THE DEBATE - Hockey Podcast – Episode 236 – Best Worst Teams in the League

THE DEBATE - Hockey Podcast – Episode 236 – Best Worst Teams in the League
Host- Brad Burud @BradBurud
Co-Host- Blake Friars @FriarsBlake
--- EPISODE 236 ---
Quality NHL teams that are struggling in the standings.
AROUND THE NHL: Stupid Plays, Kings of the Road, Cap, Woll Out and Super Young, Super Star
3 Questions
Listener Questions: The Eastern Conference looks to be more dominant than the Western Conference this season - The East has 11 teams with a Pt % over 500 and the West only has 9 --- do you think the East is dominant to the West this year?
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Music – Booz N Tuna
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*Produced by Inside Edge Hockey News Media Group

Episode Transcript

(00:22):
It is time for the Debate Hockeypodcast. I annost to show. Brad
Brude joined alongside my co host eachBody, Blake Buyers, and it is
time about some NHL hockey. Itwas a busy, busy hockey. There's
lots of things to talk about,and I want to get a going Blake,
I got I I got some seriousquestions about I got some I don't

(00:45):
know. I'm a sports guy.I'm way more of a hockey guy than
any other sport. We're not we'renot talking about Tawny today. So what
what is a deal? Why?Why? Why is someone paying him seven
hundred dollars? Well, the contractis gonna the contract is gonna pay for
itself pretty pretty quickly. It itwill pay for it very quickly. Jersey

(01:11):
sales TV deals in Japan's he's gonnahe's gonna make the Dodgers well over seven
hundred million dollars. It's a sevenhundred million dollar investment. But the Dodgers
don't get a TV deal in Japan. The league would the Dodgers don't.
Yeah, but the Dodgers get akit for playing there, the Dodger games
in there. What do you meanthey would have worked that out with the

(01:33):
team that the Japanese. The Japaneseads that are gonna be on all over
Dodgers team, they're gonna make wellover seven hundred million dollars. It's they're
gonna they probably made two hundred milliondollars back just yesterday alone. Guys buying
jerseys. The best thing that couldever happen to the Maple Leafs are the
main p LEAs the Blue Jays isnot to get him. Yeah, I

(01:56):
mean yeah, like staff for that, you can get a whole rotation.
And I'm just saying it's it's sport. The conspiracy theories out out there that
like that, like the the stuffthat went down as a fan pisses me
off, buddy, mean, he'snot like that's just I wouldn't give him.
There's no way that one person isworth it. He's freaking injured too,

(02:21):
agnated hitter for one year. Yeah, how do you know he comes
back from comic Believe it's his secondone, isn't it is his second one?
Yeah, the best player in theworld. I don't care. So
so you're telling me Connor McDavid whatshould he get paid? Then what should
he get paid? I can't.One guy can't do it in baseball,

(02:42):
one guy can't do it in hockey. I don't understand. I don't understand
this money did I think it's aBaseball is such a dying sport any point,
I wouldn't say it's dying, butwell, there are popularities as a
as a a at a low Okay, I mean because guys like Otania are
the ones that put the seats inthe building. So no, he's a

(03:07):
generational talent, one of one ofa kind. Nobody's done this and they
will never leave that contract down.It could be a horrible contract, could
not. I don't know. Guesstime will tell, but I saw it.
I'm like, I don't know,it's crazy. I knew he wasn't
going to Toronto. Oh but thatthat the media but made the media.

(03:31):
No, Taani's cat made made youbelieve it? Why wouldn't the Canadian media
make you believe No? No,not the Canadian media. Not the Canadian
media. No, go look ingo look in the go look at the
conspiracy theory after the pod, andtell me how messed up it is.
I don't have time to be followingbaseball stuff, so let's switch skiers into

(03:53):
basketball. I have a question forno, what do we get into?
When do we get into the red? Oiler's here right after this. So
I saw this tweet and this guysaid, and this is true because I
did a little background on it.This guy tweeted, I'll put up a
million dollars on the line. You'reHe tweeted this to the WNB. He

(04:17):
said, we already talked about this. We talked about this already. Yes,
the guy put a million dollars inhis high school team could beat a
w NBA team. He already talkedabout this. We No, I didn't
talk to you. I talked aboutWe talked about this on the podcast three
weeks ago. Really, yes,yes, that he met a million dollars
and his high school team could bethe m w NBA team. We already

(04:39):
talked about this. I don't thinkwe talked about this. We did.
We talked. I know exactly whatyou're talking about. We talked about on
this podcast. So who so,who wins? Who wins? Yeah?
I don't know, doesn't really matter. I don't know. It's stupid.
The guy's just like it's a pissingcontest. The guy has at million dollars

(05:00):
he's on the bat He's just comeon, WNBA, do it. I
don't know, because it's it doesn'treally do them any good. It does
them good. It could do thema ton of home. WNBA would the
WNBA would beat high school team,Yes, they would. Not some of
the elite high school teams. Okay, you take the best talking on ESPN

(05:26):
the other day that there's high schoolteams that have six or five guards and
you put them up against freaking wNBA players. The kid what I'm saying.
I'm saying the best WABA team wouldprobably be a high school team.
Oh h high school team. Maybenot the best high school team. Okay,
but is that the guy the besthigh school coach and the best high

(05:47):
school team. Probably not. Thisguy was a coach, though he said.
His tweets said your w NBA championteam against a twenty twenty four high
school boys state champion team of Joyce. No, that's not that's dumb,
dumb. I think it's awesome.We've already talked about this, go back

(06:09):
in the archives. On the episodetoday the best worst Teams in the league.
We're going to talk about the teamswho are way better than what their
record is so far, and thenwe'll go around to leave talk about some
stupid plays, Kings of the Road, the salary, Cap woll Out and
a super young superstar. So Iwas watching, you know, a bunch

(06:41):
of teams. While I was watchingthem, I'm like, how can they
be solow in the standings because theylooked good And I think the most glaring
one that comes to mind is,yes, the Edmonton Oers, And that's
not really the one I want tofocus on because we've talked about them about
every episode this year. There they'reon the rise. They're on the rise.

(07:02):
They are for sure. I meanthey won seven straight. I believe
it is. And so let's kickthis conversation off with your beloved Autawa Senators.
Then, Brad, you have thefloor. I this is a team
and here's one of the ways,the only way really I can justify this.
The Ottawa Senators are a plus eightgoal differentip. And I know that

(07:24):
it's just one statistic in the standings, but I watch it every year,
right, and if you go tolast year, pull up the standings from
last year, every team that wasin the playoffs had a plus goal differential
and every team out of the playoffshad the minus differential, with the exception
maybe one or two that are thatare really close to even just pull it

(07:44):
up. You're correct, I'm I'mcorrect, And I watch this every year.
I don't know why I watch thisdat. I have no idea why
I watch this. Tame plus eightplus eight is might as well be negative
plus. It's not too bad.Toronto's a plus seven. The Rangers are
a plus twelve only I mean they'reokay. So, but there was What

(08:05):
I'm saying is, Brad, therewasn't a team that made the playoffs last
year that had a below plus twenty. Calgary was the lowest, plus eight.
They didn't make the playoffs, Yeahthey were, but they were a
plus team. Yeah. But likewhat I'm saying is no team, I
mean, you don't. You don'tget negative teams making the playoffs. No,

(08:28):
you don't at all. And Ottawa, who sits here this year and
is struggling, is in a deadlast in their division, somehow figures out
a way to be a plus rightnow, that tells me that this team
is a team and is a potentialto be better if they get some goaltending
and they get some better defense andthings get a little calmer around there.

(08:48):
But it's just like there's just somany distractions. They're just like you win
to you lose two, you winone, you lose one. Like there's
just no there's no consistency. No, there hasn't been. There's none.
But that's what I'm saying. I'msaying there's there's The one thing that is
working for them though, is theyonly played twenty two games, and this

(09:09):
team pieces to be better. Andyou know what else I like about this
team is they go to bat foreach other. They do, for sure
they do. Another team that Ilook at and they have a high plus
two plus six albeit is the PittsburghPenguins. And if you could get the
Pittsburgh Penguins to get their power play, which is over thirty one in the

(09:31):
last twelve games. Yeah, ifyou could just get something like that going,
how much better is this team?Lot's a lot better And they're even
getting they're even getting good goal teatingfrom Christian Jarry too, which is which
shocks both of us because me andyou are not big Christian Jarry fans.
No, but that's a team.Though. If they get this one little

(09:52):
thing going, how much better arethey. Yeah, are you concerned about
Carolina? They got absolutely dummied inWestern Canada. They do dummied, dummied,
embarrassed. I'm a little worried,but I do think that they will
be okay. I do think theyneed to figure out their goaltending a little

(10:15):
bit. Woah. I mean thattheir starter's hurt. Like, but you
can't you can't like go into seasonand be like, while in December,
Freddy Ariston's gonna go down with bloodclots. You can't really prepare for that.
No, and you don't know thathow long that's gonna be. Yeah,
he's been out for a while,so and Antie Rata like like,

(10:35):
don't get me wrong, he's ahe's a good goaldie, but he's he's
not a guy that can carry theload. And they just don't get an
experienced guy behind him, right.They got coachakof or whatever the hell's name
is, and he hasn't been verygood either. Yeah, I would say
I'm concerned. I'm not concerned becauseI think they're a bad hockey team.
I'm concerned because they have a lotof hurdles and they're they're not they're not
handling the rigors of tough times.Very well, No, like they they

(11:00):
they had. They responded better inthe second what was it second period against
Vancouver. First period, I thoughtit was gonna be four nothing Canucks.
I'm like like this, what isgoing on here? And then in Edmonton
they just got blown right out thedoors. So you got a look.
By the time they get to Edmonton, they that's that's off, that's tough
scheduling. No, they went forEdmonton and then they went to Calgary,

(11:20):
and then they went to Vancouver.They did they did album. I'm thinking
of New Jersey, New Jersey's Yeah, New Jersey went Vancouver, Calgary,
then Edmontons. They lost today,so but yeah, they but even New
Jersey took two or three on theWestern trip. So yeah, I don't
know. I wouldn't be really hittingthe panic button at all. But I

(11:43):
mean the way they're playing lately asits cause for concern, I definitely agree
with you there. Tampa Bay isanother team I look at, uh,
if they could get got Voslevski backnow, if they could get him back
to even closer to the forum thathe was at, this team's better than
what what they're producing. They arecurrently set in a wild card spot,

(12:05):
but have struggled. I have reallyreally struggled. And one other team that
I watched this week, I watchedthem play twice this week, and they
won one of the games I watched, and they lost one of the games
I watched. But the Minnesota Wildthey are a lot better hockey team than
theirs than their record shows sure,for sure. They just they're just boring.

(12:28):
They are boring. They're just watchingthem. But I watched them,
and they have good players that playsmart hockey and physical hockey and and and
and gosh, dang, if thisteam could get and and they have been
much better with John Hines. Theyrattled off I believe, for in a
row, and then they had togo out out West and it's a tough
out there. But uh, youknow, they're a team that has some

(12:54):
of the pieces where I could seethe second half of the season being a
strong one for them. Yeah.I mean, you got guys like Caprizov
and Hartman and Zucarello and Matthew Boldie'sfinally healthy again. Yeah, like they
that game they played against Vancouver,they outshot him. I think it was
like sixteen to one in the firstperiod. Sixteen to three, and it

(13:16):
was one noth in Vancouver and itkind of just deflated him. But yeah,
they come at you in waves,they're they're a fast team, they
play good defensively. Yeah, Igot it. Wouldn't surprise me if this
team got hot in the second half. Not at all. They got I
Meansson Gosterson didn't have the best start, but he's kind of picked it up

(13:39):
as of late. Flury was goodthe other night against Calgary, and I
just I don't know. I Ilook at this team or excuse me,
against Edmondon, Floury played, Yeah, I don't know. I think that's
a team that that could make somenoise in the second half of the season.
It's just that it's funny when youknow, but Christmas usually you know

(14:01):
the good, the good are separatedfrom the bad, and and I believe
it's still the case this year.But there's some teams that are still hanging
in there that I didn't think wouldbe and there's some teams sitting on the
outside that I did hang on.Let's go back to the East here,
Okay, what is going on withPhiladelphia Flyers? They look like a really

(14:22):
really, really really good hockey team, and that blows my mind. I
don't know how what is happening.I I almost stumbled out of my damn
chair. When Elliott Freeman says thesurgeon Philadelphia Flyers are second in the metro,
I said, excuse me. Theywork. I know I would have
never guessed that either someone. Ifsomeone would have had me right out the

(14:43):
standings, I would have never hadthem up. But but but Towards gets
the most of his guys. Itworked hard. Surprise me, they worked.
I'm gonna have to, you know, point the finger at myself.
I have not watched them very muchthis year. I'm gonna have to.
I watched maybe two games. Twogames. I have not watched that much
of them either nine to four andone on the row. They've won four

(15:05):
in a row. Yeah, it'suh, it's pretty good hockey team right
now, I must say. Yeah, Yeah, it's it's crazy how there's
there's definitely some teams, but thenthere's some teams sitting on the outside.
You know. Well, it alsohelps. It also helps when Carter hard
is a nine to twenty save.Again, that's a that's a huge part

(15:28):
of that team. If he's inthe eight eighties, like the last couple
of years, you're not gonna winmuch games. So New Jersey still sits
outside the playoffs too. Yeah,they're I don't know there. They've been
hot as of late. They've they'vewon six of the last ten. They
just lost last game, but theywere seven of their last ten. So

(15:48):
there, they are starting to pickit up a little bit. They they
haven't got good goal to either.I feel like it's a team around the
league right now that is a boringteam to watch New Jersey. I mean
their their power play is good.They're five on five is not very fun
to watch. No, so definitelynot very fun to watch. No,

(16:10):
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(16:40):
league and we have a lot totalk about. Stupid plays. I got
four stupid plays. Three stupid playsI want to talk about. The first
one is what is Austin Watson doingYeah, that that might have been one
of the dumbest, the dumbest thingsthat I've ever seen. End of the
game, fires a slap shot thenuts at Lightning defenseman Jeremy Lizon, and

(17:07):
I don't understand the bonehead play.It's it's bush league, That's what it
is. He apologized after, butI just was like, you know,
I don't know what apology helps here. I'm tired of people being dumb and
apologizing. I don't know. Yeah, dumb, dumb, dumb. The
next one that was scary. Uh, Dylan Larkin gets drilled last night by

(17:30):
Joseph and then on the backside ofit, which was even worse though that
that one. Honestly, I honestlythink that Larkin was kind of an accident.
It was I do. I thinkit was too like he did.
It was just like the wrong guy, wrong wrong place, wrong time,
and they both hit hit him atthe same time. But what Baran did
was just ridiculous. Barn's cross checkedto zub was directly in the face and

(17:56):
was he's gonna get five games.I think so he is gonna in person,
it's up to five. Yeah,No, how does that they get
they spend five or more. Yeah, oh, I would give him.
I don't know. Man, Well, I shouldn't make any predictions about player

(18:18):
safety because we all know how Ilaying consist in that department is. But
why do they always protect the perpetratorand not the victim because they're both nhl
PA members. I don't understand.Yeah, why does the nhl PA always
go to bat for their guys tonot get suspended when they have one of
their own NHLPA players laying in theeyes? I don't I don't get it

(18:41):
make sense. But the one thatgot me fired up this week was probably
in the best hockey game I watchedthis week. I've been to the others.
Minnesota Wild hockey game the other nightwas unreal. It was the best
hockey game I watched for sure onFriday? Did you so? Did you?
You didn't watch Vancouver and did yourNo? I did not. That

(19:02):
was one of the best games I'vewatched all year. So oh, not
only that's six or five, butare you gonna talk about the vander Kin
hit on Brodein Absolutely from behind?It's from behind? And the day later,
a day later, the guy inBuffalo gets ejected for the same thing.
This was clearly from behind. Idon't get it, you know what

(19:23):
I mean. Now he's out fourweeks. He's out four weeks Brodin for
four weeks, and that's a that'sa big loss for the Minnesota while a
big, big loss. And I'mso frustrated by this. I'm so frustrated
by this because Evander Kaine does thisall the time. I take Evander kin
out of it. Take you gotto take the player out of it.

(19:44):
But just look at the play playsdirty. It's dirty. I don't care
who doesnt matter, doesn't matter,it's a It was a clear hit from
behind, and Brodin wasn't even turning. I'm a proponent on I don't like
when guy, well, the guyin Minnesota, sorry, the guy in
Montreal, Baron, he turned backright and got drilled. It's like,
yep, okay, I mean you'rekind of asking to get drilled in the

(20:06):
numbers if you're turning your back andup like even Bieka's like, hey,
like you could have protected yourself,gone up closer to the boards. But
Brodine, like, I mean,he didn't the numbers. They would just
righting the numbers and you know what, there's one way to solve this.
There's one way to solve this.Vander Kaine does it in Edmonton. Someone's

(20:26):
gonna get too hand chopped on thewrist and the guy probably wears number ninety
seven. Yeah, I'm serious.That's what's said the league. Someone in
the league is gonna say, ifthe league's not gonna protect our stars,
oh look, okay, did yousee what happened in Columbus today? I
did not. Good Brandson got absolutelyleveled from behind by Nick Cousins, and

(20:51):
the NHL review or the the refsreviewed it called it two minutes for boarding.
It should have been a five,should have been a five. So
good Brandson. Good Bradson takes madin his his own hands once Cousins gets
out of the box and goes anddrills him and takes him to the ground
and starts beating the shot of them. If you're not gonna police, if
you're not gonna police the game properly, and you're not gonna you're not gonna,

(21:15):
uh give justification where it's needed,players are gonna start taking matags in
their own hands and policing game themselves, because it's gonna have players are gonna
get hurt. Players are gonna gethurt because of this. And when when
guys like Brodine get hit from behindand Minnesota loses one of their best players,
don't be mad. Don't be mad. Don't be mad when Hartman hops

(21:37):
over the boards and starts running atguys and and two hand chops. You
know title I, it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. In a joel,
We're warning you it's gonna happen becausethese players are not gonna put up
with this garbage. Protect the victims. Quit being like society stupid. La
Kings eleven. They win eleven straight. They lose last night to the Islanders

(22:00):
in overtime to break to break,going to twelve. It is an NHL
record. The La Kings currently sitin third in the Pacific, one point
behind Vancouver. They have four gamesin hand. Holy cow, Yes that's
a lot, but this team iseleven to one on the road. There.

(22:22):
They have won eight of their lasthand. They have got points in
nine of their last ten. Theta they want to go home. I
uh might have to might have toeat some words here on the old gam
tall the train. I might bebuying I might be buying. I told
you you might be buying me someVESNA votes. I told you it is

(22:44):
December. Though it is December.There's a lot of hockey that's pumped the
breaks, a lot of hockey left. No, you brought it up.
I didn't bring it up. Youbrought it up. It's good. He's
fucking been good. It's been reallygood. Salary cap projected to go up
to eighty seven point seven million nextyear and plus four mil. That's good.
That's good. Help out some teams. Help some teams, like probably

(23:08):
every team. Yeah, help outsome teams, every team. We got
to talk about the Oilers right beforebefore I leave in here. What do
you want to talk about the others? Well, that they're rolling and McDavid
is alive. Twenty three points innine games, pretty absurd. Uh,
Skinner has a goals against average ofone point five to five and he has

(23:30):
a nine to thirty save the lastseven starts. He's making stops. Okay,
I'm gonna tell you right now,like it's not sustainable, but I'm
saying they're getting stability in net.Does the McDavid thing surprise me? Not
at all. Skinner is not goingto be able to keep doing this.
I'm not, but they're are.There's somewhat out of the them hole.

(23:52):
Well yeah, yeah, they're climbingtheir way out there, out of their
hole. It was gonna take ait was going to take an eight and
A got a ten to have playoffaspirations. And that's what they've done.
They won seven in a row,and we'll see if they can keep rolling
they want. They went again todayagainst uh, who the hell did they

(24:15):
play today? New Jersey? NewJersey. That's right, New Jersey will
Pacific. Huh, they will finishsecond in the Pacific. That's that's bold.
That's bold. I don't know,that's bold. They're fourteen points mind
Vancouver right now, they're going topass them. Okay, I don't know.

(24:38):
I don't know about that. Whatelse do? What else is on
the doctor here? I know you'regoing to take the subject now. I
do. I think they're I thinkthat's I think they will. I still
worry their goaltending though, I stillbut I don't know if they still don't
go out and get somebody, Ohwith what cap space? I don't know.

(24:59):
Could they dip it in a netex just for mal don't probably come
up with a way to do it. Jack Cabell's coming out of retirement,
all right from the HL. Yourthoughts on Wall going down with an injury,
Yeah, it's you don't like seeingthat, especially how it happened.
I mean, it was just aweird fluke injury that he he was hugging

(25:22):
his post then he went to makea save to his right and he just
his skate got caught or something,and he has a high ankle sprain.
And for a goalie, a highankle sprain, that could be two weeks,
it could be eight weeks, itcould be ten weeks. Could you
don't know, like honestly, likecall me crazy man, I answer,
you'd rather break my ankle. Theysay, you know, you know,

(25:44):
broke an ankle, he cast itup. You're you're heeled up in four
to six weeks. High ankle spraincould be two weeks, four weeks,
ten weeks, you don't know.And for a goalie that you have to
move around so much, I mean, it's good that you got a good
security blanket of Martin Joe. That'swhy you're signing guys like that, just
in case something. I guess happensnow you're miss Samsonovan Jones. Do you

(26:04):
feel comfortable with them? So andoff in Joneses was good though last year,
Like we can't. He won thirtydamn games last year. I know,
and nobody wanted to sign him.We talked about how good of a
signing that could be in here.We'll we'll see if it pays off.
Yeah, it's probably gonna pay off. It's going to have to pay off
with the least want to. Yeah, you know, keep bet samsona has

(26:27):
been better as of late. Butyeah, I don't know. That's a
tough that's a tough blow for thembecause he's been playing well. One last
thing we'll talk about before we headon into three questions. But I noticed
last night the Brandon whak Kings callup fourteen year old fourteen Jackson Jacobson,

(26:49):
who is actually the owner's son.Yeah, and at fourteen years old,
Fish Knight snipes the kid looks likegood for him, he is so young.
I didn't even and and maybe thisis naive and me, I thought
you had to have special No,so if you if you're an ap of

(27:14):
a certain amount of games. Okay, So they draft, they drafted him.
He's an ap like he's somebody getsIf somebody gets hurt, you know,
you call up an ap. Heprobably plays it with the Brandon Wiekings
Triple A team. That's what that'smy guess. He does so, so
that's my so he probably played.He probably plays UA team Triple A.
I I'd have to look, butI'm gonna guess that's where I looked last

(27:37):
night. He does. So,they draft, they draft the kid,
and if there's injuries, that's that'syour that's your apece. So but holy
cow, he looks good. Helooks he looks a little a little slow,
but that's okay. He's fourteen.He's good. He's give me good
player. Say it happens crazy thatyou that a guy can step in like

(28:00):
that and be a difference maker atthat young age. He doesn't even have
an UK. You couldn't grow mustacheright now if it's life prepent Oh crazy,
he's playing up against twenty year olds. Jeez, all right, bime
for three questions. It's time forthree questions. All right, Blake,

(28:21):
I got three questions for you thisweek. I think they're pretty good ones.
Okay, I might even have athree a we'll see here, Okay,
Ottawa's hired Jock Martin is an advisor. Yeah, how do you think
DJ Smith feels about this? Higher? And what does this mean for his

(28:41):
future? Well, he's got tofeel threatened because it's a very respected guy
in that organization. Seventy one thoughhe's okay, that's okay. I don't
see a seventy one year old goingbehind the bunch. He's already behind the
bench, is he not? Yes? Yes, But I mean as as

(29:03):
like taking charge, I don't ifthey keep losing, they don't have a
choice. True, that's the onlyoption, and it's either the it's either
the players start playing better. He'sgonna be their head coach until they hire
somebody else, because I don't seehim being a long term guy there.
He's just kind of there to steadythe ship and a familiar face in the

(29:25):
organization and the guy that's been therebefore and taking him on a couple of
long playoff runs and provide some somewisdom in there and kind of settle everyone
down. So I said last week, and this is probably premature, And
after the show, I even thought, God, what was I saying during
the show there? I said theDJ Smith will probably get fired and I

(29:45):
don't think they're gonna fire it.I thought about it more and I'm like,
what was I What was I sayingthat for? Because he he's there's
been so much turmoil that it hadnothing to do with him that that well,
there's just so many distractions there.Yeah. So, I mean after
I I had done saying that lastweek, I was like, what did
I say that? For question numbertwo? Who will Ethan Bear sign sign

(30:07):
with? Well, I would havesaid Vancouver before they got the Dora,
but I don't think that can happenanymore. Um, he played sixty one
games with Vancouver in twenty two totwenty three. That was really effective play
majority of the Quinn Hughes. Maybea team like Washington, Detroit, maybe

(30:36):
trying to think maybe maybe go backto Toronto. I don't know, go
to Toronto. I don't know,Calgary maybe you, I don't know where
you think what's been reported? Imean that's who everybody's talking about. That's
what Calgary. No, Washington,everybody said Washington, Yeah, yeah,
I did that sought after like seriously, Ethan Bear, Like we're talking about

(31:00):
Ethan Bear saving the six guys afterhim. I was reading, is that
just mean defenseman sucking this league?Or what I mean? I think Ethan
Bear's service. Really we were havinga bidding war on Ethan Bear. Well,
CAP's tight and he's gonna be cheap, isn't he He's gonna make what
tu mil good depth guy, gooddepth guy? Any more than that?

(31:22):
Yeah? Question number two A thisis a little sub question. What the
heck is gonna happen with Andrey Kuzmenkoand Vancouver. That's a great question.
I don't know. Like he's gotone year left on his deal. They

(31:42):
were talking about how they were gettingcalls on him. What's the problem.
He doesn't play defense, he doesn't, he doesn't. He doesn't play defense,
he doesn't backcheck, and he's notscoring. So if you're not scoring,
you gotta do something. And lastnight talktt he played two shifts from

(32:02):
the second period on. So andthat's the second time he's been bench mid
game. He's already been healthy,scratched three times talking him talking, ain't
gonna mess around. He benched JT. Miller, who last time I checked,
his second in league scoring with fortyone points in twenty eight games.
You don't care if you don't play, you know, you're not gonna You're
not gonna play. If you don'tplay his way, you're on the bench.

(32:27):
And and and that's great that youwant. Did you see that the
Canucks how Miller and talk were likeriding on the board during the whistle.
I've never seen that before. Isweird anyways, But Kuzmenko, he's gotta
realize he's gotta play defense or he'snot gonna be in the lineup. No,
so, because there's gonna be guysafter him. There's gonna be guys

(32:51):
teams after him. Because the guyhad thirty nine goals last year, seventy
points. Like he's he's a prettytalented player. But I mean, the
way that Canucks are playing right now, do you need to buy in or
you don't play? That's just theway it is. So question number three
Detroit does Owen Twison's Patrick Kane joinedthe team. They had a disappointing come

(33:13):
from behind lost the San Jose Sharksix five, and they lost to the
Ottawa Senators yesterday five to one.Cain did have a goal, it was
a good goal and Kane looks tobe playing pretty well. But is there
a on how this team's going toreact and how he fits in. Yeah,
I think I'll take some time.He does look really good for coming

(33:35):
off double hip surgery replacement. Helooks pretty good. He's moving around pretty
good. I think he'll take sometime. I think he'll take some time
get him wrapped up. Didn't havea training camp or preseason, nothing like
that, so I wouldn't be tooworried about him. It should be all
right. Yeah, And I'm notso much worried about him. I'm just
worried about how he's gonna fit in. Yeah, I don't wah. If

(34:00):
Larkin's out, they're gonna need himto step up. You definitely have to
fill the points there because that isa void that uh boy, you don't
want to have a guy like DylanLarkin out. No No listener question comes
from Toby Breckey, Lansing, Michigan. The Eastern Conference looks to be more
dominant than the Western Conference this season. The East has eleven teams with a

(34:23):
point percentage over five hundred, andthe West only has nine teams with a
point percentage over five hundred. Doyou think the East is really dominant than
the West this year? It's eeright now. The West is top heavy,
like you got you got you gotVegas, you got Vancouver, you

(34:47):
got uh l A, and thenyou got Colorado and Dallas. I don't
know what to you even put Dallasin that well, it's been it's top
heavy, but you like you go. You got Boston, got Ford,
you got Toronto, you got Detroit, you got Tampa, Rangers, Philly

(35:07):
Islanders capitals like they're The East isdefinitely deeper. But out of the West.
Out of the West, we didn'teven name the Oilers or were coming
and team teams like the Jets whoare are good. So I don't know.
I think it's it's more balanced thanpeople think. Yeah, I would
agree, I wouldn't say it's likeI wouldn't say, like, oh,

(35:30):
like East, it's so much better. One of the factors in this,
too, is that when you lookat the East, I mean, did
you think that uh did you thinkthat Washington would have a point six h
four point percent? Did you thinkthat Philly would have point five to nine?
Did you think Detroit would have pointsix one five? No, there's

(35:50):
three teams I just named there thatwe didn't expect. And then on the
flip side of that. You know, Edmonton just today climbed at the foot
to the five hundred park. Okay, yeah, and then you got Vancouver
playing at six sixty one. Yep, you got the Arizona Kyries playing at
five thirty eight. I know,so Nashville is at five nineteen. Like
it balances it out, It balancesit a highway. Yeah, all right,

(36:15):
hockey fans. George foot sweet today, Yeah, wants to talk about
We are taking a week off.I am getting on an airplane this week,
going to Florida. Spent some timewith my family doing absolutely nothing.
I got a hockey book before I'mgone. What's it called Draft Day?
Who wrote it? Doug McClain.Yeah, nice, That's what I'm taking

(36:38):
with me on the road. Excitedto get away. Hopefully the weather is
gonna be decent down there, justto be absolutely nothing. We don't really
have any plans. We're just gonnahave a little bit of fun going Sometimes
those is the best trip. Sowe just don't have any plans. You
just wig it. Hey, we'rethat night we're gonna go to a hockey
game. Tonight We're gonna go adid you know We're just gonna wing it.
We're gonna have a little bit offun all that, so they're good.

(37:01):
Escape. I will be watching hockeyat night, though I can't escape
that. I have too much enjoymentin my life, so I'll stay up
to date. We will take themMonday off, Blake and I will be
back to following Monday recording for aTuesday release. Tell that hockey fans and
enjoy all the hockey action and we'llsee you in a couple of weeks hockey

(37:23):
fans. That was another great episodeof the Debate Hockey podcast with Brad Burrout
and Blake Friars. Keep it lockedon Debate hockey dot com for podcast updates,
subscribe on all the major podcast players, and never miss an episode controversial
NHL Hockey Talk every week, presentedby Inside Edge Hockey Media Group