Arda Öcal
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
What you're doing is making the case for Sidney Crosby to be the greatest player of all time.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
To be fair, though, to be fair, throughout the great chase, there's also been the super obscure Alex Ovechkin. Like, hey, did you know that Alex Ovechkin has scored on the most goaltenders in NHL history?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
You like that stat because it's about Ovechkin. Sorry, Roy. My bad, Roy. If Crosby had scored on 182 goalies, he'd be like, oh, this sucks.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I'm loving that we're just pulling out stats out of everywhere and trying to diminish Sidney Crosby's impact on hockey. It's my job. Where do you put Sid? Top what? 100, 200, 500, 1,000. You're not going to like this answer.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Yeah, they've been competitive for well over a decade. But I think the signs were there just because of the veteran players and the end-of-an-era feeling. Obviously, with Bergeron retiring, you still have David Pasternak, but Brad Marchand being traded. You're seeing the changing of the guard one by one. It felt like it was an eventual kind of... situation to where we are right now.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I don't know if it's going to last as long as people might think. I don't know if they're going to be bottom dwellers for seven or eight years. I think the turnaround can be pretty quick. I don't think Jeremy Swayman had his best year. That happens sometimes with athletes when they sign a big deal. The first year of that contract maybe sometimes isn't as great as the contract year, but
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I don't think the Bruins are full despondence and despair for a long time. Maybe they benefit from this tank and get a very high top five pick in the draft, and that pans out for them. And a couple of moves later, they're competitive again. So I'm bullish on them not having a long-term era of futility. Ethan, you know what I'm going to say here.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Oh, my goodness. Can we confirm? The moment was when Marchand started picking up rats from the ice after that overtime winner that he set up Sam Bennett. That was just the cosmic... Like the, the body was put into the coffin in that moment, right there. Exactly. That was the, that is the last page of the chapter right there.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I believe he didn't receive supplemental discipline because there was no injury on the play. Yeah, okay. The deliberate foot leg sweep that you saw there, and yes, you see it in the UFC all the time, that kind of leg sweep. It's like a judo throw, really, is what it is. That has no place in hockey. I think everyone can agree with that. I enjoy fights. I think they're highly entertaining.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
They have their place. Anyone that says that the three fights in nine seconds Canada-USA four nations didn't turbo boost hockey interest in that moment is lying to themselves. With that said, there are considerations that should be made by willing participants in a fight where you try to protect your opponent's head as you are going down to the ice.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Either you have the seatbelt method where you're holding them tight and making sure that both of you are able to land on the ice safely, You do not, in my opinion, that what we saw there should never, ever, ever happen in a hockey fight, let alone in hockey period, especially when someone doesn't have a helmet on their head because that's just absolutely dangerous.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
And so I feel like maybe we should have a rule change. There should be some sort of deliberate change. And black and white, if you do this in a fight, you're getting suspended. There's going to be discipline.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Obviously, if you look back at suspensions and fines that have been issued in the past, many, most all, have some sort of weight attached to them based on the injured opponent, right? And how injured the opponent is. Attempted is often, I don't want to say dismissed, but...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Like if, for example, if I'm skating towards a player and I have my elbow out and I miss the player, that's not gonna get a suspension, right? Unless contact is made.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
But if I had the intent, it's clearly established that I'm skating like this towards a player and I'm headhunting, but I miss the head, you know, like very, unless contact is made and unless there's, and then further to that, if there's an injury on the play, that's when we typically hear of suspensions, fines, etc. being levied. So...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
In that Chatfield example, it's very clear that that could have gone south a lot worse than what happened. Connor McMichael got right back up. Luckily, his head didn't smack on the ice. But in that specific case, though, that's not a hockey play whatsoever. I'm not saying an elbow is. I'm saying in that moment, that particular leg sweep, unnecessary, not needed, should be an automatic...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
It should be an automatic suspension of some kind.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Yeah, they have checks and balances in place. Like, we get a presentation from the Department of Player Safety every year, and they are available for...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
conversation we receive emails on like explanations etc so I'm not necessarily saying that I think overall they do a good job I think it's difficult I think everything is case-by-case I think that they have a very very important task to accomplish and I do think that in certain instances, like this is a different case because we don't often see leg sweeps in fights, right?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Like this is really the first time that this has come across to this spotlight, to this degree. So is it as simple as the Department of Player Safety looks at it in the offseason and says, all right, we're just going to eliminate this completely and this is going to be the fine or the suspension if it's ever seen again?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
that could be the case but yeah to your point like there are certainly a lot of plays that people are going to compare especially when it's their team and this happened that happened and what factors went into it etc every single play has different factors going into it so all right i
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
The Blues have won 11 in a row. The last time they won 11 in a row was 2018-2019. That turned out pretty well for them.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Yeah, they played Gloria. They were raising Stanley Cups. Joe Boo apparently is doing very well for them at the moment. But I... Yeah. The Senators are in firm position. It's good to see the Kachuk brothers in the postseason. It'll be fun to watch Brady and his progress. That team looks good. The Canadians are...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
The thing I like about the Canadians, first of all, I do want to say the Canadians have the easiest schedule for the rest of the season. Like their remaining games are the easiest as compared to every team that is chasing them in the Eastern Conference wildcard. So they have that benefit going for them. They're a minus 22 and they're in wildcard too. That's very rare that we would see that.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
A team that has been scored on a lot more than they have scored in a playoff position.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Didn't Washington get in with the same thing last year? Yes, absolutely. And now they're a plus 67. What a difference a year makes, right? Isn't that ridiculous? It's absolutely wild. But my point with the Canadians is they... I almost compare this, it's a full 180, the Canadians and the Rangers.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
The Canadians look like they're fighting hard and they're battling to the bitter end in every single game. It's like that Martin St. Louis mentality of gritty and passionate hockey. Whereas there's been some games, more than not, lately as well, where the Rangers have just looked listless recently.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
in the third period where they're down a goal and they need to push and the net is empty and they're just not getting any opportunities, whether it's not clicking, whether it's an effort thing. It just looks so different when you watch the Habs in that situation and the Rangers in that situation, which is surprising because the Rangers are still fighting for that spot.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I would say the Habs are a team to watch. The Blues, if they continue the hot streak. We know this, boys. It's about getting hot at the right time. If you're feeling it and if you're hot going into the postseason, you're going to be unbeatable.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Just ask the Panthers, like you mentioned a couple years ago and obviously last year, but also teams like the LA Kings in 2012, right, where they limped into the playoffs and then they went up 3-0 in every single series.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I like when coaches speak on their players. I like the passion. In Sheldon Keefe's case, I think he mentioned that he just saw one particular play of Kovacevic that was not good. I think it was in the second period. He just saw that clip. It was fresh in his head. He went to the podium. He got asked about him. And then, you know, that... that passion and that opinion just came out.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
They had a conversation afterwards, apparently, very similar to Patrick Roy and Anthony Duclair. And then whatever the fallout is in Duclair's case, like you said, taking time away from the team. I like the passion. If nothing else, it gives us media types something to talk about as a talking point. But also, I am under the paradigm that I want this from players and I want this from coaches.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
I want real comments and thoughts and opinions i don't subscribe to the you know scrubbed answers of the 200 foot game and pucks and deep and blah blah blah like i i like this so when it happens i want to honor it and obviously discuss it but i want to i want all the players and the coaches to feel encouraged to Thank you. Thank you.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Roy Campaigns for Sidney Crosby (feat. Arda Öcal)
Thank you. Thank you.