Tidd Talk

The NHL’s first 50-goal scorer of the year, the Blues are hot, Ryan Leonard shows a new friend around Boston College, fighting back in the NHL, and College Hockey stealing the show in March. Here are my top 5 favorite things from the last week.

5. Draisaitl First to Hit 50 Goals

We will kick off the first edition of Tiddy’s Toe Drags with none other than one of the best centers in the league, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers. This Oiler’s team is nowhere near the level of depth they had last year. On top of this, they will remain without McDavid for the foreseeable future. As it stands without McDavid, this team is going to need consistent big performances from Bouchard and Draisaitl as the rest of this team has lacked. It feels like last year may have been the best chance in the Oilers Cup window. While it is never smart to bet against a team with possibly the top two centers in the league, they need more help. The Oilers look like massive losers on the Broberg and Holloway offer sheet but we will get to that later.

Right now, as of April 1^st, the Oilers are firmly in a playoff spot with 89 points and are en route to once again face the LA Kings in the first round. Right now, I believe the Kings are massive favorites in this matchup as while they do not have the star power up front that the Oilers have, they are deeper. I think this series could ultimately come down to goaltending. While neither team has the upper hand here, the playoffs produce some wacky goalie performances and very well could do the same this year.

4. The Blues are Red Hot

The St. Louis Blues have been in and out of playoff contention all season, but now they look to solidify their spot as they have won 9 in a row and look to win their 10^th tonight against the Detroit Red Wings who have not been playing their best hockey. The story here as previously mentioned, is how good Holloway and Broberg have been from the Oilers. Looking back on the offer sheets you cannot help but scratch your head at the decisions made by the Oilers front office. Holloway is making around 2.3 million and Broberg is at 4.58. On top of that, both of these guys have their entire careers ahead of them and they look to be part of the new core in St. Louis.

The future is certainly now for the Blues and what I like about their rebuild is they did it with very few top picks. A lot of their guys are later-round picks and the guys that were drafted in the first round were drafted mid to late. It is amazing how they have been able to bounce right back into things after being written off by much of the league at the deadline. It is not easy to remain in contention after losing a good amount of your core that got you to the promise land, but the Blues have done just that since their Cup win in 2019. This team is exciting and they have some good young pieces surrounded by solid vets, I can see them remaining relevant for quite some time.

3. Bandz a Make Her Dance

There is no question that all eyes are on Ryan Leonard to make his NHL debut on Tuesday night in Boston against the Bruins. The BC kid from Amherst Massachusetts coming to the Capitals in what has been one of their best seasons since winning the cup. Oh, and I think there is a record to be broken as well. Could this kid ask for a better situation to make his debut in?

On top of the story with this team, Ryan Leonard was spotted out with Ovechkin at Boston College. Simply stating “Ovi wanted to see where I went to school.” This has got to be one of the best debut stories in recent history. It feels like we have been waiting for Leonard to make his debut with the Capitals all year. There is no question that this kid is NHL-ready and his first NHL games see the Capitals chasing down the President trophy as the best team in the NHL. Leonard was the Captain of the Gold Medal United States World Juniors team this past season and was part of the team that won in 2024 as well. This kid is no stranger to big moments and he will be a part of a lot in the next few weeks with the record chase and the playoffs on the horizon. I would love to get into the Washington Capitals prospect pool but I think I will save that for another time. The future is bright in Washington.

2. Fighting is Back

I think it is safe to say fighting is back in the NHL. There was a time before the enforcer went away that when two heavyweights were set to take the ice against each other, you just knew. Slowly we are getting back to that. Teams are starting to invest in toughness again and get players who can spark something (i.e. Mathieu Olivier’s 6-year deal at 3 million AAV). Jeannot is the LA Kings heavyweight, so when it came to Matt Rempe? I do not think there was a world where those two would not fight. Sometimes you just know and well, we knew. While the fight was not the best fight we have seen this season, how about Jeannot picking Rempe backup by the collar as if he wasn’t done with him? I wish we got to see this bout play out more as I would love to see these two go at it for real without Rempe falling. Very much looking forward to round two.

1. Madness in March?

Shifting gears from the NHL, my top Toe Drag of the week goes to the NCAA Hockey Tournament. I am a huge college basketball fan and I have been very disappointed in the lack of upset in this year’s tournament. Well, now I see where all the upsets went. The Frozen Four is absolute madness. The highest-seeded team is the 4 seed in Western Michigan who have never even been to the Frozen Four. Now, they are likely the favorite to win it. Not only have there been upsets, they have all been quite dramatic. Cornell upsetting Michigan St in overtime in the first round was enough then we got Penn State over UConn in OT to go to the Frozen Four as the worst team from their region. Denver made it out of their region, topping the one seed in Boston College, despite being deemed to many as frauds after the loss to UNLV back in December (jokes). Boston University unfortunately came from behind and scored 6 unanswered against my Buckeyes sending us home in the first round with a final score of 8-3. Quite heartbreaking, but the rest of the tournament has made up for it.

Another short one tonight as I was quite busy today, but I hope you enjoyed the first edition of Tiddy’s Toe Drags! Be sure to check back Friday for the second edition of Friday Feelings!