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00:00If we are looking at the rookie chase here in Philadelphia, we love this.
00:04Matvey Mitchkoff, waited for him to come over.
00:06He's finally here, sort of butting heads with Tortorella.
00:10He was the NHL Rookie of the Month.
00:12Finally comes back there with two-game layoff, puts up a couple points.
00:15But if we are talking about the Calder Cup, Mitchkoff, Stankovin, Celebrini,
00:20where does it stand right now, Pete, in your eyes?
00:24Well, my preseason pick on NHL.com was Stankovin.
00:27He just plays for the safest offense.
00:30You know, I think it's one of those things where he's going to see an elevated role
00:34over the course of the year, regardless of who he's playing with.
00:36I don't worry about him.
00:37With the Flyers and the Sharks, they're rebuilding.
00:40I think the Flyers are a little bit more accelerated than them.
00:43But even Phillies had some issues early on in the season.
00:46They haven't been quite as good as I thought they were last year with, you know,
00:50being on the verge of the playoffs for most of the season
00:53and then bowing out the last day of the season.
00:55So I worry about that Tortorella dynamic a little bit.
00:58But I mean, probably over time, Mitchkoff has a case over these two other guys
01:03to be at another level.
01:05Celebrini is there with Will Smith in San Jose.
01:10He's actually been really good per game, missed a lot of time because of injury.
01:13He's only played like four or five games so far this year.
01:16So it's been very productive.
01:19And he'll get back into the race over time.
01:21But I would lean with Stankovin.
01:22Just like overall, the shot volume, the point per game so far, really impressive.
01:29And we got a glimpse of him last year, even in the playoffs.
01:31So we know he's the real deal.
01:34Pete, taking a look at some of the awards,
01:36the Vest and I handed out on the yearly best shot stopper,
01:39best goaltender between the pipes once it's all said and done.
01:43And no surprises, Connor Hellerbach has had a fantastic start to the year there
01:46with the Jets, a 12-1 win and loss.
01:50Who's been the standout between the pipes for you?
01:52Maybe a name worth watching with a bit of value, if it's not Connor.
01:57Yeah, I think we've seen some really slow starts for teams like Nashville and Boston.
02:03And Swayman, right, he had all the conversation about him going into the season.
02:08And we expected a ton out of him.
02:10Got the late start in training camp before he got his contract done.
02:13A lot of drama there, negative storylines and stuff like that.
02:17So he's been disappointing.
02:18I was picking UC Soros because Nashville was so impressive in the offseason,
02:24adding Stamkos and Marchessault and Brady Shea onto an already loaded offense.
02:29But that offense, although they've been good in shot attempts percentage,
02:32top 10 in the league, they just, I guess they have too many shooters.
02:36They don't have enough playmakers on that roster.
02:38So I'm disappointed in the goal support that Soros has received so far.
02:43Out of those two, I would say Soros, if Nashville turns it around,
02:46makes the playoffs, he has that workhorse, shutout dynamic any given night
02:52where he could get back into the race.
02:53But right now, and even after the Rangers-Jets game last night,
02:58I mean, it's hands down Connor Hellebuck right now.
03:01As I mentioned earlier, he was the Vezina winner last year,
03:06won it a couple years before in 2020, going for number three this year,
03:10going for back-to-back Vezinas, which hasn't been done since Marty Brodeur,
03:15I believe, in the earlier 2000s.
03:17So right now, unless the Jets really come back down to earth and cool off here,
03:23it's looking like it's going to be Hellebuck again,
03:25even compared to the other greats like Shesterkin and Sergei Bobrovsky and guys like that.