Bro your happiness is infectious. No Diddy but I love how much you're always laughing.

Matvei Gridin Hart Trophy is not a hot take Mike, it’s a fact

Good to see stutzle and my sens in the thumbnail

One thing to really note for the Dallas game. Sharks found out five minutes pre game. I would like to see how they do if they knew and were prepped to lose him. Wars didn't put together great lines in order to make minimal adjustments and I wanna see if (he does miss the next game) once some lines have had a little practice if they look better

It's really interesting that you mention how some people thought Larkin would "Pull a PLD" meaning he wouldn't really try. I then thought about applying the possibility of that to the Hellebuyck situation and from that perspective it is almost better he sits out. Since he has shared he actively doesn't want to be in Winnipeg if he were to suit up and play, pretty much any goal he allows, especially a soft one. Would start the speculation that he is actively not trying or trying to force Winnipeg's hand. Which, speaking hypothetically Winnipeg could even try to claim breach of contract or something like that if they were convinced he was "Pulling A PLD".

was literally waiting for you to drop a video so I could make some lunch and have a watch. Bless up my man

Hot take: Leafs make the playoffs in a divisional spot and Matthews gets over 40 goals

Another great video Mike! Thank you!

Owen Power continues his breakout season and finishes the year in top 10-12 defenseman conversations.

"He's gonna pull a Pierre-Luc Dubois". That might be the most disrespectful act a player has ever comitted and I dealt with Pierre-Luc in LA.

I have Bedard winning the Hart trophy next season, which I think is far too early but I’m pretty confident his season will be of that caliber. I don’t think anyone will be expecting the Blackhawks to make the playoffs, but I think their young players will be developed enough by then. I also think bedard has absolutely shown he can be as good as or better than celebrini. I expect 50 goals and 70 assists from bedard and Blackhawks playoffs (wildcard ahead of st. Louis or san jose). I don’t think the sharks have the goaltending or defense that chicago has even though I like their offseason pickups

Jonas Johansson will be Ottawas backup and Ersson will be on waivers before December hits.

Hot Take: Matthews gets over 100 points, and 50 goals this season

Way different subject hot take but Nela Lopusanova breaks the women’s college hockey freshman scoring record of (based on my quick search) 82 points. Also maybe has the sickest Elite Prospects profile picture ever

Watch this be the season Larkin gets 80-90 points lmao

10:56 the problem is, Carlsson's contract is only 5 years and not 8, so he'll have to be given an even bigger raise at just 26-27 instead of 29-30 like McDavid, Draisaitl, Makar, Rantanen, Ekblad, and Huberdeau (I'm talking about Florida Huberdeau). To me, I think $18M = 120pts+/season + Hart finalist every year + single-handedly carry the team to conf finals or more (he better turn the Ducks into late 90s/early 2000s Wings/Avs). Right now, I still have Carlsson as a top 10 worst contract in the league- if he can't do the things I just said he needs to do, then it'll stay as a top 10 worst contract in the league

One of my preseason predictions was that Utah makes the conference finals as a WC1 defeating two Pacific teams.  But that was before the Faber injury and Dallas' slow start to the season. It's early, but I am not that confident in Minnesota and Dallas to stay ahead of Utah already.  I think there's a great chance that the WCF is two Central teams, but not necessarily Utah.

The fact that you mentioned Jack Hughes potentially having a 25 million dollar contract in a few years is gross

@MikeBartner SIZZLING take: Vancouver is making the playoffs. First year they missed it after the 2nd round exit, they still JUST BARELY missed the playoffs by like what, 5 points? Maybe less? The Canucks have consistently proved that when they click, they are THE SCARIEST team in the NHL. They make leads disappear no matter how large, they score goals, lay the body... Dude, anything better than Vancouver's 24-25 season is a playoff team, and that 24' season still had Quinn Hughes.

No promise how far they get, but Canucks will make the playoffs. Maholtra is going to take these boys to the PROMISE LANDS.

It’s time to start the convo on how good Lars Eller has been for the Panthers this season. He has stepped up big time when Barkov went down with an injury