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What do you expect from some of these teams that had so many Olympians, on them?<\/p>\n
Well, it’s funny ’cause, like, initially I go to the, the physical toll that the Olympics took, and, you know, for Team USA and Team Canada, it was six games in 11 days, which is, you know, that, that is a grind like no other.<\/p>\n
But let’s talk about the emotional toll as well.<\/p>\n
And if you’re Auston Matthews, who’s now going back to the Toronto Maple Leafs, which are gonna be fighting tooth and nail to get into the playoffs, like, how do you go from just that emotional high of winning gold, captaining, captaining your team to a medal, a gold medal, then going off to Miami and partying it up, then the White House.<\/p>\n
Like, the, he basically got to live like someone who just won the Stanley Cup, only when you win the Stanley Cup, you also have, like, another month or so to digest and recover and then get back at it.<\/p>\n
Now, three days later, he’s gonna be back in the lineup and now having to do pretty much the same with the Toronto Maple Leafs team, like I said, that is out of a playoff spot and looking to get in.<\/p>\n
So, you know, it, it, it’s gonna be a tall order, and I, I don’t know what to expect out of these guys, but I’m not expecting their best right away.<\/p>\n
Well, Drew, how do you approach it?<\/p>\n
the, the winners, the losers.<\/p>\n
There’s, teams that had a ton of Olympians.<\/p>\n
There’s teams that only had a couple of Olympians.<\/p>\n
How do you approach this?<\/p>\n
I think it’s gonna be very different depending on the player and the team.<\/p>\n
I definitely think there’s a physical and mental toll, but I also think for a guy like Auston Matthews, who has been a great player in the league for a long time, he has kinda had this narrative around, you know, he hears what people say, then he goes and wins a gold medal as the captain.<\/p>\n
So I think for a guy like Matthews, I think he’s gonna be able to play completely free for the rest of the season and almost feel.<\/p>\n
And I think it’s just gonna be different.<\/p>\n
I think a team like Tampa, who had a lot of guys go there and probably not have the success that they want, then have a healthy Kucherov, like, I would expect Tampa to go on a tear here.<\/p>\n
I think we all kinda know how Nathan MacKinnon operates, and there was a lot of memes that kinda showed his face after the result, but, like, I could see the Colorado Avalanche going on a tear as well.<\/p>\n
then there could be also guys on the Team, American team who are way out of it, who kinda just shut it down for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
So I think it’s gonna be very different depending on the player and the team.<\/p>\n
Man, I, I An angry Nathan MacKinnon, Drew.<\/p>\n
Ho-ho, is there anything as scarier?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Like, I mean, I know it, like, went viral, obviously, and there was an entertainment factor, but, I mean, you could just tell that, like, I mean, guys like him, Makar, Toews, and now especially after the move they made this week, I think they’re definitely, in my book to be the favorites to win again.<\/p>\n