Stakes Tiers For The 2026-2027 NHL Season

(upbeat music) - Regressing to the mean since 2015. It's the hockey PDO cast with your host, Dimitri Philipovich. (upbeat music) - Welcome to the hockey PDO cast. My name is Dimitri Philipovich and joy, name is my good buddy, Pete Blackburn. Pete, what's going on, Ben? - Too much, how are you, how's your summer? - It's been going well. This year we decided to do shows all the way through the off season and I'm excited to have a fun week of shows. We're gonna kick it off with you. I pitched you on a concept. Something we've done on the show in the past, our stakes tiers, but a little bit of a different wrinkle because we're still a ways out from the season. But I think it's a good way for us to kind of like, take a big picture of you of the league, but also prepare ourselves for sort of where teams are at respectively and as a reminder of it, Pete and I will be grouping the teams based on, you know, how much they've gotten the line this year or I guess like what their goals are this season because obviously only one team can win a Stanley Cup and I'd say there's probably only seven or eight that are realistically competing for it this year. But I think there's still ways for teams to accomplish whatever their goals are and so we're gonna rattle through those. We each put together our tiers. We're gonna go into sending order starting with the bottom of the league, I guess. It's not necessarily, I'm not sure if you approach it this way. I don't necessarily view this as like a ranking of the teams necessarily 'cause I had some good teams that are pretty low stakes, I think. And then some teams who probably won't even make the playoffs, but I think it's a very important year for them regardless of the show progress. And so it's not necessarily correlated to like a power rankings or anything. It's more so I guess how important this year is for them wherever their organization is right now. - Yeah, I think it's more like instead of like power rankings, I feel like it's more like window watching. Like kind of where are they in their window? How good is their team? Like what are the expectations heading into this year? If they're not good this year, what does that mean for them beyond this season? And so yeah, I think it's more of just kind of a look at where teams are at right now heading into the season and kind of what's on the line for them. - Yeah, I've united a sort of like organizational urgency in a way and we're gonna get through all of them. We have eight years each. When you started this exercise, had it like four or five kind of bigger ones. And I think it's gonna be easier for us to follow, but also the listeners if they're smaller groupings of teams and maybe more kind of neatly packed together. Tier eight for me, the bottom tier, the true tankers in my opinion who do not care about this season at all. I only have two teams in this list, which I feel like I'm trying to remember previous seasons. I feel like at this point of the off season, they were more expansive. Like I feel like there were at least four or five teams where you're like, man, this team's gonna suck and they're happy with it. They're gonna try to get the first overall pick. That's what they need to do. I'm not sure whether it's because of all these changes we've seen with the cap going up, the draft kind of becoming more model teams moving first rounders, like it feels like for whatever reason. There's fewer teams than ever that I think have an appetite to be bad. This season now, someone's gonna have to finish 30th and 29th. There's gonna be bad teams regardless. That's the nature of the league. But I really think the connox and the flames who I had in this tier are the only two teams who have kind of positioned themselves to be bad on purpose. - Yeah, so my tier here is, like I kind of put a little tagline next to each number just to give me a basic outline. And so I have like no real expectations or consequences for this tier. And so I have the flames and I also have the Seattle Kraken. And the Kraken to me are an interesting one because like they should feel a sense of organizational urgency, but it's hard for me to feel like anything is truly at stake based off of the outcome of this season. And honestly, if they suck this year, like that's probably better for them, like in terms of the scope of where they're at. So, you know, I just, it's hard for me to look at anything that Seattle does right now and have like strong feelings about it and feel like there's really anything big at stake. - The reason why I had the Kraken at the top of the next tier seven on my list was just because I feel like they've kind of telegraphed this summer that they don't wanna be bad. Like I think they are kind of showing or demonstrating that they are feeling that organizational urgency, right? It goes back to last trade deadline when they try to acquire Tommy Panarin and extend him then Jason Robertson before the draft. And I feel like they've been trying to take these kind of home run cuts and get better or at least relevant in the league and have failed to do so. And I guess they've kind of settled into this spot where like their biggest addition, if you wanna frame it that way, was just retaining Bobby McMatty. Would they acquire it at the trade deadline and giving him a big contract? But I'm with you in terms of like, they're probably better suited, just completely bottoming out even more. So then they have the pass couple of years 'cause they would probably push them in the direction of trading Vince Dunn and Jared McCann who are gonna be UFA's next summer and are gonna be kind of in that awkward 30 year old range where you don't really wanna retain them but they're good players and the crack and have showed that they're gonna be happy to keep those guys 'cause they can't really get that tier above. So they're probably better off just being really bad but I don't think they really want to, right? Like they've tried to do everything they can to become at least middleing or mediocre and have failed to do so. But I think that's fair. You have the conucks in this tier as well, right? - No, I have the conucks one tier above. So I did like the opposite. So I did eight to one one being like no real coup. But I'll just, off of how you started. So I have them in my seventh tier just because I feel like there is some pressure to like get off on the right foot under a new regime. Like if they're just as bad and just as much of a mess under this new regime, you're like, okay, what the hell is going on here? And then you have bigger problems and bigger questions to ask about sort of the DNA of that franchise and that and kind of where they are organizationally. So that's why I have them in seventh. But like I very much could see putting them in your eighth as well. - Yeah, I think that's fair. I guess the way I view it with them is I view the new regime as a positive in the sense that it feels like and their actions have kind of born this out so far this off season that they finally seen the light in terms of like we need to be bad. And we're going to actually rebuild properly for once. And so they like judiciously spent, right? Like they just bring in like guys who are going to be useful roster players or veterans but are on short cheap deals that they could probably flip at some point this season, like a Jamie Olex yak or a Luke Shannon or even a Paul Cotter. They trade away Marcus Patterson for a first. Like it seems like they're finally taking a long view here and I imagine that means that Maddie Melholtra and Brian Johnson and everyone involved is going to get a lot of runway and has probably been given at least some sort of green light to really kind of tear this thing down as much as they can and start this process earnestly. And so I feel like they're probably the most willing to tank. Whereas the flames I think are going to be bad. But you know, they go out and they spend a couple late first on Shimo Nemitz, they're goal tending. I guess you could say the same about the conucks if Demko's healthy, but between Devin Cooley and Dustin Wolf, that might be a bit of a roadblock for the flames being truly the worst team in the league 'cause they're going to give them a bubbly garage goal tending every night. But man, the forward group for this flames team is pretty unavoidably bad. And so I love a guy like Matt McGritten, but it's pretty, not a lot of work to be done, let's say. But I do think the state of the blue line, like the young kind of high upside offensive defenseman that they're integrating here is at least going to be fun. So I'd almost view the conucks as like their own separate entity. But I wanted to put the flames there with them. And I think the Kraken is a fair shout. Did you have anyone else in this bottom tier? - I have the Rangers here, which is like maybe a bit surprising, but like it feels like the stakes are lower because they already know that they're kind of rebuilding and they've already started that process. So like it doesn't feel like they're truly expecting to contend, expecting to be gray, even with like the door of fiat signing and the New York strand signing. Like it just feels like they're kind of in a transition period, which lowers the stakes when they know that. - Yes, my counter would be they traded away to future firsts. Now they're down the line and they're lottery protected. So it gives them a bit of insulation, but I'm not entirely sold that Kris Jury and that organization actually wants to be bad. And listen, it's just jerking to be healthy. A fox is gonna be healthy this season. Like they're gonna be competitive. I actually liked the players they added this summer, even if I didn't necessarily agree with trading future firsts the way they did. But I had them a bit higher at them in my like tier six or whatever. A couple rungs up just because of that trading away future first. Like I think that signals to me that they're not gonna be actively bad. And they might be forcing that position, but I don't think they're entering the season thinking that way. tier seven for me. So I had the crack and as I said, I had three other teams and I'm curious where you had them. I had the Detroit Red Wings. I had the natural predators and I had the Winnipeg Jets. - So that's really surprising 'cause I have the Red Wings as my first like code red stakes just because of like I know that there's more. to this team than Dylan Larkin, but given that the fact that this team is like now the new Buffalo Sabers and being viewed as like the punching bag of the league. They have the leagues longest playoff drought. Their captain doesn't want to be there. It's just like they don't have a GM right now. Like it's just there's so much turmoil and I guess you could hold the GM thing as a reason why there aren't massive stakes or consequences because they can just kind of point to that reset button, but like there are major major follow potential as a result of how the season starts, how the season progresses for Detroit. And like that's why I view them as one of like the code red teams in the league. I mean, it's fair in the sense that they missed the playoffs for 10 straight years. And I think their fan base is quite upset about it. Is there really so? And they've had a couple of close calls the past couple years, which is almost twisted and knife even further, but they don't have a GM. They there's second best defenseman doesn't have a contract. They're captain and number one center is most likely not going to be on the team. And so and they're probably in the most competitive division as well, right? Where like every other team is at least a viable playoff option. And so I think it's kind of unavoidable where I think they probably do want to be competitive and try to end this playoff drought. But I feel like they're almost being boxed into a spot here, assuming some sort of a dramatic change of heart from Larkin and a quick process where they bring in a GM and get the events and contracts signed. And I'm sure they're going to figure that out before the start of the season. But as we're recording right now, like I'm not really sensing that much urgency from them, I feel like moving on from is moving from Iserman in a way kind of gave them a bit of a pass to like reset this a little bit. I'm not sure of their fans view of that way, but that's kind of the way I'm interpreting it. Yeah, like the lack of urgency to me, like kind of signals like why the stakes are a little bit higher because you would think that after the the run that they've been on, especially kind of the way they've fallen apart at the the final stretch in the past few seasons, just like something seeming to be in the water there. You would think that like something significant would change roster wise, but really the only change roster wise for this team has been can out arvets and in. Like that's kind of around and net neutral and it just does not change the makeup of their team whatsoever. So like maybe it's just my view of them organizationally rather than the way that they perceive themselves being the gap in kind of where this where we are here in terms of the rankings, but like I just think that this team has to figure it out pretty quickly and go in one direction or another. Yeah, I think the stakes are high from that perspective. I guess for this season though, I just don't really see a path for regardless of what they did where it would result in a positive, right, unless they go dramatically in a direction of like really kind of starting from scratch, but man, like most sideers so good right now and so is Lucas Raymond and they have some players there who at least like are good and entering their prime that it that in combination with having missed the playoffs for 10 straight years makes that a pretty tough sell in my opinion. But think about it like from like the Bruins perspective or like auto as perspective last year and I know the Eastern Conference was really weird last year and kind of an outlier year in terms of like anybody could really get in, but like Detroit was there at the end of the year and the bottom fell out and they fall out of that picture. What's to say that they can't be in the mix again not fall apart down the final stretch and they at least get a playoff birth and if Larkin is there maybe that gives them gives him a little bit of okay we're moving in the right direction I'll stay. I mean the shame of it and this is not kind of a new insight by any means but because of his known move clause and the position they're in it sort of box him into a corner where like he had picked what three four destinations which are the best teams the league that ever wants to go to and those teams recognize that they don't need to pay a premium and aren't really in a position to give the red wings what they need because I do think otherwise like I'd be open to a glass half full interpretation of this situation where it's like Larkin's a good player but he's not we've seen sort of the limits of what it's going to be if he's your number one center and I do think there's a way where they could have pivoted to adding interesting players and then kind of building around other guys in their team right now and maybe taking a slight step back this here but being better for it in the long term but I'm not sure what that path is via the realistic trade options right now right like any trade with Minnesota or Vegas or whatever I don't really see what that's going to accomplish for them and so maybe he comes back and you just sort of run back last year's team and that might be the least interesting option of the bunch just because we've sort of seen what that looks like and it's probably the 17th best team in the league and not having a good draft pick and kind of just being stuck for yet another year what do you think about the predators here the reason why I had them is the new GM right they bring in Chris McFarlane from Colorado they tellurum over they give him just an empty canvas pretty much in terms of green light do whatever you want they're very active I like bringing in a Maverick Bork and sort of stealing them from the stars they bring in Jack Dury they pretty much brought in everyone from Colorado there wasn't tied down they still have a lot of work to do we'll see what happens with guys like Ryan O'Reilly and Roman Yosey and Steve Stankos and some of the veterans but I feel like because of that new GM and sort of all the assets they've accrued along the way here this offseason it's given them pretty low stakes in terms of like I think people are pretty happy that they finally brought in a fresh voice it's not buried draws or David Poehler someone who's been there forever and they're moving in a different direction and so I feel like regardless of what where they finish in the standings this year it signals like a fresh start for them and that's why it almost puts very little pressure on how they actually do this year in my opinion yeah but I think like the counter there for me and I had them where did I have them just like a little bit over in the middle and to me it's like I think that there are some stakes here because of the fact that they're hitting the reset button and I liked their offseason and I like some of the ads that they made like new GM like it feels like there are potential swings that could happen based off of the way that they start the season where they're at at the midpoint like I could see a realistic situation where like if they're not good to start the year then like maybe they explore a standpoint straight maybe they trade Ryan O'Reilly like but on the other hand because they've sort of filled in some of the gaps around their forward group like I think that this could be a team that is somewhat somewhat competitive-ish and like that that feels like pretty significant swing potential to start this year so I put them somewhere in the middle where it's like I don't think they're in any sort of panic mode but there are paths in front of them and they're pretty drastically different yeah I think they have optionality which is really good right like I think depending on how the season starts or what they choose to do ultimately like they could do any number of things and that's a nice plot to be in. I said I had the jets here as well I struggled with this one because I do think they feel internal organizational urgency because they've been very vocal about concerns about the market kind of tuning the team out and it not being financially viable and that's why they refuse to rebuild we'll see what happens with Connor hella bug status and if he's on the team at the start of the year and that's certainly going to change the dynamic but maybe this was just a personal sort of bias in my opinion but I viewed it as low stakes because I just don't see the upside with this current group and I feel like if anything another season like last one if it pushes them further in a direction and kind of enables a possibility of actually building this thing out right is superior to me but they're in a tricky spot because even if hella bugs not there you've got sheathly and Connor making a ton of money and entering a different stage of their career as they're getting 30s Josh Morrissey and Dylan Sanbury they're two best defensemen are two years out from UFA and getting up there in age as well and so like I'm curious to see what their approach is but man when you're in a division with Colorado Dallas Minnesota Utah you mentioned Nashville there and then being feisty I think St. Louis certainly qualifies as well like it's pretty tricky for them to kind of move forward in the central with the team they have right now and how bad they were last season so I don't know where do you kind of net out with with the jets and where they tiered for you. Yeah so I have them in my fourth tier which is you know kind of that. Yeah and you know I feel like they don't need to be good but they feels like maybe they need to be better if they're going to keep this group around but it honestly feels like a lost cause because we've generally it feels like we've seen the best of this current group in this current core as it is established like I don't know when they decide to push that button and like you said the financial viability of a you know a rebuild or a re-tool is costly from an organizational perspective and maybe they don't want to do that but I just like it's hard for me to take this team seriously and feel like there are real stakes because they've there have been points where it has felt like real stakes and it has felt like a really good team and it just hasn't gone anywhere so again like it just feels like we've seen the best version of this team and now we're kind of on the back nine and just waiting for it to play out. Yeah. I remember when I did this exercise two years ago. I had them number one in terms of stakes kind of entering that postseason when they were winning the president's trophy. And I think we're now correct, right? Like Nick Lailor's going to be a UFA. They were really good and it was a bit of a squandered opportunity for them that postseason and it's been downhill since then. Did you have anyone else in this tier or because we've gone through all of my tier eight and tier seven teams? Okay. Yeah. No, I'm good on eight and seven. So tier six, this might be my least favorite tier of this because it's kind of just lumped together a bunch of teams who don't necessarily even belong together, but I didn't really know what to do with them. I don't really see an upside for this season, but I also don't think it matters that much in the grand scheme of things. And that was the Rangers who we've already talked about. The LA Kings, your Boston Bruins, when I'm excited to talk about and then the penguins and the flyers. Okay. Yeah. That's it's like I labeled this tier as the retooling tier, which is just like there's no real expectations because these teams are just kind of in the middle of changing their DNA a little bit. And I have the Maple Leafs, the Black Hawks, and the Senators. That's interesting. I had the Leafs tier three significantly higher. And I guess we should talk about it now real quick. The reason for that is one, they've already moved or they don't have access to their first rounder and the next two drafts. They're coming off a pretty miserable year where they completely cleaned house. Now you could argue that it's a fresh start for the coach and GM. And so you have a bit more runaway, but in that market, I don't really think that's going to do them a lot of good if the team's as bad as it was last year. And then you're entering a spot where Austin Matthews is going to be extension eligible next summer. And so like the viability of this organization in terms of how this year goes and what it looks like, it's a bit of a crossroads moment. Like I think you're going to need to make some tough decisions as soon as next summer. And so they really remodeled the bottom of their lineup. They made a lot of changes. They bring in Bibrovsky and reshuffle their goaltending. Like it's an entirely different looking team. Of course, Baldi Or as well comes in for the top unit power play. But I think it's a pretty, it's not a make or break season for them. But I do think it's a pretty important one because like if this goes bad, I feel like it could really go in an extreme direction. And I think they need to show that last year was a bit of an aberration and they can at least get back to being competitive and kind of convince Matthews that he should just stay there for the rest of his career. Yeah. So I totally understand that. And I think that's like a very valid viewpoint. I think that maybe like my assumption bias is just that this team is not going to be anywhere close to as bad as they were last year. And like that will kind of just remove the stakes. But I guess you're right. Like if they do absolutely suck, then yeah, there are there are massive consequences that that could be a result there. But like I do feel like the mechanical acquisition presents a reset button and presents sort of like this new runway. They do have a new regime. And yeah, pressure will be on them. But like they are also currently living with some of the the mistakes of the previous regime. So they have plausible deniability there. And it's year one of like a new new era sort of type deal. So I don't know. That's kind of why I put them on the higher side where there's enough plausible deniability that if things go wrong that they can just say, all right, well, this is just year one in this new plan that we have. And they're growing playing growing pains for a player like McKenna. But yeah, you're right in the sense that if it's just as bad as last year, there are some questions to be asked for sure, especially without the draft picks. I also had the black log sire at them in tier four. And the reason for that and maybe you know, Baudard's injury and the off season and missing the start of the year is going to temper expectations a little bit. But I do think man, like Kyle Davidson has gotten a pretty free pass for the most part in terms of like obviously a difficult situation he inherited. And it took a long time. And I think everyone understood that it was going to be a big job. But the past four years, they've been 30 31st, 31st and 31st. There's been literally zero signs of progress. Now, they've been picking high on the draft. They've been adding guys like I'm excited about Antón Frandell this year. There's certainly reasons to be like, all right, well, this team's going to be more fun to watch and better. But we just haven't really seen any progress yet, like not even the incremental ones. And it's not necessarily imperative to do so like teams take jumps all the time. It wouldn't be crazy to see them finish 23rd or whatever. And that would be viewed as a positive. But I do think they kind of desperately need it, like, especially with the swings they made this off season, right? Like how Davidson going out and trading forth overall and then making bone buyer, I'm at least temporarily the highest paid defenseman in the league before Hughes and Makar's extensions kick in. Like, they've kind of signaled that they are going to try to be better now, finally. And I'm not sure they necessarily are going to be with the state of this team. And if that happens again, and they're once again 30th in the league or whatever, like eventually there's going to need to be a reckoning here for them. And so that's why I kind of viewed it as pretty high stakes. Like they just need to show that they're going to be better. At least compared to what we've seen the past couple seasons. Yeah, I definitely feel like there's a lot of pressure to make more noise and take steps in the right direction. But at the end of the day, the stakes aren't super high because they just need to be better than 30th or 31st or whatever it is to take a step in the right direction. And you know, I think that there is pressure on Bedard and for the things to come in to picture more clear around him in the next year or two, but also like they have so much money and they have so many young players that like should be getting better that like there is pressure and stakes in that with like those players to develop and and take steps forward. But like they they have the resources to really start pushing forward in the next year or two, regardless of of how good the team is, I guess. Yeah, I think that's fair. It's all relative. I I did a show we Keith Kavanaugh from Pukepedion and we were looking at extension eligible players and kind of looking ahead in terms of guys who might get contracts this offseason or at the start of the season. And when we talked about the Black Ocs, we rattled through especially their young defensemen, right? And all these guys who came in with a lot of pedigree and excitement, but really struggled last year in a tough environment like the team wasn't good and young defensemen go through those growing pains. But like Alev Shunab or Rinzel, like you go on down the line, I feel like we just need to see more from these guys in terms of development to feel confident that they're going to be the players who you actually extend long term and and pay that money that you have available to you. And if it looks like it did for a lot of last year, then all of a sudden you get into some pretty uncomfortable conversations I think about this team and sort of where they're headed. And so I just think they need like from an individual level certainly with these guys, we need to see something. But then you need to actually call us to a team product as well. So you had the Black Ocs and the Leafs here. You didn't have any of the teams that I listed today. The Kings, the Bruins. No, just because like I definitely, I could agree with that based off of some of like the the outlines that you've established with some of these teams and kind of the way that the the perspective is like I can definitely see why those teams are there. I had I had the Bruins more like directly in the middle. And then the Kings I had just like slightly more or slightly it's just confusing because I had them more towards like the pressure meter. Right, just slightly above the middle. I'm not sure if you've seen this unless and there's a lot of time between now and the start of the season. The Bruins currently have the worst playoff odds of any team in the East. That's pretty which I found surprising, especially considering what I just said about the Red Wings. But it also speaks to I think like how generally like the West is much more top heavy because it's got the the conucks, the flames, the crack and at the bottom. But then it's got probably like four or five of the best six or seven teams in the league. So it's kind of more highs and lows. Whereas the East is more condensed. And I think that's going to make sorting the playoff picture out that much more complicated. So it's not necessarily as crazy as it seems. But I did find that surprising because I think I mean partly we saw what we saw from Marco's dream last year. Like I think he's going to be a floor raser. And then specifically with Pastor Nack, but how well swam and played last year. Still like a component veteran laden blue line. I like the JG Petrica edition for them as well. Like I in a tough division. I think they're going to be pretty good. But I'm not sure what it ultimately nets out to either, which is why I had them in this tier of teams that are kind of like retoolings. Last trying to figure out what the next five years are going to look like and still be pretty good right now. But not necessarily with as much upside as you hoped for. Yeah, I view like the the odds of the playoffs thing to be more a reflection of their place in the division than their place in the conference. Because I would be shocked if the Bruins were the worst team in the Eastern conference. But I would also be really surprised if they ended up making the playoffs based off of where they stand and kind of the reset structure. I think that everybody can kind of acknowledge that last year they over achieved. But ultimately, like, on paper, this team should be better than they were last year. Like I like the Patrick edition. You got a full year of Hagans. Hopefully that that turns into something. Like I do like Wilburgan on the back ends, like another year Frazier Minton with experience under his belt. Like, I think that this is a fairly competent team without any real expectations. So that's why I put them in the middle. Yeah. Well, that's kind of why I have them this low because I just don't really see the stakes that high. Like I think we kind of have a pretty good feel for what they're going to be. I think with some room to grow as you outline, but not necessarily like much beyond that. I mean, you could say the same about the Kings, right? They get the new coach and we've seen throughout various stops. Like you probably won't get a bump from Pirellabia laterally on before things go off the rails. They certainly were better offensively after a demi-penerin arrived and that coincided with the fial injury at the Olympics. And he'll be back. So I think there is some offensive juice here. And maybe you could say the stakes are high just because you're kind of trying to like turn the leaf on the copitar era for a time. He's not going to be there in 20 years. It's the last year. Drew Doudy's under contract. So I think there's some figuring out or soul searching for them to do. But I also look at the age of the team. And it's like all their offseason moves were bringing in guys were 35 years old or older and making them the oldest team and slow as team elite that much more so. And so I don't really view the stakes that high, but I guess the Pacific division being what it is at least creates an opportunity for them to be the eighth seat again and probably get swept by the apps. And so it's a bit of a repeat from from last year in that perspective. Maybe a bit more fun along the way, but I don't really view the stakes as that high for them because I don't really see what it's going to net out to. Yeah, I hear that for my fourth tier. I have the islanders in there like in the classification for this is like don't need to be good, but need to be better. And like I think the islanders have rediscovered an exciting path and like just want to continue building on that. And then another team that I have in this grouping is the blues because like I look at the blues forward group and that's as excited as I've been about that group in in some time. I really like kind of the way that they've reposition themselves. I still have massive. I wouldn't say massive. I still have some significant concerns about what they have on the back ends both on the blue line and in that, but I think that this is a really good example of a team kind of retooling repositioning whatever you want to call it on the fly to give themselves a little bit more excitement. And I would like to see that payoff in year one to give them confidence moving forward. So this is my tier five, but I'm on the same page with you. I had the blues in this tier. I had the islanders in this tier. I also had the devils in the senators. And I label this one as the let's have some fun tier. And for the blues, I completely agree. They were really good in the final 25 games or so after Robert Thomas came back from his absence and that line with him snuggled in a hallway was phenomenal. Joel Hofer was really good for them and is going to be the guy this year. So I think there's a lot of excitement there. And I think they're going to be fun. The islanders year two of Matthew Shafer. I'm very curious to see what that looks like. Now, tempering my expectations just because of how inactive they were this offseason. Matthew Darish has been pretty much on vacation the entire time because they bring in Matthias Michele on July 1st, I believe. And that is quite literally the only NHL move they've made. I guess they brought in Vitek fanatic as well to be a backup or a third goalie potentially, but it's been a very quiet offseason for them. They're going to kind of roll it over. Yeah. Tony D'Angelo. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Okay. How could I forget that one? The reason why I would normally put them even lower in terms of stakes, but Matthew Shafer is so good and so exciting that I feel like that immediately just creates stakes for your organization because it's like this guy's so cheap right now. What we've seen from contracts for defenseman like two years from now, you could pretty much get a blank check and get whatever he wants. And that's going to make things more more complicated for them. But while Horvath and Bersallor and their prime and he's playing this good, like I feel like there is some pressure for them to build on last year and not take a bit of a step back. Yeah, exactly. I think that that's the last part is kind of what I was banking on there is like there's fear. There may not be like pressure or stakes in terms of winning, but like there's fear in getting worse and fear in taking a step back with Shafer, especially like, say, Shafer isn't nearly as good as he was in his rookie year, which is unbelievable. Like, does that temper your expectations moving forward? So I think there's like a tiny bit of fear there, even if the expectations aren't massive. I had the devil. So I said, I had the devils and senators as well in this in terms of let's have some fun. I think that particularly applies to devils just because the last three years really have been so disappointing and such a slog. And they bring in a new GM, Jack, he'll hopefully be healthy. Like they add some actual scoring juice. I'm curious to see what that looks like. I guess I think there are stakes for them in terms of like, we'll see how this Quinn Hughes contract resolves itself and the viability of that in the future. But like, I do feel like turning the turning the perception of what they've been the past couple of years into like once again, being an ascending fun organization that's an actual landing spot if a player of that caliber becomes available is really important to them. And so I think there are stakes from that perspective. I think we've all come down from like our sky high expectations previously when, you know, that first year, they really kind of emerged in the scene beat the Rangers and seven lost to the hurricanes. You're like, all right, man, this is going to be a perennial standing up contender. Like I think there's a lot of work to be done before they get back to that level. But I do feel like from an entertainment perspective, there are some stakes in terms of like getting back on track to what they were previously and then sort of building on that a years out. Yeah, I had them a bit higher. I had them with like the third most stakes just because like I feel like we're on year what three or four on in you say like we've kind of hit the reset button and tempered out our expectations. Should we though? Like, this is a team that's been expecting to be in the mix in the Eastern conference for years at this point. And at some, at some point, they're going to need to deliver something or maybe questions start getting asked like we talk about the Quinn Hughes situation and, you know, him finding potentially finding a way to New Jersey, which has everybody been talking about. I would consider the possibility of Jack being the one to move. Like if New Jersey just can't get out of whatever hole they're in, who is to say that he doesn't get fed up, follow the larkin model and be like, all right, I would like to get out of here and I want to win. I want to play with my brother. It's not going to happen here. Let's make it happen somewhere else. Like, I think there is pressure for them to start herning this thing around and putting the foot down on the gas and moving it forward. Do I expect them to be like a Stanley Cup contender? No, but I think you've seen enough of like a fatal flaw existing with this team every single year that they just need to escape the one, like having one thing that just completely derails their season, whether it's health, whether it's goal tending, have a season in which most of the pieces are in place and you're competitive. Yeah, I completely agree with that. I think that's right. Maybe I should bump them up even higher. I did have the senators here as well, just because I do think the past like whatever year is to the whole Brady contract situation in his future was hanging over the organization like a dark cloud and sort of moving on from that and pivoting the way they did and I think they did pretty well. Like I do think the guy like Paturka as I talked to him in the past or whatever, like they could have gone even further, but sort of reallocating some of those resources, getting a bit younger and cheaper, getting William Eclan, like it's going to be a pretty good team, again, with a really high defensive baseline and I just think it's a bit more free, I guess, now in terms of like not being so held captive by Brady contracts whims and what that's going to look like and sort of this fear of how it's going to turn out, like you almost ripped the band-aid off and away. And so the stakes aren't as high in terms of proving themselves necessarily as they were previously, but I think it's a good enough team where the stakes are there to like not take a big step back because they were rebuilding for so long and you want to consolidate off of getting back into the playoffs the past two years. Yeah, I pretty much completely agree with that. Like it just feels like that the cloud and like the timeline that attached itself to Kachak is removed and like I fully expect the vibes to be different and better and you know, I think that the only way that stakes really present themselves this season is if they suck, like if they suck, then you start asking questions like, okay, like what is this team without Brady Kachak and was his impact way higher than we all kind of viewed it as? And I think that's unlikely, but it's not, I have to acknowledge the possibility of that happening. Yeah, it's not inconceivable, but I'm with you. I think it's a such a good defensive team in particular. that if they get just not league where it's gold heading the way they did for much of last year, like I think they're going to be pretty good in a really tough division. We're into my tier four and like the top half of the league in terms of stakes. And this tier I had kind of like young teams that either need to level up or like show progress. And that included I had the black hawks previously. I had the sharks, the blue jackets, and the ducks. Now the ducks stand out here as an aberration because they've actually made the playoffs and beat the oilers last year. But because of their players getting more expensive now with what we saw from Leo Carlson offer. She cut her go chase next contract and stated the blue line in general. I think it's fair to be like, all right, they're probably going to take a bit of a step back this season. But I still feel like those young players continue to develop like I do think there are stakes there. And then the ones for the sharks and the blue jackets are a bit more obvious in terms of kind of proving themselves and going from being fun to all of a sudden actually being playoff teams that are having results to show for it. Yeah, I have the I have the blue jackets a little like significantly higher. I mean, they honestly might have the highest stakes in the league. Yeah, that's what I have in tier one. Yeah, I have a mature one just based off of like if things don't go well and they are just continual flounder. They seemingly have no organizational direction. And it's going to get worse because Zachariensky is probably going to get louder and want to push his way out. So that's why I have them in one. It's kind of the same reason why I have Larkin and the Red Wings in the tier one. But to go back to like just above like getting into more pressure young teams, I have the sharks here as well. And like again, like I don't think they're a contender and I think that they have a lot of runway to play with. They have a lot of freedom in what they are currently. They're a young, exciting team. But they're also a young exciting team last year that was like absolutely horrendous defensively. And they've poured so much of their cup into just semi competent defenseman who are on the the back nine of their careers that like if if they don't get if those returns aren't there in year one when like they should be at their best right now like those contracts are probably only going to get worse or like those players are only going to get worse. They need to see the returns right now this year and like based off of how last year went then being a semi competent defensive team potentially makes them a playoff team. So I think that those those stakes are a little real. I have the mammoth there because like they got in but kind of found out pretty quickly that they were a bit overmatched and not fully ready for the playoffs. So that adds a little bit of pressure. This is where I have the predators as well. And then I have I have the capitals here. And maybe that's a bit too low in terms of like it's probably over atchkins last year. They maybe want to capitalize in this window. But I really like what they've done in terms of repositioning on like a bigger scale and bigger picture that I don't necessarily view this as like well they got to get it done in the ovechkin window or you're screwed. It's more just like even before ovechkin announced he was coming back. I was like I kind of like this team. It's super random. But I kind of like what they've done. Let's put a pit in the capitals because I have them a bit higher and I've got a lot of thoughts on that. Same with the mammoth to no one's surprise. On the sharks real quick though I do think there's something to be said for you know when you go from being like this young just expectation free team where you're just like having fun. And to all of a sudden now like I think everyone should reasonably expect that they're going to be five points better and make the playoffs. And it's the last year of celebration. You'll see all this stuff you mentioned about the defenseman they've invested in. Even young guys like we're you know yeah by Iverse Denver. Well I want to see what that looks like Michael Misa building off of his rookies season like I do think there are added stakes there which is good like that's a natural progression. But there's questions to be answered and yeah the bluejack is I'm immediate regret as soon as I said it and you push back on it because they probably should be the poster child for this exercise because this could go so bad. You know the last time you and I spoke like we I think we spent 20 30 minutes off the top talking about Marchenko at the time and then Werenzki as well and it was a pretty interesting conversation to look back at like I feel like I was kind of proven right on the Werenzki stuff because at the time it was I forget the order of it but it was like around when all it was bubbling about him asking for a trade and the stars making their offer. I feel like he might actually just want to stay there if the team can make the playoffs and show that there's a path ahead but if that doesn't happen this year then everything that's happened this off season is just going to be dialed up so much more extremely and so it's a massive season for them I think where did you have the ducks because I struggle with the do with them but I felt like they kind of fit here thematically but I wasn't really sure because they are a bit different than some of these other young teams. Yeah I had the ducks six which would be your third and like I established that as real pressure and I do think the ducks are under real pressure based off of how this this off season is gone just kind of I would call it the mismanagement of this team and its assets and they took a big step four last year establish themselves as a fun exciting team on the right track and to immediately be pulled off that track would be really really discouraging especially given how preventable it was from managerial perspective I think that that's where the organizational pressure is established like I still think that this is a really good team but if they take a step back and their blue lines kind of a disaster at this point in time like when I say this is a really good team the team that has really good bones but their blue line really worries me and I just feel like they've been completely mismanaged and it puts them in a position where you think that this was all avoidable and you start considering changes based off of where you are year to year. I had the mammoth in the capitals which you mentioned earlier in tier two all the way up with the Canadians and the sabers and we're going to talk more about them in a second but the reason why I had those two specifically because you had them a bit earlier the mammoth I do think have quite high stakes on your journey is the fourth longest tenured coach in the league the only guys who have been with their teams longer are John Cooper, Jerry Benner and Rod Brindemore and all three of those are now one Stanley Cups with our current teams and I think everyone just like whenever you see one of these coaches lists like just because he's been there for so long and I think people think pretty highly of him and runs like yeah he's like a top 10 coach but we haven't actually really seen reason to believe that's the case and I think the expectations are much higher now after they finally get back in the playoffs they legitimately test the golden nights that was a very competitive series it could have gone either way and then they go out and they add the Neetro check and resley to guys in their mid-30s bring in Sebastian Kosa as the backup goalie like I think there's a reasonable expectation that they're going to join this central division elite with the app stars and wild and am I not necessarily happen this year but I think it's fair to be like all right they should be a lot better and now we should expect them to actually keep winning as opposed to being a fun upstart organization and so I think the mammoth have pretty sneaky high stakes this year in terms of like building on last year and sort of showing that they're ready to level up yeah I think that like their core still has a good amount of runway and like they're still considered a young team but you look at the additions that they made this offseason and it kind of provides an indication of where they think they're at and where they want to be which is like I specifically like Vinny Trocheck and Anders Lee like you get two guys who are on the older side who have established presence in locker room presence and like this is a team that won't not only wants to be a playoff team but wants to push it forward in the playoffs so yeah like I definitely think that if that's your if that's your goal and that's your outlook on your team there are stakes for sure the capitals similarly have a lot of stakes in my opinion because I mean they get older this offseason right they go out they add Alex talk they bring in Boon Jenner bad Jordan Cairo as well as a bit younger but still kind of getting into a spot where they have a lot invested in this team now they're trying to manage these two timelines which is also a very unconventional team build and so I think there's pressure or like show that it's a viable blueprint I guess for an organization to follow because teams don't typically do this I'm pretty intrigued by them and I'm excited to watch a playout but there's a lot of moving parts here for Spencer Carberry the juggle it's Alex of Etchkins last year as you mentioned and just how much they poured into this team I was looking on Buck pd I think they have like 112 million in actual salary they're paying this year so like they're all in with this group in terms of like viewing themselves as a top team and they're paying accordingly and they need to prove it now and kind of show that the pieces fit and the young guys like Leonard and produce and sort of like keep getting better while these guys are still in their prime so I think they're in a really interesting spot um the other teams in that tier the the Habs and the Sabers I'm curious where you had them because obviously both are coming off of very successful and productive seasons Play the heck of it. of a series against each other in round two in the East. Both, I don't want to say they took steps back this summer. I think the Sabers kind of did at least in the short term because you lose, talking byrum. But I think it was clearly the right business decision on both sides. And I do think there's kind of like underappreciated room for growth here as well, right? Because while these guys are already really good, like I think Benson and Doe in particular have a lot of room for improvement, you're a colleague being healthy, Noah Oslin being healthy, a full season of Consta Helen who's like, I think these guys kind of covering for a lot of that and leveling up even further is in play. And the reason why I had stakes for them is you finally come out of the rebuild, you end the playoff drought. Everyone was so Sabers pilled last year. Both of our shows certainly were in pushing that agenda and it was such a fun story. And they did a lot of work in rehabilitating their image as well, right? As an organization or the destination to the point where the Connor Hellerbuck seemed willing to accept the trade there, which I think would have been completely far-fetched a couple of years ago. And so kind of building on that momentum and making sure you don't take a step back, even if it's just for one season, I do think is pretty important. Even if they don't get better this year, I think once again, kind of being a fun playoff team is pretty important for their sort of long-term health as an organization. - Yeah, that's exactly why I had them in the third year here. And it's not the first time that they've entered a season with pressure, 'cause it's just been a different kind of pressure where it's like, okay, there's been this cloud hanging over. You, how do you get out of it? Like, we saw it early on in this past season. Like, questions being asked about the state of that team early on in the season really wears on guys like Tahitops and Andaline, it's like, there's so much frustration that was baked into that pressure. Some of that's been lifted and it's been changed, but we don't know how that manifests itself with this current group. It's just a completely different brand of pressure, but I do think that that pressure is absolutely there. You do not wanna take a step back and there's pressure on some of these younger guys to fill the gaps in what you lost in the off season. And I do agree with you. It's a weird place to be in where you recognize this team is being like significantly worse on paper, but not holding it against them based off of what they lost and like what the cost of keeping those guys would have been. And so it's a weird spot, but I do think there's real pressure for the Canadians. I had them more in the middle because I just feel like they're still on a very flexible timeline. And realistically, I feel like we can and should acknowledge that an Eastern Conference final run for that team last year was way above their pay grade and they rode an awesome wave to that spot. And it just is so fun, but so unexpected. - Well, they also kept their powder dry this summer, right? Like I know there's been a lot of rumors about Marchenko, but they still haven't made that move yet. Like they have a bunch of cap space, they haven't traded in their futures or prospects. Like there's a room for them to get better and it seems like they're gonna approach that. But it's kind of a TBD until they do. So the reason why I add them this high though, beyond the natural fit between them and the sabers as rivals was just when you make the Eastern Conference final the way they did. Like I think there's a natural expectation to not necessarily get better on that, but like not take a big step back either, right? Just to kind of show the young players moving in the right direction and your building as an organization. So I think that speeds up the timeline a little bit if anything. We're into my final tier and I gotta admit, I took a pretty lazy approach with this one 'cause I just listed all the top teams. Generally the older ones who are firmly in their Stanley Cup window and are true contenders and have the best odds for it. And that was the stars, the wild, the golden nights, the hurricanes, the lightning, the panthers, the aves and the oilers. Do you have any disagreement there? I think there's a scale there in terms of some teams. - Did you list those again for me? - It was the stars and wild. I had the stars at the bottom of this list in terms of the least stakes, just because the Roberts Institution has been so bizarre, maybe you could argue that that increases the stakes because you might lose them or you kind of need to prove that it's gonna be a fit between the two this season. The wild, certainly a wildest Quinn Hughes thing is kind of hanging over them until they sort that out and at least get more buffer with him. And then the golden nights because they're always in this tier because they're always in their Stanley Cup window and their players are pretty old. The hurricanes just trying to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. I think they have a long runway and so much flexibility, but it's always a cool storyline. And then the lightning and the panthers and the aves and the oilers. Those are like my, that's my Stanley Cup tier. Yeah, so I have, I have basically all of those teams in my second and third tiers with one exception. I'll get to that in a little bit, but I have. But when you think for all those teams, like the reason why I think the stakes are high is because every year you don't win the Stanley Cup if you're one of those teams is a disappointment regardless of how it shakes out. Like even if you make the conference final or whatever and lose to a slightly better team or are banged up or whatever, it's viewed as like, that was a missed opportunity and I don't know how many more of those I'm gonna get. Yeah, so like I initially had the hurricanes like right in the middle because I was like, they won the Stanley Cup, they got over the hump, they answered a lot of the questions and like you also, you play a ton of hockey and there's, if you don't win the Stanley Cup following year, like it's gonna be fine. Like they're long-term outlook is still awesome and like their salary structure's awesome, but I bumped them up just because like, you don't wanna take steps backwards and like they are positioned to do it again. Like they're basically returning the same team. So I kept, I bumped them up a little bit in terms of their pressure. - And you got to defend your crown. - Correct, yeah. And the difference that I have here, I would say is, I have the penguins in this second most pressure tier because of the Crosby factor and just based off of like what things could look like at the midway point, based off of, yeah, last year was nice. Like really quieted some of that discussion for a year, but like we hit the reset button. The Eastern Conference is gonna look different than it did last year. Does the penguins outlook look different? And like what is the grand scope of that? And I think that there's a lot of pressure and a lot of stakes based on the consequences of what could happen in the end of the year. Malkin's on a one year deal. Like this is just a weird spot for the penguins. So there's a lot of pressure. I have all of those teams, like I said, in the second and third tiers. I put the oilers at like code red, most pressure. It just seems like there is no team facing more pressure than the Edmonton Oilers this year, based off of the McDavid factor, based off of just sort of the lack of satisfaction within that locker room. Based off of the pay were so desperate that they went out and hired Mike Babcock. Like there's just so many signs pointing to, this has to have immediate and really strong returns in year one of whatever fucking button that they pushed this off season. So they absolutely have the most pressure to me. And then under them, I have the blue jacket and red wings just because of the turmoil within those organizations. - The big three. I think the oilers do have the highest stakes for all the reasons you mentioned. I think specifically McDavid, right? Like he's turning 30 this season. He's got two years left at this ridiculous contract. Now, I mean, it was crazy at the time. He signed like in terms of how little he took, but now with some of the deals you're seeing, like they need to maximize that over these next two years. And so every year you have him in dry cider. It's gonna be sky high leverage. - I think talking about it as a two year window for the oilers, like two year McDavid window, it more feels like a one year window to me because like you've got this one year window before questions really start getting asked as to do risk playing it out in that final year, assuming that there's nothing that happens in terms of that contract, or do you consider cashing in on that final year getting something back in repositioning yourself? So like it does feel like where the pressure is is in this one year window. - I think the app should be up there as well. Like based on how good they were last year, how they exited the playoffs, getting swept by the Golden Knights, how old a lot of their players are, particularly the forwards they've invested in. It's the final year at Kel McCarrz making nine million. And so then all of a sudden, even with the cap going up, between him, natious and McKinnon, that is gonna make it pretty difficult to fill out the rest of your team and be as deep as they were last season. And I feel like getting back to their mountaintop, which they failed to do so ever since they won the cup is making the expectations pretty high. And then the Panthers, I think similarly, like it's tough to gauge, because they were such a shell of a team last year, but then they go out and they make a Bradyka Chuck trade. Their view is the Stanley Cup favorites on the betting market. And I think understandably like at full health until we see someone beat them. I think it's fair to wonder whether that's possible, but I think it's for me like they need to sort of show that last year was just the one off where everything went wrong from a health perspective and they are gonna be healthy. And I don't think that's necessarily as much of a given as it seems because a lot of these guys are older and have played a lot of hockey. And those types of players typically get hurt. And so they kind of need to prove it and I could very easily see a scenario where they do so. And there once again, the Stanley Cup champions, but I feel like if things start off with another kind of run of injuries, then I do think it's gonna be fair to wonder like whether that window closed and whether that's just the new future for them. So I don't know, like there's no stakes in terms of like, they've already won the Cup twice. So like regardless of what happens, this is gonna be a complete success for this organization. But in terms of extending the window and proving last year was a one off, like it's a pretty important season. - Yeah, I struggled with where to put the panther is just based off of like this is, this is just like a continuation of an already successful window that you've got ready to chuck there now. Like yeah, there are expectations, but not really too many consequences. I feel like this team has made its bed and is going to sleep in it one way or another, whether it's good sleep, whether it's bad sleep. But yeah, I just think that like because they are considered one of the best teams and also have a major question mark in net with Alpabrovsky, like your goal-tending tandem is Jacob Marksman and Kirish Mead. Like what could that look like? There is stakes there. So I put them relatively high and then on the first part, it's interesting that you have that because like I initially had the avalanche at number one and then I looked at it and I was just like they're not in the same position as these three other teams. It felt very reactionary to me, but I do think they're on the higher end of the second tier because of like the Macar factor because of the way that they ended up. Like people are asking fraud questions about them now. Jared Bednar should absolutely be on the hot seat. Like this is just a team that I think that you look at now and they went from being the class of the NHL to again, like being called fraudsters, being considered disappointments and you look at the grand scope of their window and say they've only won one cup and haven't really made a ton of noise outside of that. How does that make you feel about what they've accomplished on the whole? And it's not amazing. I feel like you gotta do more when you have two generational pillars in your four group and then in your defensive group and on top of that, I think they've gotten worse this off season. - Yeah, no, they end up we have. I had the penguins lower acknowledging that there's stakes when you have one year left of Crosby, Carlson and Malkin under contract. At the same time last year was such found money for them. If you think about how we thought about them as a group last year this time, that like regardless of what happens this year, I just think that was such a fun story and even if it goes south, I don't think it's the end of the world although it will be bittersweet. I feel like you haven't mentioned the flyers. - I would call it a found coupon rather than found money because I do feel like that money is, it expires. Like it was a fun year but that coupon will expire. - Yeah. The flyers I put directly in the middle because they're kind of the case of the Bruins where they were much better than we expected. They were much more fun than we expected. There should be a competitive team but I don't know if there should be real expectations. - Yeah, I felt the same way. I mean, if they had gotten Leo Carlson and the ducks didn't match that offer sheet, they'd be much higher on the list but they kind of took their swings, right? They almost got him and drew on that one day and I think people were like, all right, well, it's fun to see them kind of back in the mix there. They're obviously coming off a successful year last year. And so I feel like almost like the off season's moving forward for them in terms of finding that number one center and what that's gonna look like after failing to do so here is probably gonna be higher stakes than actually the start of this season when the games start. All right, buddy, that was a lot of fun. We rattled through our stakes tiers. Had some nice disagreement as well, which is great. I'm glad we didn't just have the carbon copies of the lists and that kind of shows that it's very subjective but also we approach it differently. So that was a lot of fun. I'll let you promote some stuff here on the way out. What are you up to these days? What's going on with WCAOS? - WCAOS, we're kind of shifting gears a little bit pushing towards the start of the season. We're still once a week right now on YouTube and then once a week on Patreon, WCAOS or Patreon.com/WCAOS and then YouTube, you just find us at WCAOS show and we're having fun, we're doing player interviews, we had Jamie Drysdale and that was a ton of fun. Yeah, that's just, that's the grind. It continues, doesn't stop, continues to pick up momentum as we get closer to the season and it's gonna be a lot of fun. - All right, always a great time when a repeat blackburn comes in the PDO case. Those are our pre-season stakes tiers heading into the year. We recorded this one with Pete earlier in August but we're getting to previous season here on the show and I wanted to include it on the main feed for those you didn't catch it when we initially recorded it. That's also why you probably noticed we didn't talk about Luke Evangelista and his trade to the Devils in the New Jersey and Nashville sections. But honestly, our placement of both those teams, I think age pretty well in hindsight following that trade. We also had all the Luke Evangelista trade analysis you could possibly handle last week on the Patreon feed. I wrote up a 2000 plus word newsletter taking a closer look at his breakout last season, his fit with the Devils. We then had Jack Han on the show to discuss all of that and then some even further detail. If you didn't catch those and you're looking for more content from us, I highly recommend you subscribe to the PDO case Patreon, treat yourself to celebrate the start of the new season. It'll get you access to every single show we do this year and we'll be dropping all of them on that feed for our subscribers immediately as soon as we're done recording in ad-free form. I also hope more of you pick up some PDO case merchandise as well. Now that we've finally got that available for purchase online, we release the first edition of the hats and t-shirts a while back and they turned out really well. So we're gonna keep it going by dropping a new design for the t-shirts sometime this week. So please grab yourself some swag and help support the show. You can also help us for free by a given us a five star review wherever you're currently listening to us and be checking out the PDO case YouTube channel. We're finally posting shows there this season for those of you who want to watch along with us. So please subscribe, like all that good stuff to help us grow the channel. That is all for today. We've got plenty more coming later this week's of stay tuned. Thank you for subscribing and for listening to the hockey PDO case. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)