UNSTOPPABLE: Colorado Avalanche off to historic start | What’s wrong with the Oilers?

UNSTOPPABLE: Colorado Avalanche off to historic start | What’s wrong with the Oilers?

The Colorado Avalanche are a wagon. Conor McDavid and Leon Dryidle aren’t working together for the Oilers. And who isn’t in a playoff spot, but will be when the regular season’s over. You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello everyone and welcome to this Thursday edition of Locked on NHL. I am Nick Zores, the host of Locked On Oilers. That is Hunter Hoodies. He is one of the hosts of Locked On Penguins. And we want to thank everyone that is making locked on NHL their first listen of the day. Locked on NHL part of the Locked On podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. A whole lot to get to today, friends. So to start out, we’re going to glaze the Avalanche for about 8 and 1/2 minutes because they’re off to one of the great regular season starts we’ve ever seen. Some of the most dominant five on five numbers imaginable. Our second segment, we’ll pivot to something I had talked about earlier in the week on locked on Oilers that I think the national audience should know. The Oilers are predicated on Conor McDavid and Leon Dryidle being their get out of jail free card when they’re losing games. And right now, they’re not winning those minutes at all. And then to wrap up, we’re going to talk about that cohort of teams, the bottom eight in both conferences, and who’s got a good chance of making the playoffs even though they’re sitting on the outside looking in right now. So to start out, Hunter, before we get to the numbers, which are preposterous, the first thing I wanted to talk about in regards to Colorado, we said this a few weeks ago. I give a lot of kudos to that group, that leadership group looking around and saying, “We are burning daylight here. We have McKinnon and Macar in the primes of their lives. We can’t just waste this.” And last year, they did the wholesale change of their goalie room. They looked at Casey Middlestat and said, “That’s not a 2C on a cup winner. we need to upgrade there. And they went out and they got Brock Nelson. They paid a pretty penny for Brock Nelson. But all is working very well for them right now. And I I dare say a lot more teams would benefit from looking at their situations a bit more objectively. You know, Colorado won a couple years ago. They could have looked at their group and said, “We’re happy with where we are. We think we’re right there.” Colorado said, “That’s not good enough.” I wish more teams had that mindset. Right, Nick? you didn’t even bring up they had the whole Miko Ranson situation. They said, “We’re not going to pay you all that money. We’re going to move you.” And then obviously he got traded back into the division, but they made a pretty big big gamble there. And you look at where they’re at now. One regulation loss two months into the season. Nick, this is it doesn’t even feel real. But they’re dominating teams on a nightly basis. It doesn’t even matter which line is on the ice. But if you want to discuss, you know, the McKinnon line with Nas and Lechin, 58.7 expected goals for rate at five on five. They have played 300 minutes of five on five ice time. That line is just decimating the opposing teams. It doesn’t matter who they’re playing against. Nathan McKinnon, Nick, if the heart trophy were handed out today, he would win it in a landslide. I think it would probably be unanimous if you ask me. 22 goals, 46 points in 26 games. Marty Niches in signing that extension. He has also been ridiculous. Kale Mar is over at point per game. All right. Terry Lechin’s basically at a point per game. But another big reason that I don’t think is being talked about enough. They have Gabe Landisk healthy. And when you have your leader like that back in your locker room, I really do think that can change part of the complexity of the team. It’s not the only reason Nick, but you can see how much the rest of these guys, they are feeding off him being back and being healthy. It just it helps change the complexity of your team. And when you have him humming the way he is and you combine that with the way their stars are playing and the way their depth is playing, you have a juggernaut. Right now in the Western Conference, I don’t know who is going to beat this team four out of seven times with the way that McKinnon and company are going. You look at some of the five on five metrics, Nick, and we’re going to get into those in a couple of sec in a couple of seconds. It’s insane. like they are just kicking every team’s ass up and down the ice every single period. It is a joy to watch. So let let me start to get into this. They have outscored opponents 76-37 at five on five. They have 2/3 of the goals in their games. 2/3. The only sample I can compare that to was a couple years ago. Vegas won the Stanley Cup. They outscored their opponents two to one, 66 to 33 on the road to winning their cup on 11.616 shooting, fourth in the league. So you would expect the PDO side of this to cool off a little bit. The two the 928 save at five on five is great, too. That’s top five as well. They’re shoot 21% of their scoring chances every game are high danger. That’s pretty good. Yeah, if one out of every five chances you create is a high danger chance that something’s telling me it’s going to work. And that the beautiful thing about Colorado and why we know this isn’t as fugazi as say the the um the Canucks a couple years ago or maybe the Capitals a couple years ago, even when their PDO does come down, they’re still at 56 57% on the high dangers and the expected goals. So sure, the shooting will come down closer to 10. the save percentage will come down a little bit closer 920 915 sure they’re still going to be 55% of the goal share if the metrics come down 10%. They are afforded 20% cushion on where they are at right now in terms of their actual goals. And then as far as McKinnon they’re doing it 38% of the time against the other team’s first line. They get the hardest workload and they are kicking ass. As you said they are not beating up on the bad opponents. And then the other thing about Colorado that I wanted to talk about in regards to McKinnon, 93rd percentile for top skate speed and then 98th percentile for distance covered per game. That dude is moving as fast as humanly possible and he is everywhere. And it it helps when your best player has both the mentality of I’m going to kick your ass and then they have the capacity to just go out there and do it. There are a lot of really good players in this league who don’t have the mindset to play that way or they don’t have the physical ability. McKennon is one of the rare few who I know he’s not the captain, Landisk’s the captain, but if things are going wrong in a game, and I know they haven’t gone wrong that much this year so far for them, he can climb over the wall and say, “Okay, time to go to work. I got to get this done.” And I I know we talk about this anytime we talk about McKinnon, but I think the most telling clip that lives in my brain is from that Winter Classic Stadium series at Lake Tahoe where Petrangelo looked up, saw McKinnon skating at him at full speed, and all he said was, “Oh boy.” Cuz there’s nothing you can do. He’s I mean, when he gets rolling like that, there is nothing I don’t think anyone can do to stop him. And so honestly, Nick, like ever since they won the cup, you know, you’ve seen their playoff results since then. a little underwhelming, but and that happens for cup winners sometimes, but you have a a brain drain. You lost guys. It happened. Right. Exactly. And I think this year it’s like, you know, the Michael Jordan meme, and I took that personally. He saw what happened at the end, especially this past season where they lost that really hard fought series to the Dallas Stars, and he’s like, “Bet, I’m going to go out here and I’m going to kick everyone’s ass this year.” He is a man on a mission right now. That entire team is, honestly. And the scary part is, Nick, they’re probably going to get better in the next few months, too. You know that that Colorado front office is going to go all in when they have these guys in the prime of their careers. I think they’re going to be aggressive in the trade deadline, and they should be. It it paid dividends for them last year. I know they didn’t ultimately, as you said, get past the first round, but they reorganized their team on the fly last year. They changed out both goalies. They brought in Brock Nelson. They made their team a little bit deeper by turning Rantin into Jack Drury into Marty Nas. Nous has fit in really well playing with McKinnon. Two strong puck carriers, guys who can generate zone entries on their own. Both big, both strong, both very fast skaters. And then the last thing I wanted to touch on in this segment before we move on, take our first break because we are going to talk about McDavid in the next segment. You’re starting to see people launch the take hunter. This the the take is starting to be launched that McKinnon is the best player in the world. And right now you’d be hard you would be hardressed to make the argument based on how this particular season is going. If you want to go on track record yeah so far I think it’s not even really much of an argument. McDavid is having a really rough go of it at five on five. I think some of its lineup and we’ll talk about it in our next segment so I don’t get too far ahead of myself but you might be watching the changing of the guard and I know Nathan McKinnon’s a year older than Conor McDavid so it’s funny to say that but McKinnon took a little while to become this dominant of a player whereas McDavid by the time he was 19 he won his first hard trophy so just something to get on your radar right I I agree I I think right now there’s not a better player for the first two months of the season than than Nathan McKinnon again if we were to vote on the hard trophy right now he would get it unanimously. I don’t know why anyone would vote for anyone else. And you were right, Nick, like it took him a few seasons, McKinnon that is, to really get into, you know, that 90 to 100 point range. You know, he had that 140 point season just a couple of years ago where, you know, during that season, you could make an argument that he was the best player in the world that year, the way he played. Last year he was at 116. This year, Nick, I think he’s probably gonna be right around there again. You know, maybe 120 to 125ish points if he keeps this up. So again, the way that his line continues to roll, the way that that forward group continues to roll, I just don’t know who is beating this team as of right now four out of seven times in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter, you know, how healthy everyone else is. I I still think when all these teams are healthy in the West, Colorado is the best team right now. And I think they’re going to get better. Um the process is there. Even when their PDO comes down a little bit, the process is still going to be there. and I think they’re still going to be finishing a good chunk of their chances because of the way they keep dominating teams at five on five. So, it’s been a dream start from them and I’m excited to see, you know, if they can really keep up this historic start. Again, Nick, one regulation loss two months into the season. That’s unheard of. They’re on pace for something like 142 standings points right now, which obviously isn’t going to happen, but just ludicrous to think about. We’re going to take our first break on today’s edition of Locked on NHL. When we come back, we’re going to dive into what’s wrong with the Edmonton Oilers and why Conor McDavid and Leon Dryidle aren’t the get out of jail free card they used to be. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything’s different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is the best when the game starts to change. A receiver gets hot, defenses tighten up, or a momentum swinging turnover fans will let you jump into the moment with live spreads and money lines that adjust playbyplay, player props that adjust as the game develops. You can bet on individual props like net touchdown score, the results of a drive, game totals, and so much more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, every possibility. Tonight, really important game in the NFC playoff picture. The Cowboys going up to Detroit. The Cowboys three and a half point underdogs. That line’s moving in Detroit’s favor. If you’re interested, you might want to make a move. And if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your live NFL bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Thank you so much to everyone who’s making Locked on NHL their first listen of the day. Locked on NHL is a part of the Locked On podcast network where we’ve got your team covered every single day. Locked on is the number one sports podcast network. Okay, Hunter, my friend, we know something is wrong with the Oilers. Just vibes wise, eye testwise, underlying metrics wise, coaching wise, everything is falling apart for them. Goending implied. We’re talking about the Oilers. The Oilers haven’t had a good goalie basically in my entire conscious memory. Sans the one Dwayne Rollison season like 20 odd years ago. But when we talk about the Oilers, we talk about McDavid, dry cidle, that has generally been the get out of jail free card. When you’re down in a game, you’re struggling, you can’t score. They get called upon to win you those minutes. They are supposed to be we are down in this game, we need a goal. Case in point, you saw them um earlier in the week against Minnesota. Minnesota scored relatively early in that game. Jonas Bodine won nothing. The Oilers effectively spent 25 of the 60 minutes of this game at regulation with McDavid and dry cidle together. They couldn’t get a goal on the board and after the game naturally I was curious and I went and looked. So far this year in the 100ish minutes they have played together at five on five and that’s not the default. They don’t play together all of the time. They are dead even. They have scored nine goals and opponents have scored nine goals. The other more glaring issue to amplify how important it is they get on track, the depth, the non- McDavid dryital minutes. The Oilers have been outscored 33-13. 28. They have a 28% goal share in the non- McDavid dry citle minutes. And this is multiaceted. Think about it like this. If you play Connor and Leon together, none of the other forward groups have zone entries because those are the only two Oiler forwards who can generate zone entries on their own. Especially with Roselvic out stealing with dealing with that upper body injury. He’s gonna be out for a while too. The Oilers don’t have a lot of foot speed. They don’t have guys who are going to carry the puck in. So, it’s a lot of dump and chase and their best puck moving defenseman Evan Bushard generally is going to play with McDavid and Dry Cidle. So, you’re asking Darnell Nurse, Alec Regula, Brett Koulak, Ty Emerson. None of those guys is a particularly adept puck mover with Jake Walman out with an injury as well. So, you are asking the rest of your lineup not to get killed. they’re getting killed and you’re begging Connor and Leon to do things and they’re not playing terribly. They’re just not getting the same bounces they usually do and their goalending has been really bad in their minutes. When you combine all of those factors together, you are looking at a team that is not working. This roster was assembled to do to execute in a certain way and pretty much none of it is working. It’s funny that reminds me of a very distinct Penguins team towards, you know, the mid 2000s. I would say the 2014 15 Penguins. It sounds exactly like that, Nick, where if it wasn’t Crosby and Malcolin generating the offense, wasn’t much else going on. Just when you look at the rest of those teams, the depth wasn’t there. Obviously, that changed once Jim Rutherford came in and, you know, he went on that 18-month heater with filling out the bottom six and stuff and getting everything right. But for a while there, Penguin just didn’t have any depth to help out. And when Crosby and Malin were getting shut down, which was happening, they couldn’t generate offense at all. And I think you’re seeing the same similarities right now with the Oilers. Even when they try to put McDavid and Leon together, it’s not working because teams can throw out their best against the against that line, excuse me. And then for the other players in the Oilers, it’s easier for those teams to defend because they’re not going up against Connor and Leon every shift. not going up against Evan Bousard who was going to get those minutes with McDavid and dry and Nick and I saw you put your tweet out earlier this week. You know, it was it’s 50% this year so far. Last year was 63. The year before that it was 64% with Connor and Leon on the ice at the same time. And I feel like they only really want to do that when they’re down in games. When they’re down two to three goals, I think Knoblock has really no choice but to put those two together because you’re chasing the game. if you’re tied or if you’re leading, you you can afford yourself to have them on separate lines, but you stack them together because you’re trying to push back. And yeah, does that mean some of your other lines don’t get as many minutes? Yes, but you obviously want your best players on the ice as much as possible, but that still allows the other team to really key in on those matchups and make sure that they can have their top defensive players out there against Connor and Leon that can at least do a bit. I also think this has something to do with Stan Bowman not doing a good enough job this offseason Nick filling out the team. I felt like he could have been a bit better filling out the forward depth after the amount of forwards they lost over the offseason. I know right now they don’t have a lot of cap space so it’s going to be a bit difficult to really fix that during the season. But I do think part of that falls on Stan Bowman. So when you combine all of that, their defensive issues which are very glaring, they’re not playing well in their own zone and Nick, you combine the goalending situation because Cal Picker is unplayable and Stuart Skinner, I think we reached a point where he at least needs a change of scenery. You have a team that they need to figure it out otherwise they’re going to be left in the dust. And I know we’ve said that the past couple of seasons, Nick, and they have gone on long winning streaks, but something about it this year just feels a little bit different, doesn’t it? The underlying numbers are not there. In years p the last two years, they’ve gotten off to these slow starts. They’ve still been mid50s and expected goals and high danger chances. They’re not. They’re league average in pretty much every metric. They’re 15th, 17th, 18th. And you combine that with, and you alluded to this, but I I just want to give you some context. So Corey Perry scored 19 goals last year. Jeff Scorn Skinner scored 16. Victor Arbertson scored 15. That’s 50 goals that went out the door and then you had Connor Brown’s 10. And you can assume Evander Kane would have given them 10 to 15 in the regular season. You’re talking about 70 to 80 goals that walked out the door over the summer that you were attempting to replace with Trent Frederick who averages 10 to 13 goals. He has one so far this year. Mapani who can probably give you 10 or so. And then Matthew Seavoy and Ike Howard, that that was your recipe. And Rosik, I’ll give Stan Bowman credit. Rosik was playing really well. He was on pace for almost 70 points, but he got hurt. And they do not have the depth. They haven’t recalled Ike Howard. They want him to keep playing down in the A because he’s gotten 17 18 minutes a game down there, and it’s more pertinent for his long-term trajectory. But right now, the depth is not there. The Stars are playing well. Dry Cidle’s got 31 and 27. McDavid’s got 37. It doesn’t matter. They’re not winning. They’re putting up good stats on a bad team and unlike in years past, there isn’t another level for them to get to. It’s not like they’re waiting for them to get going. You know, McDavid started slow each of the last two years and kind of got going. He’s still at like over a point per game and playing well. The wing support hasn’t been there for him. Ditto for Dry Cidle. They’re not scoring enough. Their defense isn’t good enough to be the driving force of a team, especially with no WMAN. And their goalending is an atrocity, especially they have the worst five. They have a bottom five save percentage of five on five and that’s killing them. They’re not playing terrible hockey, but they are a team that is waiting around for something to go wrong and more often than not something is going wrong. Right. And just a few more underlying metrics, Nick, before we close out the segment here. I was on Money Puck before the show just doing some prep. Nick, at five on five in actual goals, they have a 42.7% actual goal rate this year at five on five. That is 31st in the league, Nick, only above Nashville. And we all know how bad Nashville has been this year. Let’s be real. I mean, they’re going to be selling off their players pretty soon. Ryan O’Reilly could be fetching a bunch, but they’re 31st in actual goals. 42.7% goal rate. Expected goals, they’re 24th with 48.2%. Their shot attempts 50.7. So, that’s okay. But again, Nick, when you’re 31 out of 32 teams and you know your actual goals compared to expected goals at five on five this season, just too much is going wrong so far and they don’t have a lot of time to really turn this around. I mean, I they have the potential because we’ve seen it these last couple of years, but still something just feels a a little bit off. I don’t want to fully bet against them because Connor and Leon can do superhuman things. I mean, these two have literally dragged this team to two straight Stanley Cup finals. So, it would not stun me in the slightest if this team was still able to make the playoffs. Hell, I I kind of still expect it just because of the way that they play. But, a lot of a lot of this team just feels different compared to the last couple years even when they’ve turned it around. One last thing on this note before we move along. They don’t have cards to play. They have no cap space and the deadline is two and a half months away. If you want to bring Pete Dbor in, sure. I don’t know how much that’s really going to change the situation at hand. They’re not deep enough and their star players can only do so much. We’re going to take our second and final break real quick and then when we come back, we’ll talk about teams that aren’t in playoff spots that we think probably will when the season is over. When I’m hydrated, everything just works better. My focus, my energy, and my mood. That’s why I’ve been using Drip Drop. It is doctordeveloped hydration that keeps me running at full power no matter what my day looks like. Drip Drop isn’t your average sports drink. It delivers three times the electrolytes and half the sugar of leading brands using a sciencebacked formula trusted by medical professionals, firefighters, and over 90% of top college and pro teams. I’ve been trying to get ahead on my New Year’s resolution. Something I’ve do I do to kind of be self-important. I like to start them in December. One of the things I’ve been trying to do is streamline my morning routine, making getting out of bed easier. One of the things I’ve been doing is eight to 12 ounces of water. Adding a package a packet of drip drop to the flavor. Shake it up. Sit. Don’t use my phone. Skim a book. Pick up something physical that is not my phone to be more focused. Hydration has always been a non-negotiable for me. Drip Drop helps me feel even better. And right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners like you 20% off their first order. Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code locked on NHL. One more time. That’s dripdrop.com promo code locked on NHL for 20% off. Stock up now for that winter bulk. You will thank me later. Keep your mind and body performing at their best with Drip Drop. Thank you so much to everyone that is hanging out on this Thursday edition of Locked on NHL with Hunter and I. And Hunter, we’ve been talking about it for a month now that the standings are very compressed and there’s going to start to become separation. The Flames and Predators are very happily making us they are happily voting themselves off the island. They know their season is over already and it’s only December. So we’ll start with the East right now. The bubble I would classify as the Islanders, the Red Wings, the Rangers, the Bruins and then below them are Columbus, Toronto, Buffalo, and Florida. The mighty Florida Panthers are in dead last and they’re dealing with injuries. Matthew Kachchuck is starting to tease his eventual return which is nice, but they are underperforming. they are injured to all hell. Starting this conversation coming into the year, you would have said Toronto and Florida were expected to make the playoffs, that it would be a disappointment if they didn’t. Columbus, the Rangers, they were on the bubble where if things went right for them, you could see them getting in. For the Islanders, for the Bruins, for the Sabres, we didn’t expect a lot from them. The Islanders are fun. I don’t think they’re particularly good. The Bruins were overplaying their talent for quite a while, but are starting to come back to earth. and the Sabres are just cursed. I don’t have an explanation for what’s wrong with the Buffalo Sabres. So, of that eight, what two teams do you feel the strongest about going forward and turning their fortune around? Number one is Florida. I know they’re in dead last Nick and I tweeted about this earlier this week. I was like, when are they going to start getting serious here? You know, they’ve been kind of messing around with everyone the first two months. They’re kind of hanging in there wild card wise. They’re six points back of the Penguins right now. Atlantic-wise, they’re five points out of third, which is held by the Ottawa Sanders. But I’ve kind of been wondering when are you going to start messing around and start going on a big winning streak here. I know they are very decimated. Bob Nicknick has not been as good this year, but I do think eventually this team is going to turn it around and they are going to make the playoffs. I would be stunned if they were not in a playoff spot by the end of the year. second, you know, in these bottom eight teams, maybe Columbus if they get healthy. The Islanders, you know, they’re fun. Schaefer has been a blast this year. I don’t trust the Red Wings. The Rangers I don’t really think are very good. The Bruins are very weird. They’re frisky. I’ll give them that. I honestly might go Columbus just because I think offensively they have a lot of potential if they can stay healthy and get good quality goalending. I think they can make a little bit of noise. So, I would go with those two teams. I think they have the best chance. Helen, you didn’t even bring up Pittsburgh who is still in the final playoff spot right now. They’ve won three of their last four games. Schedule in December is going to be hell on earth for them, but they pass a Thanksgiving benchmark. They’re going to start getting some guys back. I think they’re going to make this interesting for the rest of the season. I still don’t know if they’re going to get in yet, but they’re going to make it hard on some of these teams that are below them to pass them. I I’ll say that. As for the West, I’m I’ll still go Edmonton, even though it it feels a little different this year. I don’t want to fully bet against Connor and Leon. Other than that, I’ll go I guess I’ll go Winnipeg once they get Hella Buck back. But even then, Nick, they have not been good since their fast start. They’re oneline team. Yeah, they are they are playing really poorly. Not gooding not not good enough defensively since Hellbuck has gone down. The goalending hasn’t been good enough offensively as you mentioned. They have also not been good enough. They had that really great start too where it’s like okay maybe they’re going to do what they did last year for example and then once Hella Buck got hurt and once they got away from that fast start not much since. So if I had to pick two from the Westnik it would be Edmonton I guess and Winnipeg but both those teams right now are up a creek. Hell, San Jose’s in the final playoff spot right now. Didn’t see that coming at the start of the year. It’s been a very weird start to the year where you do have outlier situations where the Blackhawks and the Sharks are vying for that spot like it’s 2017. But as for the West, and I’ll give you my East, too. I I’m with you on Florida. I would be shocked if they don’t get especially with how compressed everything is. It’s only going to take four or five wins in a row to get right back into a playoff spot. As they get healthier, you hope Bob comes around. As for the other one in the East, I would say Columbus probably has the highest opportunity out of that group. I would like to say the Rangers, but they just don’t score enough in spite of everything else that’s gone well for them. So, I would be in agreement with you there. I think Toronto’s dead. I know we didn’t really talk about them in those minutes, but I just don’t think they have the guys. They they don’t uh Bub’s kind of out of cards to play. He’s reconfigured the lineup. Their offensive metrics are just really dreadful. And their defense is awful. And also, Nick, like they’re like I’ve watched some of their games even outside of them blowing the doors off the Penguins this past weekend. They’re not fun to watch. Like they’re really it’s a hard watch up there. And I know that might offend some people that listen to our show from the Toronto area, but they just don’t have the horses, man. No, they’re a very topheavy team and you can only ask those guys to do so much. And that in the West, I think I’m with you on Edmonton. I think they’re a wild card team at best, though. I I think you will start to see the teams ahead of them in the Pacific pull away. And then I want it to be Utah, but I feel like it’s probably going to be Winnipeg because Chicago is a nice story, but it’s really just Spencer Knight, Vlic, and Conor Bard. Fred Nazer’s having moments here and there, but it’s it’s a four-person team. I would like it to be Chicago. I don’t think it will be. Utah got off to the great start, but has cooled off immensely. Winnipeg is dealing with a lot of injuries. I think they’re coming to terms with the fact Jonathan Ta is not a second line center, which the sooner they do, the better. He is completely overmatched in those minutes. St. Louis feels dead. I saw them play the Devils last week. That was a really ugly hockey game with a lot of scoring chances and that’s the antithesis of what the Blues are trying to be. The Blues are supposed to be a lowevent tight fourchecking team and that game was wide open. Vancouver is a three forward team and Quinn Hughes. Adenkco got off to a great start and then Nashville and Calgary I think are just entirely out of the mix. So I I think we’re gonna have a very process of elimination season here where it’s going to be pretty academic. You’re going to see teams in that mushy middle continue to beat up on each other. The good teams, the genuinely good teams will take turns beating them. And it’s going to be a lot like the last two years for those two wild card spots where maybe we do have a team that only has 90 91 standings points making that last spot because everyone’s taking turns beating each other that there isn’t a lot of separation between Florida who’s in dead last and that last wild card spot. So like I said, it’s going to take one good week for any of these teams to get back in the mix. Hell, the Rangers were in dead last a week ago. Now they’re two two game wins back of the last wild card. It’s not going to take a lot. It it really isn’t. No, no, I agree. And even Nick, we’d even discuss Philadelphia. They’re 158 and three. They’re third place in the metro. I still don’t know what to think of the Flyers. They play fine defensively, but they don’t get a lot of offense, which hey, shocker. Ricktaka team doesn’t generate as many offensive opportunities. Dan Ladar, their goalender, has been very good this year. Trevor Ziggress has been really good. But are they going to be able to sustain this for a full season? You look at their 15 wins today, they only have eight regulation wins. like they’re living and dying a lot with their past um regulation results with overtime and shootouts. Is that going to change moving forward? That’s something to watch. Carolina, we all expect. New Jersey, they fallen off a little bit just because Jack is not healthy right now. Washington last night against Dallas, that was a rough game, man. The Devils just look dead. And Dallas is good, don’t get me wrong, but without Jack, they’re they are in a really rough spot. The stats they have, they were I want to say they’re they’re scoring 1.6 goals per game at five on five with Jack Hughes out of the lineup. He’s a top 10 15 player in the world. You lose that for any extended period of time, you’re going to have a tough time. It just straight up I agree. And hell, Washington, Nick, they were at the bottom of the standings to start the year. They’re now first in the Metro. It’s a playoff team. They’re playing really well. Their metrics are good. I still still though for me, how do you match up against some of the big dogs in the conference? I will a lot of these teams, we don’t have to worry about that, Hunter. We have a very clear pecking order this year. We have the really good teams. We have 80% of the league is mediocre and then the last 10% are the bad teams. And it’s going to make the season interesting because those that big middle is going to take turns beating each other. And it does in effect give Gary what he wants, a league full of parody. That will do it for today’s edition of Locked on NHL, where we are hoping that an Olympic rink that is three feet too short is not a dealbreaker. We will talk to you guys next week. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Check out Locked on NHL game night on the mornings after breaking down every game every night until the Stanley Cup champion is crowned in June. Hunter and I will see you guys next week.

Colorado Avalanche dominate with Nathan MacKinnon’s electrifying start—could the Hart Trophy be a lock and a second Cup run in sight? Nick Zararis and Hunter Hodies break down the Avalanche’s historic five-on-five numbers, leadership mentality, and the impact of roster upgrades including Brock Nelson and Martin Necas. They examine MacKinnon’s unmatched speed, the return of Gabriel Landeskog, and why Colorado’s process keeps them atop the Western Conference even as metrics normalize.

The conversation shifts to the Edmonton Oilers’ struggles as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s once-reliable pairing fails to spark the offense. Can the Oilers’ shallow depth and poor goaltending be fixed, or is a playoff push unlikely this season? Nick Zararis and Hunter Hodies also spotlight which bubble teams—like the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets—have the best shot to rebound and claim playoff spots. Is the league’s middle tier poised for a shakeup before the deadline?

03:39 “Western Conference Juggernaut”

06:28 MacKinnon: Relentless Game-Changer

09:38 Colorado’s Dominant Playoff Outlook

14:43 “Penguins’ Mid-2010s Depth Struggles”

16:15 Forward Depth and Matchup Challenges

19:58 “Struggles Despite Playoff Potential”

23:20 “Predicting NHL Playoff Turnarounds”

28:28 “Chaotic NHL Wild Card Race”

31:22 “Locked On NHL Recap”

UNSTOPPABLE: Colorado Avalanche off to historic start | What’s wrong with the Oilers?
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
DripDrop
Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.
Go to https://dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.
Monarch
Take control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.
FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LONHL?sid=YouTube

Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL

Follow Locked On NHL on Social
Twitter https://bit.ly/3hXyu5w
Facebook https://bit.ly/3BubZNc

#NHL #Hockey