Professional Amateurs: Recent Episodes
Mitchell Thompson
Professional Amateurs involves lifelong friends discussing and debating all the latest news in the NHL. Our takes land somewhere between that of proper insiders and watercolour talk where our episodes never lack passion.
In this long-awaited 32nd episode, Ryan and Mitchell go team by team and break down all the free agency moves, good and bad, and major trades before giving quick thoughts on the draft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During a truly hectic time, Ryan and Mitchell decide to do a pod before Mitch decides to depart for New York City for draft day. We run through a flurry of trades, including the Pierre-Luc Dubois which drops DURING RECORDING, the awards from Monday night, and do a quick preview of the draft and some crazy trade ideas for a few teams with many draft picks.
It is Hot Stove SZN and so we are pleased to welcome Ottawa’s Senior Writer of the Hockey News, host of the Sens Nation Podcast and owner of CapitalPodcast.ca, Steve Warne. Steve has been in the weeds on Alex DeBrincat’s contract situation and has been a top reporter on the topic. We also discuss Erik Brannstrom’s future in Ottawa after an interesting 2022-23 season for the young defensemen, the goaltending situation and how/whether to address it going into 2023-24, and we get his reaction to the finality of the Senators' sale, thoughts on Michael Andlauer, and his thoughts going forward under new ownership.
In our 30th episode and 1st with THPN, we have a brand new Stanley Cup Champion! After the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 9-3 in game 5, Mitchell and Ryan break it all down from both Vegas and Florida’s perspectives. After which we get into the other massive news of the day wherein the Ottawa Senators Sale Saga was mercifully concluded Tuesday afternoon with Michael Andlauer’s bid of $950M. We discuss Michael Andlauer himself and what his winning the bid may mean for the franchise going forward.
After 3 weeks abroad, Mitchell returns from the UK after having watched zero minutes of the entire Conference Finals and one measly period of the Stanley Cup Final thus far... so naturally we talk all about it, including Vegas being an absolute steamwagon of a hockey team whether this may be Florida's best and only chance for a while given the construction of their roster. We also dissect two significant trades which saw the Columbus Blue Jackets acquiring the premier player in both deals, and then we get into some RFA news and rumours while discussing the short term outlook of the Winnipeg Jets amid the Dubois and Hellebuyck news as well as the Ottawa Senators in the midst of their Alex Debrincat conundrum.
In episode 28 of the Bandwagon Hockey Podcast, we welcome in re-occurring guest and contributor, Neville Madill, to set up the Stanley Cup Final while Mitch is somewhere across the world. We go over Neville's latest article, the Panther's magical run, the Golden Knights' more lowkey stars, and much more before giving our official predictions.
In the aftermath of the 2nd round of the playoffs, Mitchell and Ryan review the 2nd round that was and give previews and picks of each Conference Final matchup. We marvel (again) at the roster that Dallas has managed to put together since their Cup Final run in 2020, Vegas' relentless pursuit of the Stanley Cup (and whether expansion teams performing well is actually a good thing), Florida's incredibly unorthodox path to this point of the season, and Carolina's depleted roster managing to get this far. It's a warm Final Four. Buckle Up.
On what was supposed to be a joyful day on the NHL calendar with Bedard Watch coming to a close, Ryan and Mitchell review the 2nd round up to this point and follow that up by watching the results of the draft lottery live on the pod... where was many believed was the worst case scenario rears it's ugly head as the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1st Overall Pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft
Panthers eliminated the Bruins, Kraken eliminated the Avalanche, and the Devils eliminated the Rangers. There have also been a couple of games so far in round 2 and there is some award news to discuss. As you may be able to guess, Mitchell and Ryan do exactly that.
After a few series wrap up and with a few game 7's on the dock, Ryan and Mitchell spend a good chunk of the pod discussing the biggest one of all... The Hurricanes defeating the Islanders in 6. Boston and Florida engage in what will be the first of what should be two epic game 7's on Sunday night wherein Seattle will also be looking to dethrone the defending champs. Vegas and Edmonton are set to face in what will be an awesome 2nd round, and the Stars look formidable in what could be a long run for them.
Oh and the Leafs eliminated the Lightning, we talked about that.
On this the 23rd episode of the Bandwagon Hockey Podcast, Mitchell and Ryan recap the set of game 3's from Saturday and run through where each series is at as we reach the midway point of the 1st round. Zero series are at a score of 3-0. Each series could go either way. And things are heating up. We give our game 4 picks for Sunday and discuss some other minor news points to wrap up the show.
Note: There is no intro and outro music in this episode because the audio file crashed in recording :/
On episode 22 of the Bandwagon Hockey Podcast, Mitch and Ryan discuss game one from every series of the first round, going night by night, including the Tampa Bay Lightning smoking the Toronto Maple Leafs and Rangers fans invading Devils' home ice. We then close out the show by talking about some of the recent news in hockey, including Brad Treliving's departure from the Calgary Flames' front office.
On episode 21 of the Bandwagon Hockey Podcast Mitch and Ryan traverse some technical difficulties on Ryan's end (which Mitch handles like a champ) to preview the now-confirmed first-round playoff matchups. Going series by series we give our picks and how many games each will take, with some fun banter as always in between. Then to wrap up the show, the boys run through a string of head coaching/management firings, touch on Jonathan Toews finishing his Blackhawks career (meh), and discuss a perfect ending to Craig Anderson's career.
On episode 20 (yay) of The Bandwagon Hockey Pod, Ryan and Mitchell run through a milestronerific week in the NHL that saw one guy hit 1500 points, two guys hit 1000 points, one guy hit 1000 games, a defensemen hit 100 points, one guy hit 60 goals, and a few other dudes reach 100 points. The bulk of this pod is spent discussing who should win the Norris this year, the future of awards for defensemen, and why there is only one award that recognizes the excellence of NHL defensemen.
On episode 19, Mitchell and Ryan kick things off by giving Devon Levi his flowers after an impressive debut with the Sabres Friday night against the Rangers. We then discuss some of the major accolades achieved in the past few days as the season winds down, giving Matthew Tkachuk his weekly praise, discuss the evolution in Brady Tkachuk's playstyle, and check in on the hilariously bad wildcard race in the Western Conference. We look at just how interesting the West has gotten after a few weeks worth of excellent play from the conference's elite teams after we declared the conference "boring" about a month ago. To wrap up the show, Ryan Reynolds attended yet another Senators game wherein he was... awesome, and Mitchell tells a funny story that happened to him prior to the Battle of Ontario from Saturday night.
Mitchell and Ryan dive into the Senators long term outlook on defense and finally have the Thomas Chabot conversation after an extremely volatile performance against the Panthers. We then grill the league about the recent report that the NHL plans to "promote" the league by scheduling all 32 teams to play on the same day DURING THE WEEK... as though it isn't a terrible idea and they don't basically already do this every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
We then get into the reported Evgeny Kuznetsov trade request, the Dallas Stars recent tumble down the standings, the Western Conference playoff picture, and to wrap up the show, Ryan throws a very fun fact at Mitchell.
It is almost playoff time! Ryan and Mitchell kicks things off by discussing who's clinched, who's gonna clinch, and go around the horn looking at some interesting player comparisons that have surfaced this season and some accolades that have been met in the last week as we hit the stretch run. We talk about whether Matthews or McDavid, or both, could someday challenge for the career goals record that Ovechkin seems likely to surpass. We wrap up the show discussing the disappointing trend in the league with players deciding against wearing the pride jerseys in warmups for their team's Pride Nights, as well as the complete lack of best-on-best international play in hockey after McDavid's comments on the World Baseball Classic, and namely Trout vs Ohtani, which wrapped up earlier in the week.
The timing of the NHL announcing its upcoming partnership with Fanatics is hilarious because Mitchell just received a faulty Jake Sanderson jersey in the mail. So we discussed. We also get into Dylan Ferguson's epic NHL debut, Pittsburgh's plummet and Florida concurrent surge. We discuss the QMJHL's decision to eliminate fighting and the future ramifications on the NHL, and what could have been between Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Binnington. We wrap up the show discussing the Jared Bednar contract extension in Colorado and discuss other coaches who were this successful with the same team that they were a part of during a rebuild.
We kick off the show discussing Daniel Briere's comments from his introductory press conference as Interim GM and Elliotte Friedman reporting that Carter Hart could be moved this summer. We stay within the Metro and discuss the devastating news that Andrei Svechnikov was lost for the season due to a torn ACL and what it means for Carolina's Stanley Cup chances. We wrap up the show talking Coyotes, namely Bill Armstrong's gutless comments regarding the trade of Jakob Chychrun and what he had to say about his tenure as a 'Yote.
Episode 14 kicks off with a brief recap of Saturday's games, with a focus on games which impacted the Eastern Conference Wild Card race.
Pittsburgh crushes Philadelphia, Islanders lose to the Capitals, Florida loses in OT to the Jets, and Ottawa drops a dud in Vancouver. We talk lineup decisions, good and bad, and give our take on Florida who look poised for a run.
We then move into the HNIC main event between the Leafs and Oilers in which the stars shined, and the brightest star of all was none other than Mitch Marner, who looks primed to will his team to playoff success with a 1g 3a performance for the ages with McDavid, Matthews, and Draisaitl on the ice.
We wrap up the show discussing the new out of Philly that saw Chuck Fletcher's tenure as General Manager mercifully come to and end, and Daniel Briere step in on an interim basis.
In our return to a regular episode no longer dominated by trade news and rumours, Ryan and Mitchell look at the Eastern Conference wild card playoff picture and how it has changed in the last two weeks. We wrap up the show discussing some of the individual accolades that were reached over the weekend, such as McDavid setting a career high in points and Quinn Hughes becoming the fastest defensemen every to reach 200 career assists.
In the wake of the NHL trade deadline day, and an as-expected unexciting one at that, Ryan and Mitchell go team-by-team and discuss their deadlines, whether we liked or disliked their moves, and how they look going forward.
24 hours after the Senators pull off a monumental trade to acquire the star Coyotes D-man, Mitchell and Ryan jump on to discuss the trade from both the perspective of the Ottawa Senators and the Arizona Coyotes.
Mitchell and Ryan recap the 5 major trades that went down over the past couple days as we gear up for what should continue to be an exciting deadline season. This podcast was recorded prior to the Timo Meier and Tanner Jeannot trades, and in order, we discuss the Bruins deal to acquire Orlov and Hathaway and how it affects the Blue Jackets, Nino Neiderreiter being dealt to the Winnipeg Jets, Vitali Kravtsov being shipped to Vancouver in a cap-focused move for the Rangers as they close in on Patrick Kane, the Habs and Stars exchanging Dadonov and Gurianov, and the Golden Knights further depleting their asset pool to acquire Ivan Barbashev. We wrap up on the show with a few words on the playoff picture and some of the games bearing massive playoff implications in the next few days.
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Auddie James of the SDPN and the Win Column to talk Flames as the franchise approaches the deadline in a middling year.
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Lyss Houde of the SDPN and the Can't Teach Size Podcast to talk Jets as the franchise approaches the deadline and their salary cap position has them ready to take a swing.
NOTE: This preview was Recorded on February 23rd, 2023
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Jacob Snow of Brock University to talk Canucks as the franchise approaches the deadline where all indications are almost anyone is available.
NOTE: This preview was Recorded on February 19th, 2023
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Owen Howlett to talk Sens as the franchise approaches the deadline where they are expected to tip-toe the line of being both a buyer and a seller.
NOTE: This preview was Recorded on February 11th, 2023
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Neville Madill of Brock University to talk Habs as the franchise approaches the deadline where they are expected to deal several more players before March 3.
NOTE: This preview was Recorded on February 17th, 2023
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Mason Boruch of Brock University and Stathletes to talk Oilers as the franchise approaches the deadline when they may take a big swing.
In the wake of the biggest trade of deadline season thus far, we break down the three-way deal that took place between the Maples Leafs, Blues, and Wild that saw former Conn Smythe trophy winner Ryan O'Reilly and depth centreman Noel Acciari pack their bags for Toronto. We break down the deal and what it means for all three teams involved. We also briefly discuss another victim to the "trade-related reasons" healthy scratch as Ottawa's Tyler Motte was held out of Sunday's matchup with the Blues due to an impending trade (Note that the trade to the Rangers occurred AFTER recording), as well as rumours surrounding Vladislav Gavrikov heating up. We wrap up the show discussing Chris Neil's jersey retirement, and Mitchell's experience at the ceremony.
NOTE: This preview was Recorded on February 16th, 2023 :/
As we approach the deadline, we bring on guests that cover/follow each of the 7 Canadian teams very closely to talk about deadline plans, rumours, and moves made to date. We were pleased to be joined by Sam Hill of the Off The Post blog and The Morning Skate to talk Leafs as the franchise approaches a do-or-die deadline.
On a slow Tuesday, Mitchell and Ryan debate the idea of switching to a Wednesday because the NHL doesn't know how to maximize it's schedule.
We kick off the show discussing the silly game that took place in Ottawa on Monday night after the Senators pulled off a 2 goal come from behind victory in the final 2 minutes, led by (sort of?) by a 4-point night from Tim Stutzle. We transition into discussing the introduction of the "trade-related reasons" healthy scratch that has now migrated to Columbus as the Blue Jackets withhold Vladislav Gavrikov from play prior to his impending trade. We wrap up the show looking at trade fits for Timo Meier and Dylan Larkin, and debate the logic behind the contract dispute between he and the Red Wings.
On this Super Bowl Sunday, Mitchell and Ryan run through the Vladimir Tarasenko deal from earlier in the week, and recap and discuss a series of significant rumours that began circulating last night regarding Erik Karlsson, Timo Meier, and the healthy scratch of Jakob Chychrun. We recap a dreary Senators-Oilers matchup that resulted in injuries that may threaten Anton Forsberg's career. We wrap up the show running through some notable news points from Saturday night as well as crafting a hypothetical Erik Karlsson trade to the Oilers after the report that Edmonton had accelerated their pursuit of the Norris trophy front-runner.
Mitchell and Ryan kick off the show discussing the Bo Horvat extension and what it means for the New York Islanders in the short and long-term. We then transition to eastern New York where the Sabres extended their 2019 7th overall pick, Dylan Cozens, to a 7 year contract extension. Would you rather have Hughes + Hischier or Thompson + Cozens? We debated it, and the similarities are endless. We wrap up the show discussing the Battle of Florida and what the Panthers need to do to both a) get into the playoffs this season and b) work their way out of the corner that they've put themselves into concerning the salary cap.
Mitchell and Ryan go over an... interesting All-Star weekend and discuss all of the happenings, from Gary Bettman's comments to the lack of effort from the players. We wrap up the show discussing the pair of Capitals extensions to Dylan Strome and Sonny Milano
Ryan and Mitchell unpack the blockbuster deal that went down Monday night between the Islanders and Canucks, and that it was an extremely rare case where both team's lose in the deal. We then discuss the All-Star replacement fiasco that now has the All-Star game Kraken-less, and potential destinations for Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko as the rumour mill heats up.
Ryan and Mitchell recap Friday and Saturday night's games, discuss Montreal's weird roster, Steven Stamkos hitting 500 goals, the NHL's constant inability to effectively schedule hockey games, and Matthew Berlin appearing as an EBUG in Edmonton's 7-3 win over Chicago Saturday night.
The Bandwagon Hockey Podcast welcomes back Brock University student Jacob Snow as he returns to talk about the coaching debacle (and pretty much everything else) in Vancouver. We cover the Boudreau firing, the Tocchet hiring, the JT Miller "project", the team's cap structure, potential trades, and what we would have our first transaction be if given control of the Canucks for a day.
To wrap up the show, Mitchell and Ryan go over Monday night's games, including Gaudreau's return to Calgary, yet another stellar Nylander performance against the Islanders, and the ongoing mess in Florida and how one ill-advised contract has sewered the on-ice outlook of that franchise.
Following up on our first episode back where we reviewed the entire Eastern Conference by running through the standings, we do the same for the Western Conference. From top to bottom, we start with the Dallas Stars and end with the Anaheim Ducks. We make a few pitstops and spend some extra time on the teams that we expect to be big players at the NHL trade deadline on March 3rd, namely the Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Arizona Coyotes and the San Jose Sharks. We also briefly touch on the firing of Canucks firing of head coach Bruce Boudreau as we Vancouver.
Welcome to the Bandwagon Hockey Podcast!
After a month long break from recording, Mitchell and Ryan return under and new name to go over the Eastern conference. We run through the teams in order of the standings and we discuss everything from contract negotiations, trade rumours, individual player performance, the playoff race, and the Bedard watch as we get up to speed on all things East from the last month.
Please note that this episode was recorded on Sunday afternoon, but couldn't be posted until today for technical reasons
In this 40th episode, we discuss Tage Thompson's 5 goal outburst and whether he has reached the echelon of "Franchise Player", Thomas Chabot tries to break Travis Hamonic's face, and what Nylander's next contract might look like after his 5-point night continuing his torrid start to the season. We wrap up the pod discussing the move by the Predators to place Eeli Tolvanen on waivers, look at how the Kings have sputtered during what was supposed to be their ascent, and we take a look at Team Canada's WJHC pre-tournament camp roster.
We kick off the show discussing current playoff seeding and how teams are starting to show their true colours and fall in line with preseason predictions and we transition into discussing the 9-8 barnburner in a potential 1st round preview between the Kraken and Kings, and quickly run through some results from last night. Next, we breakdown just how unique Dallas is in the modern NHL in terms of its roster construction between eras in the wake of the Roope Hintz extension. Matthew Tkachuk returned to Calgary in a 6-2, and we discuss a couple of awesome tweets from JFresh from the last few days.
In a slow news week by midseason-NHL standards, Ryan and Mitchell discuss Shane Wright finally being sent down to the AHL for a 10 day "conditioning stint", they give Erik Karlsson his flowers, discuss the return and future of Jakob Chychrun (and some potential trade packages) and wrap up the show taking a look at Bleacher Report's 2025 Mock Rosters for Team Canada and Team USA... there's a clearcut better team and it's probably not who you think.
Mitchell is back to complete the trio for episode 35. We kick things off talking some Hall of Fame and specifically Erik Karlsson's contribution to the Player's Tribune which gives a look inside his relationship with the newly inducted Daniel Alfredsson. We transition into a discussion regarding the possibility of an Erik Karlsson trade and whether it is realistic in the current NHL landscape. Mitchell then goes on a massive rant regarding the dumpster of a situation that the Vancouver Canucks have gotten themselves into. We wrap up the show talking about the New Jersey Devils "9 (now 10) game heater" and give our impromptu ProAm Player of the Week honours.
On this episode of the professional amateurs podcast it’s just Jack and Ryan as mitchell has more important things to do. We chat the Ottawa Senators ownership situation including Ryan Reynolds and Chris Neil’s jersey being retired. Jack then shares what he’s seen from Slafkovsky now that he has played his 10th game and how long he may be suspended after a bad hit. The bruins locker room receives our “player of the week” after the Mitchell Miller debacle in Boston, and we end the pod reflecting a bit on Mcdavid’s 500 NHL games so far.
Jack is MIA, so Mitchell and Ryan run down the past week of NHL hockey, jumping all around the league discussing the Erik Karlsson's newfound trade value, Connor McDavid's absurd start to the season, the New Jersey Devils becoming the new Corsi darlings of the league, and Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights sitting atop the league after having numerous question marks coming into the year. We wrap up the show by shouting out Tage Thompson's 3-3-6 game and by awarding this week's ProAm Player of the Week honours.
In episode 32, we bounce around the league looking at news of Josh Norris' injury being more serious than originally expected and some of the early season surprises including the Canucks, Predators, Sabres, and Devils. We then discuss just how important the start of the season is to the playoff race and how difficult it is to make up ground in the NHL. We wrap up the pod with the first edition of our ProAm Player of the Week!
Episode 31 of Professional Amateurs kicks off with Mitchell gushing over the Ottawa Senators' home opener from Tuesday that had an above-capacity crowd of 19,811 (106%). We talk about little bit about how the top 6 has gelled thus far as well as some excellent hockey being played by both Jake Sanderson and Erik Brannstrom as Thomas Chabot has dealt with some early season rust. After that, we throw it over to our interview with a trio of Brock Students to talk all things Habs, Canucks, and Oilers as we check the temperature on their respective team's start to the season and how they look moving forward (13:10).
The NHL season is underway! After a couple of games in Czechia between San Jose and Nashville, the "real" season openers kicked off on Tuesday night. Not only that, but a referee gave a pre-game speech and it gave us the opposite of goosebumps + Jason Robertson signed. The guys also break down the disturbing news concerning Ian Cole and the suspiciously concurrent timing of the withdrawal of many of Hockey Canada's most significant sponsors. After a heavy conversation, we wrap up the show by giving our predictions for TheAthletic's DGB Prediction Contest for the 2022-23 season.
ProAm is back after a no podcast week last week to discuss the Matthew Barzal extension on Long Island, the never-ending Jakob Chyrchun trade rumours, and the NHL season is finally ramping up. We wrap up the show teasing next week where we will go over our Down Goes Brown season prediction contest submissions for TheAthletic.
The Professional Amateurs Podcast welcomes Ross Levitan and Brandon Piller, hosts of the Locked On Senators Podcast as part of the Locked On Podcast Network, to the show to talk some Sens (10:55)! Before throwing it over to the boys, Mitchell and Jack briefly discuss Nathan Mackinnon's record breaking extension with the Avalanche, what it means for Auston Matthews' next deal, and discuss 2022 1st Overall Pick Juraj Slafkovsky's performance in the NHL's annual pre-season rookie tournament.
For our 4th and final division preview episode, we cover the Western Conference's Central Division. We kick it off with the Nashville Predators after a sneaky dynamite offseason, the doom and gloom Winnipeg Jets, the cap strapped Minnesota Wild, the awkward-but-still good Dallas Stars, the Arizona State-bound Coyotes, the ever-consistent St. Louis Blues, the new defending champion Colorado Avalanche, and we wrap it up with the abysmal and ever-disappointing Chicago Blackhawks.
We are back for another division preview, this time covering the Pacific Division. The Pacific seems to have a clearcut bottom 3 and top 3 and should be another interesting season given the new faces in the division. We start off by talking about the Seattle Kraken after a disastrous inaugural 1st season, then move to the Anaheim Ducks who are looking to take a step in their rebuild, the confusing Vancouver Canucks, the lottery bound Sharks, the offseason headline hotspot in Calgary, the Oilers seem to have improved after a Western Conference Final appearance, the much improved Kings, and the perennially dysfunctional Vegas Golden Knights after missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
In the 2nd instalment of our 2022-23 NHL offseason reviews and season previews, we run through the moves made by the Metropolitan Division teams and our expectations for each going into the new season. We start off with the suddenly free-agent friendly Columbus Blue Jackets, the aging Washington Capitals, the division winning Carolina Hurricanes, the always interesting New York Rangers, the miserable Islanders, the familiar looking Pittsburgh Penguins, the promising New Jersey Devils, and last but also least, the ongoing gong show in Philadelphia.
It is September, which means hockey season is fast approaching! Ryan, Mitchell and Jack review the offseason for each team in the highly intriguing Atlantic Division and preview what we expect from them in their 2022-2023 seasons. We start with UFA heavy Detroit, then cover the injury ravaged Bruins, the offseason champion Ottawa Senators, the new-look Panthers, the basement-dwelling Habs, the good vibes Sabres, the expected Goliath Maple Leafs, and wrap up the pod with the forever dominant Tampa Bay Lightning.
Professional Amateurs welcome Tony Cordasco and Chris Gawlik of the Locked On Golden Knights Podcast to the show as we look back on Vegas' offseason and forward to their 2022-23 season (25:50). But first, Mitchell, Ryan, and Jack discuss the Flames signing Nazem Kadri and subsequently trading Sean Monahan to Montreal, the Islanders retaining their trio of RFA's, and the conclusion of the Summer edition of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
On this Jack-free episode of Professional Amateurs, Ryan and Mitchell chop it up on some NHL news from the past week. Notably, Robin Lehner getting hip surgery and what it means for he and Vegas going into the 2022-23 season, Jakob Chychrun returning to the rumour mill in recent days with connections to the Nations Capital, and a conversation covering a comparison between Erik Karlsson and Cale Makar.
On this August edition of the ProAm Podcast, Ryan, Mitchell and Jack rundown some of the notable hockey news from the past few weeks. We quickly review the Trade Of The Summer and the Huberdeau extension that followed. We break down Boston's bargain signings of Bergeron and Krejci and talk about where we think the Bruins are at as a team going into the 22-23 season. We go over the Islanders lack of signings and the rumour that a Kadri signing is tucked away and wrap up the pod talking about Nathan Mackinnon's upcoming contract.
The NHL Offseason is officially here as we recap all the major signings and trades since the league year flipped to 2022-23. Among other things, Gaudreau goes to Columbus, the Senators continue to be busy in the hopes of competing for the 2023 playoffs, Carolina and Tampa continue to display their organizational excellence, Pittsburgh makes a pair of deals, and Matthew Tkachuk rumours are heating up in what is shaping up to be an entertaining offseason.
Ryan, Mitchell and Jack go over the surprising top of the draft, the goalie carousel, all of the blockbuster trades that have gone down, and all the signings that have occurred in one of the busier weeks of the NHL calendar. We wrap it up with a brief round of predictions for some of the big name UFA's.
Jack, Ryan, and Mitchell go in on Jack's annual 1st round mock draft and discuss some of the notable selections in the first round including picks 1-4, 7, 8, 17 and 26 (0:00) and discuss which teams we THINK might move in the 1st round and which team's we WANT to move in the 1st round (26:00). We then break down the Ryan McDonagh deal to Nashville and what it means to both teams (32:00).
Mitchell, Ryan, and Jack react to the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup and discuss the future of video review. We then preview the offseason's to come for the Avs and Lightning, discuss the quartet of Roberto Luongo, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, and Daniel Alfredsson being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and wrap up the pod discussing the Kevin Fiala trade to the Los Angeles Kings.
We start off the pod doing a preview of the dream matchup that is Tampa vs Colorado and discuss what we are particularly excited for (2:30). Then we get into whether Tampa is already a dynasty or if they need the 3-peat to establish itself as one (5:40) and follow that up by looking forward to interesting offseason’s in both New York (9:20) and Edmonton (16:00) after their respective conference final runs. We then get into the news worthy off-ice happenings of Connor McDavid and Sammy Blais that took place Sunday Night that hockey Twitter running rampant (23:15). We wrap up the pod discussing whether Leon Draisaitl’s value is at an all-time high and what it would look like if he were the best player on his team (25:30) and giving out Stanley Cup Final picks (29:00).
Mitchell and Jack review the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and give our big takeaways from each series, what's next for the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Calgary Flames. Preview the Conference Finals Matchups between the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Colorado Avalanche and the New York Rangers vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning before going on a bit of a tirade about the New York Islanders and Lou Lamoriello.
Mitchell, Ryan and Jack are re-united and discuss all the happenings of the 1st round and the fallout to come. We start by discussing Rangers-Penguins and the controversial “helmet play” (3:00) before getting into offseason outlook for the teams eliminated over the weekend; Pittsburgh (12:05), Boston (21:25), Dallas (23:50), Los Angeles (28:00), and Toronto (32:10) and looking at the offseason goalie market (43:00). We then review our 1st round predictions as well as give some updated predictions for the 2nd round (48:00).
Mitchell and Jack go over one of the weirder 1st rounds in recent memory. One where almost every game has been a blowout despite each series (besides COL-NSH) being close. We also go over the continued inconsistency that is the NHL's Department of Player Safety after what has seemed like a major infraction in every game.
Recorded Monday, May 2, 2022. Ryan and Jack begin by discussing Mitchell's absence from this podcast and how it will go to his head (0:00). On today's episode, we discuss our "ballots" for the major NHL awards: Hart Trophy (1:20), Norris Trophy (5:43), Vezina Trophy (10:00), Calder Trophy (12:40), Selke Trophy (19:02), Jack Adams Trophy (22:05). We then go through every first-round playoff matchup and give our picks (27:15). Beginning with the East: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Toronto Maple Leafs (27:40), Florida Panthers vs Washington Capitals (30:12), Boston Bruins vs Carolina Hurricanes (32:35), and New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins (34:27). Then with the West: Colorado Avalance vs Nashville Predators (35:15), Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues (36:15), Calgary Flames vs Dallas Stars (39:25), and Edmonton Oilers vs Los Angeles Kings (41:20). Since Ryan and Jack had many of the same picks, we look at some potential second-round matchups as well and give our Stanley Cup favourites (45:25). We then wrap up by touching on the Detriot Red Wings decision to walk away from Jeff Blashill and Malcolm Subban's fantastic rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (56:15).
After the craziest night of hockey of the year, Ryan, Mitchell and Jack run through the Dallas-Vegas game and its playoff implications (3:00). We follow that up by discussing all things Vegas, from what is going on with the Robin Lehner saga (8:00) to Jack Eichel’s performance as a Golden Knight to date (16:15) and what might Vegas do this offseason (22:00). Matthews is the first player to hit 60 since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12, Connor McDavid had a 4 point night to surpass Sidney Crosby’s career high in points, and Stamkos hit 100 points for the first time after going on a historic points streak (27:30). Another first round series was locked in, Edmonton-LA (39:40) and a Toronto-Tampa 1st round matchup looks like a foregone conclusion (42:40). We do contract predictions for Jason Robertson, Josh Norris, and Tim Stutzle (52:00) before considering how Ottawa may operate this offseason given the uncertainty surrounding ownership (1:01:20).
Mitchell, Ryan and Jack start by mentioning the first series to be locked in for the 1st round of the NHL playoffs, St. Louis vs Minnesota (2:13) and it quickly evolves into a discussion about the NHL’s division based playoff format (2:41) before circling back to preview the Wild-Blues first round matchup (24:20). We then pick which 1st round matchup we are most looking forward to (28:35) and take a quick look at what a 1-16 playoff field would look like this year (35:47). In honour of Steven Stamkos setting the Lightning franchise record with his 954th career point, we rank the #1 overall picks since 2008 based on career to date, peak performance, and potential (38:50).
First things first, Ryan got into Grad school! (0:00).
On today’s episode, Mitchell, Ryan and Jack discuss the scoring uptick across the NHL this season after a historic league wide goalscoring performance over the weekend (3:31), and touch on the most random 50 goal season by Chris Kreider (14:20).
Next, we welcome Austin Howlett, aka Auddie James, and his brother Owen to the show! (17:01) Both are from Calgary and follow the Flames very closely. We cover all things Flames from Johnny Gaudreau’s Hart case, what Flames fans expectations are going into the playoffs, what drove this huge turnaround season in Calgary, and more!
SHOUTOUT: Auddie James co-hosts two different podcasts, Locked On Flames and The Barnburner Hockey Podcast. Go check them out on your preferred podcast platform!
Ryan, Jack and Mitchell touch on the Ryan Hartman - Evander Kane situation (3:48), Carey Price returns (4:19), and the Eugene Melnyk article at The Athletic (6:40). Next, we go in on some fun hypotheticals and debate them for the majority of the pod, touching on various topics such as "Will Crosby reach 1800 points?", "How many cups for McDavid and with what team?", and "How would you change the NHL's points system?" (16:10).
Jack, Ryan, and Mitchell discuss their recent trips to the dentist (0:40). Then get into Matthews scoring 51 in 50, the raging debate surrounding it (5:38), and whether Matthews '21-22 season is more impressive than McDavid's 2021 season (12:20). We get into Owen Power's debut on Tuesday in Toronto (20:55) and follow that up by going in on Craig Button's top 50 NHL affiliated prospects list published earlier this week (24:55). Prospects 50-46 (27:30), 45-41 (29:37), 40-36 (35:03), 35-31 (39:58), 30-26 (43:39), 25-21 (49:28), 20-16 (51:03), 15-11 (55:01), 10-6 (58:46), 5-1 (1:02:24).
With Ryan back from Edmonton, we kick off episode 6 by discussing the passing of Eugene Melnyk (1:25). After the Leafs blew 5-1 and 6-2 leads in a 7-6 barnburner against the Panthers, we discuss the similarities between the two squads and how they stack up with the playoffs just a few weeks away (8:17). We transition into a comparison between Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Huberdeau and debate which winger is more valuable to their team (19:36). The last half of the podcast is spent discussing the Marner vs. Draisaitl debate (29:30) and what we think the Hart trophy means vs. what it should mean (34:46).