the
Colorado Avalanche. And I don't think either one of us
would have circled this on the calendar to start the
season saying that this will be the best game of
the year thus far, just based on entertainment, scoring goals.
Hopefully they score a lot of goals. And the leading
(40:27):
scorer in the league Nate McKinnon, who I think right now,
you know he's always under Conor McDavid shadow, and I
think right now in the league he's the.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Best player, yes, and the NHL would say that as well.
He's one of the first Stars of the week. He
was the first Star of the Week, and Leo Carlson
also a Star of the Week for his goal scoring efforts.
I mean the Ducks can put up a lot of
goals too, As we said the Avs nine to one
over the Oilers, but I mean the Ducks are putting
(40:57):
up a touchdown every dame. It seems like it's crazy.
I also am looking forward to watching that as well.
But before watching that, I of course will flex some
of my hometown muscles because I am a masochist and
I would like to see how the Toronto May Beliefs
do against the Boston Ruins again, because they lost to
(41:18):
them on Saturday five to three, and they are a
team that does not look like they looked last year,
which was pretty good in the regular season. We know
that they lost Mitch Marner, but the whole team has
been real and consistent, and I'm going to look toward
the defense as being pretty pretty bad, and they are
(41:41):
turning pucks over like that is the goal of the game.
The breakaways to Carolina, it's just been real, real bad.
We know that the goaltending situation has been tenuous as well,
But I'd like to see how they respond because they
do have a William Nilander who is just ripping shots
(42:02):
real well and John Tavaris is the most consistent part
of that team and that is still surprising to see.
I will say, but Matthew ny is really great, I'd
say in terms of his ability to support in the
in the playmaking role. But beyond that, I feel like
there's a big drop off from the top line, in
(42:23):
the top two lines ish and special teams to then
there are no good defensemen that can skate.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
It's yeah, I mean the depth and I think the
d I mean not having tannev is huge.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
I think, like I said, you know, we talked about.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
It, Julie, I mean with on the show is you know,
losing certain guys out of the lineup can change your whole
contange your whole roster. You know, losing Scott Lowton again,
you know, that's that's tough. So I think, yeah, that
the Leafs are being tested of what team are they
going to be this year? You know, I think you
said it like they lose Mitch Martner, which is one
hundred points and it changes their lineup. I mean, they're
(43:03):
different team and they're trying to find trying to find
out who they are.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Right now, I'll just send off on this.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I don't even know if Toronto's gonna make the playoffs,
so what a fall from grace at this point?
Speaker 4 (43:13):
We will have to see.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
As they say, Nate, it has been a pleasure doing
this show with you again, and thank you guys also
much for listening to Energy Line with.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Nate and JSB.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Thank you so much to Steve Velliquette for joining us,
and of course we are our producer Matt Heavia for
producing the show every week, and for all of you listening, liking, sharing,
subscribing to this podcast.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
We truly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
We'll be back with more Energy Lineup with Nate and
JSB next week. Energy Line is the production of the
(44:03):
NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Nate Thompson
Julie Stewart-Binks
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