Mike Johnson

And with Jake McCabe, one of the best defensive pairs in the entire NHL just last year.

And yes, he's getting older.

And yes, he's going to slow down with these surgeries.

But you get him back.

with mccabe and all of a sudden you have at least a stopper unit that can help you be better five on five so i'm not saying so that's why i say 60 you're going to get more from all those different situations even with the same people though and they're going to be more like this is what we're seeing here at the end and that is them sort of

You know, mailing it in a little bit at the end of the year.

They're feeling bad.

They're not playing well.

If they play harder the whole year and have that sort of commitment, then they're good enough to make the playoffs.

Now, if it was one of the chances that they return to what they were last year, which is, I think, a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

10, five.

They are two different things.

Like everyone talks about Boston.

Boston's an eighth.

Boston is three ahead of Ottawa.

Like Boston might not even make it.

So aspiring to be Boston means we're aspiring to be competitive.

That's not really the objective of a team, to be competitive.

Not when you've had these kind of players.

Not to scrape in the playoffs in eight spots to try to win the Cup.