LAB #66: Casey Mittelstadt’s Contract Extension

The Mile High Hockey Lab reacts to the Stanley Cup Final and Casey Mittelstadt deal!

The 66th installment of the Mile High Hockey Lab is available on your preferred Podcast platform! The Stanley Cup playoffs are over, and we have crowned a new champion: the Florida Panthers, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. In this episode, we cover Casey Mittelstadt’s new deal, talk about the NHL Awards, and give draft predictions!

The Stanley Cup Final goes seven games

Our contributors first touched on the swinging series, which was the Stanley Cup Final. Jackie Kay has let us know that she likes elimination games, but she reminded us that she likes when teams get eliminated. Most of the panel felt like the series dragged on and wasn’t all that riveting outside of the three-game swings. The games, individually, weren’t all that entertaining outside of game seven.

Jackie also boldly predicted Connor McDavid would win the Conn Smythe on the losing side before the series started. She will get her ding later in the episode, but what a prediction! We all agreed that McDavid setting the assist record and his performance throughout the playoffs does, in fact, earn him some votes, but the fact that he got every first-place vote outside of Ryan S. Clark’s is a little bit ridiculous. It’s pretty obvious that the voters had already decided this before games six and seven, considering McDavid was held scoreless in the two biggest contests of the entire bracket.

Casey Mittelstadt’s deal comes in under six million

We quickly moved on to the more pressing Colorado Avalanche news. Mittelstadt won’t go to arbitration and has come to terms with his new club for 5.75M over the next three seasons. Evan Liu accurately described this as a bridge deal and expressed a little disappointment in not locking him down on a more long-term basis. I reminded Evan that Casey still has a bit of proving to do with a career-high of 18 goals. Of course, Casey’s game leans more towards stacking assists, but this contract feels appropriate, considering the production we’ve seen thus far. The Avalanche are insulated in case he doesn’t pop with the boys in burgundy, and Casey can earn himself an even bigger contract by meeting and exceeding expectations. Getting Mittelstadt under 6M AAV was the goal, and Chris MacFarland and the company achieved it.

Now, this leaves Jonathan Drouin to be re-signed. Will he come in at a team-friendly price or hit the open market? We shall see.

Confidence in MacKinnon for Hart

I told the world that if Nathan MacKinnon didn’t win the Hart Trophy, I would shave my head live on a Mile High Hockey Lab episode. This leads me to gauge my fellow contributors’ confidence in MacKinnon’s ability to do so. I asked them how confident they all were on a scale of 1-10. Here are the results:

Jackie: 9

Evan: 10

Ezra: 9

Adrian: 10

I mentioned that since the NHL and its voters seem to be voting in the best interest of public relations and superstar development, it has to be Nate Dogg’s time. As Jackie put it, “He kissed the babies.” He has represented the NHL on national television with incredible performances and played along with all of the All-Star shenanigans. We all agree that he likely never will if he doesn’t win this season.

Our picks for the Avalanche and their 24th overall pick

If you haven’t already, check out our 2024 Mock Draft. Our four-member panel made all 32 first-round selections, including Colorado’s 24th overall. We heard names like Emil Hemming, Cole Beaudoin, and Andrew Basha. Ultimately, it was Evan who had our official pick, and he went with Jett Luchanko, the speedy two-way forward out of the OHL.

What are your thoughts on this selection? Who would you select if given the responsibility?

Last Episode’s Bold Predictions (RECORDED LIVE 6/5/24):

JACKIE KAY — McDavid will win the Conn Smyth on the losing side. ✅

ADRIAN HERNANDEZ — Someone other than McDavid or Draisitle will lead the Oilers in goals. ❌

EVAN LIU — Bobrovsky would win the Conn Smythe and Panthers in six. ❌

EZRA PARTER — We will see Calvin Pickard in a Stanley Cup Final game. ❌

This Episode’s Bold Predictions (RECORDED LIVE 6/25/24):

JACKIE KAY — The Avalanche WILL NOT qualify for another RFA before the June 30th deadline.

ADRIAN HERNANDEZ — The Avalanche will re-sign Drouin for more than four years.

EVAN LIU — The Avalanche will trade some second-day picks for picks in the second or third rounds.

EZRA PARTER — Two signings this week. BONUS: It won’t be Drouin, but maybe Duhaime and Jack Johnson.

Be sure to share your #BoldPredictions on X and in the comments here! We will discuss them on our show and give you any dings you might earn!

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Go Avs!