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All-Star Upheaval: Rosters, Scandals, Snubs, and Support
In the latest Shoot the Puck episode, we dissect the NHL All-Star rosters – who made the cut, who got snubbed, and the game-changing talents set to grace the ice.
Addressing the darker side, we confront the recent sexual assault charges against four players, all on Canada's 2018 World Junior team. exploring the impact on the league and the futures of those players.
Venture into the controversial topic of All-Star game snubs – who deserved a spot but missed out? Plus, unravel the complexities as NHL players enter the assistance program, shedding light on mental health and well-being.
Stay informed on the latest hockey headlines. Subscribe now for insightful discussions and thought-provoking analysis. 🎧🏒 #NHLAllStar #HockeyTalk #ShootthePuck #MentalHealthMatters 🚨🔊
But I'm going with I'm going with Dylan Larkin from the Red Wings, right? Captain out there. He's, he's got 22 goals and 46 points while appearing. And so, to kind of rewind, Alex de Brink it was chosen from the Red Wings to represent and certainly he's definitely worthy of the honor, worthy of the nod. But like I said, Larkin's got 22 goals and 46 points while appearing in six fewer games than to break it. Hey everybody. Welcome back to this week's edition to shoot the Puck as usual, driving the bus. I'm your host, pat, and as always, Matt is on the other mic through the screen here, the magic of technology. We're always bringing you hockey, nudes, notes, rumors, bit of fun everything else in between, all wrapped together. So another week. Matt, how are you my friend?
Matt:What's going on, brother? Yeah, not much. Getting ready for this all-star weekend coming up. Just excited to see some guys, you know, with the skills contest and just see how these guys are shaking and baking in the all-star game. So yeah, it'd be fun weekend coming up with that activities. But yeah, not too much hockey, really much going on this. This week leading up, you know, maybe, I think there's like three games tonight, maybe one or two sprinkled throughout the week. But other than that, everybody's getting ready for the all Star weekend. So, yeah, it'll be fun. So we'll touch base on that.
Pat:Yeah, so kind of a wall this week as team's got a little bit of a break, kind of, you know, going into the all-star. Game. So for those of you keeping score or just have no memory, like myself, the All Star game is this weekend. That is the third with the skills competition being Friday night the second. So, definitely tuning into that. I will be tuning into that for sure. Both game, I should say, the skills and the game. I actually want to, I wanna watch both. So, really looking forward to that. I always like the all-star skills competition and you know. Having a little bit of fun, a little bit of different different vibe than some of the other sports and how they do their all star stuff. So always looking forward to that, so don't forget that. So I guess, I guess we'll start the start the show on a bit of a downer. This just actually happened today, or news broke a bit today, and that today being the 30th of January it looks like we have four players from that 2018 Canadian. World hockey team being a ch being charged with sexual assault. Not so great.
Matt:Yikes. No.
Pat:that is rough. So, four of them one of them being close to my heart'cause he plays in the flyers. Carter Hart. Was named or sorry, I should say, charged Michael McCloy, Dylan Dube and Cal Foot. So they have been directed to surrender to police in London Ontario, and they to be, yeah, to be charged with sexual assault in connection with an, I guess, an alleged incident that occurred during a Hockey Canada event in the city in the city, let's see, in June 2018. So.
Matt:Yeah, back in
Pat:Yep. So it's been a, it's been a bit, so, and it's no surprise that at least two of those Carter Hart and Dylan Dube have basically were, you know, left their teams for you know, mental mental breaker you know,
Matt:Yeah. Leave of absence kind of thing.
Pat:Leave of absence. Yes. I couldn't think of the words. So, Yeah. So, and now this kind of drops outta here and it's like, oh, well there's the connection, you know, that kind of thing. So very very interesting. Disturbing. But let's see what see what shakes out, and I guess it, it says they had, they were. Directed to surrender to be charged. So I'm guessing they haven't been charged yet. But I would not be shocked if that's absolutely coming. So we'll see.
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:let's see what happens there. And let's see. Oh, the, it looks like there's a fifth player, Alex Ferme, who currently he's in Switzerland. He plays in Switzerland. He reported to the police on the 28th, so that would've
Matt:Okay.
Pat:Sunday. So, to be officially charged, it looks like there's five of them total. So yeah, so that is very, interesting, disturbing, whatever adjective you wanna want to use. It says here, they're accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a London hotel on June 19th,
Matt:the gold, supposedly after the gold medal game from what I was kind of reading
Pat:yeah. And it is a golf and gala event is when this, what this what TSN is reporting here. So I don't know. Kinda where things led up, I guess. Some of the players met at a downtown bar following this golf and gala event. And she said in a civil suit that she'd left the bar with one man and had consensual sex with him. And then that man invited other players to his room without. The lady's consent,
Matt:Yikes.
Pat:to have sex with said ladies. So that does not look good at all. That's no bueno. None of the allegations against the players have been proven. Obviously, they'll get their day in court that sort of thing. So, it's very, that is very interesting to to, you know, have these, you have this, come up and see what happens in the next couple of weeks here to see if anything shakes out. So I guess it seems to me like each one of these each one of these players, lawyers basically came out and, you know, denied,
Matt:Yeah. Innocence
Pat:and you know, they'll de they'll defend it and yada. So, it'll be, you know, it'll be interesting to see.
Matt:Yeah. I did see earlier though, pat, I think it's gonna be like 2026 though. I think so from what I saw, it's gonna be like another two years. So yeah, this thing kind of might be brewing for a while here. If that's the case then,'cause I did see just like posted two hours ago that they were charged. So,
Pat:Oh, okay.
Matt:you know, I guess they're charging now, all their lawyers are coming out and saying, yeah, we're gonna plead not guilty, but it's gonna be from what I just saw, I mean, I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, but from just some of the, you know, quick snippets that I was reading earlier, it's at 2026 trial and you know, Canada has their own way of doing things, obviously different than we do here in the United States. So who knows what their, you know, justice system's gonna. You know, do and whatnot. But yeah. Oof. What a sticky, gross situation this whole thing has become this past week. Not good.
Pat:Not so great. And it looks like I'm trying to, I'm trying to see here. It looks like it just, it, well, Carter's got one year. He's in his final year of the, of his three year contract. Dube is in the same situation. Final year. McCloy is in his, sixth season here with the Devils, and he signed a one year contract in July. So he's basically on a one year rental too. It's his last one here, so, and I think Foot, Cal Foot is he's actually the son of former defenseman Adam Foot, who was a phenomenal player in his own right. But, He's played four games with the Devil's and now he's basically he's in the a HL for the devil's the Devil's a HL team. So he signed a one year contract in last August. So it seems like they're all on their last. A year of their deals and if this kind of prolongs I don't like, yeah, like what do you do? Like if you're charge, if you're dating court isn't until 2026, like, do these players get re-upped and then you deal with it at that time? Or
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:And I don't know how that works. And that's the, that's a not a great situation to begin.
Matt:Yeah. No.'cause that's, yeah.'cause if the trial's not till 2026, like you said do they just pay these guys out for the remainder of their year or do they just terminate them and because it's like maybe a, something with a contract clause, you know, if you're like criminally charged with something or, you know, yeah. That gets real dicey, but then it sucks maybe for the players as well, if, you know, let's just say if they are innocent right after this whole thing is done, then like what happens to them? Like they, they're all 25, right? They're all age 25. So it's like, man, you're losing two years then and you're not getting paid. And then you're kind of having, even if you know you are innocent, which who knows? But. If they are, then you kind of always have a sticky reputation on you anyway. You know, and who knows if there are people even want to mess with you and pick you up just on, you know, reputation alone. So yeah. That's gonna be a real
Pat:of public opinion.
Matt:Right, exactly. So, yeah, but
Pat:Yeah. That is interesting.
Matt:yeah, so I don't know what's gonna happen with any of that. I guess more of that will come out within the next, you know, probably week here.'cause this is a, you know, this has been a pretty. I mean, I heard rumblings of it. Maybe what, pat five, six days ago, you know, when a couple of these guys that were all part of that team like went on a leave of absence within, you know, a day or two of each other. So everybody was like, whoa, red flag. That's weird. You know? And then especially, I think Carter Hart was the last one. And after that I was like, oh man, something's brewing. And yeah. So, whew. Not good though. Not good.
Pat:No, not good. So yeah, I'm very interested to see and like you said, it's it is sticky.'cause how do you come back from being two years on the shelf sort of thing to kind of let this play out? It just it's not not great. It is
Matt:Yeah. But yeah, I mean, on the other side too, if there. Sorry if they're if they do get charged, I mean, whew. That could be some good prison time for all those boys, you know, who knows how that'll go down on Yeah. You know, on the severity of it, I guess, and how they get charged if they get charged. So we'll see about that too. You know, might even be worried about playing hockey if you're in if you're in the in the jail cell there for a while.
Pat:In the slammer
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:the soap. Yeah.
Matt:exactly. I think that's gonna be the least your concerns is hockey, so we'll see.
Pat:Yeah, it's rough. Yeah. So we'll see what happens over the next, I dunno, a couple of, you know, a couple of days here.'cause this story just kind of floated out here today.
Matt:Yeah. Within the past few days.
Pat:sure some other things will come up and
Matt:Yeah, absolutely.
Pat:see what happens. But want to want to lead the show with that since it's a it's the hot button.
Matt:Yeah. It's the hot topic of the week so far here.
Pat:the. The new cycle that we live in. The other thing too, of just speaking of players stepping away is it looks like Patrick Linee has entered the NHLs Player Assistance Program. So,
Matt:yeah, I did see that.
Pat:he's another 25-year-old struggling with the the mental health at times in his pro career. So it looks like he's finally doing something and stepping away and trying to get his head space correct and we'll see see what happens there as well. But he always seemed to, yeah, he is. He's a good player. I think he gets, I think he got trapped out there in Columbus. Columbus seems to be a, you know, they're almost like that, they're almost like the Minnesota Wild. They're just stuck in mediocrity and they like, guys go there and they just get off the radar. But,
Matt:Right.
Pat:Ever since that, ever since he got traded to Columbus, he just seems to kind of just exist. But before he was, I forget where he was before. I can't remember where he was before. I'll have to look that up. But he was one of the bright stars in the league. He was really putting up points and,
Matt:Who's at Winnipeg?
Pat:those guys that you build around Winnipeg. That's
Matt:Yeah. Yeah, he is with the Jets. Yep.
Pat:That's right. He just, he seemed to be, you know, a core piece of, you know, to build around and, you know, knew how to score and, you know, had them silky, the silky mitts as we call it. Those good hands. But yeah, ever since going to Columbus, he's just kinda just fell out of a, I don't know, he's just in this weird hole that Columbus seems to put guys in as well. Same thing with Ivan Proov and obviously being a flyers fan. We drafted Ivan a couple years back. Big, you know, big defenseman and was doing pretty well there in Philly and I think he kind of wore out his welcome, but, and so. It was shipped off to Columbus last year or maybe even two years now, I forget. Relatively recent and he's just kind of fallen into obscurity too. So I don't know what it is about Columbus. People just seem to just kind of disappear out there. But Yeah. Hope Patrick gets well and, see what see what happens there. But I, you know, it's an interesting thing being a pro athlete in today's world and people say, oh, wow, that, you know, deal with it. They get paid, you know, pretty well. And I, I get that. But there's other I would imagine there's other pieces to that in,
Matt:other aspects to it for sure.
Pat:Yeah. You know, you're always in the road, you're traveling, you're this, you're that. Like, even like for the city you play and you don't have a home there, right? Most guys rent, or I would assume most guys like rent, you know, high scale or high end apartments and whatever. And then in the off season they go back to their quote unquote home.
Matt:Home where they live. Yeah.
Pat:So it, you know. Yeah, where they actually live. Most guys in Canada or whatever. So, you know, and then being on the road, on a bus, on a plane and then, you know, that rigorous schedule I would imagine is, you know, even though you're not playing games, you know you're only playing 80 games. But I say only as it's, you know, like some small number, but even in off days you're doing morning practices or skates or whatever, and it just I could see how it becomes a hamster wheel that you can never quite jump off. Guys get there and get to a point where they need to jump off and they, you know, they enter the program. So, you know, more power to him for recognizing that he's got some shortcomings and. I hope he can get his his head right and come back and you know, like I said, be the player that he was in Winnipeg or at least you know, try to make, you know, guys better around him and start, you know, be in a bright spot in the league.'cause that he was, at one point I thought he was one of the better players in the league, and ever since he's been in Columbus, he's kind of just, like I said, he's kind of just cooled off. So, it was very he was the second overall pick in 2016 by
Matt:Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, I was gonna say had hell of a year. Those two years. Those real well actually those first like couple years and now that I'm, you know, browsing here. Yeah, I mean, I mean, yeah. Ever, like you said, pat, ever since he kind of got to Colum, Columbus kind of just fell off, but I think a lot of it had that to do with injury.'cause his last two seasons well his last season actually here in I 2020 and 2021, he only played one game. And I think that was when he got hurt. And then ever since then, I don't ever really think he just bounced back to his old self.'cause those first two years, yeah, he had 30 something and 40 something goals and back to back seasons. So he, yeah, he was one of the better players in the league at the, you know, back then. Right when he first came out. So yeah, I don't think he's doing too well with this injury and head stuff. And maybe he just needed a refresher and hit the pause button, pat. And like you said, you know, get your mind right. Get your head right for yourself, your family, your friends, your crew, and you know, and all the, you know, you don't want also as a distraction for the team. Right. You know, you don't, you could be giving up. A good spot, you know, to somebody else that really wants to play and can play. So you won't, you know, if you wanna do that and be like, you know what, I'm gonna sit on the bus here, get my head right, get back in the game, maybe at a later time, check myself in. But first I gotta check myself out and see what's going on and just take care of myself. First. So yeah, there's a lot of more aspects, pat, like you said to it. It's just, it's, you know, we always just think of just, oh, just go and do it'cause you get paid all these, all this much money and Yeah. You know, I do think some of these guys, especially in the N-F-L-N-B-A with their contracts now, and even MLB, I mean, geez, look at those Dodgers players. They signed two players and there was over a billion dollars in cap space. It's like, holy insanity. You know, it's like, but yeah, I mean, like you said, you know, you're traveling for probably, what, eight months outta the year, and then that's not even including. You know, a lot of these guys live in different countries, so it takes a lot longer to get where, like you said, pat, wherever home for them is they play in a lot of other leagues or tournaments that happen, you know, only certain specific years. And yeah there's a ton to it. So yeah, it's just easier said than done. Just say, go do it. Go do it. Go do it. But. You know, I'm glad some of these guys are getting, you know, the recognition and saying, Hey man, it's okay to go get checked out and do your thing and we will be here for you. And if not, you know, I'm sure you'll be, you know, being scooped up by the next program. You know what I mean? Because you're a great player. So, yeah, we'll see what happens. With Patrick Lane. I'm really excited to see what's gonna happen with him. I think he'll definitely be back and you know, hopefully he gets this injury bug and you know, stuff checked out and then he is back to his old self like he was a couple years ago, lighting the lamp up.
Pat:Yep. Yeah, for sure. So, see what there's obviously no time for frame for his return, but we'll keep an eye on that and go from there. But let's see, what is, oh, I just wanted to mention it. It looks like line A is the third player of this season to be that announced that they're in the the help program by the NHL Colorado's, Samuel Gerard. And then kin from from the Avalanche,
Matt:Oh, have, yep.
Pat:Gerard and have entered and then, I guess Gerard's had some issues with, you know, anxiety, depression, which led to some alcohol abuse and, you know, was away from hockey for about a month, I guess, and he just, he's returned in November and now he played his first game on new Year's Eve. So he's been back about maybe a month now or so. So, but yeah, just always rooting for these guys and, you know, we want to keep these folks around. It keeps the game going so. Our our thoughts go out to to line a and I hope to see him back soon. So just wanted to throw those couple of words out there. All right, now let's. Getting to the fun stuff. This is where it's at, the meat and potatoes, if you will. So let's get to the old Allstar game. So just as a recap, the Allstar game the skills competition is Friday February 2nd, which is this coming Friday. And it's, I think it, I read somewhere it's gonna be modified this season, so it's just 12 players competing. So I think it was starting to get a little too big and the, it was starting to get a little clunky, so I think they scaled it back to 12 folks. And then I. And players will be, there's an incentive this year. So it's I guess it's 1 million is on the line for the for the competition. So a little incentive. And then I guess it's a new experiment out there in or I should say up there in Toronto. So, very interested to see how that works. And then Saturday the third. The player draft right is back which means basically, you know, divisional teams are, you know, out the window if you will. So they you know, the players will go head to head and to three on three tournament. And then the celebrity co-captains you know, will try to get their teams to, to victory. So
Matt:Nice. I love the three on three. Three on
Pat:Me too. I
Matt:cool. I always like
Pat:Yep. A side note, I think the three on three in the regular season. Should it, like in overtime, the three on three, how they do it? I think it should basically just be over like three on three overtime until somebody scores. I'm not a fan of the shootout. It's just, it be, it becomes a skills competition at that point when you're in the shootout and it's just some teams do well and some teams. Really suck at it. So I would rather go three on three for, you know, say overtime period's, five minutes and nobody scores. Just keep doing three on three for five minutes, you know, in five minute, you know, quote unquote periods and till somebody scores. I'm not a fan of the shootout, but that's a sidebar know what I guess,
Matt:Yeah. Yeah, or even I would even, wouldn't even mind like just play another five minutes and whoever, like if you score. Still, if there's like a minute left, well it's just like another period, you know what I mean? And whoever you know, comes out on top. But I do also like whoever scores first is, you know, it's more exciting obviously. So I think I would rather keep it that way, but that would also be something to think about too. But yeah, I like the shootout at in some aspects, but it just, yeah, like you said, sometimes it just becomes a dangling in and then guys are just trying to. Be hot dogs and you know what I mean? It's just like, eh, you know, but sometimes they are really exciting. But yeah.
Pat:Yeah, that reminds me you said hotdog and we Matt and I were kids growing up. We played just street, you know, street lot football with a couple of the neighbors and the one guy's dad used to play and somebody would try to pull off a big move on the football field or whatever, a deak or whatever, and they'd fall or they wouldn't, you know, the deak wouldn't be successful or whatever they were trying to do,
Matt:Yeah, I get tackled though right away.
Pat:Yeah, the da the dad would go, oh, tried to be a hot dog and got hammered. I always like
Matt:Yeah. Yeah.
Pat:always kinda stuck with me, so shout out, but, oh, that's funny. So, so yeah, so that's just a little recap on the NHL or I should say the the Allstar game. So that is, yep. All star stuff. And I believe that is so the. Skills competition is fr like I said, Friday, that's at 7:00 PM Eastern. That's on ESPN and ESPN Plus. And then the All Star Game Saturday is 3:00 PM Eastern on a, B, c, and M and ESPN plus. So tune in. That's gonna be awesome. No, I'll be glued to the TV for both nights, so that'll be, that'd be great. So, couple of players, I should say. Let's kind of crack down the lineup here, but, a lot of familiar names on this list you shouldn't be surprised at a bunch of these. So, in the Eastern conference I'm just gonna go, I guess by alphabetically, by team name. I guess that's probably the best way to do here. So, from the Bruins, you got you got pasta, David Ock and Jeremy Sway goalie. Yeah, so Pasta's right wing, Jeremy swam in the goalie, or actually one, they have a tandem up there. So he is one of them. Saber have a lone one. Darlene Rasmus Darlene. So he's the only Buffalo Saber representing here. Caroline is also a solo, and he, they Sebastian Aho, the centerman from from Carolina, he's here Columbus, where I said, you know. People, teams just go to die. Or at least players that fall off Cliffs. Boone Jenner. So he's playing center out there as well. Red Wings Alex Dere Cat, so former Chicago Blackhawks now doing big things over there in
Matt:Yeah. He's been looking pretty good lately, man,
Pat:killing it. Killing it. Yeah. I'll tell you what, them red wings are good, man. They're sneaky good.
Matt:Yeah. They're gonna be up and coming, for sure. Yep.
Pat:You watch it. They're a young team. Well, they got a couple, they got a couple old heads, but generally they're a young team and they can play, the Panthers have two Sergey Browski,
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:As Bob he is playing goalie out there I should say, down there in the Sunshine State. And then our boy, Sam Reinhardt,
Matt:Sam, right hired man. Unbelievable.
Pat:wild, the stuff he's doing, the score, the ga, the freaking power plays, streaks and shit. He's, it is just, it's insane. Let's see the Canadians north of the border, Nick Suzuki, so he's a playing center for them. Here was it was supposed to be Jack Hughes,
Matt:Yeah, I saw that he got pulled today, right?
Pat:Yeah, so Jesper Jesper Brat is now in there and he's he's from the Devils and he's playing left wing.
Matt:Nice.
Pat:then let's see. Islanders Matthew Barza. We've mentioned him a few times on the show. Just crazy what he can do with the puck. He plays center for the Islanders. Looks like the Rangers have two goalie kin. He's up there doing his thing. Yeah. And then Vincent Troche is also there. He's playing center Yeah. For the New York. Ottawa, Brady Kuck. He's there. Le left wing from my boys. The flyers Travis connecting is there. He's right wing. And then here's your boy from the pens. Sydney Sid, the kid. He's obviously a center. Tampa Bay Koff. He's been mentioned in the he's been a shooter of the week on this show, so rightfully, placed in the Allstar lineup. Koch's playing right wing and wow. The maple leaf have four Allstar
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:and man, heavy, a little heavy in the hometown.
Matt:Yeah. Marner Matthews Neander and Riley Shees. Man, that's
Pat:With Marner and Neil Derby, right. Wings. Matthew's obviously a center, and then Morgan Riley on defense. And then to round it out, everyone's hate the guy. Tom Wilson from the Capitals playing right wing
Matt:boo. This man.
Pat:Yeah. So that's the Eastern Conference. So.
Matt:Alright. Right on. Yeah. Oof man. Some talent there,
Pat:some real heavy hitters there. Boy. Who?
Matt:I tell ya, man.
Pat:Oh, just as a footnote from the Rangers Vincent Troche he replaced Connor Bedard.
Matt:Yeah, Bedard.
Pat:was supposed to be in the, supposed to be the All Star this year. And with his injury, you know, with his broken jaw, he's not he's not gonna make it. So, troche stepped in there, so.
Matt:Yep.
Pat:All right, now we're going out West,
Matt:Going to the west.
Pat:to the land of Good and Plenty. Let's see Anaheim, the Ducks Frank ano so he's right wing. Side note. They actually filmed Vido being told that he was an all star. So I, and I saw the little the. The video he comes in off the ice back into the locker room and it's his wife and his young daughter, I wanna say she's not even a year old. And the daughter was wearing a, my dad's an all star shirt, and that's how they, that's how they told him. And I was like, that's pretty
Matt:Oh, that's awesome. Good for him, man.
Pat:I can get behind that.
Matt:Yeah, it probably got him pretty choked up.
Pat:Yeah. Yeah, if you haven't seen it, it's pretty
Matt:Yeah. I'll have to check that out. To check that out.
Pat:yeah, check it out. So you got Pitano playing right wing out there in Anaheim. And then you have from the coyotes,
Matt:Yeah. Clayton Keller. Yeah. Always liked him.
Pat:Centerman. I was, Yeah, I, he was another one I thought was kind of trapped by Arizona because no, nothing really ever, Arizona's been pretty good this year, I will say. But like leading up
Matt:Turned her around.
Pat:Historically they've been terrible. And clayton Keller has been kind of trapped in that since he's been drafted. So, but I've always liked Clayton Keller. He can really do some things. Elias Lindholm from the Flames playing Center as well. Bedard obviously scratched let's see oh. From the Avalanche, actually Avalanche has got three here. So you got you got. Alexander Gev, goalie,
Matt:goalie,
Pat:McCarr, who's just unbelievable,
Matt:Yep.
Pat:playing D Defense and then another unbelievable player in Nathan McKinnon
Matt:Yeah. Shocker there,
Pat:playing center guy. Just, they're just silly with the puck. For a defenseman, kale McCarr is just silly. With the puck, the things he can do,
Matt:Yeah. And they're all
Pat:it's almost unfair. It's so insane.
Matt:Yeah. And they're all young, man. So let's, I mean, if that Colorado crew sticks together, they're all right in that 25 to 28 range. So if they stick together for a little while, they could win a couple more cups. So we'll see.
Pat:Yep. They won one a couple years ago, man. They were so
Matt:Damn. Yeah.
Pat:They were like a buzz. So there was just like a freaking, they were a hot knife through butter most nights. They were just killing
Matt:insanely good a couple years ago when they won the cup. Ah,
Pat:this is wild. So we got that. So, three from the Avalanche and then you got the Dallas Stars. Jake Ottinger. Is it Otten? Inger,
Matt:Jake Ottinger. Yep.
Pat:Inger. Yeah, it's a weird spelling. Goalie from the Stars. So obviously he's one of the better goalies in the league. And then you got the two heavy hitters out there in, in oil, their country, dry sidal and McDavid, both centers they're, they'll make it there. I can't believe McDavid is only 27. Like he
Matt:Oh, I know. And dry set was only
Pat:Feels like he's been in the league forever. I, yeah, they both, they, I feel like they've both been in the league forever and they're only 27 and 28. I'm like, holy shit.
Matt:I know. Well, I it's crazy'cause these guys come in so young now. Some of these guys entering the league, they're like 18, 19. You're like, Jesus.
Pat:but yeah, beard's 18
Matt:yeah, exactly. There you go. Yeah. Prime example.
Pat:Cam Talbot out in the Los Angeles.
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:The Kings and there are they're, it's a tough time out there in the, in king country, man. They're, what are they losing? Like 12 of 15 or something? They're on a, they're on the slide.
Matt:not looking good out there. And Tom McClellan might be on the hot seat too if he can't get his boys after this All Star game rocking and rolling here.'cause I mean, hey man, they were on fire. I mean, I think they only have like 15, 16 losses as of currently right now, so you know what I mean. They lost the last 12. They're 14. I mean, geez, that was a majority of their losses right here in this last like month. So yeah, I don't know what's going on there, but he better have an answer after this Allstar break.
Pat:Crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. He is looking over his shoulder for sure. I would suspect that. And then Caril, capris off, who's another unbelievable,
Matt:Hell of a year.
Pat:Shooter. Oh, dude is just he's insane. He's playing left wing out there in Minnesota. Phil Forsberg, I always like to stash.
Matt:Yeah. Forbes's always a good guy.
Pat:a. He's got a, he's got a good stash. I can appreciate a good stash. He's he's with the preds down there playing left wing. So, and for him there. Let's see who else is here. Thomas Hurdle is here. Playings
Matt:Yeah. San Jose.
Pat:The sharks are terrible this year. Oh my God. They're terrible.
Matt:They're in a total rebuild. Total
Pat:Oh, good lord. Robert Thomas from the Blues, he's playing center for them. Oliver Bjorks Strand from the Kraken playing right wing. Yep. Brock Bester. He was also a shooter of the week on this podcast
Matt:he was
Pat:back.
Matt:Well, here. Here, look at this man. Look how many Vancouver has five.
Pat:geez. Oh yeah. I didn't even notice that.
Matt:Yeah. So Brock Besser Thatcher, Demco, the goalie Quinn Hughes on defense. JT Miller the Center, and Elias Petterson. And he's the
Pat:Crazy.
Matt:It's like, holy
Pat:Yeah. And it's no secret that Vancouver is just, man, they're built to win. And there's, they're just they're so good too.
Matt:Yeah. Having a hell of a season. And I said that earlier, you know, in a couple episodes. I'm like, man, better watch out.'cause if they're cruising, like they have this first half, they're gonna be trouble in the playoffs.
Pat:Ooh. Yeah. There are big bodies out there, but they can really throw the body and
Matt:They can man, physical. Yep.
Pat:with guys like Paterson and JT Miller, they can score
Matt:absolutely. Absolutely.
Pat:And Quinn Hughes with the trio, the Hughes Brothers, man, he's out there just killing it on defense. Just absolutely killing it.
Matt:Absolutely.
Pat:And then you got from the VGK, the Vegas Golden Knights Jack Eel. Who just seems, he's another one that just seems like he's been here forever in the league, but like, I always remember him from the Devils. So he was originally drafted by the Devils and then they shipped him they kind of, kind of stalled out or whatever, and then he was, you know, then he got shipped to Vegas and man, what, whatever surg in his career. Lemme tell
Matt:Yeah, well actually Pat, he was with Buffalo. That's who he was with. He was with B Yeah, he was with Buffalo forever. And yeah, same thing. Like one of those teams that kind of just got stuck there, you know what I mean? Like good player. And I'm finally, you know, finally he went to Vegas and I feel like he's finally getting some. Like recognition. Now, obviously, you know, he's, he made the all star, but yeah, I mean, he, I always liked him and I always liked his game plan and I always thought, man, I just wish he could get on like, just a little bit of a better team where he can click with some guys. And now here it is. He's been doing it with Vegas, so yeah. Good for him.
Pat:For sure. And then let's see what, oh, you got Kyle Connor Winnipeg Jets, who's also been a shooter of the week on this pod left wing. And then Connor Uck for the Jets, the goalie, the only one to make it from, or I should say Kyle Connor and the, and Uck from the Jets,
Matt:Yep.
Pat:making it there to the all-star game. Lot of talent. Really interested to see how this goes, and that'll be a, that'll be a good matchup there. And then for the participants of. skills competition. You got pasta, Nathan McKinnon, kale McCarr, Leon Dry Seidel Connie McDavid, Matthew Zel, Koff Austin Matthews, William Lander, Elia Patterson, Quentin Hughes, and JT Miller. I believe that's 12.
Matt:Nice.
Pat:and yeah, so that would be, that'd be cool. And then the skill, the actual what their. What they're competing in is fastest skater,
Matt:Okay.
Pat:Hardest shot stick handling one timers the passing challenge, accuracy shooting, which I always liked. And then the top eight of those will then do the NHL shootout, and then the top six of those will do the NHL, the obstacle course. And then I guess the winner of that, of all of that will then, you know, pocket that$1 million.
Matt:1 million. Yeah, I saw that. That's cool.
Pat:be cool. So that should be cool. So,
Matt:Yeah, I'm interested to see how it's gonna be done this year. It seems like kind of, you know, kind of fun in a different way of like, they, I don't really think they've done it, like, quite like, to this extent before. So yeah, I'm gonna be really interested in seeing on how it's gonna be done and hopefully they can pull it off up there in Canada.
Pat:Yep. Yep, I hear you. Lemme see. And then that brings us to, all right, who got snubbed from the Allstar list or from the Allstar game, I should say. I'm very interested to see who you have as a snub from the Allstar. The All Star game, so I'll let you go first if you have one.
Matt:Mine is gonna be for the Florida Panthers Matthew, Chuck, I think he's been having a hell of a January here. He was actually the number one point in January in all of January, and he's been turning it on this month. And even, you know, December too, but really in January a lot. And I thought, yeah, with how much Florida's been rolling this season. And I thought maybe, you know, his buddy Reinhardt might have been even able to swing him in there at the last second maybe for like, you know, with kind of the injury replacements. I thought maybe he would've snuck in, but especially'cause like I said, it's, January's been insane in point. So yeah, I was kind of bummed to didn't, you know, didn't get a chance to see him in there with all the Florida success. I thought maybe they should got another chance to get another guy or two in there, but, you know, well, what are you gonna do? But
Pat:Yeah, for sure. yeah. No, that's a good pick. I think man, those good Chuck Boys can play too. And,
Matt:Yeah, absolutely.
Pat:Brady and they can really, they can play and they're they can stir a pot too, which I, you know, I always appreciate that they play with a little bit of, a little bit of grit, a little bit of sandpaper, which is great as their old man played with. You know, like that too. So with Keith Chu, so always always good little grit and little sand. So no, that never hurt nobody. So, no, that was a good pick. Yeah, he's been lighting it up and you know, somebody's gotta sit, but man, it's it's somebody's, some of the guys that I think of is just like, man, how do you not, you know, have these guys in here and. And making it. And some of'em, this kind of leans into my pick. Some of them you know, get picked over others or even on their own team and, you know, blah, blah, blah. But I'm going with I'm going with Dylan Larkin from the Red Wings, right? Captain out there. He's, he's got 22 goals and 46 points while appearing. And so, to kind of rewind, Alex de Brink it was chosen from the Red Wings to represent and certainly he's definitely worthy of the honor, worthy of the nod. But like I said, Larkin's got 22 goals and 46 points while appearing in six fewer games than to break it. So.
Matt:Hm.
Pat:Based on that alone. I think he, I think I think Larkin is worthy of it and he should be making his third straight all star appearance, but but he's not, so,
Matt:Yeah, kind of a bummer.
Pat:figured yeah, kind of a bottom. Like I said, that those Red Wings are fun to watch and they got a mix of of good, solid young core players and the old the old heads, you know, as we like to call'em. And it's very, I like watching them. I try to watch whenever I can'cause they're they're fun to watch and. Certainly certainly opening some eyes out you know, up, out, out west. So, they're gonna be a fun team. Come playoff time and see if they can see what they can do in the playoffs if they make it, which it seems like they're gonna, so we'll see see what that leadership does and Larkin and kind of how he marches as men forward. But yeah, I definitely think it should have been the all given, the all star nod along with the brink it there. So. Oh yeah, we just wanted to bring in a couple couple all star centered discussions this week. Obviously since, you know, it is this week, so, by the time you're hearing it, you're probably a day or two away until this gets edited and whatnot. So, be sure to tune in into that. And I think that was it. Get outta people's hair. I think that was all on the old bucket list here. We'll like I said, it's kind of a light one, just'cause there's not a whole lot going on in this week between, you know,
Matt:up to, yeah.
Pat:Slowing down and kind of, you know, getting people to the Allstar game and travel arrangements and stuff like that. So, not a whole lot of buzz going around. But we plucked a couple that we wanted to we wanted to definitely. I bring to you. And then next week should pick up again. And, you know, teams get back to full swing and you know, full set of games and see what see what shakes there. So hoping my flyers can get off the Schneider. They're on like a five game losing streak. So I'm like, come on boys. The all-star break will do. You good.
Matt:Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they needed it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Pat:I'm sure they did. So
Matt:Yeah.
Pat:we'll see what happens and we'll go go from there. So anything else from you, Matt, before we
Matt:Yeah, I just, yeah, I just had a couple little, you know, tidbits here, you know, the wacky stuff that I always liked to follow. But I did see somebody, posted here on Hockey Collective a family in Saskatchewan found a unopened holy grail box of hockey cards that contained a bunch of old school. It was like 1979 and 1980, so it was gretzky's year. It's currently up for auction right now with 26 days remaining. Let me tell you. And it's already over a million dollars, so it's like at 1.25 or you know, something like that right now there, you know, 26 days left and yeah, it was just, I saw a couple of pictures and I'm like, wow. Like, guess somebody just forgot they had it in the attic they said, and clearing out the old attic. And it was like, oh, what's this? And just there it was a big carton of a big old box of unopened, freaking. You know, tops, rookie cards, and you know, Gretzky was in there. It was just like, man, oh man, that's a gold mine you got there. But yeah, I thought that was a neat little treasure hunt there.
Pat:man.
Matt:Can you imagine?
Pat:cra I did. I did remember seeing that, but that's wild. That is so crazy. Imagine sitting on that and not knowing you have it.
Matt:Oh, I know, right? Like maybe the dad, you know what I mean? Kids went to college or whatever and just kind of tucked it away, forgetting about it. And maybe he was gonna give it as a Christmas gift or who the hell knows. But yeah. Now here you're clearing up the attic years later and you have like 20 some Gretzky rookie cards in there. It's just insane. That's unbelievable. Yeah. But I thought that was pretty neat. But yeah. But one more other thing. I had to USA hockey requiring the neck laceration protocols for protection coming in effect August 1st, 2024. So this year August 1st. So, yeah, and we, you know, we talked about it, you know, you know, the prior episodes about Adam Johnson and we kind of suspected some of these leagues and, you know, whatnots are gonna be making them a mandatory and, yeah, rightfully so. I think just definitely more protection and especially in that area.'cause yeah, I mean we saw what all went down with that. So just, it could get ugly quick if you're not having the right safety protocols and you know, I think they just wanna do their best and make sure shit like that doesn't happen anymore. You know?'cause that was just a, that was just a real tragedy. So I'm glad that glad that they took some you know. Who knows if it'll ever get to, you know, like we said, if it'll ever even make it to the NHL, who knows? But at least they're doing it in the amateur and minor leagues, as far as I'm concerned. As of now, most people are. So, yeah. Good on them and yeah. I'm glad they're doing it.
Pat:Yep, for sure. One, one last thing, tidbit for me before we get outta here. I ordered a shirt from I'm blanking on the name. I'll put the link in the comments. It's a hockey brand company, but it was a, since I have kids that love Bluey, it was a bluey style shirt that, it basically had them holding hockey sticks and it says, you know, it's says instead of bluey and exclamation point, it says hockey exclamation point all the way through. So I think it's still up for sale. So I'll put the link in the show notes if if anybody wants to check that out. But
Matt:Yeah, I threw it over there.
Pat:me loving hockey and my kids loving bluey, I felt it was like the perfect
Matt:Perfect match. Yeah. Hell yeah.
Pat:pretty cool.
Matt:Best of both worlds.
Pat:back order. Yeah, it was I ordered it before I ordered it before Christmas and then it just came this week. So that's always that's always gonna be cool. So I like that too. I can't remember the damn, I think it's called Bring Hockey back, I think is the name of the company. But they do things in like limited batches and stuff and, and so they had one for, they had one for Bluey, and I was like, oh, I gotta grab that. So that's gonna
Matt:Yeah. Got a sna, one of those.
Pat:So, yeah. Yeah, bring hockey back. And then they have a, they have like a sister company or maybe it's a, just a different line of clothing. It's called Goon Squad Hockey Club, so
Matt:Oh yeah. I've seen Goon squad before. Yeah, for
Pat:Yeah. So it's like bring hockey back and then goon squad hockey clubs are kind of, you know. Hand in hand kind of thing.
Matt:Okay.
Pat:I'll definitely I'll definitely I'll look that up and make sure that I have the right, I have the right people. But yeah, I think it was, I think it was bring hockey back that had the bluey shirt. So I always always like to to kind of rep the local hockey, the small hockey community stuff and whatnot. So, always cool there as I wear my violent gentleman. Hoodie here to the show for those watching on YouTube. So, always cool there. And yeah, so shout out to those guys and go check out their website, bring hockey back.net and I think that is it. Anything else, Matt?
Matt:No, I just had that, you know, couple cool things at the end there, but yeah. All Star Weekend, we'll keep everybody posted on who won all everything and who, who was looking good and flashing the stick and whatnot. And yeah, it's gonna be fun. We're gonna be glued all weekend and not yeah, not really much going on other than that this weekend and then Super Bowl after that weekend. And then, yeah, second half of hockey man. Can't believe it's already here. It's already February as of, you know, like tomorrow or you know, the next day, whatever it is. But Thursday I think actually is the first, but yeah, it's insane. I just, this all star is like the really, you know, pat, like, I think this is really crucial on, alright, this is the second half. Like I think teams now really, we really start to see who's gonna start like. Pulling away
Pat:Turn on the
Matt:You know what I mean? Right. Correct. We're really gonna, and then you're gonna have those guys that are gonna sneak in, you know, and make some noise, you know, definitely hap has happened before. But yeah, this second half is always when you're gonna be like, all right who's coming to play and who's going for the gold? You know? So,
Pat:that's it.
Matt:so we'll keep everybody Yep. Who's gonna raise Lord Stanley. Yeah, we will see. But,
Pat:that to the end. Damn right.
Matt:yep. So yeah, after this fun All Star weekend. We'll keep everybody posted next week.
Pat:Cool. Yeah, sounds good everybody. So we'll get outta your hair, but don't forget to subscribe to our socials and come hang out with us. So, social media, Twitter and Instagram at shoot the puck pod on both platforms. We're working on a website. It's kind of in, in its early phases yet there so I think the, that's good there too. Working on a bunch of YouTube stuff as well. So, you can get these video, you can get the pod in video form if you'd like. And see our ugly mugs if you so shall desire. And then also don't remember to subscribe on your platform of choice. So anywhere you get a pod Spotify apple Podcasts I, I actually, I think I just saw this week Google Podcast is actually shutting down, so I'll have to make a note to not tell people to sign up there'cause it's not gonna be there.
Matt:Oh wow.
Pat:You know, one of those kind of big twos, the big two, as I like to call'em. I used to call'em the big three, but now they're the big two, so. And then also if you wouldn't mind, give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts that really fools with the algorithm and does some good things for us. So, just get more eyes and ears on the show. So always appreciate everything. And then we're gonna work on I think math's news to you as well. We're gonna work on a little user, I should say, listener feedback. Survey. So, just a couple questions anonymous, like, we don't know who you are. It just tallies answers for us. So we kinda we tailor the show to what people want to hear. So I think it's gonna be like a eight or nine question kind of thing. And again, completely anonymous. We don't know who you are. Tell us you love us, you hate us, whatever. And then that just helps us. Kind of mold the show and get better at bringing you, you folks what you want to hear and cutting out a lot of the fluff and stuff that you don't wanna hear. So just be on lookout for that. That'll be in the show notes in the next couple of weeks as we start the new year. And I think it makes sense to start getting some feedback or trying to from folks that and we can kind of, tweak and go forward. So.
Matt:Yeah, right on.
Pat:For that. That's it. All right. Appreciate everybody's joining, Matt, and I'll be back next week with a
Matt:sir. Yes,
Pat:we will go from there. See everybody next week. Ciao.
