Empty Netters Podcast - Ranking The Top Three Winners And Losers of NHL Free Agency | EP.209

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

We have two days of free agency in the books and there were some wild moves! The guys break down their top three winners and their top three losers, with some honorable mentions mixed in. The Kings and Bruins could be in trouble. But the Canes might have more tricks up their sleeve. See who cracked the list! NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY! PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: LONG DRINK. Check out https://thelongdrink.com/AlmostFriday/ 00:00 INTRO 00:23 DIDDY 09:36 FREE AGENCY WINNERS 36:25 FREE AGENCY LOSERS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you are going to trade away your captain because you couldn't find the money to pay him what he was asking for, watch him resign with his now defending Stanley Cup champion team for less and then give more than that money to bottom six guys with crazy term. We have a serious problem. Ice is ready and we are back with another episode of the Empty Notice podcast brought to you by BetMGM. It is past midnight here for me. In Sfergia, I am your host, Dan Powers. And with me, a man, actually the only man, the only people who are more dead inside than you are Diddy's victims. Yo, as always.

I actually am not always dead inside, but I am dead inside right now. That's a sad week. I'm in a sad week. That's true, dude, but we have been. getting bombarded, bombarded in the DMs and on Twitter about the Diddy trial. We haven't done an update in a while as we went through, as we went through the final, but now here we are, dude, Diddy found not guilty on the biggest charges against him. We did. We stopped doing updates because it was all so clearly headed towards this.

Like, it was a sham. Yeah, there were no cool bombshells, nobody surprising came forward. the my biggest fear was that the prosecution would have nothing they've waited so long like the whole point of building a case before you actually charge someone is that you're like now we've acquired enough evidence to charge you and then take you to court and then we will win and this literally felt like they got to court and they were like um we have a couple victims that will testify everyone else is just kind of being like uh yeah he's a bad dude i saw some shit, I think he did this to me. I highly suspect this is what happened. Bro, we made this joke on maybe a happy hour. They called no witnesses on the defense. Like, they didn't even have to say anything.

Literally, the prosecution brought witnesses up, said shit, and then did he defense went like this liar in cross-exam? Liar, liar. And then they went like this, okay, you're witnesses. And they go, we have none. The entire defense was like this, liar. And then they're like this, you win. And that is a tragedy.

Listen, man, I, uh, I am, I don't, I don't know what to say. I, I, I, I, I feel scared. I feel like, uh, I have to be, I have to be a realist here. I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm not going to say anything bad about this man because he might come for me. Yeah, dude. He's about to be walking, walking, walking free on the streets. Dude, they said, they said that he could, he's the, dude, the charges that he got, which was like, I don't even, I don't understand the fucking verbiage in any of this. Buddy, it's so pathetic. It's like one plus one equals five is basically how this trial went. They were like, he did do these things, which are directly connected to these things, but he didn't do these things. I'm like, excuse you? And the, you've been convicted of like transportation to engage in prostitution. And I'm like, what?

Isn't that trafficking? Isn't transportation in traffic? What is going on, dude? So that Harry's a maximum sentence of 10. Even if he goes to jail, he won't do anywhere near that. And there's a very real chance he doesn't go to jail, dude. Like he might go home. He might walk his ass out of there.

Dude, it is a catastrophic day here on the empty notice podcast and here in just society. Because this, I've been let down many a time in my life. You were really high on this one, dude. I was. I was. Listen, I was just let down by, by, you know, just a person who absolutely fleeced me, fucked me over, and I'm without a home because of it. Just scumbags, left and right in this world. Everywhere you look.

And listen, now I've been let down by this. And I feel bad. I feel bad for everyone. I feel bad for the victims. I feel bad for the people who wanted justice in this world. Me being one of them. You know who I don't feel bad for? And this is harsh, but it's true.

Who's that? The victims who didn't say shit. Hey, come on, don't say that. I'm sorry, dude. Don't say that on air. You don't know what they went through. Then put a stop to it, dude. Like, what you went through is so horrific.

They fear for their life, dude. And you're the only one with the power to stop it. And then now it's going to have. happen to more people. They fear for their life. That's on their hands, dude. That baby oil is on their hands now. They fear for their life.

You're not helping. You're not helping. I'm doing the best I can, and I'm not sure that they're doing the best they can. The best I can do to help this problem is shout it from the rooftops into this Yeti mic. And they could do a lot better than that. You know what the reality is, you dumb piece of shit? Criticism like this makes them want to talk less. you need to support

because you need to support all the support in the world when they still had the opening to do it I was no I was cheering them you're bad guy with pom-poms and posters saying do it I'll be here for you I support you I'm rooting for you

you are safe I will keep you safe and then now that the window is closed and the door is shut and locked and the other door opens that that he walks out onto the street now I go boo criticize you didn't

didn't do anything after I promised you safety. And they go, thank God I didn't speak up because then CP would be able to boo me to my face. Yeah. And he can't promise me safety. And we would all be dead. It's just, you know, this is tough times, dude. It's tough times. Yeah, man.

You know, I'm not, I'm not, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, a devil walks among us is, is, you know. But you know what? But you know what? The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, I will say, I'm not the, I'm then we'll move into free agency madness. This is, this is going to be our last pod

before the, uh, before the holiday. CP and I are going to go on a well-deserved vacation. We're going to go offline. You won't be able, you won't hear from me for weeks. I'm telling you.

That's not true. You won't, you will not see me for weeks. I, I was so disappointed and disgusted in Hollywood and entertainment with this situation. I was just like, you fucking absolute plug pussy losers.

who are just a bunch of fucking geeks and you get some popularity and some money and then you abuse it with bullshit disgusting stuff like this because you weren't fucking cool enough to be invited to a party your whole fucking life so you decide to become a fucking spasoid the second you're invited anywhere you're all fucking losers

who absolutely immortalize these people you put them on this pedestal and then they do fucked up shit like this because they feel like that they're immortal and then when this happens we hear all this bullshit. Oh, it's worse than you could possibly imagine. Everything you're hearing, multiply it by 10.

This is so terrible. We're going to do something about it. And then absolutely jack shit happens. You're all a bunch of fucking cucks. And I can't stand it. What I was going to say is, can you believe that we had the Epstein thing and the Diddy thing and there's just so much action, potential action? and the only real trial that we ever delivered was the Johnny Depp trial.

That did deliver, brother. That was gas. Yeah, that delivered. But listen, I'm a big believer in innocent until proven guilty. And while I don't understand how there isn't a connection between many of these chargers and he is guilty on some and not guilty on the others, he was found not guilty. So, listen, this might be the end of the Diddy Trial saga. we might be seeing him freaking off in a couple of weeks. And if that's the case, that's the case.

Dude, can you fucking imagine the freak off that he's going to throw when he gets out? Oh, brother. I'm just thinking about that right now, dude. Can you even wrap your brain around the fucking freak off that is going to happen when he gets out? The not guilty freak off will be the freak off hurt around the world. Oh, dude. It might get him busted. It might get him busted.

It might be so big. He goes back to jail. There are going to be shipping, like, barges backed up into the port of Miami to fill that house with baby oil. But that's dark stuff. Insane. Let's move on into some hockey talk. Get me into free agency, man. This has been a whirlwind.

We obviously went live yesterday. Was that yesterday? Yes. That was yesterday. Let's discuss the winners and losers of free agency. Who is your first team in the winners column? Yes. Get right into this folks.

We talked about this wasn't the biggest free agency class, but there were some trades. There was obviously a huge name in Mitch Marner. But there was some fireworks. We're going to get into all of it. We're going to go right off the bat and talk about who won, who lost, winner, CP, who's your first winner? Yes, we're going to do our top three of each. And I want to say before we give our number three, our third best winner, quick shout

to some honorable mentions. Honorable, and a lot, people are going to be shocked. This isn't in our top three, but honorable mention Vegas, because everyone's putting them in the winners because you got Marner, you got the big ticket. But to me, like, and not that they gave up a ton, no offense, but the fact that they had to trade at all was ass. Like, this is so stupid. He's a UFA. Literally everybody's been talking to him. And now, due to, like, fucking bullshit tampering threats, you had to trade. But, but CP, I do think, like, when it was talked about, like, maybe a draft pick, maybe Hague and Roy, I was like,

this is such lame bullshit. But I think they had to trade Roy anyway to make the money work, even with Petro's LTIR. So, like, if it wasn't going to be Tron. Roy was going to get traded. Get shipped out. Okay, fair. Since it was just Roy, I'm not that fussed about it, but I do think, Toronto, you're a bunch of bitches for, like, threatening to complain. And also, it's similar to the no-state tax stuff.

I'm going to shut up about that. But anyone complaining about tampering, like, I just don't get it. I don't get the complaint. I went to the online sphere, and I was like, listen, man, as far as I'm concerned, and I said that, I was like, as far as I'm concerned, the second the season is over, if you are a UFA, not RFA, if you are a UFA, you're a free agent, dude. You can talk to whoever you want. Yep.

And like some nerd came in the replies and was like, well, technically, they're not free agents until the 30th. And I'm like, I understand that, dude. I know that technically that's the case. That's why you see some of these lame-ass sign-in-trade deals. But as far as talking to other teams, dude, the second the season's over, brother, you are not a part of that team. Talk to whoever the fuck you want, in my opinion.

And I think if you are one of these fans of a team, team and you're like, well, it's bullshit because Vegas got the upper leg. I'm like, yeah, your team, your favorite team is a bunch of babies. They didn't, they didn't take a shot at their player. Like, dude, soft tampering exists for a reason as it should. I do not. I think it's the stupidest fucking rule in the world. Yep. So, so honorable mention Vegas, because they get, they get mariner. They get a stud wing in a position that they wanted and he wants to be there and there's less pressure on him and that'll be cool. Also, I got honorable mention to the Leafs because I've also seen some people say that the Leafs are losers here because you lost

a Mitch Marner. But I'm like, dude, you got Nyes on a great deal. You got Tavares on a great deal. And you got Roy back. Like, what the fuck? So they're an honorable mention winner to me. I'm fine with the Leafs being a winner. I've really loved the contracts they've done. They brought in Armia, right? Their signings have been more or less lacklust. for me. It's a lot of depth guys. But at the end of the day, you had to bring back Nyes, and you did bring back Tavares both on good deals.

So I'm like, good job. Happy for you. Taking a quick break to talk to you guys about BEDMGM and our incredible deal with them. And you're missing out. You're missing out. I know what to tell you. I keep telling you and telling you you're not acting upon it. It's making me mad. So I'm just going to really push it right now and reiterate

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customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements, bonus bets are non-withdrawable, in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BenMGM.com for terms. U.S. promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. All right, getting into our winners, number three, we're going three to one. Number three is going to be Vancouver Canucks for me. Out of the clouds, I felt like this team was spiraling. I felt like the only thing that I would possibly see from this team was a Quinn Hughes trade. And then truly, out of nowhere, Brock Besser comes back to the team on a very friendly deal. Like, it's not like he was like, yeah, I'll come back, give me a monster deal.

He signs a seven years by 7.3, and they got Garland back at 6.6, which we talked about on the live. Demko at 3 by 8.5. That is interesting to me if he's not healthy. If he is, he's a great goaltender, so good deal. But the Besser one put it over the edge for me. Same completely. It's, we talked about both the other ones on the live. loved the Garland signing. Demko, you're gambling a bit, but you'd think they have some sense of it. And like you just said, if he can play at all, then that's a completely fine number for him. He looked like possibly the best American goalie for a stretch there.

The best thing is just insane. And like, he was gone, dude. Like completely and totally gone. And I haven't seen a flip like that in free agency in a while. Usually when you hear like, oh, Marner might leave. You're like, yeah, he's leaving. Everybody fucking knows he's leaving. So that was a huge turnaround.

And you brought up the Quinn thing at the top of this. I think if you have any hope on earth of keeping Quinn Hughes on this team, because I genuinely think he's leaving. But if you have any hope on earth of keeping Quinn Hughes on this team, it's by being very competitive. Yeah, for sure. And it's funny saying about a team that was bad last year, like, just keep your guys. You'll be competitive, which is what they've been. done, but I'm like, but you should be. We've been saying this for years too. You should be good. So you just hope that Pedersen plays better without J.T. Miller, whatevering. And, you know, it's like

keep the band together, believe in the process. And if you actually are good, you maybe keep Quinn. So I think it's actually been an awesome free agency couple days for them. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, rather, when you think about it, it's like, what did we expect from this team? And I think we expected a lot of nothing. And they actually went out and did a lot of things. Again, that Garland extension, I think he's performed really well with that team. I think he likes it there. Clearly, he signs long term.

But bringing back Besser was just like, I didn't think that this was even possible. Like, we saw him lead the facilities at the end of the season with like a jersey signed by the entire team in his car. Like, okay, see you later. Everyone was like, okay, he's gone. So this must have just been a. I'm curious to see if we ever hear what happened. I wonder if maybe they weren't getting the offers they thought.

I'd be shocked if that were the case, especially with what we're seeing with Eilers. So who knows? Maybe at the end of the day he just had a change of heart, and he was like, no, I love it here. So Vancouver, I feel like if you're a Knux fan, you're like, shit, that went pretty well. Not bad at all.

Okay, our number two winner from Free Agency, we are going Carolina Hurricanes. So we reacted to the Stank extension live on our live from yesterday. She'll watch it if you haven't seen it. I will reiterate eight by six for him as a 22 year old. I love. You know I've always been high on him and there's a chance he doesn't hit the projections that some people have, certainly that I have.

And so be it. That's sports, right? But even if he doesn't hit where I think he's going, like even if he stays plateaued, even if he's exactly what he is right now, six mill for him is nothing that's actually that's a steal if you're getting exactly who he is and imagine if he gets better like everyone else thinks he's going to it's a great deal everyone losing their mind about it again it's like the eight years for a 22 year old it's it's like you're getting a long-term extension of a guy who's coming into his own that you think and you hope

he's he's performed at every level and he's only going to be 30 at the end of the deal you're laughing brother like this is um this is exactly ecblad right like ecblad came to the end of his long-term deal with florida he was 29 there's a chance we see carolina rip off here maybe win some cups who knows i don't know get freaky with it a little bit get kind of nasty get dirty get some barbecue sauce on it all of a sudden you're winning cups and you got your boy stank and you're like oh man what a run and he's like i'll sign another six years dude i'm only 30 if he becomes a 30 goal score too like we've always said carolina's just kind of missing that um super I'm not even saying Stank's going to become a super superstar, but if he's like a consistent

30 goal score at 6 million for the next neat fucking years for all of his 20s, that is good business, my friend. He just, he feels like he's got 25, 30 written all over him. Agreed, dude. I really, I really feel it. I really feel it. It's like, that's him, dude. I really feel that way.

The Keondre Miller thing deserves a lot of attention. Big trade between division rivals, Carolina and New York Rangers. Carolina sends Moro a first and a second to New York for Keandre Miller and they then sign him

to an eight year by 7.5 mil contract. I was shocked by this. Shocked. You know I'm big on Key. I like Key. I think he's a great player and I think he's got potential.

I do think it was two years ago where we saw him have like 43 points I think so right and he's big it just looks like he was 23 I was like this guy

he's he's just got good shit written all over him and he's out here having bad years like last year was a bad year now granted kind of like everyone on that team wasn't the best

but it just felt like rewarding him with an eight-year deal at well over what Jacob Slavin makes on the same team is crazy. Like we talk a lot about, it's interesting when you get players who are really solid on a team and then you've got, you know, like a younger player in the same position. Maybe it's a forward or it's D like this. And you're like, well, you can't pay them more than that guy.

but it's like, well, no, you can. Like, it's, it's, things are changing. Time is a factor, yeah. Time is a factor, blah, blah, blah, blah. But in this case, it's like he's a player on a new team who came off a bad year. There were guys being like, Rangers fans being like, do not bring this guy back and you pay him that that much. It just shows so much fucking faith. Like, clearly before they made that trade, there was talks about the extension because it came so fast.

And good on Kie Anderre Miller's agent. I mean, like, that is a payday. I don't think anyone saw coming. anyone. So it feels weird to have them be our number two winners when there's that huge question mark, which it is. But I will say this, dude, he showed so much potential just two years ago. He's super young. The Rangers are abysmal at developing defensemen. Abysmal. And I've talked to a lot of Rangers fans today who, when I've said that to them, they're like, yep, that's actually a really fair point and I can't argue at that. And the Canes,

in my opinion, are quite good at developing defensemen. I think we're seeing Gostaspeer playing like the best hockey of his career in an older age. You see plenty of guys to see Brady Shea come through and play phenomenally. I think it is a defensive hub and there's a world where they go, we know how to get the best out of this guy, give him a contract. There's a planet where we might see seven and a half as a steal. So that's what they're thinking. I think that they've earned the right to have some faith put in them, but no doubt about it. I was shocked by that deal. And the reason we have them as a winner is because A, you and I both love Keyes game

and still think there is potential there. But B, and he's said this already in quotes, I just think the hurricane's style is going to let him flourish. It's classic like Belichick Patriots of just get the guy who has tools and make him do the thing he has tools for. Don't make him do something else. I was pulling up his quote. He said, I'm super excited for the style that they play.

getting up and down the ice in a fast motion, making plays through the neutral zone to get Pucks to the forward to speed to let them do their thing, but also joining the rush and trying to create. That's something I've built my game around the last couple years and only getting better, so it's great. And I couldn't agree more. I think they believe that too, as in the Keynes.

They're like, that guy would fit here better than he fits there, so get him right now, pay him this, and actually everyone will look back and can't believe this contract considering Noah Dobson's getting 9.5, and these other defensemen, Charlie McVoeys getting 10, people they're banking on a 28 year old Keondre Miller people are going to go 7-5 that's fucking insane and I think there's a decent chance of that

yeah no doubt about it and the other reason we have them to is heavily dependent on this podcast belief that they're getting Eelers yeah we have inside sources there's been a a long-standing agreement with Carolina and Eilers loves Carolina the team loves him. My favorite thing about this, if it happens,

which we believe it is happening, they wanted him from day one. And I think that that's awesome. And I think it's awesome to honor that too and appreciate that. I think the idea of a guy like Eilers playing with a Sebastian Ajo and a Jarvis gets fetch involved in there is phenomenal.

I think it's, it just adds like a lot of depth. And there's a world where you get him and then you can flip like a, let me just, take a look at their lines for UCP and talk you through it. But if you look at Carolina's line breakdown right now, it's Svech, Aho and Jarvie, Halsey, Kockney, M.E., Blake,

Martin Oxtall, Stankovan. And, like, we think Stankovan's a guy that you're like, dude, you can bounce him up and down for sure. I don't see Svetchnikov as a guy who needs to be on the left wing or Taylor Hall. I know they both prefer it. But, like, let's say you get Eilers. You put Eilers on that first line.

You bounce Svetch down with Halsey. And then you could flip Kockenemy and Jackson Blake for a certified two C. And then all of a sudden you have Hall, Svech, and that new two C as your second line. And you have two of the top two lines in the NHL. You are dangerous. That's what Carolina is looking at right now. I can tell you that right now. So, yeah, this podcast has been all over Eilers to Carolina.

I believe we are going to see. We might be recording right now. And this might break officially as, you know, we're getting text and information is coming in. But I can also confirm 11 teams, 11, since the clock struck one, as in one minute, on free agency. And we saw all of these guys go, you know, Marner deal, done, Marci back to Florida, Granny goes to Anaheim. All of these things happened. 11 new teams reached out to Eelers and a huge, and his camp.

And a huge part of that was because teams were scrambling. They were like, oh, my God, all these guys are going. So many of these deals have already been in place. We don't even have a shot at some of these guys. Who do we go and get? And Eilers became very quickly the top free agent on the board. So tons of teams made contact. I can confirm LA made a contact somewhere around the $7.5 million range.

That was always going to be too low. They didn't stand a chance. And it, frankly, we'll get into this later. You wonder, you're looking at Ken Holland, who comes in, he's like, I'm going to shake the tree. He sure his shit didn't. and like whatever the opposite of the wamping willow is is what fucking Ken Holland is and let me tell you that being your offer for the top free agent on the board like do better pal um anaheim made a good push even with uh grandland anaheim has so much cap space

they saw an opportunity to get eilers and grandland that didn't come through and then down towards the wire uh big teams in the mix uh obviously as well as canes the jets still maintain hope. They couldn't get it done. Nyquist was signed just recently a couple hours ago, felt like them going, okay, he's gone. We've got to fill that gap. But Colorado, heavily in it. They obviously freed up a lot of that cap space. They were looking at that in a big way. Tampa looking at it in a big way. They would have had to make a few moves. And Washington, absolutely was a huge, huge player in this. And who knows? Could pull something off? And New Jersey, another team that was definitely heavily in the mix.

So again, we believe by the time of this recording, maybe, or maybe shortly thereafter, we're going to see this news break. I'm expecting the term to be in that sort of 8.5 to 9 million range. I think we're going to see anywhere between 5, 7 years. But Eelers, if and when the official signing to the Keynes comes through, I think Carolina is a huge winner. Huge. Yep. And then moving on to our number one, excuse me. No question about it.

Florida Panthers. And that's obvious. It's the easiest winner of all time. Everybody here, Eckblad eight years, 6.1, Benny 8 by 8, Marshy 6 by 5.25. And then you even said, like, no sick coming back on a one-year deal. And that's, remember Paul Maurice was like, you guys get the fuck out there to close it out? You guys made the difference against Serrano. No sick back for one year, 775K.

Petrie, one year, 775K. They are bringing back the core key pieces and finding value in the interchangeable spots where you lose a Nate Schmidt or whatever, you know? This, it's very hard to win the Stanley Cup. Somebody could get hurt. There's a million factors. But God damn, dude, they are trying to build something fucking serious right now. Yeah, and they're doing it, right?

Like they're absolutely doing it. And, you know, we won't waste any more breath than we have already wasted on talking about how this was done and how they got these guys. But my favorite thing was Zito was questioned about it. And in an interview, he was asked, like, how do you make this happen? How do you get these guys to agree? And he was like, I didn't do anything. It was literally all of them. They all talked amongst each other.

They believed that they have built something incredible here and they want to be a part of it. They don't want anything to get in the way of it. they figured out how to waste to stay how ways how to stay here and i believe that dude like me too obviously the zito has to get involved and he has to make certain things happen but at the end of the day i do believe that this started with those guys talking to each other with guys like barcove with guys like chucky with guys like forsling rhino all for hegey all talking and being like boys fucking stay here like i promise you wherever you go however much money you make it's not going to be as good as here your lifestyle's not going to be as good

The team sure is shit isn't going to be as good. So just fucking stay here and let's keep dominating. And that, to me, as a competitive person, that's the most intoxicating thing I could ever imagine. So I am not surprised by this in the least. And, you know, we talked about it how amazing it would be. We were like, can you imagine if they bring all these guys back? And what was funny is when we said that, we were like, yeah, I can't. I think I said to.

you, certainly to you a bunch of times, but, you know, I said it on, uh, on, on online. I said it on the pod. While these guys are celebrating, we were in elbow room. And I was like, why would you ever leave this environment, literally ever? Because when we looked at it, it's like, sure, are you going to take a team friendly deal? Yes. But at the end of the day, man, I was like, it's not going to be that team friendly. Like, you're still going to get a deal here. Like, a bunch of money. What are we doing? So it just, it just made total sense. And then there you go. uh, people have seen this, and they're not all literally 2030, but it's all, it's 2030 or beyond.

Barkoff, Kachuk, Reiner, Bennett, Verhege, Lundell, Jones, Ekblad, Forsling, and Marshand, all signed through 2030, which is nutty. And I saw this too. The one big piece that isn't signed that long, who's a free agent this next summer, is Bob, but Bob is making 10 right now, so he will probably take less than that. Like you could get him for less. Dude, you know what needs to be discussed that hasn't really been talked? I haven't seen it talked about really anywhere.

Under the cover of darkness, the cats made a few goalie signings. I think Tara, can you look that up for me, the goalie from Columbia? I think it's Teresov. Teresov, to correct me if I'm wrong on that pronunciation, but Teresov signs, you know, it's a small contract. I think it was in a trade actually, and it's just like, okay, cool. But another one, dude, that is very interesting, is one Brandon Bussie signs with the Florida Panthers from the Boston Bruins, who if those remember, I know, dude, when Olmark was traded from Boston, everyone went, yeah, this is fine.

We have Brandon Bussie to back up sway. He is the future. He might even be better than sway, some people were saying. Now, Brandon Bussie's a little older. He's 27 years old for a guy who hasn't really had true NHL time. He struggled a bit last year with the Providence Bruins. He had a 907-safe percentage, I think. I think he was something like 15, 14, and 1.

15, 14 and 4. Yeah, 4, thank you. Brandon Bussie has all of the intangibles and all of the raw skill that you want in a goaltender per every goalie coach that has ever worked with him. And I just look at the way Bob's career was revived in Florida. with their goalie coach. And I'm sitting here going, I am telling you this right now, friend,

if Brandon Bussie all of a sudden starts catching games here backing up Bob, and he looks fucking lights out, and Bob moves on, retires in however many years, and Bussie just steps in as like a fresh, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, 29-year-old and is now their new starting goalie on a super low hit with all of these dudes signed for the next five years still, that will effectively end the Boston Bruins franchise. It will be the final nail in the coffin

that the Florida Panthers have driven with their ballpoint hammer into the oak frame of the Boston Bruins sarcophagus and it will bury the franchise effective immediately for the end of time. Can you imagine, dude? Yes, I can. If he's like an all-star, he's like winning cups,

making all-star teams. And by then, Dan, by then fucking the final will be Edmonton, Florida again, Bussy versus Sway, and the Bruins will have no one on the team. And I'll be like, they'll have Cory Perry. They'll have Corey Perry and then they'll lose. I'll be like, dude, what the fuck is happening? Stop trading everybody away. A 45-year-old Cory Perry will be leading the Bruins to a Stanley Cup loss against Brandon Bussy. Shut out in game seven. Fuck! Before we go to our losers, I just wanted to say a funny thing.

thought to you here, Dan. We in the hockey covering world have been like, man, like Biz even said it to us this past trip. He was like, we got to be finishing sooner. Like, we can't be, we can't be playing hockey end of June. And, you know, there's complications to that. We all want Olympics. We all want international breaks, blah, blah, blah, whatever, whatever. But nothing has ever been more clear to me that we do need to finish the playoffs sooner than this year because it needs to be. It needs to be there needs to be more difference distance from the championship celebration to free agency opening because it's like a drug dude all these florida guys are fucking buzzing together like you just said it of course they're gonna just fucking take less of course but dude if it was like two weeks had passed

they'd be like oh no i'm going i'm taking my bag somewhere else like this is bullshit dude like whoever wins the cup just gets to be like pouring shots down their throat like yo yo five by six and he's like yeah fuck yeah five by six I'm not fucking leave it I said it was the biggest bullshit of all time brother I was like this is fucking crazy I think I tweeted I was like

big brain stuff by Zito to get all these guys to agree to resign while they're still drunk like truly they're all drunk you know what they're doing they're all arm and arm going I fucking love you bro I do anything for you bro and Zito was like this dude prove it all of you signed team friendly deals and they're like I'll fucking do it

I'll do it right now Dan I bet that happened I bet Chuck hasn't been drinking this whole time. I bet that's all been fake boost. And Zito was like, dude, go get with them. And then when they get fucked, be like, dude, I love you. I love you. I love you. We got to stay, dude. You got to fucking stay. And they're like, yeah, I'd do anything for you, Matthew. And then he just goes to sleep sober, dude. I'm telling you. It is like a, it is a true no-brainer that that is what's happened. Fucking crazy. We're short in the season. Okay, let's get into our losers. Who is your number one, Lehu, Zahar? Well, I want

start with three. I want to start with three and work the way up to the biggest loser. So three for me, and I hate dogging on them because I fucking, I love it up there now. But I got to go Edmonton Oilers because, and dude, I have Oilers friends, four of those fan friends texting me like, dude, what the fuck are we doing? So it's not just like me, you know, um, if there's a few factors that, that we have them three. The Bushard contract is number one. Um, four by 10 and a half. I kind of feel like it's too much, but I don't kind of feel like that. I feel like it's too much. But to your point, get your bag, whatever. No one else has taken less. No superstars taken less on that team. Yep. But if you were going to pay them that much, you almost wish it was

longer for, as an Oilers fan, you know, you're like, well, at least we have them now, you know, so it's kind of like. 100%. Like if Evan Bouchard keeps playing, if Evan Bouchard keeps playing at the level that he's at for four more years. And I mean in every facet, he's going to demand a huge increase. And I'm like, dude, that is bullshit. And I'm not saying, like, you don't deserve it, Evan, but I'm just like, if you're giving him that much money,

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the door. People are pissed about the Freddie contract, 8 by 3.85. I actually don't hate it. I know we love Freddie, but I just think he's really good at that role. Yeah, let's break that one down because I agree. I have them as losers. To me, Freddie 8 by 3.25. I really, dude, I don't have much of a problem with 3.25.

What I do think people forget is Trent Frederick is 27 years old. Him getting an eight-year contract was pretty shocking to me. Me too. Me too. I thought five would have been perfect. And frankly, if this was a five-year by 3.25, I'd be like, yeah. Like that checks. He's only 27.

And at his best, you know, his best year, I think it was 18 goals, 41 points or something like that. I think he had 18 and 22. he was a menace that year. And that was the year everyone was like, fucking A man. Like, listen, when Don Sweeney drafted him in the first round like a moron, he went, Trent Frederick's going to be a great bottom six player for us. Didn't even say top nine. He said bottom six.

And I was like, why are you using your first round pick on someone that you believe their ceiling is a third line player? That is fireable, in my opinion. But Trent Frederick blossomed into exactly. that. And for that, I give him not Don, but Trent, a ton of credit. He's also one of the best guys in the world. So, amazing for their

locker room. And I do think it's nice when we hear a lot of people talking shit about Edmonton. Trent Frederick shows up there on the trade deadline and he goes, I'll sign eight years here. Like, it's a show of faith to the community and to the team. That's cool. I don't like the term.

I think 3.25, no matter fucking who you are, is super tradable. Like, that's not a guy that you need to, like, eat salary on. and if Trent can get healthy he had a high ankle sprain all year that is such a bitch to come back from if Freddie comes back and he's healthy and he's getting you 40 points

he's getting you 15 20 goals for snap and D's on draws back dude consistently fighting being being a menace to play against dude like for 3.25 that's great but the reason I do bring it up for the loser column is like we said it's just like eight years for a 27 year old

who's had a bit of injury history who's coming off of a bad year, just felt so unnecessary. Especially because usually when we see extended term, it's something like Freddie's going, I need $28 million. I don't care how I get it. And in this, I'm like, was he saying that? Like, I don't think he was probably. I think he was like, please, just someone give me a deal that gives me some security. And they were like, how about eight?

And he was like, oh, okay. Hell yeah. Totally. The other, Manji Apani comes over from Wash to. by 3.6. I don't, that's, that's a positive, you know. It's good value. Yeah. I think, I think Manjipani's a good player and it's like he's a, he's a good slot in for them. But again, it's just like these like middle six guys that they're just streamlining at, like, and you lost a lot of volume and you only have brought a few back. And then, of course, and their hands were a bit tied on this one. I kind

of wrote some of this down in terms of who extended early. There was Chesty, Olmark, Otter, decor, Blackwood, L.T., Freddie Anderson, Aden Hill, Sorrow, A lot of these guys were projected to be free agents this year, and none of them were. So their hands were tied a little bit, but when you don't get Gibson from Anaheim and Demko stays, like you can't, to me, if you're the Oilers and you enter this summer, if you leave this summer with the same goalie situation, then you have to be a loser of free agency because, like, what are we talking about? I imagine we're going to see a stew trade this summer, and we'll see who that's for. I just believe Stu's, and like you brought it up in playoffs, dude, like this regular season by his own metrics.

He had a down year, right? Like he wasn't that solid. It was worst year of his career, I'm pretty sure. And then he got yanked multiple times in this playoff run, so his stock is low. So if you trade Stu, I don't know who you're getting. And then what's crazy, too, is Stu's cap hit isn't big. So it's not like if you trade stew, wow, that's huge. You're freeing up $8 million.

It's like, no, if you trade stew, you're freeing up, I think it's three something. Like, let me look that up right now. Stu Skinner, no, it's not even. It's 2.6. So, like, if you trade stew, I don't know what you're getting back. You're getting, like, you hope to get back a corpusolo. And even with that, like, they can't even afford that because they have $176,000 in cap space. Like you couldn't do a Corpusolo for Stu Skinner straight up.

So I believe he's getting traded. And what's crazy dude is like, listen, we brought it up on the live. We'll bring it up on the pod. We're hearing a lot of chatter about people thinking that Carter Hart is going to sign with the Oilers. If Carter Hart gets through this trial and is reinstated into the NHL, the Oilers want to sign him. And I wonder, for better or worse, like, is that a good move for this organization optically? It's just like the whole goalie situation Just feels so messy for them

I haven't fact checked this But I heard that the Oilers are projected Even with a Connor extension To have a lot of cap space next year Yeah And considering you've been to the finals twice No fan ever wants to hear this But I wouldn't even be that rattled

Oilers were like whatever We're just going to like piece it together this year We'll probably make playoffs and not go that far And then next year make a push But the tricky thing about that is I'm like you've got to keep Connor though And I think they are But I'm just saying like the whole like, let's just toss this year and then we'll make a bit at it next year because we have cap space.

If I'm Connor, I'm like, fuck you, dude. I'm not tossing this year. So, you know, it's kind of a tricky one. No, it's interesting. Like if you look at their team next year, Conner's 12.5 is coming off the books, which is going to, that'll turn into 16. Yep. Henrique's 3. KK's 1.3.

Thomas 6.1.2. Max Jones is 1. Pud Colzen's one but he's RFA like he'll be signing and then it's Ekholm 6 Walman's 3.4

Kulax 2.7 I'm like it's not that much dude and a cap jump you know like and a cap jump and then also Stu and and Picard

like there's a lot you know a lot of I hate that I'm still saying Picard yeah um John Luke

yeah it's a decent amount but again more than half of that will go to Connor if fall goes well for them. Yep. But yeah, like, unfortunately, they just, they didn't do anything they needed to do, and the things

that they did do weren't like, oh, my God. And frankly, like, the, I would say the big one that the majority of their fan base was like, we got to get this done is bring back Bouchard. And I don't even think people are thrilled with what they brought Bouchard back. Christ. Okay. Let's go to number two. Dude, it sucks.

All the losers on our, that we've picked, we have relationships with, which, and I say that Lucy about Edmonton, but I love the people up there now. I love all the people here, but I would, I would. as friends, I would ask them to look me in the face and disagree. Yeah. Same for the next two. Lehu Zahir is the Boston Bruins. Hot start though.

Hot start. I had two days. I had two days just given a lot of love to Don Sweeney. Because like I said, dude, we are fucking unbiased. As much as people want to be like, you guys sucked off the Panthers, this and that. Bro, we are unbiased. They deserve to be sucked. And so I suck them.

They deserve to be sucked. And I thought Don Sweeney deserved to be tugged after the draft and then the first couple of signings he made. I loved the pick of Higgins. Don't call it lucky. A player fell to him and he made the right pick. Great stuff. I loved the extension of Lurai. I loved the extension of Geeky.

And I was like, dude. Are we back? Sorry, I just got a text from our source and wild information. and I can't tell you. Well, I can't tell you, but I can't tell you on this show. Yeah, yeah. I loved those extensions. I loved him.

Then, every, literally every move, I was like, what the fuck are you doing? Right off the bat, traded, what was it, a fourth round pick, a fifth round pick for Arvinson? Fifth, I think, yeah. Fifth round pick traded for Victor Arvinson, who, you know, at a time,

Arvotson scored 30, goals. He's 32 years old. He's coming off a couple of not so great years. But I was like, whatever, dude, it's one year at 4 mil. You've got a lot of cap space. Like, yeah, if he slots in on your wing in the middle six and like score is 25, you're like, hey, that was pretty good. And then that's also a guy that maybe you flip at the deadline. So I was like, okay. And then it got worse from there. Pick it up. Then, you know, not that this was ever on the table from a couple months ago, but then you don't get Brad Marshaan bat. You know, like Brad Marchand goes,

I'm staying in Florida because I love it here. Then they give Tanner Geno a five year by 3.4 AAV contract. Who, dude, is a awesome guy, by the way. But his last three seasons are six goals, seven goals, seven goals. And he had 24 as a rookie, but like he has not been productive at multiple stops. Wasn't doing it in Nashville, wasn't doing it in Tampa, wasn't doing it L.A. Wasn't he on the ninth floor for some of those Oilers games that we were at in the playoffs? I think.

I can't remember for sure. But I'm like, I'm pretty sure he was getting scratched. Dude, yes. And like, he was hurt a lot. I know. He wasn't playing in those Oilers games and people were like, man, we really missed him. So you just, you pick, you give a long-term deal to that. Then you give multi-year packs to Corally got one.

And then- Isamunt gets. one ice among the house whereas i write that down um and and then it's like this has been on twitter everywhere but it's you look at it like i can't believe you were picking knits with marshy and then you look the money you've spent on on this on what is this you spent you spent you spent more money on victor arvotson and tanner jeanau than you did your captain homegrown captain it's really really confusing and listen that's a little unfair to bring up i i think murals tweeted that and I loved it, I retweeted it and I was like, that's not great. It's a little unfair because

like that wasn't the option. It's not like Boston was offering that to Marcy right now. And Marcy was like, and they were like, no, we won't give you that. It was a different situation. It was last season. They got their first round pick from it. Like, it's totally different, Chris. It is. No, no, no. It's not debatable. It's totally different. But like, are you just saying because Marcy played good in playoffs that they're like, no, no. I'm saying because it was a different season. It wasn't like these were the two options and they chose those two.

Like that's revisionist history. Yeah. It is. We have to be honest. If you want to just like look at it optically, yeah, it looks like shit. But at the end of the day,

it's like, it wasn't as black and white as that. So I think that that is brutal. But what really fucking grinds my gears, man, is the term you just gave a 28-year-old Tanner, you know, who has not played well since his rookie year is fucking insane.

Yeah. And the thing that really bothers me, and we're going to get into this with our number one stinker team, no one was bidding against you. No one. And again, dude, Tanner Genoa, amazing fucking dude. And at his best, yeah, he's a fucking pain in the ass to play against. But like, dude, Tanner Geno was not getting a five-year 3.4 a year offer from anyone else. It's like time and time again with Don Sweeney. I see this with Matt Baleski,

with David Bacchus, a friend of the program, who we love. And like David Bacchus even said when he came on the show, he was like, yeah, it was a huge offer from Boston that I was like, I have to do this. It just feels like Don keeps like, I don't know who he's negotiating against himself. It's like his alter ego. And I refuse to believe anyone, anyone was making a, offer like this. Every projection was like, yeah, he's going to get two million a year, maybe 2.5. And you give him 3.4 for five years. And people are talking about these are guys that you maybe flip at the deadline. I don't see a word. Not anymore. Even if Tanner, you know, has 25 goals at the deadline. I'm not sure people are going to trade for. Truly, I'm not.

I know. I know. It's insane. So that one just feels crazy. And then, yeah, to go four million to Arvinson, 3.4 to him, 1.8 to curls. And then 1.45 to Isamont. I was just like, you just blew your whole fucking load, literally, all of it on your fourth line. Yeah. Just like we do at the draft until this year. Your bottom six. You had like.

Folks love the bottom six. You had like 18 mil in cap space. And you literally gave all of it to your bottom six. And I'm just like, I'm scratching my head. Like, listen. Was Boston competing? for a cup this coming season, I don't think so. I don't. But I think that there was a world where they could have maybe got back in the playoffs. Maybe they could have made some trades. They could have

done this or that. And they could have just been like, man, this is really cool. And the thing that really fucking pisses me off and really confuses me is you are officially in nut up or shut up time for guys like Fabian Lysel and guys like Georgie Murculov. Which I'm sneaky happy about. Yep. And now you also have Fraser Minton, who you got in the Brandon Carlo trade from Toronto. who played towards the end of last year. He's shown a ton of spark. Toronto fans loved him. Now you've got those three guys that you're like,

you guys got to get in the lineup here. Where the fuck are they going to play? Especially because they go, well, sorry, we gave Tanner Geno three point, whatever, million dollars, so he has to play. Where the fuck are they going to play? Like, you just gave Tanner Janot a one-way contract at 3.4 a year.

Like, he ain't fucking getting sent down. Like, you got a health bomb that guy every fucking day? Nope. And now you got Isomot and Corrid. Raleigh. And it's like, are you going to send, are those guys A HL signings? And like, what's up with who's Nadeenov? Like, you've got who's Nadeenov in the mix here, too, that you got in the trade with Minnesota. And it's like, you just, you talked so much game about finally having an opportunity to make your youth prove it and give them an opportunity. And then you go

and load up the bottom six and effectively tell them to get fucked. Yeah. So I just think it is such a massive, massive L for Boston. And I'm, I'm, I'm not surprised, but I am, I am shocked with the way it went down. Um, agree, dude. No, it's, uh, like I said, Hot Star and then it just went right back to the same old complaints, which sucks. Yeah. The number one let you say her.

A little close to home here. Yeah. Do you? Oh, no, that's a netter sweater. We are going. You teased it earlier. The LA Kings. It's a lot of factors. I think it starts with the Spani trade, which we've said.

We talked about it in the live, I think, or maybe the last ep, which I hated. Then you make a late push for Eilers. And it's like he's disinterested. You didn't even get close to. the money, you lose Gavrakoff, a guy that clearly, and I, we can get into what the rags did later maybe, but I thought that was too much for him, too. Like, maybe the Kings are like, maybe the Kings like, I didn't want to give him $50 million. But my point is, they wanted him. They were trying to keep him. And whatever Florida's doing, where they go, hey, stay, dude, stay.

We're doing something. These guys go, okay, and they stay, and they take less. They wanted to keep him. They had people talking to him. No, no dice. See you later. Dude, off to New York. York. And then, Dan, it's like, how many times have we said that the Marner was like such a thing. Like, everybody in the organization was like, we can't wait to get Marner. We're going to get Marner. That's going to be awesome. And it didn't even feel like they were in the mix. You know, like that is such a dagger for a team. It doesn't matter. It matters if you miss a guy. But like, when it's not even being considered, it's fucking rattling. And then I'll let you jump in here. The C.C. and Dumolin signings. Like, that's, that's what we're doing.

doing? Dude, I, I, you know what's funny is when you look at L.A., I'm going to pull up their cap right now. When you look at L.A., you look at the no moves on the team, and you look at the cap, like they currently have 5.9 in cap. And this is after all of those. So they had money. They had money to spend, dude. Like, they had plenty, frankly. Which is why they were in heavily on Marner. We know that there were a lot of guys on that team who had talked. to Marner who were like, dude, it's awesome here. You got to come here. And, um, and they wanted him heavy. They, they put a lot of chips in that basket to get him. But let's be real, dude, the way we saw the Marner thing come down the pipeline, and I don't give a fuck about the

tampering. I give, it's, it's about the recruiting and about the execution of getting the job done. It was never close, dude. At all. That's what's rattling. And your inability to know that as a front office is a detriment to your ability to do your job. Yeah. So I'm looking at it and I'm like, dude, you, you bring Ken Holland in who is all this fucking talk about I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to shake things up, I'm going to make this team competitive. And people went into this free agency and frankly the draft and they're like, dude,

I expect Ken to do something crazy. Like people were like bracing for impact. I know. And listen, I'm so happy to eat my words. If the next couple of weeks go by and crazy trades go down, which is always a possibility, always a possibility, I will be like, fucking A dude, there it is. You know, expected it earlier, but there it is. But we see this happen, and you start with Kuzzi. Kuzmanko signs a one year 4.3, which I do like.

Me too. He's 29 years old. Frankly, I wouldn't have hated more term. Say, oh God, yes, for sure. But we saw him elite with Vancouver, then fall off. Then he comes, I think we said it on the live. I think he had something like 17 points in 22 games when he came over. It might have been more than that, actually.

But he played really well with Kempi and Kopey. And I was like, keep this fucking guy. And you keep him, and I love that cap it. That's fucking fantastic. So that was good. But after that, dude, it's like you bring in Joel Armea. Sorry, I think I had mentioned Joel Armea with Toronto. And that was a mistake, my bad.

But you bring in Joel Armia, 2.5. I'm kind of like, I mean, whatever. You bring in Corey Perry. Okay. Like, whatever. But, you know, like, I love Corey Perry. Turned into Scori Perry last year. But I'm like, all right, like, what are you guys doing?

And then losing Gavrikov and bringing in Cody Cici at four years, 4.5, and then a good friend, Brian Dumlin, three years, four mill. Yep. felt very much like what we just said in Boston with, uh, with, um, fucking sorry, I just got a text again. Is it juicy? Yeah, it's juicy. Oh my God.

Announcement coming. Not tonight. Oh, oh, oh. So by the time people listen to this, it'll be today. It'll be tonight. Yeah. So I imagine the announcement, um, will be tomorrow. Scandy time

where me and Nicker. Oh yeah, right. Me and Nick are here in Scandy. So that's huge. Okay. Getting back into the pod, sorry for that delay guy, but this, hey, this is the fucking Ryan.

This is the game. This is the boys and girls. This is why you listen to the show. What we just said with the uh... uh... geno deal i i can't imagine

those deals were being offered to cc and brian dumaan brine ddumlin is a phenomenal vet who who is a fantastic third pair guy cc's one of the best human beings alive

truly i need everyone to know that they will love him in that locker room and he's also a good vet but like i think we saw it in dallas like cc should be your seventh guy he should be your seventh guy he should be your vet that like if someone goes down, you got a trustworthy guy that's coming in.

And you're now paying him four and a half mill a year. Yeah. And I saw someone make a joke that was like, it was like Cody C, C's agent talking to Ken Holland. And Cody Cc's agent goes, we really want four million. And Ken Holland goes, that is hilarious. Four million a year? I'm not sure about that. Cody Cic's agent.

Oh my God, he thinks we mean a year. Actually, it's 4.5. Ken Holland, deal. And I'm like, that is a reasonable joke to make, dude. Like, I, I am flabbergasted. Flabbergasted. So to me, you now have an anemic 5.9 mil in cap space with which, what can you get? More of these same pieces, the same depth guys, bottom six guys, third pairing guys.

And you traded away Jordan Spence. You missed out on every big free agent. You made a low ball offer to Nikolai Eelers, who you did not. get and here we are dude and on top of that CP we're also hearing stories that Rasmus Anderson had a trade in place with the Kings and he said no

so it's like what's going on here why why isn't this team able to get players right now? And I saw in some article that was like maybe not the best move to get older and slower when the Oilers scoring and pace

has knocked you out of the playoffs four years in a row and like that's the That's the shakeup beginning. We were like, what if we, what if we slowed it down a little bit more? How do we feel about that? And I'm like, I can already tell you how that's going to go. So, yeah, it's big time head scratching moves so far. You're right that there could be crazy fireworks coming the rest of the summer with some big switchups.

But there felt like there were opportunities to spend that money more wisely and more calculated in L.A. than they currently have. I think that's spot on. And it's just like, I don't know, it's, I think part of the reason I'm, I'm so disappointed is, I guess, because of the hype of the new GM, right? Like, you just, you, you expect it's something to go on here. And when you're looking at this team, dude, like, don't you think, like, would you say they got worse? Um, um, yeah. Yes. And only because it felt like, and obviously this didn't translate into playoffs at all,

but it felt like their defensive structure is why they were good. They overperformed for me last year. I know Tom had them like being great, so he was dead accurate. They overperformed for me, and it was because of their defensive structure, and I think they have weakened themselves on the blue line. So now I'm like, oh, shit. they lost Jordan Spence and Vladislav Gavakov and they added Cody Cici and Brian Dumlin that I don't know how you could argue against that being a downgrade and that's not a

disrespect to those players it's just we're looking at it you know look at it by the numbers like look at it analytically it's just like there's no doubt about it and then you've you've essentially done nothing on offense and I just I just that too because kind of so. Yeah. So I understand, you know, you're seeing a lot of discourse online. The Kings fans are just furious. Yeah.

And I'm having a hard time blaming them. I agree. So those are our top three winners, top three losers of free agency. There's still more to come. We've still got some players who have yet to sign. We saw a suitor get scooped up. Nyquist just got scooped up. Obviously, big part of this podcast has been.

Nikolai Eelers, and I can tell you that the announcement will be coming today while you are listening to this. Going to be awesome. Can't wait for it. CP, do you have anything to say to the people before we bid them adieu? I do. For those who celebrate a very happy Fourth of July. For those who don't celebrate, you should. It's pretty gas.

Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy your wedding, Dan. And to all that listen. Skate Hart.