This Cane HAD the record for playoff goals, until Aho.

This is the Best of the Adam Gold Show Podcast, brought to you by Coach Pete at Capital Financial Advisory Group.

Visit us at CapitalFinancialUSA.com. Jeff O'Neill, who I believe until Sebastian Ajo surpassed you, had the record for Hurricanes' playoff goals. Welcome to the show.

How are you doing? That's quite an introduction. Thanks for bringing that up, Adam.

There's a bunch of different ways you could have gone, but you went that way, but I have an appreciation for it. Second all-time in Hurricanes' playoff goals. Look, it took Sebastian Ajo like five plus years to get to you. He's going to challenge all the records. He's a wonderful player. Just to watch what he does on the ice on a daily basis.

He's an incredible talent. They're just looking for some of those young guys, Fetch and Natchez, to take that next step in the playoffs. It's been a good start, but that's the ultimate goal. I think we're seeing it here in Toronto, and fame's expected there, where it's like, you guys get paid and it's time for big boy hockey, and that's when they want you to do it. There's no question about it.

It was an inartful way of complimenting you on setting the bar high for Sebastian Ajo. But I wanted to start with the Maple Leafs, because there seems to be some bickering going on, at least judging from bench video that we've seen. What is going on with the Leafs, as far as you can tell?

Well, it's not that hard to figure out. They're not winning and they're in trouble, and it's been eight years of it, so there's some frustration boiling amongst everyone. I'm sure management watching, fans going to the game, and ultimately the players that sit on the bench. I have no problem with that. That's what happens in pro sports. Some man conversations tend to happen, and it's not a big deal. Ultimately, I think that it probably should have happened a long time ago, but it happened last night.

What happens now is, when that does happen in this market, Adam, it really puts everyone under the microscope, where it's like, oh, there's problems. And there's one thing of solving things in pro hockey. It's just get a win. Get a win and quiet things down, and we'll see if they can regroup and do that.

Jeff O'Neill is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. So is it about the stars? Is it about the Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, who got back in the lineup after dealing with migraines for a few games? John Tavares, or is it about goaltending, or is it about Sheldon Keith?

You know what? It's kind of an umbrella with all of those things in it, and I think it starts with the star players. I mean, Jim Montgomery said the other day, your big-time players got to make big-time plays in the playoffs, and that's ultimately what you need to have success. And that's true, but if you just look, it goes back to everything, like just roster construction, where if you pay a bunch of guys that money, you notice it in the playoffs. They're so talented that they can steamroll through a regular season, but depth-wise, come playoff time, it's like we say every year in the playoffs. Oh, the big stars aren't getting it done. It's like, okay, well, where are the second and third line guys that are supposed to chip in with some goals here and there?

It's got to be that combination, but when you have a top-heavy lineup like that, it's just the depth gets exposed at every position. There's a bunch of teams in the NHL in the playoffs right now where they go out and get a shiny toy, like a Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Ciala, guys that can score 25 or 30 goals. And they forget important positions like goaltending, like the LA Kings, how they thought that that goaltending was going to get them anywhere.

They had David Riddick in that last night. He's an NHL player, but he's a career backup goaltender, so I really don't know what they were expecting doing that. So I think a lot of teams, they just get focused on that shiny thing where they got to have it, and ultimately they don't need it, and there's other positions to focus on. One more quick thing about the Leafs. When they got Game 2 in Boston, there was a sense that, you know, maybe not of accomplishment because you didn't accomplish anything, but you won a game on the road, come back to Toronto, maybe hold serve at home, but it went the other way. Again, we didn't even talk about goaltending. Does Toronto's goaltending, does that pass muster?

Well, it hasn't thus far, and that's the thing. The Boston Bruins have the luxury of not just one great goalie, they got two of them. All these teams are looking for one, and these guys got two, so quite a position to be in, and I don't know. And there's only so many goalies to go around. If you look at the elite guys, there's probably, I don't know, seven or eight in the league, but you need a guy to go in there and do the job. And right now, Toronto, it's been average, but you know what? Average gets you in the playoffs, and when you're playing against a team with great goaltending, you got to have somebody step up.

All right, now let's get to, you mentioned seven or eight elite goaltenders in the league. I don't know if Freddie Anderson falls into that category. He's been great since he came back from the blood clot. He's been really good, I think, to great in this series. What is your view of Freddie and how far he can take this Carolina Hurricanes team?

You know what? I was thinking about Freddie the other day. We were talking about him before our show started, and it might be one of those things where he's at that age where he's just kind of comfortable and calm, and he's confident in his ability to get things done where, I don't know, maybe younger, felt the pressure. Takes goaltenders a long time in most cases, but goaltending is a weird thing because I just mentioned Riddick and the guys out in LA. There's also the hands down slam dunk Vesna winner struggling for the Winnipeg Jets right now. So it doesn't matter what your label is or what your pedigree is going into the playoffs, as long as you find a groove and find a way to get things done, that's all that matters. So Freddie Anderson has kind of his kind of title or niche of where he slots in the NHL as far as where he's regarded, but as long as he steps up and he's the awesome Freddie Anderson come playoff time, nobody's going to care what he is next year.

It's all about right now. And he's been really good, honestly. He probably saved Carolina. It's like, okay, whatever's happened during the regular seasons, ready, your health, performance, it's all wiped out the window and that's for every player.

The slate is wiped clean and let's see what you got. And he's playing pretty darn well. Yeah, the Hurricanes were dominant in game two, games one and game three could have gone either way. Anderson saves on Noah Dobson in each game, gave Carolina the three nothing lead. I mean, that's just the easiest way to put it is that his saves on Dobson could have had a great series if both of those are goals, which they probably had a 75 percent chance of those being goals, according to XG. And neither were goals because Anderson made spectacular saves back to Sebastian. Oh, and I'll put the acquisition of Jake cancel the way Seth Jarvis has played.

This is probably as deep a forward group as Caroline has had since the 06 cup run. No. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, when you go out and get a guy like cancel and you get Kuznets off, which I thought was a fabulous risk, a reclamation project where you're taking a chance saying and hoping that this guy can get his game back and contribute. And I think everybody else like around the league, like I walk into a building where everyone, all they do is talk about hockey and the big thing was, ah, you know, substance or whatever program he was in.

It's like, I don't know if I would touch that. It's like sometimes the guy deserves a second chance and Carolina was smart enough to say it's worth the risk for us and we hope we can get it together. And he has, but to go and get again, so it sends a great message to the team where it's like a lot of times, Adam, when I was down there, I found it frustrating, almost like we were in a different league because Detroit was loading up. Colorado was loading up. The New York Rangers would trade for this guy. And it was like, we would just get like a depth defenseman and just minor stuff. It's like if we almost weren't in the game and it shows everyone that you are in the game and they're serious about winning.

So I think it's a great message. Adam Golden Studio with my man coach Pete DeRuta, Capital Financial Advisory Group. You have a 401k, but you're changing jobs. You're taking that 401k with you.

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Investment advisory services offered by Capital Financial Advisory Group, a North Carolina registered investment advisor. I'm just looking at Jeff O'Neill's timeline on Twitter at odog92. The picture of you and Brett Hediken. Hediken with the shiner.

Your shiner had gone away by that point, but at least it was smaller. That's what it takes, right? Just sacrificing everything to get to this point.

That's what it takes is exactly right. I think that, you know, you look at people's faces that win the cup, they're usually not clean shaven and no bumps and bruises. So there's definitely a price to pay to lift that trophy up.

And some of the guys around there know that because, you know, Roddy won it and a bunch of guys that are around there have been a part of it. So that's just kind of the playoff look where if you want to sacrifice and you got to step outside your comfort zone to get it done, not all about these kids growing up. It's all they see McDavid and the skill guys and all the cool stuff they do. You got to do that stuff at certain times when you find that, you know, define the time to strike and do something creative. But you also got to do that other stuff and step outside the zone to help get things done. Getting pucks in, getting them out, blocking shots, doing stuff you typically might not do during the regular season.

It's just such a great photograph, man. Finally, just from from your perspective, when you go when you guys go on the set at Sports Center, your view of the hurricanes and what they can accomplish and how they might look against the Rangers in the next round. I honestly think that the sky's the limit. They could get it done. They're obviously going to need Freddie to step up and they're going to need the Tara Vines and the Natchez who have some cuts in the past. Just from where I sit watching, it looks like they've been pushed to the outside a little bit.

So if they can figure out that they got to get their nose dirty and get to the inside and come up big, then they got as good a chance as anybody. Jeff O'Neill at O-Dog 9-2 on Twitter. Thanks, man. I appreciate your time. We'll talk. We'll talk again. OK, buddy. Thanks for having me.

Cheers. All right. I have to make a correction here. OK. Whatever I saw. On which led me that he was the all time leading goal scorer in hurricanes history in the playoffs until I could not have been more incorrect.

I don't know what I saw, but I really thought I saw that. So I will take the zero here. My fault.

Because I know there are people going, really? Not really. So, yes, no, not close. Ajo is and has been, even before this playoff started, the all time hurricanes goal scorer. Hurricanes, not hurricanes, whalers, hurricanes in the playoffs. He has twenty five postseason goals and that is six better than Eric Stahl. Stahl is second with 19. Tivo, Tara Von and Rod Brind'Amour both are next with 18. Andrei Svetchnikov, who doesn't have a goal yet in this postseason yet has been great, has 13. Ray Whitney and Justin Williams, 12. Also, Jordan Stahl has 12. Seth Jarvis is next with 10.

Jeff O'Neill is tied with Corey Stillman with nine. So I just wanted that corrected because that was grossly inaccurate. Well, and people will add you. Well, that's fine. I don't mind them adding me. I will I will gladly take the zero.

And if you wish to hit me up at a gold fan on Twitter after hearing me take the zero and want to pile on, feel free. It's deserved. That was way wrong.

The more I thought about it, the more like, wait a second. How many goals did he he was in three postseason's with Carolina 1998, where they bowed out in six games to the Bruins 2001, in which they lost in the first round in six games to the Devils. That's the series where Ron Francis got, I mean, concussed by Scott Stevens. And then in 2002, where the Hurricanes made it to the Stanley Cup finals and he scored, I believe, eight of his nine goals in that postseason. And took a puck off the face in Game three in Toronto, but came back to score the overtime goal, took a puck like right in the eye.

There were a lot of that yesterday. I don't know if you were watching any of the other hockey games, but. Vlad Nemesnikov took a slap shot to the ear. Yeah, basically. And actually, I think it was a fractured cheekbone.

They have not ruled him out for Game five. Wow. Exactly. That was intense. Yeah.

Yeah. Yesterday he did not move. People were dropping like flies.

He went to the ice and did not move. So, yes, there was a lot of that yesterday. But anyway, I just wanted to get that squared away with my stupid Jeff O'Neill stat.

Anyway, Jeff Jeff Jeff's fun. But they're in the they're like in the eye of that. I'll just say storm. I don't say hurricane, because if you saw the Leafs on the bench. Like not even after the game, like during the game, they could not stop bickering.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. They're bickering. They do not know what's going on. Very unsettled.

Here's the thing. I don't think Boston or Toronto is Stanley Cup championship good. I don't I don't think they're representing the East will be represented by either Florida or the winner of Carolina, New York, the Rangers. Those are the three best teams in the East. Boston is not to be trifled with because Boston, if they get a lead, will shut it down. You will not score on them if they get a lead.

They they remind me in a way of a poor man's Tampa from a couple of years ago. They just knew how to play with a lead. So if they got ahead of you, you are going to have to fight through it. And it's not easy because they do have outstanding goaltending and great team defense. Yes.

So and they will get in your brain. But yeah, exactly. But I don't think Boston is all that great as an offensive force. Marchand, Pasternak, elite, and they have a bunch of good players, but that's really where the goals are going to come from. The. But Toronto, who has all this elite offensive talent.

They don't know what to do with it. Nope. Austin Matthews has just been OK. Mitch Marner. I was watching the game. They were clowning Mitch Marner in not on the broadcast, but in the have intermissions. They were clowning Mitch.

Mike, what is he doing? He ultimately scored the goal to make it 3-1, but that didn't change the way Mitch Marner's game was viewed. It's probably unfair to just lump it on Mitch or Matthews or Tavares or Nylander who did play in game four. But they have the the Maple Leafs have always had problems in two areas in this in this run. They have always been mediocre at best on defense and they have always been mediocre at best in goal. But it's really because of the defense that their goaltending has been mediocre. I think we're seeing that Freddie Anderson wasn't the problem in Toronto because he has been really good in both playoff seasons with the Hurricanes.