The Athletic Hockey Show - Andrew Mangiapane talks Flames offseason, new contract, bread puns, and more, has Nazem Kadri signed with the New York Islanders?, USA Women’s World Championship roster announced, and listener podcast topic suggestions

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

First, Hailey and guest cohost Sean Gentille discuss whether Nazem Kadri has signed with the New York Islanders or not, and what his potential deal could look like, how he’ll make history as the first player to bring the Stanley Cup to a mosque, the impact of COVID on teams’ longterm salary cap planning, Team USA Women’s roster for the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championship, and more.Then, Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane joins the show to talk about his new 3-year deal with the club, a huge offseason in Calgary adding Johnathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar after losing Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, taking another step forward in a bigger role next season, Rasmus Anderson, dealing with bread puns, and more.Plus, to close things out, Hailey and Sean consider listener suggestions about what to talk about on a hockey podcast in the deepest, darkest part of the NHL offseason. Now, you can get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's up, everybody. It's another Monday. It's Haley Salvean back from vacation. Ian Mendez is on vacation now. So I'm here with Sean Gentilly for the Monday show of the athletic hockey show. You can tell them very rusty because I said Monday in multiple times in about 15 seconds. But that's all right. What's up, Sean? Thanks for joining me. Pinch hitting for Mendez. You're doing great. Also, you're welcome. Very, very. very, very busy right now. Lots of news happening, work being done. Crazy, crazy time to be alive. It's a crazy time to come back from vacation with multiple transactions and things going on across the league. I was taking a look at the top most recent headlines at the athletic, and Jonathan Huberdow's extension is still at the top. I was like, ooh, boy. Boy, when did that even happen? Goodness.

I feel bad for, I feel bad for Jesse Granger. He had to write something last week because he had to deal with those Robin Lennar, you know, hip injury disaster. I think he was the only person on staff who produced anything last week. I don't know if that's, that may or may not be true. Do not, do not fact check me on that. But yeah, Jesse. And Flutto. Jesse, yeah, Flutto too.

Whatever. Yeah, they're the ones who are, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, They're rowing the boat here. Yeah. If it weren't for them, who knows what would happen? Who knows what would be good? But you know what? I'm also annoyed that Jesse had a Thursday show because now we can't really talk about

the Bruins or Robin Leonard because he already did it. But you know what we were probably going to do it anyways? You know what we should have done? It was gone back and listened to the Thursday show and transcribed everything Jesse said. And then just read it. And just to see if anybody would notice. That'd be funny. I wonder how many people listen to like every single day or there's people who are just like, no, I'm a Monday gal.

I'm a Tuesday gal or guy. I've heard a lot of people really hate the Tuesday show. That makes sense. Those guys are so annoying. That Craig Custins. The one, Greg? What's his name? Greg.

The one host. Everybody hates him. What's wrong with Greg Custins? Gerg. Did you see? really mean. Did you see what I tweeted before the show? No. I was just like, what would everybody talk about on a hockey podcast if they had to do it in a couple minutes? Did anyone respond? My buddy Pat Damp, who works for one of the TV stations here in Pittsburgh, he said,

Webster's Dictionary defines hockey as, which is like the opening of the dam. Like when you have Absolutely nothing. That's what you go with. So I feel like that's basically what the first segment is going to be here until we talk to. Oh, yeah. No, hey, let me do that. That's fine. I was just, I was getting ready for it.

You took it. You brought up the tweet first. Amateurs. So in the midst of all this nothing, we have procured a great guest. I don't know if that was even the right word. Yeah. We have acquired. I don't know if that's something you say about a person.

I think that's more when you buy something at a store or steal something. Yeah. It falls off a truck. My bad. Andrew Mangyapani is going to be joining the show today. Very exciting. He's had, you know, he had a big year, last year, 35 goal season, signed a big contract extension to stay with the Calgary Flames. Three years, $5.8 million.

Just another piece of that really wild offseason that the flames had. Andrew Montrapani is going to be joining us later in the show. I'm excited about that. We asked for some fan questions, but a lot of them were just about bread and what kind of bread he likes. What kind of bread does he get at Subway? Some vague, vague anti-Italian sentiments in there. I don't know if I really appreciate that.

Boppity, boop-a-a-a-a-a. Yeah, and the like. But I'm actually really curious about this Twitter thread that you posted. because some of these responses are really funny. See, this is great. This is like, we're in mailbag season in general here. Like, that's the funny thing is if you go through all the stories that have been posted in the NHL section of the athletic for the last couple weeks,

it's like, I did a mailbag, and there's Bruins mailbags, and ads mailbags, and oilers, every, every writer is like, all right, there's, we got to, we got to outsource this. We need help. So this is just kind of in step with that sentiment. Yeah. So, you know, obviously there are some things going on. And these are really funny.

And we can maybe get to them at the end of the show after we talk to Andrew because some of these are great. For example, why is an armpit an anatomical turn, but leg pit is not? Would love to get into that. Yeah, we need to bring on. Andrew Mongey. Yeah, we should just ask, we should just ask Andrew about that. I wasn't saying bring on like an anatomical biologist or? No.

Do you call it a leg pit? Yes or no? People don't call them leg pits? I thought that's weird. That was standard. Yeah. Moving on. Again, there are some things going on in the world, or it's more that things aren't going on that

makes it notable. There's still quite a few free agents who have not signed or at least have not been announced that they have signed. We're looking at Nazim Kadri at the top of that list. I feel like we've been talking about him for months now. And parts of it are great. I think his story since leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs by trade has been great. I did see on Twitter that he's going to, he has his day with the cup.

And he's going to be, I believe he's bringing it to a mosque in London where he's from. And that's going to be the first time that the Stanley Cup. is at that kind of place of worship. I'm going to have to pull this tweet up exactly. But it's just so great. I mean, from everything that he went through being traded from, you know, the hometown team he always wanted to play with. Yeah, sorry, I just found this tweet.

His day with the cup is August 27th. His celebrations will begin at noon at the London Muslim mosque. And the tweet said, I believe this is the first time the Stanley Cup will visit a mosque. So that's such a big moment for Caudry, for his family, for the Muslim community. I mean, and again, just with the backdrop of what he went through this season, with the horrible hate-filled messages he was receiving to win the Stanley Cup and be able to bring it to, you know, a mosque and celebrate with his community that gets so much crap. That's just so special.

And Codry's just had such a great story. Yeah. Yeah, not just this season either, you know? Like, I think that's a good opportunity for people to, whether they know already and just want to remind themselves or I've never heard it before, just the story of Nazim Khadry, the kind of stuff he dealt with coming up. And, yeah, just like as a, it is kind of a nice little mini-valedictory to his career in general. But it's also, I mean, whenever this happens, it's going to be a reminder that he doesn't have. he doesn't have an NHL team for next season yet. Technically.

I'm like half expecting him to like lift up the cup at the party or whatever and there's going to be like a five year $35 million deal with the New York Islanders like taped to the bottom or something. Like maybe that's maybe that's where it was. He's just going to lift the cup up and wearing an Islander's jersey or something. I feel has everyone just gone to that point where we're assuming that this is just Lou being Lou and he has a contract for Cadry already in the drawer and he's got Dobson extended and he's got everybody extended and maybe another guy here or there. Maybe he brought

in Evan Rodriguez, Sunny Milano. Every guy who has not signed yet who's on the UFA boards just has a contract in the drawer at Lou Lamrello's desk. How many teams do you think, according to Cap Friendly, are above the cap right now? Above the salary cap, like five? Wrong. It is five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. What is that? That's probably before teams throw people on LTIR, though. So that's always like a tough exercise. It is, but it's, but it's also instructive because, you know, yeah, maybe there are, there are also guys, you know, who need to come off LTIR, right? Like that's where the Carolina, like the Carolina Hurricanes, for example, need to account for Jake Gardner coming off. Right. It's not exactly.

is going on. Yeah, that's true. I mean, it's not... It's not an exact science, but... No, but it's instructive, I think, to the amount of money that's available league-wide. It's not perfect. These things never are. You got to crack it open and account for some other stuff.

But 13 teams, as it stands right now, not accounting for LTIR or whatever, are over the cap. And then another, you know, 10 have... Like a million or two? Yeah, have like, have like, have... like four million dollars or less. But I'm pretty sure the Islanders are one of those teams. They don't have, when you account for the extensions, they have to have, you know, the bad contracts on the books.

I feel like they have potentially dead money. Like they're one of those teams who don't have a lot of money. So obviously there's something else in the hopper for the New York Islanders to fit Nazim Kadri under the ceiling. Well, and Noah Dobson and whatever else. They have a little bit more than $11 million. today, right? There's 19 players on the roster right now. Got to deal with Dobson if we assume that if we assume the cadre is going there, if we assume that there's a couple other.

And what do we think that Cadry's going to sign for? Sorry to cut you off, but I think most projections would have him at this point in the off season at like a seven times seven. I feel like, I feel like, I mean, I kind of pulled that number out when I was when I was making up a contract to be stuck under the cup, but I feel like seven makes sense for him now, right? Yeah, I mean, he's 32. He had a career year on one of the most stacked teams in the league, and, you know, he had a hundred point pace, and that's great, but, and, you know, you look at his best years in Toronto and stuff, and he was still, what, a 30 goal, 50, 60 point guy, but like, that, and that's great, but that's not 100 points. So teams have to find that middle ground of

paying for Nazim Quadri at who he is. is now and who he's going to be over the term of that contract. And I feel like that's probably a bit of why we didn't see him sign a massive ticket on like day one of free agency. I wouldn't be shocked that the market wasn't what him and his agents wanted it to be after the year that he had. But, you know, GMs know what they're looking at here. And there's no money.

There's no money in the league. Like I, this is such, we're going on such all these roundabout ways, but it's a podcast. This is fine. This is our show. we can talk about what we want in the order that we want it. That's a dig at Mendez, I think. No. No.

I would never. I feel like we almost don't talk enough about the way that the pandemic has just blown up the cap in teams long-term plans. I mean, I feel like we talk about it, but we talk all the time about this team's capped out and that team took out too much money for this. guy and they overpaid this guy, this guy, this guy. Well, when a lot of those deals were signed, teams were expecting that at this point in 2022, 23 season, the cap was going to be at like $90 million or something. Think about, we've talked about this before off mic, like,

Leafs are taking it on the teeth about the John Tavares deal because it hasn't aged great, but it would have been fine if the cap was $90 million. Yeah. Do you think? Yeah, it's not. So now they're now they're paying the price. I think it's one of those things where especially you see like, it's like it was the standard response to combat the sticker shock of whether it was Tavares, whether it was whatever, I'd a Rasmus Ristolin, or you pick a bad deal.

And it's like, and yeah, he signed for, he signed for another year, like a year or two more than he should have and another million more than he should have, but, like, In 20, in 2023, the cap will be fine. Well, it's not. It's a few million dollars at least below where we thought it would be.

And that puts the squeeze on, you know, maybe not Nazim Kadri because that's, I think we can just kind of put that in a drawer, right, along with this contract. We don't need to think about that. I think it squeezes the guys like, you know, the Evan Rodriguez's of the world who aren't, you know, all-star caliber guys, but quasi-usual players who are coming off, you know, maybe a career season or whatever, and they're the ones that are still kind of stuck, stuck on the market without as much for, as much as they were expecting. The thing with cadre, too, I know you're talking about, you know, seven by seven.

I feel like the years is where he's really going to take a bath here. Like, because he is, he's going to be 32 by the, not by the start of the season, than really early in it. I don't know how, like, I don't know how you sign him for seven years at this point. I don't know who on the, who on the board in terms of teams with money to spend in teams where Nazam Khadji would like to land

are going to have that kind of year number to offer him. So I don't know, maybe we see $7 million a year for five years or whatever. But it is, it is. It's tough. to look at this at this group and see a teams that want nassum cadry and b teams that nassum cadre would would want to sign with and i think that's why you know so many people have them have pegged in the island because a lose track record a and because of the fit for for player and team and you know frank saraveli did report that it was premature to say that codry and the islanders

already had a deal in place and said that he was you know the islanders were just one of the teams that Cadre and his camp were speaking to. So it seems like there's still... When did Frank say that? Let me pull it up. I guess, you know, last week in the middle of the week. So on the 9th, so like last Tuesday. But I just feel like the longer this goes on,

the more people just assume like, eh. It's done. It's in the drawer. Yeah, well, you alluded to this too, right? Like you're saying, yeah, the islanders have a lot of work. They have cap space, but they have a lot of work to be done, whether it's the Dobson extension, like, you know, whatever else. This is no easy fit for them either.

Like, if they, are they going to have to move Josh Bailey? Like, are they going to need to send money out? It certainly seems like they will. Like, think of it this way. If we're saying the cadre is going to get $7 million A.A.V or somewhere in that neighborhood, maybe a little bit less. And then if they do a deal with, like, a bridge with Dobson, the three and a half or four maybe, like they're at the number and they only have 21 players

on the roster. So it's impossible, like for all the money that they do have and for all like the half-joky stuff, people have said like, oh, like Lewis got it in the drawer or whatever. There's work to be done to make it all fit because it isn't just about cadre. It's about other guys on that roster and it's about, you know, getting it done in a way that keeps them under the number. Yep. And we had the Islanders as, you know, somewhere we thought would be interested in Matthew Gacuch and Johnny Gidreau, two of the flames players who were on the market this off season. And again, like with both of those exercises,

that was going to be really hard to fit under the cap. They would have had to move, you know, significant assets out to make enough room to sign Johnny Gidro in the UFA market and would have had to make significant moves to give Calgary the kind of package they'd be looking for, especially in hindsight, knowing that the flames got Hubert O, Weaker, first round pick, and a prospect, and the, you know, ability to sign Kachuk to the kind of contract that he was looking for. Obviously, Codry is a step lower because, you know, maybe he's looking for $9 million, but I don't think he's going to get it. If the team was going to pay him $9 million,

he would have got that by now. What happened already? The one thing, and this is probably the last point we should make about Codry slash Islanders, is I've seen a couple of takes out there about moving Matt Barzell for Nossum-Codry. And I just, want to understand why people are saying that. I think the thought is that there is that Barzal's just going to want to break the bank in a year or two. And he's paded. So you move him for a 31 year old? No.

I think it's, I think it's people just losing their minds over in playing, you know, trying to figure out. Look, this is part of, this is like the, the end game of a, of, of, how, a half of failure of an offseason for the Islanders because their issue last year was that Barzell didn't have a line mate. They didn't have a line mate. And they were offensively terrible

and for as good as Elia Sorokin was and whatever else. Like that team couldn't score goals. So, Lou's goal headed into the off season was pretty plain. There's a reason they were attached to Johnny Goddrow. And there's a reason it seemed like, you know, maybe they would have made sense as a landing ground. for for for for chuck those are all star like top tier wingers which they lack so now it's like

this game they're playing it's like well do we do we really need a center not as bad as we need a winger but we also need some kind of offensive ability because otherwise we're going to come out of this offseason with just with like with a goose egg basically with a team that for a lot of different reasons failed to meet expectations last year so I think people are just kind of trying to fit, and there's so much uncertainty with, whether it's Cadre or Dobson or all these other mystery deals that we, you know, that, that we're hearing about, people are trying to figure out, like, what kind of puzzle pieces are there, what's Lou going to do? What does this mean for the future? Because there's just no, because we're a month into free agency and there's

still just a huge, huge level of uncertainty. I think that makes people crazy. So they start doing stuff like, should they move Barzell for cover, whatever, whatever, like, I don't, they move out Barzell so they can sign so they can sign cadre and then use the money that they save on Barzell to do what exactly because there's not really any good things. The whole thing, it's making people lose their minds. Right. It's just the same thing. And, you know, this is something I, you know, said about the flames in Kachuk. And obviously, that ended up happening not for the same reasons. Like when Kachuk had a downseason, you know, two years ago, he had a pretty off year. And it was all, he's not going to be worth this $9 million qualifying offer, get rid of him, trade Matthew Kach.

And it was like, if you move Matthew Kachukuk for whatever reason, you have to replace Matthew Kachuk. And that's the thing with Matt Barzell. Like, Nazim Kodry is not a Barzell replacement in the same way, you know? And how are you going to replace that guy? Like, those are, like, I know Barzell didn't have a great year last year, but like those are the guys that you shell out money for. The young, skilled face of the franchise guys. Like, Barzell's not the piece that you lose to sign Nazim Kodry in free agency. It's the Josh Bailey's and the overpaid older players, not the young stars.

And I know Barzell is maybe not on that level right now because of the year that he had. But he hasn't had a winger. Last season, he did not have a winger to play with. And that's why, as you said, it seemed so important to get a Johnny Godrow or Matthew Kuchuk on the Islanders so Matt Barzell could have a skilled winger to play with to maximize the fact that you have Matt Barzell on your roster. I think something that we all could do well to remember here. We get lessons on it periodically.

We saw it with the flames. We saw it with what happened with Johnny Godreau. We saw it with what Matthew Cichuk said after Johnny Godreau left. And I think this is probably part of where Islanders fans being like, should we trade, should we just trade Barzell now while we can? I don't think we do this enough. We have to account for what players might want down the road. mode.

Especially more now. Yeah, maybe, like, yeah, of course the Islanders should want to extend Matt Barzell. Like, of course, they should want to keep him in the fold because he's, you know, a 1A center, right? Like, he's really, really good. He's still young, and you assume that maybe he's not going to be a hundred point guy like he looked like when he was 18, but he's a building block and whatever else. Maybe he doesn't want to play for the New York Islanders. That's what happened to the Calgary, Flint. Maybe he wants to go somewhere else.

Like, these players do have agency, and they get to a point, they get to a point where they have a leverage, and we are so used to in this sport, seeing players seed that leverage and sign long-term extensions with the team that drafted them whenever they're coming off of their entry-level deal, and then a two-year bridge deal, and then comes the big deal. That's the way it works, because that's the way hockey players operate most of the time. And I think we need to remember, whether it's media, whether it's fans, you know, whatever, that these guys at a certain point in their career can decide what they want to do.

And not everybody wants to play with the team that drafted them and signed them to their first two deals. Sometimes they want to leave. So maybe that's part of what's driving, you know, the Islanders fans being like, should we do this? Should we trade them now? Blah, blah, blah. Because.

Right. It's what's the ripple effect of Matthew Chuck showing how much control you can have over the situation? I feel like, you know, and this is just recency bias because we're talking about these last, you know, five, seven, eight years in the league. But, and, you know, correct me if I'm forgetting something, but I feel like Austin Matthews was like the one big superstar that kind of went and took that bridge deal. I think he took that one first signing for like a shorter term versus like a max eight year extension to lock in in Toronto forever. I was like, no, I'm going to do

this for now, maximize my next contract after I've been in the league for a little while. But, you know, I think Matthew Kachuk is the perfect example of a player using their leverage and having the most control over their money, their situation, where they're going to be. He signed that three-year deal to have as much control over his life as possible in the way that it was backloaded with a $9 million qualifying offer secured the bag. So not only did he get a chance to say, I'm going to stay here for three more years, and then I'm going to reconvene and say, do I want to be here? and if he does and if he doesn't, he's going to be due a ticket.

And that's exactly what we just saw. And I wonder, you know, if more players are going to see that as an example of the kind of control they can have over the situation. Like you said, you don't have to be with the team that drafted you. And I don't want to freak Islanders fans out. We're not saying that this is what's going to happen with Matt Barzell and he's going to be like, screw this. I don't want to be here.

But maybe that is part of, you know, the, like maybe fans are pretty. projecting what just happened to Calgary onto their own situation with like, oh, God, what's going to happen here? Players know their control now. Oh, God, what's next? Is he happy? Does he want to play for a Lula Amarillo team? Does he want to play for a defense first team? Is he pissed that Jordan Eberley left and they didn't replace? I'm like, there's a bunch of unknowns out there. And we're not like, again, like this is, we're just BSing on a podcast in the middle of August. When there's nothing to talk about. But if there is one takeaway, like I said, is remembering that like because again we see it over and over and over again Connor

McDavid gets drafted by the oil and by the by the by the by the by the oilanders the Ilers you said oilanders yeah they just he he gets drafted by the oilanders signs a long-term deal with it with the oilanders and then that's and then that's just kind of kind of this you just said it again was that on purpose what you think so just so just so just Just remember, like, not every team needs the sign, or not every player needs a sign with the team that drafts them. Sometimes guys want to leave. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yep.

Let's move on. Not a whole lot happening in the NHL world. You know, Robin Lenners is having surgery. The surgery that he could have had last season, but he was told that he actually didn't need it slash, I don't even know what happened there, that whole debacle. And now he's having surgery. Now he's out. So we don't even need to talk about it. My only question is like, how is Jack Eichael feeling right now?

But he's probably fine. I'm sure he's making $10 billion and he lives in Vegas. I'm sure Jack Eichael's doing all right. Jack's making the turn at a golf course right now. He's just doing fine. I don't want to talk about this anymore. What I do want to talk about. I don't want to talk about either.

Since I'm on a podcast with the lead national women's hockey writer for the athletic now. Somebody had a job change last month. That's true. It's really. It's me. Let's talk about the team USA roster. They're released it for the upcoming women's world championships.

Those are in Denmark at the end of the month. The lead national women's hockey writer for the athletic will be covering that in person. If anyone has any recommendations in Denmark, let me know. It's in herning. Freddie Anderson's going to give you a call. Yeah. Fred. Whatever.

I don't know. Who is not a good? Frederick, if you are listening, please tell me where to eat in herning. I can't think of any other Danish players. Is that bad? Talk to me about this Team USA roster. Please. Just tell me.

Tell me what's changed. Tell me who's good. Oh, who's good? I think it's an interesting roster. There's, you know, the trick. part with analyzing a training camp roster is that it's kind of their summer festival. So USA hockey and hockey Canada boat did the same thing where they had, you know, 140 players at camp for about a week. And then they divvy the camp up at the end of it for the U18 roster,

the kind of U-20. It used to be U-22. It's like the development team. So like the collegiate players, players not quite under 18, but not quite ready for the senior national team. And then the senior international team. So they kind of swap it up into the three pillars. And obviously the big one is this world championship team. And there's some players who are just no-brainers, Hillary Knights back. And I think, you know, this is going to be another big one for her. She's, this is going to be her 12th women's world championship, which is the most in USA hockey history. And she already broke Cammy Grinado's record last year. You know, she's, she's been a record breaker. And she's going to continue to do that. And I spoke with the head coach of the teen, John Robleski, and he said, you know, you get, like,

you just know what you're getting with Hillary Knight. She looks really good. Her last scrimmage game was, was excellent. She still has that passion and the drive for the game. So even though Hillary Knight's been around for a while, you know, she's still going to be a big and important piece of the team. No Brianna Decker. She wasn't in, she wasn't at camp.

She had that injury at the Olympics. You know, what was it, game two of the last Olympics, which was so unfortunate. She's such a talent. So she's not going to be there still kind of. She had a successful surgery, you know, but there's still kind of a rehabbing process for her. So no Brianna Decker for Team USA at the World Championships. A lot of players are back. Alex Carpenter.

the defense looks pretty similar. No Megan Bozick, but, you know, Lee Steckline, Megan Keller, Kayla Barnes, they're all back in the fold. There's a couple of new players that are going to be on the team this year for the first time. Hannah Bilka is one. I would like, I would like to hear specifically about Hannah Bilka because I have never, I've never watched her play. It seems like, it seems like she's good. She is really fun, really skilled. And again, I spoke to the head coach of the team. And, you know, you've spoken to John before. He was the U.S. NTDP coach. So he, you know, coached guys like Matthew Kachuk and guys like Trevor Zegris. And he said, you know, to kind of lean on some of his past experience on the men's side

at USA hockey, he was like, Hannah is like coaching Trevor Zegris. Like Trevor Zegris level skill, the thing she can do with the puck, the excitement when she has the. puck on her stick, the things she can do on the ice, her vision, her playmaking ability, her creativity. This is really young and exciting player. So she's going to be somebody to watch out for. She's really young. She's making, again, this is her first senior national team roster.

So that's a big one to look at. Plays at Boston College. I hope I didn't mess that up. I'm pretty sure it's Boston College, not BU. Another first timer is Taylor Hyes. I forgive me if I mispronounce her last name, but she, She won the Patty Casmeyer as the best college player in the nation last season. Another really exciting player.

She's a natural center, but she has, you know, wing capability in a really, really good shot. So if you see her lineup for a one-timer, that's something to look out for. I think some players to be excited about at this world championships, players who had the last worlds in the last Olympics under their belt, and now we're a little bit more comfortable on the team. they have, you know, more experience at the international senior level. Grace Sumwinkel is one of my favorite players to watch. She is the ultimate power forward. Pain in the ass to play against.

Her scoring touch hasn't always been there at the senior level. But once that kind of develops and once the game slows down for her, as she starts to, you know, get used to playing at this level, she's going to be, you know, just a monster. She has that cutback move below the hash mark that is like, you know, It's just gross. She's good on her edges. She's really strong. Really, really exciting player to watch. Another player who we've talked about before, Sean, is Abby Rock.

She's kind of the player that people are just like waiting and anticipation for her breakout. And I think John said, you know, getting to watch her in person at camp, you realize how smart she is and her ability to make the players around her better because of the decision she makes with the puck. she's really good in tight. She's hard to knock off. She makes really good plays.

Her pace hasn't always been there, but the way she sees the game kind of helps. So I am as an Abby Rock, like I'm waiting for the Abby Rock breakout. I'm a fan of her game. I'm excited and hopeful at what I've heard from the coaching staff about her in the sense that, you know what, maybe instead of putting her in the bottom six and not playing her a lot, like the old coaching staff did at the World Championships, maybe she'll be on the top line. And Zumwinkle, right?

Grace Sunwinkle barely played. Carolyn Harvey barely played. All these players, you know, they cut the bench quick and often. Joel Johnson did at the World's end, the Olympics. But I'm kind of, you know, cautiously optimistic, not even cautiously. I'm optimistic about Abby Rock at this World Championship because it sounds like she's going to be someone who plays on the line with somebody like Sumwinkel or Hillary Knight who can just get her the puck and let Hillary Knight rip.

And I think that's something she didn't always get the opportunity to do. When Decker went down at the Olympics, Rock did get elevated at the lineup and looked good and comfortable. So I think that's going to be something to watch is the Abby Rock breakout. So there's a lot to be excited about if you're an American hockey fan, I think. One player who didn't make it was Abby Murphy. Abby Murphy. She's only 20 years old.

She's, and she was on the Olympic team, so she's not in the fold. Emily Matheson was working to come back after the birth of her child. She's Mike Matheson's wife, or Mike Matheson is Emily Matheson's husband. She did not make the team. And I think there was a lot of people pushing and like pulling for her. Like they really wanted her to be there, but that's not an easy comeback. And the thing about this kind of world championship roster is it's year one of an Olympic quad. So that's kind of the four years where it's your building, building, building for the next Olympics.

And you kind of have to balance wanting to win a world championship in year one, while also ensuring that you're building the best possible group for year four when you hit the Olympics. So it's like, do you turn the page on some of these players in favor of a younger piece to build them towards the Olympics? Because what you don't want is a bunch of players who have one international game under their belt going to the Olympics for the first time. And the last Olympics was tricky because a lot of players didn't have that experience because the pandemic. but now it's much more controllable. And it's like, okay, let's get Hanabilka into the fold. But also not putting them in before they're ready, too.

Like, these are players who earned their spots on the roster. Like, they're not just there because it's like, let's get them warmed up. They're there because they earned it. And you can kind of start to see the bones of this next gen of USA hockey. We'll also understand that Hillary Knight still deserves to be there. And Kendall Coyne-Skoffield still deserves to be there because they're still excellent hockey players despite their age and that kind of four-year time jump. So I'll be interested to see what they can do.

Canada set the bar really high at the Olympics. That was one of the most offensively dominating teams I think I've ever seen at the Olympic level. So I think we'll, I'm excited to see what USA looks like. It feels like this roster is going to like it's built the way we thought maybe the Olympic roster was built where like one of the narratives surrounding the American team coming in the Olympics was like, all right, we need to figure out a way to work in the Abbey Rocks and the gray sunwincles of the world because you need to have like this next

cohort of players coming in. That's obviously not what happened. You know, it's clear that it's clear that when the game started and when the, you know, when push came to shove, it was Joel Johnson playing with, you know, old, reliable players who he, who he'd already won games with. Well, that's understandable to it, to an extent, you know, the execution we can make of but what you will. Now it's like, okay, this is year one of the cycle, like you said. Now, more than ever is the time to work in the Hanna Bilka's and the Abbey Rocks and these, you know, and, you know, players like that to get them going in time.

Taylor Heist or Heist or, again, I'm sorry, I feel like one of us is mispronounced her name. Players like that, you know, get them rolling because I think a lot of people were expecting to see that at the Olympics, and that's going. Clearly, clearly not what happened. And I do think that we will see a commitment to, like, properly kind of divvy up ice time in the group stages. I think you'll see Robleski roll four lines and 3D pairs. They're going to bring 13 forwards. They might not use all of them, but I think you're going to see them, you know, try to spread the ice time in the group stages.

But then as they get closer to, say, a gold medal game, I, you know, don't be. shocked if he cuts the bench in the gold medal game, if the fourth line's not ready for the moment or a young player's not ready for the moment, that's kind of a normal thing. But, you know, spreading the wealth when you can is going to be really important. And I think they're going to commit to doing that, which is great. That's what that's a group games are for. Yeah. What's the time difference in Denmark? What are we looking at here? Eight hours? Seven hours. So the first. That's doable. Yeah. The first. Yeah. The first. first day of the tournament is August 25th, and then the gold medal game is September 4th.

So it's going to be 11 days-ish with tons of great hockey. I'm going to be there. It's going to be fun. Everyone should watch and read on the athletic. Great plug. Way to go. What a pro. All right, everyone.

We're back. Finally, with Andrew Mandri-Ponni from the Calgary Flames. left us waiting for a while. That is, we are actually going to now blame our guest for all the nonsense we talked about for 30 minutes. So if you didn't enjoy the show, you had nothing to do with this is wrong. This is wrong. I'm not in traffic there for a little bit. So, okay. I just blame the city. So that's all I'm blaming it off. Do you have any like, do you have any like Toronto traffic like horror stories? Because I love, I'm, I'm in Pittsburgh. So I love hearing people just be like, oh, yeah, I got stuck between such and such for like two hours or whatever.

Yeah, it's just all dependent on time wherever you're trying to go, right? You really got to, I guess, plan it out, right? If I'm trying to go downtown for a dinner, like, I know Sean, Sean Monaghan and I just went for a dinner the other day and like, we were both just stuck in traffic. And we were both late to it and it was like, okay, it was fine. Like there's only one way in, one way out, basically. So it's, it is what it is, but you just got to plan around it. Wait, where did you guys go?

Because I just moved back to the area and I don't know what's around here anymore. We want recommendations. Harbor 60 was just the steakhouse. Classic. Downtown. First time I think, yeah, basically going there. I used to work at a high steakhouse back when I was in university. It's a good spot.

Yeah. No, I did a lot of the guys go when we're back in Calgary to Highest there. Yeah, it's a good spot. Yeah. This has been Toronto State. house talk with Andrew and Haley. How are we doing? Yeah, thanks for joining us. That's, that's it. That's all we got for you. But no, really, we just first want to say congratulations on the season you had and the contract that you signed a couple weeks ago. We talked about it earlier in the show, but three years, $5.8 million A.A.V.

Andrew, if you were to like tell 16-year-old Andrew Mangupani playing in the GTHL, the season you had and what big deal you just signed, like what would he have said if he told him? Yeah, you probably would have laughed at myself or whatever, right? Obviously, I've had kind of up and down roller coaster to kind of get where I am, but I wouldn't, I guess, trade it for the world, right? I think it made me the player that I am today. Can you maybe expand on that? I know, you know, we spoke about this last season for a story in the athletic about it,

but it has been a roller coaster for you. And can you maybe explain to people who are listening who maybe don't know, like, what exactly you kind of battled early on, you know, not getting drafted to the OHL and going to that Barry Colts camp and kind of that path that you've taken? Yeah, that was, that's kind of the first step I'd say is to, you know, I'm sure every kid. wants to kind of get drafted and then to go to the OHL or I guess you're growing up in Canada and all that, right? And yeah, and I just, you know, it wasn't selected. And then, you know, Barry Colts kind of asked me to go out to their camp. And I was kind of hesitant to go.

I was always told I was going to go NCAA, you know, study, work hard. But, you know, get your schooling and, you know, who knows, you can, you know, get a scholarship and then get a good job after, really, right? but I decided to go to Barry's camp just to kind of measure myself up against other players that were drafted and everything like that. And then, you know, Dale Howard Chuck and, you know, Todd Miller and that organization there that they believed in me and gave me a chance when nobody else really did. And, you know, that kind of jumpstarted in my career. And then, again, I wasn't drafted to my first year eligibility in the NHL. And that was kind of like, you know, that was kind of a downfall. I ended up actually going to the draft and sitting all through the seven rounds.

I was there with Dale and, you know, and they were all kind of supporting me. And as I look back and I laugh at all. But, I mean, at the time, I was, you know, just shaking up a little bit. But again, I didn't let that stop me and I used that as fuel. You know, thankfully the year after I went to the draft again, you know, it was a special moment to hear my name being called by the Calgary Flames. And, you know, and then just kind of, you know, pay my, I guess, time, like, Docton, and, you know, kept growing as a player and, you know, eventually,

eventually made it. I don't know if Brad Tree Living's ever told you this story, but he told it to me last season. The scouting staff was so passionate about taking you that year. That tree said that if he didn't go up there and say, you know, we take Andrew Mangyipani at this number. He's like, I probably would have got punched. Yeah.

Because they were like, we're going to get this guy right now. And if we don't, I'm going to hit you with something because we want this guy on our team so badly. Yeah, I heard that story kind of, I don't even know who told me. It could have been true. It could have been the scouting staff and all that. But yeah, they were, I guess, pulling for me. And, you know, obviously, I got to thank them. Obviously, they watched enough games.

I think they were probably just scouting Razzie there. So I kind of maybe a little thanks to Razzie as well. I'm sure, you know, the scouts came out to watch him play, and they probably maybe noticed me. I heard after you signed your deal, somebody asked Rasmus, Rasmus Anderson, for those listening, you know, what he thought about your deal. And he was like, I'm going to leave my wallet home in Sweden and Andrew can take the bell. Yeah, that's a quote-unquote what he said there. So last year, I had to pay for him. year before that I had to pay for him and all this year. Yeah. Okay. Like is that how that's that's

something somebody says when there's a track record right? Like I it's not a new thing. Yeah, you cheap guy and now he didn't know how he's got a kid and everything. It's school and everything like that. So you're helping out with the uh helping out. Helping out. Helping with the tuition fund. Yeah. It's been a it's been a big summer for Calgary. Not just you, right? I mean, things started out. We all know what happened with Johnny. We know the way that unfolded. From the outside, I think the Matthew could chuck saga, maybe not any of the way that it did, but the fact that he brought back Euberdo and Weir that those are the guys that came back in that deal. What was that, as somebody, we know your deal wasn't done yet, but as somebody who was looking at, who was part of the Calgary Flames and, you know, kind of had, you're as close to it as anybody. What were those couple days like for you? From Free Agency on into knowing, you know,

that you were bringing back you were doing a week. That was a crazy, crazy stretch. Yeah, it was kind of an interesting off-season for the flames there, right? Obviously, you knew that, you know, Chuckie Johnny and myself kind of were up. And, you know, looking kind of before, right, it would be probably tough to bring everybody back and knowing all that. But, yeah, just obviously, you know, those two guys are two great, you know, players. And, you know, I have a lot of respect for them on and off the ice.

But, you know, it's tough to kind of see those guys leave. But at the end of the day, it is a business. And, you know, excited to kind of get those a couple new guys coming in and excited for the season. I still think that we have a really good team. You know, the majority of players are there. And I think everybody's ready to win and take that next step. to keep continuing and growing on what we did last year. They're locked in for a few more years, right?

Like they have you in the full, they had the Eubertoe extension, like for as much uncertainty as it seemed like there was, especially heading into the offseason. Like you guys know the bones of the group that you're going to have moving forward for the next few years, right? Yeah, yeah, and that's exactly kind of why I wanted to sign kind of a longer-term deal, right? I like Calgary, I like the city, you know, I like teammates, management,

and everything about it, right? So I'm happy that we were able to get a deal done, and I didn't have to go to arbitration and kind of get that one-year deal. I wanted to sign three or whatever longer-term deal and, you know, happy that I'm able to stay because, you know, I really like Calgary and I really like where this team is headed.

What was that process like for you, Andrew? Like, was it kind of sitting back and waiting for some of the other stuff to finish before you guys started really talking about stuff like were you kind of just sitting and waiting for a while and then it was like, all right, let's let's get moving on some of this stuff. Yeah, and I think that's just kind of, you know, how it's kind of always going to be when you're a restricted player. Obviously, UFA is kind of, you know, all those big players are kind of, you know, the first, first priority to get them resigned, right, just on the timing of it and everything

like that, right? So once, you know, they knew that Johnny wasn't coming back, then then I think, you know, the talks and contract negotiations started to, you know, pick up. I mean, we know, like you said it yourself, you're trying to avoid the arbitration things, the arbitration stuff. I always love hearing guys, you know, whether it's arbitration, horror stories or whatever. It's such a, it's such a thing to be avoided for, for you guys, right? It's that day on the calendar. We're just like, all right, we got to have something in place so we can avoid doing that. Was that, that was front of mind for you, I would imagine. Yeah, right. I don't think, you know, both parties,

kind of wanted to go arbitration. You know, you hear some of those horror stories as well as a player and all that. But I think it was just kind of, you know, I wanted to be there. I wanted to stay. And, you know, I'm happy that, you know, flames kind of felt the same about me. And, and yeah, it was when, you know, when I guess we kind of expressed kind of how many years and everything like that, you know, obviously I was saying a longer term deal and they don't want that one year. because, you know, I like Calgary and, you know, it's going to be an exciting season. Did you feel like anything changed on their part after the Johnny and Matthews situation kind of resolved itself?

Like, did that, how did that affect your end of things? I think that's just kind of, you know, just kind of made it clear. Obviously, Hubert O' wasn't extended or any of them, right? So it was just more, okay, now we need to figure out what we're going to do with kind of management. got to get him kind of locked up, right? I think obviously maybe they were trying to sign Johnny and Chucky to, you know, longer-term deals and whatever and all the money situation and the cap. You know, I know we're pretty close to the cap.

And so I'm sure that they just have to, you know, go through, you know, just go step by step through that process and just try to figure it out that way. Do you see, you know, a big opportunity for yourself this coming season? And not that there was an opportunity for you before and, Obviously, you scored 35 goals and 55 points and really established yourself as an important piece in this team. But do you see an opportunity for yourself to kind of step in and take on an even bigger role and continue establishing yourself for the Calgary Flames this coming season? I think there's going to be some more opportunity. Obviously, those are two big kind of players, both getting top minutes, top power play time.

So obviously there's going to be room for kind of our whole team to kind of fill that void, right? You know, that's just not just me and all that. It's going to be a lot of opportunity for a lot of guys. And we're going to need that and need guys to kind of step up and fill those areas if we want to be a contending team. What was the big difference for you just, you know, kind of stepping back to this season and knowing I feel like, you know, last season. So the year that you went to the world championships and had that great tournament for Canada, that was kind of the year where everyone started to be like started kind of paying more close attention outside the market. And then this year, you come in with the 35 goal season and in the 55 points.

And it was kind of the breakout that everybody could see coming. What was the difference for you this season? Was it the confidence level, the comfort level, coaching under Darrell combination? What kind of went into this year? You know, a combination of everything. I think it's playing this league. You need to kind of have confidence. You got to believe in yourself and believe in your teammates

and everything like that, right? So I think maybe in my first couple seasons, I was a little shy, timid, whatever it is, starstruck. And, you know, once you start playing and, you know, getting put in more opportunity and, you know, playing the power play, playing the PK. And, you know, you get kind of, I don't know,

But you get the confidence, right? And that's the big thing in this league is, you know, I think I always believe in myself and knowing that I could play here, but it was, it took time for me to really kind of leave that, you know, I could be an everyday kind of point guy and produce, you know, kind of like I did in junior and, you know, throughout the years and all that, even in the minors and everything like that, right? It took me a while, but I think, you know, now after World Juniors

and just coming into this season, I just kind of wanted to play the way I know I can, right? And I was able to do that. Do you see another step for yourself next season? Yeah, right? Obviously, you know, there's going to be, like we were talking about before, there's going to be a lot more kind of opportunity, I think, right? And just kind of with myself, I think that, yeah, there is room to grow, right?

Like, you know, there's going to be more ice time available. And, you know, maybe obviously there are two powerplay guys, so you could be slotted in there on the first power play. you know, there's new guys coming in. So you don't even know kind of what you're playing with and what's going on and all that situations. And, you know, you got to wait for camp and all that. But, you know, just me personally, like I said, you know, playing now.

And after last season, you know, you have the confidence and in the belief. And so I'm just kind of excited and, you know, excited to get going and start the season again. So one of the things we did, Andrew, when we were planning to have you on, is we asked some fans if they had some questions. A lot of them were just questions about bread. Right? Yeah. Bread related stuff.

Yeah. Subway sandwich bread, regular sandwich bread. We'll just skirt over those. I mean, have you gotten used to the like bread puns and stuff like that? Like, when did that even really start to catch on? That's what I don't know. When did that start? I just, no, I started kind of my whole life, right?

obviously and I eat bread, right? So when I tell them, you know, yeah, it means eat bread, right? They're all, oh, wow, bread eater and everything like that. It's funny, it's funny, right? I think this year kind of made me laugh. I think it was like the start of the season. Someone threw a loaf of bread on the ice and everything like that. And I saw it.

I don't know if half our team knew what it meant or whatever it was. And I was laughing over the ice. It's like, I don't even know how you bring that in the arena. But there's ways. There's ways. You can smuggle stuff in. Yeah, yeah. It's like I heard the way that people bring the catfish in for Nashville games.

They like saran wrap it to their body and then put their clothes over top, which is just upsetting. Good passion, though. Great job, everybody. I love how much you love the Nashville Predators. You know, and I remember the bread throwing instinct because I'm pretty sure somebody asked after the game, like what kind of loaf was it? It was like a sourdough or something. Yeah, it was funny. I was kind of shocked, right?

So it made me laugh. Yeah. I would never use a bread pun personally to discuss. No, never. Never. I've never. Don't check my Twitter account. There's nothing.

I'm sorry. I think some of the other kind of fun ones, you know, you talking about Rasmus and Rasmus having the comments about you're going to have to pay for stuff and he's going to leave his wallet back. people were wanting to know, like, who's the best trash talker on the team and basically, like, why is it Rasmus Anderson? Unless it's someone different. No, I'd say, yeah, Razum's kind of up there, right? I know he likes to chirp kind of on and off the ice. He likes to chirp and his friends. He doesn't like everything like that. He just,

yeah, he just, I don't know, he likes the English language now that he knows it. He likes to use all the words and the vocabulary, I'd say, right? When he first came to Barry, he was very shy and quiet. I was now, and I think that was just because he was kind of unsure of some words, right? So then when he started, you know, his English started getting better, he started getting more comfortable and everything like that. So then the sky was a limit for him then after he knew all the words. So he would be the number one. That's funny. I guess jumping off that, you guys have had such a long path together from Barry to now. And you both kind of had these really big seasons this year. You know, Rasmus really showing his ability to be a number

one D in this league and top pair guy and you showing your ability. How nice has it been or what's it been like to have somebody going along this path for so long with you and kind of having this shared experience? It's obviously everyone's path is a bit unique. And you play different positions, but just to have Rasmus kind of through all that with you. No, that's great, right? Obviously, you know, we played together. I don't even know 10 seasons now. So, right? I have, you know, a friend there, right?

I classify him as one of my, you know, best friends, you know, maybe the best friend I have in hockey and all that, right? We've always kind of grew up together. And, you know, we started off whatever, 17 years old, 18 years old, whatever, however old we were in Barry, right? So you kept growing as, as people and, you know, on and off the ice. So it's been a crazy ride. And I think, you know, or, you know, just going to Stockton together and, you know, living together at first year was just, it was a lot of comfort, just knowing that you have, you know, someone there.

And, you know, that, you know, you have a friend, right? It's always, always tough when you go to places that, you know, you don't know, or a different team or anything like that. And you're going into, you know, even a new class or whatever it is and you don't know anyone, new school, things like that, right? It's always tough. But it was good that, you know, I only knew Rasmus kind of, right? And, you know, it was good that I had a friend there. And, you know, it was crazy kind of how our journeys, you know, we're kind of on the same path, right?

We played the same number of, you know, seasons in the minors. And we jumped to the NHL the same season and everything like that. So it's been kind of crazy that way. But, you know, it's been awesome. That's great. We got a couple more from fans and we'll let you go, Andrew. I think one, you know, we did have some fans and it's probably something we should have asked too.

Have you reached out and talked to Jonathan Hubertoe yet since he's been part of the team and inside? No, we added him to her kind of group chat, right, and said, you know, a few things in there, but no, nothing yet, right? So it'll be nice to kind of go back and, you know, see the new guys and, you know, get to know them, right? I've heard good things about them. Does Rasmus know how much money he makes now? Because he might have someone else to hit up to pick up those. It's a very, Razzie. When you get him, he'll start going after his money, too, and everything. So there's only a matter of time for Razzie.

I feel so bad. This is terrible. Yeah, this is good. I'm so sorry. It's good. You know, one of the ones we did get is what is the best thing about having Daryl Sutter as a coach? And is it just watching his media sound bites? Some of his media is a good.

at the C and everything like that. But the thing with Darrell is he wants, he wants the best for you, right? And then that's, that's important, I think, in a coach, right? When you know, when you know what coaches, you know, he might be tough on you or might show you something that you don't agree

or anything like that, but it's more just, okay, this is, he wants the best for you and he wants the best for the team and he wants to win, right? You know, that's why we're all kind of there. We're there to win and win hockey games, right? And, and he brings kind of the best out in everybody, right? So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, top, or, how I say it, you know, best seasons,

a lot of career best for guys this year. And, you know, that goes to, goes to him, right? He pushes you and wants you to be the best that you can be every night. Final question. And I'm not even sure if this is just a joke because they're making fun of, I'm not even making fun of. Some people want to know if you watch the Sopranos and what your favorite Sopranos episode is. Is this just like an Italian thing? And they're like, well, his last name, he must watch the Sopranos.

No, no, I don't know. I haven't watched the Sopranos and all that. I've seen a few kind of bits here and there. But nothing that I can say is my favorite episode or anything like that. I recently purchased a Bobby Bacola t-shirt. If you know who that is, he is my personal favorite character on the Sopranos. He's just a sweet, innocent one who doesn't do anything. You got some time to kill.

Camp starts in a month. It's on HBO Max. You can knock it out. All right. Yeah, maybe I do that. You should pick it up. So I guess I've been led astray on this question. They were like, what did they even say?

Like, what is his favorite Sopranos episode? I know he's seen it. No. There it is. There's not. It's permission. Well, through, right? Yeah.

There you go. Well, thank you so much. And thanks for sticking with some of the silly ones and apologies to Rasmus Sanders. and for everything that's been said today. My punching bag, so it's all good. Yeah, great. Well, thank you so much, Andrew. We appreciate having you on.

No problem. Thanks for having me. That was good stuff from Andrew. Catching up with an old buddy. You wrote something very good about him in the fall and, like, his come up to turning into a 35 goal score or whatever. Even at that point, it was clear that he was, the breakout was on, right? because he was so on such a heater to start the season.

It's a big part of things in Calgary moving forward. I wouldn't say an old buddy. He's your best friend. That's super professional. Yes, my close personal friend. No, you missed, okay. You clearly don't listen to the Tuesday show. Do you know many best friends Craig has?

Greg. Greg, excuse me. Super inappropriate. Bill Zito. Bill Zito, your best friend. Right. I do think that, you know, anyone who was paying attention to the flames or watching Andrew Mangyupani kind of knew that this kind of season was coming from him.

And that was kind of the story that I wrote before last season was, you know, can Andrew Mangiopani, who was once an afterthought in this sport, you know, establish himself as a cornerstone piece of Calgary Flames? And he did just that this season. And I think that was something, again, that you could see. coming. I mean, he's always been up there in terms of five on five scoring per 60. You know, he's a very impactful, effective player in the minutes he gets. And I think, you know, he got a lot of like middle six, even bottom six minutes over the last couple of years. And that's never

changed the way that he can impact a game. He drives play. He's good defensively. He's good in the neutral zone. He's a smart player. He's a smaller guy, but he's really hard to push off the puck. He He doesn't shy away. Like if, you know, a six foot five defender's coming at him on the boards, he's not going to move away. He's going to dig in and try to get the puck out. So, you know, he's an important player to the flames even more so now. But, like, this isn't just a, oh, Kuchuk and Kajobarganz now Manjipani can arrive. Like, he was already here.

He was another important piece of the roster. And I do think that he'll be able to kind of step in and take on more of a role because he's still pretty young. He's only 26. Like, and when you look at his. his path. And for people who haven't read the story, it is on the athletic, you know, he was a late bloomer. He was undrafted to the OHL, undrafted to the NHL, depth draft pick, all that stuff. So, you know, this isn't exactly a guy who's, he's been around, but it's not like, oh, we've been waiting for seven years for Andrew Monsiubani to finally show up. I'm just glad to see him overcome a clear case of anti-Italian discrimination against him earlier in his career.

It's real. Okay. All right. I asked people what they would talk about if they had a hockey podcast that they did do in a couple minutes. And now these answers are all terrible because nobody has any clue what we're supposed to talk about here. A lot of people saying baseball, a lot of people asking me to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation, which is, A hot topic of conversation here. Let me go put on my pit football shirt.

I don't know where you got that. Because I love Kenny Pickett. Are these good? There is a boy at World Juniors who wanted ice cream. This is what somebody said to me. Talk about the World Junior's boy who wanted ice cream. This kid, Martin's Lavans, who plays for the Latvia team, broke off an interview because he really, really wanted to get ice cream after scoring a goal.

I hope that happened for this kid. Um, where's the ice cream truck? Um, there's so many. Do you want to just talk about Hal Gill? Whose legacy is, uh, see, this is great. This is just BS fodder for talking. Whose legacy is in more jeopardy if they don't win a cup in the next few years? Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews. We're talking about their legacies already.

Yeah, those guys are old. Mm-hmm. My God. I don't know. Well, McDavid's legacy is definitely in more jeopardy because he has, because he is going to, if he doesn't win a cup, that means he's going to have continued losing in Edmonton, whereas Austin Matthews will have the shine of playing for the Arizona Coyotes.

And that'll buy him a few more years. It'll change his legacy a little bit. It'll remove some of the pressure from him. I'm not even going to engage in that. That is just, I don't think. So I don't feel like having the wrath of both Oilers fans and Leafs fans and potentially Arizona fans who don't think you're funny directed at me. Here's a great question. Great submission from our buddy Justin Morissette.

The world is crumbling. Climate is lashing out in all kinds of ways. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. So how does all this affect the Leafs? And that is my question to you, Haley, as a Toronto boomeranger now. the climate crisis. How does it affect the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Go! They might not be able to have the same state-of-the-art facilities. I don't know. I don't know. Ryan says, Ryan's R.L. Not Stein says he'd like to talk about the fact that Evan Rodriguez doesn't have a contract yet. We did, we talked about that for a second.

I like Evan Rodriguez. I like, you were like, you were the conductor of the Evan Rodriguez train at the start of the off-season. would you? Yeah, I thought that he made a ton of sense for the flames. I put him on like every possible kind of story and list that I made that had to do with like, who could the flames go and sign? Because, you know, we've talked about this. I mean, I feel like if you're a Penguins fan, Rodriguez is the guy that you were kind of waiting and waiting and waiting for that offensive pop to happen. And it happened for a bit. And it was like, oh my God, every Rodriguez. He had three different

seasons. He was in a fugue state in the fall, I think, with the way he was scoring goals. And it was like, I think Dom short-circuited watching Evan Rodriguez at the start of the season. He broke, he broke Dom's little, he broke Dom's little spreadsheet thing for a little bit there. And then, and then possibly he started the, uh, started the butterfly effect that led to them losing that series against, against the Rangers with a really bad penalty. So I'd saw, I would sign Evan Rodriguez for, like, like, Two million, two years, two million. Yeah. Versatile.

He's effective. He can play pretty much anywhere, anywhere in a middle six, I would say. Yeah. That's fine. I think Rodriguez is in the kind of camp of, and maybe even a little more elevated because he did show a flash of that kind of offensive production that he could bring to the table. But when you talk about some of the guys that are left or had been left for a while, it's like the Zach Ast.

It's like Zach Ast and Reese, Evan Rodriguez, Tyler Mott, Um, yeah, these are these are the, Sonny Milano, like these are the kind of guys who had been or have been. I don't, I don't know if Tyler Mott, I think I saw people wanting him, like, how can the Rangers bring Tyler Mott back? But again, I've been, I don't, I think they're still on the board. But it's just like, that's kind of the, the kind of tier crop of useful depth players that we're looking at right now.

And I think if you could pluck a couple out of that group, I think Evan Rodriguez and Sunny Milano are the two that are like, these guys. guys have some of that offensive pop. They're not just, you know, Zach Gaston Reese, again, another penguin who people were probably just like, they're waiting for him to become maybe a little bit more. But he's still really effective, versatile, and good at very specific things. Yeah, he's a good, a good defensive, defensive way. I mean, he's got some value. I like Evan Rodriguez. Maybe he's asking for too much. I think someone like Sonny Milano not being signed is strange. I think they're probably battling a bit of the, um, what they think he's worth

versus what other teams think he's worth, especially after not getting a qualifying offer by the Anheim ducks. Um, so that's kind of, I wonder how long he's going to be sitting there for before a team either just gives him what he wants or they kind of back off what their, you know, potential ask is. So there's some interesting ones out there, but I do like Evan Rodriguez. I think it's a little strange that he's not signed. I wonder if this is like a, are these guys the like Codry plan Bs? Like everyone's waiting to see like what happens with Codry. Then they can move on to the depth guys. I don't know. It's just been a really weird kind of free agency here, honestly. These are the guys who the smart GMs are going to, they, I guarantee you there

are our hockey ops departments that are just like, all right, we're going to, we're going to wait. We have X amount of players that we know aren't going to get signed until the middle of August. And these guys are going to start coming on the cheap. You're going to see a lot of good players signed for a million to one or whatever. And that is how you build out effective rosters. Well, not something to bring it back to the how does this affect the leaves. The leaves are good at that kind of thing. Yeah, they're bad at certain other things.

Yes. But, you know, I feel like if you're a front office who's tight to the county, You're probably trying to take a Kyle Dubus page and look at the next Michael Bunting. Every year. Where are they going to get the Michael Bunting type value? Yeah. You know, and I think these are some of the guys that they are valuable to your roster if you can bring them in on the cheat. But if you don't want to be overpaying for these players either, because that's when you run into issues is when you have too many guys making like three to five million dollars when they should be making one to two.

What are some other ones on this Twitter? A big question. Red. Okay. From our buddy Brian Badko, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Why is armpit an anatomical term, but leg pit is not? I already asked this. You didn't.

At the top of the show. Oh, you did? I honestly thought that was an off-line conversation. That's right. You thought I was just talking about leg pit? It's happened before. It hasn't? Yeah, I think we actually got an answer here.

Your armpit is not on the same joint as your elbow. which is true. Oh, so I guess your leg pits your leg elbow. Yeah, the armpit. This is Tom, this guy is in their replies. He's making some strong points. He's swayed me. We can't.

Do you think your armpit is your inner elbow? This is so stupid. When is Mendez's back? Oh, my God. I'm just kidding. He's on vacation. Yeah. I'm sure I'll come back.

Why did I come back from vacation? I don't know. Because there was no one else to host on Monday. It would have been me and Shapiro or something. Yeah. They hated Sean Shapiro. Even worse, me and Max Boltman. Wait, wait.

Should we throw? Should we throw sweet boy Peter Baugh under the bus for the loyal listeners who are still listening to this podcast? So everybody, we're at the draft in Montreal. Everyone's at a pub. We're going for dinner. It's not the drinking at all hours. It's everyone's there. People are going for dinner at some Irish place.

I forget what it was called. The waitress was very mean to me, so I left. She watched me walk into the bar. As an aside, I walk into the bar to go say hello to like Frank Saravali, who's in the other room. And she goes, stop ordering from the bar. I'll be right there. And I was just like, ah. And then I left.

I was like, I'm not buying food from you. You're so mean. But anyways, before that happened, we got this really special treat from Peter Baugh. Sean introduces himself to sweet Peter. Oh, my God. And Peter goes. I obviously didn't realize this is what you're talking about. Oh, did you think I was talking about the Shirley temples?

Yep. This is even funnier. This is even funnier. Peter goes to Sean, or Sean goes to Peter and says, like, hey, like Sean Gentile nice to, like, I'm Sean, you didn't even say Gentile, he's like, I'm Sean, nice to meet you, man. And he's like, we met. We had coffee in a really nice time in Detroit.

Yep, I said, nope, that was Sean Shapiro. And Peter was like, but even before that, there was like a back and forth. Peter was like, we've met before. And you're like, no. And he's like, yeah, we met in Detroit, Sean. I'm like, nope, wrong one. We had coffee in Traverse City. And you're like, nope, sorry, buddy.

I know, I know we both have beards and work for the same place kind of look alike, whatever. Yeah, and then we went inside and he ordered a A dirty Shirley. Which is a Shirley Temple with Booz in it. Point of fact. Peter Baugh. It's that you have made a powerful enemy.

I will not stand to be spoken to that way. Yeah. You must respect me. Just kidding, buddy. Young boy. Is that it? Anyway, I think so. We're done.

Thanks for listening. Thanks, everybody. Make sure you subscribe to the athletic hockey show wherever you get your podcast, Spotify, Apple. We found out, me and Cussons found out our start date for September. I think the Tuesday show will be back. I believe on September 20th. Why would anybody listening to this right now care about that? Everybody, everybody can calm down.

Leave me alone. Stop calling my home. You don't even have a home phone, do you? You don't know that. That's right. You seem like the type that would have like a duck phone in your house. Like from Jersey Shore, a phone shaped like a duck that quacks when people call. I'm not comfortable answering any personal questions like this. Please move on.

For people that listen to Sean's other podcast, this is a lie. He likes to drop hints about where he lives. They're getting very specific. I think the walls are, the walls are, the walls are, Hey, you know that Wendy's that's on the corner of blah, blah, blah, my apartment is three blocks to the northwest. It's like I see how many turns. I live four turns away from Thingx. I think people have triangulated my location. Right. Yeah.

Anyways. Thanks everyone for listening. Subscribe. We appreciate you. Today was great because of Andrew Mangupani and everything else was just us trying to get by. I wonder if people realize just, not even realize, do you think people, like, are we unhinged when Ian's not around? Yeah. He's a dad.

Do people enjoy that? Or do you want some more order? I'm sure it's split down the middle, honestly. It's like, this isn't the Monday show I'm used to. This is weird. What are they talking about? They're all over the place. What's wrong with Ian?

What's wrong with Ian? He sounds sick. Menda sounds funny. He sounds like a dork. I'm that velvety smooth AM radio voice. Yeah. He's back. He got a cold and now his voice is all messed up for just this episode.

He'll be fine next week. All right. Goodbye, Haley Salveon. Yeah. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening.