Breaking Down Carolina Hurricanes Projected Playoff Lineup + Senators vs Canes: Defencemen Rankings

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This year, experience the NHL playoffs your way. Want to watch a single, do-or-die game seven? A full week of a heavy-hitting back-and-forth series. Then check out Slings 1, 3, and 7-day passes. Watch the Chase for the Cup on ESPN and TNT starting as low as 499. No long-term contracts or overpaying. Just live hockey at home. Or when you want it, Slings let you do that. Visit slings.com to learn more. What if you could have the most reliable Wi-Fi at the same price for five years? That's the Xfinity 5-year price guarantee. No annual contracts, no hidden fees, and our best equipment included. Plus, get online in minutes with same-day Wi-Fi. Just five years of fiber-powered Wi-Fi that boosts speeds to the devices that need them most. Lock in your price and unlock the possibilities.

1:02Xfinity, imagine that. Select plans only restrictions apply, powered by fiber connected to the premises by coaxial cable, actual speeds ferry. On today's show, the regular season is over and now the real fun can begin. We take a look at the Carolina Hurricanes' projected line-ups for Game 1 and rank the top 10 best defensemen in the series. This has great control and you're listening to the Lockdown Center podcast. Your Lockdown Senators, your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome, you are locked on to the Ottawa Senators. I'm Ross Levittan alongside Brandon Pillar today is Thursday, April 16th and Pillsie. We finally have Game 1 scheduled Saturday 3 p.m. We're leading off the playoffs. Sends Hurricanes the first game of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.

2:05I kind of like it, not going to lie. Obviously, prime time, Saturday night is always great. But to be the first game, there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on this game. You get to be ready right away during the day. I mean, our Sends fans on the West Coast, this is going to happen at noon on Saturday. So you got the whole day ahead of you. I'm fired up. We've been waiting so long to get just Game 1 scheduled. Like we don't even know when Game 2, 3 or 4 is going to be, but Game 1 first, let's go. We need the full schedule though. I got heaven and earth to move to get to Ottawa. Let's go hurry up. Well, Ross, if you're going to move heaven and earth, I don't think it matters what the schedule is. Like you're you're moving. Having an earth regardless. Every hour gets closer to hell. That's true. You did not say you would move hell. No, I can't. One dimension. You can't handle. No, Devils in the details. And I need to know this schedule right now. But 3 p.m. on Saturday. You mentioned it. There's going to be hockey fans that are craving playoffs

3:05that may not have had an interest in this series. And they're going to set the tone for the entire Stanley Cup playoff. So 3 p.m. on Saturday. And we're expecting this to be as tight checking of a series as there will be across the first game. These two teams are mirror images of each other when you look at the way they play. They love getting shot attempts. They were they suppress shots better than any other team in the national hockey league. Carolina, the fewest shots allowed per game this season. Ottawa was third in that category. This is going to be a battle of the trenches. And who's going to blink and make the most mistakes? This is going to be an all out war. Ross, we knew going in. Obviously the top team in the east is going to be a tough matchup. We've seen the Carolina Hurricanes have been a real problem for the sense in years past, even this season. They got the better of us overall. But looking at the lines and breaking it down line by line, diving into the analytics. That really opened her eyes to be like, oh, man,

4:06this is going to be a very tough series. And there's Carolina Hurricanes fans on Saturday. I don't think anyone thinks this is going to be easy. We are obviously the underdogs. But there is nothing wrong with having confidence in your team especially with the way the Ottawa Senators play. Like Carolina's advanced analytics are very good. But so are the sense. Like it's not like, I don't think anyone thinks this is going to be easy. We are obviously the underdogs. But there is nothing wrong with having confidence in your team, especially with the way the Ottawa Senators play. Like it's not like, like there's not really easy advantages for either team. They're so close in so many different aspects that. I don't think either team can be fully confident in here or should say that they have the clear edge can either side be confident in their team. Sure, absolutely. You expect nothing less from fans, but it's funny to see the brand new sparked rivalry of Twitter discourse online.

5:07Hey, it's great to see you want a little rivalry. And this is the first time the sense of played the Hurricanes and the playoffs. They're not in the same division where every other matchup in the Eastern Conference is a divisional opponent. So there's built in natural rivalries from playing each other more and competing for the same spots. But this is going to be an absolute war. And you talk about the way they play. How everything is similar. Well, our friend Jack Richardson pointed out on Twitter. The points percentage over the last 30 games of the season. Identical between these two teams. 733. And if you go through the last 31 games like Josh points out. The senators and Hurricanes both with 46 points. Ottawa with a plus 39 goal differential and Carolina at plus 29. So you you Hurricanes fans can rightfully say we've been the better team all year. You can have the smaller sample size. If you'd like, I would argue that it's relevant because it's leading into the series. What stat state is your team at now. But you know what you earn by getting that extra great play

6:10from October to January. You got home ice. So that's where your advantage comes in. But if you look right now at the form as they would say in footy. What form are you in? I think the Ottawa senators form right now is as good as we've seen. They figured out after some tinkering that having stutzlin could chuck on different lines helps this team get further scoring depth down the lineup. They've had now the consistency of those lines. All the injuries were on the back end, right? We've seen these forward lines barely change over the course of the last 30 games. And that gives me the confidence that they're going to hit the ground running because if you remember last year game one was a mess. The Ottawa senators were horny for playoffs. It had been seven years. And they took how many penalties in game one. We'll get the keys tomorrow on our full preview ahead of Saturday. But discipline in this series is going to be incredibly important going up against a ridiculously potent power play for the hurricanes.

7:10Yeah, definitely. I mean, discipline in the playoffs is typically a very important factor, but especially when two teams match up as tightly as these teams do because five on five like every puck battle, every neutral zone transition going your way or against you is probably going to have a major impact like this. This is going to be shift by shift hockey and it's going to be stressful, but it's going to be so good to watch. And let's look at the Ottawa senators quickly. It's a day off for the boys after they won their final regular season game going into the postseason now on a six one and one stretch over their last eight games. And if you look closely at the way this team is built, you can see that depth go throughout the lineup. The top line of Tim Stutzla with Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux. They've got a 59.2 expected goals percentage that could chuck cousins Ridley Greg line. They're at 65.6 among the best in the national hockey league

8:13all season. The Pinto a Maddo cousins line. They're at 62% expected goals. And the line that has the worst is the fourth line at 46% with Ella Vogel and Zetterlin. But they've actually got the best goal percentage of actual goals that are scored. So I think that this is going to be an absolute battle. And we'll dive into the lines in the next segment for the Carolina Hurricanes because they were on the ice for practice today after they had the day off yesterday. They finished their season on Tuesday. So they're back on the ice and we'll dive into each individual line and get analysis on that. I do want to touch though on the February game in Carolina. I didn't want to use the in Ottawa game because the sense had last changed. They had the matchups. But if we're going and it makes sense that Rod Brinnamore would go back to this because just thinking of how you would coach. It makes sense to do it this way. But I looked at the line matching of that game. And it was Jordan stall and his checking line up against

9:16Dylan Cousins Brady could chuck and Ridley Greg. So they on their whiteboard. They've actually got the Cousins line as the Senators top line. That's what they matched up with with their shutdown line. Then it was Sebastian Ajo going up against Tim Stutz law, leaving the Logan Stan Koven line going up against Shane Pinto. So you look in like you could see a world like these are 50 50 battles the way these lines are matched up. And then the fourth lines match up pretty well against each other too. There's no clear edge like there's no way to match up your lines up against the opponent's lines either way where you're like all right. This is where we're going to take advantage. This is where we're going to get our cookies like. And the same can be said for the defense bears like it's. I know people have issues with the playoff format but. It's this lining up like this is pretty awesome honestly. Oh man, is it Saturday yet?

10:17Like let's go. Let's get the show on the road and let's get the puck to drop on Saturday afternoon in Carolina. Okay, let's look at the hurricanes lines on the other side. We'll wrap up today's show continuing our ranking. So if you missed it yesterday, we went through the top goalies in this series. We'll look at defenseman today and forwards tomorrow. You're listening to locked on Senators. Your team every day. Today's episode is brought to by our friends over at indeed workplace chaos deadline stacking up inbox overflowing and the one position you have to fill still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsor jobs indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for skills, experience location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your posts. Here's a stat that says it all since I've been talking to you like yours have made 27 hires on indeed, according to indeed data worldwide.

11:17So if you're hiring spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsor jobs spend less time searching more time interviewing candidates who check your boxes that's less stressed less time more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs and listeners of this show you're going to get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed dot com slash podcasts. Just go to indeed dot com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on the lockdown senators podcasts indeed dot com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsor jobs today's episodes also brought to you by five hour energy if you've got a sweet tooth like I do you know how tough it is to find the perfect treat with all that sugar it's tougher for me because my wife hides the candy in our house so that's why I turn to five hour energies cotton candy shot it brings that nostalgic

12:20flavor back in a whole new way this is that classic cotton candy taste that you remember but with a tasty caffeine boost and zero sugar it's a quick easy way to satisfy that sweet craving while keeping things simple and on the go I've always loved cotton candy reminds me of the X back in the day but I can't be eating sweets all day so this is the perfect alternative the flavor really does bring back that throwback fruity vanilla vibe and it's surprisingly smooth I like how convenient it is to it's just a small portable shot that I can grab whenever I need a little pick me up it's become I go to when I want something sweet without going overboard so bring on the sweetness with cotton candy five hour energy shots available online now at five hour energy dot com it's also available on Amazon thank you for making locked on senators your first listen each and every day helping the locked on podcast network

13:20become the number one sports podcast network you already make us your team every day so why not go ad free and join the every dayers club it's been awesome seeing the great support there you'll get ad free editions of locked on senators wherever you already listen to it and access to our members only discord that has been buzzing with the news the sends are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs you can join below in our link it's at super cast so join the every dayers club all right Pillsy we have nothing but respect for the Carolina Hurricanes they have turned themselves into one of the NHL's elite regular season teams over the course of Rod Brenda Moore's time with the team from the day he took over they went to the conference finals then it was a first round lost second round second round third round second round third round and now they're playing the Ottawa senators in the first round hell of a run for Ottawa born head coach Rod Brenda Moore however I need to get ahead of this storyline

14:21I think as the city of Ottawa we might have to disown that narrative going into this series because I've seen it a lot oh Rod Brenda Moore's going home Rod Brenda Moore grew up in British Columbia so he's born in Ottawa but I don't think we need a series long oh Rod Brenda Moore's going home storyline yeah an absolute scandal that you've uncovered raw so now that's out there Rod Brenda Moore not claimed by the city of Ottawa no and it's almost like a one for one trade because Steve Iserman was born in BC but grew up in Ottawa and that's why his name's on a goddamn arena in Ottawa I don't see any Rod Brenda Moore community centers kicking around in our nation's capital and if there were we'd have to change that to Travis Green community center because Travis Green has done such a hell of a job with these Ottawa senators he deserves all the credit in the world and I think that he'll be up for the test Rod Brenda Moore one thing he's really good at is adjustments as well as motivation and Travis Green the sends coaching staff who green said the

15:23other day the most cohesive staff that he's ever been a part of they're going to have their work cut out for getting the intricacies of back and forth and the adjustments that make playoffs series so special best of seven you're going to see them at least four times and as many as seven math guy and if you want to win your game one and the closeout game are going to look completely different so how are you going to get yourself the best chance at success and speaking of Rod Brenda Moore Ross Walt Ruff on Twitter he covers the Carolina Hurricane said Rod Brin Moore isn't ready to name a game one goalie just yet he said there's a likelihood we see both Freddie Anderson and Brandon Bussie in the series he also said Piotr Kacheckov isn't an option right now but he is healthy so there's your tandem it's going to be Anderson and Bussie I expect he'll give the nod to the veteran Freddie Anderson and then if things don't go his way then he'll turn to

16:24Brandon Bussie but interesting that now we have confirmation on at least the goalie duo that's going to start this series and if you know anything about head coaches they typically lean to the vet and Freddie Anderson had his own net today at practice while Brandon Bussie shared one with Piotr Kacheckov so I'm not ready to confirm it will wait for Rod Brenda Moore to do that I would expect it to be tomorrow if not maybe he'll play the cards close to his vests but I would expect Freddie Anderson to start in goal in game one the real question for me there Pelsi is how long is the leash should he need to go into his bag here's how the Carolina Hurricanes lined up at their practice today at the Invisalign Center so how did they get lines at the Invisalign Center they must have been using some X-ray glasses Sebastian Alho centering the top line between Andre Spetschnikov and Seth Jarvis the second line worth noting here yes Barry Cockkenyemi

17:24was filling in Logan Stan Kovan did not skate but all signs point to him being available for game one so let's go with the assumption it's Logan Stan Kovan centering Taylor Hall and I almost called him Jason Blake it's his son Jackson Blake third line Jordan Stahl between Nikolai Elers and Jordan Martinuck and the fourth line Mark Jankowski with William Carrier and Eric Robinson on his wings on the back end it's Jacob Slaven with Jalen Chatfield Kyandre Miller with Sean Walker and Shane Gostis Bear with Alexander Nikkeeson Pelsi what's your overall thoughts when you see this roster shaken out this is a deep deep team like we talked about earlier there's not one line not really one defense pair that you can point to and be like all right here's where we're going to make the advantage I would say the biggest opportunity for an advantage is in goal Freddie Anderson Cain's fans have a lot of faith in him but this year hasn't been great for him now can he turn it around in the

18:25playoffs remains to be seen but they've done such a good job creating this roster and I know kind of the typical knock on the hurricanes is all they don't have that superstar player which you could you could say is fair but I think a lot of people would probably say the same about the Ottawa Senators like you look at Aho Sveshnikov Jarvis like those hurt top line guys for sure and they're all on the same line like that line is going to be tough you you look down the line up they've got deaf like getting ealers on that third line with two more shut down style guys install in Martinoke and then adding some offense with ealers there brings a whole different flavor to that bottom six and then their fourth line is tough to play against you so yeah there's no part of this team that I'm taking lightly no no there can't be and all their lines have played so much together when we'll go through the numbers like they have the familiarity that Ottawa doesn't mostly because early on the season

19:25you didn't have Brady Kachok and all the lines get thrown in the blender for quite some time Ottawa's line that has played the most all season is that Kachok cousins and Ridley Greg line at three hundred and twenty minutes the Hurricanes have three lines that have played more and one of them is one minute more but the others are two hundred plus minutes more so that a whole line that stank open line they've been together for the majority of the season they play off each other extremely well they all have speed they all have tenacity they all have the ability to score and that shows with Carolina having such an elite goal differential all season long so there's no part of me that's taking this lightly the one area if I'm looking at this from an Ottawa Senators perspective that you might be able to get into them is the physicality there's a lot of smaller undersized guys on this team and I'm not saying they all play small I know Seth Jarvis in particular plays bigger than his frame five seven but

20:25if you're looking like aho not the biggest guy Jarvis Blake stank open ealers these are all guys on the smaller side they make up for it in their bottom six martinux stall big guys you look at their fourth line lots of size there Eric Robinson in the videos and I told you I watch one game highlights at a ten of the season for Carolina that Eric Robinson can fly he is one of the fastest players in those clips that I saw and we know that William Carrier is the mute non this team I mean he's not a fighter he's not that kind of guy but he is their most physical player in his prime in Vegas when he was playing on the other side he would be among the NHL leaders and hits every year and I'd imagine that he was close to the top of that category again this season yeah one thing to note Ross I saw one hurricane's fans saying hey look I know it doesn't seem like we play physical during the regular season but this team ramp it up in the playoffs so I believe that yeah I'm looking at right now last year in the regular season I

21:25mean really you can only go by hits for 60 because obviously the players carry a 18.55 again this is hits for 60 a sweatshikov 7.2 stall Robinson in the 7.157.34 then you switch to playoffs Jordan stall bumps his number from 7 to 16.07 carry a from 18 to 21 sweatshikov from 7 to 13 and then Robinson up at 21 so there is some truth to that that this is a team Ross that has made the playoffs eight consecutive seasons I believe is eight or nine something like that it's eight all under rodbrain Yes so they know you don't put pedal to the metal during the regular season and burn yourself out do you have to play a certain style of game in the regular season to be successful of course they've got that figured out but a lot of these guys have been here for a while this cord knows how rodbrain

22:25he expects them to play when it comes to playoff time so there's a reason that they usually win one round even two they've been to the conference finals a bunch they know when to flip that switch and if sends fans think that the physicality is going to be light Ross I think it's fair to say that the Carolina Hurricanes are going to go into playoff mode here and it might not be as light as we think No but I'm just saying look at everything he plays a lot bigger than his size as well but just in terms of like if that Stan Cove and Blake and Hallline are out against cousins Brady and Ridley they're going to have them on their heels and if you look at it the Ottawa Senators this season they were as physical of a team as you can find in the national hockey league the Ottawa Senators ranked among the best teams third most hits as a team this is about 300 hits so I'm not saying that Caroline is

23:25going to wither under the pressure they've obviously been here done that time and time again but Ottawa does have the more physical team when you look top to bottom here and the way Ottawa plays they rely on that physicality to get into the forecheck and create loose pucks create offensive zone time and I saw some Hurricanes fans were also noting that they don't really have that pressure as well so I don't really take that at face value. Let's look line by line here quickly the Ajo Spetschnikov Jarvis line Pilsy they're very good at creating offensive zone pressure Yeah definitely and just quick update here uh the Stan Covein didn't practice because he's sick so it's not like some sort of injury keeping him out he's just gotten the illness that kept him out and it's tough like honestly it Ross uh that's the line you got to put Pinto up against when you have home

24:25ice advantage for sure. Oh yeah you think so okay because I was like without a doubt without a doubt that Stan Covein line can fly too but I mean I'm not taking anything away from the other lines Ross but those are their three best play Spetschnikov Ajo Jarvis and they're all on the same line at the edge Pinto up against Pinto Yeah I like that that's a very fair comment there and we'll see how the Atoa Senators can match on the road too because they're not going to have that last change the Stan Covein hall and Blake line their best analytical line other than the fourth line but they're playing easier minutes. That's that line though Stan Covein Blake and Taylor Hall in 552 minutes they have a 58.2 expected goals for per game or per 60 minutes and then their actual goals for percentage is 57.6 the best line of all four that they have here and it's the second best line in the

25:25series in goals for percentage not expected actual goals behind the cousins Kachak and Greg unit so all through their line they're very very good even their checking line is a 56% expected goals percentage but they're actually very good. We'll see how it all shakes out but that's the Carolina Hurricanes and on the back end they're dangerous as well the Slaven and Chatfield pair I'd imagine that's going to be their shutdown pair going up against other teams top lines not a whole lot of offense with that pair especially Slaven he's known as the best defensive defenseman in the national hockey league so you got to be aware long stick gets in lanes and just frustrates the hell out of you so they'll have to be aware of that Miller and Walker played among the most minutes together of any deep air in the national hockey league they played 907 minutes seven more minutes than auto

26:25was top air so 12 most in the league I should get that stat right then and they're very good together except when Tim Stewart Slaff puts on the jets and splits them and then goes on the line matching Ross um I would match Timmy's line up against Stan Cove and Blake and Hall because I think you're getting some speed matching up there and then Hall's Rube similar type players right veteran guys that are still able to produce so I like that and then you get a little bit of a size advantage uh obviously with uh Drake Bathes and then Timmy looking at Stan Cove and Blake what how big is Blake he's not that big of an edge there and then I think you get that uh cousins really Greg and Brady line up against Eeler's stall and Martin I think those lines match up really well up against each other too so that's and then you just match the fourth line so I think that's how I would do it personally

27:26but again that's when the sends that home ice yeah we're going to see a battle on the benches a battle on the ice and a battle off the first round series between the senators and the Carolina Hurricanes let's rank the best defenseman in the series next you're listening to locked on senators your team every day today's episode is brought to fire friends over at rocket money if you've ever opened your bank account and thought where did all my money go you're not alone keeping track of subscriptions spending and bills can help you take control of your finances all in one place it tracks your subscriptions in one spot and can help you cancel the ones you don't need with just a few taps it automatically categorizes your spending so you can actually see where your money is going you can set budgets get alerts and stay on top of upcoming bills it just makes everything feel more organized and gives you a clearer picture of your finances day

28:26today rocket money is a personal finance app that helps unwanted subscriptions monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings let rocket money help you reach your financial goals faster join at rocket money.com slash lockup that's rocket money.com slash lockup this year experience the NHL playoffs your way want to watch a single do or die game seven a full week of a heavy hitting back and forth series then check out three and seven day passes watch the chase for the cup on ESPN and TNT starting his lowest 499 no long-term contracts or overpaying just live hockey at home or when you want it sling let you do that visit sling.com to learn more all right billsy still firing

29:26on all cylinders here as we get into the Stanley Cup playoffs if you want to follow along on social media at send central on twitter locked on underscore senators on instagram and we will be here all day every day we got a bonus episode for you on Saturday morning so right before game one of round one across over with locked on hurricanes hoes sack martin tomorrow we'll do our full weekend game preview to talk forward in this series we did goalies yesterday and now it's time for the defense I already posted this on twitter because I wanted to see if we could catch any fish on the hook and we did I was curious because there are some hurricanes fans that are agreeing with this but I don't really consider it to be a hot take that Jake Sanderson is the best defenseman in this series. yeah I think that's totally fair and I don't know why they're struggling with this the tweet

30:26says unbiased and they're saying oh Homer sends fans says right there guys unbiased so maybe the the capital city thing and understanding unbiased they're still working on that but left all the books in South Carolina yeah got ahead to Columbia to get the books two geologists like us can tell you that but I think the difference is it provides that offensive element to his game where Jake Slaven just especially this here just doesn't have that in his bag now I am not taking anything away from Jacob Slaven defensively he deserves all the credit for being a shutdown defensive defenseman that he can get I'm fully willing to give credit there but Jake Sanderson is very good defensively as well and then combine that with Jacob Slaven I think Jake Sanderson has to be this series talk defenseman and I already called

31:26Jacob Slaven the best defensive defenseman in the league there's nothing to be taken away from that but the gap between them defensively is so much smaller than the gap offensively let's put it to task Jake Sanderson has six points in his last four games Jacob Slaven has eight points in 39 games all season these players are not the same Jake Sanderson is a superstar and the one and it's a fair comment for people who don't walk Jake Sanderson in Ottawa and saw them at the Olympics they said well Sanderson's better why was he playing on the third pair instead of Slaven and I would say a team is built on roles am I saying that he's a better offensive defenseman than Quinn Hughes? No. Am I saying that he's a better offensive defenseman who is their second guy

32:26Zach Ransky? No. Those are the guys that are going to have the role to be the offensive defenseman in an Olympic setting where Jake Sanderson excels is when he has that responsibility in Ottawa and he has that responsibility of that while also being as good as he was in a shutdown role at the Olympics on a 30 minute a night basis. That's such a flawed argument because let's use that same argument for the Carolina Hurricanes lines. So is Chatfield a better offensive defenseman than Shane Gossis Bears since he's higher on the D pairs? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a hell of a player, by the way. He's a problem. And I think that Hurricanes fans have the same or a similar

33:26stat as we have with Shane Pinto when he gets a point. Apparently the record when Jarvis scores is outrageous. But I like the Pinto stat better because it takes into it when any player gets a point for the Hurricanes they win because they win all the time. Yeah. Probably a sick record no matter what player that is. Yeah. Yeah. So Jake Sanderson the number one defenseman in this series. If you're Hurricanes fan and you have a proper argument, please put it in the comments. We're all ears. I want this to be an unbiased list. And that's why at number three, we have Hurricanes defenseman. Shane Gossis Bear. And one and two. Jake Sanderson, Jacob Slaven. Three Shane Gossis Bear. And we debated this roster. Because again, there's one side of Gossis Bear's game that's so much better than Shabbat. And then there's one side of Shabbat's game. That's better than Gossis Bear's game.

34:27That's the defensevers offense discussion here. But I mean, oh my god, you got to give credit to Gossis Bear. 50 points and 55 games. Nearly a point per game defenseman. So that certainly is impressive for sure. So I think it's fair that he's number three. Because the Carolina Hurricanes, you look at the rest of their decor and they focus a lot on being really good defensively. Before you get crazy with me, Kane's fans, I'm not saying there's no offense on the rest of your decor. It's just that's the main focus. So Gossis Bear being a guy that could really bring it offensively is a big part of their roster. And I mean, he does effectively. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. And a lot of people point and without looking, hey, are all those points on the power play? Is that how it's happening? No, he does it. All kinds of ways. He only played 50 some games this year and at 50 points, only 18 of them were on the power play. So you have to watch for him at five on five. And Kane's fans telling us these improved defensively. Still an area.

35:28I feel like the sense can take advantage of in this series. It was just too much of a hill to overcome the offensive gap between the two right now with Gossis Bear there. I do think Shabbat is a slightly better defensive defenseman than Gossis Bear, but the offense was the tiebreaker and you have to tip your hat to what he Gossis Bear has done. Especially if you look at Gossis Bear's career where he started out so hot and Philly got a huge contract and ended up having to be given with picks to get rid of. It's crazy. And then all of a sudden he just bounced back. He was in Detroit where he put up almost a point for a game. And then next thing you know, he's in a system that just craves puck possession and offensive opportunity. And no surprise that he's thrived there. So Gossis Bear III, Thomas Shabbat at number four. And this is where like the biggest gap for me on this is one and two. And Hurricane's fans can get as mad as they want about this. But that is how I feel. And then from three to nine, three to nine is pretty tight.

36:29Like Sean Walker is a good defenseman. Good top four defenseman. And we have him at number nine on this list. But if we're going in order, next is Adam Zub. What would you tell Hurricane's fans that have no clue who Adam Zub is? He plays such a strong physical shutdown game. We already talked about Jake Sanderson. That's the pair. That's all it was number one. Whenever these two guys are healthy, they are anchored together. Travis Turing doesn't mess with that pair whatsoever. And like Jake Sanderson is really good defensively. But he's good offensively as well. And then to have a guy like Zub, just an absolute responsible shutdown guy. Jake Sanderson can take risks. And he can pinch. And he can carry the puck from coast to coast and know that he's got a guy behind him. That's going to be there. If he gets caught out of position. Then even if Jake Sanderson does get caught out of position, it only takes some two or three strides to get back to where he needs to be. I think for me, it was close. Zub and Miller.

37:29I would say that's a very tight gap. But I just think the way Zub is able to really shut things down. It gives him the slight edge there. Yeah, we just kind of alternated back and forth here. When it was Zub, then Kyandre Miller, then Jordan Spence, then Alex Nikitian. If I'm zooming in, I know we said three to nine, but really five through eight. You could do any order there. And I would hear you. So there's a world where Jordan Spence is as valuable going into this series as Adam Zub. Initially on my list, I had spent ahead of Zub, not going to lie. Just because Zub on his own without Sanderson is was not nearly as effective, whereas Spence and we've gone over this roster. It doesn't matter where you put him, what minutes you put on him, what role, what opponents he's up against. He is just so effective in all three zones. So I'm really high on Jordan Spence. I think probably Keynes fans will have a big issue with Nikitian being eighth on this list. And that's fair, like he is a very good defenseman.

38:31So I mean, look, if honestly five to eight, you could probably put in multiple different orders. And I wouldn't get too crazy about that. Okay, so you're then looking at Alexander Nikitian, who's down on the third pair with Carolina, but we know that the Hurricanes roll three pairs pretty well through the entire game. Slavins at 22 minutes and Nikitian and all those guys are like 1830. Like they are very quick to turn over their pairs. They're not going to shorten the bench very unlikely to see. But Nikitian has an unbelievable shot from the point. He scored 11 goals. This is his rookie season in the NHL. He did play in five playoff games last year. And did not fare well in those games. He had just come over from Russia. He's a trouble to get him in the lineup. And now he settled in after playing a full season and despite being a rookie, it's those classic Russians that take a few years. He was at one point considered the best defenseman outside of the NHL. He was a very, very, very good player in Russia. So he could be an X factor in this series.

39:31He's a big boy doesn't fight, but he did get one earlier this season. And I remember I forget who he fought. But after the game, the guy was like, yeah, he told me he doesn't fight. And then we looked it up. And a bunch of fights in Russia is beating the wheels off of guys. He's an enormous human being. You have to be aware when he's on the ice. And Sean Walker is a very, let's say competent defenseman at both ends of the ice. Formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers gets traded there and found a home next to Kyadrey Miller, who they acquired last off season from the New York Rangers. Jalen Chatfield rounds out our top 10. I think it would have been a pick your poison between him and Tyler Clevin. But with Clevin being unavailable right now. We're obviously going to omit him from this list. So the two defensemen out of the top six for each team that have not made this list are Nicholas Matt and Palo and Lassie Thompson. Pillsie, I think this was pretty unbiased. Well, like we, it says right on the Tweet Ross unbiased. So it's unbiased.

40:31Okay. And there it is. Let's look at that. All right, Pillsie, final thoughts on today's show. Final thoughts for me, Ross, is if you're watching us on YouTube, if you were with us in the postcast last night, you might be saying, guys, you said you were going to start your playoff beards. You're going to be clean shaven for tomorrow morning. Some might say we forgot. But the real reason is we decided that we're going to be clean shaven playoff beard starts when we do our game one game day preview for the playoffs. So expect to see us all baby face playoff beard set at zero tomorrow morning. Yes. And we're going to the shave is happening right after we record today. But we are so fired up to hopefully get the schedule. We ended up waiting on that. We're fired up to get into the Carolina Hurricanes lines. And we just had to get a new episode of locked on senators out. So the playoff beard. Definitely didn't forget.

41:31They're beginning tomorrow. I might have to hit a peloton here. I'm going to have 25 chin staring you guys in the face on tomorrow's show. I know the beard does a lot of work for both of us covering things up. But it's a little glaring when my algorithm also caught me in a bad spot last night. It was one of those compilation videos of men who hadn't shaved in a long time shaving and then surprising their girlfriend with it. Yep. And I'm going to hear about it when the wife gets home tonight. Do you think Lily's going to be like freaked out about you? I love the baby ones are very funny. Interesting. Because yeah, she was like four months old last spring. So don't think she was all there yet. But she's definitely now. I'm curious. We'll see. I'll get an update for you on the show. And it. Well, she'll see me before my wife's back. So I won't be able to get any video content to that. But hey, Lily's two for two making the playoffs. As an auto as senators. Yeah. She's the ultimate slump us to November 25th, 2024.

42:34Look at the sends record before that. And after that. And if you want to laugh, go check out the postcast we did. Like minutes before I went to the hospital was the Vancouver postcast. And oh boy. That was rock bottom. Almost as rock bottom is the January 24th postcast we did. After Ottawa lost four one at home to the hurricanes and you press the panic button. And the fact they're playing the team. Yeah. Oh my god. That you press the panic button after the game. How can you not be romantic about hockey? My final thoughts on today's show is a prospect update from Luca Beckman. This guy is unbelievable. Beckman is now posted back to back shutouts in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs. He had a 20 save shutout and a five nothing win over the Quebec Rampar last night in his last 10 games. So all of his playoff games and the last two regular season games. Luca Beckman has allowed seven goals.

43:35He has three shutouts and he has a nine sixty four save percentage. Insane. And if we're just talking playoffs eight games nine sixty two save percentage and zero point seven five goals against average. Like that is just insane Ross. We I've been clamoring for to get French Canadian goal tending back on the map in our generation Ross. That was the factory for elite goalies. Luca Beckman might just be bringing it back here because he is lights out right now. Oh man, I mean, what a what a storyline to watch for because we haven't had a senator's goalie play on team candidate the world juniors since Jeff glass in 2005. The greatest hockey team ever assembled at that tournament and Jeff glass senators prospect was between the pipes. But Luca Beckman is making a strong case because he was even good on the worst team in the league yet a nine oh five save percentage gets traded to the best team.

44:37And now his record is twenty one one and oh since then not bad is six six shutouts in twenty one games with the the sags in Shakur to me. So there you have it. A little prospect update at the end of a preview episode will have our. I was going to say final round up before the game one, but it's not because we got an episode for you tomorrow. We'll go through our classic preview locked on players lineup breakdowns and everything and we'll rank top forwards and then Saturday crossover with locked on hurricanes. Pock drops at three o'clock on Saturday. Stay tuned to our socials at Central and Twitter locked on dot senators when we know the full schedule for games one through four would actually be one through seven that they would have the schedule for we will make sure to get that to you as soon as possible. Otherwise we'll chat tomorrow on to on the episode of locked on senators for today we say goodbye. Thanks so much for liking watching listening and engaging with the show make sure to click the thumbs up on YouTube really helps the show share with your friends.

45:38Maybe got a colleague a family member a friend who is not the biggest hockey fan but wants to get into the playoffs. Please point them in our direction and subscribe everywhere you listen to podcasts. This has been another edition of the locked on senators podcast your team every day. One day dress up time will be a cherished memory but today today you won't just dress up like a Disney princess you'll meet real ones too. Now's the time visit Disney World dot com slash preschool to learn more. When you invest with fidelity go it does all the work for you so while fidelity go monitors the markets rebalances your portfolio and tracks your progress to keep your investments aligned with your goal. You can invest your time however you want all while paying no advisory fees under 25k invest your money not your time with fidelity go get started at fidelity dot com slash go.

46:41Advisory services offered by strategic advisors LLC a registered investment advisor brokerage services provided by fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSC and SIPC. How do you cash back with chase freedom unlimited tickets confirmed parking reserved seats sat hot dogs secured hat trick scored. Cash back on goals earning 1.5% cash back is just the beginning with chase freedom unlimited chase make more of what's yours. Restrictions and limitations apply cards are issued by JP Morgan chase fake NA member FDIC.