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Sean Gentile
Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
Frankie Corrado
Right?
Sean McIndoo
And the best part? They accept Discover.
Sean Gentile
Except Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so. Jennifer.
Sean McIndoo
Oh yeah, huh?
Sean Gentile
Discover is accepted where I like to shop.
Sean McIndoo
Come on baby, get with the times.
Sean Gentile
Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants.
Sean McIndoo
These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99 of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report. Foreign. This is the Athletic Hockey Show.
Sean Gentile
What up? What up? It's The Athletic Hockey Show 4 March 11, 2026. I'm Sean Gentile here with Sean McIndu, Frankie Corrado. Frankie, I caught whatever you had last week and I think I caught it over the TV broadcast. Oh, man of the trade deadline thing. I didn't know that diseases could be communic or communicable that way, but it seems to have happened.
Frankie Corrado
Did you like. I did. I did a late night panel. It was a late Habs game in San Jose and I sounded horrible. And all I was thinking was, thank God that this is like an 11:30pm start in the Maritimes and 12am start in Newfoundland because that's where most of our viewership is in that. That region. Like, hopefully they're sleeping and no one's listening to this. Just God awful voice I have.
Sean Gentile
You're a busy guy.
Sean McIndoo
The bad news is if. If you can catch whatever Frankie has over the tv, half of Canada is going to be sick because.
Sean Gentile
Oh yes, look at those ratings, baby. Look at them.
Sean McIndoo
Friday.
Frankie Corrado
Oh, the pr. The release came out. Yeah. Thank you. It was. You know what, man? It's a lot of. It's a lot of hard work from a big crew of people for weeks leading up to that day. And honestly, like, I think I've told you guys this before, but like they plan a nine hour show and just assuming that there's no trades that are ever going to happen. So we always have something to do and as trades come in, we'll knock things off that are of lower significance. I think this might have set a record for like most things we actually used in that nine hour show because nothing was happening. So credit to everyone. And Duffy nailed it again. The Rolodex was so good. The Daniel Dale thing was hilarious.
Sean Gentile
A plus on that.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, it was. It was great. Great.
Sean McIndoo
Do you have like, do you have stories of stuff that was ready to go that never got used? That like.
Frankie Corrado
Yes.
Sean McIndoo
They're like. There's like trapeze artists sitting in the back that.
Sean Gentile
This is like new. This is news to me. I'm surprised you haven't actually told us this. That there's like, you know, six hours worth with the extended DVD juggling. Juggling contest that we got into.
Frankie Corrado
There's no, there's no like circus freaks like in the back, just like in a cage waiting to like get rolled out onto the set to see, you know, what we're gonna do to kill some.
Sean Gentile
Are you sure? Are you sure there's none.
Sean McIndoo
Some guy with a. My hair for o dog to fight? Yeah, that would be great.
Frankie Corrado
That's probably coming. Like there's going to be a hologram of like a. A bear that at some point we're gonna have to wrestle. But now the one thing that got dropped, the quizmaster Comes up to me and he goes, could you make an argument, you versus Carlo, could you have a debate where you argue to keep the playoff positioning as is? So, like the divisional thing with the wild card and Carlo is going to take the one through eight approach. Can you argue that? I looked at him And I said, Mr. Quizmaster, absolutely not. I hate, hate, hate this stupid playoff format. I think it's dumb. I think it. You can't explain it to a casual fan or a non fan. Like, you can twist my arm on some things, you cannot twist my arm on this thing. He goes, understood, no problem. Don't want to make you uncomfortable. Comes up to me 30 minutes later, he goes, don't worry, it's dropped. Anyways.
Sean Gentile
The quiz master, the quizmaster knows all, for the most part, with the exception of who he was talking to when it, when it came to. When it comes to the playoff format debate, like, you are firmly on one side of that, my friend. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's decisive there.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, like, we're getting some crazy. We're going to get some crazy finishes here down the stretch. Like, I will say that it's going to be really compelling hockey here because it's tight. It's tight in the east, tight in the west, and I don't know, man, we'll see the sprint to the finish. Who's hanging on?
Sean Gentile
Let's start with that. Let's talk about the, about the Eastern conference specifically. There's 13 games last night. I mean, basically everyone wins. The Wings are kind of, kind of the, kind of the lone exception. But the teams that are in the mosh pit, you know, for the, for the wild card spots in particular, everybody ends up winning. Last night, it's Montreal, it's Columbus, it's, you know, Pittsburgh squeezes a point out out of Carolina in a game that they shouldn't have. Islanders beat the Blues for three. You know, I think that's the way. I don't know if I was ready for this is probably, is probably the best way to put it. I said this in relation to the Penguins on the radio in Pittsburgh and wherever else. Whenever they started dealing with the Crosby injury and then the Malkin suspension, I was like, yeah, there are all these, all these teams that they're trying to keep pace with. Like, none of them are that good. It's not, it's not that big of a deal. And now here we are where we're talking about night after night. You know, the sends are rolling on and on, like, all these teams who are in this race in the Eastern Conference, they're all up and operational and very, very relevant at the moment.
Frankie Corrado
I think if you are the Detroit Red Wings, you are me going back for a puck, trying to break it out, and you're hearing like the heavy, heavy footsteps of someone who's coming to get it for you, and you might turn it over and you're hearing it. That's, that's how I would equate what the Red Wings are going through right now, because it's only one game. They lost one game. And keep in mind, they're coming off a pretty decisive win over New Jersey on the weekend, so it's not time to panic yet. But no, Larkin Kopp only played 10 minutes last night, so that means now, you know, JT Confer is your, your number one center. And we're into March. And historically March has been a disaster for them. Like, this is where they fall off. And if you look at what's going on around them, Boston continues to win, Columbus continues to win, the Senators continue to win. And the thing is, like, you know, goal differential can tell us a story. It's not everything, but it can tell us a story. Out of all those teams that have a realistic chance of making the playoffs, the Red wings are a minus two. Like, Boston's a plus 13, Ottawa is a plus 16. You know, even Columbus is a plus four. It's like, it kind of tells you where, where you're headed. Like, I think Detroit, they're in hang on mode, or they might be in hang on mode very, very soon here.
Sean McIndoo
And they're also in disaster avoidance mode because anytime you're talking about a playoff race, obviously everybody wants to get in. But for the Red Wings this year especially, you know, last week we just saw them give up a first round pick to lock down this current playoff push. If they were to miss, it's. It's disaster. And it's got to be a lot of tough stuff to think about. And they're not there yet is the best thing I can say. So I guess make sure you lock it down because, not to get out over our skis, but if we're sitting here in a month and the playoffs are starting and Detroit's not there, yikes.
Sean Gentile
If Detroit's not in there and everyone can look at their Puckpedia page and see that they have $12 million in cap space that they didn't spend at the deadline. Like, that's. I thought coming out of deadline day, they were one of the biggest losers of all, honestly. Like, I know, you know, you got to get Justin Falk. That's a nice player. I know prices were high. Maybe you don't want to go and send back half your system for Vince Trocheck or whatever it would have taken. Understood. But you got to do something. You got to do something, especially when you're that team in this situation after 10 years out of the playoffs or whatever it's been with that amount of money to spend, because we always knew that center depth in particular was going to be an issue for them. You know, you're talking about. You're talking about Andrew Kopp and JT confer on good days, being your 2. Being your 2C and 3C, that's not good enough for a playoff team when everything's going right. You know, you're one injury from Dylan Larkin away from having a. From having a center depth chart that looks like lottery team. Well, guess what happened now? Here we are. Yeah, it's. It's a. It's a mess.
Frankie Corrado
I liked the move for Justin Falk. Like, if you asked me, what do they need to address first, Sean, I would have said, address your D core first because Larkin's healthy. Cops healthy. You can get by. Is it. Is it perfect? No, but it's NHL playoff salvageable, in my opinion, anyways. But they weren't going to be able to get by on that decor without having an improvement there. Like, you were asking a lot from ASP and, you know, JBD and all the other initial names that they have there. Just joking. Travis Hamnick. Right?
Sean Gentile
Th. Yeah, Right.
Frankie Corrado
So they needed the Falk trade done. But the thing that will drive their head Coach Crazy, Todd McClellan, is if you watch back what happened last night, okay? Florida's pressing. They scored the goal, they tied up. There is 30 seconds left in that game, and you have guys that you trust on the ice, and, like, Lucas Raymond's a hell of a player, but he takes a skate, like, behind the net off the rush, the puck gets turned over, and sure enough, it's like if he just kind of did a little bit of a loop or a stop in front and busted his back of his butt back. It's like that goal doesn't happen. So that's not, you know, that's not fourth line or that's not Dominic Shine messing it up for you. It's like kind of like a big player on your team making a costly mistake. And like, those are the things that Todd McClellan has been, like, harping on with this team from game one, Game one of the regular season where it was like back and forth, odd man rush, breakaway everywhere. And they did it in like such a critical moment and that would drive him crazy.
Sean McIndoo
And it doesn't get any easier. Tampa up next, you know, in, in Tampa, then at Dallas.
Frankie Corrado
So.
Sean McIndoo
And then they've got Calgary in between. But then next week, you might as well say the playoffs arrive now in Detroit because next week they host Montreal, Boston, Ottawa in a row. There it is. That's, I mean, that's, that's three games. I mean, I mean you win all three of those games, you're, you're kind of locked in at this point. You lose all three, it's very bad.
Sean Gentile
It's not good.
Sean McIndoo
Chances are it's going to be somewhere in the middle. But how it shakes out. And do those games end in regulation? Do they not? That's going to tell. That's going to tell a real big piece of the story.
Sean Gentile
Yeah. And I'm usually the last guy who's like, make a trade just to make a trade. Like, I think that's for the most part. For the most part. That's a bad way to go about, go about your business. If you're that Red Wings roster in the situation that you're in after years and years and years and also the last few years of the way stuff's falling apart on them in one way or another. Got to do it.
Frankie Corrado
That's it, man. It's like you've had it so many times. Two years ago it was like the last night of the regular season and it was like gone. Why was it gone? Lost six in a row in March at the worst possible time. And what happened? Didn't have Larkin. Like, man, when you, when this team doesn't have Lin, it's hard for them. They can do it for a little bit, but it's. That's, that's, that's the engine that drives this thing. That's all the horsepower. It's in 71.
Sean McIndoo
Andrew, they traded. Sorry shot the first round pick. They traded not. No protection on it, not conditional, anything like that. Obviously they're not going to drop down to bottom five or something given where they already are in the standings. But there's no, hey, we got to make the playoffs, protection or anything like that on it. So that, that's an issue as well.
Sean Gentile
It's only been 10 years. Yeah, no big deal.
Sean McIndoo
And you know, there's always Buffalo. Right. You can always point to the Sabers and say, oh wait, no, you can't, because the Sabers are about to go 16 and. Oh. And win the Stanley Cup.
Sean Gentile
You got. You got it. You got to think about that. Like, if. If this ends for them, if the Sabers end up breaking the futility streak, like, where does that spot. Where does that particular spotlight turn?
Frankie Corrado
Dude. I'll ask you guys straight up, straight up right now, are the Buffalo Sabres a true standing Stanley cup contender?
Sean Gentile
I kind of think they are.
Sean McIndoo
After. After that game in Tampa. Yes.
Frankie Corrado
Okay.
Sean McIndoo
I would have been an iffy on that before or. Sorry, not in Tampa. The game against Tampa in Buffalo. I'm on board now because that was the game of the year. Not just in terms of, you know, all the goals and everything, but the bad blood, the atmosphere. Oh, my goodness, that was. And. And the fact that the way that the Sabres came back to win that. I'm. I'm all in. I'm on.
Frankie Corrado
Okay.
Sean McIndoo
Part.
Frankie Corrado
Part of me. Part of me thinks that what this. Okay, what the Sabres are doing is unbelievable. Part of me does think that, like, we're jumping to, like, crown them and anoint them a little early. Like, they've. They've played incredible, but, you know, like, not. This is not like that. The Sabers are just going to fall off a cliff. Cliff. This is that. You know, it's not easy to win in the playoffs, and we always talk about experience and, you know, they. They haven't done it yet, so, you know, we're always kind of skeptical of it, but part of me is like, just get in there and be naive to the whole thing and just do exactly what you're doing, because it is awesome to watch right now. They're fast, they're hungry. And, you know, Tampa. Tampa was the Florida Panthers before the Florida Panthers came around. They'd push you, they'd shove you, they'd try and fight you. And it was the top guys that were doing it, too. You know what Buffalo said, no problem. Rasmus Dalin, he'll be right in the middle of it, right after getting tomahawk chopped by Evgeny Malkin. He'll stand in there and guess what? We brought in meat. Brought in Sam Carrick. He's fought already. We brought in Logan Stanley. He fought already. Like, if there was one thing that you looked at and said, ah, maybe they're not tough enough, maybe. Which was a valid thing last year when all you talked about was how no one stood up for each other. It's like they have completely flipped the script in Buffalo. And I think it's valid to Say that they are a true Stanley cup contender.
Sean Gentile
It's a great tweet from our buddy DJ Bean yesterday. The best rivalry in the NHL is the Buffalo Sabres versus whoever they're playing that night.
Frankie Corrado
That is great.
Sean McIndoo
It's true.
Sean Gentile
Each. Each night is must see TV for them. I got the alert yesterday during or whenever that was two days ago during. During the Tampa game. My. My. My buddy Greg, the Sabres fan, he's like, you. You need. You need to put on sabers. Lightning. Okay? Came through, baby. Every single night.
Frankie Corrado
Dude, I'm not even joking right now. Like the center ice package. If it's not.
Sean Gentile
It was cooking last night.
Frankie Corrado
If it's not like a team that I have to watch because I'm calling their game the next day or something. My first overall pick right now is Buffalo. And I would. I would say that for the last couple of years, I like to build like a Do not watch list.
Sean Gentile
Oh, for sure.
Frankie Corrado
And they would have been top five on the do not watch list for the last couple seasons. And now they're first overall. I can't wait to watch Buffalo play.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, it's wild.
Frankie Corrado
What's going on.
Sean McIndoo
Because. Because they were a bummer. I mean, they were just, you know, not just that they weren't entertaining, but you just felt sad watching them. Like in your core, you could feel it. And I love this. This is the story of the year. That was the game of the year. I saw somebody had a stat like their. Their record in mid December. They were like 14 and 18 and they got to 40 wins before they got to 20 losses or whatever. Like, I mean, some. This is. This doesn't make any sense. There is no way you could go back in December and tell someone when they. When they firing Kevin Adams and say they're going to be a wagon the rest of the year again. I guess we can dust off the Lindy Ruff apologies that we all needed. Remember a few years ago and the Devil fans were chanting, fire Lindy. And he goes on and gets him into the playoffs and into the Jack Adams talk and everything. Here we go again. Maybe this guy, maybe the old guy knows what he's doing after all. Or maybe he's just smart enough to get out of the way and say, we got something really, really special going on. It just happens in sports sometimes. Maybe it doesn't make sense. Don't analyze it. Don't worry. Don't tell me that their expected goals is like 27% at 5 on 5. Just ride the wave. See how long it lasts. Yes, and, and I mean, I don't even have to tell Sabres fans enjoy it. Like, they're way ahead of us on this. They have earned it.
Frankie Corrado
There was guys lighting darts, apparently in the arena last night in the 300 section. Like, if that's not Buffalo, I don't know.
Sean Gentile
Buffalo, baby.
Sean McIndoo
That's.
Frankie Corrado
That's Buffalo.
Sean McIndoo
After the Lightning game, I think everyone needed to. To light.
Frankie Corrado
They needed a dart. Like, just like Fridge needed a dart at the Olympics.
Sean Gentile
Everyone been there, been there, brother.
Frankie Corrado
I, I would actually. I feel like I remember seeing like, the fanduel odds at the start of the season. Like, who would be the first coach fired? Was it not Lindy?
Sean McIndoo
That's right up there.
Frankie Corrado
Like, Lindy was going to be the first coach fired. Instead, it's like, they're going to throw. They're going to throw Lindy a parade.
Sean McIndoo
I mean, it was there, there. It was somewhat surprising that when they, when they made the move from Kevin Adams, a lot of people were thinking, Lindy's going to go to wholesale change.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah.
Sean McIndoo
Get the, you know, let the new GM pick his new guy.
Frankie Corrado
And.
Sean McIndoo
And if it had happened, everyone would have gone. Yeah, of course. This team stinks.
Sean Gentile
I think that's my only complaint about the Sabers, really, is that they pulled this together after I was finally like, out on them forever. Like, the way, the way the first couple months of the season went for them, the run up to Adams getting fired after years and years and years of like, maybe kind of as a bit being like, no, this is it. Sabers are going to pull it together. You know, Tage Thompson is going to be a complete player and blah, blah, Owen Power is going to look like the number one pick and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All those things we'd fallen back on for however many years. I was finally off. I jumped ship. I was done, like in November. I was like, this team is hopeless and everyone needs to get traded. And you strip it down to the studs and just start over. And they've proven me wrong. So I do have some degree of resentment for the Buffalo Sabres.
Frankie Corrado
There's a lot of people would. A lot of people would. And let me pose this to you guys, okay? I think if you were going to pick one thing that would hold the Sabres back, you would say, can they win or compete for a Stanley cup with their goaltending? And we're talking upl. Lyon, Colton Ellis, like, can they do it? And I guess I would point to the landscape of the Eastern Conference and say, okay, Vasilevsky plays for The Lightning. But Montreal is going to roll out Dovish, probably, or Montembo. Carolina is going to. We know Carolina's goalie situation come playoff time. It's like, we've seen it. Pittsburgh is going to roll out. Sheel Offs. The Islanders are going to roll out Sorokin. He's really good. If the Red Wings get in, it's John Gibson, who's had a great season, but he's been, you know, in and out of the lineup because he's been nicked up a little bit. Boston. Boston's going to go Swayman. And then if, you know, if Columbus gets in, it's Elvis. If Ottawa gets in, it's Linus. I guess the whole thing of what I'm saying is, like, outside of, like, two goalies, you're kind of like within the ballpark of what everyone else is rolling out there in that, are you not?
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. And are you that scared of a Tampa matchup? You know, which is one of the few where I would say after that,
Sean Gentile
after that game a couple days ago,
Sean McIndoo
you just put eight goals.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, but Johansson was in that.
Sean McIndoo
I get that. But. But also, we scored eight goals against these guys. All right. Bring in a better goalie. Was he going to stop all eight of them? We can score on these guys.
Sean Gentile
They should be. If they should be afraid of Tampa, but I don't know if they're going to be. And so it's like, it's. That that game was. Was good enough for. For, you know, to convince themselves, if nothing.
Sean McIndoo
See, the thing with that game is because they had also beat Tampa a week earlier, but that was one of those, okay, we went in, we played the good team in their building. They slept on us a little bit. Maybe they didn't show us the respect. Whatever. You got to that game Sunday night, and you could tell the Lightning were like, now we're going to go into your building and you're getting the real Lightning, and we're going to do all the stuff that we do before the whistle, after the whistle, you're getting our full game. Let's see how you handle this. And the Sabres just went, all right, bring it. Let's see how we handle it. And we got the game of the year. It was. It was so good.
Sean Gentile
You're right. You're. You're calling it already game of the year.
Frankie Corrado
Well. Oh, I guess.
Sean McIndoo
Who's going to beat that?
Frankie Corrado
Who's.
Sean McIndoo
I mean, no, of the regular season. It's done. I mean, we can. We can engrave the trophy. Like, there's we're not seeing anything like that.
Frankie Corrado
So. So dgb, you don't think that the Saturday night Leafs Sabers game coming up has any chance of topping that?
Sean McIndoo
I mean, I, I, I. The way things are going, any Leaf game could be because I've just never seen a game where all 10 guys on the ice are shooting on the same net at this point. And I think we could get there with the Maple Leafs, but the less said about them, the better.
Sean Gentile
No, you guys get to watch Easton Cowan on a scoring line now that everything's, everything's fixed.
Sean McIndoo
That's, that's crazy. What a concept.
Frankie Corrado
I look forward to when Easton Cowan is on the ice. That's about it.
Sean Gentile
That's very measured, measured praise there, Cap. Sabers tomorrow night. That feels, that feels important. That feels like an eliminate impossible elimination game for Washington at this point. Be watching that one. All right, we're gonna hit a break. When I come back, we're gonna talk about the Nathan McKinnon goaltender interference incident from last night. A couple other things stick around.
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Sean Gentile
All right, we're back. McIntyre, you called Tampa Buffalo the game of the season on Monday night. It's true. We had maybe the goaltender interference call of the season on Tuesday. Nathan McKinnon gets gets the gate for running into Connor Ingram 37 seconds left in the in the second period of a game that Colorado ends up losing 4:3 to Edmonton. We'll talk about that shortly. We'll talk about the result the result of that one for the Oilers shortly. Man, it's shocking to watch the video and know that that, that that resulted in McGinn in McKinnon getting tossed. I mean you got MacName. Let's, let's start with you. You got Darnell nurse attached to him. I think that should have been enough of a mitigating factor to to to change the result there. And clearly Jared Bednar in The Avalanche did as well. What are your thoughts on this? Because it's hard for me to look at this and not think that some pretty egregious mistake was.
Sean McIndoo
I mean, my thoughts are. First of all, as much as you hate to see an injury, I'm so glad that we get to have a goaltender interference conversation that's not about a goal being waved off. And everybody. Nobody knows what this is or that. I mean, this was. It's. It's. It's a confusing part of the NHL rulebook that we have two things called goaltender interference that are very, very different and treat it very differently. This was old school goalie interference. This was a guy getting trucked. And look here. Here's the deal. Nathan McKinnon is going to the net. He's at full speed, which very often you want forwards to do, but he's on his way to the crease. And as a forward, as any player, if the. If the puck isn't already in the crease, you're not allowed in there, and you're kind of responsible for whatever happens. That's usually something we talk about when it gets to a goal being waved off. Oh, you had your pinky toe in the crease and you bumped the goalie, and now goal isn't going to count. He is going at high speed at a high rate of speed towards the goalie. Now, does he get bumped by Darnell Nurse? Yes, he does. Absolutely. And that's what causes the injury.
Sean Gentile
You know, it's what stopped him from being able to cut across the top of the crease.
Sean McIndoo
Well, it stopped him from being able to. To cut across, and it certainly resulted in. I mean, look, we can't. We don't know what would have happened if there hadn't been contact. I'm sure Nathan McKenna would say, oh, if there had been no contact, I would have. I was just going to back off and miss him completely. It is a little bit like if you're driving down a residential street at 100 miles an hour, and then you say, well, but some other car hit me, and that's why I plowed into whatever I plowed into. So it's not my fault. It's not. But it is because you put yourself in that you're not supposed to be speeding down the street, just like you're not supposed to be going straight at top speed towards a goalie and towards his crease. So I. I wasn't watching it in real time, so I didn't get the, you know, to. To see it. And it have to figure out what I thought the call was going to be. They called it a major on the ice, which they do now, because then you can reduce it. I wouldn't have been shocked if they had reduced it, but I'm not completely blown away by the fact that that stood. Because Nathan McKinney, you're not allowed to go full speed at a goalie in his crease. And the fact that Darnell Nurse does what defensemen do and makes contact with you does not mean that you're suddenly absolved of any responsibility for a situation that you created. But I would love to hear the defenseman's perspective on that from Frankie.
Frankie Corrado
Okay. I know what you're expecting me to say. I'm just going to defend defenseman no matter what, because that's what I was. And we can do no wrong. But if we kind of look at the way this rule is written, if you skate in by yourself and make contact with the goalie, like on a normal goalie interference, where there's a goal, it's coming back. If you get pushed in, chances are that is staying on the board. And. And so with this one, it's like, Darnell.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah.
Frankie Corrado
McKinnon's flying, and he always does that, though. That's just. That's what he does. Nurse does. Like, when Nurse goes down, he kind of nudges his hip a little bit, and that sends him into the goalie. So I think that's the main reason why the impact is as high as it could be, or as it was like, for me, McKinnon, in a split second, he can get out of the way. We see him do it up and down the ice. But when you start to make contact with him, that's when I think it starts to go south. So I don't know. I. I probably. I. I would have done this. I would have said, let's look at it as a five, and we're probably going to bring it down to a two, because he makes contact with him for sure. But he was also kind of nudged along a little bit, and I think that would have been the fair compromise.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. And just. I mean, that is. That is the key. Right? It's kind of like the old Simpsons clip where Bart's, like, swinging his fist, going, you know, I'm just going to walk like this. And if you run as. As a forward, you don't get. And again, I usually say this when it comes to goals being wiped out, but you don't get to just say, I'm going to skate at Full speed towards your goalie. And if anybody touches me, it's not my fault anymore. Whatever happens, it doesn't work that way. That that crease is protected. You've got a goaltender in his crease. He should be safe from. From getting trucked. Even if there is an element of contact with. With the defenseman. So I, I didn't think. I didn't think it was a terrible call for it to stand as five minutes now. I mean, there's. There's not going to be. I, I would be shocked if Department of Player safety gets involved or anything like that, which they look at everything and when it's a five minute penalty, they'll.
Frankie Corrado
They'll have no way.
Sean McIndoo
But, but five minutes, five minutes in that game, that was as much a penalty as that deserved. Even. Even given, you know, even outside of the card. Because, I mean, Nathan McKinnon wasn't looking to hurt a guy. Nathan McKinnon wasn't. You know, this, this was an old school, I'm going to run the goalie sort of thing. So. But I think, I think the five was.
Frankie Corrado
Okay. Fair enough. Like, yeah, there's no way anyone would. Would review this thing. Brandon Hagel, like punched Rasmus Dalin multiple times while he was on the ice and he got a $5 fine. Like that's the equivalent of it. Like, maybe not. Maybe it's like a toonie that he just.
Sean McIndoo
On the. On the anniversary of Todd Bertuzzi, which was. Interesting symmetry from the hockey gods.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, listen, I think you bring up a good point. Goalie is like in his crease. Yeah. Nowhere, like, not even a smidge outside the paint. So you're right. Like he is entitled to that ice. McKinnon hits him. Maybe there's a happy medium. I know Jared Bednar wasn't happy with it. Oh, boy.
Sean Gentile
Bednar sold me. I guess I bought what he was selling after that.
Sean McIndoo
Wait, hold on. So an NHL coach thought his team didn't deserve a penalty?
Sean Gentile
Can you imagine such a thing?
Sean McIndoo
Okay, well, I mean, then we got to take a look at that.
Frankie Corrado
I feel like I was the only player where I took a penalty. And the coach was like, yeah, probably deserve it. Like every other coach I see, like arguing with referees and I'd be going to the box and I'm like, there's no way he's arguing that one.
Sean McIndoo
He can't. He's trying to get it turned into a double miner.
Sean Gentile
Yeah, you mean Babs. Babs wasn't pleading your case. Interesting.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah. Keep him in there. Keep him in there.
Sean Gentile
I mean, we did have. I also, Bednar's clearly, clearly hurt over the result of that game. Right. It ends up being a 4, 3 loss for, for the Avs. It ends their five game winning streak. McDavid, of course, breaks the tie. Nine minutes left in the third. This is certainly after, after McKinnon made his exit. How do we feel about the Oilers? I feel like they big game, big game against Dallas obviously, but then they play a couple bottom feeders. I think, you know, if, if in a few days from now we're talking about potentially the Oilers beating the, the two Big Bears of the Western Conference and then stacking up a couple other wins, all of a sudden things kind of look different for them.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, here's the thing with the Oilers. They have some horrible games and they've had some horrible games and we've seen them play hockey that is not conducive to winning like this. Sporadic defensively, goaltending, not making any saves. It's looked disastrous. But we've also seen this group, largely, this group, like these are the guys that, that have kind of done it, right? They've played really good last year against Vegas and they did the same thing against Dallas and they went to a Stanley cup final. And it's like when it's largely the same group intact again, they know how to do it. Now Paul Coffey is back in the mix. Like there's that defensive voice, if you want to call it that. I know he was more of like a different kind of player, but like, I mean, yeah, they're like now the band is kind of back together more than it ever was at any point this season. And so, you know, they, they beat Vegas in a neat and tidy game. They just beat Colorado. They're going to have Dallas coming up and then they've got some interesting games against like St. Louis, Nashville and San Jose where, you know, they're not all, they're not all easy games like San Jose and Nashville are fighting for playoff positions right now.
Sean Gentile
You know, they're getting one point out of those last three. This is what's going to happen. They're going to, yes, they're going to beat the Stars and they're getting one
Sean McIndoo
stars lose to the Blues. Like that is most predictable stuff that's going to happen. I look for me with the Oilers, it's a lot like Detroit that we talked about in the first segment. This is the time of year where your entire opinion can swing on the last two games. And you know, this Time next week. I might have totally different opinions about most of these teams. Yeah, sue me. This is, this is what's going on.
Sean Gentile
It's that time of year.
Sean McIndoo
The other thing is that division stinks. You know, the Ducks are a fantastic story.
Sean Gentile
I was saying that about the Metro last week.
Sean McIndoo
So the Ducks are a fantastic story, but I don't know that anyone necessarily buys them as legit contenders. The Oilers could. We have a couple scenarios in play here. One is that the Oilers could play the Golden Knights in round one, which we've all assumed that was the, the round two division final pretty much since the start of the season. That could actually happen in round one, which, which is fascinating because, you know, our, our friend. The playoff format would, would serve up a heck of a matchup there. The other thing, I, and I didn't even realize this until somebody asked me about it in, in the newsletter a couple days ago. There is a real chance that, that Utah could cross over from the Central as the wild card team with a better record than any team in the Pacific. So you would have a situation, you talk about the format where a team, the team with the best record in that group is the four seed and the three teams with the worst records are above them. A situation that's always been in play with this format but has never come
Sean Gentile
close to having somehow never happened.
Sean McIndoo
How would it. I mean, what, what are we even doing here? But yeah, the fourth place team in the Central might have a better record than the first place team in the Pacific and still be a road team throughout the playoffs. There makes. Makes no sense at all.
Sean Gentile
And meanwhile, Connor. Connor. Connor Ingram is hurt. He's. He's in the protocol. You know what that means, Frankie?
Frankie Corrado
What is that?
Sean Gentile
Leonardo Ginoni time?
Frankie Corrado
It's Genoni time.
Sean Gentile
Make it.
Frankie Corrado
I think that the path for Edmonton is what saves them here. Like, like clearly having to go through the Pacific. And by the way, like Anaheim, they're. They're a really impressive team. They beat up on the jets tonight. Like they were flying or last night they, they were flying. I think you cannot discount them. They have a good goalie. There's a lot of like youthful speed and energy in that lineup. But like Edmonton's kind of. They should be an experienced group. They should know how to do it because they've done it. And when they all put it together, they're a tough team to beat. It's like the combination of putting it together mentally and then having two of the best players in the world just kind of go out there. And say we'll call game on you. That should be really tough to beat. But it hasn't felt like it's been that difficult to beat for a lot of teams this season. You just wonder if they could put it together at the right time.
Sean Gentile
I've been. I've been out on the Oilers, which is good news for the Oilers, just, just as the Buffalo Sabres. That's how it works. Frankie, where are you at the rest of the week, man?
Frankie Corrado
What are we doing? We got some sports center and then Sunday in Montreal for Habs. Ducks and then in Montreal next week early for Bruins. Bruins. Habs.
Sean Gentile
Bruins. Habs.
Frankie Corrado
Yeah, that'll be a good one.
Sean Gentile
Too little. A little disgust. Rivalry. One of the. One of the real underrated rivalries of the sport.
Sean McIndoo
Did you guys know there was an Original Six group of teams?
Sean Gentile
Is that true? I thought that NHL started with like 8 or 12. Interesting. He learned something new every day.
Frankie Corrado
That's right, historian.
Sean Gentile
Frankie boy. Take it easy, bud. We'll see you next week.
Frankie Corrado
Okay, boys. Pleasure chatting.
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Or work.
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Sean Gentile
All right, we're back. There goes Frankie. Sean McIndoo, I'm going to tell you something I've learned.
Sean McIndoo
What have we learned, Sean?
Sean Gentile
This is courtesy of the NHL's invaluable morning skate email, which you get every day. Okay, I, I, I'm gonna cop, I'm gonna cop out and say that I feel like this is something I should have known already. Maybe if, maybe if I read this email more closely. I'm sure it's been, I'm sure it's come up before. This is borderline fake stat. This is a borderline fake record. Sean Mc Alex Ovechkin enters Wednesday two tallies shy of joining Wayne Gretzky as the second player in NHL history with 1,000 career goals in the regular season and playoffs combined. What do you think of that?
Sean McIndoo
I'm, you know what, that seems like,
Sean Gentile
that almost seems legit to me. That seems like something that, that should, that should be noted.
Sean McIndoo
I'm going to say real stat. I think real this is, is one of these things where, you know, sometimes you get questions from people who aren't really sports fans and usually they're, they're either, you know, they're, it's not that they're dumb questions, but they're, you know, there's stuff where you're like, well, there's an obvious answer here. And one of the questions that sometimes comes up is someone will say, like, how come whenever we're talking about stats, we always only talk about regular season stats? Like, even though the playoffs matter more. And I mean, the answer is that's just how the data is laid out and it just is kind of easier for us. But yes, playoffs, plus Regular season combined. That's a real stat, and that is impressive. And, you know, Gretzky is, is still ahead, but getting to a thousand is a big deal. And if he can pass Gretzky, that is also a big deal. Absolutely. You know, should it be as big a deal as regular season, which we did last year? Obviously this time, maybe it should be. It's not for what, you know, I
Sean Gentile
think there's some, like, all. There's some like, alternate universe where this is the record that everyone's waiting for him.
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Sean McIndoo
And, and look, I, I get. The other part of it is we understand that players individually can't put their, you know, don't make the difference of how many playoff games their team plays. Although we selectively forget that whenever it helps a narrative for a player being a winner or not a winner. But absolutely. I mean, this is, you know, we're not, we're not being queued here and mixing in, you know, exhibition games in September, All Star Games or whatever else. These are real important NHL meaningful games.
Sean Gentile
Games that count more than regular season games. In fact, goals that count more than regular season goals.
Sean McIndoo
There you go. So, yeah, I'm going to go for what may be one of the first times in the history of this show, I think the real stat, fake stat jury is coming back with a real stat.
Sean Gentile
Gretzky has 1016 combined regular season and playoff goals. Vetson's got 998. Can you imagine if that were the record we cared about, if that were. If in this alternate universe where 1016 is the big number? Because, because you're combining regular season and postseason goals.
Sean McIndoo
Well, I mean, if, if you're the Washington Capitals and you want Alexander Ovechkin to come back for another year, you've got a couple of weeks to convince us all that that's the real stat. Because I don't think he's getting the 18 goals he needs. Although, you know, with, with Ovechkin, you say that and then next thing you know, he, you know, four hat tricks in a week.
Sean Gentile
Someone just needs to tell him that that's the record. And then he'll, He'll. He'll. He'll magically find gear seven and, you know, there we go.
Sean McIndoo
I wonder what they'll do. Like, you know, obviously they're not going to do the whole big ceremony like they did when he, when he broke the, the record last year.
Sean Gentile
I don't think so.
Sean McIndoo
Wonder if it, if it will feel like doing something.
Sean Gentile
And I can imagine them doing something in D.C. if if that record were to happen at home, I can imagine them blowing it out a little bit when.
Sean McIndoo
When you've got the scoreboard for how many meaningful goals you've scored in the NHL and you got to roll over into a fourth digit, that feels worth celebrating to me.
Sean Gentile
Yeah. And then. And if that were the record we would be doing, we would. The. What does Alex. What. What does his next contract look like? Or what does he come. That. That would be in overdrive.
Sean McIndoo
You know what? I'm. I'm making the call right now. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it.
Frankie Corrado
I'll.
Sean McIndoo
I'll make a few. You know, I'll send a few emails to get this to happen, but. You're going back on the road, Sean. You're going back on the Ovechkin. Yeah, it's cool until 10:16.
Sean Gentile
Yeah, I'm in physically great shape right now, so I can definitely.
Sean McIndoo
You seem like. You seem like a plane ride would be a fun thing for you.
Sean Gentile
Apologies. Apologies to the people I'd be stuck. Stuck between.
Sean McIndoo
Speaking of fake things, there we go. I. I learned this week that, much to my surprise, the Winnipeg jets were maybe not as dead as we all thought they were. They kind of look a little bit dead again after losing in regulation for last four. The Ducks is rough, but still, you know, they. Last night was a weird night because everybody lost in that race, which means, if you're the. I mean, the good news is this is the time of year where it's so frustrating to be a team chasing because you're just cl. One point here and then another point there, and then you lose one regulation game and everybody else wins. This was kind of the night that was set up perfectly because everybody was losing, and then. And then Winnipeg lost, too. And maybe that's just the missed opportunity, but I. Do, you know, there is that theory that says we know this is a good team because they were the President's Trophy winner last year. So they've. They've got the remnants of that, and they've got the best goalie in the
Frankie Corrado
world,
Sean McIndoo
and nobody else seems to want to run away with. With the spots. I mean, it's. It's.
Sean Gentile
It's.
Sean McIndoo
It's largely the. The one wild card spot seems pretty open. Whether it's the Sharks or the Kings or the. The Kraken have been holding it all year and, you know, are. And yet everybody, like, they're not good. Nobody wants to give the crack in that spot. Right? Nobody wants to. We. We've all been giving that away all year long and you know, meanwhile the Kraken are sitting there going like we've been in the playoffs for like 60
Sean Gentile
straight days for the duration of it. Basically.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, but I'm, I'm rooting for Winnipeg. Be a hell of a story. And I got to be honest, if I got to, you know, whoever gets this spot is going to play Colorado. And I'm sorry, I know I just said we're all doubting to crack it but if it's, if it's Seattle, Colorado, I don't, I don't think too many of us are. And you know, even given the history that one might be Colorado in three. Colorado against a red hot Winnipeg jets with Connor Hellebuck. Okay, hold up now. Now maybe you got my attention. A little, a little something for Colorado to do while Dallas and Minnesota are bashing each other's heads in for seven straight games. That would be all right. So I'm, I'm rooting for you Winnipeg. I, I'd be, I'd be feeling a lot better if there were two points in the bank last night. But credit to the Ducks, man, ducks are 20.
Sean Gentile
20% odds. Don Dom gives the jets to make the playoffs. The Ducks playoff odds are up to 97%. Like we, we, we need to just accept that this has happened for them this year.
Sean McIndoo
And, and I, and I accept it because I picked them to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year.
Sean Gentile
I think I might have to actually.
Sean McIndoo
And, and I feel very, very smart. Even though, you know, don't go back because I'm sure what I wrote was something like. I mean clearly they would have completely backhanded.
Sean Gentile
Yeah, backhanded. And they could be the eighth.
Sean McIndoo
Eighth seed. They're definitely. I mean they're not going to win the Pacific. Haha. Might end up that way but. Oh can we just. Let's just fast forward ahead. Anaheim, Buffalo, Stanley Cup Final. Are we all good with that? We can, we can do this in, in. At the end of April. We can get the exit log summer that Pierre wants and, and it would be to be a hell of a series. John Carlson versus Colton Parade. Oh no, sorry. Maybe not.
Sean Gentile
The. The two big winners of the NHL trade McKenzie. What are you up to the rest of the week?
Sean McIndoo
I'm going to. I've got a piece that I have written that's going up soon. Ish. Where I have taken. In fact let's. I'll throw the number at you. How many of the first round picks in this year's draft Just this Year have changed hands. Do you think?
Sean Gentile
Oh, my God. You mean it in the 20. 26 draft?
Sean McIndoo
In the 20. Yeah. This summer's draft. Three picks from this year's draft. First round picks from this year's draft were traded at the deadline. Okay, that brought the total.
Sean Gentile
11.
Sean McIndoo
Very good. 12. There are 12 altogether. And I have ranked them based on regret. And can you give us.
Sean Gentile
Can you give us a hint as. As to. As to the identity of number one?
Sean McIndoo
Let me give you a shocker, okay? Number one is not the Brandon Carlo trade. That's my.
Sean Gentile
I am. I am shocked.
Sean McIndoo
So that's. That's. Although I think when you see what it is, you'll. You'll be like, okay, yes, I. I get that. And then I'm gonna. I'm. I'm gonna work with our buddy Harmon on a, uh. We're just gonna basically do a. A tanking ranking, so to speak.
Sean Gentile
Saw that. I saw.
Sean McIndoo
I saw that.
Sean Gentile
I saw that kicking around. I love a good tanking ranking.
Sean McIndoo
We love a power tanking. So let's see where that goes.
Sean Gentile
You guys should do it every week.
Sean McIndoo
Just every single week. Just. We just cut and paste the last five spots from your ranking with Tom and then just a video clip of him and me nodding, going, yeah, yeah, this is.
Sean Gentile
This is great.
Sean McIndoo
Let me ask you this. How low did Buffalo get in your rankings?
Sean Gentile
Oh, man, I think we had them. I think we had them in last place one week. Like, as. As kind of. As kind of a joke. But I'm. I'm. I'm like, 99% sure.
Frankie Corrado
Kind of a joke.
Sean McIndoo
Look at this guy now.
Sean Gentile
Well, just like, typically, like, if a team has a really bad week or whatever, like, we won't drop them all the way down. But they. But there was that. They had that stretch when they were not. They weren't statistically the worst team in the league. They didn't have the worst record in the league. It was Buffalo. They were. They. They were Buffalo. And the vibes were. Were bad enough where we were just like, effort. Yeah, they're. They're not. They're number 32. I'm pretty sure we did do that.
Sean McIndoo
I had them in the bottom five once. I also had Anaheim in the bottom five. Remember when they lost nine games in a row?
Sean Gentile
Yep. It was after everybody. It was after everybody was. Was buying them, too. Yeah, everybody was like, cool. Yeah.
Sean McIndoo
Yep. And they were like, no, we good.
Sean Gentile
Team Quinville. Quinville comes in, does. Does his stuff. This is. This is a potential wild card team.
Sean McIndoo
This league.
Sean Gentile
Then they went. Then they went in the tank for three weeks.
Sean McIndoo
No sense. Never does and never will.
Sean Gentile
Just glad to. Glad to have you around to navigate it with me, my friend. How about that for some. For some sincerity. I like it.
Sean McIndoo
That's it.
Sean Gentile
Thank you, buddy. And thank you, producer Jeff. I'll be back Thursday with with Haley and boy Shayna, everybody. Domestician. There's only two games tonight. It's Habs in Ottawa, which feels important in Washington and Philadelphia, which also feels important because it involves Eastern Conference teams which you know.
Sean McIndoo
Oh hey, I get to watch. Cool.
Sean Gentile
Congratulations. Just shake up the snow globe every single day for, for the next, for the next month and pretend like, pretend like any of these things matter in the month moment. They won't.
Frankie Corrado
I'll.
Sean McIndoo
I'll handle watching the games. You get to bed early tonight.
Frankie Corrado
Okay.
Sean Gentile
That you're got some bad news. I got to drive somewhere tonight.
Frankie Corrado
Uhoh.
Sean Gentile
Driving to State College. Pennsylvania, baby.
Sean McIndoo
Let's go.
Sean Gentile
Thank you folks for listening. See you tomorrow.
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Main Theme:
Are the Buffalo Sabres a legitimate Stanley Cup contender? The episode centers on the Sabres' remarkable transformation from perennial futility to possible Cup contender, with discussion on their play, identity, and position within the turbulent Eastern Conference playoff race. The hosts also analyze the state of the playoff picture, the Detroit Red Wings’ struggles, and touch on notable league storylines such as the Oilers’ recent form and a controversial goaltender interference call.
Memorable Quote:
“They have completely flipped the script in Buffalo. And I think it’s valid to say they are a true Stanley Cup contender.”
— Frankie Corrado (16:46)
Notable Quote:
“The Lightning were like, ‘Now you’re getting the real Lightning…’ and the Sabres just went, ‘All right, bring it.’”
— Sean McIndoo (22:46)
On Detroit's collapse risk:
“Historically March has been a disaster for them. Like, this is where they fall off.” — Corrado (07:21)
On playoff format:
“I hate, hate, hate this stupid playoff format. I think it’s dumb. You cannot explain it to a casual fan or a non-fan.” — Corrado (04:48)
On Sabres' transformation:
“They have completely flipped the script in Buffalo.” — Corrado (16:46)
On Buffalo’s new toughness:
“Rasmus Dahlin… after getting tomahawk chopped by Evgeny Malkin… will stand in there. We brought in meat. We brought in Sam Carrick… Logan Stanley…” — Corrado (15:20)
On Sabres’ fun factor:
“My first overall pick right now is Buffalo… they would have been top five on the do not watch list… now they're first overall.” — Corrado (17:21)
This episode provides a lively, thorough breakdown of the evolving playoff race with a special lens on the Buffalo Sabres’ miraculous midseason turnaround and candid debates on true Cup contenders. With incisive analysis, light-hearted banter, and well-attributed opinions, it’s a must-listen snapshot of one of the most wide-open Marches in recent NHL memory.