Draisaitl calls out Oilers after another loss

Summary

The Athletic Hockey Show — Episode Summary Episode: Draisaitl calls out Oilers after another loss
Date: February 5, 2026
Hosts: Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman (with guest Peter Baugh)

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Episode Overview

This episode begins with light banter around the Olympic women's hockey norovirus outbreak and news about Jack Hughes joining Team USA. The central themes are the Edmonton Oilers' ongoing struggles—focusing on Leon Draisaitl’s honest, frustrated postgame comments—and the team’s flawed roster-building moves, especially in goal. The show then pivots to discuss the Artemi Panarin trade from the Rangers to the Kings with analysis from New York beat writer Peter Baugh. The latter segments touch on urgent league news (Gavin McKenna’s legal troubles), questionable officiating, and close out with fun predictions for the Olympic hockey tournaments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Edmonton Oilers' Turmoil and Draisaitl’s Frustration

(05:27–13:24)

• The Oilers lost to Calgary; Tristan Jarry’s poor play in net was a big factor.
• Leon Draisaitl’s postgame interview was “pissy”—direct, exhausted and exasperated.
  • Shayna: “He has not shed his pissy reputation. I’m grateful for that because I love… someone needs to say it. Someone needs to be honest and like, you know, he wasn’t pulling any punches.” (06:21)
• Both hosts argue the Oilers’ goaltending woes are a symptom of systemic management failures:
  • Committing cap space and assets to volatile goalies (like Jarry).
  • Not addressing depth-scoring or defense—same story, “every damn year.”
• Critique of signing Trent Frederick (as a bottom-six grinder) to a massive eight-year deal.
  • Shayna: “That is a fourth line player…Who could have predicted this? And now your hands are tied.” (11:57)
• Pointed exasperation at repeated strategic missteps:
  • Sean: “Trade for a $5.4 million goaltender. Fine. Roll the dice on a goaltender like Tristan Jarry. Fine. They can’t be the same dude.” (12:42)
• Conclusion: “We are correct in our analysis…everybody saw the way this thing was going to go, and it’s followed script to the T.” (13:24)

2. Artemi Panarin Trade Dissected (Rangers → Kings)

(15:32–34:49)
Guest: Peter Baugh, Rangers writer

• Big news: Panarin moves to LA for prospect Liam Greentree + a pick; immediately signs a short extension.
  • General reaction: Return is “underwhelming.”
  • Main explanation: Panarin’s full no-move clause left NYR with “no leverage.” (16:53)
    • Pete: "So Panarin and his camp…choose Los Angeles. So yesterday morning...the Rangers were informed that the Kings were Panarin’s choice. He was only going to waive for there." (16:53)
  • NYR could have waited, hoping LA would get desperate, but risked losing him for nothing.
• Criticism of Rangers' own role in weakening their position; not merely the no-move clause, but also tone/public messaging and roster management.
  • Sean: “There is some element of this lack of leverage that’s kind of directly created by Chris Drury.” (21:53)
  • Shayna: “The way it’s all happened…if you’re rebuilding, that would have made sense…But when you’re retooling…are you going to be better in two years with Panarin on your roster?” (21:53)
• What kind of player are the Kings getting?
  • Still a "needle mover" and elite in transition, though aging; excellent power play presence, “passers generally age better”.
    • Shayna: “This is still an elite player in transition. This is still a really dangerous puck mover. Some of his skills age better.” (27:50)
  • Two-year contract is win-win: mitigates risk for LA, allows Panarin flexibility.
    • Sean: “I feel better about signing a 35 year old Artemi Panarin for two years versus seven…” (34:20)

3. League News Roundup

(37:11–39:14)

• Gavin McKenna, top draft prospect, charged with felony assault post-outdoor game.
  • Sean: “What’s clear is that this is a major problem for Gavin McKenna...this is a very, very real issue, clearly, because it is felony assault.” (38:17)
  • Shayna: “This was a shocker…It’s like easy to get the jokes off…But I’m glad, I was glad I had to do work stuff for this so I didn’t have to just watch the same jokes getting made…” (39:14)

4. Referee Debacle: Panthers/Bruins

(39:14–43:01)

• Panthers’ Sandis Vilmanis elbows McAvoy in the head; Panthers receive a power play.
  • Shayna: “My first thought was, can we get…someone please ship Charlie McAvoy a giant thing of sage…I did not like the elbow…most of all…the Florida Panthers ended up with a power play.” (40:46)
  • “There is a system in place now…you see a player on the ice…not, maybe we should take a look at this?” (42:31)

5. Olympic Hockey & Hot Takes

(43:28–45:04)

• Fun close with picks for the upcoming Olympic tournaments.
  • Shayna: “Czechia is winning a medal…the team we need.” (44:08)
  • Sean: “Welcome back to international hockey, David Pastrnak…”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sean Gentile (re: Oilers):
  “It’s a mess in Edmonton and I don’t know how many buttons are left to push except for maybe, the Chris…not black shaped one.” (09:52)
• Shayna Goldman (re: Jarry):
  “Tristan Jarry does not have a playoff record, like, worth betting on because he’s either not healthy enough to play in the playoffs or hasn’t been good enough.” (10:25)
• Sean (re: management):
  “Trade for a $5.4 million goaltender. Fine. Roll the dice on a goaltender like Tristan Jarry. Fine. They can’t be the same dude.” (12:42)
• Peter Baugh (on Panarin trade):
  “Panarin had a full no movement clause…the Rangers...did not have a ton of leverage…They could really only negotiate with the Kings.” (16:53)
• Shayna (Panarin as LA fit):
  “It feels like he is what that team’s been missing offensively. Add him into the mix, everyone else jumps down a role…and it’s more fitting for everyone in LA.” (29:05)
• Sean (on trade leverage):
  “There is some element of this lack of leverage that’s kind of directly created by Chris Drury.” (21:53)
• Shayna (post-Olympics chat):
  “Czechia is winning a medal…they’re like my favorite little disruptors…that playing style on the women’s side is so much fun…” (44:08)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Olympic Women’s Hockey Norovirus & Jack Hughes update: 02:26–04:25
• Draisaitl and Oilers Post-Mortem: 05:27–13:24
• Panarin Trade Breakdown w/ Peter Baugh: 15:32–34:49
  • Trade mechanics & leverage: 16:53–21:53
  • Critique of NYR's approach: 21:53–24:43
  • Panarin’s value & LA fit: 27:14–34:49
• Gavin McKenna Legal Troubles: 37:11–39:14
• Panthers/Bruins Elbowing Incident: 39:14–43:01
• Olympic Hot Takes: 43:28–45:04

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Final Thoughts

This episode expertly cuts through both league drama and strategic missteps, with the sharp, occasionally caustic wit and deep analysis the Hockey Show is known for. Fans of either Edmonton or New York will find candid evaluation of team management (and mismanagement), while the Panarin segment is required listening for anyone interested in the mechanics of big NHL trades. The episode closes on a high note with humor and genuine excitement for the Olympic hockey tournament.

Transcript

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[Host]

This is the Athletic Hockey Show.

[Sean Gentile]

What up? What up? This Athletic hockey show for February 11th. It is a Thursday. I am Sean Gentile. I am here with Shayna Goldman. Haley Salvian is in Italy right now. She is there for the athletic and she is there to do television for the Canadian Broadcasting Company Corporation. What does the CBC stand for? I don't know. Corporation. Thank you, producer Jeff Haley's doing double duty over there. She misses you all and she sends her love from a game that just got canceled due to a norovirus outbreak on the Finnish women's team. So good luck and Godspeed to everyone who's in that arena right now. Shay. Hello. How are we doing?

[Shayna Goldman]

Oh, I'm great. Two Americans trying To figure out what you don't have.

[Sean Gentile]

You don't have norovirus, I assume.

[Shayna Goldman]

Thank goodness. I don't.

[Babbel Advertiser]

I.

[Shayna Goldman]

You know what, it's just of all the things, of all the drama of this, it's like we're not even talking about the fact that they're playing on the ice that there's been so much about for weeks because we are talking about Neurovice. Like, welcome to the 2026 Olympics. Here we go.

[Sean Gentile]

This is like, this is what I was hearing from all my friends with kids last month. It was norovirus. Everyone was trying to find who's whose kid was patient zero. Like, I feel like this is going to happen with, with all these teams. There are, there are children getting, getting thrown under the bus by, by Olympic teams right now. A little bit of breaking news from Michael Russo, by the way. Jack Hughes will be going to the Olympics for Team usa. He'd been injured, of course, and out of the lineup for the last week or so. That's good news, I suppose, for him to be a middle six winger or healthy scratch or whatever, whatever decisions, whatever, whatever lineup decisions the US Team makes with him. Right?

[Shayna Goldman]

I mean, yeah, great, great work, everyone. I mean, it's, it's a tough one because on the one hand you're like, if you're the Devils, you go, we can't take the Olympics away from him. Look at what we've done to this team this season, the little bit of happiness. But on the other hand, if you have any shot, any shot of all of fixing this, you need Jack hughes to be 100%. So him going to the Olympics, a little bit risky here, but yeah, it'll be interesting for Team USA because in theory he should play center, not very good on the wing. In theory, that would, that would be good. But from what I understand, there's no other options to replace him. There are no other. Because they have so many centers. You can't look at a winger, you cannot look at a right handed winger. There are too many, they're too short. There's like a bar. If you're not this tall, you can't be on the team. You can't get on the plane. So there's no one's help.

[Sean Gentile]

I wonder, I wonder what Jason Robertson's doing. Like Cole Caulfield, Caulfield. Caulfield gets lost in all this. He's getting as screwed as anybody.

[Host]

Funny.

[Sean Gentile]

So, yeah, whatever, we'll have plenty of time to talk about whatever happens with the, with the men's tournament down the line. We'll be. We'll hit that ad nauseam for sure. We do have NHL stuff to talk about. We have. And it's. It's. It's less. It's less fun and it's. And it's less positive because it involves the Edmonton Oilers interest in Jariel. We'll start there. They lose to Calgary 4 3. Last night, Jari had another stinker. I'm sure. Shannon. I'm sure we'll talk about that more in a moment here. But I think the big headline coming out of that was Leon Draisaitl's postgame where he sounded like he was 60 years old getting off a factory shift and just didn't. Didn't have any answers about what stuff's turned into.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shayna Goldman]

He has not shed his pissy reputation. I'm. I'm grateful for that because I love.

[Sean Gentile]

I love pissy. Leon's my favorite. Leon.

[Shayna Goldman]

Yeah, like someone needs to say it. Someone needs to be honest and like, you know, he wasn't pulling any punches. Were they good defensively? Do they leave their goalies out to dry all the time? Absolutely. But do you need some timely saves also? Yes. As much as you put it on draw here, I think the bigger issue is you put it on management for putting them in this position because they literally were like, we have Stuart Skinner. What is the Eastern Conference version of Stuart Skinner? Yes. Tristan Jarari, who has durability issues. This will help with his contract that takes up, I don't know, the rest of Connor McDavid's next contract. That's what you want to tie your Stanley cup window to. Great work all around. So it's not bad enough that you have pretty much 7.5 million in dead cap space because Ted signed Trent Frederick for eight years. Had to, you know, give Andrew, manage your pony to your deal. But on top of that, the goaltending still bad. So they don't have depth scoring. They don't have goaltending. It's the same story every damn year.

[Sean Gentile]

And they make expensive bets on trying to fix their problems, too. I feel like that's a problem that's been an issue for them going back even pre Stan Bowman. It's not just that they went out and got Tristan Jari, it's that they went out and got Trish and Jari at Tristan Jari's cab hit right. And they. And they sent assets back to Pittsburgh for. For a goalie who was volatile on his best day. We. I. I'm. Shane, I'm sure you and I joked about this and I'm sure I joked about it on the pod. It always felt in some way like Tristan Jari was destined to land on, on the Edmonton Oilers. It just felt like that was the kind of panic move that they would make to address a problem that's needed, that's needed addressed in one way or another for, for a long, long time. And of course, of course that's how it goes down. And like I look, has he been, has he been putrid? No, not. He hasn't been the worst goalie in the league. You know, he's about, he's at about zero on goal, saved above expected. His save percentage is horrendous. But, you know, so it goes. I don't necessarily want to lay all this at his feet, but I'll lay it at the front office's feet and I'll lay it. It's a. Lay it at Stan Bowman's feet because this is not a guy, this has never been a guy who you, who you should bet on. Like the fact that they watched him for any amount of time in Pittsburgh outside of the random four week, five week stretches he would have where he looked like a top 12 goaltender. It's wild to me that any team with real aspirations would have ever gone and gotten him. And it was, it was funny when the trade happened. And it's. And it's. Yeah, I was going to say in some regards, it's sad now because, because you're watching. It's February 5th. Leandro Seidel should be pumped up to be the flag bearer for, for the German, for the German Olympic team in Milan. He should be worrying about other things than, than Tristan Jari, you know, laying another stinker down for, for that team. So it is. Yeah, it's, it's, it's depressing. It's depressing in some degree. But the problems extend beyond him, don't they? I mean, we got the Trent Frederick situation where he sees, he sees McDavid get hit and then just does like a drive by and doesn't address it in any way at all. Trent Frederick gets scratched yesterday presumably because of, you know, that, that situation. It's, it's a mess. It's. It's a mess in Edmonton and I don't know, I don't know how many buttons are left to push except for maybe the, the Chris. The Chris. Not black shaped one.

[Shayna Goldman]

Yeah, it feels like there aren't many buttons left to press because they literally jam them all into place with all of the money that they have. Taken on. And that's the thing, like how many goalies have been moved in? Because this is not like, okay, Edmonton needed a goalie this year all of the sudden and all of the good goalies are gone.

[Sean Gentile]

No, no.

[Shayna Goldman]

Edmonton's needed a goalie for some time. And you look at the John Gibson trade, Mackenzie Blackwood, Shield offs, Wedgwood, all of these goalies, there's been a ton of movement. There have been so many different options over time and they're just like, no, no, we're good. The Sabers had a three goalie situation. Maybe you could have gotten something out of that. Nope. This is, this was what they chose. And they didn't just chose some. Choose someone that it's like, okay for the rest of the year and then figure it out. It's like, this is what you are committing to. And honestly, you look at it and go, tristan Jari does not have a playoff record, like, worth betting on because he's either not healthy enough to play in the playoffs or hasn't been good enough. So if the goaltending, you're almost single.

[Sean Gentile]

Handedly responsible for Pittsburgh losing, losing a playoff series to the Islanders six years.

[Shayna Goldman]

Ago or and now, whatever. If Stuart Skinner can lead the Penguins over the Islanders this year, this year's we're shaping up to get. I mean, it would be even funnier because like, listen, is Stuart Skinner chaotic? Yes. Would I have rather have watched a Jari Skinner crease for the payoff? Because at least there's some upside there. You're like, okay, sure. But then you have to outscore your problems, right? Like, if that's the way you're going to play and we've seen the Oilers play this way for so long and like the defense can be good, but sometimes they play it really loose and like it's a, it's a lot about the offense. You got to just outscore all of the chaos. So you say Andrew Manjapani, who has not repeated his breakout season From Calgary, now four years, that might as well.

[Sean Gentile]

Been 100 years ago at this point. That feels like it happened in a different lifetime.

[Shayna Goldman]

And he's been on, you know, multiple teams since, moved around the league, still not working. And then the Trent Frederick of it all, they trade for him, that's one thing. Then they commit eight years. And I get it. The idea is like if you go eight years, the cap hit will be less. That is a fourth line player. And yes, they tried him with McDavid and dry settle. Remember like in preseason it was like, okay, Maybe there's potential here. He could be that grinder. Grinder on the line. No, not happening either. And it's like, who could have predicted this? And now your hands are tied. Going.

[Sean Gentile]

Well, he makes, he makes so much money. We should, he should be able to work with, with, with, with, with Connor. With Connor and Leon.

[Shayna Goldman]

Yeah, in theory. Incredible. Nope. Enjoy. Enjoy. Long term of this. And then you have to buy your way out of contracts. Now it's assets you can't spend. Oh, and as you mentioned, you packaged assets to get Jari in the first place.

[Sean Gentile]

Trade for a $5.4 million goaltender. Fine. Roll the dice on a goaltender like Tristan Jari. Fine. They can't be the same dude. That's what it is. It was, it was like, yeah, let's, let's, let's throw some spaghetti at the wall in the form of Trisanjari. Maybe, like, like, maybe it works like theoretically fine. Maybe you get a, you get a half decent one B. Who can, who can win you some games? Those guys shouldn't cost $5.4 million. Go find, go find someone else. Give yourself a different option. And I know this is stuff we could have said in December or whenever that was, but as we all saw coming, it's biting them. I think we did say them in a big way. Yeah. Well, yeah, we'll just say it again.

[Host]

Say it then.

[Sean Gentile]

We are. We are correct in our analysis. We are Right. This is, this is one of the rare occasions where, you know, everybody saw the way this thing was going to go. And it's in its followed script to the T. Okay, we got Pete Bach coming on. I'm sure you folks have heard this already. There was a little bit of coverage on the site yesterday about it. Artemi Panarian traded to Los Angeles. No longer a New York Ranger. Pete Boss, our guy in New York, he's covered this well. We're going to talk to him about all things Panarin related after the break.

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[Sean Gentile]

All right, we're back and we're joined by Peter Baugh, New York hockey writer writes a little bit about the Rangers. I would say, Pete, I don't, I don't.

[Host]

Every once in a while can we.

[Sean Gentile]

Can we say that's your focal point or are we not allowed to?

[Host]

I don't know.

[Sean Gentile]

We, we.

[Host]

I do, I do. I would say I certainly write a lot about the Rangers but then try to write about the New York hockey scene as a whole and, and do some features league wide along the way.

[Sean Gentile]

We had some stuff go down in the world of New York hockey yesterday. Obviously the big Artemi Panarian trade. The Rangers move him to Los Angeles for a pretty underwhelming package of picks. And what the hell was the prospects name again? I always forgot it. Liam. Liam, Liam Greentree. And then Panera of course immediately signs an extension with Los Angeles. Pete, we talked about this yesterday on the live stream react but I think it's worth kind of revisiting again. This is an underwhelming return and I think that was the overwhelming response whenever the trade went down initially was is that it? That's what Artemi Fanarin brought you back. That's the topic of your piece that ran this morning. Why did it go down this way and why was the return what it was?

[Host]

I think there if you look at why Panarin didn't get the Rangers more return, the biggest thing is leverage and Panarin had a full no movement clause which he negotiated when he signed in July 2019. Chris Durie wasn't the GM at the time, Jeff Gordon was. And I don't think anyone really got hung up on the no movement clause because this was a superstar player who wanted to come to New York, who other teams wanted, who was. Was willing to sign there for probably less than he could have gotten in other places. And a no movement clause was part of the deal. And that's just how things work. So, so Panarin and his camp, once it became clear that a trade was going to happen and the Rangers gave them permission to talk to other clubs about extensions, which was clearly Panarin's preference going into all of this. Panarin, so he, he goes through all these teams, he presumably talks to a bunch of them, they pick the deal that they want, the place they want to go that's offering them the extension that they want, and he and his camp choose Los Angeles. So yesterday morning, this is Chris Jury said late in the morning the Rangers were informed that the Kings were Panarin's choice. He was only going to wait for their whether that was yesterday before the 3pm roster freeze or at the March 6th trade deadline. So the Rangers at that point did not have a ton of leverage. They could really only negotiate with the Kings. Now the one thing as I write in this story that Chris Durie did have as a leverage point was time he could have chosen to, to wait it out to tell the Kings, look, I, I'm not going to to do this until, until you give me a little bit more. And maybe that would have worked and maybe it wouldn't have. Maybe Ken Holland would have called his bluff and said look, you guys don't want to lose Panarin for nothing. You know that he only is going to come here. This is the best offer we're giving. I do wonder what, what happens if they take a little bit more time. Maybe LA gets more desperate because they're, they need to get a deal done sooner because they're fighting for their lives in the playoff standings. Or maybe they, maybe it doesn't and it ends up just the same. I think the Rangers are excited about Green Tree as a prospect. He's a captain in the OHL with Windsor. He was the King's top prospect, which to be clear, the Kings have a pretty depleted prospect pool. So that's not saying a ton. But he's still on Corey Promen's list of top under 23 players. I think he was in the 1/ hundreds on that list. So he's, he's a legitimate prospect. But yeah, I think when you look at a, you're trading a franchise player and you only get back a decent but not great prospect, someone who's a middle, potentially a Like middle six player as well, and then you get a third round pick that maybe becomes a second if the Kings win a playoff series. That's. It does feel a little, a little underwhelming, but I think you can look at a lot of the reasons and it. You kind of see how it got to this point.

[Sean Gentile]

I, I understand why the, the. That's just a fact. Right. Like the, the Rangers didn't have, didn't have leverage here. I'm, I'm with you on the idea of Kings play tonight, by the way. So, like, what if they, what if they lose this game going to the Olympic break? They're, you know, they have time, Ken Holland and company have time to stew on their placement in the overall state of things. Like, I, I'm, I'm, I'm with you on that. They. I sure. I get why Panarin wanted. Wanted to have this done and dusted before, before the break. But you know, whatever. I, My, my, my. My overall question though is like, as it relates to Jury, he didn't have leverage in this. Yes, Jeff. Yes, Jeff Gordon gave. Gave Panera in the no movement clause. That's what you do when you're trying to sign a player who's going to show up on hard trophy ballots, which, which are Tony Panarin did during his time in New York. The overall. What contributed to the Rangers lack of leverage overall and Drury's lack of leverage overall was the way this season has gone. This, this is the lack of leverage doesn't solely stem from the no movement clause. It. A lot of it stems from the overall situation that they're dealing with on. On that team. From an, on I standpoint, from, from a cultural standpoint, from Chris Jury tattooing. I don't want Artemi Panarin anymore on, on his forehead publicly of a few weeks ago. Like, there is some element of this lack of leverage that's kind of directly created by Chris Jury. So I, so, and I, and I'm not saying that you're, that you're, that you're stating otherwise or anything, but I've seen that elsewhere where it's like, well, like what do you want Jury to do? It's like, well, he kind of, he kind of made it. He made part of his bed. This was, this isn't all in a no movement clause that Jeff Gordon gave to a, you know, a superstar player eight years ago.

[Shayna Goldman]

Can I add to that too? The leverage thing of it? Like, what stands out to me too is the, the way it's, it's all happened right of the. There's no interest in negotiating here. Artemi Panarin is on the movement. It's like, well, if you're rebuilding, that would have made perfect sense, right? If the Ranger said, this is not a retool to rebuild, and every single player on that team basically is like, besides Fox and Shustarkin are on the market. But when you're retooling, you do have to think about it of how quickly are you intending to retool and are you going to be better in two years with Panarin on your roster? Because, you know, not a ton of wear and tear on him, some pretty strong comps that point to a more graceful aging curve. Plus, we see what he's doing at this level without much support around him. Compare that with, like, their pipeline, their developmental track record, all of that, and go, are they realistically better? Could they move other players and then keep him and be fine? And they were like, no, no, absolutely not. So it, like, there was no gray. There were no question marks.

[Sean Gentile]

Right.

[Shayna Goldman]

This is what they're doing. And it feels like they really did hurt their own leverage in that way.

[Sean Gentile]

That's. That's the issue is setting the timeline publicly like that. It's like, wow, we actually want to be good in two years. And, and which again, Shannon, I know that this is what, this is what you're saying. You know, the implication there is like, of course we're not going to trade Adam Fox. Of course we're not going to trade Igor Shusturkin. Of course we're going to be looking for a certain type of player in return, ideally for our tradable assets. That's the undercurrent to the letter to letter part two from. From Chris Jury a couple weeks ago. And I. That's what makes this. That's what drives down the sympathy factor for me pretty. Pretty seriously.

[Host]

Yeah. And they. To be clear, Drury talked last night for the first time since September. He didn't talk initially after the. The letter came out, but he. He spoke last night and he. He said he did say that he didn't put a timeline on any of this. So it's. It's still kind of to me, like, I, I don't. They can say it's a. A retool. I. I'm curious to see how in these next few weeks, how many other trades happen and how much of a retool it is versus a rebuild. Because if you start trading off a lot of guys, you can call it a retool, but it's like retool implies something.

[Sean Gentile]

I know he's not saying, like, hey, we, we want to be challenging for president's trophies by 2028. Like, it's not quite that explicit. But like, the retool versus rebuild thing is part of what came back and bit him and contributed to the lack of leverage that created the, the, the, the circumstances that return what it returned.

[Shayna Goldman]

It's giving accelerated rebuild. Right. Like again, part two. Accelerated rebuild. Part two.

[Sean Gentile]

Will the, what is that?

[Shayna Goldman]

Rebuild. Will we get a third letter?

[Sean Gentile]

We can't say accelerated rebuild twice. So, so what do we, how do, how do we. How do we phrase it? And how do we, how do we. How do we classify it?

[Host]

Yes. I would also say that one of the other things that contributed to the kind of points of leverage is that the Rangers at the end of January, decided to start sitting Panarin for roster management reasons while he was kind of negotiating and talking to teams. And I think you can, can look at logical points as to why that makes sense. You don't want him to get hurt, all of those things. But that by doing that and by saying he wasn't going to play before the Olympic break, I think that perhaps set like a kind of quasi deadline if you really want to get this done by the Olympic break. If you're going to set, if you're going to sit a player out for however many games going into the break and the Rangers ended up getting it done. And part of me also wonders of like, did. Did the Rangers just want to kind of move past this to, to start looking at other business? Because I, I wrote in this story, I mean, I really, I don't know how much more they were going to extract from the Kings. I, I think it's possible that if they waited, maybe they get a little bit more, but I don't know if they were going to get a ton more. The big tests are going to be how they handle Trocheck, how they handle Schneider, how they handle Lafreniere. These are guys who they do have leverage with and who could bring back pretty prominent returns. And maybe they just wanted to focus on that. Maybe they wanted to get the Panarin thing out of the way, have the tone set, and then move forward.

[Sean Gentile]

It'll all, it'll all come out in the wash. Whenever Bill Garon sends three first rounders and, you know, a top five prospect back to. Back to New York for Vinny Trocheck in three weeks, like, it'll, it'll find it'll be fine. It'll, it'll, it'll even out.

[Host]

Well, Pete, well, they, they have a chance to, to reset here and do like get, get some. Like you said first prospects. If, if they want to trade Trick, it's still the big question for me is how do you find the kind of high level top six talent they've compiled some decent player like Green Tree seems like a decent prospect who maybe could be Corey Promman. I don't know prospects too well, but Cory Promen, I've read what he's written about him and described him as a potential middle six player. Those are useful players to have and you need them, but you also need high level skill and the Rangers system doesn't have a whole lot of that. You have Gabe Perot, who's, who's I think shown flashes this year in his first extended look in the NHL. But you don't have a whole lot of high end skill and I think that's going to be a big challenge for Drury going into this next little stretch is identifying players that can bring a bit of that to his team.

[Sean Gentile]

This is a question for both you guys because I think you're both situated to speak on it. What kind of player is Artemi Panarin in 2026? What kind of player has he been for the Rangers in the last stretch of games? And look, I know two years ago should have shown on, shown up on more MVP ballots than he did. We're past that point now. There's, there's been at least some, some degree of, of, of decline in, in the, in the production there. What kind of player is LA getting back? And, and, and what, what does he look like, you know, thus far this season with, with New York? I, I guess Shannon, we can start with you.

[Shayna Goldman]

I mean, he's still a needle mover. Is he older? Yes. Is the production a little bit slower? Yes. But you don't know how much of it's the effects of aging versus the context of the situation. It's always hard to extract that right. And like we see it a lot of like aging vets moving at the deadline. Think of like Claude Giroux and it was like a similar situation like the productions down in Philly, but, but here it does feel like he's done a lot with a little despite his surroundings. Like this is still an elite player in transition. This is still a really dangerous puck mover. He's super dynamic, he's hard to battle off the puck and some of you know his skills age better. Right. He's not just a Sniper relying solely on a couple shots a game. Like the shot volume has ticked up since he's been in New York. And passers generally age better. Players who play on the power play, that tends to age better. And when you compare that to what the Kings have, they have good defensive structure, but they don't have enough offensive pop. It feels like on paper a perfect match when you take out the ages. Right. Because the Kings are. That's the whole thing of it. Like as much as Panarin, everything points to maging well when you're a younger roster, I think you can bet on that. And that's why the two year deal works out a little bit better here for both LA and Panarin. But it feels like he is what that team's been missing offensively. Add him into the mix, everyone else jumps down a roll on the depth chart and it's more fitting for everyone in la.

[Sean Gentile]

How do you like him as a potential lineman for Byfield?

[Shayna Goldman]

J. I mean, I like that. I do think it'll be interesting to see because he's one of the. Byfield's been one of the better puck movers in LA this year. So it's not even a redundancy factor. It's. Is it stacking too much on one line? Yeah. And then the rest of the lacks. But I would say why not? You have. Right. You made the trade now if you're la, so you have that extra week or so to test things out and figure out where he fits. Like why not mix and match and see what works.

[Host]

Yeah, I think briefly I. Because I'm a nerd and remember this stuff you mentioned? You should have appeared on, on more Hart trophy ballots in 24. I. He got fifth that year. Look at the numbers of the four forwards that were above him. I think he was in the right spot.

[Sean Gentile]

Yeah, that's true.

[Host]

Was he fifth? He was fifth. Auston Matthews was fourth and he scored 69 goals.

[Sean Gentile]

Here's. Here's the way I'm going to wiggle out of that though. I didn't say he should have finished higher. I said he should have shown up on more ballots. Those are, those are.

[Shayna Goldman]

That was the toughest year of voting ever. That was like Kucherov, McKinnon, Matthews, McDavid. And then you had to pick a five and it was like Roman, Yossi, Sidney Crosby.

[Sean Gentile]

He should have been, he should have been. He should have gotten some more. Some throw a few more fifth place votes at him. That's. That's what I'm saying. That's how that's all slide out of that, out of that take he had.

[Host]

I'm looking at Hockey Reference though, Sean, and he had more fifth place votes than anyone.

[Sean Gentile]

Stop doing this to me, Pete. I'm. I told you I made a. I took a stand. I'm reversing it.

[Shayna Goldman]

I would say seasons passed. He should have gotten more votes. How about that?

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[Sean Gentile]

There we go.

[Host]

I just. I'm. I apologize. I couldn't pass up.

[Sean Gentile]

Whatever. What else, what else. What else do you want to say? Hit us, Hit us with the final word here then get the hell out of my sight. He.

[Host]

So he, he started this season really slow. I don't have the numbers in front of me. But he, his production was really down to start the year and I think our colleague Vince McCogliano talked to him at one point he mentioned that the contract stuff was kind of weighing on him and then he shaved his head and, and for whatever reason that sometimes it seemed to serve as some good, good luck for him and it worked.

[Shayna Goldman]

Once, it worked twice. Who knows if he needs it again. He knows that it's in his. It's in his back pocket.

[Host]

Exactly. It's kind of like the last ditch effort, I suppose. But he, he. His production picked up and I think you look at now and, and he was still. I mean this Rangers team was. Was. Has been frankly pretty tough to watch the last little stretch. But he's, he is still made a difference offensively and he can like you said on the power play, he's. He's a weapon and I think I want to say Ken Holland on TNT last night mentioned the, the power play is some. An area they. They see as.

[Sean Gentile]

Yeah, they're, they're. They're. They're 28th in goals per six, five on five.

[Shayna Goldman]

And on the power play. Tough to add to the power play too. I wonder where he plays there on the power play because before he came to the Rangers he always played the left circle. He was good right handed shot from there and then they started him there. He played there with scoring a bunch of them. Andre was a better fit. They're like you have a lot of options.

[Host]

Hey, they try. The Rangers had to try him at power play quarterback this year on the failed five forward unit. So he can really.

[Shayna Goldman]

Five forward unit look bad. I can't believe it.

[Sean Gentile]

I can't believe.

[Host]

But he. Yes, he's going to help their power play. I think he's still a really effective player. Like he's going to finish. I mean he's now his games played are down because he set out the last few. But like, I don't know the point pace off the top of my head, but I would guess it was around 90 points by the, by the time the trade. And, and I think that's kind of what he probably is at this point. He Maybe isn't an 100 point guy anymore, maybe not a 120 point guy, but I think he's someone who can give you 30 goals and 90 points and that's a really valuable player.

[Sean Gentile]

Is he valuable enough to. What are the kings at 61 points? I mean that's the, that's the most interesting part of this.

[Host]

What's, what's tough of that is like good. If they get in, they're going to have to probably play Colorado in the first round and that's not a really fun matchup. And so does Panarin put the Kings into a place where they can contend with the best teams in the West? The Colorado is the Dallas's. I kind of struggle to see it, but he helps. And they, they got some, some term with the two year deal and, and I was a little surprised honestly, with, with some of the numbers that were being thrown around by the insiders of, of what Panarin was looking for. The fact that it only ended up being a $22 million extension was a little interesting to me and I wonder if other teams offered more in terms of, of years and he decided to kind of go the, the shorter term route and then try and get one more deal in a couple years. It's just interesting that if you're signing.

[Shayna Goldman]

With la, that's the one thing, right? Because it's, he's the top region winger still on the market. Like he's still. That's why like the leverage too of it all, it's like the Rangers had none. But it's like any team that's interested in signing him, this is your shot. But if you're him, realistically, do you commit four years to la, do you commit six years to LA and think that's where you're ending your career? I.

[Sean Gentile]

And if you're, and if you're la, I. The flip side of the coin is like if I'm Ken Holland, I'm like, okay, this is, this is fine.

[Host]

I'm.

[Sean Gentile]

I feel better about signing a 35 year old Artemi Panarin for two years versus seven or whatever. Like I, I think, I think the contract weirdly makes sense for, for both, for both sides. And he played his first game in A King's jersey tonight, I believe. No, that's, no, after the break, getting corrected all over the place here.

[Shayna Goldman]

I don't, you know, I, I, it would have been fun because there's no other late game like that would have been like Vegas. La, let's cook. No.

[Sean Gentile]

Boring, boring, boring, boring. So we do have to wait until after the break to see our Timmy Panarian in a king jersey. But, hey, he gets to try to house hunt, I guess, over the Olympic break. And that's really, that's really all that matters. Pete, thank you for your time, man. We'll talk to you soon.

[Host]

Appreciate you guys.

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[Sean Gentile]

Thy ticket lady, Jennifer of Coolidge.

[Jennifer]

Well, many thanks.

[Host]

Good, good.

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[Sean Gentile]

They accept Discover at Renaissance fairs? Yeah, they do.

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[Host]

Yeah.

[Sean Gentile]

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[Host]

Court.

[Sean Gentile]

All right, folks, we're back. Thank you, Pete. We love Pete. Do we love Pete? Do you like Pete? Do you like peach?

[Shayna Goldman]

You know what? This is the time I'm gonna say. I'm gonna be like, I hate him. Yes, we love him.

[Sean Gentile]

He's not listening to this. We're gonna do, do, do a quick little news lap here because There is stuff that we need to talk about. Gavin McKenna was charged with felony assault yesterday in Pennsylvania. McKenna is at one point was certainly the presumptive number one pick in the upcoming NHL draft. He's still one of the very tippy top prospects. Shane, I was, I was on this last night, so I had the pleasure of trying to track down police in State College and what have you. State College, Pennsylvania Police Department. They, they go to answering machines at five o' clock at the desk there. That was pretty fun. It's, we need, it's a developing situation with, with Gavin McKenna and it's certainly a serious one. The, the felony charges stem from an incident where he allegedly punched a man twice. Put him in a situation where he needed some, some facial surgery. It was in a bar district after their outdoor game last Saturday. There are certainly other details that have yet to be confirmed or yet to be released. It's developing. But what's clear is that this is a major problem for Gavin McKenna because felony assault charges like the one he's facing in the state of Pennsylvania are punishable by up to 20 years in jail. So we'll see how it shakes out. There's certainly a lot of legal maneuvering to be done. He's going to be in court next week for his preliminary hearing. We'll see how things go from there. The upshot is that this is a serious roadblock for Gavin McKenna and it's not something that's going to go away particularly quick. The final form. Gotta wait and see. But this is a very, very real issue, clearly, because it is felony assault.

[Shayna Goldman]

Yeah, this was a shocker. Like, it's, it's like easy to get the jokes off of. Like I would, I would choose that over going to the Vancouver Canucks first overall too. Like, yeah, but I was glad, I.

[Sean Gentile]

Was glad I had to do work stuff for this so I didn't have to just watch the same jokes getting made over and over and over again on Twitter because that's really, that's really, that's really fun thing that happens. Now whenever any hot, whenever any hockey player is involved with anything of that type, there's five different jokes and the dumbest people, the dumbest people on earth take take turns making them. So that's, that's the upshot. But yeah, gotta, gotta wait and see on that court date on February 11, I believe, and we'll, we'll see what comes out of it. One of the plays that stood out from last night, Shannon was, was in Bruins, Panthers, the, the Sandisville, Monis. Elbow to the head of Charlie McAvoy. I saw that live. I'm wondering. I'm wondering if you did, too. My first reaction was, oh, my God, it happened to Charlie McEvoy again because he's had such bad luck with injuries overall. Had such bad luck at four nations. My immediate thought was, this dude is concussed, A and B, he is going to miss the Olympics. Now, thankfully, he came back during the game. It seems like he seems like he's fine. Didn't speak post game, but all signs point to, you know, pointing positive directions there. Was that the worst elbow you've seen in the game all season long? Because I'm kind of, of. I. I can't think of anything that topped it from. From our guy. From our guy. Sanders. Sanders Villamanas.

[Shayna Goldman]

Yeah. Like, my first thought was like, can we get. Can someone please ship Charlie McAvoy? A giant thing of sage. Like, I don't understand what's going on with this, like, injury luck. It's awful. But that I did not like the elbow. And what I did not like most of all was that the Florida Panthers ended up with a power play over it. And I'm watching this happen live.

[Sean Gentile]

Isn't that incredible?

[Shayna Goldman]

It's. It's something. And I'm watching it live and you hear the broadcast say, he lost his balance. And I'm thinking, I, too, would lose my balance if I was elbowed in the face. I would definitely lose my balance, but not to.

[Sean Gentile]

Yeah, if someone. If someone hits you in the head with a baseball bat, you might. You might lose your balance. Yeah, it works.

[Shayna Goldman]

What gets me is there is a system in place now. Is the system properly used all the time? No, we see it all the time where it's like, look, we're going to review this and still come up with the wrong call. And that is aggravating enough. But when something like that happens, I don't know how you don't just, like. Especially you see a player on the right. We say it, we hear it all the time that injuries are not what's going to decide things. It's just. It makes. It ups the severity of things. Right. When the Department of Player Safety looks at it. But when you see a player on the ice, is your gut reaction not, maybe we should take a look at this. Maybe we should stop things, go through the review. Because I saw a player leaving his feet with the elbow up very intentionally. I saw a player who is an NHL hockey player and I'm sure has. Understands, like, has control over the situation and that he could have avoided McAvoy. This was not a, this collision had to happen type thing. That, it's like, it just, that was a reactionary thing. Like, it looked a little bit intentional to me, and I think upon review, you should have seen that if somehow you missed it at first pass.

[Sean Gentile]

They're elbowing minor penalties for a reason like they, like they exist. It's a, it's a, it's a call that's made and it's a call that's made appropriately. Right. That was not one of them. That was, that was, that was nasty and should have, at minimum, cost him a whole lot more. It should have cost him too much. There's no way on earth we should be talking about the Florida Panthers going to. That should have been just taken, taken off the board there.

[Shayna Goldman]

Panthers call it a day. The same amount you get showing your middle finger on a broadcast.

[Sean Gentile]

By the way, we should have, you should have come on last week for that.

[Shayna Goldman]

It was my moment. I really, I've never enjoyed a story more.

[Sean Gentile]

We should have, Me and Macinew should have kicked off Frankie and had John in his place.

[Shayna Goldman]

I stay here with my middle fingers up the whole time. And then we could not show this broadcast to children.

[Sean Gentile]

What are we, what are we going to do? What are, what will the children, all those little children who look to William Nylander for guidance. What's, what's going to happen to them? I think this might be the last time we talked before the Olympics. So let's, let's close out with this. I want.

[Shayna Goldman]

The Olympics literally are starting. Are you talking the Olympic men minutes?

[Sean Gentile]

Did, did the puck. Well, yeah, I. Did the puck drop yet?

[Shayna Goldman]

Not yet.

[Sean Gentile]

Okay, so I'm technically right. Certainly the last time we'll talk for the women's tournament. Probably the last time we'll talk before, before men's. Give me a hot take. Any hot take will do. I, I, I want to know the hill, the, the Olympic hill that you're gonna die on here.

[Shayna Goldman]

Chucky is winning a medal. Oh, but I feel like everyone has, you know, we have to do those bold predictions. And I wrote up some. I'm like, that's going to be mine. And then there were two already that were that. And I'm like, maybe that's like a vanilla prediction.

[Sean Gentile]

I think that. No, no, I, I, I think it, I think it counts.

[Shayna Goldman]

You can say check.

[Sean Gentile]

How about check? He's going to win two medals that.

[Shayna Goldman]

I am very here for. I don't, I don't know what it is about team Czechia. Maybe it is because I am Czech and it's rare I get to root for my like a country that is mine in something. But they're like my favorite little disruptors. And it's like that playing style on the women's side is so much fun that I'm like, yes, this is the team we need. But on the men's side now I'm like, all right, let's see what they can do. Like Chucky, a silver medal. Who says no?

[Sean Gentile]

We love it. Welcome back to international hockey. David Posternak, thank you very much and thank you Shayna and thank you, Peter Baugh, wherever you are.

[Shayna Goldman]

Who we love, we don't hate.

[Sean Gentile]

Thanks to you fine folks for watching and listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show. Max, Laz and Jesse have the next one. That's on Monday. They're going to preview Team USA, Shannon's beloved Czechia. Sweden. Potentially more Frankie McIndoo and I are getting Canada, Finland and Slovakia in a special Tuesday edition of of the Athletic Cock show ahead of the Winter Olympics. So that's what's going on again. We appreciate you listening and watching and however you consume this, have a great weekend.

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