The Hockey PDOcast

I start the show talking about Kyle Beach's bravery in coming forward, the cowardice within the Chicago Blackhawks organization that allowed this to happen to him, and the way everything has been handled. Then Jack Fraser joins the show to discuss teams that have either overperfomed or underperfomed so far based on our preseason expectations, and whether we need to change our projections for them...

Chris Johnston and Emily Kaplan join the show to discuss teams that have our attention, things we're watching moving forward, and what people around the league are talking about. Topics include: How the Penguins keep winning without key players The Panthers building something special The likelihood of Vegas making another big move The Jack Eichel trade market Chicago's horrendous start and who's t...

Dom Luszczyszyn joins the show to help preview the upcoming NHL season. We discuss team projections, league trends, player props, and our favourite bets. Topics include: What to make of last year's data The difficulties of projecting a new team like the Kraken Stickiness of metrics from one year to the next Teams that made big changes over the offseason The realistic ceiling for McDavid's point to...

Cam Robinson and Chris Meaney join the show to help you prepare for your fantasy drafts by discussing players to target, breakout candidates, and situations to watch closely to start the season. Topics include: Stacking Florida Panthers skaters Sam Bennett's remarkable end to last season Sam Reinhart's upside playing next to Barkov Jack Hughes' breakout, and why points are coming Which Devils skat...

Arpon Basu and Andrew Berkshire join the show to help unpack everything you need to know about Jesperi Kotkaniemi's offer sheet. We discuss what he's shown so far in his career, what he needs to do to be worth the money he's now being paid, Carolina's motives for going after him the way they did, and the big decisions ahead for the Canadiens. If you haven't yet, please go take a minute to leave a...

Ryan Lambert and Jack Fraser join the show to discuss the start of free agency, the biggest themes from day one, and the way teams have been throwing around money. Topics include: The going rate for big defensemen right now The gap between how teams are valuing certain players Trying to figure out what Seattle's plan is at the moment The way they decided to ultimately spend their cap space The opp...

Alison Lukan  joins the show to discuss the Seth Jones trade and extension, his declining numbers in recent years, and all of the assets the Blue Jackets got in return for him. Topics include: Gap between Seth Jones' reputation and results What's been causing his dip in performance Issues with judging players based on raw ice time How bad things got in Columbus last season Premium Chicago paid in...

Kevin Woodley  joins the show to discuss the goalies that should be available this offseason, and the teams they'd fit best on moving forward. Topics include: Carolina's decision to move on from Nedeljkovic What the Hurricanes do in net next Why John Gibson is better than his recent numbers The effect playing on a bad team has on goalies How good Darcy Kuemper really is Matching goalie playing sty...

Charlie O'Connor  joins the show to discuss Philadelphia's busy offseason, their pursuit of improving defensively, and the seemingly polar opposite evaluations they've made in acquiring Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen. Topics include: The Flyers goal suppression issues last year How much of that was on defense vs. goaltending The relatively small acquisition cost for Ryan Ellis The stunning pric...

Harman Dayal  joins the show to discuss the mega trade between the Canucks and Coyotes that involved Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, draft picks, and cap dumps. Topics include: The offensive value Garland provides OEL's decline and what's caused it Whether he can bounce back in new environment Short term gain of being better next season Long term pain of taking on added financial risk Kicking...

Ryan Lambert and Jack Fraser join the show to discuss what Seattle chose to do at the expansion draft, how the Kraken will look in Year 1, what their next steps are, and specific picks that we found notable for either good or bad reasons. Topics include: The value of financial flexibility moving forward How they can spend the cap space they now have Forgoing bigger names with bigger price tags The...

Cam Robinson and Chris Peters join the show to help preview the upcoming entry draft. Topics include: Mock draft of the top 15 picks What we think should happen vs. what we think will happen Realistic player comparisons for the top prospects Favourite talents that should be available later Risky picks that teams should stay away from The challenges of evaluating players this year Scouting using vi...

Thomas Drance  joins the show to discuss the Minnesota Wild buying out the rest of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise's contracts. Topics include: Why they chose to do it now The pros and cons of buying out the contracts The one year of financial flexibility they created Why the Wild find themselves at a crossroads this offseason Kirill Kaprizov's next contract The future dead cap charges that are coming...

Jack Fraser  joins the show to discuss the Duncan Keith trade. Topics include: What kind of player he is at this point of his career How much of the defensive issues were on him vs. the team Can the Oilers can get better numbers out of him in different role Historical comparisons for this type of move Impact usage has on performance The fit for him given his present day skills Questioning why they...

Mike Johnson  joins the show to help preview the upcoming Stanley Cup Final, and discuss how the Lightning and Canadiens match up against each other. Topics include: Carey Price vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov vs. Montreal's defense How Canadiens shut down Golden Knights forwards Phillip Danault's work in the matchup game The battle for premium real estate that we'll see L...

Chad DeDominicis  joins the show to discuss where things went wrong for Jack Eichel and the Sabres, the most interesting landing spots for him, and what kind of trade return Buffalo should be looking for. Topics include: Jack Eichel's 6 years in Buffalo How the Sabres failed to build around him properly Why the two parties reached a point of no return Exactly what kind of player is the team tradin...

Jesse Granger  joins the show to discuss how the Golden Knights came back from down two games to beat the Avalanche, how Mark Stone was able to slow Nathan MacKinnon down, and all of the stuff that has and hasn't worked for them this postseason. Topics include: Why this felt like such a big upset The adjustments Vegas made after Game 1 What player usage tells us about how coaches really feel The M...

Andrew Berkshire  joins the show to discuss how the Canadiens beat the Jets, how the Lightning beat the Hurricanes, and round two of the NHL postseason. Topics include: Enjoying the playoffs vs. trying to learn from them Individual talent vs. team structure when it comes to defending How Montreal dominated Winnipeg at 5-on-5 Paul Maurice talking about analytics Lineup balance and depth in this yea...

Jack Fraser joins the show to discuss what we learned in the opening round of the postseason, and help preview the upcoming second round matchups. Topics include: Lightning vs. Hurricanes How Kucherov and Hedman looked at 5-on-5 Tampa Bay's power play vs. Carolina's penalty kill Nedeljkovic trying to keep up with Vasilevskiy  Golden Knights vs. Avalanche Vegas turning expected goals into actual go...

Jack Han joins the show to discuss the Colorado Avalanche, why they've been steamrolling teams so far this season, and what we can learn from their success. Why we're interested in learning from the Avalanche Adjustments they've made to their playing style Having good players, and getting the most out of them Their improved defensive metrics this season The interplay between defense and offense Ag...

Mike Johnson joins the show to preview the opening round matchups in the North Division. The topics include: Learning from the season series between the Oilers and Jets What the Jets should do to try to slow down Connor McDavid Pros and cons of trying to line match in a playoff series Playing McDavid and Draisaitl together vs. splitting them up Nikolaj Ehlers' importance to the Jets The struggles...

Ryan Lambert joins the show to help kick off our playoff previews by deep diving the round one matchups in the East and Central divisions. The topics include: Carolina's nearly flawless statistical resume What the Predators need to do to make a series of it The Hurricanes forecheck vs. Predators skilled defensemen The impact of seeing fans at the rink for a playoff game again Why Lightning vs. Pan...

Dom Luszczyszyn joins the show to discuss how we're filling out our awards ballots for the 2020-2021 NHL regular season. The topics include: The last finalist in the Calder voting Kirill Kaprizov vs. Jason Robertson Andrei Vasilevskiy fading down the stretch Juuse Saros' herculean effort getting Nashville in What defense looks like as part of a two-way effort Sasha Barkov's monster season Why Jacc...

Sean Shapiro joins the show to help deep dive the ups and downs this season for the Dallas Stars, the excitement behind Jason Robertson's special rookie year, and the future of NHL broadcasts in the States. Topics include: The battle between Dallas and Nashville for 4th in Central Underlying numbers vs. results for the Stars 1-goal games, and waiting for regression in short season Impact of COVID...

Chris Johnston joins the show to discuss the moves we saw made at the NHL trade deadline, the behind the scenes of how they came together, and why teams made the decisions that they ultimately did. Topics include: What the market was actually like for Taylor Hall How much the Bruins improved at the deadline Steve Yzerman accumulating assets How Mantha-for-Vrana came together The Leafs motivation f...