NHL Stanley Cup Final Preview: Edmonton Oilers vs Florida Panthers X-Factors

NHL Stanley Cup Final Preview: Edmonton Oilers vs Florida Panthers X-Factors

On today’s show, it feels like forever, but game one of the Stanley Cup final is finally here. We will preview the series and discuss our biggest X factors. Plus, Brock Nelson has resigned for how much in Colorado. You’re locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. Hello and welcome inside this Wednesday, June 4th edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. I’m Ross Levitan. You can find me over at Locked On Senators alongside Mike Dphano from Locked On Maple Leafs. We have the Stanley Cup final to discuss between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Shout out to the Everydayers who make Locked On your first listen each and every day. We have local experts on the biggest stories five days a week all across the network. We also have NHL game night here on Locked On where you get immediate reaction following each and every game. Mikey, what a wait it’s been. My goodness, it feels like 84 years. I know. It’s been a long time since uh since we’ve been able to watch some Stanley Cup hockey, some playoff hockey. Uh what has it been? Six days between Yeah, six days between Edmonton uh winning, beating Dallas and and finally being able to watch this game. And I just I I can’t fathom why they’ve waited so long. Like the NBA finals has been done too since Saturday. So like literally Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, nothing in terms of like playoff sports. So the playoff calendar in both sports has been quite bleak. But hey, we’re back in business. And uh I’m excited to see what we got in store tonight because I’m excited for this matchup. Like I I don’t know about you, like I know there’s some people out there who are like, “Ah, just a rematch from last year.” This has me pretty jacked up. Like the fact that Connor McDavid has like a revenge narrative built in to a Stanley Cup chase to me makes this a great wonderful potential storybook ending. And as we talked about last week, the last two rematches in the Stanley Cup final both include the other generational Canadian players losing the first one and then finding a way to win. Wayne Gretzky in the early 80s and Sydney Crosby in ’08 and then 09. So that’s to me the number one storyline going into this Stanley Cup final is Conor McDavid and how he’s going to be able to have an opportunity to rewrite his own history, win the big game, win the big series for the first time. And um I’m just in enthralled by the way that these teams are built. I heard Paul Maurice say, and I appreciate this this um thought process, is that last year it felt like the Panthers were the suffocating defensive team and the Oilers are the high-flying offensive powerhouse. Both things are still true, but the Oilers have gotten so much better defensively and the Panthers have gotten so much better offensively. Feels like these are two teams that are even better, both of them, than they were when they met last spring. Yeah, like it it really does seem like both teams have taken their game to another level, right? They’ve both elevated in different ways to round out the team to to to be better and that’s what every NHL franchise strives to do, to be better than they were the year before to try and win the the Stanley Cup. That’s that’s the goal each and every year will be better day by day and try and win the Stanley Cup. And and that’s what they’re going to try to do. And look, I you know, they’re both going to be like the Panthers are a very suffocating team. Like trust me, firsthand knowledge watching them seven game series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean, that forch check is is no joke. It’s relentless. Absolutely relentless. And that’s going to be the thing I I that I like about Edmonton though is they’ve kind of had to deal with that a couple of times throughout their run here to the Stanley Cup finals because the Kings can play relentless forchecking game. So do the Vegas Golden Knights. So do the Dallas Stars. So the I I think that the Oilers have a bit of an advantage going in because they’ve played a you know teams that you know mimic what the Panthers do so well. And of course, the Panthers are the pinnacle of that, but they’ve seen that before. I I can’t necessarily say that the Panthers along their Stanley Cup journey have really seen what this Oilers offense can do. Like th this is going to be the biggest test of all for for Florida. It’ll be interesting to see, you know, once they get punched in the mouth in the first uh first game or two, you know, how they respond. Yeah. and they were able to respond after dropping the first two games in Toronto in round two and then even a deficit in game three. But the Oilers are a different beast. Another storyline that I love to follow here is usually it’s players that have played forever but have never won a Stanley Cup. But in this series, we have a player on each side. Both of them are no doubt first ballot Hall of Famers in my mind. Maybe a second ballot for Brad Marshian on the Florida side, but for the Edmonton Oilers, it’s Corey Perry. Now, both of these guys have one Stanley Cup. Perry in 2007 and Marshian in 2011, early their careers, very early and both have lost multiple Stanley Cup final series since. Brad Mian in 2013 and 2019 and Corey Perry. I would lose track if I tried to count. It’s basically four straight and four the last five years he has lost in the Stanley Cup finals. Five of six. Five of six. Yeah. Five of six. Yeah. So he that’s an underlying storyline here. And Perry, we mentioned last week as well that he’s climbing up the all-time NHL playoff leaderboard. If he plays in six games this series, he’ll be third all time behind Chris Chelios and Nick Lstrom. Right now he is sixth tied with Ge Carbono. So when he plays tonight he’ll be alone in sixth spot. What other storylines stand out to you in this series Mikey? I mean the goalending is going to be interesting and and and more so I guess on Edmonton cuz there’s been no you know Jacqueline High goender like Steuart Skinner like this guy early in the in the playoffs couldn’t put his equipment on without giving up five six goals to LA. they decide they pull him and they went and they started Calvin Pickard. He played well for what six games and took him into the second round. Got them started into the second round and then he ends up getting hurt and they got to go back to the goalie. But Skitter’s been excellent ever since. Like he he’s got like a 173 goals against a 931 save percentage, three shutouts. He’s 6 and2 since coming back. But those two losses, he has not been good in those losses. He’s given up quite a bit. Um, so that’s where it’s it’s going to be interesting to see what type of Steuart Skinner this team will get. Right. Last year, Skinner kind of fell apart in the Stanley Cup final um early on. We’ll see if he can clamp down and just continue what he’s done over the course of the last couple of series here. Just continue what he’s done. But he’s been a very Jaclyn high goalender this playoff. Yes. And he’s gonna have to track pucks well because the Florida Panthers defense has shown that they can provide offensive boost. The Florida Panthers have seven defensemen with at least one goal this postseason which is tied for the most in best of seven playoff history through three rounds with the 2021 Vegas Golden Knights, the 94 Washington Capitals and the 88 Calgary Flames. Nico Mikola, Nate Schmidt, Seth Jones, and Aaron Ecklad all each have three goals this postseason. So Edmonton’s gonna have to be aware and it makes sense with the relentless offensive pursuit of the Panthers that they’re getting bodies to the front of the net allowing their defenseman to find lanes. For Edmonton, they’ve got one defenseman who has six goals and that’s Evan Buchard who’s been fantastic this postseason. And another storyline for me is Matias Echome got into one game in the last round. He is going to be a huge huge X factor here in terms of getting that physicality removed on the forche for Florida and being able to take the contact but having the skill and ability to make plays out of his own zone as well. So a fascinating matchup between two teams that are very strongly built. It’s super unfortunate that we very likely will not see Zack Heyman in this series. Although the way the schedule is, it’s like a month-long Stanley Cup final. So, is there a chance? Probably not after Heyman had wrist surgery last week. But even still, it’s a next man up mentality for the Edmonton Oilers. And I mean, the guy who stepped in for Zack Heyman, Jeff Skinner, scores a goal in game six against Dallas. So, fascinating Stanley Cup final. On the other side, Mikey and I love a good draft. So, we’re gonna draft our biggest X factors in this series. We got three forwards, two defensemen. We’ll each pick a goalie. That’s next. And we’ll wrap up today’s show talking about the news of the day in the NHL. Brock Nelson, a UFA no more. He’s resigned for three years at a big cost for the Avalanche. You’re listening to Locked On NHL, your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Wonderful Pistachios. Are you looking for a snack that’s both nutritious and delicious? Well, crack into a great source of protein with Wonderful Pistachios. Wonderful Pistachios, one of the highest protein nuts. Each 1oz serving has six grams of protein, which gives you over 10% of your daily recommended value. Plus, they’re packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats to help you keeping fuller longer. I love the no shells variety. I even put them in my salads. Just a little sprinkle. Whether I’m snacking at my desk, going on a road trip, or need a quick protein boost, it’s always my go-to. And if you love cracking open every shell, the inshell option is a classic favorite. I call them the oysters of the tree. Just open them right up and they are delicious. So get snacking and get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more. Welcome back. Locked on NHL, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers who make us your first listen. Means a lot to us here on the network. We got different hosts, different shows each and every day all across the network. But right here on Locked on NHL, we got you covered five days a week. And NHL game night’s a great way to get the immediate reaction right when you wake up. It’ll be in your podcast feed and then we get you the daily show throughout the afternoon. All right, it’s our draft time. We love doing these things and we’re not just going to do the best players in the Stanley Cup final, but the most important players. I think that’s a very important distinction, Mikey. Who is the most important player on either team in this final? Do I Are you handing me the number one overall selection? Is that what you’re you’re doing here? I am. I am. So, like the there’s an obvious answer to this question. It’s just whether or not you’re going to let me do it because the obvious answer is Conor McDavid. Correct. Like he’s the best, but he’s obviously the obvious because if Conor McDavid, you know, decides to be the best in the worlds and and and and just like he did in in game five against Dallas where he said, “I’m not losing tonight, boys. get on my back. Scores an unbelievable breakaway goal to uh to to seal the deal. Like he can open up a game better than anyone else who’s going to suit up tonight in the Stanley Cup final. So like Car McDavid has to be the number one pick. Best player, yeah, sure. Is it a copout answer? Possibly. But when you talk about X factors and game breakers and who can, you know, tilt the scales, it’s Conor McDavid, man. Yeah. And that’s a great pick and it’s the only appropriate pick for first overall. McDavid leads the Stanley Cup playoffs in scoring with 26 points. So funny though, he had a couple years where he’s just scoring at will and then he’s like, you know what, I think I like getting my boys involved more. He’s only got six goals this postseason. Same amount as Evan Buchard, but he is getting the playmaking on and then he can pull out the goal like you mentioned on the breakaway in game six where he just shows he is the best player in the league. Doesn’t have a Stanley Cup yet. Conor McDavid’s a great pick at first overall. I’m going to make this easy at the very start. The Edmonton Oilers do have depth, but they rely on their top players. I’ll go with the guy who is second in NHL scoring this postseason, and that is Leon Dryidle. I mean, also an appropriate pick. Also an appropriate pick. Like, had to get those out of the way right off the bat. Yes, 100%. Like, it’s it’s it’s McDavid and it’s Leon. like he’s you can make Dariant that’s the first and second best player on the planet at this point, right? So, and for anyone on the Panthers side of things, why these guys both pick Oilers to start? Well, I think there’s an added X factor element of the pressure that you’ve lost the last one. They need this or all of a sudden they’re a team that is 0 and2 in the final and that’s not something that looks great on the resume no matter how great everything else does. So, uh that’s the first two picks. pretty simple and we’ll move on from there. Mikey, who is the third most important player in this series? Well, I look I I’ll be honest like we’re talking most important player. So, like who can have the most impact? So, not necessarily best player, but who can have the most impact. I think it’s the guy that I was talking about a little bit earlier on in the show. Like Steuart Skinner, that would have been my pick, right? like Steuart Skinner, if he goes out and he continues to be a Vzna worthy, Con Smiteworthy goalender, right? If he’s the the the the Steuart Skinner that finished off the the Vegas series, right, by putting up what what he what shut out, one goal shut out like I’m pretty sure one goal within like a three game span. Had three shut out within four G. If that’s the Stu Skinner who shows up, the Edmonton Oilers have a very good chance of winning the series. But if the Edmonton Oilers get the Steuart Skinner that showed up in games one and two against the Kings, they’ll find themselves in a rut real quick and you lose those first couple games on home ice. They got to go into Florida. It’s not going to go very well. So Steuart Skinner has to be on his agame to start things off. And uh I think he’s going to have a big say. If he plays well, this team has a great chance to be Stanley Cup champions. If he’s average or worse, it’s going to be tough. Yeah, I like that breakdown. And you could even make a case that Steuart Skinner’s the most important player in this series. The only thing I think that takes that away is the fact that if things go south, Calvin Pickard’s six and0 in the postseason. I don’t think that Chris Knobblock, head coach of the Oilers, I don’t think he’ll hesitate to put him in. Come on. Come on. Like I don’t want to throw shade. He’s obvious like he’s a fine goalie, but like okay, imagine six months ago being like, “Yeah, Calvin Pickard Stanley Cup final. I feel great about that option.” God, I think a lot of people would say would have said the same way about Stuart Skinner at times. But at least last year he got the two a cup final and Steuart Skinner has a body of work where he’s you know had a bulk of games and a bulk of starts where like he went on a run last year of like six weeks where he hadn’t allowed more than two goals like that there was a good there’s at least pockets and stretches where you say okay this guy’s a good goalie and we’ve seen it outside of that six gamer that we saw from the playoffs from Pickard earlier this year he’s never been a good goalie like he’s he’s literally been an an AHL goalender for most of his career. So, I I I think it’s a completely different argument. Okay. Well, you’ve got Stuart Skinner at third overall. I’m going to lead off my Panthers pick with Matthew Kachchuck, who had figured out the offense. We know he’s playing through something. Missed a lot of time after the Four Nations. Came back and in game one against Tampa was great. Two goals, three points. They win the game 6-2. But from game two against Tampa through the end of the series against Toronto, where by the way, he didn’t score a single goal in that series against the Leafs, he had one goal and six points in 11 games. Well, in his last four games, he has six points. Three multi-point games. If he can continue being that topline player that has that edge and different element to his game, I think that could really shake up this series. So, Matthew Kachchuck will be my next pick. Yeah, you know, and he kind of has to, right? Like for for this Florida team to be as dangerous as they were a year ago or two years ago even, right? That was when Makuck was playing at a really high level and he wasn’t through the first couple series, but you saw something in him in that Carolina series where it did start to kind of look like, okay, maybe he’s getting a little healthier. So, I’m with you. I think Kachchuck has an opportunity to be uh to be a big- time difference maker for uh for this Edmonton team. Um it’s interesting. There’s a couple of directions that that I want to go here. Uh uh do I really want to go at this point? Yeah, a player who can make a big difference is is Evan Buchard, I think, of the Edmonton Oilers. And I know I’ve got Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton, three straight, you know, chances, but I think you you you brought it up earlier when you said like this is where all the pressure is right now is on the Oilers. But you look at a guy like Evan Bousard and he’s had a great playoff, a a terrific playoff, but he’s been prone to make those key mistakes at the wrong time, especially in his own end. How can he handle the wave of forch check that this team is going to get right when he goes back into his own zone to get the puck after Florida dumps it in? How can he handle that poor check and and and can he can he limit those mistakes, those turnovers? Because if he can do that and he can just get back there quickly, get the puck turned, fire it up, and get going the other way, I think they’ll be in good shape. But again, Evan Buchard for me is is probably one of the defenders out there that is going to have to make sure that he makes those smart plays. And he also can break a game open offensively with a goal or two. Like you said, leads uh all defenseman in this playoff uh cup final with six goals to this point. He’s a monster on the power play. So like Evan Buchard could be an X-factor here. Yeah, first defenseman off the board is Evan Bousard, the sixth overall pick. I’m going back to the Florida Panthers. I wish I could cheat and take a whole line because one line in particular on the Panthers has stood out, but I’ll just take the most noteworthy player on that line and it’s Brad Marshant. He can put a series on his head on its head and he’s always in the mix and he’s been such a great contributor. That whole line with Lundell and Lo Rinan have been fantastic this postseason. So, I’m looking at him coming into this this game. He hasn’t put up the offensive numbers quite as much as he probably would like since the Toronto series where he was incredible. Only two points, one goal, one assist, and 14 pimps. Got tossed when after Goss Bear took the shot at him. He uh kind of had his wires crossed a little bit. But um a quieter series for Brad Marshian against Carolina. And you know, he’s jacked up. He understands how potential few chances he has left. 37 years old now. Brad Marshian’s going to be my next pick. I like it. I like it. I got my forwards are done now. I got Mian Kachchuck and Dry Cidle. Why don’t we take a break? We’ll come back. We’ll finish up the back half of the draft and get to the Brock Nelson news next. Wow. Let’s do it. You’re listening to Locked on NHL, your team every day. Welcome back. Locked on NHL, your team. Every day we’re drafting the biggest Stanley Cup FA final X factors and we are through three rounds. Mikey’s got Conor McDavid, Steuart Skinner, and Evan Bousard. A little forward defenseman goalie action and I’ve gone with three forwards. Dry Cidle Kachchuck and Brad Marshian. Mikey, who’s up for you? Yeah, it’s going to be Sam Bennett is going to be my next X factor for the Florida Panthers. So, he’s my first Panther to come off the board here. And look, we know that what Bennett has been able to do throughout is his tenure over in Florida. He’s been a pain in the ass, but man, can this guy ever score in big moments. And look, I I really really believe that Sam Bennett is is going to, you know, make a boatload of money this summer. And and I think a Stanley Cup final where he comes out and and has this success will really go a long way to making sure he gets an extra zero on that check. So Sam Bennett, I think, has a lot a lot to play for in these finals and and with his physicality, I think he can really tilt scales sometime, right? Like it’s it’s going to be interesting. I know Cory Perry and and Sam Bennett, I I would imagine those two will get nose tonose at some point. And uh to me, he’s a player on the Panthers who really can can provide offense, who can be a pest, who can try and draw you into the physicality, drag you into the muck, if you will. And uh he’s he’s prone to scoring, too. Like you you just look at him, he’s he’s a player who obviously is is able to score at a career-high 25 goals this season, and I believe he does lead uh the Panthers in scoring here in the postseason as well. Yes, great choice. I like that pick for Sam Bennett. And now I’m gonna go with Yeah, I’m gonna do it because the question marks around whether he is 100% will continue and that’s Matias Ekholm who is the best defender on the Edmonton Oilers. Not the best defenseman. You already took Evan Buchard, but what Ekholm provides defensively is going to be so critical in what I expect to be a tightly contested series. So he has to be able to play 22 to 24 minutes a night, be elite on the penalty kill and really keep his shifts 5545 in the Oilers favor for them to have success. So I’m going to go with Matias Ekholm as my most important defenseman in this series. Yeah, it’s a good pick. It’s definitely a good pick and and you know health is going to play a major factor there. All right, so I need a I need a defenseman and a forward. Correct. Is that or minus? Okay. So, I I I I mean, I guess I’ll I’ll I’ll finish up my defense since you can’t take uh a Ford. Anyways, uh talk about impactful players. I mean, if there’s one guy who can be an absolute terror to play against and really impact things from a Florida perspective, you know, Seth Jones is an interesting player for me because what we saw Seth Jones do in game seven against the Toronto Maple Leafs, arguably the game of his life. And and maybe that’s me, you know, maybe I’m I’m I’m being projecting a bit being biased on this one, but like when when like we already know that Eblad and Forsling is like a dynamic duo, right? Like that’s a top pair that’s going to get the tough minutes have to play against Conor McDavid, but someone else going to have to play, you know, against Leon Dryido, right? And and and and I I think Seth Jones and Nico Mikola might get that uh might get that that uh assignment. But if this guy can be a two-way force in this series for Florida, I think that’ll be really big for them. Yeah, I like that choice, too. I I also am going to go right next to Seth Jones, a player that’s caught my attention since last postseason. Yeah, I love watching Nico Mika play and he can be an X-factor with his physicality. He’s a huge mean physical defenseman, but then he pops in three three goals. Like he can play at the offensive blue line and make plays and I think that that is super valuable. So I’m going to go with Nico Mika as my second defenseman. I like that pick. I do. I mean like I I think that he does have an opportunity to uh to to really really contribute here. All right. He plays a ton, man. Yeah. No. Well, he plays on the penalty kill obviously plays at five on five second pair. So, like there’s there’s just a lot a lot of time. And I think Nikico Mikola there was that one game he ended up playing yeah like 20s something minutes there was an injury. Um he’s averaging 1922 this postseason with 41 hits and five points plus seven. That’s decent. I think that’s decent. Yeah, I would say. All right. I need another forward to to round out my draft here. Um, I guess there’s a couple of solid options here, but honestly, let’s let’s let’s go to someone who could really be a bit of a a game breaker and tilt the scales offensively for the Emittson Oilers. Well, actually, there’s two two guys I’m I’m deciding on, and you could tell me which one you think uh I should take here, but like both of these players could. NG and Evander Kane. Yeah, both are great choices. I would probably lean nude because he has more of a um an impact as a centerman and he’s probably going to be matched up against Bararkov a bunch in this series if the fit their way. Well, he’s playing on a line with McDavid and Perry. Oh, they moved him to the wing. Yeah, he’s playing on the wing, right? Yeah. The Heyman injury thrown thrown a wrench in their lines. Like they have Sperry Kappa as a top six winger right now. Yeah. Which is very interesting to see. I think if Conor Brown could show that he’s back and healthy, he’ll be in that spot. probably move back up there. Although they like him in in a checking role with with Frederick and Henrik though, so that kind of makes sense. But yeah, I’m going to roll with the Nooch, right? Like like this is a guy. How many points did he have in the in the in the conference final? He was basically like the conference final MVP. He had a big series. Two, four, six, nine points. He’s third in the He’s third on the team in points with 18 and that’s uh good for fourth in the league. Just just ranting in between him and McDavid dry. There you go. So, like Nude has been a big big- time contributor uh for the Oilers and he’s, you know, one of those one of those core Oilers who’s been around for a long time and is looking to, you know, finally make an impact and finally bring a cup home to Toronto. It’s new Ryan Nan Hopkins is now to Edmonton. Sorry, Edmonton. He’s now 32 years old. 32 years old, Ryan Nan Hopkins and uh still contributing. I think he could be a big- time X factor in this series. I’ll take the nooch. All right, that that leaves me Sergey Babrovski. Obviously, when you picked a goalie, I just left mine till the very end, but Babski goalies are the most important player on the team and uh he’s going to have to be very good for the Panthers to stop the offensive attack of the Edmonton Oilers. So, you’ve got McDavid, Bennett, Ryan Nan Hopkins up front, Seth Jones, Evan Buchard on the back end, and Steuart Skinner in goal. I’m going with Dryidle, Marian Kachchuck, Echo, Mikola, and Babsvki. And I think we can say we left out Alexander Barov because everyone just knows he’s Mr. Consistent. We know what he’s going to bring. Obviously an important player in this series. But um yeah, we left him off. So there you go. That’s our big snub is uh is the topline center, the captain of the Florida Panthers, who’s a heck of a player himself, Sam Reinhardt as well. Like the Panthers have so many weapons and uh interesting to see how they all work out. live it up to his name is Mr. Underrated. Right there you go. Just another chip on his shoulder. I’m sure he’ll be thinking about that going into game one tonight. The Edmonton Oilers taking on the Florida Panthers. The game gets underway at 8:00 Eastern time. Our friends over at FanDuel have the Oilers as one minus 125 favorites at home. You can get the Panthers at plus 104. Lots of great novelty bets also available on FanDuel. Speaking of bets, the Colorado Avalancher taking a big one on Brock Nelson, who I don’t think really fit in that well when he got traded from the Islanders for an enormous package. Was fine in the regular season. Six goals, 13 points in 19 games. But that first round, seven games, four assists, no goals, and he signed a three-year contract at $7.5 million per season. He’s 33 going to be 34 at time next season starts. That’s a that’s a risky play from McFarland Sackic and the ABS. Yeah, I I don’t really get this one. I I don’t get it at all. Like that’s that that’s a that’s a lot of money. If he want to come back, you know, and sign like a Yanni Gourd level deal almost, okay, maybe it makes sense. Um, or maybe he signed somewhere in the neighborhood of what Ryan O’Reilly signed for when he he signed his long-term deal in uh in Nashville at 4 and a half. But to get 6 and a 7 and a2 million over the next three years for age 35, 36, 37, that’s tough. That’s tough. Sorry, 34 35 36 what it’ll be. Um, that just that just seems like a lot of money to give to to to a guy like that who’s, you know, had a really good career and he’s been blossom through his 30s. Um like he’s up until this year he had three straight 30 goal seasons. Uh 30 plus goal seasons, but it fell off this year. He only had 26 goals, right? So like it’s it’s already starting to decline a little bit and now you’re paying him moving forward. And look, if you’re Colorado, you need this to hit, right? Like you need Brock Nelson to hit and be a number two center for you. Um I’m I’m quite surprised that they’re willing to do this, especially considering that uh this is a team that like doesn’t have a lot of cap space, right? And they’ve got a guy like Kale Mar do a big extension next summer. Um he could get the contract this year that can start negotiating. So surprised that they would give up so much future cap and future dollars to uh to to to an aging veteran um who just got there and didn’t necessarily you know show that he’s he’s he’s uh they need to have this guy like I I don’t know questionable signing for me. Yeah, we’ll see. They needed to hit too because of what they gave up in the trade. That Cal Richie kid’s going to be a stud. They gave up picks as well and now they only have $1.2 2 million in cap space, which makes all eyes turn to the other player they acquired last year, Martin Nass. $6.5 million this upcoming season. He’s a UFA afterwards. And there was a little bit of buzz coming out of Colorado that maybe the fit wasn’t what what Nate Chass thought it would be. So, we’ll see what happens with that 6.5 because they still have only five defenseman signed with $1.2 million remaining on their cap. Brock Nelson becomes the second highest paid forward on the team after Nathan McKinnon. Landiskog makes seven million. Nass 6.5. Nikushkin 6.125. All right, another great show. You can learn more about the about the Brock Nelson deal over at Locked on Avalanche. Enjoy the game tonight. We’ll be back next Wednesday to break it down. We’ll hand it over to NHL game night here at Locked On. And then tomorrow, another edition, Thursday edition over on your favorite podcast platforms. If you enjoyed the video, click the thumbs up below. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. This has been another edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. Your team every

Ross Levitan (Locked On Senators) and Mike DiStefano (Locked On Maple Leafs) cover all the biggest stories from the NHL.

0:00 Stanley Cup Final preview
5:27 Corey Perry and Brad Marchand’s Cup history
11:29 Drafting most important players in Final
29:23 Analyzing Brock Nelson’s contract with Avalanche

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