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Tanking power rankings in battle for Bedard

Which NHL teams are showing the worst 'tank awareness' in the race to draft generational talent Connor Bedard?

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Like at some point, like, yes, there are teams that you have to look at their tank awareness. Some of those teams eventually graduate on out like New Jersey. We don't have to think about tank awareness for them this year.

OMAR: No.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Everyone kind of thinks of them as a lock. They'd have to have a catastrophic second half of the year for them to miss the playoffs now.

OMAR: Yeah. Even the Islanders. Islanders have surprised me too. I didn't-- fricking, I checked the standings. They're like second.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: The Islanders--

OMAR: I'm like, what the heck?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You know what?

OMAR: That surprised me.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'll give them this. If it wasn't for that crappy start to last year--

OMAR: Last year, they would have made-- 100%.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Where they played all their games on the road.

OMAR: 100%.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: And probably-- oh, come on.

OMAR: 100%. I agree with you. Like, not even-- not even a question.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Seriously.

OMAR: Because they were on a playoff bound pace, like, the second half of the league, but they were just too far behind.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Seriously, and this is a team-- it's not like a-- like a dumb-- like a bad team. This team was in the conference final, like, the year before they sucked. This is a team I thought genuinely had a chance at advancing to the final, and being, like, a really good team. They just-- just they need the UBS Arena to be made.

OMAR: Mm.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That kind of derailed them a little.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yeah. Yeah, playing 85 games straight no the road don't help your chances whatsoever.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No. It absolutely doesn't, but the ultimate point is, is like, if Vancouver makes this run, I mean, good lord.

[LAUGHTER]

I don't-- I don't know, man. I mean, we have to wait and see, but they really should be tacky for Connor Bedard, but also I don't know.

[LAUGHTER]

Maybe it's more fun to see them do this. Maybe it's just more chaos. It's just--

OMAR: Bedard has-- Bedard has 22 goals and 31 assists for 53 points in 24 games.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Pretty good.

OMAR: All these teams-- all these bad teams who are trying to not be bad, you're out of your frickin' mind. I-- Oh--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Anaheim.

OMAR: Anaheim, perfect. They were in The Stanley Cup.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They just won their-- they just won their first regulation game, like, last week.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yeah.

OMAR: Good. Good for them. Good. They're doing it perfectly. Anaheim, you're doing great. Columbus, you're doing great. Chicago, you've come back. Ottawa, ha.

[LAUGHTER]

You'll come back. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have no remorse for Ottawa.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No remorse.

OMAR: The entire summer, I was hearing their crap. Philadelphia's starting to come back. Buffalo's starting to come back. Nashville still surprises me, man. I don't know. Nashville, that still surprises me. I thought that--

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: [INAUDIBLE] Josi's tanking right there. [INAUDIBLE] Josi's doing a great tank.

OMAR: I don't know how because, like, every day, I'm seeing highlight the Erik Karlsson, like-- like, being his former self. I don't know how they're still so bad.

SAM CHANG: That's the best way to tank, right? Like you have-- like, the Ducks and the Sharks, like, you've got just enough exciting players. Like, so you got Erik Karlsson, you've got Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, like, just enough to keep your fans interested and for the hockey to be fun, but you still lose.

OMAR: Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

SAM CHANG: It is the perfect way to tank.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

OMAR: Fun tank, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Because you know at the-- because you know at the end of the day, you have an exciting core, and you have an opportunity to add to that core with a good draft pick.

OMAR: Mhm, mhm. No one's doing the--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: There we go.

OMAR: No one's doing the Tim Murray model anymore. Oh, you're playing well? You're gone.

[LAUGHTER]

That was a-- you know, those are wild. The 2014-2015 years, those are wild. Any person who was successful were gone.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Gone.

OMAR: Traded. That was ruthless.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Tim Murray--

OMAR: Ruthless tanking.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Tim Murray did all of that, and he still didn't get the draft pick he wanted.

OMAR: No. He just-- you know, he just--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No.

OMAR: He just kicked frickin' Jack Eichel in the chest the minute he walked into the league. Well, you know, it's a disappointing day for our fans, but it's OK. It's just like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Imagine looking at Jack Eichel.

OMAR: Jack Eichel's still a good frickin' player, man.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He's a franchise player. He's a really good player. Like, are you serious? Do you know how many teams would kill for Jack Eichel right now?