Allstate wants to remind fans that mayhem is everywhere. Like when your fantasy league meets up at your house, everything's great until the hot plate gets too hot for the tablecloth. Now your kitchen's up and smoke, and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, the cost to fix this is anything but a fantasy. So switch to allstate, save money, and get protected from mayhem like this. Not available in every state based on coverage selected, subject to terms, conditions, and availabilities, savings vary. [MUSIC PLAYING] Refresh the summer vibes with TicTac, and you could win a Lollapalooza VIP experience in Chicago. Visit tictacsummer.com for a chance to win. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of 50 US states and DC, 18 plus, ends June 30, 2024. Vote in PR and rep prohibited. See tictacsummer.com for rules and free entry without UPC. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to the TELENT AMZ It Is podcast. You're home for everything Colorado avalanche. On the hockey podcast network, here's your hosts, Griffin Yoggs, and Christian Boulay. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the TELENT AMZ It Is podcast. I'm Griffin Yoggs, joined by Christian Boulay. As always, this might be the last time we have super relevant, time-sensitive abs news for a little while, so we decided to come back a day early and talk about the presser that just went down with the avalanche and Gabe Landeskog, who is not retiring, despite speculation going into that, which didn't really make a ton of sense. But Gabe Landeskog says he's still planning to be back. Next year, we heard a couple of things from Chris McFarland about Landy, about Val, about what they plan to do with Drew Ann, several other things. So we got an update on stuff. It's not a super clear one, but it's an update nonetheless. It's one of those things where I almost just-- why even do the press conference? There was just a whole lot of nothing said in that. There's a couple things in there. There are a couple things, but it's also like these guys are so trained and media trained, they're not going to give us anything. It's just they aren't. And basically, everything that was said is like, yeah, that makes sense. All right, yep, I imagine they would say that. There was nothing earth-shattering regarding it, but I did find the timeline of when that press conference was announced, and everyone freaking out about Landy retiring and all that stuff. And I was behind because I was at work. And I'm like, what do you mean? They did the same thing last year. I was waiting for the press conference. Right. Bounce. And then when it was, my first thought wasn't always careers over. We've had guys retire in the organization before. There is a little more hub hub surrounding it. A little more hub hub. And it definitely gets leaked to one of the reporters. And it also wouldn't have held it at the Family Center. Right. So it was just, I found the whole dialogue behind it very funny because that's just how everyone goes. Like, one person starts and the other person goes, oh, that does kind of make sense. Like, this could be it. And I'm like, I don't think the abs would just have them retire at enough. Like, he'd make a bigger deal out of it. And I imagine like-- While jump to go from Bednar saying, like, yeah, he's been working hard. We'll see where he's at to five days later. I'm done forever. Right. This is not like just abs fans being ridiculous. I had people in other fan bases that were also like, oh, he's retiring. It's over. Well, here's the thing. If he retires, he can't collect the money from his contract anymore. Right. And if he publicly retires-- like, because Carey Price never really like retired. Oh, he's still getting paid 10 and 1/2 million. Shea Weber never really retired. Correct. They just sit on LTIR and collect their paychecks. So I just-- you were not getting a formal retirement announcement. You probably won't for poverty these several more years. But there'd be a little more to it than that. Right. It's just one of those things. I found it funny. I'm glad Gabe's not retiring. It was-- that press conference, the only big takeaway I took from it is the abs are going to have to save the Yeti foot with the hats. Because I mean, I've always loved that logo. It makes no sense with what the abs do. But if the Utah Hockey Club is going to be something with the Yetis, you kind of got to keep that trademark. So if they want to throw some more merch out like that, I have no problems. I've always loved the Yeti foot. It's just-- it makes no sense with the avalanche. Like, they used to have a mascot. His name was Howler, and he was a Yeti. So I kind of made sense. But then they got rid of him because he was scaring kids. Like, if you want to have like a full on freak out, go look up pictures of Howler, and that was-- I love Howler. Howler's-- we need to bring back Howler. I love all the Yeti shit. He was kind of like gritty before gritty existed. Yeah, he was gritty, but on accident. Yeah, it was very, very funny. But yeah, that hat game was where it just fucking rules. I want that hat. I actually looked on eBay to see if that was a thing ever that was out there that I could find. I couldn't find it. Yeah, it's tough. Hopefully, it's something they bring back. But yeah, I mean, other news from that, like, Gabe is-- he's trying his best to get back. He wants to come back and play. It's just when the initial surgery happened, we were told 12 to 16 months recovery. He just hit 12 months, like, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. So even on, like, the fastened, he'd be back at the start of next season. That puts him at, what, like, 17 months? Yeah, right, like 16, 17 months, generally. And my main takeaway from the presser is it seemed pretty positive. Yeah. Where, like, I feel reasonably confident, reasonably confident, saying that at some point next season, Gabe Landeskog is going to be ready to play. Right. That's training camp. I don't know if that's opening night. I don't even know if that's this calendar year. But based on the attitude, I don't feel like it's crazy to say that he's going to be back eventually. It's just the question becomes, that's kind of what I already thought. Right. Oh, that doesn't change much of how I'm feeling. But obviously, the big question is that $7 million attached to him. What do you do? Because what do you do with it? It's tough. But I also, like, the way I look at that press conference, but the last press conference land he did before the playoffs last year was that he had to have another surgery. And he just wasn't feeling right. I'm going to take it as glass half full. The surgery must have been working because he's been practicing or rehabbing, and he hasn't had any setbacks yet. And at this point last time, the setbacks had already occurred. So that's a positive in my looks. And one of the things I took away from it, something that he said is, mentally, there were points where I felt like I was good enough to go take a shift or two and see what I can do and go full speed. But this is a process. And that probably wouldn't have been very good for me, which at least tells me like, there's progress being made in here. And we point at the vowel thing as being an unprecedented situation. This is an unprecedented situation. Like, this is not an injury situation that I've really ever seen before. We've seen, but it hasn't been good. Right. And then also, literally, this surgery has never happened in the NHL. This is an experimental surgery, a cartilage transplant. Like, just try to imagine that for a second. You get a new muscle in your leg that you have to get up to speed with the rest of your 30-year-old body and get it in sync with everything else, build up muscle memory. Can you imagine having a muscle that doesn't have the muscle memory? Well, is cartilage a muscle or is cartilage different? Like, we're going to need a doctor. Yeah. I don't think it is. I think cartilage is like the squishy stuff that makes up your ear and your nose. It's something in your body. Yeah. It's something in your body that you got transplanted. And that's the anatomy talk on today's telinapse as it is podcast. I'm not a doctor. [INTERPOSING VOICES] I was a communications major in college. My favorite thing is I have a BS. We both have BS degrees, bachelors of science. I work in professional sports and make videos. I am as far removed from the medical field as I can possibly be. We leave that up to the professionals. But I agree with you what you're saying. It's an experimental surgery. I know Lonzo Ball, point guard for the Chicago Bulls, have the same surgery. It seems like Landy's way ahead of him than where he's at. Yeah, I have not kept up with Lonzo Ball in that whole recovery. But just based on what I heard from Landis Gogg, it seems like we are somewhere with it. I think we're positive. Like I said, I am taking it as the fact that he has said he's had no setbacks as a positive. And by that door, I mean, I think he's going to play opening night. God no. But I do think he's going to play at some point next year. And it could be game one of the playoffs. It could be game 53, like just a random ass game against the Buffalo Sabres that he plays. But I do have confidence that he's going to play again. Yeah. It's just the question becomes about the money. Because between that and Vowels $6.1 million in game seven, that's $13 million, over $13 million that you have tied up in a maybe game could play next year. I'm leaning pretty positive that he will. I can guarantee that. And he couldn't either. He got asked about a timeline and said, yeah, I think anywhere between September and April, I feel pretty. That was a great answer. That was a great answer. It's a great answer. And I've seen a lot of people be really annoyed over that answer. But what do you want them to say? There is-- He's saying that to the public. Him and Chris MacFarlane and Joe Sikek have had conversations about when they act. That's something for the medical staff and everything. And again, this is not a surgery. This is not an injury that you see a lot of. There is no timeline, I wouldn't think. I think it is just when Gabe feels like he can skate at an NHL level, he's going to play. And I think he said it himself. Setting a timeline is just setting yourself up for disappointment when it doesn't get-- Imagine he said December. He'll be back in December. And then he doesn't reach it. And then we all come on here mad. And he's never playing. You can't set yourself up for failure like that by just putting a preemptive timeline. I think they learned their lesson from the first time. And I'm going to put the tin foil hat on for a minute. I do-- My conspiracy theory is that he's going to be healthy enough to play probably around February. And the abs just keep him out until the playoffs. And then they can spend that $7 million. Because at least with Gabe, we've seen with the LTIR, you can kind of manipulate it. You can't, like Vegas has done it. You've seen it for several years now, teams manipulate the LTIR. Yeah, you've seen it. So I think he'll be ready. But I think they're going to hold him out for the first game of the playoffs. And I know you're going to say he hasn't played in three years. I really got to throw him in for game one. Just having Gabe out there in general for 10 minutes and it's going to be better than having him in the press box. And if you can resign Drewann, get another winger, or another, like, or resign Trenton. And you have your four centers just down the middle. That's a win in my books. And then you just throw Gabe Landescog back in and have him play with Ross Colton in Miles Wood, like-- or Logan O'Connor, like that's a win. I'm cool with that. I mean, if that is an option, like if he's not back until March, like, let's say trade deadline and time, is it really the worst thing to just give it two more months? You know what I'm thinking, man? And have the money? Because I feel like it changes the deeper it gets into the season. Like, if the internal timeline that they won't say is November or December, I feel like that's harder to get over. Because I know the easy answer is just LTIR. But they do investigate that. And with the Mark Stone stuff, I do legitimately think Mark Stone lives every day in constant pain. Correct. That's why they can technically get away with putting him on LTIR and playing him in the playoffs. Because I think there is an injury that he, I think, can play through. But I think they're using the situation to their advantage. Certainly. I don't think Mark Stone's not injured, but-- because, overall, my point being, like, they do investigate these things. Like, if Gabe is healthy in December and you hold him out to the playoffs, I'm just saying that they want to make an example if they can. Correct. I don't think the NHL is thrilled with how LTIR has gone. They just can't do anything about it. So I think if they do catch someone truly fudging it, they're going to throw the dictionary at them to forget the book. They're throwing the whole collection. Yeah, I just don't think the NHL cares enough, too. You know what I mean? It feels like the kind of thing where other teams get away with things and then the abs do it and then they don't. Yeah, I just think the abs are going to be too marketable that you can't keep them out. Like, if Caleb McCarran, Nathan McKinnon, those are two of the best players on Planet Earth. You want that team in the playoffs. You want the making deep playoff runs. So that's just my conspiracy theory. I think it's realistic because, like you said, if the timetable is November, then you don't do it. Like, you're fine. Like, you just go a month without your captain. You plan on him coming back. And you kind of have to fudge your way through it. But if he's not back till February or March, what's the shame in keeping longer for two more weeks or two more months? And you get to resign, Drew Ann. You can possibly resign, Trenton, and add a sixth defenseman. Like, I don't hate that because at least with this one, I feel like you have a little bit more control over the situation with Landy than you do with Val, because Val is even more of a question mark than Landy. Landy's comparative vows looks like the easiest solution of all time, where vows is just like, you have no fucking idea what to do. Yeah, Val, we'll get to that in a minute, but you'd be right. I don't know what you do with that situation. And with Landy, I think, again, the later you get into the season, the more realistic it ends up being to just leave him on LCIR and start in the playoffs, because I do want him to be up to speed for the playoffs if he's going to come back, considering it'd be almost three years since he played a game at that point. But what's more valuable up just one up to speed, Landy Scott, or Jonathan Drew Ann, and Trenton, and an extra defenseman, if you can make it work. Where I hate to say that's the best case scenario here, but it kind of is, because this is something that it's the quiet part you don't want to say out loud when it comes to the Landy Scott situation. This team's already gone two years without him. Like, I would rather make the team better around McKinnon and Rantedan. And if Landy Scott comes back, great. But I've already kind of mentally, like, it's been two years since we've seen the captain play. It's a folklore at this point. It's a folklore. I agree. He's a great player. The last time we saw him, he was dominating the postseason, but it's been two years. And if you can't get a guarantee that he's back 100%, by the beginning of the season or November, I think he just fudge it. And you'd spend that money until the playoffs. Because if you can add those pieces or retain those pieces, and then add a gave Landy Scott back into the lineup, you do that 100 times out of 100 times. Because it's just the smart thing to do. Yeah. I'm starting to really get on board with that. Because of course you want gave Landy Scott back and playing for your team. That goes without saying. I want him back as soon as possible. But again, it's still the lack of a true guarantee. Where it's like, I'm confident he'll come back next. I feel like at some point, gave Landy Scott will play. I can't guarantee that. And he can't really guarantee that yet. And McFarlane can't guarantee that right now. It's such a tricky situation because if you don't spend the money, you're doing a disservice to your team. You're doing a disservice to your team. And I love Landy, but Landy's not the missing piece for this team. He's just not-- He has a little bit. I think he's to push them over the finish line, the finishing piece. The finish piece. He'll up that team around him first. Correct. Correct. If you add Landy Scott back in at the playoffs, you're good. Like that's the little pushing the emotional boost alone from that. It's going to be massive. But if you can retain Drew Ann, you can retain a Jakob Trenon or a good fourth line center. Isn't Daniel Sprong a free agent again? Yes. Yeah. I mean, if you can get Daniel Sprong or someone like that, that makes your team so much better. And then you add Landy Scott on top of it. I think like I'm in the same position. I'm like 90% sure he's going to play next year. But it's not 100%. And if it's not 100%, you're doing a disservice to this team. If you're just letting $7 million that you could spend on other players, go by the wayside to disservice to the team. Right. But it does just depend on when. Right. And they know. And we're speculating they know. They at least have a better idea that we do of what that timeline is really looking like. Where if it is again, November, December, I think before the end of 2024, they probably don't spend that money. Because then you're looking at around half the season, maybe more of having the guy, which you can deal for two months. It's not going to be easy, but you can deal. But if you're talking post trade deadline, he's coming back late, March, April, you have seen much more egregious L-T-I-R usage than that. I just, I want to know how seriously the NHL takes it, which based on public perception and everything we've seen is not very seriously. I don't think they do. But I just would caution against just throwing caution to the wind with L-T-I-R and trying to get away with it for like five months. Yeah. No, and I just think that's, if it's not early November, early December, you fudge it, you do. Because even if you get slapped with it, those penalties won't affect you until next year. And if you can win a cup, who gives a fuck? Yeah. Like, that's just really where I'm at with it. I don't want this to be misconstrued, like I don't want Landis Scott back. It's just, if you're not 100% sure of when he's coming back, you're doing a disservice to Nathan McKinnon and Kalmerkart. Because that $7 million could retain a really good forward like Jonathan Durant. It could get you a really quality set, or a fourth line center. And you add Lanny back on top of that. It's almost a great problem to have where it's like, "Who are we taking out of the lineup?" But Landis Scott comes back. Right, where it's like, if Landis Scott, let's just hypothetically say, Landis Scott comes back, game one of the playoffs. You don't need him on the top line. Yeah, you don't. You can place it back in. That's been Lekonin's job, or Val's job, and we'll get to that. But like, that's been Lekonin's job for two years at this point. Or if you have kept Jonathan Drew at at this point, that's another guy you put on the top line. Or you put the one who's not on the top line on the second line. And Landis Scott plays 12 minutes a night with Ross Colton on the third. And as he gets stronger and stronger, you start building him back up more. And then... I know it's the playoffs. It's super intense. But you can ease a guy into the playoffs if you retain these guys. If you imagine being a Landis Scott on the fourth line, like, that's a real possibility of lowering the front of Ross Colton around. That's cheating at that point. But this is just such a fickle situation where there is no easy answer. There is no just... I want to just say just LTI are it. And leave them there to the playoffs, spend the $7 million, make the team better. That just might not be an option. I don't think it is. That might not be up to anybody. But I do hope there is at least some form of clarity where they know what to do. Because I don't want those two. I think they do. But we don't know anything, really. Like, we just had this whole presser and we don't know anything, really. But the only thing I could really take was that he's feeling good enough. That it's not insane. Like, at any point last year, it was insane to say that Landis Scott was coming back. This year, it's not insane to say Landis Scott is coming back. It's an eventuality that you're going to hit at some point, that he's probably going to be okay to play. And then there's the elephant in the room of... He hasn't played in three years. Right. He just had an experimental surgery. Okay, get back out there. I think that's a bridge you cross when you get there. But it is still something to keep in mind. He could just be exactly like Nicholas Baxter. He could be. Like, he comes back and you're like, you're the slowest player in the league. Like, we can't do it. Or he could be like, Patrick Kane. You just don't know. You don't know. Totally different surgeries. But that's when I think of when players who are like that. Because Backstrom's never going to play again. And Patrick Kane looks way better than he did before. Patrick Kane is probably going to sign another $3 million contract this offseason. Maybe more. Yep, so this is a hypothetical that I love doing. Do you think? Because Landy said he could have gotten a couple shifts. If he plays like two shifts in game six, the half's win game six against the stars. No. You said no? Oh, I don't think that game man. They had no gas left. But the emotional boost from him coming out in the first period. Okay. Maybe game six. Maybe. No, they wouldn't again win games. I'm not saying they win the series. I'm saying they probably win game six. Just not the emotional piece alone. I mean, there comes a certain point where you're putting Landy Scott out there for two to three shifts in the game. If that even, and the game's going to double over time. You're essentially playing with 11 skaters. Yeah. That's too bad. Maybe the game doesn't even go to double over time if Landy's there. Because if I scored the second goal, they win. Maybe so. I think you would have had to throw that nuclear option out there in like game three. Yeah. That actually changed the result of the series. Game six probably would have been too late. But I like where your head's at. My head's at there. But that's pretty much it with the Landy. Let's talk about the bigger elephant in the room. The whole vowel situation. Really like everything I've heard from McFarland and Bednar is, they said sucks. They wish vowel the best, but they're kind of in a tricky situation right now. They don't know what to do. Yeah. I think it's kind of exactly what we thought it was going to be. Where I think the most realistic situation is you go through the next six months, and then he's back on the team. There's, I don't know what else you do. Because again. But he knows to do. It's illegal to do anything else. And if you trade it, you get what? A seventh round pick back form right now. You're getting nothing back other than the cap space. And this is not an injury. And if vowel comes back, he is going to be vowel. He's going to be the guy who led the playoffs and scoring before he went out. And a guy who probably would have had 40 goals. Had he played 82 games with the one he was going this year? It's just the kind of thing where you can't terminate his contract. And they very clearly looked at that. They very clearly looked at that as a possibility. Because he basically went out there and said that the obvious question is termination right. And at this time, that's not an option. There is a very load bearing three words in there that said, and at this time, which suggests that if it became available for whatever reason, they might consider it and probably already. Does he make me do they have to pay him anything or is he just done? I think termination, like that's just your contract is over kind of thing. I mean, that sounds like if I didn't know if that was like a weird one. I imagine that's the big stink that the NHLPA puts up when contracts gets terminated versus bought out when it gets bought out, you're getting paid. Yeah, I mean, because I know a big brain theory, what if they terminate his contract, then just resign him for like four years. Like that is so unbelievably illegal. It is. Oh yeah, totally is. But that'd be hilarious if they if they did that. The closest thing that ever happened to that was the capitalist trading orpik here. And then the ass buying out orpik and then the caps going and signing orpik. Yeah, I know, but it's like, you never know man. Like what if what if that's where we are with the situation where it's like we we don't know what's going to it's fun to conspiracy theory. But the most realistic option is November rolls around. Hopefully he gets reinstated. Hopefully he's back to a good headspace and he's feeling good and he has a good control on his addiction. He's never going to get over addiction. It's just hopefully he can has parameters set up around him where he doesn't get put in those situations to be tempted by it. And he's back playing with the abs in November because that's probably what's going to happen. Because the thing here is, is that this is not this is a locker room question, I think more than anything else. Obviously our all of our thoughts and prayers are with Val in what is unquestionably a more difficult time for him than than any of us. I can't imagine any person is more disappointed than Val in this entire situation. But there is the reality at the end of the day with addiction and a lot of mental illnesses and stuff like that is like that stuff still does happen and it does still affect other people. And there was still a locker room of guys that had that that bomb dropped on them in game four. And you could hear in McFarland and Landis Gog today that that day was incredibly disappointing. So if Val Nachushkin does come back to this team, there is going to have to be a lot of work to rebuilding the trust in that room. And it might not be super pretty, that's the reality of it at the end of the day. Where nothing surrounding a situation like this is pretty. Where you don't always get a great fairytale ending where he comes out of the player assistance program, like the guys are going to be supportive of him, but trust is earned. And when trust is broken, it is very hard to get back. I think that's the biggest concern here outside of Val's immediate health and mental well-being. But you can't terminate his contract. Trading him is just really not an option. It's not something you can do. The buyout is on your books until 2036. And it's like McFarland say, it's very plausible that he's just back on the team. And there just might have to be a lot of uncomfortable conversations and receipts, probably at the end of the day, where obviously you want him to be better more than anything. And you want him to be better for his family before anything else. But if he does come back to hockey in this team at the end of the day, there's a lot of distrust that is going to be in that room, unfortunately. There is. And it's just a tricky situation, man. And it's going to be not fun to talk about for the next six months. But I really just think the only thing that's going to happen is he's going to be back on the team. He's going to come back. He's going to get cleared to play. And then that's really when the conversations will be more public about where the team's at and where they're feeling. Because just based off of the reaction after the game for loss from the players, that's going to take some time to heal. There was a lot of hurt in that room, a lot of hurt in that room. When we once shame on me or shame on me, when we twice shame on you. Like that's after the first one, they were kind of like, yeah, it sucks. But we forgive him. And then the second time you're like, what the fuck, dude? Yeah. Like, yeah, it's brutal, but it is unfortunate. And the unfortunate reality of things like addiction, where it is something that hurts a lot of people beyond yourself. And that is a lot of the worst parts of it is letting down the people that trust you and that you love and everything. And being able to go and get that trust back is often the hardest part. And so I do not envy anyone involved in this situation and trying to navigate it. I think with Land of Scog, there is the option to have him out until the playoffs and be able to spend that money with Val. I think it's just a plan for him to be back in November, because that's the timeline you've got right now. When you got, you just got to roll with it. And you see how this season goes and try to, I don't know, figure it out from there. Because I just don't think it ends in November when he comes back. Because if he truly cannot be in the locker room, then you can't move forward. You can't. You just can't. It's going to be, I don't know, man. Like, it's just going to be, I feel like we're going to be so exhausted with this conversation as it goes on. But that's really where we're at with it. It's just we got nothing, man. We got nothing to work on until we figure out what's going on. And we won't know what's going on until November. Because here's the thing, I'm okay with that. Too much of the player assistance program is too public. The kind of thing where it's like, I get really uncomfortable when you get five insiders tweeting that someone has entered the player assistance program. Whereas it's like a total alert that the PR department puts it out. Elliot Friedman tweets it out. Like something about that just feels wrong to me. There is just like you're putting someone up on display for entering essentially rehab. I feel like there should be a little more privacy involved in something like that. And it's also just not super hard business. Not the day. This one is, I know it is very, very frustrating because it was the playoffs. And second round and the team really did need him. And it was very disappointing for everybody involved. And I get the attitude surrounding something like that. But we do have to understand what is happening here. This is not something that should be public. It shouldn't be, but it is sadly. Yeah. It's unfortunate. So there's a realistic situation where that's the only update on Val we get until November. And then maybe after November, we know more about what happened and what the future looks like. But we could go through the next six months and really not hear much of a peep. I don't think we will. I really don't. I don't think we'll hear anything for a very long time. Yeah. So when it comes to spending that money, I just don't know if there's even much of a conversation to really have about it. You can't get that money off of your books. And yes, it technically does not count against your cap while he's in the Player Assistance program. But unlike Landeskog, we do have a timeline. And this one is mid November. Where that's a month of the season. It's mid November, but it's even more complicated than the Landeskog one. Right. Because what if it's not? Right. Like what if it's never? Well, you can't use his money, right? You can't use it. Technically, you can if he doesn't come back. But that's the thing. Like his money right now, when you start the season in October 13 or whatever, it ends up being will not count against the salary cap for as long as he's in the Player Assistance program. But when he is not in there anymore and is reinstated, that money just comes back. And so you can't really go and spend six million bucks. I think that ties in though with the whole Landeskog if he's on LTI all year, because that you can kind of control. This you can't control. Like that's like you can fudge LTI are a little bit. Player Assistance program, there are people outside of your organization making those decisions. Correct. Correct. So that's where it's stuff. So we'll have to see. But overall, I don't think I have really any other thoughts about a 30 minute press conference. Yeah, it's a good solid 50 minutes, I believe. Oh, is it 50? Yeah. Well, I was a longer oppressor than I was expecting, honestly. Did you watch the whole thing? I couldn't watch. I was at work. I tried to as best I could. I was working. I tried to like have a headphone in and listen as best I could. I had to end up just going down jobs, man. Money and everything. I tried to listen back to it, find some transcripts to see anything I missed. But yeah, with Val, there's just really not a lot of options on the table. There's there's no grounds to terminate the contract. There's really no way to trade him. I mean, if there is such a strong push from the locker room that they do not want him back for whatever reason, because again, we are not in the locker room. We don't know these guys, how they interact with each other, what truly happened at the end of the day, they know. So I'm going to go off of their word and what they know happened in this situation. If they really do not want him back, then he will be traded at the end of the day. And it won't be for a lot. And it won't be something that anyone's truly happy about. But if there is even a smidge of a second chance, a third chance, even this time, then he's going to stick around. But I don't think the story ends there. No, it doesn't. I mean, based off what Land of Scog said about it, it sounds like there's a pathway for him to come back. I mean, even though landy hasn't been in the room, he still talks to the guys. It was it happened in Denver and laying around in Denver and he's around the team when they're at home. So I'd say he was involved when that whole thing happened. And I think a lot of the comments that we heard the day of, like, especially from Jack and everyone, a lot of that is very heat at the moment stuff. You just humiliated in game four to go down three one in the series. And one of your best playoff performers just wasn't there. Right. It just wasn't there for the second straight. There's a lot of anger and a lot of frustration. I feel like that is going to boil up in that situation where you give it six months. And Val, Val comes back through that door with receipts and shows them I've put in the work. I'm going to do my best for all of you. Things can change and people can change. People can be forgiven. And I'm going to hold out hope for for Val Nachushkin for just his own personal sake because this team is better when he's on it. This team wins hockey games when Val Nachushkin is in the lineup and tends to lose them when he doesn't. So it's not a it's not a mystery how important he is. The last time he played a full playoffs, they have to want to stand the cup. Yeah. And he was a pretty important part of that. And it played in these playoffs. He led the league in playoff scoring. Correct. Nine goals. And I know the it's a business. It's a business. You can't trust him. You can't this. You can't that. It's a lot of the business parts of it that make this so complicated. It's not as simple as giving a guy a third chance where I think if if it was available, it already would have happened. If they had grounds to terminate, I think most people are right that they wouldn't give him another chance here, but it's not really up to them where now it's about making do and making the best of the situation and seeing if there is something to be salvaged out of this because this is brutal. This there is no denying how absolutely brutal something like this is for a team for Val personally and the business side of the sport. But this is just the reality of where we are. And it sucks. It's frustrating. And it's I've seen a lot of people very, very angry about it. But that that's just what it is, man. That's just how it has to unfortunately be dealt with. It sucks to to have this car dealt to you for this offseason, but that might just have to be the case. I think it is going to be the case. So there's also where if Val comes back and this does happen for a third, fourth time, I think he's permanently banned. I'm pretty it's I think it's a year after this. Yeah, at that point, there's no conversation. There's nothing you can do about it. Yeah, like that that's just a person fighting demons that you've given everything you can. So yeah, let's hope it doesn't get to that point. Yeah, it's good for fingers crossed for Val personally. I could care less about the hockey. This is a person you wanted to be OK. But the only other thing I really took away from that press conference, I loved when Gabe said, uh, this should be Nate's third MVP. He was like, yes, King, go off. You bland as God knows, puck. Yeah. When those puck shocker gave land as God knows what he's talking about. But yeah, I love that he just already chalks up. Like, yeah, he already wanted it. Yeah, it should be a third one. I was like, yeah, King. You've already won this one, too. It's not even a question. Yeah, I love that. I was like, yeah, that's why I like to hear Twilight did. There's a couple of other things to take away from that presser. The other big news are Terry Leckenin's going to have. Yeah, I mean, it's what a brutal season for our Terry Lecken performed just fine, but broke his neck really fucked up his shoulder in game one against Dallas is what that replay Evan put out there was. I think that's what it was game one, right? Game one first 10 seconds of the game and it's going to play the entire series now is going to have shoulder surgery that according to McFarland, whether it's going to keep him out of training camp, it's going to be close, which to me says, okay, game one of the regular season, he's going to be available. See, I think I'm a little different. I think probably like game 10 is available. Yeah, but like they said, training camp, it's going to be close and training camp is mid September. You're still going to have a month at that point. So give or take the beginning of the season, hopefully. Not jeopardy of missing. Like it kind of reminds me of when tapes have surgery late. Yeah. Like, like that's kind of what this reminds me of. He may miss like 10 games, but our Terry Leckenin's going to be fine. Well, he broke his foot last year in the playoffs and played through it. And then there's a shoulder and plays through guys fucking warrior, not surprised. Broke his neck in November this season and missed several months, came back from that like and never missed a beat. And one of the heart and souls of this team can't ask it. You can't say enough good things about what our Terry Leckenin has done for the avalanche. He still has three more years for this guy at four and a half. I can't even believe it. And just how amazing he is, point per game in the playoffs, six goals. And hopefully surgery goes well, recovery goes well in the off season and you get you get lucky back, good and healthy. Yeah, it's almost it was kind of mean that Leckenin that like that just kind of got lumped into this press conference with like all the crazies. It's like, Oh yeah, our Terry Leckenin had shoulder surgery. He'll be well, I mean, to be fair, you usually don't have pressers about stuff like that. It's usually true. So we should like you the best. What else did I miss from it? Is there anything else? They talked about Drew Ann a little bit and the challenge that it's going to be to keep him. And McFarland basically said I'd be lying to you. If I said it won't be a challenge to get something done. At this time, we have the cushion to deal with. You get that 10% over the cap in the summer, but the uncertainty of certain situations, which that's one way to put it. We've got a lot of eyes to dot and tease the cross to figure out on that over the next few weeks, which to me is like, they're acknowledging this is a challenge, but it sounds to me like this is something that they 100% want to do. Yes. Like 100%. If there is at all a way that they can keep Jonathan Drew Ann in Colorado, they're going to do it. They're going to do it. It's just a matter of how much does Drew Ann want? And is it feasibly at all possible for them to do? Like, I think they're even willing to move off money to make this work. That's how much of a success John was. Well, that's Nathan McKinnon's best friend. So it's a win in every conceivable way. It's just such an unbelievable slam dunk to keep the guy. It's just is it possible right now? No, but maybe in the future. Who knows? It's it's possible. It's not easy, but it's possible with the way the team is currently constructed with keeping light of scog and vows money. There has to be someone sacrificed, whether that's Josh Manson or Ross Colton or Jonathan Drew Ann. Someone is going to have to be subtracted from the roster to make that work because other guys just don't make enough money. And the other guys are too important. I would love to have Drew back. I still I'm just gonna I'm not gonna get my hopes up with it. That's where I'm at mentally with it. I'm just I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic. I think if Drew Ann is back, I think you see a trade first. And if isn't one, then they probably know something we don't about these certain situations as Mr. McFarlane calls it. It's a great politically correct answer again. Given you got that you guys who know how to handle the press. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know anything else that we need to press anything brought up Cal Richie, saying he doesn't they want to get him signed soon. And basically McFarlane said he's a young kid that has to get man strong and come into his first training camp. And basically saying, I think I'm Richie, we can wait until he's ready to thrive and come into a role where he doesn't have to be counted on as a basically Wyatt Johnson kind of thing. And which I think can be a challenge, he can come and grab a role to pace that allows him to thrive in the league and not just survive. And I just don't think how Richie's gonna play on the team. Next, I think that basically means they want to sign into his ELC and then send him back to the is he in the W. U. H. Oh, H. Oh, yeah, I think that's what that means. They would like to sign him and then just be like, okay, come to training camp, get a taste of it, and then go back to the OHL and nominate again. And I saw a lot of people being super upset, like, oh, you're wasting a year of Cal Richie's and 19 year old. Yeah. Like, I know we get lost the bard's in the world, like all the super, super elite players. But it's not a bad thing to let the kid grow, like grow into his body and round out. He's coming off a major shoulder surgery the year before. It's a reason he fell in the draft. And those are the same people that were pitching about new hook being rushed and Tyson Joe's being rushed. Like, you just can't wait. You want the guy to be good or not? Yeah. You just give the kid time to grow. And I would love to have them sign into his ELC. And then he just chills in the OHL for another year. And then maybe in the playoffs, he gets a game. Maybe he's good. And I'd love for him to be Wyatt Johnston for us. To like 19, 20 years old and just turn into a fucking superstar. But that's the thing about Wyatt Johnson is that doesn't happen. No, like that really just does not happen unless you are a certain specimen of player. And I think Cal Richie's going to be really good. The abs absolutely struck gold with this guy. That also can't mean that you just immediately throw him into the fire and ruin him. Like, you're going to have to be patient with this. And the abs are not in a, like, they're in a rough position salary wise, but they're not in a position where they need the ELC. They don't need Cal Richie right now. They're going to need him eventually. They're going to need that probably $900,000 in an important role to take some burden off their salary cap. I just think it's a lot to ask of a 19 year old to come in after dominating the OHL last year. Let him do it again. Let him dominate the OHL again. See what he's got. If he does it, and if he dominates again, then you can bring him over and see what he's got. You give him his nine games and go from there because you're still at the weird point where you can't play him with the Eagles in the AHL yet. So I have no problem taking our time on this. It's not like it's a it's a necessity. It'd be nice, but it's just not super realistic. It's not super realistic. And I mean, I've been impressed with the abs drops recently. So like, you forget about Gulliev too, like you still have that guy. That could be an important piece coming down the line later. That makes me think they're going to hold on to that 24th pick because they may not be picking this high again for a while. Yeah, you look at what they've got coming up and it's not a lot. They pick the fourth, no second, no third, and they have was that ultimately six picks in the final four rounds. And then they don't pick until the fourth round next year as of right now. So no, they may trade back. That may be the trades they trade back and get some assets back. You might think well, and we'll talk about all that, obviously, as the draft gets closer, but I imagine they're going to hold on to that that first round pick and do what they can to. Unless there's an offer out there that they can't say no to. Yeah, of course. I mean, you always have to leave that on tables. There's an offer out there for your first for a good, young, cheap player, then obviously you do that. But I think they also want to at least have this prospect core stocked up. And they did a good job of that last year with getting Richie and getting Gulliev and signing a bunch of good college players were adding another first round pick, even if it's not as deep of a draft this year. Not terrible. It wouldn't hurt. And having a, if you turn it into a guy who ends up being trade bait, then that's not the worst thing in the world either. Agreed. Agreed. But I think that's pretty much it. Do we have anything else? Pretty much the only other thing is stuff we already knew about guys like Kovalenko, Foodie, and Malinsky are going to have to go and earn their spots. And they believe there's ability there, but they're going to have to go and earn it. I don't think that's too much of a shock. And then the least surprising thing is they're going to probably look to sign low AAV guys, like guys on PTOs, guys on waivers and. Yeah, don't say. Yeah, right. Yeah, it's breaking news. They're going to try to find value in cheaper players. But that's pretty much everything. It's not nothing. They gave it stuff. Yeah, I mean, we got now our content out of it. So, we can live with that. Real quick, we didn't really talk about it in the previous episode, because we went for like two hours. The Eastern Conference final got underway last night. The Panthers just dog walked the New York Rangers. And I'm not going to get my hopes up. I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind if the Panthers just beat the shit out of the Rangers and went on to win the Stanley Cup. I wouldn't mind that. I wouldn't mind that. Just saying. I would, I want to get my hopes up either. But the Panthers look really good. Yeah, really good in that game one. And they play a game that is just annoying, so conducive to success. Where I forget who said it, but someone said that the Panthers just seem like they don't care about the score. They just keep going and just keep playing their system and just keep. They just keep wearing you down and keep frustrating. Like that atmosphere in Master's Square Garden was dead. That whole game, there was nothing to cheer about outside of the goal getting disallowed in the third period. And other than that, they just completely shut them down, which is great to see personally as a Rangers. Yep. I'm cool with it. I'm just saying, I know the NHL doesn't want that to happen, but a Dallas and Florida Stanley Cup final would be must watch TV if you're a hockey fan, because those are the two deepest teams in the NHL. That series would kick ass. I mean, from a neutral perspective, is there a bad final? Like, is there one that would be bad? Like, neutrally. As a neutral fan, probably Florida Edmonton? But even still, that's a pretty good series. No, it's a good series. I agree, but you're asking me if I'm a neutral fan. Like, you don't give a fuck about Florida and where the fuck even is Edmonton? Like, what are we talking about? I mean, neutral hardcore fan, casual fan obviously doesn't give a fuck about Edmonton. Yeah, neutral hardcore fan. I don't think there's a bad matchup. I think they're all fantastic. Even Dallas, New York, Edmonton, New York, would draw ratings at very least. And I think, like, on paper, the most boring one is Florida Dallas, but that's such an entertaining series. That series would kick so much ass. Like, those are the two best teams. For true hardcore hockey fans, that would probably be one of the best finals we've ever seen. And all the rest would at least draw ratings. And it's on ESPN. So, I mean, let's be honest, it's not going to be great. So we'll have to deal with it. And Edmonton is up to one nothing right now. Oh, they just scored. They just scored like right now as a dry side goal. So early in the second is one, nothing Oilers in the first game of the Western Conference final. Not going to draw any conclusions on that. Dallas has not won a game one so far. These playoffs. That'll be fine. This is just part of the course for them. We'll see if that changes. But yeah, we gave our predictions last round. I have the stars in six and the Panthers in seven. I'm just, I think it's going to be great hockey both ways. And unless you got really anything else here, I'm feeling pretty fine to wrap up where we are. No free ads, but I went to a brewery last night called Brew-ability. And the concept was great. It was a bar, a brewery, completely employed by people with mental disabilities and handicaps. And it kicked so much ass. So if you're in the Denver area, it's in Inglewood, Brew-ability. The beer was good. The food was great. And it's a great cause. So if you're in that town, go check it out. It was a great cause and they had great employees. And the atmosphere was just so much fun. I loved it. It was great. I love it. Sounds fantastic. But yeah, I think I'm good to wrap this one up here as to when we'll be back probably after the weekend. Probably Tuesday. Yeah, probably Tuesday. We're planning to be back for Friday, but it just made sense to go today after the presser and talk about everything while it's fresh. So we'll be back probably Tuesday night kind of thing. We'll keep you guys up to date on what we're thinking as we try to get back to a somewhat normal schedule. But that is going to do it for us on this edition of the Teletabs. It is podcast. You can use promo code Teletabs. It is on CQ for $20 off your first order of $50 or more. You know, follow us on Twitter. You can follow me @gyoungs in a shell. You can follow Christian @Christian_ballae. And you can follow the show @teletabs. It is. But again, thank you all so very much for tuning in. And we will catch you all next time. But until then, let's go apps. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
