Real Blue's fifth episode opens with an update on Matthew Mayich and the Arizona State hockey story. The hosts are underwhelmed by ASU and the coach Greg Powers’ response to it. After that, the hosts take a lap around the league. They cover the NHL's projected salary cap jump and the debate over Mike Babcock's hiring in Edmonton stirred up by Mike Messier’s “horrified” comments, and they take a trivia question about Oskar Sundqvist's career points as he heads to waivers.
The rest is the hosts' case against Doug Armstrong since the 2019 Stanley Cup. They go through the trades and signings that took apart a championship roster. Those include the Justin Faulk trade, losing Alex Pietrangelo over a no-movement clause, and replacing him with Torey Krug. They also cover exposing Vince Dunn in the expansion draft, letting Jaden Schwartz and David Perron go, and the Vladimir Tarasenko shoulder situation, and then the trades of Tarasenko, O'Reilly and Barbashev and the firing of Craig Berube. The hosts also credit the Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway offer sheets, but they question long contracts for Buchnevich, Fowler and Nick Leddy. They finish by grading Armstrong's legacy, and by asking whether the Blues can come back from a failed retool and what Doug Armstrong has left behind.
Music created with Apple's Garageband.
