The Athletic Hockey Show - Calder Trophy Candidates, Tomas Tatar unsigned and Bill Daly on Australia, PHWL and future of Arizona Coyotes

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

The Wednesday roundtable with Rob Pizzo from CBC Sports and Jesse Granger and Michael Russo from the Athletic returns to discuss Calder Trophy candidates not named Connor Bedard. The boys present their most surprising stories that haven't happened yet this off-season, including Tomas Tatar signing a free agent contract, the 2018 Canadian junior team report and potential new homes for Connor Hellebuyck and John Gibson. We also stick tap Carl Hagelin and Joonas Donskoi and Bill Armstrong signing an extension to continue to be the General Manager of the Coyotes.Plus Bill Daly joined Russo from NHL media day in Sweden to address the NHL games being played down under in Australia, the new women's hockey league and the future of the Arizona Coyotes in Arizona.Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Athletic Hockey Show, the Wednesday Roundtable Edition. I am Rob Pizzo from CBC Sports, joined by my regular line mate. So I feel like I haven't seen in forever because it's been this summer. We just don't have as consistent of a schedule. Jesse Granger in Vegas. How are you, Jesse?

I'm doing well. And Russo back from Stockholm. Yeah, just just doing well. Russo from Stockholm. you back on our time again it's a shame that nobody can see jesse's beard right now it's just beautiful yeah it is this is the longest i've ever let it grow out yeah it's

i i just got back from a fishing trip and i really embrace camping mountain man uh look with the beard yeah you'll have to google this i'm dating myself again uh but uh google merlin olson and that's what jessie reminds me of right now i'll have to google that too but man yeah it's i didn't i want to say anything don't tell me you both don't know who know. You cannot tell me that you both don't know who Merlin Olson. No. I do not know Marilyn Olson. He was Father Murphy in the NBC show in the early 80s. He played in the NFL. Rousseau. Rousseau. Rousseau. Athlete turned actor. You don't remember the early 80s.

Tell us you are, I'm not believing it. I'm going to, you know, add 20 years because every time you come in this show and you try to, I'm not even justice age. I'm old. And I don't know what you're talking about. So the reason. So I think Father Murphy was like sort of the precursor to Little House on the Prairie, if I remember correctly, which both you might have to Google as well. I know that one. Landon. Yeah. So my cousin, Scott Molini, was Ephraim and Father Murphy.

So every single week, my brother and I would get on, turn on NBC. That was pre-DVR or everything. So you had to watch it live and we would watch our little cousin who's a kid on Father Murphy. And that's how I really, really got to know I'm Rowland Olson. Wow. This show got off to a weird start. Never thought we'd be talking about little kids. Watching little cousins on TV.

Stockholm is great. That's it. You're going to be short, sweet like Jesse? No, no. Stockholm is really, you know, it was really cool guys. And I don't know if it's good for the state of our business. But so I was the only North American writer that went to Stockholm. Everybody else was Europeans or, you know, L.A.

Freeman and Jeff Merrick. And so what was really neat was that the way it works at these NHL media tours is that there's different stations for these players. always go to and one is always to North American media. So this upcoming week, in Vegas, we got, and I can read to the list, the list is the star power is crazy. So a bunch of us, you know, national folks, Pierre LeBron and myself from the athletic and about, you know, eight others are going out to Vegas and these players come and talk to you. But in that one setting, you're in a group of eight. This one, I was the only one. So I had access,

exclusive access to 22 European players. And it was absolutely awesome. I mean, you know, everybody from Elias Pedersen, Jesper Brad to Martin Nietzsche's to, and what was really neat is that you get to, like a lot of these players that I've interviewed in scrums or never interviewed, you kind of get to know them. And so like there are certain guys like Rasmus Anderson and, you know, Jesper Brad and Nietzschez, like I would give any, Elias Pedersen, I would give anything to cover these guys. They're so well spoken. They're awesome. But then there's players that I really have never met before, like Stutzla and some of the young guys like J.J. Moser and Petrka. like super nice kids great great interviews so that was that was a blast i did a as we'll talk about in a bit i did a podcast with bill daily and then what was really neat guys is i actually went up to

carlstad uh sweden took a train three hours through the forest of uh sweden uh and got to carlstad and jule erksineck who plays for the wild picked me up at the train station gave me a tour of his town took me to his home uh his childhood home for three hours his parents put on a feast I did a big interview with him. And then he kept on getting these notifications that my train was delayed. So he just kept on extending, hanging out with me. Brought me to Farstad's rink. I got to see this incredible rink with a sauna in the corner.

Awesome European rink. That's where his dad also played. One three titles as a player, two as a coach. And then hung out a little more with Ericksonaki. He gave me a tour of the town, dropped me off the train station. I went back to Stockholm. And what a beautiful city. I cannot wait.

The Wild actually, and the Maple Leafs and the Senators and the Red Wings play there in November, and I cannot wait to go to back there. It was just an incredibly beautiful city, first time I was ever there. Can you believe that when I asked him how Stockholm was, Jesse, his first reaction was, it was good. And that extends to that. It's like hanging out, saunas, all of X-Men. We went to, I went to this restaurant called the Pelican, Ufa Bodine, a really, really reputable, respected. Swedish reporter brought

Elliot Friedman, myself and his producer Amel there. First time I ever met Amel, Jeff and Jeff Demet, our producer here. What a great dude. So we go to this restaurant, it's like this authentic Swedish restaurant, and it was a blast. Like one of those restaurants that, like, we had to beg them to get like an English menu.

Like, it was that authentic. And it was just, it was just magnificent. So cannot wait to go back to that place. Wow. Yeah. So it was a good trip. So as you mentioned, you got to sit down with Bill Daly. We're going to play that in the second segment of the show.

And then we're going to come off the back of it and just kind of touch on a few of the topics. I listened to it before we came on the air today. Nice little sit down. I always find Bill Daly to be rather interesting because he's the only guy I know who gives the corporate proper, not going to give you too much answer, but then follows it up with a whole bunch of information. You know, he kind of is that guy who doesn't want to talk. doesn't want to talk, but then I'm going to give you a little bit of, you know, something that you might find juicy in there. So we're going to hear from Bill Delly in the second half

the show. I want to get your opinions, guys, on a couple of things before we go to break. I can't believe it's September. I don't know about you guys. I know Jesse doesn't have to worry about, you know, changing seasons that much the way Russo and I do. But it's September 6th. Usually by this point, we know everything that there is to know. There might be a couple of free agents or a couple storylines or a couple of people we expected to be traded who might not have been moved yet. But I think there's a few this year and I thought they were really interesting. So I want you to fill in the blank. Jesse, we're going to start with you. It's September 6th, and we still don't know what. What is the one thing that's sticking out to you that you're shocked

that we don't know? We still don't know where two potential Vezina candidates are going to play this season in Connor Hellebuck and John Gibson. And I remember, back in the draft in Nashville, talking with Harmon, our writer in Vancouver, he and I were working on a story on like ranking the goalies who landed in free agency and the trades. And we were like, okay, we've got all these pieces, all these goalies moved, all this happened. All we have to do now is wait for the Hellibuck and Gibson trades, because that's obviously going to be the biggest piece of this story. So we'll just wait. We're going to hold off on this story a couple days so that Helibuck and Gibson can get traded. Here we are months.

later, it was a good thing we didn't hold on. We had decided to just run that story because we would probably never run it. It's crazy to me that it seemed like an certainty that these two guys were going to get moved. And you guys know me with the goalies, but it's, there, there is no position that changes the, like the landscape of a division of a conference like a Connor Hellebuck. Like that, he, like he will transform a team's outlook if he gets traded. And we still don't know if he's going to get moved, where he's going to get moved. It's rarely is there a move that seismic that can have that big of an impact still looming this close to the season starting? Well, just on that thought, which is why I think they stay at least to start the year.

I just think it's so late. I mean, GM's meetings are this weekend, but they're having a dinner with the head coaches on Thursday night and then, you know, meeting for three hours. There's not much on the agenda. Obviously, guys can talk, but that might maybe spur some stuff. But if you're Winnipeg now, and to me, they're a better team after the Dubois trade, and they didn't trade Sheifley who's coming off after a great year. Like, you know, why trade Hellebuck at this point? If you're not getting exactly what you want, and right now it looks like New Jersey and Buffalo

aren't willing to pay the incredible assets that they're going to, that Winnipeg is commanding, I'd say keep them and see what happens. Because they could be a really interesting player in the Central Division. And I don't think anybody's taking Gibson. I think there's too much worry, one about his contract. but too much worry, like, you know, is he the same goal he once was, how much it has to do with just playing behind that horrific, you know, defensive team in Anaheim. And so I think both stay. In terms of me, I'm just still surprised that we still don't have, you know, the names that were involved in that 2018 World Junior scandal for Canada. And we've been waiting and waiting and waiting. In fact, last year, if you listen back to my Bill Daly sit down with Sean Gentile in Vegas at the car wash there, that's one. one of the questions that we asked Bill Daley, and he expected it to happen at some point, and it still hasn't happened. And obviously, they're waiting for the authorities up in Canada

as well and not getting ahead of that. But it's just crazy that, to me, this just continues. And I think we all assume that we know some of the names, but it'd be nice to have something official. All right, mine, it's September 6th, and we still don't know where Thomas Tatars playing hockey this season. That one, to me, is really weird. I know we're not talking Connor McDavid here, But we're talking about a 20 goal scorer, a guy who could be serviceable for a lot of teams. There are rumors out there in the internet universe that Lou LaMerello signed him a while ago. And he's just being lewd. He's just going to wait to actually announce it.

But, you know, when you look at all those lists like free agents still remaining, of course, you've got the Cains and the Taves. But those guys have, you know, little side stories to them. We know that Jonathan Taves says he wants to step away for the game. But a while we know that Patrick Cain, even though he's back on the ice, like, He's recovering from surgery. He's not going to sign anywhere just yet. But what's, am I missing something with Thomas Tatar? Am I the only one who thinks this is really weird that it's September 6th,

that we don't know where he's playing? Jesse, you covered him, right? For about a month. The Golden Knights traded all those picks for him and then traded him away, like, immediately after. But I mean, yeah, I think he's a good player. I will say that I think part of the reason I only covered him for a month was Gerard Gallant didn't think his commitment to the defensive side of the game and to other areas

was as strong. So I think maybe that was part of the reason that he wasn't, he didn't last here. So maybe teams are looking at him and saying, well, there's a goal score, but what else is he going to do for us? I honestly don't know. He's produced everywhere he's gone. And he's played for quite a few different teams. So it shows you that it's not like he's a system guy. He can score wherever he is. I think it's a little odd, but then, like you said, you look down the list, and there are a lot of free agents that are that are guys that can still contribute and be good players that are still sitting out there. Maybe this is like the new thing. Teams waiting towards camp to see maybe they're waiting for injuries. You know you're going to get the odd injury here or there teams that didn't need a guy, didn't need a winger or suddenly going to need one. But I agree it is kind of odd.

Yeah, I'm looking at his numbers to Rob's point. I mean, the guy has played 12 years. is he's eight 20-gold seasons. One that he didn't get a 20-gold season was interrupted because it was slow starting because of the pandemic. And one of those non-20-goal seasons, he only scored 19 goals during his rookie year. So, like, you know, clearly this guy, you know, can score, but there's some reason why, I mean, he was a plus-41 last year, and we know the plus-minus means everything.

You just love trolling the comment. There's so much. Anyways, that's our list of things we can't believe are not solved by September 6. He was plus 41, but his analytics were bad. A couple more things before we go to break, guys. Some great pieces on the athletic I wanted to bring up. Scott Wheeler and you mentioned Harmon, Jesse earlier, Dial, they did a piece. Six straight year they've done this, so it's not anything new, analyzing the rookie class,

and the top 20 Calder Trophy candidates. And I find the bigger the prospect at number one, the more this kind of trophy falls by the side until the end of the year. Like we all make our heart trophy predictions. We all make our Vesna trophy predictions. Our, you know, our Norris trophy predictions. But when you've got someone like Connor Bedard sitting at number one, I don't know about you guys. I'm always just like, oh, okay, I'll deal with this around game 60.

But I read this thing and there were a few things that jumped out to me. And it's great because they take everything into account with this, with this piece. You know, a coach's track record with young players, their depth charts, where are they going to fit in? and things that voters ultimately end up looking at. Was there something on this list or something that maybe jumped out? Connor Bedard aside that you found really interesting. Russo?

Logan Cooley. Like I actually would put him, like, you know, I think that Logan Cooley is going to have a tremendous season in, you know, in Arizona. I know that he's technically 19 years old, but he plays like he's got, I mean, his body, his game, everything just screams professional about him. He is such a good player. I got to watch him right around down the street here at the University of Minnesota for a long time. It was devastating to this program and to the fan base with the gophers when he, you know, said he was going to come back and then a month and a half later changed his mind and signed with Arizona.

And he signed with Arizona because he's going to go there and play with Clayton Keller. And right away, if he gets on a line with Clayton Keller and maybe a Nick Schmaltz, he's going to get his points. So I don't think that we should just anoint Connor Bedard, the Calder Trophy winner just yet. Yeah, that's, Cooley was going to be my guy. But since Rousseau talked about him, you know where I'm going to go. Devin Levi in Buffalo. This is a team. This is a team that the expectation is that they're going to take the same.

step. And like they took a step last year. They've one point shy of the playoffs. They're so young. Everyone on that team is, it seems like every contributor on that team is like 23, 24, 22. And Devin Levi at the end of the year came in was awesome. We've seen a million goalies coming to the NHL and have an awesome couple games and then never to be heard from again. But I believe in Devin Levi.

I like his game. I think he's in a really good spot. Unlike Cooley, you know how this works. At the end of the year. If a player is on a team that is in the playoffs, it gives them such a big advantage. Arizona and Chicago are going to be irrelevant for the last two months of the season, maybe longer. Whereas I think Buffalo, if Devin Levi is in net leading this team to the playoffs for the first, like, they haven't been to the playoffs in forever. It's such a good story.

I just love the Sabre story. If that team is good this year, it's going to be so much fun to watch. And if the goalie is a rookie in net doing it, Devin Levi, he's kind of like, like he was, a big national story. I think he can absolutely unseat Bedard as a potential Calder trophy winner. I'm going to eat a bit of Jesse's lunch here because I have Levi as well. But I also just have that whole list surprise me that they've got the top 20 candidates. They've got 16 honorable mentions. So 36 players and eight of them are goaltenders. There are eight goaltenders that could legitimately win the Calder trophy.

There's only 32 teams in the NHL, right? They didn't add any teams when I wasn't looking. Like that, to me, was something that jumped out. The three of us have said this many times on this show. We consider ourselves guys who know this game pretty well, but when it comes to the, you know, junior players or NCAA players, we rely on the experts like Scott Wheeler. So that to me is one thing that I never would have kind of thought coming in,

that not only do you have top three on their list, someone who could win this award, but there are eight legitimate guys that if the right goalie goes down for a long period of time, suddenly you're looking at young players stealing that spot, which I thought was really interesting. So, Jesse, I got to talk goalies too. Yeah. And like the interesting thing is you mentioned how many there are, but like the only one with a chance that's obvious that's going to be the guy in that is Levi. Like, Dustin Wolf, I think, was the second goalie on that list.

And I love Wolf everything I've seen for. His skating is unbelievable. But he's in Calgary where Mark Strum and Vladar, like, is he even going to get to play? Like, he may be in the H.L. All year. But if, if Wolf gets to play behind that Calgary team, I think he's going to be awesome. You know, and just, again, looking at this list, you know, there are just, like, we forget Matthew Nyes called or eligible. we forget about, you know, Shane Wright.

I mean, there are guys that have gotten their feet wet a little bit that are also going to be right there, I think, very, very much to the end. This is going to be an exciting season, I think, of watching a lot of these young players really, really play well in this league. So let's go from analyzing rookies to just hard-hitting summer content, cheat meals that players eat during the summer. It's something Russo you were involved in. I'm sure you're going to frame this one and put it up because it was a lot of fun. I loved it with Jeremy Rutherford and Peter Baugh. I love this kind of stuff. I've said this on the show before.

I love hearing how players work out. I love hearing how players eat. I just, I find this really interesting. And you guys surveyed a bunch of players to find out what's their favorite cheat meal. And there's some great ones in there. And we can talk about our favorites. But the one thing that seems so obvious. and it makes so much sense, but you don't think this way.

You guys were asking about the off season. What's your favorite meal in the off season? But the one thing that started the piece that got me was the fact that most players would agree that the off season is actually where they have to be a little stingier. The off season, they're not burning as many calories. So they can't eat some of the junk that maybe they do shovel down their throats during the regular season. It makes sense. They're not on the ice, you know, multiple hours every day.

but I thought that was kind of really interesting. And I'll throw this out there. My favorite was still Mark Stone saying that he just plows ice cappuccinos from Tim Horton's all summer. How did you guys even come up with this idea, Russo, by the way? Well, first of all, it was Jeremy Rutherford's idea. I don't want to take credit. I got into it late in the game just because I was at the Swedish, you know,

the European version of the player media tour. So I'm like, you know, they asked me if I can ask players. So I asked 20 players. And so I sent them so much stuff. they're like, oh, we're giving you a byline. But wasn't it also Mark Stone that basically said that during the off season, that that's when he tries to be smart. And it's during the season where he just chows down on a bunch of, you know, calories.

You know, I could relate. My cheat food is a salad. That would be my cheat food. Yeah, okay. I think that's a sports writer like thing. Like when you're cheating the hot dogs and the beer and the popcorn, eating a salad every now and now. We should just do like a self-depriating

sports fried version of this. Some of them though were unbelievable. Like when I went to Erickson X house, his parents served this thing. I can't even say it in Swedish, but it's this like bread with like vanilla frosting in there. It was just unreal. You know, I could still envision, you know, Faravit just talking about like his, you know, like Slovak sausages.

Marcus Flino was just tremendous on it. And then as you said, some guys that just are like Elias Pedersen just keeps such track on what he puts in his body that there was just you know there's some guys you almost couldn't use you know like logan I texted Logan Couture and Logan Couture's cheat food sushi you know it's like what you know so it's like it's just I don't know it's just to me very very um it was interesting as you guys said I mean you know we're at the dog days of the off season I think it's an interesting thing that a lot of fans wonder about what these guys put in their body but it was also one of those stories that

You're like, all right, let's start talking about hockey now. That was what stood out to me was how much healthier these guys eat than I do? Because what I pictured, what I pictured the cheat meals to be, they were like, like Rob said, Mark Stone. Oh, I do iced coffee. I'm like, Vass to him, he's like, what bad stuff do I put in my body? Ice coffee. Yeah, that's pretty bad. And I'm like, man, your standard is a lot higher than mine.

In fairness, in fairness. The one thing for that people always seem to forget, that Tim Horton's ice coffee is like 470 calories. You know, if you have it with cream, they said it's the equivalent of something like six Big Macs as far as fat content goes. What? So, yeah, it's, in fairness, that is, you know, Tim Horton's here every 15 feet where I live and everyone always just stay away from the ice caps. They're so bad for you. They're delicious. But, yeah, I can understand how that's considered a cheap meal.

So go check it out. There's a whole bunch of players, a whole bunch of really, and I got so hungry reading that damn piece. I was like, oh, some of the pictures there are really good too. After the break, as we mentioned off the top, Rousseau had a chance to sit down with Bill Daley, Deputy Commissioner of the NHL. We're going to play you that tape and kind of analyze some of the things that he did or did not say. Okay, without further ado, this is Bill Daley sitting down with our own Mike Rousseau in Stockholm,

deputy commissioner of the NHL. Well, 27 years in January, Bill Daly has been with the National Hockey League, deputy commissioner. I feel like I've probably done more podcasts with you. Maybe Bill Garon's number one, but you're... Understandably so. Yeah, I know. That's my day job as being in Minnesota. But it seems like I always talked to you at the player tours and then obviously the GM's meetings and things like that.

And just let's start off. I mean, this is going to be an interesting training camp coming up. Like I was just talking to J.J. Moser. And this guy is so excited to get to Australia with the coyotes and the L.A. Kings to just begin training camp down there. But as he said, that sometimes we take for granted as introducing the sport to a new country, a new continent. And how much is that a big part of why you guys decided to make such a step and go down there for exhibition games and training camp? Well, I definitely think it was a big part of it.

There's no doubt. Australia has a level of hockey fandom already. A lot of people who came from either the United States or Canada and really have strongly desired NHL hockey for some time now. They've been talking to us for 10 and 15 years trying to persuade us to take the plunge and to bring some teams down to down under. And ultimately, we decided to do it this year. and we decided to do it for good reason.

One, obviously, we do have some fans already in Australia. We think it's a sporting nation with a real demand for sports at a high level, really any kind of sports, but hopefully particularly hockey. So we think we can grow a fan base in Australia, and we think there's business opportunities in Australia. It's a fairly rich market as well as a well-developed economy, and if people like hockey, people are probably willing to buy around the game. And so those were all factors.

Obviously, the fact that it's a new market is an important one. And, you know, we had two teams who were enthusiastic to do it, and had players who were enthusiastic to do it. It was kind of something different in the sense that, you know, it'll break the normal routine of their day-to-day training camp existence and be something different. Be a great experience for people. And hopefully if we have some success down there, we can make it part of a normal rotation. That doesn't necessarily mean every year.

As a matter of fact, it doesn't mean every year. But on some regular basis, bring NHL content to Australia. Are you or Gary going to go down there for it? So as of right now, Gary is slated to go. I am going to sit this one out, at least at this point in time. So that's the current plan. Yep. And then will you be at the Stockholm games then?

I will be at the Stockholm games. I certainly anticipate being at the Stockholm games, which also should be fun. Yeah, and that's what I want to ask you about. So, you know, obviously we're doing this podcast from Stockholm. You see it just going around this country the last couple days, just how much of a fandom this country is with with the sport and now to have four teams that are going to be in the global games here. Ottawa, Detroit, Minnesota and Toronto. How big was that to come back here and to continue to grow this thing and this in making this a European flavor as well,

I hear? Well, we have very deep and long-rooted ties to Sweden. And Sweden, obviously, is our biggest producer of non-North American players of any European country. And, and really by far. And those numbers continue to increase, right? We, you know, continuously draft more and more Swedish-born players. And we trust the Swedish player development system here to develop those players. And, you know, as a result, we have more Swedish players in the NHL. And I think that trend will continue.

We've invested in that model. You know, we've paid the Swedish Federation. and the Swedish Hockey League lots of money in development fees over the years to develop Swedish-born players for our sport. But obviously, you know, that relationship has fostered, you know, a close tie to hockey here in Sweden. And that is part of the reason that we come here regularly. And this year, you know, again, thinking outside the box, trying to be creative. We came up with this idea of bringing four teams at once. It's the first time we've done that to any market. And we felt like a kind of festival slash tournament type event would be well received

here in Stockholm. And having four consecutive games on four consecutive nights in any market is probably a challenge. But we think if there's any market that's up for that challenge, it's Stockholm. With that, like, you mentioned that Australia is going to be, you know, semi-regular maybe. What will you do in terms of the continuing the global games? Will you continue to come back here every year? Or will you be rotating that as well? So, I mean, we haven't been here every year.

Right. But we were regularly here. And I would say, you know, in the last, you know, if you leave the pandemic years aside, you know, we've basically been here on every other year basis. and I would expect that probably continues. I do expect that the global series itself as a property will continue to grow and that we'll be playing regular season games in other markets that we might not have played in before.

And I think we've had, you know, I think we have four cities in Europe where we've staged regular season games, actually maybe five, because I'm remembering Gothenburg now. I know we've had Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Tampa and Prague, I think you'll see those cities that are, that we believe are capable and would support NHL regular season games. The number of those cities are increasing as hockey becomes more popular on this continent. Right. There's one league now in North America for women's hockey.

How much will that continue? Will you work pretty much closely with that league and how do you see things evolving there? I mean, it's the expectation, certainly, to work closely with that league. You know, there's new leadership involved. It's familiar leadership. You know, Stan Kasten has a longstanding relationship, both with the commissioner but also our league. He ran the Atlanta Thrashers for a period of time. And I think he's partial to hockey.

He supports hockey. He likes hockey. And I think he sees, has a vision for the future of women's hockey. And certainly we've already had intensive conversations on how we can be. be helpful and supportive to that league, you know, as early as their inaugural season, which they expect to be, you know, January of next calendar year. So really at the end of our season in terms of launching. And that's a work in progress. But yes, we intend to be as helpful and supportive of that league as possible. You know, I'm intensitating that even Minnesota is going

have a team in that league. Do, do, do the, does, has the league given approval to NHL teams to essentially work closely with certain teams in that, in that league? Yes. The answer is yes. You know, we, we, we want to be included in the loop in terms of those conversations and and how they transpire. You know, we covered the issues at our recent club business meetings in Los Angeles,

the end of July. But yes, as much as we as a league want to be supportive, we encourage our clubs to be supportive as well. I know I ask you about this a lot, but obviously it's a huge thing in many markets about what's going on with Diamond Sports and the Ballets Regionales. I know that a lot of teams did get their payments recently,

but you also have Diamond Sports that's trying to negotiate deals with Comcasts, with, you know, direct TV, and obviously teams need to have their stuff distributed. Where is, what is the latest here? And is there a timeline on when this needs to be figured out? So these teams know that they're 100% going to be on these regional this year. Well, I mean, obviously, you know, the sooner the better.

But there's, you know, the whole landscape is really muddied by the bankruptcy in the sense of, you know, you can't have. established from timelines. Obviously, we'll know a lot more, you know, a month from now with how those carriage negotiations end up playing out that you mentioned, you know, the lifeblood of Bally's and Diamond Sports Group in terms of their ability to be successful in the marketplaces. You know, it won't surprise you, and it's probably consistent with the last answer I gave you. you know, the leagues themselves understand the importance of having games distributed or having

fans have access to their team's games. And we're prepared to do what needs to be done to make sure that happens regardless of an interruption of service from Diamond Sports. At least in the report that I saw the other day that it said that in bankruptcy court that you basically said that it needs to be, you know, probably by the end of September, I mean, you need to know, right? I mean, in terms of what the contingencies are that you might, as a league and team-specific teams are going to do. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what we told the court at the last hearing, which I think was, may have been the start of last week. Having said that, you know, an entity in bankruptcy can make certain promises and commitments and representations that, you know, if the,

if the facts don't play out the way they want them to play out, they have to renegan. And that's what the protection of the bankruptcy court allows to a certain extent. So, you know, you got to play by the rules and we aren't making or writing the rules. Yeah. So, you know, we'll see how it proceeds, how it plays out, and we'll be prepared for every contingency. The contingencies, could they be specific for each market? Or is there could be one blanket for all the regionals on how they're going to all handle this if they stream on own websites or go over the air or i know like i think the buffalo savor is essentially own

uh you know produced their own games and things like that so i do think the contingencies differed by market and you know they're i think all of our clubs with uh relationships with valley sports um are exploring what local options they have whether it be over the air or whether it be potential other carriers um and each market is different um just like every market is different even if this was not happening, right? In terms of what your options are, what your outlet options are. And you saw the way that it played out the last time the wild negotiated for a local television contract where there, you know, there appeared to be limited options and ultimately they got the deal they needed to get. Right. Let's move on to Arizona, you know, on no topic that seems to be never ending. Obviously,

they came out last week and announced that they purchased land or work in a purchase land in Mesa that would not require a public referendum and all that. But, you know, sometimes with Arizona, you just never know exactly what the future holds and what to believe and things like that. Sometimes? Yeah, sometimes, exactly. So what is the latest?

Because, you know, Gary has said publicly that pretty much by, you know, mid-season, that you really need to have a definitive decision on where they're going to play their games or you might have to explore other options. Yeah, I mean, I think that continues. be the case, right? So I don't think the timeline has changed. I, you know, we get regularly updated by Javier Gutierrez with respect to the status of their discussions on, on various

things, and Alex Morello. They're committed to finding a place in Arizona and making it work there. They continue to be optimistic about their ability to do so. I think what you saw last week or the week before, whenever it was, um, uh, was part of that, uh, kind of overall plan.

Uh, and I'll think, I think there'll be, uh, other things that come, um, down the road, um,

that will, will tell you whether they're making progress, real progress or, or whether they're not. But I, but I expect that to continue to be an evolving situation. All I can say is, um,

they remain optimistic and confident. Um, and so, you know, we, we, we get our information, from the coyotes.

How delicate of a balance is this for the league? Because I mean, this is one, another one where you have to make contingencies, you know, if this doesn't work out. And I mean, obviously, we know that you've talked to Salt Lake City, other markets that have interest as well. So how hard is it where you've got a, you know, coyotes fans want to hope that their team could stay there and have a future there. But yet you've got as a league, you need to figure out potential, you know, contingency.

I mean, I feel sorry for the fan base, right? because it's not the first time we've been in this situation we're in currently. Yeah. It seems like it's been, you know, repeated numerous times over the last 10 to 15 years. And that uncertainty is not helpful to the club or the club's business long term or to the fan base. And so I feel bad for the fans. I think it's unfair to them to a certain extent, even though it's, you know, I'm not sure I can find, you know, a single individual, a group of individuals who I can pin responsibility. on. It's just kind of the hands they've been dealt over time and doing the best you can with that.

So it's not an ideal situation by any means, but it's something that, you know, ownership continues to be committed to trying to resolve. Yeah. A couple more quick hitters for you, Bill, and then, okay. Let me ask you about then 2018 World Junior's update. You know, I mean, obviously this is something that I even asked you about last year at the at the at the at the at the at the at the NHL media tour what's the latest and and is it even frustrating for you that's taken this long no because I think the investigation takes whatever time it needs to take right you want to do a thorough job you want to get the you want to get all the information you can I think it's only fair to gather all the information you can I do

think you know we expect to see a final report very short And then, you know, and then what flows from that is really an unknown at this point. But I expect that, you know, that that'll play out. It's going to sound redundant, but sooner rather than later. Yeah. And just last day, how excited are you for the season? I'm like, every time I come to these things and you see these players, they are so excited to get back to North America and get going. And same thing from a league level.

I mean, you do all this planning in the summer to play the games. Yeah, no, we're really excited about the new season. And I think, you know, it's, it's going to, you know, the game on the ice has never been better. But I think it gets better every season, right? The skilled of our players are better, you know, and the entertainment quality of our game is better. So can't wait. Can't wait to get at it. And feel like we're in the home stretch of what was a short summer.

Yeah, right. Well, Bill, as always, I really appreciate you coming on. I'll see back here in Stockholm in a couple months, which I'm looking forward to. and good luck this season. Sounds great. Thanks, Mike. Okay, guys, a couple things that I wanted to bring up from that interview. Nice job, Mike, off the top. Hockey in Australia, right off the top of the interview,

I just kind of thought it was so interesting because I get in this debate all the time with some of my friends and some of them will argue that you can literally count on one hand the number of countries in the world that really care about this game. You know what I mean? They do, and it's huge, but you can really count. really counted on one, maybe two hands. Your thoughts on just the NHL's attempt to, you know, as he put it, grow a fan base from from nothing. Like we're not talking about, hey, do they like hockey over there? They're literally trying to grow a fan base on the other side of planet Earth

from nothing because they are such a big, you know, a country that's really into their sports. They care. And they've got the good infrastructure, good economy to maybe tap into that market. Jesse, what do you think of that? I love the idea. I just don't know if it will ever happen without them having a team. And I think just looking at Vegas from, I mean, Vegas is a lot closer than Australia. And there were a lot of people in Vegas that like hockey, but it didn't really blow up here. And people didn't really care about it until they had a team that was their team.

And I think it's very difficult to grow the game in areas where they don't have a team to root form. They don't traditionally like hockey, like Australia. I see the Golden Knights. They do a little tour every summer where they go up to Salt Lake City and they go into Montana. And they're trying to like capture that region and say, we're your team. But at the same time, it's still the Vegas Golden Knights and you play in Vegas and it's not our team. I think it's, will there ever be teams overseas? I don't know.

Like, I know the NFL has really like thrown that idea out there of having teams in England and stuff like that. And I think that's the only way, a country like Australia that's not hockey rabid. It's going to be hard. Like I said, I love the idea. I applaud the effort. I don't know how realistic it is without giving them a team, the Aussie NHL team that they can root for to blow the game up in Australia. What do you think, Michael? Yeah.

And I think Bill Daly is pretty candid. This is also a way to gain revenue streams to just build a fan base. there's there's money-making opportunities there um you know i mean look nathan walker grew up there right and he's in the nchel now i think he was born in wells but grew up in australia and started playing there so there's rinks and things like that but to rob's point you know until you we have so many few so few countries actually not just care about it but have the ability for people to play that if you could just start to build it up who knows what this thing could look like 10 15 years from now if people fall in love with the game. There are fans there because so many people move to Australia

from other necks of the wood. I'm, I could tell you that when I look at my Twitter account, even the Minnesota Wilde has a bunch of fans there that I get tweets from all the time that are down under, listen to my podcast, all that type of thing. So I think it's an interesting thing. They're not going to go there every year. They're bringing the LA Kings, which is Taylor made because Nathan Walker's from there. But I can tell you the players are looking forward to it. Like, J.J. Moser, who plays for the coyotes, could not wait to get down there. And they're having training camp down there to start off before their exhibition games. I'm coming back here.

And it's just an interesting little, you know, experiment from the league and to try to build, you know, that's one thing that keeps the NHL from growing is that, you know, there are guys that are in other sports that if they walk down the street in many other countries, you're going to know right away who they are. But if Connor McDavid walks through the middle of, you know, bum fuck wherever, it's very unlikely that people can be like, oh, my God, that's Connor McDavid, unless you're from over here and happen to be there. So I think that's part of the thing that the league is trying to do here. Another topic, I'm really glad you brought up the PWHL because, you know, it's obviously kind of all at once made the news. We finally have one women's hockey league. And, you know, he called it a work in progress, but did say they had talks.

about how they could help. And here's the reason I thought that was really interesting. For years, we've heard Gary Bettman has made no bones about it. When there were multiple leagues, he said, call us when you have one league and we'll help. Okay. The structure is there. I know that there's only six teams and there's only six players as of this recording that have signed in that free agent period.

I'm wondering how much Gary, excuse me, Bill Daley wanted to tell you there and how much he didn't because we're at that point. Are they going to start cutting a big yearly check to this league? That's my big question, Mark. What do you think, Chris? Yeah, I don't think they're at that point yet. I think that, you know, I mean, it's interesting that Brian Burke is now a part of that league and all that stuff. I think one reason why Bill was being a little bit cagey there was also he knew that probably that announcement was coming right around the corner and he didn't want to jump out in front of it and say something that, you know, would be getting ahead of the news.

You know, the one thing about this league is, and we're seeing today, there's a bunch of players in the last couple days, a bunch of players signing with all the, with different franchises. The Minnesota franchise just signed three today. But it did this, this felt like an expedited press conference where they didn't have every duck in a row. And all of a sudden they had this press conference to announce it. And I think that there's still a lot of things that need to be ironed out in front of details. Like right now, like the Minnesota franchise is expecting. and to play games at XL Energy Center, but there's no formal agreement yet. They still don't really have what a schedule might look like. And so there's still a lot of stuff that's going on. But I think that what thing that Bill Gilelli sort of made clear is that, you know, they welcome these franchises, NHL franchises to, to, you know, help out and have affiliations with the women's teams. And so I think the Minnesota Wild are going to be part of helping promote the women's team here in in Minnesota. And I think that's very important to help give this league, you know, extra credibility to just have some assistance from, you know, from the big brother here in the NHL.

We've seen in basketball how much the NBA has helped the WNBA grow. And like that, that really is like the key to it. And I think there, like Rousseau said, there's so many things that have the details that have to be ironed out. But this, to me, from afar, feels like the most momentum, the most optimistic I've been about the women's game and a league actually gaining some traction and growing. And I think the key was getting it down to one league. And that's kind of what they've been saying for years. And the fact, it just feels different to me. Does it feel different to you guys? This feels a little more optimistic. It feels like they're on the verge of something here. But I think we were going to feel that, Jesse, the very fact that they're on the same page for once

ever. You know what I mean? Like they haven't been. And it felt for so long like you had a bunch of people that didn't want to get on the same page, even though they knew that was going to be good for what they were trying to do. You can't have, you can't grow a league like that where three of your best players in one league, three of your best players in the league, unless you're soccer, the most famous sport on planet earth. It's just not going to work. So for me, I'm with you. I kind of feel like, this is the most momentum we've ever seen. Well, that's because there's just one damn league. But I also understand Russo's concern. I feel like this was announced and then suddenly, man, free agency period, we've got the draft on the 18th.

We've got, whoa. Like I feel like this is, you got a lot of work to do here. And that's why they're looking to start the season in January. I'm just really, really concerned about what kind of help they're going to get. Because you mentioned the WNBA, Jesse. To me, it's a matter of, it doesn't matter how popular or not popular league is. you're going to go through some financial woes. They do have the backing of some very rich people.

So that's a good thing. But if you've got a check coming in every year that you can kind of, you know, weather the ebbs and flows of financial, you know, reports, I think that's a big thing. So I was really glad that Rousseau asked them that. I kind of rolled my eyes when Rousseau asked them about the coyotes, not because I didn't think you should have, but you guys know my take on this one. I'm so sick and tired of hearing about this damnery. You know, I thought that was interesting when, I mean, you mentioned before how Bill Dele's

sometimes will like be a little forthcoming. How when I asked him like, you know, sometimes you really don't know what you believe there and he goes. Right. Yeah. That was the best line. So that's what I was going to say. Like off the top when I mentioned that sometimes he kind of starts slow and then we'll give you more information was specifically with this coyote's, you know, question. That's why. That's why to me this, this announcement that they made about having this land deal with Mesa and trying to, you know, play with everybody's heartstrings that the coyotes are staying, you got to take with a grain of salt. And even Bill Daly is taken with a grain of salt. Like right now, they are still looking at contingency plans. And by midseason,

if there is not a finite, like where this team is going to play, what the future is, I can see this team move into Salt Lake City. 100%. Well, I thought it was interesting because he started by saying, quote, it's continuing to be an evolving situation. And I'm out loud, said, no shit, Bill. like we've been evolving for God knows how long. But then he went on to really say that he feels sorry for the fan base. The uncertainty is not helpful for the league. He said it's unfair to a fan and it's not an ideal situation, which is not usually the message we get from the league when it comes to the coyotes, right?

No matter how shitty it can get, we seem to always have the, well, we're going to make it work in Arizona. This is the first time you released out of heard somewhere. who represents the league, Jesse saying, yeah, this sucks right now. To me, it's, I think the vote in Arizona going against the coyotes changed the way the NHL is handled. I think the NHL has kind of said, you know what? We have other options. Like I really do believe that just listening to Gary at the Cup final and Bill, it just really seems that that vote going against them was the turning point where the NHL, the NHL still wants

to be in Arizona, but they're no longer saying we're going to be in Arizona no matter what. They want the state of Arizona, the decision makers, they want those people to know that we have legitimate other options that we can pursue if you're not going to play ball with us, essentially. And I think that that vote going against them was what changed the whole vibe around it. And I'm telling you this might sound like a preposterous statement, but if they move to Salt Lake, when there is expansion next, don't be shocked if they go back to Arizona. Like, I'm telling you, like, I think they are not going to boot on this market.

They just want to get it right. And right now, they just can't wait forever on the coyotes to find a home. But they're not just going to, like, there's a reason why they have spent 20 years trying to save this franchise. And so if they move to Salt Lake in the next, when this league eventually goes to 34, which they will, because it's a money-making thing in the next five years. Like, don't be shocked. Like, everybody's been like Quebec City, Quebec City. No, it's going to be Atlanta and Arizona, I bet.

Just keep going back to the same places, even though it's failed on multiple occasions. Great interview. Really enjoyed that, Mike. And like I said, I love, I love Daley. Yeah. I just got to read you these names. And I'm just going to read them all because they're crazy. The players that we're getting at the NHL Media Tour coming up here in the coming week, right?

So alphabetical order via team, okay. Troy Terry, Clayton Keller, Charlie McVoy, Tage Thompson, Nazim Codry, Seth Jarvis, Seth Jones, Connor Bedard, Bowen Byram, Johnny Goodrow, Jason Robertson, Dylan Lark, and Leon Drys Idol, and Connor McDavid, Matthew Kachuk, Ange Coupitar, Matt Boldie, Cole Cawfield, Philip Forsberg, Jack Hughes, Anders Lee, Adam Fox, Jacob Truba, Brady Kachuk, Travis Keney, Sidney, Sidney Crosby, Mario Ferraro, Maddie Baneers, Robert Thomas, Mikhail Surgachev, Ilya Samsonoff, John Tavares, and Quinn Hughes. That is going to be, that is like ridiculous that these guys are all going to be. One goalie?

Yeah. One goalies? Come on. It's Ilya Samsonov. I love Ilya Samsonov, but I will say I've been led to believe that Samsonov's a great quote, which is all that matters. Oh, wow. That's the problem. The problem is the goalies must be like shitty quotes. Don't you think, Jesse? I don't. I think they're, I think they're all weirdos. I think they're all weirdos. I agree with that. They're weirdos. And I think they're probably harder to track down in the middle of September than the skaters are.

Hey, tell me, tell me that you read my Philip Gustafin piece, Jesse, the other day. I have not read it yet. It is, it is honestly hilarious. This guy plays like these mental checks during games where he'll let. like try it in his own head during a game to name like different things that start with every letter from A to Z. So one night, middle of third period, he is having trouble in that like a tight tie game. He's having trouble coming up with an animal that starts with the letter Q. So during the TV timeout, he goes to the bench and asks all the players on the bench and the trainer name an animal that starts with Q and everybody looked at him like he was like, what?

And then apparently somebody just gild out quail. And he's like, oh, quail. And then he went back into that. And they were like, what the hell just happened here? And apparently that's one of the things he does. He does all these funny things. The other funny thing is that he's not on an iPhone. So the group chat, they're not on WhatsApp.

They do a group chat. And he was wreaking such havoc with their group chat that they, he is no longer on the group chat. He just has to get separate texts every day with where to be. He doesn't know any of the inside jokes. It's brutal. The green text messes up the group chat so bad. Whoever has the green text, it's brutal.

But it's all. because that always comes in on a separate chat, right? It doesn't go in that same group chat. Yeah. So like if Spurgeon sends out something to like the entire team, it has to be copied and pasted and sent to him, Ryan Hartman will put on, Ryan Hartman's the judge and jury of the wild. So he's the one that finds the players.

And like he'll like all of a sudden like not know like why somebody is being fined or if he's been fined like things like that. It's a really funny story, Jess, if you give a chance to read it. Um, a quoka, a quagga, a quol. a quetzel. These are all quilling panda quohog. There's a few for him next time. You can pass that. Yeah. So it's the, we actually put a list in the story with that anecdote of like, of like, animals that start with cue. It's the only time I'm telling you in, in professional print journalism history that there was an actual chart in a publication with

animals that start to cue just inexplicably just popped into a story. Well, well, certainly the athlete. While our listeners try to think of a few more, we're going to go to break after the break. Long list of rapid fire, so we're going to have to put a muzzle on Rousseau if he gets too long-winded on this one. All right, boys, my favorite time of the show and yours.

Rapid Fire. Topic number one, if you're a Leafs, Havs, or Penns fan, they love getting tickets in Buffalo because they could see their team a lot easier and usually a lot cheaper too. But the savers are trying to change that. They're using other teams have done some form of this, but they're using their zip codes to put locals

at the front of the line so that Sabre fans are the ones getting these tickets as opposed to, especially Leaf fans, you watch a Sabres game against the Leafs, and there's a lot more Blue Jerseys in there than you would think. Your thoughts on teams trying to give their fans first choice on tickets, Jesse? Well, I think it's odd because aren't a lot of Sabres fans from Toronto? Like, they play the Canadian National Anthem every game there, even if it's to U.S.T. Like when Vegas plays Buffalo, they play the Canadian National Anthem. And I remember the first time I went there, I was like, what is going on?

on right now. And someone was told me like, yeah, like half the people in this building come down from Toronto. But how do you distinguish which people from Toronto are the like Sabers, like regular Sabers fans that come down and which ones are the Leafs fans trying to like I don't, to me, it's weird, especially for that city, a city that plays another country's anthem because so many fans come from the other city. Very odd to me. I don't know how they're going to do it, Michael. Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, maybe they'll have like a max like distance like Niagara on the lake, Max or like Hamilton, but you can't be past, past Hamilton. I don't know.

I mean, I actually have no problem with teams doing this as long as they're successful. I think what's funny is when they're not successful again, all of a sudden, they're like, all right, anybody can come. We'll take the revenue. You know, we saw that with the, we've seen that in Florida this year with, you know, it was, it was hard for other teams to get in there. We've seen Vegas try to do that. There's no doubt. It's usually in the playoffs, though, not for the regular season, right? It's usually playoffs.

Yeah. Like, but even the Vegas. Vegas has made that, that's been a while, you know, especially after their first year where, you know, teams like Minnesota would come and 5,000 people would be wearing wild jerseys. They've tried that to stop it. It was always interesting in Arizona. Like, you go to Glendale Arena guys and like half that, I mean, three quarters of the building were wearing the opposing jersey. Now it's a little tougher with in a 4,600. Bill Foley actually explained it to me. I don't remember the exact rules, but it is pretty crazy. The rules Vegas has about selling. Yeah. They'll, they'll make. Well, not only that, but the Golden Knights will not sell more than like three seats together for opposing. Like you can buy 20 seats if you have a group of 20, but they split you up around the arena because they don't want chunks of the arena colored, like looking like the opposing fans. So there has to be at least one row between and there has to be two seats between. And it's like wild. They have actual rules for the season for the ticket salespeople that you have to split them up and spread them around the arena.

necessarily doesn't look so bad. Yeah. Or put them up in that, put them up in those diamonds in each quarter, right? These partiers. Rapid fire topic. Number two, Patrick Kane,

we kind of touched on this earlier, three months after hip surgery, which by the way is way ahead of schedule. He was back on the ice. He says he's feeling like himself again. He's got a doctor's appointment apparently coming up where he's hoping to get cleared for contact. So maybe he signs earlier somewhere

than we thought the Redway. keep getting thrown in there as a possible destination. Your thoughts on Patrick Kane back in the ice first. Yeah, I mean, this game's better with him not only in the game, but playing the way Patrick King can play. And I'm sure that deep down, he would love to return to the Rangers. I don't know what the level of interest is. Buffalo is somebody that you're always going to just hear about because he's from there.

But then you've got to look at the teams that have a lot of cap space because he's, look, he's not signing for. 750, 775. So you're going to need to pay Patrick Kane. You might not need to pay him 10 million, but you're going to have to pay the guy. And obviously the Red Wings have, are flush with money. I love the Red Wings idea, both in the fact that that team is. They're going to be an interesting team. Yeah, like they're looking to take the next step. Their young guys are coming along. They've added some veterans. They've been aggressive with the adding of the veterans the last couple off seasons. And the fact that just nine-year-old Jesse remembers when Chris Chelle Los went from Chicago to Detroit. And that was such a huge thing. Like in my, like, that was a, a, a, a, a, a transaction that from my childhood that sticks out. So Patrick Kane going to the Red Wings would be interesting just for me personally,

like nostalgia. Rapid Fire topic number three, Phil Kessel says he wants to play this season, still unsigned, 35 years old. And he's thrown a little caveat in there because, you know, everyone kind of assumed that if you sign Phil Kessel, he wants that Iron Man streak to continue. He said he's absolutely willing to sit out games and the streak coming to an end. Jesse will start with you since he's fresh off that Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. Yeah, I'm not surprised.

I don't know what else he's going to say. I mean, if he wants to play in the NHL, he's going to have to be okay with that streak ending because he's at that point in his career where he's maybe not an every night NHL player. And I think he had to say it publicly. And this is a guy that was having a baby and decided to play one shift just to keep the streak going. So, I mean, you know, like, you know, that's just, that's just, you know, the streak is important to him. You know, where do you think his game is at chess? I mean, could he still help a team?

I mean, he's a hilarious guy. He could help a team in the locker room. I mean, to me, I totally credit him for not making any of us go back to Florida for game six. Right. The players love Phil Kessel. They love him. And how much does that help them on the ice? I don't know.

what I will say is that he was brought in mainly to Vegas as to help the power play. Like Vegas's power play has sucked forever. And he was invisible, completely invisible on the power play. Did basically nothing all year on the power play. So to me, it's like, well, if he's not going to inject some offense into your power play, what are you really getting from Phil Kessel? I think you can get some playmaking. He's got the hands.

He's not a slow skater. He can still skate. but the thing he would like his specialty if he's not great at that anymore are you willing to overlook some of the defensive lapses before when he's not getting you the power play points that you hope so I think it's he's getting near the end there and by the way if you're at home and you're forgetting what I meant with my joke about going back to Florida there was anecdotes from players after the cup win that before game five he gave a little speech where he basically told everybody if you guys make me get on that fucking plan and go back to Florida.

I'll tell you guys. Typical Phil Kessel. A couple of retirements to pass your way, both coming because of an injury. Carl Haglin retired, had that eye injury. He hasn't played since 2022, has decided to hang up. Of course, won two cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. And Jonas Donscoy, seven concussions. That'll do it for you.

You know, it's, concussions are always tough. It's not like another injury where. You can kind of say, you know, I don't mind walking with a limp for the rest of my life. This is your brain you're dealing with. So your thoughts on these two guys. Either one kind of jump out to you. Rousseau. I love Carl Hagelin because one day I was standing at the, you know, that giant elevator on the basement level of Madison Square Garden to go into the arena.

And he was right in front of me getting ready for a game. And I look at his phone and he's playing poker on it. And I'm just like, that is a cool dude. That's how he was getting ready for a game. He was just playing online poker on his phone. It was just pretty cool. Horrible about Don Skoy with the concussions, and, you know, I'm glad he's taking care of himself and all that. I don't know Don Skoy.

I've gotten an interview with Hagelin a number of times, and he's a cool dude. And he was a good player, you know, fast. He was very handy for a lot of teams in his career. You know, Rangers, ducks stand out to meet penguins, obviously. Yeah, it's sad to see players having to retire due to injuries. not through them being done playing hockey. But I will say at the same time, I think it's a positive sign of where we're going

in terms of knowing about brain injuries and knowing the effects. I think this is somewhat new. And you see it in like football where they have way more brain injuries than hockey. Players are becoming more aware of how bad this can be for them and protected themselves. So I think while it is sad to see Don Skoy have to retire because of that,

I think it's good that we as a society are learning more about head injuries and guys can make these types of decisions rather than just kind of going along with it and suffering the consequences later. And finally, we touched earlier on the show about maybe some three agents that haven't signed that we were surprised about. How about people who wear ties? I got three signings to tell you guys about let me know which one. Maybe it raised your eyebrows or you think it's just a good little story.

Bill Armstrong sticking around with the coyotes signed an extension there. Doug Wilson, former Sharks GM, is now C. senior advisor with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Bruce Boudreau also signed as a senior advisor with the Niagara Ice Dogs. Russo. Excited for that one is son Ben, uh, who led Fort Wayne to a CHL title a couple years ago. He's the associate coach there. And so Bruce goes there and he'll do it from afar.

Uh, I'm sure, but, you know, he gets to go, uh, I mean, sort of his hometown team, right? His mom lives right around the corner, you know, 80 some odd years old. Bill Armstrong makes all the sense of the world I mean like their like his whole plan is for the future they've got they've got 60 something prospects and draftics and all that stuff with all the moves that he's made and this is all about getting

out of that building and being a GM somewhere else and when the future is not you don't know where the future is you know now he's at least locked up so he knows if he's got a move he's going with the coyotes and obviously tyranny just got just got extended the other day and then Doug Wilson

my only initial thought there is I'm just glad he's healthy because he was not doing well for a while. Yep, that was, that's where I was going to go. It's good to see Doug Wilson back in some capacity helping a team. What a, what a heavyweight, like, front office they're building there in Pittsburgh. It's going to be interesting. Like, in theory, you've got a lot of great hockey minds there that can really do some good stuff. But then it's like, okay, well, with that many good hockey minds, like, how do the egos clash? How do they, like, I don't know. It's, it's going to be very, interesting. I think it has the potential to work really well with Dubus and Wilson in a really good

market. All right, boys. Seasons just around the corner. What are we working on? Jesse. I got a question. How does Rob Rossi's ego clash with Kyle Dubas? That's what I want to know. Fantastic for us, I think, is the answer to that. Exactly. I'm just getting back to work. I've been off for two weeks fishing and camping and doing all kinds of stuff. So there's going to be some stuff on the horizon, but today I'm kind of just getting back into things. I don't have anything exactly on the menu right now. About you, Michael. Only thing on your menu is to shave that beard.

I'm not shaving it. I'm getting a haircut before I get back to rookie camp and stuff, but I think I'm going to leave the beard. See how it goes. Oh, like Jumbo Joe type beard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on the Pierre LeBron tour. I'm going to Chicago tomorrow to cover the GM's Venus with Pierre.

Then we go out to Vegas and cover the NHL Media Tour. That'll be a blast. A lot of good players there. A lot of story ideas that I have for the season that I'll be trying to tackle. Then we got a player poll that I've been working on. I talked to all the European guys in Sweden the other day. And then I'm going to be bringing the same questions to the NHL stars that are in Vegas. Then we'll have a real good 50-person player poll with some cool questions.

And then on Minnesota Wild, Mike McDonough just moved back to Minnesota for the first time since he played here with the North Stars in 30-plus years. I'm going to be sitting down with him for a big story. And, I mean, just a ton of a ton of stuff on the horizon with the Wild. And then also Natalie Darwitz, the new GM of the women's Minnesota franchise. I'm hoping to sit down with her in the coming days as well. Jeez, Jesse. Russo made you look really lazy there. Yeah, yeah, I'm okay with it.

Listed like 25 things that he's working on. But get to work, shave that beard. Yeah, my haircut. My haircut is right up there with all those story ideas. What to remind everybody, you want to remind everybody. You want to see these ugly mugs and long beards. Go to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash The Athletic Hockey Show.

And right now you get a new subscription to the Athletic for just a dollar a month for 12 months when you visit the athletic.com slash hockey show. The Athletic Hockey Show continues Thursday. Haley Salvin and Sean Gentilly. For Jesse, for Russo, I'm Piso. We'll see you next Wednesday.