The Athletic Hockey Show - Sarah Nurse joins the show, PWHL free agency, and looking ahead to the draft

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Hailey and Sean return to recap the latest with the PWHL, including the teams' first signings in free agency. Then, Sarah Nurse joins the show to discuss signing with Toronto, what working behind the scenes of this new league has been like, provides a scouting report on her fellow teammates and more. To wrap up, Hailey and Sean answer some more listener questions about the PWHL.Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? It's Friday. Another summer edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Haley Salvi and Sean Gentilly here with you today. We've come out of hibernation, our summer hiatus. I actually hibernate in the summer. I just eat a lot and lay down in the summer.

I was asleep right before this. be asleep right after it. Exactly. I don't think it's wise to say that the hibernation is in that just yet. No, it's not ended. But we're out for a little bit because we've got a really great episode. If I do say so myself, we're going to be breaking down a lot of the professional women's hockey league news that's come out over the last few weeks.

It's been a really exciting time in women's hockey. And the NHL is still in the dead of off season. Like, we like the Jake Sanderson deal, but we're not going to talk about it today because it's a women's hockey day. And we've got Sarah Nurse joining us, which is very exciting. Sarah Nurse from the Toronto bleeps. That's actually your name.

We don't know what the nickname. Yeah, that is what the nickname is. Go bleeps. Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah, the Toronto PWHL team. She is one of their first three franchise signings. So we're going to break down.

I don't know why I keep saying breakdown. We're going to talk to her about signing the free agency process. Yeah, we have a really hard-hitting, hard-hitting talk with Sarah Nurse. Really going to hold her feet to the fire on this. How much money are you making? Yes, tell us. Why do you think Blair Turnbull should not have been signed? I don't know. Just like really mean questions and she's going to hang up immediately.

Who is the first player you would take overall? And you must pick. Oh, we should. definitely mock drafted with with her for sure like who should who do you want gina to take second overall answer the question right now something tells me she's not going to do that don't skate around it sarah tell us the name of the team you play for that's i know what i want to know she does know no let's be let's be nice with sarah um all right so here's the news uh p w hel announced its original six markets last week they hired their general managers and opened up for

agency officially on September 1st. It's a 10-day signing window where teams can sign up to three players ahead of the draft, which is on September 18th. As of Thursday night, because this is Friday, we're recording Thursday. You're listening to this on Friday. That's the gimmick. That's the fun. Welcome to the show. We know five of the six rosters, um, or five of the six initial three signings, I should say. So here we go. Boston has signed Hillary Knight, Megan Keller, Aaron Frankel. Montreal is signed Mary Philippe Poulin, Laura Stacey, and Renee Dapien. Minnesota has signed Kendall Coyne Schofield, Lee Steckline, and Kelly Panic.

Fun fact. Kelly Panic will go in the books as the first ever signing in the PWHL. We love that for her. Toronto is signed Blair Turnbull, Sarah Nurse, and Renata Fast, and Ottawa is signed. in Ottawa signed Emily Clark, Brian Jenner, and Emerance Mashmire. We're still waiting to hear on New York's first three signings.

I have reported that Abby Rock is one of those signings. I also believe Alex Carpenter has signed with New York. The third player has yet to be confirmed at this time. Wonder if we'll hear on Friday. You think maybe they'd want to announce that before the weekend? Because free agency ends on the 10th. So it's like, let's snip, snap.

Let's hear sign. Yeah. unless they're going to pass on using one of their three free agency signings, that's wild that that's still unconfirmed. Because, you know, I know that these teams are announcing, are announcing these players. We know that the deals have been done for some amount of time

before the announcements actually take place. It's wild that that hasn't leaked yet. Because, again, like you said, you dropped Abby Rock days ago at this point. Well, I think at that time when I dropped Abby Rock, they did not have a third player signed. It was Abby Rock, Alex Carpenter, top two, and then they were working to sign that third player.

And I think what was interesting is the GM of the New York team, Pascal Deu, he was the GM for the last six, seven years of Valdoor and the QMJHL. I think he kind of just took the moment to just be like, all right, 17 players have signed at this point. Let me think here. How do I want to build this? Who can I start talking to and really start having those conversations or continue having those conversations with multiple different candidates? You would think he'd go goalie or defender having signed to forwards.

So we'll see. Hopefully we hear on Friday. If there is one element here that's bummed me out, it's that whenever we had our big Toronto, the big Toronto press conference or the Ottawa press or whatever, all these, all these. unveilings, you know, where you learn where these players ended up. It does bum me out that these teams couldn't say like, all right. Sarah Nurse is your inaugural Toronto insert team name here by a jersey, like on our website right there. That's a little bit of a bummer. I know how trademark filings work. I would certainly bet that all that all these team names are decided and under super duper lock and key at this point. But it would have been nice to have all that stuff ready. And that's,

you know, that goes to the territory. They've been drinking from a fire hose here. We've said it, we've said it in plenty of different ways. But I wish, I wish there were, I wish there was merch. Totally. Totally. I want to buy a shirzy or something. Yeah. Absolutely. And before I ask you, what shirzy you're going to buy and which team you're going to lock into, the one thing I'll say about that is I've thought about it and said, you know, it would be great if they could have had the online stores ready in the logos and the team names, jerseys, all the merch that would have been so great for fans who are hearing, you know, Emily Clark just signed with Ottawa, where can I, where can I go and buy her shirt? Where can I go and get a Poulin jersey today? I guess the flip side of that is if you

would push this free agency back because you want to wait for the jerseys so you could put them on sale, wait for the names to come through trademarking or whatever it may be, then you're putting the players in the spot of, oh, I don't know where I'm going to be living in the next month. So I understand the timeline and they're drinking from a fire hose and I think it's going to be, Stain Kasten has said this so many times. They're not going to get everything 100% right in year one. That's what happens when you're starting something up. But I think now that all the announcements have started and again, we're just going to have waves and waves of news that are keeping themselves in the news cycle. There's going to be all this stuff coming out. I think it's be great.

What team are you locking in on, Sean? Who's your favorite team right now? Boston. They hit all the, they hit all three, you know, the three, the three things you want, which is stud forward, Hillary Knight. Hall of Fame. Number one defender, Megan Keller. A goalie who's good right now and will be for the foreseeable future in Aaron Frankel,

who's only 24 years old, which is a fact that slipped past me, I think, until they announced that move. I think it's a nice blend of a lot of different things. Megan Keller is in her prime. Hillary Knight's pretty close to it, right? Still, she's an icon of the sport, if nothing else. She is an icon and she's got that X factor. Can we say that she's in the prime of her career at 34?

Probably not. However, Hillary Knight is like, signing Hillary Knight is never going to be a problem. Yeah, like she had a hat trick. She had a hat trick in the gold medal game to win a world championship in April. Like, you know, you're doing all right if Hillary Knights, your number one center. Sell some jerseys too. We love it. And I think if you're, if the balance is, you know, if you're trying to look, I guess from, from two separate perspectives, whereas like, you, of course you want the on ice product to be great.

That's really important. but from a financial, you know, standpoint or from a marketing standpoint, like, what's, what's better than, what's better than having Hillary Knight around? Sarah Nurse. Sarah Nurse. But Hillary Knight was- Sarah Nurse in Toronto. That's, that's for sure.

Oh, absolutely. Those are two players. And I think a lot of women's hockey players get it in a different way. But Hillary Knight and Sarah Nurse are definitely two who, under. understand the importance of branding and like branding themselves and those kind of partnerships. Hillary Knight has been doing it for a long time. I think she was probably one of the first to really hold on to the idea of like I need to go and sell myself so I can grow the game this way. The more people that see me on a Red Bull commercial or, you know, whatever it may be,

the more people go like, oh, women's hockey. Like, let me think. Like it's personal branding. It's good for her personally, but it's also good for the game and her and Sarah Nurse. know that for sure. The thing that was so wild to me, and I'm with you, it's going to be really hard for me not to just be a Boston fan because I really like what the GM Daniel Marmer, she was with the Boston Bruins last year in a player development and scouting role. She's the new GM with this Boston team and I think she's done a great job so far. I really like the first three signings. Megan Keller was so freaking good at Boston College. I knew that she was good. I know that she's good. Like inherently as someone who covers the sport and watches her play,

you know that Megan Keller is a good defender. But then you go back and you start just reading her resume and you're like, oh. So she graduated from Boston College as the program leader and points, goals and assists by defender. Only the second defender ever to be a three, time Patty Casmeyer finalist for the best player in college hockey and the only defender to win the Camer Grinado hockey East player of the year. Oh, and she did it twice. Oh, and by the way, she was a, she had more points than she had games played as a defender. Is that good? I think so. So, you know, I think maybe Boston is a good fit for Megan Keller. Let me ask you this. Is there, was there, is there one player in one particular spot?

that surprised you? Like when, like, when you actually heard the news or, or got the scoop or whatever, you're like, oh, okay. I wasn't, wasn't anticipating that one. Um, I think just the goalies in general surprised me. I thought that Anne Renee DeBien was a lock. Um, best goaling in the world right now. Her, she's only lost one game in her career at the Olympics or world championships.

And it was this year in the gold medal game and the world championships where Hillary night had the hat trick to. to win worlds. It's just, it's crazy. She's unbelievable. She's the most shutouts in a single season in NCAA history men, men's or women's. She's just a beast. So I knew she was going to go, but I thought because there were so many good goalies that GMs would just let goleys go to the draft and they would lock in like star forwards or star defenders. So I was pleasantly surprised about Aaron Frankel and Emerald's Mashmeyer signing and obviously makes sense. Brian Jenner to Ottawa was a pleasant surprise to me.

She is from the GTA, you know, Oakville area, I would say for Jenner. And I thought she'd be somebody who'd sign in Toronto, but obviously Toronto goes with Turnbull and then two kind of local players in Nurse and Fast. So Jenner to Ottawa was a pleasant surprise and that is a huge signing for them. Like this is the reigning Olympic MVP we're talking about. And you know what? I will admit when I've heard that Kelly Panic was. the first signing in league history and that she signed with Minnesota. I was just like,

huh. Because I guess I would have just, I don't know. I would assume you think of so many of these other forwards and these are like powerhouse scores. Um, you know, Turnbull doesn't rack up the points on the national team, but like you can see see it when she's with the PWHPA and she's obviously got great hands. And then you think about it for a minute and you think more about Minnesota and you think more about Kelly Panic. She's a local for one. She was unbelievable. believable in college. Like she was a point producing player. A lot of her assists are primary assist.

So she does play a big role in the offense that her teams generate. Excellent in the faceoff circle. And as Kendall Coyne, Schofield said on the Zoom calls, she's one of those players. You just know what you're going to get all the time. And that's a really valuable thing to have when you're roster building. And again, when we think about Minnesota, it's not like Natalie Darwitz needed to go out and sign some,

stud young offensive forward because she is going to get it with the first overall pick. She's got one on the way. Taylor Heisey just print the jersey. That's where it's like I want the jersey in the logo because Taylor Heisee, there's no way. She's not going first overall. She's young. She's dynamic.

So I think when you look at Minnesota and you see they've got, you know, another, they've got an icon in the sport and Kendall. You've got the best defensive defender in women's hockey. and another Minnesota icon in Lee Steckline, and then a local player and Kelly Panic throw in Taylor Heisey, like that's your starting, that's your four piece before the second round of the draft. Like Minnesota's doing all right.

Toronto's got the second pick. What's the prevailing thought there? They're going to look at someone like Elena Mueller, because I know that's a name that I've, that I'd seen. Yeah. Or from you specifically. That maybe it would make sense in that spot. I hope so.

because what we've seen so far is American GMs, signing American players, Canadian GMs, signing Canadian players. Although I think I can say this. I think that there is a world where Alex Carpenter could have been on a Canadian team. So I'm just saying that as like, not every American is refusing to play in Canada. But we've seen that trend so far with these first recent. signings. And I would really like to see Gina Kingsbury, the Toronto GM, take Alina Mueller. She's young. She is one of the absolute best players in the world. And I think that would, I don't know, I just think it would break this mold that were, or this kind of pattern we're in right now.

Like there's nothing wrong with taking Nat Spooner or somebody else who's local like a Jocelyn LaRocke, know, get Renata Fas national team, D pair, second overall. But like, Jocelyn is 35 at this time. I don't, I'm sorry, I don't remember exactly. She's in her mid to late 30s. You know, Nat Spooner just came back from giving birth. Like she's a little bit older, I believe. She's in her 30s now.

Lena Mueller just graduated college. And she was a Patty Casmeyer top 10 finalist every single year. she played in college. She was an Olympian at 16. Like, just take Alina Mueller. Don't overthink it. Just do it. I don't care if you have all Toronto players on Toronto.

Take Alina Mueller. Please, Gina. So that's my thought, but maybe they'll go with a Canadian. So the drafts, well, no, that's fine. We can, we can cut the BS here and just say they're going to take Mueller. The draft starts at pick number three, as the saying, as the saying goes. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. It'll be interesting, though, because I really don't have a great sense of how every GM wants to roster build. Because we haven't really seen them do anything other than these top three signings. Totally. So the draft's going to be fun. That's on September 18th. It'll be 15 rounds. The draft order was set during a draft lottery that was done kind of like online with all of the GMs on a Zoom call to make sure that it wasn't rigged.

So the first, I know, it was like. You know, basically. They should have had a duck race for it. Oh, God, the video, I saw the TikTok I saw of a, I sent this to Sean. It was very funny. There was a fantasy football draft that was just like the lottery was decided by like an online duck race. And so you just had like 12 dudes being like, go Derek, like swim, you little duck. I think it would have been really funny if we could see Natalie Darwitz and Gina Kingsbury yelling at each other over a duck race.

Personally, I think that would have been really great. That should be the standard, the standard method of determining lottery pick order in every league in every sport. That's making it happen. Totally. So Minnesota was awarded the first overall pick in that draft lottery last week. As we said, Toronto picks number two. Then number three is Boston. Number four, New York.

Number five, Ottawa. Number six, Montreal. After that first round, the draft is going to do a snake format. So, you know, then it'll go Montreal, Montreal, Ottawa, Ottawa. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I feel like we've hit everything. Should we talk to Sarah Nurse now? Yes.

Yes, please. Okay, great. And we took a bunch of questions on Twitter. We're going to answer some of those in our third segment. But coming up next, we're going to talk to Sarah Nurse. All right. So this is a very exciting guest for us this week. It brought us out of our vacation mode.

We already said we were in like hibernation. We're back because of this. So she's a two-time Olympian with Team Canada. record holder, EA Sports Coverstar, and the newest signing for the Toronto PWHL franchise and so many other things, but I need to stop because we'll be here for a while if I just read your resume. Sarah Nurse, welcome to the athletic hockey show. Oh, thank you so much for having me in that incredible intro. Are we serious? I know. There's a lot going on there, but thank you for doing this. Again, it's very exciting. It's been a very busy few weeks in which it's hockey, but an exciting time. PWHL officially launches. We've got the cities, franchise players. What has all this been like for you, Sarah? It's been a whirlwind. It's been so surreal,

incredibly crazy. And it feels like everything has happened pretty quickly over the last few weeks, but this is the time that we've been working towards for so long. So I even think about puck drop in January, like it feels so far away, but it's never been closer. And I think that that's pretty incredible. We were kind of saying off the top, it's almost felt like from the outside as we're like watching all the announcements. And like you have these moments of being like, well, I wish we knew like the team name or like the logo or the jersey was ready. But like there's so much going on behind the scenes from you guys. Like it's been almost like drinking from a fire hose is what Sean said. It's like, it's just like, okay, here's the to do list. Go, go, go, go, go. But it's all like exciting and fun stuff leading up to

January. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I think. that obviously having those tangible items are going to like create even more buzz. And I do wish that we had those. And I know that like for the last four years, I feel like there are things going on behind the scenes has been like our tagline. But it's so true. Like there's so many moving parts happening at all times. And so we know that we have incredible people behind the scenes who are making a lot of awesome things happen. Yeah. And you know, we're kind of talking about this in the intro. I think there is a bright. side and not having the logos ready or the team names ready because you guys can just kind of cycle

through this right and have and have another new cycle where you guys can hire here like here's here's here's the sweater here's here's what it looks like and just kind of stay in that stay in that public eye right for the next for the next couple months because i don't imagine that's important like you you guys want to stay in the new cycle as is as much as you can and really you know kind of put yourself out there is as much as possible and that's an that's an easy way to do it yeah i think with every kind of announcement that we've wanted to make an impact. And obviously, we don't want to leave breadcrumbs for people, but there's a way that things have to be.

And so obviously announcing the team names, the cities, that was super exciting. And then announcing how the free agency and how the draft was going to work is going to be exciting. We're going to have a draft. Eventually, we're going to have team colors and team names. We're going to have the facilities be announced. We're going to have the schedule announced.

So there are so many exciting pieces that are going to come together in the next few months. And I can't wait, like, 20 years from now. going to be some story about us that is going to put everything together and everything's going to make sense. Yeah, it's been, it's been really awesome to see from, from the outside, just watching as media members here. And Sarah, obviously, you sign in Toronto. It's close to home. Can you kind of take us through that free agency process for yourself and why Toronto was the right fit? Yeah. It was an interesting process, something that happened very, very quickly. a lot quicker than I had expected,

but I really wanted to lean into the process because it was so new and it was something that we have never experienced before. And I was genuinely curious. I wanted to know about each market. I wanted to know who the GMs were. I wanted to know their visions and their plans. And so I was able,

I was fortunate enough to have conversations with a few GMs and get that picture painted for me. But at the end of the day, when I was able to speak with Gina, which I was like extremely nervous for because having that relationship with her. I was extremely nervous because I was like, man, like she knows. I'm not selling myself. Like she knows me.

She knows who I am as a person. She knows who I am as a player and she knows what I bring on the ice and off the ice. And so that was nerve-wracking in itself. But after speaking with her and just hearing what she thought that we could do in Toronto and where I fit into that, it really was a no-brainer. and I was immediately like, I want to be a part of this. I heard about Renata and Blair being announced, and I was like, this sounds like the best.

And I really, really want to be a part of this. And so we're able to get the deal done, which I'm incredibly honored by, because obviously I know how, like, touted a franchise and how many people do want to be in Toronto. And so that was a cool process. I think I'm, like, relieved that it's kind of over because I get to have some stability,

which I feel so grateful. have. Was that one of those moments where you like talk to Kia or like talk to family members or just like even friends that you know being like, is this what free agencies like? Is this so stressful? Like Kendall Coyne was talking about it. She was like saying to her husband, Michael, who's obviously been through NFL free agency being like, is this what you do? Oh, I don't like this. This is stressful. It's crazy. I remember talking to Kia a little while ago because when she first was in New York, she actually ended up getting traded to Phoenix. So she didn't really have a say in that.

Right. This past year when she ended up in Seattle, she went through three agencies. She actually got to pick where she thought the best situation was for her after agreeing to terms. And so just kind of interesting perspectives on that front. And it's kind of funny. Like I think of Darnell who's in the NHL and he necessarily hasn't been traded or anything like that. So it's a bit of a different perspective. And so this is something like I don't think we've ever seen.

like we'll ever see but it was it was yeah for sure i think it's just so cool that you guys have the opportunity to do this now i remember the first sw hl draft that i covered and it was just like oh like you pick where you go and that's okay too but like it had to be that way based on the league and and where things were at but i just think it's like such a cool sign of growth that agents can be calling gms and you sarah can be you know mulling your options over and thinking of where you want to be and what's best for you and where you're going to maximize your earnings and your potential. Like, that's just not something we've really talked about in women's hockey before.

And it's, I mean, it's significant that we can now. Yeah, for sure. And I think, like, you hit the nail right on the head, like the fact that we're at the table, the fact that players have agents, have representation, the fact that we're negotiating contract. I remember my first year in the CWHL. It was the last year of the CWHL, but I had like a one-page contract that said I was going make $2,000 because I was a rookie. And so it was like, sign here, please.

And so, like, just thinking about where we've come from that point. And I know the girls have been through it. Like, I think of, like, Hillary or Pooh. Like, they've played in the CD-Dub for many, many years and didn't make anything. So the fact that we're at this point now is truly, truly special. Yeah, you were, you're part of the bargaining committee, right? it wouldn't whenever my one. I'm sorry.

That was still just my delayed response. Like, oh. That's a good thing. Yeah. I was like, oh my God. I mean like, Jane didn't make any money. I'm like, that's great. Anyways, sorry.

It's crazy. Yeah. We're head, Sean. So you were, you were part of the board. You're part of the bargaining committee. You were in, in a lot of the, you know, negotiations when it really got down to brass tax with the formation of the league. Was the three, the three, the three.

free agent 15 player 15 round draft format was that something that you guys went back and forth on or was there was it at one point was there okay like was it maybe it's five maybe it's more maybe it's less like was there was that a give and take thing landing on the particular you know player movement format that you guys that you guys ended up with to be honest uh talking about behind the scenes we've had conversations about this for the last two years and we have actually we had working groups put together right after we came back to the Olympics, I believe, of players that basically came up with this concept. And we had like weeks of meetings formulating how ideally we'd want this to work. And the one thing that really did come out of that was the concept of the three players signed

as your franchise free agent players, whatever you want to call them, and then the draft. And so that's been something that has pretty much been in the works for the last 18 months. And again, as we got closer to this date. It was kind of like finalizing that, trimming up those final, you know, little little details just to make sure that we had draft integrity. You know, we want players dispersed in different markets. We want it to be as competitive as possible. And so it was really important for us that we nailed down exactly how we wanted to do this, but how we were going to have the most integrity and how we were going to have the most competitive organizations across the league. And you got a taste of that first hand, right? Because,

the process opens and you're getting calls from people you hadn't spoken to and maybe you're getting some offers that you didn't anticipate getting and like, I mean, because we've, we've heard, we've heard about some of those. So I think that's, that seems like proof of concept, right? That you're that you're talking to these, that you're talking to these different franchises and you really do get a feel for, you know, like you said, the integrity of the process and knowing that this isn't, this obviously isn't predisposed. It's not preplanned. Like it was a free market kind of thing that you guys were going to, or at least it certainly sounds that way. Yeah, absolutely. And I think for myself, although, like, I, Toronto was high on my priority list. Like, I wasn't signed, sealed, and delivered to Toronto last week. I wanted to know what the vision for the franchise was. I wanted to know what facilities were like. There were so many little things that I wanted to know. And so, like, when it came to free agency period, I was able to have conversations with different jams and meet different people and get the real picture and the real story. And I do feel so fortunate that I've been able to go to this process because I do know.

that, you know, some of my teammates didn't get to go through this. And so I definitely leaned into that process. And I know that the girls are maybe a little bit nervous for sure about the upcoming draft, but couldn't be more excited. And, you know, you talk about this process that's been going on behind the scenes. And I mean, I know that you specifically have been a really big part of getting women's hockey to this place. I mean, you were on the board in the PWHPA. Now you're on the executive board for the PWHL Players Association. You were on that player bargaining committee for this first of its kind CBA, like the first time that there's been a CBA ready before a league actually starts in any pro sport of like any of the major professional sports. Somebody will yell at me in the comments if I got

that wrong. But I'm based on my research, I mean, it's just huge. Have you allowed yourself to step back and enjoy the moment and like look back on like what you and other players have done here? here because I think part of what makes this so cool is not just that it's happening, but how much of it's been player driven? Oh, not yet. Because there's still a lot of work to be done. But I think it's funny. I had a moment with my brother and his girlfriend actually the other day because they're having a

baby in March. And my brother looked at me and he's like, yeah, I really hope it's a girl because like, she's going to know that she has this hockey league that you built. And I was like, I didn't build it. I helped. But it was like, she's going to have a. place to play because like you did this. And so it kind of made me take a step back and be like, wow, like I didn't do something, you know. And I've always wanted my impact in hockey. I've wanted

to win championships. I want to be a really great player, be one of the best in the world. But I want my impact off the ice to be, you know, my legacy and what what I'm remembered by because I think that that is even more impactful than what I can do on the ice. He's your brother. He's a lot of gas you up like that. It's fine. No, honestly, it was so cute because he's usually the total opposite. Like, the total opposite. Like, he literally was like, I'm single and he's like, do I need to find you somebody? And I was like, E.J. Really?

Come on. Please. Stop this. Yeah. That's really nice. How's that home opener in Toronto going to feel? It's going to feel incredible. I'm like, like, I hope there's a light show.

I mean, all right. Okay. This is where you flex your franchise player muscle. You're like, all right, I'm one of the first three. Let's get some lasers, please. I hope the lights are out. There are lasers everywhere. The music's bump in and the crowd's rocking.

It's been so long since we had a true home game. So I'm pretty excited for my walk-in fit. Oh, I'm so pumped. Love it. We need like a good slow-motion walk. You know, like they always like the TikTok. Don't get sent by a little bit. I feel like if there's anyone who's going to have like that part of things, like,

organized ahead of time, it's going to be Sarah. Absolutely. This is what I've been waiting for. It was, I remember there was like one, I think it was the Calgary World Championships where like the hockey Canada social team like started doing like the fit checks off the bus every day and everyone's sort of freaking out. And I was just like, this is the best thing ever. Look at this.

It is. It is. Style rankings. Yeah. That's great. Sarah nurse's contract. actually has like her salary and then light show please yes plus a light show thank you that was uh she runs a hard bargain so there's going to be a light show the fits and roger and

roger and are sitting front row absolutely somebody get the camera on that guy they always do though he'll find it he knows he knows where it is whatever broadcast they always just like if sarah does something they've like zoom right in on so his dad's name is roger he's He's my friend, my friend Roger. We love Roger here. He really, he really is the greatest. I'm very excited. Can you tell us about Gina Kingsbury?

Because you talked about her a bit already. She's the general manager of the Toronto team. You've worked with her for a long time with the national team for context. I guess Gina was the general manager of the Canadian Women's National Team since 2018, I believe. She got a promotion recently as VB. peeve hockey operations. So she's been involved for a long time. Gold medalist is a player, gold medalist in that kind of front office role. But like what can you tell us from your position of working with Gina and knowing her in a different way? What do we need to know about the newest

general manager in Toronto? Yeah. It's kind of funny. Like when you talk about Gina's accomplishments because sometimes we forget she was a player and like won gold medals and like was an incredible player on the national team because she's had such an impact on us in a different way. And I feel very fortunate because I can 100% attest to the fact that when Gina took our program over, she completely changed the trajectory of it. And so, I mean, when I heard she was coming to Toronto, like, I just couldn't believe it because I knew that that was going to be a franchise to be reckoned with. And her work over the last few years has been pretty incredible. I spoke to the parahockey team as well. And they were like, she's worked with us for the last

few months and like we couldn't be happier um to have her here and so uh it's definitely sad for hockey canada um that she's leaving in her in her role but definitely exciting for us and i know that her and i have an incredible working relationship um i remember a couple years ago before the olympics actually when i was hurt there are many times where i was sitting in the medical room and gino is sitting there with me and we'd have these like real and just honest conversations about like the visions for the future and at the time we're speaking about hockey canada and where we could go as a program and how we can develop those younger girls. But we've had so many conversations about the pro league in the last two years. And she's been like our biggest advocate. And I know that

that will definitely continue. But it's funny when people talk about the team that she looks to build and she talks about personality. And like she's not lying. Like Gina looks to build a team of people who can work together and be successful. And I don't know if like I, I don't think she thinks you can put all of the best players in the world in one room you have to have a puzzle. And so she's somebody that is looking to build an effective puzzle that's going to be successful. So I'm super excited to see what we're able to build. Are you talking to her about the second pick in the draft? Come on.

Yeah. Are you in her ear there? It's mock draft time. Let's go around. I'm not in her ear about it, but she, I spoke to her the other day. It's just like, I cannot wait for our first couple of picks in the draft. So I'm sure I'll get like maybe an inside scoop as we get a little bit closer, but nothing yet. Okay.

All right. We were trying to decide. But it's, it's interesting because it's hard to know because we don't, we haven't seen what all the, the GMs kind of like to do yet other than with these top three signings. Yeah. I mean, strategies could be totally different. You could be looking at a team that wants to win right now versus a team that wants to win in three years, right? And so there are a lot of exciting.

players in the draft as well, some younger players, some players who were just coming out of college, some older veteran players. So there are a lot of different directions that things can go in the land. How do we get, and I say we as somebody who lives in Toronto, how do we get Sarah Filia to leave Princeton? No, honestly. Like, you're good, you're done. You're done. You're done what you need to do. You have finished. It was funny. Like, I was talking to her a little bit about it. because somebody asked a question about her and I guess the media availability that first press conference.

And she was like, that might even be. Yeah, wasn't you? Okay. I have a guess for the record. Because I was like, can you clear this up? Like could Sarah Filier declare for the draft,

but not sign? Like play the whole year and then and then sign? Like, how do we? Yeah. Yeah. And so it's funny because as we spoke about like the three franchise player, that model,

that was like one of the deep. that we had to iron out because we were like, could somebody technically sign a Sarah Filier or Anella Lipsinova? Is that how you say? Like, could somebody hypothetically sign a player like that and just walk up their rights, right? And so those are little details we had to iron out. But I was talking to her a little bit just after she left for Princeton. She's like, so do I declare for the draft? And I was like, girl, that is up to you. But if you get drafted, you are done. Yeah, like you need to leave. You need to leave. So I know she's pretty happy going into her senior year. Princeton, although I would selfishly love for her to be in the draft. She's got some work to do in Princeton.

Yeah, she can maybe finish up a degree or something. Yeah, maybe graduate. Maybe. I don't know. It just barely did. It's okay. She's been in college for like six years, though, so. Oh, my God.

She's still so young. I feel like I don't even want to look at how old some of the young. Like Caroline Harvey, she's like 16 or something. I know. I know. She's not 16. Like stop. Wild.

Yeah. They're tiny. I'm old. Little babies. Feel terrible. Can we do a bit of player scouting with you of your teammates here? Blair Turnbull. We're not a fast.

They're, you know, your other franchise players here in Toronto. What do people need to know about Blair Turnbull? What I would say about both of them off the bat is that they're like, complete players and people. They're both incredible leaders, but on the ice, they are some of the most complete players, I think that we have in our game

from both an offensive standpoint and a defensive standpoint. And it's kind of cool to see their development over the last year because they've been given bigger offensive roles, each in their own respective, right? And it's been kind of cool to see them be like, oh, I can take this.

Like, I can be offensive. I can score goals. I can generate offensive. So it's been cool to see their development. but I mean Blair like she is completely dynamic she can play in a bunch of different spaces you're going to see that girl driving up the middle taking people with her taking names but she's a pretty special player and somebody who I've looked up to she played at Wisconsin with me she was my captain so she's somebody that I've definitely looked up to a lot and I mean

Renata it's cool to see her evolution because I remember playing against her in high school and And, you know, she wasn't the most flashy player. She wasn't the best player ever. And to see where she's at now, I've never had to play against her since leaving college, which has been a lot of fun because she's tough to play. She's tough to play again. So that's why we always joked around. We're continuing the streak.

But, yeah, again, just a super, like, she's obviously so fast. But an all-around player and somebody who I wanted on my team very badly. I think one of the coolest things about this has always been, especially for the last couple years as the, you know, dialogue kind of amped up around a league like this, watching the national teams in particular and seeing players like Blair, you know, maybe play a little bit further down the lineup, you know, on a national team. The idea of them, you know, if you have that talent that's spread out across six teams, the idea of someone like Blair Turnbull maybe getting to play in a more traditional,

in a more traditional, like, top six role or kind of like to like top six minutes, And it's fun to pick out players off the national teams and think like, man, it's going to be really cool to see them get those, you know, maybe get used in like a slightly different role where, you know, some of their other talents are going to be able to come out or at least be a little bit more, you know, on display, right? Yeah, I think that that was super evident to me last year with our with our showcases. I look at Blair as somebody who 100% I thought she broke out and she showed how great of a player she is and what she can do when she, is given the opportunity. Another one's Laura Stacey. She was on Team Medea's the whole year, and she was like, day and day out,

consistently most, like, our best player. And so I'm super excited that she's able to have that opportunity in Montreal because, like, I don't know, I feel like people sleep on her a little bit. She's a steal. Yeah. I texted her, I was like, oh, I'm a little jealous you went to Montreal,

but I look at Blair and Stace, and I'm like, those are two players that are going to absolutely thrive and pop off. And I'm sure you, saw it because you played together at Wisconsin, but like Emily Clark was unbelievable in PDA last season and had a hat trick in the championship game. And I feel like if you just knew her from the national team, you're like, oh, like super gritty, like on the great third line, but then you watch her and she got to flex those like offensive skills a little bit more. I'm excited for this season. I know. I think that's the beauty of it. Like, and when I look at, you know, when you're

talking about a national team, like I feel like our players are just. so versatile and we've all played in so many different spots and so I just think it's going to be cool. I think you went the year. You were like I played with everybody. You were on the fourth line at one point. Like four C like doing your thing. That's great. And then you're on the first line and then you set an Olympic record. Yeah. It's like yeah. Okay. Very casual. Yeah. Yeah. And honestly like I think about that and I think in my career, people are like what I'm good at. And I think that's what I take the most pride in is the fact that like whatever a coach needs, like I feel like I can provide that. And although like sometimes a 4C isn't the sexiest position, isn't the position that

you necessarily want, because obviously you want to be on the ice as much as you can. But it is like a vital, vital role. And I totally recognize that, especially in, when was it, 2021 in the World Championship in Calgary, how important the role that myself, Emma, Jill, Stace, K.O. played. And so I just think that that versatility is something that a lot of our players embody. Okay, so you don't have to worry about playing against Renata. You don't have to worry about playing against Blair. Who on the roster?

Maybe Poo doesn't count. Who in the roster are you like most dreading playing against in this capacity? Nobody wants to play against her. So we'll just skip over. Yeah, we'll just skip over, Poo. Who my most, playing against Clarkie is always so annoying. And I've told her that, like she's fun of my best friends. I've told her that ever since my first night.

her. She's the most annoying player to play against. I would say probably Anne Renee, though, because she knows me so sometimes I have to pull out some crazy ish to beat that girl. I scored a goal at her last year where I like came in and I ended up deeking her and I made her look like ridiculous, but she was like, I thought you were going to shoot. You got to pull out the bag of tricks on her. Exactly. So she's just somebody that I know so well and she's literally the best goal in the world. So not looking forward to playing her. No. The competition levels can be great. We're super excited for the draft. That's September 18th in Toronto. Are you going to be there? You're going to like call out the picks, hand out some jerseys? How's that going to work? I don't know what I'm doing there, but I will be there. I was

invited yesterday. So I. Wow. Congratulations. I'm super excited. The PWHL sent me an email. So I will be there. I'm not sure what I'll be doing there, but I'm excited because I know that there are going to be some draftees who are invited as well. And so it should be an awesome afternoon where everybody's going to find out their new team. This is awesome. Well, Sarah, thank you so much. We are obviously very excited for the season. I think I'm going to be just covering women's hockey full time this year. Perfect. Which is super great. So I'll bug you again. Thank you for doing this. And we appreciate all the insight and good luck this season. Of course. Yeah. Thank you guys for having. me. Look forward to speaking soon.

All right. So thanks again to Sarah Nurse for that conversation. I thought that was fun. It's always great to hear from an Olympic record holder. We saw her dog. We're on a Zoom call. Romeo. He's very cute. Sorry for everyone who didn't see. That's a bummer. It sucks to be you guys. I'm just glad she can give actual answers now. Like, she's like after years of not really being able to say that much because like she said, She alluded to it a couple times, right, where she's like, oh, there's good things coming. We can't talk about it. That was sort of the marching orders for her and a lot of her peers over the last couple years.

Now she's free to talk about whatever she wants to talk about. And it's all good things. And it certainly seems like there's more good things on the way. And I think it is important. And I said it in the interview and she alluded to it. Like she's been very involved in all of this happening. a lot of this has been player led and on that player bargaining committee for the CBA it was Sarah Nurse, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Hillary Knight, Brian Jenner, and Liz Knox.

And they did something that's never been done in women's professional sport or women's hockey. Like just the fact that there's a collective bargaining agreement at all, let alone before this league even starts is huge. And that CBA is public. So if people are interested, you can read through it. but it's pretty lengthy. I know they took inspiration from WMBA and WSL CBAs. You know, there's stuff like nursing rooms and maternity leave, obviously the salary structures, housing stipends, 401Ks, retirement.

Like, it's beefy and the players did that. And I think that's super cool. And it was great to hear from Sarah. And this is just a really exciting time in women's hockey. and a kind of a confusing time though. There's a lot of people who still have questions because things are still moving. So we put a call out on Twitter

for some questions if anyone had them for us. So let's get into some of them, Sean. Totally. Let's go. Okay, so one question we got is can y'all break down who the best players who are available for the drafts are going to be and what each team might want to target in the early rounds? So we touched on a few before we started, or I guess in the first segment.

I think Taylor Heise is as close as to, you know, a consensus first overall pick as we can get. She was the MVP at the World Championships in Denmark. She was excellent. That was her debut on the senior national team in an international tournament. And she was unbelievable. She was a Patty Casmeier winner with University of Minnesota. so and Natalie Darwitz was on the bench

when she did that so feels like the first overall picks locked in and she makes so much sense for that Minnesota group yeah for a lot of different reasons including the fight totally you look at how they built out

the the players that they signed with their three their three UFA spots I mean God bless Kelly Panic right but I think people are a little bit surprised to see her there. But that makes all,

like, if you think about that in more of a team building sense, you know, her and Kendall and, you know, and Lee and Lee Steckline, it all makes,

the piece that makes all of that make sense is Taylor Heisey. Totally. With the first overall pick. So that is an interesting bit of, you know, and it seems like an effective bit of team building from Darwitz for sure.

Totally. You get, you know, the, Captain Kendall, um, one of the best defenders in the world and Lee Stecklin.

And obviously Kendall, um, she's not just a leader. She's, and she's not just a leader and one of the fastest players in the world. Like she uses that speed to her, her benefit. And it was actually wild to hear Kendall say how nervous she was before free agency and how

she wasn't sure if GMs would see her as the player she used to be because she had a baby and because she hasn't played. And, and Natalie Darwitz, she didn't care. She was just like, there was no question for Natalie on who. Kendall Coyne is and was and is going to continue to be. So, you know, Kendall Coyne is, is a foundational piece. But then you get the younger foundation. Taylor Hisey, she's 23 years old. She's 65 points in 38 games at Minnesota last year as captain. So, um, and then Kelly Panic, you have that kind of steady middle six center. She can scale the line of if you need to. So yeah,

good roster building. Um, other players, I think will be big. I have got a huge surprise. spreadsheet here. I've been like being a crazy person because one of the other questions we got was a mock draft and yes, it's coming. Um, there is going to be a mock draft that we do. It's coming. I'm aware of the format and I think people are going to enjoy it quite a bit. Yeah. I'll leave it. I'll leave it at that. I'm super excited. So draft wise, I think if we're thinking younger college players, Taylor Heise, Alina Mueller, who we talked about, I think what could be interesting and we're sticking with this Minnesota conversation is Minnesota is going to have to wait for the turn. So they'll have number two and then they won't draft again until what like 11 and 13 I'm sorry I don't have it

in front of me but they'll wait for a little while for the snake but I could see Minnesota going for like a goalie and grace sumwinkel in that area like get another um Minnesota go for in there another young talented power forward um I want to see where Aaron Ambrose ends up that's a that's an interesting one for me yeah you look at I you know she's She's a top five defenseman defender in the world. I think she's close on the fringe there. And she doesn't have a team yet. I think I think that's a really interesting, interesting one.

I think somebody like Aaron was probably just on the outside of this top 18, right? Which is probably why we didn't see her sign at this point. But yeah, she's, you know, top four, you know, defender with the national team. She can quarterback power play really smart. like the thing that's always been, um, what's made Aaron special is the way that she thinks and sees the game. So that's somebody that will definitely get snatched up early in the draft. I don't think Aaron last super long.

Players like her, those are the ones I was thinking of when we saw that kind of run on goalies happen, right? Which is something that maybe, you know, maybe some somewhere, maybe weren't anticipating, you know, it's just like anything else though. One goes and then if two go and then you're not going to stick. too. GMs are going to say, all right, we need to get this locked down. Then before you know it, you know, some really high quality skaters are squeezed out, you know,

as a result of that. And I would imagine Aunt Rose and a couple other, a couple other well-known players were, you know, affected by that. Yeah, as you start to see goalies signing the spots for skaters, just it's the maths. They start to go down. So, yeah, Aaron Ambrose. I mean, when we're thinking just strictly national team members, there's a ton of of them that haven't signed yet. So we're looking at Aaron Ambrose, Ella Shelton. I mean, I hope to

God that Ottawa drafts Jamie Lee Ratrae. Honestly, that was one of the surprising ones. You just don't her to have to move. And I understand. I don't think she lives in Ottawa, but she's from Ottawa. She's from Canada. And I just think that is the easiest way to win over. I mean, they've already won over the fan base, but she's from the area. Come on. We love this. Just drafter. Um, Chris and O'Neill. She's great for team Canada. I'm trying to think Jesse Eldridge, um, was kind of on the fringe slash bubble of the national team. She like made a roster, then got cut from a roster.

She's, she's a young player. She's a very quick player. Oh, Haley Skamura is going to get snapped up early too. She's like a Blair Turnbull type, but for the American team. She's a pain. Yeah. Uh, nobody likes playing against Haley Skamura. Lauren Gable should get there.

She was the pHF MVP last. last year. I mean, this is so, this is going to be so fun. And this is what makes mock draft so hard is there's so much depth. Like, right when you just get out of the national team and even just mixing them in with national team members, there's so much skill and talent in women's hockey. It's going to be such a deep draft. So Lauren Gables in their pHF MVP, uh, Callie Flanagan. I think that's going to be somebody who played in the pH, who can make an impact. Um, we got a couple. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm going to go. No, that's okay. I'm just trying to think. I think, or I guess, you know what, let's think of draft strategy. Because right now I'm just like listing players. And as you said, I think we have a question of PHF players who can make an impact. Yeah, let's, the other two buckets that I think we're drawing from here, we were talking about a lot of national team players, which of course is completely understandable for obvious reasons.

But we got a question from Cody and from a couple other people about international players. I know I mentioned Elena Mueller, but who, from that demographic do you kind of expect to see? I know Norratu, the goal tender was maybe in the mix there at one point for one of the signing spots. Like who are there? Do you expect to see some Euro players in the mix, particularly at the top of the draft? The European player conversation is really interesting because when you think of the best of the

best from Europe. A lot of them are signed to play in the Swedish women's hockey league or signed to play pro in Switzerland this year. So that's what's going to be really interesting and why I want to get my hands on the list of players who declared for the draft. So we know who was saying, like, I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave this SDHL team that I'm on. Like, I will, if you're Yenny Hirokoski, who's a future Hall of Fame or one of the

best defenders in women's hockey, you know, an icon, an iconic defender in this sport, you know, she's signed to play with Lulae. I'm so sorry. I probably pronounce that wrong. That's how I say it in my head and I apologize. Um, like she's signed to play, play with that team in the STHL. Like, is she going to declare for the draft and, and then leave her season to come and play here? Um, that's a, that's a huge question mark. And we don't know that yet. I think players like Yenny and Petra Neimanen, they are some of the most dynamic and talented players in the world. But what's their contract status like?

Are they going to leave? Their season, excuse me, starts in two weeks. I mean, they've already played preseason games with Lulae. What are they going to do? So I think we see, and this was, again, one of the questions we got kind of specifically is, do you think they will enter the draft this year or wait and see how it goes?

I think we see more of those top tier players who are already under contract saying, like, I'm going to play out my season. Because if they sign and get drafted, you're probably not going to be playing in the SDHL this season if you have a contract in another league. Again, I don't know how that works. So you would think that they would just play

and then join next year. And they're end of their seasons at this point, too. You know, there's a lot of players. And they're training camp, they're practicing with their teams already. Pre-season already started and regular season starts in two weeks. So I think when it comes to those players, I feel like maybe there'll be a couple surprises, but I think we'll see them take the year and play out their contracts and see how things go. But there are players, there are European players who signed in the PHF, who I think will play in this league.

There are some who signed deals to play in Europe in the meantime. And then we'll leave to come to North America when the season starts. I wonder how that's going to impact their ability to get drafted because this is such a deep player pool that I wonder if there's GMs who are going to say like, well, you have a roster spot in Sweden right now and this comparable player doesn't have a job. So I'm going to take her and not you. I wonder how that might happen. And if you're a Euro player, you can say like, you make make some money this year. Maybe I'm a first round pick next. year versus a four-thenders or something.

It's a reasonable choice to make on their end as well. Totally. But, you know, some of the European players, I guess, that come to mind. Denisea Krizova, I think she'll play in this league. I think she'll make an impact in this league. Teresa Vanasova, she's another one. Dominica Lascova, I believe she signed to play in Europe this season, but she's someone who could make an impact.

Katerina Muzrova. There's a ton, and this is again, I'm trying not to just like word vomit out players, but I think that just speaks to the depth of talent in the world right now. So one of the other questions we got, will teams have European players and staff? I don't know exactly what the staffing looks like right now. If we don't see any European staff members, it's not because they didn't try. It's because they said no. I think that's what I can say right now.

Yeah, that's a relevant. That's a relevant little bit. I think people, if you listen closely, you can pick up on some of that stuff, right? Yes. We got, we understandably also got some, got some questions about, about the PHF. Christopher Birx was one, just asked directly and simply, who are some players from the former PHF that you can see having an impact in the PWHL because we have not seen them be part of the UFA process.

I think it's really, it's going to be really exciting. I think there's a lot of players in the PHF who are going to have an opportunity to show the national teams why they deserve to be in the mix. I think this is a conversation we have a lot when national team camp rosters come out and people are saying, well, like, where is X, Y, Z player? And I think sometimes they just get left aside because it's like, well, we haven't seen them play against this competition. And so I think there's going to be players who can like really,

put the spotlight on themselves and show like look what I can do against the best of the best on on a night to night basis. And that's not to say that they weren't playing against the best of the best and the pH. I don't mean it that way. It's just they're going to be playing against and beside players who are on the national team and they're going to get to show like I can keep up or I'm better. Like they're going to really get to put people on on blast on why they deserve to be there. So some players that I think to watch out for, we mentioned Lauren. and Gable already. I think she'll, she'll do well here. Elizabeth Chaguerre, two names that I've really circled that I'm excited to see what they do. In this new league is Kennedy Marchment.

She had an excellent pro career in Sweden, and she's very good in the PHF the last couple years. She had an MVP title. She led the league in scoring. There is no reason why her game is not going to translate to this new league.

And she's someone who will probably put herself on on the map and on the radar in a different way. Another player is Taylor Girard. She's kind of been right up there pacing with Kennedy Marchmont and scoring on the Connecticut whale. She's another player that I'm excited to see play in this new league. Those are, those are two players to watch for sure. I'm trying to think of like other names.

You know what one player I'm really excited to see and it's not a PHF player. It's Sophie Jacques. She was the Patty Casmeyer winner. from Ohio State, an excellent defender. She has not been on a senior Canadian national team, despite the fact that she's been one of the best defenders in the NCAA over the last few years. She is a star, and I'm very excited to see what Sophie does in this league.

That's a fun one for me. We're still only talking about 18 players who've signed his UFAs, too. I think that's, I know we all, we want to see PHF players involved, and there's a lot of, you know, names and really good players that have been, you know, that weren't part of that initial discussion, but it's 18 spots. And that's, and that's tough. That's a tough numbers game for, for anybody, right? For even the Olympians.

Like, I know, I've seen a lot of people and I get it because you are fans of this league or this team or these players and you want to see them sign and play and get behind them in this new space. Oh, other players that I think will make an, I'm excited to see like Madison Packer, Gillian Dempsey, there's a lot of players who were and will continue to be kind of like icons of the NWHL,

PHF. And I think it's me cool to see them continue their careers in this new space. Like those are, those are legacy players. Those are like truly like excellent professional women's hockey players. So I think we'll see a lot of those like usual suspects as I mentioned, you know, kind of making an impact on and off the ice in this new league. Like people are going to go and watch Madison Packer play wherever she is because they love Madison Packer because they've latched on to her.

Same with Gillian Dempsey. Like that's an easy sell for Boston. You're the Boston GM like it just trapped Julian Dempsey. People are going to follow if you do. So I think there's going to be a lot of that at play. But yeah, in the conversation you said, Sean, of, you know, there's national team members who aren't in that top 18 right now. That's just the numbers game.

I guess one of the other questions we got commonly was like, who's going to broadcast the games? Is Cheryl Pounder going to call games? Because everyone loves Cheryl, including me. Love Cheryl. We don't know yet. I think that is like broadcast rights, broadcast deals.

That's probably something that gets done once the schedule set. Because it's kind of hard to go to like ESPN or Turner TSN Sportsnet and say, can you put our games on? on TV without saying like when your games are. So the schedule is supposed to come out according to Stan Kasten in October. And so I feel like that will be the natural next steps. That's a functional answer.

That's news you can use, my friend. Woohoo. I think we got most of the questions. We got a lot of questions about like the draft and who players are going to be. How do you see things happening? Can you do a mock draft? Yes. Again, we're doing a mock draft.

Shana Goldman and I are working on a mock draft together. Yeah, they actually, they got, they got people who know. what they're talking about for this one. You know what you're talking about. You're fine. So yeah, I think this is a super exciting time. I'm so glad that we could just talk about women's hockey for an hour. Like, that's the space that we're in now. I've seen all the numbers on the stories that I've done. I've seen all the engagement on Twitter. Very cool. People care for all those people who go yawn or like, who cares. There are people, I swear, I promise. Losers. We care. So loser shit.

Loser, loser responses. So that brings us to the end of this episode of the Friday show. There is going to be a secret fourth segment for anyone who's interested where Danielle's just going to honor Michael Delzato for another hour. Stay tuned. Hoisting the jersey to the rafters as we speak. Yeah. Yeah. We'll send you Danielle's address if you want to go and mourn.

San Diego Gull's legend Michael Dosado. He wasn't as great. We didn't have to sit there and talk about Michael DeLotto's retirement for a half hour. We could talk about something pretty cool and something pretty new and have a great conversation with Sarah Nurse. Not bad. I would have talked about Jake Sanderson for an hour. Not me. All right.

Well, that brings us to the end of this show. Yeah, if you want to honor Michael Delzato, just talk to Danielle. You'll all have fun. And just a reminder to everyone, if you're not an athletic subscriber, you can join us at theathletic.com slash hockey show to get an annual subscription for $1 month for 12 months. Thanks, everybody. I'm not sure when we'll be back.

Soon. We'll catch you at some point. We're going back to hibernation. Bye.