The Watchability Rankings For The 2026-2027 Season, Part 1

(upbeat music) - Regressing to the mean since 2050. It's the hockey PDO cast with your host, Dimitri Philip Ovech. - Welcome to the hockey PDO cast. My name is Dimitri Philip Ovech and joining me is my good buddy, Harmon Dyle. Harmon, what's going on, man? - Doing well, excited for the season being right around the corner now and just can't wait for the puck to drop. - It's gonna be fun. So we're gonna do our watchability rankings for the 26, 27 season. This is an exercise that we've been doing for years now. I feel like it's a staple of our preview content. It's also one that's a bit tricky. I feel like it requires a certain amount of projection on our part. What we saw last year from a lot of these teams is gonna influence our decision-making. We're doing the pre-season so we haven't actually had the benefit of watching these teams play yet. And so maybe we'll have to revisit it at some point once we have new information but the season starts on Tuesday and I thought it'd be fun for us to prepare for it by ranking all 32 teams based on how excited we are to watch them this year. I wanna quickly run through our methodology or criteria just so we're all on the same page. It's a very subjective formula trying to find the right mix, not necessarily scientific by any means. We're factoring in individual players who we like watching a viewer-friendly playing style. So a team's likelihood of engaging in a fun, entertaining, high-scoring game relevance. You know, wanting to keep up with the team because people are gonna be watching, talking about them, they're gonna matter especially by the time we get to the post-season vibes. Now this is a fun one and we're gonna note it throughout. It can either be jersey aesthetics, game presentation, home broadcast quality, just the general sort of outlook for an organization right now and then novelty. So, off-season changes, the trajectory of the organization, seeing if there's any improvement. This is where I think that we're spoiling it too much. We're gonna knock teams like Carolina and Vegas maybe 'cause we got to just watch them so frequently throughout the post-season and I wanna be looking forward to watching some other teams instead now but that's what we're considering. That's our list and now we're gonna run through it. What we're gonna do here is we're gonna start at 32. I've ranked my teams, you've ranked your team separately, we put them together, we have an aggregate score. I'll note when there was a big disparity for the most part, maybe it's 'cause you and I generally view the game the same way but we were pretty aligned. For the most part, I believe like there were four or five teams where there was a couple spot gap in the rankings but otherwise there was nothing too crazy but I'll note where the biggest disparities were and we'll kick off with 32, a team that you cover on a day-to-day basis, the Vancouver Connux, we were both consensus here, I have to be honest. I don't think there's any compelling argument for making anyone else, 32 and this was a very easy right in for me, there were some teams where I deliberated, I went back, moved them up and down, think of it with my list. I started this one off, 32 Connux in Sharpie did not have to worry about scribbling over it or putting someone else there. Do you have any notes on what you're looking forward to when tuning into a Connux game this season? - Yeah, it's gonna be a long 84 game season. I think, right there with you, I didn't have to think twice about it, Vancouver's going 32nd, it's the start of a rebuild, right? So it takes me back to watching the team last year was similar to watching the pre-Macklen celebration San Jose Sharks, they were that miserable, that little high in talent and when you're at the start of a rebuild, you haven't had yet the opportunity to really bring in the kinds of rookies that can realistically contend for a call to trophy, right? They have some intriguing young talent on the land or certainly as he blew him, like it's gonna be interesting to see what step he can take forward, Liam Ogren, there's certainly guys there that are worth tuning into if you're a Connux fan specifically and wanna monitor the progress of the early stages of the rebuild and certainly with Nanima Hocher coming in as head coach replacing Adam Foot, you're gonna see something that resembles an organized hockey team on a much more consistent basis. So it's not to say if you're a Connux fan that it's pointless tuning into games, it's more if you're outside of Vancouver and don't have a rooted, invested interest in the Connux, there's not really a whole lot of reasons to tune into them, especially because I'm pretty bearish personally on this idea of a bigliest Patterson bounce back and that's not happening then I think four viewers outside of Vancouver, there's just not much of a reason to watch the games. - Yeah, the notes that I had, and I tried to include at least a couple bullet points for each team in terms of selling points for tuning in what to look for when you're watching their games. It's a fascinating science experiment in terms of kind of just validating how bad last year's coaching was. And you and I spoke about this when we did our Pacific Division preview, Ken Ziboyam shows signs of improvement, fresh off that eight year extension, Ken Elias Patterson shows signs of life and shoot the puck more often and harder than he has the basketball years. I think you sort of answered where you're leaning there, but I'm still curious to tune in. There are some young players that I'm interested to watch. I think the reason why I felt confident putting them 32 here is one to your point. We're still probably at least a year or two away from a lot of the meaningful, most interesting young players they've drafted and accumulated along the way actually playing on this team. So you can kind of track their growth, they're gonna be playing elsewhere this season. And the other is there aren't exactly a ton of compelling veterans on this team where it's like for an analyst at UNI, we have to keep an eye on them because if they're traded near the deadline, we wanna have takes in terms of how they've looked, how much they have left in the tank. Like I'm pretty familiar with the work of one Paul Goddard at this point, Luke Shen, Jacob Brusk, like there's not that much here, I guess, beyond a drill Connor that's like legitimately fascinating trade-fotter either in season. And so that's why I have them 32 and you did as well. Number 31, sticking in the Pacific, the Calgary Flames. Now, I initially considered bumping them a bit higher 'cause I do think there are a few things that I'm interested to watch with them, but ultimately, especially with the state of this four group and beyond Matt Baker and my skepticism that there's anyone that has legitimate upside, they settled it at 31 for me. But how confident were you in terms of that ranking that you consider having them a bit higher? - Maybe a tad bit just because on the back end I'm really interested to see how Perrek and Nemechko exist and especially Perrek. It's so fun watching him make plays offensively. He's obviously so raw from a defensive standpoint, but watching him at the junior level, even World Juniors, the vision that he has, how he can wheel around. He's such a fun player to watch. And I think that back end is going to make that team look more dynamic in the offensive zone because of those two and the creativity and just seeing the internal competition, who wins PP1, that'll be fun. And certainly Matt Vagrid and I'm expecting him to take a big step. Maybe even lead the flames of scoring this coming season as he so confidently says he wants to do that's his goal and as he should that kids got swagger. But like this is a scrappy, likable, hardworking team. They aren't very aesthetically pleasing to watch. They're gonna have to grind out a lot of low scoring victories. And really, just looking at the forward group as a whole, it's in the same ballpark as Vancouver's for me in terms of most lifeless in the NHL, how little creative dynamic talent there is, outside of grit, I don't see, like I expect Matt Coronado to bounce back. I think he was unlucky last year to not bury more, create a lot of chances. But what is the Coronado bounce back for like a breakout look like 25 goals, maybe inching closer to 30? I just don't see a player among that forward group that I'm excited to tune into and watch on an every night basis. And like that's the biggest reason I had them this low is just the forward group is kind of depressing. - It is, one selling point for me is I do feel like Dustin Wolf is one of the few goalies in the league that actually adds to a team's entertainment value, especially when he's on and just so fun seeing him stretch laterally and compete. I enjoy their home. Drew's season they're wearing the throwbacks to celebrate the final season at the Saddle Dome, Nemitz and Perek as we discussed last time here and I spoke at greater length. Now my one negative here, and this is where we get into the aesthetics or the vibe or wherever around the team is, they made a change in the broadcast booth. They brought in Kevin Sawyer to be their color commentator. This season he was previously the TSN Jets broadcaster and I really do not like listening to him. He is one of the biggest co-partists in the league and especially watching them cover all the Jets games over the past couple years. You'd think a guy like Cole Kepke, for example, was one of the best players in the league based on the way he talks about it. And I get there's a certain home or element that could be charming at times to local fans, but as someone watching from the outside, I think I'm good on that. So maybe I'll be watching. other teams broadcast more frequently. They are 31st for us. Number 30, the Seattle Cracken. Tough look for the Pacific here, kicking off our rankings with the bottom three teams. I think they have too many good players to be ranked lower, especially in the four group, comparing what we just said about Calgary and Vancouver probably are certainly not the upside in terms of top line players that are really going to move the needle, but they have a bunch of good players who are somewhere near their private, at the very least, or even ascending. Curious to see what a guy like Mackie's on the Skebitch looks like in this spot. They generally play faster pace, even though nothing is actually ultimately happening, like they're flying up and down the ice and not really scoring or giving up goals, but at least the pace is there. And so it's not like a particularly slow affair when they're playing. I think I'm more interested in watching this team in the second half, though, assuming they are bad this year and they sell on the can and have been stunned because they have so many interesting players that were playing Coachella previously and probably will start the year there. If they promote those guys throughout the season, I think I'm going to want to tune in more frequently just to get some viewings of them and see how they look at this level. But to start the season, there is a certain level of predictability or maybe inevitability that we know what we're going to get from this group. Like they're not going to be that bad, but they're also not going to score a lot of goals. They're not going to win. And so I don't know, at 30, it felt like a pretty safe choice here. And you and I both agreed on that ranking. Yeah. As you noted, between Samus Skebitch, and I'm also really fascinated to see what step Berkeley, Berkeley, Canton can take in year two and extremely high pedigree, top 10 pick, terrific production profile a couple of years ago when he was in the CHL, there's a lot of like, when we think about the crack and big picture needing a star, he's one of the bets you have in terms of maybe having that first line upside for the future, not saying it's necessarily all going to come together for him in his age 20 season this year, specifically, but I am excited to watch him play. See if he can use his creativity and show flashes of, hey, this guy's going to be a part of watch moving forward. But I agree where for the crack and it's not so much that they're a depressing watch on the ice, it's more that as a franchise, I feel pretty jaded about their trajectory right now, their direction, what they're trying to do. And in trying to be competitive and building rosters that are ultimately just going to be mediocre, I went there with you. If they start off all the wrong foot to begin the season and they begin selling you a phase of the deadline and they shift toward a traditional rebuild and they start to call up the youth that they have from Coachella Valley where they've got a lot of intriguing guys that actually want to see, hey, what can they do at the next level? Then I think the narrative around the cracking could change pretty quickly because the prospect pool as a whole is actually in a pretty strong position. They're one of the franchises that could actually pivot into rebuild and not feel like, okay, we're starting from scratch with nothing. And I think narrative matters as much as it shouldn't when you're watching a team play on the ice, like it just does for me. Like part of the reason why I'm so meh about watching the crack and is I have no faith in their direction and what they're building toward right now. And if that changes and if they just lean into the youth, then I think all the sudden they become such a more compelling product to invest your time and energy into. That's a really interesting point. Something I think I want to circle back to a couple teams from now because I think it'll be relevant when we have that discussion. Let's keep them moving. We, wow, we really were on the same page to kick this off because 29th we got the natural predators, 28. We have the LA kings were five for five right now in terms of agreement at the bottom of our list for the predators. Losing Luke eventually says a big hit to their watchability. He was a genuine reason to tune in. Last year seeing what him and O'Reilly were doing together atop the line up. I do really like their their broadcast will really don't it? And Chris Mason, it just feels like you're hanging out with buds and it's always a good time. The issue is that you look at this roster and it's kind of pushing and pulling in two different directions, right? After making the evangelist a trade, I know there was a idea that they're going to pivot and use those features. They go off from New Jersey to add a player, maybe even a center that fits better with their timeline or has longer team control, I guess, than evangelist that did at the time. We'll see what happens with that. But for the time being, they had a very active offseason with Chris McFarland coming in. They brought in a bunch of decent useful players, but not anyone who you're particularly tuning in for that frequently. I guess they raised their floor a little bit yet at the same time, particularly after trading evangelista. The ceiling is certainly in question and the roster just in general doesn't make a lot of sense right now. There's pieces like Matthew Wood that I'm very excited to tune in, watch their progression, but for the most part, it's kind of a team that doesn't make a lot of sense right now as currently constructed. I guess you can make the argument that you want to tune in just to see if a guy like Ross Colton gets traded again or something, what that looks like, what he's got left in the tank. But for the time being, I just find it a bit confusing and it's kind of tough as someone who's watched a lot of printers hockey the past couple of years, even for myself. I'm like, I'm not that excited to tune into a game this season. Yeah, and especially because they're stuck in the central where you've got so many other viewing options and being in that division specifically, that there are chances of even making some kind of unlikely like the vets somehow play to the peak of their potential and the young guys explode and sorrows as a vintage year and maybe they somehow push to make the playoffs. Maybe that case could have been feasible in the Pacific, but they're in the central and just with how many competitive teams are ahead of them. It's hard to really tune in with that hope in in mind for them. I agree with you that they're kind of a weird in-between team. I there are actually just like looking through the when I look through the forwards, more individual guys that like I'm genuinely excited to watch. You mentioned Matthew Wood. I'm curious to see obviously what Maverick Bork can do. He was so fun to watch in the first round series against Minnesota was one of the only doubts forwards I could consistently create off the forecheck. Is he going to play center? Is he going to play wing? Same thing with Wood who made the transition and like those are fascinating storylines and you know, Nils Hoaglander, Washington Law and Vancouver and I've always felt he's got more upside if given more opportunity and I'll be tuning in to see if that comes to fruition. But I think what always gives me a sense of tread is the blue line they've constructed after Yoshi. Like D-men number two to six is just such a hodgepodge of bad contracts. Guys who I don't enjoy watching, like the Nick Hague bet didn't love that. The Brady Shade contract is age poorly. He just hasn't fit in that system even though he was a bit better in year two in Nashville. Yeah, it's just at the back end as it outside of Yoshi as a tough watch. Yeah, the Kings who somehow managed to get even over the summer bringing in Zuccarello, Halla and Perry. No copatar is going to be very strange and take some getting used to. It's a shame I was excited because we never got to see upon Pernairin's arrival last year. Him and Fiala on the same team because Fiala suffered that injury at the Olympics and his recovery doesn't seem to be going as well as I would have hoped earlier in the off season. So hopefully he can come back at some point in the not too distant future. They did jump up from 31st to 18th in goals per 60 post Olympics. A lot of that was against the worst teams in the Pacific with a pretty easy schedule. You know, I'm hopeful. This is the year. The Brand Clark gets the usage of talent deserves. He was one on on our hour guys list that I did with Jack Fraser earlier this week. But beyond him, the blue line is just so deficient in terms of puck moving ability that I'm skeptical, even if they have some interesting forwards, that they're going to be able to get them the puck consistently enough to actually meaningfully threaten an attack off the Russian. So with all of that in mind, like it's probably going to be more of the same in LA. And I feel beaten down by it at this point. And so maybe if I didn't have that baggage, I'd view this a little bit differently because of all of that. I felt like having the near the bottom of this list was probably the right decision. Yeah, I'm in alignment. They were a snooze fest for most of last season. They suck the oxygen out of games and I understand that's how they like that's been their identity. That's their most optimal path to success in being competitive because of some of the limitations they have offensively as a group. But it made for a lot of tough watches. Like I even remember a game against Tampa last year that we broke down on the show. And Tampa, as we know, was one of the funnest teams in the league to watch. And they somehow, because of how suffocating their LA style is, they somehow made that game less entertaining. I think they're viewing experienced last season. It's as if they bring other teams down to their level. And again, I don't blame them for it from a competitive standpoint. That's just how they play, but it's not very aesthetically pleasing. I will say I'll be tuning in just to see if Bifield and Clark can take the next steps. Like I think big picture for that organization so much hinges on, can they become franchise players? Bifield's going to get full-time Pp1 opportunity. I know there are people within that organization that fully expect, hey, this is finally going to be the year that he pops and takes off. And if he does, you know, watching him down the stretch last season, when he's on and it's been inconsistent spurts, which is so frustrating. But when he's on, he's so fun to watch with his range, with his size, his speed, with his motor, the flashes of one-on-one skill. So if we get the best version of Quinted Bifield, and we get the best version of Brant Clark unleashed playing 23 minutes a night, then I certainly think they could climb up the watchability ranking, especially since as old as Panarin is, he's still fun to watch in the regular season when there's more time it's based to make plays. So there is an upside case here for the, for the kings, but I'm going to need to see it to really buy in. Thankfully, we are escaping the death grip of the Pacific, and we're getting into some of the other teams as we move up our list. We had the Bruins at the Red Wings tied on aggregate score. You had the Bruins a little bit higher than I did, a couple of spots. I think the Bruins are an interesting team, right? Particularly last year, when I thought they did have a talent deficit, especially for the down the line up, Marco's term did some really interesting stuff in year one tactically, like they did not have the puck a lot, did very poor possession and underlying metrics generally. They were 32nd in the league in offensive zone possession time. And yet, they scored a lot of goals because they were very efficient counter attacking, making the most of their opportunities. They had a top 10 power play. A lot of that is enabled by David Passionaxe progression into one of the best distributors in the game. He finished tied with me, David prefers in primary assists. You're adding Paturka to that mix. And that should be fun. One of my issues is that I just hate tuning into their games. If it's the home broadcast because they have the worst lighting in the league, I really just wish they would turn the brightness up. I have no idea why the screen is as dark as it is. And so that's frustrating from a nerd perspective for me, but I had them 27th. You had them 25. You had any other notes on the Bruins while we're here. Yeah. Pasta single handedly makes them must watch, right? I have to tune in just to see again, his evolution from sniper when he was on that perfection line early in his career with Marsha and Bergeron to what he is now where he's just a playmaking engine. He's so slick. He's so smooth. He's so smart. The way that he can create and buy time and space for not only himself, but as teammates, the way he meticulously breaks defense is down. It's art. And look, part of the reason we have them or we both have them low is because there's not a whole lot beyond him. And they are very reliant on goal tending to and in like a stingy working with like defensive approach to keep them competitive. I know last season their middle six went on a bit of a shooting percentage bender and made things look better than the talent level on paper, like Victor Arvitz and somehow ended up being one of the most efficient 5 on 5 points per 60 producers in the league last season. So part of why I have them low is because I'm baking in some regression from the middle six and expecting that, hey, Boston might be a very top heavy offense again, where you're leaning very heavily on past knock and Paturka to and Zaka those three to kind of drive the boss offensively and the other lines might not give you a lot, but I am also fascinated to watch James Higgins this year. And on the back end, any team that employs Nikita Zadorov and the constant antics that he's up to and the physicality of the chirping. That's why I had them had a Detroit. I had to try one spot higher because I have a certain level of morbid curiosity to tune in to watch the star there's season with all the organizational uncertainty right now, assuming Larkin is quote unquote healthy enough to play in those games. They start the season with I believe seven of their first eight games at home. And it's going to make for a very awkward situation. I'm curious to see what the reception is like from the fans, a home crowd that is very good when the team is is fond and scoring goals. I like their home broadcast side rate Raymond are beasts. But I feel like if anything me having them higher than some of these other teams that they're clearly going to be worse than is a big generous just because of that car crash element that seems like it's brewing at the start of the season. So you were a bit lower on them than I was not much, but do you have anything to add there in terms of what the start of the year could look like and kind of reasons beyond that to tune into a red wings game? Yeah, I would have had them so we're in opposite directions here. I would have had them higher if there wasn't that sense of the car crash coming because I mean, look, their broadcast is best in the business. Sider is so fun to watch the way that yeah, he's in all around stud, but just the physical edge that he has to just blowing guys up with his hits and like there's no other defense been like him in terms of play style in the NHL. And Lucas Raymond, he's just always buzzing and creating offense and chances. If there was no lark and drama and there was optimism surrounding this team, I'd feel good, but it just feels like the vibes are so bad that I think I have a bit of a Quinn Hughes in watching the Knox PTSD for last season, just watching a depressing situation unfold to where that's almost making me less excited to tune into wings games. Very fair, very fair. The Winnipeg Jets are up next. I was a bit higher on them than you were. I had them 24th, you have them 27th. And that's partly because I mentioned this when we did our guys earlier this week, there's a number of players that I'm pretty high on the Cole Perfetti bounce back. Now that he's healthy with a proper ramp up to the season and training camp, it seems like he's going to finally get reps on the top line and it's nice to see them actually trying to change that around a little bit after being so stuck in their ways. Previously, Vigil Bjork falls into their lap of the draft and seems like he can make an immediate impact. There's actually some young players in this starting lineup for them that at least have a bit of upside. And even if they don't work out or they have young players struggles, at least it's a bit different than the past when it's like, all right, well, it's a bunch of old players who we know aren't going to make the cut and we're just watching them play anyways, which is exactly what they did last year. It turns out replacing Niklai Euler as one of the most electric players in the league with a bunch of old slow players was a bad strategy and their offense was dreadful last season. Like they were 25th in goals and that did not do just this to how bleak it was beyond the top line. Their depth just completely flatlined. They scored one and a half goals per hour without Schaifli and Morrissey on the ice 515, which is catastrophically bad. If I told you that Schaifli corner full already, we're top three and 515 goals for them. And then Alex Alfalo was fourth with 10. Would you be able to guess who the next three guys on the team and 515 goals were last year? No, I would not be able to work in Baron with 9 Logan Stanley who got traded at the deadline with eight. And then the aforementioned Cole Sapki was seven. So it was pretty dire. The outlook in terms of the skater group is actually more promising heading into this year. The defense is going to be rock solid. The issue is that kind of what you mentioned with a crack and like the vibes around the hellabuck hold out the ambition or strategy for this organization moving forward are so bleak and dire right now. And listen, if you're a fan of the jets or you're just a casual viewer and you're tuning into one of these games, it's probably not front of mind. And you're just going to watch and enjoy it if some of these players are playing up to their capability. But for an analyst like myself, and I'm sure you probably feel the same way, I can't help but shake that feeling of like to what end? Even if they have a bunch of these bounce backs and they come together, finishing eight in the West and getting smoked by Colorado and round one does not excite me that much. And so I can't kind of help shake that feeling. And that's why I didn't have to hire because actually, like if I just removed that element of it and just looked in a vacuum at some of these players, I probably had them hire than I did. Last season, there were a bottom three wash for me in the NHL. It's really that simple. There were so old, there were the slowest team in the Western conference to me, like not even particularly close, just watching in the defensive zone when there would be a change of possession, trying to see them mount. And when I say all these things, I'm excluding the top line from the conversation because obviously those those guys were dynamic, electric, Shifu 100 plus points. But lines two to four watching them off a change to possession try to form some semblance of a counter attack was painful like you could you're your eyes would light up at Oh, okay, here's a chance to maybe counter and then watching Jonathan Taves labor his way up the ice watch watching it dying real time was a really frustrating experience for me. So look, I might be penalizing them a little bit too much based off my viewing's last season and certainly you're right to point out that I think was some of the younger bets and internal guys that are going to take on some roles edition by subtraction of not only Taves, but a guy like us Nyquist as well who just had nothing left in the tank last season will likely lead to them being a more enjoyable watch, but the hellabuck situation just really puts a damper on all of it. If hellabuck was on on the team going to play at the start of the season, they would be way higher on my list just in the sense of okay, I actually think there's a case where you guys could bounce back and especially because of Salamanson and adding Ferraro like that. Now now I don't now I wouldn't have the same concerns about the third pair and getting crushed when Luke Shen and Logan's Logan Stanley are on the ice or whatever. And there'd be some alright are they going to make the playoffs here and not make noise in the postseason, but get back to something that more closely resembles what they were before last season, but without hellabuck and not having that caliber of gold tending, it just feels like they're headed toward the mediocre mushy middle and that just doesn't excite me at all when I pair it with how slow they were as a team last season. 24th Chicago Black Hawks. I'm excited to watch cancer, I'm excited to watch front Dell in his first full season. I'm curious to see how bow and firearm looks finally getting all the usage that he's clearly wanted, whether their young defenseman can show signs of improvement from last year, it's unfortunate that the guys are going to miss the start of the year because I imagine if he were available. I mean, I'd certainly be more excited, but I think their power play, which was 29th last year, is going to be significantly better when he's back. And the mix with Patrick Haynes playmaking there as well, the issue is there's just so much ground for them to cover here, right, like they could improve a lot of those things that come together, but they were so bad last year and they were so low and pretty much every metric at both ends of the ice that they could improve and be better and more fun to watch and it's still. The results in only moving up a couple of spots in the standings, for example, like to take a meaningful step, a lot of these things are really going to hit so I imagine when the darts back and if we were doing this like a month or two from now, they'd probably be higher just because there is that novelty element of seeing how a lot of these pieces fit and at least there's a bit of hope heading into this season, but. Stripping him from this, it still looks pretty thin and I have a lot of questions, so I don't know, I had them 23rd, you had them 24, it seems like we're kind of in lockstep there on that analysis. Yeah, when Bordard returns, I am really excited to see what it all looks together, I mean, ball and bar I'm seeing I know it's preseason but scoring a hat trick and taking just more sort of ownership of his game like putting the trade price aside for a second curious to see what kind of upside you can show because I go back to the player that he was. For Colorado, when they won the Cup in 2022 and you watched him play at that age and leading the abs in five and five ice time and dominating his minutes. Just being such a two a force and I was so convinced he was going to be a star and then obviously the injuries, the concussions, he never really took that next step, he in fact, his game took steps backward and there was a point 12 months ago where I was pretty down on the player. So it's just an interesting case study in terms of all right, you're going to get the opportunity to be the guy, what does that actually look like on top of once but dark returns and it's such it's such a disappointment that he got hurt when he did because I was so fired up to see if he could be the player that he was through the first third of last season for an entire 84 game season because when he got hurt. And I say around mid December, I double check this he was third in the league and points behind only McKinnon and McDavid and the conversation at that time was. But dart and celebration are taking superstar leaps at the same time we were talking about but dart and celebrate in the same breath and then unfortunately he gets hurt. This is some time and then just isn't the same when he comes back his five of five metrics also claps. In terms of winning his minutes on top of just just the point production and but look when he returns I'm hopeful that you see him take the next step and some of the other young forwards you you mentioned but ultimately with Chicago. As you alluded to there are still just so many holes on this team in the back end is so limited it's one of the worst in the western conference that I still think they're going to have a lot of trouble controlling play and once the first month or two buzz of them and the novelty kind of wears off when we get to late February I think that's when it is going to sink in we're going to have an idea of what the hawks are who these individual players are and I think at that point once there's more certainty around these years. And they're like 15 points back of a wild card spot then they're going to be a pretty tough watch and that's why I had them a little a little bit lower even though the initial buzz is really high. Yeah the defense on this team and it's so young so there is the hope that they're going to get better as a year goes along is such a maker break point for them because regardless of how exciting the forwards are if you're just struggling to. Actually retrieve pucks and get out of your zone and handle four checks and defend in front of your own that you're stuck kind of spending entire shifts chasing you're not really going to get to actually do fun stuff with the puck if you're some of these young forwards and so I think to unlock that they actually need. Guys on the back end to really kind of come together and just be much better then they were last year number 23 to fill out a few flyers you this was our first big disparity I had them 25th you had them 20th. I like the wingers on this team in particular and it's beyond you know I'm very excited to watch a full season of Porto Marton he gave their offense of very different dimension in his small sample at the end of last year. See what an in shape Mitch golf looks like even beyond that like guys like Alex bump and Denver Barkey I think have actual juice Oh and tip it certainly one of my favorite players to watch every seventh game he's going to look like Nathan McKinnon and it's an awesome viewing experience. I couldn't have them higher and I couldn't justify it though because I know that if I told Rick talk it for example that I had them 20th on this list he'd be like that's unacceptable we need to be lower and so. The fact that that's their approach is why I was a bit more down on it but this team I think is going to be pretty difficult to play against once again and I actually do like you know just the skaters in general quite a bit but you were. Sort of undeterred in that analysis and you had them 20th saw that you cook on them a little bit. Yes so i'm with you in that hey I covered Rick talking here in Vancouver for two seasons Rick talk it. An incredible coach at raising the defensive floor for a team helping make them way more competitive we saw that in full last season it's not a very aesthetic viewing experience we know not lot of offense is going to be created. There isn't going to be a lot of east west very simple dump and chase it also is going to limit the opposition's ability to create chances off the rush. Because of that suffocating style I understand that appear on ice entertainment standpoint the flyers may not be justified to be as high as I had them but for me it's narrative and it's the opposite of what I said about Seattle for example where. I am so intrigued to see so excited to see whether last year was just a case of them over achieving. And whether they request or whether they can actually build on this and with the full year of a marton. And a better mid midchkov. Slitify themselves as okay you're consistent solid playoff team now and if that's your foundation if what they did last season is. Alright that's your floor now all of a sudden I think we're having a different conversation about the flyers long term rebuild and ceiling and there's of course still work to be done they need more help down the middle they're eventually going to need a one see. Probably eventually going to need a number one defense been for for the rebuild but they have a lot of talent and there's still more coming in the prospect pipeline to where if what they did last season is their floor I just think from a league wide perspective there are a lot more relevant especially in a metro division where. Outside of carolina and Washington like just so much is up in the air it's not like the Atlantic where you're where you're where there's so much more competition there's actually an opportunity where if the pieces fall into place correctly we're talking about the flyers isn't up and coming. Team and like not a model rebuild necessarily many means because of the holes I mentioned at one scene one D but just hey that's a really interesting project and all of a sudden with some of the assets that they that they've accumulated the caps base they're going to have I mean we saw it with the carls and offer sheet they're going to be positioned to make a big swing at some point and. just the trajectory of that franchise starts to look a whole lot different. Now, if they take a step back, if last season was a situation where they got terrific goal tending from Danville Darn, that's going to take a step back. Um, and they're in the mediocre mushy middle. They're in 85-ish point team. Then all of a sudden, they're going to fall quite a bit for me. But I'm just so excited to tune in from pure narrative standpoint and trying to assess where the flyers are at as a franchise in the grand scheme of things. Yeah. And listen, they to their credit, valiantly tried to add the type of high end talent down the middle that they'd still need. They didn't succeed ultimately. And so that factored into their outlook for me for this season. They are to your point just so aggressive and efficient in the neutral zone. And that makes them very difficult to play against. I also love watching Zegers play. I should note that is like he, there are certain guys that I enjoy watching more than I should like relative to their ability level. And I know Zegers at a good year. There's him. There's Matt Barzell kind of falls into this territory as well, where I enjoy watching their puck possession style the way they see the ice. The enjoyment I get far exceeds their actual point production output if that makes sense. So I think there's supplies to do. That's a good segue because next our list 22, the New York Islanders. And they open their game up so much last year upon Matthew Jafer's arrival. He was such a difference maker in terms of not only their feature, I'll look but they're immediate style of play. It made them a lot more fun to watch. It also made them dreadful defensively. And Elias Rokin covered for a lot of that. I am very curious to see what Peter Bird chooses to do with this group tactically. Now that he's had a full off season to kind of game plan and sink his claws into the operation and incorporate more of his concepts. And also as long time listers know, I love the the peat of her kind of like sad face where he looks like he forgot to turn off the stove before he left the house in the middle of the game, regardless of what's going on in front of him. And so that adds to the viewing experience. I do love the Brendan Burke Thomas Hickey duo on the call for them as well. And I just couldn't have a team that has Matthew Jafer lower partly because he's going to I know he's going to play such a high percentage of the game. And the other is like he's scored 23 goals as an 18 year old defenseman last year, which is ridiculous. And yet I feel like that is just scratching the surface of what he could do. I feel like he really could join as soon as this year, that kill McCarrer kind of seemingly impossible 30 plus goal area at the position, which is rare fight air. And so I'm excited to see what this team looks like yet. I find myself a bit disappointed because their offseason was so quiet, they essentially just replace Andrewsley who goes to Utah with Matthias Michele and otherwise they're kind of rolling the group back. And so I think there's individual elements that I'm quite excited to watch this year, yet I do wish there was a bigger splash or maybe a bit more novelty in terms of you faces coming in. They really could add more juice to this group. Yeah, last season the aisles were the biggest discrepancy between how entertaining I thought there were going to be, which my expectations were very low to what they actually were, which was I had such a blast every time I tuned into the aisles last season. I had to dock them just because I'm expecting that the board is going to tighten them up. And like last year under Patrick Wall they were running gone end to end tons of speed for for both teams. And that's a huge reason why they were entertaining for me to watch. And I just think they need to clean things up defensively. It would be the right move to introduce some semblance of structure and give Elise Rokin a chance to survive and not be left out to drive every night. It's the logical tweak and change to make from optimizing your chances of winning standpoint. But I do think their speed, their rush offense and just how fun their games look is going to take a serious hit as a consequence. And I'm with you in that. I was disappointed by not only the lakimus in the off season, but what they did at the deadline getting Brayden Shen, which I think preceded the off season that they had. There are certainly individual guys, you know, Schaefer obviously, but also I mentioned Barzell was watching the guy watching the way that that guy commands possession of the puck, transports it, finds seams. He just controls the flow of how how every shift unfolds. Ton of on the launch and in bow as a sniper as well. But outside of that, there just aren't a lot of guys there yet. We'll see if Victor Eklund plays a much bigger role than expected, then all right, that could be more more interesting. But I just outside of a few of their individual players, it's just a lot of meh. And a year where I'm expecting them to kind of be in the mediocre mushy middle. The New York Rangers are up next. They were 21st on our aggregate score, Adam 19th, you had them 23rd. And I think that's a reflection as we've gotten closer and closer to season. I've given him more thought. I'm kind of coming around a bit more. I still don't love the long term approach that they chose to take this off season with the future first that they gave up in the process yet. They added a lot of talent to this group. If you look on paper, they just got so much better and very quickly, right? They add a legit second pair that makes a lot of sense stylistically from scratch. It seems like we're going to get Albert Smith's right away. And he provides Jews on the on the back end of the third pair that I'm excited to get viewings of. They add an elite shooter and Doraphiev, which I think they're going to need. Not just in the power play because the vintage ad has kind of remodeled his game. The past couple years to be more of a distributor and passer than he was earlier in his career. I thought Gaper O look very promising down the stretch. They add two useful good wingers in Burekstra and in Tolbinin for very cheap and free agency. And if Fox and it's just starting to help you this year on my class year, I'm coming around to idea. This is going to be a pretty good team and a very wide open Metro division. And so I'm I'm curious to see kind of how that all comes together. And particularly the forward group like what they chose choose to do in terms of the combinations and who plays with whom. Yeah, I think it definitely be a playoff team this year, right? You nailed it in that there's zero disagreement around how much they improve this offseason. I think there are a couple reasons why I had them low. One is I still think their playing style is going to be a tough watch. They're going to be trying to grind out lots of low scoring to one three two contests. Also last season they were I remember watching their season opener right off the bat. And I was shocked at how slow they looked. To my eye last year there were the slowest team in the Eastern Conference. A lot of veterans there. And I think I'm also just I think I've had too much of the JT Miller experience to be honest, I might just be jaded of that watching Miller not backtrack in certain situations, not have the same juice that he used to kind of flounder around defensively, turnpox over, pick up his points on the power play still, but be pretty ineffective five on five yet he's still playing a big role. And the captain of a team that in the grand scheme of things isn't really headed toward our trajectory of actually contending for a Stanley Cup. Like that kind of drags down the like how enjoyable that experience is for me with the Rangers and just knowing big picture. Yeah, I could see a scenario where they make the playoffs, but I just can't shake the feeling that in the long run, I don't see how they can become cup contenders, especially now that they've traded away future first round picks and their prospect pool isn't anything to write home about. I don't like their, I don't trust Christianry's long-term vision. They're still a slow team and I think aesthetically even if they make the playoffs are going to be very reliant on goal tending and special teams and then the whole J.T. Miller experience and me being overexposed to that having followed and covered the canoxes is why I had them well. You know what, that's a very good point and something I did in fact in nearly enough, particularly after the Vintro chick trade, right? He's very involved in this team as the second line center. So I probably should have considered that a little bit more. The Ottawa senators are up next. You had them a bit higher than I did, you know, I'm 17, I'm 21. Now I'm a bit concerned about prognosis and autumn's UB and I'm still being unavailable, but assuming he's able to come back at some point and reunite that pair with Jake Sanderson, they probably should be the best defensive team. In the league, we saw a lot of that last year, particularly post the Olympics and I do think the Brady Kachak being gone will help with the vibes. I'm curious to see what it does to their offensive numbers because they were 15 slot shots, 5th and interslot shots, 9th and expected goals to go along with that. defensive environment. And he, despite being kind of a flawed and efficient player, is a beast in juicing those particular categories. So, you know, hopefully Willie Mecklen can come in, fill some of that, take a step as a shooter, replace some of that, particularly if he's playing with Stutzl on the top line. I do think it's also possible, Jake Hans Anderson, just takes another step offensively, becomes truly elite at the position and scores, let's say, 20 goals, 70 points and is viewed as a top-life Norris guy by the end of the season. And so that'll help compensate for some of that loss a little bit as well. I still think 17 was a bit ambitious, just because of, you know, the playing style and I think Travis Green's preferences. And so, I baked that into my equation a little bit, but I had him 21. You had them a little bit higher though at 17. Yeah, and this is where, you know, watchability rankings, important or mind everyone, it's subjective. It's, a lot of it is vibes based. And this is just a vibes take for me where I understand that they're going to be playing a pretty defensive style and that's not going to necessarily lend itself to the most exciting back and forth games with crazy comebacks and a lot of rush offense on both ends of the equation. But to be honest, this is a story I'm rooting for. I'm just rooting for a small market Canadian team to like your franchise, player your, well, I shouldn't say franchise players. It wasn't the best player, but your captain leaves you and it's different than let's say the Queen Hughes situation where the connox were a tire fire. And you could understand a player wanting out from that situation. This in Brady contract situation, the sends were a competitive playoff team. They were successful. And I, I just, I feel for them. I feel for the way that that exit happened. Knowing that hey, it is typically harder to attract talent to one of the smaller Canadian teams like that. I just, I'm rooting for them. I want them to kind of have success. I think they could be a fun story. And to be honest, I don't think that they're necessarily going to take a huge step back after losing Brady, even though that division is a behemoth because as you alluded to, that blue line is incredible. And you think about even from a goal-tending perspective, they, they made the playoffs despite Linus Allmark being up and down for a long time. And obviously, he had his mental health leave of absence. You know, I'm rooting for him, especially he looked better down the stretch and then it was sensational in the playoffs. If he can deliver sturdy goal-tending for them, I still think this could very well be a playoff team. And then there are just, like, I love watching Jake Sanders in play. In terms of pure skating ability, I think he's top five in the league of any position mind you. Watching Rome around and Stutzler's electric, they obviously don't have a lot of elite forward talent outside of Stutzler, which, you know, hurts. But I think part of it is just I'm rooting for the story, man. I want them to succeed and make the playoffs. I am as well. The Columbus Blue Jackets. So kind of the inverse of what I just heard about Ottawa, you had them 21. I had them 17th. They net out at 19 on our list. It is such a shame that they're not higher. They really should be in this tier that we're going to get to later on with the other young flawed, but ascending teams in the league. They're going to be exciting to watch and scoring a ton of goals. I'm nervous about the vibes. Fantilly finally signs this week, but they let a drag through pretty much the entire training camp and breezy scenes at a point where we're only a couple days away from the regular season. And he now he's being thrust back into the mix. Marchenko clearly doesn't want to be there. And I don't see any scenario where they trade him at some point and come out ahead this season, both from an honest results perspective, but certainly from a watchability perspective. I have no faith at this point that Ken Johnson and Demetri Bronco will play as much as they should or as much as I think they should. Rick bonus, who's back as the coach fundamentally changed the way they played last year. And as a result, they slow everything down. They made them so fun previously, turn them into a half-core team, all of the volume in terms of how much they generate and give up dipped. And so it was just lower event hockey, kind of like dots down, grinding stuff out as opposed to being a free-flowing rush team. And we saw their offenses dry up down the stretch and it was a big reason why they missed the playoff. So the actual players themselves, I think, were into higher ranking than this yet because of the vibes and because of my, I guess, fear of how vulnerable this is to just going south, I had them a bit lower than I really should have because I viewed them coming into this exercise as near that sort of, like, ducks, sharks, group of teams where it's like, yeah, they're probably not going to be that good, but man, it's going to be exciting to watch these players progress. And instead, I'm just less sure that's going to be the case this year in Columbus. Yeah, and if we did this last year, they would have been top 10 to 15 for me. Now I'm with you where the talent were based on their talent. They should be higher. If the main reason I docked them and docked them hard is because of the Rick bonus experience. And hey, maybe tightening things up will lead to more winning hockey. Maybe I'm not sure, but tuning into a lot of those games down the stretch, I was just shocked at how lifeless they looked offensively, how much more dump and chase they were. It just felt like the puck possession style, the rush offense, the green light to make plays was just zapped. And I mean, maybe it was just a case where my viewing experience of them was backweighted toward the end of the season when they fell off. And so maybe that isn't representative of what they're going to be this coming season. But with how low event Rick bonus has been as a head coach and even just watching his teams in previous stops, I think he alone is going to significantly drag the watchability and entertainment of Blue Jackets games. That's why it dinged them so hard. And then also what you said in terms of the vibes and if they get off the rough start, the the Zachorenski questions are going to start reappearing along with Marchenko. And also just I feel burned after a lot of season. I think around the midway point of the year and when they went on their initial run, we were all convinced, all right, they're going to make the playoffs. And then the catastrophic collapse that they had second year in a row where they fall just short of things. And then you have Rick bonus calling out his team and it's just I feel really like down from last season to where I'm just protecting my heart and not letting myself get excited about them. Even though the possibility of them being good and making the playoffs still exists. You got to protect your heart, Harman. It's very important. The St. Louis Blues, we both had them 18th. I really like this forward group. It's a lot of guys in their early to mid-20s that top line as we've discussed the Rob Thomas Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerude was phenomenal down the stretch, really like March 1st on when Thomas and Holloway came back and they played with Snuggerude. They were I think up 22 to 6 in their 5 on 5 minutes. From that point forward, they do lose Jordan Cairo this all season, which hurts because he's so fun to watch, but they replace him with Conor Rick Michael, who I think has a lot of juice available in his game. Mason, Octavish, a player I'm skeptical of, but it's still young enough that maybe in a different environment they can get more out of than Anaheim was able to and you put all that together with a blue line after trading away just in fall, like they bring up Yo-Linstein, a young player who plays with Colon Preco that pair really plays well together. I think there's a mobility to their game. I know it's maybe not the most exciting team or in terms of like what their immediate upside is, but assuming we see more of what we saw from them down the stretch and less of what we saw early in the year when they struggled, I think it could be a sneaky, fun, high scoring team to watch. And so yeah, I hope for their sake that they can start strong because the past two years, they really kind of had to dig out of a big hole and make a spirited run down the stretch. I'm curious for your dig on sort of what their outlook looks like in a central that's going to be really tough to compete in. Yeah, at their best, they would be higher on this list, not a lot, put certainly a little bit down the stretch after the Olympic break, watching Thomas Holloway and Snuggard Cook was a ton of fun, even though it was in relatively meaningless games. And the issue I keep coming back to the blues is, and maybe this is just a function of, hey, when you're in middle of a pack team, you're going to be prone to highs and lows. They're just so inconsistent for me, right? We know that in 2024, 25, they made a coaching change, and then all of a sudden went on that tear and we were talking about them as, all right, this is a dark horse team that can actually make a lot of noise. But then they're an on and again, off again team in terms of make the playoffs one year, miss it the next, make it one year, miss the next. And I think that reflects in the team that you're watching in November could look very different to the product you're getting in February. And so when they're at their best, yeah, I love tuning into blues games, but when they're messy, defensively, when, especially when if they're vulnerable to injuries from an aesthetic standpoint, and that if they, if what happens last year happens, where Thomas is out for a stretch, hallways out for a stretch, like immediately mind-sensitive for watching blues, blues games goes down a lot. So it's just, they're a tricky team for me because at their high end, I really appreciate what they're able to do. And I think they have the potential to make the playoffs this season, but they're just an inconsistent bunch. And if they get one wrong, one injury to the wrong player, it just changes the outlook of the team so much. Well, it's fascinating that you frame it that way because number 17 on our list up next, the biggest golden nights, and you were a bit higher on them than I was, you had them 50 and died in 20th. I'd say the same thing about them. I think at their best, they're clearly higher than this. We just saw them make the Stanley Cup final. They have a ton of high-end players, which you can't say about a bunch of the teams that we've already covered on this list. Yet, I'm just kind of skeptical on how often we're actually going to see that level from them throughout the regular season. I think they've shown that they're clearly guided by just trying to get to the playoffs and then are going to be judged based on how they do there. And so I think that's going to be reflected in how many games we see their best players play. Like, when everyone's available, when Mark Stone's playing, when William Carlson's playing, they're higher on this list, but Mark Stone's going to miss 20 to 25 games. William Carlson is probably going to be banged up again and shape the it or as a history of missing time. And so on any given item, I'm not sure what I'm going to get. From this group, the bottom six, especially on the wing, looks pretty hideous. I think they're going to significantly miss Peveldorf. He has shot making. He was one of the few guys who could really turn the volume. They generate into goals. And so we'll see. I think it's still a work in progress as you and I discussed in our Pacific Division preview. I imagine post-traded line after they make the one or two annual big moves that they make every year. They'll probably rank higher on this. And we're going to see them kind of make a push towards the playoffs. And then I'll be tuning in. But at the start of the year, I'm a little bit burnt out after watching them play whatever 20 plus playoff games recently. So they're not going to be like priority viewing for me. But on the right night against one of the best teams on the league, they're certainly going to be worth tuning into. I just think in the aggregate from a season perspective, if I'm picking between them and one of these kind of new teams, I'm probably going to lean towards the latter just to see what that looks like instead. Yeah, that's all very fair. I think when I was ranking them, I was doing it with the assumption of if Vegas is lined up as healthy because you're right. If they lose a Theodore on the back end, I remember in previous years that injury happens and all of a sudden their ability to move the puck out of their own zone suffers tremendously all of a sudden they're forward. It's got a lot less puck touches in the neutral zone. And they just become bogged down. They struggle offensively. And same sort of thing. If stone goes down, the power play, which man that power play is so fun to watch when everyone's healthy. And I know they're going to have to replace Doraphiev. But we saw that when stone got hurt, their man advantage numbers absolutely crumbled. And it's an entirely different viewing experience. So yeah, you're right. The moment of Theodore or Mark Stone gets hurt, they're tumbling down the list for me. But when they're healthy, just watching ikel, mariner, stone, Theodore, cook together, five on five on the power play. Just the collection of star talent they have is a ton of fun, especially ikel. I have an appreciation for the way that he picks defenses apart, given that he's such a smooth, powerful skater. But he's obviously not a McKinnon or McDavid Burner. So seeing the way the deception in his game, how he shields the puck, how he still finds ways to drive entries. How he's just probing when he's attacking downhill. I love watching him cook. One of my favorite players in league to watch. And I also honestly don't know much about their new head coach, Ryan Craig. So I want to learn more about his tactics, usage, deployment. And yeah, all of that is probably more relevant down the stretch closer to playoffs. But that at least gives me enough curiosity to make me tune in. But yeah, you're right. The moment someone gets hurt, that's important. They're tumbling down this list. Yeah, it's a bit fragile. The Pittsburgh Penguins are 16. The biggest surprise from last season. Only the abs and hurricanes scored more goals than they did last year. They were also second in both slot and inner slot shots. I just love the way they kind of move the puck creatively despite not being a very fast team. Still they some of their offensive zone sets are really fun to watch like the indirect passes off the end wall or out the boards kind of trying to drag defenses to join them on the periphery and then working the inside. They did a lot of really cool stuff offensively under Dan Muse last year. They also used 40 different skaters. And once again, they were very active kind of bringing in you guys. There's at least a handful of new lineup regulars that they added this off season. And so it's going to be a fascinating test case, I think, not only to kind of show the last year wasn't just an aberration that they could do it again. That Dan Muse can once again put these players in positions exceed and get more out of them than they previously did at their various stops. And then the Kyle Dubas was able to like identify some of these guys and that they're underline numbers are going to translate into results. So you put that together. And then the fact that the the old guard brought me more than Carlson still got it and we're still so fun to watch. I had them 15th on my list. You had them 19th. They are right in the middle of our rankings at 16. And I'm pretty excited to tune in again. And that was something that, you know, I forget where I had them at the start of last year, but it was very low. It would seem very bleak and like they were headed for completely bottoming out. And so I think their rank this season is a testament to what we saw from them last year. For sure. I had them lower because of the whole, and I think this has been a consistent theme throughout this exercise so far. The narrative of a team matters to me. And last season, I think from a pure watching them standpoint, I was blown away at how quick they looked, moving the puck up the ice, overall team speed, how dynamic they were offensively. In the first month of the season, I remember a game against Anaheim, where I was like, whoa, this is one of the best regular season games I've watched from any team period in the month of October. And that wasn't just one off. It continued throughout the season. I think for me, part of it is believing that they overachieved last season that everything went perfectly right. And not that I expect the bottom to necessarily fall out, but I'm baking in some regression risk with them, but also even if they are able to replicate what they did last year. The main reason it's hard for me to get excited about watching the penguins this year is the whole like to what end though. Just watching the way like I had, I had hopes heading into playoffs going up against the team in Philly, who I thought they were better then, that okay, here's a chance to win a first round. Playoff series and who knows maybe go on this like shocking little Cinderella run where they again win around or two. It wasn't just that they lost. It was how convincing they they lost and how like that series just kind of cemented it to me that as much as my heart still wants to make me think that they've gotten more playoff success, left in them even if it obviously doesn't amount to a cop. It just killed my sense of optimism to where I'm looking at and going even if they replicate what they did last year. The veterans are just another year older and they're just going to get destroyed in the playoffs. So I think that's part of why I have them lower because it and that's why like it explains the difference between Philly and Pittsburgh for me because Pittsburgh pure aesthetics is funner to watch. They're faster, they're more offensively creative, more more wide open, but just Philly is a as a narrative with the young talent they have and being on the upward swing as a franchise whereas Pittsburgh, let's be honest, the the big guns are still the the old guard and those guys are on the downhill and you know their time is limited. That's why I have Pittsburgh lower here. It's very fitting that next up on our list back to back at 15, we've got the Carolina Hurricanes at 14, we've got the Florida Panthers, two teams that have accounted for the past three Stanley Cups who will be kicking off this regular season with the banner raising in Carolina and then the game to follow, you know, for the Hurricanes, I think on the one hand you know what you're going to get, it's such a proven formula from them. I, similar echoing what I said about Vegas, there's a bit of fatigue on my part just by virtue of watching them so much last post season, yet I really admired the steps they made offensively. Last year, there was so much more fun to watch. The talent level improved, but I think their approach as well, they were just more efficient creating off the rush, I think only Colorado, generally more rush chances than then last year, the mid-range of the offensive zone with stuff that Blake and Elers kind of unlocked for them there, and then the power of Blake being as efficient as it was. So I don't think this is a knock at all, it's just kind of like, you know, [BLANK_AUDIO] exactly what the hurricanes are, they're going to be one of the best teams on the league, probably win the Metro and be poised to defend their crowd, come to postseason, and that's why I had them a bit lower, but I actually just significantly enjoyed watching them more last year. And I imagine that's going to continue this year with kind of being freed up after winning a cup and short of sort of shedding some of those demons. And so I'm excited to see if they can build on that and keep kind of improving in that particular area. With that new look second line they have, they are, there were more dynamic off the rush than I expected them to be and I think there are there a team along with Florida that I think is going to be opponent dependent where we saw it. Remember Colorado Carolina last year when both teams had the throwback jerseys, the trailers and Nordic ones, that was hands down one of the best regular season games I've ever watched. And it's because both teams understood, hey, this is a measuring stick game and they were going all out. It legitimately felt like a playoff game with the physicality, the pace, the intensity, all that. The issue is they are so suffocating as a team with their pressure that if they go up against an opponent that just, there are a lot of opponents where they go up against them and that team just can't hang, they can't break the puck out, they can't handle the pressure. And so your opponent gets so bogged down that the game doesn't look remotely interesting. Like I go back to the Cain's capital series from a couple of years ago. It was a little bit painful for me aesthetically to watch. I'm not going to lie just because it was so clear that the caps couldn't hang with Carolina at 5 on 5 and the entire game it felt like was just played in the capital zone and it was just shot off into zone recovery, funnel it back to the point. It felt very repetitive, machine-like and yeah, that's how you want it to be as a team to maximize your chances of winning. But just as a viewer, it feels like against certain opponents, they don't even have a chance to play with you. So I think that's why I have them not in the top 10 for instance. You know, for the Panthers, I'm so excited to have Sasha Markle back in our lives. I'm curious to see how they approach the regular season on the one hand. Like you'd think they'd take it easy to ensure their vets are available. Come to playoffs and they're firing on all cylinders when the game's better yet on the other, everything you've heard coming out of Florida is that they are itching to prove the last year was a one-off and that they're officially back and are going to be at the top of the league. These games, it's very nice that we get it right off the bat. The games against the Hurricanes, for example, I think we're going to be particularly fascinating to see kind of what they look like, what kind of statement sending there is. I think we'll get a good glimpse into what to expect from the Panthers this year. I'm just skeptical, like as we get into the middle of the season, maybe along lines of what we said about Vegas, what the minutes are going to look like and who's going to be available. If they're sort of middleing placement on this list where we had them 14, reflects those two outcomes and kind of the range of them, right? I think at full health, they should be higher just because their playing style is so aggressive and they're so full blast at all times. But how often they sort of like really lean into that, I'm a bit skeptical of particularly early in the year. So you had them 14, I had them 13th, what went into your process of ranking and where you did? I said it to watch them with Barca being healthy and seeing how Brady fits in and whatnot. But I'm with you. I just have a feeling that they've never been a dominant regular season team and their watchability changes dramatically for talking playoffs, right? That's a team that when they ramp it up with how physical they are, how nasty, how violent, like I love watching that kind of hockey. I'll be honest, you love when there's a villain in the league, just because it makes everything so much more interesting. If this isn't the playoffs, like Florida from a peer watchability standpoint, they'd be like top three without any doubt. Issue is 84 game regular season, especially for a season veteran group. I'm just expecting that they're going to be a lot of nights where they coast and do put it in cruise control, do the bare minimum to get the two points and I think we especially notice this, like I learned my lesson down the stretch in the 2024 25 season where the race for the Atlantic was still wide open and Florida basically, like I actually remember being on the show with you and being like, they're very uninspiring to watch right now. They just aren't playing great hockey, I don't know what to make of them and you just made the point. I just think they're saving their energy for the playoffs and we saw them flip the switch as soon as the puck dropped against Tampa, they're a completely different team, so this is a regular season watchability ranking, so that's why I've dinged them along with their four groups slow, so they're not going to be an end-to-end rush team necessarily and that docs, they're like pure entertainment a bit I think. Well, it should come as no surprise anyone listening to you and I got together and are running ridiculously long, nerding out about every team in the league. I think we're about to hit the 80-minute mark since we started this exercise and we still got 13 teams to get through, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to split the watchability rankings into two parts. We're going to take a quick break here and then when we come back, we'll jump into the top 13 teams in the league in part two, so once you're done listening to this, just hop over the next episode, join us for a closer look at the teams Harman and I are most excited to watch this season. Thank you for subscribing and for listening to the hockey video cast. [Music] [Music]