WhyHockey

Before we launch ourselves completely in our summer side hobbies, there’s a busy offseason for the Panthers and Flyers to talk about, which we do and more including: 8:00: We talked about Brady Tkachuk for a podcast, so how about an extended talk about the Panthers fourth liners? 23:45: Radko Gudas is back and so is Alex Petrovic 33:45: Jakob Markstrom is back! What do we expect from him and Akira...

After Tommy and I reacted to the Brady Tkachuk trade from the Florida side of the equation, I wanted to get more of a Senators perspective on the trade and Julian McKenzie of the Athletic joined me to talk about his view of all the news and more including: 6:00: How has Julian digested the last few days of Senators news? 11:00: Brady Tkachuk’s unique impact as a Sens player, captain and piece of a...

Yes, the Florida Panthers just traded for Brady Tkachuk, shortly after I wrote about the Mackie Samoskevich trade and not a week after doing a draft preview podcast expecting the Panthers to make it. Such is life. There is a lot for Tommy and I to sink our teeth into with the trade including: 4:15: So, the Panthers traded for Brady Tkachuk, eh? Starting with the pick compensation: is it an overpay...

Will Scouch, or Scouching, is one of WhyHockey’s favorite draft experts, and with the Panthers picking in the top 10 for the first time in forever, it was time to bring him back to the show to talk about how it might play out, including: 3:45: Which previous draft does this remind Will the most of? 9:15: The Leafs are taking McKenna first, right? 13:45: Will San Jose go for positional need at pick...

It’s June in the world of hockey, which means it’s time to talk the Cup Final, the Draft, the coaching carousel and more. Tommy and I sink our teeth into all of this including: 0:15: Cup Final observations 24:00: Dylan Larkin wants to be traded! Florida is one of the places he may want to be traded to! The Panthers shouldn’t do this! 38:45: The Oilers may want to hire Mike Babcock! They shouldn’t...

Tommy and I have a lot to go over on the latest WhyHockey podcast, particularly over the Flyers playoff elimination and the Panthers sliding to ninth in the lottery. We pour over these topics and more including: 6:30: The Flyers got swept, and Michkov got scratched again 19:45: What do the Flyers have to do to take the next step in the playoffs? 40:00: Previewing the Panthers options at pick Nine...

Tommy and I have a lot of thoughts on the Flyers beating the Penguins, and so we wanted to do a show to spell those out. We did that and more including: 4:30: The Flyers won a series! 16:00: The Flyers did playoff hockey better than the Penguins, and here’s how 20:00: Do they have a decent chance to beat Carolina? 31:00: A respectable Flyers blue line 35:45: The Michkov discourse 50:00: Habs-Light...

Tommy and I are back for the official end of the Panthers season, and there’s plenty to talk about, including: 9:15: How do we analyze the 2025-26 season for the Panthers now that it is mercifully over? 26:45: Panthers forwards breakdown 38:30: Panthers defensemen breakdown 45:10: Goalie breakdown. Is the Sergei Bobrovsky contract situation rockier than we think? 59:10: What does it mean that mult...

Jack Han joins me for a brand new WhyHockey show to talk about not just his new Hockey Tactics 2026 book ( which you can buy here ), but plenty more about the evolution of NHL X’s and O’s in the 2025-26 season and more including: 2:15: Jack’s experience at the HALO analytics conference in Denver 9:15: Have the Panthers changed anything tactically because of their injury crisis that can be carried...

Tommy is back for a new WhyHockey show in an unfamiliar spot for the Panthers: playing out the string. How do the Panthers go forward from here? We look at that and more including: 5:00: Matt is mildly amused by some stories around Pride nights and Heated Rivalry adjacent stuff 15:00: Boy this Panthers season has completely collapsed, hasn’t it? 28:00: An early preview of some Panthers offseason r...

David Dwork of the Hockey News and the Hockey Show joins me to go over how quiet the Panthers trade deadline turned out, plus plenty on the future for this team including: 2:30: Was this an unsurprisingly quiet trade deadline for the Panthers? 9:15: The Sergei Bobrovsky trade rumors stumped Matt 14:15: What could a new Bobrovsky contract with the Panthers look like if he signs? 26:45: A Bam Adebay...

It’s time for a new WhyHockey show right as the Olympics get underway, but there are Florida Panthers items to attend to first. We get to a lot on this show including: 4:30: Should the Panthers throw in the towel on the 2025-26 postseason? 13:30: The load bearing injury for the Panthers? Seth Jones. 26:15: Is Mackie Samoskevich going to be a Panther next eason? How did we get here? 47:00: The Pant...

On the newest WhyHockey show, Tommy headed to Detroit for Sergei Fedorov’s jersey retirement night and he talks about the experience here plus much more including: 0:00: Tommy’s experience at Sergei Fedorov’s jersey retirement night 13:00: Gary Bettman (and Matt’s sister) binged Heated Rivalry! What a world! 18:30: The Panthers finally get Matthew Tkachuk back. Is it enough to get on the run they...

Armando Velez of Locked On Panthers joins me to talk about covering and experience the Winter Classic at LoanDepot Park in person and much more including: 2:45: What is it like to cover a Winter Classic in person? 7:30: What does it mean for someone from Dade County to cover an event like this? 13:15: Does the idea that the Winter Classic is more for the people there than those on TV make more sen...

The first season of Heated Rivalry is done, and I have enjoyed the heck out of it and have a bunch of thoughts I wanted to put down in podcast form, and thankfully I have WhyHockey to do this, even though it took nearly 100 minutes to get as many of them out as I could! I apologize, but I’ve got timecodes for you to jump to the section you want to listen to right here: 4:45: There’s hockey stuff i...

Just in time for Christmas, there’s a new WhyHockey show out where I get to bring up to Tommy some of the most interesting on ice moments of Heated Rivalry, plus the myriad of big NHL news since we last did a show together including: 4:30: Tommy reacts to Heated Rivalry hockey stuff, like how there’s a team in Sunrise in this universe 12:00: Quinn Hughes to Minnesota! 30:30: Tristan Jarry to the O...

There aren’t many better analytics sites out there than Evolving Hockey, and it is a privilege and pleasure to have Josh and Luke on the show to talk about all sorts of wonderful topics and more, including: 7:15: Notes and takes from the first quarter of the season 14:30: How do Josh and Luke evaluate a team like the Panthers with their uniquely difficult circumstances? 28:15: What do they make of...

I’ve been excited to watch the new show Heated Rivalry for months and now that the first two episodes have been released, I have many thoughts I wanted to share. Since the podcast is the best place to ramble on like this in a hopefully coherent fashion, that’s what I did, which has all of these topics and more including: 3:30: My history with the book Heated Rivalry and my expectations for the sho...

The regular season is about a quarter of the way through and the Panthers are not in a playoff position and playing at barely a playoff pace. Should fans be concerned about where they are? Injuries are the only story here, right? On the newest WhyHockey show, we tackle that and more including: 1:30: Do we have podcast “competition” from the Tkachuks new show? 10:20: What’s the level of concern abo...

On the newest WhyHockey Podcast, we talk about a natural crossover in hockey analytics and Pokemon with someone who put them together: Louis Boulet of lb-hockey.com. He talks about his site and journey in hockey analytics, the work he does in the traditional analytics space and then the real fun: Puckemon. We go over all of that and more including: 2:30: Who is Louis Boulet? 10:30: A Sens perspect...

Here is a treat for all of you on Halloween: a brand new WhyHockey show in your feed. There’s plenty to look back on from the first month of the Panthers season, plus a whole lot more including: 0:30: Remembering some guys, old prospect pools edition 8:00: Which current or former NHL head coach would use ChatGPT to help them with tactics? 12:30: Where do the Panthers stand after their first 11 gam...

Greg Wyshynski of ESPN joins Matt to touch on some season opening topics, including the glut of new contracts (not exactly including Jack Eichel, whose contract dropped as this was being recorded), the Panthers-Lightning preseason games, how the Panthers will fare in the regular season, Wysh’s Trevor Zegras story and much more. Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive...

The 2025-26 NHL season is here, and Matt and Tommy have plenty to talk about, especially since there was no official WhyHockey show since April. While we didn’t get to everything we wanted to, we did get to all of what’s below and more, including: 5:00: WhyHockey housekeeping (please subscribe to the Substack!) 9:00: Do the Panthers actually have a chip on their shoulder because of the Barkov and...

Tommy and Matt have plenty to say about the latest Panthers-Lightning playoff encounter, and they have thoughts about the rest of the playoffs and the Flyers too. All that and more are in this show, including: 6:30: Is this the most even of the four FLA/TB series? 9:00: Are the Panthers "tired"? Does it even matter in this series? 21:30: Breaking down some of the specific matchups in this series,...

The annual WhyHockey trade deadline recap is here and boy oh boy was this one a complete whopper. Tommy and Matt have an incredible amount of stuff to talk about, including: 4:45: Seth Jones is still a Panther. How has he looked in his first couple of games and how does that fit project to the playoffs? 16:00: Projecting the future beyond this postseason after the Jones addition, including Knight...