WhyHockey

Yes, the Florida Panthers just traded for Brady Tkachuk, shortly after I wrote about the Mackie Samoskevich trade and not a week after doing a draft preview podcast expecting the Panthers to make it. Such is life. There is a lot for Tommy and I to sink our teeth into with the trade including:4:15: So, the Panthers traded for Brady Tkachuk, eh? Starting with the pick compensation: is it an overpay?13:15: Where does Brady actually fit into the Panthers forward group? Do the Panthers potentially have a team speed problem?27:30: Why this package for Brady Tkachuk and not Larkin or Hellebuyck?40:30: Why do these captains in “hockey markets” want to leave their teams right now? Bigger trend or moment in time? 54:00: More dynamics on why this was the best time for Brady Tkachuk to leave and how he’ll fit in the dressing room in Florida?1:01:30: Other assorted thoughtsEnjoy the show!Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media:Matt Lichtenstadter is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and Twitter, @mattlichtenstadter on InstagramWhyHockey is @WhyHockey on TwitterIntro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

The first season of Heated Rivalry is done, and I have enjoyed the heck out of it and have a bunch of thoughts I wanted to put down in podcast form, and thankfully I have WhyHockey to do this, even though it took nearly 100 minutes to get as many of them out as I could! I apologize, but I’ve got timecodes for you to jump to the section you want to listen to right here:4:45: There’s hockey stuff in the show I didn’t mention on the show with Tommy that I should have!9:15: I think I know why this show has broken contain, and I go through some personal theories on why.19:30: Episode 3 recap.27:00: Episode 4 recap, including an autism spectrum anecdote from your host who is on it39:05: Episode 5, it rocks! Scott Hunter, I wish what you did in this episode could happen in reality!48:10: Episode 6, great way to end the season (Shane’s car is a piece of junk).55:00: How have men in hockey, like Luke Prokop, actually come out publicly? It’s not like what Scott Hunter did, but equally as amazing! (Listen to the Outfield Podcast too!)1:11:00: How the Empty Netters Heated Rivalry recaps taught me an important lesson on how the NHL and its teams can bring the show’s audience into hockey for good, and how the show’s fanbase can make the sport of hockey better.1:16:45: Support Brock McGillis, who does the really hard work of changing the culture of hockey on a daily basis, and how out current and former athletes have reacted to the show.1:27:30: Remaining good points and bad points that I hadn’t mentioned yet.1:32:15: Can we please not speculate on Hudson and Connor’s sexuality? Pretty please?And more that I almost certainly didn’t have time to list in here! Enjoy the show, and I hope you stick around, welcome to the wonderful world of hockey and WhyHockey if you’re new here!Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media:Matt Lichtenstadter is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and Twitter, @mattlichtenstadter on InstagramWhyHockey is @WhyHockey on TwitterIntro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

There aren’t many better analytics sites out there than Evolving Hockey, and it is a privilege and pleasure to have Josh and Luke on the show to talk about all sorts of wonderful topics and more, including:7:15: Notes and takes from the first quarter of the season14:30: How do Josh and Luke evaluate a team like the Panthers with their uniquely difficult circumstances?28:15: What do they make of the increased parity for this season with the standings all scrunched up?39:00: It’s the Evolving Hockey twins, we’re talking the Wild 43:00: Michael Amadio for Selke...? How should the Selke be evaluated?52:00: Where is the future of hockey analytics heading? What would Josh and Luke like to do in the future if they had the ability to?Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media:Matt L is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and TwitterWhyHockey is @WhyHockey on TwitterIntro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

The regular season is about a quarter of the way through and the Panthers are not in a playoff position and playing at barely a playoff pace. Should fans be concerned about where they are? Injuries are the only story here, right? On the newest WhyHockey show, we tackle that and more including:1:30: Do we have podcast “competition” from the Tkachuks new show?10:20: What’s the level of concern about the Panthers play and playoff chances at about the quarter pole of the season?38:30: Obligatory Sebrango talk, why it worked and why you shouldn’t be concerned that he was scratched again 59:30: Kruli’s corner on the Flyers Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media:Matt L is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and TwitterWhyHockey is @WhyHockey on TwitterIntro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

Here is a treat for all of you on Halloween: a brand new WhyHockey show in your feed. There’s plenty to look back on from the first month of the Panthers season, plus a whole lot more including:0:30: Remembering some guys, old prospect pools edition8:00: Which current or former NHL head coach would use ChatGPT to help them with tactics?12:30: Where do the Panthers stand after their first 11 games? What’s missing?23:00: Are there echoes of the current struggles for the Panthers in their recent past?29:30: On Mackie Samoskevich 35:00: On Brad Marchand 39:00: Other notes on the forwards49:00: The Panthers are reportedly in the market for a depth defensemen. What are they looking for?1:05:00: On Daniil Tarasov1:09:00: Tommy with an interesting goalie idea!1:15:30: Kruli’s corner on the Flyers 1:25:15: All these new contractsThanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media:Matt L is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and TwitterWhyHockey is @WhyHockey on TwitterIntro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

The 2025-26 NHL season is here, and Matt and Tommy have plenty to talk about, especially since there was no official WhyHockey show since April. While we didn’t get to everything we wanted to, we did get to all of what’s below and more, including:5:00: WhyHockey housekeeping (please subscribe to the Substack!)9:00: Do the Panthers actually have a chip on their shoulder because of the Barkov and Tkachuk injuries?19:35: A little primer on the Panthers unique salary cap situation and how it might play out29:00: With all of this said, how does this all play out for the Panthers on the ice?35:45: What will the season look like for Anton Lundell and Mackie Samoskevich?42:00: The Lightning-Panthers preseason farces1:06:00: The McDavid contract! As Tommy calls it, McDavid’s Crosby moment 1:16:00: Brief Flyers takes!Thanks for reading Whyhockey Periodical! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.From around 25-35 minutes into the show, you may hear some background noise behind Matt, which is an audio recording and editing snafu that will be fixed for the next show. We’re working out the gremlins getting back into the swing of things. Remember that the Substack is your new full time home for the podcast, Matt’s written pieces and much more, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet! Enjoy the show and please give it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!Apple Podcasts: Spotify: Follow us on social media: Matt L is @MattsMusings1 on Bluesky and Twitter WhyHockey is @WhyHockey on Twitter Intro and outro music is “Arcade Montage” by Lee Rosevere from his album “Music for Podcasts 3”, which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com

The annual WhyHockey trade deadline recap is here and boy oh boy was this one a complete whopper. Tommy and Matt have an incredible amount of stuff to talk about, including:4:45: Seth Jones is still a Panther. How has he looked in his first couple of games and how does that fit project to the playoffs?16:00: Projecting the future beyond this postseason after the Jones addition, including Knight and Ekblad/Bennett contract situations27:15: Vanacek and Kahkonen35:45: Nico Sturm40:00: OK, now we'll talk about Marchand 53:00: Winning the Atlantic division is strongly advised!1:08:15: Mikko Rantanen to Dallas is nuts 1:13:00: An interesting question about the Hurricanes1:20:30: All those Avs moves 1:26:15: The teams that admitted the ruth1:31:45: The Flyers movesEnjoy the show! Please listen to the Pucks and Palms Podcast as well, and give both shows five star reviews on Apple and Spotify!Check out the WhyHockey substack:https://whyhockey.substack.com/Follow us on Twitter:Matt L is @MattsMusings1 and on BlueskyWhyHockey is @WhyHockeyIntro and outro music is "Arcade Montage" by Lee Rosevere from his album "Music for Podcasts 3", which you can find here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere/music-for-podcasts-beats/arcade-montage/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whyhockey.substack.com