Colorado Avalanche Becoming HEAVY Stanley Cup Favourite, Olympic Ice Drama, & NHL’s Rising Stars

Colorado Avalanche Becoming HEAVY Stanley Cup Favourite, Olympic Ice Drama, & NHL’s Rising Stars

On today’s show, can anybody compete with the wagon of the Colorado Avalanche? We’ll discuss their start to the season. The Olympic hockey rink is not complete, and it might not even be the right dimensions, plus our three stars of the week. You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome inside this Wednesday, December 3rd edition of the Locked On NHL podcast presented by Locked On Network, the number one sports podcasting network. I’m your host Ross Levitan from Locked on Senators and with me from Locked on Maple Leafs. It is a Battle of Ontario edition. I’ve got Mike Dphano as always. 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 fanuel.com and place your live bets all season long. Mikey, still no Battle of Ontario this season. We got to wait until December 27th. I’ve been itching to get one in. I I got Ottawa Montreal last night and it just got me thinking like usually there’s at least one early season matchup. Yeah. Yeah. Typically there’s one but uh we’ll have to wait little little late Christmas gift I guess for you and I when it comes to uh watch the Battle of Ontario. But it’s good cuz the Maple Leafs are starting to ship back into shape. So they’ll be uh hopefully you know they’ll be they’ll be ready to go when they take on Ottawa and it should be a good game. H that game’s always tough around the NHL though, right? They players negotiated into their contracts that they can’t travel the day after Christmas. So, it’s literally like a pre-season game where all the teams they they leave from their home city on the 27th. So, it’s a travel and play the same day type game. Very strange, but hey, it’s what the players wanted and fans get usually some chaotic games there. December 27th. We’ll see if the standings stay as tight then as they are now. The Eastern Conference in particular, every team is at 500 points percentage or better. The Florida Panthers, everyone would have predicted this, right Mikey? They are dead last in the Eastern Conference waking up today. Yeah, thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs who handed them a regulation loss last night to put them in dead last in the Eastern Conference. Um yeah, I mean the injuries there clearly little too much to handle, right? No Barkov, no Kachchuck, and even Carter Haggy was out last night as well for that team. So they had had guys who had to, you know, really step up and they just haven’t quite been able to get there. You know, I thought last night I watched them play. Obviously, it doesn’t look like the same team at all. uh Toronto outworked them, out, you know, outplayed them and they haven’t done that to a lot of teams this year. So, I think it just goes to show kind of the the shell of a team that the Panthers are without their leaders, without a guy like Barov Kachchuck on uh on those squads. And it sounds like both of those players are going to look to make their return at the end of the month. So, heading in to the new year. And if you’re a Florida Panthers fan though, there’s no doubt this was somewhat expected, right? Not Bararkov. No, sorry. Sorry. Kachchuck. Kachchuck is looking back. Thank Thank you for for the correction there. Yeah, Bararkov would be I think a very impressive feat if he’s back this regular season. Yeah, I’m not expecting him to be back for the regular season, the playoffs even. I think his timeline took him all the way until like June technically, but could come back a tad earlier, maybe be on the playoff roster. But keep in mind that this year they decided to implement the the salary cap in the postseason. So it’s not like they can, you know, put him on LTI for the regular season, use his cap space and load up. It’s going to be interesting like if this squad struggling and, you know, may not even make the playoffs without him. Do they load up? Do they try and replace him so they can get into the playoffs? I don’t know. That’s that’s going to be an interesting uh an interesting thing that they’re they’re certainly going to have to weigh. Yeah, they will. But they’re also going to have to look at it from a more long-term perspective because they locked up all their players to really long-term contracts. So, they don’t have much flexibility and and they don’t have assets either. Like, they got the two best assets that you could get and that’s two banners hanging up. So, they’re not going to get a pity party from anybody and they would do it all over again obviously, but it’s not like they can trade out of their issues for now. They really just have to be patient. Well, and I’ll say this, like watching them play last night, they didn’t look nearly as fast as they usually do. Like that’s a team that plays pretty fast in the playoffs. They’re all over you. Didn’t see that last night. Again, they’re missing two of their their big boys and even for Haggy wasn’t there who’s got some speed, but that’s an aging group. And when you’re an aging group and you’re starting to slow down a little bit, the boots aren’t quite there, there’s there may be some concerns that Florida might not be the, you know, the the the the big bad Panthers that they’ve been over the last couple years. And uh it’s probably time that the NHL crowns a new champion, I think. And we’ll get into the Colorado Avalanche by far the front runner for that. But one last note on the Florida Panthers, and that’s certainly Babski. Babsk’s numbers are not good this season and you know they’ve had injuries on the back end as well. It’s not just Barov and it’s not just Matthew Kachchuck but they’ve been you know relying on waiver pickup Donovan Sabbrano’s been in the lineup. You’ve got Bolinskus uh down there playing every single night now. I know they’re healthy at this point and they were last night against the Toronto Maple Leaf. So I’m not pinning this all on Babski but an 883 save percentage from him. He’s 37 years old and he played in the last three seasons plus the start of this one. 246 games out of 271 that the Panthers have played, including three runs to the Stanley Cup final. That’s got to be weighing on him. I don’t care how well conditioned and prepared you are. That is a lot of hockey. That’s a lot of hockey, man. That’s a lot of hockey for a goalender to play in in three years there. So, could he be, you know, on the decline? I mean, father time could be coming as is. But you factor in how much hockey he’s played as well. Yeah. Could be a reason why the Florida Panthers aren’t quite the juggernaut that they’ve been the last couple of years. I’ll say this, he played well last night, though. Like that could have been, you know, a little more out of hand and at least won 4-1. Could have been could have been, you know, 56 61 realistically. um who made a couple of really nice stops, but overall on the season, yeah, the numbers aren’t so rosy for him. And you know, if the Florida Panthers want to not only uh you know, compete for a cup at the end of the year, but even make the playoffs, he he is going to have to be better. And the team as a whole is going to have to play a lot better than they did last night. Again, I I haven’t watched, you know, a crazy amount of Panthers hockey this year, but from the sample size of what I saw yesterday, there’s some work to be done there with the with the Florida Panthers. No work to be done for the Colorado Avalanche, just finding a way to stay consistent. And their start to the season has been nothing short of exceptional. They are the number one team in the National Hockey League by a five-point margin, and they have one loss in regulation all season long. They are 191 and six. They have the league’s top point producer in Nathan McKinnon. He has been outstanding all season long, leading the league in goals with 22 of them. Kale Mar has been ridiculous, leading all defenseman in scoring by six. 32 points for Kale Mar. And they’re getting depth contributions throughout the lineup. This team is as close to a juggernaut as I think we’ve seen in a long time. Yeah, honestly it might be one of the best might be one of the best regular season performances that that that we’ve seen from a team perspective in the salary cap era. Like I that’s that’s that’s what we’re talking here. Like a dynasty type of performance. And look at that goal differential plus 50. Plus 50. They’re 26 games in. They’re basically winning every game by two. Like that’s like their average win margin is two goals. It’s insane. 191-6 on the year and like you mentioned it this Nathan McKinnon cat like just doesn’t stop scoring just doesn’t stop scoring. Uh sitting there league high 22 goals had another couple goals last night you know leads the league with 46 points um and he just continues to be an absolute beast. He I think he he’s taken it personally that they haven’t been as competitive the last couple of years. Maybe that was because of the goal setting that they, you know, were deploying. It really was not all that great, but they seem to have found a good tandem here. And Scott Wedgewood and and McKenzie Blackwood, both of them are playing exceptional this season. So, you got good goalending. They’ve always been, you know, structured uh and and and and balanced defensively. And obviously with Nathan McKinnon leading the front uh leading the horses up front, I mean, that’s that’s a killer hockey team. And Jared Bednar, hell of a coach. I mean that that Colorado team, they’re a wagon. An absolute wagon. And I’m not sure there’s anyone in the NHL that really can compete with them right now. Clearly not. They’ve only lost one game in regulation in 26 games. It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable. And I don’t think you can discount as well the veteran leadership that is now around the team on the ice every day with Gabriel Landisk coming back, being a part of the group. Uh great comeback story. And how about Brent Burns? Everyone kind of raised an eyebrow. Hey, how’s that fit going to look after he was so successful in Carolina system? But he’s really steadied that second pair and like 12 points already for him too, chipping in offensively. He’s got 37 blocks. Like he has been a really nice addition on that second pair with Josh Manson and you obviously have the best D pair in hockey with Devin Taves and Kale Mar on the top unit. So they are just no weaknesses in their game. Like even people thought they overpaid for Brock Nelson and then gave him that extension, but he is up to 17 points. Like every area of this team is covered. We always have the caveat that plus minus doesn’t tell the whole story. Uh but the top five players in the league in plus minus are all Colorado Avalanche in terms of 50 goal differential. Like it’s insane. And and get this, I looked into those two numbers and they have scored 10 more goals than any team in the NHL and they’ve allowed 10 less goals than every team in the NHL. Ridiculous, ridiculous run the Colorado Avalanche are on and we will see a number of them in Italy for the Olympics. But what the heck is going on with that building? We’ll get into that. Plus, at this point, is it inevitable that both Connor Badard and Mlin Celbrini play for team Canada? That’s next. You’re listening to Locked on NHL, your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends over at Drip Drop. 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And keep your body and mind performing at their best with Drip Drop. Welcome back. Locked on NHL, your team every day, part of the Locked On podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. We got big announcements coming in the next week or so. So, make sure you are locked on everywhere you get your podcasts, including on YouTube. I’m excited for the Olympics, as should every hockey fan. But they’re not making it easy with the way this rink is coming together. Or should I say lack thereof might be. Yeah, it sounds like the rink is going to be about 3 ft shorter than normal, which uh was not the plan. And for whatever reason, when they decided to erect the rink, they just didn’t make it a regulation size. I I couldn’t really explain to you why that is, but uh the NHL definitely not happy about it. Now, I haven’t heard of whether or not the the NHL would be considered would consider pulling the plug on going to the Olympics. I don’t believe that’ll be the case, but a the rank that is being constructed is not rank size. And there’s actually still a possibility that it may not be ready by the time the Olympics start up in February as well. Like, they are coming right down to the wire. And you know, it’s such a shame that we’re, you know, just a couple of months away and and we we’re we should be getting excited about the Olympics. I mean, it’s the first time that we’ve seen NHLers at the Olympic Games since 2014. It’s been over a decade, but here we are just kind of clenching just wondering, man, are they going to get there? Like, what what the heck is going on? I I I I can’t believe that they had all these years to get this thing done and they have not yet. And now it’s like, man, it’s just I don’t know. It’s just so disappointing, dude. So disappointing. What’s going on? So I’m sure the NHL is going to be quick to put all the blame on the double IHF and 100. Well, to be fair, it it should be on the double IHF. No, I mean, but from the moment that the plans were confirmed that NHLers were going to be there, don’t you think the NHL should have had at least someone on the board, no pun intended, to know what size rink to make? Like this feels like day one stuff. Well, I think the the plan was for it to be NHL size. Like that was the original agreed upon plan, right? But why is it not? Who who where did the line of communication or production line fail that the right parts weren’t ordered to make the rink the right size? So Chris Johnston was talking about this on insider trading yesterday and he said quote basically what I’ve been told is that the international ice hockey the IHF approved a rink size of 60 by 26 that’s a little more than 3 ft shorter than the typical 200 foot length uh on an NHL arena. So uh it apparently caught the NHL by surprise that the double IHF approved this. So right so if they the moment But the moment they approve that, how is somebody from the NHL not saying no? Like what are you doing? Well, yeah, I guess. But I mean, I I suppose there’s a breakdown overall. Sure, but like it’s the Olympics and it’s a double IHF. Like it the NHL is not involved in it. They’re just a participant. So I don’t think they can force themselves onto a board or anything like that. And when they were told, hey, this is what’s happening, they were like, oh, what? But it was already too late by then. It was approved and construction already started. What are you going to do? Uh, well, what you could do and like what is it? I guess seating right down to the boards. Take out the first two rows of seats and fix it. They flip rinks every day from basketball to hockey to concerts. Like, how hard is it? They could just there’s a like there has to be the right size pieces to build a hockey rink available to get to Italy by the time it needs to be ready. like this this doesn’t seem like something that should topple the house of cards. It feels like this should be fixable. Well, and let’s talk about the reason as to why this is a problem. Uh first and foremost, like cuz I’m sure there’s a lot of people listening, it’s 3 ft shorter. Like who cares? Does it really make that big of a deal? Yeah, in the NHL it does cuz there’s already barely any space out there on a regular 200T rink. You shorten that thing by 3 ft and all of a sudden it’s going to get smaller and smaller. Like I know it’s only 3 ft, but that’s going to make a big difference. So there’s not going to be as much space out there, time out there, and that could allow for less offense, less goals, less excitement. Um cuz people are going to be on top of each other on on a you know, 197 foot rink, I suppose. Um so that that’s why it is somewhat of a a big deal here. It’s it’s it’s it could compromise, I guess, the competition a little bit. And not only that, but guys are used to hitting the red line and and ringing the the puck around and now all of a sudden that’s going to be three feet different. There’s going to be more off sides because the neutral zone’s going to be shrunk even more. Like it’s just it’s going to be mess. And I don’t want to see it on smaller ice. If it is though, does that change at all how you build your team for this? I don’t I don’t think so. I don’t think it changes it how you build the team. I think Bill Gar is a hot take. I think Bill Garen already knows his entire team. He came out the other week and said, “This isn’t pee-wee hockey triyouts. We’re not just going to take the best players that are playing right now.” So he Yeah. So he has his team that he has everyone that he wants to take already and probably copy paste the Four Nations tournament into uh into the Olympics. But well, I’m looking on FanDuel right now to see like what the odds are for the for the American team. And there’s not a lot of guys who didn’t make the the the four nations last year that are like plus bunny players, which means a majority of the guys that made the team last season are likely to make it. I guess like Tage Thompson’s the one for me if you’re adding someone who wasn’t there at Four Nations. I mean, even just like Bill Garen and and you hear that from a lot of hockey executives internationally that if you go represent them at the Worlds where guys are saying no, then they put a lot of uh stock into that and he scored the OT goal that gave them their first world win in 91 years. Well, he’s minus 1100, so he’s likely to uh to make the team, I think. I mean, they’re the rosters are larger, so it’s not like you’re literally taking the exact same guys and nobody else can make the team. I believe they have what three or four additional slots to uh for for the Olympic roster as opposed to the Four Nations roster. So, you’re guaranteed to have at at least a handful of new players. Um just sheer fact that there’s a larger roster. So, you are going to have a couple guys like Tae Thompson is one. Probably Cole Cfield I would think will get a real good look at being uh at being there. So, you know, there there’s going to be some players uh for sure in my opinion that’ll end up making the roster there. But if I look at Canada, um there’s two guys who didn’t make Team Canada that would be very hard to stomach not making the Olympic roster that weren’t on the Four Nations roster. You talked about it earlier, Mlin Celibbrin and Carard. Like what those guys are doing right now is unbelievable. Second and third in the league with 40 and 38 points respectively. I mean, I don’t know how Doug Armshaw could possibly look himself in the mirror if he leaves either or both of those guys off the roster at this point with how well they’re playing. Did you see Paddard’s goal last night? Like, don’t like he it he might have the best shot in the game right now. Like, he’s only what 20 years old, but I think he might already be the best shooter in the NHL. You might want to have that guy on your roster, especially if the ice rink is going to be smaller. you need someone to get a shot off quickly. That guy, he can get shots off pretty quickly and in tight spaces. Yeah, that’s a great point. And just uh for completeness sake, the rosters are 25 skaters and three goalies in the NHL rosters are 23 men rosters. So, this is going to be 28 overall. So, they do get to bring some extra guys. Obviously, that’s a long way. You won’t be able to call guys up afterwards. Your team is your team from when you get to the Olympic Village. Dumb question. Could they play this at a neutral site? Like there has to be NHL size rinks somewhere. I don’t know. Like Italy is not a massive hockey nation. So I don’t know how many NHLsiz ranks they really have. They got the European size, so they got the bigger one. Right. Right. Like I mean I guess you could try that but it I don’t know if that’s really an option they want to go down. I don’t know. Here’s a question. Would you rather play on a rink that’s three feet shorter than NHL or an Olympic size sheet? What would you rather watch for the Olympics? And this would, by the way, this would be the first Olympics with NHL size ice in 2014 with NHLers. I don’t know about last year, I’d imagine. Well, no, I think uh that’s that’s not true. I think it didn’t. No, I think so Olympics was Olympics. Yeah, but Salt Lake Salt Lake and Vancouver would have been Olympics would have been NHL. Do they just play? I thought they would have reconstructed it, which is also why I thought it would be easier for them to do that. Uh maybe people can let us know in the comments, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to go watch some highlights. Maybe I’ll go watch Crosby’s golden goal after this and see how wide the ice looks in that one. But what would you rather, the shorter one or the big ice? Probably the bigger ice. Like that just allows for more, you know, skill to shine through with more space. So, I guess like in terms of a watchability perspective, I think more ice surface to to operate would probably be more entertaining. Yeah. Okay. I would agree with that. We’ll see. It’s ticking down. Rosters going to be made in the next month. And I said a couple weeks ago that it’ be ridiculous if you leave off Cabbrini and Bedard and they’ve just continued to dominate. So, with rosters expanded, like I’m sorry to Mark Shley and Nick Suzuki, like those might be the two men who would deserve to go. Oh, really? Yeah. You don’t think so? Oh, wait. Never mind. For a second you said Shley. I thought you said Stone. Never mind. Oh, no. Stone’s locked in. Did you? I think I think I think Suzuki, by the way, is making it. Shley probably more more so on uh on the cusp there, but I think Suzuki for sure is a guy who’s going to end up making the team. But Celebrity minus 700 to make the team over on FanDuel. Bad minus 450. So, you know, our our traders at FanDuel are expecting both those guys to be there. Nick Suzuki minus 700 as well. That’s Anthony Celli. Anthony Celli. Tony Selli is minus 105. So, He’s He’s on the outs. Well, he’s Yeah, it’s basically even money at that point, but that’s like that’s John Cooper’s guy. I know. That’s why he’s gonna be there. I would I would almost guarantee it. Like Braden Point was one of the first six players. Don’t get me wrong. Braden Point deserves to be on this team, but I don’t know if I’d have him in my top six. John Cooper will be bringing Anthony Celli. I am fairly confident of that. So, KKnne is a player that was at Four Nations that is no longer uh favored. He’s now plus 340. So, there’s one spot that could open up that was not there. But, I think he’s the only player actually that was at Four Nations that’s that’s offering up plus money uh right now. Mackenzie Waguer. He was there, right? We was there. No. No. Okay then. Yeah. Just connecting right now. The only uh the only one that was there, Wyatt Johnson at plus 750. Oh, don’t talk about Wyatt Johnson yet. We’ll get to our three stars of the week next. You’re listening to Locked On NHL, your team every day. Today’s episode’s brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel, the NBA NHL. They’re back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or you want to ride a hot hand within it, FanDuel’s live bets on everything from who’s going to score next to comebacks. You can get it all at FanDuel. You can even get bigger payouts with the same game parlay. It keeps get every game exciting, especially when your team’s making a late push. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to FanDuel.com and sign up to play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Welcome back. Locked on NHL, your team every day, part of the number one sports podcast network, the Locked On podcast network. For more from me, you can go check out Locked On Ottawa Senators. For more from Mike over at Locked On Maple Leafs and Mikey, it’s not just the Colorado Avalanche that are dominating teams. The Dallas Stars are pulling away from the pack as well. They are the second best team in the National Hockey League. As we wake up this morning, they lost in overtime to the New York Rangers last night, but they have still put together a stretch of hockey that I mean, it’s truly incredible. They’re 10-1 and two in their last 13 games with a plus 25 goal differential. This team is dominating the opposition. And that leads in to our three stars of the week. I will start out with a Dallas Stars player. Oh, no. We’ll actually start out with some news breaks news. Yeah. Damn. Because then we’ll end positively with Dallas, right? Because I will get to my three stars. But Tyler Sean will be out long term. He’s he’s kind of been a sneaky player. Obviously dealt with a number of injuries over his time with the Stars, but he was having a heck of a start to the season. Yeah. And I mean, he just picked up where he left off last year. You know, like this is two straight years now where Tyler Sean has kind of got his game back in order and helped this Dallas Stars team. Uh and and you know, clearly they’re going to miss him. Um he’s a big time player for them. Uh it’s it’s tough. It’s tough. 17 points in 27 games. Pretty good. Last year he had 21 points in 20 games. Um, you know, so this is a guy who’s kind of got his career back in order and now with the it’s an ACL injury. Um, left the game last night with this one. It’s it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow and someone’s going to have to step up or possibly this could open up, you know, a potential trade too. You know, if Sean with this ACL, if he’s going to be out for the season, which is very possible. Nazam Cadri seems like a pretty good fit there in Dallas to take over his role and they’ll have that money if Sean’s going to be out for the year. So maybe you know I’m look I’m looking ahead a little bit but that could possibly be a good fit for for Naz. Yeah, interesting. We’ll keep an eye on Calgary is they are still stumbling throughout this season. And I don’t know why they don’t just commit fully and admit that this is a full-on rebuild. They’re literally building a brand new rink. It would be a perfect time now to start and then hit the ground running when I have a question. I have a question for you. A question for you. I have an answer. It’s a fantasy related question. I’m in a dynasty league and I for Brady Kachchuck. Oh, sure. I have Dustin Wolf as one of my goalenders. Do I give up on Dustin Wolf? Because he is killing me. I’m only allowed to ice two goalenders and he is killing me right now. Do I keep him? Do I keep Dustin Wolf in the Dynasty League or do I I I just cut bait cuz he’s costing me weeks. Man, I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Yeah, that’s what I’ll say there. Because Calgary’s main trade chips include two defenseman that are easily top four on any team. Mackenzie Waguer, Rasmus Anderson. Yeah. And now picture the the Flames, who by the way are defending well. That’s not the reason they’re losing games. They have not gotten key saves. is leading the league in save percentage or something. Like their backup has been exceptional. So he probably might start picking some games up. Anyways, I’ll have that conversation afterwards. But it’s interesting though. My third star of the week is Wyatt Johnston. He had a hat-tick against the Ottawa Senators. He is leading the league in power play goals this season. And just watching him, I haven’t watched a whole lot of Dallas Stars hockey this year. He is ridiculously skilled and he compliments Branton so well. They combined on a couple of those goals. And I just want to give some love to Wyatt Johnston because he is really impressing me the way he’s been able to take on more and more responsibility as still a really young player in this league. What is he 22 years old? I think. Yeah, he’s going to have a hell of a career ahead of him. So, I want to give him some stick taps. Third star of the week. 100%. I had him on my list as well as as one of the three stars of the list. So, for sure, Wyatt Johnston, he’s unbelievable. And he he’s a he’s a 200 foot player. He’s 197 foot player, too. So, wouldn’t surprise me if he made uh made team Canada. Uh the other guy I think I want to put some love in here and give him our our second star of the week. How about Yesper Walstat and what he’s been the Minnesota Wild. I mean, I know it’s a goalender and he has he doesn’t have to play every single night, but the two games that he’s played, he’s got a shut out. He’s 2 and0 and a 973 save percentage. But this guy’s been on fire over the last few weeks. He’s been arguably the best goalender in the NHL uh the last three four weeks here. Four shutouts already on the season. Um Yesper Walstad has arrived and that Minnesota Wild team, they’re they’re getting going. They’re getting going, which is uh you know, positive thing to see for them. I mean, they’re it wasn’t too long ago that they were outside of a playoff spot. Now they’re third in the NHL, uh winning eight of their last 10 games. And it’s crazy, man. that central division, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota. One, two, three in the division, one, two, three in the entire NHL. It’s a gauntlet of a division out there. Yeah. And that’s not even including the reigning President’s Trophy winners. And the Winnipeg Jets have been stumbling and bumbling since Connor Halabuk got hurt. They got smoked the other night by the Buffalo Sabres. They’re in Montreal tonight. And the Habs are going to be frisky after falling 7-2 to Colorado and then 5-2 in their return home last night against Ottawa. Number one star of the week. You want to take this one? I think it’s pretty cut and dry. Nate the great Nate McKinnon. I think uh for sure deserves to be the number one star of the week. Four games, five goals, four assists for nine points this week for uh for Nathan McKinnon and just seemingly just just he might be the best player on the planet right now. Like I that was a conversation they were having on the on the TSM panel the other day during the quiz, you know, like who’s the best player in the NHL right now. And I I think he it’d be hard to not have Nathan McKinnon there. Yeah. I mean, everything he’s touched turned to gold so far this season, so there’s no reason to go anywhere else. I think this is already a multi first star of the week. Gold or goal? I mean, call it what you want. Is he is he team Canada’s number one center at the Olympics? Getting back to that conversation, I guess. I mean, one A, one B, don’t matter. I mean, they’ll they’ll they’ll both find their way on the ice. It’s more like a one triple A and one double A cuz what an embarrassment of riches down the middle for team Canada. Like US has the edge in goalending. I think that’s uh very fair to say in terms of the depth at the position and the league MVP reigning in Halabuk. But like the fact that team Canada could literally ice an entire forward core of just center is ridiculous. They could easily and it’ be a very very very good team. I mean they’re going to kick Crosby to the wing. They’re going to end up kick like this. The the amount of players that they have who typically are centermen that they will end up having to kick over the wing is going to be I mean Braden Point’s like a two-time 50 goal scorer centerman and he plays wing with team Canada. There you go. Exactly. like that’s just the the way the way it is, you know. It’s it’s gonna be crazy. Um I will say I am a little concerned with Braden Point start as he’s one of the top six guy. He’s got three goals and he’s dash 11 in 21 games and the Lightning have been a wag. He’s fine. He’s fine. Come on now. Come on. All right. All right. Points. Come on. He’s fine. All right. Three stars of the week. Number one, Nathan McKinnon. Number two, Yesper Walstead. Number three, Wyatt Johnston. To learn more about all those players, check out your local locked on show. We got local experts on the biggest stories five days a week across the Locked On podcast network. For today, we say goodbye. We’ll hand it over to game night tonight. After a fun schedule tonight, there are five games, including the one we just mentioned. Winnipeg visiting Montreal. Dallas is in New Jersey. That’s going to be a sick game. And the Utah Mammoth against the Anaheim Ducks. That one has my attention. Love the young skill on both of those squads. Mammoth, after a hot start, they’ve fallen back down to earth. So, that will be a good test for them. We’ll chat next week. Flyers, baby. Sabres Flyers. Oh, yeah. Way to get that in there. Hey, shout out Josh Norris, man. Battling through injuries, two goals and an assist for him in his season debut. All right, for today we say goodbye for Mikey. I’m Ross and this has been another edition of the Locked On NHL podcast.

Colorado Avalanche dominate, Olympic rink drama, and three stars of the week. NHL talk with Ross Levitan and Mike DiStefano.

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