The Athletic Hockey Show: When a win is not a win

On this week's episode of The Athletic Hockey Show:
- Where should fans stand with Alexander Ovechkin now?
- The Hawks have a new/old GM
- The Leafs are bad now
- A rant about how hockey fans are conditioned to think about 10-7 wins
- Jesse Granger on some trade deadline odds
- Plus listener mail, the 1960 Team USA gold and more...

The Athletic Hockey Show runs most days of the week during the season, with Ian and I hosting every Thursday. There are two versions of each episode available:
- An ad-free version for subscribers that you can find here
- An ad-supported version you can get for free wherever you normally find your podcasts (like Apple or Spotify)

Puck Soup: Russian to judgment

On this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- The hockey world reacts to war in Ukraine
- How should we view Alexander Ovechkin now?
- The Hawks finally pick a new GM, and it's just their old GM
- Whether Chicago should rebuild, and if the Canucks will join them
- Reacting to that 10-7 Leafs game
- The outdoor game in Nashville
- The MLB lockout sure feels familiar
- And more...

>> Stream it now:

>> Or, listen on The Athletic or subscribe on iTunes.

>> Get weekly mailbags and special bonus episodes by supporting Puck Soup on Patreon for $5.

NHL playoffs shaping up for some "common sense" chaos

You're not supposed to think about playoff matchups in December. You're not supposed to think about them at all, in fact, at least until they're set in stone. If you're a player, you're "looking ahead," which one of hockey's great sins. And if you're a fan, you know not to bother because the hockey gods will take away any matchup they catch you getting too excited about.

And yet, it was awfully hard not to start thinking ahead Tuesday night, as the NHL rolled out a busy nine-game schedule. All nine featured at least one team that went into the night holding down a playoff spot, with 11 such teams in action in total. We were facing the possibility of some great matchups, including great rivalries Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders-New York Rangers.

But we have the potential for something even more entertaining: chaos. Maximum chaos. It's going to happen one of these years, and this just might be the one.

>> Read the full post on ESPN.com