Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Connor Hellebuyck Update w/TSN's Darren Dreger FN Barn Burner - September 18th, 2026

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

FULL EPISODE | FN Barn Burner: Boomer, Pinder & WarrenerTIMESTAMPS ⏰00:00 Intro Banter02:00 Buffalo Bills13:00 Darren Dreger Joins the Show14:30 Dreger’s Summer Update18:00 Connor Hellebuyck26:30 Quinn Hughes’ Future29:00 Massive NHL Contracts / Market Correction38:30 Detroit Red Wings… Yikes48:00 Darren Dreger Leaves48:30 Back to Connor Hellebuyck55:00 Zayne Parekh1:06:00 Pinder Report1:23:00 Edmonton Oilers Season Preview1:30:00 Back to Pinder Report1:41:00 bet3651:49:00 SuperchatsSubscribe to FN Barn Burner 🚨➡️ https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner📲 Follow Barn BurnerInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn🎧 Listen to the PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIi🛒 Barn Burner Merchhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/flamesnation🎬 Watch Barn Burner Shortshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9Powered by our partners:• bet365 – http://www.bet365.ca/• McLeod Law – https://www.mcleod-law.com/• Village Honda – https://www.villagehonda.com/• Outdoor Dental – https://www.outdoor.dental/• Capital Chev – https://www.capitalchev.ca/• Crowfoot Dodge Chrysler – https://www.crowfootdodgechrysler.com/• Renfrew Chrysler – https://www.renfrewchrysler.ca/• Crystal Waters Plumbing Company – https://www.crystalwatersplumbingcompany.com/• Bon Ton Meat Market – https://www.bontonmeatmarket.com/• Templ – https://drinktempl.com/• Sundre Golf Club – https://www.sundregolf.com/• Taco Time Canada – https://tacotimecanada.com/• Adrenalin Source for Sports – https://www.sourceforsports.ca/pages/adrenalin-source-for-sports-calgary• Greta Bar YYC https://gretabar.com/calgary/• Vena Nova https://venanova.com• GAM Tech https://www.gamtech.ca/• Coca Cola https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockeyBusiness [e-mail]: Jack Haverstock#NHL #Hockey #CalgaryFlames #EdmontonOilers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm never quite ready for it. I'm not flat. I'm not flat. What? Happy Friday, everybody. There you go. Just, just to let you know,

it's cheeseburger day. Oh, there it is. Get out there and crush it. National Cheeseburger Day. Get out there and crush it. Dean, wait till dinner. Yeah, a little set you down.

Yeah, I'll shut you down for the day if you have for lunch. Is it national or international? Either way, it's a big deal. And you should get out and. Crush burgers all day. Pull a jughead. These guys don't know what that. I know what jerk is, yeah.

Jack was dead back. Look at that. This is Retz. He's about, how many things would you have in your calendar in your phone? As far as reminders. Kids birthday, pay your taxes,

cheeseburger day. It's probably the three. Something like that. Repeats yearly until 2036. Is that when AI destroys us? Oh, I would cancel on the alarm with 2030. It's a good run.

Ten more years. Yeah, that's not bad. A decade. A good decade of Berg's. Yeah, make it work. Speaking of things that your phone tells you or that you get, we forgot about the flat F Friday last week. Oh, dear.

We were disappointed. Like, geez, we forgot the flat F Friday. You know how sometimes whatever if you're iTunes, Apple or Spotify or whatever, they'll say, here's what you're listening. Here's some recommendations, this sort of thing. I got a, I mean, I don't know how it works, but I got a thing on my phone. It's like,

here's some of the things that you've been listening to. Here's some, there was some, some Kenny Chesney in there, you know, summertime. You're listening to, to that sort of thing.

There were some other, some other kind of music that was in there. It's like, okay, fair enough. It wasn't so much a recommendation. But the,

the flat F Friday showed up on my list. Yeah. So very nice. There it is. Here's what's on repeat. Some Tom Pockering. That's a CZ Top.

Yeah. That's a CZ. and then flat air Friday. Yeah. That's a banger. I mean, play that on the way in. Tough to be in a bad mood. Sure.

That's right. Welcome to the show, everybody. It's a presentation of Bet365. Five run early payout. It continues when it comes to baseball. Your team goes up by five. You get paid. It's that simple.

Download the app today. Alberta only. You must be 18 years of age. That's all we ask. And, of course, please play responsibly. Super chats open. We are live on YouTube. If you are watching,

As we are alive, you put money in with your comment. We'll talk about your sweet, sweet comment and then get the money over to the youth centers of Calgary. Do that for you. As we are here in the McLeod Law Studios, as always, McLeod Law presenting the Barnburner Studios have been for, you know, kind of an OG. I don't know if it was day one, but they've been with us for a long, long time. We appreciate them. Do support the sponsors and whatever you need done legally in your life. It's got to be McLeod Law.

They're in Calgary. It's nice knowing that you're not being shuttled off to Bangalier. or something to talk to your lawyer. Maybe Bangladesh is good. I'm sure it is. I don't want my lawyer. Law schools there. They just might not know Calgary law. Calgary things.

And one other thing we... Friday is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to, go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. What are we wearing today? This is the Sluggers jersey. Tropical vibes. Nice.

Felt like the right move today rather than a traditional Hawaiian shirt. It's all right. And we did miss not only the flat-off Friday saw him but a Hawaiian shirt last round. Yeah. We're back. So we're making up for it.

Again, last week we really shouldn't have worked. Should not have been. Mine was here. Bill's one. Yeah, where it go? Somewhere around here would be a hot. Do you want to rummage around?

It's a great day to be wearing that one. It'll be all right. What is on your head? Oh, we got to, this is one of my Invermere hats. This is an old brewery in Invermere that is since closed, but it is the Arrowhead brewery. Their five year anniversary hat back in 2018 or something. I'll put it on.

It does not match my jersey as someone noted the comments. And I don't care. It's bleeping Friday. I love that you continue to have a fashion sense. I mean, I don't know. I'm in a black t-shirts. It's going to listen to my fashion takes.

You have a very unique. It kind of mismatches, but it's you. It's, yeah, it's a lot, which is me. Yeah, you want to be loud?

It's very loud, yes. And we get to talk about my favorite team today. So I'm just thrilled. What a day to be alive? The bills. The Buffalo Bills? You were giving rent fist pumps over the bills.

Because we predicted the Josh Allen. We hit the first touchdown. We were jacked about that. He looked great. New stadium open. They floored it. Only some junk time scores from Detroit. It made even look close.

It was amazing. Did we hit both of ours yesterday? I think we did. We did. The parley hit and it was to Josh Allen. Plus 500 first touchdown of the game. Like anytime, obviously. Yeah, he'd be minus my.

He loves scoring touchdowns. He basically, you can tell. He was like, yeah, I'm just. I saw this stat and I don't know if it's if it's accurate. His career rushing touchdowns. He's like, well, he's now got more than Frank Gore. Yeah, he's the top 20. It's all running backs in the list.

It's crazy. Some Hall of Fame running backs now have fewer rushing touchdowns than Josh. Well, and it's not like he's in, well, this is his last year. No, like he's going to destroy this list. He'll probably in the top 10 by the time this is done. The beauty of them is that he's a bill, which is great. Yes. But more importantly, seems like a decent,

human and incredibly fun to watch. Like who is out there going that damn, Alan, I hate the bill. How could you not love this guy? I get if you're a divisional rival, it'd be a nightmare playing him twice here, but like everyone loves this guy. Yeah, you turned the tube on last night.

You're going, that's a fine play right there. Oh, I like that's fun. Oh, look at him go. It's, of course, the media, it's what they do. But after the game, just reading online, is this guy the best player in the NFL right now? Is there anybody better? It's like, well, no.

This guy is, the MVP, he's the best quarterback, he's the best rushing quarterback, and even watching some of his throws, it's, he, he's probably the best in, in the league right now. He is your, he's got a sizable lead in the very, very, way too early MVP race, to be sure. Yeah, Baker Mayfield had that last year. He was good. He was last year, two, I guess it was two years ago, had that through seven weeks. They were six and one or something, and he was, that was the Baker Mayfield coming They kept coming back and coming back and coming back late. It's like, this guy's unbelievable.

How we feel about our bills, Retro. Pretty good. Like, that's a pretty good team on the other side. I don't know how good their defense is, but like the lions can create some problems for you. And when it mattered, Bill's defense held up pretty nice.

They had that. I thought they were all right. I still think they need to improve, but the offense, it didn't help losing her. The DJ Moore story will be interesting to follow how long he's on. Coleman was good. there's no holes in the offense.

Like your tight ends. Kim Kade's been awesome. Love your running back. Although he doesn't get any work at the cold in a very place. Give me one. Wow, they're saving them. That's not a bad idea. I worked for Seattle last year.

You got one right at the end there to save some people's bets, I would guess, mine included. So it was a big night. Did you have FOMO? I was sad not to be there. Yeah. But you also were very excited about the food, Brad, how did that go? We need the update there. It was extremely

average and ordinary. So parent meeting got in the way. I'll tell you what happened. To be quite honest, I was poorly my execution. I was so excited we got a bin yesterday. Yeah. Got the bin. I'm filling the bin. I got the bin. We're doing, dumping, dude. It's great to stay.

It's like a trash dumpster thing in your drive. I was going to take a picture and say, this is greatest gift. If you know your husband, well, this might be the gift that is shockingly well received. And everyone wins. Get rid of all the junk. If on Dino's birthday,

he walked outside and the lovely lady he lives with was like, okay, well, I got you a card, but I got you something special. Yeah, go look outside. Oh, my God. Oh, I got a bin. The car. I don't need a car.

I got a car. I don't have a garbage bin for a week. Thank you so much. Yes. I was so excited for you yesterday. I started looking around my house to stuff to take over. I was just going to say, you got some stuff on the side of my house. I could easily.

I might go over. See rats. See, I was dog. So anyway, it got in the way of my prep work. Right. And then I got home right at the parent meeting. Started the game. I'm like, okay.

I can't get to watch again. And then they scored. And then they had three and out. And then they scored again. And I'm like, well, this is going to be boring. I need some food. Yeah. Thanks to the Lions for keeping it somewhat interesting.

They did. They fought their way back. Amon Rae made some big plays, had a great game. But yeah, the Lions, if they don't win in overtime a week ago, that's an 0-2 start having given up 77 points, whatever it is over two weeks. Yeah, we're all over the over. We talked about that all week. Yeah.

While we're talking about it, let's do our fan moment for Coca-Cola. Being a hockey fan, being a fan, it's a commitment, superstitions, the chance, the pacing, the standing through overtime because somehow sitting just feels wrong. whether you're making the climb to the nosebleeds, rallying your section to start the wave or keeping one eye in your game and another on the out of town scores, true fandom puts in the work, and every shift deserves an ice cold Coca-Cola.

Fan work is thirsty work. And yeah, I mean, we're talking about the bills opening night, big night out in, it's still an orchard park because it's right. Yeah, they just built rid of the street there. Highmark Stadium. This guy's got some passion. Love this guy. And Fitzpatrick.

This is in tradition here in Buffalo. Break a table. Then throw it down and look crazy at the count. It's a slow mo. Take it off. Take it off. Take it off. It feels like it up.

Take it up. Take it up. Take it up. Oh, my God. Permiscus, girl, you're teasing me. Oh, my, ready. Comes the money shot. He called his chest hair for this, too, by the way.

Only a few thousand fans hanging out for the post game. They knew it was coming. One of the most beloved bills ever. Yeah. Fits magic. Man, that's awesome. Fan work is thirsty work, and every shift deserves an ice-cold Coca-Cola. That is your Coca-Cola fan.

moment for today. Now this guy, going to join us here on the guest hotline, the insider hotline for Crystal Waters, would have been closer than us to Buffalo. I don't think he got down. No, I don't, because I think noodles and those guys, I think, went down. Really? But in, I don't know if they were all staying for the game. That was the thing. Remember, they would go to Super Bowl and not stay or go to the great cup and not stick around. We'll find out later in the week. But our insider hotline is a presentation of Crystal Waters plumbing and heating their 25th anniversary. Locally owned family business has been serving people for a quarter century.

40,000 Calgaryen homes. Just the name that you know is Calgary, longstanding reputation, and just someone you can trust. Crystal Waters. Plumbing and Heating. Crystal Clearcallegree.com. The insider hotline, our first visit of the hockey season.

There he is. Taryn Greg is back for another season here on Barnard. Dreg's how we feel. Take it off. Take it off. No, no, we don't need that, do we? So I'm watching that clip, and I'm thinking to myself, I don't know why this came into mind,

but as we're coming to this segment, you know, I'm reminded that I'm getting old. We're all getting older. I mean, some of us are dealing with hair loss, so we won't name any names. You've got blown knees, knee replacements, stuff like that coming. So in my struggle to get motivated for the new year, and I'm a hockey fan.

So I'm looking forward to talking about some of the bigger stories around the league. But I've got my laptop open the other day. My wife was sitting beside me at the island in the kitchen. I put my readers on and I'm like, something's not right here. And I honestly, I thought I was stroking out because I could, like,

and I take them off and I'm looking at them and I'm like, well, I don't know what the hell is going on. They're not dirty. Everything is fine. But I, like one eye is crazy. blurry. I can't read my phone.

Like I was literally in panic. And I looked to my wife and I'm like, Holly, like, something's not right. She was, what's the matter? I'm like, I can't see scrape. And she takes them off. And I'm missing one lens. Like the lens had popped out and I don't know if you've ever done that

or ever experienced it. But I mean, they're magnifying glasses, right? That's what they are. So if you take one out, screws up the entire system. I thought my wires were touching, and I'm headed straight to the ER. Jeez. Good Lord. Someone burned a toast? What's happening here?

Honestly. I've done that, but I've had her glasses on instead of mine. Trying to blink. I can't figure it. Anyway, aging to be back. Aging gracefully is not as easy as you think.

It's just there's not a lot of dignity and getting old. Well, how was, I mean, we'll get into it, but the summer, you, you've got the cabbage out there. Yep. And, uh, you do a lot of fishing. Did a lot of fish in this summer. It was actually pretty good.

Now, Dino, you're, you're familiar with that part of the world. And, you know, it's weird, right? I mean, you've got forest fires going on in BC. You know, people on the cusp of losing their houses. Some did. I mean, tragedy. You've got, fours, forest fires in parts of Manitoba, northern Ontario.

And my neck of the woods in north, it was flooding. And Lake of the Prairies, which is a dam. It was built in 1967 to protect like Brandon and Winnipeg from the big water coming from the north. So they weren't able to open the gates. At one point, the lake was 12 feet higher. Whoa. Than what it normally is 12 feet.

Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, our cabin is high enough that it never threatened the dwelling. but the water was high. I was never able to get my boat lift or, you know, just the creature comfort stuff that didn't matter. But yeah, we did some fishing, but I'll wrap up that with this story.

Because I went through that experience, and because I'm getting older, I'm like, all right, I know I got this pimped out fishing boat with a 200 mark on it, right? But it's pain in the ass to launch and get out of the lake. So I'm like, all right, I'm done with this. And I went and found a.

kickars pontoon boat a fishing boat where the gate swing open at the back you've got the big deck and you can cast off of it two live wells oh yeah big comfy chairs on their drag a cooler built-in music i sat in i guess they call it well they call it the playpen is is the captain's chair right i sat in this chair i'm not a big dude i'm like five ten right i sat in this chair i felt like mickey mouse sitting in there. My legs couldn't even touch the floor. Like, I'm like, what is going on? Throwing out. Anyway, that's where we're at in life. So I'm looking forward to life is good. You are not the first or last who has told me, even this summer. It's like,

these pontoon boats are pretty sweet. And I'm getting sea legs put on it. Have you guys seen that contraption? No. So they're hydraulic legs that are fit in. So it's a tritune, a tri-hole pontoon and they go front and back underneath. Right? So you get to the beach, you hit a button, and it lifts the entire boat out of the water. You got to see it.

So no need for the lifts or all the nonsense. Wow. Fancy. I'll take pictures next year when it's officially pimped out and launched. Oh, we're not invited? Oh yeah, you guys are fighting. Oh, yeah. I'll send you guys

pictures. I'll tell you all about how great it is. Some pictures of a smoked meat and beautiful food. So then you leave, you leave that, you get back to Southern Ontario and back into the grind. And it just, it felt like

it was heading a certain direction. Connor Hellebuck's asked to be traded. Now he's definitely, he's made it public. He's asked to be traded. Well, training camp's getting closer. Is he actually going to show up to camp? Feels hot, hot, tricky. Oh, it's going to get suspended if he doesn't. he's like he's going to show up because he's not going to get suspended right he's been suspended

and you're kind of out in front of that story and obviously i know the players now in the last 24 hours have come out and they're they're disappointed obviously of one of their best players one of their teammates has kind of abandoned them the the situation isn't great and it feels like now this can only end in a trade um i guess i wonder how how prepared is kevin shovel off to take a trade he's not loving or how much money is hella buck prepared to sacrifice if it goes into the regular season we'll wait and see but your take on it yeah well that that's the unknown right is is winnipeg is shovel day off in company ownership willing to at some point blink and say all right well that obviously is the best deal we can get and i i don't see that happening anytime

soon i don't and you know some heat came my way um and appreciably i know shovel day off was kind asked about it. It was the word that I used last week and talking about the offers to date being terrible. Well, I sure prefaced it by saying the offers post draft were and have been basically terrible, but terrible if we qualify in the sense that, all right, like, you know, you're talking about a three-time Vesno winner, a hard trophy winner, a gold medal champion, the best goalie in the winter Olympics, all of the decorations that come on a hell of a big. Yeah. Great contract. five years remaining on this deal that he signed in good faith with the Winnipeg Jets

and Winnipeg because Connor Hallibuck wants out should get an unproven player or an unproven goalie and a draft pick and that should be good enough. Well, that doesn't sound good enough to me. And I understand, I appreciate the goalie market is a tricky one. It really, truly is.

And a lot has been made that Conner's trade list is longer than average. Well, it is and it kind of isn't. again, because he's a goaltender. And he's got zero Canadian teams on this list. He's got a number of American teams, but a good number of those American teams already have established goaltenders, right?

Do some of them have interest in Hellebuck who they would obviously consider it as an upgrade on what they have? Yes, but at a bargain basement or a discounted price. And Winnipeg just hasn't been able to get there. And, you know, you could say, okay, in hindsight, maybe Buffalo and Winnipeg should have worked harder at the draft to get something done

because you could certainly make the case that Halebuck would make that Sabres team look better. Sure he would. You know, there's been much speculated on why it didn't get done and a lot of finger pointing towards Kevin Chevaldeoff, but Yarmoukina didn't get the goalie that he was trying to get either. It takes two clubs, two general managers to find that sweet spot and they just, they weren't able to do it. So it's impossible to say with any authority that we know. how this is going to end in Winnipeg.

We'd heard the speculation around the draft. It was just that at that point until Connor made the statement. Then we knew, okay, this is public. It's not speculation anymore. Right. But what does a fair package for Connor Hellebuck look like? Is it a platoon goalie first rounder prospect roster player, like those four pieces? Yeah, that'd be great.

Platoon goalie might be problematic. I think that Winnipeg feels that they should get a decent, goalie or an up-and-coming goalie in return. But if that isn't available, if that asset isn't there, then I think that they have to be open for other upgraded positions. You know, if you're talking about a prospect, well, okay, it can't be a B prospect. It has to be an A prospect. If you're talking about a player, it's probably a player, it wouldn't be a player that doesn't

have trade protection because any player with trade protection isn't going to Winnipeg. That's just a harsh reality for the Winnipeg Jets. They deal with it multiple times over the course of the year. So is it a younger player that is an NHL player but doesn't have that trade protection? And then what sort of draft pick are we talking about? Look, I mean, all of this stuff is pie in the sky. And I think shovel day off tried to get as creative as he could throughout the course of the off season. But that shovel day up trying to get creative.

And I don't think that there were many general managers who picked up the phone to say, hey, let's work at this. Let's try and between the group of scouts that we have and everybody, let's try and find this common ground to make this work. That didn't happen during the off season. It didn't. But players, goaltenders, get injured all the time. What if you, you know, you're going into the season,

and I'm not projecting this. How can you? It's just, again, it's a tough part of the business. Somebody that's significant, injured taking out longer term, right? First 10 games of the regular season. Well, maybe that team comes back to the Winnipeg Jets and says, yeah, you know that conversation we had where we were willing to give you unproven player X and a second round draft pick? Okay, well, we're willing to do a little bit better than that. That might be what Winnipeg is waiting for. I got one more on

Hellebuck and then we can move if you want, but it's sort of the trend of the offseason drags has been high profile players with term left on their deals politely requesting for changes of scenery. And one of the issues I think that's cropped up is that when you sign a contract and a team gives you no trade, they're promising you they won't trade you, which is a great commitment. The team's making to the player.

But now these lists are being turned into trade request lists, which really isn't the spirit of them. How do you fix that? And are the GMs having a big issue with this? Yeah, they're not loving it for obvious reasons. How do you fix it? I mean, I'm reminded of, you know, constant dialogue on this among owners, especially, and general managers, where the owners and the league, the commissioner's office, would have sent a decade ago,

stop giving out these no moves and no trades. Stop giving them out. Well, okay, that's easy to say. It's not easy to do because every player that matters that has any sort of leverage is saying, well, that's great. I'm happy to come as an unrestricted free agent. I like how you've structured this deal. That works for me financially.

I need the trade protection. I'm not going to dance my family through a circus. I'm not doing that. So I don't know how you fix it. I don't. But the thing is we're talking about the smallest percentage of the NHL. The reason that we talk about it, though, is because they're the headline guys.

Right, right? You're not getting depth players or players who are in the back nine of their careers pulling this kind of stuff. And I think in fairness, you know, to look at Helibuck again, where's he at in his career? He's in the back nine of his career. You know, that's where he's at. And that's part of the criteria that works a little bit against him as well. But is there a quick fix for all of it?

No. But I also think that it's because of the magnitude of the players that it's garnered as much attention as it has. How close, and we will move on, but. any sense on how close the Sabres and Jets were going back to the draft? Because there was a lot of, it seemed like there was a lot of talk and it seemed to make sense for both sides. No, number four pick comes in play too. Yeah, like was how close were they?

Yeah, they were pretty close. They were pretty close. I don't like the idea of throwing out names and some have been. You know, there was a center from the Buffalo Sabres that could have been included in the deal going back to Winnipeg that the Jets didn't necessarily love. love. Not that they didn't see the value in the player. They had concerns with that player from a health standpoint. Then you got into four versus eight, right? Fourth overall, eighth overall. You know, one team wanting both picks, which I, you know, I guess I can understand that when you're talking about a bigger dynamic of what that trade could and would

look like. Buffalo had its position in the end. Winnipeg had its position in the end. Winnipeg had its position in the end and they just they couldn't get to that happy place they couldn't but it was pretty close boomer it was pretty close kale mccar signed the long-term contract he's the richest man in in hockey yeah i did i still go back to to bill garren with his comments is like well it's maybe that's not what quinn hughes wants maybe quinn wants something else who knows what quid hughes wants was essentially what he was saying how in your your estimation how concerned is bill garen today as we sit here with Quinn Hughes is on the roster, but is he looking at having to trade this guy sooner than later if they don't get a contract? What's happening there in Minnesota?

Yeah. Well, I don't think that Billy Guerin is concerned at all. And that doesn't mean that he doesn't want Quinn Hughes for the rest of his NHL career. Of course, he does. He's all world. But the Minnesota wild have put their best foot forward. They made it abundantly clear to Quinn and his representatives that they want him for the duration. of his days as a star player

in the National Hockey League. Now it's up to Quinn to decide when the time is right. And does he feel that Minnesota, not just the Minnesota Wild, but Minnesota is where he wants to play out the next umpteen years. And I think honestly,

that's where it's at. But the reason that I say, I don't think Billy Garan is losing too much sleep over it, isn't again a show of disrespect directed by me to Quinn Hughes through Billy. Gary. I don't mean that at all. What I mean is Bill Garron is, I keep using the word creative, because if you don't have an abundance of creativity in your hockey operations department, then

you're not going to be able to make interesting deals, deals that make you better and are fair for both teams. And in my opinion, Garen is one of the best at finding ways to do that. So if he has to pivot, and he knows and has been told at whatever point is his breaking point in the season, that Quinn isn't going to then he will pivot and he'll get the best for the Minnesota wild. So in the meantime, he's focused on what the upside is the team. And if the phone rings from Pat Brasson,

that Quinn is ready to make that deal happen, then that's what he's going to do. But you bring up an interesting point. And I want to throw this out at you guys because there was another owner in the league who threw this at me and Rhett. I want you to start because you've been in that room before. Okay, a different era, different landscape financially. And Nathan McKinnon has been paid.

You know, a $100 million contract, right? And he's going to get another crack at it. You know, he probably won't be the same type of player when his deal expires. He's sitting in that room with Kail McCar, who's just signed a contract that pays him $63 million more than McKinnon. And we're going to see this over and over and over again. We are moving forward because there's been a market correction. undeniably there's been a market correct does that ever leak

into the room where you've got a player that looks and goes okay I love this guy you know I'm glad he's my teammate he's a superstar you know in the national hockey league 63 million dollars

more than me I'm not I'm singly like those two guys just because that's recent and that's the money gap but do players think about that stuff in the room. You'd think about it, but it wouldn't come into the room if you're a character guy. I never played with that situation.

It was a different era. Guys like Jerome never went for the whole bag. Yeah. And I'm not begrudging in the car for what he's done. But I don't think McKinna, I still think at the end of the day you go home and you look around and you're going, I can buy a pontoon boat too.

Right? And it is real money, but what McKinnon's a hot ass and it's his motivating factor winning Stanley Cups I think so I don't think it's I don't think it's I don't think it's money and I don't think it's

internal competition I think he wants to win Stanley Cups which I give him credit for until he proves me differently that's my belief so I don't think it answers the room okay one guy that I would question to be honest with you is it's not an internal thing it wouldn't disrupt the room, but McDavid has given up so much money, so much money. Yeah.

For two years. That's what the guy where I'm going, and again, I don't think he, they'll get over it and he'll go out and play and perform, but I can't imagine $25 million when he wants it. I can't imagine his mental space where it's like, wait a. Okay, well, maybe I use McKinnon and McCar just because of that. you know, discrepancy between the dollar and two superstars. He's kidding who. Maybe the better example should have been Ryan Leonard getting the deal that he got in,

in Washington having played, what, 84 NHL games. And Alex Tuck, you know, to this point of his career, arguably the most coveted forward as you got, you know, closer to free agency, getting the same money. I mean, that might be a bit of a challenge. There's jealousy. And it's now I don't think it carries over into game play and it certainly doesn't carry over to gameplay if you've got a good room and good dudes But there's jealousy I was playing in Florida my third or fourth year and they signed a guy out of college To way more money than I'm like I've been here for no one's talking to me about a contract and this guy and he never played a game and but you're like wait a minute

Yeah, so you think about it. doesn't. It is this market correction, fellows, is it's, it doesn't, I don't think it, it's sustainable. But it's caused, it's,

it's caused a rift, uh, across the league because guys had signed this year before some of these deals got signed or going to their agent going, pardon? They can much, all those guys, they got done early.

Yeah. Genius in hindsight. Oof. It's good work. I'm with, I'm with you. I, I think that it'll all depend on the player for a guy like McKinnon.

You've been making big money anyway. And you've already got some, you know, I just, I called up Washington while you were talking about. It's like, well, talk versus Leonard. There's also, you know, Tom Wilson and Justin Sordief are making the same money. Like, holy shit. Yeah. It's at some point there's going to be.

And I do think, I've brought it up, but I don't want to, every time we talk about, but guys like Sanderson and, and, and Hudson, guys that have just signed. Like they missed the bonanza by six, eight, 10 months and now they've got seven or eight years or six years, whatever, it's a long time. It is.

They're going to be a lot of years of looking down the bench at guys that are nowhere near as good as you. And then the flip side is Jason Robertson, who pushed away from 120 Schmell to sign a one-year deal, which he did, with Dallas. I mean, geez, hit the wood. God willing, this man stays healthy. It matters if the team's good, too.

You can overcome some of this stuff, but if you're middling or down in the bottom, I mean, you're going, what in the, then it can rear its ugly head, and then you're going to have buy-in. But if the team's good and you're competing and you're striving for something more, okay.

But if you're the shits. now it can be jealousy and rewind clock if you go back six eight months to your point boomer if I'm the dad of one of these guys unless you know you've got an absolute rock salt this guy's going to make

150 million in the X 10 years somebody puts 50 60 65 million in front of your son on a seven eight year deal I'm like yep generational do man sign it you know we'll figure it out down the road if there's more money to be had so i get it yeah and the one the one other thing like i think we're all in agreement mckinon burns to

win like you watch the year he had with the colorado regular season the post of the olympics the way they're ousted by vegas like i don't think that guy cares at all about money right now and i think we're all the same page there but the playbook when he signed was already out there if you watched austin matthews negotiate deals he was the first guy to go from entry level five-year deal right to UFA. And then it's short-term deals. If you want to maximize your money, it's a play that the agents are all aware of of your star.

McKinnon knew that, but he just said, look, I want to win here with these guys. And I understand I'll be giving up money. I just don't think you'd think it would be this much money. Right. But then you wonder why more players with that level of swagger, and we're not taught, you know, it's not like there's a flood of superstars who have that sort of leverage.

But there are players who don't like the uncertainty of a four or five-year deal. Ray Ferraro always reminds me of this when we talk about it on the podcast. Now, you're going back decades here. And, you know, back then, a four or five year contract was a long contract to some of those players, right? But he always said, you know, going into the final year, he felt like he was terrible. He just didn't like the pressure and the uncertainty of not having a couple of years on his contract. But if you're wired that way, man, like these guys, Matthews, maybe McDavid goes that path, even after this two-year deal with the Edmonton owners, I mean, there's going to be nothing but dole.

But there's also a negative side to all of this. And I don't know if Calgary feels the same way. I've talked to a handful of owners about it. There is a genuine concern with what I keep referring to as a market correction, because you were dealing with flat revenue for quite a stretch of time here, right? What's happening now is you are going to have the haves and the have-nobn. There's no doubt about that. There's going to be a number of NHL clubs that don't pay anywhere near up to the salary

cap, the ceiling of a salary cap. There are going to be some teams that do. So, you know, the cash payout is going to create a pretty wide gap with certain clubs because not every team can dole out that signing bonus money on July 1st. They just can't do it. So when do you expect to see that? because I thought maybe happening already. But is it?

Like if Buffalo and Winnipeger are still right at the cap, is there have and have nots? Because I understand when it seems you're building not going to the cap. I get that. But small markets are still

to the cap when they're competitive right now. Yeah, but they don't disclose their books either, right? So, you know, I'd love to know. You know, I remember, like, so the Oilers went back to back to the Stanley Cup final.

I felt like I had pretty good sources within the organization. And even head office of the national hockey he would say, hey, the Oilers are raking it in right now. Like, they're the top revenue driving team in the National Hockey League. And, you know, you talk to some of the business people in Edmonton, like, inside the organization. Yeah, we're doing it.

We're doing great. We're doing great. Well, how great? Like, let's hear some of the numbers. I'm going to have to check on that. And they would never come back with that information because they just don't want you to know. And maybe that cuts two ways, though, right? You know, break even might be great in Winnipeg or for a couple of other clubs.

Just get to the break even and survive. From here, it sure seems like there's dysfunction in Detroit. There's the on-ice stuff where they were in a spot, then they missed, and then, okay, now Larkin wants a trade. And he was the media stuff yesterday where did he really think he was going to get traded without the word coming out that he wanted to be traded? They have a GM, sort of. It's taken all summer. Summer's over. From here, it looks dysfunctional.

Is it as bad as it looks from the outside? No, it's not. I mean, Sean Orkov is a quality hockey man. He's got excellent wingmen in Chris Draper, Dan Cleary is another one. So they've got solid hockey ops people there. What they also have is the owner in Chris Illich, who likes the idea of Adana and an analytic

driven hockey operations group, right? And obviously that person, those people, didn't surface in a timely enough fashion for illage to go that direction in a full spearheaded way. Now, you do have to be also reflective. Eiseman got fired in early July, and they didn't announce it until, what, mid-July? And I just kind of dangled out there for a while.

So ownership, you don't just fire Steve Eisenman, an iconic figure in Detroit. You know, if you're making that determination as an owner, which they did, you've been thinking about this for months, for months. You know, and I would have thought at that point when they pull the trigger that they're already down the road, or at least they've initiated a process with that hiring firm, which they brought on board. So that's where part of the criticism, I think, is well earned. And then you'll also take away the power from, like Sean Horkoff is trying to do his best as an interim general manager. And that label was just bestowed on him recently. But he was acting as a GM with shackles on.

You know, agents tell us that he wasn't able to negotiate signings with any form of term, like a year or two, that sort of stuff. and now those restrictions have more or less been removed. But you know, Chris Illich is putting a rubber stamp on anything. But it's a curious one. I don't know what the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to look like. We know that John Chica comes from an analytics background. You know, I met with him and Matt Sundin on, I guess it was Wednesday down at their practice facility. An intriguing meeting because you've got somebody with some real hockey.

presence in Sundin, you know, augmenting what you have in John Chica, who put his fingerprints all over the Leafs. They didn't leave one position that they didn't touch, goaltending defense, and forwards. I mean, it's a much difference. Maybe that's how it works. Maybe there's a healthy world where the data analytics people work in tandem with hockey people. And Matt has a lot to learn. He's never been in hockey brass in his life.

He's just decorated player, a former. captain but it feels like Detroit's if that's the way they have to go then I think they'd be doing themselves a disservice if they dispatch Sean Horkoff or Chris Draper Cleary along the way. I just wonder what the heck happened from the second week of April when you knew Detroit was cooked until July. Well like you say it was and it was like I think the day was July 22nd. Like it's three months. They ran more months.

Yes. I guess like it's crazy. It's very curious. And I wonder about Steve Eisenman when he went into Detroit. It was a homecoming and he was one of the brilliant minds around the juggernaut teams in Tampa Bay and he was going to turn things around. It sure feels like a lot of that shine is gone. I don't know. He'll get a hockey job if he wants it, but I just wonder how desirable or where is he now on the pecking order of being a NHL GM.

Yeah, I mean, we're going to find that out. Like most of those men, Brad Trow Living, Tom Fitzgerald, Steve Eisenman, the idea of a recharge is a healthy. one, right? And most of them are embracing it. Yes, they'll have advisory roles. They'll do what they do internationally, although maybe that ship has sailed for Eisenman who's been there and done that.

It clearly doesn't have to work. So it is interesting to see. And just a quick shout out because we're so quick to focus on, you know, we spent a lot of time talking about Connor Hallibuck, understandably. I'm not judging man versus man here. Connor

Hellbook made a business decision to withhold his services, and for that he's been suspended. You know, it doesn't matter. They don't start getting paid until the regular season. Maybe he has a change of heart. Dylan Larkin does the same thing. He requests a trade, but, you know, says, look, I'm going to come back. I'm going to let new management see if they can remedy my situation. In the meantime, I'm going to be there for my teammates.

That's an interesting and seems like a more healthy approach for. me. Oh, 100%. You know, and I think it's also a show to the rest of the league that you're a hockey player. That's what matters first is you're a good teammate and you're a hockey player. The business side of it, we can all understand that. Connor Halebuck doesn't have to love Winnipeg for the rest of his career. I get it. Brady didn't love Ottawa anymore. So, okay, that's fine. They find a way and he ends up in Florida. But, you know, It's interesting to compare one star versus another. Is it considered tampering or this?

I don't think even matters because you would never disclose it. But like with Hellerbuck, it's like, why hasn't the agent figured something out? And like, they're not stupid. These guys are probably the, there's some of the smartest guys in the game, to be quite honest with you. Like, they're there steering the ships here. Yeah. How does the agent not have an indicator? And how don't you?

I mean, Connor Hellbub. could decide to handle it how he's handled it on his own and might not have listened to his agent. I don't know. But it sure seems to me that if I'm Connor and I talk to me, I want out of here. Okay. Well, where's a spot? Well, these five teams don't have starting goaltenders. There's no sense talking to Boston.

They have one, right? Right. Okay. Well, I'm going to, as an agent, I feel like, well, I will go talk to the teams that might be interested. Yeah. Get a sense of what. And then I'm, they're smart enough to know, well, this is a. a decent return or it's not.

And then why would you release the statement unless it's Connor's doing or you're either trying to hold the jet's feet to the fire or it's a bad mistake. It's a bad read on a situation because if Connor Hellebuck came to cap, didn't put that stupid statement out, we'd be like, well, he's there. And nothing would have changed for. He would be playing and he could go every day.

Kevin, you trade me? Kevin you trade me? Kevin you're going to trade me? Well, and look, I mean, they do a good job of protecting him from media in Winnipegians, right? Like, you know, the media people there just go, yeah, Connor's not available today. You know, he talks in training cap.

He doesn't answer questions. That's fine. Yes. And then the media buzzes off until the next time he talks and doesn't answer the questions. But he's there and he's playing and maybe bettering his position of a trade based on his play. But to your point, look, I mean, I don't know what we want to call it, but there wouldn't be many bigger trades where the agent doesn't know that that team has been front and center for a long time.

Now, the general managers don't always pull the agent into the inner workings. Sometimes they have to because of the trade protection and all of that, obviously. But yeah, it's, I didn't understand the statement. I thought it was a fake news day, to be honest, because we all knew. that Helibuck had requested a trade. You know, I mean, we all knew this. So for him to issue the statement at the time that he did, it was just like, okay, well, let's just remind everybody that this hasn't happened.

And maybe that turns a little bit more of the negative spotlight on the Jets. And I just don't think it worked. I think it's the opposite. Yeah, I agree. So is it just, how many years for you at TSN now? Wow. Do you know off the top of your head? 20 years?

Yeah. Yeah. next what's your next question how many more doing the math here we saw that uh we saw that we saw that joe buck contract we're trying to do the math on drag her in his pontoon boat collection no kidding while there was a lot of talk about insider contracts over the course of the office yeah a lot of that no i did i just curious because it's been a long time and you've uh you know you got you finally got bob mackenzie out of there good job i know that was years in the making and I will say this.

Yeah, you know, Bobby Mac, who clearly is the pioneer and blazed the trail, he worked well into his 60s. I'm not doing this. You're me, Drake's. It's been a good run, guys. I've enjoyed our time together. Glad to have you for at least another year on the show talking hockey every Friday. We appreciate you, Drake. Have a good weekend, buddy.

Gay boys, you too. Thank you. There you go. TSN Hockey Insider, Darren Drager. Joining us here in the show on the Crystal Waters Insider Hotline every week throughout at least one more hockey season. Oh, yeah, we noodles Wednesday, that guy, Friday. Just awesome, awesome, guys.

No, I absolutely kind of had those vibes. Because when we bring up, well, I got the boat, have you seen it? I was barbecue it. I was doing some smoking. It's not a lot about, hey, I think I'm going to, I think I'm going to the, Memorial Cup or I've gone to the world juniors transitioning yeah sure I got to look up these boats with these oh fancy that's exactly right it's exactly right yeah I don't know what happens in in Winnipeg and of course you you read so much stuff online does you see the family he was

getting death threats after the Olympics and stuff yeah I don't know what to tell you man the guy has made a decision and I'm guessing he realizes the magnitude of it oh yeah I don't he understands the public impression the just the what he's doing to his team on the ice, the vibes of his teammates and friends off the ice,

the fan base, he knows the damage that's done to his, the brand, you know, just to his, but he's choosing to do it. So I think the only of this gets fixed

is you play and you got to play well and remind the league that you are the best guy out there because he's been that guy. No one else has three Veznas that's in this league. No one else has got a heart trophy. as well as three Veznes. No one else has an Olympic goal.

It's like this is, go out there and play is how this gets solved. Remind all those GMs that this is undeniably the best goal in the lake because he's been that most of his career. I agree with you in that take, but then I'm just trying to play the other side. Maybe it is heat for Sheveldale.

Maybe it is. It's easy for us to say, why would you do that Hella Buck? Why would you give up that money? You should go play, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, trade me. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you have an, you've got a pot of gold and you don't get to use it. Yeah. I'm not sure if it was you who was saying yesterday or one of the times we were talking about this that if you could go back in time, would help, would shovel day off have taken whatever.

That draft day. Maybe he said it didn't change my mind at all. Right. Sound like the best deals are at the draft day. Without knowing. It's a guess. But I, I kind of believe the jets if they're saying the offers aren't. I. I've talked to people that are around that team. Yeah, I think the best things they saw was right before the draft and they thought they could squeeze a little more and it's been cricket since. He's been, yes. That matches with what our speculation was. Contracts eight and a half million and he's signed and he's a great.

Well, he has been. He's now 33. He's got five more full seasons and he hasn't pushed Winnipeg over the top. Yeah, the playoff performance is the one flying the waitman. Everything else is ironclad, right? But, yes, we're just stating facts at this point. The thing it comes down to the, okay, so Winnipeg's got a team and they go out there and they stumble the first month. Pressure's on the GM?

You have to move them. I think so. How do you sell it to the fans? We're like, well, we're middling or less. And we got our group, Stuart Skinner. Best asset sitting. I think, like maybe, we'll ask you what you guys think real quick, but. Like, I think he shows up when the money starts.

I wouldn't allow him in the, I was going to ask, I don't know what the rules and the, you probably are allowed to, but I'd be some pissed off. And I think that's a D, capital D move on his part if he shows up with a check start coming. We see this in other leagues, but in the NHL,

this is almost impressed. I do not. And if he did, I would put him in the other dress. Here's your dressing room. You get, you get a, there's a janitor's stall. F you.

It's absolutely. I would. I'd be something pissed off. And it's evil sitting in Mardaloup, yelling at clouds. Okay, but that's hard. Like, now you're, you're kind of rubbing their face in it a little bit, right? Well, it's not just that.

Like, what's Mark Shreffley thinking? We signed that deal at the same time. What's Josh Moore? We're worried about McKinnon, McCar being jealous of that. What does this do to a room? He has a contract,

he's showing up. And I went out of here and I'm not coming to camp, and I'm going to take my ball and go play somewhere. Fine. that's your dressing room down the hall in that little janitor stall. I would guess that they probably, if he's, he has a contract and is prepared to work, you can control his ice time and whether he plays, but you probably have to let him come back. Oh, yeah.

But he didn't, I know, you're probably right. It's just, so I don't. But I agree with it. Yeah, it's. Well, and again, if you're, if you're shoveled out trying to trade this asset, the best thing you can do is have the asset looking really, really good. But I agree with you. He's basically said me over the team right now,

and that's tough in a room. It's just an ugly. It's a tough spot from here for both sides. Yeah. Capital Shev, part of the Capital Automotive Group, obviously. CapitalShav.com. 3103 Lake Fraser Drive. Calgary's truck destination.

Winter's coming. Get high. Get up there. Get in your four-wheel drive. Getting your Silverado. Getting that Sierra, getting that Denali, getting that beautiful S.

Love the Donali. You've maybe heard about the $99 lease. I mean, that's a little different, but it's there. It's real. It's whatever you need, whatever you need it to be. Do you need a truck? Do you need a commuter? Do you need an SUV?

They're going to take care of you. Calgary loves a little no nonsense. Don't just get the deal done. Don't be messing around. And that's what Capital Shoev is all about. 13103, Lake Fraser Drive in the southeast, Capulshav.orgia. Going forward to my, I'm not looking forward to winter.

Did you get me the vehicle? I did not get you a vehicle, no. Yeah, I wish they said you would. That was just that was like early a couple days. Yeah. I was yesterday. It was like tight. A lot of old.

It's not that long ago. I'm not sure how they would feel. Oh, so Red wants it. Well, it's his kid. Who as of yet doesn't have a license. It'd be tricky.

Why? It's a can do attitude that's got him here, Dean. What are you telling me you can't now? No, you're right. I'm not sure they will be. Here's a check.

Let's go. Yep. Oh. So you're, you're buying it. Oh, yeah, I'm not looking for a freebie. Oh, okay. I'm not about freebies.

Just go in and shake hands. Get that deal done. Brett's not about freebies. I'm not about freebies. What else is, you know, I was going to, the flames are on the ice. Yep. We saw new lines and power play stuff this morning.

We talked about Bristevich yesterday and where he falls in and give things some time. As we all have conifidence. Yep. give Connie some time, give the brass some time to iron things out and make maybe there's some trades, maybe there's some movement that can be made to make room for everybody. But one guy that's going to be in the middle of it all is, is Zane Perrek. He's been, I don't know how to, to say he's been polarizing, maybe isn't the right work.

He's had some stuff to deal. There's been stuff. It's a clunky year, wasn't it? Very disjointed. For a lot of young players, you just come in. There's excitement. Everyone's happy to have you. You play a little bit.

And he's hurt. Is he going to World Juniors? He's not ready for this, but he can't go there. It was just a very, there was a lot in a way for him to deal with last year. It's all in the rear view mirror now, right? There's no, it's like, play 84 games. Yeah. Play lots.

Go get it. The Rasmus Anderson, Weeger, those guys are got there is, there should be ice time all day for this guy. Go and play, make mistakes. Winning is not a consideration or a consideration. shouldn't be the development this year. And of course, Huska, head coach, day one, one of the first questions he was asked was about Zane Perak. The experience that he went through last year for a young guy to get all that, like he pretty much handled anything and everything that came out of him. And he had a lot of things that he had to handle. So by being around last year and having success at the

end of the year like he did, he left here feeling really good about himself. He had a better understanding of what he had to do physically and mentally to be a successful NHL player and he put the work in this summer and now he's come back feeling much more comfortable I'm sure he would say the same thing he's much more comfortable than he was last year and I think he feels like he has a better handle on what's expected out of him and what an NHL defense man is like he played at 178 it was listed at 178 last year he's at 191 per him via Francis as of today.

So that's significant. He did look like a guy that needed to add some mass. What's that? Gary Roberts, he said. Not steroids. Gary's good at him. Gary's very good.

It's called growing up. It's very risinous. Reckless. We need like a little asterisk over his head when he's being sarcastic, just so people talk. I need like a, like a alarm or something.

Yeah, but reckless, Ret. Jack-ass Jack doesn't have to post C. Like, that's what Jack does. It's like, Red water is accusing me. Red water. Perix on the juice.

And I listened to one yesterday. They said it said it many, and you don't let it play long enough. You are radio guy. You're radio. That's my job. So it'll make me look like a... To take comments out of context to make poor Rhett look bad.

That's my job. I'm going to have to have a discussion. He was all scoffer beer. Perak was asked about last year, what do you take from last year? I was going to get the clip. But maybe he said, I'm really not even.

thinking about last year. I don't really even care. It's not in my, it's about this year. I'm a training camp. I work hard this summer. I'm just ready to go. It sounds like he's growing up. Yeah.

And honestly, that whole situation could have been so avoidable. And it is this year. It was the last year of that dumb rule, right? It would have been really easy to tuck that guy in the A and just say, go play big minutes and get good at hockey. We'll call you up when you're ready. They didn't have that option.

You could have sent him back to junior. He just scored 30 goals, but 100 points as a D man, like two years in a row practically. like me tough year but it didn't matter if you just look where he was for the last 10 games great year you know what i mean like he had to get through all that shit but at the end of the year you saw what you wanted which is a guy that looked like someone that could step into top four minutes this year and run a powerpoint he and the rest of the folk down at saddle dome rise place way had to come to a realization not just same per rec the whole organization had to come to the realization that we are pretending to be something we're not the year prior they're tied and oh my god we're going to be and so the mandate was we're going to be competitive again and we're going to be pushing for a playoff spot no you're not so and and i'm just explaining and rewire my brain as to what so going into the year we're going to fight for a playoff spot zane you can play but only if you play a certain way and contribute that's not what it was and so it took till

Christmas for everyone to go, oh, shit, this is smoking mirrors. What are we doing? We're not. And now they know. And they should all be on the same page and have the same approach to what they're trying to accomplish. We're in a rebuild. We're going to grow.

You're going to make mistakes. We're going to live with them. And we're going to be better down the road. And to Dean's point, there's no Weger and Anderson soaking up 45 minutes a night collectively. Yeah. They've back to. It's not like Huska is going to play the vet card.

Like his best players, many of them are now the young. players. It's Nemich. It's Perak, right? Yeah. I, you said it about Nemitz yesterday or the day before. Play them. Play them. Play them. And I think, I think Perek is in that same spot. Yeah, that same spot. Because you think, yeah, like, because it really was, oh, he's going, now he's going to World Juniors. Did you hear what he said at World Juniors? Well, what did he say? Like, he said he's having fun. Oh, that means you like, like some of it was maybe a robot, dumb media stuff and maybe some of it was much about nothing, but it did seem like there was very little positive vibes. Whatever his name came up.

So he's too small. Well, he's getting hit too much. Now he's getting hurt. You can't send him to the eight, this whole thing. I hope it's a good year for him. All of that stuff, it just feels like, just play, man. Yeah. To your point.

He wasn't ready to just play last year either. I'm not going to. Everyone's, nobody's in trouble. It is what it is. and we're all learning and growing. He wasn't ready last year at the start of the year. He wasn't. He should not have been in the NHL.

They weren't going to play him. He was slighter. He was weaker. He didn't understand it. He said it had to grow up. Those are things that kids have to do. It's all good news here. That's fine.

That's not. I likened it to a hot dog yesterday where it's like, you don't want to see how it's made. But boy, when you got it in your hand at a ballpark, is it ever good? Like if the end of the year, that was what you wanted to see. It was ugly to get there, but Zane Perak for the last 15, 20 games ever it was. That was the guy you drafted. He loves hot dogs.

Can we hear that again, the hot dog thing? That's all right. Dean loves hot dog. I do. No, I do. I do love hot dog. Even though it's cheeseburger. It is cheeseburger.

What are you looking for? No, I'm just looking at this. Just looking at the blue line. We got the full lines and power play units if you want to dive into that too. like 20 years old. This is my teen year old season last year. Right. It's a teenager.

Probably fair to just take a breath. Yep. But it's the natural hockey league. I like the sheriff on his left. We'll see how that works. Everybody loves. We got some sheriff for you in the Pint Report. You're so obsessed with this mustache.

No, there's just a like certain guys. I do. This is your media side of you coming through. it's also just guys like yourself, Rhett, where immediately they enter a room and everyone's mood changes. He's one of those guys.

Rhett does that? Yeah, he knows. Not in this goddamn room. In a positive way or I'll try to raise these here. What's that? Oh, shit. It's kind of like when Darrell walks in, but how does it change?

Like when Darrell walks in and you're like, well, what's way is his hat tilted? Exactly. Exactly. I checked with Greg from Bontan. I said I was going to check. Okay. Because it's like, okay, you know, winter's coming.

Family of four. Yeah. We like steaks. We like roasts. We like chicken. We like all this. I just went as far as beef. Family of four.

What do we need to get for the winter? Are we talking like a quarter? Or we're talking about half? Like how much of a. Yeah. His question was, well, what kind of family? Yeah, the Warner family? Which I said, well, let's say not Warner-esque.

Right. And that we're having fillets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He said probably about a quarter should do it. What do you think you go through? Oh, many quarters. A cow. Five quarters? Yeah.

We'll go through a cow. Yeah. This might be the winner. I can find out. I keep saying I'm going to do it. This is going to be the, just set me up, fill my freezer with a ball. And let's just take this. I can send you the order.

Again, that's the Warner. That's not the center of the Belker. That will get me through winter and spring. Many winters. I'll be well stocked. Yeah. I'll be well stocked. Bontan meat market.

The very best. Don't sleep on the chicken. We tell you all the time. Have the chicken out today. Did you? How you doing it? I'm doing like a suvlaki style. Greek.

I like that. Are they ties or you got the whole chicken or what are we doing? I'm going to get the breasts. Breasts. I'm a big breasts. guy you Cuban put them on skewers or just good but then I'm too lazy for that

sure I'm kind of that way too it's like are we going to skewer this I'll just I don't know just grill it because he's going to pull it off the skewer and use it anyway and half of it falls into the god damn thing and pissed off the shrimp cooks too quick and you can't put shrimp on your

on your skewer because then they shrivel up you can't do it Bontom meat market 24 25 26 years now, voted the Consumers Choice Award winner, Best Meat and Deli. Twenty-eight Crow-foot circle in the Northwest. They got the desserts. They got the meat pies. Chicken turkey.

Jack. AAA Alberta Beef. Red, bontan meats. I want you to load up on the pies one day. Oh, the pies are good. Treat your buddies. You said yesterday you're rich and you have all kinds of money. So go and grab a box of those things.

Is that what you said? I said I had American money. I didn't say it a lot of it. If you have American money, you're rich. Cash that in. You can't be a lot more of it. Easy. Richer.

What do you got in the Pinter Report? Flames news. We will go through the Oilers as we continue our season preview for Canadian teams. We've got grumpy Rick bonus in Columbus. We're out ended last year. Still pissing. Now we get to see how it starts this year. Calvary Hitman on the ice tonight.

Lots of bills love after last night's, Gwen and we got some sports in town in the city. Be it eight. Pender Report for Village Honda. Proud to be your dealership for life in Calgary since 1987, located in the Northwest Automall

under the giant Canadian flag. Online as well, village Honda.com. Let's start a daily face off, Calgary. Always talking about flames news items. Talk about a revolution? Talk about a revolution. Talk about a substitution on the blue line.

Hunter Perstevich has been skating with the second group but not in the top eight for the flame. She's absolutely one of their best eight defensemen. We touched this yesterday. It will be a story to follow. I hope to, I think what you were alluding to earlier, do you know, that there's conifidence and a plan here and that short-term pain is going to equal long-term gain,

go run a power play, play monster minutes, and things happen like injuries and trades, whatever. What is the proper approach? I think that's it, but it's just not easy for the player. Nothing's supposed to be easy for the players. I would be, yes, okay. Because we just talked about Perrette. Yeah.

And the shit show that happened last year. And we understand all of it and we're past it and we're moving forward and this is all hunky door. Is it best? Because we want persevereats there and we see. But is it best just we know you're mad and I'm, or see his mom and dad or if he has to look in the mirror and talk to himself and say, calm the F down. Yeah. I know I can play there. but six months or a year here of 25 minutes equals a better base.

Maybe a better player. And I'll even think it has to be six months or a season. It might be Christmas. You're an injury away. Worst case scenario. You're not an injury away because they've got eight. Well, but I don't think they're going to keep a hole. Like, let's say you lose one of your talented young righties to injury.

I think he's up right away. I don't think they want to see a whole big minutes. If you know what I mean. And you can't play. Absolutely. Just as a, that's an injury and wish for injuries for anyone. So it's like, yeah, maybe it is six months to a year. Okay.

Is that okay? I think it depends how he's playing. And I think there's ways Connie can deal with this. If he is undeniably your best defenseman in the A and continuing to knock on the door, you have the ability to move the likes of White Cloud, because Netsov potentially even or Middleton. Like we love the vet character and leadership. you've seen from Middleton in an incredibly small spell and white cloud since the deadline.

But no one's suggesting that their career flames and they're part of a core when this team's winning again. We know they're kind of placeholders, right? Yep. But to go and make a trade, like I think you're making it sound a little simpler than it is. No, I'm just saying he's undeniable, then you're listening a little more openly in White Club. Like when you look at White Cloud's salary and how he's played, that that's an asset that is going to get you lot at the deadline. What happens if Bristavits is like, no, I understand what you're trying to sell me. Yeah. And he's knocking on Conroy's door going, there's a team. I can play over that

in Winnipeg. I'm of top four. Bristevich played 34 NHL games last year. I know that's, and he's in the B group at Calgary Flames training camp. Yeah, he played more probably than Hanley in Pahal, right? And that's the question I'm having is there's what's right for the team and they own your rates and all that. But what's prescription? I was thinking and what's the right approach? Like there has to be that consideration where it's like, wait a minute. We're not that good a hockey team anyway.

I'm one of the young guys. You're blocking me from playing in the NHL, earning a real salary. Yeah, I'm getting 20, 25 minutes. That's all fine and good. But I could go province over. He averaged 16 minutes in the NHL. minutes in the NHL. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't. So the one thing we don't know is where the players heads at and how he feels about what looks to be the plan. And the other thing is, is like, what is he right now? Because there's games where he looked like, man, this guy can be a tough one. And there's other games like, he's so risky. Right now. It was a classic first year.

There was a few games where it was like, yeah, this is just a little too much right now. And that happens. Even good players of bad games. But do you believe? I guess it comes down to if you're the flames or even the agent and the player, that you get a better player at Christmas if he's playing big minutes of the 8 or not. And I don't know the answer. I'm not in player development.

I have hunches. You've seen both. Like you have to play a game out of the event today. I think play lots of hockey is a benefit no matter what. The question is I can play lots of hockey over here. It's the NHL still. Like, why do I have to go play lots of hockey down there? You're sort of saying he could slide into the top four in Winnipeg.

I'm not quite there yet. I think he's probably a six, seven on most teams right now. Like the guy that's, the third pair guys in Winnipeg also played the 16 minutes in the league last year kind of thing and they're veterans and they've got more than 30 career games. I guess it's just, what's your opinion on player development for this guy at this age and this spot? Yeah. And I think, I think probably Ret and I are higher on him than you. I think we've kind of talked about that. Yeah.

Like, do you see a talk for a defenseman in the future? He's 21. Yeah. I, I, he played 30, 16 minutes a night. It was even. he was not underwater at all. And I would classify him as any of the other young guys. I don't want him blocked.

He's 21. I want him to get minutes like Perek. Yeah. And I don't need. Then you trade White Cloud if you feel that way if you're Connie. I don't want to have to do that. Well, then who's, then who are you sitting?

Like you've got. That's what I'm saying. So you've got three right. I don't want to have to take one of my biggest trade chips to make room for. Well, I mean, if he's a trade trade, trade. Try you know, like you're rebounds here. You're saying two things.

And I think you're trying, yes, we like White Cloud. But are we going to block Abras Davis from playing? And we're going to turn White Cloud into something at some point anyway. Or you're committing to him long term. I don't believe that's the right move. I just don't see it when you like him. He's too valuable at the price to not go, no, no, no, it's asset management. We've got to move this guy.

And yeah, the level-headed thing is you talk to the. kid and you sell them the plan he knows what it is they have a plan they've had conversations obviously it's not like we're ahead of the curve on this it's obvious like this is the guy that was that played a third of a season and is with the b group at training camp he's sort of be feeling a certain way so they'll have a plan if you're the player you want to get up there force their hand be undeniable right go dominate preseason if you have to go to the a light it up play do all roles all situations be great and then it's yeah because right now if you're telling me he's better play than Zach White Cloud.

No, but in a couple of years, I think you will be, right? I think we're all in agreement there. Well, so if you're the fourth best. Zach White Cloud long term being of an integral part, right? His age doesn't really fit. And they've got a lot of his side on the D. So if you're 100% but you're the fourth best ready on the team, it's like, yeah.

And so Pahal will sit in the rafter so you can play in the A. There it is. Well, I'm, you talked a lot about 100%. I know. And it is a tricky spot. we saw it coming because you feel for the kid right he had he had some really good results last year i don't know what the other real and it's not that it's a huge story like but what are the other

the goalies are set the forwards brendan offman signs his signs a deal today and i don't know what it's the one talking point i know that gregg from bontan is always very curious he was texting he's like pospousal center i'm just not sure this guy's got a new contract i'm not sure first year a three-year deal. Clapka, you know, are they the same player? How many of these guys do you need? So Clapka's a better player.

Well, and Clapka also doesn't play the middle. I don't know if we love Pospesol in the center, but they don't have any other options of fourth-line center. It's Kestania or it's gross or it's Karen's like pos-missals and NHLer that needs to get back to do in what made him a great-to-ach-o- I think he's a banger winger that's physical. I just wonder if you say we don't have any other wingers or centerman, it's like while Zari claims to want to be.

I don't know. I've never spoke with the guy before, but there's rumors out there that he'd prefer playing center. Can you make that fourth line not a bang and crash? Because Klavka shows. He's got some skill. Yeah, it's not so limited that he can't have some creativity and create some offense, right?

You don't have to, yes, we all love the idea of a fourth line that goes in and creates out. Well, do you have that? kind of I don't know the possible can play Pospesal

is a huge question mark and as you said it's year one of a three year deal at two and a half now again with the money moving two and a half

is not what it used to be but it's is there any way of pulling up the the different groups Jack just because I'm looking at it differently where we talked

about Bersavits why are we blocking him well why are we blocking if we're in a true pure rebuild I don't know what Sipilov is I guess you've got to play.

But is there a kid there? You can put it on the fourth line with his area that goes, yeah, no, this is, we don't have a banging crash. Maybe Sunniyev. I'm not quite there. I'd like to see more time in the A with more. It looks like he's off to a good start in terms of like he did a good showing in the prospect game. He came on stronger at the end of the year. I don't think he's not.

If there's not, that's fine. Yeah. I think in the spring, you're going to have a lot of these guys arriving from college. But I don't think you can look to the A and be like, there's a future flame star this year. We do get caught up. in and again, it's the product of doing a show every day. But it was last year's, oh, Gridden, you got to make it. Gridden, I don't want.

Well, Gridden came up and then he played and everyone was very happy with what they saw. It just took a little bit of time and patience. And it's probably what it's going to be with Bristavich and with some of this other, the other. It's a good reminder, right? Like, I don't think you could argue that Bristavit, sorry, that Gridden going to the A for half of you heard him. He looked really good. He looked just fine when he came back. Like he's a better player than the one you saw in the fall.

if he had to, if he was in a spot where contracts and that dictated, sorry, you're going to be on game with group B and probably start the year and the A. Yeah. I have to have a conversation with the young man and his agent, his parents and that whole thing. Not to say Bristewicz is, but I don't see it completely dissimilar. They're the same age, more or less. Yeah. So when we look at the team black on the right, that's a lot of those guys all end up on the, the Wrangler. So, you know, Basho, we want to see a health.

season than him putting up points in the A, half the year in the A, then he went down to the Western League. Costania was hurt at the end of the year, he was signed out of college. He's just got to play pro hockey against men. He hasn't done that yet. We know what Karens and Morton are. They're guys in their mid-20s that can put up points in the American League, but have

failed to carve out roles in the NHL. Could you use them at fourth line center? Sure. But yeah, like, what you're seeing on the right is not many of their best 10 prospects. Most of those guys are college or junior. That's team. I really, and you could not.

Yeah, like the left, you're right. That's like the team red is that's opening night with a couple of cuts. And that's fine. Yeah. And again, like we've seen it. The way you start October 7 or now September 29, there's usually, by the time November rolls around, it's quite different. Two years ago, we got the pospical zary up playing with cadre and that changed the dynamic of the team. You know, Hansik started went down two years ago. Gridden started. started up then went down to last year they both come back better players we'll see

movement up and down all right but yeah there isn't really a lot of drama is there no aside from brista well that's that's right we talk about it it might have a bigger deal of it but and that's in a way it's credit to conroy because if if anderson was re-signed that would be a talking point it's another weeder was still here if codry was still here coleman all of that They moved out a lot of those guys that you knew weren't going to be here long term or shouldn't be if you're rebuilding. And it's thought about when are you trading this guy, White Cloud, I guess is kind of the only one. There's really no obvious backland, I assume, is going to retire as a flame. Yeah, he'll probably play one year deals.

So I don't know what drama there is. Oh, well, sorry, we'll keep moving. Power play unit. First time we got to look at that. Yesterday, we did not see them today. we did power play one frost fairby coronado gridden and nemoch second unit strode with that one how are you doing well we're going to get to that in a moment uh strome syplikov zeri sharingovich and perak the second unit perak talked about wanting to be the man on the power play nemich just talked about one to be the man on

the power play we'll see how this goes two good options i would think in the sense that are both young players that are very offensive i would have a very frank conversation with them if it's needed to be like, quit. There's no pouting. Go earn it. It's like it's available. It's an open job. One, two, you're on the power play.

I don't want to hear boohooing. It's not like one unit. It's got Robertson, Sage Thompson, and Austin Matthews. Well, did I get to play with Mitch David? Like, let's be honest. Ferby, Frost, Cyplikov, Zary, Sharongovich, Strom,

those guys aren't playing power plays on most teams in league, one or two. That's just how thin you are. and skill up front. But I can't, I mean, obviously they're, it's day one of camp, but they're trying some stuff, but like Ciplochoff net front. I can't. We haven't seen a ton of them.

I don't know what he is, but it's kind of last call at the hall for him. He's got one year left on a deal. He's not lived up to it. It's back overseas if it doesn't work this year. You'll get a motivated Cipikov or he's gone. You got a nickname for him yet. Sip, Sippy. Sippy cup, cup.

Cip, sip, sipperoo. Haven't thought about it. Okay. He's going to earn one, eh? Don't just get one right. true. Yeah. We'll work on it. Simone Nemitz or something like that. John Abbott did the work yesterday. Good chat

with number 71, one of the newer defense on the team. Shimon Nemitz. Yeah, because you kind of threw a K-KS. T-K. I kind of butchered it too, but this is the player talking to the play-by-play broadcaster. Here's what my name said, Shimon Nemitz. Okay. We'll try.

I wish Abbott would have like where do we have the The emphasis. Yeah, the emphasis on which syllabal is. Is it Shimon? Shimon. Shimon. Shimon. Shimon.

Shimon. Nemmets. Nemmits. Come on, Abbott. Johnny pulled up your socks. I'm seeing it up. Love you. Johnny.

Just kidding. Jacob Mendleton. I'm going to give you a minute. I'm in love. Oh, you have a man crush. But just because the guy has a beard and he's been as a mustache or a mustache and he's been in a scratch. He's missing teeth and he fights and like it.

Yeah. I feel bad because I feel like. You should be in a Western or you should be on a truck wagon. I feel bad because I feel like I'm taking a shot at Jake Middleton, but it's like, it's just not of me. It's not a Jake. How do you follow him? My goodness. Good.

Nice and hard, competitive. Nice to get it all we're with, get our feet under us. A lot of people here, hey? Holy. You got your stuff yesterday? I got it two days ago, a day and a half. Yeah. So I sat around for two weeks doing nothing.

And then day before camp, they dropped off my 25 boxes of good. So if I pick my wife and daughter up today, they'll be excited to see what I got going on at the rental house right now. I imagine unpacking 25 boxes is not the way you wanna spend the day before training camp stands? No, like I said, I've been here for two weeks.

I was hoping to slowly get it all done and they decided to come in late, but a little adversity early is good for everybody, right? What are your impressions of the new team? I like them. You know, I hate it, playing against a plane. I thought they were all bad dudes and I'm glad they proved me wrong

and showed me otherwise in those first couple weeks I was here but no they're all they've been great and I've been here solo kind of like I mentioned so I'm getting to hang out with them a lot it's been good when your mind who was the worst of the bad guys back then no comment lots of laughs lots of smiles popular figure already and Rhett he's got a mustache he's missing teeth right he's got a mustache Trent called he's smiling and laughing

guys are in love with Trent Cull first. I also love him. I said he looked sharp. I do not have a man crush. I'm not trying to fom at the mouth over him. Middleton, I remember seeing stuff back when he was with San Jose. He is he is a character. He would do stuff. And I know in Minnesota, I think he was doing a, he would do stuff for the web team where I think they sat inside these, like you see guys do the interviews when they're sitting in an ice bath. These were like the blow up portable saunas. Okay. So they're dying inside with the heat and he's asking questions. So he's a character guy and you can see it there,

which I think an old Husky yesterday was saying, I don't know if I, is it a young team or are we young? What are we? You're going to need some guys to keep it loose. Yeah, January 15th, we're 13th play, right? Yeah, that's when you're going to lean on your white clouds and your Middleton's for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. We'll keep moving. It is time to preview the Edmonton Oilers, a team where almost everything went wrong last year. They thought about changing coaches at the Olympic break. They didn't and then promptly fired their coach. Maybe the biggest addition for this team isn't on the right side of the screen. It's Mike Babcock who's come in.

We thought he might have done coached a league. He's not. He's back. He's got term and he's gotten into the ears and the mines. And he's got that core drinking the Kool-Aid at this point. Before a puck has dropped, dry sidle's gone to bat from him. McDavid's gone to bat for him. clearly the core has bought into the Babcock plan to this point.

And there's a lot of positivity around this group. Why not? They are as well rested as they've been heading into a season with the first round elimination at the hands of the ducks. That said, there was also a lot of positivity a year ago. We came in early. We're doing captain skates extra early and they had a miserable start. It took them forever to dig out of that hole. It's been a couple of years.

We've seen that. But it's the first time they've had an established veteran coach in a long time. On the ice, Freddie Anderson will be in eventually in net. He's hurt right now missing camp. Devin Levi's in. He was well down the depth chart in Buffalo, but was always a highly touted netminder coming up playing world juniors, playing in college, just never worked in Buffalo for whatever reason.

Bit of a change on the back end. Nurse is out. Ryan Shea, McCudulin comes back in the nurse trade. Matthew Joseph is added in Alex Formanton as well, two forwards up front. Formatton was playing in the Swiss League last year, has not played in the league for five years and took one year off of hockey. He has been well off the NHL radar for a long time. Uh, news today from camp.

Jason Dickinson left the ice with an injury. He came back out to try it out. We'll keep an eye on that. He's an important piece to add in the deadline. He's the third line center. Could it be an interesting watch? Should for sure between the McDavid contract thing where it's going. Babcock comes in, Foreminton.

They've been taking some real heat over, over that. The one thing that they're not going to have to deal with this year is an incredibly short off season. They lost in round one. they don't it's maybe a difference of what a month but I feel that's a lot of hockey though and it's hard hockey it's more than a month probably it feels like it played a deep June for a while there in in what happened I I have no idea you kind of said feel like they're probably going to be in a better spot they might be able to have better success I don't like talking about them but I will they've got

two of the greatest players one of the best defensemen they're rested and they made good moves this off season. I don't last year I didn't say that the year before I didn't say that their moves this year was they were fine. They're solid. A little tweaks around the edges but not nothing egregious. It wasn't like missing match and offer sheets on future stars. That team that's on that you just showed is a better lineup than the year before.

Yep. And the two pieces they added the deadline are back and Murphy and Dickinson. They both re-upped. Those are just, they're good pieces. The question for me remains in net. I like Freddie Anderson a lot. I have not heard a timeline. I don't know if this is weeks, months. I have no idea because it's a, why would you tell them? And B, it's Freddie Anderson whose injury history is incredible, as is his numbers when he's healthy.

We know Tristan Jari. It's been wildly inconsistent, was not picked up on waivers two years ago. They thought he was a solution last year and he watched Ingram play when it mattered. Levi, huge question mark there as well. Very talented. Hasn't put it together at the NHL level yet. But you still have McDavid, Drysaitle and Evan Bouchard, to Rett's point and all those guys, it looked like a lot of money a couple years ago,

they're all on deals now, fellas. If they were free agents, they'd be getting way more. I don't like it. Like Evan Bouchard, 10 and a half million for three years. Three more, yeah. And he's a 90 point defenseman. For all of his warts and all of it, that's undeniable is what it is. If you don't think they're better than last year, you're insane. Last year they had 93 points.

It was a disaster. Uh, no. They were exhausted. The coach wasn't good. Everything that could did go wrong. They're going to be wrong. The over under this year is 104 and a half. That's an increase of 11 and a half points.

I think we'd all expect them to have more than 93 points this year in this division with that roster. They are minus 900 to make the playoffs, a K. A.K. a lock to win the division. Top team for odds at plus 175. President's trophy plus 8.50. And they are nine to one to win the Stanley Cup. They are a contender. No question.

There will be a lot of people. the outside, maybe even some that sit in Mardellout that will be wanting bad things to happen. And as far as wins and losses, nothing beyond that. But there is also a very real possibility that the coach isn't a complete disaster and that the goaltending takes care of itself and that guys stay healthy and they're very good. You have to do something real egregious to mess us up as a coach. Well, and to be fair, like it's been. 10 years with these stars.

They've done some really foolish things. And to Rett's point, this was an offseason. They didn't put their foot in the pear trap. That helps, right? It's interesting with Connor. This is the first year of a two-year extension. If it doesn't work or they don't win a cup, does Connor become the off-season story?

Or do you run them to free agency? Try to work a sign and trade when it's done if he wants out and use them for both years of this incredible steal of a deal. It's a weird conversation. We'll have it all summer, I suppose, but it's just, that's only a summer away. It's exciting to think he might leave for us, right? It would be so heartbreaking if you're an oiler's fan.

But in all honest, like at 12 and at, wait a minute, I can get Connor McDavid for 12 and a half. I'll give you everything I have. It's 10 firsts, whatever you ordered. But they still can't. They can't take. What I'm going to do is 10 first. What? And the other piece.

I think he's straight, sorry, Ryan, cut you off there. I think he's straightforward and enough and given enough to that team in city where I'll play for 12 and a half. But when I say I'm not signing, I expect. They owe him everything. Yes. He's been a perfect sense. He owes them nothing. And if they have, if they don't want to ruin their, again, I'm playing the what if Connor says I'm leaving.

Right. Which we're all praying for. But if he does that, you have to. You can't sure your franchise, can you? No. The moment he says he's gone, he's gone. And the moment he says, I'm staying, he'll stay. Like he's got all the cards.

12 and a half, can you imagine it's a steel. Yeah. And the other part of it is selfless. How great like when you could, you're making 12 and a half and everyone is like, hey, thanks for taking less. I'm making 12 and a half million dollars. US to live in Edmonton. That's going to buy a lot of don't airs.

Yeah. Well, and you know, what? Connor can go hawk food and vehicles and clothes every once on TV and subsidize that 12 and half if he needs to get to a higher number. He's going to be fine. No question about it. Anything else on the Oilers? We'll keep moving. That's enough. NHHL preseason about start, boys. It's one week preseason. Opens tomorrow. Teams gear up. Just four games. Vets that have played 100 games in the NHL are only allowed to play two. No more than that. You will not see a lot of veterans. Not a lot of time for Ryan Huska to try to figure things out.

And we're into our first 84 game season for a long time. I think of the early 90s they ran in 84 games. Bounced around 80, 82, 84, but not in any time in recent. In Jack's life, have we seen the 84 games schedule. Columbus, we know all I left with Rick Boness. Bonas was like, yo, we didn't hate losing enough. I don't like the attitude, this and that. Guns ablazing, they immediately renew them.

Bonus said two players came into camp with subpar conditioning, which pisses them off, given the. end of season meetings and summer conversations. He said those players are, quote, saved by the three-hour rules, which means no long training camp days nor the fitness testing coming in. I believe he's alluding to. He would not name the players. He would not name the players, but we can watch the ice time games one and two, Dino.

Yeah, he sat down with Portsline. Fortsland did a two-parter with him on the athletic and he was, I sat down with this guy. we've talked some things out. But he also said that when the season starts, I'm not pissing around with ice time. It's if you're in, you're getting played. If you're out, you're not playing. There's something refreshing about this.

Is there not? Like it's just so merit-based, no BS, no PR. Like, you know exactly how Rick Bone asked me. I find it also interesting because all of our assumptions are that there wouldn't be a guy that would show up in some part. Totally. And he's for any, he's not keeping it quiet.

And he's putting, these guns are blazing here. And to be fair, that franchise is wallowed in mediocrity since its inception. They need something like that. I was going to ask dregs about it. It's because it's not Detroit and they've, but they're, you don't talk about them. You don't think about them. But there's a lot of questions there. I'm like, what are they up to?

What's forinsky's future? What about Mershenko's? This is the right guy to bring back with that 25 game stretch where they were, I had whatever, two or three laws. Great after bonus game. You wonder, did it do more harm than good? Yeah. Like, what was that that happened?

Because you were undeniable for a couple months. Oh, and how do you do that? And then at the end of the year, the coach goes, these guys are idiots who may try hard. Yeah. What? Like, yeah. Calgary.

I'm paraphrasing, Jack. I'm paraphrasing. If you say, if I see a clip of Warner calls the Blue Jacket players, idiots. That's actually a good headline, Jack. Write that down. Yeah. You guys could talk about it when you're out for a drink.

That's right. Calgary Hitman opened their WHL season tonight at the dome. We heard from Daryl yesterday. It's a home and home. They're going to be in red deer tomorrow. That's right. I want to make the trip. Maybe you just check out the home game,

Hitmanhockey.com for tickets and more. You stupid Calgary. It's go buy. Go buy some tickets. Sped you my. See, now the Hibb and have their own take on the commemorative logo. Yeah. There you go.

That'll be it. I like it. Fairwell. for them too. Absolutely. Buffalo Bills read how'd they look last night. Hot knife through butter. Let's go.

They're undeniable. Josh Allen rumbling in. Josh Allen doing everything. Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen. Josh Allen. 41, and that's complimentary to the lions who did well in garbage town. You know he's a great man because marriage and children haven't slowed him down one bit. It's true.

Just like you're right. See, Jack, you can still have success. Tie the knot. Settled down. Titha. Questions are up coming up about Dan Campbell, though. Without Ben Johnson, what is he, Dean? Yeah, there was a lot of that floating around.

A lot of memes out there. Did you remember when they drafted Josh Allen? Because he was sort of this big unpolished guy out of Wyoming, big arm. But I don't know. Is he accurate enough? It was not accurate enough for some teams not to draft him that needed quarterbacks, including the Cleveland Browns. Josh Allen has nine total touchdowns in five days.

Deshawn Watson has eight in his last 1,041 days. God. Goodness. That's why the Browns are the Browns. Well, there was a point in time where we thought Watson was good. He had a great year in Houston and then everything went sideways. Yeah, it's easy for to forget that Josh Allen was not a, that was not a steel. That was not a reach.

There was risk involved there. He was at the start, he was throwing interception. Jesus, man. Is he going to be? accurately. Well, he threw one last night that was not great, but a penalty called it back. I think he's okay with last night on the hole. He's terrible. He's terrible. Take a run in his boy.

Let's take a look at the rest of week, too. We had a bangered opened up Thursday night. Here's the slate. Morning games. What do we got cooking? It is Eagles of Titans. We got the Vikings of the Bears. Nice NFC Norris division matchup for Dinos, Bears, Panthers, Falcons, Packers, Jets. in Foxborough to take on his favorite team and his favorite quarterback. You're kind of down on the Patriots, right? Yes, I am.

Kind of down on Drake May, right? Yes, I am. I'm doing our picks on a minute. That should be interesting. Saints put up a big number but could not play defense against the Lions in week one. They get a very scary looking Baltimore team with a new head coach. Cincinnati at Texas. That's interesting.

We've got a great offense. It's defense there. We'll see. Brown's bucks. Jags, Broncos. I'm confused. So under the bills. What's that?

That's their kickoff show that they're promoting on Fox. Yeah. And what's under that? That's another show that they're promoting as well. Back to back Fox programming notes. Thank you, Fox. We appreciate it. Raiders, Chargers, commanders, cowboys,

defending champs going to Arizona. They just stunned the Chargers last week. Dolphins are trashed. They go to San Francisco who are back from Australia. The Colts go to Kansas City and the Monday Nighter. The fun Giants, Dart and Scatabooon Company, against the Rams who got pantsed in Australia, mate.

I'm excited? Always. Good. Week two. Week two's over. Week two. Rets already moved on. He's advanced.

He does have two picks to make, but he locked in the bills yesterday. We're giving him that at minus five and a half. They cleared he's 1 and 0 already. We'll get to our picks later. Stampeders in action tomorrow. They've got the red blacks, 5 p.m. at McMahon and Cavalry FC also in action. Stink and Forge coming in Saturday afternoon as well. Always a banger when these two clubs clash.

And a little discount for Jack and his idiot buddies on the beer and the hot dogs and smash burgers. And yes, it was indeed a Rett alarm that is our kicker today. Happy Cheeseburger Day to everyone. Not many men have this in their phone, but there's only one Rett Warner. It's going to be good. So when that shows up, do you start making plans or? I'm just liking about it. Yeah.

Just marinating. I like making my own burgers. But on a special day like today, I think I'm going to go out. try a few different ones couple birds a few different it's like a pub crawl but it's a burger crawl

yeah that's all right I had a putteen a putteen day in Prince Albert once go round around what was the who was the winner well you but KFC oh really

KFC KFC Colonel had the gravy that is your pen to report this Friday September 18th of 2026

we were so close to hockey season fellas we're also closing in on some weather. Maybe it's time to upgrade your vehicle. Are you looking for a pre-owned vehicle over 90 units on site, on the northwest automobile at Village Honda, or more than 500 with their dealer group you've got access to. Any make, any model, any budget,

they got you sorted at Village Honda and VillageHonda.com. I appreciate the Barneys out there. Sometimes they'll send us, hey, here's a funny clip or here's something else. We got a heads up from one of the Barneys yesterday because we've been talking about GamTech. Godry company started in 2012. It's kind of the IT department for your small business.

If you got a small business, you can't afford to have downtime because your computers have been zapped in some malware, ransomware, email fraud taking you down. It's SOC2 certified. I didn't really. Soc 2. I think I said SOC 2. That's what I would have said. Yeah. Guys like, hey, just love the show, watch.

I'm kind of in this. Just tell boom, it's SOC2 and a certified B-Corp. It means they're audited and how they handle client data, how they run the business. So it's good to know that they're keeping an eye, they're taking care of you, and they've got people keeping an eye on them to make sure that they're doing the right things to keep an eye on you. It's like layers to this shit. Like it. Sock to go get it. Sock to me, baby.

Security first, ransomware email fraud. They'll take you down. You cannot have downtime for your computers for a day, for a week. You want to avoid it? It's Gamtech, gamtech, GAMTech.com.com. GAMTec.com. Get yourself a free, no obligation quote for your small or mid-sized business. The kind of company that maybe you have no IT person or one person who's completely

underwater. Completely losing their mind. Because I feel like IT people, they'd be well equipped to handle that. I ought to be, well, right. Oh, kind of putting IT people into a box, but. Camtech's got it. I feel like you, Gamete. that could help you out there.

So there you go. Want to do some picks? Let's do it. Let's do it. Bet 365. Of course, we're doing some football picks. It's still very much about the game of baseball. Did the Js finally get to win?

Didn't play yesterday. They didn't lose. Bet 365 has five run early payout. The team you're riding goes up by five runs. At any point in the game, they'll pay your bet out right then and there. You're a winner, whether that team goes actually on, go on to win or lose the game. Bet 365. Download the app.

See what early payout is. all about Alberta only, must be 18 or over, please play responsibly. Oh my goodness, you guys. So Pinder was wearing the clown costume last week. I got to get the makeup off this week. Walk us through it. All right, it's simple. I think the Jets are fine. They are playing.

Green Bay. The Packers looked like crap, didn't they? They really did. It looked good for a half. They were good until they weren't. And the Minnesota defense got pressure and pressure and pressure and pressure. I think they can keep this close. I'm getting three and a half points. Let's keep it within a field goal jets, maybe a little bit better. I'm kind of on both New York teams here. The Giants are getting seven and a half against the Rams who looked awful in Australia.

Now, they're going to be better than they looked in Australia. But the Giants under Jackson Dart, when he's starting, they're hanging with the big boys. Maybe it's not a win, but I think they keep this close. I'm getting seven and a half there. And then I'm taking the over on Minnesota, Chicago, both those teams piled up points. Chicago alone covers this total last week. Never mind the both of them. I think you're closer like 80, 90 points.

So let's play for the offense in Chicago. Chicago. Whether does it look to be an issue? I like that offense in Minnesota. Did he while moving the ball with Wentz as well? He's really going out on a limb there? He's got his three picks, but I didn't know. Is Wentz starting 100%? I believe he will, but I don't know, Marie. I think he will because I don't. Well, he threw three touches. Yeah. I don't think Murray's goal. They won't go to McCarthy. So I would assume it's wets. He was good. First time since Fran Tarkin to throw three touchdowns in relief. Like, Christ. Love Fran.

Pranny. We're doing 18,000 picks boys with the hells. Jackie yelled at me on our group chat, so I panicked. I'm like, oh! And I just started picking teams. Okay. Tell us about it. I know Buffalo.

You guys were used. I can't believe none of you guys took Buffalo. It was a guaranteed win. You're right. Yeah, we should have. That was a poor, poor planning on your part. I heard Green Bay was good. Dino's team Chicago put up a million points.

Denver's supposed to be good, although they were San Fran and beat the best team in the league. And Casey, they're back, baby. So that was just a panic attack. Those are my picks. There you go. Good job.

Panthers minus two and a half. They're in Atlanta to play the Falcons. Falcons quarterback play is awful. And the Panthers actually looked all right. Lots of points. They put up a bunch of points. Can they win by a field goal in Atlanta? I say yes.

Tampa Bay, they are home to the Cleveland Browns. Eight and a half is a lot of points. Last week, the Buccaneers, I'm trying to remember. I think they gave up 22 points by way of turnovers alone. Clean up the turnovers and you're in a good spot. I say they do that against Cleveland and they will win by more than eight and a half. The Eagles minus seven.

They're in Tennessee. I'd think the Titans might be picket first overall again. The only road thing that might get in a way where you stub your toe is if the boys are out of that's too long. That could be. That's the only. And Sequin loves, he loves legends, actually. He's a legends guy.

I'll take the Eagles by a touchdown. The Jacksonville Jaguars, two and a half points. They're getting in Denver. I think the Jags might be better than the Broncos. I'm not, I'm kind of with you on that. So I'll take the two and a half points. Seattle, it's been so long, we forget that they even played. When did they play last Wednesday, last Thursday?

That's right. Well rested, Dino. They're the champs. They're going into Arizona. I get Arizona had a good week, but it's still the Seahawks. that D is good. Minus three and a half. I'm giving it away on the road.

And yeah, the Chiefs are back. As you said, Andy's got the boys rolling. They've got the Colts going into Arrowhead. I don't think the Colts are any good. They got a good running back and outside of that. I'm not convinced.

I'll give away the six and a half and take the Chiefs. So yeah, there's so many games. What a week. So many. Lots, lots, lots. Jack,

walk us for yours. Boom. I'm with you on Jacksonville. Trevor Lawrence looks sharp leap one. Denver looked awful week one. I will take them plus two and a half. Baltimore at home against New Orleans. They're just going to run.

up. I don't think that New Orleans defense is very good. I think they can hang, but I'll take Baltimore 8 and a half. Pittsburgh and New England. Can I switch this? No. What? Why? I just think it's going to be a dog shit game. So like I think Pittsburgh hangs. They keep it close and whoever went to the field goal. I was going to switch it to the under. It feels like a field goal game. Yes. So I, okay, I'll keep Pittsburgh plus five and a half. Philly. They're playing Tennessee. like you said, they are dog shit. I think Cam Ward's a complete bust. I feel bad because I love the city,

but man, they're tough watch. Green Bay playing the Jets. I'm not with you, Pinder. I don't think the Jets are very good. I think Green Bay, uh, they run away with this one. And then I will also take Carolina minus two and a half. Who are they playing again?

The Falcons. Yeah, I like that one. I thought about that ton. Just come on. Of note. The teams that opened on Wednesday were New England and Seattle. That's a lot more rest than the teams are playing. It's New England against Pittsburgh at Seattle at Arizona.

Something to keep in mind. Does it matter? Does it not? I think it's less so for the teams in Australia because, you know, they had that 15-hour flight home. So with that said, Jack, this is your final speak now. Yes, I'll keep Pittsburgh plus five and a half. That's a lot of points. That is.

If D.K. can hang on to a ball here and there. Yeah. Seriously. Catch the ball, buddy. Grab it. Hang on to it. Like lots opportunities there. those are our picks

Pitman in a walking boot today Yeah I saw that Oh geez he's still five and a half Still on up Jack Those are our picks They don't need to be yours There you see the baseball deal It's on the go

Five runnerly payout Your team goes up by five You get paid It's that simple Download the app today Alberta only must be 18 years of age Or older please play Responsibly

I know you were talking I want to just give a shout out to Greta Yes They were ready they heard They were going to host you You had talked about maybe going to Greta and having

a lot of advertisers They got in away. Darned parent made it. Greta's a great spot. You may not, because it's about the, you get in there, you're playing the arcade games

and having drinks and the food and all that. It's a great place to watch some sports as well. They've got the side, they've got the alley on the side. And yeah, you're not going to have the retractable roof open right now. Maybe you do it. It's a beautiful day.

Maybe you can, but you have the option. Air hockey, arcade games, great grub, appetizers, street food. Drake specials. And if you want to watch the game, maybe it's, uh,

half time. Okay, go play some, go play some arcade game. Golden tea. Great spot. 2.13, 10th Avenue in the Southwest, Greta Barr, let the games begin. And I assume we'll be doing some stuff again over the course of the hockey season with Greta.

They've been great partners of ours in the past and continue to be. We look forward to getting back down there sometime and doing something silly. Good place for a work party. We had one last week there's right. Little silly. Something for everyone. Got the bets in pretty good. there's some other stuff too.

You didn't pick your team. Where are you out on the Bears this week? Because the defense was not good, but they almost put up 60 points. It's the Vikings defense on the other side. Yeah. Like it's four and a half. I like the Bears.

But I stayed away from the week ago. So of course, I have to stay away from the half. Fair enough. And after watching the charges, I can't go to my guy. I understand a Red says you always pick your team. This,

they are so scary right now. If anything, I like the Raiders in that game. It's a lot of points. They're getting six and a half. About the charges have thumped the Raiders at the SoFi. Love bad 365. Love the football's back.

So good. It's so good. Let's, uh, we'll do some of this. As we do have some super chats to wrap things up, money here goes to the U-S centers of Calgary. And now we talk about you. You get ridiculed.

You get made fun of. Maybe you get a pat on the back. Not likely. There's Shane. Rhymed Dog. Flames. I'm guessing Flames fan from Manitoba. a flames fan for 20 plus years.

Is it me or does Zane Perrek look bigger and more mature? And over under 60 points for him? Boy, over it'd be loving. How have you seen this guy? We're at the dome? What do you? Well, there's stuff online. Hey, there's video and that.

This is what people watch. He's a scrum lurker. Fans, fans do. Fans, it's a great time to be a fan. You got all kinds of ways to interact with your team. Oh, I saw some practice foot. She looks. Boys, if he had 60 points, we would be 60.

60s. Oh, with a movie. Like, that's a huge number. Like, he's actually a negative for the team. Is that right? Too good. You might win too many points. I might win a couple games.

Yeah. Player regular season points. I'm going to see if Bet365 has it. I don't think he's getting such. But if they are going to do as we say, play him all the time every time and give him power play time. How good is a power play? It still feels like 60s. 60 is a big.

Big number. Big. Big. Like, I don't think Rasmus in his career ever got to say. No. You know what 60 is, it's more than... It's 60. It's a lot. It's a lot.

Save it a year. Save it for a year. Oh, yeah. That's right. Two. Thanks, a fan for Manitoba. 20 year fan. 20 year fan. Cal Mav, 10 bucks. When is Ozzie Brad making a season debut?

Love that. See you next Tuesday. Go flames. Oilers suck. Straight and to the point. Right. To the point. Love it. well yeah we talked about it last year Ozzy Brad kind of went a dark on us yeah we've

we'll continue our search high and low we will continue to look I thought he did send something Jack shut up go at the bit you stupid Jesus well people are worried I am worried for you first time on the show Jack

or no but I thought didn't we have it there Jack go sit outside When you have a kid, have your wife talk to your, about Santa Claus and Easter Bunny and all that. Yeah. Two-ferry. Sex cow mouth. Thanks, Jack.

Nick Farrell. Nick. I tried to make a dad joke that would make everyone on the show laugh last season. No pun intended. Keep punching. We appreciate you. Kids love the 955. I was going to say that.

At least the price was a good. That's right. Sorry, Nick. You can't. No, after that. I can't do it. I'm worried, fellas. Uh-oh.

He's got a text. Somebody said this high mark stadium, unbelievable. But the cost of beer is. Oh, no. Yeah. Hopefully the flames are taking notes on what not to do to your fan base. It's police. Not your fault.

Sorry. Hawk and Lubies. Good handle. Steinberg, Noodles, Daryl, Dregs. great week fellows could listen to all those guys for hours love you hock and live about us yeah what are we part of that huh there again this was our first this should be the first week of the show they go last week disaster awful well didn't you take days off scotty kirk five bucks golfed with bouchard's cousin this summer at a family gathering they tease him by bringing pizza slices

he said he's a good sport about it. That's probably... It's an interesting anecdote, Scott. Thank you. I probably suggest like pizza being to pass up the... I don't know if that's his biggest issue. What do you think it is defending the rush? And he can pull out the...

96 points, is that okay? Whatever, was it 10.5 million a year and 96 points? Is that okay? He can eat. your own bloody pizza. 10.5. Buy is on a pizza restaurant.

Chris. 10 sheets a year. I like the story of those. Thanks, Scott. Who shares come? Brad, 20 bucks. So Steinberg can be on your show.

Pinder can be on his show. Maybe the return of a special guest to the Christmas show is possible now. Maybe, yeah, I don't know. Building bridges. Yeah. That's what we do here.

It feels like it's a different landscape. who's especially. Well, you know. 20 bucks is big, though. Thanks, Brad. Thank you, Brad. Appreciate that. Yeah, you were on with Steinberg yesterday.

Yeah. How nerdy did you get? Not too bad. The same sort of stuff we did today. Bristavich, who's correct playing with? Everyone loves Middleton. Who's going to, like, what about POSP Sol and Sam? Not everybody loves them as much as you.

No, that's fine. Look, I don't think Middleton's a superstar. But if you're going to, like you said, if it's Jan 13 and you're in 15th in the West, you need some guys to keep things light. And he's tough. Not Rhett. Old school tough, but today. No.

Did you ever do a stash during your career? I don't remember. I'm sure so, dude. Yeah. Well, we did the stash. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

All right. Is that all Jackie? That's it. Jack's drinking water over. Stay hydrated. Big weekend. Is it? No.

No. I'll have the lawn chairs out again on Sunday. Yeah. guessing the color of undergarments until then, I'm guessing. Yeah. It was a good week. We looked to have another good week again coming up. We'll be getting into preseason games.

Maybe there's, I mean, I can't imagine. I get the dome tonight. Yeah, we get the dome. You can have a hell of a weekend. Absolutely. Go get it. Yeah.

Weather's good. Need the staffs to get a win. Come on, boys. Let's go. It's after Labor Day. Come on, boys. It matters now. Let's go.

I hope Dave is not rattled by Cheeseburger Day. He doesn't like Cheeseburger Day. That's right. What a great point by you. I'm glad the game's tomorrow not today. Like you're, you're kind of mapping your day out, maybe go two to three places.

He is not going to be distracted whatsoever because he is not a cheeseburger guy. He's going to be working on special teams, coverages. Thank God for that. Thank God for that. But yeah, red blacks, haven't won?

Nope. Get a win, boys. Get a win, boys. It's all you, sponsors, listeners. Take care of our, take care of our sponsors. It's how she rolls.

We appreciate you. Jack, how was the show today? Fantastic show. How are you today? Mid, very mid. It gets distracted. It does get distracted.

Well, we'll be great again next week. You can improve. We'll do. See you, buddies.