00:00They got the points, so now are they guaranteed to be in the playoffs?
00:03They're up six points with three to go,
00:06but the team who's six points behind them has a game in hand.
00:09But it's all but decided.
00:11It's all but decided.
00:12And I was looking this morning to see who they might play in the playoffs.
00:16All of a sudden, there's a three-way tie for first place in their division.
00:20Tampa, Buffalo, and Montreal all have 102 points.
00:24So still to be decided.
00:27Could be Carolina as well.
00:30Yeah, so they get a lot of time off.
00:33And the interesting thing, based on conversations we had yesterday,
00:37is that they don't play again until Saturday.
00:40And that means that they can have three practices,
00:42which means that they could conceivably bring in the kid from B.C., James Higgins.
00:48And so now, look, they scored five goals last night.
00:53Geeky's hot again.
00:54But this, again, doesn't take away anything that Geeky's doing.
00:57He'll still be on the ice as much as he ever was.
01:02Higgins has an opportunity now.
01:03You can bring him into practice.
01:05You can have him practice with the big team, get him up to speed,
01:10and see if you want to kick the tires on that.
01:12Yeah, you had Alex Steves as the left wing on the third line.
01:16Played 10 minutes, no points.
01:18Yeah, I think we're okay.
01:19There's no reason.
01:20I mean, you're not saving that spot for anybody.
01:23It's a revolving door as it is.
01:26You have nothing to lose.
01:28I understand you burn a year of the kid's contract,
01:30but, I mean, are you trying to win or not?
01:32I mean, this kid can only help you.
01:34He can't hurt you any more than you were already hurt there.
01:36And there's also the argument that if you bring him in
01:39and he gets that playoff experience right away,
01:41I mean, we talked to Connor Ryan about it yesterday.
01:45Even if he doesn't do well, it gives him the offseason
01:50to figure out what he needs to improve in his game
01:52from an on-ice perspective, like that he's been on ice
01:56and he's experienced it himself.
01:59So there's very little negative, I would think.
02:02I don't know if you ruin the kid by bringing him up
02:05and letting him experience real hockey.
02:10I mean, I guess if he was falling apart,
02:12you could send him down and you could just figure it out.
02:16Honestly, though, Fred, if it came down to it,
02:18I'd want this kid to play at least one regular season game
02:21because, as we all know, the playoffs are a different animal.
02:23Well, no, you would play him on Saturday.
02:25Yeah.
02:25You would let him practice these three days
02:27and you'd play him on Saturday.
02:28No, no, no, no.
02:28They're not going to bring him in to play in the playoffs
02:30without a regular season game.
02:31I would think there's no way.
02:32No, the long break is certainly going to help.
02:34So...
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