Updated Stanley Cup Odds & Tuesday Night NHL Preview

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00:00This is the Early Line on a Tuesday morning edition right here on the Sports Grid Network.

00:04Donnie Wrights out along with Joe Ranieri.

00:05Let's bring in our good friend here and a friend of the show, Pete Jensen.

00:09Pete, good to have you back on, man.

00:11How's it been?

00:13Everything's been good, guys.

00:14Yeah, we're in the golden age of young superstars in the NHL.

00:19I mean, even since we last talked, look at how some of these guys have catapulted between

00:24Celebrini, Conor Bedard, Matthew Schaefer.

00:27The Anaheim Ducks look like not only a playoff contender, but a division title contender

00:32in the same division as Vegas and Edmonton.

00:36So that definitely has opened some eyes.

00:38And just in general, I feel like there's a real youth movement going on.

00:41These guys aren't just competing.

00:43They're dominating.

00:44It's crazy.

00:46Yeah, I'll tell you.

00:47And it's a shame that we have Pete on the night after the Flyers got dominated by the Pittsburgh

00:50Penguins because we spend probably a good segment here talking about the Flyers and how they

00:53look this year.

00:54Not so great last night.

00:55But Pete, let's look at the Stanley Cup odds right now.

00:58There's a team floating out there that has one regulation loss this season.

01:03That's the Avalanche.

01:05Plus 400 to plus 390 price points, depending on where you're shopping.

01:08Pete, tell me about the Colorado Avalanche and how they have this magnificent record.

01:14So it's very early.

01:15We're not even two months into the season, just past the quarter mark.

01:19My preseason pick was Colorado over Carolina.

01:22I have some concerns about Carolina offensively and the scoring depth.

01:27But certainly, Colorado is living up to high expectations and even exceeding them.

01:33They're leading the league in goals per game.

01:35They're also averaging the fewest goals allowed per game.

01:38And that's what's really changed things.

01:40You look back this time last year, they had two different goalies.

01:44And now they have Scott Wedgwood, who's performing at an elite level, and Mackenzie Blackwood, who

01:49missed the start of the season because of an injury.

01:52But he's been hot as well.

01:53This team is limiting high danger shots against.

01:57They're saving them when they come by.

02:00It's been very impressive.

02:01They also have 12 different skaters with double-digit points already, including some guys on the

02:07second and third line, second and third defense pair.

02:10So just – and then, oh, by the way, NHL scoring leader Nathan McKinnon still leading

02:16the charge, and defenseman scoring leader Cale McCarr.

02:20So you have a combination of everything going right right now for Colorado.

02:25Well, let's talk about a team that's not going well for, but yet the markets still love

02:30them.

02:30I mean, that's the Edmonton Oilers, who have, what, 10 wins, and I think only five

02:36of them come in regulation.

02:38They can't stop anybody.

02:40Everybody scores on them.

02:42What's the deal with Edmonton?

02:45Yeah, they kind of did this last year, remember, and then they flipped the switch in the playoffs.

02:49They were not going into the playoffs on a high note at all.

02:52The year before that, I think they made the coaching change.

02:55So this has kind of been a recurring trend in the regular season with the Edmonton Oilers,

03:00despite them being led by superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaddle.

03:05Even their best defenseman, Evan Bouchard, is prone to a lot of defensive lapses.

03:09They've had some injuries.

03:11Jake Wallman, now Jack Roslevic, who actually has been their best off-season mover by far,

03:17has been one of the top five off-season movers in scoring, but he's banged up.

03:21Nugent Hopkins just came back from injury.

03:23So a combination of lack of secondary scoring depth and then also some injuries.

03:29And then the goaltending, by the way, with Skinner and Pickard, is dead last in team save percentage.

03:35So they may need to make a move.

03:37It's interesting.

03:38Even Anaheim right now, who I mentioned is a big surprise, they have two goalie injuries.

03:42They still have Billy Huso, who won on Monday night.

03:45And Vegas has been down to their second string, third string goaltender because of injuries.

03:50They signed Carter Hart, who could debut as early as Tuesday.

03:55So they're getting some help in the goaltending net as early as this week.

04:00So these other teams near the top of the Pacific are preparing themselves for the rigorous road and having goaltending depth,

04:08whereas Edmonton sticking with that same tandem is not looking very good at all.

04:12I'm looking for Edmonton to having to prioritize their goaltending before the trade deadline here.

04:18Love talking some hockey here with Pete Jensen.

04:21If we look at the Calder Cup, which is the rookie of the year, it seems to be a two-man race right now.

04:25The Islanders, Matthew Schaefer, and the Canadians, Ivan Demidolf.

04:28If you look at those two players and the projection for the rest of the season,

04:32who gets the edge for you?

04:34Or could it be somebody else?

04:35It could be somebody else.

04:38The somebody else might be one of those goaltenders, Jesper Wahlstedt, who has three shutouts this year.

04:44He's coming on strong.

04:46And it's a good – that's probably the second-best goalie tandem in the NHL for Minnesota with Wahlstedt.

04:51And Gustafson, if Gustafson either falters or deals with injury, I mean, this guy is a stud.

04:58We've been talking about him for years.

04:59Even Yaroslav Askerov, we've been talking about him as a goalie prospect for many years.

05:04He was in Nashville at first, got traded last year to San Jose.

05:08Now he's part of that young core out in San Jose with Celebrini, with Will Smith and company.

05:14And San Jose is probably the most improved team in the league.

05:17What Schaefer is doing is ridiculous.

05:18I would still call him the clear frontrunner right now.

05:22And he is, you know, among not only the rookie leaders,

05:25but all the defensemen leaders in some key categories like goals, power play points, points outright.

05:32I mean, edge stats.

05:34He's up there among the defensemen leaders in the 20-plus mile-per-hour speed bursts

05:39and hardest shot and all these different categories.

05:42It's almost like this guy's a 25-year-old defenseman entering his prime.

05:47That's what he's doing statistically with his workload.

05:50And he's also turned around the Islanders in the standings.

05:52They're on the cusp of a playoff position and one of the biggest stories of the year

05:57because of Matthew Schaefer.

05:59But don't, you know, overlook those two sleepers I mentioned,

06:03Jesper Wallstedt and Yaroslav Skarov.

06:07Got to ask you about my Panthers taking on Toronto here tonight there, Pete.

06:13But Toronto, no Mitch Marner, and it has not been a good transition here.

06:17We know the injuries for the Panthers.

06:20What do we think we get tonight here?

06:21Yeah, Florida's – I'm not concerned about Florida.

06:26I think they still might be the best team in the Eastern Conference when push comes to shove,

06:32come postseason time, as long as they're remotely healthy.

06:35They have not had Barkov all year.

06:37He's done for the year.

06:38But Kachuk, Matthew Kachuk, will be coming back soon.

06:41So that's good for sure.

06:42I'm looking at two guys on Florida who have extremely low shooting percentages

06:46with 50-plus shots on goal.

06:48Carter Verhage, you know, facing his former team from many moons ago here.

06:53He's only shooting 7%.

06:54And Mackie Samoskevich, third lowest in the NHL among those parameters at 5.9%.

07:01So these are guys that have been knocking on the door.

07:03I think they're going to eventually bounce back.

07:06And then for Toronto, just look at their defensemen scoring this year.

07:09Morgan Riley and Oliver Ekman-Larsen.

07:12A bit of injury concern with OEL, but these guys are both over 20 points on the season.

07:17Only Toronto and Washington have two guys with 20-plus points on D.

07:21Pete Jensen, we love him.

07:24NHL.com, make sure you give him a follow, Pete.

07:26We'll talk to you soon.

07:27Thanks for joining us this morning on the Early Line.

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