The Athletic Hockey Show - Is Joe Pavelski Hall of Fame worthy?

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

Sean, Frankie Corrado and Sean preview the Stanley Cup final between Edmonton and Florida, the opportunity the NHL has with Connor McDavid in the final, the overwhelming consensus that the Panthers are the favorite and if Canadian hockey fans should be compelled to cheer for the Oilers since they are the last Canadian team standing and the perceived tax advantage U.S. teams have over Canadian teams.Before that, Sean and Sean tell us what they learned this past week in hockey, with Joe Pavelski hinting a retirement announcement, is he a hall of famer? They discuss the Utah NHL franchise selling partial ice view seats and the Sean's present the worst TV commercials in Canada and the States this playoff season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is the Athletic Hockey Show. It's the Wednesday edition. Two Shons and a Frank. Frankie Carado will be here in the second segment. For now, he's Sean McIndoo. I'm Sean Chintilly.

How are we doing, bud? Doing all right. Are you pacing yourself on the long, long off season? Oh, wait, no, I'm sorry. It's the break between. Yeah. When did you hit your wall in terms of discussing, this series. I think it happened for me. This is

spoiler alert. It happened probably halfway through our conversation with Frank. I was like, okay, this is good. This is podcast number three for me in three days. And yeah, I'm done. I'm done. Because in the first two podcasts, I could just take a completely different side on who was going to win. But now I'm like, I think it's going to be a draw. I'm going to cover my bases. We've also both been locked into our picks because we have to do we've been enlisted

to do and we did like the same conversation we're we have to do this after this show we have to go and and argue in print and I even

you know they came to us and they said because you guys pick different teams and I like message Sean I'm like I don't remember what team I picked man but I was like

oh yes at least tell me you know which one you did I'm like 75% sure I'm Panthers and 6 okay I need to go back and check all right well there you go

congrats I'm taking the oilers Sean I guess there's other stuff happening we should thank there's a couple other topics league-wide we should thank Joe Pavelsky we should thank some other folks right for giving us something else to talk to because there's almost four full days to go in this interminable weight

between the conference finals and then it's a three-week series and I get like travels bad arenas, TV. There are practical real world reasons. But just from my perspective, it would just, if the league would just start the Stanley Cup final, the day after the conference final,

and just play every night for seven days, that would be fantastic. That would work great for me. Can you imagine? But nobody asked. Can you imagine the travel-related complaints we'd see from NHL media, if that were the case?

Yeah. And I mean, and people love that. People can't get enough. The sympathy that just floods in when... Definitely when you have travel written into your contract and then complain about having a travel. Sweet.

Cool stuff. They really, people really enjoy that. So luckily I will be traveling from my couch to the refrigerator and I'll have plenty of time to do it. You mentioned a few, like, we'll get into the whole, the final and the matchup and everything, with Frank. I think that's the place to do that. You mentioned some of the other stories. Here is what I learned this week. What have we learned, Sean? As the self-appointed coordinator

of the Oggwack, old guy without a cup, Hall of Fame, we have waived the waiting period for Joe Pavelski. It's something, the hockey hall of fame used to do it. You know, Gretzky Lemieux, those guys. We've done it a few times in the past, most recently for Joe Pavelski. Thornton. We're doing it for Joe Pavelski, an all-timer. Hell of a career. Old guy without a cup Hall of Famer. Is he a real actual hockey hall of famer? Yes. That's where I've, that's where I've landed on this. If I were building the Hockey Hall of Fame from ground up, which unfortunately wasn't the case, would Joe Pavelski hit my personal benchmarks? Like, not. Not really. I think I'm a small hall guy just in theory. But we have to look at what the

Hockey Hall of Fame has become in practice, for men at least. There's a whole logjam for women players. That's something that needs to be addressed. It's something that they don't seem like they're all that concerned about addressing. That's another conversation for another day. For men and for NHL players, especially for North American NHL players, it's like you're pretty good you're in, right? I think that's, I think that's where we're at. And I don't know if it was when Guy Carboneau got elected or what at some point in the last 10 or 15 years, the bar has been lowered. It's not a good thing. It's not a bad thing, but it's the way it is. And I think, and I think Pavelsky gets in under the way things have changed over the last little bit.

And I mean, it goes far further back than that, right? I mean, Bernie Ferdurco and guys like that that were sort of borderline. I know Dino Cicerelli is another guy. a lot of people point to, I do feel like the last few years, Kevin Lowe and Guy Carbino being the one-two punch, I have said before, and I'm not even that much of a small-haul guy, but Geekarmino just has to go out of the discussion.

I was trying to set you up. They screwed up. I was trying to set you up to say that because I know this is how you feel, because we've done, I mean, you and I have been on this each summer for the past few summers. The key summers is the new entry point. Everybody gets in.

Like, that's it. Like, you, you, you, you get 600 point. You're in. Like, everybody is in if we use Guy Carbino as the, you know, as, as the standard to get past. He, he, I mean, he was a good player. He obviously had some friends on the committee. That's it. That's all you can say.

They screwed up. They put a guy in who shouldn't have been there. And I hate that because of the nature of these conversations, now you got, Now it sounds like I'm knocking a guy who had a great career and everything and, you know, did all sort of stuff. Right. But they messed up. And at some point, we just got to say it's a mess up, take them out. And not take them out of the hall fame, but take them out of the conversation.

Physically remove him. Physically remote security. Take him out. Here's the thing with Joe Pavelsky. I think Joe Pavelsky is getting in. Yes. But. And I think he's getting in because he was a beloved player.

nobody seems to have a bad word about him. And unlike a lot of guys finish strong in his career. There's so many guys seem like they've got a Hall of Fame track resume when they're 30 and then five years of being a 40-point third-liner kind of diminishes them. And like everybody's not their very last memories because unfortunately didn't have a very good playoff. But in three years from now, people are going to look back and go, joke, that guy was good right up until the end.

that haven't been said. He did get to a thousand points. He got to 476 goals, not bad numbers for a guy who played a big chunk of his career in the, well, played his entire career in the cap era and a lot of it in low scoring years. He has one year in his 18 year career, one year where he was a second team all-star. That same year he finished seventh in hard voting.

There was only one other year where he even got so much as a heart trophy vote. And that was two years later. He finished 14th. 16 of his 18 years, this guy did not show up on a single heart ballot. If your view of the Hall of Fame is any kind of best of the best, if you want guys to have been in the best in the world conversation, if you want guys to have been best at their position, you can like Joe Pavelsky all you want.

guy was never anywhere near that. Again, one year where he was a second team All-Star. Now, there are other guys that that's true for. I mentioned Dino Cicerelli, you know, he was never postseason All-Star. He was never, he was a compiler. But he compiled 600 goals. Joe Pavelski is like a long-time consistent guy who compiled his way to just north of a thousand points. I don't.

he wouldn't get my vote, but I think he's going to get the votes to get in, and I'm not going to be mad about it the same way that I was about Geek Carbino or Kevin Lowe or some other guys. I mean, we'd all, I mean, I get what you're saying, just to cop to the mistake with Geekarbono, like, it's not how it works. He's in. It would be unfit.

It's, I'd be unfinite. Exactly. We're not going to, we're going to have to expand before, so suck it up. Four guys. It is. It is, it is, it is, it is, it is, it is, it is, it is what it is. They, they blew it.

Like, the, the, the, the, the, the ship has, has, uh, has, has, uh, has left the port on this one. So you say, this is, this is how the NHL thinks about things. Every time the NHL screws up, they go, well, that, nothing we can do now. Yes, you can. You can fix what you screw it up. Hey, Gary Betman. Everybody hates, uh, offside review.

Well, that ship has sailed. Yeah. So unsail it, man. Like, you can't, I, I, I, you can't unsail it. inducting a guy into the Hall of Fame. It happened already. You can change rules. You can't take down

Geekarbonne's black or whatever. It's the way it goes. I need to frame Guy Carbino for like a gambling scandal or something to get him out of. You know, it's going to be funny whenever Joe Pavelsky ends up with more support for his hall case

than like Corey Perry does. Because I bet he, I bet that happens. I bet Corey Perry has a tougher time getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Corey Perry, former hard trophy winner, gets it has a tougher time getting in than Pavelsky, for all those reasons you just outlined, right? Because he's hung around long enough to be old and mediocre,

you know, despite being at the peak of the profession. Like, not all that long ago. I would like to congratulate, first of all, the following players who, based on Sean's formula,

are now in the Hall of Fame because they had as many or more points as Guy Carbone. Congratulations to Jamie Lang and Bruner. Max Patcher ready Hang it up buddy You're already in Jeff Skinner Is already in

Uh Long Craig Ramsey Ooh good Good for him He's in And Damon Langkow Also wait for the phone call buddy

You're You're in the Hall of Fame Because we screwed up Is that what's the What's the barometer there? Points That was points Yeah if you want to do goals

I think we're down to We're going to be put in defense defensive defenseman. I congrats to Damon Lanko on having a thousand points. I would have, I would have, oh, he did get no, Damon Lanko had 672 points, but Guy Carbino had 663. Oh, so I'm using, I'm doing the carbino line here. Okay, so let me ask you this. You're saying Perry's not in. I think Perry is getting in. I think he is. I think he is. I think I think there will be more debate over Corey Perry than it seems like there has been over Joe Pavelsky. And that's because of off ice stuff or because of like just, I think, I think, I think,

mainly because he hasn't been an above average player for the last eight years. You won a heart. I agree. He's a note like put him in. Again, this goes back to you're like whatever. Don't even think about it. I love how you preface this. Rubber stamp.

Rubber stamp. It's just the way it's just the way it is. And it's not just, it's not just heat carbony. Do you think people get a boost from being American? Do you think people look at it? No, because that's never, that's never happened in the history of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Who's an American who's gotten to?

boost. Joe Mullen. Joe Mullen is in purely for being an American who got to 500 goals. Multiple Stanley Cups. He scored 500 goals. He was a compiler. He had some really good seasons. He was a compiler on top of that and he won a bunch of cups.

His resume is stronger than Joe Povelliske's. I will hear no Joe Mullen slander on this. Okay. Somebody introduce our buddy, Sean, to the concept of era adjusted stats. Because if you error adjusted stats, because if you error adjusts, for the 80s, Joe Mullen actually had 14 goals. That's it. Just put everybody, I don't really, put in

Damon Lankow, I don't care, it's over with. The argument has been decided, and it's because these dudes who have been on the board for the last, however many, like this isn't just like changing off sides. You can't unring the bell. The Hall of Fame is what it is.

You don't know. If guys are borderline, put them in. Here's what it is. It's like The skate in the crease rule. You can't unring Brett Hall scoring goal and Dall start, but you can then go the next year be like, we're not doing that anymore. We're not doing that anymore. I am going to say it's going to be very, very funny

when the next Hall of Fame class is like 14 dudes who are like, and no women. You know, they're just not, we couldn't find any. Oh, there's just so many, like votes. None of you daves have done enough. Oh, I have seven gold medals. Is that enough now?

No, but Joe Pavelsky's in. Votes get split between four of the six greatest players of all time. Like, there's nothing we can do about that. Sorry. Yep. No, well. Then who cares? Who cares?

That's my method to Hall of fan voting. Shut up to Joey Mullen and Damon Lankow, who just caught strays left and right in our opening segment. I'm going to pass that along to Slippery Rock Joe, brother. He's not going to appreciate it. This is what happens, NHL, when you make it a full week between conference finals and the start of the final, you get Damon Lankow Hall of Fame debates. Jamie Lang and Bruner's slander. This will not stand. God, they're going to make us do a written debate of this now, too.

Coming to the New York Times sports section in a couple days. The other thing that's happened over the last couple days, and congratulations to Utah, I suppose, fans in Utah. Because they're psyched. They're getting a team. They're very, very happy about it. 34,000 season ticket deposits, which is wild. And they announced yesterday that they're going to sell discounted, and this gets huge air quotes, partial ice view seats,

which means you're sitting at the top of a block of seats and can't see the goal or whatever. We've seen this before. We saw it in Brooklyn in particular. I don't know how I feel. I don't know how I feel about this. I think people are, I, it's fun now on June 5th,

2024. Everybody wants to put down the deposit and get on the list in theory. And then in practice, when you walk into an arena and you're, and you can't see one of the goals,

I think that's when reality, when reality sets in for a lot of these people. Like it's, it's tough. Get ready. If you were buying a partial ice seat, you were not going to be happy with it. I had heard, as everyone had about the obstructive view seats. When I saw the ticket map yesterday, my jaw drop.

Because that's not a handful of obstructed view seats. That's half of the upper deck. I mean, it's got to be a quarter of the seats of the entire arena. minimum. And yeah, it's that's, that's going to be an issue.

Know what you're getting. That's it, right? That's the, you want to be part of the experience. You want to kind of, and they are going to, they're going to be doing renovations over time and they're going to be making this better and better.

Renovations over time, they're going to get a new arena at some point because the Olympics are going to end up there by all accounts. So the problem's going to fix itself. but in one way another. Don't let us talk

you about to buying tickets. Buy tickets because this new team needs your dollars to go out and acquire every single player on the trade block because I don't know

if you've seen this, everyone's going to Utah. They're getting Mitch Marner. They're getting Martin Neckis. They're getting everybody. They're going to build a dream team because they're starting from scratch. I think NACIS.

I think NACIS would be really interesting on that roster. They do need a sense. center. Marner's by whatever. I'm not going to not going to entertain that one. That's just pipe dream stuff. Nature just seems like a more viable, a more viable buy because he's a distressed asset at

this point. And he fits a major need. They need a center. I'm excited to watch this hockey team just generally. I think, you know, they have. Or watch half of this hockey team. And then, you know, it's too bad. We didn't give this, we didn't put a team in here in the 90s when.

the entire NHL product was played in the neutral zone. Just guys chipping the puck back and forth. You wouldn't have missed a thing. But unfortunately, there's going to be some poor kid in a Connor Ingraham, Utah mammoth jersey who gets season tickets and never actually lays eyes upon Connor Ingraham from his, from his assigned seat.

That's going to happen. Very sad. And again, not a bad, not a bad thing necessarily. It just is what it is. I hope these people know what, know what they're getting into. because all those Islanders fans who bought tickets at Parkley's Center in 2011 or 2012 or whenever that went down, like I said, one thing to buy them, it's another thing to get to your seat and realize that you can't see a solid third of what's taking place on the ice. So good luck to everyone who's involved.

All right, Frankie's here. Fresh off the Memorial Cup, Saginaw versus London. We have 30 minutes for you to block it out for you to talk about this. No problem. Make it count. What's up? It was great. Honestly, it was a great tournament. Everyone in Saginaw did such a good job. The team, like the team deserved to win. They played really well the entirety of the tournament.

Like a lot of good players there that are going to be playing in the NHL next season. It was, it was awesome. Even being out in Frankenmuth, which is, you know, 20 minutes away where we were staying. You could feel there was a little sense of community out there. So awesome experience, awesome tournament. kudos to everyone in Saginaw and Frank and Mooth who put on a great Memorial Cop and congratulations to the Saginaw spirit. Who popped from that in that, you know, over the last few games for you. I know there's some high profile dudes there. But was there someone that you saw that you're like, all right, this guy could, someone you were like unaware of or kind of kind of watching for the first? So a lot of the usual suspects for me that we kind of knew, I thought Braden Yeager's game was really strong. like there was nothing perimeter about his game.

He was using his body, like a lot of presence in the middle of the ice. He wasn't just a shooter. Like he was a distributor as much he was a shooter. I thought he was very impressive. Even Craig Button was sitting next to me saying like that looks like a guy that could play in the NHL next year. And, you know, see if he starts out there. But I think he was impressive. The Mataic kid from Moose Jaw, who's the Columbus first round pick, like love, love his game.

And then, you know, maybe someone I didn't know as much about was Casper Haltinant, the San Jose Shark second rounder, six foot three, 215 pounds. In the OHL final, he had back-to-back hat tricks. Then he followed that up with a two-gold game. And he scored in every game of the Memorial Cup. I can't remember if he scored in the final or not. But he, like, he's a shooter and he can put the puck in the back of the net. So there was, you know, there was a few performances that,

kind of came out of nowhere. The Dionysio kid, the defenseman in Saginaw, he's the Anaheim fifth rounder. Like he's, I wouldn't call him high risk, but he wants to be very busy and involved when he has the puck. So, like, he's an exciting player to watch. There was, there was a lot of exciting players to watch, but, you know, a few guys that maybe I didn't know as much about, like Dionysio, um, Halton, and I just, I was so impressed with Brayden Yeager from start to finish. as you were watching that tournament, we were all watching the conference finals, which were going on at the same time,

which was annoying. I didn't like that. I guess space them out a little bit more. But speaking of being spaced out, we have a good, good solid week waiting for this series to start. That was a Frankie level segue. Yeah.

And he didn't interrupt. Look at me. And I'm really good at segues when I have nothing of value to add to the current conversation and yet awkwardly feel like it's my turn to talk. Edmonton, Florida, is this the best possible matchup that we could have hoped for like going into the playoffs? Like I legitimately think it might be if you could have picked. You know, obviously there were a lot of contenders this year.

So there's a lot of good ones. But I'm not sure there's a better end point for the season. than this. Okay, so think about what we're getting. We have the best player in the world finally playing for a Stanley Cup. Like, isn't this, like, how does it get any better than that? And that's at the top of the list. And then you add that dry sidel, you know, is right there with him.

So we probably have two of the best players in the world. We have a Canadian team and a Canadian market now involved, which adds so much more. No offense to, you know, anyone in the States. But, like, you know, having a Canadian. Some taking. That's, okay. Having a Canadian team involved in the final just adds a lot of juice, especially, I mean, especially north of the border.

Like there's, there's a lot of hockey fans that are going to be more invested now. Now, that doesn't mean they're going to be cheering for the Oilers. Maybe we'll get to that in a bit. But there's a lot more juice with those two guys, McDavid and Drysidal involved. And having the Panthers back, like the Panthers for me, they provide headlines the next day. They provide that eight second clip that you're going to go on Twitter and see everywhere the next day. And we don't know what that clip is going to be. It could be a Kachuk hit.

It could be a Sam Bennett elbow. It could be like a dazzling goal. It could be a Bobrovsky save. But they provide that eight to 10 second Twitter clip that you have to go see the next day more than any other team. And I think McDavid also does that on an individual level. So for all that, yeah, I would agree. This is the best case scenario as far as the Stanley Cup final goes. I honestly like that it's a disaster for U.S. TV partners.

Like, I'm tired of pretending like we should give a shit over what their ratings are. It's an annoying thread that's popped up over the last however many years. Like, truly, what do I care that? that Edmonton ratings aren't going to, first off, by the way, it's also worth noting that the ratings for Edmonton, Dallas were, like, relatively pretty good. So it seems like U.S. audiences are maybe starting to lock in on the fact that McDavid is as good as he's. But, like, even still, like, what does it, what does it matter? Why, this conversation is taken over.

It's insane. Well, I mean, first of all, it's, if the ratings are a disaster, that's on the NHL. Because you've had Connor McDavid for nine years now. And the point that I've made in a few other places this week is Brett Farrve played for the Green Bay Packers, the smallest market in the entire NFL. Peyton Manning came along. He goes to the Indianapolis Colts, you know, a bottom market as far.

You know, Milwaukee has the best player in the NBA, arguably right now. Like real leagues can promote guys and turn guys into stars, even the face of the league, if they're in small markets. You just turn that team into must watch. I mean, nobody missed a Colts game for 10 years. Well, Pete Manning was there. So if the NHL hasn't been able to do that, too bad. Plus, can we also, like, I feel this is,

this is like a legacy of 20 years ago where all the money was in the States, and so you had to have good U.S. ratings. The ratings in Canada are going to be through the roof. Yep, for Connor McDavid. And guess what? SportsNet pays a lot of money for those rights. And, oh, by the way, that deal is up next.

So we have anything for the financial health of this league, the ratings in Canada are more important right now than the ratings in the U.S. Like, I'm sure ESPN wants big ratings, but they're locked in. Well, let's lock in. So you can want big ratings, then promote it so you could get big ratings. The Rangers don't have to be in it every year. Like the Kings, think about all the big markets in the United States. I'm sure it's great when there's star players in those big markets when Chicago was in the final, seemingly every year.

That was awesome. When L.A. was there. When Boston was there, that's great. But you now have something that you have not had in a long time. You get LeBron James, aka Connor McDavid, on the biggest stage with all the viewership. Like that is worth something. And you talk about growth. Some of those markets, they're probably pretty tapped out.

Like you've reached as much as you could reach in all those markets. Now you get to actually say everyone else who's watching this sport or is new to this sport, like compare it to whoever. You know, maybe you can't compare it to Brady because Brady won so much. But you could say like this is LeBron. This is Brady. This is Lienel Messi. This is the best player at the time in this sport playing for the championship trophy.

So if you can't promote that, you can't promote that. you can't promote anything. So that's, you know, like you have a golden opportunity here and they should milk this as much as they possibly can. And by the way, like we're, we always talk about Florida as a small market because from a hockey perspective and, you know, attendance and all that stuff. It's Miami. It's one of the biggest markets in the United States. So it's not like, you know, it's not like we're trying to, you know, it's Hartford or something. Like you've got the potential here.

Look at Hartford just taking shrapnel. man, this is a Saganah last, Saganon last week, Hartford this week. We're going, like, low-ins. I've played in front of 2,000 people in Hartford, okay? You keep those comments to yourself. You know, yeah, I mean, you know what's funny? Like, I listen to, you know, obviously, live in Toronto, listen to Toronto radio a lot. And there's still that, like, notion that Florida doesn't have any fans.

And it's like, guys, even if Florida has 12,000. people in the building, they're allowed 12,000 people. But their attendance was number one in the NHL this year. Or it was top three. Like it was people are going to those games and they're watching and they're loud and it's it's great. It's great. And like you mentioned, yeah, it's not sunrise. It's Miami. It's Fort Lauderdale. It's all that area. And people are really invested in this team. And it kind of goes to show you, man, like build a good team and you'll build a fan base. If you have a a bad team, like it doesn't matter how nice the place is, like no one's going in certain markets anyways. And it's just the whole thing is just not a problem for 99.999% of the population.

Like it just gets an outsized role, I think. And like, why is this a main target? And it always, it always is. And I can never quite put my fingers on it. I don't know if people just wanted to slag the league or whatever, whatever it might be. And I'm never going to, the last guy, if you can complain about that. But it's like, what's the implication here that fans should give a shit about this? Because they shouldn't. It doesn't matter. Just watch the games.

I'll give you a spoiler alert. And when this is over, whatever the ratings are, we're going to get a press release saying that there were record ratings. And there's going to be 19 asterisks and you're not really going to be sure how to read it. And you're going to be like, what is next day streaming? How are we counting that? But they're going to be, the league is going to be like record ratings, man, through the roof. So it's going to be okay. Yeah. And you know what? Like, especially in some of these American markets I find, when the San Jose sharks were a really good team, couldn't get a ticket there. And it was one of the loudest buildings in the league. So build a good team. Give people something to cheer for. Ratings will be there locally. And if you have star players, they will be there nationally. So it's an exciting time. It's an exciting time to have Connor McDavid playing for the Stanley Cup. And, you know, like, I don't know, going into the season, if you could draw,

up so that this guy was was playing on the biggest stage. This is exactly what, what would happen. So it's, uh, it's all good for everyone involved. Against a team right out of central casting for the villains. Because you mentioned like, you know, the highlights and the clips that the Panthers are going to give you. And you started off with like, it's going to be a hit. It's going to be a dirty play.

Yeah, these guys are scumbags. And that's great. That gives you, you know, you need a good heel in the main event. Uh, we potentially have that. Now, the one thing that we do need. for ratings to be really greater, for this series to be a classic or all that is for it to be competitive and go a while, which apparently it's not, at least according to Pierre Lebrun and all his sources. Did you guys see this post that dropped this morning? He's got his annual, like he

talked to, I think it was 17 coaches, 10 or 12 or 15 executives and got everyone to give. I was blown away. It was nearly unanimous people picking Florida. 17 head coaches, 16 executives out of those 33 responses, four have the Oilers winning the Cup. So that's four out of 30. And I think the coaches, it was like 16 out of 17 pick Florida. I'm stunned. I read the piece. I read all their arguments.

And yet I still can't get my head around this because, you know, to me, it's at least to pick them. How many people pick Dallas in the previous series? You know what I mean? I think people mention that in even in the article. There were coaches and whoever's saying like, yeah, I didn't. I don't think I've been done as a chance, but I didn't think that. Yeah, probably the same, probably the same percentage. Whatever percentage four out of 33 is, I'm sure that across.

It's not just coaches or execs either. That's like media picks. Like there was, it was overwhelming in a lot of spots, you know, coming into the West. We get caught up in the narratives, right? Like, we get caught up in, let's go back to the Dallas series. I think I said this too, Ottinger versus Skinner. Well, there's no way Skinner could win that match up.

Sure enough, he played lights out. He played unbelievable. Do the back end now. You know, Dallas's back end versus Edmonton's. Listen, I know Chris Tanev got hurt and that,

you know, that changes how that decor looks, but, you know, Edmonton's decor looks really, looked really good in that series. And Edmonton got some, you know, some scoring from guys.

Maybe they weren't expecting to. They got some guys to step up. you know McDavid and Dreisel are always going to provide for you. Nugent Hopkins has been really good as well. But the whole like complete four lines thing, Edmonton was able to overcome that against Dallas as well. So I can't necessarily sit there and buy into the notion that, oh, well, you know what?

It's just, you know, same narratives are going to exist against Florida. So Florida is just going to do it. Yeah, Florida can be the favorite. And that's a very realistic thing. But I mean, when you have something going the way Edmonton has, from the time Noblock has taken over until now, how that team has played, how they've changed the way they've been able to play, how they've kind of changed the identity of their group from a team that doesn't need to win five, six, one every night to a team that's okay playing in a close game, a specialty teams game, like all those different things. Like, I don't think it's just, no, Panthers, see you later. Like it's just, it's going to be close. It's going to be a close series.

Let's let's talk about that second and third pair for Edmondson because it seems like you like their game now relative, certainly to that Vancouver series. What's changed? Like, why should we believe in those guys beyond Acombe and Bouchard? Because those guys have been unbelievable. But I think there's a lot of people who've watched the playoffs in mass and are like, I don't, whatever the combo is, Nurse, C, C, C, Cooleck,

like, whatever it ends up being. should we believe in them going up against a team like the Panthers where they can kind of rule for? You know what? If you look at it on paper, it's hard to build a compelling argument. It really is. But it feels like they're just playing well at the right time. So Vancouver tried to run Edmonton out of the building. And those guys, like, they held up to, they ended up winning the series, but they held up. So, like, Florida is going to try and do the same thing. Are they going to get run out of the building again, those guys?

Probably not. They've been really good on the penalty kill. They just, if they play within themselves and don't try to do too much and, you know, don't cough up the puck and, you know, be good enough defensively, like, that's not the reason why the Oilers are going to win and lose the series. If those guys aren't, you know, massive, glaring kind of issues, they'll be okay. So it's, but it is like, I get it. When you look at it on paper, you're like, okay, the Nurse Cece thing, like that has issues

from time to time. De Haarnay is only, like there's only so much there, even though he's a big guy. Brett Kulak kind of is what he is. But for some reason, all these guys together right now have been fine. And now Edmonton has a chance to play for a Stanley Cup. that's not the reason why, but they're not losing because of those guys. But it is hard to build a compelling case as to why they're not going to get in trouble against Florida's four-line kind of offense.

Let's do it. Let's get into it. Am I obligated as a Canadian to be cheering for the Edmonton Oilers? No. Is it my patriotic duty? This is a crazy narrative that, you know, we can. Pizza company told me I have to. A Canadian team hasn't won the Cup in over 30 years.

The Cup will stay south of the border. Maybe it's time we try something different. This playoff season, let's cheer with the fans we've always cheered against. We got to get behind the Oilers. And like, if you're a fan of a team, you don't have to get behind another Canadian team. It's crazy. It's so disrespectful. It's disrespectful.

to every fan base for Boston Pizza to imply this. I'm personally offended on behalf of Jets fans or whatever, being told this is something you should do. It's gross. Why would I, like, I don't know. Like, I, listen, I have no skin in the game. I sit there. I watch hockey. I analyze hockey.

If it's good, I tell you if it's good. If it's bad, I say it's, it's not very good. But, like, if you're, if you're a flames fan, you have to be watching this series with just the most disgust you could ever, like, I don't even want to own a TV. if I'm a flames fan right now. I write my annual thing where I go through, sorry, I go through every fan,

every team and I say like here's, here's who you should be rooting for, one or the other. Like, let me, let me give you a nudge. I have never in the history of writing this column that I've been doing for years and years and years,

just said, I pass. You don't have to root for anybody. Don't watch the final. And I had to do that this year for Calgary. Because, wait, I mean, you can't cheer for the Oilers.

But Matthew Kachuk, who quit on you and is now everyone's hero, I would be sick to my stomach if I'm a Flames fan. I'm not watching. I'm literally just turning all media off for the next six weeks or whatever we've got scheduled for these seven games. And like, I don't know if this is, because I've been out of the fan game for a while now. Like, I'm a media shithead, so whatever.

Like, far be it from me to tell people what to do or not do. but I look at teams that I do still kind of have like some amount of rooting interests for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Maryland Terrapins where I went to school, the pit pit. I don't want anybody to win other than them. I want everybody else to lose. If they're not involved, I'm like, I'll watch and I'll find and I'll find some level of, you know, enjoyment in that. But like, I'm like, oh, boy, boy, wouldn't it be great if the Iowa Hawkeyes won the Big Ten, because Maryland, no, I don't give a shit. I want everybody else to lose except for the team that I root for.

And you know why? You know why that's the case? Because the next time your team plays that team, you know those fans are going to be dumping all over your team saying how bad you are, how embarrassing you guys are. And what are you going to do? Are you going to say, hey, man, I cheered for you during your championship run. Why are you saying that to me? It's like, no one cares.

This is, this is, this is fandom. NC state hoops. I was really rooting for you during the 2024 ACC tournament. Like, how can you do me this way? That's not how it works. And my question is always like, you know, hey, I'm a Leafs fan. If it was the Leafs, would you be rooting for them? And everybody's like, oh, no, no, no.

I would absolutely not. And that's fine. You know who annoys me even more than the media and the, you know, the advertisements and all this stuff? is and you don't see it often, but occasionally you'll see like fans of that team are like, why is everyone not uniting behind us? Why are you not rooting for us?

And it's like, first of all, for all the reasons we just said, but second of all, you shouldn't want that. Like if you're an Oilers fan, they haven't won a cup since 1990. You went through the decade of darkness.

You went through the Dwayne Rawlson injury. You don't need me showing up now, you know, after all of these years, just elbowing my way to the front of the light. Like, Oilers fans hang out? Like, you don't need that. Tell me to get back to Leafland with all the other losers. Like, this is your moment. You don't want me there. Yeah, exactly. Because you know what? Every

Euler fan or every other team, every Canadian market, their fans just want to tell you, 1967, can't get out of the first round. Don't even bring that near me. Don't bring any of that negativity or failureness. Get it out of here. You want my loser vibes at your victory party? like, no, it's not. Yeah. It's strange. It's, uh, I can't buy into that. And, and listen, there's going to be certain, like certain fan relationships that are more hostile than the other, you know, like, Leafs, Habs, flames, Oilers, like, but still, like, there was a lot of, there was a lot of animosity in that Canucks Oilers series, you know, not just on the ice, off the ice as well, right?

So, I mean, I just, I can't, uh, I, there's no way I can promote, And I don't have any skin in the game, but there's just no way I can promote, you know, everyone getting behind one Canadian market just because a Canadian team hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 31 years. You know, it's just, you got to do it on your own.

It's you versus everyone. And I'm not even saying, if you're Canadian and you're like, I just, you know, I'd like see Connor McDavid get his cup or whatever. Like, I'm not telling you you can't root for the Oilers,

but don't do it out of a sense of duty. And do it from the background. Like, don't, don't act like, you know, you're front and center on. Don't go change your Twitter profile or, you know, to an oiler's logo or anything.

That was, you know, that's, that's one of the things that that actually comes to mind, though, Connor McDavid, right? Like, a player that good, you have to think at some point he's winning a Stanley Cup. And now he's finally got an opportunity. Like, don't do, or maybe you don't think that. Maybe you just think, you know, he could be one of the best players in the history of the game, never wins a Stanley Cup. But I just think he's too good.

Like, when you look at the list of players, he's going to be on. And, uh, what, that represents, you think he's, he's going to win one at some point. Like, and then you start to think, okay, is there other players like that around the league that are just too good? Like, Ovechkin, was he too good? At some point, he was going to win a Stanley Cup? We knew Crosby, like he got one in, in 09. Ovechkin finally gets one. Like, it just feels like the truly the great players at some point win a Stanley Cup. And there's, yes, there's a few exceptions to that rule, but, um, I don't know. I don't know if that's what you

thought when the oilers were really bad and McDavid got there, but here we are now, and everything seems to be lining up if they can get it done. I think the way it's worked for them, too, it's, God, we've just seen so much over the last 10 years or 15 years. I think the vibes on Edmonton were almost different because of how inept they were organizationally. Like, you're like, okay, yes, of course it feels like Connor McDavid should win a cup, but like this is also an org that has screwed up the goalie situation for as long as they have.

So whenever Skinner goes in the tank for a couple games, you're like, okay, like there it is. We're quick on the trigger just because of how, you know, inept Edmonton has been in one way or another for, for as long as they've been. Like, I don't, I don't know if it's like the same thing is looking at other, at other great, like,

like Colorado or whatever. It's always, like, for three or four years running, It felt like McKinnon was going to get one because they had had like, you know, progression and growth in a way that was, it was linear in a way that it hasn't been for Edmondson. Well, they were knocking on the door. And it's funny how things change with Edmonton, too. Like, remember when Edmonton beat Calgary in the playoffs that year? Calgary was a really good team, really complete team. Edmonton beats them. And I think it became, well, you need the star power, right?

The star power is going to get it done. And then Edmonton loses to well they lose to Colorado, right? But then the next year they lose to Vegas. And it's like complete team. You know, that's what it is now. It's the complete team. And I think that carried over into this year

where people looked at the Dallas series and said, well, it's got to be the complete team again, right? Meanwhile, it was, you know, the superstars plus Edmonton kind of playing a different brand of hockey that, you know, is more, more induceive to winning. But it's just, it's funny. things can change and a lot of the same players are there. But I don't know, if you draft, you get the opportunity to draft McDavid,

I think a lot of people in that fan base are saying, okay, let's take a look at the calendar. How many years till we win a Stanley Cup? Because this guy's got to win one at some point. Now, all that having been said, now that we've pumped up Edmonton's tires and gotten their fans hopeful, we do have to remind them that the odds are overwhelmingly against. them because Florida plays in a no tax state. It has an enormous, probably insurmountable advantage over all of us good loyal people who do pay our taxes and therefore can't afford good hockey players.

Yeah. Yeah. So talk to me. Okay. This is a man who's had conversations with accountants over this, clearly. I don't even know what I don't. I want to hear this. I don't even know where to start with this, okay?

Maybe we'll start with just clearing a few things up. Let's start with this. The tax thing in the NHL is very real. It's a real thing. Okay. And I see a lot of the times people say, well, you get taxed on where you play. So if you play games here, you play games there, you know, it all kind of, it all works itself out in the end. That is false.

Okay. It doesn't work that way. You get a tax credit for the days that you're in certain states. And then you make up the difference when you go back to Ontario or Alberta or wherever you play. So everyone's, they're still getting their piece of you. Because you paid 33% somewhere else, they're making up the difference when you come home. So you have to keep that in mind. I think there's a notion out there that people think, you know, you just, you get breaks everywhere you go.

the other thing, not everyone has the opportunity to play for a no tax state team. Like it's just, it's not available to you. So with that being said, like this is where it kind of drives me nuts. People just kind of think that you have all these workarounds. You have so many workarounds. You can just, you know, fancy accounting and this and that. It's like, no, man, you don't have any write-offs as a professional athlete Canada. And in the United States, a lot of those write-offs have kind of gone away over the years.

Like, I remember when I first started playing, guys were able to write off, you know, running shoes, clothes, suits, TVs, because you could say you're watching video on all these things. Like, those don't exist anymore. So you don't have those. In Canada, you can't incorporate yourself as an athlete. The one big one that they talk about is the CRA. Is that at the CRA? It's the one where a bunch of the Blue Jays guys did it. but you have to make, like, you have to qualify for that. You have to make so much money in order to qualify for that. Not everyone does qualify for that.

So you just pay taxes and escrow and you go about your business and you have a great life because you make a lot of money. But you do, like you pay a lot of taxes. Now, in the grand scheme of this, building teams, okay, yes, there's something to be said at free agent time. You know, some teams may have a little bit of an advantage. it comes to resigning someone because they could sign someone for 9.5 in Florida and in Toronto at 11.5, they're going to basically take home the same amount of money. But you still have to build a good team. You still can't waste money. And like you can have all the advantages in the world. If you can't put together a good program, it doesn't matter. So, you know, credit to the Oilers, they've,

they've, you know, they've had some missteps along the way, but they've been able to overcome. it and now here they are. And the Florida Panthers have taken advantage of everything that has happened for them in a fortunate way. And they've built a very good program now. So can I just a couple, well, one thing to say and then a question for Frank, because I want to get an NHL player's perspective here. Because I've been having this discussion for years.

And I still think it's overstated. I think you did a good job of explaining why this is an issue. why it does matter. And yet, I still think some people let our, let things, they make it out like it's the only factor and this and that. And I've made that point before.

And at one time, I had somebody who had been very high up the chain in a team in a no tax state. And basically he reached out and he's like, you know, I heard you do your little rant. You're not wrong about it being overstated. But he said,

every single free agent we ever talked to. We always showed them that that chart. Every single one, we said, if you're talking to Toronto, here's the number they have to get to match our number as far. He said every single time, we always made a big point of showing that. And do you know how much easier it is to just say,

like, we don't have state of contact. Simple. Like, this is money that's in your check. Every check that, otherwise wouldn't be there. You don't have to incorporate. You don't have to do any goofy right off

bullshit. Like, it's just there. You just have it. It's simple. And that resonates with guys. Because it's just like anybody else. It's simple. Like people don't want to move

and people don't want to jump through hoops and all this other stuff. It's easy to just say like, yeah, this is here. You don't have to do anything goofy. You know, just enjoy it. The only thing with that, though, if you're a player,

the only thing you have to be weary of, is if you agree to that, and now you don't have no move protection, you get traded to Montreal, and now you're paying 54% tax, and you took a 25% discount to sign with the Dallas Stars. And it's like, uh, maybe you should have maximized your dollar value on your contract. Here's the question that I wanted to ask and, you know, give an NHL player perspective on this, because I'm fascinated by this. You mentioned, okay, maybe it's, maybe I got my offer is 9.5 in Florida. and it's 11 in Toronto.

And I'm sitting there going, you know, with taxes and everything, the Florida is actually more money in my bank account. If I'm an NHL player, especially if I'm a star, what's actually more important to me?

Is it how many of those dollars wind up in my pocket? Or is there a part of me that's saying, that number is going to be the one associated with me as far as where I rank in this league, how I'm valued. It's basically my score as far as, how big a star am I? How big a needle mover am I? What do teams think of me? I want the higher

even if it ends up with the same amount of money in my pocket or even a little bit less. I want that big number that says this guy's one of the three or four or five best at his position and not the one that says I'm in the top 20 or do I not care about that? Just put the money in my bank account. Are you an agent? Were you an agent in a past life? Because you know exactly, you know who would say that? An agent would say that because an agent will always tell you I want you associated with the bigger number because when it comes down to negotiating next time, if you have a good season or a season that's on par with what you were making when you sign the deal to when you end the deal, we can look at it and probably say, well, this is our number.

Why would we move off of that number? So there is something to be said there for sure. But if that number is not putting money in your pocket and the other one is putting money in your pocket, like there is a little bit of a give and take there. The other thing that you have to keep in mind with these no state, no state tax places, they're all nice. You know, like, so there's there's an added incentive there to be somewhere hot, somewhere on the beach, somewhere where you can live in a nice big mansion and have a pool. Like those are other factors when it comes to these no state tax places that we maybe forget about. It's not just about every two weeks picking up your check.

On the Monday show, CJ said that like in Panthers players like go from home. to the practice rink in a golf cart. They do. That might have more, that might have more to do with where I end up picking than the tax rate, to be honest. Nashville, Nashville, too, especially in the last like probably five years. I'm wearing flip-flops every day. Players want to play, dudes want to play in Nashville in a way now that they maybe didn't

10 years, like teams better, all the, all that sort of stuff. And it's not, and it's not just because the tax. That's part of it. You know what? you know what the Leafs need to do for this this free agency period. They need to get someone from the city of Toronto. Maybe it's the mayor to explain that the Gardner lane reductions are not going to last very long.

And maybe there's like a secret alternate route for them to get to the practice ring. You know what? That would be a political winner. A special highway and it's like big and beautiful, but it's just for the Toronto. It's just for Nikit. It's just for Nikita. Dude, you can't do. You can't do it.

The two lanes on the gardener to get to the practice rink every day, that you can't do it. There's not enough money in the world. This has been GTA traffic talk with Frankie Carrado. We'll be right back after the break. Yeah, you don't know anything about it, living in, where are you, Pittsburgh? I know a little bit more about it than maybe you'd think. All right. Frankie, we got to let you go before we do that, though.

Make a pick. Who do you got in the finals? This is obviously the last time we'll talk to you before it starts. Panthers in six. Love it. That's what I said. All right, boys. Thanks, bud.

Okay, sir. Sean, it's a big day for the both of us. It's a bad commercials post day. How are you celebrating this afternoon? By scrubbing my brain with steel wool to try to get the What a Pro wants deal out, Which I, I legitimately made it all the way until this moment before seeing or interacting with that ad. I had to shut down a few, you know, people with people can send me links. Yeah.

Have you seen this? It's like, no, don't. It's Sean's job. And I finally saw it. And, oh, go ahead. AT&T, J sent me a heads up on the best plan for me. That's cool. They know what a pro wants.

What a pro means. Whatever makes me happy. Set you free. And I'm thank you for knowing exactly what a pro wants, what a pro needs, whatever makes me happy, sets me free. Good, a little bit flat. It'll get better. It's like one of those scare websites that people would redirect you to. I'm not even to say anything out loud because I feel like that one probably would be frowned upon by your bosses. Yeah, they're doing that with you except it's what a pro wants, what a pro needs.

I'm glad you hated it as much as everyone assumed you would because my concern was that it had been built up to such an unrealistic level that you were going to see it and be like, yeah, that's fine because I didn't hate it at first either. I was like, yeah, those guys are bad at singing. It's not that big of a deal. And then three weeks later, I was ready to jump off my roof. Like I said in the piece, it hits the exact, I was going to say sweet spot,

whatever the opposite of a sweet spot is. It's the sour spot between like trying too hard and not trying hard enough. I thought everyone had built it up so much. I thought it was going to be this like slick earworm type of like really much like the combination hockey game and grocery store one that I sent to you. I'm at the hockey game. I'm at the grocery store. I'm at the combination hockey game and grocery store.

He's at the hockey game. And the grocery store? He's at the combination. hockey game and grocery store. Grocery Provengerment cards. Deliver to his door. I don't have to choose between hockey and the grocery store. You almost go like, all right.

Yeah, that would be annoying, but, you know, it's kind of, you know, it's just like two basketball dudes, one of whom I've never heard of as a non-basketball fan. But, you know. Chad Holmgren, I'm assuming is the one you've never heard of. Yeah, if you say so. it just absolutely half-assing their way through a rendition of a song from 20 years ago that like does that song resonate with had they ever heard the song before do you think they sent them like a Spotify link before I tried to find it I tried to find some instance

of Shea Gill just Alexander or Chet Holmgren just lying and pretending that they you know remember this Christina Aguilera song that came out well before both of they were above both of their births. Like those dudes are in their early 20s. I guess SGA is probably, probably getting close to 25. That shit came out in 1999. Like, those guys are well past the point of

having any kind of recollection of it. I hate this a lot. Isn't that bad? That's awful. Because that song came out like six years ago. There's no every part. I was at the, I was at a bar and oh, right, I haven't done that. Mm-hmm. No, it's just a

beloved song from these guys, from these guys' childhood, right? And Chet Holmgren came out, or was born three years after the song came out. Yeah. So again, you know, strike while the iron is hot with your pop culture references. And it was definitely the worst. It was the worst of the six. But I think we had a pretty strong feel this year. I don't want to spoil anything. But yeah, we had mentioned a few times in recent years. In fact, there was one year that we kind of skipped it because we're like, and the ads are not that bad. Some of them are better.

Like anything that you make me watch five times a night is going to annoy me after a while, but they weren't that bad. And this year was a very strong field. Let's do a little like behind the scenes, directors cut here. Were there some ads that you strongly considered that didn't make the cut? I said this in the intro. I almost threw a good one.

Like there were some half decent ones. I feel like I actually went and I clicked the link, the UC Saros one that you mention. It's funny. I had never seen that. That's good ad. It's funny. Yeah. Hey, Juice. What are your financial goals? No goals. Like, no goals for retirement? No goals. So no goals for your investment portfolio? No goals. What about a new home? No goals. Good talk. See you on the ice. No goals. Absolute kudos to whoever crack the code on how to use an NHL player in a commercial in a way that's funny. like they they absolutely drilled that one out of the park yeah because the joke is that he's a zombie

who has no personality he's look at this incredibly boring guy who says the same thing every time you speak to him boom got to say shout out the ryan o'reilly for being the straight man in that he did a pretty good job of reading of reading the lines yep but so whatever i thought about throwing that one in there um a lot of the other bad ones that really got beaten into the ground especially early on were NHL ads. I thought people really hated the Aves couple that breaks up after they win the cup. And I say something controversial. And I say something that will be, it'll be brave.

Oh, man. You know what? You know what? Hey, Sean, you got to be really careful because of cancel culture these days. You know, all these kids out there, they want to throw you out just for saying something they disagree with. And cover your ears, snowflakes. but I did not have a strong,

a positive reaction to that avalanche couple the first few times. It kind of grew on me. I kind of, I kind of like, because here's the thing, like you're watching it and it's setting it up as like some romantic thing and then they're like,

you know, oh, and they won the cup, so they just broke up. And it took me a few times for that to resonate, but I was like, you know what? If they had been like,

and then they won the Stanley Cup and they decided to get married, I would have been, like, there would have been a part of me going, they should have broke up. They won the cup that year. And they went and, you know, did the old switcheroo on us. I kind of, I'm kind of okay with that app. I sort of liked it.

Throughout their 10-year relationship, Sam and Erica watched every avalanche playoff run together. Except one. The one they won. We finally won. The one time we're apart. So, yeah, they broke up. Here's some other ones that people brought up whenever I,

whenever I put out the call. Several progressive insurance ads, those are just, I, yeah. If it were up to me, that would be the top three every year. I hate those people. I hate flow. I hate Jamie.

I hate the whole crew of progressive mascots whose names I've learned over the years completely against my will. All right, but can I ask you this? Yeah. Do you feel like you got bamboozled? You got bamboozled?

How many times have you said that just today? What else? Direct TV Pigeons was one that came up. It's a direct TV shot or a direct TV spot featuring Talking Pigeons, one of whom is voiced by Steve Bouchemey, and the other one is voiced by another famous person who I can't, who I can't remember. Steve Bouchemey have like a recognizable voice that the...

You want to hear yourselves. I recognize it immediately and tweeted about it. It was, I can't remember who it was. Oh, it's Henry Winkler. And I recognize both of their voices in the, in the DirecTV ed, which is disturbing. All right. I'm not a well man.

Are there any ones on your end? Yeah. Well, I mean, I put out a call for nominations. The two obvious ones that you and I both did like a blanket, no gambling ads. Because they're all bad. There has not been a single good game. There are two categories of gambling ads. There are gambling ads that are just like, eh, that wasn't very good.

And then there are the ones where you're like, do you actively hate people who use your product. The whole premise of the ad seems to be people who gamble on sports are huge losers and let's have somebody dance around and make fun of it. So we wipe those out, but the one that's

running up here a lot where the guy, like some Canadian guy talks about how Americans don't understand hockey. I've seen that one. And we're going to see how much Americans know about hockey. What is icing? Elaine, you go, I've never watched a hockey game, so.

Can you describe? what off side in hockey means. When you're off to the side. What is a hat trick? Your helmet flies off. Something on the hat? What is a bucket in hockey? It just goes straight in.

I mean? I do know what you mean? That's incorrect. Americans don't know shit about hockey. Really seems to infuriate people. He's very smug and also a little, you know, I'm not trying to step on Granger's toes here,

but a little gambling tip for you. If you're going to gamble, don't gamble with the people who know more about the sport than you. Go gamble with the stupid people. Those are the only ones you have any chance. of doing well with. So it's,

it's completely backwards. And then the other one is, and again, this is a volume thing, but we have a investment company up here that for years, they put out ads and it's just some smug prick talking down to their friends

about like investment rates or fees or whatever. And it's just, and then they run them constantly. And this year it's like some dude sitting around a campfire with his friends, bragging about how much money he makes from his investments, as one does. We've all been in that situation. You know, you sit around the campfire and, hey, somebody breaks out a beer, somebody breaks

out a guitar, and somebody starts talking about their financial strategies in the most condescending way possible. People hate that one. But you would have had to watch it a thousand times to really get the feel. We need to turn that into a new Canadian stereotype. Like everyone likes to say that you guys are, you know, overly polite and whatever. ever, no. Need to be smug and way too quick to brag about their financials at social offense.

That's right. Classic, classic Canadian behavior. Classic Canadian right there. And they love going to Tim Hortons and getting the pizza. Tim's his flat bread pizza now. There's a new Tim's run in town with new flatbread pizza. Post is up.

It should be up when you listen to this. Better be. Read it. Let us know how it went. Enjoy the interminable weight between hockey games. you got a few more days left. Whenever we're back next week, we'll have an opportunity

to talk about actual on-ice stuff. Imagine that. Frankie's back. Tomorrow, it's Haley and Max and me. We'll talk to you then. Have a good week.