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Not available in every state, based on coverage selected, subject to terms, conditions and availability, savings vary. Welcome to the Tell It Abs It Is podcast. You're home for everything Colorado Avalanche. On the hockey podcast network, here's your hosts, Griffin Youngs and Christian Boulay. Hello everybody, welcome back to another edition of the Tell It Abs It Is podcast on the hockey podcast network. I'm Griffin Youngs, joined by Christian Boulay. As always, I think the dust is starting to settle on the off season. A little bit, the initial flurry of moves have been made. We had over a billion dollars get spent in day one of the off season and the avalanche have made their moves. None of them, super ground breaking. We talked about some of them last episode with Dahan and Parker Kelly. One more comes through the dockets with Eric Brantstrom coming through from Ottawa, which we'll get into in a second, which is spoiler on them. I like that move a lot, but we're starting to see what this team is shaking out to be for next year. And you add Eric Brantstrom to the mix, a former first round pick of Vegas ends up in Ottawa. Still a 24 year old with really solid potential and for $900,000, this is exactly the kind of reclamation project that the abs need. Yes, 100%. It's one of those moves that it could be really, really good and Brantstrom could surprise us and live up to the potential of when he was drafted 14th overall. And worst case scenario, he's just a good rotational six seventh defenseman and that's really what the abs needed. Yeah. And now you look at the abs defensive depth. And once you get past the top four, honestly, I feel like it's deeper than it was last year, where now you don't have a bow by room or a Sean Walker to really prop up that fifth spot. But now you have, I'd say a good four to five guys that you know can play in the NHL. Then injuries are going to happen. You know, you do all this work analyzing rosters as they come through and then you get a week into the season and it looks completely different. But I think they feel a lot better, or at least I feel a lot better, knowing that when injuries do come into play, they have a lot of very capable guys. We talked about it. Calvin DeHaan is good to miss at least 25 30 games minimum. Josh Manson loved the guy. He's due to miss at least 10 to 15. Sam Gerard. Hopefully everything stays well. He's never really been a guy who gets injured in the regular season. It's more in the playoffs. And we love kill my car, but if you can give him a car a couple nights off, that's fine with me. I feel good about where the defensive depth is right now. It's, I think it's more quality NHLers that are going to be playing in the HL a couple times. But if needed, you can call up just a guy who can come and play 10 minutes and you won't be disgusted by his play. Right. And we'll get back to Eric Brantstrom in a second, but just looking at the defensive depth now where you have Brantstrom, Calvin DeHaan, Jacob McDonald, and then you start looking at guys like Callie Rosen, Sam Molinsky as well. And if it gets down to it, I wouldn't be surprised as he's Sean Barron's maybe get a couple of games in the NHL. I don't think that's the plan, but I think if it comes down to it, I don't think they would hate maybe giving him a game or two. So you have a good collection of guys that you feel okay with. And truthfully, I feel a little more secure with Brantstrom than I did with Sam Molinsky as just a little more of a proven commodity with, I think, a lot more upside than Sam Molinsky, where I think we talked a lot at the end of this season and so far early in the offseason, we were very comfortable with the idea of Sam Molinsky is just going to be the number six, where maybe that wasn't such a guarantee as we thought, where I think that's Eric Brantstrom's job to lose right now as a maybe a younger guy with a little more potential. But I just, I feel a little more secure in that, don't you? I mean, I love what Sam Molinsky did last year. I thought he was good in the what when he played 15 games. Yeah, about for that. I thought he was solid. He had a couple really good moments, but you're also, it's hard to put those type of expectations on a rookie, even though he's what, 25 years old. He's not really a rookie. Yeah, he's going to be 26 here in a couple of weeks. Yeah, that's crazy to think that he's these two years older than Brantstrom and Brantstrom's going to play like a hundred more games than the NHL than him. But I just think Molinsky's going to be good. I think he's going to fight for that sixth defenseman role, but I agree with you. I think it's going to be Brantstrom's job to lose. And then it wouldn't surprise me if Molinsky's the first call up. Yeah, I think that's the plan at the very least, where I think going from Molinsky to Brantstrom's not really changing the plan all that much. And Brantstrom might get hurt at some point, or someone else might get hurt. And Molinsky's going to get time in the NHL. I just don't think management felt incredibly comfortable being like, okay, Sam Molinsky, 82 games next year, kind of thing. Yeah, I don't know if they felt comfortable. Then you look at Brantstrom's numbers. I mean, the past two years with the Senators, 74, 76 games played 18 points two years ago, and then 20 points last year. That's just a good solid sixth defenseman right there. And who knows, maybe he'll get a little bit more unlocked in the abs defensive scheme. But worst case, you're looking at a guy who's going to get you around 20 points. And the past few years, you've been plus five. So he's not a liability defensively. And his underlying numbers, they are very good. And he spent a lot of time in Ottawa, which I always say you pull talented players out of places like Ottawa and Buffalo, and you go put them in other organizations that know what they're doing. And a lot of these players turn out to be significantly better than they've ever looked. And Brantstrom hasn't even looked that bad in Ottawa. I haven't paid that close attention to him recently. When he was a UFA, I was like, oh, that'd be interesting. But I didn't think the abs would actually get him because I thought he'd be a hotter commodity. But you look at a lot of his numbers and a lot of his play. It's really not that bad. He put up 20 points last year. His underlying numbers are very strong. There are some parts of his game that do need work. He's very turnover prone. He's not fit right in there. He'll fit right in. He's turns over the puck a lot. He makes mistakes. He's not big by any stretch. He's not a guy who's going to add any bang or make the abs any tougher to play against. But he's got really good puck moving ability. And even with a very limited role in Ottawa, he had the puck a lot. That's one of the reasons he turned over the puck so much is he just always had the puck on his stick. They would always find a way to get him the puck. I do think that there is a lot here with Eric Branch from that can be unlocked. I don't know how much is going to get unlocked in a third pair role. I don't know if that's what's going to unlock it for him. But I know that the avalanche are at least going to tell Eric Branch from what his job is this year because the centers had him playing forward at some points last year, which is ridiculous. It's an organization that doesn't know what they're doing. It's an organization that does not know how to develop players and turn themselves into a winning franchise. Or even if the avalanche aren't exactly going to give him the top four, maybe power play minutes that he needs, they're going to tell him in training camp what they expect and not just like put him on the fourth line like he's Curtis McDermott at some point. They're going to at least put him in a position to succeed in their system and a system that is kind of built for players like Eric Branch from where you don't need to be the six, five, knock someone into the four hundreds kind of defenseman has succeed here. You just got to be able to move and be able to move the puck effectively. And I don't think in Ottawa they have really much of anything that resembles a system. So I don't know if that really works for players like Eric Branch from. So even then with all that, he had the 20 points, he has very strong underlying numbers. Yeah, he makes a lot of mistakes. That's why he's getting paid $900,000 right now instead of getting a decent contract somewhere else and is a quote unquote reclamation project. But for where the avalanche are, there is a lot of upside with a guy like Eric Branch from and for $900,000. That's the kind of value that you're looking for out of a player where last year you look at Jonathan Drew and at 825 or whatever he signed last year. Obviously, a much more proven player, Jonathan Drew and, but you knew there was that potential for a boom here, you get it. And now you look at defensively Eric Branch from. There's a lot of upside to a guy like that where if it really does work out here, that could be a guy who sticks around for a while and helps you save a lot of money on the cap in the future. Yeah, I mean, I think if he has a good year, there's probably 95% chance he doesn't resign with the abs. But if he can come back and record made his career and go get a nice payday somewhere else in the abs get a nice good year out of him. That's a transaction they're willing to take. Yeah, I cannot stress enough that he was in Vegas once he got drafted and was touted as probably one of the best defensive prospects in the NHL. He's part of the Mark Stone trade that sends him to Ottawa. And there's that quote from Dory and hanging over his head after they trade Mark Stone saying this is one of the best days in franchise history with, which was was referring to Brantstrom. But a lot of fans took that as they were happy to trade stone so he has that quote hanging over his head his entire career. He's playing third pair of minutes and it just has all that pressure hanging over his head and he's in Ottawa, which again I've established, not a great place for developing guys a guy like Brantstrom is a bit of a project. And was there anyone from that trade for the stone trade that worked out for the senators. Brantstrom was the big piece. I have to go back and look at that actual trade itself. Because that could be one of the most lopsided trades in history and the senators have been on the wrong side of two of them in the past 15 years. I'm looking at it right now. So the trade was Oscar Lindberg and Eric Brantstrom and a second round pick which turned out to be Igor Sokolov, who plays played 13 games so far in the NHL points for Mark Stone and Tobias Lindberg. So no, that trade did not. No, Senator, let me get a first round pick for him. That's crazy. Well, Brantstrom was the centerpiece of that trade because back in 2019, when this was, Brantstrom was really hyped up. And again, back to my original point, I can't stress enough that he has all this hype comes to Ottawa and it immediately derails. I don't really think that's a coincidence. So again, I don't know if third pair is going to be what fixes him, but I do think again, just consistency, knowing what to expect on a day by day basis does a lot for a guy where even like Andre Burkowski back when the avalanche got him back when he was in Washington. I'm the expert on the second red 20 page thesis on Andre Burkowski's career, but back when he was in Washington, he would go from playing on the second line, having two goals to being bumped down to the fourth line, not producing on the fourth line, then being scratched. People get hurt, comes back into the top six and does well, has one bad game back to the bottom, then he just comes to the abs, plays on the top six and stays there and is good. Oh, well, stayed there till still the cup till the cup, but like at least then he was replaced by people better and then stayed on the third line and then scratched once but you know, that doesn't help my narrative so I'm going to ignore that. Well, I mean it was still like I get the point you're saying that he came in got consistent top six minutes. And honestly, if you didn't break his hand or was this thumb in the cup final. It was on his hand. I remember his hand in what two goals in the three games. No three goals and three games. He had three goals and two games he didn't even play. Yeah, so I mean, it's just one of those things. I don't know if he's going to get a chance branch from to do that role. The only way I can see that happening and it's more than likely going to happen because like I said 82 games is a long time. I think there's going to be moments where. Gerard Manson, Taves McCar missed games and Branstrom and Dehaan are going to be forced to go up in the lineup. And we'll see what Branstrom can do with that. I think we kind of know what Calvin Dehaan is like I think they're pretty comfortable with him being a third pair of defenseman. Branstrom is more of a little bit more of a wild card where he's going to play third pair if everyone's healthy. But is he capable of playing in the top four? I think he is. He kind of reminds me a little bit of Sean Walker, a little bit more offensively skilled, but I worry that he's going to get the Sean Walker effect that Sean Walker got here. Right. But he's not being able to be stable to Jack Johnson this time and that's going to be because Jack Johnson's in Columbus now which will. Yeah, I mean we can talk about that. It's a sad day in avalanche history. I don't know what else to say about Jack Johnson other than I'm going to miss him. I never thought I'd say that. What was it? Four years ago we signed the PTO three years ago. Three. Yeah. Three years ago we signed the PTO and we laughed at Joe Saka for doing that. He was an integral part of the scene for three years and I, I for one did not expect to be this sad that Jack Johnson was leaving. Yeah, I mean everything I can say about Jack Johnson I don't want to put into an anecdote on top of another conversation so I'm going to I'm going to save him for at least until we finish the branch from conversation. Okay, fair, fair. Yeah, it's a sad, sad couple days for me. I have my thoughts on Jack Johnson that I'll save for another time but back to Branstrom as a whole. Where this is just a great signing is at the end of the day where I think Branstrom has that potential to be Jonathan Drew and ask value on the defense where guys are going to get hurt and maybe he can step into the top four and just seamlessly pick up where other guys leave off you give him a training camp you give him time to learn the system maybe in a shorter role and then maybe bump him up as the season goes on. Or he just is what he is in Ottawa, which is fine and a good rotational bottom pair defenseman I think you stick him with Calvin to Han and it gives the abs three defensive pairs that can play how the abs like to play and continue to move the puck up ice move the puck well in their own zone. And he just cleans up a little bit of his game like that's a good NHL defenseman maybe he's not going to be the top pair Norris contender that he was expected to be back when he was traded to Ottawa the first time. But I think there is something there for a good NHL defenseman and for $900,000 that's just good value together. No risk I reward. Yeah, yeah, again emphasis on the low risk I don't see a ton wrong with him, whereas just like all this guy sucks he shouldn't be in the NHL. Even with all the criticism he still played the full season in Ottawa last year, he wasn't up and down between that and the HL he still was doing fine for the most part cleans up some turnovers. And the only criticism you have for it I don't even know how much it applies to this is just he's not making the abs harder to play against, which is fair, but this is the kind of player that the abs like this is the kind of defense that the abs like to run out there and I think they wanted Sean Walker to kind of be more of that for them last year, and this is a cheaper replacement for that, where instead of spending was closer to $3 million on Sean Walker spending $900,000 on a great walk almost got what 3.6. Yeah, whatever he ended up getting in that range. Obviously, but again, you look at a lot of brands from numbers really good on zone entries and exits where it's just a lot of his struggles are a lot more on turnovers, physicality, football, puck retrievals, and honestly in terms of like finishing his chances that he does get offensively he's not great at it but he's very good at setting people up and he's very good at creation. And defensively, not nightmare. Like, I mean, you can only take so much from a J fresh winds above replacement card, but he is at 87%, which is still very good and over the last three years combined at a 76% winds above replacement. You dig into a lot more of that there's that's propped up by a lot of things and brought down by a lot of things, but there is still value there with someone like that, where I think there are going to be people upset that he's not big. And he's going to receive a lot of the same criticisms that Sam Gerard gets for not being big and making the abs tough to play against. But I think he is going to add value to this lineup and I think there is value in being able to trot out three defensive pairs, one of them being the best in the NHL. Gerard and Manson, when healthy, very good second pair, and Calvin like you said, you know what that guy is, you know what Calvin is, he's a safe third pair of defenseman who's not perfect, but going to give you reliable minutes when he's healthy and you pair him with an Eric Branster and a guy who's faster and can move and move the puck around. I think that's what the avalanche want to run out defensively, and they'll will be able to get them to execute their game plans. And it's just, there's so many defensive options now for the abs because I don't think we can hammer this point home enough between Dahan missing probably 20 games. You're going to need seven, eight defenseman and I feel good about where seven, eight defense are like I think people are going to see this as like oh Sam Olinsky's not ready. I just think Sam Olinsky's just going to be a seventh defenseman. I just don't think Sam Olinsky is the kind of player or at least hasn't proven it yet. There's a yep, set it and forget it number six where I think he can be that. But again, this is a guy who's going to be 26 before the season starts. So he just, he has a head start over other guys that we would consider prospects. I mean, he's even older than Branstermez. So I think that's the kind of guy where if Bransterme or someone like that gets hurt, you can put Sam Olinsky in and you're not having a massive downgrade where you saw Molinsky step into the lineup last year and you're like, wow, this guy looks really good. He put up 10 points in the 21 games or whatever it was that he played last year. He's a good capable NHL guy. So if you can put him down a little bit and have him as an insurance option to a Branstermez who maybe had a little more upside to his game, I think that's perfectly fine. And again, you look at the moves that they've made this offseason. It's very clear they put a lot of emphasis on defensive depth, where I think again, going back to my earlier point, no more buy room and no more walker to replace him. You want to, if you're not going to have the big number five as like a really, really solid NHL player, I think Don't solid, but he's not walker buy room level. He's solid but he's not that. You want your six, seven, eight, nine, ten to at least be guys were okay. We're in a pinch. We need to have someone who we know can play where if Callie Rosen's playing, I don't think people are thrilled about it, but he's been in the system before. He's played in the NHL a lot. That's a guy you at least know can play in a pinch and you get to game 45 of the season. It's the doldrums you're barely halfway through. Guys are fucked up and you just need people who can play and produce in ten minutes of a third pair roll. Callie Rosen can do that for you, or Sam Olinsky can do that for you. You just, Jacob McDonald, like you said, no can come in that for you. And God forbid in the playoffs, something happens and you need guys to step in. You'd much rather have that be Callie Rosen than Keaton Middleton, right? Not to no disrespect to Keaton Middleton, but you just, you feel a little better having Callie Rosen there, right? Yeah, I mean, it's going to happen. It's not a question of if it's just a matter of when. So have to wait and see, but I like to move. It's going to be, it's going to be interesting to see how this decor plays out, but you have your top four locked in. I think you have your fifth locked in into Han and then the sixth, if branch from works out, you got a pretty solid decor. You just saw it. We just saw it with the Florida Panthers. Their decor was not the best in the world. Like they have Gustav Forzling, but other than that, like the rest of the decor was just kind of, well, egg-blad, the rest of that decor was just kind of hodgepodge throwing together. I mean, even egg-blad was, wasn't great. Well, I mean, the reason I say egg-blad in that is because he was signed up multi-year, like he'd been with the team for a while. Yeah, to your point, they always built the defense around him, but through that overall point is that defense was just incredibly deep. It wasn't the best defenseman. But there was just a lot of capable players in that. And I think again, for the abs, their strength is going to be built on the back end. And overall to the point, looking at this roster and what they still need to do as, I think there's some stuff that could happen over the next little while. I don't think it's going to be very much, though, where you look at what they've done. Their defense is built out. They don't need to do anything else with that, but they might still need to do some stuff on offense. Yeah, Logan O'Connor, maybe as it stands right now, might be your second-line winger or Kovalenko if he impresses in training camp. That's obviously not what you want, but obviously that depends on Landis Scott and Val, which we can touch on in a minute. So you need another score on your top six. Okay, you have potentially two of them that could be coming in. And then you want Sifo Connor's up there. You want someone else for your third line. Kovalenko can fill that for now, I guess. And you want a fourth-line center. You have Parker Kelly and Kivu Ronta on your fourth line, which is good. I really like Parker Kelly. The more I've read a new it, the more research I've done. I think a two-year deal for a guy like that, who's 25, works really hard. Maybe a Logan O'Connor kind of cult following here, where I think people are going to really like this guy the more he plays here. And maybe if he doesn't, that's a variable deal, so there's no risk involved with something like that, but you're looking at like, okay, there's a couple pieces they need to fill out on offense, but it's much easier to do that than it is to get good defensemen, good quality defensemen. Okay, Chris Wagner opening night fourth-line center. It's not the best thing in the world, but we still have a lot of off-season to go where we're going to see guys who don't get contracts, PTOs are going to get signed, guys are going to get put on waivers closer to training camp. It's going to be much easier to find a good, not even a good, like just a fitting fourth-line center that maybe you can rotate with Chris Wagner, more than it would be to get an Eric Brantstrom for your defense at this point, where I'm less concerned about positions like that. And the Land of Scog and Vowel stuff is just going to have to work out somehow because that's the only way we're filling the issues in the top six. And if those get figured out, you're bumping O'Connor down to the third line, you're bumping Kovalenko down a line, and really the only like external thing they can fill really off the bat is fourth-line center, which again is much easier to fill. It's much easier to fill, and I mean, that's a trade deadline move if you have to make it too. Right, I think Chris Wagner is going to be, I mean, it might be him, maybe TJ Tynan has a good training camp and he gets the nod to start, maybe John Luke Foodie takes a big step. There's a lot of options for fourth-line center that I feel comfortable are in-house. Right, and in even worst-case scenario, Gabe and Vowel don't play a single game next year. That's much easier to address at the trade deadline to kind of think, like, wingers are usually available. If you need a right winger, you can find that kind of thing. Yeah, and I still believe, like in my heart of hearts, that Gabe is going to play at some point in this regular season because I think if they knew he wasn't, they would have spent that money. And they didn't spend the money, so I do think Gabe's going to be back at some point in this regular season. So the opening day lineup may not look that great, but come December, January, it may be look totally different. Yeah, it's what we said last episode. I think this is just going to require some patience where maybe the roster that you throw out there for was October 9 against Vegas on opening day might not be the best. There might be some gaps that need to be filled, but at the end of the day, this is still a good team. Like, I know you might look at, oh, the fourth line center is not the best, but like, you still have McKinnon, you still have Ranton and you'd brought back Joth and Drew Ann. You still have Laconan in middle stat in your top six. Okay, it would look a lot better if you had Landis Gogurna, Cheushkin next to them, but Wood and Colton is still a decent third line with no matter who ends up playing with them. Colton doesn't get traded. I still think there's more there for him. He's a good enough player. Your defense with McCar and Taze on the top still is really solid. Gerard and Manson is a pair that works. They completely revamped the depth on the defense. And if Georgiev just is even close to what he was in the playoffs, this team's still going to be just fine. I think when it's just, I always use the phrase shiny new toy syndrome. The abs didn't really get a shiny new toy right now. And so people are just like, ah, boring, right? No big sexy move. Maybe they finished third in the central again. I still think this is around the top five team. I'd put money on them still being a top five team in the NHL. This season, if they get good enough goaltending, I'm not worried about making the playoffs or anything like that. They're going to make it. And if they get Val or Landis got back, hopefully both. By the time we get to the trade deadline and the playoffs, they're going to be just fine. I'm not. That's a scary team. Like that's the thing. If you add $13 million of production back into this lineup, this team's scary. I guess you still have Nathan McKinnon. You have Jonathan Drew on his proof. Like he's a solid, really good player. Meeko Renton's in a contract here. So we already know Meeko Renton's going to be balling the fuck out all year long. He's going to be trying harder than he's ever tried. Letting him, we know we're getting from him. Yeah, you could. We'll see. But Casey Middlestadt is going to have a full year in the system. I'm excited to see what he looks like. Logan Conner before he got hurt was on pace for 20 goals. Like that was pretty impressive from him. And even if he's not played in that top six minutes, I love the Colton Wood and O'Connor line. Like the Roaring 20s line was awesome. And you can actually see them play against third liners, which would be great. So I do feel good about this team. Do I think they're going to win the central and be in like attention for the president's trophy? No, but who cares? Like they prove that they don't need to win the central or win the president's trophy to win around in the playoffs. And even then the central teams in the central got better, but I still consider Dallas to be the main competition. I think that's fair, right? And I think they got worse just straight up. I don't like Dallas for sure got worse. I don't like the moves that Dallas made this offseason. I don't like Ili Labushkin. I don't like Matt Dumba. Like even trading guys like Radek Foxa, where it's the kind of move like it's a cap dump, but those are still players. Like that's a guy in Foxa who's been there since 2015, I think. It was like 12 years. Yeah, he's been there for a long time as a solid depth player. And yeah, he'd taken a couple of steps back, but I think Dallas ultimately got worse. I think the abs stayed lateral relatively the same. Again, a lot of that hinges on Machushkin and Landis Gog. But based on the moves they made, they're kind of the same team that they were. It's not out of the question that the abs went essential. I think a lot of people are just out on that way too quickly. Like the abs are still very much the elite of the elite in the central with the guys that they already have as part of their core. And I think they're going to go toe to toe with Dallas again. And the other team that was in that conversation last year was Winnipeg. I don't like the moves they made either, which was nothing. They really didn't. They're going to be thinking if McKinnon's not 140 points. Okay, what is he 120? Damn. 100 and 25, something like that. Oh, no, Ranton and has another 100 point season, something like that. Kelma Carr, fully healthy this time, might have 100 points next year or something crazy like that with himself and other Norris. Like when you have guys like that, you might, yeah, yeah, spend a lot of money on those guys, but you can figure stuff out where you get an Eric Branch from to fall in Europe. To fall into your lap and get some value out of that where you just talk about this team. A lot of it's held up in the $13 million conversation of what's going on, Land of Scott, what's going on with the Val. But if all those things work out and you get those guys back, all of a sudden this team is a lot more dangerous. And it's just, it's just very hard to have that conversation right now because of the sheer amount of uncertainty surrounding it where it might happen. It also might not happen. And this is kind of a situation that's ever happened before. So, I mean, it's probably you put either Land of Scott Gordon to choose him back in the lineup and your top six looks phenomenal. This team looks really fucking good with one of the two of them in there. And the likelihood that one of the two of them plays in the regular season, pretty high. Yeah, so I think it's fair as it stands right now. Okay, the Avalanche are going to be a really good team next year. Are they going to be the Stanley Cup favorites? No, they're not going to be the odds on favorite to win the cup. You know, that's even even in itself hard to do. I think the Oilers are probably going to be that next year. Like, yeah, probably. And I think the Azelbee in that conversation, like top five ish, like they have the pieces here. They have work to do to get this team back over the finish line. But I think there is a template in place with where the team stands right now, where, okay, they didn't sign a Jake Genssel or Stan Coase or something like that. But I think they are still there. And this team last year, even with everything they went wrong, yeah, they lost in the second round to Dallas, which stinks, I still think that team was good enough to win. I'm going to go down swinging on that that team, that team could have won that last year was wide open. I don't think they beat Florida, but I think they would have been right there. If they get past Dallas, I still do think they beat Edmonton and at least end up in the final. So if you end up lateral this off season and figure out Land of Scog and the Chewski, not even get them back, you just figure it out. And you can spend that money and bring in players. This team's right there again. Yes, I don't think staying lateral is a bad thing. No, I mean, you look at the odds on draft Kings, it's the Oilers are the number one plus 850 Panthers plus 900. And then the abs are currently tied in, I guess that'd be fourth with the Maple Leafs Rangers, Devils, Avalanche, Hurricanes are all plus 1300. I think that's also just how the NHL is right now, where it's just such a such a hodgepodge at the top. Like, what team can you really feel super comfortable saying odds on favor, because I know the popular answer is going to be the Oilers, but are we sure? Are we sure? I'm not 100% sure on the others. I think they got better this off season, but it still has to click on the ice. Yeah, and Florida is obviously still going to be really good again next year, but that was their second straight Stanley Cup final. It went seven games. They've lost important pieces. Like you can't just sit there and tell me, Oh, 100% Florida is just going to go back to back, right? No, I completely agree. And I mean, you look at the central, it has the stars at plus 230, the abs at plus 260. So it's not really that big of a difference. Right. Yeah, again, I think the teams underneath them made moves the soft season Winnipeg is kind of the same Nashville got better Minnesota. I think got a little better St. Louis is kind of kind of settling into being a mediocre team that might make the playoffs every year. And also might miss every single year Utah's Utah. They're getting there. They're getting better Chicago. I think got a lot better, but they still have a long way to go. So I still think for one and two, it's still the abs and the stars. Oh, 100%. And it's the odds reflect that. And Vegas is usually pretty right about these things. Yeah. Yep. So I'm not too good about it. It's just like you said, hopefully about around November, December, we're getting some clarity on the bow and landy situation. And that'll lead into the trade deadline, because I think if McFarland knows that, like, OK, Land of Scog's not coming back to the playoffs, Val may not be coming back to. Ever. Who's when let's go and be very aggressive at the straight deadline. Yeah, we also saw the report from from Evan, who was talking to other teams reports from other teams saying that the abs are not looking to trade. And now he's in the program. So that kind of leaves us with the only answer that Val is at least going to have the option to come back to this team, whether or not that works out is a different story, but he's not getting bought out. Because that's just way too much commitment to for a really long time. And he can't be terminated. It's not part of the PA. And he's not getting traded. What options does that really leave other than the then the guy is going to come back to this team. And how that works out $6 million reasons to come back. And whether or not that works out is a whole different thing. But at very least he's going to have the opportunity to come back and play for this team. Again, delivering on that is a completely different thing. But it's just where we're at right now with that. So at least I think there's a small bit of clarity with that. Honestly, that might be the last report we get from what Evan said is that the black hawks had thrown around the idea of making a trade for Nachushkin. And they ultimately decided against it. And Evan said, I imagine a lot of teams have similar feelings as there are a lot of risk involved for trading firm right now, which is the point that we've been making for a while. And you had Chris Johnson, who spoke about it saying, Nachushkin can't play before November under the terms of that arrangement, that being the player assistance program and the avalanche are telling teams right now. We're not trading him during this window. They're hoping to help rehabilitate the player and the person, which makes sense. If it was someone else, they probably wouldn't. But for a guy like Val Nachushkin, who when he is on the ice is so unbelievably valuable to this team. It sucks that he's so bad. Like it's, it's a shitty thing, man. Like we've talked about this before we talked about going into the playoffs last year. If Val Nachushkin's not on the ice, the hours aren't winning the cup. And sure shit, two years in a row, he's missed the playoffs and the abs haven't like he was there for round one. Kick the shit out of Winnipeg. He was there for the first two games around two and game three but game three I think he kind of knew he pissed hot. And it was like, well shit, I know I'm about to be suspended again like it's, it sucks man. It sucks. He's a great player. All you can do, like we've said, is just wish for the best for him to, to figure out his demons. And I, I still am in the camp that if Val is good and ready to play and the team is willing to have him back. And by that, the team, I mean, Nathan McKinnon, Mikko Rancin, Gabriel Landescog, I want Val on this team because he's a really fucking good hockey player. Yeah, a really good hockey player. The best case scenario here is Val coming back to this team and picking up where he left off. That is the best way for this all to work out right now. And there's good, there's gonna have to be a pitch made to the locker room. There's no way around that. He's going to have to seriously mend bridges when he comes back and really earn back a lot of trust. And even then, it's not ever really going to go away. It's this reality of something like this. This is a real life situation that extends beyond just the robotic yearly calendar, the NHL, like, oh, we can trade this guy and save money on the salary cap. This is a very real life situation here, and it's not something, again, I've said a million times, but we've really ever been dealt with in the NHL before. So it's going to have to take a lot more human work to get it done, where it's not just as simple as to send them away to Chicago, something like that. So you just wash your hands of it and be free of the problem. Like, this is going to have to take a lot of work from a lot of people involved, even after he comes back from the Player Assistance Program. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. What even is like the next step? Like, what if he fucks up again? Is he like just a little bit easier? If he goes into stage four, I think it's a year. And at that point, that's strike three. We're not having this conversation ever. Yeah. I mean, you know, hopefully it doesn't get to that point, but we've never been past this point. So who knows? But I do feel good about where the abs are at. Yeah, they didn't make a bunch of sexy moves, but I feel good about where this team's at. I feel good about the decor. The forwards are going to work themselves out. I really do believe that. And if you have Nathan McKinnon and Mika Rancin on your team, you're going to be okay scoring goals. You'll be okay. You'll be good. Yeah, this was the best offensive team in the NHL last year. And yeah, they didn't add a lot to that, but they didn't lose a lot. Okay, so they end up fourth in goals next year. You're still doing fine. Again, I think we are forgetting a lot like how much of a pain in the ass the goaltending was. Oh, so bad. Like, Jorgiev was an inconsistent mess. And we until on and in was able to find his way in the NHL, there was no stability at pack up. It was really hard keeping pucks out of the net with that. So if you're just getting 9.05 by the end of the year, that's probably a good maybe 20 to 30 goals that don't end up in the back year. Hey, I'll take that 9.05, 9.10. But also again, it's Giorgiev. He's a contractor. So he'll probably ball out. Oh my God. Yeah, Giorgiev is probably going to be a Vesna finalist and a contractor. And we're going to have the conversation of Ken the abs afford to let him walk out the door and they will. Yeah, they will because that's just the RMO. So yeah, I feel good about where this team's at. And we'll have a whole offseason to keep looking at it. But any other thoughts about the lineup before we move on to the schedule release? No, I think we've really just about covered it. Again, I don't see any other moves coming, major moves. That is like something that would genuinely change how I feel about this team going into next year. Coming soon, it might happen. Like maybe when you get later into July and maybe into August as guys go on sign, they might throw a cheap contract at a guy to come play on the fourth line. But as it stands right now for the next little bit, I think this might be it for a little while. I think a lot of teams feel that way too. So I still feel fine about this team. Again, I'm not the delusional. No one can beat the abs that maybe I was two years ago. They're a much more vulnerable team now. But I think they have just as good of a chance as really anyone else right now to win. Oh, and while we were recording Jason Paul and signed a one year deal with the abs. Oh, sick. Dude, how much? It doesn't say, but he did sign a one year contract. Where are you seeing that? I don't even see it anywhere. The abs tweeted out 37 minutes ago. I should probably turn their tweet notifications on. I would probably be smart to have the team tweet notifications on to get team news. You are correct. That is a good thing. He did sign. It doesn't say anything about the AV yet. I imagine it's really similar to what he was already made. Probably. Yeah. So even though. Okay. So Paul is another option. If he impresses a training camp, he's going to get himself a couple of games too. But my thoughts on the team, none of the moves really affected that all that much. I think they're a very similar team to where they are last year. Hey, if they went on the road, then they're going to be in a much better spot. They're going to be in a much better spot. They go 500 on the road. Maybe a little bit better. We'll be looking a lot better. You just get a little better on the road, which they're going to have a lot of practice for it because you look at the schedule that got released. It's weird that they news dumped the schedule. I thought that was odd that they did the home openers on free agency day and the whole schedule on July 2nd. I don't remember if that's how that usually gets done. Doesn't that happen? Doesn't it usually come out before free agency? I don't remember. But anyway, we at the schedule, the avalanche will be back for the regular season, October 9th in Vegas for the season opener, and then October 12th against Columbus for the home opener, which will be the return of Jack Johnson, which again, this will be the fourth year in a row. Jack Johnson's been on the roster in ball arena for the home opener, and he'll have done it on three different teams. The black Hawks and now the blue jackets, which is just funny how it works out sometimes. I do like him going back to Columbus kind of finishing where he started. He started in LA. He started in LA. He kind of picked up in Columbus. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it. We both love Jack Johnson. But if we're being honest, probably probably OK left. He's a great guy, great guy to have in the locker room near the end of this past couple of years has been like, OK, Jack, like you're kind of kind of killing us. But again, know me and things about Jack Johnson because he was phenomenal while I was here. And for a PTO guy, I say he worked out pretty damn well. Honestly, one of my favorite players ever, from being fully honest, just in terms of character development for me as a whole, going from a full episode pre Christian days dedicated to why the genuine fuck would you even look at this player. He is the worst player in the NHL. He's not going to make the team. Why are we wasting our time with something like this? It was like a whole 40 minute rant, just me by myself. And I'm already insufferable with Christian on the show. Imagine me even squeak your voice and less confident three years ago, ranting about Jack Johnson. And he scores in his first game with the team against the Blackhawks, which was funny. And that was on my birthday too, which was even better. And from just then on, hard to really complain about the guy. Like, yeah, he just doesn't bring a lot, but he just consistent, just steady. He was there for only two games all the time. Yeah, just always there for you, you know, a lot of things changed in life, but you'd watch an avalanche game and there's Jack Johnson out there just doing his job. You know, he didn't always have the foot speed to keep up with every mistake that he made, but just a good, steady player never complained. It was a really important guy that I think people wanted to win for in 22 when they got him to win him a cup. Just an easy guy to root for, right? The good team, dad. One of my favorite memories is at the parade and Jack Johnson is driving by and there's a video you took of me screaming at him. Jack, Jack, I love you. I never doubted you. And it's just, well, him and Curtis McDermott were on the same float. Yeah, like we were both losing our minds. That was our dream float right there. We both were like, I think we got more excited for that than when the actual Stanley Cup showed up. Those were the dream days, but overall, man, good for Jack Johnson. He's going to keep playing in the league, which is crazy. And I'm not putting it past the abs to trade for him. It's a trade deadline. Like, would that surprise you in the first? It would literally not be the first time that's happened. He'll be probably not very good in Columbus. And McFarland's going to look at this team. You're like, you know, we need some vibes back on here. Here's a seventh round pick. Bring the boy home for one one. Here's future considerations. Yeah. Here's this. We'll give you a 20, 35, seventh round pick. Bring the boy home for one last tour. As I might still legitimately get a Jack Johnson jersey just because. Why not? Like, why not? Right? He's already not here. He'll be back soon. He'll be back eventually, but it's just, I don't think I could love Jack Johnson anymore. And I'm happy to see him go full circle and end up back in Columbus. Just get a little bit more money. Just like it's so impossible to not read for Jack Johnson, right? You even go back to all the stuff about like his parents took all his money and everything like that. He's just such a nice guy. Just such a genuinely great person by all accounts. Just always had a smile on his face. Everyone loves him. I just wish absolutely nothing but the best for Jack Johnson. And it just, it feels so fitting that he's back for the home opener again. The same way. I'm going to get another video tribute and I will give him a standing ovation. I can imagine getting two video trips. Yeah. It makes you wonder if they're actually going to do it, but I think they'll be able to go back to Jack Johnson. For Jack Johnson, of all people, they will do it. I mean, he played a thousand's game here. That was the first ever thousand game ceremony I ever saw was for Jack Johnson. Yeah. It's also just so funny. He had 16 points last year. Yeah. He was solid, man. It was just the playoffs. And the playoffs, he's not great. Yeah. It's just you get to the end of the season like, okay, we're talking. He's played close to a hundred games at this point for a, what was he at that point, 37. I think he wears on his body a little bit. You know, maybe it's not a great idea to have him penciled in as your number six at that point of the year. But even still, I have zero negative things to ever say about Jack Johnson. And for the legacy of this show, every time his name's brought up, I'm going to go on a similar tangent on just how much I fucking love this guy. We're going to have the same conversation when we talk about the home opener. Probably Saturday night of October 12th. We will have the same conversation about Jack Johnson. And you know what? That game is going to be at seven o'clock local time, nine o'clock my time. So we're going to be recording that episode on my birthday. We talked about Jack Johnson on my birthday as it should be. Yep. And it'll be fun. But looking at the rest of the schedule, it's really weird because you brought it up to me when we were looking at this off air. It's just a lot of clusters of a lot of home games and a lot of road games where I imagine if you ask players, that's probably how they'd want it, where it's like, okay, I'm just going to be on the road for two weeks. That's fine. But then I get to be home for two weeks instead of one game in Denver and then you're flying out Wednesday to go play a game out there. I'm sure the players like that more. But it's weird to see a schedule actually like that because that rarely happens where it's clustered like this. Yeah, I have to look around at everyone else's schedule to see if everyone's is like this because if it is, that's probably just a new mandate. Yeah. They've talked to players and that's just what they prefer because I agree with you. I think it just makes a lot more sense for everyone involved where it's like, okay, I'm here home and can sleep in my own bed for a week. We're playing all home games for the next five to seven days. Then I'm going to hit the road for three to four games and come back home. There's a couple mixed in here where you look from November 18 to pretty much New Year's. The abs have one, two, three, four, five home games in that stretch. The rest of road games and they're not easy road games either when you look at them. But I think I like this more. I think that I agree with you. The players do like this more to just have it clustered in this kind of way because it just never made a ton of sense. Like you said to home game, two game road trip, come back for two home games than one road game. It just makes more sense. Okay, you got like in the middle of November, you got four home games and you're taking a four game road trip. Well, then it all falls apart and you got the one home game and then road game then come back the next day for another home game. Yeah, there's some parts in here that still don't make a lot of sense. But once you look at the second half of the season, it's a lot more clean. Yeah, and I mean, I think you brought up that stretch in November is probably going to be the toughest stretch unquestionably. Yeah, there's so they have this four game home. Honestly, I think you could start it at this homestand to where it's Carolina, Nashville, LA, Washington. Those are all at home. Then you're hitting the road for your East road trip, Philly, Washington, Florida, Tampa. Then you're back home for Vegas, then you're going to Dallas, then you're coming back home to play Edmonton on the second half of a back to back. And then, and only then, do you begin a five game road trip with Buffalo, Carolina, Detroit, New Jersey and Pittsburgh? What the hell is going on here? Yeah, it's a rough stretch. It's a rough stretch of hockey. What do you think of November and not the end of the season like it was last year? Yeah, that's why I'm kind of okay with it because, yeah, that's probably when some guys are going to get banged up and I'd rather have them have the rest of the regular season to heal up then go into the playoffs with this just brutal stretch. But, I mean, you look at it. I think that's going to be a tough stretch. And then after that, it's really not unmanageable. It's going to be a really fun stretch that stretch in January from the 14th to the 22nd where you're just facing just all playoff teams from the year before at home. That's going to be a really fun stretch of hockey. And then you get go on the road to Boston, New York, that'll be fine. But we do have to remember that there is that four nation face off break in between. So that'll be interesting. Like it looks just like a five game road trip, but then you realize that probably a lot of the Canadian players on the abs and McKinnon and McCar and Taves more than likely are going to be playing a lot of hockey in that stretch. So that'll be interesting to see. We're still going to get our money's worth early in February because it starts with an afternoon game at home against the Flyers. And then it's the Western Canada road trip of Vancouver Calgary Edmonton and Calgary Edmonton is a back to back. So you're playing three games in four nights where Calgary is the easiest one there. Vancouver and Edmonton are tough ones as we've seen in the past. And then it's the four nation face off. So your best players are still going to be playing some intense hockey and you're coming right back with a back to back on the road with Nashville and St. Louis. So even with that break, maybe the depth guys are going to have a nice little vacation. But the depth guys are going to have a one but McKinnon and then we're going to be playing some serious hockey for a long stretch. How many games is it five? It's a round robin where they play each other and then the semifinals and foul. So yeah, I think five. Yeah, five or six. I'm doing the math right. So I mean, that's, that's still a lot of hockey. I'm not going to make any. It's a lot, but it's going to be intense hockey because it's going to be intense hockey ends. Team Canada. They're going to be there going to be in the final at least. So that's going to be a lot of hockey. Yeah, I mean, but that's just it's going to be a lot and MECO worst case plays and Lecky. Well, if Lecky gets selected, I think Lecky will get selected their minimum they're going to play for because the every team goes to the semifinals. Unless, or do they just go straight to the finals? No, I think it's just the top two. I think it's just the top two right because they have why have the round robin at that point. Right. Right. So I think it's just the top two. So worst case MECO and Lecky played three. But that's going to be intense hockey. It's going to be very weird to cheer against McKinnon, McCar. Yeah, we haven't had to do that for a long time ever because even then they were team North America. Yeah, they were team North America, which was still kind of cheerful. Yeah, because it's going to be. Carl is in the world juniors, obviously, but even then. He hadn't played for the abs yet. Right. So he's not playing. Right. It's going to be interesting. Like I was watching. I don't know if you've seen this guy. Like he's on TikTok. I can remember his name right now, but he just does like three part breakdowns of like big games. And he did. He did one on the gold medal game against USA candidate of in 2010. I forgot how dominant the USA was in that Olympics until that final and Canada had honestly struggled. Like USA went undefeated in Canada, lost to America in the round robin. I got forgotten about that. Yeah, I mean, I was nine years old, so I don't have a memory of it. It was fun watching it. And I just remember I was like, I got to cheer for Joe Pavelski. I got to cheer for Zach Parisi. I got to cheer for Ryan Souter. And I was like, this is weird. I don't like cheering for these guys. And then they brought up. Guess who the captain was a team of USA. Oh, here really. It's a name that you haven't heard forever. Jamie Langenburner. Oh my Lord. Right. That was the captain of the last time. Well, it wasn't the last time it was 2014, but the last time the USA was good in the Olympics. And Patrick came was like 20 years old. Yeah, like Cindy Crosby was 21, wasn't it? Yeah, it was crazy. And just like, holy shit, these guys are like the old men of the league now. And like whatever happened, like is Jonathan Tades retired? Like we're just going outside full tangent here. Is he done? Not officially, but the fact that I've heard not a single person. And I'm up kind of says probably makes you think he's done. But they were like the 21 year old Jonathan Tades opened the score. And they go mugging like Jesus Christ. Like I am getting old, man. This is crazy to think about. Yeah, because he had the long COVID effects that took him. Reagency last year. And this was supposed to be the year that we were going to hear about Jonathan Tades is going to make his his comeback. And you know how I know he's not coming back. He wasn't linked to the abs. Yep. So yeah, it's crazy. But overall, before we get even more off topic. Ab schedule, manageable. A lot of world games cluster, a lot of home games clustered. It's going to be fun. And it's crazy. I think it's only 96 days away. Yep. And they got the 12 back to backs, which I think is a little more than usual from what I remember. I think last year we had 10. So it's two more. Yeah. So two more than usual. I think that's a pretty average number though. Well, and I think with the four nations face off that some teams are going to have more back to backs this year. Yeah, because we got two back to backs before and after the four nations face off. Our last two games of the year are a back to back. So I think there's just going to be more back to backs in general cross league. Again, I have to look around at everyone else's schedule to see how the abs compares, but I really don't hate this. I mean, there comes a certain point with the NHL schedule is like, you're playing every team. Yes. You play every team twice minimum. It's just a matter of when it's not like the NFL schedule where there's at least like unique match. It's every year like we're we're going to play Utah. We're going to play all the teams in the East like you know, everything is just how the actual schedule itself looks. And speaking of Utah, I mean, worth bringing up, we're going to be taking our first trip to Utah on October 24th. And that should be interesting. At least right. I mean, I'm interested to see how they they shaped that rivalry out. Is it me or does the opening day feel weak this year? What even is it? I haven't even I can't remember what it was. Utah. So the big the big game is Florida Boston. That's on that. That's going to be the banner razor. I like that one. And I think the other one is the so it's the Blackhawks in Utah and the blues, the blues and Kraken are opening the season on October 8th. Yeah, it kind of sucks. Yeah, but there we're also doing I think we're doing the overseas games again where the devils and sabers are opening the season on the fourth and fifth. I don't remember where, but that's what's going to open the season. And then Tuesday is like the ceremony, I guess of how you can call it of the season starting where it's blues, Kraken, Bruins Panthers, which is the main event. Yeah, that's a that's a good game. At least. I mean, Blackhawks, Utah kind of makes sense. Right? It's the dark. Yeah. And you was teaming the Joe. It's not a great hockey matchup, but it's the star, like the name factor is going to be there. But then you get to tomorrow. And then the game's kind of kickass where we go up against Vegas on TNT, Maple Leafs, Canadian, which happens every year. Rangers, Penguins, Oilers, Jets, Flames, Canucks, like those are pretty good. Yeah, that's pretty good. I mean, that's usually how it goes for ESPN. I feel like they get the cup champion and then TNT gets the really good games on Wednesday. Yeah. And it's also interesting. The caps don't open until the 12th. It was the same way last year, remember? I don't know why that is that the capital is always open so late. Yeah, it was the same way last year, because we were both sitting there like the abs played three games caps played zero. Yeah, like by the time the the abs play their their second game on the 12th, that'll be the caps first game in their home opener against New Jersey. Yeah. So we'll have to see, but I'm looking forward to it, man. It's coming up quick. It's going to be the off season is going to fly by and it may not seem that way, but it's going to fly by. Like you said, off the air, we're already less than a hundred days away. It's started a regular season. It's crazy. And preseason starts soon. Development camp just wrapped up for the abs. Obviously Griffin and I Griffin lives in a different state, so he can't go to it. I'm doing my best here. Yeah, it looks pretty fun. Sean Barron's look good. How rich he looked good. Other than that, that's pretty much all Griffin and I got for you, because it's just what we're just following along with Evan Megan. A. J. Ruto of what they're saying is going on there. Did a good job too. But yeah, I mean, I was, I was very surprised. I'm not surprised. I was pleasantly surprised to hear like how good Barron's looked. Cal Richie being good's not much of a surprise. I think that's going to be an interesting thing to follow. The season is like, is Richie going to get his tryout this year? If he really impresses this summer, I don't think it's an impossible. There's openings on the roster right now at forward court. They want to give him nine games while we wait for the vowel stuff to get sorted. I don't think that would be the worst thing ever. It wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but also he can just go back to Oshawa and just dominate. But then you can do both. You put him for nine games to start the season. You send him back to Oshawa and he'll put up 300 points or whatever he's going to do this season. Wait for him to get old enough to play some time with the Eagles and just you take your time with a guy like this. When you have a Cal Richie, just fall into your lap late in the first round who when all is said and done could look like to be one of the top 10 players of that draft, you do not want to rush it. I know we all want the instant gratification of Cal Richie immediately just being a dominant force and having our Wyatt Johnston, but you want to make sure you're making him the best possible player that you can. And if it just so happens to be giving him a taste of the NHL with nine games and then sending him back to the OHL and then maybe start to eke him in a little more next year. That's perfectly fine. Like again, guys take a while. The guys were not bard Matthews McDavid like they take a couple years. Yeah, it's not took McKinnon three or four years before he was number one over a big. So, yeah, we'll have to see but yeah prospect camp happened. I do want to go to that eventually, but at the same time, I have a job. You live in a different state. It's tough for us to get there. Hey, we're working on it. We'll get there someday eventually eventually if we ever get paid more to do this. If you have money you want to set on fire, you bunch of idiots that would much appreciate your money. Yes, exactly, exactly. Other things really quick in the NHL. I'm sure Cinco signs with the red wings. Two years, 4.25 million each year was at 4.5 each year. I'm going to use cat friendly again before it goes away, but 4.75 for two years, no trade clause. If it goes to shit, he will get traded to Florida again. Yes. But I mean, good for Derek Cinco. I still have no idea what the red wings are doing. They're just a team of like some really solid role pieces. They're the team where they're hoping for another season in the East like last year, where everyone else sucks and they can sneak in. Because it's just they just really like taking everyone else's trash. They're not saying Tara think it was trash, but like just a leftover piece of the off season, I think I was going to say like, yeah, why not, right? It's that they are going to be extremely mediocre, which is what they've been the past. Which as I'm sure red wing fans are happy to hear after so many years of waiting very patiently with this rebuild is that their grand result is this team is okay. And it's going to be okay for a long time. And that's the worst spot to be in, right? Don't want to be okay to be really bad or really good. After all that, all those terrible seasons, the end result is just okay. I would be sick to my stomach. I would too. I would too. And then before we wrap up the show, Caleb Jones signs with the LA Kings, good for Caleb Jones. I'm surprised in some of the hurricanes because the hurricanes just take every defense man. That's where we got him. Yep. So it'll be, I want to see Caleb Jones do well because I do think he's a solid in each other. It's just he needs a place that's actually going to play it. Yeah. I mean, he's been around in Edmonton for a minute. He played in Chicago where he had his opportunities. That's on a minute. He came to the abs where a bit more of a structured system and everything like that. He's a decent depth defenseman where, again, one piece of prize, the abs love guys that are familiar with their system. The Kings aren't good at the deadline. They might just go get them back again. Exactly. Exactly. But overall, man, it is the end of Fourth of July weekend. We are officially in the dog days of summer. I'd give it another week. Right. I know we feel so new to the trickles in. Yeah, but it's about to be the MLB All-Star game. So we're about to really be in just like. I think that's a good barometer. The most MLB All-Star game is when I think ironically hockey is like done for him. Yeah. Yeah. So it'll be interesting. We saw some fun stuff planned for the year or the rest of the offseason. And overall, man, like I'm pretty happy with where the abs are at. Pretty happy with where this episode's at. And I don't think I have anything else, man, other than I drank way too many beers yesterday. And the party I was at had Jell-O shots. And I am too old for Jell-O shots to say the least. But I hope everyone else had a great Fourth of July weekend. I know you had a good Fourth of July weekend. And yeah, it's just always weird. Like, I got some heat. Did you see my tweet? Maybe I'll just get old. I fucking hate fireworks now. I just think they're so like. I get it. Kids love them because it's shiny stuff in the sky. But I can't imagine how daisy is with them. Oh, yeah. You're chillin. You're good. She's fine. Yeah. See, like I have Idgy. Idgy's as kind of as old as daisy's. What? 14? Daisy's 14, though. He is 14. Idgy's 16. That's my dog. Idgy's also deaf. So I don't have a problem. But my roommate's dog is a four-year-old like golden retriever puppy, like dog. Yeah, he was not enjoying yesterday. And the dogs were bad. Yeah, I'm just getting old, man. I don't need to hear fireworks at 11 p.m. at night. Like it's trying to go to bed. I agree with you. I think you are old because I am old. And fireworks are fucking dope. Yeah. That's fine. You go for it, man. I think fireworks were great when I was younger. But I think fireworks, when handled properly, are cool. If you're shooting them off in your backyard, I think at 11 o'clock. Okay. I'm on board with that. Okay. I will admit that. Like fireworks shows when they're done, right? Those can still be cool. Yeah. Even then, if you find a good spot to shoot off fireworks by yourself and you're not blowing your hand off, that's cool. I think that's cool. Fun Fourth of July thing happens once a year. I think people like to complain about fireworks when most of the time they're fine. I think if you're in a neighborhood of a ton of people, what would it like eight o'clock? Okay. Once a year you put up with it, once you get past like, okay, it's a weekday. It's like 10 o'clock. We might have missed our window on this. But I think generally, I think you get a lot more complaining about fireworks than I think is actually really wrong with it. That makes any sense. That's fair. I mean, I'm just getting like, I just, I just don't see the appeal of them anymore. Like it's, I guess that's just called getting old. I mean, that's just, I'm almost 30 about to be in my grumpy old man face, but yeah, I was just sitting there last night and I was driving home and Ubering home. Excuse me. Don't want anyone to think I was driving. I was Ubering home because don't drink and drive. That's stupid. It was, I was just driving like sitting in the car and I'm just like, there's so many fireworks going on right now and it's so loud. And around my house was a zoo because they do the fireworks show across the street from where I live. I guess you live closer to Denver than I do to Baltimore. Yeah, that would make more sense. Well, and like my entire neighborhood is just like they had to put signs up asking us in our neighborhood to park on the street so people wouldn't park in our neighborhood. So I'm getting home at like 10 30 at night. And it's just like you would have thought like something crazy was happening across the street. No, it's just the fireworks. So yeah, I'm just getting old, curmudgeon old man, but I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. Yeah. Yeah, for the 4th of July, I think is just underrated fun holiday. You grill some meat, you blow shit up, you love America for a couple minutes and you can go back to hating everything else about it. Don't come British people and Canadians for not winning any Stanley Cups anytime recently. It's just a good solid fun holiday that everyone enjoys. And fireworks in general just just don't be a loser with them, right? That's it. Just do sparklers, man. Those things rule. Oh, I know I still say do fireworks. Just don't be a loser. Don't shoot it in apartment complex and don't blow your hand off. Yeah, I mean, I was a dumbass when I was a kid, we used to have the ball of the rockets and we'd shoot them at each other. Actually, you know what my favorite part about 4th of July is it's July 5th when all the videos come out of all the people who don't know how to handle fireworks and like burn their house down or something like that. I was like, yeah, you shot fireworks in your driveway and you just kind of didn't expect anything to happen. Yeah, it's usually usually about right, but yeah, I mean, I was dumb. I was dumb with them when I was a kid, but that's just being a kid. I'm like, yeah, I bought these illegal fireworks and I shot them 20 feet from my house. And wow, I can't believe that didn't work. Yeah. Oh shit. Can't believe that happened. Yeah, I just love because Steve Stager responded to my tweet and he just goes, because for reference, my, I don't know if it's a hot take I think fireworks suck he just goes, it's and dot dot dot explosive take. And I was like, all right, yep, me and Steve, we get along, we know each other. So, but yeah, man, I don't think I have anything else for this episode. We'll be back. Probably we're going to be getting closer to regularly scheduled programming for the rest of the summer as we go. But be guaranteed two episodes a week for the rest of the year, or the rest of the offseason. And yeah, we'll have some fun. Yeah, we'll get to we're in the stage now where we got to figure out what we're doing. Yes, we're going to probably have more planned episodes coming out, which is dangerous. And probably once we get closer to August, we're going to start doing our player review era of the show, which is just a couple of weeks of an episode every other day. We're going to start bite sized stuff reviewing an individual player. If you've been around, we've done this for two, three seasons now. And it's been the third season we're doing it. Yeah, it was the third season that we're doing player reviews and stuff like that. So you know the drill, if you're new, you're not going to notice that we're gone. This is just maybe like a month or so, maybe even a little less that we're on vacation, but episodes are still coming out. We're going to be pre recording them talking to individual guys the season they had what we expect from them next year. In a way, it's less content and more content at the same time. So if you're new here, that's how we do stuff in like August and everything like that, which allows us to to reset for next year. And yeah, you'll hear you'll hear more about that as we get closer to it. But as Christian said, I'm good to go. I got nothing else for this one. So again, thank you also very much for tuning in to another edition of the Toyota abs that is podcast on the hockey podcast network. You can use promo code, tell it as it is on seat geek for $20 off your first order of $50 or more. I know there's no abs games going on right now. But again, Rocky's tickets are not that expensive. You can, you can get a good discount on these tickets and get like really good seats by using the code. So that's that's when I was in Colorado two years ago for the cup and everything. I did that exact thing. I was like right on the mound, basically. Great option to do that. Well, you have UFC coming up to in Denver. You can take it's own seat geek right now. A great card. I was really disappointed when they announced that card. But anyway, to wrap it up, you want to follow us on Twitter, you can follow me at G Young's and H show. You can follow Christian at Christian underscore belay and you can follow the show at tell it abs it is. But again, thank you also very much for tuning in and we will catch you all next time. But until then, let's go abs. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
