NHL Outlook: Breaking Down the Early-Season Action

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00:00Always good to have Elvis in the building, baby.

00:07That is right.

00:08Dennis Bernstein from the fourth period, Sirius XM, NHL Radio.

00:13As we get ready, it's always Thanksgiving week.

00:16It's big in the sports scene for everybody, but even hockey, because usually everyone

00:20plays the night before Thanksgiving on Wednesday, and usually everyone gets back out there Friday

00:25as well.

00:26And there's a lot of afternoon games Friday.

00:28It's always a very fun week on the hockey calendar.

00:31Dennis, good to see you.

00:32I have a lot of things to get to you and not a lot of time to do it.

00:35Let me start with this, just because this is in your neck of the woods.

00:38What the hell happened to the Kings at the Shark Tank last night?

00:40I mean, and I think the Sharks have been kind of spunky lately.

00:45I like taking them as dogs at home sometimes, depending on the opponent.

00:48I was on them last night, but seven goals against Los Angeles.

00:52I did not expect that.

00:54No one did.

00:55And it was too, too late.

00:56It was too, too going to the third.

00:57So the Kings gave up five goals to the Sharks.

00:59Look, the Sharks are a better team.

01:01They have Celebrini.

01:03They have Will Smith.

01:04They've had guys like Toffoli and Markley Goodreau and Jake Waltman.

01:08So they're a better team.

01:10But to surrender five, the first goal was terrible by the British, who was not good

01:13last night.

01:14The second goal, there was no interference on the goaltender, yet Hiller decided to challenge

01:20it.

01:21There was another penalty taken.

01:22It was a five on three.

01:23It was a collapse by the Kings.

01:24A very disappointing loss for this team.

01:27And here's the issue.

01:28Now, they've lost twice to the Sharks in San Jose, and they're 20 games into the season.

01:33The Sharks haven't beaten any other team in the Pacific, and it's not a great division.

01:37So if the Kings wind up either missing by four points or missing, maybe getting a home

01:41ice advantage for the first round by four points, they'll look back on these two games

01:45in October and November, Carver, and say, what happened here?

01:48Because that was a collapse.

01:51It was a collapse.

01:52That's for sure.

01:53All right, next.

01:54Coaching carousel has already spun a little bit, and we've seen this now in the NHL.

02:00We've seen some teams make changes early in the year, in November, and gone on runs.

02:05Edmonton did it last year, and it got them very far.

02:09I was a little puzzled with Boston, just because Montgomery's record was so good with them,

02:14albeit in the regular season.

02:15But it's never good, Danny, when you fire a coach and someone else hires him less than

02:21a week later.

02:22I still thought that your move to fire that coach was so poor that they fire their own

02:27coach to make sure that they can hire him before anyone else can, and St. Louis wasn't

02:32playing well.

02:33In fact, I would have fired Bannister, too, because he's the only guy this season who

02:37wasn't able to come back in the third period against the Islanders on Saturday.

02:41Everyone else comes back.

02:42The Blues couldn't do it on Saturday, so they whacked them out, and they go and hire Montgomery

02:47immediately.

02:48What was that all about?

02:49The Bruins helped set an NHL record.

02:51That's the quickest a coach has been hired after being fired.

02:55Five days, Carver.

02:56Five days.

02:57The guy had a 7-15 points percentage record in Boston.

03:00The team isn't that good.

03:02They have deficiencies on the wing.

03:04Swayman got paid as not playing like Swayman because he doesn't have the security blanket

03:08of OMAR.

03:09It's a mess, but to rile up the team, what do you do?

03:12You're not going to trade three or four guys at game 20.

03:15So you fire the coach.

03:16It's standard operating practice in this league that you get to the 20-game mark.

03:20That's why you're starting to hear trade rooms.

03:21That's why I see coaches start getting fired.

03:23What happens is you make an assessment of the team.

03:25Your scouts go out there, look around, and so now you're at the quarter mark of the season.

03:29You start making the changes.

03:30Yeah, look.

03:31Jim Montgomery will have success in St. Louis.

03:32I'm not sure how much because the roster isn't great, but that was a shocking, stunning firing

03:37by the Bruins.

03:38Joe Sacco has coached in this league before as a head coach, but we'll see.

03:42The jury's out on the Boston Bruins.

03:44And Carver, I don't think he would have said this at game one, but at game 22, we're talking

03:47about the Bruins might be not making the playoffs.

03:50I was actually just because I always have the odds up, the hockey, whenever I'm talking

03:55to you.

03:56And I can't remember the last time in the last five to seven years that the Bruins were

04:0230-1 or longer to win the Cup.

04:05And right now the Bruins are 30-1 to win the Stanley Cup.

04:09This is a team, as you know, Denny, that's usually in that top 10 to 12 teams that are

04:16on the odds board.

04:17And to see them nosedive that much, that is very telling to go and see that.

04:23Next, staying with teams that need to shake things up.

04:26You have started to hear the rumblings that the Rangers possibly want to shake some things

04:31up, whether that's roster related or is potentially the head coach going to be a situation for

04:38them that also gets shaken up.

04:39Yeah.

04:40Well, it's a little different in New York because look, they're 12-7-1.

04:43They have lost three in a row and they've looked bad.

04:45They're incinerating a lot of shots against them, a lot against Calgary, a lot against

04:50Winnipeg.

04:51St. Louis came into the garden last night and won going away.

04:54So yeah, there's issues.

04:55Now, here's the thing.

04:56Are you really trading Chris Kreider?

04:58He's got nine goals.

04:59He's not the problem.

05:00He's at 6.5 million for two more years.

05:02How are you going to get value?

05:04You know Chris Kreider is going to be probably in the 30-goal range.

05:06Where are you getting a 30-goal score at 6.5 million for this season and the next?

05:10It's crazy.

05:11Now, Jacob Drew, they tried that act before.

05:13They tried trading him in the summer.

05:15I don't know if the trades are going to make it.

05:16I don't think it's La Villaleta.

05:17I don't think it's his fault.

05:18I think that this team will bounce back.

05:20Harvard is still a 625 points percentage team.

05:22It's not a disaster, but the expectations are very high.

05:25I'll be transparent.

05:26I picked him to win the Cup.

05:27I have no regrets right now.

05:29But it's about their core players.

05:30The guy that you would try to trade would be Mika Zibanejad, who for the last season

05:34and a half hasn't really been what he needs to be for this team as the number one center.

05:38So while there's concern, I think there's less concern because powerful Browns and Rangers

05:41have a much better roster than the Bruins.

05:43I think they'll bounce back, and I think they'll be in the mix with the Devils and

05:46the Hurricanes for the Metro title.

05:49If I told you the stats with the Islanders in terms of what they've done outside of the

05:56third period, they have been tighter ahead after two periods in 16 of their 22 games.

06:02They have held opponents to one goal or fewer through two periods in 14 of their 22 games.

06:07They're 5-5-4 in those games, and this is the one that gets me the most, Denny.

06:13In 22 games this year, they've surrendered 33 goals in the third period.

06:19They've allowed 30 in the first, second, and overtime combined.

06:2333 in the third, 30 in the other three.

06:28They brought Waa in there to get rid of the third period problems, and it hasn't happened yet.

06:33I still feel it's a lot roster-related, but I thought they'd clean that up a little bit,

06:39Denny.

06:40They've done none of it.

06:41You mentioned 16 of their 22 games, and they've won eight, so half the games, they blew.

06:45Again, for a team that's on the outside looking in for the playoffs, you need those eight points.

06:49You're going to need them.

06:50They're not that their offenses, their roster isn't that great.

06:53Look, Bars will be in and out.

06:54I get it.

06:55It hurts the offense.

06:56Maybe he would score in the third period and help them win some games.

06:59I think it's mindset, Carmen.

07:01I think this is a mental thing and not a physical thing.

07:04If you can outplay a team for 40 minutes, and you have a lead, and you play it safe,

07:07and you play it too safe, and you don't have the offense to bounce back when they get a

07:10ball, it's a mystery.

07:11Because now it's two coaches.

07:12It's not just a Lane-Lambert thing.

07:15Now it's a Patrick Law thing, and that's troubling.

07:17So you have to question maybe the mental makeup of this team.

07:20So when you look at the trade-in, what they're going to do with the Brock Nelson, I'm not

07:23sure what they should do with that.

07:24But it's concerning because now it's over a period of two coaches, not just one coach

07:29that has had this problem.

07:32I would try to tear it down, Denny.

07:34I know they're not going to do that.

07:35They have some guys.

07:36You're not close to winning, so you should lean towards that.

07:39You should lean into that.

07:40I think the Islander fans would acknowledge that this team isn't like a Panthers or a

07:45Devils or a Hurricanes.

07:47There's just not enough skill on the team, so I think you could break it down.

07:50It depends what you get for these guys, obviously.

07:52But I think they're far closer to a pretender than a contender at this point.

07:56They have guys with great playoff experience like Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, who could

08:00be very helpful to teams in the playoffs.

08:03And if you can get something for them, I would do it.

08:06The usual suspects are at the top of the betting board.

08:09It's still November, so that's understandable, Denny.

08:12The Oilers, the Stars, the Hurricanes, the Panthers.

08:16Is there anyone a little further down the list that maybe should be higher up?

08:20You know, Winnipeg's cooled a little bit.

08:22They're still 18-1.

08:23Vancouver's at 21.

08:25Vegas is hanging at 14.

08:27Is there anyone else that you think should be a little bit higher on the board right now?

08:31I think the only other team that keeps doing it, Carver, are the Capitals.

08:37Even with OB being out, they're still a plus-29 goal differential.

08:41They're still winning games.

08:42They went into Florida and beat the Panthers really well.

08:45So I think that's a real sweeper team.

08:47Now, can they do it over two games?

08:49I'm not sure.

08:50But for right now, they're top three in the Metro, and they're playing very, very well

08:53against Spencer Carver.

08:54So I think that would be a team.

08:55If you want to take a little flyer on a team, that would be the team I'd take a flyer on.

08:5945-1 for Washington right now for the Cup.

09:03That's a nice deep shot that Denny's giving you right there.

09:06Denny, Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family.

09:08Always good to see you, my man.

09:10Dennis Bergstein, SiriusXM NHL Radio.

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