The NHL’s scariest team has been established

The NHL’s scariest team has been established

Would you say right now like ABS are the top dog in the Western Conference like firmly established after a month and a half? Oh, and the league in general. I think it’s it’s them and then it’s everyone else. Let’s bring on our dear friend Dmitri Philipovich, host of the PDO cast. He joins us now. Hi, handsome fella. Nice jacket. Fellas, what’s going on? Yeah, I got the fleece. It’s getting cold here in Vancouver, finally. Outstanding. Uh, are the Avalanche this good? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean one regulation loss halfway through November almost is preposterous. I’m not sure that’s going to continue, but they’re just an absolute buzz saw. I mean, up and down the lineup, the the top line is the best in the league, but the depth is better than it’s ever been for them. They’re getting great goalending out of Scott Wedgewood. And it’s kind of scary to think that once this power play gets going a little bit, they’re going to be beating teams by an even handier margin. So, yeah, I thought the week they had here with a couple statement wins was about as impressive as it gets. You are as good uh a bottom six surveyor as anybody in hockey media. Who uh who has impressed you the most uh from the ABS bottom six? I mean it goes up and down the lineup. Like they split up that second line after a bit, right? They moved Gabe Landiskog down into more of a defensive assignment check and roll because he wasn’t really scoring. And so what they were getting out of him and and Victor Olivesson was phenomenal. Olivson who they brought in late in the summer for pretty much the league just over it is has been nearly a point a game and crushing it on the top unit power play. Um my guy Gavin Brinley who they got kind of as a throwin in that Charlie Coyle Miles Wood trade at the draft is phenomenal. He got a two-year extension here. We were actually joking on on the Sunday show Drance was saying we were going to go watch the ABS while they were in town and playing the Canucks and he was most excited to see Gavin Brinley and then sure enough he goes out and scores the overtime winner in that game. So he wound up sounding pretty smart for that one. But yeah, I mean this team right now the way they’re playing is just they’re the they’re the best show on ice. Do you So is Britley overachieving or do you think like they knew what they were doing with that coil trade? I because it seemed like they were just trying to get rid of coil to me. They were. But the thing is is this summer with the cap going up, everyone had more space and so all of a sudden these guys who previously would have been pure cap dumps where you would have had to pay to get rid of them were all of a sudden being treated as valuable assets. So, they got a couple picks back. They dumped Miles Woods deal, which has three or four years left on it. And then Brinley is a guy who he’s undersized, but he had awesome college numbers. He was playing with Adam Fentili in Michigan, and then he had a slow start in his pro career in the AHL, but he’s clearly got offensive juice. And this is what smart organizations do. They take guys like this, they give them a chance, and and he’s rewarding them for it. Uh, so would you say right now like ABS are the top dog in the Western Conference, like firmly established after a month and a half? Oh, and the league in general, I think it’s it’s them and then it’s everyone else. I mean, the the statement games that I alluded to, like they go into Edmonton and everyone’s excited about it Saturday night and they just put the boots to them, score nine goals. They were trying to get that 10th one at the end as well and and and almost got it. And then I’m sure they got up for that Anaheim game, right? It was kind of being promoted as this first, first, second in the league based in points percentage. Everyone’s talking about how the Ducks are this surging exciting team and they just thoroughly dominated them for large stretches of that game on national TV. I I the game I watched in Vancouver was probably one of the worst ones they’ve played all year and I think it was just a matter of like a great team on a second of a backto-back doing the absolute bare minimum to get two points and and they were good enough to do so. But yeah, I mean they pretty much have had no off nights so far. It’s it’s remarkable that they have just the one regulation loss. We talked earlier in the show about how like you take turns thinking who the monster might be. And I think this is probably going to be another season in which there’s just like a collection of four or five teams. Vegas, Carolina, maybe New Jersey if that ends up happening longer there with the usual suspects, Dallas, Edmonton. Who do you think is the biggest threat to the Avalanche? I think just from a historical perspective, it’s got to be Dallas because they’re going to play each other most likely in round two. And Dallas, I know they don’t have Pete Debor there anymore, but they’ve had success against them in the playoffs, even when they’ve had seemingly worse teams on paper. So, it would probably have to be them. And then I guess you go, I know it it’s going to sound silly considering they just beat them 9-1, but the playoff Oilers are going to be different than the October November Oilers that we’ve seen. And so, that’s probably going to be the biggest test. But I think this has been huge for them, right? cuz like for all of these years they’ve had McKinnon and Mar and they’ve been leading the league in points and winning individual trophies. They’ve gotten out of the second round just once and they won the cup that year, but it’s been largely disappointing in terms of actual results. And so last year they use like a million different skaters. They don’t have home ice in round one. They wind up it winds up costing them against Dallas when Ranton just goes nuclear in that third period in game seven. And so I think they wanted to enter this year making a statement getting home ice and they’re well on their way to doing so. Where are you putting the ducks right now like in terms of tears? Are they are they are you are you pedio merchants? Are they overachieving? Are they kind of establishing themselves as a a real threat? Where do you kind of assess them right now? Yeah, I thought they were going to be like last year’s Columbus and that they’d make a coaching change. All their young players would look way better. They’d be awesome offensively and they certainly have been. I think there’s more substance to it though. Like you look at who’s driving the bus for them in that top six, which is all essentially young guys in their early 20s, is legitimately dominating. All the underlying numbers are passing everything you’re looking for from those guys. The offense is absolutely lethal. I mean, I know they lost that game and it ended their their uh their winning streak, but the push back they had in that first period where they tie it up, they they they get a bunch of chances and then what Leo Carlson was doing on that type of a stage where even in the third period he’s like dangling around Nathan McKinnon creating scoring chances. I think it’s incredibly exciting and the state of the Pacific is is a part of this too. like I I with some of these teams kind of dropping off a little bit. I expect Vegas and Edmonton to be there at the end, but I think there’s a very realistic case that they’re already the third best team in the Pacific and certainly one of the eight best teams in the West. So, I I would expect them to make the playoffs despite uh you know, us expecting them to regress a little bit. I just forgot that I haven’t put words in your mouth in like a few months. And that’s one of my favorite things to do is just like have a take and then say that I heard it or saw it from you and then people are like, “Damn, must be smart.” I I was listening to your five-parter on the Bruins being the hottest team in hockey and how this is for real. Could you just summarize that for people uh who aren’t Patreon subscribers? Yeah, it was a comprehensive deep dive breaking down every single element of the Bruins and how good they are. I mean, this sevename winning streak is absolutely wild considering the six-game losing streak they went on previously. The only team to beat the aforementioned Colorado Avalanche in regulations. So, that’s quite a feather in their cap. But I mean, listen, like I I thought this might be the worst team in the league heading into the season and so everything beyond that is gravy. They clearly aren’t because they have a lot of good NHL players and Pasak and Geeki are good enough to to score on any given night with any other opposition. But the underlying numbers suggest that it’s still probably a bottom five team and they’re just running hot. But enjoy it while you can. I think this is the beauty of an 82 game season. You get random runs like this. How like do you do you love Morgan Geeky as much as I do? I do. I mean, I remember being just perplexed that the Kraken let him go. I I know remember he had that qualifying offer and that was the summer they they didn’t want to pay him and Daniel Sprong and they just let those guys walk for nothing. And you know, I was a bit skeptical of the extension they gave him just cuz it was like well a lot of his points were just pass either putting it on a T for him or quite literally using him as a backboard sometimes to just bank it off him and into the net. And so I don’t know if you want to pay a premium for that, but they had the cap space and he’s still in his prime and and he’s good. I mean, he’s running absolutely red-hot right now. Pretty much every time he shoots the puck, I I expect it to go into the net, regardless of where he is in the offensive zone. So, I think he’s really fun to watch. And just the two of those guys cooking is is worth the price of admission. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to What Chaos here on YouTube. You will get everything. Daily episodes, player interviews, and so much more. It’s all here on the What Chaos YouTube. Hit subscribe.

Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche are tearing their way through the NHL to start the 2025-26 season, but have they firmly cemented their place at the top of the league so far? Dimitri Filipovic of the PDOCast joins the show to talk about the Avs’ dominance and how they’re finding so much success.

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