Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Calgary Flames Top 10 Prospects Ft. Steven Ellis | FN Back Burner - July 9th, 2026

Episode Date: July 11, 2026

FN Back Burner with Mike Gould & Bobby GermanyTIMESTAMPS ⏰00:00 Intro & Banter02:00 Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet08:00 Flames Development Camp16:30 Cullen Potter19:00 Sportsnet 960---25:30 Steven Ellis Joins28:30 Flames Prospect Pool31:30 Carson Carels34:30 Joe Iginla38:00 Gould's Top 10 Prospects39:30 Bobby's Top 10 Prospects42:00 Steven Ellis' Top 10 Prospects46:30 Rebuilding Through The Draft55:00 Steven Ellis Signs Off---56:00 Outro & BanterSubscribe 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.

It's Bobby. What's going on? Oh my gosh. Whoa, it's the back burner. You're not Ryan Pike. I'm not Ryan Pike. Wow. My first time here. That is fantastic. Shift over a little Bobby. We need to get you back into the frame. Mike Gould's here with you on this Thursday afternoon. This show is up to a rip-roaring great start. Happy Thursday. Happy Nunavut Day, everybody. Mike Gould, Robert Munich with you here in our Marta Loop studio for another edition of the Backburner, Flames Prospect show. We're so glad. glad to have you along with us. In an increasingly fraught media landscape here in the city of Calgary, we are happy to try and bridge some of the gap that has been created under unfortunate circumstances over the last few days. And what better avenue to do this in the sort of sense of looking at what the flame's future holds. It has been such an interesting summer for us watching the flames, watching the hockey landscape here in Calgary this summer. It's

it's been really exciting and really intriguing in a lot of different ways. And there's a lot to dig into. Bobby, we've talked to you so many times on the afterburn, on our different shows, our draft shows. Here you are in our studio. We're glad to have you.

It's my first time recording a show in studio today. So this is very exciting. I'm pumped to be here. Yeah, this is great. We, I don't know if you managed to catch any of the morning show on your way in, on your circuitous path that you took.

here to Marta on this Thursday, but there were a couple of cracks. There were a couple of digs at where exactly Bobby is at. Where in the world is Carmen Sandy Bobby? But you managed to make it here. We're glad to have you. We will have Stephen Ellis from Daily Faceoff joining us later on in the hour. But for now, Bobby, again, there's lots to get into.

If you did watch the morning show, obviously it's no secret what's happened in this city over the last 48, 72 hours. But before we get into that, there is some big news that has gone down today that we do just want to touch upon. It is turning into the summer of offer sheets, Bobby, in a certain way. We have had two of them in the span of a couple of weeks in a league where typically you maybe get two in a decade. And today, the biggest one that we have seen in a long time gets matched by the Anheim Ducks, Leo Carlson, five years, 18 million a year, 90 million over the five years, about 40 million, Bobby paid out in the first 12 months of this.

contract. Good for Leo Carlson, hey? Yeah, it's surprising. I actually, I thought it was a really smart offer sheet by the Philadelphia Flyers targeting the Anaheim Ducks like this, putting all that signing bonus money up front. You're basically challenging Pat Verbeek and the Samueli family who own the Anaheim Ducks to pay, like you said, $40 million, basically up front within the first calendar year of that deal going down. And the Ducks, they're smart team to target like that because they penny pinched. They don't like paying their players. I know ownership. I don't don't think they really like playing paying guys like Leo Carpson, $18 million. So it was a smart move by the Flyers.

It completely screws up the Ducks and everything that they've been trying to build here. I kind of feel bad for the Ducks fan base there. But I think that's what happens when a GM like Pat Burbique continues to penny pinch, continues, you know, with his RFA's to negotiate incredibly hard. This is what ends up happening. They should have signed Carlson months ago, if not last summer. So this is what happens when you don't sign your really good stud young players. get put in this kind of position.

We got producer Jack with us in the studio today, pulling double duty after Barnburner, and we appreciate him putting in all the extra effort that he does with our operation here. He's truly one of a kind, and of course, one of a kind as it comes to leaving Bobby on the screen during our intro. But, Jacko, I think we maybe still have the statement from Henry and Susan Samueli, if you do. And if not, I still want to read it either way because I found it incredibly telling that in the release from the Anaheim Ducks announcing that they had matched the offer sheet for Leo Carlson, it wasn't Leo Carlson or Pat Burbique, the first ones quoted in the release. It was the owners. And this is the quote verbatim. Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision as Pat has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo.

We have extremely high expectations for Leo. We firmly believe he will continue his strong growth trajectory and become one of the truly elite centers in the league will continuing to make a strong impact in our community. Here it is up on screen now. Bobby, do you think this maneuver by Pat Rebeak, the Ducks General Manager, struck you as intelligent? No, I mean, basically the entire situation leading up to the offer sheet

was the complete opposite of intelligent in terms of, you know, whether it's, Trevor Ziegress, Mason McTavish, Minchikov, Jimmy Drysdale. There's so many RFA negotiations that Pat Rebeek does where he just grinds and grinds

and it ends up affecting the relationship between the players and these teams. And you can see that by them trading three of those players that I just mentioned there. Once again, the key is when you have a stud, when you have a young,

incredible up-and-coming player who's going to be a part of your team for a long time, you have to lock them in. And, you know, kind of relating this to the flames a little bit, I think that's one of the reasons why I thought it was so smart that they sign Simon Nemich to a five-year deal right now.

Get that deal over and done with. Don't risk an offer sheet. Don't risk anything like that. Don't piss off the player and his agent. Get the deal done. He's supposed to be a big part of this team. And I think the same way when it comes to Leo Carlson and all those guys I mentioned. So if I'm Verbeek, I think you kind of have to completely change the way you negotiate

and you get to kind of change the way you go about your business because it's old school and it's not working right now. Well, I mean, you hear about the agent polls that go out talking about the ducks being one of the most difficult teams to deal with in the league. You hear stories about Verbeek and his assistant GM, Jeff Solomon and just their negotiating tactics and what have you. And ultimately, though, I mean, the boys on the morning show were talking about, does this create hard feelings?

Does this, you know, make it more difficult in the future? I mean, Leo Carlson, if you're that guy, you're saying, yeah, I got offered 90 million over five years. This had nothing to do with you. This had nothing to do with who offered it to me. I'm not saying no to that. That's business. Yeah, it really is. If you're Leo Carlson, I think your reaction is start the car. And I think if you are heading over to a Prairie Toyota dealer, you're going to maybe be saying the same things because some of the deals they're putting on with the Toyota Tacoma right now are truly fantastic. They're almost as one-sided as you would see with this offer sheet. If you are looking to dominate off the ice as much as your team does on it, check out the Toyota Tacoma. Its standard IFORCE engine boasts an impressive towing capacity of up to 6,400 pounds, almost.

as much as all the way to the dollar bills that Leo Carlson is getting. So when it's time to head on down to the Toyota dealer, you can lease a 2026 Tacoma from 110 weekly at 5.69% APR for 60 months with 7099 down. Visit shoptoidot.ca or your local prairie Toyota dealer, it is time to Toyota. And we thank the Prairie Toyota dealers for helping bring you this edition of the back burner on this Thursday afternoon. Mike Gould, Bobby, Germany with you.

It's just past 1.10 p.m. local time midway through the Stampede, Bobby, 2026. Had a chance to get down to the grounds yet? Not yet, but we'll be on Saturday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's some exciting stuff. Here is. Maybe with the chuck wagon, something happening there. Yeah.

Don't want to get too out of ourselves. I didn't get an invite just yet. We're going to maybe work on it. I don't know. We're going to see what's in the offing. Bobby, I mean, it's going to be like a very exciting. We're going to talk to Stephen Ellis later on in the hour. or maybe see if he, I think he's been out here for the Stampede a couple times.

I can see it. One thing that we know always sort of overlaps at the Stampede a little bit is Calgary Flames Development Camp. And you and I were both there up at WinSport, as you would know if you listened to the morning show and heard me shamelessly named drop some of the people who I saw up there. But Bobby, it was fun. When was the last time you went to DevCamp before this year? I went last year for one of the sessions, but I mean, they didn't have the three-on-three scrimmage last year, which I still don't understand why they got rid of that.

That kind of upsets me, but I've been to a bunch in the past. And I got to say, this collection of Flames talent right now might be the best we've ever seen. I mean, there's not necessarily a Sam Bennett or Johnny Goddrow type of prospect that we've seen in the past, but just the collection of players in general, I was so impressed by. Like, I would imagine, like, there's seven or eight guys who I think have legit chances to become like very good NHL players. And even in that group, you know, Colin Potter wasn't playing in that three three scrimmage and neither was Henry Mews.

Yet the group still looked incredibly talented. They're amazing skaters. The skill level on display was incredible. I was super, super impressed at that three-on-three scrimmage. Well, when we bring on Stephen Ellis later on in the hour, we're going to be talking about top tens for the Calgary Flames current prospect pool, sort of a preview of what's going to be coming later on this summer at Flames Nation on the editorial side of things with our top 20 prospect

rankings that we do at the sites. There will be lots to dig into there. It was really great. You know, it's funny that you mentioned the three-on-three thing not being there last year. On the last day after the scrimmage, we were sort of downstairs, and Pike and I actually got chatting with Connie. And he said, you know, they didn't do it last year. And it was one of the biggest things they heard was that people wanted it back. The players wanted it.

The fans wanted it. The, you know, everybody wanted it. So it was a no-brainer. And it was a lot of fun. It was really cool to see these guys getting into more of a game situation. seeing them sort of thrive under the lights to a certain degree. I mean, to the extent that a scrimmage in July can be considered being under the lights.

Yeah. And we even saw, you know, coaches coming, scouts coming from different programs from the WHL from the NCAA. Willie Desjardam was there from the Medicine Hat Tigers to watch Macy O'Phillips to sort of talk to him for the first time. He said he just drove in. So it was cool.

And shows a good day to watch, Macyo. He sure did. I was going to ask, who were some of the guys who really stood out to you, Bobby? Yeah, I mean, number one was Phillips. And the reason I bring him up first is because, you know, I think like the reputation of Phillips was that, oh, this was just a draft pick about size because he is a mountain of a human being. I mean, this guy is like a Greek god out there? So, you know, where people are kind of saying, you know, is this the next Keegan-Kanzig kind

of pick? Are they just picking Macyo Phillips based off his size and athleticism? But what I think he showed in development camp there, and once again, it's a summer 30-scrimmage, We're keeping that in mind here. But what he showed is that he's a phenomenal skater. You know, he dominated out there with his skating. It was unbelievable to watch him just fly up and down the wing, get back on the back check. And he also showed some skill too.

Scored a really nice goal in the shootout. He was making some nice deeks down the wing, heading towards the net. You know, I was impressed. You know, heading into the camp there, I was a little worried just about the overall skill set of Phillips. But you can tell he took some strides over the last year here. And, you know, I think he went from being a guy who, you know, in our top 20 might have been kind of closer to the bottom, closer to 20. I think, you know, he's moving up into the kind of lower to mid-teens in terms of where he ranks in

the Flames Prospect system. So, yeah, I was, I was really impressed by him. Bobby, I wouldn't normally do something like this, but I just want to put the Flames prospect talk on the back burner for one minute. Okay. In light of a story that is coming out in the sports world right now, are you a basketball fan at all, Bobby? Not really.

Neither am I. But this is crazy because we all know that. the Toronto Raptors are working to acquire Kawhi Leonard from Los Angeles Clippers. And this is just coming down the pipeline from ESPN right now. Developing the LA Clippers Toronto Raptors trades centered on Kawhi Leonard will not be complete

until the NBA investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard's previous business dealings is over. This is coming down right now. This is from the Clippers. On June 30th, we reached an agreement in principle to trade him to the Lipporaptors. We have since been in front. formed that the trade can only be finalized if the Raptors ownership group assumes the risk

of penalties related to the contract like a theoretically result from the ongoing investigation. This investigation is ongoing and we expect the trade to be finalized following its conclusion. There is, this is like a long statement. There is like the Raptors have put out a statement regarding our plan trade with the LA Clippers for Kauai Leonard, the NBA League office informed us that as a result of the ongoing investigation involving the clippers, we would assume the risk of any potential outcome of the investigation impacting Kauai.

In light of this, we will wait until the league's investigation is complete. The Raptors remain eager to bring Kauai back to Toronto and look forward to a swift resolution for our players, our organization, and our fans. Wow. So again, I would normally not preempt Flames prospect talk for that. But wow, that's big news.

Wow. You know what, if you're not like a big basketball fan, this whole Kauai aspire story is absolutely fascinating. Beyond crazy. And if you want to learn more about it, listen to Pablo Torre finds out. He's got about a 10 or 12-part series going on about this whole story. And it's fascinating. Like, I'm not a big basketball guy.

No, neither mind. But this story is captivating. And, you know, if you're the Raptors, like, you know, do you even want to make this deal now? Because that punishment could be huge. Why are they punishing the Raptors for it? Well, if the Raptors acquire Kauai, it sounds like if the NBA comes down with the punishment on Kauai, it's going to hurt the Raptors, maybe not the clippers. Is that, is that the way I'm, that's seven.

That's beyond crazy. So it is wild. Anyway, it sounds like it's going to still happen. But beyond that, we're not a basketball show. That just came into my feet and I thought it was too juicy not to get an instant live reaction on our show. But wow. So big stuff.

Back to Macyo Phillips. It is a big off season in the NBA and the NHL with the Calgary Flames and the Calgary sports media landscape. Macyo Phillips was undeniably impressive. at the development game. He was the biggest guy there. He was arguably one of the best skaters. Oh, which I didn't expect.

Yeah. He's a fast fella. He can move the puppy. I mean, I made a comparison. They brought me on the morning show and they said, reminded me a lot of Nekiza Zadora when he picked the puck and just sort of went for big skates. Was there anybody else, Bobby, who was at the forefront for you doing things? You know, maybe even beyond just the obvious candidates because, you know,

we're going to hear a lot from Steven about guys like Carson, Carl's and Colrest. Yeah. Was there anybody else who was just sort of like front of mind? Yeah, I would say maybe somebody like a little more under the radar. And I know he's a first round pick, but I was really impressed with Jack Hextall. You know, heading into development camp there, like I didn't really know what to expect from him because, you know, you listen to some draft experts. And it kind of sounded like he's more of a, you know, two way center guy who's really smart, really good defensively. And it has a little bit of skill and a little bit of offense to him. But I thought the skill, the offense, the skating was totally on display in that scrimmage.

I thought he was one of the best players on the ice, really, really impressed by his game. And, you know, I think he's a big time prospect for, for the Calgary Flames here. Like, I have him very high on my list in my top 10.

Just that right shot center, you know, potential Michael Backlin type of player for the organization could be huge for this team down the road. So, yeah, Hextall was one guy from me, for sure.

A first round pick, you're right. Number 30 overall or 31, I forget. I think, I think it was, 29. 29. 30.

30. 30, 30. Think of us 31. Or no, you're right. It was 30 because the Ottawa pick. That's right. Yeah, Youngstown played with Tobias Treble in the USHL this past season. Yeah, again, you're right.

And that Michigan State team is going to be really exciting with Jack Eckstall and Cullen Potter both going there next year for the Calgary Flames. Super, super duper exciting. We're going to get into a lot more Flames prospect and development talk as we get in with Stephen at about 130. So a little bit about 10 minutes from now, we'll bring him in. Where are you out on Potter? He's one guy.

I had a hard time placing in my list. Yeah, me too. I am excited. I think ASU going to MSU is a really good fit. Tough not to be able to sort of see him in game action, but you can obviously see how he skates. And the injury that he sustained this past year at ASU is not one that impacts his ability to skate.

It was an upper body thing. So I'm really excited by what he can do, provide that little bit of different element. and really interested to see what Stephen has to say about him too. He is going to be one of those four guys, though. I mean, we have talked about it over at flamesnation.ca. We will continue to talk about it throughout the season. This coming spring is going to be a real inflection point for the Calgary Flames with four players expected to come out of college basically all at once.

Yeah. Carson Carls, Colin Potter, Cole Rashne, and Ethan Winbauer. It's going to be incredibly exciting. It is. So there's going to be a lot to get into. And we will, we will, we will talk about it more. Remember the days when we'd get excited to see Ben Hanooski get signed?

Van Brabatch. Yeah. Kenny Agostino. Those days are long gone, baby. Now we're getting Carson Carls. Cole Rushing, all those guys. It's great. Hey, folks, if you want to jump in here with our conversation on this hour of the backburn,

feel free to join him with some super chats. Proceeds from which go to the U.S. Centers of Calgary, you can put in whatever you want down in our YouTube commentary. And we will put them up on the show here. it's for the kids. So you've got to get them in there. And we will bring up your conversations with us here. Can Trader, dog it about, remember Spencer Foo?

Spencer Foo, yes, course. How can you forget Spencer Foo? Two goals in his first two games, if I recall, correct. Beat out the Oilers to get them to. That's right. That's a big win. I think he's still playing for the Shanghai Dragon. Yeah, I think he is.

Like that. Yeah. Formerly Quinlan Red Star. That's right. Bobby, obviously, it's been a big week in this city. I mean, coming out of development, camp over the weekend. We get into Monday, Nemit signs, five years, 7.25. The next day, a lot of folks commuting to work, they want to hear people talking about it. They do on the radio. The 960 morning

show happens as scheduled on Tuesday. And I remember immediately afterwards, sort of hearing the rumblings coming out of Vancouver and then going to turn on the radio and at 11 a.m., there's nothing coming out of the number one preset in my car. As somebody who does this show, still the number one preset in my car, I would listen to it all the time. And I think the first thing that a lot of folks felt was shock and sort of disbelief in a certain way.

I remember hearing things coming out that morning and saying, okay, it's not good. Hopefully they don't cut any shows. Hopefully it's not any people losing their jobs. And then we hear it's not just 960. It's not just 650 in Vancouver that are being completely shut down. It's not just shows coming off the radio waves. It's everything.

It's news talk. It's four different cities. It's six different stations. It is an absolutely enormous shift of the media landscape here in Canada. And I know the boys were talking about it this morning and they were talking about it on Tuesday too because it's sort of coincided with the end of that show. But yeah, very much a difficult week. And I guess I just wanted to sort of talk about it because. Obviously, we are in the media landscape.

We are keenly aware of what's going on. We know some of the people who are affected by this and we're, you know, trying to support and be there for them as best as we can. But by the same tone, these are stations that we grew up with. Oh, yeah. And I just wanted to talk because I feel like there needs to be a certain amount of space for just remembering our favorite parts. And what was your sort of formative 960 experience as a listener?

Yeah, I mean, I grew up in Calgary and I would say it was, you know, during the week or the weekends, I'd play a hockey game or I'd play like a certain sport. And on the way home, you throw on 960 every single time. You know, my dad and I, my brother, you know, even my grandpa, like, you know, all these generations of Munichs here. We're all just die hard Calgary fans. And we listen to 960 all the time. And, you know, you throw on the station, you get Peter Mar and Mike Rogers on the broadcast, probably one of the best broadcast duels in the world. you know, you listen to Rob Kerr on the pre and post game show back in the day. You know, you can go back to Mike Richards in the morning too.

Like so many just great memories of just, you know, spending time with family or spending time with friends, having that on, listening. You know, like radio, it's such a personal medium. And you really build connections with the people on the station. And, you know, just to have that go away at the snap of a finger so unexpectedly is just, it's super upsetting. And, you know, it really feels like, like you're grieving. It feels like, you know, you know, somebody died almost.

You know, and like, you know, nowadays, you know, I, I listen to basically every single Flames talk with Steinberg and Logo. Like, they did such a phenomenal job. And just to have that part of your day gone is, it's super upsetting. And yeah, my thoughts go out to everybody who was, who was impacted by it, you know, particularly at the station. And also all the listeners who, you know, these types of programs, they're a big part of people's day. And life, life can suck sometimes. And life is extremely difficult. and going to something like sports radio is a really great escape.

Just to kind of get away from everything and just to kind of turn your brain off and think about something that's fun and entertaining. And, you know, that's gone now, which is, it's incredibly sad. I hate the way Rogers went about this and the way they treated people. I think it's disgusting. But yeah, it's just, it's the new media landscape, unfortunately, and AM radio just doesn't seem like the future right now. Yeah, well, yeah.

I mean, it's, it's terrible. I mean, we hear, you know, conversations. We've had lots of conversations. Lots of texts, lots of phone calls, people who were there, people who were there long ago. I've chatted with a bunch. I mean, my favorite growing up was always Lou. I was always such a big Labardius guy. He was always great on the afternoons.

I was lucky enough to be in that studio a couple times. I was invited in a couple times. my formative 960 memory though is back like beyond being a listener um i was down in stockton california doing i i i think i traveled there on my own volition lucky you well to uh to watch a couple of heat games not even rangler's games heat games and uh i went down there and went to the stockton arena a couple times and then on a whim the flames were playing in L.A. Well, I was down there.

So I decided to drive down to L.A. But I don't know if I'd forgotten or if I just plan to do it on the fly. Pinder was still at 960 at the time. And I don't know how this even happened. I don't even know if maybe Jack was the producer. I don't know because this is because it went kind of. I called, they called my cell phone. I was at the side of the road in the highway.

And I called in and I was like standing on. on the roof of the car to get a better signal with my cell phone on the side of a California freeway doing a radio call in. That's like a segment about the prospects who I was there watching. It was, it was, it was wild. But that's the magic of radio, totally is that you can just sort of call in. Nobody's looking at you. You can do it in your underpants.

You're, you're just sort of, you're just sort of putting out an audio product as opposed to now where I got to sit here in a studio and wear this Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames shirt and just sort of try to look, sort of. presentable be on the draft show with my shorts my legs all out it's it's it's a different world and um yeah i know i know dean was talking on the morning show but what the future holds we don't know we don't know what the future holds it's very fresh it was two days ago um but there's a lot of good people and a lot of people who i've had the fortune of working with and uh being colleagues with and and uh interacting with and we'll see so uh but to to say the least we want to do more

here at this outlet that we have for ourselves. And being able to come on this afternoon and maybe future afternoons, we'll see, but it's something that we definitely want to keep doing. And we'll just put ourselves out there as best we can. So with that being said, I believe we have a guest joining us on our, what should we call it,

Prairie Toyota dealer's Backburner guest hotline. Coming remotely out from Ontario himself, home of those backdabbing easterners. It is Stephen Ellis, joining us from Daily Face Off. Stephen, how are you doing, buddy? Well, hopefully your weather's better than ours, because I'm pretty sure the power is going to go at any minute now, based off of what I'm seeing outside.

It is ugly. So, yeah, I have an outdoor hockey game tonight. That's going to be fun. Oh, Stevie. Are you playing for, like, the Bulgarian national team? Are you, like, a ringer for, like, Bosnia and Herzegovina? What's going on? I said, because the last time I was on with you guys, I was talking about, I had the shots of the Nelans, so I got one more shot to go.

So, fingers crossed. So Stephen is trying out for the Dutch national team. It's incredible. That's an amazing story. And how's it going so far? Do you think you got a shot? I think so. I think so.

I think so. I'm scared. A few of the other goalies are pretty damn good, but I'm hoping so. I'd like to be in Florida on a beach in November. That'd be pretty nice to play an hockey there. What would you use, what words would you use to describe yourself as? as a goalie prospect for the Dutch team. I'd say future 45-time Vezna trophy winner.

Wow. Yeah, and a hard trophy winner at the same time. I think, you know, I might be the greatest goalie to overlook. Wow. My stats from my last couple of games might disagree with you, but those don't matter. All that matters is I think the NHL teams have make a mistake, not drafting or signing me right now.

Well, Steve, I mean, we've met out east. I mean, you've got a good frame on you. It's, I think it's, I think it's, you know, maybe an AHL level. I think, again, like, I, I'm about the same height as Dustin Wolf. I think I can be better than Dustin Wolf. I think Wolf goes home and watches my highlights. And he's a bold state. I got to be like this guy.

So I've never lost to Dustin Wolf in a game, just to be clear. So, like, I think that's something else that you got to take into account there. There you go. I have seen the highlights that you post on X and, and you're a phenomenal goalie. hell of an athlete, flexible, I think the Netherlands would be lucky to have you. I know, like right now, my, my legs are definitely the quickest part there. And I think, you know, that's when all the goalies go home, again,

like, we don't know, it's just one of them. But I think, like, just Turk and hellabuck, like, they go home and they watch my highlights on social media. Like, wow, I got to go die for random shots like this guy. That's how you really win games. Well, we know that the Netherlands does whatever it can to fight back the sea. And Stephen will do whatever he can to fight off the puck. Uh, Stephen Ellis, our daily faceoff prospect guru.

Thank you for joining us here on the back burner. For this Thursday afternoon, Stevie, I mean, obviously you weren't out here for Flames Development Camp, but you've got a better read on a lot of these guys than we do. And I mean, we'll get into the top tens here shortly of where the flames stand after the draft, how we're going in here. Tomorrow, I think you have your top 10 Flames prospect list going live at daily faceoff. So we'll have maybe a little bit of a sneak preview of that in a sense.

But just first of all, I think the number one thing is, coming out of the draft, where do you view this Flames prospect pool relative to the rest of the league? Well, one thing I'll quickly say before that. As someone who used to live in Calgary, I'm going to miss the radio station, unfortunately. Yeah. I'm very sad to see that. It's tough news. I hate that for the market.

I hate that for all Western candidates. Amen. In the tough few years. But in terms of where the Flames prospect pool is, to change it up completely, definitely one of the best pipelines in hockey. Like, you're looking at this and you're looking at, if you're counting guys like, you know, Zane Perak and Maffirut and these guys who've already played some NHL games as prospects. And I do count them in my prospect pool rankings.

I have anybody who's played fewer than 50 games in the NHL essentially. So some guys are not called or eligible. But I think when you look at those guys have been able to do as prospects already, it's impressive. And then they've continued to draft very well the last couple of years. Like you look at, you look at Mavitton, for example. Like that's a guy that 20th overall, a lot of people, including myself, thought that was a reach at the time.

But then everything he's done ever since has proven. This is a guy that really means business and is a high-end prospect. And you look at Ethan Wittenback, obviously everything he did this last year. Tobias Trayble, I think he's the best goalie prospect out of this past draft. This is a team that's built a really strong pipeline very quickly. And I'm excited to see what this future looks like. Stephen, what are your thoughts on the flames trading up to get Tobias Trable in the draft, especially when you consider the fact that Dustin Wolf signed for another seven years?

They have another three, like, pretty high-end Russian young goalies in the system as well. You know, what did you make of them, you know, moving up and using that high draft capital to take a goaltender? I'm always on team draft a goalie every year no matter what. And if you've got an opportunity to draft, you know, the best goalie in the draft and you've already got a bunch of other picks and you already got a strong pipeline. Like they could have just, you know, just drafted Carson Carls and be like, you know, we're pretty happy here. That was a good draft, a successful draft. He's going to be a good player. but for them to go and get a guy like Traybill I really really like.

I'm not as big of a Jack Hextall fan for reference, but I am a big Trayball fan. I do think this is a guy that could be a future NHL goaltender. And I ask out every year, like which goalies do you think could be an NHL starter? And Traybill's name was thrown around a lot there. And even though Dustin Wolf is definitely that guy that's, you're looking to be the number one guy for the next couple of years,

we know goaltending changes just on a whim every single year. We know that one goalie that's so good that one year might be back up next year, might not be in the NHL. Samo Montembo was a guy that hits advanced analytics looking great for a few years in Montreal, and then he was one of the worst goalies in the league last year, and he's the third goalie on the haves now. I think when you look at a guy like Trable, like this is someone you're probably still looking at, you know, four or five years away. That's the thing. And Dustin Wolf will be mostly through the big portion of his contract there.

You'll probably have a good idea. Maybe this is a tandem situation. Maybe Wolf's the best goal in the league and Trables trade bait. I think just in general, just the timeline, it's a good, good pickup to get when they got them. I like that pick a lot. Stephen, you had, you had Carson Carls at number six on your final list at DFO for this year's draft. I think all three of us have him at number one on our prospect lists. And I would be surprised if the Flames Nation list is not unanimous in that sense as well, this summer.

But now that they have Carson Carles and Zane Perak and Simone Nemitz and Hunter Bristevich and Henry Mews, and Macy O Phillips and what have you, a whole number of different defensemen. From your standpoint, looking at this holistically, obviously the flames have many areas in which they could stand to improve. Are they at a point, though,

where if you are trying to project them as a future contender, you can sit here and say, okay, on D, they've got it. They're good, they're set, they know what they have. They don't need to burn any more high leverage asset value on these types of players.

Okay, so for one correction, actually Carson Carl's number four in my final 120. Oh, so even better. That was six in my top 100. It's 120. I got him at my number four. Ah,

right. So with him, I think what happened was like he is kind of interesting with how many good right-handed defensemen there were this year that going out there and getting a guy like Carl's, it was almost like an exciting thing because he's left-handed defenseman and there weren't as many good left-handed defensemen in this year's draft. I know Albert Smith was taken ahead of him.

I still think Carson-Carl's is a better defenseman. I feel like, you know, I wonder if he did scare off the Rangers by saying he didn't want to play a massive market team. Not San Calgary's not a massive market, but New York City is New York City. That's a bit of a different story. I feel like that's something that really kind of worked down in his favor. But I know like the flames, they like these guys that are hardworking players. And Carson Carls, he is one of the hardest working defensemen, I think, in this past draft class. So you've got him.

You've got Zane Perak. You've got Hunter Bruchavich. He's interesting. You've got Tron of Blanket. Who else? that got defensive. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, okay, yeah, with the NHL team. Yeah, it's like, this is a good group. I think this is a thing where depending on where you see this team's timeline

in terms of being competitive again, I think going out there, maybe adding some more depth on the left side's not a bad thing, long term, but overall, like this is a really strong group. Those two defensemen in general

in Perrek and Carson Carl's, that makes it one of the best defensive blue lines of any pipeline in the NHL. And I think that's really exciting. So those two key pieces are there. You're going to have to find those other guys that can go do other roles,

assuming you're expecting Carl's to be a top pairing defenseman, assuming you think Perret can be a top pairing defenseman. But I do think, or even a second pair, if you want to put an image on that top pair, like they've got some really good defenders. I like this. They need to go find some centers. I think that's pretty clear.

They got to go find some centers to actually beef up the pipeline of it. Now, Stephen, you had Carson Carl's rank number four. One guy, I don't think you had ranked at all, was Joe Ginnla, who gets picked at the very top of the third round, 65th overall. I'm curious just to get your thoughts on that pick. And do you see what the flames see in Joe Gingla? Well, it always felt like they were going to draft them. They missed out on Teage. We knew they wanted Teage.

Using the pick they did on him was interesting. There's a lot of guys who covered him really close in the last couple of years that were just like, uh, you sure about that Calgary? But that being said, you know, sounds like it was get a good development camp. That's a good sign. looked from everything I've understood. He looked quicker. He looked like he was making more meaningful decisions with the puck,

and those are things that kind of hurt him at points in the WHOHL. So good on him. I don't have him as a top 10 prospect on the Calgary Flames. We'll see. I feel like that was some crazy asset management. They must have been tipped off somebody was going to take him earlier on that because given how many picks they had, the timing made no sense at all.

I know there were teams that didn't have them as a prospect on the draft board whatsoever. So, you know, We'll see what happens, I guess, right? I'm not too high on him, but the flames clearly are. For a player who fits into this mold, what do you think is the right path forward here? Do you think it is a player who's better served by going to the dub and then back to school, or going to school rather? Do you think it's a case where he should just turn pro?

What do you think is the best way to seize in a prospect like Joe, Gendlin, who is maybe? I mean, the word that the flames brass kept using, or the phrase they kept using, was physically underdeveloped. It just got to be funny to hear that when, you know, your dad's part of the management team. But, you know, with him, yeah, this is a guy you can be patient with. I think I would have him play one year in the WHL to go, or more year in the WHL, go to college.

I like the patient approach for guys that are more fringe players anyways. So that seems like something that would make a ton of sense. But yeah, like it's a guy that you're not going to need in the short term future. He was kind of a long shot prospect when he drafted him. And not like that, like where they draft. them in general. That's the type of player that's typically in the long shot bracket, regardless of who it is. So it's something where you definitely can be patient with them. And yeah, go to college. I like that route. I like the fact, like, you know,

goes without saying the fact that these CHL players can go to college who opens up so many opportunities, take advantage of that. As long as it's the right opportunities because there's a lot of situations of guys going to competitive teams, MISA, for example, and just kind of getting lost in the shelf. You got to go to the right situation. Well, and it's interesting that you say that. I mean, the flames have so many guys who are going to, I think, I forget the number of guys they have in college next year. I think it's like over a dozen. Yeah, I think it's a round time. Yeah, like it's, it's crazy to me. And a lot of those guys are former W.HLers. And I wanted to sort of circle back to a point that you made about the centers that the flames have because, uh, we're going to pull up the top tens here

in just a second. We each have our own individual one. Actually, you know what, Jack, do you have, do you have mine? Let's just start off with mine, uh, my own top 10. Because the, there are a few centers on this list already for the Calgary Flames. It's not like they have no centers. They went relatively aggressively last year, taking them with each of their top three picks. But Stephen, when you look at it, when you look at this group,

here's my top 10, and this is what's going to go into our Flames Nation rankings later this summer. I got Cole Ratione at two, Colin Potter at four, Jack Exstall at five, Theo Stuxilius at nine. That's four of them. But,

I mean, if you're about, balancing out a prospect pool. If you're adding the same caliber of prospect that you maybe have on defense to the center pipeline, I mean, the flames, this is something they really need to do, where you're looking at Cole Reschney as being better served as being the second rest center prospect in your pool. Is that right? Yeah, 100%. Like you look at like, I'll center in a little bit on Hextall, no pun intended. This is a guy that a lot of scouts were concerned about because he basically was invisible for the most part at five on five. He is very good in the power.

plate. But is he going to be on the number one paraply in the NHL? I don't think so. And I think that's something where I didn't love the pick of where they got him. That being said, there was such a big, you know, jumble of guys that are, you know, in that 25 to 40 range where they could have gone in any order and wouldn't be too surprising. That being said, yeah, go to refresh me. Yeah, you probably want him as your number two center because I don't think he's a guy that's going to put up first line center production. I love his game. I legitimately think he's going to be a great player. I've been a big fan of his for a long time. I believe it was watching him and Gavin McKenna play together at the U-17

World Challenge, and Russian he was better. He was the better player. So I think with him, a lot of talent, but I want a guy who can make, like, if they can get a top five pick in this year's coming draft and maybe get an Alexis Joseph or maybe get one of the Russian guys, like there's a bunch of really cool the centers in this year's draft. I wouldn't be surprised of like we're talking 10 to 12 centers drafted in the first round is coming here, where this year, this year.

was nowhere close to that. I think that's something where you're going to be pretty happy with that. So I feel like pretty much regardless, they should take a center, assuming they keep their first round pick. But, you know, yeah, I think it's easy to agree there. Rushney, you kind of want them as your number two center in a perfect world. Like, assuming you've got someone ready to go. Let's put Bobby's list up. Bobby, Bobby, talk about your list here for a sec, because there are a couple of deviations. I think you have Ethan Wittenback. I think you're the only one of us three who has Ethan Wittenback at two. That is correct. Yeah, that's who I was going to ask you about. Stephen. I mean, Ethan Wittenbach, you know, he leads the NCAA in scoring last year, 59 points in 40 games. I'm just curious. Do you think Wittenbach has kind of that,

that special quality to him where he could go to the NHL and be a smaller forward and produce points, you know, similar to someone like a Johnny Goddrow? Or do you think playing in that weaker conference in the, in the ECAC kind of dampens, you know, that accomplishment for him? So I asked a couple scouts about that in the past week. And every scout to talk to basically is like, Yeah, he beat up on some teams that were not putting up much of a fight. That being said, nobody, like, nobody on his team was doing what he was doing. He was the best player on his team. He was one of the best players in college.

And he was one of the smartest, most skilled players you were going to find out there. And that's what really makes them exciting. I feel like he's a guy who's going to need to continue to bulk up, I think, but he's got the energy level that you're excited about. And I think he's really kind of cementing himself as a potential middle six player. I think you're still going to be cautious. He's got to be able to repeat this. What he was able to do in the USHL is really good.

But going out there and putting up basically like the same quality numbers at a higher level, is he going to be able to sustain that? I think that's the big question. In general, though, this is a guy that when he was drafted was not much of a prospect, was kind of like, oh, it'd be cool if he, you know, maybe he'd be a good Calgary Rangler. Now it's like, okay, there's a real clear pathway to the NHL. What type of players are he going to be? Johnny Guadro is definitely best case in there.

but I do feel like he's as he continues to get quicker as he continues to get stronger there's a very legit path to him being a middle six player like a jaden schwartz type maybe a little bit more realistic like I hate comparables but like this is a guy that if he gets 40 points a year in the nchl you're probably happy you're probably thrilled is more proud say right well we should we should just sort of add the caveat here that obviously with your lists that you're putting together at dfo steven we have a little bit of a slightly different criteria on our flames nation rankings where we consider Zane Perrek and Matt Vigridden and 100% and Yenka's netts up. These are graduated players by our definition, not by your definition.

And so that skews things a little bit. I mean, I put out on X earlier this month, I put out my U24 rankings, which I kind of like. But there's a ton of different definitions of prospects. With that being said, let's put up Stevens top 10. This will be slightly different again than the one that you see up at DFO tomorrow. But Stephen, just walk us through here. You know, how do you come up with this ranking that we have? Where, you know, there's guys who are on both Bobby and my list, Theo Stuxilius, Idaar, Sunni.

You've got some different names. Well, one guy I want to mention in particular was actually Harrington, because this is a guy that a lot of players I talk to, considered him one of the toughest guys to go up against in one-on-one situations of any league. And I think that's something where a guy like that could really fit a role in a bottom line thing. I'm looking for guys that I feel like have a like I'm not always looking for just upside. I'm looking for guys who can go out there and play around 200 games in the NHL. And that's why I feel like Harrington has maybe been underrated because it feels like a lot of scouts I talked to considered him like one of the best best sleeper picks.

And so shout out to BBJ 403 in the comments. He's correct on that one. Why I have Hextall maybe lower than some is I again, I don't like his 515 invisibility essentially. It felt like well, every time I'm watching with Youngstown, he was doing things. on the power play. We saw him in the Hlink of Gretzky, same thing. He wasn't doing enough at 5-on-5, and that concerns me. The one name that I was really close to putting on here, potentially over Muse, and I ended up taking off, was Jonathan Costanga. And that's a guy that actually a lot of scouts I've talked to think he could be a really good fourth-fline player. Very

valuable pick. I like Henry Ves. Actually, this was a guy that I'm ever watching him in AAA. I thought he was one of the most skilled defensemen I had seen at that level quite a long time. And obviously the injuries of kind of knocking down a bit. I feel like that's one where it's going to be hard for him to kind of, he's going to have to play a bit of catch up, kind of like Samuel Hunzek, who's played a lot of catch up the last couple of years of all of his injuries. But I do feel like if you're looking here,

I feel like there's at least some pathway for most of these guys being NHL players. Karl's probably, I do think he's a top parent defense. Reshny, again, number two, center windback, middle six. Trayble, he's going to be an NHL guy. I think Potter could be more of an energy player, but he'll be a good energy player or some skills. a little Hansick, obviously the size, power forward tendencies. You're like,

hex tall, I do think the hockey sense is there. It's just the execution. Andrew Bashar, again, tough player to play against, tough around the boards. There's some, like, you watch what he was unable to do. And the W.HL the last couple years,

it feels like everyone he plays with ends up playing better when he's on their line. Harrington's got that energy and Muses got that hockey sense and the talk skills. So I do actually like this pipeline a lot, even when you're taking out some of the guys, that I left on my list because of, you know, obviously NHL eligibility and stuff. Stephen, just going back to Henry Mews, so, you know, he suffers the injury last year.

He only played 10 games with Michigan. And then this summer, Landon DuPont commits to Michigan. And, you know, you'd think that he would end up becoming the quarterback on the number one power play unit there. Just between the injury and now DuPont entering the equation, you know, is there any concern or any worry about the development of Muse over at Michigan? I you know what I if there was put it this way he could have entered the portal and gone somewhere else knowing that there was a very good chance they were going to try and get a guy like dukeland's name was linked to michigan like last fall so this is not like a total surprise so if there was a concern about his development i feel like he probably would have found a way out of this by now that being said i kind

almost like the ability for him not having to be the number one power play defenseman because he can just kind of focus on just getting his game back on track. He doesn't have to be this everything player. He can be a learn about, learn to become more reliable because that's the thing. When he was playing in Ottawa, he's playing in Sudbury. He was the guy. Michigan, he was putting up some great numbers. He was playing fantastic. You know, if you were to ask him then to go after close to a calendar year of not playing. It's a, hey, you're going to be playing 24 minutes a night, go and do everything. I think that was going to be very tough for him. So I think having a guy like

DuPont to kind of take some of that responsibility away from him might actually be good for his development. So, yeah, yeah. Is his production not going to be maybe as good as it would if he was on the top paraply line? For sure. I'm also not too worried about it as long as his 5-1-5 games improved because that's where most of the game is played. There's a couple of really interesting comments in our chat right now,

and I don't know why they're not super chats, but that's okay. We're going to read them. We're going to read them. From Eric West 91, who says, The Flames, they need three more tank seasons, TBAH. I think they need three. It's hard to compete.

The contending teams are so much better than Calgary. Ha-ha. it's fine, but it's just the truth. Stephen, I'm curious to get your take on that because the flames have been sort of in this region, I suppose, for the last three, four years. They have made picks. They've made a lot of picks.

They've acquired players. With where they are at, with the pieces they have brought in, with what they have compiled, with the strength that they have at various different positions, how much more and where do you think they need help? Well, I'll also just one more comment here about not like Insanaia, but I think the thing about him

is I still don't like his lack of pace. I feel like that's a guy that just needs to be quicker to really make it work in an energy role because I don't think he's skilled enough to be a top six guy. But I actually am a big, I've liked his game for a while. He was a guy that was very impressive, you know, BCHL level. And Dick, yeah.

Yeah, this is a guy actually really liked. I just feel like his pace needs better if he's going to really make it to the NHL. Everyone's getting faster. Like, it's a fact at this point. So there's that. In terms of like the timeline, I think, with this team, yeah, Like there's going to be guys that near the top of this pipeline that will never play for the Cowrie Flames, whether they fizzle out or they're traded.

And that's okay. You need these trade assets. And I think that's something where you look at the Buffalo Sabres. They have, we're a bad team for a long time. I know that's breaking news. But when you look at the number of guys that were, let's say, in my top 10 prospects last year, I think like four of them have been traded since then. Like those are guys that they're moving out to go and get immediate help and things like that. I think that is actually very important where you want to keep.

drafting you're the top of the draft board next couple years. Keep getting these big pieces. And then some of these guys are maybe older prospects, you can trade them off. Or like that's the value to a lot of teams. So I think, yeah, it's be patient here. It's still early days of this essential rebuild, I guess.

They just traded a bunch of those guys this year. Don't rush it. Take the long route. I actually trust the management staff here to get this right. Because they've been drafting very well. They know their assets very well. And I think just continue to build along that. And when the time,

comes to be competitive, they'll know. There's one more prospect I think I want to talk about. Maybe we'll just sort of pivot towards something else. But the Jux Jacey, talking about Alan Shake his Lemov. What is your thought on the mystery man?

We were expecting to see a development camp and then wasn't, I think there were some visa things that had to get sorted out. I know Byron Bader's model loved them. And I think most of the scouting consensus was maybe high third round. or maybe, you know, Flames get him late seconds,

so not that far off. Alan Shake his Lamov, Stephen. Yeah, that's a guy that's, you know, you like Blake Coleman? It's kind of a Blake Coleman style player. I think that's the thing about him there. I think when you watch him, he's a very good skater. He plays with a lot of energy.

He moves well. Like, there's a difference between, like, being a good skater, like fundamentally, and then having a good motor. Like, a guy has a good motor to me is somebody who's out there just, No matter what, late in the shift, he's still putting an effort out there to try to win those battles. And that's something he does well.

But then he's also a pretty fast skater. He's very good as a backwards skater, things like that. I think that he's got a pretty solid shot. He likes to hit guys. The things that kind of hold him back is a lot of his passes tend to go to nobody. And that's something that doesn't help. There's a lot of passes like, oh, this is a great. No, dead.

No, completely dead. And then I do feel like under pressure, he can be prone to making mistakes. but the physical, like that athletic ability is there for him to actually be a pretty good, you know, bottom six player. And that's good. I know a lot of people will kind of look at this and say a guy drafted in the second round, bottom six player. Like that seems not great. But forgetting guy in the second round that can play games in the NHL, you're probably pretty happy. So I feel like this is a guy who actually will be a good energy guy that's maybe he's not a long term flame.

Maybe he's a guy that you have for a couple years, you trade him for someone else. But this is a guy that I think is going to have a decent NHL career. in a Blake Coleman role. Probably not, you know, 50-point plate Coleman, but 30-point Blake Coleman and the guy who isn't going to be too expensive either. I'll throw one more name at you from the flame system here, and it's Yeager Barabanov, who they took in the fourth round. Swangana.

Yeah. 20 years old playing Saginaa this year, you know, got passed over twice, you know, in the last two drafts. And just curious, what are your thoughts on teams taking 20-year-olds in the NHL draft? And do you think that was a smart play by the Flames in the 4th? fourth round, kind of at the top selections there. Yeah, he was one of those guys that kind of emerged early as one of the better overage prospects.

And I do like taking overage prospects because there are more NH already in a lot of cases. You kind of know more about these guys and you've seen the development. Like you'll look at him, he put up pretty modest numbers in the USHL. Then he went to a Saginaw team that just kind of needed guys to put pucks on net and create opportunities. And that's where it felt like he looked really comfortable from the get-go, was playing the powerplay in tag and all. He had a good shot, but I still like him or as a playmaker. I think he's also quite skilled and he's a decent skater. And he also really started hit guys a lot this year. He got

very physical there. So I feel like this is a player who maybe, maybe a C if he plays just one year in UMass and then he sent him to the AHL and you give him two years there. And then you're looking at him maybe as a 23 year old. He is a late bloomer. But a lot of those times those late bloomers, again, they're more NHL ready or they're more pro ready. And that's why you see guys get signed out of the CHL that they've passed their draft eligibility. It's like, okay, this guy could help us in the pro level right away, maybe not a high-end prospect, but is going to go out there and contribute in some way. That's what you're kind of looking for here.

At UMass, he's going to probably play a big role right away. So I do actually like this guy a lot. I thought that was a pretty good pick where they got them. Great stuff. Hey, Stevie, tell the folks out there, DFO, what's going on? Tomorrow, obviously, the flame stuff coming down the pipeline. What you got planned? What do you got to plug?

Tell the good people. Yeah, so I got a prospect pool breakdowns of every single team. Calgary obviously coming next up. I'm going to be at the USA hockey festival. They're doing an Amherst Buffalo area around tomorrow to watch like 200 or so 2027 NHL draft prospects. A lot to see out there. It's going to be fun.

And then I've got the Link of Gretzky, U-17 Canada camps coming up nearby here. We've got the World Junior Summer Showcase. I'll be at that. So a lot of good hockey coming up. You've spent a decent amount of time out this way, having you, Stephen? Yeah, again, you know, I'm out of the link of this year, got some wedding stuff with some friends this year. But, yeah, I'll be at the World Juniors, Edmonton, I know not the same thing.

And, you know, again, I do miss living in Calgary. It was beautiful. A bunch of guys I play hockey with tonight, they're missing the game because they're all going to be going to the stampede. I gave them a lot of different recommendations. But mostly it's like, if you like beef, it's way better in Alberta than it is Ontario. What's your number one stampede recommendation we want to hear it? Okay, so I live in Toronto area.

I live in the Toronto area. We have the X, which is very similar. To me, I find them both to be very underwhelming. But the concerts are always so much better at the stampede. So, so much better. I saw Bailey Talent there a couple years ago. That was an unbelievable show. I've seen them for the ninth time, I think.

It'll be later this month. So looking forward to that. I think I was at that show too. Oh, Stephen. Yeah, that was 2018. That was a good time. Oh, 2018? She's a couple years ago. Okay, well, okay. Well, yeah, I guess it's been more than a couple years.

I'll say, though, the nice thing was having lived downtown Calgary, it was actually a lot of fun seeing how much fun the downtown area was after kind of the nature stampede events. I actually snuck into Steel Panther. If you guys have never heard of them. Love Steel Panther. Okay, perfect. Yeah, I snuck in through a crevice in the building to go watch them play. That was a good show. It was one of their like outdoor tent venues kind of snuck in.

was a good time. I just moved out of downtown Calgary, largely for this purpose to get away. But hey, there you have. We appreciate to see. Hey, we want to do more afternoon stuff throughout the season. We'll see what goes on, but we would like to do

maybe this more regular basis. So whatever your game for, as long as you're not too busy doing, playing for the Dutch national team, we'll have you back on any time. Thanks, Steve. I think they'd make a mistake not taking me. I do consider I consider myself the greatest goalie of all time. I just, again, just to look at my stats.

Okay. Steven, appreciate it. Have a good one. See you guys. That is Stephen Ellis from over at DailyFaceoff.com, joining us on the Prairie Toyota Dealer's Backburner guest hotline. A good fellow. Such a good story.

He's going out for the Netherlands. Like, that's unbelievable. That is Steven. So good. Like, he will, I will write a column. I published the occasional column over at Daily Faceoff. And we have two, two and a half editor. I would say.

And every now and then, it's Stephen who is like, oh, yeah, yeah, I know I'll edit this thing. I'm just like watching Japan play Swaziland

in like Division 7 hockey that they just so happen to be playing in Atobico. Yeah. And it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, it just happens every week. Yeah,

we've got these teams that just sort of come in here. And this is where they all play. And it's like, yeah, okay, you're watching that. And he's like, he's boots on the ground,

but he's also streaming, basically every single hockey game, you could possibly imagine. He's streaming it. He's watching it, consuming it. Guys, a hockey nut. It's France and Morocco in the World Cup today. And Stephen's going to go watch them play hockey next week.

Yes. Against each other. So that's our buddy Stephen Ellis. Hey, but what's your stampede tip? Run. Get away from the grounds as far as you can. I have a super pass this year. I've not used it yet.

Been kind of crazy with everything that's been going on this week. I want to get down at some point. I don't know. I mean, I know there's this thing maybe happening on some. I just go for the pineapple whip, man. I've never been one who, you know, stays at the stampede until two in the morning and throws off all my clothes. I mostly just sort of go for the food and drink and have some ribs. The rib, the, they're kind of expensive.

But I have the brisket stands. It's pretty good. Jack, are you laughing? Yes, I am. Me? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's your stampede stuff, Jack?

Honestly, I haven't been at all this year. I mean at all. I haven't been once. Yeah, no, like, what's the, what's the, what's the situation? Tell us, tell us the wisdom that you wish to impart upon us. I have no wisdom for you, Michael. I know. Oh, I know.

There's some tension between you two right now. Yeah. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable in the middle of it. You were, you were the stampede ball, Bobby. I was at the stampede ball, yeah. That was the one that I did go out, actually. I did the, uh, the pre-stampeteer wherever was like, Dasha. Yeah.

Jack and his buddies were something else that night. They sure were. They sure were. They put in quite the performance. Jack, I will tell a story on the show right now. Jack and his buddies, okay, we went to the red, the red and white club after the, after the game. Yeah, we're at the one end zone. And I was like, I want to go home.

It's a work night. You know, my phone is dead. And they're like 30 minutes, 30 minutes. I was like, fine. So I go downstairs and I'm texting Nicole. girlfriend on my watch. I feel like I'm I'll be leaving soon honey. So that's that's the sort of show that we put on here is the,

I thought we were going to get you out, Mike. We were close. It'll happen someday. Hey, let me know what's going on on Saturday. We, we, we want to work something out.

Can I, can I just throw one stampede tip out there? Do it. I got to say, I think the best place to go during Stampede is Singapore Sam's. Why? Like two or three in the morning. Two or three.

Yeah. If like if you're out late night, if you're out like one of the tents and the concerts ends and you want to get some food, hit up Singapore, Sam's that place is unbelievable. Free plug. If they want to sponsor this podcast, that are fantastic,

but hey, we got just the people to talk to you. Basically, what you do is like you get up on like the tables and chairs and you're just singing and dancing. It's unbelievable. And then you'll like, you'll crush some Chinese food. Then you'll get back to partying.

It's basically like a group karaoke session. Everyone's just having a great time. They sell the food. They sell the food. Oh, yeah. That's okay. All right. Cool.

Hey. It's just like a normal Chinese restaurant and then at like one, two, three in the morning, it just turns once all the bars closes. Yeah, that's a spot. It's unreal. If I'm going out at three in the morning, it's because I was asleep at 10. I got up and I was hungry. And I like getting my car and I drive to like dawns and I grab a three in the morning.

Sweet chili junior chicken and maybe a caramel Sunday with extra caramel. Then we're going home. Yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's, that, see, this sort of dichotomy is what's going to make this show very special. So, um, yeah, I, I don't really have much else to say today, Bobby, other than, um, it is Nunavut Day. Happy Nunavut day to everybody. Never been to the territories, Bobby. Never. Really?

Never. No, I've never been. You were there for. Highly recommend. Well, I wasn't in Nunavut. I was in, uh, the Yukon. Right. Thinking of maybe going back in September.

And what was the experience like? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You want to talk about, ff. places that have some life. Yeah, absolutely. Head on up there. Happy Nunavut Day to all who celebrate.

Happy Back burner in Thursday at 1 o'clock PM Day at all who celebrate. We're going to try and do this a little bit more. Thank you all for tuning in. Thank you to the Prairie Toyota dealers for making this show continue to be a thing throughout the summer. And yeah, appreciate you all watching. Give us suggestions. Throw them on social media, what have you, because there are lots of guests. I know who people want to see and who they want to hear from.

We still want to do something with our friend Kamie Kepke later talking about some of the WHL prospects. The flames brought in at this year's draft because they brought in a fair few, most notably, of course, their top pick, Carson Carls. And yeah, there's lots of other people who I think are looking for places to talk. And we would, we would like to hear. Jocs Jacey's saying, I suggest you burn that shirt. You realize this is a, you realize this is a, you realize this.

is a vintage. Where did you get that? Is that from 1989? Uh, this, this is, this is off of an, it's not even like, this is, this is original vintage. This is, here, slide your mic. Let me get this is, this is, this is Calgary Flames coming out of the Stanley Cup, burning the Montreal Canadiens logo. Uh, this is like a, I think a limited run from 89. So I love it. I'm not burning this. No, absolutely. They're burning the logo. Frame it. Like that's, yeah, I'm going to keep wearing it. You might not want to wear. You might want to keep the quality intact. You might want to keep that as like something for keepsake for us.

Suggesting that I'm going to sweat through it. Appreciate it. Well, in any event, yeah, thank you all for tuning in. Bobby, done a wonderful job. Anything else you'd like to a plug on this Thursday afternoon? No, just follow me at Ring of Fire, CGI on X and Flames Nation. All every, follow every account on Flames Nation, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, everything. Got it.

Follow Flames Nation. I think we've got to get you a better Twitter. handle Bobby, but we'll workshop that at some point. Jack, you got anything you want to plug? Don't say anything. Thank you all for tuning in. And have a wonderful rest of your day and your week. And there'll be more, I'm sure, of this coming to you very soon.

Happy Stampede, everybody. Cheers from Mike and Bobby. This has been another edition of The Backburner.