Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - FN Barn Burner | With Nick Alberga - May 10th, 2023

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

FlamesNation Barn BurnerLive from the Tower Chrysler Studios in Marda Loop!- Nick Alberga From Leafs Nation Joins The Show- Preview of Tonight's Leafs vs Panthers Game- Flames Talk- Pinder Report Presented by Village Honda- Betway Bets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And we're off on another thrilling edition of the podcast that we call Barnburner. How are we, everyone? It's Boomer along with Warner and Pinder in our respective studios, but yet it's still the Tower Chrysler studio. That's right. Our Chrysler. Consumer Choice Award winner, Calgary's favorite Chrysler, Dodge Dealer, 10-901, McLeoddrell-South, Tower Chrysler.com. Betone you all week. this is the week to go if you're in the market, you know, maybe even if you're not.

This might be enough just to entice you to buy a new vehicle this week. Anyone who buys a new vehicle, a used vehicle, you buy a vehicle from Tower. You're going to be entered to win a $350 gift card to the Nordic Spa in Canaanascus in time for Mother's Day, which is this weekend, which we will deal with in a little bit. So there you go, Tower Chrysler. Again, good people, trying to do what they can to get you into a tower vehicle. over on the on the cloud trail that i didn't realize i think we've talked about this the uh the health benefits of the cold plunge the cold bath the cold shower that's a huge cold plunge

a huge cold plunge doing it for decades dean decades who's the guy yeah probably who's the guru it was like hans or something like that just to get in a cold tub when i played in buffalo You go to Stameter practice. They've got all the, basically the big rubber made tubs full sitting outside and the guy's big old linemen come, who, boosh, down into these things. I don't know how they do it. But apparently, health benefits. Is that what we're like to believe?

So that's correct. So it shocks your system. Makes you. It's a blood flow going, Dino. Let's go. A lot of blood flow. Span and contract all those arteries, right? Massive dopamine release.

very good for it. Gets rid of the white fat. Gets rid of the bad fat and keeps the good fat. Why are we talking about this? Well, the Nordic Spa. Gotcha. Norfolk Spa and Canaanascus.

I feel like you're more of a hot tub or a hot spa kind of guy. Are you going to go into cold when you get out there? I have not made it a practice. I'll maybe do it now because I'm being led to believe this is just the greatest thing ever. You can, you know what?

You want a cold, you want a cold plunge? Just drive down over to my house, hop off the dock, and you'll get your, you get a little chill for you. Okay. It'll be good. I'll, uh, I'll keep that in mind. I don't need a cold plunge, but I do have a cold. Thanks to, uh, where'd you get that? Some, I'm guessing it's some ass hat.

Hello, feeling sheepish here. Hi, Dean, how are you feeling today? Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah, real good, Ryan. You look really good. You know, it's okay. I feel bad that I'm not in studio because it's always good to see Jack

when we get in in the morning. Jack's also not, he's not feeling so well. Oh, is Jack? Oh, boy, sorry. He's not feeling tip-down. Jack's also at home. So both guys? Is there anything you want to say, Ryan?

Well, I just, you know, I've been working with a rat for about 10 years, and he just talked about toughing it out, playing hurt, and, you know, doing what's best for the team. Yeah. No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. Always do it.

No, it's great. It's real good. We are, we're going to have a guest coming up in a little bit. We're going to talk to. Can we make COVID jokes yet, or is it still too soon? You can make them. Some people laugh, some won't. Okay.

Do you think I got COVID? I'm not going to talk about it. Yeah, that's a good idea. I mean, if those COVID tests work. I think Albuquer coming on, he with the, yeah, Leifes Nation, we'll move on. He is, is he still in Vegas? I don't really understand what he's doing, but. Biggest game of the season, biggest game of their lives for the Toronto Maple Leafs,

as they take on the Florida Panthers facing elimination once again. So the question is. Elimination game for the Core 4. Is that what they are in Toronto? The core 4. Is that what we've got? Were they dogs the whole series? The question is.

Yeah. Or did they just have a disappearing game three after really good games one and two where Bobrovsky was upside down? Kind of want to be at your best when the stakes are the highest, right? That's the shame of it. You're promoting these guys too much, I think, Pindler. I think they've been horseshit. Neelander. They wanted two out there.

Yeah, Bobrowski. job is to get the puck in the net core for do your job. I want to hear any excuses. We've had that for 19 years. Finally, they start to produce. I was going to go to the game Friday night, but they're going to get beat tonight, so I won't be able to, like, come on, produce.

That's quite a weekend you could put together. If you got to go to Leaf's Pantaros and, what, J's as well, can we make it a double dip? This is Rets zipping around all of a sudden here, Dino. very sportsy big sporter big sports fan yeah huge sports fan uh game fours last night between uh we had devils and carolina and cracking and stars and all that going on last night um lopsided games lopsided games we'll get into it but there you see it the stars even things up with a with a big win six to three against the Cracken and Carolina.

Stranglehold is what they've got now. They've got a stranglehold after a six one. So six one and six three. Earlier games in this series have also been lopsided. Pretty much has every game in that Kane's Devil series been a blowout? Yep. Yep. It was what, five one, six one, eight four, six one.

Like it's not been, we haven't seen a close game now. It's weird. It's been a weird. second round. And you know, Rhett, I'd like to, I did something for you. If not for you, then something I'd like to just get your thoughts on.

I was watching, I went, watch some of the games and then get up this morning. You watch the, uh, the recaps and all that and just a few things standing out. And I guess when you have nine goals and seven goals, it's a lot of goals. There's a lot of things happening. But I put together a little montage here that I'd like to play for you. You as a defenseman, I would just like you to kind of watch here, and we can play this, Alex.

Just watching, I'm just curious your thoughts on some of the defensive plays that we saw last night. Again, it's the NHL, it's the playoffs. This is when the games are, things really tighten up, right? It's when things really start to, you buckle down. Scoring chances are at a premium. You just can't, protecting the puck at all costs. you never turn it over. No ad man.

Watch Dougie. Watch Dougie. Look in the middle of the ice. Look at Dougie Hamilton here. I think I play it for you again and I slow it down because Dougie's great. So here he is. There's Dougie. Across the blue line.

He's got the stick out there. Stick out there. Watch this hit. Oh. Devastity. Massive check on poor Dougie. And it continues. Again, it's count the body checks for this video montage.

The count I think is maybe one. count that one from Dougie. It was on Dougie, the poor receiving end of it. Geez. I know, yeah, poor Dougie. It was inadvertent, I would say. Yeah, collision maybe. Now, there is a check coming up here.

Watch this one. Oh, huge hit there. Huge hit, except Hughes has dropped his stick, so he slows down to pick it up. And now it's in his net. Luke Hughes did have a tough day. Luke Hughes did have a tough day. A tough day for a few here. Look at this.

Oh, so that was the first game. Now, it's just, I know it's this power play, but I just wonder, is it. is it supposed to be this easy to gain the zone all the time again find a body check if you could anywhere can i interrupt you this is i don't even know i don't know if it even requires a body check just a get close to someone and check them mark your man there's one there's one right there but uh the winger is nowhere to be found on the uh on the point man who just

walks right in. Oh. This is two games last, this is two games last night. Hints causes the turnover bag. He's, what are we watching, retro? You are watching the culmination of probably 15 years of coaching, where the emphasis has been put on skill development,

skill development, which is great. The kids have never been more skilled. Ever. What was that? Did I hear something? Anyway, where the kids have never, never been more skilled. But as a defenseman, they've never been taught that actually playing defense is important. And Rhett still doesn't have a damn job in this league.

What the hell's happening? And I still don't, can't find a job. Well, you know what it is, Ryan? I've been labeled as a stay-at-home defenseman because of the new coaching. that just we can't have that. That's not part of the game anymore. That's old fart stuff. One of the other things is what Daryl said,

and we kind of laughed about it, which was, you know, oh, 10 years ago, you get a two-goal lead, you sit back, you know, you dump it in, you trap. That was 10 years ago. Today you look for the next goal. And I think that's part of it, too, that those tighter games were almost a result of a philosophy.

Okay, we're up to, let's get it deep and grind. Whereas now it's like, no, keep flooring it. Like, how many games have got to six goals in this series? It's unbelievable. Like, we're talking almost every game we've seen in the second round, the two teams are combined for huge number of goals here. This is uncanny. It is unique.

It's unique because the other thing that, you know, the scoring is phenomenal and it's great for, well, when it's 6-1, I don't know how exciting it is. and the skill level of the players phenomenal. But the goalies are better than they used to be. How in the hell are they allowing six? Well, and they aren't this round, I would suggest. I think Pabrofsky's been great,

but Ottingers looked very ordinary at times. I mean, I don't think either Vegas nor Edmonton has been thrilled with their goaltending through three games so far. Carolina. I mean, in general. Yeah, sure. I mean, I agree with you in general, but I think what we've seen for two weeks hasn't been good goaltending,

to be fair, outside of Bobrovsky. Yeah, okay. And that's, I get that. And that can happen. It's just odd to think, yes, the players have improved in skill, but I'll be damned if the goaltenders are worse, right? Like, they're not worse. They may be playing not as good as they can, but they're certainly not worse. So it's crazy to think either these players are so good.

And when Drysaitle scored that one kind of from the crease in that first game, I think, it was against Vegas, where they gave it to me just kind of fake to pass out front and put it off the goalie's back, kind of in that top short side corner. Maybe that is too good in a way, right? Like, what the hell is the goal he's supposed to do? Take away every square. Like, if I can't leave this much space open, sorry, that I'm doing my best. Doing my best. Do fans want it this way or do they want it the old way?

If you probably were to ask them, would they rather have 6-1, 6-3? Which team are you cheering for Carolina or Jersey? Can we have a 5-4? Like, I'd like the final period of matter. That's what we're missing here. There's lots of action. We're just missing the, ooh, it's tense. Like the Toronto, Florida series has been really tight the whole way.

They're all one goal games. Four two in game one. There might have been an empty-nighter there. But like all these others, it's like, where's the late drama? Like, if someone's pulling their goalie, they're down three with three minutes left. That ain't it. That's what we're missing. So, like, of course, we want to be selfish. We want all the goals and we want it to be close. But, yeah, there haven't been a lot of nerve-wracking games. Two have gone to overtime. They're both in that Florida Toronto series.

Speaking of Florida Toronto series, go ahead. No, you finish up? Go ahead. When I envision playoff hockey, it's what Pinder was saying. I don't, I don't, so if you want my answer, I would rather a two one because it's like baseball. I want that pitch to matter in the playoffs. I want every shift to matter in the playoffs. I want to be

on the edge of my seat. I don't want to be nodding off in the third period going, well, what the hell difference doesn't make? I might as well go to bed. I wonder what those teams after watching, because that's just the highlights from last night. If you're the either side, because there was breakdowns, if you're going through tape,

where do you start with any of those teams? after those breakdowns. Burn it. That's a good place. It's almost too late. There's no way. If the coaches and the,

are trying to now implement a defensive system and they've allowed that type of play all year, it's too late. Start scoring again because that's the only way. You're clearly not capable of doing a shutdown system. So I'm looking at the numbers here. As I was saying, Leaves and, shut up, Pender, Leifes and the Florida Panthers tonight,

the Leaves have to win. I think when you're down three nothing, you have to win. Our next guest will confirm or deny that for us. From Leaves Nation, of course, he and Jay Rose Hill. Everyone's doing it. All the cool kids are doing it. It's all about podcasts. And he joins us now from his palatial state in,

The Mirrors. Suburban, where are we? Are we in? Not downtown Toronto. Downtown, baby. Liberty Village. Yeah. Nick Alberga joins us.

Nick, what's going on, buddy? Good to talk to you. Great to be on with you guys. I'm feeling good, feeling great. Just coming off a three-day trip in Sin City. So I'm trying to catch up a bit here. You shouldn't be feeling good. You were down there.

What were you? What were you doing? Just a couple things here and there. I do some stuff with Veecen, like the sports betting network out there. So I sort of did like a car wash, guested on a bunch of their shows, promoted the Nation Network and Leafs Nation. And I thought it was a win-win for everybody involved.

And unfortunately, I stayed in my hotel room on Sunday night, well, Sunday afternoon there and watched the shit show of a hockey game. Hmm. Yeah. What's that? Yeah. I've been, we've been kind of kicking it around. And I guess you would be well-equipped to answer. all of the kind of the good feelings and whatever, whatever was gained from that round one win for,

whether it's dubus or key for the core four, for everybody, is it all gone? If they don't win this series, if they do not come back and win it in seven, did they lose any of that positive momentum that they got from a round one win? Well, firstly, I would, it makes it worse in my world. Like if they get swept, like, what was the whole point of 19 years? What was the whole point of going out on King Street West and people celebrating and going crazy? And, you know, I said this almost sheepishly after they won that series with Rosie, who tend to do agree. Like, I thought we sort of lost sight of the fact that you're trying to win a Stanley Cup and not a

playoff round. And to get in this position, you know, a week and a half after you win your playoff series or your first playoff series in 19 years is quite remarkable. But I think Florida deserves a lot of credit, first and foremost. They played really, really well. but we've seen a lot of this in the past, you know, in this era of Kyle Dubus and Matthews and Marner and Nylander where they just can't show up when it matters most.

And it seems like the game just too big for them. Like that's what I saw on Sunday. And it was so flabbergasting in many ways because the leaves by far I thought were the better team in game one and two of the series. But they got goalied and that happens from time to time. But like they played like a buried team unless they're at elbow room all Saturday night. Who knows? You could be.

Rhett, you've been in that scenario, right, where you focus so much on one particular series. Yes, the elbow room. And now,

listen, you can check the webcam at the elbow room. Go back, take a peek and see if you can find the boys. It's possible. Imagine. Imagine we find him.

Willie Neander is strutting out at 3. I'm Willie Neander strutting out before the game. Can you, can you see some of that retro? Obviously, it sounds silly,

but there was so much focus. on get out of the first round you can't get on the first round i could see it from a i don't know i only see it from a fan's perspective it's you know what i think about this the flames hadn't won in anaheim for 20 f in years or whatever it was every year it's a different team it's irrelevant the the the the 2007 Toronto leaves maple leaves have all to do with this year's version so to say that their focus was that Now, a lot of these guys have been around and had some tough losses, but you would think that overcoming that and having that weight on your shoulder, once it was lifted, now it would be, holy shit, now we got it, let's go. It shouldn't be a, huh, that was fun.

What's next? It's not a distracted time. If you're a group of guys that want to accomplish something and go down into the history books and become one of the greatest teams that in Toronto Maple Leafs History, you don't stop playing after after game or after winning a series no way look at look at the the team they're against they overcome the adversity you come back from a three one deficit against the best team ever in the regular season they found the game and they're building on it something's wrong in the dressing room in Toronto it has to be right like I just the curious thing for me is like how many head coaches are you going to go through like at some point

in time the onus is on the players and I think you know who knows will transpire if they lose tonight obviously there's going to be change there's always scapegoats and professional sports but like I think the last card to play is not blowing it up but making a monumental deal like everybody always likes to bring up the kawai

trade that's unfair different league different opportunity different time I think you have to blow it up in the respect to looking at a guy like marner or kneeland or obviously the big time conversations guys are going to come this summer too when it comes to us to matthews one year away from UFA.

But that's the most logical move to me. I know somebody's probably going to lose their job in this scenario, but the fact that you've been in this position, time in and time out, and red, I agree with you. Like, how do you go through the war,

if you will, for lack of a better term, of a six-game series against a team that's been a three consecutive Stanley Cup finals? And then you show up and you play really, really well in game one. Broowski plays well. Game two,

you play unbelievable, you lose that game. And that's how you come out. The core four, the star players of this franchise make all the money, and that's how you come out for arguably the biggest game of your career. It's alarming. That's being nice about it.

Yeah, I'm with you, Nick. Like, it's not that they haven't performed well. It's just that you get goaled into. And so now the biggest game of the year, you got to show up. And that's when they haven't. I feel like sometimes you can look at, oh, they've got no points here. But it wasn't like they didn't play well in game one and two. I'm more fascinated about what remains here at the end of this series,

because the likelihood they win four in a row is extremely low. Like the GM's contract's up, and like the cap ain't going nowhere this year. The year after it looks like it's going to take a huge jump, but how do you approach a Matthews situation with a no move? How do you, you know, like, is it time to say these four can't work together? We need to turn them into a goalie or a defenseman that we can trust to be healthy and play big minutes? It's, Pender, I mean, it's past that time. I've been saying this for a couple years and everybody thinks of Mr. Negative, Nancy in the Toronto market and whatever.

Like, I'm just doing my job and I think I felt this way for a long period of time that they don't have it in them to get the job done. And I think they've proved me right time and time again, with exception of winning that first round series where Tampa was the better team and the puck luck finally went their way. So I don't think, you know, this core four can win together. And I think ultimately that question will be asked in the offseason. But again, there's so many moving parts. And you mentioned Kyle Dubus, it's like, what does he ultimately want? want to do. Like there's a, there's a reason why he's been linked to that president's job in Pittsburgh for like two months now and then Burke's gone. Like there's a lot of moving parts. So I think when this

thing and this job is complete for Florida, I agree with you. Like it's going to happen at some point of time. I mean, stats are stats. And the fact that only four teams have done it in NHL history just tells you what you need to know. So who knows? But I think there's got to be sort of a domino effect. What are we doing with our GM? What are we doing with our head coach? Is Brennan-Shanen in play? Like all those questions will be asked. I'm sure we'll have Frank Saravali on our show and we'll break it all down. But then after that, it's sort of fascinating to me because you have to instill a game plan. Like, what are we doing next?

If it's not dubus, who are we bringing in? And then, oh, yeah, you have to have some big-time negotiations in the summer and conversations with the likes of Nylander and Austin Matthews. And I think to answer your question about Matthews, it's pretty plain and simple. And I don't have to be the first to tell you guys how these conversations go, right? Like, and painting yourself in a bad picture. but if Austin Matthews doesn't give you the belief or the signing on the dotted line right away that he's doing it,

then I'm sorry, man, you go nuclear, you have to do it. There is no way in my world, I don't care which team you are. You enter a walk here with Austin Matthews on your roster unsigned. I think you're playing the wrong way. Has Dubus, in your opinion, done enough to help the team? It's weird because you watch a lot of situations where maybe a team is falling short of expectations. And a lot of times a general manager, the management take,

a lot of the shit. It feels like here at least from a long ways away that the fans, it's less about dubus and it's more about the players themselves, that they've brought in, they've tried to add veterans, they've tried to add guys here and there, they bring in defense. It feels like in a lot of ways that dubus and the management have really tried to come at this different ways. Who are the fans looking to hammer here? Everybody and then me after that. No, I think you're, you're, you're, breakdown is so accurate. Like, you know, I should preface by saying I have not been the biggest fan, I should say, of Kyle Dubis, having said that, what else is the guy going to do? I mean,

he brought in like Ryan O'Reilly, the 2019 Konsmite trophy winner, love the Nolachari pickup. Luke Shen's been fantastic. I mean, honestly, I think he's been their best defenseman pound for pound in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Look at what he's done with Morgan Riley. Morgan Riley was terrible this year. You throw Luke Shen with him and he's doing exactly what he did with Quinn he was in Vancouver. So I think Dubus deserves a lot of credit for thinking outside the box and manipulating the roster. And Brandon Pridham, their capologist has done a great job. At the end of the day, and you'll know this, and you guys will know this.

Like, it comes down to the players. It comes down to the core for can you show up when it matters most? And ultimately, I get it. Kyle Dubas put these guys together. But when push comes to shove, it's just so easy to use the coach and the GM as a scapego. But, I mean, you look at this situation. You got to step up here, boys. Is there any discussion?

We talked about it. I brought it up the other day because I was thinking about Austin Matthews and what's going on. And my take or thoughts on it were unique path into the NHO. I don't know. I've not done a bunch of homework on it, but play cross-ice hockey and Phoenix, blah, blah, blah. Goes over to Switzerland, plays over there. Oh, yeah, that's great, hard league, this and that. But I said, is there something missing from his game that would have been learned from playing like a junior hockey or a USHL or something of that matter where you had to be the go-to guy in those playoff type situations?

Did he miss that learning? Is that ever discussed? Is it something that's reasonable to think about or is it completely out to lunch? I don't think so. Honestly, I think we don't make enough of this in media. it is hard to win in this league in pro sports in general. And I always like to bring up the name Stephen Stamcoast for the first 11 years of his career. He was a notorious loser.

People are like, oh, that guy can't win when it matters most. And now look at Stephen Stamcoast, right? So who's to say a guy like Mitch Marner doesn't get dealt or Matthews goes elsewhere and they find a way to get the job done? You know, not that I'm giving this team a pass and this organization a pass because every year it's a same old dog shit story with this team. But like I do believe that it takes time to learn. to win, some players never win, right? And I just think it's so, so difficult to win in this league. And we don't put enough stock in that.

I don't think there's anything that could have changed in Matthews' upbringing, man. Like the guy's a stud. He's an absolute superstar. When he's playing his game, look at last year at 60 and 73, top three, top four player in the league period, right? Like, he's just been off this season. But I just think it's so difficult because you look around this league. We're even having this conversation.

I know Edmonton's down 2-1 to Vegas. What does McDavid won? What does Dry Settle 1? I just think it's so hard to win in this league that I'm always careful that I don't talk down that narrative because you even look at an Alex Ovechkin. It took him to win a cup, right? So I just think it's so hard to win in this league. Tough tournament, right? Like Ovi's been through the second round once.

Yeah. Got his cup. Good thing you did. I think again only went through the second round once, if I'm correct. That's wild and I get it a long time here and there's some bad teams. No, because he went in Boston to the semis as well. Anyway, not a lot. So twice.

And then Nathan McKinnon once. That's a really good young team, but they ran into their troubles in round two. And like if Connor and Leon don't get through Vegas, once for those two as well. Yeah, the 32 teams all of a sudden, it's tough to win a cup. Well, the thing that gets me, no, it is. And the thing that gets me too is like people every year, like in this market, I don't know if it's the same there, but with the current configuration, of the playoffs. Like, oh, they always have to play Tampa. But last time I checked, I was the Leafs radio

host for a couple of years during a world pandemic. They lost to Columbus. They lost to the Montreal Canadiens that was around when they lost to the Boston Bruins. It's not like they're just doing it to an elite team like Tampa. So they finally get over that hurdle. Now you're playing a Florida team. Utter buffoonery by the fans saying, we want Florida. Like, do you not watch the game at all? Maybe they're lost or something. Or don't watch the rest of the league because the Panthers won the president's trophy last year. And they got your guy, Matthew, a chuck, right? Like, it just, I don't know, it's just befuddling that we're having this conversation the last couple days. It's been very down on Leafs morning take, but it is what it is.

Like, I can't say it wasn't prepared for this type of rodeo in the Stanley Cup playoffs because we've seen this so many times from the Toronto Maple East. They, they pull you in, like, they pull everybody in in round one. They win in six games. They get the puck luck, three OT victories. People start to get that feeling, and this is what happens to you. that group, the core four, Riley, Nealander, Matthews, Marner, in your opinion, Tvers.

Who, who does, and I guess you know, I guess you know, Tavares, who deserves the, the least amount of shit? Who's more or less, at least to a certain level, lived up to their expectation or has done the most that you can expect that they could?

There's always more, but who's maybe being, you know, lumped in with that group, maybe a little unfairly? Well, so a lot of fifth, I know you're asking about the core four on those four forwards. Like I think Morgan Riley got a lot of heat in the regular season. He's really, really stepped up. So of those four forwards, I honestly feel like it's William Nealander.

And at times, like it feels and it seems like he's not there mentally for some reason, usually happens in the regular season. From what I recall, the last couple post seasons, the Montreal one, the Columbus one, he always seems to get some points and pick up some goals and be an effective player and make a difference in a hockey game. I can't say the same, especially in this Stanley Cup playoffs, like John Tavares has been a ghost for the most part,

which is really, really unfortunate. He had a pretty decent bounce back season, and then you get to the Marner and Matthews conversation. Like, they put up their points, but I think there are so many ways to impact the winning hockey game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's not all about the offense. And just the perimeter plays,

like the big thing for me has been, you know, puck management and how poor it's been from this team. Like they literally play like me in beer league hockey where it's like they're flying the zone. I honestly think like simple hockey wins this year. And from the Maple East perspective, look across the ice. Look at the pride. Look at the belief.

Florida's not afraid to go into dirty areas. And of course, you know who starts all that. But they have like Radco Gutis. Like they have other guys who will play that physical game. I think you look at the Maple Leafs perspective. They're trying to dipsy doodle at the blue line. Like put the puck off the glass, the old good Branson special. Like I love that, man.

Just get the puck out, ring it around the boards. and do your thing and use your speed and your hands in the neutral zone. But they, again, it doesn't matter who the coach is, who the assistants are. It's always the same song and dance. And that's why they find themselves in this position. What's the score in this series of you switch goals? Right, retro? Off the glass and out.

If you switch goalies? Yeah. Alex Lyon, you mean? Well, no, I mean the one that's, you know, five goals above expected, saved in games. I mean, I'm just like, I understand all we're saying. If Bobrowski's in the Leafs, net is what you're saying. Yeah, if you have Bobrovsky a leaf and Samsonov at the other end and then Wool for game three. Like, are they up 3-0?

Because everything we've said, I think, is very true. And yet at the end of the day, this fucking sport is so cruel. If you just don't get goaltending or do, it's like, sorry, changes everything. Yeah. And that's the flaw. Again, I don't want to get into this analytics. I test debate. Like, I'll do it until I'm blue in the face.

But like, that's the flaw in analytics. Like, there's no oomph. Like, I don't know how to put it like heart, determination, relentlessly. this list. Like, you look at the least play last game. I'm like, man, like, it just makes no sense. Like, do you guys want this? Like, do you not wake up every day and say, I want to fucking hoist that Stanley Cup? I want my party in the summer. Like, maybe we're wound differently, guys. Maybe we're of a different generation and a motivation. But, like, that's the thing that gets me and Rosie. And Rosie fought in this league. He played in this league. He knows how special it is to be a

Toronto Maple Leaf. We're a player in the NHL period. Like, we have Luke Shen on quite a bit, but he's with Rosie. Same story. Like, you can see and tell the guys who care. And they don't know if they're going to be out there for their next shift, but they're going to go balls to the wall. And that's what is so alarming. I don't know what motivates these guys, how to motivate these guys, whether it's Mike Babcock or Sheldon Keefe now or any assistant coach or a GM. It's just so puzzling that they can get the most of these guys when it matter most.

And I don't know, just the motivation has to be off, right? You shouldn't have to motivate it all as a coach come play off time. Not at all. But the lineup up and you guys figure it out. Yeah, and to me, if you are one of those guys where it's like, yeah, I want the cup party, I want to win this thing. It would have to just grind your box when you're looking down the bench at somebody who doesn't give a shit or who isn't up to, even even if it's not your intensity level. It's guys. You'd be more pissed off at your own guys and you would be against than the other team, I would think, half the time.

You know what drives me nuts too, and I know this is old school and right when you were in the league, it happened a lot. Like I loved when coaches called out players in the media, man. They never do it anymore. It's like, man, you want to piss off a guy? These guys are all over social media. Call them out. Tell him he was shit to the media. What is he going to do?

I found it odd this year. Like, in Calgary it happened. I don't think Daryl is easy to play for it. I know he's a prick, but he seemed to be okay at his job last year. And now of a sudden he's an old fossil and can't coach. Different. and now guys aren't in the old days there's not a player that would have said the things that they've said since Darrell's been fired. You'd have said, yeah, maybe it was time for change and that would be about as far as it goes.

Now, it's great for media to get better quotes and it's more interesting and this and that. But I think it happened in Winnipeg where, oh, my God. Coach says team horseshit. And then Wheeler comes back. says, well, the coach is an idiot for talking that way in the media, and he shouldn't have said that. What I'm getting at is that it does seem like now, players, that line between you don't question the coach

and the players just are supposed to play for the coach, it's gone. It feels like the coach is afraid to question the players or call them out. And if he does, the players have no issue saying, yeah, well, fuck you. I won't play for you. What's interesting is... That's fine.

We know who's going to leave first. Not me. Well, and so... You know, that's a... Go ahead, Pinner. Yeah, just a real quick... I think we're moving towards that era of a different style of coach

if we're not fully already moved into it. But it's funny that the players coach, like John Cooper, was actually the guy that kind of called his guys out a bit this year, right? But he's established that over years and years, and they've had three Stanley finals or in a row, right? Like, it's a winning room. He's probably feeling fairly confident in his, you know, situation in Tampa. Yeah, he's got a bit of a leash.

But, you know, I was having this conversation actually in Vegas. I was at a watch party at Stadium swim the other day and talking to a couple of fans. And, you know, I just said in general, like, the motivating factors for human beings, like, in this league, it's changed so much where it's like you have one good season off your rookie year and you get paid, you know, your dreams. Like your life is set up. Your kids' lives are set up. There is no like, it's not like the old school days where guys like 30 finally hits UFA and finally gets the ticket, right?

Yeah. And I think that goes along with what I'm saying about motivation. Like, what are these guys waking up every day to do? Like, what's your internal passion? Like if it's not the Stanley Cup, is it war zone? Is it video games? And that's the puzzling thing for me, honestly, in this conversation is like, what drives you? Like, I don't know about you guys.

When I wake up every day, I question what, drives me what I want to accomplish today. I just, I watch this team sometimes and I'm like, are you even there? Like, are you on Snapchat for half the game or on the tab? I would take the tablets completely away, man. That drives me nuts too. It's all I do.

They get back to the bench. Oh, shit. What did I do wrong? It's like, play the game. We went through that here, not some of the, just you think you finally have the, have the team figured out. Okay, here you go. So you beat a really good team.

You beat a really good team. All right. You're on a roll. You lose to Chicago. Okay. Then you come back and you beat a good team. Another good team you lose to Anaheim. It's,

I just, it's the most frustrating thing. And it sounds like we're frigging old men's shouting at the clouds, but it's kids today, right? It doesn't it though? It just, well,

it does sound that way. And Pinder, you might not be off. It's true. And you might not be off that there's a new wave of, that needs to take place or is about to take place or, what does that mean though does that just mean that every two years you're going to need a new coach for these guys like you don't want that do you right i think it's but that's the problem is

if these guys aren't if they're not motivated internally like like saying if they're not motivated internally and they're every coach has guys that the even cooper would have guys in the room that he butts heads with a little bit or like him less than other guys. But my point, or the point I'm trying to make is if it's a two-year window and you have to play up to the players and you don't know what their motivation is, if it's not winning a Stanley Cup, there's no motivation at all anyway. So there's nothing you can do as a coach. And then if you question them, you're going to get fired because you, I don't understand

how there's going to be a coach. You might as well just give them the tablets on the bench and go, well, well, here it was the play. Watch. There's no sense having a coach. Because he can't motivate you and he can't, if I sit you because you're not into it tonight, well, then F you,

I'm not going to play hard for you the next game. The stars are going to say, like, how do you, the only thing a coach can control is your ice time. And if you control a guy's ice time and say, even if you don't do it publicly, people will pick up on it if you don't play a star or someone else. And if you limit someone's ice time,

the media is going to notice, the player is going to notice, and if he gives you the finger, what can you do about it? How do you instill fear? How do you instill fear, right? Accountability, even, even if it's not fear. Accountability, you're not allowed to play that way. Oh, yeah? Yeah.

I am, because guess what? And I'm not saying it's true, and not every player is the same, and everybody's different, but if the fact that your bank account is overflowing has anything to do with your desire to win a Stanley Cup, then you are a shitty teammate and a shitty hockey player. Yeah, yeah. No, that's well said, because, again, we've, Rosie, like, this is Rosie's first year on the beat,

and I said this, he's like, why are you freaking out two losses against Anaheim in October? I'm like, dude, just wait. This is what they do in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Like, it doesn't matter, man. Like, this is the least team. And again, maybe I've covered this team for too long, but, like, this is what they do.

they're consistently inconsistent. Like they'll have moments where they'll win, six, seven in a row be so dominant and the regular season doesn't matter at all. But then you get to the Stanley Cup playoffs when the games are a vast importance and these guys run away and hide like a scold-a-dog. Like it's just, it really, really is, you know, a puzzling scenario.

And I'm so there with you, Rhett. Like, I just think there's no accountability in life in general, but never mind the world of pro sports and the NHL where it's like, how do you instill fear? from a player's perspective, like, if I fuck up, what happens? Press box, okay, I make $7 million a year. Like, it doesn't matter. And that's the problem with this league is that these guys get paid so quickly,

it does not matter. And again, it gets back to the point. Where's the motivation? I got one last one. I don't need to go now. I was just going to say Austin Matthews has been making $11 million right out of entry level. And even if you want to win so bad.

Sadly, how bad does it get? So game 82 and then we play a couple in the playoffs. Oh, shit, we lost. Life doesn't go in the shitter the next day. Life's pretty good. Like, where are we going? What are we doing, boys? Let's go.

I think the healing is not hard. It used to be back in the day, though, right? Like, when you lost a series back in the day, I don't know. When I played sports, like, I took it hard. And again, maybe we're round differently. Like, I don't think we're old by any stretch. but like there is no like you know there's no like pissed off nature when guys lose today it's like next day they show up in the media they say what they have to say like marner's ongoing battle

with the media that he doesn't pay attention it's like yeah fucking right buddy you're all over instagram you're all over every goddamn commercial we know you're watching like don't play that card just go out there and do your thing like i don't want to we're so tired and fatigued and i'm sure you guys are the same way in calgary it's like i don't want to hear from them anymore they're going to give me the same like willie nilander i have the quote in front of me like this is the best part. I opened up the show playing the Marner clip, how he's going back and forth of the media. It's like maybe you're trying to steer the conversation a different scenario, but you're down 03 to

Florida here. Nealander, I think it will be fun tomorrow. They're like, why? Because that's when you have to play your best. Does that give you guys the confidence if one of your star players is saying that they're going to come out balls to the wall and win? I don't fucking think so. Didn't in game three, did they? All right. No. Last one from me. in 16 months what jerseys Austin Matthews were. That's not next year or the year after.

I think it's going to be the Maple Leafs. Really? I just think he actually loves, I don't think Bieber is going to let him go, man. It's a Bieber thing. Maybe that's the fucking problem. Where's he going to go? Yeah, like honestly, where's you going to go?

You're going to go. Anyone with fucking cap room. Yeah. Well, who's got cap room? It's going to be a shit team. The shit teams always have cap room. What are Carolina does?

Are ready to win a cup are going to... Okay, but is he really going to go to Carolina? I don't know. I'm just asking, I don't know the guy. What makes him tick? Does he like playing in a fish bowl? At times,

I wonder if he does. It's the hardest market to play it. I believe that. Yeah, but he also loves the glitz and the glamour that comes with it, right? Like, there's a reason why you see him at UFC and stuff like that.

Like, I'm not kidding. Like, I think the relationship with Bieber is a big one for this whole process, but I do think what's likely to happen. I think he signs like a three-year contract. and revisits. Because the only place other than Arizona, why in the hell would you want to play there?

I get your from there would be Los Angeles. But Capspace, like the guy's going to command a ridiculous market. And that pretty much puts any team out there who's a legit team for his services. Is he hurting himself with free? He's going to command a lot of money. But yesterday,

Sarah Valor is on here saying there's no way he's going to command more than he's already making. He's not proven. I mean, has he done enough, playoff? Why? to show another team that, God dang it, we got to get this guy under contract. He's going to be the piece that takes us over the top?

Well, it's funny. He comes off that year, 1673, and everybody's like he's going to have the highest A.A. The next best contract. And now all of a sudden comes off. By his standards, it was a so-so year. He was really good in round one, and there's been a no-show in round two. So I don't know how those negotiations are going to go.

I think, obviously, they're going to bargain for the best possible. price for us to Matthews and set himself apart from the others. But I would tend to agree with Frank. I mean, given what he's done in the postseason, why would the Leaf step up and pay him all that money right now? Which leads me to think that there might be somebody else because his agent, I think, would be telling, and I feel like Matthews, again, from a million miles away, is a glitz. He likes that. That's fine. But he's also a give me everything. I want, I'm going to go to the highest bidder, which makes me believe that he would want to get to free agency and at least explore.

And I think it's less about location and less about legacy as it is about lifestyle and money. Well, let's hope that I'm not at a bar in Toronto at like 1133 Eastern Time and Matthew Kachukch's traded then because that would suck. And I'm not leaving the bar to go do a show. That's for sure. I was going to say about the shows. So you're in downtown Toronto as we've established.

And this donkey is sitting in a. a kitchen and a rental in Buffalo. Your co-host, Jay Rosehill, he's in Alberta. He's in Calgary or olds or some frigging. We're bringing it. We got this shit backwards. What the hell?

Yeah, I have no clue. I believe Luke Shen set it up with Frank Cerra Valley, and they came to a conclusion that Jay Rosehill would be the perfect co-host for me. But yeah, it's been a fun ride. It's been a lot of fun. Like, as you guys know, I was in the corporate world as well, working for a, you know, a different network that I'm not going to mention. And, you know, it was a good time.

But this is, it's been a lot of fun, you know, going through this ride and just having the freedom to do our thing and spread our wings. Rosie's been a great co-host. I, if you would talk about stuff other than the Leafs, I'd be my favorite show. It's just that you keep talking about the Leafs on Leafs Morning Take. I find that's a bit of a thing for me. But no, you know what? Just as a guy who, like you say, we were all kind of coming from that business. but just to kind of sit and watch you guys

from where you started in the fall and got into the season and to where you guys are now. The chemistry is so good. It's just gotten, you guys are very comfortable together. I think it's, I think Rosie has come out of his shell a little bit too. I saw his stuff on the trade deadline day. He's willing to kind of shoot from the hip now.

So it's good for you guys. I like what you're doing out there for sure. I appreciate that and you guys still stink. you this is your first year together ever right that's correct yeah yeah yeah yeah work at it you guys can get to our level one day okay that sounds good buddy and you know what i i think i sent you a message the show after because we did our final show before christmas on thursday you guys did a show on fraud and you're like the the barber boys got fucking gooned up got fucking gooned on their show yesterday dude rosy's like let's fucking do that i'm like rosy first

and foremost they have like a long-ass show second, like it's like 9 a.m. where he is, 11 a.m. here. We have half an hour. I'm like, what are we going to do a shot a minute? Like you guys, you guys set the barometer, which I'll always respect. We want to do one of those shows one day. Well, you know what we'll do this year is we'll get row. If he's still here, we'll get him in studio here in Calgary. And he will start feeding him shots at nine when it's a we'll get it going. Seven a.m. Whatever the hell. Get him in here. You start swinging like cron. The guys. Yeah. No, do what do what you want with the guy, man. Like he's an absolute animal. We were up in Edmonton a couple months ago. We, we ripped the city a bit. So, uh, yeah, have him in studio, man. He would, he, he, he, he, he still talks about that show, man, legendary stuff. Nice. Hey, man, good to talk to you. God, I guess, uh, good. So we, will you go to locker clean out day when and if it happens. Maybe it's this week. Maybe it's in a month from now.

Maybe it's, they will not give me. Do you guys get press passes? Because I don't. It's a little more real. We're not like to. Well, Yeah. We've got a little different source story here. It's not the Leafs here. Yeah, it's not the Leafs, although misery. Misery loves company. Hey.

True. There is. Nick Al Berger. Thanks, buddy. See you boys. There you go. At the Golden Muzzy on Twitter. Leafs Morning Take on the Nation Network.

He and Jay Rose Hill, of course, former Lee, former Flyer. And, yeah, living firefighter. So I think. Levin Calick? Yeah, it's a good show. Is he living? an old's? I know he says. That is what he said. Olds grizzly. Wasn't he an old's grizzly? Pull it up.

Well, he's from there, but is he living there, I guess was my question. Anyway, don't matter. There you go. Nick Alberger, Leaves morning take, presentation of Bontan Meat Market. Bontan Meets 1921, open their doors. They've been going strong ever since. Consumer Choice Award winner for Best Delly Meat Market, year and year out, 28 crowfoot Circle Northwest online, bontonmeatmarket.com. Go and say, actually, I was going to say, go say hi to Greg, but I know he's getting out of town for a few days. He's got a, he bought himself an RV. Remember we showed the photos?

That's right. Going back, I think to last fall. He's got a buddy who also has an RV. So they're loading up their shit and getting out in town before, uh, they need to decompress. Let's just, right. Sure. They need to get away. So stressed.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, buddy. bontan meets you never know it though if you walk in very relaxing nice bow ties big smiles big smiles that's a lot of leifes i apologize for people but at the same time we are talking about leif's potential misery so maybe balances out i don't know well it's the playoffs and it might be quite a collapse if they can't pull it out tonight but i mean the sad part for leif's fans is i you can envision where they actually do care more than the F in players.

Oh, yeah. It's a rough game three. For the old give a fuck meter. Yeah. Well, you've done a good job of pointing out that they got Bobrovsky the first couple games. The issue I have with that is we'll go back a few games against Tampa and they got lucky. They did.

They've been unlucky in other series. Generally speaking, you cannot really put much of a debate against the resumes. The core four have put together. You're spending almost 40 million bucks on four forwards. We don't need a list of excuses. We want to see success. And there's been none. They got one first round series victory.

That's fucking pathetic. Like, that's as many as the Jim Benning Canucks had. Like, it's awful. And sometimes, because we brought up the Ovechkin the other day, and I know that Nick brought it up there.

Sometimes when a star player, when a group hasn't won yet, you'll look at it and say, yeah, can they, can they do it? Or have they just not done it yet? Or are they not capable of doing it?

And we had the same conversation with Marlowe and Joe Thornton. There have been those different conversations. I just feel like with OV, there was no doubting his ability. He was a special player. And maybe it's easy in hindsight. I just don't know if I have the same feeling about this Leafs crew. Like Tavares, oddly, I would think he of all of them. I feel like his motor runs.

I feel like that's a guy that wants to win. And yet the worst bang for a buck on a bunch. It's terrible, yeah. But I just don't know. The league's littered with guys that are super, super good talent and don't win. Jerome's a perfect example. And no one questioned his heart and effort.

You know what I mean? Like he played his different era, but played as hard as anyone we ever knew, produced as high as anyone of his era still doesn't win. There's no guarantees to it. But what you didn't question about Jerome and what you eventually didn't question about a guy like Stevie Y was what they were focused on and motivated by and that was winning. I saw an article the other day, Red.

I wasn't going to bring it up. It was in the athletic. and the story was the closest your team came to winning the cup without actually winning the cup. Rets on three of those. Oh, God. League got together. I wasn't going to bring it up. He told Frank yesterday.

We asked about the draft lottery, and Rett started talking about it. I never thought about it. I was screwed in three different markets. I think it was the, what's that, Sean McIndoe? He's the Down Goes Brown, I think, is that guy. He put that together. And I was like, yeah, I guess. Florida, yeah, that would be

because they haven't a final. They haven't had a lot of postseason success. So yeah, the one for sure, you get swept in the final, but you got to the final and then in in Buffalo. But I think he actually gave the 99 Sabres team

the like the 1B or the second. He talked about the year that Brad May, Mayday, Mayday, that that was, that said he was very excited and that was hard for them. But not surprising. the flames loss in 04

the most It's pretty close considering you know some of the visuals accompanying said controversy yeah yeah and I don't know

like look you know what would be fun is if they if they said screw the narrative like win four in a row it's just the hardest group to imagine doing that when we talk about the least

because the track record seven years of folding when it's easy and Bobrovsky's going to have to fall off the map, right? Like to win four in a row. They're starting wall. Their third string goal. Not the best spot to be in,

never mind the 3-0. Yeah. And I'll be honest to God, I would get on the bandwagon if they, I kind of don't want them to, but part of that's because I got a soft spot for an old team in the Panthers. But if a team can come back

from 4-0 and in a city like Toronto, as much disdain as we have for it, it would be one hell of an exciting story to follow and kind of get behind. Yeah. I've said before, I don't hate this team. I think, again, who does? It's media and fans who will, you know, make you turn or just have a certain kind of a negative outlook on a team.

But I think Mitch Martin is a great player. I love watching Matthews play. A guy could shoot it. I have no problem really with that team. And you're right, Red. If you could, okay, now it's three to one. Now it's three to two. It would be, because it would have to be an amazing story.

There'd be some individual stories and performances that would be impressive and you'd be talking about them. Legendary. So, I mean, I guess go ahead. Go ahead. Go and do it. But 3-0, the math would suggest makes it difficult for sure. Tough. And recency. If we should have learned anything already with this playoffs, take what you learned in the last game.

and flush it because it's not necessarily going to. So on that topic, really quick, while we were talking before Nick came on about how wild the second round has been, there's been 14 games in the second round. If you've been betting the over, Dean, you shouldn't be showing up to work today. You should be out of fucking yacht.

Six goals, nine goals, six goals, ten goals, five goals, six goals, seven goals, six goals, six goals, seven goals, six goals, nine goals. Is this fucking lacrosse? Isn't that wild? And the only close games, generally speaking, have been the three Leaves and Panthers.

Everything else has been like one team doesn't have it tonight. Yeah, on our bet way bets yesterday. It was hints for a point and over five and a half for the stars and the Cracken. Well, is nine more than five? Yeah.

I believe that is the case. And somehow, yeah. And somehow in six Carolina goals, Sebastian Aho didn't get a, point the age. Anyway, we'll do our way bets coming up.

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macloud dash law.com, social media at McLeodlaw, LLP. Good folks, take our words for it. If you, and really in any, you need lawyers, you need legal help, McLeod Law. Good people. So this day, I believe today is the 10th of May. Once again, we're going to go back and talk. Look at this.

Back to 1989 at the Saddle Dome in Calgary. It is game number five in the series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Calgary Flames, the winner. We'll advance to the Stanley Cup final against the Montreal, Canada. We saw it the other day. It was a big win, a shutout for Mike Vernon at Chicago Stadium. Bernie. Let's take a look at how things would play out here.

It's a boisterous crowd, boys. Oh, you wouldn't believe. It's a big, fat, excited crowd. Palpable excitement team. Oh, you can cut it with a knife. Chevriere. There's a last Chevriere. So I grew up with this shit.

There was the VHS tape called a Sea of Champions, and they went series by series. Like, oh, this is good stuff here for Calgary. That's it. Vernie, three shutouts, 2.27. Those are tidy numbers in the 80s. That's a turnover right there, man. O'Hugh.

That's a turnover. That's Ryan O'Reilly giving us to the wrong team there. Look at this. That's Loub to Newendike to the back of the net. Oh, Hawkingloob. And look at this. We got a bit of a-Sutter. We got a bit of a Donnie-Brock.

Brian McClellan. And it's D-Sutter. It's D-Sutter. Getting after it there. We've got to narrow it down. Yeah, I know. Now Theo, Theo's going off. You never know with Theo.

Is he trying to draw some attention? No. Oh, he threw the stick on the jabble. He took one right in the socket, right in the socket. So now a little power play here for the Chicago Blackhawks. Oh, from behind the goal line. Off of Vernion in. Oh, son of a Vernie.

That's not the right angle there. Quick one. Quick, quick. So we're tied at one. Theo, added again. Everybody loves Theo. Might have helped that one along, though. Everybody loves Theo.

So here we are third period tie game. Rister. Ah, the twisted rister from just inside the blue line. Natress with the shot. And Brian McClellan right there. Tip, Brian. Tiparoo. Tip, tip.

The little tip, tip, tip, tip, tip. And look at Joe. Three minutes left. Guy was good. One goal game. That was the first. broken jaw. He wrote his jaw.

He had the bad, had a thing. Yeah, he got high stuck. Yeah. Recall the, there you go. The VHS tape, it was. But Newandike let his stick do the talking. And then they showed that goal. Is that what he did?

That's right. That's what you want to do there. Yeah. May 10th, 1989, 3-1 flames. Newndike, two goals. Off to the Stanley Cup finals. Crispy. It was just, what, three years earlier where they played the Montreal Canadiens on the cup final.

They were hoping for a better fate this time around. And they did get one, dude. Well, I shouldn't say. I don't want to spoil it wasn't. Spoiler alert. Ryan, spoiler alert. There you go. They did that on another podcast I was listening to the other day.

I was pissed off as hell. Sorry, go ahead. What are you talking about? Well, these co-hosts, you listen to Smartless now and then, right? It's, what, Will Arnette and a couple of those funny actors that have worked together. Bateman. Bateman, yeah. And they're talking about like a very recent, very popular TV show and like a character

Donnie. Like, the fuck's going on here. Guy can't be like perfectly up to speed current without getting spoiler alerted. Careful here. I hope we didn't spoiler alert the 89 finals for you. Sorry, dude. Yeah, it's the habs and the flames coming up in the final. Shush.

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They sent us a little bit. And gals. It's all it takes. Great table at the draft. Is that booze? Right. My good books. So good.

And donated money to the kids. They went above me all. That's what they do. Above and beyond. If Pinder popped a hammy doing high kicks, could Peter Klein help him? Yeah, is that injury from work? Because it was a work event, and I was on stage with that nominated band doing high kicks in my sequined jacket. I don't think anyone told you you had to, though.

I don't think it was part of it. They did, and they're nominated for some country award. I had to do it. Okay. Had to. So yes. Well, you know what? Give Peter a call and see.

I'm right. I'm sure. See if that works. Click. Let's do the Pinder report. Presentation of our good friends. Again, more friends. Village Honda, Northwest Auto Mall and online village honda.com.

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There goes my hat. Hope your goddamn head was in it, Dan. Okay, we'll start. I hope your goddamn head was in it. Star of the Calgary Flames. That will make me laugh. There's a few things, right, that just no matter what will make you laugh for the rest of your life. My hat flew off, Daddy.

I hope your goddamn head was in it. Tough to beat that. Every single time. Yeah. God. God. Sorry, right? Don't be sorry.

That's good stuff right there. We have increasingly positive video surfacing from the country of Sweden, which happens to be where all the flames are from or spend their off seasons. Let's go to the Calgary Flames dropping this on Twitter yesterday. Oliver Shilton. Dangles from all angles. Watch him go, Rhett. Now, Dean, you kind of shuddered at the notion.

This is how I used to train. Two months ago. But how do we feel now? about the theoretical return of Oliver Shilinton, you know, after the GM Don Maloney, the interim saying that he will be back in the fall, or at least efforting to do so. Yeah, I felt better after the coaching change,

and then the general manager saying that they talked and he is looking forward to coming back. Yeah, it went up a notch. This is an exciting development. And I know we don't have a lot of Calgary Flames news to talk about, but if you get an Oliver Shillington back, and you already had five defensemen under contract. You liked what you saw from Dennis Gilbert.

You want to bring back a Troy Statcher. Make a trade? So this is the last game of the year. This is with Tanna of Hurt and without Shillington. Also, I would think you like Troy Stetcher, the right number. We love the guy. Walk us through, Rhett, if you had to, you know, if you had a embarrassment of riches on the back end,

or maybe just too many top four defensemen or six top five, whatever it is. Like walk me through where the flames might be able to get younger, gain assets, whatever it is via the trade of a defenseman. How would you approach this? Stone gone. Stone's going to get the PTO in September anyway. It's not really the issue there.

So if Shillington's in there and Tanniv's in there and you like Troy Stach. Different management group. Different management group, different coach. My, my here's. It's tough because what are you getting in Shillington? A top four? I don't know. A year ago or is a year off?

It can't be a positive, I don't think, right? Yeah. I just, I don't want to get to, I think he'll come back. I'm hopeful that he plays just as good as he did. The last year he was here. I think I have to wait and see a little bit. I would suggest, yeah. Yeah.

But he's always been a great skaters. This skill is not his weakness. It's his intensity in game play. And so I want to see him play before I'm overcommitting to go ahead. Put them on your third pair. Let him be your number five, six, right? I feel like that's a great starting spot. And if he wants to overwhelm me with how good he is, that's great.

What I'm seeing, though, now is that if you do that, like you still have a Zedorov. You still theoretically could have a stetcher. Your top four are going to be Uyghur, Hanifin, Anderson, and Tanev, if they all return, Like, do you see an area where they could actually move out some D to get some scoring? I see an area where you can, but, you know, projecting forward and everything changes on a year-to-year basis. What's Tanev? He's got one more year left. Yeah.

Is he going to stay healthy? What are the injury concerns going into this year? Do you have any depth at all? And I, okay. So what's Tanev? Can you sign Stetri? and fit him in and bring Shillington back. And what depth do you have in the farm system to allow you to say, we can ship Zedora

because I would do it. And I'm open to the idea of it. My concern is I don't see anybody coming up the ranks that's ready to step in if some sort of shit hits the fan, where TANF is hurt or misses some time. and Shillington is even a six defenseman, right? And now you've sold Zadora. Now you're, I'm starting to squint to see how that plays out. Dean, the interesting thing.

I don't want to deplete the cupboard of D. Yeah. And the interesting thing, Dean, is that not only is it Tano and Shillington, whose deals are up at the end of the year, it's also no Hanofin who will not be playing hockey for a small number on his next contract, which will be a long one and a very expensive one. How do you look at this, Dino? Well, go ahead, Rhett.

Well, I was just going to say, with Hannafin, again, to me, it is awesome. Go play your ass off and earn it. We'll pay you. We'll pay you're a young defenseman. You're telling me if you play up to a, I don't know what, the numbers are going to, $8 million a year contract, fine. Go ahead. Earn it.

Play that way. I'm okay with that. Yeah, we'll pay you. And if you want to be here, then we'll find a way. and if you don't want to be here, really don't want you here anyway. Let us know. And we might turn you into a lot.

10 just to stay. Yeah. I mean, it's easy to look at that because I, again, with this group, it doesn't have TANV in there, but it's just easy to look at Zadorov

as the guy who can slide down. It's possible we've maybe gotten a little too enamored with Troy Stetcher. I think he'd be a good ad. I think that in that spot right there, you like him a lot. He's a six. But you are right,

Retro. You're bringing back Schilling, with a different coach and a year off, you hope that that's only going to mean good things for him. It doesn't always necessarily mean good things. Are there any other hockey players in Sweden for poor Oliver to skate with? It's just he's doing all this. He's working out by himself.

He's skating by himself. He's shooting on a lone goalies. That's a guy that should be at the World Championships. That'd be a move right there. I don't know why I wouldn't think of that sooner. That would be an excellent move. Seriously. I wonder if they're full up or not.

Anyway, I'll move along. Just saw the video and it got me thinking that, you know, I still think there could be a substantial trade somewhere coming from the back end, especially if you think, geez, if we can get stretch, stature in at a low number of six. But there's lots of ifs in there. And again, we don't know what this guy looks like. It sure looks good in a practice rank. Let's go to the NHL last night.

Tats don't stand a chance. That's right. Now they look stashers. They're not even moving. Look out. Look at this fake. Wooop. Forehand zing.

Got you. Must be nice to move. like that, hey. Retro last night, some blowouts. Why not? More second round blowouts. Winning teams get to six. The other team's not really that close at all. Wango, wango, let's dive into some of the action. This was a great clip from the Carolina game. That was a big one. Devils win that. You're all square. They're looking to do for the second round. Second round in a row to come out for O.O.2 hole. That ain't happening now. They're down 3-1 going back to Carolina. Listen to the call here. All of a sudden, he's Wayne Gretzky and he scores.

This is an incredible story. Jordan Martinuck. Shoot it any better than this. Right from the dot. Bar down. So there's your guy. We talked for 20 minutes about old school and guys showing up when it matters. Jordan Martinook's out producing all the Leafs Corps 4.

Give him 11 million a year. Let's go. Because in the off season, Martinuk, he's just been a good fit there with Carolina. They basically said they weren't bringing him back. He had said his goodbye to the fans and all of this and was moving on. Signs the one year deal.

It's a decent money, obviously. But yeah, nine points. Nine points. And that's in the last, that's in this series, let alone the playoffs. He's been unbelievable against yours. Three last night. Yeah. Depth, guys.

And if you'd never heard it on the call before, he looks like Wayne Gratzky. That's Jordan Marknock that we're talking about. He does look like Wayne, yeah. Yeah. It's very similar. A lot of traits I see. I thought it was. Yeah.

I was going to be, shit. Boy, Red. I didn't remember the Red jersey. Other game. St. Louis looked weird, but definitely weird. We saw Dallas in Seattle. They bounced back as well. A lot of eyes were on, okay, what's going to happen with Miro Haskin?

You know what's going to happen? He's going to come in like a goddamn villain and eat your soul. Watch this. It's coming into the rink rat. Scarface McGee. Oh! And all business? How much business?

You got a little something that. Oh, that's your. That would be my joke. That would have been my thing if I was in the room. Hey, Merrill, you got, oh, never mind. You know what his thing would have been after the game? Some catch him. Hey, fat boy, I played 3107.

Shut your yap. 3107. Put this in your pipe and smoke it. 3102. Sorry, how dare I exaggerate. That's awesome. That is some playoff stuff. All that bitching about the Leafs, there's a hockey player, Rhett.

Absolutely. Why is he playing 31 when you have, when you're up by? It's a very good question. I think they missed what. Yanni, hawk and paw, and a couple others couldn't go on the back end. Oh, good ball. But, Thomas Harley. Harley.

So we will then move to something. Hey, I just took a puck. I just took a puck right in the friggin' mouth last game. We're up by three, four goals. Do you mind, coach? If, hey, Pete, how about every other shift in, five? 30 minutes? Why? What's he doing? Or it's like, coach.

Getting out of shape. You missed the game. It hurts so much when I sit still. I must keep playing to not feel pain. I don't know what it is, but it's over a half hour. It's wild. You know what sucks about this? Who wins now? The Oilers game. I know. It's coming up. Don't worry. We'll get there. Before we get there, very quickly, the Anaheim Ducks have pulled off something that's never happened before. No, not finishing second in a draft lottery. Yes, naming your team after a hitsy movie.

But in a more impressive sense, three defensemen of the year, all prospects of the ducks. Western League, OHL, QMJHL. They swept the fucking CHL with defenseman of the year. So it's Olin Zellwiger, the defenseman for the Western League. Pavel Mityukov of the OHL. he's defensive of the year and Tristan Leno. All three DEMM in the year across the CHL are Ducks prospects. And they're going to add to that with what,

Fantilli's second overall. So if they could get a good defenseman of that second pick, now they got a nice top four there. There you go. Beautiful. Wild stuff. I didn't think it would be possible to do something like this, Dino. They must feel so good about having that second overall pick.

They must be jacked. So great. Yeah. And yeah, don't worry about taking a forward. If you like a forward there, it feels like you're okay. Tonight's action... No, no, no, no. Clearly you're good... No, no, clearly they're good at picking defensemen. Don't get sidetracked by the flashy stuff.

Get another solid D, man. No more Zegris, just more D. Let's go. Let's go. Tonight's action, two games. If you don't know how Chicago's doing, we don't know. If you have Zegris, you need D if you have Zegris. You need more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more. Here's your games. We've got both Canadian teams in action.

with first the Leafs trying to stave off elimination, that at 5 at 8. It's Vegas in Edmonton. And Rhett said it. We know how things go for the Oilers. Whatever happened to the Stars, happens to the Oilers. Here's the tweet from earlier in the week.

If you've forgotten, it was, oh, this is an interesting pattern. Game 1 or round 1, Oilers and Stars, same result. Game 2, game through. Although the whole first round, exactly the same result in the same game. Round 2, even creepier.

Four goals from a single player, and you lost game one. You win game two. You lost game three. Well, the good news for all those fans, the stars just won game four last night. So stay tuned for the betwixt to the day because we're going to hammer this very scientific trend. It's science team. Trust the science. I love science.

Yes. Let's go to Major League Baseball. This has never happened before that I can recall. You know how they have the divisions separated in the standards? ratings, Rhett, so that, you know, like, oh, these teams, there's division, this is division, this is division. For the first time ever, the entire AL East is better than the AL Central. If you look at the actual records, the 10 teams in order, they're in order. So the best team in the AL Central, not as good as the worst team in the AL East.

It's still a motherfucker of a division team. That is ignorant. Yeah. That's no good. Can we get relocated, please? That's what everyone in the Hale used to say. Big news in the NFL. Today's schedule leaking out, trickling out through Insiders,

international games, big special one-offs. Let's start with the international calendar. RET, you're going to London. Look at this. Week four, the Jaguars head out. They stay for two in a row. They're going to play back-to-back games in London. The Bills, week five, October 8, retro.

all. Jolly old London. Ha? Go. Trevor Lawrence. Hate it. Jolly old London, England. That better be an F-N-Jags home game. They're out there for two and it's a shitty market, so that would make sense. Would you go?

I mean, does this piss you off or get you excited? Like, let's go to London. I'm very sporty, so I've always wanted to go to London. See the bridge. Okay. Clocks, towers, things like that. Queen, King. Any chance you might come to Calgary?

Yeah, Sunday. Sunday. Good. Got some work to do. Okay. Other teams going overseas week four, five, six, it'll be Ravens and Titans. Nine dolphins, Chiefs in Germany.

That'll be good. And then Colts Patriots in Germany as well. Okay. So that's some of the NFL scheduling. I would just say if this is the focus, and the NFL certainly does not need my advice, just put a team over there or two, or two? I mean, they're making a shit ton of money, basically playing a half a home schedule there. It's moving that way.

It sure is. London Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence. Let's go to a new game for the first time. Black Friday will feature a game. We know American Thanksgiving has got the three Thursday games. How about this now? Tua against A-A-RON. Weird?

You know in fantasy, that stupid week where you're like, oh, yeah, there's a, fuck, shitty Sunday slate. Not a lot of games. Well, there's going to be one less game on the Sunday because they're not playing four before you get to the weekend. Three on Thursday, this the Friday. We'll see how it goes. Black Friday, right? Another one for you. You big American all of a sudden.

Christmas Day. I'm starting. Yes. Sequin, Hertz, good NFC East matchup, that'll be fun.

4.30 Eastern Rett that, what, you start dinner at halftime snacking all day? What do you do? I think, I don't,

I think last year we had the bills playing on Christmas, which was wonderful, but I'm all for at Christmas Day, eat, pass out,

have the game on, perfect. Lovely. I was going to say, aren't you usually, as Al Bergwood's, are you usually fucking gooned on Christmas

Day? Christmas is a very much a traditional drunk A traditional drunk. And finally, New Year's Eve. And we love tradition. Yeah, we do. It's big of the Warners. They're big in tradition. That's right. Final game of the

before New Year's Eve retro. Ooh. It's that AFC championship game the last two years in a row. Bengals. Chiefs. Joe, Patrick. Hey, the NFL's better than everyone at all this shit.

We're talking about games more than six months away. That's so good there what they do. So that was all what we've seen thus far for schedule release day. And Rhett, do you need a passport to go to London? What do you need to get done there for October the 8th? I think I got my passport. I think I'm part of the Commonwealth. I think I'm allowed to go.

Let's make this happen. Team journey. Very good. Let's go. NBA. We said we're going to do a Bill's game. That's a little longer than I'd anticipate it. But yeah, that's of a flight, of course.

But we'll see. It's direct, I guess, from Calgary, Dean. So there's that. London's not expensive at all either. That's the good news. JJ Reddick and the rapids are talking. Redd the North. Look at this.

Huh? Huh? I don't know who JJ Reddick is, but that sounds awesome. Okay, very good. J.J. was a very good basketball player who now apparently is a good coaching. candidate for the Raptors.

And we kind of have... Jimmy John subs. That's JJ. JJ, Jimmy John. Yeah, Reddick. Very young, successful man. Canadian Championship soccer in...

It was two MLS sides getting together. I don't give a shit about the highlights of this. Fuck that. Look at these idiots fighting. It gets even better. So this is the enemy section in Toronto. You've got the Montreal fans. And the...

My heart flew off, Daddy. Yeah, exactly. TFC fans as well. Now, the problem being, apparently there was no security, not in the section, in the entire away area. So this got to marinate for a bit.

And these people doesn't look like their first time. We got a belt out. My guy took his belt off. Yeah, he's given some belt whips. I don't think those concrete stairs are where you want to be sliding down on your back. This feels organized, Dean.

This is not, we've got some hands up. We've got some grizzled vips. that's here. Yeah, dude's got the belt off. That's, is it a quick release? Your pants, man. Your pants are going to fall off. Jeez. Is there a quick release on that belt there?

Anyway, it's a beautiful game. Thought we'd get you up to speed on what's happening in Impact v. Hooligan. The Luggan. The Lips. That one guy's dropping some nice elbow smashes. Bang. Right here. Elbow, elbow.

Yeah, some clubbing right hands. Might have been a lefty. It's just not a good look. I like the people who are like, Hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, guys, hey, hey, hey, hey. Oh, finally, I'm going to tee red up here. I'm just taking my belt off to whip this fucking guy.

The Canadian government's announcing new passports in Canada, Rhett. So here's, I don't know if you see the problem I see, but there it is. It's blue. It's got a maple leaf thing, a big old crest. It can be hard to travel with those, I'm thinking, Red. supposed to fit in the pocket. That'd be kind of the idea, right? You need a fucking suitcase just for the past one.

Is that Ozzy Brad? This is idiotic. Is that Ozzy Brad there? Working for the getting over? So get that thing all dusted off and ready for London, would you? Oh, Canada. There's your Pindon. Native land.

I asked him to sing at the playoff draft. He wouldn't do it. He wasn't. Yeah. Wasn't in the bag enough. Yeah, I needed more. Pindor report brought to you by Village Honda, Northwest Automal Online, VillageHonda.com. Detailing packages started just 7995. Get that vehicle yours.

Spick and Span inside. No details online at your dealership for life, Village Honda and VillageHonda.com. All right. Dubba-da-bub-bub-da-bub-dab-dub-dub-da. I was on just a game the other day with Rob Kerr. I did see that. Yeah, I saw you too bragging about how great both of you are. It was awesome.

Yeah. Greatness recognizes greatness. Yeah. He asked about the, for the flames, all of the guys who are going to need a contract at the end of next season. Yeah. And he asked who I would bring back. And I said, you know, I don't think I'd bring back any of them.

And even Lindholm or whatever. We've talked about it. And it's, I mean, if Lindholm comes in and says, you know what, I really want to stay. I would take this. Let's do this. Then, you know, I mean, you pivot, you do whatever. But just with the league going so young and cap space being so valuable, you don't, here you get so much cap space. you don't have to send out picks or prospects

to get this cap space, which so often it seems like you do. Anyway, it's hard to be able to say definitively now without knowing what guys want to do or anything. But as you sit here today, we've heard a lot about Backland. He'd like to be capped and he may want to stay aflame for his entire career.

But of that group, Tofoli, Tanev, Lindholm, Hanifan, Baclin, of that whole group, who are you keeping? And it's hard because we don't know what the dollar figure is. But just in terms of importance and value to team, position, and age. So first off, like, are we in Marie's sandbox or our own little playland? Like, they are going to be asked to field a competitive team here, right? We're not just going to blow it up, something we're not allowed to do, right?

Or no? I don't know why I ask questions. It's our game. We can play however we want. So the one thing, like I don't discrue the because I think I watched a clip and I understand what Dean's trying to say. Like you're already going to have some older long on the tooth guys. You don't want more of them.

But if you remove Elias Lindholm from this roster, who the fuck is a number one center? And I understand Cap Space is nice. Gets what you can never find. Number one centers. Like the hardest thing to get in the NHL is someone that can do Elias Lindholm. job. He's going to cost $8 to $9 million a year, at least depending on what sort of clarity we get

on the cap moving forward for that season beyond this one. But I just, I don't know how you can be competitive without him. Is Nazim Khadry at age 34, your number one center? And who's after that? They do not have a number one sentiment in the system. It's the hardest and rarest jewel to find. I don't understand how you're good. If you're trying to be bad, I agree.

Like if we're tanking full reload, then yes, get rid of him. I guess the flip side to that would be if you decide you're not going to, then you would be trading him. And maybe you get a sentiment in return. Maybe you go to free agency and you find somebody. Again, I don't have that answer. But I'm not saying you bring Lindholm back, run him right to the end of next season and watch him leave for nothing. No, of course. Yeah.

I don't mind the idea of trying to maximize. on some of these assets, but I just don't know how this team's competitive without Lindom is the only number one center and like they just don't move. Like if you want number one center, look what the Leafs had to pay to get John Tavares. The type of deal you don't want to live with. Is he a number one center? Well, at the time he wasn't, he's not even, but a Lindelman. Yes. I mean, I'm not saying.

He's the number one center. Like, here's a better question. Did anything Nazim Kodry show you this year suggests he could be a number one center as he enters as 33, 34, 35, 36-year-old seasons? No. Like, they're nothing without Lindholm. So you have to. It's, it's, you almost have to bring him back at whatever number he wants in a sense. Because if the mandates to be competitive, I don't know how you do it without him.

There isn't a number one center in the waiting here. Like, Zari may be a middle six centerman. He may get moved to. Doesn't, doesn't every time you hear that though, you, you have to, they had to give him this. They had to. Don't always those end poorly that it ends up going poorly? And I don't mean in time. I just mean it never goes the way you wanted to.

To say that the flames would be hooped without Elias Lindholm. Hard to replace for sure. But in terms of top centermen in the Western Conference, where does he rank? I'm not saying you easily get one of those. No, you don't. I just think you have to. Is it this year or last year? Yeah, last year is pretty on the list.

it wasn't his best year, but he's showing you when you put some skill around him, you can be an especially impactful player, and not just offensively. This isn't a, yeah, you know, the points are there, but he's lazy. He's a 200-foot, number one center in this league. They don't move.

He'd be a great number two. Out of championship team, hell, yeah. Center on a good team. Well, I mean, and this is the issue I'm having with the whole squad, is that it's, and that's just it. You can't just look at one guy in a vacuum, because it influences everything.

Yeah. You have too many old, number one, all of your sentiment are old. In a way, Lindholm's not quite there. It's 28. Backland is, what do you want to do? Do you extend Backland? If Backland wants to be like the captain and the Calgary Flame for Life, just go on one-year deals.

If he wants to go be somewhere else and win. Or sign for $2 million a year. Sure. Or sign for $2 million a year. Or it's like $4 million for one year. And then the next year it's $3. Like, if Backland is all about flame and captain, I don't feel like this contract's going to be cumbersome. You know what I mean?

I don't want him as my captain. You were tweeting about that yesterday, and I'm completely, I'm completely opposite. I'm not saying he should be. I just find it interesting that the more guys in the room we hear from, the more it's like, I didn't see it in that light. Interesting. What did they say that made you think that he's a captain? And when did he step up to show you he was a captain? I asked the question, is he the question?

is he the next captain? That's what I tweeted. But you just said you're hearing Well, Weger the other day talked about him getting an FU competitions with Sutter. We hear from players. What the fuck does that have to do with being a captain? Well, like we talked about yesterday,

it was more backbone and pushback and a voice of, you know, the room than perhaps we would have thought he was. That's all. But the fact that that comes out is stunning to you, does that... Not stunning. I mean that it is a leadership quality for sure.

But I think it was surprising that Michael Beckin would get into an F you thing with Sutter. I just, I don't know if that's the one. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I want to make sure I heard you correctly. You're telling me that that's a leadership quality? I think so. I mean, I don't know the context of the fights, but I think he's, yeah, I think that the way that I interpret it was more of a leader than I thought. FUing the coach is a, is a leadership.

quality. I think at certain spots it could be, yeah. Just let me that he would stand up to his coach. I think it's for in Michael's case, it feels like it's

I just wouldn't have expected him to. He just seems so meek and quiet. And for and for Weiger, we were asked, who gets into it with Sutter? And he said, well, you know what, back. Look, it was one guy in the room which, which he brought up. I'm with you, Red. I, if you gave him.

him the captaincy because it'd be a nice thing for him to have not because he would be a good captain are we all fair are we all agreed on that i i think he can wear an a he's been a very good flame if he wants to stay for his entire career but i i've never really saw him as being a captain but i haven't at all and that's why i just said to keep taking note of people that are in their room that we're not where ret says that's what matters doesn't matter what we fucking think it's that room. I think there's just more credence put in Michael's actions than I thought we expected amongst his teammates. And again, it's a pretty fucking awesome year he had on a season that fucking sucked where there's a lot of guys that down years. He found a way to come up with his

probably first, second or third best year he's ever had in the league. So I'm not saying Michael's going to be the captain. I'm not saying he's captain material. What I am saying is I think there's a discussion that's happening about it. You know, when this group gets together. And that's fine. I'm not out to shit talk, Michael Backland. He's done more than I ever imagined he was going to and this and that. But I just think that assigning a captaincy to a 35-year-old that is not going to improve,

is going to start to decline. Yes, had a great year. But we just learn over and over that there is a shelf life to every player. And at some point, that 34-year-old, old, it's going to be a 38-year-old, and now you've, you've, you've, anyway, I don't think he's a captain if you want to. That's where I come off. They're giving him the captain's seed because of a, because you think, because he's loyal to the team

and had to F you with, uh, no, that's not, anyway. And, and, and, and all of a sudden at the age of 34, where we've never heard, we've actually more questioned the fact that he's, uh, as an A than, than we've been, you know what I mean? Like all of a sudden he's 34 and he's turning into a leader. It's if it is true, it's great, but it seems odd. Yeah. It's a short list of guys.

When Jordana was captain, did it ever, when Jordano was captain, did it ever feel like, well, the next guy is going to be back. No. Because you know what Jordano was leaving at some point. And I'm not, yeah. You never thought that I don't see a three, four year reign. But if it was, if it was two years and that was the end of his career, and he got to be the elder statesman to show people how to work,

And he's going to finish top five in Selke voting again, I think, which is wild. Like, there's, I just think there's probably more there than we ever would have imagined five, ten, never mind 15 years ago. But that's fine. But I get what you're saying. I'm not trying to argue with you. But just because there's more there, it doesn't mean he's the fucking captain. No, and I'm not saying he's the captain. I don't think I would make him a captain.

It's two different things for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so we were talking about Lindholm re-signing, Dean, and we got here. Yes, Backland's another one of those guys that's a free agent as well. If I have to keep any of them, it's clearly Shillington. He's young and talented on the fence. That's the type of guy you can't have enough of.

And, yeah, like if you wanted to continue that conversation, that's kind of how we, before we got stuck in the Backland tree. I would keep Shillington and I would keep Lindholm, depending on what they're looking for. Yeah. Way ahead of Backland or any of the other, like 100%. Yeah, like Tannav is. injury concern, age issues.

To Foley, it's just like, man, you don't want to be holding the bag. The skating's already not good. And the value is so high. Off a map. You could get so much for the sky right now. You're not going to be able to move them for huge assets. Honestly, I'm telling you to. He's the captain of the Canadian men's hockey team at the world's.

Go have a great tournament. Trade him now. I like the guy. I like Tyler's Foley a lot. But like you said, if you're going to get something for him, never more than now. 100% that. And then like Zedorov's the other guy.

Like I think we kind of we put together a six defenseman core that's cheaper and better without them. Sell on those 14 goals. Get whatever you can get. I just, I'm not against that because I think you're right. If you can maximize that, that's great. I just don't know.

Like I'm on this cap friendly website. Yeah. Malash is he going to come up? No. Is that's off? No. Malocia's a vet. He didn't have a good year. He's an older guy. Porreyes needs another year at least.

You get what I'm getting at. I do. There is no. So what I would say is if you had to make a third pair out of Stetcher, assumption, Shillington, kind of an assumption, Gilbert, and one more like sign a seven guy for 900 grand. Like it's not like you're out of moves if you move Zadora. You clearly go find, you know, a younger Michael Stone,

a guy that makes less than a million bucks that can play on a third pair if you're injured. I don't, that doesn't like, ooh, that decor sucks. It's like, no, it's still fucking good decor. And you're going to go into the season with some issues with Tannavin and Hannafin about, you know, where are they going to be?

So we kept three. You kept zero, Dean. Well, here's what, and I was just going to say, so often you see a team and you see it here, it's wouldn't you like to be in a position where we could get younger? We'd love to get younger, but you have players locked into contracts.

you at the end of this season have an opportunity to get younger. It doesn't mean better. But having watched this league the last year, year and a half, don't you feel like that's the path to take? I think the problem they're going to have is that you have to let, my view on this organization and this team is that they're not blowing it up and they're going to give it a chance to win this year,

which is fine, which allows those guys all to walk into free agency. and it depends on what you're trying to do with the asset management, right? Like if you get into a year where they look like they're going to make the playoffs and you don't have these guys signed, are you willing to run the risks that they play out, make the playoffs and walk? Or do you absolutely have to restock the shelves and asset managers where,

no, you either re-sign or we're trading you, which might mean you miss the playoffs. What's, where's the focus of the franchise? The problem is, And again, I guess it's because we don't have a GM right now, but we've never really, no, we have always understood what the focus of the franchises, and that's make the playoffs. So if that's the case and the mandate remains the same with the new GM or not,

then they're going to go into this year and they're going to try to make the playoffs. And if they lose guys, I guess they lose guys. Isn't that what you have to do? Well, the notion of getting younger, like it's not like you actively have to do it. You're going to be much younger next year. It would be by default. Shillington's 25. Doer is 25.

Peltche is 22. Coronado's 20 if he's ready. Zeri if he's ready is 21. Wolf is 22. Like you're already clearing out some dead one. But the other side of that is. Right. But if you're going to keep Backland and Lindholm or if you're keeping those guys,

if you're signing them again, that's what I'm saying. You pick one or two at most. So, and that's what. That's what I was going to ask you. So you had said there's no way they can go into the season with all of these guys, either unsigned or you have to trade something. Where do you sit now? Here we are halfway through the month of May.

Do you feel the same way about it? My approach to it is the same thing. I would trade cadre. And if I have to give something up with them to do it, do it. Because that guy didn't perform on that team. And I don't see him being a long-term fit in your, screwed if he doesn't turn out because you get seven million bucks a year forever. And then everyone else's trade sign walk?

I just think if you've got cadre off the books and it doesn't turn out the other pieces you can move for assets and you can have a quick retooling and come back with guys that like Backland if you trade in January is going to command a return, right? Or at the trade deadline. down center. Lindholm, to Foley, you should be getting something.

If you can get out of some of these, what we know are going to be shitty contracts way down the road, you can quickly retool this squad and have a short window of dismay, right? Maybe when that new ranks opens, you've recreated a whole different scenario to play under. Yeah. And look, you don't have to take it in season.

Probably half of that con. If you ate half of the cot, because I do find it, I think it's a tricky one because it's $7 million and it's, as you say, forever. You're probably going to have to eat half of it. So to what you want them out, to what level are you prepared to pay? Are you going to give up a pick and eat half? So have three million dead money the next six years and give up a high pick? He'll be 33 before the puck drops next year. with six years left on his deal.

And I don't know at what number it makes sense, but understanding how tight numbers are around the league, it's not like, ooh, like look what Max Patcher Ready got. Fuck all. And he wasn't coming off the worst year of his career. Brent Burns, same thing. Fuck all. He was coming off being Brent Burns.

None of these guys had their leadership questioned and had their will questioned, you know, none of these guys were accused of, like, poaching their coach. you might be able to do it. I just think it's the type of deal where, man, if we waited one year, it wouldn't have been so hard to move that fucking thing. It's the worst time to sell.

You can't do the ifs though, but are you going to have six years of dead money? Sorry, what are you asking me? What would the trade look like? Or where is, who wants them? A cadre. Well, I asked you first about what you said, you couldn't come into the end of the year with all those impending UFAs.

And you had to do something. I think you trade somebody. Your job is to gauge their value in the summer, right? And as far as a cadre deal, how, how badly do you want to vote? It'd be six years of dead cap. And this is a team that's always flirting with it as it is. I don't. I don't think that's the move.

Rett's the guy trying to trade them. I don't think it's a deal that you can stomach. You know, if someone asks you for 16 overall, you might do it. But that could be a future pillar of your team. That's crucial, crucial piece. They don't get to pick this high very often. So, yeah, I'm not doing it. But look, the GM interviews that are happening,

are these not the exact sort of like shell games they're playing with theoretical candidates? Like, hey, Craig, you've been here how many years, you know these guys better than any other candidate. Who do we keep? Who do we extend? Who do we walk into free agency? And who do we sell high on?

I feel like this is probably a big part of the exercise, isn't it? that's why it's honest to God for me it's trade as many as you can because i don't trust that it's going to be fixed by a new coach and a new gym and i don't and i absolutely don't trust that in three or four years those contracts are going to be good yeah your window's supposed to be and so even if they have and so even if they come back and have a good season you know there's going to be shit that comes. Or, well, we're going to go around in circles because, oh, you get the young kids in there and they bring the energy and everything.

It's more saves. Well, you said the other day, let me ask you. Okay. Just real quick, Dino, sorry. We talked about the other day. We noted Barkov and Hubido separated. What happened? And you said, man, my best friend's not at the rink anymore.

Like, there is, you can't tangibly tell me what it's worth, but it's a lot. I think it's the same fucking thing. if you like going to work. And if that room was so miserable, whether that's the players or the assistants or the head or whoever it is. But if that black cloud is gone, this team already got like wildly bad netminding

when we didn't expect it, a way worse power play than you ever thought they could have had. And they missed by, did they want more point of Florida? I understand it ain't perfect, but it's also not necessarily as dire as sometimes that we put it. The reason there's a coaching change is

because that was a part of what held this team back. It wasn't everything. I expect there are gains from coming into an environment that I want to be at work today. I'm excited to be a pro hockey player today. I'm not going to get ratted out for something.

Like, whatever it is. I think to what you talked about about playing with your friend, I think playing for a coach you like and or respect helps too. It does help. I don't think, you said if there's a black cloud, I think they got rid of some of the black cloud.

I've been led to believe that there's still part of it kicking around that dressing room. So I think there's more to it. I also have a bias on this whole organization because, and I recognize what happened with Bennett Bonahan, Kachuk and Goddra. That's your core for those, that's the flames core four.

They're gone. They're gone. But my bias is, I don't think this team has ever been run and set up to have a long-term success. Right? They've never been built from the base up. They've never had that solid base.

Dustin Wolf might be the base that you're talking about because he might win you enough games on his own merit. But it's the same thing as when Kipper was here. Well, we had Kipper, so he covered up the warts and all the shit that was going on that was no good. it was never it just has never had the stages that you maybe have to go through to put

yourself in a position to be really good for a long time. It's always okay we're going to add a piece and maybe that'll be it and I feel like if you just leave everything the same they might make the playoffs next year and yes but eventually you're going to get bit

by that 10 and a half and that $7 million contract that day maybe there's no getting around that though because they're committed to it. So it just, it always to me it irks me because if, well, it irks me a lot because I said don't

sign those guys to start with, which nobody needs to listen to me, but I wouldn't have signed them. So when I look at that, I go, if we didn't have that, this whole thing would be a different world. If those guys, if we hadn't signed Cadre and

Huberto hadn't signed that big long-term contract, we wouldn't have that million bucks in a 33-year-old centerman that didn't want to play in Calgary by some appearances. And we wouldn't have 10.5 million allotted to a guy that we're not sure is a hundred-point player anymore. And you would have traded him for assets. And you'd be looking at this whole organization differently because there's be almost 20 million bucks that isn't going to be on your cap next year. There's no undo button. That is the challenge, right? Yes.

And that bias influences my opinion on how to go forward. I didn't want those contracts to start with. So I look at them as such an albatross. And I'm like, oh, get rid of them, get rid of them, get rid of them. Maybe you can't. We'll get out of here. We'll do bet we bets in a moment. I had a question, but you know what I'll save it.

We have what looks to be an entire off season to talk about stuff. So we can get to that. What do we know about Madrose Pub? Well, we know there's 20 beers on tap. We know that it's kid-friendly, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, that their food is off the charts. It's some of the best that you're going to find in a restaurant, let alone in a bar, pub, or grill.

15 Royal Vista place. And we also know that they've got the hockey games on all the TVs with the sound up. And what do we got tonight? Two Canadian teams. Toronto, Florida, Vegas, Edmonton. I would think that Madrose Pub just might be the place to be tonight. Go early, stay late. Have a great time.

That's right. Mad Rose Pub up in Royal Oak. If you want to get the stuff, you know, the food brought in. Madrose.com is their website. You can do that. But why wouldn't you get to 15 Royal Vista Place and watch the games tonight?

One menu item per period of hockey tonight. Oh. War wanton, baked and then fried wings, and then pizza. Beer's each period. I love the idea. I love the idea guy. It's like Chris Head's at.

Yeah. shares. I've done that before. You don't have to do it all for yourself. Some things you can't share, but, you know, pizza you share. He's talking a good game right now. There's no sharing when you get to, because I've been there with threat when you do this. Oh, we're just instead of appetizes it.

Keep them going. Oh, is that, yeah, get your own. That's how that goes. Oh, there's no sharing for the table. Huh. Yeah. Once you're inside the pub, the, uh, the rules change. Madrose Pub.

A couple of games. games tonight, go and enjoy yourself. Betway bets. And then we will move on. So yes, two games tonight. You mentioned earlier, Ryan, about betting overs and having great success if you've been betting the overs. I am going to go with an over tonight. It's one of the pre-built bets on the Betway app. Bet be responsible. Be 18, be 19 in Ontario, the whole thing. Just bet the responsible way. total goals between the Leafs and the Panthers over six and a half and a point for Sasha Barkov. It's almost even money.

Feels like a lot. But it's all of a sudden, I think that they're catching on. There's not a lot of value in the over five and a half. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll get a Barkov point and go over six and a half in Toronto, Florida. And in a clinching scenario, a potential clinch. I think Matthew, who's been very good, will be very good again.

Give me two points for Chuckie plus 115. All right, my bets. Hey, we hit that Jack Hughes. First goal of the game plus seven hundred yesterday. We're following the Dallas mirror. That's what Edmonton is. It's a Dallas mirror. Dallas won by three last night.

We're going to take the Oilers minus two and a half tonight. Big bounce back after a lethargic showing in game three at home, plus two, 10 there. and Toronto, Florida. Let's take Toronto to get back in this thing. Minus one and a half. Pressure's off. Everyone's called them losers already anyway. It's just a matter how many games they lose in.

Plus 180. So the Leafs by two and the Oilers by three. All blowouts. That's all we've seen this fucking round. You're feeling it. It has been blowouts. Has been blown. 6-3, 6-1, 5, 17, 8-4.

Nick Al-Berga. And you know what? Even if, here's the thing, even if you're not a Leaves fan, it's a great show. As Nick Al Berger and Jay Rose Hill, Leaves Morning Take on the Nation Network, give them a listen, give them a watch. You won't regret it.

Tomorrow on the program, we will look back at that, on the big Euler and Panthers wins, Leif's wins. Who does, quite honestly, though, betting aside, I can't bet the Leafs in a win or lose scenario. As you saw, I'll take overs or whatever. I just, I can't figure the Leafs. keeps out. You got Barkov and you got two points from Kachuk. It looks like you think Florida's going on. I think they force five, but I mean, fuck, this group does not deserve any faith in an elimination game.

No, it's done. It's done. Over. Finito, says Red. Yeah. I took the over in terms of goals just because scores have been through the roof anyway. I don't know about the Leafs. Goaltender. He looked good against the flames, but it's not a, it doesn't feel like a really good spot for Toronto to be quite honest. Third stringer on the road. And I just said someone text me. There was listening to the show. Where would Matthews go? Who was going to give them the money?

Chicago's got some players in cap space all of a sudden and that's lots of glitz and glam there. Do they, is there glitz and glamour and tell me, rest to do? Well, he's going to roll your ankle on St. Patty's Day. It's a great place to be. I'm told.

Yeah, you've got to be careful. Bad, bad, bad, bad sidewalks. Terrible. All right, buddies. That's it from the Tower of Chrysler Studios. Have a fine rest of your day back tomorrow. We'll see you. Later.