EP. 10 "Take a Breath"

Stevie Z hops on to provide some prospective (and ranting) regarding Raddysh, Brady Tkachuk heading to Florida, and why Bolts fans should just take a deep breath.

Transcript

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What is going on, everyone? Stevie C here. I'm back very quickly. Uh let me check my calendar here. Yeah. Uh Monday, June 22nd. So let's just remember that date because I'm gonna come back to that here. So there was uh a couple things that you know have transpired literally over the last couple days since I last recorded. Obviously, Radish is now a Toronto Maple Leaf, right? We found out the terms of his contract at eight years, 8.5 million per. And then he got like a full no move. So that that'll be great. And then Brady Kachuk traded to the Florida Panthers for three first round picks and a second. So let's get back to that date of uh June 22nd, 2026, and and I've gotta ask, why the hell am I seeing portions of our fan base freaking out on June 22nd, 2026? Like I I'm seeing things the likes of Well it's time that we got rid of Radish and the Panthers picked up Brady Kachuk. It's oh boy, it's time to rebuild. This team's going nowhere. Like I I I shit you not. I I've been I've been scanning, I wanted to see everybody's reaction to some of this stuff. Right, and I'm a little bit blown away by some of the reactions. I'm not surprised, but I am a little s I'm a little shocked at how far people are willing to go to deliver a reaction that I just don't really know where it comes from. So let's start here.

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Okay.

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Darren Radish. He scored 70 points last year. Okay. I have seen him labeled as an elite, puck-moving, right-handed defenseman. You're not. I've seen it. Scouring, you know, various hockey media and social media accounts and some of the things that people say and some of the labels that they like to portray upon players. So Darren Radish, after one year, okay, is now an elite right-handed puck moving defenseman. Guys, all in all, there is one elite thing that Darren Radish does, and it is a hell of a one-time shot. He has a bomb of a shot and he gets it to the net. That is it. Think of the elite puck moving defenseman in the league. Okay? So like Quinn Hughes. I would consider Lane Hudson in that. Gail McCarr. Or others. Right? Like at one point, Victor Hedman was considered an elite puck moving defenseman. Like what is what is that label, right, that they've given him? Like ultimately, it it must be like a Toronto tax or something, like a maple leaf tax. Like all of a sudden that that this guy's elite. Right? And I and I've seen it. I'm seeing it now. Some of our fan base talk about, well, we've got to replace Radish. Guys, Radish was the replacement. Do do we does anybody not realize that? Radish was the replacement for Victor Hedman when he got hurt. He was the replacement. Let's go back to two years ago. When Darren Radish was a little bit more of, you know, he was breaking out, he was a staple on the roster, we could say. And here you go. Let's look him up. Two years ago. So two years ago in 2024. Oh, we can even go back to 2023. 2023, 2024. Darren Radish played 82 games, had six points. I'm sorry, six goals, 27 assists, 33 points was minus three plus minus. Okay, and he averaged just over 19 minutes a game. Okay, let's go back to two years ago in 2024, 25. 73 games, six goals, 31 assists, 37 points, plus 9, 17 minutes a game. Okay, this past season, and you already know 73 games, 22, 22 goals, 48 assists, 70 points, plus 21, 22, over 22 and a half minutes per game. He broke into the league on a full-time basis in 2023. This idea that we now have to go and replace a player who the Tampa Bay Lightning deemed as a replacement level player, somebody who could just fill fill the spot. Right? We have to go and replace that guy. He's too valuable. Some of you are on some of you are smoking bullshit. I'll tell you that right now. Two years ago, two years ago, there was nobody, nobody, who was talking about Darren Radish, elite. If he goes, we've got to replace him. Talk about prisoner of the moment. Oh gee. I'm seeing so I'm seeing like Elliot Friedman says he wouldn't be surprised if if John Carlson comes to Tampa Bay and it was short-term, higher dollars, more dollars. And I'm seeing people with the likes of, well, why couldn't we give that to Radish? Okay, so let's break this down. Number one, Radish has to want to sign here. Okay, that's number one. So we we have stated we know this as a fan base, like we've known this. Okay, so I don't understand why why it keeps getting rehashed. Why couldn't we give Radish that money? If we're gonna give John Carlson uh a short-term deal, big dollars, why couldn't we give Radish that money? Okay, number one, he has to want to sign here. Okay, number two, the Lightning, I like I've said it, analytically, and I just gave you his stats for the last three seasons, and he hasn't broken 40 points other than this year, a contract year in which I'll say it for the umpteenth time, he made the most of an opportunity that was presented in front of him, and he did a hell of a job. So, those who keep asking why we couldn't give Darren Radish the money that we would give John Carlson. Number one, Radish has to want to sign here. Number two, the Lightning assigned a value to him that they were not going to go above because they are not positive a hundred percent that Darren Radish is worth the money that he would have gotten on the open market because they are not sure if he's going to have the same role, which tells me that they they didn't assign a value high enough to him that they were willing to offer him a contract that he felt he was worthy of, he probably wasn't going to have the same role within the system, within the organization on the Tampa Bay Lightning that he had this past year. If, for example, and it's not even an example, for Darren Radish to have the opportunity that he had to have this past year, okay, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonough, Eric Chernak all were out of the lineup at some point. Like Darren Radish had to be relied upon. Here is something that we're going to touch on later in this quick episode. It's going to be quick because I just I'm seeing some things and I wanted to get it off my chest. Okay. Tampa has developed a system. Okay, it is throughout the organization. And I mentioned it in the last episode. They find the untapped potential, right? They have certain players have redeeming qualities that Tampa Bay feels that they could help those players add qualities and round out their game, and they give them a platform to do so, and they do an excellent job of that. Okay. Darren Radish, a couple years ago, his last year as a full-time AHLer, when he had what, like 50 points in 43 games or something like that. Like he was a point per game player in the AHL as a as a defenseman. That's hard to ignore. Okay, so they called him up, they gave him a chance. Honestly, like he wasn't blowing anybody's socks off when he first got up here, right? Like it was, I would say like he had stat lines that were equitable to like Anton Strawman from a points perspective. Because he sure as hell wasn't like blowing anybody away defensively. Like just this most recent season, Darren Radish added the element of like some grit and some aggressiveness to his game, right? Like he added elements to his game that weren't there prior. Does anybody want to take a second to stop and realize that, hey, I've said it and I'll say it again. This guy was in a contract year understanding that he was that this was going to be his last opportunity to get a contract like he got from the Toronto Maple Leafs. So he was going to throw everything on the table and say, fuck it. I'm going to throw it all out there and I'm going to see what happens. We talked about that human element. He's going to throw every chip on the table. He's going to, when he gets his opportunity, he's going to make sure that he doesn't come back out of the lineup, and he did that. But now all of a sudden, we're talking about well, uh I'm seeing fans, well, I don't want John Carlson. I want to get younger. I want this team to get younger. Okay, so let's break this down. Okay, because this is another thing. We haven't even like I'm jumping all over the place. So we talked about Radish. So let's talk about this idea of getting younger. Okay. And and how how I've seen some fans suggest that we get younger. Alright, so number one, I I broke this down the other day about some of the younger defensemen that Tampa have. Okay, so Lilleberg is 25. Uh JJ Mosier is 26. Charles Edward Das Du is 28. Here's the thing. And I know what you guys are all thinking. Or not all of you, but uh some of you who listen to this are thinking, like, oh gosh, none of those guys are household names. We've seen what they look like. They're bottom pair defensemen outside JJ Moser, so Liliberg and Das Du, whatever. Crozier is also what, 25, 26? Like, here is the beauty of what I said about Tampa having a system. Okay, so mind you, Ternak missed over 20 games this year. McDonough missed what 30 plus games this year, Hedman missed 50 plus games this year. The Lightning were top five in defense in the league. This idea of getting younger or you want more household names or on the back end, right? I the lightning have developed a system that is constantly showing that they're they're putting out the results. Metrically, they were better this year than they were last year. That shows that they're going to get guys that fit the system. And they don't want to deviate from that. Darren Radish excelled within the system. And when he got an opportunity, more of an opportunity within the system, he he did exactly what he should have done. He flourished. It's exactly what he should have done. Because there was nobody else. That's why, that's why smart franchises, like I like to believe the Tampa Bay Lightning are, and yes, I am biased. I am a fan. We are all biased. Some of you are feeling the complete opposite because of what has happened the last four years in the playoffs. And we're going to touch on that and why we just gotta stop. Darren Raddish did exactly what he should have done. Darren Raddish did what the system designed, was designed for, was to be able to plug and play guys in who fit that, who fit their a certain role within a system, and who can elevate or regress like based on their role within the system. More can be added or more can be taken away. Right? Like he did exactly what he should have done. There was nobody else, no headman, no Ternak, no McDonough. There's nobody else. So Radish took the most of that chance. He should have done that. That shows you there is a good system in place. When you can have eight different defensemen on the roster, and yes, they all have different qualities, and some positive, some negative, right? And they can plug in and fulfill a role, and they are not absolutely detrimental to the team. Like they can be a replacement level player, meaning that they can do enough of a job for a certain amount of time to patch a hole before you know the guy who was originally in that spot comes back and you know takes his spot back over. The Lightning are very good at finding guys like that. It's a good system. Like you look at Syracuse, guys who go down there, they get seasoned down there in Syracuse. And you know what? When they come up here, obviously they sometimes they may have a different role in Syracuse. They come up to Tampa, their role is tweaked for the NHL and what's needed for the for the Lightning, and obviously not the crunch. And so they try to excel. Let's remember Gabe Gonçalves was sent back down to Syracuse. What was it his second year in the league? He was sent back down. He was with the the light, or was it his first year? I don't even remember. He was sent back down. He'd gotten he'd gotten an extended amount of time, and it was looking like, all right, well, I believe was it his contract year that he was sent back down to Syracuse? And then he got a contract extension. This year he had 33, what, 32, 33 points with the lightning? And progressively got better in the playoffs. Like it's a system. And this idea of, well, we we've got to go get younger. One of the ways that I've seen that, and this is how I know, like, as a fan base, we are all over the place based on getting rid of Radish and Brady Kachuk going to the Florida Panthers. I I have literally seen this, and I'm seeing this quite often on social media and some of the fans that I interact with. They want to get younger. They want to trade somebody the likes of Nick Paul to do it. Okay, so let's break that down. Getting rid of Nick Paul. Okay, Nick Paul makes what three three and a half million a year for his role in today's NHL. That's considered a value contract. Okay, let's let's get that out of the way right now. He's making what three, three and a half million for his role. That's a value contract. Why do you get rid of somebody like that? Number one, because you have to find somebody to replace him. Okay, number two. I've seen fans say, well, one of our weaknesses is we need to get bigger, we need to get grittier. Nick Paul is 6'4, 234. There is no other forward on the roster like that. So why would you want to get rid of that? Well, well, well, we don't, we don't win. We need face-off help. Nick Paul won 53.9% of his face-off last year. Nick Paul has not won in his entire time with the lightning. He has not won less than 50% of his face-off throughout the entire career with the lightning. Okay, so here we go. He played 21 games with the lightning in 21-22, 56%. Okay, 80 games with the lightning, 22-23, 53.7%. 82 games, 23-24, 54.3%. 24-25, 76 games, 50%. This past year, 51 games, 53.9%. You 31 out of 32 teams and face-offs, but you want to get rid of the guy who's our best face-off guy. That makes zero sense. Zero sense. You want to get bigger, you want to get you want to get bigger on the bottom six, you want to win more face-offs. Yeah, get rid of our biggest forward and the guy who wins more face, you know, and and wins all, you know, has the highest face-off percentage on the team. I don't understand that. Can somebody who has that sentiment please write to me and explain your thought process? I don't understand. It's it's doing my head in. Somebody, please. You want to get younger, but here's the thing. Here's the thing that I don't think fractions of our fan base understand, like the fraction of our fan base that says some outlandish things. I don't think you understand this. Number one, young players who are not just young, but productive in today's NHL are top dollar premium players. You have to have the cachet. You have to have what that team. You want to get that player? Well, you got to give us something in return, and it's gonna be hefty because the league is getting younger. Young, productive players cost, they are costly. The Tampa Bay Lightning, honestly, they can't just go out and do that. Like they can't. They don't have a lot of first-round picks, they give them off like candy, right? They haven't, okay. Let's let's back that up. They haven't had first-round picks. The other big thing is when I talked about the most valuable asset in the and literally the episode that I just recorded, they haven't had the salary cap space. But the thing is, is you don't want to bring in players just because they're young. You got to go get the right fit. What's the fit for the system? How do they fit the Tampa Bay Lightning? How will they mold? How will they mesh within the Tampa Bay Lightning? Right? It's not the Lightning have to conform to the player who's being brought in, the young guy who's being brought in. That doesn't, it doesn't work that way. So you want to get younger, but what are you willing to give up? What are you willing to give up for that? You want to give the whole farm system, you want to give off every draft pick and every young player who we haven't even seen what they can do in elevated roles, or we haven't seen what they can do at all. You wanna you want to just bargain them off in a reactionary move because, well, we got rid of Radish, so we have to replace him. News flash the replacement is Victor Headman. It's not even a replacement. Darren Radis was Victor Headman's replacement. Stop, stop talking to me about, oh, well, he's 35 years old. Guys, he had one bad year. He has had one bad year in his damn near 20-year career. Wait, it's gonna be what, 18, 17, 18 years? So almost 20 years. He's had one bad outlier year. You have to give the guy a chance to see if he can do better. Like, same with Braden Point. I see a lot of trade Braden Point. He has a no-move clause, like I said in the last episode. Wow, like as long as it doesn't become the norm, right? I'm willing to look past last season. The guy has the last three years, two 40 goal seasons, 150 goal season. What are you getting rid of him for to bring in? You're only going to get rid of somebody like that if you're going to get someone who is marginally better than Braden Point, or like he's got to be vastly better. Like, you're just not going to get rid of somebody. Yeah, marginal is the incorrect word. You're not getting rid of somebody like Braden Point to bring in a marginally better player. For what reason? Like Dylan Larkin? For what reason? Why would you trade for Dylan Larkin one for one, Braden Point? I don't understand that. Dylan Larkin should only be brought to the Lightning if he's being brought in as an addition to the team. Not we're taking a roster player off the team, right? Like picks and prospects for Dylan Larks or Dylan Larkin. Right? No current roster player at Ford, who's a top six guy, should be moving for him. I'm sorry. I just don't see it that way. He should be brought in to enhance the roster. We're not doing like-for-like trades. That's stupid. Because you have to bring in a player who has no idea how the system works, and you have to teach him the system, you have to mesh, you have to do all those things. And yes, I've said it time and time again, I do think that some the Ford group is getting a little bit stale. I do agree with that. I still agree with that. I'm not sure if it's taking out a top six guy at this point. I'm not sure if that's that's what it is. Okay, let's move on. We're rounding it out here. Let's talk about this Kachuk trade, Brady Kachuk to the Florida Panthers, and why it's I've seen I've seen the like what the hell reactions. Okay, so Brady Kachuk traded to the Florida Panthers yesterday on Father's Day for three first-round picks and a second round pick. So that would explain why Sam Maskevic was traded from the Florida Panthers to the Seattle Kraken for draft picks. Right? You know, they accrued some draft picks, they made the trade for Brady Kachuk. How does this impact the Lightning? It doesn't. It doesn't. Like I I don't know what is it an arms race in the Atlantic division? Absolutely. Like are teams stocking up on talent? Absolutely. Absolutely they are. Do I think the lightning should sit on their hands? As the Atlantic Division is getting stronger? No. Absolutely not. Matter of fact, I honestly think that because of what has happened, right? Like, sure, the Florida Panthers got Brady Kichuck. Does their top six look a lot stronger? Absolutely. But we're gonna get to them in a second. Sure. Should the Lightning kick the tires on a player like Alex Tuck? Should they kick those tires hard? There's a deficiency on the roster. We know what it is. I'm gonna tell you right now, in my heart of hearts, I don't think it's on the defense. People want to argue otherwise. I'm just gonna point back to it. A top five defense. I can't argue with the numbers. And you shouldn't either. But we do know what we lack. And that's someone who's a top six forward, particularly at right wing, who can chip in their fair share of points so we can stop rotating guys throughout that spot. So do I think the lightning should kick the tires on Alex Tuck? If he's going to market? Absolutely. 100%. Do I think the Lightning are doing that? Absolutely. 100%. Like some of the reactions that I saw yesterday when this trade went through for the Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators. I saw people saying things like the likes of, oh, this team is going to be battling for a wild card spot. I saw that. I saw some fans saying, well, it's time for the rebuild. Why? Why? Why is it time for the rebuild? And and and it dawned on me. And I and I want to ask you this question, as a fan. Are you scared of the Florida Panthers? Are you scared that the Lightning don't have it as easy as they used to anymore? So they've gotta be a little bit more gritty and they've got to grind out points. Are you scared of that? All the success the Tampa Bay Lightning have had over the last decade plus, and we're sitting here worried about all the Panthers are loading up, all Toronto got our our quote unquote best defensemen. Nobody said that two years ago, right? Like I'm seeing people say, oh well, the Lightning are firmly behind Buffalo, Florida, and Montreal. Okay, so here's what I'm gonna tell you about this. Or about that. We don't know what Buffalo and Montreal are gonna look like next year when they go from the team that was the hunter to being the hunted. It's much different when you got a target on your back. Buffalo was a rotate a rotating cast of goalies last year. Clearly, they don't feel comfortable with any just one guy in net. Okay, that's number one. Number two, Montreal, same with Dobesh. Rookie goalie last year. We don't know what he's gonna look like next year. They have, right? It's much different when teams got the book out on you and you have to start adjusting your game to certain things. They start making adjustments and they start figuring you out, they start noticing the ins and outs of your system, and you have to make adjustments and tweaks to that. It's a much different game of hockey then. So, how about people take that stuff into consideration? I know it's really hard to do because it's so easy to look at teams on paper and just start crowning teams, division champ, um, you know, playoff contender, uh, Stanley Cup contender, Stanley Cup champ. I know that this is the off-season is the time to do that. Absolutely. 100%, yeah, we can, you know, bullshit and spitball a whole bunch of ideas. Sure. But this talk about oh, well, now the lightning are firmly, firmly behind those other teams, they're gonna be battling for a wild card spot. Or oh, we should begin the rebuild because we can't compete with the Florida Panthers. Hey, guys, the Florida Panthers have seven million dollars to sign two goalies and try to shore up some defensive spots. Yeah, they got Brady Kachuk. Okay, awesome. Brady Kachuk is not like a he's not like an earth-shattering mover of a player. He's very, very good. I would say for what he does, for what he does, he is a high-level player. High level player. Is he like someone you build your franchise around? Uh I'm not sure. I mean, he's he's got the charisma, I guess you could say, like he's polarizing to where like maybe naturally, I don't know if people are naturally drawn to him or not, but like he's polarizing enough in that regard, like sure. Like if you want a personality, yeah. I I I just I get the impression that obviously fans are frustrated, and I think that frustration is giving way to fear, and I'm not sure why. Guys, every team, when we get to the grind of the season and we're trying to make the playoffs and the Atlantic division, it's going to be tough no matter what. Anything can happen in this league. Like teams that are like, oh well, the Panthers are going for their third cup in however many years. Okay, yeah. Everybody's trying to win the cup that has an opportunity to do so. It's not just the Panthers. Games aren't won on paper. Anything can happen. Do I need to remind you of let's we can just talk about this season alone. Let's talk about the things that nobody saw coming. Okay, the Panthers finished second to last in the division. Did anybody see that coming? Probably not. Toronto finished last in the division. Did anybody see that coming? Probably not. Ottawa had 100 points. Did anybody see that coming? Nope. Buffalo won the division. Did anybody see that coming? Nope. Like Vegas had 39 wins this season, made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final. Nobody saw that coming. Like, these things happen. Nobody knows what's going to happen. I've mentioned it before. Hockey is one of those games where things happen that you you can't prepare for. It's I think one of I think it's this is the sport out of the four sports in North America. The NHL is the one sport that things happen that you you just can't account for. Right? Like a puck hitting off the stanchion and going behind the goalie, a deflected puck, you know, double doink goal. Things like that. Like you can't account for some of those things. And nobody's nobody knows what's going to happen. So deeming the lightning off just off paper based on their roster is saying this team is not good enough. I don't I don't understand why not. Can someone please enlighten me as to why not? There's two guys that are gone from the roster. One of them nobody even wants back in Bjorkstrand, and the other one is Radish, who like I've said enough about it, so I'm not gonna continue to say it. Or say more about it. I understand the frustration, and I I'm not a pie in the sky fan, I've said that before. Like, we can all agree. Four straight round four four four straight first round exits is unacceptable for the Tampa Bay Lightning. We can agree. We can agree. Absolutely. What we all should should be able to agree upon is that the regular season was a success. They had 106 points. They were what top three in both offense and defense. And was it penalty kill as well? That that that is that is success. That's a successful regular season. They didn't have a successful playoff run by any stretch. They played they played well enough to win, but they didn't play well enough long enough to win, if that makes sense. Right? They the lightning fell asleep at the wrong times. They didn't push at the right times. We've got to stop looking at everything in a vacuum. Right? Like one move makes or breaks the Tampa Bay Lightning, and if it if it goes our way, oh happy, happy, joy, joy. And if it's not, blow this bitch up, we suck like shit. I like we've got to stop doing that. It's very hard as a fan base for us to interact and have conversation and create dialogue and grow each other's knowledge of the game if if like a lot of us are jumping off the deep end so quickly because one move goes for or against our team. It's gotta end. Like and I'm I'm and I'm speaking to a minority here, right? Obviously, I would hope. But it's gotta stop. We can't, you know, can't be so reaction reactionary to one or two things that go for us or against us. You just ride the wave. Do I agree with everything? Like I've seen people Julian Breesball sitting on his ass doing nothing. Listen, do I agree with every move that Julian Breeswall makes? Hell no. I I've been heavily critical of the Corey Perry move. I thought I thought that that was a if I'm being quite honest, I thought it was a panic move. Right? Do do did I agree with the Tanner Janot move? At the time it was like, whoa, crazy. I like Janot, right? But that's a lot to give up. But if we if we like that's probably the worst move that he's ever done. Okay, and if we were all judged at our worst, well then, you know, fuck it, then we're all bad, I guess. Right? The Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gord move, honestly, didn't think that was that bad. What you were getting for Yanni Gord, you got a you got a known quantity who brought grit, who knew the system, who had some some chemistry with the players. There's an element of continuity. You like that. I could get down with that. And in Bjorkstrand, we thought that we were getting somebody you could chip in who would be an excellent complimentary player and chip in between 20 to 30 goals a season, and we didn't get that from him. Those are the breaks. Sometimes that happens. But to say overall was a shit move, like there's an element of like, yeah, of course, you'd like those first-round picks back. Of course, you know, people are saying, well, the pick that we gave up Bjork Strand ended up getting Brady Kachuk. Oh gosh, that's like what that's like a fallacy. Like, what is that? Like, yeah, a full circle moment. Yeah, okay, that's fine. Once again, within context, at the time, that first round, the first round pick that we traded for Bjork Strand, at the time, that was that was the value for him. But that's fair enough. That was the value for Seattle to acquire the player that we wanted, the players that we wanted in Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gord. Fast forward a couple years, that same draft pick, it was good enough for the Ottawa Senators to give up Brady Kachuk to the Florida Panthers. Like, it's not everything is in a vacuum. There's context behind everything. We can agree on this. That it this exists without setting the vacuum. From the standpoint of the Tampa Bay's Lightning, the Tampa Bay Lightning's goal was to win the Stanley Cup, and they didn't do that. Ultimately, that's a failure. So you know, like, I I get every I I get it all. I just wanted to get on here and I I don't know. I pass probably all over the place. I hope that you guys could kind of follow me on this, but like I just see a lot of reaction. And it's not, it's it's very negative. Like what I get it. Four four first-round exits will do this to a fan base, I guess, in some instances. Like, it'll kind of shake your confidence a little bit. But I I I don't I don't I'm not sure why. Honestly. It's because we're not steamrolling teams anymore. Like, guys, that was never going to always be the case. Like, every team is on the top of the mountain at some point. If they if they achieve that, they're not there for long. Like, it's really hard to to stay there. But what the Tampa Bay Lightning have done really well, and that I hope that you can all recognize this, and this is not to like blow smoke up your ass and to tell you like like to piss on you and tell you it's raining, they've done an excellent job of being in contention or being in a position to be able to take the trek to conquer the top of the mountain. You know, I'll tell you what, the people who think that we should rebuild and who are very hyperbolic in that sense, I'll tell you what, or the people who feel like, oh, well, this team is gonna be fighting for a wild card spot. Yeah, sure, 106 points last year. Um, they got the league MVP, the league's best goalie, the runner-up in the Selkie, and the league's best coach this past year, and they're gonna have such a drop-off that they'll be competing for a wildcard spot. Here's what I'll tell you: I think everybody's gonna be competing for a wildcard spot in the Atlantic division. I'll tell you that. That's how I'm looking at it. Because it's gonna be so tight. So everybody's competing for a wild card spot. So assigning what position each team is going to finish in already on June 22nd, 2026, before free agency has even begun, that's a bit ridiculous. And like I like I let me finish my point that I just made about people who think we should rebuild or that we'll be fighting for a wildcard spot. I'll tell you what, I would rather be on the end of being in a position to contend, to win something, than to be on the other end, let's say the likes of like Detroit, who are absolutely terrified to ever do anything. Their management is absolutely terrified to ever actually do and to improve the team and to take a chance, and then they still end up falling flat on their face. So they just have all these questions about what was. I would rather be on this end of it where I know that, hey, as a franchise, as a fan of this franchise, they are going to do absolutely everything they can, at least we hope so, or they have shown that they are willing to do so, to make the moves necessary so that way we can ask questions of okay, we got to this, what went wrong when we got to it, not of, oh well, we were on the outside looking in, and I will never know. I I would rat I would rather be on the other end of it, of yeah, fuck yeah, we're we're in it. Let's see what happens. That's what competition is. As a fan base, let's get back to enjoying the competition, enjoying the journey, right? Like, I'm like everybody, I won't lie to you. This past season, it was tough getting through the regular season because I wanted to get to the playoffs. I was like from opening puck drop, I was of the regular season. I was like, can't wait till we get till April. Ultimately, it ended up in disappointment. But then when you take a second to reflect on it, 106 points, the metrics were good. Julian Breezeball said he was gonna double down. He did in that sense, it was a success. Playoff success was not. Okay, fine. Buckle up, baby. The summer's just beginning, folks. We don't know what's coming. So to just be so reactionary about Brady Kachuk going to the Panthers, and now the Panthers are looking like the Philadelphia Broad Street bullies of old, yeah, maybe they're going that way. Who the fuck is playing in net for them? Guys, we'll be fine. Let things play out. I had to get out, I had to get on here and get this off my chest. It was bothering me. It was bothering me. So I hope you all enjoyed. Look, uh, I'll be back soon, and uh we'll begin that Mount Rushmore series that I was talking about. Well, hopefully we'll we'll have some other things to talk about regarding Tampe Lightning. See you guys soon. Steve out of the video, you can see you guys.