The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL free agent “frenzy”: is this now a league of haves and have nots?

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

As the clock struck noon earlier today, NHL free agency officially began, but the biggest names on the market were largely off the board already. Max, Laz, and Jesse discuss Mitch Marner to Vegas, and the loss of Alex Pietrangelo, the Panthers re-signing their trio of Bennett, Marchand, and Ekblad, Edmonton and the waning goalie market, and more.Hosts: Max Bultman and Mark LazerusWith: Jesse GrangerExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Hey, everybody, Max Boltman here alongside Mark Lazarus and Jesse Granger for another episode of the athletic hockey show. This one coming three hours into the 2025 free agent flop. Let's run through the big names. Brad Marchand, stay it in Florida. Aaron Eckblad, stay it in Florida. Sam Bennett, stay it in Florida. Brock Besser, staying in Vancouver.

Ivan Proveroff. staying in Columbus. You got the fever here, Jesse? Jake Allen, staying in New Jersey. Jake Allen, staying in Jersey. Laz, are you awake over there? I wouldn't fault you if you're not. No, I've already put to sleep by this.

This has been the most boring for you. I feel like every year we get all excited for this, and every year it happens like a day or two ahead of time. And then the actual day, we just sit there laughing that poor TSN has to be on the air for seven straight hours. But this is different.

This is like the most extreme version of it. I think, I don't know, maybe there's something 15 years ago or something, but in my time on this beat, I have never seen a more disappointing July 1 than this. Not to say nothing happened. It just all happened over the weekend, but even saying that, I don't really feel like guys stay in in place is that much of a happening. I feel like the cap goes way up. Teams suddenly have money and like who is it that coined the hockey players don't like to move their stuff? They all just prefer to sign where they're at always. That's just kind of the default

like hockey player thing. And now you give all these teams cap space to sign their guys and they're just like, I'm just going to stay. Well, that's just it. The impetus behind free agent frenzy is cap crunches. Is teams not being able to retain their players? And there's such a delineation right now between the good teams and the

bad teams that you're already on a good team. You're going to stay on that good team rather than go chase a little extra bucks on some crappy team. And now that the good teams can afford that, you know, what makes free agent frenzy fun is the terrible decision making, right? Like last year, like $1.5 billion was spent or whatever.

This year we got just the Boston Bruins basically making terrible decisions and maybe the Los Angeles Kings. And everyone else is making things a Cody CC contract has something to say about that. Everybody else is just making these prudent decisions. They're keeping their best players. They're making relatively, you know, understandable contracts. The extra cap room gives everyone a little bit more wiggle room here. And we get a lot of the status quo, which is not really what we're looking at.

looking for here? I think your point is spot on. I think increasingly as teams have cap space, this is going to be a league of haves and have nots because the teams that can pull you or keep you are the same teams that are already good. It's going to get really, really hard to get better in the NHL. And we look at the big moves that have happened, right? Vladislav Gavrakhov leaves the Kings for the New York Rangers. I don't know that we're calling the New York Rangers good, but I think New York as a destination is always going to have a certain appeal. And they were a really, really good team prior to this season for at least a couple of years, and they're going to hope to recapture that. The Vegas Golden Knights, Jesse, the team you cover, had the most

interesting actual transaction of the week. And I think that's where we want to go next. Vegas certainly is a powerhouse organization. We know players want to be there. And so it's almost no surprise, even when something is splashy as Mitch Marner basically forcing a sign-in trade to Vegas actually happens. Yeah, I mean, we've seen over the last eight years, if the Golden Knights get connected to a top player, whether it's free agent or it's a trade guy, like someone who's going to be available at the trade deadline, once the Golden Knights are attached to that player, they pretty much get them 100% of the time. Like, they do not lose these bidding wars. And it's, I think it's partially the city of Las Vegas. I think the no tax situation helps. I think there's

a lot of golf courses here. The weather's good during the winter when the players are at their NHL city. I think that the winning helps. And I also think that the Golden Knights front office, is not afraid to make aggressive moves. They're not penny pinching trying to save that extra draft pick. I mean, they sent Nick Waugh so that they could sign him 18 hours before they could have signed him for nothing. This team is super aggressive in these moves. I think that this is a good match for both sides. I'm very hesitant to say the Golden Knights are better because of, we'll talk about this in a second,

but losing Alex Petrangelo is a massive, massive hit to this team. but Mitch Marner, from a fit perspective, it could not be any better. The Golden Knights season ended on a 127-minute goalless drought against Stewart-Skater. They could not score against the Edmonds and Oilers. They don't have enough depth scoring on the wings. They're great up the middle with Jack Eichl and William Carlson and Tomash Hurdle and Brett Howden and Nick Wah, who obviously went to Toronto on that deal. But they were weak on the wing.

They needed scoring on the wing. Well, who's the best scoring winger in the entire NHL? Mitch Marner, 102 points last year. I think he's third in points amongst winger since he came into the league in 2016-17. He's about as good of a scoring winger as you can get. So Vegas fills their biggest need with a perfect acquisition. And to me, the deal 12 million a year is a lot. But I think the way this cap's going up, I think that deal is going to look just perfectly fine.

No, and that's just it. I mean, the way we were talking about Mitch Marner hitting the market, we were talking 14 million. Someone was going to get crazy and throw 15 million at them. And that's why you get, you know, all the Canadian. Canadian markets in New York and the Pennsylvania and Illinois and California complaining about the taxes because $12 million in Vegas is comparable to 13 or 14 elsewhere. But I do agree with you. I don't think Mitch Marner was necessarily worrying about his taxes when he made this decision.

He wanted to get as far away from Toronto as possible, literally and figuratively. And let's face it, when you're in Vegas, you blend into the crowd. Like you're not hounded. There's a great fan base that's being built there and you sell out every rink. But you leave that rink and you are just an anonymous person in, In Nevada, you are not hounded the way that, you know, Mitch Marner being quote-unquote treated like gods for better or for worse than Toronto was. It's a team that wins.

It's got warm weather and golf. It goes way beyond taxes. When you talk about the Panthers and you talk about the Knights, it goes beyond taxes. The taxes helps. I'm not trying to pretend otherwise. But there are many things that these players consider, and lifestyle is a big one.

They want to go somewhere warm. Mitch Marner has been in the cold his whole damn life. He wants to have a winter where he doesn't need a jacket. Is that so wrong? like Brad Marchand talked about that during the playoffs. He's like, it's just, it's nice to be warm all the time. Like, these guys are, they value little things like that. There's just so many inherent advantages that these Sunbelt teams are developing now that

they're good. Because for years, the Sunbelt was pathetic and nobody wanted to go there. But now that they're good, they've got every advantage you could want. I do want to know, Jesse, where you think this leaves Vegas here. Because on one hand, you bring in Mitch Marner, you bring in this dynamic offensive creator who certainly is going to be a fit for them. On the other hand, maybe, you know, I think it's timed up pretty non-coincidentally. I do believe Alex Petrangelo, obviously, is in a bad place physically, but losing him is a massive loss for the Vegas Golden Knights.

And so you bring in the more offense, but you lose one of your true stabilizers in Alex Petrangelo as part of this. Yeah, and the Golden Knights have been good for a long time, and it's been because of their defense. Like, this team has goal scores, and they're not bad offensively, but the core of the Golden Knights, this run that they've made. They've made three conference finals, two cup finals, and obviously won the cup in 2023. It's all been centered around this blue line. And Alex Petrangelo is the center of that. And yes, he's getting older at 35, but he's still the best defensemen on this team. Like, Jay Theodore and Noah Hanofin are both great offensive-minded defensemen. They both got the shiny new contracts this year. They're both extended through, I think, 2032. They aren't better

than Alex Petrangelo. They weren't last year, and I didn't expect them to be better than Alex Petrangelo this year. He is the best defenseman on this team. He plays the most minutes. He plays the hardest minutes. He soaks up all those defensive zone starts. He doesn't need to be on the power play to create offensively. And it's a massive, massive loss. Like, I think because the Golden Knights have created this reputation with the LTIR, I think everyone's reaction yesterday was, well, of course, Alex Petrangelo's out. How convenient that is so that they can sign. It's not convenient. I promise you it's anything but convenient. I could argue that it's a net loss for the Golden Knights. As good as Mitch Marner is, that's how important Alex Petrangelo is to this team. And the announcement

yesterday, it was a really weird announcement because they're not announcing anything. They were just saying Alex Petrangelo is in a bad way right now. He needs what is basically a double hip surgery. And even then, they don't know if that would fix what's been ailing him. At this point, It's not an official retirement. I think that is probably just financially. If he retires, he would forfeit the $18 million that he still has left on his contract. I expect him to never play again in the NHL, though. That is the expectation right now.

He has declined to have the surgery that he would need to have, and he's just going to let his body heal and hope that that happens. But even he said in the statement, it is very unlikely that he will ever reach a point where he can play hockey again. So for all intents and purposes, this is Alex Petrangelo's. he's done in the NHL. And like I said, that is a massive, massive hit. The Golden Knights also traded Nick Hague to Nashville. He was an RFA that they couldn't afford, partially because of this Marner deal. So this blue line that's been a massive strength for the Golden Knights for basically

their entire existence, suddenly there are a lot more questions about it going into this year. This reminds me of the Brent Seabrook thing where all of a sudden he just couldn't play anymore and his body gave out, but he had years left on his contract and it became a thing. But I mean, Petrangelo was playing like two weeks ago, three, four weeks ago. Like how, how was he making it through the postseason? Like you were there up close with him. Did you see it affect his game? Like how did he even make it through that playoffs? Yeah, he was playing, but not particularly well. And he didn't look himself. And like he, so we all remember he sat out of four nations. And he was the big name that he was really the only person that declined to play. And that was at the time,

they were thinking, if we can just give him a couple weeks off, maybe his hips will feel better. Didn't happen. And from what I was told, they're basically, they had to go through all these steps every day to get him red to get his body ready to play. And it just, they kept adding more and more and more steps. And it just became harder and harder and harder to get him in to even be able to get out there on the ice and pretend to play hockey. And if you go back and watch Alex Petrang for the playoffs, he was, he was getting rid of the puck early. He was avoiding hits. This is the type of guy, like he is an absolute horse back there. And I think his physical stature, he's not a physical guy. He doesn't hit people, but he absorbs hits so well. And he thinks the game so well. And he thinks the game

so well that I think one of his best attributes as a defenseman was, I'll hold on to this puck as long as I need to, to be able to make the pass I want to make. And if you hit me, so be it. I'm big enough. I can take it. In the playoffs, that wasn't how he was playing. He was getting rid of the puck quickly. He was making sure to avoid those hits. You could tell he wasn't himself. He wasn't making plays the way he always has. He just didn't look like the Alex Petrangelo of old at all. So he was playing. I think he was holding on by a thread there, just trying to, trying to help this team any way he can. And like I said, it's a big shoes to fill. Jay Theodore and Noah Hanifin are good defensemen. They have never filled the role that Petrangelo was filling for the Golden Knights.

So it's going to be a big step up for one of those two. And whether or not they can handle that is going to have a huge impact on the Golden Knight season. I can't believe I'm asking this after making a move the magnitude of the one they already have and as much of they've already done. But when you talk about the loss that Petrangelo is, I can't help but wonder, are they even done? Right. Because We're already here in Rasmus Anderson's name, to the Golden Knights out there. Cap-wise, you wonder how could they do this? They always find a way.

He is already under contract for a fairly manageable number next year, four and a half million. Do you think this is a pursuit that Vegas can seriously make? We know they don't value their prospects, and they've got a pretty high-ranking one in Trevor Connolly. Yeah, what did I say at the beginning? Every time the Golden Knights get linked to a name, what happens? Yeah, Rasmus Anderson, welcome to the Vegas Golden Knights.

No, seriously, though, like, it wouldn't. surprise me even a little bit if they find a way to make. And like, yes, they would need to send some cap out. But Ivan Barbashev has a pretty good cap hit. Do they like Ivan Barbashev? Yes. Is he necessary? Maybe not if they need to upgrade on defense. So I could see them making, I could see them making some moves to open up cap space to add a defenseman after losing Petrangelo and Hague already before Free Agency opened. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. They're right at the cap, though. After you take Petrangelo's $8.8 million cap hit off. they've got basically no money to work with.

So any cap coming in would definitely have to have basically the equal amount going out. Just imagine like 10, 15 years ago is telling a fan that, you know, pretty soon every single hockey player is going to want to sign in either Las Vegas or Florida. And it's just incredible. Like, like let's talk about the Panthers a little bit here. Well, hold on. Before you do that, I did want to make this point on Vegas, Laz. So we did a redraft of 2015 with Scott Wheeler and Peter Baugh a week or so ago. if Vegas was to land Rasmus Anderson.

After landing Martin, they already have four of the top 22 players in that 2015 redraft. If they get Rasmus Anderson, they would have five. They didn't even exist as a franchise when that draft happened. It's insane. So speaking of like if you went and told your former self something, how about that? Tell someone in 2015 that five of the top 22 players in this draft class are going to be part of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. But that's the beauty of it, right? That's what Florida and Vegas do is they don't really care about their young players.

or their prospects, they're trying to win right now. Now, Florida's newer at this. They built some of their team. You know, the Barkovs and Ekblads of the world came in through the draft, but they've built this powerhouse by just being hyper-aggressive. Bill Zito is hyper-aggressive. He went on, he traded Jonathan Huberto, who had 115 points and was getting MVP boats, and they traded him.

You know, they make Vegas-like moves. These are the two most aggressive teams in the league, and they're becoming two of the most desirable teams. Link, that's a hell of a combination. Guys want to go to somewhere where they know that their team is going to try to win. They want a GM that's going for it year after year. They don't want to know about, you know, getting a recouping a

first round draft pick in 2027. That's not what players care about. They want to win. So when you have these teams that have all the desirable attributes we mentioned earlier, plus arguably, I don't think it's arguably the two most aggressive general managers in the league with ownership that stands firmly behind them, there's a reason that these are kind of the head

of the pack right now. in keeping all of Bennett, Marshand, and Ekblad. I mean, I believe Edmonton was technically the betting favorite as of like a week ago. I would have to check BetMGM to see updated numbers on this. But in your eyes, Jesse, Florida, still the favorite to win the Stanley Cup when it's third straight Stanley Cup? They have to be. I mean, in the playoffs, they, I'll never forget this.

Like, I was doubting them. So I picked Tampa to win it all. Tampa looked as good. Like, they were just so solid at the end of the season. I was so convinced Tampa was going to win it. And then Florida made them look terrible. And then Toronto looked awesome in the first round. I've never believed in the Maple Leafs more than I believed in them right before that series.

And then Florida made them look terrible. Like this team wasn't just the best team. They made every other team at the peak of their powers look like crap. The Panthers are so good right now. And we've talked about how aggressive Vegas has been in terms of acquiring players. I feel like Florida has just done that like an aggressive move. in keeping their own players because it would have been very easy to say, look, you can't sign Brad Marchand. He's too, like, that's a bad contract to sign. There are arguments against these

contracts, but they're saying, you know what, we've got a chance to win to do something no one else has done, three cups in a row. It's been a very long time. And they're aggressive with it. And could these contracts end up looking like disasters? Of course they could, but they're going for it in the same way that the Golden Knights have in acquiring others. And I don't think they care one bit at what contracts look like disasters in 2029 and 2030. They're trying to pile on as many as they can right now, and they've certainly put themselves in a position to do that. Let's take a quick break right there. I'll be right back with more. All right. We're back. Max Bolton and Jesse Granger, Mark had to jump off.

But Jesse, we left off talking about the Florida Panthers. And I want to talk about the team that they just beat in their second consecutive Stanley Cup final, the Edmonton Oilers. We talked about the aggressive move that Vegas made. I do think with a full year in Dallas of Miko Ranton, it's going to be really interesting, see if Dallas can overcome Edmonton. certainly Vegas is in that mix. Edmonton is the team that went into this with probably the most clear need of all of them, though, and that was in goal. I don't know that they, in fairness to them, I don't know, they really had a great option to address it,

but as we sit here recording today, they have not. Do you see a path to an upgrading goal out there somewhere that I'm missing? And if not, what does that mean for Edmonton? Yeah, I mean, the options are thinning by the minute. And I don't, like you said, there wasn't a clear, like Thatcher Demcoe ends up signing the extension in Vancouver. it's pretty clear to us now in hindsight that that was never going to happen. They were never going to trade him within the division.

They sign him to a massive deal. So that was never an option. John Gibson was the next best. He goes to Detroit. I think Gibson would have been an upgrade for Edmonton. And at the very least, it would have been a huge upgrade over Calvin Pickard as the backup. And now you've got two goalies, and you just have to hope one of them's hot at the right time. Beyond that, these other backups like Jake Allen ends up staying in New Jersey, I don't think that's a needle mover for me.

If I'm Edmonton, like, I'd rather spend the money elsewhere. So I'm not going to crush them for not going after. And even like Wadar and Riddick and some of these other backups that have signed elsewhere, I'm not going to kill Edmonton for that. In terms of they absolutely do need to upgrade those still. Like to me, that is an, you cannot go into the next season with Pickard and Skinner as your goalies. And I don't know where they're going to look to on the trade market. I look at some names that like the other, the ones that have already been moved were the obvious ones.

To me, there are some less obvious ones like. Uco Pekulukinen in Buffalo is a name that if I was the Oilers, I'd just be ringing off the hook trying to get him from Buffalo. And I don't know if the Sabres have any interest in moving him. He's still young. So even though the Sabers aren't in win now mode, like I feel like he could be their goalie even when they do finally reach the point where they're ready to win, if they ever reach that point,

it is Buffalo after all. But Uco Peca Lukanin's stats last year were bad. When I watch him play, I see a really good goalie. I think he thinks the game incredibly well. His reads are sharp. He seems to be ahead of the play a lot. Like you don't see him reaching and sliding out of his net. Like he just seems like a really controlled goalie for how athletic he is.

I think he could be outstanding behind a good team. So like I said, no indication that Buffalo has any interest in trading him. But if I was Edmonton, to me, that's the most likely possibly available guy who I think could be an absolute like absolutely upgrade their goaltending. It's slim pickings out there for goalies at the moment. Right now, I think the top guy left is probably Ilya Sampsonov, a backup for the Golden Knights. He's a solid backup. He's not going to upgrade anyone's starting spot. You do feel like Peca Luka Luka, actually he's just Luka.

Oka is the first name. You do feel like Lukinen's availability would be completely dependent on what Buffalo thinks of Devin Levi at this stage, right? He's put up some big numbers in the HL, has yet to do that in the NHL for a smaller goalie that at least makes you a little nervous, the kind of situation where you actually would really like having a goalie like Lukinin there to know that you have him. Right. And Lukinen's young. It's not like he's like on his way out. And it's like, oh, let's get something for him. Like, no, if you're good in three years, he'll still be really good then. He's, that he's not someone that is like

on his way out. I think he's still on his way up. And I think he's, I even think like at by the end of this year, I think we think more of him than we do like right now. I think he's, his trajectory is positive. All right. I do want to talk about the Rangers too, Jesse. We talk about the beginning. They get Vladislav Gavakov. That was a move that I think most people thought was possible as a landing spot for Gavrikov. Now he goes there. And then the dominoes start falling. So reports are coming out that Kandre Miller is being traded to Carolina. I don't think I've seen a return on that yet at the time that we're recording. I think Gavrikov is really good. I'm a big fan of the player,

excellent defensive defenseman. You see him in person much more than I do, obviously, out there. How much of an upgrade is he, though, on Miller? Because certainly you're paying more for Gavrakov than you would have on Miller, and he's older. So really the pressure, you know, that's a theme with the Rangers. They have all these guys who are in their late 20s, early to even potentially mid-30s. The pressure to win there, I think, is high. So I think that means the upgrade has to be big in order for the Rangers to get from where they were this year, missing the playoffs to being a serious contender, is Gavrokov that level of upgrade? Yeah, it's interesting.

because because they miss the playoffs, it's you almost, you see them trading a younger defenseman. And it's like, wait a minute. Shouldn't you be like moving towards the future? But like you said, they've got all these guys that are going to age out. Like if you're not going to win now, you're not going to win at all. Like they, they do not have the roster construction to try to win in three years. They need to try to win now. So I do think it's an upgrade. I think Gavikov, they need to protect Igor Shisterkin. To me, when you pay a goalie, what they paid Igor Shosturken, and he deserves every penny of it. I'd argue he deserves more.

He is the best goal in the world right now. You have to build your team around your strength. And to me, that's the strength. You look at the Rangers. How are they going to win? They're going to win with Igor Shosturkin playing his butt off back there. Get him help. Kianjiann-Miller's a great defenseman.

He's not as good defensively as Gavikov. I think that's where the upgrade, you said it's got to be a massive upgrade. I think it is a massive upgrade in defensive lockdown ability. The other team sending out their top line, send Gavikov. over the boards and have them shut them down. We've got him and we've got Igor Shisturkin right behind him. I do like that building from the net, from the crease out, trying to maybe win in a way that the Rangers haven't tried to win because this team, I mean, they went to the conference

final a couple of years ago. They were more of a run and gun team. We'll give you some chances. We'll get our own chances and we'll just hope Igor makes more saves than your goal he does. I like a shift in philosophy of let's try to win some two to one games. Let's play good defensive hockey, play good structure. in front of Igor and hope that he shuts the other teams down. I like the shift in just the idea of how they're going to win hockey games,

and I think Gavikov helps that. I do too. My only question is, like, are you going to regret in, if you don't win in the next two or three years, are you going to regret this? But I suppose if you don't win in the next two or three years, on your list of regrets, it's just one of them, right, at that point, right, with where everyone else is at. And I'm sure that's part of the calculus. So, all right, a couple more things I wanted to touch on.

One of these deals, another defenseman, what I thought would be the precedent-setting deal for Gavrikov. Ivan Provera got $8.5 million to stay in Columbus. To me, this looks like the biggest overpay of the week. Am I off base on that? It's yes, because to me, it's like he's such a solid player, but I don't know how high the ceiling is. Like, in terms of can he, like, he scores five, six, seven goals a season. He's a great defenseman, but I don't know if you can pay a defenseman that kind of money and get your return on it without him pitching in quite a bit offensively.

You look at all the other highest paid defenseman league. They're scoring a lot. They're putting up a lot of points. And I just don't know if his ceiling is high enough to justify that kind of. Is that sort of the same way you view it? Totally. I mean, I like ProVrov as a second pair guy. But for that role, and maybe this is just the cap going up and I need to adjust my expectations.

But even on that scale, I was thinking, like, this is a six, six and a half million dollar player. He comes in two to two and a half million above that. I think he needs to be giving you major impacts to justify that. Now, they have Zach Werenski, who's, you know, among the most productive, complete defenseman in the NHL. Certainly last year, he's had health issues. So maybe you do want to insulate for that a little bit as well. But, yeah, I was surprised at how high that number came in. To me, that seemed like a lure him away number, not a keep you number.

So I don't know what that. tells you about what the situation was, if it tells you anything at all. But it does speak to the market. We were talking about Vegas and Columbus and maybe how they've got some advantages getting guys for cheaper because of that. Maybe that's the Columbus tax. Like I love it in Columbus. When I've been there, I love the arena. The area around it is sweet, but it does seem like most guys in Columbus want to leave Columbus. So maybe they have to pay the lure someone away price just to keep guys there just because of the market. Very fair. And this market was thin. It just kept getting thinner. I mean, the other one I want to ask you about is Besser staying in Vancouver.

Like, that just seemed such so decided that he was leaving. I know. 10 minutes or whatever before free agency opens, it's Besser's thinking in Vancouver. For anyone listening who listened to our podcast the other day when you had me trying to guess if the prospects were real and I just looked like an idiot, if you would have had me guess what team Brock Besser is going to end up on, I think I would have went through 31 guesses before I ended on Vancouver. I think I would have guessed every team in the NHL before I guess the Vancouver Canucks. That is, that was the biggest surprise of the day was seeing him going to Vancouver.

I'm like, wait, did I misread that? That's not, he's not going back, is he? Yes. I don't mind the fit in terms of like he's, he was probably the best goal score left on the market. Vancouver needs goal scores. But it, like you said, it seemed pretty like just statement of fact that he wasn't going back there.

and all of a sudden, boom, right as soon as free agency opens. Well, now this has given me an idea that we're going to have to get permission from the editors on. We'll have to have our producer shake down the editors. And we need this. So this is my pitch. We put one of our NHL writers in like a media blackout on July 1. They're not able to contribute. I'm sorry.

It's going to hurt the bottom line just slightly. But then we bring them on to this show next year. It's only like four hours of media blackout. Maybe we need to put them in for like the day before just so that we can, you know, have some of the bottom line. the barter to Vegas and all that in there too. So like a 30-hour media block. And then we read them headlines and they decide, real or fake. We're going to have to get that one for next year.

I don't know if you want to volunteer, Jesse, but we might need to find some. Maybe we get Rob Rossi to do that for us. Yeah, yeah, he'd be great for it. Yeah, yeah. Besser re-signs long-term in Vancouver. I would have for sure said that's a fake head. 100%. 100%.

All right. That's going to do it for us on this July 1. Hopefully when you get to the Wednesday show tomorrow, there's a lot. there's a little bit more action to talk about, although it does seem like that would have to come on the trade front at this time. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Athletic Hockey Show. We'll talk to you soon.