Is Nathan MacKinnon better than Connor McDavid?

Is Nathan MacKinnon better than Connor McDavid?

What up? What up? It's the Athletic Hockey Show Wednesday edition. It's December 3rd, 2025. I'm Sean Gentilli here with Sean Mack and doing Frankie Curado. Fellas, all business today. How we doing? >> All business. What's going on? It's been a weird year. I got a weird stat for you. I don't know why I'm fascinated by these types of things, but I just am. So, you have to bear with me. >> Here it is. I tweeted about it in case you missed it. But through December second, >> I have I have alerts set up on your tweets, too. >> I find that hard to believe. There's nothing noteworthy coming through that Twitter account. >> Through December 2nd, so yesterday, there was one team in the Atlantic with a positive goal differential. That was Tampa. One team in the Pacific with a positive goal differential, and that was Anaheim. The last time two divisions only had one team with a positive goal differential through December 2nd was 1998 1999. It was Carolina in the southeast or the southeast as they used to call it and Edmonton in the northwest. That's weird. The other thing that's weird is that we're having conversations about who's the best player in the game right now. Is it Conor McDavid? Is it Nathan McKinnon? It's up for debate at least as far as who is the best player right now today. >> See, Frankie, this is why I love you. You gave us the title for this episode right off the bat. That's that's the job. We We have We have a hook. Thank you for providing it, buddy. >> I I have to give a lot of credit to The Quizmaster at TSN. As you guys know, The Quiz is Canada's favorite game show, and he is behind everything that happens on it. And he doesn't just slap the questions together. It's like all week of tinkering and, you know, testing out these questions, calling people, really quite honestly, badgering people. And I know he's been sitting on this one for a while. So, I talked to him this morning. I took a 6 a.m. flight home from Montreal, called He called me actually in the car at 7:45 and we talked about it. So, I think if everyone's talking about it, we can float the question out there to you guys. Here's the question from the quiz last night. Has Four Nations MVP and current NHL scoring leader Nathan McKinnon surpassed, equaled, or remained slightly behind Conor McDavid as the preeeminent player on the planet. Shawn and Shawn, the floor is yours. >> I I love how you explain how it it's like a week of work that goes into that question and then we [laughter] just steal it. >> How many people did he have to call for that? >> Make it our show. I You know what? I'm I'm willing to bet that that's slightly in the third option was a few phone calls. Like I feel like that word was negotiated. So are we talking right now like one game to play for everything you own tonight or are we talking like there's a draft right now and we got to pick players? >> Let's do it this way. If if you had to rank based on, you know, who is the best player right now, not who would you take to start your franchise, not who would you um draft in a draft for your fantasy team, who's been the best player 1 through 10, 1 through 20 right now, is it number 29 or number 97? >> 29. Nathan McKinnon right now, this moment, this snapshot in time is the best player in the league. I I think Conor McDavid overall is the greatest player of his generation. He has been the best player long before this. He will be the best player again and will probably hold that title for a long time. But this is one of those times where we're seeing a bit of a dip from Conor McDavid. Like he seems like he's just a generational superstar instead of uh an immortal all-time elite this year. And Nathan McKinnon is just absolutely on fire. So, right now, one game to play tonight. Nathan McKinnon is my number one center over Conor McDavid. >> We're watching peak Nathan McKinnon right now. I I think I think I'm okay saying like the the stats are just are just overwhelming. Five goals in his last four. He had two last night, 3-1 win over Vancouver. Um led the league in even strength points in November. Tied for first in points, third in goals. Third in even strength goals. like he's he's got points in 11 of his of his last 13. And this is the thing that that struck me and this is something from our old buddy Cory Mazac. The ABS are outscoring the other team 37 to9 when he's on the ice this season. That's what tips it over. You know, if we want to just limit the discussion to is this the best version of McKinnon we've seen, I I think there's a fair argument for that. But if you want to frame it as do we want him versus McDavid, it's I I think right now until McDavid finds the seventh gear that we've seen from him so many times over over the last however many years. I think it's I think it's McKinnon and I and I I don't know if it's like I'm I'm surprised to hear myself say that on some end. I don't know if it's like an aesthetic thing or what, but like I what what tips what tips me over I think into onto team McKinnon on this is just it's it's stuff like the media session last night after beating Vancouver. It's like it was just kind of a boring game. A lot of whistles, a lot of icing, guys. He he was completely he was bored, but he was also mean. And I think that's the kind of stuff where I'm like, "Okay, we I need one dude for for one game. Yeah, I'll take I'll take the dog. >> My answer if I was on the quiz last night, but we're doing the quiz this morning. So, my answer is he has surpassed for the time being and it should be okay for us to have conversations about Conor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon and realize that just because McDavid is in the league every single year, he doesn't have to be >> named the best player at the given time. like Nathan McKinnon has clearly closed the gap, but it's it does feel weird. Like truthfully, it feels weird that we're having this conversation because it's always just been McDavid is standalone the best and everyone is kind of falling in line after that. Um, so it it does feel a little odd, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder if the timing of things helps facilitate this for Nathan McKinnon. Like Colorado since winning their Stanley Cup, they haven't been going deep into the playoffs. Whereas the Edmonton Oilers are going deep. They're one win away from a Stanley Cup two years ago, they're two wins away last year. Those are a lot of hard miles. Not to mention the hill that the team had to climb both seasons with slow starts. So, you're trying to leaprog everyone and go on heaters. And it's not like it's not like McDavid is surrounded with the same type of team this year anyways that McKinnon has in Colorado. So it always feels like it really falls on McDavid's shoulders. So the fact that there like there's a lot of work for him specifically. The the mileage the games played recently probably helps Nathan McKinnon close the gap and now we're looking at it saying it's fair to say that Nathan McKinnon is the best player in the NHL right now. But I never would have predicted that we'd be having this conversation December 3rd, 2025. >> And and how I mean this could be interpreted as us, you know, taking a shot at McDavid or the start that he's having. It's not that like how how great is Conor McDavid that the fact that the second best player in in the world is having an all-time heater is having maybe the best year of his career. And that is enough for us to go maybe maybe just in this this snapshot of time number two has surpassed number one. That's how far ahead Conor McDavid normally is when everybody is playing at their peak level, which he he hasn't been so far this year. Whether it's fatigue, uh whether it's it's the distractions with the contract, and whether it's just the normal eb and flow of how pro sports and and the NHL in particular works. um this is what was needed to open the door a crack for the again the second best player in the world having the season of his career to maybe just for a moment get get a nose ahead of of Conor >> McDavid. One of the one of the elements for me anyways that that helps nudge this in Nathan McKinnon's direction and it this is another thing that sounds weird to say because Conor McDavid has scored 64 goals in a season in this league before, but Nathan McKinnon is absolutely the better and more potent goal scorer. Like he's got 22 this season. You know, he's had 51. He's had 42. call it a a down year last year for McKinnon having 32, which we've certainly seen from Conor McDavid in the past, but like he is much more willing to shoot in more dangerous areas and be more of a shot threat than McDavid. It's just the reality. McDavid wants to make the pass that leads to an empty net goal or almost essentially like pass the puck into a net after deing out the goalender. But McKinnon has this ferocity at which he is attacking the net. And for me anyways, like the goal scoring sounds weird to say, guy scored 64 goals. Usually you would say that guy's the better goal scorer, but today Nathan McKinnon is the better goal scorer. >> Do you guys feel like he maybe got annoyed that he gave up the goalcoring lead for a little bit? Like he like Morgan Geeky ties him and he comes out and scores two goals last night. It's similar to what we saw from him last week whenever some of the young guys were catching up to him in in the in the point chase. It's like, okay, uh, never mind. I'm going to I'm going to handle business here. >> And I know I know I know it's I know it's de not annoyed. What? Okay. What >> motivated? >> Like pissed that a guy named Morgan Geeky was in the same category as him. Like you don't think Nathan McKinnon looks at that and says, "Dude, no disrespect to Morgan Geeki. He's a really good player and he's having a hell of a year. But you think Nathan McKinnon cares about Morgan Geeky? He probably looks at that and says, >> "Dude, you're nowhere near me. We got >> and I am going to blow away from you." Not annoyed, pissed that Morgan Geeky would even enter the conversation, my friend. >> I'm not getting passed by some guy named after a Diary of a Wimpy Kid character. >> Yeah, I'm not getting passed by a guy that didn't get qualified by the Seattle Kraken. No disrespect again. No disrespect again, butgan Morgan Geeky tied for the league lead and even strength goals last year. Excuse you. This is his second randomly really good season. He's at two now. >> No, I'm playing the role I'm playing the role of Nathan McKinnon. This not me talking. I'm talking like McKinnon right now. M [laughter] see the other the the other thing I wanted I wanted to bring up too and I I we should be able to have this discussion without turning in turning it into a slagfest on Conor McDavid because that's borderline impossible and crazy. But I will say I will say if we want to frame this in the Mando way and if we want to say like who is the guy you want on your roster in a must-win game, Conor McDavid was on the roster in a must-win game. He was on the roster in a game seven of a Stanley Cup final and his team lost. And if and if we want to make that the differentiation point for this discussion, I'll take the dude who won the cup because it feels like they're close enough right now. Maybe not last year, maybe not two years from now, but right now I think it's okay to pick hairs or or or uh or split hairs and be kind of pedantic about stuff. And and if it turns into rings discussion and rings culture stuff, like so be it. I'm okay taking the guy that has one if this is what it comes down to. >> Okay. Counterpoint. >> Conor McDavid played in another game la this this year where it was one game for everything and it was a gold medal game at the four nations. >> That's true. >> And and he scored the overtime winner. Now Nathan McKinnon was on that team. So, you know, he gets he gets a win as well. But uh I >> you got to consider the competition in that game, too. >> It's tough. I can't believe just called Conor McDavid [laughter] a choking dog. >> He's a choke. He's a choke artist, obviously. >> Wild take. >> Wow. >> Crazy crazy stuff. But you know what's going to be telling is now with the Olympics coming up, we're having the conversation. Everyone's having this conversation. It's fair to have this conversation at this point because of how well Nathan McKinnon has played. But when we get to the Olympics, it will be telling how other teams and other coaching staffs view this, especially if McDavid and McKinnon are playing on different lines, right? Like what are the Americans going to do if they have last change? Who gets the >> quote unquote hard matchup? Like, yeah, there's a lot of good players that, well, it goes without saying there's a lot of good players that you could play against either of those guys and be um, you know, comfortable with, but there's going to be a matchup that will tell us. They're going to there's going to be a matchup and there's going to be an ice time allocation that will tell us >> what's what right now in regards to, you know, both of these guys and who is, I guess, being taken as the more dangerous threat at the given moment. I I I think that's going to be a fascinating storyline at the Olympics. >> The the good news for Team USA is apparently they're going to bring three checking lines of [laughter] just grizzled veterans, so they it won't be an issue. They'll be fine. And then three guys who can score. That's that's probably not that important. >> Yeah. Just quickly on that, I need to jump right over the top rope on that real quickly. is the Americans forever. The Americans forever had this like MMO that like we're not as skilled, but we are going to forche and we're gonna run you out of the building and we're gonna check, check, check. And now American hockey has exploded with all these superstar skilled players. And you know what the Americans are going to say? Nah, check. We're good. We're [laughter] just going to check, check, check. Just like the old days. >> This is definitely This is This has definitely worked, right? We've played our way to so many silver and bronze medals since 1980. It's It's fine. The Robertson stuff is just I I know we talked about that last week, but I it's it's it's funny to see how that's hung around with the with the interview that Garren gave to gave to Pierre Lebron. Something we talked about on on the last show. Like I do appreciate Bill Garren for giving us something to talk about and something to watch for the next two months cuz people aren't forgetting it and nor should they because Jason Robertson's going to be sitting at home eating chips whenever when whenever the Americans are one goal down in in the third period of the gold medal game or whatever. >> He had his chance last night against Mike Sullivan to show what he could do. No points. >> We need to Well, you know what? That's the level that that's such a disappointing performance that that's that's the sort of thing Jen Tilly would call pulling a McDavid [laughter] just terrible. >> See, if the Rangers if the Rangers would have played that game at the Garden, like if if that game was not in Dallas, it would have been Hatrick City for Robertson. So, you can thank the schedule makers for whenever Robertson's left on left off the roster. All right, boys. We're going to take a little break. We're going to come back. back. We're going to talk Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets. Stick around. We'll be right back. All right, we spent the first segment uh digging my grave with with McDavid. We know this is just means he's going to have, you know, 14 points in his next three games and it's going to make my make my life hell. That's the way it's the way it goes. Win a game seven sometime. That's what that's what I say. Wanted to talk about another another really solid performance last night. We're getting used to the Yesper Walstat experience in in Minnesota. This is the latest shut out in a in a long string of them. Shuts out Edmonton 3 on 33 shots. He's won seven straight games, 944 save percentage overall. We have a great fake stat coming out of this game, fellas. >> The second fewest appearances to reach five shutouts as a goalender in their career. He did it in 15 games. Frank Brimick did it for the Bruins in 1934. That's right. Mr. Zero himself. >> We all remember. >> We all remember that, don't we? >> Um I Walstat's the front man for what we've seen from Minnesota over the last little bit. This is a team that I watched in October. I they looked as bad as bad as anybody could look. This is they were just empty at at five on five to the point where um I was ready to stick a fork in them. I was like this is this team for whatever reason just does not have the juice. It's it's whether they whether they dig a hole for themselves or what. This isn't going to work out for them. Well, in in comes Wellstead. Now they're 121 and two in their last in their last uh last month or so. In that stretch, they're outscoring opponents 46 to 25 overall, which is significant. They're also 14th in goals per 60 during that stretch overall. So, this is a team that's, you know, the goal differential is incredible, but they're also not putting a ton on the board. I think it's fair to say that Walstead is is the driving force behind this. And Russo and Joe Smith, you know, put together a really nice thing a couple days ago trying to explain, you know, how this team has has dug out of the hole. And it's and there's a ton of valid ton of validity to it. But to me, man, I just I I look at the shot in the arm they've gotten from that dude and also to a lesser extent Gustiffson and I'm like they're this season the season has been safe for them because they look cooked. Now they're now they're now they're second in a bunch of stuff to the ABS. That's that's going to be that's going to be one of the best goalending duos if those two guys stick together. Walstat and Gustiffson. Um, it's going to be hard to rival that for a lot of teams who lack talent in the net. And I find last night's game so significant because the Minnesota Wild play against the Edmonton Oilers, aka a team that lacks talent in the net. And if only the Oilers had an opportunity to acquire a player like Walstead. Oh, wait. They did have that chance. If you go back to the 2021 draft, Edmonton trades down. They end up picking 22nd and 90th. They draft Xavier Borgal. And then in the third round, Luca Munenberger, who's never played an NHL game, clearly, but the biggest insult to injury with that is not the fact that, you know, Edmonton has been searching for a goalie and needed a goalie at that moment and they didn't recognize that that was the guy they should have drafted. Not that now Walstead shut them out, you know, one- nothing, which is like the most insulting score because it's like we just needed one goal to beat you and this guy did the rest. Is the fact that right after Xavier Borggo, Wyatt Johnston got picked by the Dallas Stars. So, not only did you fumble not picking the goalender, you made the trade, you drafted the wrong player, and then this stud gets picked right after the guy that you specifically targeted and wanted to draft. That is crazy all the way around. And it almost comes, I guess you can say it comes full full circle last night with him shutting out um the Oilers. And like just to piggyback on some of those numbers you were talking about, Gentilly, like in in in the the month of November, this guy was 6-0 with a 1.14 goals against in a 967 save percentage with three shutouts. Are you kidding me? This guy's unbelievable. And they've got two franchise goalies in Minnesota. That sets you up for a lot in the future. and their scouting staff, the guys who who found him and decided to make that pick because Lord knows there's teams that are tentative to select goalenders in the first round. Minnesota wasn't. So that scouting staff deserves a lot of credit for pulling the trigger on that guy at that moment. >> And and they do, but two months ago, we would have looked at that pick and said, "What a bust that's turned out to be." Because I mean it look you take a goalie in the draft even if it's in the first round you're not going to see a payoff on that for a few years to come. Uh they just take longer to develop typically but this was a guy you know he he played a handful of games each of the last two years did not look like an NHLer and and this was the Philip Gustiffson show. This was his team. he was, you know, going to be the starter and yeah, okay, you you hopefully the kid can back up and not, you know, not embarrass himself and uh he'll get some experience and you build him up from there and no, didn't didn't need that. He's ready to be Terry Sachuk right now. [laughter] Uh it's it's and it's just one of those things where you look at it and you go, as much as you talk about the Oilers with their goalending and other teams where you just say like, "Oh, how come you didn't address the goalending games?" Some of times it just feels random. And again, this this guy was a first round pick. It's not like he's come out of nowhere, but this was not something that any of us looked at this Minnesota Wild team at the beginning of the season and said, "Yeah, you know what? I think their uh young backup goalie might suddenly turn into the VZNA front runner." And >> did did the did the Wild even look at themselves that they signed they signed Gusson to a big money extension and and >> like that thought they were a year away from a changing of the guard. So >> uh you know, hey that that's some of that is is what roster building is, right? You you try to get yourself some some lottery tickets or some guys with higher ceilings and you kind of hope that you can develop them and that uh eventually they wind up hitting that. But it's it's a strange one. And I got a question for you guys. Have we jumped the gun on already putting Matthew Schaefer's name on the Calder Trophy? >> Because as amazing as he's been, goalies qualify for the Calder, too. >> They don't usually win it, but >> I mean, if if you've got a goalender in the running for the VZNA, does that not uh at least get him into the conversation as good as Matthew Schaefer's been? >> Yep. He's going to have to play more, right? like he's going to have to get the net. He's going to have to keep it up. Like I'm I'm you know keeping up a 967 is going to be very very difficult. But if he has a Dustin Wolfesque season um and you know the the storyline matches up with Minnesota, really tough start, but this guy gets the net and all of a sudden drags Minnesota to a top two three spot in that division, which is a really difficult division. He he'll have a a compelling case. And listen, Matthew Schaefer is the front runner. Matthew Schaefer is also playing 23 minutes a night as an 18-year-old. So, it's it's justifiable. But, if this guy continues to play close to what he's playing like, yeah, he's he's going to be in the running. Um, and it's going to be, you know, as far as we'll see how it kind of shakes out, but it'll be like Schaefer one, uh, Walstat 2, and then you're talking about Demi Dov, Senica, and maybe a couple other guys. But like that's how quickly this guy has really put himself into that conversation. That's it. And if if Walstead wins it, it's going to be a weird looking trophy because it's going to have Matthew Schaer's name already engraved, crossed out over top of Demod's name, which was already engraved before the season even started, and now that's crossed out. And who knows, maybe one of those guys takes it back, or maybe it ends up being somebody else. But it's uh it's a fun race. And I I got to tell you though, every Minnesota Wild fan was loving this conversation right up until Frankie dropped the Dustin Wolf comparison. >> Oh my god. And boy, you you want to talk about goalending feel random, >> man. Who even knows these young guys? >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. >> Um well, do I It's a league award, right? This isn't the writers voting on this as we do for the CER, but do you know who the NHL rookie of the month was in November? >> It was Walat. >> It was. feel like I don't know that that means much, but I think it if nothing else, it's an indicator of how well he played in the in the last month. And Frankie, I'm I'm with you. I I don't I don't see him if he starts 39 games or something for the for the for the Wild down the stretch here. I It's tough to see it happening, but I don't know, man. >> Well, think about what he's done for his group. Like, we always talk about goalending. so important. How important was goalending to the Winnipeg Jets this year >> because now they don't have Connor Halabuk and they're having players only meetings after losing to the Buffalo Sabres and the guys on Toronto radio were talking about that and I think it's a valid point, right? Like you lose to Buffalo and you have a players only meeting. Isn't it insulting to the Buffalo Sabres? Like you guys are so bad >> and we lost to you in that fashion and we need to sort things out. something. >> Every time you win a game, the other team either fires their coach or has a players only meeting. >> Yeah. And it's a little insulting, but I get it. I get it. That's their That's kind of been what has marred the Buffalo Sabres for quite some time. But man, last year Winnipeg, here's my whole thing on the Jets. Last year, they were a really strong defensive team. They were hard to play against. ice, like premium ice was at such a premium to to acquire in those games if you were the opposition. And then you had the last line of defense in Connor Hellabuk and everything was great in the regular season. Well documented how the playoffs went. They come back this year. They're not a they're not as deep of a team because they don't have Nick Eers, but pretty much everyone's back. Like they added Jonathan Taves. He was never going to be the answer, but Nesnikov's there. Perfetti's there like it's the the third line is basically there save for Mason Appleton and your depth guys are there. It's all the same guys but they have been Horus and Connor Hellabuk was masking all of that and now you don't have him and you're getting you know thumped by the Sabres having a players only meeting. Now you got to play Montreal in their building. I mean just goes to show you what Connor Hllabuk was masking for for that team this year. It was different this year. He was more deserving of of an MVP this year for me anyways than last year because of the way the team had been playing. >> And Frankie, how how much does it change how everybody else plays >> based on the goalender? Like you you like who was the best goalie you ever played in front of? And I won't ask who the worst was, but you played for the Leafs, so you know I probably figure that >> I had to worry about when it comes to bad goalies. I had to worry about my own backyard before anything. But like I'll give you an example, man. Like you know there's there's let's say your your other goalie goes in and he's bad and everything seems to go in. You're nervous. You're tentative. You feel like, "Oh, I I can't make that play because if it doesn't go right or I got to make a stand here and be super aggressive because if I let a shot from this area of the ice, it's going to go in and I'm going back to the bench with a minus and it's just not a good feeling." But I would say Winnipeg shouldn't have been looking at it that way. This should have been a bit of a rallying point for the Jets because for the first few games anyways when Comry or Militch was in the net, the Jets were getting about like even on goal saved above expected. Maybe just a little bit more, maybe even, maybe just a little bit less. Wasn't like you were checking the report after and it was minus 2.5 goals saved above expected. So, this should have been the Jets opportunity to say, "We don't have our safety blanket anymore. We need to figure this out as a team." Like, we need to play with the pace and the structure and the defensive acumen that we know we can because we've done it and they clearly have not done that. So, there's another way you can look at it DGB. You can be nervous about who's in the net, but if the guy is in the net is about doing his job like in and around it, then it's more on you to be like, I need to elevate a little bit more. And you cannot honestly say that the Jets have done that at that at this point. >> They're [snorts] 49 and0 in their last in the last 13 games. They're if the playoffs started today, they'd be outside in that stretch. In that 13 game stretch, they've been outscored 45 to 32. and they're like mid midtable across the board in terms of expected goals for expected goals against. So this is a mediocre team that's getting like Frankie like you said it's not league worse goalending they're getting average goalending and it seems like they don't know how to function whenever they're getting average goalending versus versus high-end goalending. Is that is that fair to say? Like I like are are they so accustomed to having the hella buck safety blanket that whenever you just throw in you know someone like Eric Comry who's again this isn't they're not getting this he's not doing beachball stuff but back there right like like they're getting they're getting half decent play from from their guys in in the meantime. >> Yeah. >> Like but the results are still just putrid. He He's not doing some of the stuff that DGB suggested some of my old goalenders were doing, which I would never suggest because they are the best. And I love those guys, every single guy that I played with. But I guess >> this is what the group chat's for. See, we can we can get the Credo the Credo Leafs Leafs team goalie power rankings. >> No one ever cost me a minus. I cost myself every minus out there. But I will say this, like I played with Jacob Marstrom for a year in the minors and we went all the way to the finals and that year he was a beast. Like he he kind of shouldn't have been in the AHL that year and he know he knew it. Everyone knew it, but he kind of just embraced like I'm going to go get it and and I'm going to force my way back up. And he sure enough did and then became one of the best starting goalies in the NHL. But that year, if there was ever a game where we needed a little extra juice, he had it for us. And if there was ever a game where maybe he struggled, you could bet you're bet the house that the next game there was nothing going in. It was crazy the the bounce back that he had. And it was remarkable like the the mental fortitude and it's it's not easy to be a starting goalie in the NHL, but to like what we're talking about with the Jets is more about second line doesn't have a lot of presence. You know, Adam Lowry is still getting up to speed from the injury. like they're just they're not they're not as sharp as they were last year and they don't have they don't have the the Ray Donovan of goalenders to clean up their mess back [laughter] there anymore. >> I was not expecting a Ray Donovan reference to today. >> Toss that one off, baby. >> Here's the last thing that scares me about Winnipeg is we talk about other teams that are have had slow starts or bad stretches. We've talked about the Oilers. The Oilers are one point out of a playoff spot. We talk about, you know, the Maple Leafs for, you know, for months have been a disaster. They're three points back of second place in their division. You look at the Jets, >> they're looking up the standings, specifically in the Central. >> A lot of teams, >> uhoh, they are I mean, you've got Colorado running away. >> You've got Dallas right behind them. You've got Minnesota is unbeatable right now. So, I mean, you're almost looking at it for Winnipeg going like, what what's our best scenario here? Are we are do we now have 50 games to get a wild card spot and that's our best case scenario after winning the president's trophy a year before we're going to be a wild card potentially have to play Colorado in round one. Um it's tough. It's the one division where you you just can't fall behind if you want to you know certainly if you're trying to get home ice for the playoffs good luck because they're they're the teams ahead of you are not playing along. They are just disappearing over the horizon right now. >> Got just tread water until Michael Clayton comes back. That's what Conor Halib's nickname is. That's that's my media of choice. Frankie, you you got to jump off. I know you have a game tonight. Which which one is that? It's It's Habs. >> No, I got I got Leaf Panel tomorrow night. >> Oh, >> Leaf Panel tomorrow night. So, getting the big show treatment. DGB will be watching. Um, and then back >> PJs >> back in Yeah, exactly. Back in Montreal on Sunday for Habs Blues, the Bull Duke Mayu Bowl. >> Oh, man. Very nice. Go get it. We know you got to jump. We'll talk to you next week, bud. >> Okay, see you, boys. >> All right, there goes Frankie. Before me and Matt can tell you what we learned, wanted to share some news about the network. The Tennis Podcast managed to secure Andy Murray's first major interview since retiring last year. It's a big deal. He's going to lift the lid on what it was like going head-to-head with Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and he's going to talk about how retirement has reshaped his perspective of his career. So, that's big news for the tennis heads out there. All right, McDude, what have we learned? >> What have we [music] learned, Sean? I learned that uh the Olympic rink if it gets finished on on time uh is apparently going to be 4 feet short [laughter] which I am >> fascinated to see how that uh that plays out. Uh which look I I want to make fun of it but also you can tell that like don't you get the sense that Gary Bman is just itching for an excuse to pull the plug on this? So, like I feel like if if if we make a big deal out of this, um, you know, he just he just jumps on that. But yeah, >> he's the he's the guy he's the guy in the bar saying, "Give me a reason." >> Exactly. So, I don't know. Four feet. I I I'm assuming they're just going to take that out of the neutral zone, but maybe not. Maybe like one of the nets will be like uh in the in the end boards, >> right up against the boards. All I know is, yeah, when when the Kachuk brothers are going full speed on the dump and chase, they're going to uh uh they're going to be in for a surprise uh a fraction of a second earlier than they normally would. >> I think I think the the construction delay is I I'm more concerned about that personally. [laughter] Yeah, but the fact that the fact that the the rink is going to be 4 feet short does not speak well to the planning that went into this. >> That just sounds like that sounds like good clean fun to me. >> Feels like part of the same problem. I don't know how how comfortable it will be. But >> we had R Russ Russo and CJ are on this. They had a reported story published on Tuesday. One source well-versed on the building status told the Athletic that organizers needed quote a big bomb, not just a fire to get their asses in gear on the construction. That's great. Um, it's supposed to be finished by mid December and it sounds like there's no roads that lead up to the arena right now. So, that's could be it could be could be kind of an issue. Do you want to hear my big conspiracy on why this is happening? >> Yeah, absolutely. Just looking for justification to bring Tom Wilson to Milan, baby. Okay, >> small ice, tight checking. We've heard more than enough about it from both GMs already. Tom Wilson, five goals in his last five games. They want an excuse to put him on the roster and leave off Bedard and they're creating it for themselves. >> This could be it. I I think uh what they might need to do is just, you know, every player they're looking at they're, you know, what's their experience? Have they played internationally? How are their numbers? I think now they got to look and say, "Is there any kind of construction background here?" Like, [laughter] >> "Yeah, >> Tom Wilson, like you're like a, you know, you're like a real hard hat sort of guy." Like, "Yeah, I do bag and crack." No, no, we mean put on this hard hat and go get that rink finished because we got a game in six hours and they uh they didn't get around to uh to finish this up. >> Brock Nelson, was your uncle a contractor? Did you work summers for him back in Minnesota? clean up sights or whatever. Yeah. >> Some light light construction work. >> What I've learned is that the color on color game between the between the Rangers and the Wings, what was that? Leaves and Wings. Oh my god. >> No, it was uh Rangers Red Wings. >> It was such a smashing success that I forgot the teams that played in it. But we're going to get more. There's one coming up. I'm not gonna totally spill the details yet, but you can expect more color on color games on TV in in the future. I was I was wild to see how much Yes. >> who it is and when, but you can't say. >> I mean, I told you >> got a little bit of a scoop. Yeah. I mean, I know. >> You know, you know it, too. >> I will be dropping this scoop on uh on social media immediately after this. Must credit. >> Follow Down Goes Brown at Blue Sky Social. It's that's that's where it's going to live. I I just I like seeing this because the because first off, I was surprised that people lost their minds over it the way that they did. Yes, it looked cool, but the but the amount of attention that it got, not just from hockey fans, sort of took me by surprise. So, kudos, I guess, to the league for realizing that, you know, they stumbled into something cool and trying to make it trying to make it happen again. I enjoyed it personally. >> It Yeah, it it it looks good. They should do it more often. Uh, it's weird that it took them this long to figure it out, but better late than never. >> Better late than never. >> Can I give you a bonus? >> The NHL story. >> I'll give you a bonus thing that I learned cuz I was just looking at the Oilers schedule. Uh, they are in Pittsburgh in two weeks. So all you pulleys out there, if you're looking to figure out when Conor McDavid is going to break Sitler's points record >> and then gesture up at the press box [music] every single time, it's that >> oh man, he's going to he's going to point directly at me and they're going to be wearing orange jerseys or whatever. That'll be a color on color match up, too. >> Tie just [music] tie it all together. All right, Sean McInoo, thank you very much. And all right, Frankie Crado off in the distance. Thank you very much. I I know you can hear me. Thank you fine folks for listening to the Athletic Hockey [music] Show. We're back on Wednesday. Haley and Shaina are here tomorrow. [music] I may or may not be there. Tune in to see. Not that you care. But either way, have a great week and thank you fine [music] folks again. Thanks for watching. Make sure to like and subscribe and ring the bell to stay informed and catch new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And in the meantime, you can join our Discord community.

The Colorado Avalanche are a league best 19-1-6 to start the season. Sean, Sean and Frank discuss the powerhouse team led by MVP favorite Nathan MacKinnon, and if he is better than Connor McDavid right now? The guys talk about the once great Winnipeg Jets, mired in a bad slump who are having players only meetings, the breakout season for Jesper Wallstedt and the Minnesota Wild and how the Olympic ice might be 3 to 4 feet short.
#hockey #nhl #avalanche

0:00 Intro
1:14 – Who is the best player in the NHL right now? Nathan MacKinnon? Or Connor McDavid?
16:04 – Two franchise goalies in Minnesota with Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson
22:17 – Can Wallstedt steal the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year from favorite Matthew Schaefer?
25:01 – Winnipeg Jets players only meeting after loss to Buffalo Sabres
26:00 – The Jets miss injured MVP Connor Hellebuyck
34:06 – Olympic rink in Milan is four feet short
37:03 – NHL to have another dark jersey vs dark jersey game next week.

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