00:00Maybe one of the most ambitious winter classics and it's going to take place today in Tampa at Raymond James.
00:08They're expecting 70,000 fans.
00:10I think that would put it fourth on the all-time number.
00:14I know the one at Ann Arbor was like over 100,000, but Bruins and Lightning today at the winter classic.
00:22Do you like this series?
00:23I do.
00:24The thing is, you know what it is, Dan?
00:26I kind of like the stadium series.
00:28Like, you know, like, let's just say this.
00:30I'm kind of on the fence.
00:32I like it when it's done very rarely because it's special to me.
00:37Like, I remember back in the day when they had it, it was Edmonton and Montreal and it was damn cold.
00:42Remember, the goalies had like toques, like little winter hats on top of the helmets, whatever.
00:46It was freezing.
00:47And I mean real freezing.
00:48And to me, that's a memory that still sticks in my mind because I love hockey so much and I played it.
00:53It's like, wow, but if they keep on continually doing extra, extra, extra, I don't really like it.
00:59Like, that's one of those things.
01:00I think they got to be very careful with, you know, making it unique.
01:04But I will say this.
01:05And as a guy who lives in Toronto, I'm not biased like some of these other Toronto people.
01:10The Tampa Bay Lightning fans, they're good fans.
01:13They've been going to their games for a long time.
01:15They play that heavy metal music.
01:17They have a great product on the ice, one of the best teams in the league and the people that like it, really like it.
01:23I could tell you their fan base is a hell of a lot more hardcore than Florida.
01:26Florida just recently has had the success with the Panthers in comparison to the Lightning when you look at it.
01:31So I'll give the Lightning all the credit in the world.
01:34It should be a great game, Dan.
01:35I'm kind of looking at Boston from a dog perspective, maybe plus one and a half in some parlays.
01:40Tampa Bay has been playing great hockey, but the Boston Bruins have been really surprising to me.
01:45They're a team that I thought was going to take a step back.
01:47I'm like, can Swayman continue to be this guy?
01:49And, you know, I look at their team and go, you know, they only have a couple of really good stars on their team,
01:53but they have really good, hard workers on their team.
01:57They have guys who play two ways.
01:59And that's the beautiful thing about hockey.
02:00Look at the Leafs.
02:01It's opposite.
02:03You have Matthews.
02:03And, you know, they got rid of Marner, which I really wish he was back here, and Nylander.
02:07They have a bunch of stars, but do they play well together?
02:10No.
02:10And they have an aging defenseman, and their goaltending is inconsistent.
02:13And when I look at Boston, I'm like, I expected the Bruins to take a step back, Dan,
02:17but they're really overachieving, in my opinion.
02:19They deserve a lot of credit.
02:20That organization always finds a way.
02:22I don't like them because they always beat us, but I respect them.
02:26You know, I saw the Lightning the other night.
02:28They beat the Jets.
02:29And if I'm not mistaken, Cam, right, they've won 18 of, like, their last 19 ballgames or something like that.
02:36I mean, yeah, so are they the best team right now in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning?
02:42Yes, they are.
02:42They are.
02:43I know a lot of people are going to say Colorado, and Colorado still is very, very dangerous.
02:49And I think Colorado just went on a little bit of a skid because they're talking, you know,
02:52they were so damn dominant, Dan.
02:54You look at it and go, how does a team do this in hockey?
02:56Because it's a sport of parity, very opposite to others.
02:59Like, there's so many teams still involved, and that's the way the NHL likes it.
03:02That's why they're not going to change their point format, which I kind of really want them to do
03:06to get an extra point in regulation.
03:08But franchises would be out earlier, and that's bad for business, for a ticket, a gate-driven league,
03:14as you understand that, right?
03:15So they want to keep more teams involved.
03:17But right now, I look at Tampa Bay, great goaltending.
03:20Kucherov, like, does he get any?
03:21Like, the guy's getting older, but he's getting better, Dan, like a fine line.
03:25And, like, guys like Hedman, they're defensemen.
03:27They find all these young guys, and they just play the system.
03:30And let's call it out for what it is.
03:31John Cooper is an amazing coach, and he's one of those guys that he did it in a different way.
03:37You know, a background, like a legal background.
03:39He wasn't just hockey all the time, but he's grown up through every single phase of the game,
03:44and I really think that benefits him because he sees things from a different perspective.
03:48He's great with Team Canada.
03:50He's great with the Lightning.
03:51In my opinion, probably the best coach in the league.
03:53The Tampa Bay Lightning, they don't go away, Dan.
03:56They don't go away.
03:57That's the thing.
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