Playoff team now that won't make the playoff. So they're in a spot, but they won't be there come April. April is when the playoff starts again.

I'll make this short, sweet, and pretty neat, the Washington Capitals.

They are falling off, man.

They have a negative nine goal differential and mysteriously can't score. And this, to me, is the biggest factor. The Tampa Bay Lightning and the New Jersey Devils are the two teams behind them.

You don't want those sharks in the water.

They're going to eat you alive. Capitals.

Okay. Jesse Blake.

I have a long history with this city, and I'm a little scared to say this pick out loud because of the retribution that I might face. Anthony Gargonzo isn't there anymore. Gargono. Gargono isn't there anymore. Gargonzo. I like Jesse's better. He's not there anymore. I don't know about Cousin Tunis. I assume they're still on the air, but Anthony got taken off after he tried to work for a competitor. Is that right? They took him to court. You know how they're launching these new brands, Phoenix, and there's a Philly one that just launched? He went to go work for... Well, there's a new Philly media sites that just launched, and he went to try and go work for them while also working on the fan in Philly. And the fan in Philly took him to court and said, You can't work for a competitor. And while they took him to court, they put an injunction where he couldn't work for either brand. Wow. It happened in October. So we've outlasted Anthony Gargonzo. Wow. Just I'm saying. How dare you? The Philadelphia Flyers. I think they are what they are. At the beginning of the season, none of us thought they were good.

Right now, they sit second in their division. Eventually, it rings midnight. I think they are what they are, and they'll come back down to Earth by the end of the season and miss the playoff.

I think the Orange team turns into a pumpkin.

I'm a little scared because Philly fans, I love you, but I think it's a reality of your team.

I'm going to go with an unpopular choice. I, too, have a history with this city, but a good history. One even might say a great history. I love the fans. I love the atmosphere. I love the location. Everything about the Nashville Predators is great, except for this team. You're in a spot right now ahead of the Arizona Coyotes. You got a 563 points percentage, which is pretty good, but you're there because everybody else stinks. Let's be honest. The St. Louis Blues underperform. Calgary Calgary Flames, underperform. Seattle Kraken underperform. Minnesota Wild, underperform. Edmonton Oilers, underperform. So at very least, if you don't believe that the St. Louis Blues will win more games, the Flames will win more games, the Kraken will win more games, the Minnesota Wilde win more games, are you telling me with the way the Oilers are playing right now that they're not going to make the playoffs? And who's the guy that's going to sit out? That'd be you. Because the Coyotes have a fantastic team, much better than we thought, and they're getting magic performances. You say sometimes people just have the magic from like, guys like Michael Carcone.

Speaking of turning into a pumpkin, UC Sarras. Yeah.

Well, normally he's good. Yes. They've been fantastic in their last 10. This is a risky pick. And I genuinely have warm feelings towards the Predators and their fans normally. I don't think this team was built to win. I don't think that this team was built to do much. Frankly, I don't think management would hate it if they didn't make the playoffs anyway. To me, the Edmondton Oilers are coming in. They're kicking the Predators out, and the rest of the West stays just about the same. It's the Edmondton Oilers coming in, Predators out.

That's me. I'll tell you why the Preds are going to make the playoffs?

Because I said it.

Pretty boy, Vincenzo.

It's happening.

Don't worry. Don't listen to this. Yeah, what do I know?

This caker. This is a bunch of cake. Okay. Non-playoff team now that will make the playoffs.

Adam, you go first, so we can feel your pick.

Well, Edmonton Oilers. I just told you. The Edmonton Oilers are on a tear. Yeah, they lost three straight as of this recording, but it's the Edmonton Oilers. It's Connor McDavid. It's Leon Dreisidal. It's whoever the hell else they play with because sometimes it really doesn't matter. Although Zack Hyman, wow. What a year. Edmonton Oilers are making the playoffs, guys.

I got the New Jersey Devils. There's no reason that the New Jersey Devils, besides Vitek Vanašek, should be out of the playoffs right now. I assume by the end of this season, they'll get their goal get their goal-tending together, and they'll get their defensive structure a little bit together. People aren't happy with Lindy Ruff and the way he's been coaching because all of the talent is there with the New Jersey Devils based on everything we saw last year, and they shouldn't be out of the playoffs. And I don't think they will be out of the playoffs. I think they sneak back in by the end of this.

The team I'm picking has lost three straight, but they're just cooling down after being red, piping hot. Thomas Hurtle is hot. Michael Greenland is hot. William Ekeland is a rookie dynamo. Jacob McDonald has five goals on D, but the rest of their D core is completely snakebitten. On 219 shots from their D who aren't Jacob McDonald, they have three goals. That is a shooting percentage of 1.36. That will improve, and this team will continue to improve because the truth is out there. I am a shark's truther, and the San Jose Sharks are going to pull off the Cinderella story of the century.

It would be a hell of a story. It would be amazing.It's going to happen. That'll be amazing.

Guaranteed, lock it in.

Put money on it.

Don't listen to him, John. For 30 seconds. Sharks' Truth-er.

To the playoff.

It's happened before, except it was 31.

Yeah. Then I don't think they were this far back.

No, they were farther.

No, they weren't. No, they weren't.

Was that false or simply the truth? The San Jose Sharks, for everybody, are 9, 20, and 3.

They've got a little bit of ground to make up there, Jesse, but we got faith.

We got faith. So you're telling me there's a chance.

They literally can't lose a game. They're not allowed to lose anymore. They can't.

You're right. I agree.

You're going to have to play 800 hockey to make it really angling for the plane trip from Mr. Becker. What?

Yeah. Do a flight to California in January? That doesn't sound appealing at all.

Where we stormed the capital on January sixth. Yeah. We stormed Sacramento, the capital of California. Hey, so listen, that was our predictions episode for No. No. Wait, there's more?

You didn't go back to the one we skipped.

What did we... Oh, sorry. I didn't go back. Heart Trophy winner.

I'll go first. Then we'll save Steve for last.

Are we doing Cup Pick?

No, we didn't have it written down, but we can, I guess.

We can do Cup Pick, yeah. Yeah, sure. Go. At the end. At the very end. Okay. Mine's really easy. Nikita Kucharow. Currently leads the League of Points. Oh, man. Good pick. My predictions and list here has a theme where I have the Tampa Bay Lightning as one of the teams that have the best second half of the season. And Nikita Kucharow, through all of his might, has been leading the League in Points and the star right now in the Tampa Bay Lightning. I think they have a great second half, so he's going to keep it up. And I think if they sneak into it, or if they get into the playoffs and be a top team by the end of this, I think it's going to be on the back of Nikita Kutjaraff. And I think the heart trophy voter is going to show their respect to him. He's going to get his trophy. That's my pick.

Especially they make the playoffs. Yeah. I think there's a really good chance that happens.

And the Connor McDavid falling off or not having a Connor McDavid season this year is a large reason that I'm going not with Connor McDavid.

Steven, would you like to go last?

Yeah, sure. He's last.

I think the way the NHL does it is it's not an MVP, it's the Heart Trophy, and it's most valuable their team. They should be a most valuable player in the league, which I think is the Ted Lindsay?

No, that's voted by the player. Yeah, that's as the other players do that.

Yeah, there needs to be a real MVP trophy. And the Heart Trophy, to me, has always been like, Oh, we're different. But the Hard Trophy is about the most valuable player to his team. The Edmondson-Oilers are not a playoff threat in any other circumstance without Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid is the reason the Oilers... The reason that people still, even though they're worse than the Blues, the Flames, the Preds just mentioned, the Coyotes, all these other teams that they're not even supposed to be close to. They're three points up on the ducks. They're underneath the Minnesota Wild by three points. That's bad. And yet everybody's like, Yeah, the oilers will make the playoffs. Why? Because Connor McDavid breathes air, and he plays in Edmonton and has a heated driveway, and he's going to heat things up. And the Edmonton oilers is going to make the playoffs. And Connor McDavid, if he doesn't get the MVP, It'll be like the Taylor Hall year where he should have won it anyway.

Why do people give him shit for having a heated driveway?

I don't know.

He's a tens of millionaires. He can afford that.

For the same reason we give people shit for having wheels on your hockey bag. Oh, yeah. Oh, I don't also have that. Convenience must be a wuss. Must be less of a man.

All right, Steven, who is your MVP? I walk to work. Sorry, your heart trophy.

I think you guys are forgetting something. Adam, you touched on it. You're getting there. You're getting warmer, much like a heated driveway. It is most valuable player. But what you are missing is from all the accomplishments, all All these statistics, you are missing the PR machine. You brought up the Taylor Hall Heart Trophy year. That was the PR machine. And the PR machine decided, not only is Taylor Hall winning it this year, Connor McDavid is not. That is what we decided. Mcdavid would have to score 100 extra points from now until the end of the season, which he might do, to even be nominated for this thing at this point. The PR machine, it's chugging, it's chugging, and chugging, and chugging, and going down the track to a Quinn Hughes-Oh, wow.heart Trophy win. If he wins the Norris, All bets are off. You know what would be really funny is if he didn't win the Norris but won the heart. It could happen. Quinn Hughes, if the Knucks win the division, win the President's trophy, all things they could definitely do, Quinn Hughes will be the most valuable player in the National Hockey League. Wow.

Great pick.

I thought you were going to say Austin Matthews.

No. I don't think there's been any talk about him doing it.

I mean, I think he'll get into the There's no hype for him.

No. Because he's just casually going to put up 65 goals and no one's going to care.

He may not even be top five. He could hit 65 goals and not be top five.

Is that it?

Cup.

Toronto Toronto Maple leaves. Toronto Maple leaves have a magical magic to them this year. Their ability to come back and never be down out of any single game this entire season is something I've never experienced out of this leaf's core. I don't know. Hands up in the air, it could be the time they actually go on a deep run. If they're in the deep run, they have a shot because of their high-end talent. If their goal-tending can actually be decent goal-tending, I'm not counting the least out of any single game, and I think it carries over to the playoff. Leifs are my cup pick.

Do you want me to go?

I can go. I'm struggling with this one because I didn't prepare for it, but go. I'll go.

Well, I didn't prepare for it either, but I I gave it about five seconds thought, and I thought, You know what? You're right, Steve. This team went to the Stanley Cup final because they played playoff hockey. Now, here's the thing that's most impressive. They didn't even plan on being a playoff team. They did not prepare for the playoffs with the trade deadline like a team that was trying to even make the playoffs. This year, they've been incredible despite significant injury to their decore, Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour, they're back. They're roaring. I think they're going to be really difficult to stop. Lord knows what they added the deadline, the Florida Panthers.

Lord Stanley. Gargunzo.

That's so ridiculous. Oh, just so ridiculous. Guys, I want to tell you about a team that's got... I don't think they have a ton of cap space, but they got about two and a a half million right now.

You should pick the penguins.

I was thinking about that. They got their first round picked this year. They got their first, second, and third next year, and their first, second, and third the year after that. So if they need to add, they will add. I have talked about this team. This is going to be the third time.

The Flames. No, they don't have their pick.

They have led in the least amount of goals in the NHL this year, despite not having really star goal tending. How is Kam Talbot, one of the top 10 in every goal tending category? That's because the LA Kings are so effing good. And the reason that they don't get to play the PR machine is because they play on the West Coast, right?

That's why Noah Dobson could have Quinn Hughes stats, and he wouldn't be- It doesn't matter. He wouldn't be getting talked about.

And I also want to throw this out there. The Vancouver Connect are magic, and the Vegas Goldenights are the defending Stanley Cup champions, of course, the Vancouver Connect and the Vegas Goldenights are going to get the lion's share of the talk in that division. But the Los Angeles Kings are like one goal scoring ad away from being absolute lightning in a bottle. They play system hockey, the stuff that wins in the playoffs. And guess what? They have former Stanley Cup winners with this team still on the roster.

And they might not have to play Edmonton in the first round this time.

Yeah, that's true, too. I actually think they're better than the team that played Edmonton last year. I I think they're a better team. I think you got to do... I think you're hoping that Phoenix-Copley is not out that long because Big Save Dave is your backup. This is a little scary. They add on the goal tending. Here's who makes way too much sense with the Kings, but they can't afford it. Patrick Laine.

You know what the world deserves right now? A playoff series between the Kings and Jets. That'd be good.

The world deserves it.

The world deserves it. Yeah. So if the Kings can start scoring some more goals, man, I'm on the King's bandwagon. Stay on the cup, even though I want it to be the Leaps. Now, Jesse. That's it. Guys, could I ask you a quick question? The Leaps and Kings had a very-No. Wrapping up. Had a big series in 1993 that nobody stopped talking about. Could deal with the stress of the Toronto Maple Leaps, Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup final?

You could say any opponent, and the answer is no. I wouldn't be able to handle it.