Hour 3: Habs Breakfast & Arpon Basu With Habs In California

0:00Big Michael Eldon, fried good luck for Ethan Frank, and that's denied by Ack of Dolby's. Dying seconds of the penalty kill, Habs fire it down the ice, and the capitals are all for one. Ryan Leonard shielding the puck for Noah Dobson. The toe drag move passes over, and a big patch they've made by Dolby's. Off a great play there by Ryan Leonard to set up Jacob Jikren. It's dragged out to center, here goes Connor McMichael. Moving in, McMichael with a try, and that stopped by Dolby's. Who makes the save off the breakaway and hangs on with the glove. Washington will win the season series. Montreal take a bite. One of their playoffs rival from a season to go tonight. On the Saturday at the Bell Center, it is a 6-2 win for Montreal over Washington. All right Sean, I think that was the statement there on Saturday night by Ack of Dolby's. We saw Sam Montenbo get the net, and I both of us expected him to get the net coming out of the break,

1:00because I think the Canadians are still kind of hoping that he's going to get this thing on track. And look, he wasn't bad on Thursday, but he did not do what Ack of Dolby's does. And that is win the game. This guy is 902 in his last 11 starts. He has not lost a game in regulation since before Christmas, frankly, well before Christmas. And I don't see how you can argue anymore with what happens when Ack of Dolby's is in the net for the Canadians. They are an elite team. They score goals in bunches. He makes the saves he needs to save. And the Canadians get two points. At the worst case scenario, they get one. And so what are you going to say at this point? I think why I say that was kind of it on Saturday night was I just can't make the case that Sam Montenbo needs to get the net back tomorrow night. I can't do it.

2:00Maybe you can if you want to try. I'm willing to hear it. If you want me to try, I can try to do it. But it's going to have to be some somewhat circular upside down logic. Because at this point, the race being as tight as it is, the stakes being what they are. I don't think the Canadians can afford a project in goal other than when they need to use them. And that is in a back-to-back situation. It's seven wins in a row in a whole mice for this guy. Well, they're going on the road. They are going on the road. And I don't think you know what? I'm not one to go to bat for Sam Montenbo that hard, right? I don't think it's, I don't think we should be setting ourselves up to make it that complicated. Because as the noted non-Sam Montenbo lover, I can still admit, because I always try to call it down the middle with the least bias possible, is they still need him.

3:00I don't see Jacob Dolbech going on a crazy run. Obviously, they play a lot of games in a tight little window. We talked about the six back-to-backs. One of those back-to-backs starts Friday and Saturday in Anaheim and Los Angeles, right? So obviously, that's going to be split up. But how many times in the 59 games have we had this conversation about we've got to get Montenbo on track? Or you can't ride one guy too heavily. And when they tried to do that, the consistency hasn't been there. So I think if we go by it, at least I'll go by it week by week. And so with the three games this week in my mind, it's a no-brainer. I don't think it's debatable. Jacob Dolbech plays tomorrow night at 10 o'clock in San Jose. Yeah. And by the same token, though, I guess here's the case for Montenbo. If we go back to his previous start, not the one on Thursday. The Winnipeg Games, but the Winnipeg Games and how he looked. Yes. That's what you want your goal tender to look like in the playoffs.

4:02And that is cool, composed and collected. And that's not necessarily what Dolbech brings to the table, although it looked more like it on Saturday night for my money. Then it often has in the past where he's kind of swimming out there and his unconventional style is getting the job done. But it's still making you a little bit concerned. Is that, you know, Montenbo's best, I guess, is the kind of goal-tending you want to be getting in the playoffs. Whereas Dolbech's best looks a little bit more half-hazard. Mm-hmm. And all over the place. Agreed. But I mean, you saw also, I will say this, one of the major differences that I saw in Jakob Dolbech's game on Saturday night. Did he not remind you of Jordan Bennington at the Olympics? This guy loves coming out of the net. Holy cow, did he love playing the puck? I thought he was outstanding playing the puck. It's something that we talked about when Kerry Price went as his heyday, Montreal, how much he helped avoiding the forecheck or helping his defensive tandem out there by being responsible.

5:02I thought he was calm when he had the puck looking for the proper outlet, not making a mistake in that sense, right? But like, I guess to go back on your point about Montenbo and how he played, the Canadians and to his credit, he made some timely stops. But they started to run away with that game. I think it was at a 5-1 final, something like that, right? Yeah. But then on Thursday, as the game got tighter, puck started to go through him. And that, it's concerning. It's concerning that he seems to be, and I'm no goalie expert. I know you don't pretend to be one either, right? But like, when he gets into his position, there are these little holes that the shooters often find. And it goes through him and it's in the back of the net. And next thing you know, a lead turns into an overtime loss. And yeah, Dolbech got the run support, but there were times when Washington outshot the Canadians on Saturday night, breakaway stops, traffic in front of him, making the stop, you know? As unorthodox as he can be, he seems to find a way.

6:04And... Oh, hello? I don't know. I don't even know what that was. It sounds like an email. Well, I don't have my email open. So, look, unless... Oh, it's a Windows update. So... Yeah, anyways. There's something about the psychology, too, of what's going on with the team. Yeah. And I wish I had more stats in front of me that I could use to back this up, other than to say that I think that the margins at this level, you know, Canadians are one of the top teams in the league. Yeah. But when you feel a little bit more confident that the guy, the last line of defense is ultimately going to make the save, you need him to make, it allows you to play the game in a way that makes the Canadians look like the team that they look like on Saturday night. Yeah. A team that's not scared to go and put that game away rather than to try to hang on for dear life. And it almost becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy. But the Canadians being this high-scoring team and they're definitely a higher-scoring team

7:04with Dobesh and Gold and they are with Montenbo and Gold. I don't have the numbers to back it up. And if you do and you want to tell me that I'm wrong about this, then by all means, please do so. But based on stuff that I've read over the last couple of months and the games that I've watched, they score more goals when the Ackab Dobesh is in there. And I can't help but think that it's the result of this kind of psychological thing of he's got us. Let's go. Let's go get the game. Let's go put these teams away. And if an Audban Rush comes back the other way, we're not sure he's going to make the save, but at least we don't think he's going to give up a goal in that situation. And when you're not worried about that, I think it allows you to be one of the best offensive teams of the National Hockey League in a way that you just can't, when you are, you have that nagging concern in the back of your mind about what's going on at the goal. Yeah, sure. But can you play that way and win games in the playoffs? That is the million dollar question, I think, for this team. The other thing is that when it comes to goal-tending,

8:04I've always found this to be weird. That more and more, the conventional wisdom is the goalie starts two out of every three games max. The best goalies play two out of every three games, play about 55-60 games a year, and the other guy plays 22 to 27 games. Yeah. But in other, in some situations, the splits are more even than that. And then once the playoffs come around, all of a sudden one guy plays all the games. The newest tracks. Let's go. Use it. And the next big thing. Always on the new music fast. Your first place to hero. You don't like it. Love it. Won't you play it? Play it now. High-heart new music. Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh vines, and tomorrow's bangers. I think we need something new. Discover high-heart new music. Always fresh. Always first. Stream now. On the free. I heard Radio App. I think I wouldn't be surprised if both these guys

9:05end up starting playoff games for the Canadians this year. But I don't see how all of this to say, with a game tomorrow night, no game until Friday. Yeah. And then another one on Saturday. Yeah. That San Montaumbo plays Friday night. And then Jacob Dobas is back in the net. The Dobas starts against San Jose. And he's back in the net on Saturday night. And he plays two of the three games on this trip. Because otherwise, I think you are trying to ram a square peg into a round hole. There are better hockey team in front of Dobas. And that is clearly evidenced over the course of the last three months. Three months basically of action. Indeed. I don't. I don't think you can argue that. And the points are so important right now. Everything that you said, all the context that's been provided, the experience, the season, what you've seen in the past. Honest Monday reaction. The Canadians open up the best of seven series against whatever team from the Eastern Conference on tomorrow night. Game one.

10:06There's no doubt, right? No doubt. Yeah. Who you're starting to start that series with everything you know this year. I got a controversial statement for you. If Fowler gets healthy and plays the way he's been playing for Laval. Yes. I like him more than I like San Montaumbo equal for the Canadians. So and and don't but it's the it's Dobas. It's Dobas. Yes. Okay, I agree. Then it's Fowler. Then it's Montaumbo. And I hope that look. I hope he plays great on Friday night. And he makes a case for himself to get the net back. But for now, when the Canadians play three games in one week, Dobas needs to play two of those games. That's that's how it needs to be because the guy doesn't lose. I mean, you're talking arguably, right? I mean, you know, top three you're hoping for a little home ice advantage, maybe in in round one of the NHL playoffs. Yeah. And you know, Tuesday will be game 60 of their regular season. And you know, we're at that point of listen, you've done, you know, getting into the playoffs seems, I mean, it's not a certainty by any stretch. Pretty surprising if they missed it.

11:07The percentages are heavily skewed in your favor to qualify for the playoffs that I feel like the carrot at the end of the stick. There's a reward for you for, you know, going the entire way, getting a top three spot in this division. When it's said and done, it's going to be difficult. Detroit's not going away. Boston doesn't seem to be going anyway away. And these two teams are heavily rumored to be adding talent to keep this momentum in their favor before Friday's deadline. That I don't know, like the trust factor, the risk factor versus the potential reward. Again, I think where we are in this Canadian's timeline, it's enough with the, you know, experimenting and trying. It's right now you play the better goal tenor end of the day period. Goes up top to the line for Roy over to Chikren shot block. Here goes Coffield. Brickway right off the bat. Coffield moving in scores. Mr. Saturday night not wasting any time.

12:0930 seconds in. It's one nothing Montreal. Coffield 35 goals now in the season after another two goal outing on Saturday night. We've talked already about the records and what he's doing here. He's on pace for 49 goals this season. So Sean, I'm asking you today to give me a number. 23 games to go. How many goals is Coffield going to score this season? I say he's going to get like 46. 46 only 11 more goals. Yeah. In the last 23 games in the season. Not bad. Every every second game. You know, every second game. But yeah, I'm going to, I'll go conservative. I'm not going to give you the, he's going to go mental here. And he's dropping 50 every Saturday night. He's dropping 50. You know, have I predicted this before? Yes, you have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will I keep doing it? Yes, because eventually I will be right. And this feels like the right time. If he's on pace for 49. Yeah. He is playing with the kind of confidence that he's playing. He's hit the ground running.

13:09It's crazy. Yeah. He looks, I mean, you saw him out there on Saturday night. He's so dangerous. He could have had four goals. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I think he's going to go to California. He got a couple more and he's going to score 50 goals. Definitely. Be the first, I don't even, I'm so ready for this. I'm ready for it. I'm ready for it. I do not remember Matt's Nazlin scoring 50 goals. I don't, I don't, I don't. 100 points. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. I don't remember. I do remember Steph Henry. Yeah. Do I remember him scoring his 50th goal? No, I don't. I was seven years old. Yeah. I didn't have cable. And I was not that big, I guess, of a hockey fan at the time. Yeah. So I actually literally don't remember. I don't remember seeing it. I definitely wasn't watching when it happened. It's going to happen. It's probably going to take 82 games to do it. They're going to do their damnedest in that last game to get him that 50th goal. But it's going to happen this year. Hmm. I will. I'll say this. Forty six. I will say this. I think it's more likely Nick Suzuki gets to 100 points than coffee will gets to 50 goals.

14:10Why does it have to be an either or situation? Just because I, I decided to say that. Why can't I have both? I mean, the two guys play together. They're very free. I know. Yeah. Assist on each other's goal. Yeah. What a goal. What a game from Nick Suzuki, by the way, on Saturday night. Yeah. Looking forward to chatting with Arpen Basu in about 10 minutes. 12th in the NHL scoring. You know, it's like you have to go to circle back to, you know, since we've been doing this show and the Canadian season after season after season after season after season. You know, second goal score in the NHL. Top 12 in points in your first, Connor, a first line center. They actually have a first line center. Not a project. Not a, not a wish in a prayer. But they actually legitimately have a guy who's on pace for 95 points this year. It's a beautiful thing. I will be back in a few moments. I don't know why you'd say the guy who's on pace for 95 points. First is the guy who's on pace for 49 goals. And you're saying it's more likely that the 95 point guy gets to 100 points. Yeah.

15:1049 point pace gets 50 correct. Kirby docks in the Gulf Fire. Oh, my God. What a goal on Saturday. Where'd that shot come from? I don't know, but I want more. We'll be back in a few moments. And when we returned, Michael Jordan, I think we would agree in this room. The goat of basketball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he also the goat of NASCAR owners? More on that coming up in a few moments here on the morning show. Supply. GSN 690 traffic. Very light volume this morning. We do have an incident on the Champlain Bridge head in toward the South Shore at Nuns Island. So just a minor slowdown there. 20 Westbound assault truck at Norman. Slowing things throughville, St. Pierre. But Eastbound side of the 20 moves well. Northbound to carry from Queen Mary, busy up to the metropolitan. Met Westbound slows through St. Michel. And then lockety to to carry. Feeling the winter blues? Sunwings by Natural Advisor? Would say trade snow banks for sand banks. Stay at one resort. Play at more. Book with your travel agent or sunwing.ca. I'm Debbie Marcellos from the CJA D800 traffic.

16:10Steve on to meet up earlier today pointing out that he has only two goals in his last 21 games. That's a quarter of a season. That's a seven goal, seven goal pace car. Or maybe eight. Come on. Hey. It's like you're just giving goals to everybody. I'm rounding up. I'm rounding up. Anyway. How about this Michael Jordan 23 next one racing team? These guys can't lose. Well, they said this could not be done. Winning the first three races on a NASCAR season. No one has ever done it. Not since 1949. It happens today. Three feet for Tyler Reddick. He is driving a Toyota co-owned by Michael Jordan. Yeah. I wonder how the good old boys feel about Toyota dominating the way they do in NASCAR. Michael Jordan's a co-owner of the team. Tyler Reddick is latest when drives him into the NASCAR record books. He held off Shane Van Geesberg in over the last 20 laps at the circuit of the America's

17:13unsundated to become the first cop series driver to win the first three races of the season. Dale Earnhardt never did it. Jeff Gordon never did it. Who's that guy who ran that guy over? Tony Stewart never did it. Who's that guy that ran him over? It's true. Look it up. Yeah. I don't know how you pronounce this. The 23 X1 team. 23 11. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's a little bit confusing. You've got Roman numerals. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But fine. Michael Jordan's there. High five in Reddick after he crosses the finish line. Crazy. Crazy. That team is plus 1000 to win every race this season. They got odds for one car to win every race. I would be pretty surprised if that happens. But Jordan gives a lot of the credit to Danny Hamlin, his co-owner, who is also a driver for Joe Gibbs racing that he's the mastermind behind the racing success. Boy, that's a bit of a strange dynamic.

18:13It's like CF inspired by the CFL. You know, one guy owns two teams. Right. Or used to. I mean, yeah, it's weird to be driving for a team while owning another team, but that's the story there. And, you know, they took on NASCAR in a federal antitrust lawsuit. The settlement was reached in December and was considered a major legal victory for them. That's security permanent franchise style model and ensured the team would remain in business in the long term. Well, in the short term, they're doing nothing but winning and doing something that nobody has ever done in the history of the sport. Next race is in Phoenix. And we'll see if Reddick can win again and extend this winning streak. He's got a 70 point lead in the driver's championship already. But it's a long season. 11th career victory. His second at the circuit of the Americas. That's the track built for Formula One. So it's a road track. And that's the other thing. I mean, it's one thing to dominate on the ovals. It's another one to do it on road courses.

19:15Usually guys are kind of specialized in one or the other. This guy's showing that he can win in both situations. They've got a real good car there and obviously got a real good driver. Coming up next here on the morning show. Arpin Bassou joins us. So we'll check in with Arpin for the first time since he returned from Milan. How big was that win over the caps under the circumstances? And how much is Nick Suzuki benefited from that Olympic experience? We'll check in with Arpin on both those topics when the morning show continues next on TSN 690. And the Canadians come back the other way. Suzuki right side. Into the wife gets on dock scores. Nick Suzuki teased it up for Kirby Doc. And it's a one-timer past Charlie Ligrin to make it four ones. I've been dissecting the tape over the last couple of days here, Sean. I don't think Kirby Doc has had a better shot. As a member of the Canadians, he scored some nice goals. But boy, oh boy, did he wire that one?

20:16Butte and the Canadians got a huge win over the Washington capitals on Saturday night. Let's bring in Arpin Bassou. He was there. He wrote about it. Good morning, Arpin. Morning, guys. How big is that win over the capitals under the circumstances? Those circumstances being the team that knocked him out of the playoffs last year. Team that came back from behind and beat them in a game this year. Team them blew him out earlier this year. Team that's kind of owned them for a couple of years. How big of a win was that? Well, I think the biggest part of it is the fact that the Canadians created some pretty major separation. Like I really think the Canadians cemented their playoffs spot in that win. To some extent, now it takes a pretty phenomenal base plan to not make it. So I think that was the biggest part of it. You don't want to, no one's going to come out and say that. But, you know, it could have been my brains working properly. But I mean, basically, I think they opened up the six-point cap with Washington.

21:16That could have been a two-point cap. And they're the top non-playout teams. So I mean, not really the most significant part of that win is that, you know, the chains were basically going back to the playoffs, which sounds like a given, but shouldn't be. You're entering the season. No one could say with any degree of certainty that the Canadians were going to go back to the playoffs. And now they look to be going back to the playoffs relatively comfortably. So, yeah, big win for all the reasons you stated. But I just think we should not forget that this team going to the playoffs was never guaranteed. And the Keynes have made it so that it's just looked more and more likely. And we're at a very late stage of the season. The trade deadlines are Friday. And they look like a solid, solid, playoffs team that might even have all nights in the first string. And Sean just mentioned to me off the earth, three games in hand. The Canadians own over the capitals.

22:16In addition to that six-point cushion, which is nice. Nick Suzuki was terrific on Saturday night. And you wrote about that Olympic experience, what he gathered. A huge people to go check that out. A terrific read. We were talking about this. I got a lift to Amsterdam. I looked that up. That's a 12-hour drive, Arpen. Was it a lift in a car? No, I think he meant a lift on a plane. Okay. Are you joking? I'm sorry. I think you flew to Amsterdam. I think that's just how they talk. It's like it's, yeah. Okay. All right. But I also had to check. Because I also didn't understand if he got like a private jet to Amsterdam. And so I said, oh, he flew commercially. Yeah, commercial. So that's confirmed. No driving to Amsterdam from Milan. No private jet to Milan. Or to Amsterdam. He flew commercial from Milan to Amsterdam.

23:17That sounds Montreal. So pretty, I think pretty savvy move. I think people might two people like, oh, look, he's living like the rest of us. But when you have a charter flight ready to go, it's not everyone that would be like, yeah, I'm just going to take commercial flight and get home as soon as I can. It's a decision. And it's not one. I think it's one that was made in order to. Yeah, just basically get back to work as soon as he cut. And so, you know, he talked about how well he's managed to sleep since he came back to Italy. And there's all sorts of factors that kind of, I think, led itself to the fight. I mean, he played like 24 minutes gets down. He was pretty great to get down. There's two. He had a couple of brain parts in that game. But otherwise was very, very effective and played a ton of minutes right off to that. Then Saturday was kind of a master class for him. He's a special player, man.

24:17And I'm curious, you know, with your chance to, you know, talk and catch up with the Canadians captain. Can you shed any light on, I mean, he doesn't, he seems to be very even keel, no matter the circumstance. What can you say about, you know, how he absorbed the disappointment of losing an overtime on that Sunday to the Americans with gold on the line? Yeah, I actually didn't get a chance to talk to him after the game. It was just a lot going on. But it, I would say that his reaction to that whole experience, you know, Nick or guy, like, can't get rid of us. There were like three or four Montreal reporters there. So he basically talked, he was probably the one of the guys on Team Canada that talked the most off it. And along with Conor McDavid and Sidney Claus be like, all the stars of the team. And then you have Nick Suzuki, who has to come out and talk to the Montreal media. But we got a pretty, as a result, we got a pretty decent gauge of like how he was sort of taking it all in.

25:23And it was, I would say, probably someone unusual for him, you know, early in the tournament. He was, he was taken some heat and he didn't necessarily deserve it really. But he, you know, he was, he was one of several guys on that team that was having trouble finding some chemistry with Nathan McKinnon. It just wasn't working out. Then as soon as he got spotted back to the center and started playing with Mark Stone and Mitch Warner, like, he really kind of settled in. And you know, those two guys kind of played the game in a similar way. So I would say that even kill this part, like at first, you could tell how cool he thought it was. But as soon as, like, it's before the game started and he was kind of basking in the whole experience of being on the senior Canadian men's team. But once the game started sort of the competitor and him started to come out and, and he started really behaving very similarly to,

26:25to how he does after games in Montreal. Like there was no, like, this is so cool part of it at all. And so the guy is, when it's, when it's business time, the guy's all business. And he really, he's pretty demeer and, and, and mild mannered. But, you know, he's, he's really an intense competitor and really takes his job very, very seriously. That's my impression at least. And the way he kind of talks and carries himself and, and that even kill nature is very similar to a lot of the leaders on that team Canada squad. Like you look at Sidney Crosby, Nick looks up to him tremendously. Like everyone does on that team and, and in the whole country probably. You look economic David, you know, these are similarly mild mannered, stoic, even killed guys. I think Nick tries, doesn't even try to emulate them. I think he's just naturally like that. And it works in that room because he has the attention of everyone in that Canadian's room.

27:47And then there's this guy, his running mate. My life's pretty much everyday Saturday. I think it's obviously, you know, the energy and the building on a Saturday, you know, wherever you play it's a little bit higher probably. But I think you get excited for every game. But obviously, I think the Bell Center is, you're here for yourself too. We were talking about it. He's on a 49 goal pace now. You said, I mean, it's a great answer from Goldcoffield to the question about a success on Saturday night. I, you know, I think you guys can score 50. I say he's going to do it this year. Now to be fair, I also said he was going to do it last year. So it's important context on my track record with predictions. Sean here says he's going to score 46 goals this season. What do you think, Carpin? I mean, I'm not, you don't have to get into the weeds and make a stupid prediction.

28:48I mean, predictions are dumb anyway, but has he, he's clearly found another level. Has he not? Well, you look at, I mean, it's 15 goals since January 2nd. I believe that's 17 games or 18 games like January 2nd being the date that the US Olympic team was named. So it's not an arbitrary date I'm picking. And actually, if you pick a date a little further along, the numbers get a little even a little bit more impressive. But that's, that's a prolonged heater since being snubbed by the US Olympic team. Now it's hard to argue with anything the US Olympic team decided. They came back with a gold medal and power to them, but it's hard not to look at that and be like, maybe he did find another level as a result. And maybe he is, maybe it's got a little pettyness to him and maybe that's a good thing. And so, you know, I mean, he is, he could have had two more goals on Saturday, easily.

29:48In the first period. Yeah. In the first period alone, exactly. It's not to try two great glove saves. And if Charlie Lindgren were a left glove goalie, I think he would have had two more goals. Like it's, I think, I think Cole forgot that that Charlie catches was right hand. But, um, yeah. I think he has done it a lot. But he's, his consistency is what's, is what's grown so much under Martian Samoan. You know, it's, it's gotten tiresome, asking Marty about it. And I think he's grown tired of answering it. But the answer remains the same is that Cole's commitment to all the other areas of his game. Um, that lead to goalscoring opportunities is the big difference in his game. He does not cheat. He is, he is not, uh, he's not sort of an easy out in a board battle. You know, if you're, if you're going into a board battle, Cole Copfield, you better be ready to battle. Because he's going to, he's going to fight for that puck. And so, and comes out with it, you know, at a pretty decent clip for a guy in size.

30:53And so it's, there's, there's all sorts of elements to his game. And he's not just, I think the most interesting one is he really doesn't score from the outside anymore. Not a lot of his goals are on like blistering one time or shots. Most of them come from within five feet of the net now. Whereas before he was more of a, he was more of a shooter. And now he's like a net drive reason. He's a net front presence almost. And, and not at his size is, is combining a gift he's always had, which is the ability to calculate the perfect moment to arrive in a certain space. And that's something that he just has in him and always has. And it's, you can't teach that. Uh, but the willingness to go to areas that are a lot more dangerous and a lot closer to the net. Uh, that's something that, that's been sort of driven into him by his head coach. And that's changed a great deal over the last two years of that.

31:56You know, yes, he still scores those, those, those odd angled shots where he picks a corner from that doesn't exist. Uh, but the vast majority of his goals and the shots now come from, come from the net front area. And that's, uh, that's a credit tool because, you know, not a lot of guys his size go to that area. I saw this, uh, tweet from Chris Meaney who does NHL fantasy and edge stat work for the national hockey league. Uh, and I noticed that you, you retweeted it, um, over the, over the last day or so. And I'm curious to get your insight into this, the top teams in terms of point percentage following a loss this season. Montreal at 692, the best team in the NHL Colorado is next, Detroit, Carolina, Edmonton, Minnesota. I mean, there's a little bit of an outlier there. And when we talk about the rest of the, you know, the podium or just past the podium, legit Stanley Cup contenders, older, more experienced teams. What's your insight into why Montreal is the best point percentage team in the league after a loss? Well, they haven't had, again, I'm still suffering from somewhat of an Olympic fog, but I believe they,

33:04they've not had a losing streak of longer than three games this season, right? And even, although we've been losing streak of longer than two games, are pretty rare. So that's, you know, the big difference to me. Between this team and last year's team is just that, you know, they're not streaky at all. They don't have, they don't have that many super long winning streaks either, but they don't, they don't go on losing streaks. They haven't all year, really. I'm watching Star One tomorrow, but I mean, it's, it's really been one of the defining characteristics of this team this season, as opposed, like, when compared to last year's team, is the huge slumps don't really happen. And so I think that number is a reflection of that, that they don't go into these weak long funks where they lose four, five, six in a row, like they did on numerous occasions a year ago. Yeah, and it's funny. I mean, then you got to reconcile that with the, one of the things you wrote about last week,

34:08which was their difficulties they've had when the opponent pulls their goalie year over year, they seem to have taken a step back in that regard, which maybe brings us back to the goalie. They're much better when, they're much better when they pull their own goalie. Yeah, it's a weird thing. They're like, they're incredibly, they're incredible at coming back in that situation, and they're terrible at defending the lead in that situation, which is another significant thing Saturday, obviously, that they scored two empty net goals instead of giving up two up to tie it up. So that was another sort of step they took against Washington. So are you in California? I am. Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't even know that. So it's 5.30 a.m., but the good news is you're in California. I think it's minus 18 degrees to here in Montreal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was expecting the call, so don't worry about it. I was, I knew you were going to call. Still on still on Eastern time. Did you get to say a load of your kids at least once between Milano and California? I did. I was, yeah, don't even, I mean, yeah.

35:09Right. A little one, I mean, you know, the older ones are kind of like, you know, whatever. And this is part of the course they're used to it. But yeah, the little guy didn't. Wasn't thrilled that I was leaving six days after coming back from a 18 day road trip. So, um, but you know, it's a trade deadline. This is part of the gig and, uh, you know, got to see what's going to happen this week and have to be around the team if something does. So that's just how it is. I know he's, he's too young for this now, but I know my mom tells the story that my dad traveled so much when I was a kid that I used to be, if I'd be playing outside and a plane would fly overhead, I would point up at the plane and go, dad, dad. Um, my kids, my kids much older than that. I know, I know, I know. Um, so Arpin, uh, trade deadline on Friday. What, uh, what are you expecting from the Canadians in the next couple of days? I mean, I think a lot of the hinges on the ability to find a new home for Patrick Lina

36:09and that, and that's, um, that kind of would create the circumstances for them to have some money to play with. I mean, they're very tight against the cap. Otherwise, they can't find a shooter for him, um, or someone willing to take on happens, happens to remain in contract, then everything's going to be money and money out. And, and I'm starting to wonder if this market kind of shapes up. Where Friday comes around, there's a bunch of players available. No one's really biting at, like, you know, do the prices take a significant spike down? And can the Canadians get a bargain at the last minute? Um, I think they would like to be positioned. They would like to position themselves, ideally, to do that. If the opportunity arises, which is why creating that space would be important.

37:11But, you know, I just, I sense there's a bit of a hesitancy to actually pay to do that. In the sense we're adding a sweetener to, to, to unload a contract is probably less, less appealing than, you know, actually including that contract in a trade to make the money work. But I think, I think they're going to do something. I have a very, I don't expect it to be anything significant. Neither did they expect you for that matter, who's asked about the game on Saturday. He's just kind of like, no, we kind of did our business. We got so he's helped us. I don't expect anything big. And so no one's as loud in with Ken Hughes as he is. So I think I'm going to take my face value, but I also think that if these guys. Ken do something that would. That would add to the core of the team, which generally doesn't happen as a trade deadline. Then they'd be willing to be aggressive, but.

38:12I think that there's a reluctance to add a rental, but I think. You have to be open to it. And if they can get. You know, if they can get a defenseman to sort of push really back to the left side, I think that would be ideal. But top four right side Ds are not cheap. There's a few available in the market at a very high price. But the one thing that Ken Hughes have is they have a lot of. They have a lot of assets that. They have to be pretty ridiculous in terms of when to use them and on what. They want to use them. And so. All that to say that. I don't have to say anything possible, but. I wouldn't expect a really significant. Sort of needle moving move between down Friday. You know, I'm one day going to get to the point of my life where I say I got a lift to Amsterdam. And it's going to mean that. I was on a. Hasn't happened to me.

39:13I lift really does only mean one thing for us. All right. I mean, I would have to think so. Yeah. Through nothing. You did. I don't get the. I don't get the reaction. I mean, yeah, you lost the game. But. I mean, can someone clear the front of his net? Yeah. If he's supposed to do that himself. Yeah. I don't get it. I mean, I would start Dolbet. I mean, Dolbet. She has lost in like two months. So. Or. One. That's almost three months now. So. Um. All right. Yeah. Early December. Yeah. So. Um. All right. Yeah. Early December. Yeah. So, um. I would go with him. For sure. And. And. You know, I got to say like just. Looking at you. Yeah. I could do this play hockey. Like he is. Far more. Confident in doing thing than he used to be. Even when he was winning earlier this season. And. Even last season. So. Yeah. That's a lot of.

40:15It's a lot of. And a lot of. I mean, I would tell you. Yeah. People look at wins in losses at the goalie. That. Just like. Wins and losses for. Quarterbacks. You know, it's. Just not. It shouldn't be a thing. There's a lot. There's a lot of different ways to. Valuated bull tender than wins losses. I understand ultimately. That's what matters. But. Um. for that, I think, have varied over the course of the season, but of way, you know, I've liked the way Monty's looked in that. But I would show, I would ride Dobish for a while now, but honestly, like, there's a back to back this weekend, there's a back to back next week, like, both goals are going to get used. So I think the games are a good spot, that's never bad. All right. I think it's your swim trunks there, Arpin, enjoy that sunshine. I have a golf outside, I'm hoping, I'm hoping, as a day, I can actually go play golf.

41:15Chase. Must be nice. Who do you do, who do you do that with, if you do? I'll do it alone, I don't care. Okay. There's, there's an opportunity, which I think there might be, I'm going to give it a shot. Cool. All right, enjoy, brother. I got a couple of golf courses, if you're going to be near Anaheim, if you can play around then, I got a couple of places I can send you to. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm, I'm hoping for suggestion. All right. That's Arpin Basu in California, where the Canadians take on the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night, 10 o'clock, and then they head south to, uh, back to back, Anaheim and LA. The California swing is this week, so is the trade deadline. What a time to be here doing this. We'll be back in a few moments. You know, Sean, I haven't had a story about a guy setting his house on fire while trying to kill spiders for a while here on the show. Do we have time to do that? Sure. Yeah. He'll save it for tomorrow. Be close. We're in that weird time zone, I guess. But yeah, I might as well save it for tomorrow as I keep talking. Okay.

42:15So we're going to save that for tomorrow. Let me just copy and paste that. On the other side, we're going to talk sabers. I mean, I listen, I didn't want to talk about the sabers. I don't want to talk about the sabers, but they've given me no choice. That win over the lightning over the weekend. If there was any doubt about this team, I think it's, it's gone. Josh Norris is back. He scored a couple of goals and they routed the lightning. We're going to check in with Joe Yerden, longtime sabers, beat writer, find out how does firing a general manager lead to this? I mean, win five out of six, sure, win seven out of 11, great. The sabers have been the best team in the NHL for a couple of months now. Let's find out what's going on there and probably the Canadian's toughest rival, the team that they would face if the regular season ended today in the playoffs. We're talking sabers hockey with Joe Yerden right after this on the morning.