There’s a terrifying amount of sanewashing on Chayka IMO.

Episode 226 - Leafs Trade Deadline Recap The official podcast of PensionPlanPuppets.com. Arvind and Acting the Fulemin take you around the world of hockey and the NHL, with a focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs

New podcast! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I discuss the Leafs trade deadline, the outlook for the remainder of the season, and where they go from here.
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Not to crap on an otherwise fantastic game from Matthews, but this was kind of an optimistic angle to take, and every team now has top players who take advantage of that.

The American broadcast has genuinely spent about 3 minutes praising Matthew Tkachuk for passing it back to the point on the Faber goal.

Should also mention that Q. Hughes and Werenski are a ridiculously good pairing, and combine really well with the star forwards

And on cue, Matthews line forces an icing, Eichel line piles on pressure, Matthews line gets a goal. They’re good enough for this to work against everyone, but the top two lines are dogs to carry play like this against Canada.

The Americans are a real top 6 / bottom 6 team now, which is shocking given the talent they have.

How is Domi both failing by being too low as the third man on a contested faceoff, and being late to get back on D?

One of the most frustrating things about Max Domi on the top line is that the opportunity cost of his “fuck it, someone’s in the slot” passes goes way up.

Imposter syndrome as a concept has done immense damage to society. As it turns out, some people feel fraudulent because they are, in fact, frauds.

Everything the Leafs do makes sense when you realize they are utterly terrified of being proven wrong by acting too early.

The Leafs are an organization that employs people who show the competence of the kids from Succession

Episode 225 - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Through Six Weeks of the Leafs In this episode, we go through the positives and negatives of the Leafs season through the first six weeks of their campaign

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the start of the Leafs season, including what's gone well (not much), poorly (quite a lot), and worse than we could have imagined (a distressingly large number of things)
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Lotta nice things in that Leafs win, but my concern level over Matthews is not zero.

In 23/24 he took 800 draws and his most regular linemates were Kolesar and Carrier. That doesn’t seem so different than what will be asked of him here?

Not that I totally disagree with your point, but Roy has absolutely worked on a 3rd line before. He’s has multiple years where he was between 7-9 among Vegas Fs in ice time.

Episode 224 - Around the NHL (Part 3) Today, we talk about teams from Philadelphia to Winnipeg. Timestamps: * Intro (0:00) * Philadelphia Flyers (1:43) * Pittsburgh Penguins (16:01) * San Jose Sharks (29:38) * Seattle Kraken (38:40) * St.

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about teams from Philadelphia to Winnipeg, wrapping up our offseason recap podcasts!
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

They can definitely get got in a 2 legged tie (so can anyone), but with this defense, I find it hard to not see them as favourites for the PL. They just strangle the opposition, and they have way more firepower than last year to turn those draws into wins.

Lots of rotation, but I imagine Ekitike plays a fair bit of LW as well. And they probably start by having Isak come off the bench for 3-4 games too.

Yeah, absolutely. And both faster than any of Liverpools new attackers

IMO, it's really notable in transition. They were lethal on counters last year, and this year, they've squandered most of the counters they've had without even getting a decent shot away, in part due to unfamiliarity on the spaces each player wants to actually fill.

Episode 223 - Around the NHL (Part 2) Today we discuss the teams from Edmonton to Ottawa, and their offseasons. Timestamps: Edmonton Oilers (1:00) Florida Panthers (21:26) LA Kings (31:20) Minnesota Wild (49:51) Montreal Canadiens (58:44)

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I go from Edmonton to Ottawa and chat about another 10 teams offseasons.
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Episode 222 - Around the NHL (Part 1) Welcome to another episode of Back to Excited! Today, we begin our survey of every team's offseason moves, going alphabetically from Anaheim to Detroit. Timestamps: 00:12:07 – Anaheim Ducks 00:38:31

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I begin our annual survey of every NHL team's offseason. We begin with teams from Anaheim to Detroit:
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Episode 221: Leafs Free Agency Review [00:00] The End of the Core Four [10:25] Marner's legacy and perception in Toronto going forward [26:10] The devastating loss of Pontus Holmberg [34:44] John Tavares signs a team-friendly deal [41:35]

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the Leafs offseason so far:
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Goldin is an amazing economist who has done really important work, but I’m pretty unconvinced by this argument on its merits. Looking at attendance and viewership per player ignores a lot of other revenue streams (merchandise, differing ticket values, differing CPM in viewership).

Episode 220 - Leafs vs Panthers Review + What Happens Next We discuss the Leafs loss to the Panthers, and the major questions facing them this offseason

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I discuss the Leafs loss to the Panthers, and the major questions facing Toronto in the offseason
soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

A couple weeks late, but the new Pup album is great

Is there public data on shot speeds of different types? Seems like this would be an easy thing to verify, but no idea if nhl dot com actually saves that anywhere

And also something that’s been bugging him all year, and that rest evidently doesn’t make better? The worrier in me is concerned this is just how it’ll be going forward, which isn’t ideal

I have no idea what could be ailing him such that the rest of his game (including faceoffs) is basically normal but he’s totally unable to score clean goals now