Kevin Woodley

You know, you get a little more focus under Torts, maybe a few defensive tweaks, a little more sort of collapse back to the house, not to the extremes we saw when he was with the Rangers, but a little more shot blocking.

You know, it really is hard to believe this is a team that we wondered would make the playoffs, now looks like a team that, you know, frankly, ever since Torts took over,

it's hard to imagine anyone beating them.

And tomorrow night becomes a massive game for Carolina Hurricanes because it's really hard to picture anyone beating Vegas four out of five.

Yeah, I mean, maybe, Vic, but I'd argue that even, you know, like, I'd argue that a large portion of the success that some of those bigger names had was tied to the environment.

You know,

As good as Vasilevsky was, Kemper also defended really well.

Same with Florida.

Like Bob made game-changing saves behind that D, but it was still always graded out as one of the best defensive environments for a goaltender in the playoffs.

So, you know, when we saw Colorado win a cup with Darcy Kemper, you know, definitely not at its best in splitting time with Pavel Prentz too.

So I think it's part of a shift

Yes.

And, and again, this is a message I've at the risk of somebody knocking on the door or pulling up to my car alongside me here and ripping my goalie union card out of my hands.

Like, you know, I've said that I've had this conversation with goalie coaches around the league and they'll admit like, what do you want to build a team with?

Even as a goalie coach, do you want an elite number one goaltender, a great top four defense or, you know, four good centers down the middle.

And most goalie coaches will tell you, you can be a great top four on defense and,

Give me some center depth, and I can build you a goalie that'll win for you.

And so, you know, I think this has sort of always been true, and maybe it seems more obvious now, but at the same time, like, you know, up until last night, Frederick Anderson, like, he stole wins in round one.

Like, there was a game, the second game against Ottawa, where they had five expected goals against, and it was actually the only other game where they were as high as they were the other night.

You know, they...