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00:00time to get you that ice advice with the NHL's Pete Jensen live right here on
00:05this Thursday morning on the early line on SportsGrid Pete great to have you
00:09back in the show as football season winds down we're gonna be talking a lot
00:14more around the National Hockey League so to get us caught up who better than
00:17you my friend to be here on TEL as always we appreciate the time of course
00:23thanks for having me and yeah we're past the midway point in the season you still
00:27got some great surprises going on out there whether you're talking about the
00:30Minnesota Wild Washington Capitals near the top of the standings nobody could
00:34have seen that coming and Ovi is 20 away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the
00:39all-time goal mark that's incredible also a couple other surprises near the
00:43wild-card races whether you're talking about Columbus Blue Jackets and
00:46everything they've been through incredible story Montreal Canadiens and
00:50even the Calgary Flames out west nobody saw them coming I thought they were
00:54gonna be one of the worst teams in the league so they always keep you on your
00:57toes in hockey with all this parody indeed 73 points Pete for the Caps this
01:04year time for the most around the NHL the Carolina Hurricanes of course going
01:09to factor in as well blockbuster trade last week Miko Rantanen making his way
01:16to Carolina and Pete the Hurricanes are near the top of the standings and have
01:20been near the top of the odds board all year long but now the Canes are the
01:24favorites to win Lord Stanley's Cup at a six to one number where does Carolina
01:30stand right now in your estimation near the best of the best in the NHL right
01:36now after the Rantanen trade that's a home run for them Rantanen's in his
01:39contract here he's one of the top five or ten players in the NHL used to run
01:43sidekick with Nathan McKinnon and was top five in the NHL in points over the
01:49past four seasons combined prior to the trade so it's a great piece for them to
01:54potentially put them over the top the issue is other teams out there whether
01:58it's even a Colorado a Dallas Vegas the Rangers like these teams are gonna make
02:04moves before the deadline as well right now as it stands getting Rantanen into
02:09the mix playing on the top line with Sebastian Ajo and the first power play
02:12that's an excellent potential for them moving forward he can also pivot to 2c
02:19to fill that hole for them I really like that they also got Freddy Anderson
02:22back he had a shutout against the Rangers the other day having Anderson
02:26and Kachetkov there in the net gives them a better chance to go on a deep run
02:30for sure I love this stuff you know superstars changing teams you're
02:34changing the equations going from conference to conference speed if we
02:37look at the Eastern Conference in the Western Conference I like to do this
02:40with you give me a team that you didn't anticipate being as good as they are
02:44this year and one that's underperforming for us right around the 50 game mark
02:49the underperforming team has to be the Rangers I know they've been better this
02:53month one of the top teams in the league in January for sure and Chesterkins back
02:58healthy and playing pretty well but overall a lot of the top guys on the
03:03Rangers have not performed at an elite level this season even if you're talking
03:07about Panarin and Fox they've turned it around lately but Zibanejad, Kreider
03:12pretty much non-existent for most of the season and that's a big problem for the
03:17Rangers who are a pretty top-heavy team I do expect them to get in the playoffs
03:21and they'd be dangerous like if they matched up against a Washington in the
03:25first round or really anybody other than Florida or Carolina in the first round
03:30they probably wouldn't play Carolina in the first round but again they find the
03:33right matchup they could go on a surprising run the Rangers on the back
03:37of Chesterkin and then as far as surprises it's got to be Washington
03:41Washington even when Ovi was out was they were road warriors they had an
03:46incredible stretch when Ovi was out a lot of props to guys like Jacob Chikrin
03:52who they got in the offseason Logan Thompson is a dark horse Vezina
03:56candidate he's not dark horse anymore but it's still gonna take him to sustain
04:00this to have a case over Conor Hellebuck but he's certainly in the mix and has
04:05gotten Washington at least a point in almost every game he's played this
04:08season incredibly which is insane the Capitals obviously off to a great start
04:14you saw it there on the Stanley Cup odds board 17 to 1 tied for the ninth
04:19best price right now around the NHL Pete let's look at the 10 game slate we have
04:24on this Thursday evening on the ice in highlight a few games some hefty
04:29favorites we've talked about the Hurricanes greater than a $4 money line
04:33favorite against the Chicago Blackhawks at home in Carolina Edmonton minus 285
04:40against Detroit and the Golden Knights minus 245 as well Pete as you look at
04:45the games tonight either on this board or across the slate which one should we
04:50all be paying attention to on this Thursday well from a game standpoint I
04:55think you can't overlook the Columbus Blue Jackets and what they do home or
05:00row they're better home team than on the road but they still have a top 10
05:03offense in the league you know an upper echelon power play even after the injury
05:09to Sean Monahan and then also their shots on goal per game top 10 in the
05:13league so Vegas is the you know favorite pretty clearly there but Columbus can
05:19take some teams by surprise they have all season long I'm really interested in
05:24seeing how that matchup is going to go I also like a couple of prop angles here
05:28Miko ranting in against the Blackhawks it's a good spot for him to get his
05:33first goal since the trade he has eight shots on goal over his first two games
05:37for Carolina playing on the top line with his Finnish buddy Sebastian Ajo
05:41also like Will Smith the rookie for the Sharks the Sharks have a great rookie
05:46core if you haven't been checking Macklin Celebrini the number one pick
05:50could win the Calder trophy he's up in a race with Lane Hudson for rookie of the
05:54year but also Will Smith five game point streak and fifth quietly among rookies
06:00in points per game this season Drew Dowdy came back from injury last night
06:04for the LA Kings they play at Tampa he had three shots and played major minutes
06:09so look for Drew Dowdy to potentially get on the board against Tampa Bay and
06:13then Marco Casper for the Detroit Red Wings the Detroit Red Wings since we
06:17last talked made a coaching change they have a great record over that stretch
06:21it's been the most effective coaching change in the league this season and he
06:25has Casper 11 points in his past 10 games under Todd McClellan so very
06:29impressive playing on the top line very very impressive indeed 10 game slate on
06:35this Thursday Pete Jensen got you caught up on everything the biggest surprises
06:40this year the biggest disappointments we're past the midway point in the
06:44National Hockey League regular season as well the team's trending in that
06:48positive direction down the home stretch of course trying to get into the best
06:52postseason in sports the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup Pete as always we
06:57appreciate the time thank you for being here on this Thursday on the early line
07:01on SportsGrid of course guys and yeah this might just be the year that a goalie
07:06wins the Hart trophy so keep an eye on Connor Hellebuck if he sweeps the goalie
07:10categories again like he did last year it's all right come on it's Urson Pete
07:15Urson's winning it come on