Puck Soup - Live From Toronto

Episode Date: September 8, 2017

Greg and Dave are live from Toronto, talking with Chris Johnston and Jackie Redmond from Sportsnet and The Athletic editor James Mirtle! Plus, discussions on George Parros taking over NHL Player Safety, the Pope endorsing hockey, the new offside review rule, the Leafs and Oilers Cup chances, "Star Wars" needs a director and we play Schlemko'd, a.k.a. The Roster Game.  

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. So I'm wearing this Marley shirt. Jeffler gave me this jersey to wear it a night. Yeah, shout out Jeffler. Please applaud for it.

Wait, y'all hate them, right? You're on Reddit. Jeffler. So this is a Jeremy Williams, Marley's jersey. Are you familiar with Jeremy Williams? Is it possible Jeremy Williams is here tonight? And by that I mean working in the bar? So, Jeffler tells me that Jeremy Williams is famous for, well, being a Marley,

the second greatest honor in Toronto hockey. And, wait, third, being, it's being leaf. being traded from the leaves and being a marly and running the hot dog cart that Phil Kessel had only two. It's a fourth Okay, fifth

being a leaf, being traded from the leaves, being a marly, being a hot dog vendor, knowing Wendell Clark. Okay. So Jeremy Williams apparently is a famous for being called up to the leaves

three times. And in each of his first three, you know this already? Each of his first three NHL games, he scored a goal. And then different years. So, April 18, 2006 against Pittsburgh, and then 2007 against Montreal, then 2008 against Florida.

That's his claim to fame is three times he came up, and three times he scored. Do you think he tells that story in bars and no one gives a shit? You know who I am? I scored on Danny Sabarin in 2006. The thing I don't quite understand. understand is like why wouldn't you just then continue that trend like score send down scores and

i know that there's probably a waiver claim at some point but he's fucking jeremy williams who's taking this guy right so it's like at some point you just keep doing it right that's to me it's super hot i'm going to take this thing off yeah it's warm and i can't see anything beyond like the first row like it's just blinding lights you guys have no idea how hard this is god the free the free beer and just talking into a microphone it's just so hard and oh Yeah, yeah, show it off, baby. I'm gonna wear my team north. I didn't realize that my team North America,

oh shit, backing. Oh, that would have been awesome. I'm not even on my third beer yet. I saw so many people with, let me get a cheer for the people wearing T&A shit tonight at the show. There's more than, there's like three of you, but there's people that are wearing it, and I didn't realize it became the thing that, like,

people were going to wear it to the shows. I was saying to somebody outside before, like the 10-year anniversary of Team North America, that one guy that was on the team that didn't make it in the NHL after. I know, right? This is out of it now? Like, oh, that's a great one. Oh, shit.

Connor Hollybuck, right. What I love the most is, is that 10 years from now, people are going to see the jerseys and the hats. They're going to go, what was that? They're going to be like, no, no, no, they're going to be like, that was the, that was a super fun, awesome team from the World Cup. Right. It was just so great to watch them play.

Oh, how did they do the next time they did the World Cup? Oh, they didn't bring them back. Right. Right. Why? Well, the NHL. just decided it was too much fun and they didn't want to do it anymore. And in 10 years from now, you know that it's going to be a 25-part miniseries on Sportsnet with Ron McLean. The greatest team that was ever assembled in Canadian hockey history. Shane Gosses-Barre's six-time Norris trophy winner.

And Connor McDavid complaining, I wanted to be on Team Canada. I don't want to be on this team, so I complained. Sorry for you on the most fun, awesome team anybody ever watched ever. I can't wait for hockey season. All right. We have a couple of hockey topics to get to, and then we're going to have... Have you met Chris Johnston, by the way? He's going to come out again in like three minutes.

Keep drinking, buddy. Chris Johnson is like, if you go to a taping of Monday Night Raw, they have the main event, and then they have like a main event after the main event with the same people, just for the people inside the arena. So he's basically John Cena, in my opinion. And Jackie Redmond's going to be on that panel with him, and then Myrtle's going to be here too, which will be very exciting.

Myrtle's actually standing behind that banner right now. You can't see him. It's the only thing we found to obscure his tallest. He's probably in the room. Or the words of the great Pierre Maguire. Oh, God. To hide the girth. You know what's funny is I don't even remember him saying that,

but I believe he said that. He did. Jeff O'Neill's giant hog. Remember? Oh, no. On the crazy show. I've blocked out so much, I've blocked out so much Pierre.

Oh, man. Oh, Doc Kennedy, James Myrtle's girth is unbelievable. I remember seeing his girth for the first time in Sue St. Marie. Why did you see it back then? Uh. So he'll be out too. And then we're also going to play the roster game, which we've renamed Shlemcode,

in honor of the last live show. And full disclosure, it's going to be really hard this time. Like, it's not going to be a Leafs team. So if you volunteer to come up here, prepare to be embarrassed. Mark, are you here defending champion of the shit? All right. So we'll figure out who's going to face Mark later. Mark with a C, by the way.

Thanks to everybody for coming out to this live show, our first live show in Toronto for Puck Soup. Yeah, thank you. At the Rivoli, which I've been calling it. the ravioli because it sounds more exotic. I thought it was like a fancy Italian restaurant where like mafia people hung out. I really did. Yeah, like 150 people. It's a nice far. 150 people that want to have different types of stuffed pasta.

Right. You would think like the guy who came in third on like top chef worked here and his name was like Guy Cacciatore. Hey, you want to go listen to Guy Cacetori? Guy Cacchatori has a restaurant called Rivi Revioli. You keep calling it Rivoli. It's not ravioli. And Guy Rivoli. has one called Guys Place.

So anyway. I want to give a shout out to Duger 66 on Twitter who said when we referenced the fact we're doing the show tonight, if I wanted to pay $30 to hear Dave Lozo's side, I'd buy his sex tape. That's pretty good.

Oh, man. To be fair, though, there's no way my sex tape lasts as long as this show. It's still a really good joke. And it would be at least $40. All right. Let's start with the Pope, I guess, since we had that letter that he wrote to us. The Pope.

The Pope loves hockey, guys. What did you think yesterday when you found out that the Pope endorses the NHL and all of its principles? Can you imagine any other sport doing this? Like, imagine Roger Goodell at midfield tonight. You know, he's in New England, NFL season starting, and he's just like, I want to congratulate the New England Patriots on their great comeback, and the crowd goes nuts. and he goes, and here's what the Pope had to say about that. It's so weird, and apparently,

so whenever the NHL does something that seems like it's really nice, you know there's a reason why they're doing it. There's the owners want to get money somehow, but you're like, wait, they want to do nice stuff for youth leagues. They want hockey to be nicer. How are they going to profit from this? And then Chris Johnson, who's backstage, writes a story, and you find out they want to raise the draft age from,

18 to 19. You're like, oh, they want to take money away from the really good hockey players. And then it's also about, you know, creating new fans by having more kids play hockey and yada, yada, yada. But like, some of the principles were so weird. They were like, hockey teaches kids how to be nice adults. Like, what youth sport doesn't do that? Like, when you watch Little League baseball, the parents aren't like, kill him, Timmy, kill him. Like, all the youth sports are the same.

You want to learn how to grow and learn how to lose and learn all that stuff? Like all the stuff from the Declaration of Principles is all stuff that we've all known already. It was funny being in that room because they got through most of the principles and I was thinking to myself, okay, this sounds like military recruitment.

It builds character. You'll understand teamwork. You'll not want to be an individual. Conform, conform, conform. And then I'm like, that's kind of uncomfortable. But then we got to the point where we realized the entire thing was a Trojan horse for the Catholic Church.

We're like, holy shit. It was much different. The comparison I've made is when you go to a festival in your town, you're like, this is a wonderful festival. Look, there's a ferris wheel. It's all sorts of fun. And you realize that every single tent in the little carnival is Bible-themed.

And it's like, oh, I'd like to take my kid to that tent where they're building models. It's of Noah's Ark. And then, like, you realize that you have to sign, I'm going to commit my life for the youth group thing as you leave the... It was a very odd thing. But you know how hockey ignores the fans all the time? Usually, okay, ready? Let's pretend like I'm the NHL. Hey, fans.

what do you want from the NHL in order to like it more? What do you want? Olympics fights. Wait, okay, I'm hearing more Catholic church stuff. Like, and it was weird too

because, like, no, like, I felt like nobody who was at the event called them out on it to be like, um, I'm okay with the offside review new rule,

but, I was at the event and I can honestly say that it was just a shock. Like, like, like, like,

like, Jew law walked out on stage with a kangaroo and was like, remember the young pope? Based on the laughs, nobody watched the young pope in this room at me. No, it was like the little dude from NHL network who looks like

over-eager, I don't know. I don't pay for the NHL network, so I don't know who it is. So he comes out, and like the whole thing had been very agnostic. It had been very sort of like youth sports. There for everyone. Right. And it was non-religious, like most smarting things are.

And he comes out and he says, and now our final speaker, Pat LaFontaine, and boy, does he have a story to tell you? I'm like, what sort of mischief did Pat LaFontaine get into a New York City? What, he got into the wrong cab? No, he's like, remember when Dale Hunter ran me from behind?

I actually slept with his wife that I before. And you'd be like, oh, right, now I understand that. But instead he's like, have you accepted Jesus as your savior? I'm going to give you a pass on your confluence of PR Turgeon. Oh, I screwed that up, then I.

It's all right. They're both sabres, kind of. Well, maybe he took revenge on Peter's turn. But he came out, and it's like, it's like he's talking about this thing. Youth Sports have Freud, baby, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, now last night the strangest thing happened. I'm like, oh, man, what did they bring you to lobster instead of a burger? And he's like, the NHL received a letter from the Pope.

I'm like, what the fuck is going on here? And you know they paid for it. Like, any sort of promotion you're getting, oh, they gave the Pope something. They gave him like a little, like, you know, the Pope was in his tower, and he was like, he was like, he was like, oh, it looks like tomorrow, according to his press release, that the NHL is going to declare their principles for hockey. Bishop, take a memo.

I need to send Gary Pepp in a letter. So the Pope's, like, is hanging out and in the Vatican, he's just like, man, my favorite player is Ben Bishop. Somebody get me someone from the NHL in here immediately. Like, how many people on the Pope's team, had to tell him who Pat LaFontaine was. And he's writing a letter to the NHL. Come on.

It's just so weird. It's like, pontiff, pontiff. He's run down the hallway, shaking a piece favorite. Pantive, pontiff. I have something to tell you. Hold on. I'm almost complete with this letter to the NHL. Have you heard about the New Jersey Devils?

The what? It's the episode of Seinfeld where Puddy's the devil. It's hilarious. Come back in 10 minutes. All right. Another sports thing was George Peros was named the vice president of

player safety for, oh, round of applause from two people for George Pay. Now, let me ask you this, because here's the way I understand it. Thanks for coming tonight, George Perris. I think most people... Okay, I think most people don't like... That was funny. I think most people don't

like the department... Round of applause if you don't like the Department of Player Safety. All right. Round of applause if we don't like George Peros. Round of applause if you like George Paros's mustache. It's a sweet mustache. My suspicion is correct. It's skepticism about the Department of Player's Safety

and not necessarily about George Peros. But what did you feel in your loins when you heard that George Peros was going to be the vice president of Player Safety? Boy, I wish I had a fart queued up at that point because that would have been perfect timing. My feeling... I like the fact that you queue up your farts.

Well, I mean, if you do that you'd like, told me backstage, have a fart ready at 11.06 while we were out here. I'd have the fart ready and it would have been a good move. Wish, do the, do the, do the, do the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the bit where I point my, the mic up my, my taint. I got a bullet in the chamber. Oh, my God. What was the question? What about George Peros, what you think? So, my feeling is just, player safety is kind of forced to do what they have to do based on the CBA. It doesn't matter if George Paros is there. It doesn't matter if, you know, if, like, Jack McCoy walks in the room and he's, like, the arbiter of justice.

He's just like, oh shit, I got to do whatever the CBA tells me. Let me pause for a second. You guys have Law & Order up here? Oh, they get a Jack McCoy reference. Come on, they understand that. I don't know. Thank you. Sam Waterson. Thank you. Sam Waterston, yes.

Thank you. The attorney in the water part. So the argument for, like, George Paros, Chris Pronger, all those guys, is like the Frank Abagnall thing where it's like, well, you want to have Frank Abagnale there because he knows how to forge checks so we can catch all the guys that forge checks. But if all these people

who come in and they think forging checks is awesome, they're not going to tell you how to catch the guys who forge checks. And that's what they do. They bring in a bunch of guys that are just like, well, forging checks is part of the game.

So I'm not really super enthused about George Paris being there. Would you like the job, George Paros? I would. What makes you qualified? Well, if you put the Pan Am toys in the bathtub. You can soak off the logos.

And you put them on these forged checks. Right. And now you're a pilot. Right. Except George Paros is like, I don't care if whoever flies the plane. Whatever. If you can do it, go for it.

Is Stefan Kintal here by any chance? No? Okay, he was terrible. So I'm really happy that there's somebody else doing player safety. Honestly, like, my problem with the Department of Player's Safety was that under Brennan Chanahan, shout out Brennan Chanahan.

do your fucking savior of Toronto bullshit applause. I thought the cheer would be louder for Brendan Shanahan. He's got you in the playoffs in like two years after a tank. Where's the Brendan Shanahan love in this room? Yeah. He used to suspend everybody for everything. Yeah, he was great. Like, you look at a guy wrong in the preseason,

and you sit out the next 10 games, and it was great. Pierre Mark Bouchard lifted a guy's stick and messed up by accident and got like 47 games. Yeah. And like I wrote about today, like, I, I missed the days when our debates were about, oh, that guy shouldn't have been suspended for as long as he was, but now we debate, how come that guy wasn't suspended?

And I feel like it's a better world when they just throw the book at everybody. And I feel like George Peros might get us closer, because they're going to focus now on slashing. They want to fix slashing. And so I feel like there's going to be a lot of bullshit slashing suspensions now. And I like it better that way. You know who I want our own player safety? The Pope.

The Pope's not going to put up with shit. like Matt Calvert at the end of the game in the fucking playoffs. He's going to, he's going to five games. You're right. The Catholic Church never looks the other way. They'll just transfer George Paros to a different department within the NHL. We didn't plan that, by the way. That tremor you felt was my mom hitting the floor in New Jersey somewhere.

On our way to the help Haiti group at my local church. Shout out to Haiti. No, I like, listen, to go back to your initial point, I'm a big fan of, like, I don't get the whole argument that if you hire the guys who play dirty or the physical players to run player safety, that it's like, like, Ken Campbell, to the surprise of fucking no one, like, Blewock Asket today about, like, Paris running player safety. I'm like, who do you want to run it? Like, because to me, if you, if you go the other way and you're like, well, a guy like Paul Korea should be in player safety, well, sure. Yeah, that's a good guy to have in there and give us two cents. But at the end of the day, do you want the guy who is the person being victimized by rough play to be the one running player safety? Probably not. Because then then everybody's suspended. You need somebody who really cares about player safety who doesn't want to just appease the teams and the owners and the GMs because sometimes people will decide things because they think, well, I don't want to be too harsh here because eventually I want to have a front office job with this team or that team.

There's that aspect too. So you need somebody who... You need like a Harvey Dent. Like a white knight. Like a white knight. A white knight. Who's going to work with Batman. Right.

I don't know who Batman is in this metaphor because I just thought of this like 15 seconds ago. It's pronounced Batman. Oh, God. That was a good one. You're going to see the people on the ferry you're not going to watch in the NHL. They're better than you.

So you're saying you're saying you need someone unimpeachable because your opinion is that the Department of Players Safety is corrupted. Yes. Right. They're all... Dirty cops. They're all... Yeah, they're Ramirez and Wirtz. Right. Nobody got that reference.

It's another dark dark night. The International Department of Player's Safety needs to be completely free from the NHL where they can just levy suspensions and not have to worry about like the CBA should not have any sort of say over whether or not like if a guy

what was that there was a hit in the playoffs it wasn't the penguin or the yeah it wasn't the penguin's black at blue jacket series it was another it was Getsloff getsloff took a run at someone in the Calgary series maybe and they were sure wasn't Cory Perry that just seems more of a Corey Perry it does seem like he would be the guy that would do it oh wait are you thinking of Getsloff using a homofulfulombovick slur

No, he was like two for two. He was both verbal and physical during the playoffs where he should have been suspended. Somebody took a run at somebody. Right, so the Penguin's Blue Jacket series, someone was a Calvert broke the stick over Koonakles' head and shoulder or neck. And Getsloff did the same thing in the Flame series, but it wasn't as serious. But he probably should have gotten something for that too. But the player safety just doesn't want to ever affect anything. You know what I mean?

they're always just like, whoa. They're looking, to me, like, they're looking for reasons to not suspend as opposed to doing their jobs. I'm kind of a player safety mark. I think they do a good job. And I think I really like the, listen. What's your favorite player safety thing? My favorite. Sell the room on how good player safety is.

My favorite player safety thing is, as the video shows, this guy over here decided to put his stick on the other guy. Patrick Burke is not from Chicago. Patrick Burke is totally, he sounds like he's from. Chicago on those videos. What was your favorite suspension? No, no, no. Listen, my point is this. I think as hockey fans, we sometimes forget about how it used to be. We bought up Terry's sawtruck before.

Goalies used to get hit in the face of the puck. Now they have masks. A scant decade ago, Colin Campbell ran player safety. And you know what we didn't have? Any fucking clue how player safety was being done. It was completely backroom, old boy bullshit. We didn't have any sunlight on it whatsoever. Remember the Bruins' Canucks series? Yeah, I mean, that was a Mike Murphy, Colin Campbell suspension, and good luck trying to figure out exactly how they came up with that suspension for Aaron Rome. But isn't it weird that for two months, during the playoffs,

it seems like no one ever does anything that's worth of a suspension? The playoffs is a problem. I completely agree with you. That's weird. At the very least, I think that they've done a good job explaining why they come to these conclusions. But I agree the example you gave and you give about the playoffs is complete. That's when it becomes a thing where they don't want to affect a seven-game series with any sort of draconian justice

even though you should. Don't break your stick over a guy's head. That's a good way to not affect the play out series. Let the boys play, Dave. We're telling you, we need the Harvey Dent, Gary Oldman, what was Gary Oldman's name in that movie? You mean Commissioner Gordon? Gordon. They need their separate little thing to do their own thing, they need to be unfettered from the NHL, and then things will get safer. You don't need the NHL players swinging back and forth going, I've got an ace in the hole.

The NHL Department of Player Safety. if you're good at something, never do it for free. Or if you're Zach Rinaldo, if you're bad at something, you'll get paid for it. Don't know how that works. Last hockey topic, potentially for the night. This is from Elliot Friedman. It's much more talented than. The Pope says...

The NHL is making a very interesting rule change for the 2017-18 season, introducing a harsher penalty for one particular video review. Spoiler, it's offside. From now on, a failed offside challenge will result in a two-minute penalty against the club asking for the review. So you ask for an off-side challenge, you don't win it, you get a delay a game penalty. What say you, Dave Lose? Do you like that rule? You know what?

You guys know I hate everything, right? This is a really good compromise. Although, the only issue I have is like the Philip Ford. Warsburg game one of the Stanley Cup final offside where like he's he's he wasn't off sides. Well that and they and they overturned it. So like it's just like I the idea behind the penalty is to make sure that you're not reviewing every little tiny thing where it's down to the, you know, tiniest little thing. But at the same time, it seems like arbitrary once in a while when they decide to overturn or not overturn stuff and you don't want to have a two minute penalty.

You want to give a two minute penalty when like Elaine Vino is wasting. everyone's time on an obvious not offside. That's fine. But when, like, it could swing a game and you want to use it. You shouldn't get it. I thought. I thought you were going to complete that. It's a good rule, though. I thought you're going to complete that thought by saying, putting Dan Girardi out there, wasting everybody's time. But, I mean, now he's in Tampa. There's two things about this. First of all, I'm a, get rid of the offside review. Who gives this shit anymore? I think it does more harm than good. I think there needs to be a

modicum of human error in in, uh, and, in, in, in, and, and, why do you want, human error? Because I don't give a shit. Because, because, so when you watch a baseball game and the ball's like four feet outside and they call a strike, you're like, awesome. Okay. Well, well, well, let me love the human error. Let me respond to that by asking you, do you want robo umps? Yes. Why? Oh, so boring. Like, you want robo-umps. No, you don't. Anybody watch the most recent Blue Jays Red Sox game? How bad was the umpire in that game? Okay, but, right. But isn't it fun to get mad at umpires and bad officiating? Like, isn't that part of sports?

It's part of sports. Exactly. Do you understand, you and the rest of the people that want robo-umps, there's an entire cottage industry of those referee dolls where you can pull off his arms and legs if you get mad during the game, you're going to fucking crash that industry if you go with robo-umps.

You understand that. See, like, I hate everything, but he wants reasons to be mad at stuff. That's what I don't get. Like, you can go through life happy where you're like, oh yes, that was clearly offside. Good review. Glad that goal doesn't count. Instead,

you're like, human error is going to be awesome. I don't get it. All right, so sometimes I watch Fox News just to get angry. I mean, I don't think there's really anything wrong with that, per se. No, I like human error.

I think the goals should count who gives a shit about offside. But more to the point, though, on the power play thing, I think it's a good thing, because here's another plank in my platform. And I don't know if you all agree. Maybe you don't. You have a platform now? I do. I do give a shit. That's not true. Wait. Wait. I don't. Okay. I do give a shit. Can you tell we plan this backstage for like hours? Like we make sure we're completely in sync. I am a proponent of the two minute major power play. That every time you get a power play,

in those two minutes, you can score as many goals as you like. What say you? Well, yeah. This is Toronto where they have a good power play. Of course they're going to want that. I just think that for all of the complaining we do about goal scoring in the NHL and how do we get more goals. I'm like, I don't know. Make it easier to score more of them when you have more players than the other team. And whether that's a two-minute major, whether that's the thing they tried in the R&D camp, where you have to actually skate the puck out of the zone instead of icing the puck when you're killing a penalty. Like all that shit's great.

Like make that the place where the goals happen because I would take that a million times. This fan keeps blowing my notes around. I would take that a million times before I take widening. the nets or all the other garbage they talk about for increased goal scoring. So two-minute majors, let's say you. Great? What about you? Great? Boo.

All right. The thing about calling icing on the power play is it's going to slow the game down. And if you ever time it out, like, team ices the puck. Team goes down to get it. They bring the puck back in the zone with possession in like eight seconds. If you decide you want to have a face-off

after that and you lose the face-off, then they chip it out, they don't ice it, you're going to lose like 20, 25 seconds. It's not necessarily going to lead to more goals. Like, everybody thinks I don't, I don't think. All right. Yeah, thank you one person. Yeah, I was a very minority.

I won that round. Why are you so against the nets being bigger? Oh, it's horrible because it's going to take years for goalies to reel are in the position. It's not fair to them at all. Years. Years. Years. Years.

What are you talking about? If you make the nets bigger, they have to reeler in the position? What do I do with this extra half foot to my left and right? I am so confused. I need two years to figure this out. You're fundamentally changing a piece of equipment on the ice. Like raising the mound in baseball? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. They never figured that out. Yeah, you should put an asterisk there. For all those pitchers that use the raise amount. All of them. The forward pass really ruined football. They should just put an ass. They should just...

Making the nets a half inch... Half foot bigger on either side? The sport will never be able to handle that. it may go from the seventh most popular sport to the eighth most popular sport do you think that more goal scoring would make hockey more popular back home in the States? Yeah, I mean...

You think so? Yeah. I admit it won't necessarily make the game better, but I mean, I can tell you guys this, no one's going to hear this. Americans are stupid. We need points, we need goals. Like, seriously, like football, there was one year in football where suddenly DBs were mugging wide receivers and people were like,

we got to stop that or no one's going to watch football anymore and they fixed it immediately hockey admittedly a bigger problem in hockey besides the nets is how you can just hook and hold and clutch and grab and all that stuff and it's it's way it's not so pre 2005 oh six was the worst hockey ever like the 0405 cup final 0304 was just garbage hockey hooking and hold of you know vina la cavalier and jerome mcginle had a fights or uh in a cup final nobody could This moment's the hockey history. But the hockey now is better than it was back then. But compared to like 0708 to now, there was a moment in the Predators, Predators Penguin series

where I believe it was Matt Cullen was hooking somebody on the Predators for like three zones. Like water skiing behind them. And like that was what was bad about hockey back in the day where if it's flowing and it's going back and forth and it's two to one, it's great. But if it's just a bunch of guys hooking and holding and grabbing because they're not good enough to compete with the really good guys, that's way worse than just the nets being the same size. But if you're not going to fix that, you've got to do something. I'm just saying, call more, yes, call penalties. I'm sorry.

I'm a little hung up on you going to a foreign country and trashing Americans. I think there's a very good chance that Amazon Kindles with our books on them will be crushed by a steamroller like those Dixie Chicks albums back in the day when we get back to the States. I was not kidding on Twitter. I'm like Sean Connery and the hunt for Red October. I will defect and live in the... one of your basements.

If I can find the reason... If I can find value for the Canadian government to keep me here, I will stay here forever. It's a submarine, Mr. Ryan. It's filled of shaman. There's a lot of things in here that don't respond well to bullets.

His impression's better. The greatest... Sean Connery is amazing. Let's be honest here, but there's not a single... I know, real... That was a good segue. Folks, let me tell you about my favorite James Bond. No, sorry, go ahead.

Do your Sean Connery bit. Some Timothy Dalton fan in the back of the room's, like, draws George Lays and a bit. No, my favorite Sean Connery moment of all time, and it's unparalleled is in Goldfinger when he meets Pussy Galore. And she walks up, remember this? She walks up to him on the plane, and she's like,

my name is Pussy Galore. And Connery goes, I must be dreaming. There's nothing that compares to it. Speaking of movies, we should probably address this, as a lot of people have been asking me about it. I can't want to see what this is. Colin Trevor Oro is no longer the director of Star Wars episode 9. Oh, right.

Yeah, no, it's funny. I mentioned this to Lozo backstage, and he's like, boy, fanboys must be really upset about it. Like, no, actually, everybody's pretty cool with it. No, I got it backwards. Yeah. I forgot you were happy about it. For those who don't know, he is the director of Jurassic World,

which is actually a film I quite like exponentially more than a lot of people. You made somebody gag in the audience by referencing a movie. If you watch Jurassic World again as a commentary on the pressures of making a sequel. Oh, it's a fucking dinosaur movie. Stop. It's a movie about dinosaurs eating people, and people love that shit. all it is. It's a commentary

on society's Now, in fairness, it's also about Chris Pratt training dinosaurs to do things. Yes, Dave Lozo is doing the stay motion with his hand. Oh yeah, I forgot. This is a podcast. Or he's firing his Iron Man, repulsor beam.

No, that was me keeping the movie away from me for a second time. Saw it once. But he's been fired a... Well, okay, that's not true. He... They... Okay, they did fire him,

but they did the thing where, like, we won't fire you. You can say that we mutually agree to, like, have you leave. Who would you like to direct the next Star Wars movie after Ryan Johnson's The Last Jedi?

Is there anybody that you think should direct a Star Wars movie? Steven Soderberg. And have it be like an oceans movie where, like, it's a heist. Right? Like, like, Ray is Danny Ocean, like, Ray's organizing this whole

thing where they got to, like, they got to steal I don't know, what the fuck would you steal at this point? A lightsaber. How about the plans for the Death Star? Oh, God, that should have been Rogue One. It was Rogue One. No, like, I know that was Rogue One, you son of a bit.

First of all, I want to point out backstage that I was right, because you pointed out that, oh, this guy got left off the job. Four people clapped. No one cares who the director of Star Wars. They just want to see... No, people do care who the director of Star Wars. It's a just they don't give a shit about him directing. What if Lena Dunham was directing the next Star Wars?

Would you or would you not go see it? Who would have to direct Star Wars episode 9 for you to not see it? No, I like the Leon Dunham one. There's a scene of Ray talking to her girlfriends being like, guys, I don't know if I really want to go and play Kylo Ren. He seems like a really mean guy. I don't know if I'm prepared for this. I want to divorce myself from this narrative.

Like a variety tweet tomorrow says, Eric Trump will direct Episode 9. There would be outrage for a day and it would be like, yeah, I'll see it, I guess. Star Wars is Teflon, man. It doesn't matter who's directing it. No, my answer on Twitter the other day was

Brad Bird, the guy I directed The Incredibles and also to Tomorrowland. Now, he's great. He's amazing. He's a super geek and he'd be great, but he's also a huge fan of Iron Rand. And I feel like the Jedi are basically Iron Rand. They're Randian and their

their existence, and I feel like carrying that out to its full extent would be amazing. But also Edgar Wright, just because he would literally make a billion dollars on a movie and pissed the shit out of you. Yeah, because you know what a lightsaber fight needs? A fucking queen song playing during it. By the way, I usually don't really get too into what people, if they agree or not. The fact that Jay Barrichel was on team baby driver sucks. Warm to my heart.

I can tell by the clapping. I'm still in the minority, but I don't care. Jay Barish, I was on my team. Yeah. I was like, don't you want to work with Edgar Wright? And Jay's like, nah, I never want to work with Edgar. And Loz was like, what? No, at first he was like, I don't want to say anything.

And then, like, four seconds later, he was like, here's everything I hate about Edgar Wright. I was so happy. All right. We should probably bring out our first two guests. All right, ladies and gentlemen, Edgar Wright. And Ansel Elgur, come on out to the stage, guys. Joining us now from Sportsnet, it's Chris John. and Jackie Redmond.

Ed, wherever you want, it's fine. Lozo decided that we're going to sit on the wings. I don't know why. Were you talking about Sean Connery? Yeah, I was. Chris, we were doing some pre-interviews backstage. I understand there's a bit of funny history with this shirt you're wearing.

For the audience at home, CJ did the opening podcast with Steve Dangl and told a really funny story about a shirt, which he doesn't have to repeat here. You already fired that bullet. but it's great though wait what's the story oh Jesus you told you backstage

you went to Japan that's the truth how was it it was awesome man it was a great trip when you stayed at the hotel was it in one of those tiny drawers that I see on TV the Japanese

people sleep in no it was actually the opposite of that because luckily all the nights I've stayed in like the Pittsburgh Mariah or whatever equal status. So then when you go somewhere cool, like Tokyo, they treated me like royalty. It was insane.

Were you like Bill Murray in... Lost in Translation? Lost in translation, buddy. I've never seen that movie. What? Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for Jackie Redmond that come out on the stage tonight. The Marriott thing's amazing, by the way.

You know how you guys sometimes watch the media or read the media and you're like, why aren't these guys? as upset as I am about this hockey thing. God forbid Marriott changes any policy regarding its point system. You will see hockey writers being like, where's my fucking torch?

I'm going to Marriott headquarters. I wonder about that. As regular fans, when you see people tweeting about their Marriott points, do you want to kill yourself? Or do you just like delete them from your following? Okay, who actually tweets with their Marriott? Hold on. The biggest controversy

was that shit where they, remember they were getting rid of desks inside of Marriott rooms or some shit. I don't, I don't got mad about that. Yeah, all the writers are being like, but what do I have to use? My lap? There is nothing worse than airport

and hotel point hockey Twitter journalist. It's the worst Twitter of all times. I've never once tweeted anything like that. No, you're good about that. Well, because I actually don't care that much. I mean, it's nice. That's what I like about you is you don't care.

You and I have that in common. We just don't care about stuff. Jackie, did you do anything exciting this summer? No. I'm just kidding. I'm going to Vegas, though, in two weeks for the first time ever. I've never been in my life. So that is my big, like, exciting summer plan, Las Vegas.

Vegas is okay. There's a couple things to do there. I mean... That's what I've heard. Vegas legitimate... Okay, I'll go down the rabbit. Remember Star Trek Generations? Oh, God.

Do you remember how Malcolm McDowell tried to blow up the sun to then get back to the Nexus, the Paradise? that he was in. Just say yes. That's legitimately, that's legitimately how I feel about Vegas. I would blow up the sun if it meant I could go back and spend time there.

Once, if you get it. And that's the thing too. So do you have any advice for me? Well, no, no, no. I want to preface this by saying. You know, blow up the sun. Well, it'd be great. It'd be much cooler in Vegas then.

But like, the, what's happening? There are certain, hold on, there are certain people. Mr. Johnston, are you still here? there are certain people that go to Vegas and it's just not for them. And that's fine.

And then there are certain people like me and Dave, I assume, that go to Vegas and then live their lives to go back there again. Oh, I lost a lot of money last time I went. Like a Chris Carton amount of money? Chris Carton is a radio host in New York who hosts the morning show on WFAM with Bumerosius.

And it came out that he owed... Not anymore, right? And it came out that he owed a casino, what was it, like $2.5 million? Yeah, like, like, if I have to go to the ATM while I'm in a fucking casino, I feel bad about myself. Never mind going to the credit being like, can I get like a half a million? Like, why doesn't he have friends that stop him? You have to have friends at that point that are like, Chris. No.

I mean, I'm an asshole. I know better than I do that. I just don't even, I'm with you. I can't even fathom getting to that point. Like, because that, if I'm down two million. I can understand this. If I'm down 2 million, I'm probably finding $500,000 to put on red.

Right? Just to see if I can get it back. What's the long? Have you ever been really down large at a casino? Not crazy big. Not crazy big, right? A couple hundred bucks at the most. Biggest advice for Jackie Redmond.

Don't go down $2.5 million at any of the casinos. Yeah, that's a bad idea. Got it. If you like your fingers. Where are you staying? MGM. I know. I probably shouldn't have answered that.

Well, so it just bristled. Well, because your vagus experience is tinged by where you stay. Is it really, though? Most people don't move. Like, you're going to, you'll be there for three days. You won't even know what happened. No, no, young people actually go places. People like us are just like, I'm going to stay in the MGM for the entire four days.

I'm here. There's a restaurant. Yeah. There's a craps table here. Why would I play? craps anywhere else. I love craps, actually. I just learned how to play in Chicago

like six weeks ago, and I did not want to leave the table. But I was only good when I was rolling the dice. Otherwise, I wanted no part of it at all. Do we have any craps fans in the audience? Round of applause, no, yeah? Yeah. For those who know the rules, chances that Dave Lozo bets against the

shooter? Rather high. I don't even know what that means. On craps, you can either bet on the shooter to make up the point, or you can say they're going to fail. Know what I did? This is, God, this is boring.

You guys paid for this. You shouldn't hear this. So, like, in craps, if somebody rolls a five, that becomes the point. So if he rolls it again, everybody wins. But you can bet certain numbers after that. And I kept betting six and nine the rest of the time. I swear to God.

And I won. You'd be surprised how often six and nine come up. Well, six is one of the highest probabilities. Yeah. Yeah, like, I didn't understand that. either. Like, I was betting like $5. So I'm a better craps player than you.

It's basically what we just discovered. I just wanted to keep saying nice after every roll. I am an adult, by the way. It's so sad. Are you 40 yet? November. Ooh.

I'm basically 40. That's like real adulting. Yeah. I remember seeing that Mike Gundy, Ohio State video, like 12 years ago where he's like, I'm 40. I'm a man. I'm like, you're 40. And now,

And now I'm that guy. It's so sad. Yeah. CJ, we're both sort of a Paul Rudd, this is 40. I mean, we're very, no, we're not. He's ageless. You already talked so much about the Leafs. I feel like Ashley asked Jackie.

What are your expectations for this season about the Leafs? Fun with the Capital F. They're going to be fun to watch. I think last year obviously was super exciting for everybody. They exceeded expectations. This year a little bit more pressure. But I'm really, really excited. to see Patrick Marlowe on the Leafs.

Like, I think he's going to fit in. Yeah, right? Come on. Patty Marlowe. We should discuss that. Let's discuss it. Actually, Patrick Marlowe died of old age four hours ago. Still younger than you, though.

I mean, I kind of like it as sage advice guy for this team. I just don't know what to expect. That's the guy you want in the room telling you how to win in the playoffs. It's Patrick Marla. All right. All right, Roanick. Don't play the king. Thanks, Patty.

Step one, get on Joe Thornton's line. Is he here? Fuck. All right. How long is the contract? Three years? What the fuck. I think he'll be fine this year. I can't speak to the next two years. But the plan is never that he's going to play three years here, right? That's going to be a Lamarillo special. Like he's going to shoot him into the sun or something in the third year of the contract, right? Well, the guys down the front row already named them a special player development for next year. They're drafting the press release right now, so no chance. No, I agree that, well, I mean, I think the Leafs will be lowercase fun with a period at the end, like that band. But I think they'll be a playoff team.

They'll be a part of the show. The topic came up today. I was talking to some people at Yahoo about this. Like, could they be considered a cup contender? And I feel like, hold up. They're in the Eastern Conference. Well, technically, Ottawa was one goal away from the Stanley Cup final, so anyone can go to the Cup final at this point. That's not even technically.

Like, they were actually one goal away. Literally. It was very literal. And then Chris Coonitz scored, and you were like, oh, this team was bullshit the whole time. They had like Chris Coonitz end their season. Oh, God. Yeah, Toronto, like, Pittsburgh at some point is going to hit the wall. I mean, they're playing, they're going to try and play 12 rounds in three years.

Why not? Ottawa, Nashville would have been on like... I can't even... You didn't show up would have folded it. There's like a station on my cable tier that has like origami. It would have been on like the origami network. We now interrupt this swan

for the Ottawa senators and the Nashville predators. The game one of the same league of vinyl. So I'm happy it didn't happen. Listen, I think that... Listen, I think that... I heard you get you and Dangel before talking about the Drew Dowdy thing

when somebody asked about that. I really feel like that's the one thing they don't they lack. There are three lines deep. They've got a good goalie. I think he proved his medal last year. They obviously have a coach who will tell you he's the best coach in hockey. He made that cap series go longer than it needed to. All right.

But like I think the one thing that they lack is that 23 to 25 minute a night shut down D-Man. Shorter than it needed to. Unless you're Morgan Riley, man. The Penguins lack that this year too, though. Well, all right. But they've got Sid and Gino. Right. And, you know what the issue is, is that for four years, we watched the Blackhawks and the Kings win every year.

So you thought you needed X, Y, and Z to win all the time. And then the penguins were like, we got Ron Hainzy. And now I think the rules change where now it's more wide open. It's not the NBA where it's like two teams can win it. But history repeats itself because then, like, people saw the Red Wings and they're like, fuck, Chris Osgood. We can have anything. out there. We could have a rubber duck out there.

Okay, who's Toronto's Nick Lidstrom? Still waiting. That's what I mean. Yeah. Hey, Brandon Shanahan is the owner, president, whatever the fuck. It could be Nick Lidstrom. They're going to win the cup in the next three years, is my soft, safe, really, really weakly.

Listen, you're playing in the crowd here. I wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or not. No, for real. Let's put your balls on the chopping block. Wait, later. The Oilers or the Leif's I want to come first. I just want to see them play each other

and then everybody wins. Stanley Cup final, Oilers, Leaves, like, let's go. Jackie's on brand right now. Yeah, Jackie is... Why about an all-Canadian Final Four? Otto and Toronto. How about only Canadian teams in the playoffs exclusively? All right, how about this?

How about this? Who do you think wins first? Let's ask the Canadians on the panel. Edmonton first? or Toronto first. Pick a team, you cowards. Somebody in the back just screamed, we know where you live.

That's rude. That's rude. Let them be honest. And if they say Edmonton, you can follow them home pretty easy. CJ, you tackle this one first. You want me to go out for. Jackie, the people have spoken. You must answer this question. I'm going to go with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yeah. Because, I know my... audience. A, that's the number one reason. And I think that right now they have better goal tending than the Edmonton Oilers. Wow. Yeah, I believe that. Some shade at Cam Talbot. Suck at Cam Talbot. I'm also going to go with the Leafs. Yes. But it's because I have more concerned. I think the Oilers have more just awful contracts. They obviously have the best player among the two teams. But I think they're going to get deep six by what they've built around that group, and they're in the Western Conference.

I think the Leafs. That's a good point. They have Chris Russell. He's going to block every shot Austin Matthews takes. Yeah, and they have Milan Lucci. Which is great for your fantasy team if you have block shots. If you're going to lose a series, Miloucci, you'll punch defeat in the face, and then you'll win the series. Look, you guys are all wrong.

Connor McDavid is Sidney Crosby. Sidney Crosby in Year 3 played for a cup and lost. Sidney Crosby in year four played for a cup in one. The Oilers are going to win the cup next two years before Toronto does. Why isn't Austin Matthews Sydney Crosby? Maybe he's a rich man's Jack Eichel. You know this, Dave.

Oh, my. Don't look at me. Don't look like me to jump on. Do you, I guess you're the tire or tie breaker? No, Toronto, Toronto for sure. Before Edmondson? For sure. They're deep.

They're deeper down the middle. They're better on the back. This is a message to my friends in Edmonton. Yes, I did say that you were all idiots for celebrating making the playoffs as much as you did. But I give you full permission, Edmonton, to celebrate as much as you want when you win a cup before Toronto. There, I've said it. Wow, yeah. Way to play the room.

These guys paid money to come in here. Just tell them what they want to hear. They're not going to care. They're not going to remember this in three years. Boy. I see no reason why Wendell Clark should be in the hall thing. Who has the most sacred untouched status in Toronto? Is it Wendell or is it Duggy?

Dougie. Yeah? I don't know. Austin. Oh, yeah. I mean, listen, I did bury the lead there. I'm obviously fine if Toronto wins the cup because, oh, the moment when an American is given credit for finally breaking this.

horrific streak. Maybe. Listen, we're never going to win a fucking gold, but it'll come close. Oh, what is that shit? Don't count out that much to the room. US is going to win gold if we ever get out of the NFL? Who cares about this year?

Jackie, what do you think about the Olympics and us not being there this year? By us, I mean the NHL. You know what? At first, I actually was really disappointed because obviously, being a Canadian hockey fan, the Olympics is something that we all all are very excited about. But I think it makes it more intriguing

because I think every year we go in and we're like, well, Canada's got the best team. Obviously. They have the most talent in. The Americans can't compete. They don't know how to put a roster together. I mean, they don't. Boy.

Phil Kessel has two Stanley Cups, is all I'm saying. You know Lou Lamarillo is American, right? We're talking about the Olympics right now. The only way you could possibly play to the room more is if you're like, I'll cover all your tabs. But I'm excited. You know what, though? I actually am very intrigued to see what happens and who plays.

And it's open. Like, who's going to win? Who's going to be the favorite team with no NHLers? Like, where... Who's the favorite? Is it still Canada? Russia. Yeah, probably Russia.

I think so? Russia. Do you think any NHL players are still going to bail at all? Not a chance. None? I don't even want it. I don't think Ovi's going. I really don't.

I believe there might be the chance that an Alej Schmogel. Betchkin shows up with a really weird mustache for the first day of Russia camp. People in the room, are you guys going to stay up and watch the Olympics with the NHL guys? Dude. Yeah. I am. More people cared about the Star Wars director, I think. My take on the Olympics is that, first of all, if you've read the stories, the IOC, fuck them.

They're the reason why this whole thing happened, as much as you guys want to hate Batman for it. It's the IOC's greed. But I think the tournament's going to be great because the one thing I think the Olympics should do that it doesn't do when the NHL goes is it should be the launching pad for new stars, for new names. The person from Canada or the United States that scores a game-winning goal of the Olympics, hopefully a young player, comes to the NHL with that cachet. And I think that's a really positive thing about the NHL not being there. The negative thing is, as we said, I think on the podcast last week. What happens if it's a 30-year-old who plays in Austria? That'd be fine.

He's going back to Austria. What if it's Shane Donne? Ryan Malone, over to Shane Don, back to Ryan Malone. They score. They're from different countries. That wouldn't make any sense at all, actually. Yeah, Drummond again, that would be awesome, right? To finally get the credit for a game-winning goal in the Olympics.

It's a hell of a pass. Steve Dangl named his dog after that. named his dog after what? Iggy. Oh, I thought he named it Ryan Miller's shame. But that's a little bit wordy. Or Don Koharski.

Who was the referee that set up the goal for Canada? Oh, wait, was it? Who was it? It was the referee on the boards that broke up the cycle. You guys, I mean, it's the only way you can win, I guess, but that's fine.

Ew. I wish the game was in Russia because they would have threatened to turn him into soap like that guy. Remember the dude who didn't call Jonathan Quick for a delay of game for knocking the net off with his skate.

There was a protest in Russia with signs that in Russian said, we're going to turn the referee into soap. Honestly, like in Fight Club, they were going to make them into soap. Yeah, I'm all about the Olympics, I think it's going to be great, and I think it's going to be fun.

I think it's going to be fun. I'll stay up to watch the games. No, you're not? Really not? No, I don't want to watch Ryan Blum play hockey ever again. To complete my thought, the thing that's going to suck is when you, well, like I said last week, like when you flip to,

to, you know, it's USA, Canada and, like, the Olympic semi-finals and the rest of the world is watching, and the lead story in NHL.com is like, Ottawa and Tampa, the Battle of the Atlantic. Yeah, they're going to ignore the Olympics, like, you would never imagine.

Like, no one's business. Which they should. It's going to... No one's business. Here's the thing about hockey that I've always thought is the NHL, as far as, like, the major sports leagues go, is not as fun as the other ones, I would say? Like, you'd rather watch them,

and all the other available hockey It's not as good, obviously, because there's not as many elite players, but it's more fun. There's literally a team in Finland called Jokerit. And it's named after Heath Ledger's character in the movie.

Yeah, we all know this. Right. But when you come to Canada, the first time I came to Canada, it was like in April or it was the playoffs, and like the first segment on TSN Sports Center was like whatever, you know, the one Canadian team in the playoffs or whatever.

It was like, you know, Ottawa was down to, 2-0 in the first round and whatever it was. And then the next segment was like, here's what's going on in the OHL. Like, junior hockey plays up here. They care about junior hockey. And I just feel like, right. Like, people are like, oh, man, Guel versus Sarnia.

I got to see the highlights from that game. And there's nothing wrong with that because, like, I understand. It's like early season NHL hockey where, like, it's back and forth. It's fun. And I think the NHL suffers because it's not as fun. Right. And they don't give a shit because they're just like, this is the way we play the game. It's tough.

In fairness. we give a shit about junior hockey too now because we can win in it. We didn't know that. No. Americans are all about like if we can find out we win something. We're all like fucking what, what the fuck? Badmitten in the Olympics?

We have a team that could win bronze? Well, let me turn on badmitten. Shuttlecock. Like I love giving Canadian people shit. I do not care. When the U.S. wins the world juniors, it's a two-week high school tournament. Who cares?

Yeah. Right? Right. Did you watch a gold medal game? Did you just phrase their love of junior hockey and then just drop trow and shit all over their love of junior hockey? It's great. It's great. It's better to watch, but like, it's great.

It's better to watch, but, like, yeah. It's not the Frozen Four exactly. And for those four teams, Frozen Four is pretty bad. Can you name any of the four teams in the Frozen Four last year? That's a good question. Denver, something Boston. One of the Dakotas. I don't know.

One of the Dakotas. some fucking team from... What have you ever known South Dakota to be a hockey player? Bimigi State? Yeah, right. Isn't like, you know, Alcorn, Vimigi? Babi states the Beaver, because I figured that wouldn't... No?

No. All right. Let's ask Chris about the draft age. Yeah, Chris, you broke the story... Because he wrote a story about this. That the Pope's letter to the NHL was covering up the fact that the whole thing is a sham to try to lower the draft age, or raise the draft age, rather.

Tell us about that. What an intro. We do great segues on this podcast. I listened to your last podcast. Did Nerdus not pay you guys? Was that the deal? We figured we were going to get that question in the Q&A. They...

Because you really pointed the listeners in that direction, but you didn't say it out loud. And I feel it ties in well here, because Dave's mad that... Let's see your buddy owes you a 20 bucks. And it's 2015. And they're going to give you the 20 bucks every three months. Let's say it's today, and you still haven't gotten that $20. You've gotten like $9 from your buddy, and your buddy's like, oh no, we're looking into where the other $11 is.

You're like, I'm pretty sure that you owe me $20, and they're like, well, here's nine. And you're like, I'm pretty sure you have $11 because that one guy does a fucking post-TV talk show for every TV show on TV. Less than half of what you were supposed to get? Right around it. Chris, what I'm trying to say is that when you do a zipper. ad with as much gusto as I did it, you expect some compensation for that ziprecruiter.com.

So I guess then you you guys feel this topic then because what's not stated essentially in moving the draft age to 19 is that that money you make as an 18 year old, you never make. It's gone forever. This motherfucker just segwayed. Did you see that shit?

Oh my God. Chris knows what he's doing. I was worried about you guys to listen to that podcast. I'm fine. I actually live in Greg's basement now because I haven't gotten paid. But it's nice, though. The weird thing is I live in an apartment, so I'd even know what's going on in the basement, but he just moved in.

It's weird. Like, he brings me bagel bites once a day. It's fine. Do you think the NHL obviously sells the idea that this would be beneficial to the league. Would it be beneficial to the league, you think, to give them a little bit more seasoning? I think it would be beneficial. beneficial to teams because they'd make fewer mistakes because they get one more year to evaluate

kids and they're making slightly fewer guesses. I'm not sure I'm not sure it's better for anybody though. I mean, look, it's already we could have a different discussion. Why is there a draft? Yeah, right? I mean...

Because there are teams in America that don't want you to have territorial rights like you used to have. Right. The Panthers are like, yeah, there should be no... Wait, what the fuck? No, there should totally be a draft. Right. I get it for spreading talent around a league, but if you're a player, it's kind of a raw deal.

It is. You don't get to... Well, that and the indentured servitude of restricted free agency and everything. I mean, it's... For a young player, you're boned until you're 27, basically. By the way, the headline here is Chris Johnson thinks Austin Matthews got a raw deal for living against wrong.

Oh my God. What a... I mean, we just completed the what if thing on Buck Daddy, but like, what if there was territorial rights? Would he have signed in Arizona? For sure. Really? Why would you... It's like, John Tavares, why would you want to waste the first 10 years of your career, not doing anything? Have you been to Scottsdale, man? Is it good?

It's a pretty good life. There you go. That's his team. If sunlight hits me, it does bad things, so I probably wouldn't want to live in Scottsdale. I'd be dead inside. I'd be dead before the All-Star break. Just go outside. You could go to Vegas every weekend if you live in Scottsdale.

That's a good point. I would blow my entire salary on SP-75 Sunblock. It wouldn't work out well for me. We got to move it along. Maybe nerdists would give you the other half and you could... I wanted to ask Jackie. Jackie, this is a promo time. You have a... Was it ring talks coming up? Ring talks, yeah, next Wednesday.

If that's the 13th, that's the day. And this is a bachelor... Yeah, what's the best ring? Is it an engagement? Or is it wedding? Where are you going with this? No, it's about wrestling, right? It's about wrestling, yeah.

Smash wrestling. Jimmy Cordaris is going to be there. We're going to talk to some of the wrestlers, get some behind the... scene stories because I don't know if you know this, but wrestlers lead very interesting lives. It's true. Yeah. They do. I was going to end this segment by asking everybody their favorite wrestler of all time.

Dave Lozo. Hey, there's your first sigh of the night. Don't act like you don't have one. My favorite wrestler. Come back to me. I'll give you a good one. All right. Come back.

Jackie. For me, I always go back and forth between two people. Okay. I'm going to go with Stone Cold Steve Austin. An excellent choice? Yes. CJ? The ultimate warrior.

Why the ultimate warrior? I'm a kid, man. I don't know. The tassels. The tassels. He definitely could take more steroids than everybody. I would go Matched Man, Randy Savage. All right.

I'm going to go A.C. Slater. Yeah. Your favorite Reco-Roman wrestler. State champion, I guess. Oh, my God. Yeah, face-side high zone. Think about it. It took you a long time to get that one out.

I was trying to find a TV pop culture wrestler and I'm like, Jesus Christ, I don't watch TV anymore. Did anybody wrestle on Friends? No. John Fabb, well, he was an ultimate fighter on Friends. No, he was actually in a sport. He wasn't pretending to... Schrober wasn't a wrestler in a place. Sports entertainment.

Schumer was never like, they want me to get until it's the squared circle. No, never at it? No. Favreau was like, what you're going to do, brother, when... I call you, I forget, your phone number after the bar. That's a crossover to the other thing he was in with the movie. Oh, you talk about swingers? Yeah, I don't know.

That's a great note to. I have no wrestling material at all. Ladies and gentlemen. Jack, you're Edmund and Chris Johnson. I was going to say that sounded like a good Hulk Hogan, but you had no idea what you were doing. Thank you guys. Thank you. We have to move on to a thing. I love your podcast.

Keep it going. Well, thank you, CJ. God, we're so. Are we like super far behind? What time is it? I don't even. Yeah, we're fucked. You're looking right of your phone.

how much time we have. It's like 930. Oh, 930. So we have not a lot of time. 20 minutes. Mark. Yeah, let's do it. Get your ass up here.

Who wants to take on Mark in Schlenkode, aka a roster game. Everyone's pointing at a guy in a Whaler's jersey. Whaler's jersey guy. Whaler's jersey guys being pointed at. Get your ass up here. Have a seat. Have a seat.

Mark, howdy? Pick up a mic, buddy. We got enough mics this time. Welcome to the stage. So for those who are watching at home, Mark, how do you say your last name? Carvalho. Mark Cavallo is wearing, what is that, an igendla jersey? No, no, it's Alany McDonald.

A Lanny McDonald, flame shirzy. I just want all the Leafs fan to hate me, so. And what was your name again, Whalers guy? You used the mic, buddy. Matt. Matt. What's your last name? Skeevy. Matt is wearing a Jean-Sebastian Jaguer Hartford Whalers jersey,

which manages to make me so happy. beautiful thing I've ever seen. And so angry at the same time. I'm going to stand up so you guys can't, like, look what I'm doing. I think the flames acquired him from Hartford, eh? Like, I think they sent, like, Andrew Kett. But no, they got Andrew Kassels and they sent Gary Roberts over. That's what it was.

Yes. All right. No heckling the contestants, please. Until they've messed one. Then you can huckold. All right, boys. Schlemcode, aka the roster game, is a game that we love to play on the podcast. And by that, I mean, we did it at the Brooklyn Show. Schlemko.

For those who don't know, the roster game is a game in which we pick teams from the history of the National Hockey League, and then these guys have to go back and forth naming players from those teams until one can't do it. And by that I mean they die from exhaustion. Or it's over in like two names because they don't know this team because... Steve Dangle is backstage. He took part in this game on the Merrick v. Jinsky Live Show last year or two years ago, and he was, oh, fuck, was it terrible. So my point is that the meaning of that fable

is that even the smartest among us can be horrible at this game. So no worries if the things don't go well. I won't last year when we did the team year. Or it could go really good. Well, actually, I got all 27 players from that season. As you know, we are on the cusp of the 2017-18 season, which means we take a nostalgic look back at the 2007-2008 season.

No, we're not doing Leifes. We've been there. Been there, done that. We're doing the two teams that vied for the Stanley Cup that year, the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins, beginning with the 2007-2008, Detroit Red Wings. That's our first game. It's best of three, by the way. Best of three. I should mention that.

We're doing any player that played for them throughout the season. So not just playoff guys, but any player who played a game for them throughout the season. so let's begin with you, Mark, you are the champion. Rock on and give me a name of any Red Wing from that team. By the way, if you guys need a lifeline, just ask me, I'll give you a name, and you can decide if whether or not that is a name on that team. All right, rock on. So I'll go with the obvious Nicholas Lidstrom.

Yeah, it turns out he was on that team. All right. Dominic Aschuk. That is correct, Dominic Aschik. Then I'll go with Chris Osgood. Chris Osgood is correct. Hendrik Sederberg. Pavel Datsuk.

Oh, shit. Yeah, those are both right. Thomas Holstrom. Kirk Maltby. Boy, Mark is just like... No, no, Mulp is right. No, Mark, it's like those spelling bee kids when the one kid knows right away, he just goes right into it.

I am Indian, so, you know. I got that book. That is so, I mean, it's not, we didn't say Mathby. Go ahead. Brian Rolfsky? Correct. Oh, good one. Chris Draper.

Correct. A lot of ooze and Oz in the crowd tonight about this one. All right, keep going. Dallas Drake. Dallas Drake is correct. If oddly obscure. You just staggered Mark. Mark looks a little one.

Darren McCarty was on that team, so. Darren McCarty was on that team, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Oh, let's see here. Uh-oh. Mm-hmm. Yep. Uh-huh.

Let's go. Come on now. I'm going to have to put the clock on you. Five, four, three. Say any name. Two. One. Any Red Wing.

Any Red Wing whatsoever. Quickly. Any Red Wings who ever played for the Red Wings? Yeah. Nah? Putting up the... All right. Congratulations once again.

Yes. You've run the first game of the three. You could have gone Chris Chelyos. You could have gone Cronwald, yeah. Franzen. Jimmy Howard was on the roster too at some point.

All the guys that That's stirred the ship right into the iceberg still today. The amazingly high price, just an ablocator. All right, let's go to the team they smited in the final, the 2007-2008 Pittsburgh Penguins. All right, let's rock it out. Let's go with the guy who needs a little help now. Whalers dude first, let's go with you first on this one. We'll take Sidney Crosby just to get it all the way.

I'm sorry. Is that correct? He did a really play, but he was there. He caught a ring. Yeah, it is correct. Evgeny Malkin. Also correct. Marion Hosa.

Oh, that's a good one. No, that's correct. He wasn't a traitor yet. He played for Pittsburgh, lost the cup, and then he went to Detroit to win the cup, and he lost Pittsburgh. A little history lesson for all of you. Then he went to Chicago and finally won a cup.

I was actually going to go for that, too. Mark Andre Fleury. Mark Andre Fleury is correct. Flower. Flower? Do you remember playing for the 0708 Penguins? Mark Recky, I believe, was on that team? That is correct.

Oh. Is he on the team, or did he leave by this point? Uh-oh. Oh. All right. Oscar, I'll go for it. Was Gary Roberts on that team? No.

No, he was on. Gary Roberts was on that team. Was he? Oh, thank God. Wow, I didn't think he was still on that team either. I mean, there's a few names I probably would. had gone to before. Brooks Orpick, correct.

That's one of those names that I would have gone to before you. Uh-huh. Oh. Oh, shit, these are the ropes. No, I'm just trying to think of... The knees are wobbly. He's like Floyd Mayweathering right now.

He's just like... He's keeping everybody interested. Rope doping because he's got money on a decision. No, I'm trying to remember if Chris LaTang was on that team by then. In French, the Tang.

Was he or was he not? I'll go for Chris La Tang Correct Yes Go go ahead You're getting Latang yeah Don't let the hecklers get to you Just focus

I believe it was the great Chris Christopherson Who said to Sidette O'Connor Don't let the bastards get you down Remember that once you got booed For ripping the picture of the Pope To tie it back to the beginning of the show Was Bill Guerin on that team Bill Guerin was not on that team

Oh Oh right Bill Garin was on the next year See Oh boy well that does it there it is a sweep of sweeps

it was a good effort I did not have another one after that we're not going to do it because we are pressed on time but the tiebreaker was the 0708 Tampa Bay Lightning for Schitts and Giggles Marks our champion again

I saw the list I can't I still can't remember you'll defend the crown next time we'll come here. You can begin the 0708 Tampa Bay Lightning. Okay. Vincent La Cablee. Correct. Martin St. Louis. Correct. They were so bad that year. You still have two other people that

you might remember them that team. Crap, was he still there at that point? Was Dan Boyle still there? Dan Boyle's correct? Okay. That was more of a question. Oh, sorry. Dan Boyle. There, correct. Mike Smith? Fuck, that's correct. Dwayne Rolson was not there, he's not my guess, because I think he came over the next year.

Was up in the Edmonton? No, he was in Minnesota, wasn't he? Because I'm thinking my head. Maybe another name will come up. Yeah. All right. Dude, dude, I'm not going to use that. What do you think?

Oh, crap. I'll give you a countdown because we have to move up. Five, four, three, three, two, one. All right, there you go. The other guy, you might, there's two people that, people that I actually probably would have remembered was obviously Brad Richards. Oh, that's right. And Vinnie Prosple was still there as well.

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. Now, would you have remembered that Blair Jones was on the team? Probably not. Anyway, thanks, boys. Congratulations to Mark. Good stuff, boys. Thanks, guys. Is Myrtle back there?

Is our third guest here? Is he here? All right, let's bring out James Myrtle from the Athletic. CJ told me that you were worried that we forgot you. It sounded like he did. No. We had to get through a shitty game show segment. If we don't spend ten minutes on the Star Wars director

two years from now, we can't do a podcast, so we're sorry. That's our fault. James Myrtle is, of course, the... What's your official title there? Are you like that? Editor. Editor of the Athletic Toronto. But also, like, hockey, I don't even know.

Guru. Canada. Hockey. How are things been? Pretty good. Busy? Busy? What's been your favorite thing about it so far? The response has been awesome.

It's neat being able to take something that people are super passionate about in Toronto and just bring that across Canada. Can I stop here? Bring to Minnesota, St. Louis. You've heard at least 10 seconds of what James has to say. I'm afraid you're going to have to pay a little extra to hear the rest. Paywall right here.

please slide your credit card through my insert your credit card into dames back side oh we have some subscribers here so you can actually continue yeah how many guys how many people in here are subscribed look at that shit I would say Myrtle the athletic army is larger than the dangle navy whoa we're having a sale somebody said we're the same people that's probably accurate anyways sorry

I was playing a joke. It's like the worst game of thrones scene everywhere. It's the Viral Army versus the Dangal Navy. Who's the dragon? Is it Steve Simmons? Tyler Delo is the Ice Dragon. No, joking aside, the job you've done there in building this thing as quickly as you have, and the insane amount of hockey writing talent that you have of the athletic now is something

to be applauded. Please applaud him. Please clap. It's insane. I pay to subscribe for something, which is more than I can say about any pay-per-view I've watched in the last six years. So, you're doing great.

What about porn? Who pays for porn? What pays for porn? What are you? My dad? That guy. But honestly, like, how... Did you have a number in mind and how far has that number been supplanted

by the people have subscribed? How rich are you now? I would say probably yes. I would say it's doing better than we thought. It's hard to know with this when you, like, when I left the globe and I went to the athletic, I said to my wife, it's like, I have no idea what's going to happen.

I don't know if nobody's going to sign up and we're just going to be writing for nobody. And, you know, I made them give me a two-year deal because I didn't know. And I didn't know if they were just going to be paying me to do nothing for a while. Honestly, I had no idea. That's the life.

That is the dream. I had no idea if it was going to work. So this is kind of like tripled. down on what we did in Toronto and I don't know is it going to work? Was Toronto like a special circumstance? We'll see. What's your gauge for success at this point? Like is it just putting Steve

Simmons out of business? Because that'd be awesome. Have you read about post media? Well, I'm just saying I don't think we have to worry. If you actually hire the hot dog vendor and have them write a hot dog comment, that'd be

awesome. Could be a tell-all. Yeah. No, seriously, though, at what point will you feel like this is going to work long-term? Maybe when we're around for a few years, I think. So you're just kind of feeling like it's still in that early stage where you're not sure? Totally. It definitely is in the early. I mean, yeah, it definitely is. Like right now, you're not like, I'm set until 2026. There's no chance. Yeah. No, I mean, I would say we're probably going to be around two years.

But, I mean, what we're doing right now, when we're doing right now, when we're scaling up, we're kind of taking a big risk and making a bet, and maybe it'll work, and maybe it won't. I don't know. I've said this on Twitter a couple times, but, like, it's so satisfying that the athletic is literally being

built on the back of hockey. I mean, like, it is. It's very true. The Canadian expansion is hockey-centric. In Chicago, hockey blew them away and how successful it was. Right. So the guys are in California.

One of the founders is from, Philly, he's a big hockey fan. His favorite player is Mikhail Renberg. When you see him, all he talks about is Mikhail Renberg. Legion of Doom and the other guys from Cincinnati knows nothing about hockey. He didn't know who Don Cherry was when I met him. He had no idea. Why should anybody know who Don Cherry?

Well, he didn't know. Come on. He knew literally nothing about hockey. He knew like Wayne Gretzky. You're not Don Cherry, this guy. So they didn't get into this to dominate hockey. But it's happening. Yeah, it's happening, isn't it?

Also, I would really like to meet that other guy to tell me, You know, Renberg made Lindross. I don't know if you guys know that. If Scott Stevens wasn't such a dirty player, the Flyers would have one Stanley Cucks. I don't know why Renberg. I have no idea why. It's so random.

It was a great leaf. Now, like, Loso bought this up, but I am curious. Like, are you, as the mastermind behind the Athletic Toronto, like, are you looking to do something different than what the other media in this town does for the Leafs, or are you looking to do their thing better than them so you conquer them and get the business? I don't know. Both, maybe? I don't know.

Yeah. I think we're different. I think we're quite a bit different. I mean, you look at our staff, and I think we only have, I mean, last year in Toronto, I think we only had, I don't think we had anyone over 40 years old. Maybe Fitzsie probably just turned 40. Like, we went with a really young staff. We brought in some younger people to write for us.

you see like you're still young how old are you I don't want to talk about it I'm so long as you keep wearing your hat backwards like Steve Bichemian you know how old Tengrafi Jr. You know how old this has made me feel

like people on staff are 21, 22 years old and they're calling me dad and they're making all yeah no I know wait are they calling you dad or are they calling you dad I don't know and I try and there's a thing yeah is it like a Vanka calling

Donald Daddy or is it a different thing? You had to make it weird. She did and he talked about it. It was so fucking strange. Oh, by the way, since the last time I was here, my entire country has been taken over by Nazis and hurricanes. I don't know how that happened.

We'll take you up here, Greg. You can come up. I would love it. You'd fit in here. We still need someone in Winnipeg. I'm serious. I don't have anyone in Winnipeg yet. I have news for you, James.

are no parks in Winnipeg. The entire city is underground. It is like a good city of molemen. Winnipeg? I need four years and seven figures. Or three years and six figures. I can negotiate on this. I'm flexible.

What is, what do you think, you seem like you've got everybody in place? I mean, has Winnipeg been a sticky wicket as far as somebody to work there? Like, what's been the toughest? city to kind of establish... I don't know if I want to call Winnipeg any names. We just, we want to make sure we get the right people. Yeah.

In some places it was easier than others. Right. Because Gary Lawless went to Vegas. That would have been the easiest thing to do. Yeah, that would have been, that would have been an easy. Yeah. What's your life like now compared to what it was two years ago? Is it just day-to-day, just more managerial stuff as opposed to...

Yes. Like, do you miss the writing as much as you were doing it? Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a sad thing. I mean, I wrote... I wrote a lot last year. But it was kind of like...

doing two or three jobs at once in the beginning of this. I would be like on the road in an airport, like editing a story and then it was crazy. When you're walking around Toronto, do you ever get paper cuts from people throwing their resumes at you? I have to imagine that's got to hurt at some point, right? They don't seem to print them out. They're not showing up in my mailbox. How many people, how many, like, what's the average number of people pitching you to say, I want to work at the athletic per day, do you think?

it's a lot how do you feel about the fact that the I'm working at the athletic letter has become almost a meme in hockey writing like when somebody's like I'm not longer working at my publication everybody's like oh fuck it they're going to

they used to be how tragic for their family now it's like oh they're just going to the athletic yeah we have a bunch of them up tomorrow too there was some there was some debate over does everyone get a letter and I don't know we weren't sure sure what to do with it. It's amazing.

Yeah. Like I said, it's... Did you see, like Jonas announced he was coming, he was joining us today. Jonas Siegel. He's going to be our main... He's going to be our main Leaves guy because I can't write as much as I used to. But Jonas was like, I don't want to do a letter and he didn't even want to tweet it out. I was texting him today and I was like, well, how come you haven't tweeted out yet? And he's like, I thought you were going to do it. And I was like, no, just do it. And then his tweet was like, I'm joining the athletic to cover the leaves. And that was it. And it was just, that was very Jonas. Lozo and I briefly considered doing a mad libs of... an athletic letter.

There's some similarities, aren't there? It's like the Players Tribune. It's like there's a certain, you know, here's why I fell in love with hockey. We're not Ghost Rider. Here's why I loved my former job. Here's why I left my job. Here's why you can use my name

for a 20% off promo code. Yeah. But I don't, oh, and here's the part where I say, I don't want to take your money. And here's the part where I say, but I'm going to take your money. Pretty much it? It's working, Greg.

I was like, I did a bunch of those letters from the editor in my first year. I think I did one like every two months or something like that. And it became kind of a joke at the head office, like, oh, it's kind of like a slow couple weeks. Do another letter from the editor.

Because like that seems to get people interested in the site and they share it and they talk about, you know, I wrote about ESPN cutting everybody. I wrote about that seemed to really get people interested in supporting us. Right. So like for Pierre LeBron,

when you guys got Pierre, he did a Y, I'm joining the athletic thing. Did he just send you a photo of him rolling around in money first? Or did you have to force him to like write? Look at me. I'm at my money bin. Scotty. Scottie. Look at all the money.

Honestly, I don't think for Pierre it was about the money. I think he just thought it was a, he wanted to be part of it. Yeah, I imagine him and Ken Rosenthal were probably in the same boat where they just wanted a place. No, seriously, they just wanted a place where they could write because they're both TV guys that lost their writing side of things. I mean, he got paid, but like it's not, like, I mean, he's made tons of money in his career and he just thinks this is a great idea and he wanted to be part.

of what we were doing. He's like Patrick Marlowe. He just showed up to you. He just wants to win. He just wants to win. The money is incidental to the situation. He wants to help lift it up. In the end, it could end up saving a ton of people's jobs.

I mean, you look at what's happening in the newspapers up here, and it's just brutal. That's the thing I always tell people, like, I've got so many friends that are, like, might have been in precarious positions at their newspapers in the next couple years that are now in great jobs and great gigs and able to build something from the ground up. That's the one thing that's the best thing about what you're doing right now is this forward momentum. It's so rare in media now that you feel positive about something and you feel like you're building something. And there's like, hey, let's join our team. We're all going.

It's like when we started. Fanhouse? Well, fan house is, you know. Fan house for those that don't know. James and I wrote for AOL back in like 2006. Maybe. I was going to say, 2008. 2007.

It's around that time. 2006, seven. and it was, I mean, there wasn't a kernel of that sort of, hey kids, we're putting on a show, come join us thing. But I think, like, to a bigger picture, in the first sort of years of blogging, that's what it felt like. And I think that you're... We finally started getting money for what we were doing. We got $9 U.S. a post.

So I would get these little checks that would show up, $9 U.S. And then you have to pay a fee to put that in your bank account in Canada. For those who don't know the history of fan house, eventually, like, you know, James and I, other people were, like, busting her asses and doing this great work and getting all these clicks and stuff. And then they went out and, like, hired, like, I don't know if, you know, Jay Marriotti here in Canada. Like, Jay Marriotti was just, like, fucking weird-ass columnist in Chicago trading on his name value. And they paid him, like, a shit ton of money. And, like, he would get less traffic than shit that James and I would write.

And we were like, why are you? But anyways, the... At least you're not still bitter about it. Yeah, right. And then they folded. But, no, like, the athletics to me recap. that sort of like, hey, we want to be part of something. And I didn't realize it until the other day,

when I tried to pay a compliment to the athletic where I said, they're hiring a lot of bloggy writers, along with big name writers. And someone just stepped up and was like, fuck you, don't talk shit about the athletic. I'm like, oh my God, there's like, and it's like blogging. It's like this entire sort of like militant faction of people

ready to come to your defense if anybody tries to mess with your brand. And there's another militant faction that's attacking us. So it's... That can be one of those wars you talk about. Oh, where it's just all white dudes? By the way, I wrote for the athletic film. I just want to throw that out there.

Kind of like up here. But like what's your response to that when people are like, it's all white guys? Because like I wrote one thing and I got shit for it because they were just like, yeah, the athletic only hires white guys. Well, I mean, you guys have been, it's a hockey problem, right?

Yeah. But also like it's a patience problem. because when people came at you about the athletic, it was like your first week, and they're like, what's wrong? What's up with us hiring? And in that time, since then, you've hired a really diverse staff.

So it takes... Well, all right. The alien from cocoon is waving at the crowd over here. I'm powder. Running through the field to get a job at this point as the electricity hits me. But... You kind of look like powder.

Oh, yeah. for sure What's your name? I know Jeff Goldblum's in it I don't know how that movie goes I just know that there's a really pale like I You don't want to see it No you don't

No Or know who directed it Is it the Star Wars guy? It's not the Star Wars guy Google that later It's pretty great All right let's hit you with a hockey question I want to give you the same one

That we offered before Who wins a cup first The Leaves for the Oilers The McDavid Oilers Orilers or the Austin Matthews leaves I kind of lean towards a leafs, to be honest. Any reason why? I have some concerns over what's going to happen with the Oilers.

Because they're a salary situation? That's part of it, yeah. Because Peter Sierraelli has a bit of a history of mismanagement. There's been some more questionable decisions there, I think, than in Toronto. But, I mean, the Oilers could win this year, though. I mean, I think that they're a legitimate probably top five choice this year to win. Could the least win this year? Maybe.

I don't know if they're top five. What's the biggest obstacle towards a Leafs Cup besides decades of futility? Will it be Patrick Marlowe not being able to stay awake while we have to play seven-and-a-focan? It's probably the blue line, right? Like, they don't have a stud. They don't have a stopper. Well, no.

They're not hazy. Yeah. They don't have like an all-around guy. Yeah. They don't have their Duncan Keith or the Gratty or their, fill-in-the-blank, right? They're running. They have their own-hanging. Well, they have their Ron Hainesie.

They do what they need to do, I think, is just like, just make a trade for a guy like that mid-season. Right. Yeah. Would you trade Willie Neal? Yeah, I was going to say, would you trade one of those guys? Like, who would you try to? No, I don't think you have to trade one of those guys. You don't think so?

Trade your first round pick. I mean, if you're going to be a playoff team, trade your first round pick. You trade cap'ninn in for a defenseman? Maybe. Depends who it is. He's like fourth on the totem pole of young guns, right? He's like Kiefer Sutherland of the actual young guns. It ended in a Z.

Young guns with a Z. Well, I added the Z because they're extreme. No, but I feel like, but again, like there's such a premium on that kind of defenseman. Like, you have to find a team that wants to shed salary or, you know, you got a guy that's up for a contract and they don't want to pay them. Would you have wanted Brent Seabrook at this point in his career? No, no, no, no. Like, that's what I mean. Like, who's the guy that they're going to game's trade?

Well, I mean, even if you just get an upgrade to the, to the. top four, I think that's going to help them. Like, if someone like Chris Tannav and Vancouver, let's say Vancouver's terrible. Right. Let's just like, let's just, let's imagine. Vancouver's terrible. As far-fetched it is, the Canucks are in second last at the trade deadline.

And they're willing to trade Chris Tanna for a prospect or whatever. Then you add that piece into your top four. Ron Hainesie moves into the third pair and then the Leafs D gets better. Yeah, indeed. Or someone better than Chris Tannove. I mean, whoever, you know. Dan Girardi. No.

I see we got a Tampa fan in the house who's already trying to shed Dan Gerardi's contract. Look, as you know, I don't really have rooting interests in hockey, but what about like Willie Nealander for Andy Green? God, you are a madman. I thought you were wearing a Marley's jersey. I saw a picture.

I was, yeah. It was a Jeremy Williams jersey? Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Who wins the cup first? The Devils are the Rangers. I have no idea. The correct answer is neither. Yeah. Vegas. It would be the Devils, but at that point, they'll be the Seattle Big Feet.

They got that new building there. I don't think they're going anywhere. No, the devils aren't going anywhere. That's one of the... That's one of the nicest buildings. Oh, it's a great building. And, like, that's one of the reasons why, as a Devils fan that I feel better about life than I probably should, is that I don't have the specter of relocation hanging over my head.

Like, a certain team in Brooklyn does all the time. They took, like, a $500 million building and, like, dropped it in the middle of a slum, kind of. It's amazing. They tried to do the same thing. And Washington was the same way. The area around the MCI Center in Washington was a shit show. Right. Like, there's still a McDonald's there where there's a guy with an automatic weapon that stands by the counter.

Oh, yeah. You remember that? Remember that? We went there with Katie Baker. I was so drunk that, like, this guy had, like, an automatic rifle on bulletproof vest, and I was like, I just eat my nuggets. If I catch a bullet, I don't care. He's like, he's like, I believe you only get one barbecue sauce, sir. and I'm like, I will die for some honey mustard right now.

Put the sweet and sour down! Ah, police violence. So I was in Washington, obviously, a lot this spring with the Leafs in the playoffs, and I hadn't been there in, I think, nine years. It's crazy, right? The difference in those nine years was unbelievable. They're trying to do that in Jersey, but it's still only, like, a two-block radius of gentrification.

No, the draft there was scary. If you go three blocks, there's literally, I like to tell those, three blocks away from the two blocks away from uh prudential center you find great bars and great restaurants and everything three blocks over there's a dude selling rap CDs and baby turtles and i don't understand why there's baby turtles but legit there's a dude on the corner he's like do you want this little wayne or a shelley i thought you went to maryland why wouldn't you be happy about a baby turtle turtles feeling pretty good about football these days ruckers They don't give a shit about college football up here

I have no idea what you're talking about Exactly Hey Kevin do we have time to like go over a little bit or no Where's my boy Where's Kevin? It's all just shadows out there I can't see anything I was born in the shadows

You barely adopted them Kevin Let's do some Q&A stuff with Merle up here So you can ask him questions too I know we have a mic here Yeah I don't know how the fuck to get it to you guys I think you just hand it to me Here I'll hand it to you

No it's over here Oh there's Is there a mic as well Oh there's a Another mic Now I got two mics Look at me I'm Greg two mics

Oh by the way We might close off the Q&A part So thanks for listening everybody bye We want to give you guys In the room something If you guys bucks to you Go Greg Wysinski And Dave Lozzo

Bye I'm Greg Wischinski I'm Dave Loso Of my couch and deep sighing and shit but seriously thanks for listening

we're going to take a week off and come back with a season preview episode give a round of applause for the end of this part of the podcast thanks for paying all this money so it sounds professional fix and hits and goals

and saves and slapshots and goons we've got sportly commentary to what if you'll commute but we also cover movies TV shows, it's in tools, it's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. Bork, too.