Hello everyone! In Episode 19 of the AIH 20416 Podcast, recorded on Jan. 17th, we "only" had two guests booked and thus had to fill time at the beginning. I confessed to being the puppet master behind our podcast's twitter account, before we discussed swapping Mark Stuart for Bryan Bickell, everyone starting to make trades and this incredibly interesting tweet courtesy of @NicholsOnHockey and Bob McKenzie:
McKenzie: Expectation is if #NHLJets were to re-sign Byfuglien, it would take at least a five-year offer at around $7 million a year.
— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) January 14, 2016
Waiting for free agency if injured (or simply not Drew Stafford), Winnipeg having called up half the Manitoba Moose top-six, Captain Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and loyalty all served to round out our intro segment.
After having Travis Hughes on in early October for a special edition season preview episode, it was time for a midseason follow-up. To this end, we were joined by Mary Clarke, news desk writer at SB Nation's NHL site, Associate Editor with Broad Street Hockey, and seemingly associated with most every other hockey news outlet there is on the internet.
Just as with Episode 003, we moved through the league division by division, discussing the storylines which we find ourselves with in January. As you can imagine, each called for an abundance of questions. Beginning with the Metropolitan Division, we tackled such topics as Washington's dominance, having hope for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the win-win trade which was Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen and what Mary thought is the most surprising story of the division thus far.
Moving onto the Atlantic, Roberto Luongo's Vezina-caliber season, Boston exceeding low expectations, Steven Stamkos and the unbelievable possibility of both Tampa Bay and Montreal missing the playoffs all came up. Though in my opinion, the highlights may have been feeling bad for the Toronto Maple Leafs, making Alan a Leafs fan and a special guest reappearance by the Metropolitan, as both Mary and I expressed having heart attacks over Braden Holtby's injury scare.
We then steamrolled into the Pacific Division like we were the Los Angeles Kings. Vincent Lecavalier being a man of his word, trying anything to jumpstart Anaheim’s offence, burning the Edmonton Oilers franchise to the ground, the Arizona Coyotes being buyers at the deadline and more, all made the docket. We left the best for last, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast in order to hear our hot Central Division takes. We also discussed All-Star Captain John Scott, in a situation which is thankfully settled in a positive manner!
After reiterating our season preview Stanley Cup predictions, Alan and I went for the redo and invited Mary to join in. Here were the results:
Phil
Eastern: Florida Panthers v. Washington Capitals
Western: Los Angeles Kings v. St. Louis Blues
Stanley Cup Finals: Los Angeles Kings v. Washington Capitals
Alan
Eastern: Tampa Bay Lightning v. Washington Capitals
Western: Chicago Blackhawks v. Los Angeles Kings
Stanley Cup Finals: Chicago Blackhawks v. Washington Capitals
Mary
Eastern: Tampa Bay Lightning v. Washington Capitals
Western: Dallas Stars v. Los Angeles Kings
Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas Stars v. Washington Capitals
Curious as to who we picked to win it all? Check out the links below! To cap things off, we went around the table asking which team we'd like to see select 1st overall at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Our next guest was Mitch Kasprick of Winnipeg Hockey Talk and Arizona Hockey Talk, and it was a delightful segment full of Jets prospect talk! Mitch was kind enough to guide us on a journey through Winnipeg's draft history and prospects, year by year. Remembering Claude Noel, closing the book on the Mark Scheifele draft, success in 2012 and 2014, 2013's current relation to the Manitoba Moose and more!
We were reminded of how the transition to pro hockey isn't an easy one, and that sometimes it's easier to succeed at the NHL level than in the AHL. Josh Morrissey is a stud, Andrew Copp is miscast, the phenom which is Nikolaj Ehlers and Pavel Kraskovsky as the potential steal of 2014. No seriously, listen to the potential Kraskovsky NHL comparable which had me absolutely floored. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there was griping over Winnipeg's power play.
Between our midseason review and Jets prospect information dump, it was both an action and knowledge packed episode. Use one of the options below to give it a listen:
1. Take a gander online here.
2. Visit our page on CyberEars.
3. Download the .mp3 file directly (right-click link, Save As…, etc etc).
4. Listen, subscribe and rate us on iTunes.
So tune in, let us know how we did in the Comments section below, and remember to send your questions, concerns, thoughts and haterade our way by tweeting @AIH20416 or e-mailing aih20416@gmail.com. Remember to follow Alan at @sliiiiip and myself at @PhilipAIver. Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening!
