The Athletic Hockey Show - Jack Campbell waived by Oilers, can Auston Matthews score 50 in 50? Lindy Ruff's Devils are Stanley Cup Favorites and Mike Grier calls out the Sharks

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Ian and Julian tackle the Oilers decision to waive Jack Campbell, and what it means for an Edmonton team that only have two wins this season. They debate if Auston Matthews can score 50 goals in 50 games, and if Quinn Hughes can reach the 100 point plateau from the blue line? Plus, they discuss San Jose General Manager Mike Grier calling out his winless Sharks and DJ Smith returning the favour, publicly supporting his captain Brady Tkachuk, and Brady giving up on social media, at least for now.Mike Russo reports on a sad day in the hockey world on Monday, as Adam Johnson's celebration of life was held in his home state of Minnesota, and Russo chats with New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff about being a Stanley Cup favorite this season, led by the magic of the Hughes brothers, Jesper Bratt, Tyler Toffoli and Dougie Hamilton.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nhlshow to get 10% off your first month. Find your bright spot this season with BetterHelp. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back. It is a Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Ian Mediz, Julian McKenzie with you for the next hour. Also, we got so much to get to. Mike Russo always drops by, right? For the, what do we call that? Mike Check?

Mike Chick with Mike Russo. Lindy Ruff. Devil's head coach is in conversation with Mike Russo. Looking forward to that. Look, we're going to talk a little bit. but about a piece we're collaborating on all of a sudden too because there's some there's some fires to put out in ottawa calgary edmonton toronto and let's start there because in edmonton as we're recording this uh on tuesday afternoon the news has just broken the edmonton oilers have

placed jack campbell on waivers for the purpose of reassignment so this a guy that they signed julian five year this is the give them the big money deal he was going to be the guy, the missing piece, take him over the top. And back-to-back seasons, he struggled last year. They thought he was going to come in with a fresh perspective this year. He looked good in the preseason. You did. And it just hasn't clicked.

The Oilers are clearly saying, Julian, that we believe goal penning is an issue here to start the season. Jack Campbell on waivers is a pretty, that's a pretty drastic move to make before American Thanksgiving. Have you seen the safe percentage? for both of those guys. And I mean, Stuart Skinner and all of this as well, goaltending has been a problem for the Edmonton Oilers. I mean, you look at yesterday, I mean, the fact that they tried to get off to a good start

against the Vancouver Canucks, they still couldn't beat them. We can get to the Vancouver Canucks in the second year. But I think the expectations are too high and the situation is too dire for the emminton Oilers to go through this stretch and not do anything. This was as best as they could do for right now. they'll probably call up a goalie for the looks as if they're going to call up Calvin Pickard from the minors it looks like to kind of hold down the forward. He looks like he's been doing pretty well in Bakersfield.

But I mean, something had to be done. I mean, you're stopping yourself short of dealing with Jay Woodcroft or making a trade or doing something else. The next best thing you can do is address goaltending, which has legitimately been the biggest problem with the team so far. I mean, but like McDavid, 10 points in nine games. And I understand that we're probably used to superhuman, like at this point he's got 20 points or whatever.

So I understand that the bar is higher for him. But even with that bar being ridiculously high, like he's been pretty average to start the season. Yes. Drysiddle's been okay, but like Evander Kane has struggled. I know Darnell nurse is taking a lot of heat there. Like, look, the easy move, I agree with you. I'm not disagreeing with you.

The easy move is to banish Jack Campbell and, again, five-year, $25 million deal. I get it. But that's not going to suddenly snap a Vander Kaine into place and darnel nurse isn't going to play better. And there's a lot of problems in Edmonton. And you and I talked about this with Laz on Monday. Game against San Jose becomes a absolute,

go make your popcorn now, make a tub of it and sit there and watch this play out because it has the potential to be a game of the age. Like, they have to win this game. I can't believe I'm saying this. You have to win this game on Thursday. I agree. I think if you lose against San Jose,

it's as rock bottom as you can feel. It's one thing if you're the Emmington Oilers and you're off to a decent start or a good start and you lose that San Jose game. It's a one-off. It happens. Some of the best teams in the world lose to some of the worst teams. It happens. You obviously won't like that in the moment,

but you say, you know what? There's a bunch of games that come up in the season against this team. You move on, you figure it out. You had a bad night. In this particular situation with the context of the bad start that they've had, pointing their goalie on waivers. And I don't know if you saw some of the body language

or the end of that Oilers Canucks game last night. That was a team that looked super frustrated with everything going on. They thought that Heritage Classic win was going to be a turning point in their season. It has not been the case. You lose to the San Jose Sharks, a team that we're wondering

if they're going to end up being among the worst to have ever played in the NHL, a team that they're not far off from having a meeting of their own. Mike Greer coming into the fold being like, hey, this is unacceptable. And speaking to the media about it, let's not forget this with the salesman and sharks as well. They're not as talented as the Emmington Oilers are on paper.

But there's some pride to be fought for for them too. They're not happy about the fact that they're getting their asses kicked. Why should they roll over and die for a struggling Emmetton Oilers team? Thursday's going to be very fascinating for both of those teams. I expect the Oilers to win that game. but if it doesn't happen, DefCon, five,

press the panic button. Something needs to happen because you can't let your team get up. No, you can't. And can't you see this being like a McKenzie Blackwood, 53 save game incoming,

and San Jose wins like three, two and overtime, and they get out shot 54 to 16. And like, like you can see it because that's exactly kind of what's happened to Edmontonier. It's not like they're being,

being completely dummied in every game, right? Like even the Vancouver game, they had the advantage in shots and some of these. Like, I get it. But at some point, you got to just turn that into wins. And, you know, McDavid,

like I said, we're not, we're not conditioned to seeing Connor McDavid's 60th in league scoring. We're not. He's not 100%. I'm not convinced he is. No, but he wasn't supposed to play that outdoor game, right?

No, he was still recuperating for whatever injury that he had. Yeah. So I'm not convinced that, I mean, I could be wrong. Daniel Nudgeon Boba could tell us if we're wrong. I'm not convinced Connor McDavid is at 100%. And it's a much different story if he's not playing at 100%.

And all those guys are going through what they're going through. But the goal tending is at least there. The fact that they don't have a reliable netminder in net right now, that's a big problem. That's a massive problem for the Emmington Oilers. And to your point about seeing if McKenzie Blackwood or ends up being that guy for San Jose, or what if they put like Capococan in there or just, you know what? for me, it's this. Even if Edmonton

wins that game, like 3-2 at overtime or 2-1, that might not be enough. Like that would still be really bad for this team. If they don't blow this team out the water, we're probably still going to ask questions about this team.

And just so our readers know, you cover Calgary, I cover Ottawa, Daniel New Jim Bowman covers Edmonton, Sean McIndoo, one of a number of our writers who kind of has an eye on Maple Leafs. The four of us are collaborating on a roundtable that will likely drop Wednesday morning. What did I call it in the Slack channel? The roundtable of the day eternally damned.

It's it's who's got it worse. I mean, eternally damn might work for, uh, you know what? I mean, these teams have gone through a lot. Maybe eternally. Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto. All of their fan bases are seething. And all of them have a right to say we are here's basically the point of this roundtable is, here's why we think our situation is the worst. And, you know, maybe, maybe Edmonton is the worst, but they also have two of the best three players on the planet

on their roster. They also have been to the playoffs, whatever, three, four years in a row. They just got to figure some stuff out. Whereas I think Calgary and Ottawa, maybe a little bit of a different bucket. Anyway, so that's coming up. I'll add that too for, actually, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't,

maybe I shouldn't reveal everything that I'm putting in my course. This is called the T's. a bit of a tease. I can, I can hold back. Yeah. San Jose, as we mentioned, is the opponent for Edmonton later this week. Mike Greer, general manager, the San Jose Sharks, rolls into the practice facility on Monday and says, guys, we need to talk. Now, I don't know about you, Julian. Anytime somebody pulls me aside, it says, we need to talk regardless of the situation, it's not good. Like, has anybody pulled you aside in your life and said, hey, Julian, we should talk sometimes. We need the talk. It's not good.

Yeah, I don't know if it's like, it's one thing to get pulled aside and have that happen. I'm a little bit more optimistic. The worst is when you get a text that says, yeah, we need to talk. Like that is, that's when all the anxiety starts happening. Because at least if someone pulls you aside and says we need to talk, there's a good chance that whatever you're going to hear is going to come like right away or later that afternoon or something. You get that text from somebody. You have no idea what that situation. could turn itself into. And I believe that, according to Eric Stevens reporting, this was the first time Mike Greer, and this is year two for him as general manager,

he has met with players kind of one-on-one or coaches one-on-one. This is the first time he addressed the players and the coaching staff as like a collective unit. Like all of them were in the room. And he basically said, it's unacceptable what's happening here. Effort level unacceptable, results unacceptable, like everything.

unacceptable in this room. And so you give up a 10 spot in back-to-back games. I guess my question is now, though, like, there's going to be a feeling, regardless of who's like Philadelphia's got San Jose, as we're talking about Edmonton's got San Jose. Nobody wants to be now, given the way the sharks are being beaten down, nobody wants to be the team that loses to them for the first time, right?

Like, no. That's the amazing thing to me. Yeah, no. You obviously don't want that, considering the streak of futility that they're on. But my question is this. I mean, I can understand that Mike Greer wants war out of his players, and it's embarrassing to go through back-to-back games

where you've allowed 10 goals at home, mind you. But, I mean, look at the roster, right? Like, Thomas Hurdle is your best player. You have Anthony DeClair. But, like, the rest of the guys on this team, they're, like, this is not a good roster. This is not that great of a team. And while I can understand you want better from your players and you look at other rebuilding teams that have good young players around

and they're at least able to place some exciting hockey, even though they're not expected to go far, I'm just not sure what you're, what you expected from this team. I mean, while no one really, not many people expected this team to be this bad, a lot of people still expected them to be bad, right? Yeah, I can understand fine,

you don't want, you don't want your team allowing back, back to having back to back 10 goal allowed games. But it's really hard to kind of step in there in that rock in that locker. I mean, I would think so for my vantage point. Like, what are you really going to do with this roster you have assembled in front of you? Like play a little bit better. Like at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the 10 goal spots lead towards the ultimate prize,

which is a guaranteed top three spot in the upcoming. NHL entry draft, which is what the sharks want anyway. Like, you don't want to, you don't want to prop them up too hard where they somehow end up on like a three or four game winning street. Yeah, guys. You imagine that? You imagine that? Another team meeting. Guys, guys, guys, settled out. Like, stop. Like, stop. Stop the winning.

Stop the count. Like, you don't want to, you don't want to hype them up too bad. Like, what is the meeting like that like? Like, I would love to know what that was like. Exactly. You know, and like, to me, like, there's so many stats you can throw out about San Jose's goal differential and giving up 10 in back-to-back games, or that poor kid with the, my first San Jose Sharks game,

who became a meme at the 8-0 game in Vancouver. To me, the most damning indictment of the stat that really jumps out is Austin Matthews has more goals than the Sharks as a team. Matthews with another two-goal, multi-goal performance, Monday against Tampa, and a huge come-from-behind win for the Maple Leafs who looked like they were dead and buried in that game.

Matthews scored. a couple of goals. And now at what point do we start to say, let's start to think about 50 and 50. It feels a touch early to me. Like to me, I think if Matthews at 25 games has between kind of 22 and 27 goals, I think it's okay.

I feel like it's a touch early for 50 and 50. You? The fact that we're talking about it suggests that it really isn't too early to talk about it, but also the, brightest spot on this team has been him and Martin and the core four as a whole. There have been so many other things to nitpick about the Toronto Maple Leafs,

but their star players have actually been playing well to start off the year. And Austin Matthews, I mean, the fact that he had those back-to-back hat tricks, right? That's helping him in this chase too, but he's also just looked really good. He's been able to come through for his team when they, when they need him. I mean, I don't know if he'll actually do it. I mean, He could cool off, but I can understand why we're having this conversation. The fact that you've brought it up into the world suggests that it isn't too early to at least start thinking about it.

Yeah, 13 goals. Let me ask you this on where you stand on 50 goals and 50 games because there's only a handful of players, Brett Hall, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossie, Rock and Richard. Those are the five guys that have done 50 and 50. but there's a couple of guys, Julian, and Cam Neely is the one that jumps out to me. Cam Neely once scored 50 goals in his first 44 games.

But problem was, he missed 20-some-odd games due to injury, and so the league doesn't recognize that as 50 and 50, because you've got to do it within your team's first 50 games. I ask you, yeah. Should the NHL change that, or should we, as a collective, change that and say, you know what, if you score 50 goals within the first 50 games you play,

that's good enough for us. Because we would open the door, I believe it's to Neely. I think Alex McGilney had a year like that. And Austin Matthews, like about a year or two ago, go through a stretch with like 50 consecutive, like, it wasn't to start off the season, but he had a stretch like that. 50 games of the year. Like, yeah, your first 50 games of the year.

I think we should count that, shouldn't we? I think it's definitely more impressive to just kind of start off. the year or just keep going on that front. But also, if you do it, I mean, then again, you can manipulate the numbers to say what you want. So you could say like, okay, fine, you made it work over this 50 game stretch that we randomly pulled out throughout the year. But there is something to be said about starting the year off strong and continuing that pace as you go along.

Like I think it's a little bit different. I don't know if I'm ready to, I would like to be convinced on why the alternative route would be just as good, if not better than a. the guy starting off the season and continuing that on through his team's first 50 games. Okay. I'll tell you what, speaking of starting strong, I feel like that's what we've done in this podcast. I think so, too. We're going to go next level here because we're going to take a break, step out for a second.

When we come back, Mike Rousseau is going to drop by, as he always does for his Tuesday chat here on the Athletic Hocons show. We are back at it. Ian Medes, Julian McKenzie, with you. And as I said, Mike Rousseau joins us every Tuesday when his schedule permits it. it does this week. Mike Russo, listen, this I'm sure has been a difficult week for you and a lot of people in Minnesota.

And before we get to your conversation with Lindy Rough, which Julie and I are really interested in hearing, I know our listeners are, take us into what a difficult week this has been for you being at that memorial service this week for Adam Johnson, too, just probably a bit of a heavy heart for you right now. Yeah, I, you know, it was a very emotional, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, it was a very emotional, uh, uh, service yesterday. And I think what helps write these stories actually is that I didn't know Adam at all. And now I feel like I know everything about Adam. And being there yesterday certainly helped paint that picture. It was unbelievable, quite frankly, how perfectly executed that that celebration of life

was yesterday. It was really put together by three family friends the way I understand it. Karen Pionk, which is Neil Pionk's mom. I think Linda Tananato, which is Dominic Taranado's mom. And then, excuse me, that's not her name, but Linda Peterson, which is Avery Peterson's mom, but Tanano's mom as well. And I just thought, I could not believe how well it was done, you know, a beautiful mix of, you know, scripture with music. And then the most unbelievable speakers that I've ever heard mixing in both humor and a lot of tear-jurking moments. And so the task from that is just then capturing it. And so, you know, when, you know, when back to my hotel transcribed and on the drive back, I had an hour drive back to my hotel.

Thought of a lot of lines, thought of a lead. First time really I've ever done this where every time I thought of something, I'd spoke into my phone to remind myself just what I wanted to write. And I think that it really turned out to be a nice story on what seems to be a tremendous young man and a young man that was lost all too soon. So, you know, that was the goal with the story. It's been a really tough, tough, you know, nine days. is writing about it.

You know, I just talked to an agent on the drive back and he was saying that, like, you know, it's the worst thing that he's seen in 40 years in the business. And I've covered the league now 29 years. I've covered a lot of horrible things on and off the ice. This is something that I hope that we never see again. Agreed. I would love to know what you've made of all of the tributes, not just with the funeral, but going across the sporting world.

I mean, we've seen the tributes across the hockey world, but just this past weekend in the Premier League, Nottingham Forest, having a tribute to Adam Johnson in the stands with their fans. I would love to know your thoughts on what you've seen in the world on that. Well, it's also, you know, I wouldn't say I'm the most spiritual person,

but sometimes when this stuff happens, I'm always amazed at certain things. I'll just show you, like, one thing. Like, what are the chances? The only puck I own is a Nottingham, Panther's puck. Like, what are the chances? It's been on my desk for five years.

But then, like, they do a ceremony, a one-minute ovation at the 47 mark of the Premier League game the other day. And Oral Johnson Mangala, middle name Johnson, who goes to all the Panther games when he can, scores at the 47-minute mark in the middle of the ceremony. And Adam Johnson's number was 47. The next night at University of Minnesota Duluth, Adam Johnson's alma mater, the goalie has a career high 47 saves. One of his best friends in the world, Riley Tufti, scores his first professional hat trick the other night. And the third goal is like off the crossbar, off the goalie, off the defender's shin and in. I mean, there's just certain things that happen like this that really sometimes you just wonder, like, you know, is there that greater power?

You know, like, it's just, it's, it's, it's pretty remarkable. And so, you know, this kid, you know, Um, Omar Packer, who is the CEO and the GM of the Nottingham Panthers and Kevin Moore, who's an assistant coach, represented the team at yesterday's ceremony. And I got a chance to talk to Kevin Moore. And he said that it was unbelievable how fast the fans in Nottingham took to Adam Johnson. He was their best player, but he had this infectious spirit about him. And everybody that you've ever talked to about Adam Johnson says that he was just an absolutely tremendous teammate that cared more about his teammate's success than his own. And I got a chance to talk to West of Meshad yesterday who plays for that Nottingham team. They all sat around their computers and watched the

celebration of life from 4,000 miles away. And I think it really helped lift their spirits during an incredibly tough time for that franchise. So, you know, and then as I said yesterday, It was just beautiful to see 3,000 people in that building supporting the family and the friends. You know, Mike, I think when it first happened, there was shock and then there was talk about whether or not players professionally would start to wear neck protection as a result of this. And very slowly, I'm starting to see more players. And I'll give a great example in Ottawa, Claude Jureu and Josh Norris. didn't wear neck protection the first few days after, but finally for the game on the weekend said,

you know what? We had some conversations with people around us and people that matter. And, you know, you never want to see somebody's life cut short for any reason, not the least of which is an accident on the ice, but, you know, the idea that Adam's life could potentially protect others down the road is, and I know it's too early for the family and friends to think this way, but, you know, maybe there is that opportunity that Adam's life is something that changes safety in the NHL and professional hockey moving forward.

Yeah, it's really well said, Ian, and yeah, I'm sure they don't take a lot of solace in that. You know, I've got to think that today is probably the hardest day of these nine for them because, you know, now everything's over and now they're living with the reality of what's going on here. But, you know, we talked a little bit about this on last week's show is that, you know, there's ways to protect yourself. And this is the most vulnerable spot on your body and there's no protection. And it can happen to anybody. You know, you're playing on knives.

And could you imagine not coming home to your wife or kids one day because of something like this? It's just horrible. So I think that we're going to see, you know, as I said last week, this is a monkey see monkey do league. And now we're starting to see more and more players put it on. I think the most important thing also is I think that, the industry, the companies really need to do a good job now mass producing this stuff because this isn't high, high demand. I've talked to some NHL equipment managers this week that say that they're players and medical trainers because this actually falls to the medical side,

believe it or not, cut resistance socks, the risk guards. It's usually ordered by the medical staff and they're having trouble getting them. And the big reason is, you know, you've had a lot of leagues now that are mandating it. So all throughout Canada, you know, Germany today. England. And so now it's a matter of making these things and getting them out. You know, I was told the other day that Minnesota Duluth called the company to try to get neck guards for their team. And they were told, yep, no problem, we'll have it to you by the start of next season. And this was Adam Johnson's alma mater. So, you know, and then the other thing that we all have to be wary of, especially if you're a parent of a youth player and things like that is just like the pandemic when all of a

sudden everybody made a mask and everybody made disinfectant and everybody made hand sanitizer. And some of it isn't the greatest quality. I think that right now there's a lot of people that look at this and I can make some money now. And there's companies that really don't master this technology that are going to start to be like, hey, we got the greatest new neck guard. And so I think it's very important to do your research and just make sure that whatever you're putting on your neck, if you're a men's league player, women's league player, youth professional, whatever, is actually a quality that's going to protect you.

I'm curious about your opinion when it comes to the player's, choice when it comes to wearing this equipment. I remember speaking to a player last week about this, and they were obviously very sad about what happened to Adam, but they also emphasized a lot about the idea that they still hope that as more and more players decide to do this, that it's still in the player's hands to decide whether or not to wear it. What do you think about that in light of what we've seen? I think it's, say, I'm always for a player choice.

I felt that way with the pride tape. I thought it was stupid that the league just said, everybody can't use it. It should be up to whoever wants to. This, I think it should be mandated. Now, it could be grandfathered in. I'm fine with that. But look, there was a time where nobody played with helmets.

There was a time where nobody played with visors. And it's incumbent on the leagues to protect their players. And this is one where, you know, yeah, you could lose an eye and get hit in the head with a puck. This is one, as we've seen, could kill you in the most gruesome manner, possible. And I think that it is, this is one that should not be a player choice. It might be for a couple of years as players get older. I get that. But one day I hope that everybody's wearing it. You know, there's what five players left in the league that don't wear a visor. You know, everybody wears a helmet. I just, I just think this is one where none of us should be subjected to

having to ever see this on a rink that we're at. And, um, and, you know, that's why I think there's a lot of real high temperatures out there that, that on social media, we're almost forced to see the Adam Johnson incident. There's almost no way to escape it. And we should never have to see this again. You know, again, we'd like to encourage our listeners, read Mike's piece on, um, on Adam Johnson and the legacy, the memorial. I know, like you said, it's a heavy one for you to write and one that you approach in a different way by, like you said, using your voice recorded. That just, to me, that really explains and shows how much care went into this one for you, that

you really wanted to make sure you got that right. So we really encourage our listeners to check that out. Just pivoting on before we get to your Lindy Rough conversation, which we're really excited to hear and eavesdrop in. We'll talk a little bit about the Vancouver Connects for a second. And I saw the stat. that here's the list of defensemen who have started a season and after 10 games have 20 points and a plus 15 rating or better.

And the list is Quinn Hughes and Bobby Orr. That's it. That's the list. And what a remarkable start to the season for the Vancouver Canucks. Quinn, Hugh, you want to talk about early, early, early runaway individual trophies. leaders. Quinn Hughes has his fingerprints all over that, Norris right now, doesn't he? Yeah. It's a shame

Jack got hurt because I'll tell you right now the way that all three of the Hughes brothers are playing. It's beyond special. But I'm really happy for the Canucks and I'm really happy for Quinn Hughes. You know, Canucks, they've had some hard times the last couple years. But I've got to know Quinn Hughes a little

bit through Brock Besser and just how much respect he has for the Vancouver Canucks captain. And you know, I just remember about two years, I think it was two seasons ago, Quinn Hughes, every single game dominated the Wild. And I remember talking to Dean Everson, the Wild's coach, and he went, it's going on and on.

He's like, that guy is going to be one of the best defensemen in the league. It's like every time he played the Wild, he just absolutely lit him up. And I think that we're seeing that now. He is a heck of a defenseman. He's starting to really pay attention to the defensive side of the puck. And there's a reason why that franchise looked at him on a team with incredible veterans there.

you know, from J.T. Miller, who they committed to long term, but Elias Pedersen and, and obviously Besser, I mean, there's some great character players in that room, and they went with the young Quinn Hughes for that reason. And so I think they're starting to see the fruits of that labor of really investing in him and, and letting him develop the right way. Now he has, they have a coach in there that's just doing a tremendous job in Rick Tocket. And I think we're starting to see the real Quinn Hughes stand up here. And, you know, whether he gets 100 points is, you know, that's, that's, you know, definitely debatable. I think he could do it.

But regardless, what's more important is that team is just looks like a true contender right now. There's certainly the Edmonton Oilers heads, and they figure out a way to beat that team every single night. So you think they're for real? I do think they're for real. You know, especially as long as Demko is healthy and they get goaltending. You know, their back end still concerns me at times. but the fact that Besser is playing as great as he is and Pedersen's playing so well, it's starting to really make me think it.

Now, the thing always with Besser, and again, I know I always come back to him, but I have a really close relationship with him and I have the most incredible respect level for him as a human being. The thing with him always is his health. And if he could stay healthy, he is a guy that could score 40 or 50 goals in this league. The problem with him always just seems to always hit that time where he gets hurt. but if he continues to play like this, you know, and has his chemistry with Elias Pedersen,

who's his, you know, best friend on that team, I really do believe that as long as Demko's in that net, that they're going to be really good quality team this year. You know, you're talking about Quinn Hughes and getting to know him, and you mentioned Jack Hughes. So before we get to the Lindy Rough interview, which, by the way, you did before the Hughes injury, right? We should point that out for the listener because that's important.

But like when you saw Jack go, down Friday night into the boards. Was your thought the same as Julian and mine and I think every other hockey fan like, damn, like this guy is right now might be the best player in the game. And you just don't want to see it happen to him. It would be like, you know, the Patrick Mahomes injury or like something. You know, the star player, the elite guy in your league goes down. You don't want to see it.

What went through your mind when you saw Jack Hughes go into the boards there? Yeah, I was scared. And thank goodness it sounds like that he's just going to miss a little time, which I assume is the same injury that seems like every hockey player is getting these days, and that's an AC joint or something of the like. As our esteemed producer could tell you in the now extinct athletic hockey show Wednesday roundtable, the last show that we ever did, I picked Jack Hughes to win the Hart Trophy this year, and that might be now in trouble, but he was certainly playing like an MVP.

And he's a heck of a player. And I just think he, you know, who was it the other day? It was somebody that was talking and described him like he almost like plays the game like he's, you know, being controlled by a joystick. And they showed some video of it. And it really is. I mean, he is, the way he is able to dart and move and pivot and everything. He is a special player and was just having a phenomenal start to this season. Enjoy talking to Lindy about him.

I've known Lindy since 1995. He could have gone on. and on about some of our old stories covering the Florida Panthers. I was in the Marlins press box in 1997, believe it or not, when he became the Buffalo Sabers coach. Three or four years later, the one thing I didn't talk about on this podcast that one day we have to talk to Lindy about or Brian Campbell about is Lindy played an incredible practical joke on Brian Campbell after a Panthers Buffalo Sabers game once, where he had the team bus after a win pulled over by the Broward County Sheriff's Department and rookie Brian Campbell taken off the bus and had his

bags packed and they found some, you know, stuff that that everybody knew that they there and put them in cuffs and everything. I mean, it was a total practical joke. And I ran out there because I got a tip. I'm like, you're not going to believe this. The Saver's boss was pulled over and I ran out there thinking I had the biggest story in the world and I was quickly told, no, we're playing a joke on one of our rookies right now. And the father of that idea, the brainchild was apparently the head coach. And that's what you're going to see here, I think, with this thing is that, Mindy says, I mean, he's like in his 60s, but yet he's like a 20 year old at heart.

You know, he goes in there and waxes these guys in ping pong. Like he's just, the doors always open. He knew when he became that coach that this was, his job was to sink or swim with these prospects, but they were going to put him right in the NHL and that he was going to coach him and develop him and get him to this point. Last year they went a playoff round. This year they're a true contender in the East. And I think a lot of it is because.

because they got such a great, great hockey lifer that like Tom McClellan that I talked to a couple weeks ago, has adjusted his coaching style because, as we all know, young guys don't often relate to the older coaches. I remember when Todd Richards became the head coach here, James Shepard said to us, on the record, what we like about Todd is that he played the game. And I'm like, you know, Jacques LaMere, the coach right before the coach, he was in the Hall of Fame, just so you know that. It was like he didn't realize it. But, From a 21-year-old's perspective, it's like Todd Richards was this young guy he could relate to or Jacques wasn't. Lindy Ruff has continued to coach the Jamie Benz and Tyler Sagan's at young ages, the Jason Pommerville's, the Thomas Vannax at young ages.

And yet he keeps on getting older, yet he could walk into a room with, you know, Dawson Mercer and Jesper Brad and Nico Heeshire and Jack Hughes. And somehow these guys love playing for him. So I just think it's a heck of a story right now what's going on in Jersey. and I think a lot of it has to do with the guy that we're about to talk to. Yeah, and 17 years ago, Lindy Ruff won the Jack Adams. Think about that. 17 years ago, he won the Jack Adams, and he's still behind the bench and maybe a candidate to pull it off again.

So, listen, thanks for dropping by. We're super eager to listen to this interview. So we'll hit you up again at some point. Hopefully, our schedules, well, we're going to cross paths in Stockholm, you and I next week. Yes, absolutely. Looking forward to that. Maybe we can figure out a podcasting thing there. but thanks again for dropping by and hope everybody enjoys.

Here's a conversation with Mike Rousseau and Lindy Ruff. I'm really happy to be joined by Lindy Ruff, first in the NHL amongst active coaches and victories, fifth all-time in wins. And Lindy, you and I go back a long, long time, back to before Doug McClain was an author. A, you know, really proud bestselling author, as he would like to tell everybody.

here you are, I've known you since the mid-90s, and you're still in this game. I still remember sitting in the Marlins press box in 1997 when you took the job to coach the Buffalo Sabres. Does it even amaze you that you are still doing this at the highest level? Well, you know, I think first, very fortunate to still be doing it. I've been surrounded by a lot of great personnel from management to players and good teams. And, you know, I think the, through the year, is you have to adapt, you have to adjust, you have to grow, you have to continually keep up with the game and where the game's at and where the players are at. The game has been constantly changing. The skill,

the speed in the game, the youth that's in the game is incredible. And the level of play from the youth in the game is, you know, I think is growing every year. And I mean, no better example on the New Jersey Devils right now. I mean, you have Jack Hughes, who's been on a ridiculous pace here the last year, and you see the way that guys like Nico Hescher have grown, Jasper Brad, you know, Mercer, it just seems like when you took over this team,

you knew what the job was at hand, that it was going to be draft and development, and here you are, and you've watching these guys grow in front of your very eyes. Yeah, you know, I think the important part was that relationship between Tom and I, where we talked about letting these guys grow. understanding that where we're at, that it might be painful some nights,

but understanding that they're going to have to play through some mistakes. But at the same time, they're going to have to learn. They're going to have to grow. In those first two years, it wasn't pretty. There was a lot of games that I think we could have won. We were right there. We didn't finish. We didn't quite have the finish.

But we saw a lot of great things out of a Brad, out of a Hughes, you know, even a Mercer. And now what we're seeing is the dividends of, you know, that type of patience were understanding that they needed to get a little stronger. They needed to understand the game a little bit more. And those guys are having a lot of success. You, you know, I think back to your Buffalo days when you had, you know, the Thomas Vannex and the Derek Roy's, the Pommonvilles. You had a Dallas have a young Jamie Ben and Tyler Sagan. How is the game changed where you're still at this age able to relate to a Jack Hughes? Nico Hescher.

I have a lot of fun with these guys. Yeah. You know what? I think I'm a 19-year-old and a 60-year-old's body, but the fact that, you know, you can have conversations and you can laugh and you can talk about stuff that's totally not related to, really related to hockey, you know, talk about what you did the day before. What did you do on your day off? You know, on the odd occasion, play a game of ping pong with a player.

And at age 60, there are 60-some take them down the odd time. Yes. So, you know, we have a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun, you know, inside the room. I think they understand the hardness of coaching, but they understand when we're just sitting there socializing too. Yeah. Tom Fitzgerald always tells me that you were probably, when you were a young Lindy Ruff, you probably beat everybody in everything,

whether it starts or, you know, one-on-one on the basketball court, obviously hockey, But ping pong is the one thing where that's what I hear, like, they'll have these tournaments in the locker room and you'll just step in one day and just wipe them all out. Well, you know, I think the, I've always been kind of a game from when it came to even, you know, growing up playing the game. I lived with Mike Ramsey. We had a pool table and we had a ping pong table. We had in an unfinished basement back in the 80s. And, you know, we would go down there every day and somebody would lose and then somebody would have to cook dinner. Somebody would lose at another game and somebody would have to do dishes.

And kind of grew up, you know, playing games, just enjoying. I mean, now it's changed. You pull your phone out. It's video games. Yeah. The games are a lot more high tech. But I think the competition part is the part that I still love. Right.

You know, whether I get beat or whether I beat somebody, I think it doesn't matter. But if you can throw a little jab at somebody afterwards, you're having a good time. Yep. Do you have a tradition when you come to Minnesota to go see Mike Ramsey? Did you see him last night? Saw him last night. Yeah.

He's doing great. What a great man. Yeah. Mike and I spent a lot of time together, a lot of great memories. We cherish every moment we get, every minute we get. We talk about, you know, the playing days. We talk about the coaching days. You know, I offered him a couple times after he had kind of retired.

I said, you know, a chance to come back. You know, I'm changing job. and he wouldn't take it, but, you know, one of the great Minnesota hockey players, you know, Olympic gold medalist and a guy I admire for how he played the game and really for how he treated people. I think as a coach, he was so well respected by our guys. He was, I think he was probably the glue of our coaching staff, even in Buffalo when we started, a guy that made sure everybody was included.

So I can't say enough good things about probably one of my best friends. Yeah, yeah, an original wild coach here in Minnesota as an assistant as well. One of my favorite pictures that Tom Fitzgerald once sent me is a picture of you at the Pompano Harness Track as an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers. You're there with a young Tom Fitzgerald, a young, I think it was Jesse Belongier, Brian Benning and Jeff Smith, if I remember correctly. And it just, I mean, that picture, to me, what it's shocking is like, who would have thought at that age that one day he'd be hiring you as a coach of his team. But it really just shows

your relationship just back to then. Tom as a player, how much respect level was there between the two of you? Oh, God. I remember first as him as a player, you know, how hard he played the game, like how hard he was to play against and love playing the game. And I think when you're that hard to play against and you play that hard, you end up playing the number of games you do. Because a lot of teams like you or a lot of teams want you. And he played for a lot of teams and he played well for a lot of teams and he played a lot of different roles. So I think he understands, you know, being an offensive player, he understands being that defensive guy, understands being the penalty killer. He understands every aspect of the game. You know, I think I took him down in the harness

race. Yeah. But I will admit I cheat it because my stable said, I was supposed to go, do I be five wide, but they said, listen, they're not restarting this race. Get us close. to the rail as you can. So I pulled in on the two spot right off the bat and the guys were yelling at me, but like he said, they didn't restart it. And I'll have the race went and I finished second. Amazing. He, you know, it is really cool to see the maturation of this franchise. I mean, you know, as you mentioned a couple years ago, it was tough sledding for a while. Then all of a sudden, you're at that point. You're taking the next step. You signed Dougie Hamilton. And now it just seems like the kids are ready to really, you win a playoff round last year. I mean, how much do you look at

this now is sort of the next step of the devils, and this is the time to really in a very, very tough conference, very tough division, kind of make ground. Yeah, and I think the understanding you just said is we're in a very tough conference in a very tough division with some very tough teams. To remain consistently good, I really believe it has to come from defending. Like we made a huge step in defending last year. Our defending game hasn't been quite up to par at the start of this season. I thought our last couple games better with cutting down on, you know,

inner slot shots and stuff out of the middle of the ice and making sure that we're tracking back. You know, speed is a great tool. It's a great tool for offense, but it's an even better tool for defense. Because when you can get back and you can take lanes away and keep people out of the middle of the ice, you can use that night in, night out to frustrate the heck out of oppositions. And I think that last year was the backbone of how we got to where we got to. We were tough to play against. We were tough away from the puck.

We're close to that right now, but I think we haven't been quite as good as last year. And I mean, how sometimes when you're so gifted offensively, you have such a ridiculous power play, is that part of the balances that you have to get them to not always cheat and to really think of that side of the ice? I mean, it's a good point. I mean, I think our power play has matured like the rest of the group, the understanding of what's available, the understanding of sometimes just fun. mulling pucks there, making sure people are there, you know, tip-ins around the, around the net. If you look at the Foley goal last game, just a quick cross-the-creece play that, you know, you get that tip-in that's hard to defend. I thought last year, sometimes we looked for too perfect to play and didn't score a lot of those.

So I think our coaches have done a great job with our power play guys, making adjustments in-game and from game to game depending on how teams are killing. But I think a Hughes, a brat, you know, even a Luke Hughes now on the back end, that left-handed one-time option has given us some bigger threats. But I think our young guys have a better understanding of, you know, how good power plays operate and have done a great job of, you know, entering the puck into the zone. Sometimes that's, that can be very frustrating if you don't get in on the first couple of rushes because you've wasted probably 30 or 40 seconds.

Just for Brad, I was at the NHMedia Tour and SWE. I don't know if there's a player that impressed me more than him. I mean, he's such a smart guy, you know, incredible quote and just turning into a heck of a player. But I remember two, three years ago, you know, there was big debate on how good he could be if he didn't start to get on the inside and things like that. But he has turned into really one of your best all-around players. Well, I think, you know, you look at some of your high-skill players. And ours are on the, you know, faster, you could say, smaller size, but dynamic. Like Jesper is dynamic.

He's dynamic in small ice. I don't know if there's a D man in this league that isn't scared when he comes down the right side and can stutter step. He can turn up, instantly turn up and look for late people on delays. His game has just gotten to a new level. I don't even know if I thought he would get there. But you mentioned inside. And I think inside play, like the flash screens, getting around the net, looking for second opportunities. I think that's the part of the game that is starting to get better with some of our players,

and especially with Jasper. And I think he's a real student of the game, probably our hardest working guy when it comes to away from the ice, his off-ice workouts, his attention to detail and in meetings. So he's really grown as a player, and he's turned into a dynamic guy, and you look at the numbers right now, and he's on a real good pace. Yeah. I know I've talked about Hughes a little bit, but he is a unique personality. I mean, fun, you know, has that Zegrois type of personality, I would say.

To see him mature into this, did you expect it this soon? Well, I can just tell you that there was some plays that there was no other players I've seen make in the last couple of years. And two years ago, there was a couple games where he just had the puck all game. and when he had it, his skating was so dynamic. And some of his lateral movement when he hit the line was so dynamic to get off the wall and get inside, cutbacks on players when we got to the top of the circle. Because we all know if you can get to the inside, you know, a lot of things open up. So we saw a lot of it.

I think some of it is the strength. Some of it is now his shot is so much better. I think everything is just sort of caught up. He's a stronger person. He understands the game better. He knows where to go to create that a little bit of offense. And it always seems like a player like Jack, the puck follows him around the ice. Yeah.

And he knows where to go. And just lastly, yeah, because you do have a game here to prepare for, Lindy. But, you know, I'm in your building on Sunday. It's a 5 p.m. game. The Giants and Jets just finish. And you're building, there's probably not an empty seat in there. It just, you know, it was a really reminder to me that Devils fans are some of the best in the league. You know, I covered a lot of those, you know, series when they won cups.

I covered that Florida New Jersey series in 2000 when they swept them. How just nice is it for the fans to, one, be back, but two, to have something to really root for here and to maybe see something special here down the line the next year or so. Yeah, you know, when you look at it and, you know, the pain you go through and those couple years and I think the frustration of of not winning, but all of a sudden to, you know, turn the corner and be the team that can consistently be in the fold night in night out, win hockey games. You know, our building has been fantastic.

I think the, the energy in our building last year in game seven against the Rangers, first to play, you know, play a series against the Rangers where, you know, a good number of the fans can be Ranger fans, but right across the river. the energy in our building, you know, after we scored the first goal, then after we scored the second goal. You know, you thought it could get loud. It got louder. And then the third goal that, you know, it was like it was this momentum that kept

building inside the building. And I think the fans right now, they're getting to see a, like a different Devils team. You know, the previous Devils team was a lock it down, tough defensive, you know, they're getting to see a group that can create a lot that offensive can be really dangerous. So they're getting a group of players now that is a lot different than maybe they were used to, let's say, 15 years ago. Yeah, I still remember those games where if you dump the puck on Marty, there was no forecheck. That thing would be back in your zone within a minute. No, Marty was one of the best defensemen they had for a long time.

And, you know, they slowed people up. And Marty got to the puck. He broke it out as good as anybody. Yeah, yeah. By the way, what's your best Ken Danico story? I had a chance to hang out with them a bit last night. And I mean, the stories from him are always hilarious. But my best Candanico, really from playing days was just making sure I stayed away from him.

Yeah. He was, he was an angry player to play against. Like, I would tell him, Kenny, like one cross check in front of the net was probably a message to get out of here. But the second one was, I'll break your arm if you don't believe. And I told him most times I left. Yeah, yeah. Well, I still remember the 2000s or like, or it would have. been a little earlier than that, him just clubbing Dino Cicerelli like three times on the ice.

And even Dino didn't go near the net again. Hey, remiss, I did want to ask you one thing. You know, the situation with Adams Johnson, who passed away last week in England, and you really tight with Clint Larchock, you played with him. I think you were still on that team in 89 when he had the issue. I wasn't. I wasn't, but I was involved with the Zednik when Zednik. Right, right.

Yeah, in fact, if I remember, crafty, you were just traded to the Rangers. Yeah. The one with Buffalo. But, I mean, you know, one, obviously the tragic, I mean, you've seen this right firsthand, but how much do you think that maybe it's time to start getting some neck protection or you've played the game? I mean, how restrictive are these things? Is it an imperative that they work on the technology?

I think they've worked incredibly hard on the technology. And in the fact that I've never tried to put one on or try to play with one on, it's hard for me to judge. but I think every team has the tools now to supply the player to protect, you know, against a cut Achilles. You know, we've had to cut wrists. You know, this is an incredible tragedy that I think sometimes you learn from. I mean, why did they put the netting above the glass? Yeah. Because of what happened in a building.

Yeah. I think that when players start to grow up wearing it is when it really catches traction or if it's mandated, it has to be worn. Yeah. So I know that's hard, but I think there's an opportunity here for some players to grow and be part of that movement to protect themselves even better. I don't know how big that movement's going to be. But you'd really hate to lose a player even, I mean, of any caliber inside the game, when you know you could have had some type of protection that helps guard against it. Yeah, well said. Hey, Lindy, as always, I really appreciated.

Lots of luck this season. to see where you guide this team. Thanks, Michael. Great being with you. Yep, thanks. That is Lindy Ruff. Back to you, Julian and Ian. So there we go.

Great conversation, a wide-ranging conversation with Mike Rousseau and Lindy Ruff. And yeah, what a great career. And he's kind of, I don't want to say he's reinvented himself, but he's in that conversation, you find out how he's been able to stay relevant, right? Like I said, this guy wanted Jack Adams 17 years ago, took the Sabres to the, the finals in 1999. That's a quarter of a century ago. Yeah.

I remember, you remember, uh, after that, uh, 99 Stanley Cup when obviously there's the controversial Brett Hall goal and he stands in front of everyone in Buffalo. He's like,

I got two words for this summer. No goal. And then he like walks off. Like that's one of the cooler like sound bites. One other thing that was interesting to me too was him describing the early days of the New Jersey Devils while he was coaching them and how, how there was some lean times before it got to the point that they're at now. It's easy to forget, like, there was a point where fans were so frustrated with this devil's

team that, like, they weren't going to games. Like, it's kind of wild to think about that. But, like, as long as I've been alive, I've known the New Jersey Devils to be a good team. They've won Stanley Cups. They have one of the greatest goaltenders to have ever lived to have played on their franchise. And there was this, like, random middle part in the 2010s where they just were not. not a good team and fans were frustrated with the, with the direction they were going, and they did not want to go to games.

And now they find themselves as a position where they're a contending team. It's just really fascinating to see it. It's a fortunate that Jack Hughes has hurt, but they're still a legit team in that Eastern Conference. Yeah, they are, and Lindy Roth is doing a great job. And again, you go back to last year, and they were chanting inside the Prudential Center, fire Lindy, fire Lindy, right?

And then they got on a 10-game winning streak, and then it was sorry, Lindy. And that takes us right to a little bit of fallout in Ottawa. We talked about this DJ Smith. The crowd was chanting fire DJ. Brady Kachuk came back and basically said it was BS, fans' behavior. You know, DJ Smith, it was really interesting. DJ Smith spoke to us Monday and a very enlightening conversation.

And DJ Smith just basically obviously backed his captain. and then what I thought was interesting on Tuesday, Brady and Chuck spoke to us, Julian. And it's our first time talking to him since the sort of, we'll call it emotional post game session on Saturday. And, you know, I think I asked the question to Brady right off the top. I say, you know, there's been a lot of discourse in the market around your comments. I'm wondering how you've sort of paid attention to all of this and, you know,

what's your feelings on how this is all played out in the last 48 hours? And he's like, well, to be honest with you, I've deleted myself. social media, so I don't know. And I don't know. Like, whether he did or not, like, I don't know. I'm thinking maybe, maybe he's deleted the app off of his phone, maybe, but he hasn't gotten off altogether. No way.

In fact, I think he was posting on Instagram. He had, like, Instagram stories on the weekend. But can we say this? You can keep Instagram. and not have any clue about what's going on with your team. It's X, it's other other platforms or more. Instagram, you could be there and just like, you'd have no idea that a team is melting down on Instagram,

would you? Or a fan base. Brady Kuchuk has, I presumably friends, family. Did you say he has a wife, he's married? Yeah. Like he has people around him who use social media. So even if he, wanted to say that he isn't on social media. I have a very hard time believing that he has

completely shut himself off from that world. So especially off the fact that there are people around him who are definitely on social media and definitely could see stuff that has been said about him. He's not like my dad who has like no like no one's talking about my dad on social media. A lot more people are interested in what Brady Kachuk does for the Ottawa senators. So what I hear of say that he's not really on social media. You know, I don't know if I necessarily believe that and even if it is true,

he has enough people around him that, you know, if something is said about him or enough people say stuff about him, word will eventually get back to Brady Kuchak. And I believe that of any young player, to be quite honest with you. Like, I mean, I think there are guys who find

ways to not let social media bother them. And that's not to say that social media is bothered to Brady they could chuck. There's a clear difference between that and staying in the loop about what's going on. I just think that what a player says that they're off social media, like, that doesn't mean that they're completely off grid. Like, they could find a way to know what's going on or what's being said about them,

even if they're not directly on these apps. So I'm not going to say he has a burner. I'm not going to go that far. I know you're not saying that. I'm just saying like, when he says he's not on social media, I'm like, okay, all right. So you're going to know what's being said. Claude Giroux also was pretty pointed in his comments today saying all this stuff about DJ Smith

and the quote and Claude was basically, hey, it's getting old, fans of the media talking about DJ, it's frustrating, he's our coach, he's not going anywhere, we want to play for him. And I get that. I get that.

But you got to win games now. Like, like I get that you want to play for DJ Smith and that you believe in him as a coach. And I get that. But now as a group, Claude Jureau, Brady Kachukh, Timmy Stutzfudd, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson, Jake Chikrin, Jake Sanderson, you know, all these guys, Corpus Sallow, Foresburg. You got to go now and show us that you want to play for this coach because the results are are not acceptable in this market. They might have been acceptable three years ago, but they're not acceptable now. And so the days of moral

victories are done. And if I were them, you know, I'd be, I'd start to tread a little cautiously now about taking shots at the media and the fans because there are 99 reasons why you've won four out of ten games. I'm not one of them. The fans aren't one of them. And, and they, they know that. They know that inside that room. And I think that's a mature enough group in there with with Claude Jaroo, Brady's been around long enough, they know that and they just need to go out there and win a game. That's all they got to do. I feel like you're taking that a little personally.

Am I wrong? Well, I mean, when somebody says they're tired of the media talking about it, well, who's the media? We are. Like, what do you mean? You think we're tired of losing too? Like, everyone's tired of it. But I understand what he's saying.

I understand what they're all saying. And you know what? You want to take runs at the media? I think that's okay. I do think that's okay. Because we're right there. We're accountable to them and vice versa. Just don't take shots at the fans would be my piece of advice.

That's all. Like, run me. You want to run me. This is where I do the Mike Gundy. I'm a man. I'm 40. I'm 46, but still. But you know what I mean, right?

Like, I don't see the benefit. I don't see the benefit of a drive. by the fans here at this stage of the game. There's no point. There's no point. I'm still laughing about the Mike Gundy reference. It was like Gundy, wasn't it? It was Mike Gundy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come after me. I'm a man. I'm 40. He's hold up the newspaper, be like three-fourths of this is inaccurate and all that. That's one of the more classic sports rants. You all were overdue for in the NHL a classic sports rant. Like the Brady-Kichuk rank.

What are you talking about? Mike and Lauer. Last week. Okay, sorry. Yes, you're right. Is that not good? No,

that was, that was really good. We're going to go back to that. Mike and Lauer deserves to go back. Yes, you're absolutely right. You're right, you're right,

but, but you know what? Could Chuck was like a, could, like, that was like a controlled burn. What we're looking for is like, somebody who just goes off

for like 90 seconds. Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah, that's fair. Michael Lann Lauer deserves, deserves his promise for that.

I'm not going to disrespect. But I, I, I, I look, at that team in Ottawa and they got to start winning games. They got three games before they go to Sweden.

The problem is for them, they got Toronto on Wednesday. That's a tough one. And then they got Vancouver at home right away the next night. So Vancouver is going to be sitting at home in Ottawa, waiting for them, watching them play at Toronto. So, connects are arguably

the hottest team in the league or certainly in the conversation. It's going to be tough for Ottawa to sweep these next two games. My point being, this narrative that your season is slipping away is likely going to still be there on Friday and Saturday. You need to just do a better job if you're the management and the coaching staff and the leadership group

of blocking out the noise and just go win some games. And we'll all shut up. You won't see it. You won't see a negative column for me if you win games. No, you're definitely taking this person. I get that. I'll also add this too.

You know what? I'm upset for the fans. That's what I'm, you know what? That's what it is. I'm upset for the fans who have, this is year seven now of this. Like, come on. Like, the Calgary Flames in the same window.

I don't blame you for being upset, yes. I'm not mad. I'm mad for the fans. That's who I'm mad for because I know this, this community cares and they want to see their team win. That's all. That's all. I don't, you know what,

whether they win or not, I'd prefer to cover a winning team. Don't get me wrong. Me too. Me too. But you don't think I want. Yeah. All of them deserve more here.

Yeah, I think, yeah, I think our markets, and that's probably why we're coming up with that collab piece. Like, I think ultimately, we all think our fans deserve a little bit more, especially from the people who are running these organizations. And I'm sure that, I mean, there are a lot of people, in both of our markets who want the best for those teams that are doing as best as they can. But at the end of the day, our job is to point out when it's good and bad and call for things to be better.

Yeah. All right. Well, speaking of calling for things, to be better. You're out for the Wednesday show replaced by Jesse Granger. Hey, wait a minute. Hey. No, we are.

But that's because you're out. Now, where are you headed? I'm headed to Toronto. So I'm going to be, so the flames are on a three game road trip. Toronto, I'm leaving for that for that city tomorrow. I'll be in Ottawa on Saturday. Guess what? You won't see me. Oh. I'll be in your province. Which is funny.

because, uh, wait, you be, wait, time out, time out. You'll be in my province

as in my home province or the province that I currently reside in now. The province you currently reside in now. So you're doing all, you're going to Alberta? You're in Alberta? Dude,

I got a wedding. I got a family wedding on the weekend. And then I got to go, imagine routing from Edmonton to Stockholm. That's what I'm doing. Well, at least you're doing that and not doing like Edmonton,

then back to Ottawa and then back. And then going over the sweet. Oh, no, I am. The way my flight comes back, I do come back through here, but I'm not, I'm not staying here, but I do come back through here. Oh, okay. So it works out that way. But yeah, I'm doing Toronto, Ottawa, and then Montreal. Okay. So this Wednesday, tomorrow and next Wednesday are travel days for me, so I won't be on the Wednesday shows. It's a joke. We'll figure out how that show's going to look like, too. We'll figure out something. I might have to hold it down for you. But listen, do me a favor and cover that game on Saturday for me in Ottawa, all right?

If something goes down with the senators, I need you to be. be there. I got you. I got you. All right. Again, Julian, safe travel to you, my friend. We'll look forward to your coverage later this week in Eastern Canada. Jesse Granger's going to pop. Yeah, Jesse Granger's going to pop by. Down goes Brown on a Wednesday, too. That's going to be a lot of fun. So that does it for the Tuesday edition of the podcast. Enjoy the hockey tonight. Safe travel. See you, Julian. And we'll get you next. Peace.