The DFO Rundown

Latest Episodes:

Craig MacTavish on the Battle of Alberta, his career, and golfing with Tiger Woods May 20, 2022

Show notes

A new episode of The DFO Rundown is here to take you into the weekend! Frank and Jason are both out in Calgary to cover the Battle of Alberta and they kicked off the podcast by talking about the wildly entertaining series opener that we saw on Wednesday. They outlined what both teams need to do in order to clean up their games. The Oilers are very banged up right now with key players like Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse clearly labouring. That could derail things for the Oilers. The Flames scored nine goals in game one but as the guys discussed, that performance won't sit well with Darryl Sutter. They also hit on the Panthers being down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning after two games in Florida. They also welcomed in Tyler Yaremchuk for a new edition of 'Fill in the Blank'!

Their guest today was Craig MacTavish. As a former Oilers player, Head Coach, and GM, he has plenty of great stories when it comes to the Battle of Alberta. He also gave us some insight into what allowed the Flames to look so good and what the Oilers will need to do in order to bounce back in game two. He also shared a tremendous story about the time he played a round with the greatest golfer ever!

0:40 - BOA game one recap

9:30 - FLA in trouble

12:00 - NYR vs CAR

13:05 - STL evens series vs COL

16:50 - Fill in the Blank

22:11 - Craig MacTavish joins the show

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Canucks' Jim Rutherford & breaking down round one May 16, 2022

Show notes

What a wild weekend around the NHL! We witnessed five game sevens over the last two days and each one came with a lot of drama! Frank and Jason touched on what we saw on Friday and Saturday and gave their takes on how each series ended up playing out. Connor McDavid was sensational, Johnny Gaudreau finally had his big playoff moment, and the Rangers completed the big comeback in their series vs the Penguins.

From there, they looked at each upcoming series and gave their predictions for the next round of the playoffs. They each have at least one underdog going to the Conference Final and multiple series going the distance!

To end the episode, they welcomed in Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford! Jim talked about the Canucks offseason plans, how he's handling being a President and not a GM, and more!

1:20 - What stood out in round one?

3:30 - The Rangers series comeback

11:05 - Rangers vs Hurricanes

14:25 - Battle of Florida!

19:11 - Avalanche vs Blues

21:10 - Battle of Alberta!

27:30 - Do the Leafs need changes?

37:45 - Jim Rutherford joins the show

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Ep. 128: Let's Play Seven! PLUS: An interview with Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong May 13, 2022

Show notes

WHAT A NIGHT OF PLAYOFF ACTION! Jason and Frank stayed up late to recap what we saw from around the league tonight. The Leafs and Lightning had an OT thriller, the Oilers hung on to force seven vs the Kings, the Bruins and Canes will also play one more game, and the Blues bounced the wild! MADNESS!

They gave their picks for game seven and also talked about what we'll see on Friday night as a wild first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs continues.

In the back half of the show, they were joined by Arizona Coyote GM Bill Armstrong. He was quickly dubbed the best-dressed guest in the history of the show. He talked about the future of the Coyotes, the comments made by Jakob Chychrun at the end of the season, and also how he got to where he was. He shared stories of his come up through hockey and also gave a great pitch as to why players want to play in Arizona!

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Oilers & Leafs need more killer instinct and raw reaction to Barry Trotz news May 09, 2022

Show notes

The news broke late into episode 127 of The DFO Rundown that Barry Trotz had been relieved of his head coaching duties by the New York Islanders. Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor gave their raw thoughts on the decision.

Also, Frank and Jason ran through the games that happened over the weekend on the show.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers missed the opportunity to go 3-1 in their series. After Bruce Cassidy reunited the Perfection Line, the Boston Bruins are back on level terms with the Carolina Hurricanes. And the Florida Panthers' goalscoring woes continued in game three.

Jason and Frank talked in depth about those three series and the other five that played out over the weekend.

They also questioned how almost every series is so close, yet, we have seen endless blowouts night after night.

Midway through the show, Liam Horrobin filled in for Tyler Yaremchuk to host Fill In The Blank, presented by DoorDash.

You can hear all of that and more on episode 127 of The DFO Rundown with Jason Gregor and Frank Seravalli.

0:00 "tight series." 2:50: Boston/Carolina 4:00 Toronto/Tampa 8:39 Florida/Washington 16:37 Penguins/Rangers 27:06 Colorado/Nashville 27:49: Flames/Dallas 34:56: Oilers/Kings 41:14: Wild/Blues 44:51 Islanders fire Trotz (RAW REACTION)

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An interview with Kyle Davidson, General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks May 06, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to episode 126 of The DFO Rundown with Jason Gregor and Frank Seravalli.

We are now two games into the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs, and there is plenty to talk about. Jason and Frank dove into talking about the Calgary Flames lack of offence, how the Boston Bruins can avoid the sweep, and the outstanding performance from Connor Ingram last night.

Frank gives a hot take on who he thinks is the best playoff performer that has not won the Stanley Cup.

After that, Kyle Davidson, the General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, joined Jason and Frank. They talked about the early days in Chicago as the general manager, the plan for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, and the timeline for appointing the team's next head coach. Davidson also spoke about his origin story and how he came to be the general manager of the Blackhawks.

There was no buy or sell on today's episode, but they did close out the interview with Davidson with rapid fire.

00:48 Calgary/Dallas

2:50 Edmonton/LA Kings

9:57 - Where's the playoff drama!

11:15 - Frank's Hot Take

14:40 - Minnesota/St Louis

17:44 - Boston/Carolina

20:11 - Toronto/Tampa

26:56 - The Davidson Origin Story

38:24 - Fitting in Kane & Toews

44:35 - Timeline for new head coach

56:44 -The importance of Rockford

59:16 - Rapid Fire

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Ep. 125: A full playoff preview! May 02, 2022

Show notes

THE PLAYOFFS ARE FINALLY HERE! Frank and Jason went through every single series and gave their thoughts on every single series ahead of the first batch of games tonight.

The Panthers look like a juggernaut, the Leafs are facing a crazy amount of pressure, the Rangers might be getting overlooked, a playoff Battle of Alberta could be coming soon, and are the Avs primed for a deep run? Or are they a team that could fall victim to a classic Stanley Cup Playoffs upset?

They broke it all down throughout the course of the show. Tyler Yaremchuk also hopped in for a special playoff edition of Fill in the Blank delivered by DoorDash!

1:22 - Florida vs Washington

6:45 - Toronto vs Tampa Bay

12:59 - Caroline vs Boston

18:40 - New York vs Pittsburgh

24:45 - Fill in the Blank

31:25 - Colorado vs Nashville

35:30 - St. Louis vs Minnesota

40:40 - Calgary vs Dallas

43:50 - Edmonton vs Los Angeles

48:40 - Running through our bracket

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Ep. 124: An Interview with longtime NHL official Brad Meier! Apr 29, 2022

Show notes

The final day of the regular season is here and there is plenty to play for on the last full day of NHL action. A handful of seeds in the Eastern Conference are still up for grabs so what happens tonight will have a big impact on round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Frank and Jason started the podcast off by talking a little bit about what is on the line tonight and which potential matchups could intrigue them. They also talked about the President's Trophy and the bad reputation it seems to have among some fans.

They were then joined by recently retired NHL referee Brad Meier! Brad officiated over 1400 NHL games and recently worked his final one. He talked about how he got into officiating and shared some great stories from his career. He shared some insight into what the travel is like for a ref, what is was like working through the pandemic, and he shared a wild story about his time in Sochi for the Olympics.

1:10 - Big nights for Frank & Jason

8:40 - Final night of the season

16:30 - The Presidents Trophy

24:20 - Brad Meier joins the show!

48:00 - Working during COVID

54:00 - What's next for him?

57:30 - Rapid Fire

1:05:20 - Buy or Sell delivered by DoorDash

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Ep. 123: Pretenders, Contenders, Darkhorses, and the Elite Cup Contenders Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Kick your week off with a new episode of The DFO Rundown! It's the final week of the regular season and the 16 playoff spots are almost locked up. Jason and Frank started the show by talking about the crushing loss that the Vegas Golden Knights suffered last night and why that organization has become pretty unlikable.

With the 16 teams pretty much set, they went on the put the teams into four tiers. They went from pretenders to dark horse Cup candidates to plausible winners before wrapping up with the teams they view as elite. Certain teams are heating up and both Frank and Jason gave their thoughts on who they like heading into the postseason. They wrapped up the show with Fill in the Blank delivered by DoorDash and also Frank shared the bets he's sweating out down the stretch!

2:00 - VGK loses

13:30 - TB and others getting hot

19:05 - Our playoff tiers

19:40 - The Pretenders

22:45 - The Darkhorses

27:05 - The Plausible Winners

32:50 - The Elite Contenders

39:40 - Fill in the Blank!

45:50 - Frank is sweating

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Ep. 122: Remembering Guy Lafleur & former NHLer Hal Gill joins the show! Apr 22, 2022

Show notes

Today's episode of the DFO Rundown started off on a sombre note as Frank and Jason talked about the passing of Guy Lafleur. They talked about his legacy both around hockey and in Montreal. They both had some unique stories to pass along about the Hockey Hall of Famer and Gregor marvelled at some of his incredible career numbers.

From there, they took a quick look at the playoff race in the Western Conference. Frank thinks that the eight teams that are in now are the eight teams that will be there at the end of the regular season. There are also a few unique races in the Eastern Conference as well.

They also welcomed in former NHL defenseman and current Nashville Predators analyst Hal Gill to the show! Hal talked about how the Preds are looking as we get closer to the playoffs, how they stack up against the Calgary Flames and Roman Josi's historic season. He also talked the toughest battles that he fought in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during his long career.

0:30 - Remembering Guy Lafleur

8:35 - Playoff talk

14:20 - Hal Gill joins the show!

22:30 - Josi's historic season

25:40 - Appreciating defensive d-men

28:35 - Nashville's physical style

31:50 - His playoff memories

40:10 - Being a media friendly player

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Ep. 121: Can we just start the playoffs already? Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

A new episode of The DFO Rundown is here and it features the return of Frank Seravalli! He and Gregor dug into the playoff race in the Western Conference and how the regular season feels like it's dragging on a little bit. That led to Frank saying that the NHL needs to change the way its point system works. They also talked about some teams in the East that have playoff spots locked up but are really limping to the finish line.

They also went into a big discussion into which coaches could be returning next year and which organizations could be looking to make a change behind the bench.

There was also an impromptu discussion about the play of Elias Pettersson and what his future could look like. They also brought in Tyler Yaremchuk for 'Fill in the Blank' delivered by Door Dash!

4:00 - The Western playoff race

12:45 - 3-2-1-0 system

14:00 - Late season swoons

17:00 - Potential coaching changes

27:30 - The Pettersson discussion

38:15 - Fill in the Blank

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