Florida Panthers Morning Live – Games Without Barkov Begin

Florida Panthers Morning Live – Games Without Barkov Begin

All right, let’s go. Good morning. Good morning. How are we doing on this? Fine. One week and one day. One week and one day until the three repeat begins. The three repeat attempt. Ah, screw it. I said it right the first time. Until the defense of our second Stanley Cup final in a row begins. We’ve got what an incredible turn of events, right? Just not what anybody was hoping for, what anybody was expecting. It was one thing when Kachchuck was out, but now just just thinking about the team being out there, no Barkoff, no Kachchuck, it’s when you think about it, it it sounds pretty bad. But we won the cup last year. Well, Chucky had one leg. So, so there is there is that. And uh you know, like I said at the end of the video that I made last week, challenge accepted. It it is it is you you know what I mean? Um as long as nobody else gets injured, right? Knock on knock on solid wood over here. As long as as long as the rest of the team stays relatively healthy, we know Elad’s going to miss his couple of games, right? Um I see I see Stallar’s got his extension and I guess that has Leaf fans feeling like they’re the next team up. Um, I mean, okay, look. Um, how can I put this? I understand the idea the Leaf fans might have because right they took us to seven seven games took the cats to seven games but they did lose MNER and for for the Leafs losing Mner that’s that’s at least them losing one of Bark off or Kachchuck you know their version of you know what I mean in terms of importance to the team. So, I got I just have still plenty of confidence in this team. I can’t get We’ve been through too much. You know, those of us especially who have been around since the beginning, however old you are, since as young as you could be following this team, um I don’t I don’t view this as dark days or something like that. You know what I mean? got a hell of a challenge ahead of us trying to win a third cup in a row. I think we will would have all all taken that. So, let’s blow up the chat. See what I got here. Hungry. How we doing, bud? Yeah, the Marlins did the funny thing again. Yeah, Kyle was telling me Queens is currently saltier than the Salt Flats. Kyle told me about that. Yeah. Hey, Braves fan. Uh, trade for McDavid. Well, pro probably not. Probably not, right? McDavid would have to uh demand a trade and then tell Zto that he’d signed for like $10 million, you know, like even worse than that, he it would have to be a signin trade. They’d have to give McDavid an extension at like 10 million and then and then Edmonton would have to retain and they still can’t have Samuscovich. So, no thanks. Uh Dylan wants to know, would Barkov be able to bring the cup out for the banner rise? Probably not. Probably not. That cup weighs a few pounds, right? And I, you know, they ain’t wheeling them out. They’re in a wheelchair to do it. So, no. Um, that’s gonna fall to Eblad. Dylan, I would I would suspect. Hey, Silva says, “Bad news. Keeping the team healthy means keeping Ecklas. I like the Ecklas healthy. So, we will unfortunately not be able to do that.” Hey, as long as he’s around for the playoffs, I don’t mind if he takes off if, you know, if he misses the last 20 something games like he did last year. He seemed to be good and fresh. Exactly. Brace fan. We still got a lot of dogs. Hey Vincent, stop sabotaging our team. I have a cursed tongue and an evil eye. I got two evil eyes. Just ask all of my exes. Hey, Bill says, “What if this is the year Lundelle takes a big step up?” 100% agree. you know, I I totally agree. Um, it’s gonna look different. And I think that’s the one thing that Maurice said, it’s gonna look different, but different doesn’t necessarily mean worse. It could just look different. He was talking about the um Rodriguez Bovich line about being that being more of a of a speed line. So, I’m curious to see how they get used. Both Bennett and Marshan have been like talking about how Mackey looks amazing out there. So, I can’t wait to see him out there on the ice. Al says, “So, can the Panthers replace Barkoff? They leaving the spot open hoping he can return to the playoffs?” So long and short of it is is that we don’t have to decide what we’re doing with Barkoff until Kachchuck comes back because it’s going to affect the salary cap. We’ll just we’ll just basically put it that way. Um, we’re okay right now because um, you know, both guys are out. Okay. Well, we’re okay because Kachchuck is out, but obviously we’re better than that now. So, um, one thing that might end up happening, depending on how the math works out and how it all goes, you know, you you could see Chucky wait another extra week or two in case they’re not ready to make the Barkoff call. I’m not even going to try to guess what is it, October, November, December. I mean, I think you would kind of figure if Chucky’s not coming back till at the earliest mid December or maybe January, I think I think by then they would know if Bark off is way ahead of schedule or not. So, if they decide to that this is where we are. If they decide that Barkoff were gonna hold off and hope that he can come back from the playoffs, then we’re only going to get so much cap space. Now, we may be able to finish the season with Barkov not in the lineup and be cap compliant because um of his money, but we would still have a problem with the full roster when Barkoff comes back. So now, the way that the the way that it’s worded for the playoff um roster is that you can have as many guys on your roster as you want. You can be as over the cap as you want, but for the lineup that you submit for any individual playoff game, that lineup has to be cap compliant. So, I mean, I don’t want to get too intricate into the math right now, but I I just kind of feel like I wonder if there’s a scenario where like we can keep Rodriguez, but then come playoff time, he has to be on the inactive roster. He won’t be able to play in games unless somebody else is out. It’s really weird that the way the way that they’ve worded it as far as far as I could read into it. I got to look more into it, but I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as the whole everybody has to be cap compliant. I think it’s just about the the um lineup that you submit for any individual game. Exactly. Guitar Cro, hard to complain at this point, right, Guitar? I haven’t seen a dangle comment, but I’m I’m sure they did. I’m sure. Right. Vincent. H. Hey, Vincent. Let’s just put it this way. They didn’t make it to the Stanley Cup until I started predicting they were going to win the cup. So, you got to take the good with the bad, right? Yeah. I think I I agree there, Ricardo. The Leaf’s got a good bargain on Stallars if he can continue to play that way. Yeah. So says, “Hear me out.” First line, Lendell, Lucy, Reinard. Second line, Bennett, Samuel, uh, Bennett. Oh, no. You can’t. Samoskevich isn’t going to center. Where’s your centers? You’re confused. You got to have centers. I see you’ve got the centers there in the in the beginning. Okay, I see what you did. Um, Bennett, Sam. So, Bennett was Samvich Rodriguez third line boquist with Verhagy and Marsh. Uh, yeah. I mean, look, Maurice is going to try a diff a lot of different lineups, right? Yeah. So, Hungary and Damian talking about Kusnets off. I mean, I don’t I I don’t if everybody’s healthy, if the whole roster is healthy except for Barkov, Bennett, Reinhardt for HGY, Londell, Lucy, and Marian, Rodriguez with Kachchuck and Samuskevich. Where’s the need? especially for somebody like Kuznets off. If if you’re going to go get um Crosby and put him at center instead of Rodriguez and move things around. Okay. Okay. But for for an extra winger, who who you moving? Who do you want to remove from that lineup? Bennett with Reinhardt and Verhagy. Landell Lucin and Marian. Rodriguez with Kachchuck and Samuskevich. I’m good. I say roll with it and see what happens. You know, you know what I mean? I don’t think that’s just my opinion. As you says, Lean and Finnish hockey expert and coach comments that it may take a year and a half for Barkov his back in the condition he was before the injury. I mean, sometimes it takes guys a while to become themselves again. There’s no doubt. There’s no doubt. Yeah, exactly. Vincent, don’t forget the cap applies to the iced team. You can still have Barkov and Crosby on a 23man roster. Sure. Right. It’s It’s weird the way it’s worked. That race, everyone becomes the center before it’s over, right? Putting Chucky at center. Gez, I don’t want to see Chucky taking face offs. No. Hungry says, “I’ll keep banging this drum. If we do need to get someone, it should be Alex Tuck unless he resigns with Buffalo.” I mean, if we get another injury, then we have a problem, right? But honestly, at this point, I’m curious to see what happens. I really am. I mean, if if we’re ever going to be in a position where we’re playing with house money and all right, let’s see what Lendell and Lucy can do in the top six. There you go. You know what I mean? it any any any combination of possibility of events is possible with this lineup. I seen, you know, of course there’s going to be the talk on Twitter about, well, you know, now that Barkov is gone, who’s the best team in the East? It’s like it’s still the Panthers. It’s still the Panthers. Did it get closer? I guess, right? I guess, but as much of a role Barkoff plays, everybody follows. Everybody plays the same way. He’s just really good at what he does. Now, of course, there’s things that he can do that a lot of guys on this team can’t do, but there’s also some things that guys on this team can do that we haven’t seen yet. you seen just a just a sliver of it with Lendell, Lucin, and Marshian. And remember that was against top competition in the playoffs. So some random Thursday night, you know, against the Sabres, that line could freaking dominate. So says he should just get his rest. We can make the playoffs without him coming back right early and out of sh. I agree. Sil. Yeah. Au says if we’re playing well before January, just let Kachchuck rest. Hey, Petaro. Oh, nice. Very cool. Very good, buddy. Vincent says, “Wait as long as they they’re going to wait as long as they can. If they get crossed, that means Barkov is is not going to be ready to be himself. maybe getting it for a game or two like Stam Coast did. No point speculating, right? Yeah. I mean, this is the lineup we have and any, like I said, any combination of number of things could happen. um if somebody else goes down then you know maybe maybe you start to get a little bit more concerned but hell man these guys I I say roll with what we have you know if that’s the top nine that we have that’s what it is would I would I like maybe an upgrade in terms of a more traditional center at three seat than Rodriguez. Yeah, sure. But then where the hell you going to put him at 4C? Put him on the fourth line. I want Greer and Gajovic out there as much as possible. I guess you could put Rodriguez at 4C, but it’s not going to be you’re not going to be real physical. So, but we’ll see. It depends on Nosik and it depends on cunning how he plays and a couple of these other guys. It’s just going to be a lot of lot of questions that’ll get answered over time unfortunately. Hungry says dream scenario would be Lundell steps up and his ceiling is a lot higher than previously thought. Yeah, I I mean I think that that could happen. Lucy in two. You know, I I I feel like we know those guys can lock it down defensively, but they’ve never really been given we’ve never really had the need for them to step up all that much offensively until this past playoff run. And you seen what they did. K says, “We objectively got worse without Barkoff. It’s just the truth. We still have a really damn good team that could take another step. Shutting down elite talent in the playoff series is what I’m worried. Well, remember Case um a lot of that shutting down of those guys came from Lundell and Luc Ryan. They they’ve proven they could do it. So Bill says, “My lines are Londell, Reinhardt, Marian, Bennett for Haggy, Samoske. Then what do you got then? You got Rodriguez with Lucin and Bquest now, right? I’m not sure. about Marshand up top though. I’m already a little bit queasy about him being 37 on the second line when he looked so good in the third last year. Lil J. Yeah, we need we need we’re going to need Swaggy and Reinhardt now. That’s for sure. To put points to put pucks in the back of the net. Yeah. Silva says, “I just want to point out how wild it is that his Panther fans were debating the logistics of trading for Sydney freaking Crosby.” I mean, it’s very true. It’s very true. Right now, my only and I say this in justest, but my only concern about trading for Crosby is next year. Who’s going to win? Who’s going to play wing? Is does does Crosby want to play on Barkoff swing? Are we going to have Barkoff with Reinhardt and Crosby? Because you still got Bennett and Lundelle. If you put Crosby at at center, what are you going to do? You gonna have a fourth line, a Lendell, Lucerine, and Marian. They won’t even play this season. They just give us the cup right then and there. So, that’s the only And of course, if if you take on Crosby’s salary, um, you better be sure Bob’s going to take a big pickup. Okay. Why would you put Samo with more minutes than E2? I would I would think Bill says Lucia as third line center. Yeah, I mean, that’s one place that that’s one thing that could happen, too. Um Samvich is his his speed case is what I would argue and I that’s I don’t want to split Lundell woron and Marian either. I mean but I think at some point if we get into a rut at some point in the season you’re going to see that happening. We also you know we got to pay attention to how Bennett’s going to do defensively. Ashley says, “We saw the playoff during the playoffs between Boquist and Rod in the fourth line compared to Greer and Gajovich’s night and day.” Yeah, no doubt. Hey Patel, how you doing bud? Right. Bra exactly what Braves fan is saying. said, “Lindell was matched up against 97 in the finals at times, so I’m not concerned.” Yeah, I’m I’m I’m more, you know, he had Barkoff and Lendell. Now it’s just Lindell. So to me it’s it’s going to be about you get into the playoffs and if you’re not a you know if because the other part to that is Kachchuck coming back right so if you don’t want to break up Lendell Lucin this is another way it could go if you don’t want to break up Lendell Lucin and Marian Man, at some point during the season, if you decide, okay, you know, Barov’s not coming back, we could simply just, you know, if you traded for Crosby or somebody that is a legitimate upper echelon 2C and put and go back to Bennett, new guy, and Lundelle because Kachchuck’s coming back because when Kachchuck comes back, you’re going going to be faced with the decision of do you want Kachchuck on the third line or are you going to break up Wendell Loose to Ryan and Marshian but of course who knows what’s going to happen in between that period of time and and of course like some people have mentioned there’s also the possibility of Lucan at center especially if we need somebody you know to to play a little bit of a stronger heavier game at 3C. You could you could see that line get get mixed up with Luc Ryan at 3C. I’m sure Maurice is going to try all the different combinations. Hungry. Yeah, I don’t know. Most people don’t want Malcolm though. Yeah, Braves fan. You say Crosby in the fourth line. Just trade for both of them, right? Oh, I know. The game ended in a freaking tie. [Laughter] Silva. Uh, maybe we could save pasta. But we need we we we’re going to need something. Either either we need another winger or another center or we just leave it. we just leave it. If Rodriguez can do the job at 3C defensively, then I think we’re good. The only question is going to be where do you want to put Kachchuck when he comes back? Vincent says the problem is when 97 is matched against Egglad, he’s such a fanboy, he just falls in front of him. Hey, Mr. vids. I like Kawabanga’s idea. He says, “Guys, Zito needs a challenge in order to win a GM award. Let him cook now for DHS.” I mean, he’s earning his pay right now because you have everything. I mean, I’ve been saying this for years, but now it’s really true. Every single solitary move we make is like this giant Jenga pile. And I I I will I’m going to die on this hill, but I wish that we could get Babsky’s extension done so we know what numbers we’re dealing with next year, especially if we have to trade for a guy with term, it’s going to have an effect next year. No, if you trade for Crosby, even if Pittsburgh retains some, you you may have to tell Bob, look, you can only take seven million. So, I really feel like I wish they would get Babsky’s extension done, get Mika’s extension done so we know the numbers that we’re dealing with before we go making any trades. because otherwise and I’m ass sure I’m going to assume ZTO is thinking about it that way because it’s all one big it’s just it’s it’s not a mess but it’s the two injuries combined the two injuries combined with the NHL going hey why don’t watch this the new rules are applying now with the new LTI rules applying now and we get the two injuries and no sick too there may come a time where no six money at LTIR could could actually help us out if we decided he’s not going to come back this year. For some reason, TSN really thinks we’re going to go after Capri off. I don’t know why we would do that, you know? I mean, look, before Barkoff got hurt, we already knew we had too many guys when Kachchuck came back. So, I just don’t I just don’t I mean, I I get it, right? We’re the champs, so like every name that’s out there is going to be associated with us. But I mean, the only thing that I could think of if you wanted to get a guy instead of Bowquist, right, but then you’re still going to be in a position where Kachchuck comes back. You don’t want to have to take Sam Muskevich off the ice. Grace Fran, Greer, Crosby, and Gajovich. I take it, man. Oy Dave says ultimate troll move is to have Marshian talk Bers out of retirement and sign a team friendly deal to win another cup together. That’s crazy. Colin, yeah, Lamar’s my quarterback, too. Hey, Mr. Viz, I’m happy without a padstead, right? Hey, you’ll take it. Bill says top line Lundell Reinhardt Kachchuck and then that would put Bennett with Verhagy and Marian Ra. Yeah. Not a mess, just a puzzle, right? Exactly. Silva, you’d like to get Capri off. I just We don’t have any money. Even next year, the money’s going to get dinged up. Even if the cap goes up the 8.5 million, you got to pay Mika. He’s going to get what? At least four, right? Right. I mean, you’re going to give even on a team friendly Panthers deal, you figure Mike is going to get four. But we got to pay Samvich too. That’s the other one. Greer going to Greer going to win the Maurice Richard trophy with Crosby at center. It’s frosty. What do I think about Kets off? I’m I’m not interested in anybody right now unless his name is Sydney Crosby and it doesn’t require Sam Muskevich going the other way until and unless we know because let’s face it if they trade for Crosby probably means Bararkov’s not coming back right but until we know really if Barkoff is coming back I Don’t I don’t I don’t even I’m not interested. Um yeah, I got you, Silva. Hey, good chucking around. Yeah, I I hear what you’re saying about the standings, right? The Jets fins will play no defense. That’s probably a good I probably a good prediction. What if we get a time machine and get a young Gretzky? Is there anybody that’s recently retired? Well, Berseron, I mean, he missed. How many years has he been done? One or two? Yeah, Chafasi, you heard Zito was interested. I mean, you know, my opinion on the reporting that goes on. Um, I don’t believe most of what I hear, but when I when I think about it, I just think, well, why would we do that, right? like we can’t to me I just don’t think we’re adding players until and unless they’ve made the decision about Barkoff because it it there’s a huge difference in in sal you know the financial aspect of things. Yeah. Berser on one year deal. He’s missed he’s been out two years right at least. I mean, if he had only been out the one year, maybe. But if he’s been out two years, what’s Yogger doing? What’s Yogger doing? I want to I want to line a Yogger Marian to Kachchuck. Version went out in 23. Yeah. So, he’s he’s been out for a while. He’s probably settled into the dad bod and everything at this point. He probably couldn’t survive a Paul Maurice camp. It would be funny though, you know. Well, it’s it’s just going to me honestly, it just depends on how Rodriguez can do it 3C defensively. How’s that whole third line going to be defensively? And how are we going to make up for the fact that it ain’t going to be Londell, Lucin, and Marshian? Because if when Kachchuck comes back, if you just plop him there and you still make it Rodriguez, Sam Muskevich with Kachchuck, I don’t know that that’s the best usage because Kachchuck’s not going to keep up with those two. Yeah, come on, Connor. Join the dark side, right? Kachchuck says Kachchuck probably will return before the estimate now that they don’t have to milk the injury to build Rod’s trade value. Um, it actually could be longer because they may not be able to bring Kachchuck back until they know which way they’re going to work the cap situation for Barkov. Um because we because once you make the decision, the decision is final. You can’t you can’t change it. So you can’t say, “Well, we’re putting him on LTIR, but he might come back for the playoffs.” And then change it later to be like, “Well, he’s not coming back, so we want the full 10.” So, we have a little bit of extra time, but we have to make the barkoff decision when Kachchuck comes back. Stolars, it was a I think it’s a good deal all the way around. I think it’s a good deal all the way around. I know some Leaf fans between that and Barkoff and everybody. I see some Leaf fans on Twitter. I mean, like And I say this with empathy and I say this with sympathy, but you would think by now, you would think by now that Leaf fans would be like, you know what, I’m not getting my hopes up. Let’s just see what happens. But it seems like every year you get a specific percentage of the Leaf fans that are like, “That’s it. This is our year. It’s a guarantee.” And they’re like already laughing at the Panthers that we’ve already lost. And it’s just like, have you not been paying attention to your own life? Like, how many times are banging your head up against that wall, bloody and bruised, you just wait? You’re like, man, let’s see if somebody opened up the door instead of me banging my head on this wall. But there they are making fun of the Panthers and saying that the division is ours, the conference is ours, the cup is ours. It’s just wild. It’s a wild experiment in human psychology, man. Ah, good point. Hockey Dave Dadbod never stopped Phil the Thrill Kessle. Yeah. And I agree with Vincent. The only obvious issues I see are faceoffs and PK. Yeah. Especi Yeah. Yeah. Especially faceoffs. Especially faceoffs. It’s going to be a lot of extra energy expenditure for some guys, which is another which is another concern. Would I be interested in Kyle Connor and free agency? I don’t know. I mean, you know, um I look I look at the team, everybody’s signed, right? I mean, everybody’s signed and I I don’t I don’t have any interest in moving off any of our guys right now. You know what I mean? Now, I know Rodriguez may not be here, right? This the this last year of his contract, right? So, but as Samoske develops, Rodriguez is kind of the odd man out anyway. Do I think we’ll come out of the gates slow? Actually, no. Actually, no. I I don’t I don’t think they will. I think they might dip after the first couple of weeks, but I think we’ll come out extra motivated now without Barkoff. And then I think as we put on film what we’re going to look like. I think at that point some teams might be able to make some adjustments that we’re going to have to adjust to. Paul Maurice is going to have to really coach this team. Not that he doesn’t, but many times we’ve heard him say the locker room, they they know what they’re doing. They just run the team. Um, he’s going to have, you know, there there’s going to have to be different ways, different things that we do, different strategies that we use because you just can’t, you don’t have the luxury now. Well, Barkoff’s Barkoff’s line is struggling a little bit against McDavid. Let’s just put the Londell line out there. Like, you don’t have two of those shutdown lines anymore. You got one. And it’s a huge difference between the defensive capability at the third line of London and Marshian than of Rodriguez with Bowquist and Samuskevage. So that third line they’re going to need to score some goals. Like he’s going to have to basically tell Sam Muskevage shoot. Not that you need to tell Macke to shoot, but we’re going to need some extra goals out of that third line to make up for the fact that they’re not going out there and shutting down McDavid like the Londell line did. Hockey day. That’s what peak male physical performance looks like. Yeah. Groundless making seven million. Somebody had brought up uh a good name. We talked about this last week. Hold on a second. Somebody had brought up a good name here. Yeah. Um, Adam Lowry, I forget who it was that brought this name up. He’s he’s from what I can see with his ice time, it looks like he’s playing second line minutes, third line minutes, probably second line. Um, he’s been Is this Is this who it was? Yeah. Is this who it was? Was it Adam Lowry? I believe so. I think he’s in the last year of his deal. Yeah. Yeah. So, he’s Adam Lowry is in the last year of his deal right now and his cap hit is 3.25. And I mean, his stats are good. and he’s perennial, you know, 10, 15 goal guy. I believe this is who it was that somebody mentioned. How many points do you think we’ll end up with? I mean, what we end up with, like 98 last year. It kind of feels like it’ll be about the same, you know. Don’t forget, look, don’t forget that when we won the President’s Trophy, I mean, we scored a lot of goals, right? We were, the defense wasn’t so good, right? But we I mean, we were winning games six to four and seven to three all over the place. The point being is that we have guys that can that can put the puck in the back of the net. I mean, that’s Barkoff’s one big year offensively. He had 39 goals. Uh the Jets Colin plays for Winnipeg. Kachchucken says the decor is extremely elite now. If they can keep shots under goal, shots on goal under control and keep the lanes clear. Bob stats will look a lot better. Right. Granley could be interested to play for a serious contender instead of the rebuilding Ducks. I mean, they’re all names that Real says, “So, did we sign Crosby, Brady, and Pasta yet?” You know, and let’s let’s not let’s not pretend that these teams are just going to like like Pittsburgh. If you’re Pittsburgh, like we already got Marian for basically peanuts. I’m going to tell you the one name that if you call Pittsburgh and you you want to talk about Crosby because we we know the first name all these teams are going to say is Samage and our answer to that is this. That ain’t happening. What about Cooper Black? If you don’t want to give up Divine, you don’t want to give up I mean some of these other guys, we like him. Benning, we like him, but he’s not the biggest guy, you know. What if they want Cooper Black and picks, I’m sure. So, the point being is they ain’t just going to give us these guys for free, you know, and we’re out of first round picks. where we’re kind of at that point where, you know, if we keep trying to trade for people, we’re going to have to give up players and and unless the name on the return is McDavid, you can’t give up Samuskevich and we ain’t trading for McDavid. So, that’s why I say that. um and you know again I you know like I’m saying about next year cap issues. You can go get a guy but if he’s going to screw with your cap, you know, we don’t want we don’t want we don’t want to trade for somebody that means we can’t resign Mika or we can’t give, you know, we got to pay Samuskevich, right? Samuskevich took a one-year he took a pig hut. Okay. So, you can pretty much guarantee that there’s a handshake agreement there that, hey kid, next year we’re going to have plenty of cap. We’re going to take care of you, you know. Um, so I just don’t feel like these guys are going to make any big moves. I know it’s good to talk fun to talk about it and all of that, but and then like I said, if if even if he did get Crosby, who’s who’s playing wing next year? I mean, Barkoff, Crosby, and and Reinhardt would I mean, I think we would all take that, right? You’d have to put some but but there’s still you’d still be you know when you look at this team when we’re healthy there’s no better top nine and so for me says he’s listed on IR right now. Ah that sucks. Didn’t know that. Yeah, he would he would be a he would be a versatile fit from what I’ve seen for sure, but if he’s on IR, that’s a whole different ball of wax. So, I don’t want to say I’m excited that Barkov is out. It’s not what I mean to say, but I am excited to see what these guys can do under this. This is some heavyduty challenge pressure. like you’ve been to three cups in a row. Not just that you won the two, but you’ve been to three in a row and now you’re captain. Some people feel he’s the best player in the games out. The whole the whole personality of the team and Kachchuck that got turned around. He’s out. your 4C who really set the tone last year in the playoffs when he came in out. Right. So, the challenge that these guys face right now, I I can only imagine that they are chomping at the bit to prove that they’re still themselves and that, you know, the more people that we see on social media, the more videos about how, oh, uh, Panthers are done now. We know they see that the Panthers are not one of those teams that don’t see what’s on social media. They they they see it and so good. I I say keep counting them out. Keep doing that cuz I just can’t I can’t I can’t change my expectations for this team. you know, they were already at the point where it’s like you’re playing with all the house money. There’s no there’s no pressure to win, but it’s just a whole completely different set of challenges now. Now, it’s not just about can you get the four straight and how much hockey you’ve played and, you know, what’s the motivation? Are you still just as hungry as you were? Now all that’s been tossed out the window and instead of focusing on winning a third straight cup, their focus is singularly now as as individuals and as a team is okay, how how can we get better because now we have to. Barkoff being out has kind of taken any LZIA or any kind of, you know, laziness that would have maybe crept up into their attitude because we’ve got two cups. It’s all right. Barkoff being out has immediately wiped those two cups from the memory bank in terms of when they step out on the ice. It will no longer in those players minds be about, well, we got our two cups. We didn’t have our energy tonight. That’s okay. We know what we’re doing. That’s that’s gone now. That’s gone now. And replaced is going to be a daytoday type of challenge where it’s like, okay, this is what’s working. This is what’s not working. We have to get better. We have to find different ways to score and different ways to play defense. And in the end, I think it can make this team better than they were. You know, I I every team has its own personality. And yeah, Barkoff being out is going to change things, but that doesn’t mean it has to be worse. I got to go turn my air conditioner on. I’ll be right back. It’s almost October and it’s still warm and humid. All right. Real. Yeah. I think Burgron I mean how old Berson was old when he retired, right? How old is Berson? I mean, come on, guys. I think it wasn’t he like close to 40 already. Yeah, he’s he’s 40 now. He’s 40 now and he didn’t hasn’t played in two full seasons, you know. I mean, his stats didn’t really go down, right, when he retired. God, his save his his face off percentage. That’s the thing. Can you still take face offs? I mean, it would take him what, six months to get into hockey shape. Like if he’s just been sitting on his couch doing nothing like that, it’s gonna take him like six months to get to get into Paul Maurice hockey shape at least. I don’t know, guys. If he’d only been out of the game one year, I might consider it a a remote possibility, but in two years, it’s kind of like um I think he’s really retired. You know what I mean? It’s not Tom Brady. I think he’s really retired. Kachchucken says, “Everyone learning to play without Barky is something the team has lacked. If they if they can be competitive and without Barky, this team would be unstoppable.” That’s it. Now, uh, Hockey Guy made a video and I guess last year without without um, Barkov, I guess we were seven seven and one. I think that was the number. was basically 500. How many of those games that he missed last year were when Kachchuck was out at the end of the year though? When did he miss that time? Kazuma. Yeah, we we seen articles about cooets off. Bill called me on that. I told him don’t do it. So, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The puppets told me no. I I really want to see what we got. I really want to see what we got, you know. And hey, look, I mean, last year, let’s not leave out Bquest. So, last year, all I did was and complain about Boquist. And some of you said, “Ah, he’s a good player. He’s going to get his chance now. Nandoskog missed like three seasons. It’s a good question. How many were out without Ekia? Hey, thank you, Frank. Thank you, brother. Thank you, Frank. He says, “I’m looking forward this season is to see Lendell take a massive step forward. If he’s our future center, he needs to show it. If he has the skills and grit, we know that from watching him in the playoffs.” Yeah, I I agree with Frank 100%. To to me, the only reason I would be worried about that line at all is cumulatively over the course of the season, can Marian still play second line minutes? Because remember, he kills penalties, too. So, he’s gonna Marian’s going to need to be in shape. Lay off the ice cream, Brad. It’s not good for you. Thank you, Frank. We’ll just get Furry to play one and see. No, we’re gonna be okay. But like I said about Boquist, I mean, I bitched and complained about him all last year. He’s kind of the forgotten man here in terms of opportunity to show what he can do. And then we don’t know what cunning’s going to be because with no sick out, right? So there’s there’s there’s a lot of questions. Uh Gregor is is I don’t know. I think it’s possible, Strafasi, that some of the PTO guys may catch on. because we’ve got a little bit of extra space. But I would assume, my assumption would be that we’re going to give them two-way contracts so that we can move them off the roster and get full cap relief. It’s such a mess right now trying to figure out the the money and and and all of that. I would I would not want to be there’s a lot of times I would love to build be there are a lot of times that I would love to be Bill Zto. This ain’t one. This ain’t one. Like I think you need like a whole department just to tell him what the math is. Frank says, “Crazy thoughts. I’m a sick individual, but what about some of the boys that are delinquent but were not guilty? Oh, I see what you’re saying. I don’t think the Panthers would be the guys to bring them in from what I know about Viola. So, I have a question for somebody who knows the the cap because I I I was watching a video yesterday and the way that something was explained. How I interpreted it seems like it can’t be true. So, here’s my question. I know that 3.8 8 whatever million is the maximum recapture on a player that’s supposed to be coming back for the playoffs. But is that 3.8? I know that Barkov’s making 10 million. The maximum is 3.8. But the way that this person explained it, it made it sound as though any player can get 3.8 8 million, which can’t be correct. The way it was explained in this video, which I don’t think is accurate, is that like with no, no is out and if you made him out for the full season but not the playoffs, that we could get 3.8 million in relief even though his salary is only like a million. It’s 3.8 max, right? But if his salary is under that, it’s only the full salary. I I can’t remember where I was watching it. I think it was TSN. But the way they made it sound, it was like teams could get extra relief for a guy making a million, but they can get 3.8 million. That’s the way they made it sound. And I’m like shaking my head going, that can’t that can’t be right. That can’t be right. because that would be a whole other that would be a whole another loophole that they created, right? Yeah. Any player that makes over 3.8, right? All right, that makes sense. I figured that’s the way it was, but you know, these days. Yeah. No sick is the 775 savings. Yeah, for now. Well, either way, right? All right, Jameson says, “Hear me out. Kings fall off a cliff. Copar comes to Florida in February, retires a three-time Stanley Cup champ, signs a one day, one day contract to retire a king.” I mean, they would have to fall off a cliff, though, right? They would have to fall off a cliff for that to happen. Real says, “I’m in.” Yeah, sure. Sure. I just wonder I wonder what Sydney Crosby has to say about all has Has has anybody asked him? I mean, not that he’s going to say anything, but like with Kopitar, there’s still a chance the Kings are trying to win, right? But Crosby knows the Penguins ain’t winning anything. And I wonder if Crosby’s attitude might be like, “If I could help if I could help the franchise out by them acquiring assets, you know what I mean? Maybe he’d consider it. Grace says, “If the Kings fall off a cliff, who’s going to lose to Edmonton in the first round?” Jameson says, “But seriously, Teddy Bluger should be a name we would consider. Bottom six center, former cup champ, 1.8 million. Vancouver probably won’t move him though.” Yeah. The way I think it’s going to play out is I’m sure the Panthers are scouting all over the place right now. And they don’t have to make a decision about Bararkov at the very least until Kachchuck comes back. So let’s say they push Kachchuck coming back till second week of January, right? Let’s say they they do that. They they let him take his time and you get to the second week of January and the doctors are like, “Markov’s on a six-month pace. You’re not trading for anybody. You’re going you’re going to you’re going to take your chances and that’s that.” Um, but if they do that, if we don’t use Barkov’s full 10 million and then it’s just the 3.8 when Kachchuck comes back, I do believe we’ll have cap issues. Not the full amount, but if we’re 4.5 over now, we’re because Kachchuck was on LTIR. When he comes back, but Barkoff goes to LTIR, it’s the same amount of relief. So that would put us over when Bararkov comes back. F says, “Do I think we should rush Chucky back if we’re off to a slow start?” I don’t think you’d keep him away. I don’t think you could keep him away. If we’re off to a slow start, Chucky may feel like he can make the difference. Silva Hungry says we would be one no sick over. Right. Yeah, exactly. Um now, but that would be the overall roster, but that probably means we would be able to ice a cap compliant team, right? Brace fan says Chucky plus no sick on LTI and not coming back and we’re fine. Yeah. Yeah. Chucky plus no. Right, right, right, right. So, like I like we said at the beginning, we have to be cap compliant. The roster that plays in the playoff game has to be cap compliant, but I guess there’s an off roster like you can be over the cap and just not have it’s it’s wild how they did it. It’s wild how they did it. I don’t know if if goodbye broke boist in that situation is how it would have to be though. Um because like I said, the way that they wrote it, you can be over the cap. You just can’t ice a team that’s over the cap in the playoffs. So, I was always like, let’s put it this way. The biggest complaint I had about Boquish last year was why did we give him 1.5 million? Like, it seemed like with everybody else taking really cheap deals, that seemed like a lot of money to pay a guy who hadn’t really, you know, so he gonna get a chance to earn that money now. That’s for sure. Kachchucking around. Yeah, I I agree with that, Erin. So, if you scratched, we’re good. Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s you can have the team itself can be as far over the cap, but the roster that you submit to play the game that has to be cap compliant. So, that makes sense. Dante says three and of no will be good this season. And that My opinion, Dante, was the way that Zitto was talking about it. I kind of got the feeling that he’s not coming back this year. I could be wrong, but especially if him being on LTIR solves our cap issue, like it seems like a pretty easy easy choice, but we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out. Real says Bokeas fell off after his brother left and he found it again in the playoffs when we needed him. Yeah, I mean I I don’t it just it just seemed a bit the 1.5 seemed a bit high for me in the context of what we’re paying some other guys. You know, when you look at what Lucyan gets, do I think Boish can get us 15 to 20 goals? I think I think 15 is going to be on the high end of that. But, you know, we don’t we don’t know um what kind of opportunities he’s going to get. Now, we know with that line, Rodriguez is going to cause problems. We know Rodriguez is going to go behind the net, cause chaos, and the puck’s going to end up out. So, Sam Muskevich is going to take shot after shot after shot. And so if Bowus can play well around the net and get some rebounds, maybe that way that that line is a is a dynamic we really haven’t put together in one line yet. So I’m curious to see how how they work together. Sir Fasy, yeah, he got 12 last year, but they were so early in the season. I remember I kept pitching and complaining he hadn’t scored a goal since like January or something. Kazuma says from the video I saw from the hockey guy with the new LTIR rules, we don’t have any money to get a top guy. If if Bark if they’re going to put Barkoff on the LTIR designation that says he can come back from the playoffs, then that’s correct. we have no money. If they put him on the LTIR designation that says he’s not coming back from the playoffs, then we get his full $10 million salary and then we would be able to replace him. The problem is is that once you make a designation, you can’t change it. So, we can’t put him on technical LTIR until we know for sure if he can’t or cannot come back because once you make it, you can’t you can’t change it. I agree there. Swaggy needs to bounce back this season for sure. and and um Swaggy, you know, we’ve talked about how he plays better in the playoffs and under pressure, and maybe the added pressure of Barkoff being out, maybe that will maybe that will do that for him. Rod’s dealing with something, too. Scratched him from tonight’s game for precautionary reasons. Ah, is Mott playing? Jeez. I mean, I’m sure he’s okay, but you know, these guys played a lot of hockey, right? Exactly, Kazuma. We basically won’t get any decision by Zto. We when when Kachchuck comes back, we got to know what we’re doing with Bararkov. So when Zitto said the other day they don’t really have a date, technically he’s accurate, but the truth is is that when Kachchuck comes back and that money gets added, that’s when we need to know which designation Baroff’s going on. I’m I would say I’m 95% feeling like he’s not coming back. Like Barkoff has never been a a quick healer, right? When he gets sick, it’s two weeks, you know, he busts a thumbnail, it’s three game. You know, it it has seemed as though Barkov’s been a little bit of a slow healer. Maybe that’s precautionary. Um, but then you even you still get into the weeds of it. If he does make it at seven months, you’re just throwing a guy out there who hasn’t played into the second round of the playoffs. And if the Panthers are in the second round of the playoffs at that point, what we’ve been doing has been working. And so at what point does the juice become worth the squeeze? I think the only way he comes back is if the doctors are like, “Hey, this dude’s like having a miraculous recovery and he could be ready in six months.” Like, I just don’t see the benefit in throwing him out there after that kind of a injury. Just here you go, start game one of the second round doesn’t seem like a good idea. says, “If Barkov is out for the full season, we have 5.5 in cap space to spend. If we can move some other players, we could potentially get a very impactful player. I mean, you could you could fit Crosby in under that if they retained, but is it worth it? Real says, “My biggest worry is Bennett as a topline center. I like Lendel Moore as a topline guy because he’s more like Barkov, but I know they don’t want to break up the line with eats with Marshian.” Yeah. Yeah. I’m already a little bit concerned with Marian that’s in in the second line. Give Bark Give Bark off the eggplant stuff. Yeah. Hey, it’s not a bad idea, Kazuma. It was what a 22 game suspension, 25 game suspension. So load load Barkoff up on the goods to where he has this miraculous comeback and he’s ready in five months strong as an ox, right? Then let him take the suspension for the rest of the regular season and then bring his ass back for the playoffs. I think that’s a good idea, Kazuma. Yeah, it’s only a 20 25 games, however many games it was. I mean, just saying it could it could work. Nem says Crosby is going to kill our cap next year if we get him. It depends on how much they retained. Um, yeah, it could be a problem. There’s no doubt. There’s there’s no doubt it would it would be it would be an issue. Um, at that point, you know, the only way before you’d even trade for Crosby is you’d have to go to Babrovski and be like, “So, want to take five million? Do you want to take five million, Bob? We can get Sydney Crosby. Do you want to take five million? or we could pay you your 10, but we can’t get Sydney Crosby. Like you you that’s that’s the guy you got to go to. And whatever Bob decides is the way the way it goes, I guess. Bartman says, “Yeah, I agree. You give Bark off all the yucky juice.” Yeah. And the 20 game suspension actually has cap relief. I mean, we’re joking about it, but Right. Like like Barman says, “Okay, we put Baroff Kachchuck on the juice and fight it out to the playoffs. Get Bark off the ECB bad stuff for a bit and when he’s close to recovery, give him lots of water, clean his system out before they test.” I mean, you know, it’s not a bad idea, right? Chad Chadwick says Crosby and Malin 50% contract, 7.4 million. Yeah, the problem is next year. And that’s that’s that’s a true problem. I joke about Bob, but I don’t know. And I I get a kick out. I mean, of course, we won’t need a goalie next year because we’d have a top line of Parkov, Crosby, and Reinhardt because somebody’s got to play wing. Kachchuck says Dubis is dumb enough to make that trade. Yeah, but what are they going to want? No. Shamuskevich. No, Samuskevich. You know, they can have if if they were actually going to do it. Crosby had 50% retain for Cooper Black. We’ll do that, right? Yeah. All right. So, that’s the plan. That’s the plan. and we give Bark off the juice. We can give them a conditional second rounder. Gazuma says, “I think Crosby is too loyal to the Penguins and I see us getting a decent player at best, but not a top guy.” I I I would probably agree with that. I The Crosby stuff is fun, but he probably won’t. He probably won’t. Um, he’s uh Barbara wants to know is ZTO signing Crosby and McDavid next year? No, we got we got to give Bob we got to we got to get a Bob extension. We got to pay Mikola and we got to pay Samuskevage. And if even if the cap goes up nine, if you’re gonna give Mika four and Samuskevich three, that gives you just enough money to ek out the rest of the fourth line because Greer’s not signed, Nosik’s not signed, Gajivic isn’t signed. So, the only other money that’s going to come in terms of the cap going up is if Babski is willing to take 7 million instead of 10. Can Can we shave a a little bit off there, Bubba, to help us out? I I mean, taking Crosby sounds fun, but it’s probably would cost this Mikola. Let’s just just be honest there. You know what I mean? And if Sam Muskevich turns into a stud this year, you know, if he goes out there and rips off 25, 30 goals, uh, 3 million ain’t going to cut it either. So, I think I think to me, man, you know, I like I’ve been saying, we got two cups. I say, “F it. That’s the team we got. Let’s see what happens.” That’s what I say. I say, “F it.” Now, maybe if you want to go get somebody like we were talking about like an Adam Lowber, a Lowry, somebody with for some depth and and a little bit of extra juice, some fresh legs. Okay, I can I can go with that. But when you get somebody like Crosby who’s got term next year, you’re blowing up next year’s team most likely. Kazuma says, “Let’s say we do get to the finals. Can this team stop Edmonton or Vegas without Bararkov?” Yes and no. In order. Yes and no. Yeah. Chadwick says Baboski 5 years 35 million is a solid retirement deal. Do I like Malcolin for us? I don’t know. I’m trying, you know, and here and here’s why. Because we don’t know what this team is going to look like. We don’t know what the team is going to look like. We don’t know if we’re going to get 30 games in and it’s like, okay, you know, Lindell is definitely 1C, Bennett is 2C. You’re not playing Marian topline minutes. He’s too old. I don’t even like him at that at the second spot. So, you could see a situation where as we get later on, Kachchuck comes back, everything could get moved around. You could have Wendell with Kachchuck and Verhagi. You could have Bennett with Marshand and Samuskevich. You could have Lucin centering the third line. So I to me there’s so many questions about how guys are going to slot into their roles and how they’re going to perform that I think we just have to wait and see how everybody plays, how health goes, right? How health goes. And I and I don’t think they’re going to make any decisions till the last possible second. And I’m sure they’re scouting everybody. Real says, “I’ve seen people say get Troche, but I can’t see a team like the Rangers that is contending giving up a top center like that.” That’s an interesting thought. I hadn’t heard Troche just have Barkov. Just put a Barkoff jersey on Lindell. Yeah. Dante says, “Yeah, Greer, Nosent, Gajivich, Mikola, Bolinskus, Cunnan, Petri, Bob, Terasoft, and Samuel.” Right. Yeah, Barbin. Yeah, I totally agree with you there about that advantage on the third line. Yeah, Rozie says, “So, Crosby isn’t signing with the Panthers. How much does Troek make?” It’s a good question. if they got late enough in the season and they weren’t doing any good. Let’s see here. Uh, okay. So, he’s got I don’t think Trek’s an answer here. He’s got a cap hit of 5.65 and he’s signed until 2930. So he’s still got this year and three more years at 5.6. Nah. No, that’s that’s that’s too rich for my blood. Yeah. Yeah. Aaron says, “I don’t think Tro fits with the star.” Maurice demands. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll I’ll uh He doesn’t have a full full move, right? I don’t know. All right. So, let’s look at what Hungary is saying. One wild and crazy guy. I don’t know about that. I don’t. He’s asking if Bararkov can still be at practice helping to coach. I don’t think so. I’m sure that the league has some kind of um rules about that. Okay. Well, you want Alex. All right. What do we got here? 6’4, 29, 6’4 through19. Played his plenty of games. Huh. Now, who’s asking this question? Hold on a second. Hungary. Okay. So, you’re saying now, but he he’s strictly a winger, right? hungry. He’s strictly a winger. I mean, yeah, dude had 36 goals last year. Yeah, he must be a winger because his face off percentage is terrible. Well, where are you putting him? I mean, I understand. But I guess my question would be if we’re healthy, hungry, where where are you putting them? Or are you saying and if if Bararkov’s not coming back? But where are you where are you putting them when when Kachchuck when Kachchuck comes back? Crosby wants fourth and fifth cups and he and Martian are tight from the 2000. Huh? Maybe Chris Wilson. I mean, that’s definitely a possibility. Yeah, the Buffalo GM may hang up on Zo right next to Reinhardt. So, Bennett Reinhardt for Hegy. No. Bennett Reinhardt. Tuck. Who’s coming out though? So, so hungry. If the lineup right now, if they’re healthy, is Bennett, Reinhardt, Verhagy, Landell, Lucin, Marshan, Rodriguez with Kachchuck and Samuskevich. Who who are you taking out? Are you moving Lucin? Are you moving Lucyan and putting him at at 3C instead of Rodriguez? Hey, Gator. Yeah. How about them dolphins? Kazuma, did you hear that they didn’t add stem cells? I thought the stem cell was a treatment that you go and get afterwards. I thought that’s what that was. Yeah. No, Reinhardt is a is a natural center. So, Hungry, so you would be moving Lucin into 3C. You put Tuck on that other wing. So then you’d have Luc Rinan, Kachchuck, and Sam Miskebage. And then where does E-Rod go? You put Nero on the fourth line again. I don’t think they’re going to add a Sea Gator. I think you’re just going to see guys be a little bit more vocal. Yeah, I thought the stem cells was injections postsurgery. Yeah, keep you keep rod as the Swiss Army knife mean I understand. So then you would you would still have Bennett Landell Lucy H. It’s not a bad idea. It’s not a bad idea. I I won’t I won’t uh I won’t disagree with that. I I can roll with that. Huh. Hey, thank you, Chris. Thank you, bud. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. He says, “Hey, Jo, sorry I haven’t been around. Wife had the baby 8 pounds 1 ounce. Congratulation, man. C-section.” Congrats. A thank you. Appreciate that, Chris. Congrats on your end, too, man. Dang. That’s a big kid. Good job. Yeah, C-sections. Yeah, that makes a whole big whole big difference, doesn’t it? Appreciate that, brother. Hey, Pente. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of people are disappointed with him not being able to uh captain the Finnish team. It’s it’s a shame. No doubt that this happened like this for him. That that’s one part we haven’t talked about a whole lot. Um, yeah. I’m I’m sure he’s significantly disappointed. And, you know, are they going to do this again in four years? I guess he’d still be young enough, right? Are they going to do the Olympics again in four years? That’s a good question. Who does Finland make the captain now? That’s a good question. Huh? I guess I don’t know. I don’t know if Wendell is uh vocal enough. If you’re going with Granland, yeah, that’s a good question. Hey, Mythical says, “Are we looking at the wild card this year? Do we have enough death to get above that considering we lost Barkov for the season and Chucky for a couple of months? Um, that’s going to depend on Montreal and Ottawa. I don’t necessarily feel like I haven’t changed my expectations for the team, but I was still considering the possibility that we’d be hovering at that third spot again. It’d be interesting to see um as we get closer, as things go, if they decide to angle for any one particular position or not. Like last year, they made it obvious they didn’t care about winning the division. You know, Zuma says, “We went from being at the top of the mountain to worrying about if we will make it there again.” Well, I mean, somewhat that’s true. We’re still the champs until we’re not. And I’ll say it again, the uh when we were down to Toronto two games to nothing and they go up three to one. We looked we looked toast. You know what I mean? We really looked toast. So I’m not counting these guys out. Hey, thank you, Zach. Thank you, buddy. Says, “Sorry for being late. Wanted to give my thoughts real quick. So, sorry if I double up on something already said. The answer lies within the team.” Yeah. Oh, no. Kazuma says, “I’m more devastated that Parkov got hurt than being rejected by the girl I asked recently.” Yeah, that that’s that’s that’s that tracks. That tracks. Don’t don’t let let a rejection from a woman ruin your day. It gets to us all at some point one way or another, right? Except Trey. Trey’s never been rejected by a woman, but that’s a different story. Pente Grand is always classy and our younger generation really respects him and look and look up to him. Yeah, I would agree. It’s probably going to be Granlin. Just what a difference, man. What a difference. I wonder now. Probably won’t happen. But I just wonder if the Panthers are considering like saying, “Hey, maybe our guys shouldn’t play in the Olympics.” And like it’s such a we can’t afford anymore, you know? Am I way behind on the chat? I don’t know, Pente. Um, is is it not loading? Because your your comment saying I’m way behind in the chat is the last comment I have except for real cinema. Is there a bunch of comments? No. 12:32. Did Did it skip me or something? No, I think I’m caught up. Okay. Yeah. Mythical RZ just said, “Now, Jaws, I don’t see you behind.” Sometimes um Streamyard will get will get glitchy that way. That’s all. Real says, “I’ll I’ll still be at the top of the mountain as long as we don’t lose to the Leafs or Lightning in the playoffs or in the final to a Canadian team.” I’ll I’ll grant you that. FYI says, “I get this weird feeling we will win the Atlantic or get the wild card one or Oh, I see what you’re saying.” Yeah, I’ll agree with that. I’ll agree with that. I think they’re either going to just blow, you know, it’s going to look different. It might be to our advantage. Not that losing bar cover is to our advantage, but if we have to change what we’re doing, the league has been spending two years trying to figure out what we do and how to stop it. And now we’re being forced to maybe change and do some things differently. might work to our advantage in some moments. Real. Yeah, that’s what I figured. He says there’s zero chance they talk any of those guys out of Olympics play. Probably right. Yeah. Zuma says when she rejected me, I just said okay. When Barkov got hurt, I went and lie down and cried myself to sleep. Oh man, you poor dude. Oh geez. Look, you’ll eventually meet the right one. You might be 54 years old when it happens, but eventually. Hey, thank you, Zach. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Thank you, Zach. He says, “Reard goes down in the Eastern Conference final. Who steps up?” Bquiz get him up top with Reinhardt and Rod Samuel Bennett Swaggy line two rerun the Lund loose to Ryan and Marshia line keep our solid four blinders rotating. Um I mean Boquist did a decent I mean he did a good job for the one game and then he got moved down. I don’t think Boquist is is a guy that you can throw up top on a consistent nightly basis. I think he’s a gamer and and can give you a game here or there, but I’m not sure. And at that point, you’d have. I just don’t know that that top line is going to be physical enough with with those guys. But I think the bigger thing is that I don’t think Reinhardt really wants to play center. I think he would, but you never know. I mean, it’s entirely possible that at some point Maurice tries that. He said he’s gonna try a lot of different combinations, so it it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets that chance at some point during the game. Says Barkov should be an assistant GM when he’s injured. Yeah, Kachchuck had both legs broken and still try to play in the Olympics. That’s that’s for sure. Vente still thinks there’s a 1% chance Sasha comes back before the Olympics. Oh boy. What would that would be like four months, right? October, November, December, January. That would be like four months. I don’t know about that, Ben thing. That might be a But 1% is 1%. Rozie, I was at work when the Barkoff news broke. I could feel depression all over. Yeah. Um, Donna and I were out of the house and Kyle was dogsitting Leia and I got my I got the text from Kyle and poor Donna because I just started freaking out like, “Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no.” And she thought something was wrong with the dog. She thought Kyle had texted me that there was something wrong with the dog because it wasn’t it wasn’t my joking face. It was it was like oh no. And so of course I I told her what had happened says there’s a hell of a lot wor there’s there’s a lot worse than play center for some games. Right. Zach says, “I feel Boka’s speed and Nero hockey IQ can combine with Reinhardt’s scoring ability for a sneaky good line.” Offensively, I agree with you. Offensively, I agree with you, but I’m not so sure about Reinard with Rodriguez and Boquist when you’re having to match Lions with like um McDavid and whatnot. That would be my concern. Yeah, I agree with you. Hungry David. Yeah, we’re doing a Dolphins game tonight. We’re We’re doing We’re gonna do the Dolphins Jets game tonight. Can’t miss that because maybe it’ll end in a tie. Yeah, Donna was not was uh I mean she was disappointed or what, but she was happy it wasn’t the dog. My face must have turned white because she was she was freaking out. For one C. Zuma says, “We’ll have to change our game to be more defensive since I can’t see this team now going all out to try to score six goals.” I honestly I I I think it’s the opposite. Kazuma, I think it’s the opposite. Um, I feel like we’re going to allow a few more goals and we’re going to have to lean into the offensive ability of some of these guys. I think we might have to outscore some teams some nights. I could be wrong, but I think we lost a lot on defense when he with Barkov out. Yeah, I don’t think anybody had the the Giants, David. Geez. Did not have the Giants. Nope. There goes my picks for the week. It’s okay. Now, we won’t be doing we won’t be doing um the Kane’s game tonight. And then when do we play? I think it’s just the Kane. When do we play? Let me look at the rest of the schedule. I don’t get the games anyway, unfortunately. We’ve only got the three games. So, we got the Canes tonight and then tomorrow is the Lightning and then Thursday is the Lightning and then Saturday is the Lightning. That’s That’s fantastic. or any of those games on any kind of TV. ESPN. Tomorrow’s game is on ESPN. So maybe we’ll get to see the game tomorrow night. Not going to do the game tonight because Dolphins are playing. If it was a regular season Panthers game, we would do the Panthers since it’s preseason. Then what about Thursday night? Um, that’s also saying it’s being streamed on ESPN. All right. So, that’s good. And then the last preseason game is Saturday, and I’m going to assume that’s also on ESPN. Okay. All right. So, then, as long as I can make sure that we’re going to get the games, guess they’re saying tonight’s on ESPN as well. All right. So, we’ll have to see how all that goes, but I don’t think game starts at six. Yeah. No, no, we’ll save it for regular season. Let me blow this chat back up here real quick. Real says, “We’ll win every game three to one.” Paul Maurice’s dream. I don’t know. says, “Wouldn’t it be better to work on our defense and not get gassed ourselves out trying to outscore teams?” I mean, I understand what you’re saying and I don’t disagree with what you’re saying in theory, but I kind of feel like in practice we may get forced into outscoring teams. We’ll see. Guys who played a lot of hockey, you know what I mean? And the way that this system is, it’s actually more physically taxing playing the style of defense that we play because the forwards are up and down the ice all night on the nights when the forwards aren’t doing that heavy work. We tend to give up more goals because the forwards aren’t there to play defense. And so it might be a situation where we end up having to score more goals. I think in theory you’re correct in terms of it would make more sense to try to shut things down a little bit more, but that might actually expend more energy than than the other way. Bob is in net tonight. Zach says, “Last I’ll say in the on the Bquist Rhino E-Rod line, you don’t have to match them up against other teams. Top line, London, Marshy, Lucy, and I feel played a masterclass of defensive games, second only to Barkov.” Well, on at home, no. At at home, when you get the last change, you can do that. On the road in the playoffs, that could be a little bit of an issue. Um, but we’ll see. I mean, Boquish is gonna get his opportunity for sure. You know, you know, guys are going to get dinged. He’s going to be all up and down the lineup. Um, I mean, Rodriguez is out tonight for precautionary reasons, right? So, they may put Bo at three seed tonight. So, it’s good to have these guys that can play all the positions and and do well for you. I just don’t know if that’s a if that’s a top line that she could go into the playoffs with and hope in in hopes of winning a cup. Mythical says, “I wonder if Mackey steps up his play and how it responds to his playing time this season.” So, according to Bennett and Marian, they both were glowing reviews of Samuskevich. They both said he looks fantastic out there. So, I’m really curious to see how he steps up. Exactly. And um Barkoff being out kind of puts Maurice in the spot where you kind of at this point you just just let him play, Paul. Let him make his mistakes. Let him play. Dave says, “Love you all. Cats are a defense first team. We are a grind them down team and none of that will change. We’ll see. I don’t I don’t disagree with any of that except for the none of that will change stuff. Some going to change. We’re not going to duplicate the results with Barkoff. Without Barov can’t do it. You can do it for a little bit, but eventually eventually teams figured out that that was Scott Mitchell behind center and not Dan Marino. Let’s see who remembers what I’m talking about. Eventually, the defenses adjusted and realized, “Oh, that dude, that’s not Marino. That’s Scott Mitchell.” And then we never won another game and missed the playoffs. So, I think there’s going to be a lot of chess match going back and forth. And I trust our coaches, that’s for sure. Real says Paul has to play Mackey now because he doesn’t have a choice. That’ll just make the Penguins want him even more when Zo calls for Crosby. Dave says, “But we aren’t dropping off from Marino to Mitchell. Our other guys are also great.” Well, on the top two lines. No, but Landel I mean Landelle, Marian, and Lucinan as the third line versus Rodriguez, Bokequist and Sam Muskevich on the third line. I mean, even that’s what I’m going by is is not necessarily the top two lines, but that is a completely different planet on the third line and we had the luxury of being able to, you know, if Barkoff was killing penalties or if they had a long shift and Barkoff and Roy were out there a lot, we had the luxury of putting a Lundella line out there and really not getting much drop off. Now we don’t have that luxury. It It’s going to look different. That’s all. I think, you know, road teams might at some point start to change their, you know, try to try to match up things a little bit better, you know. And um baby says, “I’m just saying that while it absolutely sucks, especially on face off, you must adapt and we have the guys that I agree. What you’re saying about adapting, I agree. And I I’m just saying that I’m not entirely convinced that our adaptation is going to be less goals. That’s all. I just I kind of feel like the adaptation is going to be maybe a little bit more aggressive on offense. I could be wrong. And yeah, we need a faceoff guy bad. That’s that’s what was Rodriguez on faceoffs. Mythical says NHL has Barkov ranked as four for centers. Who do they have ahead of him? Uh what’s Rodriguez what what was his face off percentage last year because this is the one part where people we’re going to have to get him better. So 45%. Now the year before he was 50. The year before he was just about 50 with Colorado. So last year was actually his worst year in faceoffs in a while. And 45% isn’t isn’t the whole end of the world. Where was Lendell? Lundelle was at 53%. and he’s been consistently well the last two years he’s done really well. When’s the last time we saw Loose? Because we’ve been talking about Loose Ran he played four seed at one year. I don’t know how many faceoffs he’s taken. So the year that he played uh the president’s trophy season, the year he played at 4C that whole year, he was at 40%. Now last year he was at 45.2, but I don’t know how many draws he actually took. the guy that we don’t have. Where’s Bennett? This is This is the bigger piece. Bennett was at 46%. And that’s pretty consistent for him. Bennett has pretty much consistently been 46 45 47 47 46%. So when you talk about comparing and you get the bark off 56%. So what one out of 10 draws it’s a 10% difference. There was nobody killing it other than Londell and Barkov. That’s for sure. They have McDavid, McKinnon, dry side ranked above bar. That’s Oh, what’s on faceoff? Good question. Real. Yeah, I I certainly would put if you want to put McDavid there, whatever. McKinnon, I might understand, but I don’t. dry cidle. I don’t know that that’s uh good question about kunan punan. Kunan it sounds better kunan but I guess it’s cunning um not not great. So, um, in his fuller seasons, cuz of course with a shorter season, but, uh, 82 games with Nashville, 44%, 77 games with San Jose, 46%, 63 games with San Jose, 47%. Last year, he only played 12 games with the Jackets after I guess he was moved and that was at 40%. So, 46ish%. So, I mean, it’s it’s not the end of the world, right? It’s it’s it’s certainly not Parkoffesque numbers, but right now, technically, the only center that we have on the team that’s expected to be at over 50% would be Lundelle. So, you know, that’s that’s it’s a bit of an issue. But those guys don’t just grow on trees, right? What’s just for shits and giggles. I’ll keep these on at this point. We only got 10 minutes left. I’m curious where Crosby is at this point. Let’s see. I’m curious where his face off percentage is right now. Same as Barc 57%. He’s actually gotten better over the last couple of years. I wonder if it’s just experience or is he taken less faceoffs? Did his time on ice go down? No. um he was at about 53 52% for the most times and even in his prime he was well close to 55 or 52 but all of a sudden the last two years 58 and 57% so he’s actually gotten better you know so yeah Crosby for Cooper Crosby for uh Cooper Black. Yeah, our face off percentage is going to take a big dip. Real says, “Why don’t we just draft another topline generational talent two-way center? We’re stupid.” Yeah. So, about that. real. You see, there’s this thing that you have to do in order to get one of those guys, and it’s called suck for quite some time. Hey, great white. When I trade Barky for Crosby, how about this? just for one year. We trade Bark off for Crosby now, but then before next season, we we trade we go we we swap back. We swap back. So, it’s just Bark off for Crosby now, win a cup, and then during the offseason, we just we just flip him right back. Crosby can retire as a Penguin, and all is well in the world. Huh. Hungry says, “Unless you’re the Patriots and pick one up in the seventh round.” Yeah. Would I trade Rod for Crosby? Yeah, I think I would. I think I would. Um because that solves the cap issue or No, no, it does it for next year. No, it still hasn’t. We still have a cat. They’ve got to take 50% of his salary. Trade Bob. Yeah. On on on paper, sure, Rodriguez for Crosby would be an insane steal. Sure, we’d have to throw in picks. There’s not going to be a one for one deal, but we’d still have cap issues next season because of Crosby’s contract. in Bararkov’s current state. Yeah. Training for Crosby right now and then and then we get him back after the season. That’s all. It’s probably not legal. Not yet. Trey Lendell’s percentage was like 53. Strafasi. He’s the only guy we have right now on the team that we can consistently count on to be above 50%. Everybody else is in that 46 to 47% bubble. So, no. I mean, I hate you hate to move Rodriguez anyway, too. But, but there’s too much to consider next year capwise. Just never know, man. Just never know what Zitto’s going to pull off. It ain’t happening. Trey. Trey. It’s not going to be Samuskevich. Samuskevich ain’t going anywhere. If if if the Penguins are going to play hard ball with Crosby, they’ll we’ll give him Cooper Black. Just don’t let him don’t let him talk to Buffalo about Devon Levi and we should be fine. Exactly. Because will have to pull the biggest magic trick of his career. It’s It’s like I mean it’s just like watching a movie that we don’t know the ending to. It’s just going to be fun. Hey, thank you great white. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. Thank you, buddy. He says, “I can’t wait for Panthers hockey.” Thank you, brother. This week, so I’m doing the Dolphins recap tonight and then the recap room is getting rehabilitated. That’s what we’ll call it because I want to be ready for I mean it’s next Tuesday, the first game of the year. We have something uh coming out later on this week. Uh something something fun. My NHL preview should be here Wednesday, Thursday as well. I’m not changing I’m not changing what I what I what I what I was going to say exactly mythical the bark off out we lose a lot of leverage but in ZTO we trust I I I can’t do anything but have fun with it at this point and I’m dying to see what what happens right we may get some tweet in the middle of January I just got news that Alexander Barkov is way ahead of schedule and looks good for a mid-March return. It could happen. It could happen, right? Anything anything is possible at this point. Honestly, I don’t know. There’s a part of me that says just let him rest and recover and come back next year, you know? Raj says maybe Pablo Verie could come out of retirement to play with the Panthers. He might be a bit slow at this point. He might be a bit slow at this point, but we’ll see. Thank you again, Grey White. Appreciate you, brother. So, what else? Um, there was some Oh, yeah. For those of you who missed it earlier, I guess Rodriguez is out tonight. He Maurice had mentioned he wanted to play them against Carolina because he wanted to see them how they’re going to fit together. And I guess this thing where our last three games are against Tampa. So hopefully it doesn’t get physical. Zoom says Finland has a great stem cell institute. We need Barkoff to go there ASAP. I would assume right that whatever whatever technology is out there that they’re going to use it, but that’s a big man. It’s a big dude and you just can’t you don’t want to take a chance to me coming back early because excuse me if he pops it again in April, you’re probably looking at a full another season next year. You you could you could damage you could ruin a guy’s career if you bring him back too early. It’s different with Kachchuck. Kachchuck is like a cyborg. Just cut off his legs and he’ll go out there and skate on his knees. You know what I mean? Like it’s different with Chucky. You can’t keep him off the ice. Gator. Um he says, “How the hell did he get injured even before preseason?” So, when you watch the video, to me, my unprofessional, excuse me, opinion is that he must have had some kind of fraying already there. He He digs in really I wouldn’t say he digs in really hard with his skates, but the knee just buckles. The knee just buckles. And generally speaking, when you get an injury like that, it tends to be a little bit of wear and tear, little bit of, you know, maybe he thought, maybe he thought he had some tendonitis or something in that knee. There might have been something going on in there. Or the alternative is and this happens especially with Achilles like it just there’s if you just apply the perfect exact amount of pressure and the perfect exact motion bing. It’s just that’s the body is just made you know the body is not made to do what what athletes professional athletes do. They do it anyway. the body is not designed for a lot of stuff that these guys do. And you know, he just kind of digs in a little bit, goes to turn, and the knee said, “Nope.” He said, “Nope.” Zoom says, “Maybe all that partying hurt him as well, and not enough rest and too much alcohol.” I mean, there’s no way to I while I can’t disagree with what you’re saying. Obviously, you want to take care of your body. Um, my assumption would be he takes care of himself outside of all of that. So, but I I hear the point that you’re trying to make. It’s hard, man. Because if you’ve got, you know, an injury like that, if it’s not bothering you or if you got just got a little bit of, you know, my knee’s, you know, a little bit of soreness. I get this little bit of a sore spot in my knee every once in a while. Like what are you going to do? You’re going to start giving all these guys, you know, preemptive MRIs. Like you come in the first week of camp and the first thing they do is MRI your knees and your Achilles and and your shoulders or whatnot to see if you’ve got any any damage that is cumulative over the years. The teams do that? Do they need to do that? I don’t know. It’d be expensive for the team. And what would you do anyway, right? If what what would you do if uh if if they did take an MRI of of Barkov’s knee and they told him, “Well, you got a little bit of fraying on your MCL. You know, let’s monitor it. Let’s get some stem cells.” You know, maybe that’s something they’ll consider at some point is part of the exam, part of beginning of training camp is just simply let’s check out what’s going on inside your body as well. Don’t know. Great white has missed. Yeah. So, hey, thank you great white. Appreciate that, brother. So, we still have to get her stuff from where she was living before. She’s brought most of her stuff here, but like her pictures and some of her um some of her clothes and whatnot is still there. We need to take the van over there and find a cooler day because it’s a lot of work. But she’s been moved in like she hasn’t gone back there. She’s been moved in here since I believe August 1st. I think August 1st sounds about right. Yeah, somewhere in there. So, we’re hoping Yeah. Hey, Terrace. That was the next thing. Are we invited to the wedding? Our hope, remember last year when everybody would ask me when we’re coming down? And I said, well, when God decides to give me the money to come down, we’ll show up. And then Magda called me up and said, “Hey, I’ll pay for you guys to come down.” So, our hope is that somewhere within February, late January, February, my parents anniversary is February 14th. It’s their 50th anniversary. So, we might end up going down there. We’re hoping if finances go right that we can do it there. in Florida um in January or February. We have to figure out the legalities of like being married in Maryland, but getting married in Florida, like does it matter. Um we got to look at all of that. And you know, right now I don’t have the money to make the trip. But we’ll see. We’ll see. But that’s that’s the hope. But I would say that whenever it does happen, it’s like 99.9% sure going to happen in Florida. So, um, yeah, we’ll we’ll have a we’ll have a live streamed wedding. Gator says Gator says if he doesn’t come back, the Panthers may have to train them, especially after all those knee problems. They might just get rid of them all together. Yeah, great white. Yeah, we’re gonna we’re live streaming, right? Fly guy. Yeah. Um, cap is going up. It’s going up about nine, eight and a half, nine million, but we got guys to sign. Mika, Samoskevich, none of the four flying guys are signed and we got to have an an extension for Bravki. terrorist office and signed. So, the cap is going up. That money is pretty much spent. That money is pretty much spent. GoFundMe for the wedding. Well, we’ll we’ll we’ll see how it how it goes. Um, as you guys as you’ve seen, I only like to do something like that in like the real case of an emergency. You know what I mean? which is what I ended up in this summer that y’all helped us out, help me out. Um, the only reason we’re still here doing this is you guys generosity, but I don’t want to um overextend that. You know what I mean? Gator says he might not be the same after the surgery, right? That that’s true. I mean, it could take him a while to become himself, right? Trey says Bob is signing for eight and a quarter. We might need him to take six though. Might he ain’t gonna take six. I’m just talking. I’m just talking crap now. Eight and a quarter would seem about right. Sure. I forget why you got to that number, but I remember there was a reason that you got there. So, all right everybody, I gotta roll. Um Kyle and I will be live on the football channel tonight. I had a dream the other night that the Dolphins lost. I’m just saying. I had a dream the other night that the Dolphins lost. It would make for good content. If we if the Dolphins lose, that means McDaniel’s getting fired. Right. Right. I see Sroen, Otter, and Swayman make that. That makes sense, Trey. So, we’ll do that tonight and then as long as I can get the games on TV, we’ll start with the Tampa games, we’ll start getting ready to cover some hockey here. And of course, we’ll be ready to go at the beginning of next week. We’ve got some definite content coming up here in the next few weeks, few days, I should say. Great White. Yeah, this is the last year of Bob’s contract. Yeah, I was hoping we’d already see an extension. He may get forced into signing an extension. If Bararkov’s out and we have to bring in somebody, we may need to know what Bob’s number is going to be next year. If we get somebody with term and there’s considerations on next year’s cap. So, all right everybody, appreciate all the love, support, all the super chats. Cannot thank you all enough. Kyle and I will see you tonight and I shall see you all mñana at 11.

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