Logan Thompson signs a six-year extension. Kevin Weeks pulled over to the side of the damn highway to announce it. Of course he did. Did you see it?

What? The video?

You see the video? Yeah. He's a lunatic, man. You don't need to die for this. It's just Logan Thompson's extension.

Scarborough. A little different.

Scarborough, man. Now, the contract details are as follows, and this falls on just such a great season for the Capitals. Six-year extension, 5. 85 AAV. This is a player. Shut up. This is a player who, when the Vegas Goldenights said, Aiden Hills, our guy, he said, Cool, trade me. And then they said, Cool, we'll trade you when you're supposed to be signing autographs for fans at the draft. And he did it. And he's come to Washington, He's placed in a great system with Carbury. And he beat out a goalie that got the Capitals to the playoffs last year in Charlie Lincoln, who was the surprise of the season.

Very, very good goalie.

And he's come in and gone, Now I'm going to be the starter here. And also made, and although you could have seen this coming, also made all the general managers. I can't believe this. You'll be shocked. I forgot about this. It's the Bruins GM who is Team Canada's GM. It's Sweeney. Awesome. So that's awesome as he's good at the gold tender thing. Logan Thompson should have been picked even at the time. It's even more obvious that they should have picked him now. I'm sure somewhere down the line, they're like, Man, maybe it'd be so weird if somebody got a groin tweak and couldn't show up. But they didn't even call him. They didn't even make a phone call to him at all. None of them. I think this is a Logan... You laughed at me a few weeks ago when I said, If Logan Thompson, if the Capitals in Vegas play in the finals, that'll be like Logan Thompson redemption. And you're like, Logan Thompson. I'm telling you, man, this is a guy to watch.

Totally wrong. I thought he was riding an early season heater. I know he's a good goalie. Yeah, The year Vegas won the Cup, because he was hurt, I'm like, Their chances are screwed. And then Aiden Hill stepped up because Aiden Hill- He's Aiden Hill. He was behind Logan Thompson, though. In terms of, if you just look at their numbers, one should be getting to respect the head of the other. And then he went in there and he was good enough, and they won the freaking Cup. Man, I watched the highlights from that game the other day because I'm sick. And that frigging save he made in the Stanley Cup clenching game was so unbelievable. But now look at Logan Thompson. And here's how quickly things change. Adam, what team did Logan Thompson play for in the 2018-19 season?

It's a really good question, Steve. I don't actually remember. I don't remember anything pre-pandemic.

Brock University. No way.

Brock University. Rock. Which is no disrespect to Brock University, but it's not like churning out NHL players regularly. Well, hey, no.

Their leading scorer was Ryan Burton, Adam. Well, he was tied with Aiden McDonald. He played Canadian University that churns out, in terms of NHL players, almost zero. It's so rare. And this isn't one of those of wonky things where he had to play there because COVID, and this is the only place he could get. No, this was before that.

Brock University.

Rock University. Now, before that, he did play with the Brandon Weekings. Obviously, didn't get drafted. Brock University. It's so rare. A lot of major junior players end up playing Canadian University hockey, but it's so rare that they're able to take their career then to a point where they're in the NHL. Some of them Europe, some of them go A.

Did he go ECHL, AHL, NHL? What did he do?

Let me look.

I can look.

Very brief tenure in the ECHL. In 2018, '19, same year, he went to Brock. He played eight games in the ECHL with the Adirondack Thunder. Actually, he played one game with the Binghamton Devils. The next year, South Carolina Sting raised 32 games in the ECHL. The next year, he ended up playing for Vegas because I think every goal, he got hurt. But he was so good, I guess, in two seasons in the AHL.

Oh, he was. Holy shit.

He was great. Yeah, 9: 43 and a 9: 20. They're like, Let's give him a shot. And he hasn't had a save percentage that started with an eight. Ever, professionally. Unless you count the one game he played for the AHL in 2018, '19.

So then my question becomes, gentlemen, the Capitals looked to be a team like they They were going to ride off into the sunset, try to get over you a bunch of goals, but they were going to have to do a full retool. And they did. I look at the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I told you this two years ago, man.

Jesse Steve, do you think the Pittsburgh Penguins can do what the Capitals did? Take some risk this offseason, make some bold trades, and start to look like a team again based around Crosby. And Malkin, by the way, is out again.

No.

You don't think so?

Do you have an answer, Jesse?

No, I think we've been around this.

Are we past that?

Do you think? Kau Dubas tried it the last two offseason, right? And it hasn't been successful.

Who is Mirash Nchenko for the Penguins? Who is Alexi Prodas for the Penguins?

They don't have a great system.

Who is Connor McMichael for the penguins? Yeah, the Capitals have done a good job. They took a risk with Dubois. They took a risk with... Well, Chikrin is not exactly a risk, but he's turned found out better. They took a risk with Logan Thompson. They took a risk with Charlie Lingran. Andrew Majipani was a risk. They've drafted really well. You know what's crazy? And I discovered this from O'Waouh on the Sdpn YouTube channel. Out right now. Yeah, where we go through OHL highlights. There's a guy who we featured twice now. Elia Prodas, who is 6'5, 200 pounds.

Every day?

Every day, playing junior hockey. Oh, jeez. And his brother is Alexi Prodas, 6'6, 225 pounds every day playing for the Washington Capitals. He was drafted. Alexi Prodas was drafted third round 2019 by the Caps. Guess when the hell Elia went?

When?

Third round, 2024, Caps. No. How'd they get both? How'd they get both? He's got over 70 points in under 50 games in the O this year. And he hasn't played an NHL game yet. So when the conversation comes up between those two. I'm sorry, it's not close. It's that the Penguins have a boatload of work to do before they're even close to the Caps last year.

Can I give some credit to the Capitals for, like Steve, you it there just for making the Logan Thompson trade and the two-thirds that they sent out for him because it wasn't a slam dunk that Logan Thompson was going to be good. It could have been. Things were really good in Vegas because Aiden Hill and Logan Thompson grew up in Calgary around the same time or together. I think they're a year apart in age, and they played hockey together as kids. They were friends. They were buddies. There was a piece about them, how they play a lot of video games together, and they play Chelle together. In the story, they talk about how Aiden Hill was beating Logan Thompson five nothing, and I gave him a Chelle, and Thompson rage quit. He ended the game, and they had fun stories like that.

The coach of the team told everyone to get off the bench. Look me in the eye.

Then Logan Thompson went to Sweden and was like, That guy's a pig. Then that all happened. They had a really good thing going. Then Logan Thompson doesn't play in the playoffs where they win the Stanley Cup. I think he's injured for most of it. They had Aiden Hill, you don't need to play your backup. He's injured, he doesn't play all that stuff. But he, at the end of last season, said, I want to be a starter somewhere. Please trade me. He goes to GM and they're like, Okay, we can do that. You're making Leagueman, the lowest of Leagueman, 776 or whatever he's making right now, which is ridiculous. It goes to wall money. For a guy who's an undrafted free agent, never been a full-time starter to trade-Plate it, Brock. To Two third-round picks for this guy just to take a chance on your goal-tending is awesome stuff by the Washington Capitals. I don't fault the Vegas Goldenites for making that move. You have a Stanley Cup-winning goal tender, Nadan Hill. You got to give them a contract for next season. They have no goal tender signed for next season. But the bet was the correct one.

The Capitals, being a really smart team who's made all of the perfect moves these last two off-seasons, smartly got this goal tender turned into a complete wagon.

And complete under the radar, too, because the big move everybody was talking about was, well, the kepper for Pierre-Luc Dubois, those are two problematic contracts. Can they turn his career around?

Yeah. And this is- And he's been great. They've made a lot of... You look at the things that Pittsburgh hasn't done because that was where we came from, the things that the Caps have done. These little things are the difference makers, right? This little, okay, we'll send out those futures in a team that is supposed to be looking for futures because you're on the tail end of when you guys won the cup and all that stuff. But no, we're We're trying to be competitive right now. Who cares about these third-round pics? Let's try and get this goalie with a lot of upside. And they did it, and they hit. And all credit to them for doing this retool. It's been spectacular.

It's a great one. And retools sometimes get you to the mid-pack of the playoff standings. Rarely does it get you to the top. Exactly. Here's my next question for you guys, and this is a legacy question, okay? I'm going to throw a real wrench in it. The Capitals by points percentage, they're tied in real points with the Jets, but they are the first-place team in the NHL right now. They have 73 points in 50 games. The Jets have 73 and 52. Okay?

So who's ahead by points percentage?

Points percentage, Washington, because they played less games. No way. Number one team in the NHL. This is why I'm saying, Oh, you've seen a team go from 17th to fifth, but you haven't seen a team go from 20th to first over the course of 18 months.

I like their offseason. I didn't think they'd be doing this.

Well, and I think it's Carbury system. And you say their power play still needs work. It's crazy. Sure. Their goal differential is plus That's 55. But let me ask you this. Let's just say the Capitals get to the finals, and they play whoever, and they win this year. Is that Yes. They win the Cup this year because they're a first-place team. You got to look at that. You got to start talking about that.

Yeah, you're right.

So much of Crosby and Ovechkin's legacies have been linked to each other. Right now, Crosby's got the edge in Cups 3: 1. Is Alex Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals winning this year a more impressive cup than any of the cups Crosby won with the Pittsburgh Penguins, considering his age.

Crosby winning in his fourth season is pretty nuts.

Crazy. And then back to back. But he's at the prime of his life at that point. That's when you expect a player to be at their best between years 4 and 10, if they're a generational player.

Put it this way. Even if Ovi gets the all-time goals record, I still have Crosby firmly ahead of him in terms of legacy. A second Novedchian Cup complicates things a bit. It makes it a more interesting conversation for sure.

And I didn't even ask about that. I asked, Is it a more impressive cup than any of the ones the Penguins want?

That is what you asked.

And, Jesse, I got to hear what you think.

No. What was the year they didn't have any defensemen? What was the year they had Ron Hansy on their top pair?

Yeah, I think that was-Was that '16 or '16?

17. That was insane.

That was insane. And they switched coaches midseason, and the team came alive.

That was the first Kessel year? Yeah. That one was pretty impressive. You know why that's pretty impressive? And a lot of people forget this. Espn did a poll of all their experts. It was like over a dozen. Every single one of them had the Sharks. Every one of them, they swept. Penguins beat them in six.

Okay, but... And that's cool that they went it Ron Hainsey. You did a great job. Then the Leaps committed to Ron Hainsey for too long, and oh, my God. I know. After that run. Thanks for nothing. But Ovechkin broke his leg this year. He broke his leg. He's 38. If they go and they win a cup? I'm sorry. I think you're going to have a hard time convincing me that that's not the most impressive of the Crosby Ovechkin cups together. It's an evil question.

It's an evil question. What a gift. Crosby versus Ovechkin was born 20 years ago.

Yeah.

You're talking too much about these two kids overhyped.

Two decades.

And not overhyped at all. Not even in the slightest. Not in the least.

Not even,. Oh, God, what a gift to the sport.

Jesse, what do you think? Steve won't answer it.

Okay, yes.

Did you say yes?

Yes. Will you say yes to what?

This cup being more impressive because you dominated from October through June.

And broke a leg.

And broke a leg in the middle of it. And also the all-time goals.

It was a fractured fibula, and it's a little easier to rehab than just like, he snapped his leg. Not to discredit the rehab.

He's on skates like four weeks later.

Yeah, because you can do that on a fractured fibula. I don't know. Ranking the cups difficult because you have to go look at the context of everything. Winning back to back, so I guess the second one would be the more impressive one. I think there's a lot that goes into just being the champs and then doing it again. You look at You look at how many teams don't have the repeat years because of how long into the playoff. So you have to go, you play more hockey than anybody else, and then that quick turnaround, and then you do it again, and you end up winning again.

So the penguins double-dipping there.

Yeah. Winning a back-to-back cups will always be very impressive to me. Winning back to back championships in any sport, I think, is one of the greatest feats you can do just because of that.

So you get the edge to the penguins.

I think right now, right now, just because back-to-back is so impressive.

I'm so jacked for the playoffs. I was thinking about this yesterday. I'm so excited.

I almost said they're the last team to do it. Nope.

No. What?

We had a team that went to three straight. One, two, three..