Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 58

Welcome back to the Blueshirt Bandwidth Podcast Ombudsman Report. Each week, Charlie Vidal will listen to the latest episode of the podcast and correct the record on anything Joe and Eric get wrong. If you aren't already, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast here.

Episode Number 58

Joe called Christian Thomas a “late round draft pick.” He was selected in the second round, 40th overall. I’m not sure what Joe’s definition of late-round is.

The Matt Gilroy commercial that Joe referred to where he is clearly reading his name directly off of a cue card is a PSA for Asthma Treatment that ran in 2010.

Brandon Scanlin’s only NHL experience so far was 10 minutes in a March 2024 OT win against the Philadelphia Flyers. He remains under contract with the Rangers, although he has not played at any level this season. Per Blueshirt Banter’s Hartford Wolf Pack Correspondent Keegan Jarvis, he was injured at some point prior to or early in training camp and has been rehabbing around the team, but is not yet practicing. Scanlin will have to pass through waivers to be assigned to Hartford once he’s healthy enough to play.

The guy that Joe was thinking of but couldn’t recall the name of who went the other way in the Ryan McDonagh trade was Michael Busto. Busto was an undrafted free agent who never played at a level higher than the ECHL and was filler in that trade.

It’s interesting that it’s now referred to as the McDonagh trade, because at the time it was the Scott Gomez-for-Chris Higgins trade with a few prospects thrown in on each side.

The Ryan McDonagh trade spawned an interesting piece of OG Blueshirt Banter and Rangers lore. Prior to the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, Blueshirt Banter reached out to the editor of Habs Eyes on the Prize, the Canadiens SB Nation site to answer a few questions leading up to the series. When asked about the response of Habs fans to McDonagh, who had been traded away as part of the aforementioned Scott Gomez trade five years earlier, editor Andrew Berkshire said that Gainey had meant to trade away David Fisher, a similarly sized American defensive prospect who never made it past two games in the AHL.

Benches Clearing

David Pastrnak is the 112th player to score 400 goals in the National Hockey League. Jamie Benn will become the 113th when he scores his next goal. Nate MacKinnon (19 away), Jonathan Toews (25 away), Connor McDavid (30 away), and Nikita Kucherov (35 away) are also candidates to notch their 400th goal this season. We’ll see if any of their teams clear the bench to celebrate that milestone.

Last season, Auston Matthews and Leon Draisaitl both joined the 400 goal club. Neither of their teams cleared the bench to celebrate.

Eric Shaving his Head on YouTube

Eric offered to shave his head on YouTube to make content for the soon to launch Blueshirt Banter YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe here to know when content goes live. As a point of information, Eric has no hair on the top of his head so that only interesting shave Eric could give himself would be to his beard.

Alexis Lafreniere: Bust?

It was mentioned that while people throw out the “bust” label around Alexis Lafrenière, he has not quite sunk to the depths of Alexandre Daigle or Patrik Stefan. The one true bust since the lockout who Lafreniere is not close to in danger of reaching the level of is Nail Yakupov, who was out of the NHL by the time he turned 25 after tallying 135 points in 350 games over six seasons.

Top Two Picks in  the AHL?

It was asked whether or notLafrenière or Kaapo Kakko would even be eligible to play in the AHL. There is no rule prohibiting a high draft pick from being sent to the AHL, but other than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov during the 2012 lockout no first overall pick has played in the AHL.

A number of players who were drafted second overall since the lockout have spent significant time in the NHL, including Bobby Ryan, James Van Riemsdyk, Quinton Byfield, Simon Nemec, and Artyom Levshunov.

Conor Sheary

There has been a lot of discussion about Conor Sheary’s role on the team and performance so far this season. Sheary is Mike Sullivan’s emotional support bottom six winger

Igor can only do so much

Eric said that looking back to last season the defense was so bad that Igor could only do so much. Despite his top line numbers being down in 2024-25, Igor was seventh in goals saved above expected:

Gavrikov best signing

Eric and Joe discussed whether or not Vladislov Gavrikov was the best free agency acquisition of the offseason. While he has certainly been the best among players who actually hit unrestricted free agency, Mitch Marner was a free agent who technically was sent to Vegas in a sign and trade so that Toronto didn’t rat out the Golden Knights for tampering with Marner.

Benchmark Arena

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s home arena was renamed from Amalie Arena to Benchmark International Arena. Benchmark is a boutique M&A advisory firm that helps small and medium business owners sell to private equity funds. Of course, real ones will always call the home of the Lightning the Ice Palace.

Eric’s Fantasy Team

Eric discussed his fantasy hockey team throughout the podcast, mentioning both players who are on his team and players who he is considering adding to his team. I think that I speak for all of us when I say that nobody cares about Eric’s fantasy hockey team. Eric would like to apologize profusely for wasting everybody’s time, and we are taking steps to ensure that it never happens again, such as supplying Joe with a cattle prod to shock Eric if he ever again talks about his fantasy hockey team.

Hotel Room

“Eric and I are in a hotel room together and he has had three old fashioneds.”

Blink if you’re under duress, Eric.