Now this is a very exciting update...

Now this is an update to get excited about. Sasha Barkov has an update on his knee and how he feels, and Madigan Chuck talks about missing the playoffs last year. Let's go! Welcome to this episode of Panther's Digest. I'm your host, Greg Andrews. Comment, like, share, subscribe, hype the video. I appreciate all of you tuning in. In your comment section down below, how do you feel about the Panthers' upcoming season? Be honest. Do you think that they should be the favorites to win the Cup? Even with the goaltending that they had in Markstrom and Akira Schmeid, again, I think even though we have that question mark of what are we really getting in these guys, how good will Markstrom be, I think what Madigan Chuck has said as well as what Sasha Barkov has said about how he feels is a massive, massive boost to what we should all be expecting this season because this team is hungry, I've said this before, and they really did not like watching the playoffs instead of actually being in it last year. So let's dive into this guy's head first. We are going to start off with, well, Matthew Kuchuk hated that the Florida Panthers were not in the playoffs. What did he have to say about it? This is what he had to say, and to me, this gets me pretty amped up. Like I said, this kind of tells you the mentality of this team heading into this upcoming season. They want to be back in the playoffs, they want to be back in the Stanley Cup Finals, and they want to win it more, I think, than any other team that's out there because they know they are the best team in the NHL. Here's what Matthew Kuchuk had to say, guys. He said, it's been too long of an offseason, but I really like where this team is at. Everyone looks really good. We're not happy how last season went, and I can tell you everyone is more motivated than ever. It sucks watching the playoffs. We're watching the finals in June. We want to be that team playing in June. I don't think he's throwing any punches or anything there. He's just kind of saying, all right, the rest of the NHL better watch out for the Florida Panthers because we're coming for the Cup this season. I do like the fact that he's not making any other ridiculous comments in terms of talking about the Carolina Hurricanes and their win, and one of the things I do want to say out there, I'm seeing so many posts on Facebook and from different forums and things like that that are saying, oh, people are picking their deepest teams, and Florida's not even on there. Carolina's not even on there. People are picking who their favorite is to win, and these two teams are not even talked about. The one thing I need to tell you, if you are not counting on the Florida Panthers, you must be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan or a Montreal Canadiens fan. I just don't understand how you don't put the Florida Panthers as probably one of the deepest teams in the league, if not the deepest team in the league. And Carolina, they won. Don't get me wrong. They won the Stanley Cup last season, and some people are saying they are the deepest and best team in the league. That's how they won last year. You actually won a Stanley Cup because a lot of other teams were facing injury. I know that's part of hockey. It happens. Teams have to fight through adversity. I get it. But we've had your number year in and year out for the last four and a half seasons, especially in the playoffs. I wouldn't say regular season so much, but the playoffs, we've dominated. This team knows what they're doing. But again, I think our goaltending, we have to see what Markstrom do we have. Do we have him in his prime years? Are we going to get that guy that's going to show up, or are we going to get the Akira Schmied that's going to be growing and getting so much better? He's had some great games in his career, but it's a very small sample size at around 31, 32 games. So anyways, let's keep going. Let's talk about our captain, Sasha Barkov. I am so excited about what he had to say about how he feels. He said, I have a better feeling going toward this camp knowing that I played some hockey, meaningful hockey, and felt good there. He's talking about Worlds. Especially the more we played, the better I felt. I was really happy about that. We all know what he did at Worlds. He had 13 points in 10 games, 3 goals, 10 assists. Phenomenal. He looked great. I'm not going to say he looked like the Sasha Barkov of old, but he started showing signs of that player that we all know, and like I said, he's the best two-way player on the planet. I've said this before. You're comparing, you know, okay, Conor McDavid's the best player in the world. He's the best offensive player in the world. Yes. He can't play defense for a damn. I mean, he can play a little bit of it, but he's not, you know, he's not Sasha Barkov. But then Sasha Barkov is not Conor McDavid, but Leon Dreisaitl, Austin Matthews. He's not these guys that can put up, you know, 130 points in a season because he doesn't need to. His defense is so much better than all the guys that I just named. There's a reason why he has won the Selke Award three times. Let's keep going on about Sasha Barkov and how I'm just so amped about the season. It says, That's a great thing that you want to hear, especially with training camp starting this upcoming week and then the first of four preseason games starting on September 20th, where we're welcoming in, wouldn't you know it, the Carolina Hurricanes. So hearing from our captain, who is now 31 years old, and feeling pretty good about his knee. I'm feeling pretty good about Sasha Barkov. I'm feeling pretty good about this team because everyone is healthy. We'll get into that in a minute. And just to show you guys again, what are we getting back in Sasha Barkov? Here are his numbers. The next slide that I'm going to show you guys are his playoff numbers. Look at the time on ice. But when you look at all of his numbers here, very consistent with his numbers in terms of point totals. I know the most goals he's ever scored in one season is 39 in the 21-22 season. I'm going to keep saying it. He doesn't need to score 50 goals in a given season. It's his defensive prowess, his high hockey IQ. The physical style that he plays with. Now, he might not check a bunch of guys all the time and put the body on all the time, but the way that he scraps for pucks in the corners. He's got that long reach, that long stick that he uses. Great skating ability. Phenomenal hands. I mean, he could stick the puck wherever the hell he wants on net. We know he can do that. He could do it with the best of them in the Connor McDavis, the Austin Matthews, the Macklin Celebrinis, all of these guys. He could do the same thing that they do, but he's a defensive first forward. That's why he's won the Selke Award. Here are his numbers in the playoffs. Better every year. Look at the numbers. Look at the TOI. He's averaging 21 minutes and 40 seconds. He's averaging more than a whole period of hockey in the playoffs. Unbelievable. The guy is a stud. Again, best two-way player in the world. I do think that ranking at fourth best center in the league, or was it fifth? I can't remember. I think it was fourth. He should be, like, probably third. Again, Macklin Celebrini, being as young as he is, I think after just two seasons, we can't crown him and say, yeah, he should be the top five. Top ten? Absolutely. The kid is going to be a generational talent. But give him another season. If he's really consistent again and puts up the numbers that he did this past season, yeah, okay, you could probably put him ahead of Sasha Barkov. But again, the sexy thing in hockey about rankings, what makes it sexy for a player is the offensive ability. It's never really looking at the defensive side of things. The two-way player. So, kind of frustrating, but who cares? Sasha Barkov is back, baby. And just to show you again, who are we getting? Look at all of his accolades. Three-time Selke Award winner, Lady Bing Memorial Trophy winner, King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner. Excuse me. I mean, a lot of that stuff has to do with philanthropy and sportsmanship, all of that. But still, the two big ones, though, are these bad boys. Stanley Cup champions, 25 and 24. What's going to happen this year? I'm not sure. But the best thing that we can look forward to, ladies and gentlemen, is that he's going to play with a healthy team. If you're going to tell me that this is not the deepest team in the NHL, you're smoking something. Or you're just completely delirious, or you just don't understand team camaraderie. Everybody has said, guys that came in that were free agents on this team in the last three to four seasons, or got traded here, said this is the tightest team they've ever been on. Even Brad Marchand came here and said that. He's like, this is the tightest team I've ever been on. The guys are there for camaraderie. They do everything together. They stick up for one another. They go out and do everything together, and that's what you want. You want that chemistry, and that is built on this team. The best chemistry in the league, I'm telling you right now. That's why they won two Stanley Cup titles in a row, three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup finals. This is the team he gets to play with, guys. And they're healthy. This is what I can't wait to see. How crazy are our top three lines going to be against everybody else, especially that third line? I know Marchand's going to be out for a little bit, but hey, find out and see who takes his place. There's still a lot of questions that need to be answered at this point for that. But that's a talk for another day. I'm sure we'll start finding out who that might be during preseason. We'll see. Once we get the lines up and the starters start getting a little more reps in, we'll see what happens. It's going to be very interesting to see who we possibly have in that third line. I think it might be Phil Minnis, maybe. Again, I don't know about signing a new guy. A new name might make sense or not. I don't know. We'll see. But anyways, Sasha Barkov, feeling great, looking awesome, excited. Obviously, they were just at NHL Media Day. He had his post at 2 a.m. the other day. But love hearing that his knee feels great. He's over that. Feels good. Can't wait to get back on the ice. Matt The Good Chuck is pumped. Hated being out of the playoffs last year. He's ready to go and wants to be back in the Stanley Cup finals. I think the whole team is eager to get the season started. They're very ambitious this year. I think they're going to be. I think they're going to come out throwing punches. They're going to be throwing haymakers to start the season. Not literally, but figuratively speaking, they're going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder after last season. But anyways, guys, that is it for this episode of Panther's Digest. Thank you all so much for tuning in. I appreciate every single one of you guys supporting me on this channel. Again, have a great Friday. Lots of football starting. NFL is back. NCAA is in full swing already. So, guys, enjoy your weekend. Have another video out tomorrow with some more news. Until then, go cats.