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Welcome to the two guys with three working legs talking hockey show. My name is Roy Belmy. I'm here with David Dworak of the Hockey News. David is playing hurt. What the hell happened to you?

I tore my ACL playing kickball, so I am on LTIR for the time being, but can't keep a good man from the studio. The show goes on.

Kickball.

Yeah, don't ask.

Okay, all right. Now, the Florida Panthers are on a hot streak right now. We are recording this thing on Wednesday, so they are coming off of their fifth straight win, the San Jose Sharks win that they almost technically gave away in the third period, but they ended up getting two points ahead of that one. So five straight wins for the Panthers. Second in the division currently, they are having a nice start to the season.

Yeah, I don't think you could have asked for a much better start to the considering we knew that they were going to be doing it shorthanded. Two of the best defensemen in the conference, Aaron Equlad and Brendan Montor, have not played yet. They are possibly both going to be playing this week, so that's something to keep an eye out for. But yeah, without Montor, without Echblad, they just got Sam Bennett back. And as we saw last year, we know how important Sam Bennett is to that forward rank just because it makes them so much deeper when that trickle-down impact, when you can have Antoine Lindell down in the third line with Etoulis Dryne. So yeah, it's pretty remarkable to start the Panthers have had. And as we were just saying, as they get healthier, it's scary, the possibilities with this team.

We saw a stark difference of Sam Benebiet being in the lineup during the Bruins game. When he was in the lineup, they were doing well. They scored twice in the first period. When he was in the lineup, when he got injured, that's when things started really to go downhill. As you thought of the forward theft, I think they are the deepest four lines. We're talking about four lines in the deepest in the league and the top two lines, maybe top five, maybe even top three in the league.

When you look at that second line, two-way, whatever you want to call it, of Carter, Verheijie, who just came up of 40 goal season, Sam Bennett. We're just talking about one of the best two-way, gritty, grimy, skilled centers that you're going to see. And oh, yeah, some guy named Matthew Kachuk. Oh, yeah, that guy. Yeah, that guy. So that's your second line. And then you've got a top line of Barkov, Reinhardt, and Rodriguez. Reinhardt having a ridiculous start to the year, 21 points, 14 games. I think nine of his 14 games, he's got multi-point efforts. It's really unreal what this team is doing. When you add to that that they're just now getting healthy, I think we're going to be busy come playoff time again, Roy.

Yeah, Matthew Kachuk is having a pretty quiet season, but through 15 games right now, it seems that he has matched at least his point total so far. He's just not finishing around the net just yet. But the rest of his points, they are coming off of assists.

Yeah, look, as long as he's producing, he's impacting the game in positive ways. Yes, he's just got the three goals in the season, which is a little surprising. But again, 17 points. He's over a point per game. His metrics, his advanced metrics, his looking at the way he's impacting the game possession-wise or on-point with the rest of the way he plays. So yeah, there's no real concern. It's just a matter of when the goal is going to start coming, and that's only going to be a helpful thing.

The other good thing about this start is the goal ten, which is very surprising. The goal ten is usually not that good this early in the.

Season, right? Yeah. Serge Bravsky, typically in his career, has been a slow starter. That's been true during his time with the Panthers. And we've talked ad nauseam over the years about Serge Bravsky and his up and down ways with the Panthers. The way he started the year, you couldn't really ask for much better. He's already got a shutout. He's playing quite well. His rebound control for a little while is really on point. It took the right-hand turn a little bit before they hit the road, so we'll see how they do when they finish out the road trip. There's a chance he starts both games in that back-to-back, depending how the first one goes in L. A. But just overall, as a goaltender, as a tandem, really, because Anthony Stolars has been fine, too. But as a tandem, that's generally expected to improve as the year goes on. When you start this well, there's nowhere to go but up.

The team defense in front of him, coming from both all four of four lines and the defensemen, we were worried about them coming into the season, but they have done an admirable job with Act Blad and Montor being out.

Yeah, Florida has had one of the best defensive in terms of statistics, some of the best defensive numbers in the league. I think it's just understanding the systems, knowing where you're supposed to be, not getting out of position. The Panthers is not a whole lot complicated to it. It's just a lot of effort. It takes a lot to perform. Because when you think about defense, we're talking team defense. We're not talking about the defenseman, and it's a five-man job. You saw last season as the year went on, Slowly but surely, the Panthers figured things out with Paul Morise's systems. Now they're going into this year. They've added players that they knew specifically. They picked them out. These guys will fit in what we're trying to do. We're seeing the results on the ice. Everybody's bought in. You've got one of, if not the best locker rooms in the League. Everybody raves about the camaraderie. Everybody's got each other's back. It's just a great situation that the Panthers are in right now.

Recently, most recently, the special teams have done well, especially the penalty killing. At one point in one of the games, a couple of games ago, they gave up zero shots on the pill and the kill. That's a defeat within itself.

Yeah, it's a process. I think we talk about defensive systems. Paul Morise has told us that they're trying something different, a little different. Not completely. They haven't changed it up. But they're trying something a little different this year with the way they do their PK. They're trying different combinations. Barkov and Reinhardt have been spectacular. You've got guys like Etu, Osterrein, and Kevin Stenlin that do a great job as the forwards, blocking shots, and then Gus Forseling. There's just a lot of good penalty killers that are happy to go out there and do the work. When you talk about Special Teams to me, what really surprises me is that the power play hasn't gotten off to a ridiculous start just because the forward depth that we're talking about, when you've got that talent on the ice, when you're top power play, it's Barkov, Kachuk, Reinhardt, Oliver Edmund-Larson has been one of the best Powerplay defensemen in the lead since he got here. You just think, Okay, this group is going to take off. And you see it. We see during the power plays, they're not getting the goals, but they're getting crazy opportunities, the passes. It's gorgeous to watch.

So that's something that you would think eventually is going to round into form. But yeah, just so talented.

And then power play combination is going to change dramatically once Montor comes back and quarterbacks the first line, right?

Yeah, you would think Montor and Act Blad both have to be put into a power play mix in some way. And Sam Bennett coming back also, he's going to absolutely be a Net Front PowerPlay guy. So yeah, both special teams, but the power plays, particularly, you're going to see a little bit of changes. You would think for the best because you're only adding all-star caliber players. So yeah.

All right, let's switch nationally here. Let's talk about some retired players right now.

Nice.

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call Yomel Yager a retired player because he's never going to retire because he's never going to die.

Yomel Yager is a cyborg.

Yes, he is. He's a robot. But finally, he's getting his number retired in Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

It took a while.

I'm surprised it took this long because he's been out of the NHL for like, what, four or five years now? He's been out of Pittsburgh for quite a bit longer. But yeah, it's just funny. Now we just got to the Hockey Hall of Fame Indutions this week, which you and I were there last year. It's a really cool experience.

It was definitely really cool.

Literally, really cool. We'll save your freezing on camera for another time. God damn it. It's like, when is Yager going to get into the hall? Because Yager, obviously, he is a Hall of Fame player. It's just a matter of when. But they've got this rule. You've got to be out of professional hockey, not just the NHL. You've got to be out of professional hockey for three years. And this is a guy. He owns his hometown team, Clando, over in the Czech Republic. And he suits up every so often when they need him, and he'll go out there and he'll put up two assists or something. It's ridiculous. But yeah, they've talked about making some an exception to get him into the Hall of Fame. We need to do that. He's a Hall of Fame player. He's not coming back to the NHL. He's in his 50s. Get him there. Break the rules, do what you need to do. I think we can all sign that petition that Yagra-Mar-Yarra could be in the NHL or the Pro Hockey Hall of Fame yesterday.

Yeah, speaking of Hall of Fame, we just had the inductions recently, and a lot of goal tenders went in this year. Why don't you talk about that? Since that is your position technically, which you can't play right now because you're hurt.

Thank you for the reminder.

Yeah, well, you could just look down at that knee brace over here looking like Stonecoe, Steve Austin with that thing. But a lot of gold tenors went in this year.

Tom Barasso, Henrick Longquist is amazing. And then Mike Vernon, who had a special place in my heart for the goalies who are 5'8-ish, the small goaltenders. -little men out there that still make it happen. But just a really cool Hall of Fame class. I mean, Henrick Longquist is a guy like you would think Yager. As soon as they're ready, as soon as that three-year period is up, they're in there. Like Roberto Luango last year. Soon as they're eligible, first ballot, whatever, they're in. So Tom Barasso, two Stanley Cups, American goaltender, we both grew up watching him. We saw him fight John Van Biesbrook during that 96 run to the final. Yeah. I love watching Mike Vernon play. I loved watching those little guys play. Mike Vernon, Panthers playoff goaltender, remember in the year 2000? Yes. So it was a really cool Hall of Fame class this year. Pierre Tourgeon got in, and a couple of guys that we saw a lot growing up, Kent Hitchcock, who was an amazing coach for Dallas. No goal.

No goal.

No goal. His foot was in the crease.

His foot was in the crease. Sorry, Brett hole. All right, so talking about potential overtime role changes. They do the three-on-three and overtime, but they're talking about not exiting the zone like they usually do to reset their play once they don't find the right play that they actually want. The players on the ice tend to leave the zone and then try to reentry. Why don't we talk about the role changes then?

It's a little... I guess you got to do something because they're really not happy with the way a team can try to possess the put for basically the whole five minutes and continue to drop back. But that's the game evolving, right? That's what happens. Three on three first started, it was exciting. I remember when three on three first started, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath until the first whistle. And then all of a sudden, Oh, my God, only a minute passed? We still have four more minutes of this? Holy cow. So now they're talking about almost doing a basketball thing where it's like a half-court, three-on-three type deal where you could take it out of the zone. They're talking about possibly putting a shot clock. A shot clock? It's very strange when you think about it. I think there's one easy solution.

To this. No more three-on-three?

No, just make it 10 minutes.

If.

You extend overtime 10 minutes, I guarantee you that you're going to cut out 90 % of shootouts. Most of them are not going to go that long anyway. Right. And it's just more fun. The shootouts were cool when they first came out, and it was a fun novelty. I think we're all over it at this point. It's a skills competition. There's no place for it in results of.

The game. Right. Yeah.

So whatever the NHL decides to do here, I just think there's an easy solution that we're all overlooking, and that's just to extend it.

Connor Bidard. This guy looks like the actual real deal. We saw him twice play the Panthers. How many goals and points did he end up.

Accruing there? I think he had four points in the one game against the Panthers. I think he has five in the two games he scored against the Panthers in Chicago also. He had two goals when they played the Lightning. So this is a guy for 18 years old. He loves spring break. He loves playing the Florida teams. He sees the Sunbelt teams, and his eyes get lit up. Look, we haven't seen a guy come into the league like this since one Connor McJesus, and he's having his own issues in Edmonton right now. We'll hope that things work for him. But yeah, it's exciting when somebody this good, this young comes into the lead because you know you're going to get highlights. Think about some of the cool things we've seen Connor McDavid do over the years.

Yeah. Speaking of which, they seem to be wasting his career away in Edmonton. We're going to end the show we're going to end this segment.

With that. Yeah, it's tough, right? I don't know if I've ever seen somebody that good in my lifetime. I think when I was younger it would have been like Gretsy, maybe Lemu. But seeing Connor McDavid just grows an NHL player and some of the things that he does that I just don't know how he does it. It's so amazing. And now he's about to be 28 years old in another month or so. What has he accomplished in his career? Plenty of personal accomplishments, plenty of big numbers. But these guys want to win. They want team things. They want a Stanley Cup. Edmonton, for a team that has the best players that they have with McDavid and Drysidal, it seems like they're really blowing it.

All right, coming up next, we have a 10-minute misconduct with Billy and Lindsay. All right, we are extending this out. We are no longer doing five-minute majors now. We are doing 10-minute misconduct. That's where we are right now. I think it's appropriate. Yeah, and 10-minute misconduct is going to Bill Lindsay. Bill Lindsay is the Panthers radio analyst, and he also makes appearances on the NHL Network. Billy, the Panthers right now are second in the division. They are doing very well so far, despite all the injuries that they have gone through. I just want to get with Sam Reinhardt. It seems like he's having a heart trophy type season. He's definitely having a career season, and he's doing this on a contract year. Why don't you explain what's going on with Sam Reinhardt's season?

Exploded out of the gates. Wasn't much different than the start of last year, but the goals are going in.

He.

Had a lot of chances last year, just couldn't score the Panthers in general. That was what plagued them and put them behind and why they were playing that chase-up game towards the end of the year to try and get in the playoffs. Now they're starting to score on their chances. They're led by Reinhardt, good all-around player in front of the net in the blue paint, right spot, right times. You talked to Paul Maris about him. His hockey IQ is through the roof. He has spectacular attention to detail about the game, and was actually reading an athletic article over the summer. And he rated out as the Panthers' best defensive forward throughout the course of last year, which you look at the Barkoff, and I'm not sure of the analytics that they used, but it still was quite stunning to me to see Sam Reinhardt out there as the best rated forward defensively. Now what he's starting to do offensively, he does kill penalties. He seems to be in the right place at the right time. He scored a plethora of power play goals over the last couple of years. That trend continues into this season.

Just a guy with a good shot goes to the right areas, has good chemistry with his line mates. Roy, you're right. If he continues to track like this and play like this, he's a player that might be one of those under the radar, our trophy guys at the end of the year. But he's consistent in what he does. That's what I like about Sam Ryan Hartt. It's there every night for the most part, and it's been there when it's been needed most. The Panthers needed some scoring early on, and it's been Reinhardt that's been able to provide that.

You brought up his defensive metrics. Could he be in line with Alexander Barkov in possibly being in contention for the Selke Trophy?

There's part of that that maybe could go into it. It gets a little weighted down as a winger. Even though your defensive metrics are good, I don't know, you have to go back. Sometimes goes out, but it's usually a centerman that wins that award because they're playing down low in the defensive end a lot. With the opposing defensemen, you're matched up, you're taking face-offs. Reinhardt does take some face-offs. It's a little harder to put into that category for Reinhardt to get up there, to get into a silky conversation. I don't believe that's going to happen and be part of it for Reinhardt, but you're pleased with where he's at defensively as a whole game. This Panther team is coming out of the gates without Ecclad and Montour. What Paul Maris and this coaching staff has done defensively, if you want to talk metrics and analytics, they're top five in almost every defensive category across the board. That's what's allowed them to get off to this really good start. They've been led by the players leading by example, Barkhoff, Reinhardt. These guys are committed at both ends of the rink. All these new defensemen that they brought in, Paul Marises put them in the lineup and they fit really well and they seem like they have a lot of chemistry early on.

That goes straight to the players and the coaching staff.

Yeah, you can't give enough credit, Billy, to talk about the players, the coaches, and they're putting it all together on the ice. But the front office, the way that they were able to not just find the right players based off this offseason, because we knew was going to be out, Montor was going to be out. They brought in what, four new defensemen out of six or five out of seven, and it's clicking. I think that it's a testament to not just bringing in good players, but the right players that fit into a certain system. I think when you're talking about that, that synergy that goes from Paul Morize and his staff all the way up to Bill Zito and his crew.

A lot of credit too. Bill Zito is identifying players that can come in here and not only play, but you also have to have the element of how are they going to fit into our group? Do they have the characters that we're looking for off the ice? That's really important because you got this really strong dressing room, the Bond. Are they going to be able to come in here? They knew a lot about their personalities, and really wanted to come back here. I saw him a couple of summers ago before he went to Minnesota. He was trying to get back here then. He always had a house down here. He's rejuvenated Kula Kofi. He loves being down here. That's one guy that's jumped off and played really good hockey. Oliver Edmund-Larsen is the guy you needed someone to quarterback the power play without Montor, without Ed Brad. He's done it for a long time. Did it in Arizona, goes to Vancouver and just wasn't his role. He was down to that 17, 18 minutes a night, wasn't getting quite the opportunities on the power play, and there was a hole. He was injured and banged up a little bit, did their homework.

He was healthy, came into training camp in great shape. Oliver Edmund-Larsen, this is a player that did this in Arizona for a long time, quarterback to power play, put up numbers. He's been instrumental in what they're trying to do. The numbers have been there for Beckman-Larsen as along with the ice time, getting 23, 24 minutes a night. And Mikola is steady. It's been a group back there that they filled those holes and filled them nicely and speaks to the strength of the character in the dressing room and the players that you brought in. Bill Zito doing his homework. Doesn't miss on a lot, does Zito. If you look at picking up the her off waivers, forcelling off waivers, the Kachuk trade and the Kachuk contract, how good is that contract going to look down the road? Bill Zito so far has had the magic touch in pretty much everything that he touches. Paul Marise is able to say, Okay, this is what you're giving me. I know exactly how to use them.

Well, you bring up Echman-Lawnson. When he's on the Iceland five-on-five, the Panthers are out-shooting their opponents about 31, now scoring their opponents 12-9, and they have an edge on scoring chances by 26. So when Aaron, Edblad, and Brandon, Montour comes back, do youtell you that his performance will continue in that trend?

It might not be quite that dominant. There will be probably goes back into the second power play unit, Montour, with the way that he played last year is going to probably get to the keys to the car on that first power play unit. But he's played well enough that he's a good enough buck moving defenseman. And the one area that the Panthers have struggled in is getting out of their zone cleanly to create odd man rushes. That speed game that we just haven't got to, and they want to change their identity to a more dump and chase style. They got to that last year, but you still would like to see more three on twos, two on ones. Zinec, Latt, and Montor getting out of their zone cleanly are going to be able to bring that. Oliver, Edmund, Lars will stay in the lineup if he continues to play like this. Because he can move the buck and he is efficient at getting the buck out of the zone. He's an important piece of what they're trying to do. The minutes will have to come down somewhat, but he's still going to be a nice addition and a nice fit.

With all these guys, with Mikola playing with Kuklak playing Balinskas, all these guys getting a ton of experience, once the two players, Montour and Echelad do come back and they're healthy, you got a wealth of riches on the blue line and all kinds of options. You even have the options if you want to go to 11 forwards in the seven defenseman rotation. If someone's not playing well, someone gets injured. All these guys have experience playing quality minutes. You need depth. If those guys do get healthy and are able to provide what they provide and you also have that added depth, that's going to be a luxury for the Palma Risa and the whole organization.

Billy, you're talking about, we mentioned a lot, Montor, Act-Blad, and all these guys that have been missing, yet somehow the Panthers to this point, they're 10-4 and 1. They're 10-2 and 1. They started the season with two straight losses. What's the ceiling for this team? We saw how good they could be last year when they were at full strength. They got to the playoffs, then they started getting hurt. But we saw what this team is capable of. Now they're rounding into form. They're getting Paul Morisa's systems down to muscle memory, and they're already playing so well. Once they get these guys back in the lineup, the Montor, Echlad, they just got Sam Bennett back, it seems like the ceiling is really tall for this Panthers team this season.

It should be. You went to the Stanley Cup finals last year, and if you get Echwad, Montor back in the lineup, you have almost the same team with some extra pieces added. What's the ceiling? What's the expectation? You had a lot of the pundits right off the Panthers at the start of the year. But if you go back to January first last year, and especially after the All-Star break, their record was there with the Torontos, of the elite teams in the League. So my expectation for this group is exactly where they finished off, to be a Stanley Cup contender and be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They have that ability. It took Paul Maris to establish what they wanted to be last year. He talked about playing playoff hockey in the regular season, took to game 81 or 82 to hit in the playoffs. But you could see that identity take form in the last half of the season. They were able to hang on to the pocket in the offensive zone, get it back. They screen, they get to rebounds. They play that out lunch, pale, hard hat hockey that you're looking for, and that's what you have success in the playoffs.

Now they know who they are. They didn't have to have and change and try and figure out, Oh, what team are we this year? Who do we want to be? We know who we are, we know what to expect, and we know what we're capable of. They wanted to prove that... A lot of people said, Oh, just getting by boss, and it's a team just getting hot at the right time of the year and riding the wave all the way to a Stanley Cup final. To me, that's totally incorrect. This is a quality team that found themselves in the second half of the last year. Yes, they got rolling in the playoffs, but they come out of the gates storm in this year. Boston is Boston again. It's incredible with Versron and Kreechie retiring, but Boston is Boston, and the Panthers are going to be hot on their heels. They're not going to give them a lot of leeway. To me, they're in that second place in the Atlantic, and they're going to be chasing down and trying to get to that top and chase in Boston all year.

You can find them on the Florida Panthas Radio Network, and you can also find them with the likes of At-Nan, Verk on any show network, talking hockey. Bill, At-Nan. Bill, At-Nan. Bill, everybody. Thank you for joining us, Bill.

Thank you very much.