Coast 2 Coast Podcast

The wait is over. With opening night one day away, the Coast to Coast crew sat down for a full NHL season preview, ranking all 32 teams, calling every division and picking the 2027 Stanley Cup champion. Olin and Donny Waddy were joined by NJT, our not John Tavares guest, who filled in for Zaylor and was more than happy to disagree with us all night.

We start with the news that dropped right before we hit record. Kirill Marchenko is headed to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a blockbuster that sends Matthew Knies to Columbus, and the three of us split on it. Is Toronto adding the speed and skill it lacked last season, or paying too much for a player who is not that big an upgrade? We get into contract value, locker room heart, Gavin McKenna and Auston Matthews, and what the Blue Jackets do with Knies, Adam Fantilli and their forward group.

From there we look back at the Stanley Cup Final between the Hurricanes and the Golden Knights, including the Carter Hart and Adin Hill decision that still has us scratching our heads, and a well-earned tribute to Brandon Bussi, Stanley Cup champion. We also dig into the new NFL rivalries and hometown remix uniforms, and yes, we talk a little football too.

Then come the predictions, division by division. In the Pacific, we argue over Vegas versus Edmonton at the top, Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks on the rise, and just how low Vancouver can go. In the Central, we sort through a loaded top of the standings, the Utah Mammoth as a wild card threat, Connor Hellebuyck’s contract situation in Winnipeg and the Quinn Hughes storyline in Minnesota. In the Atlantic, Montreal’s young core, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Florida and the Maple Leafs fight for spots in a bloodbath of a division. In the Metropolitan, we talk about why the Hurricanes look like the team to beat, and how the Capitals, Islanders, Devils and Penguins stack up behind them.

We close with full playoff series picks and our Stanley Cup Final predictions. Will Carolina go back to back? Will Vegas get revenge? Or does Montreal take the whole thing? Listen to find out, then come back in April and tell us how wrong we were.

Watch or listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and follow Coast to Coast on Instagram at @coasttocoastsports for the prediction graphics. Subscribe to Substack so you get every post this season.

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Episode 2 of Coast to Coast opens with a full look ahead at the NHL season, including why the Pacific Division might be the toughest in hockey, the wide open Stanley Cup race, lingering goaltending questions in Edmonton, and the Florida Panthers assembling a roster that has us equal parts hyped and terrified.

From there we move into college football as Week 1 arrives. We go through the slate game by game, covering TCU versus North Carolina in Ireland with Bill Belichick on the sideline, the Hawaii-Stanford sleeper, NC State versus Virginia, and the Memphis-UNLV matchup that could shape the group of six playoff picture. We wrap the football talk with our early, slightly chaotic national championship picks.

We close the episode with a rundown of the NHL PTO market, including Cal Petersen, Alexandre Texier, and whether Patrick Laine finds a home before camp, plus way more time than expected spent on the career of Chase Prisky.

New episodes drop weekly. Find us on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

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Season one of the Coast to Coast show is officially here. Zaylor, Ian, and Olin open things up by getting way too excited over the Cruz Lucius trade to future considerations, tracing it back through the Hurricanes’ Jake Guentzel trade tree and dragging Michael Bunting’s eight-year, four-million-dollar extension along the way. It is the kind of offseason dopamine hit only hockey fans will understand, and it sets the tone for a long, chaotic episode.

From there the guys pivot into the sports story actually dominating the headlines: a ruling that could let NFL players who miss a roster spot head back to college football. Ian and Olin dig into what that means for roster stability, whether it cheapens the line between professional and collegiate status, and why a spring developmental league might make a lot more sense than sending guys back to campus.

College football takes center stage for a big stretch of the show. Indiana’s undefeated national title run gets the respect it deserves, Missouri’s perpetual preseason ranking gets roasted, and the guys debate whether Oregon can ever actually win the big one. There is a real discussion of the national championship picture, with Georgia, Oregon, Miami, Ohio State, and Indiana in the top tier, plus a homer case for Oklahoma and John Mateer as a Heisman frontrunner.

Then it is on to the NFL, where bold predictions fly for teams across the league, from the NFC East race between Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, and the Giants to a hot take on the Patriots taking a step back after last year’s surprise AFC run, and a Carolina Panthers pick that Charlotte fans will want to hear.

This is the appetizer becoming the whole buffet. Hockey talk returns next month, but for now it is football season on Coast to Coast.

Full episode available now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

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Free agency is here and the Coast to Coast Show is back with a full offseason recap. Olin, Donny, and Zaylor break down the moves that actually matter around the league, starting with the Sharks handing out big money to Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba, the Oilers bringing in Mike Babcock as their new head coach, and the wild few days in Columbus with Zach Werenski vetoing a trade to Dallas before deciding to stay put. They also dig into Minnesota moving Jake Middleton for Blake Coleman and Ollie Maatta, the Golden Knights quietly reloading, and the Rangers making a pair of trades that left everyone scratching their heads.

Of course there’s a Carolina check in too. The Hurricanes had about as quiet an offseason as you can have coming off a Stanley Cup, with the biggest storyline being the Alexander Nikishin situation and what a long term deal or a short bridge contract might look like. The guys also revisit the Cup run itself, celebrate the seventh anniversary of the Aho meme page, and somehow end up talking about Naz Reed landing in Charlotte and the Paul George trade before wrapping things up.

It’s an early offseason recap and the crew promises more of these as the summer rolls on.

#CauseChaos #LetsGoCanes #CoastToCoastShow

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The Coast to Coast Show Is Here. Now Let’s Talk About Everything That Just Happened.

The podcast is dead. Long live the show.

After months of building Coast to Coast into what it is, we are officially rebranding to the Coast to Coast Show, and this first episode is exactly the kind of conversation that earned that upgrade. Ian and Olin sat down to do something they have been promising for a while: a full 2025-26 NHL season retrospective, from the opening night goalies to the Storm Surge on T-Mobile Arena ice. This one runs over an hour and covers basically every storyline that mattered this year, so settle in.

The episode opens with the Brady Tkachuk trade to Florida, which sent him to reunite with his brother Matthew and Sam Bennett on what Twitter has already started calling the January 6 line. Insiders like Elliot Friedman and Chris Johnston had been telegraphing this move for weeks, and the writing was on the wall the moment Ottawa’s playoff run ended against Carolina. The guys break down what the Senators actually got back, whether the return was fair value, and why there was realistically no destination other than Florida. They also dig into the broader trend of Team USA players requesting trades to the same four or five organizations, the role the Olympic gold medal run played in that shift, and whether the NHL is quietly becoming a destination league for only a handful of franchises.

From there it becomes a month-by-month walkthrough of the season. October through the Carter Hart signing in Vegas and what that meant for Aiden Hill. November through the Buffalo Sabres beginning one of the most improbable division title runs in recent memory. The show pauses on December long enough to acknowledge Jarmo Kekalainen arriving in Buffalo and Lindy Ruff quietly turning that roster into something real, though the guys are quick to note that Kevin Adams built what Jarmo inherited. Then February, which was essentially the Milan Olympics consuming the entire hockey world. Team USA winning gold for the first time since the Miracle on Ice gets its proper treatment here, including the debate over whether a Nathan MacKinnon missed shot actually changed the direction of the league or whether the trade requests were coming no matter what.

March brings the trade deadline and the Bruce Cassidy firing in Vegas. This is one of the more interesting stretches of the episode because Ian and Olin relitigated the entire Cassidy-to-Tortorella transition in real time. The hire looked insane when it happened. Then it kind of worked. The guys explain why that chapter unfolded the way it did and what it tells you about Kelly McCrimmon as a GM, someone who has made enough questionable moves to fill a highlight reel of bad decisions while somehow still building a perennial contender.

The second half of the episode turns to the playoffs. Anaheim eliminating Edmonton in six games in the first round, with Jackson Lacombe having a full coming out party against McDavid and Draisaitl. Vegas dispatching Utah with a familiar formula. Carolina sweeping Ottawa without surrendering a single lead, then rolling through Philadelphia and getting nearly two weeks of rest before the conference finals. The guys spend considerable time on how that rest advantage shaped the Stanley Cup Final, why the Hurricanes going into Game 1 against Vegas healthy and fresh was a massive competitive edge, and how Rasmus Anderson’s turnover in Game 2 might have been the actual turning point of the entire series. They also cover the Montreal Canadiens making a surprising conference finals run, the Mitch Marner storyline that built each round, and what the Tortorella-era Vegas team reminds them of from recent NHL history.

The episode closes with offseason news already starting to break live, including Dylan Larkin’s trade request, Sergei Bobrovsky’s uncertain future, Mike Babcock heading to Edmonton, and a Pierre LeBrun report on Zach Werenski drawing league-wide interest. Plus a brief and very heartfelt plea from Donny Waddy to Don Waddell to not break up what they just built.

The NHL Draft live stream is coming. Night one is locked in. Night two depends on the hangover. If you want to be a guest, reach out.

Subscribe to the Coast to Coast Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review, share it with someone who cares about hockey, and we will see you for the draft.

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Twenty years. That’s how long Caniacs have been waiting for this moment. And on Sunday night in Las Vegas, the Carolina Hurricanes made it worth every second.

On this episode of the Coast to Coast Podcast, Donny Waddy and Olin break down all six games of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Las Vegas Golden Knights and close it out with something a little more personal. Donny talks about what this championship means to him, as a fan, as a voice in this community, and as someone who has believed in this team through every near miss and playoff heartbreak.

The story of this series had everything. Vegas drew first blood in Game 1. Carolina answered with a gritty overtime comeback in Game 2. Game 3 brought one of the most gut-wrenching moments of the entire playoff run, with a four-goal third period that still wasn’t enough in double overtime. Game 4 was a survival act. Game 5 put the Canes one win away. And Game 6? Brandon Bussi slammed the door shut in a 3-0 shutout on the road, capping a historic 16-3 postseason and bringing Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Raleigh for the first time since 2006.

Jordan Staal walked away with the Conn Smythe Trophy. Rod Brind’Amour has his second ring. And a team that spent years hearing they couldn’t get it done finally proved everyone wrong in the most dominant way possible.

This one’s for the Canes. This one’s for Raleigh. And this one is for every fan who never stopped believing.

#CauseChaos #LetsGoCanes #CarolinaHurricanes #StanleyCup2026

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The Stanley Cup Final is set, and for the first time in Coast to Coast Podcast history, we are previewing the championship round. Vegas Golden Knights versus Carolina Hurricanes, two of the most consistent franchises in the NHL since 2020, are finally meeting on the biggest stage.

We break down how both teams got here, starting with Vegas sweeping a Presidents’ Trophy Colorado Avalanche squad that ran out of answers once Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon were compromised by injuries sustained against Minnesota. Then we turn to the Eastern Conference, where the Hurricanes went 12-1 through the East, the best conference run since the 1970s Montreal Canadiens, dismissing Ottawa, Philadelphia, and a Montreal team that upset Tampa and Buffalo but could not generate shots or sustain momentum against Carolina’s suffocating forecheck.

The main event gets a full breakdown: Frederick Anderson versus Carter Hart in a goaltending matchup where both guys elevated from mediocre regular seasons to being arguably the two hottest goalies left in these playoffs. We get into the X factors on both sides, Sebastian Aho needing to outplay Jack Eichel and stop turning the puck over, possession battle as the true deciding factor for both teams, special teams with Carolina’s power play sitting at 13% versus Vegas running at nearly 24%, depth scorers like William Carrier facing his former team and Eric Robinson continuing his hot streak, and the experience gap that could matter in a long series.

We close with our Cup Final predictions and Conn Smythe picks. Two Canes fans and one very conflicted Minnesota Wild dual citizen weigh in. The Conn Smythe giveaway is also live on the Coast to Coast Instagram, details inside.

Series starts June 2nd. Let’s go.

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The 2026 NHL Playoffs are heating up and the conference finals are almost set. Donny Waddy and Olin are breaking down everything you need to know before the puck drops.

🏒 Carolina Hurricanes Conference Final preview — who they're facing, why Donny thinks they're going all the way, and what a Raleigh Stanley Cup parade would actually look like

❄️ Colorado Avalanche vs Vegas Golden Knights — is Mark Stone playing? What is Vegas's realistic chance? And can Carter Hart actually steal a series against this Avalanche team?

🎯 Mitch Marner's insane between the legs goal — best playoff goal of all time? We debate it

🍁 Buffalo Sabres vs Montreal Canadiens Game 7 — our picks, the momentum swings, and why Montreal just refuses to go away

⚠️ Minnesota Wild's center depth disaster — why Ryan Hartman at first line center against Nathan MacKinnon was always going to end badly

💸 Vegas loses a second round pick — John Tortorella, the NHL front office, and why Donny genuinely does not care even a little bit

🎮 Old NHL video games, 3 AM overtime goals, and accidentally waking up the whole house

🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode during the playoffs!

⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 — Cold open: NHL video games and 3 AM overtime chaos 05:15 — Intro: Conference finals are almost here 08:00 — Buffalo 8 to 3 Game 6 recap and Game 7 preview 10:30 — Colorado Avalanche vs Vegas Golden Knights breakdown 13:00 — Minnesota Wild's center depth failure 15:00 — Mitch Marner's goal: best playoff goal ever? 19:00 — Mark Stone injury and Vegas's Cup odds 23:00 — Carter Hart and the goaltending matchup 26:00 — Vegas loses a second round pick and the Tortorella media situation 33:00 — Carolina Hurricanes conference final preview 40:00 — What happens if it's Carolina vs Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final? 48:00 — Buffalo vs Montreal Game 7 predictions 52:00 — Closing thoughts and the Atlanta trip teaser

🔎 Keywords: NHL Playoffs 2026, Conference Finals Preview, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Mitch Marner Goal, Mark Stone Injury, Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jarvis, NHL Podcast, Hockey Podcast, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Coast to Coast Podcast, DonnyWaddy, Game 7, Buffalo Montreal, Carolina Hurricanes Playoff Run, NHL 2026

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Episode 6 of the Coast to Coast Podcast is live, and there is a lot to get into.

The Carolina Hurricanes are up 3-0 on the Philadelphia Flyers and could be done before the Buffalo and Montreal series even finds its footing. Ian and Olin break down why this Canes team is as well-constructed for a deep playoff run as they have been in years, how the shorthanded Chatfield goal in Game 3 essentially closed the door on Philadelphia before the third period even got going, and what a fully rested Carolina team waiting on either Montreal or Buffalo could mean for the Eastern Conference Finals.

On the Western side, Mitch Marner delivered a natural hat trick and four-point game in Game 3 to push the Vegas Golden Knights ahead 2-1 against the Anaheim Ducks. The guys talk about what John Tortorella has done differently from Bruce Cassidy, why the Golden Knights’ ability to win games they do not deserve to win is the mark of a legitimate contender, and whether Vegas can realistically match up with Colorado if that Western Conference Final becomes a reality.

The Colorado versus Minnesota breakdown is equally honest. With Jonas Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello both out for Game 3, the Wild’s center depth against Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche is essentially nonexistent. Ian questions the John Hynes goaltending decisions that left Filip Wallstedt hanging in Game 2, and Olin makes the case that this Wild team is going to need a significant roster upgrade at the center position before next season if they want to compete at this level again.

The Montreal and Buffalo segment covers one of the stranger sequences in recent playoff history. Montreal advanced out of their first round series by winning Game 7 with nine shots on goal, looked worn down in a Game 1 loss to Buffalo, then bounced back with a strong Game 2 win on the back of a Tage Thompson turnover that changed the momentum completely. It is a genuine series, and Ian and Olin both acknowledge Buffalo may have had an off night at the worst possible time.

The second half of the episode shifts to the offseason, where the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery produced chaos. Toronto won the first overall pick with just an 8.5 percent chance at the lottery, almost certainly securing Gavin McKenna to play alongside Austin Matthews. The San Jose Sharks jumped from ninth all the way to second overall, and the Vancouver Canucks dropped to third despite entering with the best odds in the field. The guys react in full, then move on to the Maple Leafs front office shakeup, with Mats Sundin coming in as the new Director of Hockey Operations and John Chayka being named General Manager. They debate whether Chayka can be trusted to handle the Toronto market, what a potential Austin Matthews trade package might look like, and why Carolina could be the most logical destination if the Leafs decide to move him.

The episode closes with an early Conn Smythe Trophy debate. Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven, Mitch Marner, and Frederik Andersen all get votes. The guys land in different spots, and it is worth hearing their reasoning before the second round is finished.

Episode 6 is available now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Search Coast to Coast Podcast and subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

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Coast 2 Coast Episode 5 w/ Zaylor & Ben

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