Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - 2026 NHL DRAFT LOTTERY LIVE STREAM 🚨 | FN Barn Burner Watch Party

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery is here — and we’ve got you covered LIVE.Video Link: https://youtube.com/live/766mVIEQAlIMike Gould and Ryan Pike host our full lottery show as we find out who lands the coveted first overall pick. With major franchise-changing implications on the line, anything can happen.We’ll be joined by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff for expert insight, analysis, and reaction as the results come in. Plus, we’ll check in live with the boys at the watch party down at Greta Bar in downtown Calgary for all the fan reactions as the drama unfolds.Who’s getting the bounce? Who’s walking away with the future of their franchise?Let’s find out.TIMESTAMPS ⏰1:00 Intro Banter8:00 Ellis Joins16:00 Boomer Joins27:00 Lottery Starts32:00 Leafs Win38:00 Second Lottery41:00 Boomer YIKES52:00 Hanging OutSubscribe to BarnBurner on Youtube🚨➡️ / @FNBarnBurner📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiBARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/flamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTShttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSOR!!👍🏼 Prairie Toyota Dealers: https://shoptoyota.caProducer: Jack Haverstock#NHLPlayoffs #Hockey #HockeyTalk #Playoffs #StanleyCup #StanleyCupFinal #NHL #CalgaryFlames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good afternoon. We are not any of those three people you just saw. Mike Gould and Ryan Pike with you on this Tuesday, May the 5th. It is Cinco de Mayo and the Calgary Flames hoping that they will not come away with the fifth overall pick. May they not get the fifth? May they not get the fourth? May they get the first or perhaps the second picks in the 2026 NHL draft. It is lottery day.

And we're here to live react to everything going on. on, we'll be bringing on some of the people who you saw in the opening montage there in mere moments. Not just yet, though. And until then, we're just, we're just waiting on pins and needles, aren't we, Pike? I mean, we've, we've sat here and in different physical spaces, pondering the draft lottery and the, the fate of 14 number ping pong balls. But I don't know if it's ever felt as significant as it has this year for the flames. This is, you know, I think, safe to say that they've been, the term I've been using is the youth thinning process has been ongoing since Craig Conroy became general manager just under five, the three exactly, almost exactly

three years ago, three years, I think it was later in May, 23 that he got the promotion to the big chair. He talked about, oh, they're going to get younger. And we've seen a lot of players with extensive resumes go out the door. We've seen a lot of players with quite short resumes come in and actually contribute pretty well. And so this could be, uh, a day where the selection of four ping pong balls completely changes the trajectory, or at the very least, accelerates the trajectory of a hockey club. And why not the Calgary Flames? Why not? The Calgary Flames have never made a top three selection in their entire 46-year history. And of course, we will tell you a lot more. We will bring on some more folks as the show goes on

for the folks in the chat wondering where certain people are. Well, just wait. You might see some of them during the show. And we do want to tell you that this show is a presentation of your Prairie Toyota dealers. If you're looking to dominate off the ice as much as your team does on it, check out the Toyota Tacoma. Its standard I-force engine boasts an impressive towing capacity of up to 4,400 pounds. In fact, it is the most powerful Tacoma ever. So whether you're hauling gear to the rink or heading to an away game, you can tackle it with ease. The available panoramic multi-terrain view monitor gives you a live underfloor view to navigate even the toughest terrain with ease. when it is time to load up the available power lip gate makes loading your gear in and out a cinch.

So experience power capability and convenience with your Toyota Tacoma. Visit shop toadda.ca or your local prairie Toyota dealer during red tag days from March through May. And it is May. It is May. It is May the 5th. And the Calgary Flames enter today's NHL draft lottery with the fourth best odds at picking first overall. And I think we've got those odds, courtesy of the NHL. as they can go up to first overall, they can go up to second overall,

9.5% chance at both of those potential outcomes. Here they are. A very minute chance of them moving up to third overall. It requires a one specific combination. If the New Jersey Devils win a first lottery to move up 10 spots to number two, it thereby figures that the flames cannot move up to number two as well. So they would move up to number three if they win the second drawing

after the New Jersey Devils win the first one, and then 15% chance they stay where they are at four, a 44.6% chance of them moving down to five, and just over 20% of them moving down to six. So Pike, all things considered for the Calgary Flames, you can say, well, it's about a 20% chance of them moving up into the top three. It's about a 20% chance of them moving down to number six. It is about 20% chance of them staying where they are,

and then about a two-fifths chance of them moving down to five. It's 15.4% chance of them staying where they are. Well, that's not about anything. That's precisely 15.4. Yeah, it's about 20. You can split it into five, you know. In their illustrious history, since the flames have been the flames and since the draft lottery was instituted in 1995 to, I guess, discourage tanking.

To punish the auto of senators. Essentially. Yeah. So the flames have never. ever, ever, ever, ever, ever moved up. They have moved down once. That was in 2016. On the last day of the season,

Nicholas Baxter was insane in net. They won the season finale. In Montreal, I think. Minnesota. He played the Minnesota Wilde, I believe. In Minnesota, Winnipeg. But yeah, Game 82 win for Nicholas Baxter, moved the flames from fourth last to fifth last,

and then they lost the lottery and one of the teams below them. Winnipeg won and moved past the flames. The flames dropped down to six and then had to white knuckle it. I spoke to Nicholas Baxter. room for my book and he was he joked that he like he thought Bradshaw living was mad at him for winning which is incredibly funny but then imagine if you didn't get a good player out of that and you're like you're just cursing your goalie for being too good so we'll see if history repeats itself today odds are based on history flames probably stay put they've always stayed put every time except for

the one time where they moved down in the 2016 draft lottery they have never moved up the only time they've ever won any kind of lottery drawing in the entire history of the event was the weird Frankenstein monster of the 2005 lottery where they did not have a lot they didn't have a season because season not played and so they created a weird weighted system with 48 lottery balls where all the different teams got different lottery combinations based on making missing the playoffs or getting a first overall pick the flames were in the second tier and they did not get picked until the 26th drawing when at that point their odds had gone up to like 37%. So the flame, the history is not on the flame side in terms of winning, but you could also make an argument that maybe they're due. We're going to bring on our draft analyst from Daily Faceoff, Stephen Ellis, my colleague, who I inundate with useless questions and trivia facts all the time. And now he's going to come join us. We have them ready, right, Jack? Here he is. Stephen Ellis, Daily Faceoff, coming to us, I think, live from inside of a day.

Where are you? IMS, Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. Oh, Scotia Bank Arena. I'm, yeah, sorry, Scorshamank Pond. Sorry, I forgot the... Corshbank Pond! Yes, this is a AAA hockey arena where I saw Kala Malhulchra played for the very first time. It's also where the O.HL Cup is held.

So Connor McGeigham came here at one point. You know, Evan Bouchard, all these star players. So what better place than to hope the internet kind of holds up here and come here and watch some brackets, I guess? We can hear you just fine, Stephen. So don't worry about that. You look fantastic. Flames, they come into this with the fourth best odds at the draft lottery.

I mean, first things first, how big would a guy like Gavin McKenna be for the Calgary Flames? That's the most skilled player in this draft. And I think when you look at the flames, you know, this is a team that I do like some of the young pieces. I like where other goal turning is and Dustin Wolf. I think that this is a group that eventually is going to figure it out. But Gavin McKenna speeds that up. And, you know, this has been a year where the draft's not super deep.

If you're picking the top 10, you're very happy. If you're picking in the top five, you're very happy. If you're taking the top four, you're extremely happy. And I think that's partly because you're, you know, getting a guy like Gavin McKenna be huge. Getting a guy like of our Stenberg, then everything he brings to the table will be very interesting. You know, Chase Reed.

I know Zane Prex, kind of the big star, Calgary Flames defenseman there, but could Chase Reed be another good addition to the team? Or is Caleb Mulchra the answer? I think that's something where you're going to be happy if this team gets in the top four. You're going to be much happier if you get Gavin McKeigh. Mike, got any of it?

Yeah, I'm really curious. We, if you're the flames, maybe it's fortuitous that, you know, the first couple years under Conroy, they went kind of heavy on defensemen. You know, they get Zane Perrek, they get Hunter Brestevich, they get Henry Mews. Last year they went heavy on centers. They got Regney, they got Colin Potter, Theo Stuxilius, who just signed with the Flames. They got him in the second round. So it seems like there are sort of themes in every Flames draft year that sort of, thankfully, seems to have corresponded with the strength in that draft class. in your mind, in the first round especially, where's the strength of this year's draft?

I think it's defensemen. I think you look at here, you look at the option of potentially a Chase Reed, Keaton Verhoff, Carson Carls, Albert Smiths, Daxon Rudolph, all those guys can go in the top 10. And then I know Maltay Gustafin has really kind of piqued some interest for some scouts after the U18. So this is something where it feels like a lot of good defenseman. Again, it's not a super deep draft. I think when you look at like 2023, 2024,

felt stronger than this. 2025 we'll still kind of see what happens with that one. Obviously Matthew Schaefer being Matthew Schaefer really kind of boost that draft class a lot. But I think with this year, it's, there's going to be a lot of teams that are to be very interesting, very interested which teams take which defense bit because, you know, do you take someone with Keaton Verhoff, you know, maybe not the world's greatest college season, but he's super young, very long runway.

Do you take someone like Chase Reed who feels a bit more, I wouldn't say NH already, but he feels more rounded at this point. He's got the size, the mobility you're looking forward. You take something like Carson Carl's, who I swear, man, if he just spends one full summer focusing just on hockey and not the family farm, he's going to be an absolute beast. But the fact that he's also doing the family farm, scouts love how much of a hard worker he is.

Like all these things you put together, it's a really strong group for blue leather. Yeah, and coincidentally, the Flames first round pick last year, the first first round pick, a Macklin-Susatchewan farm kid. Yeah. So, you know, I think culturally at the very least, least. Carson Carls seems like he could be a fit on the red team. He's from the West. He's a left shot. The flames are pretty heavy on the right side, at least in terms of outside of saying

correct, no one's really a lock yet. We don't know what Henry Muses is over a full college season, but I don't know. Are you the mindset of screw it, just go best player available at the top of the draft? Is there enough separation between the guys, you know, behind McKenna and Stenberg that maybe you would just, would you even think about going for positional lead at that point? You just take whoever's the best? After the U-18s, I kind of just asked a few people, like, what would you take at number two? And I think I got like five different answers. So it's kind of wide open.

Stenberg's the one that more scouts, I think, be more willing to take. But let's say the flame state number four, like, would you, if you take Hila Mahalcha, are you super happy? Yeah, I think he's an extremely skilled centerman who is going to be a very impact player. I think the question is, is he a number one center or a number two center? I think if I'm having to guess, I'm still thinking a really good number two center. I don't know if he's got the, I hate using the word elite, but I don't know if he's got the elite talent to go out there and be the number one center on this team, or on an angel team, but if he's your number two, he's going to be extremely strong, number two.

They're really excited about really reliable to a two-way guy. But then, you know, Carson Carles, I think some people say that for a guy who's six-foot two and he's built like a tank, it feels like sometimes he plays a little too small. And I think that's something that's got to worry about. Keen Verhoff, I think there's a lot of decision making that's got to be figured out there. But it's like every single one of these players have a bit of a flaw. But at the same time, we're still talking about a lot of upside where I think you could make a good argument for like three or four guys at number four if that is where a player's pick. Do you, we'll just sort of round this off, Stephen, just sort of we had you send us your top six before, before today.

And it sort of goes McKenna, then Stenberg, then Reed, then Melhotra, Keaton Verhoff. Vigo Bjork. Do you view there being sort of a point in this top 10 where where there's maybe a bit of a cliff or a drop off after a certain group of players? I think maybe after like number, I don't know, really depends on your view of Vigo Bjork. I like him. I think as much as I've liked him recently watching and play with the Sweden national team, I think what needs to be taken into account is he is playing against like Czechia and Finland like they're like sea teams. They're not playing their best players. But he's still playing really well. against men, which is incredible for someone his age and he's not a big guy. I'd say kind of maybe seven. That's where things kind of really fall off there. If you're looking at Carls, Björ, Verhoff, Mahalra, Reed, Stenberg and McKenna, I think after that, a lot of scouts aren't convinced about Albert Smith's.

I think a lot of people are starting to sour on Tyne and Lawrence. I would say bet against him at your own peril at this point because it feels like once he gets a full season of college, I think he's going to be totally okay. Like he missed the first half of the season basically dominates a little. a couple games and then he goes and plays on a bad college team. What happens when he spends a whole year on one place and no injuries? That's where things can change. Wyatt Cullen could be a very interesting player here, though.

It's not that he just had a good U-18s and he thrust everyone's rankings. I had him as a first round pick most of the year because it feels like he's so smart. He's got that two-way reliability. You expect out of a center of it. But he's a winger, and he's also got a lot of skill, and he's very fast. That's a guy that could make things really interested. it. I might have, when I was at the the CHL US national team showcase game in Calgary, why Colum is the guy, I think that popped the most from me in terms of, you know,

you tend to go to these things not, there's too many new players. You're trying not to look for anyone in particular. But every five minutes, I was going, who is that kid there? So I agree with you with Colin. And don't forget, as much as you want to disparage the fine folks at the Czechia national team, we did see Vigo Bjork put completely out muscle NHL or Adam Clapka, granted, in an exhibition game and an exhibition tournament. But, you know, it's still a fairly established, an inchel play where you completely outworked. Yeah, no, it's, there's lots of good options, Stephen. We really appreciate it.

And keep following Stephen's stuff at Daily Faceoff. Stephen, are you going to have anything big coming this afternoon? Essentially, as soon as we get the draft order finalized, my mock drafts live. So I will give one bit of a spoiler alert. If it is number four, I do have Caleb Malacha going to the flame. So we'll see. Wow. All right. Good stuff. We appreciate it, Stephen. That he's Stephen Ellis, our draft analyst expert over at Daily Faceoff. Pike, what was, what was, what you, you almost looked like you were going to burst out laughing while Stephen was on. What was going on over that? I just saw the Vigo Bjork. Oh, you saw the Vigo Bjork clip again. Oh, you saw the Vigo Bjork.

Just putting his hip right into six foot eight, Adam Klapka and going, now I'm going to take that puck. Yeah. It was pretty good. He worked really hard in that, uh, that, uh, he worked really hard in that, uh, that, you know, he's, he was a, he. And I believe it was, what the hell it's called? That was the Fortuna hockey games, not to be confused with the Belcher hockey games, which are currently happening in Sweden, there was a series of pre-world, world championship tournaments happening in Europe right now. And they're all just, their games, technically hockey. I wouldn't be surprised if Stephen is watching Moldova play right now.

Hey, here's Dean Moulberg, our buddy Boomer over at Greta Bar. Dean, what's going on? Hello, lads. How are we feeling? Nervous. How about you? Yeah. Nervous?

Yeah. I may have to pee. That may or may not be nerves, though. I may just have to go pee. I'm not sure. But the vibes are very high here at Greta. Which at the best, I mean, it's Greta. It's going to be, the vibes are, of course, going to be high.

Then there's giving out some t-shirts. Retro's here. The guys are excited. I know it's 9.5% but right now it feels more like 90%. feels more like 95 and a half percent. Whoa. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't see any way that the flames don't win this whole damn thing.

You don't see any way that they don't win this whole damn thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not scientific. I don't have a, I don't have a pike chart or anything like that. Or a gould graph. Are there any gould graphs and pike charts over there that we can, we can throw up? No. Well, we can't see your entire chin there, Dean. Your camera work is fantastic. I mean, there you. go. You're, uh, you're like, I got my stubby Ukrainian arms. I only get them so far out from my fat face. They're, they're extremely agile. So this is, it's a weird one, right? You're having a, you're having a party and there's a nine and a half percent chance of, uh, the party going off the way you want it to. Yeah. Hey. Right. It's, it's like, we're having a surprise birthday party.

There's a, there's a chance that the person might actually show up. So we're all kind of high, behind the furniture and the curtains. And there's a 9.5% chance that the birthday person, the birthday boy comes home. But what's the dream scenario here for you at this lottery, both in terms of flames doing well and other teams doing poorly? Because I was speaking with some of our colleagues at Canucks Army this afternoon and disparaging both them, their city, and their credibility as human beings.

I'm sure no one wants to see the Toronto Maple Leafs draft particularly high, especially if they drop out of the top five, they lose that pick. So, boom, what's your dream scenario from the next half hour or so? Well, I mean, obviously, not Toronto, right? Not Toronto. Not Toronto. And I don't even need them to fall and lose the pick to Boston. It's not even that just, not Toronto.

I was just talking with, I think it was Adam was his name. He came outside. You start to run through all these other two. teams. Well, Vancouver, you went to the cup in 2011 and you've, you probably deserve it, but we don't want you to have it because you're Vancouver. We don't want the lease to get it. Winnipeg, maybe, but like the guys were saying on the show today, well, Winnipeg is only a non-playoff team because they were bad this year. They have no business being in this lottery. That's typically how it works, but yeah. I mean, you guys with President's trophy last year, you won around last

you're like this the flames it's only the flames that's the only answer here they've never picked top three they were they're such noble warriors the whole way through you know even winning put the but the but arseid sergiev and in the nets and they still win like if there's if there's any faith in hockey gods then the bingo balls go the way of connie and the flames today that's i think i'm not even thinking of anybody else it's it's one track mind and that's what i think we all need to do. Don't think about anybody else. It's not about Toronto or San, there's nobody else.

It's only the flames. It's it. The flames. Wow. Flames. Andre Vasselowski's not going to like you talking about the hockey gods, but hey, I'm there with you, Dean. You've turned me, you've turned me from a guy

who came in here tonight saying there was a zero percent chance to, I'm with you. I feel a sense of enlightenment. I think you've convinced me. How are retina, Pinder holding up. Are they, they're tapping their toes? Yeah, they're pretty good. Pinder was given away some

Mission McKenna T-shirts. Again, trying to we're trying to wheel this thing into existence. And as you can see, we're outside the, we're outside Greta here and, you're kind of downtown. Is it downtown to consider this downtown?

It's a belt line, I think. This is a belt line, you know? South of the train tracks is beltline. Yeah, train tracks right over there. So it's a beltline. Just everything we're trying to really like I say, will this thing into becoming a reality? The vibes are good. No one's talking, it's great.

No one's talking about the other team up to the north. True. Like that happened fast too. We were very much talking about them about a week ago. And now it's not even, uh, hey. Look at this guy. Look at that. Look at that.

Did he just get kicked out? Did he just get ejected? The vibes are are outside. standing. Oh, is it, Ryan? I'd be sad with you today. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, what are... Nine and a half percent to go at first. But then nine and a half plus nine and a half is... You had a 19% chance of picking into top two. It's true. Can't hear anything Ryan's saying, but that's okay. That's all right.

You don't want to hear about it. That's almost an improvement. This is the best quality pindercontu we've had. They get his dancing in none of his opinions. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I mean, go ahead. So what?

What do you guys think? What do you, what do you feel and what's, what's, you know, if you have a gut here? Whoa. I mean, I know I told you to only think flames, but. You're sleeping easier now that the Oilers are out. I mean, it's, it's certainly been a nicer, a nicer stay on the pillows at night, you know, you're just sort of. So, I mean, maybe, I mean, is it too much of a good thing? Is it, the hockey gods giving us?

I mean, I said it. Is it two good things at once? I mean, it's overdue for something like that. I would love to see something like that. It does kind of feel like the stars are lining, uh, the, the broadcasts of the, of the draft lottery just had a highlight pack of Gavin McKenna. And you know what run got Gavin McKenna to go, yeah, I'll go to Penn State. The run that, coincidentally, Arsendizs Sergia have helped Penn State go on to the final four.

They lost the national semifinals and had a hell of a back half of the year. And that's when young Gavin McKenna fell in love with Penn State. He already has an affinity for the Flea franchise. You know, we have a new building going to be ready in just over a year. World Cup of hockey a little bit after that. it kind of feels like the stars are lining a little bit. Well, and remember, the flames were one ball away last year from winning the second draw. Remember that?

They've been one ball away the last three years. Yeah. So it's, uh, the last ball, the last three years. Yeah. And they have the worst odds last year. And they were one ball away from winning that second draw. So we'll see. Uh, but yeah, we appreciate, uh, we appreciate the good vibes, Dean.

I mean, it's, it's, it's one ball away. Ben State, McKenna. McKenna wants to be a flame. Yeah. Time should be, it's off. What a night we're going to have here at Greta. What a party is going to be, boys. I mean, we'll come join you.

We'll come join me after a job. Yeah, you are for sure. Your, if you, uh, team, when did you get there? About 10 minutes ago. 10 minutes ago. I thought you were going to say 10 a.m. Okay. No, no, no, no.

But Greta's great spot. If you've never been, you got to check it out. If you can't get here tonight, we understand. Short notice, things starting here right away. Big Bill's going to. going to be flipping cards. So exciting. You better get in there, Dean. Yeah, well, you know, I'll check in with you guys as soon as we're done,

because I know you guys will have some deep analysis and thought-provoking conversation. Thones. And so when it's time to celebrate, I will jump back in live. We will celebrate together separately together, but together. That's right. That's right. All right. Appreciate it. So fingers crossed, man.

Fingers crossed. Peace out, Dean. They're bringing the balls out now. So you better go head on in. That was our buddy Dean Mulberg with a cameo appearance by Ryan Pinder. And I have it on good authority that if the flames do win either of these draws, that we might even get a ret sighting on this show. So we got the balls.

I think that's 14 balls, Pike? 14. 14. And they're putting them all in one by one. They're really belaboring this. But they got Batman with. They have ceremonies they have to go through. My favorite part of the old system where they did the drawing in a

requested room in a TV studio in suburban New Jersey is that, you know, poor, poor Gary Petman had to hold up today's newspaper and be like, all right, it's Tuesday, May 5th. Here's some examples of what newspapers look like from today. And then go through the whole rigmarole. So it's a little bit more streamlined. Now they're showing each ball as they go in. My riveting. Yeah, my video feed on my screen.

I couldn't log into my sports net account for whatever reason. So I've got the Vancouver Canucks watch party. up on my so i'm watching dan murphy and i don't know who that is is that is that land in ferraro and is that trevor linden anyway they're loading in all the balls right now um and so here it's really all it really all comes down to this uh jack do we have time to put up the combinations uh flames need in order to win this thing because it's uh it's it really all does come down to this they've got 95 out of a possible a thousand and one combination if the one extra combination is drawn,

they do it all over again, but of course the odds of that are pretty darn bad. And yeah, let's put them up if we can. Because, I mean, if the first ball is a one or a two, or if a one or a two are drawn,

I mean, you start to feel pretty good. But there's, I mean, I think the flames, I think it's like, if it's five and nine and 12 and 14, those are four flames captains,

and those are, if all four of those get picked, that's one of the winning numbers as well. So we'll see. My favorite combination is redraw. Yeah. I believe this year it's 1112, 13, 13, 14, 1112, 13, 14 is the annual redraw.

Oh, it's Olivia McDonald. It's our old friend Olivia. She's on that panel too. Former Flames and Wranglers TV host. So boy, this Canucks party, this is great. They're there. So they're live at Rogers Arena. Of course, the Canucks have the top odds.

but it's only, I think, 18.5% at picking first overall. But only 18.5%. They get 25.5. But it's 18.5 that it's their combination that gets picked. New Jersey and lower, it is Vancouver by default, and they're locked in. Yeah. So here we go. NHL Studios from Sikakis, New Jersey.

John Bucci Gross is talking. And I think we're maybe about to put the balls to test with the first draw. Here they are. They are down. and they're going to start putting them up and here they come. Boy, this is really, really, really, really agonizing to watch. And I think they, so they have the,

I know, they have the live odds. So after the first ball comes, they update the odds based on what combinations get completely ruled out. They did this last year as well. Three seconds to the first ball. Here it comes. a seven, I think. Yeah, so it's a seven. So the Calgary Flames

odds move slightly down to 8.7%, but so little that it hardly even matters. Moves down 0.8%. The Canucks move up ever so slightly. The New York Rangers move up ever so slightly to 11.7% or pardon me, 11.9%.

But again, very little data gleaned here, 10 more seconds until the second ball. Your Wi-Fi's bad. They're pulling it now. What is it? It is a two. That's, I think the flames have a lot of twos. What is?

But with a seven? I don't know. Flames are down to 6.1%. It's not zero, Pike. It's not zero. Vancouver at 16.7. And actually Seattle right now is your odds leader at 18. 18.2%.

Oh, God. Seattle winning would be so boring. But Seattle winning would also guarantee the Leafs lose their pick. It's true. Because they move up. Uh, yes, that's right. And if any team moves up, uh, past five, then, uh, four, three, two, gosh, I just look over. Here's the third ball. Eleven. And so flames are out. Actually, flames are on. No, no, no. Flames are in. Five point one. So the, the flames odds have moved back up to nine point one percent.

So there are 11 remaining balls and the flames have one of them. So yeah, what are the, what are the combinations here? So seven teams, sorry, Sorry, nine teams are still in it. Or eight teams are still in it. Vancouver leads with 27.3%. So odds are van wins it, but it could be funny. Could be the Calgary Flames. It very much still could be the Calgary Flames. There's Craig Conroy on the stream sitting in front of a beautiful painting.

Absolutely still possible. So what number does it have to be for the Calgary Flames to win? Let's see. 27. 27. Here it is. I'm pulling it up right now. two seven it is 10 10 10 if they get 10 to 7 10 11 if it's if it's number 10 Gavin McKenna is a

calgary this is the if they pull huberto's number they they're going to if it's jonathan hoobberdow's number it is a calgary flame that's right Gavin mckenna's a guy and the sparse part of their head is it pikes mine okay we got to watch bikes everybody snuggling you can see the the tension at the live watch party whatever place Vancouver is doing that at probably some sort of an established. I thought they would be ruled out before this. I didn't think they'd even have a chance on the last ball. Are they delaying? They're delaying to the panel. Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. So yeah, it is. Do we have live odds for every team? Yeah, we do. Olivia, we love you, but we don't need to hear from you right now. Oh, you got the Canucks feed up too. Oh, let me just refresh the page. Let's see if I can get it a little bit quicker. No, Olivia's doing her fingers crossed thing. Olivia, God bless you, but no. I, I mean, I don't think you need to cross your fingers when you have three times as many.

Yeah, like, you're the number one team. You have the best odds. I do enjoy how they selected a system that everyone, much like the NHL's playoff race, everyone is, most teams are still in it until the last, last, wrong. Hey, you know what? This is,

this is really, uh, exciting. I will say, this system is really exciting. The Calgary Flames are one lottery ball away. The, uh, the, the, the sports net broadcast is on a commercial break. They're showing, uh, Megan Fox and I think the Mandalorian and Grogu. So get in on that. Yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's an, I was seeing an advertisement for people who don't advertise

with us. So you know what? You don't get mentioned. Well, I think we can mention the mandolorean and grogoo hitting, hitting theaters later this year. Disney, if you want us to mention your products, give us some damn money. Jack, what, what's the ruling on this one? Do we have anything here? I don't know. Jack, uh, the Jack can. Oh my goodness. Eight, eight teams still in it. Vancouver's in it. Chicago's in it. The Rangers, Calgary, Toronto, still in it. Um, yeah, the teams at the best odds at this point. Three numbers will win it for Vancouver. Two will win it for the Rangers. One will win it for the Flames, the Blackhawks, the Maple Leafs, the Cracken, the Jets, and the Sharks. Fifteen seconds of the draw. And the flames just need number 10. Here we go,

folks. Yeah. There's three balls left for Vancouver, two for the Rangers, and then one apiece for the other teams. Chicago, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Winnipeg, San Jose. Here we go. 12. It's the Leafs! Shut the fuck up.

It's the Leafs. Shut the fuck up. Oh, my God. It's the Leafs. No. So as of right now, Toronto moves up from, where they, five?

Yeah, flames move down to five. It's the Leafs. It's the last one to drop. Oh, Jesus. Wow, it's the Leafs. This might be the nightmare scenario for a lot of people. Jesus Christ. I believe our esteemed colleague, Dean Boomer-Molberg,

might have just said, please not the Leafs. Oh, John Chaker. So the Toronto Maple Leafs in round one, we'll draft it one. Oh, Brad Treloving does not get to pick first of all. That is correct. That is a statement of fact. Oh, Jesus Christ.

Oh, my God. Well, then we're, oh, and they're the, for those of you who, I recommend if you like

Shaden Freuda, the, the Canucks look. Oh, the Canucks chat is hilarious. It's just, it's just no one cheering. Everyone's like,

so what does this mean? What? Gavin, so who, who do we get? We're two? Maybe? Maybe the Leafs.

Oh, boy. Really? Just the one of the most historically miserable seasons that a team that probably should have been kind of good has had, like an absolute implosion of historical. Uh, historical. Oh, Jesus. The one team that could have been pushed off of a first entirely. Oh. That's a shame.

Oh. Do we have live reaction from down at Greta Bar? Are they just, they're reloading the, no, I don't even know. Because second,

the flames have never selected second overall, actually they select on the second overall twice, both in the 1970s, in the 1972 draft, they selected Jacques Richard, who was okay. Yeah. And then in 1973,

they traded up to get Tom Lysiak of the medicine hat tigers. There's your Marner replacement. So, that's, That's the one way the Leafs get out of this is by they get their mariner replacement at the top of the draft. I mean, we,

we, we tend to go, how does this affect the Leafs? Or how it affects the Oilers in our big damn show we do. And now it's forced upon us. And for the chat, I'm sorry, we don't want to, we want to be talking about the Leafs as much as you want to hear us

talk. Oh, the Canucks panel is so disappointed. Are we guaranteed six now? Nope. No, there's a second, there's a second drawing.

Right now, they are tentatively at five. But they could move down again. Or they can move out. The odds were, the most likely scenario, a 40% chance was that they would drop to five. So right now, barring another, barring the event of the other draw, this is the most statistically probable scenario. Flames drop by one.

Well, at this point, now that they've lost the first drawing, I believe the most statistically possible scenarios for them to drop down again. That is true. Yeah. That is true. Now that they've lost. The same probabilities would exist. Well, slightly less because the Leafs.

have like a slight limit. So, yeah, it's, fundamentally, it is the most likely, but less likely than on the first drop. How many times have the flames picked six, Pike? Five? Six. Six. That's right. Monahan, Kachuk, Kachuk, Fada, Stilman, and.

I think that's it. That's six. Well, I said five. So I said six. That was, six. That was five points. I have the list in front of me. Monahan, Kach, Kish.

Stilman in 92, Daniel Kachuk, in 97, Riko Fata, 98. Monaghan in 13, Kach. when they moved down by 1 and 16. Yeah, so five. So this would be... This would be six. Oh my God, this is 2016 again. It really is.

This is 2016 again. It is. Because our Sanisargaia was too good. When they put the fifth string goal in, he was too good. He got an L.A. team that was just not very good at all. Well, this is the funny thing, though, is that everybody on Team Tank should have wanted them to win more. Yes. If they had won one more game, they would have a slot ahead of the least to know who had the 6th.

That's the thing. If they had lost that last game, it wouldn't have mattered. No matter what. If her sentence is going to have lost or won, unless they put him in for a second game, the thing is they just brought them in too late then. That's what you're saying.

They should have brought it. Cooley should have had the flu or had it cold a couple days earlier. This sucks. A fifth overall is still pretty good. That's fine. It's just such a bailout lease. They could still win the second draw and finish. I'm not even, yeah.

That's awesome. What if Gaila McKenna says, I don't want to play for the leaves. What? They just announced the Calder finalists. Oh, yeah. Not nominees, finalists. That's right.

Demadov, Matthew Schaefer, and Beckett Seneca have been named the finalists, and Matthew Schaefer will be named the winner. Yes. I would be shocked if it's anything but unanimous. Mm-hmm. I would argue that if, uh, if you, if you vote for anyone but Schaefer at one, you should provide a written justification somewhere. Mm-hmm.

Oh, dear. Oh, man. I have. Oh, boy. Oh, my exact top three were top three. Okay, I'm fine with that. Who, what was your? Oh, interesting.

Sheifer, Seneca, Demadov, Dobish, and Jimmy Snooker. Okay. So here we go for the second drawing. Yeah. It is about to begin. And we'll see if the Calgary Flames can move up to get their first ever top three draft pick in their history, which at this point, you can only be the second overall pick.

Second overall still pretty good. Sure. I'd love to get it. You're going to settle for Stenberg. You'd be fine with Stenberg. Seems like a pretty good player out of Sweden, having a good go at the U-A teens. Yeah, playing with Rulunda. Yeah, that's right.

I believe Rulanda is going to the Spangbar next year. Canada is in time, believe. Very there. Abram Weeb played with the U.S. National Select team. That's right. College selects. And he did him pretty good. First ball is 11.

And I believe the flames have a few 11s. and their odds have basically not changed. They have stayed at 8.8. Now, reminder, the Toronto Maple Leafs can win this lottery drawing too. And that would need a redraw. And their odds have gone up to 9.8%. But at this point, remember, 11, 12, 13, 14 is the redraw.

Oh, is it? I guess that makes sense. All right, here it comes. 4. And yes. 5. Flames are down to 4.5%. Boy, oh, boy.

Yeah, they're probably going to be picking five or six. Boy, yeah, all right. Bit of a muted. Young children, okay, not young children, but younger than us, children are going to have their dreams come true at the end of next month at the new shot draft. They're going to get a good player regardless. It's just obviously you get hyped up for the, you get hyped up for the lottery. It's natural. And this comes from nothing ever happens, boy.

Something's happening. All kinds of things are happening. happening. Is that a five? What is that? Three. And the flames will pick no higher than fifth in the 2026 NHL draft. They can no longer win the second drawing. So although we shouldn't be so hasty is that we're actually really close to redraw territory. Toronto has a 27% chance of winning this lottery draw too, which would be really funny. Yeah. So there are three balls for Toronto, two for Vancouver, two for the Rangers, two for San Jose. One for the sharks, one

for the Chicago Black House. So we're officially cheering for a redraw. Or for just not Vancouver, because that would be kind of funny. I don't even care at this point. Yeah, you do. You care so much. Yeah. Here we go. You want to either something fun to happen or something tragic to happen.

Comedy and tragedy. Actually, what? That's the old saying comedy is just tragedy plus time? Sure. It sounds like something. In this case, geography is the difference between comedy and tragedy. Oh, let's see. San Jose again. San Jose again. Like,

claims are sixth. Like, what is, what is all these stupid garbage? Like, why do these same teams keep winning the lottery? More importantly,

they made Olivia sad twice. Jeez, Louise. Like, it's the same teams. Like, I don't get it. Oh. Hey,

what's the old saying? History isn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme sometimes. Yeah, the sharks really needed that. they were they were just yeah just desperate Dean the sharks the the the the the Leafs they were just desperate for for for more top picks oh I mean I'd say Seems like a vulnerable moment Dean so the leaves the leaves and the sharks

yeah I don't know if you can hear the F bombs flying out of Greta but I mean, Pinder is pretty loud. The mood is dampened somewhat. We all just, you know, we all, this like Toronto to begin with, and then the last 48 hours have been interesting for sure. And San Jose, who has, you know, celebrity, it was an amazing coming out party for him this year. We can't have nice things, I guess, is the more.

of the story. Well, I mean, Dean, we look at it now and the San Jose Sharks will now make a top five draft pick for the fourth consecutive year. That's good. That's good. That's good. Their fan base, of hundreds down there will be thankful for that. I shouldn't, you know, and don't be sour. That's not what this is about. Next year's draft lottery, though. Oh, yeah. 2027 is going to be, it's going to be the flames year.

Dean, you know this team well enough to know that Dustin and Wolf will win the Vesda next year. And if they're in the lottery, they'll be 16th. I don't like that, Pike. It's the every other year, flames. Is it? I don't know. The run continue. Okay.

And, you know, good on Bobby Germany, Robert Munich, who was there, he came up. He's like, hey, well, leaves, at least the flames can't fall to six now, as far as they can fall as five. So, you know, it's good to have that perspective, have that silver lining. It's a good way to think about it. But, boy, I really, really felt like this was going to be to one. Really felt it. It's, it's been 46 years, Dean. I don't know.

I mean, unfortunately, probabilities don't compound like interest does. It's just, it's. You know what it is? It's math. I know. You know, it's math. Like, they had a nine and a half percent chance, but it felt like a lot more than that. But in the end, it was only nine and a half percent. It felt like less than that to me.

Oof. Yeah. They got to fix this lot of ball thing. It's not fair. Vancouver's got to be choked, right? Like, they were by far and away the shittiest team, and they didn't win. They, like, they deserve. They find, I mean, deserve.

They should have that number one pick because they stink. You know who they're going to draft now, Dean, is Caleb Malhotra. You figure? Oh, I'd be quite sure of that. I would think so. It'll make a good story anyway. That'll be a lot of chatter. About that, of course.

They won the, the Maple Leafs won the water. Yeah, I know. So the Leafs, they'll go McKenna, obviously. Does San Jose? Here's the thing that I wonder is does San Jose take Ivar Stenberg? I don't know if they do. Maybe they go a D amount. Maybe they go with a D.

Isn't that interesting? That's maybe the one team that wouldn't take Stenberg there. Because, you know, they've used so many high picks. Those last three top five picks have been on. Well, let's work this out. So where are the flames picking again? They're picking five. Six.

Six. Six. they're picking six the sixth time they're at six in 26 six six and six six six six six six six

okay so let's we'll work this out so the Leafs they don't know what they're doing and the dude like Cheka he's going to have something figured out so he'll take some guy

we've never heard of but right so okay so that leaves everybody on the board so then at two we've got San Jose that's right they're going to want to Oh, sure.

They got Celebrini, they got Mesa. They got lots. They're going to need a D, man. The old day. Three, Vancouver. You mentioned about Malhotra? They don't even have a GM, but yeah, probably Malhotra. Yeah, so they'll take Malhotra three.

All right, fair enough. Four. Well, that's, that's Chicago. They don't need another forward. They need D. They need D. They need D. They need D.

Yeah. Five now. Take your pick. Well, five is now the range. and I mean the last time the Rangers took a winger that high in the draft it didn't work out that well. And Stanberg, Swede with Zabanajad. Sure. Right?

Oh, of course. Six Flames, McKenna. Of course. Nailed it. I think you should put that on a piece of paper somewhere and just. putting in a block box. I will say this after, we mentioned it when Steve was on

earlier for the draft lottery. I will say that last year the flames got a Saskatchewan farm kid by the name of Cole Resny at 18 and they're very excited to get him. There is a young defenseman

a big farm kid from a cattle ranch named Carson Carl's who Cammy will bend your year about every time you ask her about good draft players from the dub. Big, mean, left shot, D. They got a lot of smaller puck moving guys

who shoot right. So here's the thing, Pike. We got time, right? It's early May. We got to the end of June to have these conversations. Today is about being emotional and irrational about losing the draft water. They're going to get somebody good. They're going to pick six. It's going to be a good player and everybody to be excited about him.

He's going to be all right. All that. But right now, right now it's tough right now it's tough deserved to win the draft lottery deserved to pick top two for sure so but instead they fall

two we fall fall two spots it's not right so for next year are we going to get ethical tank t-shirts made by the network like what's because I think I think there is a little jinksy poo with the mission McKenna stuff a little bit presumpt

but ethical tank is not about a result it's about a mindset it's about a philosophy of life so we just need to find i mean yeah i don't even want to think about next year right i know i know we have huge sway and impact on the way the world works oh my god so you might be right the t-shirts that we had made in november may have swung this whole thing i hadn't thought about that psych we need it's like great responsibility great whatever that a Batman thing, I know what that is. I don't know whose fault it was, but I kind of just want to blame Pender. And if everyone here wants to blame Pender, we can get quorum and just officially

blame Pender. Yeah. Right. So, hey, Dean, Minnesota and Colorado are about to play to you. All right. That's good. Yeah, so come on down to Greta. And, you know, the game's on.

They're going to switch the TV's over from whatever's on there now for old Booch, put on the game. And we're going to have some, we're going to have some, We're going to have some time together as a group to console one another. Yeah. Yeah. We'll be better. We'll be better for it.

Yeah. Yeah. Dean, we got a super chat. That's my impression of your home. I can't read it because I don't have my goggles. Got fridged. Got fridged. Two dollars with the super chat.

Boomer, you spoke this evil into existence. I kind of did, didn't I? Right before I said just not Toronto. Isn't that what I was saying? That's exactly. You said don't even think about it being Toronto. Word for word. You said,

you said don't even let it into your mind. And it's true. Damn, it's true. Yeah. Sorry, guys. I feel sorry about that. Mr.

Public Payne with a chat here, Dogpile on bomber. Spelled your name with, spelled your name with two M's. That's okay. Yeah. I know who's talking about. I feel like this is, yeah, this is, like you said, it's playing Pinder.

It's definitely Pinder's fault some way. It's always Pindler's fault. How's, uh, how's Red doing? Uh, quiet. Quiet. Yeah, quiet. Yeah. He's, he, uh, he's not feeling so good.

Who's that? Is there a chest? There's going to be a redraw? Is there, you guys are watching. Is there any controversy? Did they have to do it over again? Uh, someone was offside, so they have to redo it. Yeah, no, they're, they're,

There were three balls that it could have been that would have made it a redraw, but instead it's not. I'll tell you a tough moment. It was tough enough watching the Leafs with it. But then in that second drawing, when they said taking four balls and the third one, eliminated the flames. Oh, boy. Now, this was a kick in the pants, this one.

This is a really kick in the pants. Yeah, I don't like craft lotteries. They just don't go the flames way. They never have. No. No. No. No.

But you're going to have to build this team a different way, I guess. Well, we'll see you here next year, 2027. It's going to be a big one, unless Pike's right and they make the playoffs and then, you know, win it off. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Dean. That's it. Do you mind spelling the word commiserate for me?

I think that's all we got to do right now. Kay. Yeah. There we go. Thanks, Dean. Appreciate it. see you buddies. Bye. See you, bud.

That's Steen, Mulberg. There are no K's and commiserate. It's fine. He's down in the dumps. So am I. The Calgary Flames lose the draft lottery. 9.5% at both first and second.

Only a 20%. Like, here's the crazy thing, Pike. The odds of them falling to six were as good approximately as their odds of winning one or two. About 20% for both. Yep. And in the end,

20% one of those two hits and it's the bad one. The second most probable scenario is what unfolded. Sure. But like second by a long shot. If it makes you feel any better, this is the exact same thing happened to Philadelphia last year when they were fourth from the bottom.

And they picked Porter Martone. And they picked Porter Martone. Who, you know, Porter Martone is a pretty good hockey player. Sure. When he played Michigan State? Yeah. Scoring some goals this year. Yeah, oh, sure.

The flames have a player going to Michigan State next year. They do. They have Cullen Potter goals. going to Michigan State playing with a number of good players. Yeah, no, it's it's something all right. Let's look back at the history of guys who have been picked at six. Of course, Porter Martone in 2025. Do you remember the year before that, Pike?

Do you remember who was picked at six? I do. Teesh again, La. Picked at six by the Utah mammoth. Why do you got to say like that? Well, I mean, you know, you might have heard of the guy who is still his father. Jade's brother. Jade's brother.

Jay's brother. Joe's brother. Joe's brother. Joe's brother. Kara's son. Jerome's. Oh yeah, Jerome's kids. Hey.

I know him. I've seen him around. Unfortunately, the previous few sixth overall picks were a little bit of a hit and miss. There was a run there of five straight defensemen picked at six. And again, a bit of a mixed bag. Seymachev in 23. David Eurecheck, who's already been traded twice in 22. Simon Edvinson to Detroit in 21.

He looks okay. Jamie Drysdale, who is more at Cider, who's pretty darn good. And then, you know, Philip Zadena, Cody Glass, Matthew Kachukh, pretty good. Pavel Zaka, Jake Vertan, Sean Monahan, pretty good. But it's a real mixed bag at six. Ooh. And hot off the three of presses, the internet presses at DailyFaceoff. dot com go there right now.

Yeah. If you're watching this live or listen to the pod, go to daily faceoff.com because our esteemed colleague, the great, Stephen Ellis, in a rink doing work. Actually, probably doing double work, because he's doing a lot of work at all the times. This is this busy time.

The mock draft is out, and he has the flames at sixth overall selecting from the Prince George Cougars, lefty defenseman, Carson Carl's. Further down, what pick does he have the Vegas pic being. At 28th overall. Maddox-Dajunay.

Maddox-Dajunate from the Quebec run parts. Yeah. I mean, sure. I'm honestly wondering if, well, here's the thing, is the, the sharks already have Sam Dickinson, who is a lefty. And so I do think they need a right shot D.

I wonder if they maybe take Chase Reed or if they take, who's the other righty? Blankin right now. There's another righty at the top of this draft. Albert Schmitz? No, he's a lefty as well. There's another one.

Verhoff, of course. But I don't know. It's really tough for the flames to fall outside the top five, to fall from four to six even. It's very difficult. And so we'll see. I mean, it does feel like Malhotra's the guy for the Canucks now. That at three feels as much of a lot. lock as anything.

I don't know. It's not great. We do have a couple more super chats. Stephen, not Stephen, Jesus. Jack, I've forgotten everybody's name. Let's put them up on the screen. R.G. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

This from before the draw. 699. We need McKenar, Stenberg, to turn things. We don't need D. And I am not sold on Mahotra. RG, I got tough news. I got tough news, buddy. Let's see a couple more.

RG, again, the flames choked in the season, would have finished 32nd forever. I really don't think they would have finished 32nd. And even if they did, they would have finished third. They would have picked third. So, I mean, that's the whole nature of the lottery. It does not matter how bad you are. It matters how lucky you are.

I will paraphrase what Flames General Manager, Keck Conroy said to us on Exit Interview Day, they like the top six of the year's draft. They feel like they'll get someone good in the top six, regardless of where they were. I'm sure they would love to have been higher than sixth, but the nice thing is if they feel like they have a list of six guys they'd be happy with at least one of them will be left over and their decision will be very easy maybe something weird

happens and two of them remember the year they got kichuk i don't think even saw matthew kichick being there still available no so weird stuff happens at the draft especially you know when who the hell knows like vancouver doesn't have a gm um Toronto has a gm who is running a bunch of wendies before uh weird stuff happens john shaker uh Yeah, I mean, again, the two teams that won the draft lottery today were both better than the flames this year. They were both better. They both had worse odds and they both won. That's just how it goes.

I have my own, I have my own Sim League that I'm a part of. I had the number, I finished dead last this year. I tanked for McKenna and wouldn't you know it, I have the third overall pick. It's just the way that it goes. We had separate drawings. We did it a week ago. You draw this. There's a reason why people go on tankathon and they have to do four spins before the Calgary Flames win the draft lottery.

It's just how it works. And there's no way to guarantee it because of the stupid draft lottery system, which rewards mediocre teams over bad ones. It's true. It's exactly how it's like the Toronto Maple Leafs this year and the San Jose sharks. The San Jose sharks were in the playoff conversation for the first three months of the season. And they end up finishing what? they end up finishing 24th and they're now they're picking second again after they picked what what do they pick last year they picked second last year they they picked first the year before that

and they pick fourth the year before that so what what are the what are the what are the flames really supposed to do what are the flames and their fans supposed to do when the teams that win the lottery every year not only are the same teams that win the lottery every year the sharks it's the rangers it's the black hawks it's the leaps it's you know all these teams none of these teams that win the lottery. It's their first time. You know, who wins it last year? It's the New York Islanders. Oh, they picked John DeVarres in 2009. I remember that. It's just the way that it goes, right?

I mean, how do they beat Jake Audensure in 2022? The Dark Arts. So realistically, what needs to happen is just more for voodoo and ritual sacrifices, I guess. I don't know what my point is, but I guess I guess I stumbled upon ritual sacrifices. It is the the pitfalls of of betting and and going to put money on lotteries.

Ultimately, that's what it is. So here we are. And this comment about draft. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,

we're not doing a, no, we're not doing a really clever read. That would be, I wanted to see where you were going with this. That would be horrible. Let's do some more super chats because Lord knows we're going to get them more of them. Jack,

put them up. Big bears. So we're doing all the ones from before. any super debts from before the polling. 279. First would be nice, but I still have con-efinance. Okay, I get it.

The flames will get somebody good at six regardless. They're going to get their best draft pick in a decade. I mean, yeah. Hey, the flames were a good team built off of sixth overall picks. And Tom C saying, vent boys, for God's sake, where's the end of the dome boys? I would love to see their range.

I feel like I'm venting plenty. I'm upset, but not at the flanks. I'm not upset of the flames. I'm not upset it. I'm just the stupid system that continually rewards mediocrity over the actual worst teams. Like if the Canucks had won the lottery, it's like, okay. That was what we expected. Did you think the flames are the actual worst team? I thought they were pretty bad. I had a goalie was fighting it for half the year. And a defensive system that looked, they didn't really figure it out until midway through the season. Like, better than the sharks. had an all-time bad franchise history October.

And second time in three years, they basically tanked themselves in October. And then they play pretty well the rest of the way. Better than the sharks. Here's what I will say is that Gavin McKenna going to Toronto is funny in a certain way. Because if there is a team that can mishandle Gavin McKenna to the point where he asks out of a certain city, or wants a different change, it's Toronto. Like Gavin McKenna goes there. They got Austin Matthews for two more years.

And things have been going so poorly. They were a terrible, terrible team this year. And if things do fall apart with Matthews, and you've got Gavin McKenna and a whole bunch of question marks because the Leafs are in a really bad spot. Again, the Leafs have the first overall pick this year, and they don't have a first again until 2029. when was the last time we saw a team in this spot

where they have pick one and then nothing immediately thereafter? This is, I mean, it's the nature of the way that things have gone in Toronto where Bradtree Living, you know, threw away all their future picks. They have this pick and that's it, Pike. Do you ever remember anything like this?

No. Then again, I also don't really think about the least very much. Well, yeah, it's not just a least thing. They're not my division. They're not in my conference. But it's not even, it's not just a Leafs thing. like they are they are they're picking one and then next year and the year after that they have zero firsts

they've traded them away unprotected yeah i mean vegas done that too but vegas had parades well yeah but vegas and that's the thing is that vegas they had a lot of picks they had a lot of picks at the start of their run they were able to make a lot of trades that got they got them an amassment an amassing of assets for the future. I like the term amassment. That's a good term. Thank you. They amassed assets for the future and then they were able to trade out of them, out of that pile. The lease don't have anything beyond this first overall pick. I was looking at the list. Puckpedia is in the process of updating it. So, tell me if you got any of these wrong. So Toronto's at one. Two is San Jose. It's right on our screen. It's right on our screen. Oh, good. See, this is, this is what I pay

attention to what Jack's doing. Thank you, Jack. Van at three, Chicago, four, Rangers 5, Winnipeg 8, Florida actually is the first rounder this year. They're nine. It's actually there's too. Good for them. St. Louis has 11 and 15, which is kind of fun. Maybe they try to move up. You can package those and try to get somebody.

I'll say this. So over at the athletic, Scott Wheeler had the flames as the third best prospect pool. And it was, I think his consensus was largely what we've been saying for a while. The Flames have a lot of pretty good and really good prospects, but no one who you would, I'd say, call elite necessarily, especially Zane Perakas graduated the NHL. He was pretty damn good in the last two months of the year, but we'll see.

Wolf, I think, was their most game-breaking prospect, and now he's in NHL or he's starting that fancy new contract next season. So I think the Flames are still in a very similar spot pre-draft in the sense that, man, oh man, they have depth everywhere. where, you know, if you look on the wings, they have some decent wing prospects. They're, you know, those guys are a little bit older. They have oodles of centers. They have right shot defensemen so many that they can probably play three pairs of pretty

decent right shot defensemen. They got, you know, Sergeyev, who's okay. And the curls of Rubin, who might wander over here at some point. But do they have anyone that will steal a game for you? I don't know if Carson Carls will be there at six. Like, that's my worry, because he's the guy. I want the most. He's the guy who I feel like is the best fit for the flames and it has the best chance

of being. He feels like a flame, doesn't he? I don't know if he'll be there. I just really don't. Well, then they'll be one of the other guys. I get it,

but I don't like them as much. I mean, I will say, I have been wary of Caleb Malhotra for a lot of this draft season. And I think he's going to be gone at three. He's, he had a really good playoff. Great playoff.

He's, he had, I would argue, sort of a higher end. version of sort of the season that Cole Regini had last year. But Rejani was, he was pretty good in the first half last year. No, you know, everyone's like, yeah, he'll be a first rounder. But very few people were banging on the table going like, holy crap, you better get this kid.

Sure. When I saw Malhotra at the top prospects game, it's fine. Like, some guys just don't show well in that kind of situation. Like, it's a one-off. You're playing with guys you've never played before against guys you've never played against before. It's a weird situation. He was better in the second game that was in the first game.

And I thought his, you know, everything I'm hearing out of Ontario was that is, you know, his March and April and going into May now, I mean, we've done now, but his marching in April were very good. And that was sort of what we heard about, Rejani last year, where his second half, something clicked and he just went on a tear. And, you know, Melhotra, he's got the, you know, the family connections. He knows what pro hockey is all about. So, you know, the adjustment probably won't be terrifying to him.

And he plays a pretty mature game for a kid his age. But I don't know. He's, I agree with you. He's the prototypical kid that someone will go like, my thing is, does he feel like at the Beckett Seneca pick where everyone's being like, I am 20th of my list? And then he turns out to be like the third or fourth best guy in the draft. And then Anaheim just looks really smart.

Or is it a, oh, we fell in love with the size and the name and the, the love is too much of the season? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's, is it a Mason McTalvesh type thing? I mean, no disrespect to Mason McTalvish, but I don't think the ducks would take him at three again. It's, I don't know. It's, to me, I've, I've been wary of the centers in this drafts. I've said that I think any center you take is maybe getting it overdrafted.

I mean, they got a bunch of centers last year. They did. You don't necessarily, like, they don't, they're in a position. I'd say, friends, if you want to have what you're calling conifidence and well played with that name. Good wordplay. If you want to have your conifidence, I'll say this. I don't know if there's any giant holes in the system. Like there's, you know, he's, like I mentioned to Stephen, like he's, they have a bunch

of defensemen. Like they had, they had decent. You know, he inherited a system. There's in pretty decent shape. And I think he's been very strategic with you working with his group and going, okay, what are our glaring needs? And there aren't no glaring needs anymore. I think they have good enough depth up and down and you're not really putting all your eggs in one

basket. like a situation we're like, oh man, it's Sven Berksi doesn't pop. You're screwed because you have nothing else for your system. They have enough guys. Like they have a few right shot guys on the wings. Like, you know, Ethan Wittenback turning into what he is potentially gives you a third first round level prospect from the 25 class. You know, they have a few guys like that in the system. I think Trevor Hoskin is still really underrated and he might be a sneaky good guy coming out of this, coming out of the 24 draft. So my point is you don't, you don't need to necessarily keep, you know, do any handwritten about, oh, man, the flames need to get a center

because they have no, no centers. They got like four centers in last year's draft and two of them might play next year. They're going to be fine. Hell, all of them are going to have them under a contract already. You know, they have enough guys that can play on the wing. Like, if you think, oh, you have too many centers, maybe Colin Potter because he's small. He ends up in the wing. My point is they have enough depth. So I just think if you think that the last three drafts they've done have been very, very solid. Then this is simply 11 more kicks of the can, or slightly fewer if they used those 17,000 fourth rounders to move up,

to just continue what they're doing. And maybe they get lucky and someone above their slot falls in them at 6, like it did 10 years ago. But we'll see. Yeah, I feel like I have a decent idea of how the top three is going to unfold. And I just, those teams at four and five are really, really interesting to me. Like I was saying, I think it's a given that Caleb Malhotra has gone. And quite frankly, I'm not that cut up about it.

I don't really know how much I would have wanted him to be the guy for the Flames. And of course, that can go either way. I mean, I remember a lot of Flames fans being very happy when Leon Dreisadle went ahead of Sam Bennett. And just the way of the draft. Because he couldn't do pull-ups. Exactly. Um, but yeah, go check out Stevens mock draft over at daily faceoff. He's got McKenna to Toronto at one, Stenberg to San Jose at two, Malhotra

at the Canucks. Stenberg to San Jose at two, Malhotra, doesn't he? Mm-hmm. He kind of fits. Yeah, we'll see. Malhotra to Vancouver at three. And then that starts the run of the Reed, to Chicago at four, uh, Verhoff to the Rangers at five and then Carls to the flames at six.

And again, I just don't know if I buy, uh, Keaton Verhof, going ahead of Carson Carl's at this point, just with Verhoff struggles down the stretch at Nodak. So I don't know. I think the flames might miss out on a player who I really wanted. It could be body of work, though, too. I mean, you know, Verhof was very good in Victoria the year before. And, you know, the level of competition, the NCAA is very good.

You have less game reps. So it's, you know, I think it's tough. Imagine if you're used to playing three or four days a week and you're playing like twice, getting your rhythm can be tough. So I don't know. I know talking to some people in hockey, a lot of people, some people, I would think the challenge is because of the, because of the adjustments that Berrahov had to make, I don't know if there's a lot of people that absolutely rave about his game, the way, I think there's a contingent of scouts, the scouting community, that really love Carson Carl's because he knows exactly what he is. And granted, he didn't have to adjust to a new league. He's been in that league for a couple of years.

So he's just doing his thing. But he's very good at the things that he's good at. He's, you know, the things that he's not great at, he just doesn't do as much. And he's just, he knows what his lane is.

He's got seemingly very good awareness of what his lane is. And he's very good at it. So I don't know. I'm, I'm very curious. Well, me too, Pike.

There will be lots of time to delve into the ramifications of this. We will. We will be ringing back the back burner, official announcement for a couple episodes here in the month of May. and in June, I would expect at least three or four of them between now and the 2026 NHL draft with a variety of different guests coming along on the ride with us. There will be lots time for lots of different mock drafts and what have you, making up exactly which players will go where,

seeing if maybe the flames will be able to move up in the draft, maybe move down in the draft. I mean, now that some of these teams have moved around in different places, maybe they'll be more receptive to the idea of going in different spots, We do have more super chats to get through. A lot of super chats still to get through. Thanks to Monty Rye with $699 to the YCC. RG, again, with 279, saying third would have been fine.

32nd guarantees top three. I mean, sure, but you're still missing out on McKenna. Like, you're missing out on McKenna, Andy Vars Stenberg, and whoever else is the consensus top guy. You're missing out on having, you know, the real cream of the crop being at third. the point is that the odds are too favorable to teams that just aren't as bad I think there's you like the old system I prefer to when there was only one draw personally I I mean three was horrible I'm glad that they went away from that that was

just way too you wanted us to go back to 2025 where they do a draw for every single spot definitely not I think I think that's what you're advocating for you know we can we can email Bill Daly. Email them. Yeah. It's what, bill. That's what,

Monty Rye. If the sharks are looking to draft to D-Man, can the flames pack and picks and trade up to second? I mean, I don't know, maybe.

Wouldn't that be something? I, we'll see how it all shakes out here in the next few weeks. I mean, the sharks, they do have an embarrassment of riches.

They do. And I mean, do you keep adding to that? Or do you try to add value in different ways? I don't know. I mean, the sharks do need a D. And if they feel they can get as good a caliber of D at six as opposed to two,

maybe there is a deal to be made there. It does make a little bit of sense right off the hot. I think there might be some appetite for moving in the top six. I think with the perception that there's the drop off after six, moving down for the or moving up from there, be pricey. Yeah, yeah, we shall see. um shrimp on the Barbie with two Australian dollarid dues Jack didn't bring the draft energy did I I guess not buddy I I had a bad feeling this was going to happen me too as soon as the whole

charade yesterday with the leaves like we're we're saying in a group chat like this is just going to happen and it did this is what happens when you you build a new building you just you don't get nice things we got the nice things we're going to get and uh RG with another one What are your thoughts on Nikita Klepov, who I believe Stephen Ellis has going, let's see, where does he? He has him going to go 16, which I think is actually a little low from Steve, and I think Klepav's going to go a little higher. Let the OHL in scoring this year, playing for Zane Perrexold team in Sagina, 97 points in 67 games. I think he's got the makings of a top 10 pick.

But we'll see. I mean, he's a winger. He, I mean, his D-minus one with Sioux City was not amazing. So, you know, remains to be seen. It's not the biggest guy, but I don't know. Kleppov is one of the guys who's been on the radar sort of as being a particularly good value swing after that drop off at six. Yeah, yeah. And I was curious, so I checked the list.

So in the athletics recent prospect pool rankings, Chicago who picks fourth is number one. The Sharks who picked two is number two, flames who pick. or number three. Toronto they had at 29th. Yeah. Vancouver, they had ranked, where are they? 15. The Rangers who round out the top, the top five, they were ranked,

it's not in the middle, 18. So in the case of teams, I mean, the sharks have been kind of, kind of bad for a while. Like they sort of, they, I don't know when we say they started the rebuild. Chicago seemingly has been bad for a while. They just,

they keep playing. playing that song. Eventually, they'll move up the standings, right? Yeah. So the flames are arguably the new kids on the block in terms of being near the bottom, but they also have done a lot of a lot of drafting, a lot of picking, a lot of acquiring reasonably good young collegiates in in the drafts or in these various trades, the youthening process. So the youthening process. All right. It's not a rebuild or re-biggle. It's a youthening. That's smart. I like that. You know, anyone over 30 eventually Craig will just walk into the run throwing a burlap sack and sending you to Utah and then

you get a bunch of draft picks. Well, here's the thing is that you probably have a pretty good idea that McKenna's going at one. What if he doesn't though? That's the thing is that once that happens. What if someone goes nuts and like, you know what? Caleb Malhotis from Ontario. Let's take the kid from Ontario.

Wouldn't be the first time a John Shaker team took a center over a less desirable position, quote unquote? People get Galaxy Brainer to draft man. I remember when John Shaked took Barrett Haten over Quinn Hughes. That was really interesting. Although, hey, Barrett Haten's still with his original team,

and Quinn Hughes isn't. Exactly, he's not. Well, I guess, yeah, whatever, but it's a different franchise.

Different franchise, that's right. But still, yeah, I mean, I, who's calling me? Geez, Louise.

Yeah, no. Bill Daly. No. You heard your suggestion. Bill Daly didn't like what I had to say about, about McKenna not going one. Yeah,

no, it's, it is a crazy outcome. come. But I do think with McKenna all but guaranteed to go at one, if there is a deal to be made with a team like San Jose, I would imagine that wouldn't necessarily be constrained by, you know, who goes at one? Because you

kind of already know. Would it be constrained by the division? Maybe. The fever pitch rivalry between the Calgary Flames and the sharks of San Jose. They moved up from 24. Like they were, they had the, they had the ninth overall pick and they move up to they move up to second.

That's how the lottery works. That's how the lottery works. That's terrible, horrible, horrible system. In the words of Kent Brockman, a gripping tail of conformity run amok. I liked when you said earlier in the show that the flames were glad to get Cole Rushney at 16.

It was 18. At 18. That's why they originally had 16. Yeah, then Montreal got 16 and they got New Jersey's pick. Just reminded me of Lionel Hutz, a.k.a. Miguel Sanchez, aka Nguyen Van Falk,

was paid eight hours for 32 hours of babysitting. He was glad to get it. I just enjoy the, I just enjoy him just emptying his papers in this briefcase into the fireplace. Lionel Hudson no longer exists. Say hello to Miguel Sanchez. That's right. I mean, at least

let's put this, but if we're going to, if we're going to pier a silver landing on this, uh, this rain cloud of a lottery, at least Evanston didn't win. True. True. And the, the Canucks didn't win. That's true. Okay, I feel there's a lot of

very nice people I know Chris Faber and Olivia McDonald among others. Very nice people, quality human beings working for the Canucks and it makes me sad

a little bit to know that they're sad a little bit. Sure. So. Sorry, Levy. Yeah.

Do you know we're well enough to call her that? I've called her Livy before. Did you like it? I think so. We'll move on. We sat the press box next to each other.

I don't know. Yeah, the Calgary Flames. We got a couple more super chats. Save Ferris B. There are six, oh, this is a happy super chat. Check it out.

There are six great prospects and Calgary draft six. Why is everyone losing their minds? Oh, no, we got the consensus number one center or a D man so good. He makes Perek our second best prospect. That is great words coming from the sausage king of Chicago. That's right. Aim for Roman. The sausage king of Chicago.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Save Ferrisbee. Monty Rye. Vigo Bjork could be the same level as Stenberg. Maybe. I mean, the thing with Stenberg is that he is one of the oldest players in the draft,

a September 2006 birthday. So, or sorry, September 2007 birthday. Had a great ear in the Swedish league. By the same token, I mean, he is, he is, you know, nine, ten months older than Vigo Bjork. So you do have to take that in consideration. I'm curious to see how that plays out. Ascending Horizons say, do we do left D or Lawrence? I don't know.

I mean, see who's left? See who's left? That's the whole thing. You draft a list. I mean, that's the thing. That is maybe the benefit for the flames that they don't have to make that hard choice.

Chessing made for them. Choice is being made for them. And ascending horizons again saying Leifes winning draft since recent, but haven't won since 1967, L.O.L. with O&E. Word play. I like it. I like it.

There we go. They're winning draft since recent. I agree. Thank you, Ascending Horizons. Ah. Oh, like, according to Brandon Bachelor of Sports 650.

That's right. Palatial Vancouver. Palatial. Quote, Jim Rutherford says he'll be stepping away from the day-to-day operations of the Canucks,

but will remain on as an advisor and alternate governor, effective after the draft and the transition to the new general manager. Wow. So that's interesting. I mean, I think we all kind of figured with how much of a gong show that year was,

that was probably going to happen. But it's nice that they have clarity question mark. What a, I hate to say it so soon, but just what a disastrous tenure. Imagine, I know, I know for the perception in market for this beautiful hockey club is that,

you know, it's been since 89, like Charlie Brown with a football where, even the years that were good were like, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, can you imagine being a Canucks fan? Jim Rutherford takes over that team in 2021 and they have Bo Horvatt, they have Quinn Hughes.

And they, they had just lost Markstrom, right? They had just lost Marksdra, but they had Thatcher, Emco. They had they had J.T. Miller. At that point, Thatcher Demko still had his arms and legs working. Elias Pedersen was viewed as being a very, very good, you know, a player at that point in this career. They were, they showed the makings of a hockey club that you'd see on this schedule and go, oh no, that could go poorly for us. They had just made the crippling Oliver Eckman-Larsen mistake. But, you know, you can absorb maybe making that mistake.

Maybe not, but still, they were, you know, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they had made that mistake. It's water under the bridge. And what a, what a terrible, terrible run over the last four years, five years from Vancouver Canucks. And it sort of caps off today with them going down from one to three,

which, you know, a horrendous turn of events if you're a Canucks fan. And a much worse turn of events than what happened to the Calgary Flames. They had a disastrous year, which is a punctuation on, you can make a case for a disastrous couple of years, a team that on paper looked like they were starting to build something really fun and really scary if you were their opposition. And then it just sort of just turned to dust so quickly.

I don't know. I feel bad for some of the fans there because they're such a passionate market. They love their team. They have one of the most beautiful jerseys in the world and also the blue thing they wear most of the time. Um, like they're, they're, they're, they're a group that for better for worse, passionately cares about their hockey club. And they've been, they haven't been to have it a good time. No. And they don't even have, but the kids are calling Connie Fiddance to lean on.

They don't have a GM to stem the. Yeah, they have insert name here at a Y or an S. Edens. Their GM has been fired and their president just quit. They have empty chair. Like the Kinnucks are in the spot right now that the flames were in in 2020. three if Don Maloney had also quit. Like, really?

Like, what is there to say? It's a, it's a, it's a really tough spot. And they, I, I went to, I went to school in Ottawa, uh, the same year. I started the same year that the senators traded Eric Carlson. Uh, I went out there. I got started and they said they traded Carlson two weeks later. And it feels for the Canucks kind of like it felt for the Sends at that point, uh, where it was just, holy smoke.

ownership was a big thing. They had just sort of moved their star defenseman. Arena was a bit of a hurdle in certain respects. I mean, the Canucks feels like every time I hear a quote about that team, it's that they don't have a practice facility. Hey, any day now, I'm told they might have a something. Might have a tentative handshake agreement in place.

So, yeah, not, I mean, we're not happy with this outcome, but, you know, going from four to six, you might be getting the same player that you would have taken all along. It's entirely possible. Going from one to three, no. No. Yeah. The difference between four and six in like you were going to get one of the top,

the top two guys and then you're in sort of that secondary ledge of a group of four, you'll be fine. You'll get so you'll get someone probably as good. And as is mentioned in the Super Shats, the decision is basically made for you. If you believe that the top six guys are going to go in some order of the top six, you're holding six you're getting whatever guys left great you don't need to overthink it you just go oh cool carls is left at six great oh someone else is there at six

whatever super like you'll be happy to get whoever lands to you and you don't really need to you know think yourself into a knot figuring it out uh and then they could probably use the use all their their energy on uh using those four second rounders to do something wacky the flames just didn't get number 10 when they needed at most yeah story again the Problem is they didn't bring up surgery up early enough. If they brought surgery up earlier, they would have won one more game, and it would have been like, oh, thank you know, slightly better odds. They needed slightly worse. They needed the Huberto ball.

They needed the Huberto ball. Seriously? Uber Go had put off his hip surgery for one more game and had another great game. Oh, boy. Then they would have won one more game. They needed the Huberto ball. And of course, it didn't show up. This might be the only time in franchise history, the first time in a while that people see 12 and get mad.

Usually you see 12 and you're like, okay. That's fun. Yeah. Yeah. We got another super chat. This from Derek Carpentier. Let's get the Ruck Twins. We already have Basha.

Make it happen. Connie, what do you think? Sure. You'll probably make it happen. This is from ascending horizons as well. Two bucks. Do we need the Ruck Twins? They got the Picks.

They got the Vegas pick. They got the Vegas pick and then four seconds. I will say. Move up. I think I mentioned earlier, you know, in a fantasy draw in a sort of a maybe like a, uh, in a, like, in the fan or the public sphere, everybody loves the rucks. I wouldn't be surprised if they go a little lower. They don't love the rucks.

People, scouts like the rucks. They like them a lot. They don't love the rucks. But that's the, if they love them, they mean, they would have been top. They wouldn't the first round all year. But I think, I think, I think in the private and the NHL sphere, I wouldn't be surprised if they go a little lower than people think.

they they they were okay in the printout series i think they might go really good against the hitman they were okay against prince out like i've seen people who are starting to sort of have the rucks in the in the teens i think that's the little rich at this point not that i don't think that they're going to be very very good i think that they're going to be worth uh the picks wherever they get taken i just i wouldn't be surprised if it's maybe i'll i just updated my aggregate list uh leum is at 24 marcus is at 29 that feels about right to me. Liam should go mid-20s and as soon as he goes, the team after that will call up the team that picked him and go, oh, be a shame of someone took the other twin,

will you give me to move up? And then that'll happen two or three. I don't think they go consecutively, but I think they go pretty quickly. Remember when Gavin McKenna got in that fight? Unacceptable. Which one? Unacceptable. The one where he was out in the bar? unacceptable. Unacceptable. The NHL needs to step in and say he cannot be drafted in the top five. That's his punishment. Much like how Ottawa has to be 32nd.

That's right. There's a precedent that. They apply a punishment to the player that says, Gavin, you can't be picked this high. And whatever team drafts you after that doesn't have to pay you performance bonuses, the Schedule A bonuses. a little cap relief too even better why would you take money out of this pocket he's got a family to feed you're just you're just heartless man they're just this is what working in sales is done to you it's taking your heart out of you oh it's it's he got it he's got to be held accountable i guess got to be held accountable i guess what you for for late first what do you think of

alexander command if they don't go rucks i will say man can be good stephen mentioned somebody uh when he was on uh before the lottery draw who i had another guy talked to me about earlier this season like way before he was starting to really heat up and move up in the ranks and that's Maltie Guffsters. Another left shot D

who played 27 games with HV 71 in Sweden this year is young for the draft June 11th, 08, won't turn 18 until right before the draft. Played half the year as teammates with Jacob Leander

on the 20 team that was just awful. They were just, they were not good. He was dash 18 on a bad junior team. Then he was dash eight on a decent, decent, decentish SHL team. They weren't great. They were in the really, he played, he played relegation in both junior and senior. I was going to mention, like, I'm like, uh, it wasn't a great year. I mean, Sugar Garden didn't have a great year, but at least they stayed out of the relegation playoffs. I will say, and I just had a buddy text me this as well. McKenna going to Toronto. McKenna is a flawed prospect. He's a prospect who I would love to be a

Calgary flame, absolutely no question about it. But I will say if he is even slightly less than advertised, that market is going to just go nuts. I mean, the Toronto hockey fans aren't known to overreact with anything. Well, it's just like, it's like, here's the thing, Toronto Maple Leafs, right? Austin Matthews this year scores what? 35 goals? Okay, 27 goals in 60 games, 53 points in 60 games. and people are all over him saying that he's washed up.

They need to figure something out. Just earlier this morning, there was reporting from Chris Johnston saying that the Leafs and Matthews weren't even sure if he was going to play for them next season, even though he's got two years left on his deal. Mitch Marner, they get him at four, and he gave them point per game season after point per game season. And by the time that he was done in Toronto,

they could not wait to be done with him. Do you disagree? by the time that Mitch Marner was finished in Toronto there was a large subsection of that fan base that could not wait to see the back of them. I think the fan base had a unique relationship with the player to the point where his family is being harassed. Yeah.

So mistakes were made, I think, on many fronts. Many fronts with Mitch Marner. Yeah. They, I mean, they hire a GM yesterday. John Shaka, they hired their GM. And there was ridicule to the extent that we seldom ever see in the NHL for any executive hiring. And I don't even think it's that it's, I don't even think that it's ill-reasoned ridicule. I think it is quite valid, honestly.

I think that the fact that, I mean, folks, folks might know. I know a fair few people in Arizona who cannot believe that John Shake is back in the NHL as a GM. But still, if he was hired in Nashville or if he was hired in Buffalo or if he was hired in Buffalo or if He was hired in Carolina. Kevin Adams was when he got hired, wasn't he running the Buffalo facility? He was running their business side. Yeah, he was running.

It was the same with Don Waddell and Carolina. They, the, the, the, the hurricanes had Don Waddell running their, their, their, sort of the, the business side of their overarching corporation. And then they, they, they fired, uh, Francis. And they were like, do you want to do this? Do you want to be our GM? And it was the quietest transition you've ever heard. Nobody cared. and he had because his last job

but had been in the Atlanta thrashers. He was their GM when they relocated. So it's like, I think you tweeted something along the lines of the flames might be like the least chaotic Canadian team right now. They are. They are the least,

they are the save for the Montreal Canadians. The flames are the least circusy Canadian team right now. I mean, okay, they have a clear direction. They've obviously leaned into the, the youthening process they're going. You can make a case that they, the direction is already chosen.

They just accelerated. with the moves this year. So, they have a, they had a GM who had spent, what, close to a decade in hockey ops by the time they promoted him. Yeah.

They have, for whatever people think of, Don Maloney, great hockey, like he's been in the league for a while. And the idea is you need just a steady hand

to sort of bounce ideas off of, Don Laudel is precisely the type of, not Domlone is precisely the type of guy that you'd be like, okay, you know, he does need to be in the day to day, but I can call him up and ask him about anything or puck me in his office to be like,

hey, so and so he's, offers this kind of trade return. What do you think? You know, like, yeah, this is, you know, the, they have, the captain is, is probably going to get Selky votes again at the age of 37. He's not going to win, but he's probably going to sneak on

some ballots again. I mean, compared to the flames, what, three years ago, two years ago, with like the main character, you know, with the seven penning UFAs, every time you turn on any sports channel, it was, here's what's happening with the flames. Nikita Zodorov's agent said this and so-and-so said that and trade

trade rumor that and the arena is not done yet no no and then you know then just things are just things are just happening here yeah the building's going coming along quietly the building is almost you know it's getting there year left of the building opens they've got the a slew of picks slew of prospects they got a bunch of guys are going to enter the system this year you know Andrew bash should just led the the mess and had tigers in the playoffs they all you know they hit a wall when they face the prince albert radio but I can give me a list of teams. It's a pretty long list.

They would hit a wall when they face the Prince Albert Raiders. So that is to say, I think it's going to be okay. My point is that, though, if there is any market where Gavin McKenna could fall out of favor. Oh, very quickly. Very quickly. It is Toronto. And I am really, really curious to see how that goes, especially with the circumstances. I mean, the thing is, Austin Matthews came to Toronto.

and maybe in the most favorable circumstances in Toronto a long time, where they hadn't had a legit star player. They were sort of in Calgary's territory. They were just desperate for anybody. They hadn't picked or they hadn't had a legit star probably since Matt Sundeen left for Vancouver. And they'd, you know, traded for Phil Kessel, but he hadn't really been that guy. And they had just traded him. And they were waiting with open arms for somebody.

And they would have just been happy with Austin Matthews if he had been, you know, a 30 goal score. and he was he was a star like a superstar and now they're getting to a point where you know matthews is at an inflection point in this career and marner is gone and nielander is you know sort of doing his thing to a certain degree and their coach i mean is maybe on the hot seat maybe very much on the hot seat but maybe not going to stick around we'll see uh we'll see i mean that's really the two words that define the next six weeks is we'll see yeah it's like uh you ever seen Charlie Wilson's war? No. You should see it. It's really good. The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the CIA analyst who's drunk half the time. It's the role he was

born to play. It was fantastic. You have Tom Hanks as a playing against type as a womanizing congressman. He's fantastic. It's very good movie based in a true story. But the idea is, you know, the, at the end of the movie, they, you know, they free the, I think they Afghanistan people, some of the hell it is. You know, I'm, my brain doesn't work too good these days. But They're in the balcony having a celebratory drink because the thing they wanted to do was accomplished. And, you know, the idea is the, I think the phrase was you told the parable of the Zen master where anytime something happens, the Zen master just sort of shakes his head and goes, we'll see. So, I mean, you know, this is, it's not like, say, there's no reset button. This is a continuous process.

You know, you yet to bring back the same team as last year. The schedule gets reset. The standards get reset. And then you get to make some changes and do it again. So we will see, you know, the game start counting in October. And until then, it's just a lot of noise and a lot of waiting. Well, we have one last super chat that I think we will leave you all with. This is from our friend Ken Alicia.

Hey, Pike, when are you dropping your top 10 prospects? And now importantly, who is sitting in fifth, sixth, and seventh? Considering they may be the players the flames will take, hashtag to hell with Leafs, hashtag time for a huska Biggle. A huska Biggle. We Biggle was way better, Ken. why are they just biggle I don't know

you can't re-bigel until you've either pre-bigiled or biggle what is a biggle it's where they're redoing they're redoing the previous bigel it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a bagel it's a re-biggle bagel with they had

they big old and then they're trying to biggle again I don't know or if they're going to bigel in the future do they need to pre-biggle first stay tuned to flamesnation.com. There will be lots coming up with more top 10 mock drafts and predictions of what have you. There will be plenty.

There will be plenty to dive into. We know you want to watch some hockey to be Avalanche and Wilde. They're tied at one midway through the first at the ball arena. Goals from Martine Natchez and Carill Caprizov. Our thanks to everybody who's tuned in this afternoon and evening, our thanks to Dean and Pinder and we presume Rett for wreaking some havoc down at Greta Bar. And we appreciate the support from our good friends over at Prairie. Toyota one more time.

If you're looking to dominate off the ice as much as your team does on it, check out the Toyota Tacoma. Visit shop, Toyota.ca, or your local prairie Toyota dealer during red tag days from March through May. The Calgary Flames will draft 6th overall, barring any future moves in the 2026 NHL draft. They lose both today's draft lotteries. The Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks will pick first and second overall, respectively. Ryan Pike, to my left. My name is Mike Gould. Our producer Jack is over yonder,

and we're just sitting here wondering where things will go next. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Until then, thank you all for tuning in. This has been a very special edition of Barnburner.