Puck Soup - Montreal Mess

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. I'm Greg Wichenski of ESPN. The worldwide leader is for... And the former home of both world class and AWA wrestling. Remember those?

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No wrestling yet, but fingers crossed. No, no, no. Yeah, fingers crossed. You're in Puck's 2 for this week where thanks to the Montreal Canadiens for creating so much content. My God. You know, something had to give 22 or 23 games removed from their trip to the Stanley Cup final. Things weren't going well. Huh, impossible to see that coming.

Crazy. Yeah, I mean, isn't this a tacit endorsement of like it just being a complete fluke? couldn't, and you had all the Montreal fans being like, it ain't a fluke. No, it's actually real. They're insanely good. Everybody on the team either left over the summer or was like, I physically can't play anymore. And then they were like, and definitely they're going to make the playoffs in the same

division as Boston, Tampa, Florida, and Toronto. Florida, Toronto. Yeah, well, there's a couple of different ways to read this. And obviously, we're talking about Mark Bergevan and everybody in the front office being cleared out, Jeff Gorton, becoming the English-speaking vice president of hockey operations who will then hire a bilingual general manager to convey his message to all the locals. Those are official titles, by the way. Yes.

And so I think you could say that maybe they felt like they were on the right track if any of Berzavans' lieutenants were drafted to replace him. Because he obviously was a dude in his last year of his contract. For whatever reason, it seemed like it was going to be time for these two entities to move on. But then, like, they don't give any job to Scott Mellon visa, he goes. The Timmons guy goes, the fucker who was asked about Logan Millyu and just stared at the camera for an hour and a half before saying, I don't know. He's gone. And then, so nobody in the regime is there to continue the current regime.

So I think that is a tacit endorsement that it was Fluke City. Well, I mean, of course it was, but also, like, only after 20. Like, he got to make all these huge roster decisions that will affect the franchise for years over the summer. And so that was not a 10. But then, you know, you lose whatever, 20 of 24 games or whatever the number is. And then it's like, oh, maybe we do suck. Yeah, no shit. Yeah.

And it was, I mean, there was a case to be made that they should have done something. something in the offseason rather than let a guy who was in the last year of his deal and seemed to be on the way out. I mean, that's the key. It's not impossible to do a job when you have when you're left on your contract, but that he certainly seemed to be eyeing the door. He had made comments about maybe not sticking around for various reasons. He had been linked to other teams. So, you know, should they have done it in the summer? Maybe in hindsight, although you're coming off a trip to the final. It's pretty difficult to make that move.

So the next best time to do it was now, because clearly the season's lost, and you're moving into rebuild or tank or deadline or whatever you want to call it mode, and you shouldn't be doing that with the guy who's not going to be here. And as I wrote a few days ago, I would have been really concerned as a Montreal fan, having Mark Bergervan with one eye on the door and one eye on his market value for his next job,

making the decisions on a team that really at this point should be focused on getting that high draft pick. So it was the right move. It took maybe a little bit longer and it was a little bit more messy than it should have been, but it was time for everyone to move on. And the only surprise, as Greg said, is that they went completely outside the organization and didn't really either didn't have a succession plan in place or decided not to stick to it once it's time to execute it. It feels like it's the latter.

Is it safe to say that if you made the Stanley Cup final and lost during the pandemic, you probably have made some bad decisions based on a fluky, unprecedented thing happening? Rick Bonas probably should not be the head coach of the test. Well, Dallas is good lately. They've played well lately. But yeah, I mean, they didn't make the playoffs last year, for example. And, you know, again, like the Canadians, you can say, well, there are a bunch of extenuating circumstances. And it's like, the end results the same.

The other thing is, like, you don't even have to make the final, right? Like, look at Vancouver. How many extra decisions did Jim Benning get to make because they accidentally made it to the second round in the bubble? Right. No, that's a really good point. And now they're sitting there like, geez, was he bad this whole time? But not bad enough to actually take action and get rid of him. No, we've got to take our time on that one.

I mean, I guess we've got to see how the fans react and what they chant. Well, I guess honestly, like, I think the horse is kind of out of the bar. Like, what's a new general manager? You just don't let Jim Benning make any decisions going forward. Like, you don't let him trade Tyler, or not Tyler Tovolo. Tyler Toffoli. You don't let him trade J.T. Miller. You know, you just say, you can't do anything while we figure this out.

But you're going to have to make some moves eventually. Like you can't let a trade deadline go by without trying to. Well, right. They're going to do it by Christmas, probably. But they're just not going to. Lump of coal in his stocking. When you say you're waiting for the fans to chant something, you're just waiting for that Shirelli chant to start, Sean?

Because it does have a sort of a sing-song quality to it. You could. You could. I mean, you know, there's lots of great GMs available out there. Mark Bergerzvan, I hear, could be had. All right, let's talk about Bergervan first. First of all, where you think he's going? The New York Post reported a while ago that there was going to be some sort of a reunion with Luke Robitai in Los Angeles,

and they'd work together, which is a weird setup and probably not what Rob Blake wants to hear. Yeah. And then there was also, I mean, listen, I don't think that he's going to go to Chicago. Like, I think anyone that's even tangentially connected to the Kyle Beach scandal cannot be with the organization. Absolutely. But they do have an opening. And he is an accomplished GM with ties to the organization. I mean, accomplished that he had a job for fucking, like, nine years.

Do you know what he, what his Canadians teams averaged per 82 games? how many points they had in the standings probably too. I do. Yeah, I mean, I don't know the exact number, but I know what you're saying. It's 91. They were like 10th. They were like 10th in points during his run. 18th overall in points percentage.

Oh, wait, wait, wait. No, they were 10th in playoff wins. That's what they were. Sorry. They were 18th overall in points percentage over his entire career. That sucks. That's bad. You can't get in the top half of the league spending that much money.

how do you have a job for nine years? It doesn't make a sense. Well, I mean, listen, you're only as good as your goaltender. Well, and that's the other thing. He had a legitimately elite goaltender for a good chunk of those nine years, and he still only average 91 points a season. Right, exactly. That's fucking bananas.

His legacy there for me was his management of coaches was really fucking business. are. Remember when he was going into the foxhole for Michelle Tarion for like numerous seasons beyond how long he should have been the coach there? That was always weird. The fact that they've never been able to figure out the center position on this team has always been very weird to the point of like, you know, trading for Duran and trying to make them one and shit. And the biggest problem with this team and looking back on it this week, and Jeff Moulson mentioned it in his soliloquy on Monday, the drafting and player development in this franchise

has been absolutely a fucking trocious. My God. The best player they ever developed is playing in Tampa. I mean, it's not even close. Yeah, no, you're, that's absolutely right. They're, they're, you know, especially because they were a team that was routinely pretty well regarded in terms of,

look at their prospect pool. They do a fairly good job of identifying talent and getting guys and, you know, like look where they got Cole Cawfield, right? And he hasn't been good this year. Obviously, they sent him to the H.L. But it's like they're identifying guys that everybody's, like, really excited about, like, even outside Montreal. And then they're just dying on the vine. Yeah. It's crazy.

So, okay, so that's his legacy there. Do you have any silver linings for Bergevin? for all, Sean? I mean, they did have some playoff success. And like any GM, you can, you know, point to moves that worked

and point to pieces that are going to be left behind. Yeah, and it's a tough market, too. So he handled that reasonably well. I'm curious to see, you know, again, what's next? If even after that run to the final, you would have thought, okay, Mark Bergervan, his next job in the NHL will be

the GM somewhere else. Some job will open up and he'll be at the top of the list. And now you kind of wonder if it's going to be more of a, you know, go be a president or a whatever somewhere and then see what develops because there's a handful of openings or plausible openings over the next year. But, you know, honestly, if I'm him right now, I'm just taking some time off. I've been through the ringer in Montreal for, uh, for those many years. I'll, uh, I'm, I'm on a beach somewhere for the next few months. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, really well, dressed on the beach, too, I bet. Yeah, well, I mean, that's, showing up, you know, sun's out, guns out, right? So, got to find the son. Right. Exactly. Those are the two, those are the two, those are the two

legacies, right? The legacy is one, incredibly snappy dresser, and two. Yoked. Ridiculous. Like way too. Like to the point where you're like that, dude, you don't. Ridiculously yoked. You work in an office man. Ridiculously dressed.

And unbridled enthusiasm for his team's success. That's the other thing I loved about Birchvan too. Fucking go to the tunnel and high five and the guys that come off the ice and shit. Like, that's cool. And the one time he hid behind him. a plant at the GM. Right. Okay.

And then the other legacy is every time he claimed that P.K. Sue ban wasn't on the trade block. That's right. As he was actively trading him. Great. Like on the phone with. We can see you faxing the document right now. Nope.

No, you can't. Exchanging texts with David Poyle as he's saying P.K. is not on the trade block. It's fantastic. All right. So, fair of thee well. Mark Brouss Rand. Can't wait to see what's next for you. Jeff Gorton comes in.

Now, Jeff Gorton, I love that. Listen, let's celebrate clapping, celebrate the fact that Montreal found a way around its language mandate. They think they have. Let's see how it works. I think they definitely have. I think they definitely have.

Like an English-speaking guy from Massachusetts runs hockey operations and has his little bilingual Flav-a-Flave, hyping up the trade. and talking to the people, I think it totally works. I love the setup. Now, did they hire the right guy and Jeff Gorton, Lambert?

Well, I mean, if you want to talk about a team that drafts well and then doesn't necessarily develop its talent, look at how the New York Rangers have done that over the last several years. A lot of guys taken in the first round who either got traded or never really lived up to the hype or continually, or rather, are continuing to not live up to the hype. that would be a big point of concern. I mean, you know, and then the other thing is you look at all the big signings.

Oh, he got Adam Fox. Well, Adam Fox was going to the Rangers regardless of who was the fucking GM. And Artemmy Pinaran was going to the Rangers regardless of who was the GM. So I think the only thing I would say about Bergevant or Gorton, rather, is the Rangers are really good at developing goaltenders. and if you can do that pretty consistently, you know, look at them this year. They're not that good of a team. They have maybe one of the five best goalies in the world,

and they are winning a bunch of games because of it. So if you can just figure out that part of it, a lot of stuff falls into place much more easily. And, you know, I don't know how much of that was Gorton himself or what, but it's just something to think about. Yeah. Yeah. I like Gordon a lot.

I think he would be very close to the top of my list on available front office guys. So I do think it's a good move. He had that short and very good run in Boston. I think he did a good job in New York. If I was hiring a GM, he would be very close to the top of my list among guys who are available. The weird thing here, obviously, is that they're not. hiring a GM. And they're not even hiring a president of hockey ops. He's like vice president, something. Vice president of hockey operations. Because Molson's thing is, I'm the president of the team.

I don't need more presidents around. So you've got an owner who's already the president. And then you've got a market where the GM has to be bilingual. And you're right. This could where you could bring in potentially here somebody who is relatively new to front office and, you're going to, you're going to could kind of learn on the job while holding the title and ideally be somebody who would be popular in the market, which never lasts long in Montreal, but you give it a shot. Yeah, it could work. But, you know, the question is going to be what happens

when Gorton and the GM start to differ on what should happen? And what do you do then if you're suddenly Jeff Gorton? And, oh, right, you don't speak French. So this guy's been the media point person and they all like him. And suddenly you guys are budding heads and who's going to win that battle? The veteran experienced GM or the guy who's in with the local media potentially? That could get really dicey. But, I mean, there's a limited number of bilingual GMs out there that I would want to hand over the keys entirely.

too, so maybe this is the best option. Right. I think that's correct. And I like Gorton, too. And I especially like him in a role where he doesn't necessarily need to be like the front-facing guy for the public. I think he's much better as just, you know, the puppet master behind the scenes. I think it can be true that he's a good executive and that the Rangers rebuild is entirely predicated on incredible good fortune that cannot be repeated in Montreal, right?

Like those two things can be true. I don't think he's a fraud. But if you're someone saying Jeff Gorton's the guy for a turnaround because hey, look what he did with the Rangers, which is kind of the argument that Jeff Moulson made, I don't buy that. Like, you're not getting Panarin to come there.

You're not getting Fox to come there. Like, it's just, it's a different organization. And you also don't even have the same veteran players on expiring contracts that Gorton had to trade, like McDonough and Sikorello. Like, all the fucking guys on Montreal are signed up with term through like 2023. So he doesn't even have that at his disposal, the sort of turning around veterans of the trade deadline.

So I can't use the Rangers as a reason why this is a good move, but I do like him as an executive. He just was very, very fortunate. The things broke the way they did. And you need to have fortune. But let me just before. Yeah. The one thing I would throw out there is what has Montreal been doing for the last five years almost perpetually? Trying to trade for a number one center.

Yes. Right? And they can't do, well, you just can't get those guys. I mean, they're impossible. Jeff Gordon actually did that. He plucked the guy right on the, you know, in Mika Zabanaed, right on the verge of becoming that guy and got a ridiculous steal of a trade to do that. So, you know, this, yes, there are some things with him that you could point to and say there was some good luck or there were some pieces in place. But he's like also made some some very smart moves that Montreal probably wishes. they had, you know. Yeah, sure. I think he's good. Is he the best guy available? It's debatable, but is he a top-tier GM available compared to some of the other retreads?

Absolutely. And we haven't even talked about what he did with the Bruins, which was, you know, in one fell swoop, basically build a quarter of their company. In like two weeks. And I know people say that Shirelli was behind the scenes pulling the strings on some of that. And sure, but, you know, he was the one who made the Tuka-Rass trade, for example, like that. Yeah. Yes. And he was there for the Marshan draft and, you know, Kessel. And, you know, like, it's, it did pretty good for that fucking team. And so far as adding to their, so again, I think he's a real good executive. I don't think that it's fair to look at what he did with the Rangers and say that's the reason why you hire him in Montreal, though. There are two different situations. The thing I was going to say, though, is did you know he started as like in the PR department? Like, he's not a traditional hockey man. Isn't that interesting? I had no idea about that.

He's one of the few guys that's actually kind of worked his way up. That rocks. Good for him. Yep. That's really bonkers because I would not think of that guy as a good PR man. Like one of the reasons. By the way, we'll make it potentially even more interesting if they bring in like a Eddie Breyer or Roberto Luongo or somebody like that and say like, this is the GM.

And he's going to be sitting there going, oh, okay, I had to work my way up for 20 years. but you got to, you know. You got the right friends. Welcome to management in the NHL. Well, yeah. I guess I was looking at Chris Drury a little bit like that, right? Like, oh, why's Chris.

Probably was too. The AGM. That's because he used to be on the Rangers. Now we know. Now we know why. Well, so that's a good transition there, boys. Who the GM might be. Now, obviously there have been some names mentioned straight away.

Matthew Darch of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who's their director of player personnel, former Canadians player. Daniel Breyer mentioned, GM of the ECHL Maine Mariners, a former affiliate of the New York Rangers when Jeff Gordon was the general manager. And as you know, in the NHL, it's, are they friends? Do they have a relative? Is there an in-law? So obviously, Breyer has rocketed to the top of the list.

LeWongo's an interesting one. He's done a little bit more executive work than I think people give. him credit for. He has done some hockey Canada GMing and also has served in a couple of different capacities. And being a GM for hockey Canada, that's tough. It's tough. I have 40 of the 60 best players in the world. Yeah.

Now, listen, in fairness, it was for worlds, right? So it is a little bit tougher than, you know, the Olympic roster. Yeah, you got to wait until someone gets eliminated from the playoffs and then call them and go, do you want to play in worlds? And sometimes they say yes. and sometimes they say no and you might go. Sometimes they say no. Come on.

And they go, oh, all right. What do you think recruiting, recruiting free agents is? It's a very, very similar process. Do you want to play in Montreal? No, I don't. Come on a free trip to Ligua for Worlds this year. Wow. Riga.

Incredible. Obviously, the name we all want is Patrick Waugh, right? Like, that'd be for utter hilarity. Which I don't think anyone really. realistically things would happen under this scenario. A few days ago, I was holding out hope. But, you know, we can disagree on how smart Jeff Gordon is, but I think he's smart enough not to drop that bomb into his,

unless he's forced by a crazy owner. So fingers crossed. Well, there's always a chance that he could become the coach. Oh, Martin Madden Jr. is another name that's been out there, an assistant GM with the Anaheim Ducks, to not get elevated to the interim job after Bob Murray stepped away. And he is a guy who's been with the ducks for a really long time, bilingual GM, and people seem pretty high on him as well.

So those are some of your candidates. I mean, I obviously didn't mention Pierre McGuire. But I think he probably has his eyes. I think he probably has his eyes on another prize. Yeah, I don't know. He's very busy in Ottawa doing. Hmm. Sharpening his knife, I believe, is what he's doing.

Yeah, but he was brilliant to deal with the media, and he recently, ooh, yeah. Yeah, you know what? Pierre might be available. That's possible. Um, so there you go. Again, that'd be the best, having Pierre McGuire be the face and voice of the Montreal Canadians.

All right, so Montreal gave us some content. I'm sure they'll be fine. in the long run But we should have mentioned Jeff Moulson is open to the idea of a rebuild too That was the other news to come out of the press conference Jeff Gorton came to him and said We've got to rebuild

Moulson would be like, all right, let's do it So I mean he basically said You know they're hitting reset This wasn't a case of saying like We went to the final last year And boy our first 20 games are unacceptable And we're going to get right back to where we were like there was an acknowledgement that yeah we're not good anymore.

If Gordon is smart, he waits a couple of weeks to, or a couple of months rather, to be like, you know what, I think we do need to rebuild. Because then you're like, okay, I really looked at it. And I do think that I do need to be in this job for at least five more years. Yeah, exactly, with no expectations for several years. Yep. The old reverse Rutherford, instead of winning the cup, you're like, I got to be here for the rebuild. Yep. You got it.

Bottom out, get a top three pick that can then be signed by the Carolina Hurricanes in a couple years. Perfect. The way it works. Today's episode of Puck Soup is sponsored by manly bands. Look, engagement season is in full swing in jewelry stores and we packed with soon-to-be grooms, nervously throwing out words like cut, color, clarity, and carrot. But in the middle of all this chaos, it's time to remember that it's your wedding band, Manly Bands is here to offer your hand the freedom to look how you want it to look.

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All right. Speaking of executives, what the fuck, Vancouver? You think by Christmas for regime change. I just wish they'd fucking, I mean, I know they just won over the rotting corpse of the Canadians recently, but like, I just wish Travis Green was put out of his misery. Like, what's the sense of keeping this guy like there, right? You know, like, it's, he's got to be fired. They're not any good.

seem to be actively seeking out his replacement and not even all that subtly. So, yeah. Yeah. Right. And that's why I say they, they're going to, he's got maybe like a month left just because it's like, yeah, they're pretty open about we need a new GM. So why, you know, why continue to drag your feet and all that kind of stuff? Well, because it's the owner just doesn't seem to have the stomach for for making the call. and it's kind of just being dragged out.

And look, I mean, a coach is one thing. But when you're talking about a GM, there's never a scenario where like another week is going to change your decision one way or another. Right. Correct. This is the part where, especially with all the speculation, the owner has to either make the move or you come out and say, I'm not making the move. And I know we all, it's kind of a cliche, the vote of confidence in pro sports. But you say, like, this is, you know, I've. believe in Jim Benning, this is our guy. We're not making any changes. And if you're not willing

to say that, then make the change. But don't sit there and, you know, play it game to game week to week as if, uh, as if we really learn anything about the big picture, uh, quality of a team based on one week's results. Okay. Moving on. Uh, we had a biting incident since the last show. That's exciting. You don't get a lot of biting in the league anymore. It's been a while. Yeah, Brady Kachuk gets bitten by Brendan Lemieux, which obviously means that he will slowly transform into a Lemieux, right?

It'll just start turtling during fights and excelling in the playoffs and all that stuff. As we do the show, it's an in-person hearing, right? So it's going to be one of them five or six or more kind of deals. Yep. What would you give someone for biting Brady Kachuk? besides a round of applause. No, I'm kidding. What would you give?

A tetan shot. Yeah, five games easy, I feel like, is the number, right? Like, that's a nice round number. And, you know, I guess I haven't looked up Brendan Lemieux's suspension history, so maybe there's something else there. But, yeah. Yeah. And it's, I mean, I know some people and King's fans would point to previous suspensions for biting,

which tend to be a couple of games. But I do think there, you know, while you should never bite someone, I do think there's a difference, you know, if you have a gloved hand shoved into your mouth during a scrum, versus, you know, this where he seemed to just like actively make the decision. Like, I'm going to try to bite this dude's hand. Oh, there it is. And, you know, just chomp down.

I mean, this is sort of a different level. So. Are you claiming, are you being an NHLPA lawyer and claiming self-defense for Brennan Lemieux because someone put a finger in his mouth? No, I'm doing the opposite. I'm saying that, you know, we saw, like, I mean, we saw it with the, like the Canucks and Bruins, remember, in their series in the final where there were a couple of biting related incidents and, you know, but usually it was like, oh, this guy stuck his whole glove in my mouth and I bit him to try to get him to stop. making it so I can't breathe. Whereas that didn't seem to be what this was. But solid rant by Brady Kachuk.

That was all right. Oh, yeah. 10 out of 10. Brickhead rant. You know, I'm always fascinated by what hockey players consider to be over the line in a sport where you punch each other in the face and at each other with sticks and spear each other in the balls and like all those other shit. biting is definitely an over-the-line thing every time there's been a bite like the reaction from the from the person being bitten has been like what the fuck yeah and uh i always like to see what actually crosses the line for professional i was just trying to punch this dude in the face that's the big being exactly right why can't you act like a man and hit me over the head with your stick seriously uh speaking of infractions brad barshand gets his first suspension since i believe january

2018. Yep. So hit the reset button on the redemption narratives. He's evil again. Yeah, got to change the sign in the work in the work room about days without a Brad Marchand suspension. Yeah. Well, Brad Marchand probably going like, look, I've watched a bunch of devil's games.

P.K. Suban does this fucking twice a week. What's the big deal? So I spoke to some of our friends at the Department of Player's Safety, and I have an answer for this, believe it or not. You may not necessarily agree with the answer, but here is their answer. Things that are viewed as using your skates to gain position and potentially tripping an opponent, i.e. most of the things that P.K. Subban does are different than a slew foot because a slew foot requires you to use your upper body. To push them back, yes, I understand. To push it back over the legs. So a lot of people look at the P.K. stuff and say, like, where is the suspension for that?

and the Department of Player's Safety looks at it and says, it's kind of a shit move, but it's not a slew foot. And then you look at what fucking Marshand did. The crazy thing about Marshand is that if you look at his suspension in 2015 for slew footing Derek Brousard, it's like the same play. It's like going towards the boards, using your leg, throwing the guy back over. Like, it's a fucked up play, especially for that part of the ice. They've apparently, they find him before for slew footing.

They find him before for dangerous trips. They've warned him about slew footing. And so this is like one of those deals where, player safety, as you know, like, does the repeat offender thing, but they really do the repeat offender thing for shit that you've done over and over again a particular genre of offense. Yeah. Like, the example that we've talked about on the show before is like, Tom Wilson can hit a guy in the head with his elbow and that, and he'll get like a fucking massive suspension next time he doesn't. But if he spears, if he's, all right, all right, theoretically. But if he spears somebody, that's like bad and he's a repeat offender, but it's not like doing the same thing.

over and over again and not learning your lesson. And the repeat offender kicks in when they decide it's suspendable, which is why P.K. Suban doesn't get like a third of a slew foot each time and then get suspended for the third one. It doesn't bank that way. Right. The repeat offender thing is based on the punishment thing versus like, are they going to suspend him? In Marchand's case, it's like he keeps doing the same shit over and over again, and that's why he gets three for this one. Yeah. And I mean, this was a, pretty bad one. Like it was at, you know, they had some speed and he was going into the boards.

And it didn't result in an injury, but it could have. Like you could absolutely break someone's leg on that play. And a lot of the Sub-Ban stuff as much as I don't like it, and I would have been fine with him having some fines or suspensions, you know, he's kind of kicking the legs out of a stationary guy in a board battle versus somebody who's already skating at high speed toward the boards. I thought it was, I thought it was significantly different and also absolutely ridiculous that it wasn't a penalty.

How do you feel about suspending to the potential of injury versus suspending to injury? Like, do you think one is specious versus the other, or do you think that they should be kind of treated the same way? I think you suspend partially due to the danger of a play. And yeah, I mean, if it's a play, play like that. You know, I think you can, you can say that if it had been an injury, it would have been bigger. That's, that's fine. I mean, you know, if I run my car through a red light

and I hit someone, I'm going to have a higher punishment than if I do it and I'm lucky and I get through the intersection. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be punished for creating a very dangerous situation that turned out to be fortunate not to occur. So I think it's a combination. If you want to put an extra couple of games on, if the injury does happen, sure, that's fine. If it is a play that where that was a likely result, there are fluke injuries that can happen that aren't related to the danger of what happened. But yeah, this one, I think I've got no issue looking at that going, yeah, if Ekman-Larsen falls slightly differently, he could have a broken ankle out of this. and then, you know, the fact that he didn't is, is luck.

It's not, it doesn't have anything to do with Brad Marchand did or didn't do. This is, of course, not the only Brad Marchand knew since the last podcast. He said something that made our Tammy, for Tammy Penair and throw a glove at him. How about that? Yeah, and then the people being like, hey, what he said, that was just as bad. It's like if you throw, like, what did you think was going to happen when you threw a glove at a guy? Yeah. And also, I mean, in theory, they have a, in theory, they have a duel.

I mean, in theory. Well, that's if you drop your glove and then the other guy picks it up. Oh. In Russia, though. But if you, if you slap the guy, now you can't, don't say anything about Russia because that's apparently, the message from New York was like, look, man, it's one thing to talk about people's mothers and spouses and that sort of thing. but you can't reference the country somebody is from. So, yeah, man, I like, you're going to, it's a fine. It's, you know, that's the league's way of saying, like, don't do it again, but also it's fine.

You're good. I also like Ryan Strom kind of insinuating that there's like, he's like, it'll all come out one day. Like, all right. It's kind of fucking ominous. Like, what is he, is he keeping a diary of all of Brad Marshall's offenses and he's going to just like fucking release a hit piece at some point? Did this franchise employ Sean Avery at some point? Like, really? That's like a couple regimes ago.

I mean, it's a different world now. Yeah. Yeah, that was, it was funny. I was at that game. And it was just funny. And Marchand was funny about it afterwards, saying that they were speaking about what they did for Thanksgiving and that Pernarin didn't like what he ate,

which I think is just, again, like when I hear that line from Marchand, wonder, does he have it pre-prepared before the press conference or is he just improvving? What do you think? He's probably got like a jar full of like just things to say after I am involved in some sort of controversy. Who throws a boot on it or shoot? Whatever. I didn't see that movie in a while.

I think the glove hit Marchand right on the misspelled tattoo, by the way, too. He raised up his arm. He missed his nose. I mean, that's not easy. See? Is that okay New York? Are we allowed to make fun of people's noses? I don't know.

I don't know. Who's to say? It'll come out. The penguins got sold, finally. Big number, huh? Sheesh. Less than a bill, though. I'm sure the NHL was hoping that would hit the billion mark, but didn't get there.

I think there's been a lot written about this, and you can check out what the actual numbers are. But did Mary Lemieux make one of the greatest financial deals in the history of hockey by keeping this franchise afloat and get, becoming an owner and then now cashing out to the Fenway group. Kind of against his will, but yeah. Well, the funny thing is cashing out to the Fenway group, but he's still in charge of everything. I guess now they can fire him eventually, but good luck with that shit.

Explain to me against his will, Sean. Well, I mean, he, because he bought in back when the penguins owed him a bunch of money and didn't have money. So it was like his only way to get the money was instead of actually getting the money, he got a shot. share of ownership based on the money. Which worked out okay for him.

Which did ultimately work out okay, yeah. And the other piece of this that I said, and I can't remember who it was who made the point, but like this team was in 2003, I think they were bankrupt, about to move to Kansas City or wherever. Kansas City or just an avenue. At least threatening it. Yeah. And then they win the Sydney Crosby lottery. And here we are 15 years later. they're sold for almost a billion dollars.

Hockey players aren't paid enough. Yeah, that's right. Somebody on the mailbag asked if I think Sidney Crosby has gotten the full value for his labor. And I think I don't believe. Oh, for fuck sake. None of them get paid. But again, whose fault is that?

Is that the fault of the owners? Yes. Or is the fault of the players? Hold on. Or is it the fault of the players capitulating to the owners and having a capped league? Yes. It is their own fault for not.

If you want to get paid more, it's very simple. Yeah. Well, it's both, but it's more, it's more the players. It's a two-way street. If you want to really fucking go to the mattresses and eliminate the salary cap and try to instill a luxury tax, well, you're going to have to fucking eat a season again, and they're never going to do it. Yeah. So, and partly because they can't because of a system the owners have created.

That's right. Yeah, it's bad for it. And there was also the thing going around this week where, again, this is. happens once a year where people notice that like how much salaries in every other sport have gone up since 2005 and how like almost nobody is even making yarm or yager money what he was making before the lockout so yeah you mean in like totality is that include poker or is that just like contractual yeah i would i would hope just contractual or else he's he's in the negatives i think if you that's right that'd be amazing if if cap friendly updated their site

And it's like when you go to O'Vander Cain's page, it's like his base salary and then like his bankruptcy owing what he owes to creditors plus his gambling debts. He's on the way back. Isn't that exciting? That's something. Yeah. So he's on waivers. He passed through waivers. The sharks are shopping him and they're saying we're going to keep some salary.

I've been asked a few times, hey, do you think that there is someone who would take Avander Cain and before they can even get the name out of him? like he scores 30 goals of course. Like what the fuck? This is the NHL. The question is at what price, both in terms of cap hit and assets given up? And I don't think it would take, I don't think it would take a ton of assets to get him out of San Jose. In fact, I think San Jose would pretty, I mean, they just put them on waivers. So depending on how much they have to retain, the talk now is that there could be a third team involved,

which lets you do the double retained salary and get him down to underage. two million. Arizona's going to get to the floor somehow. But like who wants them though? If somebody think that it's... 30 goal score for two million, somebody out there would have an interest.

I completely understand they'll have an interest, but part of the equation is that people fucking hate this guy. They do. Like the sharks are just like we can't have him here anymore. And so there's something to be said for change of scenery, but this has now happened in three different... The three

places he's played, all of them ended up being like, fuck this guy. So, I don't know. I don't know if you really want to upset the apple cart like that. But I mean, we see it in other, I mean, right? In the NFL, how many times as O'Bell Beckham Jr. get run out of somewhere where he's not productive and there's a lineup of teams because talent's hard to find. I think there will be potentially, now it'll be a spot with absolutely no, like,

Like, I mean, they'll bring him in and say the first time you're two minutes late for a meeting where, you know, you're done. And that'll have to be, I think, understood. And we'll see how it goes. But yeah. Do you think that this is the kind of guy where if a team brings him on, there are ripples within the fan base? Like, you've always talked about like, you can't have this guy because he's toxic, whatever. Like, obviously there's a ton of baggage beyond the bankruptcy and the gambling accusations. and, you know, there's a whole situation with his strange wife.

So you think there would be repercussions within the fan base of a team trying to bring this guy on? Yeah, and not only because of all that stuff, but, again, because he's widely perceived as a fucking asshole. You know, like, people would be like, this fucking guy? Like, I get, yeah, we all get that he scored 30, you know, a 30-gold pace last season, whatever. But also, you know, he hasn't played in, like, people would be pissed, for sure. Yeah, I think they would. The question is, does that stop a team from doing it? I mean, we've seen other guys where that was certainly also going to be true.

And at the end of the day, there's 32 teams you need one to top themselves into it. Yeah. Today's episode of Puck's who is sponsored by Trade. You're the kind of person who falls asleep already thinking about your next morning's coffee or perhaps the coffee after that. then the one at lunch, the early afternoon cup, and then, you know, that one around 4.30 when you're getting ready for daily wager, or maybe that's just me. I'm a coffee freak and trade's goal is to make every cup of coffee your best ever, so that's why I like them.

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Matt Murray got waved. Matt Murray got waved. The knives are out in the Ottawa media now. You've correctly identified Lambert several times in which who could have seen this happening at some point. I mean, like, this is one of those signings that was just like bad from the start. I should say, well, acquisition and signing that was bad from the start. I think the trade was fine as a- They gave up next to nothing for him. Second round pick, whatever.

I mean, in a year where they had a lot of picks. I think, you know, it's one of those things where you could look back. and say, didn't work out, gave up too much. But I think at the time, with the range of possibilities, the trade was fine. The problem is, I pointed this out lots of times over the years, when teams go out and trade for guys that need new contracts, that's usually when the next contract is awful, because you've got no leverage. You've just acquired a guy.

You can't turn around and go, we're not sure if he deserves starter money. well, you just gave up picks to get them. So clearly you do think that. But I was really surprised they went four years on them. And it's one of those senator contracts. It's backloaded. So it's one of those contracts that's designed to be traded towards the end of the contract to save Eugene some money.

And it's going to be. So even a buyout right now is tough. So, yeah, that's a big miss for a team that can't afford. big misses like that. Anything. Well, yeah, that too. Internal organs. Rank these teams.

Winnipeg, Colorado, Nashville, Dallas. Colorado, Winnipeg. Clearly number one. Yeah, Colorado, Big Gap, Winnipeg. Even though they're not playing well now. I might go Dallas ahead of Nashville. Like, are we talking right now?

where are we talking like how we think the season plays out? How does we think the season plays out? Dallas ahead of Nashville. I mean, it's a recency bias, but yeah, Dallas ahead of Nashville feels okay. I mean,

I'm still in on Winnipeg, even though they definitely have not been very good lately. Yeah, we've seen them make the playoffs comfortably not playing well because they have Connor Hallibuck. Like, the idea that, you know,

them playing, badly or not having a particularly good defense is like some historically, you know, insurmountable impediment. You know, we have the opposite data. So rank these teams. Pittsburgh, Columbus, New Jersey, Philadelphia. Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Philly Columbus. You're looking at a Columbus bubble right now?

Yeah. I don't, yeah, I'm not really. bought in on them. I've been saying it all year. Pittsburgh, I have no idea. That is my number one. I mean, not that I have any idea on any of these teams, but I just,

they continue to be all over the map for me. And I, I just, you could talk me into them being a really secretly very good team, especially when Malcolm gets back. And you could convince me that they are a not very good team that is riding an unsustainably hot, bad goaltender to, a merely okay record. Do you, the Columbus thing right now,

like, Dovinsky came out and gave towards a shot for, like, them being better than they were last season. And I do, I mean, obviously, when you take a crushing force of a coach like him, you know, out of the equation, there's going to be a little bit more happiness. But isn't, is it the true happiness and the true freedom of this, of this roster, based on having absolutely no fucking expectations this year versus anything else? Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say it's only that, but that probably doesn't hurt. And, you know, some fresh voice can, you know, can help. We'll see how long it lasts. And they, you know, they made some moves. And I'm not, look, Columbus fans have been thrilled. lot in two decades. I'm not here to dump on a better than expected start. But no, I'm not, I'm not sold for the long term. Let's just say. Finally, should we be worried? Can we say also,

boy, isn't it funny how good Zach Werenski is doing, not playing with Seth Jones and maybe not so much the other way around? Isn't that weird? Crazy. I don't know. In my defenseman ranking last week, I did have somebody in the league tell me they think Seth Jones is better than Adam Fox. Yeah, that guy's an idiot. It's what it sounds like doesn't know how to evaluate. Again, I say this all the time. You know, back in the 90s, they asked Yarmir Yager, who do you think is the toughest defenseman in the NHL to play against?

And he said Hal Gill, and he made Hal Gill like $30 million immediately. So like the idea that another player in the league is going to be wrong about that, huh, well. Last hockey thing. Should we be worried that Ottawa currently? has the worst points percentage in Arizona. Like Arizona is designed to finish last. And right now, Ottawa is worse.

Yeah, there is definitely some concern up here. I do think that, you know, they are digging out from a COVID outbreak. And I think that, yes, we don't. A lot to do with it. Yeah. You don't put too much. But even before then, they were not good. They stink.

They, uh, and, yeah, there's lots of, questions. Remember, this was year one of the five years of unparalleled success where Melnik promised to send the cap. And this was also, I mean, just in the summer, Pierre Dorian says the rebuild is done. And now

it's time to start winning. And so when you say that, I mean, it's not, this isn't like some unreasonable, unpatient fan base expecting a playoff team when that wasn't the plan. They're listening and reacting to what the organization told.

them. And the weird thing is, what Senator, when I point that out, Senators fans were like, he meant the rebuild is done insofar as they're done trading veterans and trying, but like, they didn't, they didn't think they were going to be good this year. Oh, okay. I think he said that, you know, it's time to start winning. And yeah, I mean, you know, they weren't cup contenders, but I think there was some hope that they could at least stay around the playoff race.

And, and, you know, part of the frustration in Ottawa is you, you sit there. and go, well, you know, heading in the season, you were expected to be bad. And they're looking around going, yeah, so we're the three California teams. So was Columbus. So was Detroit. So was Buffalo. So was maybe New Jersey. And all of those teams, for at least stretches in the season, have been better than expected.

And then you've got like Ottawa as the one and Arizona, I guess, as the teams that are at the bottom. And there's been this, the weird thing is. And, you know, my buddy Ian Mendez wrote a very good call this week where he said, like there's radio silence from the front office right now, which is strange because that's why we were told they brought Pierre McGuire in. And he's gone, you know, completely AWOL and Pierre Dorian isn't saying much. And now, you know, Murray's gone down to the, to the miners that Ian just tweeted that I guess he just had a conversation with Matt Murray. And he's not very happy about how it was handled.

And Dorian hasn't spoken to him and all of this stuff. So it's, you know, it ought to us. never going to be a team under Melnik where there's lots of talk about, oh, guys are going to get fired and who are they going to hire because there's limited pool of people that necessarily want to work for this guy. But it's not a great situation. And yeah, I mean, if they bought him out and get Shane right, then that would be great for the organization. But this was not what fans were told was going to happen. And it's going to be very interesting to see if they tried to retcon it into being all part of the plan. And if that actually works. Yeah, much like Vancouver, they were trying to sell, like, you know, or actually, we might not make the playoffs. Well, Vancouver was trying to sell that they were going to be a playoff team. But, like, they were like, we're not going to make the playoffs, but we're going to be, like, in the neighborhood at least. And it's like, you know, I said it a couple weeks ago with Vancouver. If you believed that, you're a fool.

You're a little sucker who got duped by someone who was obviously fucking lying to you. Get a grip. Yeah. The thing with Ottawa is they did at least, I mean, two things. They got a bunch of young players, so more variability as far as what could happen. And they put a lot of stock in the fact that they finished last year really strong. Oh, why? That shit always, like Columbus did that like six years running.

You know, this is it for a, we're going to be good next year. And suddenly you're playing backup goalies and everybody's easy game on the schedule. And yeah, it's that. So, yeah, it's tough. I don't know. The defense is a mess. DJ Smith is under the gun. I mean, I don't think Pier Dorian is.

He just got extended. So, and yeah. Well, I mean, he earned it. Nobody knows. Well, you didn't, you know that it's technically, do, do, do, do, DJ Smith. You have to say it like that. Like you're at a club, each reference. You don't have to do that at all.

I think you do. I think it's option. Nobody's going to make you. We should probably touch on COVID real quick because news this morning as we do the show that Bruce Cassidy is in the protocol and the Bruins can't call up anybody from Providence because they all have COVID. It's getting kind of hairy out there, boys, in Providence have COVID, or at least on the list. I'm just, I cannot, I mean, I know why they're doing it because they don't want it to be a thing where like now we've got to make up a bunch of games. And, you know, I guess maybe it is a good faith, you know, thing to try to, like, still go to the Olympics and shit. But, like, the idea that the sharks had to play all those games and the Islanders had to play those few games at UBS with their rosters like they were.

And then Ottawa got the fucking break is so bizarre to me. Like, I can't, I can't fathom why they did it. But what would you guys say just on a, like, percentage scale? What's your feeling on the percentage chance? that we actually do go to the Olympics in a few months. It's got to be low double, like, you know, 10, 15% at most at this point. Feels under 50 for sure to me at this point. And I'm, you know, I've been saying all along that they would find an excuse.

And COVID always seemed like a pretty likely excuse. But this, I mean, like, this is getting a little bit ridiculous just in terms of, again, like making the Islanders play all those games. like, Rangers fans are like, oh, see, we beat the Islanders. So everything we did the summer is justified. And it's like, you beat the fucking Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Like, get a grip. Yeah. 100% that we go.

What's that? Really? Yeah. I think we're going. Wow. The point that I had. And I fully understand that there are a lot of concerns about COVID. there are a lot of circumstances about cancellation.

The concerns about quarantine in China have existed for... Or if you test positive when you're in China, you're stuck there for weeks. But they know this. And they've known this. They've known this because it's the same protocols that Tokyo had. Right. So, like, they're all aware of what the situation in China is. I think it comes down to whether or not they need to use the break to make up these games

in the NHL, and so far we're only having scant cancellations that have been, in many cases, already be rescheduled within this season. 100%, eh? That's surprising. I think we're going. I think it was collectively bargained, and I don't, and I'm not quite sure. Let me put it this way. I think there's a better chance they don't go based on the bureaucratic reasons.

like potential boycotts, then there is a COVID reason. Yeah. I guess that's, I mean, there's not even a 100% chance that anyone will go. But, uh, well, okay. I'm surprised, but you, you, you know, I'm an optimist. No, I don't know better than you do because it, because I completely agree that I think probably nobody knows, right? Like, they're, they're going to wait until the absolute last second to, to, to make this call and like,

right. I will, I will say, I will say this that it does. concern me a little bit. It's maybe like 99%. It does concern me a little bit that there isn't more public comment from the national team entities about creating hype for the lists

and creating hype for the teams and creating hype for the selection process. And I mean, I don't know guys, guys, maybe I miss something. Does Team USA even have a GM right now? I don't think so. Yeah, that's a hell of a lot. Right.

Maybe because they were like, yeah, we're not fucking going anyway. Who gives a shit? Yeah, I mean, that gives me a little bit of pause, but I'm an optimist by nature. I don't think the conditions are bad enough where they're not going to go. And I think, like, listen, go back to the Pyong Chang conversation, right? Like, what did we all say when they didn't go to South Korea? They're like, they don't give a shit about South Korea. They give so many shits about the Chinese market.

Yeah, they have a huge financial incentive to go to China. Absolutely. Yeah, so I will never forget that in the back of my head, nor the fact that this was collectively bargained. I think they're going to go. But I mean, I guess if I had to put, okay, 100% is a little bit too optimistic. I'll put it at like 86. Do you think there's anything where they're worried that Gary Bettman is going to end up on one of it, and his canter's sneakers?

Do you think that's part of it? Oh, man. Have we had a Gary Bettman? reference on Tucker Carlson show? I don't know. That's a good question. I feel like it had to have happened at some point. All right. Hockey Talk, Kobe Talk,

time for some holiday talk. Arbor Day. Do you boys do Christmas? Do you boys do Christmas trees? Yeah, sure. We do. Okay. Tell me how you decorate your tree. What does it look like? We live in an apartment. We don't really have space for a whole

big tree. So, like, you know, we, we buy, like, the mini ornaments and, like, a mini string of lights and put them on there. So you, what's your light coverage? Is it substantial? Not really, no. Okay. When you talk about buying mini ornaments, are you using the same ornaments every year? Are you getting new ones? Yeah, the same every year. They're in a little box we have in, like, a closet. Do you have a favorite ornament? No, they're pretty basic stuff. I don't. They're just, like, standard issue. Like target ornaments? Yeah, they're the kind that say Marv would step, one of the wet bandits would step on it. He tried to enter my home. Oh, my goodness. Is part of the tree set up, hooking up that paint can that swings down and hits you in the face? No, it's set up so that it looks like there's always like a ton of people dancing here. Michael Jordan, Standies, what have you. By the way, if I, if I could pause right there, as I was, walking sneakers back from getting

parogi last night. We had parogi and chicken soup because Ruby's not feeling good so she needed some chicken soup. Dog shouldn't have parogi. I gave sneakers a little piece of the dough, not the full parogi. For the first time in my life, I saw somebody with the leg lamp in their window. Like the full-on Christmas story

leg lamp. I'd never seen it before in the wild. And I saw one last night. That's fun. That's just an aside. Sean, how do you decorate your tree? We've got a big, well, it's a tree. Big-ish artificial tree. We don't do the real tree thing.

Ryan, real art or artificial? It's, uh, ours is typically, or has been a, like a small, real one. Like, you know, you can just get it at like the supermarket or whatever they sell them. But this year we're switching to artificial because we keep killing them. Like, we buy them with the intention of, oh, maybe we'll, like, have this little tree and we'll plant it one day or whatever. And then we're just like, no, that thing's been fucking dead since January. And then you just murder them. Yeah.

Okay. We had artificial tree, though. And so the thing you said about, it's a big pain in the ass to have a real tree. It's also a big pain in the ass to, like, get the artificial tree out of the basement and set it up and take it down and put it back in the basement. I feel like there's no way to do it without. it being a huge pain in the ass. My parents used to keep their artificial tree in the attic, and we'd have to, like, bring down all the branches down a couple floors

to the living room. What a pain in the ass. It's pretty good. It's, like, three pieces. So it's a pretty quick setup. And the other nice thing about it is it's got the lights built in, the little remote control, so we don't have to worry about stringing up a bunch of lights. So we're pretty happy with it.

That's not bad. Yeah. They've made some real advancements in artificial pre-technology since the 1980s, I guess. Exactly. This one isn't hooked to my phone, which I'm sure is a thing now. Oh, 100%. Yeah.

Do you have a favorite ornament, Sean? We do. Like, we've got the collection of ornaments over the years. Obviously, I get two kids. So, you know, every year we get a couple more ornaments, and each one of them has a story behind them that nobody remembers, but we just kind of fake our way through. And, like, so we hang it all up that way.

Cool. I go real tree every year. Douglas fir is my preferred, my preferred tree. Colored lights? Do you go colored lights or white lights, boys? Ours are, hmm, that's a great question. I think ours are white. I'm pretty sure.

Okay. Yeah, that's a traditional Christmas look, yeah. The built-in lights on our tree can be either, and I'm, my kids like the colored lights, and I go with the white ones. It's more traditional, huh? I got a 95 Devils ornament that goes in the tree every year. And my favorite ornament, I don't even know where the fuck I bought it, but it's a Santa Claus.

What's the half-man, half-horse thing called? Centaur. I always confuse a minotaur. Centaur claws, I get it. It says Santor Claus, yeah. And I've got, it's a half-santa, half-horse, which is a big glass ornament. Do you find that your 95 Devils ornament makes all the other ornaments be, be more boring than they should be?

Or is that... I can't get it off the tree. It just clutches and grabs it. It's very hard. Yeah, okay. It ruins the tree for 25 years. Put it on once. And counting.

But people from Jersey come to our house and look at it and they say, I appreciate that tree in a way no... That would have been no... In a way no one else is. It's actually good that they're ruining Christmas every year. Yep, that's right. All right, to close the episode today, staying in the holiday spirit. I've got a quiz for the boys.

It's one that I believe we've now done on an annual basis or some variation of it. I'm going to give you guys a Hallmark holiday movie from the Hallmark channels, whether it's the Hallmark Channel proper or Hallmark Mysteries and Adventures, wherever the fuck that station is. I'm going to give you the name of the movie. I'm going to give you the plot of the movie. and you tell me if this movie is real or if I've made it up. So it is the Hallmark Holiday Movie Quiz,

wow. 2000 and 21. Who won the last game? I don't even remember the last game we played. That was so long ago. Who could say? Yeah. All right, I'm going to flip this stadium series puck.

Sean, you call it. Heads or, I'm sorry, stadium series logo or NHL logo? The NHL logo NHL logo It is Sean Yeah Do you want to kick or receive

Yeah I'll I'll answer the first question All right Answering the first question So Sean goes first And here we go The film is Lucky Christmas

The plot Holly is devastated When she learns Her winning lottery ticket Is in her stolen car but what happens when the man behind the heist falls for Holly. Real or fake? There's no way they actually named the character Holly.

That's fake. That is real. Holly is portrayed by none other than showgirls Elizabeth Berkeley. I'll watch that one. Wait, who's the guy? Is it A.C. Slater? Let me see here. I'm scrolling. Daniel Day Lewis.

That's interesting. That's a good good. Good job by then. It's a good get. Okay. Lambert, love at the Thanksgiving Day parade. The annual Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade has to cut costs or it's going to be canceled. Ooh, maybe it said something inappropriate.

When the city brings in a consultant to analyze the books, he goes toe to toe to with the parade manager, Emily. Will they fall for each other? That's fake. No, that's real. The famous Chicago parade, yeah. definitely. Emily is played by the actress who played Taylor Townsend on the O.C. All right. Sean, the film is fur crazy.

F-I-R. After losing her job, Elise finds herself in the middle of her worst holiday nightmare, selling trees on her family's Christmas tree lot. That's real or fake? Like all good Christmas trees, it's fake. It's definitely real. It stars none other than Colin mockery from Whose Line Is It Anyway? What?

Yeah. Canadian. Good Canadian boy, Colin Mockery? Is he Canadian? Of course he is. Of course he is. Oh, come on. Don't try and acclaim calling Colin.

You can have Celine, but you're not taking Colin Mockery from us. How do we feel about whose line is it anyway? Were we fans? I loved it as a kid. I don't know if it holds up. Yep. The original British was fantastic and the... Yeah.

which is where most of those guys got their start. And I thought the Drew Carey version was pretty good, or the various American... It was a reasonable kind of facsimile of the British version. I, too, was a huge fan of the British version. I think it was on the Comedy Channel or Comedy Central. I mean, some of it got a little, you know, where it's just like, oh, perfumes that won't smell.

And it's just like, get up there and say the name of a thing that smells bad. But, like, definitely the British one was really... clever in a lot of places. I liked the house guests one where they come to the door and they have to guess who they are based on what they're propping. I always liked that one. Where the hell of are? Okay, so this is

Sean is Ofer and Lambert. This is your second one. Great. Hats off to Christmas, exclamation point. A young widower finds a magic Santa hat in his attic, but his Christmas wish for love turns his small Vermont town upside. it down. They would never set one of those in Vermont.

I've got to say that's fake. They're always in the Midwest. That's correct. They're always in the mid-less. It is the real name of a movie, though. The plot is Santa Hat Factory Assistant Manager, Mia Winters is told by her boss to train his son for a job, and Mia soon finds herself falling for him.

Wow. One-nothing Lambert. Hell yeah, let's go. Sean. The title is, time for them to come home for Christmas. The plot. During the holidays, a woman with amnesia

catches a ride with her handsome nurse to investigate the only clue to her identity a newspaper clipping for a Christmas festival. What's it called? Time for them to come home for Christmas. That's a... I'm saying fake. That's not...

That's not real. You're giving me a lot of credit on this one. That one is real as real can be. The plot sounds real, but the title is like... Time for them to come home for Christmas? Yeah. It is a little wordy. That's a little...

But I know a lot of fans of TFT, T-C-H-O-F-C. That's right. That's they say. That's when they talk about it on the message boards. That's how they... That's their fandom, yeah. All right. All right, Lambert.

Catch a Christmas star. With the help of his two precocious kids, a widower reconnects with his high school sweetheart who just so happens to be one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. That's got to be real. There's always a dead wife in these things. Always. That's correct. It is real. And it stars none other than American Pies, Shannon Elizabeth.

Wow. What a get. I assume she's the pop star. No, she's the widower. She has a fake mustache on the whole movie. And she's going around going, boy, I miss my wife. Who's dead, by the way. I appreciate that the Hallmark movies, which are constantly criticized for their gender normity,

have bent the rules for Catch a Christmas Star. Sean, you can't win the game, but we'll play anyway. Christmas in my heart, a police officer receives a heart transplant from a lawyer he hates, and the lawyer returns as a ghost to ask the officer for one more Christmas wish. I'm 0 for three saying fake, so I'll say real.

No, that's fake. That's actually the plot of the 1990 Denzel Washington film heart condition, except the cop was a racist Bob Hoskins and Denzel Washington was a black lawyer. It also didn't involve a Christmas wish. Wow. What was that Denzel movie where, like, was it? It's like there's a guy on death row and if he touches you, his, like, spirit transfers.

Do you know what? Fallen. Fallen. Who's the bad guy in that? Well, I think there's multiple bad guys because I think the spirit jumps from the person. Well, sure, but like, who's the main bad? Is it maybe Clyde? Is Clive Owen maybe the main bad guy?

It's John Goodman. It's John Goodman. Oh, okay. I was thinking, Gandalfini's in that movie as well. Wow. The great James Gandalfini. Some say it's the best thing he was ever in. I'm going to transfer my spirit to you.

Finally, Lambert, Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane. A small town florist is shocked when a beekeeper's van crashes through her storefront window, but she soon finds herself falling for him at Christmas. I got to say that's fake. You got to handle him this game, brother. That is also fake when Emma, the real plot is when Emma returns to Oliver's well, I believe that the town, to celebrate the holidays, she discovers a surprise in her mother's antique desk, which teaches her. What does it teach everybody? That's right.

Christmas. Well, the true meaning of Christmas. It's a reason for the season, many are saying. Yeah, imagine she finds a Jesus in the desk. It's like, hey, what's up? The reason for the season. All right, it's Puck Soup for this week. Keep your eyes on the Puck Soup main feed for an additional episode coming your way this week.

Episodes overstating things, though. Episode is overstating things. There is a riff. And we will talk to you soon. Thank you, everybody. And happy holidays. One and all. Oh, anything you guys want to plug before we go?

E.P.Rinkside.com. I don't know how much longer it's going on, but like our Black Friday, Cyber Monday gimmick is instead of three free months if you buy an annual subscription, if you use the code that's on the website, you get six free months. So by the time you hear this, that all might be irrelevant. but that's what's happening right now. Sean. Yeah, you can find me on The Athletic

where our Black Friday sale just ended. So if you missed it... No, fuck you. Maybe you didn't know about it because we don't talk about it much when there's these golfers. Yeah, you guys are known we're keeping a tight lid on those things.

Yeah, it's really, you got to know somebody. Oh, man, yeah, I'm reading the tweet right now from the athletic. It says, our sale has ended, fuck you. That's so spot on. We're reading the same time. You're all in a freaking soundproof room. Finally, oh, yeah, I should say you could read my stuff at ESPN.com, specifically on ESPN Plus.

Got a couple of things that are publishing later in the week that are sort of quarter polly, NHL seasony fucking things. And, oh, yes, I was on Douglowe's movies, the 12 guests of Christmas on Sunday at the Gramercy Theater. New York, faced off against, it was actually 13 guests this year, and I faced off against 12 others, including some old friends, former Puck Soup guest,

Trey Galli-Awn, being one of them. And, yeah, you can listen to the episode to see how well I did, wink. But it's a great show,

and I was really happy to see Doug back at his element after they couldn't obviously do the show last year because of COVID. There we go. I thought he did the show last year. And he said, I don't care about COVID.

I'm not afraid of it. Did he do the show last year? Oh, okay. I'm sure the grammar system. That was just the excuse me. But no, it was good. He was not to invite you last year. That's right.

Oh, we're just not doing the show. I missed the one previous to that. I was trying to remember if I was on it or not. And then Ruby reminded me that we were in California and that I was just, I was flattered that he remembered to ask me. But I had to tell him that I couldn't do the show. but a good group of guests on the panel this year, including some that I hadn't met before.

So anyways, and fun games, as always. And that's the show. Talk to you guys soon. Bye. See you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons.

We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tools. It's your. weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. Borksoo.